The Sentinel Fulcrum, 20: Wounded Beasts
08 Jan 2022Meowers
My Imperial companion sat at the co-pilot controls, switching the power distributor modes and giving me some situational awareness comments. So, one of these comments was... That damn thing tried to get its hooks on my ship! Thankfully, we were too fast and it went spinning in our wake, leaving only a blip on the shield indicator. Ah, you're going to be so dead. You, your friends, anything that will try to touch me or Marshmallow.
But looks like I have only one target now...
"Captain, the creature is on the hostile ship. Image on screen two."
What the...
Ah, thank you for the heads-up. I put Marshmallow behind one of the many lookalike icy asteroids and activated the shield recharge batteries, shooting off heatsinks to deal with extreme temperatures during the emergency charge. Hardpoints were fully deployed by now, even the slow plasma accelerator cannon. Attaching to the ship? Wise. T-10? Dumb. See, powerplant is the weakest spot of each ship. But it's super weak on a T-10. Placed right in the middle, exposed to fire from above and below. With that beast inside or not, T-10 is too slow and clumsy.
Turning Marshmallow to face the asteroid, I activated the lateral thrusters and moved to the right. Hostile ship was closing in, distance... One and a half kilometres. Now, it was surrounded by the same weird blue glow. And I pressed the boost button to slip past the posessed T-10.
Two arses, one boot.
I even..smiled a bit, looking at rapidly closing T-10. It was still firing wildly at me, causing shield indicator to flash, but at such speeds it was... just like teasing me. Shields were far above the half. Zooming past the slow, hulking T-10, I rolled at ninety degrees and pulled the stick, squeezing all remaining strength from my wounded right arm. Ah, bless the painkillers! Adrenaline had worn off by now, but they were still in effect. No senses - no feeling of g-forces, hah. I was, like, floating in an unreal, parallel dimension. Dizzy a bit, but it's okay. That abomination at the T-10 controls noticed my manoeuvre in a moment, however, you may have ungodly fast reaction, but if your ship is so slow... You're going to taste this.
And I pulled both triggers, sending an avalanche of multi-barrelled cannon projectiles and a blindingly bright plasma charge towards the enemy. Its shields flashed with dozens of blue lights, and then plasma bolt turned into a little supernova. No escape now, I'm in my element. Turrets were still firing, however, they posed no danger, as my shields were recharging at almost the same rate.
Hiding behind another asteroid, I've stopped abruptly and started waiting. Hah, I doubt this thing can see me through thick ice. Then... I boosted to the same side I've came from and locked on the T-10 again. Expectedly, it was waiting for me... Watching the other side of asteroid. Got you, you glowing piece of crap!
Another barrage left the T-10 completely shieldless and I targeted the power plant. My unwieldy rival was still turning around and moving backwards, trying to catch me in the aiming reticle... When I pulled the stick again to reach the position above the enemy. Rolling and turning, moving by pure inertia, I pulled the triggers once more. Cannon rounds started to rip twisted, jagged pieces of metal off the upper side of my clumsy opponent's hull. Ridiculously floating in attempts to avoid the damage, the T-10 almost made me laugh. At least brought a vicious grin on my face, hah. Another plasma charge left a giant hole, exploding almost inside the ship, and I saw that familiar blue glow and..those tentacles again. The beast..tried to cover and regenerate..the ship? Hah. It was in vain. One more plasma charge at the target, and the T-10 started to float not only in its own half-melted chunks of hull, but also in greenish cloud of what its improvised pilot had for blood.
Armour was opened like a tin can, and power plant was exposed. The beast was doomed. Four highly-engineered multicannons played the last chord in the song of its demise, and hellish flurry of kinetic ordnance bombarded the heart of hostile ship, ripping it apart. Instantly, the flow of superheated matter melted the internal equipment and bulkheads, shattered the cockpit canopy, split the hull in half. Nothing can withstand that temperature. So, my next plasma shot was a mockery. Finally, the fuel tanks exploded and the T-10 disappeared in the giant ball of fire. Did I hear this beast screaming even in the vacuum? Hah. Liked it.
How do you like that, you little shit?