If It's Stupid and it Works...
21 Jul 2022Sapphire Lanse
Saph sighed as she docked her Python on the Renegade. Another successful day running transportation and courier missions, she thought to herself as she went into the hanger to disembark. She climed down the steps, and into the elevator. Heading for the decking area for a rest and a look outside. she thought it would be an ordinary day. she noticed the lack of commanders on board. "Eh, they're probably busy," she muttered to herself as she reached the main area."Commander, they left a while ago." It was Cayce's Captain, Hudson.
Saph turned around. "Oh? and where would they be, by chance?"
"A rescue mission for an old friend."
Saph paused for a minute. "You're kidding. How come no one has contacted me?"
"There wasn't much time to. Commander Cayce's comms were black, and the others didn't have time to--"
"Give me the coordinates. now."
Hudson nodded. "I sent the coordinates to your ship, Commander. Good luck."
Saph nodded in acknowledgement as she headed back for the hangar, nearly sprinting for the ship as soon as the elevator doors opened. She sat down in her seat, and requested for launch. She set course for the system.
As soon as she warped in, she pinged Commander Cayce, apparently late to the party. "Commander, I heard what was going on!"
"Sapphire... yeah. We got Phoenix and ready to retreat. Swing around and form up."
"Rodger." She took the implicit duty of rear guard, watching the group's back for any threats. Before she knew it though, she was being dragged out of supercruise, presumably by the people who injured Phoenix. "Ah, shit..." She opened her comm links to the squadron. "Whatever you do, don't worry about me, get her home!" She did not wait for a reply as she shut off the comm link.
She pulled the Python around while deploying the hardpoints to scan the 2 ships that were chasing the group. Both came out wanted, but before the scans could even complete, the ships fired at her. "Sonofa--" It was a Viper Mk. III and another Python. She targeted the Viper Mk. III first, boosting and pulling back on the flightstick. She opened fire, using the beam lasers on the Mk. III. A plasma bolt hit her ship from the side, knocking the ship slightly. the Viper was agile and fast; and chasing it was an exercise in futility. Her ship took more shots as the enemy Python blew over hers, giving a brief moment of respite from attacks. She breathed out, "come on, you've trained for this. Stay calm..."
She predicted the movements of the Mk. III as it flipped around and nailed a railgun shot on her. "Jesus christ..." she muttered as she swapped her firegroups to deploy a heatsink and a shield cell bank. The shields were dangerously low; any survivability was necessary now. She kept the beam lasers on target until she saw the shield pop. Her COVAS chimed, "Target shields, offline." Saph wound up the multicannons, targeting the power plant, and within a second or two, blew the ship into pieces.
The enemy python, recovering from its earlier mistake, nailed more shots, knocking the shields out completely. Taking evasive maneuvers as best she could, she dodged a few shots more, but not before eating another bolt. She turned the ship around, targeting the enemy, and blasting it with her beam lasers. This was now a proper dogfight.
She boosted away, putting 4 pips into the engines to create distance between her and her enemy. She pulled back once again, full throttling it to swing the ship around. Her beam lasers were on target, tearing through the shield before ramming the enemy python. For an extra measure, she squeezed the trigger for the multicannons, 2 out of the 3 now malfunctioning. She watched as a ball of flames erupted in front of her.
She breathed a sigh of relief as the fight was over. In the silence, she heard the clicks of the glass cracking. She looked up, and the rivers of cracks trailed down all the panels. "ahhh f-"
Before she could finish swearing, the canopy ejected itself. She hurriedly trailed the rest of the squadron, jumping in system, and landing safely at the starport. As she came through the mailslot, the python's exterior lights were spluttering, with wires and cables hanging down from the missing pieces of armor. She barely made it onto the landing pad before shrinking in her seat. "That was too close..." she grumbled.
She disembarked the ship to go see the rest of the squad in the med bay.