Prologue: Ghosts in the Smoke - Part 2
22 Jan 2018Giyari
"Dasha, on my six! I can't shake him! Dasha, please! Help me!"
Coughing as the remlocks emergency systems kicked in, Dasha vented her cockpit's atmosphere, restoring her vision and bringing the scene unfolding in front of her ship into view. The wreckage of a recently hit Clipper floated aimlessly towards her, an exchange laser blasts lighting up the black void as a solitary Eagle twisted and turned trying to lose a ratty looking Diamondback Explorer glued to it's tailpipe. She quickly lined up her shot, letting loose a barrage of multicannon shots into the Diamondback's hull, but it wasn't enough. The larger ship shrugged off her shots like they were thrown stones and continued to chase down its prey.
"Leksey! I'm on it just keep weaving! Varya, try to catch the bastard off guard!" she replied, boosting her Imperial Eagle into the fray. The surging whoosh of the engines afterburners filled her cockpit as ship debris rocketed out of view, hurtling her small fighter into danger. Dasha felt her heart race as she unloaded a flurry of laser blasts into the rear end of the Diamondback. It's hull was tough , her weapons didn't leave too much of a dent but they didn't need to. If she could keep this distraction up then the trio would be laughing all the way to the bank with this scumbags bounty.
"Coming in hot." A third voice announced over the wings comms channel. The calm and collected tones of Varya felt at odds with the sight of an adder unloading two salvos of railgun shots into the side of the Diamondback. Sparks filled the space beside the pirate vessel as superheated metal exploded from the ships hull. That surely had to hurt it.
"Nice! Keep it up, Try to pull him off Leksey." Dasha added as the Adder made another pass.
Another salvo bored a hole through the Diamondbacks hull, knocking the relatively small ship slightly off course. This was it, this was the break they needed. Dasha's dorsally mounted multicannon spun up and let rip into the pirate vessel, littering it's hull with rounds.
"Now, Leksey! Now!" she yelled as the diamondback broke off from its pursuit. They had this bastard, this was it...
Using some clipper wreckage as cover, Lekseys Eagle made a quick turn about and brought the Diamondback into its sights. The small green fighter looked worse for wear but a flurry of light from it's hardpoints showed that it was more than capable of keeping the fight going. All three pulses hit their mark, burning scorch marks into the Diamondbacks starboard side as it spun to face the Adder head on as the ship closed in for another pass.
"You kids are still green…" An unknown voice crackled over the public comms. The nameless voice let out a low rasping laugh as the Diamondback fired a plasma round directly into the nose of the Adder, dropping its shields like they were made of paper.
"Shit, shit. We can't keep this up. There's a reason this clans bounties were so high, and he's it!" Varya exclaimed as she broke off from her attack run, weaving through the clipper debris to gain some breathing space once more.
"No, we almost have him! After all this we can't bail, he's just as roughed up as we are." Leksey shouted as he focused fire on the Diamondback. His Eagle was pushing the limits of what it could handle, sparks wrapped around holes all over its hull, cracks weaved back and forth over its canopy.
"Varya's right, Leksey you're in no shape, break off!" Dasha interjected as she gave the Adder some cover fire.
"No! We have this! We can't let him get away, not after those traders… We can't!" Leksey pushed on with another pass as the Diamondbacks thrusters fired up once more, sticking the ship into a sideways drift out of harm's way. The rasping laugh climbed to a full on howl as the Diamondback spun mid drift and boosted straight for the adder.
"I won't survive another shot like that, high waking to Baiabozo Get to the Barratt!" Varya shouted as her frameshift charged up. Boosting headlong towards the Diamondback, her Adder hit a spin to avoid another barrage, and boosted straight past the ship and into clear space.
"Leksey! We have to go, now!" Dasha concurred as Varya bliped off her scanners into witchspace.
"He murdered them in cold blood! Cargo wasn't enough for this scum, he needs to be stopped!" Leksey screamed in response as his battered Eagle hurtled with its guns blazing towards the laughing Pirate.
"Damn it, Leksey! Break off!" Dasha replied as she boosted after the broken fighter.
The laughter of the pirate filled her cockpit as his ship hit a boost and spun to meet the Eagle head on, driving the nose of his Diamondback into the Eagle's hull. The cracks were almost silent across the void of space as flames engulfed the small fighter.
"Aleksey!" Dasha screamed as she watched debris spread out with tears in her eyes. The diamondback continued on, turning to face her.
"Damn it, Damn it!" she yelled as she hit her fighter into full acceleration and charged her frame shift. The pirate gave chase, his laughter filling her cockpit.
"Now you know what it feels like to lose a comrade! Hahaha! You think you can run? You're next, you whelp of bounty hunter!" he mocked her loudly as her a plasma shot narrowly missed her hull.
"Frame shift drive charging."
Alarms rang out as the heat built up in Dashas ship, the small Imperial Eagle's cockpit filled with smoke and sparks as her FSD kicked in. The blue light of witch space opened up before her, wrapping around her ship as she jumped to safety.
Alone in her cockpit with nothing but flashing red lights for company, Dasha felt helpless. Tears streamed from her eyes collecting in shimmering globules on her cheeks and eyelashes. The Coughing as the smoke built up Dasha reached for her remlocks helmet release, and after wiping the moisture from her face, she let the opaque visor unfold over her head.
"Warning, taking heat damage." her ship reminded her once more as the smoke continued to pour into her cockpit. Coughing some more inside her helmet, confusion set in.
"Must have damaged my helmet? No everything's-" coughing some more Dasha felt her train of thought interrupted once more. Something was wrong.
Instinctively she reached for the Imperial Eagles emergency life support but her hand failed to find it. Panic set in as she flailed her hand over her dashboard before burning herself through her remlock on an overheating panel. She was suddenly jerked back to reality, drifting below cruising speed between the stars of a binary system in her limping Imperial Courier. Before she could think, Dasha felt her lungs burning from the fumes leaking into her Remlock. Spluttering for a clear breath Dasha quickly grabbed an emergency kit and taped over the small crack on the side of her helmet, and as the suits filters cleared her air supply, she let out a sigh of relief.
A dream, or a nightmare rather. Looking towards her navigation panel as it flickered and glitched, Dasha adjusted her course for Citi and set her supercruise speed as high as her battered ship would allow it. Dasha looked towards a small charm hanging from her wrist, one half of a silver coloured ID tag, bent and unreadable. She smiled slightly as memories of laughter and adventure flicked through her mind. Her cockpit still opaque with smoke, tears still staining her cheeks, the young bounty hunter sighed once more and made her way to her next destination.
"It wasn't for nothing, Leksey. I'll make sure of it."