Unfinished Business (Part 2)
02 Jun 2018MMMMMalcolm
OCCThis log is a little long. Forgive me. I wanted to describe our wing battle against a terrorist leader in detail. Enjoy.
It wasn’t long before Kay and I followed the inspector out of the house.
“How are you feeling?” I asked her on the way to the landing pad.
“I’m still a little sore, but I’ll be alright.” She gave me a reassuring smile and then flew the Taipan up to the Anaconda. After she remote piloted it back to me, I jumped in and joined her.
“Welcome back Commander Wantz,” S.H.E.A. stated as we entered the bridge. “The ship should run twelve percent more efficiently with you at the helm.”
“Thank you S.H.E.A.”
“Really? I’m standing right here.”
“I am aware of your location Commander. And yes Commander Wantz is a more efficient pilot than you.” Kay sat in the pilot’s seat with a hand over her mouth. I started twirling in a circle by the navigator’s seat.
“What are you doing?”
“I’m trying to see if you stuck a ‘Make Fun of Me’ sign on my back. Everyone seems to have it out for me today. Even my ship is taking shots at me.”
“Oh no baby, come on, sit down. You’re fine,” she said between chuckles. I sat in the seat and plotted our course. Kay composed herself and asked, “Where are we going?”
“LHS 3549; Carey Station” As the FSD charged up for the jump I thought, 'It is good to have her back.'
Kay landed 'Breathless' on Pad 17. We had to wait in the que for the pad to become available. Mixed among the transports filled with rare ores, industrial equipment, and technological advancements were fighters of every shape and size. The star port was overrun with them. From Eagles to Corvettes, Vultures to Chieftains; everywhere I looked there was a fighter with the number 44 painted on its hull.
Kay powered down the engines but kept the power plant lit. We had no plans to stay here very long. In fact we only planned to stay long enough to come up with a plan.
"So," Kay asked as she turned her chair toward mine; "what's your plan."
"That depends on how many pilots I have to execute it," I replied. "On my way to you I sent out a call to the other members of the wing. Time to find out who responded. S.H.E.A. ..."
"Yes Commander"
"Give me a status report on the location of the members of AWE."
"Aticus is exploring the Horsehead Nebula. David is exploring the California Nebula. Alpha is here on Carey Station. Luke is transporting VIPs in Ceos. Dave is escorting..."
"End report," I interrupted. We only had eleven members. One out of the top five veteran members did not give me much hope for the newest recruits. "Connect me to Alpha."
"As you wish commander."
A moment later Alpha's cheery mug appeared above my console.
"Malcolm! How's it going buddy? You ready to bust some heads?" Alpha was short and muscular. Even though he was much taller and bald, he still reminded me of the fantasy holo-vid characters that lived in mountains and hoarded gold. He had a scar over his right eye that extended all the way back to the base of his skull. He never talked about that scar but I was sure it was the reason he was so irritable. His brown eyes hardened and his forehead wrinkled as he voiced his irritation. "I've been watching all these fighters limp in and fly out for over an hour. I can't believe you got me sitting here missing all the fun."
"Easy big guy," I said aware of the irony. "Our target is the head of the snake. Let 44 Chi Draconis handle the lite work. Which ship are you in?"
"My Cutter; watching the looks she gets from Federal pilots as they walk by has been my only joy while waiting for you."
"Good, then you should be more than eager to take on four ships while I dispose of two." I was hoping two more members would have shown for a full wing. We could have easily destroyed two ships a piece. Instead I had to divide them between the two of us based on ship strength and combat rank. Alpha was only competent, though he talked dangerous.
"Ha! I would destroy all six if you would just point them out to me. You just rest your moppy little head and let your pretty little co-pilot nurse your wounds and I'll go explain what happens when you mess with AWE." I smiled at Kay's reaction, happy not to be the only butt of everyone's jokes for once.
"I tell you what, you watch my back out there and I'll buy you a Kamitra Cigar for every ship you 'pop'."
"Deal"
"Then let's go. We're headed to Guangul 2A."
"Mission objective detected," S.H.E.A. reported.
"It's seventy degrees off your port bow," I informed Kay. She was the better pilot, so I let her fly. "When we drop in look for the Fer De Lance. That should be the youngest remaining brother. Eliminate him and then head for the Corvette. You have control of the weapons. I will handle power management and the shield cell banks. How are you feeling?"
"I'll let you know when this is over," she replied, gripping and relaxing her hands on her controls.
"Alpha, you ready?" He didn't respond as his ship blew past us in super cruise; the light from his thrusters nearly blinding us. "I'll take that as a yes."
"Dropping to normal speed," Kay stated, "in 3... 2... 1..."
Time and space slowed with a bang. Our targets appeared three kilometers away from our drop point. In the distance we could see explosions as the group finished off whatever targets they had in their sights.
"I hope that wasn't Broussard's assault team," I thought aloud. I was about to hail the pirates when Alpha boosted forward. "OK, I doubt they would have surrendered anyway."
A Viper MK IV turned and headed straight for us. Alpha strafed it with laser fire as he flew into the heart of the melee. It turned to follow. Kay locked onto the Fer De Lance and boosted toward it.
"All power is in weapons," I reported. "Engines and systems are operating on reserves."
"Move system reserves to engines and stand by with those shield cells," she barked. Kay squeezed a trigger and five beam lasers began to overwhelm the shields of her target. A moment later they were gone completely.
"Under attack," S.H.E.A. warned. The Corvette had maneuvered around behind us. Kay ignored the warning as she waited for the three missile racks to lock on. The Fer De Lance bobbed and weaved as it tried to break lock. Kay concentrated as she fought his attempts. Suddenly the fighter flipped around one hundred and eighty degrees and boosted straight toward us just as the desired tone sounded. "Warning, impulse attack, trajectory disruption." The pirate hit us with a huge rail gun. Kay squeezed another trigger in response. 'Breathless' opened up like a daisy in Spring. A hive of tiny missiles erupted from our hull and struck the medium fighter from all directions.
"Target hull is down fifty percent, but ..." I stated.
"Target shields online," S.H.E.A. cut in.
"Move power to systems and engines. Put weapons on reserves."
"Flight assist off" I shifted power distribution and then grabbed the edge of my seat as Kay flipped the large ship one hundred and eighty degrees. She returned flight assist and smashed the boost button. "Warning, impulse attack, taking heat. Warning, impulse attack, trajectory disruption." The Corvette flew past us, but not before tagging our shields with his plasma accelerator. I expected to see the Fer De Lance, but it mirrored our Anaconda's movements and tagged us again with his rail gun.
"Shields are down forty percent; firing shield cell."
"Wait!" Kay countered. "Let him think we're weak; lure him in." She flew straight on, gradually decreasing speed, as the fighter and the Corvette followed.
"Warning, impulse attack, taking heat. Warning, impulse attack, trajectory disruption." Our shields went down to fifty percent.
"Now!" Kay screamed. She throttled the engines to full reverse. I barely had enough time to fire the shield cell and heat sink before gravity tried to pull my arms out of their sockets. Our pursuers flew past us. The Corvette pilot immediately turned to correct his mistake. Kay was once again on the rear of the Fer De Lance; she boosted giving me back control of my limbs.
"Power to weapons," she commanded as our beam lasers collapsed his shields. This time she targeted the missiles while the lasers did their work and launched her salvo the second his protective glow vanished. Try as he might, he couldn't dodge the attack or escape the inevitable.
"Malcolm! I could use some help over here buddy." It was Alpha. I glanced at my screens. He was down to thirty percent shields, but the Viper and the Cobra were no longer on my contacts list. It appeared I owed him two cigars.
"Warning, impulse attack, taking heat." First, we had to make it back.
"This Vulture is flying circles around me," he said. "I can't get a shot on him!"
"Engage the Asp," Kay replied. "We'll handle the Vulture. Malcolm, move power to systems and engines; and ready another shield cell."
"Aye, aye captain!" Kay boosted toward Alpha.
"Warning, impulse attack, taking heat." The Corvette wasn't far behind. His plasma accelerator and burst lasers had our shields down to fifty percent. The Asp and Vulture had Alpha's shields down to twenty percent by the time they were within range of our weapons. Kay squeezed the trigger and five beam lasers disabled the Vulture's shields in seconds. We expected the pirate to veer off and attack his attacker; but he just stayed on Alpha. If he thought he could destroy the Cutter before we destroyed him he was sadly mistaken. His ship popped at the exact moment Alpha destroyed the Asp. Unfortunately, it was also the same moment Alpha's shields dropped.
"Warning, impulse attack, taking heat." Plus the Corvette was still harassing us. Our shields were down to forty percent. "Flight assist off." Kay flipped the ship again, restored flight assist, and boosted past the Corvette.
"Alpha, peel off until you get your shields back up, then rejoin the fight. Malcolm, our shields are down to thirty five percent; fire another shield cell." We did as she said. Kay flipped the Anaconda again as the Corvette turned to face us. The ships passed in a violent joust, but instead of boosting, Kay slowed our speed. When the Corvette passed and tried to boost away, Kay boosted as well sticking to his rear.
"Power to weapons!" Five beam weapons began weakening the Corvette's shields. When energy ran out of the distributor, the pirate boosted away and fired a shield cell bank of his own. He managed to restore his shields; and because all our power was allocated to weapons we couldn't stay behind the heavy fighter. Our shields were only at fifty percent, but we had no choice but to joust the Federal vessel again. "Warning, impulse attack, taking heat." 'Breathless' reduced its target's shields again only to see them restored. In contrast our shields dropped to thirty percent.
"Alpha, you good?"
"Yeah, here I come." Five more beam lasers from the Cutter went to work on the Corvette's shields. We fired our last shield cell and then joined the party. Our combined might quickly overpowered the pirate's shields. Alpha spooled up two large multi-cannons while Kay waited for a lock. The 'Vette pilot seized the opportunity to hull-tank Alpha and spray a barrage of fire our way. "Warning, hull breach attack, taking internal damage."
"Our shield generator is damaged," I reported. "Shields are down to ten percent!"
"What's his hull reading?"
"He's only down to sixty percent but it's dropping." Kay fired a shower of missiles. "Hull now reading fifty percent, but our shields are down to five."
"Malcolm, get out of there," Alpha warned. "His shields are half-way restored. I'll draw his fire."
"Negative," Kay replied as she parked off the nose of the Fed. "Don't give him the chance to regroup." She unleashed the lasers again as the missiles acquired another lock and then squeezed both triggers.
"Warning, temperature critical, taking heat damage." A moment later we heard, "Shields offline, taking damage".
"Crap," I spat. "You already know our shields are down. But his hull is at thirty percent and his shields still need fifteen percent before they are restored. Don't let up."
Kay kept our nose pinned to the hull of the pirate; preventing him from turning and boosting away. Alpha flew behind and sprayed him with his cannons. Slowly, but surely we pumped his hull full of holes; forcing his power plant critical just as his shields came back online. The explosion bloated the ship like an ancient puffer fish, but for a few seconds the shields held the vessel together. The lights switched off; leaving the ship looking like it was simply abandoned. And then the pieces slowly drifted apart.
Kay and I let out a sigh of relief as we slumped in our seats.
"You guys alright?" Alpha asked. "I'm reading low hull levels from your ship."
I glanced at my console. Our hull was down to forty five percent.
"We're a little banged up," I replied. "But we'll make it back to port."
"That's good 'cause you owe me four cigars."
"Uh, don't you mean three? We destroyed the Vulture."
"Yeah, but I softened him up for you and then acted as bait to trap him between us. So technically you still owe me four cigars."
Huh? I was confused. But I was too tired to argue.
"Whatever you say buddy. Let's just meet back at Carey Station, I'm hungry." I plotted our course and Kay charged the FSD. "Oh, and Alpha?"
"Yeah?"
"Thanks"