We hit three hundred meters per second when I hit the boost! I was actually having a fun time! I had been a military pilot, after all. I brought the nose around in a wide swinging arch. Pointing the ship toward the oncoming Slicers. They were actually close enough that I no longer needed the scanner. I could identify them visually. What I saw didn’t comfort me.
Rixton threw himself into the Co-Pilot Station, his hands rapidly flying to the controls, swinging the turret on top of the ship to bear. He kept giving me surprised glances from the corner of his eye, however. I don’t think he expected his one-off hire to be the one to take command in a crisis. This wasn’t what Rixton was used to, I could tell. This kind of action was reserved for pirates, mercenaries, the Navy, and the unfortunate. I was hoping to avoid becoming the latter, today.
The two Drake Interplanetary Buccaneers broke first. One swinging up and port, the other diving down and starboard. If you’ve never seen a Buck, they’re unassumingly small. Agile, quick, and lightly armored; they’re not a threat on their own. However, with support they have teeth. They’re quite dangerous.
We’d be lucky to come away from this alive, even if those two were the only issue. The Starlancer TAC in the middle was going to be an even larger problem. It did not break with the rest, and instead began to circle us in a wide arch to our port side. Keeping its nose on us.
The action started in seconds. There was no melodramatic lead up. There was no hail. Guess they decided that talking was a waste of time. The first set of laser blasts glittered across our shields and the shields of a nearby Prospector. It was time to pull some questionable tactics and maneuvering. I pushed forward on the stick and smoothly brought the throttle to full power.
The Mole responded. It’s rear starting to swing upward in a controlled motion, “Hold onto something!” I took a small moment to clench my ass cheeks. This was going to be one of my more hair brained ideas. I was just sure of it. Would it get us killed? Probably. Better than dying without a fight. I hit the shipwide PA on the arm of my chair, “Mason! Get on a Laser Turret! Time to shine!”
I trusted that kid. I knew he could pull off what I was about to try. Just in case though, as I switched off the PA, I tapped the right hand holopanel. Let’s see… configurations, systems, status panels. Finally, I found it. Communications. I typed in a mobiGlas address and hit the hail button. We were almost in position for what I was about to try.
Right as Rhys responded to the hail, I hit the boost, I didn’t even give him time to talk, “Rhys I need… woooooooooooaaahhh shiiiiiiiiiit.” The boost had taken me by surprise. The damned thing was definitely fast. It felt like I was steering with those ass cheeks, with how hard I was clenching. The better the pilot, the stronger the ass muscles. Prove me wrong.
Rhys’ voice broke through my surprised exclaimation, “Alexis? Wait.. what the fuck! Where are you?” He seemed a little pissed. Well, I mean, I didn’t tell him where I was going. Though he’s not technically my keeper, he’s my bodyguard. My second-in-command, as he had been for my father. I suppose he did have a right to be a bit miffed.
I pulled the stick to the port side, and then swiftly angled it back. Alongside that, as the ship lurched into an arc, I let go of the boost, allowing it to sail under its own momentum for a moment. This brought the bow of the Mole to face one of the Buccaneers. I had a quick moment to formulate a plan. Rixton wasn’t interested in having any more fire come our way. I could tell. It was in the way he was screaming as he missed targets. I was pretty sure Rhys would hear that, but I responded anyway, “No time! Call Rivera! Your Nine Line contact! Pretty sure he’d like to know there’s Slicers heading into his terf!”
Rhys responded, “Oh yeah! I’m sure he’d love to know. You know what I’d love to know? How you came by this information? When you’re supposed to be in your Hab Room.” However, I didn’t get the chance to respond immediately. My plan suddenly came to fruition. The Buccaneer broke from his original position, moving toward our starboard side. I moved to intercept him, as his wingman’s weapon’s fire riddled off the shields. His Distortion Cannons were pretty much useless until our shields were completely down.
I threw the Mole to port and used the thrusters to swing our armored flank toward the Buck I’d been aiming for. Then reached down and hit the ships PA, “Now, Mason!” Then I kicked us back to Starboard with the stick, passing danger close to the Buccaneer’s left engine and wing. The mining laser activated. Just as I had planned. Mason figured out what I meant. I thought he might. Smart kid. The other Buck was just above us. He got to watch as the Helix II Laser incinerated his buddy’s cockpit and sheared off his left wing. Talk about getting your wings clipped.
Rhys spoke over our channel, “Who’s Mason!? Grimm, what the hell’s going on?” I still didn’t have the time to respond. I threw the stick back and to the right this time. The ship blasted upward and starboard as soon as I hit the boost. We got closer and closer to the, almost stationary, Buccaneer. We’d gotten out of range of the Freelancer. It was having some trouble trying to keep up, and failing to make a dent in our shields. It had some engine damage from their last engagement. That would be my guess.
At the last second, I threw the stick to the right again. I used the thrusters once more, maneuvering the Mole’s Port-Aft armor panel over the Buck. When we were just mere seconds apart, I side kicked it. The thrusters fired on the Starboard-Aft Panel of the Mole. Its giant, orange, armored panel slammed directly into the cockpit of the other Buccaneer. In a moment, it was crushed. The rest of the remaining Buck was sent rocketing off into the direction of the asteroid belt. Just more space junk. The pilot inside? Who knows. I didn’t wanna go check. Rixton’s voice rang out at the moment of impact, “Shit! Fuck! Do you have any idea how much it is to repair this thing!”
The Mole showed red on its status for that panel. However, it did look to be intact, still. I kept turning through the impact. I brought the nose of the Mole toward Cru-L1. I took a deep breath. We were almost out of this mess. Alive, no less. Why was I almost disappointed?
Rixton didn’t have long to bitch. I had already gotten our path aligned. I finally responded to Rhys, “Just hail him, would you! Would you believe me if I told you a magical Kopion appeared and told me all about it? Fuck, what do you want from me!” I said, activating the Quantum Drive. This brought down our shields. There was still enough in them to keep the fire from the Freelancer at bay. It was just barely scoring a shot or two on our rear quadrant. Whoever their gunner was, needed more training. Or beatings. Depends on the crew of Slicers.
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