A glance at his rear scopes heartened the Zabrak. The Naleran security force was keeping tight together, firing in good formation, picking off the scattered, confused Zynt'aia fighters. The two IRDs died to salvos of missiles, and the Y-wings and more modern Z-95s that slipped past the wildly maneuvering Rebel pilot were picked off by precision fire.
The view forward, however, sickened the pilot. The Dark Horizon loomed large, turbolasers firing at the oncoming wave of fighters. Halyn's Mark I Headhunter, despite the snubfighter's age and obsolete engines, continued to foil the gunners' best attempts to track his ship. Reddish lances of energy flashed by close enough to blind the pilot, but Halyn continued to evade.
The last of the fighters were past his Z-95, and the only Zynt'aia who survived the first pass--two Y-wings and a Z-95--were scattering away from the engagement, scared off of the Naleran assault. They'll come back, but we took them completely off-guard by our attack. The Dark Horizon, though...
"Dark Horizon, this is Commander A'Lerris Verata. Break off your course. The Darksing D-45 is under our protection."
The commander of the cruiser didn't bother to respond with words. The turbolasers' rate of fire doubled, intense laserfire seeking to annihlate the gnat-like snubfighters. "Lead, recommend you break off," Halyn said frantically. His Headhunter rocketed over the top of the Dark Horizon close enough that the shields brushed, throwing sparks--close enough he could see the expression on one of the topside gunners' faces. "These turbolasers are going to blow us to pieces if we get too close and the autoassist systems lock us down."
"Negative, Nine. All fighters, lock onto the Dark Horizon with missiles and fire," A'Lerris calmly ordered.
Not enough, Halyn thought. It won't be enough.
A fireball rolled over the Warlord's shields as concussion missiles exploded against the warship's shields, completely obscuring the ship for a moment. A moment later, the fire receded with no oxygen to support it, revealing an unmarked warship beneath it.
"Evade!" A'Lerris screamed. "Evade!"
The two green pilots, the siblings recruited to the security force, didn't even make it to the Dark Horizon's hull. The turbolasers locked onto the two slowest fighters, vaporizing both with a pair of neatly-placed shots. Only a brief fireball marked their passing.
The rest of the Naleran pilots scattered, trying to get range away from the Dark Horizon. Snout, the Rodian pilot, was caught in a flurry of turbolaserfire and vanished, completely vaporized. Halyn swore aloud over the comm and slammed his hand down on the comm unit, flipping it over to widecast.
"Override code Jessik-One-Nine-Nine-Six-Five-Six-Alpha-Gamma-Delta-Seven!" he shouted.
The Dark Horizon's guns stopped firing. A forward turbolaser managed one last shot before it failed. The lone reddish bolt reached out and slapped A'Lerris's Z-95. The Headhunter's engines flickered and died, leaving the ship helpless in the cruel grip of Tatooine's gravity.
"Halyn?" Elle asked across the channel. "What did you just do?"
"No time to explain!" the Zabrak shouted as he dove after A'Lerris's uncontrolled Headhunter. "The Zynt'aia are bringing fighters back. Argus, take the squadron and get the Darksing out of here!" Hang on, A'Lerris, he thought desperately as he pushed the Headhunter's throttle to the firewalls.
"I'm out of control," A'Lerris said, glacially calm. "Everyone, get clear. Get the Darksing back to the platform." She paused for a moment. "Nine, break off."
"Negative, Lead."
"That's an order."
"I don't work for you." Both Headhunters were beginning to vibrate as the snubfighters began to enter atmosphere. "Lock your wings forward, Lead. It'll slow you down."
"Nine..."
"Do it!" Halyn's hands danced over his own controls, the wings sliding back to minimize drag. His fighter slowly gained on the other, the two craft tracing fireballs towards the planet surface. The other Naleran fighters, the Darksing, and the Zynt'aia behind. The universe narrowed for the Zabrak. Only three things still existed: his fighter, A'Lerris's fighter, and the planet below. "No time to argue, Lead. Do you have any power left?"
"Some repulsor. Not enough."
"Sublight?"
"Just a little."
"Bring your sublight and repulsor up to max," he said.
"As ordered.Pitch, yaw, and rollaren't responding. Stick is dead."
Hal bit his lip. The other's snubfighter was slightly nose down, meaning the sublight drives would do no good towards slowing the fighter's decent. "Kill your sublights, repulsorlifts only." I wish Deuce were here, he thought for a brief moment as he contemplated his options for saving A'Lerris from certain death in a high-speed crash.
He'd tell me how dead we're both about to be.
Message Edited by Halyn on 10-23-2005 12:42 AM
Halyn Lance -- Rara Avis Flight School
Common sense is highly uncommon....has mastered the Pilot profession."I'll type this slowly so even Imperials can understand...
"
--Michael Stackpole, RS IRC
