fire on our vessel?”
The gap between her and the enemy was closing. She had to convince him fast. “I’m not firing at your hull Balta; I’m firing at your shields! Are you seriously questioning the vice-commander of your own legion at a time like this?”
“Of course I’m not, but it is not my ship, it is the Captain’s-”
“No, it belongs to our Lord Cerberus. Do you think he would like to hear of your disobedience to me?”
Something clipped her wing. She was getting frustrated now. After another pause of silence, during which she could hear Balta arguing with someone outside their conversation, she saw a brief flash on the Infernus as the power of its shields were increased to maximum. She knew the ship would have to sacrifice weapons power to do so, but she wasn’t in need of those.
“Firing flares!” she announced , more to herself than any outside observer of her madness.
The heat-intense projectiles flew from her fighter like a shower of promising stars. She pulled harshly on her joystick, slamming the engines into full-forward thrust as she forced her Voidhawk into a steep climb. She missed the Infernus by a matter of metres, but the Phantoms, dependent on heat-seeking sensors and radar, were too slow to determine which source belonged to her. As she hoped, they tracked the flares instead of her fleet.
It was not the sight of the explosions that caught her by surprise, but the actuality of them. Part of her expected the Phantoms to see through her plan and to continue tracking the heat of her craft, but instead they had fallen for her trick like she counted on them doing. Of course, they would have perceived the massive signature of the Infernus on their radar, but if they saw what they thought was her Voidhawk continue towards it, they would have assumed it safe to follow her. Instead, they were met with a wall of pure energy that saw them obliterated upon impact.
“That actually ended well !” Aetius remarked, close enough to her position to have seen her stunt.
“Not for them” she smirked.
When she pulled back round to view the centre of the battle, she could perceive a hundred different events unfolding. Destroyers duelled with each other, a pair of Blackstars fended off an Oblivion, enemy carriers were trying to deploy troops to the ground of Erebos and were harried by squadrons of frigates whilst everywhere swarms of Voidhawks danced with their Nightshade opponents. It was both her training and experience that taught her the skill to sift through what she saw and find the priorities.
“Aetius,” she began, her voice more serious than it had been for hours since the beginning of the battle. “Identify the ship approaching the planet from the portside of Nighthunter . Is it what I think it is?”
She pushed her fighter towards the scene, twisting out of the path of others and evading the majority of duels where her help wasn’t needed. Eventually Aetius was able to reply, his own reality occupied with a superiorly numbered enemy. “It is indeed an enemy carrier, if that’s what you mean”.
Vulpus ignored his attitude. Their friendship existed beyond the boundaries and limits of rank, their experiences in war shaping their understanding of each other to know when things were said with intent or if they were spoken flippantly. “And those things leaving its belly?” she pressed.
“They would be Nester drop ships. A lot of them, I’ll give you that” he confirmed.
Vulpus could see that, but somehow she needed someone to confirm it. She groaned to herself. For the last few days the legions had been defending the planet from enemy invasion with everything they had. Very few if any legionnaires, pilots in particular, had enjoyed much sleep. They were too busy fighting every moment of their waking lives, to save the human population down below who should have been evacuated months ago, to rest.
The gap between her and the enemy was closing. She had to convince him fast. “I’m not firing at your hull Balta; I’m firing at your shields! Are you seriously questioning the vice-commander of your own legion at a time like this?”
“Of course I’m not, but it is not my ship, it is the Captain’s-”
“No, it belongs to our Lord Cerberus. Do you think he would like to hear of your disobedience to me?”
Something clipped her wing. She was getting frustrated now. After another pause of silence, during which she could hear Balta arguing with someone outside their conversation, she saw a brief flash on the Infernus as the power of its shields were increased to maximum. She knew the ship would have to sacrifice weapons power to do so, but she wasn’t in need of those.
“Firing flares!” she announced , more to herself than any outside observer of her madness.
The heat-intense projectiles flew from her fighter like a shower of promising stars. She pulled harshly on her joystick, slamming the engines into full-forward thrust as she forced her Voidhawk into a steep climb. She missed the Infernus by a matter of metres, but the Phantoms, dependent on heat-seeking sensors and radar, were too slow to determine which source belonged to her. As she hoped, they tracked the flares instead of her fleet.
It was not the sight of the explosions that caught her by surprise, but the actuality of them. Part of her expected the Phantoms to see through her plan and to continue tracking the heat of her craft, but instead they had fallen for her trick like she counted on them doing. Of course, they would have perceived the massive signature of the Infernus on their radar, but if they saw what they thought was her Voidhawk continue towards it, they would have assumed it safe to follow her. Instead, they were met with a wall of pure energy that saw them obliterated upon impact.
“That actually ended well !” Aetius remarked, close enough to her position to have seen her stunt.
“Not for them” she smirked.
When she pulled back round to view the centre of the battle, she could perceive a hundred different events unfolding. Destroyers duelled with each other, a pair of Blackstars fended off an Oblivion, enemy carriers were trying to deploy troops to the ground of Erebos and were harried by squadrons of frigates whilst everywhere swarms of Voidhawks danced with their Nightshade opponents. It was both her training and experience that taught her the skill to sift through what she saw and find the priorities.
“Aetius,” she began, her voice more serious than it had been for hours since the beginning of the battle. “Identify the ship approaching the planet from the portside of Nighthunter . Is it what I think it is?”
She pushed her fighter towards the scene, twisting out of the path of others and evading the majority of duels where her help wasn’t needed. Eventually Aetius was able to reply, his own reality occupied with a superiorly numbered enemy. “It is indeed an enemy carrier, if that’s what you mean”.
Vulpus ignored his attitude. Their friendship existed beyond the boundaries and limits of rank, their experiences in war shaping their understanding of each other to know when things were said with intent or if they were spoken flippantly. “And those things leaving its belly?” she pressed.
“They would be Nester drop ships. A lot of them, I’ll give you that” he confirmed.
Vulpus could see that, but somehow she needed someone to confirm it. She groaned to herself. For the last few days the legions had been defending the planet from enemy invasion with everything they had. Very few if any legionnaires, pilots in particular, had enjoyed much sleep. They were too busy fighting every moment of their waking lives, to save the human population down below who should have been evacuated months ago, to rest.
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