Explosions blotted out space. Some bright and quick, brief glimpses representing the death of single pilots racing to stop the oncoming storm. Some, long and deadly, going over increasingly on ward and on ward and on ward, blinding those who witnessed it. Destroyers and Cruisers, and defense platforms meeting their final funeral pyres, their crews suffering for the endless void, to oblivion.
A lone starfurry was racing past, performing acrobatic maneuvers as it turned around and delivered another spread of high yield plasma bolters into the Draque ship's engine compartment.
Lt. Scott Patterson, Earthforce pilot, had to wretch his engine control stick full around, swinging his fighter around in the opposite direction, and then accelerating down and away from the enemy vessel that was attempting to get a target lock on his fleeing vessel. They never managed to.
"All fighters, all fighters. This is the EAS Pluto, we have taken heavy damage to our port bow, rotation is down, we are loosing artificial gravity on all sectors, need defensive assistance as we withdraw from battle!" He heard in his helmet.
He spun around as much as he could in his seat to look at the ball of fire that his ship was turning into, then he did a sweep of his scanner display, and saw his wingman was able to catch up with him.
"Alpha 4, you there?" Patterson's Wingman asked.
"Yeah. You ready for this?"
"But of course I am."
"Good, stand by to turn in 5….4….3….2….1…..0…full rotation burn!" He flung his stick in the opposite direction again rolling his fighter over as the retro rockets fired to bring him on his new course, his partner gently glided in on his wing and they both flew to their ship, eager to protect it.
They both spotted an enemy cruiser on their scopes, and gently glided in behind it, shredding speed as they attempted to get in behind the enemy vessel.
"They have seen us!" His com blared the alert. He threw the throttle open as his four engines added their power to his thrust. He then delivered four precise hits to the enemies starboard engine, then he swung up and went along the access of the enemy vessel, attempting to draw fire for his wingman who….
He looked on his radar as he watched his wingman pull off the difficult maneuver, he nearly cut his engine and pointed his nose toward the enemy, and then delivered a long stream of blue energy right along the hull of the enemy ship as he glided on down it.
He had to turn around in horror as he saw a white beam of energy strike the other starfurry, ripping it to shreads. He pulled back quickly on the flight atmosphere that was going on around him, on his displays, as he inverted his ship the other way he came, crossing over by its bow, completing one full rotation.
He pulled up hard on his stick making sure his retros fired bringing him up and close to the enemy vessel, but now speeding in the direction that he started out in, going along its axis. Right in between the crossfire from the EAS Pluto, and the one that he just hurt.
He had to spin out of the way as a high energy beam crossed his path and ripped a new hole in his ship causing an explosion, his fighter pivoted and swung, then rolled under the torrent of energy. He then had to accelerate past the hurtling debris as a piece missed his fighter and struck the side of the enemy ship.
A hail of plasma pulses then crossed his path as he went right on through the axis, and hit the engine compartment of the vessel, ripping it to shreds and causing debris and explosive forces to go throughout space, he accelerated right on through it, the fire ball engulfing his canopy, he saw nothing but clear space ahead from there on after wards. He pivoted back, and looked at the battle. Most of the Pluto's superstructure was engulfed in fire, scorchmarks, and general damage.
"All fighters, and all Earthforce vessels nearby, we are abandoning the ship, I repeat, abandoning ship, give us some covering fire as the shuttles leave the bay."
He wrenched and his seat to look at the attacking of the enemy fighters as they ran right into the ship, as shuttles began to spew forth from the Omega class Destroyers Launch bays.
He turned his fighter into a tight right hand turned using the retros to pass right on up to the top of his Destroyer. He pushed up his throttle to full to go down the entire axis of the Destroyer.
He threw the entire weight of his after burners on as he rocketed down the lenghth of the ship, inverting slowly as he did, one complete turn. An explosion happened in front of him, but he powered through it, turning as he did in order to come up and around behind the enemy fighters, which this plan worked. He wound up with two of them in his sights.
But that was it, for they both broke off, one going straight left, and the other down right. He powered through and followed the left one, as he spooled up his bolters, the Gs causing the straps to start tightening against his torso. The fighter danced in and out of his target lock as he attempted to get a lock, praying slightly that he would soon be able to, the only thing, this guy seemed to be good. Finally, with a yip of success, he pressed down on his firing launching a burst right into the tail pipe of the fleeing fighter.
He looked up and noticed that the dogfight had forced him way too close to the flaming ship. He quickly reversed his course as he went back to full burners, the fighter almost responding to both orders instantly, as the ship behind him exploded in a ball of ion and fusion. He nearly flew forward in his straps, he could feel, and hear, one of them snap off. He bashed his facemask and head on the front of the console, causing blood to start dripping down. He shook his head to clear it, and looked back over to what was once his ship. From what he could tell, only five shuttles had made it off before it met its death.
He then checked around all of space that he could see, looking for any contacts that he could go and find to kill. Forgetting momentarily to check his sensors, he did so. And saw a couple of Draque fighters fleeing from the scene at maximum speed, about 75 KM off.
He pulled his throttle forward again as he accelerated after the two. Pausing slightly as he noticed two more fighters approaching his rear, he turned around and fired a pulse at one of them, hitting the fighter in its port side and causing it to crumple and explode. The other enemy ship veered off hard.
He took off at the original group who took off toward the planet killer that was still looming at the edge of his scanners.
He then had to look behind as bolts of plasma flew past his fighter, he checked his scanners and picked up the vague window.
He threw his retros up and popped his fighter straight up into the air and turned directly to face the incoming fighters, as his retros fired bringing all motion to a stop.
Firing his plasma at the incoming enemy fighters again, taking one out, he then had to invert his plane and turn slightly to fire at the other one, taking it out as well. Satisfied he took a moment to relax, breathing a sigh of relief.
That was his mistake, his fighter lurched terribly, lighting up all the warning alarms as it went into a free spin, stars swinging in his view finder, as he realized that one of his engines were blown off.
He was slowly loosing consciousness at the spinning starscape in his view, he said a quick prayer again, as he completely blacked out.
