Disclaimer: I don't own Elsword or any of its characters.
A/N: Hi everyone! I was given the chance to choose the next writing prompt for the Elsword Fanfiction Brigade and I chose "Outer Space". Ooo~ So here's my work for the prompt. I... did very little in actual editing since I just wanted it posted but hopefully there aren't too many grammar or spelling errors. I went a bit overboard with the story length but i just got so caught up in the one-shot story that I just had to put EVERYTHING I wanted in it before i closed it out. That being said, tell me what you think! Writing it gave me a lot of ideas for an actual plot in the future but damn is describing space combat hard. I don't even know if I did it right. If the story gets support I might consider writing another chapter.
"Looks like a normal hunk of rock to me," the pilot said as the drilling unit drifted closer to a particularly large asteroid. Fleks of space debris rattled against the rusted metal frame of the ugly brown and gun-metal grey ship as the pilot expertly tapped the reverse thrusters and throttled the rotational controls, veering around bigger chunks of floating minerals. As the ship drew close, the pilot ran a scan of the surface of the targeted space rock and found no sign of what he sought after. He grunted and opened a direct com-link with the collector unit.
"Harvester-002, this is Lumberjack-006, you sure this has any El in it? I'm not reading any energy anomalies." He waited for an answer as he brought the drilling unit to a complete stop in front of the rock. Size-wise the scaling between the ship and the asteroid were comparable to an ant standing before an elephant.
A young woman's voice answered.
"Lumberjack-006, as stated before: our scanners have confirmed the presence of El in your region. Your queries are a waste of precious time which we lack with the oncoming solar storm."
"Bah, the solar storm isn't scheduled for another three hours. How bad can it be? I got plenty of time."
"Accurate as our instruments may be, we cannot risk losing another ship to recklessness. I'd prefer you back before then."
"So you're worried about me, Harvester-002?" the pilot grinned.
The female on the other end didn't answer.
"Hello? Aisha? I'm talking to you."
Never losing that air of professionalism the female opened the comm once more.
"Lumberjack-006, time is ticking."
The pilot grumbled and flicked the switch, engaging the four large drills that flanked the edges off the cockpit. With a careful hand he pushed the throttle ever so gently, causing the ship to drift forward towards the asteroid surface. He pressed a few buttons, firing the tethers that punched through the rock surface, effectively anchoring him to his target. Engaging the drilling support gear, the ship's tethers pulled the vessel onto the surface nose first and allowing the pilot to bury each of the drills into the chunk of space rock.
Noise doesn't carry in space, but it does through solid matter. The pilot had to activate the noise cancelling mechanism to drown out the ear-splitting grinding noise that echoed throughout this cockpit. After engaging the auto-drill mode he took off his enclosed helmet and shook the drops of sweat from his blood-red hair.
"Time is ticking," he quietly mocked the coordinator, floating out of his seat to dig through the tiny onboard fridge just behind the pilot seat, "Giving me the biggest piece of crap to dig in and telling me it's my fault I'm wasting time…
"It's not my fault that our harvesting unit is always behind. It's her damn fault for picking the most dangerous places to search for El… that's why we're always coming up short.. I'm surprised Chief Hagus hasn't fired her ass, yet."
The pilot continued to mutter to himself as he found his favorite bag of cold soda and unscrewed the cap. With his free hand he guided his body back up and over the backseat of his chair before he settled into his seat. Like all drilling units, there was little to no room in the cockpit. If there was a second passenger they'd have to stand behind the pilot's chair and a third person would effectively have to spoon the second passenger if they didn't mind screws and bolts of the engine access door pressing against their back.
Despite its small space, however, he still made his 'office' a home away from home. To his left was a bulletin board of pictures of him and the crew of ten that all worked with Harvester-002. On his right was a calendar of pin-up girls and a collection of postcards of different city-planets and colony ships from his older, more successful sibling, Elesis. A favorite of his collection featured a beach surrounded by exotic trees he had never seen before. "Visit Planet Velder!" was tagged on a conveniently placed billboard and written in his sister's handwriting were the words "WISH YOU WERE HERE!" On his dashboard were an assortment of bobbleheads ranging from his favorite sports teams to a Velder Red Knight given to him by his late father. He kicked his feet up on the controls, reclining his chair as he watched dirt continuously ping against the viewport. This was going to take a while.
"Lumberjack-006? Lumberjack-006? Do you read?"
It was the coordinator. The pilot stirred from his nap. How long had he been out?
"Elsword… If you're out there, please respond this instant!"
The pilot rubbed the sleep from his eyes and slammed his fist on the button to open the comms.
"What is it…?" Elsword mumbled. He checked the clock on his dashboard and found that only two hours had passed since he started dozing off.
"Elsword?! Oh, thank the gods… Are you okay?" Aisha said in a panic.
"Yeah… I was having a nice nap. What's going on?"
"We've lost contact with Lumberjacks one through five. Something's not right."
"Comm interference happens all the time. Maybe they're deep in some magnetic field. This is an asteroid belt, after all. You never know what these rocks are carrying in them."
There was a bit of shuffling on the other end followed by a playback recording that screamed in his ear, forcing him to lower the volume.
"Harvester-002! Harvester-002! This is Lumberjack-003. We've lost contact with one and two! Repeat. We've lost contact with one and two! We're not alone out here!"
"Lumberjack-003, Harvester-002, say again? What do you mean you've lost one and two?"
"We've lost them, coordinator. Someone or something blew up their ship. I saw it! Confirmed kinetic weapons fire from-"
Static.
"That was the last transmission from 003," Aisha's voice shook as she spoke.
"Pirates?" the pilot asked, shutting off the drill and disengaging the tethers to his ship. He activated the wipers for his viewport and strapped himself in as he waited for his field of view to clear. "How the hell are we going to get back to base in one piece? We're a good day's travel away."
"We're not sure. It's in the middle of nowhere so seeing them out here is highly unlikely. We've been trying to get a hold of 004 and 005 for the past ten minutes but no luck so far. Elsword, you have to get out of there. Right now. Report back to the harvester and we'll make a short jump to the home ship on other side of the star system."
"A short jump? Don't we need a qualified pilot for that kind of maneuver?"
"I think we can manage," Aisha responded.
"You think…"
"We're going to have to if we want to make it home in one piece. Trust me. I've done it before."
"Right… Well if the space pirates don't kill us, your piloting w-"
"Elsword? Elsword what happened?"
As the dust and grime washed off his viewport, the pilot could only stare wide-eyed at the object resting in front of his ship.
"I… think I found something."
"What? Is it the pirates?"
"No…" Nothing but blinding blue light filtered through his viewport, forcing him to shield his eyes from the sheer brightness. "I think I hit the jackpot."
"You mean El?"
"Uh huh."
"Elsword, forget about it. We have to get out of here."
"But Aisha, it's literally nothing but pure El right in front of me. Just taking a ship load of this stuff home would set all of us up for a whole year!"
"Elsword, we can NOT risk your life for this. Report back immediately. The longer we're out here the more likely we are of being discovered."
The pilot shut off the comms and cracked his knuckles. Powering on the drills once more he engaged the collecting arms and began carving his way through the valuable resource. Like hell he was going to let an opportunity like this escape him. After months of picking at scraps, this was the entire colony's chance at making it big. There wouldn't be a single hungry mouth to feed if he made it home with this.
Minutes went by and he already managed to fill half his cargo with pure El-an amount equivalent to months of scavenging and drilling. He just needed a little more time.
"Lumberjack-006! Where in the hells are you?!" The coordinator shrieked in his earphone.
"I'm on my way! I'm on my way, sheesh!" Elsword shouted back as he stuffed another arm full of El into the cargo bin.
"Oh gods… you're still in the asteroid belt, aren't you?"
"I'm just about ready to leave."
"Elsword, people have died a few moments ago. That doesn't bother you in the slightest?"
"You don't understand, Aisha. There is literally nothing but El in this rock."
"I do understand but if you're out there then we will be leaving without you. There are other lives on the line here. We can find another resource node later."
"But-"
"No. I'm not risking anyone's life for money. You're either here in the next few minutes or we are jumping."
"Fine!" the pilot growled, disengaging the collection arms and throttling the reverse thrusters.
Backing out of the deep hole he dug, the half-filled drilling unit rotated the ship around and started his return trip to the harvester. Thousands of space rocks stood between him and his ticket home. With space rocks hindering his view and no sign of whatever attacked the others, Elsword was on high alert as he carefully weaved through the asteroid field as fast as he could. His years of experience weaving through dangerous debris was put to the test as he skillfully dodged and rolled through the rocky surroundings. All the while, he could hear the half filled cargo rattle around loudly behind the cockpit.
"All that wasted El…" he grumbled, catching a glimpse of Harvester-002 taking refuge at the edge of the asteroid belt behind a rather large planetoid.
Movement caught his eye amidst the sea of asteroids. It was brief but whatever it was darted from behind one rock to another. He focused his attention to it. Nothing but floating debris could be seen and it made it near impossible to see anything out of the ordinary. What was it waiting for?
He couldn't focus for long as his focal point disappeared from his viewport's cone of vision. He felt the hairs rise on end as paranoia soon got the better of him. With the Harvester in sight, the pilot slammed on the throttle, pushing him back against his seat as his ship rumbled forward faster and faster.
Something flew past his viewport, flying across his top left and disappearing in his bottom right. Another. And another. Closer this time. His entire ship jolted violently as red warning lights filled his displays: there was a breach in the cargo's airlock and engine one was leaking fuel.
"Elsword!" Aisha's voice filled his ears as he strapped on his environmental helmet.
"I know!"
"They're right behind you!"
"I know!" Elsword responded, pushing the mining unit to its limits. He was less than a hundred kilometers out from the harvester now.
"Two of them! Fighter units looks like. Els… Oh my god they're gaining!"
"You're not helping!" the pilot screamed, rolling his ship to the side as metal slugs narrowly missed his ship.
Flipping on the rear-view camera feed he spotted the two pursuers. Unlike the typical pirate ships these ships were pincer-shaped. The cockpit was built as a bridge between two pointed engines that flanked it on either side. The ships were also built with a strange alloy that gave them a shimmering green tint. A flash from both as one of the slugs glanced off the ship's hull and sending his ship on a spin.
"Reverse thrusters one and three are fried. I have no way to effectively come to a stop now."
"Elsword… no!"
"Don't give up on me, yet, Aisha," the pilot said, veering his ship hard to the left and dodging another volley of slugs, "Start the N-drive engines!"
"But what about you?"
"I'll be there. It's just… going to be a little rough," he said, straightening his trajectory towards the harvester once more. Less than fifty kilometers. He was closing in fast. Or at least as fast as his rust bucket of a ship could take him.
"I'm going to need you to activate the tractor rails! This is… a bit harder to control without working engines," he said trying to keep the ship from drifting towards the left.
"Tractor rails engaged," his coordinator said. Blue guiding lights were projected ahead of him as the harvester ship drew closer in his view He just had to line it up just right and he'd be good.
His ship shook once more and he felt the ship lose momentum as his two right main engines flew past him and exploded in a fantastic display of red and orange.
"Hang on Elsword!"
Left at the mercy of his one remaining engine and the laws of physics, the ship careened lopsidedly towards the closing tractor rails. He flipped a switch, activating the receiving rods for the railing and a blue web-like light fanned out in front of him, waiting to come in contact with the projected railing. Slugs flew past his viewport as the pursuing enemy ships looked to finish the mining unit off.
"C'mon you piece of crap… C'mon…" The pilot said through clenched teeth as he pulled the control handle as far to the left as he could. It seemed to do little as the Lumberjack continued to veer off to the right.
There was a loud clang of as the receiving rods bent under the strain and his ship lurched back towards his left.
"Got it!" he shouted as the tractor rails corrected his trajectory straight into the Harvester's waiting port.
An explosion shook his ship once more as the last of his engines were blown off setting the cargo storage ablaze.
"I can't stop by the way," the pilot radioed.
"Seriously? Okay, wait!" The ship's coordinator could be heard barking orders to the crew on the bridge.
"Wait she says…" he mumbled as he throttled the reverse thrusters. The two on his right did little in slowing him down.
"Safety nets are ready- Ah!" The Harvester's hull burst as one of the pursuing attack units turned their attention towards the larger barge hiding behind the rock.
"Not yet," Elsword said as the Harvester was merely twenty kilometers away now.
"Elsword!"
"If you deploy them now I'll be an easy target!"
"Els…"
"Trust me! On my go." He stared at his range finder as new collision warning lights filled his screen. Slugs whirled by the cockpit as the Lumberjack glided in a crash course towards the other ship.
Ten kilometers. He was dangerously close to the ship now.
Eight. Any ship traveling at this speed would already be considered obliterated slamming against the harvester's hull.
Six. This was insane.
"Go!" he screamed into the mic just as the range hit 5km.
His viewport was filled with a projected blue light and he felt his body thrusted against the safety belt. It was a sensation akin to colliding head on with a brick wall heavily layered with pillows and it continued as he drew closer and closer. No longer did it feel like hitting a wall but rather being pressed against it.
The designated parking spot took the burning ship in and he came crashing through the loading docks and into the thick metal wall at the far end of the port.
Every bit of his body hurt as he laid unmoved in the pilot's seat. His viewport was shattered and his prized bobblehead collection lay adrift before him. His prized Velder Knights floated in pieces on either side of the cockpit. A postcard drifted in front of him depicting a sunny beach with rows of exotic trees surrounding them. "Visit Planet Velder!" Could be read at a conveniently placed billboard with the words "WISH YOU WERE HERE!" written on it in his sister's handwriting. If only.
"We got him!" another voice echoed on his radio.
"Initiating short-range jump! Hang on everyone!" Aisha could be heard speaking in the distance.
He felt his body press against his seat once more as his little office stretched and compressed around him. Warp drive. He never was a fan of it. It always made him feel queasy at the end. The pilot shut his eyes as his head slumped forward, letting sleep take him.
"Is he going to be okay?" a muffled voice said.
"So far his vitals are normal. Bruised but not broken. It's astonishing really; his ability to go from supersonic speeds to zero in such a short distance," another said.
"And you said there were two green ships?" another voice asked.
"Yes. We lost five of our men to them."
"Were they following you?"
"I… I don't know."
Elsword's eyes slowly opened to see the back of a young, purple-haired woman standing off to his side. Still dressed in her laborer's uniform: a form-fitting grey and off-white full body environment suit, her purple hair that normally fell to just above her shoulders hung disheveled over the helmet locks resting at her shoulders. She was talking to two other people. By the sound of it, the other person was one of their colony ship's doctors and the third was easily identified by his gruff voice. It was Lowe.
The doctor quietly motioned at the bed and the woman turned around, purple eyes shining as they met with the pilot's deep red orbs.
"Elsword? You're awake!" she looked as if she were on the verge of tears.
"D-did we get away?" the miner said as he felt his coordinator wrap her arms around him.
"Yes you did. And by the skin of your teeth by the sounds of it," A man garbed in a red environment suit said. His light-brown hair was shaved down to their stubs and an orange glowing shard of El hung around his neck flanked by a pair of dog tags. "Ruben Chief of Security" was printed in block letters on the left breast of his suit with the name "Lowe" printed right below the title.
"So Aisha's short jump worked?" Elsword adjusted himself uncomfortably under the weight of his coordinator's body and he jabbed at the girl's rib to let go.
Aisha jumped back, standing upright and clearing her throat as her professionalism returned. "Of course it did. I said I could do it. It was actually quite-"
"A huge risk," Lowe finished, shaking his head in disapproval, "Had you missed your mark, you could've jumped to an unknown point in space several parsecs away with no way to get your bearings. You could've doomed your crew."
"I knew what I was doing!" Aisha retorted, "I've done it before!"
"How many times?"
"Once," the coordinator trailed off.
"Oh! So that explains why we found your ship drifting alone in space about one year ago, huh?" Elsword added, connecting the dots.
"That also explains why her re-entry wasn't exactly on point. According to the logs: Harvester-002 arrived six hours after we received their SOS," Lowe said, crossing his arms.
Elsword's coordinator buried a fist in the red-head's gut as she put his weight on him until he tapped her arm in submission.
"It was either we jump and find our way home six hours later or get torn to shreds by whatever it was that attacked us," Aisha argued, "And I'm almost certain these weren't your normal pirates. Had we traveled back the normal way, we wouldn't even be standing here talking to you."
"Six hours… I've been out that long?" the pilot said, rubbing his head groggily.
The doctor nodded. "You had quite the concussion according to your harvester's nurse but other than that you were fine. According to Miss Landar's report, had the safety nets been deployed even a fraction of a second later, you'd be a vegetable. But since you're all well and good, we should be able to take what you've managed to scrape by and repair maybe half of the mining unit you destroyed."
The sleep quickly left his eyes as the pilot sat up from his bed. "Half…? Wait, what? What about all the El I managed to grab? There was enough to last us at least a good few months."
"Really? Well that's a shame since the aft of your ship has a big hole on it. Most of the mineral must've fallen out during your return trip. But I suppose-"
The lights of the cold metal room of the medical bay flickered as the ship shuddered unnaturally.
Red light filled the room as an alert sounded throughout the ship.
"What was that?" Aisha asked, stepping closer to Elsword's bedside.
"If it's not space pirates it might be your new friends," Lowe growled as he ran to the medbay door. He paused at the door and turned to the other three as he remembered protocol.
"Doc, is the kid good to go?"
The glanced at Elsword and quickly nodded. "He should be."
"Then all three of you should head back to your quarters. Keep the doors sealed. We'll take care of whatever's hitting us."
With that, the ship's security chief gone, Aisha turned to Elsword, offering him a helping hand as he slung his legs over the bedside.
"Can you walk?" she asked, watching as he took her hand and wobbled to his feet.
"I think I can manage," Elsword mumbled. Again the ship shook, causing him to fall over the girl who just managed to catch him. She grunted under his weight but helped him find his balance.
"Thanks… been a couple days since we've had gravity so just gimme a sec."
"Don't worry about it… Doc? I think I got it from here."
Nodding, the doctor went ahead, leaving Aisha to help Elsword find his gravity legs once more. The door hissed open for them and the two slowly made their way through the narrow corridor that traced the starboard side of the small colony ship towards the residential zone. Several large viewports lined the right of the corridor, letting the orange glow of the distant star filter into the hall.
"I thought we were going to lose you, you know?" Aisha muttered as she lugged the young man around.
Elsword chuckled, "Yeah well you would've if you didn't wait for me."
"I couldn't help the others, though…" She kept her face hidden but the pilot picked up the very subtle tremble of her voice.
The redhead stopped her as they stood in front of the doorway leading to the hangar. The pilot pulled his arm off her and regarded her quietly as she kept her gaze away from his.
"For the six hours we spent traveling back to Ruben, I could do nothing but listen to 003's last transmission. The fear in his voice… the moment communication died… he died along with it, you know? And I didn't do anything to help."
"You couldn't have," the pilot said, watching as his coordinator seemed to shrink from his words, "you know as well as I do that there was nothing you could've done to help him or the others. What happened to them wasn't your fault."
"I still feel like it is… I chose that place to survey, after all… I don't know. I just wished there was some way I could help."
He gave her a hard pat on the shoulder, garnering his superior's attention, "You did it because you wanted the best for the colony. You always choose the places with the highest yield despite the hazards. And we all agreed with you because we knew we could handle it. What happened after? Those ships? They were a factor no one could've predicted. Don't beat yourself up over it."
Aisha said nothing. She kept her eyes downcast and rubbed her arm as she visibly battled the demons in her head.
Again the ship shook, causing the two to grab the nearest guardrail. Two ships cut across the viewports at supersonic speed. Elsword watched as the two pincer-shaped attackers looped around for another strafing run, orange light glinting off both ship's shimmering green alloy.
"It's them," the coordinator's face grew pale as she spoke.
"They followed us? How? Why?"
"I-I don't know. I was sure I lost them in the jump…"
Shouting could be heard further down the hall as Lowe and two of the security team members sprinted towards the hangar.
"Move!" Lowe shouted to the two falling behind him, "They already took out two of our other four fighters!"
As the three drew closer to Elsword and Aisha, a flash caught the young man's eye. By the time he saw it, he already knew what was coming. In that split moment, the pilot grabbed his coordinator by the arm with one hand and the railing with another. He tried to warn the others. He wanted to shout "Look out!" but the words stopped at his throat. All he could do was brace himself.
In that instant, a hole was ripped into the hallway as a slug punched through the ship's hull. Elsword clung to the railing as the vacuum threatened to pull all five of them out into cold space. Aisha screamed as she hung on for dear life as her feet literally left the floor. Lowe could be seen clutching the railing with both arms as the two other pilots dangled off each others hips.
Looking around, Elsword spotted the controls to the hangar door and he pulled the young woman up with all his might in an attempt to free a hand. She wrapped her arms around his neck as the powerful vacuum made it near impossible for him to find the strength to pull himself closer to the control switch.
With a rush of adrenaline he pulled himself up and his hand found the panel. The door hissed open and he summoned all his physical strength to pull him and his coordinator into the safety of the hangar.
"What about Lowe?" Aisha shouted through the vacuum.
Anchoring himself he looked back in astonishment to see the security chief had managed to pull his way along the rail with two other bodies attached to him. It wasn't looking good, though as the furthest back was literally hanging on to the second member's ankles which turned and twisted at an unnatural angle.
Elsword gripped the railing in the Hangar doorway and extended a hand towards Lowe. The security chief took his hand and he helped him up and around the corner. As the second member was being pulled to safety, Elsword's fears were confirmed as he watched his leg bend around the corner of the hallway. The entire time, he was screaming in pain as the third member of the security team clung on to the man's leg.
"I can't hold on, chief!" Elsword could hear the third saying as the second was pulled further into the hall.
Hearing this, Lowe threw himself around the corner again, reaching for the third only for Elsword to see the second pull both his broken legs in and clutching them as he tried to keep from completely losing it.
Lowe slowly withdrew with the third member nowhere in sight. He rolled to his rest his back against the wall and he slammed an angry fist against the hangar's door controls, sealing the airlock next to him. With the vacuum no longer a threat, the remaining four were able to stop and catch their breath as Lowe looked at the object tightly clutched in his hands: a necklace bearing a pair of dog tags and a glowing violet El shard.
The security chief raised the dog tags to his forehead and shut his eyes, saying a silent prayer before looking down to the other security officer on the floor. "How're you doing?" he said, kneeling down to the man's side. The injured officer simply stared up at the man.
"This? It's nothing… I'll be up. Just give me a moment," the security member forced out a weak laugh before letting his head fall back on the cold metal. Elsword didn't know when death actually took him as his eyes seemed to just stare unblinkingly up towards the swirling red warning light above them. It didn't occur to him that he was dead until Lowe slowly closed the man's eyes and pulled the necklace off him with a heavy sigh.
The Chief of Security stood, placing a hand on his ear piece. "I've just reached the hangar and I'm about to deploy."
Elsword could hear frantic voices coming from Lowe's earpiece and he listened as the back and forth between the chief and his men continued.
"Yes it's just me… No. They're gone… Gone as in dead. One's iced and the other bled out… Yes, we're all that's left…"
Lowe's eyes narrowed at a suggestion and his gaze was immediately fixated on the coordinator and the miner next to him.
"Is this really necessary?"
More shouting on the other side of the commlink and he turned to the two with a grim look across his face.
"You two know how to pilot a ship, right?"
"Been a pilot since my father put me on the driver's seat when I was a kid," Elsword replied confidently.
"Okay. Good. And you, Miss Landar?"
The purple-haired woman tilted her head. "I've piloted a range of small vessels and larger frigates over the years. Why?"
"And your experience with fighter crafts?"
"Oh gods…" Aisha stepped back, shaking her head as she immediately knew where this was going.
"I understand that this may be a difficult choice but… if we don't buy enough time for our N-drive engines to kick in, the colony may be as good as dead," Lowe said, extending two glowing El shards-one a deep red and another a bright violet- towards the two.
Elsword was the first, grabbing his eagerly and staring at the beautiful red gemstone that rested between his fingertips. Aisha, however, refused.
"I can't… go out there… I don't know how to pilot one of those…"
"You said it yourself," Lowe retorted, "We're short handed as is and you said you have piloting experience. It's basically the same thing. Just a bit faster and the controls are a bit more sensitive."
Aisha stared at the glowing shard waiting for her in Lowe's hand. She took another step back, shaking her head as the purple locks whipped about.
"Aisha. C'mon," Elsword begged, "Think of our crew. You said you wished there was some way you could help right? This could be it."
Aisha's purple eyes met with deep red ones and she could feel her heart thumping as the conflict in her mind reached its climax.
"If you couldn't help them… help their families."
His eyes were searching hers and she once again felt like she was back on the Harvester-002, the feeling of helplessness welling in her chest as one by one the miners fell to the attackers. It was the same as back then. But now, she had control.
She shut her eyes, letting out a long exasperated sigh as she blindly snatched the El and gripped it tightly in her hands.
"Are these the fighters?" Aisha was very clearly confused, running along the colony's security hangar that held the last three remaining ships in reserve. Being the first time she's ever seen an El-powered fighter up close, she had thought the ships would have looked a bit more… finished.
Suspended before her were essentially three skeletons of ships with nothing more than a frame made of a strange chrome-like alloy. Each skeleton had a distinct cockpit stripped down to its basics and the frame of what looked like the designated slots for engines. With no engine.
"First time seeing one of these?" Lowe asked as he leapt onto the cockpit of one of the available fighters.
"Unfortunately, yes… I'm sorry, but, can these things even fly?" Aisha mumbled, watching as Elsword climbed into the seat of the one next to Lowe's.
"That's why we have these," the Chief of Security held up the glowing shard, "When you get settled you'll see a keyhole for the El shard I've given you."
Aisha climbed aboard the last remaining fighter frame and took a seat at the cockpit. Before her was a single flat metal panel with a deep slot right at the middle just as Lowe described. Curiously she took the glowing violet gem and slid it into the panel.
After a brief flash, the skeleton shook to life as the chrome-like material began to glow and take shape. Like an invisible veil pulling away to reveal the ship, the fighter was generated from nose to rear thrusters as panels of sleek white metal filled in the gaps between the frames and complexed circuitry materialized before her very eyes. The ship took a very sleek form, bending and adjusting the frame to create a vessel with a long pointed nose and slanted canopy flanked by two large wing-integrated engines. The wings themselves were inverted, coming to a sharp tip that was capped off by two plasma cannons.
"Initiating startup…" appeared in yellow in a projected display and flashed green after a brief moment. The engines roared in the cockpit and Aisha was bombarded with a wave of display panels and target finders where she quickly found herself overwhelmed by the amount of projected keys and controls before her.
"He called it the battle magician," Lowe's voice echoed in the commlink.
"What?" Aisha was still unable to process all of this.
"Your ship, Battle Magician, is equipped with a pair of anti-matter plasma cannons and El-generated swarmer missiles. The engine is a special El powered N-drive that allowed pinpoint phase shifts. Think extremely close range warp jumps."
"Whoa!" Elsword shouted excitedly as the blazing red ship formed around him. Unlike AIsha's shorter, square-like frame, the ship that generated around Elsword took on a more triangular shape with the wings integrated as part of the ship's main hull. The ship boasted three large thrusters built into the three fins while an arsenal of kinetic weaponry lined the bow along the front of each wing.
"And what's the name of this little beauty?" Elsword said with a smile as the canopy sealed the airlock around him. Lowe's face appeared in a projection off to the young pilot's left.
"It's called Sheath Knight. She has a pair of the old fashioned T42 rail cannon and two tri-barrel autocannons. It can't jump around like the Battle Magician but the E-drive engines make up for it with extreme maneuverability. Careful, though, since the hyper-mobility of the ship can do a number to your body."
Lowe's ship took the form of an orange spear. The name "Lord Knight" was printed just under the ship's canopy as wing-mounted rocket pods were generated next to a wing-mounted autocannon. Upon completion of the startup phase an energy grid came online, creating a protective shell around his ship.
"The controls are essentially the same for your commercial class," Lowe said as he rotated his fighter around to exit the dock, "Though you'll find it a lot more sensitive. Weapon controls are on your right and access to your ship's special modules are on your left. I'd fill you in on more of each of the ship's features like how to unlock the enhanced combat mode but we don't have time for piloting lessons. Are you ready?"
Elsword spun his ship around as well and just as the Security Chief warned, he overshot his 180 degree rotation by an additional 180 degrees and he was forced to take it around one more time.
"I think I got it," Elsword grunted. He looked about his controls and tentatively pushed the throttle forward. His body was pressed against his seat as his ship shot out of the hangar, leaving the other two in the dust. Nothing but excited squealing could be heard through Elsword's channel and the ship corkscrewed upward as he fiddled around with the tight controls. Lowe was right. The ship was a lot more responsive compared to the rusty frigates and mining probes he had piloted before and he easily surpassed his record speed with just a twitch of the throttle.
The face of one of the other security members winked in on his projection screen.
"Finally!" he said as he looked to be struggling on his end, "Where the hell were you, Lowe?"
The Security Chief's face appeared next to the other member. "Was giving the newbies a quick tutorial. How're you two holding up?"
Off Elsword's starboard, he spotted Lowe and Aisha's fighters just as they were leaving the hangar.
"Two? It's just me," the security member said as he visibly seemed to be struggling to keep his ship under control.
"What's your status?" Lowe could be seen glancing over his other open panels as he tried to locate him.
The security member grunted again as a flash could be seen behind him. In the distance, directly ahead of Elsword's vessel, was a tiny explosion that mirrored the flash on the team member's screen. The man looked over his shoulder as beads of sweat ran down his forehead. Red lights flashed all over his screen as he looked at the camera one last time.
"Dead."
The commlink was cut as the tiny explosion erupted into a larger burst of fire. Shimmering green light could be seen cutting through the burst of fire as one of the mysterious attackers looped back towards the colony ship.
"Oh shit…" Elsword mumbled as he realized the ship was heading right for them.
"What do we do?!" Aisha's voice could be heard shouting in the comms.
"Calm down and focus. One target at a time. There's two. We take this one out then we move to the next-"
"Missile Lock Detected" flashed on Elsword's screen.
"Swarmers incoming! Behind us!" the security chief barked. Bringing up the rear-view panel, Elsword spotted dozens of incoming swarmer missiles.
"Flares, flares, flares! Fan out and regroup!"
The three ships split as a volley of flares were ejected from each ship. The guidance systems of the missiles caused each to spiral out of control as the young pilot veered his ship portside. The swarmers detonated around him as he threaded his ship out of the pocket of explosions.
As he turned his ship around, he spotted the source of the missiles strafing at a safe distance away from the three. Unlike the first attacker, this one looked to keep the fight strictly at long range. Another missile lock warning could be heard and sure enough another dozen swarmers were launched from the far away ship.
The pilot dumped another batch of flares as he pushed the throttle once more, gunning straight for the distant ship.
"Ah! It's on me!" Aisha screeched as she narrowly avoided the high velocity slugs. The enemy ship tailed her as she wildly veered her ship in random directions.
"Hang in there! Keep her steady!" Lowe's ship appeared, flanking behind the pursuing enemy fighter.
"I can't keep her steady that thing's going to kill me!" Aisha screamed, taking her ship on a sudden dive that threw both the pursuer and Lowe off.
Getting a clean lock, the security chief launched a missile that the green ship immediately shook off with a flare. Realizing it was being chased, it rolled to the side and suddenly slowed down, causing the Lord Knight to fly right by it.
"Aisha, split up, we're going to have to make it choose-"
Lowe's fighter burst into flames as a torrent of metal shrapnel chewed through the energy shield and a well placed slug tore through the ship's left engine.
"Lowe!" the coordinator cried as she looped back around to help.
"Elsword! One of my engines are down! Do you have a bead on that ship?" Lowe said through gritted teeth as he struggled to keep his ship from veering towards its portside. There came no response.
"Elsword? Els? Where the hell are you?!" the security chief barked.
On the opposite end of the colony ship another battle had taken place. Elsword learned the hard way that the flares were only stored in batches of two and were generated continuously over a set amount of time. He was still a good thirty seconds away from his next batch as the dozen swarmer missiles tailed after his ship.
He also learned, however, that the swarmer missiles had poor locking capability. With every sharp turn or sudden stop he made there would be a high probability that one of the swarmer's programming would malfunction. This was all in the heat of the moment as he dove and corkscrewed his way through the relentless hail of missiles. Every time he managed to shake several off, the attacking ship would launch another dozen, causing him to play this never ending game of cat and mouse with the missiles.
"Els? Where the hell are you?!" Lowe's face appeared on the commlink.
"A bit busy," the pilot said, his tongue sticking out to the side as he focused on threading between two bursts.
"We're dying out here and you're busy?!"
"I'm getting the other fighter," he replied, snap turning his ship around towards the enemy. Now within firing range, Elsword armed his autocannons and responded with a hail of bullets. The enemy darted past him and he used his ships hyper mobility to spin his ship around and instantly begin the chase.
"I said we're going to focus on one. Your actions are going to get us killed!"
"I'll… be there… in a second," Elsword replied as he maneuvered his ship around in an attempt to keep the green ship at the center of his crosshairs.
"To hell with him!" Lowe cut the connection and took his ship on a sudden climb, dodging another deadly slab of metal. Still on fire, the ship's mobility was all it had as the Lord Knight's reduced speed made catching up to him incredibly easy.
"Aisha? You got a clear shot yet?"
"I've been shooting at him this entire time!" the coordinator said as she the plasma cannons fired matter-disintegrating rounds haphazardly at the target that expertly avoided each shot.
"If you can't hit him use the swarmers!"
"O-oh… How do I do that again?"
"The right control panel! Rotate the controls to scroll to the next one."
"Damn, sorry! Okay, hold on…"
She brought up the weapon control panel and swapped to the missile armament. The crosshairs on her display changed and multiple lock-on indicators tagged the ship in front of her. Before she could pull the trigger, however, Lowe's video feed cut off as a burst of fire lit up the area in front of her target.
Bits and pieces of debris from Lowe's destroyed fighter smashed against her ship's hull.
"Lowe?! Lowe!" In a surge of panic Aisha launched a volley of swarmer missiles that the enemy fighter had to quickly fire off a batch of flares once more.
The flares failed, however, as a stray swarmer hit flush with the enemy ship's hull. A plume of smoke left a thick trail in the damaged ship's wake and it maneuvered wildly about as Aisha capitalized on the wounded target.
Getting a full lock with another salvo of swarmers, the Battle Magician launched its full payload of swarmers chased the enemy down. The coordinator watched as the fighter struggled to shake each missile but its reduced speed ultimately spelled its doom as it only managed to shake off five of the twenty missiles before exploding into fiery space dust.
"One down here, Lowe's gone. Elsword are you okay?" the coordinator opened the connection with the pilot once more and saw his face locked in deep focus
"Almost got 'em…" he said, hitting the overdrive as he slid into the open pocket between a halo of swarmer missiles. He flew past, forcing the missiles to turn and meet at the same point, detonating behind him as he closed the distance once more against his slippery opponent.
He held down the trigger, firing another rope of slugs that bounced off the enemy's powerful energy shield. The shield buckled, however as it shattered like virtual glass and the slugs struck his opponent's right engine and sending the ship spinning out of control.
"Yes!" Elsword shouted, pumping his fist in the air.
"Thank the gods…" Aisha muttered in response. Both of them watched as the fighter continued to spin towards the colony ship.
"Did you see that, Lowe?!" the pilot asked excitedly, "Lowe…? Lowe?"
"Elsword. He's gone."
"What? How?"
"Didn't you hear me? I said he was gone before you took that other one down. He's dead, Els."
"Lowe…"
The enemy fighter smashed into Ruben's hull. Boring a deep hole into the ship's port side.
"That looks bad…" Aisha commented, looking at Elsword who looked to still be in mourning over Lowe's death.
"Come on. We'll worry about the dead later. We have to check on the colony."
"And the others?" The coordinator pulled off her helmet, shaking her sweat-covered bangs away from her eyes.
"Given how closely knit we all are, any loss is a great loss. We suffered casualties. Some were iced while others died from the ship plowing into the hull. Thankfully the atmospheric safety lock engaged and kept most of the victims from being pulled out of the ship. Though we had to deal with the fire on the ship's main deck afterwards. Based on the damage I surmise the fatality count to be around the tens or twenties with even more being injured," Captain Hagus said as he stroked his beard as he took them not to the main deck but towards the lower brig of the ship.
"So then if there's a fire why aren't we being sent to fight it?"
"That's not your job description," Hagus commented, "Nor is being a fighter pilot… but now that we have absolutely no security whatsoever we'll have to make do with you two for now."
He stopped at the security wing and both Aisha and Elsword looked at each other uneasily.
"Captain Hagus, with all due respect, sir," Aisha began, "I don't think either of us are cut out to be fighter pilots. We barely scraped by and what happened out there was pure luck."
"Even so. You have more battlefield experience than anyone else on the ship. We're just a bunch of old folks and children. You know that. You wouldn't want to have any of us take your place would you?"
"N-no, captain. I wouldn't…" Aisha responded, dropping her eyes.
"It's just a temporary fix. A placeholder, if you will. We'll find replacements hopefully when we return to Planet-City Elder."
"Elder?" The coordinator scratched her head, "Aren't there closer outposts than that? I'm sure there are a few good places to pick up a few mercenaries."
"Mercenaries are expensive. And expenses aren't exactly what we have, given our situation. Besides, we have to figure out what to do with our prisoner."
"Prisoner?" the two asked in unison.
"Yep," Hagus opened the door to the security wing and led them down the corridor to one of the ship's few holding cells.
"Pulled her out of the wreckage after she came crashing in. Don't really speak her language though so I was wondering if either of you two spoke elven."
"Space Elves?" Elsword scoffed, "they're just a legend. They don't exist."
"Oh yeah? Then who's this?" Hagus punched a code into a locked door and the cell door opened to reveal a humanoid garbed in green cloth lined with gold. She had long, flowing yellow-green hair and pointed ears. Shackled to the wall, the elf could only stare them down with her sharp eyes as she struggled to move against her bindings.
"No… way…" the redhead whispered softly.
The elf's ears twitched and her brow furrowed as she spat a slew of what Elsword assumed was profanities in a language he didn't understand.
"What do you plan to do with her?" Aisha asked, stepping closer to the elf who stuck out her chest and looked up at the purple-haired girl as if to challenge her. Aisha quietly shook her head, kneeling down to the Elf's level with her palms outstretched as if trying to reassure the elf that she didn't mean to harm her.
"Dunno. Like Elboy said, they're supposed to be legends. Ain't no better proof than the real deal, right? Can't speak our language so we could ask the higher ups in Elder what to do with her. Until then we got a few days worth of warp traveling just to get there. Reckon you two can hold your own until we get there?"
Elsword rubbed his chin in thought and snapped his fingers, "We'll do it."
"Els… are you sure we can?" the coordinator asked, turning to look at the two men.
"It's like four or five separate jumps with a break in between each to recharge the engines. That's not that many. And besides, it's on known Imperial territory. We should be safe within our borders, right?"
"I guess so…"
"So then it's settled," Hagus nodded, "You two will be our temporary security officers until we can find us some properly trained pilots. Come on, you two, I'll show you your offices then we can move on to getting a proper headcount and patching up the ship."
Aisha dusted her knees off and rose to her feet, following the two men out.
"We'll hunt all of you down," a female's voice said behind her and Aisha spun around to see the elf staring daggers into the young woman's soul.
"W… what did you say?"
The elf refused to say anything and simply sneered at her. Slowly the girl backed into the doorway as she looked to call over the other two.
"I know who you are, Aisha Landar," the elf continued, "Tell them. Tell them I know your tongue and I will tell them exactly what you did."
The coordinator felt her heart leap to her throat as she fully backed into the hallway. She shook her head, glancing towards the two men then back at the elf. Gulping heavily she slammed her palm door controls and the metal door hissed shut, separating her from the alien. Aisha clutched at her chest as her heart threatened to pound right out of it. "How did she… that's… impossible…"
"Aisha!" Elsword yelled from the other end of the hall. "Check it out! Your office is huge!"
Taking a moment to recompose herself, she brushed her damp bangs away from her eyes, straightening herself once more as she breathed in the air and exhaled all the tension in her body.
"Coming!" she called after him, hurrying to meet up with the others.