[AN] I know y'all probably have been thinking, dammit, Yet Another Abandoned Story(tm).
But like Korra, Kuvira, and Asami keep reminding me, "We will not falter, nor will we fail (eventually)"
Buckle up, Ferrets. We're going in.
"Asami!" I rasp out. "How big is Unalaq's sensor range?"
Behind me I can hear Asami banging furiously on her keyboard. "Could be anywhere four hundred to six hundred megameters."
"At this speed that's what, five minutes before it's too late for him to shut things down?"
I hear her exhale loudly through her teeth. "More like three, maybe two and a half."
"Hold on to your butts..." I hear Kuvira mutter and I grunt in agreement. I force my hands to release their death grip on my flight stick, reminding myself that I was a decorated fighter pilot with nerves of steel, never mind that the love of my life was sitting three feet behind me as we flew towards likely death. My eyes are fixed on my HUD, seeing the deceptively innocuous blips representing our little ships, the distant mindless death machine, and our ultimate quarry — my asshole uncle and his stolen ship and his greed.
"Colonel Korra, I have detected active sensor pings from the Empire ship. " calls out Raava. "And the mine has again accelerated."
"We're peeling off now, Avatar," Bolin adds.
There's a long pause, then I blink as alarms start blaring when my fighter's sensors detect a massive explosion. I wasn't ready for this; there's no way the mine is close enough to have intersected the ship.
"Little Mouse, come in!" I shout desperately, rolling us away to put my tail to what's coming.
"Holy shit," breathes Kuvira. "I thought they'd just disable it, not detonate it. Fucking hang on!"
There's a crackle of static, then to my immense relief I hear Bolin's voice, a little shaky but there. "Mouse to Avatar, we're good. Taking a bit of a ride but we got far enough away to avoid anything too scary."
My fighter shakes violently as the first of the aftershocks rolls over us and I punch the thrusters to stabilize us. I hear Asami curse nervously as I fight to keep us steady. Gradually the shuddering eases, and I'm able to swing us back around.
"This is tame compared to last time," I assure her.
"I don't know if that makes me feel better or worse." I wince as I hear a telltale tremor in her voice.
"It makes me feel better," I assure her even as I squint at my HUD. "And clench your gut muscles and take deep breaths. It helps if you're feeling queasy." My HUD is failing to tell me anything useful. "Fuck. Boss, I can't tell if any of that hit the ship. Let's go take a look, shall we?"
"Copy that, Avatar."
"Aye, Cap. We'll be right behind you."
"If we're lucky it's a smoking ruin," Kuvira mutters.
I snort. "Copy that, but when are we ever that lucky?"
"Never," I hear her sigh. "Fucking hell."
—
"I have visual."
"Copy that, Boss," I reply. "What are we looking at?"
"Definite damage aft. Looks like only one engine is active. Oh shit, getting a sensor ping."
A moment later my sensor beeps at me and I raise one eyebrow. "Huh."
"What?" Asami asks behind me. Apparently the deep breathing worked as the tremor is gone from her voice.
"We're being hailed." I thumb my comms button into broadcasts mode and channel my inner bureaucrat. "This is a Terran Federation Scout Ship. You are in Federation space without appropriate authorization, but you appear to be in need of assistance. Please identify."
I can almost feel the eye roll from Kuvira despite the thousands of kilometers that separate us. I will get shit for this later.
After a moment I get a crackled reply. "The Terran Federation can fuck itself, Scout Ship." The voice is familiar, to my annoyance. "What did you do to my mine?"
"Not a damn thing," I reply and allow myself a smirk as no one can actually see me. "But it does seem to like chasing things."
"Clever," comes the sneered response. "Good luck trying to convince a bombardment missile to follow you."
"What? Wait..."
"Bombs away, Scout Ship."
"No!" I cry. "Unalaq, what are you doing?"
There's no reply.
"Boss," I shout, panicking as my scanners pick up a new blip speeding away from the Empire ship. "What do you see?"
"Shit. One missile just launched. Wouldn't think they were close enough for this to work."
"The missile does not have a guidance system but the trajectory gives a high enough probability that it will intersect with the Terran home system to cause concern." Raava announces.
My comm crackles again. "That was my taster, as it were. You will withdraw immediately or I will launch the rest of them."
I grind my teeth but a calm fury settles over here. "You know I can't do that, Unalaq, you miserable son of a bitch. You've sealed your fate with that launch."
"I can detonate it." My uncle's voice drawls. I have no doubt of of his identity now. The same tone as my father's but whereas my father's voice is warm with empathy and joy, my uncle's voice has always been cold and sardonic. "I've been wondering who might know it was me. Hopefully you therefore know what I'm capable of."
"You weren't hard to figure out," I snarl. The Empire ship is finally coming into view, and I see sparks and flames shooting from at least a third of the ship. The mine apparently caused significant damage and it was spreading. "And you're not exactly in a position to negotiate."
"Oh, I disagree. Have you ever spent time on a prison planet? I'd rather go out in a blaze of glory than go back to that, little Korra. Yes, I just realized who you are. All those interviews you gave as the hero of the Federation. They got lots of airplay on the mess hall monitors. Maybe it was to try and incentivize us to be better. For most of us, though, you're just a tool, and not even a human one at that, with all your new... parts." His voice drops to a growl and he spits out his words. "So run along and tell your masters I want to get paid immediately. Everything they have. Then I might consider recalling these."
To my horror, I see a stream of missiles pour from the Empire ship, following the path of the first with a deadly intent. My stomach churns in my terror and rage.
"Fuck you to hell," I finally growl, and kill the broadcast. "Boss, Mouse! We're going in!"
"Copy fucking that, Avatar," Kuvira snarls.
"Korra," Asami chokes out behind me, but I interrupt her.
"How long will it take those missiles to reach our system?"
I hear a shuddering sob and an answering pang in my chest at what she must be feeling right now, what we're all feeling. But the need to act burns hot in my gut and I have to struggle to keep the harshness out of my tone. "Asami! How long?"
"Calculating," she says finally, her voice raspy with emotion. "Seventy two hours, maybe a little less."
I've been circling around the Empire ship looking for a hanger entrance, wincing every time I see sparks or flames fly. Finally I see a large opening, thankfully in the forward third of the ship and apparently undamaged. "Okay, we have a little time. Boss, get on the horn with Izumi—"
"Colonel Korra," Raava interrupts. "I have been assessing the target ship. There is no indication of damage mitigation from the mine explosion being applied, or if applied, any abatement."
"What?" Kuvira demands, her voice baffled. "Are you telling me nobody's putting those fires out?"
"That is correct Lieutenant Colonel Kuvira."
Acid bile rises in my throat. "How long, Raava?"
"I do not have sufficient information for a fully accurate assessment, Colonel Korra," the AI responds after a brief pause. "But based on current readings and the most likely internal structure of this ship I estimate it is between ninety minutes and three hours before the oxygen storage of the ship is breached if the current progression is left unabated." There's another minuscule pause. "Ships of this era had a combination of tank storage and an algae generation system, but there's no way of knowing with certainty the total amount of oxygen resident in the system. However, there is a high probability that whatever the actual amounts, it will be more than sufficient to result in catastrophic destruction."
"There'd be no way to disable those missiles!" Asami cries out.
"Well, fuck," says Kuvira.