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In all honesty, I'm not a big fan of combat. I just love flying. The rush it gives you... hey, I'm only 22. Cut me some slack. I'm still young. Gulo's CAP was just about finished... I think a few pilots from the Aces were set to take over for them in less than fifteen. Lightning and I were in the middle of a card game before we got the call. I was glad it came; I was out of money and Lightning probably could have left the table with my rank pins, boots, socks and pants. Believe me, I was not looking forward to doing MY CAP without pants. Lightning, of course, knows I'm horrible at cards and is milking it for all it was worth. He probably would have bet his CAP shift next, putting me in the cockpit for a full twelve hours. Thankfully, Hoshi came over the intercom right then: Action stations; set Condition One throughout the ship. Lightning and I look at eachother, drop the cards and bolt. I still don't remember if he ever got any of the money on the table back... Some nugget probably came and nicked it. We're running to the hangar and Major Hawkie appears from behind us. He'd been in CIC talking with Garner about the CAP schedule or something. He tells us we've got a small convoy with fighter escort, and that Gulo's outnumbered. At least eight Raiders. I could only curse silently. We get to the hangar to find that they've got Hawkie's and my Vipers sitting just outside the tube, ready to go. Lightning's has one more check before he can launch. So I jump in and begin my preflight. Weapons, thrusters, Dradis. All in the green. I was a little lower on fuel than I should have been... some nugget must had been training on my Viper again. I didn't think much of it. I was out of the tube moments before Hawkie. Hawkie's not a stickler for regs when it comes to emergencies, so I hit my burners to try and get to Gulo that much faster. Hawkie would only be seconds behind, and Gulo and Sidewinder needed help NOW. I don't know that anyone else got in the air immediately after us... I'm sure they did, but my attention was riveted toward getting to the furball in time. The way the last two Raiders flew... it was eerie. They weren't like most of the Raiders we'd faced. They had tactics down pat. One would break, a Viper would follow, and nearly get chewed by the other Raider as it did. I was still about ten seconds out, so I did the only thing I could think to do: I popped a few shots off at them from long range to get their attention and moved on toward the convoy. If they would realize that I was going to take out their charges, they may turn to catch me and be fodder for the rest of the AirGroup. I didn't look back as I passed them... looking back gets you killed if you've got enemies in front. The Heavy Raiders tried to break to catch me, but I popped off a missile at one of the freighters and dove, meaning they'd have to turn to track me. The missile managed to hit the engine of one of the freighters, igniting the fuel line and taking half the ship out. By the time I'd had time to flip around and fly back toward the group, the furball had escalated and nearly died again. The other freighter's FTL had been hit, I guess, because it hadn't jumped out like it should have. Why else would it stay and risk valuable cargo? The Heavy Raiders had been reduced to two. The Raiders were gone. Hawkie signals me to form up on his wing, and we unload our missiles into the remainder of the ship I'd nearly taken out. It was a lucky hit... the other freighter had turned to face the 58th head-on, and took most of the damage on its bow and port sides. Someone managed to rupture something internally, because then the freighter quickly became a rapidly expanding ball of flame. Gulo and Sidewinder turned for Pegasus as I hit bingo fuel, so I took off after them. Hawkie stayed to finish the fight and watch the rest of the AirGroup... CAG's got responsibilities, after all. The sooner I could get back and forget this fight, the better. I'd barely gotten to know Caboose. |