(Written by: Robbie Burgoyne , player of ‘Sapper’ Bio here- http://www.obsidianportal.com/campaigns/stories-of-the-39th-midnight-squadron/characters/robbie-sapper-burgundy)
WARNING! PROXIMITY ALERT! MISSILE LOCK!
“No shit,” Sapper mumbled to the flight computer as he put his 325a into a tight corkscrew. “I’m looking right at him.” The ship rocked as another flurry of laser bolts flew past, close enough to make his face shield auto polarize.
With a quick hand Sapper engaged the chaff system and fired off another burst of laser fire and scored a direct hit on one of the six Pirate Cutlasses swarming him. A millisecond later the ship’s engines went critical, and with a bright flash the ship became space junk. With a quick adjustment of his vectoring thrusters, Sapper flipped the ship 180 while killing his mains and coasted through the wreckage of the Cutlass.
MISSILE LAUNCH! 100 METERS…75 METERS…50 METERS…25 METERS…
Firing the chaff and killing all power, Sapper drifted; completely black as the missile passed so close he could have read the manufacturer’s label.
FLASH!
The missile detonated soundlessly among the wreckage and chaff mix. Bringing weapons on full power he targeted 4 of the remaining Cutlasses with missiles, and another with lasers cannons as the Pirates crept in to confirm what they assumed was a kill on his ship. Pressing the firing stud for both weapons, Sapper caught the pirates by surprise. Two of the novice enemy pilots panicked and crashed into each other in a last ditch effort at evasive maneuvers. Engaging full power to engines, Sapper quickly mopped up the remaining heavily damaged Pirates with a few quick bursts from his cannons.
A quick scan of the area Indicated that of the 14 pirates that had attacked the convoy he and the Midnight Squadron detail were guarding, 12 were destroyed and the other two were limping away with his two wingmen spiraling in to give chase.
“Leave them be,” Sapper said over the squadron net. “It will do MS a favor if we let one or two of them go back to tell their boss that fourteen of their fighters couldn’t take three of ours.” With a slight chuckle Sapper did one more scan of the area before lighting up the cigar pulled from his flight suit.
“Escort flight report in.”
The accented voice of his female wingman sounded into his ear. “Marx, Still here, Ship in the green.”
Cav’s gravelly voice came over the com next. “This sucks too much to be Heaven so I guess I must still be here. Ship in the green”
“Ok, form up on the convoy- same deal as before, we may only have one jump left till we are home, but I’m out of missiles and I don’t want us being complacent. Find a Tanker and stick to his shadow.”
His grin widened as a thought came to him. Why not dodge the after-action debrief and mess with Mother Goose at the same time? Fourteen to three and we hardly even took shield hits. Why tell Ursula about this one and be subjected to the anxious scrutiny she wielded over both crew and ships after a couple harmless dogfights? He could be relaxing in the bar and officially off duty before her post op scans picked up any sign of the encounter.
“Oh and let’s not tell Mother Goose about this one, I think I will be funnier that way”….
guardianwulf 