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How Love Blunders All... - Jeremy Hunter - 01-18-2012
Rei rolled her eyes at David. She had been scared before, but the shock had worn off and was replaced by defiance. Rei took a few deep breatha, pacing her breathing as she collected her thoughts. She had to calm down, collect herself. He got the drop on her, but damn it, she was part of the Oathkeeper, and she was not giving up.
"Baka gaijin... you think I would sell out my friends so easily?!" she shook her head. "For all you know, there are hundreds of us. As for firepower, more then enough to take you on. And what do we want? Simple. Justice for the atrocity committed to a girl for no reason other than sick pleasure." She spit some red-tinged saliva from her mouth. "And how did we find this place? Very carefully asshat."
Before David could respond, the alarm sounded.
The two ships had come for another pass. Both came in independantly, never coming from the same way or passing to close to the other. Neither stopped moving. They were like ghosts; there one moment, gone the next. There was no discernable pattern, no spot they always passed. Their altitude always changed. They were not amateurs.
Out of nowhere, laser blasts and missile rained down from the sky, never from the same place. Whatever help for Rei that had arrived was not holding back.
---------------------------------------------------------
Meanwhile, Strix sprinted through the forest, her eyes focused on the mansion before her. She had to find Rei now. All contact had been lost, and the two could not keep up thier invisible dance. Strix kicked off a tree trunk to vault over some rocks, slid under a fallen tree, and leaped to swing over a gap. She stopped and threw herself back, avoiding the bullets of her adversary. A snapping twig betrayed her opponent. Strix had just managed to dodge, but felt the blossom of pain that signified one met thier mark. Glancing down, she saw that one skimmed the top of her chest. Wasn't too deep, but still painful.
"So. I was not alone it seems." Strix replied coolly. She drew her katana. "Care to dance?" She said, adopting afighting stance. Her katana reflected the woods around her. Her eyes focused solely on the woman before her. She grinned a bit. Now that was a fine speciman of the female gender. Too bad they met in battle and not a bar. But hey, one could pick up a date anywhere...as long as Violet didn't find out of course.
Strix glared at the woman before her in challenge as the laserfire and missile barrage rained down before them.
How Love Blunders All... - Gforce - 04-25-2012
David held his serious facial expression as the blasts passed, "It seems your help has arrived. Well, I better cut this short." he leans back in the chair, spinning his pistol in his right hand. "So, seeing as you’re not willing to talk, and that I have more... pressing issues to address, we’ll have to continue this later. But not before..."
Suddenly he stops spinning his pistol, aims for just a fraction of a second and fires. The single bolt passes through Rei's left arm, causing her to scream in pain.
"That’s for not cooperating. You’ll get your next chance after your little sleep." Rei had just enough time to look up from her arm to see David’s right elbow heading for her head. In one swift moment David had knocked Rei unconscious, her body crumbling to the floor.
David then starts walking back to the chair. "Now bring up---" He stops himself from saying any more as he turns back around to Rei, "Just in case you’re bugged..." He then drags her out of the holo room, securing her to the bar, "You won't be going anywhere for a while." He then heads back inside.
As soon as the door closes David says aloud: "Identify ships." The holo room displays 1 red dot representing Strix’s ship, and shows it landed, "... Only one..." Suddenly another blast is heard outside the room, "Definitely not just one... Identify whatever just fired." A simple error message appears, ::: Unable to locate target. System damage detected. All non-hardened systems offline: possible EMP damage. ::: David becomes slightly baffled at the reply the computer gives him, "Huh... cloaked... And still able to fire? That must be some high-end military grade equipment.
"Don’t tell me it’s the LSF..." His face turns slightly pale as he says the next words, "Contact George Darwin, priority call!"
The calling icon the holo room displayed lasted only a second before the familiar voice of George Darwin filled the room. "How’s the situation David? I see it’s getting quite hot down there." He was still grinning that smug smile of his.
"Indeed it is, I’ve captured the first one who got here, but she wasn’t going to talk. Perhaps later she might."
"I see. And the other 3 ships? Only 1 is detectable, but from what your estate's systems are telling me, there are definitely 3 ships."
"Yes they seem to have cloaking devices, but they can still fire so they’re even more fun... LSF perhaps?" David tries to hide his nervousness at the possibility it was the Liberty Security Force closing in on them.
"Not from what I can tell, in any case, you need to take down those ships. I ordered the Timepiece to move into geosynchronous orbit above your position, just let me know if you need anything and we’ll send it down."
Relieved that George doesn't think the intruding party is LSF, David returns to the task at hand, "Roger, make a direct link to my PDA. I may need to contact you on the fly, and this place has been EMP’d I think, so the wireless will be down, but if you’re overhead we’ll get line-of-sight.
"And about those ships; All missiles bar the manuals have already fired and chances are those ships will be able to jam the guidance systems."
"Indeed. We need to think of another way to track them other than visual or heat seeking... What’re the other outputs of such a ship?"
"Well, fighters don’t leave much of a disturbance, so I doubt we could track them off that. With the heat from the reactor covered they basically cover all output."
"Would the reactor output anything else? Fusion creates helium but that couldn’t be expelled..."
The two remain silent deep in thought for a moment when suddenly David has an idea, "What about the engines? The trails could bond with oxygen to form water...
"Water, that’s it! Could we track the amount of water vapour in the air? Maybe if we can get the missiles close enough, they’ll fire counter-measures, and the manual missile pack enough punch to do some damage even if they only hit the counters. And if I fire 2 to hit at the same time, the shockwaves will create a ripple-effect powerful enough to affect the targetted ships."
George thinks about this for a moment longer, "That... could work. I’ll have the crew look for a tracking system that can be sent to your PDA. Because the wireless is down, you will have to add the program to each missile by direct connection. Up for a bit of a run?"
"It wouldn’t be so bad if I didn’t have to lug that bloody missile around." He glances over at the missile and launcher in the corner, checking that they were still in fact there.
George laughs lightly, "Ah, but that’s your party piece. If the first 2 missiles manage to take down the first ship, you will need the remaining two as well as a third to take down the second."
But his next words come out in a serious tone, "You will also have to be quick, I’ve no doubt they may well cut their losses and retreat if one of those ships goes down... And we can’t afford to let any of them escape with information on the estate, David. Not even its location."
David lowers his head and exhales heavily, "I know... I just hope it’s not already too late to stop any information being leaked."
"Don’t worry, any location co-ordinates that are true remain only on the ships that are there, the co-ordinates they have been using have been false by the same margin, so they have not yet picked up on the discrepancy. Once the Timepiece is in position we can effectively jam all communications we see fit, but we won't be able to stop them from escaping the cone."
"Got'cha, I’ll worry about taking them down, you worry about covering the estate."
George hesitates for a moment, "There is... one final thing, David. In the case you do fail, I will have no choice but to completely erase that island. While I have not yet purchased enough antimatter to create a bomb to station on the island, the one aboard the Timepiece is more than sufficient to destroy all traces of the island. If the true co-ordinates of that island escape even once, I will not hesitate to have the bomb dropped, and you may not be able to evacuate that island in time."
A part of David almost dies inside of him, but he tries to keep his calm, simply nodding in reply, "I understand George, do what you must to prepare for the worst, but the battle is not lost yet. And until it is I would appreciate if that thing didn't come screaming towards us with the intent of turning everything here into nothing."
George laughs lightly, "Of course not, only if I loose contact with you or I find the true location has been reviled will that bomb be dropped. That island wasn't cheap to create, you know! I'd rather not waste my ace aboard the Timepiece blowing up what I so painstakingly-put together anyway!
"But as you said, if it must be done, then it must be done, and we're the types to do it."
"Alright, I'll let you know as soon as I program each turret. I still have my flight suit on so I can hook my PDA up to that so you'll even get my vitals. We wont be loosing contact, or at least I damn well hope we don't."
"Ah, excellent thinking." George pauses for a moment, listening to something, "I've just been told we're approaching Planet New Tokyo now. By the time you get to the first rack we should be able to send the program to you. Good luck David.
"... You may need it." And with that George cuts the transmission.
David laughs as he gets out of the chair and opens the door to the holoroom. "Was never one for goodbyes... 4 racks to program, I better get to work."
He then drags unconscious Rei back into the holoroom. After quickly tying her up to the holoroom chair, he collects the launcher, the rest of his weapons, and exits the room, the door behind him sealing shut, “Room, lock: code Beta unlock.” ::: Completed ::: “Lets hope for all our sakes I win, otherwise we won't even be dust.”
Positioned near the southern exit of the building, after waiting for the next barrage of fire from the cloaked ships, David makes a mad dash towards the southern most missile rack.
-----
Jaden was finally looking at her foe in-the-flesh (figuratively and literally), and honestly did not expect her adversary to be as 'lightly'-armed as her, "Though I did give my position away with that estupido branch, I'm still impressed that you were able to avoid most of my sniper shots that would've killed even trained military soldiers." She saw the shot that glanced off of Strix's chest-area, and smiled darkly to herself, "Clearly you are a warrior with blood worthy of---"
Jaden paused at seeing the grin that the Kusarian sported. It was something the ex-Corsair knew all too well: the longing for lust. And, seeing it coming from a woman who was only wearing a bikini and short-skirt slightly unnerved Jaden: she hasn't been exposed to many lesbians in her life, let alone one that lusted for her, and was her opponent to boot. At least her opponent didn't look too bad herself: her dark blue hair flowed in the breeze with an air of mystique and awe.
"... sacrificing." Though it would've been hasty and illogical to conclude based on these details alone, Jaden had a hunch the only reason something like this could be happening to her was because of one person whom she thought she had gotten rid of long ago.
"The meep-mouth Mila sent you mercs after us, didn't she? Figures why I'm going toe-to-toe against an albino lesbian-ninja in a battlegown as skimpy as mine. She sure knows how to draw in the unusual sorts... But hey, you could say I'm unusual myself, heh." Though shrugging her shoulders and speaking in an apparently-casual tone, her stance was also at the ready. With the pistol on her right-hand and a cooling can on the other, the blades on her metal wristbands immediately shick out of their holes, and if Strix looked closer Jaden appeared to be surrounded by a transparent, shimmering kinetic shield.
Jaden slowly aims her pistol at the Kusarian, with the can on Jaden's other hand aimed at the pistol. Jaden's voice immediately becomes cautious and grim, "Now... I've only got two questions for you before we dance. One, who sent you? And two, why?" The wind gently echoed its howl in the forest as Jaden waited for the reply... hostile or otherwise.
How Love Blunders All... - Jeremy Hunter - 05-22-2012
"Mila." Strix slid her heel for a better footing. "As for why...it's called revenge. One who hurts another that is innocent, no matter how annoying, is begging for repercussion."
Strix spun, kicking up dirt as she dived in low. She had covered half the distance, but it wasn't enough. Strix had to cover more ground, and she already had gunshots raining around her as she dodged. Using a tree as cover, she drew one of her own sidearms.
"Well then. Gunplay." Strix threw herself to the side, firing towards her adversary. The gunshots stopped long enough for Strix to aim and fire, taking the cooling can out of her hand. Rolling behind a tree, she stood as shots slammed into the trunk. She returned fire until her battery went cold, and then she spun around, throwing the cold gun hard enough to throw one of Jaden's shoulders to the side, giving enough time to Strix so she could sprint the distance and launch a kick that threw the gun to the side. But Jaden was already coming back, arm blades slicing through the air. Strix threw herself backwards as one blade sliced her stomach. It was only a flesh wound, but it still was blood. Raising her katana, she launched at Jaden again, parrying the blades and knocking the bruised shoulder with the hilt of her sword. Looks like Chikai came in handy Jeremy she thought, swiping her sword across the space Jaden vacated. The two danced across the floor, sparks flying every once in awhile. They seemed evenly matched, but Jaden slowly gained the upper hand, landing flesh wounds on Strix's arms, and a deeper one on her leg. Kicking Jaden back, Strix leaned against a tree, breathing as the Corsair prowled around the edge of her range.
Strix wiped out her sidearm and unloaded into Jaden from four feet away, overloading the kinetic shield. She dropped the spent handgun. It had been a highly risky move, being backed into a corner. But no personal shield could stand twelve heavy sidearm rounds at such range.
Strix struck, managing to slice Jaden's shoulder before wiping around to bring the katana down across Jaden's shoulder. She began to force Jaden back, but soon they were at a stand-still, Strix parrying both arm-blades with difficulty. But she felt tired; she was losing blood faster then she thought.
Strix's katana twisted and flew four feet away, and a kick threw Strix against the ground. She looked up as Jaden dropped onto her stomach hard, knocking the wind out of her, on blade pinning her right arm to the ground and the other poised to ram into her throat. Jaden's face was an inch away. Strix took a deep breath...the kissed her.
Jaden jerked back, allowing Strix to use her free arm to slam down into Jaden's collarbone. The blow put her off-balance, allowing Strix to buck the woman off her and roll over to her katana. She was up and over to Jaden in moments, launching a kick that threw one of Jaden's arms almost to the breaking point, then brought the sword onto one of the arm blades, breaking it, and kicked out, using her flexibility to pin one arm to the tree as she placed the katana point to Jaden's throat. One twitch, and the sword to impale the woman to the tree.
Strix panted, exhausted. She almost lost.
"Never, ever get within kissing distance of a desperate lesbian you bitch. It's hazardous to your health if you're not careful."
How Love Blunders All... - Gforce - 05-22-2012
David reaches the tree line just as another barrage of fire comes from one of the cloaked ships.
"Damn, those guys are going to blast everything to bits!" He exclaimed to himself.
The damage to the house was clearly obvious: smoke was erupting into the sky and parts of the roof had begun to collapse. The total destruction of the house was only a matter of time.
David walks the few remaining meters to the pod, which sat activated. Four missiles from its rack missing, with the 1 large antimatter missile still remaining. He flicks out his PDA and speaks clearly over the noise of yet another barrage, "Darwin, do you read?!"
... After a moment of silence the voice of George replies back, "We read you, David. We have the cone in place and have located the required software for the missiles. Simply hook up your PDA and we will tranfer it to the pod and missile guidance systems."
"Understood, plugging you in now."
David opens a small hatch on the base of the pod, and after finding the correct inlet he connects his PDA into it.
"Time to let him do his thing." He twiddles around his fingers in anticipation.
Only a few seconds pass before George came back, "Already done David. The program is now on your PDA, so even if we loose contact you can still program the missiles.
"... But be mindful, as soon as I know the position has been leaked, there will be a nasty little package on its way."
High above the estate in a low, geosynchronous orbit, George's private Liner, the Enthusiast's Timepiece, idled. According to the Kusari State Police-computers they had cleared "Prison Liner 419XZ" for a low orbital-position in order to collect its apparent cargo: a low-grade prisoner shuttle that was unable to maintain space flight.
The PDA let out a small beep, indicating the successful reprogramming. David remove the PDA and carefully closes the hatch, making sure everything was in order on the rack, "One down... Three to go."
David then followed the forest's edge around the estate to the second rack positioned near the forest. While walking, shots could be heard echoing amongst the trees, "Sounds like Jaden's having fun.
"Can't look for her now, I gotta take down these ships."
The second programming goes uninterrupted, once again David stealthily makes his way to the northern most part of the forest. But from then on, between him and the 3rd and 4th racks was nothing but grass and sand (they were conveniently located on the beach-side, the eastern flank of the estate).
David comments as one of the cloaks ships finally breeches the eastern wall, "Now comes the fun part... I hope they keep shooting that and not me..."
Thinking for a moment, he opens up his PDA and decides to send Jaden a message. Taking a deep breath, he begins the recording, "Jaden... I'm about to do something a tad risky. If you get the chance, come to the north-eastern edge of the forest. Help if you can, but I can't wait."
He clicks off the recording and waits for the device to tell him the message was sent. David does a few quick stretches before waiting for both ships to attack at the same time. He only has to wait 3 passes before their attacks are in time.
As the shots slammed into the estate, David took the opportunity and sprinted towards the east missile rack.
How Love Blunders All... - Mr.Fabulous - 05-24-2012
Tsk! I can't believe I didn't see that coming... Actually, I can't even believe she kissed me in battle. And she says the flap-mouth sent them? No, that's not like her... They probably decided upon themselves to pay back the misdeed. Jaden quickly scanned the battlespace with her bionic eye: her pistol was just several feet away, while the cooling can had already leaked its contents from the hit. If she could just get out of the pin...
Of course! Though the left armband's kinetic shield's been overloaded, the right was still on the ready. The shield could be activated by thought alone, allowing her some breathing room. Though her left arm-blade's broken, which now limited her close-range advantage, with her pistol she could at least have medium-range capability. I just hope I don't have to go all-out yet... especially not with David nearby.
Jaden grins at Strix, "You... are a worthy opponent... But I prefer chorizo over tacos." Suddenly the kinetic shield comes back online, repulsing the katana, and her opponent, away. A shallow slice on the left calf, then a swift kick at her opponent's abdomen before Jaden makes a mad dash towards the pistol. But when she picks it and lifts it up to aim she realizes two major obstacles to her plan: one was that the actuator on her left arm was partially-broken from that last kick, limiting her left arm's ability to steady the pistol, while her right shoulder surged with extreme pain, which throwed her aim noticeably. The Corsair began to fear the worst: her own body was beginning to betray her.
Jaden desperately shoots at Strix, but with unsteady aim and the absence of the cooling can that allowed rapid-fire without cooking her hand, she only manages a few shots that missed their mark, but not without trying. Strix dived down or else the shots would've still made painful glancing hits, but she quickly recovers and rushes at her enemy. Jaden barely manages to evade the first slash, but a split-second later the shoulder surges with pain, unnerving Jaden. Strix sees the flinch and takes advantage of this, the katana landing a clean hit onto Jaden's stomach, making the shield shimmer. Had the shield been inactive, she would've already lost. An overhead slash came next, but Jaden had already recovered and evades the attack, retaliating with a jab, but her opponent dodges that as well. The battle raged on in a dance of awe-inspiring grace, arm-blade and katana clashed together into occasional sparks, sometimes Jaden gaining distance and doing a few shots before fighting close again. But it was evident that with her left arm-blade broken and the limb more or less crippled, it was solely up to the other arm to take the brunt of the attacks, but even this arm was injured. Jaden's aim was greatly hindered, and she couldn't hope to parry the assault without her other blade: she could now only divert and glance attacks away. Lacking dual-wield, her comebacks were becoming more and more predictable, while her opponent kept pressing on the offensive. Though she had considerable dexterity to avoid most of the attacks, sometimes her shoulder would erupt with pain and make Jaden lose her concentration. The shields were what truly separated Jaden from certain death. But it was only a matter of time before the barrier would overload, and she would be at the mercy of her opponent's attacks.
Another surge of pain from the shoulder makes Jaden flinch, but she doesn't let her opponent take the opportunity and kicks her away before jumping back. She quickly runs up a nearby tree and tries to recuperate on a thick, high branch. Panting heavily, she felt the neurotransmitter from the kinetic shield generator pulse that it was getting close to overloading. She tries to move her left arm: no good, she could only bend it to a maximum of 75 degrees, Frak. And this replacement-arm's brand-new and far better than that junker-type crap.
Suddenly, a transmission from her armband sends micropulses to her eardrum, and she hears the familiar voice of David in her head, Jaden... I'm about to do something a tad risky. If you get the chance, come to the north-eastern edge of the forest. Help if you can, but I can't wait.
But before Jaden could reply back, the ghostly whisper of blade against air forces Jaden to duck in reflex, evading a horizontal slash that would've dealt a lot of damage. Still crouched down, she does a quick, upwards-kick that lands squarely on Strix's abdomen, unbalancing her opponent and shoving her some distance away. Jaden takes this chance to head towards the beach-side of the estate.
Swinging herself onto a branch to recover herself, after catching her breath she quickly exclaims, "Hey! We haven't gotten acquainted yet!" and immediately follows after the Corsair.
RE: How Love Blunders All... - Mr.Fabulous - 12-04-2012
David covered the ground in seconds and slammed against the missile rack's concrete base, trying to blend in as best as possible. Quickly, he plugged in his PDA and began the transfer as another volley from the masked ships hit the estate, “They haven't spotted me so far.” David says under his heavy breath.
With the programming of the third rack done, David repositions the launcher on his back, waits for the attacks to become in-sync again, and dashes for the final missile.
Meanwhile, high above the atmosphere, the Enthusiast's Timepiece moves into position. George and his crew stood aboard the bridge, watching the events unfold far below them, “The antimatter bomb has been moved to the docking bay and is ready for deployment.”
“Excellent,” George clasped his hands together, “however I am starting to think we may not need it. David's been able to successfully program 3 of the missiles. Is their software functioning to within acceptable limits?”
“Yes sir they are. Missiles 1 through 3 are accurately tracking 2 hostile ships. Assuming standard countermeasure equipment, the probability of both ships being taken down with 2 missiles each is 76%. If we add David's own missile, that increases to 89%.”
The man nods slowly, “High, but not good enough to show our hand. Get ready to---”
“Kingdom 1, the complex is now suffering imminent collapse, and still Kairi's unable to hack into their systems,” George was interrupted by the transmission of a woman coming over the bridge speakers, “something about their hardware deliberately fried or something. Possible we've hit their mainframe. Going to do a quick scan.”
All of a sudden, the bolts that once rained on the estate suddenly stop: everything went silent for a bit. The same female voice continued, “Can't read anything, and so can't Kairi. Maybe we hit the mainframe. I don't detect any form of anomalies.”
The voice that responded next was belonged to a male's, “Kingdom 2, think the complex also runs underground?”
“Not likely... Scanners should've detected energy signatures to indicate underground shielding, or the subterranean equipment would've been spotted.”
For a brief minute, the transmissions fall silent.
The man apparently-labeled Kingdom 1 broke the silence first, “... Kingdom 2, cover my ship, I'm going in.”
“WHA-- Negative, Kingdom 1. It could be a trap.” The woman sounded worried.
“I DON'T CARE, AQUA! Rei's in there, it's my responsibility for whatever happens to her.”
Kingdom 2, who had now been revealed to be a woman named Aqua, quickly replied, “Kingdom 1! Kingdom 1! JEREMY, DAMMIT!”
Another pause came to the bridge before the transmissions continued, “Look... Rei can handle herself in there. Give the kiddo a break, will ya?”
“But I won't be able to forgive myself if she gets hurt.” A trace of melancholy came out of the man known as Jeremy, otherwise aliased as Kingdom 1.
“And what if you suddenly screw up a---” The woman had cut off her own statement, “Kingdom 1, there's a slight heat signature to the opposite far side of the estate, ESE. Do you copy?”
George gave a frown at that last sentence, “Oh great, he's been spotted. Alright, let that transmission through, but all further communications between those ships is halted unless I give the ok. Record all transmissions and begin voice synthesis, we have to make these pilots ignore David.”
After the crew had let the transmission pass, Jeremy replied, “Kingdom 2, it's faint, but I read it too... it could be an animal, though? Can't get a detailed scan since it's kilometres away. Do you at least read a visual?”
“Let it through” George grunted as he sat heavily in his plush Captain's Chair, “Put me through to David, but their communications has priority.”
“Aye, sir. I'll let David know the situation before I put him through to the bridge.”
“Negative, Kingdom 1, it's too far away for visual, but it's moving at a reasonable speed according to it's distance.” Aqua's voice grew inquisitive, “But whatever it is, it's trying to move quickly to some sort of small structure.”
“Some sort of small structure...” George gave a nod, “Allow it, as soon as David is at that rack, put him through.”
Jeremy said, “It's moving in a quick zig-zag pattern. Strange. Pattern's unlike any animal I know. Think I should investigate?” George gave a quick, albeit growled nod.
“Zig-zag? ... Wait, do they seem random and unpredictable?” George also gave this a nod.
“... Roger. And there's not even another heat signature, to indicate any other animals nearby. It's like it's trying to... dodge or something.”
“Dodge? Kingdom 1, what are you saying?”
George sighed heavily in hearing that as he gave another nod of his head, letting the transmissions through, “Yep, they've spotted him, got him on the line yet?”
“Aye sir, I do! Putting him through now.”
There was a momentary pause before George started talking, “David, they've spotted you. For God's sakes, slow down and act like a wild animal and they'll keep ignoring you, but if you keep moving at your current pace you're bound to be toast.”
David's voice rang out across the bridge, “Good to hear from you too, George. Alright, keep me posted, half way to the final rack now.” With that, David cut the line.
George then turned back to the comm's officer, “Now what do they have to say about him now?”
Jeremy's voice turned from urgent to evident curiosity, “... Huh. Now the signature's velocity has started to decelerate, and is beginning to go in a wide arc...” A short pause before he continued, “... Now it's stopped.” George gave this a nod.
Aqua laughs in response to her companion's message, “Could've been just a herbivore that just barely escaped the forest. This mission's really starting to go into our heads.” A cheeky grin could be seen forming on George's face as he also gave this a nod.
A long pause descends on the bridge as the crew wait for the next transmission, “... Now it's going at a steady pace...
“Screw this, maybe it is just an animal. Continue bombardment.” Everyone in the bridge sighed relief when they heard David had just managed to evade them, at least for the time being.
After more or less a minute of more bombardment on the now-very-ruined building, another transmission quickly came up, “Kingdom 1, think the complex has had enough. No return fire whatsoever.”
“Roger. Scout 5 clicks radius from ground zero, see if we missed anything.”
The tracking software registered that the ships had separated from each other, and that they were now orbiting the estate. Half a minute or so later, and another transmission comes in, “Kingdom 1, I'm suddenly reading 2 heat signatures come from the forest, going at extremely-rapid speed.” The crew turned back to George, who then gives another nod, only this time with a curious look of his own.
“Two signatures? How fast they're going?”
“Unbelievable, almost ninja-like. One of the pair seems random and unpredictable, while the second seems to be on chase.”
A few seconds of pause interrupts the transmissions before they continued again, “... Strix. Kingdom 2, I'm going in to assist. Stay here and continue scouting.” George let this one through with another nod.
“Roger.”
Some several seconds later, Jeremy continues from where he left off, “Kingdom 2, I'm getting close enough for a better scan... Confirmed, second heat signature is Strix, the first I don't know, but she seems to be this woman with a skimpy battle-gown. Both wounde---”
The transmission appeared to have been purposely cut-off by the sender.
“Kingdom 2, head directly for that first heat signature you found: just confirmed it to be a man, with some sort of launcher on his back. Readings aren't sure, but they show slight traces of antimatter near him.”
“CUT THAT ONE!!!” Darwin shouts suddenly, causing some of the crew members to jump from their seats, “Construct using Kingdom 2, quote: 'Roger, I'll get closer and get a better scan' unquote.” The message is played through the bridge speakers for George to check it before he gives it a nod of approval, “Alright, send it through...
“... Now it's time we play god.”
“Strix? Kingdom 1, requesting to head there and assist.”
George snarled at the message, “Damn... Alright allow that, lets hope they don't pick up on us.”
Suddenly one of the crew members jumps up, “Sir! David has reprogrammed all the missiles. All 4 'big boys' are ready as well as David's missile. I'll put him through now.”
There was a moment of static before David’s voice filled up the room, "All right George, I hope this idea of yours works. All missiles have been reprogrammed. I don't know what you did, but those ships have buggered off.”
“They're heading over the forest to get a look at some new contacts that came out-of-the-blue, one of them most likely to be Jaden, and it sounds like she's a bit hurt. We're vectoring 1 of the ships over to the estate now, then racks 1 and 3 will fire.
“Position yourself by the beach-wall of the estate between racks 3 and 4, and ready your launcher. We'll take over the missile's tracking mechanism from here. Make sure you're in a firing position, or you're as good as dead.”
“Roger that, heading straight for it.”
“Good, will contact you after we're taken these things down.” George then cuts the line and thinks for a moment. “... Now we have to get one of those ships over the water so we can blast it apart.”
“Negative, Kingdom 2. Great, now the man's heading towards the beach... perfect. Follow that man and investigate further."
Darwin's smile morphed quickly to a grin, “Alrighty, here's our chance. Deny, using Kingdom 1 construct quote: 'Negative, Kingdom 2. Great now the man's heading towards the beach... perfect. Go around the water and hit him with a full volley, I doubt he'll use that missile. He can't hit what he can't see' unquote.” The message was played over the bridge once more, “Send it through...
“Now. Ready missiles 1 and 3. The target should be in position shortly.”
“Aye sir, missiles ready and tracking, awaiting orders.”
“Roger.” George nods. Aqua then pauses before continuing, “In-position now, firing first volley in 5...”
“Allow the former, but deny the latter.”
“Aye sir.”
Coming wide around the eastern side of the estate, Kingdom 2 lined up for a 5 second bombing style attack run. Being invisible and fed information indicating there would be no retaliating fire, the ship stabilised and flew a straight path, coming in neat and stable. It readied to fire on the man, who was just a tiny speck against what was left of a wall.
But within another speck in the skies, a single man uttered a single, yet powerful word which was going to change everything, “... Fire.”
Almost immediately the antimatter missile in rack 1 fire, followed by other in rack 3 only milliseconds later. The missiles flew high above Kingdoms 2 flight path and turned down, attacking from above, while the short delay in launch meant the missiles became level with each other. Approaching from either side, there was no way Kingdom 2 could turn without heading directly into one of the missiles or the sea. The water-tracking software worked perfectly, giving the missiles a location of Kingdom 2 to within a few meters of its actual location.
"What the---" was all Kingdom 2 could say as the missiles detonated 20 meters from the nose of her ship. The 60-meter-radii shockwaves from each side combined to hit the cloaked fighter, wiping its shield and ripping components off. Determining only just in time that the reactor was breached and was going to detonate, the ship's computers signalled to eject the escape pod before it could be caught in the full force of the blast. With the cloaking generator ripped from the ship, visible parts rained down into the water, while the pilot was ejected high, followed by the parachute to cushion its return to land. The entire ordeal lasted only less than a second, the pilot within the pod rendered unconscious from the concussive force of the blasts.
David called Darwin, "Direct hit! I'm ready, lets hit that second one!"
... Meanwhile, a few minutes before...
Strix finally won the upper hand. Jaden's shield had been overloaded when she faltered while trying to dodge, allowing Strix to deliver a long swipe with her katana, then kicked her straight in the side, blowing the Corsair meters in the air before she stumbled and rolled to the ground. The side of Jaden's mouth began dripping slowly with blood as she staggered to get up. She then hears a footstep beside her, followed by the feeling of a swift kick to the same side, sending her back again to the ground,
"A pity... I thought Corsairs were tougher than this."
Strix then uses her foot to move Jaden to her back, then places the foot to lean heavily on her cheek as the blue-haired woman aimed her katana high above Jaden's abdomen, "Guess I can't let you live..."
Jaden thought to herself, 'Damn... I'll have to... go all-out... my only... chance.' With her remaining strength, she motions her hand to the strange slip on her clothing, and places two fingers on the slip, "I'm not... going down... without a fi--"
Suddenly, both of them hear the missiles launch from the SAM sites, followed by a split-second later the explosion lighting up the skies above. Strix flinched in utter shock and disbelief, "WHA?!"
Jaden's eyes shot wide-open, seeing the chance to still come out of this alive: she quickly used her human-hand to deliver a swift punch on her adversary's knee, freeing her and making her opponent topple.
The following movement happened in less than a second...
As Jaden quickly got up, she aimed her android-arm to deliver a straight uppercut right in the centre of Strix's abdomen, focusing her entire momentum under the small area of the fist. With the unimaginable power that could dent armored ship hull, the arm delivers so much force that it breaks almost 2/3rd's of her ribs, causes internal bleeding, crumples one of her lungs, and sends her up 20 meters high up into the air: it's a wonder how the impact didn't simply go through the woman's back. Several seconds later, a loud thud on the plain was heard, where Strix had landed head-first onto the grassy ground, guaranteeing unconsciousness.
Jaden had done it... she won.
The Corsair, shivering from the adrenaline that was starting to wear off, crumpled to her knees, panting heavily to herself, "... Well... at least... my clothes... are still on... heh... heh... hehhh," and she falls asleep in the middle of the plains.
----------
Jeremy couldn't believe what just happened, "Kingdom 2! Come in! AQUA, DO YOU READ?!"
"Direct hit, sir. The ship known as Kingdom 2 has been destroyed." A crewmember aboard the Enthusiast's bridge informed.
"Excellent. Ready racks 2 and 4. Inform David that he'll soon fire his missile. Are all tracking systems functioning?"
"Yes sir, Water vapor tracking scanners are online."
"Good. We've lost our element of surprise, so if Kingdom 1 looks to be planning to attack racks 2 and 4, fire the missiles. Better we scramble them than to loose them."
"Aye, sir."
Kingdom 1 made a gut-wrenching turn and fell to within a few feet of the tree tops, "Sir, he's heading towards rack 3!"
"Let him, it's empty...” After a quick thought, he continued, “Lets give him a clue. Construct Kingdom 2 quote: 'Kingdom 1, the man at the front, tracking. Kill him' unquote, then garble all unnecessary words, but make sure the meaning is clear." The message is played back and George gives a nod of his head, "Lets hope this works... And don't tell David that we told the enemy to kill him." The comment breaks the tension on the bridge with most crew members laughing briefly, but still focused and aware that they had a job to finish.
The invisible fighter suddenly thrusts at full-afterburner speed towards David. It was clear the ship was going at a straight line since the wake left dismembered trees. The ship then made a sharp turn up high into the air, and swerved again to do a super-sharp bombing run...
... right on-top of David.
George laughed for a moment, "David, aim directly up and fire!"
David couldn't help raise his eyebrow from the order, but was still immediate in his response, "Roger," and quickly aims at a 90-degree angle towards the sky.
Turning back to the crew, George continued, "Fire the other 2 as soon as his is off, we've got him!"
Moments later David let loose his missile, which were quickly followed by racks 2 and 4 launching their salvoes, the missiles now squealing straight towards the invisible ship.
David's missile was the first to make its mark on the fighter, followed a split-second later by the other two dozens of meters away, taking out the shields like a fragile soap bubble, then ripping the superstructure of the entire ship, the escape pod only barely managing to keep its pilot from getting wiped out.
However, the combined blast from all 3 missiles was powerful enough to reach David, blowing him through the wall and into the Hanger building. Bits and pieces of what remained of the reflective adaptive armor from the blown-up ship streamed through the sky like a multicolored meteor shower. That was the last thing David witnessed before fatigue, and the force of the shockwave's effects on his body, made him lose consciousness. In a bad condition, but still alive to fight another day.
George and the entire crew aboard the bridge of the Timepiece were silent until George finally spoke, "Is the ship destroyed?"
"Y... Yes sir... No other contacts detected."
George sat silently for a moment before continuing, "Good. Send down the clean up team. Move the Timepiece to a safe location, change our cover, and get us moored on the New Tokyo fixture."
"... Aye sir."
The KSP were relieved when a 'prison' shuttle left Prison Liner 419XZ and went through the docking ring, the liner instead continuing on its way.
----------
A couple hours later, another Liner christened the Big Earner requested to moor with Planet New Tokyo to take on equipment and supplies. Standard checks revealed the Liner to be owned by a wealthy Libertonian, but when the payment from the Liner inadvertently jumped an extra digit to its mooring fee the ship wasn't given a second glance by officials. After receiving the same shuttle that docked some time before, the Big Earner left the mooring fixture, and continued on its own merry way.
--- THE END ---