Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Ankh-Morpork Guard" data-source="post: 2819553" data-attributes="member: 10079">Chapter 312: Just an Escort“That is not ‘just an escort’, Shady,” Jyren’s voice was flat and dry as he looked out the cockpit to the emptiness around them. He then glanced back down to the sensor screen. The convoy had arrived two minutes late, but was currently in the process of setting their next jump point. It meant there was now just a few minutes to get in there and steal a ship. As they were just on the edge of sensor range and the convoy wouldn’t likely be aggressively searching for any ships, the small X-Wing would go undetected.    Sitting in her usual seat behind him, Shadow rolled her eyes and idly kicked the back of his chair, “Yes it is, now get us moving while I scan the middle ship for a suitable airlock.”    “Middle ship?!” Jyren yelled this time, doing his best to turn around and stare at her in shock despite the crash webbing that was very firmly holding him down, “Shadow, that will make us a very, very easy target.”    This time, there was an annoyed sigh from her, “Yes, dear, but it also means if they shoot at us they’ll hit their own ships.”    Jyren didn’t answer. He should have known that. He did know that! But...but this whole plan was causing him to run in circles trying to figure out exactly what he was going to have to do. Yet again, Jyren was back to his usual thinking too much...which had quickly turned into worrying. Shadow was doing her best to not yell at him, as it would only make things even worse, but if he stayed in this kind of mood nothing good was going to happen anyway.    A few long seconds passed before she felt the sublight drives kick in and Jyren started the X-Wing straight for the center of the convoy. The S-Foils would remain closed to give them a small speed boost, despite the fact that if they had to shoot at anything it would make targeting difficult. Not that it was impossible to fire with the closed S-Foils, but the cross-range of the four shots would be off from their usual position and it would be practically impossible to hit anything that wasn’t as big as the freighter they were attempting to steal.    As some of the stars that were not actually stars began to quickly grow much larger, Jyren grumbled, “A Strike Cruiser is not ‘just an escort’.”    Shadow gave him a good mental push through the link that felt more like a punch to the gut than a push, then said in a very low voice, “Jyren, we will be fine. You get to the freighter and get it into hyperspace. Let me worry about the escort.”    “They can carry up to four fighter squadrons,” was an answer to an unasked question that Jyren felt needed to be stated.    It didn’t.    “I know that,” Shadow’s voice was a bit more dangerous sounding now, and she quickly decided this would be the last civil attempt for the moment that she was willing to make, “I will be fine. Do your job, I’ll do mine.”    Thankfully, Jyren was intelligent enough to not say anything else. That did not need anything but a mental nod to show he understood that, if he argued anymore, she’d be opening up the cockpit early. Despite everything they’d been through and all she’d changed, Shadow was still not the kind of Alraxian to be messed with when she got angry. In all honesty, her mother was the same way...and though Jyren knew this only through the link, he couldn’t help but wonder if it was just a trait that helped to make a good Empress.    Again, though, he was smart enough to not speak that. Not only that, but he also made sure to keep those thoughts buried very, very deeply. He didn’t like them anymore than Shadow did.    The objects ahead of them were now clearly visible as starships. In a very neat, practical line formation were four box shaped bulk cruisers that handled like small moons. It was amazing they could maneuver at all, really. But sitting ‘above’ them in a relatively good defensive position was the long, rounded ship with a tipped nose...almost like some kind of slug made of sleek metal on the top and dark pieces of scrap on the bottom. It was an old Imperial Strike Cruiser, well enough equipped to defend the convoy from any attack from a group of pirates. It had the turbolasers for capital ship combat and the smaller, more accurate point-laser cannons ideal for fighting starfighters.    But the key problem was that no one would be insane enough to ‘attack’ in just one ship. If they operated on the usual protocol for escort, their sensors would be passive and only able to detect larger incoming ships or squadrons of starfighters. If done just right, a single ship could slip right in undetected.    The problem with this, however, was that it required knowledge of the blind spot in the Strike Cruiser’s sensors. Neither Jyren nor Shadow had that information, and that was the reason that the comm beeped and a little red light appeared as they began to get much closer. It beeped a second time but neither of them touched it. In fact, they were both currently pulling on their oxygen masks and sealing their gloves to get ready for the ‘emergency’ opening of the cockpit. By the time they were done with that, another light had come on(indicating that a targeting lock was being acquired) and there were many, many more beeping sounds.    “Underside!” Shadow said into the mask, which meant he could now only hear her through the comm(if one didn’t count the link, of course). It was so odd hearing her voice through the comm that, for a moment, Jyren almost though it was Mare. But that was pushed aside as Shadow quickly put her information up on his HUD display which put a nice little yellow box over a small section of the nearest of the bulk cruisers.    Jyren did not tell Shadow to hang on. He didn’t need to. She heard his quick intake of breath and quickly gripped the seat in response. Having not recieved any response to the hails, the Strike Cruiser had begun firing. But just as the shots began, an alarm went off and Jyren wrenched the control stick hard, sending the X-Wing into a sudden snap roll that could have caused necks to snap if not for the crash webbing. It didn’t help that he didn’t slow down one bit...the inertial dampers could only do so much.    The X-Wing rolled at least five times, the cruisers around them going in huge, lightning fast circles, before leveling out just beneath their target bulk cruiser. Behind them, green point-lasers could be seen, and a few even shot in front, but those quickly died as they shot straight under the freighter at the fastest speed the X-Wing could manage...shooting straight for the targeted airlock at an amazing speed.    “Grab the controls! We’re not slowing down!” Jyren said quickly over the comm. He said it quickly because there were only about ten seconds to react before they passed underneath the airlock.    This part had not been part of the plan. In fact, if given the time, Shadow would have shaved his tail for trying to show off like his stunt looked like he was doing. But, truthfully, he wasn’t showing off. Instead, Jyren knew that if they matched speed with the freighter, the crews of the ships would immediately know something was wrong...but if the X-Wing just shot right through...    The thought had only been half thought when the Force screamed at him, and his hand quickly hit the hot-wired switched they’d hooked up to bypass the safety systems and open the cockpit. There was a hiss of vacuum, and Jyren was immediately out of the crash webbing. He didn’t hesitate a second to jump...and Shadow didn’t hesitate a moment to get the cockpit closed again.    She knew he’d be alright. It was insane...but he’d be alright. Now, as the X-Wing continued its flyby of the convoy and Shadow realized she was once again being shot at, she gripped the controls and went to something just as important...making sure she stayed alive...and making sure the New Republic didn’t have a chance to figure out what happened very close to Eriadu, one of the most populated planets of the Outer Rim</blockquote>

Verification