NOW LIVE! Today's the day you meet your new best friend. You don’t have to leave Wolfy behind... In 'Pets & Sidekicks' your companions level up with you!

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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Ankh-Morpork Guard" data-source="post: 3681961" data-attributes="member: 10079">Chapter 499: From Skirmish to WarDespite the fact that Kanyaks were not warships, they were excellent when confronted with a dangerous situation. Mixing the natural speed and agility of the Kanyaks that served the Knights with the reaction time and senses of their Alraxian pilots meant that even in the rare firefights they were involved in, the ships and their pilots worked together perfectly. Their natural connection developed over years of companionship was something that was impossible to reach for pilots of other ships throughout the galaxy.    Of course, none of this meant that any of them actually had any combat experience.    “Stay together!” Marix angrily yelled at the consoles in front of her as she helped Loki maneuver through the green energy blasts spewing from the Mrrakesh ships. Light blue streaks were theirs, coming from all different directions and not really hitting much, save for the larger blasts from the Jendari cruiser that was closer to Alraxia.    The problem was that the Mrrakesh had starfighters. They were about the size of an old Z-95 Headhunter and only seemed to be armed with a single nose-cannon, but they were faster than most of the Kanyaks and much, much more maneuverable. Their appearance from the hangars of the Mrrakesh cruisers had caused most of the Knights to react as they normally would...but most of the Knights normally worked alone. There were so few in comparison to the size of the Empire that, while trained to work together on the ground, space combat had never been something to worry about...and so they reacted as they were used to. Meaning that it was currently a mess with Kanyaks everywhere just trying to get clear shots on the fighters while just sneaking in a few shots on the advancing cruisers.    In hindsight, so much of what they did seemed foolish. But that was only because Marix had seen the rest of the galaxy. She’d seen what, for everyone else, was reality. Constant, unending conflict. Wars fought in space and on the ground. Huge warships that could level planets from obit. The Alraxians always simply thought of that as far away, ignoring the fact that they knew the Mrrakesh had developed the same way.For the billions of beings that lived in the Alraxian Empire, none of this was the case. They were a safe, peaceful little bubble in the insanity of what the rest of the galaxy contained. The only conflicts they ever saw were tiny skirmishes with very rare pirates near the Mrrakesh border or small, local uprisings from unhinged individuals much like Ket Halpak, but far less capable. To the citizens of the Empire, peace was how the galaxy was. There was no reason at all to imagine war.    And yet...    [The lead Mrrakesh cruiser is firing on us.] Loki was surprisingly calm. Though he did seem to either be extremely calm like her in situations of stress, or just laughed it off in the middle of things...like a mental patient. Even though he normally was the former, Marix never forgot the latter situations and never let forget them, either.    Marix quickly helped bank Loki to his starboard side as two of the Mrrakesh fighters behind them began to fire after finally getting in range. Then, suddenly, Loki banked to port without her control. Before she could yell at him, Loki yelled at her. [You shoot. I’ll fly.]    “I can fly better than you!” Marix commented as she shifted her hands to the makeshift firing controls, immediately targeting the cruiser in front of them and letting loose a barrage of blue-white energy. Most of the shots impacted on the ship’s shields, but at least a few found holes and sent up short-lived plumes of fire and metal. Superficial damage, mostly, but satisfying.    [You don’t have wings!] Loki’s mental voice had changed the second she started firing the weapons. He sounded strained, as if gritting his teeth. They really did hurt him...    Marix did her best to ignore this, “I don’t need wings to out fly you! Why haven’t you gotten those fighters off of your backside?”    At about that moment, she felt Loki decelerating and then pulling straight up. He was looping, and twisting from the spinning of the stars and flashes of light, to get behind the fighters now. [Isn’t it considered rude to force someone to stare at your backside? What’s the point of all of this if I can’t have a little fun?]    “Oh gods, Loki...” she wanted to hit him. A friendly, sighing, strong punch that would knock him off of his feet for complete ignorance but causing her to grin at the same time. Not that it would work with Loki, but she still wanted to, “When are you going to give up on that failed wit of yours?”    Before Loki could respond, the two small, dagger-like starfighters slowly began to sink into the viewport. Marix quickly adjusted her targeting, then fired again. The burst of fire first went low, but then, thanks to Loki’s skilled maneuvering, the shots hit the right fighter perfectly. Either they were unshielded, or very lightly shielded, as the pair of laser bolts were enough to tear the fighter to pieces, with Marix immediately switching to the second target and Loki bringing it directly into sight.    [At least four more fighters incoming...] Loki was back to business again, which was probably a good thing. [Three of the cruisers are continuing on their current course.]    “And the other four?” Marix didn’t have time to check the sensors for herself. She took the opportunity to fire on the lead ship again as Loki passed over its top side, and though shots were coming back up at them, the Mrrakesh cruisers definitely weren’t equipped to shoot down fast moving targets.    Loki suddenly dropped into a snap roll, pulling away from the cruiser and, probably, the other fighters coming for them. [Moving towards the north pole of Alraxia...I can’t tell why----]    That was about the time an extremely violent shock rocked through the entirety of Loki. Marix was glad to have been strapped in, as otherwise the force of it would have probably sent her straight out into space. Instead, she got a good case of whiplash and a spinning head. Loki felt worse, though.    “What...what the hell was that?” Marix’s vision took a moment to reassert itself. They hadn’t been hit by anything...no explosion....    [I...] Loki sounded injured, but Marix couldn’t find any actual reason for it. [We’re caught in a...a tractor beam.]    “No,” she said it immediately, because that was common sense, “Mrrakesh don’t have tractor beams!”    This was ignoring the fact that they were reversing direction despite Loki’s best efforts. [Fine...they don’t have tractor beams...] Loki was sounding worse and worse with each word. He was fighting hard. [But they have something close enough.]    She could feel his pain through the Force. It was tearing at him as he tried to pull away. Marix’s neck still hurt, but it was nothing compared to the strain on Loki, “Stop fighting...” she didn’t like saying that, but, “I was hoping to find some way to get on board anyway.”    [You could have told me...] at this point, Loki was obviously annoyed. [We could have blown a hole in their hull for me to throw you into rather than going through this.]</blockquote>

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