Chronicles of Sol: The Fall-Chapter 234 One Ninety-Five SF-1204 VS Raider Group

July 27th, 007 SDE:

Sali stepped out of the shuttle shower, the water sliding off her naked body as she grabbed a towel. Nearby a voice groaned, "Really? Again, don't you ever use the curtain?"

Someone giggled, "Get used to it Harris, she doesn't have..."

"Fuji! You are a girl too, do something! I swear I'm going to go nuts on this flight. She barely wears clothes, doesn't use the curtains, and have you seen how she acts when she's lounging in the rec area? I swear I see her pussy more often than my wife's!"

Fuji gave him a look, "Something is wrong with your marriage then."

He sighed and kept arguing. Sali just shrugged and dried herself off.

By now she was getting familiar with the shuttle. The forward compartment was the cockpit and was pretty much standard. Here in the rear, the shuttle had been sectioned into three main crew spaces, the bunks, the bathroom and the rec area. It was really just one big room, divided by sliders and curtains. The bunks weren't anything special, just a stack of shelves with a mattress and a pillow. Comfortable enough for a decent night's sleep but that was about it. Good enough for a long-haul flight like this though, if she'd wanted better accommodations she'd have stayed on the Enterprise. Honestly, the space was a quick and dirty solution to the problem but it worked well enough... most of the time. Harris seemed to have something against her being naked though.

Suddenly he turned to her, "And do you even own a pair of panties?"

"Sure do!"

He frowned, "Do you ever wear 'em?"

"Nope!"

Fujiwara giggled, "I keep telling you to give it up."

Sali grabbed her flight suit and started pulling it on, "Being seen naked doesn't really bother me, you get used to that kind of thing after a few years in the brig."

Harris was quick to reply, "That's no excuse to forget common decency."

Fuji gave him a look, "Maybe you should spend a few weeks in the communes before you judge her."

"Why would I do that?"

"Cause you've been lucky, coming aboard married helped you get family quarters," replied Fujiwara. "I certainly wasn't that lucky, privacy is a luxury, be glad you get to enjoy it."

He gulped, "Who would be stupid enough to peep on you?"

She chuckled, "Why every teenage boy on the ship and half the girls. It's basically a compliment when you think about it."

Sali giggled, "Sounds about right and I don't blame them, you are very pretty if a tad intimidating at times."

Fujiwara puffed up, "Hey I've really got it then!"

A moment later, there was a thud. "Finally!" commented Harris.

Fuji gave him a look, then leaned in, "You know I'm thinking we should just make it a point to go naked around him. Care to tell the others?"

She giggled, "Oh that sounds fun, yeah I'll talk to White and Eri, you tell Mitchel?"

"Perfect."

A second later the lower hatch opened, and Mitchel climbed into the room, "Hey Sali, ready to fly? Or do you still need a moment?"

"Nope, rested, freshly showered and even had breakfast."

"Good, White's picking something up on scanners and wants to check it out. White doesn't want to be down a pilot, and doesn't want a spent one like me either for this."

"Understood, get some rest, sir!" was her immediate reply before she started climbing down the ladder. Above she could hear the others shifting into a new conversation. Well, until she closed the hatch that was.

A moment later, she reached the lower airlock, and dropped into the back of her cockpit, behind the control seat. With practiced ease, she sealed the entry port, and then crawled forward into the seat. The rear compartment of a 1204 was a bit cramped, basically nothing more than a narrow crawlspace, useful if you needed to fix something, or access the dorsal docking port. The floor of it was padded and was an okay place to sleep if you didn't want to do it in your chair. Not to mention it was also how a pilot would access the internal stowage bays, they were small but they could store a few day's rations and some equipment. They were typically loaded with about two weeks of rations, emergency gear, a tool kit, and a few spare parts.

That was about all they would fit, and about all you would need in most cases. Compared to a Lancer, Sali found this space luxurious. Her old Lancer just didn't have a rear habitable space, the only place you could be on that old fighter was in the seat of the cockpit.

Sali took a moment to do her usual preflight checks, the fuel gauge hadn't changed at all since she'd last been here. It seemed the storm was so energetic that they didn't need the reactor. She was sure the council would be happy to hear that though, it would do a lot for their fuel estimates. Well, at least they didn't need it out here in the depths of the storm, it remained to be seen if combat would change that metric, she had a feeling it would. Combat could drain a lot of energy, all those power-hungry systems competing for energy. Defense systems needed it to protect the ship, weapons needed it in order to spit their deadly energy at hostile targets, and the drives still needed power to make maneuvers. It could become a rather vicious cycle, part of why pilots had to land during combat ops so often.

She made a quick double-check of said systems just in case she'd need them. The diagnostics came back in the characteristic blue, all weapons checked out. Particle cannons were charged and ready, no errors in the system, missiles were loaded and ready to fire, and torpedo launchers were good. The new pulsars were also charged, without any glaring errors, she could fire those whenever she wanted.

After a moment, she was happy with what she saw, and hit the docking clamps. There was a slight click, as the fighter came free and she turned her attention to the sensor display. Above she could see the hull of the shuttle, the storm brushing against it, only their thrusters automatically countering it, keeping them from slamming into each other.

Sali pressed the throttle and slowly pulled the ship away, the distance growing in a few moments. In seconds, she felt comfortable to push it up and moved to join her wingmates. Pressing her comm, White and Eri appeared on her hud, "I hear you have something on scanners?"

"Yup, it's a small anomaly, bearing 216 mark three eight, about six hyperlight seconds distant. Care for a look?"

"Why wouldn't I? Aside from teasing Harris, there isn't much to do out here. Speaking of, Fujiwara suggests we start wearing less around him."

Eri chuckled, "Oh that would be something, he has a hard enough time with you. Gary didn't even bat an eye."

"I noticed, but I haven't really talked that much with Lieutenant Black. Spends most of his time cooped up in the cockpit, at least while I'm on the shuttle."

"Well he doesn't have anything against you, that's just Gary being Gary. He was the same way back in flight school, we were in the same class."

"Really? Why is he still a Lieutenant?"

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"That's a really charming story actually it started with a call from home, his sister had been in an accident."

She winced, "That can't have been a fun call."

White scoffed, "It sure wasn't, I've heard the story, brutal accident from what I understand the emotional wounds were deep."

"Yeah I was getting to that, it was a careless drunk college kid who'd had a bit too much to drink like most of their friends and built a catapult for some reason, and then decided tossing large slime balls at the highway was a good idea."

Her face paled, and she gulped, "Um, seriously? How stupid were they?"

The trio continued to banter the story, as they made their way towards the contact. It wasn't too long before it finally resolved into something they could talk about.

"So Black's misfortunes aside, what do we have here?"

White was first to answer the question, "Looks like Raider ships, I'm seeing a light frigate, four corvettes, no wait make that two frigates. A second vessel just came around that shattered planetoid."

"I see it too, appears to be armed with low yield laser cannons, and a pair of ion disruptors. Weak shielding, Tritainium-Erudite armor belt, thirty centimeters thick. Engines look pretty oversized, I suspect she's got some speed in her."

"We aren't that far out of Anchorage, but it would be a few days before another force could respond. I'd rather not leave them be, ready for some action girls?"

Sali quickly acknowledged, and so did Eri. White took the lead since she was technically in charge of this squadron. Well, half squadron, they only had three fighters and a shuttle. Although it was a combat shuttle, it could do some damage, with its four dual particle turrets, and its heavier spinal-mounted particle cannons. It also had some torpedoes, but most of its stock was for rearming them. It had been deployed as a mobile armory, and barracks, not a frontline unit. If they'd planned to send her into the thick of battle, they'd have armed her accordingly.

"Good, here's my plan. Those frigates are the best they have. The one has low yield lasers, and those ion disruptors, the other has a few ion disruptors and a pair of missile batteries. Eri I want you to take out the missile frigate, Sali and I will conduct a joint attack on the laser frigate, she's got thicker armor so we might just need the firepower." she flashed a scan, and attack plan, "We will target their drives, they look vulnerable at these points. Let's try and conserve torpedoes, use your pulsars.

"Once we take them out, we hit the corvettes," she marked one of them, "Target this one first, it's got a pair of plasma flak cannons and is armed with plasma missiles. It looks more dangerous than the others."

"Understood, do we give them any warning?"

"Nah, they are basically pirates, local scum. No one will miss them, except other scum, and we don't want them to find the Enterprise. Certainly not right now."

Sali nodded, she was right, the Raiders would attack them first without question if they'd seen them. It had happened before, she put her focus into the battle, as they streamed into position.

Chatter slowed aside from vital combat reports, which amounted to nothing as they went dark for a moment. Just not before informing the shuttle of what they were doing. If everything went wrong, the shuttle would be able to inform the Enterprise.

The seconds ticked by, Eri split into a separate attack vector as they continued to close on the main target. Sali kept a close eye on the range figures, her finger standing by near the trigger, her weapons console blinking red, in bright bold text: Pulsars Armed.

Finally, after an eternity, the range was optimal without asking, she followed the plan, she pulled the trigger. Pulsing blue-white energy streaks erupted from her craft as she pulled up and into a new angle. The energy rounds streaked into the shields and detonated. Just seconds before White opened up with a strafing attack scoring several penetrating hits.

Almost immediately, the laser turrets came to life. Firing into the storm, but the energy rounds were wide, and none came close to her fighter. As she came into angle for the second strafe, she switched weapons, then pulled the trigger. Dense blue bolts rippled into the hull, each one tearing into the structure, one hit a turret which exploded into mangled metal as she passed by.

Another turret managed to lock onto her, her ship shuddered as one then two energy rounds hit, but then she was out of angle for it, and sailing into the storm, clear of the ship. White moved in for the kill, several laser bolts sailing past her ship in near misses. The computer reported the damage to her own fighter, no penetrations, aft plating down twenty percent, AIF recharging rapidly. Those low-yield lasers packed a bit more of a punch than the naming might have suggested. She diverted power from the engines to the hull plating and increased the reactor draw to compensate, just before swinging back into the action.

This time for the corvette, she didn't need another run on the frigate. Sali checked to be sure, and was just in time to see White's particle cannons score the kill hit, several rounds punched through the weakened aft armor which ruptured in a brilliant explosion, then a second burst blew out some plating several dozen meters forward, followed by a third rupture on the other side of the ship. Secondary explosions rocked the ship because she'd set off a chain reaction and the ship was tearing itself apart.

Suddenly the laser frigate's hull split down the middle a discharge from the storm striking it as the ship started splitting apart. The hull was rocked suddenly, then another explosion in the middle of the ship sent the two sections careening away from each other. Perhaps fortuitously as seconds later, the aft section went up. The hull ruptured in a dozen locations seconds before it disintegrated in the tell-tell reaction of an antimatter cascade. The forward section remained, tumbling rocked by no further explosions, she marked it, then focused on the corvette.

Just before the computer warned her about being targeted. Plenty of time to evade the incoming plasma flak and avoid a few missiles sent her way. Two of which just barely managed to correct and come back in towards her. She didn't even curse, this was easier than the simulations. Instead, she double checked her armor and energy web systems while considering an escape vector just in case. They were good, aft plating was at full strength again, energy webs on hot standby, and good across the board. She'd take the hit, it would let her get into an attack position faster.

A second later the webs deployed, blocking two missiles, as a swarm of plasma rounds detonated almost in her path. She weaved through them, then she was in position, she cycled the pulsars and fired. Two quick pulses, a few seconds apart. The shining white-blue energy bolts slammed into the ship. The first pair into the shields, the second into the hull, disrupting several systems. The flak guns fell silent, and a missile launcher misfired, one missile detonating in the launcher, the hull ruptured.

She fired her particle cannons as she moved into a strafe, the high energy rounds tore into the lightly armored hull. Rupturing compartments and blowing out vulnerable systems. She kept marking targets for the computer to try and hit as she continued the strafe. Then she broke a second later, just as White came into position, firing a few rounds of her own into the stricken corvette.

"Missile Frigate is down! Tough little bugger had to put a couple of torpedoes in her to actually finish the damn thing. How are you two doing?"

"Got the Laser Frigate, flak corvette is... finished," said White as her last bolt hit something vital. Just as Sali was ready to fire again. The ship started breaking apart in spectacular fashion.

"Got it, other three appear to be bugging out, do we chase?"

"Just to give them something to think about, I've got the middle one, Sali take left."

"Aye, I'll get the last one."

Sali vectored toward her assigned target, and hit the throttle bringing it up to max. The ship burst into motion. Quickly she gained on the fleeing vessel, but the other ship was building speed, something Sali was going to keep in mind. She readied the pulsars, and waited for optimal range. A second later, she had it and fired. Scoring two hits to the shields, but they didn't go down. She fired again and this time they were down.

Sali mentally noted the stronger shields, and sent another pair of pulsars into the hull, before switching to particle cannons. Targeting an aft thruster port, she opened up, four seconds of pulsed fire tore into it. The energy bolts tore into the plating and deep into the structure before she zipped past. A turret spun to face her spitting bolts of purple energy her way, she spun the craft just milliseconds before they would have hit, then fired. Several pulses struck the turret housing, the armor fracturing but holding. One round hit the emitter port however and the weapon fell silent, it was good enough.

This ship had better armor than the others. Something Sali noted, as she continued her attack, thumbing a switch to ready two photons to fire. Glancing to her scanners, she quickly noted a target, the timer in her mind went down, then it came into angle. She fired, the blue bolts sailed from her fighter and she quickly broke away. Mere moments later, they hit punching into the plating before exploding. A bright burst of light lit up the storm for a second before clearing, the fleeing corvette was still there but a good chunk of her hull was ruined. Several more explosions rocked her, as her engines sputtered and died.

Sali turned the ship around, and locked onto what looked like the bridge. It was an armored housing near the center of the forward section. With the ship crippled, she felt better firing at this angle and range, she opened up. A sustained barrage, for a second or two the armor seemed to hold but then it began to fracture, then melt before the bolts tore through ripping into internals, then secondary armor, then finally into what she thought was the bridge. One turret came to life just then but fired only a couple of bolts, neither on target before the bridge was vented. Must have been vital.

She ran one more scan, the ship was intact, isolated life signs, power erratic, no sign of resistance. It looked like the ship was crippled, she marked its position as well. Then reported in, "My target's crippled, looks good for a recovery op, yours?"

"I gave them something to think about before letting them go," said White.

"Killed mine. They did put up a bit of a fight."

"Anything left?"

"Just some floating debris, I hit one of their magazines, caused a chain detonation."

"Got to love a good flash fire, just not when it happens to you."