:: 29/12/2000 ::
We received sensor telemetry from the Angel Base, and it looked like it was being attacked by a flight of eight Turanic Missile Corvettes, each one flanked by two standard Turanic Fighter. When we got close enough to the TT, I saw that four hatches, a pair on the top of the ship and another two on its belly, opened up and four heavy turrets emerged from them. That was odd, I thought, as no one had told us that the ship was armed. But that question would be saved for later, and Captain Naabal ordered us to target the enemy Corvettes. The Base seemed to be holding its own against the Fighters, which were constantly making attack runs on the service pods. Luckily, they hadn't targeted either the Black Runner or the Bloody Dagger, which were both still dormant on the pods.
I targeted one of the Corvettes, which was designated Wrath 3, and started firing at its missile bays. The corvette immediately turned to face me, and fired off three of its slow but deadly missiles. Jacyn took Wrath 4 and abandoned me. I increased speed to full throttle and avoided the missiles, which eventually burned out. I banked hard to port to get on its tail, and I began pumping ammo into the engines. Sparks flew from the holes I made, but it just turned away from me and retreated.
I saw Angel 10 on my radar being trailed by a Fighter, and I rushed to help him. Two shots to the top of the rod-shaped craft got it to break off the attack and move towards me. I felt furious that I didn't even get an acknowledgement from him, but he was busy with his own Corvette. The Fighter and I sped towards each other firing away. One or two bullets hit my belly, and that prompted large jolts to I and my cockpit, but there was no sign of a hull breach or serious damage. I accelerated onto his tail, and I kept on shooting. Their hulls seemed very makeshift and cobbled together, but they lasted. It tried to perform a loop that would get it behind me, but several solid volleys to the cockpit shattered it, blowing its pilot out into vacuum. The ship, though without power, seemed relatively intact.
I targeted Angel 4's ship and attacked his same target, the lead of Wrath Squadron. I got some solid shooting in there, but what intrigued me was a loud pumping sound from Nolan's Interceptor, followed by a powerful blast of several hundred rounds shot simultaneously. One of these shots (which were interestingly reminiscent of a Heavy Corvette's burst attack,) hit the engine exhausts, rammed its way through the entire length of the Corvette, and blew out through the cockpit. The Ion thrust of the craft blew the dead craft into a billion points of light. "How did you do that, Napalm?" referring to his new enhancement to his guns. "Nothing, just a little cross-wiring and bribing the main engineer. I call it a Shotgun attack. It sort of depletes the magazine quickly, though."
I heard a loud warning buzz, along with flashing red lights in my cockpit and the message: "Alert, Missile Lock detected! Evasive maneuvers." I targeted the Turanic missiles, which were closing in on my ship. "What do I do?" Napalm replied, "Flip that cap off of your joystick." On my control stick, there was, indeed, a red flip-off cap on the top. I flicked it off with my thumb, and found a red button. A sign on my control panel lit up saying, CHAFF: 8. I pressed it, and I felt a slight buck, as something was released form the tail of my ship.
I brought up my rear camera view, and I saw a small ball heading towards the projectiles. It exploded into several thousand small shards of metal, which the three missiles collided with and created a red flash that washed out the camera's lens. The red lights and warning signals ceased, and I asked Napalm, "How did you know about that? I didn't think Fighters even had countermeasures." He shook his head at me through the comm. "Angel Squadron has been furnished with Blade Mark 6 Interceptors, enhanced versions. I saw the schematics on the base before we took off." Blade Mark 6s? I guess more surprises were to come.
I targeted one of the other Missile Corvettes, which began their attack on the Angel Base. I fired at the exhausts again, and the two port nacelles burst into flame. The fires were extinguished, but with the starboard engines still working it left the corvette spinning on its axis through space, occasionally firing missiles that went nowhere.
By this time, there were but four fighters and one Corvette left. I eyed one of the Fighters and closed on it, while the rest of the squadron were attacking the Corvette. It noticed me, and fired several volleys of ammunition at me. I returned fire, but one of his shots hit my gun, and lodged itself between one of the rotating cannons and the stationary hull. I could hear a sickening grinding sound, as well as warnings of powerful stress on that section of the ship. Thinking quickly, I shut off the weapons systems and boosted auxiliary power to the engine output. I closed in on the Fighter's behind as I looped to get on his behind. It was clear that it was aiming for the TT's bridge, so it tried to get on top of it. When I got close enough, I pushed down on the roof of the fighter, and it began careening towards the top part of the main hull. I saw that its angle of entry was far too steep, and slowed down and hit him again on his tail, levelling his Fighter with the Angel Base's hull.
It still hit it pretty hard, and it slid across the hull, tearing it as it went along. The nose then lowered ever so slightly, and it began performing violent somersaults along its path, breaking most of its parts off as it did so. When it finally cleared the ship, having left a huge trail of denting and breaks along its path, one of the turrets targeted it and blew it into a huge display of sparks.
"Congratulations, Angels!" said Captain Naabal. "We have won our first dogfight, and without much training. Form up to dock and call in."
"Angel 2 is here and glad to have helped, sir!" Oh brother, I thought.
"Angel 3 is up and running."
"I'm still here too, Cap'n."
"Duly noted, Angel 4."
"All 1R units are present and accounted for."
"Angel 8 is here and pumped, sir!"
"Angel 9 standing by, and proud of it."
Jacyn ended this dialogue by saying, "I'm fine, too."
No losses, I thought. Our first, unscheduled mission and we got no losses. And perhaps even more than that. "Uh, sir? What of the Fighter I downed and that one Missile Corvette? They're in pretty good shape." the Captain's eyes twinkled. "Well, then. It would be a shame to just leave them, now wouldn't it? I'll send out a commando team to retrieve them, and the Angel Base can do the necessary repairs. We're not exactly brimming with new parts, and two more vessels would be a welcome addition." I found this prospect exciting. With a Turanic Fighter and Missile Corvette on our side, we may be able to use them later on in our journey. "Oh, and Nine?" said the Captain. "Yes, sir?"
"Nice work. Truly nice work."
