6th of June, 3288
Kempf Refinery
Mahei System: Imperial Jurisdiction
Turning thirteen is usually a thing celebrated by blowing out candles on a birthday cake and opening gifts surrounded by family and friends. But me, being an Azuka, I celebrated my birthday in a much different manner. I find myself on an unfamiliar outpost hiding out in the main generator room with one of my father's most trusted pilots. A man named Demetri Lambros, late 30's, 5'10, stocky build, long brown hair and a bit of a roughly trimmed beard. His eyes were a hazel brown, at least one of them were anyway. His left eye was heavily scared and sealed shut at all times.
He held a pistol in hand and as he stood near the door of the generator room holding his arm across my chest to keep me out of the line of sight of anyone who would enter. I did my best not to make any noise, breathing shallow breaths as the moments ticked by. We waited as the corridor on the other side of the door to clear before he finally lowers his arm.
"Pad 3 is unguarded. That's your target." He whispers to me and hands me a second pistol.
"I..." I start to speak looking at the gun in my hand and swallowing hard. "Do I really need this?"
He glances over to me and back to the door reaching up to the key pad to open it.
"These men won't hesitate to kill me if we're caught. You on the other hand, there's no telling what they might do. Best not to take any chances." He states and looks back to me again. My hands shake nervously with the weapon in my hand. His places his large hand on mine and forces them to tighten around the handle. He looks me in the eye, using his pistol to shift my natural black hair from in front of face. His face is as calm as though we were back home on my father's ship. "You're an Azuka. You might not think it yet but this is part of who you are. You'll be fine." He says and a calm voice easing my nerves a bit.
"Okay." I reply much calmer.
"Pad 3. Once you hit the hanger, you're on your own. Remember, full power to engines and High Wake as soon as you're clear of the mass lock." He says once more and hits the hey pad.
The door slides open and he slips out into the corridor, pointing his gun down both ends of the hallway before signaling to me to follow. I exit the room and takeoff for the end of the corridor as fast as my feet would allow. We reach the end of the corridor and see a large sliding door marked Hanger 3. I take a step towards the hanger just as a loud siren sounds throughout the outpost.
"Demetri?!" I shout before the doors behind us open.
Three armed guards enter the corridor pointing their weapons at up. We both put our hands up as if to surrender. Demetri tilts his weapon slightly pointing it a pipe above the guards head. He pulls the trigger shooting the pipe and releasing the white gas from within it, blinding the men for a brief moment.
"Go Princess!" He shouts and rushes towards the guards.
I run for the door and slam the controls while he opens fire into the group, taking one out with the first shot and tackling another and fighting for his rifle as the hanger door slides open. I slide under the door and trigger it to close losing sight of Demetri as he struggles with the guards. The door seals and the lights of the hanger flash on. I turn to face my target, an all white Sidewinder. Once I saw the ship my thoughts started to wonder.
All this for a Sidewinder?
I start to head to the craft as the door behind me slides open. Two more guards enter and spot me, raise their guns to fire.
"Stop right there!" They command.
I run for the Sidewinder and duck behind its front landing gear as a swarm of bullets fly. Hesitant at first, I tuck around the gear and fire three shots back at my attackers, hitting one in the shoulder. He falls screaming in pain and there's a brief pause in incoming bullets. I peak back around the landing gear and the remaining guard is kneeling next to his partner. He looks up at me with a look of confusion as I point the gun at him.
"You're just a child." he mumbles just loud enough for me to hear.
My eyes look him over with the gun shaking in my hand. He stares at me and an almost sympathetic look crosses his face. He tosses his weapon to the side and begins to drag the injured man out of the hanger. My eyes fixed on him, I start to head to board the Sidewinder.
I mouth the words "I'm sorry" to the guard before the hanger door slides shut again.
I hurry aboard the small ship and enter its cockpit, switching on it's systems while I leap into the seat. The ship comes to life and rumbles with the powering up of it's thrusters. Several more men enter the hanger from another door and point their guns at the ship. I trigger the pad to move out of the hanger and the men begin shooting. I jump in the seat at the sudden gunfire but realize their weapons were useless against the Sidewinder's shields. With the pad moved into open space, I trigger the ship to release from the pad.
The Sidewinder's engines spin up in a high pitch whine as it lifts away from the pad. I hit the throttle forward and throw the small ship around in the direction of my destination. As the ship pulls away from the outpost, I hit the comms and open a channel to Demetri.
"I have the ship!"
The sound of machine gun fire floods the comms before the laughter of the one eye man follows.
"Good. Get going. Watch your six." He says with a tone of approval in his voice.
"What about you?"
"I'll be fine." He says followed by more gunfire. "Just stick to the plan!" He adds and cuts the feed.
I take in a deep breath then hit the Frame Shift Drive and boost away from the outpost as the countdown start. 4, 3, 2, 1, Flash.
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Eotienses System: Imperial Jurisdiction
The small ship jumps into the system I called home and lingers around the the star as I fumbled my way through the navigation panel. The ship's controls weren't too different from the Cobra MK III I was already used to but the pressure of the mission at hand was playing tricks with my mind. I lock on to Adams Market and throttle up.
In my lack of experience on my own, I fail to notice a ship on my sensors closing in on me. The sudden rattle of the hull with the following interdiction sends my heartbeat into a full panic. Instead of fighting it, I submit and both ships drop out of supercruise. I flip the small vessel around to see the Eagle in pursuit of me as it deploys its weapons. I hit the comms hoping to avoid a fight but am quickly overcome by a volley of burst laser fire.
I throttle up and charge ahead for the ship deploying my own hardpoints. As I barrel passed the combat ship I look over this ship's loadout. It couldn't be much worse. All I had to defend myself was a pair of fixed pulse lasers, no chaff or electronic countermeasures or anything defensive.
All this for a stock Sidewinder?
I take a deep breath and focus. I pull in to attack, the pilots swings the ship hard to face me head on, firing several more blast from a pair of burst laser. I return fire and we do about and even amount of damage to each other's shields. I boost out to open a gap between us to by my shields time to recover. The Eagle twists around and pulls back within weapons range and fires again. I spin to avoid it's attack but the much more maneuverer Eagle manages to chip away at my shields, taking me to one ring.
I pull back on the stick to loop around the target, unleashing as many blast from my lasers as the ship could manage. I start taking more hits from his lasers. This guy was better than me, that much was clear. I realize I was in over my head. Getting the upper hand wouldn't be easy. I try to tuck in behind the Eagle taking several shots at the bulk of the ship before he flips around to face me. I couldn't afford any more hits on my shields. Then the thought hits me.
Our shields are next to even. But our hulls aren't.
I boost for the Eagle which was within a few meters from me to begin with. Our ships collide and both our shields collapse in the impact. The Sidewinder spins around with flames pouring out of several panels across the cockpit. I fight with the controls to realine on my now crippled foe. Without its shields, the Eagle might as well be a paper bag in terms of armor.
I let loose on the Eagle and start to quickly melt away at it's hull. The ship stows its weapons and starts to boost aways charging its FSD. I let up on the trigger and sink back into my seat looking out at the fleeing ship.
Did I just win?
I retract my weapons and turn back to charge my own drives to head home. The ship doesn't respond and look over to the right panel checking the modules. The Frame Shift Drive took a hard hit and was off line completely. I shake my head as I hit the comms to call Demetri.
All this for a Sidewinder?
"Demetri, I made it to Eotienses but got into a fight with an Eagle."
"Are you alright?"
"I'm fine. Just... Lost my jump drive. Sorry."
"Hm. It's fine. Just drop your beacon. Help is on the way."
I drop the beacon and let out a sigh. Minutes later several blips appear on my scanners. I flip the ship around thinking it was Demetri returning to save me. But no, what appeared before me wasn't him but a wing Imperial Couriers. Knowing no such ship was in my fathers crew, I quickly throw the little Sidewinder around to flee as their weapons open up on me.
"Demetri! More of em! Couriers!" I shout over the comms.
There was no response from him while the lasers fly all around me as I try to escape. Suddenly there's several flashes ahead of me. I bank hard to the right to avoid crashing into the monstrous Anaconda and three Fer de Lances that appear before me. The Ten Swords, the Anaconda in question, maneuvers between me and the chasing Couriers as they come to a stop.
"Attention Bandits of Mahei. This is Shinn Azuka. Leaders of the Ten Swords." My father's voice echoed over the local channel. "Retract your weapons and cut your engines or you will be fired upon."
There's a small pause as I fly around to the rear of the Anaconda, joining the formation as my shields flash blue with their return.
"Azuka. That Sidewinder belongs to us. Hand it and the pilot over and we'll happily leave your airspace." The Commander of the lead ship states.
"Hm. I'm afraid I can't do that. That pilot happens to be my daughter." My fathers replies and deploys the hardpoints on the Anaconda. The ship unleashes a blast of purple plasma that passes over the hull of the lead Courier. "I won't say it again. Retract your weapons and cut your engines." He adds.
Another moment of silence passes. The three ships then retract their weapons and kill their engines.
"We've done what you ask. What do you want now?"
"I already have what I'm after. Lead Commander. You are to give a message to your boss." My father states and snaps his fingers. The wing then unloads on two of the ships, quickly destroying them with incredible ease. "Next time he decides to double cross me. I will lay waste to him and his entire crew." Shinn adds and fires several blast into the remaining Courier. Forcing down its shields.
The vessel powers up, charges it FSD and turns to flee.
"So that's what all this was about? Payback?" I ask over the comms.
My father doesn't reply at first. Instead he links the OS of his ship to the Sidewinder.
"Viki. Begin the reboot." He says to the OS.
"As you wish."
The ship powers down and begins to run a full diagnostic and repair of itself. Taking about a minute to finally restart.
"We'll escort you to dock. If you're going to be flying that thing it's going to need some upgrades." Shinn says as the four ships turn to leave.
"Wait, what?" I respond with a bit of confusion on my face.
- - - - - Additional Content Posted / Auto Merge - - - - -
Yeah. Figured it was time for one
