Phoenix was piloting the HS Crysentimum, a heavy cruiser that spanned over 1.5km long and 500 metres wide. The exterior of its elongated hexagonal body is filled with over 30 point defense (PD) systems which consist of medium lasers and short-range guns to deny any weapons or threats that came into the vicinities of the ship.
The ship also boasted four XXL Turbo Thrusters which provided enough thrust for it to keep up with the smaller and faster frigates if the need arose. Its heavy shields, two mounted heavy railguns and 40 missile launchers made it one of the strongest vessels in the Hunters' fleet. Due to its specs, it has been running patrol missions on its own around Palladium's system of influence.
Phoenix checked the clock on the heads up display of her holo glasses. 'Another two hours till the patrol is done'. Her ears hurt from wearing her tight and fairly heavy holo glasses for 5 hours straight. The plethora of displays from her relative position in the system to the cruise speed were all projected onto the lenses of her glasses.
The glasses allowed her to sync with the ship's systems, enabling the ship's system to respond to her command instantaneously by pulling up data to her display upon request. Every crew on the bridge was recommended to get one. However, no one except her was using holo glasses. They instead used implants, a more sophisticated piece of technology that is imported from a system on the other end of the empire.
"Captain. Sensors detected an anomaly on Section 5 Area 3b. Ship analytics suggest a high probability of pirate smugglers and a low probability of rebel vessels'' reported the stumpy science officer.
"Copy that. Pilot, make a heading towards Section 5 Area 3b, coms bring us up to level 2 alert'' sat the captain on the bridge" ordered the captain as he made his way to his seat at the centre of the bridge.
"Roger that. Changing destination to Sec 5 Area 3b'' Phoenix echoed.
She keyed in the coordinates and drag the sliders projected on the front of her to increase her speed. She leaned back into her seat feeling the force of inertia before the dampeners kicked in. She tracked the grey dot on her map. As she approached 40 speu of the anomaly, it split into 4 smaller grey dots as she got closer.
Small lines soon extended from the front of the dots before they turned red. They looked like missle tracks based on her experiences with the simulator. 40 speu (the distance measured in the game) was the minimum engagement distance of missiles. She requested the relevant information from the onboard AI and her assumption was proved to be correct.
Phoenix immediately shouted, "Missiles locked. Engage evasive manoeuvre''
"Activating point defense system,'' another officer shouted.
All the while the captain calmly analysed the available information.
"Bring us to level three alert. Do we have a visual yet?'' He asked coms as the lights dimmed to conserve energy.
"Video feed just came in. Pulling it up for you now''
The screen that jutted out of the ceiling above a holograph table switched to a grainy video feed of 2 vessels running away from them while the other two were heading towards the Chrysanthemum.
He frowned at the displayed images.
"The outline looked too neat for a pirate vessel. Direct scanners on the two fleeing ships.
"Weapons, take down those 2 approaching pirates asap. Pilot, I want you to chase the runners once we mop up the 2 pesky pirates''
A series of acknowledgements rang out from the bridge.
Phoenix engaged her side thrusters to provide better coverage of her weapons' officers. She angled the ship towards the two runners and ramp the speed up.
The scanners managed to identify the two ships Chrysanthemum was fighting. They were medium class converted freighters and the Chrysanthemum had no problem taking them down.
Although Phoenix pushed the thrusters to it's very limit, they were not getting any closer to the two fleeing ships.
"Converted freighters don't have the capacity for that speed let alone sustain it. I recommend caution'' the science officer shouted from the side.
"Scanners are having a hard time getting a clear picture. I suspect they are actively jamming our long range sensors.
''Add to the fact that it can maintain such speed, I believe it's a medium frigate with possibly good military capabilities. Caution advised'' the comms officer added.
"Noted. Missle range?'' Asked the captain
"We're barely making it. I think they have a higher top speed but can't sustain it'' the crew who sat next to her replied.
Phoenix checked her radar UI, on it is drawn a circle roughly 3 inches away from her ship. That was the indicated range of missiles.
"Come on. Come on'' she muttered. Eyes laser focus on the radar.
One of the ship suddenly entered missile range. The weapons officer next to her immediately launched five missiles towards it.
What happened next cause her to frown. Her sensors were telling her the ship made a 180 degree turn and burned her thruster towards the Chrysenthymum.
Widening her eyes in realisation,
"Shit! Engaging evasive maneuver, Tango 1 is turning around'' she shouted.
It was too late as she felt a loud bang followed by a heavy jerk of the ship.
"Charge up the shield!'' she shouted to the science officer.
"We're going to lose Tango 2 if we do that'' he replied.
"Divert power to shield, ignore tango 2. Make sure we disable Tango 1'' the captain called out.
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Phoenix jigged her ship after the sensors indicated more railgun follow-up shots. Her reaction was still slow as few railgun slugs still found their mark. It slammed into the shields seconds after the shield was fully charged and deployed.
Phoenix gulped when a drop of sweat trickled down her temple. This was her first real near-peer engagement in a capital ship. She had only done this in simulations. Before this, they were only hunting a ragtag group of pirates who couldn't even scratch the Chrysanthemum's hull.
"Focus Phoenix. You're doing great. They didn't hit any of our crucial systems with their surprise attack'' the captain said to her.
She took a deep breath to calm her nerves. Psyching herself up,
'You've done this before in simulations. You can do this'
"Missle launch detected, tracking patterns are quite sophisticated'' the weapons officer reported.
Most of the missiles were taken out by Chrysanthemum's PDC. It missed a few but the shield held strong.
She carefully repeated her previous manoeuvre to expose more of her close range interceptors to enemy missiles while trying to stay within missile engagement range.
If she allowed the opponent to get too close, she wouldn't have enough time to dodge their railguns. Closer still would be when they were within PDC range.
She remembered clearly her flight instructor told the class nobody wanted to get within PDC range.
"No captain, ship or crew wants a slugfest of 19th-century naval engagements unless you're desperate. You're giving up any advantage you have and leaving it to chance, hoping for a stray shot to hit any critical system'' she recalled from flight instructor Melissa.
"Railguns are powerful but you only enter railgun range if you are confident that you have better manoeuvrability than your opponents or if you're desperate. If not, stick to missile range and trust your crew. That's standard naval engagement.
"There are exceptions to this rule obviously, but you rookies need not bother with them yet. Pilots and crew who could utilise the exceptions effectively are few and far between.''
Sticking to what she learned, Phoenix deduced that the opponent must be faster judging by its aggressive flight pattern.
'Opponent pilot is good. It's getting harder to stay out of railgun range'
The weapons officer gave Phoenix a quick glance and nodded. Sweat was dripping down Phoenix's concentration filled face.
'She's doing good for her first proper engagement' the officer next to Phoenix thought to herself. However, weapons officer Burton frowned when he noticed Phoenix wouldn't be able to keep the opponent in missile range for much longer.
He quickly had his personal AI analyse Tango 1's past flight and missile pattern. Once he got the analysis from his AI, he asked it to work on a firing solution. Satisfied, he inputted the new firing solutions into the ship's system. Immediately, the missiles heading toward Tango 1 changed their flight pattern. The abrupt change took Tango 1 by surprise which resulted in many hits on their shield and a large chunk of their PDC getting taken out when the shield failed to maintain its integrity.
"Phoenix, turn us around and bring us close. Ready railgun, target their engine'' the captain commanded as soon as the Tango 1's shield died.
She did a 120-degree barrel roll for her PDCs to deal with incoming missiles followed by 90 degrees flip, bearing heading straight towards Tango 1.
Noticing that they had lost the engagement, Tango 1 tried to run. They have accomplished their goal of buying time for Tango 2.
However, the head start distance that they enjoyed was nonexistent due to their previous strategy of trying to enter railgun range.
The two ships began their dangerous dance again but with their role reversed.
The new missiles algorithm proved too much for Tango 1's PDCs and eventually one of the missle managed to blow up one of Tango 1's three thrusters, effectively allowing Chrysanthemum to enter railgun range and disabled its engine.
Phoenix sighed in relief. The high intensity engagement was over. She reduced her speed as she approached Tango 1.
As the captain was about to order the launch of boarding pods when the science officer shouted
"Massive spike in energy readings from Tango 1"
Followed by a glorious explosion. Tango 1 self-destructed to prevent them from getting any information.
Phoenix tried her hardest to dodge the incoming debris with little success. Majority of the damage were absorbed by the shield. Even so, Chrysanthemum suffered minor damages to its hull.
***
Phoenix left the space elevator and took a deep breath. What happened in the past two hours was both exhilarating and stressful. She messaged her friends and found they were still trying to capture the shipyard.
She decided to head over to the bar/restaurant that Horn was working at.
'I more than deserved a drink'
She took the last bite of her Pischam steak, chewing in satisfaction. The bar was packed. Unsurprising as the place served excellent food. She wondered how the hell Horn managed to land a part-time job here.
***
Jupiter was nursing her pint while savouring the spices sprinkled on her fried potatoes. Looking around, she saw a dark-skinned woman enter the bar. She watched her as the woman looked around for an empty seat and spotted one next to where Jupiter was seating.
The dark-skinned lady plopped down on the soft plush stool with a generous back rest next to her and sigh audibly.
"Shit day?'' Jupiter asked while taking a sip.
Shaking her head, "you've no idea. Chased some pirates in space, getting nearly shot down.. you know? The usual''
"Huh.. I thought pirates were pretty easy to beat. The forum's been claiming they're too easy even''
The dark-skinned lady blinked several times and stared at Jupiter blankly. She asked unsurely after a while,
"You are a player right?''
Jupiter snorted and started laughing. She gave the woman a side glance and continued laughing.
"H-e-l-l-o. I am your human interface robot, XEM 13175 here for world domi.. ahem. Peace'' she replied with a robotic voice.
The lady rolled her eyes at the antics of Jupiter.
After awhile, Jupiter asked the lady, "I'm curious, how are space combat like?''
The woman took her time with her drink, slowly gathering her thoughts.
"It's quite unforgiving. You make a blunder and you basically lose your ship and the credits you invested in it. That's for the small fighters where most players are concentrated. But since the stakes are high, it really get the adrenaline pumping''
Jupiter figured this woman next to her must have lost her ship. The forums have been filled with vitriolic comments about dangers of space. They understood
"I'm sorry. Was the ship expensive?''
She laughed at the misunderstanding.
"What? Ohh, no. My ship wasn't lost. I was actually flying one of the Hunter's flagship today. I'm upset because my nerve nearly got us shot down because of it. First time engaging in a proper ship to ship battle. Not those riff raffs the pirates were fielding. I half suspect they're actually rebel ships. Though the higher-ups are keeping a tight lip on it''
"Are the rebels really that strong? I'm playing more as a lifestyle player with a friend of mine, but I worry our workshop in the old industrial area would be attacked'' Jupiter asked worryingly.
"Hm. I do think the rebel faction is strong if they manage to push the planetary governing forces so hard. But if you're worried, you could put up some emergency quests at Hunters' Hall. Or just drop me a message and I'll see what my friends and I can do. My party is out at the rebel shipyard right now and they're doing quite well. I'm Phoenix by the way.'' Phoenix offered with a grin as she extended her hand for a handshake.
"I'll take you up on that'' Jupiter raised her glass and added Phoenix to her friends' list.