Morwen held the command control sticks firmly as she waited for word that the strike team deployed. Her plan relied heavily on deception and baiting the dragons into an attack. The Brotherhood had given her some resources to work with. No, not resources, she corrected herself. Soldiers. Most of the Brotherhood’s mortal wounded who could fight in some capacity. She just hoped the Crasher looked as beat up as their Brotherhood counter parts to sell the rouse. She trusted the thrashing the ship had taken under the gigantic dragon’s attack would sufficiently serve the purpose. Her lips tugged into a frown. Spending unnamed grunts in a game was one thing, but arbitrarily deciding a character’s fate like this? She pushed the thought down to focus on the task at hand.
“Strike team is away,” Yasiin said from the defensive console. A fiery message spell extinguishing itself next to him.
Morwen nodded to herself. It was time. She eased the throttle forward, and the Crasher slowly responded with propulsion from the drive as it drew light magic from her, converting it into raw power. The lumbering magical battleship’s spell drive flared to life as it pushed ahead, closing the gap to the planet. She hoped that if she could make it appear she was making a mad dash for the surface, the dragons would bite. She wanted to draw on that primal predatory instinct, and get them to pursue fleeing prey. If they were to defend the skies, they wouldn’t allow an attempt to land.
“Brotherhood vessels falling into formation as best they can,” Yasiin said. A small illusion of the battle space called up next to him. Four dots showed their group. The Crasher and three of the Brotherhood’s most damaged vessels when the dragons took the region. The ships, crewed by volunteers who knew that medical aid was too far off to save them. Or in one case a ship that was one bad hit away from suffering a core breach and no dock yards to repair the damage. They were willingly flying to their deaths. A sacrifice Morwen intended not to take lightly. She whispered a silent prayer for Aeryn to watch after their souls.
Moments later, Yasiin glanced at his illusion and scanned a different region. “Confirmed, many of the dragons are abandoning the station. I count ten in pursuit.”
Morwen focused on flying to keep from shuddering at the genuine prospect of being overwhelmed by the dragons. She began feeding the cannon a large portion of void magic. Spending 3 points from her pool. The ship would amplify that, so she'd hit with a level 4 void spell.
“Corporal, I need as much void as you can provide.”
The Corporal nodded, spending 2 AP to invest in the spell as well. Waves of violet and black energy rippled from Yasiin into the golden control sticks on his console. The ship intuitively took the magic and moved it to the cannon at the rear, building a massive orb of negative energy. Small motes of void aether falling into the ever swelling sphere of destructive magic. The aft spell cannon began priming a shot. Morwen’s void ray slowly congealed within its maw. She took aim at the closest dragon as it flew in after the wounded vessels. She pulled the trigger and the void ray lanced out. Catching the offending dragon in the head. Scales, sinew, and bone just rippled away into nothingness as disentangled particles floated away, leaving only a stump where the neck had once been. The dragon’s lifeless body tumbled away, magic blood trickling from wounds slowly.
With the primary screen displaying the aft of the ship, Morwen watched the dragons rushing to catch them. The Brotherhood ships being so damaged meant that she didn’t have to worry about pulling ahead of the dragons. She watched a trio of them pounce on the slowest ship, fires licked at her hull. A few of its point defense rail guns were still functional and moved to respond. Slugs lanced out and struck the dragons point blank. Several rounds belted a dragon, causing it to spin wildly out of control. The dragons regrouped, hurling breath attacks at the same time. Then the remaining turrets were disabled.
“Yasiin, strengthen our aft shields.”
As ordered, the Corporal fed more energy to the rear shields and wards. She watched as extra bands of runes banded around the defensive layer protecting the ship. A moment later, the wounded Brotherhood ship detonated in a nuclear fireball. Morwen watched grimly as the dragons realized what had happened too late. Their looks of shock and surprise burned into her mind as the ship disappeared in a flash. Since there was no atmosphere in space, the explosion's radius was much more compact. But the radius is relative when detonating a Brotherhood of Man mark 8 power core with a pack of dragons on the outside of the hull trying to tear their way in.
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“Damn,” Sirsir said softly. “Did they do that intentionally?”
Morwen gave a soft nod. “The Admiral took volunteers to staff their most damaged ships for this diversionary ambush.” Her voice was heavy with respect, but there was a note of regret, too.
Sirsir gave them a fist over his heart salute before resuming his control at his station.
She noted the remaining dragons closing ranks with the rest of the ships. One of them was a damaged cruiser. Morwen watched the few of its main turrets swiveling to fire on the dragons. Electricity danced playfully along the rails before they hurled slugs at near light speeds into the dragon’s chests. A few smaller dragons recoiled, clutching wounds and trying to staunch the bleeding. The few larger dragons among them pushed forward, pouncing on the ship, tearing and clawing. They were digging for the ship's reactor. The biggest succeeded and tore the reactor free as it sputtered power before going dead. The ship then detonated in a spectacular flash as well. The detonation temporarily flash blinded her again leaving a black spot engrained in her vision.
She smirked, taking what little satisfaction she could derive from the shocked last moments of the dragon as it thought it stole victory from the humans, only to be erased from existence in brilliant nuclear retribution. Only one ship remained and the dragons were keeping clear of it now, belting it with spells as it came apart at the keel and fell into a spray of debris and fire. Four dragons remained.
“On my mark, prepare to counter spell Yasiin. Sgt. I want as much power as you can provide to speed when I say so.”
She cut the feed of light magic to the drive and instead started feeding void magic. She’d need the precision for the next maneuver. She put the drive throttle in full reverse and yanked hard on the control stick. The ship groaned as it both reversed its speed and lifted its nose, fire and debris falling away from wounds of the last fight. Fighting both its own mass and the planet's gravity well. Morwen fed the ship extra dark magic to lighten its mass, and the nose rose higher and higher. The primary screen's view resolving to the ship's stern now.
Several magic missiles surged after the ship. Morwen could have ignored the attacks, but she needed the shields for longer than they would hold. “Corporal, start counter measures.”
Several smaller turrets on the ships began firing counter spells. The muted white bolts zipping out and crashing into the attacking missile spells, canceling each other out into shards of aether.
“Now Sergeant!”
Morwen cut her feed off to the drive and allowed the burly Sgt. to feed the drive pure radiant light. Waves of brilliant golden energy poured from him, dissolving into the golden control sticks on his console while he bellowed a guttural howl. The ship sensed the urgency and need from Sirsir and poured the energy into the drive. The exhausts at the aft of the ship glowed with radiance as the golden light flared from the drives with a roar. The ship surged forward as Yasiin’s counter spells cut down the magic missiles chasing the Crasher.
A smaller dragon bounced off the massive solid armor ram scoop at the front of the ship. One of its wings shattered and broken as it yelped helplessly after the ship and tried to claw it. The Crasher thundered away higher and higher, and arched back towards the asteroid field, but the remaining dragons gave pursuit, unwilling to let the ship flee. Good, Morwen smiled. Let them give chase. The Crasher continued to rise and as it did so, the firing line of Brotherhood ships came into view. “Let’s hope our allies' aim is as good as they claim,” Morwen said.
A moment later, streaks of super accelerated slugs lanced by in a storm that caught the remaining dragons by surprise. Their panicked screeching wails carried in the void by magic. Several rounds slammed into the head of a larger dragon who’d been trying to use his breath attack, but the slugs carved his head cleanly from his neck. Another two dragons riddled with so many rounds, Morwen would have been hard pressed to identify their breed.
Several rounds skipped off the shields, and the runes discolored a few shades until Yasiin boosted them, pushing more energy to the forward shields now without even being ordered to. Morwen noted the tactical awareness and smiled. He was shaping up nicely into a fine pilot. She eased the throttle back, and the ship eased into a casual speed as it moved to join back up with the Brotherhood lines. As they moved, Morwen put the battle space up on the screen. She gave the fallen sailors and marines a salute, and the Sgt. and Corporal joined her.
“Our allies gave of themselves everything to buy us this chance. We stand in recognition of their bravery in duty and dedication. A price so ultimate that only the gods can cast judgement upon them. We pray they find peace in the afterlife, and the next.”