03-26-2010, 04:38 PM
Szar and Victoria banked left to avoid a salvo of laser fire. Glancing behind him, Szar noted that Ander was engaged in a dogfight with one of the enemy players, leaving the other two to pursue Victoria and himself.
"We've got company, Iron Maiden." Szar stated calmly into the radio.
"I've noticed!" she grunted, a laser grazing the back wing of her craft. Szar couldn't let them eliminate Victoria. Her ship was carrying the bomb, the only means to win the event. He had to make sure, no matter what, that she made it to her destination. Running a weapons check, the Icer hoped this ship had something he could use. Lasers, a few pulsar missiles--whatever those were--and something called 'The Crab'. Figuring there wasn't anything to lose in using it, Szar flipped the switch to the Crab, and a warning buzzer began to blare in his headset.
"Warning." it said in a computer's monotone, "Crab set to deploy. Launching in five seconds." Szar swerved to avoid laser fire, before he felt something clanging below him. A hatch at the bottom of the ship opened, and a single metallic orb fell out of it. It bobbed in zero gravity before its internal sensory array homed in on one of the Tie-Figters pursuing them, and it rocketed towards them. Szar heard a confused voice shriek over the raido as the orb latched on to the nose of his ship. Eight legs folded out from the sides of the ball, each one digging into the Tie-Fighter. Next, it sent an electrical current through the ship's systems, temporarily disabling them. Juno screamed into the radio frustratedly as he struggled to get his craft moving again. That left only one ship, and Szar knew that he could handle this one on his own.
"Iron Maiden, go on ahead. I'll hold this one here."
She nodded before speeding away. "Be careful, Iceman." she said, "I won't be able to get to the core by myself!"
"Don't worry about it," Szar assured her, "I'll deal with this then catch back up with you."
"I'll hold you to that!" she said, her voice crackling over the radio. She was moving out of contact range, and that meant that she was getting closer. Hopefully, she'd be able to hold her own until Szar could link back up with her. Setting his attention on the remaining Tie-Fighter, he decelerated, coming to a steady stop. He turned in mid-air so that he was facing the advancing player.
"Stop. We'll settle this here, no need to involve Maiden." Szar said into the radio, knowing they were all on the same frequency.
"So you think you can just deal with me then go blow up the Kill Cluster? You think I'm going to let that happen?" a steely voice said commandingly, Szar noted that she sounded a bit uncomfortable. He would play that to his advantage.
"This is your first time in space, right? I'm surprised you know how to pilot so well." Szar began, hoping that his hunches were right.
"Shut up. I don't want to talk to you right now. We're enemies and we shouldn't be talking at all." Kazuya stated coldly, her hand gripping the throttle with white-knuckled hands; there was no way she would admit her inexperience to her enemies.
"Oh come on, you could have shot me out of the sky before and instead you tried to talk to me. Not surprisingly, I can be quite a shock if one's never seen an alien before. That tells me two things. First, you've never been in space before. Secondly, it tells me that you've never piloted a ship before."
Kazuya didn't like being analyzed like this. Not by an foe, or anyone else. "No more talking!" she barked, bringing her lasers to face with Szar's ship. "We settle this now."
Szar grinned, confident that he had gotten to her at least a little bit. Pressing the throttle forward, Szar advanced on Kazuya's ship. She moved to match him, and in seconds their battle began. Szar weaved around surprisingly accurate laser bursts; maybe antagonizing her had been a bad idea? No, he was confident enough as a pilot to know that he could deal with her. Banking left, he loosed a few lasers of his own, and she barely moved to avoid them. She appeared to be effective as long as she was on the offensive, defensively she was weak. Deciding to take the fight to her, Szar thundered towards her craft. She did the same, firing at him as he advanced. He maintained his course, dodging deftly around her attacks. Her firing grew more frenzied as he closed in on her. Finally, when it appeared that he was going to ram her, she broke away, banking hard to the left. Braking sharply, Szar swung his ship around firing a single shot at her. It struck one of her wings, and Szar laughed to himself as he heard her curse over the radio.
"Well, that was fun, but I really have to go." Szar joked to her as he left her, and her damaged ship behind him. Following his radar, he quickly found Victoria. She was being tailed by a trio of ships, and as he got closer his radio picked up their chatter.
"...Can't let you do that, Star Fox."
"Andross has ordered us to take you down!"
"Andross' enemy is my enemy!"
Star Fox? Andross? Gamer really didn't know what he was doing when he put together these events. First Victoria had mentioned something about the Borg, and now this? Even if they didn't fit into the theme of the event, they were still enemy pilots who were threatening his one chance of winning. Locking on to the ship at the back of the pack, he fired off a pair of pulsar missiles. They raced toward their target striking it square in the back. It exploded in a flash of blue, and just before its radio went dead Szar picked up one last transmission from its pilot.
"Uncle Andross, ahhhha!"
Quickly setting his sights on the next bogey, Szar fired a few laser blasts its way. The pilot tried to avoid them, but in the end it failed and he went to join his comrade.
"He's too strong! This can't be happening!"
With only one ship remaining, Szar fired the last of his pulsar missles. Apparently, the remaining enemy had a lick of skill because he managed to barrell roll out of the missles' path. Moving to intercept the last ship, Szar was surprised when Victoria looped around, firing a few expertly-placed shots at her last pursuer. He exploded in dramatic fashion, but not before he said his last words:
"No way, I don't believe it! I...can't...lose!"
With the three foreign enemies out of the way, Szar moved in next to Victoria. "Nice moves. How you holding up?"
"She gave him a thumbs up. "Thanks for the assist, and I'm fine. My shields took a bit of a pounding but I'm okay. You ready to end this?"
Szar--Iceman-- nodded. This was the home stretch, he wasn't about to lose now. Szar only hoped that Hotshot was okay, he hadn't heard from him in a while. He wasn't about to lose anyone on this mission, not when he was so close to the end.
"Hotshot, do you copy? Are you out there, Hotshot?"
"We've got company, Iron Maiden." Szar stated calmly into the radio.
"I've noticed!" she grunted, a laser grazing the back wing of her craft. Szar couldn't let them eliminate Victoria. Her ship was carrying the bomb, the only means to win the event. He had to make sure, no matter what, that she made it to her destination. Running a weapons check, the Icer hoped this ship had something he could use. Lasers, a few pulsar missiles--whatever those were--and something called 'The Crab'. Figuring there wasn't anything to lose in using it, Szar flipped the switch to the Crab, and a warning buzzer began to blare in his headset.
"Warning." it said in a computer's monotone, "Crab set to deploy. Launching in five seconds." Szar swerved to avoid laser fire, before he felt something clanging below him. A hatch at the bottom of the ship opened, and a single metallic orb fell out of it. It bobbed in zero gravity before its internal sensory array homed in on one of the Tie-Figters pursuing them, and it rocketed towards them. Szar heard a confused voice shriek over the raido as the orb latched on to the nose of his ship. Eight legs folded out from the sides of the ball, each one digging into the Tie-Fighter. Next, it sent an electrical current through the ship's systems, temporarily disabling them. Juno screamed into the radio frustratedly as he struggled to get his craft moving again. That left only one ship, and Szar knew that he could handle this one on his own.
"Iron Maiden, go on ahead. I'll hold this one here."
She nodded before speeding away. "Be careful, Iceman." she said, "I won't be able to get to the core by myself!"
"Don't worry about it," Szar assured her, "I'll deal with this then catch back up with you."
"I'll hold you to that!" she said, her voice crackling over the radio. She was moving out of contact range, and that meant that she was getting closer. Hopefully, she'd be able to hold her own until Szar could link back up with her. Setting his attention on the remaining Tie-Fighter, he decelerated, coming to a steady stop. He turned in mid-air so that he was facing the advancing player.
"Stop. We'll settle this here, no need to involve Maiden." Szar said into the radio, knowing they were all on the same frequency.
"So you think you can just deal with me then go blow up the Kill Cluster? You think I'm going to let that happen?" a steely voice said commandingly, Szar noted that she sounded a bit uncomfortable. He would play that to his advantage.
"This is your first time in space, right? I'm surprised you know how to pilot so well." Szar began, hoping that his hunches were right.
"Shut up. I don't want to talk to you right now. We're enemies and we shouldn't be talking at all." Kazuya stated coldly, her hand gripping the throttle with white-knuckled hands; there was no way she would admit her inexperience to her enemies.
"Oh come on, you could have shot me out of the sky before and instead you tried to talk to me. Not surprisingly, I can be quite a shock if one's never seen an alien before. That tells me two things. First, you've never been in space before. Secondly, it tells me that you've never piloted a ship before."
Kazuya didn't like being analyzed like this. Not by an foe, or anyone else. "No more talking!" she barked, bringing her lasers to face with Szar's ship. "We settle this now."
Szar grinned, confident that he had gotten to her at least a little bit. Pressing the throttle forward, Szar advanced on Kazuya's ship. She moved to match him, and in seconds their battle began. Szar weaved around surprisingly accurate laser bursts; maybe antagonizing her had been a bad idea? No, he was confident enough as a pilot to know that he could deal with her. Banking left, he loosed a few lasers of his own, and she barely moved to avoid them. She appeared to be effective as long as she was on the offensive, defensively she was weak. Deciding to take the fight to her, Szar thundered towards her craft. She did the same, firing at him as he advanced. He maintained his course, dodging deftly around her attacks. Her firing grew more frenzied as he closed in on her. Finally, when it appeared that he was going to ram her, she broke away, banking hard to the left. Braking sharply, Szar swung his ship around firing a single shot at her. It struck one of her wings, and Szar laughed to himself as he heard her curse over the radio.
"Well, that was fun, but I really have to go." Szar joked to her as he left her, and her damaged ship behind him. Following his radar, he quickly found Victoria. She was being tailed by a trio of ships, and as he got closer his radio picked up their chatter.
"...Can't let you do that, Star Fox."
"Andross has ordered us to take you down!"
"Andross' enemy is my enemy!"
Star Fox? Andross? Gamer really didn't know what he was doing when he put together these events. First Victoria had mentioned something about the Borg, and now this? Even if they didn't fit into the theme of the event, they were still enemy pilots who were threatening his one chance of winning. Locking on to the ship at the back of the pack, he fired off a pair of pulsar missiles. They raced toward their target striking it square in the back. It exploded in a flash of blue, and just before its radio went dead Szar picked up one last transmission from its pilot.
"Uncle Andross, ahhhha!"
Quickly setting his sights on the next bogey, Szar fired a few laser blasts its way. The pilot tried to avoid them, but in the end it failed and he went to join his comrade.
"He's too strong! This can't be happening!"
With only one ship remaining, Szar fired the last of his pulsar missles. Apparently, the remaining enemy had a lick of skill because he managed to barrell roll out of the missles' path. Moving to intercept the last ship, Szar was surprised when Victoria looped around, firing a few expertly-placed shots at her last pursuer. He exploded in dramatic fashion, but not before he said his last words:
"No way, I don't believe it! I...can't...lose!"
With the three foreign enemies out of the way, Szar moved in next to Victoria. "Nice moves. How you holding up?"
"She gave him a thumbs up. "Thanks for the assist, and I'm fine. My shields took a bit of a pounding but I'm okay. You ready to end this?"
Szar--Iceman-- nodded. This was the home stretch, he wasn't about to lose now. Szar only hoped that Hotshot was okay, he hadn't heard from him in a while. He wasn't about to lose anyone on this mission, not when he was so close to the end.
"Hotshot, do you copy? Are you out there, Hotshot?"