| From: | Brian Angliss <ANGLISS@****.PSU.EDU> |
|---|---|
| Subject: | The last bit, I think... |
| Date: | Sat, 9 Oct 1993 15:14:56 -0400 |
*****Begin Un-Edited Sensory Feed*****
You get airborne without too much difficulty and decide that maybe you should
just set the Ruthenium to a general black and green on the top and a solid
black on the bottom to allow for the recently fallen night. Total targets now
estimated is 5. Where the other 3 went that were not shot down is not known
to your sensors, and this worries you. With your military grade ECCM, you
should be able to see fraggin near everything, and yet they have up and fallen
off the face of the fraggin earth.
The first target you notice is in the process of being eaten by what appears
to your radar as a small mass of disturbed air, specifically an air elemental.
You are surprised to see what happens to a helicoptor when thier rotors no
longer achieve any lift. But something distracts the elemental long enought forthe Jacket
to crash land without injury to the pilot. You hold no grudge towardhim or her as he/she
was just doing thier job, however misguided his or her
commander was. You are caught almost totally by surprise when you notice
muzzle flashes strafing the Old Main lawn and a large congregation of students
who had gathered there. But your sensors, even after focusing them onto the
area immediately behind the flashes, only barely register the Aerospace Avenger
Ultralight that is tearing up the turf with LMG and cannon fire. However,
Hellblast sees it as you roar by and fires the Vengeance Minigun into the hole
and your sensors register a sharp raise in visibility, enough for the outboard
port missile launcher to get a lock and fire. You see the Avenger blossom into
a flash of metal fragments as the missile detonates on target and you pray that
none of the shrapnel injured anyone on the ground.
However, you are lucky enough to have a turret gunner also watching the sensors
that knows what he is doing, because you register a missile acheiving lock on
something and being launched before you even realize what the target is: A
second FB Eagle, this one loaded with 2 clusterbombs, 10 ripples of unguided
rockets, and 4 basic AAMs on the outer wings. Unfortunately, this pilot is
even better than the last one and succeeds in avoiding the missile-the first
time. This break in allows the Eagle to launch all 10 ripples at me, as well
as all fraggin 4 AAMs. You avoid the ripple easily, cursing as you are unable
to track thier trajectory due to other problems, and almost succeed in avoiding
the missiles too. Two fly right by and detonate on Sparks Building, collapsing
the facade that had withstood even the Night of Rage, and the third strikes
Burrowes accross The Mall. The fourth strikes you, causing moderate damage to
your recently repaired port side weapons pod, and making it inoperable for the
rest of the battle. Nex takes the opportunity of streaking by the Eagle to
fire yet another missile and Hellblast rakes the Eagle's port wing with MMG
fire, damaging it enough that even Nex's late fired missile is able to strike
and destroy the Eagle.
Frag it, Nex. That missile was fired a whole 14 miliseconds too late!
Well exsqueeeze me! AJ, pass me that missile there. I don't care if it's an
Ares Dragon Long Range AAM, it's an AAM, right? It cost's how much? Wellll,
pass it up!
You head out away from the campus, hoping to keep the devastation from your
crashing or the destruction of your attackers to a minimum. The ploy seems to
have worked as you notice the last Eagle coming after you from behind and being
joined by what your system identifies as a RPV armed with a Vanquisher Minigun
and 2 LMGs, and 2 AAMs and 4 AGMs, type not currently known due to system
damage from the missile shot. Fraggin lucky, you think as you realize that
just a few centimeters to the left and one of the exhasut ports would have been
crippled and you would have had to land or suffer massive handling problems.
Ok, Nex, Hellblast, time to party!
(in unison) Cool!
You begin you evasion maneuvers just as the Eagle gets within missile range,
and you catch them off guard. Hellblast, knowing quite well that his weapon
cannot reach them, patiently waits for you to allow them to come closer. Your
maneuvers begin to get a little frantic and AJ begins to complain about being
tossed around the cabin while holding on to a large missile. Nex looks at him
harshly, and AJ does something that you've never seen before. He stops, gulps,
and hands over the missile. mumbling something about "those fraggin eyes!"
He returns to his seat and straps himself in just as I notice a missile appearing out of
the clear night sky.
FRAG!!!!!!! DREK!!!! Where is the son-of-a-slitch?
You perform a radical maneuver that nearly throws Nex out of the commander's
micro-turret and away from the Minigun mounted there, but also saves you from
taking a missile dead on the side. You register an explosion just behind you,
and minimal damage in the gunner's cupula. Nex turns slightly pale and you
reassure him that Hellblast is ok, specifically that his vital signs are strong
and not wavering, except for a rise in bloodpressure. Performing an emergency
scan for the attacker, you literally run into it, taking the wing right off.
As it falls, you notice that it's signature was so low due to the electric
drive of the Raven Glider. You also notice a couple of parachutes, and are
glad to see survivors.
In your dealing with the Raven, you intentionally allowed the Eagle and the
RPV to get MUCH closer, now well within range of all your missiles, all thier
missiles, and almost within range of your guns as well. They come in at a
double level, coordinating thier attack in a way that indicates that the RPV
pilot is the Rio of the Eagle's pilot, an interesting combination. This Eagle
is not armed as heavily as the first one, but you figure that this is because
all the AGMs have been fired already. As there is only one target for AGM
fire...
Fraggin drekeatin sons-a-slitches...Nex, they fired at the students....
I guess they deserve what they got comin then...
Ya, Nex(cough)...fraggin smoke back here...Ya they do.
Again, in the cold hatred and anger that you use to further your ends, and not
the hot anger that uses you, you turn on the Eagle. Your already peaked sensorsseem to
get even more sensitive as your entire being focuses on the death of
those within that plane. You focus so intently on that one aircraft that all
the rest of the world fades from view as you throw yourself into a moderate
G turn and begin a game of chicken with a Federated Boeing Eagle. You know
that neither of you will survive the collision, but neither you nor Nex seem
to care right now. Especially Nex, as you hear him chanting "die...die...die"
in the turret. As soon as you enter firing range, you bring all your weapons tobear and
fire them, as does the RPV.
The RPV had moved itself into position between you and the Eagle immediately
after the pilot realized what you were planning. But in a radical development,
none of the missiles fired or the rounds strike you as the RPV goes quiet in
the instant before 4 missiles and 24 cannon and 15 heavy machinegun rounds
turn it into yesterday's scrap metal. You suspect that no piece larger than
a credstick will hit the ground.
With the RPV out of the way, and Nige and his wonderful electronic jamming
making its destruction without ours as well possible, the remaining missiles
are launched at the Eagle, striking it directly under the belly in the middle
of a turn. It too falls from the sky on a streak of red and orange. Nige
calls in.
"Hope that was a help, FM. Couldn't leave ya out to die like that."
"Thanks a lot Nige. I owe ya fraggin a LOT for tonite. Call it in anytime"
"Roger, and you'd better haul."
"Roger and out."
Well, that was Nige saved our sorry asses, boys.
Tell him if he needs ANYTHING at all to tell Moriarity that I sent him, k?
Ditto here.
Uh, got a little problem...
FRAG!
"Hello, FM. Remember me?"
"Maxine...Long time."
"To wait to pay the Piper. And it's time, FM. And you without any missiles
left either. Tsk Tsk."
Who the drek is this slitch, FM?
An old friend.
Ahhh....never mind.
You realize that you are facing your old friend Maxine, your ex- best friend
from the Army Panzer Corp. She and you were the two best there were. When you
left because you couldn't handle all the fraggin non-combatant deaths, she just
laughed and swore that you would die by her hand one day. You hope that day
hasn't come. She was always just a little better pilot than you...
RELOAD ME, AJ!!!!!!!
You notice Nex and AJ beginning to reload the missile launcher with your last
3 missiles, 2 AAMs and an HEM. You do an ammo count and find that you havel
burned a thousand rounds already, and the real battle has just begun. You
start racing out over the hills and valleys of Pennsylvania, knowing that she
is out there somewhere, waiting.
*****End Sensory Feed*****
That's it, folks. No more.]<<<<<
-- FM(15:13:31/10-09-54)
