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20 February 2254 Dan'Ghor V, Dan'Ghor system
The warning buzz was loud and menacing. Nice timing, thought Nikolai, pitching his Starfury perpendicular to the direction of incoming missile, hitting the afterburners at full burn whilst triggering the countermeasures at the same time. The G-load was enormous - yet pleasant, because in this particular case, it meant life. The buzz tone suspended on the highest pitch level for a moment, and then continued to decay. Finally, the sound disappeared as missile exploded harmlessly, fooled by one of his countermeasures. Missed, you bastard!
Still, there was a problem. Five problems, to be precise: counting by the number of remaining missiles on Major's ship. It was necessary to remain as close as possible to him, to avoid just another missile lock. Of course, that was tricky, but not impossible, if one haven't slept through the training course at the Academy. Unfortunately, there was another problem:
The chain of bright blue fire came from Major's guns was followed almost instantly by the the warning buzz coming back to life with threatening high-frequency pulses. At the last second, Nikolai managed to roll his craft hard, so the deadly plasma passed harmlessly between his wings.
"WARNING", - the computer stated, - "Plasma near miss - systems nominal."
No wonder Major was considered one of the best snipers there was in the Earthforce. At close range, his guns would be even more deadly than his missiles at long range. Nikolai fired a few shots in return - it didn't even come close. How could this old man pull so much G's for so long?.. Nikolai unlinked his guns and fired again, but Major slipped out of range pretty fast, returning fire. Again, only vigorous sliding and rolling saved Nikolai from certain death, and it was a close one, too damn close: Apparently, Nikolai admitted, the Major was too tough. There was no way to defeat him. There had to be *something* else he could try. And probably, there was:
Nikolai tried to concentrate, looking for the Major's mind in the vicinity. It was too easy to find - his hate and fury were so intense, so distinctive, that the telepath could almost see the red flame of hostility, surrounding the Major's 'Fury. Then, he turned his fighter towards his enemy and hit the afterburners. It was risky, but Nikolai *knew* that Major wasn't expecting anything like that: It was worth a try. He fired, and the Major, as always, easily evaded his plasma. But now, Nikolai was too close and Major just couldn't turn fast enough to target him and fire back. There was just a couple of seconds before he could re-acquire the lock, and hopefully, it was enough:
"MAJOR!", - mentally sent Nikolai, reaching out with all his poorly trained power. - "PAIN!"
For a moment, the telepath was afraid that it didn't work at all. Despite the rapidly increasing distance, he targeted Major's ship and fired a long burst, hoping for best, but expecting the worst. Surprisingly enough, it looked like Major wasn't reacting on the incoming fire, spinning out of control for a few seconds. Finally, he managed to regain the control of the craft, but it was too late. Two plasma bolts hit the engine pods, damagind the LTS systems and another exploded right under the top wing, probably breaching the cockpit. Nikolai looked at the targeting display, studying the damage he caused. Not bad - the Major should not be able to slide as before, both his left engine pods were seriously damaged, reducing the lateral thrust to about 25 percent from nominal. Now, it was time to play.
With cold satisfaction, Nikolai opened fire, approaching his prey from behind. He fired, carefully looking at the heat level of his guns. When the temperature climbed beyond 75 percent of the critical range, he released the trigger. For the Major, it looked like he'd overheated his guns before entering the optimal firing range - a very common mistake even among the experienced pilots. Nikolai felt a surge of hope in the Major's mind as he managed somehow to avoid the first burst of fire, using all power of his main engines to accelerate sideways from his flight path. And by doing so, he appeared right in front of Nikolai's targeting reticle. Within a fraction of second, the telepath switched to burst mode and opened fire. There was no way to miss - and he didn't: all his rounds hit the target, setting it ablaze before it tore apart. Then, with a final explosion of the overloaded reactor, Major Rotane was dead.
BACK - Make A Fool Pray
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A series of drabbles and short pieces
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