ROGUE THREE
[/CENTER]
The atmosphere shattered around her like glass. One second there had been resistance, it had been thin and fading, but present.
The next, nothing.
Osira burst into open space with a soundless violence, Mon Gazza falling away beneath her in burning streaks of refinery orange and drifting cloud bands. The planet curved vast and industrial below, all smoke and light and industry. Ahead, the stars waited in their cold and endless embrace, a wide arc of glowing orbital buoys tracing through them, marking the final path.
The finish line blazed in the distance, framed between two enormous broadcast platforms lit in molten gold. Visible from half the system.
She was closing.
Other racers streaked ahead, engines flaring white against black, their duel still tight. She had lost time on that last stretch, the custom yet still vintage engines of her N-1 struggling in the climb. The vacuum however changed everything. No turbulence. No wind shear. No forgiveness from drag. Just pure unadulterated velocity.
The N-1 felt different again.
It felt clean.
It felt perfect.
Every throttle input translated instantly. Every roll carried farther. Without atmospheric resistance, the ship wanted to keep doing whatever she last told it to do. Corrections had to be planned before they were needed.
This was precision flying at its purest.
They hit the first orbital marker at obscene speed.
Osira swung wide, letting the ship build lateral velocity before rolling into the arc. The turn was enormous, almost lazy in scale; but at this speed, lazy meant lethal. She could feel the mass of the craft resisting the curve, wanting to continue straight into the stars.
She guided it through, patient, conserving momentum.
Second marker.
In front of her the lead craft continued their dance.
Osira watched both lines in a single glance and calculated.
This was the moment.
The final slingshot.
The last marker loomed ahead, its glow reflecting across her canopy. If she took the safe line, she’d hold third. If she mirrored one of the lead two, she might close.
If she dove inside…
She didn’t hesitate.
Osira cut hard toward the inner arc.
The N-1 rolled almost vertical, nose angling down into the tightest possible radius around the buoy. Too tight and she’d bleed speed. Too shallow and she’d drift.
She feathered the throttle once.
Then pushed it forward.
Engine redline.
Warnings flared across her HUD as the turbines screamed past recommended tolerance. In vacuum, there was no air to cool them, only radiative bleed and faith. The ship shuddered as power surged, acceleration slamming her back into the seat.
The inside line snapped her trajectory forward like a sling.
For a heartbeat, she was perfectly aligned; vectoring cleanly out of the turn while the others were still completing theirs.
She surged.
The gap collapsed.
The last straightaway opened ahead, finish line burning gold between the broadcast towers.
Osira’s engines howled in protest, temperature spiking dangerously high. One more push and she risked instability; risked a flameout, a stutter, a vulnerability in the final seconds.
She grinned.
“Hang together,” she whispered to the N-1.
And gave it everything.
The starfield stretched into streaks as she committed fully, riding the knife-edge between triumph and mechanical self-destruction. No obstacles. No interference. Just ships tearing across open space at the absolute limit of what they dared.
Mon Gazza burned below.
The finish line grew impossibly large.
Osira Perris didn’t blink.
She crossed with engines screaming, hull humming with overstressed power, the outcome decided by meters and nerve alone…
Because in the end, this race was never about who won.
It was about who was willing to risk everything in the final breath.
DIALOGUE GUIDE
"Speech." // <<Comms>> // <MESSAGES> // Thoughts
ROGUE SQUADRON
OSIRA PERRIS
ROGUE THREEThe atmosphere shattered around her like glass. One second there had been resistance, it had been thin and fading, but present.
The next, nothing.
Osira burst into open space with a soundless violence, Mon Gazza falling away beneath her in burning streaks of refinery orange and drifting cloud bands. The planet curved vast and industrial below, all smoke and light and industry. Ahead, the stars waited in their cold and endless embrace, a wide arc of glowing orbital buoys tracing through them, marking the final path.
The finish line blazed in the distance, framed between two enormous broadcast platforms lit in molten gold. Visible from half the system.
She was closing.
Other racers streaked ahead, engines flaring white against black, their duel still tight. She had lost time on that last stretch, the custom yet still vintage engines of her N-1 struggling in the climb. The vacuum however changed everything. No turbulence. No wind shear. No forgiveness from drag. Just pure unadulterated velocity.
The N-1 felt different again.
It felt clean.
It felt perfect.
Every throttle input translated instantly. Every roll carried farther. Without atmospheric resistance, the ship wanted to keep doing whatever she last told it to do. Corrections had to be planned before they were needed.
This was precision flying at its purest.
They hit the first orbital marker at obscene speed.
Osira swung wide, letting the ship build lateral velocity before rolling into the arc. The turn was enormous, almost lazy in scale; but at this speed, lazy meant lethal. She could feel the mass of the craft resisting the curve, wanting to continue straight into the stars.
She guided it through, patient, conserving momentum.
Second marker.
In front of her the lead craft continued their dance.
Osira watched both lines in a single glance and calculated.
This was the moment.
The final slingshot.
The last marker loomed ahead, its glow reflecting across her canopy. If she took the safe line, she’d hold third. If she mirrored one of the lead two, she might close.
If she dove inside…
She didn’t hesitate.
Osira cut hard toward the inner arc.
The N-1 rolled almost vertical, nose angling down into the tightest possible radius around the buoy. Too tight and she’d bleed speed. Too shallow and she’d drift.
She feathered the throttle once.
Then pushed it forward.
Engine redline.
Warnings flared across her HUD as the turbines screamed past recommended tolerance. In vacuum, there was no air to cool them, only radiative bleed and faith. The ship shuddered as power surged, acceleration slamming her back into the seat.
The inside line snapped her trajectory forward like a sling.
For a heartbeat, she was perfectly aligned; vectoring cleanly out of the turn while the others were still completing theirs.
She surged.
The gap collapsed.
The last straightaway opened ahead, finish line burning gold between the broadcast towers.
Osira’s engines howled in protest, temperature spiking dangerously high. One more push and she risked instability; risked a flameout, a stutter, a vulnerability in the final seconds.
She grinned.
“Hang together,” she whispered to the N-1.
And gave it everything.
The starfield stretched into streaks as she committed fully, riding the knife-edge between triumph and mechanical self-destruction. No obstacles. No interference. Just ships tearing across open space at the absolute limit of what they dared.
Mon Gazza burned below.
The finish line grew impossibly large.
Osira Perris didn’t blink.
She crossed with engines screaming, hull humming with overstressed power, the outcome decided by meters and nerve alone…
Because in the end, this race was never about who won.
It was about who was willing to risk everything in the final breath.
DIALOGUE GUIDE
"Speech." // <<Comms>> // <MESSAGES> // Thoughts
ROGUE SQUADRON
