Pitched Painting of the Void

[Nyx N1X3]

Organics operated at the macro-level of time. Their every action at its most fundamental was measured by the second. What they created -- the cybernetic, the synthetic, the technological -- was not confined by the rigors of organic evolution. A second could be stretched into an eternity if the processing unit was large enough or powerful enough. Nyx's core was not so advanced, but every second could hold more than a single act.

As her ship swung into position, the Droid's red eyes gazed out the cockpit window before her. Electrical inputs flowed rapidly across the bridge between her and the vessel she piloted. Communication from the squadron's leader, Keira Cerdulan, could be heard with perfect clarity and any orders executed without hesitation. In the midst of that, however, the Droid beheld the endless expanse of space all around them. The nebulous cloud of gas spanning far and wide glowed with the light of countless, fledgling stars. Nyx once heard an organic describe it as 'beautiful.' What was beauty? And was a mixture of gas and light, purely physical processes, capable of invoking such awe?

That sub process of analysis continued as priority was given to the mission before them now. A large transport vessel carrying classified and important cargo had been waylaid by what was originally believed to be pirates. Far beyond the transport that hung in the void sat another, larger vessel that had no doubt deposited the fighters in the area. The distress signal had grown more insistent as time went on. Apparently the transport's condition continued to deteriorate under fire. Their first objective then would be to draw the enemy's attention.

"Scythe, Lead. Engaging target," Nyx's voice informed Keira as her ship peeled off and set off at full burn.

The movements of the fighters were laid out before her as well as their current flight paths and likely deviations once engaged. A fluid display that would shift depending on who was targetted, which would spur those around to react. It resembled a Human board game, but out here in the vacuum of space only the victor left the field alive.

Once they cleaned up the front line, they could carry through and take on the larger ship. Confronting that head on would be a challenge, but then their squadron wasn't known for taking the easy jobs.

Filed in the sub process running in the background, not yet entirely suspended in favor of combat routines, was the thought of a fire sight being 'beautiful.' Laser canons produced light. Would the exchange provide visual stimulation an organic would enjoy? If they were not engaged in the combat directly that is. Perhaps Nyx would ask one some day. Aesthetic appreciation was still something she had not quite grasped. However, for now she would be content with fulfilling the mission parameters.

[member='Keira Cerdulan']

 

[Keira Cerdulan]

[SIZE=11pt]The Void Mastiffs were, in essence, Keira’s current pet project. Filling the void in her heart that the old “Mastiff Squadron” of the Empire had created when they had been utterly annihilated above Corellia. Well, save for Corellia. The sole survivor of that merry bunch of misfits conscripted into their TIEs. The misfit part had come to fit her new Pack, though didn’t quite ring the same as the constant possibility of some officer deciding you needed a summary execution.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=11pt]Running a merry band of mercenaries? That worked. And this first job scratched that itch she needed to be back in the cockpit of her fighter, didn’t have the same feeling as her old TIEs yet. But she’d be damned if it wasn’t a fine ship.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=11pt]“[/SIZE][SIZE=11pt]Mastiffs! [/SIZE][SIZE=11pt]On the hunt!”[/SIZE]

[SIZE=11pt]It was impossible to deny that Keira had far too much fun with these things. Energy oozed out over the comms, the small little Corellian laughing away as her fighter zoomed like a blur into the void. Twisting and twirling, entirely expectable from a daredevil like her. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=11pt]“Conserve ordinance, sadly. We’ll let all hell loose when we reach their ship.Till’ then, let’s give these sods a light show!”[/SIZE]

[SIZE=11pt]Letting out a hoot and a holler, laser cannons began to flare in brilliant flashes of light. Leaving enemy fighters fiery balls in the void as their fuel canisters exploded. She a Fighter Ace twice over, once proper, once improper, three times if you count self declared. Once with her little gaggle of Pirates, once with the Sith Empire, and if you asked her? Her kill count at Yag’dhul made her more than enough of an ace for the Confederates too. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=11pt]Man. This was the life.[/SIZE]

[member="Nyx N1X3"]

 

[Nyx N1X3]

Nyx did not have eyelids or she might have blinked at their exuberant commander's enthusiasm. It was a quality the droid did not feel inclined to suppress in the woman. Surely the passion served some purpose, though she hadn't quite been able to define what it was. An organic trait then. The unpredictability was 'pleasant' for what Nyx understood of the term; the disruptions to formulaic computation of galactic affairs made existence more challenging.

"Mow through," the synthetic voice cried over the comm with some simulated enthusiasm, but not half as boisterously as Keira's cry.

Wing-mounted cannons flared to life as enemy vessels swept into Nyx's reticle. Wave after wave washed over them until their shields collapsed and sent the enemy pilot into the void.

The Scythe veered hard to starboard as another ship tried repaying the favor. Admirable, but Nyx had already anticipated the attempted counter. In fact, she was calculating optimal flight and firing solutions for most of the squadron simultaneously. Few adhered to those plans, of course. Fascinatingly enough, you wouldn't tell by watching them. Each seemed able to evade fire while dealing their own blows on the opposing vessels.

As her ship rocked side to side to evade fire, Nyx toggled the comm channel to another in their squadron. A course correction would have them circle the transport at a different trajectory to avoid slipping into a pincher attack two enemy fighters were set to execute. At these relative speeds minor corrections had significant ramifications.

"My turn." Engine shutters slammed into place and forced the thrust forward to bring the Scythe to radically reduce speed with the enemy on her tail. From what she had heard, the g-forces from such sudden deceleration was not pleasant on organic tissues. Her dance partner opted not to slam into her stern, however, and instead flew high and to port. A twenty nine point eight percent chance of that heading, Nyx noted. Not as high as to starboard. Pity she could not ask the other pilot why they chose port.

Shutters open, thrust sent the ship forward and arching after the other vessel then second they'd changed course. "This is fun," she announced for Keira's benefit. The other woman enjoyed her work, and Nyx felt she appreciated when others felt the same. No one liked a solemn droid -- or so Nyx had been told.

[member='Keira Cerdulan']

 

[Keira Cerdulan]

Keira was not an ace from pure skill, watching her fly showed that effortlessly. No, she had become an Ace by sheer fearlessness and total disregard for her own safety. A rare trait, and one that had gotten her into spats with all sorts of scary people she shouldn’t be annoying.

[SIZE=11pt]Her vessel spun and dived at random, letting loose Light Shows of laser fire the second an enemy got close enough to meet their fiery demise. Maybe, to some extent at least, she had grown numb to the ridiculous nature of her flying. Or it’s effects on her body at least. But, it was always possible that she had earned some sort of new machine to simply null it. But it was a non-issue at the end of the day, she was a pilot, she was a lunatic. And the two commonly mixed together.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=11pt]The droid told her about the “fun”, and while this was far from boring. The real fun hadn’t even started yet.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=11pt]“Think this is fun? Ain’t seen nothin’ yet! Wait till we make that ship into a buncha pretty debris!”[/SIZE]

[SIZE=11pt]Capital ship hunting. Dangerous, impractical, improbable. It was, by far, the most satisfying victory one could gain when flying a Starfighter. In the event you aren’t utterly annihilated by it, of course. She had killed one before, quite a hardy kill-count that ship was.[/SIZE]

[member="Nyx N1X3"]

 

[Nyx N1X3]

The Scythe spun like an arrowhead as it soared through space, its cannons flaring silently in the night as enemy bolts sailed by. Nyx pulled up before she slammed straight into the ship they were there to protect. Nyx was not a small, avian creature.

"We appear to be running out of fodder. Their capital ship may begin to power up for a jump," Nyx replied over the comms. She circled the larger ship one more time giving chase to one of the few fighters still in the area. Their leader must have known it was a lost cause at this point. Better to cut their losses and retreat. The pirates or whoever they were had credits bleeding out at this point with every ship and pilot sent into the deep.

Tactically speaking, an assault on a capital vessel using fighters was practically suicide. However, Keira was 'crazy enough' to avoid being shotdown, and Nyx's ship seemed to defy the laws of physics according to some organics. So with that in mind their chances of surviving the attempt were approximately one percent higher than most. As had been demonstrated many times, even insanely low odds could be turned to victory. That was why the Void Mastiffs got paid as well as they did.

[member='Keira Cerdulan']

 

[Keira Cerdulan]

The body count had risen decently enough, but mere pirate fighters offered little in the way of glory. This ended up being more of a practice exercise than anything, bunch of runts needing to be exterminated.

[SIZE=11pt]“I’d like to see em’ try, Mastiffs, to their flagship!”[/SIZE]

[SIZE=11pt]A far more dramatic way of saying, “we’re going to go blow up a capital ship. However suicidal that was, but it wasn’t her first time and it wouldn’t be her last time doing it.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=11pt]Breaking into a roll, Keira zoomed forward. Zipping along to try and meet their rather large quarry, and all that sweet sweet ordinance conserved to make sure there would be a pretty explosion.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=11pt][member="Nyx N1X3"][/SIZE]

 

[Nyx N1X3]

With the capital ship on their radar, Nyx affixed the vessel with her full attention. Its silhouette was compared against countless vessels of its class and quickly identified. Standard schematics for that class of vessel were retrieved along with a list of the most common market augmentations. To suggest there was a critical 'weakness' would be criminally underrating the engineers that designed such a monstrosity of metal and power. There were, however, attributes or weaknesses that could be exploited. For instance, the ion engines. A heavily shielded part of the ship that some spent money to shore up even further.

With Keira anxious to attack, the Scythe shot forward at full burn. Weapons lock was deliberately left idle on the approach in case the larger vessel and its numerous gear could get a read on the intended target. "Going in."

Bolt after bolt of the cannons sailed by, which required deft answer of the engines to narrowly evade the long-reach. Better to save the shields for when they were in close and there'd be less time to react. A roll here or there in hopes of taunting the weapon officers. Surely they could hit a simple enemy fighter.

"Fox three," Nyx announced as her targetting system snapped on. The firing solution was fed into the computer half a second before the torpedo shot from the tube at the fore of the Scythe.

Enemy fire intensified like hornets after smacking their nest. The craft practically jerked out of the way of several nets of raw energy as she lined up the second shot. The engines themselves could be shielded, but there were auxiliary systems that if sufficiently damaged could damage and even cripple the core feeding them. Keira would be none too thrilled if the much larger ship managed to get away, so Nyx would do her best to ensure the smallest odds of their survival through sustaining the engagement.

[member='Keira Cerdulan']

 

[Keira Cerdulan]

Keira hooted and hollered as she made her way through the void. She was indeed, very excited, it was such a rare treat to take down such a monster of metal. It wasn’t any sort of Star Destroyer or anything but any ship seemed big compared to their little fighters.

[SIZE=11pt]She broke into a roll, letting her laser bolts crash rather harmlessly against the ship’s shields. She was a total pest, flying low, or being so annoyingly slippery that they couldn’t land a worthwhile shot on her vessel. She was going for the rear, to little surprise. Zipping on across the vessel, she banked down in a U. One of her dumb maneuvers.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=11pt]Towards the arc of the return back up, she let loose a volley of missiles out at one of the engines of the ship. Even if it didn’t take it out, she had more than enough extra ordinance to make sure it did.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=11pt]“Aim for fuel pipes if able.”[/SIZE]

[SIZE=11pt]Despite all that though, her voice now oozed an almost uncharacteristic focus.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=11pt][member="Nyx N1X3"][/SIZE]

 

[Nyx N1X3]

Flares of blaster fire peppered the shielding covering the hull as torpedoes slammed against them. Even engines were defended from assault, with their very exhaust making it difficult to attack from dead aft of the vessel. However, shields could only extend so far from a ship, and the engines were quite sizable with little extraneous space to comfortably fit a generator. Struck enough times, and along sensitive pipelines...

"Power destabilization detected. Hyperdrive output decreasing," Nyx announced as she veered away from the ship. Time to double back and find something else to cripple. The weapons seemed a good choice; it would provide the rest of the squadron more room to maneuver. As a little reminder for the squad, however, the droid also added, "Watch your rearguard for fighters." You could never tell when someone would pull out additional fighters or get desperate enough to try using whatever they had left to protect the ship.

"Moving to silence enemy guns." The Scythe dove back toward the hull. It swept along the behemoth far closer than anything had a right to. Turns were slow and wide when lining up a target until Nyx lifted off the deck for more room; all blasters rained down on the guns jutting out from the craft. Even the turret was faced forward to peel metal plating from the offensive batteries.

[member='Keira Cerdulan']

 

[Keira Cerdulan]

Keira didn't give out an immediate response, instead she was merely hooting and hollering in abject glee. Like she had expected, this was the real fun stuff going on right here. Her fighter banked and spun across the enemy capital ship, as though she were some sort of bug harassing a mighty beast. And in truth that wasn't so far off, the Mastiffs were dangerous pests with a shockingly potent sting.

Another volley of laser cannon fire followed each time she made a pass. The other mastiffs followed their own bizarre methods of attack, this lot really did scratch the itch Keira had from her good ol' "Mastiff Squadron" back when she flew with the Imps. But of course, it was far more free than that squadron had ever been. Hopefully the graveyard above Corellia was pretty. Or existed. Something to remember the original band of pirates and misfits just trying to make their way in a new Galaxy.

But not letting herself get distracted, Keira launched herself in a U. Now hunting after the remaining petty fighters still trying to defend against the Mercenary attack.

[member="Nyx N1X3"]

 

[Nyx N1X3]

The Scythe rolled over the edge of the vessel and swept down along its side. Thrusters and engines fired in tandem to pivot the ship ninety degrees and slow it's speed enough to get a solid lock on an open hanger bay. "Fire in the hole," Nyx announced before lighting it up with a torpedo. Her ship slid by before the explosion burst out into space. Collateral detonations and combustibles would ensure everything in and around that part of the ship was ruined.

"You could always fling one of their fighters at the bridge," Nyx called back to Keira. It was a positively outlandish idea, which is why it was perfect. Not one she would ever recommend to almost any other pilot. There had even been a strong probability it shouldn't even be brought to Keira's attention; not that it was guaranteed she'd try. However, if she did try it would be something worth documenting.

Heavy blaster fire filled the void before Nyx's fighter banked to avoid the onslaught. More turrets in need of destruction.

Tag: [member="Keira Cerdulan"]