By David C. Daoust
Harper managed to make it to the fringe of the battle, apart from the swarm of Battle Drones that just gushed from the open hold. In fact, she was relying on keeping said swarm between her and the Dirty Damsel’s starfighters, as they blasted through the drones ranks. The open sky was much more maneuverable than the cavernous ship she had just fled from.
The Battle Drones yet ignored her spider, yet the newly arrived squadron was clearly a different story.
The Drones worked together in threes as they mounted their own offensive.
Harper watched as the enemy drones split into small groups. They moved in tight unison as they pressed their assault. She moved in quickly, launched a quick missile, effectively ambushing one of the three. She spun into a quick barrel role as she found the next trio, she drilled it with her pulsar fire. Then dropped back behind—she was pretty much shooting from stealth. That is what it felt like anyway, she could not say why the drones did not attack her. Again, she was holding onto the reasoning that they could net tell her from one of their own– despite the fact she was targeted and spliced out of her last spider.
The First Wave teen was also aware that the squad of starfighters did not know she was there to help, and would in fact blow her spider out of the skies if they managed to get a target lock on. It made her ever weary of pretty much anything that moved—she was alone out there.
“Hello?” Hugo’s rough voice suddenly joined her in their small comm system, “Is anyone here?”
Harper managed, narrowly, to avoid a sudden concussive blast. One of the starfighters nuked an entire segment of the swarm. Her eyes were huge as she was forced to find cover from the sudden void. Thus, it was Ferguson who answered the Old Jinn.
“I am here,” Ferguson stated.
“What’s going on?” Hugo asked. “Last I heard you all were supposed to be hiding while I tried to get the massive starship full of strangers to leave us in peace…”
“Indeed,” Ferguson stated. “How did that go?”
Harper could not tell if Ferguson was being sarcastic or not. She really did not know much about it one way or another.
“I guess, it was, um… maybe, going okay ‘til the sudden ruckus down below,” Hugo answered, clearly unsure whether it was a serious question or not.
“We’re fending off another Wave of battle drones, Mr. Lions,” Harper threw into the open comm, “They showed up and started killing the Starships crew… we had to do something!”
That target lock Harper was so weary of, suddenly happened—her display informed her with flashing red lights! Which pulled her attention from the ongoing conversation. She erratically guided her spider into evasive maneuvers she began flipping and weaving around the swarm, trying to shake the starfighter as Ferguson informed the old Jinn of what was going on in his absence…
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