Gunstar Autochthonia: Holding the Line (Kaybee x Cold)

[Cold]

The shrill call of the sirens woke him, his dreams breaking into nothing. Horus blinked and then jumped out of the cot, his subliminal programming recognizing the frequency designating this an 'essential live combat drill'. He grinned as he changed into the flight suit, excited at the thought of taking his voidfighter out again. Ever since he'd graduated from the Steel Crucible and posted at Kamak, all he'd looked forward to was soaring out into the void beyond the Gunstar on his fighter, drilling formations with his wing mates.

He joined the rush of pilots heading for the bay and their designated fighters, exchanging rapid fire banter on the way. Horus had brought along his reputation as a hothead from the academy, something that had earned him the immediate enmity of the veterans, which he bore as a mark of pride. Soon enough he'd see his first engagement and then he'd show the old coots what he was made of.

The Silver Dragon was his pride and joy and as soon as he laid hands on the module, the Resonance Engine roared to life, his anima flaring as his Essence flowed into the fighter. "Let's go, girl," he said affectionately as the jets flared with raw Essence, propelling him out into the cold void.

 

[Kaybee]

Time to go again... Darkness surrounded her but the presence was there, the presence was always there in this space, waiting, lurking. The Scarlet Empress did not speak in any known language but the impression that there was something more than mere technology to the craft was strong even to those who could not pilot it, to say nothing of the one woman who could. The shadows gave away to a gleam of essence and power surged through the fighter as it's wielder directed, revealing a softly smiling face framed by pale blue curls as the instruments came to life. Icara could feel an eagerness in the humming about her, a battle-ready anticipation that she was ready to oblige.

A simple exertion and the thrusters lit up with power, the empress picking up speed as she accelerated out of the hangar as Icara guided her to match speed with the voidfighter wings, positioning herself on the left of their formation. "Easy..." The water aspect whispered as her craft seemed to strain against her, filling her with a yearning to leap ahead. I am water. I am calm. She may have been the one to bond to a fantastically powerful craft but she held herself back thus far, ignoring the calls for bold action in favour of pressing her limits only when they needed to be pressed.

The opponents hung in the blackness ahead, training craft, meant to mimic the defensive capabilities of the true enemies the Gunstar faced but stripped of seriously damaging weaponry. Wait for the signal. From her position neither side seemed to move, the steadily receding bulk of the great ship behind her was the only clue to the speed at which she was moving but any second the wings would part and the fight would begin.

 

[Cold]

The training crafts were actual Hellstars, stripped of Yozi tech and reconditioned to serve the Host. Sidereal trainers used the in-built Relay Nodes to direct them in skirmishes, simulating their combat tactics to the best of their considerable ability.

Horus shifted to the left, holding position in the formation. In a moment...

The Hellstars pushed forward and the battle began.

"Locking on targets," Horus said, his voice crackling with anticipation. The Awareness module flared to life and began to follow the distinct energy signatures of the Hellstars. They were using a standard scatter technique, clumps of three breaking apart to attack the Host's formation from all sides. "Engaging." Horus said, as the Charm fixed on a likely target.

With a roar, the Silver Dragon accelerated, white flame leaving a trail in her wake. Horus swerved around a fellow fighter and sank the tip of his fighter's nose, coming down upon a trio of Hellstars swinging down from below. His Essence cannons roared to life, siphoning Essence from him to spit massive balls of fire at the enemy. The game was on.

(Thanks for being willing to continue. My initial idea is that the training exercise continues, giving Icara and Horus a chance to communicate. If we want, maybe an actual attack arrives out of nowhere or we just return to the Gunstar for some R&R after. Since a Sidereal usually keeps track of the fighters via the Relay Node, do you want that person to be your Battles?)

 

[Kaybee]

No words were necessary, the scarlet empress had already begun flagging targets, a tracery of suggested paths tracing weaving their way through the space in front of Icara. Still she held her ship back, Waiting... Waiting... There, the surge of power registered easily on the Empress' sensors, the cue for action.

"Engaging" The single word echoed up and down the line and voidfighter engines went from glow to shine as Gunstar's protectors surged forwards, separating into squads that locked onto their false counterparts and opening fire, weaponized essence blazing across the nothing separating the sides. On the far left of the Autocthonian line Icara fell into a loose semblance of formation with the nearest squadron, keeping close and slightly below them as she pushed her engines faster to keep up.

"Hellstars below..." The water aspect muttered. The rest of the squad she had attached herself to banked hard to the right and she moved to follow them only to realize that one of the five had split off, cutting his engines and arcing downwards to tear a path of great holes across the the armor of one of the enemy fighters.

The tight turn as Icara broke 'formation' pressed her against one side of the scarlet empress' cockpit but the vectors that had laid themselves out before her had not lied and almost immediately she could hear the chime of target locks as the hellstars that were turning to pursue the lone ship came directly into her line of fire. The ship urging her on, Icara needed no more invitation to fire, destroying the second and crippling the third hellstar as she channeled her essence into the ship and it's cannons delivered the power unto her victims. "Targets neutralized." She noted, shunting a little more power to her thrusters until she fell in beside the lone fighter, The empress' sensors scanning the blackness for further prey.

((Or both, an actual attack occurs in the midst of the exercise followed by R&R after debriefing to establish the relationship between them. My battles could appear as well to direct the troops once the actual attack hits, mostly as a background character until we finish with establishing Horus and Icara though I think. Sound good?))

 

[Cold]

"Yeah!" Horus shouted as his shots pierced the Hellstar's armour, making the enemy craft swerve away unsteadily, Essence draining through its open wounds. He reversed his engines, holding in place as the Dragon realigned, the monitor already flagging for other targets. Two flashed across his screen and he cursed as he noted that they were both adjacent to him. It was too late to...

There was a flash of cold light and one Hellstar outright disappeared, the other drifting as its engines were disabled. Horus had little time to react as the friendly drifted in beside her. "Targets neutralized," a lovely voice noted. His eyes fell on the fighter and he felt his heart skip a beat.

The Scarlet Empress.

He grinned fiercely, his eyes locked on the magnificent machine as it hovered in place beside his. He could barely make out the visage of the pilot, her face obscured by the helmet. "Thanks for saving my skin, Empress," he noted, trying to be nonchalant about the whole thing, even though he felt like a young boy who'd seen his first Solar. "Much appreciated."

The sensors beeped to life once more, as a wave of Hellstars converged on their formation, their comrades up above moving forward to engage. Six of the enemy crafts broke off, making for the body of the Gunstar. "How about we take out those bastards together?" He said, feeling dizzy just at the idea of joining forces with the legendary pilot. "You watch my back, I'll watch yours."

(Sounds perfect. Feel free to introduce the time-scar in your post if you wish, or we can take some time to go through the exercise.)

 

[Kaybee]

The jaunty acknowledgment brought a faint smile to her lips, even if the casual tone was forced it was preferable to the bowing and scraping of most of the pilots she had once named her peers. It grated at the water aspect to be treated so far above her station by so many. Icara allowed herself no more than a few seconds to appreciate the companionability as already more hellstars were on approach vectors, a dozen enemy craft in all splitting, six moving to intercept the other four members of the lone pilot's squadron while the others accelerated off towards the gunstar itself.

"Acknowledged..." Was all the response she gave as she pushed the Empress' engines to pursuit speed, tearing off after the hellstar formation, to Icara's surprise the voidfighter pilot seemed as eager as her craft, accelerating just behind her and keeping surprisingly close. A fire aspect? One would be so eager... As the hellstars came into range the essence display flagged them, numbering them from left to right across her vision. Narrowing her eyes the water aspect pushed her ship faster, unwilling to drain her essence firing at such long range. "Engaging hellstar three." She notified her companion.

The enemy ships broke formation as the Empress opened fire and Icara swerved upwards, sticking to her chosen target as it scattered upwards, engines flaring as she dragged her nose higher to lead the target and unleashed her essence once more, three shots causing the enemy craft to twist in the blackness, it's engines smoking and sputtering.

Then all hell breaks loose and the Empress shrieks in her ear, the dragon blooded defensive line wavers in confusion as the training hellstars go dark, the emulation of infernal tactics they were following cut off from them.

It hardly takes intelligence to see the reason as space warps and ripples, twisting and tearing apart, an infernal host spilling from the opening and descending upon the scattered dragonblooded line in a flash even as a voice cuts across the Gunstar Battlenet. "Regroup! Infernal incursion approaching! Scatter and get back to your squadrons!" The commanding voice of Ever-Certain Tactical Deliberator galvanizes the pilots to action and voidfighters become shooting stars, shooting away from the infernal force. Even with such prompt reaction Icara could see that the number of dragon blooded who had escaped the sudden attack were a mere two thirds of the numbers they had formerly held, evidenced as the assembling squads frequently lacked one or two members.

In the command centre overseeing the training-exercise-become-skirmish the chosen of battles watches as the line reforms against the incursion. Most of the hellstars show only as minor demons but at least two show power signatures more fitting to an infernal's personal craft. The dragonblooded have handled worse attacks but caught by surprise like this their actions must be made swiftly if they are to stand any chance against the primordials' servants. "All full squadrons select one target and don't let up until it's destroyed, any squadrons missing craft are to pair up with each other and do the same in tandem." With a flick of her finger she flags the two more powerful ships for her troops. "There are two infernal-level signatures in the attacking group. Do not engage themunless you must!" She trusts her pilots but at the same time she worries, infernals are far too powerful for most dragon-blooded to take down alone.

((Is this good?))

 

[Cold]

(Good? It's great. And I'm sorry for the late reply. The first three days of the week are a bad time for me.)

Horus grinned at the professional response. The pilot of the Empress had a reputation for being a bit stand-offish. He felt enervated just by being around the craft. Its reputation was legendary. He had heard whispers about how she was a better fighter than even many Solars, blasphemous as that sounded.

He shot off after the Empress, pouring Essence in the Engine just to keep up with her. He watched with audible admiration as she tilted up with incredible speed and precision, taking care of the Hellstar. His own pursuit was successful; the bursts of flame from his guns had just taken the Hellstar on the radar, making it swerve out of control. And then everything broke apart.

The clear voice of Ever-Certain Deliberator focused Horus and he pinpointed the Empress on his radar, swinging up to join her, his heart thundering. He had waiting for this opportunity ever since he had graduated from the Academy. And now it had come and a third of their assembled forces were already down.

To his credit, he was steady. His hands weren't shaking, his mind was clear, he had his wits about him. Even with the forces of the Yozis bearing down upon them, he still felt that cool excitement in his stomach.

"Lead on, Empress." He called to his impromptu partner, moving up to join up with the straggling members of his squadron. He felt a pang upon realizing that three were missing. He mumbled a quick prayer to the dead and drew on the wrath he felt, aiming at the Hellstars bearing down upon their forces.

"Let's go."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The Essence missiles struck the Hellstar, enveloping it in a massive ball of fire. Its partner was caught in the conflagration, pulled into the vortex by the sheer energy. Horus pulled away, pouring his dwindling Essence into the Engine. He was exhausted. The Dragon was wounded, having been clipped along the wing, affecting maneuverability and having taken a barrage of shots right to the side. There was a chance that at any moment the shielding could give away, exposing him to the void.

The lights flickered inside the cockpit. The Infernal Hellstars, their signatures pinned to the radar, rampaged across the battlefield, with two full squadrons engaging them. A behemoth had appeared right before the time scar shut and was attacking the Gunstar, being engaged by the Defense Line. Things were still difficult. Three more of Horus' squadron had fallen and if it hadn't been for the Empress lending her support, they might all have gone that way.

"Checking in, Empress. Everything dandy?" He called in, as much to quiet his nerves as anything else. He needed a moment to recoup.