(no subject)

Who: Amber, Jo, Kayn, Jay
Where & When: the Dogfight
--<snip>--
"Jay! It's about time!"
"It's Jo actually. I borrowed the Phoenix!" The lead fighter opened up
on Jo. She rolled out of the way.
"Can you get all our guys back on the Dwarf whilst I cover you?" Amber
said.
"Sure I'll try" Jo fired on a fighter that was heading for her then
sent the Phoenix off in the Valkyrie's direction.
--<end snip>--
Jo put the Phoenix in a dive that took her away from the thick of the
fighting towards where the Valkyrie drifted silently.
Jo triggered the comm, “Mr. Bestrom, How are you doing out there?”
“Oh, just fine and dandy. The engine shorted out all my targeting
systems. I’m a sitting duck,” Kayn’s voice cackled back.
Jo scanned her monitors and found the source of Kayn’s frusration. Two
pirate fighters, bored now that most of the Blue Dwarf ships had been
decimated, were closing in on the Valkyrie for an ‘easy kill’.
Jo’s dive had brought her in from above on a path perpendicular to the
pirates. Taking aim, she fired a burst of Gaussian shotgun rounds at
the lead fighter. The bullets ripped through the cockpit, shredding
the pilot and his craft. With quicker reflexes than his partner, the
pirate wingman snapped up onto his starboard wing and pulled up,
breaking off his attack on the Valkyrie. Jo shot past the clump of
congealed metal, and began a long loop to bring her back to aid Kayn.
A “beep” from her scanner alerted her that the pirate had rolled back
in on her tail.
“Very good,” she murmured. Continuing her loop, Jo watched as the
pirate throttled up to close with her. Once he was within firing
range, she pulled back hard on the stick, shortening the loop sharply,
and crushing her to her seat. She gasped at the pain that blossomed in
her wrist and knifed up her arm to her shoulder. Gritting her teeth Jo
threw the stick to the left, barrel rolling out to port and dropping in
on the pirates tail. A short round of shotgun fire punctured a fuel
cell and the fighter disappeared in an expanding ball of incandescent
gas. Jo dove, but caught the edge of it as her grip slackened on the
flight stick.
“That fall must have caused more injury than I thought.” Massaging her
wrist, she piloted carefully back to where Kayn waited.
“Slightly singed on that last one there,” he commented as she throttled
back to match his speed. She chuckled, “Behave or you can walk home.”
Flicking a few switches, Jo released the magnetic tow-cable, and slowly
extended it towards the Valkyrie’s hull. It connected with a shudder.
“I’m going to tow you towards Blue Dwarf. Can you try a manual start?
It may bring a few of the landing thrusters back to life and give you
enough manoeuvrability to enter a shuttle bay.” Jo increased her speed
slowly and set her course. By this stage the Rapier had moved up
beside the giant mining ship and was extending docking tunnels and
clamps.
As they neared a hangar on the far side of the pirate activity, Kayn
opened the comm. “65% of the jets are working. Thanks for the lift.”
“Well you can take it from here,” Jo detached the cable and rewound it,
“I’m going to see if I can round up a few more of you JMC pilots. See
if you can get another shuttle out here with medi-bay staff to transfer
the most seriously wounded.”
Jo stood the Phoenix on its tail and punched the throttle to loop up
over the top of Blue Dwarf. Rolling at the top of her arc, she was
just in time to see the Space Eagle plough through a docking port and
bury itself in the habitation decks. A pirate fighter pulled away and
corkscrewed back towards the Rapier.
"I wouldn't be so smug if I were you," Jo said, lining Jay's craft up
in her sights.
<tag Jay>
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