The Nastchruka Run Part Four

Tor watched as the space around the merchant ship sizzled with the heat of bolts from the laser fire of the alien starfighters. The first two fighters turned with the majestic artistry of space combat and roared back towards the merchant ship. The other two starfighters finished there pass and accelerated toward Tor and Ejaw. The ion engines of the two starships flared blue pushing the fighters forward and the dark inverted wings flashed with the blackness of deep space reflected in the stars that flared in the distance.

"Bogie three and four have come about to a heading directly towards us and accelerated to .0972. They are closing fast, Ejaw." Tor spoke into his comm to let Ejaw know what was happening.

"Okay give me one second," and a pause over the comm equipment, then Ejaw continued, "Okay, I pulled up alot of information on our enemies on the interstellar net. I have rolled it all up into a file and sent it over to you. It may come in handy during this fight. Load it onto your flight comp and let's kick some alien butt!"
(See below for the information that Tor received.)

 "Wait, wait just a second. Do we want to fight these birds? I mean we still have a chance to turn, lengthen our distance and get out of here. We don't have military grade systems in these bombers, we can't be expected to help that ship against a superior foe like these aliens."

"Are you kidding me Tor!" Exploded Ejaw. "You can run if you want but I hear the call of duty right now and I am engaging. We can't let these aliens think they can do what they want in our space. If we let one attack that we can do something about go unchecked then they have won already."

"Alright, alright, I understand. I just didn't want any opportunity to go without notice. Okay let's go in. Let's take these first two birds as quickly as we can so we can keep the two sets of fighters split and only have to engage them one set at a time."

"That makes sense. They are closing fast and remember there weapons have an extended range compared to ours," Ejaw noted.

"Okay bring us about to heading one three four and accelerate to .0787, keep on my wing, and we will take the first pass down our starboard side. Shields on full."

"Affirmative, shields on full and coming about to one three four. Accelerating on your mark."

"Mark" answered Tor.

The two old Battlehawks, kitted up in their black with white crossbones maneuvered slowly to their new heading and accelerated with a short burst of their Ion engines. Tor was pushed back into his chair slightly as his compensators whined to keep up with the added pull placed on his starbomber.

The two Xothic fighters began to spiral at about a kilometer out and soon their lasers trailed blue blurred bolts at the two pirates glancing ineffectually off forward shields at this range.

"You were right about their range," said Tor as he thumbed the toggle on his grip and depressed the firing stud on his stick before he had a Target Lock On.

"Cool down there smartypants." Ejaw chided him. "Make sure you have good tone on your Target Lock before you fire Captain."

Ejaw spun her ship into a pivot, not changing her direction of travel but using her micro thrusters to turn to face the trailing Xothic Fighter. Tor could hear the whine of the Target Lock On tone thru his headset as Ejaw depressed the button on her console to trigger her rotary blast turret, which had been specifically added to her starbomber for this mission. Multiple barrels on the turret wound around each other and rotated thru the firing mechanism allowing the turret to pump out many small but deadly beams of red laser light towards the Xothic Fighter as it rocketed away. The first few bolts lit against the screens on the fighter and soon the blue of energy shields were dissipating the beams. However, the next three bolts in succession seared through the barrier and slammed into the port wing of the alien vessel. The Xothic fighter leaped out of control and started to spin to that side as its acceleration pushed it into an ever wilder spin out towards open space.

Ejaw rotated her ship back to the direction she was travelling and spoke into the comm, "I told you Tor its all in the tone, it's all in the tone buddy."

Xothic Fighter
Production information
Manufacturer	Alien Origin
Model	0001 Xothic Fighter
Class	Assault Starfighter
Cost	unknown
Technical specifications
Length	11.4 meters
Width	22.7 meters
Height/depth	3.5 meters
Maximum acceleration	3200 G
Maximum atmospheric speed	900 km/h
Engine unit(s)	Twin Ion Propulsion Engines of unknown origin (2)(rated .3 MTU)
Hyperdrive rating	Class 1.0
Hyperdrive system	Unknown Hyperdrive Instrument
Power plant	Nova Myriad Nova Myriad Some type of cryogenic power cells and ionization reactor
Shielding	Standard Shields of unknown origin (25 DPU)
Hull	Titanium-reinforced Hypersteel alloy (30 IP)
Sensor systems	Uses short range primary threat analysis grid similar to FREP military package
Targeting systems	Unknown but standard Scanning system
Avionics	Standard flight control avionics package
Armament	Laser cannons (4) Small payload that may contain Proton Torpedo Launcher 2 torpedoes each Photon bombs possible
Crew	Pilot (1) Robot Unit (1)
Passengers	Unknown
Cargo capacity	50 kilograms
Consumables	1 week
Other systems	Ejection seat Detachable cockpit