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Chapter 50

Interstellar Dogfight

The JMU-05 Gunships beelined towards Foxtail-1, firing a volley of haywire missiles from their ordinance pods! The yacht again shook harshly from the volley!

"Shields down to 90%!" Hatred reported as Chaos switched on the fasten seat belt light in the cabin, along with running an emergency text message and a computerized audio warning to all the passengers in the cabin to buckle in, brace themselves and prepare for evasive maneuvers.

"Everyone is buckled into their seats and prepped for rough flying, Master." Jet said, relaying the info to Egad through a shipwide commlink.

"Good to hear." Egad said. "Chaos! Get us out of here! If Mick gives you any ideas or tips that could help, follow them as best you can!"

"Got it, Master!" Chaos said, pulling the throttle back to full-open position!

Foxtail-1 rocketed forwards, bolting for the planet as the Gunship fighters parted out of the way like a school of fish!

"Go faster, guys!" Hatred exclaimed. "The lead fighter is turning around and going for a missile lock on us!"

"Chaos! Evasive maneuvers, Pattern Delta!" Mick ordered.

The yacht shook from blaster fire, a barrage of blaster bolts flying past the windows!

"Pattern Delta?! What the hell is that?!?" Chaos exclaimed.

Mick mentally facepalmed, reminding himself that Chaos wasn't military trained, quickly explaining in simple terms. "Rock her! Port to starboard, hard!"

Chaos quickly did as Mick said, rocking Foxtail-1 back and forth on its horizontal axis as missiles flew by outside the windows, missing their mark!

"I'll have to remember that one..." Chaos said.

"No problem, I'll remind you if you space it." Mick said. "Hatred, if those Tri-barrel turrets can pivot, see if you can have them aim behind us! Try and light up as many of those fighters as you can!"

Hatred quickly did as he was told, painting the Gunship fighters as hostile and having the turret's combat AI return fire at will! Three fighters rocketed ahead in a V-formation, pitching up and turning around, charging forward in an attack run!

"Concentrate on flying, Chaos." Mick said, hands going over some of their controls. "I'm activating the dual-barrel rail cannon and torpedo launchers."

A few seconds later, the readouts on the display confirmed the forward-facing weapons were ready. Mick then flipped a switch and popped out a turret stick near his flight yoke that controlled the angle of the rail cannon, as well as the firing switch for the torpedoes, quickly getting a weapons lock on the lead fighter.

"All right, you son of a bitch! Let's see how you like a few nucleo-proton warheads up your ass!" Mick fired two torpedoes with one of the thumb buttons, one from each launcher while pumping the rain cannon's trigger in one-second bursts! The first few shots from the rail cannon hit the lead fighter, as well as grazing the ones flanking it, while the torpedoes blasted it to pieces!

"Nice shot!" Chaos said.

"Thanks." Mick said with a smile.

"The Zodiac Star is in pursuit..." Xen said. "They've come about, and are matching course... Oh, shit! They're firing several volleys of haywire missiles at us!"

"But how do they expect to hit us without a weapons lock?" Hatred asked.

"Simple: They're dumb-firing them in swarms like rockets, in an attempt to carpet-bomb the area in hopes of hitting us!" Xen answered. "Brace yourselves! Incoming!"

Foxtail-1 then shook violently again as it was hit by ten of the total of fifty warheads the Zodiac Star fired! The ship was rocked hard to port, as overhead lights flickered a few times, sparks rained down from the ceiling and a bulkhead containing a conduit of wires exploded above Choas, raining down sparks and shards of hot debris! Chaos covered his face with his arms, yelling out in pain as the debris made contact with his fur and skin! Xen quickly cut the power from that conduit, rerouting the feeds through commands from his console!

"Chaos!" Mick shouted. He looked over at the half-demon wolf. Chaos was grimacing loudly, gripping his right upper arm which had taken the brunt of the burst. It had several large, prominent burns that went up to his shoulder, second degree from what it appeared! Chaos grimaced loudly in pain as he clutched his burnt shoulder.

"Shields are down to 76%!" Xen reported. "That last barrage also sent feedback through the primary odn feed, switching to secondary conduit... Secondary conduit is now active and online!"

"Chaos, hold on buddy!" Mick said, flipping several switches and buttons on touchscreens, sliding the gun joystick back down. "Assuming flight control override, transferring full control to copilot station..." Mick's controls then lit up with all the ship's flight displays and readouts, as he grabbed the flight yoke in front of him as it extended. "I've got full control! Hang on, everybody!"

Mick then took Foxtail-1 into some wild evasive maneuvers as he hit the afterburners, rolling the ship wildly, banking back and forth, going into loop-de-loops and other creative actions to throw off the rest of the fighters, as well as the Zodiac Star!

"...Just because I can't use one of my arms right now doesn't mean I'm going to sit this one out." Chaos growled, letting go of his shoulder and flipping a few switches and pressing a few touchscreen buttons with his left hand. "Transferring control of rail canon and torpedoes to primary pilot's station..." A joystick then popped up on Chaos's side of the cockpit that controlled the cannon and torpedo launchers. "...Just fly, Mick! I'll give these bastards some payback!" Chaos said as he gripped the joystick with his left hand!

"Oh, I'll fly all right! Right at them!" Mick said angrily with a glare, putting Foxtail-1 into a u-turn and charging at the Zodiac Star on full-burn!

"Ah, Pattern Suicide..." Hatred said.

"Don't worry, Hatred. Even though Foxtail-1 is one-sixth the size of the Zodiac Star, it gives us an advantage over them, especially with the additions Uncle put in! I can get us close enough that they can't target us, or even hit us for that matter! It won't matter how many missiles they dumb-fire, they won't be able to react or accelerate quick enough to hit! That, and their blaster turrets won't be able to get a lock, either! We will be passing by too close, and too fast! Chaos, get ready to spam those torpedoes and pump that trigger finger on the rail cannon! It's time to do some damage in a tit-for-tat run!"

Mick brought Foxtail-1 close to the Zodiac Star, sometimes mere meters away from the aggressor's hull! Chaos did as Mick said, pumping the joystick's trigger, firing the rail cannon repeatedly while spamming one of the thumb buttons, blasting the Zodiac Star with multiple bursts of torpedoes, Hatred redirecting the tri-barrel turrets to join in as well! The view outside the cockpit's windows was lit up with explosions and fiery blasts that erupted from the X-01 frigate as it's shields were quickly overwhelmed after only two attack runs! After that, the weapons fired from Foxtail-1 began to shred through the Zodiac Star's hull, large chunks of the ship being blown clean off its frame!

After a total of five attack runs, Mick maneuvered Foxtail-1 away from the Zodiac Star, seeing the battered X-01 cruiser limping through space, nearly adrift with several prominent plasma leaks coming from its hull!

"Awesome shooting, brother!" Hatred complimented. "And kudos to your flying, Mick! You both gave 'em complete hell!"

"No problem..." Chaos said with a short grimace. "It was all in our own self-preservation."

"...And I'm happy you approve of my flying! Glad to be of help, my friend." Mick smiled with a quick glance at Hatred.

"Hold on... The remaining seven fighters all have us in a weapons lock!" Hatred reported. "Any more evasive patterns you can fly in, Mick?!"

Mick took a quick glance at the radar. "Not at the distance they are at, no!"

Suddenly, a squadron of twenty AL-4 Bottlenose starfighters bearing the Vhaldaria Space Defense Force insignia flew past Foxtail-1, firing on the seven remaining JMU-05 Gunships pursuing the yacht! After several runs by the squadron of AL-4 Bottlenose fighters, which clearly had the advantage of speed and maneuverability, the gunships were all destroyed, exploding in balls of fire!

During the starfighter dogfight between the AL-4 starfighters and the JMU-05 gunships, a single X-01 Cornerian Cruiser flew up into view, bearing the Vhaldaria Space Defense insignia as well! Mick maneuvered Fotxail-1 around it, giving the cruiser a wide berth!

"Incoming audio transmission from the VSDF Cruiser Frontier." Mick said. "Putting it on speaker."

"This is Captain Tyrell Nemik of the Frontier, speaking for the VSDF. Foxtail-1, we saw the attack by the Zodiac Star on our sensors from the near side of Vhadaria's moon and intercepted to render assistance as quick as we could. What is your status?"

Egad put on a headset, patching it into the transmission. "This is Ryan Foxmoore of Foxtail-1. It's good to see you, Captain Nemik, I was thinking we were goners for a few seconds... Our shields have taken the brunt of the assault, we only lost a primary odn conduit with some crew injuries at the worst."

"Well, I'm relieved that you only suffered minor damage with no fatalities, and that your ship is one piece, Mr. Foxmoore. Also, don't worry about any troubles with the government over this. Since we witnessed the Zodiac Star firing the first shot without provocation, you were completely clear and fully in your rights to return fire and defend yourselves under article 5475-A of the GCOG intergalactic accords of Farhearth Providence. This will not end you in any trouble whatsoever, so don't worry. The Zodiac Star, on the other hand... To be crudely blunt, they are in some very deep shit."

Egad chuckled at that. "No doubt, Captain. Thank you for the assist. Permission to enter orbit, then enter atmosphere to land at my private space pad?"

"Granted." Captain Nemik said without hesitation. "Take it easy for a few days, and don't worry. We've got the situation handled. Welcome home, Mr. Foxmoore, and apologies for the Zodiac Star's aggression. They aren't from around here, but they will be dealt with accordingly under the law. Good day to you. Frontier out..."