Krak: Dilemma

He knew from the moment he was alerted about the incoming Cruiser unit, that their objective was to attack him. He had dared to hope that the Base had a chance, but now, with the introduction of Crugi Cruisers into the skirmish, his hopes were dashed against the rocks. He wondered if the Cruisers would also let him crash on the rocky plains or if they would mercilessly blow him away.

Almost immediately, six of the cruisers were on his tail. With their superior speed, they gained on him and began shooting. He swerved the craft and avoided the first volley of plasma blasts amidst his trepidation. As he did so, a military shuttle entered into his shooting range and he fired at it. The shuttle exploded, taking two other shuttles, that were close by, in flames. The Cruisers responded to this with another burst of plasma blasts. Steering the joystick, he navigated the Destroyer through the blasts, narrowly escaping death at each turn. But, he knew that with each turn, the Cruisers were slowly pining him to fly in a parallel direction, so as to finish him off.

"Rollas, what's the current speed we're flying?" He asked, activating the AI systems. The holographic face of the craft's systems showed up on the small monitor on the panel.

"Maximum speed. 800 knots."

"Well, is there a space between the Cruisers' formation for us to pass through if we tried flying in the opposite direction?"

The system was silent for some seconds, probably calculating, before it answered. "Yes, there is."

"Show me the angle."

The screens displayed a narrow path between the Cruisers just fit enough for the Destroyer to weave through.

"The Cruisers are coming at us with full speed, right?"

"Negative. They are maintaining enough distance to keep you in range and as well as to shoot you, 930 knots."

"Prepare to drop our speed by 500 knots."

"You want to....." The AI system began, realizing his plan.

"Yes. It is possible, isn't it?" He asked to be sure, even though he knew the answer.

"Quite possible, yet risky. Shall I proceed?"

"At my order....." He waited for a while and watched as the Cruisers kept on his tail.

Come closer, he urged them silently in his head.

"Now!" He yelled and pulled the joystick deftly, swerving to his right, and got hit at the tail region of the Destroyer by a blast. The Destroyer slowed down to 300 knots instantly, letting the Cruisers zoom past it. Some of the cruiser pilots might have had an idea on what he intended and scattered in the last minute, escaping his shooting range, except for two. Seeing the rare opportunity, he quickly raised the speed back to 800 knots and gave chase to the two Cruisers. The other Cruisers regrouped and followed, right behind him.

One of them opened fire on the right wing of the Destroyer, but with the system's timely alert, he was able to swiftly swerveand avoid it. The volley hit one of the Cruisers he was pursuing and blew it up. This act restrained the other Cruisers from shooting again, afraid of hitting one of their own.

Happy with the situation, he fired at the midsection of the other Cruiser. The blast struck true and fumes were escaping the interior of the vessel. He fired another blast at the Cruiser and obliterated it.

The destruction of their colleague must have enraged the others, as they began bombarding his trail with plasma blasts. He was now in a dilemma, after blasting the second Cruiser, because he was exposing himself to enemy fire. Before he could react this time, plasma blasts zoomed past to his right and another followed immediately to his left. They were slowly chipping away at the available space, to inhibit his ability to swerve. He knew that though he escaped blasts from two of the Cruisers, he was eventually going to end up in the shooting range of the other two.

"Rollas, damage report."

"14% to the bulk of the vessel."

Thinking quickly, he activated the navigation system and searched the map.

"Rollas, what structure is that, located some miles before Kosh?" He pinpointed the location.

"That is a air support bunker."

"Do you think it's still functional?"

"Affirmative."

"Okay. We are going to have to fly towards them and solicit aid, quickly. Activate auto-mode flight."

"Auto-mode activated," the Rollas responded.

He got up from the seat and dashed out of the cockpit towards the side-blasters pod.