Outside the cockpit windows, the green mist of the nebula rolled past, interspersed by the jagged forms of the alien asteroids. Inside the ship, Jaqueline Richards, known to most only by her callsign "Blackwing", sat, one eye on the scanner readout, the other on the nebula ahead of her. The only sound, the dull throbbing of the Nephthys' engines, even that seeming muted by the thick, cloying nebula.
According to the nav data that had been retrieved from the Borderworlds Transport wreck they had recovered...what...only a week ago? It seemed like she had spent months flying in circles around this nebula, searching for the Nomad Lair that the Transport's flight logs had picked up, shortly before it had been disabled by what appeared to be energy blasts, reminicent of the guns carried by Nomad fighters, but much more high powered. Those logs indicated that it should be in this area. Squinting through the haze ahead, trying to get a glimpes of something, anything, the computer alerted her with a single ping. Glancing down, she noted that a large energy reading originating from an object about 5 clicks away to starboard.
Overriding the autopilot, she engaged manual control and pulled the ship around to point towards the energy source. Out of the corner of her eye, she watched the distance reader tick down; 5k, 4k, 3k, 2k, 1.5k. Suddenly, she saw it. A huge, disc-like object, the size of a planet or larger, flickered into view amidst the swirling nebula. The nebula concealed parts of the object, making it impossible to gague it's actual diameter. Taking a deep breath, Jackie pointed the nose of the Nephthys at what she percieved to be the centre of the object and moved the fighter in closer.
Suddenly, the ship shook from multiple impacts, and the shield strength gague dropped alarmingly. Pulling back on the control column, Jackie engaged full thrusters and pulled the ship up, directly away from the Lair. Checking her scanners, she could make out no contacts beyond this object. Initiating a closer sensor sweep of the thing, she could make out several organic turrets studded around it's perimeter, similar to those mounted on Nomad capital ships.
Switching back to area scans, she spotted several Nomad fighters bearing down on her position. This was not good, not good at all. Engaging the Nephthys' cruise engines, she set a course towards her next waypoint, but it seemed these Nomads were not about to let her get away so easly. Barely had the engines charged beyond 50%, when the console bleeped "Incoming Missile". Firind flares, Jackie shook the ship violently across space, trying to evade the inevitable disruptors. But to no avail. Hitting home, their disruption field activated, knocking the fighter out of cruise, and disabling it's cruise engines.
"Damn", she turned the ship around and lined up with the incoming Nomads. 4 fighters hurtled towards her, spitting purple energy blasts from their guns. "Alright, drones, if ya really wanna fight, come and get it." She stamped on the thruster pedal, lined up the first fighter in her sights and thumbed the missile release key. A paralyser missile zipped out of the launch pod on a trail of green smoke, impacting with the Nomad's shields and dropping them in a second. Holding down the trigger for her guns, Blackwing barreled into the Nomad, Reapers spitting neutron beams into the Nomad's unprotected hull. In a flash of purple light, the creature evaporated, leaving behind a fine mist, which rapidly dispersed. Charging through the formation, she released a pair of mines, which homed in on a second Nomad. Killing her engines, she drifted past the alien ships and, engaging the maneuvering thrusters, turned to face them before they had had time to turn around. "Hah, so much for Nomad superiority", she chuckled, as she launched a cruise disruptor towards the pair of mines. They detonated in a satisfyingly large explosion, taking two of the remaining Nomad vessels with them. Homing in on the last remaining fighter, she held her fire until her energy reserves had run dry. The Nomad simply evaporated under the constant neutron beams.
Checking her sensors again, she noted several more wings of Nomad fighters closing from behind. "Alrighty, time to get outa here." Enabling the cruise engines for a second time, this time, she rocketed away at cruise speed. Glancing over her shoulder, she watched the Nomad base receede and be swallowed by the nebula.
"Well, it's defiently still active," she said to herself, "Guess Command might wanna send someone to get a better look..." Turning back to the control console, she set a course for her next waypoint. Some disturbing readings had been emanating from the beacon in Tohoku, apparently something was occuring at the Arch...a recon pilot's job was never done...