"The tick tastes flesh
bloating on vain self-service.
Bitten, She withers."
- Chiyo-ni 833 A.S.
Spinning rapidly as they are cast out of the Shiden Cloud, brown rocks fly like miniature comets as the swirling tendrils of orange dust cling to them like gaseous tails. Careening out into the empty void, the dust cloud parts about the form of a ships bow. Tapered in a forward arcing curve like a scythe, it cuts it's way out of obscurity as it's forward gun is brought to bare on the K60 transport before it. Hands gloved in black synth-leather tighten around a hand-held transceiver. A thumb pressed to transmit. A mouth brought close to speak.
"Samura transport 'Itsukushima', this is Commander Eguchi of the Keikai. Our intentions are clear. Cut your engines or consider our hand forced...Samura transport 'Itsukushima', this is Comma-"
"Commander, two battlecruisers. One unknown. One the IKN-Taketori. Orders?"
"Kuso... "
Eguchi feels the furrow in her brow. The tension in palms as fingers curl into a fist. Pursing her lips in thought, she walks over to inspect the officer's scope herself. Too close to risk a prolonged entanglement. No doubt their quarry was scurrying to contact them. She felt the heavy sigh leave her before she was cogniscant of it. Standing up tall, Eguchi wore a stern scowl as she strode back to the center of the bridge.
"Destroy them. Pulse volleys until they're vunerable. Charge the forward gun. Align to their reactor. We cannot risk their escape, and they force us to violence."
She girds her balance against the lurch of the Kagutsuchi cruiser as it's primary gun takes it's aim on the K60's drives as it draws a straight line to their core, the maneuver punctuated by the steady, percusive volley's of pulses.
"The IKN-Taketori is changing course. New bearing, intercept on 273. Thirty klicks and closing."
At the first sign of the transports shields flickering out of existence, the Commander lowers her hand. A high-pitched whine preceeds the thunderclaps of the forward gun as it casts five orbs of wrath upon the fleeing ship, akin to a Dragon casting flame upon the wicked.
"Helm, right about face. Re-route core to the engines and get us into the Shiden."
Striding to the port-side viewports of the Keikai's bridge, Eguchi watches the hull of the K60 transport drift into the void. Engines burnt out and aflame. Hull fractured and venting its formerly pressurised internals. Looming over it, the speartip of the IKN-Taketori casting its shadow across her gaze.
