The Quarry

[Rage Menelas]

[font=Lucida Sans Unicode]By the time he got to within range of the melee it was going to be too late. That was obvious, as it was also obvious that there was nothing to be done about it. In sheer desperation he fired off his heavy bombard cannon, making sure to aim well away from the fray. (He didn't want to accidentally hit the wrong ship.) He was hoping it would act as a distraction to the attacker, stuck to the ass-end of Ma'areol's Barafaer like super glue. It didn't work. But, looking at his console, he found that he could get a good reading on the radiation signature of her assailant now. It came as no great surprise to find out that it was indeed Pam-sae. Ryan growled deep in his throat and lunged toward the swirling silver maelstrom.

Just as he came within range of the enemy vessel, she slammed home a devastating barrage of plasma that clove clean through Barafaer like she was nothing. The aft third of the ship spun off into the void, the restsuddenly darkenedpirouetted drunkenly in the direction of her momentum.

Ryan screamed into the dead air of the bridge and, finding himself in range now, launched a series of wicked salvos at Quang, knocking sparks violently from Pam-sae's rear shield. The fresh assault caused an immediate reaction; Pam-sae went into a rapid series of maneuvers, trying desperately to evade her angry pursuer. Ryan would have none of it; he stayed with her through every turn, dove into spitball range and began to seriously chip away at her shields with a steady staccato fire. He had never known where the old adage, he was so angry he saw red, came from... until now! Ryan saw red... and he wanted blood! Blood cries for blood, you bastard!

Unfortunately his rage had unbalanced him somewhat and as a consequence he now paid the price, overshooting his target slightly. This effectively gave Master Liu the opportunity to reverse the roles on him. The wily ninja neatly capitalized on the error and it was suddenly Ryan that had the angry tail! But he had already managed to damage the other ship enough that she could no longer hold her own in a turning fight; her trim was off. And so before Quang could gain a vantage point from which to fire, he had missed a turn. Ryan saw it, slipped left, pointed his nose high and then completed the maneuver with a half twist. As Pam-sae's profile hove into view, he unleashed the full fury of his hatred through a long sustained burst of plasma. Two things occurred as a result: His guns overheated, effectively shutting them down along with much of the ship's systems; and a gaping, smoking ruinous breach appeared along Pam-sae's port side. Belching atmosphere and debris from her wound, she limped off in the general direction of Hei'a 12.

Ryan fought with his ship to contain the damage the overloading guns had caused. Saar'floe was obstinate when overloaded, Charlie had warned him of that. Now here he was, once again, paying the price for not listening to one of his master's warnings. By the time he regained control of the vessel, Pam-sae was well outside of range. Hitting her where he had, in the port beam, had apparently done nothing to damage her engines. It was obvious, however, that Master Liu wished to disengage from the fight, so there must be serious shipboard damage of some type. Well, disengaging was no part of Ryan's plans. But, first things first, he swept the sensors over the forward section of the stricken ship, Barafaer. There were no life signs aboard, no signs of a body; Ma'areol had been swept out into the void. Ryan screamed againa long, horrid cry of anguish mixed with a desperate yearning for revenge. And with his ship now firmly back under control, he pointed her at the fleeing ninja. Let's finish this, he thought, blood cries for blood, you bastard!