The Unknown

[Cat]

Somewhere in Omicron Minor nebula...

Brian was sitting in the cockpit of the fighter. This time it was a "Bastet", one of the most advanced developments of the Order. "Fast and deadly. Raoul doesn't stand a chance." It took Raoul's simulator some time to load, so Brian study the surroundings. He was quite used to such areas: green nebula and those strange rocks. Soon Raoul's ship appeared on the scanners. Instinctively Brian checked the weapons. That time those were Reaper cannons, pulse guns and a couple of missiles. "Not the loadout I like, but we'll see what comes out of it."

- I hope you're ready for a beat.
- Why don't you try it and see what happens?

The duel began. Raoul was flying a Bastet too. "Man, I'll have hard time hitting that thing." Two ships began closing, entering a joust, with guns blazing. Brian knew how important the first approach was. He tried performing a barrel roll while opening fire with his pulse-guns. The targeting computer indicated several successful hits.

"How do you like tha... oh [CENSORED], a [CENSORED] mine!"

Raoul's old trick. He relied on mines, and Brian knew it, but the first successful joust distracted him. However, it wasn't late to do something. Brian quickly activated reverse engine and side thruster, then he made a slight turn and hit full speed. The mine had its own targeting system and followed Brian's Bastet, but there was not much it could do now... or so Brian thought. Having passed by one especially large asteroid, Brian heard a familiar warning... Incoming missile. "Disruptor." Before any other curse came to his mind, Brian realised that the threat was still present. The missile collided with the nuclear mine's outer shell and the explosion triggered the reaction. All smaller asteroids turned into dust, while larger ones were shattered by the explosion. So, in addition to the explosion damage Brian's shield received some hits from the asteroid wave caused by the impulse. However, the shields didn't fail this time.

Brian performed a rapid turn and prepared for another joust. "[CENSORED], why do I need those missiles?! I'd have done better with a couple Magma Hammers and a Mini-Razor... wait, a Mini-Razor!" It was about time Brian remembered about his main edge in combat. The edge which could help him that day. He went for another joust, making a couple of pulse shots to distract Duke, then he activated the Razor. A portion of antimatter slowly headed for Raoul's ship. Before the charge reached the ship's shields, Brian shot Reapers, but only a couple of times. "[CENSORED] that powercore!" However, the Reaper shot's reached Duke's Bastet right after the antimatter did its job. The enemy Bastet was crippled.

Now to finish you off, pal.

Two missiles headed in Duke's direction, while Scott kept on him and tried to hit the Bastet with the Reapers. Raoul couldn't do much with his shields down, so he went for the only viable option - evasion. "I will get you... You can run, but you can't hide!" However, hitting evading Bastet was hard, Brian could only scratch the hull a bit. He hoped that the missiles would do their job. The chase led Brian to a couple of especially large asteroids. Duke passed between them, and Scott followed. He was to obsessed with his attempts of damaging the enemy while the shields were offline. That was just what Duke wanted. Having launched a mine and a couple of countermeasures, he hit full speed. The victim was in the trap, and it was about to be sealed.

Things didn't go exactly as planned, though. Yes, commander Scott was about to run into another mine, and the explosions of two missiles would turn his ship into space dust. But luck and chance interfered.
Brian was still attempting to get Duke's Bastet with his Reapers... and one charge hit the mine. This caused an expected chain reaction. The mine exploded, leaving Brian's Bastet with no shield and once again disabling Raoul's shields. At the same time the missiles hit the countermeasures, and those two explosions left Scott's ship without fins and stabilizers. The impulse also hit Duke's vessel.

Brian tried to regain full control of the ship, but couldn't. He could barely evade the rocks which were flying around after the explosion. Nor could Raoul celebrate victory. The explosion shattered two asteroids, and some larger remains of them moved to each other, crushing Duke's ship. At the same time Brian lost control completely and crashed into one of the asteroids which were floating in Omicron Minor nebula.

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