This was going to be one hell of a ride, he laughed.
“Are you ready to go Ryann?” He heard Mara’s voice in his helmet and Ryann looked across to see him staring back from the cockpit.
“Just make sure you keep out of my way,” hissed Ryann angrily and gunned the engines.
The flyer screamed out of the docking bay like a bullet.
In an instant Ryann’s senses were assaulted by chaos. The shapes of the refugee ships flew past him in a blur as he fought to control the Interceptor, unused to the acceleration and responsiveness of the controls.
The silver streak of a Luminal drone flashed into view between two cargo barges and Ryann tried to bring his guns to bear, but he had overshot them in an instant, and he slammed the little ship into a spin, swooping out into the open space around the fleet.
For a moment he had a bird’s eye view of the battle, and he gazed down into the chaos below. He could see that throughout the ragged flotilla of refugee ships, many were burning now, some spinning slowly away from the others, torn free from their moorings by the Luminal guns.
As he watched, a light began to form within the green clouds of the Halion Belt as the Luminal battleship unleashed another barrage of fire. Ryann saw the streak of light scorch through the clouds, exploding upon the edge of the open space. Several refugee ships rocked in the shockwave but they still seemed intact.
“That Luminal battleship’s getting closer!” called Ryann into his comms. “It can’t be far from the entrance to the Halion Belt!” He listened for a reply but there was only static in his ear.
He looked back down over the scene. The Ibis was still under heavy attack, but the main Luminal presence seemed to be focussing upon the Marianna. He could see the squat vessel swooping in and out of the fleet spitting a constant stream of fire from its turrets. A swarm of drone-ships followed behind in a dogged pursuit.
Ryann pulled his ship around, ready to dive back down to them, but as he watched the silver streak of Ashe’s Interceptor burst through the centre of them like a shark cutting through a shoal of fish. There was a series of brief explosions and two Luminal craft disappeared in flashes of white light. Ashe’s ship darted away, swooping over the refugee ships and then back down to be lost amongst them.
“Mara, form up on me, I’m going after the ships on the Marianne, mark two-three, they’re heading for that hospital ship.”
Ryann heard Ashe’s steady voice over the comms.
“Ryann, see if you can take some of the heat off the Serena — she’s taking a pounding!”
Ryann glanced longingly back towards the Marianne as explosions rained all about her. All he could think of was Angelique, and he immediately went to protest. He spied the silver dart of Mara’s Interceptor form up beside Ashe as they tore effortlessly through the dizzying maze of the refugee fleet, hunting down the Luminal drones.
He cursed to himself and turned his ship back towards the station.
Sure enough the Serena was in a bad state. She was doggedly pushing on through a storm of fire as three drone-ships flew about her, their lasers tearing into the ship’s battered shields, causing arcs of electricity to spit into the darkness.
Just as Ryann was coming to the aid of the Serena, he caught a glow forming out of the corner of his eye.
But he didn’t have time to react.
The clouds of the Halion Belt were torn away, vaporised as another blast from the Luminal battleship cut through the ice-field, detonating upon the edge of the flotilla.
He felt the shockwave crash into his ship and was thrown all about as the little Interceptor was sent spinning uncontrollably through the storm.
Warning alarms blared out as Ryann fought to bring his ship back under control. He cursed as he made out the Guillemot, an old freighter that had been converted to house around two hundred refugees. It must have been caught directly in the Luminal’s blast, because one side of its hull had been completely torn away. Ryann could see the individual levels sliced open and the terrible sight of the refugees’ bodies being sucked out into the void.
Ryann felt a rage boiling up inside, and gunned the engines once more, his ship screaming back down into the battle.
He spied the Serena just as it was approaching the docking bay, still under constant attack from the three drones. His Interceptor swept down upon them, all six guns blazing.
The first Luminal ship erupted in flames as Ryann shot past in a blur. He dragged the Interceptor around, firing back at the second ship even as his momentum carried him further away.
He laughed at the firepower of his cannons as he saw the drone-ship torn apart, a line of cannon-fire cutting the ship clean in two.
“Nice shooting Ryann,” came Ashe’s voice in his earpiece and he looked around to locate her in the chaos.
“So we’re using comms all the time now are we?” he asked, hunting about the dizzying scene of explosions for his next target.
“You scared we’ll alert the Lumina?”
He laughed to hear Angelique’s voice in his ear.
“Watch it Anders, you’ve got two more marks on your tail!”
Mara’s voice cut in through the static and Ryann felt a pang of fear as he heard the urgent exchanges over the comms.
“Angelique! Where are you?” he called, swooping past the flaming hulk of the Guillemot.
“Stay on the Serena Ryann!” he heard Ashe command and he angrily pulled his ship around, trying to make out the exchanges over the comms.
He cursed as a sudden plume of flames erupted all around him — bright flashes of laser-fire streaking past. He threw the Interceptor down into a spin, heaving it aside
