Chapter IV: Fight and Flight

Silver Song’s ears rang.  Lightning flashed across her vision and the ceiling above shook from the sound of the blast.  Outside, lightning arced across the wing of the raider in front of her.  The sight was blinding, and she fought to clear the static from her mind.  Fighting to keep her calm, she looked out to try and survey the damage.

The cannon on the right wing was gone.  Something had caused it to rupture, right as it was supposed to fire.  Lightning arced all over the wing, spreading from the wrecked weapon wildly.  The raider lurched on its side.  Had she really managed to do that?

All at once her hooves nearly gave way as the ship lurched forward, jumping into motion from a cold start as fast as it could.  Out of the corner of her eye, she could see another shot from somewhere behind her fly past the rear of the ship, sailing clear off, deeper into the Current; the other raider must have just barely missed.

“Horsefeathers!  Shot wide!”  Silver Song just made out Golden Light’s words, off to her left.  “Morning Sky, give us a little warning next time before you change course!”

“Nothing over here either.  We moved just as I was about to fire.  Did anyone hit anything?”  A nervous frustration was finally showing through in Sun Strike’s voice.

“Not a danged…”  Golden Light stopped mid-sentence and stared at the raider’s crippled wing.  “Wait, how did that…?”

Silver Song meekly raised a hoof while trying to load another iron shot into the chamber.  Golden Light stared blankly at her, and back at the damage caused by the only person on the gun deck to have never fired cannon.

“…Huh.  O-“

If she had any more to say, it was cut off when the ship took a hard dive, sending her tumbling further down the deck.

“MORNING SKY!”

****************

The last few moments were a blur up on the bridge.  Morning Sky dimly recalled staring down the griffon captain while waiting for the raiders to draw near.  She’d kept silent while she waited for them to pull up alongside the vessel.  Behind her, Moon Crystal stood, waiting to relay instructions down to the gun deck.  Three, short taps, that was what the signal was supposed to be.

She still wasn’t yet sure what seized her.  It started as a growing anxiety in the back of her mind.  She hadn’t seen the perplexed expression on Nova Light’s face as he discreetly observed the raider craft through his Scryer.  Sand remained at his station, his face stony and quiet, and Moon Crystal struggled to keep the tension off her face.  But that nervous feeling crept on through her consciousness.

And then, out of nowhere, a single, frantic command filled her whole mind.  A single word, but the imperative was so strong it seemed to come from everywhere at once.

MOVE!

She’d slammed her hoof on the crystal embedded into the captain’s chair.  She bolted upright, and went straight for the wheel.  Copper Sand only just registered what was happening in time to raise the forward screens.  Her left hoof was on the wheel and her right hoof on the lever nearby not a second after she got up.  She ignored the confused, then furious words coming from the griffon on the viewscreen, and slammed the lever down fast as she could, turning the wheel towards the right.

The ship’s engines roared to life behind her and the entire cabin shook as the ship lunged forward.  She swung the wheel right, and the ship turned hard to starboard, just as they heard a crackling of electricity just behind them.

“The port raider just fired!” Sand called out.  “The shot was just barely wide, passed just behind us, would’ve taken out our engines!”

“What are you doing?  Hold still!”  The griffon captain stumbled over his words.  “I…  I mean, how dare you, to try and trick us!  Raiders, blow them out of the stars!”

“Moon Crystal, shut him up!”  Morning Sky brought the ship hard to port and set the engines to full burn without breaking stride.  The viewscreen returned to normal just in time to show them roaring past the two raiders.  A quick turn narrowly dodged another shot from the leader raider’s cannons, as it raced overhead, overshooting them.  Morning Sky looked down frantically at the globe at her side, to see where it was heading.  The red dot representing the lead craft was coming around fast to take another shot.  The young mare took an uneasy last look at the viewscreen and closed her eyes, pushing down on the lever nearest to her left.

The freighter plunged hard, diving so quickly Sky could hear the hull start to strain around her.  The lead raider came about and leveled off to fire on them, only to pass uselessly overhead.  Peripherally, she heard Nova Light yelp as he banged his head, and even Moon Crystal’s calm façade broke as she was nearly thrown out of her chair.

“Morning Sky!” the cry rang out.  They could just barely hear Golden Light’s voice through the floorboards.  Two floors’ distance didn’t deter her when she felt like it.  Morning Sky ignored it for now and kept her eyes on the displays.

Another hard turn towards starboard and they narrowly avoided another shot from the raiders overhead.  They had to get back to the Current.  The added speed was the only way they’d be able to evade them.  The same raider that shot at them roared down towards them and fired again.  She turned the ship hard to port and the craft came screaming down towards their right, just avoiding clipping the freighter’s sails.  A shot from one of the cannons below glanced the engines but seemed to do little to slow the ship down.

“Tell them to aim for the sails!  If we can damage those, they won’t be able to keep up in the streams.”

Moon Crystal relayed her orders while Morning Sky tried to bring them back towards starboard.  The griffons were starting to wise up.  They were trying to keep the freighter from reaching the flow of energy below them, out in normal space where their faster engines would leave the ship at their mercy sooner or later.  The raider that just blazed past them was playing more cautiously now, flying near the Current, ready to intercept if they got closer.  There was no logical chance they’d enter the Emerald Current without them getting a shot in.

Morning Sky had barely any time to think.  Another one of the raiders was already closing in from behind; a glance on the viewscreen showed that it was the same one that had its right cannon totaled.  Upwards on the port side, the lead craft was already coming about for another pass.  If they continued on their current path, they’d be caught between both.  Moving up would drive them further away from their best chance of survival.  Moving down would probably let all three close in.  They were running out of ways to move forward.

“Sand?”

“Captain?”

“I’m about to try something stupid.”

Before he could reply, the whole ship lurched again as it began to slow, even as Morning Sky turned hard to starboard.  The freighter swung straight into the damaged raider’s line of fire, and Morning Sky held her breath while it charged up its remaining wing cannon.   But it never fired.

The Wandering Star almost stopped its engines entirely, moving along on momentum alone.  And now the raider was hurtling straight towards the freighter at dangerous speeds.  Morning Sky grinned dangerously as Sand shunted the force field’s energy straight into the raider’s path, causing it to frantically swerve hard to port to avoid them.  The bridge crew tensed as the raider just narrowly missed tearing off a sail.

The craft’s damaged side was facing them now.  For a few moments, they were practically at point blank range, and the damaged raider was stuck between them and the lead craft.

“Tell Sun Strike to fire!  Make it count!”

****************

Sun Strike didn’t even need to hear the command.  He stood by his cannon, staring out the viewport, and hardly flinched when the other three shouted in alarm when Silver Song looked out her viewport and saw the raider barreling fast towards them.  Now that it swerved, he could guess what was going on.

“Silver Vein, pull yourself together and get ready!”

It worked as well as Sun Strike could hope for.  The stallion recovered his wits upon seeing the raider bank hard to avoid them.  Sun Strike knelt behind his cannon and stared down the sights.  The Star was still at an angle, banking towards starboard, as the raider corrected its course, bringing it straight into Sun Strike’s line of fire.  The large dorsal sail was right in front of him.

And Sun Strike fired.   And he fired again, and again.

He moved his telekinesis with almost mechanical precision, loading another slug in almost the instant the last one was fired.  The energy in the cannon struggled to keep up, and lost some of its force, but he kept firing.  Out of the corner of his eye he could see a few slugs from Silver Vein’s cannon strike home as well.  The lightning shield around the raider craft flickered with each impact, wavering bit by bit, until Sun Strike could see his fifth shot finally make it through.

He watched as the shot struck the length of the sail, and reared up as it tore a great gash on its path through.

“YES!”

The raider tried to swerve to avoid the fire, but the important damage was done.  The two stallions kept firing at the craft until their attention was drawn to the lead vessel, soaring over the damaged ship.

The floor beneath them lurched forward again as the ship picked up speed and went into a dive.  Sun Strike heard the lead craft’s cannons go at full roar as it passed overhead.  He braced himself for impact, but nothing came.  They must have dodged it.  His gaze snapped over to the opposite side of the deck, where the two other unicorns stayed close by their stations.

“Your turn, get ready!”

On the opposite side of the room, Silver Song crouched behind her cannon, her fur damp with sweat.  Golden Light was already aiming down her sights; her cannon had been left to charge energy for minutes now, and it glowed in the dark of the gun deck, as did hers.  Silver Song had no idea how she could be so calm right now.  She sat up, and stared down the sights of the weapon in front of her.

With an ear splitting scream from its engines, the lead craft swooped down into their field of vision.  Silver Song felt herself lurch forward a bit as the Star angled itself to get a better shot, and the griffon ship swung back up into the center of her vision.  Silver Song felt like she could lose her lunch from one more turn.

“Fire!  Fire quick!”

Golden Light’s cannon bathed the whole deck in red light as it fired, the iron shot glowed like a beacon as it flew straight down.  The griffon ship’s lightning shield flared brightly, but it was too close to dodge.

A bright burst of red light filled the space between the two ships.  For a moment, the lightning shield flickered and wavered.  To her side, she could hear Golden Light yell for her to fire, even as she prepared another round, but Silver Song only watched the ship below her.  The lightning shield flickered unsteadily, wavering in and out of existence in an almost predictable pattern.  But that wasn’t what Silver Song was staring at.

She gazed down at the mess of conduits behind the main engines.  Without a single further word, she reached towards the cannon in front of her, waited for the lightning to flicker again, and fired.

Her aim was true.  Her timing was just right.  She watched as the blindingly bright shot passed through the lightning shield and impacted the craft behind it in a burst of red light.

***************

Sparks flew overhead as the conduit to the bridge ruptured.  The entire ship rocked forward, and Albrecht was thrown to the floor before he could even shout a command.  Warning klaxons sounded, on the bridge and in the hallway behind him.  Off to his left, in his dazed state he could see a bridge crewman try to halt the crackling flow of electricity above them all.

“Fix it, you fool, fix it!” he shouted in his stupor.

The griffon stopped at the sight of the conduit.  Power faded in and out all across the bridge, but the anxiety on his face was clear.  The griffon clearly had no equipment to repair the power line, nor any clear idea how to even do so, but grabbed the pipe and pulled himself forward to get a better look.  He was awarded with an arc of electricity arcing out of the exposed conduit to hit him squarely in the face; the young griffon yelped in pain before another’s hand struck out towards the lightning.

Eugen coolly surveyed the pipe and thrust his hand into the lightning’s path.  The raw energy arced towards the palm of the First Mate’s hand and the younger griffon looked on in fright.  Yet, the energy did not even seem to bother the grizzled, dark-feathered reaver.  Eugen closed his hands around the lightning, the loose lightning gathering into a ball in his talons before he carefully pressed it back towards the exposed pipe.  None who watched said a word as the First Mate pushed the lightning back into the conduit, and with a few careful movements of his talons, the energy played around the edges of the hole, turning the metal red-hot before it melted back into place and hardened again.  Only when the conduit looked as though nothing had happened did Eugen fly back down to check on the injured crewman, who had landed back on the floor.

“You, report to the medical officer for lightning injuries, third priority,” his voice was quick and almost mechanical.  “Dismissed,” he finished, motioning for the griffon to leave as he turned and helped Albrecht to his feet.

Albrecht let out a cough, and turned towards his officers.  “Damage report!”

“Captain, engines are completely offline.  That shot triggered a power surge throughout the power distribution system.  We have damage reports from every sector of the ship!”

“Tell the engineer to get the engines back online, you idiot!  What do I pay you fools for?”

“Captain, the engineering officer and his staff are working to repair the damage to the generator.  We aren’t going anywhere until it’s fixed.”  The crewman looked up looked up to meet Albrecht’s unhinged gaze and wavered.  “I… I mean, sir, we can’t go anywhere until it’s fixed.  Engineering reports that it’s not stable.  It’d probably destroy the ship if we tried to go at full speed.”

“Where is the Hell Talon?”

“The equine ship did further damage to their starboard side, captain.  They are maneuvering to engage the freighter again, but the freighter has a considerable head start.”

“This is ridiculous!  It’s a freighter.  It’s not even supposed to have guns!”  Albrecht turned to look at his bridge crew.  “Are you imbeciles trying to tell me that a single equine freighter is too much for you?”

“Communications officer,” Eugen interrupted.  “What is the status of the Warscreech?”

“The Warscreech is maintaining its current heading, First Officer.  They have yet to suffer battle damage.”

Albrecht looked towards the communications officer with just-restrained fury.  “Then that is our only option.  Order the Warscreech to pursue that freighter.  This is up to Reiner and his crew now; they are our only option.  Pray for your own sakes that they succeed.”

The griffon communications went back to work while Albrecht returned to the captain’s chair.  “This whole contract is quickly becoming far more than it’s worth,” he grumbled.  “I hope, for Sunrise Flare’s sake, this all turns out to be worth it.”

***************

Two down, that leaves one to go.  Morning Sky’s eyes narrowed uneasily as she considered their options.  The lead ship was dead in the water, but the second raider would catch up soon, despite the battle damage.  The third ship was still in front of them, guarding the pathway to the Current.  Far behind her, the second raider kept firing its one still-functioning cannon, but right now they were so far away as to be just simply annoying.

The Wandering Star maintained its heading towards the Current’s boundaries, and the third raider remained on course.  They weren’t moving to engage, but Morning Sky could gauge their speed well enough.  Their current path would place them just behind the Star.  Morning moved to adjust their heading, their speed, but each time the third raider adjusted its own as well.  Even without its sail, the second raider could move fast enough with just its engines to catch up if they couldn’t take advantage of the Current, and the third raider’s captain knew it.  He simply had to wait them out for a few minutes.  For a moment, it perplexed her as to why they hadn’t at least fired a warning shot, but on closer inspection she could see why.  The cannons on either wing were bristling with lightning.  They were conserving, waiting for a good shot.

Either one of those cannons could punch straight through our force field.  Morning Sky looked about with an increasingly frantic expression.  There had to be some way around this, something they could…

Her attention was taken away for a second by a bright flash, up ahead.  The center of it was blinding, and a great plume of blue energy cascaded out from it on all sides.  The energies clashed chaotically as they reached the Current, sparking off unpredictable spells and raw, chaotic magic.

It was a Spellburst, an eruption of magical energy.  They reacted unpredictably towards the energies in the Emerald Current.  Everyone knew that.  And yet, something felt different.  She could feel that unfamiliar sense again, like something scratching in the back of her mind.

“Moon Crystal.”

“Captain?”

“Signal Silver Song and Golden Light.  Have they let their cannons build up power?”

There was a pause as Moon Crystal relayed the question.  “Yes, Captain.”

What are you thinking of?  She shook the thought from her mind as she looked Moon Crystal in the eye.

“Tell them to shoot the Current.  Aim for right in front of them.”

A dead silence reigned on the bridge as the three others simply stared at her.

“You heard me!  Shoot!”

Moon Crystal relayed the order, her work almost clumsy from surprise.  Morning Sky watched, doing nothing yet.  Are you crazy?  The thought came unbidden to her mind as she watched the viewscreen tensely.  Hopefully, yes.  Otherwise I’m pretty sure this wouldn’t work.

The cannons fired.  The cannons on their port side had charged for minutes now.  The two shots flew across the aether like blindingly-bright rubies.  Morning Sky let the engines roar for all they were worth as she fought to race ahead of the final raider.  Far off the port side of the ship, the ship finally noticed the danger it was in, and banked hard and to the left as the shots from the Wandering Star struck deep into the streams of the Emerald Current.

The flash was blinding.  Red and green light shot off in every direction.  A great plume of green from a ruptured stream of the Current combusted and turned to fire, sending jets and fireballs off in wild abandon.  Morning Sky had to send the freighter into a steep climb to avoid a massive, misshapen hunk of stone created by the magic below them.  She cleared as much of the chaos as she could, and dived as fast as she dared, back towards the nearest stable part of the Current she could find.