Re: [Phase One: Mission 5] The First Line
Szemis' NI responded to his request with a dull electronic coo and promptly ejected the legs of his unit, redistributing the pliable organic under-armor of his unit to seal the openings and protect the unit. He'd have found that his maneuverability had returned somewhat now that the dead weight of the damaged legs had been excised from the unit, at the cost of dumping two of the NEn Capacitors that had been mounted there.
He still had the more pressing issue of several missiles darting towards him. His NI, momentarily busied with running thousands of recalibrations to compensate for the damages, was unable to warn him.
The inexperienced Eyr Ranr frame runner only heard a screech as three dozen missiles ignited into a cloud of shimmering blue particles only a few hundred meters away from him. Somehow, Akjit had managed to intercept the initial volley with his panicked blast, allowing only a few of the projectiles to impact Szemis' shields. The runner in the damaged was left with sensors covered in static as his defensive screen became saturated with particles, but he was at least alive.
The automaton-type frame exploded only a second or two after Mu'Tasim hurled it away from himself, clattering against the hail of missiles and erupting into a orange-red haze of plasma and wreckage. With the large detonation masking its sensors, Isha was able to skirt around at full speed, and perforated the cockpit and reactor assembly with her beam cannon. It too was disabled, spewing out reactor plasma as a last sigh before it shut down.
The enemy's first wave had been defeated, leaving only the battlestation and the few guards that remained on board.
----
The enemy defense battlestation was now fully operational, massive weapons batteries trailing towards the runners of the wing. Kuzman, who was once again the least disrupted by weapons activations around him, was the first to get the warning they were being targeted. A dozen plasma cannons that wouldn't have been out of place as the main battery of a Vayu-class tilted towards them to fire, taking on a faint red glow as they collected the reactor plasma to fire.