Outer Graveyard
The Megamishhu's scream reverberated through the inside of Ingrid's skull as the Heartbreaker put starfire on target. She had thinned out the battlepods some and as they recalled in response to the pounding their mothership was taking, Ingrid cheered. With the battlepods' retreat, Ingrid took in the scene of the battle. The Necromancer opened up with battery fire, the Heartbreaker charged its shock cannon and the Thi-thi cog continued its rolling volleys. The Mishhu was being rent under the combined fire, but they'd gotten blows in against the defenders of Ee’ee as well. One mercenary ship had sacrificed itself, the fighter group had been in a serious furball, Chudan had fallen off the scope when they got near the planet cracking weapon . . . and Hasewega was diving the weapon, screaming after Edtoto?
"Blesi-hei, please make contact with Hasewega-hei and get her under control and out of the splash zone around the Megamishhu," Rin's voice barked. She had seen it too.
"Hai, shoi,” Ingrid radioed. “Sara-hei, you're out of position. Return and resume escort." Hasewega seemed hell bent so Ingrid flew after her, radioing again, "Return to the battlegroup, Hasewega!"
Hasewega opened fire and the battlepods started swarming, enveloping her. "Get out of there!" Ingrid yelled. She gritted her teeth, lit her aether sabre, and dove in after her. Before, Ingrid had been dealing with a division of the battlepod group focused on attacking the Thi-thi ships and the Heartbreaker, but here the full complement of pods was defending the Megamishhu and able to provide Hasewega and her with their undivided attention. Ingrid had to focus more heavily on evasion than retaliation as she pursued Hasewega, trying to reel her in, moving closer and closer to the awesome weapon.
"Hasewega, we need to protect Ee'ee!" Ingrid said. A lance of fire from the Heartbreaker cut through the swarm and ripped into the Megamishhu, narrowly missing the power armor. “We have to provide cover to our ships so they can beat this thing.” She lined up a shot on a battlepod and sent a trigger command. The sabre failed to fire with a low power warning. Ingrid instinctively tried again, and the shot went out, falling far of her target. “Come on, Hasewega. Edtoto will be okay so long as we do our duty,” Ingrid pleaded, her voice plaintive. Her suit kicked as it sent up a power surge warning. “I’m having power system problems, Hasewega. This isn’t safe; we need to–” Ingrid halted. “Power problems! The gun is causing power problems, Hasewega. Edtoto is okay! Their transponders were just depowered. We need to get back to the Heartbreaker before we lose power too. Everyone on the ship needs us there. Ee’ee needs us there. Edtoto is smart; she’ll be able to take care of herself.” Another lance from the Heartbreaker rippled by and Ingrid started working her way out of the hairball. She hoped Hasewega would listen to reason and duty and follow her out.
Power absorption, she thought to herself as she was returning to her escort duty. “Heartbreaker,” she radioed, “check the power levels of the weapon after you fire the shock cannon. Make sure it isn’t absorbing ambient energy from the beam. I’m returning to escort position at full speed.”