Chapter 4B: Asteroid Battle

Douklan pilots the ship in an attempt to keep the guns facing the patrol boat, rather than the engines. (Do Your Duty).
Captain Rael calls to Lt. Jr. Fu Chen and the rest of the Gunnery crew: "Good job, everyone. One more solid hit on that patrol boat and we can wrap up this fiasco. I have every confidence in you." (Support Gunnery Department).

With the captain's support, Lt. Jr. Chen fires his Plasma Beam one more time, this once trying to hit the closest Fighter, but misses.

As the battle reached its climax, the Sentinel's crew seized the opportunity and targeted the vulnerable points in the enemy vessel's hull, unleashing a relentless onslaught that left the patrol boat crippled and disabled.

Lt. Jr. Chen, his eyes alight with triumph, relayed the news to the rest of the crew. "Direct hit! Enemy patrol boat disabled," he announced, his voice ringing with satisfaction.

Ensign Alonso Carderas, monitoring the enemy's status from his station, confirmed the extent of the damage. "Multiple hull breaches detected, power systems failing.," he reported, his fingers flying across the controls as he kept a vigilant eye.

The Draco Separatist patrol boat was now out of commission. However, the crew of the Sentinel knew the battle was far from over. With the enemy starfighters still posing a threat, they remained on high alert.

In fact, Lt. Komarov, monitoring the situation, breathed a sigh of relief as the Sentinel's defenses held firm against the bombing run from the second fighter. "Armor holding, engines still functional" she reported, her voice steady despite the intensity of the battle.

Alex Mercer, piloting the A09 shuttle, seized that opportunity to completely escape from the chaos of the conflict. With a mixture of luck and skill on his side, Alex Mercer had managed to elude the clutches of the enemy and escape from the midst of the space battle unscathed. As he plotted his navigation course to Draco III, he allowed himself a moment of reprieve, grateful for the chance to live to fight another day.

As the first fighter of the Draco Separatist Fleet attempted once more to target the Sentinel's engines, its attack was thwarted by the skillful maneuvers of the Sentinel's crew. Lt. Paravides, coordinating the frigate's thrusters, anticipated the enemy's move and swiftly adjusted the Sentinel's trajectory, throwing off the attacker's aim.

"Enemy fighter attempting another attack run, but missed again," reported Ensign Alonso Carderas from his station.

"Good work, Gunnery Department!" Captain Rael says: "All crew not manning guns report to Lt. Komarov in Engineering to assist with repairs." (Support Engineering Department). Then, calmly, she adds: "Gunnery, would you also disable that second Fighter?"

Douklan extrapolates from the calculations that Ensign is feeding him, realizes that the Fighter 2 is going too fast to maneuver out of the way of an expected move by the Sentinel. He throttles back the engines, using mostly maneuvering jets to rotate the guns to bear on Fighter 2 as it passes by. Douklan is attempting to go Above and Beyond for the 2 CP that Lt. Chen needs to fire a weapon.

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