Me again!  I'm happy I got quick responses to the first
fic I sent out.  Again I stress that I have not 
written in a very long time and I need to polish my
skills.  Again, I do want criticism on my work, as it
helps me improve on my weak areas.  However, comments
that I consider as flames can despirit me very easily,
keeping other readers from reading my work.  I'll
continue writing this fic because I'm having a lot of
fun trying to balance the totally serious and the
hilariously funny.  Enjoy!  (oh...  I could use
some advice too...

Ranma 1/2 and all characters related belong to Rumiko
Takahashi.  Wing Commander and all related hardware
and characters belong to Origin Systems.


The Awry Mission: Part 2

  Things looked very bad.  Here we were, in the cold,
dark vacuum of deep space.  Just me, Hurrican Girl,
FemBoy, and P-chan.  Just us in lightly armored
Hellfires against a cruiser with ten Salthi, each
fully armed.  At first I thought we were gonners, badly
outnumbered, outgunned, and outclassed.  Then, I 
noticed something..  
  Why wasn't the cruiser attacking?  I'm sure the
others noticed this too.  None of the other fighters
budged an inch.  It looked as if Akane and Ryoga were
also looking at the Cruiser, also wondering what was
going on.  
  But Ranma....   He was supposed to be the hotshot
of the bunch.  Sure, Akane had her temper, and Ryoga
had his loyal attitude, but Ranma...  All I could
hear were fearful whimpers from his com.  Now I was
very worried..  was Ranma really a coward?
  "H-Girl..." I whispered on the com.  "What's wrong
with Ranma?"  There was a pause, then...
  "He's...." she said, hesitating.  "He's afraid of
cats..."
  My heart sank...  our best pilots?  Paralyzed with
fear?  From cats??  What makes this worse, the Kilrathi
are...
  Suddenly our vidcoms turned on.  We really didn't 
need the vids, but now they turned on by themselves
as they received a transmission...  from the Kilrathi
Cruiser.  A cat-like humanoid appeared on the screen.
It looked human, except it's body was more muscular,
covered in fur from the tip of it's ears to the 
shoulders (that was as much of it as I could see on
the screen).  It had a large mane, like that of a lion,
that covered much of it's head, save for its face and
ears.  As a matter of fact, when I did look at its
face, it did look like a lionhead!  With teeth and 
everything!  And when it held up it's hand, it was more
like a paw than a hand, with some metal claws sticking
out of it.
  "Humans!" it's lion-like voice boomed over the com.
"We have not attacked you.  I am sure you want to know
why..."
  I sat there for a moment.  Normally, the Kilrathi
would have attacked and killed us by now.  But these
Kilrathi were not acting like they should.  Something
was fishy here.  
  "Take us to your carrier, humans..." it boomed again.
"Then we shall take what it is we desire and leave you
in peace."
  This was getting weirder.  Seldom do the Kilrathi 
just come out to ask for something, if that's what he
was doing.  I then heard Akane's voice over the com
to answer him.
  "What do you want from us??" Akane asked.  I was sure
she could see the strangeness of the situation.  For
a moment, there was silent...
  "We want..." the voice boomed.  There was a brief
pause before he continued.  "Fish sausage!"
  Everyone facefaulted in their cockpits.  Fish 
sausage??  The Kilrathi, who were the most feared and
warlike race in the entire galaxy, wants to take our
fish sausage and leave us in peace??  I....  I couldn't
allow that.  I LOVED fish sausage.  It's suculent 
texture... its taste...   I...  I couldn't just let
them have it.  Besides, it was the only thing that was
better than the rations that the Confederation ship
fed us.  I felt a great anger grow inside me as I
thought of life without the fish sausage.  I took my
controls, and looked at the Cruiser.  I knew it was
hopless, but I couldn't let my comerades eat artificial
meat for the rest of their term aboard the Nerima.  I
made my decision, and got ready to attack the cruiser
when I heard a meow over my com...  
  "Ranma?" I whispered over the com.  That meow came
from his ship... "Do you have a..."
  "Karla..." Akane interrupted  "When Ranma's fear of
cats gets to a certain point....  he becomes..."
  Suddenly, Ranma's ship started to move towards the
Kilrathi cruiser.  He was yowling like a mad cat, 
his lasers hitting the Cruiser as three Salthi gave
chase.  All of them shot their DumbFires at him, but 
he dodged them, and their missiles hit the shields of 
the Cruiser, weakening it.  Suddenly the voice boomed 
over the com, the Kilrathi looking angry. 
  "If you will not willingly give us what we want,
we'll take it from you!"  he bawled.  "So says Katha,
Commander of the Thrakata!"
  The ship then opened fire on us, causing us to
scatter.  The Salthi were quick to follow through, each
choosing their targets.  I found myself with two
on my six.  
  "Akane!" I shouted to her.  "Let's confuse them!"
  "What are you going to do??" she asked, her fighter
dashing and zig zagging to avoid the three Salthi
chasing her.  
  "Just watch what I do!" I ordered.  I then began to
dash around, the two Salthi chasing me.  I could tell
they weren't good pilots..  they just kept following
my movements, their shots barely hitting me at all.
I watched Akane's craft as it dashed madly.  Akane and
I seemed to share something.  But Akane's temper is
what gave her an advantage; the Kilrathi would expect
us to run.  As for Ryoga...  I wasn't sure what he
was doing, but I was sure he was covering the now
beserk Ranma.
  I waited for the right moment, then I worked my way
towards Akane.  I had to time this right, or my plan
wouldn't work.  
  Ryoga was apparently watching me.  His voice came
over the com.
  "Watch out, Wyld!" he shouted.  "You're going to ram
H-Girl!"
  I paid no heed, my fighter fast approaching Akane's.
I think she knew what I was doing, and was working
her fighter towards mine.  The Kilrathi pursuers didn't
know what we were up to as our paths crossed.  Our
pursuers realized too late what we were doing, and in
vain, tried to veer out of each other's path. 
They collided with each other, three of them torn
to shreds, the force of the collision hurling the 
other two against the Cruiser's shield, weakening it 
as it regenerated.  I then turned my attention from 
the five fire-furballs towards the other five Salthi.  
Ryoga was getting pounded by two of them, while Ranma 
was dashing about in beserk fashion.  He fired his 
Heat Seaker Javelin at the one in front of him, 
destroying it.  As the other one settled behind him I 
noticed Akane, who was shouting his name, as if he was 
going to get killed, punch her thrusters to help him.  
That left me with covering Ryoga.
  Ryoga was having a hard time with the three fighters
on his tail.  He was using every trick in the book, but
the Salthi were too fast and agile for his flying
skills.  I settled in behind two of them, getting close
to one and cutting loose with my lasers.  After making
short work of the first one, I noticed my shield
strength dropping...  the second one was chewing me up
with his lasers.  
  "P-Chan!  Run!" I shouted as I did an Split S to
evade my pursuer.  It was no good; he kept up with me.
I then did a Rolling Sissors; in space it was an almost
useless move that put us both turning against each
other, as if in a sissors fight, bleeding each other's 
speed off, twisting almost endlessly.  I hoped that he 
would shoot out in front of me so I could take my shot.  It 
worked!  As I slowed down he sped past me, and I
chewed him up with my lasers.  I didn't want to use my
HS Javelin; I needed it to take out the Cruiser, which
was firing flak everywhere.  I was confident that Akane
would take out the one chasing Ranma, and turned my
attention to the lone Salthi now chasing me.  This one
wasn't like the others.  He was obviously more
experienced; none of the regular tactics I knew of
could shake him.  I twisted and turned, his lasers
weakening my shields.  My vidcom then turned itself on
to recieve his transmission.
  "I am Satha!  Destroyer of Apes!" he growled, as if
intimidating me.  "Be honored that you will be defeated
by me, the greatest of all warriors!"
  'Damn!  A Kilrathi Ace!' I thought as I thought of
name.  I knew he had nearly a hundred hits, and that
he was ruthless; if I ejected, I was as good as dead.
  "Just cough up your hairball and fight!" I taunted
him, knowing it may not have an effect.  I couldn't let
his fearsome reputation get to me.  Just then he
began firing at me, his lasers tearing up my shields
even more.  Now my rear end was open for his weapons;
I had to do something fast.
  "You dare mock me, ape??" he roared.  I guess he
didn't like my taunt.  "For that you will pay.. with
your life!"
  "Oh yeah??" I taunted back.  "If you want that
fish sausage, you'll have to kill me to get it!"
  "With pleasure, ape!" he answered me.  "Then I'll
feast on all the sausage you have!  I'd feast on you,
but you apes have too much cholestorol..."
  "WHAT?!?" I became angry, but I had to keep
my focus...  he was moving in closer and closer
now...
  I had to think fast.  If I could only get behind him,
I could keep on his tail and shoot him until he joined
his wingmates in hell.  He then fired a barrage of
lasers at me, damaging my power plant; now I had less
power for my lasers.  Suddenly, I had an idea.
Quickly I turned off my shields, the power going to my
engines and lasers.  I then moved my stick down and to
my right, giving full right yaw to my craft, and
punched my thrusters to full power.  Satha seemed
surprised, trying to keep up with me as I began my
slow, corkscrew barrel roll.  I knew he couldn't
keep leading me with his guns I was lucky; if he was
carrying anything other than Dumbfires, I would've
have been toast.  For five long minutes I kept it up,
barely dodging his laser fire.  I barreled so that
we were moving towards the Cruiser.  I taunted him
the whole way, working him into a beserk frenzy, hoping
that he would want me dead so badly that he would
make a mistake.  Suddenly, I stopped my barreling, 
my position a good number of kilometers from the 
Cruiser.  My alarm went off as Satha launched all his
Dumbfires at me.  He must've forgotten that they 
weren't guided; I dodged them all, allowing them to
hit the Cruiser.  Now there were no shields protecting
the left flank of the ship.  
  "P-Chan!  It's open!" I shouted on the com, hoping he
heard me.  I turned my fighter, barely hitting the
Cruiser, Satha following me, rage seething from him.  I
had but one chance to take him out.  I turned off
my engines, and turned my ship around, my momentum
pushing me so that my fighter looked like it was going
backwards.  I then cut loose with my lasers at the 
advancing Satha, whose rage blinded him.  Our lasers
hit each other, and I felt my fighter taking the
beating he was giving me.  I didn't falter from fear
of dying...  I kept shooting at him, hoping my laser
fire would punch through his shields and armor before
he cracked my hull with his.  My luck paid off a few
seconds later.  Satha's Salthi began to spin out of
control, his voice cursing me over the com as his
fighter broke apart.
  "NO!! THE FISH SAUSAGE SHOULD BE..." he never 
finished as the Salthi blew up in a spetacular fireball.  
I then turned my shields back on, and made my way to 
the Cruiser, hoping to blow it up.  Ranma, still beserk, 
was firing madly at it, each shot breaking more of the hull
apart while Akane flew around it, strafing it with
laserfire.  But where was Ryoga??  I saw him nowhere
around the ship.  
  "H-Girl!"  I contacted Akane over the com.  "Where
is P-Chan??"  
  "I don't know..." Akane answered me.  I think he's
lost again!"
  I was shocked.  How could Ryoga lose his way around
here??  I had no time to worry about that.  I 
positioned my fighter behind the Cruiser; there were
no weapons there, and the shields were thin.  I used
my lasers to destroy the shielding and then destroy
the engines.  Akane soon joined me as Ranma kept the
ship's weapons busy.  Soon, the telltale signs of an
imminent explosion could be seen all over the ship's
engines.
  "Let's get our butts out of here!" Akane roared as
she turned her ship away from the Cruiser and flew
away.  Ranma, though still beserk, seemed to know about
the danger and also turn around to get away.  I then
turned my ship and punched the afterburner, trying to
get as far from the Cruiser as I could.  I didn't look
behind me as the bright flash of light nearly filled
the space around me.  I didn't try to glimpse the 
Cruiser as debris seemed to radiate from the now dead
core of the ship's engine.  I stopped running when I
thought I was at a safe distance, and checked on
Akane.
  "H-Girl..."I whispered.  "Status?"
  "It was a bumpy ride..."she answered me in a similar
hushed tone.  "I'm alright."
  "FemBoy?" I spoke softly into the com.  There was
silence...  
  "FemBoy??" I spoke again, a little bit louder.  I
hoped he didn't get caught in the explosion...
  "Here..." he spoke again.  I felt relieved; he
finally snapped out of his beserker rage.
  "Thanks to Akane..." he spoke again.
  "Akane, what is that all about?" I asked her.
  "Oh..   I'm the only one who can calm him down..."
she spoke softly.  "I don't know why yet..."
  Silence pervaded again.  We all realized we just 
destroyed an attacking force of Kilrathi.  But why
were they after our fish sausages?  Other than the
fact that they're the freshest food in the universe,
I couldn't fathom...   
  "Ryoga...  where's Ryoga??" Ranma asked.  I groaned
when I heard the name.  
  "I don't know.  I told him to attack the ship, then
he disappeared..." I answered him.  
  "He probably got lost again..."Akane said.
  "We'd better find him, then..." I said, worried about
him.  He could be lost forever if we don't...
  "We know.  We know..." Akane and Ranma.  There was
a brief pause before one of them answered again.
  "I'll go look for him." Ranma said as he positioned
his fighter.  My radar tells me he's closeby.
  "Okay..." Akane said to him.  "Be careful..."
  "We'll go back to the Nerima.  I think I know what's
going on..." I said.  I looked at Akane on the com, 
and she noddedin agreement.
  "Okay!  I'm going!" Ranma said as he sped off.  I
could see the look of concern on Akane's face as he
did..
  "Be careful..." escaped her lips in a soft whisper.
I smiled before I turned on my autopilot and set it
to go to the Nerima.
  "Let's go, H-Girl!" I said.  "If what I think is
happening is happening, we're in big trouble."  Akane
giggled as she responded.
  "You're pretty good for a rookie pilot" she said.  
"I'm impressed!"
  "It's all in the training, I guess.." I trailed off,
not wanting to sound arrogant.  I then turned on
the autopilot and we were on our way.  Soon we arrived
at the Nerima, and what we saw was... well...
  The Nerima was flanked on both sides by two Kilrathi
light carriers.  Between them, battles could be seen
going on, and the Nerima was taking heavy damage.
  "Oh, no!  The Nerima's been found!" Akane shouted,
distress easily discernable in her voice...
  "Hoo, boy..."I said softly.  "We're in a very bad
fix now..."

[to be continued...]

Author's Main Character notes:
Name: Karla Sirius Lance
Call Sign: Wyld One
Age: 18
Hair: Brown
Eyes: Black
Ht.: 5'6"
Wt.:130 lbs
Rank: Lieutenant

History: Born to human parents on Earth.  Has studied
flying since the age of six.  Successfully piloted 
her first high speed ship at 11 years of age, and 
entered the Confederation Academy for Fighter Pilots 
at 16 years of age.  Successfully completed training
two years later.  First ship assignment at TCS Ikkoku
for two months to complete introductory combat
training, obtaining an exemplory record for defending
her ship alone against four Kilrathi Jalthi heavy 
fighters.  Currently (newly) assigned to the TCS
Nerima.
---
Check me out at http://www.geocities.com/TimesSquare/Cauldron/8519
You'll like the RPG I'm making. ^_^


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