*scratches head* break us? What?

Okay, I got more for y'all. . . new character.



"Protector One, sign in."

"Protector Two, sign in."

"Protector Three, sign in."

"Protector Four, sign in."

"Roger. Attack mode, arm heat-seekers and laser turrets. Surround the Darkspray, Three, Four, and Two, go in for the engines. Disable them, or the Emperor will have your head instead of the mercenary's. Enable shielding. Over."

"Copy that, One. Disable only. Full shielding, lasers at max intensity, seekers locking. Over."

"Good. Prepare to engage the enemy, Three and Four."

"Copy that, One. Preparing, all shields to fore engines and cockpit. Throttle at full. Give the command."

"Roger. Stay in formation, Protectors. . . now!"

The two Protectors shot forward, their lasers slamming into the shields of the Darkspray. Shonar waited grimly, watching for his chance. Then the young Ace darted forward, dodging mines and streaking straight for the warship, trying to distract it as Two went in for the engines. A burst of brilliant blue ion on his rear shields took out a stablizer, and he evened his remaining shields out over his Protector. Then he circled around, heading in for the kill.

Unfortunately, he realized then that if anyone was going to get killed, it'd be him. He wheeled around and flew around to the fore of his opponent, just in time to see Three drifting away, his bottom torn out, one engine dead, the other missing. He's gone. Four was retreating into the asteroid field, and an explosion proved that he'd hit a mine. He went out of control, spinning into a stray asteroid. Four blossomed with flame, and pieces of his ship were flung outwards. Shonar dodged them and headed off into the asteroid field. Well, we can't blame that kill on the Darkspray. It was his own stupidity.

Certain that he would not make that mistake, he whipped the small, agile Protector around, armed the advanced torpedoes, and closed in on the Darkspray.



Copper cursed softly in several different languages, of which Kovu knew only three.

"Blast it, the idiot's comin' around at us! Kovu, redirect engine power to the shields, but drain the shields to the engines when I say. Got it?" He nodded silently, and she wheeled the ship around.

"Claw, arm the heat-seekers." A faint click followed her command, and Claw touched the controls lightly.

"Copper, they've armed their advanced torpedoes," Kovu called, and she muttered something he wasn't sure he wanted to hear again.

"Blast. Transfer all rear shields to the fore, ready the seekers, here we go-" she threw the Assassin into a spin, and they swerved erratically around asteroids and mines alike.

"There's another one on our tail," Kovu reported, and she rather breathlessly and dizzily replied, "Strengthen the rear shields, then." He obeyed and had the satisfaction of seeing the trailing Protector swerve abruptly to miss the warship. It collided with a mine, and its left wing was sheared off. That left the one.

"Ready the lasers, fire at will. . ."



Shonar nearly crashed with astonishment as his rather accomplished wingman made all the mistakes in the book and some that weren't, resulting in a crippling hit with a mine.

"Blast, that's the most common trick, and he got taken by it-" his thoughts went unspoken. Now it's just me out here.



"I can't believe he fell for that!" Copper laughed, as they circled around and she caught sight of the crippled Protector. Going shieldless and then flipping them on suddenly was the oldest trick, and it rarely failed to panic novices as their previously clear route was suddenly blocked by a shimmering, translucent violet force field.

"Claw, arm the ions. Lock on with the seekers, go!" A splat on the lone Protector's shields disabled one of the left rear thrusters, and with a chilling warcry Copper throttled to full and swooped down on her quarry, like a hawk after prey.



By all the Faders of Firen, work!! The Protector's engine coughed and faltered, and Shonar redirected shields to it. Come on. . . It stalled, and then roared back to life. With a thrust of his hand, the ship shot forward, and he commed in to the control center.

"Carain Fleet Head, permission to abort mission! Repeat, permission to retreat, attack failed!" The reply was crisp and clear.

"Protector One, permission denied. We have closed the hangars due to power failure. Repeat, permission denied." He cursed. He'd have to land on Shilarloh, the tiny moon that circled Firen along with its slightly larger twin, Kilanphor. It was named for the first founder of the city, and was on the most part completely ignored. For which reason, it was teeming with mercenaries, assassins, smugglers, and generally the low-life and free-booters of the Scorpti system. If they don't want me back, I'll have to find some other place to land.



"Blast it! Claw, y'want to go after him?" Claw shrugged as he watched the damaged ship flee.

"He'll get killed soon enough on Shilarloh, as soon as those mercenaries and all find out he's from the 'Empire'. No sense wasting power and weaponry in chasing him," Kovu reasoned. She nodded reluctantly, and then turned the Assassin around to face Firen.

"Aaah, alright. Let's go."



Haha! Sorry Predator, Later I guess. . .