“Affirmative.” Kwon replied to the captain as he steered the Exeralune to tail the departing drop ship at a safe distance. They followed the drop ship through the clouds and out into the open stratosphere. There was still no hostile ship in sight, only a few Furzai military ships in the distance, assumedly searching for the same culprit. But luckily, the drop ship seemed unaware that it was being followed and was leading them right to the target. Eventually, the shuttle came to a halt in mid-air, and Kwon witnessed it disappearing into thin air, inch by inch while the air around it vaguely rippled in distortion, as if it was being swallowed by some greater invisible structure… because it was.

The captain was seeing it as well. “It seems we’ve found them. Helmsman, launch the missiles at that invisible mass!” he ordered, dramatically pointing in its direction as if his very finger would project a beacon on the target. Kwon wasted no time in disabling the homing function, since there was nothing to lock onto, taking aim and firing. When he pressed the button, two 14-foot unguided missiles were fired from their launchers, positioned at the left and right-front of the ship. They sailed through the air unhindered for a few seconds, before suddenly hitting a previously-invisible barrier and loudly erupting into two fiery explosions.

As the missiles exploded, the object they’d hit flickered in and out of view as its cloaking system was struggling to stay active despite the damage. “Prepare to continue fire at my mark. Gunners, stand at the ready.” the captain spoke unfazed. For a moment, it seemed like the ship would resume full cloaking, but then the cloak was dropped completely, revealing a Light Cruiser-class ship with a silver, black and purple colour palette, facing its left flank towards them. It was slightly longer than the Exeralune and more robust in design, with a jagged exterior. But the first thing that caught Kwon’s eye, thanks to his experience in space combat, was the two sizeable turrets located along the side of the craft.

The cloak had barely finished dropping when the two Gatling guns started firing, unloading a hail of kinetic bullets against their frontal shields. Kwon quickly responded by swerving the Exeralune to the right and circling toward the backside of the hostile ship, causing the interior of the Exy to shake and angle to the right, possibly causing people inside to lose their balance. Turbulence was a lot worse within the atmosphere than in outer space, because the artificial gravity couldn’t function this close to the planet. Yet despite the turbulence, the captain remained calmly in his chair. “Good, keep avoiding fire and laying on missiles. Gunners, take any opportunity to fire at the ship’s engines, or otherwise the flank turrets. Communications officer, please attempt to contact any nearby Furzai ships and ask for assistance.” Nearby, the Valliur responsible for communications was already frantically flipping through frequencies to do just that.

All the while, Kwon was focussed. The hostile turret fire was diverted from the front shields to the flanks, and then halted when the Exeralune entered their blind spot. The launch button turned from red to green to indicate that the missiles were reloaded, so Kwon fired another salvo, unguided as to not waste any time locking on, at the enemy’s backside. Unfortunately, they simply exploded against the ship’s cling shields, dealing insufficient damage to break through just yet. The invaders’ ship started rotating to face them, forcing Kwon to stop strafing sideways and turn to show the enemy their flank, allowing for enough circling speed to stay inside their blind spot, but making further missile use impossible. The left side gunner was firing a continuous stream of pherza bullets into the enemy’s hind shield, while their own gunners could only take occasional opportunity attacks at the Exeralune’s flank. They were in a good position for now, but Kwon knew that the enemy would soon catch onto his trick and change up their approach, and he did not want to get caught in their superior firepower.