Ariana heard the call to follow McKnight and replied over the COM "[color=0072bc]I've got you covered McKnight![/color]" The Astelion whined and came about to help McKnight defend the ship...when suddenly the enemy MAS was in front of him. Her sensors had of course captured his flight plan, but it struck too fast for her to get a concrete firing solution. She watched it close to the ship and she called over the COM "[color=0072bc]Damnit! I can't fire the Astelion's guns at it with it hugging the ship, I'll just blow us up myself![/color]" That frustrated declaration made, she turned to see a team of Coalition MAS quickly closing the gap, but they wouldn't get far if she had anything to say about it. No, this was Ariana's new home, and she'd be damned if they were allowed to touch even one bolt on it. The Astelion accelerated and she called "[color=0072bc]This is Williams, making hard contact. I'll occupy the enemy reinforcements as long as I can, I'll keep the window open.[/color]"

She charged up the cannons and fired the first shots, adjusting her solution and gracefully accelerating. Enemy shots whizzed past and around as she weaved through bursts of fire like a ballerina. She wasn't going to be outdone by these guys, not after she'd tried so hard in the last battle! She was NOT going to die because some pilots dared attack the Lincoln. "[i][color=0072bc]Alright Ari, two degrees up the y-axis, three on the X and...GOTCHA![/color][/i]" Her own mental chatter filling her mind as she manually adjusted the solution given by her targeting AI and then loosed the blast of destruction. The plasma arced out, too fast and from the wrong angle to allow the enemy to evade. The blast slammed into the enemy MAS, slagging it and causing it to go up in a blast of destruction. The other two were on her ass then as well, coordinating to try and trap her between barrages of fire.

She was forced, then, to flip the X-50s back into boost and send the Astelion flying forward. The enemy fire whizzed by behind her, rounds scattering into space to fly until they eventually struck something. For her part, Ari was already eyeing the second Ferir with cold, calculating eyes. They had her zeroed in, so she'd need to keep the X-50s on boost if she was going to keep dodging. That left her with the arm mounted autocannon and the melee weapons, neither of which were ideal. However, of the two, she'd prefer to use the autocannon as the Astelion was far from optimized for melee combat. "[i][color=0072bc]If I'm gonna land a kill with the cannon, I'll have to be careful and I can't miss even one shot. Not ideal, not at all...I'm gonna have to tank a few hits. The shields will hold up for a few autocannon rounds, long enough to snap off one shot. That'll drop the shields on that 3, then I can finish it with the auto.[/color][/i]" A strategy formed in her mind, but she couldn't give herself the time to second guess herself. If she second guessed that strat, she'd get scared, and just like Tom had said, fear could get her killed. So, she swapped the 50s out to cannon, and kept riding her inertia.

Thankfully, in a zero-g environment, she'd keep her speed as long as she didn't do anything to decelerate. This bought her a few precious seconds to line up a shot with the X-50s, but she didn't have long to charge. She frowned but took a deep breath, and staked her life on a gamble that her instructors had always warned never to take. She dumped the power from her life support into the cannon, watching the extra energy gather quickly and forcing the blast to form much faster than any other the Astelion had fired. She was forced to start breathing her limited supply of O2 now, as she couldn't keep her breath held forever, but she still had to be quick. The cockpit wasn't that big, and she'd run out of air fast if she didn't get the life support rebooted fast. So, with a mumbled prayer, she let loose the blast the moment she had her adjusted solution. The blasts lanced out, destruction given physical form...and slammed into the 3, dropping its shields, and filling Ari with relief. Switching the 50s back to boost and rebooting her life support, she began to accelerate towards the enemy.

Her own shields were rapidly dropping as she set her trajectory for just past the enemy and levelled the arm bearing the cannon. They were correcting for her speed too fast for her liking, and it wouldn't be long before they were landing more than enough to drop her shields, and her shortly after. However, it was too late for the Mk.III, as she zeroed in on it with the autocannon, and depressed the firing stud. The cannon barked and boomed, recoil kept in control by constant micro-adjustments by the targeting AI. Her countermeasures kicked in, forcing a Hammer missile group off target, and she watched the enemy take hit after hit as she bit her lip and mentally crossed her fingers. 5 seconds until she was past the enemy...4 seconds....3 seconds...2 seconds "[i][color=0072bc]C'mon, c'mon, c'mon, please blow up![/color][/i]" Ari quietly begged in her mind as the last few rounds she'd get off whizzed out...and finally, the enemy MAS was down. It was drifting away aimlessly, having avoided exploding, but it seemed a lucky shell had struck the cockpit, or at least cut its control systems

Ari didn't have time to celebrate however, as another round struck her shields and finally dropped them. When she turned to face her attacked, the Ferir was closing in, and she gulped quietly. She was charging the 50s, but they wouldn't be up in time, and the enemy MAS still had shields, so what was left of her autocannon ammo would just piss it off. She keyed the COM and said in a slight panic "[color=0072bc]This is Williams, two enemy suits down, one tango closing in on me, requesting assistance. It isn't urgent, but damage is likely if I don't get some help.[/color]"