[h3][center][url=https://youtu.be/KrZnC_S-a8U?t=14]Element of Surprise[/url][/center][/h3]

The screaming alerts were Rising Star’s warning not only of her pursuer, but also of the shots he was firing. Not for the first time she was grateful for the G-Valkyrie’s sleek, narrow silhouette; without its narrow target profile, she never would have evaded even with the Valk’s speed. She slammed on the verniers, sending it darting sharply to the left while it continued to shoot forward and immediately took up evasive maneuvers. Sharp moves left, right, up, down, and any combination of the two planes. She would have been stuck within the blue Rook’s optimum range, unable to escape her predicament, had she been in almost any other machine. Having caught her with her back to him (or her), the ace put Rising Star in a position from which she was unable to retaliate or force him to break off his pursuit. The Bradley’s Messer, she realized abruptly, was flanking directly for the nose of the Valk as well. Under traditional conditions, Star would have no choice but to bank to evade the drone, thus giving the blue Rook a much wider target area until she could escape his line of fire. No doubt they believed that this maneuver ensured that all possible evasive maneuvers opened her up to attack from one of them. 

They were thinking too linearly. Clearly their souls were still weighed down by gravity.

The Valk had not come out of the Rook’s initial barrage completely unscathed, one of its beams had stripped several layers off of the Valk’s right fin due to its proximity, but the fin did not play a functional role in outer space. Its functionality was unimpaired. But they had hit her, however lightly. She had been careless. That was just her ego. Things were heating up, her opponents were upping the ante, and they expected her to fold under the pressure. They didn’t know who she was. They didn’t know how her blood [i]boiled[/i], how her adrenaline climbed higher and higher, how every maneuver reminded her that she [i]knew[/i] this. That she had practiced off of this before. Every passing second, every breath of air that filled her lungs, every contraction of her furious heart, every bit of feedback that the Valk gave her reminded her [i]who she was[/i]. She was [i]Rising Star[/i], not by choice but by decree of her peers. She had been Sasha Mackenzie for so long she had almost forgotten. But she was [i]awake[/i], and she felt [i]alive[/i]. It was time to hold nothing back.

Her thrusters roared, sending her accelerating forward far faster than even a refitted Rook could possibly keep up with. She didn’t need them to follow her, she already had their attention. There was no need to let them keep up anymore. This was [i]her[/i] element, and they would [i]learn[/i]. The drone could do nothing for the moment, she was too quick to keep up, but she still had her back to the blue Rook. He would still get his shot when she turned around to engage. She superior speed was putting distance between them, but unless she chose to cut and run entirely she would still need to bank to face him.

Or so he thought. There was a certain prevailing belief, based upon their use, that Waveriders would dogfight in space much the same way a fighter would in atmosphere. At the speeds fighters moved, the effect of gravity planetside was negligible already. The true danger came from the forces their maneuvers would produce. A Waverider produced much the same forces, making it too dangerous to truly take advantage of the lack of a zero-g environment. In theory, the prevailing wisdom was correct. Certainly most people weren’t willing to risk testing it. Rising Star, however, was not most people. She was a test pilot. Pushing limits was her [i]job[/i], and she knew that at this moment, conventional fighting wasn’t going to win her the day. 

With a good buffer space between her and her pursuers, she killed her rear thrusters and let her inertia keep her moving at that speed. Then she fired her verniers, fore and aft immediately; in opposing directions. Blood rushed instantly to her head, her entire body pushed [i]hard[/i] against the harnesses keeping her in her seat, while the Valk’s nose shot down and its rear shot up to flip it in place without ceasing her forward motion. The entire rotation lasted a mere fraction of a second, its rapidity causing the ill effects Rising Star was currently experiencing, but she was now facing [i]towards[/i] her pursuers and the battle behind them. Her head hurt and she felt a little of something wet below her nose, but the grin behind her mask was [i]feral[/i]. She had done exactly what she wanted, and more importantly, her opponents wouldn’t expect it; the maneuver would have gotten her screamed at by any traditionalist. If she had gotten it wrong, if she hadn’t completely cut her primary thrusters, the rate of deceleration their newfound opposing orientation to her inertia caused would have fractured bones. If she was [i]very[/i] lucky. 

Despite the discomfort, she was ready. Her 100mm vulcans fired  immediately at the Messer now in her line of fire, and at the Rook behind it, accompanied simultaneously by a shot from her Shot Launcher that lanced towards the blue Rook. She would have liked to capture the Messer intact, but she needed it off her back. If she hit then whatever was left could be salvaged later. If it dodged, or she missed, then it would be forced to less bold in its assault and the shells would fly past to the Rook behind. Much the same applied to her beam; while she would be [i]ecstatic[/i] if she hit the Rook, and there was a good chance given the element of surprise, it would buy her some time if it dodged or blocked.

They weren’t her primary targets, anyway. 

The X Corp Beam Shot Launcher required three seconds, after every shot, to sufficiently condense the particles necessary for the next one. Though an eternity in close quarters, that wasn’t where the launcher was meant to be used. It was meant for mid-to-long range engagements, and in that role, three seconds was a mere blink. Still more than enough time for her specialized comm equipment, shared by all of the XC|PT series units, to receive target acquisition data from the Judah to augment her own. Her maneuvers, besides putting her pursuers back in her line of fire, had given her one additional benefit; she had a view of the whole battle from ‘above’. Nine Rooks, not counting the blue one, remained operational. Six were attacking her compatriots. The remaining three? Sasha had already made their acquaintance, from the business end of her missiles. Three damaged Rooks. Perhaps they meant to flee, seeing as they were not engaging her fellows. 

“Targets acquired.” Rising Star growled, the low, anticipatory threat of an eager predator. The sound came forth shockingly easily from the until-now-calm pilot, one that would have raised hackles if her enemies could hear it. On the encrypted Paper Tiger channel, however, it was only her allies. Thrusters fired to carry her horizontally left, away from where the Rook knew her to be, while she drew a bead on her target. The Rook and drone both stayed within her field of view, but she would deal with them in a moment. The first shot from her Launcher lanced down towards the unprotected back of the Rook that had lost its shield. She reasoned that as the unit with intact maneuvering capabilities, it had the most chance to evade if it was given any warning. So he would receive none. Until that moment, Rising Star had not even been a factor in its pilot’s mind. She was too far away, occupied by its allies, to engage effectively. He could not have known how precise the shared targeting data would make her. She doubted he would see it coming in time to evade the shot to his center mass. “[i]Eliminating opposition[/i].”

Three seconds. The Valk shifted position as soon as the shot was taken, preemptively moving to ensure the Rook and Messer didn’t get the chance to line up a good shot. At no point did she cease moving; the Valk’s agility was second to none, and she didn’t need to be still in order to line up an effective shot. Not with the aid of targeting data from the rest of Paper Tiger, differing perspectives that could be parsed to give precise refinement to her aim. The other two damaged Rooks would react to her shot, that she knew, but it would take time to discern where the shot had come from. Especially with her changing position. By the time the launcher was ready, she was prepared to fire upon the unit with the damaged leg. It was the second most mobile target.

As her second shot flew at her target’s new location, after ‘seeing’ from multiple views how he reacted to the first, she elected to postpone firing upon the third. He was unlikely to successfully leave her range, and after six seconds the blue Rook would be prepared to engage her again even with her evasive maneuvers. It was important she not underestimate him.

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