[center][img]http://i.imgur.com/iSQL5Cn.jpg[/img][url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4EDwQkADxMk]Music[/url][/center]
[hr]
Sara cursed to herself as she saw a flare shoot up from the settlement they just passed. Why? Why did they do that? Did they think the flares would scare them away? The flare did little more than let the train know that they were being tailed, and lo and behold, the drones and mechas on the train began to mobilize. The quick smash and grab now became a firefight- The drones weren't particularly smart, but there were enough of them that they could overwhelm one of them if they were singled out. 

[color=coral]"Marking bandits."[/color] Sara called out as she began moving into position. Thirteen red dots began glowing in her 3-d mini map that sat at the bottom of the cockpit, between her knees. [color=coral]"Wonder how they got the funds to afford all those drones."[/color] Sara wondered aloud. Drones weren't exactly cheap out here in the fortune lands, unless you knew a guy who knew a guy.

Sara lined herself up with the train rails, the Jager Hound still hanging below her via the cables. The activated her afterburners and began rocketing forward. [color=coral]"Robin be a dear and take out those AA guns for me."
[/color] Sara said, eyeing the train's AA flak guns warily. [color=coral]"I don't want to derail the train by shooting it with missiles, that risks destroying the elemuntum."[/color] With that, Sara hit the release on the cables that held the Jager Hound, dropping it onto the train as she soared by.

A red light bathed Sara's face as a high pitched beep began to fill her cockpit. At the top of her vision, a red warning light blinked on screaming 'Missile'. A glance at her rear view camera confirmed that one of the drones had launched a missile at her. Sara pulled up on her controls, the corners of her vision dimming as she clenched her core muscles and breathed. Her mech angled upwards and shot into the sky, the missile straining to turn and catch up to her. These missiles were much bigger than the Serpent missiles that Therux used- it also meant they were easier to dodge. 

"ACM Deployed" a robotic feminine voice spoke into Sara's headset as her mech launched a counter missile at the offending missile, rewarding her with the sound of a detonation a moment later. With the missile dealt with, Sara turned her machine around to deal with more immediate threats. Chasing after her were a trio of enemy drones- one that had launched a missile at her, and two more with ballistic cannons. At her current range, the enemy fire was ineffectual, and it took little more than a few light taps on her strafe thrusters and her shield to block or dodge most of the oncoming fire. 

Sara breathed out a happy sigh, her first combat mission in a while. Even though she was dealing with just drones, it still got her adrenaline pumping. Pushing her mech forward, she dived at the three oncoming mechs, her directional thrusters allowing her to weave back and forth, confusing the drones' rudimentary targeting systems, while she targeted two of them with her own missiles. Sara focused on weaving through the enemy fire as she listened to the rapid beeping of her targeting system as it attempted to lock onto the incoming drones. Her ears filled with the solid tone of a missile lock and she launched two missiles as she banked and turned, flipping her machine in the air as she moved and charging back in at a different angle.

As the two missiles launched from their racks, they broke into four smaller missiles each, the sudden appearance of more missiles causing the Drone's evasion routines to seize up for a moment- unsure of which missile to react to. By the time the evasion routine knew what to do , two of the drones had were struck by the volley, one exploding outright while the other fell back to the earth, its entire left half missing. 

The third remaining drone turned to face the fast white machine, but she was already upon him. [color=coral]"Hello!"[/color] Sara said sweetly as she squeezed her finger around the trigger, the cockpit shuddering slightly as her autocannon opened up on the mech. A flurry of autocannon rounds collided with the center mass of the drone, forcing it out of the sky with the sheer force of the rounds. Had their been a human pilot in the cockpit, they likely would've been dead, but since it was a drone, it still attempted to shoot her down. 

[color=coral]"and goodbye!"[/color] Sara called out as she finished the drone off by smashing her shield into the center of its torso, the long plasma claws, alongside the concentrated mass of the shield knocked the drone out of commission.

She brought her eyes back to the minimap- she was still out of range of the train's AA guns- she would avoid flying into that until after Robin or someone else finished them off. She'd settle for the drones for now. [color=coral]"That's three drones down."[/color] Sara reported over the team's comms. She didn't care for a response, but it was good for the team to keep account on the current number of enemies.