ABS FIESTA REDUX

[Juncoph]

[Psychopath!]

I continue laying fire into him.

[Ad Bot]

[Qwepir]

His attempt to evade the incoming fire only gets it to hit him square on. The entire rear portion of his plane is torn loose.
: Dammit, I'm going down! Ejection not responding! W-

His plane splashes down, and his comms go silent. There are no further hostiles in the area.

: What the hell just happened?

[Gojira]

"I have no idea what the forget just happened."

[Juncoph]

"I... don't know..."

I level out and get trapped in thought, trying to comprehend the last minute.

[Qwepir]

: Well, my electronics are coming back online now. I don't know about all of yours though, so if you follow me I can lead us back to McNamara.

[Juncoph]

"Copy..."

I adjust my heading, making my aircraft slide into position somewhere behind Misfit.

[Gojira]

"Mine were dead before the EMP."
I try to rendezvous with what remains of Misfit without tearing my airframe apart.

[Qwepir]

Everyone manages to limp back to base, with the exception of Captain Kibble, who is taken to the Octarius' overworked triage center (where she is going to wake up), and Captain Kissinger, who is taken to the brig.

[Gojira]

Landing barely goes without incident. When taxiing into the hangar, however, one of the landing gear legs snaps, sending the plane skidding for a few feet. I get a few pissed off looks from the hangar techs because of the condition my plane's in.

[Qwepir]

Landing barely goes without incident. When taxiing into the hangar, however, one of the landing gear legs snaps, sending the plane skidding for a few feet. I get a few pissed off looks from the hangar techs because of the condition my plane's in.

You can sort of hear them talking among themselves as you exit the plane.
"What the hell happened to him?"
"It's a miracle he even made it back."
"This thing is totaled."

[Mr. Hurricane]

The engines hum quietly in idle. The "brig" isn't very big, nor are the cells. There's only ten cells, and a small gaurd's office. Two gaurds are shooting the wind. I believe I'm the only prisoner. I sit on the top bunk of a bunk bed. It's a wonder how they even got it in here. There's one toilet.

I'm still in my flight suit, though I've been throughly checked for any equipment I may have. I don't even have a pen and paper.

So I listen to the buzz of the lights, hum of the engines, and talk of the guards, fading in and out of shock about what had just happened.

[Operator¹]

Bell wakes up in a room where wounded sailors are being lifted on and off of gurneys. She tries to look around, though a stabbing pain in her back from the shrapnel keeps her from getting up. Noting the Imperium's flag and the uniforms of the crew, she concluded that she was captured, or rescued, depending on how you would look at it.

[Qwepir]

Bell wakes up in a room where wounded sailors are being lifted on and off of gurneys. She tries to look around, though a stabbing pain in her back from the shrapnel keeps her from getting up. Noting the Imperium's flag and the uniforms of the crew, she concluded that she was captured, or rescued, depending on how you would look at it.

One of the people nearby notices you moving and alerts the captain of the ship, who is reading over casualty reports with a medic.
: [Sir, she's waking up now.]

The captain hands the report back to the doctor and turns his attention to you.
: So, you are the Aesthian pilot in the Thunderbolt we shot down. I must admit, that was some remarkably bold flying out there, especially for someone flying a decades out of date aircraft. If I were your superior, I'd be giving you a medal or three right about now.

[Operator¹]

"So, why would you fish out a half-dead enemy pilot out of the water?" She coughs up some blood into the palm of her hand.

[Qwepir]

"So, why would you fish out a half-dead enemy pilot out of the water?" She coughs up some blood into the palm of her hand.

: You were wounded and at risk of drowning or attracting hungry wildlife. The real question is, why wouldn't we?