Bell falls into formation and looks around to see if there are any incoming craft.
A handful of Aesthian planes are retreating to the battlegroup, but don't look particularly interested in picking a fight along the way.
Jaakko looks at his radar MFD to find a new target.
“Copy, how long until they’re here?”
: [Kobalt! We're on our way to back you up, we'll follow you in on the next attack.]
Ajka clicks on the comms.
"Commander, are our forces in any condition to pursue the retreating enemy airframes? I don't think the strike package would appreciate the enemy coming in at an inopportune time for them."
: They are already in pursuit. I must say, your little attack run ended up causing quite the rout.
"If we survive, I can land this scrap heap. Getting back alive is a bigger concern."
Markus checks the status of the landing gear, airbrake, and flaps, just to be sure.
The landing gear works, at least. As does the brake.
Ash darts to the storefront and finds cover adjacent to where the Imperial soldier is hunkering down. He draws his pistol, takes the safety off and pulls the hammer.
You reach the alcove, startling the boy across from you. Reaching for your holster, you find nothing. You worry you may have lost your sidearm somewhere along the way, but no- the Imperials disarmed you when you surrendered yourself to them. Racking your brain for solutions, three things immediately come to mind for Ash Zaman:
You recall seeing a pistol on the belt of the soldier now trembling in fear in front of you. Based on his poor marksmanship earlier, you reckon you could make better use of it than he could, and he certainly doesn't look like he'd be able to stop you from taking it. Then again, there's no telling what someone under that level of stress may do, and assaulting what you assume to be a member of the Imperial military may be hard to justify later.
You are still wearing your Aesthian flight uniform and helmet. It's why the guy you're sharing cover with tried to take you prisoner in the first place. Perhaps the Aesthians making their way down the alleyway would be susceptible to your signature silver tongue to steer them away? Of course, they may get suspicious if you don't go with them, and that carries a whole host of other risks.
The voice on the other end of the radio seemed to understand you. The boy clearly didn't when you warned him about the Aesthians, but he got the gist of it once the radio said something. Travelling alone and by foot, the soldier must not be very far from the rest of his unit, so backup could be literally around the next corner. But that's just a hopeful guess, and a conversation over an open speaker may alert the Aesthians. It's not even a certainty the boy is even a member of any official unit, and not just some naive punk who thought he could play soldier.
Poll