Alright, I'll share another one. Please note this is a story from Escape Velocity.
I was proud to own my brand-new Kestral, bought straight out of the good 'ol renegade planets north of Spica. I liked me lighting fighters, and all the extra firepower I had added to my ship. I carried three proton turrets, two torpedo tubes with fifty torpedos, and lots and lots of javelin rockets along with a few missiles. As was my reputation ever since I started playing EV, I was the "most wanted" of the Confederation, and a loyal follower of the Rebellion. Since I currently couldn't find a mission with the Rebels, I decided to head for Sol and have some fun. On the way there, I was attacked by a few patrol ships here and there, nothing much. But when I arrived at Sol, it was a different story. Two Confederation Cruisers, one frigate, and two gunboats inhabited the space outside Earth and Outpost Alpha. As first, I was thinking what most pilots would under such a force: "RUN!!!" As I was about to hit the jump button, and I decided that I would give these ships a try. As the Cruisers launched their patrol ships, the gunships were heading my way. I was out of range of the frigate's missiles, so they didn't hurt me. And for some reason, the Cruisers didn't fire their torpedoes like they normally did, to my surprise and relief. The gunboats were on my moniter-viewing area, and I launched my lightings. I immediately ordered them to take out one of them, while I went for the other. My fighters obeyed well, in which they fired a deadly array of heavy rockets, javelins, and energy weapons at the poorly-protected Junkboats. It then went off in flames, and I ordered my fighters back to my ship for repair. The other Junkboat fired a heavy rocket at the rear of my ship, and I answered with anger. My three proton turrets quickly dealt with him, and my shields, now around 80%, recharged and I headed for the frigate who was far ahead of the cruisers. Since my shields were in good order, I decided to charge him straight-forward on my first and maybe second run. As I headed for him at top speed, I was able to release around 10 torpedoes before we were in turret range. His shields were depleted to somewhere around 30/40%, and I switched to my javelins. I fired them as quickly as they would allow, at the same time firing my protons at the Confederation Bozo. As I passed him, I received a heavy rocket and proton fire, knocking my shields to about 70%. But I was in better shape then he was. I came around for a second pass, this time releasing my fighters. As I charged him again, I ordered my fighters at him also. Fortunately, I was able to receive most of the fire while my fighters shot up the back of the frigate. I took two more heavy rockets and proton fire, and both my fighters were around 80% shields. I then watched gladly as the frigate lurched to a slow pace and burst into flames. Hah! Uh-Oh...I forgot about all those patrol ships that were headed my way...=O About eight or so patrol ships showed up on my radar screen, and since they were faster then me, I began to run and attempt the Monty Python. While my fighters entered my ship, the first patrol ship came on my moniter-viewing area, and as soon as he was in range of my protons, I gave it to him. The first two patrol vessels were simple to take out, but the next four were bunched together, making them hard to destroy. I was only able to knock out one while the other three patrol ships fired their protons. (They were now out of missiles, which had fallen short of me previously) My shields began to drop as I turned to fire off some javelins. About 20 seconds later, I finally took the trio down, but my shields took a beating. 40%. The other two patrol ships came my way, and since there were only two or so (I can't remember if there were only two left...I think there were) remaining, I let my fighters deal with them. The patrol ships were easy meat for my lightings, and they were quickly destroyed. As I recalled the fighters, I then began to make the long journey back toward Earth to fight the Cruisers. By the time both the ships were on my radar, my shields were fully funtional, and in good shape. I circled around the first Cruiser, far enough away to stay off my moniter-viewing area. I fired all forty torpedoes I had left, bringing his shields down to around 35%. Since I had a few missiles, (10, I believe) I fired them as well, and the Cruiser was then left with about 25% shields. I then made a swift strike at the backside of his ship, firing away with javelins and protons. The Cruisers proton turrets were hurting me, but I was hurting him, too. After my first pass, he was at 10% shields, and I was at 60%. I made my second pass, doing my best to stay behind him and avoid most of his turret fire. Finally, he was on his armor, and the Cruiser and I had a dull to the death. By the time I disabled the blasted Weirdo, the other cruiser was on my screen. As I flew away from him, I released my fighters to destroy the disabled cruiser, then recalled them. My shields, which were close to armor after fighting the Cruiser, were slowly recharging, so I decided to wait out the time and wait till I had full power. While I was waiting, my red alert siren went off, and a patrol ship headed for me. Once again, I was able to avoid his missiles, and I took him out without any damage using turret fire. By the time my shields were up to full, me, my 150 or so javelins, my lightings, and the cruisers were left. I headed for the cruiser, and gave him all I had. After the first pass, his shields were around 80%, while mine drifted down to around 70%. I made a second pass, this time circling him and being able to avoid some of his turret fire. I then flew away, aware of the damage I was taking from the Cruiser. I released the Lightings, and my ill-fated escorts made their way toward the Confederation moster. I waited a moment and watched. The Cruiser was knocked down to 50% shields, much thanks to the heavy rockets. As I ordered them back, one of my lightings was destroyed by heavy proton fire. The other was badly damaged, but managed to make it back to my ship. I then made my way once again toward the beast, and fired my remaining javelins and proton turrets. I brought him down to around 30% shields, while I was around 40. I released my remaining lighting, and sent him towards the Cruiser. Of course, he was destroyed, but he did his job. The cruiser, was down to 15% shielding, and I was about half normal status. I made my next run, hoping to finish him off. We both shot at each other like angry bees, trying to bring the other down. Finally, I disabled the Cruiser, and my duraplex armor saved my life. I then destroyed the Cruiser, extremely relieved to know I had pulled this attack off. I headed away from the blast of the Cruiser, and made my way toward my Rebellion friends. Boy, was I happy, even if I had lost my highly-valued lightings. Anyway, this was one of my favorite stories on Escape Velocity. Hope you liked it!
~Captain Skyblade
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