"Rick! Are you okay in
there?" As he got out of the Mud Pig, Maegen jumped him, holding him tight
in her arms.
"I'm fine, I'm fine...My
Scimm took the hits for me." She looked at the damaged Scimm and back at
him.
"Looked like you got
hit bad out there..." He took off his helmet, putting his head on her
shoulder.
"Don't worry, I'm
okay." She nodded, Johnson coming over, shaking his head after looking at
Rick's Scimitar.
"You're lucky you're
alive Rick, don't know how you survived with just one gun! A couple more shots
to the right side and it would of blown out the cockpit!" Meg shook, Rick
let her hold him tighter as the fighter crew moved his Scimm off the flight
line...When she saw some sparks fly off from the missing Mass Driver slot she
jumped and held him in a death grip.
"Guess I'm lucky, must
be." He nodded at Johnson and the two pilots walked off, Rick's arm over
Meg's shoulders.
"Hey, Rick..." He
looked down to her.
"Yes?" She forced
a smile.
"Thanks for covering me
out there today, my Scimm was in bad shape when they brought it in..." He
shook his head, Meg frowning.
"That's nothing, you don't
have to thank me...Remember when you asked me not to die on you? Well, don't
die on me, it's no problem." Meg took a look at him, Rick rubbing her
right shoulder.
"...Oui, mon cher
ami." He nodded, knowing at least what that meant.
As always Commander Mollo
was waiting for them at the end of the flight deck, looking over his blue
uniform, taking off his cap and showing off his dirty blonde hair.
"God damn Delta,
excellent work! Holding off five fighters while a Drayman jumped without a
wingmate! And one of those fighters was Baktov Blacktooth!" Meg smiled at
him, Rick puzzled about Baktov.
"Excuse me sir, thank
you for the compliments but who is Baktov Blacktooth?" Mollo stared at
him.
"You don't know who he
is? Why, he's one of the Kilrathi aces in this sector! Has at least twenty
confirmed kills to his credit! Ask Regent about him later, she would know. At
any rate, good work on holding him off. Rick nodded, feeling a slight sense of
pride.
"Anyways...Delta, you
got four kills, Swordblade, you got one. The Drayman made it out safely. Also,
we did pinpoint the location of the enemy cruisers, we're going to attack them
before we leave so get some sleep before we hit it. Dismissed." The two
saluted as they left.
As soon as he got out of his
flight gear he was in the rec room. Allison was a table by herself, an off-duty
mechanic giving her an odd stare, she put her head down. Rick sat down next to
her, staring down the mechanic. He let out a huff as he left, Rick looking at
Allison, her head still down.
"Was he giving you a
bad time?" She nodded as she sat up again, a frown on her face.
"Yeah...Don't know why
everyone thinks I'm a freak on board here." Rick frowned with her, putting
a hand on her shoulder.
"I don't
Allison...Forget everyone else. Actually..." Some bad memories of earlier
came up in Rick's head, but she smiled for a little while.
"What is it?" He
looked her over, sighing.
"For a while I thought
you hated me...Sorry I didn't talk to you earlier." Her small smile turned
into a big grin, she started patting him on his hand.
"Aww, no...If anything
I just want a friend, I wouldn't hate you." They gazed into each other's
eyes.
"Well...I'd call you a
friend..." She jumped up in her seat, a big smile on her face.
"You are a friend,
Rick." She got up and hugged him, putting her cheek up to his. He liked it
alot, but...He had to change the subject.
"Thanks...Anyways...Have
you heard of Baktov Blacktooth? I ran into him today, don't know who he
is." She pulled away while looking at him, shocked.
"Blacktooth! Lucky!
He's a Kilrathi ace, flies a Dralthi, at last known count he had at least
twenty-one kills to his credit. Rumor has it he switched out the guns on his
fighter. A standard Dralthi has guns like the Laser Bolts on a Hornet, well, he
put guns on there that are as powerful as the neutron guns on a Raptor. He's
pretty good..." Rick took in all this information, he took pretty good
care of things considering he was a rookie.
"Wonder if I'll run
into him...Anyways, I heard we're going to attack some cruisers soon...Do you
know how to attack them?" Rick paused and shook his head.
"Good then, I'll tell
you, we fought one before you arrived. Attack them from the flanks, their
shields are the weakest there, the front and rear are covered by very heavy
shields. Use your missiles on them, when you run out use your guns. They say
they're useless but you can take one down with just your guns." He nodded
at her.
"Don't worry about all
that though, just follow me and you'll be all right, I'll show you how."
He nodded again and smiled at her.
"I will...Anyways, I'm
going to bed...I'll see you then." The two hugged. Felt great to be hugged
by her, but there was the nagging thought in the back of Rick's head that he
shouldn't be doing that...
"You too Rick, take
care." She watched as he went to bed, she sighed. Now she was all alone
again, back where nobody cared.
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