Artwork by: Don Granberry
Medium: Photoshop Composite
illustration
EXCERPT FROM PART 29, CHAPTER 3
"We found our lost boy," Sayuri
remarked as they pulled up for a loop that would take them back
towards Ryouga.
"Yeah, but where's he going?"
Yuka asked.
Concentrated fire from a
Rifleman engaged them before Sayuri could respond; green lines of
autocannon tracers stitching across the sky to slam
into her Sparrowhawk. The light fighter was
thick-skinned, and so she weathered the barrage long
enough to dive for the deck as Yuka put her
nose to bear on the offending air-defense 'mech.
"Black Rose Rifleman," Yuka
grunted.
"Yeah, I saw him," Sayuri
returned curtly. "Thanks for the heads up."
Yuka triggered her Corsair's
lasers at the Rifleman, and lit up the woods around the 'mech in
clouds of steam and golden flashes of vaporized armor.
The Rifleman's Garret radar and tracking
array allowed the Black Rose pilot to aim on instruments,
and returned fire with both heavy lasers.
She caught the beams full
on in the fuselage as she made a break turn to evade, and shuddered
as damage lights came on. Her previous dance with
an 80-ton Slayer had left her armor weak in spots,
and now she was hurting.
"I'm hit," she said tersely.
"How bad?" Sayuri wanted
to know. She made a strafing run on the Rifleman just to keep it
occupied, then punched her HEPLAR drive to maximum
to avoid the counterattack.
"Bad." Yuka's tone was at
once cool and grave.
Image Copyright (C) 2001, Don Granberry. Used with permission