Joyride

Razorback

Razorback finished running the Banshee through preflight and sealed the cockpit. He hadn't done this since his 17th year back on earth. At 18 he'd gone off to the University and hadn't had the chance anymore. Realizing how much he was going to enjoy this he smiled slightly.

He transmitted the code to open the doors and powered up the engines. "Razorback to ops. I'm going to take the Banshee out for some Recon."

"Roger," Ko'ah's voice came back. The other ghosts had decided long ago that when Razorback wanted to go, there wasn't a whole lot that could stop him. He'd been haunting without backup as often with it and he wasn't dead yet.

Feathering the throttle forward he felt the Banshee respond. It began accelerating and just before it flew through the doors he slammed the throttle forward. Acceleration pushed him back into the seat as the ship shot out the door. He heard the keening tone of a missile lock as the Colony's defensive batteries that he had not bothered to deactivate targeted him. The Banshee's IFF beacon was shot and they had yet to find a replacement. Both turrets fired off a volley as the banshee power-dove over the rim of the cliff.

Razorback could hear Ko'ah screaming something into the comm at him, but he ignored it. Closing his eyes and avoiding the terrain by memory he managed to avoid all four missiles long enough for them to lose their lock and crash to the ground.

That wasn't the brightest thing to do, you know? Xenogears reprimanded him.

"No, but it was fun," he responded.

She let the subject drop as he lowered the banshee into a canyon running north from the colony.

Where are we going? The voice filled his mind. She could speak through the air when necessary but it was inefficient when she was only talking to Razorback.

"Nowhere in particular." Carefully Razorback skidded the banshee around a nearly 90-degree corner at approximately 195 kph.

You said we were going to recon.

"Sometimes you're just to responsible," he teased. This was a side of him most people, including his closest friends (who were few and not all that close) would never see.

Normally you are too.

"You have to relax once in a while."

I do her smile filled his mind, Every night.

"So you do," he paused, "well, I intend to relax during this flight."

Just don't crash and kill us.

"Good point. Maria might be mad if she didn't get her banshee back."

I give up.

Razorback smiled. Glancing at the sensor display he noted they were about to cross Mercury's pole. He'd never bothered to learn standard directional indicators for Mercury, but this was the one near Polar North. Well, perhaps Polar North wasn't the right word as that was determined relative to earth and he had no idea how this system compared to earth.

Company.

Glancing back at the display he saw a pair of red dots he had somehow previously missed. Adjusting a few controls he got makes on both of them. A pair of seekers.

"Shall we?"

Will it stop you if I say no?

"I don't know," he seemed genuinely perplexed. "You might want to try it and see."

I won't bother, just be careful.

"Careful?" He grinned, "I'm always careful."

He had the distinct impression of Xena rolling her eyes as he dove on the Seekers.

Coming in from high and behind he centered his crosshairs between the two and fired of two volleys of linked rockets. All four rockets struck, two on each seeker. Both lost their shields as the impacts overwhelmed them and both sustained serious damage, one losing it's left blink gun.

As the two HERCs spun to face him he roared past overhead. In earth's atmosphere the maneuver would have knocked both of them off-balance from the sonic boom, but even in Mercury's weak gas cloud his exhaust fumes interfered with their sensors. Both spun again back the direction they had originally faced as he looped the Banshee over the top and came around for another pass. The last volley was the end of the fight. One's reactor housing was reached and the reaction quickly escalated to critical proportions. The result was a small nuclear explosion leaving nothing but twisted scrap on the rocks. The other was saved the same fate only because the missile tore into the reactor before detonating, disrupting the chain reaction. It was left nothing more than a gutted shell.

"Well, we're out of ammo, but we ruined their day."

Perhaps we should head back in?

"I suppose you're right," Razorback reluctantly agreed and turned the Banshee back toward Fantasma Colony.

You know, you're completely different than anyone else I've met.

"Is that bad?" he said with mock anguish.

I don't think so. Her smile warmed his mind.

"I-" His comment was cut off as the Banshee was rocked by an impact.

"This is a bad thing." He stated calmly as he wrenched the stick sideways.

Glancing at the sensors he raised an eyebrow. An Advocate. On Mercury those were few and far between.

Better call for backup.

"Wouldn't get here before the fight'll be over."

You think it'll get us that fast?

"Other way around, dear." He again threw the craft sideways to avoid the enemy craft's line of fire.

We have no ammunition. Xenogears stated flatly.

"Yup. He doesn't know that."

This should be interesting

"Yup." He pushed the Banshee into a steep dive, pulling out early and diving again almost immediately. Cybrids, who were logical to the extreme, tended to fall for this, thinking their prey was going to climb.

This one didn't. Apparently his warform had an updated list of piloting maneuvers.

Well, if he knew all the traditional ones, it was time to make some up.

Pulling out into a glide, Razorback flipped his craft along its axis in preparation for a drop-kick maneuver, but as he slammed his throttle forward he also dove forward and to the right. The Cybrid fired off a quick shot with his dual lasers scorching the paint and damaging one of the tail fins, then expecting him to come back along his original line of flight it shot up into a loop so it would come back down on him from above and behind.

It was a good move, but it wasn't good enough to keep him on the Banshee's tail as Razorback let the craft slip down into a series of canyons. The Advocate followed burning both turbine boosters to catch up.

As it settled in on his tail, Razorback allowed himself a tight smile. He bounced the banshee around enough to keep the Advocate from acquiring a target lock, but not enough to lose his opponent. Dipping below an arch, Razorback cut his engines, fired his braking thrusters and used the takeoff thrusters to lift the craft up out of the Advocate's line of flight.

The Cybrid ship was moving too fast to pull out of it's run without hitting the arch so it flew through the arch and began to pull up after. Right into Razor's sights. Noticing the missile lock and unaware his target was unarmed, the Cybrid dove down out of the line of fire. That was his final mistake. The canyon made a sharp curve up ahead and the Cybrid would make the turn all right, but within 30 meters of that it ended in a sheer rock wall. Climbing out of the canyon Razorback smiled as the fireball that used to be an Advocate lit up the landscape.

The flight back proved uneventful but the landing was not. He was met in the flyer's hanger by Del.

Razorback climbed out of the banshee and examined the damage to it. He'd get it fixed, but it would take a few hours. Satisfied with his inspection he finally turned to Del.

She's gonna let you have it. Try not to make it any worse than it has to be. Xena cautioned him.

Razorback stood waiting. He had yet to be the target of Del's anger, but it looked like that was about to change. Not that she was afraid of him. She was competent enough in hand-to-hand combat to do him some serious damage, she had just never had a reason to be angry with him. Razorback for his part feared none of the ghosts, though he had reason to from time to time. There was sort of an understanding, and unspoken agreement between Razorback and Del that each stayed out of the other's way.

"What was that stunt you pulled when you left?" Del didn't sound very angry, but lately she'd been gaining control over her anger.

"Do you need to ask?" Taking his attention from her he stepped over to a locker on the wall and began to remove the vacuum suit he'd been wearing.

"That was stupid you know?"

"I think you already know the answer, but if you really want me to say it: yes, it was stupid."

"Then why did you do it?"

"Why do I do anything, Del?"

"I don't know. If I did this conversation would be unnecessary."

"If you must know, I did it because I felt like it."

"That's the only answer I'll get out of you." It wasn't question.

"If you want something better, you'll have to talk to my better half, but she probably couldn't help you out either."

Del walked out shaking her head and, unobserved by Razorback and Xenogears, smiling.

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