Min'canari M'sudda stared at the monitor in front of him; reflected on the screen were the distant vessels blocking their path.
Quiet. There was no movement from them. They did not threaten to come forward. Yet, their presence ensured they were hostile.
His hands gripped the controls of his turret. He rotated the turret, and with that, the video feed tracked the movement. He wanted to keep a visual on the empty space surrounding them. He assumed there were no other ships out there, but had to confirm his assumptions.
"Now, Min, remember. Whatever you do, don't fire before being given the order." Harrit said, his voice firm. The words carried softly in the air, above the noise of their stations.
"He's not stupid," Yeel stated.
Min'canari glanced at her. It was the first time taking his eyes off his monitor. Her hands were gripped tight around the controls, her eyes fixated on the monitor.
"I'm not saying he's stupid," Harrit said. "I'm just making sure he didn't forget." His voice had lost all humour. It was cold, and somewhere in his throat were words he didn't want to speak.
Humans were peculiar. They tended to be inconsistent. Harrit had displayed an eager confidence toward combat. Now, when faced with the prospect, his mood shifted. Fear would not be the correct word for how Harrit seemed now, but it was certainly an underlying emotion in his voice.
Triskani, by comparison, were usually even-tempered. Where humans would often talk, a Triskani would be silent. Where a human would joke, a Triskani would listen. Min'canari had spent enough time with Humans to pick up their conversational quirks, but he lacked the confidence to truly replicate them.
Movement. One of the opposing vessels shifted its bow and moved away from the other. After rotating, it moved forward. It's port side now faced their own ship, the IS-Vigilant. The other ship moved simultaneously and positioned itself in the opposite direction, with its starboard facing their own. Attack position.
"Get ready," Harrit said. "Yeel, you and Min focus on the one facing our starboard, I'll focus on the other."
"Confirmed," Yeel said. "Resetting score," she continued, as she moved a hand over her control panel. "Zeroed."
"Heh," Harrit cracked a smile. "Almost forgot," he moved a hand over his panel, while his other remained firm on his turret control. "Zeroed."
"Don't forget to reset your score, Min." Yeel sneered.
"I," Min'canari looked down at his control panel, and his eyes darted to his score, which was already at zero.
"She's messing with you, Min. You don't have anything to reset." Harrit said, shaking his head. In his tone was the lost confidence, but it felt hollow compared to before.
"Good luck, everyone," Yeel said with an air of authenticity, which Min'canari hadn't heard before.
Inevitability. Min'canari could feel the pressure of space. It clung to their ship, penetrating the hull. The wait. It was the time before a kill. The hunter with its teeth bared. The strike was waiting. The prey knew there were eyes watching, but was paralyzed. A moment was all it would take. It could save itself if it could jump at the right time. There was no movement. They were adrift while being circled. But they were aware of what was watching them. In these seconds, he could recall the familiar smell of his homeworld. His first hunt. The noise of life surrounding him went silent. As if all present held their breath waiting for him to take action. Crucial moments.
Fire. A flash of light in the distance. The release of a canon. His target struck first. A glowing ball of plasma flew in their direction. It was beautiful, and yet, deadly. The orb caused an alarm to sound at his station, indicating its trajectory. A flickering glance monitored it as it overshot and missed. That didn't stop them from firing again. These were not warning shots. There was the intention of assault. A miscalculation would always be corrected. Another alarm, another orb. Impact. The other ship didn't miss. The shields flashed to life, momentarily obscuring his view. The glow dissipated in time to see another orb approach.
"What are our orders?" Yeel shouted at her screen.
"Hold fire until given word," Harrit responded.
"Fire!" Min'canari could hear the words of Captain Janto Naash. He was too close to be coming through a speaker.
He could not be sure if it was real or fake, but he followed the order he heard.
Min'canari held down the trigger of his control stick and waited for the bar on his monitor to fill. After it reached maximum capacity and released. He watched as a glowing ball of blue light lit up the video feed and flew toward the enemy vessel. As it reached its target, the ship was aglow. Shimmering blues reacting to the impact. A few moments later, numbers started to climb on his monitor.
"That was a hit," Harrit hooted. "Keep it up, Min."
He continued to fire in the same way, some shots hit, and the odd one missed. His main focus was on where the ship was going to be. Min'canari allowed the enemy vessel to move right into the path of his projectile.
"I'm reading small targets," Yeel stated. "They're scrambling fighters. Switch to burst fire, they'll be moving too fast for charged shots."
