Act 53: Through the Storm

As the lift brings them up, Eijyu starts the engines. As soon as they're up to the surface, they're off.
They stick to the original plan, going very high up, well above the fog and apparent strike radius of the Sea Hawk drones.  Eijyu keeps her claw on the 'flare' button on the slightest hint of a lock. 
"Huh. So far so good." Taluno comments aloud. "Wonder why no one on this planet tried this..."
There is soon a beeping in the cockpit, but it's not a missile lock. It's a radar lock on hostiles. Soon enough however, a swarm of about 4-6 blue, speedy pointed triangular - winged drones with a glowing red 'eye' in the middle speed after and give chase to the ship.
Any space explorer worth their salt knows exactly what they are. Trifangles.

"Oh... that's why." Taluno deadpans. He turns to the pilot. "EVASIVE MANEUVERS!!"
Everyone hangs on with one arm, while reading their weapons to shoot out the doors with another.  The pilot takes a sharp turn to shake them, but such a thing is easier said than done. Unlike the Sea Hawks below, these little drones are much faster and far more maneuverable.  Far more than what the gunship is capable of. The objective here is not to shake them but to get into a position as to where the crew can use their weaponry to bat them out of the sky.
"Dammit I hate these things!" Ranyu growls as he tries to get a beam on them. "Fighting them in space is bad enough, but having to fight them in gravity is worse!"

As they hang on to something with one arm for balance, Raylo and Nesala ready their guns to shoot at the Trifangles. And the former has something to say about this situation too. "These damn things should have stayed in Zero G! whoever designed them needs their ass kicked!"
There is also Boris, who is listening to everything over the comms, and gets a bit in on this conversation too. "Ah air defense drones too eh?"

Eijyu hits the flare button, a salvo of flares pour out the back of the aircraft. While normally used against missiles. They've sometimes been effective at distracting Trifangles as well.

Five of the six Trifangles take the bait, breaking off from the craft to engage the new 'enemies' that appear on their sensors. That leaves one. Right in front of the craft, conveniently enough, straffing sideways to line up a shot. 
Eijyu takes a look at the Trifangle a to the front and below her, the gun below the craft likewise following her head's movement. She pulls the trigger, and the gunship's chaingun fires, knocking the trifangle about off course before shearing off a wing, sending it spiraling into the ocean below.
However, five more trifangles appear on radar, and soon, on radar. They give a beep as they turn towards the craft, using their fast momentum to strafe to the side while lining up a shot. They are unfortunately out of sight range for the gun, and the chaff are still reloading. The crew can see them, however, and while the aircraft's guns are more effective at dealing with them, small arms fire might be enough to at least knock them out of their state if not destroy them if hit in the right place. IF they can hit them like this, that is.

"They are small, aim carefully!" Nesala advises her packmates.
Well it's time to see IF they can hit those pesky things then. The two Avali soldiers besides Taluno and Ranyu point their guns at the Trifangles and start shooting at them.

Taluno and Ranyu likewise pick a target and fire. Four Avalis open fire on four targets out of five.
Taluno completely misses his target. Ranyu, Nesala, and Ralyo hit their targets. It is not enough to destroy them, but their bullets are enough to knock the small targets about, throwing off their aim and causing them to shoot way off course from their intended targets. 
Two of the drones are knocked right in front of the gunship. Eijyu Locks onto them with barrage lock-on missiles. She opens fire, destroying both of them.
"Brace!" Taluno shouts as they shoot, a fat, yet short beam of light erupts from their 'eyes ' and fires towards their targets!
Luckily Trifangles, unlike sea hawks, are not known for their accuracy. One shot barely whizzes by Taluno's head, while the other misses the craft completely. The trifangles turn and regain lost momentum. 
However, two more drones arrive to join the fight, turning sideways to aim!

So far so good it seems, Raylo and Nesala keep firing at the drones to destroy them or stop them from attacking, preferably the former.
"Please don't tell me they are going to keep coming and coming without end!" Raylo said, very annoyed when he noticed more Trifangles arriving to replace the ones they took out.
Their human ally on the other side of the line might have some good news for them. "If things get too hot up there Hauser might be able to come up and provide some fire support, but you probably noticed his effectiveness in the previous confrontation."
There is an annoyed 'Hey!' from Hauser in the background.
"Just ask if you are feeling desperate."

"We still have drones of our own to deploy if it gets too hot. Plus the chaff." Eijyu replies to Boris. "We'll keep it in mind though if it gets too hot."
Taluno and Ranyu take aim alongside Raylo and Nesala. Taluno and Raylo aim at the ones prepared to fire, while Nesala and Ranyu aim at the ones currently flying .
Taluno misses his shots. This time fortune favors them. Taluno is able to hit the eye of the Trifangle about to fire, the craft exploding in a fireball as it's hit. Nesala has similar luck, her shots manage to hit the joint connecting the wing, sending the drone spiraling down to the ocean far below. Ranyu and Ranyo hit their targets, the small craft that was aiming at them is knocked off course, causing it to deftly miss their shot, while the other that was speeding alongside is hit.
Both craft appear in full view of the pilot. who takes aim at one of them with the chaingun, and fires. The stream of bullets finishes the damage drone off. Before she can finish off the second one however, it disappears from view, and appears back at its place beside the craft, turning to its side and coasting as it takes aim!
"ETA, 2 and a Half minutes!" Eijyu shouts from the cockpit. "Keep this up and we'll arrive unscratched!"

Well they are certainly fairing very well against these drones so far. "Hah! We are swatting them all down!" Raylo can attest that it's fun when things are going one's way. Hopefully it will last.
"We still have more than two minutes until we get there, stay alert!" Nesala said to Raylo.
As for that one drone still flying, it can't let it get the chance of possibly getting a lucky shot, so the two of them aim and fire at it too.

It seems that their overconfidence might have gotten the better of them, as both of them manage to miss their mark this time.
"Brace!" Taluno yells again as the eye glows red and a beam shoots fourth from it, only for the beam to shoot straight through one open door and out the other, missing both the craft and the crew. 
The injured drone turns as it loses momentum due to the atmospheric drag, speeding alongside once again.
Just then, two more drones appear alongside, quickly turning and taking aim with a warning beep!
"Dammit, how many of these things are there up here!?" Ranyu growls as he and his commander take aim at the trio of drones below, one of which is sparking with damage, yet still clinging to 'life.'
"Two minutes!" Eijyu yells from the cockpit. 

"Oh come on!" Raylo growls in frustration at the fact he missed, just when it was getting good too...At least he didn't get hit by that beam.
Better shoot these annoying machines down before they pile up and become way worse than annoying. That means Raylo and Nesala both pick separate targets and shoot.

This leaves Ranyu and Taluno with one single target. 
Both Ranyu and Raylo miss their targets once again. However, Taluno manages to again hit his target in the eye, shooting it out and causing the craft to speed around in a mad frenzy as it flies around blindly, hitting one of the drones on the way down and knocking it forward right into the pilot's view. 
Nesala likewise manages to hit the craft's tip, the impact of the bullets are enough to turn it to its side and cause them both to enter the view of the pilot. 
While Eijyu could use a salvo of missiles here to take out both at once,, she decides to save them in case things get really bad, as the closer they get the more likely to encounter even more resistance. She decides to take the 'healthy' one first, She takes aim, and sure enough, the chaingun's heavy caliber bullets swat the drone out of the sky like a silly fly. The smoking one reorients itself, gaining speed  as it cruises alongside the gunship.
"Is that the end of them?" Ranyu pants.
"I don't think so." Eijyu replies. "They're not going to give up this easily."
Eijyu's intuition turns out to be correct, as a full five of these blasted things show up to try and shoot down this intruder in the skies.
"Aww crap." Ranyu groans as he readies his gun for another round of fighting. This is going to be painful.

"Wow you're really hitting those marks, Teluno!" The Avali praises his packmate. Then he noticed that the drones were suddenly outnumbering them. "...Shit!"
Before getting back to shooting the drones with the others, Nesala has something to tell the pilot. "Throw some chaff at them! they are starting to outnumber us!"

"Pos that!" Eijyu shouts back, She hits the button on her joystick, and another steam of flares shoots out the back, lighting up the dark, storm-filled skies.
Four of the triangular robots take the bait, disengaging the gunship to fight off the bright phantom sources of heat, while only 2 remain on either side, allowing Taluno and Ranyu, and Raylo and Nesala to both aim at one single one. 
Taluno and Ranyu manage to hit, but neither of them manage to hit anything vital. Still, the combined damage is enough to cause the miniature craft to smoke and lose altitude, taking it out of the fight. Raylo misses his shots while Nesala manages to hit her target just enough to bump it off course, causing its shot harmlessly shoot the water below as it is almost left behind.
Almost. It soon catches back up, with four new ones in tow, which all turn and get ready to fire, while the damaged drone struggles to keep speed, let alone aim. 
"One Minute!!" Eijyu shouts from the cockpit. "If we still have bandits on our tails when we arrive, We'll have to rough land and figure something out!"

"There is even more coming!" Raylo shouts.
Well, hopefully they can all survive another minute of this. Just gotta keep shooting these Trifangles down the best they can.

The avali crew take aim at the newcoming ones, deciding to target them over the damaged one that is not aiming at them at the moment. 
A small shake of the craft throws their aim off, Taluno and Ranyu both miss their targets. Raylo and Nesala both have better luck, hitting theirs with another burst of fire, damaging them just enough that they're knocked off course and they surge forward, along with the one that's already damaged as it tries to get ahead far enough to slowly turn and aim.
This proves to be all of their downfall however as the pilot hits the secondary fire, unleashing a barrage of seeking missiles upon all the drones in front of her, the missiles diving between the targets and causing them to explode mid-air.
However this leaves two of the aerial drones in firing position on Taluno and Ranyu's side.
"Evasive action!" Taluno shouts to the pilot.
 The drones fire, but a quick maneuver by  Eiyju causes the craft to briefly dive quickly, causing the shots to miss handily in the air.
Through the fog, they can see the fort in the distance below. It isn't far off now. A fact made evident as the opposition increases, as 6 more drones appear to fight, bringing the count up to 7. If there's a time for drastic action, now's the time. 

Nesala and Raylo held on tight when they heard Taluno ordering that evasive maneuver, a good thing too because that little dive was a little intense.
Time for drastic action it is, they need to deal with these drones before landing after all. "Eijyu! You can send out some drones, right?!" Raylo shouted to the pilot, a little desperate and running on plenty of adrenaline right now.

"Pos that!" A holographic screen deploys in front of EIjyu, with a confirmation button. She quickly 'presses' the button. A compartment on the back end opens up, black versions of the familiar avali drones fall out the back. One after the other, 1 second at a time, until all 6 are out. They begin engaging the remaining units, Drawing all of the drones away. The trifangles are faster, but the avali drones are more accurate, while both have the same amount of armor: hardly any at all. If the trifangles won, they're too far away to give any further chase, and if the avali drones survived, they will likely fall victim to any further trifangles. 
" Is that all of them?" Taluno yells to the pilot after seeing no more Trifangles appear after a while. 
"Looks like it." Eijyu shouts back. "I'm not picking up any more on-"
Suddenly there's a loud series of beeps. 
"Wait, there's something else coming up behind us!!"
"Aww great." Ranyu growls. "I've had just about enough of these triangular little shitbags."
... Oh, if only that large monstrosity that just appeared at their side was a trifangle... 

"Big one! BIG ONE!!!" The other's probably can see it too, but Raylo just points it out anyway.
This thing looks like it can take a beating, they might have to focus all their fire power on it. "EIjyu!" Nesala starts saying to the pilot. "What's the heaviest gun this bird has?!"
Well, time to shoot at it and hope for the best.

"The missiles, but they're still reloading! Besides, It's on the side of us!" She shouts back. "Beyond that, the chaingun. I'd release the drones, but we already deployed those to get the triangles off our butts! Also, I can't land with that monstrosity on my tail!"
Taluno nods. All the avali take aim. And open fire...
Taluno and Ranyu both hit true, their shots shearing a small chunk of the armor off. Nesala's shots hit, but seem to do just a little bit of scratch damage. Raylo in his panic, misses entirely. 
"HOLD ON!" Eiyju shouts, she breaks the craft midair, bringing it almost to a complete halt on a time as everyone just barely hangs on in time.
Eijyu unleashes the might of the gunship's chaingun right in front of it. hitting in the screen, causing cracks on its reinforced glass surface. She speeds up once again, in an attempt to lose it, but the craft is right on top of them once more, and right on its side, its twin cannons aimed menacingly It fires its cannons, but another quick maneuver by Eijyu causes the craft race ahead just in the nick of time, causing its two heated shots to miss entirely. This does not shake the determined war drone however as soon it's right back in their sight, easily keeping pace with it, a slight bit of damage from their combined efforts is visible on the drone.

"It looks like this thing can shoot way faster than the Trifangles!" Nesala noted before her and her packmates initiated another round of attack on that heavy drone.

She isn't completely wrong. While its fire rate isn't higher, this thing can keep its guns aimed as it moves, unlike the Trifangles that need to speed, turn, shoot, then speed again.
The armored avalis have the armored beast in their sights again, so they open fire. While three of them make their mark, doing further damage to the beast's armor and causing it to fall away, Raylo's exhaustion seems to be catching up with him, causing him to miss once again.
The drone likewise returns fire. One of the projectiles misses their mark, but the gunship shakes fiercely as one of the shots makes its mark.
"We're hit!!" Eijyu yells. "Rear fuselage. Minor damage!"
There's a bit of a single mark on the side, and a bit of bent metal, but it looks like the craft will hold.
The bot creeps behind the gunship, hoping to shoot it down from the rear from the craft.
"Oh no you don't!" Eijyu growls to herself, She whips the stick around, turning the craft around as she flies the craft backwards. 
"Eat missiles, freak!"
She unleashes the missiles hit their mark, a barrage of 6 missiles each colliding with the metallic monster, doing damage to its outer armor falling away, only bits and pieces of its armor remain, and sparks and smoke billow from the heavily damaged, yet still functioning drone. A glow comes from its slightly visible core, and from its guns. It seems it's overcharging them, in a desperate attempt to shoot down the craft, or take down one of the crew!

"I don't like what that thing is doing, let's kill it quickly!" Raylo shouts, seeing that the enemy is overcharging it's guns, feels him with dread.
Nesala can't agree more with that, time to finish it off before it can seriously hurt someone!

Before any of them can react however, the beast fires two very large charged shots!!
One flies straight through the door, very narrowly avoiding Taluno as it flies out the others. The other-
BOOM
The craft lurches, throwing them off their guard,  almost throwing Nesala out of the craft! She grasps onto the rail with one hand, but the rest of her dangles dangerously out of it, threatening to fall onto the rocks below!  Ranyu makes a grab for her, grabbing her other hand.
"I got you!" He yells as he grabs his teammate's hand, quickly pulling her back into the craft with his teammate's help. 
"Dammit I've HAD IT!" Taluno shouts as they help their packmate back on board. "Enough is enough! I have had it with this huge ass drone trying to shoot down this huge ass gunship! Everyone. Let's take that thing down! All together!"
The crew open fire with what ammo they have left in their guns. Some of their shots miss, but enough of them hit to do damage, enough for the heavy drone to finally burst into flames, and sink out of sight. There is the sound of an explosion as it collides with the rocks below.

That was a pretty intense moment for Nesala just now, almost falling out of the aircraft like that. "Thanks, Ranyu..." She thanks her packmate for helping her there.
With that big monster drone dealt with, finally, Raylo goes to see how his packmate is doing. "You alright?"
She nods. "Yeah, I'm...fine. Did we get it?"
"Yeah, we messed it up big time."
"Good..." She now brings her attention to the pilot. "How's our bird doing?" She means their aircraft of course, it looks like it took a pretty mean hit from that drone before they managed to destroy it.

"Left engine took a hit but we're still operable." Eijyu shouts back.
Indeed, there is some smoke coming from said engine. 
"LZ is right below." She points down below. "Everyone prepare for landing."
Taluno nods and addresses his pack. 
"Alright you heard her. Get ready for landing. It might be rough."

As tough as that big drone was, it's clear that they are far from done yet, they still have to deal with entering that old base and there is no telling if there are more defenses inside. Raylo and Nesala kept that thought in mind as they prepared for the landing.
And Boris contacts them again over the comms. "That sounded like some tough and bloody fight up there, but you are all alive right? Good! Remember, Rotom is in there, and given how this place was made with technology this advanced, there is a chance that the little ghost might provide some very useful support. I'm betting it could open locked doors or hijack security systems...but you probably need to find it first."