Knight Errant

Part 27

Galacta Knight: My radar's beeping! There's a ton of ships nearby!

Sabre Knight: *from Vorpal* How many?

Galacta Knight: There's about fifty of them! I'm gonna see what's going on; it must be important! This could be one of NightMare Enterprises' battle fleets!

*Galacta Knight drives closer to the huge cluster of ships.*

Galacta Knight: Perfect! Now I'm close enough to see them without them seeing me! It's a good thing I did come here; those Star Warriors are hopelessly outnumbered!

Sabre Knight: *from Vorpal* We can take out some of the outer ships and escape before the Star Warriors can pursue us!

Galacta Knight: I don't know if that'll be enough! I think we need to stick around to do more fighting than that!

Sabre Knight: *from Vorpal* No, that's cutting it too close. We don't want to have to fight them.

Galacta Knight: After this battle, I don't think they'd have the energy to chase us. They would be too worn out!

Sabre Knight: *from Vorpal* That's actually a good point. Lead the charge!

*Galacta Knight parks his ship in a ditch in a small asteroid.*

Galacta Knight: There's one good thing about driving through an asteroid belt: there are lots of good places to park-and hide-a ship!

*Galacta Knight leaps out of his ship and flies into the fray.*

Galacta Knight: I'll help you guys!

*Galacta Knight summons a pillar of fire, breaking apart one of the ships.*

Galacta Knight: Now to help the group of Star Warriors over there!

*Galacta Knight fires a beam from his shield.*

Galacta Knight: Another ship do-owies!

*Galacta Knight is struck by multiple lasers at once.*

Galacta Knight: That was weird! I couldn't move for a-

*Even more lasers hit Galacta Knight.*

Galacta Knight: *thinking* I can't move at all! These must be stun rays! I've gotta get away before I get hit with-

*All the ships start firing stun rays at him.*

Galacta Knight: *thinking* Both the Star Warriors and NightMare Enterprises' ships are firing at me? What's going on here?!

*A hologram is projected from one of the ships.*

Sir Caliburn: *from the hologram* Galacta Knight, it's been a harrowing chase, but after a century, we are the victors!

Galacta Knight: *thinking* He worked with NightMare Enterprises to capture me?

Sir Caliburn: *from the hologram* Wasn't this a brilliantly-planned sting? We staged a battle where "NightMare Enterprises" outnumbered us, and you came to "save" us.

Galacta Knight: *thinking* So Sir Caliburn had some Star Warriors pose as a NightMare Enterprises fleet and "fight" other Star Warriors hoping that I'd rescue them? I'm still confused!

Sir Caliburn: *from the hologram* From the many encounters the Star Warriors have had with you, I knew it was no use to try and capture you purely by force. We had to lure you into a trap.

Galacta Knight: *thinking* I can feel my hands a little bit-the effects of the stun rays can't hold me forever!

Sir Caliburn: *from the hologram* Unfortunately, we had very little to go on concerning your location. Now and then we'd get reports, but by the time we got to the place you'd been seen, you were gone.

Galacta Knight: *thinking* It's a good thing I travel so much-otherwise this would've happened to me a lot earlier!

Sir Caliburn: We had to stage this all over the galaxy, hoping that you were somewhere nearby. It's certainly lucky for us you were nearby today!

Galacta Knight: *thinking* I can feel everything now, and even move a tiny bit! I still think I should wait until the stun effects have completely worn off before I act!

*Wires shoot out from one of the ships, tightly wrapping around Galacta Knight.*

Galacta Knight: *thinking* If they're tying me up, it must mean they're leaving! I've gotta escape now! I feel mostly back to normal!

Sir Caliburn: *from the hologram* I should have had you tied you up earlier; I was too caught up in the moment. I suppose it's a moot point; it'll be a long time before the stun effects-

*Galacta Knight uses Mach Tornado, easily ripping through the wires.*

Sir Caliburn: *from the hologram* -wear off. *to the Star Warriors* Fire the stun rays!

*Galacta Knight dodges the stun rays; some of them hit other ships.*

Galacta Knight: I don't wanna destroy these ships-if I can avoid it!

*Galacta Knight shoots a clockwise beam from Vorpal, taking out the stun rays on multiple ships.*

Galacta Knight: Now I need to get back to my ship!

*Galacta Knight flies off to the asteroid where he parked.*

Galacta Knight: Once again, I'm glad I'm in an asteroid belt! It's not gonna be easy for the Star Warriors to maneuver that many ships through it!

*He flies off in his ship.*

Galacta Knight: Just as I thought! They're way behind me! Hold on, are there more of them?

*Galacta Knight's ship is hit from the side.*

Galacta Knight: Some of the Star Warriors caught up to me!

*Galacta Knight goes around a large asteroid with a star ship in hot pursuit.*

Galacta Knight: Uh oh! Another star ship is heading right towards me-it'll crash head-on!

*Galacta Knight flies up as the two star ships crash into each other.*

Galacta Knight: I hope they're not too hurt!

Sabre Knight: *from Vorpal* Pay attention!

*Galacta Knight rapidly flies down, narrowly avoiding crashing into an asteroid.*

Sabre Knight: *from Vorpal* Whether we're being chased or not, it's foolishness to be driving this fast through an asteroid belt!

*Galacta Knight swerves to the left to avoid a star ship's laser.*

Galacta Knight: There are even more of them after me!

*Galacta Knight fires a defensive shot, taking out the laser on one of the star ships.*

Sabre Knight: *from Vorpal* Good shot!

Galacta Knight: Thankies!

*Another star ship fires at Galacta Knight, hitting the wing of his ship.*

Galacta Knight: Whoa! There's not much room for error here!

*Galacta Knight flies through a narrow space between two asteroids.*

Sabre Knight: *from Vorpal* Do a barrel roll!

Galacta Knight: What?

*The wing of Galacta Knight's ship scrapes against an asteroid.*

Sabre Knight: *from Vorpal* What did I say?

Galacta Knight: Sorry!

Sabre Knight: I'm not sure if you've noticed this but-

*Galacta Knight barely swerves around an asteroid.*

Sabre Knight: *from Vorpal* Galacta Knight, focus!

Galacta Knight: You were talking to me!

*Galacta Knight flies over a large asteroid.*

Sabre Knight: *from Vorpal* The Star Warriors aren't following us anymore.

Galacta Knight: They're not?

*Galacta Knight slows down.*

Sabre Knight: *from Vorpal* Look on the radar. No ships are anywhere near us!

Galacta Knight: You're right! There's no one around! We must've evaded them!

Sabre Knight: *from Vorpal* Good thing, too. This ship needs a break; one of the wings is trashed.

Galacta Knight: I need a break! Let's stop on one of these asteroids!

Later

Galacta Knight: That was such a pleasant dream…Sabre Knight! Why are you and the other Star Warrior spirits here?

Star Warrior Spirit 1: Well, it's about what happened today, and-

Sabre Knight: Let's cut to the chase. The other Star Warrior spirits and I have come to the realization that you're not going to defeat NightMare Enterprises and save the galaxy on your own. Of course, you already knew that.

Galacta Knight: I did…?

Sabre Knight: *sighs* Anyways, we were discussing how you should go about defeating NightMare Enterprises.

Star Warrior Spirit 2: We know the Star Warriors are after you-and we know what will probably happen if you join them-but you need to work together with them to defeat NightMare Enterprises.

Star Warrior Spirit 3: It's the only way you can bring peace to the galaxy.

Galacta Knight: So what specifically do I have to do?

Sabre Knight: You have to rally the Star Warriors and lead a full attack on NightMare Enterprises' base.