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| - After the other night's close call against Chance, Molokai finds herself looking forward to the match off against the Marshal even if she can't help but to anticipate getting smoked rather rapidly. She waits until they've both launched and are in position before she works her fingers over the controls, maneuvering herself so that she can put herself on Krieg's 9o'clock, coming in from his left. She takes her time, now, not daring to fall into sloppy habits, trying to wait until the targeting computer locks onto her 'enemy's' fighter. The steady sound which indicates good tone eventually goes off and it's then that she open fire on Banger. Lazrus settles back at his table to watch the start of the next match up of the vacuum heads. Everyone said the odds seemed to be stacked in the Marshal's favor, but when Molokai gets the drop on him from the start, the stormtrooper cannot help but let out a burst of laughter. There would be talk of this for days, Krieg knew, but what he was doing was an age old trick. Such a trick wasn't to be played on Vapor, who he had fought the night before as her skill and knowledge prevented it from actually working. Slowing and presenting a target of opportunity he makes minimal effort to get the jump on her, but instead draws a bead on her craft, accelerating to attack speed the minute she opens fire, easily evading it and bringing his own guns to bear. His own craft snap rolls quietly up and above her, throwing his craft into an easy barrel roll and falling in behind her. The throttle and controls felt much lighter today; perhaps it was the ease of pressure at not facing the admiral. Whatever the case he puts these thoughts to the back of his mind as he opens up his own salvo upon her craft. The laughter is quickly silenced as Banger deftly avoids the attack run and rolls up and behind Slush. When his blasters hit, there is a collective groan of 'ooos', 'ouch' and 'awww' from around Lazrus' table. If the match continues like this, there won't me much opportunity to cheer on the underdog. "Yeah...lovely...” Liza says as she gets shaken up some, the sight on her display making her mutter in Sarian under her breath as she sees the readout on her shields. It was to be expected, truly. She is no match for Krieg, but the fact that her shields are depleted by about 2/3rds already has her cussing under her breath regardless. "Alright, sir..." she then grumbles into the comms as she pulls up, trying to get herself above the Marshal's fighter as she does so.”I know this is a losing battle but don't think I'll just lay down and let you shoot at me. I try to give as good as I get." The nose of Slush's Interceptor is pushed down as she slams the stick forward and makes she her throttle's full forward, coming screaming towards Banger as she fires upon him. Unlike the previous evening, the tactic had drawn her in. Krieg was rewarded with a solid shield hit on her craft, but like Vapor, he knew that Slush still had teeth and this was far from over. Moving the controls as if he had done this every waking second of his life he floats his craft up and over, kicking in the throttles hard as he anticipates her next move to intercept his craft. However, the true nature of why she was called 'Slush' was based in her unpredictability and doing what some might consider suicidal. Throwing his craft around hard he realizes he's going to be in a world of hurt, but manages to deflect most of the blast with a last minute snap. In that short moment right before he gets hit he sees a prime opportunity to fill the gap and return the favor. Lazrus' table hoots and hollers when Slush scores a hit. Even if Banger wins, at least the younger pilot scored a hit on the Marshal. It is almost as if she has found that one place within her that all good fighter pilots find within them while they're in combat, the one place in their mind where they simply stop thinking, and over-thinking, and simply do, Liza unusually cool for once, her senses only on one thing - the fight. As the ship's hit and her shields are taken out, she finds herself smiling, finding the fact that Krieg is as close as he is to her highly acceptable oppose to cursing her bad luck over having failed to keep distance between them. She tries to get herself facing Krieg again, trying for another full on assault, something that is foolish at best and downright life-threatening at worse, hoping to catch Banger off guard enough to get another hit upon his shields, and hopefully his hull. Once again Krieg is rewarded with a good hit, and this time he is able to see her shields flicker out and the hull scored slightly from his blast as he does a high speed flyby. He knew she was giving everything she had, and he knew he had to keep up. There wasn't any time for mistakes in this fight, and he knew that she was going to try some really dangerous moves in this battle to try and get ahead. Perhaps he was dulled slightly from battling Vapor not that long before, or perhaps it was really her edge over him. Whatever the reason he kicks the power in again and dives into the fight, going inverted to her last maneuver. Perhaps he was sacrificing too much to return the favor of hitting her, as this time his shields take another impact. Knowing full well that his craft was more than capable at taking the heat, he turns it up for Slush a little now and mimics her last attack, keeping it tight and fast and opening up with each laser individually. By now, most of the crowd has gone silent. It is amazing that the younger pilot is managing to trade shots with the Marshal, especially after the stalemate between him and the Admiral. As she's hit again, this time with no shields to help take off some of the impact, Liza's ship shudders pretty hard, a harsh side-to-side motion that has her bouncing against her flight harness, something that just may bruise as she's jostled in her seat. "Damnit.." She frowns as she taps a hand upon her knee while the other stays upon the flight stick, the Sarian trying to take her time. She tries to slip around Krieg's right, aiming for his 3 o'clock, her eyes squinting slightly as she fires, almost as if trying to direct the laser fire towards his fighter with sheer mind power alone by doing so. Another exchange, and with hits from either side being the rewards. Krieg was well aware this was Slush at her best, and also knew that he'd have to really step it up if he even wanted to think about making it out of this alive. Changing his stance to make it even more aggressive he leaves the power full up, reducing it rapidly as he nears Slush's craft to keep a tighter turn radius. From a few angles it would almost appear that he stops entirely to turn, kicking in the power about two thirds of the way through. Indeed, she was quickly becoming one of their better pilots and it was impressive to see. Just not right now - but that was all the more credit to his ability to see her and rise to whatever the situation. It was at that point he gets hit hard from the right, and at point blank. As he didn't carry enough power through the turn he gets nailed and not just a little but a lot. Getting beaten up like this was not good, but in his defense he knew exactly where she was going to roll out and directs several quad laser blasts that way. It is almost like watching to fighters brawling it out in an arena. Each pilot is trading blows and the crowd starts going wild. Lazrus cannot help but shake his head in amazement; normally blaze to fighter duels, even he is leaning against the table, drawn into the match. There's no time to celebrate what hits she can get on the beloved Marshal as she's hit as fast as she cat hit him, another shimmy-shake that has Liza cringing openly. "Wow...” she says over the open comms without realizing it, her voice tight with tension. It is somewhere in the back of her head that she realizes she's stuck doing the same thing she always does, either going for head-on strikes or going for the sides, something she tries to rectify even in the middle of combat. With a slight growl, she pushes her control yoke forward, putting her into a dive that will hopefully do what it's supposed to, the pilot trying to get beneath Krieg only to tilt her nose up towards his underbelly, so to speak. Her weapons are fired again, this time heading for the unprotected underside of his TIE this time. Is it possible that the readouts are correct? The crowd is stunned and then breaks out into cheer as the Banger's readouts fall below the underdog Slush's. What was originally thought to be a blowout has turned into what could be one of the most exciting matches and talked about matches this tournament. It is with great pain that Krieg cannot see her next move, his sensors temporarily going out due to the overload of blaster energy. He was getting behind on the fight, and he knew it. Yes, he did trade shots with her nearly every round but she was quicker than he, just by a mere fraction of a second. Kicking in the power and keeping it there now he pulls out, his craft visibly scarred by Slush's blasts. The last blast came from below, and many would normally consider pulling up to be a good course of action, but that was something Krieg could not afford. Dipping down into her fire arc as he had been pummeled before he snap rolls over. This time, however, he takes his craft and runs it head on into hers, knowing the tactic that worked so well for her would be what she would see against her. Only this time he changes it up slightly, looking to place him on a well vectored path out of her next fire arc. Gasping in surprise, she looks shocked as Krieg pulls a...well, her, and comes straight at her while firing upon her. The hit that results from the bit of sneakiness on Krieg's part results in a rather sound one, knocking more off her hull's integrity. "We're giving them one helluva of a show.." she says while banking, trying to pull off a fancy looping move that'll hopefully put her on Krieg's aft, right where she's hoping to hit him when she fires. Diving hard away at maximum power, Krieg's new tactic was rewarded with a solid hit, but more important was the fact he had planned a way out of her line of fire, and now easily evaded her oncoming shots. Her first comment on the comm not so long ago was rather ignored for that new tactic, but now he hears her and replies, "Makes you think we actually planned this..." He was impressed at her performance so far, but he knew that he had a reputation to uphold and it was time to end this. Keeping the power at maximum he dives back in, this time pulling a maneuver that hadn't been seen so far. Using angular motion he keeps in a turn to then snap up and over, quickly reversing her fire arc but putting his in a direct line of fire. Squeezing the trigger again he watches the green arcs lance out once more. "What..? You mean we didn't?" That's said a mere second before Krieg's last shot hits home, putting Liza in very big danger of losing the match. She knows it's a miracle she's lasted this long but she can't really expect her luck to last much longer, her luck fairly well spent, it appears. Still, as she's hit again, she's trying to do what she can to get Krieg in her sights one last time, hoping for one last shot as she does so, ignoring the warning lights and such as she does so. Now's not the time to let such distractions get to her. Not when there's her name, and that of her father, on the line, so to speak. "Sorry, sir.." she says as she pulls the trigger, almost as if expecting that single shot to render the Marshal's fighter inoperable with the newest shot she takes. After the last to volley's it didn't look like Slush had much fight left in her anymore, but again the crowd around Lazrus' table hoots as Banger takes what will probably be one last hit. Knowing full well that Slush was feeling more like a caged animal at this point her predictability was quickly fading. He knew that he'd have to act fast if he was going to end this, and to that end he knew that a certain amount of risk was involved in getting that spectacular kill. As he dives and rolls through another one of her fire arcs he knew that she was on him more than he cared for. However, there was one more move he could pull and in that instant he slams on the controls doing a full reversal, a very hard maneuver and one that usually let the enemy hit you at this close range, but it was also one that he could come back and fire upon her once more. Getting that good tone on his HUD he hopes that this time is the last time he needs to fire, sending that green fire at her once more, ignoring the comm for the time being. As The last hit rakes along Liza's fighter, the inevitable happens. The ship's systems just die, leaving her floating in space. "Well. That was what I had thought would happen. Just nowhere near as fast as I had thought it would." There's no small amount of awe in Slush's voice as she says that but that's all that is said as she finds herself becoming introspective while awaiting to be picked up for the ride home. Funny how sitting in a cold cockpit will make someone do that. Getting the last hit had some consequences, and Krieg knew that she had flown what some might call the best flight of her life. But he also knew that there were now bigger bets to be placed on Chance's odds against him, and to that he needed to be ready. But for everyone here he pulls some fancy flying for the victory for all to enjoy. It was a fight that would be talked about for some time, hopefully there wouldn't be too many calls for a rematch, there were still many fights left to be had.
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