Review: Interstellar Flames
Score:
72%
Version Reviewed: 1.0
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 With thanks to Shinichiro Watanabe, Keiko Nobumoto and the rest of the Bebop crew. |
It is a period of galactic tensions. The indefatigable enemies have attacked the remaining pillars of democracy, and even now threaten to overwhelm the universe with their brand of terror and politics.
But standing proud is the young Ed and her Earth bound partner Faye. Between them they have taken the remnants of the Earth Defence Fleet that fell to Earth and created ‘Bowie,’ The Last Starfighter.
And now Ed is all that stands between Earth and… The Interstellar Flames…
Episode 7: The Last Starfighter of the 25th Century
Ed snapped into place the last section of the five-point harness. In her heart she knew that she would be strapped into the Bowie until the Earth was once again free.
"Run me through the new features, Faye."
A battle scarred woman leaned over the polished cockpit sill and started to point out the features she’d added to the Bowie so the young Ed could take her into combat.
"First thing you’ve gotta remember is this," she drawled. "I’ve tried to make her fly like a T68 Speeder for ya, Unless you’ve been at pilot school, you can forget about doing all that fancy pilot navigation stuff. She’s programmed to fly from point to point-"
"The points being the ships in the armada?"
"Yep. She’ll take you straight to ‘em." Faye’s slender white skinned arm moved over to the ominously bolted over Nav Display. "Besides, I can’t find a spare AI Module to bolt in."
Ed looked frustrated. "I thought you said I could fly this thing!!!"
"You can!" Faye flipped a stubby control panel down from under the main screen. Using this you can move around your flight path. About 400 metres either side. You can get out the way of the enemy shots, and target anything that looks worthy. You point her around, let Bowie do the rest."
Was that a sulk appearing on Ed’s face?
"Best I can do. Give me four years, I’ll let you fly it single handed-"
"We don’t have four years. They’ll be in Earth orbit in a matter of hours."
| Interstellar Flames has stayed on Ewan's 7650 for over 2 weeks, and he's still playing it. Praise indeed. |
"Exactly. So shut up, let me do the old hack bit, and you do the hero thing, okay?" Faye passed her a Mars Bar. "Eat this, and pin your ears back." She threw the chocolate bar into Ed’s lap and followed on to a panel marked ‘Offence.’ "At the moment you’ve got a standard Plasma cannon, but I’ve over-ridden a few things so it’ll stay on continuos fire. Should make it easier for you, especially as it’s draining a separate power cell rather than the engines. If you really want to fire manually, go ahead and pull up your ‘In Flight Options,’ but I’d think it best you keep it on auto."
Ed recalled something. "Did you get those cargo scoops adapted with the marauder beam?"
"The marauder beam?"
"Yeah, so I can pull in some new weapons and missiles from anything I might happen to blow up along the way."
"You mean can I grab upgrades from the ships I blow up? Course I added it, what do you take me for?"
"Well, I know Spike would never let me play with them…"
"That’s enough about Spike, he’s in the past."
"But those guys could’ve made those other ships sing…."
"-and we have a job to do. Don’t let yourself get distracted."
"Hump! We’ve covered everything then?"
"Almost. Just this button here," pointing to a large red button marked Immediate Vector Realignment.
"The quick reverse?"
"Should get you out of anything tricky. Oh and it may affect the local space-"
Ed smiled. "You mean that fighters close by may vanish?"
"That’s the one."
Ed reached up to pull her helmet over her china like face. Locking the chin plate in place, a visual check on the left wrist monitor showed good oxygen flow from the Life Support Pack. "You said there was one more thing?"
Faye looked sheepish. "The ejector seat…"
"What about it?"
"It’s fried. I can’t get it to work."
"So I either get through this alive or not at all?"
Faye’s eyes tried to look anywhere but at the young girl. "Something like that."
"Well, if I don’t get through, there’s not going to be much point coming home… is there?"
The engine turbine kicked in and the glass cockpit closed around Ed. Faye slid down the ladder and walked backwards, never taking her eye away from the protector of the world.
A small corgi dog ran out and nipped Faye’s heels. She looked down. "I know, Ein."
".arf, arf"
Lighting the last known Havana cigar on Earth, Faye concentrated hard on the point of light rapidly approaching her destiny.
"See you later, Space Cowboy."
Reviewed by Ewan Spence at