By: Ian Biggar
Flight Deck - TCS Invincible
13:13 Hours
"41st, you are clear for launch."
Skyfox acknowledged the Flight Controller. He felt his body being pressedinto his cockpit seat as he hit the Arrows afterburners. His ship was catapultedinto the void, closely followed by his XO, FireHawk, and the rest of the41st. The brief for this mission was... Well, brief. The 8 ships were tosplit up into 2 flights consisting of 4 ships. They were to conduct a fairlyroutine recon of the area and then rendezvous at the asteroid field. Becauseof the asteroid field density and size, Colonel Howard had decided to send8 ships for the recon.
Skyfox opened a comm channel to the rest of the 41st.
"Okay guys...." before he could go any further he was interrupted.
"What about us gals?" It was Major Claire "Diggers"Digney. Skyfox let out a sigh and started again.
"Okay guys AND gals, prepare to engage auto...." he was interruptedagain.
"Sir..." came the voice of Lt. James "JJ" Johnson,"I`m getting a unusual reading from my cloaking systems, it seemsto..." JJ paused again, "Sorry sir, the reading is back to normalnow. Must just have been a power surge."
"Right. Is everyone finished?" Asked Skyfox in a humorousmanner.
"Yes Sir," was the reply from all the pilots at once.
"Good. Okay, prepare to engage autopilot."
The eight Arrows banked and split up into the two different flightsand continued to their assigned Nav points.
Somewhere in Telar
14:00 Hours
The Recon went extremely smoothly, apart from a few bad jokes from CaptainTara "Zodiac" Tremarco, there was nothing happening, nothingat all. Alpha Flight, Skyfox`s flight, was now approaching the rendezvouspoint. He could already see Beta flight on his scanner, he decided to sendthe order now.
"Alpha and Beta Flights, Engage cloaking device." Skyfox sawthe blips on his scanner slowly, one by one, disappear. He engaged hisown cloaking device and heard the usual whine of the device engaging andthen the visual distortion took effect.
"Continue on assigned flightpath through the asteroid field,"ordered Skyfox.
Minutes later, the cloaked ships entered the dense asteroid field.
"Colonel..." It was 1st Lieutenant Richard "Valka"Noble. Valka was one of the youngest in the squadron, but not only hadhe already proved himself to be an excellent pilot, he was incredibly talentedat music. He also kept the origin of his callsign secret, no one new whatit ment or were he got it from, and he wasn't telling. "I`m pickingup something on the scanner. Numerous blips and one large blip, I can'ttell what it is without visual contact and this asteroid field is makingit impossible."
"Okay, lets move in for a closer look. After all, this is a reconmission," replied Skyfox, "everyone REMAIN cloaked."
As Skyfox and the rest of the 41st moved deeper into the field, he couldbegin to see the glow of fighter engines. Skyfoxs eyes widened.
"Ohhhh...Shit!" said Major Craig "Strobe" Lawrensonunder his breath.
"There's hundreds of them." JJ was, of course, exaggerating,but there were a lot of them indeed-- Pirates.
Skyfox tried to make out what the large blip was; at this point, the41st would have been too close for comfort had they not been cloaked. Thenhe realised what it was. A base, a huge pirate base.
"Look at the Size of that thing," came the awe-struck voiceof Capt. Tom "Falk" Falconer.
Skyfox could make out a number of different class of ships circlingBase: Razors, Demons, stolen Arrows, Talons and... Thunderbolts.
"How the hell did pirates get hold of T-Bolts!!" He wasn`tsounding his usual calm self. "We need to get this info back to the'Vin. All flights, return to base."
Then the worst possible thing happened and the most difficult decisionSkyfox has ever had to make.
"COLONEL!!!!" It was the panic stricken voice of JJ."MY CLOAKING CRYSTAL JUST BURNED OUT, I`M DE-CLOAKING!"
Skyfox felt his heart sink into his stomach as he saw JJs arrow de-cloaknot more than 20 metres from his own fighter.
"JJ, GET OUT OF HERE... NOW!"
"It isn`t that easy, the field's too dense."
"He`ll be blasted out of space before he gets clear," saidDiggers, "and it's a good bet that the pirates know he`s here."
Skyfox looked back towards the pirate fighters. They turned sharplyand headed towards JJ and the 41st, just like sharks about to devour itsprey and that's what JJ was, easy prey. Skyfox had to think fast.
" Zodiac, Valka, remain cloaked and head back to the Invincible.We're out of communications range, so you need to get the recon info backto Colonel Howard and get help, FAST. The rest of you, de-cloak, we needto cover JJ until he can clear the asteroid field and outrun them. I`llbe damned if I`m going to leave a member of the Red Arrows."
Skyfox heard a cheer from the rest of the 41st, and than heard the whineof the other Arrows de-cloaking. He did the same. The pirates were caughtcompletely off-guard, he actually saw some of the pirates turn and run.Unfortunately, many of them didn't.
Excalibur 301
15:00 Hours
Psychopath transmitted over the radio, "good job out there people,it's time to pack it in. Slayer, take Skull flight down to the landingcycle.. Terminator, get Devil Flight ready to land."
Major Jacob "Slayer" Wintersteen's four Excaliburs of SkullFlight broke formation and started their landing cycle to the Invincible.As they closed the distance, the Excaliburs slowed down and brought downtheir landing gear, then the tractor beam reaches out toward the Excalibursand brings them safely down to the flight deck.
The 46th Squadron just finished 2 hours of turn and burns. Psychopathwas impressed by each pilot's performance and how much progress the squadronwas doing. Psychopath trained his squadron vigorously for combat, evenduring peacetime. He never let things slide during peace, as what happenedwith most other squadrons. He kept his squadron sharp and vigilant foranything. Psychopath was right about this concept, because that trainingis about to pay off now.......
Just as Psychopath was going to order the rest of the squadron to land,a staticky message came through the comm channel. Psychopath recognisedthe voice of Capt. Tara "Zodiac" Tremarco, one of the membersof the 41st "Red Arrows" Arrow squadron. The message was filledwith static, it seemed as though she was on the edge of communication range.
"MAYDAY, MAYDAY, This is Captain Tara Tremarco toTCS Invincible. The 41st are in need of assistance, large pirate presenceat asteroid field located at Nav 4. Repeat, 41st are in need of urgentassistance, Please respond." Tara was answered by the Invincible Commofficer and plans were quickly made.
The Invincible's comm officer comes on the communications screen ofPsychopath's Excalibur, "Lt. Colonel Huynh, you are the only otherfighters that are still out here. You are ordered take any remaining fighterswith enough fuel to proceed to NAV 4, which is in an asteroid field nearthe jump point out of this system."
"Roger that," was Psychopath's response. He then queried hissquadron. "46th, give me a fuel report."
The rest of his squadron radioed in with their fuel state reports:
Capt. Jennifer "Passion" Chen is at 30 percent, Capt. Zack"Bad Boy" Hall at 17 percent, Lt. Peter "Troll" Gaylordat 15 percent, Major John "Terminator" Chidester at 29 percent,Lt. Ashley "Ginger" Spruell at 21 percent, Lt. James "Fingerman"Patterson at 23 percent, Captain Adam "Spanky" Thompson with32.
Psychopath looks at his fuel gauge, 30 percent. Not much.
Psychopath made a decision. "Okay, Passion, Terminator, and Spankyfollow me. The rest of you guys pack it in and go home. We don't got muchgas as it is."
Passion wryly commented, "Our ordinance loads aren't so hot either."
Because it was just a training flight, each Excalibur was loaded with2 "war-shot" ImRecs and 6 dummy training ImRecs. Psychopath cursed at Mr. Murphy, whose "Murphy's Law" was popular during combat situations such as this. He radioed the carrier. "Invincible, sendout a fuel shuttle or two, us and the 41st will be thirsty for fuel when this is over."
The comm officer got back to him, "we are doing it now Colonel.They will rendezvous when you get there. Godspeed."
Psychopath turned to his squadron frequency. "Okay guys. Activate cloaks and proceed to NAV 4 at full military power. Estimated Time Arrival 20 minutes."
The 4 Excaliburs activated their cloaks and disappeared from both visualand radar sensors. As Psychopath checks his systems, he says, "Hangon Skyfox, we're coming"
Nav 4
15:10 Hours
CRACK!! Skyfox heard his starboard shields buckle and collapsefrom a volley of weapons fire from a pirate Thunderbolt. We can't takemuch more of this, he thought. He used the Arrow's autoslide and speed to bring his craft around and began blasting away at the T-Bolts shields;because of the slow speed of the T-Bolt he managed to inflict severe damage,and eventually the T-Bolt went out of control and exploded. That was his fourth kill so far in this battle, but all was not going well. They werestill quite a distance from the edge of the field and the pirates werestill as numerous as ever.
"MAYDAY... I can't shake him!" It was Captain Grant"Rebel" Naylors voice.
"Hang on, I`m almost there," Skyfox hit his afterburners and managed to dodge a number of asteroids.
"HURRY!" Came the panicked voice of Rebel.
I`m not going to make it there in time, Skyfox thought to himself. He was beginning to panic himself. In the distance he saw the Arrow of Captain Naylor receive a hit to his Aft section and veer out of control.
"No!" Skyfox whispered to himself, just as Rebels arrow slammed into an asteroid.
Of the first wave of pirates, now only one was left and it was right on the tail of Skyfox's best friend and XO, Major Christopher "FireHawk"Gerrard. The Razor pirate fighter fired off a missile which FireHawk's weakened aft shields couldn't handle.
"Shit," Shouted FireHawk, " I`m losing thrust."
"I've got him," was the reply from Diggers. The Razor didn'tstand a chance.
"We have a break, lets get out of here before the next wave hits,"said Skyfox.
"Sky, I have no Afterburners, Ill never make it once we're clear of the asteroids."
"We'll cover you."
"That's what we did for JJ and it cost us Rebel."
With that, FireHawks Arrow spun around and headed back towards the piratebase and the next wave of fighters.
"Chris, get back in formation, that`s an order. Chris, CHRIS!!!"Skyfox was frantic at this point.
FireHawk's Arrow plunged headlong into the wave of fighters, blasting away. One was taken out almost immediately and another was to follow. Itwas some of the best flying Skyfox had ever seen. Until a shot from a Demonsent him wildly out of control, spinning towards the pirate base.
"CHRIS!!!!!" Skyfox yelled down the comm line. "Eject...Eject damnit!"
"Sorry, Ian. The Ejector system is damaged. Anyway, I`d be captured instantly and I wouldn't want that." FireHawk paused, " Judging by my trajectory, I`m on a collision course with the main base, I`m arming all missiles. This should be one hell of a bang." FireHawk could seethe distress on Skyfox`s face.
"Fight well and goodbye, my friend...." It seemed as though the whole of space was lit up with the explosion of FireHawks Arrow impacting upon the surface of the base. Once the flash had died down, Skyfox could see that the impact was just on the inside wall of the main hanger, which had caused a wall of fire to sweep through the base's landing bay. At least they wouldn't be able to launch anymore fighters at the Red Arrows, for the moment.
"Sir?" asked Diggers, "Sir? You okay?"
Skyfox didn't answer for a few moments then answered in a subdued tone,"Yeah, just fine. Lets get out of here."
The Arrows were almost clear, but five pirate ships were still in pursuitof them. The Arrows were in no state to continue the battle.
"They're closing up," said Strobe.
"Were almost there," Skyfox assured him. The five Arrows shotout of the asteroid field.
"Were out!!! Hit the burners."
"TOO LATE! THEY ARE TOO CLO..." Strobes transmission was cut short by an ImRec missile.
"Strobe, STROBE," Skyfox saw Strobe's Arrow spin then regain control.
"I can`t take another one like that." Skyfox sighed a sigh of relief as he heard Strobe's voice.
Next, a warning tone started up and a 'LOCK' light lit. There was suddenly a shimmer in front of his cockpit. An Excalibur de-cloaked and shot right over the Arrow, guns blazing. The pirate ship just disintegrated under the heavy fire of the tachyon guns.
"YEEEEE HAAAAAA!!" Came the cry over the comm.
"Psycho?" Asked Skyfox.
"None other!" replied Psychopath. "We`ll cover your retreatand clean up the remaining pirates following you."
"I`ve never been so glad to see anyone in my entire life, thank you. I owe you one."
Three more Excaliburs de-cloaked just behind Psychopath's. "We`ll finish up here, you head back and refuel."
The 46th continued to clear up the remaining pirates.
The remaining fighters of 41st, rendezvoused with a fuel ship then headed back to the 'Vin.
TCS Invincible
15:46 hours
Skyfox managed to land his Arrow, but it was the worst landing yet.The rest of the Arrows came into land, Digger's ship landed heavily onthe flightdeck and the undercarriage collapsed, sending the front of the ship crashing against the deck. Fortunately Diggers was fine; although there were a few short-circuits, nothing caught fire.
Skyfox was dazed; when he climbed out of the ship, he almost fell, but managed to stay standing with the help of a technician. Skyfox just stood there, then screamed. It was the loudest and most angry scream anyone had heard; a lot of the people around Skyfox backed away, he then fell to his knees, held his face in his hands.
To Be Continued.....