It was morning, at least the
clock said so. Hard to see how light it was outside in space.
Rick got up, looking over to
see Meg still sleeping softly in her bed, a smile on her face like she was
dreaming about locking onto another kitty...He went over to her, putting a hand
on her cheek, seeing how long it'd take her to notice.
"Ah! Aw...It's
you." She swatted him in the face, surprised by the wakeup call. She
rubbed the sleep out of her eyes before getting up.
As she stood up, Rick could
see the scars all over her legs and feet. The Covans were widely known, yet in
recent years the family was poor. Meg had been a worker because of this...Yet
they had a great military history, her father an ace before a Dralthi pilot
killed him several years back.
Rick was already dressed in
his uniform before Meg even got out of bed, still barefoot in a tanktop and shorts.
As she started putting on her socks she turned to him.
"Wonder what we'll do
today." Rick looked back at her.
"Aw...Nothing compared
to Port Hedland."
"...We didn't do
anything at Hedland, Rick."
"Well, we were born
there, we're real heroes there." She rolled her eyes as she finished
dressing up, Rick patting her on the back.
"Calm down Mae, just a
joke."
"Yeah...That's where I
got all these ugly scars too. Damn Draymans! Never get in the transport
business Rick, damn stupid cats always shoot at you..." He nodded, a long
time ago Meg had flown civilian Draymans as part of a delivery service. One
time a couple of cats mistaked her for a military ship...They nearly destroyed
it before some Hornets arrived, the explosions killed off most of the crew
except for her and the co-pilot. It left her with all of the scars on her legs,
most of them anyways.
"Don't worry, I
won't..." He put a hand on her cheek; she blushed in reply.
"Thanks buddy." He
helped her up as they went out of their quarters to the mission room. As she
walked off Rick stared at a picture of a girl with long dark hair and eyes,
very pretty...He sighed as he walked after Mae.
Allison was already there,
Commander Mollo waiting for them.
"Good morning everyone.
Now I got an assignment for you three. As Honeybee found out, there is an enemy
presence in the Enyo system. Now before we have the other Exeters and the
Tiger's Claw jump in, we must clear the jump point area out." Allison's
eyes widened as soon as the Tiger's Claw was mentioned.
"So we are setting out
on a search and destroy mission. You three have first shift, the other three
are resting. You'll meet up with another wing of two Scimitars and a Hornet
from the TCS Broadsword. Callsigns Ace, King, and Rook..." Meg raised her
hand.
"You mean my Ace, my
cousin?"
"Yes Swordblade, Magis
Covan. Didn't know the relationship." She smiled.
"That's him, love the
guy." He nodded.
"Anyways...The
coordinates are logged in your computers, meet up with them at the first nav point
and search the other points." They nodded.
"Alright then. Launch
in five minutes."
Five minutes later, Rick was
staring down the launch tube, strapped into his beloved Scimm.
"Delta Flight, prepare
to launch in five, four, three, two..."
This is the part I hate, he thought to himself.
"One, go!"
Suddenly the Scimitar was shot out the tube well over twice it's maximum speed
into the void. Allison and Maegen followed suit. As soon as the other two
caught up Rick started flying on the left side of Allison's Hornet.
"Artimis, you
lead." She moved it in front of the two Scimms, all three heading to the
first nav point.
They got there with no
problem, the other wing waiting for them, their Exeter off in the distance.
"This is Delta Flight.
Is this Ace Flight?" Rick looked down at the vid-comm.
"Yes sir, Ace Flight
here." Maegen smiled at the sight of him.
"Magis, it's you! Mon
cher Magis!" She jumped up in her seat with joy.
"Maegen! Dieu I s'est
ennuyé de vous! Vous ont-ils blessé
récemment?" She relished his image on the vid-comm.
"Non, je t'aime
Magis..."
"Je t'aime trop
Maegen. Vous êtes toujours aussi beau
que s'est levé..." Rick smiled at the family reunion, he could see that
Magis had a bit of hair that covered his right eye. Otherwise he couldn't tell
much from the green videocast.
"So...Hell's Unicorns!
This is the same Delta I flew with, right?" Rick looked over.
"Yea, it's Rick. And my
squadron, King." Cris looked at him over the vid-comm.
"Damnit Delta, I was supposed
to be King of the squadron." Rick laughed.
"But you aren't."
"Excuse me gentlemen,
I'm trying to talk to my cousin here..." Magis cut them off.
"Maegen, m'invitent
excédent quand ceci est fait." She smiled widely.
"Je volonté, je ne puis
pas attendre pour être avec vous encore..." Rick checked his nav computer
while they talked to each other in French, they were already at the second nav
point. In the meantime Allison hadn't talked at all, Rick feeling guilty.
"Artimis, see anything
up there?" He waited.
"Nothing, Delta."
He sighed.
"Okay, keep
moving..." Looked like it was going to be an uneventful trip...
"Delta, enemy ships
ahead! Permission to engage?" Rick checked his radar, four contacts on
screen.
"Go Artimis, Swordblade
stay with me! Ace, hear this?"
"Yes Delta, I hear.
We're attacking." The other three fighters followed as Meg and Rick took
up the rear.
"I got a lock on a
Dralthi! Two other ones up here, take them!" Alli was already on it, the
other Hornet moving past and heading towards the unknown target about a hundred
kilometers away.
"This is Rook, got a
fix on a enemy transport! Attacking now!" Rick looked up, realizing the
guy's mistake, watching him charge at it.
"Wait, Dorkir's have anti-aircraft
guns! They'll rip your Hornet apart!" He could already see the rounds
slapping the Hornet around like a toy.
"Nailed him! Going for
another!" Alli's Hornet was already on another Dralthi, the one she was
chasing turned into bits and pieces.
"Affirmative...Meg,
join up with King and Ace, take out the Dorkir with your missiles! I'm backing
up Artimis." Delta moved up as soon as the other Scimitars were occupied
with the Dorkir, going after the other Dralthi.
"Moving in on the
Dorkir now." Ace unloaded his dumbfires and one of his heat seekers at the
Dorkir, weakening its shields. He flew out of the way as the Dorkir opened up,
hitting him once in the rear, the shields absorbing the blow.
"Tally ho!" King
came up from behind the Dorkir like Ace did, unloading his missiles and
afterburning out, destroying the rear shields and blowing out it's engines...It
was stuck in a bad spot now.
"Moving in, last
run!" Maegen saw the Dorkir's damage on her targetor, she switched to her
Mass Drivers. As the transport came into view, she pulled the trigger, kept on
pressing until it went up in flames.
"Tué." She smiled
as she pulled out.
"Artimis, where are
you?" Rick looked around, unable to see her, the Dralthis moving in on the
other Scimitars.
"I'm chasing a Dralthi,
tag the other one!" She grinned as she triggered a heat-seeking missile,
watching it fly after a wounded Dralthi, laser shot marks all over it.
Farewell...I won't miss
you.
She nodded as the missile
found it's mark, right between the Dralthi's engines. It flailed over to the
left before disintegrating, Allison watching in delight.
"Took out two."
She watched as Rick followed a Dralthi, speeding up to cover him. Soon it met
the Mass Drivers to the rear, and it blew up in a fireball.
"We've cleared this
spot out! What's the condition of Rook?"
"He took a few, still
alive." Rick sighed, amazed someone could be so stupid.
"Wait...More contacts!
Watch it Delta!" He looked down at King's warning, one coming at him. Another
Dralthi, he primed up his guns at the sight of the Confed fighter. None hit him
though. Rick took over the kitty's luck and fired back, the shots tearing it up
before it had another chance to fire at him.
"Delta, the Dorkir! You
focus on it, I'm already engaged!" He looked over to see Ace fighting a
Dralthi.
"You already took it
though!"
"There's another one!
Shoot it before it can jump!" Rick looked down below him, cursing his luck
as he saw another brand new Dorkir flying around. King and Meg started lining
up to him for another run.
"I got the other
Dralthi, take the transport Delta!" Allison shot down the fighter, Ace
trailing the one he was fighting with.
Rick stared down at the
Dorkir below, he aimed his missiles and charged it. The guns started firing at
him, a couple finding their mark, none getting past the front shields though.
As the gunners had to recharge he fired all five of his missiles into it,
wearing it's shields out. Amazingly he managed to make it out without getting
shot at again.
Maegen found the damaged
Dorkir with it's side ruined, so she unloaded her remaining ordinance into it,
watching as it exploded just like the other one.
"Deux tués." She
watched behind as the other fighters started to turn around. She followed suit.
"Enemies cleared, head
for home!" Ace came back with his kill, all of them still alive. For one,
barely.
"Rook, you idiot!
You're lucky you're still alive! You can't take a ship like that in a Hornet by
yourself!"
"Sorry Ace." Rook
started sweating, the Dorkir guns had nearly wasted the little Hornet, only the
rear shields had any energy left.
"Okay, enough of
that...Report back to the Regal, Delta Flight. Good work everyone."
"Same goes for Ace
Flight. Je vous verrai bientôt Maegen." She looked at him over the
vid-comm.
"Vous aussi,
Magis." She watched the flare of his Scimitar's engines fade into the dark
as his flight headed back for home, flying proudly in front of the
others...Like he was a knight in shining armor...
Back home, Mollo was waiting.
"Delta, mission well
done. I've already viewed the flight recorders, Delta got two, Artimis got
three, and Swordblade knocked out the two Dorkir. Maegen, my personal
congratulations for taking out those transports." Meg nodded; Allison
winking at him, a wry smile on her face.
"Oh, yes...Come to my
office in an hour, Allison, I need to speak with you." She smiled as she
snapped off a salute.
"And Magis said he's
coming over to see you Maegen. That's all." She smiled as he walked away.
A couple hours later Rick
was by himself in the rec room. It wasn't even rec room, just a small empty
room with a window, they put chairs and a cooler in it because the Commander
didn't have a problem with it. So he saw Meg walking in, pulling up a table.
She grabbed a shot of tequila and gulped it down, grabbing the bottle and
putting it down on the table.
"Drinking Mae?"
"Welcoming
present." She waited, and waited...About a half hour later her cousin
walked in, her wait finally over. She jumped up, nearly flying into the air as
she landed in Magis's arms.
"Magis! Il est été trop
long!" The two embraced, kissing each other on the cheek in the standard
French fashion. Rick considered it, before drinking down a beer, wishing that
she was here with him. Magis looked somewhat like Maegen, shoulder length hair
with a bit of it hanging over his right eye, brown in color, same his eyes, the
same healthy tan like Maegen.
"Je sais, je souhaite
que je n'aie eu l'ouragan jamais gauche..." She looked at him, rubbing his
cheek.
"Il est correct
cependant, nous sont ensemble encore..." They got teary eyed, the two
embraced and sat down at their table, speaking so quickly in their native
tongue that Rick couldn't understand them. In the meantime Allison ran into the
rec room, excited over something. Seeing that Rick was there she ran over to
him.
"Rick! I got promoted!
I got promoted!" She sat down next to him, her only friend.
"I'm a first lieutenant
now!" She started to get excited, Rick held her hand.
"Good work Allison...I mean,
first lieutenant Regent." She smiled and held his hand, hugging him in
return. They looked at each other, Rick noticing the new pins on her uniform.
"Thank you, bless your
Scimitar, have a safe career..." She put her head on his shoulder; he
smiled. He liked the warmth he felt around her.
"Bless your Hornet,
stay safe Allison."
"Thanks." Rick
looked down at her, smiling.
"Well, eh...Let's
celebrate! More drinks for me and Alli!"
Forward To Chapter 4
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