Shake, shake, shake. Rick
woke up, seeing Mae shaking him with his eyes half closed. As he opened them he
saw she was on top of him, trying to get his attention.
"Rick, wake up! This is
the day..." Rick looked up to her, a grim smile on her face.
"We can beat them Rick!
We'll beat them all the way back to Kilrah!" Rick rubbed the sleep out of
his eyes, it was long before they normally woke up.
"Well, you sound like a
propaganda video today."
"Then...If anything, I
want them to pay for this." She got up and showed him her right leg, out
of all the scars on it she pointed at a rather long one running up to her
thigh. Just one out of at least a dozen.
"Heh...I'll do that for
you, Mae. Damn cats always ruining things, nice legs included." She blushed,
slapping him playfully in the face, laughing at him.
"Careful now...But
thanks for the compliment." She smiled as she put on her uniform.
"Unfortunately for you
I'm not wearing a skirt today so no more nice legs for you." Rick hid his
head under his arms as she finished dressing up.
"Say it ain't so! We
could kill all the cats if we showed off your legs! They'd feel so bad they'd
kill themselves! It's the ultimate weapon!" She looked over at him,
rolling her eyes.
"Sometimes I worry
about you...Aren't you still obsessed with that one girl back on
Hurricane?" Rick nodded, smiling.
"Yea...But I still can
say you look nice." He mumbled to her, she smiled and slapped him in the
face again for fun.
"And that's a nice
thing to say. But anyways...Let's go, Rick." She grabbed her helmet and
walked off, Rick doing the same...Pausing at the picture of the girl. As Meg
went into the hallway Rick grabbed it, putting it into his pocket and following
her.
Soon the entire wing of
pilots had assembled, Mollo speaking to all of them in the mission room.
"This is it, everyone!
The grand finale for the Enyo System! The enemy strike force has been located
and two of our other Exeters are launching fighters to take it out! So now
we're going to help out...Our fighters are going to take one of the Ralari, the
Broadsword fighters will take out the other, and the Panher fighters will
attack the Falthi." He studied his command, the six pilots.
"It may seem odd to
have so many fighters to take out three ships but we predict there will be
heavy resistance...So be ready for a dogfight." Ballentine and Allison
smiled, both of them thinking of the prospect.
"Let's get them
bastards, eh?" Mollo nodded at him.
"That's the spirit,
Valentine. First wing is Delta, Swordblade, and Artimis. She specifically
requested to fly your wing, Rick." He looked behind, Allison winking at
him.
"Second wing is
Pilgrim, Valentine, and Honeybee." Ballentine started grinning, he
couldn't wait to put some cats into the space graveyard.
"Get ready to launch in
five minutes! Godspeed, everyone." Mollo watched as they ran over to their
fighters, wondering if something would happen to one of them.
Soon enough Rick was in his
Scimitar, right in front of the other three...Hell's Unicorns.
"Delta, you're ready to
go! Good luck!" Rick gave Johnson a thumbs up as they started towing his
fighter over to the launch tube. As soon as he was in place he closed the
canopy, looking over his instrument panel...Seeing an empty spot between the
scanner and the nav computer, he took out the picture and put it in there, the
beautiful girl staring at him.
"Delta to all members
of Hell's Unicorns, good luck out there. Just make it back in one piece. We'll
need everyone we can get later..." The others responded with various
whoops and yells, Rick trying to see the red unicorn painted on the side of his
Scimm.
"Launch now..." It
was time for the Confed to start fighting back, the Kilrathi were too close to
home.
As soon as they were out the
tube, the hunt was on. Allison's Hornet started ahead, Rick and Meg flying on
her flanks, forming a triangle.
"Get ready you too, I
can see them up ahead!" Rick activated his Mass Drivers, he wasn't wasting
his missiles on the shields.
"Leave him for me
Allison, you've killed enough of them! I'll blow them up to pieces for
you!" Valentine's wing started flying up behind them, he wasn't much of a
relief. Rick blew a kiss at his picture.
Good luck for me, love...
The Hornet started up with
it's Laser Bolts, the blue beams smashing into the Ralari's side, before she
finally had to pull out to recharge.
"Don't worry about him
Valentine, there's plenty more of them around!" She smiled as she watched
his Scimm fly around, swearing she could see him shake his fist at her while he
went by. Meanwhile Rick looked over to see Meg boosting towards the Ralari.
"Meg, save your fuel
for boosting away, it isn't going anywhere! If you go at cruising speed you
won't use up any!" He looked over to her, the green bolts of energy
charging up at the tips of her guns.
Suddenly the Ralari loomed
large, Rick letting fly with all of his shots, the Drivers drained of all
power. As he flew off he could see the red anti-fighter flak being fired, one
of the Raptors trying to lay mines getting hit in the engine, blowing it apart
in one hit. He turned away, thankful it wasn't him.
"One of the Raptors is
down! Make sure you stay away from the flak!" Rick moved over to Allison's
Hornet and watched as Meg made her run, several explosions running up to the top
of the Ralari's left side. While she flew back to recharge the other three made
their run. Honeybee and Pilgrim went around and attacked the other side,
draining the Ralari's shields, Valentine made his run on the left side where it
was damaged the most and ended up taking a flak charge in his side. The lucky
guy still made it back.
In the meanwhile the three
remaining Raptors had laid out a trap of Porcupine mines in front of the cruiser,
as it by it ran into several, taking out it's front shields with a light touch
of them. Before it could even stop the Ralari had been crippled, it's flak guns
working overtime.
In response to the Confed
fighters preparing to make their second run several objects came flying out of
it, not flak or lasers.
"Four enemy Krants are
coming after us!" One of the Raptors turned around to fight, in vain as
the Krants overwhelmed it and took it out. However, one of it's attackers ran
into one of the mines and blew it's front off, kitty included.
"Hey Rick...How about
we get into this war?" Valentine jetted off after the Krants, by himself.
"...Artimis, can you
handle this by yourself? I'll keep the fighters off you." She nodded over
the vid-comm., Rick chasing after Valentine...Making sure that it was safer for
Allison.
One of the Krants had
noticed the Scimms and decided to attack, leaving it's friends behind.
Valentine was already on him, he opened up with the Mass Drivers, smashing the
cockpit up. To end it he fired a dumbfire, the Dart blowing the Krant apart, a
lucky hit.
"Good! Finally got a
kill here!" He let out a yell.
The other two Krants came
over, seeing the rest of the fighters from the Regal making a second run. One
of the two decided to fight Rick, making a hit and run, splashing the front
shields of his Scimm with laser bolts, the Krant flying out of the way before
he even had a chance to react.
In the meantime the others
were making their second run, Regent and Rokain speeding in and out with guns
blazing, both making it out unharmed. Meg and Pilgrim flew in next, Meg making
her shots hit without getting hit herself. Pilgrim decided to unload his
missiles, a lucky flak shot hitting him in the undercarriage as he launched his
last missile, the Dart exploding right on it's hardpoint.
The Krant decided to fly
back, Rick locking onto it with a heat-seeker. No way he was going to get shot
down by a cat.
"I got you now."
He watched as the Krant flew underneath him, Rick launching the Javelin as it
passed by the other way. It followed the Krant right off the hardpoint,
smashing into it's engines.
Meg made her way back to the
Ralari, the wounded cruiser exploding, panels and shrapnel flying off it's
sides, one of it's back wings falling off and drifting away. It was her
chance...She zoomed up and let fly, all of her missiles smashing into the
Ralari...Soon it had collapsed and imploded on itself, no more cruiser. But as
she tried to fly away, the Scimm started slowing down to it's reserves - She ran
out of fuel.
The Krant made it's way to
confront it's attacker, this time Rick was ready, he let off another
heat-seeker, not even having time to shoot his Mass Drivers as the Krant took
the hit and flew past him. Still going.
Just as the cruiser fall
apart completely, four Salthis and a couple of Dralthis came back, to see their
Ralari destroyed and Confed fighters swarming the place.
To make up for it they
decided to take on the fighters from the Broadsword, flying over to help out
after taking on the other Ralari in the area. Valentine noticed this, fresh
from killing the other Krant by running it into a mine. He took on a Salthi,
the fighter never noticing the Scimitar behind it until it was splattered
across the stars.
Rick finally caught up onto
the Krant, loading it's back end up with Mass Driver shots. About damn time,
he thought, as the Krant fell apart.
Magis watched as Valentine
came over and shot down another one of the others coming at hit. He hit it with
a heat seeker, smiling as it blew up. Another flew by, getting nailed in the
side as Magis opened up on it.
Allison moved up to their
position, one of the Dralthis flying in front of her. She blew it's wing off
with her Laser Bolts, the fighter going down. The last Salthi came up over to
her, Allison watching as the lock for her Javelin came up.
Times like this, I'd
never let you get away...
The lone Salthi turned into
a brilliant flash before it died down, the flames reflecting on the canopy
glass, on the glass on her helmet's visor, in her eyes...
The only Kilrathi left was
the lone flapjack. It was outgunned, the Dralthi pilot deciding to take on
Allison's Hornet while her back was to him...
She was too smart, knowing
that something was behind her before she even looked down at the radar. The
Hornet turned around, Allison watching as the Dralthi came closer...The enemy
lock-on warning started beeping, the sound droning in her ears as she readied
her aim...
The pancake let loose with
it's own heat seeker, flying upwards thinking that was all it took to take down
the little bee...Allison didn't think so. As the Dralthi's belly came into view
she fired her two remaining dumbfires, the range too close that they couldn't
miss...The flapjack split in two as the bottom armor crumpled like paper.
Meanwhile the missile it fired was two thousand meters away from Allison and
closing...She broke hard left and hit the air brake, the engine dying down and
losing heat...The missile flying right past until it blew up by itself. Sweat
trickling down her face...Then laughing as she realized she didn't get killed.
"TSC Regal to all
flights, prepare to draw back now! Head home!" Rick was still watching the
remains of the Krant float away as the message came over his comm. He looked
over to his right, the other Confed fighters returning home. As he flew back he
saw Meg trying to catch up, unable to speed up.
"Out of fuel Mae?"
She nodded over the vid-comm.
"Well then...I'll fly
you home." The two Scimms flew side by side, the flares of their engines
fading into the void.
Forward To Chapter 8
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