The end has come .... or is it.
12
‘Red Alert! This is not a drill! Red Alert! All Scimitars’ to scramble.’ And we were in the next five minutes and facing us is open space. And a large armada of enemies ships. This is the BIG FIGHT. All the available flying crafts are up here now. And we have also in company Carrier Two and Three. In total there are two hundred and fifty Scimitars out here now.
Our complement of Carrier fleets are twelve Cruisers ( Four main cannons each, twelve twin cannons and a dozen missiles pods ), twenty frigates ( twelve Class D with 8,000 weight class with twelve twin cannons and four missiles launchers, plus eight more Class H frigate 5,000 weight class with eight twin cannons and four missiles launchers ) with twenty five support vessels. In addition there are a new complement of ten Attack Missiles Launch Crafts, which are armed with ten multi warheads missiles each and three twin cannons. The last vessels are designed for fast attack on the main enemy vessels where their missile will do the most damage. That is not the only difference done on the fleet, there are additional anti-crafts cannons attached to the vessels, giving it more power to intercept Lions’.
The enemy is not without strength of their own with the newl prototype Y Carrier and the standard Carrier. We named the new prototype ‘Newbie’ and the support Carrier ‘Standard One’. Their strength picked uup by our scanner are at assumed full strength; fleet size of this type, twelve cruiser, and thirty destroyers, plus forty support vessels. And probably a complement of three hundred fifty Lions’ plus am hundred Rhino’s. We know this from Intel the Y Carrier is designed to hold many Lions’ craft with their double Launching Runway.
If you asked me, I would said this is not my battle alone. Its the battle of the fleet and we are just the cannon fodder in the wrap. I looked to my squad and gave them my salute, as respect befitting a combat pilot, and I hoped to see them again. The last missions has got me many friends who has to go away, and I am hopping not to lose any more.
On the comms, I heard of three squads being send off to the outer perimeters to check for any hidden fleets, like the last attack on Carrier One. Ugly Getz is in the second wave with five other squads, including New Bronco. We are supposed to pick off the remanants of the Lions’ before they hit the main vessels, and if need be be the first line if the first line of ten squads failed. That first line is over one hundred and eighty Scimitars’ to take on two hundred and fifty Lions on the way.
‘Command Flight, all is going to be busy on the front.’ That was the transmission of the Mission Commander of the First Line.
My squad is split into three pairs, on my wing is Grateful back to active duty; there is Hot Stuff and Checkmate, and the last pair Sister and Spitfire. We are getting into position and doing the last checks on the engines and levels. I have Cecilia’s e-photo cell on my console.
‘Ian, if you are going to be my lover, you deserved more than my kisses. I give you a photo of mine for you to keep on your flight suit so you can see me when you are flying.’ I kept that e-photo cell on me for good luck and its in my right side pocket but today, I brought it up to the console, so she can see the battle too.
I gave her not my e-photo but a ring to wear on her index finger. It has a built in hologram of me when I was in training. I actually got it from my mentor on graduation. The hologram is fuzzy as I did not take care of it and it has been in some physical fights over some stupid drinking binges.
‘Second wave, we got stragglers coming in. Pick your target and splatter them across the moon.’ I hear the Second Line Commander, which is incidentally ‘Red Drag’. She is flying combat and leaving her Flight Command post to another officer. She is flying with her old squad, ‘The Furies’. They are a bunch of eight lady combat pilots with every bad atttitude towards Lions’. And for some reason, they managed to survive through many missions with zero losses. The other squads called them; ‘holy maidens’ for their luck.
I wanted to pedalled down for the oncoming Lions which is about twenty of them, but decided to let the younger pilots take first kill. The twenty Lions never made it beyond us, with more than fifty Scimitars drowning them. I could feel the same taste of those younger pilots as they released their hold on the trigger. Its invigorating in the feeling yet you felt shameful of your act. But we lost five Scimitars’ in that fight, due to inexperienced pilot.
‘Flight Command, we are down to below half strength but Lions are down by two third. Technically, we are doing okay.’ Sadly that was the last transmission from First Line Commander, as his craft was caught in a crossfire between the Lions and Scimitars. The next person in line took over and led the dog fight, and his transmission was more alarming; ‘Incoming Lions from the fleet, we count another hundred nand fifty.’
That is now three hundred and fifty Lions, and that could mean the end of the Lions’ pack But I was wrong; scanners picked up another hundred on.the way from a nearby moon. The order came in and its our turn to reinforced the First Line surviving eighty five crafts. We are numbering fifty five crafts as the three squads are still on the perimeter patrol. So its almost two to one odds, and that we liked that. But we are concerned on the younger pilots.
‘Joan, I love you. And I will cover your portside.’ I just told Hot Stuff on my love on the open comms. I heard those cheers and jeers from the envious ones. I am actually in fear as this is my major battle since I recover from my injury. I did not tell the team but I do wake up in fright, and only Joan knows that. She been helping me to hold my secret even from my parents. I looked at the cockpit view of the ongoing dog fight in the near distance. Soon I will be in it and its survival of the lucky ones, as in any dogfight, you can never tell where the shots are coming from sometimes.
Flight Instrutors told us in training; ‘In an attack, pedalled for speed. If you see a Lion’ shoot and don;t hesitate as your window of opportunity is only split seconds. If you scored or disabled, don;t look back for the craft, fly on and if can break off to port or starboard so you can see any stalking crafts on your stern. And set up for a new assault, and remember this; combat flying is based on the swordplay of slashing, attack and rough maneuvering. In reality fancy precision aerobatic is not much use. Instead, it is the rough maneuver and survival instinct which will tell how well you can succeed’.
There is a Lion and my finger froze on the trigger, and if not for Joan’s comm burst, I would had even forget to pedal my thruster. I followed her instructions and swung in to the portside to chase the Lion. Joan is on my starboard ahead of me, and I am her wingman now. She is throwing her cannon shots at the Lion and it went into a flaming ball. She swung to portside and I followed on. I saw the Lion coming at her from above her nose, and this time, my finger snapped onto the trigger. I did not hit it but i caused it to take evasive action. The next spilit second I was firing again at the next Lion on her portside, and soon zoomed past her. She must had slowed down for me to pass her so she can be my wingman. Gee, I loved this lady.
That was when I felt the cannon shots rippling into the port wing, and I did a sharp turn to starboard. I did not turn to see my stern as I ran into a Lion’s rear. I released my missiles on the flaming end of the Lion and peeled off to the port this time. I can feel the explosion but I am flying clear as per my instruction’s advice.
‘Hot Stuff, your status please.’ But I got no reply, I swung back to my last position and saw her Scimitar drifting out there. Someone clipped her left wing and she is not moving anywhere. I wante to tell her to eject but the Lion was not going to let go of a cripplied Scimitar. Her Scimitar was strafed from stern to nose, and then burst into flame. I don;t know what went over me, as I just pedalled to chase the bastard who shot Joan. I followed from the rear and keep on plastering the cannon shots onto the Lion. Whoever the pilot was, the manuevers were good but I am crazed man now. So every twist and turn was matched until my cannons hit the thruster and blew the craft up. For that few seconds, I was in the world of my own with the Lion, and my only aim was revenge for Joan.
That was my last thought before the right wing got snapped off in the Lion’s shot, and my craft went into a spiral turns..
‘Spitfire, watch your nine.’ I took her call and nosed to twelve and scope it up with a sharp loop to come onto the Lion’s rear. I let my missiles off to the hot end of the Lion, and swing to my eight o’clock. I got glimpse of Sister on my port, and she is okay.
‘We got one on your starboard, and I am going to cut back to let you take point.’ I cut back on my thruster to let her take the helm. I saw the Lion lining her cannons on Sister, but I have her on mine. I press the trigger and let of the long trail of tracers onto her thruster. The Lion blew up before she can clawed Sister.
‘Thanks, Spitfire. Let us swing back on some real actions now.’ She is taking the lead and I am following suit. I am beginning to like her more, but I have my heart at Techs for now. That was when the spiral Scimitar hit my portside and we both went into a deadly spin of flaming balls. I never get to tell the one in Tech, I am in love with her.
Damned this mad fight here. I cannot make out Lions to Scimitars as everyone flies across each other view. The only thing to do is to concentrate on one Lion and followed it to hell and back. Or run like a dog when chased by one bigger mad dog. I am doing just the later now, as I tried to shake my tail off, and its getting too long. So I decided to fly into a closed dogfight between four Scimitars and three Lions. In the midst of it all, I hoped the chasing Lion will find itself clawed by another. But instead it found a Scimitar in its back and that end the chase. In returned I took the last remaining Lion from the dog fight, giving them a good score of 2 - 3 in losses.
That when I saw the Scimitar crashed into Spitfire, as I recognised his emblem on the nose. Its a sad way to die but that is the surprises of the war.
‘Uglies, give me your status?’ I want to hear the callsigns as they logged in. And I got only three of the five. I gave them new coordinates to re-group and then we will fight as a team. There will be no more pairing; its going to be tag team with all four of us. We will cover each other in the coming fight.
Once they regrouped, I assigned Sister to my port and Hot Stuff to my starboard. I got Grateful flying the rear and below. We went in cannon blazing to the dog fight. At that time, the odds was Lions eighty five and Scimitars forty three left. But our perimeter squad of nineteen Scimitars are inbound with a one minute windowframe.
That when we got the new surprise. Scanners picked up fifty Lions from the moon and coming in fast. Fragging Intel really screwed it this time, as that will surely wiped out the fleet’s Scimitars. But we picked up thirty more Scimitars coming in from behind the moon, and its not ours. Its not from our fleet, but a familair voice was heard.
‘Scimitars, you leave us to take care of these rear Lions’ packs. We got a score to settle with them.’ Its the Gunfighters. And they are taking on the flanks of the fifty Lions’. That gave us the needed boost and we went into the frenzy of slaughtering the Lions’.
‘Attack Craft 109 and 110 coming in on starboard of the Newbie. We have visual and arming missiles now.’ The ten Attack Missiles Launch Crafts sneaked in on the carriers and are now in position to do damages. They also had to clear through the wall of destroyers which caused them to lose three of their numbers but the above two crafts are cleared.
‘Missiles locked and released. Time to locate next target’ As both of them turned to starboard and assisted their other numbers in the shelling of the destroyers, their six missiles of which four from 109 nd two from 110 has began its final approach. The nose of the missiles then opened up to released off another ten more mini missiles with a mini nuke on it. The Carreir codenamed ‘Newbie’ anti-missiles went into action, but its mini cannons can do only less than half the oncoming missiles. A mini missile with it inconventional load was able to do a works of its larger conventional warhead. The first explosion took off off one of the two Launching Runway while the second explosion took off the Control Tower. The subsequent ones took the decks and the armory. By the the time last missile exploded, the Carrier codenamed ‘Newbie’ has split into three balzing components.
The other Carrier ‘Standard’ had took three mini missiles on its attack by Attack Missiles Launch Craft 103, but it managed to limped off to the safe zone. A total of thirty eight Lions came back to its Launching Runway. The fleeing fleet did not lose any of its vessels but they did suffered some damages, except for Carrier “Newbie’.
On the Moon base, the Gunfighter’s took their vengeance on their previous employer and captured twenty five returning Lions’. The Gunfighters loss was only two Scimitars but they are experienced combat pilots with many missions in their flight logs.
We lost a total of one hundred and twenty five Scimitars with forty needing major repairs, plus three Attack Missiles Launch Crafts. But we saved the fleets from any attack. I lost two more pilots and one grieving parent I know lost their son.
As we leave the quadrant of space, we also left behind loads of debris and discarded rubbish. I wonder who will remember this place one day after the salvage scavengers comes to collect their dues. I for one cannot remember all the battles I fought but I know the names of my pilots who died in my command. And that list has not been completed as yet, as long as we are needed to fly the Scimitars.
‘Fight on and fly on to the last drop of blood and the last drop of fuel, to the last beat of the heart.’
Baron Manfred von Richthofen
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