"Nomad! Break left! Break left! Bandit has lock." The frantic radio transmission crackled in the pilot's ears as she pulled hard on the stick. Her Hellcat jerked left and the pilot continued rolling, pressing a button on the stick to release countermeasures. Seconds later a flash of green light bathed her cockpit and then the silent blastwave hit. Upending her aircraft and setting off a cacophony of alarms.
Nomad struggled to regain control of the Hellcat while fighting back the nausea of seeing the distant planet rotating in and out of her field of view as her craft tumbled in space.
The radio chatter continued as her squadron battled around her. The bright orange ISC weapons contrasting with the neon green of the Gaks.
Nomad finally got her auxiliary thrusters to fire, stopping the spin, but leaving her drifting towards the planet below. She knocked her gloved hand against the Hellcat's tactical screen, jogging it back to life. The triangles of her squadron were weaving in a deadly dance among the squares of the enemy. It didn't look good for her side as they were heavily outnumbered. The alien Gaks had sprung an effective ambush, coming from behind the dark side of the planet to intercept their squadron.
The radio crackled back to life with the accented voice on the other end sounding breathy and slightly panicked. "Nomad this is Vandal Leader, report status."
Nomad sighed into her helmet then radioed out breaking into the chatter. "Vandal Leader this is Nomad. Nomad thrusters bent, over."
She continued to try and get her engines to restart, the repair protocol kept hanging meaning that her systems were heavily compromised.
The comms went silent for a beat before the Vandal Leader came back with, "Vandals Abort. I repeat Vandals abort engagement."
3 months later…
Captain Aubrey Posen walked briskly down the passageway, juggling a tablet and a clipboard with papers, her blonde hair swept back in a tight French braid. Ever since realizing that the enemies had technology that could easily turn a toaster into a weapon, the ISF and member planets had adopted a low tech approach to the war which meant paper, lots and lots of paper again. Aubrey arrived at a hatch marked Briefing Room and straightened her flight suit needlessly before entering the room. It was set up like a miniature movie theater with rows of seats angled up and a large view-screen on the front. Most of her squadron were already lounging about talking amongst themselves.
Aubrey placed the tablet and papers on the podium at the front and checked her watch, unconsciously straightening her spine, though her posture was rigid to begin with. She turned towards the door and stood with her hands clasped behind her back. Aubrey almost calls the room to attention as a flustered red head bolts into the room, shooting an apologetic glance at Aubrey before sliding gracefully into one of the front row seats with the rest of the squadron offering good natured ribbing about her tardiness. Except for one of the pilots who leaned forward, his loutish features forming into a leer.
"Who were you doing Beale? I mean what were you doing?" the loud comment from him row earned a glare and the red head turned to retort but stopped when Aubrey barks out "Attention on deck!" The pilots snapped to attention, all traces of their former raucous antics gone.
A handsome middle aged man with grey edging out the brown hair at his temples entered and placed himself to the side of the podium at a table, while the honeyed blonde stepped up to the podium. Her voice rung out, "At ease people." She nodded to Aubrey who moved gracefully to sit next to the red head.
Squadron Executive Officer Lt. Col Gail Abernathy stood behind the podium gripping its edges with purpose. She was a striking woman, clad in the same black flight suit the other pilots wore. Years of conflict had done little to diminish her beauty, only adding depth to the lines at the edges of her mouth and eyes, giving her a certain gravity.
"The Skipper and I need your undivided attention for the next hour. What we are about to brief to you does not get discussed outside of this room, under any circumstances." The older woman paused a moment, raking her eyes over the pilots before continuing, "We have actionable intel that leads us to believe ISF pilots and several colonists are being held prisoner at a base in the Capella system." The woman paused a moment to let that sink in. A few startled murmurs rippled through the audience and she waited a beat before continuing.
"As you know, we have never found one of their bases before. Much less ever had the hope of finding our people after they had been taken. We have been tasked with recovering the colonists, our people and any information we can at this site. Time is of the essence so we will be partnering with two other squadrons to infiltrate, extract the personnel and gather any intel we can find at this base. I do not have to stress to you how vital this mission is. We know very little about our enemy and it is no secret that we are losing this war." When she paused a dark haired woman raised her hand. "Yes Lt. Conrad?"
"Ma'am, how did we get this intel?" Lt Col Abernathy glanced at the man she had walked in with. He nodded at the group, steepling his fingers before replying,
"We are not at liberty to discuss those details at this time." His gaze returned to the XO.
Before the XO could continue another pilot, a skinny blonde called out, "What Squadron are the prisoners from?"
"The Squadron that we lost were enroute to embark on the ICVN Arcturus. We have reason to believe based on the data recovered from a flight recorder that the attack was an ambush. Which means that we have to be prepared for anything. The Lt Col consulted the notes on her podium, they were the 251st Vandals."
A murmur of surprise rippled through the room and the red head in the front audibly gasped, bringing her hand up in front of her mouth.
"Something to add Chloe?" Lt Col Abernathy asked the red head.
"Beca was two years behind us at the Academy, she's a, uh… friend." The XO quirked a blonde eyebrow, frowning slightly. "Jesse and Luke were with us there too. We know them."
The Lt. Col nodded in acknowledgement. "The Skipper and I realize that you have friends down there. Which is why our Squadron's primary responsibility will be extracting the prisoners. The Raiders will provide air support and the Black Wolves will handle infiltrating what we believe to be the data center."
"Pictures and details of the personnel we are rescuing will be provided to the Fireteam Leaders for identification purposes."
The rest of the briefing covered the strategic details of the infiltration mission and their assignments, the pilots had their kneeboards out taking notes of vital information. Once the details were briefed the LT Col paused for a moment looking down at her podium before locking gazes with Aubrey and Chloe in turn before surveying the room. "Look team, we know you have friends down there. People you care about or maybe partied with. They need you at your best. This mission will be one of the most dangerous we have ever attempted in this war and we have absolutely no room for error. No room for doubt. You are all Marines. Keep your heads in the game on this one and bring them home. HOORAH!
A loud HOORAH echoed through the briefing room in response.
"Alright. Dismissed team. Captains stay behind."