The Brood War: Chapter 7: Unfriendly Skies, Unfriendly Allies
The modern Wraith fighter was not designed as an interceptor. Sure it was quick, agile, versatile, and fully functional in both space and atmosphere, but it had its flaws. Firstly: the fighter's main weaponry, the RAGCON missiles, were designed for destroying heavy capital and medium weight gunships; against the more nimble flyers from the Zerg, and the quick, and well armed Protoss Scouts, the Wraith would be a sitting duck, if it wasn't for the equipped cloaking technology. Secondly: though it was agile by Terran standards, it couldn't match the moves, or the turning speed of the Mutalisks. The flying bugs could make turns that would saw a Wraith in half, if the pilot was stupid enough to attempt them.
In light of these flaws the Wraith had been turned into a support fighter, flying as a ship killer, once enough damage had been inflicted on the enemy's capital ships. UED doctrine concerning fleet engagements called for the Battlecruisers to open the engagement with a volley from their Yamato cannons, damaging, and in some cases, destroying a significant portion of the enemy ships. The Wraith squadrons would then be ordered in often with escorts of Valkyrie frigates. With the Valkyries HALO missiles destroying a large percentage of the enemy's fighter forces, the Wraiths would be free to engage eliminate, and cause crippling damage to the opposing fleet.
Commander Alexander 'Snakebite" Johnston, of the 516th Fighter Wing, 2nd squadron, had been in several such fleet engagements, and knew his fighter from wing tip-to-wing tip, as did every other pilot of his squadron. Alex knew that the sixteen Wraith fighters that made up the majority of his twenty-four member squadron were unsuited for escorting eight drop ships, carrying ninety men, and a dozen Goliaths, over Zerg infested territory.
Unfortunately, every squadron that was suited for such a task was engaged somewhere else. The Zerg it seemed, were launching fiercer counter attacks, if that was possible, as the UED approached the Overmind. The Valkyries were spread thin to help combat the growing number of Mutalisk and Guardian raids. So that left it up to two squadrons of ship killers, to escort two hundred men and their equipment through a high risk area, aptly named by the surviving pilots as: "Hell's Belly." Needless to say, Snakebite was not a happy man.
"Hey Redneck, you see anything out there?" Snakebite barked over his COM to the newest pilot of his squadron.
"Naw, I ain't seen nothin' yet there sir!" Came the cheerful and enthusiastic southern drawl of James "Redneck" Carlsen. The men and women of the squadron all felt sorry for the happy, go-lucky young man, though everyone had left their loved ones back home on earth, Carlsen had left his wife and newborn at home, Redneck had yet to meet and hold his baby girl.
"Good, keep your eyes open Redneck. We don't need this FUBAR situation getting anymore fucked up then it already is!"
"Roger that sir. Ain't no Goddamn, mother fuckin' bug getting by me!"
Snakebite shook his head as he closed the COM. "Damn FNGs." He muttered under his breath as he focused his vision back out of his cockpit. Nothing but grey ash, black rock, and burning red lava, flashed by as the thirty two machines flew over the surface of Char at top speed. Well at the top speed of the slow moving drop ships that is.
Snakebite's cold blue eyes shifted contently over the horizon and saw… nothing. Nothing but ash, smoke, and dust. The ash choked sky of Char was empty. Easing back into his seat Johnston adjusted his breather, and checked his fuel reserves. Still got enough to do three of these fucking baby-sit jobs, Snakebite thought bitterly.
Taking a quick look behind him, Snakebite made sure that his fighter was keeping in formation with the slower drop ships and frigates. Noticing that a Valkyrie was close behind him, Snakebite increased his altitude to keep his thrust from buffering the frigate.
Snakebite had a lot of respect for the men and women who flew the Valkyries. Those pilots had saved the lives of him and his squadron too many times to count. The frigates had been specifically designed for anti-air combat, they weren't fast or nimble but what they lacked in speed and agility, they more than made up for in fire power, and armour. Snakebite had seen Valkyries take tremendous amounts of punishment, and then dish it back out ten fold. There were not many fighters that could stand up to a volley of HALO missiles.
"Uh, Commander?" Redneck's voice came over an open channel.
Snakebite rolled his eyes, as he opened a video link to the rookie pilot. "What is it Redneck?"
"Radar's pickin' up some blips, sir. We're gonna have company soon sir, an' a lot of it."
A look out of his cockpit confirmed Redneck's analyses. A whole swarm of Zerg flyers were head straight for them. Mutalisks. UED pilots had a couple of names for the flyers: Winged Buggers, Sky Fucks, Wraith Killers. The Glaives of the Mutalisks could rip through the armour plating of the Wraiths as though it were paper, and the winged flyers too quick and agile for the RAGCON missiles to be effective. Against Mutalisks, Wraiths were almost helpless; if it wasn't for their ability to cloak, and their laser cannons.
Snakebites mouth twisted into a snarl as he opened a channel to his squadron. "Alright all ships form up, Valkyries leaders One and Two take the lead, Wraiths leaders Two, Three, and Four, protect the flanks, and keep those bastards off the drop ships. Let's make this quick and clean."
The twenty-four pilots griped their yokes tightly in their hands, some whispered prayers for victory and safety under their breaths, while others clutched lucky trinkets. Then, like the ancient cavalry of the old ages, the knights of air and space, opened their thrusters, and charged into the fray.
Lieutenant-Commander Sasha "Queen" Terratova, Valkyrie One, breathed deep, and heavily as her formation closed into firing range. She had been in many engagements before, almost as many as Snakebite had been in, but she couldn't shake off the feeling of dread. It wasn't the same feeling of fear she felt while flying against Dominion or even against Protoss fleets, those who she flew against at least were no strangers to fear, but the Zerg… The Zerg were the embodiment of fear, and terror.
Out of the corner of her eye, Queen watched as the sixteen Wraiths engaged their cloaks and vanished from sight, leaving the eight frigates alone against the swarm of Mutalisks.
"Arm missiles boys and girls! We're going in hot!" Queen barked over her COM link to the two formations, as with practiced ease, armed her own. Green and red lights flashed around her. Queen's craft was ready to engage.
Her HUD flashed red; the frigates were now in range. Queen forced the terror and fear down, and pulled her thin lips into a savage and predatory smile. "All ships… show these Sky Fucks why the UED rules the skies."
Streaks of smoke flew from the missile carriages of the eight craft, as bright tails of orange, red, and yellow sped towards the Mutalisks and detonated. Blood, guts and gore rained to the ground, as over half of the Mutalisks were shredded by the massive missile barrage.
Immediately Queen and the seven other frigates slowed their machines down, and banked away from the conflict, in order to set up another attack run. Her dark eyes caught bright flashes of red from the invisible Wraiths, as Commander Johnston moved in to engage the remaining Zerg flyers.
This is too easy
It was a scene that had become very common; unable to see the humans and their crafts, the surviving Mutalisk were cut down by their unseen enemies, as they tried to regroup. Snakebite smiled in satisfaction, has he strafed the scattering Zerg.
A few more passes and this group will be nothing more then several new paint marks on my bird. Snakebite smiled triumphantly, as another Mutalisk burst into flame and smashed into the ground in a splatter of blood. And none too soon, energy reserves are almost gone.
Even as the thought crossed his mind, several Wraiths became visible against Char's ash choked sky. In an instant the remaining Zerg flyers, swarmed the helpless pilots. Snakebite watched in horror as a Glaive cut through the wing and into the cockpit of his wingman.
Dark, red blood splattered the windshield, as the Glaive bit, and tore through the pilots flesh, and sent the burning wreck of his Wraith smashing into the ground, exploding in a ball of fire. Snakebite caught sight of another Wraith, as it spun out of control, the left wing having been sheared off, by a Mutalisk's Glaive. The Wraith slammed into a lake of lava, and disappeared from sight.
Red flashes lit up on Snakebite's dashboard, as the last of the energy drained from his batteries. The cloak shimmered, then failed. He was now visible, and exposed. In an instant several Mutalisks converged on him, firing their razor sharp Glaives. Snakebite's Wraith shuddered, as a Glaive left a large gouge in the hull of his craft. Only long experience, and natural instincts had saved Johnston from a killing strike.
"Sir! Get the fuck out of the way NOW!" Queen cried over the COM link.
"All Wraiths disengage now! Pull up." Instantly the fourteen remaining craft, pulled back on their control sticks, opened their throttles and shot straight into the sky. Below them over five dozen streaks of bright red, orange and yellow fire, slammed into the remaining Mutalisks. The inferno caused by the timely arrival of the Valkyries consumed what had remained of the Mutalisk strike force. Snakebite breathed out a sigh of relief as the two formations regrouped.
"That was way too close, thanks for pulling our asses out of the fire Queen. Come on let's regroup with the drop ships and get the fuck outta…"
"MAYDAY, MAYDAY! Zerg have attacked the formation! Repeat: the formation is under attack by Zerg flyers! Were the fuck are our escorts!?"
Snakebite swore under his breath, as he pulled his craft into a high-G turn, his squadron following his silent command turned with him. Dozens of Zerg flyers were strafing the formation, as the helpless drop ships swerved in zigzag patterns to avoid the deadly projectiles.
A heavily damaged drop ship suddenly dropped from the formation, as blue sparks, and yellow flames burst from the gouges, and scars from the Glaives. Unable to continue flying, the heavy machine plowed into the dark grey earth, where it erupted into a bright ball of fire, killing the twelve men still trapped inside.
Above the funeral pyre, the surviving fourteen Wraiths, and the vast swarm of Mutalisks, joined together in a deadly dance. Queen and her Valkyries looked on helplessly, as the Wraiths attacked, and they were unable to do anything. The drop ships were to close to the Mutalisks, if the Valkyries were to fire a barrage of their HALO missiles, the drop ships would be hit too.
Queen looked on as two more Wraiths exploded, sending fiery wreckage crashing into the Char's ash covered surface. Bright red blood rained to the surface as several Mutalisks were shredded by laser fire from the experienced, well trained, and brave Wraith pilots.
Slowly the Mutalisk realized, that if they were going to deal with the drop ships, they first needed to deal with their guardians. Leaving the seven damaged transports, the mindless bugs flew up and attacked the remaining Wraiths. The Wraiths now seeing that they had the full attention of the flying bugs, pulled into another high-G turn, and sped straight towards the waiting Valkyries.
Streaking through the sky in a series of acrobatics, the Wraiths taunted the Mutalisks, as they twisted, dived, and spun. Queen watched the spectacle as she armed her missiles, waiting for her shot to present itself. Suddenly as one the Wraiths dropped from the sky and sped towards Queen and her Valkyries.
"Queen, open fire NOW!" Snakebite screamed over the COM.
Without hesitation Queen, and her seven other Valkyries launched their payload. Sixty-four missiles launched from the eight ships. Then just as it seemed that the Wraiths would be caught in the inferno of the HALO missiles, the twelve Wraith pilots dived. The missiles flew overtop of them and slammed into the wave of Mutalisks. Blood, gore and bits of flaming pieces of Zerg, flew out from the inferno.
"Yeehaaww! That's what I'm talkin' about!" Redneck exclaimed gleefully. "Damn stupid bugs!"
"Yeah! Hey Redneck, how many Zerg did you bag newbie?" A Wraith pilot asked
"Three…hold on… I'm 'bout ta make it four!" Redneck shot back as one of the few surviving Mutalisk flew past him.
Redneck accelerated and flew up and rolled over his target, dropping down right behind the winged Zerg. A blast from his laser cannons ripped through the Mutalisks thin wing membrane, and sent it spiraling into the ground.
"Nice shot newbie! Let's wipe out the rest of these bugs and rejoin the formation." Snakebite ordered as he rejoined his squadron. "You all did well, and when we get back to base the drinks are on… Newbie look out!"
A glob of purple goo suddenly splattered over Redneck's craft, as several large, fast flying giant worms came flying out of the ash clouds that covered Char. Redneck quickly banked his craft to the left, in a desperate attempt to shake the thick purple goo from his machine.
"Aww, shit! What the hell is this stuff?"
"Redneck you okay?" Snakebite asked as he opened a video link with his newest pilot.
"Yeah I'm alright… wait… OH GOD!" Redneck's eyes widened over the video link. "THIS STUFF! IT'S EATING THROUGH THE COCKPIT! IT'S… AHHHHHH! GET IT OFF! GET IT OFF! AHHHHHHH!"
Snakebite fought down the urge to throw-up, as he tried to shut off button for the vid-link. The purple goo had dripped onto the helpless, screaming pilot's face. The acid slowly ate away at Redneck's face, burning away patches of skin, and eating through muscle and bone. As Redneck tore at his face with his hands, trying desperately to clear the acid off his face.
Snakebite breathed deep, and did the only thing he could do. He dropped down behind the dying pilot's Wraith, locked on, and fired a RAGCON missile. The missile tore through the weakened armour of the Wraith and detonated, tearing the spacecraft apart in a bright fireball. Mercifully ending the young pilot's torment.
"I'm sorry kid." Snakebite whispered as he banked right to engage the new Zerg.
Devourer. Snakebite remembered hearing about them during briefings. Spawned from Mutalisks, they were bred for one thing. Destruction of the Swarms airborne enemies. Incredibly fast and extremely tough, their toxic venom could eat through the hulls of even the largest and toughest battlecruisers.
However, their large bodies, and poor agility made them easy prey for the Wraiths RAGCON missiles. An advantage that the versatile Wraiths were quick to exploit. Keeping out of range of the Devourers toxic spray, the Wraiths would launce their missiles then quickly turn out of range.
Snakebite watched in glee, as one of his missiles, ripped through the armoured hide, and detonated, showering his vehicle in copious amounts of blood and gore.
Suddenly the four surviving Devourers dived, and headed straight for the slow moving, and unarmed transports. Snakebite cursed as he, and two of his wingmen dived after them.
Missiles streaked from the Wraiths undercarriage, as Snakebite desperately tried to stop the massive worms. Three of the Devourers erupted into explosions of blood and guts, as RAGCON missiles slammed into them. Unfortunately the fourth one dropped behind a damaged transport, and slathered it in its toxic goo, before a missile slammed into it.
The transport slowly sputtered and died, as numerous electrical systems, their cords and power supplies destroyed, failed. The large ship quickly lost altitude and crashed into a lava lake, and slowly sank from sight.
"Is that it?" Queen asked over a video link.
"Yep, scanners are showing the sky is Zerg free. Finally." A Wraith pilot answered as she wiped sweat from her forehead with a gloved hand.
"Good, let's join up with what's left of the formation and get the fuck out of here."
With that the eleven Wraiths and eight Valkyries banked to the right, and fell into formation with what remained of the drop ships. Snakebite leaned back in his seat as he breathed out a deep sigh. He had several letters to write, one to a wife and kid who would never meet her real dad. Life was sure fucked up sometimes.
Kim Possible was not happy. What should have been a quick and easy drop was anything but. Twenty-four men were missing or dead and the mission hadn't even started yet. Kim growled under her breath as the door to the transport slowly lowered allowing, a blast of ash and dust to fill the crowded hold. Men gasped and coughed as the dust
Kim leapt from the transport and gasped as she looked around. Dark red blood dripped from numerous piles of dead Zerg. Deep tracks, shell craters, dead Ultralisks, with huge holes through their head plates singled to her that the missing armoured platoon had indeed been through here.
"Looks like our boys sure gave them hell. Eh ma'am?" Ron called out her as he leapt from his own transport. His armoured feet making a heavy thump as he landed amid a swirl of volcanic ash.
"Sure as hell does!" Kim yelled back, "Okay boys get a LZ cleared so we can unload the Goliaths when they get here. Treaston, Wilksen, Zalrine; get your squads into cover; I don't want anything sneaking up on us. L'Heux, Golhiem, you're on clean up duty. Stoppable, I want you to make sure these Zerg are really dead."
Dust swirled as the booted feet of six dozen soldiers moved to their assigned duties. Loud bangs could be heard echoing throughout the battlefield as armoured marines put hypersonic rounds through the heads of dozens of corpses. Others grunted with the effort of moving those corpses off the field.
During all of this, Kim's eyes never left the dark grey sky. Her eyes scanning for the rest of the drop ships carrying the other half of Delta Company. A loud roar singled the arrival of the drop ships as half a dozen ships burst from the ash filled sky.
Even from this distance Kim could see that something was wrong. Black smoke wafted from half of the machines, while sparks and small fires were clearly visible on the rest. Kim took a quick count of the heavily damaged craft. Two Valkyries and four drop ships! Kim thought angrily, as the craft landed in the cleared area.
Men rushed from the drop ships, their quick movements and relieved expressions, told her everything she wanted to know. The second formation had been hit and hit hard. Quickly Kim scanned the men searching for one of the officers, she needed a report.
The limping form of 2nd Lieutenant Felix Renton, slowly hobbled up to her, his face slightly green from the flight, his breathing heavy as he shifted his weight painfully.
"Good to see you alive and well Ma'am." Renton grinned as he bent over trying to catch his breath.
"Renton." Kim nodded, "what the hell happened out there?"
Renton's blue eyes became as cold and as hard as ice. "What didn't happen? We were ambushed. The whole area was so thick with bugs the pilots had to go off course. That was a mistake by the way. We ended up traveling right over a Zerg Hive; our escorts sacrificed themselves so the remaining dropships could escape."
Renton turned to look at the LZ, out of eight ships, only four drop ships had made it past the gauntlet. Forty-eight men and four Goliaths on top of the twenty-four in the first group. Seventy-two casualties. Over a quarter of Delta's strength, and they hadn't even started yet.
"Mankey? Soruchi? Did they make it?" Kim asked almost fearfully.
Renton nodded. "Josh's over by the Goliaths, trying to help patch them up. Yori's helping with the wounded."
"Good." Kim breathed out, as she activated her COM. "Ron you there?"
"Yeah, what do you need ma'am?"
"I want you to pick a couple of squads and see if you can find out were the platoon wandered off too. If you find them radio back, but under no circumstances are you to make contact with them, understood?"
"You think that they might have gone AWOL ma'am?" Ron asked after a brief pause.
"I don't know Ron, but nobody has died erring on the side of caution."
"Understood ma'am. I'll report back to you in a couple of hours."
With that Kim shut off her COM and turned to Renton. "Renton, I want you to suit up and go after him, having the extra fire power should come in handy. And send Mankey and Soruchi over to me, we have a rendezvous with a squad of Ghost Agents."
Renton nodded and limped off. As soon as he was out of ear shot Kim turned to the empty horizon behind her. "You can deactivate that cloak now Du. I already know you're here."
"I see your senses are still as sharp as ever, amateur." An arrogant voice spoke from nowhere as three shapes shimmered, as their cloaks were deactivated. A young Chinese man smirked at Kim as he pulled of his mask. Cold, dead eyes bored into Kim's green as the two glared at each other in mutual hatred.
"No need for the name calling Du. You're just upset that the Princess here beat all your scores back at the Facility." The middle Ghost Agent sneered as she removed her mask. Allowing her long raven black hair to cascaded down her back, while dark, cold green eyes glinted in the near darkness of Char's surface.
"What I want to know Shego-san, why we're being forced to work with cannon-fodder? Surely we can complete such a tiresome task without the help from these lower-humans."
"We're here to help because DuGalle has a hard-on for Special Forces groups, Fukushima. If you don't like it, I'm sure he would kindly send you back to the rat hole of a prison that you were rescued from."
The one called Fukushima pulled his mask of, reveling a young man of Japanese decent. A long, wickedly sharp katana rested on the man's back, the hilt resting above his right shoulder. While his rifle rested on a sling on his chest.
Shego turned away from her squad mates. "Hey Kimmie! Long time no see."
Kim nodded at woman, a slight smile tugging at her lips. "I see your nickname stuck even after you promised to eviscerate anybody who was dumb enough to use it, eh Shego?"
The pale woman shrugged. "If I was to do that, the UED would be lacking several thousand troops."
"Fukushima-san! I didn't think I would see you again." Yori's excited voice broke into the conversation, as the young woman rushed up to the small group. Slowing down, Yori bowed to her old friend.
"Yori-chan." Fukushima acknowledged, as he bowed to her. Soon the two were jabbering away in rapid Japanese.
"Shego. Du." Mankey nodded at the two Ghost Agents.
"Mankey." The two nodded back.
"So tell me amateur, have you discovered anything about the missing platoon yet? Or are you only getting your cannon-fodder into shape now?" Du asked, a smug smile spreading on his lips, as Kim eyes narrowed.
"Unfortunately we just landed, Zerg flyers delayed us. I was only able to discover that the platoon past through here, and, as you can see made one hell of a mess." Kim growled, pointing to the piles of Zerg scattered around the area. "I have however sent my XO ahead with a couple of squads, so we'll just sit tight and wait for him to radio in."
"Do you think it wise to trust cannon-fodder with such an assignment, Kimberly?" Du asked pointedly, "they are known to screw up royally. Don't you think you should have waited, then sent one of us, an actual Ghost on this sort of mission? Such an amateurish mistake Captain."
Kim growled at the smug agent. "Yes. I know for a fact that I did the right thing sending Stoppable up ahead…"
"Stoppable's your XO?" Shego interrupted, generally surprised. "And you haven't killed him yet? You're getting soft Pumpkin."
"I… I made a mistake about Stoppable. I know that now."
Du, however smirked. "You should have killed him for what he did. But then again I guess even cannon-fodder has it uses, eh Possible?"
Before Kim could bite back with a retort, Ron's voice came over the radio. "Ma'am this is Stoppable do you copy over."
"Yeah I hear you. A little early for you to be radioing in."
Ron breathed out a heavy sigh, over the COM it sounded like a rush of static. "Not really Ma'am we found the platoon, only a klick away from where you are now."
Kim's eyes widened in surprises as the five Ghosts turned to her, listening in on her conversation. "Then keep your voice down! I told you not to make contact with them."
"No reason to worry about that Kim. Their already dead."
Dhun, Dhun, Dhun, Dhaaaaaaa. Chapter seven alright. I hope you guys enjoyed the air battle, and yes I know Wraiths don't really stand a chance against Mutalisks. You guys have no idea how much I hate the Zerg. Their so overpowered it's not even funny. Damn Bugs. Well I'm off to get my ass handed to me by a Korean now. Wish me luck. Don't forget to review.
