"Dogfight over Gryphon"

Day 20-23:31:56

PFC Ion

Above Gryphon, Ryloth's largest moon

Free Ryloth Movement

My fighter and Xira's accelerated past the speed of sound as we flew further away from the INS(Imperial Navy Ship) Plateaa, the cruiser we hijacked half an hour ago. As we made our approach, I noticed black figures and blue dots flashing from their backs, the Nova troopers Numa was having a hard time with.

I don't know much about the Nova troopers, other that none of them are poor shots like the majority of the imperial army. But I'm not too worried either, since I was facing them in a well-equipped TIE interceptor.

I'm just praying I don't have to face another fighter head on. The last time I fought in a jet fighter was in video games. I was practically shredded, and I haven't flown a fighter anywhere since, except the time I ran away from Earth.

As the two of us sped towards the moon estate, I started regretting climbing into the eyeball of this TIE. As much as the TIE interceptor was armed to the teeth and even more agile than a helicopter from my world, it didn't make it less fragile that any of the TIEs in the imperial fleet.

Right now I kind of blame myself for wasting time on memorising the function of mitochondria and finding the area of a triangle instead of spending it inside a public simulation pod. I'm willing to bet if I spent my money on that instead on piles of pointless textbooks, I would have already beaten a whole Imperial fleet.

But there was no time for concerning, I still have a pack of Nova troopers and a squad of V-wings to deal with. The anti-air defense was busy dealing with our hijacked warship, so it was just me and those Nova troopers.

I took a look at the life form scanner on my fighter and noticed a group of Nova troopers gathering at the only hangar of the estate. I was going to just blow up the hangar, but then I realised that was where the V-wings we desperately needed were parked, so it was not an option.

Instead, I fired amy six cannons at a weak spot at the side of the hangar. The V-wings were too heavy to be pulled out, but the dozens of Nova troopers were sent flying out of the breach. By then the enemy force was cut down to a half, safe enough for me to get my boots on the ground.

But just when I was about to jump out of the cockpit and into the hole I blew, my radar went wailing. Enemy fighters just took off from Ryloth's surface, and I'm willing to bet they're really looking forward to blow me out of the sky.

I was able to eavesdrop on their comms since the fighter was stolen, but that didn't help much, other that allowing me to hear the enemy pilots mocking Xira and I. "Alright, standard flight op guys. Take out some slaves and we'll be home in no time." One of them said.

I hate flying in a fighter jet, but I hate imps like these even more. I made it my mission to cross them off the galaxy, and that's what I'm gonna do. I looked at my radar and banked left, where a squadron of five TIEs were waiting for me and Xira to show up. She was nowhere to be seen, but I was too busy to ring her up. The enemy fighter were already firing at me.

I did a barrel roll and managed to take only a hit. The hostile squadron scattered and used every way they could imagine to try to take me out, but I was still standing. Eventually one got careless and was about to fly past in front of me. And without a second thought, I lit up my six cannons and blew holes into the TIE.

Parts flew out of the damaged TIE and gas was leaking from its rear. I shifted right and followed it closely, putting more and more dents onto in until it exploded in a while fireball. I must've pissed off the rest though, because every two seconds a cluster of green lines would fly past me and rock my fighter.

I had to huddle the moon surface to keep myself alive. Two of them followed, while the rest broke away to engage Xira's fighter. And right when things couldn't get any worse, my missile alarm went off like an alarm clock. Several automated torpedo tubes caught sight of me, and their AI computer decided I was a good target.

A group of three proton torpedoes hurtled towards my fighter. I barely dodged the leading one, and turned left sharply before the turbolasers have their eyes on me as well. I set my fighter into an endless spin, hoping the two torpedoes would follow and eventually collide into each other.

My fighter never exploded. The coast was clear. Now it's just the TIE fighters. "Stubborn one. Time to introduce you to gravity!" A pilot grumbled and lit up its cannons, forcing me to bank sideways. "Somebody get these TIEs off my back! They're killing me!" I yelled desperately, hoping someone out there would give a damn.

Meanwhile...

PFC Numa Bril

The estate op was more troubling than I expected, especially the Nova troopers guarding the facility. It seems like everyone was having trouble handling the Empire after the massacre. Even Ion was shouting and swearing over his comlink.

I wasn't far from the controls to the anti-air defense. I knew if I could turn them against the imperial's TIEs, I could save my people flying dangerously out there, and myself from a battering scolding from Cham.

"Looks like they need a little help up there. The controls for the anti-air defense ain't far away. Maybe we should take it down first." I suggested while returning fire at a squad of Nova troopers.

"The hangar isn't either. I'd very much rather take to the skies with them." Replied Cham. I guess there's no point arguing. All I could do was aiming at the Nova troopers and gun them down the best I can.

I finally managed to take one out after some three minutes of mindless shooting. And in that rate Ion and Xira are going to be space dust by the time we get to the hangar. So without even thinking twice, I mantled on top of the supply crate we were using for cover and picked off another two Nova troopers.

"That's three. Another ninety something to go!" Said Cham. As I continued to fire at the Nova troopers I saw one of them sprinting at me. But before I could turn my rifle on him, I was struck down by him and lay flat on the ground.

He tried to aim at me and finish me off, but I managed to kick his blaster away before he could hold down the trigger. After that it was the roughest fistfight in my life. Every time I think I have the upper hand he would do something fancy, and I'm back to a square one.

At one point I was hit by a solid uppercut and a fist close to my left earbud, setting my left eye out of action and sending me falling to the ground on my back. I had no idea what was the trooper wearing on his wrist, but it sure was capable of causing a massive trauma. I couldn't see very well, but I could feel the violet blood running down my cheek. Somehow I wasn't taking more shots or punches. Cham must've kept them busy.

I reached for my DC17 holstered on my right thigh and tried to figure out where the rest of the Nova troopers were, but trying to shoot straight with only one operational eye was easier said than done. And without a proper sleep(six hours, that's all I need), I was having problems to even lift my arm.

Damn, it hurts.

Back to PFC Ion…

I was lucky to still be alive. Five minutes of dogfighting in the skies was much longer than five minutes of ground assault, and I was experiencing it firsthand. Xira was still in the fight, and she has already shot down one of the TIEs after us.

For some reason Gobi was completely ignoring me, probably why I'm having so much trouble just shooting down two fighters. But right now I'm too frustrated to blame anyone. I need to put those fighters on ice.

One went past just in front of me. It was going too fast for me to shoot, so I decided to tail it and look for an opportunity. "Not bad slaves...but I'm better." The enemy pilot taunted. But I wasn't in the mood to listen to BS, I knew I had to shoot it down while I still can.

The fighter in front of me banked right sharply, right towards the hijacked light cruiser. And that was the end of it. It flew right into the line of fire of the cruiser's turrets. I didn't even have to shoot it. I heard the remaining two pilots panicking on how they lost three of their comrades all of a sudden. The tables were turning.

By now there was nothing left of the anti-air defense down on the surface of Gryphon. All that's standing in my way was the last of the TIE fighters. Seconds I heard yet another pilot yelling his last words as his TIE exploded, followed by Xira's excitement.

I noticed the last pilot trying to flee from the battlefield, but it was no use. It was already hovering around the centre of my targeting systems. I pulled down both triggers on my two joysticks. The tip of the interceptor's wings lit up like a Christmas tree and emitted waves of green lines.

The TIE frantically drifted sideways in an attempt to shake the cannon fire, but I wasn't about to let it run. I did my best to copy its every movement, with my fingers holding firmly on the trigger without even thinking of letting go.

At last the TIE spinned out of control and exploded into oblivion. The skies were finally clear, and almost instantly I hailed the general through my comlink. "General, the skies are clear. All AA batteries are accounted for. Are we clear to land the cruiser?" I asked as I smiled slightly under my breathing mask. It always felt good to win a tough fight.

"I don't know what you did, but I'm not seeing any imperial reinforcements. You are clear to land. And hurry, Numa's hurt badly and I can't stop her bleeding." Replied Cham. I almost cursed under my breath out of horror. Gobi briefly told me how badly hit was the movement, and they can't afford to lose even one men right now.

Besides, an underground society was formed in my school back in the old days, which I was part of. They taught me how to be a rifleman and a medic at the same time, and I figured there's no better time to use that skill than now.

I landed my TIE interceptor in the hangar as quickly as I can, while leaving some space for the cruiser to touch down later. I bolted upright and flung the cockpit hatch open. "Good timing. We can use some help." Greeted Cham. Without time to waste, I hopped off the eyeball and rushed to her side with a piece of cloth from my improvised medkit, one of the several tools in my backpack.

And right behind the landing gear of a V-wing was Numa, with her left arm and face soaked in her own blood. My jaws dropped as I caught sight of her wound, at least a whole inch wide. "Shit..." I firmly pressed the cloth onto her wound, the only thing I could think of doing.

Normally I would use a bandage, but imperial reinforcements were well on their way to hunt us, and that fact just made my time limit to fix her wound even shorter. I had to improvise, and I had to do it quick.

She was drifting between consciousness and probably couldn't even hear me swearing as I strapped my gun sling around her forehead. "Gobi, have you finally landed the cruiser? We need an exfil, like ASAP!" I shouted anxiously. Xira rushed to my side once she got out of her TIE interceptor. "How bad is...oh by the name of..." She stammered, after seeing the horrifying amount of blood Numa has already lost.

The bleeding finally showed signs of stopping after like a hour or so. I know my mind likes exaggerating, but a minute of trying to save a life was definitely no walk in the park. Eventually the cruiser landed in the hangar with a deep clang. With an extra hand from Xira, I slipped my soaked hand under her armpit and lifted her up.

While Cham was busy setting the V-wings to autopilot, I was struggling to keep Numa steady. After a long three minutes, our job on Gryphon was finally done, with a squad of V-wings and Numa out of action for a time I couldn't even guess. With her incapable of fighting, I guess I'm not either, since I was the only person alive in the Movement that knows a thing or two about healing wounds.

Now I gotta figure out what to say to her after she wakes up.