Chapter Two: Take to the Skies


As the coastline came into view for the squadron, the signs of conflict could be seen. A ground team was already engaging the enemy, with explosions peppering the air above the land. Dark shapes could be seen darting above the troops.

"Vortex, I've got eyes on...something, but I can't make it out," said Falcon-3.

"I see it too, Jump," said Vortex. He quickly radioed the team on the ground. "Fireteam X-Ray, this is Falcon Squadron. We are ready to engage, keep those hostiles in one place, over."

"Falcon Squad, you couldn't have picked a better time to show up!" a voice came in reply. "These things have us pinned down!"

"Things, plural?" said Jump. "They didn't tell us there'd be more than-"

"Contact!" shouted Falcon-2, swerving to the side to avoid a shape suddenly appearing in front of him. The others did the same.

Vortex looked behind him as the shape passed him by. It resembled a giant stingray, slightly larger than their planes. It was a dark navy blue on top, while its underside was sky blue. "Target sighted, breaking off to engage!" He swiftly turned around to give chase.

Although it had no no obvious means of staying aloft, the corrupted Gem was able to keep pace with the jet. Vortex lined up the target, and pulled the trigger, riddling the creature with bullets. The barrage hit its target, but failed to poof the Gem, which used its wings to brake, turning back towards land.

"I've got it!" said Falcon-4, descending on the ray from above. He let loose a stream of gunfire, clipping through its wings. When it tried to evade, he dipped beneath it, sending another burst up into its underside.

Some of the machine gun fire slipped past the Gem, whizzing past Falcon-2. "Woah! Hey, Mayhem, watch the heat!"

"My bad!" said Falcon-4, Mayhem. "This thing blends in with the sky from underneath!" He flew closer to the Gem, making sure not to miss with his next barrage. The bullets cut through its form, and it fell down to the earth, its body disappearing in a cloud of smoke before it hit the ground.

"Ye-heah, Mayhem!" said Rattler. "Scratch one rock!"

"Vortex, I don't have eyes on the gemstone," said Jump. "Repeat, that's no rock in the air."

At that moment, several more stingray-shaped Gems descended from above, having been almost perfectly camouflaged against the cloudless sky. Most of them began divebombing the ground team, while three of them broke off to engage the fighters.

"No time for that, Jump, we've got company!" said Falcon-2.

"Three hostiles incoming," said Vortex. "Falcon Squadron, pick a target and stick with it! Don't let it give you the slip!"

Falcon Squadron broke formation and began pursuit of the targets. Falcon-2, Vortex, and Jump each engaged one of the pursuing Gems, while Mayhem and Rattler went after the ones attacking the troops.

Mayhem chased after a Gem, his gaze fixed on it almost as tightly as his targeting systems. He waited for a missile to gain a lock, and when the beeping was replaced by a steady tone, let one fly. The corrupted Gem whipped around, sailing over the projectile and the one who fired it. The missile sped onwards, exploding against the side of a mountain. "Bah! Things're too quick!"

"Roger, sticking to MGs," said Rattler.

Sticking as close to his target as he could, Vortex fired in short bursts, careful not to miss. The Gem's wings were beginning to look frayed from the assault, but it still flew just as fast. Just as he was lining up the killing blow, Vortex caught sight of Falcon-2 flying past, a Gem clinging to his tail. "Tailspin, hostile on your six!" he said.

"Yeah, thanks, I noticed!" Falcon-2, Tailspin, shouted back. "She's on me like a tick, I can't shake her!"

Try as he might to evade it, the Gem continued clinging to Tailspin. The ray got above him, and its tail shot downwards, piercing through the metal of his fighter. It clung to his jet as he tried and failed to pull free from its grip.

"Now it's exactly like a tick!" Tailspin lamented. "Hang on-it's pulling me down!"

With its stinger hooked tightly in place, the Gem began tugging Tailspin down towards the ocean. He fought against it, but it was just as strong as his plane, maybe stronger.

"Try and keep it still, I'm coming in!" said Jump, turning around to head towards him.

"You say that like it's easy!" replied Tailspin. Nevertheless, he pulled against the Gem, holding both it and his plane as still as he could. Jump raced towards him, both planes facing the other.

Jump lined up the shot as he headed right at the Gem. Just feet away, he let loose a burst of gunfire, hitting it right between the eyes. Its physical form dissipated instantly, freeing Tailspin from its grip. He pulled upwards as Jump sped through the puff of smoke.

"Saved my ass again, Jump," said Tailspin. "What's that, seven times now?"

"Eight," Jump corrected. "Vortex, that's another stone unaccounted for."

"Haven't seen any over here, either," said Mayhem.

"Not a one," said Rattler.

Vortex was puzzled. Usually, his squad were experts at spotting the telltale glint of a gemstone falling to the ground. "If nobody's seen any, then there aren't any to see," he said.

"But if they ain't Gems, what are they?" asked Mayhem.

"Hey, uh, boss?" said Rattler. "Hate to interrupt this train of thought, but you notice anything weird?"

"No. Weird how?" Vortex asked.

"Weird in that it was clear skies a second ago, now it looks like a storm's brewing," answered Rattler.

His mind focused on the Gems, Vortex hadn't noticed anything of the sort. But now that he looked around, he could see that the sky, recently cloudless for miles around, was now filled with clouds-dark grey ones at that. "Wind's picking up, too," he said. "Maybe a tropical storm?"

"Nah, we're too close to land," said Tailspin. "We're missing something here."

As he scanned the skies above him, Jump caught sight of something. A brief glimpse of shadow where there shouldn't be. All of a sudden, everything clicked. "Team?" he said, sounding worried. "I think I just solved our weather problem and our missing gem problem…"

"What've you got?" Mayhem asked.

"Look up."

The other four pilots did so. The dark clouds now began to swirl around them, forming into a localized hurricane. Right above the eye, which was still free of clouds, there was a faint outline, almost imperceptible. A shape like a stingray the size of an aircraft carrier, its underside the same color as the sky.

"Ooh…" said Tailspin. "So that's what we're dealing with…"

A bellowing cry rang through the air as the clouds grew darker still. Wind whipped over the planes as visibility dropped to nearly zero, only periodic flashes of lightning illuminating their surroundings. "Falcon Squad, what's going on up there?" asked a frantic soldier over the radio.

"Fireteam X-Ray, you might want to get to shelter," said Vortex. "Looks like we're in for some rough weather…"

"We can't take out something that size on our own!" said Jump. "Radio for backup, tell command to send in the heavy hitters!"

"We don't need the heavy hitters, we have me!" said Mayhem, speeding up towards the Gem. He rapidly let loose every missile in his arsenal, laughing like a madman. As the missiles raced towards their target, a swarm of smaller rays appeared from the larger one, taking most of them. The swarm enveloped Mayhem, who cried out in alarm.

"Mayhem? Mayhem, respond!" said Jump. "Are you alright!?"

"Yeah, I'm fine, I'm fine!" Mayhem replied, his voice undercut with static. "The little ones're protectin' their mama!"

"We need a plan," said Rattler. She was nearly drowned out by the static. "Boss, any ideas? Boss?"

"What's wrong?" asked Jump. "Vortex, respond! Vortex!"

"No good, the storm's jamming our comms," said Rattler. "But hey, if anyone can handle a storm like this, it's Vortex.

Elsewhere, Vortex was trying to navigate the sudden storm. "Team, come in," he said, trying to contact his squad, to no avail. "Do you read? Tailspin? Jump? Anyone, can you read me?" He sighed, turning off the radio. He was flying blind, almost literally. If not for his instruments, he couldn't tell which way was up in this storm.

Realizing that the corrupted Gem was responsible for the storm, Vortex surmised that neutralizing it would cause the weather to normalize. There was still the matter of actually accomplishing this, though. Without his team, he was sure to be overwhelmed by the onslaught of its smaller spawn. Though given how they had gone downwards at Mayhem, there was a chance that it was defenseless from above. Vortex pulled back on the throttle, heading straight upwards.

Thunder exploded around him, and raindrops slammed against the canopy as Vortex headed above the storm. He half expected to run into the Gem, but instead found himself carried into a dense fog. The rain, thunder and wind stopped completely, but visibility was still impaired. Vortex took a moment to take in the quiet, before he attempted to radio his team again.

"Falcon Squadron, come in. Somebody, come in. Command, Fireteam X-Ray, does anyone read, over?" He only received static in reply. Vortex thumped the top of his dashboard in irritation, knowing that either he would have to face the Gem alone, or his team was facing it without him, neither option he particularly liked. He slowly began to descend, trying to find the target in the fog.

While he didn't run into the Gem, Vortex did notice something in the distance. A steady orange light, glowing dimly and heading upward. Unsure of what this was, he headed over to get a better look. As he grew closer, he could make out a dark shape attached to the light. Suddenly, he realized that the light was very quickly glowing brighter. He swerved out of the way just as the dark shape flew past him.

Vortex turned around and gave chase. Whatever this thing was, it wasn't a corrupted Gem. It seemed to be made of dark metal, with two slender wings facing out behind and slightly beneath it in a 'V' shape. It almost looked like a plane, but Vortex had never seen a plane like this before.

He tried the radio again. "Unidentified craft, this is Falcon-1 of BAINE. You are at the site of a current engagement, please respond." He again got no answer, even though something should have gotten through at this distance. "Repeat, this is Falcon-1 of BAINE. Identify yourself immediately."

Instead of a verbal response, the craft turned sharply to the right, almost as though trying to shake Vortex. He followed after it, to which it tried to corkscrew. He was barely able to keep up. Considering its ability to outmaneuver his own fighter, Vortex figured it had to be some sort of experimental fighter. His mind still locked in 'combat mode,' his first thought was of SEEN or the CoH.

"Okay then," he said quietly. He triggered a lock onto the craft, which was now ascending. Suddenly, at no prompting, the lock broke off. Confused, Vortex assumed he must have broken it by accident, and pressed the button again. Just as before, the lock held for roughly three seconds, before being lost. Was the craft somehow jamming him?

Just before he could switch to machine guns, the cockpit was suddenly illuminated by a warning light. Vortex quickly checked his instruments, realizing that he was getting too high up. And yet, the craft ahead of him just kept going. Baffled and a little bit disappointed, Vortex disengaged, heading back down as the craft stayed its course. Its wings folded up against its main body, and it disappeared out of sight.


Meanwhile, the rest of Falcon Squadron was being overwhelmed by the Gem's spawn. "They just keep comin'!" yelled Mayhem.

Tailspin darted downwards to avoid one coming right at him. "We might have to do something drastic!" he said.

"I'll give you drastic," said Rattler. "I'm goin' up there. Open fire on the big one!"

"Roger," said Jump. As Rattler climbed, the three remaining pilots focused fire on the corrupted Gem. As Rattler had expected, this caused the smaller ones to swarm to its defense, blocking their attacks. This left the main body defenseless from above.

Rattler leveled out, speeding towards its face. "Bombs away!" She emptied her salvo, firing missile after missile into its face. It tried to dodge, but its large size made it too slow. Rattler skimmed its back, continuing to fire as she raced above it.

The beast's tail lifted up, attempting to strike its attacker. Rattler fired one last missile, the explosion severing its stinger. The barb flew to the side, turning into smoke that was quickly blown away by the wind. The Gem let out one last bellow as it fell to the earth below.

Almost instantly, the storm began to clear. The wind slowed and the clouds dissipated, giving way to the clear skies that had greeted the squad. Jump looked up to see Vortex descending down to join them. "Wow, cap, you're way off course," he said. "How'd you end all the way up there?"

Vortex was quiet for a moment, his mind still fixed on the craft he had seen. "Did any of you pick up anything strange on your radar?" he asked. "Something beside the Gems?"

"Nothing in the air but us," said Tailspin. "Even if their was, I was too busy focusing on the giant flying manta ray to notice."

"It was a stingray, idiot," said Mayhem. "Manta rays have those flappy things up front. Plus, mantas don't have stingers. That's why they call them 'stingrays!'"

"Who cares what it's called, it's grounded now!" said Rattler. "Someone send in a retrieval crew."

Another voice came through over the comms. "Falcon Squadron, do you copy? Our satellites picked up a major weather anomaly on top of your location. What happened down there?"

"We're all good, Command," said Jump. "Threat neutralized."

"Glad to hear it. Form up and return to base."

"Roger," said Vortex. He and the others retook formation as they flew back to HQ. "Command...were any other anomalies detected in the area?"

"Negative. Just the sudden storm," said Command. "Why?"

Vortex hesitated. "I...Back there in the storm, I thought I saw a...some kind of aircraft. I couldn't get a good look, but it seemed really advanced."

"An aircraft...Are you sure it wasn't one of your wingmates?" Command asked.

"No, definitely not," said Vortex. "This thing was way too maneuverable. It almost outflew me, and I couldn't lock on. I tried to pursue, but it lost me in the stratosphere."

For a second, Command didn't respond. "Well, I can't really say what you saw, Falcon-1," they said. "If it was an aircraft, I assure you we would have detected it."

"I figured," Vortex said quietly. "Roger that, command. Be back in twenty."

"Hey, boss, you feelin' okay?" asked Rattler. "You sure it wasn't just one of those little Gems?"

"Definitely not," Vortex said. "It was definitely a craft. I'm sure of it."

"If it was a craft-and I'm not saying it was-what was it doing here in the first place?" wondered Jump.

"What, you think I know?" said Vortex. "But whoever sent it, they must be pretty interested in Gems."

"Yeah, but who do we know that cares about Gems?" asked Tailspin.

"Well, there's the Children of Homeworld, Polaris Industries, Mr. Echo…" said Rattler. "Hey, maybe it's a Homeworld ship! They sent a few of those, yeah?"

"Yeah. Maybe something like that," said Vortex. And he wasn't so sure, but none of those seemed right. He stayed silent on the way back to base, unable to get the image of that orange light disappearing into the sky out of his mind.