Chapter Eight: From Above: Part 2
Daniel managed to dive to the side and take cover behind a shipping container as the bolts of energy tore through the air. A few startled soldiers opened fire as well, though it seemed to do little more than annoy the aliens; their armor seemed to be bulletproof. Their leader with the red armor shouted something in his native language, and several of his troops headed for more of the containers.
The aliens that weren't occupied with the crates were firing on BAINE. James took cover as well, firing out in bursts from his hiding place. He could hear the sounds of the beams hitting his shield, no doubt leaving the same burn marks as before.
Firing blindly as he ran towards him, Luke slid into cover beside James. "This all seems awfully familiar, doesn't it?" he said.
"Unfortunately," James answered. His hand reached for his communicator. "Captain, are you there? What's our next move?"
"I'm fine," Daniel answered. "For now, just hold out until air support arrives. If Falcon Squadron takes out their ship, that'll cut off their only means of escape."
Daniel's plan was interrupted by a scream coming from James' left. The alien commander had pounced on a BAINE trooper, the bullets unable to break through its armor. The commander drove his blade straight down, piercing through not just the trooper's chest, but the ground beneath him as well. Slowly retracting the blade, the alien turned to look straight at James and Luke.
Both soldiers leveled their rifles and squeezed the triggers. The commander ran towards them, holding up his arm to shield himself from the bullets. James fell back just as he swung his blade, cutting a long gash into the barricade. Just as he raised his blade to finish James off, Luke drew his sidearm. Now that the alien was closer, he could more easily aim where the armor didn't cover.
Bright green blood spilled from where the bullets pierced the being's scales. The alien commander screeched in anger, swinging his blade wildly. James managed to scramble away, getting back to his feet and readying his gun once more. Before either trooper or alien could attack, the commander was suddenly driven away by a hailstorm of bullets that seemed to leave dents and scratches on his nearly-impenetrable armor.
The alien commander retreated as Vargas continued firing. "This is for earlier, you scum-sucking bastards!" he yelled, as bullets poured from his gun. "Get some!" The other aliens were repositioning so as not to be in Vargas' warpath. It seemed even they recognized how dangerous he could be.
As the battle went on, the aliens would travel in and out of the shipping containers, seemingly still trying to get their hands on the Gem tech within. However, James didn't' see them carrying any of the tech with them as they exited, or even some means of carrying it at all. "Captain, should we be trying to stop them?"
"At this point, they clearly aren't friendly," said Bridge, firing at them from behind cover. "If they're willing to shoot at us, I doubt they're the good guys."
Another voice jumped in over the radio. "Hold on, are you all seeing this?" It was Ichigo. "They're doing something with the cargo. I think they're...teleporting it away, or something."
From Ichigo's vantage point, he could see the inside of a shipping container. Once inside, the aliens would affix a small disc-like object to a crate, twisting the side of it like a dial. After flashing blue for a few seconds, the disc, and the object it was attached to, would disappear in a flash of light.
"What do you mean, 'teleporting it away?'" asked Bridge.
"I-Exactly what it sounds like!" said Ichigo.
Bridge groaned. "Alright, nevermind that, just try and stay alive until help arrives!"
"Preferably after that, too," Ichigo added.
Flying in formation (or at least, as tight a formation as Rattler and Tailspin could manage), Falcon Squadron raced through the air towards their destination. Tailspin whooped and hollered as he spun around the others. "I gotta say, I had a bit of trouble at first, but once you get used to 'em, these things are badass!"
Vortex silently agreed, gripping the throttle of the Lightray. Though he still missed the cockpit of his trusty G-32 Scorpio, the Lightray was no doubt faster and more maneuverable, which was indispensable when facing a threat like this. "Falcon Squadron, weapons ready," he said. "Approaching target."
Before long, the sight of the warehouse came into view. An all-too-familiar craft, to Vortex at least, hovered above it, orange lights shining on the building beneath it. As the jets approached it, it rose higher, rotating to face them.
"Ground team, we have eyes on the hostile craft, preparing to engage," said Vortex. "Falcon Squadron, open fire!"
All five planes sent a stream of bullets towards the ship, to little effect. The ship responded by firing its own weapon, a powerful blast of orange energy that cut through the air. The jets split off formation as it began charging another one.
"Jump, give me something here," said Vortex, eyes fixed on the vessel.
"From what I can tell, it doesn't seem like it has any shields," Jump responded. "It has a lot of armor, but that's all it has."
"Then we keep hitting it," Vortex said. "Rattler and I will draw its fire, everyone else, keep firing!" He looped back around to the front of the ship.
Rattler joined him, sending a spurt of bullets at the ship. "Hey, over here!" she shouted. "Come on, shoot at me!" It did so, the blast barely grazing her plane. "Ah, you couldn't hit the broad side of Mars!"
Mayhem leveled out his plane, trying to lock onto the enemy ship, to no avail. "Something's wrong, I can't get a lock!" he said.
"Don't you remember what Vortex said?" asked Tailspin. "These things have some sort of field that prevents lock-ons!" He soared past Mayhem towards the ship. "Just gotta let Lady Luck guide your shots!" Tailspin sent out a barrage of missiles, which soared towards the target. Most of them collided with the ship, but one missed, soaring out and exploding in the desert.
"Careful with those rogue shots, we've got friendlies on the ground!" said Vortex. He and Rattler continued taking evasive maneuvers from the ship's main cannon. Although it could easily have given chase, it seemed determined to stay hovering above the warehouse. Just as well, as its armor meant that it was difficult enough to deal with as a stationary target.
Jump and Mayhem both approached, level with the ground so any wayward missiles wouldn't accidentally hit the troops below. Mayhem released his entire salvo at once, while Jump was more methodical, aiming for what appeared to be weak the latter fired, a brief blip appeared on his screen. "Hang on-that's weird…"
"What's weird?" asked Mayhem.
Just then, the ship fired, and the strange anomaly was gone. "Hmm… For a second there, I had a lock-on," said Jump. "But I don't know to what."
Both jets sped past the target, and looped around for another run. "Well, next time, capitalize on the opportunity!" Mayhem said.
"Not so fast," said Jump. "I can't be sure it wasn't locking onto something inside the warehouse."
"Speaking of…" said Vortex. "Ground team, how're you holding up?"
"Not great, but not terrible," came the reply. "They're pretty strongly hunkered down in here. I don't know if we're really doing anything to 'em."
"Then it's up to us," said Rattler. "Come on, let's keep hitting this thing!" She turned around, unloading her machine guns on the ship's front. In response, it fired another blast, this one coming much closer to hitting her than the last. A good chunk of her hull was seared off, but not enough to cause serious damage. "Hey! Watch the paint job!"
After another salvo of missiles collided with the ship to little effect, Mayhem growled in frustration. "What's this thing made of!?" he asked. "There's gotta be something we can do to make this easier!"
"Some pieces of its armor look like they're thinner than others, but I can't say for sure," said Jump. "Not that that does us any good without lock-on."
"It does if you're a sharpshooter like me!" said Tailspin. He sped in towards the ship, firing a missile at a port at its side. The vessel lurched to the side at the impact, but still appeared undamaged.
"Sharpshooter, huh?" said Rattler.
Despite being repeatedly harassed by the fighters, the alien ship refused to leave its one spot. By now, there were quite a few craters in the surrounding area from its cannon shots. And despite everything, it was no more damaged than when they had started. "Falcon Squad, whatever you're doing up there, try something else!" said Bridge. "We're losing too many troops!"
"Working on it!" replied Vortex. Things were getting rough now, and he was getting desperate. At this rate, they may have to retreat. "Falcon Squadron, continue firing!"
"What do you think we've been doing!?" asked Rattler. "We've gotta do something else!"
"What else can we do?" said Vortex. "Unless one of you is packing some heavy-yield ammo I don't know about, this is all we can do to protect the ground troops!" The ship began charging another shot of its main cannon.
"Yeah, because this thing is such a big threat to them!" said Rattler. "I say they lead those aliens outside, and we mop 'em up from up here!" Unbeknownst to her, the ship began to target her plane.
As the ship's cannon charged, Jump once again caught a quick lock. He glanced up at the ship, realizing that the lock coincided with its cannon. That's it…" However, he noticed too late that Rattler was directly in its line of fire. "Rattler, evasive maneuvers!"
His warning came a split second too late. The ship fired, and the powerful bolt of energy tore through Rattler's plane, nearly severing a wing. She cried out as an explosion rocked her jet, just barely managing to regain control. "I'm hit! Critical damage! There's all sorts of alarms goin' off in here!"
"Rattler, fall back!" said Vortex. "You're too damaged to keep flying; try to land somewhere flat!"
Rattler shielded her face as sparks flew from her console. "Sorry Boss, but I ain't goin' anywhere in this thing! She's going down!" To the others' horror, Rattler's plane was having trouble staying in the air, and was rocketing out towards the desert.
"Eject! Eject!" shouted Tailspin.
"I-I can't!" Rattler said.
"What!? Why not!?" asked Mayhem.
"There is no eject!" she said. "Sit tight, this might be a bumpy lan-" Her radio cut off as her jet crashed down into the sands in the distance.
Vortex suddenly found his mind dragged elsewhere. Visions of a stormy sky above a raging sea, only the lightning illuminating his surroundings. "I c-can't! I'm caught in a wind tunnel! Someone, help!" "Rattler! Rattler, respond? Are you okay?" No answer.
"That's it, I'm ending this!" snarled Tailspin. Having followed Rattler out a ways, he turned around, facing directly at the ship, which turned to face him as well. He pushed his throttle forwards, speeding towards the ship at full speed.
"Tailspin, slow down, you maniac!" Mayhem shouted. "You're gonna get yourself killed!"
"That thing could've killed Rattler!" he replied. He swerved out of the way to avoid one of its blasts. "I'm putting it down before it kills anyone else!"
"Tailspin, turn back, now!" said Vortex, still trying to contact Rattler. "Rattler, do you copy, over!?"
A garbled transmission came through. "I...ine...spin not...nge me…" She didn't sound injured, at least not seriously. Vortex sighed in relief, turning his attention back to the ship.
"Tailspin, Rattler's alive!" he said. "Pull back, now!" No response, as Tailspin kept flying towards the ship. "Tailspin, that's an order!" He growled as Tailspin still refused to listen.
"Vortex, it's the weapon!" said Jump.
"Say again?" said Vortex.
"The ship's somehow blocking our lock-ons, but I think that weapon it has generates enough heat to break through!" Jump replied. "Quick, get in there before Tailspin kills himself!"
With no time to lose, Vortex raced towards the ship. Luckily, he was closer than Tailspin, so he cut the latter off. "Get out of the way!" Tailspin yelled. Vortex said nothing.
The ship continued charging its cannon, and was moments away from firing. Just as Jump said, once the weapon was charged, Vortex was able to lock on. Once he got a steady tone, he slammed his thumb down onto the button. A single missile rocketed away from his jet, soaring directly at its target.
The missile collided with the weapon-a direct hit. The ship's weapon was sent back on itself, with several more explosions tearing it apart from the inside out. Bits of metal rained down onto the roof as its armor was ripped to pieces. The ship weaved uneasily in the air, but still hovered in place.
"That's all she wrote!" Mayhem rushed at the ship, sending one final volley of missiles. Already on the brink of complete failure, the missiles blasted away what little resistance the ship could still offer. Now resembling little more than a pile of molten slag, the ship spun out of control towards the ground, going up in one final explosion as it crashed down.
The moment the ship was shot out of the air, the alien's commander bellowed in rage, slamming his fist against a nearby crate. Their assault seemed to lessen as well, becoming much more defensive than before. "Ha, that did it!" said Ichigo. "Takin' down that ship's got Big Red on the ropes!"
"Good work up there, Falcon Squad!" said Bridge. "Everyone else, keep the pressure on! With no means of escape, they can only hold out for so much longer!"
Rook stood up, firing at the nearest alien. He noticed that they seemed to be falling back, creating a defensive perimeter around their commander. "We've got 'em close to a stalemate," he said. "Unless they'd rather go down fighting, they'll have to surrender soon."
"Don't jinx it!" said Hester.
However, while it seemed like the aliens weren't about to surrender, they didn't seem keen on continuing fighting. A few of the closest ones took something out-a disc-like object. "Hold on, they're up to something!" said Ichigo. "Those are the teleporter thingies!"
Each of the aliens affixed one of the discs to a slot in their chest armor. Just as before, they rotated the dials, and disappeared in a flash of light. Before long, the firefight had ceased completely, and the BAINE troops were alone in the warehouse.
One soldier cautiously approached the spot where the aliens had been just moments before. After giving the area a brief scan, she shook her head, turning towards Bridge. "No trace of them, Cap," she said.
All of the soldiers lowered their weapons, and an air of uneasy calm over the warehouse. Several bodies littered the area, none of them alien. All that fighting-and not a single thing to show for it besides casualties.
Bridge sighed. "Alright. Everyone, back to the barracks. We'll regroup in the morning, and I'll see if I can-"
Before Bridge could finish his thought, he was suddenly snatched up from behind by the alien commander, who had stayed behind. 'Big Red' pulled Daniel along with him towards the other end of the warehouse, and leapt out a window, all before any of the troops had time to react.
"Holy-That thing's got the captain!" yelled Luke.
"Well then, let's go get that thing!" said Vargas, charging out the doors. The others followed him.
Daniel felt himself being thrown up into the air, landing with an impact on the warehouse roof. As he struggled to his feet, another impact beside him told him that Big Red wasn't finished just yet. He looked up to face the alien, who loomed over him with an aura partly of anger, but mostly of self-satisfaction. He spoke in his unknown tongue, his words sharply passing through his teeth.
"Wish I could help ya with that," Daniel said, "but I'm a little busy right now." He had dropped his rifle when he had been grabbed, so he reached for his hip and quickly whipped out his sidearm. He was only able to get out a single shot, which glanced off Big Red's armor, before the alien knocked his gun out of his hand.
Big Red lifted his arm to stab Daniel with his blade, but he rolled to the side just as the blade pierced through the roof. Daniel knew an opportunity when he saw one; Before the alien could remove his blade, Daniel threw a punch, hitting the being square in the jaw. His head lurched to the side, but he otherwise seemed unhurt.
The alien finally got his blade unstuck, and struck Daniel with his arm before he could throw a second punch. Daniel flew several feet, landing harshly further down the warehouse roof. He gasped for air, having been winded by the strike. Big Red slowly stomped towards him, letting out a noise that sounded like laughter.
Daniel gasped as a heavy boot pressed down on his chest, pushing out what little air he had managed to regain. He grasped at the alien's leg, trying to free himself, to no avail. Big Red said something, but Daniel wouldn't have heard it even if he understood. Finally, letting out a few coughs, he found himself able to breathe again. He looked the commander directly in the eyes. "You know, you guys aren't giving your fellow extraterrestrials a good name," he wheezed.
The alien chuckled as though he understood. He too reached towards his hip, removing a device that unfolded to form a pistol of some sort. He aimed the barrel right at Daniel's forehead, showing off his fangs as he muttered one last sentiment in his language. Daniel closed his eyes.
A shot rang out, but a very clearly human one. Daniel opened his eyes as Big Red stumbled back, green liquid trickling down his form. For a moment, the alien stood still, regarding Daniel with surprise. His pistol dropped to the ground, and he stumbled to the side, unable to stand any longer. His body fell to the ground with a loud crash.
"Captain! You alright?" shouted James. Daniel slowly stood up, and made his way to the edge of the roof. He peered over the side to see his fireteam waiting for him down below, Hester's sniper rifle smoking from the barrel.
"Hey, Danny Boy's okay!" said Ichigo. "Good aim there, Hes!"
Hester shrugged. "It just helps to stay calm under pressure."
Daniel called down to them. "What's it look like down there? Any other stragglers?"
"Not likely," Luke said. "That boss one's the only one we say, in any case."
Daniel peered over the side at where Big Red had fallen. The alien was completely still, its arms out to the side and its gaze empty. The team on the ground cautiously approached it, unsure if it was actually dead. Green blood trickled from its neck. Ichigo prodded it with his foot, and it didn't move.
"...I just killed an alien," Hester said, somehow sounding both nonchalant and disbelieving at the same time.
