Chapter Twenty-Three: Ground Control to Major de Santis


"Here it comes, team! Get ready for the Gs!"

All at once, the Lightrays activated their max thrust. Reserve fuel stored specifically for this moment was funneled into the engines, overcharging the planes' thrusters and sending them speeding up towards the planet's upper atmosphere.

"This…is…amazing!" shouted Rattler, as she was pressed back into her seat. "I've never felt adrenaline like this before! We've gotta be pushing mach 4 now!"

Jump was having a less pleasant time. "Speak for yourself!" he said, trying to keep his plane steady.

"All fighters, be advised, we are approaching the atmospheric border," said Kestrel-1. "Prepare to decelerate from escape velocity in twenty seconds."

As the fleet of fighters grew higher and higher, the blue sky began to fade to black. The sea below grew more distant, until it could no longer be discerned from the sky itself. Even the clouds were far beneath them as they left the world behind. Until finally, the Earth was beneath them, and the starry sky surrounded.

Had they not been on a mission, they might have taken some time to admire the sight before them. "Well, how about that?" Mayhem said in awe, tracing his hand across the stars through the canopy glass. "Never thought I'd be seeing them from this close!"

"There'll be time for stargazing later," said Emett. "Right now, we've got a job to do–and an incoming message from Command."

The radio transmission came through. "All squadrons, we're detecting a gravitational anomaly south of your position," said Command. "Sensors are showing it goes all the way down to Challenger Deep. No doubt it's the Koh'i'Noor."

"Roger, Command," said Kestrel-1. "All fighters, full speed!" Kestrel Squadron shot off in the lead, followed closely by the rest. Operating in space wasn't much different from flying in the air, but it was much quieter. And with less drag, the jets made it to their destination in no time.

Just beyond the edge of the planet's atmosphere, a massive shape came into view. "Enemy vessel in range," said Eagle-1. "Move in below the radar."

"Would a maneuver like that even work in space?" asked Eagle-4. "Does our enemy even have radar?"

"Better safe than sorry." The fighters slowed, creeping up on their target. As they approached, it became clear that they were not coming up on an enemy vessel, but rather three of them, the larger one in the middle armed with a sizable cannon. Beneath it, some sort of funnel was traveling down to the planet's surface.

"Is that the beam!?" asked Tailspin, ready to speed up. "Are they firing already!?"

Jump stopped him before he could fly off at the enemies alone. "Negative, cool it. I think that's the source of the anomaly. It isn't a beam, it looks to be some kind of…low-speed tornado, or a wind tunnel. That's them doing that, right?"

"That appears to be the case, Falcon-3," said Command. "Our scouts are reporting a large whirlpool just below your location, as though the water is being pushed aside."

"It must be a way of minimizing resistance," said Vortex. "If there's less air or water to get in the way, the projectile will penetrate deeper. We'll need to be cautious of how this affects our flight."

The fighters were almost in place. Just before they were within firing distance, the ship nearest to them broke formation. It turned slightly in their direction, guns emerging. "Heads up, I think we've been spotted!" said Kestrel-5. This was confirmed when a swarm of Koh'i'Noor fighters emerged from the ship and sped at the humans.

"Contact!" Vortex shouted. Evasive maneuvers were taken as hundreds of the enemy craft converged on them. Vortex himself dove towards the planet, skimming across the stratosphere with several fighters in tow. "Falcon Squadron, that bomb is our number one priority! Protect Tailspin at all costs!"

"Hold on a moment!" Tailspin sped between two enemy ships, shooting down another before it could fire on him. "These guys don't know which one of us has the shooting star. We should use that confusion to our advantage, throw 'em for a loop!"

Now that the Koh'i'Noor knew they were here, both larger ships were deploying fighters, as well as moving closer to the crust-buster. "Buddy, I admire your enthusiasm, but we just have to survive until that thing's ready to fire!" said Rattler. "Which, now that they're on us in force, might be trickier than we thought!"

"Not so tricky if we take them down from out here!" said Mayhem, flying past the ships towards the closer battleship. Meeting a strange lack of resistance, he rained down a flurry of missiles as he flew by. Damage to the hull was minimal, barely leaving any scratches. "...Okay, spoke too soon."

"Their armor's too thick for that, Falcon-4," said Vulture-2. "Stick to thinning out the smaller fighters."

"I coulda just told you it wouldn't've been that easy," Rattler said. "Speaking of…Tailspin, what's your position? You still with us?"

"What, like I'd go AWOL just like that?" he replied, shooting down a number of fighters. "Plus, I think you'd know if I'd been blown up, mostly 'cause you'd have been, too!" He flew past Jump, the two of them shooting some fighters trailing the other.

"All fighters, the anomaly is growing in strength," reported Command. "By our estimate, the ship will be ready to fire in twenty minutes. All you have to do is survive until then."

"Oh, is that all?" said Mayhem, only over the local channel.

"Heard, Command." Vortex loosed a missile at a fighter, sending it careening into another. "How's everything going on the surface?"

"Not ideal," came the reply. "The Koh'i'Noor have deployed some sort of mobile siege engine. But none of that matters–no matter what happens down here, complete the mission, understood?"

"Understood," Vortex said. "Retreat is not an option when the fate of the world is at stake."

Just as it was down on the beach, the battle raged. Among the Lightrays, a handful of pilots were a bit more daring than usual, knowing that they could warp back down if they were critically damaged. Most didn't have that luxury, and thus flew more defensively. The battleships' cannons aimed, but were not firing, unable to pick out a target out of the swarm of planes.

"I've got some on my tail!" shouted Kestrel-3, dodging and weaving to try and escape some persistent fighters. "I can't shake 'em!" His plane was taking fire, and was not likely to last much longer.

Jump was too far away to assist directly, but his attention was caught by something. "Lead them towards the gravity well!" he said. "You may be able to use it to throw them off!"

The other fighter did so, heading towards the area before the largest ship. Right as they flew beneath its cannon, their plane was sharply thrown to the side by the gravitational source. The enemies followed, being swept up in the gravity waves as well. The plane was able to recover, while the enemies slammed into one another, exploding violently. "Success! I've lost the pursuers."

"Looks like we can use that to our advantage," said Vortex. "Keep the pressure on, and we just might win this thing!"

Soon after, the Koh'i'Noor decided to switch up their strategy. Two objects deployed from beneath the crust-buster, quickly revealing themselves to be ships. Slightly larger than the fighters that filled the battlefield in the sky, the pair of vessels split up, circling the area as though scanning for something.

Mayhem was the first to notice them, and alerted his commander. "Hey Vortex, I got eyes on some new bogeys out here. They aren't engaging yet, just flying the perimeter. What's your call?"

Vortex observed the pair of ships. They were not firing at any of the planes, even the ones that tried to shoot at them. They occasionally took evasive maneuvers, but their current unknown objective took precedence. "No call yet. Observe them until their purpose becomes clearer."

"Understood–moving closer for intelligence gathering." Tailspin made his way over to one of the ships. However, the moment he got close, it seemed to take special interest in him, breaking its course to follow him. "Woah!" It opened fire as soon as it got near enough, twin cannons letting loose a storm of plasma. At the same time, the other of the two made a beeline for his position. "I've got both unknown ships after me!"

Making matters worse, the battleships seemed to be aware of this as well. As soon as the ships had their target, the larger ones aimed every one of their turrets in his direction, opening fire as well.

"The payload's in danger!" said Kestrel-1. "All fighters, destroy those gunships!" Lightrays flew in to intercept, but the fire coming from the battleships made getting close enough difficult. Worse still, the sheer volume of shots coming his way meant Tailspin was taking damage fast.

Mayhem fired a barrage of missiles, which damaged the gunships, but not enough for them to break pursuit. "What's the deal? Why're they so hell-bent on getting to Leon all of a sudden?"

"They must be able to tell he's the one with the shooting star," said Jump. "But they only started firing at him once those gunships got close. If we take those out, we might be able to confuse them again."

"That's assuming they don't kill me first!" said Tailspin, doing his best to not burst into flames. He flew through the gravity well, which tossed his plane to the side. The gunships were savvy enough to fly around it, recentering on him moments later. He was able to right himself, but not before taking some hits.

"Command, we're running into some difficulty up here!" said Rattler. "Tell me you have another one of those airstrikes handy!" No answer. "Command? You there?" They still didn't answer. "I think we lost Command!"

Vortex tried to get through as well, likewise to no avail. "Something's wrong. Either comms are down, or something happened at base. We can't worry about that now–focus all efforts on protecting Leon!"

Several planes moved in to intercept the gunships. As though growing tired of the interference, one of the two broke off its pursuit to thin out the following jets. The unexpected maneuver led to several of the planes taking heavy damage, forcing them to disengage.

"Critical systems failure!" cried Kestrel-3, her plane careening out of control. Her voice was staticky from the damage to her jet. "Pulling out–good luck to you all!" A flash of light could be seen inside her cockpit, moments before the plane drifted off away from the battlefield. She, however, was the lucky one. A few of the jets were not equipped for ejection, taking their pilots down with them.

Vortex gripped the throttle as he moved into Tailspin's flight path. "Hang on, buddy!" Dodging cannonfire from the battleships, he fired a missile directly into the gunship's visor. "Direct hit!"

So focused on saving Tailspin, Vortex didn't notice the other gunship approaching. "Captain, look out!" shouted Mayhem. Vortex only had a moment to dive beneath the incoming ship as a barrage of beams shore a strip of panels from the top of his plane. Alarms blared as he righted himself, checking that the subsystems were still functioning.

"Are you okay?" asked Rattler. "Eject if you need to, we can handle things from here!"

"No, no!" Vortex's plane was heavily damaged, but he would not leave the battle. Unbeknownst to his team, he couldn't. But so long as he could still fly, he was still in this fight. "Damage isn't serious, I'm still in the air."

Although he was still airworthy for the time being, it was uncertain how long he could stay that way. How long any of them could stay that way. With the gunships centered on the shooting star, any advantages they had were slowly slipping away. And the gravity well was growing stronger by the second, indicating that the weapon would soon be ready to fire.

Tailspin dodged and weaved, his armor slowly failing. "I'm not…sure how much longer I can last here!" he said. Like with Vortex, his plane was coming apart at the seams. He fired at the fighters that came near him, but the warships were too nimble for him to reach. He readied a missile, only to be met with an unwelcome sight. "What in…uh oh."

Exactly what it was that Tailspin had discovered took a backseat to the gunship coming around to finish him off. It had survived Vortex's missile with only a cracked screen, aiming its guns to blow him apart once and for all. In his current state, he would be unable to survive a direct hit, and he had no time for evasive maneuvers. The entire fight seemed to stand still as the rest of Falcon Squadron raced to his aid, all four of them too far to reach him in time.

A flash of light split the sky as a beam shot across the battlefield, annihilating its target. The ship exploded in a massive fireball, sending bits of scrap across the sky. Tailspin looked on in shock as the gunship targeting him was blown apart by an unknown assailant. And then, his eyes, as well as those of everyone present, turned to the source of his unexpected rescue.

Another ship had appeared, four cannons situated on a spire atop the vessel. It too released numerous fighters, which spread out to engage the Koh'i'Noor forces. Though far from an unwelcome sight, nobody had expected to see the Xevellan mothership again, let alone have it join the fight. But that is exactly what had happened, the invaders speeding to their aid. The moment the large ship appeared, both Koh'i'Noor battleships aimed all their guns at it, opening fire.

"Are…are y'all seein' this?" asked Rattler. "That's the Xevellan ship, right? I thought those guys took off ages ago!"

"Seems like they stuck around," said Jump. "And it looks like they hate the Koh'i'Noor more than they hate us." Not one to look a gift horse in the mouth, he sped in to take advantage of this sudden development.

The turrets hammered against the mothership, which was protected by a shield. Its cannons turned to engage its attackers, dealing more damage to the battleships than the humans would have been able to. With the machines distracted, Mayhem made his move. He sped towards the remaining gunship, which had left Tailspin alone for now, and fired a missile for the killshot. The ship spun out of control, spiraling through space before a Xevellan fighter finished it off. "Whoo! Who cares why they're here, as long as we get a free cavalry!"

"I still can't get into contact with Command," said Vortex, "but that cannon's bound to fire in a matter of minutes. Tailspin, you good? Tell me that shooting star's still a go!"

"About that…" Tailspin's tone did not bode well. "Most of my systems are still working, except for the missile launcher. It's dead in the water. I can still arm 'em, but there's no way to fire."

For a while, Vortex didn't say anything. Short of him being shot down or premature detonation, this was a worst-case scenario. Without that shooting star, they had no way to destroy the crust-buster. "Alright…keep up the fight, we'll think of something."

"We don't have time to think of something!" said Kestrel-1. "If we don't take out that cannon, it's curtains for the entire damn planet! All fighters, surround the crust-buster! Focus fire on where its armor is thinnest!" Shooting their way through the fighter swarm, the jets complied.

Tailspin rounded the scene, watching as the remaining Lightrays futilely fired away at the dreadnought. "This isn't going to work," he said solemnly. "Without this shooting star, there's no way we can damage this thing enough."

"Don't say that!" Rattler was among the first in line to concentrate fire on the crust-buster. "We'll find a way to destroy it, we just need to work together!" But even she knew that they were out of options. Even without the fighters swarming to protect it, the main vessel was too large and too sturdy to be damaged by such small weapons. Not even the Xevellan mothership could do any significant damage in such a short amount of time.

"There's only one way we're doing this," Tailspin continued. "Like I said: the missile's armed, it just can't be fired. You know what that means."

"Come on, you're just gonna give up that easily?" said Mayhem. "This is the fate of the world we're talkin' about, you can't just–"

"I know, it is the fate of the world," said Tailspin. "And that's why I have to do this. Guys, if we don't stop this thing, everyone dies." He paused for a moment. "There aren't any other options."

"He's right." Nobody had expected Vortex of all people to agree with him. "There's not enough time to come up with a better plan. Everyone, continue to protect Tailspin…until he has to do what he has to do."

No objections were raised. At the end of the day, this is what they had been trained for: to protect the people of this world from the machinations of those who would do them harm, by any means necessary. Each of them would have been prepared to do the same in his position. "Understood, Captain," Jump said. He flew in to keep the fighters off his squadmate. The others did the same.

Below the crust-buster, the swirling tunnel grew larger, and began to rotate faster. "That gravity well's reaching some kind of peak," said Kestrel-1. "They're getting ready to fire any minute now."

Tailspin approached the well. "I'm ready here–should I initiate?"

"Negative, Falcon-2," Kestrel-1 said. "We need to wait until the weapon begins its firing sequence. We only have a brief window for this to work."

"Everyone, I've got movement from the twin vessels," reported Vulture-3. Indeed, the pair of battleships flanking the dreadnought had begun to move forward, entering the battlefield proper. "Prepare for heavy fire!"

But the ships didn't seem to be focused on the smaller planes, but rather, each other. In fact, they seemed to be rapidly heading for one another. "What're they doing? At this rate, they're gonna crash!" Rattler observed.

And to everyone's surprise, this is exactly what happened. The two battleships rammed into each other, the force splintering them into shards of metal that clouded the space before the remaining vessel. What remained of the ships was then further torn apart by the gravity well, tearing the ships apart into a mass of shrapnel that completely saturated the area, further whipped up into a storm by the very same anomaly.

"Wh…what kind of tactic was that?" asked a puzzled Mayhem. "Did Valdain take control of the ships somehow? Can he even do that?"

"That wasn't our allies," answered Jump. "This was a last-ditch attempt to prevent our approach. We will have a much harder time navigating this debris field than their laser will."

The timing of this desperate maneuver was no coincidence, as the dreadnought's main cannon began to glow. Energy pulsed from inside the weapon as turbines within began to rotate, crackling with sparks of electricity. The crust-buster was charging, and would fire in less than a minute.

"Now, go!" shouted Vortex. Falcon Squadron sped off towards the swirling field of debris, accompanied by as many other jets as there still were, human and Xevellan alike. "Mayhem, hold off as many fighters as you can!"

"On it!" He and several others broke off from the chase to engage the enemy. Koh'i'Noor fighters converged on Tailspin, only to be quickly shot down by the defenders. "Yeah, come get you some!"

Even without being directly intercepted, there was still the matter of navigating the hurricane of metal before them. "Jump, we'll need an optimal point of entry!" Vortex said.

Jump took a moment to examine the field both directly and with his scanner. "It may be difficult to handle, but coming in through the gravity tunnel is our best bet. Of course, we will still need to keep it clear of debris."

"Got it–Rattler, you're up!" said Vortex.

"I've been waitin' for this!" As Tailspin approached the well, Rattler flew into the heart of the storm, dodging and weaving through the maze of plane-sized chunks of metal, and shooting away any that got caught up in the center. "Like shooting giant, metal fish in a cosmic barrel!"

Tailspin had entered the anomaly, but as before, control was not easy within. "Urgh! I'm holding it together as best I can, but I'm not sure I can maintain! The way this is going, I could get shunted out any moment!"

"Just keep it as centered as you can," Jump said. "The way forward should be clear from here on out." In addition to Rattler, several other planes had entered the field to clear out the tunnel in the center. Not only that, but the Xevellan mothership, now that it saw what they were doing, was using its cannons to carve out a path. Indeed, the way was clear.

Near Mayhem, approaching fighters fell in droves as they desperately tried to get to Tailspin's plane. But Mayhem and the others were relentless, singling in on targets and eliminating them before they could get close. However, the sheer number of craft meant that they couldn't destroy them all. A single fighter managed to slip past their defensive line, heading straight for the tunnel. "Heads up, you've got incoming!" Mayhem called.

Before anyone had time to intercept it, the lone fighter threw itself into the gravity well, allowing itself to be carried down towards Tailspin. As he had nowhere to go, the fighter slammed into his plane, throwing him off course. "Mayday, mayday, controls aren't responding! I-I've been caught up in the gravity well!" His jet spun out of control, soon to be thrown from the tunnel. And the cannon continued to charge, only moments away from being ready.

Vortex was the first to act, speeding through the debris field. Blasting aside any object too large to avoid, he sped closer to his wingmate as fast as his Lightray could take him. He had only one shot at this, and it had to be precise. Tailspin came into view, living up to his nickname within the tunnel. Vortex took a deep breath, and throttled forward.

The two planes collided, glancing off each other. The Lightrays were sturdy enough to survive the impact, helped that Vortex knew exactly the right angle to approach at. Tailspin was pushed back into place, quickly righting himself. "That did it! I'm back on track!" He sped forward, traveling up the tunnel towards the cannon's maw. "Where's the captain? Vortex, you alright?"

As a result of his rescue, Vortex had been caught up in the anomaly in Tailspin's stead. Alarms blared as he was pulled this way and that…when suddenly, he was back on Earth. The storm of metal had been replaced by one of wind and water, flashes of lightning illuminating the sky. Falcon-5? Falcon-5, pull up! his commander said.

I can't! I'm caught in a vortex! His plane was being thrown violently by the storm, hurtling towards the churning sea below. I've lost all control! The ejector isn't responding!

Hold on, Emett, I'm on my way! The sound of Leon's voice was enough to jog Vortex back to the present. He pushed the throttle forward, flying under a piece of debris moments before it could collide with him. Now that he was alert once more, he quickly flipped up the cover of his ejector, priming the device.

"Vortex, are you alright?" asked Jump. "You've activated your pocket warp system, is something wrong?"

"No, no. I'm fine," replied Vortex. "Besides, it's not for me."

Before anyone could ask what he meant, Tailspin had reached the ship. "Alright, here it goes," he said, voice filled with trepidation. "I…thanks, everyone. You're all…I couldn't have asked for better wingmates. I would never have been able to make it this far without you."

"Nor we without you," said Vortex. "See you soon, pal."

"What do–" Tailspin's question was cut short as Vortex pressed the eject button. But Vortex stayed exactly where he was. Tailspin, on the other hand, seemed to have completely vanished. Had anyone been nearby, they might have seen a flash of light from within his cockpit. But even without its pilot, the plane continued on its path towards the ship's core.

The cannon was primed to fire. The glow coming from inside reached its peak as energy flowed into the weapon. The lone Lightray continued forward, unhindered, until it collided with its target. The shooting star detonated, taking the crust-buster with it. The core exploded, causing a chain reaction that lit up the sky like fireworks. The dreadnought was no more.


"They got it! The ship is down!" shouted Rhodes, the signal from the Koh'i'Noor weapon no longer there. "Activate it now!"

Gina frantically typed at the computer. Valdain was beside her, wired into Alkaria's body, which was in turn wired into the base's mainframe. "Ready when you are!" she said.

"Accessing the backdoor now…" Valdain concentrated as he made his way into the Koh'i'Noors' systems. "I'm in! Engaging kill code now!"

It was as though a switch had been flipped. All around the base, the machines began to fall. Robots collapsed en masse once Valdain had sent the signal, and relieved soldiers stepped back as they witnessed the sight. Beside the building itself, the remaining Carnivore staggered back, before tumbling down to the sand, where it was finally still.

All around the battlefield, cheers erupted from the troops. The machines still in the air fell to the ground and the ocean, where the Broodmother slowed to a halt as well. James practically collapsed into a chair, sighing as he heard the sounds. "They did it," he said. "Is it finally over?"

Daniel looked up at the sky. "Yeah. Yeah, I think it's finally over."


Cheers had erupted up in space as well, once the dreadnought had lit up. Mere moments later, all the remaining Koh'i'Noor ships went still, drifting off in all directions with nobody to control them. And as though saving the world was not enough of a reason to celebrate, Falcon Squadron had another reason to cheer.

"Vortex, you sly dog!" said Rattler. "Why didn't you tell us Tailspin had the pocket thingy installed?"

"I wanted to," he replied, "but I wasn't sure how he'd react if he found out. You know how he was acting. This way I could show him that he doesn't have to die to make a difference. There's always another way."

The debris from the resulting battle, the remains of the destroyed ships and inert fighters, began to drift down to Earth without a gravity well to hold them. The bits of metal fell through the air like a meteor shower. "Uh, should we be concerned about that?" asked Mayhem.

"No. Most will be incinerated on reentry, and anything that doesn't will land harmlessly in the ocean," said Jump. "And speaking of reentry…your orders, Captain?"

"I think we're done here," said Vortex. "But it's not up to me–what say you, Kestrel-1?"

"My thoughts exactly," replied the other captain. "All fighters, return to base. Mission accomplished."

A second round of cheers spread throughout the pilots as the planes returned to the Earth. Vortex looked beside him at the falling debris in triumph. For what it was, it didn't seem beautiful, but to him, it was a sight to behold. Especially because of what it represented. But for a moment, he could make something out among the debris, something that didn't belong.

Amongst the cold grey and burning orange of the falling metal, he caught a brief flash of bright yellow. It was far too solid to be a reflection of sunlight, but he had never seen a color that vibrant in any of the Koh'i'Noor's vessels before.

"Hey, is anyone else seeing that?" he asked. "I've got eyes on…some kind of bogey out here. I can't quite make it out."

"Nothing on my end," said Mayhem. "There's a lot of scrap out here. You sure you didn't just see something like that?"

Vortex looked behind him. All he could make out was the retreating form of the Xevellan mothership. "Y-yeah…yeah, it had to be something like that. Let's just focus on getting home, I need a rest."

"And how!" said Rattler. Vortex let himself be assured by their success, putting the strange object out of his mind. He paid no mind what he had seen–including the fact that it had been traveling upwards.


Leon gasped as his cockpit was suddenly yanked away from him. One moment he was on the path to the ship's core, the next he found himself falling onto a mattress. He felt his body to make sure he was still solid, feeling sure he had died. A glimpse around the room revealed several other people there, all pilots like himself.

"Is…is this the afterlife?" he asked. Another glance at his surroundings. "A pretty boring afterlife, all things considered."

A woman, Kestrel-3, approached him. "You didn't activate your pocket warp system?" she asked. "Then it must have malfunctioned somehow."

"Pocket…?" A look of revelation then crossed Leon's face, followed by a knowing smile. "Actually," he said, looking to the sky, "I think it worked exactly as he intended."