Nest of Cobras
Rapier rolled out of his bunk the next morning and staggered to the head. Tracer was in there brushing his teeth. He looked like Hell. The door to one of the shower stalls opened and Bitch stepped out wearing a towel and sunglasses. "Morning," she managed to mumble as she staggered back to the main room.
"Where are the others?" Rapier asked.
"Dunno," Tracer replied with a shrug.
"Princess is down at the Mess Hall," Bitch said. "Wabo and Chameleon are with Major Garrett getting the grand tour."
"And what about Midnight?" asked Rapier.
"Haven't seen him since last night," said Tracer. "He's probably still in Pilot Country, updating the simulators."
"Figures," said Rapier.
Suddenly a proximity alarm sounded and a voice came over the squawk box, "All pilots to your ships. This is not a drill. Repeat all pilots to your ships. We have enemy inbound."
The three of them just looked at one another for a moment before rushing to their lockers.
"Time to turn and burn," Tracer said grabbing his flightsuit.
"And so it begins," Bitch said grabbing a pair of underwear and a T-shirt, putting them on, and dropping the towel. Then she grabbed her flightsuit and hurriedly put it on.
Rapier said nothing, grabbed his flightsuit, practically jumped into it and into his boots, and raced for the door. By the time Tracer and Bitch finished themselves, Rapier was halfway down the hall, sprinting for a lift to the Flight Deck. Tracer and Bitch barely caught up with him before he left without them. The lift sped down to the Flight Deck where pilots and maintenance crews alike were scrambling about.
They turned the corner to head to their Cobras and saw Waborita and Princess arguing with a maintenance tech. "What's going on?" Rapier demanded. "Why aren't you two outbound yet?"
"Because this jackass won't load the full ordinance for our Cobras!" shouted Princess who was glaring at the tech over Rapier's shoulder.
"This true?" demanded Rapier of the tech.
"Hey," began the tech. "It says eight and six, friend-or-foe and infrared. And no Stormfire rounds."
"What!" shouted Princess. "Are you that fucking stupid? What do you think those outer missile rigs are for? And why else would we have a Stormfire gun? For show?"
"Lieutenant," shouted the tech to Rapier. "I am just going by the tactical readout. According to my data, the fighters are loaded properly."
"We don't have the time for this!" yelled Bitch as she climbed into her cockpit and began her countdown. "Screw the damn extra ordinance! Pretend it's got a wild weasel load and let's go!"
The rest of them silently nodded and climbed into their Cobras. Within moments they were picked up by the drop cranes and on their way towards the launch bay. Once they were finally in flight two more Cobras joined them in formation.
"Where the hell have you guys been?" demanded Midnight. "Chameleon and I have been circling for almost five minutes."
"I'll explain later," said Rapier, obviously pissed. "Right now, protect the Palau. Form up on my wing and as soon as we within in range of the enemy, break and attack."
"Copy that, Omega One," said Tracer.
"Affirmative," said Chameleon.
"Roger," said Waborita. "You guys remember the rules? Last one to bag a bad guy takes an extra shot. Anyone who tags an Ace causes all the others to take an extra shot."
"I hear that," said Bitch.
"Okay people stay focused," said Rapier. "Here they come! Princess, give us the bad news."
"Checking my crystal ball now," said Princess. "I make seven bombers, thirteen fighters, and two Aces in our direct flight path. That bad enough for you?"
"Worse," said Rapier. "Okay, everyone, break and attack!"
Silently the squadron broke up and maneuvered to engage their respective targets. With no warning their COMM's chirped an incoming message from one of the Nephilim Aces. "You see your death, Humans!" it hissed.
"Man even their voices are ugly!" shouted Waborita over the COMM. A moment later, he broke into a diving barrel roll barely dodging laser fire from a Moray. "This has got to stop!"
With that he hit the afterburners and rolled through his dive back towards the Moray. The Moray was only just beginning its dive towards him. Waborita opened up with full guns and blasted the belly of the Moray, which burst into countless pieces. "Toasted!" he shouted and aimed for his next target.
Chameleon meanwhile had picked up a shadow in the form of one of the Nephilim Aces while she was targeting one of the Mantas. Her fighter shook as laserfire from the Ace struck her aft shields. "This will not do!" she yelled over her COMM. "Midnight! Take this Manta. I have to have a conversation with the Ace!"
"Affirmative, Chameleon," acknowledge Midnight.
Chameleon hit the afterburners and put distance between her and the Ace. "Run, HUMAN!" came its voice as it pursued.
Chameleon zeroed the throttle and did a flat 180-degree spin and kicked the throttle back into maximum, charging the Ace. "Die, BUG!" she yelled as she opened up on him with two friend-or-foe missiles that caught him straight on. The Ace's ship rocked and tried to break away. Chameleon just opened up on his bow with full guns. The two missiles had so severely damaged the front of his ship that he began to break up when he was hit by the guns. Chameleon kicked her Cobra into full afterburner and plowed right through his exploding debris field. "You guys all owe me an extra shot!"
"Man," said Bitch who effortlessly ripped one of the Mantas in half with a missile. "Her first kill, and it's an Ace!"
Tracer, meanwhile, was running down the other Ace, patiently picking at its aft shields. When his shields were sufficiently weakened he smiled and switched to his infrared missiles. "This bug needs an enema," he said and launched a missile. The Ace popped off a decoy, but the missile was not fooled. The missile impacted and the Ace sent a hiss back at Tracer as its ship exploded. With that the last of the Nephilim involved in the attack were destroyed. Rapier and Midnight had taken care of most of the field themselves. Midnight destroyed five of the seven engaging bombers and Rapier had taken down an equal number of fighters.
"Okay, everyone," Rapier said. "Form on my wing and return to the Palau."
"And Pilot Country," said Waborita.
"Amen to that," said Chameleon.
"Omega Squadron to the Palau," said Rapier. "Requesting permission to come home."
"Permission granted, Omega Squadron," came the voice of the flight officer. "The CAG wants to see you when you get in."
"Roger that," responded Rapier.
"Great," said Princess. "She probably wants to tell us to get the job done faster next time,"
The Cobras flew into the hangar and landed. As they were getting out Midnight noticed that the Drake was waiting by the debriefing station. He nudged Rapier so that he would notice her standing there. Silently they walked as a group towards the debriefing station. Drake had displeased look on her face. "Lieutenant Johnson," she began. "You and your whole squadron took a great risk launching without a full ordinance load. Also, I hear that a few members of your squadron yelled at a maintenance technician for not having the Cobras fully loaded. Is that true?"
"Yes, ma'am," responded Rapier. "Every word of it."
"This may come as a shock to you Lieutenant, but you do not own those fighters. ConFed owns them. You are simply the pilot. If you have a problem with the manner in which those fighters are maintained then you come to me, you don't try to solve the matter yourself. Understood?"
"Yes, ma'am."
"Good. I am going to overlook the matter this time because of what you all did out there. Just try not to let it happen again. Understood?"
"Yes, ma'am."
With that, Drake walked off to let them use the debriefing console. But before she got too far away she turned and looked back at Rapier. "One last thing, Lieutenant," she said.
"Ma'am?" asked Rapier.
"You all did a great job out there," she said. "Keep up the good work."
"Thank you, ma'am," replied Rapier. "We won't let you down."
Drake just smiled and walked away. Maybe she is not as bad as I thought, Rapier thought to himself as he pushed the buttons on the debriefing panel.
To be continued…
