Ambushed
Three days later, Amazon was leading her squadron of Panthers and an SWACS on a nav patrol over a day and a half away from the Palau. On her wing were Sprite, Warlord, Ninja, and Caveman. Directly behind them was the SWACS Listener, and about 10,000 meters behind that was the refueling ship Virtue.
"…if this is my thermometer, then where is my pen?" Warlord said, giving the punchline to the joke he had been telling.
"Gross, Warlord," Sprite said.
"Yeah," agreed Ninja. "Really."
"Well," said Warlord. "If you guys got a better one, let's hear it."
"This is the Listener," spoke one of the people aboard the Listener.
"Go ahead, Listener," said Amazon. "What do you have for us?"
"Our sensors are reading a massive energy surge 45,000 meters ahead on our two o'clock," spoke the person on the Listener. "It could be a jump point."
"Roger that, Listener," said Amazon. "Warlord, Caveman, break formation and follow me. We're going to check out the energy surge. Sprite, Ninja, stay here and protect the Listener. Virtue, I recommend you fall back to a safe distance in case this is something from the bugs."
Each of the pilots signaled their compliance and moved into position in accordance with their orders.
"I recommend we increase our forward shields just incase we meet something head-on," Amazon suggested.
"Roger," Warlord said.
"Okay," Caveman said.
Suddenly, the swirling light of a jump point came into view directly in front of them. They distinctly saw something emerge from its center and then as quickly as it had appeared, the jump point was gone. "Heads up," Amazon said. "We've got an unknown contact."
"Roger," Warlord said.
"Okay," Caveman said.
Their targeting computers lit up and they made out a single Nephilim fighter of unknown configuration. "Only one fighter?" Caveman said.
"Would you prefer an entire nest of 'em?" said Amazon. "Let's take it out before it has a chance to hit the SWACS."
"Roger," Warlord said.
"Okay," Caveman said.
The fighter came straight at them and buzzed past them without firing a shot and without being hit by a single one of the three Panthers' lasers. "That thing's fast," declared Amazon. "Amazon to Sprite, you have a single enemy inbound. Keep him off the SWACS." With that the three Panthers turned about to give chase.
"Roger," said Sprite.
"Time to kill a bug," said Ninja.
The fighter came into visual range of the SWACS. Then over everyone's COMM came a piercing screech. It was like no Nephilim sound any of them had every heard. Sprite and Ninja got a target lock on it and moved in to engage. Ninja was first to get within firing range. He switched on his lasers and opened fire. He missed with every shot. The fighter just blew past both Ninja and Sprite. "Shit," said Ninja. "He's going after the SWACS."
"Not if I can help it," said Sprite, who turned about to pursue the bug.
Just as she turned about she was met with laser fire from the unknown Nephilim's ship. Sprite broke hard right to get out of its path of fire. Ninja had him in his sights and opened fire again. The fighter just maneuvered out of the path of the shots. By this time, Amazon had returned with the others and entered the fight. The fighter zoomed by again and was out of visual sight within moments. Then, out of nowhere, Warlord's missile lock alarm went off.
"What the?" he said.
"Brake hard right!" Amazon shouted, but it was too late. The missile impacted on his bow and he listed to one side. "Warlord!"
The fighter flew right in on him and opened fire. Amazon fired upon him to try and steer him away, but this time he allowed himself to be hit. His guns rocked Warlord's Panther, making it list even more.
"Warlord," shouted Amazon. "Eject, eject! Warlord!"
Warlord's Panther exploded into a fireball. The Nephilim pilot gave out that same piercing scream again. Amazon was pissed.
"Let's get out of here!" Sprite said.
"I agree," said Ninja.
"No!" shouted Amazon. "We have to take him out!"
The unknown Nephilim's awful screams could be heard again and a missile struck Amazon's port side.
"Shit!" she yelled.
"I got him," said Caveman. "Gonna squash you, bug."
Caveman began trying to line up the fighter for a missile shot. With no warning the fighter turned and flew straight at him. "Grbllkack, grs…come and get me, Caveman," said the Nephilim pilot. Everyone's blood ran cold. That was Christopher Blair's voice. Caveman was so stunned that his mind blanked. Within a blink, the Nephilim pilot hit him with two missiles and a barrage of gunfire. Moments later, there was only debris where Caveman's Panther had been.
"I told you that we should have gotten out of here," said Sprite on the verge of hysterics. "We're going to die!"
"Calm down, Sprite," ordered Amazon. "Listener, get out of here and transmit your data. We're going to try and hold him off long enough to for you to escape. Virtue, run."
"Roger, that," said the Listener.
"It's time for you to die, Amazon!" came Blair's voice.
Ninja got a lock and fired off two infrared missiles at the fighter in quick succession. "Got a can of raid for ya!" he said with a grin.
The Nephilim pilot popped off a decoy and one of the missiles took the bait. The other still held fast. They thought that they finally had him. Suddenly the fighter spun about with his guns blazing and shot down the second missile.
"Sprite," Amazon said. "Fall back to the Listener and give it cover."
"Affirmative," said Sprite who was more than happy to leave.
The fighter turned to come back at the Panthers. Ninja and Amazon both opened fire again, but missed. Then they both fired an infrared missile. The fighter began a series of loops and rolls to try and outmaneuver the missiles. Then unexpectedly the Nephilim pilot kicked in his afterburner and charged the Panthers. Both Ninja and Amazon tried to evade, but the fighter was just too fast and so much more maneuverable than they were. He came at Amazon's side. Ninja was powerless to stop what happened next. The Nephilim pilot pulled up at the very last possible moment and the missiles just kept going. They impacted on Amazon's already damaged port side. The sound of her screaming as her Panther exploded could be heard over everyone's COMM. Ninja was frightened. He turned about and kicked in his afterburners, trying to flee.
"Sprite!" he shouted. "Listener! Anybody! Let's get the Hell out of here before…"
He was cut off in mid-sentence as a missile hit rocked his ship. The Nephilim pilot blew him to pieces with its guns and kept moving forwards. In about a minute he was within sight of the Listener.
"This is Sprite calling the TCS Palau," Sprite began. "We are under attack! Repeat, we are under attack! Four of five Panthers destroyed! All pilots gone down with their ships!"
The Nephilim pilot chased down Sprite and fired its guns. Within moments her aft shields were gone. Sprite continued her message to the Palau. "Unknown bug fighter engaged," she said as the Nephilim pilot screamed again. The guns continued to pick at her. "He's chewing me to pieces. Got to eject!" With that she pulled the ejector handle and her escape pod tumbled from her exploding fighter. The Nephilim pilot locked onto her pod with a missile and fired. Her pod broke up instantly upon impact. Then he headed for the SWACS.
The Listener signaled the fighter, "Don't fire! Please, we are unarmed!"
"I know," came the voice of Blair over the COMM. "It makes this much easier. And more fun." The Nephilim pilot let out that piercing scream again and fired upon the Listener. Within moments, the Listener was a memory. The Nephilim pilot's mandibles clicked and it sped off to find the Virtue.
Back on the Palau,Lieutenant Anderson slowly set his headset down. He looked like he was about to throw up. He had heard Sprite and the SWACS until the end. "Did we get the Listener's telemetry?" he asked of one of the officers on the Bridge.
"Most of it, sir," the officer replied. "There are some parts that are a bit scrambled, mostly the parts near the very end."
"Helm," Anderson said. "Answer all stop."
"Aye, sir," said the helmsman. "Answering all stop."
Anderson left the Bridge and went to the Mess Hall to find Commander Drake and Commodore Marshall. While on his way, he stopped first at the head and retched. When he was done he cleaned up and went to the table that Drake and Maniac were sitting at. They were going over the reports of the past few days. Maniac was trying desperately to hide his boredom. "Sirs?" he said.
"Yes, Anderson," spoke Drake. "What is it?"
"There's something that I think you should hear," said Anderson as quietly and calmly as he could. "On the Bridge."
Maniac and Drake understood his hint that this was not something to be discussed in the open. They stood to go with him. In the lift, Maniac noticed that Anderson was shaken.
Once they were on the Bridge, Anderson played Sprite's final message back. They could hear the absolute terror that was in her voice. Then they heard the scream. Drake winced.
"What the hell was that?" Maniac demanded. "Was that her?"
"No, sir," said Anderson. "We assume that it came from the bug that attacked them."
"Bugs don't sound like that!" Maniac said loudly.
"Calm down, Maniac," said Drake. "Does anyone outside of the Bridge crew know about this yet?"
"No, ma'am," said Anderson. "I figured I would let you or the Commodore inform the crew."
Drake handed Maniac the microphone. "You should do this," she said.
Maniac had an almost nauseated look on his face as he turned on the COMM system. "Attention all hands," he began. "This is Commodore Marshall. It is my sad duty to report to you that we just received word that the SWACS patrol that had been sent out was ambushed by an unknown Nephilim fighter. At this time we believe that everyone in that patrol has been lost. The data we have concerning the attack is sketchy at this time. You will all be updated once we know more. Commodore Marshall out." Maniac turned off the microphone and walked off.
In Pilot Country all the pilots looked at one another in complete silence. Maestro got up from where he was sitting and walked over to a bell that was in one of the corners behind the bar. He pulled the rope on the bell once to make it ring. "Black day!" he shouted, raising his drink up above his head.
"Black skies!" the rest of the pilots shouted back with their glasses raised to toast their fallen friends.
To be continued…
