Chapter Twelve: Catching Some Waves
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"What in the world…?"

"That's not normal…"

"She…didn't drop it!"

A day had passed. Kina was back at work, but this time, she was not herself by a long shot. When lunchtime came, Aivea had only one thing to ask.

"What happened to you, Kina?"

Kina looked up at her with the same contented smile she had worn all day. "What do you mean?"

"You know what I mean. You haven't had one accident all day, and you've got the energy of a little kid. And I've never seen you just…glowing like this! I've seen you happy, but you look like you just won the lottery! Please, you've gotta tell me what happened yesterday!"

Kina leaned back in her chair. "If you must pry…"

"I must! I must!"

"I talked to Tommy again. I think we must have…I dunno…compatible spirits or something like that, because every time we talk, we get closer…!"

Aivea chuckled. "So that's it. In that case, good for you!" She patted her friend on the shoulder.

"Thanks."

"Kina, there is one thing, though…"

"Mmm?"

"…Since you're suddenly on a roll…you wouldn't try to top me for Employee of the Month, would ya?" Kina fell over.

Meanwhile, in the briefing room…

"Gentlemen," said Commander Ironsides, "I know that you are somewhat tired after the last mission. You'll have to tough it out, because we have a new problem. Our radar spotted an unauthorized entry early this morning over the Crystal Ocean to the east. It had a signature similar to Zentraedi landing ships, but much larger. It landed feet-wet somewhere in this area here. We suspect that an amphibious attack is about to come our way. Be prepared to fight at low altitudes, and don't forget that, if necessary, you can take your fighters underwater for a short period of time. Blue Flight is up again for this one. Any questions?"

Tommy spoke up. "Sir."

"Yes?"

"Will we have any support from blue-water naval vessels?"

"Yes. The UNSS Potomac and her group are heading down there, too. They've already got a recon flight in the air, trying to find the landing ship. Once they find it, you guys will sink it. Any more questions? No? All right. You're dismissed; happy hunting."

In the locker room, Tommy and John were suiting up yet again.

"You know, man, I think the Commander's trying to squeeze all the usefulness out of us," said John.

"I hear you. Say…have you ever really…you know, gone underwater in a VF?"

John chuckled. "Once. It's not something you want to try if you can avoid it, though. Firstly, the verniers don't like the water at all. They really struggle. Also, forget about using missiles underwater. It's either the gun pod or the lasers. Plus, if you fall below about 100-150 feet under the surface…game over!"

Tommy blinked. "You mean…?" He pointed downward.

John nodded gravely. "Like a damn rock."

Tommy sweatdropped and gulped. "Oh, boy…!"

As they took off, John's words still rang in Tommy's ears.

"Like a damn rock…"

Tommy sighed to himself. "I really hope I can stay above the water!"

"Tommy? Hey, Tommy!" It was John.

"Huh?"

"Aren't you going to report in?"

Tommy sweatdropped. "Oh, sorry. Blue 4, all ready for action."

"Right. Okay, who's up for a little fishing?"

"I know I am," said Blue 2.

"Same here," said Blue 3.

"Hope they're biting out there," said Tommy.

They passed the coastline about an hour later, flying high over the waters of Sweetwater's beautiful Crystal Ocean. The largest body of water on the planet, the Crystal Ocean was an important asset to life on the colony world. Needless to say, protection of this giant expanse of water was of paramount importance. However, it was also important to stop any kind of attack that could come across the ocean, and as the Thunderbolts flew onward, that was the first thing on their pilots minds…

"Is our ship faring well?"

"Yes, sir. The insertion went off without a hitch."

"And its complement of Skimmers?"

"All in combat-ready condition. We'll pay them back for Reevan's death, sir."

"I still can't believe he blew it. That idiot! I knew he was too cocky for his own good…! All right. Tell them to launch the Skimmers ASAP."

"Yes, sir." The standing man turned around and left, whilst the sitting man pressed a button on his desk.

A computerized voice came out from a speaker. "You have 75 messages from your mother."

"GAH!" The man fell out of his chair.

Back in the skies over the Crystal Ocean, Blue Flight got the good news.

"This is Blue 1 to all units! The recon flight's found the target! It's about 100 miles to the southeast. Everybody descend to below 1000 feet to avoid getting picked up on radar. This is it!"

They all descended and turned towards their objective. It was only about 10 minutes before they hit visual range.

"Blue 1 here. We've got a tally ho on the target!"

Tommy blinked. "Damn…that's a fairly big ship!"

John smiled. "Okay, everybody, let's say hello. Ready medium-range missiles, and fire when you've got the lock!" The Thunderbolts were carrying normal medium range missiles instead of the high-maneuverability versions; each fighter carried six. "Missiles away!" said John.

Each Thunderbolt followed suit shortly, firing all but two of their supplies of medium-range missiles. As the missiles closed in, several close-in guns opened fire on the missiles. Five of the sixteen were shot down, but the rest slammed into the hull of the ship. However, the ship stayed afloat.

"Whoa…that thing's got some armor!" said Tommy. "What do we do now?"

John grinned. "We find a weakness, and take advantage of it!"

They closed in on the ship. Suddenly, a small hatch opened on the side of its hull.

"What the heck is that?" asked Blue 3.

"Hmm…got me," said John, "but I don't like it…!" As the hatch finished opening, several small watercraft jetted out of it. They were streamlined in hull shape, with several guns on the top of the hull and at the sides. Missile launchers could also be seen near the guns. They moved at an incredible speed for blue-water craft, kicking up huge wake sprays behind them.

"What in the world are those things?" asked Tommy.

John scowled. "Skimmers…!"

Tommy blinked. "Skimmers?"

"Yeah. Drone assault boats. Heavily armed and meaner than angry hornets. Add that to the fact they can keep pace with older VF models-which includes our Thunderbolts-and you've got some nasty little boats."

Blue 3 chuckled. "Nasty, huh? I'll just give them a nice missile swarm, and no more boats!"

"Hold it there, 3. They're tough to get with missiles, unless you're using high-maneuvers or minis. They can turn on a dime and have the ability to dive underwater really fast. Fight them smart, you guys read me?"

"I read you, Lead."

"Got it."

"Understood-oh, damn! Missile alert!!" The Skimmers had fired a huge barrage of short-range missiles at Blue Flight. They immediately broke formation and dodged the missiles.

"Use your guns if you can; they've got the best chance at hitting!" cried John as he dived to attack. Several Skimmers turned their guns upward and opened fire on him as he dived. John performed several rolls to avoid being hit, then transformed to GERWALK mode and fired down at them with his gun pod. He scored several hits on one, managing to sink it. Quickly changing back to Fighter mode, he sped up and pulled back up, his HUD pitch ladder sinking as he did.

"Jeez! There's gunfire everywhere!" said Tommy. "I can't get close to them!"

"Use a couple of missiles to distract them!" replied John. "You probably won't hit them, but they'll stop firing to dodge. Then, you can light 'em up!!"

"Okay, I'm giving it a shot!" He locked onto one of the boats and launched two short-range missiles. The Skimmer stopped firing and made a hard evasive turn…right into Tommy's sights.

"Night-night!" Tommy fired a burst from his gun pod, totaling the Skimmer. "That's one!" He immediately got more missile warnings, and quickly dodged. "Whoa!! Don't they ever run out of missiles?!"

"Not in time," said John. "There's too many Skimmers. We won't be able to sink the big ship until we clear these suckers out!"

Tommy suddenly brightened. "John, I've got an idea!"

"Really? What is it?"

"We use our last medium-range missiles to take out that hatch supplying all the Skimmers. Then, we can pick them off at leisure!"

"Sounds good. Let's just hope they hit!" John and Tommy turned towards the large ship at high speed, avoiding all of the incoming Skimmer fire.

"Locked on!"

"Ditto!" They fired one pair of missiles each. The missiles streaked in for their targets, almost immediately triggering the missile defense system. One missile was picked off, but the others all were dead on, flying into the hatch and impacting on some unknown surface. The resulting explosion trashed the entire hatch and sent a good shockwave throughout the ship. In spite of that, it was still above the water.

"Got it!!" cried Tommy.

"Good job, man. Let's get these Skimmers!" They turned back towards the enemy boats, dodging fire as they went. The entire flight continued making strafing runs on the boats, then pulling away to avoid missiles and gunfire. However, the real fun started shortly after that…

"Damn!" cried Tommy. "I'm Winchester! No missiles left!"

"All right…go to Soldier mode and hold just over the water!"

Tommy blinked. "Are you nuts?!"

"No, I'm serious! You can glide around over the surface, similar to what they do. Try it!"

"Okay…" Tommy dived down and converted to Soldier mode. He brought his Thunderbolt down to just over the water's surface, and found himself sliding along it. "Whoa…this is kinda cool!"

"Don't get too enthralled. You've got Skimmers on ya!"

Tommy spun his Thunderbolt around, making it look like the craft was skating backwards on the water. Two Skimmers were chasing him, guns blazing.

"Oh yeah?!" Tommy opened fire on them with his gun pod. "Eat it! Eat it!! Sleep with the fish!!!" He shot both of the pursuing boats apart. "Ha! Take that, glitches!"

"Great shooting, Tommy!" said John, who transformed his fighter and came down to join him. "Yee-haw!!!" He immediately started riddling Skimmers full of holes.

It took about five minutes to finish off the last of the Skimmers. However, by that time, the entire squadron was out of missiles!

"Now what do we do, Lead?" asked Blue 2.

"I'm thinking, I'm thinking!" John mused for a second. "The ship won't have much armor on the keel. Somebody will have to gut it from below…an underwater attack."

Tommy gulped. "Under…water?"

"Yes. You don't have to do it if you don't want to, Tommy."

Tommy took a deep breath. "I'll do it."

John blinked. "What?"

"I said, I'll do it. I'll go under and sink that monstrosity."

John sighed. "Are you absolutely sure?"

"Call it facing a fear."

John chuckled. "Okay. But if you have trouble under there, you holler at us, got it?"

"Yes." With that, Tommy allowed his Thunderbolt to sink under the water. It was amazingly clear, to such a degree that Tommy immediately knew why it was called the Crystal Ocean.

"Okay, Tommy. You can do this…forget about what happened when you were a kid!"

John suddenly called in on the radio. "Tommy, you there?"

"Yeah. What is it?"

"There's more to this than I know, isn't there?"

Tommy sighed. "Yeah. When I was a kid I almost drowned in a big lake that was near our house. I barely passed the water survival courses at the Academy."

"So that's what you meant by facing a fear."

"Yeah."

John smiled. "You can do this, man. Just get under that thing and gut it!"

Tommy returned the smile. "Right!"

He rushed in, towards the keel of the huge ship.

"Okay, let's see what we have to work with…whoa!" His Thunderbolt was shaken by the wake from the propulsion jets under the ship. He quickly got away from it before it took away his control. He then positioned himself at a point just aft of the middle.

"Here I go…" He opened fire on the keel with his gun pod. Surprisingly, it had an effect, causing several holes in the bottom. "Huh. Well, if that made a few little holes…" He extended his bayonet and jammed it into the keel. Next, he boosted down the length of the keel, ripping a long gash in the bottom of the ship.

"Ha! That got it…oh, boy…!" The ship finally started to go. The water began to widen the gash in the keel by pressure on the sides of the rip. It was going to sink right on top of him! Tommy quickly boosted away, barely getting out of the way of the sinking ship.

Above the water, the rest of Blue Flight watched the ship go down.

"He did it! He sank that sucker!" cried Blue 2.

"Yeah…but where is he? Blue 4, this is Blue 1. Respond!"

"…Blue 4 here. I made it…barely…!"

John laughed. "Glad to hear it, man!"

Tommy's Thunderbolt rose above the surface of the water, on the other side of the sinking ship.

"I think I need to dry off…I've had enough water sports to last me a lifetime…!"