Chapter Fourteen: Scramble, Part Two
---------------------------------------------------------------------
The Koenig Monsters closed in on their objective. The flight of nine Thunderbolts was currently all that stood between the bombers and their target, barring a few anti-aircraft guns placed around the base. Certainly not enough to turn back two flights of VB-6s…

"This is Blue 1," said John. "I want a weapons check, all aircraft."

Each pilot in the group gave their reports. Some were still decently armed, while others only had maybe one or two volleys' worth left. Tommy had 8 missiles left. John had 10.

"All right, that'll have to do. Get ready, because their escorts are probably going to try and hit us at range!"

No sooner had John said this than a large swarm of missiles came after the group. They split off and avoided the deadly barrage, then resumed their course.

"Quick! Target as many bombers as you can and fire!" They did so. However, the shots were spread amongst all of the first flight bombers, with only perhaps five missiles going after each one. The slow aircraft made their attempts to dodge, but it almost seemed halfhearted. Each one was struck, but the missiles had trouble penetrating the heavy armor of the Monsters. Fortunately for the Thunderbolts, one Koenig Monster was hit several times in an air intake duct, causing its engine to overheat and explode. The huge aircraft went into an uncontrolled rolling dive, and crashed into the ground.

Tommy sighed. "Well…at least we got one…"

"We'll get the others," said John. "Let's close in on them and pour on the firepower!" They tried to swoop in on the bombers, but their escorts got in the way. Tommy rolled his Thunderbolt to avoid taking shots, and managed to get past the charging fighters. A Lightning came around and followed him to the rear of the formation.

"I don't have time to play with you!" Tommy opened fire with his rear laser, scoring two direct hits and a third glancing hit on the Lightning's airframe. The damaged fighter started to slow down and Tommy was able to get away from it. Had this occurred earlier in the battle, Tommy probably would've come back around and finished it off. Now, there were more important targets out there. Tommy turned towards the closest Koenig Monster and aimed his gun pod at it. He fired in bursts, trying to hit the engines. The bomber made small swerves to avoid the gun attack and suddenly struck back with a vengeance, opening fire with multiple rearward guns.

"WHOA!" Tommy had to break off his attack, as the incoming fire from the tail guns was too intense to ignore. "John, there's no way we can get these things from behind! They've got that arc covered too well!!"

"Try attacking from the side," replied John. "Or the bottom. They don't have guns there!"

"Right." Tommy set himself up for another run at the same bomber as before. This time, he tried to make a deflection shot at the side of the bomber. He rolled his Thunderbolt to match his turn to the forward movement of the target, and pulled his nose ahead of it. He fired again, trying to cut the bomber in half like he had done with the variable fighters he had fought before. The shots hit, but to his dismay, the bomber stayed airborne. Not to be undaunted, Tommy fired again and again. It wasn't until around the sixth burst that the Koenig Monster finally started to belch smoke from its right engine.

"Damn it…John, this is nuts! I've fired and fired at this stupid thing and I'm just now causing real damage!!"

"Just keep it up, man! They aren't invincible!"

Tommy rolled his eyes, and kept firing. He only got in a couple more hits before a missile warning sounded on his display. He broke to avoid the attack, again losing his target.

"This is Control. We estimate four minutes before the first flight drops its bombs! You have to take them down!"

John frowned. "Understood, but we're having problems getting through their armor. We'll get them, though."

Tommy eventually managed to re-align himself into yet another attack position, this time from below. He converted to GERWALK mode to give himself more firing time, and he just fired as soon as he thought he had a clean shot. The rounds struck the belly of the damaged bomber, and Tommy could see them bounce off of the armor…until a few shots strayed a little aft of the centerline. Those rounds suddenly went right through the belly of the aircraft. Tommy blinked, then fired again, aiming for that spot. The burst pierced the belly, and the Koenig Monster was suddenly blown to pieces!

"What the…John! John!"

John answered immediately. "What's wrong, Tommy? Are you hit?!"

"No! I got one!"

"Great…how'd you do it?"

"I fired at the bottom, just behind the 3/9 line."

John thought for a second. "The bomb bay…oh. Oh, oh, oh! Ha ha!!!!!"

"What is it?"

John grinned. "They screwed up! The morons screwed up! They must have VB-6As! The A model doesn't have much armor on the bomb bay, because we didn't have systems that could operate bay doors that heavy small enough to fit aboard it back then!"

Tommy smirked. "I like the way this conversation is going, John…!"

John laughed. "All aircraft, go for the bomb bays! Target your weapons just behind the center of the bombers, and you'll vaporize them!" His call was met by a series of acknowledgements.

"Okay, here I go!" John got below a nearby bomber, and immediately locked onto it with missiles. When he was certain most of the missiles would end up striking the bomb bay, he let them fly. His judgments were accurate; most of his shots did strike the bomb bay, immediately detonating the bomber's own payload within it and completely demolishing the aircraft. "Koenig Monster shot down!!"

In the next minute, the subjects of most of the radio traffic were fairly one-sided.

"There's another one!"

"Blue 3 shot down a Monster!"

"Bomber headed for the dirt!"

"Got that ugly sucker!"

Tommy chased down one of the last two bombers, again using GERWALK mode for his attack. He settled into position, but was suddenly fired upon by a VF-14, also in GERWALK configuration, which tried to drive him away with gunfire. Fortunately for Tommy, the rounds impacted on the anti-projectile shield.

"Hey, buzz off! Tommy returned fire with his own gun pod, striking the right leg of the Hunter and forcing it to return to Fighter mode to stay airborne. This effectively removed it as a threat to Tommy, and he turned back to the Monster…only to find himself staring right down the barrels of those damned tail guns again!

"YIKES!" Tommy quickly dived to avoid getting shredded by the guns, and with a quick burst of speed courtesy of the throttle, managed to get back into position. He locked on, and fired his missiles at the sweet spot. The bomber exploded as easily as a fighter would have.

"That's one more for me, guys!"

John smiled. "Great! Blue 3 just took down the other one that was left. How are you holding up?"

"I'm out of missiles, but I've still got my gun pod."

"Okay. Let's get the rest of them, people!"

The second flight was maybe a mile or two behind the first. It didn't have as many bombers as the first, but the most shocking thing was discovered by Tommy almost immediately.

"Hey, where's their escort?"

John blinked. "I don't see any…!"

"Something's not right about this, John."

John was about to say, "Don't worry about it" when the entire flight of Koenig Monsters began to descend. They converted to their GERWALK modes as they reached about 100 feet AGL.

"What the hell are they doing?" said Tommy.

"Looks like they're gonna try and go low-level." John's analysis was immediately rendered invalid when all of the bombers converted into Destroid mode. "Or…not."

"Wait a second…can VB-6s go to Soldier mode with bombs in the bomb bay?" asked Tommy.

"No, they can't. And it's Destroid mode for the Koenig Monster."

"Oh. Those sneaky little…!" Tommy began his descent, but John immediately stopped him.

"Wait! If you think taking those suckers in Bomber mode was tough, you haven't seen anything like their Destroid modes. They're stronger than five Renegades!"

"No kidding? Damn…what do we do?"

"We have to take them out…I've got it. Blue 1 to rest of squadrons. We need some more missile-equipped birds to give us support. We've got Destroid mode VB-6s here."

"This is Crow Leader. I can send you Avedon and Holloway, but that's all we can spare here."

"Dagger Leader here. I'll send you Jackson, he took off late and has a full load."

"Great," said John. "Anyone else?"

"Uh…that's all we can spare out here. Sorry!"

John rolled his eyes. "Guess it'll have to do. Thanks."

It didn't take long for the three extra pilots, two in VF-5000 Star Mirages and one in the same VF-11C Thunderbolt model that Cavalier Squadron used, to reach them. Once they did, John planned out the attack.

"Okay, here's what we do. We all go to Soldier mode and try and gang up on the Monsters before they get within Grenade Crusher range. If that happens, bye-bye base. Normally, it'd be really hard, but our three new arrivals will keep them busy with missiles while we attack them. Let's go!"

They all transformed, and positioned themselves. Tommy and John's Thunderbolts stood next to each other, along with three others. They were right behind one of the advancing Monsters. The thing was huge; not as big as the old MAC-II Monster destroids, but still bigger than any variable vehicle Tommy had seen before. It crashed through the trees of the forest they were all in.

"Now!" shouted John. Missiles rained down on the Koenig Monster, throwing it off guard. The Thunderbolts boosted forward, and ended up nearly surrounding the giant machine.

"Let him have it!!" All of them opened fire with their gun pods at once. Even the armor of the Monster wasn't able to stand up to that kind of concentrated fire. The machine fell over, smoldering.

"One down, three to go," said Tommy.

"Let's move!" said John. They rushed through the forest, using thermal imagers to find their target. Upon reaching it, they pulled the same tactic. Missile attack to divert attention, then a massed ambush. The second Monster went down almost as soon as the first.

"Whew…looks like we might win this after all," said Tommy as he changed clips in his gun pod.

"All the same, let's keep on our toes."

The third VB-6 was ahead of the others by about half a mile. It was almost close enough to the base to use its Grenade Crusher weapon, a type of aircraft-scale artillery gun. The same missile attack came, but this time, things didn't go so well…

"Now!!" They boosted out, but the VB-6 was ready for the ambush and threw an arm out, catching one of the other Thunderbolts and knocking it down. It then aimed its heavy gun pod at another Thunderbolt, and riddled it full of holes. The pilot barely managed to eject.

"Oh, no!" cried Tommy.

"You piece of…!" John opened fire on the bomber, trying to draw its attention to him. The plan worked too well. The VB-6 turned around and charged him. John barely sidestepped before getting leveled by the huge shoulder coming at him.

"John!" Tommy rushed the Koenig Monster, and struck it with the stock of his gun pod. It turned around and faced him. Tommy gulped, his face turning white. "Uh…I was just kidding! Really!" The Monster grabbed his Thunderbolt by the head, blacking out Tommy's visual screens. It then pulled back its arm and literally threw the smaller aircraft to the ground. By some miracle, the head of the Thunderbolt stayed attached.

"Holy…I actually survived that-AAAAHHHH!!!!!!!!" The Koenig Monster loomed over him. Tommy knew what it was going to try to do before it even happened. The gigantic machine raised one of its heavy feet into the air.

"He's going to crush me in my cockpit! I've gotta do something!!" Tommy had only one option. He brought up his gun pod and fired it right at the raised foot. The shots messed up the Monster's balance, and it had to step back several yards, giving Tommy enough time to get back up. As he did, though, the VB-6 recovered and prepared to charge again. Tommy nearly panicked.

"You won't get me…YOU WON'T GET ME!!!!!!!!!!!!" Tommy opened fire on the Monster, pelting it with endless gunfire. He didn't let off of the trigger for an instant. The Monster staggered backwards under the assault, but did not fall. Eventually, Tommy's gun pod stopped firing, having expended every last round in its clip. The Monster stood for a couple of seconds…then finally fell over backwards, defeated.

"I…I did it…" Tommy began to laugh. "I really did it!"

John's VF-11 came up beside Tommy's. "Nice kill, though I have to say I didn't think you were the type to pull that kind of move."

Tommy rolled his eyes. "Kilo Mike Alpha." He changed clips again. "What about the other VB-6?"

"Not a problem."

Tommy blinked. "What?"

"You're not going to believe this. Follow me." John converted to GERWALK mode and ascended above the treetops. Tommy followed suit. They flew a short distance…and Tommy really couldn't believe his eyes when he saw what had happened.

"It fell in a crater!?" Tommy burst out laughing. "After all this, the last one is stopped by a big crater?! That's too good!!"

Sure enough, the last VB-6 was facedown in a giant pit. It was an asteroid impact crater, and deep enough to swallow up even the huge Koenig Monster.

"What about the air battle?" asked Tommy.

"Good question. Blue 1 to squadron leaders. Status on the air battle?"

"This is Red 1. All enemy aircraft are bugging out at high speed and leaving the combat area. I suppose they knew it was over once the last VB-6 went down. One of the work buildings took a couple of missile, but no other serious damage was dealt to the base."

John blinked. "Any casualties?"

"Minor injuries to some workers, and I just got reports that some workers are trapped inside. They're unhurt, but they can't get out. Rescue operations are already underway; it shouldn't take long to get them out. That's all she wrote here. A good fight, gentlemen and ladies."

"This is Control. Roger that, mission is complete. Bring it on home."

Tommy sighed to himself. "Hey, John."

"Yeah?"

"Are you also getting this feeling that we dodged one hell of a bullet?"

John chuckled. "A little. But we still kicked their tails. That's what's important."

"Yeah, I suppose you're right. Still, that close encounter scared the hell out of me…"

"I'll tell you what. I'll talk to the Commander about getting you off duty for a bit, so you can get yourself good and calmed."

"Thanks, man." Tommy smiled. "I just hope the Hammerheads' next move doesn't come before then…!"