Chapter 6

Konoko ran her hand along the sleek lines of the X-302. It was cold, hard, and totally beautiful. A work of deadly art, but even still it scared her. Jack walked over to her in the launch bay and handed her a sandwich. "Here, take this. It's gonna be a while before we get another chance to grab a bite. Are you ready?"

Konoko looked at Jack nervously. "I gotta be honest, Jack. I'm scared shitless. This is the first time in a long time where I haven't had any kind of advantage. The last time was when..."

"Yeah I know when you fought Muro." Jack sighed. "Look, Konoko, you're just going to have to trust me here. I'm a good pilot; all you have to do is shoot straight. We'll be fine."

Konoko looked at Jack and gave him a weak attempt at a smile. "Okay, Jack. I trust you."

Just then a warning klaxon went off and a voice came over the intercom. "Warning, we are in range of the mother ship. All fighters scramble, repeat, scramble."

"Well," Jack said enthusiastically, "that's our cue. Let's kick some Goa'uld ass."

Jack and Konoko jumped up and climbed into the fighter, then strapped in and went through a quick startup checklist. Then they taxied onto the launch rail and were blasted into space.

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"Shit! We've got another on our tail!" Konoko shouted. "We've gotta break off!"

"Like hell! Take the damn shot!" Jack shouted back.

Konoko tried to ignore the energy blasts that were screaming by her ship from behind and she took careful aim with the swiveling cannons. When she finally managed to get the crosshairs over the elusive death glider, she squeezed and held the trigger. A stream of explosive projectiles flew with merciless accuracy towards the doomed glider. They impacted all along the back and left wing, tearing the craft apart. Jack then cut the engines and used thrusters to spin the fighter 180 degrees, so they were flying backwards. Konoko got the hint and sprayed bullets at the fighter behind them. The bullets mostly missed, except for a couple that hit the windscreen, smashing it open and dooming the pilot to a horrible death.

"Nice shooting Konoko." Jack commented.

"Thanks, nice flying too. Too bad all our pilots can't fly like that." Konoko replied, "We better get in close to that mother ship now."

"Roger." Jack replied hauling the fighter to the left and sending it towards the mother ship. The battle was going well, they had only lost a couple of X-302s, and they had all but eliminated the Goa'uld fighter screen. The mother ship was damaged, and most of its' weapons were destroyed.

Suddenly a voice crackled over the radio. "All fighters, this is Jonas. Two mother ships have been detected on an intercept course. Time to get started. Everyone set their hyperdrive coordinates." The beauty of this plan was that since X-302s were equipped with their own hyperdrives, they weren't dependant on the Prometheus to get away. All of the X-302s set their coordinates and one by one the fighters disappeared into hyperspace. Jack was the last to go, first making sure that the Prometheus got into hyperspace safely. "Here we go." he said, and then pressed the hyperdrive button.

A wave or purple enveloped the fighter, and then Konoko was thrown back in her seat by the acceleration. They shot into hyperspace and then all Konoko could see was a long purple tunnel. "That was cool." she said, laughing.

After just a few minutes, they emerged into regular space once again, and met up with the rest of the ships. Jonas' voice came on the radio again. "Hi guys, I hate to break this to you but we seem to have a problem. The hyperdrive in the Prometheus has shorted out, we're stuck here."

"Ah crap," Jack said angrily, "for how long?"

"Indefinitely."

"Shit!" Jack swore. Okay listen up guys; the Prometheus is stuck here indefinitely, which means that we need to defend her from two mother ships. All of you guys get ready, this is going to be one hell of a fight."

Seconds after Jack finished, the two mother ships appeared out of hyperspace, both of them launching swarms of death gliders which filled the space ahead. "I count 50 contacts," Konoko said tensely, "this doesn't look good."

Jack and the other 14 X-302's formed up in a vee formation, and turned to meet the oncoming waves. "Okay kids listen up. Use all of your missiles now, make sure only one per target, and try not to miss too much." With that, Konoko started targeting and firing, blasting off all four of her remaining missiles in seconds. The other fighters followed suit, and sent a swarm of death towards the incoming gliders. The gliders, not accustomed to fighting with anything other than energy weapons, simply flew straight ahead, totally oblivious of the threat that the missiles posed, until they hit, that is. Ten death gliders flying near the front were blown apart in a matter of seconds, sending shrapnel in all directions. Suddenly the death gliders realized what was happening, and the squadron broke apart, jaffa pilots fleeing the deadly devices chasing them. The missiles were fast, but lacked a good range, and only a few more gliders met their fate before the missiles ran out of fuel and exploded. "Go now!" Jack shouted, "While they're still trying to figure out what's going on! GOGOGO!"

The X-302s broke formation and dove into the fray, trying to hit as many death gliders as possible while they were still confused. Konoko targeted glider after glider, shooting a stream of bullets and then retargeting, not even bothering to check if she had hit. The plan seemed to be working though, the X-302s had yet to lose a man, but there were still close to 30 death gliders to just 15 X-302s. Jack ducked and dove through other battles, keeping his nimble machine an elusive target. Konoko kept firing, not even caring if she got a solid lock anymore. she watched as she clipped other death glider, sending it spiraling through space until it slammed into another glider, creating huge short lived fireball. Konoko grinned, "We're beating the crap out of them Jack. Haha! Look they're retreating!" She was right, the remaining death gliders were pulling back, turning around and heading back towards the mother ships.

Jack shook his head. "No, they're not! They're going after the Prometheus! Everyone, follow those glider, NOW!"

The X-302s turned and followed the gliders, shooting at them from behind and doing some, but only a little damage. Konoko stopped and looked ahead to the Prometheus. It was outgunned as it was, and the fighters would not help. The Prometheus had already taken damage in several areas, shown by black marks and even very small breaches in the hull. It was firing furiously, but had to concentrate on one ship at a time to do any real damage. "Everything's going to hell in a hand basket." Jack commented.

Konoko just nodded. Yes it was. Jonas' voice crackled on the radio. "All fighters, this is the Prometheus, we've taken serious damage, not going to last. We are going to land on the planet. We suggest you all try to do the same." Then the Prometheus turned and fired its sub-light engines, moving quickly towards the green globe they were floating over.

"Well, this is great. This is just freakin' perfect!" Jack aid angrily. "Okay kids, you heard him. Form up and head to the planet, and try to watch your back." Jack turned and dove the fighter towards the planet below. It was a very green planet, with water everywhere, but no large oceans to speak of. Hammond had told them before they left that the Tok'ra said it looked a lot like the Rockies, big mountains and big forests. The image changed colour and then was obscured completely as a wall of fire enveloped the fighter, shaking it around like a bug in a storm. Finally, they broke through the bubble, screaming over the landscape at blistering speed, following a few kilometers behind the Prometheus.

After several minutes, the Prometheus found a clearing and lowered its landing struts. It slowed down and dropped into the clearing, touching down gently. As Jack was about to do the same, Konoko shouted. "Don't land! We have some friends, I count 20 death gliders."

Jack sighed and stopped in midair just a couple of meters above the Prometheus, "All fighters, follow my lead. Get inside the Prometheus' shield bubble, then give 'em hell!"

Konoko started firing, and Jack turned the ship to match when the gliders flew by, acting like a rotating turret. After a couple of passes, 15 of the glider had been either destroyed or too shredded to keep fighting, and the remaining gliders pulled away.

"Man, that was good timing." Konoko said, relieved, "my instruments say I have 6 bullets left."

Jack lifted the fighter up a little, then hovered over beside the Prometheus and set down. He shut down the fighter and then he and Konoko hopped out and ran over to meet Jonas, who was standing by the entrance to the Prometheus. "Jonas, what's the word?" Jack called.

Jonas grimaced. "The techs say we'll be stuck here for at least 12 hours, probably more like 24."

"How far are we from the base?" Konoko asked.

"From the information we got, probably about 50 miles. Why?"

Konoko smiled. "Because we're going to destroy it."

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So sorry I haven't posted in so long, school has been killer, and I have had a lot on my plate. Anyway, thanks as always to my biggest fans, Johan and vmfan4life (previously Katie B.) How is Konoko going to destroy the base? Find out soon! Please R&R!