Thank you to Bob Rijke who reviewed chapter one. I know it's not much, but Admiral Evans and Captain Findley show up on West Point's information board, display thing. That and a brief mention of someone else is the closest thing I can get to a familiar face in this story.
Chapter 2: Out of the flight deck, into the fire
"Group 14 this is West Point, you are cleared to launch, good flying."
Valerie watched West Point steadily grow smaller in her rear view display. She had no time to dwell on this however, as the voice of Janet Carter suddenly kicked in over the radio.
"All right cadets, form up on my four, six and eight and follow me to the trade lane."
"So far so good" thought Valerie after her first 10 seconds in space. She took a position directly behind Carter and watched with growing tension as the trade lane, which would fling her into the badlands at some unholy speed, grew ever closer.
"Initiate trade lane sequence, now!" Carter said over the radio. A flick of a switch was followed by group 14 flying down the bright, shimmery cylinder of the usually inactive trade lane.
Soon enough, the four arrived in the badlands. The dark, stormy and God forsaken appearance of the place only seemed to add to the fear that was felt by every cadet in the group had no shortage of to begin with.
"Sensors show no enemy presence." Carter almost whispered. The quiet tone of her voice forced Valerie and Mathias to wonder if she was talking more to herself then to them. Nathan on the other hand had his eyes glued to his contact list, and didn't allow himself to entertain such thoughts.
"Cadets, activate cruise engines and proceed to waypoint one. Mr. Cavallo, you take point."
Valerie watched as Mathias fighter overtook Carters and positioned itself at the front of the group. She found that now she was in the badlands, much of her nervousness had begun to give way to objectiveness. Despite this, part of her mind was telling her that she would feel a lot better after she watched some Liberty Rogues explode.
"Enemy contacts detected!"
Valerie's head snapped round to face her contact list and nerve shattering anticipation filled her after hearing Mathias' message over the radio. Before the enemy entered her sensor range however, Mathias started speaking again.
"It looks like two Liberty Rogue Bloodhounds."
"Could be worse," she said quietly to herself, "that means two of us per Bloodhound; they're as good as dead."
"Make that four." Mathias said.
"That's not a problem," she began again, "one ship apiece and you outgun and outclass them."
"Make that twenty!" Mathias virtually shrieked.
Valerie stared at her contact list, desperately hoping that this was all some sick joke on Mathias' part. The list simply confirmed his report however, and furthermore, she could see all twenty sets of red brackets on her view-screen.
Valerie's mind froze; this wasn't supposed to be happening. The Liberty Rogues were a motley collection of thugs who were supposed to be easier to defeat then a pestiferous Los Angeles Cummings weed.
For a very short moment, she was reminded of the late captain Marcus Walker's warnings about underestimating the enemy. This was the result of such a mistake. A momentary flash of pain passed through Valerie as she remembered her deceased mentor. This was quickly banished however; this was no time to grieve. The truth of the situation was clear, and it was also heading straight for her, and before fear had a chance to set in, Janet Carter was shouting new orders over the radio.
"All ships, run!"
The word 'run' triggered a reflex action in all of the cadets and each of them re-activated their cruise engines and turned a very quick 180 degree turn.
"…Repeat, to all Liberty Navy, Police and LSF ships, this is Lieutenant Janet Carter; we are being pursued by a fleet of twenty Liberty Rogue fighters, requesting…" There was some momentary static and then a different, deeper and almost terrifying voice emerged from the radio.
"Did you honestly thing that we would simply bow to your will and die? We know all about this 'trial' of yours. What you don't seem to know however, is that the badlands belong to the Liberty Rogues and the Outcasts; they are not your personal hunting grounds. Your deaths and the deaths of those you brought with you will help to prove this point to the rest of Sirius."
Valerie stared at the image of the Liberty Rogue on her HUD in sudden shock as she realised that this was the face of a man who was trying to kill her. Four years of academy training however, and the anger she felt at being forced to run by an enemy she had come to believe wholeheartedly was inferior, gave her the strength to focus her mind on more important matters, such as running, and more running.
"I'm picking up a new group of signals." Mathias aid calmly, having seemingly recovered from the shock of seeing 20 enemy fighters. This amazed Valerie for a few moments. Mathias was one of the most emotional people she knew, for a few seconds, she remembered how he had once shouted at a lift's call button for not working. Her mind snapped back to reality shortly after it had left it however.
"Four Outcast daggers" Mathias said in the same, eerily calm tone of voice.
"All fighters follow me" said Janet Carter as she veered to the right so as to avoid the newcomers. The cadets followed suit shortly thereafter.
"This is Navy patrol Delta 13," the sudden appearance of a friendly voice brought relief to Valerie that was surprisingly, almost frighteningly strong, especially considering the fact that she wasn't out of the metaphorical wood yet, "we are en route to assist you. We'll be there in five minutes, try to hold them off."
Two similar messages, one from West point group 7, and another from LSF patrol Gamma 12, under the command of Lieutenant Commander Kendra Peterson arrived shortly after the first message, and a very different feeling began to swell inside of Valerie; Bloodlust.
"Just a few more minutes," she told herself, "just a few more minutes and we'll be able to show these pathetic wankers that no part of Liberty space belongs to them. They are just a minor annoyance who'll wither and die when our forces finally learn the location of their base. After that, we'll hunt down the survivors one by one and, oh for the love of, WAKE UP VALERIE! We don't have time for this!"
Such was the way of most of Valerie's present thoughts. It was hard to focus when all she wanted to do was watch as her lasers tore into a pirate's fighter. She only had to run for a few more minutes, but those minutes were filled with fear, anger and an overpowering desire for vengeance, and because of this, they were agonisingly long.
"This is Navy patrol delta 13, engaging enemy."
"West Point group 7, ready to assist."
"This is LSF patrol Gamma 12, engaging hostiles."
"This is freelancer Edison Trent, I'm here to help."
"Acknowledged, good to see you," came the jubilant response from Janet Carter, "Cadets; take your pick."
Valerie, Nathan and Mathias broke formation almost instantly and followed the nine Navy 'Defenders', ten 'patriots', and the one 'Eagle' into the wall of Liberty Rogue ships.
The usually dark and lifeless badlands were lit up by the countless laser blasts. Valerie dodged the enemies' fire as best as she could by strafing left and right. The occasional hit damaged her shields so pitifully that it barely registered on her shield health display.
Valerie passed her target and quickly swung round so as to position herself behind the slow, clumsy Bloodhound that she had chosen as a target.
The two advanced 'starbeams' and the two 'lavablades' which constituted her ships weaponry, (with the exception of twenty five seeker mines,) were more then sufficient for the task ahead of them. Her target's shields fell within a matter of seconds. This was followed an instant later by the shock, joy and confussion that accompanied Valerie's first kill.
The pirate simply exploded in the time it takes to blink. The pilot didn't even have time to blink. Valerie was too shocked to move for a few moments, a few hits to her shields quickly brought her back to reality however.
Mathias could only feel frustration. The damaged Outcast he was pursuing continued to evade his fire, he only needed only one more good hit to destroy the pestiferous pirate, but this hit was proving to be hard to achieve. Fortunately for him however, the pirates were mainly focusing their efforts of the 'Defenders' and Trent's 'Eagle'. This left him free to attack his target, and the other friendly fighters free to destroy those who challenged them.
Nathan was having a fairly hard time evading yet another dagger that was firing at him. He was trying every evasive manoeuvre he had been taught in an effort to loose his pursuer, but to no avail. As things began to look their most grim, inspiration struck.
Nathan cut his engines and watched as the Outcast overtook him, quickly begging to veer to the left, but not knowing that it was too late.
Nathan opened fire, and the Outcast's fighter rocked as one of its wings was torn off, closely followed by another, which was followed by a final explosion that took out what was left of the ship. Nathan recovered from the shock of his first kill by noticing that two Liberty Rogues had appeared behind him.
As the battle progressed, the pirates began to take steady losses, without even so much as a hull fracture on the friendly vessels. Soon enough, the surviving six Bloodhounds began to retreat.
"So," began Valerie, "they've finally come to their senses. Now this is as it should be."
"This is Lieutenant Kendra Peterson, these Liberty Rogues might us lead us to their home base, all fighters pursue."
Valerie wasn't sure whether or not to feel exited or frightened. The first wave of enemy vessels had gone down easily enough, despite having superior numbers. Logic dictated however, that the Liberty Rogues and their friends the Outcasts would defend their base with everything they had. In spite of her apprehensive feels however, Valerie activated he cruise engines and followed the others in the direction of the fleeing pirates.
Obviously if they followed too closely, the enemy would just scatter so as to protect the location of their base, or wherever it was that they were flying, hence they had to rely on a waypoint which showed the enemies' vector.
"I'm getting something" said one of the LSF officers suddenly.
To be concluded
Chapter 2: Out of the flight deck, into the fire
"Group 14 this is West Point, you are cleared to launch, good flying."
Valerie watched West Point steadily grow smaller in her rear view display. She had no time to dwell on this however, as the voice of Janet Carter suddenly kicked in over the radio.
"All right cadets, form up on my four, six and eight and follow me to the trade lane."
"So far so good" thought Valerie after her first 10 seconds in space. She took a position directly behind Carter and watched with growing tension as the trade lane, which would fling her into the badlands at some unholy speed, grew ever closer.
"Initiate trade lane sequence, now!" Carter said over the radio. A flick of a switch was followed by group 14 flying down the bright, shimmery cylinder of the usually inactive trade lane.
Soon enough, the four arrived in the badlands. The dark, stormy and God forsaken appearance of the place only seemed to add to the fear that was felt by every cadet in the group had no shortage of to begin with.
"Sensors show no enemy presence." Carter almost whispered. The quiet tone of her voice forced Valerie and Mathias to wonder if she was talking more to herself then to them. Nathan on the other hand had his eyes glued to his contact list, and didn't allow himself to entertain such thoughts.
"Cadets, activate cruise engines and proceed to waypoint one. Mr. Cavallo, you take point."
Valerie watched as Mathias fighter overtook Carters and positioned itself at the front of the group. She found that now she was in the badlands, much of her nervousness had begun to give way to objectiveness. Despite this, part of her mind was telling her that she would feel a lot better after she watched some Liberty Rogues explode.
"Enemy contacts detected!"
Valerie's head snapped round to face her contact list and nerve shattering anticipation filled her after hearing Mathias' message over the radio. Before the enemy entered her sensor range however, Mathias started speaking again.
"It looks like two Liberty Rogue Bloodhounds."
"Could be worse," she said quietly to herself, "that means two of us per Bloodhound; they're as good as dead."
"Make that four." Mathias said.
"That's not a problem," she began again, "one ship apiece and you outgun and outclass them."
"Make that twenty!" Mathias virtually shrieked.
Valerie stared at her contact list, desperately hoping that this was all some sick joke on Mathias' part. The list simply confirmed his report however, and furthermore, she could see all twenty sets of red brackets on her view-screen.
Valerie's mind froze; this wasn't supposed to be happening. The Liberty Rogues were a motley collection of thugs who were supposed to be easier to defeat then a pestiferous Los Angeles Cummings weed.
For a very short moment, she was reminded of the late captain Marcus Walker's warnings about underestimating the enemy. This was the result of such a mistake. A momentary flash of pain passed through Valerie as she remembered her deceased mentor. This was quickly banished however; this was no time to grieve. The truth of the situation was clear, and it was also heading straight for her, and before fear had a chance to set in, Janet Carter was shouting new orders over the radio.
"All ships, run!"
The word 'run' triggered a reflex action in all of the cadets and each of them re-activated their cruise engines and turned a very quick 180 degree turn.
"…Repeat, to all Liberty Navy, Police and LSF ships, this is Lieutenant Janet Carter; we are being pursued by a fleet of twenty Liberty Rogue fighters, requesting…" There was some momentary static and then a different, deeper and almost terrifying voice emerged from the radio.
"Did you honestly thing that we would simply bow to your will and die? We know all about this 'trial' of yours. What you don't seem to know however, is that the badlands belong to the Liberty Rogues and the Outcasts; they are not your personal hunting grounds. Your deaths and the deaths of those you brought with you will help to prove this point to the rest of Sirius."
Valerie stared at the image of the Liberty Rogue on her HUD in sudden shock as she realised that this was the face of a man who was trying to kill her. Four years of academy training however, and the anger she felt at being forced to run by an enemy she had come to believe wholeheartedly was inferior, gave her the strength to focus her mind on more important matters, such as running, and more running.
"I'm picking up a new group of signals." Mathias aid calmly, having seemingly recovered from the shock of seeing 20 enemy fighters. This amazed Valerie for a few moments. Mathias was one of the most emotional people she knew, for a few seconds, she remembered how he had once shouted at a lift's call button for not working. Her mind snapped back to reality shortly after it had left it however.
"Four Outcast daggers" Mathias said in the same, eerily calm tone of voice.
"All fighters follow me" said Janet Carter as she veered to the right so as to avoid the newcomers. The cadets followed suit shortly thereafter.
"This is Navy patrol Delta 13," the sudden appearance of a friendly voice brought relief to Valerie that was surprisingly, almost frighteningly strong, especially considering the fact that she wasn't out of the metaphorical wood yet, "we are en route to assist you. We'll be there in five minutes, try to hold them off."
Two similar messages, one from West point group 7, and another from LSF patrol Gamma 12, under the command of Lieutenant Commander Kendra Peterson arrived shortly after the first message, and a very different feeling began to swell inside of Valerie; Bloodlust.
"Just a few more minutes," she told herself, "just a few more minutes and we'll be able to show these pathetic wankers that no part of Liberty space belongs to them. They are just a minor annoyance who'll wither and die when our forces finally learn the location of their base. After that, we'll hunt down the survivors one by one and, oh for the love of, WAKE UP VALERIE! We don't have time for this!"
Such was the way of most of Valerie's present thoughts. It was hard to focus when all she wanted to do was watch as her lasers tore into a pirate's fighter. She only had to run for a few more minutes, but those minutes were filled with fear, anger and an overpowering desire for vengeance, and because of this, they were agonisingly long.
"This is Navy patrol delta 13, engaging enemy."
"West Point group 7, ready to assist."
"This is LSF patrol Gamma 12, engaging hostiles."
"This is freelancer Edison Trent, I'm here to help."
"Acknowledged, good to see you," came the jubilant response from Janet Carter, "Cadets; take your pick."
Valerie, Nathan and Mathias broke formation almost instantly and followed the nine Navy 'Defenders', ten 'patriots', and the one 'Eagle' into the wall of Liberty Rogue ships.
The usually dark and lifeless badlands were lit up by the countless laser blasts. Valerie dodged the enemies' fire as best as she could by strafing left and right. The occasional hit damaged her shields so pitifully that it barely registered on her shield health display.
Valerie passed her target and quickly swung round so as to position herself behind the slow, clumsy Bloodhound that she had chosen as a target.
The two advanced 'starbeams' and the two 'lavablades' which constituted her ships weaponry, (with the exception of twenty five seeker mines,) were more then sufficient for the task ahead of them. Her target's shields fell within a matter of seconds. This was followed an instant later by the shock, joy and confussion that accompanied Valerie's first kill.
The pirate simply exploded in the time it takes to blink. The pilot didn't even have time to blink. Valerie was too shocked to move for a few moments, a few hits to her shields quickly brought her back to reality however.
Mathias could only feel frustration. The damaged Outcast he was pursuing continued to evade his fire, he only needed only one more good hit to destroy the pestiferous pirate, but this hit was proving to be hard to achieve. Fortunately for him however, the pirates were mainly focusing their efforts of the 'Defenders' and Trent's 'Eagle'. This left him free to attack his target, and the other friendly fighters free to destroy those who challenged them.
Nathan was having a fairly hard time evading yet another dagger that was firing at him. He was trying every evasive manoeuvre he had been taught in an effort to loose his pursuer, but to no avail. As things began to look their most grim, inspiration struck.
Nathan cut his engines and watched as the Outcast overtook him, quickly begging to veer to the left, but not knowing that it was too late.
Nathan opened fire, and the Outcast's fighter rocked as one of its wings was torn off, closely followed by another, which was followed by a final explosion that took out what was left of the ship. Nathan recovered from the shock of his first kill by noticing that two Liberty Rogues had appeared behind him.
As the battle progressed, the pirates began to take steady losses, without even so much as a hull fracture on the friendly vessels. Soon enough, the surviving six Bloodhounds began to retreat.
"So," began Valerie, "they've finally come to their senses. Now this is as it should be."
"This is Lieutenant Kendra Peterson, these Liberty Rogues might us lead us to their home base, all fighters pursue."
Valerie wasn't sure whether or not to feel exited or frightened. The first wave of enemy vessels had gone down easily enough, despite having superior numbers. Logic dictated however, that the Liberty Rogues and their friends the Outcasts would defend their base with everything they had. In spite of her apprehensive feels however, Valerie activated he cruise engines and followed the others in the direction of the fleeing pirates.
Obviously if they followed too closely, the enemy would just scatter so as to protect the location of their base, or wherever it was that they were flying, hence they had to rely on a waypoint which showed the enemies' vector.
"I'm getting something" said one of the LSF officers suddenly.
To be concluded