Interlude Four: Over the Sky – Phantom Ship Reborn

            A large shadow loomed over the small town. People were running like scared chicken in every direction, away from the carnage that rained from the sky. Fire poured down from innumerable gunports, blasting houses into rubble and tearing open the streets. Children and women were crying, while a few brave people tried to reach their Vanships that were parked on a landing field. Few made it there.

            After the main onslaught, countless star-shaped objects detached from the shadow and sped closer. Machine gun fire raked the now-empty streets and swept across the landing field. Humans collapsed or were thrown back by the brunt of the blasts. The fighters were turning around for a second pass.

            "Unit four has spotted a Guild battleship sieging a town!" The observation post reported. Tom arched an eyebrow. "Recall the Vanships and prepare them for battle. All hands, battle stations. Engage inaudible drive at maximum speed. Caroline glanced at him. "What are we going to do?"

            "This," Tom told his sister, "is the beginning of our war with the Guild."

            Fire raked across them, tearing through their ranks. They broke away, running, confused about the sudden attack. More of the star-shaped ships began to explode in mid-air as machine gun fire from Vanships raked them. The Vanships sped through their formation, and came about for another assault.

            "We are under attack!" The commander of the Guild battleship glared at the viewports. "Who dares to attack us?" The men next to him frantically searched for an answer. "Unregistered Vanships. They are easily decimated. We should..." The aide's words were cut off when the ship was rocked by an explosion.

            "What was that?"

            "We are under fire from...There is no ship there!" The aide reported. "What do you mean, there is no ship? Someone just shot us! Find it, and destroy it!"

            Suddenly, the clouds before them broke open and revealed a dark raptor-like shape, the sun at its back it was headed straight for them. It was much smaller than the battleship, but it was oncoming at full speed. Soon, neither would be able to move out of the way.

            "They're going to ram us! Move!"

            The phantom ship just came closer. Phantom Ship...flashed through the commander's mind before the first salvo of the new arrival blasted through the bridge deck armor.

            The people on the ground turned their heads as they heard new explosions. As they glanced up, they saw there wasn't one shadow in the sky, there was a second one. They were headed straight for each other, and the occassional flash denoted their weapons were firing.

            All the star-shaped fighters had retreated and were engaged in combat with the new Vanships that had first decimated their ranks. Meanwhile, the capital ships were slugging it out. The Guild battleship kept firing its high-caliber shells at the CHULAINN. The smaller ship managed to evade the barrage and fired off. "Load incendiary scatter shells!" Tom shouted.

            The CHULAINN's guns roared to life and a wall of flame shot out from the turrets, arcing towards the battleship, scorching its hull plating. The swift gunship danced around the retaliation fire, then veered back for another run. "Prepare the armor-piercing explosive rounds," Tom ordered. "All forward guns, open fire at will."

            Torn and twisted from the onslaught of the incendiary rounds, the armor plating of the battleship slagged under the renewed assault. The plates bucked in and finally broke, the shells burying themselves deep into the bowels of the ship and detonating, tearing at its superstructure. The ship started to burn.

            The villagers looked up and saw the Guild battleship silhouetted against the clouds, on fire. The second, smaller vessel pulled away from the fight, opening up one last time. The Guild ship exploded in mid-air, raining shards and debris. When the skies cleared, the phantom ship was nowhere to be seen. "Phantom Ship..." the words began to ciculate among the people. And the legend of the Phantom Ship started.

            "One of our units hasn't reported back, Maestro Delphine." The woman on the platform turned around, her pale face twitching with anger. "What do you mean, has not reported back? What happened?"

            "It was one battleship we dispatched to terminate a small town on the east continent. Somehow, we lost all contact with the remainder of the task force."

            This was not good. "Don't let the council hear of that," Delphine said. "Too late. One of our units has found the wreckage of the battleship. It has been completely destroyed." Delphine swore. "They will certainly panick.  We need to act fast, before the opposition spreads."

            "Maestro, there are some in the council who fear that someone has risen against us and is openly opposing us. They fear the retaliation of the humans."

            "I want that ship found and destroyed. Kill everyone to the last man," Delphine said. "Leave no survivors." She would not tolerate anyone challenging her.

            The guns flashed, and the shells embedded themselves in the enemy battleship. The Guild vessel was sinking. Before it even fully hit the ground, the CHULAINN had vanished back into the clouds.

            On the ground, people were cheering for the "Phantom Ship".

            The silvery-gray prow of the CHULAINN broke through the clouds. Before anyone on board the Guild battleship could react, the gunship had blown through the battleship from stem to stern, leaving a gaping hole behind. As quickly as the vessel had appeared, it vanished back into the shadows of the night sky, like a phantom.

            Star-shaped fighters were swarming around the CHULAINN, stinging the gunship with machine-gun fire. Turrets began to swivel, and when they fired back, it was with a more devastating effect than the small caliber guns on the fighters could ever have. The incendiary rounds set the sky on fire, slagging the incoming fighters. When they were clear, the CHULAINN left.

            The "Phantom Ship" legend began to circulate both in human and Guild ranks. The story of a mysterious vessel that attacked the Guild openly and protected others intilled fear in one side, and hope in others. The "Phantom Ship" had been reborn...