I aimed at the lead prototype with my pulse lasers, heard the beep of the targeting computer go from rapid to steady, and fired. All four beams converged on the mech, center torso, and hit it's gyro, making it stagger. I switched to Gerwalk mode to try with my autocannon, and noticed that it had been upgraded. It now was a rotary autocannon; six barrels that could fire five rounds from each barrel every time I pulled the trigger. I aimed at the wounded mech and fired. All of the rounds hit the pilot in the left leg, shearing it off. I tossed the fallen pilot a salute and kicked in the afterburners.
"Captain Hunter, this is Colonel Barton, come in, please."
"Go ahead, Colonel."
"If your pilots want to fly some VT's for you, I'll send my own pilots up in conventional aircraft; you land your guys and we'll swap out."
"Max, you hear that?"
"Sounds like a plan, skipper. My skills in standard fighters aren't up to snuff for this battle."
"Skull group, those who can disengage, return to the hangar and let Barton's guys show us what they can do with those antiques," I ordered.
"Antiques, sonny? They'll get the job done," cried an unknown voice.
"Sorry, buddy," I replied. "Just not my speed."
The next mech was a standard Dervish Destroid, armed with both short and long range missiles and medium lasers. It decided to poke its head my way, and I didn't like the way it was looking at me. I donated it some LRM fire, and it objected to my generosity. He fired his lasers in response. He cooked off some paint on my right torso. "Hey, buddy, I'll send you the repair bill for that."
"Put it on my tab," he replied.
I responded with my lasers. Most of the fire concentrated around his mech's legs, and I saw him fall down as a result of his piloting failure. "You've just been vaped by Rick Hunter, have a nice day."
Lisa was firing up a storm, targeting her nearest mech, another of those nasty prototypes. Her first blast of autocannon fire punched through the opposing mech like it was coated with Saran wrap. She leapt clear, gained altitude, and fired again. This time, the pilot was nailed in the leg. A rapid stream of laser fire came in, destroying her target. "Who the hell was that," she asked.
"Glad to help you, Ma'am," came the voice of Skull Three.
"I needed it," she replied. "I'll buy you a drink when we land."
"Hope it's apple juice," I joked. "He's still a kid."
"Whatever he wants, other than alcohol, then," Lisa groaned.
Next came an assault tank, which desired to share with me the joys of LRM fire. My legs absorbed the damage, and I fired back, with Max adding his lasers to the fun. Our beams crossed, and the tank took a massive amount of damage, while still having energy to reply. His LRM launcher targeted me again, and the SRM launcher targeted Max. I got whacked with another hit to the left leg. The engine exploded on the tank when Max and I returned fire.
I refocused on the next wave of VT intruders. Three man squadron, arrowhead formation. Lisa and I had the right altitude; if we timed it just right, we could probably damage, if not kill, two on a strafing run. I aimed ahead of the lead plane, firing my lasers again. Lasers can be your friends; they're cheaper than ammunition and far more accurate. They could also be your enemy for the same reason. As long as I'm on the right end of the barrel, I like them. Three of my lasers missed, and the one that hit nailed the pilot in the engine block armor, causing a minimal amount of damage.
I looked over at Lisa fast, and she was handling her VT like a pro; her laser fire was good enough for three out of four hits. Her intended target went sailing down towards the ground, without a prayer of a chance for whoever flew it.
The remaining two switched to Battloid mode and started laying down some serious cover fire. Lisa and I followed suit, but I grinned; our autocannons were superior to theirs. Still, a lucky hit could make you have a really bad day. The pilot closest to me flew a plane all decked out in crimson with black trim, and he chose to take me on single-handed. "An honor, Captain Hunter," I heard him sneer.
"You again, Flynn," I sighed. "Don't you ever give up?"
"Against traitors and over-hyped heroes, never."
I used an extra half-second to target his craft. Then, my autocannon tore into him like a Zentraedi plasma cannon. His left side and center torso were given thorough air conditioning. He aimed his autocannon 10 at me, and let fly. I could tell he lacked a targeting computer. My cockpit received a glancing blow, and yet, all of his harm had been minimal. "Is that all, Flynn," I taunted. "Your skills disappoint me."
"And yours are as awful as ever, Hunter," he rejoined. Without warning, he switched to fighter mode and headed off towards the edge of the battle, pursuing an escaping VT.
"Lisa, is that you?"
"Yes, Rick." She coughed; smoke was in her cockpit. "My stabilizers have been hit; I'm trying to get away."
"You're drawing fire; I'll be right there."
I glanced at the ground radar, and it looked like Howe's infantry and vehicles were making a perimeter around the base, and if Lisa were to get stranded, she'd be down behind enemy lines.
I boosted the afterburners and gained air. Flynn had some decent skills as a pilot, but his main failure was in chronically neglecting to use all three dimensions of flight: over, under, and head-to-head. I pulled up right behind him and fired my lasers again. I could see the gaps in his upper armor, and saw the sizzling electric coursing through the wires. His engine and gyro had been hit, badly. I called out, "Bob, this is madness. You may hate me, and I may not be fond of you, but surrender, or you're going to die!"
"You don't get it, do you, Hunter? There is no honor in surrendering to a traitorous foe." So saying, he unleashed a salvo of missiles at Lisa's VT.
"NO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
Her engines took damage, and her wings faltered as she turned.
"Lisa, eject!"
"I can't, the canopy won't budge."
I tried to fly under her to cushion her fall, but Flynn, now in Battloid mode, got in my path. "You sonovabitch, get out of my way," I snarled.
"As always, choosing emotion over duty," he sneered. "You don't deserve her, Hunter. She's your weak spot, one that I will use to destroy you once and for all!"
I didn't care at that point if I killed him. Max told me later that I did. I couldn't remember, because the salvo that supposedly destroyed him also had a few errant missiles.
"Rick, your missiles have locked on to me!"
I tried to target them individually, but the laser fire missed all of the missiles. As I stood in the air, hovering over my greatest and closest kill of the war, I watched through swelling tears as my missiles tore through Lisa's VT. The impact shook her plane, and the pilot's compartment fired forward into the Pacific Ocean.
I flew down for a closer look and radioed in, "Seattle Base, request medevac on the coastline; Captain Hayes is down."
AN: I'm getting my groove back, and that's a plus. Hope you are all enjoying this. Any suggestions are welcomed, and be prepared, the war hasn't even kicked into high gear yet. Anyone who read the old GI Joe comics will truly appreciate the next chapter or two.