Chris spent the next entire next day memorizing the layout of the asteroid base. It wasn't easy. The base's tunnels were twisted and curved, nothing was in a straight line. On top of that, the base's gravity system only function half the time. As a result everyone had to be careful to not go floating away.
He met the squadron in the mess hall for the evening meal after finishing his tour of the base. They were all crammed into the small section that was reserved for pilots. RaNah was sitting on the floor as the chairs were to small. They had only three tables, in which they had divided by flight groups, as usual.
Dinner was comprised of ration bars and nutrient drinks, it was all they had. He took a large bite out of one of his ration bars before saying, "I know, the food stinks." The looks on the faces of everyone else showed that they all agreed. "But, it's all we have, so eat up."
After dinner they were instructed to report to the briefing room. Chris led them to the briefing room. The room was different than it had been previously. It now contained a working projector. The chairs had also been arranged in neat rows. The dust layer that had been there previously was non-existent.
The Base commander entered shortly after they arrived. He was holding two display discs for the projector. He shoved one of them into the projector and it came to life, showing a diagram of the system. Red dots populated the areas around the jump nodes in the system. "This is the current position of the Shivan and traitor ships." He spoke slowly, giving the pilots time to take it in. "There's no way in hell we could take the jump node to Vasudan back, so our current objective is to initiate our guerilla war against the Shivans." He pulled the one disc out of the projector and shoved another one in. This time the projector showed a list of Shivan ships. "This is a list of the Shivan ships that are moving supplies into the system, from where we don't know. The point is that these convoys have to be stopped if we're to have any hope of retaking the system. We've developed a procedure of jumping to avoid leading the Shivan here. You are to jump to one of seven auxiliary points, in which you'll already have the bearings and vectors to jump immediately. As you all know, we can't allow them to find us."
"So, what's the plan?" Louis asked.
"The mission for today is for the Swords and the Pirate Killer to hit a convoy as it drops out of subspace at a small repair depot near the sixth planet of the system. The gravity well there will make escape, for you or the Shivans difficult. The Pirate Killer will jump in right on top of the Cain cruiser that's patrolling the depot. The Swords will jump in right behind it, your objectives are to neutralize the Cain cruiser as quickly as possible. We estimate it will take them a minimum of five minutes to send out a distress signal, use that five minutes to destroy it, then clear out the fighters and any cargo. You will then wait for a maximum of two hours for the convoy to show, if it does, destroy it, if it doesn't, fall back to the base using the double jump method."
"What are we flying?" Chris asked.
"You'll be flying Erinyes fighters, armed with twin banks of Prometheus S cannons and Tempest dumb fires. Use your dumb fires to rip the cruiser apart on the first pass. Dismissed."
Soon, they were en-route to their destination. They were only seconds behind the Pirate Killer. Chris flexed his fingers as he watched the count down to reversion. When it ticked down to zero, the stars reappeared around him. Directly in front of him was the Shivan Cain cruiser, already engaged with the Pirate Killer. "Swords, charge!" He yelled as he rammed his throttles to full. He pressed down all triggers on his flight stick as he zoomed towards the Cain. He was joined by all eleven other members of the Swords.
The Cain cruiser broke up under the hailstorm of fire as the Swords passed it, riding it's explosion clear of the blast. Chris rammed his stick hard and found his first target, a Basilisk fighter. He fired several tempests as he pummeled it with Prometheus rounds. It tried in vain to maneuver, but failed miserably as Chris destroyed it.
Chris was them jumped by a Dragon fighter. He jinked to avoid it's lasers and frantically threw his fighter into evasive maneuvers. "Anya, get him off my tail." He yelled into the comm. He dropped a pair of countermeasures as the Dragon fired a missile at him. The missile took the bait and exploded on the countermeasures. Then Anya swooped in, her guns blazing, and ripped the Dragon apart. "Thanks Anya," Chris transmitted as he searched for a new target.
However, there were no more targets, the other Swords had neutralized all of the other fighters and the Pirate Killer was already vaporizing the cargo containers in the area. Soon, they were all waiting for the convoy.
Waiting was always the hardest part, Chris thought. Waiting always seemed to make even the bravest feel fear because their was nothing the hide the fear, no excitement of battle, no adrenaline pumping through your veins. Even worse was the silence. Everyone was instructed to maintain radio silence, as not to give their position away, but this gave far too much time for fighter pilots to think.
After an hour, the Shivan convoy appeared. It consisted of 8 Asmodeus freighters and 8 Mephisto freighters. There was also a Rakshasa cruiser escorting them. Two wings of Mara fighters encircled the cruiser.
The Pirate Killer opened fire and the Swords shot forward. Chris targeted the lead Mara fighter and opened fire. The Mara danced out of the way in a display of maneuvers that only a shivan fighter could do. Chris followed the Mara around it's final turn and fired. His shots impacted the shields of his target, as his missiles penetrated. The Mara exploded in a fireball.
Chris looped around and zeroed in on the Mara that was behind Anya. Anya didn't appear to be too troubled with the fighter. She was easily and lazily evading the Mara's erratic weapons fire. Chris swooped in behind the Mara and blew it away with a volley of tempest missiles.
"That was sure easy." Louis commented.
"Must not be dealing with crack pilots." Gordon replied.
"It would make sense, but then, Shivans generally are all the best. It's strange."
"Real strange Louis." Chris added. "But for now let's take down the convoy, watch the flak around the Asmodeus freighters."
Within minutes, the Shivan convoy was completely destroyed. They would have to escort the Pirate Killer out of the gravity well before they could head for home. Chris opened a secure channel with Anya. "Why didn't you just waste the Shivan that was on your tail?"
"Your right, why did I?" Anya seemed incredibly confused.
"Normally, when someone's flying that badly, you blow their brains out."
"I was... at least I think I was.... overcome by this feeling of safety, I really don't know why."
"Could the Shivan ship have been transmitting some kind of signal?"
"Doesn't seemed likely, but base on how the Shivan was flying, I'd say he was doing something besides flying."
"You do know that's incredibly scary. If they could perfect some method of distraction."
"We wouldn't stand a chance and we already don't, so why would they bother?"
"No one really understands how the Shivan mind works."
"What about those crazy people on the Vesan, how do they fit into this?"
"Good question, how do they?"
"I guess we'll find out if we can, if not, we've just got to focus in combat. I think that's why I was affected."
"You, why?"
"Generally, when I go into combat, I fly almost by instinct, I think you fly in more of a cold fury."
"Well, I guess that's a fair assessment."
"Vasudan's probably aren't affected, unless the Shivans have had a chance to figure out Vasudan anatomy."
"Point, but we shouldn't underestimate the Shivans." Chris glanced down at his sensor board. They were approaching their subspace entry vector. "We can talk later, we're about to enter subspace."
"Right."
Chris closed the secure channel, reopening his open communications to the squadron and the Pirate Killer. "This is the Pirate Killer," the commander of the Pirate Killer said, "prepare to enter subspace on my mark..... mark."
They all entered subspace.
The debriefing back at the asteroid base was quick and informal. The Base Commander simply said good work and then dismissed them. Chris and Anya visited the Mess Hall and grab a quick meal. Chris was halfway through his rations when Louis and Jack arrived. "Is this a private party or can anyone join?" Louis asked.
"Take a seat." Chris replied.
"Jack sit!"
"I'm sitting." Jack replied.
"Anyway, so what's on the menu tonight?"
"Let's see," Anya replied, "there's rations, rations, ration soup, and, get this, ration stew. And, for dessert, more rations."
"Even more appetizing than last time. Leave it to the GTVA chefs to cook up the most delicious stuff. I smuggled a bunch of candy in my fighter's auxiliary storage system before we left the Repair Yard. I'm saving it for a celebration."
"Sure you are. You're just hoarding it for yourself."
"I resent that, I am not. Even ask Jack."
"That's not a very reliable source, he's your best friend, for all we know, you're giving him some to keep him quiet."
"Does that mean I have to bribe the two of you know to."
"I don't know, how much are you talking about?" Anya was smiling, as was everyone else.
"I'll have to have you court marshaled Louis," Chris stated, "bribery of your superior officer is illegal in the GTVA. You could be stripped of rank and citizenship in the GTVA."
"No please," Louis replied, obviously suppressing his laughter. "Not that, the GTVA is my...." Louis fell out of his chair as he laughed.
The rest of the Mess Hall fell silent as the four pilots continued laughing.
Later that evening, Chris overheard Louis talking to Amy about something. He hadn't been asleep, but had simply been resting with his eyes closed. He pressed his ear to his door and could understand what they were saying.
"Look, I... I not very good at these." Louis was saying.
"Well, are you hitting on me or do you have another reason for speaking to me." Amy replied.
"No... I'm not hitting on you.... I'm trying to apologize for how I acted on the Hedette. I was a really big ass hole. If it makes you feel better, you can slap me."
"Thank you for apologizing, and no, I don't think I'll slap you, you'd take it the wrong way and enjoy it."
"Well, you know me." Louis let out a nervous laugh.
"Yes, I do know you, all too well." It was then that Amy released a laugh of her own. "Thanks Louis."
Chris heard two doors open and close, Amy and Louis had returned to their quarters. He breathed a sigh of relief. At least that rift had been mending, and Amy seemed better for it. That had been the first time he had ever heard her laugh. Maybe it was a sign that Amy was finally recovering from all the death that had scared her emotionally for so long.
He made a note in his personal log that while the galactic situation was grim, the local situation in the squadron was finally improving. His squadron was becoming more and more bound to each other. This was both good and bad. It would mean that if one member of his squadron was killed, then the others would feel greater pain at their loss. However, a squadron that was bound to each other was much less likely to take a casualty in combat.
That night, Chris slept better than he had in days.