The hanger was much as Susan remembered it from the brief time she had spent there on the way up to the observation lounge, but the slight chill she had felt earlier had grown into something much more substantial. Behind the scattered collection of dirty crawlers similar the one the President had used to transport them here, Susan could see the row of fighter craft. She hadn't really examined them closely when she had first passed through the hanger, but now she could see that Alister had indeed spoken the truth and they were indeed ready to fly.

In fact, they were brand new models, straight out of the construction yards and although the Earthforce logo had been painted on them, as well as their serial numbers there was none of the other more personal detailing common on Starfuries. Susan still remembered with some nostalgia her fighter on Babylon 5, with its eagle emblem plainly visible on the top. Other members of Alpha wing had used the fighter as well from time to time, but it had always remained Susan's fighter in her heart, ready to fly whenever she needed it.

Now she was going to fly an unknown fighter, a new model that she wasn't familiar with and to top it off the fighter was a Thunderbolt, a class of fighter that she had very little experience in, having flow one only a few times before. Still a Starfury was a Starfury, and the controls in the new models were very similar to the old, although the seating arrangement, weapons, and most significantly, the feel of the fighter when it was in space, was completely different.

Alister Schmitt came jogging across the hanger, returning from his examination of the tunnel leading out of the fortress. "It looks safe enough Captain," he said, while at the same time rubbing his arms in an attempt to fend off the growing cold. "It will be close to impossible to land though. Without the guidance system we won't be able to bring them down here and will have to land at either one of the shuttle strips or on the Rasputin."

Susan nodded. "There will be no trouble taking off though?" she asked.

"None at all," he replied. "If the tunnel is wide enough to bring one of those crawlers down then we can fly a thunderbolt out through it easily."

"Good," Susan said, going over to the nearest fighter and setting to work undoing the clamps that secured them to the ground. She looked up at Major Logan, who was still sheltering from the cold near the lift doors. "Major, can you take a look around and find some flight suits while we get these fighters reach for launch.

Lily nodded, and set off across the hanger towards a pile of crates that were just visible through the dimly lit gloom. High above there were some lights, but they were not strong enough to fully light up the hanger and only the spotlights near the lift made it possible for Susan and Alister to see what they were doing.

The Major returned a few minutes later, just as Susan had finished undoing the clamps that held the fighters to their transport trolleys. From somewhere Lily had managed to find a small forklift and had used it to carry an entire stack of crates. When Susan looked at her quizzically, she shrugged and said, "I didn't know your size Captain, so I decided I'd better bring them all and you can pick one you like. That way I don't have to go back there if the first suit doesn't fit you. It is damn cold when you get out of the light."

Susan smiled in appreciation of the Major's thoughtfulness and then went and selected a suitable flight suit from the neatly stacked, plastic wrapped packages piled up inside the top crate. Fortunately, they had her size. Flight suits were normally specially crafted to their wearer, but this one would do just as well for now. Although if she was forced to wear it for too long it would likely leave her feeling sore and cramped.

She quickly pulled off her jacket and tossed it to Lily before tugging on the flight suit over the rest of her uniform. It didn't fit quite as well as she might have hoped, with something pinching the small of her back, but it would do for what she hoped would be a short battle. She had left her old flight suit back on Babylon 5, thinking she would never need it again. As she struggled to do up the clamps that held the gloves and boots of the suit in place she made a quick mental note to get another made just in case.

Over near the second fighter Alister Schmitt was just pulling on the flight suit the Major had handed him. Susan called over to him, "ready to go Lieutenant-Commander?"

He nodded and gave her the thumbs up signal before picking up the heavy helmet and climbing up the ladder into the cockpit of the fighter. Susan found her own helmet, which, like the flight suit, was unadorned with any symbols or rank insignia, just the Earthforce emblem on the top. She was about to place her foot on the first step of the ladder when Major Logan's voice interrupted her.

"Captain," the Major said. "I just wanted to wish you good luck."

Susan smiled down at her. "Thanks Major," she replied as she clambered up into the cockpit and took her seat. "Hopefully I won't need it and the battle will be over by the time we get there."

Strapping herself in Susan began a quick check of all the systems. Everything checked out to her satisfaction, even the fuel and weapons, which she had been surprised to find, were registering as full on the flight computer. After a final pull on the straps that held her in place to ensure they wouldn't come loose, Susan placed the helmet over her head and clicked it into place. Then she attached the lead from the fighters oxygen supply so she would be able to breath once they had left the ground.

At the moment the helmet felt heavy on her head, but once they were off the ground Susan knew that feeling would vanish as the weight of the planet's gravity faded away. Of course, there was alway the force created by the sharp turns and loops that fighters were forced to make in combat, but she was used to that. Seated the suit felt a little more comfortable, and it did not seem to restrict her movements the way a really ill fitting flight suit would.

A voice sounded in her ear as Alister found the frequency for her fighter. "Ready to fly Captain," he asked.

She flicked the control on her communications panel that allowed her to reply to any incoming message. "Ready to go Lieutenant-Commander. You can take the lead though."

Susan scanned the panel in front of her and found the control that activated the fighter's main computer. She pressed it and was rewarded by a rising hum from somewhere behind her, the fighter's reactor coming online. The main display screen lit up, running through it's own pre-flight check. Just as Susan had found, all the ships systems were working properly and a row of green lights came up next to each item on the computer's checklist.

Pressing the send button, she sent another message to Alister. "Pre-flight check reads go Mr Schmitt, and I have a fully powered rotating plasma cannon ready to do some damage. So as you as you are ready we can launch."

In response the flight commander activated his fighter's thrusters, lifting the vessel off the ground and then the main engines fired and it shot off across the hanger and down the tunnel like an arrow from a bow. Susan quickly followed suit, activating the thrusters of her own fighter and then when it was high enough off the ground pressing the control that switched the main engines to full.

Before she could move her hand back away from the controls the fighter thrust itself across the hanger like some wild beast let loose from it's chain. Susan had little time to react before the tunnel was suddenly in front of her. The quick reactions that had served her so well in the past responded again this time and she gently led the fighter to one side. It glided towards the middle of the tunnel and away from the wall she had nearly clipped with her wing. When she had come this way earlier in the crawler it had seemed to take forever, but in the powerful thunderbolt the tunnel was a brief blur of motion and then she was free.

Like two flaming arrows, the fighters shot out of the mountainside and powered up into the dark night sky of Proxima. Susan quickly realised that the fighter was shaking around excessively and activated the wing stabilisers. As soon as they had extended the fighter's flight smoothed out and she settled back for the short journey up the half-complete space station.

Barely a minute out of base though a voice suddenly exploded in her ear. "Captain Ivanova," the irate voice of the Apollo's captain assaulted her eardrums. "What the hell do you think you are doing?"

For a moment, Susan thought about not replying but instead her fingertip flicked the switch that would allow her to reply. "Captain James. Sorry I didn't get time to inform you of my plans, but I am taking these fighters up to join in the battle, a couple of extra fighters might prove useful. Besides, I will get a better view of the battle from up there."

"Be that as it may Captain, you are going against all regulations. A ship's commanding officer is not supposed to ever leave his or her post. I must insist you return at once."

"Except currently I am not the Rasputin's commanding officer. Commander Petrov has command while I am on the surface. Besides there is no way for me to land."

There was something in Susan's voice that made the other captain pause before he replied, "Very well Captain, if that is the way you want it so be it. But I hope I won't have to explain to Earthforce command why I allowed you to get yourself killed."

Susan smiled to herself, realising that she had convinced James. "I have no intention of dying, Captain. Ivanova out."

The conversation had only taken a few seconds, but already the fighters were nearing the edge of the atmosphere. "Level it out a bit more Captain," Alister cut in suddenly, noticing that Susan's fighter had too steep an angle of ascent. She quickly complied and settled in to a slow atmospheric departure behind the flight commander's fighter.

A minute later and the sluggish feeling in the controls they had experienced ever since taking off vanished and the two fighters roared out into the vacuum of space. Despite being well strapped down, and in a fighter still pulling several gees, Susan could feel a lightness come over her as Proxima's gravity began to receded. Intent on reaching the other defenders as quickly as possible, she choose not to go to far away from the planet, instead following Alister's fighter as it flew just outside the upper atmosphere.

A bright spark of light erupted from below the horizon and the light-sensitive material that made up the cockpit's canopy immediately darkened to filter out the harmful glare. Like all modern fighters the Thunderbolt was equipped with a special glare filters to cut out any danger of loosing vision when flying towards a sun. This lessened the chance of an enemy sneaking up on you by using the sun as a shield, but did not remove it all together.

Fortunately, most of the sun's light was blocked by the large shape of the space station that the two fighters were heading for. Still it added another, annoying element to the coming battle. The pilots would now have to get used to their light filters switching on and off as they fought. It was possible to fight almost completely by the instruments and displays in the fighters, but most good pilots refused to trust them, relying instead on their own eyes and skills for spotting enemy craft.

As they were now nearing the construction site for the station, Susan input the Rasputin's communications code into the fighter's computer and opened a link to her ship. "Ivanova to Rasputin," she said. "Are you there, Commander?"

Petrov's voice came back to her after only a brief delay. "Captain," he said. "Are you mad. I didn't know if I should believe Captain James or not when he said you had taken a fighter and gone to join the battle. Surely you realise how dangerous it is up here."

Susan found herself almost laughing at the executive officer's concern. At the same time, she felt a little hurt that no one would believe in her abilities as a pilot. "I think I can handle myself Commander. Besides there was nothing I can do down on the planet, Captain James has everything well in hand down there. Besides, while I'm up here I will have a much better look at battle and be able to better assist."

"You can say that again," Susan heard Petrov mutter on the other end of the line before he continued. "Do you want to take command of the Rasputin's fighters then?"

"No, Lieutenant-Commander Schmitt can do that. He is the flight commander after all. I will take over Alpha wing. Where are they by the way?"

"Just approaching the other side of the station on an intercept course with the enemy." The Commander paused for a minute and Susan could hear a muted discussion going on somewhere just out of earshot on the Rasputin's bridge. The Petrov's voice returned. "I have placed all the fighter squadron's under Mr. Schmitt's control. As you said Captain it is better to lead a battle from within it, and the Rasputin is still some distance back. Keep an eye on those other destroyers though, they are moving in closer to pick off any enemies that come into range."

"Good," Susan replied. "The destroyers can pick off any enemy fighters that stray away from the bunch while we take care of the rest. If the Rasputin moves into range whatever you do, don't try to attack the enemy fighters while they are near the construction site. You will only end up hitting the station, and there are probably upwards of three or four thousand civilians working there."

"Nearly five thousand actually Captain. But you are right we can't get too close, a destroyer's weapons do not have the accuracy of a fighter." He paused again and Susan heard the rustling of paper as someone handed him a sheet of paper. Then his voice returned. "I have to go Captain. I have ordered the lieutenant in charge of Alpha wing to surrender command to you. Good luck."

"Thank you Commander," she replied as the link went silent. Noticing that she was drifting too close to the station she veered wide, making sure she didn't run into any of the almost invisible metal beams that were jutting out from the half-complete station. Eventually they would form the frame of the new station, but now they were just more obstacles to get in the way of a fast moving fighter. Sweeping around the main part of the station, which had already been completed to house the workers during the construction, she saw the vast bulk of the Earthforce fighters, gathered in several groups of nine or ten fighters each.

The full compliment of fighters from all the warships should have been around a hundred and twenty, but there was only little over a hundred gathered here, indicating that not all the warships had been able to launch their entire squadrons. Spotting the insignia of the Rasputin's fighters she was pleased to see that almost the entire four squadrons from her ship were arrayed below, with only maybe one or two fighters missing.

Keeping well away from the outer hull of the station, Susan nudged her fighter towards the small group of Starfuries that made up Alpha wing. As she slowed to a stop at the head of the squadron, the former leader, a lieutenant she likely hadn't even met yet, dropped back into the Alpha Two position and this forced a rearrangement among all the other fighters as they sought to keep formation. To her surprise, Alpha wing was also made up of thunderbolt fighter/bombers instead of the more common Starfuries that comprised half the Rasputin's squadrons. That fact at least would make her job easier as it was always best to control a squadron where all the fighters behaved similarly to your own.

Of the enemy fighters, there was no sign yet, but as soon as they came within range of the fighter's sensors then they would show up on the display screen that rested just below the canopy. Right now, it was only showing wire-frame images of nearby Starfuries, and nothing on the enemy fighters yet. Susan did not have long to wait as a flashing red image appeared on the edge of the screen as the first of the enemy fighters came into range.

"Ok, this is it everyone," Alister Schmitt's voice cut in. "Remember we have to try and force them out into the open as much as possible so the destroyers can pick them off, and whatever you do don't let the enemy get near the station."

Susan noticed something strange on the screen. The image of the enemy fighter was wavering slightly, especially when compared to the clear images that represented the other Earthforce vessels. Quickly she tapped the send switch on her communications panel to warn the flight commander. "Lieutenant-Commander, look at your screen. Those fighters have some sort of stealth system."

"Shit," Alister cursed. T hen he quickly sent Susan's warning to the rest of the fighters. "Don't trust your screens everyone. The enemy have some sort of stealth system and the computer is having trouble locking on to them. So use visual sighting only if possible." He then sent a short private message to Susan. "This is going to make things hotter than we wanted, Captain."

"I realise that," she replied quickly. "Be careful out there."

Alister's fighter flew into view just to the left of hers and through the clear canopy she could see the flight commander waving encouragingly. Then his voice filled the ears of the fighter fleet again. "Start your engines boys and girls, here they come."

As one, the cloud of fighters leapt out of their position beneath the station and roared towards the enemy fighters. As they did so, they passed into space lit by the distant sun and Susan had her first real glimpse of what they were fighting. The enemy fighters were smaller than their Starfury opponents were and with their stealth systems, it was going to be even harder to hit them. Looking front on they were almost wafer thin with no visible cockpit or anywhere else for a pilot to sit, unless the pilot was lying prone somewhere inside. Jutting out the front of the fighters though were two ugly looking weapons.

Further observation was lost though, as the two groups of fighters became locked in combat. As one the enemy fighters fired, sending hundreds of fiery bolts of green energy across space. Three Starfuries erupting into balls of flaming gas and metal as the enemy fighters split apart in a classic starburst formation, performed to absolute perfection. In front of them, the Earth fighters were left scattering in confusion as they swerved to avoid the enemy fire while trying to return fire.

"Keep in formation," Susan ordered her squadron, as they scattered to avoid several bolts of enemy fire. Spotting several enemy fighters that had broken away from the main fleet and was heading toward the station she quickly turned and followed them, the rest of her fighters joining her.

The octagonal shapes of the five enemy fighters suddenly spun around in space, as they detected the thunderbolts closing on their tails. Super-heated plasma flew in Susan's direction but expecting some sort of attack she had already slid out of the way and lining up one of the enemy fighters peppered him with her own weapons.

To the uninitiated, the single plasma cannon on a thunderbolt was not as effective as the earlier models of Starfuries, but they did not realise that the rotating, multi-barrelled cannon, could fire four times as fast as quad cannons on the older fighters. This gave the thunderbolt an equally powerful weapon with greater accuracy. Susan put all that accuracy to work as the bolts of energy from her cannon tore jagged holes in the enemy fighter, right where she imagined that the pilot's cockpit must be.

To her surprise though, it didn't even slow the enemy fighter down, instead it spun around to face her, its own weapons spitting fire. Dragging her fighter into a loop, she avoided the enemy's fire while at the same time allowing her to come out of the loop almost on top of him. Her cannon spat plasma again, this time aiming directly for the twin streams of energy that marked the location of the enemy fighter's engines. She was rewarded by an eruption of fire from the enemy fighter's engines, followed closely by a massive explosion that tore the fighter apart and left spots dancing before her eyes as the filter on her canopy struggled to catch up with the sudden change of light intensity.

Skilfully avoiding the cloud of fire and broken metal that had been the enemy vessel she turned her fighter around to see how the rest of Alpha Wing were doing. To her surprise and pleasure, they had already taken care of the other four enemy fighters with no trouble and were beginning to form up again, ready for her next orders.

She nodded in satisfaction at the way they had handled the short battle, realising that Earthforce hadn't lied when it said the Rasputin was going to be getting veteran pilots. Looking back at the rest of the battle, she could see that the other squadrons were not doing as well as hers. Even as she was watching another Starfury was destroyed, putting another dent in the already low numbers of the defenders.

Spotting another group of enemy fighters breaking away towards the station she quickly sprang back into action and sent out her orders. "Alpha One take Two to Six and get around the other side of those ship. Everyone else, you are with me. As soon as you are in position we take them from both sides at once."

Alpha One waggled his wings in an agreement as shot off toward the enemy fighters, half the squadron in toe. The rest followed Susan as she manoeuvred into position alongside the enemy. From what the Captain had been able to determine so far, the Earthforce fighters were faster then the enemy, but both were about equal when it came to manoeuvrability and firepower. However, the advantage in speed the Starfuries had seemed to undone by the incredibly fast reactions of the enemy fighters. Once again, the enemy fighters spotted them before they were close enough to make the kill and split off to engage Susan's squadron.

This time the battle was shorter, everyone knowing to aim only for the engines, and avoid the rest of the fighter to assure a quick kill. A few seconds later and nine enemy fighters were little more than scattered metal and flame. Susan, who had again claimed one of the kills spun her fighter completely around and slowed it down so she could take a good look at the battle that was still raging.

The Earthforce fighters were still outnumbered, despite the large number of enemy fighters that her squadron had just polished off. The gigantic shape of one of the Omega destroyers hung over the battle, two of it's heavy cannons occasionally firing into the fray, hoping to hit one of the enemy vessels. They seemed to be manoeuvrable enough to skip out of the way in time though, so the destroyer was having little effect.

She glanced back over her shoulder and noticed that the wing of one of her squadron was leaking fuel, a thin train of pearl-like particles flowing out behind his ship. "Alpha Six you had better pull back," she ordered.

"I am alright Captain," he responded. "It is just a minor leak. I will dump the fuel from that wing and there won't be any danger."

"You will be down an engine though. It is not worth risking your life, so head back to the barn."

The pilot of damaged fighter finally agreed with her assessment of the situation and spun his fighter around heading off in the direction of the Rasputin. The rest of the squadron followed her as she flew toward the battle that was raging nearby, throwing herself and her fighters in the raging storm.

Fighters of all types swarmed before her in a confusing, constantly changing dogfight. Several times Susan had to pull her fighter up in time to avoid another vessel that shot past, dangerously close to her. It was only by some miracle that she avoided being destroyed in the first few seconds. One of her squadron was not so lucky and collided head on with an enemy fighter. The wing of the dead pilot's thunderbolt spun off and embedded itself in the hull of another enemy vessel, then all three exploded, showering other nearby vessels with debris.

Firing whenever an enemy vessel came within range of her weapons, Susan picked off another two fighters without a scratch on her own vessel. At least she assumed she had destroyed them, she hadn't stuck around long enough to find out, just fired when an enemy came into range and then moved onto the next target. Finding herself alone in the middle of the dogfight, she spotted the octagonal shape of an enemy fighter speeding past, heading straight towards the hulking shape of the destroyer. Quickly she spun around and tore off in pursuit. She had lost track of her squadron as soon as she had entered the main battle, and now, like every other pilot in the conflict had been left to fight for herself.

The single enemy fighter was soon joined by three others, all four showing amazing coordination considering the conditions they were flying through. Susan had a lot of trouble even keeping track with them as they weaved and dived past friend and foe alike, heading straight towards the destroyer. She could see the large interceptor weapons along the destroyers hull, swivelling around to point in the direction of the enemy, but it was not until they didn't fire that she realised the destroyers targeting computers were as confused as her fighter's were and could not lock on.

There was nothing to stop them then, as the enemy fighters peppered the side of the destroyer with bolts of plasma, paying particular attention to one of the huge cannons mounted on the side of the destroyer's flight deck. Then an explosion tore through the destroyer and the gun, along with a fair bit of the hull, tore loose and dropped out of sight below as the wreckage tumbled towards Proxima III, caught by the planet's gravity.

Susan had to dodge and weave as she tried to avoid falling chunks of burning metal, bodies, and the debris from yet more explosions as the front section of the destroyer continued to break up. The enemy fighters had been incredibly accurate in their firing and had cut through the hull straight into the destroyer's armoury where missiles and bombs for the Starfuries were kept. They had also managed to time the attack just right, so Susan would be caught up in the debris and they would have time to swing clear.

Shaking her head in frustration, Susan guided her fighter clear of the wreckage and looked around for a sign of the enemy, only to find that they had vanished. A huge chunk of plating with the name EAS Odysseus on it swept past her vision, and Susan finally knew which destroyer had decided join in the battle. It was little help now though as its flight deck and main weapons had been destroyed by the enemy's cunning strike. Even as she searched for the fighters responsible, the Odysseus, wounded, but not yet critically damaged, was pulling out of the battle, it's four powerful engines doing their best to get it clear of any further fighting.

As the destroyer slowly turned, almost on the spot, Susan spotted the enemy fighters that had been responsible for the attack. They were turning around for another assault, this time on the Odysseus' engines and reactors. Switching extra power from display screen to her engines, Susan powered off in pursuit.

Catching up with the four enemy fighters long before they came within range of the destroyer Susan blasted them with a quick burst from her cannon. One exploded immediately, while the others scattered in all directions to try to avoid her fire. She shot around in pursuit of the closest fighter and blew it out of the sky with another burst from her cannon before having to throw her own fighter into a spin as the two remaining enemies turned on her.

As she did though her arm accidentally knocked the receive switch on her communications panel and her head was suddenly filled with the sound of fifty other pilots, all shouting orders at the same time. Fighting to regain control of her fighter, while at the same time trying to shut down the com system, which was still blaring at her, Susan didn't notice that she had strayed into the path of the Vesta as the second of the three Omega destroyers bore down on the battle. The enemy fighters noticed though and they fled, leaving her alone as she finally righted her vessel and restored order, facing away from the Vesta, completely unaware of the threat looming down on her.

As she scanned the region of space before her for signs of the two enemy fighters, Susan felt a sudden strange feeling of danger come over her. For a brief moment, she thought that she heard someone, in fact several people all calling to her, warning her, telling her to move. Later she would not remember if it was instinct or some other sense that saved her as she smacked her hand down on the controls, sending her fighter hurtling forward at full thrust, away from the Vesta and almost certain death.

Glancing back over her shoulder, Susan shivered as she realised how close she had come to dying. The Vesta had nearly ploughed straight into the back of her fighter and left bits of her body scattered all over it's bow. Instead, she was still alive and the destroyer was free to blow away the two enemy fighters that she had been chasing.

As their particles were splattered across space, Susan tore away from the enemy fighters and the huge destroyer, heading back towards the main battle. The battle had moved since she had left, heading in closer toward the station. From here she couldn't tell which ship was which, but there certainly seemed to be a lot less fighters than there were just minutes before. From her location they looked like a cloud of insects, their weapons fire visible only as brief flashes against the black background.

Drawing closer, she could see that most of the enemy fighters had now been destroyed, with only a few remaining. The Starfury pilots had done their job, but looking at the floating wreckage and bodies still drifting near the station they had paid a high price. A number of the hundred or so Earthforce pilots had been either destroyed or been forced to eject.

Looking around for a new target, Susan noticed a single enemy fighter far below the main dogfight. At first, she thought it was about to attack the station from below, but then she noticed that it was heading towards the atmosphere. Scanning the battle, she realised that the Starfury squadrons at last had the upper hand, but no one had yet noticed the fighter below them. Susan decided to check it out.

Slipping below the battling fighters she increased her speed and dropped down towards the planet, noticing as she did that the enemy fighter was just about to enter the atmosphere, and so far did not seem to be slowing down, which meant that it was likely it was atmospheric capable. Fortunately, her fighter was also designed for similar flight so she had no trouble following the enemy vessel as it dropped below the atmosphere and started heading towards something that sparked silver in the light from the distant sun.

Susan initially thought that the bright sparkle must be one of Proxima's lakes or rivers, but then she realised that it was in fact the sun glinting off the dome of Gorbachev, the colony's second and largest city. The massive city was built after Reagan dome had been completed and so the dome was larger and it housed more people, nearly half a million in fact. It was also, like Reagan, open to any attack from fighter craft that slipped past the space defences.

Although it was unlikely the enemy fighter would kill many people in any attack, as the air was breathable, and the dome large enough so that a few bolts of plasma would not cause too much damage, Susan felt it her duty to protect all the citizens of the planet. The attack on the station had all but failed, and from what she could see, as she flew underneath in pursuit of the escaping fighter, none of the other enemy raiders had made it past the defensive screen of fighters to strike at the station. Still, she wasn't about to allow this single fighter to do what all the others had failed to do.

Keeping her speed dangerously high as she skimmed the upper atmosphere Susan closed on the enemy fighter. However the heat from her wingtips was threatening to turn her fighter into nothing more than a lump of molten metal so she was forced to slow down and drop lower, into the actual atmosphere of the planet. At once, her fighter was buffeted by turbulence, so once again she had to slow down, dropping to a more safe atmospheric speed.

Fortunately, the raider was having similar trouble, and was lower down in Proxima's atmosphere than her was and therefore it was forced to go even slower. Unsure if he had detected her yet, she pushed the nose of her fighter down, descending rapidly out of the sky, the sun at her back. Unfortunately for her, the enemy pilot either had very good vision or a proper scanner and it darted aside, like a minnow fleeing a larger fish, just before she was about to fire.

Cursing to herself, Susan dragged her fighter around in pursuit. She felt a trickle of sweat begin to run down her forehead as she wrestled with the uncooperative controls of the fighter. Ahead of her, seeming untroubled by the rough passage through the atmosphere the small enemy fighter appeared almost invisible against the reddish soil of the planet below. It could not hide from the Susan though and with an almost ferrel grin she increased speed and powered down through the thick atmosphere toward it, the wing tips of her fighter glowing bright red from the friction.

The enemy surprised her again though, and instead of shooting out across the vast plain toward the nearest factories and dwellings it suddenly darted aside and dove down a narrow canyon, flying madly past the jagged rocks that jutted out of the canyon walls. Several times, it nearly impaled itself on a particularly large piece of rock, but each time it managed to dive aside just in time.

'This pilot must be mad,' Susan thought as she moved to follow, making sure to keep her fighter above the canyon though, not wishing to follow the smaller fighter into what looked like almost certain death. With a quick flick of one hand, she activated the weapon controls, preparing to fire as soon as the enemy fighter made an appearance. For a moment, she thought about firing down into the canyon, but its irregular surface was confusing her controls and she couldn't get an accurate lock on the raider. The stealth effect that had hampered their sensors in the vacuum about Proxima no longer seemed to be functioning inside the planet's atmosphere, so that was something to be grateful for at least.

Then the raider reappeared, blasting straight up out of the canyon, sending clouds of dust flying to the air in its wake. Susan could only watch in amazement as the enemy vessel flew almost vertically upwards, a move she would have though impossible, especially in a fighter made for space. She pulled back on the joystick of the Thunderbolt, urging her own vessel to follow, although not at anywhere near the same dangerous angle as her enemy. Even so, she still felt the heavy force of the planet's gravity begin to crush her chest as her fighter clawed its way back up into the atmosphere.

Her opponent did not seem concerned with following the laws of physics though and, reaching the climax of its climb, spun around and plunged straight down again, heading towards her slowly climbing fighter. The twin cannon on the front of the enemy fighter spat fire, sending bolt of super heated plasma on a course towards her vessel, but Susan saw her opponent coming and spun her vessel to one side, letting the enemy's fire impact harmlessly against the ground below.

Then he was suddenly in her sights and she let loose with her own weapons, forcing the enemy vessel to drop sharply towards the ground or risk being destroyed by the Thunderbolt's withering fire. This he did, copying her spin perfectly, before levelling out only metres above the rough surface and thundering off towards the canyon again, leaving a cloud of sand and dust flying out behind him. Her sensors confused by the dust Susan could only follow him by sight, but fortunately, luck was on her side and she spotted him as he dropped down into the canyon, heading in the opposite direction this time.

Flitting in and out behind rock outcropping the raider was almost impossible to target, the Thunderbolt's sensors just not up to the task. They were after all made for space combat and firing missiles at stationary targets, not for trying to track a rapidly moving target that almost blended in with the ground. Still both the sensors, and Susan herself where doing their best, and somehow managed to keep track of the raider as he slid over the rim of the canyon and headed off across a rough boulder strewn plain towards a range of mountains in the distance.

As she chased after the fleeing raider, Susan became aware for the first time of new noises, vibrations, and feelings that just were not present when a fighter was in space. She imagined this is must have been how the first fighter pilots must have felt centuries ago as they took their tiny planes made of wood and wire up to battle against the elements. While she was in the latest model Starfury, the product of three centuries of development and refinement, she still felt a little of what it must have been like.

In space, there was no feeling, no gravity or friction like what she was experiencing now. Every move she tried to make resisted by the fighter. For a brief second she wondered what the enemy pilot was feeling, or if he was feeling at all. He certainly seemed to make a better go of the conditions than her, but gradually her flight was smoothing out as she began to get a feel for flying inside an atmosphere. Always in the back of her mind though, there was a thought that below her was not more vacuum, but solid ground and any mistake made here was almost certain to be fatal.

The brief dash across the plain had allow Susan to catch up with her foe, and she let off a couple of blasts from her plasma canon hoping to get lucky and sneak past the enemy pilot's almost inhuman reflexes. It was not to be though and he easily dodged her half-hearted shooting and began to lead her on a merry chase through the rough foothills. Susan followed as best she could, and to her surprise found herself drawing ever closer to the wildly flying raider. His constant weaving about made it difficult for her to get any sort of lock, so she switched off the auto targeting system, choosing instead to try and make a shot by line of sight, a difficult process in the best of times.

Still ducking just out of her reach, the raider swerved suddenly, away to the left and Susan, who by now was getting a little tired with his antics, chose to follow close behind rather than play it safe and stay above him. Almost close enough to reach out and touch the raider, Susan hoped she could just get one shot lined up and end this chase at last. Each time she thought she was close though, he darted aside again and her shot was ruined.

The raider didn't seem interested in trying to turn the attack back on her now, instead in trying to out run her, or better still cause her to crash into the hillside. Susan was surprised she hadn't already met with disaster during the wild ride. Several times, there had been near misses as rocky cliff faces had just swept past her wing tips. Each time though, she had missed the rocks and continued to stick to the raider's tail, making sure she sent a plasma bolt of two every now and then to keep him on his toes, while inside hoping that just once she would luck out and the fighter would explode into flames. Of course, at this range, she would probably end up being consumed in the fireball.

That sudden thought leapt into her mind and she decided that perhaps it would be better if she eased off a little so allowed the raider to slowly draw ahead of her, only a little, but enough to give her some reaction time in case she did hit him or he hit something. The raider took his chance and dived lower, heading towards a rock bridge that stretched out across a canyon. Beyond the canyon was some mountains, and beyond that a vast desert leading into rapidly approaching night.

'Perhaps he is trying to escape into the darkness,' Susan thought as she pushed her thunderbolt down in pursuit, for the first time hearing the roar of the wind above the throbbing noise of the engines. The raider shot beneath the bridge and into the large canyon beyond, but as Susan moved to follow him, she had a sudden sense that something was wrong. Several times in the past when she had been in battle, she had experienced something similar, an almost intuitive knowledge about what an opponent was about to do. It had saved her before and she had learned to trust it.

This time it was different though and she felt an incredible sense of danger from the hole beneath the rock bridge. She sense an intense hunger and anger, all directed towards her. Reacting on her feelings, she pulled the Thunderbolt back, trying to avoid following the raider. Her fighter protested and a strong vibration ran through it, but eventually the nose swung up and she just scraped across the top of the bridge, the belly of her fighter just clipping a few loose rocks.

Looking back she saw what else she had missed, a giant reptilian creature of some kind leaping out from beneath the rock bridge, massive claws outstretched to envelop her. Had she flown beneath the bridge she would have flown straight into its arms. She shuddered as she watched the monstrous beast skidded to a stop, a rudimentary intelligence realising that its prey was out of reach. She didn't know what the beast was, but had heard that the wildlife of Proxima was somewhat unique, but had never thought to see something like that up so close.

As she turned back to follow the raider, who was still flying straight down the canyon she noticed a shudder running through her fighter as she pushed it downwards again. Her eyes flickered down to the flight computer and she noticed that it was registering damage on the lower port wing. She risked a quick glance in that direction and saw immediately what the problem was, the end of the wing, including half the stabiliser wasn't there any more. Something must have torn it off, either the creature, or the rocks she hit, she was not sure which.

Whatever had caused the damage, it was there now and already she could notice the difference. Each turn and twist was more difficult and she was slipping behind the raider as he tore off down the canyon, seeming unconcerned by her problems. She sighed as she realised that she would need to call for help to bring him down and reached for the controls of the com system, while still keeping a close eye on the rocky landscape whizzing past outside.

Her efforts to raise anyone on the fighter's com system though were meet only with a whine of static from the controls. She cursed again, realising that she was either being jammed by the raider, or the close walls of the canyon were interfering with her communications. Either way no help was going to be forthcoming any time soon.

Looking up again she noticed that somehow she had managed to gain on the enemy fighter. Either he was slowing or somehow she had sped up without noticing. She glanced down at the speed indicator and it was still roughly the same as it had been before, so he must have slowed. Why Susan didn't know, but it did give her another chance, even with her damaged fighter.

Ahead the canyon turned to the right, so the raider was either going to have to turn with it, or choose to leave the canyon. Susan weighed up his current strategy and decided that he would probably stay inside the canyon. Therefore, she aimed her cannon slightly ahead of him, hoping that her strategy was correct.

It was and as the enemy fighter turned she fired. Her shot missed by so slim a margin that for a moment Susan thought she had actually hit him, instead of just the rocky cliff behind him. She missed though and although the raider's ship was showered with chucks of rock, it survived and continued to remain aloft. Susan whacked herself on the leg in annoyance and still angry with herself once again increased the power to her engines.

Even with the damaged stabiliser, the fighter swung around the bend with little trouble and Susan prepared to fire. What confronted her though made her blood run cold. Ahead of her, the enemy fighter was flying almost straight up, level with the face of a massive cliff. She knew there was little she could do, the thunderbolt would never be able to pull up in time, and for a moment almost resigned herself to death.

Her mind kept working though and it noticed the dark shape of a large cave somewhere down below. While her eyes where still taking in this new development her brain had already decided and as a final, last step of desperation she pushed the fighter's nose down and dived into the cave, praying like anything that it was bigger than it looked on the inside, or this brief escape would not last long.

As she entered the cave entrance her other hand instinctively flicked on the external spotlights, meant for night flying and landing. They showed up a clean passage leading into the mountain, with no obstructions. She had barely enough time to count her blessings though before the tunnel vanished and she found herself in a massive cavern, cut into the heart of the mountain. Her heart leaping with hope that she had discovered a way to stay alive, Susan turned her fighter in a wide circle, following the wall as she turned around toward the entrance again.

As she did so, she noticed that something on the floor was moving, just out of the range of her lights. Then it moved into the light, leaping high towards her and she saw it was another of the creatures she had seen outside near the rock bridge. She was travelling too fast for it though, and its claws fell short and she escaped back down the tunnel. Not looking back in case the beast was following her, she fled down the tunnel and back out into the daylight. Switching her external lights off, she forced her fighter into a steep climb that took it out of the canyon, and looked around for the tricky raider that had nearly led her to her death.

She soon spotted him some distance off, making his way across the sands towards the glittering city. She considered giving up the chase, but there were people in that city that were depending on her so she set out once more in pursuit. This time though, she chose to stay as close to the ground as her damaged fighter would allow. The terrain following sensors helped, but even they could not guarantee that she wouldn't suddenly come across a particularly tall dune and end her days as scattered wreckage burning in the sands of Proxima.

Fortunately, for her the sands dunes appeared reasonably regular and she had no trouble avoiding them or any other potential dangers. She was also gaining on the enemy fighter, who gave no indication this time that he had spotted her. Still keeping low, she soon found herself almost beneath him, the raider still flying as straight as an arrow towards the approaching city. She flicker her hands over the weapon controls and prepared to fire, watching for any more from the enemy pilot. There were none though, and Susan pressed the fire control, sending bolts of plasma from her cannon shooting towards the enemy ship. At once the enemy vessel flicked up, trying to avoid her fire. He was too late though and a single shard of plasma burst through his ship, hitting almost dead centre, right in the middle of the fighter's hull.

As the enemy fighter straightened up again, Susan almost thought that he was still alive, just as the fighter she attacked in space had continued going after she had blasted him. Then she noticed the glow from the engines had vanished, and the fighter now appeared to just be gliding through the atmosphere, its aerodynamic shape all that was keeping it aloft. It didn't stay in the air for long though, and seconds later it struck the ground, sending clouds of dust into the air and again blocking Susan's vision and her disrupting her fighter's sensors.

The dust against her hull sounded like pounding rain for a second, but then she was through it and turning in a wide circle to look at the crash site. The enemy fighter had come down almost intact, although it had slid across the ground for nearly a hundred metres before coming to rest on the side of one of the sand dunes. A feeling of exhilaration after finally bringing him to ground ran through she, as well as relief at still being alive after all the close scrapes she had just been through. She thought of the massive claws reaching for her in the cave and shuddered again, hoping that as long as she lived she never came across that creature again. She circled the crash site for a few more times, hoping to see the enemy pilot, or at least learn what race he was. He did not emerge from his smashed fighter though, so Susan decided that he must be either dead or unconscious.

Glancing down at the fuel indicator, she realised that she really didn't have time to find out which. It was low, nearly empty, the flight across Proxima costing a lot more fuel than a similar length trip in a vacuum. After one last look at the enemy fighter, she turned away from the crash site and with the setting sun at her back she sped towards the city, knowing that somewhere nearby there would be a place to land.