Chapter 11- To Fight an Ace
(Ashley's POV)
All her life Ashley had heard stories of her ancestors and their glorious battles. Being the last of the Vulama family she had been practically raised on her family's past battlefield exploits. Those stories had imprinted a desire to live up to the Vulama name deep within Ashley's core. As time progressed however it became clear to Ashley that her dream to fight may not come true as the Cornerian Military had done its best to keep her away from battle entirely. When Reaper had given her permission to join his flight for this mission (although in a roundabout way) she had been near ecstatic which had led to her kissing the human team leader in the heat of the moment. Now however she was contemplating giving Reaper another 'thank you' gift, for Ashley's dreams had finally come true and she found herself flying in the thick of a space battle. Which Reaper had not hesitated in sending her into along with Katt and Fang.
Now Ashley banked after an enemy bomber that had attempted to unleash its payload on the already dead in space CMS Marauder. Maneuvering behind the bomber Ashley was able to cut inside of the ships left turn before squeezing off a trio of lasers that melted the crafts left wing and sending it into a spiral that ended with the craft smacking into the side of one of the many small drifting asteroids. Giving a small yip of happiness at her first kill that thankfully nobody could hear Ashley maneuvered around to look for another target.
Ashley and the rest of Helios flight where currently doing their best to cover the Marauder as its crew evacuated via escape pods. The remaining six Cornerian fighters that had been in the immediate area where now covering the escape pods and egressing the area. As for her flight she had been pleased that both Fang and Katt had both quickly downed an enemy and where continuing to deal with the few stragglers in the area. Ashley though had been impressed the most with Reaper as although she had not seen him fight as she was busy with her own adversaries, she had heard Fang and Katt remark about how he had already downed five of the ten enemy craft in the immediate area of the Marauder which left Ashley and Helios flight to clean up the remaining five craft now two.
Suddenly the comms came alive with Reapers voice "This is Shadow Lead evac of the Marauders crew is complete and almost all fighters in the immediate area are down. All other stations repot status."
"This is Cross the Colony Ship New Horizons is almost out of the battle space and Nightmare has gone to waylay the enemy destroyer that is pursuing. We still have about a dozen enemy craft in the area along with 4 friendly Cerinia fighters." Nick reported.
"This is Alpha of Stratus flight enemy forces attacking the remaining two colony ships are down and the colony ships have evacuated the area along with their fighter escort. Currently assisting Saber flight with any remaining hostile craft." Wolf came in next.
"This is Aflack still engaged with two dozen or so hostile craft but between us Fox, Krystal, Preacher, and Stratus flight we should have no issues." Falco responded.
"This is the CMS Fox Fang to Shadow Lead we have managed to destroy the enemy frigate engaging us and are now focusing on the heavy frigate. Our remaining fighter screen has air superiority in our AO but we cannot raise out main fighter wing which is still fighting in that massive fur ball near the asteroid." The Comm officer aboard the Fox Fire stated over the comm.
"This is the CMS Yellow Star to all craft! CMS Rascal's weapons magazine just went off! The Rascal is sunk! The enemy Heavy frigate engaging us has suffered moderate damage but is retreating from the battle space though we can't figure out why." The panicked voice of the Yellow Stars comma officer shouted over the calm. In the distance Ashley could see the remains of the Rascal which now hosted a gaping hole around mid-ship that looked like a giant animal had taken a bite out of the frigate.
"This is Nightmare it may ave somthin to do with the fact that I just made the destroyer dead in the water. It's got a destroyed engine and bridge" Nightmare answered as Ashley saw the enemy destroyed in the distance trailing flame and debris from its engine and bridge areas.
"This is the frigate Lunar Hawk we have successfully destroyed one enemy frigate and are almost through with the second. Our fighter screen has control of the area and soon we will be available to provide assistance." The Lunar Hawk reported having single handedly fought off two enemy frigates.
Suddenly a panicked voice came over the comma "Mayday, mayday! This is Viper 7 of the Cornerian main fighter wing to all allied craft! We have suffered severe casualties to an unknown enemy squadron. What is left of us are outnumbered 3 to 1 out here! Requesting immediate assistance we won't be here much longer!"
Ashley heard Reaper curse before replying "Understood Viper 7. Helios flight were done here lets go help them out. All other elements when you finish clearing your sector divert to assist as well that area is our most pressing concern right now. Yellow Star see if you can assist the Fox Fire against that enemy heavy frigate." Reaper instructed as Ashley and the rest of Helios flight formed up with him and flew toward the fur ball in the distance. Before they could reach the battle however a voice came over the comm.
"Well, well, well if it isn't the infamous Reaper of Shadow team. Fancy meeting you out here." A cool voice said over the comm.
Angel looked up to see that above and ahead of them where a flight of four strange looking craft that where flying in formation and heading on an intercept course (looks like an F-2A Viper Zero).
Reaper again cursed before answering "Fishermen Squadron, what are you doing in the Lylat system?"
The same voice replied "Looking to test the local fish here, so far we haven't been impressed. Those little minnows in that battle back there where no challenge at all. Hopefully you will be a much more capable adversary."
Ashley decided to cut in "Reaper who are these guys?" she asked in confusion.
The voice however decided to answer "Ahh where are my manners. I am Grand Fisher leader of Fishermen squadron and you are simply a corpse that doesn't know its dead."
Ashley bristled at how arrogant this King Fisher sounded "What did you say! I'll rip your throat out you little shit!"
"Oh temper, temper. I like the prey to have a little fight in them. Bass, kill that little guppy." King Fisher instructed.
"Ahahaha! You got it boss! Come little fish let's see what you got!" A crazed voice responded and one of the four fighters broke off to head directly for her craft.
"Shit Amaterasu you've been marked. Fang, Salt head over and assist our allies. Amaterasu you are going to have to take on these guys with me. Pay attention now, these guys are human like me so they know modern fighter tactics just like I've been teaching you. They also have way more experience than you and much better fighter craft. I didn't think you would have to fight someone like them for a while but you're about to hit the ground running. Get ready for the fight of your life and dig deep in order to kill that SOB Bass. I'll try and keep the other three off you so you have a chance of taking that guy out!" Reaper instructed as he and Ashley turned head on with the incoming squadron.
Ashley gulped as the weight of what she was about to go up against settled on her, but swallowing her fear she pushed her fighter faster toward the incoming threat. "I won't back down. I'll make my family proud. I WILL NOT DIE HERE!" She shouted in her mind as the distance between her and the enemy closed. Ashley steadied her nerves as the distance between her and the enemy closed however before she was in effective weapons range the enemy ship suddenly let loose a stream of strange green liquid like beams that spewed forth like bullets toward her craft.
"Shit!" Ashley yelled in her mind as she banked her craft in order to avoid the attack. Her evasive maneuver however was a little late and two of the energy beams impacted her shields. Looking at her console Ashley was shocked to discover that the two glancing hits had depleted her shields to a measly 15%. "Great he has more powerful and longer range weapons than me." Turning around to glance at the enemy Ashley cursed again at the sight of the enemy right behind her.
"Maybe Reaper can…whoa!" Ashley thought as she glanced around and found Reaper somehow fending off all three opponents off to her right. "…I think he is a little busy" Ashley concluded before refocusing her attention on fighting the opponent behind her. Glancing around and seeing a cluster of nearby asteroids Ashley determined that she needed to get into them in order to negate the enemy crafts superior speed and longer range weaponry. Ashley quickly accelerated into the field and began to maneuver around the various space rocks with the enemy following her.
"Oh playing hard to get? Well you can run all you want lovely I'll still catch you!" The enemy pilot Bass announced over the comm. As his aircraft spewed forth more of the strange beams at her.
Ashley felt a jolt as two shots impacted the rear of her aircraft. Glancing at her instruments Ashley cursed as she saw that her shields where now gone and her left wing had taken some damage. Ashley rolled inverted and dove around an asteroid in a desperate attempt to shake off her pursuer but the nimble Human craft easily kept with her.
As she came around the asteroid another human fighter flashed across her flight path and was quickly followed by Reaper who also had the remaining two on his tail. As Ashley watched Reaper skillfully evaded the enemy's attacks and simultaneously opened fire with his GAT cannon on the enemy he was pursuing, scoring a direct hit. The rounds tore through the enemies' engine core causing it to melt down and resulting in a spectacular explosion that consumed the fighter's entire body and sent the remains of its wings careening of in different directions.
"HE JUST KILLED HOOK!" shouted then third member of Fisherman squadron who was one of the two aircraft following Reaper "DIE YOU SON OF A BITCH!" the same pilot screamed as one of the trailing craft accelerated forward to avenge his squadron mate and coming in close to Reapers craft. Ashley than witnessed Reapers craft suddenly pull up than turn on its left wing while suddenly decreasing its speed to a point where it appeared to come to a complete stop then begin to angle down. The suddenness of the maneuver and large decrease in speed caused the enemy to pass right in front of Reaper's nose and catch the slew of GAT rounds that riddled the entire craft, killing the pilot and sending the craft off into space where after a few seconds it impacted an asteroid and exploded in a brief fireball.
"Shit he just killed Tackle. Bass finish up with that weakling and help me kill this bastard." Grand Fisher stated over the comm.
"Yeah, yeah I'm on it boss. Sorry love looks like it's time for you to die. You should have stayed off the battlefield girl." Bass taunted as he moved in on Ashley's tail to finish her, however Ashley was currently frozen by King Fisher's and Bass's words.
"Weak"
"You should stay away from the battlefield"
"You can't survive doing a man's job"
All the taunts and words of all the military instructors and politicians Ashley had encountered before in her carrier surfaced to her mind. The stabbing effect of their words coming back to her in a tidal wave, the despair she had felt when she believed she would never achieve her dream. It all threatened to suffocate her under its immense wait. Was she really going to die here, after coming this far? Was she really not meant to fly into battle like her ancestors have done? Was she alone in her belief that she could accomplish her dream?
Just as these feelings threatened to overrun her Ashley suddenly remembered some other words that had been said to her.
"Accepted upon Recommendation from assistant teacher: "Reaper" The simple act that had reignited her hope in achieving her dream.
"Yes Miss. Vulama that is correct and I have made sure that you will receive a combat role with the Corneria Military upon graduation." Reaper assured her in class validating her hopes and for one of the first times in Ashley's life earning a sense of trust.
"I'll try and keep the other three off you so you have a chance of taking that guy out!" Said with such a sense of confidence in her ability.
"He believes in me" Ashley thought stunned as her sudden discovery of her Squadron leaders faith in her. "Reaper believes in me and here I am doubting myself." Ashley thought with a snarl, the feelings of despair and worthlessness suddenly disappearing and being replaced with a raw maelstrom of emotion. The feeling was a mix of the desire to prove herself, anger at her previous tormentors, and revulsion of her own doubt. "I won't fail here! I won't die now! I will not let Reaper's faith in me go to waste!" Ashley thought as she let the energy from her feelings envelope her being and fill her with resolve.
Unbeknownst to Ashley the change within could be seen on her body. Inside the cockpit Ashley's midnight black fur bristled, her muscled clenched, her once dark blue eyes now seemed to glow an icy blue, and the pupils of her eyes dilated appearing as slits. Altogether the once calm beautiful and elegant Ashley now appeared to be a still beautiful feral beast of war. "I WONT FAIL HERE!" Ashley howled with a ferocity that actually made all those that heard it through the comma flinch.
Reaper who had just managed to turn the tables on Grand Fisher and was now pursuing him was startled by the sudden outburst from Ashley and glanced over to her position just in time to see her start a maneuver that most would find impossible. Ashley's craft suddenly accelerated in full afterburner flying 1000 yards forward in the blink of an eye before Ashley suddenly cut all engine power and snapped her craft a full 180 degrees and pulling about 30g's. As soon as Ashley's craft was pointed directly back at her stunned adversary Ashley re-engaged her engines into full afterburner and hurled herself at Bass's craft while using her landing thrusters to begin a rapid high speed corkscrew that threw off the enemies aim, all the while poring lasers out at Bass's craft. In the end their was simply nothing Bass could do to counter the maneuver as before he could even begin to retaliate his ship was riddled with hits and disabling his shields.
"SHIT!" Bass shouted in both anger and fear as he saw Ashley's rapidly approaching craft seemingly on a collision course with his own. However at the end of the day there was simply nothing he could do in time to stop her and Bass could only watch as his aircraft was riddled with shots almost everywhere on the craft. Suddenly the canopy of Basses craft gave way to the incoming fire and blast after blast of laser fire punched through Bass's body and into the ship behind him jerking his body around like a ragdoll and sending red blood splashing against every surface in the cockpit.
Ashley's fighter flashed mere inches past her vanquished foe as not a second later the ship erupted in a large fireball at the same time Reaper put two missiles into King Fishers craft resulting into two separate fireballs that momentarily hung in space as if to signify the pair's victory before dissipating in the cold vacuum of space. Reaper Gazed as Ashley's ship as it streaked away from where she killed the human. "So that is the legacy of the Vulama family that General Peppy told me about. Damn that's intimidating, note to self don't piss Ashley off too badly." Reaper thought before his attention was grabbed by his radar which showed five large contacts entering the battle zone before a voice came over the comm.
"This is the Cornerian 4th Fleet to all allied aircraft. We received your distress call and are moving to intercept the enemy forces." A male voice announced as the remaining enemy forces quickly retreated at the sight if two light cruisers and three frigates appearing on the battlefield.
Reaper breathed a sigh of relief at the end of the days engagement "All Shadow flight, Helios Flight, Status flight, and Saber flight aircraft form up on me where heading to Papetoon to refuel and celebrate." Reaper announced as he heard a chorus of cheers from his students and Nightmare (who was thinking about the celebratory drink). Reaper looked over to Ashley who was now flying more calmly off his wing. "Hey Ash"
Ashley who by now had returned to normal and was in a tired daze looked over to Reaper's craft "Yeah?"
"… You did good." Reaper stated rather proud for his student.
Ashley couldn't help but beam at the praise and had to use all her concentration on the flight to Papetoon in order to not yip in happiness over the comma link.
Aannd Chapter! Hey guys I know this is WAY overdue but shit came up that I had to deal with which left me little time to work on the story. So before I sign off here is the fleet compensation of the Cornerian Military as I did introduce the admirals earlier I felt like I should include some additional information on the forces they command.
Fleets:
Name: The Cornerian 1st Fleet Role: Main Battle Fleet Commander: Admiral Hood
Composition: 1 Heavy Battleship (CMS Grisdal), 4 Battleships, 2 Light Carriers, 4 Cruisers, 2 Heavy Cruisers, 3 destroyers, 8 Frigates, 94 Strike Craft
The Cornerian 2nd Fleet Role: Cornerian Defense Force Commander: Admiral Bolo Terrance-
Composition: 2 Battleships, 1 Heavy Carrier (CMS Waterloo), 1 Light Carrier (CMS Antares), 6 Cruisers, 4 Light Cruisers, 1 Destroyer, 4 Frigates, 135 Strike Craft
The Cornerian 3rd Fleet Role: Base Defense Force Commander: Admiral Stratford
Composition: 2 Heavy Carriers (CMS Rheasilvia, and CMS Centaur), 2 Heavy Cruisers, 3 Light Cruisers, 5 destroyers, 4 Heavy Frigates, 7 Frigates, 117 Strike Craft
The Cornerian 4th Fleet Role: Patrol Force Commander: Admiral Rachel Halsey
Composition: 1 Battle Carrier (CMS Vigilant Moon), 4 Heavy Cruisers, 6 Light Cruisers, 10 frigates, 2 destroyers, 55 Strike Craft
Well until next time stay frosty and don't forget to review!