Trades46 here,
Yes, it's the long-awaited (not really) first fight scene. Hope I made it interesting enough.
Lots of Ace Combat references in here, some deliberate some not. See if your eyes are sharp enough.
Enjoy!
Chapter 3:
I quickly swerved left as Sundial 2 fired its laser guns at me from the right. Going for a high-G 180, I turned towards Sundial 2 and switched to the Reiner cannon. I hit the trigger and watched as the shields of Sundial 2 went offline. His presences also disappeared from the radar.
"Alpha 2, bandit down! Nice flying there Lt. Colonel" announced ground control.
"Wow, did you see that bird turn? It's almost as if it turned 90 degrees in midair!" claimed one of the Sundial units.
"Hey people, don't try to take them one-on-one! Work together as a team!" another exclaimed.
I ignored their comments and continued to purse another Sundial unit. On the edge of my sight, I sighted the Legend tailing Sundial 5. However, Sundial 4 sharply banked and locked onto the Legend and began firing its cannons.
'Alpha 1, be careful. You're being tracked by the enemy' I called into the radio.
The android Lt. didn't reply, but the Legend continued to head straight towards Sundial 5. Sundial 4 also was closing in on the Legend at an alarming rate. Sundial 4 then fired an Eagle missile.
'Alpha 1, incoming missile! Break!' I called frantically.
The event in the next moment is something I would remember for a long, long time.
Suddenly, the Legend braked immediately. The aircraft then started to point straight up to the sky while slowing down at an alarming rate. Taken by surprise, Sundial 4 flew right past the Legend along with his missile in his pursuit. As he flown past, the Legend immediately righted itself behind Sundial 4 & 5 and immediately 6 Eagle missiles were launched at Sundial 4 & 5, knocking out their shields and pride.*
"…Alpha 1 has hit the targets. That's 2 in a row Alpha 1!" reported ground control, who sounded stunned at the unexpected maneuver.
After witnessing the defensive maneuver of the Legend, I turned my target towards Sundial 3, who was trying to break from my line of fire as I unleashed a barrage of Chasers at him. He dropped flares to lose my missiles.
A siren warning: 'caution: enemy lock-on' ringed out in my cockpit. A quick look at my radar showed Sundial 6 was attempting to tail me. The siren increased in volume 'Warning, Enemy Fire! 'When Sundial 6 fired his Pulse lasers at me. I quickly barrel rolled to the left, side-stepping the light beams as it zoomed past me harmlessly. Sundial 6 overtook me in his pursuit during my roll, giving me the chance to fire my Grazina wave cannons at him, taking him out.
While I attacked Sundial 6, Sundial 3 was also eliminated by a blindsided attack by Ti2 who used the clouds above for cover for a high-speed diving attack. Poor pilot had nowhere to run.
"Impressive Alpha team, you guys are really the top aces in the DDA for them to choose you to test the prototypes, "stated Corp. Lance over the radio.
I was wondering to where he had been in the last couple of minutes. My question was answered immediately after Lance's next declaration.
"However, I would not let the 288th squadron be defeated so easily!"
The 'Warning' siren rang out again as rockets rained from the clouds above and hit the Next, as my shield gauge dropped by 40%. I immediately hit the throttle and dove down to pull out of Lance's attack range. I reversed my heading to his radar location as Ti2 started to pursue Lance into the clouds.
Lance continued to dance in the clouds as we continued to give chase. He's extremely nimble and quick compared to the rest of his squadron, as only the occasional laser beam or odd missile explosion barely scratched at his shields. I then remembered a small detail about the Silverhawk Gaiden model which Lance is flying.
Despite of the Gaiden's age, it was lighter and simpler than the Silverhawk II, which focused primarily on powerful energy weapons. The Gaiden has no high output energy weapons, hence it was much lighter therefore more agile than the II. The Gaiden wasn't weak; it still has an ace up its sleeves: the Black Hole Bomb. It can be deployed either in front of or behind the craft, generating a large space of void that sucked in unfortunate adversaries into its warp stream and then releasing a devastating explosion to anything in vicinity.
It soon became all too clear as to why Lance wasn't performing any form of counter maneuvers in trying to shoot back at us. I quickly checked my radar and sure enough, the Legend was positioned right beside me while giving chase.
'I know what he's up to Alpha 1. Dive! Dive!' I instructed.
Both planes went for an immediate noise dive as the force of the Black hole tried to draw the two them in against the forces of our engines and gravity. Both the Next and Legend shook violently as the bomb detonated behind us. As I steadied my plane, I glanced at my shield read; it was down to 20%. I know we have to finish this quickly.
Before I can turn towards Lance in his Gaiden again, my radio sparked to life.
"…Lieutenant, can you place yourself at my 5 and wait for my go?" a soft voice rang.
It took me a moment to realize it was Ti2 that was talking. Her voice wasn't monotone or flat as it was before, instead opting for a high-pitched melodic ring. I quickly regained focus.
I didn't really know what kind of scenario that the little girl in the Legend had in mind at this time, but I lacked the time and options, so I obliged. Ti2 hit the throttle towards Lance once again while I stayed at her 5 o'clock position.
Lance continued to stay on the throttle and continued to his aerial dance to avoid the laser fire coming from the Legends' guns. When Lance banked hard left again, Ti2 deployed the Legend's Burst Unit on her left side. The Energy Beam attack was unexpected from Lance, to which he instinctively swerved back to the right to avoid the beam, making his Gaiden unstable from the abrupt change in direction…and aligning his Gaiden straight in the gun-sight of my Next.
"Pratica sir, go!"
I immediately fired the Next's Burst Unit as Sundial 1 aligned himself with my crosshairs. Lance's Gaiden shields collapsed and disappeared from radar.
Notes:
*What Ti2 did in the Legend was do a Pugachev's Cobra: Google it for more information.
See you next update!
-Trades46
