AN: As with the last chapter, a song goes along with this one as well. The song is "Getaway (Koven Remix)[feat. Angel Taylor]" by Tritonal. Again, I hold no rights to the song or Call of Duty, just Devon.
The sounds of engines roaring to life echoed through the plaza of the control tower. Dev kept Riah in her line of sight as she Reyes walked behind them. The Marines handling them were a little rough, but that was to be expected. This man was single handedly responsible for countless deaths.
So many innocents…
Dev mentally shook herself. She had to focus on the upcoming air fight they were surely to face next. Next to her, Reyes relayed the all clear to the fleet about regaining control of the tower while Salt raced ahead to collect the reports.
"SetDef's retracing!" she shouted from the plaza entranced.
"Let's not get cocky." Dev warned. "SetDef might be retreating, but that doesn't mean they don't have another attack planned. Be on guard."
"You have no idea." Riah chuckled darkly. Devon took a step towards one of the Marines guarding the prisoner and got in his face.
"Gag him." she ordered, through clenched teeth. Dev really wanted to punch Riah, but knew it would solve nothing and only fuel her anger even more than he already was by just existing.
"Raider to Maine." Reyes called out through comms. "Lieutenants Salter, Kotch, and I need birds." Reyes ignored the death glare Dev was given him, knowing she didn't like it when he or anyone else used her last name. It was something she preferred and another quirk many didn't get.
"Aye sir, 3-2 will escort to your position." Gator responded, his voice echoing from the loud speakers.
"Solid copy." Reyes replied.
"Gator, it is so good to hear your voice." she sighed.
"I second that!" Salt added.
"Mind telling that to my wife?" Gator asked. Dev glanced over to Reyes.
"Trouble in paradise?" she asked.
"Nah, she's probably upset that he signed on for another tour." Salt responded as they made their outside.
"And with being so close to his little girl's birth." Reyes added, as their jackals touched down in the courtyard. Devon's Jackal was the one closest-and the most bare. Unlike Reyes or Salt who had emblems and depictions painted on the side, clearing identifying the two, Devon had left her blank. She thought it unnecessary and downright stupid. She had argued with the two that the key markings their individual jackals would lead to easy targeting. She also argued if one of them were the intended target-if SetDef's mission was to take out Reyes specifically-they could easily pick him out by the painting on the side of his jackal. Salt had just blown her off and told her to lighten up, saying it added a personalized touch and made it "their jackals". Reyes on the other hand, told her he would take the argument into consideration. Though, all he ever did was change the image and nothing else.
"Lieutenant Kotch!" Raines called out from inside. Devon stopped and looked over her shoulder at the Admiral. She wasn't use to his pristine uniform being covered in ash and dirt. His already dark complexion clashed with the bright splatters of blood and blended with dark brown of mother earth's soil.
"She does not deserve that name!" Riah lashed out, the Marines pinning him back at the shoulders.
"I said gag him!" Dev yelled. She turned her attention back to Raines. "Sir?"
"Don't be too prejudice when taking our airspace back." he ordered, his face set hard as stone and a threat hidden beneath his voice.
"No promises, Admiral." she replied as she walked over to her jackal.
"Lieutenant…" he began to warn, Devon climbed the fold out ladder to her jackal.
"At least she's being honest, sir." Salt commented through the comms.
"Bluntly" Dev said.
"Too bluntly." Reyes added.
"Yeah, yeah. I know." Dev retorted. "Product-."
"'Of my training.' You say that all the time, Dev." Salt said. Dev ignored the comment as everyone strapped into their seat and seat their helmets. Dev went through the routine check as the cockpit window latched on and made sure her jack was in tip-top condition before looking over at Reyes and giving him the thumbs up.
"Spark it, Fever." Reyes said. Dev was the first to rise into the air, the jack's engines shinning loudly as it pushed against Earth's gravity hovered into the open air. The sight that greeted her was not a pretty one. A good percentage of Geneva was either on fire or in ruins, the dark smoke billowing up as buildings and explosions still ripped through. Dev tried not to think about the possible bodies trapped within the flames, knowing there was nothing to do about it. SDF warships made a break for the outer edges of the planets atmosphere, a thick trail of grayish smoke blanketing whole sections. Dev maneuvered her jackal at Retribution's port side and at the head of the SCAR formation. She wanted to be first to take on the bastards.
"Look what they did to us." Salt said, the malice coming in strong and clear over the radio.
"Let's go get them, Salt." Reyes replied.
"To all available craft. The Retribution is in pursuit but we are losing ground. We need to leave atmosphere now." Retribution's XO stated urgently.
"One-one copy." Reyes radioed.
"One-Two copy." Salter chimed in. "Let's go get them."
"One-Three affirmative on the target." Dev replied, as she started up the sequence to zip into the atmosphere.
"Retribution, this is the Eclipse. Trailing your starboard." Eclipse's XO, Lieutenant Burke, advised.
"SCARs fold in, we're going upstairs." Reyes ordered.
"One-three copy." Dev replied, priming her engines.
"One-two copy." Salt replied. Before Reyes could give the go head, Dev shoved the throttle stick forward and launched with Tigris and Retribution. The sudden and harsh launched pushed Dev into the cushioning of her seat and grimaced, though it was something was use to. She ignored the chatter of the others as they relayed their bearings and launch accuracies and instead made sure she didn't jump around too much and stayed on course. Around her, the sky darkened from a light and cheery blue to a dark and ominous blackness. On either side of her, Retribution and Eclipse rose up and then surpassed her, their multiple engine power far outmatching her twin capacity, though she was still at the nose of the jackal formation. She glanced at the HUD on her helmet, as it read out the jack's speed and altitude on wither side as well as booster fuel at her disposal. She gritted. She didn't have as much fuel as she would like, but new she had enough to get into Luminal Golf. There was suddenly a loud clank at the rear of the jack, like a launch line, unhooking from the undercarriage as the thrusters disengaged the boosters and leveled out. At their twelve o'clock and several kilometers away, was a full scale naval battle. Small explosions flashed off the warships armor as they launched missiles at each other and fired on enemy fighter jets.
"You got eyes on this, Reyes." Salt asked.
"Affirmative." he responded. Alarms suddenly went off in the cockpit as it detected a lock on by a skelter.
"We got incoming!" Salter alerted.
"Let's not wait around shall we?" Dev said, as she punched the throttle and zipped off to take the skelter out head on. Dev banked right as she fired off flares as the skelter shot off various missiles. She didn't wait to fire her own and din't stay to watch the fireworks as the missile found its target, destroying the skelter in a small eruption of fire.
"Dev-ah damn it." Reyes called out.
"At least she was honest, Raider." Salt laughed, as she too launched into the attack.
"Told you I wasn't going to following through with the order." Dev retorted, as she barreled rolled counter clockwise and fired her 30mm Gren on the skelter in front of her. The skelter's tail caught fire as several of the bullets found their mark. Dev disengaged from the pursuit to find a new target. A explosion to her port said all she needed to know about the old target.
"You could've still waited." Reyes retorted. Another skelter zipped passed her, scrapping the nose of her jack, the sound echoing through the cockpit. Dev grunted.
"Bloody arseholes." she gritted before swinging her jackal around to pursuit and begin firing on him. But the bastard had flaws of his own and fired them off at the first chance he got. Dev stayed right on him with with the 30mm and just like the last time, she got him on the tail. The jack's tracker notified her of other potential targets. She was about to go after one gliding along the side of the Tunguska when a quick alert from the system warned on an approaching enemy jet. The pilot was stupid enough to fly right into her crosshairs, mostly likely attempted to hit the nose and jerk her off course. It would have screwed with her navigation system and disorient it. But at the last second, Dev pulled back and fired the 50mm Pathfinder cannon, obliterating the skelter in front of her. She then reset her course and went after the skelter hanging around the Tunguska. A large explosion followed by sharp crack but low rumble, diverted her attention for a moment. Dev watched as an SDF carrier was destroyed by the UNSA Tigris.
"Good effect on target, Tigris." Reyes called out.
"Affirmative, Lieutenant Reyes." Tigris XO Yu replied.
"Tunguska, this One-three you have a boggy on your starboard side.
"Affirmative, One-three." the XO replied. "We have him on our radar."
"I'll flesh him out into your line of sight." Dev said. "Then, you can take the right."
"Affirmative." Dev chased the skelter as close as she could without taking heat and integrity damage from its rear engines. She didn't want either Mac or Boss on her ass again. She had been in the women's crosshairs many times about the state of her jackal. They would berate her on being more careful with the jet and how it was difficult it was to replace certain parts. Though other times it was about how much it costed them. That was something Dev was still finding it hard to just to. The concept of money and it seemed to elevate people on Earth. They used back on Mars, but it had never been the goal to get rich. In SetDef society, status was dependent on how loyal one was to the regime and that was determined on loyalty points. It gad started a sort of debate between her Reyes as a way to help her learn about Earth customs. It was also a way to help her pass time while under quarantine.
"One-three, we have the skelter in our line of sight." the Tunguska informed.
"Roger." Dev replied, pressing a few buttons on the dashboard to disengage the jack's targeting system. She turned the jack away from the destroyer's armored side and blasted off. "Breaking off pursuit. Tunguska, you have the green light to fire."
"Affirmative. Firing cannons." She turned the jackal around just in time to see the cannons level and fire just as the skelter into passed them.
"Ugh! Damn it!" Salt yelled.
"Need help?" Dev asked she attempted to track Salt's position.
"Yeah, kind of." she replied Dev pinpointed her location and toggled a zoom in feature. She found Salt maneuvering through the wreckage of the SetDef destroyer with an skelter on her tail. "I can't fucking break the skelter's lock!"
"Copy," she replied, pushing the throttle forward. "I'm making my way to you."
"Well, hurry!" Dev engaged the boosters on her engines and gunned it Salt and the Skelter. It only took a matter of seconds to reach them as they both raced passed her.
"Salt I'm locking on!" Dev announced. She didn't wait for the system to fully lock on before she fired with the cannon.
"Copy!" she replied. "I'm breaking off now."
"Help the warships take out SDF destroyers and carriers while Dev and I mop up!" Reyes order.
"Affirmative, Raider!" Salt said. This bastard was slipper than the others and maneuvered a lot faster than normal.
"Ah shite." Dev huffed. "Salt, I think you had an Ace pilot on your arse."
"Is that suppose to make me feel better?" she shouted.
"No not really." Dev replied. "But, at least it's not locked onto you anymore."
"Oh, fuck off." Salt groaned.
"That's the second time you've told me that today." Dev stated, as she fired a missile, scoring a hit and destroying it.
"Well, I'm going to say it again," Salt snipped. "Fuck the hell off."
"Well, fine then." Dev said with a sarcastic tone. "Don't ask me for help the next time an Ace gets the lock on you."
"Don't you two ever stop?" Reyes groaned.
"Nope." the two woman replied in unison.
"Oh, great." Reyes gripped. "Now you're talking in unison."
"Watch it, Raider." Dev warned. "I might just be a little preoccupied when you call for help." She could practically hear the sigh through the comms.
"We're getting hit up here!" Lieutenant Little-Retribution's XO-cried out. Dev spared a glance to her right and found Ret. getting hounded by a destroyer.
"Hang on Ret., I'm coming!" Dev answered, taking a sharp turn towards the SDF destroyer. Dev opened fired on the cannon compartments that lined the middle of the warship as she approached. She then engaged her bottom thrusters to stall just out of the cannon's range. The destroyer's guns targeted her and fired, but the shots fell just short of her jackal. As each round exploded in front of her, she felt the tremors vibrate through her jack, her teeth clattering together with the force. But, she held strong as she moved from side to side to keep the targeting system to keep from locking on. She saw as Ret began to slip around the destroyer to the rear.
"Retribution, target the engine!" she alerted. "You hit it, you blow the whole bloody thing up. But you need to get a safe distance away from."
"Copy, one-three." Gator replied. Dev kept the destroyer's attention on her as Ret. moved into position. She skirted around it like she was a ball tied to a string and flung around in a wide arch. The jack's tracking system alerted her the destroyer's cannon capacity had drop by half, putting strain on the others as they tried to make up for the losses.
"Retribution, SDF Destroyer cannons are at fifty percent." she reported.
"Affirmative, one-three." Gator replied. "Retribution is almost in position." The alarms suddenly shot up as a skelter targeted her. She cried out as she barreled roll right and fired of flares.
"Retribution, I'm breaking off engagement." she informed, as she turned out of the barrel row and turned the nose forty-five degrees away. "I repeat, I am breaking engagement. A skelter has locked onto me." Dev made a sharp turn left, then up before turning into a nose dive. She tried several maneuvers, even some that were technically illegal in the SATO handbook, but nothing could break the skelter's lock. The onboard system alerted her to incoming rocket fire and she deployed the last of her flares. There was an explosion behind her and to an unreason pilot, they would've believed it was just the flares meeting the rockets.
"What was that about not helping us next time? Hm, Dev?" Salt teased.
"Okay, now its my turn to tell you to fuck off." Dev countered, earning a laugh from the lieutenant.
"This team has a colorful vocabulary." Ethan chimed in.
"Oh, shite." Devon cursed. "I forgot you were there."
"This isn't even scratching the surface, Ethan." Reyes warned. Dev turned hr jackal around in time to see the last two remaining destroyer exploded in a short burst of flames. The comms were filled with the joyous cheers and hurrays of the members of the SCAR teams as they celebrated the destruction. But, Dev didn't join in on the cheering. Something deep inside of her gnawed at her and created an unsettling feeling in her mind. To her, this seemed almost too easy. And where the hell was her of so fearsome brother? Surely, he wouldn't have sit something this important out. He was a man of action after all.
"Squadron, this is SCAR 1-1. Return to the Retribution." Reyes ordered. "We're RTB."
"I'll stay back and guard the approach." she said. "Just because we took this threat doesn't mean others won't show up."
"Something wrong, Lieutenant?" Ethan asked. Dev shook her head.
"I don't know." she replied. "It just seems…too easy."
"Let's regroup, fuel up and get after these guys." Salt injected.
"Like I said-I'll keep watch." Dev repeated.
"Roger" Reyes replied. Dev angled her jackal in time to see all the Jacks converge on Ret.
"Got a visual on Retribution." Salt reported. The feeling continued to manifest itself more and more, put even greater unease on Dev.
"Reyes…" she warned.
"I'm getting some abnormal readings, here." one of the SCARs reported.
"Same. Checking static pressure." Dev looked at her own monitors and saw the same. It read something coming through hyperdrive. The object was massive in comparison to anything in their fleet. Whatever the object is, it was throwing their scanners all into disarray.
"What the hell-." she breathed. She was momentarily blinded by a flash of clear neon blue. Her ears rang at crack loud enough to split the sly open for hell to rain down and her teeth clicked. When she opened her eyes, she couldn't believe what she was seeing. It was a carrier but much, much bigger. It completely eclipsed the other warships and made the Retribution look like a church mouse standing at the feet of a giant.
"Holy shit! What is that?!" Salt freaked.
"No." Dev breathed and shook her head in disbelief. "It can't be." It was just like she had envisioned in her worst nightmare. She had warned the Admiral about the possibility and now, it was a reality. It didn't take long for the warships to respond and open fire.
"SCARS, concentrate all fire on that supercarrier!" Reyes ordered, as the super-carrier began to charge the F-SpAr cannon. Dev was stunned for a moment at the beam hit the Tunguska and obliterated it with a single shot. Dev brought herself from the fog and shoved the throttle forward as Salt, Reyes, and Ethan headed for the bow.
"I got the rear." Dev said. "I'll hit the turbines!" The cannoned charged and fired on another ship. They were very quickly loosing the battle. Devon had finally rounded Ret. and was beginning her barrage on the rear thrusters, when he appeared on her helmet's screen.
"This is Admiral Salen Kotch of the Olympus Mons." he introduced. "You are defeated. Death is no disgrace."
"Get the fuck off my screen!" Dev roared.
"Woah." Salt breathed. "Never heard her that angry before." Devon got off a few short bursts, doing only minor damage.
"Son of a bitch!" Dev yelled. "Missiles did little damage to the turbines, Raider. Moving to make a pass on the cannon!"
"Ugh! What is this thing made of?" Salter asked. Devon tried to let loose with the 30mm, targeting the base of the cannon but deterred by the carrier launching missiles at missiles.
"Breaking off. Breaking off!" Dev cried. "I don't have flares to beat them back!"
"I'm launching flares, one-three!" Salt replied as she came us from behind and tried her own go at the cannon's base. "No effect!"
"Half our fleet is offline." Ethan informed. Dev looked around at the destruction. Larges chunks of their warships floated about, the ends still burned bright from the fresh destruction despite the cold and zero oxygen environment of space.
"Retribution, retreat, retreat!" Reyes frantically called out.
"Retribution is moving to intercept course for tactical collision." Gator informed, to whatever was left of their forces. Dev circled around and observed from a far as Retribution angled the right bow down.
"They're ramming!" Ethan said.
"Do not execute collision!" Reyes ordered.
"Captain's orders, 1-1!" Gator informed.
"Alder, Gator, pull the fuck up! You're not going to be able to handle him!" Dev yelled through the comms as she angled her jackal up and gunned it. "Retribution!" She had just begun a nose dive above the Olympus when Retribution made contact with the enemy carrier. Metal groaned and protested loudly as it scrapped against one another. Explosions erupted all along Ret's starboard side with bits and pieces of each warship fanning out in the zero gravity. Dev opened fired, switching between the cannon and the heavy gun.
"This is Retribution, multiple casualties aboard!" Gator reported.
"Alder, you son of a bitch!" she screamed.
"All stations, Retributions is in trouble. Focus fire on that supercarrier." Reyes orders.
"Dev get out off there!" Salt yelled. Dev shot off the last of her missiles before disappearing from everyone's sight between the super-carriers two halves. She heard the missiles make contact the small explosions that followed.
"Clear!" she called out as she pulled hard on the throttle to pull her jack up.
"Tigris is engaging. All SCARs, danger close." Ferran informed. Dev turned the jack hard and joined in on the barrage. The warning system came on over the loudspeaker about the heavy gun over heating and she switched to the cannon. When the same bright neon blue began to appear at the bow of the Olympus and wash over it like a wave, she pulled back to steady by Retribution.
"They're retreating!" Salt said.
"Stay on it!" Reyes told them. But, in another flash of blue light, the Olympus was gone, leaving behind a graveyard of their own ships.
"They jumped." Salt said. Dev breathed out heavily and let her body go slack, releasing her grip on the joysticks. The stress and adrenaline that helped her to power through and keep going quickly left her winded, worn out, and sore. The pilot's chair was a welcome for her aching body.
"Lets get back to base. Just get to Ret." Reyes said, his voice conveying the same worn-out feeling her body was experiencing. "Guide us in."
"Hey, Dev you coming?" Salt asked. "Dev?"
"Yeah, yeah. I'm coming." she replied, taking control her jack and angling it for Ret.'s runway.