Author's Note

I hope for this to be the last I put into the story, since it interrupts the flow. Anyway, for the sake of everyone unfamiliar with the games, most primary weapons slots fire two shots each. The Apollo has two primary slots, so it can fire up to four shots at a time, but linking up both primary slots cuts the re-fire rate in half, so there are tactics to using them.

Disclaimer: Volition-inc. owns Descent: Freespace, Admiral Shima, and several other things. I own Vincent Schaard, Lt. Risnan, and the rest of the 66th Black Knights (although the squadron name belongs to Volition), as well as most of the plot, except where it intertwines with or makes reference to the plot of the game.

Fun Fact: All the star systems named in this story are straight from the Freespace jump node map, our own sun designated "Sol", and are (mostly) all names of actual stars; Alpha Centauri (closest star to Sol, our sun), Sirius (brightest star in the night sky), Betelgeuse, and even Polaris (the north star). Barnard's Star, from the previous chapter, was named after the scientist who discovered it, an American named E. E. Barnard, and is the fourth closest star to Sol after the three stars of the Centaurus constellation.

Chapter Three: 2/4/2335 The Beast Prowling Through the Night

"Tate, Benson, and D, take the Shiatans; Sanford, George, and Tinman, cover them; Fred and Lawrence, cover the Bastion; Schaard and Hughes, follow my lead!"

We all quickly take action, with a few battle cries from Tate and Sanford. Fred is clearly nervous; his specialty is strategy and planning, so with this unexpected ambush, it's only right that he should retreat to cover the Bastion. Our ships' two primary ports were each loaded with Avenger cannons, but nothing in our secondaries, since combat was not anticipated; all the same, the only available secondaries were designed for unshielded ships during the 14-year war, and wouldn't do us much good anyway. The first thing I notice is that there are twenty ships in all, four in each wing, two wings of Shiatan bombers and four wings of SF Scorpions.

"Follow me, boys, and see how we carry out exterminations," Risnan is caught up in the battle, but so am I. Ron is excited and is already upside down in relation to both Risnan and me. All of our weapons masters were switched on as of three seconds ago, but I'm no less surprised when I see the yellow flare of Risnan's guns as he takes down the first of the Scorpions.

"Those Scorpions are fast; switch your primaries to fire both sets of Avengers, and each hit counts double," another one of Risnan's tricks; he had already said something similar on an earlier mission, but it was times like this that you forget such things easily.

"Gotcha, lieutenant!" Ron was already pulling away to take on the wing of Scorpions headed for Fred and Lawrence.

"Don't follow me like a dog on a leash, Schaard," says Risnan, "Go find your own wing to take out!"

"Yes, sir!" I clumsily pull away and regain my momentarily scattered wits. I hear the missile lock warning, but I deftly make a hundred-degree turn and release a countermeasure, to the sound of a hit avoided. The silence outside my cockpit is eerily shattered by the grunts of satisfaction and exclamations of the rest of the squadron. I hear Tate's voice, "That's what you get for sneakin' up on me!"

Then Sanford, "Yeah-hah! Show 'em no mercy!"

Meanwhile, I've taken out the Scorpion that fired on me earlier; now my attention is focused on another particularly slippery Scorpion, and I've gotten most of its rear shields down. My shots connect and, with some satisfaction, I see some electrical arcs as the Scorpion loses control and explodes in a shower of sparks.

Now, I hear Fred, "A-ah! He's right behind me! I can't shake him!"

"Damn it, Fred!" Risnan's voice crackles in, "Hughes! Aren't you over there?"

Ron responds, "I'm having a two-on-one with the rest of that wing, lieutenant; I don't know where that Manticore came from."

"Manticore?" Risnan says, "He's got a Gods damn Manticore on his ass?!!"

New Shivan vessels are being discovered every few days, and the SF Manticore is a recent addition. A Valkyrie can typically reach 100 m/s if you re-route power from shields and guns to the engines, but pilots have reported Manticores regularly flying in excess of 120 m/s without burners. An Apollo can't get up to 90 m/s without burners, and, knowing the Shivans, the Manticore is much more maneuverable.

A Scorpion is a good match for the Apollo, but an Apollo is the gazelle to the Manticore's cheetah.

I quickly check everyone that I'm not already keeping track of, and I realize that the entire squadron is occupied but me. I turn toward the Bastion, to find Fred, and I see him as he comes out from behind the bottom edge of the destroyer. The Manticore looks to be only twenty meters behind him, so I boost my engine power to full and engage my burners.

I hear Risnan yell something over the radio, but I'm not listening, my thoughts entirely concentrated on the fighter chasing Fred. I'm close enough to see the two prongs, characteristic of the Manticore, and I can tell it hasn't spotted me yet. I'm close enough to get in a shot, so I reset my engine power and fire both Avengers.

All four bolts hit and the shields are down to 17%. They may be fast, but they're not as tough as us. I fire again before the Manticore has time to evade, and three bolts hit, shattering the shield and bringing the hull down by a third. It's enough to make it break off of Fred, but I follow it to finish the job.

It takes a few tight turns and well-place shots, but I take it out, and begin take notice of Risnan shouting in my ear.

"Schaard, you still have two of them on your tail! Move, damn it!"

As I pull up and to the right, I look up to see two more Manticores behind me. One takes a hit from some of the Bastion's turret fire, a rare occurrence, and the other is quickly chased down by Ron. I watch the weakened fighter burn up as Risnan blasts it.

"Are you going deaf, Schaard? I told you to back off and let Hughes and Lawrence take him! Those Manticores were setting you up, waiting to ambush you!"

"Sorry, sir, I won't let it happen again."

"Bah, don't say it like that. Just keep fighting and don't narrow your focus."

With that, we're both off to clean up the few, retreating Shivan ships. The GTD Intrepid is late; arriving shortly after the last Shiatan bites the dust. After we touch down in the hangar, the first thing Sanford does is go for his cargo compartment. The Apollo's compartment is small, but more than enough for a pilot's personal effects. Tate does the same, and they're soon painting their kills below the left side of their cockpits.

"Four. Hah! I'm an ace!" Sanford shouts with pride.

"Ace, huh," says Tate, "Then you're ace number two, cause I got six!"

"No way! I only saw you hit two! Right, guys?"

"No, it was six," says D.

"I counted six."

"Six is right."

Sanford gets into a shouting competition with Tate over the number, while I go to see how Fred is holding up. I find that he has pulled out his belongings as well, and is scribbling furiously on a pad of paper; there are electronic sketchpads now, which are more useful in space where electric generators are more plentiful than pencils, but paper is still cheaper.

"How are you holding up, Fred?"

"Oh? Hi, Vince. I'm fine; thanks for the save back there. I'm just writing out some ideas I had for emergency scenarios. Next time we're ambushed, I'll be ready."

I agree with him, and then turn to find Ron. He's borrowed Tate's paints and is painting his own kills onto his Apollo.

"Hey, Ron."

"Hey, Vince. That was a pretty reckless stunt you pulled, and I'm proud. I didn't think you had it in you."

"Don't, you're making me blush," I reply tonelessly, "Anyway, Fred sounded really panicked; he could have run straight into the Bastion or something. Nevertheless, I should have been listening to the radio; I wouldn't have gotten myself in the sights of those other two Manticores."

"Yeah, well, I heard Risnan say something about how you can only learn by making mistakes, as long as you're still alive."

Risnan manages to gather all of us up, Sanford looking steamed and Tate smug, and leads us to our temporary quarters aboard the Intrepid. It's nearly the same as on the Bastion, so we all get settled in easily. As I lie in my bunk, ready to sleep, I'm still shaken by the suddenness of the attack, and the thrill of combat.