In the depths of space, orbiting a seemingly desolate world of deserts and factories, two damaged fighter jets drifted aimlessly in the great void.
One was a proto-type fight with an all white body except for its right wing, which was colored red. The proto-type fighter was labeled the ADFX-02, but better known by its codename Morgan.
The other was an F-15C Eagle with a dark grey body and light black wings.
These two fighter jets had been through an exhausting dogfight with each other before the shockwave from a V2 nuke was detonated and tore through the air ripping at the two jets before a mysterious light swallowed them and their pilots.
Inside the ADFX-02, the pilot slowly began regaining consciousness. The pilot groaned as he leaned forward toward the flight stick of his fighter "What?" Turning to look over his shoulder the pilot saw the F-15C hovering behind him. Turning back around the pilot activated his radio and said "Yo Buddy, still alive?"
There was a burst of static before the radio went silent. "Hey Cipher you reading me?"
The pilot's radio came to life with a half-clear transmission "These Vanguards will lead the glorious Tarak Empire to a new age, an age where men will rule, an age where the accursed women will no longer be a threat to us".
"Tarak?" the pilot muttered "An age where men rule? Women being a threat? What's going on here?"
Seeing what was ahead of him the pilot's eyes widened "What the!" he gasped seeing the planet his fighter was hovering above "We're in space? Impossible. How is my fighter even functioning here?"
Seeing several bright flashes coming from the fleet orbiting the planet before him, the pilot recognized the flashes as explosions. There was a battle going on.
"I ordered the exhibition match to be canceled!" an extremely angered voice yelled.
"This isn't part of the exhibition!" a panicked voice responded "It's the women they're mounting a surprise attack".
"Launch all pilots immediately" the first voice ordered.
"Prime Minister, most of them are still just trainees" a third voice objected.
"I don't care; launch them out before we're all destroyed".
The largest ship in the fleet began pouring out humanoid machines known as Vanguards.
Watching the Vanguards enter combat with the attacking ships called Dreads, the pilot of the ADFX-02 decided it would be best to stay out of the battle as long as possible.
While the battle continued, the pilot performed a full systems check of his fighter and fortunately everything was at 100%. Activating his radio once again the pilot tried to contact his friend "Cipher respond! Galm 1 can you hear me?"
The pilot's transmission was intercepted by the two battling forces.
"That's not a transmission from our fleet!" the Prime Minister yelled "Track its origin".
"Is that a man's voice?" one of the female Dread pilots asked.
"We've pinpointed the origin of the transmission" a young voice announced from the bridge of the Tarak flagship. It's coming from a craft sitting just outside the battle area. Origin of the craft is unknown, but we've detected a second unknown craft nearby as well".
The Prime Minister immediately answered "Assume both to be hostile and eliminate them!"
Hearing the order, the pilot of the ADFX-02 snapped his head over to his radar and sure enough several hits showed hostile craft approaching his location. "Well that can't be good" the pilot said to himself before flying toward the Vanguards and shooting down the first while performing a wide barrel roll to evade the others.
Seeing two of the Vanguards split from the group the pilot swore when they began firing at the defenseless F-15C.
"Hang on Cipher" the pilot called as he turned to engage the Vanguards.
In the cockpit of the F-15C, the warning alarm was going off as the first of the two Vanguards targeted the Eagle and began firing.
After the two Vanguards hit the Eagle they turned to fire again, but one of the Dreads intercepted both of them and shot them down.
After the red Dread flew by the F-15C Eagle, the fighter jet's engines roared to life and the pilot called out "This is Galm for the assist, allow me to return the favor".
Pixy scoffed "So you're alive after all Cipher?"
"Pixy?" Cipher asked his radio was badly damaged scrambling his voice.
Pixy replied "I'm here buddy, but I think we should save the chit-chat for later we've got a lot of problems coming this way".
Cipher agreed "Alright, but you've still got a lot to answer for when we're done. I'll take the lead, you follow".
Waiting for the F-15C Eagle to pass by him, Pixy leveled his ADFX-02 alongside it and once again flew as Cipher's wingman. "Just like old times huh buddy?" Pixy asked after shooting down a Vanguard that Cipher damaged with his guns.
Cipher grunted "Whatever you say. Alright disperse and engage freely, whatever attacks us is a threat".
"Galm 2 roger that".
Seeing three Vanguards latch onto the red Dread, Cipher tilted his Eagle to the side and got right behind the Dread "Galm 1 to the pilot of the red fighter ahead of me. Stay steady and I'll get those off of you".
"Ok" the female pilot replied trying to keep her ship steady while the F-15C behind her gained a lock on the three Vanguards.
"Locked" Cipher announced "Galm 1 fox one".
Using the Eagle's guns Cipher expertly shot off each of the three Vanguards in quick succession. "Enemies down" he said before breaking away from the Dread to engage the other Vanguards.
"Galm 2 to Galm 1" Pixy said over the radios "We can dodge these things all day, think we should concentrate fire on the main ship and get this over with?"
"Galm 1 here. Roger, target the enemy flagship and open fire, special weapons permitted".
"Galm 2 copy".
Evading the Vanguards, Pixy easily broke through the defensive fire of the enemy flagship before using one of his Multi-Purpose Burst Missiles to rip a hole through the flagship's hull.
"Galm 2 to Galm 1, I've made a hole in the enemy flagship, but one of are friends flew in. What'd ya wanna do?"
"Hold fire on the enemy flagship for now and focus on these things" Galm 1 ordered after evading another group of Vanguards and shooting down a single one trailing behind them.
"Roger that, but I'm almost out of missiles so this needs to end soon".
"Pixy, that hole you made. Is it big enough to maneuver in?"
"It sure looks like it is. Cipher you're not thinking about going in there are you?"
Galm 1's F-15C turned toward the enemy flagship "I am, if I can damage it from the inside we can end this".
"Several enemies have entered the Ikazuchi; several sections of the ship are heavily damaged!" a panicked voice from the flagship's bridge cried.
The Prime Minister gritted his teeth "Such deplorable tactics. They're hiding in the background fire".
"Sir!" one of the bridge operators cried "The Ikazuchi is taking too much fire, if this keeps up the ship will be destroyed".
The Prime Minister reached for a lever in front of him "I must do what I have to, before our weapons fall into the hands of women everywhere. I'll separate the old from the new".
Once the lever was thrown forward, the Tarak flagship began separating into two sections, leaving most of the non-officer crew behind as the new section fled from the battle.
"Hey Cipher" Pixy called out "Whatever you're going to do in there, do it fast I don't like the looks of things from out here".
"Just make sure nothing comes in after me, I'll handle the rest" Cipher responded after lowering his airspeed and shooting his way through several walls inside the ship.
Crashing his F-15C through a wall inside the flagship, Cipher immediately opened the cockpit and jumped out only to be met by two women glaring at him while holding out their fists to him.
Seeing a ring on each of their hands glowing with a faint light, Cipher decided it'd be best to not provoke them "Remember me?" he asked in a static filled voice "Pilot that helped you out like twelve minutes ago".
The first woman was about 5'11 tall and she was wearing a revealing black dress; she had beautifully fair skin, blonde wavy hair that reached to the middle of her back and green eyes that seemed to beckon Cipher to her.
The second woman was several inches shorter standing at 5'6 and was wearing a light grey flightsuit. She had light blue hair which matched her eyes and somewhat pale skin in comparison to her comrade's. Cipher could tell just from the first look that she wasn't going to be very friendly.
"Oh wait, you're the pilot that shot those Vanguards off of me" the tall woman said after realizing who Cipher was.
Cipher nodded "Yeah that's me. Could you put down the glowing rings now? Kind of making me nervous".
The blonde woman lowered her hand, but the blue haired pilot kept her ring aimed at Cipher.
"There's really no need to be threatening me" Cipher told her "We're on the same side right?"
The blonde pilot looked down at her friend "Meia we really should continue looking for Dita, we can't afford to waste anymore time can we?"
The blue haired pilot finally lowered her hand "Alright, but let's hurry".
Watching the two women run off, Cipher sighed with relief before looking around for any indication of where he was on the ship.
"Cipher you there!" Pixy's voice cried.
"I read you Pixy" he replied "What's up?" Again, the radio in his helmet was flooded with static.
"Sorry to rush you, but you need to get out of there now. From the sounds of it, that section of the ship that ran away is about to turn around to destroy the half it left behind".
"Oh how fun" Cipher said sarcastically "How much time do I have?"
"I have no idea; you need to get out now".
"I can't" Cipher told him "One of those pilots is trapped somewhere in here, I'm going to see if I can help her".
Pixy argued "Cipher you don't have time, get out of there".
"I'll help search for her, but keep me updated on everything that's going on out there, if it looks like they're about to launch that missile let me know right away".
Pixy resigned his argument "Alright, but make it fast".
Following in the direction of the two female pilots it didn't take long for Cipher to find them standing on a catwalk in what seemed to be an engine room. "Hey you two!" Cipher called out, startling them.
"You again?" the blonde pilot asked "Just can't get enough of me can you?" she asked seductively.
Cipher gave a weak chuckle "Yeah whatever listen, that half of the flagship that flew off is turning around. Pixy thinks they're going to try and destroy this half of the ship with us on it".
The two pilots gasped at the news.
The blue haired pilot looked up to her partner "Jura we need to hurry".
The blonde nodded before they ran across the catwalk and to a ladder before climbing down.
Cipher quickly looked over his shoulder before looking back to the ladder the two women were climbing down. "Gah! This pride of mine is going to get me killed" he sighed before following after them again.
Outside the ship, Pixy was flying alongside the Dreads, mopping up the last of the Vanguards.
"That's the last of them" he announced after he shot down the final Vanguard. "Cipher, the last of these Vanguard things has been taken care of. What's your progress?"
"We're still looking for their pilot" Cipher replied "How're things looking with that missile?"
Pixy checked his radio "Judging from the radios they're almost ready to launch, you need to cut and run now".
Cipher answered "I'll try and speed things up in here. If you think you can stop them or destroy that missile go for it".
"Pixy roger".
Inside the ship, Cipher caught up with the two pilots, the blonde one, Jura was leaned against the rail of the catwalk while Meia was looking for a way to the ground floor.
In a quiet, somewhat impressed tone Jura said to her "You see that Meia, she's chasing a man".
"I'm guessing that's the pilot you're looking for?" Cipher asked walking over to them.
Jura smirked "I'm beginning to think we've got a stalker Meia".
"Stalking is such an ugly word" Cipher said "I prefer to say, obsessively shadowing".
"Jura stop wasting time, let's go" Meia demanded jumping over the railing to the ground below them and chasing after the red headed pilot.
Jura looked back to Cipher after Meia jumped down "So why do you keep following us?"
"Honestly I have no idea" Cipher replied earnestly "You saved me from those things out there, so maybe I'm just making sure you and your friends survive this".
"Honor in a man?" Jura asked "I didn't know such a thing existed".
Cipher nodded his head awkwardly "Yeah about the honor in a man part...Never mind. I don't really know what this whole Men vs. Women thing is about and I'm sure we don't have time for a history lesson. Right now we need to find your pilot and get out of here".
"Cipher come in" Pixy's voice called from Cipher's helmet radio.
Placing his hand on the side of his flight helmet, where his ear was, Cipher said "What is it Pixy?"
"Sorry to break it to you, but you're out of time. They've launched the missile and I can't stop it".
Seeing Meia return with the red haired pilot Cipher replied "They've got their pilot we're leaving now".
"Make it fast buddy".
After Pixy finished speaking, Cipher looked to the three pilots "We've got about 3 minutes to get off this ship before we all die, time to move".
Immediately turning around Cipher ran back through the corridors heading back to his F-15C Eagle with the three Dread pilots behind him.
"He's pretty fast" Jura commented, seeing how far Cipher was ahead of them.
The four pilots rounded a corner and were ambushed by two Tarak soldiers who were unaware of the missile that was about to destroy their ship.
The first soldier slammed the butt of his rifle against Cipher's helmet, but the impact was absorbed. Cipher stumbled a few steps before grabbing his M9A1 berretta pistol and jabbing the barrel of the gun into the second soldier's throat, stunning him long enough for him to shoot the soldier that hit him.
After he jabbed the soldier in the throat with the barrel of his gun, Cipher swung his arm back without looking and shot the soldier that hit him in the chest while he shin kicked the one in front of him in the stomach before kicking him the back of the knees with his other leg forcing him on one knee.
Once the second soldier was down on his knee, Cipher grabbed him by the back of his hair and pulled his head back before shooting him in the neck and then dropping his limp body.
"What are you three not trained in hand to hand combat?" he asked the three Dread pilots as they kept running.
"You move too fast for us to keep up, it's not our fault" Jura protested.
Cipher panted "Whatever you say" just as they reached his Eagle. "How far are your ships from here?"
"In the next room" Jura told him as Meia and Dita ran past him.
Cipher nodded "Alright see you on the outside".
Seeing some kind of jeep sitting against the wall, Cipher quickly sprinted over to it and used a longer rope to tie to the jeep's rear bumper and the front tire of his Eagle. Using the jeep, he taxied his fighter around. Once his fighter was in a good enough position to take off, Cipher drove the jeep out of the way and ran for his Eagle.
"Cipher you need to leave now!" Pixy demanded.
"Working on it!" Cipher yelled after climbing into his fighter.
Powering up his F-15C, Cipher began rolling down the hallway while the voices of the three Dread pilots overlapped on his radio.
"I'm stuck!" the red haired pilot yelled.
"Dita!" Meia gasped before Jura told her there was no time to help her.
Seeing open space just a few hundred yards ahead of him, Cipher squinted his eyes as the front wheel of his Eagle lifted off the floor just as the missile hit the ship and a fiery light engulfed everything.
"Cipher!" Pixy's voice cried as the missile hit the ship.
Cipher opened his eyes; he was floating in a sea of bluish light along with Pixy, the three Dread pilots and a boy he hadn't seen before.
Regardless of his situation, Cipher smiled, he knew it wasn't over yet.