"but I don’t think the Elders will make an exception for you."
-This seems to be a mistake, saying the elders won't let him go this far.
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The War in the Omicrons *Ch 20 5/8/07 *Ch 21 7/26/07
Read, add and comment on excellent written stories by fans, set within the Freelancer universe
Mon May 07, 2007 8:06 pm
Massive bump. Expect more chapters this week to make up for my long absence.
Ch. 19
“Status report Colonel?”
“Alpha has captured the Corsair base of Cadiz in Omega-5. Many retreated back into an undetermined jump hole, but we did manage to capture five of them”
“Any information?”
“Well, uh…”
“What?”
“They killed themselves…”
“How? You did remove their weapons didn’t you?”
“Of course, but they sneaked some pills in. Next thing we knew, they were dead in their containment fields.”
“Damn, did you manage to get ANYTHING?”
“No sir…”
“Bah, how’s our progress in moving through the radiation fields and asteroids?”
“Well, we’re making progress, but we estimate it’ll take a week to get through this mess”
“Very well, any Corsair activity?”
“No sir, they’ve seem to have gone quiet”
“They must be putting up a desperation defense…” said the Commander. He turned towards the bridge view window, and looked at the massive attack fleet. He turned towards the direction of the lonely planet of Crete somewhere in the distant space, and clenched his hands.
“These fools shall soon be crushed… they’ve been a thorn in our side for long enough!”
Alvaro walked along with Ferdinand, trying to keep up with his fast pace.
“Elder, what is wrong? Why the hurry, we got at least a week until the Liberty fleet reaches here!”, said Alvaro.
“We must prepare an effective defense around their most obvious target… the ancient alien site. That no doubt is their objective.” replied Ferdinand.
Alvaro gave a nervous look, and tried to suppress it, but Ferdinand noticed it.
“You have an objection Alvaro?” asked Ferdinand.
“Well Elder… I don’t know, but why don’t we just blow up the site? Maybe we can convince the Liberty fleet to leave, maybe some artifacts to make them change their mind and…”
“I don’t know what the repercussions of that action could be”, said Ferdinand, “Hell, that cannon may even go down as far as the planet core… a chain reaction may mean doom for Crete”.
Alvaro sighed.
“We’re in quite a pickle here, aren’t we”
“Yes… but this’ll be a test of character at least. Plus, I doubt the Liberty fleet could even activate the damn cannon”
“Indeed”, said Alvaro, as he felt the artifact in his pack, “What was it that you needed me for?”
“Alvaro, I need you to be on the Hispania with me when we direct the defense. Help lead some squads or something. At the moment, most of our veterans are scattered and are quickly returning back with all due speed… but we’re not sure how many will return in time”
“Wait, you want… me to help you? I’m just a lieutenant; I got no experience leading such huge…”
“Alvaro, you’ve gone beyond the call of duty numerous times. I have confidence in you”, said Ferdinand.
Ferdinand led Alvaro towards a large hangar dug into a mountainside in the outskirts of the town, where the only two battleships of the Corsairs were kept. Alvaro admired the sight, the two ships seemingly worn and battered, yet they continue to fight, almost embodying the spirit of the Corsairs.
“Quite a sight, ain’t it?” asked Ferdinand, “I fear that this maybe their final days, but they will go down in honor”, he sighed.
“But we’ll make sure that we’ll be remembered by history, right Elder?”, said Alvaro.
“Quite. We’ll cause even more of an upset than the GMG did in the 80 year war… we’ll cause lots of damage”, said Ferdinand.
“Then won’t that just justify the Liberty Fleet’s actions against us?” interjected Alvaro.
“Yea, but I don’t think people thought much differently of us before this”.
”True”.
Ferdinand walked up a ramp towards a command hub overlooking repairs, and put in some commands to extend a walk way towards the ship. He turned towards the foreman.
“Repairs on the Hispania are complete, I trust?”
“Yes Elder, the Nervión has some substantial damage, but the Hispania is ready to go!”
“Good, raise the signal for the crew to take up their spots in the ship. We’re taking off now.”
“Yes sir”
Alvaro follows Ferdinand across the walk way, and looks down at the ground, watching people scurry across, hauling equipment and ships to the battleships. Ferdinand enters an external door, and walks across the cramped halls into a lift, taking him into his personal quarters. He enters, and offers Alvaro a chair.
“I’ve kept track of your development, Alvaro. You’re turning out to be a promising Corsair. If we get out of this one alive, I’ll push for your advancement…”
“Thank you sir”, said Alvaro, “But why me? There are plenty of seasoned veterans and…”
“Alvaro. You caused much damage to the bounty hunters when you escaped, proved yourself during the Hessian invasion, and fought that… thing in the ruins. All my veterans are stretched then. Ramirez is in space onboard the Tero overlooking a defense grid in our system, and the others are escorting the rest of the Elder Council to a secret installation near Pygar.”
He pressed a button on his board, revealing a hologram of Omicron Gamma and the surrounding systems.
“Much of our best men, like your father, have not returned following the attack on Cadiz and the subsequent one on Leon. The situation is dire. We need as many men as we need…”
Ferdinand sighed, and entered some commands on his control pad. A small meal came out, with some water.
“I’ll have your Titan loaded in the ship. Eat now while we wait for the rest of the men to report”.
Alvaro tried to enjoy the food, but couldn’t think straight… his father was missing after the assault on Cadiz, and the collapse of the Corsairs as they knew it was imminent…
Alvaro didn’t notice the ship lift off, and only until Ferdinand opened the window in his room did he realize that they were in space.
“I got a transmission from Ramirez. They’ve mined much of the reach between here and the passage from Omega-41. At least this’ll give us some breathing room…”
Alvaro watched as the ship took a defensive position near Crete, and felt the ship adjusting to compensate for the gravity from it.
“Alvaro, I want you to go back to your Titan and do some warm-ups… you’ve been away from flying for quite a while and…”
The alarms went off.
“What the hell!” yelled Ferdinand. He hit the button to connect to the bridge, “What the hell is going on!?”
“Sir, we received a request of help from the Tero… some of the liberty attack force has begun to appear!”
“What! They’re still a week off!”
“I know, but they’ve managed to speed it up… he reports they’re mainly strike fighters and small cruisers, but he says he needs more men to help”.
Ferdinand sighed.
“Alert the crew. Tell them the holidays kicked in early this year…”
“Yes sir”.
Ferdinand turned towards Alvaro.
“Well, I guess they came sooner than we both thought…”, said Ferdinand, “Go to your ship Alvaro, and help lead our men in surgical strikes. You know the weaknesses of these big ships”
“Yes sir. I’ll make sure they’ll feel the horns.”
Alvaro turned towards the lift, and prepared to go down. Ferdinand noticed his anxiety.
“Alvaro, I have faith in you. We’ll come through this, one way or another!”
“It’s not that I’m worried about sir… it’s…”
“What?”, asked Ferdinand.
“If the Liberty fleet is cutting through this early, it means our men are cut off from Cadiz and Leon… it’ll take them a while to sneak through around towards Theta. We might not receive reinforcements in time…”
“Alvaro, since when were numbers a problem for the Corsairs?”
End Ch. 19.
Edited by - MercZ on 5/8/2007 6:56:34 PM
Ch. 19
“Status report Colonel?”
“Alpha has captured the Corsair base of Cadiz in Omega-5. Many retreated back into an undetermined jump hole, but we did manage to capture five of them”
“Any information?”
“Well, uh…”
“What?”
“They killed themselves…”
“How? You did remove their weapons didn’t you?”
“Of course, but they sneaked some pills in. Next thing we knew, they were dead in their containment fields.”
“Damn, did you manage to get ANYTHING?”
“No sir…”
“Bah, how’s our progress in moving through the radiation fields and asteroids?”
“Well, we’re making progress, but we estimate it’ll take a week to get through this mess”
“Very well, any Corsair activity?”
“No sir, they’ve seem to have gone quiet”
“They must be putting up a desperation defense…” said the Commander. He turned towards the bridge view window, and looked at the massive attack fleet. He turned towards the direction of the lonely planet of Crete somewhere in the distant space, and clenched his hands.
“These fools shall soon be crushed… they’ve been a thorn in our side for long enough!”
Alvaro walked along with Ferdinand, trying to keep up with his fast pace.
“Elder, what is wrong? Why the hurry, we got at least a week until the Liberty fleet reaches here!”, said Alvaro.
“We must prepare an effective defense around their most obvious target… the ancient alien site. That no doubt is their objective.” replied Ferdinand.
Alvaro gave a nervous look, and tried to suppress it, but Ferdinand noticed it.
“You have an objection Alvaro?” asked Ferdinand.
“Well Elder… I don’t know, but why don’t we just blow up the site? Maybe we can convince the Liberty fleet to leave, maybe some artifacts to make them change their mind and…”
“I don’t know what the repercussions of that action could be”, said Ferdinand, “Hell, that cannon may even go down as far as the planet core… a chain reaction may mean doom for Crete”.
Alvaro sighed.
“We’re in quite a pickle here, aren’t we”
“Yes… but this’ll be a test of character at least. Plus, I doubt the Liberty fleet could even activate the damn cannon”
“Indeed”, said Alvaro, as he felt the artifact in his pack, “What was it that you needed me for?”
“Alvaro, I need you to be on the Hispania with me when we direct the defense. Help lead some squads or something. At the moment, most of our veterans are scattered and are quickly returning back with all due speed… but we’re not sure how many will return in time”
“Wait, you want… me to help you? I’m just a lieutenant; I got no experience leading such huge…”
“Alvaro, you’ve gone beyond the call of duty numerous times. I have confidence in you”, said Ferdinand.
Ferdinand led Alvaro towards a large hangar dug into a mountainside in the outskirts of the town, where the only two battleships of the Corsairs were kept. Alvaro admired the sight, the two ships seemingly worn and battered, yet they continue to fight, almost embodying the spirit of the Corsairs.
“Quite a sight, ain’t it?” asked Ferdinand, “I fear that this maybe their final days, but they will go down in honor”, he sighed.
“But we’ll make sure that we’ll be remembered by history, right Elder?”, said Alvaro.
“Quite. We’ll cause even more of an upset than the GMG did in the 80 year war… we’ll cause lots of damage”, said Ferdinand.
“Then won’t that just justify the Liberty Fleet’s actions against us?” interjected Alvaro.
“Yea, but I don’t think people thought much differently of us before this”.
”True”.
Ferdinand walked up a ramp towards a command hub overlooking repairs, and put in some commands to extend a walk way towards the ship. He turned towards the foreman.
“Repairs on the Hispania are complete, I trust?”
“Yes Elder, the Nervión has some substantial damage, but the Hispania is ready to go!”
“Good, raise the signal for the crew to take up their spots in the ship. We’re taking off now.”
“Yes sir”
Alvaro follows Ferdinand across the walk way, and looks down at the ground, watching people scurry across, hauling equipment and ships to the battleships. Ferdinand enters an external door, and walks across the cramped halls into a lift, taking him into his personal quarters. He enters, and offers Alvaro a chair.
“I’ve kept track of your development, Alvaro. You’re turning out to be a promising Corsair. If we get out of this one alive, I’ll push for your advancement…”
“Thank you sir”, said Alvaro, “But why me? There are plenty of seasoned veterans and…”
“Alvaro. You caused much damage to the bounty hunters when you escaped, proved yourself during the Hessian invasion, and fought that… thing in the ruins. All my veterans are stretched then. Ramirez is in space onboard the Tero overlooking a defense grid in our system, and the others are escorting the rest of the Elder Council to a secret installation near Pygar.”
He pressed a button on his board, revealing a hologram of Omicron Gamma and the surrounding systems.
“Much of our best men, like your father, have not returned following the attack on Cadiz and the subsequent one on Leon. The situation is dire. We need as many men as we need…”
Ferdinand sighed, and entered some commands on his control pad. A small meal came out, with some water.
“I’ll have your Titan loaded in the ship. Eat now while we wait for the rest of the men to report”.
Alvaro tried to enjoy the food, but couldn’t think straight… his father was missing after the assault on Cadiz, and the collapse of the Corsairs as they knew it was imminent…
Alvaro didn’t notice the ship lift off, and only until Ferdinand opened the window in his room did he realize that they were in space.
“I got a transmission from Ramirez. They’ve mined much of the reach between here and the passage from Omega-41. At least this’ll give us some breathing room…”
Alvaro watched as the ship took a defensive position near Crete, and felt the ship adjusting to compensate for the gravity from it.
“Alvaro, I want you to go back to your Titan and do some warm-ups… you’ve been away from flying for quite a while and…”
The alarms went off.
“What the hell!” yelled Ferdinand. He hit the button to connect to the bridge, “What the hell is going on!?”
“Sir, we received a request of help from the Tero… some of the liberty attack force has begun to appear!”
“What! They’re still a week off!”
“I know, but they’ve managed to speed it up… he reports they’re mainly strike fighters and small cruisers, but he says he needs more men to help”.
Ferdinand sighed.
“Alert the crew. Tell them the holidays kicked in early this year…”
“Yes sir”.
Ferdinand turned towards Alvaro.
“Well, I guess they came sooner than we both thought…”, said Ferdinand, “Go to your ship Alvaro, and help lead our men in surgical strikes. You know the weaknesses of these big ships”
“Yes sir. I’ll make sure they’ll feel the horns.”
Alvaro turned towards the lift, and prepared to go down. Ferdinand noticed his anxiety.
“Alvaro, I have faith in you. We’ll come through this, one way or another!”
“It’s not that I’m worried about sir… it’s…”
“What?”, asked Ferdinand.
“If the Liberty fleet is cutting through this early, it means our men are cut off from Cadiz and Leon… it’ll take them a while to sneak through around towards Theta. We might not receive reinforcements in time…”
“Alvaro, since when were numbers a problem for the Corsairs?”
End Ch. 19.
Edited by - MercZ on 5/8/2007 6:56:34 PM
Tue May 08, 2007 6:14 pm
Ch. 20
“Commander, our initial strike force has reported they’ve broken into Omicron Gamma!”
“Good. How’s the situation?”
“They report a massive defense… mines, some cannons stuck to asteroids…. They’ve buckled down.”
“Have they met any Corsairs?”
“They said a scout ran into them…”
”Did they destroy him?”
”No he got away… they fear that the Corsairs will know of our recent developments”
“Damn! Well we’ll have to wear them down and make sure they’ll have a hell of a time fighting us…”. The Commander stopped, and brightened up.
“Of course, now we’ll be able to draw out a considerable number of them… we’ll have them where we want them…”
Alvaro rushed into his fighter and jumped into the cockpit. He took a moment to re-familiarize himself with the controls as he waited to enter the launch queue.
“Lieutenant Gulliento, you are cleared to launch. Good luck!”
Alvaro took last minute checks on his life support as his ship was positioned into the launching formation, and readied himself as the light in his cockpit turned red.
“All clear Lieutenant… long live the Corsairs!”
He engaged his secondary engines and eased his ship out of the hangar bay, and positioned himself with a number of other fighters. A light lit up on his command console, and he read it- he was assigned wing mates. He entered the verification code on his command console, and identified himself as Epsilon Leader.
Soon enough, other wing mates joined up with him, and as they traveled towards their destination, he learned their names and what families they hailed from. He attached numbers to them for now… if they got out of this in the end he’d take the time to know them.
They flew through the outreach of the walker cloud towards where the scout had reported the Liberty scout group. Within a few minutes, they spotted traces of engine activity on their radar.
Alvaro gets a transmission from one of his wing mates.
“Lieutenant, we’ve picked up some traces of engine exhaust. Suggested action?”
“Hold your formation until I get a command from the CO”
“Yes sir”
Alvaro receives a transmission from one of the flight commanders.
“Listen up squad leaders! We’ve identified the position of the Liberty strike force… attack from the side. The front and rear will be protected, but they won’t see us coming from the side. The Walker Cloud will help us tremendously in this. Hit the small carriers first to try and cause confusion among the command hierarchy. From there, you guys should know how to clean up some fighters… maintain radio silence until after the attack has commenced.”
The attack force slowly made their way to the position of the fleet, and Alvaro took the time to check that his energy supply and torpedoes were ready.
This is only the peak of the iceberg… I should be careful not to waste all these torpedoes on them…
Alvaro watched as his ship neared closer to the objective marked on his radar, and time began to feel stretched out towards him. He wasn’t sure why he felt so uncomfortable. Was it his father? Or was he nervous that this would be the end of the road for him after all he went through? It didn’t make since to him that this little thing would bother him so much…
He saw the silhouette of the attack force through the cloud, and tightens his grip on the control stick.
Calm down… we can get through this…
Alvaro knew the reputation of the Liberty Fleet in Sirius. They were not an attack force to be trifled with. Highly structured, organized, and trained. Though the Liberty Navy hasn’t seen any action in years, they still maintained training regimens and mock battles. Alvaro and other pilots learned their main weakness though… they were not used to unorthodox battles. Many of the pilots were used to fancy tactics and simulations, yet if they managed to surprise them, the battle could swing in their favor.
The right wing, Zeta, fired first, unloading on an unsuspecting carrier. Within moments, the ship lit up, the explosion sending shock waves across the nearby space. Alvaro hit his thrusters, signaling the rest of his fighters to engage the fighters.
Alvaro got engrossed in the battle; the carnage, a sensation he hadn’t felt in a while. It was exhilarating… the explosions, lasers, and the dogfights occurring all around him.
He even began to lose count of how many Liberty pilots he took down, and became oblivious to the Liberty fighters who tried to engage him, simply swatting them off like flies.
“Lieutenant… you are going insane out there!”
Alvaro ignored that, and engaged a cruiser head on. He flew towards it, head on, dodging the turret shots gracefully. He began to unload the front of the ship, worked along the top of the ship, and flew past its rear. He killed his engines, twirled his ship back around, and launched a few missiles into it.
The cruiser exploded in front of him, the explosion splashing up onto his shield. Alvaro still kept going, shaking off the vengeful Liberty pilots trying to kill him. He pulled up behind a wing of three fighters, and unloaded on each of them, destroying them in a span of 10 seconds.
He was oblivious to the fact that the rest of the corsairs were taking elegant dogfights as the pilots attempted to match each other’s skills.
As soon as his ship was jolted by a powerful explosion, Alvaro came back to his senses, and suddenly became aware of the chatter filling his cockpit.
“DAMN IT LIEUTENANT, DODGE THOSE MISSILES!”
Alvaro realized then that the Liberty pilots had turned their undivided attention to him. He dropped counter measures and blasted forwards, and looped upwards, attempting to come down on the ships in a hail of fire.
As he dropped, he unloaded on ships, taking out one and disabling the other. The third ship broke off from the wing and attempted to take on Alvaro, but he exploded in front of him.
“Don’t worry boss, we’re still here to cover your ass!”, yelled Epsilon-5.
Alvaro took a quick look down at his radar, and saw that the red dots slowly began to disappear. They were mopping up this small force up quite well, and according to a quick glance at the combat statistics, they only lost two pilots.
Alvaro took on another fighter, and destroyed it. He took a quick glance around the cloud, and he could make out the carcasses of the destroyed ships and fragments. He even saw what he saw were pilot bodies, but he didn’t bother to take closer examination, there was still a battle going around him.
He rejoined with his wing, which had luckily not suffered any casualties. They went around the battle, engaging in fierce fights with the few stragglers which had banded together, attempting to fight against overwhelming odds. Alvaro almost wished that he didn’t have to kill those men… such a waste of talent.
It’s odd though… why don’t they just cut and run?
Alvaro looked at his radar and saw that the remaining ships and the two cruisers gathered in a small pocket, forming a hasty defense line. Alvaro red a command prompt that popped up in his helmet, ordering the attack forces to split and pincer the formation in their vulnerable spots.
“All right men, it’s time for the final act!”, yelled Alvaro, “then we can return back to the Hispania and the Tero!”
“Hail!” yelled the rest of the pilots.
They swung around, and pulled upwards, then dropped back down, firing down on the ships.
Alvaro felt his body falling with the ship, and was enthralled with the feeling. He stopped short though when he noticed conspicuous gaps in their formation, and he suddenly realized what it meant.
He put out an alert on the fleet frequency, and started pulling up.
“Guys, pull up! CUT THE ATTACK!!”
Alvaro saw that the attack group was clearly confused, and some slowed their assault. Alvaro’s entire Epsilon group followed him, hammering questions over the talk frequency.
“What was that about?”
“We had them in our grasps?”
“You sure you are ok?”
Alvaro watched as ships began to appear, clearly jumping from Omega-41, and taking positions in the gaps of the defense line. One by one, massive battleships appeared in formation, spewing out hordes of fighters.
Alvaro put out a command to all the fighters, telling them to return back to the battleships. He opened up a direct communiqué with Ferdinand next.
“Alvaro, what’s this about, did you guys sweep up the fools already?” he asked.
“No…infact they brought their friends to party”
“What?” he yelled.
He sent a feed from his rear camera to Ferdinand, showing the large fleet forming in the cloud.
“Damn, these guys are way ahead of schedule...”
Ferdinand switched onto the fleet-wide band.
“Men! The battle has begun! Everyone return back to your battleship and follow them to the positions behind the mine field. Some of ou defense cannons have been constructed on the larger asteroids… but this will be hasty!”
Alvaro watched as the rest of the ships exited the cloud and joined up with the battleships floating in space, and saw the Nervión exiting Crete’s atmosphere in the distance.
Alvaro turned his ship around as he got near the Hispania, and watched the cloud, and muttered a prayer to himself. The Corsairs were finally going to get the epic battle, long awaited through the eons.
End Ch. 20
“Commander, our initial strike force has reported they’ve broken into Omicron Gamma!”
“Good. How’s the situation?”
“They report a massive defense… mines, some cannons stuck to asteroids…. They’ve buckled down.”
“Have they met any Corsairs?”
“They said a scout ran into them…”
”Did they destroy him?”
”No he got away… they fear that the Corsairs will know of our recent developments”
“Damn! Well we’ll have to wear them down and make sure they’ll have a hell of a time fighting us…”. The Commander stopped, and brightened up.
“Of course, now we’ll be able to draw out a considerable number of them… we’ll have them where we want them…”
Alvaro rushed into his fighter and jumped into the cockpit. He took a moment to re-familiarize himself with the controls as he waited to enter the launch queue.
“Lieutenant Gulliento, you are cleared to launch. Good luck!”
Alvaro took last minute checks on his life support as his ship was positioned into the launching formation, and readied himself as the light in his cockpit turned red.
“All clear Lieutenant… long live the Corsairs!”
He engaged his secondary engines and eased his ship out of the hangar bay, and positioned himself with a number of other fighters. A light lit up on his command console, and he read it- he was assigned wing mates. He entered the verification code on his command console, and identified himself as Epsilon Leader.
Soon enough, other wing mates joined up with him, and as they traveled towards their destination, he learned their names and what families they hailed from. He attached numbers to them for now… if they got out of this in the end he’d take the time to know them.
They flew through the outreach of the walker cloud towards where the scout had reported the Liberty scout group. Within a few minutes, they spotted traces of engine activity on their radar.
Alvaro gets a transmission from one of his wing mates.
“Lieutenant, we’ve picked up some traces of engine exhaust. Suggested action?”
“Hold your formation until I get a command from the CO”
“Yes sir”
Alvaro receives a transmission from one of the flight commanders.
“Listen up squad leaders! We’ve identified the position of the Liberty strike force… attack from the side. The front and rear will be protected, but they won’t see us coming from the side. The Walker Cloud will help us tremendously in this. Hit the small carriers first to try and cause confusion among the command hierarchy. From there, you guys should know how to clean up some fighters… maintain radio silence until after the attack has commenced.”
The attack force slowly made their way to the position of the fleet, and Alvaro took the time to check that his energy supply and torpedoes were ready.
This is only the peak of the iceberg… I should be careful not to waste all these torpedoes on them…
Alvaro watched as his ship neared closer to the objective marked on his radar, and time began to feel stretched out towards him. He wasn’t sure why he felt so uncomfortable. Was it his father? Or was he nervous that this would be the end of the road for him after all he went through? It didn’t make since to him that this little thing would bother him so much…
He saw the silhouette of the attack force through the cloud, and tightens his grip on the control stick.
Calm down… we can get through this…
Alvaro knew the reputation of the Liberty Fleet in Sirius. They were not an attack force to be trifled with. Highly structured, organized, and trained. Though the Liberty Navy hasn’t seen any action in years, they still maintained training regimens and mock battles. Alvaro and other pilots learned their main weakness though… they were not used to unorthodox battles. Many of the pilots were used to fancy tactics and simulations, yet if they managed to surprise them, the battle could swing in their favor.
The right wing, Zeta, fired first, unloading on an unsuspecting carrier. Within moments, the ship lit up, the explosion sending shock waves across the nearby space. Alvaro hit his thrusters, signaling the rest of his fighters to engage the fighters.
Alvaro got engrossed in the battle; the carnage, a sensation he hadn’t felt in a while. It was exhilarating… the explosions, lasers, and the dogfights occurring all around him.
He even began to lose count of how many Liberty pilots he took down, and became oblivious to the Liberty fighters who tried to engage him, simply swatting them off like flies.
“Lieutenant… you are going insane out there!”
Alvaro ignored that, and engaged a cruiser head on. He flew towards it, head on, dodging the turret shots gracefully. He began to unload the front of the ship, worked along the top of the ship, and flew past its rear. He killed his engines, twirled his ship back around, and launched a few missiles into it.
The cruiser exploded in front of him, the explosion splashing up onto his shield. Alvaro still kept going, shaking off the vengeful Liberty pilots trying to kill him. He pulled up behind a wing of three fighters, and unloaded on each of them, destroying them in a span of 10 seconds.
He was oblivious to the fact that the rest of the corsairs were taking elegant dogfights as the pilots attempted to match each other’s skills.
As soon as his ship was jolted by a powerful explosion, Alvaro came back to his senses, and suddenly became aware of the chatter filling his cockpit.
“DAMN IT LIEUTENANT, DODGE THOSE MISSILES!”
Alvaro realized then that the Liberty pilots had turned their undivided attention to him. He dropped counter measures and blasted forwards, and looped upwards, attempting to come down on the ships in a hail of fire.
As he dropped, he unloaded on ships, taking out one and disabling the other. The third ship broke off from the wing and attempted to take on Alvaro, but he exploded in front of him.
“Don’t worry boss, we’re still here to cover your ass!”, yelled Epsilon-5.
Alvaro took a quick look down at his radar, and saw that the red dots slowly began to disappear. They were mopping up this small force up quite well, and according to a quick glance at the combat statistics, they only lost two pilots.
Alvaro took on another fighter, and destroyed it. He took a quick glance around the cloud, and he could make out the carcasses of the destroyed ships and fragments. He even saw what he saw were pilot bodies, but he didn’t bother to take closer examination, there was still a battle going around him.
He rejoined with his wing, which had luckily not suffered any casualties. They went around the battle, engaging in fierce fights with the few stragglers which had banded together, attempting to fight against overwhelming odds. Alvaro almost wished that he didn’t have to kill those men… such a waste of talent.
It’s odd though… why don’t they just cut and run?
Alvaro looked at his radar and saw that the remaining ships and the two cruisers gathered in a small pocket, forming a hasty defense line. Alvaro red a command prompt that popped up in his helmet, ordering the attack forces to split and pincer the formation in their vulnerable spots.
“All right men, it’s time for the final act!”, yelled Alvaro, “then we can return back to the Hispania and the Tero!”
“Hail!” yelled the rest of the pilots.
They swung around, and pulled upwards, then dropped back down, firing down on the ships.
Alvaro felt his body falling with the ship, and was enthralled with the feeling. He stopped short though when he noticed conspicuous gaps in their formation, and he suddenly realized what it meant.
He put out an alert on the fleet frequency, and started pulling up.
“Guys, pull up! CUT THE ATTACK!!”
Alvaro saw that the attack group was clearly confused, and some slowed their assault. Alvaro’s entire Epsilon group followed him, hammering questions over the talk frequency.
“What was that about?”
“We had them in our grasps?”
“You sure you are ok?”
Alvaro watched as ships began to appear, clearly jumping from Omega-41, and taking positions in the gaps of the defense line. One by one, massive battleships appeared in formation, spewing out hordes of fighters.
Alvaro put out a command to all the fighters, telling them to return back to the battleships. He opened up a direct communiqué with Ferdinand next.
“Alvaro, what’s this about, did you guys sweep up the fools already?” he asked.
“No…infact they brought their friends to party”
“What?” he yelled.
He sent a feed from his rear camera to Ferdinand, showing the large fleet forming in the cloud.
“Damn, these guys are way ahead of schedule...”
Ferdinand switched onto the fleet-wide band.
“Men! The battle has begun! Everyone return back to your battleship and follow them to the positions behind the mine field. Some of ou defense cannons have been constructed on the larger asteroids… but this will be hasty!”
Alvaro watched as the rest of the ships exited the cloud and joined up with the battleships floating in space, and saw the Nervión exiting Crete’s atmosphere in the distance.
Alvaro turned his ship around as he got near the Hispania, and watched the cloud, and muttered a prayer to himself. The Corsairs were finally going to get the epic battle, long awaited through the eons.
End Ch. 20
Tue May 22, 2007 12:58 pm
Thanks for the comment Nederbord. I'm aiming to try and get two more chapters out before I leave for a month overseas on the 27th. I'm also revising errors in the previous chapters.
Also, I've done an extensive re-write of the prologue. Same general outcome, I just changed some things I was not pleased with.
Edited by - MercZ on 5/22/2007 2:15:05 PM
Also, I've done an extensive re-write of the prologue. Same general outcome, I just changed some things I was not pleased with.
Edited by - MercZ on 5/22/2007 2:15:05 PM
Wed May 23, 2007 9:40 pm
Just started reading yesterday. Man alive... It's epic. There is one minor issue I have with the dialogue, in that at some instances, it seems very un-corsair-like, in the context of them being hardy, no-nonsense fighters. But, like I said, minor. Keep writing this, it's excellent.
Thu Jul 26, 2007 7:44 pm
Chapter 21
“Commander, our ships are beginning to jump into the Omicron Gamma system.”
“Good. How was our initial strike?”
“Uh, not so good…”
”Oh, please, do tell.”
“70% casualties, the rest tried to get in a position to try and lure the Corsairs into a position to get them crushed by our ships jumping in, but they were not successful”
The Commander sighed, and got up from his chair. He stepped towards the window, and looked out at the orange swirls of the Walker cloud.
“30 ships plus some frigate support against 15 of theirs… they lose no pilots, and we lose most of ours. I guess it is true, they are very talented pilots.”
The young officer remained in his position, but he knew what the commander was feeling. To him, the commander was still Jonathan Vanderbilt, his close friend while they grew up on Manhattan. John came from a long line of proud military members, all of whom had achieved high ranks in the Liberty Armed Forces. Jonathan in his own right gained glory, but why was he always so glum?
Jonathan played with his medals for a moment, and turned back towards his table and looked at the alert on his computer. He talked into his com-bead to give the commands for one of the battleship wings, and ordered his flagship to continue advancing.
“Thomas, you know this battle means a lot for me. None of my ancestors for 6 centuries had actually participated in any sort of warfare… the most they tackled were small insurrections and meager pirates. Even I only have these medals and this rank because I was a skilled pilot, and the way I took care of those damned Rogues and Junkers when we assaulted their attempts at building battleships. And yet, I’ve never fought a true war, like my ancestors in old Earth did. Now we are in a true war… we’re on the verge of eliminating one of the most powerful organizations in Sirius. I succeed, and I’ll be a hero, forever inscribed in the history texts… fail, and I’ll be the one to blame, and to carry the burden of the fallen.”
Jonathan picks his hat off from the table and cleans it against his vest. He puts it on his head, and motions Thomas to walk with him.
”You’ve been a faithful friend Thomas, and I’m happy that you didn’t try to abuse your power while you were here. I’ll be sure to put in a good word for you after this mess is over”.
“Yes sir”, said Thomas.
“We’re going to the bridge to better co-ordinate the attacks. Also give the command to launch our Elite Cadre of pilots. They’ll be needed”
“Alright, John”
The two men stepped into the elevator and waited as they were shot upward into the bridge.
It was all or nothing. Victory must be achieved.
Alvaro sat in his Titan, laying in formation with the rest of his squad. He watched as more and more Titans and Centurions joined their ranks. He took a quick count with his radar and got a total of 150.
Good. 150 should give them hell.
He switched to the All-Corsair channel and listened into the conversations.
“Man, I wish we were back in the good old days, blasting those Hessians to hell…”
“Boy, this’ll be fun. Hell, I’d much rather die with a **** load of battleships hitting me then to rot away in prison”
“Bring on those *****es. I’ve always wanted to kick a few spoiled rich ass Liberty kids back to their mommas”
Alvaro flipped off the frequency, and sat alone to himself. He’d wondered what had gotten him to this point. Just an average Corsair, and ending up in some damned alien scheme, then under the thumb of the most powerful house in Sirius. He hated to admit it, but he missed skinning Bounty Hunters and defeating swarms of Hessians. At least those fools didn’t want us dead; otherwise they’d be out of a job.
He watched as more and more Corsairs swelled their ranks, raising the number to about 300. We were recouping, waiting for those explosions to erupt from our mines in the Walker Cloud, and then we’d take them on. At least that’s what the plan said. Very rarely had he seen Corsairs take orders, they just did what came naturally. Fighting was almost inborn to us, and that I guess what made us so feared in Sirius. At the same time, it garnered us no love either.
Alvaro checked his radar and saw the three lone battleships of the Corsairs pull up. The Tajo and Nervión take up positions on the side, and the Hispania pulls up in the middle. They continue watching the cloud for the first explosions to go off.
When they did, everyone was cheering over the intercom. We could see the brilliant chain reaction of white flashes exploding across the cloud, briefly showing the shadows of the ships moving across the field. Then the second stage- the laser beams from the gun emplacements streaming across the Walker Cloud and making more explosions in the distance.
“Corsairs, power up and move towards the cloud at these speeds. We’ll surprise them as they come out of the cloud”
Alvaro knew the traps they set up weren’t going to hamper the Liberty advance, but the fireworks would throw them off, put them on edge. They would be nervous, and they want to get out of the cloud as quickly as they want so they can navigate without fear… surely they’d be surprised to be in the face of the horde of missiles and beam weaponry.
“The first ships should be emerging soon”, said Ramirez, “Be sure to give them a warm welcome guys!”
Alvaro set his speed to the ones indicated in the orders, and edged his way to the cloud with the others. The orange gas of the Walker Cloud soon filled his view, and his ship stopped. He kept his hands on the weapons control.
More explosions illuminated the cloud, and the rays from the large defense platforms pierced through the cloud.
Then the first ships emerged into space.
“Fire at will!”
Alvaro and the other Corsairs unloaded their weaponry, pummeling the Liberty ships as they emerged from the cloud. Explosions erupted as more and more ships slammed into the wall of beam weapons and missiles.
“Hold your fire! They’ve stopped coming!”
“How many did we take down from that?”
“My radar reads that we had 15 of them slam into that. I’m not sure how many of them we caught with the mines and the weapons platforms.”
Ramirez chimed over the frequency.
“I suggest you guys break formation and don’t bunch up so close. They’re probably going to try and pincer us once they’ve fired their main weapons. Speaking of which!”
Alvaro gave orders to the rest of his squad to move towards the left end of the cloud. As he turned his ship, he saw from the corner of his eye bright blue flashes in the cloud. As he blasted his ship towards the left flank, he saw the large blue beams erupt from the cloud, streaming harmlessly past the position where the Corsairs had just been. They continued firing, and the beams seemed to arrive more frequently.
“Better get ready boys, their trying to keep us distracted with the light show. More than likely their fighters are using the battleships as cover to advance through the cloud.”
Alvaro’s squadron among others reached the Nervión which had taken a position in the left end of the cloud. They watched as the looming dreadnaughts slowly emerged from the cloud, surrounded by frigates.
Alvaro turned on his squad frequency.
“Alright guys. Fly well and try to keep those turrets on the ships moving. If you can, try to knock a few off. They’re also going to have their fighters come in. They can pack a punch, but we’ve got the upper hand in that department. The real problem is that they can fly circles around our ships, so make every shot count!”
As the ships emerged, the flurry of fighters emerged behind them, piercing through space. They blasted towards Alvaro and the other corsairs.
”Line up your sights and fill them up!”
They blasted towards the incoming fire, and let loose the weaponry. Alvaro watched as they exchanged pot shots with the Liberty fighters. As they came closer to each other, they let loose their entire load out, obliterating a few of the liberty ships in the process. The Liberty ships returned with a hell storm of fire. Alvaro watched as the small laser beams bounced harmlessly off his ship.
“Hold steady guys, those things may not seem to pack a punch, but they fire fast and use little energy… they’ll tear through us if you give them a chance”
They blasted past each other, and the Liberty ships quickly turned back around to give chase. The Corsair ships continued to head towards the line of frigates.
“Alright guys, just drop a few mines for them to play with. We need to take out some of the weapons batteries on those frigates so we won’t have them interfering with out fights!”
“Roger”
“Epsilon 2 and 5, keep the Liberty pilots distracted. We don’t need them bearing down on our asses”
“Alright, man”
Alvaro takes the rest of his squad towards the frigates as Epsilon 2 and 5 broke off for the attack. The other fighter wings took similar actions, leaving a few ships to attack the pursuing pilots.
Alvaro gave orders to the ships to broaden formation. The Liberty Frigates would obviously be armed with highly explosive missiles which could tear through tightly bunched ships.
The turrets from the frigates light up, sending beams flying towards the Corsair ships.
“Break formation and engage. Do not try to attack the frigates head on, they have powerful main guns which can tear through your ships. Use the sun glare to your advantage.”
Alvaro flew through the barrage of blasts, weaving in and out of the beams. He got near one of the frigates and flew across it, firing on the row of turrets. He pulls up from the run, dodging a series of shots from a nearby frigate. He takes a quick glance at his rear camera HUD, watching the dogfight between the Liberty and Corsair pilots, seen by their characteristic blue and red engine trails respectively.
More blasts lit up the space around the frigates, leading Alvaro to take more evasive actions. He could feel the massive pull of the titan as he swings from one direction to another. He swings back around toward the frigate, and unloads on the bridge tower. The tower ruptures, and splits from the ship, leaving a trail of debris and fire. Alvaro fires more shots into the exposed hole before he flies by. As he turns his ship around, he sees the fire streaming from the crippled ship, and eventually it implodes, sending fragments of itself in all directions. Alvaro narrowly dodges a shard, and swings back into the fray.
He picks off two Defender ships, and picks up a message from one of his wing mates.
“We’re picking up some fast bogies from the cloud… don’t let them surprise you”
“Roger, thanks for the heads up”
“Heads up guys, there’s some fast bogies coming in fast!”
Alvaro was almost thrown off his chair by two fast ships that blur past him, leaving a eerie green trail. He quickly reverses his ship and gives chase, but can not keep up with the fast ships. The ships swing back around again, and launch some shots which he avoids. He catches a glimpse of the black hulled ships marked with the Liberty Insignia as they speed past him.
He recognized these black ships. He had only heard rumors of it from Corsairs who ventured into Liberty space, but he never thought them to be true. There was said to be an elite wing of Liberty Navy Fighters, dubbed the Death Angels by the pirate community. These were Navy pilots who had passed the most rigorous tests and were rewarded with Liberty’s finest ships. Rogues who often thought they were at the top of their game and became too ambitious were often taken out by these men. In short, it was one of the few things that connected the Liberty pirate groups other than their hate for the Liberty law enforcement.
They swung back around again, and dove at Alvaro and his wing mates. They quickly broke apart and tried to hit them as they came down on them, spraying fire where they might cross paths. The explosion that erupted in its midst confirmed to Alvaro they downed one, and probably harmed the other ones.
“Men, this is Ramirez. You guys’ve probably figured this out, but they’ve let out their finest pilots. Just be careful not to let them out run you. Also, if you are in these designated coordinates, clear out. The Tajo is preparing to do an arc sweep of the cruisers.
Alvaro was surprised at the last few words. The Corsair engineers surely must have been busy during his coma. He hoped he could catch a glimpse of the laser cutting through the ships.
He engaged another one of the quick Liberty fighters, landing shot after shot on its engines. Once he had finished that ship off, he focused his attention on another fighter. As he did so, he could see a glimpse of the laser slowly moving its way through the formation, creating explosion after explosion. He knew now though the Tajo would take awhile to recharge again, so they would probably have to take out the rest of the cruisers themselves. No matter, it was never a problem before.
He swung back towards the fight, and engaged another nimble fighter. Luckily for him this time, the ship had unknowingly maneuvered itself into Alvaro’s path, probably in his attempt to circle around another Corsair.
He engaged another one, taking a minute to make his shots come true. He had yet to lose his shields, and he felt it was the same for the rest of the Corsairs. Still, he had to give these fighters credits for actually managing to sneak off a few shots and not get blown away immediately, as the Hessians had usually done.
He took a quick glance on his squad listings, and saw that no one had been destroyed, though some of the other squads reported a casualty.
He called up on two of his wing mates to join him on a run on a dreadnaught, and they proceeded towards the line of cruisers that survived the onslaught from the Tajo. He saw that they maneuvered themselves behind the remains of the other cruisers, in order to give themselves some protection from other attacks. They were firing into the battle nearby, trying to hit any target quickly.
“Alright, they’re hiding behind the debris, as you can see. You two pick a different side and go that way. I’ll try to dive in at an angle.”
The two ships left the formation and proceeded towards the hiding cruiser. He increased his speed to try and get the attention of the gunners, who focused their full blast at him. He strafed his ship towards the areas with less of a concentration of fire. He knew that there was no way he could dodge every shot in this hellstorm, but he could try to avoid getting hit by a load of lasers at once.
As he neared the debris of the cruiser, he pulled up, and dove through an opening. He opened fire, tearing away at the shields and dodging the hail of turret fire as it fired upwards to meet him. He went through the same process of dodging them, and kept pounding on the shields. His other two wing mates were doing the same, pounding the ship’s shields from their ends. Eventually, the glow of the shield disappointed, and he maneuvered himself to the approximate location of the reactor onboard the cruiser. He fired one of the torpedoes, and watched it enter the hull before he pulled the ship up.
The dreadnaught exploded behind them, and some cheers erupted over the Corsair frequency. It was only one dreadnaught, but a dreadnaught taken down by three lone fighters? That was surely a hit in Liberty’s ego.
The Death Angels were barely a match for the Corsairs, but they were certainly skilled, Alvaro could hand them that. Regardless, sooner or later the Death Angels would adjust… they were already starting too, and slowly their ordinary counterparts were doing so as well.
He turned his attention back to the battle, and engaged a regular Liberty pilot, and quickly took him out within seconds. As he prepared to take on another two, an alert rung out in his cockpit, prompting him to look at his radar. He couldn’t believe what he was seeing.
“Tajo, this Epsilon Leader. I’m picking up multiple bogies appearing around us, is this correct?”
“Unfortunately, yes. Some ships are jumping into the system and…"
Alvaro took out the two defenders that attempted to engage him, and turned his attention towards the direction the radar contacts. He saw the distant shapes of the incoming ships, and he looked back at the radar.
Oh hell…
The Liberty fleet, from as far as he could tell, were slowly encircling the Corsairs now that the other group had jumped in.
Well, things’ve just got much more interesting now…
“Commander, our ships are beginning to jump into the Omicron Gamma system.”
“Good. How was our initial strike?”
“Uh, not so good…”
”Oh, please, do tell.”
“70% casualties, the rest tried to get in a position to try and lure the Corsairs into a position to get them crushed by our ships jumping in, but they were not successful”
The Commander sighed, and got up from his chair. He stepped towards the window, and looked out at the orange swirls of the Walker cloud.
“30 ships plus some frigate support against 15 of theirs… they lose no pilots, and we lose most of ours. I guess it is true, they are very talented pilots.”
The young officer remained in his position, but he knew what the commander was feeling. To him, the commander was still Jonathan Vanderbilt, his close friend while they grew up on Manhattan. John came from a long line of proud military members, all of whom had achieved high ranks in the Liberty Armed Forces. Jonathan in his own right gained glory, but why was he always so glum?
Jonathan played with his medals for a moment, and turned back towards his table and looked at the alert on his computer. He talked into his com-bead to give the commands for one of the battleship wings, and ordered his flagship to continue advancing.
“Thomas, you know this battle means a lot for me. None of my ancestors for 6 centuries had actually participated in any sort of warfare… the most they tackled were small insurrections and meager pirates. Even I only have these medals and this rank because I was a skilled pilot, and the way I took care of those damned Rogues and Junkers when we assaulted their attempts at building battleships. And yet, I’ve never fought a true war, like my ancestors in old Earth did. Now we are in a true war… we’re on the verge of eliminating one of the most powerful organizations in Sirius. I succeed, and I’ll be a hero, forever inscribed in the history texts… fail, and I’ll be the one to blame, and to carry the burden of the fallen.”
Jonathan picks his hat off from the table and cleans it against his vest. He puts it on his head, and motions Thomas to walk with him.
”You’ve been a faithful friend Thomas, and I’m happy that you didn’t try to abuse your power while you were here. I’ll be sure to put in a good word for you after this mess is over”.
“Yes sir”, said Thomas.
“We’re going to the bridge to better co-ordinate the attacks. Also give the command to launch our Elite Cadre of pilots. They’ll be needed”
“Alright, John”
The two men stepped into the elevator and waited as they were shot upward into the bridge.
It was all or nothing. Victory must be achieved.
Alvaro sat in his Titan, laying in formation with the rest of his squad. He watched as more and more Titans and Centurions joined their ranks. He took a quick count with his radar and got a total of 150.
Good. 150 should give them hell.
He switched to the All-Corsair channel and listened into the conversations.
“Man, I wish we were back in the good old days, blasting those Hessians to hell…”
“Boy, this’ll be fun. Hell, I’d much rather die with a **** load of battleships hitting me then to rot away in prison”
“Bring on those *****es. I’ve always wanted to kick a few spoiled rich ass Liberty kids back to their mommas”
Alvaro flipped off the frequency, and sat alone to himself. He’d wondered what had gotten him to this point. Just an average Corsair, and ending up in some damned alien scheme, then under the thumb of the most powerful house in Sirius. He hated to admit it, but he missed skinning Bounty Hunters and defeating swarms of Hessians. At least those fools didn’t want us dead; otherwise they’d be out of a job.
He watched as more and more Corsairs swelled their ranks, raising the number to about 300. We were recouping, waiting for those explosions to erupt from our mines in the Walker Cloud, and then we’d take them on. At least that’s what the plan said. Very rarely had he seen Corsairs take orders, they just did what came naturally. Fighting was almost inborn to us, and that I guess what made us so feared in Sirius. At the same time, it garnered us no love either.
Alvaro checked his radar and saw the three lone battleships of the Corsairs pull up. The Tajo and Nervión take up positions on the side, and the Hispania pulls up in the middle. They continue watching the cloud for the first explosions to go off.
When they did, everyone was cheering over the intercom. We could see the brilliant chain reaction of white flashes exploding across the cloud, briefly showing the shadows of the ships moving across the field. Then the second stage- the laser beams from the gun emplacements streaming across the Walker Cloud and making more explosions in the distance.
“Corsairs, power up and move towards the cloud at these speeds. We’ll surprise them as they come out of the cloud”
Alvaro knew the traps they set up weren’t going to hamper the Liberty advance, but the fireworks would throw them off, put them on edge. They would be nervous, and they want to get out of the cloud as quickly as they want so they can navigate without fear… surely they’d be surprised to be in the face of the horde of missiles and beam weaponry.
“The first ships should be emerging soon”, said Ramirez, “Be sure to give them a warm welcome guys!”
Alvaro set his speed to the ones indicated in the orders, and edged his way to the cloud with the others. The orange gas of the Walker Cloud soon filled his view, and his ship stopped. He kept his hands on the weapons control.
More explosions illuminated the cloud, and the rays from the large defense platforms pierced through the cloud.
Then the first ships emerged into space.
“Fire at will!”
Alvaro and the other Corsairs unloaded their weaponry, pummeling the Liberty ships as they emerged from the cloud. Explosions erupted as more and more ships slammed into the wall of beam weapons and missiles.
“Hold your fire! They’ve stopped coming!”
“How many did we take down from that?”
“My radar reads that we had 15 of them slam into that. I’m not sure how many of them we caught with the mines and the weapons platforms.”
Ramirez chimed over the frequency.
“I suggest you guys break formation and don’t bunch up so close. They’re probably going to try and pincer us once they’ve fired their main weapons. Speaking of which!”
Alvaro gave orders to the rest of his squad to move towards the left end of the cloud. As he turned his ship, he saw from the corner of his eye bright blue flashes in the cloud. As he blasted his ship towards the left flank, he saw the large blue beams erupt from the cloud, streaming harmlessly past the position where the Corsairs had just been. They continued firing, and the beams seemed to arrive more frequently.
“Better get ready boys, their trying to keep us distracted with the light show. More than likely their fighters are using the battleships as cover to advance through the cloud.”
Alvaro’s squadron among others reached the Nervión which had taken a position in the left end of the cloud. They watched as the looming dreadnaughts slowly emerged from the cloud, surrounded by frigates.
Alvaro turned on his squad frequency.
“Alright guys. Fly well and try to keep those turrets on the ships moving. If you can, try to knock a few off. They’re also going to have their fighters come in. They can pack a punch, but we’ve got the upper hand in that department. The real problem is that they can fly circles around our ships, so make every shot count!”
As the ships emerged, the flurry of fighters emerged behind them, piercing through space. They blasted towards Alvaro and the other corsairs.
”Line up your sights and fill them up!”
They blasted towards the incoming fire, and let loose the weaponry. Alvaro watched as they exchanged pot shots with the Liberty fighters. As they came closer to each other, they let loose their entire load out, obliterating a few of the liberty ships in the process. The Liberty ships returned with a hell storm of fire. Alvaro watched as the small laser beams bounced harmlessly off his ship.
“Hold steady guys, those things may not seem to pack a punch, but they fire fast and use little energy… they’ll tear through us if you give them a chance”
They blasted past each other, and the Liberty ships quickly turned back around to give chase. The Corsair ships continued to head towards the line of frigates.
“Alright guys, just drop a few mines for them to play with. We need to take out some of the weapons batteries on those frigates so we won’t have them interfering with out fights!”
“Roger”
“Epsilon 2 and 5, keep the Liberty pilots distracted. We don’t need them bearing down on our asses”
“Alright, man”
Alvaro takes the rest of his squad towards the frigates as Epsilon 2 and 5 broke off for the attack. The other fighter wings took similar actions, leaving a few ships to attack the pursuing pilots.
Alvaro gave orders to the ships to broaden formation. The Liberty Frigates would obviously be armed with highly explosive missiles which could tear through tightly bunched ships.
The turrets from the frigates light up, sending beams flying towards the Corsair ships.
“Break formation and engage. Do not try to attack the frigates head on, they have powerful main guns which can tear through your ships. Use the sun glare to your advantage.”
Alvaro flew through the barrage of blasts, weaving in and out of the beams. He got near one of the frigates and flew across it, firing on the row of turrets. He pulls up from the run, dodging a series of shots from a nearby frigate. He takes a quick glance at his rear camera HUD, watching the dogfight between the Liberty and Corsair pilots, seen by their characteristic blue and red engine trails respectively.
More blasts lit up the space around the frigates, leading Alvaro to take more evasive actions. He could feel the massive pull of the titan as he swings from one direction to another. He swings back around toward the frigate, and unloads on the bridge tower. The tower ruptures, and splits from the ship, leaving a trail of debris and fire. Alvaro fires more shots into the exposed hole before he flies by. As he turns his ship around, he sees the fire streaming from the crippled ship, and eventually it implodes, sending fragments of itself in all directions. Alvaro narrowly dodges a shard, and swings back into the fray.
He picks off two Defender ships, and picks up a message from one of his wing mates.
“We’re picking up some fast bogies from the cloud… don’t let them surprise you”
“Roger, thanks for the heads up”
“Heads up guys, there’s some fast bogies coming in fast!”
Alvaro was almost thrown off his chair by two fast ships that blur past him, leaving a eerie green trail. He quickly reverses his ship and gives chase, but can not keep up with the fast ships. The ships swing back around again, and launch some shots which he avoids. He catches a glimpse of the black hulled ships marked with the Liberty Insignia as they speed past him.
He recognized these black ships. He had only heard rumors of it from Corsairs who ventured into Liberty space, but he never thought them to be true. There was said to be an elite wing of Liberty Navy Fighters, dubbed the Death Angels by the pirate community. These were Navy pilots who had passed the most rigorous tests and were rewarded with Liberty’s finest ships. Rogues who often thought they were at the top of their game and became too ambitious were often taken out by these men. In short, it was one of the few things that connected the Liberty pirate groups other than their hate for the Liberty law enforcement.
They swung back around again, and dove at Alvaro and his wing mates. They quickly broke apart and tried to hit them as they came down on them, spraying fire where they might cross paths. The explosion that erupted in its midst confirmed to Alvaro they downed one, and probably harmed the other ones.
“Men, this is Ramirez. You guys’ve probably figured this out, but they’ve let out their finest pilots. Just be careful not to let them out run you. Also, if you are in these designated coordinates, clear out. The Tajo is preparing to do an arc sweep of the cruisers.
Alvaro was surprised at the last few words. The Corsair engineers surely must have been busy during his coma. He hoped he could catch a glimpse of the laser cutting through the ships.
He engaged another one of the quick Liberty fighters, landing shot after shot on its engines. Once he had finished that ship off, he focused his attention on another fighter. As he did so, he could see a glimpse of the laser slowly moving its way through the formation, creating explosion after explosion. He knew now though the Tajo would take awhile to recharge again, so they would probably have to take out the rest of the cruisers themselves. No matter, it was never a problem before.
He swung back towards the fight, and engaged another nimble fighter. Luckily for him this time, the ship had unknowingly maneuvered itself into Alvaro’s path, probably in his attempt to circle around another Corsair.
He engaged another one, taking a minute to make his shots come true. He had yet to lose his shields, and he felt it was the same for the rest of the Corsairs. Still, he had to give these fighters credits for actually managing to sneak off a few shots and not get blown away immediately, as the Hessians had usually done.
He took a quick glance on his squad listings, and saw that no one had been destroyed, though some of the other squads reported a casualty.
He called up on two of his wing mates to join him on a run on a dreadnaught, and they proceeded towards the line of cruisers that survived the onslaught from the Tajo. He saw that they maneuvered themselves behind the remains of the other cruisers, in order to give themselves some protection from other attacks. They were firing into the battle nearby, trying to hit any target quickly.
“Alright, they’re hiding behind the debris, as you can see. You two pick a different side and go that way. I’ll try to dive in at an angle.”
The two ships left the formation and proceeded towards the hiding cruiser. He increased his speed to try and get the attention of the gunners, who focused their full blast at him. He strafed his ship towards the areas with less of a concentration of fire. He knew that there was no way he could dodge every shot in this hellstorm, but he could try to avoid getting hit by a load of lasers at once.
As he neared the debris of the cruiser, he pulled up, and dove through an opening. He opened fire, tearing away at the shields and dodging the hail of turret fire as it fired upwards to meet him. He went through the same process of dodging them, and kept pounding on the shields. His other two wing mates were doing the same, pounding the ship’s shields from their ends. Eventually, the glow of the shield disappointed, and he maneuvered himself to the approximate location of the reactor onboard the cruiser. He fired one of the torpedoes, and watched it enter the hull before he pulled the ship up.
The dreadnaught exploded behind them, and some cheers erupted over the Corsair frequency. It was only one dreadnaught, but a dreadnaught taken down by three lone fighters? That was surely a hit in Liberty’s ego.
The Death Angels were barely a match for the Corsairs, but they were certainly skilled, Alvaro could hand them that. Regardless, sooner or later the Death Angels would adjust… they were already starting too, and slowly their ordinary counterparts were doing so as well.
He turned his attention back to the battle, and engaged a regular Liberty pilot, and quickly took him out within seconds. As he prepared to take on another two, an alert rung out in his cockpit, prompting him to look at his radar. He couldn’t believe what he was seeing.
“Tajo, this Epsilon Leader. I’m picking up multiple bogies appearing around us, is this correct?”
“Unfortunately, yes. Some ships are jumping into the system and…"
Alvaro took out the two defenders that attempted to engage him, and turned his attention towards the direction the radar contacts. He saw the distant shapes of the incoming ships, and he looked back at the radar.
Oh hell…
The Liberty fleet, from as far as he could tell, were slowly encircling the Corsairs now that the other group had jumped in.
Well, things’ve just got much more interesting now…
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