Alpha Wing

by Marco Frazetta

  I pulled back on the sticks, swooped dangerously close to the ground, but still within manual regulation, then came back up, my engines howling.

  “I’m chasing.” I gave my engines a quick boost, pulling some energy from my shields, a modification I’d recently installed. This let me get back within firing range far quicker than the drones expected—after all, they were calibrated to engage with standard Phantom capacities.

  I zoomed in, the triangles appearing on my cockpit window, from specs to coin sized targets.

  My thumbs flicked the safeties off my sticks in unison, the most satisfying feeling in the world. They revealed the red buttons, exposed. I pressed down.

  The crackle of lasguns rang out as a torrent of red bolts shout out from my Phantom’s guns. PEW PEW PEW! That fucking laser sound I loved. A triangle drone burst into shrapnel.

  Enemy downed. The words appeared on my screen. Fighter Drone. 52 points.

  “Alright, cap! Homerun on your very first try!” Jackal hollered.

  “Stay on task!” I commanded. “Nitro, stay close behind. I’m sending you some customers.”

  “Copy that, Clockwork.”

  My wrists flickered, trying to match the zigzagging movements of the remaining drone squadron—though we had a neural link to our ships, we still mostly controlled flight manually, as this allowed our minds to control other aspects of the ship. My lasguns blared again, making the familiar howl of laser fire. I was laying a stream of fire at them, breaking up their formation. I knew their maneuvers, at least one would break off trying to catch my tail, but I had Nitro waiting for that lucky winner.

  One at my left did just that. The triangle drone soared above my cockpit. And a second later it was only a yellow burst of fiery shrapnel as Nitro’s guns sliced right through it.

  Enemy downed. The screen read once more. Fighter Drone. 104 points. All we needed was a thousand in this exercise, and we would be home clear, and finally, I would be able to slip an entwinement band on Celeste’s slim wrist. Finally, I could be a citizen of Earth, and walk on those green fields, take in the the blue skies, with her by my side. But first things first. I had to take these lifeless bastards out.

  I set my eyes on the bomber drone, 350 points for that. We’d be halfway there with that alone. My starfighter blared on.

  “Knight, switch to support. Cover our backs. Nitro and I are heading for the bomber.”

  “But I have two flyers moving in on me!”

  “Jackal, intercept those,” I ordered.

  “Copy, Clockwork, glad to do it, captain!”

  “He’s not going to cover me properly!” Knight hissed.

  “Knight, this isn’t time for this shit. Cover me and Nitro. Now!”

  “I’ll do… what I must.”

  Nitro and I spun around one another like we were braiding the hair of some sky goddess, the trails of our engines leaving a helix pattern. “Flank the bomber, Nitro. It’ll send it my way and right into my targeting.”

  “Copy that, Clockwor—stars save!!!” I glanced over and saw that his ship was shuddering, glowing a flashing red. “I got hit! I’m sorry, Clockwork!”

  He’d been tagged by a drone behind him. Not lethal, of course, the drones were only set for buzzing rather than actual damage. Still, he was out, and that was deadly serious to pilots who measured themselves on the Charts and nothing else. Our ship’s were set so that if we were tagged autopilot would take over and fly us back to base, ensuring that we would leave the drill.

  “Knight, where was your cover fire?!” I wanted answers.

  “I told you I had bogies on my tail!”

  “Jackal was covering you!”

  “Yeah,” Jackal said, “the hell you talking about? I drove two drones away, before they even got close to you!”

  “And what about the three behind them??” Knight argued.

  “Unless three spiraled out of your ass, the two I took out were the only ones that were near us!” Jackal was riled up.

  “Damnit, Knight, Nitro is out!” My hands pressed on the sticks for a cutting maneuver. “And you set us back 600 points!”

  “This wasn’t the formation I chose. I could have had us out of all this mess two minutes ago. We gave up the element of surprise with the bombard their cover foolishness.”

  “Knight, I swear, I’m gonna have the Admiral tear you a new one. Now everyone focus. We can’t let this crap interfere with the exercise. Let’s wipe the rest of these drones and get out of here.” I growled out dragon fire. This fucking guy. Did he even know what was riding on this exercise? Everything. I glanced over far to the North, and saw Nitro’s ship now just a glowing speck, headed back to base, with him sitting helplessly in the cockpit.

  “Alright, squad, form behind me. The bogeys are set to defend the city ruins in this exercise. They’re going to loop back around any minute now. Let’s play their game and set an ambush for them. Cloaks up.” Phantoms were the only fighter model that had a cloaking device. It was not nearly as powerful as an Interceptor’s, let alone the subspace ships in the fleet, but it provided some cover, up until enemy ships got within a certain range. It would only last 5 minutes before it seriously started draining power cells, so it had to be used wisely.

  I swooped down and then up, leaving a great looping cloud of exhaust which quickly evaporated. A quick barrel roll set me flying up right, and headed back toward the city ruins, the leaning towers that had been half blasted to hell some decades back all dwarfed by the giant Twin Sun government building behind them. It had once been the center of government for the planet, and could have been an upside down hollow mountain rather than a man made building, though now it was just a maze of steel and concrete catacombs rising up into the sky.

  The rest of my squadron followed suit, though Knight had to loop horizontally as vertical loops took a lot out of his ship. I jetted straight for the cluster, flying vertically a moment to split two defending towers. The three other starfighters were close behind me. We went low, coming close to the rubble that was strewn all about, mangled beams, cars turned to shrapnel, piles of bricks and mortar. The low depth would help our cloaks, maximizing their cover. We lowered speed, as there were all kinds of hazards at this level, and our particle shields could only protect us so much.

  “Jackal. Give me eyes.”

  “They’re coming in. Northwest, Clockwork.”

  The three of us, Jackal, Golden Boy and myself all looped up, taking cover in the forest of steel beams within the enormous building that used to be a government center, where men in reflective luxury togas used to wax poetically about some new spending bill. It was shaped like an upside down pyramid, with enormous beams that were a testament to human engineering, strong enough that they still stood holding the massive superstructure upright, what remained of it at least.

  “Knight, be ready to give us cover when they enter our target zones.”

  “Ambushing droids that know the terrain better than we do. Brilliant.”

  I didn’t bother to answer. Knight and I were going to have words when we returned to base. If anyone ever needed Reprogramming...

  “Here they come, Clockwork!” Golden Boy said, his eyes going wide on the comm. “There’s suddenly more of them!”

  “I only have six on my screen.”

  “There’s twenty!”

  I gripped my sticks tighter. “Well, that just means there’s more points for us. Switching tactics. Knight, you be ready with a stream of fire. We’ll drive them into you. Golden Boy, you’re with me on the attack, holding the left flank. Jackal, you have the right. I’ll cover you if any drones try to tail you, just stay on offense.”

  “That’s what I’m talking about, Clockwork!” Jackal said. “Put me in the engaging function.”

  “We do what’s best for the squad, not for personal glory.”

  “Tell that to Knight,” Golden Boy said.

  “If you have something to say to me, you say it directly,” Knight snapped.

&nbs
p; As we hovered there below the enormous shadows of the dilapidated government building, my thumbs itched. “Come on, you bastards…” It was strange how in the heat of battle, you could forget that drones were lifeless, that there was absolutely nothing personal for them about the engagement. It was damn personal for me though. These little machines were like omnipotent obstacles that kept me from Celeste. Kept me from her long raven locks running through my hands. That kept her lips from mine. That kept her body from mine.

  “Here they come,” Golden Boy said.

  “Engage!” I commanded, and my thrusters sparked alive.

  Golden Boy and Jackal followed behind me, forming a trio wedge with me at the center. Thumbs on red buttons, I opened fire and my Phantom rained down volleys of laser fire. The streams shot out from the three of us, and scattered the formation of drones. There were fifteen of them within engaging distance, some perhaps branching off for other maneuvers.

  “Keep them together!” I ordered, cutting off some of the drones who seemed to be flying out from the main cluster. My strafing lasgun fire made a kind of wall that they couldn’t escape. They returned fire. My flying was erratic, at one time flying completely upside down, at other times barreling just a few feet from crashing into a massive steel column. Sweeping down on them, I shot off two hellfire missiles. These were modified so that I could detonate them at will. I flicked a switch when they were 488 yards from me, and they burst into shrapnel, absorbing two drones in their burst or orange fire. 2 fighters taken down. 208 points, the screen read. My phantom tore through the lingering fire in the sky, breaking the curtains of missile fire apart as I sped through. I did not let up on my guns. They whirred with that high pitched red howl. The blast had thrown off their flight patterns, and so they couldn’t adjust, were just trying to stabilize when my lasguns tore into one, two. Two more fighters down. 208 points for a total of 416.

  Zhmm. Zhmm. Zhmm. Red flashes went right by my cockpit window. Almost hitting me.

  “Watch out Clockwork!” Golden Boy’s voice rang.

  I grit my teeth and flew to my left in an undulating pattern. More lasgun fire strafed after me. “You might have warned me 10 seconds ago!”

  “I won’t let you down again,” Golden Boy strained over the comm. Golden Boy was the youngest among us, but he was reliable, never questioned an order. He kept his word as he expertly swooped down on the drone pursuing me, kid flew like a damn hawk. He opened his yellow laser fire on them with his modified U-Hunter Lascannon.

  The explosions were distant behind me.

  “Thanks, Golden.” I glanced back, though I could see him on my screen, there was something about getting eyes on fellow ships. “Let’s stay on mission now, Golden Boy, Jackal. Let’s get these drones to Knight’s waiting arms.”

  “Lucky bastard gets a feast,” Jackal answered.

  We drove the remaining herd. Right into the shadows of the Capitol Building. There were still a dozen drones remaining, which were chasing down, somewhere and there trying to loop around to get locks on us.

  But as they flew into those enormous shadows, they met a stream of fire that lit up the underside of the building like it was the war all over again. Knight was opening up with everything he had. Hellfire missiles, M27 Magna Lascannons, Helix Mini Gun, the works—fireworks.

  Drone destroyed. 104 points. Drone destroyed 104 points. Drone destroyed 104 points. The screen kept lighting up. The fighter drones scattered of course, but we hunted down one after the other. In the chaos, they could never form a solid formation. Every single triangular fighter was taken out.

  “There’s the last of them, the bomber!” Golden Boy said. “It should be you, Clockwork, take it out. You’ve been a realleader and mentor… you should have the honor.”

  “Yeah, take us off this shithole planet!” Jackal hollered, “and send us back to some good old colony booty in style!”

  “We don’t do things for personal glory in this squad,” I intoned. “We’re a team. We follow protocol, we follow the manual, we follow the Charts. And Golden Boy, by protocol you’re the chaser in this situation. You have the go ahead. Take that bomber out.”

  “Copy that, Clockwork,” Golden’s voice, swelling with pride, came through my comms. HisPhantom, with the yellow stripes painted on its tail, shot forward, past me. It was its own satisfaction, to watch a pilot I had mentored, taken through the ropes, godisplay the valor and skills he’d picked up. He went on chasing after it as it went soaring out of the dilapidated Capitol Building. The rest of us gave our engines juice and followed to stay on support. The bomber bobbed and weaved, Golden tracking as best he could.

  “This bomber is putting up a darn good fight!” Golden Boy said, as he swerved to stay on its tail.

  “Pathetic,” Knight sneered. “Why don’t I deal with it so we can head back?”

  “You’ve got this, Golden Boy,” I said.

  “Clockwork, are you sure these drones were the only targets in the drill? I’m picking up more drones coming in,” Golden Boy said.

  “Hell, he’s right, Clockwork!” Jackal said.

  I looked down at my scanner, and my eyes went wide. They didn't’ appear as the white dots with serial numbers on them like drones or fellow Unity pilots. “Clockwork to Control! We have unidentified bogies coming up on scan. They’re not on the drill brief!”

  “Control to Clockwork, we’re not picking up any—”

  Comms were suddenly flooded by a raging static. Up ahead I saw flashing laser fire, and Golden Boy’s Phantom being shredded in a burst of yellow flames.

  “FUCK!” Jackal screamed. “ELFIN!”

  2

  “TAKE EVASIVE ACTION!” I commanded. I was already moving, my reactions faster than natural while linked to the system. Golden Boy’s falling, bursting Phantom was far behind me in less than a second. My heart began to wrench. He had been my friend, a pilot I had taken under my wing... But there was no time to consider what had happened; a lifetime of training had taught me to fight objectively, without feeling. Starfighter combat was so fast that whatever ship had shot down Golden was assuredly already locking onto us.

  A green ray singed my wing as I took my Phantom into a dive; I felt a burning sensation. Thankfully the brunt of the blast had been absorbed by my Phantom’s shields.

  I nosedived into the abyss of the under-city, sensing some horrible power behind me. I hadn’t even gotten eyes-on it, yet. “Jackal, Knight, check in.”

  “Knight. Present.”

  “Jackal. And what the hell is going on?!”

  “Stay calm,” I intoned, hiding the panic underneath. “I’m on point, and we’re headed for cover.”

  I knew they had followed me down into the under-city by my scanner, but I had to verbally connect with them after we just lost Golden. I had to make sure they were good to go—there was a shakiness in their voice, especially Jackal, but they were as good as I could hope for. We were flying low and fast, blazing fast, swerving all over as we wove through the giant steel columns, piles of concrete rubble. Two more green rays shot past me, just missing as I spiralled my fighter. I glanced back and spotted the ships, but could only make out that they were dark, ominous looking, like they were made of cast iron. I didn't’ know of any faction in the galaxy running ships like that. “Celeste,” I grunted through clenched teeth, “what have you got for me?”

  “Clockwork!” her voice was like fine music in a thunderstorm. “What is going on down there?!”

  Green lasers sliced two columns in front of me in half—as the thousand foot tall edifices collapsed, I navigated the falling debris. “I was hoping you could tell me that!”

  “Fuck Derringer, you can fly…” I heard Knight mutter. His Gunship, incredibly, was still firing from every single gun... but at what?

  “Knight, you have eyes-on?”

  “Negative,” he replied. “This is cover fire.”

  BOOOOOWWWWWWWRRRRNNN

  The sound of a heavy gun was almost overwhelming, its roilin
g plasma sounding otherworldly, as I supposed, it probably was. The enemy ships were directly over us now raining fire. Giant blocks of concrete and other rubble were starting to rain down around us as we circled like mice through the city corridors. Our particle shields were far weaker than our ray shields, and so we couldn't keep this up for long. A huge slab of concrete wouldn't be neutralized by them. It seemed like these mystery ships were content to simply destroy the ruined city completely and bury us along with it. We had to make a move.

  “Derringer!” Celeste cut in via comms, “We have no communications with this unknown alien squadron. Five enemy combatants are currently on your position. Return your squad to base immediately, I repeat, return your squad to base immediately!”

  If it were only that easy. “Roger that.” I replied. I turned my comms to squad-only. “Alright gents. Orders are to get back to base, but I don’t think that’s going to be very straight forward.”

  “NO shit.” Jackal was still on my six, matching my every maneuver. I never had to worry about his flying. His military bearing, though…

  “Easy killer,” was my response. “Here’s the plan: you guys remember the Arc?”

  “NO, Clock, NOT the arc. I do NOT remember the fucking Arc,” said Jackal.

  “I refuse,” was Knight’s insubordinate reply. “It would be madness.”

  I had already made up my mind, though. I launched my Phantom into a near-vertical incline, feeling the thrill of the g-force in my bones, and the thrill of command in my voice: “Let’s fucking send this, boys! It’s Arc time!”

  3

  My men followed me, our three ships now screaming past thousands of blown-out windows of the abandoned skyscraper we were hugging for cover. Green lasers immediately focused on our fighters, but we were small and quick enough to dodge them. Gliding along the surface of the skyscraper like speedboats, it was difficult for the ships to get a clear shot at us, as they were straight above the skyscraper, by about two miles. As we sped directly toward them, I zoomed in and I truly saw the enemy for the first time.