First thing hitting the ground, the two Daggers went to engage the enemy Arclights. Ryck led the attack with a burst of 20mm Vulcan rounds, and quickly boosted himself onto an enemy Arclight that was about to charge a Destroyer. He cut straight through the centerfold of the enemy Arclight, the target helplessly being cut into two. His lock-on warning system rang. Another Arclight came at him with a burst of 40 mm rounds from six o’clock high, which missed him by inches and hit the ground around him. He quickly boosted away and jumped high to charge the enemy Arclight. He knocked the enemy out of the sky with a precise cut at the legs using his beamsword. The enemy fell helplessy onto the ground but did not ignite into flames. It was rendered combat ineffective either way.
Two bogeys down.
Sophie had her a decent hunt herself, but as she dodged round after round of 40mm fire using the highly-maneuverable Three-Dimensional Maneuever Gear specially made to conduct high-mobility warfare in atmospherical conditions, she heard Sykes through the radio. She turned around, seeing that he was being charged at by an enemy Arclight. The enemy AFU shot him up quite well, but built with strong armor, the Destroyer held on.
His enemy, now equipped with a power axe, boosted towards him and cut his left arm off. Sykes, using the mass of his Destroyer, rammed the Arclight down. The Arclight was helpless to resist the weight of the Destroyer, and as a final blow, Sykes shot him up with the shoulder-mounted 40mm gun.
“Got the bastard,” Sykes said through the radio. He picked his unit up, having only one arm remaining. Then it came. He heard the shot coming at him, but before he could do anything, he felt the loud bang and the thick vibration going through his systems. His unit crashed to the ground, immobilized. He tried to search his shooter through the cameras in his unit. And to his surprise, he could now see that three enemy units, flying low and fast, were headed towards the embattled AFUs. He zoomed in his optics to have a better look.
The three units were colored a dark grey. There was a black spade on each of the units’ left pauldrons. They were not, however, Arclights. Their frames were thin and highly aerodynamic. Their speed accelerated quickly as they converged on their position. A large cloud of sand emerged behind them. His scanner locked onto them and a notification popped up.
---ARC-140 HAWK (ARC)---
“Fuck! This is Mongoose 32, zero-three enemy Hawks coming in fast from the southeast, over!”
Sophie, realizing the appearance of the enemy ARC-140 Hawks, quickly deployed smoke canisters and disengaged the Arclight she was fighting. She launched to the side of the downed Sykes.
On the other hand, the three remaining Destroyers of 62 Squadron had gathered around and formed a triangular pivot, using their high-capacity, high-caliber weapons as a protective edge against the enemy Arclights, who had now withdrawn. 62 had so far managed to down one and neutralize two of the enemy Arclights at the cost of two of theirs, quite admirable for a ground destroyer unit. The arrival of Ryck and Sophie had brought a further two downed enemies. The remaining three Destroyers sat tight and waited for the next attack.
What was left of the combat-effective Arclights scrammed to the formation of Hawks, reforming to conduct another charge.
“Reapers, this is Mongoose 33. We’re forming a battle-line to kick some out before they get here. Over.”
“Roger, Mongoose 33. Give ‘em all you got!” said Sophie.
The ARC-140 was a weapon feared by all AFU pilots. The ‘Hawk’ as it is called, was an Armored Fighter Unit specifically designed to fight other AFUs. For that purpose they were given an aerodynamic shape, allowing them to execute swift maneuvers easily in atmospherical conditions. In order for them to perform their admirable speed and agility, however, they were given little armor. A couple of shots could end them, but with a strafing speed up to 200 kilometers per hour and a charging speed capable of superseding the speed of sound, the shooter either had to be very good, or very lucky. In comparison, the 3DMG allowed the Daggers a maximum strafing speed of 150 kilometers per hour operating on the surface, with maximum charging speed at seven hundred kilometers per hour. In dogfights, it could be easily inferred that the ARC-140 was not only more maneuverable, but also a much more superior craft.
Rearranging, the three remaining Destroyers formed a single artillery line. Calculating range and round trajectory, the three Destroyers reloaded their 120mm cannons and readied them to fire. They waited, and when the command came, they unleashed hell onto the advancing enemy.
“This is Mongoose 33. Fire. Fire. Fire.”
The ground shook as they discharged their rounds down range. In the distance, the landing rounds made the sand rise from the ground. The six AFUs, however, emerged from the dust unscratched. Mongoose 33 and the rest of 62 Squadron continued firing. The thumping of guns went intensely, and after at least the fifth volley, the first enemy was hit. An enemy Arclight was struck in the arm, causing it to destabilize and spin wildly into the sand, crashing into a furious fireball.
“Good kill, good kill.”
“Keep firing, lads!”
Not long after, another was hit. Unsuspectingly, it was a Hawk, stricken through the chest and stopped right in its tracks.
They were getting closer and closer, however, and at the range of 3000 meters, the four remaining enemy fighters split up their formation into two, putting the firing calculations of the Destroyers’ guns into disarray.
“Shit! Reposition! Reposition!”
“They’re going to the left! Fuck, the right too!”
Up to the occasion, Ryck quickly pursued after one of the two formations of enemy fighters. He jumped at them with his thrusters. Mid-jump, he used the locking system in his unit to follow one of the enemy. Knowing that the Hawk was the swifter of the two, he targeted the enemy Hawk, which fell in a colliding trajectory with him. Raising his beamsword-equipped arm to strike the enemy Hawk, at just 50 meters range, the Hawk launched away swiftly – faster than what he had ever seen – and evaded Ryck’s attack.
The Arclight launched away as well, now heading to the factory where the Marines were. They were unequipped for anti-AFU warfare and they would be an easy target for the Arclight.
Shit! Ryck thought. It was either saving 62 Squadron, who were reforming to face the two converging enemy flankers, or to save the Marines. Ryck gambled and put faith in the Royal Marines Commando’s skills at warfighting, and boosted himself back to pursue the enemy Hawk.
Sophie quickly launched away with boosters, picking up a thrown away 40mm gun from a fallen enemy Arclight as she did. She charged at the two enemy AFUs like Ryck did, only that she targeted the Arclight this time. “Reaper 02. Guns, guns, guns!” Calculating the trajectory well, she fired the Arcturian 40mm autocannon a couple steps ahead of the Arclight, and scored a critical hit. The Arclight twitched and spun, hitting the ground face-first. The Hawk, however, disappeared from sight, and, as Sophie looked for her enemy, appeared behind her.
Before she could do anything, she was slammed to the ground by the Hawk’s shield. Her unit fell on its back. Her camera view faced the dark, night sky. There were no stars that night.
Suddenly, the Hawk then appeared in front of her face, quickly jumping on the Dagger, ramming it into the ground much further using the force of its thrusters. Sophie felt the space was getting smaller, and her cockpit was getting shredded to pieces. Sparks went all about her, and her cockpit’s inner lights were flashing red. The alarms rang. The broken screen in front of her went into alert. ‘EJECT. EJECT. EJECT’. She tried to pull the ejection mechanism seat but it was to no avail. There was a budge, but the enemy AFU was right in front of the reinforced cockpit, trapping her inside an iron coffin.
The oxygen system was damaged. Air circulation was impossible now. Her electronics were haywire and the controls weren’t responsive. A fire broke in the cockpit. As the sirens wailed and the lights flashed and blinked, the life slowly exited her. This was it. She was going to die.
She remembered her home. Her mother, her damnable father, her brother who she hadn’t had contact in weeks – or was it months? She thought about 187 Squadron. She thought about her college ‘friends’. She thought about the crazy parties. She thought about the time when she ran away from home. She thought about the time graduating through fighter school. She thought about Ryck.
She couldn’t breathe now. The air had ran out. The ejection system was tits up. The camera system was now pummeled by the Hawk. She was blind now.
She accepted it. She closed her eyes. A tear went down her face, God just let me fucking die, will you?
Then it came, a large crash – the sound of steel crashing steel – and a boom. She felt being pushed away, the wind hitting her face and touching her skin. Then something opened. It was colored white, shaped like an umbrella.
Slowly she fell onto the sandy ground, the parachute landing not far behind her. Her hands were weak. Her helmet was nearly crushed earlier, so she took it off. She breathed, deeply, and rapidly, as if she had gone through the longest marathon run in her life.
She noticed that she was looking up the night sky now, and she was breathing legitimate air. She took off her safety belt and laughed. Not far behind her, was the shot-up Hawk, which was still standing, dodging fire from the Destroyers, whose guns were still thumping and booming.
Her radio crackled. “Keep at it, boys! Don’t hit the fair lady, if you’d mind!”
The Hawk, a spade on its shoulder, quickly launched away into the night sky, being damaged enough to disengage from combat. Moments later, it was just another object in the sky with a blue tail.
Sophie took a sigh of relief. He went on her feet and unholstered her .45 Kraagson semi-auto pistol. She looked into the distance, where one Arclight was headed towards the Marines in the factory, and one Hawk going after the rest of 62 Squadron. Behind it, however, was Ryck’s OD green AF-24B Dagger, launching furiously after the enemy Hawk.
Sophie took a closer look at the Hawk. On its shoulder, there was a spade like the others, but on that spade was a number.
Seventy-seven.
***
ns 15.158.61.20da2
