Warpath (46 page)

* * *

Slick had set his
squadron up almost the same way Minh-Chu had, only he had one gunship
to every six fighters, and one Uriel to every light Ramiel fighter.
Sticky made a mad scramble to make sure that they were all locked
into the tactical systems they were all looking at, and she had it
finished in under a minute.

“Welcome to the real
show, ladies and gentlemen,” Slick said as another twenty-five
fighters appeared between the initial wave and the base, trapping the
Clever Dream in the midst of fifty enemy fighters.

“Did the Clever Dream
take fire from those fighters, or the base?” Minh-Chu asked Sticky.

“That damage is
recorded as being from the base, the Clever Dream is about to come up
on the wave of fighters nearest us.”

“Garrison here,”
the long-suffering pilot and Captain of the Clever Dream announced
over communications. “We’re going to evade, put as many asteroids
between the fighters and us as we can while we head your way.”

“Good idea,”
Minh-Chu said. “All fighters, we are going to form a moving wall,
be careful not to fly too close to each other so we have plenty of
room to manoeuvre between the asteroids.” He brought up the
formation on his screen and made his adjustments by glancing at the
different icons to control the size and shape of the formation he was
ordering. When it was just the way he wanted, he sent the order.

“Good flying with you
again, Ronin,” Slick said. “Let’s make this look easy.”

The enemy fighters
decelerated and began to turn, most likely to join the wave well
behind them before engaging the Triton and Revenge based fighter
Wings. “Oh, no you don’t,” Minh-Chu said. “Scan for traps,
mines, everything.”

“On it,” Slick
replied.

Minh-Chu took a moment
to focus on the view outside his ship using the direction connection
to his ship. Their small warships wove around and between a field of
slow moving giant ice asteroids, catching up to the enemy. White
light flashed against the hulls of the Uriels and the icy surfaces
around them, making the scene seem almost ghostly. Small jewels of
ice deflected off their shields as they passed through a dense patch
of particles, and the first fighter in their long wall of ships fired
for a second then stopped as they saw an enemy appear in the open for
a moment.

The enemy was staying
ahead, but according to Minh-Chu’s tactical display, they were
about to hit an opening, and on the other side of that nine thousand
kilometre opening, foes would meet reinforcements. The Clever Dream
was staying well above, weaving between icy bodies, forcing the ten
fighters after it to risk life and limb to get a shot off before they
were outnumbered.

“Something just
launched from the base,” Stick said. “I can’t get a good scan
at it from here, it’s not a fighter though.”

“Keep your eye on
it,” Minh-Chu said. “The Clever Dream is about to reach the
clearing, it’s going up and over through denser areas. They’re
going to need someone to break off and give them cover, Slick.”

“Hatter Squadron, go
help them out,” Slick ordered. Twenty-one fighters broke off,
turning upwards to cut the fighters chasing the Clever Dream off.
“When you’re done with that, return to assist us.”

“Do not engage these
bastards in the middle,” Minh-Chu said as he started to guide his
fighter towards the outer edge of the clearing. “Stay near the
edges and fire from cover. We do not know how desperate they are to
win this engagement.”

“Good thought,
Ronin,” Slick said. “Repeating: All fighters, stay to the edges
of the clearing. Cover is your friend.”

Minh-Chu’s gunship
and his wingmen’s Uriels all got their first clear shot at the
enemy as they reached the edge of the clearing and started flying
from one asteroid to another. Sticky and Maid started firing their
turrets, Carnie and Jinx fired their guns and seeker missiles.

A flash of light
rendered Minh-Chu’s sensors useless for three seconds, and he
looked through the transparent metal canopy of his cockpit, flying by
sight. “EMP, I repeat, they dropped an EMP,” Sticky said into the
communicator.

“Antimatter alarm,”
crackled Jinx in return. The same reading came up on Minh-Chu’s
computer. It was launched from the other side of the clearing.
“Break, get behind the biggest rock you can find!” he ordered as
he twitched his controls down, pointing his nose at the missile.

He manually slapped the
power controls to his left to shunt all available energy to his
forward shields and opened fire with all the weapons on the nose of
his fighter. Pulses of light crossed the extreme distance between his
fighter and the opposite end of the clearing at the missile that was
just breaking through the asteroid cluster there. He started
launching micromissiles before he managed to obtain a lock, and
continued after.

All the while he
rotated his thrusters so his gunship was pointed backwards, between
two massive asteroids that read high in iron and other metals. His
heart seemed to jump as he scored two hits on the missile with his
guns, but it didn’t detonate. It was twelve hundred kilometres into
the clearing on the opposite side when his first micromissile struck
it, and the enemy missile twisted in space before the second struck
and Minh-Chu wholly concentrated on getting his fighter behind the
asteroid he was manoeuvring around, praying it had the mass to
protect him and his co-pilots.

They were bathed in
light, but his gunship’s sensors only flickered for a moment. He
made it behind the asteroid in time, and the metal content saved
them. “Get ready to engage,” he said to his gunners, knowing no
one else would be able to hear him through communications yet. He
fired his thrusters on maximum towards a space between asteroids that
would lead his vessel to the clearing. As soon as they came out from
his shelter, he saw the havoc the enemy caused with his own eyes. The
other side of the asteroid field was in motion. The massive asteroids
that had hung almost still in the white silence were turning and
drifting into each other slowly.

His tactical display
showed that all but three of their fighters had checked in as soon as
communications began to function. “All fighters, cross the opening
at full thrust and engage those fighters at close range. We turned
their dirty trick against them,” he said.

“Good shooting,
Ronin,” Slick said.

“I aim to please,”
Ronin replied.

The Uriel and Ramiels
well above the clearing amongst the asteroids engaged the enemy
fighters, taking the first three out in seconds with gunfire. It was
twenty-one Triton fighters against ten up there, and Ronin was sure
they’d be finished wiping out the enemy soon. Minh-Chu was at the
lead of the fighters crossing through the clearing, with the
remaining seven ships in his squadron, and forty-two from the Triton
behind him. The open distance was crossed quickly, and they were
within ten thousand kilometres of the enemy fighters where their
Order ships gathered together as a group of thirty-five. “Order of
Eden fighters, you have one chance to stand down and allow us
passage. Otherwise you will be fired upon.”

The entire group of
fighters began accelerating to meet Minh-Chu and his allies. He
didn’t expect a response, but he got one. “Raider fighter group,”
replied a fighter pilot from the other side. “We will hunt you down
and kill every last one of you. This is the sacred space of the Order
of Eden, and you are trespassing.”

“You know, your
religion is a lie, and your Queen is just some cyborg bitch who’s
really high on herself. Oh yeah, and there’s every chance that your
families, who you think are safe under the protection of the Order
are actually being fed to a race called the Edxi. That’s who you’re
really protecting, a bunch of insect people who feed humans to their
children.”

“You are a lying
worm, and a terrorist,” the enemy pilot replied. “I am The
Revenant, and I will kill you.”

“I’m Ronin,”
Minh-Chu replied. “Are you sure you don’t want to be friends? I
make a mean lo-mein stir fry.”

“Terrorist,”
repeated the Revenant.

Minh-Chu closed the
channel, then marked the fighter who was broadcasting and the four
surrounding him. “Those are ours,” he told his crew and wingmen,
Jinx and Carnie.

“Looks like we’re
in for a good one,” Slick said. “Good hunting everyone, watch
your spacing.”

Minh-Chu started
guiding his gunship around a massive asteroid. “Get ready to fire
as soon as we clear this.”

“Gotcha,” Sticky
said.

“Yup,” replied
Maid.

Minh-Chu flipped his
fighter so the dorsal side faced the asteroid, released the safeties
on all four of his micro-missile racks and tipped his nose at the
spot where he knew the nearest enemy fighter would come up on the
asteroid’s horizon. It was the one who issued threats. As soon as
the enemy fighter was in sight, he fired his thrusters and began the
fight to get behind his target while he gestured for his missile
system to lock on to the four wingmen with him. His four missile pods
each focused on one fighter as they broke formation, and Minh-Chu had
only two seconds to rapid fire his missiles, sending two dozen
seeking projectiles after them. He wanted this Order of Eden Wing
Commander, and he wanted him to die alone. “Take his wingmen out,”
Minh-Chu told his gunners as well as Jinx and Carnie.

“I’ve got Delta
three,” Carnie replied.

“I’m getting the
best of Delta four, looks like Delta two is using our targets as
lures while he tries to get behind us,” added Jinx. “Have to keep
those asteroids as close cover.”

Minh-Chu set his
shields to adjust automatically and spun his fighter so he was flying
backwards. His nose was pointed directly at the Revenant, who was
ducking between two asteroids and fighting to get behind him.
Minh-Chu fired his thrusters on full, turned to skim the surface of a
massive asteroid and hit his afterburners. He let the Revenant come
at him, and when the needle-nosed fighter crested the horizon,
Minh-Chu opened fire with his guns, sending ice up between them and
striking the enemy ship’s shields head on. A missile lock warning
sounded, and he stopped accelerating, spun his thrusters so they
pointed straight up, then fired them as soon as he reached the edge
of the asteroid. It took the full thrust of his ship to slow down,
turn to avoid a small cluster of ice and stone, then spin so he could
get another shot on the Revenant as he went by. The missile lock on
him was broken, and he almost got a lock on the enemy Wing Commander
before he ducked behind another asteroid.

“He’s too
manoeuvrable,” Sticky said. “We’re not going to get him. Get
Carnie to take him out while Revenant’s chasing us.”

Minh-Chu ignored her,
noticing that delta two was trying to close with him from the other
side of the asteroid he was approaching. He maintained his course at
a drift, rotated his ship towards delta two then waited. “We’ll
piss him off, then.”

Delta two, one of
Revenant’s wingmen, came into open view, Minh-Chu obtained a
missile lock, and he opened fire with two of his pods for a second,
launching six guided mini-missiles at the enemy fighter. Delta two
was too close, moving too quickly towards Minh-Chu’s gunship to
avoid any of the missiles, and the fighter exploded as they struck,
ripping the cockpit to shreds. Minh-Chu casually thrusted to the side
to let the wreckage pass.

Revenant was coming
around, and Minh-Chu wanted Revenant to follow his lead, so he
blasted towards the area where most of his allies were successfully
cleaning up the enemy fighters. His tactical display flashed red, and
he saw that there were fifty more fighters coming. “They’re just
too eager to die,” he whispered to himself.

“My bogey is down,”
announced Jinx.

“Just a second before
mine,” said Carnie. “And I’m on another.”

“I’m coming up on
you, Jinx,” Minh-Chu said as his missile lock warning notified him
that Revenant was behind him, trying to lock on. “Their Wing
Commander is right behind, take him out.”

Sticky fired at
Revenant with the rear turret, sending the enemy under cover over and
over again as he moved from asteroid to asteroid, trying to get a
quick lock on Minh-Chu’s gunship with missiles.

“I see you, coming in
from your eleven o’clock, right behind him. Easy with that gun,
Sticky,” Jinx said.

“I’ll stop when
you’re tearing him up,” Sticky said.

Minh-Chu passed under a
stony asteroid and watched as Jinx began to move in. He was almost in
position when Revenant reversed, ducked behind a narrow asteroid, and
spun his fighter around so he would be ready for Jinx when he came
into sight. Minh-Chu tried to decelerate and turn so he could cover
his wingman. He saw what was happening. Jinx was moving past the
asteroid too quickly to adjust his course and avoid getting into
Revenant’s crosshairs.

A hail of close-range
missile and gunfire tore through Jinx’s shields. Revenant began
accelerating after him, locking missiles and firing. Minh-Chu was
able to catch sight of Revenant just long enough to lock missiles as
he tried to give chase, and he tapped the trigger in time to strike.

As Jinx’s fighter was
torn apart by a stream of missiles and a hail of bullets, three of
Minh-Chu’s missiles struck Revenant from behind, damaging his port
thruster pods. Revenant’s ship spun into one asteroid, chipping off
a spray of ice, then collided with another, his fighter lost power.

“Jinx and Rigger are
gone,” Sticky said. “Revenant is dead. No power, no life signs.”

Minh-Chu fired a burst
of parting shots at Revenant’s fighter, and was satisfied as a
compartment burst open, releasing air from the rear section of the
ship. It didn’t make any difference to his mood. “Triton to all
craft,” announced Chief Mendle. “Recovery, recovery. Time to
return to the nest.”