The subspace channels where silent...
The subspace channels where silent...
She had no idea why they remained so, why she received no answers to the distress calls eminating from her now derelict ship. Surely they had reached even Sol by now, and Earthforce should have signaled back..
"I knew I never should have come this far into the pirate territories..." she sighed sitting alone in the dark cockpit of her defunct Banshee class heavy fighter. She had put up quite a fight when the Blue Pirates ambushed her too. Despite a battle pitched wildly against her, she had managed to destroy two Alpha class light fighters and cripple a Beta class Heavy Fighter. No doubt the pirates would be sending a salvage frigate by now. She knew if someone else didn't get there first, she'd be boarded, her ship taken and become a prisoner to those damn brigands.
She sighed again, very aware of her rather hopeless situation. Life support was fading, and the cockpit was growing colder. She pulled her flight jacket tighter around her.
"Damnit, why did I have to come so far into the pirate territories!"
Checking the consoles of his specially modified Inferno, Infernal Faction Pilot 15970 or as he liked to be called, Javier, was suited up for the next raid. He was the flight leader of Phoenixflame, a shock fighter squadron that spearheaded most assaults for the Faction. It was risky business, but Javier enjoyed the challenge, and especially enjoyed the benefits of his rank. It took skill to become a squadron leader, and to be the leader of Phoenixflame took more than skill, it took suicidal courage. Javier had both these qualities, and he worked hard to earn his position. As the other eleven pilots of his squadron suited up and went through the various preflight checklists, he reveiwed the flight briefing via the HUD holodisplay on his cockpit windshield.
"The target is the cube class station 04493, located at spacial coordinates { 2396 , 5724 , -381 } within the Gavi Minoris system." said the mechanical voice narrating the briefing. "Objectives: Disable forward defensive emplacements of station 04493. Create a perimiter and protect the Goblin bombers. Upon securing the station, escort Bulk class Freighters back to Infernal Tempest."
This was going to be a normal enough raid, the Infernal Faction had been hitting ouposts along the outer rim for months now, draining their resources and transporting them back to Infernal Tempest and Phoenixflame had been the vanguard for most of them.
"Gavi Minoris..." thought Javier, bringing his map up on the Inferno's HUD. "Just as I thought, that's part of the Blue Pirate territories!" His adreneline started to kick in, and he knew this time it would be one hell of a fight. He opened up a squadron channel. "Ok Phoenixflame, finish up the final preflight checks and get ready to wax some Blue Pirates! We're gonna have some fun today!"
"Now Approaching the Gavi Minoris System" the metallic voice said from the speaker on Javier's console. Javier decided that he had enough of his damned computer, reached over and switched the speaker off. Checking his long range radar, he noticed a rather large and slow frigate heading away from the station, deeper into the Blue Pirate territories. He switched on his comm.
"Alpha Tango Niner, we have a freighter fleeing the station, hull marking indicate it's a Blue Pirate salvage frigate. You and Alpha Tango Fiver follow me, we're going in for the kill! Rest of the squad, stay back and cover us, they'll be launching fighters real soon."
"Roger that Squad Leader, correcting course for intercept"
Javier and his two wingmates burned towards the frigate, which was now alerted to their presence and assuming a defensive position. Standard procedure for any ship this size was to buzz it, and on the close pass unleash a searing blast of heat from the specially modified flamethrowers on the bottom of the Inferno. Javier was a master of this technique, having done it hundreds of times before. The three Inferno's split up and bore down right ontop of the lumbering behemoth, firing their incineration cannons, crippling the freighter before it had time to lock on to the very fast moving targets. That's the way the Infernal Faction worked. Fast, high damage surgical strikes that would annihilate any target before they had time to respond.
Fighters had already begun to launch from the nearby station, and Javier knew he had to hurry this up.
"You two, head back with the rest of the Squadron, I'll finish off this freighter." After another two passes, the freighter was completely destroyed, and for the next thirty minutes an intense dogfight took place outside the station, and when all was finally settled, the bombardment began. A squad of 8 Goblin Bombers descended on the station, targeting anything that remotely looked like a turret, and unleashed wave upon wave of torpedos. Before long, shields, defensive turrets, communications, everything was disabled. It was now time for the third part of the raid.
After the forwards fighter defense and the station defenses had been destroyed, a group of Infernal Faction freighters would dock and remove anything of value. Raw materials, bits of hardware, spare batteries, anything that looked remotely usable. These items would then be taken back to Infernal Tempest to be reused or recycled, to create even more ships, weapons and to fuel the research of Doktor Kobaldstein, one of the Factions founding members. The constant raiding, ensured a bigger fleet, which ensured more raiding, in a neverending cycle. Eventually the Infernal Faction would have the strength to even challenge the might of Earthforce.
Javier sat back in the cockpit of his ship, getting ready for the escort home, and he noticed something. Checking the radar on his HUD, it came to his attention the debris fields were a bit thin. A normal station garrison for the Blue Pirates included 8 Beta Class Heavy Fighters and 16 Alpha Class Light Fighters, along with the occasional Alpha Scouts. He switched on his comm again, ready to alert his squadron of another potential threat when a garbled and very faint message came over on the subspace channels.
"Please, I require assistance, I've been ambushed by the Blue Pirates and my ship is badly damaged. Life support is critical. I am transmitting my coordinates. Please, help me..."
Calyp OMG! Like my story, my name has a cliffhanger ending!
