View source for 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!

[[Category: Fan Fiction]]