Trident Five
16 Jan 2017Rebecca Hail
Kappa Fornacis, Panem, 8 Jan 3301:"Trident Leader, Trident Leader, this is Trident Actual. Come in. Over." The coms were surprisingly clear as the commanding officer of the operation started to speak. A little insecurity in her voice revealed that this was her first bigger operation. Rebecca opened her eyes and looked around. Her green camouflaged Eagle hovered along side five more Eagles around ten meters over the treetops of a forest. Gigantic clouds of smoke rose into the sky a few kilometres to the north.
"Trident Actual, hearing you loud and clear. Over."
"Trident Leader, sitrep. Over."
"Trident Squadron on standby at navigation point 16. Awaiting orders. Over."
"Trident Leader, the distraction is a GO, I repeat, the distraction is a GO. Over."
"Copy, Trident Actual. We've noticed. These huge black clouds of smoke aren't exactly easy to overlook. Over." A female voice began chuckling and Trident Leader added, "Trident Two, you shut your whore mouth."
Rebecca started grinning, then another voice spoke over the intercom. Deep and with authority.
"Trident Leader, the FIS ensured me they sent their most professional operatives for this joint operation. Make sure you behave like one. Understood?"
The mocking undertone in the voice of Trident Actual disappeared immediately.
"Yes, Sir."
"Good. Trident Actual, please proceed with the operation."
"Thanks, Sir. Trident Leader, the operation will go as follows. You will keep your altitude and proceed to Waypoint 28, then you will change your course to the north towards city quadrant Eta Alpha. The residents in this part of Panem finished the onionhead harvest a few days before the federal fleet was deployed. Now those huge reserves of onionhead fuel the resistance of the farmers against the Federation. Since iIt's impossible to stop all of the smugglers while the battle rages through the system, but it is possible to destroy at least parts of the source of the problem, which has been located by our agents. This onionhead, almost the entire harvest of this sector of the planet, is stored in three warehouses near the industrial centre. They are heavily protected against attacks from within and the whole area is a trespass zone. But they have no signifcant antiair presence there because the area is beneath the city shields. The bigger anti air guns are deployed along the city borders and busy with the distraction we organized. An agent in the cities flight control will open the city shields right above the small landing pads at waypoint 35, when you're approaching. You fly a low pass, drop your load onto the warehouses and highwake out towards NLTT 8065. Questions? Over."
The female voice which chuckled earlier spoke up.
"Ma'am, why is this a job for the paramilitaric operatives of the FSS and not the navies usual bomber pilots? And why do we get the briefing in cockpit and not already on the ship? Over."
"Trident Two, there are many soldiers in the federal navy who do not agree with the current operation in Panem. We've already caught several collaborators and want to minimize the risks for this operation. Any more questions?"
Several seconds of silence followed, then Trident Leader took over again.
"No, Ma'am. We're ready for go. Over."
"Trident Squadron, you have green light for the mission. Over."
Trident Leader immediately took over the command and his voice hardened.
"All Tridents, call in."
"Trident One, ready."
"Trident Two, ready to go."
"Trident Three, ready to fuck shit up."
"Trident Four, ready."
Rebecca pushed her helmet visor down, then she reported in. Green markers appeared all over the horizon, some far up in the sky and some behind the dense clouds of smoke.
"Trident Five, ready."
"Copy, all Tridents rise to 100 meters over ground, speed up towards Mach One and fly in a tight delta formation to waypoint 28 in three ... two ... one ... GO."
Rebecca pressed her throttle forwards and was immediately pressed into her seat as the insane acceleration of the eagle kicked in. The treetops changed into a blurry green mass and a white cloud enveloped the ship for a short moment as it broke the sound barrier.
It only took a few seconds to reach the edge of the green forest and the green tone changed into burned lands. Single tree stood out of the ashes here and there. The orbital bombardement of the federal navy had wiped out every trace of life from the once thriving onionhead fields.
"Reaching waypoing 28 in 15 seconds. Get ready for coursechange to zero-two-zero. Over."
"Copy, Trident Leader. Over."
The clouds of smoke were now much closer. Rebecca checked the course and noticed that it would lead directly into it. Then Trident Leader began speaking again.
"Course change in 3 ... 2 ... 1 ... change." All six eagles layed simultaneously into a long rightward curve. Then the coms started crackling and unencrypted parts of the federal bombardement protocol could be heard. Several Anacondas and Corvettes finished their glide far over the eagles and steered towards the city while opening their cargohatches. Shells and rockets ascended into the sky and punched against the shields of the ship
"Trident Actual, the distractionforce has arrived. Are they actually dropping something? Over."
"Trident Leader, no, they're a just a ruse to distract the AA capacities of city 17. Over."
"Copy, Trident Actual. Trident Squadron, activate the active scanners. Entrance into the smoke in ten seconds. Over."
Rebecca activated her right hand menu and switched her scanner to active. Immediately green lines began forming on her helmet visor, drawing the area and landscape hidden by the smoke.
"Contacts ahead. Looks like groundvehicles. Sixteen seconds until we pass them. Over." Trident Three's voice sounded nervous as he reported it.
"Copy. Trident Squadron rise to 150 meters and boost on my command. Over."
The scanner took a moment to identify the vehicles as civilian trucks, then Rebecca ignited her vertical thrusters to ascend to 150 meters.
"Pass in 3. 2. 1. Boost."
She pressed the red button on the right side of her throttle and again the acceleration pressed her into the seat. Her sight narrowed to a tunnel vision and she noticed the counter right of her HUD showing a speed of 703 meters per second. A little hollow square popped up.
"Enemy Cobra on the small pads and the city shields are still up." Trident Four had slight panic in his voice as he spoke.
"Trust them. Trident Four and Five, target one. Trident Two and Three, Target three. Trident One and humble me take target two. Leaving the smoke NOW."
The sunlight was glaring after flying through the smoke of the burning fields. The gigantic blue dome came fast near and Rebecca doubted for a moment that the sleeper inside would deactivate them fast enough. Then the blue lost it's intensity in a particular area right over the small landing pads in the outskirts.
With a fast movement of her fingers she switched her target from the warehouse to the Cobra.
'Freyja' appeared as information then the eagles were already through the hole. Rebecca switched back to her target and lined up with it.
"Trident Actual, Trident Squadron initiating final approach. Open bomb bays. Over."
"Copy, Trident Leader.", confirmed the squadron but Trident Actual didn't answer. Instead the whole sensoric system and the augmented reality system of the helmets went offline for less than half a second. As it came online again Rebecca noticed that she wandered off her target by almost ten degrees. Instantly she corrected her course and noticed how the members of her squadron did the same.
"What the fuck was that?", she screamed through the com.
"I don't know, but it's too late to abort. Get ready to drop your load."
"Roger."
A light jolt ran through the eagle as the bomb bays on the bottom opened and the safety clamps unclasped from the two ton incendiary clusterbombs. Two green lights on her joystick switched to red and indicated that the bombs were armed.
"Bomb bays open. Bombs armed and ready for drop. Over."
Rebecca focused on the by her helmet bright red coloured building in the distance while the ocean of roofs and streets merged into a single grey mass. The numbers on the distance counter went down incredible fast.
"Trident Squadron, bombs away."
She pressed the trigger and felt how the last clamps released the bombs, then she boosted and passed the targets with more than two times the speed of sound. A flash of light from behind indicated that the first stage of the bombs ignited sucessfully to spread the deadly clusters of bombs over the wide warehouse complex.
"Okay, guys. Target NLTT 8065. As soon as we're there we spread through the system and keep quiet for a few hours. Keep silence on the radio. We'll meet on the flagship in a few hours. Trident Leader signing off. Out."
"Copy, Trident Leader. Out." Quickly she pulled her ship up and began charging her FSD. The sky slowly faded into black as the countdown of the jump was initiated, then the eagles disappeared. The only thing left were six trails of light in the sky.
[OOC: This is unrelated to Unexpected Encounters, just a short story from Rebeccas life I scribbled when I wanted too. A second part might or might not come.]