Duty, 19: Making a Difference
08 Dec 2022Meowers
Oh, those goddamn freaks certainly know how to ruin your day. Thargoids, I mean. After that sensor accident we had to stay at full readiness for almost a week, literally living in our hangars. And what we've got? One distress signal from an explorer ship that ran out of fuel, one from a miner who made a rough landing, and two identical close calls with transport ships passing by, they were both interdicted by the Thargoids, scanned, but then the bastards ran away before we arrived. So, we were given a couple of days off yesterday.
And, well, I was chilling out at Mion's place, we binge-watched some B-rated horror movies that were so dumb and awkward that they were actually funny, had a cosy talking on the balcony, looking at the night skies, and... Hah. Imagining what life might look like, what kind of things we might want to do one day, what would be nice to see and have in our future. Those... Lighthearted and less probable kinds of things, some of them were even so silly, but... Hey. Thinking about something good is what can get you through hard times, and that's, well, proven by me, and also... You know, it's great to have somebody to talk with about that, somebody who can keep the atmosphere up and share their own things with you. So, we made a quick late dinner, and then it felt like I've had my eyes closed only for a few seconds when both our communicators started yelling at us. Ah, crap. Having a long lazy morning would be just the dream, but... Argh. Things happen.
Damn emergency. Already on our way to the command centre we've been told to head straight to the hangars, gather our pilots and take off ASAP, and details will be transmitted directly to our ships. So, hah, it's my and Mion's wings in the action today, and also one more HIP 29991 militia wing. And what it might mean... If the local defence forces are involved, then stuff is happening somewhere in the vicinity. Or it's large enough.
And it was both. In-system alert, planet 2, a dense pack of Thargoid-related signals on a low orbit, roughly equal to ten Interceptors or something like that. Looked like a coordinated action, not just a bunch of aliens screwing around. And with our satellite network tracking their emissions, we can get relatively close without using our own scanners, hopefully remaining unnoticed. So, an order: we should approach them and scout out their intentions, engage in case of threat to people or if there's a handleable amount of them at their destination point.
Second planet here... Not a remarkable place. Almost Earth-sized, metal-rich world with Earthlike gravity, no atmosphere and a hot surface, around 450K at our coordinates. Again, not a thing from your everyday Thargoid's shopping trolley. When we arrived, they were swarming above something on the ground, shooting at it, but whatever was their target, has been already covered by a green acidic cloud and it wasn't giving away any signals. We had to approach closer to get a better visual, but much likely it was the reason why they appeared here. I counted eleven of them, one Medusa, at least three Basilisks, and the rest were Cyclopes. However, approaching closer, we will become visible for them. So...
"All systems on, ready your weapons and engage."
I've targeted a Medusa, planning on dragging it away and dealing with it one on one, to make things easier for other pilots. The rest of my wing and Mion's wing will go for Basilisks, to knock them out as quick as possible. Cyclopes were lesser priority targets and the third wing was ordered to run circles around, providing situational support and creating a bit of chaos, forcing them to chase us more than fire at us.
Plan seemed to work, I saw ships spreading out and engaging their targets on my last approach seconds, and the third wing, led by Roberto, an experienced ex-Alliance military pilot, started collecting a whole train of Cyclopes, pulling them away. Activating my heatsinks, I rushed towards the Medusa, drawing a spiral in the sky, avoiding its target lock, and fired my first shots today. Gauss ordnance hit the Interceptor, covering its carapace with dents, and the beast started rotating to face me. The force of inertia pulled me away as I was aiming and placing another shot, and Medusa followed me, being right where I wanted it to be, away from other pilots and other Thargoids. Moving backwards, watching the altitude and manoeuvring left and right to evade incoming shots, I dragged the angry beast a few kilometres more, and smiled, seeing the puffs of greenish substance in the sky behind it. My wing was giving one Basilisk a nice thrashing, circling around and concentrating their fire. AXDF training in action.
Several hits more and its first limb started to glow red. Oh, yeah, finally, a decent fight! I squeezed the booster switch and g-forces pressed me hard, making my heart skip a beat; rushing towards the enemy lightning fast, I felt how adrenaline fills my body, I smirked wildly, aiming another shot, and my four Gauss cannons thundered all at once, sending their projectiles straight into an exposed Thargoid heart. The beast screamed loudly, and, moving past it, I turned abruptly and boosted once more, keeping my eye on its movements, staying away from the incoming fire while my cannons reloaded. These seconds always feel longer than they are. And, another shot. A shower of debris marked my successful hit, and a stream of greenish fluid gushed out of the wound, quickly evaporating in the vacuum.
"How do you like that, you piece of shit?!"
We were doing well, Mion's wing already blasted one Basilisk out of the sky when I was striking the third Medusa's heart, and my pilots were all over another one. Roberto's wing kept most of the Cyclopes busy, scoring one kill and doing some damage to the rest of the crowd. And also, circling around the battle, they provided us with an interesting observation. One of the pilots saw buildings down below, in the thick of an acid cloud, a dozen of human bodies scattered around them, and also there was a large ship, presumably Anaconda, crashed nearby, also enveloped in a cloud and in the shadow of a hill. A ship, recognisable, not a debris field around the crater. Seems like they tried to run, but were shot down.
It could mean possible survivors. Damn it was hard to coordinate things; spiralling in the sky, evading incoming shots from an angry Medusa after shattering its fourth heart, I requested a full damage report from all pilots. The most damaged ship, one Krait from Mion's wing with several heatsink malfunctions, one jammed cannon and destabilised lateral thrusters, should land nearby, on the edge of a cloud. It should hide in the shadows and power down everything except engines, cooling and comms, making the heat signature as low as possible, and the pilot should try to connect with any survivors. While David had to keep close, flying above, and watch the Thargoids, engaging those who may pose a threat.
Through the thundering sound of my cannons, ripping apart another limb of crippled Medusa, I heard a transmission, with a recognisable human voice, but the signal has been a total mess, I couldn't pick up any words from it. The Krait pilot sent that to me, he established a commlink with an escape pod of the downed Anaconda, but I couldn't do anything with that, I told him to reroute incoming signals to the open channel and magnify them. So, the next transmission reached all of us.
"...orroding qui... ...esca... ...try to... eje... ...hear you..."
Shit. That ship wasn't going anywhere except junkyard, but at least the hull was protecting the escape pod from the acid, and could protect for a little more time while we fought the Thargoids.
"Do not eject the pod! Repeat, do not eject the pod! Stay in your ship!"
"...at? ...Can't... ...safe arou... ..ship? Eje..."
And that idiot ejected the pod. Dammit. Hammering another portion of superheated Gauss rounds into the Medusa, I frantically tried to come up with any sort of idea. It was, generally, humane, to save someone from the mess, but also that survivor could provide us with an information. That will save more lives. But now he had no more than a few minutes, in that escape pod, in a middle of a caustic cloud. So... When I saw another Basilisk exploding in the sky, a Chieftain darted downwards and began moving quickly to the crash site. I targeted the ship to get its ID and...
"Mion, what the heck are you doing?"
"Making a difference."
What the... I had to do something with the goddamn Medusa first. The Interceptor was already peppered with holes, with five limbs severed off, limping and struggling with the gravity, so after I smashed its last heart, I boosted towards Mion to... Well. At least to look at what's happening there. With Medusa still in my target lock. I didn't want to give the beast a chance to escape. Diving right into the cloud, Mion turned her headlights on and stopped her Chieftain next to the ejected pod, in a few metres, and then, scattering dust and little stones around with the vertical thrusters, she carefully put the ship on the ground and... Started pushing the pod out of the cloud, slowly, with the minimal possible thrust, heading to the landed Krait. That was... Even more unexpected.
And I still had that Medusa locked on me, it tried to chase me, squeezing the last bits of power from whatever they have for an engine. When its shields were already below the half, I've made a sharp turn and accelerated, heading to the Interceptor, to finish the job. Moving horizontally, maintaining a safe distance and altitude, keeping the Thargoid in my sights, I was methodically pulling the triggers, bombarding the beast with Gauss rounds, until it literally cracked in half, screaming and falling down to reach the final destination of its flight and life.
So, I heard Mion's voice on the comms.
"Make sure your suit is sealed, get out of the pod and run to that Krait. Don't touch the pod exterior!"
Her Chieftain emerged from the acid cloud with heat dissipators closed, and she boosted straight to a random Cyclops, opening fire, to overheat the ship and neutralise the caustic acid on the hull, activating the heatsinks as soon as the substance cooks off. Hah. And old classic trick. Of course with the damage she received down there, she had to stay back and let other pilots do the rest of the work, but... Hey, that guy was safe now.
And, when we had only four Cyclopes left, they decided to retreat... Without making a jump. They turned, all facing the same direction, and accelerated, paying no attention to shots fired at them. That's not your usual Thargoid behaviour, again... So, I had to think. And think fast. Requested a status report from all of the pilots, amount of damage, and how much fuel and ammo we had left. Turned out, we still had five ships fit for combat: me, David, Roberto and one Krait from his wing, and one Challenger from Mion's wing.
We had to follow those guys... Our initial order was more about doing recon. And also. I had to lead the group. No other option.
"Combat-ready ships, follow me and maintain a visual contact with the Thargoids. All damaged ships RTB, Mion in the lead."
Who knows what else can be found on this planet...
* * *
Flying over HIP 29991 Planet 2