Duty, 26: Hornet's Nest
11 Jan 2023Meowers
Of course, the shit tension got escalated. Local security forces? Did you ever try to throw a petard into a chicken coop? Yep. They looked exactly like that. Running around chaotically, checking everything, questioning everyone... Hah. Can imagine. They found copies of their 'top-secwet' documents on top of the pile of sabotage evidence, and, on the other hand, six dead civilians with plasma rifle wounds. And no security camera footage, obviously, because alien loving company didn't like to have cameras above their heads in the first place. Irony is, my rifle is actually mine, it's an old Federal model, discontinued already, it wasn't given to me by AXDF, wasn't listed in any documents, and I could just hide it somewhere on the ship and pretend I don't have it. That's what I did, exactly. Fortunately, nobody from the locals have ever seen me with that big piece of iron. Yeah, yeah, one day they will convince our officers, obtain that search authorisation and start sniffing our ships, but... There are some paperwork and negotiations to be done to make that possible. And you can't do that effectively with Thargoids knocking on your door, literally.
When another batch of Thargoid signals appeared on a low orbit just a few hundred kilometres away, nobody had any doubt. All these disguises and cleanups are useless when Thargoid-worshipping morons are holding meta-alloys and Guardian stuff somewhere in the middle of the settlement. What a crap.
I was already airborne, with my wing, when the first re-entry flashes appeared in the sky above. Matthew's wing took off first, they went to the west to engage the Thargoids from the flank and move the battle away from the town if possible. So I had to strike from the opposite side, locking the Thargoids in a fight and preventing any advances. Anti-Scout wing should take off within a few minutes, and several local wings were in full battle readiness.
"Stick together, focus on my target!"
There were about twenty of them. Bunch of Cyclopes and Basilisks, and a pair of Medusas, and Matthew's wing already engaged them from the other flank, attacking cautiously, keeping their distance, waiting for me and my wing to join. I wanted to attack one of the Medusas first, but it was in the thick of the group, so, let's deal with the lackeys first. I pulled the triggers and my four Gauss cannons thundered, hyper-velocity rounds pierced the skies, hitting the unlucky Cyclops right in the centre. And a dozen of blasts from my wing's ships made a nice follow-up, brutally cracking that Cyclops in half and sending it spinning down to the ground. How do you regenerate that, you sucker? Hah.
Being attacked from the both sides, that group of Thargoids had nowhere to run. Once they tried to turn and advance to the settlement, but only to be immediately and massively hit in the backs by all of us, losing several Interceptors in a couple of minutes. My wing was focusing fire on my targets in the initial stage of the fight, we were picking them off one by one, slowly turning the battle in our favour. Matthew's wing dealt with the first Medusa, so I decided to go for the second, commanding my pilots to spread out and fire at will, when the half of the Thargoids were down already.
Ah, those Medusas. They're pretty badass, a challenge I'd say, but hey, I know what to do! I moved in circles around the beast, bombarding it with Gauss shots, dropping heatsinks, and that clumsy bastard had no chance to aim at me properly. Slowly dragging it out, separating it from the rest of the group, I literally danced around the enemy, condemning it to slow and painful death. And... It is a feeling that I like, a sense of becoming... A machine. I had my target in front of me, I knew what to do, and I had an instant, almost neural connection to my ship. And my head was clear. No annoying thoughts, no doubts, no pointless ruminations, no irritating decadent conclusions. I've been where I needed to be, doing what I supposed to do. Confidently. I felt every slight movement of a wingtip like it was my own hand, making manoeuvres in the air felt like it was my nature, heavy recoil was shaking my body, echoing within. Every move, from a slight turn to a powerful acceleration, was almost instinctive.
Do Thargoids know what fear is? Despair? Helplessness? Oh, I hope they do. And, if they do have a hivemind, I hope that Medusa was translating exactly that into their shared conscience. A feeling of being hunted by a natural predator. Being destined to death. Being powerless, unable to change anything. Seeing that you are completely helpless. That your life isn't yours anymore.
Matthew's voice on the comms forced me to leave the crippled, limping Medusa and gather my wing together.
"A second group is attacking the settlement, Muir, go get them!"
All those battle pictures... They might sound easy now. But they're not. It's our training, our knowledge, our teamwork in action. Our instincts. We knew what to do and how to do it, we knew our ships, our weapons, we knew what to expect from our enemy. We knew a price of mistakes. We weren't that green newbie wing anymore, and every battle served as a proof of that. However, I still remember what it is, to face the Thargoids without having that solid confidence running through your veins. And those locals... They have homes to defend.
Three planetary defence wings scrambled to support us. One headed directly to Matthew, to help him with finishing off what was left, and other two set an intercept course to engage the incoming Thargoids. That second group was smaller, no more than ten Interceptors in total, however, we had no time to land and rearm, we had to engage the Thargoids simultaneously with the locals to draw some heat off them. I asked for a status report. Wing was holding okay, without any major damage, and we still had some ammo left to give those bastards a beating. Reaching the comm range, I've opened a shared channel.
"AXDF wing leader to planetary forces: keep it nice and easy, retreat when they're under shields, aim for the hulls, light 'em up and we will deal with the hearts."
"Hey, have some faith, you're not the only heartbreaker queen here!"
Hah. Mion's voice. She's a good pilot. She's eager, she doesn't think twice, she can take the risk, she's... maybe much like me. However, damn. Their ships just aren't as good as ours. They can hit hard, but cannot stay in an intense battle for long.
Nevertheless, I believe, our presence made the local pilots feel themselves more confident. They engaged the Thargoids and split the group in half, so I immediately ordered my wing to move right into the middle, so we could assist both local wings at the same time. We had little ammo left, but our chaotic manoeuvres and strike imitations made the Thargoids confused, and, after each destroyed heart, they tried to attack us in return, giving planetary defence pilots more time to retreat, regroup and go for another target.
One of those last Cyclopes... It was badly damaged already, with that their greenish liquid dripping from the breaches; boosting from behind its back and trying to mess up its target lock, I saw someone landing a few good hits and the last heart started to glow red. I instantly turned to face it, letting the force of inertia to drag me to the optimal shooting distance... Then I glanced at the ammo counters on the HUD. Four zeroes. Empty. And... Even before I reported it, a volley of Gauss shots hit the target, shattering the heart, turning it into a shower of debris and a green acid cloud.
"Told ya!"
Mion and her wing. Quickly, not giving the beast a chance to activate the shields, they fired all at once and explosion enveloped the agonising Thargoid.
People on the ground, tech crews, civilians... They were celebrating the victory. Some of them even launched fireworks into the late evening sky. They could see both fights with their own eyes, and they saw us tearing the Thargoids apart and returning home safe and sound. The Thargoids came to attack the settlement, their homes, but were stopped on their tracks and destroyed. That's what those people wanted to see. Not a brutal fighting right above their houses, AA cannons thundering, debris falling on the streets from the sky and wounded pilots crawling out of escape pods. We were preparing to defend the settlement, and we did that today brilliantly.
However... It was hard to explain to them that we'd better commit to that goose chase with long-range sensors and signals, and 'waste our fuel' on patrols. The Thargoids were attacking the settlement before AXDF set up an equipment array around here, and them returning meant we've lost that advantage. We cannot longer react to the emergency signals as good as before, we cannot keep repairing our sensors in neighbouring systems because they're being attacked systematically, we're effectively pinned down to the ground. And, the same words were said on the debriefing. We had to activate our long-range comms and send a report to AXDF command.
And we have to prepare for more.
But, until then, I have a chance to look at night sky a bit longer...
* * *
Their fate, right on my fingertips