Beyond the Clouds_Retaliation

by Daniel Chappell

  I stick my tongue out at the back of his head as he continues to fly the shuttle back toward the ship. On my lap, Akane seems to be thinking. After a brief pause, she speaks again.

  “You guys are unlike any military personnel I’ve ever met. But…” She closes her eyes and relaxes on my lap. “I’m glad you aren’t. I might not be alive otherwise. Thank you.”

  The last of her energy seems to leave her as she relaxes enough to sleep. Gentle breathing causes her chest to rise and fall as she snoozes away. A while later, Rion slides the shuttle into the hangar, finally bringing Akane home.

  Chapter 29

  Colonel Orion Tachibana

  January 13, 2114, 13:45

  I sit in the prep room with all but my helmet on. Around me, thirty-one pilots are similarly equipped and sitting quietly or talking amongst themselves. A screen on the wall displays the current time and a countdown showing fourteen minutes and six seconds.

  Of the pilots present here, half are from our 35th Squadron and the other half are from the 42nd Squadron. Elsewhere on the ship, another group of pilots sits waiting in the other hangar prep room. In total, sixty pilots are awaiting the order to sortie at a moment’s notice.

  “Colonel Tachibana, it’s almost time.”

  Admiral Jones’ voice comes over the room’s intercom reminding me. I stand up and walk toward the airlock leading to the hangar before turning around and looking at the room’s occupants. Thirty-one pairs of eyes immediately turn and fix their gazes on me.

  “Ladies and gentlemen. Comrades. Family,” I begin dramatically. “We’ve arrived on the eve of what’s sure to be one of the greatest battles in history. After all these long years of fighting, this could finally be the decisive battle that leads to a resolution. It has been too long since our nation has known peace and way too many lives have been lost, but that changes here, with this battle.

  “This will be unlike any engagement we have ever fought before. Not only are we far from any reinforcements, but this is the enemy’s most important strategic asset. They will defend it more ferociously than even their own homes. I’m going to be blunt. Many of us will not make it out of this battle in one piece. More still may not make it out at all. But I, for one, will charge into a dangerous battle as many times as it takes to keep my loved ones back home safe.

  “That said, don’t casually throw your lives away. Every one of you is irreplaceable; if not to the people that crunch the numbers, then definitely to everyone else in this room. If you’re in a tough spot and can reasonably escape, do it. We can always regroup and attack again. That’s all I’ve got. Let’s get out there and get it done.”

  The room’s occupants stand and salute, and I return the gesture. Afterward, I turn and step into the airlock along with my squad and Smith’s squad. The space can only fit eight people at a time, so we quickly equalize it to the hangar’s pressure and exit, allowing the next group to enter.

  I head straight for my plane and climb inside. As I power it up and begin checking the systems, Chief Rodriguez walks up on the catwalk next to my plane followed by another mechanic.

  “Afternoon, chief,” I greet her.

  “Good afternoon, colonel. This is Corporal Reyes,” she introduces the man beside her. “With so many fighters going out, I’m going to be all over the place. As such, I’m going to have him taking care of your plane in my place during the battle. He knows his stuff well, so you’re in good hands.”

  “Pleasure to work with you, Corporal Reyes,” I say, nodding to the man.

  “The pleasure’s all mine, Colonel Tachibana. It’s an honor.”

  I touch base with the two of them on a few more things before they zip away and I close the canopy of my fighter. The screens come to life and the inside of the hangar bay is projected around me. Other mechanics fly away from their assigned planes as we start our final preparations for launch.

  “We’ve reached the edge of the mission area,” the operator on the bridge announces. “All fighter units are cleared to launch at the commander’s discretion.”

  “Active 35th and 42nd Squadron members launch immediately in squad order. Standby members be ready in the prep room in case we need to call in reinforcements,” I order the pilots before leading my squad to the launch area.

  We soar out of the open hangar bay doors and into the dark background of space. The faint lights of distant stars are visible, but all else is quiet. The occasional asteroid floats by in the distance, giving off the feeling like a log floating on water.

  Not long after the rest of the pilots have gotten airborne, my radar lights up like crazy and I have to mute the alerts as the contacts continue to multiply. Soon, the forward edge of my radar is nearly a solid red mass. Clearly, the enemy has mobilized a massive force to defend their facility, and the numbers continue to increase.

  Suddenly, several bright flashes erupt in the distance. I’m able to trace faint lines of light headed in our direction. I give a warning to my pilots, but it seems the lights were never aimed at us. They zip right past us, heading for our fleet before being destroyed by countermeasures.

  Though not aimed to cause our fighters harm, the kinetic energy from their passing still causes enough problems. Heavy turbulence rocks my plane and several of the fighters around me are blown slightly out of formation. If one of those made direct contact with us… I don’t even want to think about it.

  Moments later, our fleet returns fire and a mass of beams from directed energy weapons lights up the area around us. The once quiet space-scape is suddenly as bright and lively as a light show. For now, it’s all we can do to dodge the mass of artillery flying both ways.

  The enemy’s advance forces don’t waste any time beginning their attack, either. A cloud of fighters separates from the mass of red and approaches us at high speed. I have a hard time telling if they’re adept at dodging the firestorm around them or if they just don’t care.

  I order my own forces forward to intercept them. With the scale of the weapons involved in the battle, and with our overwhelming disadvantage in numbers, we can’t afford to be careless. We can’t afford to let them get too close, either. In the end, we just head for the center of the battlefield to meet them head on.

  Both sides crash together like tectonic plates, but much more violently. Clusters of struggling fighters emerge as each group opens fire on the other. If the artillery from the ships is like a vibrant light show, then the fight between the enemy’s advance forces and ours is like a sea of glow sticks.

  My time for poetic metaphors doesn’t last long, as an enemy quickly finds and engages me. Pulses of plasma fly past me and join the mayhem all around. I maneuver around the shots and immediately begin planning a way to get behind my pursuer.

  A nearby plane explodes in a burst of light, sending debris in every direction. I can’t even tell which side the downed fighter is from, but I don’t have the time to worry much about others either. The attacker behind me appears to be very skilled. A few hits have clipped me already, causing my repair systems to kick in.

  Another fighter joins the pursuit behind me and, shortly after, a third. I’m completely suppressed and it’s all I can do to keep from letting one of their shots take me out of the fight for good. My hands subconsciously tighten on the controls, but my movements remain crisp and measured. There’s no opportunity for me to escape form the assault. Maybe I should consider calling someone over to help?

  Just as I have the thought, a fighter zooms overhead and opens fire. The shots smash into two of the approaching planes. One of them is obliterated and another is severely damaged, while the third is forced to break away to avoid the carnage. I look and see that my savior is Hitomi.

  “Careful,” she warns me. “A second wave is coming in.”

  I use the moment that my pursuers are distracted to maneuver behind them and finish off the damaged one. The last enemy, now in my former position, tries to escape from my line of sight. Under the combined assault from Hitomi and me
, he quickly meets his end. Both of us fly in different directions to search for more targets and support our allies.

  A second wave of enemy fighters has reached the battle and several ships draw nearer as the battle continues. The massive blasts of energy flying between fleets becomes more intense the closer they get to one another. A thick beam of plasma cuts through space and manages to catch a few of the approaching enemy fighters on its way to their fleet.

  Ahead of me, a four-person squad of enemies heads directly for me. Two of them distance themselves from the center two, trying to catch me in a pincer attack. My finger squeezes the trigger and lets loose a volley of shots, causing one of the middle fighters to pull up out of their path. The other attempts to do the same but is caught by a second volley I place right in his escape route.

  Suddenly, I violent shake rocks my plane and knocks me off course. Alarms flash around me and my onboard computer begins screaming warnings at me. I mute the alerts as the repair system gets to work repairing damage. A blinking red light continues to pulse, letting me know that the system may not be able to take care of all the damage.

  The moment that it takes for me to get my plane back under control gives my original attackers time to recover and return fire. I quickly move my flight controls, attempting to dodge the incoming shots. Although I manage to get around the majority of them, a few strike my armor, causing another bout of intense shaking from my plane.

  This already isn’t looking good. I evade again and retreat, pulling the enemies behind me closer to a group of my allies. The friendly fighters catch on to my intent and move to support, firing volleys at my pursuers. Two of the contacts behind me disappear from radar as the friendlies pass by me. It gives me time to reset the situation and escape from the encirclement.

  My eyes pass over the radar, looking for the nearest target to me. I choose one and latch onto it, closing the distance and waiting for a chance to attack. After a few moments of fighting, I finally manage to destroy the fighter. Almost immediately, another two enemies begin chasing after me.

  I know I warned the team myself, but the enemies really are fierce today. These two seem a little easier to deal with than their predecessors, however. I manage to shake them off and even turn the situation around to destroy one. The other is soon picked off by one of my squad mates.

  A glance down at my ammo tells me that I’m starting to run low. I’m going to need to head back in to rearm soon. At the same time, the alert from my onboard computer reminds me of the unresolved damage to the plane. Another wave of enemies approaches from the direction of the enemy fortress.

  “Reserve units from the 35th and 42nd Squadrons are to sortie immediately and join the fight,” I order. “35th Squadron First and Third squads, 42nd Squadron Second and Fifth squads prepare to rotate home to rearm.”

  The pilots from the squads in question voice their confirmations, but there’s still the matter of being able to detach from the fight long enough to land. Our best chance will likely be right as our reinforcements begin to arrive. They should be able to get any enemies tailing us to break away.

  A sudden bright flash erupts in the center of the battlefield near the struggling fighters. Several planes are caught in the blast, which I only now realize was part of the enemy’s artillery barrage, but I can’t tell which side they’re from. The sudden distraction causes the battlefield to go further into disarray.

  At the same time, I notice the approaching signatures of our own reinforcements coming to join the battle. I give the order for the predetermined squads to begin their retreat as I blast one last enemy to bits and make my own escape. A few enemies begin chasing after me, but the incoming friendly fighters intercept them and they quickly break away.

  Bright artillery fire continues to fly across space, but the quick flashes of the fighter skirmishes recedes into the distance as we approach the carrier. After the docking requests are approved, I slide into the hangar bay to begin repair and rearm procedures.

  Chapter 30

  Major Hitomi Saruyama

  January 13, 2114, 15:12

  A low hum is emitted from my fighter as it sits in low power mode waiting for the hangar crew to finish rearming it. I didn’t take any significant damage during the battle, so I didn’t even need to completely shut off my plane for the team to complete their work. Rion, on the other hand, is in the middle of having several armor plates replaced. The hangar doors are closed, and I sit in my docking bay with the canopy up, having just finished speaking with the mechanic in charge of my plane’s maintenance. After a moment, I switch my radio over to a private channel with Rion.

  “How bad?” I ask.

  It takes him a moment to answer. He’s probably in the middle of talking to his mechanic. “Three armor plates completely shredded, and one partially destroyed,” he replies finally. “One more well-placed hit and that could have been the end of me.”

  “You’ve gotta be more careful,” I warn him sternly. “Do you know how bad it would be if you got shot down out here?”

  “Hey, now,” he protests. “Which one of us is the boss again?”

  “As your future wife, I am.”

  “Hmm. I guess you better work harder watching my back then, Mrs. Tachibana.” He flips back over to the team channel. “All resupplying units stand by for my command to launch. This battle is far from over, so we need to pace ourselves correctly with switching out.”

  Hearing his words, I switch screens a few times to pull up the status of the remaining members of the 35th Squadron still in combat. Based on their remaining ammunition, they’ll need to start heading back to resupply soon. Looking at the numbers, it’ll be about another three minutes before we need to launch to switch at the perfect time.

  The mechanic beside my plane says a few last words to me before zipping off toward the ceiling. With a little bit of time left before we need to launch again, I decide not to close the canopy right away. Instead, I use the time to look at various information screens to get an idea of the situation.

  Suddenly, a massive, deafening boom echoes through the hangar. The restraints of my docking bay rattle as the entire ship seems to shake violently. There’s a sound like ripping metal and I watch as a bright light tears through the side of the hangar.

  A secondary explosion adds to the chaos as a bundle of ammunition goes up. The initial light fades, only to be replaced by a huge gash in the side of the ship. Part of the ceiling was blown apart in the blast from the artillery strike and I watch as the mechanic that just left my side is flung out of the hole by the sudden pressure leak.

  I quickly press the button to shut my canopy and it seals, equalizing the atmosphere within. The shaking starts to subside, but the chaos inside the hangar is far from over. Fires have broken out all over the place from ruptured fuel containers and damaged munitions. The hole in the hull continues to vent atmosphere and the hangar crew fights being blown away while fighting the fires.

  “Everyone launch now!” Rion orders.

  The docking clamps on my fighter are quickly released and the hangar doors slide open. Luckily, the door mechanisms seem to have escaped harm. Otherwise, we may be trapped in here. As soon as the doors are fully open, all of our planes zoom out into space.

  From outside the ship, the situation looks even worse. The long gash cut through the hull extends for easily two blocks worth of space. Smoldering metal glows within the exposed latticework supports. Chunks of metal float away from the point of impact and float away into space.

  Ikaros and Isuca move forward and take more aggressive positioning on the battlefield, attempting to shield the Ikaruga from the incoming hostile fire. The remaining escort, Inagi, has taken quite a bit of damage and fallen slightly behind the rest of the fleet. It continues to send out blasts of plasma, but at a much slower rate than its sisters.

  We pass by the next group of friendly fighters moving to resupply and instantly rejoin the fight. I block an enemy trying to fly toward our fleet and cause the
m to turn back into the chaos. Soon after, the fighter is destroyed and I move on to the next target.

  I look at my radar to get a bearing on the situation and notice that something isn’t right. The number of enemy contacts has hardly decreased, but I’m seeing much fewer friendly fighters in the mix. It seems the longer this fight drags on, the further the odds are stacked against us.

  Almost as if to agree with my assessment, a group of enemies descends on my squad, blasting away and trying to take us out of the fight. The fight hasn’t just been stagnantly staying in place, either. We’ve moved closer to the enemy fortress, to the point that our fleet is nearly close enough to target the outermost structures. Soon our fighters will be in range of the enemy’s close-in weapons systems.

  The dancing lights flying all around us seem to have multiplied and I turn my fighter to avoid another volley of shots headed for me. With another movement of my flight controls, I get behind an enemy and blow the plane to bits. Kat swings past me, hot on the tail of an enemy, and weaves between streams of plasma as she attempts to defeat her opponent.

  Nearby, I see a friendly plane being chased down by three enemies. It seems as if they’re having trouble and all they can do is continue to dodge the bad intentions aimed at them. I turn my plane and prepare to assist but, before I can even finish adjusting my course, a volley of shots catches the side of the plane. The force sends the fighter spinning into another stream of shots and it bursts in an explosion.

  I spare a moment of thought for the lost pilot before pushing it to the back of my mind. If I’m going to stop more of my friends ending up that way, I need to be completely focused. I’m just about to head towards another cluster of enemies when Rion’s voice comes through the radio.

  “All units disengage immediately and pull back two map coordinates.”

  I’m slightly confused about the order, but I don’t hesitate in executing it. I immediately break away and head back in the direction of our fleet. There’s an enemy chasing behind Akane, so I knock them away before falling into formation and continuing toward the specified coordinates.