Hell's Unicorns - The Vega Campaign: Enyo System

D

DJ Erik

Spaceman
Hello, this is my new fanfiction, Hell's Unicorns. It's based on the original Wing Commander, trying to stay as accurate as possible to the game. Basically it follows a pair of Scimitar pilots throughout the Vega sector. Hope you enjoy it, please leave comments if you want, thanks. The next few chapters will be up later. :)
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Hell's Unicorns - Vega Campaign

Chapter 1
Vega Sector: Enyo System

The afterburners burned bright blue as the two Scimitars flew in. The only two objects in the void, it felt rather empty...

They were looking for something, though. The wingleader looked over to his navigation computer, the two Scimms heading towards a blinking spot on the map grid. A lost Hornet pilot, his callsign Honeybee...His last location anyways. They had to find him, or what was left of his remains...

"Swordblade, are you seeing anything over there? I'm not..." The wing commander looked to his wingmate, flying five hundred klicks to his left flank.

"No Delta. Nothing at this nav point." She glanced back, adjusting herself in her seat for the long trip ahead. Even if it was slow, it was comfty, she thought.

"Affirmative Swordblade. We're going to boost over to the second nav point and look over there...We'll be out of fuel by then so we'll go back home and have Pilgrim and Valentine sent out for the next shift." He looked at the vid. comm, watching Swordblade work on her computer.

"Right...Do you think he's still alive Rick? Hornets can't take much..." He frowned at his teammate.

"I don't think there's any kitties around if you mean that. If he's dead he must of ran into a asteroid or something."

"Heh. He's too smart for that." Rick grunted at her reply.

"Hornets are quick, Meg. If he flew into the belt here there's a good chance he might of." She sighed.

"Whatever you say." Meg checked her computer, several thousand more klicks before the next nav point.

The Scimms flew at a pretty fast rate, covering the difference in a couple minutes, finding something to greet them...

"I found something Delta!" She slowed down to a stop, part of a Kilrathi fighter wing was in front of her. Used to belong to a Salthi...Other derbis floating around nearby it.

"Evidence of enemy precense. Told you." She smiled, waiting for a reply.

"...Keep looking, stay alert in case there's more." The two started off again, space dust flying behind them as they passed. While the particles flew by, Meg checked her equipment again, seeing a blue contact on her radar.

"Found a allied contact. Must be Honeybee." She looked at the radar again, the blue contact moving away...Three red contacts in front of it and closing in on them.

"Kitties coming for us Delta!" Rick tensed up...The leader and he still wasn't used to this.

"Wait until you can get a lock...Then break and attack!" She nodded, watching the blue streaks of light moving towards them...Soon a Drathli was in range, her target. Right with it came a Salthi that Rick decided to take on.

In seconds the two were barely two thousand meters away, the Salthi getting ready to shoot...He had the faster trigger finger, the twin Mass Drivers firing off four sets of two shots at the Salthi's front, wearing it's front shields out. As the final set hit he shot off four more, ripping it's right wing off and causing it to explode. As the Salthi fell apart the last thing the pilot saw was the emblem on the left side of his Scimitar; a red unicorn head.

Swordblade had also been working on shooting down her Dralthi, several Mass Driver hits and a heat seeking missile later the deed was done, the kitty unable to get away.

"Woo! Got one Delta!" She grinned...Then noticed another Dralthi on his tail.

"One on you Rick! Watch him!" She grimanced as a shot found it's way to his engine block, sparks flying off.

"I know, I can see him..." He stopped the Scimm, the kitty flying too fast to stop from flying in front of him, too late to get out of the way...In several seconds the Dralthi was cut down by Mass Driver fire, the fighter skipping and flaling around as the shots hit until it finally turned into a fireball.

"That was my second one, Meg." He smiled, as Meg came onto the comm. and snorted at him.

"You lucky bastard!" He laughed as he checked the radar for more contacts. None except for the blue one.

They came upon him several minutes later, he had been moving away from them. It was Honeybee alright, his Hornet in badd shape. There were shot marks all over, a small puff of smoke coming from the engines. On of the guns was gone, easily noticed since the guns were huge on the little fighter.

"Honeybee, are you there?" There was no reply, but he sped up towards them.

"Swordblade, he must of gotten his comm. busted, let's go home. Tell them we found him."

"Affirmative." She patched through to home base as they started for home, the two Scimitars leading as the Hornet lagged behind...Thousands of more klicks to go.

"So...How many was that for you, Delta?"

"Five total, got two this time."

"You just made an ace! I still have to get one more." She sighed.

"You lucky sob...Wait, they hit you, right?"

"Yea, nothing the shields couldn't handle." Meg frowned.

"...Don't die on me now, Rick." She sounded concerned.

"I won't..."

"You're the only wingman I want to fly with, don't die..." Rick nodded.

"I'm still here, still have a reason to be here." He assured her, she nodded but didn't know what the reason was.

The Exeter came into view soon after, the guide beams lighting up. The Scimitar pair slowed down, as the Hornet quickly made it's landing.

"Delta Element, good work on finding Honeybee."

Rick looked down at his left-side HUD while Meg made her landing, seeing that the real shields were worn down. He sighed, praying softly for the reason he had to live...

The Scimm touched down.
 
Chapter 2

"Looks like it got little hot out there, sir!" The mechanic looked over the nearly dead Hornet, while Honeybee hopped out of it.

"At least you made it back alive." He cursed under his breath and turned to the mechanic, his nametag reading Johnson.

"Damn right! Four of them jumped me while I was on recon! They said this system was clean..." Johnson stepped back, taken by surprise.

"It's okay, he won't bite." Meg walked over while her fighter was being taken care of. Soon their ships were moved out of the way for Rick's Scimm. Soon he was making his landing on the flight line.

"Rick, you're back!" Johnson popped the canopy open, as Rick took off his helmet. He looked down at the three below him.

"Yea, I'm back. Nothing to hard to handle." He smiled, considering his luck.

"Those Kilrathi light fighters fall apart too easy! Amazing they're still around..." He got down, Johnson looking down the flightline to the left.

"He'll be wanting you soon." Rick nodded, as several more mechanics started moving his Scimitar out of the way.

"Thanks Johnson, take care of it. Took a hit or two." He took a last look at it, he depended on it with his life nearly every day. It didn't disapoint.

"Eyven, Covan, how are you two? Thanks for getting me out of there." The two looked over at Honeybee.

"Rokain...Pretty good. So they're in the Enyo system." Honey took a look at Meg.

"Yeah, pretty tough little shits too, they wasted my Hornet...Lucky they left me for dead!" He sighed.

"I almost ran away after I took one though, don't know how you two could stand the Mud Pigs! They're too slow!" He looked at Rick.

"But I heard you made a ace from Meg. Good job."

"Yea, thanks..." The three walked over, looking for the commander.

Rick was twenty four, a first lietentant since no one else was fit to. He had dark brown hair and eyes, six feet tall. He was pretty fresh from academy, he had been working the smaller, less hostile systems.

Maegen was more distingished in character then her friend. As she took off her helmet, she reveled her brown hair that went past her shoulders. Her eyes the same as Rick's, she was a foot shorter. He was somewhat pale compared to her, her skin had a healthy tan. To anyone else she was drop-dead gorgeuos; to Rick she was just his best friend. They had know each other for years, they joined up together. At first they wanted to fly Raptors, but found themselves in the Mud Pigs. She was two years younger, had a name to keep known. The Covans had a record of fighter pilots, her proud french heritage shone thru her uniform.

Rokain was simple in comparison. A Hornet pilot, blonde hair and brown eyes. A fiesty one, espically for picking fights with four other fighters. Amazing he was still alive.

The three found their commander, the man that was waiting for them.

"Delta, Swordblade, good work out there today. Excellent seach and rescue mission, even with the hostiles." The two nodded, while Mollo looked over at Rokain.

"But it was almost a search and recovery. Honeybee, you should of contacted us first! We could of avoided this..."

"Sorry sir. I will next time." He looked down under Mollo's icy glare.

"Well, anyways...Honeybee and Swordblade got one kill each, Delta, you got two. Congrats on your first ace." Rick nodded and smiled.

"Thanks sir."

"You're welcome. Dismissed."

One hour later Rick was in the lounge, or the small room that passed off for one at least. He grabbed his lighter, trying to light up a cigar, finding it out of gas. He put it away, seeing the chalkboard:

Pilot: Sorties: Kills:
Hell's Unicorns (Scimitars)
Delta 11 5
Swordblade 11 4
Pilgrim 7 3
Valentine 7 2

Honshu Hornets (Hornets)
Artimis 13 5
Honeybee 8 3​

He looked at his position, the top Scimitar pilot in the group...Except they were all rookies...

He grabbed an iced beer, seeing Artimis by herself, staring out the window. He hadn't even noticed her when he walked in...She was a loner by nature, didn't really get along with people, didn't know how to, at least...It seemed she hated him, even though he didn't know her she always gave him an odd or a uneasy look when he went by her, made him feel uneasy...Except this time, she was frowning at him, like she wanted someone to talk to. Nervosly he pulled up a seat next to her...Startling her.

"...Hi Allison." She trembled with fear, trying to talk. She was horribly shy.

"Oh, hi..." He nodded, as she tried to force a smile.

"Feeling okay? Or is there something wrong?" He couldn't tell, she let out a sigh.

"I'm sorry, I'm shy..." She looked down, Rick moved closer to her.

"You don't have to be Alli..." She looked over at him, confused.

"Why wouldn't I have to? People don't like me..." He frowned, shaking his head.

"I don't, you're nice from what I can tell..." She looked at him, shocked.

"..." She couldn't speak, she was just amazed.

"Do you need something?" She looked at him, considering his offer...Nodding and then hugging him. He looked at her as she buried her head in his shoulder, returning it, the two holding onto each other for a long time.

"Thanks...It's just hard for me..."

"No problem, I'm here." She looked and smiled at him, this time a real smile...She finally found a friend.

Allison was 23, a bit taller then Meg. She had dark hair with blonde highlights, light brown eyes. She was rather quiet, almost afraid of people. It was said that she had lost some family members during a Kilrathi raid, nobody knew for sure since she didn't talk. It took some effort to get her to...But she was great behind the control stick.

"So...Think we'll run into anything out there?" She stared out the window, the stars lazily passing by. Rick nodded and drank some of his beer.

"Me and Swordblade already did. That's why Honeybee got held up." She looked at him and smiled.

"Great...Time to get some more kitty paws to paint on my Hornet." She considered it, getting excited, Rick confused at the sudden change of character.

"I bet this means more recon missions before the rest of the ships get here...Did you hrar about that new Bengal-class ship, the Tiger's Claw? It's supposed to be here with the four other Exeters supposed to jump in!" She had stars in her eyes, Rick noticing her enthusiasm.

"I heard something about it. Seems like it'd be fun to be on, instead of this little Exeter. Suppose they have Raptors on there? They're lots of fun to fly." Rick thought about the Raptors he joined to fly, they were loaded when it came to weapons and were pretty fast...Still he prefered the Scimm.

"Nothing but the best, Rick! Even the pilots are good...The best has around fourty kills or so." They looked at each other and nodded.

"...I can't wait to fly again..." Rick closed his eyes, sitting back.

"Me either Allison...I guess..." He drank down the rest of his beer as she watched on.

"Yeah, I love to fly...But I guess I'm going to bed now, I'm tired...See you around Rick." She looked at him.

"Goodnight Allison." As she started to get up, she turned to him, a little tear in her eye.

"And Rick...Thanks for talking to me." He looked at her, smiling.

"You're welcome Alli...Anytime you want to talk, come ask me." She stopped, staring at him, then coming back for a embrace.

"Oh, thank you..." He nodded at her as they hugged, watching her as she left.

Rick stared out at the stars after she was gone. He was alone now, in a way he was like Allison. Several minutes passed by, just staring out the window.

I'll come back to you, someday...I love you...

He stood up, looking out at the stars one last time before he left. The rec room was empty.
 
Chapter 3

It was morning, at least the clock said so. Hard to see how light it was outside in space.

Rick got up, looking over to see Meg still sleeping softly in her bed, a smile on her face like she was dreaming about locking onto another kitty...He went over to her, putting a hand on her chek, seeing how long it'd take her to notice.

"Ah! Aw...It's you." She swatted him in the face, suprised by the wakeup call. She rubbed the sleep out of her eyes before getting up.

As she stood up, Rick could see the scars all over her legs and feet. The Covans were widely known, yet in recent years the family was poor. Meg had been a worker because of this...Yet they had a great military history, her father a ace before he was killed by a Dralthi pilot several years back.

Rick was already dressed in his uniform before Meg even got out of bed, still barefoot in a tanktop and shorts. As she started putting on her socks she turned to him.

"Wonder what we'll do today." Rick looked back at her.

"Aw...Nothing compared to Port Hedland."

"...We didn't do anything at Hedland, Rick."

"Well, we were born there, we're real heroes there." She rolled her eyes as she finished dressing up, Rick patting her on the back.

"Calm down Mae, just a joke."

"Yeah...That's where I got all these ugly scars too. Damn Draymans! Never get in the transport business Ruck, damn stupid cats always shoot at you..." He nodded, a long time ago Meg had flown civilian Draymans as part of a delivery service. One time a couple of cats mistaked her for a military ship...They nearly destroyed it before some Hornets arrived, the explosions killed off most of the crew except for her and the co-pilot. It left her with all of the scars on her legs, most of them anyways.

"Don't worry, I won't..." He put a hand on her cheek, she blushed in reply.

"Thanks buddy." He helped her up as they went out of their quarters to the mission room. As she walked off Rick stared at a picture of a girl with long dark hair and eyes, very pretty...He sighed as he walked after Mae.

Allison was already there, Commander Mollo waiting for them.

"Good morning everyone. Now I got a assignment for you three. As Honeybee found out, there is an enemy presence in the Enyo system. Now before we have the other Exeters and the Tiger's Claw jump in, we must clear the jump point area out." Allison's eyes widened as soon as the Tiger's Claw was mentioned.

"So we are setting out on a search and destroy mission. You three have first shift, the other three are resting. You'll meet up with another wing of two Scimitars and a Hornet from the TCS Broadsword. Callsigns Ace, King, and Rook..." Meg rose her hand.

"You mean my Ace, my cousin?"

"Yes Swordblade, Magis Covan. Didn't know the relationship." She smiled.

"That's him, love the guy." He nodded.

"Anyways...The coordinates are logged in your computers, meet up with them at the first nav point and search the other points." They nodded.

"Alright then. Launch in five minutes."

Five minutes later, Rick was staring down the launch tube, strapped into his beloved Scimm.

"Delta Flight, prepare to launch in five, four, three, two..."

This is the part I hate, he thought to himself.

"One, go!" Suddenly the Scimitar was shot out the tube well over twice it's maxium speed into the void. Allison and Maegen followed suit. As soon as the other two caught up Rick started flying on the left side of Allison's Hornet.

"Artimis, you lead." She moved it in front of the two Scimms, all three heading to the first nav point.

They got there with no problem, the other wing waiting for them, their Exeter off in the distance.

"This is Delta Flight. Is this Ace Flight?" Rick looked down at the vid-comm.

"Yes sir, Ace Flight here." Maegen smiled at the sight of him.

"Magis, it's you! Mon cher Magis!" She jumped up in her seat with joy.

"Maegen! Dieu I s'est ennuyé de vous! Vous ont-ils blessé récemment?" She relished his image on the vid-comm.

"Non, je t'aime Magis..."

"Je t'aime trop Maegen. Vous êtes toujours aussi beau que s'est levé..." Rick smiled at the family reunion, he could see that Magis had a bit of hair that covered his right eye. Otherwise he couldn't tell much from the green videocast.

"So...Hell's Unicorns! This is the same Delta I flew with, right?" Rick looked over.

"Yea, it's Rick. And my squadron, King." Cris looked at him over the vid-comm.

"Damnit Delta, I was supposed to be King of the the squadron." Rick laughed.

"But you aren't."

"Excuse me gentlemen, I'm trying to talk to my cousin here..." Magis cut them off.

"Maegen, m'invitent excédent quand ceci est fait." She smiled widely.

"Je volonté, je ne puis pas attendre pour être avec vous encore..." Rick checked his nav computer while they talked to each other in french, they were already at the second nav point. In the meantime Allison hadn't talked at all, Rick feeling guilty.

"Artimis, see anything up there?" He waited.

"Nothing, Delta." He sighed.

"Okay, keep moving..." Looked like it was going to be a uneventful trip...

"Delta, enemy ships ahead! Permission to engage?" Rick checked his radar, four contacts on screen.

"Go Artimis, Swordblade stay with me! Ace, hear this?"

"Yes Delta, I hear. We're attacking." The other three fighters followed as Meg and Rick took up the rear.

"I got a lock on a Dralthi! Two other ones up here, take them!" Alli was already on it, the other Hornet moving past and heading towards the unknown target about a hundred kilometers away.

"This is Rook, got a fix on a enemy transport! Attacking now!" Rick looked up, realizing the guy's mistake, watching him charge at it.

"Wait, Dorkir's have anti-aircraft guns! They'll rip your Hornet apart!" He could already see the rounds slapping the Hornet around like a toy.

"Nailed him! Going for another!" Alli's Hornet was already on another Dralthi, the one she was chasing turned into bits and pieces.

"Affirmative...Meg, join up with King and Ace, take out the Dorkirwith your missiles! I'm backing up Artimis." Delta moved up as soon as the other Scimitars were occupied with the Dorkir, going after the other Dralthi.

"Moving in on the Dorkir now." Ace unloaded his dumbfires and one of his heat seekers at the Dorkir, weakening it's shields. He flew out of the way as the Dorkir opened up, hitting him once in the rear, the shields absorbing the blow.

"Tally ho!" King came up from behind the Dorkir like Ace did, unloading his missiles and afterburning out, destroying the rear shields and blowing out it's engines...It was stuck in a bad spot now.

"Moving in, last run!" Maegen saw the Dorkir's damage on her targetor, she switched to her Mass Drivers. As the transport came into view, she pulled the trigger, kept on pressing until it went up in flames.

"Tué." She smiled as she pulled out.

"Artimis, where are you?" Rick looked around, unable to see her, the Dralthis moving in on the other Scimitars.

"I'm chasing a Dralthi, tag the other one!" She grinned as she triggered a heat seeking missile, watching it fly after a wounded Dralthi, laser shot marks all over it.

Farewell...I won't miss you.

She nodded as the missile found it's mark, right between the Dralthi's engines. It flailed over to the left before disintigrating, Allison watching in delight.

"Took out two." She watched as Rick followed a Dralthi, speeding up to cover him. Soon it met the Mass Drivers to the rear, and it blew up in a fireball.

"We've cleared this spot out! What's the condition of Rook?"

"He took a few, still alive." Rick sighed, amazed someone could be so stupid.

"Wait...More contacts! Watch it Delta!" He looked down at King's warning, one coming at him. Another Dralthi, he primed up his guns at the sight of the Confed fighter. None hit him though. Rick took over the kitty's luck and fired back, the shots tearing it up before it had another chance to fire at him.

"Delta, the Dorkir! You focus on it, I'm already engaged!" He looked over to see Ace fighting a Dralthi.

"You already took it though!"

"There's another one! Shoot it before it can jump!" Rick looked down below him, cursing his luck as he saw another brand new Dorkir flying around. King and Meg started lining up to him for another run.

"I got the other Dralthi, take the transport Delta!" Allison shot down the fighter, Ace trailing the one he was fighting with.

Rick stared down at the Dorkir below, he aimed his missiles and charged it. The guns started firing at him, a couple finding their mark, none getting past the front shields though. As the gunners had to recharge he fired all five of his missiles into it, wearing it's shields out. Amazingly he managed to make it out without getting shot at again.

Maegen found the damaged Dorkir with it's side ruined, so she unloaded her remaining ordinance into it, watching as it exploded just like the other one.

"Deux tués." She watched behind as the other fighters started to turn around. She followed suit.
 
"Enemies cleared, head for home!" Ace came back with his kill, all of them still alive. For one, barely.

"Rook, you idiot! You're lucky you're still alive! You can't take a ship like that in a Hornet by yourself!"

"Sorry Ace." Rook started sweating, the Dorkir guns had nearly wasted the little Hornet, only the rear shields had any energy left.

"Okay, enough of that...Report back to the Regal, Delta Flight. Good work everyone."

"Same goes for Ace Flight. Je vous verrai bientôt Maegen." She looked at him over the vid-comm.

"Vous aussi, Magis." She watched the flare of his Scimitar's engines fade into the dark as his flight headed back for home, flying proudly in front of the others...Like he was a knight in shining armor...

Back home, Mollo was waiting.

"Delta, mission well done. I've already viewed the flight recorders, Delta got two, Artimis got three, and Swordblade knocked out the two Dorkir. Maegen, my personal congraduations for takng out those transports." Meg nodded; Allison winking at him, a wry smile on her face.

"Oh, yes...Come to my office in an hour, Allison, I need to speak with you." She smiled as she snapped off a salute.

"And Magis said he's coming over to see you Maegen. That's all." She smiled as he walked away.

A couple hours later Rick was by himself in the rec room. It wasn't even rec room, just a small empty room with a window, they put chairs and a cooler in it because the Commander didn't have a problem with it. So he saw Meg walking in, pulling up a table. She grabbed a shot of tequila and gulped it down, grabbing the bottle and putting it down on the table.

"Drinking Mae?"

"Welcoming presen." She waited, and waited...About a half hour later her cousin walked in, her wait finally over. She jumped up, nearly flying into the air as she landed in Magis's arms.

"Magis! Il est été trop long!" The two embraced, kissing each other on the cheek in the standard french fashion. Rick considered it, before drinking down a beer, wishing that she was here with him. Magis looked somewhat like Maegen, shoulder length hair with a bit of it hanging over his right eye, brown in color, same his eyes, the same healthy tan like Maegen.

"Je sais, je souhaite que je n'aie eu l'ouragan jamais gauche..." She looked at him, rubbing his cheek.

"Il est correct cependant, nous sont ensemble encore..." They got teary eyed, the two embraced and sat down at their table, speaking so quickly in their native tounge that Rick couldn't understand them. In the meantime Allison ran into the rec room, excited over something. Seeing that Rick was there she ran over to him.

"Rick! I got promoted! I got promoted!" She sat down next to him, her only friend.

"I'm a first lietentant now!" She started to get excited, Rick held her hand.

"Good work Allison...I mean, first lietentant Regent." She smiled and held his hand, hugging him in return. They looked at each other, Rick noticing the new pins on her uniform.

"Thank you, bless your Scimitar, have a safe career..." She put her head on his shoulder, he smiled. He liked the warmth he felt around her.

"Bless your Hornet, stay safe Allison."

"Thanks." Rick looked down at her, smiling.

"Well, eh...Let's celebrate! More drinks for me and Alli!"
 
Chapter 4

Three days later Rick was back in the seat of his Scimm. Allison was leading a patrol with Honeybee and Pilgrim, in her place Rick was stuck with Ballentine. A british chap, he was okay. No Artimis behind the guns, though; he was a bit careless behind the stick.

Rick went over the mission briefing in his head again as he set his computer to the target nav. A simple escort mission, Mollo said. Find the Drayman jumpin in and take it back to the Regal. Two Exeters had already jumped in, several more were supposed to replace the Regal and the Broadsword so they could be sent to another system. Perhaps Brimston, Gimle maybe. Anyways, Rick was concerned with the Drayman.

"Valentine, Swordblade, take up my rear. I'm leading." Meg looked up, watching the exhaust of his Scimitar get smaller as his Scimm sped up ahead.

"Affirmative Delta, stay safe Rick." She looked down at her scanner, displaying the status of her leader.

"Don't worry, I will. Just keep your attention on the Drayman when it jumps in." She considered the transport, it was a living hell for the crews. Everything in space was out to get you...Hell, even the Kilrathi Dorkirs had their guns - Draymans had nothing, she knew it firsthand.

"No problem, it's safe with me. Since I'm looking to come back alive." She grinned, Rick rolling his eyes at her.

"Yea...Tell your cousin it was a honor flying with him, sorry I didn't get the chance to eariler." She nodded over the vid-comm., and checked over her scanners, nothing in the area.

"I will...He said you are non un si grand pilote que je lui disais." He looked at her green image, smiling.

"I'll take that as a compliment..." She started laughing.

"Non, non! That means that you aren't such a great pilot as I was telling him about." She giggled as Rick's face suddenly went to a frown.

"Well then..." She smiled, the three Scimitars in the area for the target.

"...Delta, can you see the Drayman yet?" Meg looked down at the radar, then her navigation computer, see the transport was several minutes late.

"Nothing Swordblade, keep scanning. Valentine, still with us?"

"Yes Delta, still here."

"Alright, stay with Meg, I'm going to circle around. Stay alert for enemy fighters, this could get ugly..." He got a grunt in reply as he started slowly orbiting the jump point, waiting for the Drayman.

"Think it could of got held up?" Rick sighed at Ballentine.

"No Valentine, they come from Confed airspace, no way a Kilrathi fighter could get to them unless they got overrun." Valentine paused to think about it.

Suddenly a blue light appeared, four points protuding outward as it opened up. The Drayman came shooting outwards as it jumped out, the lightshow ending as soon as it had begun.

"Delta Flight, we're glad to have you with us." Rick smiled at them, they always liked a helping hand.

"Yes sir, let's get you back to the Exeters now." The Drayman sped up, the Scimms flying as close as they could. Space was empty except for them, nothing to excite them."

"Swordblade, can you see anything?" Valentine was anxious for a kill.

"No Valentine, nothing worth your while."

"Damn it...Why are you so lucky?" Meg looked at the vid-comm.

"Not lucky, just unlucky to find them, don't rush in to get killed now...Non chanceux du tout..." Maegen had more them her share of piloting transports, now she was a little bit safer in her Scimitar...Barely.

"Whatever works for you." He said it in a sarcastic tone, Maegen rolling her eyes. He wasn't too smart, she wouldn't worry about it if he bought it. Rick, on the other hand...

Soon the Regal was in view in front of them, Artimis and Honeybee on guard duty. The Broadsword was off in the distance, waiting for supplies.

"Welcome back Delta."

"Thanks Artimis." He waved to her over the vid-comm., watching as the Drayman moved into position into the gathering fleet, two more transports nearby, all waiting to be unloaded.

"Horray! This means more cigarettes!" Meg laughed at Rick as he celebrated the small victory, the smoking rations were a little low as of late. The only thing worse them being stuck in space with lots of gigantic cats flying around was being stuck in space with lots of gigantic cats flying around and not having something to smoke afterwards.

"This is the Drayman crew, we are now in fleet position, thanks for your escort." Rick smiled.

"You're welcome, thanks for the supplies." The Drayman joined the others, two Raptors from a new Exeter guarding them. Meanwhile Valentine and Swordblade had made their landings, going on without him.

"Delta to Regal, requesting landing."

"Permission granted, you are clear to land." He looked straight ahead, the hanger bay doors opening, a guide beam lighting up for him to follow. Soon he was back in the launch tube, being moved off to the hanger deck.

"Delta, you made it without a scratch?" Johnson looked up to Rick as he stepped out, amazed at his skills at the stick.

"Nothing to get scratched by. No need to fix her except for a refuel." Johnson nodded, he was great at mechanics, Rick's Scimitar was always ready for combat no matter what the situation.

"Well then...Got any smokes Rick?" Rick smiled again.
 
I enjoyed these chapters very much. I especially liked the little references to the game. It was occasionally difficult for me to determine who was speaking, though. Other than that, it's great. I'd like to see more.
 
Thanks. lol, this was the 2nd draft, I had written some character's lines to be spoken while the focus was on another charcter, that's whats causing the confusion there.(That and the bits in french, you could use the translator on google to translate it.)

Ha, I figured it was time someone wrote a WC1 story, considering most are around the time of WC3-WCP(Shame I haven't played those yet, I've only been able to play the orginial and it's Secret Missions, but from that game I can tell it's grand.:))
Alot of the little references were written in just to see if anyone would remember them(Even the chalkboard - Anyone know how to fix that so it looks like the one in WC1? I had it that way in Notepad but then it got screwed up when I posted it :()

But anyways, hope you enjoy the next few chapters I'm going to put up, they should be up in a day or so.
 
Chapter 5

The same morning ritual for Maegen. Get up, lounge about, show off her scars, slap Rick for a stupid joke, hug him to make up for it, get dressed, go to the hanger deck. Rick still stopped to see his favorite picture before he left.

"Good morning, Rick and Maegen. Hope you two had a good rest, you'll need it. Today you're escorting the Drayman from yesterday back to the jump point so it can get back to Confed airspace. Careful now, we're expecting at least light resistance, we've found the main source of Kilrathi resistance in the Enyo system." Maegen wondered about it.

"What is it, may I ask?"

"Good question. It appears to be a small fleet of two Ralari-class crusiers and a Falthi. We have to get rid of them before we can pull out here, more Exeters will replace us." Mollo looked over to their Scimitars, then back to them.

"In case you see something unusual, come back and tell us about it." The two nodded.

"Well then, dismissed, you launch in three minutes. Good luck."

Four minutes later they were shot out the launch tubes, screaming past the slow Drayman.

"Welcome back, ready to go?"

"Affirmative Delta Flight, let's go back home." Rick smiled with a chuckle as the Drayman struggled to catch up to the already slow-moving Scimitars. Meg got over to it's right flank, Rick it's left.

"Rick, think I'll see my cousin again?" She got on a private channel with him...Worried she wouldn't see Magis again, didn't want to never see him again.

"Don't worry, the Broadsword is coming with us when we pull out." She nodded at him.

"Thanks Rick." She looked out her canopy frame, noticing that there was some rather large space derbis up ahead from a eariler battle...

"No problem..." He looked up at his radar, several objects flying at them. It wasn't space derbis anymore...

"Oh crap! They were already here!" Meg looked out her canopy frame, six Salthi fighters flying at them. She shook off the shock and armed her Mass Drivers.

"I'll stay with the Drayman! Go out and attack them Meg!" A simple nod over the green vid-comm. was her reply as she targeted the lead Salthi with her scanner and gave chase.

It flew over to the Drayman, trying to get a good shot. Unforunately for the kitty inside Meg had her Mass Drivers on him. Within seconds the green bolts had ripped through the fighter, roasting the kitty. She looked up at the radar again as soon as the lock disappeared, trying to find another one...

The rear shields started to fade away. She let out a shriek as she looked behind her, two of them on her tail.

"Delta, help me out here!" She turned around to the right, knowing the Salthi wouldn't be able to chase her very far that way...Still the shots came, several penetrating the weakened shields.

"I'm here for you!" Watching back she saw one of the Salthis explode, hit by a heat-seeker. The other broke off to the left, unable to go right, due to it's shoddy construction. A very bad defect since Delta was heading right towards his side.

"Get out Swordblade! Find the Drayman and stay with it!" He watched from the corner of his eye as her Scimitar headed for the Drayman, smoke puffing out of it's engines. Something was wrong with her ship...

Inside it was getting very bumpy, Meg being shaken about as she afterburned out...Looking down at her damage display she saw that the Acceleration Absorbers were offline, Meg being able to feel that fact at the moment.

The leftover Salthi didn't have much of a chance, Rick already in position to attack it's weak left flank. Knowing he wouldn't be able to shake the Scimm the Salthi pilot tried to pull up, to no avail as Rick let off another missile. The heat-seeker had found the heat off of it's engines and was giving chase. As a last ditch escape attempt the little fighter tried to speed up - And got the missile up the tailpipe. The shields faded instantly and the Salthi turned into a flash of orange before vanishing...Rick letting out a yell of joy, watching the Javelin hit over his right VDU display due to it's missile camera.

"Swordblade, are you okay?" He flew back to the Drayman, Meg's Mud Pig next to it. Making sure that the remaining three Salthis were far off he made his way over. Checking her over the scanner, he saw that the back shields were gone and the rear panels were red, something was definately wrong.

"My engine block was hit, the shields failed! Accel Absorbers are down and my Ion Drive is damaged!" Rick suddenly jumped up in his seat after hearing about the Ion Drive, realizing what this meant.

"Go back home Meg! You're sitting on a reactor that could blow any second!" She shook her head at him.

"And leave you alone?" Rick stared at her, at least the fuzzy light green image of her over the vid-comm.

"I can take care of things! Just make it back alive!" She thought about...Nodding her head after several seconds.

"Merci..." She afterburned out while she still had time, watching the other Scimitar and the Drayman getting smaller and smaller as she ran away...

In the meanwhile a Salthi tried to make a run after her, Rick speeding up at it to intercept.

"No...Not yet!" He primed up his Mass Drivers just in case, watching the red crosshairs appear once again in his targetor...

"How much longer until you can jump out?"

"At least five more minutes! Can you hold them that long?" Rick watched his last heat-seeker lock onto the Salthi.

"Yes, just tell me if you're in trouble!" He fired it off, it ran right into the fighter's rear and gutted it out as it headed into the cockpite, breaking the fighter up into pieces.

Meanwhile the other two Salthis were syrrounding him, trying to catch him in a trap. He didn't fall for it though, as he headed after the one on his tail, Mass Drivers charged.

The cat decided to play chicken, coming at him firing two shots. Rick responded with a salvo of fire, ripping it apart. The flames reflected off the canopy glass of the Scimm, Rick feeling happy about his kills. In the meanwhile the Salthi's shots were quickly absorbed by the front shields.

"Two more minutes, be aware there's another enemy in the area! He's head towards us!" A Dralthi came flying after the Drayman, finding Rick instead and started after him with guns blazing as he popped up from behind. The Scititar shields held, unforunately for Rick they were weakened for the next assult. As soon as Rick could turn around to see him the Dralthi was on top of him, turning around at his side and firing, knocking the right Mass Driver gun off of it's mount and into space.

"Scimitar pilot! Leave your transport now if you want to live!" Rick looked down at the vid-comm. while keeping an eye on the Dralthi, which was floating silently about three thousand meters away. As the pilot came through Rick saw that it was a particuarly hidious Kilrathi staring at him, ice in his eyes, never moving.

"Sorry, can't do that! This Drayman's my pal." The kitty suddenly had a grin on his face.

"Well then...Let it be known that Baktov Blacktooth shot down you and your pal." Rick had a expression on his face as if to say "Who?", he locked onto the Dralthi as it started to gun his engines, keeping an eye on the Salthi.

Baktov came at him at full speed, firing off several bolts. They went past Rick as he boosted out of the way, he got ready to fire his own attack. As Baktov got in the way of crosshairs he let loose, the Mass Driver seeming to work faster with just one cannon online.

"We're jumping! Sorry we can't help...But thank you!" The Drayman stopped in place, suddenly replaced by a flash of light.

"No problem..." Rick watched the Drayman disappeared into the void, the light fading. The Dralthi still kept charging.

The Mass Driver found it's mark, several shots making it past Blacktooth's shields and hitting the Dralthi's wings, green particles flying through the void.

"Baktov! They made their escape! We lost this time!" The cat looked over, the Salthi making a quick get-away.

"Damnit Sabbath! Scimitar...I shall return for you later...What is your name, Red Unicorn?" Rick smiled proudly as he flipped off the kitty over the vid-comm.

"Rick Eyven, callsign Delta! Tell the cats over at Port Hedland that I'm gunning for them!" Baktov let out a growl.

"I shall, Rick...That is if you live to get back there again...Farewell for now. Baktov flew off after the Salthi, the wounded Dralthi showing signs of engine trouble.

Rick felt cold for a while heading home, looking back to make sure the two kitties weren't trying anything sly. As soon as they couldn't be seen anymore he started to afterburn back for home...He smiled once the Regal came into view again.
 
Chapter 6

"Rick! Are you okay in there?" As he got out of the Mud Pig, Maegen jumped him, holding him tight in her arms.

"I'm fine, I'm fine...My Scimm took the hits for me." She looked at the damaged Scimm and back at him.

"Looked like you got hit bad out there..." He took off his helmet, putting his head on her shoulder.

"Don't worry, I'm okay." She nodded, Johnson coming over, shaking his head after looking at Rick's Scimitar.

"You're lucky you're alive Rick, don't know how you survived with just one gun! A couple more shots to the right side and it would of blown out the cockpit!" Meg shook, Rick let her hold him tighter as the fighter crew moved his Scimm off the flight line...When she saw some sparks fly off from the missing Mass Driver slot she jumped and held him in a death grip.

"Guess I'm lucky, must be." He nodded at Johnson and the two pilots walked off, Rick's arm over Meg's shoulders.

"Hey, Rick..." He looked down to her.

"Yes?" She forced a smile.

"Thanks for covering me out there today, my Scimm was in bad shape when they brought it in..." He shook his head, Meg frowning.

"That's nothing, you don't have to thank me...Remember when you asked me not to die on you? Well, don't die on me, it's no problem." Meg toom a look at him, Rick rubbing her right shoulder.

"...Oui, mon cher ami." He nodded, knowing at least what that meant.

As always Commander Mollo was waiting for them at the end of the flight deck, looking over his blue uniform, taking off his cap and showing off his dirty blonde hair.

"God damn Delta, excellent work! Holding off five fighters while a DRayman jumped without a wingmate! And one of those fighters was Baktov Blacktooth!" Meg smiled at him, Rick puzzled about Baktov.

"Excuse me sir, thank you for the compliments but who is Baktov Blacktooth?" Mollo stared at him.

"You don't know who he is? Why, he's one of the Kilrathi aces in this sector! Has at least twenty confirmed kills to his credit! Ask Regent about him later, she would know. At any rate, good work on holding him off. Rick nodded, feeling a slight sense of pride.

"Anyways...Delta, you got four kills, Swordblade, you got one. The Drayman made it out safely. Also, we did pin-point the location of the enemy crusiers, we're going to attack them before we leave so get some sleep before we hit it. Dismissed." The two saluted as they left.

As soon as he got out of his flight gear he was in the rec room. Allison was a table by herself, an off-duty mechanic giving her an odd stare, she put her head down. Rick sat down next to her, staring down the mechanic. He let out a huff as he left, Rick looking at Allison, her head still down.

"Was he giving you a bad time?" She nodded as she sat up again, a frown on her face.

"Yeah...Don't know why everyone thinks I'm a freak on board here." Rick frowned with her, putting a hand on her shoulder.

"I don't Allison...Forget everyone else. Actually..." Some bad memories of eariler came up in Rick's head, but she smiled for a little while.

"What is it?" He looked her over, sighing.

"For a while I thought you hated me...Sorry I didn't talk to you earlier." Her small smile turned into a big grin, she started patting him on his hand.

"Aww, no...If anything I just want a friend, I wouldn't hate you." They gazed into each other's eyes.

"Well...I'd call you a friend..." She jumped up in her seat, a big smile on her face.

"You are a friend, Rick." She got up and hugged him, putting her cheek up to his. He liked it alot, but...He had to change the subject.

"Thanks...Anyways...Have you heard of Baktov Blacktooth? I ran into him today, don't know who he is." She pulled away while looking at him, shocked.

"Blacktooth! Lucky! He's a Kilrathi ace, flys a Dralthi, at last known count he had at least twenty one kills to his credit. Rumor has it he switched out the guns on his fighter. A standard Dralthi has guns like the Laser Bolts on a Hornet, well, he put guns on there that are as powerful as the neutron guns on a Raptor. He's pretty good..." Rick took in all this information, he took pretty good care of things considering he was a rookie.

"Wonder if I'll run into him...Anyways, I heard we're going to attack some crusiers soon...Do you know how to attack them?" Rick paused and shook his head.

"Good then, I'll tell you, we fought one before you arrived. Attack them from the flanks, their shields are the weakest there, the front and rear are covered by very heavy shields. Use your missiles on them, when you run out use your guns. They say they're useless but you can take one down with just your guns." He nodded at her.

"Don't worry about all that though, just follow me and you'll be all right, I'll show you how." He nodded again and smiled at her.

"I will...Anyways, I'm going to bed...I'll see you then." The two hugged. Felt great to be hugged by her, but there was the nagging thought in the back of Rick's head that he shouldn't be doing that...

"You too Rick, take care." She watched as he went to bed, she sighed. Now she was all alone again, back where nobody cared.
 
Chapter 7

Shake, shake, shake. Rick woke up, seeing Mae shaking him with his eyes half closed. As he opened them he saw she was on top of him, trying to get his attention.

"Rick, wake up! This is the day..." Rick looked up to her, a grim smile on her face.

"We can beat them Rick! We'll beat them all the way back to Kilrah!" Rick rubbed the sleep out of his eyes, it was long before they normally woke up.

"Well, you sound like a propaganda video today."

"Then...If anything, I want them to pay for this." She got up and showed him her right leg, out of all the scars on it she pointed at a rather long one running up to her thigh. Just one out of at least a dozen.

"Heh...I'll do that for you, Mae. Damn cats always ruining things, nice legs included." She blushed, slapping him playfully in the face, laughing at him.

"Careful now...But thanks for the compliment." She smiled as she put on her uniform.

"Unforunately for you I'm not wearing a skirt today so no more nice legs for you." Rick hid his head under his arms as she finished dressing up.

"Say it ain't so! We could kill all the cats if we showed off your legs! They'd feel so bad they'd kill themselves! It's the ultimate weapon!" She looked over at him, rolling her eyes.

"Sometimes I worry about you...Aren't you still obsessed with that one girl back on Hurricane?" Rick nodded, smiling.

"Yea...But I still can say you look nice." He mumbled to her, she smiled and slapped him in the face again for fun.

"And that's a nice thing to say. But anyways...Let's go, Rick." She grabbed her helmet and walked off, Rick doing the same...Pausing at the picture of the girl. As Meg went into the hallway Rick grabbed it, putting it into his pocket and following her.

Soon the entire wing of pilots had assembled, Mollo speaking to all of them in the mission room.

"This is it, everyone! The grand finale for the Enyo System! The enemy strike force has been located and two of our other Exeters are launching fighters to take it out! So now we're going to help out...Our fighters are going to take one of the Ralaris, the Broadsword fighters will take out the other, and the Panher fighters will attack the Falthi." He studied his command, the six pilots.

"It may seem odd to have so many fighters to take out three ships but we predict there will be heavy resistance...So be ready for a dogfight." Ballentine and Allison smiled, both of them thinking of the prospect.

"Let's get them bastards, eh?" Mollo nodded at him.

"That's the spirit, Valentine. First wing is Delta, Swordblade, and Artimis. She specifically requested to fly your wing, Rick." He looked behind, Allison winking at him.

"Second wing is Pilgrim, Valentine, and Honeybee." Ballentine started grinning, he couldn't wait to put some cats into the space graveyard.

"Get ready to launch in five minutes! Godspeed, everyone." Mollo watched as they ran over to their fighters, wondering if something would happen to one of them.

Soon enough Rick was in his Scimitar, right in front of the other three...Hell's Unicorns.

"Delta, you're ready to go! Good luck!" Rick gave Johnson a thumbs up as they started towing his fighter over to the launch tube. As soon as he was in place he closed the canopy, looking over his instrument panel...Seeing an empty spot between the scanner and the nav computer, he took out the picture and put it in there, the beautiful girl staring at him.

"Delta to all members of Hell's Unicorns, good luck out there. Just make it back in one piece. We'll need everyone we can get later..." The others responded with various whoops and yells, Rick trying to see the the red unicorn painted on the side of his Scimm.

"Launch now..." It was time for the Confed to start fighting back, the Kilrathi were too close to home.

As soon as they were out the tube, the hunt was on. Allison's Hornet started ahead, Rick and Meg flying on her flanks, forming a triangle.

"Get ready you too, I can see them up ahead!" Rick activated his Mass Drivers, he wasn't wasting his missiles on the shields.

"Leave him for me Allison, you've killed enough of them! I'll blow them up to pieces for you!" Valentine's wing started flying up behind them, he wasn't much of a relief. Rick blew a kiss at his picture.

Good luck for me, love...

The Hornet started up with it's Laser Bolts, the blue beams smashing into the Ralari's side, before she finally had to pull out to recharge.

"Don't worry about him Valentine, there's plenty more of them around!" She smiled as she watched his Scimm fly around, swearing she could see him shake his fist at her while he went by. Meanwhile Rick looked over to see Meg boosting towards the Ralari.

"Meg, save your fuel for boosting away, it isn't going anywhere! If you go at crusing speed you won't use up any!" He looked over to her, the green bolts of energy charging up at the tips of her guns.

Suddenly the Ralari loomed large, Rick letting fly with all of his shots, the Drivers drained of all power. As he flew off he could see the red anti-fighter flak being fired, one of the Raptors trying to lay mines getting hit in the engine, blowing it apart in one hit. He turned away, thankful it wasn't him.

"One of the Raptors is down! Make sure you stay away from the flak!" Rick moved over to Allison's Hornet and watched as Meg made her run, several explosions running up to the top of the Ralari's left side. While she flew back to recharge the other three made their run. Honeybee and Pilgrim went around and attacked the other side, draining the Ralari's shields, Valentine made his run on the left side where it was damaged the most and ended up taking a flak charge in his side. The lucky guy still made it back.

In the meanwhile the three remaining Raptors had laid out a trap of Porcupine mines in front of the crusier, as it by it ran into several, taking out it's front shields with a light touch of them. Before it could even stop the Ralari had been crippled, it's flak guns working overtime.

In response to the confed fighters preparing to make their second run several objects came flying out of it, not flak or lasers.

"Four enemy Krants are coming after us!" One of the Raptors turned around to fight, in vain as the Krants overwhelmed it and took it out. However, one of it's attackers ran into one of the mines and blew it's front off, kitty included.

"Hey Rick...How about we get into this war?" Valentine jetted off after the Krants, by himself.

"...Artimis, can you handle this by yourself? I'll keep the fighters off you." She nodded over the vid-comm., Rick chasing after Valentine...Making sure that it was safer for Allison.

One of the Krants had noticed the Scimms and decided to attack, leaving it's friends behind. Valentine was already on him, he opened up with the Mass Drivers, smashing the cockpit up. To end it he fired a dumbfire, the Dart blowing the Krant apart, a lucky hit.

"Good! Finally got a kill here!" He let out a yell.

The other two Krants came over, seeing the rest of the fighters from the Regal making a second run. One of the two decided to fight Rick, making a hit and run, splashing the front shields of his Scimm with laser bolts, the Krant flying out of the way before he even had a chance to react.

In the meantime the others were making their second run, Regent and Rokain speeding in and out with guns blazing, both making it out unharmed. Meg and Pilgrim flew in next, Meg making her shots hit without getting hit herself. Pilgrim decided to unload his missiles, a lucky flak shot hitting him in the undercarrige as he launched his last missile, the Dart exploding right on it's hardpoint.

The Krant decided to fly back, Rick locking onto it with a heat seeker. No way he was going to get shot down by a cat.

"I got you now." He watched as the Krant flew underneath him, Rick launching the Javlin as it passed by the other way. It followed the Krant right off the hardpoint, smashing into it's engines.

Meg made her way back to the Ralari, the wounded crusier exploding, panels and shrapenal flying off it's sides, one of it's back wings falling off and drifting away. It was her chance...She zoomed up and let fly, all of her missiles smashing into the Ralari...Soon it had collasped and imploded on itself, no more cruiser. But as she tried to fly away, the Scimm started slowing down to it's reserves - She ran out of fuel.

The Krant made it's way to confront it's attacker, this time Rick was ready, he let off another heat seeker, not even having time to shhot his Mass Drivers as the Krant took the hit and flew past him. Still going.

Just as the crusier fall apart completely, four Salthis and a couple of Dralthis came back, to see their Ralari destroyed and Confed fighters swarming the place.

To make up for it they decided to take on the fighters from the Broadsword, flying over to help out after taking on the other Ralari in the area. Valentine noticed this, fresh from killing the other Krant by running it into a mine. He took on a Salthi, the fighter never noticing the Scimitar behind it until it was splattered across the stars.

Rick finally caught up onto the Krant, loading it's back end up with Mass Driver shots. About damn time, he thought, as the Krant fell apart.

Magis watched as Valentine came over and shot down another one of the others coming at hit. He hit it with a heat seeker, smiling as it blew up. Another flew by, getting nailed in the side as Magis opened up on it.

Allison moved up to their position, one of the Dralthis flying in front of her. She blew it's wing off with her Laser Bolts, the fighter going down. The last Salthi came up over to her, Allison watching as the lock for her Javlin came up.

Times like this, I'd never let you get away...

The lone Salthi turned into a brilliant flash before it died down, the flames reflecting on the canopy glass, on the glass on her helmet's visor, in her eyes...

The only Kilrathi left was the lone flapjack. It was outgunned, the Dralthi pilot deciding to take on Allison's Hornet while her back was to him...

She was too smart, knowing that something was behind her before she even looked down at the radar. The Hornet turned around, Allison watching as the Dralthi came closer...The enemy lock-on warning started beeping, the sound droning in her ears as she readied her aim...

The pancake let loose with it's own heat seeker, flying upwards thinking that was all it took to take down the little bee...Allison didn't think so. As the Dralthi's belly came into view she fired her two remaining dumbfires, the range too close that they couldn't miss...The flapjack split in two as the bottom armor crumpled like paper. Meanwhile the missile it fired was two thousand meters away from Allison and closing...She broke hard left and hit the air brake, the engine dying down and losing heat...The missile flying right past until it blew up by itself. Sweat trickling down her face...Then laughing as she realized she didn't get killed.

"TSC Regal to all flights, prepare to draw back now! Head home!" Rick was still watching the remains of the Krant float away as the message came over his comm. He looked over to his right, the other Confed fighters returning home. As he flew back he saw Meg trying to catch up, unable to speed up.

"Out of fuel Mae?" She nodded over the vid-comm.

"Well then...I'll fly you home." The two Scimms flew side by side, the flares of their engines fading into the void.
 
Chapter 8

The engines cooled down as the two Scimitars landed in the hanger bay. Soon they were pushed out of the way into the flight line.

Rick let out a long sigh, looking down at his precious picture, He thanked her for making it, blowing her a kiss as Johnson opened up the canopy.

"They didn't even touch you, Rick!" He looked inside, Rick frowning at him.

"Tell that to the Krant I shot down. Two missiles and dozens of Mass Driver hits and he was still going! Fast little bastard, too! I thought he had me..." Rick got out, seeing Pilgrim's heavily damaged Scimm.

"That makes two of you...Except they actually hit Pilgrim." Rick stepped back once he was off the ladder.

"God, did they get him? Looks bad..." Johnson shook his head.

"Evan got out alright, flak hit his Scimm in the belly when he was firing a missile. Lucky guy, they could of nailed him right there!" Rick nodded, Meg walking back over to the flight line. Soon Allison and Rokain were landing their Hornets, both looking worse for wear. Rick walked over to his friend's fighter.

"Allison! How was that one?" She looked over from the side of her Hornet, several shot marks on the right side. She had a big grin.

"Damn, what a rush Rick! I love it!" As soon as she was off the ladder, she was bouncing up and down.

"A couple more kitties came over on the way home, Jakkah Sabbath was one of them! He's Blacktooth's lackey, has about fifteen kills or so. Almost had him, we got into a scrap, he outran my Hornet in his Salthi though...He seemed scared!" She smiled.

"Good Allison, bet he'll get ripped apart for running away, it's against their code!" She laughed, Rick patting her on the shoulder.

"Well...I guess we got to go to debriefing now, I need to talk to you later about a fighter I saw..." She looked over, the other pilots heading over to the mission room.

"Alright, I'll talk to you later Rick." They hugged for a brief while before going to be debriefed.

Several hours later, everyone was assembled in the hanger deck, Mollo taking a spot on a pedestral covered in blue carpet.

"I would like to thank everyone for their efforts in the Enyou system. I believe we can win the Vega sector back for the Confederation." He paused, before continuing.

"No most of you are familar with combat, I hope you are since this is going to be a long war. We're going to recieve some new pilots soon, hope you can teach them something." The six pilots looked at each other, nodding.

"Anyways...I have some awards to hand out. Will First Lieutenant Rick Eyven please come up to the stand?" Rick stood up, surprised at his name being called. He went up.

"For his actions concerning the defense of a Drayman transport, holding off five Kilrathi fighters while the transport jumped to safety, without the aid of a wingmate...I would like to present the Bronze Star to Lieutenant Eyven." He pinned the star onto Rick's uniform, it gleamed in the light with a warm glow.

"And also I would like to award him his Fifteen Missions and Ace pins. Congrats Lieutenant." Mollo pinned the pins right next to the Scimitar pilot pin and the Five and Ten Mission pins on Rick's uniform, the entire crew cheering for him. He smiled and snapped off a salute.

"Thank you sir." Mollo saluted back.

"Thank you, Lieutenant. You're one of our finest pilots." He smiled, Rick nodding and going back to his spot, even though he felt that he wasn't worth the comment.

"And will Second Lieutenant Maegen Covan come up to the stand?" She looked up to him, knowing what it meant, feeling full of pried with herself. Rick pushed her up, she was so happy she couldn't walk up.

"And for her actions in today's battle, destroying a Ralari-class crusier while other fighters were held up fighting Kilrathi resistance, and for also destroying two enemy Dorkir transports, crippling the Kilrathi ability to attack the Confederation, I would also like to award Lieutenant Covan the Bronze Star." She felt him pin the star, she felt like jumping for joy, she had done good for the family name.

"I also would like to give her Fifteen Missions and Ace pins she has won." Soon her chest was full of pins, she felt like a heroine.

"Merci, merci Commander...I don't know what to say..." He smiled as she saluted.

"You're welcome, it's great to have people like you here." She smiled as she ran back to her spot, jumping and latching onto Rick.

"As for the other pilots...Valentine has won his Ten Missions and Ace pins, Pilgrim his Ten Missions and Ace, Artimis her Ten and Fifteen Missions, Honeybee his Ten Missions and Ace. Please come up here and recieve them." All four got up, recieving their pins and their appluse...Rick clapping for Allison the most, she looked over and nodded at him. As they got off the pedestral Mollo started talking again.

"...We are going to be moved to the Alcor system. Kilrathi forces seem to be moving supplies there to their systems on the front line, let's beat them out of there!" Everyone cheered, appluding the Bronze Star winners the most, Rick noticing that since they had the medal that they were apparently heroes.

"Thank you everyone, good luck in the next system...Dismissed." As they started to leave the ceremony Mollo ran up to Rick.

"Eyven...I would like your input on Hell's Unicorns." Rick looked at him, surprised again.

"What do you mean?" Mollo looked at him.

"You've proven your worth...I need to know what pilots are the best, which ones need to train harder. Once we get those new pilots we're going to have to train them in their batism of fire..." Rick thought about it for several seconds.

"I guess I'll go along with it. What do I have to do?" Mollo nodded at him.

"You just have to recommend to me which pilots do you think are the best, which ones are the best wingmates and such." Rick looked over to Meg, and back at Mollo.

"Ok, I will then. Thank you." Mollo nodded, relieved of having to pick teammates.

"Thanks, Rick." Rick saluted him as he walked off, Meg looking at him.

"Se sentir bon, Rick?"

"Yeah...I am." She had a smug look on her face.

A little while later Meg and Rick walked into the rec room, almost empty save for Pilgrim. Rick had expected Allison to be there, but she was nowhere to be found. Pilgrim noticed the two and waved them over.

"Hello there, Delta, Swordblade. Good work out there." The two nodded, saying their thanks.

"...Have you seen Allison around?" Pilgrim shook his head.

"She and Honeybee are on patrol...You lovesick fool." Rick shuddered, then nodded and looked him over.

Pilgrim's real name was Evan, where he came from Rick didn't know. He was twenty-three, yet he seemed as if he were older. Rick hadn't flow with him much, but from what he could tell Pilgrim was a good pilot, wouldn't shoot until he was ready. Had brown hair and blue eyes, seemed like he was thinking about something more important all the time. Still, Rick preferred him to Valentine - He was gonna get himself killed soon.

"Why call me a lovesick fool?" Evan shook his head again, a long sigh before he started.

"Well...You're always with her nowadays, before she just used to be by herself...All alone...Seems like you're moving in on her, it'd be so easy to since she's lonely..." Rick got a little pissed, his intentions being judged by someone he barely even knew.

"And how could you tell what I'm doing?"

"Simple, Rick. She's just attached to you since nobody else would talk to her. If other people payed attention to her she wouldn't give a shit about you either way. But they don't, it's a shame...I can't tell if it's her problem though, she wouldn't talk to me...I'd really like to..." Rick thought about what he was saying, a simple angry little phrase floating around in his head before he talked again. Had to get off the subject...

"So...How did we do out there?" Evan looked at Rick, a smile on his face as if to say he had made a enemy back down.

"Well, Rick...We did good out there...Hope we can pull off a second act." Rick looked at him, puzzled at first for his odd smile and then for what he had said.

"Why do you say that?" Evan laughed.

"Seems like we're lucky here...The Kilrathi are evil...This is going to get bad soon, Rick...Got a light? Rick nodded while pulling out the lighter, Meg and Rick both quiet. While looking around lighting a smoke for Evan he saw the scoreboard:


Pilot: Sorties: Kills:
Hell's Unicorns (Scimitars)
Delta 15 12
Swordblade 15 8
Pilgrim 12 6
Valentine 11 3

Honshu Hornets (Hornets)
Artimis 18 11
Honeybee 12 3​

He noticed he was at the top...And he barely knew anything about flying, he felt. Otherwise that Krant would of been an easy kill, it almost got him before he even knew what had happened. He sighed, could the Confed really win this war? The smoke from the cigarette started to fill the room, Mae waving it off.

"La fin de notre premier acte..."
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...And that's the end of the first part. Hope you liked it. The start of the next part will be up in a day or so.
 
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