Hell's Unicorns - The Vega Campaign: Alcor System

DJ Erik

Spaceman
Chapter 9
Vega Sector: Alcor System

A week later the Regal was in the Alcor system. It seemed empty, being held by the Confederation, but everything in space seems to be empty...

Rick was in the rec room, staring at the chalkboard, there were several new names on it:

Pilot: Sorties: Kills:
Hell's Unicorns (Scimitars)
Joker 2 2
Pawn 2 1
Stormy 0 0
Bluebird 0 0

Honshu Hornets (Hornets)
Death 15 13
Jack 10 8​


He wondered about why the two new Hornet pilots were more experienced the Scimitar pilots. Anyways, he had to pick a new wingman for the next mission. Since Bluebird was on bottom he chose him. Best to show someone their first mission in a quiet place then on the frontline.

Allison came into the room; somewhat in a daze...She was listening to something on her headphones, the sounds of electric guitars filling the small room.

"Hi Alli...What are you listening to?" She sat next to him, taking them off.

"Some old rock and roll...It's almost six hundred years old. Really neat stuff, people think it's odd though, no computer-generated music or anything." He nodded, smiling at her. She looked over his uniform.

"Anyways...Aren't you due to be promoted soon?"

"I think so...Mollo mentioned it to me, said I'll make Captain pretty soon at the rate I'm going." She nodded, staring at the Bronze Star on his shirt.

"...I wish I had one of those...Always been a dream of mine...Well, I wanted the Pewter Planet, it's impossible to get one of those though...By the end of this my goal is to earn a Gold Star." Rick looked at her as she finished, she seemed to draw back.

"Something wrong?" She shook her head after thinking for a short while.

"No...Just need to pay the Kilrathi back to what they did to someone..." Rick nodded, noticing a tear welling up in her eye...He had heard the rumors that someone close to her had died in a Kilrathi raid and that was the reason she isolated herself, no one knew for sure though. He wanted to ask, but didn't want to upset her so he kept his mouth shut...He still noticed the tear though.

"Ahh, not again..." Rick felt bad; he grabbed the cuff of his uniform and wiped it away from her cheek. She felt it and looked back to him.

"Thanks...Nobody's ever really seen me like this before Rick..." She let out a sniffle, trying to regain her composure. Rick noticed it and put an arm around her, she held onto him to balance herself.

"Rick, I knew you'd understand...I don't think anyone else would. Just kill as many of them as you can, that's all that counts..." He felt a little disturbed, but she cuddled up to him, he let her, feeling good about himself.

"You'll make it Allison...If anything you have a reason, you'll get your medals and your awards..." She looked up to him, making herself comfortable in his arms.

"Thanks again...What about you then? Do you have a reason to fight?" Rick paused, frowning.

"Ahh...Someone back home..." She nodded in reply, knowing what that meant, Rick falling silent. Soon both were quiet.

A couple hours later the new pilots were on board, a Drayman shipping them over. The four Scimitar pilots found Rick in the lounge with Rokain, Allison having to leave to go on a patrol with Pilgrim. One of them had a blue streak down the center of his helmet - Must be Bluebird.

"Are you the wingleader?" He looked over, the new meat crowding him, oohing and ahhing about his medal. Now he felt like a war hero, even though he knew he wasn't anything near the sort.

"Oh yeah kids, he's your leader alright! He held up ten kitties by himself and blew the shit out of them! Then he crashed his Scimm into a Dorkir so he could get inside, then took out the crew with a machine gun and slit the captain's throat with a machete!" The crowd started laughing and calling Honeybee a liar, Rick snorting at his wingman.

"Yes...I'm Delta, wingleader for the Hell's Unicorns. Welcome to the Regal, hope you enjoy your tour." He rolled his eyes, the young eyes staring at an equally young mentor.

"Hopefully you all know the ropes about flying and you know what the Scimitar can do. It's not the fastest ship out there but it's pretty good." They all cheered in reply.

"Right, then...For your first missions...Pawn, you're with Pilgrim and Valentine. Joker, you're with Death and Jack. Stormy, you're with Artimis and Honeybee. Bluebird, you're with Swordblade and me. Don't worry about anything, with us guys it'll be a piece of cake." He smiled to himself, being able to sway who were his teammates. That way Maegen would always fly his wing - The best wingmate anyone could have.

"I guess my shift is due any minute now...Bluebird, are you ready to fly?" Rick looked over, the guy barely looked like he was twenty. He nodded silently.

"Right. I'll go get the mission orders, if anyone has any questions ask me or Commander Mollo." They nodded as he walked off.

“Oh…And if you want to know what I really did for this medal, I held off five Salthis while a Drayman jumped.” They all started cheering for him, Rick pointing to Rokain and laughing at him. As he went off Honeybee let out a grunt.

Soon Rick was in Mollo's office, Mollo already ready for what he was going to ask.

"You three are going on a patrol, search the two nav points and come back home. No really tough challenge." Rick shrugged.

"Always expect something, Mollo. If anything that's what I've found out on this ship." Mollo paused and looked out the window.

"Yes, Delta...I'll keep that in mind." He gave Rick the coordinates for the nav computers as he walked off.

"Oh, Rick..." He turned back.

"Yes sir?"

"Good luck out there."

"Thanks."
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Any comments are welcome. If you want more, I'm setting up a small part on my webpage dedicated to this fanfic, later it should have bios and goodies like that. Thanks for reading. :)
 
Chapter 9

The lone Fralthi jumped in a quiet part of the Alcor system, far away from any of the Confed ships. Within an hour two more Fralthis and two Dorkirs joined it. The first and lead Fralthi took it's position in front of the rest of the fleet, a long black claw painted on each side.

On board one of the cats was looking out at the stars, towards the terrans. Another joined him.

"What are you looking at, Blacktooth?" He turned back and looked at his inferior, the smaller one looked like a common house cat, only seven feet taller then one. Baktov was more imposing, his mane like that of a lion's.

"The scum of our universe, Sabbath. The Confederation has a small hold here, we must get rid of them...This is a vital system, a supply line to Venice. If we lose this line we'll be pushed back...We must hold." Sabbath tried to comprehend, he stayed quiet.

"Do you think we can hold?" Sabbath finally broke the silence, Baktov looked at him with a look of disappointment.

"No, Sabbath, I think we cannot." He looked back out the port, his arms crossed behind him.

"Sabbath, can you fly a Gratha? We are going to be going up against their heavier ships, you'' need more firepower then a Salthi can provide." Sabbath looked over, frowning.

"I prefer the Salthi, it's the fastest we have. I can fly a Gratha, it's much too slow though." Baktov grinned, although Sabbath couldn't see it.

"A Jalthi is slow, slow as a capital ship. Yet it can destroy anything that the Confederation has. Why? It has guns, many of them. Learn to live by them, you'll live a lot longer in this world." Sabbath paused, before picking up his helmet and walking off. Baktov watched the stars.

In a half hour the two were in space, Baktov in his Dralthi, Sabbath and two others in Grathas. The blue burners glowed in the void, the seasoned ace in charge of his lesser companions. Usually the Kilrathi liked to put younger pilots in the better machines, the reasoning being that a young pilot could be just as deadly as an ace with a fine machine...And most of the time they were right.

"Blacktooth, three of the enemy Scimitars are in front of us!" Baktov smiled, twisted thoughts of seeing the humans roasting in their own blown up ships floating around in his mind.

"The Confederation must be putting out their feelers in this system...Shall we cut them off?" The others fell silent, Baktov watching the flare given off by the Scimitars, locking onto the nearest one...

"Engage as soon as they are in range!" He looked up at the radar, grinning at the Scimitars approaching.

Baktov watched as the Scimm trio broke off, each flying in a different direction. The left heading to the right, the right heading to the left, the center Scimm heading straight at them, out of the criss-crossing formation with the others.

"Sabbath, take the center. Jakko, take the one heading left. And Dakar, you take the one going right. I'll help out if one of you needs it." Blacktooth pulled up, Sabbath boosting ahead, firing two missiles at the lead Scimitar...

"Delta! They're firing missiles at me, they have a lock on!" Rick looked back to the left, Bluebird was heading straight into them.

"Cut you engines! They're tracking the flare you're giving off!" He watched as Bluebird tried to comply, unfortunately the missiles smashed into the front shield. The first missile smashed against the shield, wearing it down in a brilliant flare. The second flew right into the Scimitar's nose before the shields could regenerate, the cockpit warping around where it hit.

"Bluebird! Come in!" Rick waited. When the reply came in he turned away, obviously it was the last thing the cherry had done since he been turned into hamburger right over the vid-com. Meg had the same reaction.

The Gratha fired off another missile, finishing off the Mud Pig, wiping away Bluebird from existence. Rick and Meg stared as the Piggy disintegrated, never have seeing one of their own wingmates die before...

Sabbath purred as he watched the Scimitar blew, another kill to record.

"That was for the Salthis we left behind in Enyo!" He pulled back out of the way, Jakko moving in on Rick's Scimm.

"What do we do now Delta?" Rick looked back, waiting for his targetor to acquire a lock on the Gratha who shot down Bluebird...Watching another one fly towards, towards Maegen...

"They're moving into range Mae...Don't let them hit you!" He started to shake as he flew after the Gratha heading at him...He lost track of it, another one moving into range, in was heading after Maegen.

...Not Mae...Please not her...

"Swordblade be aware there's a Gratha on your six, moving in to engage..." She looked back, the slower Gratha still boosting after the Scimm, cursing her luck.

No, no, no...You can't kill her...

He shook harder, sweat falling down his face, remembering what he had seen of Bluebird when he died minutes before...Thinking of what could happen, imagining seeing his best friend's guts being pasted onto her vid-comm. as her Scimitar blew apart. He couldn't let another wingmate die...Pressure mounting...He could barely hold the control stick, the Scimm flying around erratically...

"I'm breaking hard right! He's you kill!" He watched as she cut her engines and moved out of the way to the right, before the Gratha had a chance to shoot...He had to take him...He still had trouble with holding the stick, trying to fly straight...

"Take him Rick! Aidez-moi...Aidez-moi!" Rick boosted until he was up behind the Gratha, opening up with the Mass Drivers, still shaken by what he had just seen...Four volleys flew up and hit the Gratha in the engine block, it was still going. Armored like a cruiser.

"Quel est erroné?" Meg looked to her leader as she attempted to shake off the Gratha, the enemy fighter still shooting at her. Rick followed, his Mass Drivers recharging...

"It won't go down! Showing only minimal damage on scanner!" Rick eyed the scanner, a small light red panel where the main engine was. Not nearly enough to take it down.

Sorry Mae...I'm still trying...

The Gratha gave him his chance, though he didn't expect it. It tried to break off to the left in order to hit Meg in the side - Far too slow to make it in time. Rick took it, introducing two dumbfire Darts into the fighter's side, unable to avoid them. As soon as the hits showed up on the Gratha's unshielded side Rick opened up with the Drivers again, more shots showing up...The engine block falling apart and taking the fuselage with it. The cockpit drifted off into space as he watched on.

"...Swordblade, pull out!" He looked back out at the Gratha cockpit flying off into space, that kitty would be dead in a while...He let out a long sigh, exhausted. He never had to defend something or someone dear to him before, the stress wore him out...

...Thank you for saving her...

Rick looked behind him, trying to see if any of the wreckage from Bluebird's Scimitar was still visible. He was sure Mae was trying to do the same thing.
 
Chapter 11

Rick watched on as his Scimitar was carted off the flight deck, Johnson looking at him.

"So...You ran into some Grathas?" Rick nodded.

"Yea...Poor bastards can't turn around fast enough...I think the Krant is harder to kill..." Johnson nodded, a Hornet and a Scimitar landing, missing all of their missiles...Allison jumped out of the Hornet, seeing him and running up to him.

"Rick, you should of seen that! Two Dorkirs jumped right in front of us during our shift! Must of made a navigation mistake...Oh well, me and Stormy over there got them." She smiled, Rick nodding at her half heartedly...Allison noticed.

"Something wrong?" He shrugged.

"We ran into some Grathas and a Dralthi...A Gratha nailed Bluebird...We only got one of them..." She stared at him, frowning, suddenly feeling bad for talking to him.

"...Sorry Rick...Didn't mean to..." He cut her off, putting his head on her shoulder after taking his helmet off.

"It's ok...Just upset still..." She heard him let out a deep sigh, he got back up and looked her over. She wanted to say something but didn't know how to so she stayed quiet.

"I got to go to debriefing then...But if you want to...I'll be in the rec room later." She considered it, then shaking her head.

"Sorry...Um..." She stared at him, feeling sorry for him, shaking her head again.

"I'm still on my shift..." She couldn't think of what to say, she looked down at her feet, shaking in her lil' space boots.

"...But...If you're still...Still in there when I'm done..." She started to get nervous, Rick noticing it.

"...Sure Alli." He forced a smile, Allison still shaking.

"I'll be there as soon as I can...Stay safe Rick..." She nodded, quickly turning around towards her Hornet.

He watched her, not able to see her cheeks turn beet red as she walked to her Hornet. As she got in, she let out a sigh, blushing, feeling embarassed for acting like a little girl when Rick's teammate died...Meanwhile Meg walked up to Rick, upset.

"So..." She laid her head down on his shoulder. He knew what it meant.

"I'm sorry you had to see that..." She shook her head, a frown on her face he couldn't see.

"It's ok...It doesn't matter..." He could tell it did.

After taking care of their flight gear then went over to see Mollo. Obviously he had already heard about Bluebird.

"Delta, Swordblade, good to see you're still with us..." Rick nodded, his head down.

"Sorry about Bluebird...It wasn't your fault though, he just didn't know any better." The two pilots looked at him, wondering about themselves. Did they know any better then the dead kid?

"Anyways...You ran into a ambush, you killed one of them Rick. And one of their Grathas killed Bluebird. We'll send out a patrol to find the remains of Bluebird's Scimitar. Meanwhile you two are dismissed. Take it easy."

Sure, easy for you to say...

Meg led the way out, staring at her companion behind her...What if he got killed out there?

After a while, Rick was in the rec room again. Meg at his side, at the other end of the room was Death, the new Hornet pilot. He came over, sitting across from them.

"Hello...I'm Elia...Callsign Death. I'm pretty sure you're Rick, right?" He looked about as old as Rick, a lighter brown tinge to his hair, hazle eyes.

"Yes, I'm Rick Eyven...The lovely girl next to me is Maegen Covan. Callsigns Delta and Swordblade." Mae looked at him and blushed, he put an arm around her.

"I see...Seen any action around here?" They both nodded, Rick noticing a scar along the bottom of Elia's left cheek.

"Some in Hell's Kitchen, Enyo system...the Kitchen is empty, Enyo was a little hot, got all my kills there. Me and Meg here are pretty good friends, we're joined together and we've been everywhere together." Elia nodded, looking at the pair before drinking a shot of whiskey.

"Well, you two are lucky you're still together...Damn lucky. Put in all my time in at McAufflie...A hellhole in the void, that's the real Hell's Kitchen...Every single teammate I flew with died in there, they put me here before I could buy it too." They shook, Elia nodding accordingly.

"Yeah, got this scar there too. Two of the fuzzballs got in a fight with me, took one out before the other blasted right through my shield, nearly roasted me alive." He pointed at it, running his finger down the length of it.

"The other guy, Jack, he was 'Auffie too. Didn't mess him up as bad as me. Got to watch yourself out there...They're everywhere and they'll always kill you if you don't kill them first..." Rick nodded, Elia taking another shot.

"And if they do get you, don't worry about it. You only feel the pain for a second or two so it doesn't matter. I'd just say you two should love each other as much as possible before you do..." Meg cuddled up to Rick in fear, Rick staring at Elia.

"How would you know what it's like to die?" Elia laughed, Death himself.

"I haven't yet...I've seen enough people die so I could figure out what's it like." He looked at them one last time before getting up.

"Remember your teammates, even the ones that are dead. Bluebird's just the first..." He turned around, Meg feeling cold and afraid of him.

"And...So you won't forget, my last name is Wolfe. Keep it in mind." He waled off, feeling the effects of hard liquor taking hold on him. Maegen looked to him.

"...You won't leave me, will you?"

"I won't if you won't...I'd never..." She nodded, hugging him. Rick thought about it, returning it. As long as they were alive.

Within a couple more hours, the club was empty...Except for Delta. He was waiting, waiting...Soon she was there, out of uniform, blue jean shorts and a black tee shirt. Beautiful; short black highlighted hair bobbing around...Yet he had someone at home...

"Hi Rick..." She looked at him, akwardly shifting from one foot to the other, almost tripping.

"Alli...Take a seat?" She nodded, sitting next to him...He could almost feel her shaking nervously, when he moved over that their bodies touched he could feel, making him tremble all over.

"So...What's wrong?" She looked over at him, feeling very shy again.

"Ah...Nothing...I'm tired." She frowned, not knowing whether to get closer or not. Rick nodded at her.

"Don't worry, you don't have to be shy..." She looked at him and nodded, Rick wrapping his arms around her, hurt by what happened.

"Oh..." The timidness faded, Alli looking into his eyes, seeing the empty stare.

"So, I heard you had a wingman die...Sorry Rick..." She let him stare at her, a quiver in his lip.

"Oh damn...It was only his first mission, you know? Didn't even know to cut the flare..." He shook his head, Allison feeling it...It was hard for her but she moved her hand onto his leg; he brought his down by nature...She held his hand, Rick looking down at it...It felt so much warmer...

"Allison?" He looked to her, her eyes were closed and she laid her head down on his shoulder.

"..." He nodded at her, not having to say anything else.
 
Fenris: Thanks for the reply. :)

Anyways, gonna have several new chapters up, sorry for the wait. I've had bad computer troubles that prevented me from posting but I seriously want to get back to work on the story. Don't worry, the next few chapters will be worth the wait ;)
 
Chapter 13

The next day he was staring at her from the canopy of his Scimm, her Hornet leading.

"Delta, Swordblade, be aware we are going to face Dorkir, multiply targets. Save your missiles and don't get killed, or me killed. Just make sure we get the enemy trade route location saved on navigation."

"Artimis, what is this exactly for?" Allison shook her head at Meg's question, she had almost completely ignored the briefing.

"We're trying to find the supply line...If we find it, we destroy any of the Dorkir there...And come back later and beat the hell out of them."

"Très bien, très bien..." Rick lost track of their conversation, yet he stared at Allison's feed over the vid. comm.

He thought about her as the stardust floated by. He couldn't deny that he had felt something for her, but...What about his angel, the one who's picture was right next to his scanner? He could have his little crush, but his lover...Being away from home for months was taking it's toll...Holding Alli's hand was comforting, he couldn't remember what it been like with his girl...

Then he felt bad for Bluebird. Was it okay to worry about your problems right after the wingman you were supposed to look after gets killed?

"Artimis! They're behind us! Obtenez-les!" The Dorkir popped out from behind, just jumping in. Rick snapped out of his train of thoguth, staring at it while another jumped in.

"We have them! No time for their escorts to arrive yet!" Alli was already attacking, her lasers wearing down the first Dorkir's shields. Meg got on the comm., impatient.

"Laissez-moi s'engager?" Rick nodded over the cam as he flew over to Alli's target, the Dorkir trying to limp away.

"Permission to break and attack..." He triggered for his two Dart missiles, the dumbfires smashing into the Dorkir's rear end and finishing it off. Alli flew off, unknown to Rick she was blushing at the thought of him taking care of her busniess.

"Splashed one. Ready Meg?" She snorted at him, taking the other one by the side."

"Celui-ci est le mien!" She slowed down and fired her gattling cannon, and as she went closer she fired off three missiles, two of them flying into the Dorkir's side as she flew off...

"Tué lui!" She smiled as the last missile hit behind her, the Dorkir falling through the stardust before detonating.

"Good! Hang on a second...Need to record this spot. We got a fix on their trade route." The Hornet stopped in place, Alli working on her nav. computer.

"Hurry, let's get out before they come back." Rick looked around, the glare from the second Dorkir's explosion fading...Wondering where the rest of the kats were.

"Attente..." He looked back at Meg's Scimm, the french girl seeing something.

"I see three more!" She switched back to her second language so Rick could understand easier, pointing to the direction they were in over the cam...Rick looking to his right and seeing the blue flares of three fighters coming in.

"Must be the escorts...Should you break off for home Artimis?" Allison shook her head.

"No way, these are mine..." She gunned after them...Rick cursing himself for worrying as she did. Not for the data she had but for her...He had never worried about her before...Why now? He went in after her, she was on top of them.

"Two Gratha and a Krant. I can get the Krant easy..." She locked on a heat-seeker, firing it while she worked herself behind it. One of the Gratha headed to Rick's side, letting him easily get behind it...

"I'm on one..." He got ready to fire, but saw something flying out the Gratha's rear.

"What is that...Oh shit!" He got too close and got a tast of a porcupine mine, his Scimitar smoking and drifting off...

"Rick! Rien-vous..." Meg let out a squeal for her friend, locking onto the Gratha and firing one of her heat seekers at the front of it.

"Bâtards! Ne le blessez pas!" She watched his Scimm drift off, smoke and sparks flying off it's front - Not a very good sign.

She flew after his attacker, her loyalty commanding her too. Soon the HS had hit and the Gratha's front shields faded - Perfect time to attack...She took it, firing Mass Drivers, the green bolts delievering her anger into it.

"Mourezs-vous, fuzzball!" She watched it as it fell apart, smiling for a second before looking around for her friend...Letting out a sigh of relief when she saw his Scimm flying towards hers.

"Delta! Êtes-vous bien?" She let out a gulp when she saw a crack in his visor glass, but he held his hand up over the vid. comm.

"I'm fine, got introduced to the panel though...My front shields are regenerating, took that mine hard." Mae shook her head.

"Thank god, I swore your cockpit blew up...Stay with me, I'll cover you." He nodded...A firball fading in the distance as Alli flew back to them.

"Finished off the other two...No more enemy contacts." She was beaming over the vid. comm.

"Let's go...My shields are low and I'm out of missiles...Don't want to be stuck with just guns." Rick nodded, her Hornet leading the way...The wingleader following...The stardust made her seem so far away...
 
DJ Erik said:
lol, what would that be? Attempting to plug myself into the story? Haha :p

Chronic Fanboy Syndrome is an on-going WC Saga joke. C.F.S. is a serious and intellectually fatal disease, in which symptoms include (but are not limited to) 1) changing designs just for the sake of changing "this sucks, let's change it!" 2) accusing WC purists of being 'close-minded' bastards 3) suffering from delusions that it is only they who have what it takes to help the WC community turn towards the better. What sucks about CFS is that it spreads from one person to another, and treatment is virtually incurable.

And about plug ins, to be honest, it's not really anything new to WC. There was a "Colonel Roberts" in WC1, and almost all the redshirt wingmen in WC4 were actual Origin Employees. Even some in WCP as well. The WC movie novel had something in it as well. So if you want to plug someone in, do it as a secondary role/cameo/pun. Just don't feature the real person has the main character/badass who kills 1000 Kilrathi before breakfast while clicking his basketball size nuts together and then goes to his bunk and screws every female on the carrier :)
 
Haha, sounds like a WC cancer. Oh well, doubt that will happen to me, since I'm pretty much happy with how everything is in the game(I love the Mud Pig :D) and don't have much room to change it(Unless you notice the fact that the Exeters and other capships don't follow the naming standards). Anyways then that I don't want a "main character/badass who kills 1000 Kilrathi before breakfast while clicking his basketball size nuts together and then goes to his bunk and screws every female on the carrier" kinda story, stuff like that's goofy :p

I want Hell's Unicorns to be a "average joe" kind of story, no superpilot killing every single Kilrathi in the system or anything, just a bunch of pilots hoping they don't get killed after every mission they go on. Hopefully that's how it's going (Since there's enough of the superpilot like stuff already :rolleyes: )
 
To make things generally annoying, I have a question. :D Why are all French pilots in the WCU female, and probably beautiful? AND, why did they never learn to speak English? :p
 
Fruitcake said:
lol. Psych, what IS the naming standard for Confed ships?

In WC1, the guideline was that Exeter destroyers were named for geographic regions of the Earth, Venture corvettes were only unofficially named (they really had a callsign of PC-XXXX), and that Waterloo heavy cruisers were named after land battles (the Freedom Flight novel mentioned Waterloos in service in WC1). And last but not least, Bengal-class carriers were named after felines and lupines.

This stuff came from the WC bible. Hope it'll be some help for ya.
 
In reality none of that actually holds water. Of the nine Exeters named in the original game, only two are geographic locations (Jerusalem and Suffolk). (The others are Perez de Cuellar, Johann, Trygvie Lie, U Thant, Formidable and Gwenhyvar).

Centurion and Alcatraz break the pattern for the Waterloo-class ships (unless the latter is named after what happened in 'The Rock'...:)).

The majority of Bengal's named don't fit the pattern, either: Beacontree, Eagle's Talon, Kipling, Kyoto and Trafalgar are neither dogs nor cats.
 
Do you guys (LOAF & Psych) have some kind of file containing a list with all of these ship names and classes, it's be interesting stuff to read for some WC-freak like me. :D

'n Psych are you kidding me about that WC Bible? I thought Origin never released one!
 
Bandit LOAF said:
In reality none of that actually holds water.

Yeah, that's true. I'll take a quote from Pirates of the Carribean and say "They aren't rules, more like . . . guidelines."

Fruitcake said:
you kidding me about that WC Bible? I thought Origin never released one!

You just answered your own question, dude.
 
Chapter 14

Once again the next day, Rick followed Allison to the Kilrathi supply line, Maegen in tow. Now that the line had been discovered there had been assalt runs on it every hour, almost every time the Confed fighters finding at least one target. It had been fourteen hours since they found it...

"Delta, Swordblade, just make passes around the line until you only have enough fuel to make it back home. Kilrathi haven't had much escorts flying around but they're going to start beefing up the defense..." Rick nodded at the cam, watching Alli's feed with a small smile on his face.

"Affirmative Artimis..." The three fighters approached the area where the enemy transports were jumping in, it seemed empty...

Meanwhile, the Falthi with the black claws on it's sides rested with it's two sisters, ten Dorkirs in formation with Grathas patrolling around them. On board, the cats were discussing their recent failures.

"Baktov, you and your pilots are worthless. We wouldn't of lost five of ur Dorkirs and several of the their escorts to the humans if they were better..." Baktov grunted, looking at his superior, Rovi Whitefang...He looked just like Sabbath, like a little housecat...Baktov's ego made him feel like he should be the real superior.

"Whitefang, they have a rather strong hold on this system...If you..." Whitefang cut him off.

"Quiet. Within this week our supporting Snakir is jumping in. Before that, we have been ordered to launch a mass attack against the Confed fleet...We've figured it down, there are around six battleships in this system. If we can disable them with what remaining fighters we have...We can defeat them when our Snakir jumps." Baktov silently nodded.

"However, we're not sure...Send two of your Salthis to get a exact number of enemy battleships. We need to know before we lose any more of our warriors..."

"Yes, my lord...I'll have my protoge Sabbath lead, he'll get it done..." Whitefang nodded as Baktov walked away to assemble his team.

Back in space the Confed trio had found the teammates they were to replace.

"Honeybee, have you found anything in this area yet?"

"No Delta, nothing to report about...Looks like they moved their shipping already." His Hornet flew in front of Rick's Scimm, two other Mud Pigs following the smaller fighter.

"Not even any escort fighters?" Rick took a look at his radar, amazed that nothing else had been around the previous hour.

"No...When we came here the flight before had ran into some frieghters, not us though."

"Affirmative...Head back to base Honeybee, follow him Pawn and Stormy." The three fighters flew off, leaving Rick and his two wingmates.

"Aww...Please don't tell me we're too late to do anything again..." Rick listened to Alli over the channel, hearing the depressed tone in her voice...Wondering why she liked the fighting so much...

"I don't know Artimis, stay in contact...You're leading..." He felt a bit restlest having her lead, but he couldn't do anything about it, she was in the faster fighter...Still he would of switched places with her if there was going to be anything attacking them...

"Hey, Valentine! I think I something over there a ways! Can't pick it up on radar..." Back at the small Exeter formation, Valentine and Joker were doing guard duty. And something was out there for them to guard against...Ballentine wanted to know what it was.

"Joker, which direction?" Joker could see it plain as day, a tiny blue light far off in the distance...Closing in...

"In front of me, twelve o'clock." Valentine looked back over to his teammate's Scimitar, seeing the light too.

"Affirmative Joker...Cover me." He sped off after it on afterburner, knowing he could get some scoreboard credit for it...

"Sir, don't we have to get permission to engage?" The other Scimitar lagged behind by choice, obviously he wasn't willing to get into a fight he didn't have to be in.

"Not if you have reason to believe it's a threat to the Confed position. Come on." With a sigh the rookie tagged along.

"Anything Artimis? Swordblade?"

"Nothing Delta, not from my view at least...Speeding up to 225 KPS..." Her Hornet seperated from the two Scimms going 180 KPS, but not by an extremely large margin...But Rick still preferred it when she was only going 180 KPS too...

"Rien, mon ami." With a barely legitimate grip of the French language he could barely understand what his close friend was saying most of the time, but at least he could understand that this meant she couldn't find anything either.

"Carry on then..." Finally seemed like he wasn't going to have to do anything fighting today. Just the way he liked it...

"Joker, hurry up damn it! That guy's coming at us..." He looked over, somewhat scared at his scanner, even more so at the fact Valentine was yelling at him...The blue light outside finally had a contact appear on radar...And it wasn't blue...

"Valentine I got a fix on his! Definately a Kilrathi contact! Hasn't appeared on scanner yet..." He looked down again, swearing when he saw another contact...And another...

"Three contacts Valentine! Three and closing in..."

"Keep going Griggs...We're going to be the ones that get to kill 'em!" For some reason, Joker didn't like the sound of that.

The silence broke in deep space as a white flash splashed across Rick's canopy frame, bathing the three Confed fighters in a glow as the jump opened up...

"There we go! I see them...Four tankers...At least eight fighters...And a..." Alli's eyes widened up when she saw what came through.

"Enemy capship! Appears to be a Ralari class..." Rick looked up to it...It was one of the massive beasts that they beat in the Enyo system...But only three fighters against it's entire compliment?

"What are we doing Delta? Can I have permission to break and attack?" He bit his lip, that was the question he was expecting...And dreading...

"I'm coming with you Artimis...Swordblade, cover us!" Her Scimm fell behind as the Hornet and Scimitar pair flew up, attracting the attention of two Krants...

"Can you get the fighters behind us Meg?" She looked over as she sped up to them...Then felt the shock of getting hit by a heat-seeking missile.

"Maegen...Maegen?" He looked back, a explosion with her Scimitar falling out of it.

"Oh! Artimis, we lost Swordblade! We lost Swordblade..." He felt a big lump in his throat, he couldn't understand what was going on...Until he saw her Scimm flying away...

"Swordblade, check in! I'm pulling out..." He turned about and headed the other way towards a Krant...Alli heading straight for one of the tankers...

"Delta, my acceleration absorbers are destroyed! One of the dumbfire missiles is gone too..." He held one ear open for the channel, another for the targetor while he got ready for a missile lock...

"Rick! Don't use any missiles on the fighters! Save them when you go up against the capship..." He couldn't think she was serious, going up against the battlecrusier? They'd barely have enough ammo to take on the frieghters...Not including the Ralari...

"Artimis! Don't attack the capship yet...Wait for permission to take on the capship from command..." He shook his head at her over the cam, she nodded inpatiently and backed off from it.

Meanwhile he was having trouble getting the Krant...It backed up and lashed up in front of him, it's backside open...He took it, firing his Mass Drivers and fired until they were drained...The scanner indicated it was heavily damaged but not destroyed...The capacitors recharging...

"Delta I'm back in and I'm getting the one behind you!" He looked behind, Meg's Scimm trailing the other Krant...Trying to trail him...

"Affirmative Swordblade! Artimis...We'll cover you, get the tanker!" He could barely see the Hornet flying off in the distance while the Kilrathi hovered around like a hive of angry bees...The one that he was shooting still in front of him...

"God damn it, go down!" The Krant fell apart and disintigrated among the stars as he shouted at it. Good enough, now for the other seven...

(Placeholder until I can finish the rest of the chapter tonight)
 
"Joker we're losing them! Keep tailing me, I'm speeding up!" The younger pilot stared up ahead, the older going full afterburn after whatever was up there...But it was fading...

"Sir you aren't going to catch them!" Valentine looked back, shaking his head while trying to get any juice left out of the throttle.

"No, I'll get them..." Griggs could only watch as Valentine sped up, his Scimitar eventually having to run out of fuel...

Rick didn't know where anyone else was, but was wishing for the help while his teammates were busily doing their own chores, Maegen dropping a Krant while another took it's place in front of her; Alli stubbornly trying to take out the Dorkir while avoiding the Ralari. Nobody to help him out though...The last Krant flying around trying to shoot at his side.

Rick paced him, he slowed down while the Krant tried to catch and then sped up while it tried to fire, working his way around so he'd have a good shot...

"Delta! I can take him!" Before he even knew what was going on, Meg showed up and stole his kill, a small explosion wiping it away. Luckily before it did any damage.

He got a quick look at things to get his bearings straight; two Scimitars and a Horne verses four Dralthi, four Dorkir and a Ralari...The Dralthis being easy and the Dorkir a challenge...But the Ralari? They couldn't take it by themselves...

"Artimis, I'm patching through back to Honeybee, I'm going to recall his group back..." She looked behind her at him, shocked he would even think of letting someone else steal his glory.

"No! Not yet...You still can fight them off yourself." With that she headed back out, a severily damaged Dorkir limping away, one of it's engines blown out. Soon she was trailing a Dralthi...The fighter not standing a chance, her superior skill getting the best of the Kilrathi as soon as she closed in, the pilot unable to see her right behind him...It blew apart and she flew right through him like he was just thin space...Of course by that time he was.

Soon she was off again after another...But then Rick saw something flying with her...Behind her...

A Dralthi...He closed in on it, watching it getting ready to shoot...Shooting...

"Alli!" He watched the pulsing red beams fly out, falling behind her Hornet but enough to scare him...He started firing even though he wasn't anywhere near it, he was getting testy...He locked on and opened a channel to it.

"Hey bastard, come and get me!" It didn't have any effect, the kitty steal chasing her...He got closer, speeding up the the maxium 360 KPS and afterburning...Not seeming like he was getting there close enough...Why was he going through all of this trouble for her?

"Hey! Over here fuzz! Hey!" It didn't make any difference to the kat...Not that it mattered to Rick since he had the great equalizer...It chirped...

It burned up instantly as the Javlin hit, Alli's Hornet still going on like nothing happened.

"Hey Delta? Why the missile? I could of saved myself..." He started breathing again, and the frowned at the cam...To tell her the truth he couldn't think of why he even cared.

"Sorry about that..." She nodded over the cam, slightly annoyed by the waste of firepower meant for the bigger targets...

"It's fine Delta. Get Swordblade and attack the tankers, I'll clean up the fighters..."

"Affirmative Artimis...Follow me in Swordblade!" The Dorkirs loomed large as soon as the Scimms started their run...One explosion behind them, a Pancake turned into space dust.

"Swordblade, you have more missiles, take on one of the clean ones, I'll finish off the damaged one." Rick looked up and about while he flew past the one Mae started to hit, the wounded one falling behind...He locked onto it, noticing the completely red section on it's cockpit over the scanner. When he was in range he could see what Alli had been doing - A masterful cutting of the ship's nose with just lasers, sparks and parts flying off as it struggled ahead.

"I got this kill, splashing him now..." Rick closed the distance, far enough away that the ship guns couldn't hit him but close enough that the dumbfire wouldn't miss when he fired...The bubble cockpit blowing out as it did, the Dorkir slowly sinking out of the formation."

"Good one Delta...Help me out?" Maegen wasn't having such an easy time with the Dorkir she was facing, the vessel taking three missiles to it's rear, neither of it's engines damaged...But the cargo space was breached...Maegen seeing several things getting sucked out...Maybe some crew members? She couldn't tell while she sped off to avoid getting hit.

"Sure Swordblade...Stay out of range..." Rick closed in for her, seeing the breach in it's compartment...Deciding to use his other dumbfire on it...Watching it blow an even bigger hole in it.

"It's yours now, he can't regenerate his shields after that hit!" He flew off while she went to use her last two missiles on it...Watching Alli put the finishing touches on another Dorkir, the Ralari flying off with it's last Dorkir remaining.

"Hey, one left! Take it out and head for home!" He sped after the it, the Ralari trying to cover it's smaller kin. Rick was too smart though...He fired off all his remaining missiles, locking onto it's rear before running off...Watching Alli speeding in right behind him and finishing it with all of hers. It blew in a fireball, Alli's Hornet flying behind it and appearing mighty as the light reflected off it...

Meanwhile, the impossible had happened to Valentine, so it'd seemed to him...He lost the targets.

"Damnit! Lost them Joker..." Griggs let out a sigh of relief, safe now that Jack couldn't find any of them.

"It's ok, you'll get them later."

"Yeah...I'll get them...Later..."
 
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