Heritage (Under Revision)

Chapter 62: Stella

Here I float in the dark void of space, on the precipice of victory. The climax of a war that has raged through multiple generations is finally coming to fruition. And all of it hinges on this attack. It is the first stage of a dual phase assault that will put us at the doorstep of the Sekrid Empire. We arrived only moments before at the half light year mark from planet Hyperion. The squadron of new, state of the art, stealth fighters that Kurosawa has been given command over wait patiently for the order to commence our quiet battle. With only five of these stealth fighters, Kurosawa thought it best to send two to the planet’s surface and three in orbit to take out the communications. He also deemed it necessary to personally handle the surface assault himself given the risk.

I didn’t much disagree with him on the subject. I would rather handle the hard part myself too.

The inside of the cockpit is unlike anything I’ve seen before. There’s no longer a console between Kurosawa and I, only a simple dividing wall that’s comes up to the knees. The display is completely state-of-the-art, resembling the same plasma screen that was introduced on TAPs devices. The screen comes up to face level and is mounted in to an ultra-thin bezel and is the shape of an inverted triangle with rounded corners. On each side of the armrests is a mounting point for a control stick which can be easily detached in a modular fashion so as to accommodate the primary hand use of the end user. All other controls are mounted on the side walls of the fighter, just above the armrests so that you can reach them comfortably.

We were also given new helmets that have a wealth of new technology placed into them, including a HUD that can be fully integrated into the stealth fighter’s operating system. It can also measure and display the user’s health on top of having more practical advances such as: trauma protection, shock absorption, and a brand new system that, in case of a severe head injury will stabilize head movement so as to prevent further damage. The helmets are also completely backwards compatible with the older operating system that has been installed on the normal fighter jets, making them useful after we transfer from the stealth fighters to our normal attack ships.

In silence I stare out in to the distant stars, they’re like little sugar crystals dropped into black ink. After all the time I’ve spent out in space it still amazes me. One hundred thousand light years of stars are all clustered together to form our galaxy. The sheer size is nearly incomprehensible to imagine.

In the quiet it’s hard to keep my mind off of things. As much as I’d like to just sit here and enjoy the stars, my thoughts can’t seem to let things go. This is mostly because of the guilt that travels with the thoughts.

Richard was a mistake. I realize that now.

It was one that I made because I was angry at Leon and all the lonelier because he wasn’t there to make me not angry at him.

But I had already taken things too far with Richard. Richard is kind and gentle and a wonderful man. I can’t quite fault him for anything except...that he didn’t tell me no when I kissed him for the first time.

But how exactly can I blame him for that? I knew for a fact that he was attracted to me and took advantage of it...of him.

And the question lingers...how can I ever tell Leon what I did?

It would...break him. I know it would.

I know how much he loves me, adores me even. I can still remember back to the Poseidon how I’d catch him every so often just admiring me from a distance. He’d always look away really quick and blush if I made eye contact with him.

I can’t help but smile at those memories and the simplicity of them. At the same time, I can’t help but feel the warmth of tears fill my eyes. I just wish I could go back and relive Leon’s birthday all over again, just without the bad things.

I wish that we could have danced, laughed, made love, and had the time of our lives that night and wake up the next morning with that same glow of happiness that I know both of us felt.

All of this has reminded me...I love him.

I love Leon so much. But the question remains...how do I tell him?

A part of me wishes that he can already know what I’ve done and believe that I don’t love him anymore so that he doesn’t have to bear that kind of pain. But on the other hand, I hope he’ll be able to forgive me when the time comes.

“Stella? You okay?” Kurosawa says, pulling me from my thought.

“Huh? Yeah, why do you ask?”

“It’s just that...you’re crying,”

“Oh,” I say as I wipe my eyes and cheeks with a sleeve. “I’m sorry, I was just...thinking about some stuff,”

“Is that code for Leon Blake?”

“What? Why would you ask that?”

Kurosawa chuckles “It’s really not hard to tell Stella. That briefing pretty much gave you away,”

“Yeah...”

“But wait...don’t you and that guy Grayson have a...oh...I see now,” Kurosawa says as he puts everything together.

I can’t help but lean forward and put my face in my hands and begin sobbing uncontrollably.

“It was a stupid mistake! I didn’t mean to! I just didn’t want to be lonely anymore! I know it was wrong!” I yell through my hands as tears drip through the spaces in between my fingers.

I hear Kurosawa shift in his seat and press a button that causes a smooth gliding sound and a moment after I feel a warm embrace and for a few moments I allow Kurosawa to hug me. My sobbing stops and I regain my composure; Kurosawa takes this as his cue to let me go.

He stares at me with compassion in his eyes as I wipe the tears from mine.

“Let me give you a piece of advice. You aren’t the first person in the military to cheat on their significant other. I’m not saying it’s okay, but what you felt was completely normal. It takes a strong person to live like we do. Especially if the person we love does the same kind of thing. That being said, you still screwed up. But...if Leon Blake is anything like Ethan Blake, he’ll end up forgiving you. You’ll just need to give him time,”

Kurosawa’s words fill me with hope. I give him a somber smile to confirm that I listened to him. He returns the gesture in kind.

“Lieutenant Kurosawa, it’s time to move your team out,”

“Copy that, we’re prepped and ready,” Kurosawa responds without turning back to his normal position.

“Well, looks like it’s time, ready to kick some Sekrid ass?”

I smile wider and nod my head. Kurosawa turns around and plops down into his seat.

“Alright team, we’re moving out. Prep jump drives,” He conveys to the rest of the squadron.

The jump drive on these fighters is much simpler to use than those on the older models of fighter jets, only requiring the simple turn of a dial and the engaging of a lever. I hear the smooth sound of the drive powering up as Kurosawa goes through this motion and finally resting his hand on the lever, waiting for the whole squadron to be ready.

“Shadow Three, ready,”

“Shadow Four, ready,”

“Shadow Five, ready,”

“Shadow Two, ready,”

“Ten-Four, all ready. Remember team, kick some ass, but make sure you do it quietly. You all know your jobs. I have confidence everyone will get it done. As soon as we jump, switch your comms to the quantum link and maintain constant contact once the op starts. Mission Command, launching in three...two...one,”

Kurosawa pushes the lever forward fluidly and the warp drive instantly engages, jettisoning us forward at top speed. I take the liberty of switching our comm unit to the quantum link, confirmed by a small blue light above the switch.

“All units, this is PGO Lancaster, confirming quantum link switch,”

“Two, switched,”

“Five, switched,”

“Three, switched,”

“Four, switched,”

“Ten four, all units switched. We’re good Kurosawa,”

“Outstanding. Should be a couple minutes before we’re on top of the target, so just sit back and relax,” Kurosawa says as he leans back in his seat.

I do the same, letting the tension melt away from my body. Jumping through space like this has always been one of the most fascinating views to me. It looks as if the whole universe is bending around your tiny little ship in the vastness of space, creating a multitude of colors around you. It feels like you’re flying through a kaleidoscope.

Time moves all too quickly however, and before I know it our distance meter is reaching zero. Kurosawa and I sit up and ready ourselves. Kurosawa begins to speak to the rest of the squad.

“Alright everyone, we’re coming up on the target. When we come out of the jump, don’t slow down to a stop. Slow down just enough so that you’re at a manageable speed. I want everyone to engage their stealth drives now,”

I click a button on the right side of my console, another blue light turns on.

“Albeit stealthy, this mission is going to move fast. I want everyone to come out of warp hot and jumping on to their objectives. Shadow Three and I will come out a little faster than the rest of you so that we can get to the planet’s surface as soon as possible to sync our attacks as close as we can together. My assumption is that once we start hitting the targets, they’ll begin to fire even though they can’t see us. It is imperative that we do not panic in this scenario. Remember, we’re using the best stealth tech around. So, maintain your stealth drive and continue your mission. Just keep extra caution not to contact any of their anti-spacecraft fire,”

Kurosawa presses a button or two, preparing to engage our reverse thrusters to slow us down.

“All units, drop out of warp...now,”

He pulls back on the same lever and the kaleidoscope tunnel tears away around us, revealing a large, copper planet ahead. There are no words at this point as each squadron member breaks off and moves toward their assigned duty. Shadow Three maintains course with us as Kurosawa and I move toward the planet’s surface at a high rate of speed. As we enter the atmosphere, our stealth fighters are put through their paces.

Large amounts of turbulence and friction press into our fighters, as if the planet itself is trying to throw us away. However, with Kurosawa’s steady hand and the fighter’s heat-dissipating armor, we break through with ease, continuing into a nose dive towards the surface.

We take our fighters extremely low to the surface of the planet, only a few hundred feet above ground and begin to proceed in the direction of our targets. Before long, we see a small black dot ahead, signaling the position of the communications hub.

“Shadow Three, we’ll take the hub building, I want you to break off and start hitting the satellite towers in the surrounding area. Be sure to avoid any AS fire you may encounter,”

“Shadow Three copies,”

We fly for a few more meters before Shadow Three decides to break away and veer left in order to come in on the flank of the hub base.

“So, Stella, what do you think will work best for our arsenal,” Kurosawa asks.

I press a couple buttons, causing the building to be targeted and scanned. It only takes a moment for the scan to generate a list of structural details on the side of my display.

“Looks like the structure is weakest on the side facing us so...I’m going to say a Sledge rocket will do the trick. It should punch right through there. And I’ll be sure to program it to detonate it as close to the center of the building as possible,” I say, already punching in my calculations.

“Sounds good, I’ll tell you when to drop it,”

I finish typing up my numbers and confirm them. The rocket gives me a positive answer on receiving them and the view of a camera that’s attached to the rocket comes on to my display.

“On your signal,” I say.

Kurosawa raises a closed hand so that I can see it. A moment later he gives a thumbs up and I press a button on my joystick, causing the rocket to drop from our fighter. The rocket enters into a free fall until it’s approximately fifty feet from the surface and ignites its thruster. I watch the rocket burst forward into high speed; detecting and adjusting itself to pass over hills and under rock formations that have created natural archways. The black dot quickly turns into gray metal as the rocket flies closer.

Soon, the camera is covered in dust and the flash of sparks as the rocket tears through the walls of the compound. In a split second I watch it enter an open chamber with multiple Sekrid personnel. I look up from my display as the feed cuts off on the camera and watch as an explosive fire burst through any opening and windows in the compound and collapses in on itself in a cloud of dust and smoke.

At the same time, I notice the second of three communication towers fall over and crumble in to large pieces. It’s only a few moments later when the third one falls as well.

“Shadow One, Shadow Three, all targets eliminated,”

“Copy that Shadow Three, surface mission complete. Orbit mission, wha—shit!” Kurosawa startles as he cuts our fighter right, an AS shell just passing by us.

“Shadow Three! Are you good?!”

“We’re all good here LT. No damage, taking evasion maneuvers,”

“Copy that. The shots look random so I don’t think they know where we are. Maintain evasive and get out of their zone before gaining altitude,”

“Copy that, Shadow One,”

“Shadow One, Shadow Two, what was your last traffic for Orbit Mission?”

“Status?”

“Twelve out of Thirteen, sir. We’re getting ready to drop Jackhammer’s now,”

“Copy that. Let me know when it’s done,”

“Ten four, LT.,”

My stomach jostles back and forth as Kurosawa dodges the AS fire. It’s not hard to see the kind of capability Kurosawa has as a pilot. Many of the shells would have hit us if there was anyone less experienced behind the stick. But, Kurosawa always knows which way to turn and rotate so that the shells always just miss us. It’s a skill set to aspire to.

Regardless of his skill, however, these moments of dodging are stressful. Even as a passenger, I can feel the sweat start to bead down my face. I can only imagine how he feels.

Kurosawa finally sees an opening in the fire and accelerates quickly through, getting out of the kill zone. He sighs heavy as he levels out the fighter and maintains a steady direction of flight.

“Whew. Well that was close,” Kurosawa says turning his head to the side to look at me.

In his short moment of not paying attention I catch the glint of a shell flying head on towards us.

“Kurosawa!” I yell, pointing ahead.

He snaps his head forward, but it’s too late. The shell punches through our canopy, goes through Kurosawa’s seat and comes to a stop after embedding itself immediately to the left of my face.

A large, black, crystalline shard sticks out from the impact point. My heart is pounding and I’m breathing heavy in fear, convinced my life was at an end.

“K...Kurosawa...are you...,”

“I’m fine god damn it!” He yells out of pain and frustration.

I notice that there’s blood coming from the back of his shoulder and dripping down the back of his seat on to the small dividing wall.

“Your arm...,” I say in an obvious fashion.

“It’s alright Stella, I’m good. Son of a bitch it hurts though,” I notice Kurosawa reach down, grabbing a square piece of material and slapping it loudly on to the hole the shell made in our canopy. He then reaches over and detaches the joystick from his left side and reattaches it to his right side.

“That patch should hold until we get back to swap ships. My left arm is done. I can’t move it,”

I take a closer look at the damage the shells did as Kurosawa shifts the fighter upward to exit the atmosphere, drops of blooding dripping down on to my face mask and uniform. The shells ripped through his shoulder completely, severing every tendon I can recognize. Most of his shoulder blade was pulverized as well. Luckily, it wasn’t too close to his heart and didn’t make that large of an exit wound.

As we break through the sky of Hyperion and return to space, Shadow Three joins us. We make it out in time to witness the destruction of the large communication satellite as it separates from the base that is providing the transmissions and power to it. It slowly drifts away from the planet from the force of the Jackhammer rocket’s blast.

“Shadow One, Orbit Mission all clear. You can call in the cavalry,”

“Copy that,” Kurosawa says through a pained grunt.

I switch the quantum link off without Kurosawa’s request and he doesn’t take the time to see if I had or not, he simply expects it.

“Mission Control, this is Shadow One. Stage One is complete. I repeat, Stage One is complete, you can move in your ships,”

“Copy that, Shadow One. The fleet will be at your position in three mikes,”

Kurosawa then speaks to the squadron “Squad, pull back to get out of potential AS fire and prep for landing into Mission Control for plane swap,”

The whole squadron regroups and as we reach our preferred distance the rest of the fleet flashes out of warp jump in front of us.

“That’s our cue people, return to Mission Control, swap to your combat fighter and get back into the fight,” Kurosawa relays.

As multiple combat jets start to funnel out of the left side of the carrier ships, our squadron breaks right and heads for an open bay reserved for us on the right side of the carrier. In synchronicity, we fly into the bay and land softly on the deck. Kurosawa opens the canopy. I grab the shard and pull it out of its impact point, tossing it out of the cockpit and jump out myself.

I see Kurosawa slowly lift himself from his seat and climb out of the cockpit. When he reaches the bottom of the step ladder, I notice the extent of the damage on the front side of his shoulder. Small black shards stick into his body around the central wound. His flight suit is also charred around the opening. Luckily enough, the wound was cauterized by the shell, making it so that there’s less bleeding. However, I notice that he still is unable to move his arm at all.

Concern paints my face as I look at him.

“Kurosawa, you can’t go back out there. Your arm is too injured,”

“I still have one good one. I got this,” He responds, determined.

He attempts to walk past me and I place a hand on his chest to stop him.

“Kurosawa, please. Let me take over from here, I can do it. You already accomplished the most important part, I’ll do the rest,”

Kurosawa hangs his head and sighs deeply.

“Alright, you win. Alternate!” Kurosawa yells out.

To my surprise, Richard comes running up. He stops in front of Kurosawa and gives a salute.

“At ease pilot, as you can see, I need a little bit of medical attention. You’re going to be taking over as co-pilot. Stella here will be taking my place. Listen to what she says as if she wore my bars. Understood?”

“Yes, sir. I’ll do my best,”

Kurosawa gives a nod and walks away. Richard turns to me. He places a hand on my shoulder.

“Before we get out there, I just want to say I’m sorry Stella. And you don’t have to worry, I’m going to be with you all the way through this mission,”

“Thank you, Richard. I’m sorry too. It wasn’t my intention to hurt you,”

Even though I’m going to break your heart later.

Richard gives me a smile and a nod and we hurry over to our combat fighters, quickly climbing into the cockpit and starting it up. When we give the all ready, we’re rotated outside of the bay and thrust forward, immediately engaging targets.

By this time, I notice the battle is already nearly over. The Sekrid forces on Hyperion were even less prepared than we anticipated and thus, succumbed rather quickly to our blitzkrieg attack. Numerous drop ships are already entering orbit, behind other drop ships that have already made it to the surface and began capturing the key points that were marked in the briefing. It’s in this moment that one can truly see the effectiveness and discipline of the UEDF.

There are so many moving parts and yet it’s completely synchronized into one fluid symphony of destruction against the Sekrid. It’s not more than a half hour before all of the Sekrid destroyers are obliterated and the planet has been seized.

“Attention all fighters and drop ships, the planet has been captured and we are prepping for wormhole launch, please return to your home carrier,”

Like a swarm of bees, we all fly back to our metal hives. We load back into our carriers in record time. Before the mission commenced, we were ordered to stay in our fighters until we came out of the wormhole in order to redeploy without delay.

Given the swift nature of events of this operation, the twenty-minute gap before the impending storm is a welcome break as I let go of my controls and lean my head back against the seat, closing my eyes. Without opening them, I remove my helmet for the time being. It feels stifling with the sweat and heat I feel on my face from all of the dog-fighting I participated in.

As I sit there with my head laid back, I feel the gentle touch of Richard’s hands on my shoulders as he begins to massage them. I can feel my body relax and as much as I want him to keep going, I come to the decision that I can’t allow him to think we’re together anymore. Not when I know I’m still in love with Leon.

I open my eyes and stare up out of the tinted glass of the canopy.

“Richard, I have to talk to you about something,”

“What’s that?” he says, having no idea what I’m about to say.

I sit up and lean forward so that I’m out of his reach.

“What’s wrong?” He asks.

“I can’t do this anymore. I’ve thought long and hard on this and...I still love Leon. I don’t want to lead you on anymore. And I know this isn’t the best timing it’s just...I don’t want you to keep touching me like this anymore. Not when I can’t reciprocate your feelings,”

“So...so you’re just throwing me away, just like that?”

“No Rich—No. I’m not throwing you away. I took advantage of how you felt about me...I realize that now. You’re a wonderful man. You’re sweet, patient, and kind, always. I don’t want to have to hurt you like this but...the worse thing would be to keep leading you on when my heart is still with Leon. In the end I might not even have him either...not after what I did,”

“So you regret everything we did? That’s...that’s great Stella. Thank you for that,”

“That’s not...what I mean. What I mean is that I regret not doing it at the right time, if ever there would be one. I didn’t think everything through the way I should have, Richard. I’m not trying to excuse myself here. I know what I did to you was wrong. I know it makes me a bad person that I took advantage of you like that. But would you rather me stay with you knowing that I still love Leon? Do you really want to go through that? I certainly don’t want to put you through that. I know I’m hurting you, but it’s better than letting you love me when I don’t love you the same,”

There’s a long silence between us. The only sounds that can be heard are the quiet sobs of Richard behind me. He sighs in an almost labored fashion, trying to stifle the uncontrollable sobs that come with extended periods of crying.

“I...I understand Stella. It’s...better this way,” Richard says, finally reaching a point of acceptance with my decision.

His words are spoken through a broken voice that makes him sound so stricken with grief. The guilt boils over in my mind, causing tears to silently draw lines down my cheeks.

“I didn’t mean to cause any of this, Richard. I hope you know that. I’m just trying my best to make it as right as I can now,”

“I know, Stella. I don’t want you to explain it to me any further. It’s done. Let’s let it stay that way,”

“Okay...You know, there’s still no one I’d rather be flying a plane with than you. You’re the best pilot I know other than Kurosawa,” I say trying to desperately cheer Richard up.

“I’ll be sure not to disappoint,” He responds in an almost monotone fashion.

I look up in to a mirror that allows me to see in to the rear of the cockpit. I catch a glimpse of a smile on Richard’s face even though his voice told me he doesn’t care. A small sense of relief comes over me at the gesture.

“All squadrons prepare for launch. We will be upon the Sekrid home world momentarily. As soon as we come out of the wormhole, launch will commence,”

I key in the combination of switches and button to prep my fighter for launch, then put my helmet back on. It immediately syncs up to the old operating system, displaying a combat oriented HUD than the previous fighter I was in. The carrier starts to vibrate, signaling the braking process of our fleet so as to not exit the wormhole at too high a rate of speed. I look around the hanger and notice small cracks start to form in the integrity of the carrier. Alarm lights begin to flash throughout the entire area.

“This doesn’t look good,” Richard says.

“Attention all carrier personnel, the carrier is having minor issues with decreasing speed. We did not anticipate this kind of velocity from the wormhole. Please remain calm,”

The crack starts to widen as the carrier vibrates even more.

“If we don’t reach the end of this wormhole soon this ship is going to be ripped to pieces,” I say out loud.

“The real question is whether or not the fleet is going to be able to handle the exit. With as hard as we’re reverse thrusting, once the velocity stops, we’re going to stop almost instantly. That’s a lot of energy still moving forward,” Richard says adding in his two sense.

Without a word I flip the switch that engages the magnetic locks on my landing gear, signaled by an audible clicking sound. It’s a relief to feel the vibrations of the carrier lessen as it pulls power off of the thrusters. It seems the control center came to the same conclusion as Richard and I.

Without warning there’s sudden lurch forward and I feel as if my brain is slamming into the front of my skull. All of the air is forced out of me as the carrier comes to a near screeching halt. Richard and I slam into the back of our seats as the forward velocity is expended. The resulting shock leaves me dazed and staring around at my surroundings.

There are areas where the cracks had become wide enough for me to see into other levels of the ship. I look around the hangar and notice that not everyone took the necessary precaution of turning on their mag-locks, leaving a number of fighters contorted and broken after colliding with the bulkhead door.

“Attention all personnel, this is General Turner. It’s time to wipe the disorientation from your minds. You are launching immediately,”

As the General finishes her statement, my fighter is rotated out of the hangar once more. I quickly disengage my mag-locks and accelerate forward. As expected, the Sekrid waste no time opening fire, immediately utilizing the large planetary cannon they acquired from the Pulvans to assault our ships.

One of our carriers takes a glancing blow form the cannon and I notice that it’s ripped a huge hole into the shielding of the carrier. At the same time, Sekrid war planes scramble out of their respective carriers as Sekrid destroyers begin to open fire on our fleet.

We respond in kind and unleash a torrent of fire upon all Sekrid ships. The distance closes quickly and before I know it, I’m dog-fighting with enemy warplanes. The progress however, is less than what I’m used to when I fly with Kurosawa. My flying is well enough to keep us from being taken out, but Richard’s performance behind the guns is less than adequate from the skill I know him to possess.

“Richard, what the hell is the problem?! I need you to step it up!” I yell in a scolding manner.

“I’m trying! I just can’t get the locks that I want!”

“You need to focus. Lead them. It’s alright Richard, you got this,”

It takes a few more tries, but Richard finally begins to hit the targets successfully and before long, our chemistry has synced up and become an eloquent dance of seek and destroy. Unfortunately, the Sekrid war planes begin to take notice of our performance and soon enough, there’s a rather large group clustered together and tailing us.

They begin to fire and the sheer number of energy bolts is enough to land hits on our fighter. Escape becomes a futile effort at this point as every time I try to cut one way, a section of the Sekrid planes fires a larger amount of bolts, keeping us herded on the path of their choosing.

“At this rate, we’re dead. Any ideas, Richard,”

“Yeah actually, it’s one of Dante’s tactics. Only difference is he used it inside of an atmosphere. All we have to do is tweak it a bit and it should be the same principal,”

“I’m always up for one of Dante’s plans. Tell me what to do,”

“Alright, I need you to cut in any direction. I’ll take care of the rest. Just make sure you’re going in a straight line. Oh, and slow down. We want them to catch up to us, but not too much,”

“Uh...ok? Why slow down?”

“Just trust me,”

I take a deep breath and give an accepting shrug, even though I’m unsure of his plan. I quickly drop my thrust to zero and cut to the right, jamming the thrust lever forward again and accelerating in another direction. The Sekrid group follows immediately behind, continuing their onslaught on my fighter.

“Okay, Stella, let off the thrust a bit,” Richard instructs me.

I slowly pull the thrust level back down, which allows the Sekrid planes to consistently gain on me.

“Okay, hold it there. When I say so, hit the thrust again,”

“Got it,”

I hear Richard type on a few keys and then click a button. A message appears on my screen saying ‘MISSILE RELEASED’

“Richard, what are you--,”

“Hit the thrusters now!” He yells.

Without hesitation I accelerate as fast as I can, gaining distance from the Sekrid grouping. Richard presses another button and I see the glint of a flash on the canopy.

“What the hell was that?” I ask.

“I programmed one of our rockets not to activate thrust and then dropped it like a mine. The Sekrid ships were right on top of us so by the time they realized it was there, it was already in the middle of their grouping. I had you thrust forward to get out of the blast radius. The actual version requires atmosphere. Dante developed a tactic where you would fly straight up to stalling altitude. You’d program the rocket on the way. Just before you’re about to start freefall, you release the rocket with the enemy close behind you. By the time you detonate you’d have already gained enough distance from the fall to avoid any damage,” Richard explains.

I can’t help but smile.

“He’s so clever,” I say to myself.

“Attention all combat units, ground units are en route to HVT on Argalia’s surface, request free units to break off and rendezvous with them,”

Without a second thought I respond.

“Mission Control, Shadow One, I’m responding to ground units,” I say as I accelerate as fast as I can away from the space combat and into Argalia’s atmosphere.

Two other units follow behind me after confirming themselves. I switch my comm. Channel over to the ground units.

“HVT extract, this is PGO Stella Lancaster. We have a visual on you. You are free to advance, we’ll provide cover fire,”

“Copy that ma’am, you’re a welcome sight. We’re advancing,”

“Who do I have following me?” I say to the other fighters.

“Alpha One ma’am,”

“Fox Four ma’am,”

“Copy that. I want you both to break off and go opposite directions. Maintain visuals of each other and set up a cross fire horizontally. I’ll maintain a straight up and down and clear a path forward,”

“Alpha copies ma’am,”

“Fox same traffic,”

Both fighters break off in an expert fashion and accelerate passed me so as to begin their assault in advance of mine. I watch as they move forward and then break inward and then bear down large amounts of main gun fire across a long trench that’s embedded with Sekrid. After they finish their first strafing run, I turn my fighter into a dive and fly immediately ahead of the extraction group and fire a line of energy bolts to their direct advancing area.

I’m low enough to the ground that I watch Sekrid soldiers fly through the air or explode entirely as the energy bolts collide with the surface of Argalia. At the last minute I pull up hard, returning to a safe altitude away from any ground fire. The process repeats for some time, allowing for the extraction team to gain a lot of ground in a short amount of time.

It isn’t long before their target, a large metal compound, is within their reach to infiltrate and get Leon out of there.

“Good work everyone. Keep up covering fire and the ground forces will reach the target in no time,” I say, handing out praise.

I watch again as Alpha and Fox go in for a strafing run with a smile on my face as I prematurely celebrate our impending victory. My smile is quickly tuned into a frown however, as I see a trail of smoke attached to a small black dot.

“Fox, you have tailing,” I say over the radio.

Fox breaks off of his strafe and cuts hard towards my direction. He strafes left and right to no avail as the rocket follows his every move.

“Stella, there’s no way he’s going dodge that rocket. It’s a Jackal,” Richard says to me.

“Are you sure?”

“I’m positive,”

“Looks like we need to help him then. Fox keep coming towards us. You won’t be able to shake that missile, we’re going to try and swat it for you,”

“Copy that,”

I can hear the obvious nervousness in Fox’s voice as he responds. I accelerate hard towards Fox. As he zooms passed me, I brake all the way down and turn my fighter one-hundred and eighty degrees and accelerating once more. I quickly catch up and maintain speed behind the rocket following Fox. He continues to move in any direction he can to try and shake it off, but it’s as if the rocket is attached to a string on the back of his fighter.

“Richard, get me a lock. We have to take it down now,”

“I’m trying Stella. But it’s like the laser doesn’t even see the rocket. This thing is extremely upgraded,”

“Get this thing off of me!” Fox screams.

“Richard, take it down!”

“That’s what I’m telling you Stella, I can’t! The radar can’t find it!”

I watch helplessly as the missile moves closer and closer to Fox.

“Please! Stop it! Aahhhhh!” Fox cries out as the Jackal missile collides with his fighter, blowing it into a thousand pieces in a cloud of green fire and smoke.

“Stella, watch it!” Richard yells at me.

I’m too late to react as we fly directly into the cluster of debris from Fox’s fighter. I hear pieces of twisted metal bounce of the hull of my plane. Multiple pieces fly into the canopy. A number of small ones manage to pierce through partially. I notice a warning light start flashing on my dashboard.

“What’s going on Richard?”

“Shit. A piece of debris went into our air intake. If it stays in the intake we’ll be fine. If it manages to pass through into the engine th--,”

Richard is cut off as his explanation comes true.

Our left thruster pops and explodes, causing our fighter to start a death roll and begins descending rapidly towards the planet surface.

“Shadow One is going down! I repeat, Shadow One is going down! Richard, eject! I’ll be right behind you!” I call out.

There’s no response from Richard as I hear him pull his evacuation lever. It causes the canopy to blast out of its housing and flies into an indiscernible direction. The cool air smashes into my body and face, the sound of it muffles everything else around me. I force my hands down through the air resistance and pull my own ejection lever. I feel myself forcefully eject from the fighter into the open air.

My seat tumbles through the sky, causing me to become completely disoriented. I quickly come to a halt as my parachute opens and I’m jerked upwards unknown amount of distance. Everything seems to come to a halt as I float down gently to the planet’s surface. It’s all so calm that I can hear my quick breathes and take the time to gain to control of it.

I look out on to the horizon. It’s almost as if the whole war has stopped right in this moment. I can’t help but think about how beautiful the Sekrid home world is.

It’s so...green.

Trees as tall as buildings cover the skyline, the wood colored a rich and beautiful cherry color. I don’t know why, but I began to cry in that moment. Maybe it’s because I’m in shock. Or because I know that all of this beauty is eventually going to be destroyed, but the tears just continued to flow uncontrollably.

The bullets pierce through my parachute suddenly, causing me to fall much faster to the planet below. I have no chance to react as my ejection seat collided with the canopy of trees below, crashing through the large branches while I stay strapped to it, a prisoner in something that’s supposed to protect me.