Author: William "Raptor[K]" Lohrberg Viewing: Chapter 2  
 

And what a day it was. More depressing than the actual losing of the pilot and finding out about it would have to be the fact that there is always a funeral service to attend to the dead. At 0800 hours the funeral session for the dead pilots of the battle from yesterday commenced. All in total 10 pilots and their craft were lost. The fighters can easily be replaced, but the pilots, all the money spent training them, and the devastation left behind in the minds of the friends and family that they knew was irreplaceable.

  The ceremony itself was short and sweet. Even more emotional for the people was when the 7 guards were called forth to present arms and fire in a salute to the fallen pilots. Three shots rang out of each guard for the 21-gun salute. With each shot the combat pilots flinch, knowing that one-day those shots could be for them. Finally the caskets are launched from the flight deck and out into space. Slowly and solemnly the pilots exit the flight deck heading back to their barracks, while the 102nd heads to the briefing room for the outline of their mission specs.

  ***

  The CAG (Commander Air Group) began, "Ok Wildcards, due to the destruction of the Kilrathi carrier yesterday, the Kilrathi have sent in a taskforce to attack the Washington Destroyer group. We're talking 5 destroyers here with support vessels. It is Intel's belief that the Kilrathi force will have at least 1 of their carriers and possible a dreadnaught with them. Intel also believes this new dreadnaught could be capable of destroying our carrier group.

  "I hate to send you out one man short, but your ships are the only ones that can escort the Longbows to their destination by jumping into the next system. The Washington group has mined the jump point that they believe the enemy task force will come through. You'll be jumping in through a back door behind the Washington group. Intel hopes they send in the dreadnaught first, but it is unknown whether or not that they will. Men your mission is before you. Go to it."

  ***

  At that the Wildcards scramble to their planes and go through the pre flight checklist before takeoff. Ahead of them the Longbow squadrons launch from both carriers and proceed to the rendezvous point. Slowly I pan through my weapons listings and come upon a strange weapon labeled Mace.
  I toggle my COM system to the squad channel, "Any of you guys ever hear of this Mace missile that we're equipped with?"
  Hunter replies, "Mace? Are you joking? They equipped us with freaking nukes!"
  "Nukes? We're flying with nukes in a dogfight?" I yelled.
  "They must have no faith in those torpedoes to be sending us in with nukes," commented Knight.

Thinking to myself I say, "This is the last time I trust the brass."

  "Let's launch guys those bombers need their escort." I radio to the squad.

  ***

  Afterburners lit as the 102nd takes off on tails of fire and head to the rendezvous point. A couple minutes later the 102nd links up with the 123rd and 162nd Bomber division from the 2 carriers and they head to the jump point. Fifteen minutes later the swirling vortex opens and the 3 Squadrons fly through to immediately emerge on the other side with the jump point closing behind them. Straight ahead of the squadrons lay the Washington destroyer group. The 3 Squadrons fly past the ships and slow to a full stop waiting for the enemy ships to appear. The 102nd doesn't bother to cloak this time and are rewarded when the jump point in front of them opens.

  The first to appear, not expecting anything, is the Kilrathi dreadnaught. The sheer size of the ship is enough to scare a pilot of a little fighter, but soon explosions start ripping along the hull of the ship as the mines are now drawn to the metal and start detonating.

  Even while getting pelted the massive ship continues its journey through the minefield. A few mines get through to the magazine room and ignite huge secondary explosions ripping the massive ship in half.

  The victory is short lived though as a Kilrathi carrier and 2 destroyers drop in right behind it. Even with the massive destruction of their brothers they keep pressing on towards the Washington battlegroup. At that point the Kilrathi carrier launches it fighters and the 102nd sets to work on dispatching them letting the Longbow bombers get close enough to ice the carrier. The Excaliburs jink and juke, cloak and decloak. Even with their vigilance some Kilrathi fighters start taking out the bombers.

  Racing to the rescue I decloak behind 1 of the fighters and let loose a missile right up his six. The missile impacting with his shields cause them to drop and I fire burst after burst of my tachyon guns into his rear finally cutting through to the reactor and detonating the ship. The bomber given the time that it needs launches its torpedoes at the intended carrier piercing the shields and setting off explosives which isn't enough to destroy it. A second bomber launches its torpedoes right before a nearby Kilrathi fighter moves in and destroys it. The torpedoes impact with the carrier and finally cause it to break apart.

  The Washington battlegroup finally starts to move in to do battle with the Kilrathi destroyers. What was a fighter-capship battle has turned into a slugfest between the 2 Kilrathi destroyers and the battlegroup. With overwhelming firepower the Washington battlegroup wins and the remaining Kilrathi fighters are cleaned up. All in all it was a pretty clean battle, except for the loss of the 2 bombers. One by one the fighters get back in formation and head to the jump point to return back to base.