Loud, it was far too loud. So loud that Fairy couldn’t even think through the uproar. In the darkness that enveloped her the sound continued to build. An unstoppable wave that was about to crash over her, crush her.
She knew she needed to dos something, but she felt so very far away from everything. There was nothing but the building pressure and the rising noise.
The wave crested above her and suddenly it went silent.
Fairy’s eyes snapped open. She was in her Kniv, body hanging against the restraints. She could taste blood in her mouth and feel it slowly dipping down her chin. A small pool had formed in her visor.
With unsteady hands she reached up and pressed the shield release, allowing the liquid to drain out and splatter against the control console. Sealing the helmet, she rested her hands lightly on the controls, took in a deep breath, and pushed her Kniv back to its feet.
The machines response was slow, her sync rating wavering in and out of optimal conditions, but she still managed to stand. Forcing her breathing to remain even she took stock of the situation.
Her transport ship had been shot down. She could scarcely remembered the details, only flashes filled her mind.
Alpha-Leader ordering an immediate drop.
The feeling of free fall tugging at her belly as she dropped into the city.
A scream tearing from her lips before she could stop it
Seeing Alpha Four-Four disappear in a flash of fire.
Fairy’s fingers tightened against the controls and her teeth grit together. The fuzzy details were beginning to come clear. The explosion had sent her careening off path. Her Kniv had clipped the top of a building and sent her into an uncontrollable spin before she impacted with the ground.
Her Kniv had been damaged in the fall. The right leg was operating at seventy percent, her nav system was no longer operational, and her kinetic shield generator had been blown out from the impact. Thankfully her plasma blade was still operational and her rifle had suffered nothing more than a few superficial dents.
She shouldered the rifle and hesitated. The city they had been forced to drop in had been labeled as abandoned, but clearly the ELA had at least a small force operating within it.
It would be best to regroup back with the other members of Alpha Division
“This is Alpha-Minor. Does anyone copy?” Fairy waited five second before repeating the call. She received nothing but static.
Had the ELA employed a communication scrambler… Or was there no one left to answer her call?
On the edge of her vision an icon blipped to life warning her of her rising heart rate.
“I know that,” Fairy said quietly as she silenced the alarm. “Switch to short range communications.”
Her HUD blinked in response to the order. The hiss of static continued for a moment before she heard voice break through but the signal was too distorted for her to understand. Still, it sent a wave of relief through her body.
She wasn’t alone.
Fairy started to adjust the signal when a series of loud thuds drew her attention.
Knivs.
Multiple Knivs.
Heading in her direction.
She was in a four-way intersection. The noise was coming from her left. She had to move, but which direction? She hadn’t been able to triangulate the transmission from earlier. She could be running further away from her squad.
Rooted by her indecision, she had only just begun to move when a Kniv turned the corner. Fairy raised her rifle, but a moment too late and a burst of gunfire slammed against her chest. With no shield, the bullets hammered against her armour, a few breaking through and pinging off of her coffin. Her heart leapt into her throat as she took an unsteady step back. Another bullet struck her in the shoulder and she ran.
A pair of ELA Kniv gave chase, firing after her.
Alarms popped up faster than Fairy could dismiss them as the sustained ELA fire chipped away at her Kniv’s armor. One of the rounds drilled through the back of her neck and her sync dropped drastically. A large black spot formed in her left eye and she stumbled, only managing to stay upright by grabbing a streetlamp for balance.
Cover, she needed cover.
Taking a hard left, she boosted around a corner and came to a skidding stop as she saw a third Kniv a few blocks up the street from her. She brought her rifle up and fired. The shots were poorly placed, most going high and only a handful splashing against the Knivs kinetic shield.
“Damnit,” Fairy cried as she ejected the spent magazine.
With no option but to go forward she weathered the return fire from the Kniv before turning right at her first opportunity, the other two Kniv still in close pursuit. Pulling a smoke grenade she popped the pin and let it fall. Through the rising smoke the ELA continued to fire on her, but with no clear target she received only a smattering of direct fire.
Boosting as fast as her damaged Kniv would allow she continued forward, her eyes spying the remains of what had once been some kind of overpass. Massive chunks of roadway had fallen down to the ground and Fairy took cover behind one of them, dropping down to one knee.
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Her hands shook as she started to load in a fresh magazine, doing her best to ignore the gunfire that began to rain down around her. The makeshift barricade wouldn’t hold long against sustained fire. Not that it mattered. They would move to flank her long before that happened. Once she was surrounded….
She would die.
Fairy’s eyes widened and her hand came up to clutch at her chest as her breathing began to speed up. Her entire body trembled and the Kniv shuddered in response. Tears leaked from the edges of her eyes as she ripped off her helmet and tore at her flight suit, desperate for even the shallowest of breath. Stars burst in her vision and a klaxon alarm rang as her sync rate dipped into the desync range. Her eyes screwed shut as a blistering pain formed in the base of her skull.
“Fairy, breathe.”
A voice cut through Fairy’s mind and she froze. Slowly, her eyes opened up and she sucked in a single, sharp breath and held it. Her fingers found the controls and gripped them tight. The alarms went silent, one by one, as she readjusted the grip on her rifle.
“Break down the situation. Damaged shields. Three enemy combatants. Don’t let them surround you. Dictate the pace.” Fairy let the breath out slowly through pursed lips. “Alpha-Minor, beginning assault.”
Boosting from her crouched position Fairy flew out from behind the cover, spraying the trio of Knivs with sustained fire. Rolling across the ground and behind a half destroyed support column she ejected the spent magazine and primed a grenade.
The ELA Knivs hadn’t properly spread out yet.
A mistake.
Fairy counted down from three and tossed the grenade. The suppressing fire from the ELA paused for the briefest of moments as they moved to escape the blast radius of the grenade. Fairy grit her teeth and lifted herself up. Rifle tight to her shoulder she charged at the nearest Kniv, spraying it with automatic fire as the grenade went off. The plume of fire and smoke enveloped the Kniv and its shields flickered before failing.
As bullets tore through her hull Fairy continued her charge, releasing her rifle and slamming her shoulder against the damaged Kniv. The other two Knivs immediately stopped firing as she grappled with their ally,. Teeth bared she drew her blade and slammed it into the Knivs midsection. She wrenched up until she felt the resistance of the coffin’s reinforced exterior.
“No one move!” Fairy yelled through her external speakers. Slowly she rotated until the other two Knivs where in front of her. “No one move or I’ll activate the plasma!”
The Kniv began to struggle and Fairy tightened her grip, pushing the blade deeper into the coffin. The horrible screech of metal on metal put an end to the struggles and the machine went still.
The two remaining Knivs made no movement, unsure of what to do.
“Hesitation is death,” Fairy whispered as she activated the plasma reactor.
The glowing plasma blade burned through the Kniv like a hot knife through butter, sending droplets of liquid slag raining down to the Earth. She wrenched the blade up before tossing the destroyed Kniv to the side.
Before the broken machine hit the ground she threw herself forward, blade outstretched. She reached the next Kniv in a single bound, swinging the blade down and catching it on the shoulder. The Pilot managed to fire his rifle, sending a flurry of bullets into Fairy’s lower torso and legs, but it was too late. The plasma blade tore through his Kniv and into the cockpit. To her side the remaining Kniv unloaded a full clip into her side.
Sparks danced in front of her face as the cockpit was pierced in multiple places and a bullet tore through the side of her chair. The force threw her to the side, her harness tightening in response. Though it managed to keep her in place, the sudden whiplash knocked the air from her lungs. Sucking in a reedy breath she turned to face the remaining Kniv, but that was all she could do as her Kniv dropped down to one knee, the damaged leg finally giving out.
“No, “Fairy whispered out as she watched the Pilot reload his rife.
Even through the distance between them was minimal, her Kniv would never make it. She could still draw her sidearm, but it wouldn’t be enough to pierce the kinetic shield. Even so….
The plasma blade slipped from her fingers and she drew her sidearm, lifting it up just as the Kniv finished reloading his rifle. They stared at each other, weapons drawn. Fairy drew in a ragged breath that seemed to last an eternity before finally, she squeeze the trigger.
The shot was true and struck the Kniv directly in the head.
It exploded.
Fairy’s eyes went wide as the headless Kniv shuddered for a moment before its body was riddled with automatic fire. Smoke billowing from the torso; the machine staggered one step to the side and fell.
Through the smoke Fairy stared in awe as a Novan Kniv stepped through the carnage and stopped above her. Carefully it swept from side to side, before lowing its weapon and looking down at her.
“This is Alpha Three-Three. Alpha-Minor has been located. Sending coordinates now.” Three-Three held out his hand. “You did good, Kid. Come on, let’s go home.”
xXx
Gabriel continued to stare at the monitors with rapt attention until Fairy and the remaining Orbital Knights returned to base. Beside him Lucile remained silent, waiting for him to finally turn to look at her to speak.
“I am sorry, Gabriel. I know you wanted to assist, but with Nova’s current position you never would have made it in time.” Lucile reached out and placed a hand gently on his shoulder. “I understand how you feel. I understand your worry, believe me, I do. It’s the same worry I have every time I have sent you down to Earth.”
“I apologize for breaking protocol,” Gabriel said, glancing at the transmission log.
Lucile smiled. “I don’t believe it’s possible for someone who was never here to break protocol, don’t you agree?”
Gabriel nodded.
“I will make sure that Fairchild is properly taken care of upon returning to Nova. You have my word.”
“Thank you, ma’am.”
Lucile gave him a warm smile. “Now, if you don’t mind, how would you rate her performance?”
Gabriel turned back to the monitors and ran through the recording, skipping through some points and re-watching others. Lucile waited patiently as he reviewed.
“She is a skilled Pilot. The fact that after taking so much damage she was able to keep her neural sync in operational range is impressive,” Gabriel said quietly. “But it took her too long to adequately respond to the opposition. Her blind retreat forced her to combat three opponents instead of two. Had she been better prepared mentally she likely would not have sustained as munch damage as she did.”
“I see,” Lucile nodded. “And your thoughts on the attack itself?”
“I do not believe it was a planned attack. The ELA forces were likely only in the city for a short time when the Knight’s transport passed over. It’s possible they believed it to be an attack, which is why the responded the way they did.”
“Oh, and why do you believe that?”
“The ELA have superior numbers in both infantry and Kniv Pilots. From the satellite imaging and information relayed from the Orbital Knights, there were only eight ELA Knivs in total and no infantry present. It would not make sense for them to attempt an attack on the Orbital Knights, even if it was a surprise attack.”
“Well said. I believe you are right, of course. The ELA’s resources are one of the chief reasons your work for us is so very necessary. Without your efforts… Well I shudder to think about where we may be” Lucile nodded her head one more time before standing up. “Thank you, Gabriel. Your insight is always much appreciated. You may stay as long as you wish, but I would recommend you get some sleep. You have a big day coming up.”
“Thank you, ma’am. I will.” Gabriel said. He swiveled back towards the monitors as the door behind him slid shut. With a few taps he restarted the mission recording, his hands growing tight as Fairy’s screams filled the room.