Erin found David readying the ship as she entered the hangar. He came out wearing his space armor. “You’re running low on people stupid enough to follow you, and they could probably use another mechanic on Haremar, so save me the speech.” said David. His speech and tone were solid and Erin could see he would take on the Gopher Empire himself to save Therese without hesitation.
“I’ll start the flight prep, you have ops.” said Erin, entering the ship, and sliding her hand over her old MK-48 power suit.
The MK-48 was covered with weapons and was polished brilliantly, David had done a great job maintaining their equipment. Erin’s was a two-seat model that had had a large cannon on each arm that fired unstable matter shells which exploded like small nuclear devices. A small caliber hyper pressure machine gun fired armor penetrating shells from the nose and twin hyper pressure large caliber machine guns could be fired by either the pilot or the gunner. She traced her hand across the #17 still plastered on it as the day it was issued. Erin added a “RIOT” sticker from a band concert she loved. Erin traced her fingers and remembered the last mission she took it, Space-Girl Carmella had flown with her, the other girls used to call them the twins. Last Erin had heard, Carmella was leading an expedition into unknown space.
“I never really met you, I’m sorry, you got hired after I quit, I’m Erin.’ Erin said shaking hands with David. They both know she shut him out because she blamed the Space-Girls for her sister Isabella’s death. Digs knew that going in to the job, he’d known her sister and missed her too.
“My friends call me Digs.” said David.
“I thought Therese and Kara call you Diggie?” asked Erin.
“Ok, some of my friends call me Diggie, but I prefer Digs.” said David.
“Ok, Diggie, you have ops.” said Erin, strapping herself in. David shook his head and smiled and did his part of the start-up. Soon the black ship roared to life and shot into the sky.
“She was always nice to me, there’s not too many like Therese.” said David in the silence of T-Space. Digs did not like this one bit, but he was in and committed. He would fight the world to protect his friend. He’d fought enough people in high school protecting her, and now he was taking on another world to do the same.
“I’ll get her back. You keep the ship together.” said Erin. Digs had no doubt the Shadowbird could save her.
Erin banked the ship and flew evasive as they emerged from infinite speed, but no threats registered on the scanners. At least above, the Space Navy seemed to be gaining ground. “I inputted Space-Girl Michelle’s location as waypoint Yankee.” said David. Erin nodded and entered atmospheric flight at maximum safe velocity, headed straight to Michelle.
Erin cleared the ship as soon as she landed, Space-Girl Michelle met her on the ground. Erin saluted out of custom, and Space-Girl Michelle returned the salute.
“Thank you for coming.” said Space-Girl Michelle.
Erin decked Michelle and sent her flying, then Erin walked over to Michelle and picked her up and threw her again, sending a stack of crates flying, then Erin walked over to her again, stood her up, and punched Space-Girl Michelle again, dropping her to the ground. The air exploded in loud noise with each hit and each hit was the worst pain Space-Girl Michelle had ever felt and she was no stranger to pain.
Space-Girl Michelle staggered and stood. The Space-Girl Captain, Erin, known as the Shadowbird, was not known for being subtle, in fact, she was known for a lot worse if the battle took her that way.
“I suppose I deserved that.” said Michelle, waving off the other Space-Girls who emerged to hold Erin back.
“You deserve more than that, but we’re in the middle of a battle. You know why I’m not in your stupid fan club, Michelle? Because you take all these people, most of them kids, from all these worlds, and they die and get killed, before they ever even live.” said Erin, holding back from punching Space-Girl Michelle again. She genuinely liked Monica, but being the current Space-Girl Michelle wasn’t enough to shield her from Erin’s anger.
“Those kids saved the galaxy, if they didn’t go, the Gophers and the others would have slain their brothers and sisters. Yes, we listen to rock music and have a little fun doing it, but someone has to. You can’t expect the Space Marines to do everything.” said Michelle, wiping blood from the corner of her mouth. The pain was worth it to bring Erin back to the team.
“I get that, but Therese is special, you have taken everyone special to me.” said Erin.
“I have always been sorry about your sister, if you weren’t on that mission that day, Hilas would have fallen and millions of people would have died. You made a choice, the only choice.” said Space-Girl Michelle.
“She was my everything, and I finally healed a little, and now Therese is taken, I’m going to go get her back.” said Erin.
“Let me guess, you’re just going to fly a couple MK-48’s in, and get her.” said Space-Girl Michelle as the tone of her voice reflected her doubts in Erin’s plan.
“Well, I was thinking my MK-48 might make it.” Erin confessed, realizing she was probably a little too optimistic about her plan.
“Two MK-48’s are still small enough to look like a simple raid, not draw in extra reinforcements, and it doubles your firepower.” said Space-Girl Michelle.
“You’re in command, you’re the Michelle.” said Erin. She was pissed at Space-Girl Michelle, but she knew the boss was right on this one.
“And I’m going with you, this is a stupid idea and reeks of a suicide mission.” said Space-Girl Michelle, turning and walking to get her MK-48 power armor, she called “Smiley.” Digs was already offloading Erin’s MK-48, the two-seater she brought, so she could fly Therese back in it once she was rescued.
“Babe, you’re not going without me.” said Vivo while walking up to Erin. His head hung low, and he was both hurt and embarrassed at losing Therese. Vivo had lost all his pride in life with their defeat and wished he died next to Buck.
“I need the extra seat to fly Therese out.” said Erin.
“That plan is stupid and poorly thought out. When you secure the area, we’ll fly in on your ship and extract her. We might be banged up, but, we can pull that much off.” said Ben. He was angry, also wished he died next to Buck, and any chance to rescue Therese was a chance worth dying for.
“You guys aren’t going without me.” said Ed Shank walking up. His armor was covered in scorch marks, and he too was willing to risk his life for any chance to recover his closest friend in the world.
“Told you that you needed me, and no one except you has more time on that ship than me.” said Digs, putting his helmet on. “I hate this stupid armor, it doesn’t let your junk breathe.” finished Digs.
“Right? I was thinking like we could put a little vent blow fresh air down there.” said Vivo. Ben nodded in agreement.
“Guy’s, we can worry about your not so fresh feeling when we get back.” Erin redirected, climbing into her MK-48 power suit. Vivo, sore and hurt, climbed into the rear gunners chair. Michelle entered her MK-48, “Big Smiley”.
The Power cells and turbines of the MK-48’s roared to life. Each was equipped with the highest grade energy cells, and boosted with turbines when in atmospheric conditions. They had enough firepower to take out the heaviest armored gophers and were almost as agile as the Space-Girls themselves. The ground rumbled with the vibrations of the MK-48’s. The turbine boost had a high-pitched whine, the repulsors vibrated the ground and the weight of the armor itself crushed the ground with each step.
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“Scrappy CoCo, I want offensives all along the line, you need to pull them away from the rear.” transmitted Space-Girl Michelle. It was time to risk everything to make this wrong right.
“Aye, Ma’am.” Space-Girl Susan acknowledged as she began transmitting requests to the commanders of the 1st Division. Space-Girl Susan was a duality, half a dedicated professional and half an explosive but passionate warrior. People followed her out of respect and a simple curiosity about what she would do next. The Division hoped for something other than holding the line and rallied at her requests.
Michelle spun her MK-48, checking for feedback and smoothness. Michelle found herself pleased with the suit. “Smiley” had an automatic grenade launcher on the left arm, and a rapid-fire multi-barreled cannon on the right. Six small missiles were mounted above the autocannon on the right arm, and 6 medium missiles were mounted on the left shoulder. A hyper-pressure machine gun with armor-piercing ammunition was mounted on the right. Advanced sensors and jamming equipment completed the electronics, and of course, a big “smiley face” sticker was mounted on the right arm’s ammo drum.
The MK-48 had a large turbine and a sound blasting PA system to broadcast rock music as they fought, both frightening enemies and giving the girls a rhythm tempo to follow. These armored suits of war were costly, high maintenance and made for war only, so the girls relied on them as little as possible, but they were needed again now.
“Let’s go get our girl.” said Erin, firing her thrusters, and accelerating the suit to maximum velocity as it roared above the ground faster than the suit or a person could hope to tun.
“Any requests?” Space-Girl Michelle asked Erin.
“Soundtrack Delta. Only heavy metal can see us through this alive.” said Erin as Michelle linked their suits, and both MK-48’s began blaring rock music loudly. The two Space-Girls flew map of the earth, annihilating any gophers that they came across. The MK-48’s were equipped with ship-grade weaponry, and everyone fired as accurately and quickly as they could. The MK-48’s could run fast, jump far and fly over the ground if needed.
“We suspect the Gopher King at waypoint Tango, let’s fight our way there.” Space-Girl Michelle directed, and Erin followed her lead.
All along the forward edge of the battlefield, the Space Marines roared to life and assaulted the gophers. Cannons fired, mortars dropped and fighters delivered close air support, for the first time in a day, the 1st Division was on the offensive. The Space Navy dropped to orbital shelling altitude, having driven out the gopher fleet. The rabbit armies joined in, fighting from their burrows, and attempted to fill in the gaps with the Marine lines. The gophers were forced to draw upon more and more of their reserves, thinning the path for the Space-Girls.
“There it is, up ahead, the Gopher King encampment.” said Space-Girl Michelle, adjusting her direction. Gopher resistance grew fiercer as they neared, there were less and less regular cyborg gophers, and more and more armored gophers than before. Erin maneuvered as fast as she could, covering Michelle’s advance, grateful she had Vivo in the back gunner's seat.
Vivo fired the high-pressure machine guns, sinking armor-piercing bullets into all but the thickest armored gophers. The bursts chewed them down. For those who did not fall to the concentrated machine-gun fire, Erin fired her heavy cannon into them and cleared out entire squads of nearby gophers. The cannons held less ammo though, so she saved the heavy guns for when they were needed most.
Space-Girl Michelle also used the same strategy of trying to use her machine guns as much as possible to save her heavier ordnance. A line of Gopher Shock troopers formed, and she used her autocannon to cut them down like a giant broadsword cleaving them as the four barrels rotated and fired. As more and more Gopher Super Soldiers arrived, their armor was too thick for even her autocannon and Michelle easily switched to her small yield anti-armor cannon and destroyed several of them at a time as the shells exploded apart in a blaze of unstable matter and then collapsed in on themselves. Michelle hated using the expensive ammunition up which was difficult to replace, but she was even more committed to rescuing Therese than even staying alive.
The Space-Girl advance was finally slowed to a stop, as the resistance thickened. Armored gophers grew thicker and it was taking longer to stop them, and the Space-Girls were only barely holding their ground as they maneuvered and fired. Erin fired a burst of high yield grenades, shredding and melting armored gophers, but as one died another took its place.
The ground blew in front of them, and a company of Rabbit shock troops jumped out of the open tunnel. They advanced recklessly and without concern for their own safety, with unprecedented determination. The rabbits jumped and kicked and sliced open the gophers with energy swords, ignoring their own losses. The energy beams cut through gopher armor where the Hare small arms failed. The rabbits were about the size of Therese but moved quickly and viciously, having their strength increased by their anger towards the invaders.
“Captain Lionhead reporting.” said the lead rabbit as he sliced open a gopher that almost crushed Michelle. “We were told you are rescuing the daughter of our world.” said the rabbit, jumping from gopher to gopher and cutting them open. Lionhead was quick and vicious, his beard and long hair flowing under his helmet fought against the air as he jumped around and sliced gophers open.
“We are, and thank you for your help.” replied Michelle.
“No rabbit would ever show their head above ground if we did less.” The Rabbit Captain said, as he continued to attack. The rabbits succeeded in making a hole in the Gopher lines, and the Space-Girls flew through it, firing as best they could. Michelle and Erin both recognized the royal bodyguard markings of the gophers and they knew they were close to the gopher king.
A blast hit Erin’s MK-48 and it collapsed powerless to the ground, the Gopher King himself stepped up and charged a beam weapon, grinned and raised it to destroy Erin and Vivo. As the giant Gopher King fired, Space-Girl Michelle flew in front of it and was destroyed by the beam aimed at Erin. Pieces of Michelle’s MK-48 flew in every direction. Erin did not have time to mourn Space-Girl Michelle’s sacrifice, and Vivo was knocked unconscious by the blast. Erin jumped from her own wreckage and charged the Gopher King who laughed in defiance.
“I suppose you are the new Michelle.” said The Gopher King, swatting Erin into the air.
Erin uprighted herself in the air and flew back at the Gopher King. Ice formed on the ground and energy weapons stopped working as she absorbed the available energy. The Gopher King’s cyborg parts stopped working and his heart stopped pumping as he stared at Erin. Yellow energy surrounded her and she grimaced in pain as she felt like she was being burned alive as she drew in energy from around her and a Gopher fighter flying by lost power before crashing into the ground before even the energy of the explosion was absorbed by Erin.
“No, I am and always will be the Shadowbird.” said Erin, accelerating at the Gopher King. As Erin’s speed increased, she moved as a blur through the air.
The giant gopher remained frozen in terror, even as Erin accelerated and flew inside his torso, ripping his chest open. Erin pulled organs and tore wires, and ripped the living king of Gophers into pieces from the inside out. The giant gopher twitched in agony and horror as Erin continued to rip every piece apart and stomp every circuit she could fine. Erin stomped small parts of the dead king, and fired her pistols into larger parts, reducing him to a puddle of goo. Other cyborg gophers, normally immune to fear, saw the slaughter of their king and ran in horror as rabbits chased them and cut them down.
“The Gopher King is finally dead, kill them all, the gopher devil will know its own.” transmitted Erin on all frequencies. The lines erupted, and the wholesale slaughter of the soulless plague of the galaxy began. Erin wiped the blood off her armor, the best she could, then tore off a patch of the dead gopher’s fur and wiped off the remaining chunks the best she could.
Erin walked forward and tore off the doors to a cage and pulled up Therese. “Therese is alive, I need extraction for her and Vivo, but Michelle didn’t make it.” transmitted Erin, not realizing she was still set to all frequencies. The lines went silent and then increased in a more vicious affair as every cyborg gopher was purged. The rabbits rallied at both the good news Therese lived and angered at the loss of Michelle. Hares crawled off of stretchers, rabbits missing legs hopped on leg, and every rabbit short of death struggled towards the front lines. Gophers died as fast as they could be slaughtered.
Erin’s black ship flew in, Digs was piloting with Ed at Ops, as Ben fired from the door cannon, covering her approach. “Give me a hand with Vivo.” said Erin. Ben jumped cleared of the ship and pulled Vivo from the debris. The rabbit shock troopers lead by Captain Lionhead secured the area around them. Ben carried his best friend, grateful Vivo was alive, but wishing he would leave the fighting to himself.
“Go take care of your friends, and our daughter. We can finish this area.” said Captain Lionhead. Erin nodded, and carried Therese into the waiting ship. “MEDICS!” yelled Lionhead. Therese’s safety overtook Erin’s rage towards the Gophers, but the Hare knew her self-control would not last long.
Two rabbit medics ran over. “Help the Shadowbird with our daughter and her friend.” Ordered Captain Lionhead. The two medics ran and climbed onto the back ship and took over care for Therese and Vivo, using scanners to assess them.
“They are injured but they will fully recover, Captain Erin.” said the senior of the medics. They were as in awe by Erin’s presence only slightly less than they were concerned for Therese’s safety.
“Take charge of their care, I will meet up with you all soon.” said Erin, running away to join in the fighting.
“Wait, Erin, come with us.” Ben yelled from the door gun position.
“She will not listen to you, the she will not stop until the killing has ended, take us out of here.” Yelled the senior medic. The other started intravenous lines into the Vivo and Therese, as the senior medic prepared the intravenous lines and bags, and both rabbits had the medications flowing within a minute and without speaking to each other. Digs flew quickly, and evasively, dodging less frequent fire from gopher positions. Ben caught a last glimpse of Erin as she slaughtered a gopher position.