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The battle had fallen into chaos, only the IAFS defence line hanging above the office-block shape of the weapon's control centre remained in any semblance of order – Every other direction you looked, for as far as you could see, was simply put, death.
And within that were dozens of lives, friend and foe – But these lives were not without purpose, these standard IAFS vessels and Vijaiks were what was keeping the battle chaotic, should they all fall it would give the TSU-s forces a chance to regroup, take a better handle on their tactics and turn things around.
That alone would be reason enough for the defence line to try and aide its lost comrades – But the other much simpler reason, was that they were their allies and they would not be abandoned.
As such, under the leadership of the current deputy of pilots, Scarlet – 5 'Disturbance-Teams' had been set up, each of about 6-8 mechs – They would leave the line and dive head-first into no-man's land, weave their way through flaming warships and mech duals – Shooting down enemies that crossed their path, while seeking out allies, giving direction to warships that might be able to get back to relative safety and even towing back the odd still functional Nemo – Regardless of if the pilot still lived or not...
Scarlet was leading one of these teams, squad Alpha – While Hoki, with Sabban as her second in command, lead a second, squad Beta. Lt.Tomo had been placed in charge of squad Gamma and there had been 2 more on top of that.
But this was no simple task, the battles were deadly, the job a nightmare – Within an hour of these 5 squads beginning their operation, one squad had already been wiped out and all the others, including Hoki's had lost members – Before much longer the fourth squad too had dropped off, leaving just three.
Those three had held for quite some time, doing their best to help the hapless and make a dent in the enemy ranks – Eventually however Tomo's team too was forced to bow out, leaving just two.
But those two teams had become the sharpest of blades, forged in the hottest of flames that had been this battle.
Hoki hadn't even known the names of the 4 pilots under her command a day ago, but after 5 hours of hell she would now trust them all with her life. You had to learn fast, had to develop an almost 6th sense for your squad mates strengths and weaknesses. That wasn't all either, months of training on the Fluchtig's advance simulators, the battles of Operation Deadlight, the loss of treasured friends – Hoki knew herself now just how much skill she and Sabban had gained, they were aces in their own right at this point and running this squad was evident proof of that.
“Now Sabban!” She issued into her comm link.
Without hesitation, the mud-green of Sabban's Neo-C suddenly lurched downward, leaving Hoki's main monitor filled with only two other objects, the two green spiky-shouldered silhouettes of the duo of Ogres Sabban had been fighting with.
Hoki fired.
The shock of blue light rebounded free of her weapon, smashing into the Ogre's cheap cabin-block, a second later it blasted out the back end of the machine, continued travelling and hit home against the 2nd Ogre's own torso. A few moments pasted before both enemy machines began exploding violently.
“Two in one shot, that's impressive even for you.”
Sabban murmured over the radio.
Hoki wiped a bead of sweat from her forehead, sweeping her head around the cockpit to check for any further enemies in their vicinity before turning back to the comms board;
“Squad formation D2.”
Her people followed without hesitation and a moment later a dull clink echoed in her cabin as Sabban's Neo-C rested its back against her own – Beneath her the four other Nemos took similar paired positions.
Hoki liked being Scarlet's wingwoman and she was pretty sure Sabban deep down felt the same way about Kolme – That said she was glad to have Sabban today, they made a good pair with him allowing her to take careful aim even out here in the chaos – And that was exactly what surrounded them, chaos.
Those last two Ogres had been the end of what they'd been fighting against in this sector but that barely left a scratch on the war being waged around them – As little as 30 metres beneath them she caught a glimpse of a heavy-fighter jet whizzing by, to her left about 100 metres off was a massive explosion – Perhaps the death of a warship or Vijaik's reactor turning critical.
And most of all, just 3 metres on her right was the hull of an enemy warship – It was the underside of the ship, meaning the main cannons where in real terms out of Hoki's view but nonetheless it was unmistakably the hull of what she felt confident was a Berglez class battleship – It wasn't abandoned or sinking, in fact on the other side, its cannons continued to roar as its dual with a similar sized IAFS ship carried on, just metres away from Beta squad.
In fact it probably had AA guns in range of the squad, but no one could keep track of every target today, this warship was prioritising the enemy vessel, of course should Hoki and Co start firing at it, that would quickly change.
She considered this for a brief moment, but then shook her head – It was time to make a pit stop back to the defence line and besides if memory served her (and it almost always did), the Berglez was a class of ship with quite sturdy outer armour, her squad probably didn't have the right kit to try and bore through the ship's underside and they certainly didn't have enough fuel left to assault its topside.
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This was what Hoki had concluded over these past 5 hours, to be the key to running a disturbance squadron – Knowing when to turn back. If she had to guess, squad 4 and 5, the ones that had barely lasted an hour had probably made a simple miscalculation in how long it would take to get home.
As leader you had to be sure, of how much ammunition you'd need to get through ambushes, of how much fuel each member had – All you needed was for one of those things to run out in a single machine and suddenly the rest of the squad would be slowed down, forced to tow back the fuel-less mech, or pull their weight in firefights – The key was to start heading back at the right time, to arrive back at the Fluchtig with still some gas in the tank.
Her decision made, Hoki went to issue the fall-back order – Hanging around here for much longer would be foolish, it would only take a minute or two for another enemy squad to spot them, or heck for a stray energy round to hit them – Standing still was another death sentence on this battlefield.
Before she could however, the voice of one of her subordinates came in;
“Ma'am, SOS on frequency E22.”
Hoki reached for the dial and tuned it to the heavily static riddled line – What greeted her was a hacking cough.
That thought hurt her a little – She had gotten used to calling it that in the last 5 hours – Calling the dieing moments of a friendly soldier, a man or woman pierced by jagged steel or who's skin had been seared to a crisp – Someone on their deathbed far from home, coughing or vomiting, precious blood escaping forever – The finally moments of a pilots life ebbing away – A hacking cough...
“Pilot come in? Can you hear me pilot?” Hoki said, sternly and clearly.
“......That voic----” More coughing, “.....Miss?”
Hoki's blood ran cold but she quickly got a hold of herself - “That's right, this is Hoki Bachika. Now listen pilot, can you tell me your three words?”
“....... The Cheval De Troy---” Cough “I saw it!!” Splatter.
“Poor bastard is delusional.” Muttered one of the Nemo's in the squad – But both Hoki and Sabban had very different reactions to the news.
“It was damaged.... A big cloth over its guns bu-but! The Cheval De troy!!” The voice spluttered on.
That clinched it for Sabban and Hoki both, they'd been told the Curadh had escaped their previous encounter but with serious damages – It seemed in their desperation TSU-s were even deploying half destroyed ships to this battlefield.
Sabban cut across the line, “Pilot, where is it?”
“........ The far side, behind the line, 5 or 6 ships with i--” More retching.
“Where are you pilot, what's your three words?” Hoki asked, a hint of desperation in her voice.
The three words were something of a legacy left by Vice-Admiral Louise, his people had attributed 3 words combination to every square-mile around the weapon, they were far less accurate then conventional co-ordinates but for a dieing pilot, the chances they could read three words, instead of a complicated ream of numbers – Had so far proven exceptionally valuable to rescue efforts.
But the pilot didn't answer, coughing more instead.
“Miss.Hoki drop it, the guys gone, let him finish.” Sabban half growled – She knew he was right, they had learned that too over the last few hours, or perhaps Sabban had already known how to do it – To identify someone already too far gone by their voice alone – By their broken speech, delusional panic – By the amount of blood splatter.
Hoki didn't answer.
Sabban scoffed angrily, “Pilot, was it escorted?”
A few moments of coughing passed - “Y-Yes! A Casnel, A CasNeL!! It got me, It got me........”
“Alright man, you did good to contact us.”
Sabban said back as the dieing pilot began coughing again.
“......I didn't even like you that much in..... school--Miss--” Heavy breathing echoed around Hoki, “Thought you were kinda pompous.... but am glad I could hear.... your voice at the----”
----
The line fell dead.
An eerie silence fell, Sabban was the one to break it; “Miss.Hoki? Lieutenant?”
“Right, right.... Squad Beta lets head back, resupply and relay what we just learned.” Hoki said to the group at large, then switching to the contact link between her and Sabban's machines;
“Did.... did you know him Sabban?”
“Don't think so, you?”
“I-- I'm not sure, his voice was too strained and with all that static.... But he called me 'Miss' – I didn't even know any more of my students were left out here.” Hoki said back.
“You gonn'a be ok?”
“Ya, of course, sorry – Lets make sure their message makes it back home, it's the least we can do.”