Blue dots dropped down from the twisting silver spires and swooped right down on top of the marching red dots.
Well good for them, but now wasn’t the time.
I switched to the open laser line of sight communication net and all but growled into it.
“Neldre fighters, fall back! Fall back! This is Commander Ramirez of the Solus. Fall. Back. We are closing in on your position and will be laying down suppressing fire. Repeat. We will be laying down suppressing fire on your position in ten seconds.”
The distance indicator on my HUD was rapidly counting down and my buttcheeks clenched right before the blue dots scattered.
“Understood, Commander Ramirez. Pulling out now.”
I blew out a breath. “Thank fuck.”
Lining up the nose ofLyudmila,I squeezed the trigger for the belly mounted coil gun, grinning like a feral animal the whole time. Each split second shot vibrated the ship as the electromagnetic field generated along the barrel of the gun spit out a hundred cylindrical metal slugs a second. That was six thousand rounds per minute for anyone who wondered.
In other words; it tore the hell out of the Unity soldiers marching through the street like a bunch of fucking morons. They broke ranks as the first ten rows went down. I roared over them, pulling up and banking left to circle back around through the buildings for another run.
This time they shot back with their own shoulder mounted rockets, coil guns, and lasers, but I was shooting and gone before they could get laser line of sight for their targeting systems.
“You are clear to engage, Neldre,”I told the fighters waiting—quite literally—in the wings. Their blue dots hovered around the buildings, hugging close to the spire's walls to avoid being shot at or hit by any ships passing by.
And there were ships passing by.
My run on the ground troops had triggered them to call in their own reinforcements and I couldn’t let them ruin all my hard work protecting the Neldre fighters by blowing them out of the sky before they had a chance to kill anyone. That wasn’t fair.
“On our starboard side, Callie.”
I flicked my eye towards the area on my HUD and sure enough, two Insects were trying to head me off, but I cursed and poured on the thrust, pulling the stick back to send my nose into the air in a hard vertical climb that had both Aga and Rathal grunting as the gravitational force slammed us into our seats like the hammer fist of god.
I burned left, falling hard into a nose dive and then banked right, trying to shake the Insects off my ass long enough to shoot them. I clenched my abs and thighs, breathing through the Gs so I wouldn’t pass out. I was well practiced in this, but it still sucked ass.
A bulky, bulbous building some fifty stories high was looming center mass on my HUD and I maneuvered into a high G left turn, my breath grunting as I forced air in and out and circled all the way around the building and right up the Insects asses. I fired both of my lasers. There is no visual of the beam in real time, only the helpful indicator on my HUD. I knew it was a more deadly weapon, but I kind of missed missiles. Still, even without the satisfying smoke trail, the two enemy fighters went down. One of them slammed into the building, falling down its side in an ass over end fashion, raining down death and debris until it finally crashed in a fiery explosion on the street below.
That was the problem with fighting in an urban environment. No matter who won, what was left was ashes and dead civilians. I gritted my teeth as we flew over more burning buildings. Neldre were flying in and out, carrying injured or supplies to the ground floors from what I could see. It was chaos and I hated the Unity more in that moment than I ever had.
My animosity for them was more because I was stuck in a situation I couldn’t easily get out of. I couldn't tell Jack or Ohem that I wouldn’t fight with them. They’d saved my life. I owed them. So their enemies became mine.
It was one thing learning about atrocities committed second hand. It was entirely another thing to witness it first hand.
This was murder.
Most of the people in this city were unarmed, non combatants.
Now the Unity wasmyenemy, not just secondhand through people I cared about.
I dropped low when my HUD lit up with blinking indicators showing clusters of Unity soldiers marching through the streets. Blue dots were engaging them here and there but it was more like guerilla warfare. Quick and hard hits followed by rapid retreats further up the streets and into buildings. Neldre wings were pretty useless when the air was so clogged with Insects. They were having to do this the hard way.
I waited for a clear moment and strafed down a street, low enough to almost take off heads with my belly mounted coil gun. Again, the ground pounders called in quick reinforcements and I had to weave in and out of the buildings to avoid laser fire. I’d give the Unity pilots credit. They were good. It took every ounce of my concentration and skill to out maneuver them.
Clan mate, Callie. Might we be of some assistance?A gruff German accented female voice asked over the nanolink and two Fangs dropped in on either side of us, their engines silent compared to the roar of our fusion reactor jets.
I breathed out a sigh of relief and answered her.
I am so happy to see you guys. Do me a favor and get these jokers off my ass would you? I’ve got a psychopath to save and if I don’t hurry she’ll save herself and ruin all the fun.
A full bellied laugh buzzed inside my head just before the cockpit of the Fang turned transparent to reveal a golden armored red furred Rijitera smiling at us. She waved.Copy that, Callie. We’ve got you. Good luck.
The Fang’s noses jerked up as they flared their wings to break, falling behind us and the enemy indicators on my HUD winked out one by one.
