Young Writers Society

Cold And Broken Halleluja wrote:Loved it.

Very suspenseful and the action was perfectly done. The only thing that I could think of to suggest is that the story could use a bit more character interaction. There's a lot of fighting (which is good), but I think we need to get to know the characters more personally. How did they grow up? What are their interests? Do they have families?

Can't wait for the next chapter!

-Halleluja

Thank you.

Yeah, I understand what you say about character interaction, but actually, a good amount of it will be in the coming chapters. (As long as I stick to my plan. )

I apologize for the long wait for the next chapter. I actually have a good amount of it done, but my computer is not in working order right now, where I have the chapter stored. The chapter should be up very soon.

Again, sorry for the horrid delay. The next chapter is here, finally.

Enjoy!

Chapter 5:

As his Bat fighter stood in the landing bay of the Legacy, Jason sat motionless in the cockpit. Slowly, the shock of the losses in the last mission began to fade, and thoughts of what he could have done began to flow. He slowly slid his helmet off his head and placed it in his lap. His hands ran through his short, bright-brown hair, and he began to shake as the guilt started to eat away at him. Eventually, it became too much, and he slammed his hand into the side of the cockpit in frustration, but drew it back, hissing in pain, as it struck an unforgiving piece of protruding metal. He stared at the edge of his hand as the black leather glove he was wearing began to tint dark red in the area he had hit.

Jason just stared at it, and then sighed. He pressed a button, which opened up the canopy above him. He jumped out and began to walk as he hit the ground, clutching his hand as he walked to the briefing room.

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Julianne slowly fell into her seat as the news was relayed to her of the Resilience’s demise. Her head slowly fell into her hand. “Two-hundred men gone in a few seconds…” she thought in a shocked sadness. “How did this happen?”

So much had happened in the past month, since the Legacy and its battle group were trapped in the small system they were in. Three Gunboats, the smallest type of capital ship, of their group were already gone, and now only the Legacy remained. They could not contact the other Resistance forces due to their long-range communications being blocked by the Stinger ships outside the system. Only through short burst messages could they hope to communicate with their allies, and they would take weeks to even travel across the system. They had been trying, but to no avail.

The loss of all the lives under her command was starting to wear on her. It certainly did not help that she had known Gisborne personally, as well.

“Of all times, why did it have to be now?” Julianne thought in aggravation. Considering their plans, it could not have happened at a worse time…

She sighed as she rose from her chair and began to walk towards the briefing room.

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As Jason slowly walked into the briefing room, it was dead silent. There was no idle conversation or the like as was the norm. In the half-filled room, there was not a sound.

He glanced across the circle-shaped room as he headed for his seat. The faces of the pilots and crew, lit with a dim blue light from the holographic projector in the center, were blank. There was no emotion on their faces whatsoever. Everyone knew what had happened.

Jason sat down and waited along with the rest of the crew to hear what they would do next.

He could not help but wonder how much longer this could go on.

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As she slowly trudged into the room, Julianne stared up at the pilots seated in the circles around her. Although all of them seemed to be focused on her, she could tell that almost none of them were paying attention. The shock and despair the loss had dealt was eating away at all of them. They had become very close to the people onboard the Resilience, as they had been struggling and fighting together with every last bit of their strength to survive. To see so many of their friends and allies, the ones they had worked together with for so long, killed in a matter of minutes… it was heart-breaking.

Julianne took a slow breath to calm herself, then began. “As you all know, the Resilience was ambushed today at 0335 today by Stinger forces. Despite the efforts of our pilots, it was destroyed shortly before the rescue team could arrive. The rescue team itself…” she paused to regain her composure, as it was beginning to slip. “Also fell prey to Stinger forces. We mourn their loss, and hope that they will find peace,” she quickly finished, unable to dwell on the subject for too much longer. She looked up at the pilots and crew she had done all she could to protect.

Suddenly her hand slammed down on the metal ring around the projector, the clang sounding throughout the room, catching the attention of all the crew. “Everyone, I need your full attention,” she ordered, turning her head to look about the room as her long, dark-brown hair, tied in a braid, whipped around behind her. Her eyes shone with determination. “Their deaths, along with all of those others who have died trying to keep us alive, cannot be in vain. It is the time to do or die,” she said, scanning the entire room.

“Pilots,” she continued, “We will risk it all to break the Stingers line of defense then make a break for Resistance-controlled space. Earlier we could not take this kind of risk, but we have run out of time. We will be under a rain of fire, but we cannot waste anymore time trying to hide.”

She watched as the faces of the pilots began to show a grim determination. “Pilots, this is it. We win here, or we die trying.”
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No comments on the previous chapter?

Ah, well. Next one is done:

Chapter 6:

Jason stared up at the Arrow as the mechanics performed their last checks on the interceptor. “Alright,” he thought in anticipation, “this is it. I have to be sure the others can make it through, no matter what.”

His mind went through the battle plan again, as it had multiple times before. His group would rush in and disable as many beam cannons on the capital ships as possible, while the others would keep the Legacy from bomber attacks. As soon as the Legacy would warp out of the area, they would follow. That was the easy part. However, on the other side of the warp point was the Stinger’s main blockade. They would have to break the lines there, then make a dash for Resistance controlled space. One mistake could and would jeopardize the entire operation. “And that is one thing that I will not allow to happen,” Jason thought in determination.

“Hey, Jason,” A calming voice broke him from his thoughts. He looked over to see Julianne striding towards him.

Jason grinned. “Hello. Inspiring speech today,” he replied.

Julianne just laughed a bit as she walked up to Jason, then turned her head, looking towards the Arrow.

“So what bring you here today, ma’am?” Jason asked.

“Don’t call me that,” she quickly remarked.

“Oh?” Jason replied with a smirk, “Then what should I call you?”

Julianne turned her head towards him. “How about what you used to call me before I was your superior officer?”

“What, Julie? Doubt that would go over well with command,” Jason said with a wink.

“Fine,” she said, drawing out the word and giving a long, exaggerated sigh. “But only in briefings and such, alright?”

Jason laughed. “Fine, Julie,” he stressed jokingly.

They both chuckled for a short time, then silence fell over both of them. Jason began to realize the change in atmosphere in the hanger. The gloomy atmosphere had been replaced by determination. “A refreshing change, to be sure,” Jason noted.

He looked back to Julianne, who had a distant look on her face. “Do you think we’ll make it?” she asked, voice almost quavering.

Jason was silent for a moment, then said confidently, “Of course. At least, I’ll know you’ll make it back.”

“What do you mean?”

He smirked. “Because I’ll be doing everything I possibly can, even if it leads to me dying, to make sure that you will all make it back safely.”

She smiled and began to leave, but stopped after only a step. “Don’t die, alright?” she asked quietly.

Jason nodded. “I’ll try,” he said with a small smile.

The smile was returned as Julianne slowly turned away and began walking towards the Command Bridge.

Jason’s eyes followed her for a few moments as she walked away, then they returned to the mechanics working on the Arrow. His eyes began to lose focus and stared off into space as he began to wonder about the upcoming battle.

A soft chuckle was heard over the sound of the mechanics’ tools. Jason looked to see Dakota and Jesse standing off to the side, leaning against one of the landed Wyverns.

“Aww,” Dakota teased as Jason walked up, “How touching.”

“You know what? Be quiet,” Jason retorted, laughing to himself.

Jesse stepped between the two, putting his arms out as if to hold the two from each other. “Alright, alright, that’s enough,” he said, with his own mischievous look on his face. “Besides, wouldn’t want to embarrass Jason too much or he might shoot you down as soon as we launch. He’s crazy like that.”

“Exactly,” Jason sarcastically agreed, shaking his head and laughing to himself.

The three pilots stood in a content silence for a few moments, and then Jesse spoke. “Hey, remember both of you. No matter what happens out there, don’t go throwing your life away, alright?” he said, as he had many times before.

Jason and Dakota both nodded. “Same to you,” Dakota replied, again the same way as she always had.

Again there was silence until a siren went off, signaling the order to launch. Jesse waved as he went off to his fighter, and Jason and Dakota headed back to theirs’. Jason turned his head as they walked, and said, “Watch your back out there.”

Dakota smiled wryly. “You too. Wouldn’t want to have to be saved by me again, would you?”

Jason laughed as he slid his helmet over his head and began to ascend the ladder into the cockpit of the Arrow.

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Small dots of light appeared in the blackness of space, expanding to form small, blue vortexes. From them came dozens of small fighters and bombers. Suddenly, from behind them came a vortex of mammoth size, more than a hundred times larger than the others. Slowly from the light emerged the SRD Legacy. Three Stinger capital ships sat before them: Two gunboats, the StGB Wolf and the StGB Lion, and a cruiser, the StC Moloch.

From the bubble-shaped cockpit at the front of his Hercules bomber, Chad grinned predatorily. Not only was their arrival obviously unexpected, as shown by the lack of fighters protecting the enemy vessels, but the Moloch’s beam cannons were all disabled from his previous sortie. “Almost too easy,” he thought in anticipation. “Almost.”

Orders from the various squadron leaders began to flood the comm.., each squadron quickly separating for their assigned tasks. Oliver’s voice came over the comm., who said, “Black 2, lead 7, 8, and 9 on a run against the Wolf. The rest of you, come with me.”

Chad pulled his bomber away from the group, three of the others falling in behind him. The four sped off towards the rectangular ship in the distance. As they approached it, Chad called over the comm., “Boost your engine power, and hit your afterburners. We need to hit it before it can activate its defenses.” He clicked a few buttons on a panel to his left, then pushed his throttle to full. The bombers shot off even quicker at the Wolf, but would need to fire quickly to be able to cripple the ship before it powered up its anti-air defenses. On the virtual HUD displayed in Chad’s helmet’s goggles appeared a small, red crosshair, moving across the Stinger gunboat. Small marks appeared across the ship’s hull, showing weak-points in the armor. Slowly the crosshair moved onto one, and then a series of tones came from the ship’s control panel, signaling that the bombs had locked on to the area. He quickly slammed a button on the side of the flight stick in, sending a pair of bombs sliding out of the rectangular bomb bays that sat directly to the sides of the cockpit. The moment the bombs had slid from the bays, Chad floored a pedal at the bottom of the cockpit and pulled back on the flight stick, pulling his bomber away from the Wolf as the bombs collided with the capital ship’s starboard hull. The plating was ripped apart as the warheads detonated, sending parts of the hull into flying shrapnel, some of which hit turrets, effectively disabling them. Chad paid no attention though, and just kept pulling back on the flight stick until he pulled into a full loop, again facing the Wolf, though inverted compared to his last run. He watched as the three bombers ahead of them fired their salvo, and quickly pulled away as he had. The magnificent explosion as the six warheads slammed into the gunboat momentarily blinded Chad. When his vision adjusted, he saw the battered, barely-together ship tried desperately to ready its defenses before it was destroyed. Chad just shook his head at the attempt as his bomber closed in on the target. Suddenly, his bomber shuddered, as the back shields took a pounding from lasers. Behind him was a Stinger Zanbato, its distinctive tri-wing easily identifying itself. Chad was faced with a choice: Either attempt to avoid the Zanbato’s onslaught, or deal the finishing blow to the Wolf before it could retaliate.

Chad decided to finish off the Wolf, as even if he was destroyed, he would take the gunship with him. He set his engines to full power and closed the distance on the Wolf, ignoring the warning klaxons from his control panel. He fired off a pair of bombs and kept on course, flying just above the Wolf as the warheads struck the gunboat. The impact was too much for the small capital ship, and it blew apart into large shards of space debris. Fortunately, to Chad’s surprise, a shard of the ship flew into the Zanbato, slicing it cleanly diagonally across its rounded, bulky body. Cheers were heard as the Wolf dissipated into space. Chad just nodded and smirked as he pulled his bomber around, heading for the Lion.

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Dakota grinned as the Rapier ahead of her lost control, its right missile pod spewing fire and smoke behind it. She watched expectantly as the fire crawled farther into the pod, until it reached the missiles inside, detonating them. The resulting explosion sent small balls of fire in all directions, much as a firework implodes in the atmosphere of a world. She quickly pulled back the flight stick, heading back towards the main battle.

Spotting the Arrow in the crowd of fighters, she quickly began to fall in on its side, until Dakota noticed the Zanbato Jason was tailing. She smirked mischievously as she quickly targeted the same ship, and as the Zanbato tried to evade the Arrow’s barrage of lasers, it fell directly into Dakota’s Wyvern’s missile lock. From the left of the cockpit a thin, harpoon-like missile blasted out of the firing tube, soaring off towards the enemy craft. The missile hit it directly above the cockpit, the warhead digging into the hull before imploding, taking the entire fighter with it.

“What..?” Jason questioned over the comm., completely confused, until he noticed Dakota’s Wyvern falling in behind him. “Hey, you did that on purpose!” he claimed, laughing in the process.

“Who, me?” Dakota laughed in response. “I’d never do that.”

“Ha ha, alright, I’ll let it go this time,” Jason replied, still chuckling. “But let’s save that kind of behavior for the simulator, alright?”

“Okay, okay, I’ll be more mature now,” she responded half-jokingly.

“Right,” Jason said, drawing out the word to show his sarcasm, “I’ll believe that when I see it.”

The two of them both laughed, then returned focus on the battle. Almost as if in response, a large explosion filled Dakota’s viewport. The Lion had been destroyed!

Jason listened as another series of cheers was heard from various pilots in response to the gunboat’s destruction. All that remained was the Moloch, which was heavily damaged by the Legacy’s beam cannon assault. As the Lion went down, the Moloch had obviously given up the battle. It powered down its systems, and began launching escape pods, a clear sign of surrender.

“All fighters, do not attack the escape pods. Make sure they are all clear and return to formation around the Legacy,” Julianne ordered from the Legacy’s command bridge. The Resistance followed a code of conduct, and would not attack a surrendering ship. Once the escape pods were clear, however, the cruiser would be finished.

It took only a minute, and then the U-shaped cruiser was completely abandoned. The Legacy powered up a beam cannon on the front, green dots of light quickly appearing and drawing into the middle of the cannon, creating a large orb of light that quickly grew in size. Then suddenly, a large beam of green light shot forth, and without its shields and with the damage it had already taken, the Moloch was ripped in half, the two halves imploding along their hulls, ripping the remains into smaller pieces.

Jason watched in satisfaction as the capital ship was broken apart, but he knew that the battle was not over yet. In the system beyond the warp point ahead of him was the area where the Stingers would be amassing to prevent the Legacy’s escape. They would have a small rest, a small time to prepare, but it would not be long, as they could not allow the Stingers to reinforce their position.

Jason only hoped that what little they had would be enough to make it through.

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