Chapter 2 Confrontation

  We, humans, are strange. We go to war over the craziest of things. Obsess over the smallest of things. Always rushing to get something done. Or delaying so we don't have to do it. forgot getting the things that are most important, and always dreaming for the impossible. -- Dia

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Time: 12:19 UT

Date: 0005, 25 Feb

Location: Asteroid Ring - Planet Castre

Sentare Star System

Renavol Naval Stronghold

  Above the two fleets, a large group of fighters and bombers drifted above the battle. Waiting for the right time to attack. While from the enemy fleet below, a group was rushing to intercept them. From within a pitch-black fighter a piercing gaze overlooked the formation. Watching as a sense of dread slowly formed among the group.

  "Kilo 1, this is Guardian 1. We are switching to defensive formation delta."

  "That's an affirmative Guardian 1, thank you and good luck."

  "Alright ladies, I want to see all of you fully awake, I want to see you spitting fire and most of all you better take care of our presents." There was a moment of silence before a reply was heard.

  "Wilco." The reply, however, was stiff and timid. She let out a sigh as she heard it.

  "You idiots are too timid, at this rate you'll be unable to defend the payload. If you lose one, I'll be sure to have you go through the ice gauntlet." The escorts responded again, louder this time, but there was a hint of fear in their voice.

  "Yes ma'am, I'll be waiting to be punished." Suddenly a voice full of confidence filtered through the radio. Everyone froze for a moment, unable to process what they just heard, while several them were also trying hard to stifle their laughter. The strike leader, realizing his intentions, responded quickly.

  "Now, now Captain Serma, don't use us as sacrificial pawns for your unique and masochistic fetishes." Immediately everyone lost it as only roars of laughter could be heard through the radio.

  "Please call me Captain Butter instead." Eventually, the laughter died out as silence fell upon them once more. The gloom that had hung on them, however, had disappeared.

  "Alright we're arriving at dive point. All units get ready for attack run. 3, 2, 1, ALL UNITS, DIVE!" The leader shouted as all the bombers and fighters began to dive down. The enemy interceptors quickly came into view and visible behind them their target. An alarm rang in her cockpit as she spoke to the other escorts.

  "Alright ladies, get ready for contact." A moment later, the interceptors launched their missiles. The fighters quickly jumped into action aiming to shoot down the missiles. The missiles in response began to move avoiding most of the incoming fire. However, the few that were hit exploded and sent shrapnel flying. Creating a wall of debris for the bombers and escorts to avoid,

 ���"All units break, break, break!!" Everyone split away to avoid the incoming debris. Most of the fighters and bombers managed to avoid the fragments but some could not get away in time, resulting in their ships getting ripped apart by the fragments of metal.

  "All escorts engage hostiles!" The fighters immediately broke off from the group, speeding towards the interceptors that were coming ever closer. The barrage of projectiles and lasers increased in intensity as they came closer and closer to each other. A growing number of fighters started to get shot down, and soon they collided with each other.

  Quickly the escorts managed to corral the interceptors into a sphere. Blockading the interceptors and allowing the bombers to gain distance. However, the blockade quickly began to collapse as the enemy reorganized themselves. Before long a squadron of fighters escaped the encirclement and flew towards the bombers escaping bombers. However, before they could even travel a hundred meters two of the seven interceptors were suddenly destroyed. The remaining five immediately turned to face the newcomers.

  There were two fighters in front of them, both painted a dark almost void like blue. It's sharp and sleek design with a complete lack of curves made it appear sharp and unforgiving. The red glow from the nearby sun revealed to the wary interceptors a small emblem on the fighters. A black dragon from whose mouth spilled forth an infernal green fire. They knew what that emblem meant, and fear began to fill them as a result. That emblem meant certain death to any who opposed it. The emblem of the Night Dragons.

  Immediately the interceptors scattered dropping decoys as they tried their best to avoid what would be certain death, but it was futile, in an instant four of the remaining five were destroyed. The last fighter came to a stop. In front of him was another fighter.

  The same emblem adorned its fuselage. This one, however, was completely black instead of void blue. On its side, was the emblem of the Black Dragons. The fighter just floated there, refusing to open fire like the others. The pilot froze for a moment before coming to his senses, he immediately opened fire on the mysterious fighter in front of him.

  At the same time though, a golden wall materialized before the fighter blocking his rounds as they exploded on the shield

  The brightness of the explosion forced him to close his eyes temporarily but being cautious he evaded in case the enemy retaliated. Soon he was able to see again but the fighter was gone, and he started to search for the enemy in the abyss. Quickly he looked all around him before eventually looking above him to see the enemy fighter. The rotary cannon slowly spun up in front of him. The pilot sat there in shock for a moment before he closed his eyes and accepted his fate. Praying to whatever deity/s that they would forgive him for his sins. A barrage of bullets erupted from the gun as it smashed into the fighter. The pilot was killed instantly as the destroyed remains floated away.

  The gun slowed down to a stop and the pitch-black fighter left the wreckage. Turning around to chase anyone else who dared to chase the bombers. The pilot of the black fighter called out to the others.

  "Take care of the runners. Don't let them reach our bombers." The voice was that of the woman from before. Corrupted the squadron leader of the Black Dragons.

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Aeternum - Star Fire Squadron

  Cat racked her brain as she watched the enemy stall their efforts. Trying to think of a way to escape.

  "The bombers are escaping!"

  "Then stop bitching and break out of the encirclement!"

  "You try shaking off 3 fucking hounds on your ass!" A voice cut in.

  "Shut up, both of you!" The other two fell silent. "All units regroup at these coordinates; we'll force our way out in 10 seconds. If you're not there you're getting left behind." The interceptors quickly set into motion converging to a point.

  "Get ready. Push in 3, 2, 1! Release decoys!" All the interceptors quickly turned, making a beeline towards the bombers. The enemy noticing this tried to take them out but the sudden mass release of decoys hindered their sensors.

  "Alright mak-" She suddenly stopped as she flipped to the side. A missile suddenly flew past right where she was before it suddenly detonated. Cat scanned her sensors trying to locate who fired the missile but there was nothing. Suddenly there was another missile from her left hidden by the sun. She quickly dodged it, shooting out decoys along the way. Again, the missile exploded as she dodged it. The shrapnel struck her fighter but only did superficial damage.

  Cat finally found her target. A pitch-black fighter floating in front of the sun.

  "Star Fire squadron continue your mission. I have to deal with a lizard."

  "Lizard ma'am?" A confused voice responded back.

  "Night Dragon." The other 2 quickly realized what she meant.

  "Are you sure you don't need any assistance squad lead?" Another voice responded.

  "Yes, Nick. I will not be needing help. You just make sure that they don't get themselves killed alright?"

  "Alright Cat. Stay safe." Nick's voice was replaced by silence as she gazed at the pitch-black fighter. Suddenly they both engaged their thrusters quickly gaining speed as they closed in on each other. Moments before impact they opened fire at each other. Cat immediately moved to avoid the incoming fire as the enemy fighter took it head on. A small wall of light manifesting in front of her. The ordinance shattered and exploded as they impacted the hard-light wall. At the same time, Cat seeing the shield deployed 4 small drones which quickly disappeared into the void.

  Another standoff ensued as they turned around to face each other. Cat glared at the enemy in front of her. She obviously couldn't defeat it while the enemy still had its shield up. That left her only with two options. Either exhaust her shields or flank them. Flanking then would be a no go for anyone if they were alone. Luckily, she wasn't alone. She quickly formulated a plan. Now she just needed her beauties to get into position.

  Suddenly the enemy moved backwards. Retreating towards the bomber formation. Cat, caught off guard for a moment, immediately set off in pursuit. She didn't waste ammunition shooting at her but instead lined up her and fired on the fighter.

  Out of nowhere a golden wall appeared on the fighter again before it shattered as it blocked the rounds from the drones and disappeared. The black fighter stopped accelerating and turned around to stare at Cat. Meanwhile Cat was ecstatic, having found a toy that would not die quickly. She immediately jumped into dogfight having forgotten any intention of stopping the bombers.

  The 2 began their ballet of death. Dancing around one another with unbound abandon. It was clear that both pilots were among if not the best. Neither could damage the other despite having fired hundreds of rounds. The black fighter while slower than the white one always managed to block the incoming fire. While the white fighter despite lacking armor was much more maneuverable than the other fighter. Allowing it to dodge all the ammo fired at her so far.

  Suddenly a static crashed in through their radio. The screens went wild as something interfered with them. Both Cat and Corrupted froze up at the same time and fell into a trance for a few seconds. They quickly regained their senses, but something was obviously wrong.

  "Ughhh, what the hell was that?" Suddenly Cat heard a voice. She jumped up to high alert as she tried to figure out where it came from. It wasn't the radio, only her squadron or high command could access it and it wasn't them. There wasn't anyone else nearby, it was a single seat fighter after all. She quickly chalked it up to an illusion and turned her attention back onto the black fighter in front of her. Cat wondered if it was an illusion again but the more, she thought about it the less likely it seemed. Suddenly the voice spoke again.

  "Yeah I'm alright. Just that this bitch is harder to deal with than I expected. I'll return later than expected." Cat was pissed, for some reason she felt like they were talking about her.

  "Who you are calling a bitch! I could say the same about you! You god damn gothic emo!" For some reason unbeknownst to her, Cat had a feeling that the speaker was the enemy fighter in front of her.

  "What!? Who are-" the voice paused "-it can't be." It seemed that whoever was speaking into her head had also come to the same conclusion.

  "I assume that you are Corrupted the squadron leader of the Night Dragons." She probed.

  "And you must be Cat the leader of Starfire squadron. I must say this is quite the interesting situation here." Cat smiled realizing that her assumption was correct.

  "Indeed, it appears that somehow we can speak to each other. I wonder if anything else has chan-" Cat stopped as she felt a sudden urge to kill. She swiftly dodged to the left, but nothing came. She turned back to Corrupted who spoke before she could.

  "Seems like our intentions are delivered as well." Cat was furious. Deciding to test it herself she brought up her drones and opened fire on Corrupted. Corrupted immediately dogged to the side avoiding the incoming rounds from both drones.

  "You sick bitch! You actually tried to kill me!" From the tone of her voice it was clear she was furious. Cat, greatly pleased with herself, responded.

  "Calm down dear, it's not like you couldn't avoid it." She could feel Corrupted's anger brewing as she became even more entertained. No doubt she was furious because she could feel her amusement.

  "I don't think there's any more point in continuing this fight. Not when we can tell what the other will do." Corrupted's frustration still present in her voice responded. It was a logical decision, one which Cat, although disappointed to lose such an opponent, agreed with. Swiftly they both separated from one another heading back to their respective fleets.