12 Chapter 12: The Final Assault

My stomach rolls when I see Titan's ship go full-speed through the portal. We all push our thrusters to the limit, and behind us, Paxes Defense Force does the same, even the slow freighters drag themselves towards the gate.

We enter first and join Titan, and the battle jets waiting around the Angel freighters begin to move on us. We almost get swarmed, but Paxes battle jets coming through force the fliers to back off and engage in squabbles with them.

Titan (Group): "Head off to the right! Let Paxes deal with the fighters as much as you can. Only take easy targets!"

We all fly off of the center battlefield and let the Paxes jets swarm inside and overrun the Angels. A couple of them fly right between us and we split off from each other. The last thing I want is for us to lose ourselves in this massive killing space.

Me (Group): "Hey, careful about splitting up!"

Knight (Group): "No good, it's too hectic to fly in formation!"

Our ships wobble and sway as missing photon blasts whiz by us. There isn't a choice anymore, I pull my throttle to head off in a different direction, my teammates do the same.

My crosshairs run over some jets duking it out, and I fire a charged shot at the pure white one. They combust, and my brain sets its thoughts on firing at distracted Angels. I begin to coast through the battlefield, everytime a pursuer gives chase they're shaken off by a Paxes flier.

Cheq (Group): "Guys, their Oxy-Gate uses the same codes as the ones built in our galaxy. My programs can work on it. I'll break the security on the freighter to the left!"

I catch a glimpse of Cheq's work. His ship flies dangerously close to the freighter that constantly pours out new Angel jets. He only hovers around for a few seconds before zooming away, the Oxy-Gate glitching into different shades of blue.

I'm not sure who told them, but Paxes squads head straight for the breached freighter and begin landing several jets inside the hangar. The pilots jump out and switch to ground combat; the first ones in taking the full defensive measurement in under a second. They do not make it.

They don't stop, and eventually, they're able to establish themselves and fight back. The entire battlefield becomes a bigger mess as Angels are called back to defend the freighter, on their way, getting blasted by Paxes troops with our help.

Some jets still pursue, and Paxes numbers begin to drop fast. I desperately search my radar to count all Ucelli, so far none of us are taking a deep freeze nap in the stars.

Me (Group): "What's the goal here, complete extermination?"

Titan (Group): "The goal is to take out the one singing gospel to all Angels."

Me (Group): "Is there really only one person in command of the entire Vanguard? Don't militaries have delegations?"

Titan (Group): "You want to pretend to know how a different military works? If not, there has to be someone in charge of those freighters, right?"

Cheq (Group): "I'll unlock the second freighter, Titan!"

Titan (Group): "Got it, I'll get on the horn and let Paxes know."

Cheq flies on ahead and hovers over the Oxy-Gate of the second freighter. The same glitch happens to the gate, but as Cheq begins to fly away, a different jet, pure black with a pair of white-painted angel wings bursts through the gate.

??? (Public): "A desperate last stand from Paxes, they even brought along cheap mercenaries."

That voice belongs to the man who assaulted the base. He flies straight for Cheq, his machine so superior to the rest of the soldiers, my own eyes can't keep up with the speed.

His black hull gives him camouflage in the background of space, and I only catch where he went when his photon cannon lights up a holy white. Cheq's ship immediately bursts into sparks before any of us know what hit him.

Cheq (Group): "Shields down! Controls aren't responding!"

The mysterious pilot easily zips back around to take a shot at Cheq's exposed hull.

??? (Public): "One down, three to go."

Knight (Public): "Not as long as he's got backup!"

He and Titan converge and head for the oncoming jet. They shoot a volley of blasts, causing the black jet to change course and forbid him from aiming at Cheq.

Cheq (Group): "Too close for comfort. I'm retreating to the Paxes freighter!"

Knight (Group): "Nev, get your ass on that pilot! I'll help you!"

Me (Group): "On it!"

I fly for him, relying solely on my targeting system to even see him at all. I can't even catch a glimpse except for his thrusters, and as soon as he makes a sharp turn, I lose him completely. My gyroscopic scanners are too slow, they can't reclaim the target quick enough for me to make an effective chaser. Now I regret not installing the new proximity scanners.

Me (Public): "You're pretty good at running, maybe you should keep running all the way back to your galaxy."

??? (Public): "Ah, the young Nev doing his signature provoking. I can't wait to see if you're better in the air than on the ground."

As Knight flies at my side, Paxes soldiers also help out in chasing the jet down. They maneuver into a pincer attack and cut the jet off in the front too. It spirals quickly and explodes a small field around itself as it flashes by the barricade. The Paxes jets seem to shut down and explode a few seconds later.

I let out some shots, but they just won't connect. Not even close.

Me (Group): "Knight, we have to outsmart him. Our jets aren't good enough for a head-to-head dogfight."

Knight (Group): "Agreed."

Titan's jet finally joins the chase.

Titan (Group): "Miss me? I'll take the bottom trail, Knight, take the right, Nev, the left."

Knight (Group): "Got it."

Me (Group): "Okay."

We surround him as best we can during this high-speed pursuit. The jet continues to fly erratically, and yet, so precise; evading us and forcing us to break formation many times. Titan's ship opens a compartment on its topside and shoots at the bottom hull of the black jet.

As they connect, the jet spirals around and blasts forward as if it was holding back its real speed the whole time.

??? (Public): "Are those lead bullets? A sneaky tactic to make sure my shields won't pick up incoming projectiles. I guess that fits the clever profile you've made for yourself."

Titan (Public): "I'm nothing if not unpredictable. Want some more? Hold still."

The black jet spins around and heads straight for us.

Me (Group): "Get out of the way! He's using a short blast from his hull!"

We scatter, but the jet's speed is otherworldly and reaches us in what seems like a split second. We all face away and boost our throttles to the max, but the strange explosive attack still manages to touch the back of my Ucello.

My systems clock out for a moment, but they turn back on quick enough for me to safely distance myself. My monitors are fuzzy, and as they come back, my eyes dart to my external shield percentage. That little blast has taken away all of my shields, any landing attacks made will damage my hull.

Me (Group): "My shields are offline and my thrusters are working at half-capacity!"

Titan (Group): "Then you'll be our wall. Get your countermeasures ready, we're gonna shred his shiny toy."

I fly around and angle myself to face my teammates who continue to chase the jet. They struggle to link up and create a shepherd's path to lead him to me.

Knight (Public): "Getting tired?"

??? (Public): "I'll rest when Utopia has begun. In the meantime, I'll make sure no willing soul will remember the name Lux-Roulette."

Titan (Public): "Yeah, that whole 'erase all history and replace it with yours' schtick is giving me the creeps. I'd take smack talk of our galaxy over pretending we were never here."

I see that my countermeasures are loaded and ready to fire at the push of a button behind my throttle. My targeting system tracks the black jet, showing me that Titan and Knight finally got him to start coming my way.

I get ready, my tongue licking the sweat off my top lip. My hands grip the throttle tightly as my middle finger rests on the small button. The painted wings on the black jet are completely visible and intimidating from a front view; my vision struggles to process the image.

He gets close, and I hover downward and deploy the countermeasure spikes. In what I could hope was a good connection, they fly out of the top of my ship and scatter above me to bypass his shield and rip apart his hull.

I spin around and see the black jet definitely missing some paint and even some speed. It doesn't look like it got the full spread, but just enough to actually land a hit on him.

??? (Public): "The same trick!? You're not as modulating as you claim to be."

Me (Public): "Why fix what isn't broken? It worked on other Angels, I figured you weren't a god among men."

??? (Public): "It looks like I'm going to have to make sure that doesn't happen again."

The jet spins around and begins aiming for me. I yank my throttle to the side to get out of the way, but my half-working thrusters are barely pushing me along at all. From the cockpit, I see his photon cannon turning a bright white and heading straight for me.

Knight (Public): "Goddammit, no!"

The charged shot fires from its ball form to a more beam-shaped projectile. I throw a hand in front of my view, a bit from brightness, a bit from fear, and clench my whole body for my ship to erupt in an explosion and hopefully take me with it. I don't want to float in the vacuum of space and die like that.

A muffled boom shakes my ship, but I'm still in one piece. Ahead of me, Knight's Ucello is frying by a bunch of sparks coming from its circuits. His shields must have been low already, it looks like his hull took a lot of damage from that one blast.

Me (Group): "Oh my god! Are you okay, Knight!?"

Knight (Group): "I'm cooked pretty good. I have to dock with Cheq on the Paxes freighter. Cover me."

He slips away from the squabble and into the massive battlefield still going on. I can't sit and watch, the black jet still seeks my death. It flys around me and fires smaller shots. They connect, and with my shields gone, they hit my hull and cause major damage.

My consoles flicker on and off and my cockpit's tempered glass door begins to crack. Titan swoops in and agitates the jet to get it off of me and onto him.

Cheq (Group): "Guys, I'm on the freighter scanning for a gunner. We'll mark the jet as a priority, but you have to give us a wide berth. We're basically working an orbital gun here. One hit and your shields won't matter."

Titan (Group): "Did Knight make it back to you?"

Cheq (Group): "He's docked but he's bleeding. Whatever hit him gave him a good toss in his cockpit. Move away, we've got him locked!"

Titan and I begin to harass the jet with random shots fired in its direction. None would connect, but we do this while back peddling to keep it away from us. It flies all over to dodge two cannons, but it doesn't advance at least.

I see the freighter's enormous cannon light up a brilliant green before letting out a shot that was bigger than my ship entirely. It zips by my Ucello, and the temperature gauge flashes a warning that the exterior temperature just reached 1370°C (2500°F).

What might be a mix of luck, skill, and superior tech, the black jet doesn't take the full brunt of the force, but it does get grazed by it. Its shields become visible for a second, then fade away. The underpart of the jet is completely cooked and is sparking like a violent firecracker.

Me (Public): "You're looking a little more human than heavenly. Let's find out if you're really immortal."

??? (Public): "Good plan, but you didn't take me out just yet."

Titan (Public): "Give it up! Your fancy ship got a scratch, playtime is over."

??? (Public): "I'm not giving up until Lux-Roulette is missing a few members. From what I see, I can get two if I show you what a real freighter's bite looks like."

Me (Group): "Cheq, he's planning on shooting down the freighter you're in. Any chance you can blow his up from there?"

Cheq (Group): "The count for another blast is ten minutes, and this freighter is just a carrier model for Paxes jets, it doesn't have many weapons in its arsenal."

Titan (Group): "Then it's obvious, Nev. We fly to the enemy freighter, take out anybody defending it, and stop that fanatic from reaching the guns that are capable of sending Paxes home after one shot."

Me (Group): "Oh, it's that easy, is it?"

The jet heads back for the freighter it first came out of. Titan and I blast for it, but my ship is so heavily damaged that it doesn't go very fast. He has to slow down to give me an escort, and our pace causes us to be swarmed by floating Angels.

A.V-Pilot (Public): "Keep anyone from reaching Deus! You two aren't going to make it!"

Titan (Public): "Is that his name? Arrogant ass named himself after God. He really is off his rocker."

Me (Group): "Cheq, we need some help here! Scatter some soldiers to the freighter or something!"

Soon, Paxes fliers dogpile on our location and bat away several cannons aiming for our destruction. We slip away with only luck being a factor in how we didn't receive any lethal blasts.

Up ahead, the area is relatively clear as the black jet begins docking inside the freighter. I magnify my targeting system to watch him jump out of his ship wearing the same battle clothing he had on during the assault of the station.

It's definitely him, and I'm going to kill him as a love letter from Kroyoza.