1 Chapter 1
The year was 2077. Technology had advanced significantly, causing the United Nations to reform into the United Space and Exploration Council, or USEC for short. Civilisation had expanded across the Milky Way and through decades of terraforming, had managed to turn Jupiter, Mars and Uranus into habitable planets. As the years progressed, the number of terrorism groups rapidly increased with a trend of performing acts 'on behalf' of various gods from Greek, Roman, Norse, Egyptian and Eastern mythologies. However, there was one cult group that surpassed the others in the severity of its actions. This cult had been in existence for over two decades and had claimed responsibility for over 187 separate terrorist acts, adding up to nearly 13 billion people, killed and injured. This dreadful cult, followed under the teachings of the Greek God of Death, Thanatos.
Last week, the cult of Thanatos' leader, Jack Thorpal, the most wanted man in the galaxy, managed to gain access to and steal a Planet Class Neutron Bomb, capable of completely eradicating all matter on a planet within minutes, if it was detonated within a planet's atmosphere. All of Earth's armies had amassed to take him down before this bomb was primed, while simultaneously, all other available spacecraft from across the galaxy assisted in Plan B, planet-wide evacuation.
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United Nations Dreadnought Class Air Carrier
A man who looked to be in his mid-30's stood on a podium in front of thousands of suited pilots. "In line, men! You all have received your briefing packages. Our target today as you all know is the Planet Class Neutron Bomb. You must not. I repeat. You must not allow this weapon to be detonated within our atmosphere. All of your N81 Atmospheric Space-birds have been fitted with retrieval weaponry and absolute zero storage tanks to safely hold the bomb once you receive it. The bomb will detonate, once primed, at 10.5 kilometres in altitude. For the sake of your own life and our planets, retrieve it before it occurs. Once the weapon is secured, the storage tank will ensure that regardless of altitude the weapon will not explode. If we are lucky, today is the day we wipe this terrorist group from existence. It will be one of the hardest battles you have ever fought. Some of you will not return. It is up to you to do your duty and perform how you were trained to perform. Goodluck soldiers. You will need it."
"SIR, YES, SIR!!" The crowd yelled in return before parting off to their vehicles, ready for the coming battle.
Michael stepped off the podium, releasing a tense breath as people scrambled to get to their positions. He reached over next to him to grab his fighter helmet, the same one that he used before his promotion.
"Air Chief Marshal Michael, I request you reconsider your actions and join me in the departure from Earth. It isn't safe anymore." His superior, the Marshal of the Royal Air Force requested.
Hearing this Michael could only shake his head, "I have already made my decision and I will stick to it. I cannot leave these young men and women who are going to potentially throw their lives away behind. It is my duty as their chief to fight alongside them, especially in these desperate times."
The Marshal of the Royal Air Force snorted in reply whispering just loud enough to hear, "Your loss." He spun on the spot and walked off, away to his space carrier that was about to depart the station and ensure his own safety.
As the Marshal left, flashes of disgust and anger could be seen on all the fighter pilot's eyes as one of their superiors was more than willing to sacrifice their lives while he turned and ran. However, these very same eyes carried determination, trust and goodwill when gazing on Michael, a true and worthy idol. Everyone had heard the stories about their Air Chief's selfless achievements. How he had managed to rescue several squadrons of men from one of the cult of Thanatos' bases, after first crippling their air and ground defences singlehandedly. How he had risked his life sneaking into Hades' Underground, a known cult spaceport, protected by trillions of dollars' worth of defences in order to find secrets on upcoming terrorism acts. How this information managed to save several billion people. Galaxy wide, Michael was a man respected by the masses, and many men and women had dreams of achieving not even half of what he had achieved in his life.
"C'mon soldiers, let's get this show on the road. Drinks are on me once we are back," Michael shouted out, earning chuckles in response as everyone snapped out of their own thoughts and emotions to enter their cockpits. As he got settled into his own cockpit, a siren followed by a metallic voice echoed out across the hanger.
"WAAH, WAAH, Pilots Start Thrusters"
A large hum occurred through the hanger as the thrusters of all the pilots activate simultaneously.
"LAUNCH IN 5"
"4"
"3"
"2"
"1"
"LAUNCH"
Upon the countdown completion, Michael shot out into the atmosphere however, contrary to what he expected and his radar and comms, gunfire had already begun several kilometres ahead of him. He turned up the toggle as he climbed higher in the atmosphere to avoid conflict. He had his mission of locating the bomb as quickly as possible and even though he hated to leave these pilots in a dogfight, the world was at stake.
Several minutes later Michael arrived at another dogfight. These fighter jets were taking out the defences of the cult's headquarters while simultaneously dodging gunfire from the enemy's air support. As he was making dives taking out the defences left, right and centre, he managed to notice a section of the ocean a couple of hundred metres away parting. As he flew closer, he noticed a small rocket, no bigger than 3 metres beginning its launch. Michael quickly checked his Neutron Scanner which identified the rocket as having an extremely large neutron density, the exact reading he was looking for.
He quickly got to work radioing in for backup as he went full throttle to intercept the rocket. As he approached closer, he began receiving more and more fire from enemy jets and ground weaponry trying to hinder his approach. However, through what some may deem as sheer luck, while others pure skill, he managed to manoeuvre away from most of the attacks, only receiving minimal damage to his undercarriage in the process. Nothing that would stop his ships flying ability. As Michael arrived next to the bomb and began flying in tandem to it, he unleashed the retrieval hook that attached itself to the missile, bringing the rocket into the storage tank located below the jet and completely freezing the rockets activation sequence. He once again brought his attention to the dogfight as he was forced to begin making drastic air manoeuvres to shake off his attackers.
As he continuously failed to break away, Michael radioed in once again for support, "Air Chief has secured the package. Requesting extra protection as I make my evac."
"Roger, Air Chief. Nexus 41 in support." A pilot responded.
"Nexus 32 in support." Another followed soon after.
Between the three pilots, they managed to take out the 4 attacking enemy jets and began their hasty retreat from the battlefield to secure the package further. However, several minutes into the evacuation Michael's interface began beeping frantically.
"Nexus 41, 32 I may have a problem. It says I have received damage to my storage under-compartment. Crap… The earlier damage must have hit something. The storage's temperature is rising rapidly. Have a look will you 41?"
Nexus 41 hearing this flew under Michael's jet, to observe the cause. "Roger Air Chief, from what I can see there are several sets of plating missing from your compartment and liquid is flowing out rapidly. Report next actions?"
Michael quickly began processing the information and tried to think of an immediate solution. If the liquid all drained, the rocket would enter the same conditions as if it were in the upper atmosphere and explode. It was only a matter of time now and he could not think of any solution but one…
"I have an idea. Nexus 41, 32, return to the battle. It was nice serving you." Michael said as he started rapidly ascending in an attempt to exit the atmosphere, into outer space.
Nexus 32 hearing this was bewildered and quickly replied, "No Chi- ".
"That's an order!" Michael cut in, cancelling his rebuttal.
There was silence over the comms for a couple of seconds. Long silence allowed all three the time to contemplate what was about to happen.
"…Roger Air Chief. It was an honour to fly with you for the last time," The pilots replied dejectedly as they turned their jets around, determined to follow the last command of their Air Chief Marshal. It was the only solution they thought of as well, but they never would have offered it as it was a big ask, especially when suggesting that kind of idea to a superior.
As Michael ascended, he radioed in to headquarters one last time. "Home Base, this is Air Chief Marshal, Michael. I have secured the package, however, received damage to my storage during evac. I am ascending out of the atmosphere in the hope it stops the weapon affecting the planet. It was an honour leading all of you. As my last order, I order you bomb the hell out of the cult's base. They can't threaten us anymore without this stolen weapon. It is time for the cults ultimate destruction."
"Roger Air Chief Marshal. Order confirmed." The radio officer replied. "And if I may speak out of rank Marshall, thank you for your service to humanity."
Michael hearing this couldn't help but smile brightly as he left Earth's atmosphere and pushed his jet's engines to maximum capacity, hoping to distance himself as far away from the blue and green planet.
Several seconds later, a massive imploding bomb was dropped onto the cult's base, ending the terrorists' threat to the galaxy. Following this historic event that everyone would usually be celebrating over, another massive explosion occurred out in space, which could be seen by people from across the galaxy. As everyone looked on at the detonation, they all wished their saviour good luck in wherever he ends up.
