Slingers (The Slingers Trilogy, Book 1)

Chapter 16

Andress held onto the controls, looking over and expecting Bunker to be at her side, but she saw Dante instead, only reminding her more of what she had to lose. She pushed the Renegade harder then she ever had before. She noticed the different GDF ships around her, but paid no attention to them. She only had one objective right now: save the people on her ship. She wasn't going to let more people she knew die. Not this time. She grit her teeth, and heard the radar on the ship's monitor start to beep, signalling an incoming vehicle coming up on her rear starboard side. "Dante! Scope up!" Dante nodded and tapped a few keys, bringing up a small computer monitor screen on his main console. Accessing the exterior cameras, he was able to spot the incoming vehicle. It was the GDF modified fighter from the surface, the one that contained the masked man. "It's him." Dante confirmed and Andress tightened her grip. Time for payback, slaghead. "Edvard! Elicia! Get up here!" The twins rushed up to the cabin. "I need both of you on guns! Now!" The twins nodded and sat in the two chairs. They peered at the viewscreens, the targeting reticles lining up with the incoming ship. Edvard shot first, since the ship was on his side. His first two shots missed, but the third looked like it was on course to hit the fighter, but just as it was about to hit, the sleek fighter suddenly banked upwards, doing a corkscrew over the Renegade, nimbly missing the laser bolt. Edvard stared at the screen, stunned. The ship was suddenly on Elicia's side, and while she had never fired a turret before, she was a decent shot. But that wasn't enough, and the ship managed to avoid the several attacks. Then, it fired a few blasts of it's own. Normally, the small cannons on the GDF fighters wouldn't have been enough to touch the Renegade's thick hull, but these blasts made the entire ship rock furiously. Andress struggled to keep control. They were outmatched. Damn it, Koil, where are you?

The Swift made it's way past the Resistance dropships that were picking up any surviving members for the evacuation. Koil had been with this fighter for several years now. He knew it like the back of his hand. When he was in the air with this machine, he felt free. He felt like it was a part of himself. He looked over to his left and saw the two other fighters from the squadron he had tasked pull up in formation behind him. "Awaiting orders, Commander Koil." Vulcan 3-1 said. Koil looked across the horizon and saw Andress's ship flying upwards, dodging laserfire from the modified GDF fighter from earlier. "Follow my lead. Take out that hostile. We can't let that fighter stop that ship from reaching the Dreadnought!" "Copy that, sir!" The three small fighters banked left and pulled up behind the black and red GDF fighter. Koil fired off a few warning shots to distract the fighter. It pulled away slightly from the larger ship and appeared to be breaking away. Then, suddenly, the ship pulled straight up, making Koil and the other two pilots look up. Then, the fighter plunged straight down, landing behind them. The 4-winged sleek ship started shooting at the grey and red fighter ahead of him. "He's on me!" "Shake him off, 3-6!" Koil pushed forward on his control stick and dove into the canyons of the planet, the Vulcans and the GDF fighter following close behind. As they flew through the tight and rocky corridors, the GDF ship grew closer to 3-6. "I can't lose him!" The GDF fighter shot at the Vulcan, hitting the small ship's wing. "I'm hit! I'm hi-" The ship lost control and crashed into the side of the canyon wall with a firey explosion. Koil cursed and looked for the ship to follow them, but couldn't see it. "Where'd it go? Did it cloak?" 3-1 asked. Koil looked and saw the ship descend quickly in front of the approaching fighters. It was above the canyon, giving it the advantage of higher ground. It shot down at the two ships. Koil did something incredibly risky and stupid. He pulled up and barely managed to fold in his wings in time and cleared the canyon wall. The other Vulcan was not so lucky, as the GDF shipped gunned him down, causing another explosion. Koil leaned forward and pushed the afterburner control forward. Now it was personal.

The black fighter weaved through the gravel and crystal-filled hills, with the Swift in close pursuit. Koil tensed up with every risky move and pass that the ship made, which he in turn was forced to follow. He was clearly trying to lose him, but he couldn't get rid of him that easily. He had faced tougher challenges than this. He wasn't about to back down. He activated the Tracer Missiles in the ship's arsenal, and a set of crosshairs appeared in his ViewFinder goggles, tracking the fast-moving fighter in front of him. It dodged and waved in and out. Koil cursed out loud. He couldn't get a lock on him! Then, up ahead was the entrance to another canyon that the masked man was no doubt intending to ambush Koil in. But, up above the entrance was a large purple crystal protruding from the canyon wall. Koil smirked and aimed his laser chaingun. He shot at the overhead crystal, shattering the canyon wall, causing it to collapse. The fighter was too close to go up and over, so the only thing he could do now was turn to the side, and then Koil would be able to lock on and take him out in the clear area nearby. But, the masked man did something completely unexpected. He pulled his ship up, but not up and over, instead straight up into the sky, and then flipped over, coming down at Koil now from an angle. Damn! Now he had the advantage again! Koil grit his teeth, then gently pulled up as well, staring up at the incoming ominous-looking fighter. It began to spit out a barrage of laserfire, raining down on the Swift. But, Koil kept his focus, until his ViewFinder beeped, signalling a lock-on. "Eat this." Koil muttered. He pressed the trigger, and the small rocket launched out from the ship, leaving a trail of blue smoke behind it. Koil began to then fire his chaingun, adding to the flurry of laser bolts. Since the ship couldn't maneuver without being hit, it was unable to detect the incoming missile. The missile flew forward...and hit the edge of the right wing of the GDF fighter. The ship was smoking and damaged, forcing it to list and fly to the right, away from Koil. Koil couldn't stick around to confirm the kill. The ship was disabled, and that was good enough for now. He changed his wings back into pursuit mode and hit the thrusters, flying back towards Andress's ship.