Atlantis' shields flared as her tumble slowed. Atlantis was standing on the bridge her eyes closed, concentrating on firing the right atmospheric thrusters. The ensign at the con had long since passed out from the G-Forces threatening to rip the ship apart. Jon was still trying to get to Deatra to check on her, his mind reeling. Atlanta pushed more power into the Magnetic Inertial Dampeners. Jon slumped to the floor in a heap as several people gasped. Slowly the tumble stopped as Atlanta brought the nose of the ship up.
Jon scrambled over to check on Deatra who as just starting to come around. When she opened her eyes, his face greeted her. She smiled, propping herself up on one elbow.
Jon sighed once he saw she was ok, he then stood up, pulling her with him. After he was sure she was on steady on her feet, he turned to look at the bridge.
Most of the crew resumed their duties. Medical was already tending those that were hurt. Jon was glad that Andie had agreed to assigning small teams throughout the ship during engagements.
'Rigging for atmospheric flight... ' Atlantis's voice said.
"Captain," Atlantis asked with concern, "are you ok?"
Jon glanced to the viewer, "Yes, what's our current condition?"
"We have entered this planet's atmosphere; I'm currently looking for a place to land. Main Engines are off-line, without those I can't maintain altitude. We have about five minutes of flight time left."
"If we manage to get close to the ground without crashing. Can we land?"
"I've already engaged the Magnetic Repulsors, which should slow us enough to land safely."
"Can we land on the ground?"
Atlantis smiled, nodding, "The repulsors will keep us aloft, they're my, how do you say it? Landing gear?"
The man's wife came running around the side of the house, daughter in tow. She was dressed in her flight suit and started climbing into the cockpit behind her husband. The man looked back as he watched her climb in.
"Come on Kayla," He said, motioning her up front with him.
Kayla climbed up, taking a seat in his lap. "Can I fly?"
"No honey, not today. Honey you strapped in?"
"Yes dear, going through weapons check now."
The cockpit sealed over head as the fighter lifted off the ground.
"Here we go," He said
The fighter shot into the air circling twice around their little cabin.
"Got a lock on a large target, 500 kilometers away, moving east and dropping at 1000 meters a minute. It's slowing down, computer says it's some type of space vehicle. No ID on hull type and no registered transponder signal." The woman reported.
The fighter accelerated in the direction of Atlantis.
Atlantis picked out an open landing area where they could get repairs started. Atlantis was in control, coasting the large vessel into the clearing. No sensors picked up the small black shapes approaching. Only when Atlantis shook did they realize they were under attack.
'Hull breech deck 14... ' Atlantis reported.
Jon turned to LC, "Launch all available fighters, NOW!"
In Alpha Bay 20 Pilots swarmed out of the briefing room and jumped into their fighters. A large marine wearing combat armor rushed up beside a fighter.
"Princess please get out of the fighter," He shouted.
"Like Hell you say, my brother is on this ship as are a lot of my friends. I'll be damned if I'm not going to try to help!" Terri snarled.
The marine paled, "Princess we can't protect you out there. Please get out."
"Learn to fly buster!" Terri yelled back, closing the cockpit.
The marine stepped back as the engines to the fighter fired up and lifted it from the deck. The marine was definitely in distress, he turned and signaled the bridge asking for the Prince. But it was too late Terri kicked the fighter out the doors and went weapons hot.
Jon was livid, "She WHAT! Order her back right now."
The Comm officer quickly turned around, "Gold One you're ordered back to base."
"What was that Control?" Terri's voice said.
"I repeat you're order back to base, report to the bridge when you land."
"I'm sorry Control you're breaking up, must be some interference." With that, the link closed.
Jon was fuming as he watched the 20 IFF signatures light up on the Tactical Table. Deatra stepped up beside him and laid a reassuring hand on his arm.
Jon looked over at her, "You know sometimes I just want to whip her ass."
"She'll be ok."
Jon sighed, "Patch their comms through."
"Everyone split into pairs and pick targets. Try to get then off the Atlantis." Terri ordered.
"Engaging the enemy, firing. What the hell I didn't even touch it. Switching to missiles, trying to lock..."
"Green four watch your six. Damn it Green four and three are down. I think they ejected, yes there they are riding the seats down."
"Missiles are a no go, can't get a lock."
"Ok everyone regroup and split in to fours, see if we can hammer them down." Terri's voice said calmly.
"Gold seven just bit it. Gold eight watch out, damn it."
Jon watched the table as slowly IFF signals disappeared, after four minutes Terri was in trouble and alone.
They saw the fight from a distance and the man poured more power into his engines. As they closed in on the fight what they saw was very different.
"What the hell are those?" the man asked.
"Computer is reading them as some type of crystalline substance. There are ten of them attacking the small fighter. Fighter has a single occupant, female, HUMAN! They found us!" The woman almost screamed the last.
The man grinned, "Well it's time to kick ass and chew some bubble gum. Oh damn I left the bubble gum back at the house, guess I'll just have to kick some ass."
"I have some daddy," the little girl said pulling a package from her pocket.
The woman burst out laughing, "yep, definitely your daughter."
The man moaned as he changed the load out for the gun setting it on highest velocity for atmospheric conditions. "See if you can tap into their comms, while I help the woman out."
Terri knew she had it, nothing she did seemed to affect them. They had regrouped and started coming after her. She pushed the fighter into a tight climb, cutting the engines and letting it start falling towards the ground. They might be impervious to her weapons but she had another idea. As she started falling, she kicked the engine to max and bee lined for the ground. They followed her, speeding up as they tried to catch her. Terri yanked up hard at the last second, the bottom of her fighter almost brushing the ground.
One of the crystal fighters wasn't so lucky and slammed into the ground, causing a huge fireball. Terri started juking between the trees, trying to lose those behind her. She spotted a small canyon and dived into it. At least they were following her and not attacking Atlantis. Terri pulled right just barely missing the canyon wall, hearing an explosion a couple seconds later. Eight more to go and it's over. The canyon ended abruptly causing Terri to pull up hard, seconds later another explosion.
"Great now all I need is another two or three canyons. Because face it you guys suck at flying." Terri muttered.
Terri had turned back towards Atlantis, not wanting to lose sight of her. She kept twisting and dodging the beams they shot at her. Terri felt a shudder and heard a high-pitched whine and two explosions.
Terri was startled when her com went active. "This is Houdini of the TDF please respond."
"This is Sandpiper of the ADF are you friend or foe?" Terri said.
"Well considering we took out two of the birds following you I'd say we were friend." Houdini laughed.
"Oh thank God, I thought I was toast."
"Nope we have your six, remaining ships have bugged out."
"I don't see you," Terri replied, looking around.
"Oops, 3 o'clock."
Terri turned her head and was so startled she almost ran into them. A flying cockpit is a thing to see, especially when you see a man, woman, and child waving.
Jon blew out a breath, "Thank God for those people. Tactical when we land scan as far as you can. I'm going to bonk my sister in the head."
When Jon and Deatra reached Landing Bay Alpha, Terri was already climbing out of her fighter. As she watched the other fighter's landing lights slowly glide to the deck. Several people started running over to the new fighter, including Terri, when the cockpit opened.
"STOP, don't touch the ship please," A man said as he stood up and placed his daughter in the seat.
People stopped in their tracks stunned.
Jon frowned and started walking towards the man.
"Done," a female voice said.
The man reached back inside the cockpit and tapped something. A cable fell to the ground and gave an electrical hiss.
"Sorry about that," the man said smiling. "Didn't want anyone getting shocked to death, wouldn't be a good way to start off."
The man, woman and child climbed down out of the ship. Terri was like a kid in a candy store she started walking around it.
Jon stepped up and saluted, "Capt. Jonathan Hunter of the ADF Atlantis."
The three returned a different salute. "Rick and Ellie Wilson, this is our daughter Kayla Star Wilson, TDF Phoenix Base. My call sign is Houdini and my wife's is Shasta"
The four massive black ships circled the planet, watching. The cloaked figure sat back waiting for a report from his fighters. He wanted the creature that would be so brave as to send his other ships away and stand to fight. Such a creature will have a strong life force and he wanted to feed on it.
"Sir, fighters reporting back," a figure with an almost white cloak reported.
"Do they have the commander of the vessel?" the figure leaned forward.
"Sir, they report 19 enemy fighters down and a loss of five to the squad."
The figure jumped from his seat, "WHAT? How did this happen."
"They report the last fighter was a remarkable pilot and caused three to crash. Then when they almost had them two others blew up for unknown reasons. They suspected some type of weapon that could lock on to them and they couldn't see. So they returned to base to report."
The figure settled back into his chair, leaning back. "New weapon? More like unknown weapon. This is the first time we have seen a ship of this type. Standard orbit, we'll wait them out. Eventually they will have to pass us to leave."
The Titan and Earth's Revenge appeared next to one another, approaching their next fold point. The Atlantis still hadn't joined them and Bill was getting worried. Two more folds and they would grab the Scythe and return in force. Hopefully the Atlantis was ok.