It was one week after the fight Aes and I had had with the Snakes. I had become a private in WP and was trying my hardest to become good enough to feel up to my WP name. I had met most of the WP pilots that i hadnt before, like Teni a quiet but very influential member, Chemo he was louds had his opinions and stuck by them he was realy nice to me when i first met him, and Nia the only female pilot in all of WP everybody liked her she had a calm kind and gentle nature and when u talked to her you knew she could be trusted with anything you wanted to say.

Over the past week i had tried so hard to be a better pilot, i had made Aes train me somedays even when he had the whole day off, but he always seemed to agree in the end and was happy to help out.
Although the WP was scarse in numbers at the moment they were still feared and respected through out sirius. I wasnt quite sure why the fighter numbers were so low right now, and because of this i thought WP were quite vunerable right now, with only the ANS_Europa to realy protect its personel.
With less fighters around the Europa was still left weaker and the patrols were less than before as pilots could not be spared, and seeing this our enemies saw their chance to finaly get the edge on us, the snakes plotted against us for out final demise.
As i sat in the luch area one day Nia came over to me, i was quite suprised she had never approached me before, she sat down at my table....
"Hi Ele, hows life?"
"I... er.... its good at the moment th thanks" i stuttered "how are you?"
"Great just great, so you got anythin goin on today?"
"Erm Yes i have patrol duties"
"ahhh already usualy only pilots ranked about private go on patrol, Dev must think highly of you"
"Well either that or he REALY doesnt hav enough pilots around"
"Im sure your doin great hun, well ive gotta go, ill talk to ya later"
"Cya Nia, it was good talking to you"
And as she walked through the cafetira door she turned and winked.

I finished my meal and headed towards the docking bay.
"Element" Said a comanding voice, i turned, as i thought it was Dev.
"Where are you heading now"
"The docking bay sir"
"And why are you doing that"
"Because they are my orders for today,Sir, i hav to patrol the gamma quadrant with DragonFire Sir""
"Hmmmm if they are your orders then carry on, good luck private come back in one piece we still need you around"
"Yes sir, ill try my best sir"
He smiled and walked away, i thought it was quite strange that the admiral was asking me what my duties for the day were as if he had other plans, but i didnt question it any further and carried on to the dock.
As i walked in i saw DragonFire already waiting for me, he was already geared up , he saw me and waved. Dragon was from a part of sirius i had never been to and couldnt for my life remember what its was called. But we had become good friends as we were almost the same rank and had joined only a few weeks apart>
"Het Ele hurry it up man, i wanna get out there go kill some snakes" Dragon was new to WP but no novice when it came to fighting.
"take it easy, you'll get your chance"
"Hehe, you dont sound to enthusiastic about this, wots up"
"nothin man, its just dont you get bored or patrols all the time, i want something big i want to prove myself to the others that i am as good as them."
"I know how you feel, but right now we got nothin better goin on, so hurry up!"
I suited up and climbed into my ship, which i was very prowd of having a new symbol on it to represent me and WP. "Some" day i said to myself "that sysbol will not jus be associated with me, it will be associated with fear and destuction."
We left the Europa and a few hours later retured from another unaffected patrol. For some reason there never seemed to be any disturbences in any patrols, it was unusual, you would usualy get a small skirmish out in space at one point in the day or another, but for the past few day nothing had happend at all. pilots had left and come back unscaved, this wasnt all bad but i had a feeling something big was about to happen, and with the shortage of fighters i did not know how affective we would be in stopping it.
After landing i had a few beers with Drag and then went to bed after a longs days work. I got in and for the first time in my stay here Xeno was actualy there before me, we acknowledged each other but i was tired and went to sleep.
The next day i awoke to sirens in the halls, they were defaning. After about a minute of covering my face and ears i realised it was the alarm for an attack, the Europea was under attack and i had to get to my ship. I sprang out of bed and through on some cloathes. I ran out of my room to find hundreds of out WP crew running around to get to their posts. I sprinted through the corridors as fast as i could, as i did i smashed into Chemo nocking him clear off his feet and a few feet down the corridor.
"Hey watch it man, no need to sprint, take it easy or you'll hurt yourself."
"Sorry chem ii didnt see you coming, but ive got to get to the dock quick.
"ok get goin then"
I helped him up onto his feet, he smiled, and once again i was running the corridors of the Europa.
I got to the Docking area, I stopped suddenly, all the pilots were stood there with Dev infront of them, he looked up and say me.
"Ah Element so glad you could join us, would you come over here with the others"
"Yes sir, sorry sir"
I quickly walked over, Dev stood watching over the exited pilots.
".........Not good enough!, you have taken to long to get here"
I wondered to myself, why is he talking to use with the ship under attack.
"If this had been a real attack our enemies would of been all over us by now, and we may not of been able to stop them in time. If and when this happens for real i acspect you to be here 10times as fast as you hav got here today, Do i make myself clear pilots"
"Sir, Yes sir" the group said in syncronisity.
Completely relived i sighed.
"Element, could i hav a word please"
I slowly walked over.
"I am quite dissapointed in you, you were the last one here, i expect much more from you, i hav high expectaions from you, for some one who has not piloted for long you hav shown great prgress, keep it up. But next time you better get here quicker."
"Yes sir. ill make sure of it."
"Dismissed"
I walked away, not know how to feel, proud because of how he described me, or annoyed with myself for letting him down, i was very confused.
As i walked back through the halls of the Europa you could feel the tension still in the air from the drill just before, people knew they had to do better. I decided to go to the simulater room and do a few training missions.
As i stepped in, i saw a man sitting their i had never seen him before, he was a total stranger, and did not wear WP cloathing. I sat in a sim jus down from his, i watched him fly for a second and then turned to my own screen, just as i was about to start....
"Hi, im Apocolypse, who're you"
"Im Element, i havent seen you before, what department are you from"
"Im a pilot"
"Realy.... i hav never seen you not once in any of the wings, and im pretty sure ive met every wing"
"Well theres 1 reason for that, im not in any WP wing, im part f the Shadow Angels, we are an ally to you, so dont worry about it" he smiled.
"Ok, well hey good to meet you"
"likewise" He got up and left, i never saw him again after that day.
i turned back to my simulator and switched it on.
"BZZT....Clearence code.....BZZT" Said the computers voice, i always though, why couldnt they give it a nice voice instead of the droaning one that was used.
"151DE" i said
"BZZT....searching......searching.......Clearence accepted, welcome Private Element....You are at stage 13, do you wish to proceed...BZZT"
"Yes"
Over the next few minutes the drone voice described you mission and situation, and when it finished the mission began.
I had gotten through the first 12 stages easily, and this was no different, i had been told the first 20 missions were a breeze, and this was true, it was like a walk in the park, each enemy that came i destroyed, these first few stage seemed pointless. As i aproached stage 20 i began to tire of the simulator, and decided to stop just after completing the 19th mission.
After about 30 more minutes i left the training area and went for a drink, As i walked down the corridor, i felt a tremble, and a strange humming sound...........CRASH.... a large metal bar almost feel right on top of me, i jumped to the floor thinking it would hit. I jumped tomy feet then suddenly
"All personel to battle stations, we are under attack, this is not a drill, repeat, this is not a drill."
Hearing this once again i sprinted to the dock to get to my ship, as i went through the corridor i saw screaming crew begging for help, they had not been as lucky as i.
I got to the dock it was intact luckily, i saw other pilots already getting into their ships, jus as i got through Dragon came through another door way, we looked at each other.
" looks like this is it man, lets go kick some snakes asses!!!" dragon shouted, i just turned and ran to my ship to get ready.
We took off together, as we had a small competion going at the time to see who could bag the most kills, we saw this as a great chance to rack up a score.
As my ship came to the opening i saw only a smalll fleet of enemies, obviously they knew of our weakness and saw no real threat in us.
There were 60 fighters, 5 gunboats and 3 torpedo launchers. We only had 35 able pilots at the time, and all were there to aid the Europa.
"The main objective is to take out those torps" Devs voice came over the intercom, "if they fire on us were sitting duck, we cannot afford to to be hit by any, i hope thats clear, alpha wing you will take care of them. Next the fighters, we dont want them to get to close to us, they may not be abole to destroy us but they will do some dammage, Beta and Gamma get on it. Finaly the gunboats, they will be used to mainly protect their topr bombes, delta wing take care of them, Safe flying out there"
Go to it guys shouted Aesthir. Being in Beta wing i had to take care of the fighters which was just what i wanted, I and dragon flew together towards the oncoming eneimes, our 2 wings Beta and Gamma consisted of20 of the pilots. As we nearer out enemy, some thing became in sight to us, these were not snakes.....theyre were OEG, another one of WP enemies in the neighbouring systems. As the fighters grew nearer the first contact happend, and with a huge explosion one of the OEG fighters went down.
Drag was right beside me when we first began fighting, straight away we both shot 1 down.
"Wooooooooooo theres one for the dragon, watch out OEG here i come"
Through the enemy our ships span leave a trail of devistation behind us, the 2 wings working together to fight the whole mass of fighters was imperesssive, but while fighting i noticed about 20 of the OEG ships had stay back with the torp, i passed it off as jus another defense for the bombers.
"Thats one gun boat down 3 to go" Delta was having sucess aswell, " but one thing could Beta or gamma get your asses over her to cover us from the fighters, we gettin torn to shred by th..ARRRRGGGG" the tranmission ended then suddenly an explosion and the Delta leaders ship had been destroyed. To my relief i heard a familiar voice over the radio
"Hey guys, who started the party with out me" It was Zero back from the liberty systems.
"Damn its good to see you man, come help out, Delta wing could realy use the help" Replied aesthir as he took down another OEG fighter. But just as he said it one of the torp bombers came into range of the europa and fired. At first it seemed as if it was a deperate atempt to recover a loosing battle, but no it was part of a master plan as the torp gained distance from the ship that fired it, 10 of the fighter took off and gathered around the missile completely covering it from all fire, this seemed very strange as even wthithese ships around it it would only take 1 to blow up to take out the whole load and the torp itself, but as out fighters took potshots at the covering ship, we could see they were no ordinary ships.
They had been totaly maxed out tp beyond belief, they had no cargo at all, aprt from Shield batteries and Nano bott;s, so they were carrying over 6 times the normal anount of then. As the torp got nearer and near to the Europa Dev prdered all of Gamma wing to take out the ship around it, they all suddenly turned and flew towards the torp, and tryed as hard as they could to destroy the torpedo, but to no avail as it began to close in on the Europa we all know it woudl hit, time seemed to stand still, but then all the ships around it turned back to their starting point, and at the second they did, the first shot hit.

BOOM

A hole was ripped in the side of the Europa debree and fire every where, seeing this i almost lost control of my ship, but managed to get it back and once again concentrate in the fighters around me.Jut as soon as the last torp had hit the next set off once again using the same tactic, but with the remaining ten ships, as last time they all flew by and completely covered the torp making it impossible to hit, and once again Gamma wing tried as hard as they could to take it out.

The next one hit jus as last time, luckily not in the same place giving the Europa another life.
"GAMMA WING WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOIN OUT THERE, WHEN I SAY TAKE DOWN THOSE TORP I MEAN TAKE DOWN THE BASTARD TORPS!!!!" Dev yelled down the comm chanel.
"Hey man take it easy we trying all we can out here, the damn OEG hav done somthin to the ships that suurond them, theyre impossible to even scratch" Argued Zero
And as he did this the third and final torped was fired.
"EVERYONE TAKE THAT FUCKER DOWN NOW!!!!!!" ordered Dev, now changing from his usual comanding self to a desperate man.
"Prepare to evacuate everybody Teni, thats an order"
"But sir"
"Do it now, we hav no tother choice" Dev exclaimied to his left hand man on the bridge,"the only other thing we can do is pray, that theyve got somthin up their sleave, of not were doomed"

"Aes watch your 6 you got one tailing you"
"Dont worry Ele i see him" Aes hit engine kill span around and within a few seconds the fighters was destroyed.
"God damn boy, where'd you learn that trick" shouted dragon down his radio.
"Thats a little Aesthir special, hehe if you lucky i may even teach you it one day."
"Im gunna hold you to that man"
"Now shut up and get rid of that torp!"
"YES SIR!"

The torpedo grew nearer, then it dawned on the WP, this was the end of the Europa, after all the fights she gad been through, 3 torps would bring her down to her knees. It was a sad day.

"No, i wint accept it, its not the end"
"Face it zero, the Europa's goin down and theres nthing we can do to stop it"
"NO!! your wrong ill show you."
He now flew right at the torp and began cirling it looking for a weaknes in the ships formation around it.......He found one, it was only small but it was right at the front of the ship, he only had 30 seconds to act or it would be to late.
"SorryGuys but i got to do this, Ele, i wish i could of seen u fly, im sure ull be great"
"Zero, wot do you mean, what are your doing??.....Zero.......ZERO NOOOO!!!!!!"
The WP pilot flew right at the torp from in front of it, guns blazing missiles firing, he smashed right into the nose of the torp.......

BOOM!!!

It worked, the torpedo blew up right infront of the EUropa at just a safe enough distance to cause no severe damage. The Euopa had been saved, but at the cost of a dear friend of WP, Whos name would be remembered for years to come, that name was Zero.

"For your efforts against the OEG , i award you this, The legion or merit medal, The 101st medal for bravery,and the order of Saxxon, you are also promoted to Warrant officer 3rd class, good flying pilot" Dev smiled, i smiled right back at him, and stood straight in front of a hall of WP's.The whole seramony took over 48 hours in all, spanning over 5 days. as Admiral Crying_Devil had to hand out awards to almost every WP on the ship.
After al the awards we gave our respect to the brave pilot namely Zero, who had given his life to save us all. And as the last word were given i couldnt help but feel slighly emty with my old friend now dead, it was a feeling that would never go and i wiold always remember that fatefull day on california minor when we had met up all those years after seeing each other.
As i left the hall a strange man approached me, "Hello, you are ELement right"
"Yea that me" i realied slightly confused"
"My names is revier, i also knew Zero very well, we became very close after your left, he has told me so much about you, i am glad i hav finaly met you.
"Well im glad to meet you to, hey you've got some time right, come with me to the bar ill buy you a drink"
"No i couldnt make you do that"
"Hey im not making you do anything, but realy i insist lets go" i smiled at him and he finaly decided to come along, as we went we reminissed about old times with our friend zero and remembered him for who he was..........

by WP Element