"You’ll be cloaked along with us until you reach the end of the shield range which is about 100 metres from where you are. We’ll travel as near as we can then you’ll have to cruise to them and launch torpedoes before they can get their fighters out, while you do this we’ll launch Defenders and Guardians. Good luck people.” Devil closed his eyes and preyed for those who were about to risk their lives for him and what was right. Hellfire remained silent and stared at the screen. He had seen many wars too, and was not about to show his emotion to the crew however much he wanted to. “Ok sir, we got it.”

As the Europa crawled forward, the 2 hidden bombers remained at the same speed, ready to set their cruise on. Inside were Aesthir and Phoenix who had now switched to s private channel between them. Both were the first to volunteer for the first run, and were already lining up their targets. “Ok I’ll take the one on the left and you get the one on the right Phoenix, that way the next two to launch will have a easy target in the middle and the Defenders and Guardians will have a easy way to flank the middle ship. “Got it mate, we should be going soon.” The was a silence, what seemed like 10 minutes but was in fact about 10 seconds as the thoughts of the pilots went to those they had lost and those with them today. It was broken by the crackle on the comms “All ships go, go, go, repeat, all ships this is a go for all operations.” The two bombers hit cruise and headed for the cruisers. “Here we go mate, good luck and god’s speed” “You too mate.”

The two ships uncloaked and went straight towards the 3 Coalition cruisers who’s commanders were confused by having 2 small ships heading to them. They came closer and closer and still no reaction came, at last they got close enough to the cruisers, they began to launch and just as they did fighters launched from the enemy capships. It appeared that the Coalition were so confused by the fighters heading towards them, considering they were registered as WolfPack, who were told to be lost throughout the Coalition almost 500 years ago, it took them a long time to react the way they did. At the same time Guardians and Defenders poured out the Europa and engaged to the enemy fighters with great ferociousness. “Show them no mercy Guardians!” “Don’t let one escape guys!” Various comments like “Starting my run” came up on both the Wing Commanders comms.

“All right Phoenix I’ve launched them all, heading back, good luck mate.” “You too, I’m headin back…now.” As they turned around and slammed the crush speed button the torpedoes headed towards the Coalition ships. Fighters raged out of all 3, but they didn’t get to finish launching, the torpedoes ripped through the hull of the 2 cruisers they had aimed for, and they exploded with a magnificent glow and spread of sparks. Devil sighed with relief and the first work was said on the bridge, “So far so good my friend, lets hope it all goes this smoothly.” Hellfire remained silent, he knew it wasn’t over yet, and so did Devil, Hellfire however was some what more solemn than him. As they watched the fireworks, another bomber launched out the side of the Europa and passed the two in coming ones who were docking. Dragonfire, you get that carrier down, Guardian and Defender wings have taken down its engines and shields, its all yours.” “Yes sir!”

The single bomber headed for the lone capship, he was almost in range when 2 fighters noticed him. They stopped firing at their current target and turned to head for the bomber who was cruising straight for their home. Dragonfire was getting impatient with the journey, “come on….come on…just a little further…” He had his finger not more than a inch above the fire button. As he came into range he hammer it 4 times, and the torpedoes with great effort were released and slowly headed for the target. “ok I’m done heading…” As he was speaking the 2 fighters hit with a missile each. “Shit someone get these guys off me!” He dodged and rolled in the sluggish bomber, and with all the skill he had evaded the shots. He calculated that he wouldn’t make back to the Europa like this, so he took and deep breath and showed with immense elegance why he was the top pilot in the WP ranks. He put all power to his shields and engines and boosted until he reached top speed, than he touched the engine killer and floated towards the Europa and top speed. He then span round and with only the 2 tiny guns, he hammered both fighters with a volley of fire, in which 1 exploded and the other lost a wing. The remaining fighter decided this was a lost cause as the last capship exploded with similar brightness as the others. Dragonfire span back round just in time to stop himself hitting the Europa.

On the bridge there were celebrations as the final capship went down. Devil for the first time that day, show what could be interpreted as a smile and Hellfire finally moved from his position to shake the hands of a couple of bridge officers and to smile at Devil. After a couple of minutes the crew returned to their posts, they knew it wasn’t over yet. Devil went to the comms desk and sent out a message to the pilots, “Ok guys good work but it’s not over, mop up those fighters quickly then come in and re-arm for the next battle.” As he returned to his position next to Hellfire, the last 2 fighters were taken care of. But they didn’t get chance to get back and land, as soon as they finished 3 more cruisers and the Mothership they had searched for appeared. A curse slipped from Devil’s lips, “launch the bombers all of them, make sure those escort cruiser go down fast.” “Yes sir! Launch all bombers! Repeat! Launch all bombers!” Six bombers of the Raider wing fired out of the side of the Europa once again and raced for their targets. What seemed like a life time passed by before the bombers were in range, they launched their torpedoes at the cruisers who could do nothing now but try and fire the turrets at them, which was hopeless, each cruiser would be taking 8 hits, and this could easily be backed up by the other half the load out from each bomber. The helpless Coalition ships exploded and yet again victory looked close. But as the bombers turned to get back, 2 fighters homed in on them, easy targets for fighters. They took out one bomber with a couple of missiles and headed for the others who were fleeing. “Damn it! Someone get these guys off us! We’re sitting ducks here!” “Hold on Raiders I’m coming!” Chemo flew his ship dodging missiles with some luck and some great skill. He came down to the 2 fighters trying to pick off the bombers. As he launched a missile into one and showered him with gun fire the words close to “DIE you bastard!” were muttered from behind his helmet. The unsuspecting fighter exploded and alerted the other to Chemo’s presence. He turned round in rage, and fired a hail of laser at Chemo who dodged most of it. He then fired back and launched a close range missile, which destroyed the Coalition fighter but also took down his shields. “Get out of here guys and re-launch in fighters! We need the help!”

He wasn’t lying, the Guardians and the Defenders were fighting a mightily out numbering battle, for every Coalition fighter they took down, another 2 would appear from the Motherships launch bay. The 2 wings fought side by side bravely and with immense skill, killing off more Coalition fighters than most had even seen before. Despite these great pilots fighting for everything they had and with everything they had, the wings were taking steady losses from the great numbers of ships the Coalition had. “What the hell? Have they got an assembly line in there?” Element raged forward into the lines of Coalition fighters, he didn’t know if would make it passed the night, but he seemed to forget everything but why he was fighting this battle. Devil looked on from the bridge with Hellfire, they both knew this would be one of the toughest battles they would ever face.