EV/EVO Chronicles: A Fighter Pilot's memory

The following is based in Tim Isles E2: Dark Horizon:

The following is from the writings of Commander Will Dervin, Weave squadron Marsie Wing.

Battle of the Marsie Wing, or Marsie’s Sorrow

Twelve years. It has been twelve years since I joined the Weave in their seemingly futile quest for freedom. It’s hard to believe that I was once a average milita pilot, passing my days to keep pirates from rading Levo’s space. Fadded memories indeed; To think that I was even born on Earth and that I will never see my homeworld again, for I am a marked man. Earth: the name sparks many things amongst many people; for humans, our homeworld and place of refuge. To the Weave, a mythical war machine that is bent on one thing and one thing only; conquest; to the Sauridian Freehold it sparks hatred and despite...as well as fear. But this entry is not to remicense of my past.

I have commanded Marsie Wing for over three years since my promotion to commander. In that time we have seen many victories and have been given the award of one of the finest squadrons in the Weave navy. It composed of twelve stingrays, my included, four mantas and five starscream bombers, and the best officers and figthers serve with me. To me, the Marsie Wing is my family.

Yesterday marked one of the greatest victories for my squadron as well as one the worst. We were stationed on the city-ship of Zerinsai located in the NGC-5665. The place has been my home for over seven years, ever since the Weave were defeated and had to flee beyond Clotho to hidden systems. The city-ships were conceived after the discovery of many planets within the region; they composed of many captial ships ranging in size from Calan destroyers to that of the massive Support Carriers. Zerinsai was the closest city-ship to Empire space and as such was the main point for staged strikes into their space.

We recieved orders from the Weave High Command itself, telling us of our next mission: The destrucion of Purifaction ship Rivarda, a Hammerhead Assault Carrier, devoid of fighters. At first I thought this was a joke, considering the sheer strenght of the Empire’s mighteist ship. Was no joke, but true orders. When I discussed this with the rest of my squadron they all knew the risks of what lay before us. It was very likely many of us would not return.

I remember saying goodbye to my wife and children before leaving. In the twelve tears of service, I had married a woman from Landfall, her beauty outshining even Sol’s sun and with a warm and caring soul. I had two children, a boy of six years and a young lass of four, both the embodiment of their mother. Should I have not made it back, I would at least have a dying image as my fighter went down.

I remember the day I put on the red and gray uniform of a Weave officer, marking me as fighter pilot and squadorn leader. It was amongst one of my happeist memories. As I geared up and entered my ship, a Stingray christened the Zephyr because of her speed and strenght, I couldn’t help but smile. The Zephyr was somewhat modified, having three pulse cannons, twin missile launchers and a dozen missiles, and a plasma driver, which was salvaged from a pirate vessel. I’ve had this ship for as long as I’ve been Weave.

We launched from Zerinsai twelve hours after recieving our orders. Our entire squadron would be needed in this battle; twenty-one fighters against a fighterless Assault Carrier is still a suicide mission. Still if we could pull this off, we would strike a massive loss to the Empire, as the Rivarda was a fleet flagship commanded by one John Carson, Fleet Commander of the Third Fleet, a very high ranked individual within the Cololinal Navy and the Purifaction Patrol. Without him, the Third Fleet would be in chaos from many weeks until a new leader could be found.

It would take us three days to get to our target, as it was on survey in the NGC-5638 system above Clotho, and we had blocked all communications with to the Clotho system from the Rivarda; she would be unprepared and ripe for the plucking. It would be time to show the Terran Star Empire what the Weave was capable of, a force to be reckoned with.

We arrived days later to the surprise of the massive carrier; they never saw it coming. We swarmed in on the Rivarda, breaking into three formations of seven; I led Team One with three other stingrays, one manta and two starscream bombers. We strafed the carrier on the first past, making a great blow as the laser guided bombs from the starscreams hit the shields, followed by missiles from the otheres. Team two came in low, firing everything they had. Team three fired from afar, doing less damage but bringing the shields lower all the while.

Then the Rivarda started firing back.

Massive neutron turrets came to bear on my team, missing me by a hair’s width, but cacthing the mant in my team the hardest. The figther blew before my very eyes as it flew past the Zephyr, trailing in a glow of flames before it blew. Two other figthers in my team took heavy damge, one Starscream and one Stingray; I ordred them back until their shields had recharged. I checked my sensors for a progress on Team Two; and to my woe of the seven, only three were remaining, two disabled.

I ordered the pilot of the one fighting ship from Team two, a manta, to join up with my group and ordered Team Three to come in close. By then, the two fighters that had disengaged came back into the fray, ready with renewed vigor. I brought my plasma driver online, knowing that I would need everything to help bring that carrier down. Neutron fire kept raining down on my squad, taking down two more of my figthers. As Team three came in, they were caught off guard by a rain of neutron fire as the turrets came to bear on them, destroying three of the seven fighters instantly.

I had released all but one of my missiles at this time, and my shields were at fifty percent. I fired a burst of pulse fire and three barrages of superheated plasma, hitting the shields of the front left. As a manta and I came around the front of the Rivarda, two things happened; the first was two more fighters were blown from space and the second was something odd. My sensors went crazy as they read a massive buildup of particle emissions; I realised too late that it was the Rivarda’s particle beam emmiter powering up...and firing.

I was caught indirectly, but still suffered heavy damage as most of my weapons systems went offline, leaving just the missile launchers online; however the manta that had been next to me was caught fully in the beam and didn’t last a second. By this point, most of Marsie Squadron was gone and I was going to order retreat, having only brought the damned Rivarda’s shields down by half, when something caught my eye. The readout on my sensors read a slight pahse in the shields surrounding the the Assualt Carrier where the beam had fired. It was big enough for something small to enter through it...something like a missile. The readings annaylized that it would last but a minute later. The particle beam would be firing again in less then fifty.

I was the only one within range and I knew it would be a damn close call, but I had no choice. I brought the Zephyr into a short dive and came to a stop level with the phase in the shields only meters away; already the beam was starting to fire again. I quickly targeted the emitter to the particle beam and, with a quick prayer, fired the missile. Just as the beam fired and hit the Zephyr, the missile struck the emitter.

My fighter was thrown back with great force knocking all but life support and sensors offline. It took a moment for the Zephyr to slow down and stop, and when she did, I looked at the console to my left and saw that my shot had been true; the particle beam had overloaded and two seconds later, a great explosion shook the stars as the Rivarda blew up. I relaxed then, knowing that this mission had finally ended and the our goal completed succesfully. After a while, a Starscreamer docked with the Zephyr and took me aboard. My ship was so damaged that she would never fly again. I ordered her destrucion as no intact ship could remain to fall into Empire hands; and although it was hard for me to do, I had to carry this through as was Weave regulation.

With our goal complete, what remained of Marsie Wing egressed the system, heading home to Zerinsai. It will be another day before we arrive, and I record this as a personal entry, wanting to remember what had happened on that day. We had won and the Empire would know that the Weave Alliance should be a force to be reckoned with, but at what price? Of twenty-one fighters of Marsie Wing, we had lost thirteen pilots and fourteen ships. We could replace the ships, including the Zephyr, but the lives of those who we serve with, our friends, colluges, our family are irreplaceable, knowing we will never see them again, never talk to them or have good times. Amongst the honored dead I would like to record a few names for rememberance: Lt. Commander Carla Husk, my second in command and the one I could trust to take command should anything happen to me; Lt. Der’san, Calan vetran of the orginal uprising and the best pilot we had; Sergant-major Kes’tar, a young Sauridian tactian with who was skilled in many weapons and my closest friend, though our two races were dire mortal enemies. We will miss them all very dearly.

End Log

Nicely done, Captain. A very low-key story—even with all the fighting—but the reflective tone seems appropriate. I would like to have gotten to know some of the narrator's wing members going into the battle, instead of just at the end. Even without that, though, the battle is well-rendered. Some typos, but a quick spell-check can catch most of those in the future.

This is not the first time you've written a story set in a plug-in scenario. Which plug's universe suits you best?

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PlanetPhil
world keeps turning

Thanks for the compliment, PlanetPhil. It would seem my best universe would be the Empire trilogy, even though I do enjoy Pale a little more. Yet the way Tim Isles creates the Empire galaxy with the battle against the Terran Empire and Weave, it leaves much more open for many characters to be created through other factions. I enjoy writing of the battles between the two groups as well other less important factions. I've done a main story off and on for the last six months based in the E2 galaxy.

I tend also to write journal logs as well, and sometimes write in the EVGE and Pale universes. Thanks for the query, Phil. Glad you enjoyed reading it as well.

Whitehawk

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(url="http://"http://pub51.ezboard.com/fquillzfrm4.showMessage?topicID=10.topic")A Pilot's memory(/url)
"Suppose you were an idiot and suppose you were a member of congress. But I repeat myself." -- Mark Twain

9/10, and from me that translates as:

(steals work)

: )

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That's all very nice, but where are the guns?
- SilverDragon

(This message has been edited by SilverDragon (edited 09-18-2001).)