Operation Darkness: Taxi Ride to Hell
By Brad Corletti


I smiled grimly as the B-wing's access hatch clamped shut. Not taking any 
more passengers for today. I slid into the pilot's seat and ran my fingers 
over the row of toggles, readying the fighter-bomber for an immediate takeoff.

I glanced at another panel and saw that the preflight checks were all in 
the green. I locked myself into my G-harness and started the sublight drive.

The hangar bay was lit by the plasma of my thruster array. A few Vong ran 
in to see what was happening. I punched the throttle to the maximum and 
they died in an instant.

The B-wing launched into the void of space.

"Increase the inertial dampening field to cover the entire craft!" Sci 
called out. I didn't think, I just did it. Sci knew these guys, what they 
were capable of. It didn't make any damned sense, but I did it, because 
information is ammunition and right now I've got an empty clip.

I brought the B-wing's nose down and skimmed the Moon's surface. My sensors 
picked up something weird, not in their library. We were too far for me to 
get them on visual, but sensors told me they were above us, circling the base.

Mike opened fire, relying on the sensor readings. It's why we have them.

"Tell Mike to drop his blasts down to minimum level, then switch back to 
full once the dovin basals are tired," Sci urged.

"The what?" I asked.

"Until the shields are down," he translated.

"Drop your blasts down to minimum, then hit 'em hard when the shields are 
down!" I told Mike. He seemed to get the message. Painting blasts flashed 
from the cannons.

The enemy craft were closer, now, and had dropped in behind us. My sensors 
started cataloguing data. They were essentially fighters. Faster than a B-wing.

I brought one up on visual, since I didn't need to do all that much. Weird, 
looked like it was made of rock. Black dots appeared all over it as it 
copped Mike's fire.

No, I told myself. It couldn't be. The power requirements must be 
enormous... literally astronomical!

The black dots stopped appearing, and then full powered blaster bolts 
blasted it to bits.

"Nice shooting, Mike."

Apparently the enemy craft were finally close enough to retaliate, for they 
began firing their own weapons. Jets of plasma flashed all around us. I 
maneuvered as best I could to stay out of their sights. If they use sights.

One impacted. "It'll eat the shields!" Sci screamed, momentarily forgetting 
he was already dead.

Yep, it looked that way from the status display. The stuff was smeared on 
the aft shield, eating it. I threw the flight yoke right and rolled the 
B-wing. The abrupt introduction of angular acceleration flung the plasma 
off. "Even plasma obeys the laws of physics," I said smugly as I returned 
to level flight.

The unusual design feature of the B-wing proved its worth. With the aid of 
the stabilised cockpit, Mike managed to destroy a second hostile, despite 
the chaotic gyrations I was throwing the fighter-bomber through in an 
attempt to evade enemy fire.

Within moments, the last enemy was dead.

I'd been expecting to encounter more hostile forces from an invasion fleet, 
and my suspicion was proven correct when Earth began to peek over the lunar 
horizon.

The Vong capital ship hung in space. From here, it looked bigger than Europe.