Operation Phoenix:  Vengeance


Part 3 of 5


 
	The X'hirjq light fighter wing returned for a second pass to take 
out another chunk of base defenses.  The fighters remaining from the first 
pass were now well aware of where the base defenses were after seeing 2 of 
their brethren killed in the previous attack run.  This mission, as easy 
and safe as it seemed at the beginning, was neither safe nor easy.  They 
again blazed in at supersonic speeds, lasers flashing and torpedos 
launching.  Defensive turrets turned into shrapnel, missiles exploded still 
on their launch racks.  One pilot strayed a bit too close to one of the 
missile launchers in an overzealous attempt at destroying it, and when his 
laser shot destroyed it its explosion took him with it.  The others pulled 
out and returned for one more run, then returned to finish off whatever was 
left.

	As they pulled out, the first of the WEDJEE air-defense fighters 
were just managing to leave the emergency launch doors roughly a half mile 
to either side of the primaries.  It had taken several precious minutes to 
get them down the narrow corridors to them, but that distance was 
invaluable in allowing them to actually get out doors that hadn't been 
destroyed by the primary attack.  They left the doors, their wings folding 
down into position as they did.  Three pairs of fighters left the bays on 
either side before a fighter blazed down out of nowhere and collapsed both 
side doors...



	Colonel Latham watched the status displays in the flight control 
center as the fighters made their way out.  Deep rumblings from above him 
alerted him that things were not going well.  It almost sounded like a 
thunderstorm was going on *inside* the headquarters.  He watched the dots 
on his display screen get nearer and nearer to the doors, and anxiously 
hoped that they would get there soon.  Just as they finally got there, the 
thunder suddenly stopped, which made him even more nervous.  He watched 
with relief for a few seconds as the fighters started launching.  He watched 
6 get out on either side, then heard 2 more thundering booms from far off 
in the distance.  His console display suddenly went bright red and alarm 
klaxons sounded indicating the destruction of the emergency launch doors.  
He'd done what he could.  Now his job was to get the rest of the men here 
into defensive positions...



	Samhain slid his emergency-access card through the slot by the door 
and hurried out of the hanger area.  He was the one person that didn't also 
have to enter an access code.  The computers in the headquarters knew 
exactly where he was at all times, but for extra insurance he still had an 
access card like everyone else.

	He hurried down the corridors, checking to be sure that all the 
security systems were active or going active as he headed for the command 
center deep in the heart of the facility.  He headed down a long incline, 
and heard two thundering booms, one from either side of him, and realized 
that their air defenses had just been minimized.  They were in trouble.  He 
paused just briefly enough at a wall console to fire off a message to the 
Jihad communication relays warning the other WEDJEE facility and TRES 
headquarters that the proverbial shit was hitting the proverbial fan, and 
continued on his way.



	The 12 remaining X'hirjq fighters were returning to their ship to 
escort the heavier assault craft down to the planet when they noticed 
fighters coming up from the headquarters on their rearward scanners.  Their 
job was not yet done.  The leader barked orders for the back 2 fighters to 
break away and close the doors, then led the squadron in Y-formation to 
form up for dogfighting.  The pairs of fighters split down the middle, the 
left fighter of each pair peeling off backwards and looping down, the right 
one peeling forwards and down.  The 2nd fighter on each side turned and was 
facing the ground just in time to see the 6th fighter launch on either 
side barely before the X'hirjq fighters closed the doors for good. 



	"12 on 12, fairly even odds," thought Reanolds  as he pushed the 
nose of his fighter skyward.  "Let's see what these bastards can do..."  He 
charged at the first X'hirjq fighter, rolling himself over and over to stay 
between the lances of laser light coming at him.  He fired his own volley 
of plasma blasts only to have the forward deflectors of his selected 
adversary absorb most of them.  He dove back towards the ground, and 
accelerated.  He waited for the X'hirjq to get back behind him after 
leveling off, and pulled into a hard climb.  The X'hirjq fighter was much 
more agile and faster than him and gained on him fast, but got a nasty 
surprise.  Reanolds let loose with his magneto-cluster bomb in the back, 
scattering hundreds of tiny magnetic disks onto its hull... disks which 
exploded a split second after attaching to the fighter.  The X'hirjq ship 
balled in flames from nose to tail, and disintigrated.  "Yes!  Take that, 
sucker!" exclaimed Reanolds.

	His celebration was even shorter lived than he was.  Another 
X'hirjq fighter, having dispatched his quarry even faster than Reanolds 
had, blazed down out of the sun and punched holes in his shields and ship with 
both torpedo tubes.  There wasn't enough left after they hit him to put in 
a memorial Urn.

	Elsewhere in the air, battles were going much the same.  Here and 
there a minor victory by one of the WEDJEE fighters in the form of tagging 
a X'hirjq fighter or surprising one, but only two more of them fell out of 
the sky, and one of them had been caught in a pincer maneuver by 2 of the 
WEDJEE craft.  In the end, 9 fighters instead of the original 12 returned to 
their ship to escort the carriers and bombers to the surface.  Scans had 
shown the facility to be too large, too deep, and too well armored for 
anything less...



To Be continued...

"Vengeance" and "Vengeance, Part 3"
Copyright 1995
David R. Hibbs