Jon Messenger - Fall of Icarus

Pressing her accelerator to the maximum, Iana’s Duun fighter launched from Earth’s orbit and sped through the dark void of space. Her fighter fought against her and the controls threatened to be pulled from her grip, as she sped through the darkness. The damaged wing, the one that had been pierced repeatedly by Terran machine gun fire, wobbled unsteadily under the increased gravitational pressures. Closing her eyes momentarily, Iana prayed to whatever God would listen that her fighter would stay together just a while longer.

Iana wished she had a better plan than she did. She had left orbit around Earth under the assumption that she could lure the Terrans away, but once she was free of the satellite ring, she realized that she was flying blindly in a solar system that she didn’t know. Leading the rest of the ships, Iana dove into an asteroid belt. Weaving through the chaotically drifting boulders, Iana tried to buy both her and her team time to devise a plan. Typing hastily on her console, she brought up a display of the planets, hoping to find another inhabitable planet nearby. The reports she scanned were incomplete and unhelpful. The Empire had settled on a nearby red planet, but the current orbit took it to the far side of their sun. The Terran sun was too hot to fly to the closer planets and beyond the inhabited red planet, it became little more than gas giants. Still, seeing little other option, she turned and sped at full speed toward the closest of the gas giants and the largest planet in the system.

Sweat beaded on Iana’s brow. The gas giant was still some ways off, though she could make out the distinct white and brown strata of the planet’s gaseous exterior. A number of small moons orbited the planet, but offered little assistance or escape for the fleeing Alliance force. For now, Iana was forced to fly through unobstructed empty space while hundreds of enemy ships pursued and continued a steady rate of fire on her small Duun ships. Flying at top speed, the improvised ships were lagging behind but the Terran fighters were still keeping pace. Their haphazardly fired plasma missiles streaked by, filling the space in front of Iana’s ship with choking grey smoke. It obscured her view of the planet but, simultaneously, gave her cover as the Terrans were now unable to lock onto her position. Dipping her wings, she spun lazily lower, hoping the change in position would further complicate the enemies’ weapons fire.

Concealed within the smoke, Iana turned back to her console, eager to search for any hint that might give her the edge she needed to survive this battle. The gas giant’s moons offered little reprieve, being little more than empty rocks. The planet itself, however, offered quite a few more possibilities. It seemed to be radiating a significant amount of both heat and radiation. Though they were far from the amounts present near the sun, the levels of radiation were still high enough that they might be used as a blanket that would scatter radar signals. If that were the case, the Terrans would have to fire manually without computer-aided targeting arrays. Since most pilots were unused to that style of fighting, it gave yet another boost to the Alliance forces.

Aside from the radiation, Iana also intended to use the intense gravitational forces being emitted by the gas giant. Much like the Alliance Cruisers had done before in order to hurry from one destination to another, a fighter could sling shot around the planet and open a significant gap between itself and any pursuing enemy.

Switching on her radio, Iana spoke over the Squadron-wide channel. “All Squadron elements, head toward the gas giant. Getting close to the planet should diffuse the Terran radars and buy us some more time.”

“I think I’m already ahead of you on that, ma’am,” Alpha Two called back.

Iana checked her radar and was surprised to find that the Avalon was right. While Iana was diving in order to avoid the Terran rockets, Alpha Two had passed her by and was now on her way toward the gas giant, quite a few miles ahead of Iana’s Duun fighter.

“Roger, I’ve got you on radar,” Iana confirmed. “Stay on course and I will catch up to you shortly.”

Another vibration rolled through Iana’s ship. Glancing out the window, she could see scraps of metal, peeled back by the Terran machine gun fire, flickering as though threatening to tear free. Beneath, she could see ice crystals forming on the intricate network of wires and cables within the wing’s core. The Duun fighter wasn’t made to sustain long, exceptionally fast flights like she was now experiencing, much less two wormhole jumps and exposure to repeated enemy fire. Her Duun fighter was reaching the end of its life expectancy and was quickly dropping Iana’s life expectancy with it.

“Hold together, you piece of crap,” Iana growled as she tried to compensate for the damaged wing. In her cockpit window, the smoke cleared from the rockets and the gas giant came into view. Though still some ways off, Iana now dared to hope that she would reach it before the Terrans caught her. As to what she intended to do once she was there, that still remained to be seen.

“Alpha Leader, I’ve got a problem,” Alpha Two called to her. “I’m getting some pretty serious fluctuations on my command console.”

Iana furrowed her brow in concern. She wondered if this wasn’t another Terran trap. “What sort of fluctuations?”

“I…” the Avalon began before pausing. “I don’t know. My radar is going haywire. Controls are jerky and growing unresponsive!”

“Get yourself out of there,” Iana said nervously, sensing that there was something going on that she couldn’t understand. “Alpha Two, do you copy? Alpha Two?”

Other ships began calling over the radio, experiencing similar issues. Iana ignored them, instead angling her ship toward her wingman’s position. In the distance, she could see the Duun fighter, its engines still burning brightly as it sped forward. Its path, however, was erratic, taking Alpha Two first toward one of the faint rings of small stone debris before launching her back in the other direction. From the chaotic flight pattern, Iana was sure that the Avalon was no longer in control of her ship. Her new trajectory, Iana noticed, now had Alpha Two flying into danger. One of the planet’s moons had passed into view and was moving in an intercept course with the small Duun ship. Dwarfed by the moon, her counterpart wouldn’t stand a chance in a collision.

“Alpha Two, get out of there!”

She didn’t reply and Iana watched in horror as the Duun fighter slammed into the moon, creating little more than a minor explosion on the moon’s surface. Iana cringed, then shook her head slowly. The anguish of losing yet another pilot pained Iana. The loss also caused a deeper confusion within her. She knew that flying straight ahead was a death trap. Whatever had disabled Alpha Two was doing the same to a number of the Squadron fighters that passed too close to the gas giant. Behind her, however, hundreds of Terran ships were still gaining on her. If she slowed down, even for a second, they would catch her and destroy her ship. From her current position, there wasn’t even time to adjust her angle and fly away from the gas giant. Gritting her teeth in frustration, Iana realized that she didn’t truly have much of an option. Continuing forward, Iana charged toward the planet. If she were going to die, she wasn’t going to give the Terrans the satisfaction of pulling the trigger.

Almost immediately, Iana’s consoles began to flicker as something interfered with her electronic systems. Her Duun fighter tilted slightly, changing its flight path. She pulled hard against the controls and managed to realign her trajectory. No sooner had she regained control of her ship, however, that it was pulled violently in the other direction. The screen flickered wildly before fading to black. She tugged on the controls, but they moved limply in her hand without having any effect on the ship. The engines still burned at full speed, unaffected by whatever had taken control of her ship, but she had lost the ability to maneuver. The memory of Alpha Two flying uncontrollably into one of the gas giant’s moons ran through her mind and Iana frowned at the thought.