File 7.6 - Stirring Feelings

An explosion in the industrial district was the first signal for those living in Yokatomo City that their lives were never going to be the same again. It lit up the night sky turning heads for kilometers around. People froze in the streets not sure what was happening. Whispers through the city of terrorists became the guess, but they had always been so far away. So none of them could believe it.

However, they saw more explosions and flames shooting into the sky as the night went on changing their opinions. Minutes of strange and unfamiliar noises from above stretched on for hours in their minds. They had no words to fit what was happening. However, there was one that wouldn’t yet come to them.

War.

Radar alerts sounded off inside Cal’s Peng. He flipped over the new signals projecting it in a three dimensional space. The onboard computer ran through the library, already indexing out the Federation’s known silhouettes. Their limited data stolen from computers in their recon missions only produced so much.

He got a half match to something that they had found. It gave him at least an idea of what they were dealing with. “Stay alert, everyone! Looks like the automated sentry drones were finally deployed. Continue the mission as expected.”

Wells came over the speakers adding his chatter. “Damn, these things look old. The library can’t even make full heads or tails of them. They’ve got to be at least four generations removed from their current productions.”

Cal quickly pulled a couple of Gs as he turned to evade some warning fire from the drones, apparently programmed with a system to not immediately destroy. A feature that would prove to be a weakness as he easily shot down two.

“You have to remember that Yokatomo is one of their older cities,” Noinel remained, “It’s likely that they have no need to upgrade with the state of the world. The worst they have to contend with is terrorist attacks.”

“Then remind me again why we’re even worried this much about the operation in three months?”

“Because we haven’t seen what their military is truly capable of. One monster Skin isn’t enough to judge their entire military force.”

“Then bring them out already! I’m ready to earn a new nickname!”

“Full military engagement isn’t the objective today,” Cal interrupted.

“Yeah I know, Cal.”

Testing out the flight span on drones made for a casual exercise for Cal. The drones were easy and unmanned. Not a real test of the maneuverability, but he could work out the kinks before the real fighting started. “I know you’re impatient, just wait. If their black monster is anything like what we can expect from the rest of their military then you’ll have plenty of chances to prove yourself.”

“Yeah, yeah.”

Most of the drones had already been dealt with by the ten minute mark into the mission start. ‘They’ve got poor readiness… But like Noinel said, it's sort of expected. Later missions will be testing their adaptiveness.’ Cal looped back around the tower for a closer look at what they were going to do next.

Minutes continued to pass by in the engagement. All of the targets that the team had marked were already handled and they were still waiting for the rest of their objectives. Wells noticeably became impatient. “They aren’t coming, Cal! Just call the mission already. We’re getting to the twenty minute mark.”

“Callout energy levels,” ordered Cal.

“15 minutes, sir,” Schir reported.

“18 minutes, sir,” answered Elle.

“17 minutes, sir,” Noinel replied.

“5 minutes, Cal.”

As the rest of the team blew up in surprise, Cal sighed knowing immediately the source. “You need to stop firing twice when one is enough, Wells. This isn’t space where we have more solar recharge and you have to remember thrust burns more energy too in this gravity.”

“It’s a hard habit to break.”

“Operation time is thirty minutes, head back and sit the rest of this out.”

Grumbling over the speakers came from Wells’ machine. But he knew there was nothing he could do if he didn’t want to be unable to return. It was his fault and he knew he would have to fix the error. “Yes, sir.”

“Schir, fill in the gap by Wells and keep an eye out. You’re no longer partnered.”

“Yes, sir!”

Only a minute later, Schir came over the comm. once more with an update. “Sir, I’m seeing some movement in my sector.”

Cal pulled his machine around to get an aerial view of the situation and sent a request back to Rinn to get more accurate readings. Diving down a little to get a better view on the camera, he could see Schir. Then sensor warnings flew up on his screen. “Looks like we finally stirred them awake.”

“I’m getting multiple silhouettes on the radar, everyone,” reported Rinn. He fed back all of the data that he was getting to the other machines. “The computer is still tagging all of them through the library, but the count looks to be thirty so far.”

“Thirty?!” Schir exclaimed, doing a very poor job hiding her surprise.

Lining up with the oncoming force, Cal got a good read on the machines. They were a mix of aircraft and something more advanced than the drones they shot down earlier. He ran his finger over the sticks feeling the sense of the battle coming. “Get your asses in gear! These are manned craft this time! They won’t hesitate to fire!”

The rest of the team had some distance to make up to reach the main force coming out of the port. Schir already had a set up position on the ground while Cal held the air. Together they waited until the enemy came into weapon range. Something that the inexperienced local security forces didn’t understand. The dispersion rate on their beam weapons was already poor from old equipment and they lacked any sort of real combat training.

They might have had numbers in their favor, but that was all they had. And numbers weren’t going to win the night for them against a superior and well trained combat team. Only two minutes into the engagement Yokatomo lost more than sixty percent of their fighting force.

However, working against Cal and his team was energy. They had already been active for the majority of their operational time. He kept a close eye on his energy reserves, which dropped quickly now that he exchanged heavy fire with the enemy. His remaining flight time dropped faster than he expected and he doubted that it was any better for the others on his team.

With no communication jamming, he saved his signal flares, as was his first reaction. “Primary mission objectives have been achieved. All units leave the combat space immediately!