Shark Hunting

Posted on Sat 23rd Jun, 2018 @ 11:36pm by Lieutenant Colonel Brooklyn Wellington

1,332 words; about a 7 minute read

Mission: Brushfires
Timeline: After the events of Phantom Menace

Wellington tapped her comm badge as she slipped on her flight gear. "Colonel Wellington to Fighter Ops, hold all fighters and prepare my fighter for launch. You have three minutes. Wellington, out." Anger and determination stirred within her. They had lost four Valkyries--8 good people in her department and she wasn't going to risk anymore lives until she personally turned this asshole into nothing bigger than molecules. The new fighters had yet to be ready for service so the base was still using the older Valkyrie Fighters.

Grabbing her helmet, she exited the locker room and onto the flight deck where the deck crews were finishing moving her fighter into the launch position. Gunnery Sergeant Thav Ch'chalreth approached her at a brisk pace. "Lieutenant Daniels will be here in a moment," he said.

Lieutenant Daniels was her Weapons Officer and although he was good, she shook her head. "Negative, Gunny. I won't risk anymore lives. I'll switch my fighter to single pilot mode." Wellington knew this would increase her workload while piloting but it was something she was more than able to do.

Thav nodded solemnly. "Understood, ma'am. Blast that asshole across three sectors for me."

Wellington grinned. "Will do, Gunny," she replied, giving friendly pat on the shoulder before turning towards her fighter as the ground crews went over the fighter, visually inspecting it and using tricorders to make sure all of the systems were in working order. She climbed the ladder that aided pilots to enter the craft and slid into the front seat. She quickly tapped in a few commands that transferred weapons control to her seat. Donning her helmet, she sealed it as the canopy closed and sealed. She ran a quick systems check as the plane captain gave her a thumbs up, indicating everything checked out. The computer came back with the same conclusion with Wellington returning the thumbs up. She watched as her plane captain jogged off to the side and was finally given the all clear by Gunny Ch'chalreth with a salute that Wellington returned before also moving off to a safe distance.

Wellington let out a breath as she pushed the throttle forward. The fighter, like a caged beast leapt forward as the inertial dampeners kicked in to keep Wellington from being crushed by the onslaught of G-Forces. To the observer, the fighter seemed to disappear in a blur as it was launched. Wellington continued to increase speed to full impulse. Her eyes remained glued to her sensor readout, which showed no other vessels in the vicinity. She thought back to the comm traffic of her pilots saying the bandit had come out of nowhere--meaning he likely had a cloaking device which though unlikely was the only possible solution. However, the Bandit would have to have a larger fighter to compensate for the extra power drain that a cloaking device would require--it was often too much for a fighter and thus why they were never used...until now.

The Orion Pilot stared at his sensor readout. 'A single fighter?' he thought. He had half expected to launch nearly every fighter...no, this pilot he knew was different. This was no ordinary pilot--this had to be their leader. Likely this person was at least an Ace. He smiled. Perhaps they would at least offer some amusement as he sped his fighter up and brought it around the other fighter's six.

Wellington held her breath as she was coming up on the coordinates of the other fighters. She could see debris floating and closed her eyes as the thought of the eight pilots came into her mind. A beep from her sensor console caused a split second of panic as it indicated a contact. She instinctively engaged warp engines and yanked hard back on the flight stick. The Valkyrie Class fighter shuddered and moaned, complaining at the maneuver. Wellington grunted as she fought against the G-Forces that assaulted her body. As her fighter looped back, she caught sight of the U-shaped enemy fighter and fired just as the fighter cloaked. Unable to get a sensor lock, the pulse phasers missed their mark. "Shit!" she cursed, bringing her fighter out of warp and keeping her maneuvers unpredictable.

The move surprised the Orion. Indeed, this pilot was good as he grinned, pulling his fighter into a hard turn to match the Starfleet Ace's maneuvers. He opened a comm channel. "Attention Starfleet fighter, you are good but you will die anyways. Why delay the inevitable?"

'Cocky SOB,' Wellington thought before opening the channel. "Good? I'm just warming up. You're the one hiding, coward...or is that cloaking device of your compensating for something other than your lack of flying skills?"

Anger began to burn within the Orion at the insult. However he was surprised at hearing a woman's voice. He imagined that she would survive their duel, only to be taken prisoner. He would personally break that Starfleet Discipline within her. However, his smile faded as he realized it would only play out in his fantasy. He knew he would have to kill her among the stars as he closed the comm channel and maneuvered his fighter onto Wellington's six. Decloaking, he fired again.

Wellington jerked hard to the right as the Orion's disruptor bolts sailed by where her fighter had been a split second before. Sweat beaded on her forehead as she kicked in the thrusters as the fighter seemed to flip instantaneous onto it's dorsal side and retaliated with her own volley of fire that the Orion managed to evade by pulling hard to the left and cloaking again.

The Orion watched at the pulse phasers narrowly missed his fighter, sailing by just outside his cockpit viewport. He was now becoming annoyed at this Starfleet Ace. "Time to die, Starfleet Bitch," he snarled as he executed a hard turn, getting lock and firing.

Wellington heard the beep and again she instinctively jerked the flight stick hard to the right. However, sparks flew from her controls as alarms screamed out in protest. She had taken a glancing hit--a hit that knocked her weapons offline. "Shit, not good," she muttered as she tried in vain to get her weapons systems to respond.

The Orion grinned broadly at his wounded prey as he closed the distance gaining a weapons lock. "Time to die," he said, dropping his cloak.

Wellington knew she had one choice and it was suicidal. She readied her fighter as her hands poised on her flight stick and throttle, waiting for the sensor beep to indicate the Orion had dropped his cloak. She knew with his ego, he would want to make the kill at a close range--his mistake. Then there was the beep. In a split second, Wellington, flipped her fighter and engaged the warp engines as the Orion fired a barrage of Disruptor fire. Too late, the Orion realized his mistake and yet, in that split second, he had no time to think, to act. "Shit..." was all the time he barely had to utter before Wellington's fighter sliced his fighter in two. The impact seemed to freeze time to Wellington as she felt herself weightless on impact, being held by her harness. It was as if all time had stopped briefly as her fighter collided with the Orion's. Wellington barely registered the computer initiating the auto eject procedure as her vision turned red and then to black...and nothing.

****

Lieutenant O'Malley fought back tears as she and other pilots and ground crews had monitored their CAG's battle on the sensor screen. A collective silence had fallen over the room--all in disbelief at what had happened. O'Malley blinked a few times and shook her head. "What are you waiting for? Get Search and Rescue out there now! Full fighter escort!"

That was enough to break the numbness in the room as everyone scrambled to their stations and duties. O'Malley looked back at the now blank sensor screen. "Please be ok, ma'am," she muttered.

 

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