When War Calls(160)

‘I have chosen to stand and fight. I hope that you choose the same. I will leave you now with a wish of good fortune, and a request that you have faith in your commanders. Although we have need to retreat now, we will soon be chasing them away.’

Ryan disengaged the radio and then looked to all in the command room. ‘We move now!’ he said, and as all began to leave, he found Aaron and held him to his chair, keeping him from going with the others. When all had left, he spoke. ‘Charge the fields.’

Aaron was puzzled for a moment, but then slowly nodded and turned to his keyboard.

‘Set them on a timer.’

‘How long?’ asked Aaron.

Ryan thought for a moment. ‘Two hours,’ he said, and when it was set, both ran to catch up with the others.

Outside, as Quian had said, five shields including his own were erected between the red mounds as the Resistance troops escaped. The shields backed the sound of gunfire and explosions with a low noise of constant vibration, screaming only with intense areas of energy where the shields were struck by Alliance fire. They were half the height of the mounds and left all behind them open to fire, but with the help of the Resistance air force keeping the skies clear above, the soldiers of the Resistance were able to flee with little fear. But the Alliance began to fire over the tops, blindly hoping to get a target on the other side of the shields. The Resistance suffered casualties from this, and many took to underground routes of escape.

When one hour had passed, the Daijuarn shields died away, showing the Daijuar to have disappeared. There was an eerie silence over the battlefield as the Alliance ceased fire, realising that there were no Resistance or Daijuar in sight. They moved cautiously forward, sending scouting teams at first, who declared it safe. Half the Alliance military from the southern side of Corsec, a good twenty thousand strong, was then moved forward. They spotted Resistance troops far ahead in the distance running away, and concluded that the Resistance had indeed retreated.

They slowed their approach when some hidden units opened fire upon them from within the red mounds, and Resistance aircraft sped toward their location. The Alliance defended themselves against the hidden units, exposing three and disposing of them easily, but there was little they were able to do against the aircraft. Each bomb sent soldiers racing for shelter and caused the outer lines to move inward. The Resistance were attacking the sides of the oncoming military force, funnelling them toward the central opening in the red mounds ahead. But the Alliance moved no further until their own aircraft had come to rid them of the threat in the sky.

Fifteen Alliance Koda fighter jets were soon locked in combat with the eleven Resistance jets, bringing down four in the first few minutes of battle to cheers from the Alliance soldiers below. Their cheers were silenced as two of the most skilled Resistance pilots managed to shoot down three enemy craft each. Another Koda fighter fell shortly after, leaving eight against the seven Resistance fighters. The Resistance then pulled up and took the battle to new heights, managing to outmanoeuvre the Alliance and bring down three more. After twenty minutes, there were four Koda fighters against the two most skilled pilots of the Resistance. All others had ejected to safety as their jets were brought down in fiery heaps.

The two Resistance pilots led the Koda fighters through the heart of Corsec, giving Resistance guns a chance to hit the low flying crafts. Two of the Alliance jets fell victim to missile attacks, while the other two enjoyed immunity, as the Resistance would not risk inflicting damage on their own while they flew at such close range. As they flew even lower across the city of red mounds, no shot was fired, and the Resistance jets began to weave through and around anything that they could, hoping that the following jets would lose control and crash. But the tailing Alliance pilots were their match, and managed to follow each move and stay close behind.

All four jets then went out to sea, over the northern cliff face as the Resistance jets pulled up into a steep climb. The Alliance pilots waited until they were above the clouds before launching their missiles, causing the Resistance jets to dive as steeply as they had risen, directly toward the ocean below. The missiles followed them closely behind along with the Koda fighters. The Resistance descent seemed too steep, and it appeared they had chosen a grave of water over fire. But at the last moment, they pulled up again, spraying the water out to both sides as they raced over it. The missiles fell straight into the water behind them, and the Koda fighters continued to tail. Over the many battleships of the Diadon navy, the Resistance pilots tried everything to lose the Koda fighters. But the Diadon navy did not seem to possess the same code of war as the Resistance troops above them, as they fired upon all jets, bringing down one Resistance craft and forcing its pilot to eject into the water. The Alliance craft that had been tailing it was soon brought down seconds later, leaving only two aircraft still in flight.