"Another Day in Kappa Squadron"

By CPT Deacan

Intro

The Sovereign flew through the Taroon system. All was quiet on the bridge and it seemed like another day in a distant part of the galaxy. A sleepy Officer had just assumed control of the bridge. He stood a moment and gazed at the beauty of space at the two planets Kuan and Bordal. They seemed so beautiful and peaceful, but he knew better. A savage war had torn the two worlds apart and driven them into full-scale warfare.

A small convoy of shuttles with new pilots were en-route to the SSSD Sovereign. Who was the escort? Kappa squadron of course!

The mission

They flew slowly through space with D.A.D.'s "Sleeping my day away" playing over the radio and Hawkins humming along, as always. The Comm. link opened and a frantic voice begged:" Please stop singing! We can't stand this for another 100 miles!" Wined a shuttle navigator. Hawkins smiled viciously along with Bushmaster, Amadeo, Talos Magnus, and Deacan. These guys had lasted longer than anybody else subjected to Kappa squadron's escort. "Shit, that took 15 minutes, tough crowd," said Deacan to the rest of the squadron. Amadeo replied: "Yeah, are the deaf or did they just turn on their radios just now?" And we started to sing along as loud as we could.

The battle

All the fun ended when our radar reported a group of Unknown crafts on an interception course. Hawkins turned off the music. He opened the Comm. link and said:" This is The Silencers to inbound crafts on vector 345,5 Alpha sector 4342. Please identify your selves!" Nothing happened they didn't answer. Bushmaster started to hail the Sovereign. Hawkins tried again, no response.

Talos Magnus and Amadeo stared to flank the Unknown crafts. Hawkins and Deacan headed straight fore them. Bushmaster took the rear and armed his advanced concussion missiles.

Hawkins said in a serious voice:" Inbound crafts on vector 345,5 Alpha sector 4342 you will be considerate as a threat and fired upon if you don't change course or give proper identification!" They still kept heading straight fore the convoy. Suddenly the Comm. Link panel lit up and the operations officer of the Sovereign said:" Kappa, listen up! We don't have any friendly crafts besides yours in your sector. You are to consider those crafts hostile! You are authorised to open fire. Good luck Kappa! SSSD Sovereign out!" The Comm. went quiet. Hawkins voice came over the radio:" Ok boys you know what to do! Amadeo and Magnus flank them, Bushmaster hang back and switch to missiles, and Deacan you follow me. Protect the shuttles and check your six! Hawkins out!"

The Furball

The missile boats quickly put distance between them and the shuttles. The radar showed 20 Z-95's. It should have been a piece of cake but it soon turned into a fury hairball. The first five Z-95's went down in the first attack run. Laser fire every where and some Z-95'scollided in the confusion.

In the radio you could constantly hear people screaming orders. Even though the enemy were superior and we had the best crafts and took out at least half of them with in minutes the furball soon became very hot. The battle was going well and we hadn't suffered any losses, but our shields started to fall after numerous missile- and laser hits. Some escape pods floated around. It didn't take long before we hadn't only to dodge laser fire but pods and Z-95 wrecks and debree.

Suddenly we heard Magnus over the radio:" This' Magnus! I got two on my six! I can't shake 'em. I need help!" Amadeo replied:" This is Amadeo! I'm on my way Magnus! Hang in there!" But before Amadeo was finished a Z-95 crashed into Magnus. It resulted in a major fireball. Magnus survived the collision but his craft was disabled and floated slowly though space with the unconscious LT Talos Magnus.

Amadeo came in from behind the two Z-95's and started firing. He could feel the jolts from his lasercannons. It felt good. Amadeo smiled while keeping a tight grip around his controls. The lasershots whistled close past the two helpless, outclassed and out gunned crafts. The wrath of Kappa was on them!

A direct hit in the middle. He saw a spark and a white gas started to pour out. Amadeo knew it was time for the kill. The revenge pinched his eyes together. Squeezed the trigger and a massive explosion with a fireball was seen in the reflection of Amadeo's eyes.

The surviving Z-95's tried to flee. Hawkins said:" Kappa switch to missiles and pick a Z-95. Don't let them get away! Magnus can you hear me? Do you read?" Magnus didn't respond. Hawkins opened the Comm. link and hailed the Sovereign. :"SSSD Sovereign this is CM Hawkins. Missile boat disabled. Pilot in extreme danger possibly wounded. Request retrieval team. I'm relaying the co-ordinates now!" A voice replied:" Copy that Kappa retrieval team underway. SSSD Sovereign out."

-Back on the Sovereign.-

Deacan jumped out of his cockpit only to be met with the unrepeatable coursing which poured from Amadeo's mouth. What a shit day and it only got worse when the retrieval team couldn't find him. The operations officer met us in the hangar. He couldn't explain how they got passed the sensors of the Sovereign and he said how terribly sorry he was on behalf of the bridge for our loss.

Epilogue

Everyday life continued. WingI and WingII smashed up the Sovereign's bar again. Kappa kept drinking and competing amongst them selves and the other pilots of the Sovereign. They all hope that he'll be found alive but don't count on it.