//------------------------------// // Fire In The Sky // Story: Displacement // by hornethead //------------------------------// Chapter 67: Fire In The Sky Walking with intense purpose, Flash trotting at his side, James strode up to the army's rally point. It was a great gathering of unicorns, earth ponies and pegasi, all congregated in the defense of their nation. Most of the saboteurs had been repelled now, the fires put out, but they had taken a heavy toll. Many of Celestia's soldiers had been beaten or burnt in the attack, too many to transport safely to the triage at the supply camp all at once. Those that were left were gathering on the west side of the ridge, around their Ruler of the Sun. Behind them, on the eastern side, the defenders on the beach head were still busy fighting back against the waves of landing enemies, shells from the cannons off shore never stopping their relentless barrage. The group was circled around a lone figure on a flat section of the slope. It was the princess, she was speaking to the crowd, but at his distance, James couldn't really hear what she was saying. As he walked closer, he passed by a unicorn, a member of the RSTG, who was working on trying to fix an M40A1. James stopped briefly to talk with him. "What's wrong?" The unicorn stallion looked up, and upon seeing who was talking to him, jumped to attention, "Sir, I was part of the sharpshooter team stationed on the beach head. We got caught in the shelling and the optics of my rifle got messed up. I would fix it, but I don't have the parts." "At ease." James said, allowing the unicorn to relax. James looked at the unicorn's weapon. The scope was indeed cracked and battered, but overall, the firearm appeared to be on good shape. Then he looked at his own he was carrying and thought of something. "Here, why don't we trade? My rifle's optics are just fine." He offered, taking the M40 from the soldier and replacing it with the M82, "Be careful with that one though, it's got one hell of a kick. Here's the ammo." James took the remaining magazines out of his pack and placed them in the unicorn's own satchel. "Th-Thank you sir!" The unicorn said in awe. "Don't mention it." Without looking back, James continued on with the broken rifle, slinging it over his shoulder. As he got closer to the front of the formation, the bodies of the ponies began to get more densely packed, causing him to gently push them aside as he moved on. Now the words of Celestia were growing cleared and more easily understood, here and there, he caught snatches of it off the air. "....so remember this, my little ponies, you fight not for yourselves, or even for me. You fight for your friends, your family, your loved ones. Fight hard for them, for if you fail this day, it will not be you shall feel the ultimate consequences, but your children and their children after. So go now, go now and fight!" A roaring cheer rose from the crowd all around, all the soldiers now vamped and ready for the battle they were about to face. James finally made his way to the front, emerging from the mass of stomping and bucking stallions. "Ah, good to see you Commander," Celestia said in greeting, "Have you any words to add, another rousing speech perhaps?" James looked around at the frothing crowd, "No thank you ma'am, I'm really not much of a public speaker. Besides, I don't like to talk about fighting, I just do." "Hm, very well then." Celestia said, looking a little disappointed, "I have one of your subordinates here, he tells me you wish to have a word with me." "That's correct ma'am, you and the Captain both." James walked over to where Shining was standing in the background, Celestia followed him over. Standing with the captain was Sparks and Garth, both of whom looked ragged and tired from their recent fight. "Alright, aside from Admiral Darkwing, we're all here. I'm sure you're aware of the developing situation above us?" James started. "Yes, you're talking about that giant airship coming at us." Shining stated. "Absolutely. I only have a vague idea of what that thing--" *PA- PA- BOOM* He paused for a second as the noise of another barrage briefly drowned out his words. "I only have a vague idea of what that thing can do, but it's not pretty. Those magical explosives they've been producing? When I was captured a while back, I had a little self guided tour of their operations. I saw at least four of those explosives made to a massive scale. If the explosive power of those devices increase exponentially with size, the results will be devastating. That vessel is large enough to carry six of those things, if not more." "Then what do you propose?" Celestia asked him. "We bring it down as soon as possible. Preferably before it gets a chance to make landfall." "How are we going to do that?" "Fortunately," James said with a slight grin, "Thanks to Miss Aria Myst, our pilot, we have a small fleet of fast attack vehicles, and because of innovation on the griffons' part, we have a way to get them in close and under cover. Here's what we do..." ===================================================================== On the weather deck of Darkwing's carrier, ten Clipper Class airships sat in camouflage, including the Clipper itself. All had hastily built box frames constructed around them, complete with wood colored fabric to produce the illusion of simple cargo boxes. The admiral had maneuvered his ship behind a pegasus made cloud bank in order to load them all on unseen. Another part of the plan was to use the pegasi and their gift to obstruct the enemy's view, allowing the carrier to get that much closer with less risk. James paced the deck, checking in on all the individual airships on board. In each one, a fully armed RSTG team was checking their gear and readying for an all out aerial strike. A couple of the teams had been left below to assist in repelling the invasion. Captain Shining Armor was still down on the ground, leading the rest of his army in the defense of the landing beaches. To aid in the fight, Celestia was slowing the setting of the sun so they would not have to fight at night, leaving the sea, air and land perpetually on the cusp of twilight. Curious about the progress on the ground, James went to the deck edge and leaned over, peering at the surface far below and turned on his radio. "Shining, can you hear me? It's James." After a second, he got a reply, the unicorn stallion almost shouting into his mic over the background noise, "Yeah, Shining here, what do you need?" "Just checking in on you, how's it going?" "Uh.. It's going ok so far. We're experiencing a steady amount of casualties, though the invaders aren't faring much better. Horseapples, heads down!" Far below, James witnessed a series of blasts burst from the now busted up and ramshackle fortifications below. If he strained his eyes, he could see a squirming mass on the sand that was the actual battle. "Hey Shining, are you ok?" "Yeah, yeah, we're good." The unicorn panted, "Just a little close call. Wouldn't mind if you hurried it up though." "I got ya buddy, we're working on it." "Oh, and James, I know we never really get along, but..." "It's ok, brother, you're a good person and a competent leader. That's all I care for." "Thanks. Stay safe and good luck." The radio cut out as Shining returned his attention to his duties. Anxious to start the attack, James found a ladder well and dropped below decks. He began making his way to the ship's bridge, traveling through the maze like passageways of the enormous aircraft. Also scurrying through these passages were hundreds of crew members, all rushing off to some task of theirs necessary to the function of the ship. James marched in close quarters with the crew members, occasionally stepping aside to allow a worker on some urgent mission to easily pass. It took him a few minutes, but eventually, he made it to the bridge, located forward and on the belly of the ship. Knocking on the open entrance, James announced himself, "Commander Kaughn, requesting permission to enter the bridge." From somewhere off to the side, a voice replied, "Permission granted." James stepped inside and looked around. It was almost like the bridge of a traditional sailing ship, only it was in a closed room. One whole side was taken up by a wide bay window that allowed one to view anything directly in front of and below the ship. The helm was had not one, but two griffons as the wheel was very large. In one corner, a pair of navigators were pouring over a set of maps and charts, including several meteorological surveys. Over by the bay window stood the admiral, talking with another griffon. "Oh, James, please do come over!" Darkwing beckoned when he spotted the human. James went over and the admiral started introductions, "James, this is Captain Redbeak, the Commanding Officer of this fine vessel. Captain, this is Commander Kaughn, the founder of the Princess' Royal Special Tasks Group, or RSTG for short." Captain Redbeak was a broad shouldered griffon that stood a hair taller than the admiral. He had brownish-gray feathers and a salt-and-pepper hide. One distinguishing feature was a nasty looking scar that started near his forehead, went down across the outside corner of his left eye and continued to his neck where it terminated. James offered his right hand which the tough looking griffon took in his claw and shook. "Good to meet you, son," he said in a seasoned voice, "I hear you need our help in putting that poor excuse of an airship out of commission." "You are absolutely right, sir, all I need is for you to get in close enough so we can launch somewhat of a surprise attack on it." "Not much of a surprise what with the size of my ship." "Yes, they'll see your ship coming, but they won't expect it to launch a squadron of fast attack ships at it in close range." "Huh, you got a point there." The old griffon turned back to the admiral, "I like him, the kid's got ambition. We could use more officers like him, too many namby pamby momma's boys coming out of the academy these days. What is he, by the way?" "A human, Taurus." "Human, eh? Why don't we get some more of these fellas, see if they wanna join up?" "A perfect idea, Taurus, unfortunately individuals such as the Commander here are extremely rare in number it seems." "Ahh, that's too bad. Anyway, what can I do ya for, Commander?" "I was just wondering when we can get the operation underway." James informed the Captain. "Oh, when ever you're ready, son. I've been itchin' ta get into the fight anyway." "Alright then, how about now?" "Now? Ha ha, sure thing!" The captains said with a chuckle. "Outstanding. Sir, it was a pleasure talking with you and thank you for the use of your ship." "Anytime, anytime." "Silus, I'm gonna head back up to the flight deck and make sure all my teams are ready." "Good luck, James!" the admiral called out as James exited the bridge. As quick as he could, James wound his way through the skin of the ship. As he walked at his quick clip, speakers mounted in the overhead crackled to life. "Battle stations, battle stations, all hands to your battle stations." The announcement was immediately followed by a repeating alarm. The surrounding crew members sprang into action. James recalled the traffic pattern from the navy he used to serve; starboard goes forward and up, port goes aft and down. Fortunately it seemed to be the same here, so he moved to the starboard side of the ship and got to the flight deck. The flight deck topside was also in a flurry of activity. Everywhere, griffons were securing hatches and manning posts. In the hull just below the flight deck, doors were opening and cannon barrels were being pushed out. In a mere matter of minutes, the ship was armed and ready for war. Likewise, all the members of the RSTG were standing at attention by their aircraft, locked and loaded, waiting for their orders. James ran up to them, "Alright, we all know what our main objective is. We need to splash that airship before it hits the shore. We don't have a lot off fire power to work with against this thing, but what we lack in fire power, we more than make up for in smarts, flexibility and most importantly, balls. When we get out there, remember what you're doing and why. Give 'em hell, brothers." Finished saying what he wanted to say, James left and took his post at the Clipper. There were no cheers, no shouts of rage or war cries. These were no common foot soldiers, each operative knew exactly what was at stake, what the consequences would be should they fail, the sacrifices they may have to make. The human pushed aside the flaps of fabric covering the Clipper and entered the main cabin. He went aft to the port side bench where his gear was stowed and began donning his armor. Bracers, greaves, chest plate, tac vest, it all went on. Behind him, Myst was busy with her pre-flight check in the cockpit, Flash was putting the machine gun mount into place Garth sat on the starboard side, reloading mags and checking his shotgun for damage. "I thought you didn't give speeches." James looked over his shoulder while he adjusted a strap, it was Sparks, "It wasn't a speech. Speeches are what you give to mask the reality of the situation. I gave them the truth." He countered. "Fair enough. Sure you still don't want your old armor back? It's probably better than the stuff I made; lighter, more flexible and it'll protect you better against projectiles. Your people's technological prowess is really impressive. Honestly, I'd really like to spend time with who ever does your R&D." "Go ahead if you can get to them. I still don't understand how I got here. Anyway, that's from my old life. I'm one of you now, your armor will do just fine. Besides, I don't know anybody back from where I'm from that could do what you can do, learning and adapting to new technologies after only studying them for just a few hours. You know what? Why don't you keep it, think of it as an early birthday present." "Oh uh... ok. Thanks!" "No problem, brother." "Think I can get your 1911 sometime too? I have some ideas on how we can improve it's capacity." "Hell no!" James said with a smile, "You just don't mess with a classic." "Ha, damn. I'll just have to see if I can fish one out of the Princess' vault then." "Yeah, you will." Sparks left and start suiting up himself. James shook his head and smiled, amused by his friends antics. Then he bent down and pulled his old marksman rifle out from under the bench. He checked the optics, seeing that they were still calibrated the way he liked it and cycled the bold a few times, finding the mechanism smooth and well oiled. Grabbing a magazine, he inserted it into the weapon with a satisfying click. James slung the rifle over his shoulder and moved to his sidearm. His M1911, simple and reliable. He loaded a seven round mag and slipped an extra one into the chamber before hitting the slide release and engaging the safety. James stuck it into his right thigh holster and began loading extra ammo into his tac vest from his pack. He was about halfway done when his hand bumped into something he wasn't expecting. Wrapping his fingers around the grip, he pulled Bellis' old revolver. He didn't remember putting it in there. James studied the scroll work that started at the end of the barrel and continued on down the cylinder and to the grip. He opened up the cylinder and saw that it was empty. "Hey Sparks!" The unicorn looked up from helping Flash mount the door gun, "Yeah?" "We got ammo for the revolver?" "Sure do, I packed a few speed loaders into your bag, check the front pocket." James did what Sparks told him and extracted five full speed loaders. He shoved them into a pocket on his tac vest and strapped the revolver to the left side of his torso before finally filling up on ammo. The last thing he did was pick up the knife and sheath Sparks had made for him and attach it hilt down to his left shoulder like he usually did. Now he was ready. turning around, James went over to the door gun to see how his teammates were doing. "Wow, what're you gonna do, take on the whole invasion by yourself?" Flash joked. "Somebody's gotta do your job for you." "Whatever..." "How's the job coming along?" "Door gun is all set and ready to go," Sparks reported, "just gotta take care of the 249 up top." "Don't worry, I got it." James said, "Where are the ammo cans for it?" "Already put some up there, in a box by the new hull armor." James ascended the ladder to the top deck and went over to the M249 mounted on the port side, around him camouflage fabric billowed in the wind on the frames built over the craft. Just as Sparks had said, there was a whole box full of ammo cans for the weapon bolted to the deck by it, behind the new armor Sparks had welded onto the hull. Now, instead of a simple railing, there was a chest high metal wall that ran around the whole perimeter of the deck. James moved to the machine gun, grabbed a two hundred and fifty round box of ammunition and began loading it into the weapon. "James, this is Silus on the bridge, we're closing in on our target. I advise you and your teams take cover in your aircraft, seems they have armaments as well." James keyed his mic, "Thanks for the heads up, Silus." Then he switched to the general channel for the air assault force, "Everybody take cover and brace, it's about to get rough!" Quickly, he finished loading the M249 and jumped back down into the cabin, securing the hatch behind him and strapping into a seat with his team. James didn't think a Clipper Class vessel could take a direct hit from a cannon, he hoped they wouldn't aim at the flight deck. An eerie silence settled across the carrier as it moved closer to it's objective. The only sound that could be heard was the hush of the wind around the weather decks. Minutes passed, agonizingly slow, without even the slightest change. Then, all it once, it started. Cracking thunder, beats of the drum of war, the shudder of the deck from the impacts of cannon balls smashing into the carrier's hull and the carrier returned in kind. The violence and the magnitude of the explosive forces rivaled that of the fiercest tempest of the sea. The Clipper rocked and bounced on the carrier and probably would have gone rolling had it not been tied down to the deck. Inside it, James and his team struggled to stay in their seats, their harnesses creaking under the stress. Across from him, Sparks' harness snapped, sending him up into the air when a particularly hard impact bounce the Clipper again. With lightning fast reflexes, Garth snatched him from the air and held the engineer tightly until it was over. Once the turbulence stopped and the cannon fire ceased, the carrier began a slow list to the left, away from it's opponent. James released his restraints and got to his feet, struggling to keep his balance on the uneven deck. He looked around the cabin and was relieved to see that Flash, Garth and Sparks were ok, if a little shaken up. Stumbling to the cockpit, he checked on Myst. She looked back at him with an excited grin, still surprisingly rock steady. She gave him a wink and resumed her pre-flight, now spinning up the engine. "Sparks," he said, turning around, "check up on our guys." Trying to get an idea of their current situation, James switched on his mic, "Silus, it's James, how are we looking?" "Never... argh! *gasp* better. We're still receiving damage reports, but we're not too bad off. Took a few dings myself. Bollocks, that was a bloody beating!" "How's the ship looking for another pass?" "Taurus is telling me we shouldn't. Best your boys break off once we get our cloud cover, they're almost here. How are your teams by the way?" James looked to Sparks who gave him a nod, "We're alright. Just a little shaken." "Fantastic. Once you're all away, we'll pull back and do what we can with the long range until we make some critical repairs." "Roger that, Silus thanks for getting us this close." James switched back to the general channel, "Saddle up, we ride on my go." Outside, in the open air, a hard working team of pegasi rushed up to the carrier with a colossal cloud bank. With great effort and a heavy amount of sweat, the squadron of pegasi enveloped the airship in the fluffy white water vapor. Once the carrier was completely encased in it's feathery camouflage, the griffons still on the flight deck swiftly got to work in breaking down all the scaffolding and fabric concealing the small airships. James undid the latch on the top hatch of the Clipper and watched the progress of the flight deck crew. With professional and practiced speed, the griffons had them all broken down and cleared to go, all their engines were spun up, propellers humming in the misty atmosphere. The only thing left was to detach the tie downs and send the aircraft off. Down on the deck, the carrier's flight deck chief looked up to James. The human nodded, giving the signal for the final go. With a hand gesture, the flight deck chief ordered his subordinates into action and every single tie down chain was removed and pulled away. One by one, the assault craft took off from the deck, ascending into the swirling clouds. On the general channel, James began giving orders, "Alright everyone, we all know the obvious weak point, the giant freaking balloon above it holding the whole thing aloft. Don't all bunch up on that, spread out so they can't concentrate their fire on you. Only attack it a few at a time, meanwhile, the rest of you need to try to find and exploit whatever other weaknesses it's got, understood?" A series of 'Afirmatives' responded to him over the comms. Switching to his team's private channel, James addressed his own operatives, "Sparks, I want you on door gunner down there, Garth, up here with me on the 249. Flash, you got the best eyes, so you're back on spotter. Myst, just do your thing, baby." Everyone on the Clipper scrambled to their assigned posts, Myst accelerated her ship, quickly taking the lead. Behind the Clipper, the rest of the assault craft dropped into a loose formation. Soon the cloud began to thin, stray rays of sunlight pushing their way through the vapor. On the top deck of the Clipper, up on the bow, James and Flash braced on the armor against the chilling high altitude air. Shortly, they all emerged from the misty cloud like some mad swarm of hornets intent on protecting their hive. The giant airship that was their target loomed over them, comically large compared to the buzzing assault squadron. The small airships immediately accelerated in to attack, gunners on all ships opening up with armor piercing and incendiary rounds, peppering the bomber's hull with bursts of force and flame. The crew of the bomber were caught off guard, but seemed to be well trained, they quickly recovered, cannons in the broadside adjusting their firing angles and the open decks swarming with Lotkin armed with crossbows. Flash spotted something peculiar about the crossbows and shouted a warning over the comms. "Everypony be advised, hostiles are using explosive tipped bolts, use evasive attack patterns!" Undeterred, Myst put her aircraft into a strafing dive, dodging the lethal bolts fired at it and allowing Garth and Sparks to rake the decks with a withering amount of fire, felling many enemies and sending even more for cover. After completing the run, she pulled up and began circling around for a pass at the colossal balloon. "That wasn't so bad," she quipped on the comms, "let's hit it again!" Then the cannons fired. The bomber's defensive cannons unleashed a furious counter attack on it's aggressors, firing in every direction imaginable. "Brace, brace!" Flash shouted, causing them all to grab on to something solid and hold on tight. A smoking cannon ball rocketed towards them. For a moment, it seemed as if it would smash into the clipper and send it down in pieces, but it's angle was off and looked as if it would pass harmlessly by on the port side. However, that's not what it decided to do. While the shell was still abeam of the Clipper, it abruptly decided to explode. Sharp, red hot shrapnel peppered the side of the Clipper with destructive rage, sending it skidding laterally through the air. Most of it bounded off of the well crafted armored exterior, but some found their way in through chinks and cracks in the protective shell, startling the occupants inside and filling the interior with choking fumes. Fortunately, with the side door open, the smoke was quickly vented. "Son of a nag, what the hay did they do to my ship!" Myst yelled angrily at no one in particular. "Air burst shells! They toss flak out every which way, we gotta be careful, they can still damage us without actually landing a hit." James cautioned. "Thanks, I'll keep that in mind!" Myst resumed her run on the bomber. On either side of the Clipper, a couple of other RSTG airships formed up and joined it in the attack. As they closed in, the bomber unleashed another salvo of shells at them. Rounds from the cannons burst all around in the air, throwing deadly flak at anything unlucky enough to be too close. On the left side, a shell whizzed past one of the ships, mere inches away before it detonated and took a sizeable chunk out of it's portside aft, putting hundreds of holes in the balloon and disabling it's engine. James and Flash watched as it dropped from the sky and tumbled to the ocean below. The remaining three continued on, lining up for a strike. Moving into close proximity of the gargantuan ship, the cannons were unable to get a good bead on the attacking ships. However, there were still plenty of hostiles on the top decks with explosive crossbow bolts. The Lotkin launched a volley in defense. Most of them missed, but some hit their marks, dealing thankfully minor damage. One slammed into the armored belly of the Clipper with a jarring *THUMP PL-CLANG*! Undeterred, the group of attack ships moved in close to the bomber's balloon. As they got into range, all the gunners on the RSTG ships opened up and let loose hell upon the buoyancy device. In a matter of seconds, hundreds of destructive rounds impacted the vital device. Except instead of the blast and great whoosh of wind they all expected, the material absorbed all they threw at it with absolutely no reaction. The attack run a failure, Myst and the other ships pulled away, the door gunners spraying down suppressing fire to cover their escape. "Dammit!" James cursed, "Whatever they made that out of, we can't do shit against it with just brute force with what we have." "What do you think we can do?" Flash asked him. "I don't know. We need to find a weaker point to attack, something not easily armored or defended, but still vital to the function of that ship." "Hmm...." Flash looked back and began studying the bomber for any weakness he might exploit. "Wait, what about the tetherings?" "Tetherings?" "Yeah, the lines and cables securing the balloon to the ship, it's almost impossible to armor those and take out enough of them and the rest will snap from the stress." "Flash, that's fucking brilliant!" James switched his radio to broadcast to all the attack ships, "All teams, when making your attack runs, aim at the balloon tethers with your mounted weapons. Their hard to see and thin, so try to keep your aim steady and toss as many rounds as you can at it before bugging out." He ordered. Several acknowledgements came back to him over the comms. Another group of attack craft began their next run on the bomber. Meanwhile, the Clipper, joined by a few other aircraft, performed evasive actions in range of the cannons to draw their fire. It was the greatest amount of turbulence James had ever felt as the skies exploded all around him. Several times, he, Garth and Flash had to duck and cover to avoid being perforated by the lethal shrapnel that was screaming everywhere through the air. Thanks to Myst's amazing flying skill, they managed to get through it somewhat safely. The attacking teams moved in without much harassment from the cannons. Most of the Lotkin manning the top decks were also drawn away, but not all. A large amount of them still kept focus on the real threat, launching their munitions at the swiftly moving craft. One by one, the aircraft passed under the large space between the balloon and the deck and between the tethers, door gunners doing their best to sever the cords. Here and there, a few snapped, but not enough to cause a critical failure throughout the system of lashings. One of the RSTG ships slowed down to allow it's gunners a better shot. Foolishly, they lingered too long, the Lotkin concentrated their fire and brought the aircraft down in a roiling ball of flame. Their sacrifice was not in vain, however, as several more lines were severed, causing the bomber tilt at an odd angle. Once again, the small airships formed up for another attack, this time the Clipper joining in. On it's top deck, James chambered a round with his rifle and brought it to his shoulder in anticipation for the attack. The Clipper dove in with the others. When they were close enough, James began firing shots at the hostiles below, trying to take down as many as he could before they could counter attack with their explosive bolts. Unfortunately, he was only marginally successful due to the unstable nature of his platform. As they passed over the deck, the Lotkin again concentrated their fire, working together to bring the ships down. A hit was scored on the aft underside of the Clipper, causing it to buck up. The engine started to sputter, but somehow kept going. To make matters worse, the crew manning the bomber's cannons had learned from their last mistake. Instead of focusing on the attackers running the distraction, they waited for the others to finish their attack run and when the RSTG airships began pulling away to come around again, unleashed hell upon them. It was so sudden and well coordinated that James, Flash and Garth barely had time to hold onto something before the world exploded around them. Flak and shrapnel filled the air, red hot razor shards plinking off armor and slicing into flesh. When it was all over, James found himself laid out on the deck, exposed skin covered in small cuts. Worried for his teammates' safety, he got up and checked on them. Garth seemed to be fine, even amused by the near death experience. Overall, Flash looked ok, but there seemed to be something wrong with his left wing. The pegasus tried to move it, but got no response from the appendage. Switching priorities, James opened his team's private channel, "Myst, damage report." His earpiece crackled and in the background he could hear a deafening amount of warnings and alarms, "We're not doing too good. The engine took a good hit back there, I don't know how long it will last and the balloon's got a slow leak. Bottom line, we don't have a lot of time up here. How did the other ships fare?" James went to the railing and looked around. Of the four ships that had accompanied them on the attack, only two remained, one on either side. To starboard, he could see the crew still on board, but they seemed to have a casualty. In the one on the port side, James couldn't see any movement, but he did see a lot of holes from the flak. He recognized some of the still legible markings on the aircraft and saw it was Captain Alister's ship. Switching radio channels, he tried to raise the captain. "Alister, this is James, respond if you can hear me." No response, only static. "Alister, please respond, I need a casualty report." Still nothing. "Alister?" James watched sadly as the Nightstalkers' airship began to lazily list to port, eventually slowly transitioning into an uncontrolled dive to the earth. James looked to the bomber that was still making it's way to the shore, they had barely managed any damage at all and it continued on. Of the ten airships the RSTG had started out with, only half of them remained. Those that did were badly damaged and wouldn't last much longer. Myst contacted James again, alarms still blaring in the background, "Hey boss, bad news. We need to put down, but I don't think we can make it to shore safely, we might have to bail!" A cold lump formed in the pit of the human's stomach as he considered his options. He didn't think his teams would survive another attack run, at least not all of them, and the ones that did make it would be in no condition to fight. He had to bring the bomber down soon, but they wouldn't be able to do so with the current tactics they were using. Then he remembered something Bellis had told him long ago; 'If you run out of options, then it's time to switch tactics.' Another Idea popped into his head. It was something he really didn't want to do, something crazy as all hell, but he saw no other alternative. It was time to finish it. On the RSTG's public channel, he gave an order, "All remaining teams, pull back and regroup. We're not going to be able to take that monster out like this. If you can't safely land your aircraft, bail out over land past the beach and rendezvous with those that can. Stay safe." After delivering the order, James went over to check on Flash, who was still struggling with his wing. He gave the pegasus a quick look over and discovered a shard of metal had lodged itself in the muscles at the base of the wing on his back. With help from Garth, James moved his friend down to the main cabin and treated the wound while Myst maneuvered the Clipper over land. They carefully removed the shard of metal and dressed the wound, but Flash would not be flying on his own any time soon. "Alright, we're ditching the Clipper, everyone suit up." James said, grabbing the parachutes from the forward bulkhead. "Sorry Myst." "It's ok, boss. She had a good run." "Ok, everyone check your buddy and make sure you have your main weapon and sidearm, it's a charlie foxtrot down there, you need all the fire power you can get." Sparks was already strapped up and ready to go, but was frantically searching for one last thing, "James, I got a problem! I can't find my pistol anywhere!" "Here, Take mine, I have two." James replied, shoving his 1911 into the engineer's holster along with a few magazines. Myst got the Clipper over the beach and came back to join the rest of the team. With haste, James helped her get into a harness and checked to make sure everything was secured. Garth then double checked James' harness before the human returned the favor. Finally, they were all ready. James moved the door gun out of the way and lined his team up. "Alright, ready to bail. Sparks first then Flash, Myst and Garth in that order. Go go go! I'll be right behind you!" The three ponies began jumping out one at a time. First Sparks and Flash, in seconds, they were safely away. Before she jumped, Myst hesitated and looked back to James with a concerned expression. "Why didn't you go with Sparks to secure the site?" She ask with worry. "I just want to make sure you all get off safely, don't worry, I'll be right behind you guys." The unicorn mare still didn't seem to buy it and stood there. She was about to say something else, but James stopped her. "Sorry Myst, but you have to go." He said flatly. James shot off his two fingered salute from the top of his brow and gave the pilot a hard shove out the door. He watched for a second as they fell to the earth until he saw their chutes deploy far below. Then he turned to Garth, who had removed his harness and was checking his weapons. "You're not going? I'm pretty sure I just ordered you to bail." Garth made that gravelly coughing sound that was his laugh, "I am not so easily fooled. I know to what you ride and I would join you. But why tread down this path without those that are our team and friends?" "Enough have died already. I can't watch it happen any more, it needs to stop." "You know that in this task, we may very well perish..." "One life for a few thousand, maybe more? Fair enough." "Ha! Then we ride!" "Yes my friend, we ride." James responded as he plunked down into the pilot's seat, "You might wanna strap in, brother, we're in for a rough landing." While Garth strapped himself in, James thought back to what Myst had taught him about flying her aircraft. From what he understood, it was almost like flying a helicopter, but also a fixed wing. He had ridden aircraft like that, but never flown one. Tentatively, he grabbed a hold of the yoke and eased the throttle forward. With a delicate touch, as the controls were shaky and unresponsive at times, he put the craft into a turn and aimed it at the bomber. He found the lever that adjusted altitude and fed power to the balloon, causing it to rise. However due to the mechanics of this operation, and the leak in the balloon, it also caused the ship's source of buoyancy to leak faster. Knowing he did not have much time or a measurable margin of error, James punched the throttle forward, greatly accelerating the Clipper to a high speed. He stayed on the yoke guiding the aircraft and aiming for the top deck. He only had one chance and slowing down to land would surely be lethal with the amount of fire being directed at them, so as soon as he was sure the trajectory was lined up, James got up and sprinted into the back where he quickly sat down on a bench and strapped himself in for the ride. The moment the Clipper entered range, the cannons on the bomber opened up again. James and Garth sat in silence as the Clipper shot through the air, plowing through flak, shrapnel and smoke. One shell exploded right above and in front of the airship. James' eyes widened as his stomach dropped to his intestines, they were losing altitude fast. Then, the Clipper impacted. There was a great rending of wood, squealing of metal. It was some of the worst shock James had felt. The torrent of noise and pain seemed to last an eternity. Then with a final smash, the world turned to darkness.