Pegasus: Eos Typhoon

by Jatheus

6 - Thunder Cliffs

“Widespread fires are covering the entire city…”

“Civilians were burned to death or cut down as they ran by merciless enemy forces…”

“Suffering heavy bombardment, Alabaster Spire collapsed in the opening minutes of the unprovoked and sudden attack…”

“So far as we can tell, the legislature was completely wiped out…”

“The chancellor offered an unconditional surrender, but The Storm still has not broken radio silence…”

“Military command is being led from the Field Marshal’s bunker as counterattacks are underway in every city and town across our nation…”

“Troop effectiveness is severely limited. Some blame armistice celebrations that had been ongoing throughout the morning…”

Eos Typhoon felt herself slump to a seated position. She was listening with Captain Squall and the radio operator to the reports that were coming in. By all accounts, it was nothing short of devastating.

“Have you heard anything from Rocky Crag?” Captain Squall asked.

“No, nothing,” Nimbus answered. “But that may just mean they have their hooves full.”

Squall stepped back in thought. Eos couldn’t say anything. The knot in her stomach threatened to incapacitate her, and that was unacceptable.

“It seems to me that our mission is unchanged,” Squall said. “Only what hope we had in secrecy likely won’t last. We’ve got to get out of here with the supplies, and quickly, or Rocky Crag won’t be able to hold. We know that much.”

The shock turned to anger within Eos Typhoon. The enemy had achieved complete surprise. Her brother had died; she had returned the warning, but the Field Marshal did nothing to prepare.

“Nimbus, continue to monitor the transmissions, but maintain radio silence. There’s still a chance that The Storm doesn’t know about this depot, and if not, there’s no reason to give ourselves away. Lieutenant, you’re with me.”

The two made their way to the launch bay where the rest were busy loading the gliders that they’d be departing with as soon as they were able. In addition to Cirrus, two others were wounded when they’d found the changelings, but his was the worst. Even so, they all helped as much as they were able.

“Is it true?” Cirrus stopped them. “I heard that Alabaster Spire was destroyed.”

All of the loading stopped, bringing an eerie silence to the large room.

“It is,” Captain Squall answered.

A hushed murmur swept through the group at the declaration. Captain Squall let it go a moment before continuing.

“But that’s not something we can control. Right now, we need to get these gliders loaded and so we can get into the fight.”

As abruptly as it had begun, the silence was broken. Eos got to work assisting the others. Each glider would carry two. While the maximum payload capacity was two tons, they could only load one ton into each glider to have enough lift to reach Rocky Crag given the weather conditions they’d be flying into.

She couldn’t help but marvel at the engineering of the gliders. The lightweight aluminum frame and skin that composed the fuselage and long wings was durable and well suited to transporting equipment. The lack of engines limited their range, but was also ideal for being left unused without maintenance for longer periods.

With a maximum payload of two-tons each, the glide slope could get quite steep, but at half that, they should be able to get to Rocky Crag with a little altitude to spare. Ideally they’d have an armed escort at least, but they would have to make do with only a tail gunner as defense.

“Captain Squall! Captain Squall!” Flitt shouted as she ran into the loading bay.

“What is it?”

“I was at the lookout window like you said. We’ve got enemy airships, two of them.”

Squall sighed, “I’m on my way. Double-time loading up. Typhoon, you’re with me.”

They ran to a stairwell that led up to an observation room. As Flitt had reported, two airships were sitting well outside the wind sheers, just hovering there. No doubt they were aware of the munitions depot and were either trying to find a point of attack, or perhaps they were looking for a way in.

“Frack me,” Eos Typhoon muttered.

“Do you think there’s a chance they’ll just pass by?” Flitt asked.

Squall said what Eos was thinking, “No. Look how they are angled. They’re turned into the wind and using their rotors for station keeping. They are right where they want to be.”

“What do we have for defense here?” Eos asked.

“Two cannons, three large mounted rifles, and the gun ports on the gliders.”

“Gliders won’t be any good to carry cargo if we waste altitude trying to fight.”

“Aye.”

Flitt’s voice quivered, “So what do we do?”

The three stood silently for a long moment. Eos Typhoon had known Captain Squall long enough to see that a plan was already forming. Her jaw clenched in thought.

“Let me know if anything changes. Let’s go.”

Captain Squall and Eos Typhoon retuned to the radio room.

“Two airships will have us outgunned,” Squall began. “And when we open fire, they’ll be able to target our cannons fairly quickly. But… we don’t have to destroy them.”

“The frack we don’t.”

Eos Typhoon’s hot comment drew a look from her superior, who didn’t interrupt her own thought process to respond.

“We just have to get the gliders out.”

“The gliders,” Nimbus repeated.

“There are, what, fifty of them?”

“Forty-seven.”

Eos Typhoon wondered for a moment what they were getting at, but it came to her and she blurted it out.

“We send out empty gliders to confuse them?”

Squall nodded slowly, “To ram them. If we take out the airship’s bag, it’s going down.”

Eos felt a lump form in her throat at the prospect of a suicide mission. Sure, they’d probably try to bail out before impact, but either way, it was going to be a dangerous operation.

“This is going to be tricky,” Captain Squall continued. “The wounded should pilot the loaded gliders and get out of here as quickly as they can. Every other one we send out will be to attack, and we will open fire with our cannons at the same time. That should cause enough confusion to give our loaded gliders a chance. As for the attacking gliders, we will commit four to each airship.”

Eos offered, “We’re going to get murdered if we run straight at them.”

“Yeah… so each will have a different objective. Fore, aft, port, and starboard. That will help spread out their fire so they can’t focus it anywhere. With a little luck, maybe one of them will get through.”

“Assuming our cannons don’t get them first,” Nimbus added.

“Aye, the cannons will focus fire on the right. The first four gliders will hit the one on the left. Pilots will be instructed to bail before impact and get back here if they can. We’ll need our best shots on the cannons and heavy rifles.”

“I’ll see to that,” Eos volunteered.

Captain Squall looked to her and nodded, “Very well. Take seven others to assist with shooting and loading,” she paused for a moment. “We’ll be spread pretty thin, and your position will likely get hit hard and fast.”

Eos Typhoon nodded, “Occupational hazard. They just have to hope they can shoot straighter than I can.”

Nimbus couldn’t help but grin at her bravado. In truth, Eos felt a bit more apprehension than she would show, but even that was overshadowed by the chance to face the enemy. She would soon have blood, and Clipper would be avenged.