Chapter 3: Old steel and new blood
Mark watched the sun slowly lowering from the Pollux Partisan's window. A civilian ship's bridge wasn't usually covered on all six sides, allowing windows to be installed. It was a fair trade off as radars weren't common on ships outside of military.
They were getting closer to the first location where ships were hidden. Vijay could be heard giving information to Captain Alexei about the area they were going to and how it would be impossible to find it if they didn't get there before sunset.
Another one of the Pollux, the Raven had come with them and was following close behind. The two had been refueled completely and dispatched immediately to retrieve the ships. The methane had been hidden in a rock formation near the docks, and could only be accessed using an entrance that looked like a crack. The camouflage was so good that it had taken a few minutes to find even with the help of the hidden people. The ships had been hidden in a similar manner, within a cave that was hard to distinguish from the many other caves that the landscape was saturated with.
"There, we have to land there.", Vijay said as he pointed to a cave that had a small flat area in front of it. However, it wasn't flat enough for the ships to land without damages and there wasn't enough space to land both ships.
"Okay then, take us down there and tell the Raven to find a location to land nearby. Only one ship can land here.", Captain Alexei ordered. The orders were quickly carried out and the Partisan had landed in front of the cave with some minor damage to the landing gear.
Two trucks full of men and two fuel trucks were offloaded from the ship's cargo hold as the ship itself was too big to enter. The plan was to refuel the ships in the cave enough so that they could fly out and be refueled easily. Once again, Mark and Vijay were in a jeep leading the others.
The cave was larger than one would have though it to be but it was clear that the cave was made larger artificially, evident by the occasional empty box or forgotten tool lying by a wall. The light of the jeep was not particularly strong but it was enough to lead them.
Soon enough they came across a large chamber and a ship.
"Turn on the spotlights!", Vijay ordered. Immediately, multiple lights were shined onto the previously unknown ship revealing it to be an unknown model that looked far too outdated and broken to be used.
"Keep looking around, there should be another two ships!", Vijay ordered.
Within a minute they had found the two ships. A Navarin and a Meteor Mk2. Both were old designs, older than even the empire but they were reliable fighters. However, on further inspection, the Navarin was found to be missing the two R5 Zenith missiles and two 1000 Kg bombs it was usually equipped with. The Meteor Mk2 had a similar issue, missing its 1000 Kg bomb.
Fortunately, they were still airworthy and with the approval of Mark, both ships were refueled while the third was scavenged for parts and other valuable things.
With the refueling done, they quickly boarded the ships and prepared to leave the cave.
'Its been a long time since I have piloted one of these.', Mark thought as he gripped the pilot controls of the Navarin. While the helmsman aboard was good, he had realized that he could not pilot the ship safely through the cave and so, Mark had decided to pilot the ship himself.
With a final check, both ships lifted off and started on their journey back outside while doing their best not to hit the cave's floor or ceiling.
Queen Chrysalis stood silently, watching from afar as the priest performed funeral rites for the soldiers who had been martyred about a day ago. Many other changelings were gathered there, mourning the loss of their loved ones.
They had been attacked a day ago.
They could have avoided the attack. If only she had just killed that lying Prince and taken over his strange ships when they had the chance. Instead she had chosen to let them go, thinking that they would have some honor, to not attack someone who had provided them a place to rest, even for a little bit of time.
"Your Highness," she heard a voice belonging to her assistant say, "I've come with the report on the damages the hive has taken."
She nodded and the assistant continued, "The southwestern and western defense towers has been deemed irreparable. Fires that had started in the western sections of the Hive have been put out and rescue efforts are underway..."
Chrysalis slowly tuned out the voice of her assistant as she remembered the Prince who had come to them, pretending to be a liberator of the people who was being hunted down by a tyrant. She had seen through his lie immediately, and refused to give them any aid despite how much he bargained. Finally, when she had enough, she informed him that he had a day's time to leave.
He had left angrily for his ship and she had thought that it was the end to that. They had been taken by surprise when the ships took off into the air only a few minutes after the Prince had left. They weren't quick enough to set up a defense against the barrage that had destroyed the two defense towers and part of the Hive.
Among those that died was her only son. She had paid for her mistake in the life of the last of her family and there was no way to describe how much she craved revenge.
"...and the people want to know what we'll do.", the assistant finished.
"We take revenge. The prince had said that he was being hunted down by the Grand Duke and helping him will be the only chance we have at getting revenge."
The sun had set but they hadn't yet reached their destination. The terrain below was getting less rocky and more flat. They were close to the second group of ships.
"They will be hidden in a ravine.", Vijay had said as he gave the approximate location of the ships. He had only ever went to the first location.
There were fewer stars visible tonight as Mark noted. Were the effects of the nuclear strikes manifesting here too or was it something else? He didn't know but hoped that it wasn't the former.
"We're here", Captain Alexei said as the ship stopped moving, "We can descend into the ravine directly and get the ships."
All four ships started their descent to the bottom of the ravine. When they reached the bottom, they immediately found a ship.
"A Hound. Order the Raven to begin with recovery of it. We'll keep looking for other ships.", Mark said.
After searching for a few minutes, they came across a large cave carved into the ravine's wall. Outside of it was yet another ship.
"That's a Jaguar. Recover it, it'll be useful.", Mark ordered. "And shine floodlights in the cave, I feel that there is another ship in there."
As ordered, the floodlights were directed at the cave and Mark's feeling that there was another ship was correct. There was a ship in the cave. A large carrier ship.
The Novorossiysk.
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Thank you again for creating this!
I am looking forward to the next chapter.