Bounty Hunters 3: Genesis

by Jasper77W

Chapter 18: Defense to Offense

Suddenly the missile exploded as a prism beam impacted it from the side, and an Apollo flew into view, its engines glowing and keeping it in the same spot. It fired its prism beams at some more approaching missiles, detonating them before they had a chance of reaching ATLANTA.

"Come on commander. Let's get you in an aircraft." Zealo said, helping Blithy and the Doctor up to their hooves.

They ran through the glass tunnel and back into another dome, and soon enough reached the hangars. The hangar was a huge open area inside the dome, with ships of all calibers docked and ready to leave. A shield overhead prevented water from getting in, and kept a bubble over the opening so air wouldn't escape.

"Haha- haven't seen her in a while." Blithy grinned, approaching an Apollo with orange highlights.

"An Apollo. Fascinating paint job." the Doctor said as they walked towards the aircraft.

"Not just an Apollo- MY Apollo." Blithy said, patching through a wireless connection from her brain to the Apollo itself. The cockpit windshield slid open just as she thought about it.

"Intriguing." Doctor Whooves rubbed his chin.

"Take the back seat. I'm piloting." Blithy said, jumping up and clambering into the cockpit.

Zealo hopped in another normal model, parked beside Blithy's.

"Does she have a name?" the Doctor asked, strapping on a helmet as he hopped in the back seat.

"I just call her Horizons." Blithy said, the plane automatically starting as her mind commanded it to do so. Its engines flared, and gently it lifted off the ground, hovering centimeters above the hangar and awaiting further orders.

Blithy flexed her robotic fingers, then closed them around the joysticks either side of the cockpit. There was a hiss as the windshield slid back down, holographic indicators flickering to life as all systems warmed up.

There was a loud whir as Zealo started up his Apollo, following Blithy and levitating into the air.

"Stick close, Private." Blithy said, buckling her seat belt. "Might just get a bit crazy with this."

She pushed the joysticks forward, and the plane flew towards the water. There was a loud splash as it broke through the bubble of air and entered the sea, the oxygen converter kicking in and pressurizing the cabin.

"Take the turret Doctor, if you will." Blithy said.

"No sense in doing nothing." Doctor Whooves said, keeping his eyes on the screen in front of him.

"Alpha One, requesting assistance for the commander. The commander has joined the battle." Zealo said, and an Apollo from squad Alpha joined their little trio.

"Commander, all mirage vehicles are in place- awaiting orders." the radio operator said.

"Alright. Listen up everypony- I'll just go ahead and be the bait and draw them in- wait for my signal and take them out." Blithy said, flying the Horizons up towards the surface. There were black dots here and there blocking out sunlight from above- a clear sign of approaching enemies.

"Affirmative. Contact with enemy forces- ETA thirty seconds." the radio operator said.

"We have a visual." Zealo said, following close behind the Horizons. "Maintain your positions."

"Affirmative."

"Twenty seconds. All AA batteries and defense systems are locating targets."

Blithy kept a finger on the trigger, ready to slam it down the moment the Horizons's computer locks onto a target, or says one in in range.

"Ten seconds. All targets have been assigned." the radio operator said. "Eight, seven, six..."

Blithy could see some bright dots now- another wave of missiles.

"Five..."

"Maintain formation..." she told Zealo and Alpha One.

"Four..."

"Break away on my mark..." red reticles started appearing all over Blithy's screen as targets came within range.

"Three... Two... One. Engage!" the radio operator yelled.

"Now!" Blithy yelled, yanking the joysticks to one side and turning the plane. Two missiles flew by as her plane rotated, avoiding both. Zealo and Alpha One broke away, the missiles flying past and leaving behind streams of bubbles.

The defense systems of ATLANTA kicked in instantly, missiles and torpedoes flying out from the underwater city- it was almost impossible to see, with the low lighting and the thousands upon thousands of streams of bubbles left behind by torpedoes or burned through by energy beams.

"Head'n back down- keep that turret gong Doctor! You've got the both of our backs now." Blithy said, yanking the joysticks back. Slowly the plane stalled, then the nose abruptly tipped back and it started flying back to the bottom. "Hold positions all units... Wait till they're right in the middle."

As expected, the enemy Strikers couldn't resist going after the bright orange commander's Apollo.

"Sorry ma'am- but I'm terrible at aiming." the Doctor said, fumbling with the controls. All his shots from the heavy rear turret missed, creating large smoke clouds in the water above them.

Blithy sighed- not unexpected. "Zealo and Alpha One, provide cover fire!"

"Yes ma'am!" Zealo said, twisting the joystick and yanking his plane back around to face the sky- only, the engines were still pushing him down deeper under the sea- he was flying backwards. He had no idea how he was going to watch where he was going, but buck that.

He squeezed the trigger, bright beams from the twin prism guns tearing through the water and the enemy Strikers. One of them got hit and exploded, a sudden outwards expansion of matter. In the water, Zealo could even clearly see the resulting shockwave as the Striker reduced itself into floating parts.

"Good work Zealo! Make sure they're still on our tails!" Blithy yelled, driving the Horizons further towards ATLANTA.

"Enemy convoys hitting the surface. Our drones are picking up about three hundred infantry units being shipped down here- first wave incoming!" the radio operator yelled.

"Approaching ATLANTA- prepare to engage." Blithy said as they flew into the steep canyons.

"Crawler fire team, all targets assigned." the platoon commander of the M.F. Crawlers said. Crawlers were heavy mobile artillery equipped with mirage devices- and were nicknamed for their four legs that dig to almost any surface. Right now, while perhaps not visible- the canyon walls were full of them. The entire platoon was here. "Waiting for your signal."

Blithy checked her radar, all of her own units and the enemy's marked units tagged on the holographic screen. She waited for the red dots to enter the huge surrounding of green dots- then yanked the joystick to the side.

"ENGAGE!!" she yelled, turning the plane around.

"Disabling mirage fields!" the Crawler commander yelled. "Fire at will!"

Suddenly there was a shimmering mass of activity on the canyon walls as hundreds of Crawlers disabled their active camouflage, suddenly becoming visible. Their huge cannons boomed, sending huge prism beams shooting through the enemy Strikers. Each blast and its resulting shockwave were all clearly visible as they rippled through the water, the rainbow colored beams lighting up the deep.

The Strikers began turning back, seeing it was a trap.

"Apollos- division roll call!" Blithy yelled.

"Alpha ready."

"Beta ready."

"Gamma ready."

"Delta ready."

"Epsilon ready."

"Zeta ready."

"Eta ready."

A grin spread across Blithy's face- all was going well, even better than expected. "Alpha, Beta, and Gamma- box them in! The rest of you remain hidden!" she yelled, flying up with her wingmares and chasing after the fleeing Strikers.

The Strikers were about to exit the canyon when about a hundred Apollos suddenly emerged from the seaweed forest at the top of the canyon, flying down and with all guns blazing.

"Going somewhere?" Blithy laughed. "We always take good care of our house guests."

Soon the surrounded Strikers were all completely annihilated, all several hundred of them. All that remained of them were the scraps of metal and the occasional bit of flesh, drifting in the weak underwater current.

"Move positions immediately! They won't make the same mistake twice!" Blithy yelled, the Horizons circling over ATLANTA.

*

"Our first division of fighters have been taken down." Eclipse said, a small holographic screen glowing in the darkness in front of her. Her blood red mane drifted down past a little beyond her shoulders, her equally red eyes scanning the screen. She was barely visible as her dark grey skin camouflaged her into the shadows, her presence only detectable through the screen and the glowing red LED lights on her suit.

"Not surprising." Val said, sitting on a throne in the COLOSSUS. "Considering I am going up against myself- I should think I would be pretty good at this."

"Interesting conclusion." Eclipse said, and Val tilted her head to one side. That's what annoyed Val about Eclipse- is that she is pretty much the only pony in the whole of the Science Faction fleet who isn't afraid of her. And she couldn't take the risk of killing her either, because like Val; Eclipse was also pretty much invincible.

"Send in another wave, same position and strategy." Val said.

"That's a strategically stupid decision- but I see your point. They probably would've shifted positions already." Eclipse said, tapping an order into the holographic screen.

"You know me too well." Val sighed, shifting to lean on her right hand as it was starting to hurt her left cheek.

*

"More incoming. Can't really tell if they're going in the same path or not." the radio operator said.

"Keep our hidden units hidden. Everypony that's been exposed, try draw them into the trap again- meet them head on then fake a retreat when I give the signal. The key here isn't to take down as many as you can, the key here is to survive." Blithy said, swinging the plane around to once again point towards the sky. She stalled the engines, so the plane floated and stayed where it was; pointing at the invading army. Hundreds of other Apollos did the same behind her, switching their engines off and camouflaging into the darkness.

"You sure this'll work? We're bound to lose most of our aircraft." Doctor Whooves whispered.

"When will you ever trust somepony else other than yourself fully?" Blithy sighed.
"I trust my companions, not some crazy commander with a small private army."

"Hey, we're pretty big. A few thousand strong." Blithy said.

"I mean in comparison." the Doctor pointed out. "They are a few million strong."

Blithy sighed frustratedly, leaning back into her seat and folding her arms. "You're just making it worse. So shut up unless it's important- and that's in order."

*

"We lost visual contact on the enemy." Eclipse said. "They shut off their engines- we're trying to trace their heat signatures, but that'll be inaccurate. They're probably planning to face us head on." she said, but heard no reply from the Empress. "Val?" she asked, turning around. "Valkyrie!"

"Huh wha...?" Val opened her eyes sleepily. "Whoops. Wasn't listening." she said, intentionally missing out the apology.

"They're probably planning to face us head on." Eclipse said, and if she was annoyed- she didn't show it.

"Just overpower them with numbers." Val said, burying her face back into her arms and snoozing off.

"I guess you don't really care about losses then." Eclipse said, tapping on the screen.

"I really couldn't care less about who dies on our side and who doesn't. I want the enemies dead." Val mumbled, her voice muffled by her arm.

"I'll do it my way then." Eclipse said, tapping in her own orders.

"And I'll take a snooze, so stop reporting to me unless you somehow lost or killed Blithy. Good night." Val said, and Eclipse shrugged.

*

"All targets locked once again. Ready to engage." the radio operator reported.

"The hay are they up to..." Blithy muttered, shaking her head slowly as the hundreds of micro super computers implanted into her brain began processing terabytes of information and trying to figure out what the enemy was planning.

"I do believe the enemy commander has changed." the Doctor said.

"Smart boy." Blithy said, waving behind her. "All units stand by."

"Shuck- enemy reinforcements inbound! We've got a few thousand Strikers and transports heading our way!"

"This is bull crap." Blithy cursed- the enemy was using their only advantage against them- their own sheer numbers. "Crawlers, stay where you are and ambush them later. Apollos- we need to move up and thin out the herd!" Blithy yelled, flicking some switches and turning her engines on.

There was a wave of activity that spread across the ocean as one by one the Apollos' engines lit up, a myriad of stars if you're viewing from high above.

"Enemy space cruisers have entered the atmosphere! We estimate a few thousand extra troops!" the radio operator yelled.

"Careful now. We need a backup plan, by the looks of it. I don't like where this is headed." the Doctor said.

"I know." Blithy flexed her fingers. "All teams- we need to provide enough time for the civilians to escape." she thought up a plan in her head.

"Simply holding them off would just get us killed..." the Doctor rubbed his chin.

"All we need is time. You're the Timelord here, so do you have any advice?" Blithy looked behind her and peered at the Doctor.

"The TARDIS is none-existent in this reality." Doctor Whooves pointed out. "And I'm also no tactician."

"Yeah. No idea why I asked you." Blithy muttered, derping her eyes when the Doctor wasn't looking. "All Apollos- engage enemy cruisers directly."

"No disrespect meant ma'am," Zealo said, "but you're crazy."

"And isn't it brilliant?" Doctor Whooves mumbled.

"We need to buy the evacuees more time- they're bound to come after us if we start attacking their mother ships. The Crawlers can easily handle what they have coming at us right now on their own- we just have to stall their reinforcements from getting in, then that should get us enough time." Blithy explained.

"Brilliantly crazy." Zealo corrected himself.

"Attention all Apollo fighters- cut right through the first wave and avoid engaging as much as possible- attack their mother ships and go for the engines." Blithy said.

"Copy commander. We're with you." Alpha One said.

"Forward, comrades!" Blithy yelled, pushing the levers forward and sending the Horizons jetting through the water.

"You didn't need to add the Russian accent." the Doctor said, a few beeps coming off his screen as he switched between the turret's few weapons.

"Zealo, Alpha One- mark me on your HUDs. Going invisible." Blithy said, flicking a few switches and hearing a generator heating up with whirs.

"Roger." Zealo said.

"Marked." Alpha One took in a deep breath as a missile grazed his tail fin.

The two armies crossed, but instead of engaging like the Strikers were prepared for; the Apollos started flying right past them- although, they did leave behind a few torpedoes.

"Whoa." Blithy said dully, yanking the levers to one side and turning the plane. She fired a torpedo, which hit the Striker that was about to crash into her and tore it down the middle. She watched its pilot suddenly get dragged out of the plane as the containment was breached, and a jagged broken piece of its tail fin grazed the side of the Horizons.

"Oh great." the Doctor muttered, looking at the graze mark. The rest of the plane was in a mirage field while that little panel there was broken. "Now we're in a flying pixel."

"At least it isn't bright orange and supposedly unbearable." Blithy rolled her eyes, flying to the right to avoid an exploding Striker. She flew through the smoke cloud formed underwater, the windscreen temporarily going completely black. But then they broke through the cloud and into full view of the battle, emerging from the depths of the canyons.

The battle stretched on for tens of kilometers, beyond sight in the clear waters of the bottom of the Atlantic. Explosions were littering the entire few cubic kilometers of water, lighting up the shadows. Trails of smoke and bubbles were evident throughout the entire battle, traces of dogfights that resulted in another one of those explosions.

"Spitfire... You better figure something out soon." Blithy shook her head and muttered.

*

"Interesting." Eclipse tilted her head to one side, and while Val did say she was going to take a nap- she was still awake. Another report wouldn't interest her, but when Eclipse didn't keep on going her curiosity got the better of her.

"What. Is. It?" she asked, irritated.

"They aren't attacking. They're flying straight past our Strikers. Probably going after our cruisers." Eclipse said.

"Not unexpected." Val shrugged.

"What do we do with our Strikers?" Eclipse asked.

"I really couldn't give less of a crap about what happens to them- but just tell them to pursue the enemy aircraft. You know? Get a nice little sandwich between the Strikers and the cruisers." Val yawned loudly.

"This is quickly turning into my favorite battle." Eclipse said emotionlessly.

"How so?" Val changed sides again to lean on her left hand.

"Two reckless commanders battling it out. I wonder who would win?" Eclipse asked.

"I heard the commander herself is in battle." Val said, tuning into her troops' radio frequencies.

"Indeed. Something about an amped Striker." Eclipse said, watching the battle through the camera feed from one of the Strikers. Then the screen abruptly turned to static, the last image of a flaming torpedo still visible as an after image.

"Well..." Val sighed, standing up lazily. "So much for my nap."

"I do believe that if one commander goes into battle it would be honorable for the other to do the same." Eclipse stated.

"No. Crap." Val growled, walking out of the throne room with Eclipse following close behind. "Do start prepping my Striker."

"It's always prepped, as per your orders." Eclipse said, intentionally annoying Val by not following her order- as it was unnecessary.

"Huh. I guess I'm more organized than I think I am then." Val grinned, walking down a corridor, the officers in it lowering their heads in fear of accidentally irritating the ruthless Empress.

*

"Right! RIGHT!" the Doctor yelled, and Blithy yanked the joysticks to one side. The Horizons's belly grazed an enemy Striker's hull, making a loud metallic grown as they scratched past each other. "Did you even go to flight school!?"

"Yes. But flight school doesn't have an exercise where you have to dodge a thousand other enemy Strikers while they don't avoid you because they CAN'T BUCKING SEE YOU." Blithy yelled.

"Then turn stealth off!" Doctor Whooves said.

"NO." Blithy growled.

"Missile-!"

Blithy slammed the levers back, forcing the plane into a tight upward loop. The missile passed behind the engines as the plane arced backwards, then back around in a loop. She gave a short squeeze on the prism gun's trigger, destroying a Striker headed straight for her and its freshly launched missile. She flew through the debris and the fireball, something making a loud thud against the wind shield.

"There goes the pilot." she said as the dark red smudge washed away in the water.

"Uh-oh. Think we've got a small problem." the radio operator said.

"More reinforcements?" Blithy asked.

"Mostly, yes. Partially, not specific enough." the radio operator took in a deep breath and sighed. "We've got one single modified Striker flying down from the COLOSSUS, and a wingmare. Wonder who that could be?" he said, making a few taps on his keyboard.

"Well well." Blithy said as a live video feed from a scout drone popped up on her HUD, showing an odd looking black and red Striker with yellow highlights, and its seemingly normal Striker wingmare. "I should've known."

"Let me guess." Doctor Whooves peered over Blithy's shoulder. "It's Val."

"Thank you, Doctor Obvious."

Author's Note:

I'm glad to see a few views on the last chapter ^_^ at least there are still some of you with me on this:P
I know the series has gone extremely off from what it started out as, but bear with me- I tend to do that

Comments

[ShadowlessNight]

I just couldn't stand seeing this empty so I added another comment.