Part 34: Flight Log 28 - Lt. Lance Casey

[Flight Log 28 - Lt. Lance Casey]






Our mission this time was to establish a foothold in the Kilrah system for an attack on the alien wormhole. The first thing we had to do was clear out the defenses around the Hrissith jump point and give ourselves a clear path for retreat if necessary. I was to escort some bombers to take down a carrier while another squadron took out a destroyer at another Nav point.



The comm officer reiterated our mission objective as I was in the launch bay. I wanted to tell him that I didn't need to hear it again, but the last thing I felt like doing was being yelled at for insubordination when I got back, so I held my tongue.



At Nav 1, we saw the carrier and their Moray escort. Taking down Morays in a Vampire wasn't much of a challenge, even with 9 of them to deal with. Stiletto even gave me a rare accomplishment, which was something I didn't hear much, and it made me smile a little bit. Funny to think that I got the Flying Cross, and yet the admiration of my co-pilots meant more to me than that. But then again, these were the people whose hands I was putting my life into every time I flew, so I guess it makes sense.



My Vampire was stocked with new missiles this time around. Rachel called them anti-radiation missiles, but what they did was target capital ship components such as turrets and shield emitters and destroy them, which our IR and FF missiles wouldn't do. It was a nice invention, but not something I found a whole lot of use for in this mission.



After taking out the Morays, the carrier launched a squadron of Mantas to go after us. Mantas were still pretty tough, and with less missiles than I normally had thanks to the new AR missiles, this fight became even more of a challenge.



They shot me up pretty good. Between their light plasma gun and their missiles, the last thing you wanted was a Manta on your tail while you were dogfighting with someone else. I had pretty severe damage, but thankfully, the core was relatively undamaged, and the afterburner and guns would repair themselves.



As the bombers were going after the carrier, the Midway sent us a message telling us that the other squadron was having some difficulties, and that we needed to go help them out as soon as we finished here. While I was pretty shot up, it wasn't too much of a problem, so I saved some missiles for the fight ahead. I didn't know what to expect at Nav 2, but the rest of my squadron was pretty undamaged, so I could hang in the back and help out wherever I could.



Whenever I got the opportunity, I tried to take out some of the turrets on the carrier to make our bombers' lives easier. They were complaining about the heavy turret fire, so I did what I could to minimize that threat. Unfortunately, the carrier got another wave of Morays off before the bombers could finish it off.



However, on the bright side, the carrier was almost dead, and while we kept the Morays busy, the Devastators finished off the bridge, and soon the Leviathan was going up in flames. With the added help from the Devastators who were freed up now, we quickly dispatched the rest of the Morays and headed over to Nav 2 to give them a hand.



At Nav 2, the destroyer was defended by a squadron of Squids, who were still a threat, but much less of one than the Mantas at Nav 1 were. My squadron split off and started distracting the Squids while our Devastators charged in and helped the other squadron with the destruction of the destroyer.



The Squids lit me up enough to trigger the eject siren, but I knew that we could handle what was left, and I hung in there to help finish the job. My status did not go unnoticed by Maniac, though, who had a smartass comment for every situation. That guy can be a real dick sometimes.



Almost as soon as we finished off the last of the Squids, the Devastators also finished off the destroyer. After surveying the damage, we turned around and headed back for the Midway.



After checking my score on the mission status computer (76%? I deserved more than that!), I turned around and headed for the bar. As it turns out, I barely took my seat when I heard the loudspeaker call for all pilots to report to the flight deck for a scramble. No rest for the weary. I turned around and headed back down to see what was going on.


Kilrah Mission 1 * (Yes, folks, this is what you waited for. Absolutely nothing. Gimmick video ahoy.)
(Filefront)