Shot Down In A Blaze Of Glory

Posted on Sun Sep 12th, 2021 @ 1:11am by Captain Calypso Skyie

Mission: Into Our Past
Location: Todarev System, Todar Two

The five flights of assault shuttles left the hanger bay of USS Quantico even as the next wave of Marines began to form up on deck to await their return. Each flight of four shuttles had their own designated landing zone on the planet, but would only break up from their formation after entering the atmosphere. It was a typical assault formation, but there was little to no anti-aircraft fire anticipated as they made landfall.

The Todarans were being besieged by a revolutionary faction that had objected to the Dominion War and desired the government to leave the Federation out of fears of being drawn into another war they disapproved of. Negotiations had failed miserably, but the Todar government had promised the Federation that the rebels only had small arms, though their primary forces were dug into positions in and around the mountain range on their Eastern continent. They'd requested support and so Starfleet sent in a reinforced regiment of Marines and an assault transport escorted by a small starship.

"Assault Wave, this is Alpha One One, make atmospheric entry and hold at Angels Twenty while recon flight makes a pass over the LZs."

"Bravo Two- Echo Two- Alpha- Del-Charlie" The assault shuttles talked over each other as they acknowledged the command and their hulls and shields began to glow as they began their re-entry maneuvers in perfect formation.

In Echo Three Four, the third of four shuttles in Echo Flight, twenty-five year old Warrant Officer Second Class Calypso Skyie, callsign Calamity, looked over at her co-pilot, nineteen year old Warrant Officer Fourth Class Jeremy Watson, callsign Woody, and smiled, "Don't worry, Woody, should be a milk run. Briefing said they've got no A-A, so smooth as silk."

Woody nodded with a nervous smile of his own, this was his first landing since graduating from flight school, Cally was his first senior pilot and it was obvious she was trying to make him feel better, "Heh, obvious, ma'am?" He asked.

"Just a bit." Cally smiled, black eyes glinting with humour, then tapped her helmet, "Also remember, I can feel it. Take us in, stay in formation." She kept her hands on the stick, but only to be able to take control in a moment's notice, letting him handle the maneuver. In the meanwhile, she closed her eyes and just... Felt. She could truly feel Jeremy's nerves, the concentration of their systems operator seated behind them, then came the mixed emotions from the troop bay behind that sealed door. There was some fear, anger, the whole range of emotions in between, with a handful of beacons of confidence. That was her calling, to get that company of fellow Marines down where they were needed.

She exhaled as she reopened her eyes, keeping her telempathic sense open, because it was always a good warning factor when the shit was about to hit the fan. Besides, it was soothing to have that semi-conversation in the back of her mind.

Then the buffeting of the re-entry ended and her eyes were on the move. She gently eased the stick slightly to the left then released, making the micro-adjustment to get back into proper position on her flight leader's wing, continuing the descent until they all levelled out at 20,000 feet. "Formation, four minutes until Point Bravo." The crisp command of the formation leader was also soothing, just like normal. The mountain peak was well within visual range, valleys and fields below. There was no subtlety to their landing, they made no hash about who they were or why they were there.

Another pair of minutes passed, the command to drop another five thousand feet. Then something happened. "Alpha One One, Charlie Two Two, incoming missiles." The call came from the shuttle in the lead, a bit of panic in his voice, but still professional.

"Pilot's airplane." Cally said quietly, not worried yet, but wanting to take control. It was echoed by Jeremy as she kept her eyes on the swivel, looking for the missiles that had been called out. It was there as she saw one of the lead shuttles suddenly exploded. The impact was dead on the nose, the cockpit filling with fire and the shuttle tumbled out of control. The command for all flights to break came over the comm but Cally followed her flight lead who took their flight to the right and sharply down.

The airwaves were filled with calls of missile sightings, sensor readings, mayday calls. Another shuttle took a hit, then two more almost simultaneously. Cally's shuttle bucked as a missile exploded the shuttle behind her, throwing her craft off-kilter until she fought it back under control.

"Echo Three Four, Echo Three One. Take the lead, we're aborting our original LZ, going to backup one. Take the valley, it'll provide cover until we hit it."

"Echo Three One, Echo Three Four, copy. Diving now, recommend one klick separation." Cally took a look at the valley designated, it was between two mountains that stood nearly seven kilometers tall and was away from where the missiles were coming up. She got an acknowledgement even as the three remaining shuttles formed line astern and accelerated. She felt more fear from the troop bay, more determination. Dots speckled her screen as troops that survived their shuttles drifted down under countergrav, then she focused her eyes forward.

The shuttle screamed down the valley and it was only as they reached the halfway point that Cally slightly flared the shuttle to slow for the turn at the end of the ridge. Then her eyes found what she'd not been looking for. It was a glint of metal and her eyes opened wide as the camouflage dropped from the gun battery and lights began to wink.

"Echo flight, Echo Three Four it's an ambush." She got it out automatically, without thinking, even as she maintained her course. There was nothing else she could do as the shells arrived. The first few impacted her shields before it went down from the sheer energy. The windscreen shattered after the next three impacted it. The next one, impacting just as the shuttle began the turn it HAD to make hit Jeremy, exploding him all over the inside of the cockpit. Blood and gray matter splashed over Cally, some getting in her open mouth as the shrapnel made holes in the systems operator.

Calypso's hand reached out without thought as she reached out and flipped her transponder to the emergency setting as rounds continued to impact the armor. Then the back of her mind went from the hum of minds to completely blank in the matter of an instant. A brief spike of pain, then nothing. More rounds impacted something else, the inner hull and she knew what happened without even a thought. Everyone else, aside from the single point of pain of her system operator was gone.

"Mickey, Mickey." She called over the comm, no emotion at all in her voice at all as she used the emergency override code, "Echo Three Four is going down, we're hit, we're hit. Echo Three Four, going down hard." An engine exploded, bucking the shuttle over on its side, Calypso fighting for control even as another shell tore off part of the wing. Then the incoming fire stopped as it switched targets for a few seconds until an explosion wracked the location the fire had come from and a fighter zipped by.

But it was only her eyes and brain that were cognizant of that, her mind reeled from the emptiness. Her hands fighting the controls as the shuttle began to lose power and she fought to keep the shuttle level, her mouth repeating the warning that they were going down until the shuttle finally hit. It slid and bounced for a few dozen meters on the flat patch of ground she'd somehow located until the remaining wingtip dug in and the shuttle cartwheeled.

Through the cockpit, hands finally off the stick as there was nothing left she could do, Cally watched the tree ahead come into view, then out, then in far closer, then... Blackness.