Karl....

  The  explosion inside the  BArrel was  far down.. maybe?  a half mile  or so... there  seemed  be some  sparking Below...

 he did  notcie  some   people  running out of a Block house.. one of them was pointing in the  air.

..........................

  Frans... COMed  everyone,..Shadow?  Confirmed... there are least... as far as i can tell 80 some  Sundrops heading towards us....

 Eckles chimed in,.. I'm a bit  further   North? there is   another Cloud  heading this way too?... if they have an Air  Base.. that's  where it is...

 ..how Long Until Contact?

 ..for us ?.. 8 minutes..give or take... Eckles.. get back and  form up!

 Shadow thought  for a moment......listen Up... all fighters...  Climb , get some  altitude on them... All Strafing    Flights.. Form Up at fran's  Location.. we want  Nilsson to have his  fun...Undistrubed....

 ..Foster.. stay  just above  atmo.. then  try to  Come  down on the  First cloud, like you planned...

 Ironwood?....  Pound a few more Building, then Get into the Black.. and  head   to the   planet side where the Clouds  are coming from... if there is a base there.. try to level it ..it may be too late ...but   we'll stop them from repair and rearming..

 Any torpedo ships  that are returning...  drop your weapons on teh Capitol, then get the  9 hells back to your ships... ..any other fighters in the air Up there.. Now's the Time to Follow foster's  lead... DON'T... go past the area oif  engagement we set up... we are here to stop them from reaching  Nilsson.. God luck..Good Hunting...

  Shadow  chewed up  two more  Buildings  before rising into the  sky, heading  towards fran's  flight..  Flores  and Kat weren't  far behind...

 The Ironwood Pounded the Compound as she  flew  But.. her  attacks , much more devastating , then the figther's   weapons . On of the  towers  of the  Palce  collapsed.  Burned in many of the   areas  the Ironwood  hit... then she was off to The Black..

Justin gave a shrug, he wasn't here to think, as pointed out to him time after time, he was here to fight. Forming up he waited with the other fighters waiting to be given whatever directive he would be given.

   There  was  Cross talk  coming from subchannels, The High Council  started out    with Curses and threats... but the more attacks high.. the more desperate the Calls  Got..

 Begging , pleading..screams of  sudden surprise and pain, as  well  a muffed sounds of  explosions

  Most of the Pilot s switched   the subchannels off.... Shadw  simply smiled and  kept his on

   they could see the glimmer of  gold  of the Sundrops wings.  Frans Opened  the  COMs and  said,..Shadow? You want to   make the Offer...or  should  I?

 go ahead frans....

 ..Approaching  Nivairan  Fighters....  this  will be your   only warning... turn back   and  land  your fighters.. or your  will be  wiped from the sky....

 ..Cowardly  Earther!.. You attack without  warning..you...

 uh ah...not  true goldy... you see?   My Admiral  warned your people....we always...warn people... but what do they do?..they take it as a weakness?   I duuno.... but i do know this?  One of your Pilots  violated  the distressed Pilot code.... so?.. you will  get ..NO MERCY..

 the last two words were  shouted  with almost as much hate, as  one would level at a demon itself.

 ..and.. you have  what? 20 some  fighters.... to Take  on  Two full airforce Units of  the  Golden Planet?

 ..yeah... you'er  right.. i should send Half of them back?... But hey? They desevre to ring Up Kills too...

 ..you will not live through this...it is a pity... I would love to meet you. before  we turned you over to the Empire...

 ..Alright Goldy ....bring it.... Just...listen to your Sub Channels... your great Council? they are begging   for us to stop the attacks?..why?.. because we are blowing up, thier home, thier families....things are a bit different when they have to suffer.....but..that's  fine?..go ahead  and die for them.... I'm sure they will take care of your families...

 Then he switched COMs to the  ESN  COM,..right folks..... remeber.. they can Out turn us.. and   run us  down.. we can chew them to ribbons,, and out dive them..if your  are too damaged to fight.. head back home....good luck....good  hunting....

 Raven says.....I Got this one...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4RFeIj-xwEM

  There was  an Honest Chuckle  from Shadow... I hope they  get to hear  this  before they die!

 The   Golden Fighter  formed  up.. 85 strong. two layers  of  40 or so... Behind them was another 80 or so...Some of the Nivarians  grinned... these fools  dared to enter the Golden Planet..now they would pay!.... But others were Unnerved... the   ESN figthers  did not waver.. the  were streaming fast , and hard towards them... some recounted  the Vids  from the Battle of the moons...

 None of them would know the  Ironwood was about to drop down behind them and 'visit' their base...none   new  that the   sky above  was  being darken  by the rest of the  Hermes  Fighters, Followed  by 4 more Cap ships worth of  fighters...

 meanwhile.. the  torpedo craft had  returned.. firing weapons that would  be  used on  mile long  Cap chips, at  simple    sky scrapers. and , of  course the Palace...

 while this  went on..Karl was    flying towards his next target

"Okay, Ed...keep a wary eye out for Nivarian fighters.  If they send an interceptor after us, I want time to call for help and make a run for it..."  Actually, he'd probably turn the assault cannon and minigun on them, while he was running...the benefit of turret-mounted weapons...but he was desirous of avoiding any air-to-air engagements, period.

He dropped the plane low to the ground and shoved the throttle as far as it would go for atmospheric flying...below him on the ground, the impact of bombs was joined with the very different 'boom' of the sound barrier being broken, and the wake of turbulence off the Morningstar snapped small trees and broke windows in buildings that he screamed over.

Justin listened to the chatter, a predatory grin on his face. Giving his head a shake at the way these races pleaded for mercy, when they were under threat and suffering loss, yet for goodness knows how long they races chose to inflict injury suffering and death on others.
This message was last edited by the player at 21:26, Fri 19 May 2017.

     the  space  was Closing up in a constant measure, Shadow    Came on the COMs...

   Alright....   This  is   one of  our last surprises... after this? its going to  be Pilot to pilot....... I will count to 3.... when  i reach Three... everyone  excelerate  to full speed.. fire  everything you   have... take out what you can....with Luck we will come out the otherside , before they can make thier  first turns..... remember.. these  are Pilots... we have to assume they are trained.... don't  take anything for granted...

 Watching the Numbers   going  down to first contact......ONE........TWO....... THREE!!!

 Those who followed the Order  shot   forward... almost twice  as  fast as their   original approach ... weapons   flashed  and Sundrops died....  One tried to  climb, shadow   tapped the  stick  a little to raise his  Nose.. , the Sundrop Vanished  in a cloud of  Yellow and Orange... the fighter above that one ,Lost  part of its  wing.. he     went into a death spiral...  But shadow  couldn't watch as he  almost  slammed into another  one... and then he was   on the other side of the Formation

 almost every  aircraft   tagged a Sundrop on this charge..., But the Sundrops   were turning faster then  Shadow  thought...

 But he still grinned....

 Foster   could be haard  shouting,..Thank's LC!

 As  the rest of the Hermes Fighters  diving, appear in the sky along with the Remus fighters  and Ares...    rounds  rained  down,  like an unholy storm,  Blowing  away Sundrops.. and even Causing  a few  to slam into each other...

 ..My Group?... head towards that second wave...

 Already, behind them. the  sky  was a mass of  fighters twisting and turning.. flashes  as   ariccraft on both  sides were turned to shards...

..........

 The Ironwood    was Now  Pounding the Base.. it was   veru Large... massive Hangers   lined the  perimeter .. many..many more  Sundrops were on the Ground...  The Ironwood LAunched its  fighters  to try and Knock  down  single aircraft  that were   flying as soon as a  pilot  could reach the ship....Meanwhile the fighters  disappeared by the 2's and three's  as Ironwood  Pounded the airfield.

..............


 Karl saw his next target..the scene here was different  from his last one.. the Fighters hand  beat the place up... fires and smoke  where all over.. bodies and  Vehicles littered the main road.. some  little fighters could be seen struggling to reach the   damaged    base...
This message was last edited by the GM at 20:58, Thu 18 May 2017.

Kray counts to Three and Justin taps his thrusters pushing the Dart to full speed ahead. This was why he was here, since graduating from the Academy top of his year, it was basically his bread and butter. Justin's finger hovered anxiously over the trigger, waiting for the first of these bandits to come into range. Glancing at his Hud Justin identified two possible targets, to engage at long range, selecting the one which provided him the best chance at lining up on the bogies wingman. When the Sundrops were in range Justin tapped his trigger, firing two three round burst at the one he selected, quickly side slipping the dart he lined up on the second and engaged. Matching B Flights descent the Darts punched a hole through the oncoming Squadron as fighters disintegrated or broke off trailing smoke as they spiralled away.
This message was last edited by the player at 21:22, Fri 19 May 2017.

Karl looked at the scene and nodded, decisively.  "Changing it up, Ed...first round goes down the throat, I want the second round to air-burst at 100 feet...get more dispersion and maybe take down some of those fighters that are limping in.  Rack 'em up and fire them off, fast as you can...anything that looks viable after the second round, drop an HE round on it."

The vibration of the plane shifted subtly as the loading gear settled rounds into the howitzer and the barrel adjusted to its target...it roared, and a single ion round took off, destined to impact somewhere deep down the barrel of the massive gun.  It roared again only moments later, another ion round dropping toward the base...only to explode some thirty meters above the ground, creating a massive cloud of the ion dust that slowly settled across the area, and caught any low-flying craft in its embrace.

    As Before , The  round dropped   deep into the Hole... deep enough that  the flash couldn't even be seen.

  The  Second  round Cause the  Cloud to   flaot to the east... a  hover-car of sorts dropped to the    ground , rolled over  and caught  fire.


..lights  began to flicker out  and the HE  rounds  came in  The  Bigger Block  building  was Hit,  and, what passed for concrete on this  world,  crumbled  and flew... a COM Tower that  also bore the Nivarian  flag  tilted  slowly  and  Fell, snapping  in half as it hit  the edge of the block house, the Upper half   pinwheeling into the maw of the  weapon.

  The Second  wave had  seen what happened to the First,   the  Cloud  broke up into   4 parts...  some 20 headed straight  for  Shadow and the  Mission flights...  about 20 on each side peeled  away  to keep the invaders , in the area of  engagement , and  20 some   Climbed, Just in case  more   ESN craft came from the  sky...

 ...Shadow?  they are  trapping  us!

 ..no Frans... they Just helped us....

 .. Just Like before.... go Max  speed...  fire your  way through the Middle... make the others  chase us  towards the base....

 we're going..TOWARDS thier base!!!

 ..see what i have to put up with Raven?

 ..ok...shut up... The Ironwood  should be there..the  first wave  got chewed up pretty well... if  we can get them to chase us to the base, we'll take the  heat off  Foster and the rest...

 Flores came on,..Shadow?.. I'll fallow  you striaght  down the chimney to the deepest of the 9 hells...but..who' is going to  take the Head off us?

 ..right now?  It doesn't  matter... but we'll be pretty damn far to the  south-west?

 ..and that means?

 nothing  yet..... but.. we'll see.. Just start  peeling bananas...

  Kat   said in a cold voice,,,Da...already done, Comrade...

    the fighters  shot forwards again.. the   Nivarians  patted themselves on the back , Until   the  ESN fighters opened up... Blossoms of  yellow and ornage flashed   as  Nivarians  died.. the  flanking    Sundrops    Pivoted  in the  air ..and Top cover to prevent any more    ambushes from the  sky.


  at least a dozen  of the 'middle  sundrops  died... a few   More  spun out towards the trees  below..but?.. the Humans?  they didn't  stop.. they were  heading for..THE BASE!

 one  of Ravens   Hammers  was  trailing smoke.....i'm hit... but i'm not  going anywhere...  I'll stay with you guys  as long  as i can..

Maintaining position on the left point B Flight pushed through the remains of sundrops that had been shredded by accurate fire. Justin scanned the disbursement of bandit squadrons, as he attempted to assess their tactics.
This message was last edited by the player at 04:52, Sat 20 May 2017.

    The ESN   aircraft where   now  cruising towards  the Base.. the  scattered formation, that thought to  cut off the   Humans from swarming to attack.. now  had to regroup and chase them.

  Meanwhile, the 1st wave of Sundrops were is a savage  Battle, one  unkwon for them, Was Felrite  Fighters, that were  just is good,if not a wee bit  better  then their Sundrops...what really tilted the  field, is these felrites have been fighter  real battles, rather then carving up Merchant escorts and such.


Frans , Take everyone  to that Base  and From Up in from of the  Ironwood.. try to hide her  as long as you can...not that they won't see her... but they shouldn't be expecting  Her...

 ..alright?  what are  you doing....


dropping back to make sure Raven's  Pilot  can get to the Ironwood.

   Doing a roll out and Climb he   turned to see the   Harvester pilot's  aircraft, trailing thick grey Smoke, Harvester 25... what's your  Name... you'er tailing  grey smoke... that means  your  Hyro lines   have been cut  and they are leaking into your powerplant...

 ..I know that LV....my name's HArv....if i can get to The Black....

 ..no...keep  flying ,,push her  until she redlines.... then  gear back until she reaches  Yellow...and dom it again... we'll get the Ironwood to take you in...

 Raven  Peeled back.....He's  My Pilot Shadow... I'll  stay with him....

 As  WC.. you'er all ..MY...Pilots.. so , send  the other s  ahead to form Up with  frans... you and    I will  flank him.. any get close enough.."l'll peel back  first... then..if  needs  be..You...

 ..Raven?  I'm certain they will over take us..... Just let me go....

 ..you can damn well bet, there's  a Banana out there who wants an easy kill... we torch a couple of them, it  might make the others rethink..or slow down....



 Meanwhile frans  Issued  orders to  the remainder of   the strafe mission  aircraft...alright... we hold here.. Until  we can see the  Sundrops with our eyes... then   we fly  Highter then Shadow, Raven and Harv..... Ironwood... what ever  you can do for us?

 Lt Frans?..This  is Guns..on the  Ironwood.. we   got some NAsty  pulse weapons here... and the Commander sent out  two fighters to Join you...she says  to tell the  damaged Harvester.. the Hanger  dec is waiting...

 frans  thought  for a Moment,..Ironwood?  countermand  the  last orders....   Rise  above   and  Fire your weapons into the  on coming Wave...as soon as they are in effective range

  Captain  Agrees.. should be  quite the surprise...

Justin along with B Flight, opened up on bogies that crossed his path, as the Flight punched through the second line of Bandits, clearing a path through the 20 foolhardy sundrops, assigned to meet the ESN Flights head. The ESN Flights pushed trough and headed towards the Nivarian base. Lining up by lead and wingman across the field punching holes in anything and everything in the area. Fragmenting ground craft, blowing holes in buildings and churning up ground elements, vehicles and earth as they swept the base.

  what was left of the fighters, that were sent  to meet/scare off   Shadow's  strafe group,  formed up with the rest of the wing as they started  to chase the  ESN Fighters...

   Frans  had everyone else Lined up  , with the Covette in the back.. three ESN  fighters  were   still trying to reach the BAse... the one that trailed  smoke   would  spped up, then have to back  down.. then speed up  again.

 One    Sundrop Broke from the Pack to dive  down on the  escaping prey... Shadow  Broke  Off  To Climb and  Meet the diving aircraft... Shadow  fired  a lot further away the  the Sundrop did, It shuttered  and  Broke up as it fell towards the trees...


   Another one broke  towards  the  wounded aircraft, and RAven  climbed  in a turn to   fire energy rounds  at the craft... This was Broke off.. smoke  trailing  and   the  light of  a Fire under its  nose  at is  dove away to the west...  Shadow  started to circle   as Raven  came  Back to HArv.... they were  about  1 mile from the Line of  ESN  fighters...


  the  wing of  Nivarians were about 8 Miles  behind Harv.

Karl nodded with satisfaction at the results.  "Morningstar is moving on..."  He laid out a course that kept him well clear of the fighter engagement, and several kilometers above the ground to discourage ground observers from being able to pick him up.

"Okay, Ed...same firing sequence.  Slot up the ion round, send it as soon as the gun comes into range..."

   it would take KArl about 10 minutes  to reach the  next target... the one that Raven's  flight hit.

    this one had a bit more time to react. the damage The HArvester's fighters  did, was worse then it looked, as they also chewed up the Column  that was going in, But tried to make sure they concentrated on building  with any kind of  tower....

  another  column was  coming up the road now... 4  armored  Units and 6 hover trucks and what looked like  100 troopers on  foot begin them...

    Shadow and Raven regrouped  a bit above Harv.... the   Sundrops were getting into at tighter  formation....behind them, Off in the disatcne.. winks of Lights and Black clouds of spoke, with twisting tendrils that reached for the ground, told the storythat the battles was still in progress.

  Attention..Wing  Commander of Sundrop  aircraft.... If  You  Pod our  now, will will allow your pods to land  safely.... should you continue on your course to engage..we will wipe yo out to the  tinfoil craft you have...

 ..you boast too much..Human.... we will finish you, then go back  and wipe the rest of your scum from our skies....

 ...you won't be getting  any more help from your base.... what few  planes are still standing, either have dead pilots, or pilots who are to afraid to make a  run for thier aircraft...

 no matter what happened... Harv wasn't going to reach the Line of ESN fighters, before the  Nivarians  over took him.....Harv?.. this is  an Oder.. you screw this up... you might cost alot of  lives... NO MATTER  WAHT HAPPENS.. YOU STAY BELOW  OUR FIGHTERS, AND REACH THE  IRONWOOD...

 Under  stood  WC... i don't like it..but  understood.

 the Sundrops seemed to accelerate , seemingly , turning the tables on the ESN.... Until Frans  said,..Shadow...Raven Drop down..400 feet....Ironwood... Your show now...  the two pilots never  questioned  and  just dropped like  laed weights.. the Iron wood  rose  and   pushed  forward... and her  Guns opened up...

 the prototype  weapons  flashed... never meant for use  against fighters.. but a wad like this?..who could miss...

 Three  Volleys  from the  Big Guns seared through the sky and into the   Sundrops.. at least 5 Sundrops  Vanished  with each Volley... several that will cose  By    spun down towards the  trees... on fire or  smoking..  The Panic in the Sundrop formation was  clear  as they  all seemed to want the veer away..peeling off to the left or  right, some Climbing

 iron wood  did not  stop , cruising    at a slower pace  for its AA guns  to take  shots.. and let loose  one  more  Volley into some   aircraft that were trying to regroup

 Shadow  chuckled into the COMs,well... 9 hells..that's better then  what i was going to do!

 ..great job Ironwood....ok  fighters...  have fun.... try  to not let any get away...but  don't  get too far away from the Ironwood...
 Meanwhile..Harv was a bit  put out..., so he  dove  down to  shoot up any sundrops that were still on the ground..

Responding to Shadow's com B Flight split up fighters persued sundrops that were frantically trying to climb away from the Ironwood. Justin zipped in behind a sundrop, mimicking its manoevers until he's targetting sounded. Squeezing off two quick bursts he sent four rounds at the bandit.

Karl looked at what was happening on the ground.  "Change of plans, Ed.  First ion round is aerial burst, one hundred feet above the lead element of that column..."  The dust cloud from that round would likely engulf the whole column, as well as the edge of the base.  "Drop HE on the tail end, and lay some frag rounds along the rest of the column, spaced for best effect."  The AI would analyze the column after each shot, looking for the densest pockets of troops or vehicles, and make the thickest crowd the target.

"Then put the second ion round down the pipe, and send some HE into the buildings...fire for effect."  As he called out each sequence of rounds, projected target points popped up on the display, the frag rounds on the column adjusting as the Nivarians advanced.  The first target blinked orange, then green, as the plane closed the distance.  Then it went solid red, as the Morningstar came into range.

"Commence fire..."

    Karl's approach is seen at the last Minute.. troops look up..confused or  surprised...maybe , thinking this was  what was  responsible for the damage..

 The Burst of Ion  Dust,  didn't take  effect  for a few Moments after   the shelling shredded  troops  and  vehicles from the back.  the two armored   vehicles      slowly  stopped... the hover  trucks  tried  to go around them, but  the   impuse jets  gane out  and the  trucks   either nosed into the  grass and brush on the sides of the  road, or  fell over to one side and rood a bit of the  way.. as the Morningstar  flew over, the Ion round  went  down the 'pipe'.

  then.. buildings began to explodes...  what few people were in the   base were  trying to run out, while  troops that were scattered about, tried to run in...

.............................

    Justin's  Luck held out as he  flamed a Sundrop in front of him,  the next rounds   chewed off a  wing of another,  and it   banked into a steep  dive to get away... it wobbles  as it  did, with 1/2 of its   left wing  gone and  tried to avoid the trees below, looking for a spot to land.

  The rest of the  'strafe  mission' fighters  were  trying to  do their best against the Agile  Sundrops..Smarter  pilots    would  flu towards the  Ironwood, were her AA  guns  would take out, or chase off  the pursuit .  Other   tried to fly into a spot were two or more sundrops were, hoping they  would find it harder to  target the  Humans

 Musette  flamed a fighter that had  found Raven's  tail.. he seemed to be getting used to the 'fighting  thing'

 Harv... disgruntled of not  openly , being out of the fight, but missing   the   ride on the Ironwood, took it out on the   Nivarian base.. send   rounds into Hangers and strafing with power weapons

 The ironwood  fired  its  Big guns  once  more    into another  group of Sundrops that were trying to form up.. only one 'died'.. but the others  scattered.. two broke off  to the east...

 ..LT Frans... Guns here  from the Ironwood... were in the  mix now.. won't be able to use the Bigguns  again, unless we  can catch them forming Up...we'll stay stationary. to allow your fighters to use us for  AA fire...

 ..Thank You Ironwood....

 Shadow was having  fun, but he was concerned as well... on his  screen, fran's  Howes' and ravens.. the   red lights  showing warning for a lot of their  fighters became more and more evident.

  Listen Up.... screens  show  we have alot of folks hurting... we can take a lot of damage..but  pretty soon we might start losing people... we have to keep thiese fighters here...at least until Captain Nilsson tells us he's done.... fly smart.. try to help each other out  even as he said this.. he   lowered his  nose  and   dove  in the Oppostite directin that  Eckles was climbing  and   shattered a Sundrop with a cannon burst...

Karl pulled up off his attack on the base.  He'd hit three...if the Nivarians had realized the pattern, this would be the dangerous one.  "Eyes open, Ed...if you see anything non-APF lining up on us, I want to hear about it."

To do what he could to minimize his risk, he set a longer approach...something that banked out and around to approach the last base from a different angle.  He rose to ten km altitude, and kept an eye on his targeting screens...at this point, he was after targets of opportunity, something to sow a little more chaos.  HE rounds dropping from miles overhead and off at an angle would be plenty of cause for panic...but he kept his attention limited to military or government targets.

   the Last  Target was to the North, where Frans Had  hit... from his vantage  point  his  screens  showed two 'reddish' encounter zones, where  the Fighters  battles  were taking place.

 the  targets he had  hit showed orange....

    he was  , to the west of the Capitol, that Shadow had chosen to bring war to the politicians and their  families .

  The Maw of the Last  gun was seen off in the distance... he did not see any  aircraft...yet...

  With the  Admiral's orders  given, The  Verians   reacted  with cold dedicated  actions.

   the  nose of the  charon was  angled to break enough of the atmo, as to  clear the Guns, but   enough to keep gravity  from stopping the   massive ship's  escape.4 flights of  6 fighters each, took off from the  Charon's hanger Dec, longer   thin fighters  of Verian make, though they all were  wearing the Colors of the ESN and Flagged as verians.

  A few  fighters  on the   ground were starting to take off... then the Guns of the Charon fired.

  In a few seconds,  large blasts  from Pulse guns  and  Hard ammo rounds  hit into the base... fighters   were tossed around like  toys.. Hangers  were being  hit...meanwhile the    Verian fighters  dived down.. and began to chew up the startled  Nivarians.. the  Nivarians had expected no opposition  until the reached  the   gigantic dog fight... and Now.. they were dying!

 The Gun captains of the  Charon asked how long they shout  fire...  The  General's answer was,...when the  airfield is leveled..and nothing else moves...
This message was last edited by the GM at 02:26, Wed 24 May 2017.

Sundrops were like fireflies darting about taking pot shots at any Dart or Hammer in front of them. Experienced ESN Pilots ducked and wove as they hoped to avoid getting brassed up, and inturn snap shot at Sundrops which swept past the ESN fighters. Justin jinked weaved, climbed and dove, throwing his dart about like a marble in a jar being shaken up by a child; snap shooting at least a score or more Sundrops, that swept past him. G-forces pulled at Justin, compelling him to grit his teeth quite a few times. Fortunately the number of Bandits was dwindling albeit they inturn were impacting on the ESN Flights.
This message was last edited by the player at 21:09, Thu 25 May 2017.

  Howe came on the COMs,..LC?  This  is getting  hairy right now...  there are alot  of   orange lights turning red on my panel...


 ..on mine as well LC...

  I know... But  we just have to  hold out a bit longer until Nilisson is  done... we  can't let the  fighters go hunting...

 In the Mass of aircraft , Justin  would see  blossums  of  Fire,  , even he couldn't tell, most of the time , whether it was from  his guns, a  fighter's Guns, or the Ironwood's AA  guns... Morris would  have his work cut out for him this  time...


   One Sundrop  camp up  under the Ironwood ..firing  from300 yards  away, and  Kept  fireing into  the Ironwood's  Belly as it Got closer...

 Shadow's Left wing  was red on his console .. some  was  drifting  from it, and his left lazar and Pulse  were   out... he  only had a fee cannon rounds left... that would leave him with this right  wing power weapons..

 He fired one of his precious  37mm shell ahead of a sundrop that was  divingtowards the Ironwood's bridge... the shell and   aircraft met  , turning the Sundrop into a  small version of  a  meteorite  as it burned all the way  to the forest below, were  a bigger fire  bloom, set trees afire.

   Eckles   screamed into the  COMs.....Damn Banana got me!... broke  through my  cockpit.. my left leg is hurt...

 ..Eckles.... get to the Ironwood....

 ..but i can...

 ..you can get to the Ironwood...NOW!

 ..Shadow to Ironwood.....  fighters wil start landing when they can';t   go to the Black... if you need room, Put  C-10 in the fighter and push it out of your hanger to be used as  damn big bomb!


  Commander  McKeon Here... we will save what we  can...bump the rest...

 There  were  about 20-25 Sundrops left... but the ESN fighters  were Battered... one of Raven's  fighters    was limping back to the ironwood, staying on top to act as noting more  then a detached AA gun...