Arriving at the next airbase, CG, Cole, Kaveman and Connor headed into the facility as their Arwings were rolled into the hanger to be serviced.

General Pepper talked to them over a secured viewscreen channel, updating them on the enemy situation in the quadrant.

They grabbed a quick meal and headed back to their ships, ready to take on an attack carrier that had been spotted 350kms northwest of their position.

Geared up and rarin' to go, Kaveman's team shot out of the hanger, and smoothly accelerated to Mach 2, ready to engage this latest enemy. There was about 4 hours of daylight left, plenty of time to take out the carrier and make the next base before nightfall.

"Ok, guys." Kaveman said over the commlink, "Options?"

They were cruising far above the clouds in tight formation, high enough that the horizon ahead was slightly curved to either side.

"I think we should go for separate targets." Cole said.

"Naw," CG said, "only one target's gonna be accessible at a time. I think we should keep one ship targeting the engines and the other three work on gettin' those launch arms."

"Yeah," Connor said, "it's going to be sending ships and missiles out at us, so we need someone to go after whatever comes out of it."

Kaveman considered for a moment.

"Ok," he said, "Cole, I want you to take out the engines. Connor, you and I are gonna take out the arms. CG, you're gonna hafta watch our backs."

"Got it." CG said.

Connor looked out her side window with a thumbs-up.

Kaveman, glancing over, nodded. No word from Cole.

"Cole?" Kaveman inquired. "You copy that?"

Kaveman looked over at Cole's ship.

Cole glanced at him, momentarily.

"How come I get the engines??" he complained.

"Oh Hell, Cole!!" Connor interrupted, angrily. "Shit! If you're gonna whine about it, I'LL take the damned engines!"

They started in on each other over the headsets, until Kaveman had had enough.

There was immediate dead silence. Kaveman took a deep breath, counting silently to ten. "Look..." he said, with quiet menace, "Like it or not, I'M giving the orders on this mission. If you don't like my call, we can discuss it later, one on one... COLE..."

He paused, but no one said a word. Kaveman continued.

"Connor, you're with me. Cole, you're gonna target the engines, and CG, you know what to do. Is... That... Clear??"

"Yep." CG said.

"Affirmative..." Connor replied.

"...Aye, Mon Cap.. i... TAN." Cole responded sarcastically.

Kaveman just shook his head to himself.

After about 2 hours, they closed in on the coordinates of the attack carrier and descended below the cloud deck, leveling out and dropping speed. The enemy target was visible in front of them, looming like a metallic mountain, far bigger than any of them had anticipated.

"Oh, Shit!" CG said, echoing everyone's thoughts.

"Ok," Kaveman said, switching to guns, "break and take position."

Cole hit afterburners and sped off to the right, making a wide arc to flank the carrier. Kaveman went high, allowing Connor to cut under him as CG pulled back on his throttle. Banking high to see over Kaveman and Connor, CG hung back to target the guided missiles that shot out of a huge suspended hanger on the side of the carrier toward them. Kaveman and Connor, as they opened fire on the housing, pulling up in unison to bank around and come in again, outrunning the missiles as CG tagged them.

A huge red glow lit up the sky behind the enemy ship, accompanied by a muffled boom. Cole was smartbombing the engine section and the great craft shuddered with the impact as Kaveman, Connor and CG concentrated on bombarding the fore section.

On their fourth pass, two ships shot out of the damaged hanger, targeting Connor, who held ground and tagged one, then broke away on afterburners, with the remaining ship in close pursuit.

Kaveman fired another volley into the hangar, banking sharply, and the section exploded, breaking completely away from the main body of the ship and exploding again as it hit the ground.

CG was close on the ship on Connor's tail, and snagged it as it opened up on her. Kaveman swung around in time to see Connor fire retros, dropping low and back, as the enemy and CG shot over her. CG connected with his guns again and the enemy exploded, debris spinning in all directions as the wreck cartwheeled, and CG rolled sharply to avoid the flak.

Connor had doubled back and Kaveman caught up with her as they targeted the next section of the giant ship, another huge hangar that rotated around and shot more guided missiles straight at them.

Connor gunned her engines and opened up on the supports that held the suspended section to the craft. Kaveman was forced to pull evasive as the two missiles locked on to him. CG swung around hard to shadow the bombs following Kaveman, fragging one.

Connor, still firing, pulled up sharp, just short of the body of the carrier, curving over and nearly stalling before she could level out and make another pass.

Kaveman, shouting a warning to CG, having spotted two more missiles launch from the enemy, led the missile that was still locked on him on a wide arc, cutting in, straight toward the huge ship.

CG went after the new missiles as Kaveman shot cleanly through the struts attaching the hangar, with mere inches to spare on all sides of his Arwing. The missile on his tail wasn't as lucky, however, and smashed into the hangar, blowing it right off the housing.

Kaveman jammed afterburners, as the huge fireball narrowly missed engulfing him. Another explosion came from the aft section, as Cole, not letting up, finally blew the engine section.

Connor had been coming around to throw another pass when the engine section blew and not able to avoid the debris rocketing toward her, took a hard hit, shearing her starboard wing clean off. Cole, pulling up behind her, took out a missile that had launched from the third suspended hangar and had been coming right for her from the side. Connor, working hard to compensate for the drag caused by the damage on her ship, called out grateful thanks to Cole, who, for once, happily acknowledged.

CG and Kaveman teamed up to take out the last suspended hangar and both in formation, they cut in sharply to fire and withdraw. Cole and Connor, banking around from the back, took off after the ramdom missiles that still emerged from the hold, chasing them down.

Kaveman pulled a smartbomb on the hangar as CG lined up with Cole to take on the main body as the last hangar blew straight off to the side, unexpectedly, nearly taking Kaveman with it.

Connor soared over the blast to see if Kaveman had gotten clean away. Spotting him, she cut down to meet up with him as he swung around, singe marks covering his ship, having barely cleared the explosion.

CG and Cole were cutting in and out, dodging huge fiery bombs that rocketed from a central port on the front of the carrier. Immobile now with its engines blown, it was easy pickings for them to shoot down the craft's gullet.

Suddenly, a huge streak of flame shot out of the aft vent and Kaveman yelled at Cole and CG to get the hell out of there. CG and Cole didn't argue, climbing swiftly and jamming afterburners full throttle as Connor and Kaveman followed suit. Five seconds later, the entire attack carrier exploded in a mountainous eruption that shot debris miles in every direction. Kaveman and his team barely outran the concussive shock wave that followed, climbing up into the clouds, shouting cheers and congratulations to each other as they chased the setting sun west, heading for the next airbase.

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