Date : 6/24/2673

TCS Manchester,
Ship's Bridge,
On the way to the 119CE system

Wizard and Cannibal laughed over a few drinks, and then, each one of them left to his quarters, leaving the two pilots alone in the bridge. The "United " class shuttle was very small, but it's crew quarters were adequate in size, and very comfortable.

White sat down on his bed. 'That's it "I'm back in the friggin' service"' he thought. After the destruction of the Kilrathi homeworld, the Heepsters retired along with the TCS "Gypsy" and he never thought that they would meet up again. 'Like Boris said, it's going to be like old times', he thought and smiled. Scenes of long ago started entering his mind, and as he poured another Dreamere, his mind started reeling..., 'I remember it like it was yesterday.'

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It was somewhere in the year of 2667, aboard the TCS Gypsy

Date: 1/23/2667

TCS Gypsy
Ship's Bridge
Ophelia System
0815 hours

"You wanted to see me, captain?" Colonel White asked.

"Yes, Colonel. We have a problem" Captain So replied. His eyes were tired, showing that he hadn't been sleeping much lately..

"The Kilrathi?" White said automatically.

"Of course, Wizard, what else...? " A voice boomed from the opening inter-lock doors as Cannibal entered the bridge smiling.

"Mr. Shnitzer, I would appreciate it if you wouldn't disturb us ! ", Captain So snapped (and VERY out of character)

"Aye Aye, captain" Boris turned and walked toward the main view screen.

Hani So continued...

"... as you know, the problem isn't as simple as "The Kilrathi". Colonel, our problem is, that two Kilrathi Light Destroyers and a Carrier are chasing us."

"Our engines were damaged in the last attack, and we can't maintain this speed forever, and you can FORGET about inter-warp mode .....I think they will catch us soon...".

" Lt. Commander, how much time do we have?" He turned his head toward an officer.

"Umm.. we've got 2 hours until the kitties get us" Lt. Commander Steagall, the communications officer, said.

The Captain continued..."Colonel, you and your pilots have GOT to destroy the Kilrathi forces... if you don't, the Gypsy doesn't have a chance ... Good Luck, colonel." The captain said.

"Understood captain."

Wizard left the bridge, and headed for the briefing room. He conducted the briefing quickly, and then he stopped suddenly...eyes very serious..short direct glances at his men.... he knew they had to succeed, but the probability of success was small, and the chance of them not returning was great.

"Milovidov, Werneck and Lowe, the three of you are going to be in my wing today. Please brief your men" ! He stepped back from the briefing stand, while the secondary wing leaders started giving their briefings.

White walked toward the door, while 1st Lieutenant Jesse "Mr Wonderworld" Lowe, Captain Rodrigo "Stargazer" Werneck and Major Vladimir "Impaler" Milovidov joined him. White motioned Jesse over...

"Jess..." he started...."I.....This is......."

"I know, Dave..." Jesse interrupted. Lowe could see that White was fully aware that they were against all odds, in this one.

"Jess... " White started again. "Hani is very worried....I can tell...When we started this thing...this crew...it was like we knew that we had only one shot to make it happen... I know how alone we were once, and I remember all we went through forming this team...."

Jesse hadn't seen Wizard EVER so serious.... "If something should happen to me......you'll contact Carol and the kids for me....before the service does....ok? Tell her that all my tapes are in the vault, and there is one that she should listen to ....it is labelled....W.I.T.D.....OK, my friend?"

"Nothing is going to happen, Dave....we will kick some Kilrathi ASS on this one...and after we get back....you and I will drink till we drop.....!!" Jesse smiled, and extended his hand to his friend, and his commander.

"Thanks Jess," Dave said..." Remember....W.I.T.D...." and they shook hands, turned, and proceeded to the elevator behind thier men.

The pilots headed directly to the elevator, and after waiting a few seconds, they reached the flight deck. Chief Tech Alex "Mr Majestic" Gitlin was waiting for them in the flight deck.

"Hello Alex. What are we flying today?" Wizard asked.

Alex snapped a salute. "Hello Colonel. You and 1st Lieutenant Lowe will fly Longbows, while Captain Werneck and Major Milovidov will fly Thunderbolts.

"Hmm... it seems that we have a lot of firepower today, huh?" Milovidov smiled.

"We need it, I think..." Lowe replied.

"Oh, and Colonel Your Longbow is outfitted with a special missile ordnance. You have 6 Torpedoes and 8 Image-Recognition missiles instead of the usual 4 Torpedoes and 16 normal missiles. OK?" Mr Majestic said, Smiling.

"Check, thanks Chief"....White replied... "Let's do it !...Let's kick some Kilrathi butt!" Wizard shouted.

White and Lowe entered their Longbows' , while Werneck and Milovidov climbed two ladders and entered their cockpits.

"-Colonel White, you and your wingmen are cleared for takeoff-" They heard Steagall's voice.

The 4 pilots pressed on their "afterburners" button, and the fighters quickly got out of the TCS Gypsy.

"Roger Mac...."

"God Speed, Dave" Mac replied....

"Rod...stay close...keep alert....watch your tail"...White almost ORDERED him ....

"Vlad.....keep on your toes, stay tight !!!"

"Jesse...remember !"

Suddenly like magic, 3 orange dots appeared on their radar screens.

"2 light destroyers and one carrier in radar range." Stargazer said.

"Roger, Rod" "They haven't launched their fighters yet" Lowe looked at his radar and said.

"Wrong" here they come" Impaler saw a few red dots on his radar....

"We have 3..no 4...NO... 5 Drathis at 12 o'clock!" Wonderworld shouted.

"LET'S ROCK!!!!" Stargazer shouted.

"Cut the chatter...stay calm...call out positions...." White commanded...

"OK, this is it...here's the plan...Vlad and Rod, you go after the fighters, Jess and I will head for the carrier and destroyers; we'll hit' em with the torpedoes.... Understood?" Wizard's voice was nervous.

"Roger that, Wizard." Impaler said. "Roger." Stargazer said. Rod and Vlad peeled off, and the 2 Thunderbolts started moving toward the Dralthis.

Impaler switched his forward guns to full synchronized mode. "ooh, that's gonna hurt you, furballs!!! " He laughed. He got a lock on one Dralthi, and when the Dralthi was in range, Vlad fired a full barrage with sustained fire. The Dralthi blew up in a few seconds, and Impaler sung to himself "And then we danced on silver wings, upon a gilded thread..." as he started targeting another target.

Meanwhile, Stargazer was attacked simultaneously by 3 Dralthis. He armed one IR (Image-Recognition) missile. He waited until he got a lock. The lock was positive only after a few seconds, but these seconds seemed to last as hours, as the Dralthis kept pounding him.

His shields dropped to 12%. He pressed on the "launch" button, and the missile lept toward the Dralthi....The missle hit DEAD ON ! The Dralthi wasn't destroyed, bur Stargazer's sensors indicated critical damage to the Dralthi's armor.

Wizard and Mr. Wonderworld both selected Torpedo's . They knew that one torpedo might not be enough to destroy the carrier, so they both tried to get a lock ...

The two Longbows approached the carrier, while the carrier launched another squadron of fighters.

"Kitties at your 12 o'clock, Longbows " Impaler said, sending the transmission only to Wizard and Mr. Wonderworld.

"We see them, 2 Dralthis, 2 Vaktoths and 4 Darkets, it doesn't look good...SHIT !!! "

Jess!!!....Hang in there ...the backup force will be here soon... I hope" Wizard said.

20,000 clicks to the carrier. Wonderworld sounded very nervous, as the Drakets and Dralthis started attacking. The Vakthoths didn't reach them yet, because of their underpowered powerplants, but when they get here, it will be hell for the Longbows. Twisting, turning, using every trick they ever learned to stay alive, the Thunderbolts succeeded in destroying the 6 Dralthis that attacked them. It was a classic battle, and they were drenchd in persperation. Wearily, but charged with adrenelyn ,they both headed toward the Longbows, in order to help them against the defending fighters.

15, 000 clicks to the carrier. " Torpedo lock sequence activated." Wonderworld and Wizard reached torpedo range, but now, the Vakthoths started firing at them.

"Colonel! What should we do??? If we'll try to evade the Vakthoths, we'll lose the lock!" Wonderworld shouted.

"Rod,Vlad....get over here !!!! We need help! The Vak's are on us !!" Wizard sounded like he discovered something....

"Sacrifice, the future has it's price ..." he sung,

"...and today is only yesterday's tomorrow  ", he heard Jesse's voice joining him on the radio link.

"Jesse, let'em get on your tail, but whatever you do don't let'em get a lock...then, nail 'em with your rear cannon!"

"Roger..." Wonderworld and Wizard flew toward the carrier. 'only 5 more seconds for a torpedo lock' Wizard started seeing images of his family...they were clouding his mind...'Have to get back on track !!!' He thought.

8,000 clicks to the carrier, "We're in their gun rannge we can't stop now! We HAVE TO GET THAT LOCK !!!!" Wizard shouted, as the Laser turrets on the carrier started firing at him. Every light and sensor in his cockpit went off at the same time, it seemed....there was a new system on board that used soft logic to predict where the next attacking threat would be coming from. There was so much armament being launched toward them, that the new system simply froze up...usless now, and no way to clear it...he would have to evade destruction without the aid of radar..

" LOCK! - LAUNCHING TORPEDO!" Wizard shouted.

"Torpedo away!" Wonderworld also declared.

They both saw the large missiles moving toward the carrier, and the defending turrets tried to intercept the missiles, but without any success. Both of the missiles hit the center of the carrier, and multiple explosions started erupting on the carrier's surface. Without warning, and as if in slow motion, a huge explosion appeared near the fighters. A blinding light engulfed them for a few seconds and then all that was left of the carrier was a bulk, floating in space.

As the elctronics slowley came back on in the cockpits, and the screens flickered, Wizard and Wonderworld rolled thier crafts over and headed back to thier comrades. There were only 3 Darkets left fighting the Thunderbolts. From a distance, they saw the 2 light destroyers, moving toward them.

"Nice Job, Wonderworld. Let's help them until the destroyers get here." Wizard said.

Destroying the Darkets wasn't a problem, their thin shields and armor were penetrated quickly, and the Darkets were destroyed in a few seconds. When the destroyers reached 15,000 clicks from the Thunderbolts and Longbows, it was a turkey shoot ! Impaler, Stargazer, Wizard and Wonderworld were ready with their remaining torpedoes. At 10,000 clicks from the destroyer,they locked... Then, the four fighters launched their torpedoes. The missiles started moving in space, toward the destroyers. Wonderworld was reminded of the fire works displays he saw as a child in Brazil...on Earth. One torpedo was intercepted by a turret gunfire, the 3 remaining torpedoes found their targets, and eliminated the two destroyers.

15 minutes later, they were near the TCS Gypsy. White was truly suprised he was still alive....

"White to Gypsy, 4 tired Heepsters requesting clearance to land." Wizard said.

"You got it, colonel! Great job!" Steagall's voice came from the other side of the communications port.

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Wizard heard an explosion that caused him to stop remembering those days.

"WHAT'S GOING ON ?!?!!?!?!" Wizard shouted, as the room started rocking. The door opened, and Cannibal entered.

"The shuttle is under attack...". Cannibal looked amused.

" Boris....", he snapped..."let's go...we have work to do..."

Wizard stood up and looked through the window. A few Razor fighters were flying around the shuttle. He saw the shuttle surface from the window. The damage was already apparent

'Damn, Clown' (he thought..) ...."Come'on !"