elements, and then, like before, the front-most elements dove at the Dingoes. Jordo and Paladin were still out front and he could see the bandits lining up behind the ones diving at him. They were all preparing to attack, one after the other. It was like looking up into a serial firing squad that planned to shoot them one bunch at a time.
They'd be inside effective range any second. Jordo thumbed comms to Paladin, "Lancer 2-2, hit the brakes." He and Paladin tapped reverse thrusters so they slowed. This close to the enemy, the Dingoes didn't slow with Jordo and Paladin. Dingo after Dingo shot past their Bitzers and tore across the black to sink their teeth in the Squidies.
"Time to go." Jordo and Paladin turned and bugged out, making it appear as if they were letting the drones fight the red bandits without them. Moments after they blasted away, the carnage began.
The aliens' lead element tore across the front edge of the Dingo pack and ran them through. The particle beams shot out the backs of three drones' hulls. It was happening just like before. This was how the Squidy aces had chewed the hell out of the drones the last time.
The red bandits' spinning saw-blade formation cut halfway through the Dingo pack in just seconds. In a few seconds more, the rolling front of destruction would reach the F-151s and the Lancers hiding in the rear. When Jordo saw the first alien fighters to strike at the drones had flown all the way back to the top of the formation and the Squidies were now fully locked in their a spinning saw-blade formation, he called: "Geronimo, Geronimo. Break! Break! Break!"
Comms filled with war-cries as the Lancers dropped out the bottom of the Dingo pack. The Squidy pilots never saw the Lancers until the 133rd were inside the aliens' formation.
Jordo and Paladin and the Lancers launched a mass of fire so thick and wide that by the time the enemy saw it coming, it was too late. Three of the bandits shuddered and spun, hammered hard by the Lancers' shells. They cooked off in quick flashes that warned the rest of the alien squadron, but the Lancers were already inside the Squidies' circle. Jordo pulled his nose up to follow its curve. Just beyond the enemy fighter in his targeting reticule was another enemy fighter and beyond that one was another. All around the circle, they were all lined up for the kill.
The Lancers raked fire across three Squidies and three more after that. Jordo thought they had to be stunned because only at this point did the alien pilots show any response to what was happening. The bandits closest to the remaining two-dozen Dingo 111s tried to spin on their jets and blast out to the side to engage the Bitzers instead, but the Dingoes followed them, autocannon blazing. It kept the Squidies from putting their streams on the Lancers for a few more seconds.
Three more alien fighters turned into flashes of hot gas and debris before the bandits could break and reform. Now, Jordo liked the odds better: 12 red bandits vs. 19 Lancers and almost two dozen drones. The Lancers had the advantage. "Follow me in, Paladin."
"I'm on your 4 o'clock, a half-second back," he said.
Jordo threw fire at three bandits he saw coming around the outside of the furball trying to get on the tails of Lancer Flight Five. Two of the aliens broke away to port and the other shot off to starboard. A three-bandit-element dusted Monty and Pick before six drones closed on the alien flight leader together and wiped him from the sky. The other two Squidies dodged fire from Holdout and Dirty, rolled, and then rotated on their jets to face Jordo and Paladin. Lancers 2-1 and 2-2 spun on their jets and spat tongues of fire from 12 cannon. Their shells ripped down the waving alien streams that groped for them.
Jordo fired and screamed and fired until an alien particle stream stabbed its way through his canopy. The kinetic force of the nuclei hitting it shattered the diamond-pane and punched a hole through the back of the
They'd be inside effective range any second. Jordo thumbed comms to Paladin, "Lancer 2-2, hit the brakes." He and Paladin tapped reverse thrusters so they slowed. This close to the enemy, the Dingoes didn't slow with Jordo and Paladin. Dingo after Dingo shot past their Bitzers and tore across the black to sink their teeth in the Squidies.
"Time to go." Jordo and Paladin turned and bugged out, making it appear as if they were letting the drones fight the red bandits without them. Moments after they blasted away, the carnage began.
The aliens' lead element tore across the front edge of the Dingo pack and ran them through. The particle beams shot out the backs of three drones' hulls. It was happening just like before. This was how the Squidy aces had chewed the hell out of the drones the last time.
The red bandits' spinning saw-blade formation cut halfway through the Dingo pack in just seconds. In a few seconds more, the rolling front of destruction would reach the F-151s and the Lancers hiding in the rear. When Jordo saw the first alien fighters to strike at the drones had flown all the way back to the top of the formation and the Squidies were now fully locked in their a spinning saw-blade formation, he called: "Geronimo, Geronimo. Break! Break! Break!"
Comms filled with war-cries as the Lancers dropped out the bottom of the Dingo pack. The Squidy pilots never saw the Lancers until the 133rd were inside the aliens' formation.
Jordo and Paladin and the Lancers launched a mass of fire so thick and wide that by the time the enemy saw it coming, it was too late. Three of the bandits shuddered and spun, hammered hard by the Lancers' shells. They cooked off in quick flashes that warned the rest of the alien squadron, but the Lancers were already inside the Squidies' circle. Jordo pulled his nose up to follow its curve. Just beyond the enemy fighter in his targeting reticule was another enemy fighter and beyond that one was another. All around the circle, they were all lined up for the kill.
The Lancers raked fire across three Squidies and three more after that. Jordo thought they had to be stunned because only at this point did the alien pilots show any response to what was happening. The bandits closest to the remaining two-dozen Dingo 111s tried to spin on their jets and blast out to the side to engage the Bitzers instead, but the Dingoes followed them, autocannon blazing. It kept the Squidies from putting their streams on the Lancers for a few more seconds.
Three more alien fighters turned into flashes of hot gas and debris before the bandits could break and reform. Now, Jordo liked the odds better: 12 red bandits vs. 19 Lancers and almost two dozen drones. The Lancers had the advantage. "Follow me in, Paladin."
"I'm on your 4 o'clock, a half-second back," he said.
Jordo threw fire at three bandits he saw coming around the outside of the furball trying to get on the tails of Lancer Flight Five. Two of the aliens broke away to port and the other shot off to starboard. A three-bandit-element dusted Monty and Pick before six drones closed on the alien flight leader together and wiped him from the sky. The other two Squidies dodged fire from Holdout and Dirty, rolled, and then rotated on their jets to face Jordo and Paladin. Lancers 2-1 and 2-2 spun on their jets and spat tongues of fire from 12 cannon. Their shells ripped down the waving alien streams that groped for them.
Jordo fired and screamed and fired until an alien particle stream stabbed its way through his canopy. The kinetic force of the nuclei hitting it shattered the diamond-pane and punched a hole through the back of the
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