Dogfighter Gospel
created by Damien Phoenix and Phoebe
this chapter by Phoebe

Log Six: Counterpoint and Harmony

"What... what do we do?" Ayako asked, her eyes darting from Nadia to
Kenji to Jake in turn. She felt her heartbeat speed up. This was nothing
like combat, where she only had to worry about herself, and maybe her
comrades. She suddenly felt the weight of thousands of innocent lives
settle on her shoulders and shuddered. "Why Eros, anyway?" she asked,
trying to distract herself. "I mean, it's not a Fleet base, there's no
ships there."

"Morale, Ayako," Jacob said distantly. Ayako winced. His hands were
clenching into fists and relaxing again, over and over. "It's family
housing. High percentage of officer's families. It's also a 'safe'
settlement." His face was completely blank of any emotion. "Just like
Cybele was." 

Ayako tentatively reached out a hand but flinched back when he jerked
away. 

"Sir," Jacob continued, never stopping the continual motion of his
hands. "I must insist that we immediately inform Fleet of the attack."

"I agree," Nadia said calmly.

Kenji nodded. "I had already decided to do so," he said, his tone
absolutely neutral.

Ayako gasped, then jumped when they all looked at her. "I... well, won't
we be caught and court-martialed?"

"I consider that a small price to pay, Pilot," Kenji said coolly. He
clapped his hands sharply. "Launch in T-minus 10 minutes, people. We get
the communication parts from Holliday and we inform Fleet."

"It is very probable that Fleet will not heed a warning from supposed
outlaws and traitors," Nadia pointed out.

Kenji nodded. "Very true, Lieutenant. Therefore, we will head for Eros
ourselves. The Gospel should be considerably faster than the enemy
ships."

"The Delta Darts are fast," Jacob murmured.

Kenji nodded, a sharp jerk of his head. "But from my previous
experience, the transport ships are not. We get to Eros, and if the
Fleet hasn't sent anyone, we slow them down as much as we can and take
out their main package. Whatever it is." He smiled humourlessly. "At
least if we die in glorious battle we'll save Fleet the expense of a
trial."

"We need more information on the enemy," Nadia said, almost to herself.

Kenji shot her a sharp look. "I'll be sure to mention that to the judge
before he sentences us, Nadia," he said dryly.
He glanced at his watch. "T-minus eight. Let's move it." He and Nadia
jogged down the corridor, their footsteps echoing loudly.

Ayako waited until they were gone. She took a deep breath and turned to
Jacob as he made sure his fighter was securely fastened. "Jake," she
began, but he whirled on her before she had a chance to continue.

"Don't call me Jake," he forced out through gritted teeth, his eyes
glinting dangerously. "Right now, Ayako, it's a very stupid thing to
do."

Ayako automatically flinched back at the censure, then straightened,
fists clenched tight by her sides. This had to be said.

"Jacob, then," she said, her voce as level as she could make it. "You
have to let it go, Jacob."

He froze. She could see the muscles standing beneath his uniform,
chiseled, hard, and tense. Very tense. She swallowed hard, feeling her
resolve weaken and desperately shoring it up again.

"I... well, what happened to your parents... it's always affected your
fighting." She floundered, unsure of what to say next. Why hadn't she
planned this out in her head beforehand?

"Made me better," Jacob said distantly. "More determined."

"Driven," Ayako said softly. "You've done some fairly crazy things in
battle, you know. Taken risks."

Jacob hesitated, then nodded, his jaw set. "I won't let you down in the
fight," he said quietly. "I... won't do anything crazy. Now can we drop
it?"

"It's not about me," Ayako argued. "It's about you. I don't want you
getting killed because of revenge or anger or hatred or whatever it is
that drives you out there. You're good, Jake... ob. Very, very good. But
when you go craz-"

He slammed his fist into a panel and she knew she'd gone too far. "Drop
it!" he ordered.

"Okay," she said softly. "Okay, I'll drop it. Just... think about it,
okay?" And she turned on her heel and walked towards the bridge, digging
her nails into her hands to force the tears back down.

* * * * *

Commander Aaron Belles stared at the communique in unashamed slack-jawed
astonishment. The ensign behind him fidgeted nervously. 

"I... thought that I should get it to you immediately, sir," she said
hesitantly.

Belles nodded absently. "This came through normal Fleet channels, you
say?" he asked.

The ensign nodded. "Yes, sir. It wasn't encoded at all."

"You didn't show it to anyone else?"

The ensign shook her head.

"All right. Thank you, Mister. You may go."

Belles barely registered the ensign's departure, focusing entirely on
the slip of paper in his hand. This was either the biggest example of
bare-faced gall in his entire thirty year Fleet career. Or it was
genuine. The second possibility scared him more.

He paced back and forth, trying to think. It was probably a trap. Warn
them of a fictitious attack, pull ships from other stations, launch a
surprise attack when their attention was elsewhere. But then... why
would it come from this source? Unless the sheer ludicrousness of it was
a trick to throw him off guard...

Belles cursed. Eros was mere hours away from Cadence. He could lead an
attack force there within a day. But he had to decide now. Any delay was
potentially fatal for the inhabitants of Eros. Of course, if this was a
trap, how many more would die?

He cursed again and flipped a switch, groping for the young ensign's
name. "Ensign... Marle."

"Yes, sir?"

"This is to go to all Fleet stations and ships. Quote possible enemy
attack, specific target unknown, yellow alert until further notice
unquote."

"Yes, sir." She hesitated, and he heard her suck in a deep breath.
"...anything else, sir?"

"Not at present, Mister." He paused. "When does your shift end?"

"At 0900 hours, sir."

Belles checked the timepiece. "Stay on duty, Ensign. I may have further
messages later."

Her voice quickened. "Yes, sir!"

Belles flicked the com unit off and stared out the window, black eyes
staring away into nothing. He had perhaps two hours to decide.

* * * * *

Kyle smiled nastily as Eros rose up on his viewscreen.

"Any sign of Fleet, Jill?" he called casually.

He knew she was grinning wolfishly by the tone of her reply. "Not a
beep, boss."

A dull gleam was the only sign of the small grouping of ships as they
plied through the vacuum between them and Eros, distant sunlight off of
gunmetal grey. They hung there for a while long, seemingly motionless
without a point of reference to judge movement against. Conviently, one
presented itself.

"Eros is on the screens, boss. Looks like we slipped in under their
radar, too. It'll take them a while to scramble anything besides
front-line, and their front-line is nothing to worry about."

A small smile crossed Kyle face. "Good," he gloated before slipping on
his facemask. Taking a moment to acclimate to the new breathing rhythym
required, he then barked out, "Red Two, Red Five! Sweep out, cover high
starboard! Red Prime, Red Four, Red Three! You're on clean-up patrol.
Make sure their defence forces won't be a problem. Everyone else, make
sure nothing hits our stork; we've gotta make delivery!"

A throaty laugh was his reply, ringing out hollowly through the speakers
for private communications. "You always sound so serious like that,
boss. Been studying some old movies? Some... cliched old movies?"

"Yeah yeah, Jill. Do y' mind? I'm trying to organize an attack, here."

"Don't mind me. Just mind those cute little dragonflies that are zipping
towards us."

"Flies?" An incredulous laugh burst out despite Kyle's best efforts,
going out across the standard channels. There was a short pause, then
the rest of his ragtag fleet began to chuckle along with him at the Eros
defence force. A soft metallic click let him know that Jill had sent
their laughter towards the advancing defenders; after a momentary flash
of annoyance, he sat back and grinned. Let them hear.

"You are in violation of the Eros base boundaries, as denoted by
settlement laws AP-008, section 3. Please depart peacefully, or we will
be forced to attack with deadly force." The young male voice was calm,
despite the situation. Kyle almost had to admire the kid's bravery. The
tiny defence force he was leading had absolutely no chance.

"You're so polite," Kyle shot back, admiration remarkably devoid from
his voice. "We'll try not to make too big a mess when we splatter your
ships across the stars, then. I know you'd hate to have a mess around
with company here."

"Cliched..." Jill reminded him.

"Oh, shut up. Red Prime through Five, fire at will! Gold, hold back
until the first wave is complete, then Prime through Three advance!
Let's make this delivery! And Black Prime, stay back slow and steady,
let's not jostle the baby. Don't say a WORD, Jill."

"Shutting up," she cheerfully replied as she eased her stick forward,
the Delta Dart she controlled moving into a slow, predatory arc. Two
more Darts followed behind, exhaust flares burning in sudden, random
bursts. They moved past her, being then trailed themselves by the rest
of the named ships. Leaving behind Jill, Kyle, and the unnamed ship, the
group flew slowly ahead, the Eros settlement growing larger in their
screens.

"Boss," Jill said, her voice quietly intent.

"Yeah?" Kyle asked, watching with satisfaction as the first defenders
exploded into fiery sparks.

"Look to your left, boss. Someone wants to join the party."

Kyle sent a quick glance out of the window and froze.

"Oh, shit..." he groaned. The gun-metal grey destroyer was advancing on
them, insignia clear. "Those bastards. How the hell did they know?" He
cursed under his breath. Dealing with a Fleet taskforce was *not* under
the scope of this mission. "Jill, sound the re- Wait. Wait... what's the
readings?"

"One destroyer, a few dogfighters," Jill's voice was slightly puzzled.
"We... shit, boss. We outnumber them about three-to-two."

Kyle's breath caught sharply before he let it out in a whistle that
echoed harshly through his mask. "They made a mistake," he said softly,
grin spreading over his face. "Somehow." He barked out a laugh. "Red
Three, Red Four, finish off the Eros force. Red prime, Red Two, Red Five
and Gold squadron! Get your butts over here on the double! We got us a
Fleet fish to fry!" He enjoyed the wild yelping from his people as they
sped towards their positions, then toggled the switch shut.

"How we doing, Jill?" he muttered.

The woman's voice was fiercely exultant. "They don't have a prayer,
boss."

For a moment, nothing seemed to happen. Then, with the last piece moving
into place, the unspoken command between both fleets was followed to
open fire. The tiny streaks of energy bullets buzzed back and forth
between the Darts and Flies, tiny points of yellow made larger upon
impact. Those points were marked by blossoms of fire where they struck
vital areas, but not a single one bloomed on the lone black-lettered
ship in the fleet. 

Black prime cruised implacably forward, its pilot handling the stick
with almost fearful caution. The monitors were watched, as one red dot
after another dropped away. Slowly, very slowly, the pilot relaxed,
assured that the deadly cargo in the bay would stay in place until
needed.

That was, until the big red dot moved implacably forward.

"Shit," Kyle muttered. "Did I not TELL you people to watch for the
destroyer? I think I did. Leave the dogfighters, get your asses over
there, and-" he hesitated. The dogfighters were directly between Eros
and Black. "Shit!" 

"Golds, break off and handle the destroyer," another voice broke
through. "Reds, keep on the dogfighters and clear a path for Black. When
it's open, head over and work on the destroyer as well."

"Don't overstep your bounds, Jill," Kyle growled.

"You're the boss," she casually replied.

*  *  *  *  *

Aaron Belles smiled as the massive green dot appeared on his monitor.
"They've been practicing. Used to take them two more minutes to scramble
that thing." He frowned slightly, then added, "Have any of those three
hanging back done anything?"

"...Negative. We're guessing it's the commander and his XO; a reasonable
guess for the third would be the bomb carrier."

Belles pondered this. "We know it's a bomb?"

"Well, no, sir, but that's the assumption. The Gospel crew apperently
delivered the last part for something. We assumed a bomb..."

"Hmm," Belles gave for a response. "Well, this doesn't look like
anything too dangerous. I think we can tell the rest of the fleet to
head back to the base; this small a threat doesn't need them all. We
have, what, four with us?"

"Yes sir."

"Fine, fine. Give the order to attack." As she quietly relayed the order
through the comm channels, Belles frowned. It seemed a bit odd. A bomb
just needed one good shot to be fired off, and that ship had had plenty
of opportunities. Unless it was a particuarly unstable bomb, in which
case it would need to be planted by hand... so then why wasn't it
advancing before any more defenders could be scrambled? There weren't
many bombs around that couldn't take at least that amount of jostling.

Looking for answers in the green and red patterns on his monitor,
Belles' eyes suddenly widened. "Dammit. DAMMIT! Get everyone moving
forward now; we need to slam that ship before it can get any closer.
Vaporize the damn thing!"

"Sir?"

He stabbed his finger towards the outline of the Eros station, motioning
towards the projected trajectory of the enemies. "A bomb would go for
the energy sources, or the shield generators. They're heading for
climate control."

The ensign shook her head at him, showing her lack of comprehension.
Belles leaned forwad towards the stars ahead, as if his change in weight
distribution could along make the ship move more rapidly. "Which means a
biological weapon. They'll dump it in the vents, and it'll be all
through the station in a matter of minutes. How many ships do we have?

"Fifteen more are hanging back, sir, but they're nearly thirty minutes
away."

"Well, why the hell are they back there?!"

"...those were the orders you gave, sir," she squeaked up, looking up at
him.

"Well, start picking them off, then."

"Sir, they're buzzing the surface of Eros. If we fire and miss..."

Belles ran his hands over his dark features, a sick feeling growing in
his stomach. It would seem that he had made a mistake.

"Take the black out," he said, the sick feeling rising into his throat
and making him force out the next words. "At any cost."

"Sir?" the ensign gasped. "A suic-"

"Do it!" he barked, cutting her off. "If we drive straight at them,
there's no way they can avoid it. Squadron X, adv-"

"Not just yet, Commander!" The new voice tugged at the back of Belles'
memory even as the Whitehawks darted into view, heading straight for the
enemy ship.

"St Claire?" he asked, straightening.

"And the lovely Tong! At your service, sir, and ready to kick some enemy 
butt. Yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee-haw!"

"Hold off suicide attack!" Belles ordered. If those girls could pull it 
off...

* * * * *

"We can't pull it off," Jiang said calmly, diving smoothly and letting
loose a salvo at the Dart on Kassidy's tail.

Louise rocked to the side as Kassidy pulled her ship out of the backlash
of the explosion. "Thanks," she gasped, her breathing sounding ragged
even through Jiang's headset. "Jiang-"

"Two bandits at three o'clock!" Jiang interrupted sharply, pulling her
stick back towards her stomach and arcing upwards.

"Damnit!" Kassidy groaned. "They won't let us near the bomb ship!" She
fired three long-range missiles in succession at one of the approaching
Darts and cursed as it ducked under them, relentlessly advancing.
"Jiang! If I run interference, can you get close enough to take out the
target?" Her tone was flat and grim.

Jiang set her teeth. "I can try," she said softly. She paused. "It's
been an honour flying with you, Kass."

"Likewise," the other woman acknowledged, her Whitehawk flipping to a
position on Jiang's wing. The Darts were rapidly approaching their
firing range. "And now that I'm about to bite the big one, you have to
indulge me. Are you ready, Thelma?"

The Chinese girl bit her lip as sudden tears came to her eyes. "I'm
ready, Lou-"

"Hot DAMN!" Kassidy exploded, as two very familiar fighters suddenly
appeared on the Dart's tails. "It's those damn traitors! I'm taking at
least one of them out before I'm blasted! Go! Jiang, go!"

The Chinese girl shot forward, her face set grimly. She was so intent on
the slow-moving enemy ship inching its way ever closer to the Eros
climate controls that she almost missed the shower of sparks as a Dart
exploded.

"Good shot, Kass!" she yelled, her voice hoarse as the tears streamed
down her cheeks.

"...that wasn't me, Jiang..." the older woman replied, her voice
puzzled. Her tone abruptly sharpened. "Hey! What the hell are you
playing at, buddy?"

Jiang risked a glance over her shoulder, gasping as she saw the Mantis
to her right. It abruptly flipped over her, shooting at the Dart
advancing from her left, then resumed a flanking position.

"What's going on here?" she muttered, dimly registering another
explosion behind her.

"Lieutenant Jacob Heath, at your service," a crisp voice replied. "While
my partner and yours keep those bandits off our backs, I thought you and
I might like to interrupt a certain package delivery."

Kassidy whooped. "You do that, sugar, and I'll speak up for you in court
myself. Miss, we got two sneakin' up behind us. I'll take the left, you
take the right. If you touch my partner, Jake, I'm gonna blow yours into
paste. We clear?"

"Crystal."

"Good. Go."

Jiang felt a fierce grin go over her face. "Well, Mr Heath, I've seen
you against your own people. How good are you against theirs?"

"Better," Jacob replied, his voice dry. "Much, much better. Shall we?"

The two dived in unison, the roar of their engines doing nothing to
disguise the twin yelps of glee as Kassidy and Ayako found their
targets.

* * * * *

Kyle swore nastily as the Mantis and the Whitehawk bore down on them.
The other odd pairing was making mincemeat out of his Darts and there
was no other back-up. How the hell had it all gone so wrong?

"Black Prime! Can you move any faster?" he barked.

"We're pushing optimal speed now, sir," a trembling voice replied. 

"Damnit, son! If that Whitehawk gets here..." He gritted his teeth.
"Jill. We got us some Fleet bastards to take out."

"My pleasure, boss," the woman snarled, leaving her position beside
Black Prime to hover beside him.

"Black Prime! ETA?"

"T-minus three minutes, sir," the boy wavered.

Kyle smiled humourlessly. A hell of a lot could happen in three minutes.

He glanced at the approaching Fleet ships, gauging the distance. The
pair suddenly sped up and he groaned. "They're taking us head on," he
muttered. "Listen up, Jill. We'll flip over top of them and try to nail
them from behind before they do too much damage to Black Prime."

"Screw that, boss."

"What the he-"

"We've let those Fleet bastards run all over the tops of us for too
long. I'm standing my ground." The woman's voice was hard with hatred.

"Jill!" Kyle exploded. "If you face them down you're only negating your
speed and agility! They're *hoping* you stand your ground! The only way
to get round them is to- screw it!" He glanced at Black Prime, now
meters away from Eros and closing agonisingly slowly. Too slowly.

"Flip, Jill, or we're both dead!" Suiting words to actions, he sped up
and charged towards the Whitehawk, flipping up and over it as a burst of
laser fire passed harmlessly beneath him. He yanked on his stick,
whipping the Dart around in a tight circle and coming to bear on the
Whitehawk's tail.

Jill hadn't moved an inch, her Dart stock still as the Mantis raced
towards it.

Kyle's mouth went dry as he he hauled on his stick, curving the Dart
back around to go after the Mantis instead. "Please," he whispered. If
he could only get there in time...

The Mantis unleashed a perfectly-aimed volley at the Dart, not even
pausing to confirm the kill before it charged over the lifeless remains.

Kyle felt Jill's dying shriek echo in his headphones and grimaced sadly,
pulling up to follow the Whitehawk. He only had to delay it for a minute
or so...

His mouth widened as the Whitehawk's bomb hatch opened. He felt despair
attack him, pressure like a fist in his stomach. Lips set in a thin
line, he fled. He didn't want to see the end.

* * * * *

Jacob hollered with glee, watching the Whitehawk's bomb flew straight
and true. "Mister, you are one good shot!" he exulted as Black Prime
flew into so many pieces of hot slag.

"Thank you," the female voice said demurely, turning her Whitehawk to
face him. "Now, by the powers invested in me by the Solar Fleet, I
hereby place you under arrest."

Jacob's jaw dropped. "You can't be serious!" he protested. "After what
'Yako and I just did?"

"Your actions will no doubt count in your favour at your court martial,"
the girlish voice replied levelly.

Jacob stared at the Whitehawk, adrenaline still flowing through him. He
judged the distance from his craft to hers. The difficulty would be in
landing a crippling blow without killing her outright...

His radio crackled. "Yeah?" he asked absently, tightening his hand about
the stick and shifting smoothly to vector thrust.

"Lieutenant Heath." Kenji. Why was he calling now? "This is Captain
Aino. Cease and desist."

Jacob blinked. "But-"

"That's an order, Lieutenant. Nadia and I are under arrest and on board
the Magician. You may consider yourself likewise under custody." He
paused. "Good work, Jake," he added quietly before another voice broke
in.

"This is Commander Aaron Belles," it stated authoritatively. 'You will
remain incommunicado until I can speak to you and your... comrades
privately. Repeat, you will remain incommunicado. Understood?"

"Yes, sir," Jacob replied automatically. The Whitehawk had drifted
closer, herding him towards the destroyer. It seems their running was
over. To his vast surprise, he found he was relieved. Whatever the
future would bring, it was now out of his hands. 

-End Log Six-

Author's notes:

Gah. This was really really hard. I have got to work more on my sci-fi
geek speak. Anyway! Huge thanks to Marcus, Damien and Ravi for
encouraging and prereading. Enormous gratitude and promises to bear her
children to Kristen, who came to my rescue and wrote most of the third
and fourth scenes in a mighty scene swap effort when we both writer's
blocked up to *here*. Check out H!f #23 for my contribution to her work.
However, since she wrote a full third of the chapter, I feel it's only 
fair to list her as my extremely helpful co-writer ^_^. Yay, Kristen!