"I never thought there would be a day where I could ride an alien gunship!" Alek said from the passenger cabin.
"Neither do I! And it was the alien itself who gave it to us, instead of us stealing it!" Takeshi replied.
True, even though it was by any means indeed necessary, I had never imagined before that an officer of an anti-alien response organization would use their own technology not against them, but against our own fellow humans….
Maybe it would not bother me much if it was only their firearms or equipment….
But to think that I would be actually piloting their gunship, AND able to do it without any difficulties even though it was my very first time doing it….
This is still too much for me to believe….
I could only shake my head once when I was thinking about it.
The Phoenix gunship. Despite its undoubtedly heavy weight, it only took very little time in taking off earlier. No helicopter developed by us humans could even close to creating the prototype of a gunship almost twice the size of the original Mil Mi-28 Havoc capable of taking off from land in less than forty seconds. To top it off, it was able to fly perfectly stable despite the worsening ground blizzard outside.
Also, even though the pilot seat was not too far from the passenger cabin doors which were both opened, I could barely hear any wind rustles from outside. The whole interior of the gunship must have also been installed with an extremely sound-proofing material, which would be a great help for the pilot's concentration when flying it.
Finally, the seat itself forced the pilot to be seated perfectly upright, but still soft enough to not give unnecessary discomfort for the pilot; a vital feature indeed to be able to concentrate for a significantly longer period. At least, that was what I felt right from the moment I had been seated before flying the gunship.
Seeing through the cockpit windshield reminded me a lot about what I had seen through the inside of the Narwhal Aircraft, back when I had tried to forcefully land it five years ago in Chicago. Every single detail of buildings far ahead of us could even be seen very clearly without any fog.
It was exactly the same for the gunship. The ground blizzard outside was most likely even more violent than when we had taken off earlier, yet I could see everything far ahead of the gunship very sharply without any snow blown off by the wind as if the weather outside was completely clear.
If there was anything different it was only my eye; for I could only see through one instead of together with the other…
As for the controls, they indeed had words written on them that I could not comprehend at all, however all configurations and even to the order of which buttons to push first and later on had absolutely no difference compared to the original helicopter. I guess even when being blindfolded I could at least still turn on the gunship by relying on muscle memory.
Wait… why do I begin to think like I am starting to like this gunship?!
This is still THEIR gunship, not human's!
"But, Mayor!" Alek called out to me loudly since he was standing just beside the cabin door.
"I still do not understand. The gun that Colonel Kim used was not an obsolete weapon, right?! How come the aliens still could not detect him and Derek?!"
"When it comes to sneak attack, as long as they are not inside any of their vehicle then they will not be able to detect and determine if we are equipped with our modern weaponries!" I explained to him.
"That was why five years ago, Travis was somehow able to shoot his submachine gun to the pursuing alien back in the sewers without being shot and vaporized by the beam cannons from outside! The alien pursuing him inside the sewers did not know the submachine gun rounds were powerful enough to damage its beam rifle barrel!"
"Then, how about the old weaponries like the rifles from the first World War, Major?!" Takeshi asked.
"Why can they not attack us right away even when they are inside their vehicle if we are using old weaponries like that?!"
"Their technologies are far too modern compared to ours that they could not begin to analyse what we are bringing with us in the first place!" I answered short.
I had been having that guess ever since five years ago, but back then I had nothing to support it. The alien voyager commander's explanation about their mothership analysing our movements back then convinced me completely about that guess.
The keyword was 'analysing', and not 'have analysed'. It was a completely different context which meant that back then, when Travis was inside that chamber inside the mothership, their system still could not figure out anything about our obsolete firearms.
For once, I was maybe a bit grateful of us not too far modern in our technology, for it would usually followed by forgetting the concepts of our pasts….
Enough about that, I must keep my focus on what lies right ahead of us….
Roughly about five minutes after we had taken off from the underground cave exit already and based on how fast the gunship had been flying, I had to expect that I would be able to arrive right above the communication post very soon.
And I was right; I saw a very familiar pole in the distance. It must be the emergency communication pole that had been built before we went to the other island with Yeon's unit.
Just like what Flint described before; dead bodies were scattered on the permafrost ground. They could be clearly seen from my seat thanks to the sight enhancer of the cockpit's windshield.
"Are these… dead bodies?!" Alek hissed.
"Exactly… our fallen comrades who died protecting the communication post from the defecting unit." I could only hold my anger knowing that Yeon did not seem to hesitate at all in massacring the officers tasked to guard the communication post.
Also, I could see Flint from my seat for a brief moment who seemed to be peeking through one of the tents there before he hid inside again.
"Wait, that is Flint! He is hiding inside the main tent!" I squinted my eyes.
"Let me go down to get him, Major!" Takeshi immediately replied.
Slowing down the gunship, I quickly landed it down and rushed outside to get to him together with Takeshi. Alek apparently decided to stay inside the gunship to wait for us.
But, of course…. I should have expected that he would not believe that it was us who was coming to him right away. We were coming with an alien gunship after all….
"Flint! Come out! It is us, you do not need to worr-"
"Hrrnghh!!"
Flint suddenly rushed outside and tackled Takeshi down to the ground, with his knife unsheathed and held on Takeshi's neck!
"Wait! Flint! Hold it! It is alright!" I held both of his arms tightly.
For the first few seconds he wriggled his hardest to get out from my clutches. It was not until I forced his body to turn towards me that he finally stopped for real.
"Major?! Wait, your eye… why is it-"
"It was Yeon." I nodded.
"That son of a bitch… not again!" Flint groaned hard.
"But Major… I have to say… you really are one tough bastard. If it were anybody else, they would have definitely died because of the bullet."
"Not my first time I heard that from someone." I shrugged him off.
"Why the hell did you all come with an alien gunship?! What is-"
"We do not have time to explain!" I cut him short.
"Now, the direction where those North Korean soldiers were heading was towards the air base. Yes, or no?!"
"Extremely, sir…" Flint sighed.
"Then get inside the gunship." I nodded and pushed Flint gently towards it.
Getting back inside, Takeshi told Flint about how the three of us were technically forced to use the gunship without any other choice. Flint had a hard time believing it, but Alek convinced him by showing our rifles to him, a proof that the aliens indeed trusted us since they basically were weak against our obsolete firearms.
"But, do we really have any chance at all?" Flint still had doubts in his tone.
I turned my head towards him just when I had seated again.
"What do you mean? Even if there are a hundred soldiers, this gunship is still-"
"No. You do not understand! There are more than just a hundred soldiers!" Flint cut Alek's words.
Flint said that just when our communication had ended, he also heard a few tank engine sounds in the distance. He took his time before he tried to peek out again, and he knew he would not be mistaken; the North Korean Military's signature Pokpung-ho tanks.
"How many of them?" Takeshi had his eyes bugged out.
"I saw six. But have a feeling that there must be more…." Flint closed his eyes hard and looked down.
I understood Flint's concern. If there were also tanks around, that must have meant that they had come by a ship, so we must expect that there must be at least an aircraft carrier coming too.
Wait, of course an aircraft carrier will also come!
Yeon HAD to call one because he had that stealth aircraft in his possession after all!
Great… just how long had he been preparing for all of this?! It all seemed to perfect to go too well for them!
Explaining what I had just figured out to all of them, we now fully understood the odds that we would have to face against.
Our target was not necessarily to take them all out, but instead to make sure that the air base did not fall to their hands until the Commander Generals knew about the news. Naturally, we had to expect that they had cut all communications by then and with nearly half of the soldiers inside the air base still recovering from the effects of the magnetic-field disrupting asteroid, there would be no way they could hold up against their own.
"Major, what should we do?" Alek turned to me.
No… there really is no other way….
If worse comes to worst, he will bring another wave of an aircraft carrier….
Since the beginning of the operation, he has already planned to explode it to a global uproar should things do not turn to his favor….
Yeon, you piece of shit!
I hope he is ready to face his consequences!
"We have to destroy them all…" I turned back to my seat.
"There is no other way in order to prevent the fall of the air base to their hands. We have to hold them off by ourselves."
They had their weapons, equipment, and vehicles of the current-era technology, but we also had an alien gunship absolutely invincible against their weaponries, and a good amount of ammunition from the truck.
The real challenge for us would be if the gunship was quick enough to prevent the stealth aircraft from decimating all officers and soldiers posted inside the air base, while directing as many as crossfires as possible from the closing enemy soldiers to the gunship instead of to the base until the Generals heard about the news and able to made the next move.
"Okay, when you put it together like that, I believe we do have a chance of winning the battle after all, Major…." Flint finally agreed.
"Good. Brace yourselves, comrade. This will get ugly." I took the gunship off.
Tension filled the air inside the gunship, but I had complete faith that all three of them were completely ready to face the enemy soldiers.
Heading fast right towards the air base, I was finally able to begin seeing the Vulture Stealth Aircraft far in the distance, seemed to be hovering right above the air base.
They have already made their move, and the base has begun to take fire!
But… we had already arrived….
I decided to no longer call him by his name anymore, he no longer deserved to be considered as a human with heart!
"VULTUREE!!!" I shouted as loud as my lung could make me!
"PHOENIX?!!" his respond echoed inside the gunship.
I knew that the communication line between the two different aircrafts was still connected!
"YOU ARE GOING DOWN, YOU PIECE OF SHIT!!!"
In an instant, all of the enemy soldiers, tanks and Hind Helicopters closing in towards the main building of the air base turned their attention towards the gunship.
"TAKE THIS!!"
I pressed the button on the control stick twice and hard as I brought the gunship closer to one of the Hind helicopters, shooting a couple of large and piercing beam rounds to it!
The first beam round destroyed the cockpit but the second one split the whole helicopter in half, and within a blink of an eye, it exploded!
"WHA- DAMMIT!!"
Vulture's surprised and panicked tone was very clear; he must have not expected at all that I had made it out alive and back right at him inside another alien aircraft!
The aircraft turned in an instant, and jetted away with a painfully screeching noise. It only began to subside when the aircraft was already barely within the gunship vision range from the cockpit windshield.
"That is it! That is exactly the sound I heard earlier!" Flint pointed his finger upwards a few times when the noise ended.
"Now we know for sure where that sound was coming from!" I gritted my teeth and held on to the control stick tightly, bringing the gunship a little closer to the ground.
The real battle is on!
Firing the piercing beam rounds from the gunship laser auto cannon, one is enough to cleanly shred the tank turret, severely damaging it in the process. Tens of his soldiers were instantly scattered as they gave out panicked and terrified expression on their faces while running away.
They got the taste of their medicine!
"This is taking too long!" Flint suddenly yelled from the passenger cabin.
Wait, what is he going to do?
I cannot turn my head or else I will lose my concentration!
"W-wait, Flint! It is too dangerous!" Alek was the next one to shout.
Curious to see what had been going on back there, I flew up the gunship again quite high from the ground and turned it a little in the air to see it for myself.
It turned out that Flint had jumped out from the cabin with one of the aliens' heavy shield just before the gunship flew up, and charged right to a line of the enemy soldiers!
Great, he let his temper control him!
Shooting the second Hind and destroying it up in the air while still looking for the position of the stealth aircraft, I attempted to take the gunship as close as I could to the ground so that either Alek or Takeshi could take him back inside the passenger cabin again, even if it would be extremely difficult.
But during that time, I also witnessed my own eyes through the cockpit the capabilities of the aliens' heavy shield….
"Flint!! Tank on your nine o'clock!!" Alek yelled with fear in his voice.
A tank fired its turret right straight to him!!
However….
"….huh?!" Takeshi sounded like he could not believe his eyes.
Witnessing through the cockpit with my eye, I could not believe it….
The heavy shield that Flint used to cover himself against the fired turret shell did not even put a dent on it! It was blocked completely and he did not even flinch a step away from where he had covered himself!!
Even apparently the entire attacking enemy soldiers could not believe their eyes, as they had all stopped right after witnessing the extreme durability of the shield.
"Okay, my turn now!" Takeshi fired his rifle while still had himself shielded.
The clean shot to an enemy soldier's head by Takeshi resumed the chaos and panic on the ground, as they had then realized they were right then facing an enemy force invincible to even their heavy weaponries.
Of course, they still returned fire to the gunship and Flint, but it was all for naught. For he then picked a Type 63 assault rifle from a dead soldier and began to return fire to a few others, further pressing back the closing troops towards the air base.
"Major! Land me down too! Somebody has to watch his back!" Alek shouted while still shooting back the enemy soldiers on the ground below.
Come to think about it, despite being invincible this gunship alone is still not enough to protect the air base….
And yet, just standing right by the cabin door and shooting these enemies from there is already too dangerous, more so if either of those two are to get off from this gunship again….
But we need more men, and Alek is right….
Shit! I have no other choice….
"Fine! You watch his back while he watch yours!" I had to gave him the permission.
"Spasibo, Mayor!" Alek replied short.
Getting close to the ground again, three tanks suddenly closed in on the gunship and were all ready to fire its turret at once towards us, probably thinking that the interior must have much less protection than the outer armor.
It was indeed what I had expected though….
I made the gunship took a sharp turn, and with the autocannon pointed straight towards the nearest and pursuing tank, I told Alek to jump out as I was about to crash the gunship directly to it!
"Give it to them!" Alek shouted as he jumped out of the gunship.
"HRARGHH!"
Crashing straight to the first tank, the turret bent very badly as shown clearly right in front of the cockpit!
But that was not enough, I pushed again the button on the control stick to fire the piercing beam from the gunship autocannon, and since the first tank was within the point blank range the fired beam literally split it in half as it exploded while a massive hole was also created on the other two tanks lined behind it, instantly silencing them altogether!
The scene of their destroyed tanks, overpowered helicopters, and the invincibility of both the gunship and the aliens' heavy shields were completely devastating for them; more of the remaining soldiers decided to back further away from the air base and just shooting at us as they were fleeing away.
Regardless, I knew it was not over just yet….
The same screeching noise suddenly came back! Vulture was approaching us again and fast!
Shit! He must be heading straight for the air base!
I have to protect it at once!
"Takeshi, I suggest you to hold on to something!" I said while flying the gunship towards the air base right away.
"It is going to get bumpy, is not it?!" Takeshi said followed by a little thud; must be caused by him getting on his knees and covering behind the shield.
"Extremely!" I tightened my grip on the flight control stick.
I believed that the gunship was just about a little less than a hundred meters away from the main building when I began to saw the stealth aircraft again on the horizon., facing right towards the building.
I knew it! It is coming here fast, and is about to blow the hell out of everything he could!
"Here he comes again!" I warned Takeshi.
"Roger!" He responded short.
In a blink of an eye, the aircraft flew right above the gunship, dropping what seemed to be round projectiles of concentrated beams to everything below it!
Vulture wanted to destroy the building completely by bombarding it with beam balls!
Guarding the air base by blocking few of the dropped beam balls literally with the whole gunship, the entire interior vibrated and shook so violently that I had to hold the control stick with both of my hands!
"Takeshi! Are you okay?!" I asked him just when the vibration and shaking began to stop.
"I-I am fine, Major!" His voice was trembling.
I could not describe how relieved I was when I realized that the gunship had been able to endure even the aliens' own beam balls and left the whole interior intact and unscratched.
The building that it shielded was also nearly undamaged by any of the dropped projectiles, although there were a few cracks on the wall, undoubtedly caused by the violent shake and vibration due to the bombardment just earlier.
The gunship truly was invincible….
But I could not say the same to everything else other than the building and the gunship….
Dozens of craters had been formed on the ground, dead and destroyed bodies in each of them, tank armors shattered and immobilized, and chunks of destroyed hind helicopters remains all scattered everywhere.
Even though both Alek and Flint were still down there, counter firing even more soldiers coming near and approaching the main building….
Vulture did not even hesitate to bombard his own men to take out a single facility!
"TAKE A LONG GOOD LOOK DOWN THERE, VULTURE! THOSE SOLDIERS WERE YOUR OWN MEN!! YOUR OWN UNIT!! YOU WOULD EVEN BOMBARD THE HELL OUT OF THEM?!"
"THEY ARE MY OWN MEN, PHOENIX!! WHETHER THEY LIVE OR DIE IS EXACTLY UP TO MY ORDERS!!"
"YOU WOULD KILL A HUNDRED OF YOUR OWN JUST TO DESTROY A BUILDING?! ARE YOU INSANE?!"
"I AM VULTURE!! I PICK EVERYTHING AND EVERYONE I NEED IN THE BATTLEFIELD IN ORDER TO SURVIVE AND FINISH MY MISSION!! IF I FIND ANYTHING OR ANYONE USELESS, THEN I WILL DISPOSE OF THEM!!"
This man not only lost his humanity, but also his sanity!!!
Unlike the previous time, the aircraft did not retreat back and gone beyond the gunship's maximum range of vision. It just encircled us with such speed that I could barely keep up with its movement!
Sure, the aircraft's armor were thinner than the gunship's, but if there was no way to keep up with its speed in the first place, then I would not be able to even scratch its cockpit!
Ugh! How the hell am I supposed to land a shot right towards its cockpit?!
Just when the timing could not even be worse, I began to see an aircraft carrier in the distance, just like what I had been suspecting earlier! It seemed like Vulture just knew what to bring with him in case something went very wrong and totally against his favor!
Just how many backup plans does this piece of shit bring with him?!
I had to turn the gunship around and shoot at the aircraft carrier a few times before it began to explode. But, I was too late as it had fired multiple missiles towards the main building!
Wait no, those missiles were aimed at both Alek and Takeshi!
He wanted to make sure that he would not miss this time so he ordered the ship to fire all of the missile to them both that there would not be any spots left for them to take cover at!
"MAKE YOUR CHOICE, PHOENIX!! THE MAIN BUILDING DESTROYED OR YOUR MEN DEAD?!"
The aircraft then flew away again beyond the gunship's maximum vision range; it must be preparing itself to bombard again!
I must go to their location now!
Takeshi fired his rifle from the passenger cabin towards the soldiers on the ground below as I fired the gunship autocannon towards the approaching remaining tanks while flying it as close as I could to the ground in order to get them inside again.
"Get inside! Multiple aircraft carrier missiles are heading straight to both of your heads!" Takeshi yelled as soon as the gunship got close enough to them.
Just then, the screeching noise came back, but even much louder. Vulture must have brought it in its maximum speed!
Wait, I know how to hit the cockpit with the autocannon….
But it will be more than just get bumpy this time….
I must do it!
"Expect to get crashed at any second, you three!" I warned them.
Flying the gunship up and heading back towards the main building, the stealth aircraft could be seen again from the cockpit. After I made sure that what I was about to do was possible, I wasted no time in approaching the aircraft with the gunship full speed.
"Oh, this is going to get really ugly…." Flint muttered as he seemed to rush to one of the cabin doors and shut it hard.
Either Alek or Takeshi proceeded to do the same as I could hear another thing being closed shut, making the whole interior totally silent, and all three of them apparently proceeded by covering themselves with the shields.
They all realized what I was about to do….
The aircraft was approaching the main building fast, and began to bombard again. But, instead of shielding it with the gunship like earlier, I pulled back the control stick hard, forcing the gunship to climb up in altitude suddenly, with both its nose and autocannon up, before crashing right to the aircraft's cockpit just before it reached the building!
"HRRGHH!!!"
I then pressed the button on the control stick, making the gunship fired its autocannon right towards the cockpit in point blank range!
The piercing beam fired off from the autocannon completely destroyed one-third of the stealth aircraft's cockpit on its right side!
"YAARRGHH!!"
That was Vulture's scream! A scream of pain! He must have gotten hit with the beam too!
Is he dead?!
However, as a consequence I completely lost control of the gunship, and I could not get it to climb up the air again before crashing to one of the edges of the main building!
The stealth aircraft crashed in far more terrible way though; scraping the whole runway before it finally stopped on the runway's end from its point of crash, creating an awful crash trace along with it.
The gunship, although clearly still functional it was completely stuck between the debris of the main building.
Well, at least only a little part of the building that is crushed and not entirely….
And shit! My head hurts!