Miraculous Ladybug - Starfighter/Sci-Fi/Star Wars-ish AU

Chapter 9

Commander Ramier knew what he had signed up for all those years ago. He was once in charge of training the Alliance fighter squadrons, but now he had gained the honour of being the one to lead this mission, no doubt a mission that would go down in the history holos. From the relative comfort of the shuttle, he was in contact with the six fighters as well as the two squads that had disembarked. The air that rushed in while the shuttle door was open was something that Ramier had seldom felt. Fresh and cool, not like the endlessly recycled air of ships and starfighters. It had been almost half an hour since the door had opened, and the air was still fragrant with the scents of the winter forest.

One of the squad leaders voices came over the comm. "No sign of survivors. And the snow is too new to track their path."

"Not to worry Sargent. We have other ways of tracking our prey." He replied, then flicked a button on his control panel. "Akuma One, this is Ramier. I want you to spread out over the crash area to a range of 500 clicks at high altitude and put your imagers to use."

"Affirmative, sir." The gruff voice on the other end crackled.

Ramier changed his display to mirror those of the fighters, like he had done a thousand times during his teaching days. Within a few minutes, he would have them.

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During the half an hour hike, Mari had said almost nothing apart from some grunts and puffs as she climbed over the difficult terrain right behind Ren. The air was getting thin and they had both put their helmets back on.

"So.... What's the plan once we get to this base?" Mari exhaled once the pair stopped briefly on a plateau.

Ren paused for a moment before speaking into his comm. "I hadn't thought that much about that. It entirely depends on the situation once we get there. They could have already sent troops there, or blown it up from orbit."

Mari didn't like the thought of Ren not having a plan. "You are just going to 'wing it'?"

"Yep."

There was a low hum in the air that they could hear even though the helmets. The hair on Mari's neck stood on end. Ren felt something too, and shifted the slung rifle from his back into his hands.

A piercing squeal followed by a thunderous boom reverberated off the trees and the snow. Mari and Ren felt the ground shake beneath them before they saw in the distance behind them an explosion that heralded only worse things to come.

"RUN!" Ren shouted, pointing Mari down the embankment to their right.

Without another thought, she did. It was steep and the snow made her slide more than run down the slope. She took a moment to look back when she got to the bottom to see Ren only a few metres behind.

He saw her pause. "JUST GO! FIND COVER!"

She continued to run, just as two more impacts rocked the ground from somewhere. It was hard to run in the flight suits normally, but in snow and on uneven ground, while someone was shooting at them; Mari was surprised at how well she was doing.

Another explosion directly in front of their path cut off her thoughts. Ren half tackled her and redirected them a few degrees away from the previous explosion. It didn't matter however. One more explosion detonated right behind them, the closest so far Mari could feel the heat from the blast through her suit.

Ren screamed and Mari turned to see his body stretched out on the white snow, red blood seeping from his left leg. She skidded to a halt, before sprinting back.

"A bit of debris must have gone through my leg! You need to get out of here!"

"I'm not leaving you Ren!"

"I'll be fine, just go!"

Mari was conflicted beyond belief, but she made her decision after taking one last look in his eyes. They were filled with desperation and passion. She knew what she had to do, just as much as he did. So she ran, as more impacts rained down on the landscape. And Mari did her best not to think about whether or not they were landing near Ren.

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"Ease up Akuma One, you don't want to hit our prizes." Ramier ordered. "Sargent, send in your squad."

The reply came through instantly. "At once, on the double men!"

Ramier was in complete control, and that's how he liked it. Not only had he found them using the high altitude imaging. He had successfully separated his prey from one another and found the 'secret' base they had been heading to. It was only a matter of time before it all came together.

His shuttle and one squad was on their way to this base of theirs while the fighter craft and the other squad dealt with the federation scum. He hoped that his efforts today would merit some sort of promotion, it was only fair after all.

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Ren had heard them coming long before he saw them. He had crawled behind a rock and threw snow over as much of the blood trail as he could. His plasma rifle at the ready, he took his shot as they came into range.

There was a metallic click as his finger depressed on the trigger, then the glorious sound of terror coming from his enemies. That's probably the one thing he both liked and disliked about starfighter dogfights, he couldn't hear the screams.

As the troops tried to identify his concealed position, they were picked off one by one leaving only half the squad remaining before they finally narrowed in and surrounded him.

Ren threw his rifle down and raised his hands. There was no point in fighting anymore, but hopefully he stalled them for Mari.

"Hey meat-heads." He said confidently but with little pain in his voice. He saw a rifle butt enter his field of vision and his world went dark.

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Mari had run further than she ever thought she could have during training. But she had also done it in her flight suit, while wearing a helmet and pack, and in the snow no less. Her instructors would be proud, but she supposed that imminent death was a great motivator.

The explosions had eased and she darted behind a large rock to take a breath. Her heart rate was through the roof understandably so, and her HUD had that and all the readouts that she didn't need to know about at this time. She grabbed the plasma pistol out of her pack and clamped it to the hip of her suit.

She closed her eyes and focused her mind. 'Breathe'. She said to herself. 'Just breathe'.

An explosion shook her bones, snapping her out the moment. It detonated just on the other side of the rock, and while Mari was safe, the ground underneath started to give way and the entire area around her sunk and slid towards the impact point. There was no time to do anything, other than scream. She felt the weightlessness of falling before she felt the hard ground finally meet her.