Mobius Squadron: Shattered Skies

Chapter 58: Heaven's Gate

Bravo 1

Andrews and the other 12th SOC members heard a beeping echo behind them after the last Erusean troops had been fended off. Andrews turned and looked. The sub-control room outer doors were opening. "Wilson, Walters with me!" he shouted before sprinting into the open outer doors. The security system meant that the outer doors had to be sealed before the inner doors could open. Tango 2 called out to Andrews. "We got your rear. Good luck Captain". Andrews gave a two finger salute as Wilson closed the outer doors. The room was temporarily dark, before Walters popped a glowstick he carried in his vest. "I got the stick" Andrews said as the corporal passed him the glow stick. This allowed the machine gunner and tech expert to work his magic on the inner doors seal. "Ok, lock's defeated" Walter called as he stood back while shouldering his M249. "Wilson, banger" Andrews ordered. The spotter removed one and pulled the pin. The doors opened quickly, Wilson threw the device in and then they closed again. A muffled detonation could be heard on the other side of the doors. "Break through, break through!" Andrews shouted as the three of them threw the doors open. There were 9 Eruseans there. All had been impacted by the flashbang. Andrews swung through on the right. His sights lined up with the head of the closest one and put a quick three round burst through it. He repeated that process for another two. Wilsons HK416 also dispatched three while Walters pushed through with his M249 and fired a burst that cut the last three down. "Clear!" Andrews shouted. "Clear!" Wilson agreed as did Walters. "Get the sub-control room under control!" the captain shouted while slinging his 416 and running over to a panel. It didn't have any of the controls he was looking for. "Hurry up the planes are plunging in any minute now!" he exclaimed while searching the two adjacent consoles as well for the controls for the vents and silos. "Jackpot!" Walters called while he started working on them. "We'll get those panels open, don't let those pilots die!" Andrews called once more. Walters checked the status of the controls once more, before he reached down to his transmitter.

Mobius 1

<<Warning, multiple ICBMs launched from Megalith!>> Sky Eye exclaimed as six launches could be observed. The Mobius Squadron members who had been orbiting idly till now sprung into action. Within seconds, each of them had a tail and one by one they were shot down. Mobius 2 had formed up with Mobius 1's plane. But, at the last possible second, a white plume shot up from the ground. <<Mobius 1, missile!>> 2 called as he broke off. Mobius did the same, but the missile hit its mark. Mobius could feel the jolt shake the Raptor. A dozen systems started to scream at him as he regained his firm hold on the joystick. <<Mobius 1 is hit!>> Sky Eye's panicked voice came across the radio link. <<Still here>> Mobius responded. The F-22 hadn't taken that bad of a hit. It was still flyable. The channel then filled with the voice of one of the 12th SOC members. <<Bravo 3 here, the exhaust vents are open. Get in there and strike the missile before it can launch. We'll open up the silo doors as an exit route>>. The transmission ceased before anyone could ask any questions. <<Alright, Mobius 3 and->> Sky Eye was about to task someone else to the run, but Mobius interrupted him. <<Negative. All other Mobius aircraft pull back to minimum safe distance. I'll make the run>> he announced. Sky Eye sounded exasperated when he came back onto the link. <<You can't be serious>>. Mobius sighed before keying the transmission. <<I'm going and that's final>>. Mobius heard mumbled talk at the other end of the line before a response came. <<Ok. We'll lose radar and radio contact once you go inside. Good luck>>. Mobius sent one last transmission before fully banking the Raptor into the tunnel. <<It was a pleasure having you as my AWACS Sky Eye>>. After that, the line filled with static.

Bravo 1

Walters swore again as he tried to work the controls. "Alright, we've got a plane in the tunnel" Wilson called. He was off on one of the other stations. It had access to all the monitoring sensors that lined the tunnel and detected movement of any foreign object. "Walters, how's the silo door coming along?" Andrews asked from his position off to the side. Walters took a moment before answering. "It ain't looking good" was the response that finally came. It was understating the situation, but if Walters had told his captain the truth then he would experience grey hair before long. Walters softly chuckled at his own self joke before refocusing on the task at hand. The exhaust vent controls had been a simple open/close switch. But the silo doors were proving much harder. The checks and balances on launch were numerous. Then, Walters noticed a green panel next to him. It read 'Main silo launch order' and below it were two buttons. On one was stencilled 'confirm' and on the other 'deny'. Megalith obviously had a dual check launch system so the crew in the main control room and the sub-control room had to relay between each other and both authorise a launch. Someone up in the main control was ordering the launch of the main silo. Walters' finger went to the deny button on instinct, but then stopped. In order to launch, the silo doors needed to open. Walters thanked whoever was trying to end all life on Usea with this rather large missile designed for a rather large fragment, and then hit the confirm button. A rumble and siren started blaring in the room and throughout Megalith. "What did you do?" Andrews questioned, standing up from where he had been working one of the control panels. Walters just removed his helmet and balaclava, wiped the sweat from his face and then smiled at his captain. "Securing an escape route".

Mobius 1

The exhaust vent was drastically different from the tunnels that Mobius had flown into in order to destroy the generators. There was no piping or wiring in this one. It was barren and unpainted. It had no distinct features. Mobius had gone through the now open large metal doors that had served as the seal on the vent. The vent was even tighter than the tunnels though. It was barely wide enough for the F-22 and in height, well in height Mobius could watch the concrete rush over him through the clear canopy as he flew through the vents. The missile had hit him in the engines, damaging his thrust capability. While still having a sizable margin of thrust before a stall, his maximum speed had been reduced dramatically. Which was why when an alarm started blaring, Mobius was very concerned. Though he didn't have a radio connection to Sky Eye, he could assume what was happening. The main silo launch was imminent. Hang on, Mobius thought, Megalith has dual confirmation controls how could ... those madmen! The 12th SOC had confirmed the missile launch in order to open the silo doors. Whoever had come to that decision, Mobius owed them a beer. Just as that thought passed through his head, a new warning came through. "No, no, no, no. Come on, come on!" he shouted as he looked down at the instrument panel. Elevator failure. Of all the things, of all the numerous systems present in an F-22 Raptor, of all the major and minor functions that Mobius relied upon, it had to be an elevator failure. It meant that he would have to rely solely on the thrust vectoring engines to affect the climb out. Sighing, Mobius checked the distance to the target. 200 metres. There was an embankment similar to the ones that were present in the generator tunnels and Mobius climbed with it. 150 metres. The main silo was up ahead and the tunnel started to expand dramatically. 100 metres. There was vapour coming off of the missile as it prepared for launch. The silo doors were open and waiting. 50 metres. The growl filled his ears and Mobius smiled. It was time to light the candle. "Mobius 1, Fox 2" he called for no one to hear as the side weapons bay ejected the missiles. Pushing the throttle open, he pulled back hard. "Just one more climb! Come on!". He shouted while looking through the open silo doors. The open sky beckoned him home.