Lancer

Chapter two: Rogue

The roster at the base of my screen showed the name and status of my teammates much like the vids I used to play. Until the moment you drop, your screen is dark. Then, your helmet re establishes visual contact and you find yourself suspended by a metal harness over a set of bay doors on the floor of the ship.

"Hey uh...Lancer?" 4'5's voice rang through my headset.

"Yeah, what's up?"

"This is my first time linking with someone outside the simulation."

"Yeah. Same here. I'm excited to get out in the air."

"So I guess we're the rookie team."

"Hah. Let's just hope the name doesn't stick. Where are we with drop?"

"Pilot has us at two minutes from atmo, but something's off..." The Promethean suddenly disengaged the hood that covered his eyes and regained manual control.

"What do you mean something's off, what are you doing?" My voice was filled with panic as 45 unbuckled from his harness and ran to the front of the ship. Everyone looked at us as we passed and the team captain barked at us.

"Sit the hell back in your seat lancer." 45 ignored him and stepped inside the cockpit.

"This is a restricted section of the ship lancer. You are not permitted to be here." For a moment I yelled at him and threatened to use the manual override but then he typed something into the pilot's display and pointed.

"There's an electromagnetic pulse about twenty two clicks from our position. If we don't abort, We'll be dropping right into a fleet of enemy gunships waiting just within atmo to warp in and kill us." Both the pilot and I stared at the screen until we confirmed what my promethean had just said.

"Holy hell. That pulse field is wide enough to warp in an entire fleet." The pilot double tapped the intercom button on the side of his helmet as he tilted the ship up. "Mayday Mayday. This is ghost ship 772. We are about to be under attack. Admin do you read?"

"Affirmative 772, what's the situation."

"We just picked up a pulse beacon on the horizon line. It looks like a trap. What are our orders?"

hAll of us waited anxiously as static rang through the speakers then the Admin came back over the feed.

"Proceed with the drop. Carry out the mission soldier." Our pilot looked shocked for a moment then he turned white as a sheet. A moment later the ship began to rock violently as we approached atmo and the bay was filled with red light. The ship's AI blared through the speakers.

"Warning, warning, Enemy war ships in close proximity. Prepare to engage."

Re engaging the controls, I grabbed the pilot by his jacket.

"Don't do this It's a trap! We have to run!" The pilot became stone cold, staring foreword, brushing my hand off his sleeve.

"I will uphold protocol no matter what. Soldiers are expendable. The mission is not." Before we could take even another breath, the bay doors opened wide and we were sucked out through the floor. All team members were stuck with horror when they saw the enemy ships appear out of thin air below us and quite a few members screamed.

"Lancer!" 45 yelled through my headset.

"Yeah!?"

"Simulation level twelve remember? Get in touch with the team leader. Were going to pull a flourish." A second later, I understood the entire plan and everything made sense.

"Captain we need to link up in three's. We're going to pull a jousting maneuver." The captain nodded and went over the group feed.

"Formation 6! Everyone get in position." Each of us outstretched our shaking arms and grabbed eachothers hands in three's then leaned with the wind till we had formed a freefalling triangle.