Alder checked the time on his helmet's display. 0350 hours. Another few minutes and the VTOL would be here. He glanced at Nova's hiding spot, ensuring his worried mind she could not be seen.
They heard the rapid whup-whup-whup of the twin rotors long before the bird was hovering the site, scanning for potential threats. The gentle curve of the slightly rusted metal hull gave way to a glass cockpit, from which two nose mounted Gatling-style cannons pushed forwards.
Alder nodded at Ember, indicating the commencement of their plan. Ember acknowledged with a thumbs-up, then took aim with her sub-gun and let loose a fusillade of 9-millimeter lead hornets towards the cockpit. The cacophony was deafening in the small upstairs room. As soon as her 40-round magazine was dry of ammunition, the girl ducked back to the floor.
Dust and shrapnel flew as the cannons fired their retaliation, spraying 60 bullets per second into the concrete walls. Alder turned his face away, gritting his teeth as he opened a link with Nova's A.I. system. He sent what he hoped was the digital equivalent of a bugle ordering a charge. Almost immediately after he sent the message, Nova emerged from her hidden position, her mass belying the machine's speed. The pilot was completely unaware of his impeding demise.
The auto-cannon belched its deadly payload into the soft underbelly of the aircraft, tearing holes through the fuselage. Too late, the pilot realized his mistake and attempted to swing his craft around, placing the left wing into the line of fire. In less than five second, the engine was shredded and destroyed, sending the bird into a death spiral downwards.
Alder closed his eyes and tried to block out the sound of the metal body shrieking as it smashed on the hard asphalt. He opened his eyes after the noise had receded and looked at the results.
The once-hulking airship was now a mass of broken steel, laid onto the ground for all present to see. What remained of the left wing had been smashed between the ground and the machine it was attached to. The fuselage itself looked as though a massive shotgun had been fired through the middle, with holes torn through almost every spot exposed to the eye. An ugly sight, fitting for this ugly world.
Nova's automated voice broke though Alder's stunned silence. "Target destroyed, pilot."
Swallowing hard, Alder replied, "Roger that. Good work, Nova. We'll be down in five mikes."
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The Collapse
Science FictionLong ago, humanity ruined its home world of Gaia with quantum weapon fire and synthetic production of soldiers. High-ranking officials were able to board battleships and disappear into the stars, but the rest of the population were left to fend for...
