Black Panther: Rise of the Princess (COMPLETE)

Chapter 41: Okoye

True to T'Challa's warning, the first ships arrived within minutes. They were hard to miss, those ugly, primitive things in the air, roaring with engines that drained the vibranium, our vibranium, rather than utilizing it. It seemed that most of the machines of war that came from western culture were as crude as these.

Our ship was in stealth mode, so T'Challa, the soldiers, and I appeared to be sitting ducks for HYDRA. D'Arku was locked in the cargo hold, so his tracker would lead HYDRA to us, but nothing more. If he knew what was good for him, he would stay there until I came to drag him to the palace.

Four ships arrived in the first wave, as they had the least distance to travel. At first glimpse, they did not look very threatening, although they were impressive in size. It was when the bay doors opened, and four fighters came out of the bottom of the ship. Within seconds, sixteen blasters had locked their targeting systems on us.

Fortunately for us, we had many more locked on them.

Both the SHIELD and the Wakandan ships revealed their presence, surrounding HYDRA's fighters and gaining the vertical advantage. HYDRA began to adjust their targets, but our forces did not hesitate. T'Challa gave the command to fire, and the Wakandan ships followed his order. The SHIELD turrets followed suit. It appeared that despite HYDRA's access to vibranium, they hadn't thought to include it in the armor of the fighters. They fell quickly, and few of them were able to get a shot off.

Unfortunately, when the ships fell, they fell on top of us. The soldiers had their cloaks to protect them, but I had no such shield for myself. While none of the debris hit me, the collisions with the ground kicked up more than enough dust to choke me and the the people around me. I barely saw what followed in the air.

The large ships had been protected with vibranium, and their outer shell was not easily penetrated. A few daring SHIELD fighters swooped in beneath the underbelly of the ships and tried to hit weak spots. A few of their shots found the chinks in their armor, and brought down the rest of the first wave.

The remains of the HYDRA's forces were burning around us on the ground. The shields of our ship had protected it from damage, but it was still buried underneath a pile of rubble. As we could hardly contribute to an air fight, T'Challa, our men and I were stranded on the ground. In fact, all anyone could do was stand around and wait for the rest of HYDRA's ships to arrive.

With no other plan, I took refuge underneath a fallen ship. T'Challa and a few other soldiers joined me, or hid in nearby crevices like mine. Our eyes were trained on the horizon, but T'Challa seemed distracted. He kept looking up, as if he knew of another danger already present. It did not take long for that danger to present itself.

"GET DOWN!!!" He commanded, and a moment later, we took fire from an adversary I could not see. My King shielded me with his suit, and he used the kinetic energy to push away whatever was shooting at us. I never even saw what hit us until after it was down.

"What are those?" I asked, and T'Challa peered outside as he answered.

"Drones, and they are not just attacking us," he explained. "The fighters are asking damage. HYDRA seemed to know that we could take out their ships. They're coming from the debris!"

I stared behind us, before aiming my spear at the darkness. Sure enough, lights glowed and small engines roared as more drones came to life. T'Challa was taking care of the situation outside, so I took down these by myself. It took more blasts from my spear than I would have liked, but I wasn't about to let them touch T'Challa, and they had no such incentive. They fell, one by one.

That was not fast enough, though. "T'Challa, if the fighters are still fending off drones when the next ships arrive, they will be too distracted to take them down!"

He nodded and spoke into his bracelet. "Any fighters that we can spare, we need to eliminate those drones! Do we have any fighters on the ground?"

We heard a sequence of response from our soldiers, but they were all in similar situations to ours. They were cornered with few options, and were in no position to take pressure off of our fighters.

"The second wave is five minutes away," a technician warned us, "and all seven of the other HYDRA ships are coming."

<curse me> "If we cannot fight of these drones, nothing will stand in their way," I told the King urgently. "They will pass us and head straight for Wakanda. There is no telling if the barrier will hold without one of the generators!"

"Then it is a good thing we decided to come help," a familiar voice teased us. The Princess! "You said you needed the drones out of the way?"

"Shuri!" T'Challa cheered, peering up to get a glimpse of his sister. "Yes, we have to take them down before the rest of HYDRA arrives."

Peter was on the line as well. "It's just like London," he asserted, and a second later, two figures jumped from a cloaked ship down to the ground. The two of them stood back to back, and began firing at the nearby drones that had sensed their arrival.

With two more enhanced humans on the battlefield, T'Challa, the soldiers, and I were able to evade our corners and maneuver somewhere where we had more options. The fighters were then able to focus on the drones in the air, while we secured our position on the ground.

We only held it for so long, though. The second wave had arrived.