Star Wars: the Covenant

Chapter 17

Cris exited the bridge, his mind reflecting on his new orders. With the Covenant in the system, they would need every available pilot if they wanted to survive until Admiral Ordona arrived with her fleet. Cris didn't want to leave his sister and the others, but by fending off the rest of the Covenant fleet it would almost guarantee more forces wouldn't be able to get to the planet surface.

He made his way back to the main hangar, but instead of heading up the Saurora's boarding ramp he hung a right towards the star fighter launch bay. It had been a while since he had flown one of the Republic's Aurek Tactical strikefighters, A-wings for short, but he was confident it would come back to him in a flash. As he neared the star fighters, a man clad in a dark red flight suit approached him.

"Are you Cris?" asked one of them. Cris nodded, wondering what he wanted.

"Name's Evir," the man introduced, reaching out to shake Cris's hand. "Commander Keth notified me that you would be joining our strike team."

Cris shook his hand and grinned, "Thanks. So when do we launch?"

"As soon as possible, we're running on a tight schedule so we need to get ready now."

Cris nodded, "you got it."

Five minutes later Cris was seated aboard his own A-wing star fighter, his hands dancing across the controls to adjust them to his preference and prepare the pre-flight checklist. His head flicked up as Evir's voice spoke across the team comlink.

"Strike team Epsilon check in"

Cris listened as each of the team's members checked in until he was the only one left, "Epsilon seven checking in."

"Alright boys" said Evir, "let's punch it"

One by one strike team Epsilon launched their A-wings from the hangar, exploding into the darkness of space. Cris followed the other pilots as they cruised past the three Republic cruisers and set their course to approach the small fleet of Covenant ships ahead. Behind them, over two hundred other A-wing fighters took flight and joined them in a classic cavalry charge toward the enemy.

In the distance, Cris could see a large fleet of Seraph fighters coming in their direction. He activated the weapons systems and removed the safeties on the six proton torpedoes in the missile bay. The two fleet of star fighters got closer and closer, putting Cris on edge. When his targeting system beeped, telling him the Seraphs were in range, he pulled the trigger tightly.

Plasma and laser bolts crisscrossed the space between the two fleets, blowing apart A-wings and Seraphs alike. Cris released the trigger as the two fleets intertwined, sending fighters crashing into one another. Cris soared around the Seraphs, taking shots at any enemy fighters that crossed his sights.

Plasma bolts shot past his viewport, narrowly missing the cockpit. In his rear display screen Cris could see three Seraphs hot on his tail. He tried shaking them by leading them back into the thick of the carnage, flipping and rolling to dodge their plasma and other fighters. But this seemed ineffective since the Seraphs were still following him, and getting closer.

Cris turned the A-wing and saw the Covenant cruisers had moved closer, trying to get in range of the Republic ships. Cris swerved out of the way as another stream of plasma flew his way. They were getting better at this, and he knew this wouldn't last long unless he could find a way to fight back. Suddenly, the three fighters exploded in a shower of metal and plasma. A lone A-wing blew through the debris field behind him and accelerated to catch up to him.

"The commander put you in our squad for exactly this reason Cris" said a frustrated Evir across the comlink, "you should have called us for help."

Cris shook his head, "sorry Evir, I forgot about you guys."