Space Odyssey: Spectre-Chapter 169: Chopper Flight

Jace fired his Dragon’s Breath as another missile was let loose off the transport. It traveled for a second before it blew up and the chopper swerved in the air in response. Or whatever the equivalent of swerving in the air is called.

He could just feel it sway as the force of the blast from the missile hit them. The transport behind them had to swerve away as that was the second missile that Jace had fired out of the air. The transport was likely having to figure out another strategy especially since they were on their last missile.

Jace had been leaning halfway out of the chopper so he could see past the tail and fire at the transport. So he was able to lean back into the chopper as the transport flew away. He was not firing at the transport since the heat from the Dragon’s Breath was not enough to melt the hull.

The barrels of the Dragon’s Breath would falter and melt long before the exterior of that space capable craft ever melted. It would be best to come up with a new strategy on how to shoot it down. Because Parrot’s shots were not getting through and Jace had a feeling would kamikaze long before it gave up.

The transport was staying clear of them far out of his range. But Parrot moved over and fired her rifle a few times hitting the side of the transport.

"This is not working, what should we do?" Parrot asked as she lowered her sniper and began reloading the magazine, switching it out for another. Jace took the moment to switch out the battery on his own weapon, the Dragon’s Breath, as well.

"I need a shot at the missile. Hopefully it will explode while still not primed and destroy the transport." Jace informed her. "Try to hit as well when you have a shot. But only if we have a clear shot. We might spook it if we act too soon." He then turned to Tako as the transport raced ahead of them. "How far do we have to go?"

"We are almost at the central station, it looks like we landed near Hoodwink’s base of operations." Tako informed them. "I think he is going to come at us from the front." Tako observed as the transport veered around so it was coming right at them.

Jace sighed and moved to the open door and leaned out. Allowing the harness to keep him attached to the chopper. He quietly calculated the distance as the air whipped around him. His Dragon’s Breath at the ready.

"Parrot, do you have gel shots or just regular bullets?" Jace asked as he thought of an idea.

"I have armor piercing, flash, and regular." Parrot informed him.

"Flash will work. Hit the front of the transport with flash bullets. I need them blind." Jace instructed as he leaned back into the chopper. "Change of plans. Tako, get ready to pull up and go forward quickly."

He got a grunt in response from Tako. Then a moment later they could see a blinding flash appear at the front of the transport as the flash bullets made contact. But a moment later the missile was let loose. Jace leaned out and fired his Dragon’s Breath the explosion threw up a dust of smoke as the missile was detonated early again.

Tako pulled up roughly and they flew right over the transport as it went under them through the smoke. They were intent on a kamikaze run just as he thought. But as Jace leaned out of the chopper and aimed he chuckled. Then he fired and the shots made of plasma and hard light hit the engines of the transport.

They instantly burned through the barrier of the engine as the force of the hard light caused a dent that the plasma melted through. The engine flickered off as the casing was compromised. But a moment later there was a small blue fire that appeared before suddenly the top side of the transport exploded and it fell to the ground.

Jace had hit the fuel line through the engine and caused a chain reaction explosion which had immobilized the spacecraft. He failed to think of it because most attack craft do not have that vulnerability.

But the transport was a transport and not an attack craft. The design was made to land on a planet and then be disposed of or be quickly dismantled.

"Nice shot Spectre Jace. What are we doing next?" Parrot whistled in appreciation.

"Tako bring us in low, as in just below the walls, chances are they have weapons for aircraft and spacecraft. Flying over them would be suicide." Jace instructed.

"Yes sir- Woah!" Tako stopped mid-response as he was looking out the left side of the chopper. Both Jace and Parrot followed his gaze to see something causing a shadow in the sky. Then a moment later the shadow broke through and the bottom of the Anvil appeared.

It was far in the distance. Too far for this central station to fire upon it. But it was still in visual range. It seemed they managed to send the landing signal. As it broke through the gas layer he could see the shield flicker. It seems the gas was doing damage or just had an effect that triggered the shield layer to appear.

"Now that is a beautiful sight." Parrot pointed out. "Watch the sky Tako."

The chopper suddenly jostled as Tako had to pull up a bit. He was a bit too distracted by the appearance of the Anvil. Jace looked forward at the structure they were flying to. It was still a few minutes in the distance but beach cliff walls were ahead of them.

But they could not see the way it was structured from the way they were coming in. But as they flew towards the wall the nose of the chopper went up and they soared over the edge. Jace sucked in his breath as his eyes almost bulged out of his head.

Even he was caught off guard as they flew right over metal bunkers and their occupants. Which all looked like variations on what he had seen before. By that he meant everything he had seen. From the headless horse riders to the blockheads that he was assuming were Hoodwink’s standard soldiers.

There were also several missile silos and anti-aircraft structures. The only reason they had not been shot down immediately was because they had caught them off guard. But as they quickly flew over the field of destruction and metal flowers he thought of something.

"Tako, get us lower to the ground. If we are too far up we will get shot down by one of these rocket pods!" Jace screamed over the communication channel. Which seemed to be a trigger for both Tako to come out of his state of distraction as well as something else he did not expect.

"Spectre Jace?" He could hear Dahlia come through the channel. "How can we hear you? What happened to the jamming field?"

"I am boosting and running all channels through the Anvil. We realized something was wrong after a few hours." Hammers informed them over the channel

While Jace and Parrot had to hold on as Tako lowered the chopper so it was flying right over the rocket pods and the biomechanical soldiers. The chopper kept swaying from side to side as he went around a few larger structures.

Then after a few seconds he heard a scrap and the chopper swerved to the side as it hit something. Tako cursed up front as he corrected and made the appropriate adjustments. Parrot began swearing over the open channel ending the discussion between Hammers and Dahlia. She immediately put on her bag and got ready to bail from the chopper at a moment’s notice.

"Spectre Jace, what is going on?" Hammers asked suddenly when Parrot quieted down.

"Umm..." Jace thought of what to say when suddenly he saw a flash of fire and then a rocket flew towards them. "Shit they noticed." He raised and fired his Dragon’s Breath out of the chopper at the rocket causing it to explode but it was close enough that the shrapnel bounced off the side of the chopper, some of it hitting the spinning components of the chopper.

"Jace?" Dahlia tried again.

"Do not fly over the central area around Hoodwink’s command center." Jace told them as Tako veered to the side and another rocket flew right past them. Then he suddenly spun the other way as a rocket flew through the opening in the center of the chopper where Jace and Parrot were located.

"What is going on, Spectre Jace?"

But as Tako executed the maneuver, Jace was forced out of the chopper as he was already on the edge of the opening firing out at the rocket from earlier. The harness strained as he was fully hanging from the chopper. "Son of a-"

SNAP!

Jace fell from the Chopper as his harness snapped. He looked down as he began racing down to the ground. "This is going to hurt."

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