Subsequent Fall Part 53.45: Moon Harom

Viper looked over at his dashboard, they had five Vipers left, he was being chased down by two squadrons of head hunter fighters. Chasing after him he only imagined it as the end for him and was ready to die if it was time. Flying in a straight line as he heard several missile alert systems lock on.

"WE AREN'T DONE YET SIR!" Viper seventeen's hull was damaged and the glass was cracked as his head had a gash on it. He kicked the fighter into overdrive and took down all but two of the headhunters in a dive bomb attack and motion.

"Not bad for a farm boy." Viper chuckled as he banked upward and avoided the rockets in one smooth motion before taking down the last two headhunters. "All Viper wings fall into the star formation. We have taken down all but the capital ship, and it seems resistant to all of our weapons."

All wings reported in as corvettes started to come in from Jaquies' fleet as it was time for them to move. "Seventeen, you are in charge after this one, got it? Twelve, Twenty Four, cover the front, Three, take the left side. Full throttle."

"Now sir let's not do anything foolish." Viper Seventeen spoke quietly as they started going at the capital ship as fast as possible. Viper had brushed off all notion as twelve and twenty four blew up from the barrage the capital ship fired at the incoming barrage.

"What are they planning? Suicide? Hey officers, are all our ground forces in the area of being deployed on their third moon?" Kaenester asked as the fighters were getting closer.

"All forces have landed on the third moon, however, we are the last starship afloat." The officer chimed in as the fighters closed the gap. They were at the tip of the ship as they flew up to the bridge.

"Seventeen, Three, great flying with you, take out the engines after I drop the bridge. It was more than a pleasure to teach you." Viper flicked his lightspeed accelerator as he rammed the bridge below the speed of light. Shredding it as Kaenester and the bridge were gone as well as Viper.

The two fighters banked upward and swooped in on the engines, launching their hyper missiles as the engines became shredded. The two fighters flew into a zone that had no combat as they took the reality of the situation. They took down the Imperial fleet and the Independent fleets. "This is the Everlast, full distress we have vultures attacking us!" Seventeen looked over to Three as she nodded.

"Hold on Everlast, Viper wings are inbound!" Seventeen spoke as he and Three swooped in and took care of the rabble as they made it back to the Merle safely. As they docked into the ship ring they immediately made repairs and restarted their ships while getting patched up.

Pete looked to the two other moons as he was the last one where he was not the chosen general, he had to earn it unlike the two that were left, he knew his time was coming. He looked down to the ground as his heart felt defeated before even he was. "Sir! Reports are that the Independent bots are attacking us at full force!"

"Reload the fronts and focus on the bots. Use all available mechs. Give me two squads and we can hold the line from the imperial front." Pete commanded as they listened. "Two men up there as our watchers, our snipers have extra pierce, thank Hephaen for that." He felt a weird tingle, like the name he spoke was no longer alive.

"Sir, here comes the first wave!" A clone shouted as they all dropped behind the deployed cover as laser fire covered their heads. The marching thud of the imperial boots was recognizable as Pete readied his trick. Spinning the chamber, he pointed the launcher upwards and fired into the air with all eighteen rounds as they hovered in the air at their apex.

"Call the targets!" Pete yelled as he peaked from cover and pinged the targets as the grenades rained down several explosions as it rocked the frontline. The ones behind the foot soldiers were enough to make Pete shiver as it was their shadow guard. The ones that gave Astrid and the other elite fireteams trouble. "Clean up the frontline!" Pete hurdled the cover as he reloaded his launcher.

The clones on the other side of the cover realized he was allowed to make this bold move due to the coverfire they could give, there were several hundred imperial guards left as they opened fire, dropping them as they were still shell shocked from the previous barrage. The two snipers were able to clear the way for Pete as he slid behind cover, fifty meters away from him were the shadow guards.

The snipers kept them in their scopes on the elite guards so Pete could do his trick. He pulled up his launcher and pointed it backwards. Looking through his scope he fired off four rounds before he was grabbed by his skull. A shadow guard lifted him up and looked into his eyes. The rockets hit three of the guardsman as the one holding Pete went to clasp and close his hand.

One of the snipers fired a round as the hand holding Pete shattered as he fell to the ground, landing on both feet he flipped his launcher into direct aim mode as he fired the remaining fourteen rounds, being able to blow a handful of the guardsmen to chunks as the rest scattered around the area. Pete and the two snipers couldn't track them all as one of them pointed their rifle at Pete's back.

One round was fired from the guardsmen as it clipped Pete's left shoulder. He felt like it was time for him to die, to do it now rather than wait around for it. Pete didn't turn around to attack the one behind him. Taking aim at a different shadow guard as the two squads charged forward and laid waste to the area as the shadow guard on his backside was killed by the charging clones.

The first wave fell as the imperial army retreated from the stronghold as Pete took a refreshing breath of relief, he may be able to see his brothers yet. "What is the status on the rest of the moon, how are we holding up?" Pete asked the clone officer as he dropped his head.

"We are being pushed back on all fronts outside of this one, we are near complete annihilation, one mech pilot is alive and he is holding the line, wait. The bots are disabled." The officer paused as the mech pilot was filling him in. "So they just fell over? We didn't do it, but we will take it! Pete, evacuation order thirty three. Sent in from someone named Pollen."

"We follow that request. Pilot, get over here and we can evacuate as one." Pete commanded as the mech made their way over there as they started the detonation timer. The imperial army realized they needed to make a new all out push and take out the remaining forces on the moon and take it over. As the shuttles came into view the Imperial army did too. Charging forward and opening fire as Pete and the other clones returned fire as they boarded the transports and left the moon in the nick of time.

The transports were out of the orbit as an explosion came from the moon's core, pulling all of the moon inward in one motion before exploding outward. Destroying the moon as the two squads of clones took a much needed break as Pete looked out to the other two moons, their battles still raging on. He felt lucky to be alive to even have the chance to fight with them again.