Egg

"In the sun of the brave, the land slowly inched its way across the sky." Chris, one of Hanz' teammate, uttered in the team channel.

"What the hell?" Mig responded, as their comms exploded into cackles.

"I think there's a merit to that." Hale said.

"What do you mean?" Hanz questioned.

"Planets are actually orbiting a star, so they should be the one moving across." Hale answered, stifling a chuckle.

"Talking about human perspective," Kerby sniffed, "If you're living in the star, yeah, I believe you have a point."

They laughed together.

Earlier, when Sy logged out from Steel Arena, he told the aviators to advertise the SSS Rank Pistoleer. In exchange, he would design a new flying mech for them. However, he was not specific as to how they would carry it on. The bunch had their own way - a vicious one. They constantly sent a challenge for a 1 vs 1 in the world chat claiming that their SSS Rank Pistoleer would annihilate any mechs in the division.

After ruthlessly obliterating innocent kids, annoyed adults and confident streamers, they proceeded to play on team battles. Already formidable individually, they were even more unstoppable when it came to teamwork - crushing amateur players in the division who were easily ganged up and eliminated one by one due their independent mindset, lacking the cohesion of a unit - thinking only for themselves. After that, they shamelessly declared in the open chat that the SSS Rank Pistoleer was superior to all, only second to The Strongest Pistoleer.

The fun ended when their training session resumed, queuing up for a 20 vs 20 with the Mathilda 800.

"Hold!" Anna, the only woman in the groups, shouted in the party channel, her voice tinged with caution.

The flying mechs deactivated some of their propulsions before adjusting to a vertical position. Steady in the air, thrusters matching the gravitational pull, they waited patiently for the good judgement of the woman as her mech was armed with more powerful sensors, sacrificing her Targeting System to an inferior one.

"I detected ten mechs earlier just 10 kilometers away from our position. They suddenly disappeared from my scanners." She said.

The two team leaders already had a few guesses of what the opposing team was trying to do. Their intuition would be an ambush if their opponents were..

"Flying mechs!"

When Anna's voice echoed in their comms, they all became alert.

Kerby chuckled before his face turned serious. Even though they figured out what the enemy team was trying to do, they would have to act quickly before their opponents realized their intention was discovered.

An ambush when discovered can be retaliated with double the mischief, they say.

--

Well hidden on a ridge that snaked its way into the horizon, another two flight teams composed of a Hawk and a Falcon, accompanied by a reservist who managed to climb his way into the division, patiently waited in anticipation. Their reactors were offline. Only the subtle backup power supplemented their sensors in order to avoid long range detection.

"They're splitting up! Five are heading our way. The other four went straight to the direction they were formerly heading." Their reconnaissance personnel reported in the team channel.

"That's why they briefly stop.. they decided to separate into two groups." One mused his thought.

"Careful now. We are against other aviators." The senior team leader of both teams instructed.

"Be on alert." The other team leader repeated.

Undisturbed by the raging star above and the occasional whistling breeze, the groups cautiously bided for the enemy team coming their way.

"4 kilometers!"

At the warning of their watchman, the entire team could now see the silhouettes of the opposing flying mechs just above the wide expanse of sands. They activated their optic visions, and one instantly exclaimed through their comms, "Hawks!"

"3!"

"Steady men! Start reactors at 700 mark!"

..

"2!"

"1!"

Most of them had already became itchy from the wait, and can't resist the urge to restart their power and engage the enemies, but kept their composure and faithfully followed the plan of their team leaders.

However, when the enemy aviators reached the 800 mark, they suddenly rotated in the air and went back the other way.

"Sh*t! I think they found us out!"

"What do we do?"

The senior flight team leader's face tensed, clenching his teeth. Being indecisive can cost him a battle. A split second decision could easily determine victory or defeat. He assessed their situation. Since this was only a single flight team and the other enemy team was far, it was in their advantage to strike. They would overwhelm the nearby Hawks, and when the other team responded to the distress calls, it would be too late when they arrive on the scene. By then, his groups would turn their attention to the newcomers.

"Engage!" Making his final decision, the two groups of flyers instantly came alive and started chasing the fleeing Hawks.

["Birds of prey sighted!"] One member of their groups, declared in the public channel.

After a minute in the air, the Falcon team gained momentum and rapidly closed the distance. Within the range of their energy weapons, they instantly discharged a continuous barrage toward the retreating Hawks who could only maneuver slightly in order not to diminish their speed, or else, the slower flying mechs would catch up to them.

"Bird down! Bird down!" One of them celebrated after hitting an enemy flying mech multiple times. The damage it sustained were a direct hit to its exposed back, which was also where the flight module was located. That was enough to disable its flight system. It spiralled down straight into earth as a rattling explosion occured - sending debris everywhere.

While they enjoyed their initial success, they failed to check their sensors as they were too focused on the chase. It was their reconnaissance member who had the sense to glance at his scanner. Upon seeing the screen, his eyes widened, he shouted in the team comm, "Four birds coming our way. Fast!"

"Falcons!" One shouted, receiving visibility on the incoming enemies.

They all expected a dog fight, and hurriedly formed up.

"How did they get here so fast?!"

Their senior team leader grimaced, realizing that they were deceived. He did not double checked the other enemy team via their watchman. As such, they were in this situation where the enemy had the advantage of surprise. It occured to him that the enemy team leaders were good. It seem that when they briefly halted in their track earlier, it was actually because they had already detected their presence, and quickly made a diversion using the Hawk team who miraculously made its way directly into their position.

Nonetheless, they still have the advantage in numbers. As he was with the hawk team, they were the ones who had to face the enemy Falcons as they lagged behind. They also had the advantage in a prolonged fight due to their agility in the air, and would triumph in the long run. With a quick action, he rallied his team mates. "Form up!"

The trajectory of the falcons was straight toward them. The speeding enemies unleashed energy projectiles when in range, which they gladly responded with their own rain of energy blasts. Some connected, but was not enough to cause any flight failure, although they had inflicted visible damage. However, something was strange, the falcons kept coming and had no intention of veering their course.

The senior team leader realized what they were up to and shouted, "Prepare for melee!"

But when he saw that the falcons holstered their rifles and switched to a melee weapon; spears, he instantly retracted his order, and desperately yelled in the team comms, "Evade! Evade!"

His team instinctively dispersed into random direction. Unfortunately for him, not a single one of the falcons break their close formation and chased after one of his team mate who was skewered into pieces after a short chase.

The falcons made a U-turn and started coming at them once more. Again, they evaded and dispersed into random directions. This process would repeat itself again and again. It was like they were a herd, and when one was isolated from the group, the predators would go for the kill.

Screams echoed in their team's channel, as they were eliminated one by one. The falcons from their team who chased after the hawks were also out of action as the preys suddenly became the predators.

-----

Meanwhile, in the real world.

"Quantity, heat, duration.. all of these contribute greatly to the end product." Sy muttered in contemplation, flipping a yellowish object on the pan, and showing dissatisfaction after seeing the brownish spots on its surface.

At his back, the three girls watched him attentively, writing up every detail he was doing. Searching the galactic net with their tablets whenever he did something out of the ordinary.

At long last, Sy scooped up the object from the pan and put it on a plate. He uttered in an amazed way, as if he discovered something new, "So, this is how you cook an egg.'