Prompt One-Shots--NBR

Space Battles

Word count--899

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"This is Commander Zhang. Capital ship has been attacked! All squads, switch to defensive positions. I repeat, capital ship had been attacked!"

All squads? I snorted with disbelief. No way. The situation can't be that serious. Humans are going to win anyways. We always have.

I paused for a beat, then shrugged. Nonetheless, Commander's orders.

I turned my plane around and flew towards the capital ship, a humongous, diamond-shaped spacecraft the size equivalent of a million jets. Armies of sleek, triangle-headed Falcons zoomed in the sky in silver streaks, a clear contrast to the black, slime-spewing Spider Jets the alien freaks brought to battle.

"Squad C, this is your leader," I spoke in my communicator. "All Falcons aid the capital ship immediately. I—"

An explosion blasted my ears apart, cutting me off. I caught a glimpse of the capital ship's tail piece blow off into the sky. I cursed while swerving my plane, narrowly dodging three Spider Jets spiraling towards me, their crooked legs bunched together and spinning like drills.

However, they gyrated back soon after. I had to constantly maneuver my plane in every direction to avoid crashing.

Out of my way!

I pushed my yoke forward, and the Falcon rocketed up. The entire cockpit rattled at the force.

"Natalie!" I called to my rookie copilot over the humming of the plane's vibration, "Reload the missile launchers while I fire at the freaks. Then steer the Falcon to the capital ship."

"Yes sir!" Her shaky voice crackled through the radio headset in my helmet. As Natalie furiously slammed buttons and typed orders on her view screen, I flipped my Falcon upside down and fired at the Spider Jets. Chunks of their black metal spun into place and formed shields, easily deflecting the bullets while spiraling towards me in a blur.

I sharply veered to the right, but one still crashed into my left wing. My plane dipped and spun a few times before I steered it back to control.

That's going to leave a dent. I gritted my teeth and roared, "Natalie, the missiles!"

"I got them, sir!" Without hesitation, I aimed at my targets and fired. My bones rattled as the missiles blasted out of the launchers. The Spiders exploded into bits of metal and green slime.

"Yes!" I sent a bombardment of bullets at an unshielded Spider as Natalie steered our Falcon towards the capital ship.

"You're doing great, rookie soldier," I told her. "Keep it up."

"Yes, sir!" Natalie sounded pleased.

Everything was going well. The aliens always invaded Earth at random times and locations every year, and NASA had to create artificial thunderstorms to drown out the sound of battle as Alien Elimination fleets were dispatched by the American government. Thanks to this, no serious harm was done to humankind, while successfully concealing the truth from normal citizens to avoid panic and havoc.

However, the back of my mind screamed that something wasn't right. I tried to shake it off, telling myself thirteen years of secretive battles were finally starting to get to me, but my intuition said otherwise. It was when I glanced at the capital ship's damaged tail did something click inside me.

Spider Jets don't have enough firepower to cause explosions like that, I realized. The best they can do is blow off a Falcon's wing. The only reason they're considered threats is because of their massive numbers. That means the Spider Jets weren't the ones that destroyed the capital ship ...

"Squad Leader!" Natalie screamed.

I turned a second too late.

A bright flash of red blinded my vision. I yelped with pain when heat seared my skin through my battlesuit. Vibrations sent jolts up my spine. And when the light dimmed, I found myself staring at Natalie's blackened, distorted corpse, her insides burnt.

I didn't even have time to scream, for the next wave of lights shot out of the capital ship instantly. With a dull vroom, my Falcon was split in two in a blink of an eye. The half containing Natalie's body plummeted away while I hurtled to the ground, stomach lurching.

...Huh?

Shock paralyzed me. Wind screamed in my ears and stung my eyes as the weight of betrayal crushed me like bricks. What was going on?

Had I been betrayed?

The aliens... They used lasers! It first destroyed humans, and then the planes! But how? They can have specific targets for the lasers? How do they possess such technology? And why did it shoot from the capital ship? Was it taken by the aliens? Then who even attacked the ship in the first place? My head was spinning. Lightning blazed in my eyes as I teared through the clouds, flashing me glimpses of Falcons pieces in the dark, stormy sky. The familiar zing of lasers and the screams of my comrades in the radio were all dulled in my state of stupor. Was there a darker meaning to all this? Had I failed to see the bigger picture?

Tears stung my eyes at the realization that I'd never know. I was going to die. So many unanswered questions I'll never solve. My friends, family, comrades... I never even had a chance to say goodbye. Regret pierced me like thousands of needles. 

I was naive to think all would work out, that humans would be victorious this easily.

The war was far from over.