"All D-Squadrons charge!" Luna yells frantically into transmission and we assemble ourselves into the formations discussed previously.
It is to our advantage that we have a large segment of Plutonians on our side. Luna and the others know the way the army works. She knows their defensive and offensive positions and where their weak points are.
But they do not know ours.
We charge towards the nightmare of Plutonian ships awaiting us, using the Amazonian formation that they are unprepared for and the others attack from behind them using Reptilian war fare.
We are all soon engulfed in shards of blue, white and red light. Laser beams from our ships fly across the vast expanse of space, separating us from Lazarus's army and for a moment it is obvious that they were not expecting this approach from us.
One by one, our squadrons fly towards the Plutonian army, some as back up, the others as the main firing squads. It is as if a waterfall of ships and laser beams have been unleashed on the Plutonians and for a fleeting moment I see their hesitation.
Their shots are delayed and they miss most of our ships. But Lazarus is smarter than we give him credit for because the ships break formation and split up by breaking away from each other.
Half of Lazarus's fleet move upwards while the rest fly down and it is only then that we realise the hoard of Plutonian ships have in fact been hiding a Space Splitter.
It is the largest one I have ever seen.
"Shit, split up! Everyone follow their formation!" Luna screams into the intercoms, her face pale with panic.
Just then a loud 'twang' echoes from the distance, growing louder and louder, like a musical instrument that has been plucked by the Gods.
Luna presses down onto the handles and we jerk upwards just in time to avoid a large disc shaped beam of yellow light that emits from the bottom of the Space Splitter. It ripples through out the universe, reaching the size of Pluto and splits up all the ships that were caught in its way.
I watch in horror as some of the ships from our side who weren't fast enough break into pieces from the impact.
"A sonic bomb," Luna breathes out frantically. "He must have installed these recently."
"The shields are up. Is there anyway we can destroy that thing?" I ask gesturing at the huge space ship that floats in the centre of our battle field like a huge nightmare.
Luna's eyebrows tighten in a frown as she shakes her head. "Everyone avoid the line of fire and continue shooting down the rest."
The time for hesitation is over as the Plutonian ships fly our way with the same ferocity as the sonic beam. Our formation shatters as they crash into us and soon laser beams are all I can see.
Luna flies like the wind, it is like she is one with every particle in the universe. I have never seen anyone so natural at evading bullets, ships and the occasional cluster of rocks. I do my best to keep in rhythm with her, firing whenever I have a good shot.
We are able to shoot down a few ships with Vix doing a pretty good job from the rear end as well. The Plutonian ships and the officers inside are a doable challenge but every now and again a sonic bomb would shoot out from the thrusters under the Space Splitter destroying everything in its wake.
Luna is so good, maybe even better than Lucian and my squad members. She is able to outrun and avoid almost every form of onslaught but there are many others who perish in the crossfire.
I grind my teeth together as sweat runs down the sides of my face and shoot out like a mad person, shooting down a small Plutonian ship that was attacking one of our own.
Just then a few peculiar looking bullets shoot out from the Space Splitter and fly towards us.
"Shoot at them!" Luna says angrily as a few of these cylindrical bullets follow our every movement. I try my best but the bullets are smart enough to evade my shots. Even Vix is not so lucky but after awhile he manages to shoot down one.
However, there are still three more pursuing us.
"Hold on tight," Luna says and then she pulls at the levers, the muscles in her forearms flexing. Just then I see one of those bullets shot down by a ship behind us.
"Squadron C-13B, I got your back," We hear Pollux's voice in transmission and I catch Luna smiling briefly.
"Cover me," She instructs and his ship follows us as Luna flies further and further up, away from the crossfire.
I am about to ask her what she is doing when she suddenly free falls back down towards the space splitter with Pollux's squad and the two smart bullets on our tail.
My nerves are a frantic mess as the smooth white surface of the Splitter grows nearer and nearer. Is she planning to crash into it?
"Luna," I murmur in panic as we dive towards the bubbling electric shields of the Splitter that look like it is ready to swallow us up.
"Luna!" I all but scream as she pulls up, grazing the shields with the underbelly of our ship, setting off our alarms momentarily. We glide over the splitter but the smart bullets are not as lucky.
They crash into the shields with a loud bang, the explosion momentarily blinding.
This results in a small hole and Pollux's ship fires down onto the Splitter but they barely cause a scratch.
"This one has been modified. It's too big," He groans through the intercoms as others join him in the shoot out.
I turn to Luna, desperate, my face and uniform now drenched with sweat. My arms are a bit sore and she looks just as tired.
How long have we been fighting?
Vix rushes in and Luna admonishes him for not strapping in.
"Low centre, gravity," He mumbles in broken Plutonian and rushes off to the pantry. He force feeds us with drink and algae while we fly across the smooth terrain of the splitter and then stuffs his face too.
"Lead squadron C-13B, we are running out of manpower, the Splitter has destroyed too many," A voice addresses us from the intercom that sounds a lot like Leader Mori's.
"We need to get rid of this thing," I nod at the humongous space ship angrily. "Do you know of any weak points?"
I remember the one we shot down at the rebel base had a weak point at it's engines but we were only able to destroy it after it's shields were down.
"This shield has been reinforced and it doesn't have its engines exposed like the others," Luna says.
"Inside," Vix mutters, pointing to the small temporary hole created by the smart bullets. The shields have already started patching itself up, the hole growing smaller by the second.
Luna and I look at each other, I wonder if her heart is currently lodged in her throat like mine is.
Another suicide mission.
She turns to Vix, her gaze frightened but determined. "You're right. The engines are inside. Hold on tight guys."
"No!" Pollux protests when he notices what we are doing but Luna cuts him off.
"Cover us. That's an order, Commander."
Numerous ships fly our way to grant us cover from the other Plutonian ships and we narrowly escape the obliteration from the shield that closes above our heads.
I glance at Luna nervously as she manoeuvres our ship past the sensors and across the underbelly of the Splitter to avoid detection. Although a small voice tells me that they already know we are inside.
"Brace yourselves!" She shouts as we fly through the most narrow window that destroys the sides of our ship. Our ship groans to a stop, destroying the floors and a portion of the walls in a room that was clearly not meant for landing.
The alarms blare in the distance, indicating that a part of the ship has been damaged. I notice the lights start to flicker as Luna unbuckles her straps and gets up.
The entire room goes dark and I catch her smiling in satisfaction.
"Looks like they didn't change everything. We just crashed into one of the circuit maintenance rooms. It should buy us some time as they get the power over here up and running again."
We exit the ship with two loaded laser guns each, Vix and I in tow as Luna leads us to a small door by the wall.
The soft swoosh of the door makes me wince, afraid of being caught by a dozen soldiers but we are met with silence. We creep silently along the narrow corridor and I am utterly thankful that we are with Luna, who practically grew up in ships like these.
She seems to know exactly where she is going. My heart thumps in my chest like a set of beating drums hoping we will find the engines before we are caught but then I hear foot steps nearby.
Luna holds up her hand, the other one already on her gun and we stop walking.
My hand wraps around my gun and I turn to Vix as he does the same. His face is stoic, not a hint of fear in his dark round eyes.
But I feel it all the same as the foot steps grow louder each second, the sound of army boots slamming onto the floors urgently. I draw a long breath just as Luna closes her eyes.
She opens them and points down the corridor to our right. We hold our guns tightly and run after her, but the flickering lights aren't enough to hide us from the prying eyes of Plutonian soldiers.
"Get them!" Somebody shouts.
Heyyy I'm back hehe. A hectic chapter and the battle is far from over so strap in and I hope you enjoy the ride :) :)