Take off

From Create Your Own Story

"Just close the panel, I'll deal with it," you snap. The tech looks at you like you're crazy, but he does as you ask, closing the panel. You climb into the cockpit and flip the ignition; your ship's engines whine to life.

You go through the pre-flight checklist quickly; everything shows green, though there's an alert beside flight stabilizers; no doubt it's the gyro. Ignoring it, you begin to lift off.

You creep forward across the deck, gaining speed before you streak out of the bay and into into the field of stars. You see your squadmates fall into position to either side of you, flying in loose formation.

The comm crackles to life. "This is Hunter Two," comes Slice's voice. "I've got your wing, One."

"Hunter Three here," Flak calls. "I'll drop back to intercept any who get past you."

"This is One. Roger that," you say. You surge forward, with Slice on your wing, watching your scope for any little blips that indicate hostiles.

After a moment, you see a wing approaching; four ships. "Hostiles sighted," you say, keying your comm. As you draw a little nearer, however, a second, larger blip appears on the scope, a short distance behind the first wing. "Got another contact. Might be a gunship."

"This is Three," comes Flak's voice. "Want me to take the gunship or the fighters?"

"We'll take the fighters."
"We'll take the gunship."