The Furies

Black flight and the Goslings formed up, Mindy immediately assuming command, since she was senior. They started their long attack run on a pair of massive ships, two of the new super ships.

"Boss flight, form on me, accelerate to attack speed." Erica called.

Two screams rang out over the net, followed by the Boss cursing.

"God damnit, where's my fighter cover?"

"Destroyed," the cap officer called.

"There's too many of them for just the three of us! Vector me some fighters."

"None available."

"Hang on Boss, I'm coming!" Rebel shouted, reaching to disengage her targeting scope.

"Negative, I just lost Phantom and Cobra, stay on your attack run."

So cold. Those words meant her death and she knew it. Rebel heard Tucker's words, when the time comes, you'll do the right thing.

"The fuck I will!" she shouted, disengaging her targeting scope and banking hard out of line.

"Goslings, arm secondary torpedoes," the Goose called.

"God damnit, Boss, you stay alive. I'm coming!" she shouted, blinking the tears from her eyes and jamming the throttle to full.

"Too many of them, you'll never get here in time. Stay on your attack run," she called, and then went silent.

With the speed of thought Rebel had her HUD lock onto the Boss and magnify. One hundred thousand clicks, she was alone with at least fifteen fighters swarming around her.

The one on her tail was bracketing her fighter. There was no way Rebel could get there. Desperation dredged up a snippet of the conversation between Goose, Lucky, and Bel at the table last night.

"The 21 second delay is a safety feature. You can disable it by disarming the weapon and rearming with your trigger depressed, but why would you? Nine times in ten the FTL going active on launch damages or destroys the fighter."

Rebel didn't hesitate. She thought she would only use this if she ever got in a spot where she had nothing to lose. The irony of it wasn't lost on her that she took such a great risk now because she had everything to lose.

When it came back up, the small screen noted safety interlock disabled. The weapon glowed a baleful blue on her stores list, rather than the usual red.

"Boss, come to one eight oh," Rebel ordered.

"No dice, Rebel, he'll…"

"Just do it, god damnit!" she screamed.

Eighty thousand clicks, her targeting reticule appeared. Rebel led the target just a little, hoping against hope that she was right about the flight time. The boss's ship leveled out on one eight zero and the Trog fighter closed for the kill.

"No," she mouthed and depressed the trigger, pulling the stick violently to the left and slamming her foot down on the tail rudder.

The torpedo went active immediately, closing the distance in an instant. The Trog fighter wasn't big enough to trigger the release of energy, but it wasn't enough to stop it either. The torpedo carried on reaching the speed of light and blazing like a miniature star as it left the system and plowed on into the endless night of the interstellar void. The fighter simply ceased to exist, some particles joining the mass of the torpedo, others flying off in all directions.

"Hang on, Boss," Rebel called, tracking onto one of the fighters. She quickly keyed up a copperhead and sent it off, followed in seconds by its mate.

It was hopeless of course, even with her reflexes and Erica's skill, the odds were just too great. Still, as the distance closed and she switched to primary weapons, Rebel was at peace.

At ten thousand meters she keyed her PPCs, the blue-white arcs pouring into a Trog fighter that broke apart under the onslaught. She broke on another that was lining up on Erica's crippled fighter.

"Fuck you," she said as she ripped it to shreds with her PPCs.

Another was coming head on. It was a common Trog tactic; they had discovered humans cared if they lived or died. The idea was the human pilot would flinch first and break, allowing the Trog to get an easy shot. Rebel however, knew she was going to die and wasn't about to give him the satisfaction. She depressed the trigger and flew right at him, guns blazing. The PPCs found the range and the Trog fighter exploded in a spray of debris. She passed through them, crossing Erica's back trail and several broke off to engage her.

Her ship rocked as plasma cannon bracketed her, but no maneuvering could shake the pilot who was quickly wearing down her shields. An alarm screamed and she snapped it off, watching as her rear shields flared and went black on her tactical screen. The next shot would burn through her armor, the one after that would finish her.

She turned her head, looking over her shoulder to see it. Curiously, she wasn't afraid to die. She had never felt so serene. The Trog fighter lined up on her as she quit juking and prepared for the kill. It suddenly shuddered and blew apart as a scream of "Yee-haw!" came over her net. Cloudy's fighter flashed though the debris and broke hard onto another target.

Lou came in below her and took out two fighters with missiles. She executed a flying S to track onto a third. Jugs flashed across the axis of one, peppering it with shell fire and blasted another off the boss's tail in the same pass.

Surprise and joy mingled with wonder and a warmth in her chest that defied description.

"Join the fun, Rebel, before they're all gone!" Cloudy called.

In no time the small corner of the huge battle was empty of Trog fighters. Rebel closed up on Erica's crippled fighter and matched speed with it. The rest of Black Flight formed a protective arc around the two damaged ships.

"You all right, Rebel?" Lou asked.

"Yeah, thanks to you guys," she said solemnly.

"All for one and one for all," Holly said, giggling.

"We were with you all the time, where you go, we follow," Cloudy said.

"To the end," Lou added

The battle was over well before they got back to the ship. The boss, being in the worst shape, landed first followed by Rebel and her, the rest of the flight. Rebel taxied her damaged ship to its place and killed the engines. She sighed heavily and gratefully let the techs help her unhook and climb out. Plasma had scorched the armor in several places, leaving deep gouges with edges that looked like liquid where the molten armor immediately hardened in the cold vacuum of space.

"Take good care of her, Connie," Rebel said to the crew chief.

"You take better care of her and I won't have so much to fucking do," the brassy redhead replied.

Rebel smiled and walked across the hanger towards the lockers, but she saw the boss standing there waiting for her. She knew an ass chewing was coming, if not demotion and brig time. She didn't care. Just seeing Erica alive and in one piece made any price worth it.

"Lieutenant…" the Air Boss started.

Rebel didn't let her finish. Wrapping an arm around her waist and the other around her shoulder, Rebel quickly dipped her backwards, kissing her deeply. Erica stiffened for a heartbeat, and then kissed back with so much passion it took Rebel's breath away. Her arms tangled around the short girl's shoulders, fiercely hugging her.

Rebel heard applause breaking out all over the bay, followed by hoots and cat calls. It should have embarrassed her, but it didn't. The choir celestial would have sounded no nicer to her. She loved this tall woman and now that she had her, she was never letting go.

Erica leaned on the table in the darkened conference room, staring out the picture window as Texas Thunder formed up and headed towards the planet with three heavy cruisers. She heard the door slide open, but didn't turn.

She felt long arms wrap around her and a chin come to rest on her shoulder. Nothing was said for a long time.

"I wish this wasn't part of it," she said at last.

"War is hell," Rebel responded simply.

"Perhaps. But what are we becoming?"

"We are what we are, baby."

"And what's that?" she said, perhaps a little too harshly.

"You're a human being and a woman. And you are in for a serious fucking," she added, playfully nipping Erica's ear.

"Oh, I am, am I?" Erica replied.

Rebel didn't respond immediately, but her hands slipped to Erica's hips and she pulled the tall woman's ass tightly against her pelvis. Erica gasped when she felt the hard bulge there press into her soft ass.

"Damn right, you are. Present from Lucky and Surfer," Rebel said with her crooked grin.

"Those two," Erica said shaking her head.

"Awww, come on, they just want us to be happy."

"They want you keeping me well fucked and agreeable is what you mean," Erica replied archly.

Rebel scooped her up, into her arms and carried her out of the conference room and down the long hall.

Human. It was really the only word that described them, in all their strength and frailty. She was human. She was a woman. She was about to be well fucked. She doubted anyone could ask for more.

-Finis