Yellow Prime resolved the copies of the others and checked them for integrity. Satisfied, he said “We are Section 2, I am Yellow Prime and the mission is go.”
Nala 2 smiled.
“What’s our status?” Red 2 asked.
“We’re going to attack the Hive from the sky, provoking it to release Fliers and providing cover for the other sections as they move to breech and infiltrate the Hive. Once they’re in, we to break off and rendezvous with them inside to continue to the mission.”
“Understood.”
Section 2 drew their batons from sheaths on their bodies and leapt into the air. In one smooth motion, they split the batons and—anchored in those baton sections—resolved their light jets as they fell to earth. Once fully-formed, the engines ignited and the quintet swiftly ascended into the sky- and in perfect formation.
“Time to poke the nest.” Red 2 said, and he accelerated to attack speed. The others followed and they unleashed a series of strafing runs against the Hive. At first, no response came from the Hive; instead, Fliers on patrol moved to intercept Section 2.
“That’s disappointing.” Yellow Prime said with a sigh.
“Wrap them up in a cocoon.” Red 2 commanded, and as one Section 2 flicked on the light walls in their wake. They carefully coordinated their movements against the Fliers, covering each other’s tails in an aerial acrobatics display that seemed more like the choreographed performances of the Old World than practical dogfighting. When a Flier got too close to one of the section, another of the section shot it down without hesitation. The light walls became the weave of the cocoon, against which Fliers would crash in greater numbers and then fall to Earth where the impact would kill off those not slain by their mid-air collision with the light walls.
More Fliers launched from the Hive, and in greater numbers, but they—like the others—lacked any ability to return fire. Numbers themselves being easy to counter, Section 2 exploited their superior armaments and mobility to make a mockery of the Bugs. Colliding into airborne walls, shot down by blaster fire or tricked into crashing into the Hive itself- all this and more resulted in the risky move by Red 2, whereby he affixed a set of potent demolitions charges to a pursuing Flier in a deft aerial move and then Nala 2 shot it down near the Hive. The resulting collision detonated the charges, breeching the Hive and opening a hole for another section known to be below.
“This is too easy!” Blue 2 said, “None of these Bug forms are armed with anything that’s useful in our way of warfare.”
“Don’t jinx it!” Green 2 shot back.
“Clean these Bugs up.” Red 2 ordered, “We’ve got a rendezvous to keep.”
Section 2 did jus t that, and the skies soon belonged to the Sky-Blue Republic. One by one they flew into the breach and landed to continue the mission.
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