Battle Lines

Chapter 19 - End Game

09 Jun 03: Durmstrang Institute - Bulgaria

0220h

Natalie Boone lay on one of the hills surrounding the Durmstrang Institute, surveying what had once been a school through a high powered night scope. Thick growth obscured her from view. Deep forest camouflage fatigues made her even less visible, their dark greens and blacks blending in with that of the foliage around her. Grease paint covered her face, blotting out the lighter colours of her skin. Nat raised the night scope back up to her eye, and dialed up the magnification, looking down at the compound below her. The Death Eaters had done a good job of fortifying the place. The outer wall had been rebuilt, and the forest forced back about fifty metres all the way around, their own little kill zone. On the walls; burning torches had been placed, spaced closely. Behind the battlements wizards stood, actual bloody wizards, not brainwashed Muggles, looking out over the forest. They too were close together, only about five metres between each sentry. Stubby guard towers interrupted the wall at points, only God knew what was inside them.

Guess the stealth op's out then.

Nat pressed a button on the side of the scope, recording what she saw, panning across the whole compound. Then she slipped the gadget back into her webbing and crawled backward out of her hide. It took her a good hour to trek back to where she had left her bike, an old Honda Ag machine, stolen from the abandoned farm the others had set up in. Sliding aboard she started the thing up she turned around, heading back to "base".

* * *

09 Jun 03: Mount Megiddo

0830h

General Simon "The Pharaoh" McMahon stood in the ruins of the city that had once graced the slopes of Mount Megiddo. Already the desert heat was starting to roll in. Behind him the armored bulk of the Mobile Command Centre squatted, sides rolled out and immobilized so that hydraulic jacks could hold it steady. The Pharaoh lit his pipe then lifted a large set of high powered binoculars to his eyes.

Ten hours, the enemy would be upon them in a little less than ten hours.

From the distance came the occasional boom of ultra long range rail artillery. Dropping carefully placed shells on the enemy, guiding them gently, or as gently as could be expected, into the valley below. High above the enemy forces, the Pharaoh knew, was a JSTARS aircraft, carefully coordinating the artillery placement below. Orbiting with the JSTARS were a number of SEPECAT Jaguar attack planes, ready to pounce on any of the enemy that the artillery missed.

Ten hours.

The last of his force had arrived just a few hours ago. Another ex-Hogwarts Squadron of Chimera gunships and a twelve Mech unit of brand new BF-20 Battlefield Support Walkers. The BF-20's were now concealed on the slopes of the mountain, ready to come screaming down, raining fiery death, on enemy infantry. In the end of the valley, furthest from the oncoming force were his tanks. Behind them was all manner of light armor; LAVs, APCs, Bradley fighting vehicles; as well as some much more diverse units. Back even further was the reminder of his artillery, muzzles pointed down the gap toward the enemy. However, by far the most impressive part of the whole force was above him; the Fortresses, over fifty ships, stacked four high above each other, each column two hundred metres apart; a wall of metal and guns, hanging in space, stretching across sky; the wall of battle.

Ten hours.

* * *

09 Jun 04 - 1000 feet above Mount Megiddo

0900h

Rear Admiral Mariah Jordan stood on the bridge of her Cruiser. When it had come out of the dockyards her old Fortress had been reclassified and renamed. It was no longer a Fort; it was her flagship, the HMSA Boudicca. Currently it was smack bang in the middle of the Union wall.

Well, aren't I just pulling all the cushy jobs?

After her performance during the defence of Hogwarts had earned her acclaim from circles much higher than her own. Question was, how did the Admiralty put her new found tactics into practice? They had decided that only one person would really be suited to teaching those new tactics; Mariah herself. That had meant for her a sudden promotion to the rank of Rear Admiral and command of the Royal Navy First Fleet Airborne.

Talk about "thrown in the deep end".

During its refit, her Fort had gained a brand new 3D tactical display on the bridge; a bridge now run by her new under Captain. The upper flack turret had been removed and replaced with a high velocity rail gun that could fire its fifty kilo sabot rounds at over four kilometres a second. Extra armor and uprated targeting software had increased the craft's gross weight by almost half.

Jordan snorted to herself, then looked back at the tactical display. Fifty-eight Forts in total, covering over two kilometers of sky.

'Comms!'

'Yes ma'am.'

'Get a signal out to the fleet.' said Jordan. 'Power down weapons, and shut off all non-essential systems. Then get the AWACS - we do have an AWACS don't we? - To boost its output, with any luck the enemy will have just that much less time to get ready for us.'

'Roger that ma'am.'

'Wake me if...'

'...anything interesting happens,' finished the Comms Officer.

'Precisely.'

* * *

09 Jun 04 - 1000 feet above Mount Megiddo

1800h

Rear Admiral Jordan was awakened by a noise she had learned to hate and love at the same time.

Bleep. B-bleep. B-b-b-b-b-bleep.

She pulled herself out of the command chair, tightening her Kevlar helmet ever so slightly so it rested more securely on her head.

'Ma'am!' shouted one of the bridge officers. 'New contacts on sensors! Enemy units, fifty clicks and closing!'

On the tactical display in the centre of Jordan's bridge red dots were appearing, pulsing slightly as they came into sensor range.

'I can see that. Comms, get me the stream from the JSTARS bird, overly it on the main display.'

As she watched, red dots swam into focus on the wire mesh that represented the ground on the display. Jordan smiled, the Comms Officer had already been on it, he'd been with her longer than the others.

'Oh man.' moaned the Sensor Operator. 'They've got way more ships than us.'

'Thank you Captain Obvious.'

The enemy Forts were running ahead of the ground forces, in old fashioned six ship bomber formations, obviously intent of doing the damage and letting the ground pounders mop up after them.

Time to change that.

'Comms, patch me through to the fleet.'

'Roger that.'

The man hit a series of switches on his console, across the fleet Jordan's image and words would received in bridges.

'Ladies and Gentlemen, this is Rear Admiral Jordan, of the HMSA Boudicca. Fleet, engines all ahead full! Vee formation - echelon low; we want to force them out and down, away from the ground forces and under our own guns. Remember you briefings, all crews to battle positions. Good Luck, may she ride with us today; Boudicca out!'

With that the Comms cut the connection and Jordan turned to her own bridge.

'Captain, take us out.'

'Yes ma'am.'

The Captain turned away and began issuing commands, bringing the massive Cruiser under way. Jordan shook her head, she did her best not to run the craft, and to let her Captain do the work, but it had only been a month or so ago that she had been in command of a single ship, and not taking over control was difficult. Under her feet she felt the familiar push of the engines through the floor. On the display she could see it; the fleet was moving. The ships in the centre led the way, staggered back, the lower ships trailing behind. It was a simple tactic; the wedge would hit the enemy formations, forcing its way in between them and attempt to move the two groups away to the sides of the battlefield, away from the ground troops. The echelon low staggering would force the enemy down, maximizing her own firepower, while disallowing the enemy the use of their of air to ground weapons on her ships. Jordan watched the display, eyeing it as the range counter to the enemy leads scrolled down, the numbers clicking down as she accelerated toward the engagement.

Ten clicks.

'Captain.'

'Ma'am.'

'Fire at will.'

The Cruiser's energy weapons were still out of range, but the rail cannon, mounted on its top had just hit optimum...

BUDZZZZEEWWWWWW!!

The big cannon fired, propelling its fifty kilo load toward the enemy. The casing fell away as the sabot round carried its high explosive payload onwards.

Ten clicks, four kilometres a second, two and a half seconds flight time precisely...

An explosion blossomed as the round slammed into its target. The wounded Fort fell out of formation, descending toward the desert floor, trailing smoke until it impacted in a fountain of dirt and fire. The rail gun roared again, the hiss of escaping gas filled the bridge as liquid helium rushed through the cooling system, chilling the rails back into superconductivity. Blue fire erupted from the base of the Boudicca as her beam cannons came on at maximum range. The lead ships opened up, blue light filled the bridge as beams of bright magical energy raced toward the enemy. Red shafts shot back, slicing through Jordan's fleet. Dots started to wink out on the tactical display as the opposing forces pounded one another.

Zero.

The forces slammed together; Jordan's wedge sliced into the enemy formations, slashing through, guns blazing.

Jordan watched as her ships drove into the enemy, punching them aside, those that didn't turn were annihilated. More dots winked out around the edges of her fleet, the centre of the wedge was past. Jordan got on the comm.

'This is the Boudicca, fleet, begin turning maneuver.'

The ships in the centre broke apart, the wedge split, driving the enemy Forts out, away from the ground battle. Jordan watched silently; this would have to be done fast before...

BLEEE! BLEEE! BLEEE!

Shit.

'Ma'am! We've got multiple missile launches!'

Jordan watched the display as, from the ground, tiny red spears rose to meet her fleet.

The Captain was already on it. 'Begin evasive action! Dump countermeasures!'

More red wedges were entering the display, racing in at no speed a Fortress could hope to match; fighters. Jordan glanced down, from her own lines green markers were rising. The battle was begun.

* * *

09 Jun 04: Mount Megiddo

1810h

Cho's stick screamed into the air, climbing hard, the rest of the Squadron tucked in behind her.

'All flights, report in!'

'Phoenix Two, green.'

'Phoenix Three, standing by.'

'Phoenix Four, standing by.'

'This is Two Flight; we're locked, cocked and ready.'

Cho checked her board, red and green dots filled the forward view. Through the HUD blue and red flashes illuminated the sky. She could hear the boom and whine of the fight over the rushing wind in her ears.

At that moment, Marquette's voice broke through the comm.

'All fighters, this is Major Marquette. Enemy contacts sighted, three kilometres out. Keep the heavies off out Forts.'

Cho looked down at her sensors, behind more green dots were appearing, the two other broomstick squadrons had finally launched.

'Ok, Phoenix, look sharp.' said Cho. 'Break by wing pairs and engage!'

With that she suited actions to words and slammed the stick into full emergency war power. The broom responded instantly, screaming forward, straight into the midst of the fight. Blue and red energy obliterated Cho's vision, tracers and flack bursts filled the air as she raced between the massive Fortresses. A Fat sliced across her nose, dragging its wingman after it. Cho flicked her ride up on its side, following the enemy around. Red energy flew past Cho as the craft's rear turret opened fire. She started jinxing, making the Nimbus dance, throwing off the enemy aim.

'Two, you still with me?'

'Roger that Lead, right behind you.'

The enemy swept low over the hull of one of its own Forts. Cho's reticule moved across the fleeing craft and she jammed her finger down on the trigger. Terajoules of magical energy erupted from her emitter tip, slamming into the Fat's rear. The fighter dropped, slamming into the Fort's hull, it bounced and skittered across the metal, before rocketing off the prow and continuing a flaming, ballistic trajectory toward the ground. Cho rolled inverted, carving a tight split-S down and around the flank of the enemy Fortress. She pulled out, sweeping under the belly of the big aerostat. From ahead of her came the hideous whine as one of the main beam cannons built up power, a gigantic ball of energy collecting at its tip. Cho shot past it, a bare second before...

BVVVVVVVVV!

The massive cannon fired, a beam of bright scarlet energy, the size of a freight train erupting from its tip.

'ARRRGGGHHHH!'

Oh crap.

'Phoenix Two, this is Phoenix Lead, do you copy? Phoenix Two...'

Cho looked back, behind her the beam cannon was winding down, its fire thinning. There was no Phoenix Two to be seen.

'This is Lead,' said Cho, 'Phoenix Two is gone.'

Cho didn't have time to mourn her losses. Magical energy suddenly lanced past her head. She looked back again, emerging around the hull of the Fort were two Death Eaters brooms, with her directly in their sights. Cho slammed her ride over, making a beeline for the ground, jinxing madly as blast after blast screamed past. The Death Eaters followed her down, diving for the hard deck.

Come on guys, help me out here.

* * *

Mike Phannan rolled away as his target exploded in a ball of free hydrogen atoms. Out of the corner of his eye he saw a broom appear from underneath one of the Forts, fire from its pursuers raining down on it.

'Looks like one of ours. Six, you with me?'

'Tally Ho!'

Phannan decided that that was probably an affirmative, and rolled his ride inverted, chasing after the enemy. He watched as the ASI marker crept higher on his HUD, nudging his crosshairs over the target.

Almost in range.

'Six, drop back and watch my six.'

'Roger that, just remember; I want some kills too.'

Phannan's crosshairs went green just as the fell over the enemy. He jammed down the trigger. Terajoules of magical energy flew from his broom; the first shot hit the rear Lanky, vaporizing it in an instant. The leader of the pair broke away, puling around hard right.

'He's mine,' came Aaron's voice through the comm.

Bright flashes stitched the air behind the fleeing wizard as Aaron rained hot holy destruction down on him. Finally the shots caught up, sweeping the tail end of the stick away and sending it rolling toward the dirt below. Phannan glanced down at his board again.

'Six! Watch out!'

Phannan wrenched his broom around, just as enemy fire lanced through the space he had just occupied. He looked up, just in time to see Aaron's stick explode in a cloud of hot ions. The flaming fireball continued on, shedding bits of what had once been Phannan's friend.

'SHIT!'

He swerved again as another blast of energy screamed past. With Aaron gone, the enemy was able to focus all their unwanted attention on him. He rolled inverted and pulled "up" hard, killing the power at the same time. The Nimbus responded, swinging around in almost its own length. Phannan hit the juice and stamped on his foot pegs, snapping the broom around again, the rocketed off in another direction. More fire roared past, singeing Phannan's jacket.

'Shit! Guys, I could really use a hand here!'

'Hang in there Five,' Phannan recognized Cho's voice, 'I'm coming for you.'

Phannan hammered on down, diving for the deck. Blue fire suddenly lanced up from in front of him. It screamed through, followed seconds later by Squadron Leader Chang. She soared past, her broom leaving him in its wake. The fire from behind ceased.

'Still there Five?'

Phannan let out a relived sigh. 'Roger that Lead, thanks for the rescue. They got Six ma'am.'

There was a word from the other end of the comm that sounded a lot like shit; then...

'Ok Five, form up on me, this isn't over yet.'

Phannan hauled around, coming up on his Lead's wing.

'Alright ma'am, lets go toast their arses.'

'That's what I like to hear.'

Cho hit the juice, and pulled up, Phannan close behind. Together they climbed back into the fight.

* * *

Oliver Wood, looked up as the two sticks disappeared into the furball again.

'Alicia, you set?'

'Roger that.'

Oliver touched the "transmit" button on his stick. 'Ok Bolts; lets turn and burn.'

With that he suited actions to words, wrenching the stick backwards, at the same time slamming the throttle through the gate. The little Chimera Gunship, flying charms screaming, roared skywards. Wood touched the stick, lining his crosshairs up with the nearest enemy Fort, then selected his rockets. On his HUD the range counter flew downwards, numbers blurring.

The hairs went green.

Wood jammed his thumb down on the launch button.

WHOOSH! WHOOSH!

Two seventy millimetre AP rockets streaked from the pods under his ships stub wings.

'Rockets away!'

He watched the smoke trails reaching out from the launchers, then jammed the stick hard over and stood on his rudder pedals. The Chimera flicked around now traveling up, belly pointed at the sky. Wood jammed the throttle forward again and the craft scooted off in another direction.

'All Union units, this is Bolt Lead. We are a group of Chimera class Gunships, inbound on the engagement zone. Please don't shoot at us, much obliged.'

The Chimera roared past another Fort, climbing over the top of its hull. From the other side popped up two brooms, they jerked their noses down, pointing straight at Wood, and opened fire. Wood jammed his finger down.

WHOOSH!

'CRAP!'

The rocket roared out of its pod, streaking toward the Death Eater, who swerved aside, breaking off his attack, just as Alicia nailed the other with her turret weapon. Still swearing to himself Wood flicked back to "guns."

'I don't think they were listening sir.'

'Shut up Alicia, just shut up.'

Bright red suddenly filled his vision. Oliver cut his ship over hard, standing it on its wingtip as the bright red beams of the Fort's anti-fighter emplacements tracked him across the sky. There was a thunderous roar from behind as Alicia returned fire. The lightly armored turrets shattered as she lined them up, then knocked them down with clinical precision. Wood pulled up into a wide half Cuban, lining up the Fort in his reticule.

WHOOSH! WHOOSH!

The rockets thundered out of their pods.

KABOOM!

They slammed into the Fort, piercing its armor, then exploded, right inside the bridge! The big aerostat heeled away, flamed pouring from its shattered command centre as it slowly dropped toward the ground. Wood spared a moment for his board, red dots covered the screen.

Too many of them, too few of us.

* * *

The Pharaoh stood in the Commander's position in his Challenger II main battle tank as it roared up the canyon, straight toward the enemy. Through his high powered binoculars he watched as an enemy Fortress descended, smoke trailing behind it. Incredible, Jordan had actually done it, paving the way for his armored battalions. With that the General tuned his attention back to the battle at hand. Behind him ran the entirety of his armada, main battle tanks at the front, followed by lighter amour and all manner of support vehicles.

'Sir, enemy units in range,' came the gunner's voice through the radio.

'Roger that, fire at will.'

BOOM!

The Challenger's main gun fired, spitting high explosive death at the enemy. Along the speeding line more guns boomed, adding their own part of the rain. Suddenly...

KABOOM!

The enemy shell landed right next to The Pharaoh, shaking the ground and kicking up dirt and rock. Flying shrapnel pinged off the tank's armored hull, forcing the General to duck inside. More rounds began to fall around the racing battalions, blasting deep holes in the earth. To the Pharaoh's right a racing American M1A1 caught a direct hit, it exploded massively, the turret flying clean off the hull in a gout of flame. Above the sound of the battle McMahon caught the sound of approaching aircraft engines.

Not good.

KABOOM!

The tank next to the racing Challenger exploded, a white smoke trail marking the way to its demise. Its killer roared overhead, swooping low over the charging Union forces.

The Pharaoh swore to himself, Frogfoots. The SU-39 "Frogfoot", Russia's answer to the A-10.

He clicked on his radio. 'This is General McMahon, Linebackers and Avengers are to make their way to the front to cover our advance. Marquette, get us some air cover.'

'Already on it sir. The Nimitz is scrambling fighters now.'

The General sighed, they would just have to sit it out. Above him, more Sukhoi fighters arrived, slashing across the tank lines, raining missiles and bullets down on the advancing vehicles. McMahon whipped around as the roar of engines filled his ears from behind, coming face to face with the Frogfoot, descending right on top of his tank!

BOOM!

The aircraft exploded in an absolutely gigantic fireball, what remained of the fuselage slammed into the ground behind the speeding tank and shattered. Through the fire erupted a new vehicle, an M6 Bradley "Linebacker", its Stinger missile launchers already tracking a new target. The M6 raced up beside The Pharaoh, its commander waving cheerily from his open hatch. McMahon threw back a flippant salute.

'Sir.' Mauquette's voce broke through, 'fighter cover is on its way, ETA momentarily.'

'Thank you Major. Incoming fighters, watch the Fortresses above us, they could give you a little trouble up high.'

The voice of the lead pilot returned. 'Thank you, we're inbound on the engagement zone. See you shortly sir.'

The sound of engines made the General look up, swooping down on the tanks was another SU-39, suddenly tracers erupted from the sky behind it, tearing into the attacking plane and ripping it apart. Thundering in behind the tracers came a new aircraft, each of its twin tails sporting a fierce skull and crossbones motif, the famous "Jolly Rogers" from the USS Nimitz. F-14s rained from the sky, blasting the enemy Sukhois with tracers and missiles. The boom of his tank's gun snapped McMahon back to the present. There was still a battle down here on the ground; that thought brought with it the first T-90, whipping into his lines. Suddenly T-90s and T-72s were streaming past as the two opposing forces clashed, right in the middle of the valley. There was a massive explosion as two tanks collided, their magazines igniting and throwing shrapnel into the rest of the force. The Pharaoh winced as the vehicles around them committed fratricide, catching stray shells and metal from the explosion.

'Ok people!' yelled McMahon, 'Get past, then we're going to cycle around the back of them! Walker, you are clear to engage when will!'

* * *

Captain Lauren "Left Hand" Hardy heard the General's call; that was it, they were clear to engage.

'Ok people,' she said, 'lets roll!'

'Uhh, Left Hand, we don't roll.'

'Shut up Strutter.'

With that Hardy checked her harness one more time, the griped the throttle in her hand and rammed it forward.

THUD! THUD! THUD! THUD!

Her BF-20 Battlefield Support Walker stepped forward, mechanical legs propelling it down the slope of Mount Megiddo. From inside the Mech's cockpit Lauren could hear the crashing noise as the rest of her unit started forward. The BF-20's charged down the mountain, each sixteen feet tall and bristling with weapons. They reached the bottom of the slope and raced out across the valley...

...right into the enemy infantry!

There was a satisfying crunch from beneath the foot of Hardy's Mech as it crushed some unfortunate infantryman below it. After that the '20s had a clear run through, men running away from them in a human wave. Lauren ginned inside her oxygen mask as small arms fire pinged off the armored flanks of her Walker.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Bullets slammed into her windscreen, staring the thick bullet proof glass. All the tanks were down the other end of the battlefield, there was no immediate threat, and she was in her element. She jammed her finger down on the trigger as more tracers shot past her cockpit. Then there, striding toward her craft were giants, each towering a head taller than the BSWs, all wearing heavy body armor and swinging massive clubs. Hardy flicked her stick over, turning the running '20 in their direction. She and her comrades hit the line together, smashing into the giants head on. Hardy wove through them, deftly dancing on her pedals, sending the Walker left and right through the swinging clubs. There was the sickening crash from outside as one of the giants connected with a Mech, swinging his club clean through the cockpit. Laura flicked the stick over, twisting it at the same time, tracking her machine's guns onto a new target.

Budda! Budda! Budda! Budda! Budda!

She opened up with her twenty mill cannons. Red starbursts erupted across the giant's chest as the shells ripped it open. He fell to the ground, with an almighty crash. The Captain looked up again, just in time to see a giant club swinging toward her cockpit.

Oh crap.

BLAM!

The giant's head exploded like a watermelon as two beams of bright blue light impacted, splattering brains and blood all over Lauren's windscreen.

'Thanks for the rescue, whoever you are.'

* * *

Oliver Wood looked back as the giant fell, blood gushing from where its head should have been. Below him the battle wasn't going well. The Union forces, though better trained and equipped were being driven back by sheer weight of numbers. Slowly they were being pushed further and further back toward the slopes of the mountain.

No time to get contemplative now.

He hauled back on his stick, climbing back up toward the fight in the air. He spared a quick second for his board, there was now much more red covering its surface than before. The Chimera Gunship slammed into the fight head on. Wood slammed the stick to its maximum travel, jinxing and weaving his way upwards, blasting his way out through the top of the fight. He wrenched the controls over, rolling inverted and pulled down, G-forces pushed him into his seat as the craft went over the top, bearing down on another Fort.

WHOOSH!

His final rocket roared away, streaking toward its target. Red fire lanced up at Oliver as the Fort's guns opened up. He stood on the pedals, snapping his craft around and jammed the throttles through the gate.

'This is Bolt Lead, I am bingo rockets!'

He reached out, flipping up a plastic cover and jammed down the button below it.

THUNK! THUNK!

His Gunship surged forward as the empty rocket pods dropped away. Wood rolled the craft up on its wingtip and pulled back. He suddenly felt his seat judder as his craft was hit from behind.

'AARRGH!'

'Alicia! Alicia you still there?!'

No answer.

Shit!

'This is Bolt Lead, I've lost my Gunny and could really use some help here!'

'Roger that Bolt, stay frosty, the Phoenix Rescue Service is on its way.'

* * *

Rachel Holms stuck doggedly to the tail of her wingman as they raced down through the fight. Ahead she could see the Chimera, jinxing madly as no less than four enemies assailed it from behind. As she watched more fire caught the hardy craft, shearing off one of its stabilizers. It slewed sideways as another blast shot past its nose.

'Ok Eight.' that was John Klivias, Phoenix Seven. 'Go left, crossover and hit them on the way through.'

'Roger.'

Rachel banked her stick over, speeding away from her wingman.

'Cross NOW!'

She rolled back the other way, lining up the enemy's lead indicator in her crosshairs. Terajoules of magical energy erupted from the front of her broom. It connected with her target, blowing him to smithereens, just as the Lanky fired its kill shot. The lance of Death Eater energy slammed into Bolt Lead, blasting away one of the stub wings. The Gunship started a lazy roll, smoke and flames trailing behind it as it headed for the ground.

Rachel watched it in slow motion. 'Bolt Lead! Bang out! BANG OUT NOW!'

* * *

Oliver Wood heard her words through the hiss of static. Alarms were blaring, a damage report rolling up one side of his HUD, everything was red.

'Bolt Lead. Punching out!'

Painfully he reached up, fighting against the G-forces now pinning him in his seat. In front of him the ground grew larger, looming in his HUD. His had grasped around the yellow and black lever beside his head, and yanked it out and upwards.

WHOOOOM!

There was a massive blast of rocket thrust. Oliver felt like and elephant had just kicked him in the pants as the Martin Baker ejector seat threw him clear of the doomed Chimera. There was a snap and sudden deceleration as the seat's drogue 'chute opened, slowing it down, then the straps on the seat undid, and Wood fell clear of the seat, his main parachute opening automatically.

* * *

The Pharaoh saw the pilot eject and saw the parachute open. That was good, SAR should be able to pick him up later, but he now had bigger problems on his hands than one downed pilot. The Union forces were being driven back, sheer weight of numbers overwhelming them. This was it, the order he had hoped not to give.

'All units, this is General McMahon. Fall back. I repeat all units are to fall back to the mountain, we can't hold here.'