Flights of Geese
I wrote this story mainly because I believe that the Wild Geese were the best characters in the game. While they were not the most advanced or powerful, they had charisma and made me proud to be Irish.
I stepped out of the small house on New Babylon where I call home and gazed towards the heavens as I must have done thousands of times before. Remembering the blood and tears shed in the name of Ireland and our people's freedoms. I went back inside and looked in the mirror, only to see the lines of wrinkles stretched across my face, not so much as from age but more from the the long years of fighting and heartache that I have endured.
I went into the back yard to smell my roses, but instead found my son sitting in this sandbox, building castles of old. I walked toward him slowly and asked, "Whatcha makin' there lad," in my ever present Irish dialect which hold with absolute pride.
"Just a castle, papa," he replied in his perfect, impeccable english, which he most likely picked up from his friends and at school.
An IDA Frigate arched through the stratosphere from the nearby spaceport. I didn't even have to look up to see what it was, but my son gazed at it with all a seven year olds curiosity.
"Papa," he asked, "Who was the bravest man you ever knew?"
God, there had been many, oh so many, most now dead and gone, leaving the few left to mourn their passing. There was only one I knew who topped all the others who flew into battle with me, and he too was dead, but he lived on through the legacy of his courage and his sacrifice.
"Aye, lad, lemme tell ya o' a man I use to know by the name Sean McNenny..."
I sat in my Modified Starbridge Class D, affectionately named The Clover, eyeing the space towards the jump entry point to the Tuatha system, where New Ireland, my home, was located. A fleet of thirty ragtag Starbridges, Lightnings, Valkeryies, Thunderheads, Gunboats, Scoutships, and even a few IDA Frigates stood guard against the horde that was expected to show itself any minute now.
Sean McNenny was in his own Class D Modified Starbridge out in front of the main group of ships. I strained my eyes to peer through the heavily tinted cockpit glass to get a look at him, but before I had a chance to see, the Comm crackled with Sean's voice.
"All right, lads, now and here we enter battle, not for ourselves, but for Ireland and our own precious liberty. While we fight remember that. Also remember that while some of us will die, we shall die with honor and our sacrifice shall be remembered, not only on Ireland, but throughout the galaxy. We are all brave men, and whoever wants to leave shall not be judged as a coward or a traitor, so anyone can go now if he pleases."
From the rear ranks a voice shouted through the Comm, "Nay, sir! We stay an' fight for Ireland!"
At the end of that sentence, the cheering of a thousand men roared over the Comm. I looked to my right, at my copilot Jimmy O' Billings and slowly nodded.
"Fight brave," I said.
"Die brave," he replied.
Sean spoke up again, trying to fight back a lump in his throat, and the tears in his eyes, "Bless you lads, bless all of you."
The deep silence of space engulfed all of us for a few moments, and then out of nowhere, a tiny point of light opened in the fabric of space, and then two more, then four, then thirty, then eighty, and then one-hundred and twenty. A second later a huge armada of pirate ships ranging in types from small Vipers to Enterprises to one huge monstrous looking Pirate Carrier. The carriers' dull blackness shone through the void of space with a metallic glare, and the smaller ships danced around it waiting for our attack.
"Alright, lads, lets fight an die for our home," yelled Sean as he dove toward the carrier.
I switched the cockpit lights to a blood red glow, and followed Sean into a dive, the rest of the fleet followed in unison. I targeted a Viper and fired two radar missiles in its direction. One of the missiles hit its shields and exploded bringing them down, and tossing the fighter a hundred meters, flipping end over end, until the second missile pierced its hull with a terrible shrieking of metal, and then detonated inside the hull, causing a fiery ball of light and debris to expand outward in all directions.
A piece of the fighter smacked against the frontal shields and ricocheted off into space as I turned left and downward. I targeted one of the large Enterprises when I saw Sean make his dive down upon the carrier, firing his blasters and missiles all the while. He dodged left and right, but still took many hits from the carrier's numerous defense batteries. As his shields went down, he veered away, but still the carrier poured fire into his ship making the armor plating fly off the ship in twisted-metal chunks.
I heard his exhausted voice over the Comm, "Jason, I'm loadin' Joseph into the e-pod, pick em' up, will ye?"
"Aye, Sean, Won't be a problem, sir," I replied. Joseph Sady was Sean's copilot, and was an extremely good pilot.
"Jason, one mo' thing, lad, take care of Sarah for me," said Sean in a solemn voice.
"Sean don' be a fool now, it tisn't the time!" I yelled over the Comm.
"Jus' say yes, lad! Do it for me."
"Alright, Sean, I will."
Just as I finished talking, the e-pod's boosters fired, launching the small, spherical object into space. I raced over and docked with it, "Get Joe out o' there, Jimmy," I said.
"Aye, sir," he replied and he ran towards the airlock.
Then I saw Sean dive on the carrier, firing all his weapons as he raced towards the carrier at over four hundred kilometers a second. The defense batteries constantly firing at him as he dove. A direct hit sheared off one of his main engines, launching the burning remnants backwards into his wash, causing his ship to crazily barrel-roll to the left. His momentum still carried him into the carrier where his ship flew through the thick deck plating and into the bridge.
There was a tremendous explosion, and fire and debris burst outwards from the carrier's frontal section followed seconds later by another shattering blast as the its magazines exploded, making the ship nothing but hurtling pieces of debris.
Rage fueled my words as I said, "Alright, lads! Lets finish 'em off, for Sean!"
The war cries that followed stirred my soul as I dove at the Pirate Enterprise I had originally targeted. I launched six missiles at it and made a strafing run with all my guns trained at tearing the ship to pieces. I watched as my guns caused an oxygen tank to explode, cutting the enterprise in half. Then a 150 millimeter rail gun pellet slammed into the front half of the Enterprise, causing it to detonate before any e-pods could be launched.
The battle ended three hours later, with the pirate fleet wiped out, and the Wild Geese only had eight ships left.
My son stared at me, his red curls being blown to and fro by the wind.
"Lad, go next door and see if your Aunt Sarah needs any help with anything," I told him.
"Okay, papa," he replied.
He walked out the front gate, and I closed it behind him. I then went into the house and cried. I remembered standing next to Sarah while the empty coffin was lowered into the ground, its only purpose was to honor the bravest man I ever knew. I remembered how lovely the bagpipes sounded that morning.
(This message has been edited by moderator (edited 01-05-2003).)
