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End Not Our Lives This Coming Day

Written By: Spudz

"Run stress test diagnostic program."

The handheld computer in Dirk's lap promptly complied, and after a moment of chewing on the data, returned an error code with a disapproving chime.

The wolf chewed on his lip thoughtfully. "Ok... increase throughput yield for emitters two and three by fifteen percent."

On the display, the corrections were automatically made to the cascades of numerical data representing the particle field projection. Maybe that would do it...

"Rerun stress test diagnostic program."

Again the computer processed the data, and again the same damned error message resulted. With a heavy sigh, Dirk set the tablet aside. He wasn't making any progress like this.

The old rusted chair creaked in protest beneath the wolf as he reclined back to stare up toward the hangar lights several stories above. With the rest of the platoon in the base mess enjoying their lunch, Dirk had the massive building all to himself, save, of course, for the four Hellhounds that occupied the maintenance bays all around him.

Not a stray sound greeted his keen ears. There was only the barely perceptible hum of the building's air conditioning equipment, which went mostly unnoticed when he lost himself in his thoughts. He couldn't have asked for a more relaxing atmosphere, the perfect ambience to focus.

The quiet gave Dirk time to think, and more importantly, time to concentrate on the programming issue that had been irking him for several hours now. He always took solace in such tedious and often frustrating tasks. Even though such chores could be aggravating at times, he still found the undertaking oddly relaxing. Really, it was the meticulous nature of problem solving that was intriguing to him, how even the most complex and outwardly unsolvable puzzles could be figured out with simple logical reasoning... and sometimes a lot of patience. In the end, the satisfaction felt when a solution was found more than justified the time and labor Dirk ultimately invested. Sometimes it was just the simple things.

A sudden disapproving growl emanated from the pilot's stomach. On a completely different note, it seemed that forgoing lunch with the rest of the platoon had turned out to be a bad idea. Instead of joining the others, Dirk had decided to settle for a portable meal on the go, although calling it a meal was a stretch. He was regretting that decision now.

He turned his attention to the opened MRE sitting atop the workbench. The heating tab on the container's lid had already been pulled, which had subsequently flash boiled the contents within up to a suitably hot temperature. However, Dirk had stopped short of digging in, his appetite suddenly evaporating when he had removed the pouch's lid.

He was supposed to eat this? It looked like someone had vomited into the plastic pouch and then slapped an MRE sticker on it. How could this be food?

After a moment's hesitation Dirk decided to hazard a bite, and quickly scowled at the horrid taste. It should've been a crime for the Mech Core to serve such awful chow to its pilots. Meal Ready to Eat... what a joke. This particular MRE was supposed to be chicken and rice, a laughable notion to say the least. There wasn't even anything within the pouch that looked remotely like chicken.

How nutritionists had not improved the MRE to the point where it was actually edible was a mystery to Dirk. They could build starships that travelled faster than the speed of light, and terraform entire planets, but the science behind creating a decent ready to eat meal was just too mind boggling to comprehend.

"What's so funny?"

Dirk nearly jumped out of his fur at the sound of Jamie's voice from just over his shoulder. Spinning in his chair, he caught the jackal's sly grin, which broadened at his disheveled look. How the hell had she snuck up on him?

"Jeese, don't have a heart attack," Jamie chuckled lightly. "I thought you heard me coming."

The wolf blinked, regaining his composure somewhat. "Uh... sorry, you scared the shit outa me. I wasn't expecting anyone for a bit."

"No worries."

The two canines lapsed into an awkward silence, neither able to think of anything to say.

In the intervening stalemate, Dirk realized that there was something amiss about the captain. Her soft brown eyes didn't carry their characteristic vivacity, and her tail hung limply behind her form. While she tried to maintain her typical poise, it was easy to see through her mask that the jackal was troubled.

Jamie wasn't wearing her customary attire either. Instead of camouflage pants and a T-shirt, she sported formal field fatigues. She must have just returned from the command bunker, or was heading that way now. Only the brass necessitated such proper apparel on base.

"I just got back from a command briefing," she spoke somberly, confirming his suspicions as her words broke the impasse between them. The captain's features took on a darker air. "They briefed all the companies on the intel we gathered from the patrol. It's not good at all."

It had been two days now since the harrowing adventure behind enemy lines. The platoon's discovery that night had sent the brass reeling, and for good reason. Obviously the higher-ups had not considered the possibility of the enemy surging the lines so aggressively. Suddenly, hostile forces were knocking on the front door, and the division had been caught with its pants around the ankles. Things weren't looking good at all.

"How bad?"

Before she replied, the jackal took advantage of a nearby empty seat, sitting on it backwards so that she could prop her arms up on the backrest. "Command managed to sneak a recon drone over the enemy base a few hours ago. Before it was shot down, we verified their strength at roughly three brigade's worth of armor."

Dirk felt his ears splay back as he cringed. Fuck, that didn't bode well. The enemy outnumbered them nearly ten to one. And that was just the hardware that could be accounted for on the base itself. There was no telling how much firepower was scattered out across the dense jungle landscape, just waiting to be brought to bear against the canid defenses.

Jamie seemed to read the wolf's thoughts. "Yeah, we're almost hopelessly outnumbered. It's only a matter of time before they literally push us off the peninsula. This base is one of the last strongholds we have on the planet. When it goes, the war will pretty much be lost." The jackal punctuated her statement with a heavy sigh, resting her muzzle wearily atop her crossed arms on the chair backrest.

Her sudden despair alarmed Dirk. In the short time since arriving on Treja, he quickly had come to enjoy Jamie's normally chipper, witty self. He had not expected this from the pilot everyone knew as Reaper, the infallible leader everyone looked up to. "Was the briefing that bad?"

She gave a slight nod of the head from the top of the backrest. "Yes, the brass is scrambling to bring in more support. But there's little chance we'll get any reinforcements. All the lines are stretched to the breaking point." Jamie suddenly recoiled back with a self-loathing scoff. "Listen to me. Here I am, the one who leads by example, and I'm sitting here sulking like a child. Some example I'm setting for my platoon."

"But I'm not the platoon," Dirk offered. At his words, her gaze refocused on the wolf inquisitively. "It's just me here. There's nobody else around."

Jamie opened her muzzle to reply, and then thought better of it. After a second failed attempt, she finally found words. "I... I don't know why I..."

"Maybe you just needed someone to talk to," he finished for her, giving the jackal an inviting smile.

She averted her eyes briefly, and then met his once more. "Maybe you're right."

"Everyone needs someone they can confide in; someone who you can speak your mind with." Dirk's chair creaked in protest once more as he sat up to lean forward, giving her his full undivided attention. The wolf's work was all but forgotten at this point.

The opening he had left hung between them for several long seconds as she wavered, and then, uttered a long weary sigh. "It's just... our platoon performs so well on the battlefield, and yet we're still losing this conflict so badly. I feel like we don't have any effect on the war at all. There's just too few of us Hellhound pilots to make a difference."

"It's true that we're few in numbers," Dirk conceded, nodding his head ever so slightly. There were, in fact, only twelve of them on the whole planet. "We're making a difference though. I've only been on one patrol and already I can see that. Hell, we blew the top off the enemy's strategy and allowed our forces to begin devising a counter. Isn't that a noteworthy accomplishment?"

Jamie shook her head. "To what end though? Sure we bought some time. But do you think it will change how things play out in the end?"

That, Dirk could not answer. "Hard to say. Suppose though that we hadn't stumbled upon the enemy during our patrol. We would've been none the wiser until they literally kicked down the door on us."

"Point... but still." The captain trailed off as her gaze became distant. "It's just, I've been down here on this miserable mud ball of a planet for nearly six months now. And in that time, this platoon has had great success... and in spite of that, things continued to get worse. The lines always move backwards, and it seems every week we have to abandon any advantage we have to fall back with the rest of the division."

Dirk watched as Jamie rocked fretfully back and forth in her chair, unsure how he should respond. He couldn't judge her critically for her dismal outlook on the war. When there was nothing but constant retreat from the enemy's relentless advance, even the best of soldiers began to wear down.

"I'll admit, when I arrived, I was surprised at how bad off we were," the wolf finally allowed. "All the propaganda bullshit they feed you on the trip over really pulled a veil over my eyes." He quickly held up a finger to forestall Jamie's coming reply. "But, consider this; think back over the past six months through everything you've endured. There must've been a time where lives were saved as a direct result of your actions. Perhaps friendly forces stuck behind enemy lines, or maybe another mech platoon caught up in a fierce firefight."

Dirk could see in her eyes that his words had invoked memories of past exploits. The jackal mulled it over for a few seconds, and then cantered her head slightly with a nod of understanding. "There's been so many we've saved, and none of them even know."

"How so?"

In reply, she took a moment to fish a dog tag out from underneath the collar of her shirt, and studied the polished metal chip, turning it over in her hands several times with an unreadable look. "We always operated at night, in the shadows of darkness away from prying eyes. None of our missions were officially acknowledged by the division."

"And so no one knew of your accomplishments," Dirk finished for her.

"That never bothered me. I actually took pride in the fact no one knew we existed." He realized now that the dog tag in Jamie's grasp was not her own. A corner of the metal surface was melted away, which partially obscured the name engraved into the surface. Before he could get a good look though, she closed her hand around the chip and placed it back underneath her shirt. "The missions were never easy, but we always managed to pull through somehow... almost always."

The way her words trailed off, it was like the final piece of the puzzle had finally fallen into place for Dirk. How had he not seen it before?

Jamie took notice of the wolf's horrified surprise and lowered her gaze. "The Hellhound is quite an amazing machine. But even this incredible mech has its limitations. There's only so much we can do... a fact the brass sometimes forgets." She stole a glance toward where Dirk's Hellhound stood occupying a maintenance bay that had once been empty. "And we've paid a terrible price for that."

"God, I didn't know," he breathed.

The captain gave Dirk a reassuring look. "It's ok. I've made peace with my past, and so have the others. We've all moved on... we really had no other choice. You wake up the next day and just put it all behind you. There's no other way to survive as a soldier of war."

"And here I'm calling up the very memories you've tried to forget."

Jamie recoiled back slightly. "What? No, don't beat yourself up over that. In the end, I suppose I should be glad that I still hold on to those memories in some way, even after I put them behind me. They may hurt, but it's how I remind myself that I'm not just a mindless soldier."

"I suppose... we all need something like that," Dirk agreed solemnly, understanding right then that he shared something deep with the jackal before him. As she looked on, he reached into his pocket and produced a thin leather wallet. There was no money or anything of monetary value inside when he opened it, just two humble pictures, which he showed to her. "My parents and my brother; I take them with me wherever I go."

"Ah, your brother is a SEAL?" Jamie asked, upon catching sight of the formal attire his sibling wore in the one picture. The lupine in the photo looked almost identical to Dirk, jet black fur and all. The only real difference between them was that his brother was built like a freaking tank.

"Yeah, SEAL Platoon Five of the 3rd Operations Wing... he was attached to 6th Fleet."

The jackal's ears perked up in alarm at his somber reply. "What happened to him?"

Dirk took the offered wallet back to regard his brother's cheerful expression in the photo. "Back at the start of the war, his transport took a kinetic strike during a descent onto the planet..." He didn't have to finish the sentence.

"Fuck, Dirk, I'm sorry."

"It's ok. Like you, I've made peace with his passing. He died doing what he loved. I know he wouldn't have wanted it any other way." Dirk allowed himself a slight smile as he replaced the wallet back into his pocket. "The bastard always beat the crap outa me when we were pups. And I'd always get his ass in trouble with our parents afterward. In the end though, we looked out for each other. I couldn't have asked for a better brother."

When the wolf looked up again, he found Jamie mirroring his grin. "Sounds like you two ended up being quite close."

"Oh yeah. We helped each other out at every turn through our years. I ended up being his wingman at bars more often than not though; guy sure could charm the ladies. I was envious of his skill."

"And did his younger brother learn any of his moves?"

Dirk felt his skin run hot as he suddenly remembered who he was talking to. "Ah... well... erm, not really." He looked over toward the workbench awkwardly, where his MRE sat untouched. "Luke had a way of befriending anyone he met. He just had that certain charismatic charm about him that I lack."

Jamie found his reply amusing. "I have to disagree. I think you share more of your brother's charisma than you probably realize." When their eyes met once more, she made a show of studying him with a stroke of a hand underneath the muzzle. "Yeah... you might not be as outgoing as your brother, but you still have that modest charm about ya that I admire. And I'm a good judge of character."

The jackal maintained a straight face for several seconds, until Dirk's bewildered look was too much. Her sudden laughter only deepened his confusion.

"Modest charm?" he echoed.

"Oh, don't act all confused." She crossed her arms once more across the chair's backrest with a sly smirk. "You don't find many mech pilots with a polite introvert personality. That there is a quality that is sorely lacking in our profession."

Dirk had to agree with the captain's remark. He had met his fair share of pompous assholes in the academy, and knew full well what a typical mech pilot was like. "I suppose a little modesty wouldn't hurt our colleagues. God knows, there are too many pilots out there that need to be beaten over the head with their overinflated egos."

"And that's what makes you unique in my eye. You understand that the division is made up of more than just mech pilots and their mobile armor. I like that quality in my squad mate."

Dirk felt a blush well up beneath his fur. "Oh... ah, thanks."

"I only state the truth." As she spoke, Jamie removed herself from the chair to stretch lazily, thrusting her arms up above her head with a relieved sigh. For a moment he couldn't help but take in her feminine physique, which stood out noticeably against the stretched fabric of her fatigues. How could he not look? At least she didn't seem to notice his wandering gaze.

The captain really was easy on the eyes. And yet, there was so much more to her than her good looks. Who would have thought he'd end up sharing an intriguing conversation with such a remarkable person out here on the front lines of war? In the end, he counted himself lucky to have the jackal as his superior. There was probably no other pilot like her within the entire Mech Core.

The conversation faltered between the two canines as neither could think of anything to say. The awkward pause grew at length, until the gentle hum of the building's AC equipment began to roar in Dirk's ears like an angry swarm of bees.

"Hey, can I ask you something, Jamie?" he finally managed.

The captain's ears perked up keenly at his query. "Oh? Shoot."

"Well..." Dirk hesitated a moment as he considered his words carefully. "I suppose I want to know more about our enemy."

"What? But shouldn't you already be briefed on them already?"

The wolf shook his head. "No... I've already been through the historical databases, and dealt with all the propaganda that was shoved down my throat during training. As far as I'm concerned, all of it's meaningless. What I really want to know is what we are up against from an honest, unbiased source; someone who has fought against them up close and personal. I can't think of anyone better than you."

Jamie blinked deliberately. For a second, she didn't know how to respond. "That's... not something I was expecting you to ask." After a pause, she vaulted herself up to sit atop the workbench surface alongside Dirk's chair. "Alright, do you want to know what I think about them? Or are you looking for something deeper?"

The wolf shrugged his shoulders. In truth, he really had no idea what sort of answer he was looking for. "I suppose that's up to you."

His reply provoked a thoughtful look from Jamie. "Ok... well you'll have to give me a sec to think this through."

"No worries. Take all the time you need." In the intervening silence, Dirk stole a glance at the MRE sitting next to the jackal. Whatever pang of hunger he might have felt was quickly forgotten. God, just looking at it now was enough for his stomach to do a backflip.

"You mind if I borrow this?" Jamie suddenly asked, motioning to the datapad that Dirk had been using for his earlier calibrations.

He made a motion for her to proceed. "Sure, go ahead and kick my data to the workbench."

The jackal obliged, taking her hand and placing it against the clear glass screen of the handheld device. With a quick brush of her fingers, she pulled the numerical data off the screen, causing it to jump over onto the much larger display of the workbench itself. When that was accomplished, she then set about accessing the base's network systems, and began rooting through various databases until she found the file she was looking for.

"I'm sure you've seen this before," Jamie spoke, as she handed the datapad back to Dirk. And she was right. The picture was that of an alien race, depicted with a scientific breakdown of both male and female anatomy. This was their enemy; a race known as eukan. "Yes, back at the academy I was shown this very image quite a number of times."

Eukan were a rather unremarkable species. Like most intelligent races the canids had come across, their physique was bipedal in nature. They had no fur to speak of, leaving the skin exposed all across the body save for the top of the head and other choice spots; hardly effective for insulation or protection from the sun. Moreover, even though the race had evolved from a lineage of species that shared similarities with the primates of Earth, they lacked any form of a tail, a notion that Dirk found odd. He couldn't begin to understand how these aliens moved about without such a critical appendage.

He wouldn't go as far to say that eukan were an inferior race, but they certainly had their shortcomings. Poor hearing, weak sense of smell, inadequate body strength, susceptibility to disease; it was amazing that they had evolved into sentience in the first place. However, they had their strengths as well. For one, a eukan's sight was better than that of a canid's. That wasn't to say that canids were blind by nature; far from it. It was just that a eukan's visual perception was far more vivid, if such a thing was possible. Dirk, for his part, couldn't begin to wrap his mind around that idea. How does a primate see better than a predator?

Jamie could see the wheels turning in the wolf's head. "Pretty intriguing that this is the enemy who's thrashing us so badly, huh?"

Dirk continued to study the figure on the datapad. "I'll admit, at first glance they don't seem like the kind'a race to make war."

"That's true, but they're damned good at waging it. I can personally attest to that. Where to begin?" The jackal pursed her lips thoughtfully. "Well... for starters, the briefings you got in the academy and on the trip over probably didn't do the eukan any justice."

"You don't have to tell me that twice," Dirk replied in disgust. "Most of it was pure bullshit meant to galvanize us into action."

Jamie nodded her head gravely. "Yes, hatred can be a powerful tool of war. As far as I know though, most, if not all, of the negative news that has reached Earth is unconfirmed. There's been no mention of torture, or mass killings, or anything of the sort since I got here."

"That's not a surprise."

"I only say that though from my own experience. There's no telling what's really happening across the planet." The captain folded her arms across the chest, and looked past Dirk toward her Hellhound. "The enemy I've faced off against is not the cruel monster we were led to believe. Above all else, they're cunning, and devious. I can't count how many times I've been surprised by a trick they've pulled on us. The eukan may be a weak and frail race, but they're damned crafty and good at improvising. And that's why we're losing so badly."

It pained Dirk to hear such brutally honest words from his superior. But what she said made perfect sense. "I never would've guessed."

"It's our major weakness. We aren't adapting to how the war evolves. We may have a slight tech advantage, but that does fuck all when the enemy can run circles around us."

"When you put it that way..."

Jamie uttered a short, bitter laugh. "Quite a downer, huh?"

Dirk canted his head slightly in conceded agreement. "It's hard to ignore the facts."

"You saw for yourself on the patrol. They are beatable. We just need to turn the tables back into our favor somehow. It's hard to win a war when you're always reacting to your enemy's moves."

"Well that doesn't seem like an unreachable goal to me. Although given the current circumstances, we'll be hard pressed to find a way."

Jamie favored him with a cheeky grin. "Think you're up to the task?"

Dirk feigned indignant surprise. "Who? Me? Ha! I'd have better luck taking on the entire eukan army with my sword and shield."

"Well... that Hellhound of yours is some piece of work. I think you'd honestly give them a run for their money."

They both had a good laugh at the idea. There was some ironic truth to their conversation though. Dirk was a good tactician when it came to mech combat. Yet, when he tried to apply his mind to strategy on a larger front, things went sideways in a hurry.

When their laughter died down, Jamie vaulted herself off the workbench to stand alongside the wolf. "Thanks for talking with me, Dirk. I really needed that."

He waved his hand dismissively. "Nah, don't worry about it. I wasn't doing anything really except lunch."

Dirk's reply drew Jamie's attention over to his forgotten MRE. "I sure hope you aren't planning to eat that."

He followed her gaze over to the meal in question. "I had. But, I'm having second thoughts now."

"Good." Without further ado, the captain picked up the MRE and discarded it into a nearby waste bin. "I won't have my platoon eating such rubbish. Let's go grab a proper meal in the mess."

Dirk eyed the waste bin with a grimace. He was really going to eat that? "Alright, you've convinced me." As he stood, the wolf took a moment to stretch much like Jamie had done earlier. He had been sitting for nearly four hours now. It was no wonder that his body was stiffer than all hell. "I'm glad you came along. Any longer in that seat and I might've taken up roots."

"Heh, it always helps to..."

A piercing wail cut through the hangar interior, interrupting the captain mid-sentence. Both canines instinctively looked about, ears perked and fully alert.

"It's the base sirens!" Jamie exclaimed in alarm.

Before Dirk could speak, she broke off into a sprint toward the distant door. She was right. But why would they sound them now? Without thinking he ran to follow in her wake.

In no time flat, the jackal plowed through the doorway out into the midday afternoon sun with Dirk right behind her. Immediately the muffled wail of the warning sirens became unbearably loud, making his skin crawl.

Jamie's eyes scanned the sky hastily. "There's only one reason they'd sound the alarm!"

The wolf could barely hear her over the steady whine of the sirens. Were they under attack? What the hell was going on?

A thunderous report echoed throughout the valley, making both canines jump. Dirk nearly yelped as he turned just in time to catch the massive barrel of an orbital railgun recoiling back from the force of firing a round. Across the two ridgelines on either side of the valley, all the remaining cannons quickly followed suit, inundating the region in a withering barrage of concussive reports.

"They're fucking bombing us from orbit!" the captain shouted furiously over the roar of cannon fire. A second salvo punctuated her words as more kinetic rounds were lanced up toward the heavens, aimed at unseen enemy starships high above. The base defenses were cutting open with everything they had. This was serious.

The realization that they were under attack jolted Dirk back into action. If the railguns had a clear line of fire on the enemy fleet, then the exact opposite was true as well. Realizing the danger, he looked over to the captain, who continued to stare up toward the heavens angrily. "Come on! We gotta get under cover!"

His shout startled Jamie out of her fury. In that moment, realization played across her face as her ears flattened. "Fuck, right. Let's go!"

The jackal bolted back toward the open hangar door with Dirk on her heels. In that same instant, the kinetic defense grid joined the fray, unleashing spears of concentrated energy into the air. Hearing the distinct crackle of the laser beams overhead hastened the canines' steps. If the defense grid was engaged, then the enemy was actively bombing the base. Each of those beams would be trained on an incoming kinetic slug, intent on striking it with enough concentrated energy to burn its mass up completely before impact. The amount of power required to do such a thing was staggering, yet the defense grid was up to the task.

There was no room for error. All it would take was for one projectile to slip through, and the entire area would be leveled. The thought was terrifying to say the least. It could all be over in a mere instant, and there would be no warning whatsoever. Dirk wouldn't even recognize his own death; it would be just that quick.

With a shake of the head, the wolf shoved his thoughts out of mind and ran to follow Jamie back into the hangar at a full sprint. Once inside, he thought she would head for the bunker built into the nearby crew quarters area, which was where they were instructed to go if the base came under attack from orbit. However, to his surprise, the captain stopped a few meters inside the hangar.

"Something's wrong about this," she spoke, glancing up toward the ceiling far above. After a second, she turned to Dirk with a worried look. "Why would the eukan try something so brazen? This isn't how they operate. The base's orbital defenses are nearly impenetrable, so the odds of them actually inflicting any damage are quite small... far too small to justify such a reckless move. We're probably tearing their fleet up right this sec."

Dirk frowned at the thought as the continuous muffled reports of cannon fire echoed off the hangar walls. "You saying this is another trick on their part?"

"Yes, it has to be." A nearby explosion suddenly shook the hangar floor, cutting off the captain briefly. "This must be a diversion for something big... big enough to warrant losing valuable starships for."

He didn't like the sound of that. And yet, Jamie was probably right. If the eukan were as crafty as she made them out to be, then this was only the opening act for a much larger operation. This wasn't just a skirmish to test the canid defenses. The eukan were making a move, and if the captain was right, it was going to be an all or nothing gamble.

"We should suit up," she spoke. "I'll feel more comfortable having some firepower at my disposal in case my hunch is right."

Dirk nodded his head. "Agreed. Better to be safe than sorry."

The two canines changed course and headed for their mechs. Suiting up, as the captain had said, referred to the act of a pilot donning their interface suit within the Hellhound's cockpit. In all honesty, Dirk didn't want to be anywhere else during an enemy attack. If it came down to a choice between the safety of the bunker and the ability to meet enemy action with force, he'd take the latter hands down. Besides, it wasn't a guarantee that the bunker would even hold up from a direct kinetic strike in the first place. He'd probably be screwed either way. God help them if the defense grid failed...

Skidding to a stop alongside his Hellhound's paw, Dirk frantically flipped open the mech's access panel, and entered the code to open the cockpit hatch above. The dampened reports of distant explosions continued to resonate all throughout the hangar as he spent a few anxious moments waiting for the pilot hoist to lower down. "Goddamnit this thing takes for fuck'n ever!"

After riding the lift up and literally throwing himself into his cockpit, Dirk wasted no time disrobing down to his fur. "Command; emergency safety override Gamma, Pi, Alpha, Six. Initiate system crash start!"

During war, there wasn't always time to properly start up a mech. When said time was short, a pilot could, in an emergency, initiate a crash start that bypassed all safety protocols.

The mech responded smartly to the wolf's command, kicking off the autostart sequence while the pilot interface was simultaneously engaged. As the Hellhound's fuel cell quickly spun up to idle, the nanofiber mesh conformed around his now naked body in the cockpit seat. The whole process took just under half a minute to complete, a fraction of the normal startup procedure.

Once suited up, Dirk donned his interface halo and activated the pilot link, bringing his motion in sync with the mech's. "You with me yet, Jamie?"

"Aye, just got everything warmed up on this end," the captain replied over the squad link.

Satisfied that his Hellhound appeared shipshape, Dirk took a step forward, bringing the mech out of its maintenance bay onto the open hangar floor. To his side, Jamie did the same. For now, it would only be the two of them. The others were no doubt hunkered down in a bunker somewhere near the mess at that moment, which was the prescribed thing to do. Hopefully, the captain's fears wouldn't be realized, and the bombardment was the only thing the eukan had up their sleeves. Else 2nd Armored would get caught with its tail in the fire if the enemy came knocking...

The realization hit Dirk like a slap across the face. Really, that had to be it... why else would they go through with such drastic actions. "I think we're going to be in for one hell of a fight."

"Why you say that?"

"Think about it. What is the best way to protect against an orbital bombardment? You take cover, preferably underground."

"Uh huh..."

"So, wouldn't that be the opportune time to swoop in and drop ground forces right through our front door?"

Dirk could practically visualize the "oh fuck" look on the jackal's expression. "Jesus, we'd be caught completely by surprise! But wait... we have countermeasures in place to prevent such a brazen attack. There's enough anti-air between here and the front lines to decimate anything the eukan could fly our way."

"It would be a suicide mission," Dirk agreed. "And if they tried to drop from orbit, the laser grid would just melt anything that came near the base."

"Something doesn't feel right..."

The captain's words cut off over the comm abruptly. It took Dirk a moment to realize what had suddenly caught her attention. The sirens... they were no longer sounding with just a steady wail. Through the cockpit speakers he could make out the distinct pulsing howl of the attack warning signal, the call for mech pilots and soldiers alike to take up arms. It looked like the brass shared Jamie's suspicions.

"Hang on, I'm gonna patch in to the command frequency for marching orders," she spoke.

Dirk acknowledged and waited anxiously while the captain switched channels. Thirty seconds later, she was back with their orders.

"Alright, we're heading to Crownpoint to set up a defensive position."

It took Dirk a moment to recall where that was. "Ah, the railgun emplacement on the northern slope?"

"Right, Command wants us to protect the defense grid." Jamie's Hellhound moved to take a MAR8 assault rifle from a nearby weapon stand. It was lucky her mech's ammo pack, which was fixed to the lower back, had rounds loaded already. All she had to do was hook the rifle up to the pack's ammo feed belt, and she was ready to fight. Dirk followed her lead, procuring for himself an Aegis shield and complementing beam sword, with a spare blade going on the magnetic holder against his Hellhound's backside.

"How much ammo you got?" the wolf asked, after running a diagnostic test to make sure his mech was combat ready.

"Uh... I got thirty rounds. Not ideal, but we don't have time to resupply."

That wasn't a full ammo load for the captain's Hellhound, but it was still plenty of rounds to last several engagements. After all, her MAR8 rifle fired one hundred twenty millimeter slugs, more than enough stopping power to bring down an enemy mech in only a handful of shots.

"Let's get moving," Jamie ordered. Her Hellhound turned with a flourish of its fully articulated tail toward the hangar door. "The others will catch up with us when they suit up. Right now, I want to get into position before the eukan spring any more nasty surprises on us."

Dirk didn't like the idea of moving off with the platoon only at half strength. But then again, they weren't going out beyond the base perimeter. "Alright, I'm right behind you."

The defenses continued to fill the sky with angry fire as the two Hellhounds emerged out of the hangar. All around them there was nothing but mayhem. Soldiers and base personnel ran too and fore, while mech platoons and armored vehicles hurriedly moved to take up various defensive positions throughout the valley. Everyone was scrambling to prepare for an attack Dirk hoped would never come. It was bad enough they were being bombarded from orbit.

With chaos reigning all around, it took Jamie and Dirk roughly ten minutes to make their way up the valley slope toward the railgun position on the ridgeline above. Once they crested the ridge, they were presented with quite a stellar view of the surrounding tropical landscape, which was pocked with various impact craters from earlier skirmishes of one sort of the other.

"How'd you think we should setup a defense?" Dirk asked over the comm.

For a moment, the captain's Hellhound scanned the immediate area. "Let's take up posi..."

Jamie's words were cut off by the thunderous report of a massive blast echoing across the landscape. Out in the open jungle beyond the ridgeline, a wide swath of land disappeared beneath the plume of an enormous dust cloud, scattering all manner of debris nearly a mile high into the open air.

"Jesus, fuck!" Jamie exclaimed over the squad comm.

The ground beneath Dirk's mech shook noticeably, forcing him to shift his weight for counterbalance. "Goddamn! One of their kinetic projectiles was way off target."

"Fuck, if one of those things slips through the defense grid..." The captain trailed off.

"The grid is holding. They just let that one slip through since it was off course."

A little annoyance crept into Jamie's tone. "I know that. But damn if you don't feel so helpless sitting here waiting for something like that to rain down on you."

"Nothing you can do. Best not to think about it." Truth was, Dirk was just as anxious as the captain, maybe even more so. Somehow though, he was managing to keep it from getting the better of him.

Only meters away from the two Hellhounds, the railgun emplacements of the defensive post continued volleying rounds up skyward, unfazed by the aftershock of the nearby impact. The orbital bombardment was still in full effect, a fact evidenced by the complementing laser shots that sporadically lanced up into the sky to meet incoming projectiles.

"They're really throwing a lot of firepower at us," Dirk observed with as steady a voice he could muster, cutting into the comm link silence that had built up. "We gotta be beat'n them all to hell in orbit."

"Let's just hope they give up and call it a day soon. This is no fun."

Jamie's reply provoked an uneasy grin from the wolf. "You're tell'n me."

Dirk gave the expanding dust cloud another quick glance before turning his attention back to the gun emplacement they were supposed to protect. The Crownpoint defensive position consisted of four railguns spread out at regular intervals along the ridgeline. It was this defensive system, along with the similar sites ringing the base, which prevented the enemy from swooping starships down to overwhelm the canid lines. If the railguns were disabled, or worst destroyed, they were in serious trouble. It made sense why Command wanted the Hellhounds defending this key site.

After some deliberation, it was decided that they would take up position on a small raised berm overlooking the outside slope of the ridgeline. To Dirk it looked like some effort had been made to fortify the position into a solid defensive point. However, whatever work had been done was unfinished, not leaving much for the two Hellhound's to work with. Still, it was better than nothing.

With Dirk and Jamie positioned between the two center-most guns, they had the best means of protecting the entire site. Now all they could do was wait, and hope nothing was coming their way. All the while, the guns continued their unrelenting barrage.

Roughly a minute later, a small audible chime sounded within Dirk's cockpit, informing the wolf that someone had joined their squad comm channel.

"Charlie Third, Lieutenant Clarkson reporting."

On his HUD's minimap, a series of four friendly icons appeared on the trail leading up toward the ridgeline. So they weren't defending this position alone. He had been worried for a moment there. There was only so much two mechs could do, even when they were Hellhounds.

Jamie was quick to take command of the situation. "Able First, Captain Reilly. Glad to have you with us. We were getting quite lonely up here."

"Just got back in from a patrol. We're a tad low on ammo, but otherwise in good shape."

"Better than nothing. We might need all the firepower we can muster."

It took another few moments for the approaching squad to reach the railgun installation. When they finally did crest the ridge, Dirk got his first look at 1st Platoon's reinforcements.

The four Mark II mechs that composed the reinforcing squad were an impressive sight, even though they were older model units. They lacked the mobility of the Hellhound, instead retaining much heavier armor; an earlier brute force concept of mobile armor, yet still a potent weapon on the battlefield. The Mark II, after all, formed the backbone of the Mech Core.

Lieutenant Clarkson's voice suddenly boomed over the comm channel. "Bloody hell! What in God's name are those?"

It took Dirk a second to realize the pilot was referring to his Hellhound. He typically forgot how menacing the Mark IV looked from the outside. It didn't help either that he was also gazing through the mech's sinister red eyes, which meant his Hellhound was giving the lieutenant quite an intimidating glare at that very moment.

Clarkson's wingman was quick on the reply. "Ah, I'll be damned! Those are the new mechs I've been hearing about."

"New mechs? I didn't know we had such a thing." A brief silence lingered while Clarkson presumably took in the appearance of the Hellhounds before him. "Evil looking bastards... like the fucking spawn of Satan."

Dirk had to stifle an amused chuckle within his cockpit. That was certainly a new one for him. Maybe all this time he had been underestimating the wickedness of his mech's appearance. The Hellhound could really scare the shit out of some people it seemed.

"Sorry if we alarmed you," Jamie spoke hastily. "I forgot we're still not a common sight around the base yet. We usually operate at night."

"Would explain the black camo..."

With that out of the way, the captain decided to get down to business. "Alright, what loadouts do you have?"

"Erm...right, two assaults and two heavies," Clarkson responded, momentarily taken aback by her directness. It was obvious over the comm that he was still trying to overcome his earlier surprise.

"Good, that gives us some nice firepower to throw around. Now then, me and Dirk will hold this position overlooking the entire front slope. Deploy one assault to either side of us, and put the two heavies further up the hill alongside the gun emplacements."

"Alright, I'll sort out my team."

While the Mark II's went about taking up their positions, Dirk turned his attention back to his HUD minimap. This close to the base, there was hardly any electronic interference, giving his Hellhound good sensor penetration into the tropical jungle below. Not that he expected the enemy to attack them from the ground. This far behind the lines, any move by the eukan would be by air, no doubt about it.

In addition to the wolf's onboard sensors, the massive sensor network of the base itself augmented his electronic eyes considerably. With a careful twitch of his pinky finger inside the interface glove, he could cycle through different map sizes, giving a broad picture of the entire region if he so desired. So far, other than the orbital bombardment, everything seemed quiet. That is, until the situation suddenly took a turn for the worst.

A warning signal unexpectedly sounded on the squad comm frequency, making Dirk jump within his cockpit. Before he could figure out what was going on, a gruff voice spoke urgently. "Attention all units assigned to base defenses. Airborne enemy assets detected inbound from the frontlines. Possible enemy airdrop imminent. Prepare for combat action per DEFCON One protocol."

Dirk's fur stood on end underneath the interface suit. God, if he remembered right, DEFCON One protocol was a defensive strategy reserved for the direst of circumstances. It sanctioned the use of WMDs, which could be used both defensively and offensively. More ominous, though, was the protocol's authorization of various last resort strategies, including the self-destruction of the base via a thermonuclear warhead should the defenses become overwhelmed. Command wasn't fooling around; this must be more serious than he had initially thought.

"Jesus this is bad," Jamie breathed, echoing his thoughts. "The eukan must be throwing everything they have at us."

At that instant on the wolf's minimap, the northern most edge of his sensor range began to fill with a massive swath of red. Panic nearly overtook Dirk. "Holy shit, it looks like they are!"

The same information filled Jamie's HUD. "Fuck... it's their whole goddamned army! We're going to have our work cut out for us."

"This is gonna get nasty," Clarkson agreed.

The massive blob of red continued to grow larger on Dirk's screen. Soon, the sensor data became firmer as the enemy drew closer, causing the large splotch to slowly morph into countless smaller dots, each representing a single dropship or supporting aircraft. The captain was right; they were throwing everything they had at the base...

There was an untold amount of canid anti-air scattered all throughout the jungle behind the frontlines. It was practically suicide for the eukan to fly anything anywhere near 2nd Armored's forward operations base. But here they were doing just that. Fuck, it was like they were relying on sheer numbers to overwhelm the canid defenses. The strategy was no different than the Allied bombing campaign of ancient World War Two; crude, but potentially devastating if they managed to reach their target.

All Dirk could do was wait. It was agonizing, sitting there unable to react while the enemy bore down on his position. He just felt so vulnerable, but there was nothing to be done. Until the enemy actually dropped on top of him, it was up to the anti-air units to stave off the advancing eukan.

"Hold your positions," Jamie ordered, taking up her commanding role once more. "We'll play things safe and wait to see what the enemy does first. I have a feeling their target is not the base itself."

By now, the orbital railguns had gone silent. It appeared that the eukan fleet had either retreated from the fray, or been blown clean out of existence. No matter the reason, the change in momentum allowed for everything to be brought to bear against the new threat.

A volley of anti-air missiles roared up out of their fortified batteries down in the valley behind Dirk. With brilliant grace, each projectile arced high over the ridgeline, leaving a sleek trail of propellant exhaust as they quickly settled into a razor straight flight path scant meters above the jungle foliage. In mere seconds, the weapons had disappeared off into the horizon, racing out to meet the coming threat.

The first volley was followed by a second, and then a third. Soon the sky was littered with evaporating exhaust trails, too many for Dirk to count. There was no telling how many of those deadly missiles would connect with a hapless target. Surely the advancing eukan were paying dearly for their bold attack.

He didn't have to wait long to find out.

A distant explosion caught Dirk's eye through the Hellhound's vision. More explosions appeared, and even more; the sky abruptly filled with death and destruction... it was truly an alarming sight.

The laser grid joined the fray, discharging beams of intense light up toward the horizon. More fiery explosions appeared.

Now Dirk could make out distinct trails of acrid smoke; the paths of numerous eukan aircraft crashing to the jungle below, engulfed in blazing pillars of fire. There were so many, his eyes couldn't keep up with all the mayhem.

"My God..."

The wolf didn't know who had spoken over the comm. In his shock, he couldn't tear his gaze off the approaching storm of enemy dropships.

They were close now, close enough that Dirk could make out the bloated bat-wing profile of each aircraft. Instinctively, he flexed his grip around his weapons, readying himself for the coming fight. If anything so much as came within striking distance of his Hellhound, they were going to sorely regret it.

The eukan dropships were nearly upon the railgun emplacement. The aircraft that had managed to survive the onslaught of anti-air quickly began jettisoning their cargo, intent on getting out of the area as fast as possible. All across the sky, small dots filled the open air, each falling quickly away from the dropships above.

Dirk activated the emitters on his shield and sword. He could see the enemy clearly, each mech falling to earth beneath a deployed drogue chute and arresting rocket thruster assembly. To his surprise, the parachuting eukan weren't aiming for the ridgeline. Instead each enemy mech disappeared into the dense tropical foliage down below, concealing them from view.

"What the hell are they up to?" Jamie spoke in confusion.

There was no time for Dirk to reply. In that instant, a wounded dropship soared directly overhead, trailing a thick trail of smoke in its wake. As the wolf continued looking skyward, a series of shadows immediately appeared against the midday sun.

"Incoming!"

The captain was already in motion before Dirk had even uttered the warning. Alongside his Hellhound, her rifled trained upward, zeroing in on a parachuting mech above.

Three shots exploded from the muzzle of the jackal's weapon, each racing upward in quick succession as fast as the ammo feeder allowed. Her target however, wasn't the mech itself.

The first two shots missed wide. The third though, hit its mark, tearing directly into the mech's drogue chute, shredding the heavy fabric into several pieces.

Divested of the arresting chute, the rocket pods designed to further slow the mech's descent overcompensated for the loss of drag, causing the mobile armor to enter a sickening tumble. The pilot within had no chance, as gravity was quick to assert itself.

Jamie had already shifted onto another target as her first victim impacted into the hillside with brutal force. The Mark IIs followed her lead, firing rounds up to meet the incoming threat. They were suddenly in a fight for their collective lives.

The ground beneath Dirk shook. Immediately, a shrill alarm sounded in the wolf's ears; he had no time to react.

On instinct, his sword arm extended out as he whirled about on a single paw. For a brief instant, his weapon met nothing but air, until the edge of the beam sword sliced ruthlessly into the eukan mech directly behind.

Hardly any resistance registered through the pilot interface as the broadsword cut completely through the armored body, severing the upper chassis from the lower in a clean horizontal cut.

Only the mech's legs and reactor compartment remained standing alongside the Hellhound as Dirk brought himself back into a ready stance. Seconds later, the enemy's parachute assembly floated down onto the ground, covering the dispatched unit where it lay. Goddamn... that was too close.

"You alright?"

Dirk turned his gaze back toward Jamie's mech. "Yeah... still in one piece."

The captain's Hellhound nodded, and shifted back to the fight.

By now, several eukan mechs had managed to land along the slope of the hillside in one piece. Each had subsequently taken cover behind what sparse foliage there was, while their pilots no doubt tried to figure out a course of action. It was obvious they had not planned on landing so close to the railgun position.

For a moment, Dirk considered charging out to take them head on. He wasn't of any use here standing next to Jamie while she engaged targets. But no... leaving his position was a foolish course of action. Doing so would've left him open to a flanking attack, not to mention his absence would weaken the protection around the vital orbital guns.

So that left defense as his only option. The berm that he and Jamie were posted up behind already offered good cover from the eukan units scattered about on the slope below. Yet, it became clear that the same protection also hindered the captain from getting a good bead on the enemy mechs. A crazy idea suddenly struck Dirk.

"Quick; I wanna try something."

The captain's mech fell back behind the cover of the berm just as a volley of enemy fire pierced through the air overhead. "Yeah? I'm open to ideas. Whatcha got in mind?"

"Get behind me." As he spoke, Dirk inched his Hellhound up the berm, shield held at the ready.

Jamie was quick to catch on. "Planning to put that Aegis of yours to the test?"

"You bet your ass."

As Dirk crested the top of the dirt mound in a kneeling position, he brought all twelve meters of his Aegis to bear against the eukan. Only his Hellhound's head protruded out slightly above the shield, giving him a perfect view of the battlefield without sacrificing protection. All he needed now was a weapon to reach out and touch those damnable fuckers down below.

The formidable muzzle brake of a MAR8 assault rifle suddenly appeared over the right shoulder of Dirk's Hellhound, provoking a wicked grin from the wolf. This was something he had never trained for...

Not wasting any time, Jamie sidled up directly behind the wolf and carefully rested the forestock of her weapon atop his mech's shoulder. With the Aegis shield now providing cover for both Hellhounds, she was free to fire upon the eukan forces. The skirmish was about to become mercilessly one-sided.

The MAR8's muzzle emitted a blinding flash of light as Jamie unleashed a round downrange. The accompanying report of the rifle echoed keenly through Dirk's cockpit. He could actually feel the raw power of the weapon.

With a clear line of sight over the top edge of his shield, the wolf watched as the slug's tracer raced down the slope of the hill, and impacted squarely into a stand of trees several hundred meters away, where the red outline of an enemy unit stood on his HUD.

A second round swiftly followed suit, and then a third. Dirk was about to call up a zoomed picture on his HUD when a large secondary explosion tore through the foliage, marking the death of an enemy mech as its onboard ammo cooked off all at once.

"One down," Jamie announced dispassionately.

A sharp audible warning jolted Dirk inside his cockpit; somebody was targeting his position! On reflex, he moved his shield over toward the flashing red highlight of another eukan mech, just in time to deflect a volley of incoming shots.

The captain responded quickly, shifting her aim down toward the offending target, and opened up with a countering salvo. This time, Dirk watched as the slugs tore directly into the exposed armor of the mech, sending it reeling sideways to collapse in a heap.

Another warning from the cockpit forced Dirk to shift his stance toward yet another firing eukan unit. More rounds immediately pinged off his shield, draining the emitter charge several percentage points. These guys were fucking accurate; he had to remain focused on keeping himself and Jamie protected. Their Hellhounds were designed to be nimble, not to absorb enemy fire. Right now, both of their safety rested solely in his hands.

Jamie, for her part, was taking full advantage of the wolf's offered protection. With another quick three shot salvo, the opposing eukan mech was dispatched almost effortlessly.

"Keep it up, Dirk!" the captain exclaimed, altering her stance to target another hapless enemy unit. "Fuck'n fish in a barrel!"

The Mark IIs added their might to the fray as one of the heavy types opened up with a shoulder fired howitzer from behind Dirk's position, firing a rocket propelled explosive skyward. With one of the assault mechs painting a laser onto a target below, the guided missile swiftly acquired its mark and angled downrange. The ensuing explosion marked the end of another unfortunate enemy unit, as tree trunks splintered and shattered in a brilliant display of firepower.

Dirk cringed within his cockpit. If his ally's aim was just a tiny bit off, the enemy's nuke core might breach. For a sickening moment, he waited for the radiation alarm to start blaring. The Hellhound's cockpit protected against such a hazard, but the thought of radiation so close to the base was horrifying. Thankfully their luck held... for now.

Shaking off the thought, Dirk scanned the hillside for another target. However, there were no more enemy units on his scopes. Just as suddenly as it had begun, the skirmish ended. Not a single defender had taken a hit in the brief exchange.

"Status," Jamie ordered.

Dirk held his kneeling position while the captain's rifle continued to rest on his mech's shoulder. "All good here. Emitters recharged and back at one hundred percent."

"Combat ready here," Clarkson replied, slightly out of breath. "A little low on ammo."

The other Mark IIs answered in kind.

"I burned through half my rounds on this end," the captain continued. "We're gonna need a resupply."

While Jamie switched to a command channel to request just that, Dirk's attention shifted to the aftermath of the engagement. Through the dense stands of trees several columns of smoke wallowed up into the sky, marking the graves of each enemy mech that had been unfortunate enough to land close to the canid defenses.

They had only engaged a handful of enemy units. There was no telling how many more had managed to land safely down in the jungle below. No matter what the case was, it was painfully obvious to the wolf that this was only the tip of the iceberg. They still had a real fight on their hands.

What was the enemy's objective of this entire operation? 2nd Armor's base was just over the ridgeline he now defended. Why hadn't the eukan simply tried landing forces within the base perimeter? There had to be a reason why they had chosen the jungle below as the drop point. After a second's thought, it was obvious why.

Had the eukan actually landed within the base, the resulting fight would've been quite bloody. In the end though, the defenses would ultimately have prevailed. That much was obvious by the attrition he had just witnessed. If the enemy couldn't directly assault 2nd Armor's forward operations base, then what was the next best strategy?

It was only then that everything fell into place for Dirk; the revelation knocked the wind out of him like a jab to the stomach. "Oh fuck... the carriers!"

"Huh?" The captain's Hellhound jerked back at Dirk's exclamation, mimicking her sudden alarm.

"They're targeting the railguns," Dirk replied, forcing himself to slow down. "These paradrops are going for our railgun defenses. They're trying to remove them from play so they can use starships."

It only took a moment for Dirk's words to fully sink in with Jamie. "Oh God, those two carriers back on the patrol! You can't mean that they would..."

"If they disable the railguns, they could easily fly them in low right above the jungle canopy. The remaining anti-air we have on the ground isn't designed to defend against an armored starship. It would be like shooting a pellet gun at a tank."

"So they throw this first wave at us to take out our primary defenses, while the main force waits in the wings to strike. Goddamn suicide what these paradrops are trying to do. They must realize that."

"But think of the reward if this succeeds. If they manage to overwhelm our defensive lines and take the base, our toe-hold on this peninsula is gone. You said it yourself earlier; the eukan never cease to surprise you on the battlefield. This strat is so bold that I'm sure no one considered they'd try and pull it off."

The captain went silent for a pregnant pause. "This is going to get ugly, Dirk," she warned ominously.

"There's no way in hell we can defend this position with us two and a handful of Mark IIs."

"Don't count us out mate," Clarkson replied indignantly. "We may not be as capable as you lot, but we can still hold a line with the best of em."

Dirk ignored the pilot's irritated remark. "We need to get more reinforcements up here quick."

"Already on it," Jamie acknowledged.

With the captain once more switching to the command frequency, he turned his gaze back toward the distant forest below the ridge, calling up a zoomed view on the pilot visor as he did so. He couldn't see any movement down in the tree line below. The enemy was probably taking great pains to conceal their positions.

A warning tone suddenly sounded within Dirk's cockpit. On his HUD display, a corresponding message appeared in the corner of his vision. The Hellhound's sensors were being jammed...

The eukan weren't going to wait around while 2nd Armored prepared. They had managed to land ground forces behind the lines, through a literal hail of anti-aircraft fire. Though the enemy had paid a heavy price for their boldness, they now had a sizeable force positioned right on the cusp of the canid's most vital base infrastructure. They'd be foolish not to capitalize while 2nd Armored scrambled to catch up.

That army of enemy mechs undoubtedly had its sights set squarely on Dirk and his colleagues; only now was the gravity of their predicament beginning to hit home with the wolf. The sudden fear he felt at facing down what was to come... it was quite palpable, almost overwhelming. How could they possibly survive this?

Dirk tried to steady his nerves with a deep breath, and toggled the comm channel's mute function with a twitch of a finger. In the comforting isolation of his cockpit, he recited a humble request to a higher power.

"Please God I bow my head and pray. End not our lives this coming day."