CROSSFIRE - Atlantis DSV - New Cape Quest

This was the proving ground of fighter aces on both sides of the border, and saw
more skirmishes in six months than the entire war had in the two years preceding. The wing
of Chaodai fighters that ducked through the ravines of the trench served as a poignant
example of this testimony. It had been common practice for a decade that fighter pilots in the
UEO, Alliance and Chaodai alike used the trench as a training ground, pushing themselves
to faster and tighter passages through challenger deep, and using the massive trench to go
deeper and further with every new attempt. Some, records held, had pushed it too far...
This wing of Chaodai fighters – some thirty strong – were taking a passage known as
“Swordsman‟s Folly” as quickly as they could drive it, and broke apart to dart amongst and
between the tributaries of the ravine with each new turn to hide their number. On this
occasion, they were not training - and were rapidly bearing down on a UEO battlegroup just
fifty short nautical miles away. Their discipline in this task was nearly perfect – not one of
them broke radio silence, yet the coordination of their advance was deliberate, methodical
and quite clearly practised.
The lone eye that sat near the start of the Folly went completely unseen by the
fighters as they approached its position. The thump and roar of the fighters‟ engines as they
rounded in to the first straight woke the eye from its quiet rest and it slowly picked itself up
off the seabed to look towards the sound. For a few moments, it watched without reaction as
the Chaodai submarines screamed up the ravine, its eye scanning each in turn, and waiting
until they had passed to quickly rise from the seabed and float to the top of the ravine.
The WSKRS probe dispatched from the Commonwealth to monitor the trench was
named “Alvin”, and its „eye‟ continued to watch the fighters as they travelled deeper in to the
ravine, shielded from the UEO‟s sensors by the sonar-blinding shield walls of the submarine
canyon.
Alvin‟s burst of communications was short, and the small AI-driven probe had been
too eager to report what it had seen. Even as it slowly began to settle back in to its sentry
position, the second group of Chaodai fighters had rounded the same straight and in one
quick burst of laser fire, ripped the defenceless WSKRS probe to pieces.
The Sonar operator on the bridge of the Commonwealth jumped slightly as the
monitor for Alvin‟s status feed froze and chirped in alarm as the signal was terminated. He
tried twice to re-establish the connection unsuccessfully, and then attempted to check the
data log he‟d just been sent.
At the Wing Commander‟s suggestion, the Sonar operator had sent Alvin to the Folly
to keep an eye on it. It had never dawned on the ensign to ask why it was called such a
peculiar name, only that when the Wing Commander had a hunch, it was usually a good
one.
He shook his head, and then turned. “XO?”
Commander Callaghan looked up from his station on the command deck and walked
over without a word. The ensign waited until he had leaned down. “Problem?”
“Possibly sir. I had Alvin out at the pitchforks, near Swordsman‟s Folly?”
Callaghan frowned. “Yeah, I know it. And?”
“Alvin had just started to send me something when I lost the feed. As in, lost, sir. I
can‟t get it back.”
Callaghan straightened, and checked the monitor in question. “K.O?”
The ensign looked grim. “Sir, you know as well as I how the Chief babies those
probes. I haven‟t seen a drop out like that in sight six months.”
The Commander sighed “I know. I was just hoping you might tell me some good
news. How long will it take you to move one of the other WSKRS in to position to confirm?”
“At least ten minutes,” the ensign offered without hesitation.
Callaghan paused for a moment, and then looked at the ensign expectantly. “Too
long. Make the call, ensign.”
“Sir?”
Callaghan didn‟t break his gaze. “Do we sound it, or not?”
The ensign hesitated for a long second, and then managed, “General quarters, sir?”
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