New Beginnings

In this dull grey cuboid adorned with a long, grey table centered within, along with the regal characters bordering the stationary object sat Captain Knightly. Not a week had passed since she was assigned to this new post; fresh out of the Mega Kat Academy she was. Some would call her a prodigy in flight and mechanics – not to mention how she excelled especially in solo-combatant missions. Though most would say that this female had just been gifted such a position within the ranks because of her father’s connections, it would only take one dance in the sky to show that she meant business. Mind drifting as she allowed her eyes to wander beyond the double paned windows with the boring black frame, she could find evidence of a battle yonder. Smoke spouted from random locations, which made her draw a seemingly stationary frown.

“Seriously? Dark Kat is out there, and they’re wasting time with this briefing? Pfft. What a laugh,” came the silent, arrogant muse.

She had half a mind to stomp out of there and catch up with the fleet already in the air. In the near distance, she could spot a reckless spinning fighter jet, which only made her grow more annoyed. Rolling her eyes, she flicked a pastel peach-tan ear to the sound of the Purser, who seemed to raise angry tones.

“Are you listening, Captain?” came the sarcastic play before her.

Turning an emotionless expression towards her superior prompted, “Yes Sir.” Reading the challenging glare in the older male’s eyes, she added, “I’m to lead my crew of six jets and approach from the rear, backing up Captain Klud’s batch, who are going to sandwich our quarry from the front.”

Rolling dark grey eyes, the light skinned Kat just huffed, “Well, what are you waiting for! Move out!”

“Finally,” Knightly muttered under her breath.

“What did you say?” came the suspicious follow up, which was greeted with a wave of the female’s hand.

“Nothing. Just glad to be in the air, Sir!”

Deep within the cavern of the hanger bay, pilots made quick work of their beloved set of wings as they quickly went through the motions.

“All clear for takeoff, Captain!” came an almost robotic voice from below. Only after the uniformed character within had put on her helmet and waved the signal below did those on deck make clear the runway. Within seconds, did Knightly fly.

“Eagle 1, over,” she called out through the receiver.

“Reading you loud and clear; sounding off for Eagles 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7,” came the older female’s report.

After the systematic checks, they took off to their way point. It looked like the two pilots Furlong and Clawson were at it again, which made her scoff. As rowdy and impulsive as the duo were, they were some of the best flyers she’d ever come to hear of. In some ways, they were the best, always bringing home the bacon so to speak. She couldn’t really say the same for Commander Feral though; he always seemed to have something up his sleeve.

“Target is in position,” came Knightly’s wingman.

“Very good, now proceed with caution. Remember, don’t fire while in range of civilian homes,” she warned.

“Roger that, Captain,” came the young Kat’s response.

“I’m going in,” she called out to her crew.

—————————————————–

“Chance, he’s locking in on the new Enforcer Building,” came Jake’s concerned report.

“Then we gotta nail him now, Jake!” came the prompt, dedicated tones of the pilot.

“No problemo. Missiles deployed!” called out the other.

As the missile made contact, a looming shadow hovering above them seemed to materialize out of nowhere, making the duo within the jet gasp and look up, and only when a female’s voice rang out through the receiver did their hearts calm down a bit.

“Good job, boys; I’ll take it from here,” came Knightly’s calm tunes.

“What’s she up to?” hissed Chance, completely irritated by her presence. “If I didn’t know any better, I’d say that she was worse than Commander Feral,” he spat as he zoomed in on the smoking machine that was now slowing down in front of them.

On the screen planted under his line of sight, Jake shouted out excitedly, “Knocked out his weapons system!”

It was in that second that the solo flying Captain flew into their path, keeping a decent distance in between.

“No way is she going to steal our light,” Jake complained with irritation.

“You said it, buddy,” chimed in Chance as he hailed the officer who was now blocking their path.

“What do you think you’re doing?” hissed the pilot towards the commanding officer.

The female just prompted sternly, “I told you, I got it from here.”

It wasn’t clear right from the start, but, apparently, Chance had called in on an open channel with Commander Feral at the same time, who called in, “This is Commander Feral; I’ll handle Dark Kat from here.”

“Negative, Commander,” retorted Chance, “We have him locked in!”

The sigh in the background static of the receiver told Chance and Jake that Captain Knightly was still on the other line. This whole situation was completely stupid. Seriously, a three way tag team, and, in the final round, everyone wants to jump in on their game. The hovering shadow seemed to engulf them once more as Knightly made her move, and, for some reason or other, decided to hover above their jet.

“Commander,” cut in Knightly, her voice plainly frustrated, yet calm at the same time. It seemed like she was the only Kat around who had a level head upon her shoulders. “Leave them be. With your squabbling, Dark Kat will surely get away,” she snapped.

“You heard the good ‘ol Captain,” echoed Chance. “It’s our shot! And, I repeat, Sir! We’ve got a lock!”

“Gaah! Why can’t they all just shut up!” Jake mused silently as his brows met in a deep crease upon his forehead, as narrowed eyes fought to keep the focus on his target, which was now slowly slinking away.

“I’m ordering you to back off!” countered the very angry Commander.

“But, we already have our missiles locked on!” yelled Chance, already losing it.

“Jake, just shoot already!” came Knightly’s really annoyed set of lyrics. Above the arguments taking place between the two pilots, one could pick out the undertones of the Captain. “Useless.. just useless.. Dark Kat would now be in custody, but noooooo… everyone’s fighting over who gets the bait!”

Picking this up, Jake just raised a quizzical eyebrow. Yes, his claws were itching to fire that red button that lay under his thumb. If only Chance would give him the word!

Gosh.

“Men!” Knightly exclaimed before deciding to make her move and shoot ahead. Already her crew were set, with three sticking to the left and the other set to the right; all she needed to do now was force Dark Kat straight into the trap. Flipping a few nodes prepared her missiles for launch. “Target locked,” she reported through the open channel, which was limited to her crew mates only.

“Roger that,” the chorus rose in unison as they remained stationary in their posts.

“All I have to do is take out the thrusters,” Knightly repeated out loud, already feeling the sweat drench her brow. The sun was beating down forcefully that day, and, above all days, they had to tell them to wear the full getup. “Curse these sleeves,” she muttered. Circling round back, she was quite glad that Dark Kat seemed to be keeping on the right air stream.

Then, all at once, the channel that was still tuned in on Chance, Jake, and Feral sent out a loud static, which forced her to clap palms against her sensitive ears.

“Gah!” she yelped, which seemed to signal a domino effect in the rest of her crew, who were synced into the sharp deafening tune.

The voices of Jake and Chance soon caught her attention, and, as she glanced out the corner of her eye, she caught sight of two jets. The leading one, which contained the daring duo Furlong and Clawson, was now spinning out of control. Gasping, she wondered how could such a feat have occurred? Nothing was fired from her side, meaning something must have happened from behind.

Circling round, she reported, “Kats down. Mr. Xavior, you take the lead; Imma go check on Furlong and Clawson.”

“Roger that.”

—————————————————–

“Looks like we’re outta the game!” Jake joked halfheartedly.

“It’s time to eject!” came Chance’s reply.

And, as the duo shot up from the cockpit, they saw their beloved plane spiral and crash straight into the new Enforcer Building and go out in a spectacular..

BANG!

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