24 Atmospheric Combat

The war against the Dvrakian Consortium continued and, before Erich realized it, a month had passed. By now, he had participated in over fifteen battles. Some were in space, while others were in the atmosphere of the habited worlds that their enemies dwelled upon.

Today was no different. In fact, the entire schedule of Erich's daily life since the war had begun was a twenty-four-hour cycle of fighting, with minimal sleep. To cope with the meager two hours of rest that he would get each day, Erich was pumped full of adrenal stimulants, which kept his mind and body on high alert at all times.

Other than the two-hour rest break at the end of his twenty-hour shift, Erich's only reprieve was when his interceptor was so damaged that it required maintenance. During this time, he would smoke like a chimney to cope with the overwhelming stress his body and mind were forced to endure as a result of the nonstop combat.

If not for the highly nutritious meals which were served on board the carrier, then Erich truly believed he might have literally died of malnutrition by now. Aside from the bland taste, the only real downside to these pre-made meals was the fact that it limited his body's need to use the restroom.

While this might be practical for combat purposes, it made it so Erich did not even get a five-minute rest to take a dump in the morning, only increasing the amount of stress that he was forced to endure. Today, the target of the 1st Armada's attack was a continental world, roughly the size of Mars, which housed a few billion Dvrakians.

For three days straight, the Armada had bombarded the surface of the world, and yet those troops who resided on the surface had still refused to surrender. Thus, today was the day which the assault began. As a result, thousands of landing craft were prepared to drop the Star Marines onto the planet's surface as well as the armored vehicles they made use of.

As for Erich, his objective was simple: provide air support to the Star Marines. Thus, he would be forced to pilot his interceptor into the atmosphere of the planet, and engage with any atmospheric craft the enemy might have left over, as well as target Anti-aircraft weaponry, and any other hostiles which high command designated in need of termination.

By now, Erich's interceptor had half of its paint scratched off. Though the bullet holes had been sealed, the pockmarks of the enemy fire which he had taken were still present on the hull of his interceptor. It was clear that the starfighter had received its fair share of damage over this last month while engaging with the enemy, and yet, the aircraft still stood proudly among the ranks of the Germanic Starfighter Corps, which continued their relentless assault on the Dvrakian Consortium.

Erich finished the drag on his cigarette before stamping out the smoldering device. He then took one glance at his interceptor before placing his helmet on his head. Only after he confirmed that the seal was airtight did Erich climb into the cockpit of his interceptor, whereupon booting up the power, he heard a familiar voice.

"You doing alright there, Silber? I know you took some heavy shots from the enemy's flak cannons, but that should not be enough to put your fighter out of commission, now should it?"

Erich immediately ignited his engines, he confirmed that his shields were fully charged before launching off of the hangar deck, and towards the atmosphere of the planet, whose surface was riddled with explosions. As he hit the air, Erich responded to his Wing Commander's remarks with a single statement.

"I'm back in the fight."

To which he heard a simple snicker over the line, and nothing else. Erich then piloted his starfighter through the atmosphere of the planet, where he immediately noticed that he was locked onto by the local AA. Hypersonic missiles were launched in his direction, to which he responded by activating his countermeasures, and then, aiming the plasma cannon which was mounted on a gimbal beneath the nose of his starfighter towards the location of the installment.

After acquiring his target with his sights, Erich pulled the trigger on his joystick, which sent a blast of plasma directly at the Anti-Aircraft weapons, which immediately ignited the missiles still stored inside, and thus causing an explosion capable of wiping out all life in a 25km radius.

After emerging from the explosive blast entirely unphased, due to the advanced nature of his energy shields, Erich got on his comms, and informed the fleet that the last of the AA installments in this sector of the planet were eliminated.

"AA is eliminated. You are clear for landing!"

A short response emerged via the comms, before Erich saw several dozen dropships descend from space and towards the surface of the planet.

"Roger that. Star Marines are inbound."

The dropships released an entire company of star marines per vehicle, while some of them even carried tanks and mobile artillery, which immediately began to make their way through the planet's surface and towards the nearest hostiles.

Erich did not watch this for long, as he flew through the skies, and towards the next location, which was marked on his sensors. The Empire employed fighters and bombers that were capable of both atmospheric and vacuum based flight. Something which not all civilizations made use of.

For example, the Dvrakian civilization employed specialty fighters for atmospheric flight, and thus, it was these aircraft which were deployed to deal with Erich as he tore through their defenses with ease. Erich immediately picked up six fighters inbound to his location on his sensors, to which he used his telepathy to communicate instantly with his air wing.

"I got six bogies inbound on my ass. I could use some support!"

Erich continued to scan the minds of his comrades, to which he received two responses that were in his favor.

"Roger that, heading towards you, eta three minutes"

"I'll be there in five. Just hold on!"

Seeing that the enemy were now only a minute away from him, Erich decided he would have to fight them himself, and thus he gunned his thrusters to max speed as he immediately shot past the enemy fighters, before taking to the skies in the hope of gaining altitude.

Dogfighting in the atmosphere was different from in the vacuum of space. While most dogfights in space made use of strafing to maintain a constant sight picture on the enemy, this was something not achievable in the atmosphere, and thus he had to use more conventional methods of attack, such as the ancient tactic of boom and zoom. In other words, an aircraft would gain altitude and speed in order to have an advantage over their enemy.

Luckily for Erich, his aircraft was capable of not only gaining altitude without the risk of stalling, but it even had the ability to break orbit. Thus, he shot straight into the air, until the six enemy fighters who gave chase began to stall and crash towards the surface. Upon seeing this, Erich nimbly turned his interceptor around so that it was facing the enemies, where he immediately began to unleash his laser repeaters and plasma cannon onto their backsides, blowing them out of the sky one by one.

With the six enemy fighters terminated, Erich then waited for his allies to show up, where they noticed he was all alone, cruising in the sky as if he was enjoying a brief stroll. Immediately he was harassed over the comms by his fellow pilots who demanded to know where the six hostiles were at.

"So where are they?"

"I came all this way, and you're just cruising through the air? What the fuck happened?"

Erich simply smirked, which was concealed beneath his visor's holographic projection, before responding in a conceited tone.

"You guys took too long, they're already dead…"

Eliminating six enemy fighters by yourself was no easy task. Even if they were far more primitive than the ones the Germanic Star-Empire made use of. Six fighters armed with cold fusion missiles, and rail guns were still able to destroy a bolt interceptor if they coordinated their attacks effectively.

Yet, they were all smouldering wrecks on the surface below, while Erich appeared to be entirely unharmed. This caused the members of his squadron to look at him with a degree of respect, which they had not afforded him until now. Thus, it came as a bit of a surprise when they complimented Erich for his feats.

"God damn, Silber…"

"Way to go, kid!"

With these six hostiles eliminated, Erich would work alongside the two other fighters to conduct their atmospheric operations until the banner of the Germanic Star Empire was waving proudly over the planet's surface. Though a month had already gone by since the beginning of the war, less than a quarter of the planets under the control of the Dvrakian Consortium had fallen to the Germanic Star-Empire.

The fact that they were uncontested in space, and yet they had still only conquered a handful of worlds led Erich to believe that although the Germanic Star-Empire's military might was impeccable, they did not have the manpower necessary to conquer an Empire that spanned across several hundred star systems without spending considerable time and effort to do so. Something which he felt needed to be corrected in his people's future efforts to expand across the galaxy.