For a moment, he forgot where he was. Bzz bzz bzz - Hit again! Frantically twisting into and making hard turns in and out of asteroids to avoid being shot, only to have the asteroids themselves destroyed. He's losing places to hide, and he's feeling fatigued. Slowly, he's slipping unconscious, yet he can't help but remember his first day transferring - His hopes and dreams...
As the newest pilot among the 333rd, the Earthborn lacks the experience that the other Neptunian pilots have. But the welcoming committee was actually nicer than he thought they'd be. In fact, he was expecting a lot of resentment from the others. "Who'd want a First Fleet nugget in their squadron?" he thought. "At least Second and Third aren't viewed as pacifists. When they hear of a First Fleet soldier, they'll laugh at the irony." Instead, they were almost happy to actually see the Earthborn. Maybe. He wasn't too sure what was happening. All he knew at the time was that he was fresh, and the Gefs - Kostadins, particularly, were stirring up trouble recently, and he wanted to help the Federation as much as he can.
The squadron leader of the 333rd is Rick Kulas, also known as Boss. It's been that way ever since the squadron was formed. The leader was always the Boss and the newest always the Kid. Once a newer pilot comes in, the Kid is either given his own callsign based on his traits or takes his own name. Since the Federation even around Neptune is usually quiet with the occassional drug traffiking and minor terrorist activity, most of the squadron's patrol are just for routine. It's hardly a surprise when the Earthborn thought about it that the rest of the squadron was happy to see a new face.
Waking up after seeing something bright in front of him, he panicked. Instinctively, the Kid jammed his controls away from the fighter in front of him to avoid a fatal collision. Weary and falling into a deep sleep, he tries to shake off the ones behind him like how Boss might've. "Imitation makes perfection. Maybe. Right, Betty?" It didn't resemble anything like what Boss would've done. Another shot - this time in the thrusters. "Engines failing."
Even in Neptune, where the population is small and the center of trade far, nothing illegal usually happens. Perhaps it's because of the Ubuntu philosophy. Then again, Jupiter has more action within its own fleet and has little regard for Ubuntu itself. Maybe it's the lack of an adversary that makes everything out here so quiet. But prior to the discovery of the Vasudans, Terrans have been waging their own internal wars. The Gaian Efforts might be the next big thing, but they're hardly what anyone would call big. So where did the wars go?
The Kid wasn't comfortable being in a full-scale war, but he wanted to be good at piloting a fighter in case he's needed. He wanted to be prepared. He wanted to be ready. Ready for the next fight. The last real battle that the Federation had was before to the formation of the Federation. So if a war does come, where would he get it?
During a patrol near the Trans-Neptunian Field, the Kid along with Masozi Mvula, a veteran pilot transferred from Second Fleet, saw a wrecked transport. Who did it belong to? What was it carrying? Who destroyed it and why? With one quick scan, everything he wondered about quickly got answered: The transport Gahériet belonged to a wealthy shipping company "The World's Finest". It was scheduled to be transporting food supplies, but the scan shows that there were illegal drugs and weapon containers within the transport. As for who destroyed it...
Right after the scan, two wings of Scimitars - all heavily modified to resemble nothing like each other - flew in a wedge formation and were ready to shoot. These were the Gaian Efforts that the Earthborn wanted to face. However, he was outnumbered four to one. He'd easily be able to take out one, probably two, and maybe even three if he's lucky enough. But four - he didn't have the training, but he knew what he had to do. Right as Masozi was requesting reinforcements, the Kid lunged his fighter straight into their wedge. If anyone else have done this, this would be suicidal. However, the Earthborn saw something on his targeting computer - They all lacked secondaries. The Kid might not be able to win a dogfight against four of them, but he knows that if they were able to close in formation, the two Federation pilots would've met their end.
As soon as the Kid boosted into them, the Gefs scattered. Though they landed a few shots, the Federation fighters had stronger shielding - strong enough to make the shots landed negligible: The fighter was unscathed. Unfortunately for the Gefs, they had some collateral damages from crashing into each other. No casualties, but there were some damages. The Gaian Effort's pilots were nervous and agitated, and their morale quickly plummeted. Some of them decided to jump out without their leader's authorization: the Kid quickly launched a few Hellfires at them. They instantly vaporized without their shields in subspace.
Odds are still three to one, however. As soon as the Gefs regained their composure and regrouped, they became a threat to the Federation pilots again. Masozi was able to hold off the three that was gunning for him, but the Earthborn was struggling. He wasn't sure if he could make it. Pulling all those maneuvers require not only dexterity and endurance - both of which he has - but also skill. Most of maneuvers he pulled were sloppily done and by the book. They were predictable, and if he used those against anyone trained, he would've bought it.
But lucky for him, these pilots aren't even as well-trained as First Fleet's. Yet his fighter was falling apart regardless. 46, 43, 39 - Masozi was still in his 60s. 28, 23, 17... "Hull systems critical." After taking several hits from the engines, his fighter wasn't going to hold. His Uhlan would go down any minute now...
Just as he was about to give in, a swarm of Darts zipped pass him, and the Gefs broke formation. Boss and his wingmates Jack and Razor arrived. Realizing that they're outmatched, the Gefs panicked and jumped. Masozi was able to kill one of them during the retreat. The Kid's fighter, however, had its weapon subsystems destroyed, and its life support was badly damaged. "Betty's dead," he thought, as he realized the fighter was as quiet as the space outside. Boss wasn't ready to lose a fighter pilot. A support ship was already scrambled before discovering the mess the Gefs left behind. Once docked, the Kid was taken back to the 333rd's base, and from there, he recovered. The Earthborn was no longer an Earther fresh from the academy. He was experienced, and he had more experience and confirmed kills than most of First and Second Fleet's pilots. He was proud. He was ready.
The characters mentioned appear in a multiplayer mission of Blue Planet 2. The events here precede the mission by over 20 months. A campaign based around these characters is planned
