Welcome to the Wolfpack
The day had dawned clear and cold, a hollow cripsness lingering in the air that nipped at skin and crystallized on every breath. Wispy cirrus clouds coalesced at altitude, gracing the mid-morning sun with a majestic halo of many colors. Mountains towered above frigid plains, cutting the sky with their jagged, rocky peaks capped with snow and ringed with lenticular clouds. Still air above and blindingly white snow below framed a sublime portrait of unspoiled nature. This was a new day in the Northern Frontier.
"Timberwolf flight, this is Storm Warden. Say situation, over."
The crackle of the airwaves coming to life jarred Firefly from her otherwise serene flight. The lieutenant snorted. Of course their flight would go for hours without incident only to have the ship call in as they were prepping to come home. Such was military life.
Firefly reached down to her combat harness, squeezing her PTT switch. "Storm Warden, this is Timberwolf One. We're flying north-northwest at heading three-four-two, angels 10, scheduled for RTB in fifteen majesties."
"Gonna have to cut that RTB short, Wolf One," the dispatcher replied, making Firefly roll her eyes. "We've got radar contacts 4 klicks out, bearing zero-two-three, heading one-two-zero degrees at angels 12. Bogies are not flashing ident or responding to our hails. We need you to get a visual ID."
"Understood, Storm Warden," the lieutenant sighed. "Timberwolf vectoring to intercept."
"Hey Firefly, think we'll get some action today?" The voice came from the grey stallion to Firefly's left.
"If action's all you're here for, kid, you can pack your bags and head home. It's probably one of the frigates and its combat air patrol doing a sweep. They might be having radio trouble. The cold up here wreaks havoc on electronics."
"Guess we'll find out soon enough!" The flier grinned as he twirled in place, doing an aileron roll.
Firefly allowed herself a chuckle. Petty Officer Thunderlane had spunk. She would give him that. But the kid was fresh from Naval Academy in Pyre. His aptitude scores were high and his recommendations suggested he was more than fit for duty. By the end of his second tour with the fleet, he'd probably be a chief if the bureaucrats had their way with his papers. But to Firefly, he wasn't anything until he proved himself a capable flier and somepony who could do without being foalsat.
"Let's go, wolfpack. Adjust course to heading zero-two-seven and ascend to angels 15. Sparkmuzzles are spooked, so let's go put 'em at ease."
"Hooyah!" came the chorus of assent.
The timberwolves adjusted their heading, putting themselves on course to intercept the unknown fliers. It was likely nothing. In the frozen arctic north, things went wrong all the time. Airships ran into engine fouling and hull icing. Wireless sets would break down due to tin pest or shattered tubes. All of Murphy's Law and its corollaries held true here; if there was something that could possibly go wrong, it would. So Firefly and Timberwolf squadron flew, their efforts one of many in enforcing the no-fly zone. A blast of hot breath coalesced into a crystalline cloud that quickly streamed out behind Firefly as she accelerated to cruising speed.
Firefly once again retreated back into her thoughts as her flight ascended to cruising altitude. Here, she was at her best. She led. She flew. She fought. That was what she was born to do, was it not? The Academy only grudgingly acknowledged it. After all, unlike Thunderlane, Firefly dispensed with books and chain of command whenever possible. She did things her own way and that was that. She supposed that OPCOM East and Alliance FleetCOM saw fit to beat it into her that that attitude would get her nowhere. So Firefly found herself with Timberwolf squadron, flying high above the snowy wastes of the Frontier, miles from civilization or even an iota of warmth.
"Hey, is that what I think it is?" Firefly squinted against the sun at the call of Thunderlane's voice. Below them, something was casting shadows; something that wasn't cloud or mountains. "Looks like another patrol. We could try hailing them."
"Hold up, Thunderlane..." Logic would have dictated a simple broad spectrum hail, but something didn't feel right to Firefly. The lieutenant trusted her gut more than any pronouncements by higherups who had never gotten their hooves dirty in their lives. "Bogies below aren't flashing ident?"
"Negative," Thunderlane shook his head. "Not picking anything up on ident channels."
"Timberwolves, drop altitude and come up behind that formation. Don't let 'em know we're here."
"You think it's something bad, LT?"
"I don't know what they are, rook, but I don't like it and I won't until they give me a reason to do so. Let's fly."
The Timberwolves banked in unison, maintaining echelon formation as they descended through the icy wisps of high-altitude clouds. The fliers were holding altitude above mountaintop level. Their course and speed were deliberate, not erratic. Whoever it was, they weren't lost. As her flight approached, Firefly's eyes narrowed and her lip curled.
"Dragons!" Thunderlane gasped, echoing Firefly's thoughts. "Black dragons!"
"Not just any black dragons," Firefly said grimly. "Check out the armor kits. These guys are loaded for bear."
"Orders, Lieutenant?" The query echoed in Firefly's ear.
"Get some altitude and spool up your repeaters. Eastwind! Get up there and relay to Storm Warden on the high-band. We've got a situation!"
The other pegasus nodded, giving her wings a flap as she ascended above the wisp layer. Seeing her flightmate in position, Firefly tapped the PTT. "Timberwolf Two to Storm Warden, we have visual contact. Tally flight of four black dragons on inbound vector. I say again, we have black dragons in the no fly zone!"
"Storm Warden to Timberwolf flight. Confirm dragons in the no fly zone. Disengage and maintain safe distance. We are dispatching QRF to intercept now."
Firefly bruxed her teeth. They were in the perfect position to strike and the higherups wanted her to hold back? No! She wasn't going to let them get away; even less so because she was ordered to hold fire when she had the tactical advantage.
"With all due respect, Storm Warden, would you mind getting your head out of your flank? We can take these guys down right now. Timberwolves, set up for attack against the rear of the enemy formation!"
"Belay that order, Wolf One. You don't have the firepower to take them. Stand by for QRF arrival."
Before Firefly could angrily retort, Eastwind's cry of surprise drew the lieutenant's attention. "Firefly! We've got more coming in! Tally two bandits, one o'clock high!"
Firefly's eyes darted upwards, where two more silhouettes framed themselves against the stark blue of the northern sky. Firefly couldn't help but smirk. She was right.
"We cannot disengage, Storm Warden. New contacts, tally two bandits. They've spotted us and are preparing to attack."
Firefly could almost hear the dispatcher gritting her teeth. "Understood, Timberwolf. Manticore flight is scrambling to your position, ETA five minutes. Good luck."
"Tell 'em to hurry their flanks up, Storm Warden, or there won't be any left for them! Timberwolf, out." Firefly clicked the set off, shouting down to her squad. "Thunderlane, you're with me. All other Timberwolf elements, you are weapons free! Engage enemy fliers at 12 o'clock low!"
A chorus of affirmatives crackled over the airwaves. Tapping another switch on her combat harness, Firefly heard a high-pitched whine as her repeater spooled up. Over the years, Firefly had gotten to know that little piece of magical artifice well. Despite her preference for hoof to hoof combat, she knew that it would take more than raw derring-do and her own physical strength to take out a dragon. A gun that spewed charged aether faster than she could blink helped immensely.
Thunderlane and Firefly peeled off from the formation, both flapping hard as they ascended. As if on cue, the two draconic silhouettes banked in unison and went into a steep dive, heading right for the fliers of Timberwolf squad. Unfazed, Firefly spun left, slipping between the two dragons as they dove. Thunderlane mirrored the LT's maneuver, spinning away to avoid a midair collision.
The dragons were young, only a fraction of the size of the full-grown monsters that all ponies were taught to fear and respect as foals. In spite of their youth, the enemy fliers were nearly twice as large as a pegasus; longer and with a larger wingspan, with a belly full of fire, arms and legs with razor sharp claws, and a mouth ringed with jagged teeth. Powerful beasts, lethal killing machines to the core.
"Thunderlane, take the one on the left, I'll take the one on the right," Firefly ordered.
"You got it, LT!" Thunderlane peeled off to pursue the other dragon, leaving the first to her.
Firefly grinned ferally as she hit the apex of her climb. The radio chatter of battle faded away as the lady flier raised her right wing and swung her legs out beneath her, launching her into a hammerhead loop. Firefly nosed her down after her quarry. There was nopony else here to interfere now, just her and her prey. Her target in sight, Firefly tucked her wings in and dropped into a stoop, her azure tail streaming out behind her as she swooped in after her prey.
Tweaking both her hooves forward and down, she actuated the remote trigger mounted to her left hoof. A thin green beam pierced the cloud cover, outlining a point on the dragon's back. Though the target juked and weaved, Firefly kept the beam painted on target. At the flick of her right hoof, the repeater spat bolts of hard aether, cycling so fast that the individual shots were indiscernable. With a raucous, grating buzz akin to tearing canvas, a stream of violet tracers shot over Firefly's shoulder, splashing against armor and dragonscale.
The dragon grunted as the bolts struck home, but was otherwise unhindered. Firefly cursed aloud as her target banked hard, falling into a long spiral, forcing Firefly to follow or lose him. She knew exactly what he was trying to do. The scissor loop was something every combat flier dreaded. A mentally and physically taxing exercise of the worst kind, one slip meant an opening for her adversary to exploit or an unceremonious crash into a mountainside.
Round and around the two circled, each trying to force the other to overshoot. Pony to dragon. Warrior to warrior. As she spun, Firefly went through all the mental and physical checks, tweaking her leg muscles to ensure that she did not black out as she turned. The spirals grew larger and larger and it soon became apparent to Firefly that this was not a battle she could win without thinking creatively. The flier leveled out, pausing a moment to regain her bearings and rezero her sights.
That was just the opening her adversary needed. The dragon flared his wings wide, nosing up until he was very nearly vertical. Firefly had just enough time to nose down and twist up on wingtip, narrowly avoiding the dragon's tail as he blew past her. A quick glance behind her revealed that the dragon was wasting no time in returning the favor. Firefly juked left and right, twisting and turning as she flew, changing altitude while flapping hard to ensure that she wasn't an easy target.
Flaming shards of elemental energy seared the air around her as the dragon spat fire. Up, down, left, right, Firefly artfully dodged and weaved as the dragon tried his best to catch her in its magical flame. Closer and closer they krept; small, fast bolts alternating with snaking orange tendrils of burning aether. Firefly dove to maintain her speed, keeping just barely ahead of the killing machine in hot pursuit.
The lieutenant descended to mountaintop level, dashing past a peak before banking into a tight chandelle turn to regain altitude, flapping as hard as she could to keep her speed up. The dragon did his best to follow, but Firefly's quick glances behind her told her that he was distracted with fumbling the turn while attempting to line up his shot. Instead of following Firefly's turn, he pulled up, bleeding his speed away in an immelman turn, a mistake that Firefly was quick to exploit.
Firefly seized the initiative, flaring her wings and whipping her tail underneath her to pull her into a kulbit loop. The dragon didn't have the control to break away or roll upright in time, blundering right below Firefly as she was in mid-loop. Firefly squeezed the trigger, raking the dragon's exposed underbelly with repeater fire as she passed overhead, eliciting a cry of pain and surprise from her adversary.
His wounds bleeding black smoke, the dragon pulled into a climb, flapping hard to gain altitude. Having bled most of her speed away to pull off her culbit, Firefly tried to do the same to keep up. As she climbed, she harried the dragon with bursts of repeater fire. But the dragon was a larger and stronger beast, outclimbing even the physically adept Firefly. The lieutenant gritted her teeth as she fought to keep up, her repeater beeping in her ear as it overheated, forcing her to ease off the trigger, even if she was still in hot pursuit.
The dragon finally reached the apex of his climb. The beast twisted back around, using the stall turn to align himself for a dive. The dragon shot downwards like a dropped stone, straight for Firefly, mouth wide open, its gaping maw preparing to fire another bolt of dragonfire. Unflinching, Firefly eyed her target as she clicked a switch on her combat harness, arming her ballistic lance. A whirring noise followed by a beep indicated that the shaped charge payload was primed and ready for launch.
She had one shot.
Time seemed to slow as pony and dragon closed the distance. Firefly could have sworn she saw the individual sparks as the dragonfire prepared to ignite. Closer, closer, they flew until it appeared that they would surely collide. Just as the dragonfire bolt ignited, Firefly pulled the trigger. A muted click behind her left shoulder was immediately followed by a loud BANG as propellant ignited, sending a finned javelin-like projectile screaming towards her target.
Her payload deployed, Firefly broke sharply to the right, standing herself on a wingtip and swinging her legs and tail around as hard as she could in an effort to get out of the way. Firefly could feel the heat from the dragon's breath singing her fur and curling her feathers. Her eyes instinctively snapped shut at the fearsome blast of heat and light, her pulse pounding in her ears from narrowly escaping incineration.
Firefly heard a muffled BOOM behind her. Forcing her eyes open, the lady flier twisted around, turning her head down to see her handiwork. The ballistic lance had hit home, going straight down the dragon's gullet and artificially igniting the elemental flames within. The results were devastating. Firefly dove after her crippled opponent to observe, but leveled off when she realized the dragon was in uncontrolled descent. His eyes were closed, his wings slack, and his limbs flapping weakly at his sides. Down, down he fell, his still-open craw bleeding black smoke and orange flames, finally vanishing as he plummeted into a fog-cloaked valley below.
For a moment, Firefly could only hover in place, her heart pounding, her breaths coming quickly, the soapy taste of adrenaline fresh in her mouth, and the acrid smell of burnt hair stinging her nostrils. She'd won. Against a stronger and faster opponent, she'd won. A beastly killing machine that could have incinerated her with merely a breath had been reduced to a pitiful pile of smouldering scale and elemental ash. The sky was hers.
The lady flier slowly gained altitude, keying her radio as she ascended. "Storm Warden, this is Timberwolf One. Splash one bandit."
"Confirm one bandit down," the dispatcher echoed, an audible sigh of relief rapidly following. "Relay from Wolf Two: Manticore flight is on station and the other dragons are plugging out. Clear sky is in effect. You are cleared to RTB."
"Good to hear, Storm Warden. Wolf one, out."
"Firefly!"
Firefly jerked her head up at the new voice, the post-adrenaline haze still lingering about her. A pony silhouette descended from the cirrus wisps above, calling her name still. Firefly collected herself when she realized it was Thunderlane.
"LT!" Thunderlane shouted as he floated down to Firefly's altitude.
"Petty Officer," Firefly managed.
"I came back for you after Manticore arrived, but by then you were already in that fight with the dragon and I tried to keep up so I could help you out by you guys were swooping in and out of clouds and mountains like some kind of crazy —"
"Easy there, Thunderlane," the lieutenant smiled wearily. Maybe the enthusiasm wasn't so bad after all. Firefly patted Thunderlane on the shoulder as she breezed by. "Let's regroup with the rest of the squadron first. We can swap stories later."
Thunderlane paused for a moment before racing up after Firefly, leveling out next to her left wing. The two fliers ascended above the cloudy wisps, linking up with the rest of Timberwolf awaiting them. The stallion muttered under his breath. "So this is what combat is like..."
"Guess you earned your wings today, kid," the lieutenant smirked. "Welcome to the Wolf Pack!"
