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Chapter 21: Mistakes

“Why is it that all these crazy evil geniuses have to be the same?” Jack snarled into his helmet radio. “Every time we get two steps forward, they pull something new out of thin air and send us a step back! It bugs me!”
“Which makes you wonder, why is it always an evil genius?” Firefox mused. “Once, just once, I’d like to fight an evil idiot.”
His last comment set everyone to laughing, and it was able to briefly allay Jack’s anger. “True. Good one, Firefox.”
Jack swerved the Pegasus around another electric blast as Lori donated her opinion. “My guess is that the throngs of lizardy minions are the designated idiots, and the smart and/or strong ones just naturally rise to the top.”
“That doesn’t make sense,” Jazz retorted, piloting the Nightmare in closer to provide some cover for the Pegasus. “Devan didn’t have either of those qualities to work with. I think he got to the top by sheer luck.”
“Either that, or they were all scared by those specs of his,” Firefox replied, sending a few high-powered shells from the Razorback’s shotcannon at the head of the Leviathan. “Corsair, Fortuna, how far are you behind?”
“Five clicks and closing fast,” Acid responded. “Just hold that monstrosity at bay for a few more minutes, and we’ll take it from there.”
“We’re a bit farther behind, about seven, seven and a half kays,” the speaker of the Fortuna added. “We could use one of our long-range beams, but you three would have to move a good distance out of the way, or risk being cremated…”
“I think we’ll pass on that, thanks,” Jack quickly responded.
“Yes, you will,” Acid confirmed. “I won’t have any of my ‘bots vaped by friendly fire, thank you very much.”
“I think they get the point, ace,” Jack chuckled, sending another high-powered shock blast slamming into the thick armour of the Leviathan. “Updates on distance?”
“Four and change. We’re incoming pretty quick, so keep an eye out for us.”
“We will.”
The battle continued. The Leviathan was noticably beginning to wear down from the immense beating it was taking, but it valiantly fought on. Its weapon was capable of launching any number of low- to medium-strength bursts of energy, and so the trio had to be ready for anything, as it always had something different up its sleeve. Firefox focused his high-powered shotcannon on the head of the giant robot; Jazz attacked its back, where there appeared to be a holding for a power generator protruding from the otherwise seamless armour; Jack busied himself with the weapon of the machine, and so had to dodge back and forth repeatedly as the massive energy cannon shot forth its destructive payload. Fortunately for him, the Pegasus was built for rapid evasive maneuvers, so he had little trouble evading the searing blasts of the Leviathan’s titanic weapon.
Suddenly, there was an eruption of flame from behind the giant robot, and a whoop of excitement from Jazz. “The battery pack has been destroyed!”
Jack grinned devilishly. “Good job, Jazz. Now it shouldn’t be too hard a task to get rid of the rest of the Leviathan.”
“You can leave that to us, Jack,” Acid spoke calmly, obviously relieved that the majority of the threat posed by the imposing Leviathan had passed. “We’re less than three kays away now, and we’ll be where you are in about… seven minutes. We’ll finish the Leviathan off with our weapons. Go fry some more fighters with your teammates.”
“Will do. Moving out now.”
Jack led the other two out of range out of the dying Leviathan, as the supergiant tried feebly to aim at them. The blast from the weapon was at least twenty meters off course, and Jack laughed as it weakly tried again, with the same dismal results. They quickly disappeared from view, into the vast, black reaches of space, as the Hybrid Corsair approached its weakened, disabled prey…

It wasn’t even three minutes before Jack’s radar told him that the approaching fleet of fighters was less than five hundred meters away, and closing fast. He signaled to the other two to slow down, and keenly readied the charge on his shock rifle for eradication.
The three of them watched, with bated breath, as the distance monitor followed the advance of the fighters, and they cocked their weapons in excited preparation. 300 meters… 250… 200… 150…
Suddenly, a blur of light shot past the three ‘bots at a rapid pace, narrowly missing the Nightmare’s head. It was a long, spiraling cylinder of energy, roughly three meters across and ten meters long, and generally transparent except for several dozen glowing dots, somewhat reminiscent of fireflies back on Carrotus.
The Nightmare was thrown slightly askew as the cylinder flew by, and Jazz was knocked for six by the sheer force of the beam in its rapidity. “Holy cheesecake! What was that?”
Acid was slightly perplexed. “What was what?”
Jack, also taken aback, reacted quickly. He gunned the boosters of the Pegasus, and flew after the beam. “It looks like… a tunnel, see-through, full of little bright dots of light. They’re spinning around like they’re in a tornado, or something.”
“Buh? Can you give me a visual?”
“How do I do that?”
“Never mind. I’ll get it.”
There were a few seconds of silence, as Acid saw what the beam looked like from the point of view of the Pegasus. Jack gradually came to notice that the dots on his radar corresponded with the glowing specks of light swirling about inside the tunnel, and for a second he subliminally felt like a fool as he kept pace with it.
Finally, the long silence was broken as Acid spoke again. “I recognize it.”
“Well, don’t hold us in suspense,” Firefox replied. “What is it?”
“It’s referred to as a cyclone charger. It’s used to supercharge a damaged or depleted battery remotely. At the moment, it’s heading straight for the Leviathan. I’d say less than a minute to contact.”
Jazz grimaced. “Oh, is that all?” he asked. His voice was dripping with sarcasm.
“You haven’t even heard the worst of it yet. By coming from that angle, they’ve basically checkmated us. If we destroy the Leviathan before the cyclone charger reaches it, the beam will continue on and hit the satellite, which will give it enough power to fire its planetkiller and obliterate Carrotus. If we don’t destroy the Leviathan, the charger will bring it back to full power, and it will annihilate the Corsair, wiping us all out. Meanwhile, the satellite will charge up, fire its beam cannon, and obliterate Carrotus. It’s a lose-lose situation.”
Unbeknownst to the rest of them, Jack had a plan already forming in his head. It was risky, true, and Acid probably wouldn’t be too thrilled with him even if it did work. But, at the moment, it was the only idea he, or anyone else, had. He stayed silent as he put his plan into action.
However, he forgot that Acid still had the Pegasus’ point of view up on visual. He instantly noticed when Jack turned the ‘bot away from the cyclone charger. “Jack… what are you doing?”
There was no response from the white rabbit as he put all of his concentration into the Pegasus, and the mighty robot rewarded him by slowly pulling ahead of the massive beam. Acid was now yelling hysterically at him, but Jack simply blocked out the frenzied rabbit’s furious shouting as he gradually gained space on the charger.
Suddenly, less than a hundred meters from the Leviathan, Jack slammed the control stick to the side, jerking the Pegasus to the side, directly into the path of the charger. He brought the ‘bot to an abrupt halt, right in front of the oncoming beam, and immediately jammed his finger into the almost-forgotten Energy Discharge button. The Pegasus glowed a bright green as its energy was drained through its shields, and Jack gasped as the charger plowed into the robot’s midriff.
The controls of the Pegasus vibrated violently under Jack’s hands as the massive amount of energy was imbued into the body of the robot. The small bar at the right side of Jack’s field of vision, the indicator of the ‘bot’s battery power, fluctuated madly as he counteracted the supercharge with the surprisingly potent Energy Discharge, and he had to keep a careful eye on it to make sure the battery didn’t either die completely, or explode from overcharging. Meanwhile, Acid had stopped frantically screaming at him, and was simply watching in stunned awe as Jack formed an effective barrier against the charger with the Pegasus.
Finally, the vibrating slowed to a halt. The charger had run its course, and the robot had dispelled its power beautifully. There were a few seconds of gauche silence; then, as if by cue, a zigzagging bolt of golden light was emitted from the Corsair, and smashed into the Leviathan. The huge robot helplessly fell back a few meters, before a colossal blast ripped through it, engulfing the supergiant in a ball of fire.
The crew of the Corsair erupted into cheers as the three pilots set their ‘bots on autopilot return. Laughter, congratulations, and whoops of triumphant excitement flew back and forth on the intercom, and Jazz had to take his helmet off because all the joviality was giving a headache.
Suddenly, Grath’s voice overtook the laughter over the radios. “What’s everyone celebrating for? There’s still a world-ending satellite poised above Carrotus, getting ready to fire, and thus wipe out the planet, at a moment’s notice!”
Jack lifted his helmet off his head, cracked his neck, and dropped the helmet back down. “He’s right, guys. Tank’s already been menacing Carrotus for far too long. I say we bust into the satellite, and start crackin’ skulls!”
There was an emphatic roar of agreement, and another roar as the Corsair’s engines fired. The last phase of the retaliation against Buster Tank had begun.