Careful Not To Break Reality

The jolt of the take off threw Rydel and Roloni back into the seat. Now that they are in the air, both of them are sharing piloting duties with Rydel now back in the pilot seat and Roloni being the one supporting the final stage of the Pilotmania. The briefing was even simpler than the stage before.

'Survive and get to the designated point.'

Within the first minute of taking off, the aircraft is already complaining about the chaotic drafts that came as a result of the storm. Warning alarms and red lights flashes all over the place and Rydel is simply focusing on maintaining the aircraft in the course set by Roloni while the Aquarian dealt with everything else. From the moment the course was plot, it became evident that there is not enough fuel in the tank for them to make the journey in one stop.

Judging by the current level of consumption as well as the updated map provided within the computer of the craft, they will have to get to the automatic refueling drones hovering near the upper atmosphere as soon as possible, and utilizing as little fuel as possible. If they are not careful about the fuel consumption, then they would be turned into a glider before actually getting anywhere.

The aircraft they are currently flying is the very next stage of vertical take off aircraft with vectorable thrust engines and fixed wings. The initial stage of acceleration combining with lift brought it straight into the clouds and all visions blurred. Though Rydel can rely on all of the on board sensors as well as helping hints from Roloni to make sure they are going towards the right place.

'Why are you flying so flat?'

'Go higher.'

'Just keep it straight mate.'

Truly, there is nothing else in the universe that Rydel would like to hear about. With few complaints being thrown in between the two, they have finally broke through the stormy clouds onto a beautiful and clear sky above. The sun is still kind during this time of the day, and the screens would only need to adjust it's transparency slightly to allow for a tolerable amount of light to come through.

There are not a single shred of cloud, but there are certainly aircrafts. A lot of aircrafts. Before Roloni could say anything, Rydel took the plane in a deep dive back down into the clouds near the very top, obscuring the shape of their aircraft just enough and hovers it in the shadows.

It is an absolute battle field up there. They can already spot the refueling drones, a gigantic drone with a secure tubing connection to a floating gas tank. Though like everything Rydel has ever faced, this is not very simple. Around the fuel tank are a swarm of even smaller drones that hover and patrol about the thing that every aircraft off the ground wants, like bees protecting their hive and the sweet nectar.

'Holy waves. There must have been hundreds of drones there....' Roloni looked at the scenes above with utter awe and shock before looking down and checking the guns and cannons setting to see what they have. To his pleasant surprise, there are enough ammo to take down a few dozen of those drones, though the fire power and the ammo is no where near what they need to break through the formation.

Time is ticking, and fuel is burning. Nobody said a word within the c.o.c.kpit as both pondered on how they can conquer this seemingly unsolvable puzzle. As the gas dial turned by yet another minute, Roloni switched on the firing systems, and looked at Rydel.

'So, what do you think we should do?' Roloni asked, and he doesn't really know what to expect from Rydel. He isn't anyone that will just throw their hands and give up trying, though he also isn't someone that will try anything stupid.

'Two constraints, time, and firepower.' Rydel quickly rubs his fingers together to as he tries his hardest to figure something out. The smoothness exhibits by the fingers on his left hand as they touch against each other is something utterly satisfying. And then, he knew what to do. It is nothing crazy, or innovative. It is just what he can come up now.

'Many assumptions, the drones will be fully capable of firing and disabling the planes, all of us start with the same amount of fuel, let alone the gas tank actually having enough fuel.' Rydel continued on as he explained his plan of attack, 'All and all, we wait.'

'So your plan of attack is by not attacking?' Roloni wasn't expecting anything in particular, but what came out of Rydel's mouth still surprised him, he brought one of his arms forward, and gently tapped on the gasometer, and the dial that ticked yet another minute towards the empty end, 'how do you plan to address this?'

Rydel smiled nervously, though he wanted to come across the confident leader that has everything figured out, now is not the time to practice acting. He licked his dry lips, and pointed at the space all around them, 'Have you turned on the anti-detection mode?'

'Yeah, one of the first things I did.' Roloni replied sharply as he kept on glancing at the gasometer, 'everybody does it.'

'Yes! And we can fully believe everybody sees what we are seeing, though there is a crucial difference.' Rydel continually explained, 'we are the last one here.'

'Meaning everyone else would have spent all this time hovering and using up thte fuels before we are!' Roloni shouted out the rest of Rydel's thought process and nodded violently in agreement as the epiphany came.

'So simple and straight forward, right?' Rydel laughed dryly a few times, 'I am not that much of a genius to say this will absolutely happen, but this is what I think is the case here. At least it's my best guess.'

'Now, when everything began popping off, we need to act quickly, though at the right time. There are many fish going for the prey here...as I am sure you know better than me.' Rydel wiped away the sweat in his right palm as he reclenches the steering stick and breaths deeply to calm himself and focus. He was way too focused in the actual task to realize the pun he was making.

Roloni laughed as he had his hand on the gun control, 'no fish as big as me here.'

Then, it's almost as the other pilots also hidden in the clouds heard the ending of the conversation here. A barrage of fire was ejected from the far side of the storm clouds, and then a aircraft exactly like Rydel and Roloni's very own shot out from their hiding and charged towards the space way above the gas tank at lightning speed before sharply diving down towards the automatic refueling drone at an incredibly steep angle in an attempt to quickly form a connection and call off the automatic drone attacks.

That aircraft is going so fast at such an angle that Rydel almost thought he got the assumption about fuel reserves for each aircraft being the same completely wrong. Anyone doing this kind of maneuver will just be burning away what they have, and if they missed their only chance, that would be it! And it's not just the actual movement itself, to get to such a high speed from hovering is next to impossible, so Rydel can only assume they have gained speed by diving down from hovering, and then turning the aircraft around after gaining enough speed before piercing through the clouds and emerging as the very first challenger to the swarm.

Then, it's almost as the appearance of one aircraft is the signal for further action, multiple other aircrafts have emerged from all around Rydel and Roloni's aircraft, though they are only moving off from hovering. They have all opened their guns and started taking down the hovering drones. All of the fireworks around only acts as a background, as everyone focuses on the action of the very first aircraft as it got closer and closer towards their target. The swarm responded to the immediate threat, and regrouped directly over the refueling drone and the gas tank. The layer of drones in the shape of a shield completely blocked out the view of the refueling drone, and the jet ran through the layer of drones and continued it's path downwards into the cloud.

They have missed it. With such a desperate and exhaustive maneuver, it is almost a guarantee that this is the last ditch effort for them to move on before running out of fuel, and it seemed like their fate is to simply wait for pick up when they got back down to the surface.

A good attempt, Rydel has to admit, though it didn't do much.

With the first crisis averted, the drone immediately returned to their initial position and then shifted towards a bottom heavy formation, focusing all of the attention and the fire power of the drones towards the emerging aircrafts. As the barrage of fire sweeps around the air space like the light of a seaside light tower, each of the planes tried their best to avoid the focused fire, though two of them underestimated the level of firepower the drones have, let alone the shear number of them. The dense fire ate away the shields and disabled the engines of the planes, turning them both into nothing more than a floating piece of metal.

Just like that, three planes are already out of commission, and no one has even gotten remotely close to piercing through the dense cloud of drones.

Rydel can feel his heart pounding ever faster, as the window of opportunity opens and closes and he awaits for that perfect moment. Roloni is equally as nervous and silent, and he intermittently looked over to wait for Rydel to call out the perfect moment.

Two more planes emerged from opposite sides away from the refueling drone, and they accelerated horizontal towards each other while trying to take out as many drones as possible. Yet another few dozens fell and rained into the clouds, though the swarm looked only fractionally thinner. They both turned in an exaggerated curve before turning around and charging right towards the middle of the pack from both sides, hoping to both beat each other and the swarm towards the refueling drone.

Like before, the drones regrouped and tried to physically block their charge, but this time they have to spread their forces in half.

And now, another plane shot up from the clouds, taking advantage of the two planes being slowed down by the drones and went straight up towards the Refueling done, opening fire as it torn through what little resistance were designated for this latest threat.

'Now!' Rydel called, though deep down, a smidge of regret and guilt lingers as he cursed at himself for not making the call earlier. He was being way too patient, and now they are going to miss the window of opportunity!

He yanked the steering stick so hard and gave the aircraft everything it has. It jolted and tilted it's head upwards before accelerating hard towards the refueling drone, tailing behind the previous aircraft that took advantage of the two planes tangled up in the horizontal plane. Their progress was brutally hindered, and soon they were taken down. The defenses moved quick, but not quick enough.

The plane Rydel and Roloni are chasing snatched away the refueling drone as well as the gas tank it's towing and continued their rise. A connection was made, and the refueling process began.

'Shit! We are too late!' Rydel yelled as Roloni manned all of the sh.i.p.s weapons at the same time, working with all of his arms and laying down the fire to torn a visible hole through the formation.

Contrary to what Rydel thought is going to happen, all of the swarms didn't return to base line setting, but instead went fully berserk and chased after the one that broke away. If the formation before was a calm stream of water moving in synchronous laminar flow, then the current one was a chaotic frenzy and mechanized rage. The lone aircraft led the way, charging into the heavens while the trailing drones pursuit and opened fire. The drones are programmed as to deliver the maximum amount of damage to the aggressors without damaging the fuel tanks. This means once the aircraft is ahead and towing the fuel tank behind, the drones would have to compute a way to do its job, and not mess up royally.

Timing is everything. And it really seemed like that aircraft is just going to run away with the victory, except for one little thing.

Speed.

With a refueling drone and a floating gas tank being toed, the aircraft is travelling at way less than maximum speed, and this allows the drones to use what little engines they have and catch up quickly. Soon, they have moved out of the way of the gas tank, and the firing resumed.

'This is our chance!' Roloni shouted as the leading aircraft swirls and swerves to avoid the fire, swing the gas tank like a giant pendulum and forcing the drones to cease fire at times. Rydel nodded hard, all of the concentration flowed through the deepest part of his soul and flooded outwards from his brain, to his spinal cord, to his finger tips, and feeds into the artifact. The glove responded, and gloved orange. The same colored pulses travelled back into his body, calming him even further.

Despite the heat of the moment, they are cold.

The drones eventually caught up, and the constant grinding began to eat away at the aircraft shields. It wasn't enough time.

And now, they have to worry about yet another thing. Rydel and Roloni charges in with a furious barrage of fire, taking down even more drones that are right ahead of them, and then snatches away the refueling drone and the gas tank it towed as the previous aircraft was swiftly disabled. The drone was going to go back down to the steady state altitude they were hovering on, but immediately made a vertical U-turn around to continue the pursuit.

'Connect and refuel!' From the moment the robotic arm Roloni is controlling attached to the refueling drone, Rydel have yelled the next step of action as he pushed the engine even further to nearing its maximum capacity, 'get as much as you can!'

'I know!' Roloni shouted too, as the drones began to realize to close in to them once again. Like before, their speed advantage is dwindling, though Roloni's quick hands almost started the refueling process immediately.

Things are different from just now, albeit fractionally. And all of those fractions will make all the difference in the end. From the fractions of time that they started flying after, to the fractions of weight that were not there anymore in the fuel tank as it got s.u.c.k.e.d out by the previous aircraft, and now Rydel and Roloni's, and now the higher altitude meaning slightly less drag and hence a higher net life.

They are closing in on their target, as the sky slowly darkens and the vast universe revealed its all encompassing darkness, the tiny shiny silvery dot far out in the distance is their destination.

'Ten per cent capacity!' Roloni yelled, then he turned his head towards the scanner and screamed out, 'someone is behind us, closing in fast!'

It's yet another aircraft! It was hiding in the clouds and even more patient than them.

'How! I thought we are the last?' Roloni continued on as he flicked the refueling to automatic and scrambled to the guns, then Rydel stopped him, orange pulses of energy running through his veins. He is calm and cold, and only asked one question.

'Go back to refueling, for ten seconds.' Rydel instructed, manual refueling is more aggressive, and faster, though it would take an experienced pilot to do it. Roloni was doing just fine, but he couldn't do anything else. It's like trying to pour water through the tight neck of a water bottle, it demands either tremendous focus or control, or the familiarity from hours upon hours of repetition and practice.

'And then what?' Roloni asked, slightly hesitant about the priorities.

'Then we had enough.' Rydel smiled, and pointed at the gasometer as well as a simulation of how much gas they would actually need to make it to the end.

Roloni nodded, though he still have questions, that was enough. Victory are so close, and there are no time to argue. Rydel sits in the captain's chair, then he will listen to him.

The following ten second felt like an eternity. The pursuing aircraft is even more desperate than any of the ones before, as they are quite literally running on fumes. They opened fire irrespective of whether it would hit the gas tank, though it did little damage. Then they gave the aircraft another burst of power and steered sharply to the left in order to get a wider angle for the shot, and that's when Roloni saw it.

They have slowed down by quite visibly, though now within arms reach from the gas tank. The robotic arms reached out from the c.o.c.kpit, and began to close in on the refueling droid.

And that's when Roloni clicked the detach button, and dropped both the gas tank and the refueling drone away from the ship. Through the emptiness of space, he felt like he could hear many things, the screaming of the pilots in the other ship as it finally run out of fuel, the cheering of the audiences, and complaints of the brunette back on the planet's surface even.

But all of that doesn't matter. The calmness within him is all gone, and all that's left is pure exhilaration. As the ship escaped the firm grasp of the planets gravity and closes in towards the space station, there is nothing but pride.

The ship docks, and to his surprise, the ship was full of people, and they watched from viewing chambers, space suits and sh.i.p.s surrounding the station. The communication channel was loud and messy as interference runs wild, though once Roloni tuned it to the hailing frequency, there is only one phrase being repeated over and over.

'We have a winner! We have a winner! We have a winner!'

Rydel smiled, and looked over to Roloni. He felt tired and sleepy, his arms are heavy and almost slipped out and away from the steering stick itself. Though he doesn't need the control of the ship anymore. The latches are loose, and the gate of the ship is opened. The winners stepped out towards the cheering crowd and dazzling lights, and a pair of microphones are stuffed in their faces.

'So, congratulations, you have won this Pilotmania, have you got any particular comments about how you are feeling?'

'Yeah I am tired.' Rydel answered honestly, completely oblivious that the repeat bursts of concentration has triggered some sort of a response from his artifact, and how the after effects are impacting his very own mental state.

'I didn't have great sleep, but our teamwork still prevailed.' Roloni looped one of his arms around the mic and brought it towards him while grabbing Rydel by the shoulder and the hip with another two, 'Thanks to all the coaches, all of the fans and families for their support, thanks to my excellent partner and his immense concentration.'

'Very specific thanks at the very end there, is that what brings you success?' The mic drifted back towrads Rydel, who's slightly spaced out.

He wasn't thinking of anything, and the lights began to become more dizzying.

He wanted to rest.

'Is there a bed anywhere? I am sleepy...' He said. He yawned as the crowd laughed and cheered, and stumbled away towards the resting area with the guidance of a direction droid.