Esdeath sent the signal to the Erubetie that she had the appropriate coordinates. The target was in a massive cluster of Orks thirty miles away. The cluster was made up of about 500,000 Orks. She received images of the cluster and it showed a diverse amount of Orks, ranging from the cannon fodder "Boyz" to the "Nobs" and "Speed Freaks".
A missive came over the hive link from the Grand Primal Commander. "Esdeath, good work. We'll be sending you a suitable course as the situation develops. The target is 30.293 miles North-East. Based on topographical scans, there should be a ravine that runs half that distance, giving you a straight-forward path but it's filled with Orks. Your TATSUMI should be able to handle it easily though. I'll give the orders out to the Type-33s to begin their bombing campaign and to avoid the target's general area. Good hunting, Esdeath."
"Of course, Grand Primal Commander. You're our eyes up there. Sky Razers are now beginning our assault. Good killing. Esdeath out." Esdeath closed her mind of all things outside of her current mission. "Time for the hunt to begin. Sky Razers! Forward!"
With a loud rev, TATSUMI shot forward, soon hitting a cruising speed of 500 mph. The stationary features of the terrain were unimportant to her so the screen simply lessened the cameras' focus on them and more on the ground in front of her and the terrain far out. 240 of her Sky Razers flew across the pounded geography, keeping a double arrowhead formation around her TATSUMI while the remaining sixty flew ahead of her group at speeds around 900 mph.
(Type-33 "Devastation From Heaven" bomber, Callsign "RGNRK-1", Pilot—Wynn)
"Orders have been confirmed. Target has been located. Beginning bombing campaign on Target C," stated a golden-haired Valkyrian-Minor.
Her features were mostly obscured by the synaptic gel though from behind, her body was as young as a young adult human in their twenties. She mainly wore a skin-tight, blue suit of interesting materials as it, like all the other standard issue flight suits, enhanced the synaptic connection with the ship as well as maintain body regularities such as temperature, heartbeat, perspiration, etc.
She lay within the "head" of the snake-like bomber and since the cockpit only needed one pilot, the rest of the huge amount of room the "head" had left over was filled with all sorts of equipment ranging from communications, onboard system hardware, sensors, and of course, heavy plated armor. Her area of work was dark, illuminated slightly by the glow of the blue synaptic gel.
"RGNRK Primal to RGNRK Wing, we have been cleared to attack. All fighter escort teams are to clear the skies in front and behind us. Reaching optimal bombing altitude of 20,000 feet. Approach vector South by South-East. Maintain speed and current heading. ETA three minutes."
The six-sectioned bomber leveled its flight path as the four other DFHs formed up on Wynn's flanks in a Delta formation (equilateral triangle) with a distance of about five hundred meters between them. There were 400 total bomber wings and each was being escorted by twenty-five Buzzard drones, five drones for each bomber. For additional protection, the sixth section (second from the rear) of each bomber was implanted with four automated, manually optional, sensor-directed, dual-wielding railgun turrets on each of its four sides, covering the top, bottom, and sides. These anti-aircraft railguns fired ten inch, shaped energy slugs at 4% the speed of light. Anything within a certain distance would be incapable of dodging fast enough once a turret locked on and fired.
Wynn and her wing were aligned on the optimal flight path when their radars chimed, indicating numerous bogeys heading towards them fast. Looking around, she could see Leviathans' artillery pounding away at Ork clusters miles away, flak clouds from exploding anti-aircraft emplacements, and dozens of dogfights ranging from a dozen fighters on each side to hundreds.
"Incoming enemy aggressors. Escort wings 1-3, proceed to intercept." Fifteen Buzzards broke formation and sped off to meet the enemy's charge. The interlopers were several dozen frigate sized ships armed with anti-aircraft artillery and compliments of Fly Boyz.
Pushing through the incoming flak, the Buzzards opened fire with their main weapons, the laser cannons. Their saucer-like heads split and opened at the front to reveal several prongs with glowing red energy between them. With a few seconds of charging, the weapons were ready and willing. The Buzzards fired at will, sending five foot wide beams of red energy at speeds that made the frigates incapable of dodging due to the rapidly closing distance between them and the Buzzards. The lances of energy tore holes straight through the bodies of the frigates, incinerating metal, machinery, and Orks alike. It took about two seconds for the beams to burn through the entire ships' superstructures. The beams all moved from their spots like a beam saber, gouging large gashes that burned red with heat.
Those frigates not hit kept going forward with their batteries blasting away and the hundreds of Fly Boyz launching themselves off of the decks of the ships. The EMFs proved their value in protecting the Buzzards from sustaining any direct hits or shrapnel damage though they could not really protect from the attempts of the Fly Boyz latching onto the Buzzards to shoot or chop at it. This problem was solved thanks to the two rotating anti-matter turrets on the saucer head. Unlike bullets or explosives that would take dozens of shots, all it would take is one good shot with an anti-matter gun since anti-matter and matter (Fly Boyz) meeting each other doesn't shred, cut, puncture, or destroy, but annihilate each other on a sub-atomic scale. The explosion by this contact is just icing on the cake.
Fly Boyz fell by the dozens as they flew alongside the Buzzards and were vaporized for their efforts. Some were a lot smarter than others and stuck to shooting combi weapons (combinations of multiple weapons into one) such as grenades, bolters, etc. though given the toughness of the armor and material make-up of the Buzzards, like everything else of the Valkyrians, the damage was minimal.
One Buzzard flew underneath a frigate vessel, firing its anti-matter vulcan cannons with impunity. The rounds impacted the hull of the Ork ship and annihilated large spots of matter. A few Orks were unlucky enough to be near the area and fell when the explosions took out both their legs and the floor beneath their feet. The Buzzard pitched left and right to avoid the falling bodies as it flew under the ship. On the deck, Fly Boyz spotted the ship flying out and launched themselves off the deck.
They gave a chase after the Buzzard, firing off grenades and bolters in an effort to destroy the fighter drone. Flying through explosions and indiscriminate flak, the Orks gave a burst of speed and finally latched onto the rear anti-gravity arms. They didn't waste time shooting their weapons at the drone. With the EM field unable to help it at this range, the enemy attacks landed, causing superficial damage to the drone's body. The anti-matter vulcan on top of the saucer head rotated to face the unwelcome hitch-hikers. Before one Ork could react, its head and upper body were disintegrated. The second Ork ducked its head to avoid the green energy bolts. This saved the Ork since pressing its body against the body of the drone put it out of reach of either of the vulcan guns.
"Require assistance," the drone called out to any of its fellow escorts that could help. Two answered but were not able to get there so the drones did what they were built to do and adapted. Adopting a quick plan, the beleaguered drone flew towards one of the drones that answered its call for help. The vulcan cannon continued laying down suppressing fire to keep the Ork from attempting anymore harm while the bottom vulcan continued to fire at opportune targets that were within its arc of fire.
Explosions rocked the craft to the side due to an AAA shell that blew up too close. Thankfully, the help finally arrived, falling in on the drone's six with its vulcans ready. The Ork was hanging on for dear life as the explosion from earlier knocked its weapon from its grip. The drone tried different maneuvers to loosen its attacker. A barrel roll finally caused the Ork's legs to come undone, leaving it hanging on just by its hands.
The drone following them opened up its laser cannon and charged it. The Ork seeing this started freaking out. It was pure reflex and luck that it was able to raise its legs up in time for the laser to pass right underneath its butt. With a shake from the drone, its grip loosened more, causing it to spout out crazy pleas. Too bad the Buzzards were annoyed at the sentient fungus. The Ork's hanging position put its body within the firing arc of the top (bottom in this case) anti-matter vulcan which took glee in locking on to the Ork's posterior. Instead, it decided to be more cruel and locked on to the elbows of the Ork. Two quick shots disintegrated the arms, leaving the Ork helpless as it fell into the laser beam that vaporized it to atoms.
By the time the bombers were approaching the dogfight air space, half of the Fly Boyz had been shot down but there were still hundreds left with over a dozen frigate weights now aiming their turrets at the bomber formation.
Wynn felt her bomber shuttered slightly from the shockwave of a particularly close flak explosion. She knew her bomber's design relied mainly on fighter escorts as there were several blind spots in her AA defense network that man-sized drones and small fighters or missiles could exploit. The EMF was a powerful tool but it wasn't infallible. If an enemy was close enough to a large vessel protected by an EMF, then he/she/it could successfully attack the ship with enough volume of fire. The EMF only altered the trajectory of incoming enemy kinetic fire and disrupted the stability of energy attacks but it couldn't completely manipulate them either.
Despite the threat of the frigate gunboats, she pushed forward. The only good thing was that they had the altitude advantage and it was high enough that even the Fly Boyz weren't comfortable flying to meet them without their bigger ships. She'd make them pay for that though.
"Load Guided-Munition Canister, Munition TG-20s."
Within the "Bomb Bay 1" of each bomber, the automated loader went to work maneuvering the different types of bombs along a rail system until the specified canister and munition was positioned over the drop bay.
"RGNRK Primal, what's your plan?" questioned the wing woman on her left. She followed the order when given though her curiosity was itching. Wynn answered her.
"Those gunboats are a problem," a glance down showed them firing at the bombers still while trying to rise to overtake the formation. The Buzzards were doing an admirable job of taking shots of opportunity in the huge dogfight to target the engines and weapon emplacements on the frigates. "Since we have the height advantage, we're going to bomb them."
"Bomb a frigate sized vessel from our distance?" she asked in surprise. "Very well, Primal. We follow your lead."
"Buzzards, steer clear of the gun boats," Wynn ordered. She received an affirmative and glanced down at the clusterfuck of gunfire. Her BAA highlighted in red the gun boats, yellow for the Fly Boyz, and blue for the Buzzards. Once the Buzzards withdrew enough, she began selecting targets that made a path parallel to her flight path.
"Bombs away. (Tracking Guided) TG-20s on their way."
The magnetic clamp holding the aforementioned bombs in her bomb bay released their charges, allowing the bombs to free fall. The Tactical Guided-20s would track and follow a target as long as it had the altitude advantage, and the number designation stood for how many tons of explosive yield it contained. Once a hundred meters away, the noses dipped towards the earth and fins sprouted from their sides. Motors on the bottom of the bomb activated, propelling them downward. The same scenes were happening with the other four bombers as well, each dropping three bombs.
From her console, Wynn mentally controlled the free fall of the bombs by adjusting the canards and tilt of the wings appropriately to guide them to their targets. The bombs fell through the clouds of AAA flak, missing a few lucky Fly Boyz who couldn't even react before the wind displacements knocked them aside. The first bomb straightened into a nose dive before the motor on the bottom blew off to be replaced with a miniature PPB that greatly accelerated its descent. The bullet shaped bomb impacted the damaged open deck of a gunboat, penetrating its armor and the guts of the ship. It almost ripped through the whole ship before detonating in the bottom. From outside, it looked like the ship swelled up like a balloon before its belly exploded in a mass of blue plasma. The ship's middle was thrown upwards before exploding down the middle, gutting it in two before the rest of the explosion followed and further obliterated the entire ship.
Just a second later, the second and third bombs performed a similar display, penetrating the bowels of their ships and exploding in a cacophony of fire and plasma. The heat was so intense that any Orks flying about within two hundred meters had their skins melted off. Their screams were not heard due to their own rockets combusting.
The explosions rippled across the sky and sent shockwaves and heat waves pouring in all directions. The Orks flying around them didn't even need to be caught in the explosions since the heat was enough to kill them or the shockwaves crushing their bodies and organs while throwing them through the air. Many crashed into each other due to their sheer numbers.
At least a dozen small, blue suns could be seen from the horizon surrounding the bombing.