20. Chased Under The Red Sky [Modern Warship in a Cultivation World]

“Direction seven o’clock! Four hundred meters!” Ensign Carter shouted with all his might. “Two Vessels approaching! At the speed of three hundred!”

“Three hundred!?” Lieutenant Sam replied, baffled by the speed, far exceeding any aircraft or sea craft they had encountered.

Ensign Carter continued, his voice strained with alarm. “Two creatures that look like dragons, ridden by a person on each!”

“Damn it!” Lieutenant Sam’s voice echoed in the headset as Carter anxiously reported the closing distance. “Targets closing in rapidly! Approaching our maximum speed!” Sam instantly followed protocol. “Emergency! Two native targets are following us!”

“So fucking abandon the mission and retreat!” Imogen’s voice followed over the radio, laced with anxiety and frustration.

“Retreating immediately!” Lieutenant Sam replied, banking the Sea Fowl hard toward the open ocean.

The two dragon-like creatures were now closing fast, flying just off their tail on both sides as the Sea Fowl desperately tried to rush back to the Event Horizon.

“It’s my fault we’ve been spotted, Ensign Carter! Battle Formation!” Lieutenant Sam commanded. “We’ll definitely shake them off! And retreat!”

The Sea Fowl slowly descended, maneuvering under the two flying dragon-like creatures, which instantly took a vertical ascent right above them and encircled the aircraft while maintaining pursuit.

“If it had a machine gun, it would have fired from the back,” Ensign Carter murmured, focusing on his instruments as the Sea Fowl took a short dive to shake them off.

Then, at the same moment the radio crackled with Imogen’s frantic warning “Those things can fire! Qi darts can be powerful and rapid!” a barrage of terrifying blue light fired with insane motion from above the Sea Fowl, erupting from the person riding the leading dragon-like creature.

“Right Turn!” Lieutenant Sam yelled, expertly flipping the Sea Fowl into a sharp left bank, dodging the insane, machine-gun-like fire by mere inches.

“We are hitting the surface! Ascending with a left turn!” Lieutenant Sam maneuvered the aircraft mid-air, executing a coordinated turn while gaining upward momentum. This expertly dodged a second barrage from the dragon-like creature that had been flying behind them, placing the Sea Fowl above it now.

“The other one is nowhere in sight! I’ve lost sight of it!” Ensign Carter replied, anxiety thick in his voice as he swept his console.

A sudden, chilling realization hit Lieutenant Sam. He yelled, “Rotate! Rotate! It’s on top!”

Just as the Sea Fowl began to rotate, the second dragon-like creature descended with frightening speed from the ink-black sky directly above. It struck the Sea Fowl with the blue glowing Qi darts in rapid succession, scoring multiple hits on the main body of the aircraft. The creature then executed an immediate dive, maneuvering a tight turn just before it crashed into the Sea Fowl’s rotor wash, regaining its stability by turning sharply to the left.

“He’s not bad,” Lieutenant Sam muttered, already checking his displays.

“Checking for damages: electric components, navigation system in working order!” Lieutenant Sam rushed through the monitors, his haste a clear indication of the danger. “Fuel tank intact. Damage isn’t serious, just some scratches. Carter, now it’s our—”

Before another word could leave his throat, his eyes caught a patch of red liquid dripping onto the wing’s edge in the dark night, the blood-red moonlight painting the already red liquid a terrifying, saturated crimson. He saw him: Ensign Carter was just hanging, lifeless. His helmet was wide open from a single, impossibly accurate dart, blood gushing from the side and flowing out onto the wings.

“Carter…? Carter!” Lieutenant Sam’s voice shriveled into a choked yell, the sound of a man watching his world shatter.

He kept glancing behind him, desperately yelling as he piloted the Sea Fowl at top speed, trying to shake off the two dragon-like creatures. “Ensign Carter! Answer me!” he pleaded. “Tell me your mother’s name! That’s right, you told me you called her before the mission, didn’t you?! How can you do this to her!”

“Don’t Die!” Lieutenant Sam’s frantic conversation was only empty words, a desperate attempt to deny the reality of the lifeless form strapped into the seat behind him.

On top of the Dragon-Like Creatures, the Cultivator dressed in blue and silver with the Azure Mist Sect insignia muttered, “Quite a weird beast. I felt the hit, but perhaps it wasn't hard enough. This time I will finish it off!” He motioned to the other rider, who wore the same disciple clothing, as they maintained their relentless pursuit of the Sea Fowl.

________

In the Command Information Center, the urgency was escalating. The main screen, which had been showing the live feed of the port, now displayed a stark ‘Signal Disconnected’ message.

“Sea Fowl report! This is CIC!” Chief Defense Officer Lee asked, his voice sharp with urgency. He repeated the demand, “Sea Fowl report! This is CIC! Image is lost!”

“Situation Report Now!” Imogen took her mic, her voice stern and laced with barely controlled panic. “Lieutenant Sam! What the hell is happening?”

Pax kept recording everything on his camera, glancing at Imogen. He could see the Captain was thinking exactly what he was, a loss of signal, coupled with the unknown enemy capabilities, meant the worst. He was about to speak when the radio crackled back to life.

“This is… the Sea Fowl,” came the broken, defeated voice of Lieutenant Sam. The energy and arrogance were gone, replaced by the profound crack of a man who had screamed himself raw.

“The Cockpit… has been hit,” Lieutenant Sam reported.

A profound silence descended upon the CIC. Lu Mingfe, recognizing the devastating change in tone, urgently asked Jessica, who was frozen in shock, to translate the chilling exchange.

“The Ensign…” Lieutenant Sam’s voice continued, ragged and strained.

Jessica, forcing herself to speak through her horror, whispered, “What happened to Ensign Carter?!”

“Heavy wounds… Bleeding…” Lieutenant Sam finished heavily, the message conveying more than just damage, it confirmed the loss. “We are trapped in a high-speed chase. We can’t shake them, nor can we fight with limited ammo. If we return now, the targets will simply follow us to the Event Horizon.”

The desperate truth hung in the air of the Command Information Center.

“Their tails,” Lu Mingfe spoke, cutting through the horrified silence as everyone else was locked in tactical shock. He instantly offered the critical information. “The Spirit Beasts chasing them are from the Azure Mist Sect, and they are called Gou Skysnakes. A single, strong attack to their tails will render them unstable and unable to fly for a few hours.”

Jessica instantly translated this vital intelligence.

Imogen waited only a few seconds, considering the massive risk of revealing their aerial weapons versus the certainty of losing an aircraft and exposing the ship. The decision was agonizingly clear.

“Sea Fowl: Permission to Fire! Aim for the tails!” she commanded, her voice regaining its sharp authority. She allowed herself a bittersweet, grim smile as she continued, addressing the rebellious pilot directly: “You bastard are annoying, but I know you are capable of this. I trust your skill. Stay alive, and let’s bring back Ensign Carter.”