Editing Battle of Alta Second
Spoiler Policy Reminder
Under our spoiler policy, any content from books that are not fully released is not allowed on the Coppermind. This includes any information from pre-released sample chapters, readings, and other comments Brandon has made about Stormlight 5. The only exception to this rule is on meta-pages for the books themselves (e.g., Wind and Truth). If you are unsure whether the information you want to add comes from pre-release content, please do not add it and instead ask about it on our Discord.
Warning: You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you log in or create an account, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.
The edit can be undone. Please check the comparison below to verify that this is what you want to do, and then save the changes below to finish undoing the edit.
Latest revision | Your text | ||
Line 2: | Line 2: | ||
|world=Detritus |
|world=Detritus |
||
|participants= [[Defiant Defense Force]], [[varvax|Krell]] |
|participants= [[Defiant Defense Force]], [[varvax|Krell]] |
||
|universe=[[ |
|universe=[[Skyward Universe]] |
||
|books=[[Skyward (series)]] |
|books=[[Skyward (series)]] |
||
}} |
}} |
||
{{update|book=Starsight}} |
|||
⚫ | |||
{{spoilers|book=Starsight}} |
|||
⚫ | |||
== |
== History == |
||
The Battle of Alta Second started in a small room in the [[Defiant Defense Force]]'s Flight Command building, as Admiral [[Judy Ivans]] and her aide-de-camp [[Rikolfr]] informed [[National Assembly Leader]]s [[Algernon Weight]], [[Valda Mendez]], and [[Ukrit]] that a large chunk of falling debris, containing hundreds of acclivity rings, would be disarmed within two days. She and the National Assembly Leaders knew the hard truth - the DDF would continue to spiral towards collapse unless they could find a way to field more starfighters than the [[varvax|Krell]]. Knowing a better opportunity might not come while they had the strength they had, the National Assembly Leaders and the Admiral agreed to throw all DDF ships at capturing the acclivity rings.{{book ref|sky1|i|3}} |
The Battle of Alta Second started in a small room in the [[Defiant Defense Force]]'s Flight Command building, as Admiral [[Judy Ivans]] and her aide-de-camp [[Rikolfr]] informed [[National Assembly Leader]]s [[Algernon Weight]], [[Valda Mendez]], and [[Ukrit]] that a large chunk of falling debris, containing hundreds of acclivity rings, would be disarmed within two days. She and the National Assembly Leaders knew the hard truth - the DDF would continue to spiral towards collapse unless they could find a way to field more starfighters than the [[varvax|Krell]]. Knowing a better opportunity might not come while they had the strength they had, the National Assembly Leaders and the Admiral agreed to throw all DDF ships at capturing the acclivity rings.{{book ref|sky1|i|3}} |
||
⚫ | The battle began as soon as the DDF Flight School graduation was over, as the DDF quickly launched eleven full flights and five scouting trios, totaling eighty-seven pilots. The DDF also called in all of its reserves from the [[deep caverns]]. The pilots approached the shipyard and Ironsides asked the scouting trios for fighter estimates on the Krell. The scouting trios determined that a first wave of Krell contained fifty starfighters, while a second wave carried another fifty starfighters. Both sides understood the titanic consequences the battle would have.{{book ref|sky1|48}} |
||
== Battle at the Shipyard == |
|||
⚫ | Ironsides ordered [[Riptide Flight|Riptide]], [[Valkyrie Flight|Valkyrie]], [[Tungsten Flight|Tungsten]], and [[Nightmare Flight|Nightmare]] Flights to provide cover fire for the inside flights protecting the shipyard from a Krell bombing. One of the flightleaders reported a bomber, with a confirmation from three other ships. Scout [[Cloak]] gave a scouting confirmation, and Ironsides ordered the pilots to drive it away, at the risk of pushing it towards [[Alta Base]], more than two hours away. One of the flightleaders told Ironsides that they had the [[lifebuster]] on the run, but that it was headed towards Alta. Cloak informed Ironsides that the bomber was faster than most, so Ironsides ordered the scouting contingents to move to intercept the lifebuster. The flightleader of Valkyrie flight told Ironsides they were down to three pilots and requested support, only for their line to go short. Another pilot told Ironsides that Valkyrie flight would be absorbed into their flight. Ironsides then ordered a full offensive to protect the shipyard, and all the flightleaders gave a verbal confirmation.{{book ref|sky1|48}} |
||
{{Dialogue |
|||
|Ironsides|Cloak? Nice work. |
|||
|FM|She's dead. This is callsign: FM. Cloak died in the blast. There are...sir, there are three of us left in the scout flight. The others died in the fighting. |
|||
|Ironsides|Confirmed. Stars accept their souls. |
|||
|attr=Ironsides and FM.{{book ref|sky1|48}} |
|||
}} |
|||
⚫ | Cloak told Ironsides that the bomber was moving extremely fast, had an escort of ten ships, and could easily get in blast range of Alta Base, so Ironsides ordered told her to engage it with just her flight of twelve scouts. Both the battle at the shipyard and around the bomber continued for some time, before Cloak finally reported that the bomber had been destroyed and that the lifebuster was falling to the ground and ordered all of the scouts to get clear before it exploded. It hit close enough to Alta Base that Spensa could hear the explosions from underground in [[Igneous Cavern]]; after it exploded, Ironsides congratulated Cloak, only to be told by [[FM]] that Cloak didn't make it out of the blast and that only three scouts survived. Ironsides then ordered the three survivors to return to the battle at the shipyard.{{book ref|sky1|48}} |
||
⚫ | The battle |
||
{{sidequote |
|||
|Eighy-seven brave pilots are making their way to engage the Krell to rescue the salvage. Victory will bring our league unprecedented glory and spoils. |
|||
|Radio announcer to the people of Igneous Cavern.{{book ref|sky1|48}} |
|||
|side=right|size=250px |
|||
}} |
|||
⚫ | Ironsides |
||
⚫ | Cloak |
||
== Second Lifebuster == |
|||
⚫ | Shortly thereafter, a woman from antiaircraft gun outpost fourth-seven |
||
⚫ | |||
⚫ | |||
⚫ | |||
{{sidequote |
|||
|My weapons are gone. |
|||
|Spensa, to Ironsides.{{book ref|sky1|50}} |
|||
|side=left|size=150px |
|||
}} |
|||
⚫ | Spensa |
||
{{sidequote |
|||
|Understood. Saints' own speed, pilot. |
|||
|Ironsides, to Spensa.{{book ref|sky1|50}} |
|||
|side=right|size=150px |
|||
}} |
|||
⚫ | All of the junior admirals |
||
⚫ | Spensa |
||
== Return of M-Bot == |
|||
Instead of ejecting, Spensa is able to control her starfighter and guide it to the ground. She skids into the ground just as Arturo informs Ironsides that he, Nedd, and Kimmalyn have successfully stolen their parents' private craft and are headed toward the Krell. Flight Command informs Spensa that a Krell ship is coming to destroy her wreckage, but she tells them she's stuck in her straps. The Krell ship opens fire, only for its destructor blasts to be blocked by the shield of a W-shaped large fighter, M-Bot. Cobb calls into Flight Command as Mongrel and tells Spensa to hang on. Cobb slams the Krell into the ground using M-Bot's light-lance, then skims towards Spensa's ship. Cobb gets out and helps Spensa out of her ship, then tells her she has to fly M-Bot and go take out the bomber. Spensa tells him she could hear the Krell commands, so he tells her to ignore the defect, that she isn't predestined to destroy the DDF, but that she can choose to save it. M-Bot tells Spensa he rewrote his code to identify Spensa as his pilot, thus forcing him to follow the commands of his new pilot and fight. Spensa gets in M-Bot and fires up his systems, everything but his stealth mode, so the Krell will see her coming.{{book ref|sky1|51}} |
|||
{{sidequote |
|||
|It was a simple program. It edited one entry in a database, while I wasn't looking, replacing one name with another. I '''must''' follow the commands of my pilot. |
|||
|M-Bot, telling Spensa how he rewrote his code to make her his pilot.{{book ref|sky1|51}} |
|||
|side=left|size=175px |
|||
}} |
|||
⚫ | Shortly thereafter, a woman from antiaircraft gun outpost fourth-seven reported that it, as well as outposts fourth-six and fourth-eight, had been hit by the lifebuster blast and destroyed. The gunner who gave the report then asked Ironsides if she had a nearby debris fall on her radar. The gunner took out a pair of binoculars and reported multiple Krell ships dropping through the debris field, right over where the destroyed antiaircraft gun outposts. The gunner told Ironsides to scramble the reserves, not knowing all the reserves were out fighting at the shipyard. Ironsides ordered Riptide Flight to return to Alta Base immediately, but their flightleader informed her that even at Mag-10 it would take over thirty minutes.{{book ref|sky1|48}} |
||
Several powerful families inform Ironsides that they are escaping as the last line of emergency gun emplacements inform her that the Krell fighters are coming close to engage them. She then makes contact with Arturo, ordering him to shoot down the lifebuster, regardless of the effect it might have on Alta Base. He gives confirmation, just as Rikolfr informs Ironsides of an unidentified fighter approaching the battle at Mag-20. Spensa then identifies herself over the comm line as Skyward Eleven. |
|||
⚫ | |||
Spensa speeds towards the lifebuster in M-Bot, his shield lit up due to the heat of air resistance, as he informs her that all of his systems but cytonic hyperdrive, self-repair, and destructors are online. Spensa connects with Kimmalyn and Nedd over the general comm line, informing them of her talking ship's capabilities. Spensa then flies through the center of the Krell force and immediately gains a tail of thirteen ships. Nedd tells Spensa that Riptide Flight is a minute and a half away, so Spensa tells him she'd distract most of the Krell, but she needs Nedd and Kimmalyn to try to drive away the lifebuster. Ironsides tells her to shoot it on sight, but Spensa tells her they might not need to do so. |
|||
⚫ | |||
Spensa dove through the Krell, dodging their destructor blasts, anticipating their movements before they made them, even able to feel the lines of electricity giving orders through M-Bot's fuselage. When the lifebuster reaches two minutes away, the flightleader of Riptide Flight, [[Terrier]], calls in through the general comm line, asking who Spensa is. Jorgen tells him it doesn't matter, and Spensa tells him to focus everything he has on taking out the three black Krell interceptors. FM and Jorgen fly close to the bomber, activating an IMP to bring its shield down, and Kimmalyn fires a destructor blast on the exact spot holding the bomb to the ship. The ship keeps flying, but the bomb falls out. All of the fighters, DDF and Krell, overburn out, except Spensa.{{book ref|sky1|52}} |
|||
⚫ | |||
Ironsides and her junior admirals sit in the command room, weeping and praying as the lifebuster falls towards the ground. All the starfighters but one speed away from the bomb. |
|||
Spensa spears the bomb with her light-lance and shoots away at Mag-16, passing through a group of DDF pilots. M-Bot calculates that they would make it outside the death zone of Alta Base, but that they would be in the middle of the blast. Spensa sinks into the ship, feeling M-Bot's processors, then M-Bot tells her that his biological component has been engaged and that his cytonic hyperdrive is online. Spensa engages the hyperdrive and shoots away from the blast in a blink.{{book ref|sky1|53}} |
|||
⚫ | Spensa got a visual confirmation on the lifebuster, so Ironsides gave her the order to shoot it down, regardless of how close it was to Alta Base. Spensa engaged and immediately gained twelve tails. They chased her around, trying to draw her away from the lifebuster, but she stayed focused and scored a few hits on the bomber, which its shield absorbed. She continued dogfighting with the escort, and found that she could faintly hear the commands being sent to the Krell ships and was able to act on them before the Krell. |
||
== Aftermath == |
|||
⚫ | All of the junior admirals gathered around Ironsides, gazes locked on the hologram of Spensa weaving in and out of destructor blasts. All of the remaining flights had been disengaged from the battle for the shipyard, and were on their way back to Alta Base. They would be too late, so all of Alta and Igneous' hopes rode on Spensa. |
||
Spensa enters a place of complete darkness, with billions of white eyes watching her, then comes to. M-Bot tells her they are one hundred kilometers from the blast, with no evidence of time dilation. Ironsides contacts Spensa and tells her to come back to base, but, seeing a gap in the debris field, Spensa rotates her acclivity rings and launches upwards, towards the stars.{{book ref|sky1|54}} |
|||
⚫ | Spensa counted five hits on the lifebuster when Jorgen contacted her via the general comm line. He asked how she was doing and informed her that he was with Riptide Flight, streaking toward Alta Base at Mag-10. Suddenly, Spensa was hit, on the nose of her ship, disabling her destructors. It was one of the sleek black ships whose commands she couldn't hear. Ironsides informed Spensa she had full authority to shoot the ship down even if it reached the death zone. The lifebuster was one minute away from the death zone, and with no weapons, Spensa resolved to kamikaze into the lifebuster. Ironsides asked what she was doing, and Spensa informed her of her weapons malfunction. Ironsides understood and gave her a solemn wish of good luck. Spensa streaked toward the lifebuster, nose still on fire, when her battered ship finally gave out. The acclivity rings on the bottom of her ship gave out, and she undershot the lifebuster and started spiraling towards the ground.{{book ref|sky1|51}} |
||
Spensa and M-Bot fly up towards the gap in the platforms, eventually leaving the exosphere and reaching Mag-55. M-Bot informs her he is detecting radio communication at one of the stars ahead, believing it to not be a star, but a space station. A few Krell ships come close to M-Bot and Spensa is suddenly overcome with something pushing on her brain and eyes, trying to make her see certain images. Spensa realizes this is exactly what the Krell must have done to her father, make him see his friends as Krell and therefore shoot them down. M-Bot then jams their transmission, then pulls back a little bit, allowing Spensa to hear the Krell talking to each other. She learned the Krell are actually just prison guards, and M-Bot tries to hack the space station's systems. He tries but is booted out, so the space station deploys a couple fighters to attack them. M-Bot and Spensa flee back through the gap in the platforms, but not before M-Bot gains some information from the station.{{book ref|sky1|55}} |
|||
After the battle, and with help from Spensa's cytonics and Rodge and the Engineering Corps' work, the DDF is able to seize control of a couple of the Platforms above Detritus, reenergizing and reequipping them, and taking the fight to the Krell outside the atmosphere of Detritus. |
|||
== Notable Combatants == |
|||
{| class="infobox" width=100% |
|||
! Pilot !! Flight !! Notes |
|||
|- |
|||
| [[Spensa]] || [[Skyward Flight]] || Flew Arturo's old ship as well as M-Bot, light-lanced lifebuster away from Alta Base.{{book ref|sky1|53}} |
|||
|- |
|||
| [[Jorgen]] || [[Riptide Flight]] || Part of first flight sent back from the shipyard to engage the second lifebuster, helped IMP its shield.{{book ref|sky1|52}} |
|||
|- |
|||
| [[Nedd]] || [[Skyward Flight]] || Stole a private ship and engaged the second lifebuster.{{book ref|sky1|51}} |
|||
|- |
|||
| [[Kimmalyn]] || [[Skyward Flight]] || Stole a private ship and engaged the second lifebuster. Shot the clamp between the lifebuster and its carrier, thus dropping the bomb.{{book ref|sky1|51}} |
|||
|- |
|||
| [[Arturo]] || [[Skyward Flight]] || Stole a private ship and engaged the second lifebuster.{{book ref|sky1|51}} |
|||
|- |
|||
| [[Freyja]] || Scouting trio || Engaged first lifebuster, survived, returned to fight at the shipyard, then was sent to engage the second lifebuster.{{book ref|sky1|48}}{{book ref|sky1|52}} |
|||
|- |
|||
| [[Cloak]] || Scouting trio || Killed by the blast of the first lifebuster.{{book ref|sky1|48}} |
|||
She managed to land her ship successfully, despite the damage it had taken. [[Cobb]], piloting [[M-Bot]], found Spensa and gave her control of the ship so she could rejoin the battle. When the lifebuster dropped its bomb Spensa jumped it away to save [[Alta Base]] and [[Igneous Cavern]].{{book ref|sky1|49}}{{book ref|sky1|50}}{{book ref|sky1|51}}{{book ref|sky1|52}}{{book ref|sky1|53}}{{book ref|sky1|54}}{{book ref|sky1|55}}{{book ref|sky1|epilogue}} |
|||
|} |
|||
== Notes == |
== Notes == |
||
<references /> |
<references /> |
||
{{ |
{{partial}} |
||
{{Skyward}} |
{{Skyward}} |