Part 108 – How a Cobra Immortal Wing Commander Became a Sky Pirate:
Wing Commander Fiona Leone, call sign Fire Bat, was the Cobra Immortals’ top ace during a territorial dispute between the Royal House of Destro and her Majesty, the Baroness. Both sides claimed rightful sovereignty over all of Sector 858A, a vast stretch of Badlands beyond the frontier.
The dispute sparked a limited skirmish between two of Cobra’s most powerful factions, the Imperial Iron Grenadiers and the Cobra Immortals. It was during the skirmish that Fiona, “Fio” for short, became known as Fio the Fire Bat due to her fierce flying style which her squadron described as fighting like a bat out of hell.
During the conflict, Fio shot down 16 enemy fighters on the first day. On the second day, she tallied another 10 and on the third and final day of combat, Wing Commander Fiona Leone shot down an additional 24 enemy fighters for a total of 50 kills.
The Imperial Iron Grenadiers Air Corps refer to her as the butcher of Sector 858A. They intentionally targeted her in her unmistakable brightly painted red fighter which she named the “Porco Rosso.” The Porco Rosso was a model Ma.K Falke, an anti gravity armored fighter designed as an air superiority fighter.
Due to her outstanding performance, she was immediately inducted into the Companion Air Cavalry, her Majesty’s own personal air wing. As Wing Commander of the Companion Air Cavalry, Fio was responsible for carrying out her Majesty’s ongoing campaigns to put down rebellions within their own borders.
One day, while on a mission over the Eastern Territories, Fio led a squadron on a ground attack mission to intercept a convoy of bandits. She was told the bandits were heavily armed. Her orders were to annihilate the bandits on sight.
When she arrived, she noticed the convoy consisted of only trucks and a few small cars. She ordered her squadron to stay back while she closed in for a fly by to investigate further. Fio expected to receive heavy anti air fire from the convoy but upon a closer look, her surveillance monitors did not identify ground weapons of any kind.
Fio realized that the convoy she was ordered to annihilate consisted of nothing more than peasants and refugees trying to escape into the Badlands of Sector 858A in order to live free from the Baroness’s tyrannical rule. These peasants carried mostly food and virtually no weapons at all.
Wing Commander Fio then rejoined her squadron high above and ordered them to return to base. Fio declared the convoy was no threat. Immediately, Cobra Immortals High Command demanded that she carry out her orders which came directly from her Majesty, the Baroness. Fio refused the orders without much thought.
Suddenly, Fio’s radio crackled with the voice of her wing woman, Wenry Rockbell, call sign Ghost Hawk, saying:
“Commander, we’ve been given orders to shoot you down.”
Fio instinctually broke formation as the rest of her squadron (except her wing woman, Ghost Hawk) pounced on her. She swirled to dodge their fire and calmly replied on the radio:
“Ghost Hawk, are you with me or against me?”
“You lead and I’ll follow” replied Ghost Hawk.
Fio then screamed over her radio to the rest of the 10 fighters in her squadron who are now trying to shoot her down:
“Disengage you idiots! You do not want to do this. Our orders were to annihilate peasants and refugees. I will not have innocent blood on my hands and you don’t want any either! There are women and children down there!”
No reply came from the squadron.
Fio responded, “So be it.”
She immediately began to pursue her attackers. Swooping and swirling, dodging and diving, twisting and turning, bursting in and out of the clouds, Fire Bat and Ghost Hawk were against all odds in a fight for their lives. Her attackers were not rookies right out of the Air Cavalry Academy, these were all veterans and experienced aces themselves.
From below, the convoy of refugees watched in amazement at the deadly ballet taking place high above. They saw swirling vapor trails as the fighters looped around each other for position. And soon, one by one, they saw black smoke trailing from the fighters. From the ground, it looked like thin ink trails leaking down from the sky.
And one by one, Wing Commander Fiona Leone riddled her attackers with lead. While remaining in the middle of the fight, she expertly broke all the rules of dog fighting with erratic and wild maneuvers that Ghost Hawk was barely able to follow. Fio knew that when outnumbered, the safest place to be in a dog fight was right in the middle. This way, her pursuers would have to be careful not to accidentally hit their comrades while shooting towards the middle of the swarm. They would also run the risk of midair collisions while diving down to attack her if she remains in the middle of the swarm of fighters.
While surrounded, Fio twisted the Porco Rosso in all directions to point her guns precisely where her attackers turned as if she knew where they wanted to go. And when her enemies turned there, they were greeted with a stream of fire and tracer rounds that sliced through their fighter like an invisible saw blade.
Almost as quickly as it began, the dog fight ended as the remaining 4 pilots soon realized they were outclassed and retreated.
After the fight, Fire Bat and Ghost Hawk realized they were now considered the first Cobra Immortals to betray her Majesty the Baroness. They had nowhere to go and so they joined the convoy of refugees headed to Sector 858A. In order to receive acceptance from the refugees, they offered their service as sky pirates and as defenders of their new found friends.
Over the next few years, they became the scourge of Sector 858A pirating Cobra Air Convoys and supply shipments. They even joined forces with the Outlaw Star known as Cover Girl. This is how a Cobra Immortal Wing Commander became a sky pirate.
Continue:
Rebel Angel OC Wenry by Lance858a 
