by REM
The creature pointed at the blaster along the side wall where it’d been kicked.
Oh, yeah, thought Josh. He walked over to get his gun. Once the weapon was in hand, he couldn’t help thinking, This alien must really trust me—that or it’s got another trick up its sleeve. Either way, I don’t want to find out.
When Josh got into his cockpit, the hangar opened at his rear. The energy strip that had pulled his ship deeper into the alien vessel had begun pushing him out, until eventually the striker floated into space.
The alien craft cloaked gradually until no longer visible. Josh heard it zoom off and tried unsuccessfully to power up his striker. Damnit, it’s still depleted. He checked the charge level on his fleet-core indicator. It’s charging, thank goodness. System should be up soon; just have to wait it out.
Josh leaned back in his seat to relax. He gazed off to the right for a short stint, then in the opposite direction after thinking he’d seen something out the corner of his eye.
Josh froze, feeling a surge of adrenaline swarm through his body. I’m dead, he thought, staring at the drifting shadow fighter a mere forty yards away, and wondering what death was about to feel like.
Harrowing seconds passed. Josh’s heart pounded with each one. His blood pressure rose to a point where beads of sweat formed on his forehead. Why hasn’t he fired on me? The answer came to him immediately. The Mercen’s ship was drained too. Of course! His eyes widened. He got dropped first. His fighter’s going to recharge before mine. Josh tried mashing a few buttons to get the power to switch on and then turned his attention back to the fleet-core indicator. The bar’s almost full, but I can’t access any energy until it’s filled. Horseshit! If there’s energy available I should be able to access it. Who the hell designed this damn thing! he thought, knowing there had to be a scientific explanation, but frustrated nonetheless.
Josh’s striker rotated slowly, so much so that he had to keep twisting in his seat in order to have sight on the shadow fighter.
Tense minutes passed. Josh’s striker was angled slightly in the direction of the enemy fighter when he saw a trace of red light race around the head of the Mercen’s laser cannon. Shit! he thought, feeling a renewed rushing of adrenaline.
Thoot! The shadow fighter fired a blast that zipped past Josh’s striker wide left. There was a short delay before it sent another shot whizzing by, but closer than the first.
He’s going to be lined up with me soon… thought Josh. Their fighter systems must work differently from ours. How the hell is he able to fire his cannons without having power to other critical parts of his ship? Josh tried punching buttons on his dash board and above his head, before thinking, The dumb idiot should just fire a missile since my counter-system is down. He shook his head—then heard his ship power on.
Lights flashed throughout Josh’s cockpit, but primarily from the dash. Yes! A warning signal went off on the central monitor. Josh heard the sound in conjunction with seeing the thrusters flare up on the enemy craft and a missile launch from the shadow fighter’s wing. Subconsciously, he’d already jabbed a button that launched his mini-missiles counter system.
Josh slammed his stick to the side while mashing on the throttle. His striker cut left into a dive simultaneous to a loud boom from the exploding enemy projectile.
The shadow fighter raced after him.
Josh leveled out before spiraling right and diving again. He yanked his stick into another hard twist in the opposite direction. Thoot! Thoot! Lasers flashed past his cockpit. Come on, sucker! he thought, curving helically, then soaring up into another gyre.
Josh slammed his breaks and faded back into an inverted dive.
The shadow fighter tried cutting off from its rise to keep its rear positioning, but Josh curled into a short hook and fired a shot from the Mercen’s side.
Boom! The shadow fighter exploded.
“That’s for headbutting me!” Josh blurted.
There was beeping from his radar. Eh? Four dots were speeding toward his position. Those aren’t Creston craft! And they’re moving too fast to be non-military. He thought for a moment, glancing down. “Shadow fighters,” he said, flicking his eyes back up toward space. But how?
Josh veered in the direction of the M.N. Rampage and pushed his ship into max thrust. He checked his coordinates. The one-eyed aliens’ ship let me off at the same location it picked me up. Probably never moved the entire time I was on the vessel. I’d thought the Mercen might’ve been picked up on their side of the Void Zone, but if there’s more this deep into Creston territory—they found a hole in our defenses. That’s how they plan to hit Creston with the force cannon!
The strikers’ engines roared. Josh glanced at his radar, knowing there was no way for the enemy craft to catch his ship’s current speed. I’ve got to get this information to Rolly, so Captain Tichi can inform home command. The Mercens could strike at any time.
***
When Josh had landed on the north flight deck, he saw he was the final fighter to arrive home from his squadron. At least everyone made it back okay. No one was ambushed in Creston territory, he thought.
At making it into the third unit, Josh overheard a conversation at the lounge table involving Maya, Nate, Reena, and Tor.
“I even took a short nap,” said Tor, in a thick accent. “Has to be a Mercen bluff. There’s no way they make it to within striking distance of Creston without being detected by something from our fleet.”
“I wouldn’t say that,” said Josh, making his presence known to all but Reena, who had seen him come in.
“Josh!” said Maya. “Oow, what happened to your forehead?”
“I got into a fight with a Mercen, that’s what happened.”
“What?!” said Nate.
“They’ve found a way to slip into Creston space under our noses. But you’re not even going to believe how I found this out,” said Josh.
“What happened?” asked Reena.
“Yeah,” said Tor.
Josh told them the story of how he’d been abducted by the alien ship and his subsequent encounters with the Mercen. “Where’s Ace?”
“He’s over on the south wing with Hoss and Kyle,” Reena replied.
“That’s crazy, Josh. Are you telling the truth, or just messing with us?” said Maya.
“How else would I bang my head like this, and why would I lie?”
“If you’re serious then we need to get that information to Rolly right now,” said Nate.
“I’m on it.” Josh nodded and turned to leave.
He heard Tor say: “This could be our worst nightmare, especially if they’ve amassed ships for a surprise attack.”
“This is nuts,” said Maya.
Josh strode into the hall. A short moment later, he was knocking on Officer Rolly’s door.
“Come in,” said Rolly.
Josh explained what had transpired on his scouting mission.
At the end of the story, Officer Rolly placed a hand over his mouth and cheek and looked to be in deep thought. “Did you catch any of this on your flight recorder?”
Josh thought for a moment. “The blasts from the enemy vessel drained all power from my ship, but once my systems were up after being thrown back into space, the flight recorder just might’ve been on, now that you mention it. That would at least show my encounter with the shadow fighter.”
“I’ll have it looked at and relay this information to Captain Tichi. Good job. I’ll be in contact with you if we need further details. That is all.”
“Yes, sir,” said Josh. While turning to leave he saw Officer Rolly pick up a receiver and punch one of the buttons on the base.
Josh went back to the third unit and chatted with some of the pilots until eventually heading to his room to settle in. He peeled the green rubbery substance from his forearm and was shocked to see his missing skin had already regenerated. Amazing… I should probably take this to the lab later to be analyzed. Could result in a huge discovery for mankind. He
opened his locker and placed the substance into a small container.
It was nearing time for lights out when Josh decided to go to the kitchen for a drink.
Officer Rolly and Ace were standing at the front door talking when Josh strolled into the lounge. They looked to be speaking somewhat casually, so Josh raised a hand to see if either minded if he butted in.
Officer Rolly lifted his chin toward Josh as if willing to hear him out. “Yes?”
“Sorry, sir. I was just curious to know if you guys were able to recover video from my flight recorder?”
Rolly stared at Josh for a moment, and shook his head. “No, everything was wiped from the drive when your striker got hit. Doesn’t look like it came back on when your system re-powered.”
Doggone, thought Josh. I have no way of proving my story without that. The story sounds so far out, I wonder if anyone’s truly going to believe me. “I’m telling the truth, sir. Creston is imminent danger.”
“We believe you, soldier,” Rolly replied.
“Thank you, sir.” Josh nodded and continued to the kitchen.
Not more than a half hour later, he and the rest of his squadron had turned in for the night.
In a different sector of the M.N. Rampage, a shadowed figure was sitting in a small dark room, viewing footage of the Mercen encounter from Josh’s flight recorder—footage that included a one-eyed alien and Josh’s striker being pushed out from the massive vessel—despite his ship being powered down.
Chapter 9
Josh had only been sleeping for a couple of hours when Officer Rolly crept into his room to wake him up. The officer had Josh follow him out of the unit and up to a sector of the ship he’d not seen before.
Rolly stopped in the middle of a long, dark corridor.
Josh watched the officer remain completely still as if listening for something.
Officer Rolly held a hand toward Josh as if to say, “One sec, quiet.” Then he held a thumb transmitter to his mouth and said, “Are you sure about that, sir?” Rolly twisted his head a bit, which made visible a small receiver in his ear.
Josh wondered who he was speaking with.
“Yes, sir. I’ll do that now,” Rolly transmitted. He lowered his hand and focused on Josh. “Last room, down the hall on the right. The only one with a black door.” He then turned and strode off in the way they’d came.
Josh faced in the direction of the black door and walked slowly toward the end of the hall. What the hell am I going to be doing now? he thought, also wondering who would be heading the secret ops now that Commander Clint was dead.
Josh eyed the dim light from the crack at the bottom of the door when nearing it. He gave a firm knock and heard someone say, “Come in.” I know that voice, he thought, unable to identify who it was. Josh pushed the door open slowly. His eyes brightened, unable to comprehend what he was seeing.
It was Commander Clint. In the flesh. The old commander was standing at the side of an oak table with his captain’s hat pulled to his brows.
“But how, sir… How are you alive? I saw you blown to pieces by a Notle titan.”
A vengeful smirk cracked faintly on the Commander’s lips. “It wasn’t me you saw die that day. It was a terminally ill soldier who fit my profile and wanted to do his species justice with his final breaths.”
Josh shook his head. Incredible. They fixed the guy up to fit Clint’s description to a tee; fooled everyone. “Sir, may I speak freely?”
Commander Clint nodded.
“Why the continued guise? Why not reveal you were alive after recovering Officer Rolly?”
“The Mercens needed to have satisfaction in knowing I was dead, otherwise they may have reacted more aggressively to our subsequent actions. Those snakes wanted me more than you’ll ever know, and are surely disappointed in not being able to acquire me alive.”
Josh stared to the side of Commander Clint while pondering his words. “How’d you know the Notles would try to assassinate you for striking the Neton moon?”
Commander Clint raised a wily eye. “They didn’t. The titan fighter you saw had been stashed under the bridge prior to the meeting, and was controlled remotely by Captain Scope—or did you forget we were in possession of two titan fighters?”
Of course, thought Josh, remembering the craft he and Dazzler had landed on the Rampage. “Sir, now that the Mercens have their satisfaction, why not let the crew on the Rampage know you’re alive?”
Commander Clint turned his back to Josh and began rummaging in the top of a short cabinet for a cigar. “The Mercens have a spy on this vessel.”
Josh’s jaw dropped, looking at the back of the Commander’s head. “Who on this ship would spy for the Mercens? What would they even have to gain? Would the Mercens even negotiate with a human?”
“No, they wouldn’t. The spy is a Notle, one who’s allowed on this ship for diplomatic reasons. You have to remember, the majority of Notles are neutral to the Creston-Mercen conflict. The Notle in this case is being paid an extraordinarily high sum by our enemies. We allow him to access low-level or doctored information, in order to build confidence with, or mislead, the Mercens at certain times. I don’t want Mercen knowing I’m alive until after we’ve destroyed their terra-wielding force cannon.”
Josh nodded and was getting ready to speak when the door opened. Captain Scope and Bor walked in leading a pilot who was overweight and wore a full beard. Josh knew right away from his flight suit the pilot was from the 1st squadron. Guess there’s a black op in every unit, he thought.
Bor smiled at Josh and offered a fist for him to tap with his own. Captain Scope was more discreet and moved directly toward the oak table to sit down. The overweight pilot and Bor joined him.
“We’ll get started in just a moment,” said Clint, who’d glanced rearward, but still had his back to the others while clipping a cigar.
Josh sat down at the table with everyone else.
It was only a few minutes longer before Officer Rolly walked in, with Ven entering behind him.
Oh, shit. Really? thought Josh.
Ven grinned at him and took a seat with Rolly.
All eyes turned to Commander Clint, who set flame to his cigar.
“As is always the case, we have a dire matter on our hands. The Mercens have managed to find a hole in our zone coverage, and have possibly amassed craft in Creston space. There’s an extremely high probability the terra force cannon is among the intruding fighters. We’ve got to locate it, and we’ve got to destroy it,” said Commander Clint.
He paused before continuing. “You’ll be running dual missions tonight, the first of which the six of you will be flying into the Cosmolis and landing on planet Zint.”
Zint again? thought Josh.
“The Mercens’ terra mining capabilities were brought to a halt, but our intel has discovered Mercen activity at their battered base. We believe they’re trying to salvage something, and are certain there are Mercen scientists on the premises. Your job is to acquire one of the scientists and bring it back to this ship. You’re also to set detonators inside and ensure that the entire inner facility is leveled. Is that clear?”
“Yes, sir,” Josh and the other soldiers replied.
Commander Clint took puffs from his cigar. “I will have minimal time to extract the information needed—but I’m sure it can be done. Immediately following the first mission, four of you will be flying deep into Creston territory on a ploy to discover the whereabouts of the infiltrating Mercens. We received a rough location of where that might be when Josh here encountered and destroyed a shadow fighter in proximity, then escaped from four more. However, there’s a strong possibility the enemy fighters were just passing through en route to their destination, as there are no truly habitable planets in that region, which pretty much means those intruding Mercens could be anywhere. Home command was alerted and ordered scouts to the area, but their search is like looking for a needle in a haystack.”
Commander Clint puffed some m
ore and said, “I’ve been studying our solar system and have narrowed down one of many flight paths the Mercens might be taking into Creston territory. That is where you’ll be flying to. Captain Scope has been given the coordinates. We’re going to need a lot of luck to stop the Mercens from striking Creston with the terra-fumes. Remember what’s at stake—and try your bests. Our loved ones back home are depending on us.” He ashed his cig slowly with all watching, then said, “Get to it.”
“Yes, sir,” the three officers replied.
Rolly stood first and headed for the door. Josh and the others were right behind him.
They headed for the south flight deck, where Josh found his striker awaiting him. Someone moved it, he thought.
“Wait here,” said Scope, after which the three officers walked about fifteen yards farther down the deck and had a private discussion.
Josh made eye contact with the 1st squadron pilot standing to his right and said, “I’m Josh, by the way.” He extended a hand.
“Jekel,” the overweight fellow replied.
Josh smirked. “I heard about you. You’re the one with machine guns attached to his ship.”
“That’d be me,” Jekel replied, as if the news was trivial. “Heard about you too. Made a name for yourself pretty quickly, being a rookie.”
“Some of it might be bad, but I’m getting better. I’m starting to truly understand how things work out here, not just how we dream things to be in the academy.”
Jekel grunted with a nod. “And this hard-ass here wants to be the one to win this war for us, eh?” he said, looking at Ven.
“Told you I’d try my best, mate. It wasn’t just the beer,” said Ven.
Jekel chuckled. “Who would have thought, two rookie black ops—and from the same squadron. One of you’s not going to last long. You can count on that. Clint wouldn’t have it any other way. Secrets safe and orders followed, that’s all I’m going to suggest.”
Josh stared at the wide fellow, feeling a tad worried. He glanced at Ven, who pulled his lips into a confident yet almost vindictive expression.
