Intersect

by M C I Hinchliffe

  The pilot's seat came to an abrupt halt in the cockpit. Ryan examined the controls before him and found the ship's engines running at flight speed and the rest of the controls in order. To his surprise, the Eagle sustained no discernible damage. He engaged the vertical thrust and the Eagle slowly lifted off the dock floor and passed through the hatch above.

  The view from the cockpit showed a stunning display of coloured lights as the city was splashed in the red light of dusk. Large sections of dark invaded the blanket of lights where the city had been bombed. The sky was filled with a swarm of battling spacecrafts, but the dominant feature was the black swarm of Warrian fighters and fighter-bombers.

  Ryan retracted the landing gear and braced himself as he engaged the forward thrusters. Below him, the landing dock was hit again, totally destroying the remains of the complex and showering the vicinity in flaming shrapnel. Before the deadly projectiles could fray the Eagle, the thrusters shot out a spectacular vapour trail and the resultant force threw the ship into forward motion.

  The view from the side windows became a blur as the ship accelerated to escape velocity of twenty thousand kilometres per hour in a matter of seconds. Normally the gee-forces would kill any passengers instantly, however the artificial gravity kept the cabin forces to a maximum of two gees. Such an exit was extremely hazardous. Any of the spacecraft fighting before him could collide with the ship, but Ryan's remarkable reflexes kept the Eagle from any possible intersecting flight paths.

  When he was away from the centre of battle, Ryan pulled back on the twin controls and aimed the Eagle straight up and out to space. The red stained sky faded to a dark starry picture with a display of flashes from distant spaceships being destroyed. An immense silhouette of the Flagship Kron cast an ominous shadow upon the failing planet.

  The ship's computer was affectionately named Lucy. It had a simulated voice of a young female that sounded very realistic and often with great expression. Sometimes Ryan would forget that it was a computer he was talking too. Lucy was quick to inform Ryan of the unwelcome travellers behind him. "Four Warrian Warbird Fighters are on attack course and at one hundred kilometres and closing. Contact will be made in twenty seconds. Recommend evasive action."

  John had modified the Eagle for battle and despite her size, she was very manoeuvrable. He also installed two of the very latest energy pulse guns, one on the top and another on its belly, transforming the Eagle into an effective vessel of war. The guns were totally automated and were guided by a new and extremely accurate guidance system. However, when up against four Warbirds the odds were still stacked against her.

  Ryan glanced at the rear view monitor and saw four fighters in attack formation. They were smooth, black and fearsome spacecraft each possessing two photon cannons and twin photon missile launchers. Four small wings stuck out like dual bat wings and the canopy resembled a pair of blood red insect eyes. Each fighter contained a Warrian soldier whose skill was comparable that of a Federation pilot.

  "Lucy, transfer all reserve power to the deflector shields. Things are going to get a little rough." Ryan activated the auto pulse guns and psyched himself for battle. "Now let’s see what this ship can do."

  He pushed violently against the controls and dive-looped the Eagle back towards the oncoming fighters. The ship groaned and shuddered from the drastic manoeuvre while the engines fought to regain attack speed.

  The Warrians were caught by surprise. Their scanners detected an unarmed transporter and were expecting defensive manoeuvres. The Warbird's on board computer would decipher the scanners data, such as shape, weight and energy emissions and try to fit that data to a known design. Since the guns were not activated until the last moment, there was no way of detecting the new modifications. The squadron leader immediately released two photon missiles and ordered a breakaway.

  The Eagle's guns came to life and struck one fighter turning it into a fiery ball. The small Warbird's deflector shields were not strong enough to repel a direct blast from the powerful pulse guns, through another was clipped and its shield held. Ryan aimed straight at the oncoming missiles and performed a cork screw manoeuvre that produced a combined speed and vector too great for the missiles to duplicate, and they passed by the Eagle harmlessly. He pulled hard against the twin control sticks and looped the ship back out to space, but this time the Warbirds were ready for him. With the entire Warrian Battle Fleet approaching ahead and three Warbird fighters closing in for the kill on his tail, there was no hope for escape. If the Warbirds didn't cut the Eagle to pieces, the Battle Fleet would.

  Then a crazy idea came to mind, fly straight into the Fleet! If he went fast enough, he could out manoeuvre the anti-spacecraft guns aboard the cruisers, and the fighters on his tail would be limited to only their photon cannons in case they shot their own ships. The manoeuvre could also get them off his tail long enough to engage the hyperspace drive.

  "Lucy, transfer maximum power to the forward deflector shields. I'm going to fly into the fleet and I need all the protection that I can get from those battleships. The rough ride is about to get rougher.”

  "I advise against such an action. The probability of success is one in four thousand and twenty."

  Ryan smiled, "Well, I've had worse odds than that before." He rotated the throttle on the right control stick to maximum causing the speedometer to change swiftly until it read one hundred thousand kilometres per hour. This was as fast as the ship could go and still have effective manoeuvrability. The Eagle's engines roared as a disturbing number of rattles and groans sounded throughout her as if to protest against the abusive handling.

  The distant Fleet rushed towards him at a startling rate with the swift Warbirds still on his tail. Ryan swooped down on the first cruiser and pulled erratically up from the titanic structure, then headed straight for the Kron. Space became a colourful light show as the anti-spacecraft guns radically shot at the Eagle from all directions. He glanced at the rear view monitor and as he predicted, the fighters had postponed the chase to see if the cruisers could take him out.

  Ryan drew in a deep breath. He would need all his flying skills to survive this barrage of death rays. He flew the Eagle over the Kron. The immense size gave the impression of travelling on top of a dark metallic planet. He kept very low to the surface to avoid missile lock and at this velocity, the Kron was soon behind him. Despite Ryan's extraordinary flying skills, he could not ensure a trouble free passage. A shock wave hit the Eagle that dashed Ryan in his seat and an array of data was presented before him. Lucy was first to decipher the damage. "Rear deflector shields down seventy per cent, main power down thirty per cent. Evasive action recommended."

  "This is the evasive action!" Ryan protested. "If we can just hang on a bit longer. We're almost through."

  He continued his dare devil flight through the kaleidoscope of photon bolts when the Eagle shuddered again from another blast, and the defence system held once more.

  "Rear deflector shields are drained, main power down fifty per cent. Evasive action imperative."

  Another hit and the Eagle would be turned to space dust. Ryan ducked and dived and pulled every trick manoeuvre he could think of. His senses became a blur and his brain ached from the demands it was subjected to. Soon the only part of his mind that could respond to the assault of information and the need of life saving manoeuvres was his instinct. Whatever mystical hand that gave him this gift had provided a flying instinct that even birds themselves would have envied. The ship groaned and shuddered from the incredible demands. Rivets and weld joints were on the verge of failing, but somehow the Eagle held together. Ryan became hypnotised as his instincts took over. No matter what the hundreds of anti-spacecraft guns threw at the ship, as long as there was a physical space big enough for the Eagle to fit in, he traversed it unscathed.

  He rocketed over the last cruiser and quickly the barrage tapered off. Ryan was numb from head to toe apart from his throbbing brain and his cramped hands. He felt as if he had awoken from
a terrible nightmare. He shook his head and returned to the needs at hand. As the Battle Fleet and Carillia shrunk out of view behind him, Ryan checked the systems readouts for any damage to the hyperdrive. Fortunately it was fully functional. "Lucy, calculate the flight path for the black hole and enter the co-ordinates into the navigation computer."

  A few seconds later Lucy replied, "Flight path calculated and navigation computer programmed, Eagle ready for hyperspace jump."

  Ryan glanced again at the rear view monitor and saw three Warbird fighters closing in quickly. He wasted no time in punching the button that activated the hyperspace engines.

  The view before him deformed into a blur of stars, then the light they omitted was separated into a spectrum and finally the spectrums were blurred into a menagerie of colours. The speedometer went momentarily berserk, then changed to read warp factor two. Soon the scene changed to a view of thousands of stretched stars darting past his field of view.

  Ryan let out a great sigh, "That was as close as I ever wanted to get to the Warrian Battle Fleet, ever again!"

  He stopped for the first time since he was back on Carillia and began to think about what had happened. A flood of emotions struck him like a sharp blow. He had just lost his father, his friends and everyone he knew. The whole scenario was beyond his comprehension. How could the world he called home be destroyed in just a couple of hours? Yesterday he had a life and family, and now nothing. He wanted to cry out. His head ached and his stomach churned with the threat of vomiting. He could be the sole survivor of the human race, the last of his kind. Why should he live when the rest were dead. What good was there in his survival?

  A solitary emotion engulfed him - revenge. The Warrians must pay for the extermination of his people. This emotion pushed him forward and it kept him alive. With revenge came determination at a level he had not experienced before. Nothing was going to stand in his way, no matter how great the obstacle. His determination propelled his thoughts back to his current dilemma.

  "How long before we reach the black hole?"

  "Fifty six minutes to end of hyper-jump."

  "Run through a systems check Lucy and let's see what we can fix before we get there. From the looks of those Warbirds we'll be in for some more action."

  ********************

  A small armoured freighter passed a few metres overhead at such a speed that Zardon almost fell off his seat.

  How could anyone be so foolhardy as to take on a whole battle fleet in one small ship? Zardon was furious that it got this far. Then a strange sensation came over him, a sensation he felt only a short while ago. He reached out his mind to the small ship and surveyed its occupants. He first sensed the lone captain at the helm as he piloted the ship, then he moved his mind towards the source of the mental disturbance and beheld the other bracelets. "The Rings of Karn are getting away. You must stop the pale creature!" Cried the harsh voice of hate within his mind.

  Zardon called upon the magic of the Rings and sent a bolt of pure energy to cleave the vessel in two. The bolt impacted with an invisible barrier and left its target unscathed. Zardon roared. “What good is this magic when I cannot stop a pathetic little ship?”

  “My Liege, the vessel is under the protection of the Rings! You must stop it without the magic of the Bracelets.”

  Zardon activated the com-link. "Warlord Zen, a ship just passed right over my head."

  Zen's voice was filled with fear. "Forgive me my Lord, the ship has somehow managed to avoid our gunfire."

  "That freighter must not escape, or you will pay with your life. Do you understand Warlord?!"

  "Yes my Lord, I will send a destroyer in pursuit at once."

  "The remains of the wreckage is to be brought to me personally."

  "Yes my Lord." Zen thought the request strange but he feared to question it.

  Zardon gazed after the small ship that had passed over head and slammed his fist on the console, "You shall not slip through my fingers little man."

  ********************

  "Thirty seconds to end of jump." Lucy said in her calm synthesised voice.

  "How is the deflector shield now?"

  "Shields now operative and at fifty per cent power."

  "That will have to do." Ryan was in the engine room that allowed access to both the hyperdrive and the standard drive engines. The generators that supplied power to all the ship's systems including the deflector shields were housed here as well. The engine room was located above the lab and was directly behind the cockpit. Access was achieved by a small elevator in the general quarters room. The room was fifteen metres in length and almost as wide, and along the starboard side wall was exposed a portion of the standard drive engines. It was brightly lit by yellow down lights that were reflected by the many white fixtures giving the room a clinical appearance. Across the back wall was the hyperdrive engine service access, and opposite was a small window that viewed the cockpit. The centre piece was the generator that Ryan currently had his hands inside off. He extracted his hands and closed the panel on the bulky structure, then moved to an odd coloured disk on the floor and it disappeared through the floor with Ryan on it.

  A moment later he was in the cockpit ready for the jump out of hyperspace. "Five seconds to end of jump." Lucy announced.

  Ryan prepared himself for the inevitable battle. The scene before him quickly transformed from the numerous white lines to the typical starry scene. Dominating the view was a formidable black patch in the centre with spirals of space matter being dragged into a very uncertain future. The black hole was about one hundred kilometres across its horizon, and the mere forces involved to create such a monster made the hair on the back of Ryan's neck stand on end. He kept the Eagle at a safe distance from the hole as the intense gravity could suck the ship right into it despite the terrific power of her engines.

  The Eagle had to follow a specific flight path and speed to survive the infinite gravity inside the black hole, and to do that he needed to be free of any pursuit. In addition, he could not afford to use the deflector shields to ward off any photon blasts or proton missiles. The power required to run the shields was needed for the specially designed force field that would protect the Eagle from the harsh environment within the black hole. Without the force field, time aboard the ship would slow down until it stopped, and with it the power flowing to the engines to drive the ship through the black hole. The Eagle would be caught in the hole forever.

  Ryan spun the ship around so its back faced the black hole and readied himself for when the Warrians dropped out of hyperspace. He had the chance for one shot and one shot only at the fighters. If he didn't take out all three straight away, even one could easily destroy him in this vulnerable state. Fortunately luck was on his side. The Warrians would have had to follow his exact flight path and therefore they would end the jump in exactly the same place he did. The auto guidance system on the guns would not react fast enough to targets suddenly appearing out of nowhere. So Ryan had to perform the task manually.

  "Lucy, switch the guns to manual and give me a heads-up display of the exit point." A small joy stick projected from the control panel before him and on the windscreen appeared a small cross. As he moved the joystick a pair of crosshairs moved over the view before him. Ryan took control of the pulse guns and aimed them at the exit point. This way he had the drop on them and a chance for a trouble free entry into the hole. Once he entered, there would be no chance of being tracked, and little chance of pursuit.

  Three blurs came into view that decelerated rapidly to reveal their true shape. Ryan was quick to react, six beams shot from the Eagle and struck the three fighters. Two were instantly destroyed and the third lost a wing and spiralled out of control towards the black hole.

  "Great shooting!" Lucy stated with the best expression her programming could provide.

  Even Ryan was surprised at his marksmanship and could not help showing it, "Yesssss. Clint Eastwood, eat your heart out!" A big smile showed on his face,
but it suddenly transformed into a gape of shock.

  A giant, dark grey superstructure appeared filling the entire view before him and was about to collide with the Eagle. Ryan's quick reflexes came into action and he manoeuvred the ship over the top of the destroyer. The collision was so close he could see the soldiers at their posts through the small portholes in the top of the outer hull.

  The destroyer had a long bulky hull that was pointed at the front and two stubby wings attached to either side. She was about five kilometres in length and housed some twenty thousand soldiers. The destroyer was once a proud member of the Federation Fleet, but now deformed to suit the Warrians. Such a ship was never sent after one small freighter, except if someone really wanted to make sure the freighter would never escape in one piece. As he darted over the surface towards the rear of the ship, the anti-spacecraft gunners attempted to shoot down the Eagle, but she was too close and fast to get a decent shot.

  Ryan had to think quick; he had no chance of getting a trouble free passage into the black hole with this thing hanging around, and even less of a chance of defeating it in battle. The only solution was to hide until he had a plan. The best place to hide from a giant ship is somewhere upon the massive expanse of its outer hull. He piloted the Eagle past the destroyer then quickly doubled back and manoeuvred her until she was up against the rear surface of the vessel. He chose a location that was concealed from any windows to maximise the time before he was discovered. Here, he was too close for the destroyer’s scanners to get a fix, but it won't be long before they realise where he is. As Ryan stewed over his next action he gazed out of the cockpit upon the dormant, quad thrusters awaiting their next command to accelerate the destroyer.

  ********************

  Aboard the Warrian Destroyer, Viper, the bridge was a centre of activity. It possessed ten active operators all seated at various consoles with the Captain's chair positioned in the centre. The bridge was the size of a house with half the operators positioned in recesses in the floor. The crew who were vital to the Captain were on the same level as he. Fronting the bridge was a large window that had two sliding doors that would shut the moment the bridge was threatened. Behind the crew were two transporters that allowed access to the rest of the ship. At the source of the activity was Captain Zorik who was garbed in his all over metal uniform as were the rest of the bridge crew.