I paused. “It wouldn’t be the first time today. Do we have an understanding?” He nodded, half in shock. “Good, then let’s get to work.”
Lash started pacing between screens, running different diagnostics while I took a seat at the pilot’s station and pulled up the flight manual. I flipped through it quickly, letting my mind take snapshots of the pages as I glossed over them. Without stopping to comprehend what I was reading, I began to subconsciously feel what was going on around me.
“I found it,” he shouted over to me.
I put the book aside and walked over. “What do you have?”
“According to the log, they took some fire coming in. Every shot was concentrated on one system that regulated power to the engines. The pilots were barely able to control the descent and almost crashed. They thought it would be too dangerous to attempt a liftoff, so they abandoned the ship and left on another.”
“You’re telling me there’s no way to pilot this thing out of here?”
Lash looked at me for a few seconds before responding with another question. “Have you ever flown one of these before?”
“No.”
“Then you’re going to get us all killed. You’ll either overheat the engines and blow us up, or you won’t be able to control the ship upon takeoff. You’d get us a kilo into the air and plunge us back into the side of a mountain.”
“Okay, okay.” I shook my head. “What do we need to do to get us in the air?”
“Go back to the rear of the landing bay. According to the manual, the access point for the regulator is down a maintenance shaft behind the backup comm. Station.” He pointed to a location on the schematic three levels below the hangar floor. “See what the extent of the damage is. It’s not reporting anything back here. I’ll see if I can find a replacement. There might be something logged in storage.”
“What if we can’t fix it?”
He looked back at me. “Then have your hand at flying. We’ll be dead either way.”
“Make my day, why don’t you,” I replied before disappearing from the bridge down the short staircase and across an identical hangar bay. The floor was in better condition than the one we left before, but there were no fighters remaining. Stacks of crates were strapped down along the aft walls, but from my height I couldn’t make out the writing on their sides.
Back into the communication station, I marched past the banks of monitors and equipment racks, which looked like they were in perfect working order. A dozen open metal stairs led down to a small landing farther back. Narrow hallways split and wound their ways left and right, while a hatch in the floor signaled my destination.
I spun the locked wheel on top until it gave way and swung the plate of steel aside. Peering over the edge, I saw an endless ladder disappear out of the light of my lamp. I couldn’t even see any other passages, much less my destination. This was going to take forever. Thinking quickly as I dropped down into the hole, I estimated the distance and the rungs per meter, set at three per meter, the federal standard. One hundred twenty rungs exactly.
I braced myself against the sides of the ladder, but instead of grabbing the rungs, I slid down while grasping the outsides of the rails and counting rungs with my fingertips as they passed by. When I cleared a hundred, I squeezed harder, slowing my descent to an eventual stop. My gloves warmed up under the friction, and I looked around the dimly lit corridor.
Across from me, a small alcove was built into the wall. Another steel door guarded my way, and the entire place was lit only by a faint emergency light above my head. It was little wonder that I couldn’t see it from up top. I heaved the door open and was greeted by a thick cloud of black smoke. Even through my suit’s atmospheric system, I could detect the smell of burning electronics.
In the middle of the first room sat a block of solid granite the size of a large billiard table. Probably for isolation, I mused, and peered at the device attached to the table’s top. Strapped down on all sides was a cube, apparently carved out of a single block of titanium, judging by its deep gray finish. Dozens of connectors were attached to either side of the block and disappeared down into the floor on either end of the rock slab.
When I approached from the side, I saw the damage. A single shot had been punched clear through the box, tearing a hole bigger than my gloved fist. Kneeling down slightly, I peered through the hole and saw a stack of circuit cards inside burned beyond recognition. Looking closer, I could see that the shot had gone through the box, through the wall, and all the way out of the ship. I could see several firewall edges, all the way to the thick skin of the ship, and some blowing snow beyond.
I keyed my radio. “Lash, this is Grant. I found the regulator. They got it with one shot from outside.”
A long second passed. “That’s impossible!” the sergeant’s voice came back, audibly shaken. “There’s no way they could know our systems that well or be able to aim—“
I cut him off. “Hey, I don’t care how it happened; we can cover that later.”
“There should be an ID number somewhere on the regulator’s case. Read it off to me and I’ll see if there’s a replacement stuck around here somewhere.”
Etched into the top was a twenty-some character, alphanumeric string that was apparently what he was looking for. I read the digits off.
“Excellent,” Lash responded. “I’m checking the manifest of the ship now . . . . We’re in luck: the system found one more operating unit in the inventory.”
I breathed a sigh of relief, but it was short lived.
“Oh hell no!” The sergeant blurted out.
“What’s wrong this time?”
“You’ve got to be kidding me,” he said again. “The only working system it found is on the other downed gunboat. Someone will have to go back for it.”
I stood frozen in place, comprehending the bit of information I had just received. It was a good thing I was as far away as I was; the urge to put my fist through the soldier’s face was growing more intense, but I forced myself to unclench my fists and not take out my boiling anger on the wall.
“This is insane.” I checked my watch. “I’ve got ninety minutes until the cavalry gets here if we’re lucky. If I take a fast truck, I can get there and be back with the box in time to install it and launch.”
“That sounds like suicide. We’ve got ground forces on approach from multiple angles.”
“You said it yourself,” I replied, and pushed myself up the ladder as quick as I could to the bottom of the hangar floor. “I’m going straight for it. Where in the ship should I look?”
“It’ll be locked in a vault behind the vehicle bay, beside the armory.”
“Got it.” I had made it across the floor of the hangar and was now in a hallway wide enough to drive a single truck through, which connected to the vehicle bay at the far end. A vault door reminiscent of a panic room was built into the starboard side. “I see it. You’ve got a half hour to figure out a way to get inside.”
The hall opened into the vehicle bay, where two trucks still remained. Their top speed was nearly double that of the heavy transports, and they had enough space to carry the package. The driver sat in the center of the contraption with a gunner on either side to operate a pair of turrets on the roof. As I walked over to the frosty machine, four soldiers were running up the loading plank from the ground outside.
“Where are you going?” I asked roughly.
“Reloading our weapons,” one responded, and pointed to a pallet of ammo boxes, now deeply depleted.
I pointed at the closer two. “You’ve got thirty seconds to reload, then I want you on my truck. We’ve got a job to do.” They sprinted to the stack of boxes, took three in each hand, and ran back over to me.
Before they returned, I hopped up into the driver’s seat and powered on the engine. “Where are we going?” one asked as he dropped the ammo boxes on the floor and powered up his weapons.
“Back to the other gunboat. We need some equipment to rep
air this one before we can launch. I’ll take care of the details. Shoot everything out there that moves; I’m not slowing down for jack. Clear?” I asked rhetorically, while thinking through the trail back to the ship. I could still see every turn in my head.
“Ready to go,” they both responded. I didn’t wait another second before I dropped the clutch and tore my way out onto the icy plain. I passed the other vehicles that were defending our position and could just make out the tracks from our previous trip.
While the storm continued to rage, the sun rose again in the sky, illuminating the ground all around. Against the horizon in every direction, I could see enemy forces moving in, and I didn’t dare drop my speed.
The guns were firing near nonstop, as I slid the ten ton, six-wheeled buggy sideways along treacherous drop-offs and around sharp curves and splits in the ice. Sweat was forming on my forehead and on my hands, gripping the wheel for all they were worth. We were making good time. After twenty minutes on the trail, I could just make out the form of the downed gunboat in the distance.
I heard the shooting quit on the gun to my left, the pounding replaced by a series of clicks.
“Ammo’s out!” the soldier shouted while reaching to the carrier behind his back to retrieve another drum of bullets. “Reloading,” he announced again as he switched them out and continued to blast away at the lines of incoming aliens.
The ground leveled out, and soon we had nothing but a flat sheet of ice between us and our destination, which now stood tall, a black shadow blocking out a sizeable section of the already dark sky.
“We’re almost there!” I exclaimed, happy to see us less than a kilo from the downed craft.
“Sir, we’re getting targets coming from the air!” one of the soldiers relayed to me, and I checked my radar screen. He was right.
From the far side of the gunboat and high in the sky, a single alien ship was on the approach. Squinting through the darkness, I could just see it come into view, emerging from the darkness as a small dot of orange.
“Can you hit it?” I shouted to the two of them.
“Not a chance! It’s too far away!”
“TRY!” I ordered, as their guns spat glowing chunks of lead into the sky. Every shot fell short, even as we closed the distance.
More orange lights flickered into existence behind the first, and they lazily drifted to the ground.
“I don’t like the look of this . . . .” my right gunner mumbled before trailing off.
A massive flash of light burst forth from the far side of the ship, erupting into an explosion that dwarfed the ship and mountains around it. My eyes widened in terror, and I swerved to the left and mashed the gas to the floor, trying desperately to get out of the way. I didn’t take the chance to look, but my gunners saw the third round land right on top of the gunboat, blowing it into shreds beneath a mushroom cloud, while the fifth landed right behind us. For an instant, the landscape was lit like a summer day with a reddish glow all over, while my rear view monitor showed a wall of fire.
A steady stream of profanities exploded from all three of us until I got us far enough away to risk turning around to inspect the damage. As the smoke cleared, I could see the only thing left of the ship was a few strips of metal amidst an ocean of smaller burning particles.
“Now what do we do?” my left gunner asked.
I gritted my teeth and tried to focus. “Screw it.” I said, “We’re going back,” and radioed back to my engineer.
“Lash, we’ve recovered the part. Get the ship powered up and ready to fly. We’ll be back in twenty minutes!” He affirmed the status.
My gunners looked at each other.
“What was that? Everything’s gone!” one of them exclaimed.
“Long story. You don’t want to know what’s about to happen. Get on the guns, we’re going back!” I ordered and picked up our tracks one more time. The third time on the trail went even faster than before – whether it was my experience or just the adrenaline rush, I didn’t care.
We cleared the last few hills before closing in on the operational gunboat. I slammed the brakes and took a moment to interpret what I was seeing. Waves of aliens were approaching from all directions.
“Reload now,” I ordered the gunners. “We won’t have another chance.”
They complied and I sped forward one more time, crashing into the enemy lines.
“Lash, have everybody fall back to the ship. We’ll be there momentarily,” I announced as dozens of aliens found themselves in my path, only to be splattered all over the truck’s body and suspension.
“Are you sure? You’ll need at least a few minutes to replace the regulator. I already got the old one moved out of the way so it should be easy—”
“Easier than you know. Check the status of the other gunboat,” I responded as half of a corpse smeared across the windshield. The nonstop gunfire from my copilots rang in my head.
“It’s completely gone, listed as destroyed. What happened?”
“They nuked it before we could recover the replacement regulator. Get everyone inside, I’ll fly it manually!”
“You’re crazy! It’s not going to work!!”
“That’s the last time you will try to give me an order!” I shouted right back at Sergeant Lash. “Get everyone inside NOW!” I exclaimed as we got ever closer.
We were a fraction of a kilo away when I saw the lines of soldiers abandon their posts and run as fast as they could back into the safety of the gunboat. The ones in front covered the ones behind, and I could see they kept a generous space in the middle of the bay for my incoming vehicle. Something exploded outside, blasting the glass out of the panes in front of me and causing the gun to my left to detonate in place. Shrapnel from the breach tore into my left shoulder and ripped half of the gunner’s face off through his armored helmet. He slumped forward while I winced in pain, but kept going. My vision was only a few degrees, and I saw everything bathed in red.
When the truck hit the edge of the ramp going so fast, it hopped in the air and I lost all control, skidding to and fro before slamming against the far wall. I didn’t stop to think. There wasn’t time.
“Everyone on board NOW!” I yelled through the radio as I jumped out through the shield of shattered glass and ran for the bridge, leaving a thick trail of blood all the way behind me.
Lash was already strapped into the navigator’s seat when I entered. “Everything’s ready. She’s all yours.”
At least he had given up trying to persuade me. I dropped onto the pilot’s station and strapped myself in. The details from the manual came back to me, and I let my hands do the work. It felt as if I was trying to thread a needle with welding gloves on as we lifted off and listed far to the left and right. Warning lights came on from all around me.
“Sir we’re taking fire from the ground!” he shouted.
“I can see that!” I snapped, and tried to pull the ship back level as we drifted about the field.
“More targets from the air!”
Looking at the scope with half an eye, I could see the same bomber on approach.
“Screw this,” I muttered, and pulled the ship straight vertical and completely opened the throttle.
The ship hung in midair for a second before blasting upward with its full power. An immense fireball exploded on the ground behind us and engulfed much of the remaining alien ground forces. The wall of ice in front of us quickly moved aside, and we were left in the dark silence of space.
My controls barely responded; I couldn’t steer at all, but at this point, I didn’t care. Alien ships closed in on us and opened fire. We were flying as fast as we could. I felt it was the end as we began to take hits, but in a moment of mercy, space itself split apart before us.
From the darkness, a single human battleship emerged. We were flying straight at it as it opened fire on our pursuers.
Lash’s eyes widened as we came closer. “Slow down or we’ll hit it!”
“I can’t!” I ye
lled back and addressed the ship. “Federal ship, we are incoming with no controls. We need a full emergency recovery in the main bay NOW!”
I could only imagine their response on the other side, but they opened their bay doors. Punching a few commands into the console, Lash turned whiter. “We’re not going to fit in that! What are you thinking? What are you doing?”
“Ditching the wings. You might want to hold on.” I looked over at him as I confirmed the command. Both massive wings instantly let go, rocking the ship harshly and sending us into a spin.
“You’re insane!” Lash screamed again as the spin pulled blood out of our heads and I strained to stay conscious.
The spinning landing bay now took up the entire front view screen, and I knew we only had seconds until impact.
“Here we go!”
Static lines from all surfaces were extended inside the bay as we hurtled in. Like hundreds of anchors, they caught onto the skin and protrusions of our ship and slowed us down. We tore out dozens of lines as the pressures became too much to bear, and we came to rest after slamming 10 meters into the far wall. Immediately after, I felt our positions shift, and I knew we had escaped back into warp space.
16
It took my brain a few seconds to catch up with what had transpired, and I let out a deep breath that I hadn’t realized I had been holding. Looking around the bridge, I saw half the monitors were dead or full of static.
Remembering the last few pages of the manual, I extended all of the loading planks, entrances, and hangar doors before powering down the rest of the systems and pulling myself to my feet. The artificial gravity on the battleship was equivalent to that of Earth, and I struggled to hold up my own weight.
After days spent on the tiny moon, I again felt the crushing weight of my armor and supplies. I detached all that I could and left it on the deck, taking only my rifle and sidearm with me.
MissionSRX: Confessions of the First War Page 12
