MissionSRX: Confessions of the First War

by Matthew D. White

  Jacobs burned through statistics on every subject regarding the SR-1’s construction and I began to realize that I had no idea how deep his knowledge went. Everything from details on certain events fifteen years in the past to the ramifications of weight distribution in the craft’s hull he covered with equal dexterity, hardly stopping even to breathe.

  We stopped at the end of the hallway at a massive set of blast doors normally reserved for sealing vaults and missile silos. Jacobs paused with his hand on the latch. “Allow me to present to you the SR-2 space superiority fighter!” He pushed the doors apart and led us onto a catwalk overlooking an absolutely cavernous hangar. Lit by hundreds of lights hung high above the floor waited sixty of the most exquisitely designed spacecraft ever constructed. Every one of them was painted a flawless blood red. In front of each ship stood a team of three to four maintainers, all at parade rest waiting for our arrival.

  Jacobs stepped aside as we briefly stood in amazement at the spread of death and destruction placed out before us. It only took moments, of course, before we clambered down the stairs to get a closer look.

  They were armed to the teeth, carrying more than three times the firepower of the previous generation. Their power plants provided eight times the output of the old, and could take far more punishment thanks to their reinforced hulls and revamped magnetic shields. Jacobs continued his tour as we walked about the ships, more in amazement than a formal inspection. As was still the custom, every ship was still painted up with the name of the pilot and squadron; however none of the ships were labeled with a tail number.

  Finally Jacobs finished his lesson on the background of the SR-2’s construction. “Alright gentlemen,” he began, “Go ahead and find your ships. They should be lined up by flight!”

  We fanned out to find our personal crafts and I made my way to the front of the hangar where I assumed Alpha flight would be located. The first ship did not have my name on it. Neither did the second nor the third. I began to feel a slight sense of worry as the fourth didn’t match either. Before I allowed myself to become too distraught, I glanced up and saw that Jacobs was motioning me back to the side of the hangar.

  “Where’s my ship?” I asked him as I walked up. “I didn’t see one with my name on it?”

  “It’s in the next room. I didn’t have a chance to tell you before. We received the alien ship you recovered for us a few months ago and have been working non-stop to understand the systems it contains. Your ship is the final craft to come off of the assembly line; we have made over a thousand modifications to it based on our discoveries.”

  Jacobs led the way through another set of doors on the ground floor into another smaller bay, in the middle of which was my ship, rotating on an industrial auto turntable. “All of the controls respond faster than before,” he stated, “All of the weapons are more efficient, use less power and cause more damage. The energy shielding system has been completely re-designed to absorb more damage and recharge in a fraction of the time as our last effort. It’s lighter, faster, stronger and better in every way.”

  Again this one was painted the same blood red as the others, with subtle differences in the body’s curves and small patches of black paint coating the various recesses around the body. Carefully I stepped onto the platform and stood beneath the nose of the ship for a moment, still holding back shock. Under the body of the craft I spied more changes. The two massive light speed engines were completely different from what I had seen on the other ships. Instead of the dual tubes that resembled scramjet engines attached to a circular mount, there was a single device which looked more like a semicircular dome. “What happened to the drives?” I asked Jacobs as he stepped over beside me.

  “Ah, that’s one of my crowning achievements! These new warp drives were developed using the alien technology that you recovered. While the original drives used in the SR-1 and SR-2 allow for straight and slightly vectored thrusting, around 360 degrees of motion, the new ones use no mechanical movement at all but can direct the output along any vector below the ship.” He gestured to the integrated ladder on the left side of the fuselage. “Go on up and check out the rest of it.”

  I climbed up the side ladder and onto the flat area between the winglets and the cockpit. I touched the metal skin on my ascent without thinking but was completely unprepared for the response. Instead of a tinge of cold from the surface, I felt my skin jump as if a thin electric field was covering the entire area.

  Jacobs could see my surprise from the ground “Don’t worry about the shock; it only happens once or twice until your body gets to the same electrical potential. It’s a by-product of the energy shields, paint and metallic superstructure. You’re not going to hurt it!”

  I smiled back at him. “You sure about that? I’ve broken my fair share of equipment.”

  “Trust me,” he answered. “The only thing that could take this out would be a battleship deck cannon. Heavy weapons from fighters could damage the engines but I wouldn’t let that stop you.”

  The SR’s six signature cannons sat to either side of the pilot’s seat and I carefully stepped around them. The canopy opened as I neared and I could see it was only a few millimeters thick. One more surprise I thought as I slid into the cockpit. The design and layout of the controls had definitely taken cues from the alien ship. It felt eerily familiar to the other ship, but had the definite human soul. I had only been there for a few moments but felt completely at home. All of the controls were dark except for the main display before me which simply stated “Flight Ready: pilot identify”

  A square appeared on the screen and I pressed my right hand against it. The console drew a few lines around my fingers before going dark. “Welcome to battle, Commander Grant.” It read and at once every switch and screen came alive. A holographic heads-up-display shined up through a panel and I could see a virtual picture of my orientation before me. The display drew a small model of my ship in the center, placed the earth straight below, and could even pick out the sixty other ships in the adjoining hangar. There was a slight rumble in the back as the engines ignited but nothing compared to the constant jarring experienced in the SR-1.

  I spied Jacobs giving me a thumbs-up from the ground before backing off. I nodded in comprehension and strapped myself into the seat. The canopy fell down without a sound, hardly even a hiss and locked the cabin shut. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath, letting my fingers run over the controls, thinking through all of the commands and sequences I had read about and practiced before.

  As I opened my eyes, I could see a sliver of light form at the exit of the hangar. I let a slight smile form on my face as I brought the power up in the engines and fired up the onboard computers. Again, there was barely a sound as more power surged through the airframe. I lifted the ship up off the ground and felt myself floating in a stasis field. The cabin could have easily passed for any luxury car on the market. I hit the accelerators and was instantly catapulted into the air, rocketing down the dark corridor. Thin bulkheads above and industrial supports to either side flew by faster and faster as I gained speed. Bursting free into the blue sky beyond, I pulled the ship straight vertical up into the endless azure expanse. It climbed effortlessly through the few wisps of cloud before I completed the loop, went inverted, and dived back down to the ground.

  I picked up a steep 80 degree bank so I could see the entire base. From my vantage point I could see the rest of my wing begin to take off from their hangar to come join up. I settled into a stable flight path and they began to take their positions behind me. Each of the individual ships’ locations showed up on my display, along with the appropriate names and ranks.

  The radio in my helmet lit up and I could hear Jacobs voice from the ground. “Jeff, I’m in the control tower just north of the hangar. You should be able to see it on your display.” I looked down and sure enough, the comm. system picked out the location of the signal instantly.

  “I got you, over.” I replied.

  “I�
�m uploading coordinates of the range and your boundaries for training. For the next 48 hours you have the entire five thousand square kilometers range to yourselves. Standby.” The radio clicked off and a map imprinted itself around my display. “We’ve also got twenty sites with ground targets laid out and vacated so you are free to test any of the onboard weapons.”

  The communication system was a work of art. It was controlled by two small wheels sitting beneath my ring fingers on the dual joysticks. By rotating them to specific directions, we could instantly dial into any other ship in our vicinity, be it in the squadron or to the fleet beyond.

  Once I got the hang of how to communicate, I started issuing commands as to where they needed to fly. Within minutes we had a perfect formation flying at nearly the speed of sound. From there I broke us into our respective flights and we began training against the static targets on the ground. In that ship, I lost all track of time. The afternoon slid into evening, with a brilliant red and yellow sunset bursting across the sky, and on into the darkness. We practiced deep into the night, until the first hint of dawn began to peek over the eastern horizon. At that point the Doctor called us home and we reluctantly complied.

  We took our time flying in from the far end of the range. As I cleared the last dusty mountain and looked down at the base, I could see the edges of the runway were marked with what looked like helicopter landing pads. They must have been there before but I had paid them no notice. Instead of the standard ‘H’, each was marked with a thick white outline of the fighter. I cycled through on the comm. until I opened a channel to the entire squadron. “Gentlemen, we’re landing on the pads beside the runways. Switch formation to single file by flight. We’re going straight down the main runway, turning ninety degrees to port, ending the move with a vertical landing. Once in formation, all ships engage active speed control.”

  My squadron complied and we quickly covered the last few klicks barely a hundred feet off the desert floor. We picked up the runway and I let back on the engines, letting my ship float in at only a few meters per second. At the very end I pulled hard to port, synchronized with every other member of the team. When I saw that there was not a single ship more than a half second off in landing, I knew my men were focused enough for the task at hand.

  Our ground crews which numbered in the hundreds were already waiting for our return. We hardly disembarked before they were inspecting the ships for damage and wear. From my position at the far end of the runway I could just make out a group of figures watching us from the main entrance to the hangar. I left my ship in the hands of the crew and made the long walk back. The rest of my pilots followed my lead and were all formed up with me by the time we made it home.

  35

  Once we were inside, Jacobs led us in an extensive debrief, getting our feedback and going into more detail on the features of the SR-2. The response was unanimous: none of us had ever flown a ship that was so well assembled and so ready for battle. Douglas was definitely enjoying the response and seemed genuinely pleased at the standing ovation his creation had received.

  After our meeting with the Doctor, I got together with the four flight commanders and began to draw up our plan of attack.

  I began my portion with a review of our latest intelligence report. “As you are aware, we have 5 planets left in the inner system. We believe the strongest point, and possibly their home world is the fourth planet out from their star. Their system contains, like ours does, a constellation of several trillion asteroids in our path. The only problem is that these are not currently coalesced into a ring; they’ve been pulled apart into a sphere, completely impeding our approach. Inside the cloud is a defensive grid, covering nearly all of the sky. I am proposing that we strike at a single point, loaded on a gunboat. We will navigate the asteroid field, deploy and engage any defenses we cannot maneuver around, and make it into the unguarded section of the system.”

  I threw out a few maps and telescope images of the system and traced my proposed route in. “We have sketchy intel of the planets themselves, however I believe our best course would be to fly all the way into the star and engage the closest planet first. Any attempts to locate our ships would be futile if we were against such an overwhelming background. Also, it is believed that all settlements and installations on the planet are completely enclosed to shield them from the radiation and thin atmosphere. Any substantial damage to the structures would most likely kill every inhabitant.” The commanders nodded in approval, as I imagined they would.

  I got some input back from them and we began looking at possible routes into the system. There were multiple clouds of dust and debris swirling in the cloud of asteroids as well, and we planned our insertion to coincide with one, hopefully masking our approach. Orbiting the star would be a trick, as would finding the gunboat again once we finished our attack runs. All the specs we planned to need on our fighters, the SR-2 met and did one better. Even though we would be outnumbered thousands to one, I couldn’t help but feel like we had the advantage.

  After dismissing the other flight commanders and the Space Corps XO, Jacobs held me back. “You’re not tired yet, are you?” he asked rhetorically.

  The adrenaline rush had long since evaporated and I was left with nothing but an intense will to not let the doctor down. “Yes, sir, I’m with you.” I answered, with all the energy I could muster.

  “Good,” he could see I was waning. “Actually, let’s go for a quick walk,” he stood and headed out the briefing room’s door.

  “What can I do for you?” I inquired once we took up a steady pace in a hallway overlooking a tremendous sunset over the runway through a set of long windows.

  “I simply wanted a chance to get to know you,” he stared down towards the ground, deep in thought. “I’m simply a scientist. I understand the gravity of the mission you have planned, but it is not my action to take. Nor my responsibility, my charter, or my decision.”

  “If you’re willing to remove yourself that far from all of this, why do you need to talk to me?”

  He turned up and looked me in the eye. “Because I’d like the chance to get to know you better. He gestured behind his back without even looking, straight towards the 61 ships parked a few hundred meters away. “This system is one of the most powerful weapons we’ve ever created as a race. Humanity has spent over two hundred years and countless lives to reach the stars. I’ve given three quarters of my life to that pursuit. I need to know that you are as dedicated as the show you just put on.”

  I was somewhat taken aback but wanted to give Jacobs the reassurance he was looking for. “Sir, it’s been a rocky road for me to get here. Truthfully I don’t know whether it has been a blessing or a curse, but at this moment here, this is the meaning of my life. Without a doubt I’ll see this through.”

  He considered my response. “What do you think of yourself as? Soldier of Fortune, Captain America, Lord of War?

  “None of the above. I’m just enacting some revenge.” I quickly paraphrased my experience thus far, dwelling mostly on the last few memories I had of my family leading up to the Earth Strike. Jacobs listened along, nodding on occasion but didn’t say a word until I had finished.

  “Jeff, I’ve got some bad news for you,” he began. “If revenge is all that you live for, you will never find a measure of peace in this life. Nothing you can do will bring your family back.”

  “Are you suggesting I have a better alternative?” I asked him. “If you see some light in this, please let me know.”

  The doctor considered his next words carefully. “Revenge is a motive in simpler situations, for simpler people, not professionals like you and me. You cannot continue to act selfishly this far into the game. Right now you are directly responsible for the lives of sixty other people; indirectly for the lives of billions more. Granted you have planned out a necessary, but extremely dangerous mission, with men who know and accept the odds, but that doesn’t mean you should charge in to oblivion’s embrace. Trust me you do
n’t want to be remembered as another hero who gave his life for humanity. Be remembered as a man who led his command to victory beyond incredible odds and saved a billion innocent lives.”

  “You sound like you’re more of a military scholar than I ever was.” I answered. “If you’re trying to profess the best way to fall, why aren’t you in my place? I suppose it’s reasonable to ask, what fuels your life?”

  Jacobs switched gears in less than a second, not surprised at all by the question. “As a matter of fact, I did try to stand in your place a very long time ago. However, it quickly became clear that I was stronger mentally than physically and for the sake of everyone I decided to use that gift to humanity’s advantage,” he paused. “Not everyone can be a soldier. If it wasn’t for ten thousand people like me over the last hundred years, we’d still be confined to earth. I don’t know if you’ve noticed but our species was not designed to sit idly by, watching the stars. We were designed to invent, to discover, to seek answers to life’s mysteries.”

  His pace quickened and I could tell I was truly getting into his mind.

  “No single person could do it all, and it takes a deep commitment to give a life to the cause of human advancement, but I was willing to do it. Our discoveries made possible nearly every ship in the fleet. Through peace and war, we’ve saved countless lives and paved the road for generations of engineers and explorers to come. That’s what motivates me every day. To be part of something greater, something that will outlast all of us.”

  The words he spoke began to sink in and I understood what he was saying. For the first time in what felt like years my pain dropped to the wayside and I saw Doug’s reasoning.

  “I’m sorry that I gave you reason to doubt me.” I replied. “What you said was dead-on. It was what the admiral tried to tell me before, and you’re right. I have been acting selfishly. I can’t promise to give up on my conquest entirely, but I will get this job done.”