by Jeff Sims
The three wings lost 12 fighters in the pass, but the enemy suffered massive casualties. Only 40 of the initial wave of 180 fighters in the attack were left. The Alliance fighters had broken through the enemy’s fighter defense and could now proceed to the final 20 fighters guarding the battleship.
Kip momentarily looked up at the overall battle. The capital ships were now exchanging missiles. Kip broadcast, “Standard missile fire. The destroyers’ defenses can easily handle it.”
Kip led the remaining fighters in a dodge and roll maneuver that left the Hiriculan fighters in the wrong position. They lost an additional two but killed all 60 enemy fighters. It was almost a perfect pass! Kip whooped for joy. They could now attack the battleship and cruisers with unheard of numbers.
Kip’s war cry was cut short when a member of Ghostrider squadron interrupted him by shouting, “Commander, the destroyers.”
Kip quickly scanned the monitor showing the overall battle. He couldn’t believe it. Both destroyers were taking heavy damage from the enemy’s missiles. Kip checked the logs and saw that the destroyers had fired the required number of defensive missiles to stop the attack. However, they hadn’t worked.
Gus Swanson (Gus), Kip’s main rival and commander of the Ghostrider squadron, dropped the commander title and yelled, “Kip, the programmers changed the defensive missile profile in the middle of the simulation.”
Kip continued watching the screen as first one, then the second destroyer blew up under intense enemy missile bombardment. The battle was effectively over. They could continue and destroy the enemy capital ships, but they could no longer win the simulation. To win, they needed at least one destroyer to still be alive.
Gus continued, “Someone at Victory Games was watching and decided we weren’t going to win today.”
Kip laughed and said, “Well, if they want to up the odds, we will have to find another way to win. Let’s see if we can get everyone back together again next week.”
Kip was about to release control and end the game when suddenly an Alliance cruiser appeared from thin air and he received a docking summons. Kip looked again. That was strange he thought. Normally, the squadron commander decides the simulation and orders the capital ship to pick them up; not the other way around. In fact, he had never recalled anyone actually getting summoned like this.
Kip did what anyone in his situation would have done. He completely ignored it. That lasted for about 2 seconds. His second in command said, “Kip, turn around. We have a summons to dock with that cruiser.” Apparently the fact that he shouldn’t be receiving a summons didn’t seem bother number 2.
Kip continued ignoring the summons for another 2 seconds. At that point his controls went dead and his fighter went into autopilot. Odd again, or possibly more odd. Autopilot was only able to be engaged if the pilot was injured. Kip certainly wasn’t incapacitated, but the game must have disagreed.
His fighter made a wide, slow bank back toward the cruiser that drew the attention of others. One of the other players said, “Having a little problem flying today are we?”
Kip ignored the barb. Instead of responding, he grabbed the controls. They responded and let him back in command. Just for fun he tried to steer away from the cruiser. He felt the controls go heavy and start to disengage. He quickly corrected his vector back to the cruiser. Okay, he thought, I guess I am going to the cruiser.
He landed on the cruiser. The next moment the game told him that a new simulation had been downloaded and accepted and would start momentarily. The game was correct. Exactly one moment later the next simulation started. Kip received orders to launch.
Kip launched and looked at the parameters of the new simulation. He sighed. It was one of the original simulations – just one wing of 20 Alliance fighters against another wing. Kip ordered, “Okay men, form up on me and sound off.”
Alpha 1 through 12 went as planned. After that came Ghostrider 1 through 4, Chaos 2 through 4 and finally Ghostrider 7. Kip looked closely at his screen and verified that almost half of his squadron had been replaced. He verified it, but still really didn’t believe it.
Gus asked, “Kip, what is this? How did you combine squadrons?”
Ralph Dellman (Rubie) added, “Why did you combine squadrons? What are we doing?”
Kip responded, “I didn’t do this. Someone else did.”
Gus asked, “Who has the ability to rearrange squadrons and arbitrarily assign missions?”
Kip knew the answer to that one. He responded, “The same person that reprogrammed the destroyers. Someone at Victory Games headquarters is messing with us.”
Rubie must have scanned the added and deleted pilots. He said, “Guys, do you realize this new group is extremely highly ranked. Twenty of the top 26 pilots are here.”
Clearly someone had given great thought as to how this squadron was assembled, though Kip couldn’t immediately determine the significance. For instance, numbers 7 and 8 overall were missing, but 24 and 26 were here.
The mission window bleeped. A cruiser had just appeared and launched a squadron of Alliance fighters. The distance was just a touch longer than normal, but well within the bounds of the simulation. They would make contact in just under 5 minutes.
Kip said, “Okay guys, we’re here. We may as well show these losers how to fight. Chaos 2, 3 and 4, you are now Alpha 13, 14 and 15. Ghostriders, you are now numbers 16 – 20 respectively.”
Kip figured it would be easier to simply assign numbers then figure out who outranked whom and change everyone’s number.
Gus shouted, “Hey, the computer is updating files.”
After a slight pause, Gus continued shouting, “Look at their profiles. These guys have been playing 6 or 7 hours a day every day for the past 8 months. Their mission log is astounding. It appears that they have been playing on a private Victory Games server.”
Rubie added, “They have even defeated the battleship simulation. I thought that was impossible to beat.”
Kip brought up the screen for the player ranking and profile. Sure enough, the rankings were changing. Kip watched himself drop from number 1 to number 21. He looked at the profiles of the players replacing him. He read the top two out loud – Ace, Rush. He didn’t recognize some of the others, but he saw that they were all well decorated.
However, Kip did recognize those first two names. He made a leap of logic and realized who these on-coming pilots were. He said, “Everyone, form up, go ghost. It looks like the notorious Lost squadron just reappeared and wants to dance.
Kip noted that the commander of the Lost squadron was Pinball and was ranked number 20. He was a little surprised the lowest ranked member was their leader. Even more unusual was the fact that rival commander was sending a message to both squadrons. He said, “Play time is over ladies. This just got real.”
Kip turned off the full broadcast and switched to a frequency only his squadron could hear. He said, “Alpha, break into three teams. Units 1-8, barrel roll left, 9-12, pincer left, and the rest of you follow through with mop-up.
Kips switched to manual flying mode, took a deep breath, and forced himself to relax. The information from the simulation flooded his brain and threatened to overwhelm him. However, he stayed relatively calm and quickly found the color yellow. In a few seconds more he mapped the rest of the colors and was in full control of his fighter. He could feel and sense everything around him. He was serenely calm and ready for battle.
He did a hard barrel roll left followed by a bank and flip. The triple maneuver should leave his sub-wing of 8 fighters in a position to drop on the unsuspecting rear flank of the other squadron. He finished the flip and blind fired. Nothing. No hits. In fact, no one was there. The enemy must have anticipated the maneuver.
Gus shouted, “Damn.” There was little else he needed to say.
Kip realized that their opponents could easily match them maneuver for maneuver. He ordered the squadron to split into 10 groups of 2 and seek individual targets of opportunity. Ki
p located his wingman and dove for the nearest fighter.
He fired two guided missiles and followed those with an additional 2 non-guided or dummy missiles. Four missiles at one target should be overkill. Strike one, he thought and rolled to the next target.
Rubie, Kip’s wingman, radioed Kip on a private channel and said, “No way, did you see that?”
Kip had to admit that he hadn’t seen whatever it was that he should have seen. He simply replied, “No.” He didn’t want to admit that he was having a private celebration for his first kill.
Rubie responded, “All 4 of your missiles missed.”
Kip looked at his board and yelled, “How?”
Rubie: “A different fighter flew past and shot all 4 missiles out of the sky.”
Kip: “No way. Nobody can shoot a missile.”
Rubie: “Well, nobody till now.”
Kip spotted a second enemy fighter and dove toward it. He had learned from the last experience. He wasn’t going to let this one escape. He waited until the last possible second and fired another 4 missiles at the fighter. Rubie, right behind, also fired 4 missiles. He grinned as he verified that this one exploded.
Kip heard Rubie say “Good luck” just as Rubie’s fighter exploded. Kip saw that Gus had also lost his wingman and reformed with him. The found another target and dove. The target pilot led them through a roll left, then right, then up and back left, and then into a spiral.
Gus shouted, “He is trying to get behind us. Break off.”
Kip rolled left and found that he had been boxed in by two fighters. It had been a trap. Kip’s simulation was over. He noted that the fighter they had been chasing switched direction yet again and toasted Gus with a single missile.
The simulation reset and the final tally was revealed. Kip saw that Alpha squadron had lost all 20 fighters. However, Kip’s shot was the only kill they scored.
Kip opened a channel with Pinball, the commander of the opposite squadron. He said, “You guys are amazing. Nice fighting. I haven’t seen some of those moves before.”
Pinball responded by opening a channel to Kip’s entire squadron. He said, “Gentlemen that was fun. You guys did very well.”
Gus shouted, “If you consider getting slaughtered good, then yeah.”
Pinball laughed on the open channel. He responded, “Hey, how would you guys like an invitation to play on Victory Games private server?”
*The simulation was unrealistic because there should have only been 140 fighters (battleship = 80, 3 cruisers = 60). It is unclear where the additional 60 fighters were stationed.
Chapter 7
They were still sitting in the restaurant in the space station when they first saw it. Ella made a tiny gasp and held her breath. She tried her hardest not to point to it or yell. Jack was facing the other direction and couldn’t see. Carefully, casually, Jack turned in his chair just enough to get a good look at what had startled Ella.
A Hiriculan freighter captain had just entered the restaurant. He was accompanied by two Netos. The beings were approximately the same height as Solarians. Their skin color was a pleasing hue of purple. Their arms and legs were hairier than any other race. They had two eyes, two ears, a mouth, a nose in roughly the same position, but the lines on their faces had sharper angles; thus giving them pointy chins. Jack tried to remember something he had learned about determining their sex, but he couldn’t recall it.
This was the first (and second) Neto that Jack had ever seen in real life. He inwardly smiled. Very few beings in universe could say that they had been next to a live representative of every single intelligent species in the galaxy. Jack would have been shocked to learn that Ella could make the same statement. To date, Ella had done a remarkable job of hiding the fact that she had met humans from him.
Jack looked back at Ella and said, “These two somehow look different than the ones I remember seeing from the websphere. Are they were male or female?”
Ella responded, “I don’t know. I don’t think you can outwardly tell the sex of a Neto.”
Jack now remembered. He said, “You’re right. Still though, something else looks different.”
Ella thought for a moment. She then casually stared at them for a few more moments. Finally, she said, “I know, these Netos only have two arms. Aren’t they supposed to have four?”
Jack replied, “Yes, that’s it. I wonder where their other two arms are.”
Ella responded, “Maybe they are defective.”
Jack didn’t have a ready answer. Instead, he said, “What shade of purple is that, violet?”
Ella took a closer look at their skin color. She may not have the ability to draw like her father, but she certainly could mix paints together. She replied, “Violet is too bright. Their skin color is either lavender or amethyst. It is difficult to tell exactly which in this light.”
Jack smiled and replied, “Maybe its periwinkle. That’s my favorite color.”
Ella smiled at the joke. She slid her com pad underneath the table and angled it toward the Netos. She secretly took several pictures of them. Ella put away her com pad and looked back at Jack. She said, “I thought the Alliance and Hiricula signed some sort of accord that forbid us from interfering with lesser developed species.”
Jack replied, “I think they created some directive on Advranki Prime. They tried to make it part of the Hiriculan/Alliance treaty, but it got stuck in committee and was never formally adopted. The only thing that passed was a law that made it a crime for members of the Alliance to knowingly pass technology to an inferior race.”
Ella corrected him by saying, “You mean less-developed or younger, not inferior.”
Political correctness aside, Jack was almost certain the law used the term inferior. He wondered if that could Ella’s statement could be used as a loophole.
The waiter put the bill on the table. Ella made no attempt to reach for it or even offer to pay half. Jack got stuck with the entire bill yet again. He made a mental note to speak with Senator Frank when he returned to Advranki Prime.
They left the restaurant and re-entered the mercantile. Jack posted the Solarian cargo on the for-sale board and had the receptionist assign a crew to unload it from the Jackal, inspect it, and move it to the warehouse. Ella said, “Okay, that’s accomplished, now let’s investigate the station.”
They exited the mercantile and wandered the rest of the way down the first X corridor. It contained a series of shops, restaurants and offices. They backtracked to the center area and chose a second corridor. This one continued with shops and restaurants, but several meters down there was a cross corridor. They passed several more cross corridors until they reached the end of the main X corridor.
They again backtracked, but Ella said, “Stop” at the first cross corridor. She pointed and continued, “We need to walk down one of these.”
Jack agreed and they walked down a corridor. The corridor was filled with doors evenly spaced on both sides of the corridor every 17 meters. Each door had writing above it. Ella stopped in front of one door and said, “Look, these doors are numbered similar to the docking ports. This one translates to 4L-3.”
Jack said, “I understand the meaning! This is the 4th corridor from the center X. The door is on the left side of the corridor and is the 3rd from this side.” Jack pointed at the two previous doors to cement his point.
Ella nodded and said, “I bet this is the residential portion of the station. Maybe we should rent an apartment so that we could get a look inside.”
Jack cringed at the idea. He was already paying for a docking slip, a warehouse, and apparently every meal they were going to eat on the station. Now he had to pay for an apartment just to see inside?
Jack responded, “I doubt the station’s secrets are here. Besides, the Hiriculans might get suspicious if we look like we are planning on staying longer than we need to just to buy and sell our cargo. I suggest we keep going.”
They continued walking down the residential corridor u
ntil they reached the next main X corridor. Ella retrieved her pedometer and studied it closely. Finally she said, “That’s odd, this side corridor wasn’t as long as it should have been.”
Jack frowned and stared at her. He asked, “What does that mean?”
Ella replied, “I don’t know, probably nothing. Either the X corridors are not perfectly perpendicular or they don’t cross at the exact center of the X. This side is smaller than the other side.”
They walked up this main corridor and back to the center X. This corridor was filled with more shops, offices, and some minor manufacturing facilities. They turned right and walked down the final main corridor.
Immediately on their right were electromagnetic lifts similar to those they had used to transition from the upper section of the station. Ella pointed at it and said, “Let’s ride it. We need to ensure that this is indeed the entrance to the lower spindle.”
Jack said, “Hopefully, they aren’t tracking our movements. We really have no reason to enter this area.”
At that point Jack’s arguments were mute because they were already standing on the electro-lift. They floated up to the platform and stepped onto the ledge. There was an exact duplicate of the earlier archway: this time pointing in the opposite direction. Jack looked through the archway and verified that gravity switched ‘down’ on the other side.
They went back down the electro-lifts and investigated the remaining primary corridor. Again, it was filled with shops and restaurants. Near the end of the passageway the shops were dominated by ship repair storefronts; offering everything from a hyper-drive inspection to a full generator retrofit. There were no crossing corridors on this side of the X.
At the end of the passageway was a large door facing left as they were walking toward the interior of the X. There was a large sign overhead that Ella’s com pad translated as ‘ship repair facility’.
