The Spindle Station: Book 2 of the Alliance Conflict

by Jeff Sims

  Dolen made the mistake of demanding that one of them move so that he could look into the control room. He saw the mangled bodies of the five Hiriculan control room workers. They had been killed horrifically. Some body parts couldn’t be readily identified and he was unsure which limbs belonged to which body. Honestly, the bodies looked half eaten to him.

  Dolen turned away in disgust. He couldn’t even imagine what weapon(s) the humans had used to inflict such carnage. If this was how they killed each other on Earth, he could well understand how they got their alien eating reputation.

  They raced up the corridor and into the shuttle bay. Dolen noted that his transport was still there. The back door was open was open and the shuttle was already under power. He waved for everyone to follow him and entered through the open door.

  Dolen entered the main cabin and walked to the front. He saw Ace sitting in the pilot’s chair and unconsciously jumped backwards. He had gotten somewhat used to the concept of humans hidden in suits of armor, but actually seeing one in real-life in tight quarters startled him.

  Dolen covered the half jump backward by sitting in the chair behind Ace. Chief entered next, saw Ace, and sat in the back row next to Admiral Dolen. Doctor Purami sat in the remaining chair next to Ace.

  Dolen said, “I am Admiral Dolen, what are you doing here?”

  Ace replied as politely as possible, “Admiral, I am going to pilot you and your crew to the Guardian.

  Dolen responded, “That is unacceptable. We need a proper pilot here.” Dolen pulled out his communication pad.

  Ace said, “Sorry Admiral. I have a direct order from Captain Solear to pilot this vessel.”

  Dolen tried again, “I order you to stand up.”

  Ace replied, “No. You do not have the authority. According to Alliance Navy regulation 42.16.23 an Alliance soldier is considered a prisoner of war until s/he is completely rescued. In the case of ranking officers, completely rescued is defined as formally reestablishing command.”

  Dolen hadn’t heard that regulation before. With the thousands of regulations in existence, he doubted anyone could have heard and/or remembered them all. However, he knew exactly what reestablishing command meant. He would have to call Captain Solear and personally declare that he was in control and fit for duty.

  Further, Solear had made the human memorize the relevant regulation and mention that he was acting under Solear’s direct order. Therefore, Admiral Dolen knew that Captain Solear would only relinquish command of the rescue mission when Dolen was safe and standing on the Guardian’s bridge.

  Dolen relaxed in his chair. There was little else he could do.

  The remaining Advranki officers and select crew members entered the back of the shuttle and sat down. The space was limited and the crew members had to sit shoulder to shoulder to allow everyone to fit in the transport. They were packed in like tiny aquatic creatures in a small tin box.

  Paul entered last, activated the switch to close the cargo door, and sat down against the door. He activated his electromagnets to hold his legs secure to the floor and his back secure to the door. If he flew around inside the cabin he would crush someone.

  Ace lifted off and said, “Ladies and gentlemen, welcome aboard. Please find your seat and exit the aisle as quickly as possible to ensure everyone can get on board in a timely fashion. If you are not fleeing the space station, please ring your communication pad and ask to be reseated on a different flight.”

  Ace continued, “Please activate your safety straps and keep them fastened for the entire journey. I suggest fastening both your chest and legs to the bench. You will find a stack of air sickness bags in the cabin. Please take one and keep it close. If there is anything I can do to make your flight more enjoyable, please do not hesitate to ask.”

  Ace donned the flight helmet and headed for the exit. Its location was obvious on the inside of the station. The station contained an emergency failsafe protocol. Traffic control could prevent ships from entering the station, but they could not stop a ship from leaving if there was an emergency.

  Ace sent a command to the discarded shield buster missile and it exploded. It threw the Hiriculan transport into the air like a child’s toy. The transport narrowly avoided hitting them and fell back to the hangar floor. It landed on another transport, creating another explosion.

  The emergency failsafe activated and Ace flew the shuttle out of the Spindle Station and toward freedom.

  Doctor Purami stared at Ace from the moment she sat in her seat. It was clear that she was thrilled to get a front row seat next to a new species. If she had any fear for her personal safety, she didn’t show it.

  After internally debating a moment or two, Purami opened her medical bag. She retrieved a medical diagnostic computer and fastened it to the dashboard. Next, she reached over and attached several monitors to Ace – one on each side of his neck and one on each side of his temple. She pulled down Ace’s lower lip and intently studied his teeth. She then plucked out a hair from his head and put it in a portable analyzer.

  Ace started to protest against the unwanted medical examination, but decided against it. The doctor seemed to be in her own galaxy. However, if she started probing anything…

  They exited the station and found themselves in the middle of a fighter battle.

  ………………..

  The command carrier Retribution was still able to move despite the large hole in its side. It continued on its original course and was now relatively close to the Spindle Station. All 80 enemy fighters proceeded directly toward the nearest Alliance squadron – Alpha. Kip had reunited the squadron and was poised to attack the ship when they were intercepted and trapped.

  They moved into their typical line formation of four rows of 10 fighters. However, the remaining 40 fighters created a second line. Kip had seen a twin row formation before and knew exactly what was going to happen next.

  Kip contacted his squadron and said, “They are going to loop the entire first line. Evasive up.”

  Kip felt the enemy’s formation change almost as it happened. Kip swung his fighter up in an impossibly tight half arc. The maneuver left the 20 Alliance fighters directly under the top looping Hiriculan fighters. Kip fired and killed one. He noted that all 40 trailing enemy fighters had fired and he had two missiles following him.

  Kip banked to the left and angled down. He fired defensive missiles and banked back right and up, almost back to his original position. He laughed and thought, they will never look for me here. Kip checked to see how many enemy fighters had been destroyed. He counted 19; one enemy fighter was damaged, but had managed to escape.

  Kip sensed that 14 members of First squadron had reformed and snuck up behind the trailing row of enemy fighters. They each fired two dummy missiles at the upper squadron – one at their current location and one at the anticipated roll position. They each then targeted an enemy fighter in the lower squadron and fired a guided missile at them. This time they tracked the evasive maneuver and fired a dummy missile in the correct direction. Twenty-eight of the 40 enemy fighters in the back wave were destroyed.

  Kip ordered Alpha squadron to reform and realized that two fighters were missing. Alpha squadron finished their loop up and spun back down toward the remaining enemy squadron. That squadron had completed its loop down and was now coming back up.

  Both groups flew straight ahead and past each other. Alpha squadron fired one guided missile and one dummy missile and destroyed 18 enemy fighters. They were able to successfully evade the enemy squadron’s fire.

  Kip performed a quick count. Of the 80 enemy fighters that just launched, only 15 remained. One more pass should finish them. He noted that only 15 of the initial 160 were still active. Two fighters from First squadron were engaging three of them. Nine were near the station and the remaining 3 had wandered far away from the battle and appeared to be guarding the asteroid.

  Kip ordered the squadron to make a tight ‘u’ turn. They quickly reversed their direction
and killed the 12 fighters left from the rear two enemy squadrons. Kip noted that First squadron had split and had killed the remaining three fighters.

  Gus yelled, “Kip, the Dandelion is moving. It has cleared the space station.”

  Kip opened a channel to his entire squad and said, “Men, it’s time to catch our ride out of this system.”

  ……………..

  When Jim saw the 80 fighters launch, he ordered First squadron to reform and attack from the rear. He noted that Green Bean and Rush were far away chasing wayward enemy fighters, so he left them alone.

  However, just as Jim was about to join his squadron, Blaze said, “Look.”

  Jim wasn’t sure what he was supposed to look at, so he looked at everything. The command carrier just fired 48 defensive missiles and completely destroyed 70 on-coming missiles from the Sunflower. The Hiriculan fleet had sped up again and will arrive at the station in 14 minutes. The Alliance transport carrying Admiral Dolen just appeared and was under attack by enemy fighters, the Dandelion was starting to move, and the Sunflower just rounded the station and was headed toward them.

  Apparently all of those were incorrect because Blaze clarified, “Look at the command carrier.”

  Jim looked at the ship. Nothing. He checked his sensors and realized that the ship was diffusing energy. The hole they had punched through the ship had destroyed the upper ion cannon and damaged the lower cannon, but the lower cannon appeared to still be active and preparing to fire.

  Jim drew a straight line and realized that the Sunflower was going to pass directly through the ion cannon’s path. There was plenty of time for the Sunflower to change course, but that would lead it back toward the rapidly approaching Hiriculan fleet.

  Jim said, “We need to make another pass at that behemoth and make sure that the ion cannon is knocked out.”

  Jim dove toward the carrier with Blaze right beside him. They aimed for the section where the hole was because they figured the defensive fire should be lighter in that area. Jim dodged right, then left, then right, then right again.

  The defensive fire was still incredibly high and two near misses peppered his shields. Jim was still a fair distance away when he got tagged by a beam head on. His shields were about to fail, so he fired his homing beacon and pulled away. The homing beacon hit and attached to the carrier, but it was high and to the left.

  Blaze took several glancing blows, but was able to get much closer than Jim. He also took a direct hit on his forward shields. The forward section of the shields failed and a second bolt got through and damaged the fuselage. Blaze fired his homing beacon and scored a direct in the correct location. Blaze also pulled up and away.

  Jim programmed the next 8 sets of missiles to follow the two homing beacons – two toward the miss and three toward the hit. The first three shield buster missiles hit the ion cannon and knocked out the lone shield deflector protecting it. The next three shield busters broke through the outer hull. The next three penetrated the inner hull. The next three were ship busters. They destroyed the lower ion cannon and blew another sizeable hole in the carrier.

  Volley after volley bypassed the defensive missiles and struck the command carrier. The fifth wave blew a second hole all the way through the carrier. The sixth wave blew a hole through where Jim’s homing beacon had landed. The sixth and seventh waves expanded the 3 holes until the touched each other. Now it looked like one giant hole. The 8th volley blew the remaining structural supports away and separated the front from the back of the carrier.

  The next 8 volleys were able to use their own electronics to hone in on the wreckage. Further, the command carrier had stopped fighting back. Each volley struck some portion of the carrier. The damage was enhanced because the carrier’s the shields were down. Multiple holes appeared throughout both sections of the ship. It didn’t completely explode like the other ships, but it was definitely out of action.

  Jim spotted life pods leaving the command carrier and noted the carrier was now sending a distress signal. Jim contacted the Sunflower and gave them the status update. The fighter battle was effectively over. Jim ordered First squadron to rendezvous with their ship.

  ………………..

  Ace switched to manual mode and searched for yellow. This action was more complicated than normal due to the commotion in the transport.

  Chief announced, “The pilot just turned off the automatic flight controls.”

  Dolen started releasing his straps and yelled, “That’s it. I am flying the transport. Get out of that seat now.”

  Doctor Purami announced, “His brainwaves are spiking. He is about to have a mental breakdown.”

  Ace finally found yellow and mapped the remaining colors in his head. He entered a serene state of calm. He was now focused on his goal, to deliver this shuttle to the Guardian and kill anything standing in his way. He noted that there were 80 enemy fighters engaged with the majority of the Alliance fighters and that there were 12 fighters acting in 4 independent groups of three. One group was far away and would not be a concern.

  The command carrier was between the station and the battleship. Ace briefly considered flying directly through the hole in the ship, but decided against it. He chose a route that lead down and well below the enemy ship. This path would take a little longer, but be much safer. Ace gracefully swooped the transport down and to the right.

  Doctor Purami said, “Hmmm, that’s interesting. His mind has cleared and he is now calm and collect. In fact, he is far calmer than baseline. Amazing.”

  Chief said, “He is now flying the transport in manual mode. I didn’t think that is possible.”

  Dolen contacted Solear. When the connection was established, he said, “Captain, we are in route to the Guardian. Thank you for the rescue.”

  The delay was only a couple of seconds. Solear asked, “You are welcome Admiral, though I can’t take the credit. It was actually the humans’ idea, they have a credo, do not leave beings behind. What did you think of the marines’ performance?”

  Dolen switched to Advranki and responded, “We will discuss that another time. Why/how is the pilot flying in manual mode?”

  Captain Solear, “Why, it calms them down and improves their performance. How, our leading theory is that their minds are so empty they can handle the onrush of information. Don’t worry though, the humans seem to prefer flying in manual mode.”

  Dolen wasn’t entirely satisfied, but sat back down without further comment. That lasted exactly 18 seconds.

  Ace fired 3 fighter-to-fighter missiles in dummy mode directly toward the battleship. There was absolutely nothing in thier path. At this range the missiles would go ballistic long before they struck anything.

  Dolen said, “That was stupid. You just wasted half of your ordinance and you didn’t even aim at anything.” The marines may have acquitted themselves, but Dolen was seriously starting to doubt the human’s piloting ability.

  Ace replied, “A thousand pardons admiral. I will endeavor to be thriftier with the ordinance in the future.”

  Chief announced, “There are three enemy fighters approaching. We are going to have to surrender again.”

  Ace accelerated the transport toward its top speed of .12 light. He swooped the transport away from its current path and directly toward the spinning piece of hull plate. He lined the transport up with the hole in the plate. However, because the hole was nearer the edge of the plate, it only appeared for a fraction of a second before spinning away. The three fighters narrowed the gap significantly and fired.

  Ace dodged left, then right, then did a 360 degree spin. The transport was now aligned directly with the hole.

  Both Chief and Dolen screamed, “No!”

  Doctor Purami was too busy studying Ace’s monitor to scream. She couldn’t believe how calm and collect the human was when they were facing certain death. She took some comfort in knowing that the human was this calm, then he thought they could make it.

  At the last moment Ace spun
the transport to match the rotation of the hull plate and flew through the opening. The three fighters chasing them tried to duplicate the maneuver and failed. The enemy fighters and the missiles chasing the transport splattered against the hull plate and broke it into pieces.

  The maneuver had caught the attention of three more enemy fighters. They were practically waiting for the transport on the other side of the plate. The fighters angled directly behind Ace and fired a missile apiece.

  Ace fired his only three defensive missiles and broke into a hard spiral turn. He straightened almost immediately afterward and proceeded again toward the Guardian. The three enemy fighters closed again, this time to nearly point blank range.

  Dolen shouted, “We are out of options. Surrender before you get us killed.”

  Ace crossed the path of the three dummy missiles that he fired earlier. He programmed one missile to hit each ship. The missiles literally snuck up behind the enemy fighters and destroyed them.

  Chief realized what had just happened and said, “You planned that didn’t you. You led those enemy fighters to that spot so that you could spring a trap on them.”

  Ace replied, “Blind luck I assure you.”

  Chief said, “Look, there are three more fighters blocking our path to the Guardian. I don’t suppose you have any tricks left to get past these.”

  Ace replied, “They are going to die like the other six.”

  The three fighters started their standard up/down loop maneuver. Ace kept the transport steady and allowed the fighters to set their trap. At the last moment, Ace angled the transport hard down and to the right, slipping through the enemy’s planned pincer point. The enemy fighters formed up for another pass.

  They were now clear to land on the battleship. Chief said, “Wow, excellent maneuver. You do realize that we are going too fast to land?”

  Ace didn’t answer directly. Instead, he made a general announcement, “We will be landing shortly. Please secure all loose items and put your seats to the full and upright position. Please note that there may be some turbulence as we make our final approach.”