by Richard Sosa
Silence and static crackled. “Negative, move to orbit 4659 by 4788 and head toward your secondary medical. Medical 328 out.”
“Roger that,” The pilot tapped in his controls and his rocket thrusters banked him into a higher orbit. The pilot looked back to Ra in the co-pilot seat. Ra moaned and writhed in pain. The pilot said through their helmet COM. “Hold on back there, we'll get you in real soon. We are sixty gaml-ites estimated—”
“4878 RF abort we are waiting for you. Transport mister Rabid into Medical 328 dock seven.”
“Roger that,” the pilot adjusted his course and glanced back at Ra, “hang tight.” The pilot monitored the space above him to make sure he could fly directly at the medical ship without hitting any other ships in space doing the same maneuver. “O.K. here we go.” The Flyer rocketed with its large thruster jets burning for maximum thrust to close the gap between them and the medical ship. The pilot adjusted his speed to slow down making the ship rock and bounce as it came out of its hyper-speed mode toward the docking area. The Flight Controller said on COM. “4878 your dock assignment is Dock Seven Bin A-65, that’s Alpha 65. We have medical standing by.”
Chapter Thirty-six
In Hangar 52, alarms honked as pilots strapped into their Flyers with a flurry of activity around each ship. Thousands of Flyers taxied in tight formations to clear the hangars and moved toward the runway. The runways once used for planet-bound machines is a staging area for the Flyers vertical launch. Black specks dot the sky as Flyers climb heavenward. Dask appeared on Rik’s wrist COM unit and said, “Rik, you have the COM to all your teams and support,” then he entered an access command on his monitor, “correction to all forces, air, ground, citizens, everybody, planet-wide, speak when ready. Something tells me my ‘Da’ would have wanted you to say something about now. But quick.”
“A speech now is cheesy, Sir.”
Dask regarded Rik seriously. “What would Neil want you to say?”
Rik took a steadying breath and said. “Everyone let’s get this done. Do your part. Pilots use your ‘navs’ and everyone must follow the changed protocol and do your damn jobs. 1’s through 7’s ground forces hold them where they land and no more running from these things.”
Dask on his COM said, “Good job, now get the hell up there.”
Rik’s Flyer jerked upward like a hyper elevator then it rocketed forward with thousands of other Flyers that climbed into the sky in undulating waves that filled the horizon leaving thousands of exhaust tails hanging in the sky like kite strings. Inside the cockpit, Rik tapped his controls and scanned them again to make sure he wasn’t missing something. He adjusted his cheat sheet to make sure he could see it. His arm watch read ‘five AM’. He spoke on COM to the Co-pilot and everyone in his fighter group, “Prepare to exit Aoife atmosphere. Fire thrusters, on my mark…set…now.”
The Flyer pushed faster toward space and red flames erupted around the cockpit sounding from the inside like a gas furnace. Then white flames encased the Flyer and limited their ability to see outside the machine. They monitored their navigation systems. The Flyer rocked and bounced while Rik monitored his instrumentation. His hands were sweaty, and his finger tentatively waved over the controls as he accessed his training module in his brain. The Flyer’s rattling became vicious and he held his controls tightly and tapped instructions to his Flyer while trying not to do so with panicked quickness. After an eternity of shaking, suddenly there was silence as the flame exiting the engines circled the exhaust nozzles no longer having outside oxygen to burn. The white flames began to burn off and then the silence of space was interrupted only by the Flyer’s ‘humming’ and ‘slouching’ sounds as its hydrogen fuel cells converted thrust from its two large engines. The ship was shaped like a large ‘H’ with four engines, aft, and bow, while two were creating forward momentum, the front engines were dampening and converting energy for the ship’s functions including life support. The Flyer rattled once more as it sped up and without the pull of gravity against it the ship, it settled into its attack position in the orbit. After a while, it gently swayed side to side like a boat in the water. Rik examined his controls and on COM to all said. “We're through. All Flyers began your routine to line up attack formation Alpha Dowg Seven. Stay in tight we are going in close to the enemy. A chatter was coming over the COM as intercut voices as the Squad Leaders aligned their formations.
Leading the Raptor Squad Intercept Bravo group, Commander Gwen-jewel reported. “Raptor Squad 72, loaded and ready. We are coming in at an apogee of 658 by 487 at 69,000 Rad-piaks per. Transitioning now in our orbit and our attack square is forming now. The routine worked, we’re ready here,” Rik felt his chest heave a breath of relief, but his neck ached from the tension on his back.
“Roger that,” then Rik spoke to his co-pilot, “back me up on that calculation, it looks like everyone is executing. Are we aligned right? I don’t want to miss those Capital ships.”
The co-pilot typed commands into her computer. “Everything is as programmed and planned Sir. We’re O.K.”
The Raptor Flyers rocketed in space and lined up in a flat plane spanning wing to wing and immediately a massive square formation of Phantom Flyers moved above then and slightly in front of them, hiding the Raptors under the attack square.
The Phantom Squad Leader, Commander Rolnan-jec, reported on COM. “Phantoms are loaded and ready. We copy and tucking Raptors under our wing. Mark us at 4895 by 3658, apogee is 7485 degrees. Right above you.” The attack group began a wide arc and created an orbit that was being informed by the last position of the destroyed Orbital Platforms and the CS’s last known clocked speed.
Rik on COM to all said, “Everyone, keep your grid locators on and watch my locator feeding your systems. My locator is working. We’ll find these bastards before they know what’s coming at them.”
At a higher apocenter orbit, the Chariot Flyers locked their flight plan to orbit around the attack group, to protect them, circling like fast small moons. They encircled the moving attackers and adjusted their orbiting parameters as both groups flew through space.
The Chariot Commander Odonal-tej reports on COM. “We're at six, four, nine. Now mark us at six, four, twelve and we’ll cross in front of you in 1.6 gaml-ites on my mark. Ready. Now.”
All the elements of surprise were in place. Rik wondered, where the hell is the fleet?
Chapter Thirty-seven
The armada of Flyers moved through space on a single mission. Rik continued to monitor his grid for pings or any indication of a CS location. He said to his co-pilot, “I should be getting a large signal by now. Do you see anything? That fleet of CS’s should be here,” Rik spoke on COM. “Everyone, focus. Let’s increase speed and watch each other’s flight formation we may have overshot their location.” The ship bumped and jerked with the acceleration and Rik’s heart sank as he watched the blackness outside his cockpit pass.
“Got something Captain,” the co-pilot shouted, “ahead and moving portside.”
Six Orbs appeared Immediately first as dots of light in space getting larger and as bogies on Rik’s screen with a distance calculator. He said on COM. “Six of them ahead. All in a single file. Watch your flanks for a trap,” Rik thought, shit, “confirmed only six? Do your job, as you trained, kill them. Reserves in Groups Thirty through Sixty and Charioteers hold back and make sure they don’t get through to the planet if they break out. Reserves in group Ninety through Three Hundred hold back for the main fleet, this may be a trap. Everyone else, follow me.”
The programming in each Flyer had already adjusted the arc and the ships jerked to the side as they made a sharper dive toward the CS’s. Rik monitored his Flyer’s arc staying within the computer parameters, to make a programmed dive directly at the last trailing CS. The Flyers followed him moving rapidly in perfect squares and leveling off parallel to the Capital Ship’s surface. The squares instantly broke into their attack mode and swarmed the CS. The pilots saw the Capital Ship’s surfac
e coming into view with its dark silvery coating reflecting light and the large Capital ship was slowly rotating like a planet. Rik visually noticed the Raptors under his attack square as they matched their velocity and then the Raptor fighters engaged over thrusters and the hydrogen-powered engines pushed them at high speed directly at the surface of the CS, like a bullet in a steep dive. Raptor Squad Commander Gwen-jewel on COM shouted. “I am up. The first shot for all of us. Watch my back I am low by 4896 and accelerating to 101,500 Ras-piaks squared. Max speed.”
Rik shouted without thinking. “Get it.”
The led Raptor Flyer blasted under Rik's attack square. The Flyer was getting smaller and smaller as it passed dangerously close to the surface of the Capital Ship. Then its lasers cut across its surface and settled for a longer second with a brighter larger glow. Rik shouted on COM, “There's your mark. All fire.”
All the Flyers, diving toward the CS, in all rows forming the square, fired in unison at the focused area. The concentrated laser energy cut through the CS creating an internal explosion that continued as a pathway through the Orb shell. The light from everyone’s pulse blast was blinding white as the lasers swirled and twisted to a single point in a nano-second. Commander Gwen-jewel’s led Raptor narrowly avoided the lasers and flew off to the starboard side with its engines at full throttle. The CS rolled away and responded instantly with multiple streams of laser fire that covered the attacking formations with flashing lasers in multiple directions, like a sword wildly swinging in the air. The Flyers fanned out, scattering in a perfect execution that avoided the lasers cutting through space, each other's exit maneuvers and regrouped to move in another direction like a school of fish avoiding a predator. The attack repeated on another side of the same Orb and Rik studied his monitor quickly to see all six CS’s were under attack in the same way. He scanned the upper part of the orbit and said to his co-pilot on their COM. “Run continuous tracking from my locator for the rest of the invasion fleet.”
“Yes Sir,” she typed on her controls, “Sir, recommend executing ‘Peek-a-boo Seven-three’ Mouse Trap in case the Orbs are setting us up for an ambush. I think these six are here to draw our fire.”
“Agreed. Send the code to everyone,” and quickly he updated on COM to all. “All reserves execute the Seventy-three Mouse Trap and get out of here.” Rows of Flyers banked and changed their orbits away from the battle to circle and catch the rest of the Orb fleet when they attacked.
Rik imagined he could hear a ‘whooshing sound’ as the Flyers were already diving in for a second attack like birds of prey. Suddenly, streams of smaller ‘Pill’ shaped Orbs ‘slushed’ out into space with rapid spitting fire as they exited through an oxygen membrane-like covering the pores. There was a fluid trail behind each of the smaller ships as they left the mother ship and small balls of fluid floated in space like beads. Chariot Leader Odonal-tej, passing close to a CS alerted all on COM. “Smaller alien ships exiting from CS at 4895 by 3265 grid six, mark seven. The ‘strikers’ from our data transfer.” His ship adjusted violently to the change in the flight plan and he and a pre-assigned attack force broke off the square formation to follow the smaller invading ships. Odonal-tej on COM shouted. “Engage those ‘Striker Ship’ things.”
The Chariot’s attack group ran at the enemy with internal engines at full throttle using a firing pattern that created a killing zone in front of their attack and suddenly the Flyers stopped and reversed to climb into a second orbit. The maneuver repeated not allowing the smaller Orb Striker Ships to regroup. The ‘Pills’ were black orb-like with no outward indication of propulsion thrust and they moved erratically changing vertically and horizontally rapidly. They moved around in a protective orbit but were not positioned when the Flyer attack square moved in on them like an unseen punch. The Flyers dove into the SS’s in a formation dive and then reversed but not without firing a punishing jab of lasers and rocket ordinance. The SS’s were blown to pieces while they attempted to scatter to survive. The wall of small Flyers moved in unison and fired a pathway of lasers through the small Striker Ships turning them into sparkles of space debris. The Flyers reversed or banked hard in the maneuver, pilots threw up or experienced bleeding noses, but most survived their first encounter with the Capital Ship’s small Striker Ships. The membranes on the large CS’s that covered the exit pores, floated in tatters and oxygen vented from the pores and black blast wounds on the Orb’s surface. The SS’s scattered in different directions in a disorganized retreat and were pursued. Chariot Leaders shouted. “Shooting match.”
Rik frowned at the result and shouted back on COM, “Shut up. Watch out. Stay sharp, this isn’t over.” Rik spun his ship upside down and dived downward. “Baker Group Three, Follow. Keep in tight formation.” He led the battle group toward one of the blast holes on the Orb. It’s a large pore that had been blown wider by a direct hit. The gaping blackened hole on the side of the Orb stood out with significant damage. The charging Flyers immediately faced returning laser fire head-on. Lasers hit his ship and metal silently flashed past the cockpit, lighting Rik’s cockpit for a nanosecond while the Flyer bumped and shifted side to side as its automated defenses adjusted to the incoming lasers. Lasers drilled into the Flyer body with a pounding ‘thud’ sound and they heard inside the cockpit a jackhammer sound running the length of the ship. As they moved closer in, the lasers intensified, and Rik’s entire ship rattled. Rik on COM said. “Destroy them.” A fast Raptor Flayer passed under again and fired the led laser. Rik watched and then ordered. “Mark, one, two, seven, all fire. All fire.”
A wedged-shaped bright white flash of lasers focused on the open wound on the large Orb. The CS rocked with an explosion that forced itself through the ship and belched out like a bubble and then retreated inside the Orb where oxygen could feed the internal explosion. Cannon shots from the Chariots found their mark and tore the CS’s internal surfaces like a shotgun blast. The CS continued to return fire and its lasers followed the attack square in space like strings of lights waving around in a dark room. Two Flyers were unable to pull away and crashed on the CS surface with an instant flash of flame and sparkly debris. Rik monitored his reading. “Co-pilot, Robec-3, you still back there with me?”
“Just along for the ride, Sir. Are you seeing the grid trajectory in six? Looks like they are slowing down.”
“And this side of that CS is heavily damaged. Can you confirm how big the blast hole damage is on the surface at location grid six, two, alpha?” Rik checked his monitor and noticed the lead Raptor it tumbled in space while the inside the cockpit was an inferno. “Shit.”
“It looks like large outward damage, the CS is slowing to 27 Rad-piaks per. Not picking up any other invaders or fleet anywhere in this grid from your locator,” Robec-3 shouted.
“O.K. keep monitoring.” Robec-3 was a veteran pilot from a family of long-serving fighter corp. She was specifically assigned to fly with Rik. Rik tapped quickly into his navigation pad, “Bank us seven degrees starboard so we can scan again and then get the team back for some more hunting. Also, advise all that we are now changing it up to Alpha Dowg TP.”
“Sir?”
“Make that order soldier these things learn fast.”
“Roger that.” She continued to tap her screen as the Flyer banked and said, “O.K. that’s a 90 by 100 germts-feet target. What do you want to do? There’s lots of damage on both sides. Maybe it doesn’t have any defense ability?”
“That’s what I am thinking.” Rik looked at the CS on his navigation readout. “O.k. Here’s my opening, T 80-9 Group come on up to 365 by 785 and follow. Let's get close in.”
“What the hell are you going to do, Sir?” Robec-3 asked nervously.
The Flyers linked on Rik’s monitor and lined up behind him. Rik banked hard and spun the Flyer upside down and dove toward the Capital Ship. “Stop. Crazy ass. Give me a little head up,” Robec-3 shouted out as she gained control of her stomach and her radar.
Seven Flyers replicated
the rollover perfectly and followed Rik toward the blacked, damaged pore opening on the Orb. Rik struggled with his controls and talked to his team. “Stay behind me. Use your ‘navs’.” The jagged opening grew larger, uglier as they approached it and the ship’s proximity warning ‘pinging warning’ increased rapidly as the Flyers raced toward this part of the CS surface.
“No. No. This is suicide. Damn you. Sir, pull up, pull the hell up,” Robec-3 shouted.
“No. I’ve done this before. We'll eviscerate this thing. This will be easy for us but just watch each other,” Rik said as he concentrated on his navigation controls.
Raptor Pilot Stu Oman on COM shouted. “Captain, Rik F up, don’t stop or I'll be up your ass. I can't see. Operating on ‘navs’ only.”
“Shut the hell up and stay with me,” Rik responded. His computerized navigation and proximity sensors were starting to adjust to the decreased distances and the ship jerked, jumped and slowed and then sped up as Rik fired his thrusters. “We can’t slow down. No return fire yet but we can’t be an easy target now. Stay with me we can do this.” The pore was damaged with ragged sharp edges and debris spilling out from it that floated out into space. The pore’s gray feathery lining structure was torn into shreds and they waved and floated in zero gravity. As the Flyers came close to the pore there was a massive whirlpool of debris swirling around the opening. At the rim of the pore, it looked like a moon crater. Rik’s eyes were wide. “That’s larger than I imaged.”
Lasers started flashing past their ships and the Flyer group committed itself to avoid the on-coming fire by dipping over the lip and into the dish-like large pore with its damaged center. They banked their Flyers to match the rounded surface of the vortex and like a marble circling around and around they dropped lower and lower toward the black hole below them. Suddenly, wet tentacle-like debris smacked the Flyers, like dirty rag mops. The Capital Ship’s organic-like tentacles that were torn off and floating in space around the ship or dangled from the damaged pore, slapped and slimed cockpit canopies blurring the Flyers visibility. Flyers began to bang and bounce on the smooth side of the Orb wall and then they disappeared inside the Orb.
