Project Starfighter

by Stephen J Sweeney

  “Who are you?” Chris asked.

  “My name is Kline Kethlan,” the pilot of the Fer-de-Lance said, “and I have come here to put an end to your pathetic little crusade, Mr Bainfield.”

  Kethlan said nothing more, the communication shutting off immediately, the Fer-de-Lance screaming forward. Chris heard the blare of the missile lock warning siren an instant later, the octaves of the sound falling as Athena engaged the timeslip.

  Chris saw the blips representing the missiles Kethlan had just dispatched appear on the radar screen, crawling forward from the Fer-de-Lance. Athena activated the countermeasures not moments later, the two blips vanishing as the missiles exploded like fireworks.

  Kethlan continued forward, the tips of the cannons of his Fer-de-Lance igniting as he fired again. Far enough away from the WEAPCO fighter, Chris had plenty of time to react to the shots, banking enough both to evade them and anticipate Kethlan’s next move. He tailed the Fer-de-Lance as it began to dive, making minute adjustments to his speed to keep the fighter locked in his crosshairs as he fired his cannons. He was surprised to discover just how well shielded the Fer-de-Lance was.

  That would easily have taken down a Talon, Chris said to Athena, as the Firefly’s cannons’ temperature began to stray into the upper quarter. He eased off the trigger. He couldn’t do with them overheating, not here, not now.

  The power rating for that fighter’s shields are off the scale, Athena said. Whoever this Kethlan is, he is certainly very important.

  “Sid—” Chris began, intending to contact the man and ask him to find out what he could about the weaknesses of the Fer-de-Lance. Something cut him off. He felt himself surfacing from the timeslip, the world around him speeding back up. He cast around to see what had happened, looking to the console before him. It was behaving normally, no errors or warnings being reported. Athena must have taken control. Chris waited for the Firefly to start to move of its own accord.

  Nothing happened.

  “Athena, what’s going on?” Chris said, his hand flying to the joystick in panic. “I’ve lost the timeslip.” Kethlan was already coming back around to face him.

  I can’t re-engage the system, Athena said. I have just made over a hundred thousand unsuccessful attempts.

  The comms in front of Chris jingled once more.

  “That should even the odds a little,” Kethlan said, as his face popped up on the cockpit display.

  Chris started, and then yanked back heavily on the flight stick as a barrage of plasma bolts issued from the Fer-de-Lance’s cannons and hurtled towards him. Too slow to react, every bolt struck the Firefly, Kethlan streaking past.

  Chris swung around, attempting to track Kethlan’s path and anticipate the man’s movements. More used to fighting in slow motion, it was incredibly difficult to do so in real time, several bursts of his cannons missing by a long way. Kethlan, on the other hand, had no such problems, seeming to brake, tilt and power towards him almost simultaneously, spraying plasma cannon fire over the front of the Firefly as he came.

  It was as the Fer-de-Lance shot past him that Chris noticed that Athena had failed to adjust the power weightings of the shields. The south, west, and east quadrants of the display were indicating that the shields there were full, while the northern quadrant, the front of the fighter, was nearly depleted.

  “Athena, the power weightings!” he prompted.

  I can’t do it, Athena told him. I have completely lost access to the Firefly.

  Chris felt a knot form in his stomach. He was sure that he could sense panic in the AI’s voice. “Try again!”

  Negative, Athena answered him not a second later, I’ve been blocked.

  “You’ve been blocked?!” Chris asked. The knot tightened. Now the panic was his own, clear in his own ears. “How? How can you lose access? You’re embedded!”

  Chris, this is not the time – you need to handle the weightings yourself. Do it quickly, or we will both wind up dead!

  Chris did so, one eye on the console as he started to make adjustments to the weightings, the other flicking between the radar and the view beyond the cockpit, tracking the Fer-de-Lance.

  Chris had only just finished when the Fer-de-Lance was on him again. This time, however, Chris put full power to his engines, boosting out of the way of the cannon fire that was streaking his way, only one or two of the shots hitting home. He then slowed, turned around and sprayed Kethlan’s fighter himself, tracing the movement as best he could.

  “Good shooting, Mr Bainfield,” Kethlan laughed over the comms.

  How are you doing that? Chris wondered. He hadn’t acknowledged the communication this time. Had Kethlan somehow been responsible for the separation of Athena from the Firefly?

  He looked to where Phoebe’s fighters were starting to engage the Alchemist’s Son, that was continuing to fire upon the Dodger. Already, Chris knew that he would be fleeing to the freighter as soon as the Alchemist’s Son had either been routed or destroyed. He told Athena, Sid, and Phoebe as much, to help ease their fears.

  The very next moment, the Talons and Mirages that Phoebe was controlling exploded, showering debris and wreckage in every direction.

  “Phoebe, what the hell just happened?” Chris asked. “What did you do?”

  “Nothing!” Phoebe said. “I ... don’t know! I just lost control and they self-destructed!”

  “Nowhere to run, nowhere to hide, and no one to help you,” Kethlan’s voice once again invaded the Firefly’s cockpit. “Now it’s getting interesting.”

  Chris was unable to evade the Fer-de-Lance’s attacks this time, or any of those that came after. In the minutes that followed, the Firefly’s frontal shields were completely stripped, followed by the rear, and one of the sides. Chris’ heart was now thumping so hard that he thought it was going to smash through his ribcage and burst out of his chest. Kethlan had successfully reduced the Firefly’s defences by over seventy-five percent, yet Chris had barely managed to dent the Fer-de-Lance’s shields by even half that.

  Chris ... Athena’s voice came in his head.

  “I know, I know,” Chris said. He was breathing hard, his hands starting to shake. His eyes flickered briefly towards the eject handle. No, that would be a shameful action to take. He focused on his fight with Kethlan.

  Chris noted several explosions going off all around him as he struggled to survive the engagement, the continued result of the WEAPCO fighters engaging both the Wolf Pack and the Immortal League. Each side was suffering losses, though WEAPCO the least. The AI fighters were attacking far more aggressively than usual, almost as if the presence of the man in the Fer-de-Lance was causing them to battle harder. Chris heard calls and orders from Tyler, Eve, Dar, and Clayton, the words making it very clear that the Pack were fighting a losing battle here, their numbers heavily reduced. He made snap glances to the Dodger and the A.B.C., the Dodger continuing to suffer at the hands of the Alchemist’s Son.

  A flash caught his attention a short time later, and Chris looked about his cockpit just in time to see a jump point snapping shut. Something had fled the system, no doubt the A.B.C., likely taking Tyler and his most trusted along with it. Chris had little time to consider things further; Kethlan was on him yet again, Chris weaving in a failed attempt to evade the man’s guns.

  As he accelerated away from Kethlan, hoping to get away from the man for long enough to grant the Firefly’s shields a reprieve, Chris saw a fighter of distinct shape and configuration tumble past him. He recognised it as Mal’s. Two Mirages were peppering the armour with plasma cannon fire, the shields gone. There was little hope left for it in such a state.

  Cannon fire from Kethlan’s guns then stripped what defensive shield energy the Firefly had managed to regain, causing Chris to bank hard in an attempt to shake the man off. He came around in time to see Mal’s fighter explode, the Mirages that had downed it peeling off and immediately seeking out new targets. Human pilots might have basked in the glory of having bested and eradicated o
ne of the galaxy’s most wanted and dangerous men. To these AIs, however, Mal was just another enemy unit registering on a radar system. Chris considered for a scant moment whether the Immortal League’s leader was truly dead this time or if he would be resurrected at some point in the future, before returning his attention to Kethlan.

  Having now fought him for a time, Chris was beginning to recognise the man’s tactics. At least in this encounter, Kethlan seemed to prefer to make strafing runs, slowing as he passed by so that he could turn and strafe his opponent another time, before speeding away in a different direction. Strangely, Chris had noticed, the man had had a chance to destroy the Firefly on several occasions, yet he had failed to do so. The same was true for the Dodger. The Alchemist’s Son should have eliminated the freighter by now. WEAPCO’s AI fighters were also completely ignoring Chris, leaving the task of taking down the Firefly to Kethlan alone, something the man didn’t seem willing to do.

  With that in mind, Chris turned and sped away from Kethlan, certain that the man would follow, but not loose any missiles. At the same time, he adjusted the power weightings of the shield, pushing everything to the front, and leaving the rear and the sides totally exposed.

  Chris, what are you doing?! Athena asked.

  “Trust me”, Chris said. He watched his radar, seeing the Fer-de-Lance speed after him, as expected. The Fer-de-Lance, moving faster, would catch him soon. He waited until Kethlan was almost on top of him before turning to face it. Kethlan opened fire, strafing, but not slowing. Chris, however, did not stop turning, swinging a full three hundred and sixty degrees, making the appropriate adjustments to the shield strengths to defend against the attacks.

  Kethlan raced past him, slowing to turn and face Chris once more to strafe the front of the Firefly. At the same moment, Chris unleashed two of the Firefly’s rockets at point-blank range. Kethlan was so close he had little time to evade.

  The first rocket blasted down a good chunk of the Fer-de-Lance’s shields, the next finishing what remained and punching through to the armour beneath. The Fer-de-Lance was knocked off course by the blows, spinning over and over. Chris wasted no time, squeezing off cannon fire, and pumping as many plasma bolts into the fighter as possible. Kethlan was quick to recover, accelerating away. Even so, Chris could tell that he had scored an unexpected victory against his opponent. The Fer-de-Lance’s shields were not recovering as quickly as they had before, the power generators clearly struggling. Kethlan once again began to zigzag, his flight pattern unpredictable. The man was, however, no longer coming for Chris, who noticed then that the power weightings to the Firefly’s shields had been adjusted without his intervention.

  I have regained control, Athena told him.

  “Chris, the warship is pulling away,” Sid communicated.

  “Looks like we’ve scared him off,” Chris said, watching as Kethlan’s Fer-de-Lance headed towards the Alchemist’s Son.

  He was proven correct a short time later, a jump point opening up and both the warship and the Fer-de-Lance speeding into it. What remained of the fighter complement that had escorted the pair into the system fled along with them. The moment every vessel was across the threshold, the point snapped shut.

  “You must have really upset him, whoever he was,” Sid said.

  Chris did not reply. He was looking back to where the Wolf Pack and the Immortal League had been busying themselves with their skirmish. There was now so much wreckage drifting about and littering the area that he was unable to tell who had won. Unless the battle had headed off elsewhere, it looked like both sides had been routed for now. Chris couldn’t see Tyler, Eve, Clayton, or Dar anywhere. Either they had been killed or they had fled with the A.B.C. Mal’s fate had now, surely, been sealed.

  Not that Chris cared. Right now, he only wanted to get out of here.

  “Chris, are you okay?” Phoebe asked him.

  “Fine, fine,” Chris said.

  “I’m sorry! I tried to help, but ... I don’t know, something happened and I lost control.”

  “Sid,” Chris said, ignoring Phoebe for the moment, “is the Dodger badly damaged?” It didn’t appear so.

  “No,” Sid confirmed. “All the damage it sustained was superficial, almost as though intentionally. I don’t think that warship was trying to destroy it.”

  “Let’s worry about that later,” Chris said. “We’re coming back aboard. Prepare to jump the instant Phoebe and I have landed.”

  Athena didn’t seem to need any sort of encouragement to make the journey, taking over control of the Firefly from Chris, and hurrying towards the Dodger. As she did so, Chris looked over to where Kethlan and the Alchemist’s Son had vanished, quite certain that the two of them would be crossing paths again very soon.

  Chapter 22

  “I’m so sorry,” Phoebe repeated, rushing over to meet Chris as he disembarked from the Firefly.

  “There’s no need to keep apologising,” Chris said. “It wasn’t your fault; you’ve done nothing wrong.” Even as he spoke, Chris noticed that his hands were shaking. That had been quite a test. How had the timeslip failed? Why had Athena lost control over the Firefly? How had Phoebe lost control over the fighters she was commanding? And why had they self-destructed? So many questions.

  Athena’s avatar materialized, her expression one of deep concern. She said nothing, however, and Chris only met her eyes, exhaling a breath that he felt he had been holding ever since the appearance of the Alchemist’s Son, the squadron of fighters, and that Fer-de-Lance.

  Sid came bounding into the cargo hold. “Are you okay?” he asked Chris.

  “I’m okay,” Chris said, though he knew his tone was betraying him.

  Sid nodded, turning to Athena, and then Phoebe. “Phoebe?”

  “I’m ... I’m okay,” Phoebe answered, though now it looked as though the shock of the encounter was starting to catch up with her. Sid awkwardly embraced her, Phoebe reciprocating.

  “Chris, who was flying that fighter that attacked you?” Phoebe asked, once Sid released her.

  “He said his name was Kline Kethlan,” Chris said.

  “Kethlan? You’re sure?” Sid asked.

  “Positive.”

  “I’ve heard of him. He’s the commander of WEAPCO’s naval forces. He’s held the position for several years.”

  “Chris,” Athena said. “I have a feeling that Kethlan did not come here to defend the shipyard but actually to meet you. Think about it – he passed up several opportunities to destroy the Firefly and kill you; to kill both of us.”

  Athena was clearly referring to the way in which Kethlan had relished chipping away the Firefly’s shields, but not actually damaging the craft much beyond that. Chris looked at the fighter, seeing the scorch marks on the armour from where Kethlan’s gunfire had penetrated the shields. At any time during the later stages of the engagement, Kethlan could have destroyed him, but had chosen not to.

  “You’re right,” Chris admitted. “He must have been toying with me. But why?”

  “Maybe he wanted to meet the man who destroyed the Grand Vizier,” Sid suggested. “He wanted to test you, and see what you were really made of.”

  “And when you proved that you were far more capable than he had originally thought, he chose to quit while he was ahead,” Athena said.

  Chris considered this for a time. He had almost certainly proved more capable than Kethlan had been expecting. In fact, Chris had surprised himself with his skills, despite having nearly lost the battle. Only a few weeks ago, the fight would have been over in just a few moments, ending in his defeat. Even with the training he had received at New Chile, he wouldn’t have been a match for the WEAPCO commander. But something had given him a boost, heightening his own natural abilities. He glanced at Athena, recalling Sid’s suggestion of how the mind sharing could have resulted in some unexpected – but certainly very welcome – side effects.

  “Did Kethlan say anything to you before he left?” Sid asked.

  “No
thing. No taunts or anything,” Chris said. “The more worrying thing is how he managed to disable both my timeslip and Athena’s control over the Firefly.”

  “It must have been something aboard his Fer-de-Lance. I’ve never seen a fighter like that before, and there are few records of it available on the Dodger. It must be totally custom-built – as you might expect for a fighter piloted by the commander of WEAPCO’s navy.”

  “Perhaps. But that doesn’t explain how he was able to defeat Phoebe’s psionics.” Chris looked at Phoebe. “Any idea how he managed to detonate all the ships you were commanding? It could well prove to be a serious setback against us if he is able to do that to any vessel under your control.”

  “I’m not sure,” Phoebe said. “But just before they all went up, I felt something force its way into my mind.” She looked a little unsure as to how to describe it.

  “I might know what you mean,” Chris said, looking at Athena. “Whenever I’m flying the Firefly, I can ... feel Athena there, next to me. It’s even closer whenever we do the timeslip. Something seemed to have forced a wedge between us when Kethlan and his group turned up.” He turned to Sid. “Sid, can you have a dig through everything you can find on the Fer-de-Lance, and see what you can find?”

  “Sure,” Sid said. “Tell me – you and Athena are connected while you’re flying. Are you able to stop Athena from entering your head?”

  “I don’t know,” Chris said, “I’ve never tried it. I guess if I simply applied the right amount of willpower ...?”

  “I don’t think you would be able to,” Athena said. “This is a passive thing; it’s not as easy as closing a door. It would be like trying to stop breathing – sooner or later, you’re forced to do so. The only thing you can do is take the helmet off. You don’t possess any kind of psionic abilities yourself, so there is no way for you to build a mental barrier. Willpower can only go so far.”