by Jeff Sims
He replied, “Sorry, I was headed for the fighter bay.”
Russ laughed and replied, “I almost did the same thing. Old habits die hard I suppose.”
Jim sat back down at the captain’s chair. He tried to switch the ion cannon controls from the weapons station to the captain’s station. However, he wasn’t able to because the button was hardwired to the weapons station. He wondered again why everything else was touchscreen except for those two firing buttons.
Jim got up again, noted the stares from everyone, and walked over to the weapons station. He sat down and said, “The computer won’t let me transfer the fire function. Someone needs to sit here and press this button when the light turns orange.”
Jim realized that this was the first time that he had sat in the weapons chair. He swiveled around in a circle. He then leaned back in the chair. It made a loud squeak. He hastily sat back up, causing the chair to squeak again.
Russ looked over and said, “Stop that.”
Jim asked, “Kolvak, have you been able to determine how long the gravity missile effect will last.”
Kolvak replied, “The outer edges will dissipate in about 8 minutes. The center will take 20 minutes to clear. However, they could keep us here indefinitely if they continue to fire gravity missiles.”
Jim bit the torn part of his fingernail off. He was just about to spit it on the deck when he noticed Shole watching him. Instead he grabbed it out of his mouth and placed it in a trash receptacle. He figured that he had just left himself wide open for a human cannibal quip, but Shole remained silent.
Kolvak said, “Captain, what if one or both of the destroyers fire their ion cannon? If we stay on this course, eventually we will get close enough that we cannot dodge.”
Jim replied, “I’m counting on that.”
Kolvak didn’t like that answer. He said, “Computer, analysis.”
…Analysis is not reliable. Compute a 91.8% chance that the Humans will do something completely unpredictable…
…………………….
Gus was sitting patiently in his fighter as the cruiser exited hyperspace. He was jolted mightily for the next few moments, but his ship stayed magnetically locked to the hangar floor and he stayed strapped firmly in place. He immediately knew that something was terribly wrong. He mouthed the words, “Not good.”
A few seconds later he received the command to launch. Gus switched to full manual mode and began searching for the color yellow. He found it and linked it to his brain. He quickly found the other colors and mapped them.
He was now in full manual mode and could hear the fighter whispering to him. He knew that the 3 pilots sitting in his row were also in manual mode and ready to go.
Gus yelled “Launch” and he carefully, delicately engaged his plasma reactor. He thought, ‘I hope this works’. Either that plate would hold and he would have a successful launch or the plasma reactor would melt the plate and the rest of his squadron behind it.
Gus upped the thrust just a tiny amount. The fighter began moving, very slowly at first, but rapidly increasing in speed. His fighter gracefully exited the right side of the cruiser. He could feel that he three fighters beside him also successfully launched. He opened an all squadron channel and yelled, “Roll Tide.”
Gus rolled his ship left immediately after he cleared the hangar bay. He noted that his wingman made the roll with him and was perfectly aligned to him. He figured that the enemy probably thought they were being reckless. However, this battle was essentially the original simulation training mission. Gus laughed – sending two fighters was technically overkill.
He then connected to the bridge and said, “Confirming orders, attack and destroy the two enemy cruisers on my side, then regroup.”
They blasted toward the nearest cruiser. Near was a relative term in this case. The cruisers were 4.5 million kilometers away and at an average speed of .15 light would take 1 minute and 40 seconds to reach. Gus had chosen the cruiser that was 20 kilometers closer. The time difference was negligible, but it mattered to Gus.
Gus focused on the color blue for a nano-second and the fighter displayed the active scan. Gus verified that the 4 fighters on the other side of the hangar bay also launched successfully. He saw the dots for Kip, Rubie and the other two fighters from Alpha Squadron.
Ace was in the first row on the far right. He engaged his plasma reactor and tenderly flew out of the hangar. He swerved to the right, away from Gus. He waited for his wingman to align with him and together they blasted full power toward the other cruiser.
Greenbean was in the next row. He waited for the first four to get completely free of the hangar bay. Then he activated his shields and gently bunny-hopped over the plate. He verified that there were three fighters beside him. There were. He engaged his plasma reactor and gently flew out of the hangar 16 seconds later. Once clear, he gunned the plasma reactor and chased the two fighters in front of him.
The next three groups of 4 fighters repeated the process; launching every 16 seconds. One minute and 4 seconds later two entire squadrons had launched.
…………………….
Colin entered the room that contained missile launcher #1. He pressed his hand against the palm reader to activate the launcher and open it. Becky grabbed the controls to the hoist. She gracefully positioned the hooks over a shield buster missile. Colin shoved the hooks into final position.
Becky raised the missile and swung it over to the now open launcher. The launcher automatically detected the missile and closed. Colin verified that the launcher was correctly closed and pressed the palm reader to indicate that it was ready to fire.
Becky was already swinging the hoist back to the pile of shield buster missiles. She said, “What was our time.”
Colin looked at monitor on the missile launcher. It read 40 seconds. He replied, “We only took 22 seconds. However, we missed the first launch. We have another 10 seconds until the next.”
Colin reached over and shoved the hooks on the next shield buster missile. Becky was about to lift it up when Colin heard an alarm. He looked over and cursed in disbelief.
He yelled, “Come on. We had a pre-set pattern and they are already changing it!”
Becky couldn’t see the monitor from her angle, but she knew that she no longer needed a shield buster. She released it and Colin pointed to the ship buster missiles. Becky lowered the carrier and grabbed onto one. Colin secured the hooks.
The missile launcher fired. Colin swung around and touched the palm pad to open the launcher. Becky lowered in the missile. Colin verified the launcher was closed and pressed the palm button. Not bad, Colin thought, 28 seconds even with the change.
…………………….
Paul and the other 17 members of Third Squadron were sitting in the pilot quarters when the ship exited hyperspace. Upon reentry to normal space the ship violently shook for about 30 seconds and then suddenly stopped.
Fortunately, they were firmly strapped in place. Paul had thought the command to wear straps was unnecessary, but he was certainly happy to be sitting in his seat instead of lying on the other side of the room with a broken arm or something.
One of the marines said, “They must have let Becky drive.”
Paul was still chuckling when he heard that they were under attack and received the general order to launch. Paul released his restraints and raced to his locker. He donned the flight outfit as quickly as possible. He then checked his wingman’s suit and had the other marine do the same for him.
Paul raced to the door and tried unsuccessfully to open it. He remembered that it was sealed for launch. The chiding from the other members of the squadron certainly helped his recollection.
They stood there and waited rather impatiently for First and Alpha Squadrons to launch. After the extreme bustle of getting dressed, standing and waiting 18 seconds seemed like an eternity. Eventually though, the door unsealed and they ran into the hangar.
Paul split the squadron split into t
wo groups of 9 men. Each group raced to one of the barriers. They disconnected the center support sections and detached the barrier from the wall. They next activated the electro lift to raise the barrier off of the hangar bay.
They then pressed a lever to manually lock the plate to the base and unlocked the wheels. Once free, they pushed the first plate into the second. They repeated, folding the barrier like an accordion until it was back in place against the forward wall. Finally, they attached the barrier to the wall and verified that it was properly secured. If it were to break free and whip into a fighter during launch, the results would be catastrophic.
Paul activated the switch on the flight elevator to raise the first row of fighters. He only raised one level because he didn’t feel that this group was ready to launch 4 fighters in each direction. It would take twice as long, but it was much, much safer.
The entire group raced to the elevator. Paul and three others ran directly to their exposed fighters. The rest slid down the ladder to their respective row and climbed into their fighters. Paul was the squadron leader even though both Jim and Russ were better pilots. It made sense he supposed, since they generally missed about half of the practice sessions.
Paul verified that everyone reached their respective fighters. He saw that John was heading to the wrong fighter and redirected him. With only 18 members launching, two fighters in the bottom row of the elevator were not going to be used. He disabled those units so the computer would place a barrier on both sides of the fighter. He doubted that Jim would enjoy hearing that they had torched his fighter while it was sitting in the hangar.
Paul found yellow and linked the rest of the colors. He was now in full manual mode. He saw that the other 3 on his level were ready as well. Paul opened a channel to the squadron and said, “Launch.”
…………………….
Gus checked his chronometer. The Sunflower had now been in the Opron system exactly 1 minute and 38 seconds. The command to launch had taken 24 seconds and the actual launch took another 10. That meant that he was going to reach the enemy cruiser 36 seconds from now.
Gus activated his scanners. He was close enough that he would be able to obtain a full scan of the enemy ship before he had to start his attack run. Not that he needed it though. He had the specifications memorized.
The enemy cruiser’s armament, shield status, position, and speed displayed on his monitor. It was a newer style Hiriculan cruiser. This type had 6 missile launchers per side versus the 5 per side of an Alliance cruiser. However, the enemy cruiser did not have an ion cannon.
Gus reviewed Sunflower’s missile firing plan. He realized that they didn’t need that many shield buster missiles. One volley should be enough. He requested that they switch directly to ship busters with the third and fourth volleys. There was little need in prolonging the upcoming execution by another minute.
The enemy cruiser fired 12 missiles. Gus’ fighter immediately whispered that they were offensive missiles. Gus let them pass on by. They were someone else’s concern. He focused on the enemy cruiser. It still hadn’t launched any fighters and wasn’t moving. However, the defensive lasers were active.
Gus checked his scanner again and saw the four shield buster missiles that had been launched from the Sunflower. Even though they had launched after he did, the missiles had a top speed of .20 light and passed him. Gus laughed, he would have to tease someone about missing the first missile launch when he returned.
The defensive lasers ignored Gus and locked onto the on-coming missiles. They were able to stop 2 of them. The other two splashed against the cruiser’s hull at non-essential locations. They temporarily weakened the shields in those areas, but the enemy cruiser’s shields began regenerating almost immediately.
Thirty-two seconds passed. There were still no enemy fighters. Gus aligned himself perfectly with the cruiser’s power generator and dove. The enemy laser fire was immediately redirected toward him. Gus dodged left, then left again. He did a barrel roll and dodged two more beams.
Gus reached the so-called sweet spot. He was close enough that his missiles couldn’t miss, but far enough away that he still had time to dodge. Gus fired three shield buster missiles and rolled up and away from the enemy cruiser. He verified that they were all direct hits.
The missiles were staggered by 2 seconds each. The first hit and weakened the shields. Missile number 2 hit two seconds later and created a small hole in the ship’s shield coverage. The third hit the exact same spot, destroyed the shield generator in that area, and created a sizeable hole in shields.
His wingman fired three more shield buster missiles. The first missile hit the exact spot and destroyed a second shield generator. The hit significantly widened the area of non-protection. The ship’s shields could no longer cover the area or regenerate. The second missile impacted the hull and damaged it. The damage wasn’t severe, but the ship could no longer jump even if it wasn’t in a gravity field.
The third missile penetrated the hull and opened it to outer space. Gus’ wingman fired a homing beacon through the hole in the hull. The beacon activated upon impact and provided a clear signal.
All future missiles could use it as a guide and bypass any electronic jamming devices. This tactic wasn’t new. They had used it successfully at both the battle in Hepitila and the third battle of Influenla. However, during those battles they had used the fighter’s transponder as a homing beacon. This time they used a brand new missile that Colin had designed specifically for this purpose.
Gus could have swung around for a second pass, but there was no need. The second wave of fighters would be there in about the same time that it would take for him to round the ship and get realigned for another pass.
Not that it mattered. The cruiser was already dead. Gus noted that 5 ship buster missiles had been fired from the Sunflower and were in route.
The second group of fighters was approaching the enemy cruiser. Exactly 146 seconds had passed since they had entered Opron. The pilot saw the gaping hole in the side of the cruiser and said to his wing-mate, “Looks like the fun is already over.”
“Agreed,” his wing-mate responded.
Instead, the pilot targeted two of the in-coming missiles and shot them. He whooped. He had scored two hits. He scanned the sky. Of the 12 fired, there were 7 still active. That meant that his wing-mate had successfully killed 3 of them. He said, “Show off.”
“Agreed,” his wing-mate responded.
Seventeen seconds later the first ship buster missile reached the doomed enemy cruiser. It eased through the outer hull and exploded against the exposed inner hull. The damage was massive. A huge portion of the ship was now completely open to space.
Two seconds after that a second ship buster missile passed through the outer and inner hull and exploded against the heavy casing that contained the primary reactor. It destroyed engineering and propulsion and everything in between. More importantly though, ripped open the casing and exposed the reactor.
The third followed the other two. This one proceeded directly into the reactor core and exploded. The primary reactor overloaded and exploded. The chain reaction was horrific. The entire ship shook for an impossibly long 2 seconds before bursting into a massive fireball that spewed debris over two kilometers.
The remaining two ship buster missiles hit the same spot and ionized the remaining debris. There was nothing left of the cruiser bigger than a grain of space dust.
Gus checked his sensors to see if the other half of his squadron had successfully killed the other cruiser. He watched as Ace made his attack run and successfully struck the target with three perfectly placed shield buster missiles. Ace’s shots knocked out two shield generators.
His wingman followed closely behind. However, there was no need to fire a shield buster missile, so instead he fired a lone ship buster missile followed by the homing beacon.
The ship buster impacted against the outer hull and tore it wide open. A few seconds later the 5 shield buster mis
siles launched from Sunflower followed the homing beacon. The first widened the hole in the outer hull. The second impacted against the inner hull. The third broke through the inner hull. The fourth shield buster destroyed engineering. The final missile blew up propulsion. The ship was essentially dead at that point.
Ace flew past the cruiser and started chasing the 6 missiles the cruiser had fired in that direction. He was able to hit 4. His wingman caught the other two.
Gus whispered, “Show off.” Still though, it was an impressive move.
The next two fighters followed 16 seconds later. They had a bad angle on the 6 remaining missiles targeting the Sunflower, but were each able to hit one before they flew out of range. Each fighter made a pass at the enemy cruiser.
Defensive fire was very light, especially in the exposed area. The first fighter fired a ship buster and the second fired another one 4 seconds later. These missiles had been fired from the sweet spot; they didn’t even need the electronic guidance beacon to score a hit.
The first ship buster passed through the outer hull, through the inner hull, gently contacted the primary reactor housing, and blew it apart. The second ship buster flew directly into the reactor core and exploded.
The chain reaction caused the cruiser to violently explode. The entire ship was engulfed in a tremendous fireball that spewed outward in every direction. One emergency pod successfully launched from the ship, but it didn’t make it very far. The exploding debris hit the small pod and tore it to shreds.
The third wave of two fighters targeted and destroyed the remaining 4 enemy missiles. Gus checked the scan of his immediate area. The enemy cruiser was gone and so were its missiles. Gus’ sensor array was clear.
Gus contacted all of the fighters in his squadron and told them to proceed directly to the rendezvous. Since he was almost at the rendezvous point, he slowed to allow the rest of his squadron catch up to him. His fighters were spread out over a 4 million kilometer stretch of space and would need nearly two minutes to catch up. It was time to regroup and attack the destroyers.
