Return of the Star Raiders

by Dietmar Wehr

  Strider did have some thoughts. He’d already been thinking about the potential that the wreckage contained and the implications of exploiting them. The General’s summary had crystallized his thinking.

  “The A-12 was intended to be a very fast delivery vehicle that could fire multiple HE and KE missiles, which we now know are useless against their hull armor. And while the A-12 can carry a Mark 3-armed missile, it can only carry one at a time. I think my Mark 3 got through and hit the troop ship because the raiders figured it was just another conventional-type of missile and that their armor would shrug it off. But now that we’ve shown them we have atomic warheads, I think we have to assume they won’t be so careless next time. If they have some kind of missile defense system, then we have to overwhelm it with lots of missiles to compensate for our inferior technology. Building hundreds of A-12s to carry them would be very expensive, maybe even more expensive than we can afford if we’re investing funds into the new technologies at the same time. My suggestion is that we forget about the A-12 as a missile delivery system and shift our strategy to mobile ground-based missile launchers such as the same tracked chassis that we’re using for our artillery systems— now also useless—and use them to fire missiles armed with atomic warheads. There’s also another reason not to depend on A-12s. I suspect one Mark 3 warhead wouldn’t be enough to cripple their large ship. If the decision is made to develop a more powerful warhead, the A-12 may not be able to carry a missile armed with that larger and heavier warhead. A tracked launcher, on the other hand, could easily carry larger, heavier missiles. We can deploy them around the most likely targets, such as the Capital, the uranium mine, etc.”

  The General nodded. “That makes sense, but what about the EM pulse that atomics generate? The whole point of using the A-12 to launch the Mark 3 warhead was to do it while the target was far enough away from cities to avoid causing collateral damage from the EMP.”

  Strider had already considered that too. “Even if we don’t use atomics, the raiders have demonstrated that they can and will use them. I honestly don’t know why they didn’t just detonate a massive blast over the Capital, knock out all the power and electronics and then land their troops. The only reason I can think of is that when they thought there might be gold in the bank vaults, frying the electronics and knocking out the power might have made it much harder to gain access to those vaults. There are two things we can do to mitigate the impact of EM pulses, either ours or theirs. First, we start hardening our critical power and electronic systems. That will take years, but it can be done. Second, we build missiles that can reach targets high up in the atmosphere. The higher the explosion, the less intense the EM pulses will be by the time they reach the ground. And if we can build craft that can reach orbit, we can fight the battle in space far enough away from cities that EM pulses will not be a problem.”

  “Interesting suggestions. I’ll keep them in mind when I make my recommendations to the AF Chief. Since there’s no experimental plane for you to test in the foreseeable future, we’ll have to see where we can best use you. That may end up returning you to squadron flight status, but it may not. What’s your preference, John?”

  That was another question that he had already asked himself. “Well, sir, I’d like to be considered for the testing program for any new craft that’s built with the salvaged technology, but until that’s ready, returning to squadron flight service would be just fine with me.”

  The General smiled. “Why am I not surprised by that? I’ll see what I can do. Unless you have something else on your mind, you’re dismissed, Captain.”

  Three days later, Strider got his new orders. He was to report to the new Squadron Leader of the 233rd Squadron, which had been decimated in the attack. The good news was that he didn’t have to report for another 30 days, since the rebuilt squadron didn’t have any replacement Raptors yet. Maureen and Richard were ecstatic about having him to themselves for all that time. He suspected that the General had something do with him not needing to return any earlier.

  By the time he did report for duty, the Aerospace Force had made a decision to forget about A-12 production. Instead, Rocketdyne got an R&D contract, and for almost as much money, to reverse engineer and exploit the salvaged technologies, as well as to design and built two different prototypes to incorporate the new tech. One prototype would be the successor to the A-12, a winged craft designed to carry atomic missiles with a limited sub-orbital capability. The other prototype would be the first real spacecraft built on New Caledon since the collapse of the Federation. It would be able to fly into space and carry multiple atomic missiles. Strider’s squadron received the last Raptors to come off the assembly line before that was shut down too. They had already been paid for and keeping the squadron’s pilots’ skills current until the new craft were available was deemed sufficient reason to keep the squadron operational.

  Chapter Six

  The following months passed quickly for Strider. Eight months after the space attack, he was promoted to Major and Squadron Leader. By then, there were rumors that Rocketdyne was close to having something ready to test fly, but it was three more months before he learned just what they had managed to accomplish. The General called him as he was about to leave the Base for the day.

  “I’m glad I caught you before you went home, John. I’ve been put in charge of a new testing program. You wouldn’t happen to know of an experienced—and hopefully wiser—test pilot who’s interested in joining the new project, would you?”

  Strider couldn’t help laughing before he answered. “I sure do! You’re talking to him, sir!”

  “Just wanted to make sure you hadn’t changed your mind. You’ll get official notice of the transfer in a couple of days, but that’s just a formality. I’m sending a courier with briefing materials to your home this evening. They’re to be delivered to you personally and to no one else, so if you’re not there when the courier arrives, he’ll take the materials away with him. When you do get them, study them carefully, John, and ah, if your son should happen to see the design schematics of the new craft, swear him to secrecy.”

  “Yes, sir.” Strider knew the General well enough to understand that he had just been given unofficial permission to let his son see what the new craft would look like.

  “Okay, John. We’ll talk again when you report for duty here in a few days.” The General hung up before Strider could say anything.

  The courier, an AF lieutenant, arrived shortly after dinner. He insisted on Strider showing him his ID card and then on Strider signing for the sealed package. Richard was impressed by the courier’s seriousness. This was obviously something important.

  “What’s that, Dad?”

  Strider grinned. “Homework for my new assignment.”

  “You mean that Majors have to do homework too?” asked the boy incredulously.

  “Only when it’s really important, son.” Strider leaned over in order to whisper in Richard’s ear. “You remember the General, don’t you?”

  Richard nodded.

  “Well, he remembers you too, and he gave me special permission to show you what the craft that I’ll be testing will look like.” Strider laughed when he saw Richard’s eyes light up like they did every Christmas morning upon seeing his presents.

  “Can I see it now, Dad?” he asked in a whisper too.

  “Sure. Come with me to my study and give me a minute or two to sort through this stuff. I’ll look for the page with the picture.”

  When they got to the study, the boy stood in front of his father’s desk and watched him break the official seals on the outer envelope and then again on the inner envelope. Inside was a ring-bound document with the usual security warnings about access by unauthorized individuals. Strider quickly flipped through the document until he saw what looked like the outline of something. Upon taking a close look, his eyes opened wide. There were three images on the page, a side view, front view and top view. He recognized the overall shape of the craft as b
eing what the aeronautical engineers referred to as a lifting body. It did have wings, but they were tiny and looked like they would be used more for maneuvering than for providing lift. It would have a crew of two: pilot and weapons officer, and it would carry up to four of the Mark 3 missiles internally. The straight lines and overall design made it the most beautiful machine he’d ever seen.

  “Aw, come on, Dad! Let me see it!”

  Strider laughed and put the document on the desk in front of Richard.

  “Wow!”

  Strider waited, but that was all his son said as he continued to stare at it. After a few more seconds he looked up and said, “Some day I’m going to fly that ship too. Thanks, Dad.”

  “You’re welcome, son. Now that you’ve seen it, I have to swear you to secrecy. Raise your right hand and repeat after me. I, Richard…do solemnly swear…that I won’t tell anyone…that I saw these pictures…not even my best friend.” When Richard finished repeating the oath, Strider pulled the document back.

  “I have to read this now, son.”

  “Okay,” said Richard as he left the room, his right hand still in the air. When he was gone, Strider held the document up to get another look, this time reading the fine print about the craft’s dimensions and estimated performance. Its designation was the X-15. Strider wondered what happened to the X-13 and X-14. As he read the dimensions, he gave a low whistle of amazement. The X-15 was going to be a big beast! The term aircraft just didn’t seem appropriate. As far as he was concerned, it was an aerospace ship, and that’s how he intended to refer to it from now on. The overall shape reminded him of a barge. Seen from the top, the X-15 was narrower at the front and wider at the back. From the side, it was flat with a height of 144 inches and a length of 89 feet. From the front, the sides sloped inward to provide aerodynamic lift. Strider didn’t see any jet intake openings and flipped to the table of contents to find out what propulsion system was being used. He found the right section and began reading.

  The engineers had been able to figure out how the propulsion system on the troop ship worked. They called it contra-gravity. The system generated a force that pushed against the fabric of space. When directed downward, it offset some or all of the pull of gravity. When directed sideways, it pushed the ship in the opposite direction. There were contra-gravity thrusters under the X-15 and at the rear. The ship would not roll forward to take off and, in fact, its landing struts had tiny metal wheels to be used only when towing the ship short distances on the ground. Take off and landing would be vertical. Once in the air, the rear thrusters would give the ship horizontal velocity, and the lifting body shape would allow the vertical thrusters to be powered down when the ship was moving fast enough.

  The next question in his mind was where the power came from to operate the contra-gravity units. As he started to search through the document for that information, the thought occurred to him that maybe he’d be better off just starting at the beginning and reading the whole document in order. Two hours later, with a short break to say good night to his son, Strider finished reading it, and he was impressed. New Caledon’s tech level had just leaped forward by almost a century. Power was generated by matter-annihilation reactors that could produce a lot of power even when scaled down in size to fit into the X-15’s hull. The contra-gravity thrusters needed that much power because the X-15 was a heavy beast. Strider was disappointed to learn that it had only a limited ability to operate and maneuver in space, and therefore it would not be used outside of the planet’s atmosphere except for sub-orbital hops. He was pleasantly surprised to learn that the missiles the X-15 would carry would be upgraded versions of the Mark 3 missile used to bring down the troop ship. The Mark 4 not only had a higher-yield warhead, it also had the ability to maneuver in the vacuum of space. That meant that the X-15 could climb to the top of the atmosphere and fire missiles at targets that actually were in space. The missile body itself was a quantum leap in performance. Rather than rely on a chemical rocket engine to provide thrust, the new version had a contra-gravity thruster powered by the other breakthrough: rods made of a combination of rare elements in such a way that they could store tremendous amounts of electrical energy. The document called them power rods. The missile could carry enough of them to give it the ability to reach out as far as the orbit of New Caledon’s tiny moon. That was its maximum range, but in order to reach that far, the missile would have to accelerate at a modest rate which meant it would take hours to reach the moon’s orbit. If it accelerated at its maximum rate, it would run out of power by the time it reached an altitude of just over 30,000 miles. That altitude defined the X-15’s effective offensive capability and the planet’s defense zone. The document hinted that Rocketdyne’s other prototype would extend the defense zone much further but gave no details.

  There was one thing that Strider had hoped the X-15 would have, but didn’t. While the reverse engineering teams had eventually figured out what made the troop ship’s armor so tough, they were unable to duplicate the effect. Somehow, the planet where the Star Wolves originated had developed a way to condense matter to the point were electrons were stripped away, and atomic nuclei of protons and neutrons were so close together that there was very little empty space between them. The troop ship hull had a very thin layer of what the engineers had called collapsed matter. It was incredibly hard and also incredibly heavy for the volume of space it occupied. A block of collapsed matter in a cube only one inch along each side would be too heavy for a man to lift by himself. The troop ship’s computer, itself a marvel of miniaturization and computing power, had eventually revealed all its data, but none of that data explained how collapsed matter was made. It also didn’t contain any data on where the Star Wolves had come from, and that was the other disappointment. The troop ship didn’t have any way of travelling faster than light. It did have one reference to promethium as being a metal highly sought after by the Star Wolves, and since there was no trace of promethium in any other device on the troop ship, the engineers had speculated that it was used for faster than light engines.

  With the homework done, Strider joined Maureen to watch an hour of video, but he soon realized that he wasn’t paying much attention to the program. Instead, he was letting his imagination show him what flying the X-15 might be like. And that was better than any video program could ever be.

  Two days later, the new orders arrived. Strider was surprised to see that the first order was for him to appear before a Planetary Senate Committee to give testimony on the recommendation for instituting a massive campaign to make the planet’s power grid and critical electronics immune to EM pulses. Apparently, the politicians wanted to have a photo opportunity with the only person to have had some success in killing Star Wolves. Strider was told to wear his best uniform and his medal. He had to take a short flight to get to the Capital in time for the Committee hearing. The traffic from the airport to the Government Quarter was heavier than usual, and just as he was urging the taxi driver to take a different route, he heard the city’s space attack warning sirens go off.

  “Is this a drill?” he asked the driver.

  “Not that I know of. Shit. Do ya think…are they back?” asked the driver as he pulled over to the curb.

  “Hey, don’t stop. I’ve got to get to Aerospace Force Headquarters as fast as possible!”

  “Not a chance in this traffic with a real attack alert, Major. Everybody and their brother will be trying to evacuate the city. That’s what happened last time. Traffic ground to a halt, and those tracked artillery vehicles that came in just pushed cars out of the way or ran right over them. This taxi is my only source of income, and I’m not risking it being crushed by an artillery carrier just so you can ride in comfort to AF HQ. You might actually get there faster if you get out and go on foot. I’m heading for the nearest shelter.”

  Strider got out of the taxi, looked around to get his bearings and began to jog in the direction that he thought would get him to AF HQ. Running faster was difficult b
ecause of the pedestrian traffic that was coming the other way. When the sirens finally stopped blaring, the resulting near silence was a bit spooky.

  As he approached the park that was only a few blocks away from AF HQ, he noticed a shadow pass over him. He looked up to confirm his suspicion and groaned when he saw a huge, spherical ship glide silently overhead. Stopping to watch it, he quickly realized that it was coming down for a landing in the park.