by SF Edwards
None of them had come due to various reasons. Marda was the only person to stop by briefly to drop off food before she’d headed off to a study session with some of her Medical Corps classmates.
Blazer pulled the plugs from the access ports and snapped the cover shut as he looked to the orb hovering beside him, “You’re sure it’s done?”
The orb twittered and spun about. It was more worked up than even Blazer was now that the task had been completed.
“It all checks out. We didn’t leave anything disconnected or improperly bonded?”
The orb twittered another affirmative.
“Then it’s ready to go.”
“What’s ready to go?” Chief Flind asked from behind him.
Blazer jumped. How the Sheol is that giant Rimdook so stealthy?
“Did you trim your claws or something, chief?”
The chief smiled down at him, “No. They tap only when I want them to.”
“Uh, yes, well, my fighter. She’s all finished and checks out. I think she’s ready for a test-flight.”
The chief looked back into the alcove. Aside from the differently colored wing, a few unpainted panels, the overly polished thruster ports, and a docking connection that Blazer pulled from the spares the trainer looked no different from any other on the deck.
“The diagnostic checked out blue?” the chief asked looking at the diagnostic computer on its stand beside the fighter.
“Every single one,” Blazer replied, puffing his chest out. “You’d think it came from the factory.”
The chief looked on with a slight frown. “I never trust them straight from the factory.” He then squinted at something over Blazer’s shoulder and spotted the orb as it peeked out from behind him. “Well, does it all check out?” he asked the orb.
The orb shot out and circled the pair flashing images through their minds of all the connections and diagnostic data.
“OK! OK!” Chief Flind said, batting the orb away. “You have permission to suit up and take it out for a test-flight. One thing though,” the chief said halting Blazer before he could take a single step. “Is the slipstream drive charged?”
Blazer shot a look back at the diagnostic computer. The orb shot the image into his mind before he could. The drive bulb sat empty in the fighter’s spine. The lack of power after the accident had allowed the hyperspace bubble within to collapse.
“No, sir. I didn’t think to charge it. I didn’t think I would be flying it this cycle.”
“Well, we’ll have to correct that then. Optimus Teg has a sensor blind spot. It would be a good place for you to go and check out the rework and get some readings for us.”
Blazer nodded, understanding what the chief really meant. “OK then. I’ll have it towed over to the slipstream bulb storage, swap out the bulb, refuel it…”
“No. No,” the chief said waving him off. “I’ll take care of it. It’s been a while since I swapped out a slipstream bulb. Go get suited up and I’ll have it ready for you by the time you get back.”
Blazer resisted leaping with joy as he hurried off across the deck to the locker rooms. “Thanks Chief!”
The chief proved as good as his word. When Blazer returned from the locker room fully suited up for his flight, he found the trainer awaiting him by the launch tubes fully fueled and with a charged slipstream drive. Blazer ran up to it as eager as a kid on his birth cycle. Ever since the accident he’d wanted to take this plane back out and after installing the modifications that eagerness had only increased.
The chief walked out from around it when Blazer approached. “It’s all set and ready to go. I’ve even completed the walk around for you.”
Blazer nodded but still proceeded with a cursory walk around just to be sure. “It’s not that I don’t trust you, chief…”
Chief Flind shrugged in understanding. “I know. It’s a pilot thing.”
Blazer climbed up into the cockpit after he’d finished his checklist. He secured his helmet and strapped in. He ran through the prelaunch checklist with meticulous care and contacted launch control. Before Blazer knew it he was in space. After the dark expanse surrounded him, he sighed in relief. Despite all the hects he had logged in his replacement trainer, it had never felt right to him. This one did and he was happy that he had given it new wings.
Blazer burned towards the edge of the asteroid shell with an eager smile smeared across his face. After exiting, he aligned his slipstream drive for the journey to Optimus Teg. The mass of a maintenance plug in his pocket reminded him of its presence.
The design team had come up with the maintenance plug after Chief Flind’s reminder that other cadets besides Blazer would fly the trainer as well. The idea had crossed Blazer’s mind one cycle after lights out. Maintainers used special dongles that contained software overrides and a simple hardware identifier, allowing it to reconfigure the areospacecraft for testing and maintenance purposes. Blazer had gotten ahold of a spare dongle and Gokhead had rebuilt and reprogrammed the device to act as the key for activating the otherwise dormant modifications.
Blazer activated the slipstream and headed towards Optimus Teg. A wireframe appeared on his canopy showing him the sensor shadow. Within that shadow, the planet’s mass and radiation field rendered the academy’s sensors blind. He dropped out of slipstream just outside the sensor blind spot and drifted in. He has to be sure that I’m invisible to the academy before I activate the modifications.
He watched the boundary of the sensor shadow fall behind him and dug out the dongle along with his father’s old macomm. He plugged a cable from the dongle into the unit. I have to use my dad’s old macomm for this test. While his issued unit was newer and compatible it automatically linked to academy intra-weave and backed up its contents to his assigned stitch. His old unit required a manual connection and would keep the data secret.
Blazer attached his macomm to the console before locking the dongle into the maintenance socket beside it. A series of alerts lit up his warning display. Ok, I knew that would happen. The first one showed a red flight recorder. The dongle disabled the unit to make sure that no one else would inadvertently see the improved performance data. Instead, his macomm would record the flight data.
Other alerts that popped up were the ones they’d discovered during preliminary testing. The way in which the changes rerouted systems had them work together in ways the designers had never intended.
Like most fighters, the Splicer 1000 did not fly as one integrated system. Individual systems had their own computers which took commands from the flight control computer based on the pilot’s inputs. Attempts to make fully integrated fighters had been made in the past. The Splicer 4000, which later gave way to the Splicer 5000, was one such attempt. All of its systems linked through common computers and data links, which ultimately led to its downfall.
When first introduced and fielded, the 4000 was one of the best fighters in existence. The fighter operated with only three computers instead of the dozen or more other fighters needed to perform the same job. This saved power and lowered the amount of waste heat generated. It wasn’t until it became the backbone of the fleet that the fatal flaw showed itself. A single point of failure could lead to a cascade effect that would bring down all three computers and disable the fighter. Worse yet, the fighter couldn’t readily accept upgrades or have new weapons and systems added to it without extensive rework.
Engineers had tried for annura to correct the problem and while the fleet upgraded during the armistice, more issues had arisen. When the armistice ended, the fighters were almost useless.
The Splicer 5000 proved to be the eventual answer. The redesign featured much of the integration that was the hallmark of the earlier model but not by sacrificing the number of computers used. Instead, the computers shared the load amongst them. Damage to one computer did not spell the loss of its associated systems. The program load could switch to another computer with less tasking or be divided between multiple computers.
Beyond the p
hysical modifications the team had made to the engines and power systems, integration was the core of their alterations on this Splicer 1000. The team had linked the computer systems in a similar fashion to the Splicer 5000. Now, instead of the Flight Control Computer sending instructions to the Engine Control Computer and to the Fuel Control Microcomputer, the craft had all three computers working together. The results were a lower fuel burn rate at a higher exhaust velocity which provided higher thrust.
The physical modifications were much more subtle. They’d realigned the plasma acceleration coils in the engines. This allowed them to slip in another phase shift coil, further increasing the exhaust velocity. Chris had reshaped the exhaust nozzles to reduce losses and retuned the maneuvering thrusters to maximize the performance as well. All of the changes were minor but, if the team was right, they would add up to big performance benefits.
Blazer held his hands over the controls now that the fighter was ready for him to put it through its new paces. He was more than eager to do so. Blazer threw the throttle open and the thrust slammed him back in his seat. He had expected to have higher acceleration but the force pushing on him didn’t feel right and he had to think why. A moment later it came to him. Shreg! We didn’t recalibrate the acceleration compensators for the additional thrust.
It’s nothing I can’t handle though. Keeping the throttle open, he pulled back hard on the stick causing the modified thruster ports to engage in turn. The fighter back flipped across the sky, skidding along and entering a tight loop. The loop was much tighter than normal and as his nose pointed back along his line of inertia he pushed over on the stick.
Blazer felt his blood rush to his head before he leveled back out above the clouds. Squeezing the left slide control on his throttle, he crashed into his restraints as the slide thrusters and thrust ring behind the engine engaged and sent him into a lateral skid across the sky. He repeated the maneuver with a slide to the right, the reverse thrust paddles opening for a moment when his foot slipped onto the rudder pedals.
No time like the present. He tested the rudders next, slamming the left then right pedals in turn and the fighter pirouetted above the clouds before he rolled it left and right. He engaged in all the basic flight maneuvers in every direction to test the new response roll rates.
Finished with the basic test maneuvers, he found himself in the middle of the shadow zone and cut his throttle. Drifting along, he allowed himself to catch his breath. He grabbed his macomm and checked the numbers. Oh yeah, that’s the stuff. Now let’s really see what you can do. He stuck the macomm back on his console and looked down at the planet below.
Smiling, he rolled the fighter over. Though the image the SIS presented was as true as what his eyes saw through the silica-steel canopy, he always found it too artificial. He needed to see the colorful swirling clouds with his own eyes while he formulated his plan. He tuned his sensors to pick up the electromagnetic field of the planet and to pass it through a data sonification filter. The haunting electromagnetic voice of the planet filled his ears a moment later. Let’s see if we can make it scream, he decided with a wicked smile.
Blazer pulled back on his stick until the planet filled his view and punched his throttle full open. He dove towards the planet, the haunting voice in his ears increasing in pitch as he built up speed. He checked his shields when the first hints of atmosphere buffeted his craft. The ion screen lit up in response and he activated his dive shield. The voice screamed in his ears after the Navigational Deflector Field activated. It disrupted his ion screen’s interaction with the planet’s magnetic field--the gravitational shield pressing the atmosphere out of his way.
Without the NDF, the speeds at which he dove would sear the skin of the craft and could even threaten to melt armored hull before he slowed down to a more manageable speed.
Blazer ignored the gravitational lensing effect the NDF caused as he continued diving into the atmosphere just as the first hydrogen clouds enveloped him. The high winds of the upper atmosphere assaulted his dive through the clouds. The banshee wail of the magnetosphere called out to him before he burst through the clouds into open air. Another layer of clouds thousands of metra below greeted him.
He hauled back on the stick in response, throwing himself into the airstream. The belly of the fighter acted as an aero brake, slowing him to supersonic, and he sped along with the invisible sky river. Ready to do more, he repeated the maneuvers he flew in orbit.
Feeling reckless, Blazer cut his throttle and pushed hard on the right pedal to put the fighter transverse to the air steam before rolling it onto its side. His speed dropped in an instant and the stall warning alarm roared. It was the first time he’d heard it outside of the simulators. The computers had determined that his angle of attack exceeded safe limits. The fighter fell in response to the massive planet’s gravity pulling him down towards the thicker clouds below. His nose fell towards the planet. He reignited the plasma drives and gave the stick a slow, gentle pull.
The fighter responded in kind, lunging forward and built up the speed it needed in an instant before he hauled back on the stick and leveled off below the airstream. He rolled over again to dive back towards the lower atmosphere of the planet. Blazer cut the throttle as he nosed over and glided down towards the next layer of clouds below.
The fighter’s momentum built up rapidly as he dove. The heavy gravity pulled him almost as fast as his engines would and he approached the fighter’s aerodynamic limits. He kept a careful eye on his altimeter while setting it to follow the cloud layer below him. When the altimeter read 400 metra, he heaved back on the stick, gunning his throttle.
The fighter flipped about in a little over twice its length and, with the craft’s nose pointed skyward, he punched the afterburners. In the heavy gravity, he slid backwards into the hydrogen cloud before the engines overcame the momentum and began to climb. He grunted under the g-load but held onto the afterburner. An idea occurred to him and he punched up the de-grav generators. The craft took off like a shot in response as the anti-grav system negated some of the planet’s gravity field.
Blazer continued to fly about for nearly half a hect, putting the fighter through its paces. He dove in and out of the clouds. He fought against the wind and rolled around airborne rivers of liquid helium. His fighter groaned through high-g maneuvers in the dense atmosphere. Finishing his testing, Blazer rocketed back towards space above and punched through the highest layer of the gas giant’s atmosphere. Like a victory flare after a race, iridescent vapor trails followed him out of the clouds.
Blazer’s pulse pounded in his ears and his breath came in exhilarated gasps. He programmed the autopilot to take him into a high orbit and released the controls. The fighter did as ordered and continued ahead while he calmed himself down. The excitement of the maneuvers still left him pumped.
He pulled hard on his helmet, rubbing the terry cloth across his forehead to absorb the sweat there. That was amazing, I never imagined it would be like this. He had to fight to catch his breath with all the excitement.
Blazer pulled the macomm down from his console and looked at the numbers. They were better than the chief’s estimates but still below his own numbers. However, they were almost dead on for Gokhead’s calculations. That'll show me to second guess a full on genius. I won’t make that mistake again.
Satisfied, Blazer disconnected the dongle and macomm. He stuffed them back into their designated pockets. He watched as one after the other the alert lights on his console winked out except for one. He tapped his console to find out more and found an ionization alarm on his starboard engine’s thrust ring. Uh oh. Did the modifications cause that? The levels aren’t too far off normal, but I’ll definitely have to check it out.
Taking the controls again, Blazer vectored back towards home and flew out of the planet’s mass shadow. He aligned the slipstream drive for the flight back and, after activating the drive, arrived at the asteroid shell a short time later. Space Traffic Control vectored him th
rough the shell; keeping him away from the other squadrons out on maneuvers. He watched one of the squadrons he passed. Could fly rings around any one of you now. After he entered the pattern to land he called the maintenance decks.
To his surprise, Chief Flind answered the link. “How did it handle?” he asked.
“It handled fine, sir. I am, however, reading an ionization alert on the starboard thrust ring.”
The chief’s nose scrunched up on the screen. “Check the sensors when you come in. When they’ve been out of service for a while they tend to drift out of tolerance. It’s a common oversight during inspections. Just to be on the safe side we’ll arrange to give the craft a good ionization scrub.”
Blazer grimaced. I knew I’d forgotten something. “Copy that, sir.”
“Did you take the sensor data?”
Oh Shreg! He had his flight data saved to his macomm but the dongle disabled his flight recorder the entire time he was in the mass shadow. Did I record the sensor data? Will it show the modifications if I did? “I’ll check, sir. The flight data recorder was acting up while I was in the mass shadow. I had to shut it down.”
“Understood. See what you can do about recovering the data before next cycle.”
Assuming I actually recorded it, Gokhead has the skills to weave the data to change the location and time stamps enough to mask the performance changes. I hope anyway. “Will do, sir. I am inbound for landing now. Will see you shortly.”
“Good! Good work on that fighter. I may have a surprise for you later.”
After landing, Blazer assisted the deck crew. He safed the fighter's systems, put in the various disarming and locking pins and ran the analysis on the thrust ring ionization. Sure enough, the ionization was within normal specifications for a flight. The sensors were faulty. Taking the maintenance log, he wrote it down on his gripe list with a note to correct it later that cycle or the next.
After finishing, Blazer taxied the craft back to its normal parking slot. The trainer he’d flown for the past few tridecs had already been moved by the chief. He locked down his craft. It felt good to see his bird where it belonged again. Its off-color wing and unpainted panels stood out amongst the rest. They were not marks of shame in his eyes but badges of honor.
