Star Crusader: Knighthawk Squadron

by Michael G. Thomas

Even Nate had to fiddle to make himself comfortable inside the cockpit. It was an ugly variation of what was known as a Lightning pattern fighter. Most of the variants were smooth and filled with curves from another age. This was an odd mess of multi-coloured panels, ranging from light grey through to rusty brown. The two engines extended out on either side via a pair of stubby wings. From these mounts were six small wings containing cooling vents and stabiliser outlet thrusters.

  "Running through checks...now."

  Nate was speaking to himself but knew from his training under the command of Lieutenant Higgins that the checklists kept pilots alive. It was all too easy to try and do everything from memory, but even the most experienced pilot made mistakes, and he was little more than a videogame expert. This was still only his fifth time actually in the cockpit of a real fighter.

  "Pipes and fuel lines are clear. You're good to go," said the crewman.

  Nate lifted his hand and tapped his head, indicating he was ready for the mission. The crewman hit the seal button, and the dark canopy moved slowly into place. Though it looked much like any other canopy, the unit was covered in multiple layers of plating that could be tinted and blackened at will. Slightly less clear than the hardened glass often used in fighters, this provided substantially better protection against incoming fire.

  "Crusader Three ready for launch."

  Nate turned his attention forward and in the direction of the launch rails. He tried to imagine what it must have been like in the ship's glory days, back when it carried a full load of fighters and fought in massed ship battles. Now just a handful of craft remained and all the pilots were rookie cadets.

  "Crusader Four good to go," said Billy.

  Nate looked to his friend and gave him a thumbs-up. The gesture was quickly returned and both moved their attention back to the forward view. The door was shut, so Nate ran a final diagnostic on his systems. Though old, the fighter had been refurbished many times in its life, giving it upgraded avionics, an onboard computer, and more powerful engines. It was very different from his days playing the Star Crusader videogame.

  "Fifteen seconds to launch, standby," said Lieutenant Higgins.

  Nate looked to his left and right, trying to find any sign of his officer. The man was nowhere to be seen, and he could only assume he had taken the elevator that led to the Fighter Control suite. In answer to his question, his image appeared on the inside of his helmet.

  "Relentless is still decelerating. There are major signs of debris ahead, much more than the brief suggested. Keep your eyes open and be careful. Who knows what is out there?"

  They acknowledged his command and waited in silence, with nothing but the clock slowly ticking down. Fifteen seconds was not a long time, but when you were inside a fighter, filled to the brim with fuel and ammunition, it was easy for nerves to take control of a pilot.

  "Five seconds. Good hunting, Crusader Squadron."

  The counter hit two seconds, and Nate instinctively tensed his body. The pressure suit component of his Naval PDS gear would absorb most of the force, but it was still something he found rather unpleasant. The counter moved to zero. The red lights flashed once and then turned green.

  "Launch!"

  The interior of the ship vanished in a blur as his fighter was rushed forward, using nothing but the electromagnetic launch catapult. The first of three layers of doors opened to let the fighters through. As he reached the second, the first doors closed right behind him, instantly sealing the deck from the coldness of space. The second doors opened with incredible speed, and the same process was repeated. By the time the fighter was through the last layer, three entire sets of doors had slid open and closed behind it.

  Activate main boosters...now.

  The fighter shuddered gently as Nate went from an unpowered missile to a fighter operating under its own power. He only gave the engines a modest boost; just enough to get them warm but not accelerate too quickly. Once satisfied, he checked his surroundings and then his rear view.

  "Relentless, this is Crusader Three. I am clear of the launch rails and moving to the first waypoint."

  He glanced off to his right and slightly behind as the shape of another Lightning fighter launched from the top deck of the assault ship. The view reminded Nate of the videostreams of ancient Earth, where water based warships launched fighters from their own decks.

  What were they called, flattops or something?

  Both fighters were now clear and in formation as they moved further and further from the single Alliance warship.

  "Understood, Crusader Three. Watch your six out there. We're coming right behind you."

  They moved ahead for almost ten minutes. It was necessary to give them the time and space to perform an adequate scan of the area. Nate was surprised by the amount of material in this area of space.

  "Relentless, I am picking up substantial material in the area. Recommend you slow your approach and activate your defence grid. Something is wrong."

  The debris increased in size, and as they moved closer, the computer began to scan and tag anything within range. There were pieces ranging in size from a few metres up to several kilometres. Analysis from the computer showed radiation emanating from several of the larger sections.

  "Crusader Four, stay close. Let's check this out."

  "Affirmative."

  They moved away from the smaller sections and towards the much larger one. Nate activated his landing lights and pulled up to get a better view.

  "Uh...Relentless, we've got something. It resembles starship debris. Unknown classification. Looks like it’s been here days, maybe weeks. The computer is picking up live ordnance. Advise you stay back until we've cleared the area."

  He tapped the control column and put his Lightning IIA fighter-bomber into a gentle roll. It was a subtle but necessary movement to avoid hitting the pieces of broken starship that lay in groups all around him. Off to his right, Billy did the same, both spacecraft leaving crystallised vapour behind them as they veered away. Something exploded as Billy ran into a massive chunk of drifting ice. Luckily for him, the combined speed was slow enough to avoid severe damage, but it still managed to tear out two of his stabiliser wings.

  "You okay back there?"

  Billy answered immediately, with a hint of panic to his voice.

  "Yeah, minor damage. Lost a bit of fuel as well. I don't know how I..."

  "Just keep your sensors active and your eyes open. Follow me."

  On they went, moving in and out of odd patches of smashed vessels. Most of the area was completely clear, but with even the smallest chance of an impact, they were taking no chances. Nate estimated there were hundreds, perhaps even thousands of these areas of debris. As well as the small sections, there were large numbers of burnt out ships that appeared to have been ravaged by atomic fires from within. These broken hulks littered the vast emptiness surrounding the Spacebridge.

  The fighter levelled off, and Nate blipped the thrusters once more to clear an especially dangerous looking segment. He felt obliged to remain silent, like a child walking through a graveyard at night. He'd been involved in just one actual space battle, but that had been enough to understand the dangers that waited out here. Nate had seen people die, including his friend Jack. This was a real fighter, on a real mission, and if he failed, he could not simply start again.

  What's that?

  Off to his right were the remains of a ship unlike any he had seen before. It was truly massive and so big his computer system had actually identified it as three separate structures. Each was big enough to be the size of an Imperial frigate, but combined would rival something as large as a Warlord class battleship.

  What happened out here? This wasn't a battle. It was a massacre.

  The ship was Crimson Fire, and she had been the flagship of the Third Quadrant Fleet, a mighty behemoth that fought in numerous battles over a century of service. Her layered hull was thick enough to withstand multiple salvos of atomic warheads, and her we
apon systems the most advanced in the Empire. Yet for all her strengths, the mighty battleship now lay shattered, her armour rent open, and reactors split apart. The nine hundred metre long warship had been torn asunder by her enemies, her carcass ripped open and exposed to the void.

  Lucky we missed this. With a handful of ships, we would probably be dead, too.

  It was a sobering thought as they passed the remains of three other ships lying nearby, and large sections of their hulls smashed deep into the hull of Crimson Fire. It was a cruel end to a glorious ship.

  The battleship now joined the dozens of others that littered this region of space. Most were Byotai, but there were also several civilian ships, including the remains of a massive passenger liner. As he moved over the ship, he tried to pick out any identifying marks. There were none, and even if there had been, the explosions and fires had turned the external surfaces black and scorched.

  This was a bloodbath...So many ships!

  Nate turned his attention back to the Spacebridge, a space station in the shape of a half ring extended around the entrance. At one point it must have been a control point for the interstellar bridge that connected this region with the Helion Nexus, a region of space controlled by the Alliance, and the hub for interstellar travel throughout the galaxy. Now the starbase was as battered and ruined as the dozens of ships nearby. Nate looked down at his controls and checked his active scanners were still off-line. He was under strict orders to keep them off to avoid making his presence known. When he lifted his eyes, he spotted the piece of black wreckage ahead. It spun widely and was heading directly at him.

  Idiot!

  There was no time to reduce speed. So he rolled to the right and hit the burners. The spacecraft avoided the impact with just four metres to spare. If it had been a less manoeuvrable fighter, he'd have been swatted like a fly on a wall.

  That was close, too close.

  Luckily for Nate, he was flying the much more rare Kerberos pattern Lightning fighter. This was considered the most advanced and well-armed version of the renowned model. The extra six tiny winglets that pushed out from the engine units also provided directional thrust to assist in low and medium speed manoeuvres. Any doubts he might have had over the agility of the fighter were cast aside as he pirouetted out of danger.

  For generations the Lightning had served both the Alliance and its predecessor, the old Confederacy. Though not as advanced as the new drone fighters, it was still a proven design and a veteran of a hundred war zones. Like most Naval fighters, it was twin-engine, but this variant was equipped with reinforced armour as well as additional wing-mounted assault guns. It was a formidable manned fighter and capable of taking on the best that any of the Alliance's neighbours could offer.

  Where are they?

  Since escaping an ambush by the Byotai, contact had been made with the remnants of the Alliance fleet. Though scattered, those still capable of high-speed travel were supposed to be meeting here, under the command of Admiral Churchill. As Nate looked out at the wreckage, he wondered if they had arrived too late. This area was relatively unimportant in the scheme of things. There were no planets to inhabit, and no asteroids to harvest for their resources. No ship would ever have travelled to this remote part of the Arnos Cluster had it not been for the Spacebridge. This massive tear in space-time was a rare celestial phenomenon that allowed instantaneous space travel between two points in space. This Spacebridge was one of only a handful in the Empire that connected back to the outer territories of the Helion Nexus. Once through they would be a few weeks from civilisation amongst the worlds of the Alliance.

  "Relentless, Crusader Three reporting in. This place is a junkyard. I've got nothing but wreckage out here, and no sign of the fleet. What are your orders?"

  The delay was short, and as always, the face of Lieutenant Higgins popped up as his direct link to the ship.

  "Follow the secondary scouting path. I'm sending out two more birds as backup. We might be close to the Rift, but we're still a long way from home."

  "Understood. Crusader Three out."

  Nate waggled his wings and then dived down to move in the direction of the next series of waypoints. The orb scanner showed Relentless had taken up a position within a clear bubble of space in front of the Rift entrance. There was no chance of a ship sneaking up on her without her escort fighters or sensors spotting them first. He made small adjustments as they travelled along three more waypoints. As the minutes ticked by, it became clearer that whatever had happened was now well in the past.

  "Relentless, there are no signs of life out here. Looks like we missed the fight."

  The computer had now built a detailed model that would allow safe travel using the navigation computer only, even though the entire area was littered with the debris of battle. Engines from fighters mingled with the shattered remnants of capital ships. What made Nate nervous was not the quantity of wreckage, but rather the fires still burning inside the larger segments.

  "Understood, Crusader Three. Proceed to waypoint six and await further instructions."

  Nate punched the burners and accelerated away from his current position. It took a few seconds for Billy to catch up and to reform at his flank.

  "Come on, you can do better than that," laughed Nate.

  Billy fishtailed for another second as he struggled to correct his heading.

  "Funny. Give me a bit of notice next time."

  The two fighters stayed close together, each pilot watching out for the other as they reached a much more open piece of space. That was the instant Nate spotted an odd reading on his helmet overlay.

  "Billy, I mean, Crusader Four. Get back, now!"

  There was no questioning his orders, and both fighters boosted their engines as they accelerated away. The engines burned bright and hot as they increased in speed just as a bright flash materialised right at their previous position. The light settled and then a whirlpool of energy replaced it, like a monstrous eye gazing out at them.

  "Relentless, are you seeing this?"

  "Affirmative," replied Lieutenant Higgins, "Fall back to your CAP position and get ready for combat."

  Nate gulped uncomfortably and then depressed the boost mode. Every ounce of available power now diverted to the engines as the pair of fighters accelerated away. They made it ninety kilometres before a massive blast of energy spiked inside the centre of the newly created whirlpool.

  "Nate!"

  Both fighter pilots looked back as the nose of a single massive warship materialised from out of the Rift. More shapes continued coming through. Nate counted nine capital ships.

  "Relentless, we have contact. Nine..."

  "Understood," said Lieutenant Higgins, cutting Nate off midsentence, "Get back here, stat. We have a problem."

  Nate and Billy needed no further encouragement as they hurtled back towards the Alliance assault ship. Distant flashes marked the launch of a fifth and final fighter; one Nate knew could only be flown by Rex. They were far from best friends, but the death of Jack had left him distant and cold.

  "Crusader Squadron, form up fifty kilometres ahead, at waypoint alpha."

  Nate made the course change and then looked back at the Rift. It was still open, and he could only assume it was one of the many unmarked Spacebridges that could be opened and closed at will from one side or the other. The Lieutenants' face was still visible as he looked to his right at an unseen screen.

  "They are a mixture of Byotai and Anicinàbe vessels. But look at the symbols on their hulls. All of them are the same."

  The bright objects fitted on the flanks of each ship were massive, and so bright they might easily have been lit by neon strips.

  "What is that, a snake?"

  The Lieutenant shook his head.

  "No. That's a two-headed Sekieki, a lizard like creature native to both people. "

  The Star Empire!

  Nate had heard the rumours throughout the ship since their encounter with the Byotai warship. Until now he
had seen nothing that suggested it was anything other than rumour or speculation. As he looked at the great, garish insignia, that rumour had now become fact. The audio vanished as a public broadcast began on his internal speakers. He could switch it off, but the odd, machine-like voice instantly told him it was coming from a translator.

  "You are trespassing in our territory."

  Alerts activated one after the other as the fighter's sensors detected a myriad of threats. First were the invasive scans emanating from inside the opposing ships; but much more concerning to him were the missile trackers and turret targeters busily attempting to maintain a lock on him. Nate's eyes widened as he listened.

  "Close your gun ports and surrender your ship. You have thirty seconds to comply. Refusal will be answered by your annihilation. Witness the evidence around you if you do not understand."

  One of the Lightning fighters broke formation and began moving back towards the new arrival.

  "Crusader One. Regroup immediately," said Lieutenant Higgins.

  Though the officer was back inside the warship, he had the perfect position from which to oversee and manage the single fighter squadron. Red lights flashed on and off in the background, and occasionally another figure would move behind him as the officers managed the complex warship.

  "Hold on."

  Nate activated his burners and accelerated towards Rex. In a few seconds he was alongside and moved close to his flank. He then shook his wings and waved at him, hoping Rex would pay him at least some attention.

  "The LT said to get back."

  Rex shook his head.

  "No, we need to show them who's in charge out here."

  Nate was stunned. There were five of them flying Lighting fighters, and arrayed against them was an entire flotilla of warships. Not one of which gave the impression they were there with peaceful intentions.

  "Uh...Sir," said Nate, "What do we do?"

  The onboard passive sensors picked up one, then two, and then scores more targets as fighters launched from deep inside the opposing warships. In a matter of seconds, the confrontation had escalated to one that he knew they could never survive.