by Bob Blanton
“I didn’t know . . . ,” the pilot stuttered.
“And another thing, she’s fourteen years old!” Jason said.
“No way!”
“That’s right, I heard that before,” one of the pilots said. “Hey Jackson, my sister is sixteen, do you want me to send for her so she can babysit you?”
“Shut up!” Jackson said.
◆ ◆ ◆
Catie took a deep breath, then she crawled inside the Fist. She wiggled around until she got fully seated and had her feet on the pedals that would allow her to direct the gravity drive to maneuver the Fist. She put the helmet for her spacesuit on and gave the crew chief a thumbs up to tell him to start sealing her in.
The space was so tight that she couldn’t really move her arms; they were fitted into the slots that gave her access to the plasma cannons and the lasers. She would only be able to fire one or the other. The lasers would be on automatic unless the controls were knocked out by an EMP; if that happened, she would have to aim them using one of the eight mirrors set up to give her a view of the back of the sphere. There were strategically located polyglass windows to allow viewing in the various angles that she would want to be able to protect herself. Then there was the single window in front of her that would be facing the target.
“How are you doing in there?” Natalia asked.
“I feel like a sardine,” Catie said.
“I can believe it,” Natalia said. “No way you could get me to get into one of these.”
“You wouldn’t fit anyway,” Catie said. “Max height is one hundred seventy-three centimeters, and they better not be carrying any extra weight.”
“Do we have enough pilots that small?” Natalia asked.
“A couple of hundred,” Catie said.
“That’s good; do you think any of them will be willing to volunteer?”
“I hope so. I hope we don’t have to sedate them to get them into this thing. Isn’t he done yet?”
“Settle down, he’s almost finished,” Natalia said. “So you’re going to let Liz and Kasper shoot at you?”
“That’s the plan,” Catie said. “Four plasma cannons from a Hyrax will deliver the same energy as the plasma cannon from that battleship.”
“I thought the battleship’s cannon had more power than that.”
“It does, but only the three-meter center of the beam can do anything,” Catie said. “The rest of the beam will just go right on by.”
“Oh, right. I forgot about that part. Pretty lame since we were talking about how small it is in there.”
“I’m okay with lame,” Catie said. “Anything to keep my mind off this thing. By the way, how are you and Paul doing?”
“We’re doing just fine. You know he came out to Jupiter, right?”
“Of course I did,” Catie said. “Who else could be putting that big smile on your face.”
“He does make me smile,” Natalia said. “Now when are you going to find a boyfriend? There are lots of nice pilots out here.”
“Mommy says I can’t date until I’m fifteen,” Catie said.
“That is kind of nuts, you know. You can’t date, but you can crawl inside of that thing.”
“She doesn’t know about this, and don’t you dare tell her,” Catie said. “Besides, I’m not really interested in boys right now.”
“Hey girl, you have to get over that creep, Frankie,” Natalia said.
“I’m over him; I even deleted that video from my comm.” Catie was referring to the video that Natalia had a friend make of her giving Frankie the come on, then slamming him with a hard rejection. It had made him look a complete fool, and had made the rounds of all his military buddies.
“I’m sure ADI still has a copy,” Natalia said, “just in case.”
“I do have a copy,” ADI said, “and you might like to know that it is up to two million hits.”
Catie laughed at that. “I’m glad to hear that. Thanks, ADI.”
“You’re welcome.”
“Catie, you’re ready to go, are you going to fly it out, or do you want some guys to pick it up and carry it out?”
“I’ll fly it,” Catie said as she engaged the gravity drive.
The three-meter sphere that Catie had dubbed Odin’s Fist rose off the deck of the flight bay. The crew chief had deployed the screen that allowed the rest of the flight bay to stay pressurized while they opened the doors to allow the Fist to exit. Catie was glad to be engaged with flying it; she had been barely able to keep the panic down while she talked to Natalia. The dark coffin-like sphere was so restrictive, it felt like she was buried alive.
Pushing those thoughts from her mind, Catie accelerated the Fist away from the carrier and toward the waiting Hyraxes flown by Kasper and Liz. They had the picket flight space a little farther out than normal, trying to minimize the audience as much as possible.
“Hey, Catie,” Blake said, “you doing okay?”
“I’m fine, Uncle Blake,” Catie lied. Her voice had a quiver to it, so she knew he knew.
“Just hang in there,” Blake said. “Tell them when you’re ready.”
“I’m ready,” Catie said.
Liz flew her Hyrax in and engaged one of its plasma cannons firing on the Fist.
Catie maneuvered the Fist around inside the beam. “Capacitors charging, hull temp stable,” she announced. “Give me the second cannon.”
Liz fired the Hyrax’s second forward cannon, adjusting its position, so both beams fully encased the sphere.
“Capacitors fully charged, plasma cannon automatically engaged,” Catie said. The sphere was now shooting a plasma beam out of its forward cannon. “Capacitors holding at eighty percent.”
“Are you ready for some more?” Kasper asked.
“Bring it on,” Catie said. “Give me both at once.”
Kasper maneuvered his Hyrax into position and engaged both of his forward cannons at once.
“Capacitors spiked to ninety percent; the beam increased power to compensate, capacitors back to eighty percent. Okay, both of you cut your cannons, then engage them together on my mark.”
With the cannons off, Catie let the capacitors discharge to fifty percent before she cut her plasma cannon off. “Hit me!”
Liz and Kasper engaged all four cannons within milliseconds of each other.
“Capacitors spiked to ninety-five percent, now holding steady at eighty,” Catie said. “I think we need to adjust the sensitivity of the trigger. I’d rather we avoid that spike.”
“You’ve got it,” Fred said. “Are you ready to test that magnetic coupling?”
“Sure, where’s the Oryx?” Tests had shown that an Oryx filled with the iron-nickel slugs would be the best proxy for the Paraxean battleship.
“Ten degrees to starboard and two thousand meters,” Fred said.
“On my way.”
Catie guided the Fist over toward the Oryx. Once she was within twenty meters of it, she engaged the magnetic couples; she immediately felt the Fist connect with the Oryx.
“Okay, try to shake me,” she said.
“Rolling,” Jason said. “Now twisting . . . a little acceleration.”
“I’m stuck to you like a tick!” Catie said.
“Eww, try a different analogy,” Jason quipped.
“Now how about a sting?” Catie said as she engaged her plasma cannon. She had it set to ten percent so the Oryx’s hull would be able to handle the energy. She just wanted to see if the cannon would interfere with the magnetic coupling.
“Ride him, Cowgirl,” Liz said.
Jason went through the list of maneuvers Catie had given him, one after another. After he finished, he improvised a few.
“Okay, I’m out of ideas,” Jason said.
“Good, I’m tired. Disengaging coupling,” Catie said as she released the magnetic coupling and started the Fist back to the Enterprise flight bay. While she was maneuvering it, she kept her eyes and mind focused out the polyglass window, fighting to keep t
he sense of panic from rising up again. While she had been engaged with the Oryx and the Hyraxes, the action had kept her distracted, but now that things were calm, her mind couldn’t help wonder how long it would take to get her out of the Fist.
She had barely set the Fist down before Charlie Hopkins, the crew chief, was cutting the top off the Fist. It took him twenty minutes to cut a small hole so that at least Catie could see that she was being freed. It was another hour before he had enlarged it enough to allow Catie to exit.
“How’s my girl?” Blake said, giving Catie a big hug.
“Where’s my scotch?” Catie asked.
“Your dad said I could give you a full measure,” Blake said as he handed her a glass.
“Good thing,” Catie said.
“Hey, Cowgirl,” Liz said as she, Jason, and Kasper joined Catie and Blake.
Natalia snuck up behind Catie and put a cowboy hat on her head.
Catie laughed, “Where did you find this thing?”
“Yeoman Waters found it for me,” Natalia said. “I couldn’t resist after I heard Liz call you a cowgirl.”
“So, what do you think?” Blake asked.
“With a few adjustments, I think they’ll do the job,” Catie said.
“How did you fit into that thing?” Kasper asked.
“Barely,” Catie said. “And don’t worry, you won’t fit in it.”
“Whew,” Kasper said. “I’m glad I don’t have to volunteer.”
“They say ‘volunteer’ because you don’t have to do it,” Catie said.
“Hey, I’m not letting you shame me again,” Kasper laughed.
◆ ◆ ◆
“Hi, Daddy,” Catie said.
“Hi, Sweetie, I hear the test went well.”
“It did,” Catie said.
“Good, are we on track to deploy tomorrow?”
“Yes, that’s what I want to talk to you about,” Catie said.
“I’m not going to like this, am I,” Marc said.
“Probably not. I want to fly one of them.”
“WHY?”
“Because I can’t ask four pilots to do it while I stay on the carrier. It is really scary to climb into that thing.”
“But you’ve done it already,” Marc said. “What do you have to prove?”
“Nothing, but if I was just any other pilot, I would be expected to fly it,” Catie said.
“But . . .”
“I know I’m only fourteen, but there are over fifty guys who are never going to get any older. I have to do this.”
“Your mother will kill us both!”
“Don’t tell her,” Catie said.
“But what if something happens?”
“Then I guess we’ll have much bigger problems,” Catie said.
“I really want to talk you out of this,” Marc said.
“I’m not willing to be talked out of it.”
“None of this will have been worth it if something happens to you!”
“That’s not true. There is all of humanity to do it for. I’m just one person, even if I am the cutest one,” Catie said.
“You have me there. You know I love you more than anything.”
“I love you too, Daddy. We’ll talk tomorrow at the sendoff.”
◆ ◆ ◆
“Attention, pilots,” Blake announced as he started the meeting. “You’ve been asked here because you all meet the physical criteria to be able to volunteer for this mission.”
Everyone looked around the flight bay; after a bit, they all realized that everyone in the audience was of slight stature, and over half were women. They turned their attention back to Captain Blake to see what their small stature had qualified them for.
Catie used her HUD to guide one of the Fists into the center of the room, in front of Blake.
“What you see before you is Odin’s Fist,” Blake said. “It is what is going to finally put paid to that Paraxean battleship. It has a very restricted interior; its pilot must be between 5’ 4” and 5’ 9”, and had better have been maintaining their conditioning.”
The group laughed at that, and a few of them started sticking their stomachs out so they looked heavier.
“We have six of them; two are going to be held in reserve; four will actually attack the battleship.”
That got a rise out of the group. “You have to be crazy. I wouldn’t want to get into that thing, much less try and attack that battleship with it.”
“This is not a bar!” Liz barked. “I expect you to be at parade rest!”
“Please direct your attention to the wall display,” Blake said. “We’ll show you why it’s not so insane.”
The image of the four Hyraxes and the Fist came on the display. It was the video showing the test Catie had conducted the night before. The Hyraxes were just floating beside the Fist, waiting for Catie’s signal. Then they engaged their cannons, engulfing the Fist in four plasma beams. The plasma beam erupted from the sphere aimed away from the Hyraxes, but it was clear to everyone that it was the biggest plasma beam they’d ever seen.
“Our analysis and test show that the Fist can withstand the plasma cannon from the battleship and redirect the energy into it. In fact, it can withstand two of the cannons by engaging a second plasma cannon. You would need to move out of range of the second cannon within five minutes, but I’m sure the pilot wouldn’t need any prompting.”
The next image showed the Fist coupled to the Oryx as Jason took it through various maneuvers. “The Fist will magnetically couple to the battleship and can’t be shaken off. It has small gravity drives that allow it to maintain its position, but it needs to be magnetically coupled in case the battleship starts to spin or accelerate away.”
“How do you deploy the thing?” someone asked.
“Did I say you could ask questions!” Liz barked.
“I’ll answer that question, then open the floor to questions,” Blake said. “The deployment is not for the faint of heart. The Fist is put into a Hyrax instead of a pod; then the Hyrax flies at the battleship until the battleship or one of the Paraxean Foxes destroys it; then the Fist ejects like a pod and continues on to the battleship.”
“Who . . . ,” the pilot caught himself and waited.
“Okay, questions?”
“And make them respectful!” Liz said.
“Why that method of deployment?” the pilot rephrased his question.
“Because we don’t want the Paraxeans to realize what they are until they’ve coupled to the battleship,” Blake said. “If they do, then they just need to use their Foxes to push the Fists away, and the mission will fail.”
“Why don’t you just use a robotic pilot?”
“First question we asked the designer,” Blake said. “Because one EMP pulse and the robotic pilot is toast. Everything in it is designed for manual controls; it uses thick film electronics that can be hardened against EMP, but that requires a human pilot.”
“Why so small?”
“As you saw in the demonstration, the two Hyraxes’ plasma cannons totally engulfed the Fist with little to no spillover; that simulates the same power as one of the battleship’s main cannons. Those cannons have a five-meter beam, the Fist is only three meters, so it only has to deal with thirty-six percent of the beam’s power. The bigger it is, the more power it would have to manage. The designer determined this was the optimum size.”
“I’ll bet the designer is six foot four and two hundred fifty pounds.”
“Was that a question, Lieutenant Jackson,” Liz barked.
“No, Ma’am. I apologize,” Lieutenant Jackson said.
“You are incorrect,” Blake said. “The designer was also our first test pilot and our first volunteer, Lieutenant Catie McCormack. I’m sure she will be willing to answer any further questions. Those who want to volunteer, please talk with Commander Farmer.”
Catie walked out from behind the group of pilots and took up position next to the Fist.
“Attention! Dismissed!
” Liz said, then she and Blake left the room to allow the group to have a more informal discussion.
“What made you think of this thing?” one of the women pilots asked.
“It’s obvious that we have to get close to the battleship if we want to disable it. Even the railguns don’t do enough,” Catie said. “With these, we can cut through its hull. If we can destroy or damage their reactors, then it’ll become a floating hotel.”
“Wouldn’t they be able to repair the reactors?”
“Unlikely. The reactor design is not conducive to repair; it typically has to be completely replaced,” Catie said. She didn’t want to have to explain that the Paraxeans really didn’t understand the reactors and would need to print the whole thing, much less the fact that the same was true for them at this time.
“Where’s the door?”
“There isn’t one,” Catie said.
“What?”
“They have to print the hull closed so there are no gaps,” Catie said. “They have to cut you out afterward.”
“You mean they seal you in?”
“Hey, what’s the big deal,” Jason said. “When you crawl into that cockpit pod on the Hyrax or Fox, you might as well be sealed in. You’re not getting out until you’re back aboard the ship. It just takes a little longer with this thing.”
“So big mouth, are you going to volunteer?”
“You bet I am,” Jason said. “I might have to wear thin-soled shoes, but I’m going to fly one of these.”
◆ ◆ ◆
“Hey, Liz, what are you doing?” Catie asked after she entered Liz's cabin.
“Reviewing our volunteers,” Liz said.
“How many did we get?”
“Twenty-two,” Liz said.
“Wow, that many.”
“Surprised?”
“Yeah, I didn’t think that many showed much interest.”
“I suspect that for a few, their friends shamed them into it,” Liz said. “Those are the ones I want to eliminate.”
“Does that mean you’re going to nix Jason?”
“Nobody shamed him,” Liz said. “I know he’s your friend, but that wouldn’t matter, he’d be the first to volunteer anyway.”
“Who are you cutting?”
“That loudmouth, Jackson,” Liz said. “And there were a few I noticed who looked like they really wanted to be anyplace else but that flight bay. I was surprised when they volunteered.”
