Hero at Large

by Timothy Ellis

  "Pirates just lobbed a missile at the station. Minimal damage, but they claim they have a nuke, and will fire it at us if their demands are not met. No idea what the demands are yet."

  We stood there watching for a few minutes, Amanda obviously in communication with the rest of her team.

  A call notification popped up, from station management. I accepted it and threw it to the wall hollo. It was General Harriman.

  "We have a serious situation," he began. "The pirate group led by 'The Pig' has demanded you be handed over to them, along with his ship, and those of their group we have in custody. That includes the two who had a go at you after you left my office. If their demands are not met, they say they'll fire a nuke at the station. Missiles we can stand, but a nuke would cause serious damage. Unfortunately, the nearest military ships are the only remaining sector group, which are still at Brisbane after a fight over there yesterday. In hind sight, it would appear it was a setup to clear the way here. We don't have many options."

  Do it.

  You're serious?

  Yes.

  In my mind, but for me, part of normal conversation, even if I didn't let on about it.

  I stood there listening as Amanda had a three way conversation with the General and her Colonel, the General on the screen, the Colonel inside her head on her PC. It didn't appear to be resolving anything, in spite of me only getting half a conversation.

  "How long have we got?" I asked.

  "Two hours," said the General.

  "Is it enough time to get a fighter prepped, and the ship they want set up for towing?"

  "The only fighter we have here is his ship, and it's now yours. It's fully repaired by the way, so it could be flown out with the people they want in the hold. Not sure I want to order a pilot to do it, and I can't order you to submit to them."

  "Then we better just give them what they want," I stated.

  Amanda looked around in shock. Even the General seemed shaken. I grinned.

  "We make it easy for them. Let them think I'm surrendering to them to save the station. However, if the ship is fully functional, I might be able to give them a nasty shock. Will need some ordnance, as I assume there wasn't much left on board after the little rampage he had before he met me."

  "You can't be serious," said Amanda.

  "Sure I am," I replied. "I've never flown combat before, but I've done enough simulator time to handle the ship, and give them a run for their credits. It assumes a bit of luck on my part, and a lot of stupidity on theirs, but none of them have shown much intelligence so far, so I think I can count on at least some stupidity from them. What can go wrong?"

  I ended with a smug grin, the sort which is usually followed by the plan failing spectacularly.

  "Let me get this straight," began the General. "You are offering to fly the Gladiator out to them, with the people they want on board, and engage them in combat on your own, with no prior combat experience other than your encounter last week?"

  "Yes."

  "What will you need?"

  Amanda looked shocked for a moment.

  "What is the missile capacity of the Gladiator, and what's it currently loaded with?"

  "Twenty. It has six image recognitions still loaded. They're mid-range ones, and as you saw last week, it takes three of them to collapse shields, and do some damage."

  "What do you have on hand?"

  "What do you want?"

  I told him.

  "How long to get the ship ready?"

  "We'll run the time limit close, but I suggest we give them a media show to keep them occupied, and convinced we're complying with their demands. We can show their people being loaded into the cargo hold, and make a big deal out of it being pressurized, and life support being on. And it'll take you a while to limp to the docking bay, so we can make sure they see some shots of you getting there."

  He emphasized the word 'limp', and I took the hint.

  "Ok, let's do this."

  I must admit, even to me, it sounded like false bravado.

  "Let me set up the media end of this, and I'll be back to you when you should leave your room."

  The General signed off. Amanda stood looking at me, hands on hips.

  "Are you really up for this?"

  "I think so. Besides, what other options are there?"

  "What can we do?"

  I told her. She smiled, and called her boss back.

  I pinged George with a request for his suit changing program, the one which used sensors for an image. He pulsed it back a few minutes later, I activated it, and left it on standby.

  I left my new guns where they were. They had the wrong image for what we were about to do, but I'd be regretting the choice if they managed to board me. But it wouldn't be easy for them, as the ships out there were also Gladiators, and they were not designed for docking in space.

  I flopped down in a chair, and started thinking seriously. A short time later, the door opened, and Aleesha, Alison, and someone else came in. Amanda indicated the newcomer.

  "This is BA."

  "Anne," she said. "BA is a nickname we only really use in combat situations. Call me Anne."

  "Nice to meet you. You part of the escort?"

  "That's right," said Amanda. "Alison will support you along. BA," pause, "Anne will take point, and we'll bring up the rear. We're going with guns out, as if we expect you to be attacked at any moment. Of course, you might be, as this might be a bluff to bring you out."

  "True," I responded. "But it would show a lot more intelligence than this lot has shown so far."

  "All the same, we're not taking the chance. Is your suit on hair-trigger?"

  I checked. It wasn't. I changed the setting to fastest possible reaction to danger. Then gave her a thumbs up. We sat around watching the media coverage for a bit, and suddenly Amanda went still.

  "Show time."

  We formed up by the door. BA was going first. Alison and I were next, the twins bringing up the rear. BA had the door open, and her gun through it a moment later, and we moved out behind her. I made an effort to limp as fast as I could, but the progress was deliberately really slow. We emerged out into the lobby.

  People standing there waiting called out "Good Luck", and as we progressed through the station, many similar comments were made. Once out in the corridors, a station security team formed up on us as well, and it would have been a very stupid pirate to have taken us on. All the same, it was slow progress. When we finally arrived at the military hanger, the marine on duty waved us through, and the station security team took up position around the marine. We continued on into the bay holding the Gladiator.

  I'd not taken the time to really look at a Gladiator before now. It was an ugly ship. Cockpit top front, with a small cargo hold underneath which could take half a dozen pallet sized cargo. Or in this case, a half dozen people, in zero comfort. Under the cargo hold were four guns, fixed in place to point forward. On the top behind the cockpit was a missile launcher. At the back it was all engines.

  Entrance was through the living quarters under the missile launcher. The door was open, and a set of stairs was pushed up against the ship there. It was bigger than a short range fighter, which didn't need cargo space or living space, but in terms of offence specs, it was well matched to a standard heavy fighter. Hence it was referred to as a Heavy Privateer. On top and beneath the engine section, I knew there were two grav sleds. But they were stored internally when not in use, and I could not see at a glance where they came out.

  The General was waiting at the bottom of the stairs.

  "You can relax now ladies, no-one is getting in here."

  "If it's all the same to you General," said Amanda, "we'll be staying on full alert until he's out in space."

  "Suit yourselves." He turned to me. "All set?" I nodded. "You have thirty minutes left before you must lift off, which gives you time for a quick preflight, although the ship has already been prepped by one of our people. However, you'll want to make
a few interface changes I'm sure."

  I nodded again, and swiveled myself around the circle of ladies who had formed my protective detail. I looked each one in the eyes and nodded, and hauled myself laboriously up the ladder. It wasn't really difficult, but people were watching, and the act wasn't complete.

  Inside I found a mechanic, who helped me strap in, and adjust the pilot's chair to my dimensions. When it was done, he saluted me, and left. The hatch made a clang sound as it closed and sealed.

  This was it, I thought.

  I pulsed my overlays and preference specs to the flight computer, and waited until a pop up stating successful integration appeared. I double checked the controls worked as I wanted them to by entering testing mode, and working the joystick up, down, left, and right, and watching for my expected response from the ship. Correct so far. I pressed the right pedal, and the ship simulated rolling to the right. Good enough. I hoped I'd not need to roll left. I cancelled the testing mode.

  Next I went into engine tuning, and detuned the engine just enough so it ran like it wasn't tuned properly by the techs. It would lower my speed a bit, but it wouldn't matter to start with. Looking bad did matter. I checked the missile launcher, and the order it would launch what. Good. Lastly, I disabled visual coms, and disconnected my harness.

  "Gladiator five nine, this is Sydney station, what's your status? We have three impatient ships waiting out there for you."

  "Ah yes, hi Sydney station, this is Gladiator nine five. I think I've found the on switch now. Should be good to go in a few minutes."

  I intentionally gave the wrong call sign. The game had begun. I grinned to myself.

  "We'll pass that on, Gladiator five nine."

  The last thing I had to do was change my suit. I stood up, selected full space suit, and immediate connection to air. The suit formed around me instantly, forming a large clear bubble around my head, and I lifted my feet to let it seal underneath. I sat, and strapped back in, the suit connecting to the chair. I checked air was flowing through the pipes now connecting me to the air supply built into the chair, and the chair was being fed properly from life support.

  I had no illusions about what was coming, and it was not worth taking chances with details. I also checked on the cargo hold. Six unhappy men in there. I checked the seal on the door, and code locked it so only I could open it. Didn't want them coming through at the wrong moment. I didn't know if they could, but I wasn't taking the chance.

  I sighed heavily. And did it again, before accessing flight control, and triggering startup. All systems showed green. I was good to go.

  I glanced out the cockpit side viewport. My send-off committee was standing just inside the hanger door. They saluted me, and I threw them something like a salute back. They quickly exited the hanger, and the door sealed.

  "Sydney station from Gladiator ninety nine, ready to depart. Still got air, and a door."

  "Gladiator five nine from Sydney station, ready to depart copied. Stand by on the door."

  There was a short pause during which I started sweating inside the suit. I turned up the cooling. The door started to open. I kicked the landing thrusters a bit, and the ship rose. A little wobble on the joystick, and the ship swung away from the door, and completely flattened a waste receptacle by the wall.

  "Sydney station to Gladiator five nine, are you ok down there?"

  "Gladiator fifty five to Sydney station, sure, why do you ask?"

  "Sydney station to Gladiator five nine, you are cleared to depart. No traffic of any kind ahead of you."

  I'm not sure who the reassurance was for.

  At the moment, I was enjoying myself. This was my part of the show. The door was gone now, so I pushed in minimal thrusters. The ship moved out of the landing bay, and into the flight path, and I turned towards the external exit from the station itself. I had barely enough speed to control the ship, but I had no intentions of making a fast exit. I made a show of wobbling badly as the ship exited the station, and I continued straight on.

  "Sydney station to Gladiator five nine, have you forgotten something?"

  "Gladiator five to Sydney station, don't think so."

  "Sydney station to Gladiator five nine, are you planning on landing any time soon?"

  "Shit."

  I grinned, and selected landing gear retraction. The landing struts disappeared. I allowed my wobble to lessen a bit. I grinned again in anticipation of the next message. It might have been scripted, but this was purely on the spur of the moment.

  "Sydney station to Gladiator five nine, are you aware of where your reception committee is waiting?"

  My grin got bigger.

  "Gladiator nineteen to Sydney station, am I going the wrong way?"

  "Sydney station to Gladiator five nine, affirmative."

  "WILL YOU GET YOUR ARSE OVER HERE NOW SONNY, OR WE'LL COME GET YOU, AND YOU WILL NOT LIKE THAT."

  I let it slide without comment, but immediately made a course change, with a major wobble in it, into their general direction. I brought up the combat systems, but kept the weapons offline for now. I cancelled the engine detune, and brought all other systems into combat readiness. I upped the speed to about half power. At this point, I was about fifty thousand meters from the pirates. A pop up warned me I was flying without shields. I knew that, but it was part of the game too.

  At ten thousand meters, with the station well behind me now, I heard "good luck". I wasn't sure where it came from, but I was glad to hear it. At five thousand meters, I turned directly towards them, sighting on the leader. I didn't have a target lock yet. I brought up shield control on the console, and held my finger over the button.

  At one thousand meters, the lead ship got a target lock on me, and fired three missiles. My finger thumped the shields on button, and they sprang up around the ship just before the first missile slammed into the front shield like a javelin aimed between my eyes. The ship shuddered, and the second missile slammed into the same place. The shield almost went down. I held my breath, and at the last instant I pulled back on the stick. The third missile still slammed into the front shield, and it went down, followed by a loud clang as the cargo bay door exploded inwards.

  Oops.

  It wasn't the only damage though, as I could see a hairline crack form in the front view screen. I didn't wait for it to go any further.

  I brought up weapons, and immediately sent off six 'fire and forget' missiles, at the same time I pushed the throttle forward to the stops, and my ship screamed over the lead ship. I immediately locked target on the cockpit of the second ship, and fired off three image recognition missiles. I threw the ship around to the right, not bothering to roll. Laser shots went past on my left, showing the third pilot had anticipated me going left, instead of right. Logically, it was the wise choice, as right handed pilots find it easier to turn left under stress. I brought up shield access again, and quickly evened out all the shields, restoring some protection for my front section. I had less all round now, but at least I had some in front.

  The front viewport was cracking rapidly now, but I didn't have time to pay attention to it. I locked the third ship, and sent three more IR's after it. The lead ship was now coming up behind me, and I juked out of his line of fire, while I locked him up, and sent him three IR's as well.

  By this time, the scanner was showing three red ships, and a lot of grey dots representing missiles. A ship appeared in front of me, and I pulled the gun trigger. Nothing happened. I glanced at the gun icons on the display, and they were paled out. I activated them, and only two came up. I pulled the trigger, and two laser blasts headed off into space. At least something worked down there.

  Lasers started hitting the rear shield, and I juked again hard, trying to slide around enough to get a shot at another ship. At which point the ship behind me staggered, and practically stopped. Its shields were out at the rear, and down in most other parts, and the rear section of the ship showed all red.

  A missile slammed into my front sh
ield again, and I flipped the ship end for end, and the next two slammed into the side. The ship shuddered, but the shields held. I got a target lock on one of them, and fired off another IR. I was running out of them.

  Suddenly the front view screen exploded, and I was showered with shrapnel, although most of it went out. My suit held. I was still breathing, although I was breathing heavily. One of the remaining ships, obviously thinking I was done, straightened up, and aimed to come alongside me. As he did, a missile slammed into his side, and three more went into his front view screen. The ship staggered, slowed, and started to drift.

  The third ship was off to the other side, and I started a turn towards it. It too took a missile in the side, and two into the front. Again, it stopped, and started to drift.

  I figured the first hit on each ship was the 'fire and forget', and the others following were the IR's. FF's were slower heavy load missiles which packed a significant punch. But once fired, as the name implies you had no control over what they went after, and where they hit. But I'd fired them off precisely because to a fighter, they were a credible threat, which could not be ignored, and thus would also be a major distraction for the pilots. Hard to know how many hit, but it looked like each ship got one or two of them, which is what I'd hoped.

  I eased back on the throttle, turned gently around so I could see all three ships, and came to a stop. I took a deep breath, held it for a moment, and released it. I took stock. No front view screen, just open to space. Four remaining missiles. The whole front of the ship showed red on the damage control screen. Thirty percent shields remaining, but slowly starting to rise again.

  "Sydney station to Gladiator five nine, are you still with us?"

  "Gladiator five nine to Sydney station, that's an affirmative."

  I grinned.

  "Sydney station to Gladiator five nine, glad to hear it."

  And he was too. I could hear it in his voice, and there were shrieks of joy going on in the background.