“Are they preparing to engage us?”
“Negative, Commander. Their weapons are fully armed, but they’re maintaining their distance.”
“Then let’s give them a reason to attack us. Destroy one of their ships!”
“Trey! Those ships have changed course. They’re headed right for us!”
“I see them, Jack! All ships take evasive action now!
The Star Sword squadron started its maneuver just as the Zidian ships made their pass with their laser cannons blazing. Two Star Swords exploded into burning balls of plasma fire.
“Saratoga, they just took out two of my wingmen!” cried Trey as the remains of his squadron scattered and attempted to flee.
Jack hit his boosters and brought his Star Sword into an arc. As he came about, his view from the cockpit was momentarily filled by the fiery explosion of another Star Sword. Suddenly blue laser blasts started flying past him from behind.
“Watch it Jack, you’ve got one on your tail!” came Red’s frantic voice.
Jack froze. It was as if his mind was screaming for him to react but for some reason his body would not respond. He knew what he needed to do, but he was frozen by terror.
“Jack he’s closing on you!” Red brought his own Star Sword about.
“Styler!” Came the voice Trey Knight “what do you think you’re doing!”
Red ignored him. As he finished coming about he was on a horizontal intercept course with the fighter on Jack’s tail. Red squeezed the triggers on his control sticks and a hail of plasma fire erupted from his guns. The blasts slammed into the port side of the alien craft. For a brief moment a shimmering sphere appeared around the enemy craft. While it was obviously protected by some sort of energy shield, the alien craft was knocked off course by the impact of the plasma bursts. Singe marks on the enemy fighter’s hull showed that at least some of the plasma fire penetrated the shield.
“Jack, come on! You’ve got to snap out of it! There’s another one coming our way!
All at once Jack managed regain control of himself. He through his Star Sword into evasive action just as another Zidian got on his tail. He dodged left and right narrowly missing each new burst of ion fire from the fighter behind him. The Zidian moved in closer. Jack heard another scream over the radio as another Star Sword was destroyed. He knew he didn’t have long. Red wouldn’t be able to come to his aid this time. He had his hands full with a pursuer of his own. The Zidian that Red had knocked off of Jack’s tail had returned with a vengeance. Just as the Zidian on his tail was about to move in for the kill, Trey’s Star Sword came sweeping in with guns blazing. He struck Jack’s pursuer in its lateral shields then altered his course slightly and did the same to Red’s pursuer. As before the bogies were knocked off course. Trey was surprised to see that his second target seemed to have taken damage to its port engine. It was leaving a trail of burning plasma fire behind it. The momentary shimmer of an energy sphere around the enemy ship had testified that it did indeed have shields, but for whatever reason they were not as strong as those of the craft that Trey had encountered in the Pirate Wars.
Our weapons are actually penetrating their shields! We might have a chance!
In all likelihood, Trey’s intervention would have cost him his life. It was fate, however, that at that very moment, the squadron from Titan base came roaring in.
“Styler, Thunder get out of here now! Head back to Saratoga There’s only five of them so if we all split up they can’t get us all!”
On the bridge of the Krusha, Akdon listened to the report of Squad Leader Brel over the Ansible.
“Commander, we have successfully destroyed seven enemy craft. The remaining ships are retreating. Shall we pursue and destroy them?”
“No, let them go,” ordered Akdon. “Return to your cruiser. The fleet will soon be making its last hyperspace jump. We’ll rendezvous in orbit around the eighth planet. Akdon out. Well Kaydan, it looks as if these aliens shouldn’t be too much of a problem. What do you make of them?”
“Well sir, it appears that their weapons are more effective than we thought.”
“Yes, I noticed that too, but why?”
“It appears that the energy being emitted from their sun is having an effect on our energy shields. The closer to their sun we get, the weaker our force fields will be. Their sun is also affecting our scanners. I can’t read anything in the inner most parts of the star system.”
Chapter Six
After returning to the Saratoga, Jack’s squadron joined all the other squadrons that had been launched from the carrier. As it turned out, however, the alien ships disappeared just as quickly as they had appeared. When he finally returned onboard, Jack settled into his bunk for some much needed rest. Unfortunately, he was unable to sleep for he was tormented by what had happened.
I can’t believe I just froze up! How could I have just locked up like that? I’m nothing but a coward!
After returning to the ship, Trey had instructed Red to join him for the debriefing, but had ordered Jack to go to his quarters and rest. More than anything, Jack felt as though he had failed Red and Trey.
I almost got them both killed.
About an hour later the door slid open and Red entered the darkened room. Though he was wide awake, Jack feigned sleep. He was too ashamed to face his friend. Red glanced at Jack through the darkness, genuine concern written on his face. He said nothing, but undressed and then floated into his own bunk. Within a few minutes he was snoring away.
Sleep still refused to come to Jack. His mind drifted from his own failure to the enemy that they had faced.
Who are these aliens? What do they want? Can they be beat? Why are they doing this? Will my friends and I survive?
Jack got out of his bunk and free floated about the cabin in the darkness trying to relax—until he inadvertently floated into a wall banging his head.
I need a drink. He put on his uniform and his magnetic boots and went to the rec-center.
The ships was now operating on war status, so the rec-room was almost entirely empty. Jack got himself a drink and then went across the room and looked out of the view ports at the stars and into space.
“Can’t sleep?” asked a voice from behind him. He turned to see Commander Kelley. His face reddened in shame and he turned away from her.
“No,” replied Jack. “Too much on my mind.”
“I heard what happened. I’m glad you’re alright.”
“I almost got my friends killed,” said Jack. “I’m not cut out to be a fighter pilot.”
“Ridiculous,” said April. “You were under fire for the first time. Commander Knight reports that you handled yourself remarkably well after the initial shock. You’re only human, Jack.”
“Trey and Red didn’t freeze.”
“Trey is a combat vet who has flown dozens of combat missions, and your friend Styler is just too arrogant and self-assured to be afraid. Besides, you aren’t the only one who froze. Have you noticed that all the other rookies in your squadron are dead?”
Jack knew that several of his comrades had died in the encounter with the aliens, but he hadn’t realized until then that most of them were rookies like himself. At last he brought himself to look April in the face.
“Next time you’ll be more prepared,” she said.
Jack nodded.
He’s not like most of the other pilots. He doesn’t have their arrogance. What he needs is more self-confidence.
When Jack turned to look out of the view ports again, April took the opportunity to admire him close up—though she hoped he wouldn’t notice her staring.
He’s so young and handsome. What am I doing? If Miranda saw this I’d never live it down. And yet… I wonder if he has a girlfriend back on Earth…
Suddenly, Jack turned back to face her.
“So is there anything new about these things that attacked us?”
April nodded. “As a matter of fact, our unmanned monitoring station around Neptune re
ported that an entire fleet of ships has moved into orbit. The scanners went silent after that.
“So it’s a full scale invasion?”
“It looks that way.”
They were briefly startled when the ship shook all of a sudden. A quick glance out of the viewports revealed that a large military shuttle had docked at one of the exterior air locks.
“I believe in you, Jack. You won’t let us down. Just have some faith in yourself.” April then took a deep breath. Ever so casually she asked, “So do you have anyone special back home?”
Jack shook his head.
“No. No one,” he said quietly.
To April, he now looked sad. He turned back to her.
“Do you have anyone?”
Ever so softly she said, “No.”
For a few quiet seconds that seemed to last an eternity, they just stared into each other’s eyes, transfixed upon one another as if for that brief moment their thoughts and feelings were locked together as one. Almost magnetically they moved closer to one another.
Suddenly, they heard the sound of someone clearing their throat.
“I’m not interrupting anything am I,” said the sly and amused voice of Trey Knight.
Taken completely by surprise, Jack and April virtually jumped away from each other.
April felt her face flush in embarrassment. Thankfully, her wrist comlink chose that moment to sound.
“Kelley here,” she said.
“Commander, report to my office.”
“On my way, Captain.” Then, without another word, she hurried off for the Captain’s office faster than Star Sword that had fired its boosters.
“Well, you two seem to have made up just fine.”
“Yeah…well…she’s a…a lot nicer once you get to know her.” Uncontrollably he yawned, long and loud.
“You’d better be getting some rest, Jack,” said Trey. “You’re one of my two best pilots and I need you at one-hundred percent out there.”
“I was just on my way back to my cabin.”
“Everything alright?”
Jack nodded.
“I guess I’m just apprehensive about the fight that’s coming. You know what Trey? I never really wanted to be a fighter pilot. It’s not that I’m scared, I just never thought I could take a life. But after today, I think I could kill those things. I’m just ashamed that I froze.”
“Jack, let me tell you something. We almost all go through that when we first see combat. I did the same thing in my first battle with the pirates. If Captain Doran himself hadn’t saved me the way Red saved you today, I wouldn’t be here.”
Trey then smiled. “On another note, saving you is the only selfless thing I’ve ever seen Red Styler do.”
Jack nodded. “He’s always been there for me.”
“Then you can be thankful you have such a good friend to watch your back.”
Jack turned to look out the view port again. He was startled to see another ship flying alongside the Saratoga. It was a Space Force destroyer.
“Looks like our escort has arrived,” said Trey. Jack looked at the destroyer. It was about the size of a medium sized space liner but it was heavily armored and bristling with weapons. A large seventy-star American flag was emblazoned on its side, and it read United States Space Force down the side. Underneath that it read USS Guardian.
“Trey, how did you recognize those ships?”
Trey stared out into the stars.
“Well back in sixteen, shortly after I was assigned to the Saratoga, we were investigating one of Jupiter’s moons. The pirates had been hitting lots of convoys in that area. We knew they were striking from a hidden moon base. Through close monitoring of the area we located the base. The rest of the fighters and I launched and went to engage the large Pirate force defending the base. We flew straight into enemy fire. It cost us several of our guys but we destroyed the defending force. We were just about to take out the base, when we got Saratoga’s distress call. An entire pirate squadron plus a pirate base ship was attacking her. While their comrades died at our hands, they had slipped around our scanner range and had hit Saratoga. By the time we got back, she was near destruction. We were outnumbered, plus we had already taken some damage but we beat them and saved Saratoga. About that time we picked up another bogey. Saratoga couldn’t take anymore so we moved to intercept before it could get near her. I was one of eight Star Swords that engaged the mystery ship. At first we thought it was another Pirate ship, but once we engaged it, I knew it had to be something different. Its look, its maneuverability, its weaponry and its energy shields were all radically more advanced than anything I’d ever seen. The battle lasted only a few minutes and all of my remaining wingmen were destroyed. No matter how many times we hit it, it remained undamaged.”
“But the ones we fought today suffered damage. Our weapons hurt them, if only a little.”
“I know. I reported as much to Captain Doran at the debriefing. I’m at a loss to explain it. Anyway during the battle, my Star Sword took a glancing blow. I lost all power. I suppose the enemy ship thought I was dead. I watched some sort of vortex open and the alien disappeared into it. Afterwards command deemed the whole thing classified.”
“How did you get back to the Saratoga? I managed to hotwire my radio and get a short burst transmission off. Doran sent a shuttle to tow me back. It was a bad situation. Saratoga’s engines were out. We were stranded. We knew it was only a matter of time before more pirates found us and finished us off. Luckily the Yorktown arrived in time and towed us to safety. When we returned to Earth they pinned a medal on my chest then told me if I ever breathed a word about what I’d seen they’d lock me up and throw away the key.”
“I’d say that’s a mute point now.”
Trey nodded.
“If you ask me, I say they were scouting us out four years ago.”
Jack nodded.
“Now they’ve come in force to finish the job…”
April Kelley hit the buzzer on the door to the Captain’s office.
“Come in,” said Doran. April entered to see the Captain in heated discussion with a person on the view screen. Since there was only a slight drag in the transmission, April knew the other officer had to be on one of the several ships that were nearby.
“I’m sorry, Morton...” said the man on the screen, a black man who was about Doran’s age and who wore the uniform of a Space Force Marine, “...but there’s no way I’ll be able to convince the Admiral to get you the extra fighters.”
“Colonel,” said Doran. “These aliens undoubtedly have higher technology than us. We need numbers if we’re going to beat them!”
“Morton, you know as well as I do that those blasted bureaucrats in Washington cut our funding by fifty percent last month. Even if they had the Star Swords to send you, there’s not enough qualified pilots.”
“So how are things on the Titan colony?” asked Doran.
“The colonists know that something unusual is happening. They’ll eventually have to be told. What word have you received about what’s going on back on Earth?”
“Not much, but from what I’ve been told it’s being kept quiet,” said Doran. “Only the high command level officers and top government officials know. Everyone else is being kept in the dark. The only ones who know anything are those of us in the field.”
“That’s because we’re the ones who will be doing the fighting,” said Colonel Travis.
“My last report from Earth states that President Garrett is meeting with top officials and experts now trying to figure out a way to communicate with the aliens,” said Doran.
“You think it will do any good?”
“Not a chance. But the politicians are still going to make us try.”
“Have you formulated a plan of attack?”
“I have,” said Doran. “Listen to me, Ron, when you reach Mars colony tell the Admiral we’re going to need more ships. I don’t care what it takes, even if we have to ally with the Japs
and Russians. We need numbers.”
“Will do, Morton. Good hunting, Travis out.” The view screen went blank. Captain Doran turned to April Kelley.
“Well Commander, as you know doubt heard we are going to attempt to communicate with the aliens, as soon as the fool politicians figure out what we want to say. If you ask me it’s a waste of time. If they’re friendly why’d they destroy ten of our ships?”
“Maybe they felt threatened,” said April.
“Let me tell you something April. Commander Knight and the other survivors brought back detailed information about the five ships they fought. Their weapons are greatly superior to ours, their ships are larger, plus they appear to be protected by some sort of force field technology. With all that it’s very unlikely that they had anything to fear from our Star Swords.”
“So exactly how much are we going up against?” asked April Kelley.
“Scanners have picked up four hundred and thirty one individual contacts. Three hundred and fifty of them are fighters like the ones we’ve already encountered, thirty appear to be support craft slightly larger than one of our cruisers, fifty are large and bulky ships we believe to be transports of some kind and one is an enormous craft over twice as long as one of our carriers that intelligence believes is the enemy command ship.”
“So what is the Space Force’s current status?”
“Five carriers, twelve destroyers, four cruisers, one battle ship and a little over eight hundred Star Swords. It doesn’t look good.”
“What’s the plan?”
“That’s what I called you here for. I have to familiarize you with our plan of attack. There will be four battle groups. Battle group one will be led by the Saratoga. Battle group two will be led by the carrier Lexington. Battle group three will be led by the carrier Yorktown. Battle group four will be led by the Battleship Constitution. We’ll have the destroyers Guardian and Chariot with us plus all our fighters. The Lexington will have the destroyers Firebird and Hawk. The Yorktown gets destroyers Apache and Daredevil. And the Constitution will get the destroyers Ripper and Viper plus the cruisers Arizona and Washington.”
Starstorm (Starstorm Saga) Page 6