Starstorm (Starstorm Saga)

by Bennett, Billy

  “Come on Jack, we’ve got work to do,” said Trey as they all made their way as fast as possible to the pilot’s lockers.

  “Are we under attack?” asked Jack as he changed into his flight suit.

  “Not exactly,” said Trey and explained the situation.

  After they had suited up, Jack put on his helmet and climbed into the cockpit of his Star Sword. After it had closed, he flipped a few switches, pulled back on the throttle, and off he went, down the launch tunnel and out of the ship.

  He fell into formation with Trey and the other pilots.

  “It’s about time,” said a voice over the radio. It was the leader of the flight from the Essex. “It took you all long enough,”

  This angered Trey slightly. His squadron had not been on stand by, but had been woken in the middle of their sleep period at Captain Doran’s insistence that his best pilots be sent. Trey took his Captain’s actions as a complement. The statements of the jerk from the Essex, however, he took as an insult. But at that moment, he had no time to quarrel. “Let’s get on with it!” he said and both flights headed off towards the Zidian fighters.

  Trey kept a close eye on his monitors and contacted Saratoga.

  “Saratoga, I’m picking up five bogies on coarse zero-niner-zero.”

  “Affirmative, Commander Knight, you are clear to engage targets.”

  “Alright, guys, we’re going after them,” said Trey. He and the other nine Star Swords in formation with him accelerated to full speed and began closing on the Zidian fighters.

  Squad Leader Brel, the pilot of the lead Zidian fighter, was also keeping a close eye on his scanners. He was tracking the ten Star Swords that were on an intercept course with his own squad.

  “Squad Leader to Krusha. I have detected enemy craft. I have my ten ships flying in close formation groups of two in an attempt to confuse their primitive scanners and make them think there are only five of us. Request permission to engage and destroy.”

  On the Krusha, Akdon was monitoring the situation.

  “No. Tell him not to engage the human ships,” said Akdon to the communications officer. “His mission is to give me a thorough reconnaissance report of the vicinity. He may defend himself if attacked. Besides, with all the interference from their sun our shields are next to useless. I don‘t want to lose more ships if I don‘t have to.”

  Squad Leader Brel received his instructions, and altered course to try and avoid the human interceptors. The Humans, however, compensated eventually winding up behind the Zidian Ships.

  Chapter Ten

  On the Saratoga Doran and Kelley were watching the screen that was tracking the ships.

  “Sir, they’re drawing very close to the planet’s rings. Scanners are having a hard time picking up the ships. The rings are made up of billions of pieces of rock and ice. If they get too close, we won’t be able to differentiate between their ships, our ships, and the rocks and ice. Nor will we be able to communicate with them.”

  “Can you still talk to them?”

  “For the moment, yes sir.”

  “Very well, tell them to use caution and good hunting.”

  “Sir, Commander Knight has acknowledged and reports that they are preparing to boost.”

  “Good luck, Jack.” said April silently to herself.

  Jack felt more confident than he had back at Neptune. They outnumbered the enemy two to one. He looked at his monitor and saw that they were gaining on the enemy. He looked out the cockpit. To his right he saw Saturn. It was enormous, and it looked very close. To his lower left he saw the rings. They were so close they looked like an asteroid field. They were now between Saturn and its rings. The rings were about to get a lot closer once they went after their prey. Suddenly, the proximity alarm went off.

  “Ok boys, this is it! Let’s get them. Boost now!” said Trey.

  Jack reached down to the throttle with his right hand and pulled the trigger once. The Star Swords which were already at full throttle shot forward at nearly double their usual speed thanks to the booster rockets located between their two main engines. The boosters only lasted a few seconds but that was enough for the Star Swords to catch up to their quarry in an instant. But once there they got a big surprise. There were ten enemy ships, not five!

  Jack wasted no time as he got behind one of the fighters. He began squeezing the triggers on his wheel, and his two plasma cannons came alive. The Zidian ship burst into plasma flames and then exploded violently. Jack wasn’t the only one who had taken his target by surprise. Trey and another pilot had also gotten kills. The seven remaining fighters scrambled into evasive action.

  “There’s more of them then we thought boys!” said Trey. “Watch yourselves, they’re coming about!”

  Squad Leader Brel had been taken completely by surprise. He had just been ready to turn on his pursuers, when they pounced on him. He had lost three of his wingmen and had just barely avoided being destroyed himself. He was an excellent pilot though and intended to make these Humans pay dearly for their arrogance. He came about and fired the fighter’s powerful laser cannons at the first Star Sword to come into his sights. It was quickly destroyed. Squad Leader pulled up behind another. It tried to escape but was like wise dispatched.

  Jack was flying wildly, trying to get away from the bogie on his tail. He could see the ion bursts flying past him. Jack heard the screams of some of the other pilots as their ships were destroyed by the Zidians. Then another Zidian joined in on the chase and Jack had two on his tail. He was now dangerously close to Saturn’s rings.

  He decided to try something daring. He knew that Saturn’s rings were made of billions of pieces of rock and ice. He flew down into the rings. The Zidians followed him. It was just like flying through an asteroid field. Jack was moving at high speed, swerving up and down and left and right trying to avoid colliding with the rocks. The Zidians were hot on his tail still firing their weapons at him. Their laser cannons destroyed several rocks, but none of them came near to Jack. They had a great deal of trouble evading the rocks. The fact that their ships were larger than Jack’s Star Sword made their maneuvers even more difficult.

  Boom! One of the Zidians smashed into a rock and exploded on impact. The other continued its pursuit.

  Brel pulled his fighter around and took out yet another Star Sword. He surveyed the situation. Two of his wing men had foolishly followed a human craft into the planet’s rings. He immediately wrote all three of them off. He still had two wingmen with him, and another two were engaged with the only remaining human ship. He signaled the two ships caught in battle with the human ship

  “You two finish him off. You other two, come with me.” Brel and his wingmen then continued towards Titan to finish their recon mission.

  Trey was having problems of his own. He had one Zidian in front of him, and another behind him. He had seen Jack dive down into the rings about twenty seconds earlier and didn’t know whether he was alive or dead. The Zidian ship in front of him was trying desperately to get away. The Zidian behind Trey was not shooting, because it did not want to take a chance on hitting its comrade. Trey had a perfect shot on the one in front of him, but he knew if he killed him, the enemy behind him would then destroy him in turn. So far as Trey could tell, he was the only Star Sword left.

  Unless, of course, Jack is still alive down in those rings!

  Jack flew through the field of rock and ice with incredible speed. Only his quick piloting reflexes allowed him to dodge the many oncoming chunks of ice and rock zooming past him. His pursuer had had a couple of near misses, but was still hot on his tail and firing at him wildly. Jack never took his attention off his controls for a moment. He knew one mistake would mean certain doom. The enemy craft began to close on him despite the hazardous conditions around them. Jack swerved slightly to avoid some enemy fire and almost crashed into a large piece of ice. The Zidian was now right behind him. Jack dove for a rock, then pulled up in the nick of time and darted up out of the rings and int
o clear space. The Zidian tried to dodge the rock. The rock hit the left side of the Zidian ship. The Zidian was thrown clear of the rings, it was heavily damaged. Jack came around and headed for the crippled alien ship. Jack squeezed the triggers and the Zidian exploded under the hail of plasma pouring out of Jack Thunder’s guns.

  Trey was running out of time. The fighter in front of him was starting to get away, and the one behind him had grown impatient and had started taking pot shots at him. Finally, Trey decided enough was enough. He centered on the one in front of him and opened fire destroying it in only a few shots. The Zidian to his rear now opened up with everything it had. Enemy fire was streaking past him. Trey was doing all he could to avoid it. At last, he decided he would go down like Jack, dive down into the rings and take the bogie with him. Just as he was about to enter the rings, a plasma burst hit the Zidian ship. It veered off trailing plasma fire.

  “I wouldn’t go down there, Trey” said the voice of Jack Thunder.

  “It’s not exactly a walk in the park.”

  Trey watched as Jack’s Star Sword fell on the damaged enemy ship and finished the job it had started.

  “Jack! You’re the craziest man I’ve ever met! But thanks. I owe you one my friend.”

  On the Saratoga, Captain Doran and Commander Kelley had been monitoring the battle.

  “Is there any sign of them yet?”

  “No sir,” said the communications officer. The Captain stared out the view ports of the bridge at the many moons and rings around Saturn.

  “Surely, ten Star Swords could ambush five of the enemy’s fighters without suffering heavy casualties. Especially with two pilots like Jack Thunder and Trey Knight.”

  “Sir!” yelled the officer operating the scanners.

  “What is it, Lieutenant?”

  “Three ships, sir, coming this way!”

  “Are they ours?”

  Commander Kelley came over next to the Captain while the officer checked the readings.

  “No, sir. They’re enemy fighters. Sir, it appears as though all our Star Swords were destroyed.”

  This saddened April visibly, who for the first time admitted to herself that she actually had feelings for Jack. The Captain noticed her sorrowful look.

  “It’s my fault,” he stated blatantly.

  “I should have sent more ships with them.”

  “What are your orders, sir?”

  Captain Doran was still concerned with April. He knew she had served with Knight for years and had also probably taken a liking to Thunder also. April would never let herself cry in front of any one. But she felt like it ever so much. Jack was dead, Trey was dead.

  It won’t be long before we join them, she thought.

  The Captain was never sad for long. He always found a way to turn it to anger very quickly.

  “Launch twenty Star Swords!” ordered Doran. Klaxons sounded as the pilots began to man their Star Swords.

  Sam Grayson had just finished piloting his shuttle out of Titan’s atmosphere. He was on his final approach toward the Saratoga. He slowed his forward momentum, and prepared to set his shuttle down on the landing pad. All of a sudden, Star Swords started shooting out the launch tunnels and flying off. Sam watched as two whole squadrons launched.

  “I wonder what’s up,” said Sam as he scanned the area looking to see if they were about to be under attack or something. “Shuttle 141 to Saratoga, request permission to land.”

  “Permission granted, Shuttle 141.”

  Sam set the shuttle down and it was lowered down into the shuttle hangar.

  The hangar was filled with people. It was getting very crowded on the ship. There weren’t enough magnetic boots to go around, so many people were free floating. Some were near the floor, the walls, and in some places even the ceiling. After debarking, Sam found an officer and asked what was going on out.

  The officer said that Trey Knight, Jack Thunder and eight other pilots had been killed by a group of enemy ships, and that the Captain had ordered two squadrons to take out the remaining enemy craft that were headed their way. The officer also told Sam that the Captain wanted him to make one more trip but that all the other shuttles were back for good.

  Sam was shocked. He’d known Trey when he was just a kid pilot like Jack. Now they were both gone and it seemed there was no hope.

  Squad Leader Brel and his wingmen were speeding towards Titan. His instruments showed 20 enemy ships on approach. He cursed the human sun for rendering his shields useless. He and his two wingmen could have easily take on those fighters if his shields were allowed to function properly. He calculated the time it would take him to approach Titan, scan the area at close range, and get away. Then he calculated the time before the human ships would intercept him, taking into account their boost capability. The results of his equation could have been worse he thought. Once in scanning range it would take only a moment to get an accurate scan of the area. He would have time to head back before the twenty human ships arrived. A few moments later the three Zidian ships abruptly halted.

  “Start your scans!” ordered Brel.

  “Sir! The enemy craft have stopped. They’re just sitting there.” Doran came over and studied them on the screen.

  “They’re up to something,” said the Captain. “How long until the Star Swords arrive?”

  “Two minutes, Captain. One if they boost now,” replied Kelley.

  “Order them to boost! I want those ships destroyed!”

  “Sir, my scans are complete!” signaled one of the Zidian pilots to Brel.

  “As are mine, sir.” said the other. Squad leader Brel was still finishing his own scans.

  “You two go!”

  “Sir, they’ll be here in seconds!”

  “I said go!”

  The two Zidian wingmen flew their fighters back in the direction they had come from. Brel finished his scans and followed his wingmen moments before the Human ships arrived.

  He now had twenty Star Swords on his tail. They were still outside of firing range, but they were closing. His wingmen were ahead of him.

  “They’re gaining on me,” said Brel.

  He then decided to use his ship’s turbo thrusters which basically served the same purpose as the boosters found on Star Swords. He engaged the thrusters and shot ahead, ending up right behind his two wing men.

  Doran swore in anger. He was not pleased, especially when the Star Swords had been so close to catching the enemy.

  “Captain, I’m picking up two more ships that are ahead of the enemy ships and headed straight for them.”

  “Are they enemy re-enforcements?”

  “Negative Sir, they’re Star Swords!”

  “What!” yelled Doran. “Contact them!”

  The radio blurred static and then came to life

  “This is Commander Knight.”

  “And this is Lieutenant Thunder.”

  “We’ll head off those bogies.” said Trey.

  “Knight and Thunder,” said Captain Doran. “I might have known!”

  Chapter Eleven

  Squad Leader Brel was busy looking at some of the data from their scans. He contacted the Krusha. Akdon’s voice came over the speaker.

  “Report, Squad Leader. What did your scans reveal?”

  “Commander, it looks as though they are merely trying to evacuate the moon. If we hurry and move the fleet in now we can crush them!”

  “Is that all?”

  “I’m still processing the data, sir.” Just then one of the other fighters signaled him.

  “Squad Leader, there are two ships ahead of us coming this way.”

  Brel was busy with the scans. “They’re ours- remember?” They never even bothered to check for sure. Brel continued checking his data.

  “They’ll be coming along any moment now Jack.” said Trey.

  “Rodger. You take the one on the left and I’ll take the one on the right.”

  Trey looked out the cockpit at Jack in his Star Sword and
gave him a thumbs up. Jack returned the gesture and they both accelerated.

  “Trey, they’re acting as if we aren’t even here.”

  Brel’s fighter rocked violently as his two wing men exploded and two human ships flew right past him.

  “No! It’s impossible.” yelled Brel as he threw his ship into evasive action. The two humans came about and began to close on him from behind. Plasma bursts were streaking past his fighter as a fierce torrent poured out of the cannons on the two human ships.

  Akdon’s voice came over the speaker. “Squad Leader report! What’s going on!”

  “I’m under attack!” Brel knew his only chance was to put some distance between himself and the humans and he had already used his turbo thrusters. There was only one thing to do. He overrode the safety systems and pushed his engines to 115% of their recommended power output. The engines buckled under the strain as he accelerated and moved ahead of the pursuing Star Swords. Once he was out of firing range he re-set the safety systems and dropped down to a safe speed.

  Jack and Trey once again began to gain but slowly.

  “Trey, at this rate we won’t catch him before he gets away.” They continued on, but the distance between them and their enemy closed very slowly. There were still twenty other Star Swords further behind them and for once they thought that it was the enemy’s turn to be scared. But with each passing moment they grew farther from their own fleet and closer to the enemy’s.

  They were nearing the rings again. They knew that before long they would once again be out of contact with the Saratoga. They were about to let him go and head back, when all of a sudden the enemy ship’s speed dropped by half. Jack and Trey began to close in rapidly.