SODIUM:3 Fusion

by Arseneault, Stephen

  We were then walked back to the DSim. Walking in the gel filled reclamation suit could only be described as funky, but it wasn't unpleasant. Even though our classroom training had told us all about what the suit would do, I still felt the need to ask one last time. It was time to purge the liquids from my breakfast.

  I was assured it was fine to go whenever I felt like it and that the suit could handle not being hooked up to the ships system for about five days. Things would then begin to get unpleasant. When I cut loose, my face turned a bit red as the sensation of going in front of the team was something that I was not prepared for. We all had a good laugh and then continued on into the back of the DSim.

  We were excited about finally getting into the trainer. As each of us passed the glow and faint hum of the micro-reactor we were left with a feeling of awe. This was our reactor for the next four months. I lingered for a moment at the reactor before Ensign Braswell put her hand on my shoulder and then gestured towards the chair. It would be my home for the next ten hours.

  The chair was a high-back leather recliner in style. There were adjustments for seating angle, lumbar, heating or cooling, side support and of course the hookup for the reclamator. Paige had me seated, connected and the suit online within two minutes.

  When connected to the system the gel in the suit would become a liquid that was constantly being pumped and filtered. Again the suit left you with a bit of a funky feeling. We were then fitted with a visor that projected a holo-display of the ship’s controls for each of our stations. A simple long hand swipe to the left or the right would bring up the primary controls of the other crewmen. In the event of an emergency all the ship’s systems could be controlled from one chair.

  The simulator itself was in lock-down mode. Red encouraged us to start pushing buttons and changing views as he assured us that nothing was currently being registered by the system. We each had one hour to become familiar with the controls of our station. Each control had a help guide that could be viewed on the holo-display.

  Our handlers were sitting in their own control chairs outside of the mock craft. They were there for support and the answering of any questions we might have, I had plenty. I immediately selected the BHD controls and went to full throttle. I watched contently as the drive went to 100% within 15 seconds. I next turned to the navigation controls and began plotting our course to Neptune. We were like kids in a candy store.

  When the hour of fun and familiarity was complete, Red then popped up in front of us on our holo-displays. We would now begin our flight training. The next hour was spent familiarizing ourselves with the pre-flight checklist. We would have to know not only what each system monitor was for, but also how to interpret what it was telling us.

  We began with the reactor. It had a Sodium supply with three feeds. The supply was monitored for level while each of the three feeds were monitored for throughput, burn-rate and efficiency. The fusion reactor itself was about as simple of a device as there was.

  An extreme magnetic field held the fusion reaction in place while the three Sodium feeds dropped in a constant stream of Sodium atoms. Three Sodium atoms were electrically bonded together during the fusion process. The Sodium reaction did not put off heat but instead pumped out a steady stream of electrons, just plain old electricity.

  Our training next turned to the life support system. The life support system consisted of a tiny fission reactor that would take the fused Sodium as fuel. The result of the fission process on the fused Sodium left us with two oxygen atoms and six hydrogen atoms. This in turn gave us a supply of oxygen and hydrogen which could in turn be fused into water if needed.

  For each Sodium atom injected into the system we were left with enough particles for one water molecule and one spare hydrogen atom. The scientists were still trying to figure out how to make use of the extra hydrogen. The amount left over was small enough that it was easily compressed and stored. The life support system also monitored and cleansed our air.

  Inside the ship was open and there was no need for helmets as once the skin was active there would be no stepping outside. For our faces and hair we were given a hose that gave us a sonic wash. I found its use both simpler than and preferable to a full sonic shower.

  The reclamation and nutrition systems were also part of the life support system. Waste was collected through the suit and nutrition was returned through the IV. I was told we would be fed a continuous meal of the nutrients necessary for maintaining our health. I was also told that I would likely be losing weight over the four month period that I would be in the suit.

  Ensign Braswell would be monitoring and providing for my nutrition as she saw fit. I imagined the look on her face as she was setting the parameters of my IV and the vision that constantly came up was one with her displaying a big smirk.

  We then moved on to the navigation and propulsion systems. The nav system displayed a 3D hologram of space surrounding the ship. The meter of hologram in front of us could be expanded to represent from a few hundred meters diameter up to about 30 billion kilometers.

  The nav system was only as accurate as the currently known field of monitored and tracked objects, which consisted of the planets, their moons and the majority of large asteroids over 500 meters in width. The demise of A000014 had come about due to a collision with a 650 meter length, unlogged asteroid. It was 150 meters wide and elongated in length and A000014 had been just unlucky enough to hit it lengthwise.

  With the nav system, the pilot was able to set waypoints, speeds and automated orbits. Every maneuver the ship was capable of could be formed into a predefined flight-plan. The visual and IR sensors along with the quantum computer on-board were capable of tracking up to 500,000 objects at once. From there, the computer could automatically make small course adjustments in an attempt to avoid collisions.

  The nav sensor arrays were located on the BHD rings on the front of the vessel. That was the only part of the ship that was exposed when the skin was active. At high speeds, when a collision was imminent, the BHD would drop off-line and the active skin would encompass the sensors. It was the only way we had of fully protecting the external components. Without them we would be flying blind.

  The propulsion system, while complex in its technology, was simple in its design and use. Five temporary black holes were either constantly being formed or not. Only create one black hole and the ship would be pulled in that direction. With all five lit up the ship would shoot straight forward like a banshee. By adjusting the frequency and duration of each of the holes the ship could be steered in any direction.

  The only drawback, and it was a big one, was that once the ship reached significant speeds it was extremely slow to turn. Turns were not tight, but were instead large predictable arcs. The alien fighters could easily outmaneuver our Defender even though we had a much higher top speed. The tactics and strategies that had been taught were constantly adjusted to compensate.

  With the system checks out of the way we were all eager to fire up the DSim for our first mission. Red unfortunately had other ideas. We would each be practicing with our own sections until such time as they became like second nature to us. When Red thought we were ready we would receive our first mission. As it turned out, the DSim training was initially more like the classroom than I had hoped.

  When our first week was complete, each of us were skilled at our station. We then switched to each of the other three stations for another week before Red finally gave us the green light for a mission. He was quite happy with our progress.

  For our first mission we would be lifting, departing the hangar and then cruising around the tarmac. It was the simplest of missions and we were well prepared to begin. We pulled up our checklists and then one by one gave status to the others. The active skin was then turned on. The silvery white aluminum can that we had been sitting in for weeks suddenly became complete blackness inside.

  It looked as though you could reach outward forever even though the wall was only a meter or so away
. We were told that actually touching it with our bare skin would not be good. The boots and gloves of our suits were made to handle it if needed, but we had no plans of getting out of our chairs.

  The nav system was then brought online and a meter diameter sphere appeared before each of us. The optics of the holo-displays made them invisible from the other chairs so that we were not distracted by anyone else's view.

  I was then given the go-ahead to lift the craft. I felt a slight sensation as the monitors indicated lift on my status display. We leveled at a meter and then awaited the go-ahead for exit from the hangar.

  Red gave the command. As I looked at my displays my shaky hand gave a tiny push to the throttle. The craft then shot through the side of the hangar and into a surrounding mountainside before alarms blasted and the active skin shut down. In my excitement, I had left a throttle multiplier setting on 10x and had forgotten to turn the ship towards the hangar doors.

  The mishap was very embarrassing and the others were not laughing. We were all dead before our mission had even begun. I felt as though I had let the team down on my first attempt at piloting a Defender. I knew I was better than that. Everyone else was not so sure.

  After a five minute lecture the mission was reset and again ready to go. This time my true piloting skills showed as we flew and reached every waypoint with the utmost of precision. We continued our drills with mission one for the remainder of the day. We then had a one hour break where I continuously apologized to the others. There was no excuse for my mistake.

  During our first two hour free time the crew would normally continue practicing with simple DSim flights. In my guilt I volunteered that time to the others for their own mission practice. Whip jumped at the opportunity and suggested a scenario with gun-play. She was eager to unleash some hurt on fictitious targets.

  We selected an advanced ground scenario where we were given various targets to destroy around Regents airbase. We risked another death, but the others were all eager to get an idea of what we might really be up against. We reasoned it better to have a simulated death than a real one.

  Alien robots, we called them tripods, and flying drones were available for targeting. We were given five specific targets and a time limit to kill the five and return. Everything else was considered extra credit.

  We began the scenario with our pre-flight checks. Every scenario was given a random chance of some pre-flight problem occurring. If you skipped or did a sloppy pre-flight and an event occurred it would be counted as one death for your team. More deaths meant more basic training and less chance of graduation to a real Defender. I had already made our lives more difficult with a death on our first day.

  We soon lifted, turned and exited the hangar. It was a quick flight over to the nearest building where a unit of three tripods were harassing a simulated tank. A precision coil gun shot from Whip ended the harassment.

  Next it was over to a hilltop where two alien drones were defending a landed alien fighter. The drones were much more spry than the tripods and this time we received fire back. Bigg directed the shields as I circled to give Whip a better shot. Two quick bursts later and the drones were dispatched. As we turned towards the next target Whip selected and fired off one of her nukes.

  The parked alien fighter whopped it from the sky with its gravity wave weapon. As we sped away the crumpled missile fell harmlessly to the ground. Whip was annoyed by the ineffectiveness of the missile and decided to just drop one on the ground behind our ship as we flew.

  As we moved towards the next target I could hear Whip mumbling to herself. My thought at the time was that she had just wasted another nuke. With less than a minute to go before our next target a small mushroom cloud appeared on the screen behind the ship.

  The alien fighter had lifted in pursuit of us and had flown directly over the second nuke that Whip had strategically dropped. Whip screamed in delight as the fighter was too close to effectively block the explosion from the nuke. She had single-handedly taken out our first alien fighter.

  The next target had five drones protecting numerous tripods. I circled left and Whip took out the first drone as Bigg shielded us from their weapons. I then turned straight up, luring another drone into a chase. At two kilometers of altitude I did a quick 180 and flew straight into the drone before it had a chance to maneuver away. The BHD had cut the drone in half.

  Whip then fired on the next drone knocking it from the sky. Using a circular attack pattern, as I had with the first drones, allowed Whip the opportunity to take them both out. The tripods were then easy prey.

  The fourth target was 16 drones that flew in a tight formation. We again got them into a pursuit only this time when I had spun the DSim backwards Whip fired all four coil guns at once. The combined shields of the 16 were enough to block our weapons but not enough to block the effects of us blasting the rock formation they were flying close over. Two of the coil guns were directed at the fighters and two at the rocks.

  They could effectively shield one direction but not both. It was a well known weakness of the alien defenses. Whip had taken full advantage of this fact and the result had been the destruction of 12 of the drones with two of the remaining four heavily damaged. We moped up the survivors within a minute.

  As we approached target five I took note that we had no intel on what we were after. There was only a report of enemy activity at that location. When we topped the final ridge we were greeted immediately by another pod of 16 drones. They had locked onto us and within seconds had the active skin capacity up to 40%. At 100% we would be considered dead.

  I turned straight up and pushed the throttle to full, but I could not shake the drones. In ground scenarios we were limited to 3% maximum power. I thought it an unfair advantage to the aliens that we were not allowed to go faster, but rules were rules and we did not control the battlefield.

  I again tried my flip maneuver only to have the pod scatter before I reached them. They quickly reassembled and once again pursued us. As I headed back towards the ground Bigg chimed in with an alert. There were two alien fighters fast approaching. If we could not outmaneuver a drone pod we certainly could not outmaneuver a fighter. Having to deal with two of them was just ridiculous.

  The only effective plan I had come up with was to keep the drones between us and the fighters. It took all my flying skills to keep us alive, but it was soon evident that our death was imminent.

  I tried to do another flip but this time the drones stayed scattered and the alien fighters raced in. As they closed the skin capacity rose to 50%, then 70% and then 90%. When the skin failed we would easily be crushed by the gravity waves. I attempted a final flip and the ship's systems all shut down. After an automated 20 second reboot our reactor came back to life and the ship's screens with it.

  The scenario monitor showed that we had indeed died. Then Pop let out a howl and directed our attention to the scenario stats. Somehow the two alien fighters had been destroyed. Pop was grinning from ear to ear as he told us that he had simulated a massive dump of Sodium into the reactor core. The resulting huge explosion had taken us out along with the two fighters. We had lucked out on our position over an unpopulated area as there was now a crater on the ground a half kilometer wide.

  We had two deaths on our first day of scenarios, but we had managed to take out numerous tripods, drones... and three alien fighters. From what we had been taught in class it would be considered a huge victory. Moments after our celebration had begun Red's face popped up on our screens and the DSim powered down. We had been called to the flight commander's office.

  Chapter 5

  Our handlers came in and detached us from our chairs. We were then escorted over to the flight commander's office. With two deaths on the first day I wondered if we were being flunked out of USAC training. The team had somber looks on their faces. It was the first time I remember seeing Pop without his continuous goofy grin.

  A Sergeant led us into the office of USAC General Daniel Buck. We were told t
o sit. The General then looked us over as he slowly walked around behind us.

  He then began to talk about the mistake I had made, killing us on our initial DSim flight. That soon turned to a berating about many smaller mistakes during the ground scenario. A small part of me wished for my Great Uncle to come in to our rescue. The General then focused on the ending of our scenario.

  His tone abruptly changed. There had only been one other team who had taken out an enemy fighter in a single crew scenario. That victory had come only near the end of their training. It had earned the crew the command of A000001. We had just taken out three fighters on our first day!

  I looked around at the others as the General continued to talk and could see a sense of pride welling up in them. Our team had just kicked ass on our rookie set of missions. The General then went on to tell us he was erasing our two deaths from our DSim logs. We were also to be given one day a week during our remaining training where we would be allowed to watch others, ask questions of our scientists and engineers or do free DSim hours.

  The General had one last reward for us that he had been saving. In two days the first squad of seven Defenders would be lifting off to do battle with the alien fighters. We were to have sideline seating in the Battle Room where we would be allowed to monitor every aspect of the fight. It was an honor that only a few would ever know.

  The remaining crews, their trainers, the techs and everyone else in the chamber would not be aware of the coming event. Command, the first squad, their handlers and the Battle Tacticians would be the only ones who knew what was happening. When we were dismissed from the General's office he shook each of our hands. He then gave a stern warning about the seriousness of the whole affair before giving us a final "Good job."