I prompted Raven and Tork for status from their stations before making the outbound maneuver. Raven (Janet Plumb) was our Defensive Specialist. Her jet black hair had given her the obvious name. Tork (Derrick Kennedy) was our Engineer. He was a quiet sort of guy that spent his time tinkering with the ships systems. The automation on-board governed most of what went on with them but Tork liked staying on top of it anyway. The way I looked at it, if he was happy, I was happy.
I took us to within five kilometers of the asteroid before banking hard left. At two kilometers out I would do another flip allowing Randy to take his shot at glory. Just for kicks I put my controls on manual in order to make Randy work hard for his shot. If I could coax a miss it would give me ribbing ammunition for whenever he got mouthy. He got mouthy a lot. We quickly slid out to two kilometers and I flipped the ship around. We were completely unprepared for what lay directly behind the asteroid.
It was a long line of alien fighters! Raven's console quickly lit up with a count of 315. They had been using the asteroid to approach Earth under cover. Randy redirected his first shots at the lead fighter just as I made another flip and went to full throttle.
The fighters broke rank and came hard at us. Raven directed our grav-shield to the rear of the ship while Randy began the launch of four Drillers. Our newest Drillers consisted of one BHD ring with a new field generator that allowed the Driller to change directions much faster. They could now almost match the turns of the alien fighters.
New algorithms in the Drillers programming offered an added benefit. The Driller would fly around chasing after a target and when it caught its prey the black hole of the BHD ring would cut into the target vessel just like a drill.
The new algorithms would now direct the Driller to stop and turn once inside a ship. The old weapon would attempt to turn a ship into Swiss cheese by cutting through it, exiting and then cutting through again. This new model would try to gut whatever it came in contact with from the inside out. It was an untested weapon but the Tacticians assured us it would be more destructive than the original. Randy had four Drillers flying moments after our surprise meeting.
The fighters immediate shots which took our shields to 65% with the first hit and 85% with the second. The fighters gained as our BHD began to accelerate. The next shot took the shields to 112% taking out all five of our BHD rings. We were suddenly dead in space.
The final shot had sent us spinning but had not knocked our active skin offline. When the rings collapsed the active skin shut down the sensors and covered the remaining portions of the front of the Defender. Our propulsion was gone but as a consequence, with the active skin, our ship was now invisible to the alien sensors. We were blind to what was happening just outside but the enemy could not see us either.
The computer gave its best estimate of our position and orientation but without a drive those parameters were largely useless. We were floating in deep space with no way home. It was just over a days travel at light speed to get back to Earth. We weren't going anywhere. But we had to warn Command of the approaching horde of alien fighters. The Earth had barely begun its recovery from their prior attack.
It had been three months since the combined USAC and World forces had defeated the alien carrier. It had been a hard fought battle with more than 270 million citizens dead. So far as we knew the alien casualties had been zero as their ships were all autonomous. Twenty of the Worlds largest cities along with numerous other military and industrial targets had been largely wiped out.
For me, I had lost a favorite cousin in Atlanta. Liz and I had been best friends growing up on my Grandfather's farm in East Alabama. When my Aunt and Uncle moved away I was devastated to see Liz go.
It was that separation that had hardened me and sent me down the path from being a Tom-Boy to a Defender pilot for the USAC. For a while we had kept in close contact digitally but that soon faded as we made our way into high school and into the inevitable friendships that developed from there.
The aliens had taken my cousin from me along with my Aunt and Uncle when Atlanta had been destroyed. This was my first encounter with the aliens and I had a score to settle. But, I now had no way of doing it.
We waited 20 minutes for the fighters to pass before attempting to activate a communications sensor. I had taken the time to complete a brief of our encounter and of what was coming Earth's way. The briefing coupled with a complete recording from each of our sensors was compressed and ready to send when the comm came online.
We were trapped more than a light day away while the enemy bore down on our planet. After receiving my signal our forces at home would only have 24 hours to prepare for the 315 fighters that fast approached.
At last count we had 37 Defenders at the ready along with more than 500 heavy space based coil guns and 260 ground based guns. Our factories had been feverishly pumping out ground launched Drillers but I had no idea of how many.
With the main alien fleet only 14 months out we would need the help of every man, woman and child on the planet to continue to raise our defenses. This pack of fighters could cause enough damage and distraction to make that defense impossible.
When the 20 minutes had passed I powered on the sensors and blasted out the warning. The fighters had indeed continued on their course towards Earth leaving us spinning helplessly away in space. At one half light speed it would take the alien fighters two days to reach Earth. Our comm blast would reach home in one.
After sending the blast I turned to the team and asked what we could do to change our situation. Tork immediately volunteered a spacewalk in an attempt to do an on-ship repair or at least bring a BHD ring inside the ship for an attempt there.
I was just about to give the go-ahead when Raven threw out the facts. The fact that we were traveling at nearly half the speed of light was a big problem. And the fact that beyond the active skin we did not have adequate shielding from the stellar winds and their charged particles that freely moved about outside the heliosphere.
If Tork went outside the craft, even with his suit and helmet, he would likely be irreparably cooked from the inside out within a short time. We were trapped until such time as someone at home could attempt a rescue.
When the news reached Earth there was a scramble to assemble all ready forces. A fast Defender was dispensed to attempt a rescue of my crew from our stranded position just outside the heliosphere. Every available trained pilot was needed for Earth’s defense.
The fast Defender was powered by four reactors which would allow it to reach us in less than eight hours. This would also allow time for a rescue and for a to return to Earth before the alien fighters attacked. Our defender would first have to be stabilized so that a door-to-door transfer of its occupants could occur. It was a risky maneuver considering the stranded Defenders speed and the stellar winds.
A volunteer crew was selected and sent within an hour of receiving the comm blast. They would have a four hour window available to attempt a transfer. With the alien threat having moved on towards Earth we were free to use our sensors. We racked our brains looking for anything that could better our situation.
After an hour of nothing Randy offered up an idea. He reasoned that we could momentarily turn off the active skin and fire a round from one of our coil guns. The inertia from that round might slow our spin. If he could calculate which gun would offer the best chance at slowing our out-of-control spin we had a shot of at least increasing our chances of a rescue.
There was no question of time involved as we had enough nutrients and fuel to last us for a month. It was a question of wanting to get back to protect our world. There was one aspect of Randy's plan that he was unsure of. What would happen when the active skin went down?
Would the inertial forces that the skin held back splatter us all against the interior walls of the ship? Would the supercharged particles of the stellar wind come streaming through and cook us? Those were the questions we had no answer to. I put the measure up for a democratic vote from the crew.
&nbs
p; Randy – Aye. Raven – Aye. Tork – Aye and myself – Aye. It was unanimous. Randy re-ran his calculations and set up the computer to best time the shot. Involving the computer in this instance was an irritant to him but the computers precision was needed if the plan was to have a chance at success.
With the calculations complete and the parameters entered Randy enabled the computer to take its best shot. A countdown timer appeared on our consoles and we each watched as it ticked down to zero. The ship jerked violently and then three seconds later violently again. The computer continued to repeat this pattern in an attempt to bring our spinning to an end.
After 27 rounds the Defender slowed to an almost imperceptible turn. Randy's idea had worked. Raven worked over the interior sensor data and concluded that our exposure to the stellar winds was a minimal risk. But, it was a risk that we would likely not know the outcome of for many years down the road.
I took the opportunity to train our sensors on the alien fighters and to broadcast that information towards home. I hoped they could somehow put it to use. I gave Tork the order to plan for his extra-vehicular ring repair in case we had no alternative. The one thing we had was time.
I then began to think about how unfair it was that the alien craft each had repair robots attached to the outer chassis. They could effect repairs while zipping along at any speed... even during battle. I made a log note to post the idea up to our techs when we got home although I was sure that they were already fully aware of its potential.
For the next several hour we all sat quietly wondering about each of our existences. I thought for a few minutes about my crew. Randy was from Connecticut. He had lost family in New York when the carrier and its horde of fighters had attacked. He had joined the USAC a year earlier after eight years as a low level commercial pilot.
He loved the travel but did not care for hauling freight. There was no glory in hauling boxes of clothing or toys or bean sprouts. It was a job he was happy to move on from. Raven was from Vancouver. She made her way into the Corps through a simulation game that had been put on the market several years earlier.
The geniuses behind our Defender craft had put out a holo-game called ZZ Defender. Those who scored well through competitions had been recruited into the USAC directly at a time when Defender crews were sorely needed. The game continued to be a recruiting tool bringing in much needed talent.
Applications to the USAC had been through the roof since the last devastating attack. Raven and a team of three others had been the West Coast ZZ Defender Champions. The rest of her gaming crew had been accepted into the USAC and divided amongst three other Defender teams. I was happy to have Raven on mine.
Tork had come from the Midwest. Somewhere in Northern Missouri. He was about as small town as you could get. As far as engineers went I would not have traded him for any others I had known. As my thoughts wondered I began to daydream about my earlier days on my Grandfather's farm. We had a small herd of goats and it had been my job to keep them fed and keep them happy.
I had spent much of my time hacking into our automated feeders in an attempt to have them do more of my chores. Several minor alterations had worked wonders until I crashed and ruined a very expensive piece of equipment. My parents were livid but my Grandfather took it in stride. He told me that man would never have accomplished much if he had never taken risks. It was a statement that had ruled much of my adult life.
After seven hours adrift I was elated to hear an incoming message. A rescue ship was fast approaching. My team got loud in celebration. The plan was for the rescue ship to match our speed and move in close enough for a door to door transfer attempt at getting us out. Their ship had a pilot and one crewman to handle the winch line.
The rescue Defender would be maneuvered until its rear door and ours were facing one another. Their ships computer would attempt to bring the ship within three meters for the transfer. We had been monitoring the stellar winds and they seemed to build and then ebb in an eight minute pattern. We would attempt our first transfer during the lull.
The pilot of the other ship introduced himself as Bumba. He was South African. He manually piloted his Defender to within one kilometer before turning it over to the ships computer. Within minutes the two Defenders were facing back to back while traveling at one half light speed. We again watched a timer tick away waiting for a lull in the stellar winds.
With precision timing the active skins on both Defenders shut down and the doors lifted. Rocko was at the ready with a line and winch with Tork being the first to hook up and cross. The process took four minutes.
The doors once again closed and the skins re-activated as the stellar winds again began to build. When the easing cycle repeated the transfer process began again. This time it was Raven who was then followed by Randy. As the squad Commander I felt it was my duty to go last. When the time came for my turn the stellar winds did not die down.
We waited patiently for almost three hours for the ebb but no change came. Bumba then made a command decision of his own. I asked what they were doing when the Defender began to slowly pull away.
I was told that our time was limited and that Tork had volunteered to go out on a tether in an attempt to change one of the damaged rings on the front of our ship. I thought it a bad idea to risk the lives and safety of five in an attempt to rescue the one. Tork reasoned that we would be needing the ship if it was at all repairable. We had 315 fighters looking to destroy our world.
It was a reasonable argument but one that was easily countered with why five live crewman and a good Defender were not worth risking. My arguments were ignored. Bumba brought the Defender in close before putting the plan into action. The door opened and out floated Tork with the tool needed to make the exchange for a spare ring that the rescue ship had brought to us.
The stellar winds still raged as Tork hurried through his repair attempt. With no active skin the rescue crew was taking a big risk. I felt unworthy of their gamble. Seven minutes into the ring exchange and Tork was reeled back into the other Defender. When their door had closed and the ship had moved safely away I was ready to give the new ring a try.
I applied power slowly and checked the status. The exchange appeared to have worked. I took a moment to thank Tork and again chastise him for taking the risk. But, I was glad to be heading home in my own ship. Bumba then told us to say our goodbyes because he needed to get back as soon as possible. There was much that needed doing.
I watched the green blip from the sensors as the fast Defender quickly sped away. I pushed my throttle full and watched my own speed climb at what seemed like a snails pace. If I was lucky I would arrive just before our attackers. Our Defenders were much slower with only one BHD ring but, just as the fully capable ship, they would continue to accelerate. My trip counter ticked away from more than 17 hours.
When I arrived at the base near Lake Pleasant in the Adirondacks I moved quickly into a hangar. A crew was waiting to affect repairs. I hurried away to the elevators to take me to Chamber 2 for a briefing on the fight that was almost upon us.
I hustled into the briefing room where I was met by my crew. I took note that Tork was not looking well. Just as the briefing was about to begin he collapsed. I was sure it was due to the sacrifices he had made to get us safely home.
When the medic team had him on the way to the infirmary the briefing began. Our Battle Commander, Admiral Rex Hall, strode in with a stern look on his face. We would be fielding 42 Defenders against the 315 alien fighters. It was not good odds. We would be deploying our fighters in squads of six based on a perimeter around where the alien fighters were expected to arrive.
Our newest space based coil guns were now on mobile platforms but there were only eight of them and they were still relatively slow to move. Our strategy would be to try to quickly move forces to wherever the heaviest need was.
In the few months since the carrier attack the Australians had constructed and opened a factory that was now pumping out 300 light coil guns
a day. These new light guns were mobile and were being rushed to every major city in an attempt to beef up their defenses. There was also added emphasis on protecting our factories as further destruction could end any attempt at rearming ourselves for the main fleet.
When the briefing ended we had our orders. We also had a new engineer. He would be meeting us at our Defender as he was being pulled directly from training in the DSims two weeks early.
I was not happy with the current crew change but being happy was not a requirement. I would have to give the new crewman the chance to prove himself. I had ten minutes to spend before returning to the hangar. I decided on a call to the family. I wanted to hear my parents voices and I wanted the encouragement that I knew would come from my Grandfather.
My Mother had her usual worried tone. Why would I be calling after not talking to her for weeks. I told her everything was fine and to just stay on the farm and tend to business. She was of course suspicious.
I then moved on to the real purpose of my call... my Grandfather. I needed his wisdom, his support, his calm and confidence. I had no problem going headlong into whatever was coming my way. But, that did not mean my guts would not turn to jelly.
I was nervous and Gramps always had a way of putting my mind at ease. He told me that man makes mistakes. That all you can do when times are tough is do the best you can. That worrying never solved anything... action did. He ended by saying that he had complete confidence in his Granddaughter. After all, she had his genes.
The talk had been just what was needed. As I rode the shuttle towards the hangars my inner thoughts turned from worry about my loved ones and for all Mankind to ones of fight and determination. In less than two hours the alien fighters would be upon us. Earth would again be fighting for its survival. As I stepped out into the hangar and viewed all the crews, handlers and support personnel hurrying about I had a renewed feeling of strength... of confidence. We would be giving the aliens the best of what we had.
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