The Phoenix Wars: Book I, Reprieve

by C. R. Daems

  "Show time," I said when the buzzing stopped. I laughed as I finished dressing. All I needed was underwear since I had a flight suit and protection equipment in the Pitohui. "Good luck, my friends." With that, I was out the door and running toward the fighter area.

  "Are you ready, Kayla?" Todd shouted from several meters behind me.

  "No, but I have to admit I have been wishing to get this over," I shouted back as I entered the room. Bradley was talking to Calum as he reviewed his sleeve. I decided to join them as I was now the squadron leader, and they probably had information I would need.

  "Kayla, I'm informed they spotted four Tullizor cruisers entering the Anixia system. We can expect contact in roughly four hours," Bradley said while scanning his Sleeve. "What are our orders, Squadron Leader?"

  "Do you know if all the fighters have two Griffons loaded?" I asked. Calum nodded affirmatively. "Pilots, listen up!" I shouted to get everyone's attention. It wasn't necessary as all eyes were on me, and the talking had stopped. "We have four Tullizor cruisers invading our playground. I think it's time we let them know they are not welcome–" I had to pause until the caustic remarks stopped. "You each have two of the new hull-breaching missiles. When you enter your fighter, check their position as I will want you to fire those first, hoping to breach the cruiser's hull, thus making the old Vulture missiles more destructive. We will use Option 4 Formation ME43 for our first encounter. I want the two lagging fighters ten seconds behind in order to assess the damage before deciding which missiles, if any, to use. If you think the first two fighters caused significant damage, withhold your Griffons. We may need them for a second pass elsewhere. I will make specific assignments in transit. To repeat: Option 4, Formation ME43, with a ten-second delay. Any questions?" When only silence followed. "No heroes. You are part of a team, so make sure you don't let your teammates down, and no absentees from the victory party afterward without my personal permission; that is an order."

  "Yes, mother!" Was the unanimous response. I couldn't help a smile.

  "Mount up and form up on your formation leader. Our ride to the playground is the…" I looked to Bradley.

  "Crowned Eagle," Bradley said after looking at his Sleeve.

  "Crowned Eagle," I repeated as I headed for the Pitohui. A minute later, Todd appeared to my right, then Edward, and finally Petra. "All systems operational?" I asked.

  "Fighter 1-2, all systems operational," Todd said.

  "Fighter 1-3, all systems a go," Edward said.

  "Fighter 1-4, all systems operational," Petra said.

  "Follow me," I said as I began accelerating towards the Crowned Eagle. Two hours later, after all fighters were on board and the Crowned Eagle was accelerating towards the Tullizor, Bradley called for a meeting of the formation leaders.

  "I'm informed by the captain of the Crowned Eagle that fighter pilots from the Kestrel are aboard the Rufous Eagle, and those from the Merlin are aboard the Bald Eagle, and those from the Gyrfalcon are aboard Haast," Bradley said, shaking his head in disgust. The Saker pilots are ready and have a strategy, but we appear to have neglected a coordinated strategy for the various Houses of War. We have four cruisers but only three fighter groups facing four Tullizor fighter groups. Any suggestions?" Bradley asked. To my horror, everyone looked to me.

  "Where is the lady's washroom?" I asked, feeling all my blood draining from my face. Calum pointed toward a door. "Good, I'm going to go wash my face, after I throw up." I turned and headed for the door. Inside, I found a commode and sat. "It's not fair," I said to the empty bathroom. "What's fucking new?" I shouted and laughed. Everyone was looking to me because the K-box was our only hope of surviving four Tullizor cruisers, I realized. Consequently, the strategy had to revolve around the Martial Eagles. The problem was that I had planned our approach as the fighters from Anixia clashed with the fighters from Tullizor, and all eyes would be on the fighters, not stray junk without heat signatures. I had also mistakenly thought of four fighter groups when we effectively only have three…we need another diversion," I mused as I walked to the sink and stuck my head under the cold water and started laughing. I must have looked maniacal when I exited the room with my hair soaked and dripping water and a wry smile on my face.

  "Kayla, are you all right? I didn't…" Bradley said but stopped when I held up my hand.

  "We need to talk to the captain immediately," I said. "There is no time to delay." For a minute, I thought Bradley was going to ignore me, but after a very calculating evaluation, he shrugged and activated his Sleeve.

  "Captain Basson, we have an emergency and need you to come to bay…" he looked around the bay, "eight immediately. It may make the difference between winning and losing." He looked back to me. "He's coming, Kayla. I hope you know what you are doing."

  I shook my head. "I don't, but I'm hoping the captain does."

  To his credit, Captain Basson entered the bay while everyone was still shooting questions at me, which I had been ignoring. Basson looked tired and frustrated.

  "What's the emergency, Wing Leader?" he said, obviously wanting to get whatever this was over so he could return to the Bridge. I interrupted.

  "I'm the problem, Captain Basson. I have an idea but don't know enough about cruisers to know if it's possible," I said and continued before he could say anything. "If you pulled the four cruisers closer together, could you drop my twenty fighters without the Tullizor being able to detect the drop?"

  He looked at me wide-eyed, which narrowed in a frown as he took a closer look. Then a second evaluating look before turning to Bradley.

  "Kayla is the Wing Leader for this engagement, Captain." Bradley nodded toward me. "She has just been given a problem we senior leaders should have addressed. The strategy for getting her formation in position."

  Basson nodded while giving me another evaluating look. "If your fighters stay close to us, the Tullizor won't be able to detect them at our current distance," he said while staring off in thought.

  "There will be four formations of four fighters each. I envisioned each formation flying underneath one of the cruisers," I said. "How fast are you accelerating?"

  "One percent the speed of light," he said.

  "Meters per second, please."

  "Three million meters per second." He smiled.

  "Bradley, what is the top speed of our fighters?"

  "One million meters," he said, rotating his hand to indicate approximately.

  "Captain, can you slow the cruiser to one million meters?"

  "Why?

  "My plan would be for you to drop the fighters undetected by the Tullizor cruisers. Each of my four formations would settle in under one of your cruisers as you continue to decelerate. When you reach one million, we will cut our engine, while you would continue to decelerate. Oh, when you reach one million, you can begin shooting missiles at the Tullizor. It will keep their eyes off the space junk hurtling toward them."

  "Young lady, you're crazy. What if one of our missiles…Oh, you will have your engines off." He looked to Bradley.

  Bradley nodded with a small smile on his lips. "We will need you and your people to work out the timing, but I like her idea. Our fighters have the new ship-killer missiles."

  "The idea is crazy, but it's frequently the crazy ideas that win wars as no one is expecting them." Basson smiled. "Let me get my radar and navigator persons down here and work out the details."

  "Listen up," Bradley shouted and waited for quiet. "For this engagement, Kayla is the Wing Leader with Calum next in command. Kayla, they are all yours."

  "Captain Basson is going to start decelerating from their current speed. As they decelerate, the four cruisers will close the distance between them. When the Crowned Eagle's speed reaches one million meters per second, he will notify me, and the Eagle formations will be pushed out in the following order: 4, 3, 2, 5, and 1. Eagle one formation will form up one kilometer under the Crowned Eagle, Eagle 2 under the Bald Eagle, Eagle 3 under the Haast, Eagle 4 under the Ruf
ous Eagle, and Eagle 5 behind Eagle 1. You will match speed with the cruisers and ensure that your speed is at one million meters meters per second, distance to the target is one million eighty kilometers, your launch distance is fifteen thousand kilometers, your start time is one second, and you are aligned with your Tullizor of the same number. When the cruiser reaches one million meters per second and determines our approach speed with the Tullizor is eighteen point eighteen minutes distant, they will begin firing missiles at the Tullizor. That will be your signal to start your K-box to begin your run."

  "Why are we setting the distance to the target? The K-box does that automatically," Simon said to nodding heads.

  "Normally, we would have an intercept vector and know the exact distance; however, this time, they will be approaching us at some speed, so the distance won't be known in advance. The cruiser will fire when the time offset is equivalent to a vector of one million one hundred thousand kilometers from the Tullizor. Don't forget, if they are alert, they will be targeting you when your engine start, and you have your missile explosions to deal with. Too close, and the explosions may disable your fighters." I paused for them to nod in understanding. "Since we are using ME43, fighters in position one and three should be positioned ten seconds, ten thousand two hundred kilometers to the rear. Remember, we only have two ship-killer missiles each; therefore, if you are in a ten-second delayed fighter and believe the cruiser may be disabled, use only your standard Vulture missiles and save the Griffons for any Tullizor cruisers that are still functional." I spent ten minutes answering or clarifying my instructions. "Good hunting, Martial Eagles, make your mother proud and don’t forget the mandatory victory party afterward," I said, to hoots, clapping, and a lot of colorful remarks.

  Chapter 30

  Quality Testing After The Sale.

  Formation Four, led by Simon, was the first pushed out of the bay. They formed up and immediately moved beneath the Rufous. Next came Formation Three led by Calum, who moved under the Haast, then Formation Two, led by Tebos, who moved beneath the Bald Eagle, and then Formation Five, led by Bradley, who moved two kilometers beneath the Crowned Eagle. They were acting as a reserve formation depending on the outcome of the first assault on the Tullizor fleet. Finally, me in Formation One, only one kilometer beneath the Crowned Eagle. Edward and I immediately drifted back twenty kilometers as we were units one and three. I was as nervous as a girl on her first date and knew I would have to be one hundred percent focused or screw up big time. Success would depend on everyone being focused.

  "Attention, Martial Eagles," I spoke into the general channel. "Formation units will start their K-boxes as soon as the cruiser you are attached releases its first salvo of missiles. Remember, it is an eighteen-minute journey to your target. If you lose focus or get distracted by the victory party afterward, you will be taken by surprise when your engine starts, and it will take several seconds longer for you to react. In that event, you will miss the target or have chosen option two and will miss the party. If you don't stay focused, mother is going to be very angry, but I would prefer you exit immediately and live to make another attack. A nation and thousands of people are counting on us. Good hunting."

  The sight of missiles being launched from the Crowned Eagle jarred me alert, and I hit start on my K-box. Slowly, formations began to move ahead of the Crowned Eagle as it continued to decelerate.

  The weapons officer had been right, and the missiles were useless at this distance, since the Tullizor had plenty of time for their ECM operators to cause them to lose their target lock or for the automatic laser system to destroy them. The point, however, was to distract the Tullizor crew because they couldn't ignore the missiles. Consequently, it was unlikely anyone would notice the twenty space objects hurtling toward them.

  Had I thought about it, unit 1 and 3 didn't have to be alert as they would see the explosions for units 2 and 4 ten seconds before their engines started. As I watched, it appeared that the four Griffons and Vultures were causing multiple explosions, so I chose to use only my Vulture missiles. Three seconds after my engine started, I released my Vultures and turned up and away from the cruiser and cut my engine again in case the cruiser had time to target me. Thirty seconds later, I headed for the regroup area I had designated. It took ten minutes to reach, and within five, all but one Eagle was accounted for.

  "Eagle 1-2, status?"

  "Functional but no Griffons or Vultures."

  "Eagle 1-3, status?"

  "Functional and have two Griffons."

  "Eagle 1-4, status?"

  "Functional but no Griffons or Vultures."

  "Eagle 4-1. What happened to Eagle 4-4?" I asked, fearing the worst.

  "Option 2," Tebos responded. "I think Lenard froze. The impact set off a chain of explosions. Tullizor Two is definitely not functional. We have no Griffons."

  "Eagle 2-1?" I queried.

  "Tullizor Two is heavily damaged, but I think still functional. I and unit 3 each have a Griffon," Simon said.

  "Eagle 3-1?"

  "I believe Tullizor Three is nonfunctional. We have no Griffons," Calum said.

  "Eagle 5-1?"

  "We have all our missiles, four Griffons and four Vultures," Bradley said, sounding a bit disappointed.

  "I want to wait and see what if anything appears functional," I said. "All fighters except 1-3, 2-1, and 2-3 return to the Crowned Eagle. Bradley, how do you feel about making a run at Tullizor 2?"

  "I think we need the experience, acting Wing Leader," Bradley sounded pleased. "This is certainly a turning point in our war with the Tullizor. We must make sure those cruisers cannot return to tell the Tullizor what happened."

  "Agreed. Tell me what you are planning, when you are ready," I said, feeling a bit awkward checking on the Wing Leader's intended action, especially when Tyler would probably set up the timing, and if not, he would certainly check them. Five minutes later.

  "We are seventy thousand kilometers from the target. We plan to approach at five hundred kilometers per second, start our run at sixty-five thousand four hundred kilometers for two minutes eighteen seconds," Bradley said. I nodded. That would give them ten seconds to launch their missiles and exit the area.

  "Good hunting," I said and hoped no one on the Tullizor was watching or had figured out our strategy and was waiting. Bradley was right; they needed the experience and the bragging rights of having destroyed a Tullizor cruiser, even if it had been seriously wounded.

  Fortunately, the run went off flawlessly, and the Tullizor cruiser was left completely nonfunctional. The Anixia fleet spent the next two days ensuring no one lived, collecting potentially useful equipment and information. The Crowned Eagle left early.

  "Kayla, where's the victory party going to be?" Tyler asked as we all settled down in the cruiser's mess area.

  "I thought I would leave that to the Wing Leader," I said.

  "I thought you were the Wing Leader?" Todd said, trying to look serious.

  "Nope," I raised my Sleeve, after a sneak look to ensure I didn't have a third star, and sighed in relief. Calum laughed, having noticed my quick look.

  "I think we should make you the head of the House of War's war college," Calum said, loud enough so everyone could hear. "Your training curriculum was excellent, the tactics were not only good but adaptable, and your attack strategy a stroke of genius."

  "I agree, Calum. Kayla deserves full credit for this victory," Bradley said and received a boisterous response of agreement from the pilots. I was blushing so violently that my toes felt hot.

  The comradery on the way back to Anixia was extraordinary, like having membership in an exclusive club of elite warriors. We had been part of Anixia's war of independence. Even the most pessimistic individuals couldn't imagine the Tullizor coming back anytime soon. They had sent a fleet of four cruisers to teach the pesky birds their place, and none returned. They hadn't been defeated and retreated; they were destroyed. I would expect a scout ship to confirm the obvious, but doubted a
nother fleet would be sent until they understood how they had been destroyed. That would give us breathing room to… I didn't know but hoped someone had the answer because either the Tullizor would eventually return or some other nation would stumble on Anixia, and we had better be ready. They can't wing it even if they were birds. I smiled at the pun.

  Chapter 31

  Down The Rabbit Hole

  Back on Anixia, Bradley gave the pilots a well-deserved one-month rest and relaxation period where training was required only one day a week. I chose to spend my time reviewing the fighters' black boxes, looking at each pilot's responses. Not to rate them but to determine the effectiveness of the training, what worked well and what didn't, and who needed more training.

  To my surprise, I had found no potential problems. Considering we were working with a new system and the time constraints, training appeared adequate, even though one person died. The slowest reaction times were only two to three seconds difference, the fifteen-second delay appeared to give everyone time to target, shoot, and exit. Formations of four got the job done, the options provided a good mix of alternatives, and the K-boxes worked to perfection.

  "Well, Kayla, what are your conclusions?" Bradley asked when he saw I had finished reviewing all twenty Black Boxes. I noticed Calum appeared to be staying close to Bradley, telling me he was Bradley's choice to replace him. A good choice, I thought. Calum had been a very active student, was a talented pilot, and understood the new system.

  "I can't find anything to complain about. The K-boxes worked perfectly, as did the Griffons and the pilots, and the results were a perfect ten," If we ignore Lenard taking option two, I mentally corrected.

  "Yes, that was my and the House of War's assessment. Black Eagle, who is the leader of the house, has requested a meeting with you at the House of War. That is quite an honor. The houses seldom invite any humans to their house." He laughed. "Partly because the only way to get there is to fly."