Commander Cotton cursed. "Damn! All right, everyone as you can see this is not a drill and we flew into a hornets’ nest of our own. Bravo, Delta, Echo and Foxtrot wing stay with the freighters. Alpha, break formation and engage at will. Keep them on their toes!"
I was Alpha wing and so was Har-Hi.
Wildcat called us. "Viking, Pirate. I wish I could hold you back, but I need you. Take it easy and stay as safe as possible and free attack is easier than coordinated defense. So get them and stay away from their grav guns!"
"Aye, Sir!"
INTERLUDE: DEVASTATOR BRIDGE
"I think it is safe to say, the Nul took the bait and there is a security leak, as NAVINT expected," Captain Harris said, looking at the massive Nul fleet of no less than 80 carriers and 60 Nul battleships entering the Algeri System, already releasing their fighters.
Stahl, standing next to him, grunted. "Yes, information about the convoy was sent to the Nul and the culprits have been identified, but the Nul responded with the largest strike force I have seen them dispatch since the last Nul Shiss war to take out the base."
Harris gave orders to dispatch fighters and to Tactical and then said "Maybe I should do an Olafson on them. Tactical, you are authorized for Exo Loads, salvo tact. All sniper batteries have fire permission."
Stahl did not laugh, because the situation was serious, but he could not prevent a smile. "Maybe we should put that into the books. I am sure we can deal with those but let us hope Squadron 12 can hold out that long. One squadron against a full carrier load of Nul fighters is more than a challenge, no matter how good they are."
Harris agreed. "Yes, but I can't spare any fighters right now. There are 8,000 Nul fighters launched protecting planetary bombers, if they get through the base is toast. I will do my best to clean up as fast as I can."
Stahl turned to a yeoman. "Have Midshipman Olafson report to the bridge. I think he might want to see this."
The yeoman acknowledged and came back a moment later. "Sorry Sir, Midshipman Olafson is not aboard. He began fighter training this morning and is out with Squadron 12!"
"Verfluchter Hund! How does he do it and always get in the middle of things?"
"Sir, it was Commander Cotton who requested him and Midshipman Hi, and it is rare but not uncommon for very good Midshipmen to receive fighter pilot training in the third year," the yeoman said.
"Yes, but Cotton should not take them out on a real mission the very first day!"
Harris put his hand on Stahl's shoulder. "Cotton is one of the best we have; he knows what he is doing."
The sniper batteries already took a deadly toll and each shot decimated a Nul fighter.
***
I broke formation and gunned the accelerator to max, arming all weapon systems. Wolfcraft fighters had a deadly array of weapons: two Translocator Gatling Cannons, eight faster-than-light Forced Energy Cannons (FTL-FE's), four Loki Torpedoes and a forward-mounted heavy caliber plasma accelerator.
In the corner of my eye a red signal and flashing data announced the quasi-space signature of another Nul-Nul carrier dropping into Planc space coming in from the Z plane. I couldn't allow it to launch its fighters. "Viking here, I’ve got another carrier on my board; I am going for it!"
"All right! Try it, more fighters would be very bad news for us, but be careful!" Wildcat replied.
I programmed a microjump, but the Computronic refused to execute so close to a star. I had to manually overwrite the lockout.
My Wolfcraft came dangerously close to the local star, 800,000 clicks closer than I wanted to be, and my fighter’s engines screamed to get out of the gravitational pull. My shields were bombarded with heat and radiation as I passed through a protuberance of superheated stellar plasma, the system warned, "Shields at 40%!"
Instead of fighting the star's gravitational force I changed course slightly and used it to accelerate me even more. I became so fast approaching the second carrier that its target systems recognized me too late. It had just dropped into real space and was opening its launch bay. I was glad the Nul did not use revolving starters. The carrier had to drop shields to launch its fighters and I released all four Loki Torpedoes right at the open launch doors and pulled my fighter away.
Again, my engines pushed past red line and the inertia damper alert beeped in a frantic rhythm some of the Gs came through and pressed me deep into the seat, and for a second I saw a narrow tunnel before my eyes and tasted blood. The auto-doc of my suit reacted and injected stimuli and pain drugs. The carrier exploded behind me but two of its fighters escaped the antimatter explosions that obliterated their mothership and were hot on my tail. My shields were still recovering and could not handle a direct hit.
One of them did manage to pepper my aft shield, almost collapsing it. The main weapon system I had was my Translocator Gatling Guns. While neither the Nul-Nul nor any other known species had a direct defense against the Translocator weapon system, the Nul were able to distort the sensor locks of my target-acquiring system. While this was not very problematic with large targets, Nul fighters were nimble and fast enough to make the required targeting process more difficult.
I had missed twice already; my shields would not be able to deflect more than one or two shots before I had to shut them down to reset. Resetting shields took only five seconds, but five seconds in a fight fought at these speeds was a lifetime.
I reversed thrust and decelerated so fast that my suit auto-doc warned of organ damage. I didn't feel any pain because of the drugs the auto-doc pumped in me. This time they couldn't evade or jam targeting enough and screamed past me directly into my main fire cone, and I squeezed the trigger of the PAC, destroying one completely. The second Nul fighter had already moved outside the range of the plasma accelerator, but a short burst of five TL loads, one detonating right inside the cockpit, took it out of the equation.
The threat board showed there were no bandits in my immediate vicinity and I had time to check the squadron status. There were 18 Wolfcrafts left! One showed up as a complete loss and one was severely damaged. One of the freighters was also damaged and its aft was burning with the greenish glow of atomic fire consuming higher alloys.
Of the 100 original Nul fighters I still counted 50.
The fight was intense. Translocator Bombs exploded like mini stars and the faint bluish shimmer of Nul grav bomb funnels flicked everywhere.
Damage control of my fighter showed that my shields where still recovering and just barely above 40%, my left engine showed stress damage and my repair nanites were busy weaving structural bonds to fix that.
I was almost 12 seconds away from the main fight, so I shut down my shields to reset them, but could not fly very fast for five seconds because of the micromatter damage that would occur moving at high speeds without any shield protection. So I was able to take my time and aim the Translocators carefully for long-range sniper shots and destroyed six Nul fighters. Three Nul fighters abandoned their attack run on the other freighter and turned to take care of me. I managed to damage one more with a full barrage of all FTL's and it exploded moments later. My shields literally came on in the last microsecond as two long-range shots came close to my starboard side.
Taking evasive maneuvers, and now with full shields, I could accelerate and maneuver at the peak of the fighter's abilities. I had just lined one up and fired, but my starboard engine went way past red line and the Computronic shut it down before it could explode. Despite the nanite’s efforts, a containment coil had come loose. Without containment the antimatter produced from the molecular gas I carried as fuel would make contact with the matter of the drive, and the resulting explosion would completely destroy the fighter and me.
The safety system shut it down automatically just before that could have happened, and ejected the faulty containment coil along with the AM into space, where it exploded only a few meters off my side. Luckily there were no shockwave effects in space and the explosion did no damage.
A Wolfcraft was d
esigned with two engines for exactly that reason, instead of having one bigger engine. I could operate with one engine just fine, however my speed and maneuverability was cut in half.
I targeted one of other fighters who saw their chance to finish me off and instead of relying on precision of automated targeting, I aimed semi-manually with the battle sights of my suit and fired in cycle mode. Since the other fighter was approaching me dead on, this was possible; no human being could react fast enough to hit anything moving at these speeds except when it came straight at you. The Gatlings released 200 bombs per second and depleted my ammo reserves to almost nothing but the barrage had the effect I had hoped for. I expected most bombs to miss the target but one made it and detonated right in the engine module, engulfing the Nul fighter in a blinding globe of pure energy.
The doomed fighter had fired just before I destroyed it and its shot hammered into my shields pulling them down to 32%. The bluish glow of the dissipating grav bomb played over my entire ship.
"Complete system failure warning, structural damage to base frame and armor, estimated nanite repair time one hour."
The readout showed that had I sustained damage despite the shields and that I could not go superluminal. Weapons were still fully operational, but the damage readout showed my other engine also having micro fractures in the containment module. I had to shut it down so the nanites could wave material over the fractures or I would lose it.
I was now as helpless as a fangsnapper frozen halfway in a snowdrift, the maneuver thrusters were no help in evading enemy fire.
The possibility that I had to eject was very real and the thought alone was more frightening to me than the possibility of dying in an antimatter explosion.
A Nul fighter made its attack run, there was nothing that could save me. Then there was a pain as if a sharp object was trying to push into my mind. The pain intensified so suddenly and so intensely, I screamed at first and my sight failed. Suddenly, for a brief moment, I thought I saw Narth, his true angelic face, not the hooded shrouded figure, and the pain ebbed off. I clearly heard him say, "You are Narth! Push!"
Then it was gone! I felt numb, almost paralyzed; I barely heard the auto-doc's diagnosis.
From beyond that numb feeling that surrounded me like a padding of invisible foam I heard a voice and it became clearer. "… king come in. Wildcat for Viking!"
I coughed blood and said, "Viking here!"
"Good heavens, he is alive! My sensors showed no life signs for almost a minute!"
"I am sorry Sir. My systems are pretty messed up. I’ll get you a status right away."
The thread board was clear and I saw a wonderful sight on my scanners, the Devastator was there!
"Pirate to Viking. You had me worried, very worried!"
"Stay off the channel for a moment, Pirate!" Wildcat barked over Har-Hi's voice.
"Viking, my system’s master control shows you are inoperable. The Devi is launching Buffalos as we speak. Hang in there. Your auto-doc transmits data I don't like very much!"
"I am fine, Sir. I am just a bit tired!"
"Stay with me Olafson, you have had a massive shock! Your auto-doc is damaged and only partially functioning. It can't put you into cryo from here! Just stay with me! Do not fall asleep."
I saw the Buffalo approaching and its claws taking hold of my ship.
I tried to sound offended. "Sir, I won't fall asleep on duty."
"That is the spirit, son."
"The Buffalo is here now, Sir."
After the Buffalo had towed me back, I was safe on the landing deck. I pushed the system shutdown and lowered the seat.
I got up, tried to walk over to the others but my legs did not carry my weight, Med bots and two Med techs rushed towards me and that's when I passed out.
INTERLUDE: SOMEWHERE IN FREE SPACE
The mysterious and dangerous companion of Swybar, who seemed to have dozens of names, faces and disguises, was not so dangerous anymore. Swybar didn't even bother to check on the true identity as he shoved the body through the energy membrane and watched it float away. He might still have been alive, one never knew the exact effects of Shaill poisons. But his good friend had swallowed enough to kill a herd of petharian, at least that’s what the merchant had said, and it had worked.
His former companion was nothing more than a speck and, after his next eye blink, completely gone. Swybar decided he wanted to be solo with no one to look over his shoulder and perhaps rat him out or something like that. ‘The earlier you took care of a potential danger the better it was’ was an old Thauran saying that he found very useful.
For the first time in a long while, he felt free. Free of obligations to the Fleet, to the Worm, to anyone. He was his own master, with a very nice ship. He had sold a crate of Terran TKUs to the Karthanians for a tidy sum and now he was on his way to Sin 4 to visit the annual pirates’ market. He needed a crew. Going after McElligott was still on his agenda, but the Admiral was immortal and could wait. He wanted his own trail to get cold and then strike when no one expected him anymore.
***
I woke in sickbay and an officer with the Med Department logo on his chest grinned at me. "Welcome back, Mr. Olafson. How do you feel?"
"I feel fine. Why is it always me that wakes up in Med, while others are fine?"
"You had a ruptured liver and internal bleeding, we also repaired a ruptured brain blood vessel, but you are fit for duty."
"Thanks Doc!"
"Besides you are not the only one that came to sickbay, we patched up 75 casualties and two of your squadron comrades did not make it at all. So be glad you woke up!"
I swallowed hard and wished I hadn't said that.
"They are waiting for you at Main Flight Control."
I made my way down to the pre-flight deck. Commander Cotton, Har-Hi and a group of pilots stood there next to my Wolfcraft. It no longer looked as shiny as it did when I got it. It was a torn wreck. There were scorch marks and parts of the armor had melted off. One of the engine pots was completely gone; the other pot did not have the original alignment and hung there at an odd angle. Much of the bow section was stripped to the frame.
I snapped to attention. "Midshipman Olafson reporting, Sir."
Cotton made a waving gesture. "Pilots don't do that, Viking! We are just inspecting your machine and deciding whether to repair it or scrap it and now, since you are here, we can debrief you as well."
I relaxed a bit and said, "Sorry about returning the fighter that way, Sir."
He looked surprised. "I am glad you returned it at all!"
"I am not in some sort of trouble Sir, for returning your craft this way?"
"In trouble? Oh no, Viking. It is not every day a fighter pilot makes ace, especially not on his first mission and now we have four new aces in our squadron!"
"Ace Sir?"
"You killed 12 enemy targets. The carrier counts as one but you also killed 11 fighters. Any pilot that accomplishes 10 kills becomes an Ace. That's a term with a long tradition. Pirate here blasted 29 during his first sortie, that's a new record!"
Har-Hi grinned proudly and whipped onto his toes. "Wait till you see the entire Wolfcraft squadrons with Dai pilots, Sir."
"That is a scary thought indeed. If we had one or two more like you, we would have cleaned house before lunch!" He then grabbed me by the shoulder. "I won't fault you for what you did because taking out the second carrier was crucial and had to be done, but making a jump that close to a star is suicide."
"Aye, Sir, I’ll try not to do that the next time."
He turned his head and said, "Blowdart, where are those jackets?"
A Lieutenant came running. "Right here, Wildcat!"
He handed each of us a black leather jacket, on the back of it was a large logo of a stylized wolf jumping away from a rendering of the Devastator and the words around the logo read, "Devastator Fighter Wing 12."
"You earned the right to wear those and if anyone, especially your friend Clusen,
gives you any trouble I give you the direct order to let me know." He then attached two ribbons on our chest display, one of them a red ribbon with a small black cross. "This is the Ace ribbon, you earned it!"
As he pinned mine he stopped, turned and said, "Attention everyone! Our friend Viking here is a Medal of Honor recipient!"
Everyone saluted and as usual I didn't really like it. "I thought pilots don't do that, Sir!"
Wildcat patted my shoulder and boxed Har-Hi in the side. "You are all right, you two! The Captain will decorate you both with the Flying Cross in about an hour from now. Olafson, for risking his life to destroy that carrier and Mr. Hi, for saving lives of comrades by disregarding his own safety and fighting like a banshee let loose from hell!"
We thanked the Commander and felt quite proud of ourselves.
Cotton's mood instantly changed. "We also have a very solemn duty to perform. Lt. Homer and Lt. Voglgard did not make it and we will have a ceremonial at 14:00 hrs on the main flight deck. So get changed in dress uniform and be here."
***
The ceremony was a somber one and while neither Har-Hi nor I ever met the pilots, we still felt touched and I knew how close I came to being in one of those flag-draped metal coffins. Homer's coffin was empty. There was nothing left of him that could have been recovered. At least he had a quick end. Voglgard died with a ruptured spacesuit after ejecting. The Nul-Nul actually fired on him while he was helpless, so Har-Hi told me.
Captain Harris read the eulogy and after that they played taps and the coffins were released into space. The Devastator fired salute.
Captain Harris was still in a somber mood as he decorated us with the medals and no one was breaking out in cheers but every pilot shook our hand. It was, I found, almost a religious experience.
Harris said to me, "Mr. Olafson, Mr. Hi, it seems to have become a habit of mine, decorating you. I saw the report and your actions saved many lives. The convoy was carrying defense equipment and now the system can be properly defended against future Nul attacks. Your contribution made this possible."
To Har-Hi, he said, "No one in the history of fighter combat destroyed that many enemies during his first mission. Your incredible skills and bravery are duly noted."
Eric Olafson Series Boxed Set: Books 1 - 6 (The Galactic Chronicles Series) Page 26