Hawk Seven (Flight of the Hawk)

by Little, Robert

  Unfortunately, the earliest that we could expect to see significant numbers of even the retrofitted Dash 4’s was five to six months, and even then in only limited numbers. Additionally, there was no guarantee that our own Seventh fleet would get any of them, as every planetary government was screaming for large numbers of them for their own system defense. Every single fighter, destroyer, cruiser and carrier that was held back to defend a distant system meant one less ship would be available to meet this enemy before it reached those same systems.

  Elian, Carolyn the chief and I spent many hours in simulators, going over our two attack runs and trying to develop better methods for dealing with those horrendous lasers their fighters used. The Hawk, as tough as it was, had taken a beating in the second encounter, and it was obvious that the enemy had more than enough fighters to swamp its defenses.

  During one heated exchange, Elian defended the tactics we had developed and used in the second attack, using as his argument the fact that they had worked. I looked at him, mildly surprised at what I considered a rare failure of reason on his part, and asked him, “Elian, since that first encounter, have we developed new tactics, equipment and methods?”

  Elian looked blankly at me for just a moment, then flushed. He was rarely ever caught out that badly. He looked back at the plot on the board for a moment, thinking very hard. “Yeah, we have. So, the question I should have asked is, what could they do to counteract our Hawks? Rather, what have they already done?”

  That question was answered by intense silence. We were all thinking about what could have gone wrong, what the bugs could have done better. The chief said, “Well, for one thing, they are probably working on better ways to shield their own fighters from our sensors. Our fighters must have been just as big a revelation to them as theirs was to us. Ours are much stealthier than theirs, at least to infrared, so I’m guessing they’ll be working on ways to decrease their own visibility.”

  I made a note of his comment and added, “Additionally, they have probably studied our tactics with the aim of understanding just what we did and how we did it in getting so close to their mother ship. For example, what if they were to simply shut down their drives? Their ships would become much harder to find unless we went active, which of course would simply give them a target to shoot at.”

  Everyone went glum for a moment, then Carolyn said, “Well, why don’t we go back to square one and see if there is some way to find their ships when they are not under hard acceleration? They used our own fusion power systems to find us. Perhaps we ought to work on perfecting ways to find them the same way?”

  I made another note to remind myself to pass that question up the chain of command. We talked for another hour and then I called it quits for the night. Early morning, rather.

  The next day our command was informed that our battered fleet was going to be split in two. One carrier would stay in-system, with the majority of the Dash 6 fighters getting transferred to it. The second carrier would head out with all the Hawks and just two destroyers to see what it could do to find and study the bugs at length. Too little was known about them. We badly needed to know why they had attacked without any attempt to communicate with us beforehand. We wanted to know where they came from, and why they came. We needed a great deal of information and the only way to get it was to go back.

  We were given just seventy-two hours to get ready. All the Hawks were flown up to the Essex. One entire hold was emptied and filled with civilians with lots of initials tacked onto their names, along with tech crews and equipment. We had a full complement of probes they were going to send in to see what we could see. We also had a few examples of a new missile that was supposed to be smarter, faster and stealthier than the ER-15. And finally, we had a handful of Dash 6’s. We had the room for them and we wanted to test some new tactics that had been worked up by our own crews.

  We had worked tirelessly to develop tactics for the Hawks as well. As each new crew worked through the certification procedures that were a significant part of learning how to fight the Hawk, we put them right to work in the simulators. I watched the live video feed because I wanted to see how the crews worked together. I learned a great deal from that, more than I had supposed would be the case.

  There was one team, the crew of Hawk10, that routinely aced its scenarios. However, when I watched the video feed I realized that it was basically a one-man show – the pilot made all the decisions, never asked for help and if he needed information he would practically bark his orders. He was fighting the Hawk as if it was a one-person fighter and it was painfully clear to me that on a real mission that lasted many days, either he or his crew would eventually fail.

  Without telling them why, I asked my crew to watch the video of that crew’s training. When the scenario ended I asked for comments, and was gratified when Elian said, “In my opinion, that crew is a time bomb just waiting to go off.” I asked him what he meant, although I agreed with his assessment, and he replied, “He succeeds in our short scenarios because he really is brilliant, but he’s doing it all without asking for help, without working with his crew mates. In the real deal, when the crew is four days into a mission he’s going to collapse, because one man cannot do everything. I do not want that man in the pilot’s seat, because at precisely the worst time, he is going to suddenly find he needs his crew, and they won’t be there, and I would be next in line to die.”

  Carolyn looked grim and when I turned to her she merely nodded her head. She added, “I agree – the man is a brilliant fighter pilot but he doesn’t belong in a Hawk.” The chief said, “In addition to what you two said, I wonder why his crew hasn’t said anything to him, or to someone else.”

  I hadn’t thought of that, and I smiled when I realized that this was a sterling example of why my crew and I were still alive. He watched me as my thoughts raced along at my best, plodding speed and I could tell that he knew exactly what I was thinking, because he was smiling slightly.

  I grinned back at him and asked for recommendations. Carolyn said, “Well, we don’t have time to run that crew through an entire five day practice mission, so instead, why don’t we take one member at a time and show him or her this video replay? Afterwards, ask for input. I would like to hear what they think. If they think that this one man show is working, then I suggest that the crew ought to get the boot as well.”

  I was a little surprised at the vehemence with which she voiced her opinion and looked at her with raised eyebrows. She blushed slightly before saying, “Well, if it’s unworkable for that pilot to run the Hawk entirely by himself, then his crew is just as unsuitable as he is.” I nodded my head and looked around at the chief and Elian, both of whom nodded their heads.

  I placed a memo in the crews’ in-box, requesting a meeting for first thing the next morning. This was to be my first experience with the distasteful side of authority over other people, and even the thought of it was unpleasant. This pilot was one of the very best of the best, but he didn’t belong in a Hawk.

  The next morning we ran each member of the crew through the video feed and afterward, we talked to the individual members, a female in two of the three cases. In each instance, it became obvious that she was uncomfortable with the conditions in her crew, but hadn’t thought to do or say anything. Afterwards we put them together to rehash the scenario.

  I had come to the conclusion that this crew was just a bad mixture of a very strong and opinionated pilot and three fairly weak personalities. It was possible that the crew would work better with a different pilot but we didn’t have the time to find out.

  When we brought them together we asked each one of them in turn for feedback, and got virtually nothing back from any of them. The pilot was actually quite arrogant, something I would have been willing to put up with if he had been with us during those terrible first days of our encounter with the bugs, but he hadn’t, and so I wasn’t.

  At the conclusion of the meeting I said, “In my opinion, the only reason that I an
d my crew are still alive is because of the fact that we worked together as a team, helping and supporting each other. In the video we just saw, I watched a gifted pilot fight the Hawk by himself, and I watched his three crewmates let him do everything by himself. It is my opinion that in a real mission, one that lasted anywhere from five to ten days, nearly all of which would be spent awake and full of stress, you and your crew would fail. Fail, in this instance, means you would fail to complete your objectives, and you would die, quite possibly leading to the deaths of other Hawks and their crews, possibly even far worse.”

  I paused for a moment, looking at each of them in turn, and finished, “I thank all four of you for volunteering for a very dangerous assignment. That said, effective immediately, you are being reassigned. There will be nothing negative placed in your jackets, and you have my personal thanks for all you have done while you were here. That is all.”

  All four were stunned, but the pilot was visibly angry. He outranked me, and he was furious. He saluted, and stalked out of my office without even glancing at his erstwhile crew. For his sake, I hoped he kept his mouth shut and went back to his carrier. Unfortunately, he didn’t do either. He stormed to my boss’s office and furiously demanded that he be reassigned to our team.

  I received a call not fifteen minutes after that meeting. Lt. Cdr Jaworski said, “Robert, I have Lt. Lee in my office. He says that you have just disbanded his crew and sent them back to their former assignments. Since this apparently just happened a few minutes ago, I haven’t received anything from your office. Is he correct?”

  Without looking at my crew, all of whom were still sitting with me, I said, “Yes sir, that is correct. After reviewing video footage of Lt. Lee’s last simulator mission, I have decided that he is better suited to a fighter than to the Hawk, and I am therefore going to request that you cut orders sending him back to his carrier, where, I am sure, he will distinguish himself.”

  Lt. Cdr. Jawarski said, “Thank you, Lt. Padilla. We have a meeting later this afternoon to go over your mission objectives. I would like Lt. Turner to sit in on that, so please inform him for me, would you?” We terminated the call.

  At sixteen hundred hours Elian and I met with Cdr. Jawarski and two other staff officers from fleet. The meeting began with my commander requesting an update on our equipment and personnel. I made no mention of my former crew, simply said that we were presently one crew short for the mission. We had a backup crew that I thought might serve, but to my surprise, Cdr. Jawarski said, “Lt. Padilla, I request that you hold off on any decision for a few hours. I have taken the liberty of putting together my own crew, and we have been working on your simulations after hours. As I am your senior officer, I could simply order you to accept my crew and me; however, I do not like officers who work that way. Therefore, I request that we be scheduled for an interview, at your earliest convenience. I know this is very late in the schedule for a crew change such as this, and I apologize. Of course, I will abide by your decision. You have my word.”

  When your superior officer requests something ‘at your earliest convenience’, that should be translated as meaning that right now is very possibly too late. I was floored by his request, but as soon as he made it, I understood why. He wasn’t merely a pilot, a very good pilot in fact - he was a warrior. I made my ‘yes sir’s and the meeting continued.

  We had just received another shipment of some Mark 65’s, and now had enough to enable us to seriously take on one of the mother ships if it was deemed an acceptable risk. I had conducted a scenario in which I shot off several of the upgraded ER 15’s along with one of the new replacement missiles. Afterwards, Elian was able to say with some confidence that he could have identified it as being a new or different weapon, but in his opinion, the bugs might not. I reported my findings and was given permission to test it.

  If there was an opportunity to damage or destroy a mother ship without losing our own carrier, we would take it, but absent that opportunity we were under orders to remain out of sight. If we had to fight, we would, but the first order of business was knowledge. For much the same reason, we were ordered to be cautious with the Hawk. If one were damaged and the enemy got its hands, or tentacles or whatever grasping devices it might possess, the bugs could learn a lot about our own technology. In fact, they may have already collected some of the dead fighters we had left behind.

  Due to the noisy characteristics of the Essex, we were not going to allow it within several hundred million kilometers of the bugs.

  Elian and I left the meeting with very mixed feelings. I was eager to get another shot at our enemy, but I was also feeling the pressure of being responsible, not only for the mission, but for the forty seven other people who would be flying under my command. I was pretty confident that my own boss would be in that group, and that was odd, to say the least. Under any normal circumstances, he would have simply taken over the command of the mission, but coming as it was at the very last minute, I could see that he did not want to make such a large change in our organization. For that alone, I respected him. That made me wonder why I had been put in command of the mission in the first place. He was my superior officer and had much more experience. I said a much to Elian and he snorted, “Roberto the Dim, how much combat experience has the good Cdr. Jawarski have in a Hawk? In any craft? You are the one single pilot who has demonstrated that he can kill bugs, rather than the opposite. Obviously, you wouldn’t have been able to accomplish this remarkable feat without my own sterling assistance, and it is probably that our bossman took that into consideration when he made his decision to put me, and you, in charge.” I had no idea how to respond to that, so didn’t, causing Elian to snort.

  At 0700 next morning, my crew and I interviewed Cdr. Jaworski and his crew, one at a time. Lt. Cdr. Jaworski had thousands of hours of experience in three fighter types as well as command of an elderly destroyer escort, a class that was no longer in service. He had commanded a crew of over one hundred men and women, and according to his jacket he had turned a decrepit ship with one of the worst performance records in the fleet into a ship that came close to earning an ‘E’ rating, something most of the brand new frigates that were slowly replacing his rust bucket were unable to do. I was impressed with his record and I was even more impressed with his ability to turn a disparate group of people into a highly unified fighting unit. Hell, I wanted to fly with him.

  The other three crewmembers were a genuine surprise to me. He had chosen his own exec to be the navigator. That made good sense, as it meant that they were sure to work well together. He had also chosen Chief Lee, the one known as ‘Chief Blue’ as his fourth team member. Another highly intriguing choice, one that could possibly mean I ought to rethink my stand on vulgarity.

  However, his choice for the third spot was the biggest surprise of all. All capital ships had a chaplain, a line officer who served in this second capacity. Commander Harrelson was the Essex chaplain as well as the officer in charge of the carrier’s missiles. He had extensive experience in cruisers and destroyers and knew missiles better than anyone I had ever met. The circumstances were so extremely odd as to make my head spin. Elian and I were JG’s, although we were coming up on promotions to full lieutenants, and I knew of no other occasion where senior officers put themselves under the command of a JG.

  I asked him, point blank, why he was volunteering for this mission. He told me, matter of fact that he wanted to learn as much about our enemy as he could, and nothing was better than firsthand experience. I looked at him, watching for a sign of anything other than what I had already seen, a dedicated, honorable officer who wanted to serve even if it meant in a capacity far below his rank. I nodded at him and with a grin said, “Carolyn, I want you to spend every available minute with our new, and elderly Etech. Bring him up to speed as quickly as possible. Sir, I want you to put together a briefing on all three of our missiles, to be presented to our crews. How much time will you need?” He grinned and asked, “How soon can you get your
crews together?”

  That evening we held a general meeting at which Commander Harrelson discussed in great detail what the Mark 65, the ER 15 and the new ER 15b could and could not do. His encyclopedic knowledge of the subject was nearly as impressive as his eagerness to teach his students - the other forty-seven people in the room - how to get the best possible use out of these weapons.

  After he concluded his presentation he opened the floor up for questions. Carolyn was the first to raise her hand and asked, “Sir, my question is, based on all the available evidence so far, do you have any idea why the bugs have been able to destroy approximately fifty percent of the Mark 65’s?” Commander Harrelson said, “They are capacitor fed, and we believe that to be the source of emissions, just as it has been – probably – on our ships. I say ‘probably’ as there may be additional methods used by our new enemy to detect our ships. All of the capital missiles we are taking out have been retrofitted by hand by the manufacturer with a version of the same equipment we have used to mask our ships. We believe that this will make them much harder to detect and destroy, but we also believe that, as adaptive as the enemy has shown itself to be, it will already have focused on that very noise as a means of defeating it before it can cause any damage.”