Hawk Seven (Flight of the Hawk)

by Little, Robert

  She paused just a brief second and asked, “Listen, how long will you be here on base?” I said, “We were scheduled to leave in two days, but that’s been changed to five or six days.” She said smiling very nicely, “I would love to talk to you before you leave. If you come aboard the Netherlands, I’ll give you the nickel tour?”

  I was taken aback, but not displeased. I nodded my head, thinking that I would love to talk to her some more. She smiled and said, revealing in her words an accurate reading of my nonverbal yet positive reaction to her request, “Please comm me before you come over, OK?” I nodded awkwardly and she waved and walked quickly away. I looked at her, thinking that even when she walked quickly, she was graceful.

  I started to turn away. Just as she reached the hatch she looked back quickly, giving me a fleeting smile before disappearing. A moment later I remembered an instance when Elian and I met an attractive young woman while on leave. She had casually turned and walked away. Elian turned to me and said quietly, “I’ll bet you lunch that she turns around to look at me.” I not only didn’t believe him, I didn’t understand why he thought it significant. She did, and he later commed her, and saw her several times before we had to return to the Essex.

  I went back to our berthing area and looked in on Elian. His bunk was empty, a good sign. I sat down at a tiny desk, sandwiched in between our bunks and began working on some much-neglected tasks. Elian came breezing in, looking cheerful and clear-eyed. He said, “Hey, did you see me last night? Was I a great pilot or what?” I nodded soberly and said, “I’ll go with option B, ‘or what’. Elian grinned and said, “You’re just jealous because I got that medal from Carolyn.”

  I grinned and said, “As I recall, I got a kiss from her too.” Elian laughed and said, “And one from me. I wonder, which one did you like the better?” I smiled and said, “After you kissed me, you sick pervert, I had to wash my mouth out.” Elian said, “Yeah, but did you like it?” I laughed and said, “You are so lucky to be with me. Anyone else and you’d have been committed long ago.”

  He sat down on his bunk and toweled his hair, “Yes, you are correct. On the other hand, you wouldn’t have gotten that kiss from Carolyn if we weren’t roomies.” I thought about it and nodded my head ruefully, “So true, so true.”

  We talked a bit while Elian dressed. He said, “I’m hungry, let’s go look for some chow in this dump.” I nodded and we left.

  We ended up eating in the enlisted mess, as ours was closed between meals. Two men and one woman stopped by to shake Elian’s hand. It seems his ‘flight’ the previous evening had won him some notoriety. I grinned to myself, trying to picture how he would have acted at meeting Nastya. Suddenly, I felt a little proprietary. I realized that I felt something for her. This realization surprised me. I had only talked to her for a few minutes, yet there it was.

  Elian was watching me and asked, “What are you thinking about? If I didn’t know better, I’d say you were thinking about Carolyn’s kiss. If you’re smart, boy, and of course you aren’t, which is why I’m here, you would forget that kiss.”

  I started to tell him about meeting Nastya, but quickly changed my mind. I wanted to get to know her, and for some reason I felt a little reticent. I said, “Kiss? What kiss? I was thinking about the reception we’re going to get when we reach Earth. You know, we may get split up, and we’re going to be working for someone else again.”

  Elian let me off the hook. He said, “Well at least we won’t be getting shot at for a while. And don’t for a moment think that Chief Kana would allow us to get separated. He’s taken us two hapless lieutenants under his wing.”

  We wandered down to the flight deck and inspected our Hawk. Even though we had been cramped up in it for long periods of time, it was all that we had left of the Essex.

  They had repaired the ablative covering and replaced the destroyed antennas. There were no weapons loaded on it, and I asked Elian, “You know, I don’t feel good, running without missiles.” He looked at me for a moment and pulled out his pad. He placed a call and said, “Message, from Lt. JG Turner; to, Cdr Harrelson; purpose, request a meeting at your convenience, concerning arming the Hawks for flight to earth. Out.”

  Elian looked at me and said, “You know, you’re always giving me credit for things. But frankly, you’re always the one with the ideas. I just run with them.” I smiled happily at him and said, “At last, the breakthrough we have all been waiting for.” He grinned at me, and I continued, “I disagree with you; the truth is that when I’m around you I get some of my best ideas.” He laughed and clapped me on the shoulder, “Robertito, if that was the truth, you’d have three girl friends.” I smiled and said, “One girl friend would be just about the right number.” He smiled and said, “Yes, and if you would let me, I could solve that little problem for you in no time flat.” I nodded my head and agreed, “Yes, that’s probably true, and she’d be looking at you all the time.”

  Elian looked at me in surprise and said, “Roberto, you are an idiot. No, you are an idjit, which is even worse than being an idiot. I have no idea why you think the girls are interested in me more than in you. Still, as long as you think that, I’ll let you. Being around you is good for my, um, romantic life.”

  While we walked back towards our quarters Elian’s pad beeped. He looked at it and smiled, “We’ve got a meeting with the boss in five minutes.” We walked a little faster.

  We got approval to run with two missiles in the internal launcher, but no Mark 65’s. They were in short supply, and the likelihood of running into a bug mother ship on the way to earth was as close to zero as to be the same as.

  That afternoon I received a message on my pad. Elian and I were not on anyone’s duty roster, so we had a lot of free time. Elian looked expectantly at me as I read it. It was from Nastya, inviting me to take a tour of her ship that very same day. She’d commed me!

  I smiled briefly, and sent off a ‘yes, I’ll be there’ reply. Elian waited expectantly for me to tell him something, before asking, “And that was from whom?” I looked up and said, “Uh, not anyone in particular. I’ve gotten invited to take a tour of the Netherlands, a mothballed carrier that’s here in-system, doing workups before heading out.”

  Elian looked expectantly at me, waiting for a better explanation. I remained silent, and he said, looking very suspiciously, “You too tall devil! You’ve got a date with a girl!”

  I blushed, making me angry at myself. He said, “Well?” I broke down and said, “Uh, while I was working out in the gym I happened to meet someone there, and she invited me to take a tour of her carrier before we ship out for Earth.”

  He waited a long moment and then asked, “And?” I smiled and said, “And, I’m taking a tour of the Netherlands today. Or, I will if I can get transportation.”

  Elian looked at me carefully and said, “I do believe you are smitten. I’ve seen you around girls you take a liking to, and you act as if you have taken a liking to this unknown female person from the Netherlands. She is a she I take it? How old? An old crone of a captain? No, she has to be, um, let me see, a lieutenant. If she was a mere JG she wouldn’t have been able to get around easily, and if she was a higher rank, you wouldn’t have been interested. So, she’s a lieutenant. Hmm, you were working out with that stupid marital arts of yours. So, she’s a martial arts person. She’d be fit. Did she throw you around the mat thingy? Hah, I bet that’s it. She literally dropped you to the floor and you fell in love.”

  I laughed and said, “Exactly right. Uh, if you’ll excuse me, I have to take a shower and get dressed for my tour.” Elian asked, “How many children does she want to have? I’ll bet it’s six. No, eight. Yes, that’s it; you’re going to have eight little screaming ankle biters running around. Diaper rash, that’s your future.”

  I laughed and said, “Well, I do hope someday to have a couple of ankle biters, as you call them, and I would absolutely love it if you were to get married and have some children of your own.” Elian smiled pai
nfully and said, “Yeah, but not for a while. Let’s see what happens with the bugs first, OK?” I nodded, a little grimly.

  I caught a shuttle from the base, which made the rounds of the larger navy ships hanging in orbit around the moon. It took nearly forty minutes to reach the Netherlands. I caught a glimpse of it as we approached. It was much larger than the Essex had been, and was surrounded by small work bots, shuttles and manned craft. They seemed to be working like crazy and I suddenly realized that they were applying a layer of ablative material to it. I remembered that meeting where we had learned that someone had come up with an inexpensive alternate to the Hawk ablative material. It seemed to have been ages ago.

  We docked at an external pad located on the hull and after all the seals had checked out green, a boatswain opened the personnel hatch. I navigated the disorienting change in gravity fields and exited the shuttle into an echoing hanger deck, which I crossed to a desk where an officer sat. I saluted and asked permission to come aboard. He took a quick scan of my pad and nodded me through. I asked him to direct me to Signals. He made an entry on the pad at his desk and transferred directions over to me.

  Fortunately, when I passed through the hatch into the ship proper, I found that Nastya was waiting for me, yet another very nice surprise. She smiled and waved, looking a little uncertain. I realized that she was possibly as nervous as I was, and weirdly enough, this made me feel a lot better.

  After greeting me she asked me, “How much time do you have?” I said, “I’m not on a duty roster, so I’ve got lots of time.” She said, “Great, that will give me enough time to give you a full tour. I know the fighter crews are anxious to meet you. They’ve all heard of you and what your Hawks accomplished. They asked me to ask you if you would be willing to meet with them later this evening. Would that be all right?”

  Her request surprised me, but I nodded my head, “Of course. I’d love to meet with your crews.” She smiled in evident relief. “Thanks, I would have been in a lot of trouble if you hadn’t been able to make it.” I was surprised again at the relief in her voice.

  She took me first to Engineering. I looked around in interest at the massive equipment, necessary to push a nearly six million ton ship through space at seven gravities, which is the maximum acceleration this old ship could do. I saw everywhere the evidence of new shielding. She made a comment about it and noted my response. She said, “You act as if you know what that is.” I grinned and said, “Yes, well on my very own Hawk is a brilliant ETech4. She is the one who first figured out how the bugs knew where we were.”

  Nastya looked at me in surprise and said, “I’m surprised that they’d let her stay on with you.” I nodded my head and said, “Yeah, me too. I’m probably going to lose her when we get to Earth. I’ll miss her. She’s a lot of fun, and a great navigator to boot.”

  Nastya looked questioningly at me and I explained, “Two nights ago we had a Dining In, and it got very noisy toward the end. My navigator, Elian Turner loudly claimed that he was a sh..., a great pilot. All the pilots jeered at him, but he got an opportunity to run the gauntlet. If you haven’t seen it done, you are missing something great. Everyone was drunk, save for me. So, they blindfolded Elian, and Carolyn acted as his navigator. He had to run around this crowded room full of more drunks, following her instructions. The object was to navigate the entire room and run full tilt into this massive senior chief. Elian and Carolyn were a great team, despite being drunk, and they made it. They were only the second team to do so. When Elian got back up Carolyn kissed him. Some pilot complained that it wasn’t regulation, and Carolyn said something to the effect that if a pilot successfully completes a mission he or she ought to get a medal. That same pilot thought about that for a moment and then shouted that he wanted another go at it. I laughed myself silly.”

  Nastya listened with a big smile on her face and asked, “You were the only one not drunk?” I nodded my head, “Yes, I don’t drink. Never have, actually, so my crew knows they’ll have someone there to get them home safe.”

  Nastya said, “It seems that you do that a lot. Getting your people home safely I mean.” I looked down at my feet, not knowing what to say, so I didn’t say anything.

  We walked around the ship, getting to know each other rather more than the ship. She was actually from Lubya, and wanted to know all about my family and how I came to be a pilot. I told her about my family’s business and how I grew up space crazy. I told her about my struggles to get my grades up to the point where I would be accepted, and finally, I told her about my family’s reaction to my acceptance to the Academy.

  She was silent through this, and when I stopped she said, “That’s terribly sad. It sounds as if your family really needed you. I’m certain, though, that they’ll have changed their minds, and become proud of you, now that we are at war. My family has always had members in the Fleet. My father is an admiral, currently serving on active duty, and I have two brothers in uniform. Oh, and a sister is in the Academy. All told, there are fourteen members of my family serving in the military.”

  I looked at her in wonder and said, “What a wonderful family you must have. I bet reunions are fun. Does everyone salute each other?” She looked at me uncertainly and then laughed. She said, “Robert, you have a wonderful sense of humor. I heard that you were very shy.”

  I stared at her and asked, “You what?” She blushed, which looked very good on her, and said, “Well, after we met, I asked around about you. I hope you don’t mind?” I said, in no little wonder, “No, I am honored that you would go to the trouble, and surprised that you could have heard anything about me. I’m not even a full lieutenant.”

  She looked at me searchingly, and must have liked what she saw. She said, “Well, whether you like it or not, you and your crew, all of your crews, are famous now. You’re the only ones who have had any success against the bugs. I heard that you are one of the all-time aces, and you have destroyed more enemy shipping than any crew, anywhere.”

  I had no idea what to say, but I opened my mouth anyway, “Those are facts that don’t seem very connected to me, to who I am. I hope that, well.....” I faltered at the end, but she didn’t seem to mind. In that moment, I felt a shimmering connection between us.

  We went up a huge lift and into officer’s territory. I was intensely conscious of her presence next to me. We looked in on the bridge, which was very large, and full of new equipment crammed in amongst the obviously old.

  Finally, we went down to the flight deck, or one of them. She made a comm call while we were on the way and when we went through the personnel hatch into the huge, echoing deck, we found several hundred men and women. I was strongly surprised, but she took my hand and tugged me into motion. She didn’t let go of it immediately, and in that instant, I realized that I had it very, very badly for Lieutenant Nastya Tretiakov.

  She introduced me to the Commander, Attack Squadron 103, Commander, Attack Squadron 342 and Commander, Attack Squadron 558. All three were actually full commanders, and they greeted me with big smiles. The first to be introduced to me was the most senior, and he said, “Lieutenant, we’re all very pleased to meet you. If you have some time, would you answer a few questions from my crews?” I told him, “Of course sir.”

  The commander turned to the crews and said, “We’ll meet in the forward auditorium in, say, one hour.” Someone began clapping and then everyone was applauding. I stood, my feet rooted to the deck, not having a clue as to what to do or say. I suddenly wished that Elian was there, and made a decision.

  I asked, “Sir, would it be all right if I asked the rest of my crew to come over as well?” He nodded his head emphatically and asked me their names. On the spot he commed the bridge and said, “Bridge, this is Commander Jarvis. I want you to comm fleet base and request in my name that the members of Lieutenant Padilla’ Hawk crew come up. You’ll need to speak to whoever is in command of the Hawks. Please explain that Lieutenant Padilla has been asked by my flight crews to speak to them, and he
has requested his crews’ attendance. Oh, and send a shuttle for them, if you please.”

  I was struck by how easy it was. One minute I’m walking around with a pretty woman, next, I’m standing in front of over a hundred men and women, all of whom applaud me. I said, “Thank you sir. If I have to stand up in front of all these crews, they have to as well, because they’re more to blame than I am.”

  Commander Jarvis laughed and said, “From what I hear, that may not be so much of an exaggeration. I understand that you have Master Chief Kana in your crew. Is that correct?” I was no longer surprised at the chief’s reputation. I said, with a grin, “Yes sir, the chief decided that my navigator and I needed someone to hold their hands, and change their diapers from time to time.”

  Commander Jarvis laughed and said, “One time, I listened to him cuss out an enlisted man who made the mistake of screwing up in front of him. I swear, he didn’t say one single proscribed word, he didn’t repeat himself, and he reduced that man to a small puddle of shame, over the course of what seemed like ten minutes. It was the most masterful speech I’ve ever heard.”

  I nodded my head vigorously, happy to have the spotlight on someone else and said, “Yes sir, but you should know that he is also a master at using those proscribed words as well. On the Essex, one time, he took on the man who was at that time the number one Blue Artist, as they called it there. He won handily, and when he got through, I thought Commander Harrelson was going to have to go to the hospital, he laughed so hard.”