Hawk Seven (Flight of the Hawk)

by Little, Robert

  Another question popped up, “We were able to refuel the Hawks by dropping down onto a convenient planet and running hoses down to a river. How can the Dresden be refueled?” He stared at me, once again stunned. He had never even thought about refueling anywhere but in a properly configured military base, with lots of red tape. He looked at me blankly, his mind obviously hard at work on the question. He said, suddenly, “You could do that by either landing, or by hovering and dropping a hose, or better, a probe. Let me add that to my list.”

  I nodded my head and said, “Bottom of the list please. I’ve got to make a report to the Admiral. He likes them in person for some reason. Unless you object, I’m going to tell him that without any untoward problems cropping up, we should be able to launch a test flight within thirty days.” The engineer looked at me with a worried expression, but nodded his head.

  I said, “You can always get some sleep next year.” He groaned, “It’s November.” I laughed and left his office.

  Elian and I reported to the admiral that afternoon at 1700, and had to wait a bit as he had someone else closeted with him.

  His visitor left and the admiral called out to us to come in. He waved us to a seat and as soon as we were settled he said, “We’ve just received a report of a major assault against the combined bug flotilla. They used one hundred ninety two fighter craft with six destroyers acting as backup. The fighters got bounced very quickly – at six million kilometers – and never got anywhere near the mother ships. We lost twenty-two fighters, and two destroyers before it was over. I’m told that the Dash 4 is a fair match for the bugs best fighter, but not any better, and probably not quite as good, overall. The report says that the kill ratio was heavily in favor of the bugs, however, due to a three or four to one advantage. They have an incredible number of fighters, and they were positioned perfectly to intercept us. I have to believe that that wasn’t an accident. As a result, it was decided not to launch any more attacks until they figure how the bugs knew. What genius that decision must have taken!”

  I said, “Sir Elian and I worked with some of those Dash 4’s. We ran some simple tests with them, and frankly, they were pretty noisy. Plus, they varied from fighter to fighter. Some were reasonably ‘black’, others very noisy. I’d be willing to bet that until we get better at masking our energy emissions, the bugs are not going to be surprised.”

  Admiral Lee looked at me and then Elian. He asked Elian, “Are you sure enough of your opinion to put it in writing?” Elian didn’t even look at me, “Yes sir, we’re very confident that the shielding that was added was not sufficient, or was done sloppily, or in some instance, both. We looked at a couple of those fighters up close, and weren’t impressed with the quality of work. Chief Kana said some very, um, unflattering things about the ancestry and intelligence of the quality of workers. Sir, may I ask, how did the squadrons we worked with do?”

  The admiral looked down at his paperwork and asked, “Which squadrons?” Elian told him and he looked over the figure for a moment before looking back up. “Lieutenants, you will be pleased to learn that those two squadrons performed splendidly, and suffered only one lost fighter. Um, they managed to rescue the crew in fact. Now, about the Stone; what have you got for me?”

  I nodded to Elian and he said “Sir good news and not bad news. First, the chief engineer has drawn up plans to implement the changes required to boost the acceleration of the Dresden class up to approximately thirteen G’s. He’s given us an approximate first flight of thirty days. I believe that this ship will be very effective sir.”

  The admiral scratched his chin in frustration, “Do you believe that we should begin work on the others now, or wait until we’ve got all the bugs out of the first one?” I smiled and said, “We believe sir that we should not wait. We should put crews on the other nine, and by the time they’ve gotten them ready to move, we should have the designs for the engine rooms finalized. By the time we’ve finished modifying the defensive suites, they’ll have the follow-on Dresdens ready for those modifications. In other words, absolutely, sir.”

  The admiral nodded his head and said, “I’ve got some good news for you concerning the entire reason for the Dresden; missiles. We’ve got two different Dash 15’s going into production. One is designed to accelerate at over 50 G’s. It can run for two minutes max, but at the termination of its acceleration it will have built up a huge velocity. I like its chances. The other one is designed to work in conjunction with the Mark 65 replacement. They think that if we send in some of the new 15g’s as escorts for the bigger 67’s, they can take out fighters that stray too close. The holdup, I am told, is in the control system they’re building in to the missiles, which would supposedly give real-time information to the Dresdens through the missile sensors. What they tell me is that we would be able to fly it, steer it around obstacles, even move it around to attack from another quarter, all in real time. Promises, promises. If I had a cent for every promise made by those overpaid civilian engineers, I could build my own fleet. We will have to wait for results on that one.”

  Elian asked, “Sir, when can we get our hands on some of these new 15’s?’ The admiral smiled tiredly and said, “One week. If not, some officers are going to get promoted.” It was a funny remark, but not funny as in funny ha ha.

  He shook his head and continued, “In reference to the 65 replacement, not only have we no word on it, we can’t even seem to get as many 65’s as we’ve requested. There’s a real roadblock in there somewhere, and I’ve sent some of my people to earth to fix it. They’re being escorted by federal marshals, who are carrying a stack of blank warrants. What I think the vendor is doing is artificially limiting production in order to force the Fleet into paying through the nose for it. I swear, if I find any evidence of pay offs, I will personally shoot the bastards, and only then will I let the marshals have them.”

  We were dismissed, and on the way back to our quarters Elian said, “You know Roberto, just a few months ago we were lowly JG’s out at the end of a very long chain of command. Just a few minutes ago, we sat and listened to one of the most powerful uniformed officers in the military open up and reveal to us what I’d be willing to bet he’d never say in front of pretty much anyone else. While he was venting, I didn’t think much about it, but now, it scares the hell out of me.”

  I looked over at my best friend in the entire universe, and saw no evidence of his usual wry humor. I thought about what he said, and realized why he said it. Admiral “The Right Hand of God” Lee was deeply frustrated. I asked, “Why scared?” He said, simply, “How bad must it be if that enormously capable and powerful, dedicated and responsible man, who has the authority to wage war on an utterly implacable enemy, cannot get the weapons and tools needed?”

  We walked in silence while I sorted things out. I said, thinking slowly, “Elian, we’ve found ourselves in a position where we can help this man, can help Fleet. I’ve never felt this way about anyone, but the admiral has fought all his life for, well, not just for the Fleet, but for what it represents to humanity. If he can have that kind of dedication, despite being surrounded by thieves and crooks, then so can I. I know you well enough to believe that you feel the same way. I want to call a closed-door meeting of our Hawk people. Right now.”

  Elian pulled out his pad and input for a few moments, then sent a message off. We had a common room in our barracks that would serve for our purposes.

  We arrived back at our quarters and found that most of our personnel were already present. Elian checked and told me, “Ten minutes for the last one to arrive.” I nodded, still trying to figure out what to say.

  Ten minutes later we closed off all access to the common room and put a clamp on all incoming comm messages, save for one channel to the admiral’s office.

  There wasn’t sufficient seating for everyone, so we all just stood. I moved around so that I faced them and began, “Elian and I have just returned from a meeting with the admiral. What was said there, and what we’re goi
ng to discuss here must not get out of this room. Not for any reason, not even to the admiral. Perhaps, especially not to the admiral. Understood?” I looked around the room and saw their nods, as well as their looks of concern.

  I waded in, “In order for humanity to defeat this enemy, we need new weapons and new methods of delivering those weapons. The Dresden class of destroyers is one possible means of getting weapons delivered, although it is not the only one. We need new missiles and we need them yesterday. Apparently, things are desperately bad, and we don’t have the replacement for the 65, nor even very many of those. The admiral has sent some of his most trusted aides to earth, along with a gaggle of federal marshals, but at best that will just mean we’ll know why we don’t have the weapon, or weapons. Like Elian and I, you have been around the admiral long enough to be able to judge what kind of man he is. I can’t decide for you, but I can for me. I think that Admiral Lee is the single most dedicated, accomplished and moral man I’ve ever met, and that man is getting beat down by crooks and thieves, some inside the Fleet, some outside. I tell you this: from this moment on, I will work harder than I’ve ever worked, I will work better than I’ve ever worked, and I will not disappoint that man. I promise that if there is a way to get the Stone operational one minute sooner, I’ll take it. I ask you, all of you, to put everything else in your life aside, and to work harder than you have ever worked before, and more importantly, to work better than you have ever worked before.”

  I turned and went back out, not knowing where I was going, but knowing I wanted to go. Elian caught up to me, and then so did Carolyn. I found I was heading in the direction of the hanger.

  A few moments later, a flat bed cargo carrier pulled up next to me, with Master Chief Kana at the helm. He looked over at me and said, “Hey sailor, want a ride?” I snorted, and joined the crowd.

  Approximately thirty hours later, Elian, the chief, Carolyn and I sat down in the mess hall of the Stone. The civilian engineer had been seriously put out at being called back into work. Once we were all seated, I said to him, “This ship has got to become operational sooner than thirty days. I want it up and running in ten. Before you say one single word sir, understand this: I’ve been on the receiving end of bug weapons, I’ve lost many hundreds of shipmates, and I tell you that the bugs will not stop until they have killed every human being on every human occupied planet. If you do not understand the threat we face, then get the hell off this ship and I’ll find someone who does. Do you understand me?”

  The engineer was really pissed off now. He said, “Lieutenant, I’ve been threatened by admirals and congressmen, I don’t scare easily.” I stood and said, looking down at him, “If that is what you think I’m doing, then this meeting is over.”

  He looked up at me and snorted, “Are you seriously telling me that you think this tub can be ready in ten days? Get serious! You tin horn brass heads are all the same: give you a little power and you think you’re God. Well, you aren’t, and if you even think of trying to go around me, you’ll find yourself in such hot water you’ll wish you were being shot at by the bugs, do you hear me, little man? This is my ship until I decide to release it, and not you, not your precious admiral, not anyone is telling me what to do.”

  I smiled at him and said, “Correction, this ship is the property of the Fleet, not your corrupt company. It was certified to be operational by fleet shortly after we flew it in to base. The modifications that your company has been hired to provide do not in any way give your company the right to hold up the modifications you have in fact been contracted to perform. Before we commed you, we made some other calls. I hoped that you would understand the threat that humanity faces from this enemy, and would help in every way you could to assist your Fleet, which is the only thing standing between you and a bug weapon, but it appears that you do not. Therefore, sir, I order you to remove yourself from this ship. In addition, you are ordered to remove all company equipment from the Stone, and from the hanger as well. You have two hours. You will not remove one single item from this ship, however, unless and until it has been inspected by MP’s, who at this minute control all access to the hanger and to this ship. If you attempt to impede the Fleet from performing work on this ship, you will be arrested by federal marshals, who are also standing by. Literally, standing by. In all the excitement we’ve had lately, I seem to have failed to inform you that, at the behest of Admiral Lee, the federal government declared a state of emergency, effective four hours ago. Do you understand the implications of that declaration? No? Well, if you have a lawyer, you might talk to him before you make any more threats, either to an officer or other person of the Fleet, or against this or any other unit of Fleet. Now, Master Chief Kana, will you kindly inform the MP’s standing outside in the passageway that this man is to be escorted to his quarters, and quarantined there until such time as, well, who knows?”

  Chief Kana stood up. He wasn’t as tall as I was, but he was twice as wide. He looked at the middle aged civilian and said, “This way, sir.” The man jumped to his feet, absolutely furious, but also, a little scared. He stormed out of the mess hall and almost ran into four MP’s who had been standing in the passageway. He yelled at them to get out of his way, but that may have been a mistake. These men were used to abuse and over the centuries had developed ways and means of making the source of that abuse wish he’d been a little kinder.

  Instead of getting out of his way, they casually but actively impeded him. The senior MP said “Sir, before you leave the ship, we need to check to insure that you do not remove any items or property belonging to Fleet.” He held a small container and said, “Sir please place the contents of your pockets in this container.” The engineer roared with rage, but the MP’s merely became more polite and more inflexible.

  The head MP said, with just a trace of eagerness, “Sir, if you do not comply with my lawful orders, we will take you into custody. Do you wish to comply, sir?” The engineer seemed finally to understand the hot water he was getting himself into. He began emptying the contents of his pockets into the container. The MP’s looked on impassively as he cursed them, me, the Fleet and presumably everyone in it. By name apparently.

  He continued to hurl threats of lawsuits, but ran out of steam about the time he finished with his pockets. One MP ran a wand over his body, causing him to fume, but he had finally run out of threats. The wand beeped each time it passed over the small of his back. The MP with the wand said, “Sir, please raise your hands over your head.” The engineer almost refused, but gave in. The MP quickly ran his hands up and down the man’s body and said, “Sir, you have a small item underneath your shirt. Please remove it and hand it to me.” The man sputtered, but he was wilting fast.

  He raised the bottom of his shirt and reached behind his back. He handed a small electronic device to the MP who placed it in the container. I peered at it but couldn’t get a good look. I did, however, see that the engineer was now no longer angry, he seemed to be somewhat nervous. That made me very curious.

  I asked the MP to let me see the device. He reached into the container and looked at it for a moment, then handed it to me. I turned it over in my hands and suddenly realized what it was. I called to the mess hall, “Carolyn, will you come here please?” I turned back to the MP and said, “I believe that this device is designed to extract programming code from processors, such as we have on the Stone.” The MP’s stiffened.

  Carolyn arrived, and in full view of everyone I said, “Carolyn, do you recognize what this device is?” Without hesitation she said, “Yes, of course. That is a particularly small one, and probably extremely expensive, but it is able to store huge amounts of data. It can, for example, hold all the data found in the Stone’s memory banks.”

  I said, to no one in particular, “This engineer could easily get whatever data the Stone would have by simply boarding any one of the other mothballed ships. So, what information would be so important that it would warrant such an expensive, and hidden, toy as this?” Carol
yn stiffened in dismay, as did Elian. They knew.

  I asked the MP’s, “Would it be possible for us to do a data dump of its contents? We would do it in full view of you, as well as our guest, so as to preclude any possibility of either adding or subtracting data.” The MP looked at the engineer, who was now very, very quiet, and nodded his head. Our MP was not a stupid man, and he smelled a rat.

  Carolyn said, “I’m going to create a large, empty file in my pad. I will demonstrate to everyone present that it is empty, then I will view all the data on this device on my pad. There, again in full view of everyone, we will conduct an examination of its contents. We will be looking for data or software that is the property of Fleet.”

  She performed the steps one at a time, and within less than a minute we were looking at an itemized list of the data found in the tiny device. Within seconds, I spotted something that looked vaguely familiar, but before I could say anything Carolyn beat me to it. She said, “MP’s, this device contains several programs that were written by Fleet personnel and whose purpose is to control multiple space craft while in flight. There is no possible way for this man to have gotten that information from any other source than from my own pad, or from one or more of the Hawks. I can state this to be true, as I am the author of those programs.”