by Sid Kar
Out of the twelve Mercurian starfighters, eight of them were ahead of the remaining four and they were closing range fast. But they hadn’t yet launched any more rockets as their scanners were still trying to identify the current vector of the Starfirian spaceship. The gravitron scanners weren’t of considerable benefit either due to the presence of the large number of capital starships whose strong gravitational impressions clouded and shrouded the small spaceship’s signature.
“If our rockets were zooming out ahead, they would have been picked up by now,” Tollvyk said, “Our ship is providing them cover.”
“How long?” Norvyk asked.
“Count down,” Tollvyk said while he fixated his eyes on the battle computer’s continuous readout of the distance between them and the Mercurian fighters, “3…2…1. Get them boys!” Tollvyk shouted and pushed another button to send a new signal to the rockets. The rockets changed their vector, flew past their spaceship and rapidly accelerated towards the Mercurians.
Mercurians starfighters made hard turns and rolls to avoid collision with the incoming rockets that had suddenly appeared on their scanners in surprise. They launched their own defensive rockets and fired a few towards the spyship as the rockets had given away its location. Three rockets were destroyed by the defensive rockets, two more starfighters escaped narrowly but all five of them had to veer off course to seek safety. But Tollvyk’s move was not completely fruitless. Three of the rockets caught their targets and blasted them in space.
“Good shots,” Rockvyk said.
“All clear to the last band of four starfighters headed our way,” Norvyk said.
“I have kept five Assassin rockets in reserve,” Tollvyk said toggling through his rocket inventory, “we also have five older Mayhem rockets but it would have to be a once in a lifetime shot for any of them to actually get past starfighters defenses and maneuvering.”
“We also have ten counter-rockets that can be reprogrammed for offensive strikes,” Norvyk said.
“Absolute last option,” Tollvyk said, “without counter-rockets, we are counting only on the lasers to save our hide in a pinch.”
The remaining four Mercurian starfighters came nearly straight at them. By now their scanner computers were getting better at recognizing and identifying the correct signals of the spyship and were narrowing down its vector. The Mercurian fighters that had overflown them earlier had all turned around but they weren’t closing the distance sufficiently fast.
“I am going to launch both Assassin and Mayhem rockets simultaneously,” Tollvyk said putting his finger on the launch button, “Mercurian systems can’t know much about our weapons this early in the war. They will waste counter-rockets on all ten and hopefully that allows one of our Assassins to cut some bastard’s cards.”
“Launch detected,” Norvyk said, “Eight rockets incoming at our nose. They must have located us accurately on their scanner this time.”
“Damn,” Tollvyk quickly reprogrammed his tactics on the battle computer, “all counter-rockets away,” he said and then he pushed a launch button, “all Mayhem rockets launched too. Lasers on full defense,” Tollvyk said flipping on another switch.
“Still saving the five Assassin rockets?” Rockvyk asked.
“You bet, but if I have to, I will reprogram them as counter-rockets,” Tollvyk said.
The ten counter-rockets targeted and attempted to intercept the eight Mercurian rockets but only four managed to connect and the rest missed their mark. Four Mercurian rockets were now close enough to send collision warning alarms blaring on the spyship.
The Mayhem rockets launched by Tollvyk exploded near their targets. They weren’t fast enough to have them attempt to intercept so Tollvyk had programmed them for explosion. One of the explosions destroyed an incoming rocket and another one bounced a second Mercurian rocket off its course. But two rockets were still gunning for them on the interception vector.
“Rocket hit in T minus 60 seconds,” the battle computer chirped.
“Launch, Col. Toll,” Norvyk said to Tollvyk, “Those rockets do us no good dead.”
“Launch Toll. Launch,” Rockvyk also joined in.
Tollvyk realized how it must have felt to be Raptor commanding the starship with the entire command room looking upto him and counting on his every move for their lives. And how much burden Raptor must feel on his shoulders? Compared to that he was only responsible for four of them.
“Rocket hit in T minus 40 seconds,” the battle computer’s voice jolted him out of his thoughts.
“Launch Toll. Launch,” both Norvyk and Rockvyk were pleading loudly.
“Have at it then,” Tollvyk said and programmed three Assassin rockets for interception and immediate launch.
But he still waited.
If only the lasers would take out at least one of the incoming rockets…Tollvyk thought.
“Rocket hit in T minus 20 seconds,” the battle computer’s voice said and Norvyk and Rockvyk looked at Tollvyk incredulously and indignantly.
But the defensive lasers started firing the next moment and Norvyk started veering their spaceship off of its regular vector to try to throw off the rockets. Tollvyk still waited while laser cannons fired furiously at the incoming rockets. It took 10 seconds but finally a laser managed to strike and destroy one of the incoming rockets.
Next moment Tollvyk launched the three Assassin rockets now programmed for interception. Lasers still kept firing. The remaining rocket still kept coming.
First Assassin rocket missed the incoming rocket and flew by and now only five seconds remained till interception.
Norvyk furiously dived his ship 90 degrees down. A roll would have been even better but that would have cost them valuable time and Mercurian fighters on their tail would have gained ground. Norvyk then jerked the spaceship right back up another 90 degrees bringing it back to the original vector. But the incoming rocket still kept on their path while dodging the second Assassin rocket.
“Hit in T minus 3…2….” The battle computer began the countdown. Rockvyk bit his fingers, Norvyk maneuvered the spaceship violently and Tollvyk was about to launch the two remaining rockets when the third Assassin intercepted and destroyed the incoming rocket with two seconds remaining on the countdown.
“Damn!” Norvyk said.
“Unbelievable,” Rockvyk sat down on the spaceship floor with a thump and wiped the sweat off his brow.
Tollvyk said nothing. It had been closer than he had wanted or expected. Mercurian rockets were better and faster than any enemy rockets whose specs and characteristics he had been taught in the ‘Space Rocket Warfare’ courses back in his training years.
He still didn’t know how he was going to deal with the four Mercurian starfighters now fast closing distance straight at them with just two rockets remaining in his arsenal. He was pondering his thoughts when Norvyk jumped up and pointed at the display.
“Look at that!” he said with a smile, “our own starfighters have caught up and are launching rockets at Mercurians.”
Fifty Starfirian fighters now popped on their display and a quarter of them launched rockets that devastated all four Mercurian fighters and shattered them to pieces. The Mercurian fighters chasing after them, saw the overwhelming numbers now arrayed against them and broke off the chase. With their Commodore’s life at stake, the Conquistador had spared no starfighter it could muster for an immediate launch.
“Col. Tollvyk, I hope we made it in time,” Col. Kartar’s voice came over the audio channel.
“Nearly,” Tollvyk replied. He was in no mood to explain how close it had been. He would do that in the debriefing later, but first they had to save Raptor’s life.
“We will escort you here on till Conquistador,” Kartar said.
“Raptor has less than two minutes on life support,” Rockvyk said.
Tollvyk had once again failed to notice when Rockvyk had gotten up and returned to inquire on Raptor’s condition. He had always been on good terms with Rockvyk back on Bravo
, but he was starting to really like this detective. Definitely a good idea to have him on their side, Tollvyk thought.
“Conquistador is less than a minute away,” Kartar said.
“It is going to be close,” Norvyk said.
Almost to the minute, their spyship was docking in a cleared out bay of Conquistador. VC Barryett and some command room officers were present along with Capitan Styx and his Starship Guards who had sealed off access to the bay. But the most numerous and noticeable were the medical officers and staff.
As soon as their spaceship stopped and landed on the deck, Norvyk opened the door. Tollvyk jumped out of his seat and along with Rockvyk ran to the Raptor’s medical station. The clock was ticking and indicated 57 seconds of life remaining.
Near simultaneously a medical team rushed inside their spaceship bringing along with them a floating metallic box ten feet long by three feet wide by two feet high. It was Mobile MedFreezer that was used on the battlegrounds.
“Col. Tollvyk, pop open the medical station for Commodore Raptor, and prepare for transfer,” said Colonel Mobar Omyett, the Chief Medical Officer of Starship Conquistador who was in the lead of the boarding party.
Tollvyk followed his directions and opened the medical station and entered the orders for the patient transfer.
The medical soldiers accompanying Mobar rushed forward with the Mobile MedFreezer, and turned it vertical and then it suctioned Raptor’s body, straps from the sides automatically tightened around him and it became horizontal again. Mobar pushed a button inside to take a reading, then closed the glass shield above.
“Raptor, my friend, please don’t die,” Tollvyk said with tears in his eyes as he leaned over the glass to look at the seemingly lifeless body of his friend and his commander.
“Less than 40 seconds,” Mobar said to his medical staff, “prepare for immediate launch and transfer to the hospital.”
“Launch?” Rockvyk looked puzzled. He was not a soldier and hadn’t seen these machines in action before.
The medicals pushed a couple of keys on their hand held instruments and the next moment the Mobile MedFreezer flew right out of their spaceship and into a large, box of a machine that had been setup in the bay. The doors of the box shuttered instantly and the temperature inside started dropping rapidly.
Mobar and his medicals ran to it and Tollvyk, Rockvyk and Norvyk ran after them. Rest of the officers in the bay were already looking at the instrument panel outside of the box.
“Col. Coryett, take over the operations,” Mobar said to the officer operating the instruments outside.
“Already am sir,” Coryett said without looking up. He was the Chief Surgical Officer of the starship and the big box machine was known as Med-SuperFreezer, a hospital grade machine.
“23 seconds left,” Col. Tollvyk said reading off the numbers from a digital display similar to the one on the medical station abroad their spaceship, but larger by an order of magnitude.
The medical officers ignored him, they were focusing totally on their work.
“Critical wounds and locations identified,” Coryett said then pressed a few keys, “Set the temperature for critical wound locations to Abs. Zero plus 25 degrees.”
“Temperature set for critical wounds,” the computer replied on the speaker.
“That’s the minimum this machine is designed to go down to,” Mobar explained to non-medical personnel, “anything below and the chances of rethawing and reviving the patient’s mind and body start dropping dramatically.”
The time on the display jumped up to 2 hours and Col. Tollvyk pointed at it and yelled, “Hey, what is that? Is it malfunctioning?”.
Col. Coryett lifted his head and turned around for the first time with a smile, “No. We have considerably slowed down the degradation of the critical wounds. Commodore Raptor’s lifeline has just increased.”
There were a few mild cheers in the bay.
“Set temperature for the remaining body locations to Abs. Zero plus 45 degrees,” Coryett turned back to his machine and punched in a few more keys.
“Temperature set,” the computer replied and the clock displaying Raptor’s lifeline disappeared.
“Huh?” Tollvyk and Rockvyk wondered simultaneously.
“Raptor is out of danger,” Coryett said and this time there were voracious cheers in the bay. Tollvyk nearly started crying and his feet were shaking when Rockvyk hugged him in his big arms and stabilized him.
“Would you please explain what you just did and Com. Raptor’s path to recovery?” VC Barryett asked Mobar.
“Sure, Vice-Commodore,” Mobar said, “We have lowered the temperature so far down that molecules and even atoms of his body are nearly frozen in place, especially of and around the wounds. We will repair and then thaw them along with rest of his body and he should be back to normal, albeit with significant weakness for a time.”
“VC Barryett, a Mercurian starship has broken off from their fleet and taken up pursuit after us,” communication officer Dorrvyk’s voice boomed over the bay announcement system.
“Capitan Dorrvyk, order battle stations,” VC Barryett replied over his personal radio, “and Capitan Flyptar put us on the path towards our own fleet near Rainmar.”
“Yes sir,” the replies came over his radio.
“Col. Mobar and Col. Coryett,” VC Barryett turned to them, “We are needed back in the command room. The war is about to begin. Please get to work on Com. Raptor.”
“Right away sir,” Coryett replied.
“Col. Tollvyk, I need you in the command room,” VC Barryett said.
“Can’t help Raptor just by watching,” Tollvyk said, “And he would want me firing rockets too. Let’s go.”
All except the medical personnel rushed back out of the bay and Norvyk and Rockvyk followed along with Tollvyk as they boarded hovercrafts for the command room.
“Grand Admiral, our Forward Recon Troops’ reports have been collated and analyzed,” Commander Gregan Bylar said to Admiral Valorun Lynam in the Admiral’s Lounge abroad the Mercurian starfleet’s flagship known as Megaship Maverick. A few other fleet admirals assembled in the room quieted their conversations and ended their games of cards. Valorun Lynam was sitting amidst them but paying no attention to anyone. He was feeling the great weight of responsibility that had once again come to rest upon his shoulders. He stood up upon receiving Commander Gregan’s salute and rest of the admirals jumped up and straightened their uniforms.
“I will view the details in the command room,” Valorun said, “give me a quick summary.”
“Our results weren’t as good as expected,” Gregan said, “But neither as bad as we might have feared. Our Forward Recon troops have managed to locate 18 major potential rocket launch sites and over 30 laser batteries. They have also induced quite a lot of chaos and forced Starfirians to run around in bewilderment. But a lot of our troops are dead or captured. A few units have managed to establish themselves in covert positions for later action.”
“Gregan you are rushing to judgement,” Valorun said when he saw glumness on the face of his commander. Gregan had been the Capitan of FRT units abroad Valorun’s own battleship many years ago. He knew Gregan was ambitious but tended to get dejected if results weren’t up to his high standards even in difficult situations. “We can’t use metrics established in battles against other civilizations to judge our troops performance against Starfirians. We don’t know what the normal strength of Starfirians is and thus we can’t decide so early on the efficacy of our FR Troops’ attacks.”
“Quite right, Grand Admiral,” Gregan replied but his face didn’t show any signs of improved spirits. Valorun knew he would not be contended till he knew for sure his troops had done good.
“Now that’s for the military details. But what I am most interested is in knowing any surprising facts about them,” Valorun said, “We know nothing about Starfirian Civilization. Their weapons will obey the laws of physics and our computers can and will analyze them
in time. What unusual observations did our Recon Troops report?”
“Every new civilization is startling in some ways,” Gregan said, “But we are now used to that and the machinery and structures of spacefaring nations aren’t too different, like you said, they all have to obey the same, fundamental laws of mechanics. But there was this unusual response that amazed, even awed our Forward Troops; in many places their civilian population joined in the resistance and battle against our soldiers. We expect their army and the police to fight, but many civilians picked up weapons of the dead soldiers and took part in the battles, some civilian airships rammed our own airships and sacrificed themselves, still others lobbed and lunged dangerous objects at our soldiers even getting shot with lasers in the process, from boots, knives and metal bottles all the way to fuel tanks, short circuiting electrical equipment and even some crazy construction crews dropping cranes from tall building tops atop our airships, our soldiers in totality had the whole kitchen sink thrown at them.”
“A warrior nation,” Valorun sighed, “What I was afraid of. Makes me more glad than ever that I decided to launch a massive attack. These types of men will fight and fight and fight if you engage them in a punch for punch grinding war.”
“Speaking of the massive attack, when are we launching that Grand Admiral?” Admiral Flannan Parl asked him.
“And why are we letting their fleet organize itself in a proper, defensive formation?” his Vice-Admiral Lewyn demanded to know, “why not hit them before they are ready.”
“Why they brought me back from retirement and why I hold the title of Grand Admiral,” Valorun said turning around to face them, irritated and even slightly angry, “But first, are you done Commander Gregan, anything else from your troops’ report that you think we should know?”
“Grand Admiral, there is this footage I wanted to show you,” Commander Gregan said taking out from his pocket a small, black and white cube an inch in dimensions, “it was captured live abroad one of our Forward Recon airships before it went down.”
“Let us see it in here,” Valorun said and Gregan walked over to the large display screen on the opposite wall of the lounge and dropped the cube in a slot on top of a projector machine.