R.A.E.C.E. Genesis

by Geoffrey C Porter

  Wilson pointed at the first hover in the line. "It's coded to your palm print. Take her for a spin around the training area. Even with the inertia damping we get from the gravity impellers, it's a rough ride compared to the simulator, so don't take it out into the public streets or civilian flight paths. And Jack, start learning how to budget your power. Even with the starship engine, there's no real excess when all the systems are hot and you're in flight mode. It can really slow the recharge time for the main cannons."

  Jack saluted again, "Thank you, sir!" And climbed into the hover tank and drove it out of the hangar. It proved to be even faster then the pod simulation, at least the g-forces made it feel faster. Jack pushed it hard. He took it up to a high altitude and cranked it up to over a thousand kilometers an hour.

  Wilson called Jack's quarters on base on the video phone. Lexi answered, "Hello, Captain."

  "Hello, Mrs. Grean. How soon can you be packed? We're moving you to new housing."

  "We don't really have much stuff, Captain. I can be ready in a few hours to move. Why are we moving?"

  "One, Jack is making Corporal today, and two, you need a garage."

  "That's good news!" Lexi said. "I'll start packing right away."

  "I'll have a truck sent over, Mrs. Grean."

  "Thank you, Captain."

  Wilson handed out hovers to two more Privates. Jack returned to the hangar and climbed out of the tank. He grinned from ear to ear. "Is this going to be my permanent assignment, Captain Wilson?"

  "Yes, it is. In fact, we're upgrading your housing, so you'll have a garage. Take that hover tank home with you. I called your wife and told her to start packing. A truck will be by to move everything."

  "I get to take the tank home? That doesn't seem right to me."

  "Have you read up on what happened at Pearl Harbor, Corporal?"

  "No," Jack said. "I've never even heard of Pearl Harbor."

  Wilson looked down and shook his head. "You need to sign up for Military Science 101. As well as the Fleet University program. I think you're officer material, and it's about time you started taking the classes."

  Chapter 11

  AD 2131

  Steve Creech's special assignment…

  Fleet didn't have any spare Fighters for Captain Steve Creech to take over at Orion. They did, however, have a mission for him. A General Meijers called Steve into his office. The General had a square jaw and a nose that had been broken and reset time and again. He said, "Have a seat, Captain."

  Steve sat down in front of the general's desk. The General asked, "Coffee? Cigar? Brandy?"

  Steve thought about the options. "Coffee would be fine, sir."

  Meijers turned to a decanter and poured a cup of coffee for Steve, asking, "Cream? Sugar? I've got real cream. None of that local bird-milk crap."

  "Cream and sugar would be nice, sir."

  Meijers fixed the coffee and handed it to Steve. "You've been in space for some time, haven't you, Captain? Six months on board your fighter carrier, and then nine months on board that Frigate. You're due for a bit of a rest aren't you?"

  "I'm a Fleet officer. My place is in space. My family was on Earth, sir."

  "We have a mission in mind for you. It's very dangerous…"

  Steve responded in kind. "Flying a Fighter is considered the most dangerous job in Fleet."

  "Quite right. We've put together a new class of scoutship, and we need you to fly one at high-g to a nearby Human planet. We need to know if there is a ship presence in orbit, and we need to know if there are Humans left alive. The Lithor believe in slavery, and we think they will have kept some Humans alive. We need to know for sure. We want to go on the offensive again, and we want to rescue any Humans that are in captivity."

  "Count me in. Where's this bird I'm supposed to fly?"

  "It's in hangar 12. Good luck, Creech."

  * * *

  Captain Creech found his way to hangar 12 and looked over his new bird. It stood easily as tall as the Frigate he'd just been on for nine months. Steve stepped up the ramp towards the bowels of the ship. He ran into a woman stepping out of the ship. A rather fine looking Lieutenant, she wore this perfume that smelled of wildflowers and simple pearl earrings in each ear. She said, "You must be Captain Creech."

  "Yes, ma'am."

  "You've got level five ration authorization. That means we'll fill her up with almost anything you could want. That is if we have it here on Orion. I'd advise you take plenty of chocolate. We've got booze too, if you're into that. Coffee if you like: Columbian whole bean in the freezer units. I've got a list you can access."

  "I'll take a look at it, after I take a look at the ship. Hopefully they left enough space for a gym."

  "There's a gym all right, need one for high gravity jumps."

  "Speaking of high-gravity jumps, how much g-force are they expecting me to endure?"

  "Two gravities for three months is what they tell me. Your ship won't be loaded for at least two more days. Want to have dinner?"

  "Like as in a date?" Steve asked.

  "It doesn't have to exactly be a date. I just figured you might want some company before being holed up in a ship all by your lonesome."

  "Ok, I have been staring at the same faces for the last nine months. I'll treat."

  It turned into a fun date, and a fun evening. At least Steve didn't need to find quarters for himself on base…

  Within two days they finished loading the supplies on board the ship. Steve requested a few special things: a good supply of frozen steaks, twenty kilos of chocolate, three liters of Scotch, and a dozen cigars. The fine Lieutenant gave him a farewell kiss destined to make it into the history books as he climbed on board for takeoff. Steve wished she would join him in the mission, but the ship housed only one.

  Chapter 12

  A.D. 2095

  Humans will be Human…

  "Weapons?" Hans asked.

  "Yes, armament for Fleet ships," Fleischman replied.

  "I have enough money, Peter."

  "You're the best, Hans--they call you the Father of the Starship. Fleet needs you."

  "Why are they going to put weapons on Fleet ships?"

  "The Chinese, Hans, the Chinese are putting weapons on their ships, even as far as equipping some with atomic missiles."

  * * *

  Hans started on his third Rum and Coke, pondering, what to design first. So many choices. Laser cannons that would protrude from the front of a craft, where the pilot would have to "aim" the cannons by pointing the ship. Cannons that would fire a blast then have to recharge a few seconds. Laser batteries that could point in any direction and fire a constant beam. Light rockets, that could be given a target prior to launch and then fire in any direction, steering themselves towards the enemy. Atomic missiles.

  Hans poured himself his fourth drink. Defenses. Yes, he'd have to come up with a force field first to deflect laser blasts, and a better hull material than steel, likely a combination of titanium and ceramics. Rapid targeting lasers to act as missile defense would be essential. Hans started working out the designs in his mind. Too much to take in all at once. He poured himself another beverage and started feeding designs one by one into the G.E.S.C.

  Chapter 13

  A.D. 2131

  Jack gets his squad…

  Councilwoman Beatrice Harpe made her way onto base and to Wilson's office. Somebody had caused a sonic boom over civilian air space, and it disrupted their daily lives for such things to happen. She intended to make a case of it. She just knew it had to be that Jack Grean boy. She knocked on Wilson's office door, and he asked, "Who is it?"

  "Councilwoman Harpe, I have a bone to pick with you."

  Wilson laughed. It was after hours, and he was on his third Scotch. "Come in, come in."

  Harpe stepped into his office and spoke calmly. "One of your hover tanks broke the sound barrier over civilian air space yesterday. I want whomever it was dropped from hover tank duty."

  "I'll look
into it. Was that all?"

  "Look into it now, Captain."

  Wilson sighed and pulled up the flight records for each new pilot he had the day before. Jack had screwed up. Wilson said, "Jack Grean."

  "I want him dropped from your squad. He shouldn't even be in Fleet."

  Wilson laughed again, this simple little chuckle that would easily have either frightened a child or inspired a laughing fit in her. "I'm not dropping my best man. He holds the record in the simulator."

  "Dock him two weeks pay at least."

  "One week, he didn't commit any criminal offense."

  "Fine, Captain. The council is going to be looking into Fleet's hoarding of luxury goods, seems Orion is out of numerous items that Fleet has warehouses full of."

  Wilson sighed. He knew immediately what she referred to: the booze, the coffee, and the chocolate. "You can't take our supplies. Fleet has those supplies earmarked for the front line units."

  "A lot of the civilians want this martial law to end. They want the 55 hour work week that's being forced on all able bodied men and women to end. We want a stable currency. Fleet can't simply keep printing Credits as they need them. It's no foundation for a solid economy."

  "You're insane."

  "I think not. We'll be voting on the matter soon and taking it up with high command. We're prepared to stage walkouts."

  "You're dangerously insane."

  "I want Jack Grean reprimanded and his pay docked. I'll check the records to make sure it's done."

  "I'll mark his record and dock his pay one week."

  "Good day. There'll be some changes on Orion."

  "Yes, Ms. Harpe, especially if the Lithor come here. You'll be pleased to hear Jack and Lexi married."

  She literally said, "Humpf!" And stormed out of Wilson's office.

  * * *

  Jack read up on Pearl Harbor that night. Apparently, the Japanese raided a United States military base, catching the Americans off guard. Jack figured that meant the Fleet plan of putting the hovers in garages all across base would mean that if the Lithor attacked, they wouldn't be able to kill off Fleet's forces. Simple enough concept for Jack once he knew a little history. He received an email from Wilson, training started the next day at 9 a.m. at hangar 17. Jack signed up for Military Science 101 and Fleet University programs. That night Lexi proclaimed to Jack that she'd started taking the red pills to reverse the colonist's injection. Jack didn't know if he had what it took to be a dad, but Lexi seemed hell bent on it, and it would be a lot more responsibility on her part.

  Jack arrived at hangar 17 a few minutes early, and other hover tanks waited with their pilots standing around. Jack powered down his tank and stepped out. He didn't see Wilson. Nine a.m. came and went, still no Wilson. Jack asked some of the guys, and they told him Wilson usually showed about fifteen minutes late. Jack counted twenty hover tanks and pilots, finally another hover came into view and halted in front of the men. Wilson stepped out, and all twenty of the waiting pilots stood at attention and saluted.

  "At ease, gentlemen. Some of you know the drill, and for some of you, this is your first day, so I'll go over the basics. We're going to form into two squads of tanks. I'll lead one squad. Today Jack is going to lead the second squad. He scored well in the simulator, so I expect he'll do well on the field. The two squads will take different sides of a training field, and we'll run in simulation mode and battle each other. Jack's squad will be on the offense. The maps and your squad assignments are pre-programmed in your tank's computers. Let's mount up, gentlemen, and good luck to everyone."

  Everybody climbed into their tanks and fired up their engines. They engaged the computers, and a map displayed the training field about twenty kilometers from base. Nine green blips showed on Jack's screen and 11 red blips. Each of the green dots had a name under it. Jack read them, Rodriguez, Snake, Porter, Mathews, Chewy, Hong, Henry, Jones, and Williams.

  They made it to their end of the training field: square in shape with hills and trees. Jack's squad controlled the down-slope side of the field. Jack thought to himself, OK, Wilson wanted them to take the offensive, which would mean going up that hill. Jack decided on a line formation and radioed, "Form a line the whole length of the training field. Five tanks on my left, four on my right, spread out equally. I'll take center."

  The tanks fell into place. The green icons on his radar screen formed in a nice neat line to his left and right. Jack called out, "Accel to ten kph."

  After a few moments Jack said, "Accel to 25 kph."

  Their formation remained solid. Jack figured they could go faster safely and ordered, "Accel to 50 kph." The line of tanks started crossing the terrain at a good clip. They reached the half-way mark in the training field. All of a sudden nine red blips appeared on the radar, in clusters of three each staggered along the line. Three green lights blinked out. Jack called out, "Return fire, engage, engage!" Jack locked his sights on the lead hover in the group in front of him and fired. The simulation blinked out one red blip, then two more went out. One for each of the other two clusters.

  Jack ordered, "Full accel, run straight towards them!"

  He pushed the gas pedal down, and trees started to streak by. He counted three seconds and his guns recharged. Three more green blips blinked out then he targeted another enemy hover and blasted it. Rodriguez fired on the second hover in the middle cluster. Jack radioed, "Rodriguez, go left and finish that hover. I'll go right." Snake still fought on the right, and one enemy hover tank remained on that side. The red dot fired first and nailed Snake. Jack's guns recharged, and he targeted the last blip on the right. He didn't miss, and the simulator blinked off the red icon. The map showed Rodriguez on the other end of the field and no red dots left. They had only killed nine though, which left two enemy tanks out there.

  "Rodriguez, meet me in center," Jack radioed. "And we'll patrol the field."

  "Aye-aye, bossman."

  A red blip showed on radar within an instant and intercepted Rodriguez, cutting him down. Jack pushed the gas pedal down once again, hoping to get to that hover before its weapons recharged. He either made it or got lucky and fired first, but he toasted it. One enemy left. Jack's gut filled with dread as he realized he faced Wilson. He flew to the corner of the training field, and his radar didn't show anything. He saw a hover tank, but it didn't show on his radar as a live tank. He turned around to patrol towards the other corner of the field. That's when a boom sounded, and the simulator said, "Tank destroyed, end of simulation." His controls went dead, and the tank slowed to a halt. His radar showed nothing, damn-it.

  Wilson spoke on the radio, "All units meet at waypoint Alpha."

  Jack's controls powered up, and waypoint Alpha displayed on his radar. He drove towards it. He climbed out of his hover tank. Rodriguez and Snake both patted him on the back. Snake said, "You did really good for your first day. How long did you last in the simulator?"

  Jack thought for a minute. He didn't know. Nobody had told him. "I don't know. They didn't say…"

  Wilson climbed out of his tank and addressed the group. "Not a bad battle, gentlemen. Using a line formation was very predictable though. A vanguard formation, a simple triangle, would have worked a lot better based on how I had our defenses set up."

  Wilson seemed to pause, and Jack spoke up, "Sir, I didn't see you on radar when you destroyed my tank, sir."

  "No, you didn't. The Lithor have cloaking devices on their starships, and we figure they'll work out cloaking big tanks soon enough. You'll have to rely on your eyes as well as radar in our battles."

  Jack stared right at Wilson's eyes. "Doesn't seem very fair of you to have not warned us, sir."

  "Never expect your enemy to fight fair, Corporal."

  Jack figured next time he'd do better and nodded.

  "Ok folks, for the rest of the day, play on the obstacle course. You'll get to use your gel packs and machine guns on it, at least as part of the simulation," Wilson said. "Meet up again at 9 a.m. tomorrow, and we'll
do another battle. Jack, we need to talk…"

  Everybody smiled. Thankful they weren't in Jack's shoes based on Wilson's tone. They climbed into their tanks and sped away. Wilson said, "Remember Councilwoman Harpe? Your dear friend from Artemis?"

  Jack sighed. "Yeah."

  "When you pulled that sonic boom yesterday, you were over civilian airspace. I'm officially reprimanding you and docking you a week's pay."

  "I won't do it again."

  On that note, Wilson climbed into his hover and sped off towards base.

  Jack went to the obstacle course, and he enjoyed himself.

  The next day they all assembled at hangar 17. Wilson arrived a bit late. He addressed the group, "We're going to keep the same teams as yesterday, and we need a squad leader, any volunteers?"

  Nobody from Jack's team stepped forward. Snake said, "Let Jack do it again."

  Chewy snapped his fingers on both hands. "Better Jack than me."

  "Yeah, Jack did fine," Porter said.

  Wilson said, "You don't mind do you?"

  He didn't want the job but figured he didn't have much choice based on the look on Wilson's face, the sly grin. Jack looked his men over. Chewy's left arm was shorter than his right, by a significant margin. Snake had this kind of nervous twitch on both hands only on his two smallest fingers. Jack said, "I'll do it."

  They regrouped to the practice field. Jack decided to take Wilson's advice, and they formed into a vanguard. Jack took the rearmost center position in the triangle and ordered, "Advance at 50 kph."

  They reached about the middle point of the map, and Jack started to wonder if he liked this triangle formation. The enemy tanks dotted the horizon in the distance, before they showed as blips on his radar staggered in a reverse vanguard: an open triangle. The red icons showed on his screen, and five green dots blinked out. Jack shouted, "Return fire, engage the nearest ones first."