The Fifth Reich: Beyond The Stars

by J Palliser

  All I have to blow Weis out of the sky.

  ***

  "This is supposed to be a Warthog, right?" Lilana turned to see who it was and slammed her head into the casing of the engine above her. Star exploded at the back of her eyes, and she went flat on the ground, the most vehement curses she knew tumbling from her lips. She stayed there for a minute, trying to ignore Ember's whistling and waiting for the pain to lessen and hoping she hadn't fractured her skull while cleaning an intake valve. It would make for a very embarrassing conversation with the ship's medics. Clutching at her wounded scalp, she swore again and crawled out from beneath the ship.

  Two sets of boots came into view, with the black flightsuits of Luftwaffe pilots. Scrabbling further out, she found herself looked up into gold and silver eyes – the gold confused, the silver amused and apologetic.

  "Oh, hey." Lilana took the hand Rylana held out and let her sister pull her out from beneath the Warthog. Pushing her goggles up to her forehead, she started rubbing at the sore spot on her skull. No blood – that was a good sign. "One sec. Ember?" she called back to the yellow-gold mech-droid already mounted into the bomber. "That do it?"

  The droid's chirp wasn't very encouraging. With a sigh, Lilana turned back to the newcomers. "To answer your question, yeah, it is. Well, mostly. I've made some nonstandard modifications over the years."

  She glanced up at the old girl and smiled. They'd been together a long time, and the rows of silhouettes painted on the side proved it. No battleships or destroyers in her kill count, but she'd built up a few Imperial cruisers, corvettes, and frigates over the last couple years. Add in the ground targets and the enemy fighters and bombers, and it was an impressive collection of kills – in her opinion anyway. There was a nice line of Defenders and fighters, even a few Interceptors. The first couple of fighters were even in red – a whole squadron's worth of ships instead of just the one. Syrrha and Sonya both had more kills under their belts – but that's what they got for flying the faster ships. Means more of the capital ships for me.

  Bindi nodded absently, running her hands over the nose cone of the bomber. Her expression was unreadable – something Lilana was learning about her new wing-mate. Unlike Bella had the face of a poker champion. The most expressive she'd seen her was that night in the cantina, and even then, it was more of a grim certainty than anything else.

  "What kind of modifications?" the Katharian asked. Lilana gave her a look, trying to tell if she was actually interested or just being polite. "Well, it used to be one of the old A1 Warthogs, until I got my hands on some parts from a wrecked A3 model. I yanked the pulse cannon turret out of that and slaved it to Ember's circuits, then overhauled the engines to support the A3's stronger shield generator, added an improved sensor array... and you're not listening anymore, are you?"

  The Katharian pilot allowed herself a small smile. "Bombers aren't really my specialty." "Short version: she'll do a better job of keeping up with your Valkyrie than most Warthogs would. Even if I have to bribe the quartermaster whenever something breaks. And do my own maintenance. And the wait time on replacement parts is a nightmare."

  She was surprised to see the corner of Bindi's mouth twitch. Shaking her head at the ship, the Katharian turned to face her, an amused glint in her eyes. "What is it with Sungari and cobbling something functional out of a pile of rusty parts?"

  Lilana laughed at that, happy to see Rylana joining in. It seemed the younger girl had made a friend in the squadron

  – a good thing, especially if Sylvania didn't warm up to her. Even better, if Bella felt comfortable enough to joke, even about something as ubiquitous as Sungari recklessness, it was a step up from the near-disaster in the cantina. Good to see her starting to relax a bit.

  "Eh, you know what they say." Lilana grinned and patted the fuselage. "Never tell a Sungari the odds." "She gets like that sometimes." Rylana grinned over at Bindi as they moved down the line to their own ships. As much fun as it was to catch up with Lilana, they needed to finish their own pre-flight checks before that morning's exercise. It was their first full flight exercise as a group in their own ships – the new Valkyrie's had just arrived the night before – and the last thing she needed was a engine that failed to start up.

  Something crashed into the ground, and Rylana looked back just in time to see Lilana swearing as she yanked a hydro-spanner off the ground, almost drowned out by Ember's chirping.

  "The mechanics'll do what they need to, but Lilana's always the one who has to hit that last thing to make her fly. It's her baby."

  "With reason." She jumped as a voice came from behind them. Heart pounding, she turned to find the red-haired captain smiling at them, just now finishing her own pre-flight inspection.

  Rylana snapped a salute, feeling Bindi do the same beside her. She hadn't expected Captain Niles to be here, not this early at least.

  "At ease." Niles smiled and started towards them, wiping a grease spot off her flight-suit. Leaning around one of the Valkyrie's, she glanced down the row of fighters at the gold-painted Warthog with the blonde head-first inside the engine. Her face split in a wide grin, and there was obvious fondness in her eyes. "That Warthog has probably seen more action than most star-fighters on this base. Her ship's been disabled a few times, but in all the time I've known her, she's never been shot down."

  Niles gave another look down the line, and had to cover a smile when another round of cursing echoed through the hangar. "She's used that bomber since she joined the Luftwaffe. It survived Knorr, Korsica and..." She trailed off, and Rylana could have sworn she saw the captain's smile slip. But when she turned back to face them, Syrrha seemed as calm and pleasant as ever. "That old bomber of hers can take a beating, but it always comes back stronger. You're lucky to have her as your wing, Bella."

  The Katharian nodded, her face impassive. Rylana couldn't help but wonder what was going through her head – it was getting to be a bit of a habit. It seemed to be going around. She could never tell what was going through Lieutenant Sylvania's head, and she wasn't even sure what the look Captain Niles had shot Lilana was about. Or if it actually had been anything. Ten-to-one, I probably imagined it.

  To be fair, they were old friends. They'd joined the Luftwaffe at almost the same time, fought in who knows how many battles together. Syrrha had been there for all the battles she'd mentioned, stationed on the same ship as Lilana most of the time, and more often than not in the same wing. The two of them and Commander Mueller had been almost inseparable for quite some time, and many of the messages Lilana had been able to leave for her younger sister mentioned the two of them. The first time I met Syrrha was on one of Lilana's comm's. In some ways, Rylana thought, she's closer to Lilana than me. There's bound to be something I'm missing. For all I know, Syrrha was just remembering some bad part of one of the battles they fought.

  So what about that look makes me so uneasy? She wasn't about to get an answer. Syrrha cleared her throat, and Rylana glanced up, blushing at getting lost in her own thoughts.

  "Alright, I've wasted enough of your time. Do what you need, make sure your mech-droids are ready, and be prepped to take off when the Commander arrives." Pulling off her work gloves, Syrrha grinned at the two junior pilots. "It's time for your first flight as a squadron."

  46

  Author's Note

  The story you have read is an original concept, as original as can be, by me and me alone. All characters and situations are my creation. Any similarities between persons living or dead, fictional or non-fictional and situations and descriptions is purely coincidental and unintentional. All characters described are over 18. All rights reserved!

  When, and as you read this story... you'll notice some sci-fi references that may seem familiar, it's hard not to be heavily influenced by sci-fi films and television shows, as likely many other writers are. Perhaps overly influenced, but an attempt was made to be different. So, when you read, it's fine to be critical as I have attempted as best possible to make this
an original story idea. This was originally written in 2010, with a bit different concept. But, I hope I succeeded and that you enjoyed the ride. After completing the original version... I eventually added several chapters in an attempt to add substance and some dramatic elements not in the previous edition. As I added chapters, I added more... nearly 15 new chapters in all. It kind of got away from me. I decided to finish were I ended, otherwise it be another 10 chapters or so longer... Now, that is out of control.

  Please forgive any spelling errors or other grammatical anomalies here within... I write, edit and proofread everything myself, and it is time consuming as I have no one to do some of the work for me in order to save time and energy. But, I think you will still enjoy the story nonetheless.

  This is the first story in a series that I'm working on, and I hope that as I go along, that all the stories will improve and enthrall and will be, more or less, as original as possible. So, keep an eye out on all future stories of The Fifth Reichseries... and my spin off series Knight Squadron and Waffen-SS...

  Thanks, J...