Then the silence was broken by an incoming radio signal from Yanis.
“Hey, buddy, I almost forgot. I made a little change to your personal ordnance. Nothing drastic though.”
“My plans depend on my ordnance, Yanis! What did you change exactly?”
“Instead of the normal central twin torpedo complement, I replaced it with one of my latest pet projects. A shielded torpedo.”
Chase was impressed. “Shielded?”
“Yep. I managed to include a strong enough power source to shield the sucker, so it should resist quite a few direct hits before being destroyed. That should give you an edge in that you’ll be able to launch that particular torpedo from farther away from its intended target. Thought it would help.”
“Seems like an advantage I could certainly use. Thank you.”
“You’re welcome, boss.”
“I gotta go now.”
“Roger that. Good luck.”
Chase flipped on the comm. “Captain, this is Lieutenant Athanatos. I’m in my ship, ready for my mission.”
“Very well, Lieutenant. Good luck, Chase!”
I think I’ll need it, Chase thought. He signaled Yanis that all was good to go and the tractor beam soon locked onto the squadron.
7
The launch had been a success and Chase was already well on his way to Earth. The ride was bumpy and full of interference; he constantly had to re-adjust the power flow of his equipment, changes that were automatically retransmitted to the rest of the remote-controlled squadron. In five minutes, he was due to enter the solar system exactly where the jump corridor was ending, somewhere near the biggest planet.
I’ve got to stay focused, he thought. The plan relied both upon the element of surprise and the hope that the countless hours of programming squadron combat and defense patterns would pay off. It was a bold move but, deep in his heart, Chase knew he could succeed. He had to! The fate of the billions of people on Earth was in his hands! For a short moment, he actually shook and felt a sense of dread. He closed his eyes and took a few deep breaths, trying to relax for the few moments that were left until he would jump out of hyperspace.
What seemed like a second later, the navicomputer signaled that he was about to drop out of hyperspace. He quickly checked the status of the squadron, the remote links, and the final ordnance check. All good. The plan flashed again in his mind when the blur of hyperspace suddenly stretched back into stars and space. As predicted, he’d arrived near a massive planet orbited by many moons.
There was no time for sightseeing. He checked his radar and initiated a medium range scan to see if he would manage to arrive on Earth before the enemy fleet. His plan relied heavily on the fact that he would attack the fleet as soon as they exited their hyperspace corridor. According to the computer, he had about fifteen minutes before that happened, and it would only take him a fraction of that to reach his destination at max sub-light speed. He entered the coordinates and engaged the engines. The remote fighters, being in slave mode, did the exact same thing.
As soon as he arrived near the planet, he positioned his squadron behind the moon in order to mask it from direct sensor scans. The enemy jamming there was strong, and there was no way he could signal either the Destiny or Earth of his presence. The good thing was that the jamming would most likely also protect him from being detected by the enemy fleet. One of the main objectives, besides buying the Destiny at least thirty minutes, was to locate the source of the jamming and destroy it so he could contact the Earthlings and let them know that help was on the way. Bearing all this in mind and trying to keep calm, he turned on the navicomputer’s vocal command program and tested it.
“Computer, status check.”
“All systems normal.”
“Confirm remote link and command propagation.”
“Confirmed. Remote link active, command propagation online.”
Good, Chase thought, I guess I’m ready to go. Then an alert came in.
“Enemy vessels approaching on short-range sensors.”
It was the point of no return. If the enemy fleet decided to make a final scan before going out of hyperspace, they could potentially detect the squadron. But Chase counted on the fact that they probably had a specific mission and, having scanned the area before engaging their jamming fields, would not do a new set of scans, neither would they expect anyone to interfere.
“Fleet is dropping out of hyperspace corridor in ten...nine...”
Chase took a deep breath and issued his first squadron command.
“Computer, execute squadron script Alpha-seven.”
“Executing.”
The ships entered an arrow formation and headed directly toward the already forming hyperspace corridor. It was already forming as his ships came about from behind the moon. A second later, a huge fleet emerged from the corridor. Before Chase could even register their presence, they started firing on the defenseless planet. Chase pushed on the throttle and ordered another command.
“Pattern Omega-nine on my command . . . Execute!”
“Executing.”
All at once, every ship in Chase’s squadron started to fire a shower of lasers toward the fleet. Simultaneously, the four heavy bombers in his contingent released a full complement of torpedoes toward one of the biggest ships of the armada. After launching a total of twelve, heavy-yield torpedoes, they veered off course and headed back toward the moon.
The armada’s suppressing fire managed to destroy five of the incoming torpedoes before impact, but seven of them were direct hits—taking out two battleships and seriously damaging a third, disabling its engine as well as its firing capabilities.
“Pattern Theta-two, evasive action Delta-three,” Chase shouted.
“Executing.”
The squadron dispersed into a star shape and took a much wider formation stance, forcing the armada to pick their targets. The returning shower of enemy fire made a few hits and illuminated some of the fighters’ shields with a bluish hue. But for now, the squadron was keeping its distance from the armada. Each ship was being extremely evasive, spinning and veering frantically.
Unfortunately, some of the armada was still firing toward Earth. Chase painted these targets and made them a priority for the next kills. He also scanned for the presence of a jamming signal, and found it was coming from one of the ships within striking distance of the squadron. Within seconds, the squadron was on the target.
“Typhoon maneuver Sigma-one.”
As one, the rest of the squadron converged around Chase’s fighter, orbiting in a blur around his hull and firing short bursts of laser fire while rotating. This was the type of maneuver that would be impossible to coordinate with living pilots and Chase hoped the enemy would be taken off guard by the tactic. Clearly not making much damage to the squadron with long-range fire, three of the five remaining battleships started to launch fighter squadrons of their own.
There goes the easy part, Chase thought as he saw the advancing enemy fighters. Things were about to get a lot more interesting…
By now, the squadron had reached tactical firing range and Chase fired a single torpedo from four of his fighters toward the jamming ship. The defensive fire from the ship intensified toward the incoming bogies, and it destroyed one pretty quickly, followed by a second. But a moment later, the third exploded right into its frontal shielding and the fourth sliced through its armor like butter. The front half of the jamming ship exploded while the rest of it started to drift and spin in space, colliding with a nearby battleship and damaging it heavily. Chase checked his scans. There was no longer any jamming blocking his communication equipment. He issued a retreating command, sending the squadron away from the armada, and opened a wide-band channel toward Earth.
“This is Lieutenant Chase Athanatos, call sign Phoenix, to planet Earth. We’ve detected the orbiting armada coming to attack you and are now engaging them. If you have any way of helping us defeat them, then please let me know. I’ve got reinfor
cements on the way, but they’ll be here about thirty minutes from now. In the meantime, we’ll do our best to protect you in any way we can. Over.”
“Lieutenant Chase Athanatos, this is General Adams, US Army Defense. Please stop your attack against our planet; we would like to negotiate,” said a voice over the comm.
“We’re not attacking you, General. My people came to protect Earth from this invasion.”
There was a pause. “How can we know this isn’t a ruse to make us think you’re helping us, while you’re actually in league with the enemy?”
Chase laughed shortly. “Well for one, they’re shooting more at me than at Earth right now. Surely your scans can confirm that. But if you’d rather take care of this crisis alone, we’ll gladly vacate the vicinity.”
There was a frantic muffled sound of several people talking before the comm activated again. “Please don’t leave, Lieutenant. The entire planet is in shock; we’ve never faced such a brutal and destructive attack before. Until now, we didn’t even know if there was extra-terrestrial life out there.”
“Alright, General, now what are your defensive capabilities? Do you have some sort of planetary shielding or a weapon that could help us destroy a few of those ships?”
“We have nuclear missiles, but they would take a few minutes to launch and reach their intended targets. They weren’t designed to be sent to space, but we can try.”
“Nuclear? Not a good idea. If the enemy detects a nuclear weapon coming toward them, they could detonate it within your atmosphere in a matter of seconds, and I don’t have to tell you what the repercussions would be.”
“No, Lieutenant, you don’t. What about firing from a satellite already in orbit?”
“Do you possess such a weapon?”
“We actually have an anti-missile weapon in orbit. It fires very precise and concentrated laser shots that could maybe damage these ships, but we don’t know if it will be effective.”
“Is this installation shielded?”
“I’m afraid not.”
“Then the enemy will dispatch it as soon as it fires. I’d rather we keep it as a last resort; I might be able to use it later on during the fight.”
“How many ships do you have, Lieutenant?”
“Just the one squadron.”
“Just one?” There was more muffled talking. “Can you hold off that many ships with only one squadron? I hope you took your best pilots with you.”
“We sure did.” Chase preferred not to disclose the fact that he actually was alone, and that if he was killed, this entire gamble would die with him.
“What should we do, Lieutenant?”
“Make sure the civilians are protected down there. I won’t be able to prevent every ship from firing toward the planet’s surface, even though they seem a bit more interested in our ships now that we’ve made a serious dent in their armada. But they will resume firing eventually.”
“The planet is in a state of full alert; people are being redirected to shelters in anti-nuclear bunkers. When you mentioned reinforcements, how many are we talking about here? Will you be able to fend off this attack all together, Lieutenant?”
“If we can manage to inflict a little more damage to a couple of enemy ships, then I’m confident the Destiny battlegroup will dispatch the rest.”
“Lieutenant, our sensors are detecting strong incoming fire from the armada. I think they’re very interested in destroying us again.”
Chase checked his radar. The Earthling was right. Now that the squadron was distancing from the armada, the enemy ships had all resumed firing toward Earth, leaving Chase’s squadron to their fighters.
“Earth, hang tight. We’ll be engaging the rest of the armada now. Over.”
“Thanks, Lieutenant. On behalf of everyone on Earth, we thank—”
The signal broke. The communication towers on Earth had been hit. But Chase had lost enough time talking anyway. It was time to execute the second part of his plan.
Just as he began to issue a new command, his ship was hit from behind. His shields lit up blue as the enemy fighters entered firing range. More laser hits. He had to act quickly if he wanted to stay alive long enough to give Earth a fighting chance. He painted another set of targets on his screen and then issued a new offensive command.
“Assign individual squadron offensive commands Delta One to Delta Seven.”
All the ships received individual automated fighting commands, and soon, four pairs of wings formed. The even fighter groups began attacking the enemy while being protected by the odd fighter wings. Now Chase would know if his hard work and unorthodox fighting techniques would pay off against a live enemy, especially an unknown and unpredictable one.
He was leading the way with his automated wingmen and soon dispatched two approaching enemy vessels; the other wings seemed to be faring well and taking only minimum damage. But by the time they had finished with the first enemy wave of fighters, the second and third ones both entered firing range. This time, Chase and his squadron would be outgunned two to one. Fortunately, it seemed the enemy fighter-to-fighter technique wasn’t very advanced, and most of his commands would take them by surprise, giving him just enough time to adjust his tactics again. But he knew eventually he would run out of tricks.
To make things worse, the sky had started lighting up with bright explosions, as most of the remaining enemy vessels had changed course and begun firing their big guns toward them. Having seen how fast the first squadron had been dispatched, the enemy must have decided to engage Chase’s squadron with everything they had, even if that meant dispatching some of their own fighters with long-range fire. A few of them broke engagement and tried to run, some were destroyed by incoming heavy fire, while the rest provided for involuntary yet easy targets. The pounding of heavy fire from the enemy battleships, however, was having the same detrimental effect on Chase’s fighters. After only a fistful of seconds, it had already cost him two ships.
He quickly joined Delta Three and Six to reform a stronger wing while entering new evasive action commands on his keypad instead of vocally, hoping to shave off a precious second or two. His mind was racing and his fingers raced on the pad even faster, trying to keep up and make sure he could delay the inevitable for as long as was required. He had no time to waste thinking. Everything was pure instinct, reprogramming the vessels on the fly with split second decisions. If he stopped to think, if he stopped to consider that the weight of a world was literally upon him, it could cost both him and an entire planet their lives.
He finished inputting the last few commands, then changed course to lure the vessels closer to the moon. Time was running out but he still had a trick or two up his sleeve…
Back on Earth, General Adams was being moved to a tactical bunker, hoping its communication equipment would be functional so he could inquire on the status of Lieutenant Athanatos and his squadron. From what the Lieutenant had said, reinforcements should arrive in about fifteen minutes now. But the perpetual planetary bombing, the panic and fear in everyone’s eyes as they rushed to shelters or simply ran for their lives, made each minute on Earth feel like an eternity. Never in the history of this planet was such destruction brought on so rapidly, so unexpectedly, and on such a large scale. Fifteen minutes could very well mean planetary Armageddon.
Looking at the chaos in the streets, the general couldn’t help but feel completely helpless. His mind was overwhelmed with questions piling one over the other. Why was this happening? What had changed? And why was someone out there trying to help them? He felt stuck in time. A million questions and perhaps not time enough to get a single answer. Life as he knew it, life as all humans had known it, would either end or change forever on that very day. The petty conflicts between nations somehow seemed ridiculous when fire raining down from the heavens could obliterate five blocks of a city in a mere second. How many children were dying? How many people died instantly, never knowing why? And who was this Lieutenant Chase Athanatos?
> “Sir? Sir!”
The general looked up at the chopper pilot.
“It’s the Pentagon, sir.” The pilot extended a cell phone. “Secretary of Defense Tyler.”
All at once, time resumed and the general snatched up the phone. “Yes, Secretary, what can I do for you?”
“We received your message, General, and in the thirty seconds that separated your message from the first bombing, we thought at first you were taking us for a ride.”
“I wish I was, Mr. Secretary. I wish it with all my heart.”
“There’s no time for sentimentality, I’m afraid. Can you give me a status report?”
“Sir, it appears that the attack is being partially fended off by some other unknown, alien race. They just claimed that they were here to help us and would do everything in their power to do so. They also asked that we don’t try to go nuclear against our enemies.”
“Surely you don’t believe any of that, General! It’s obviously a ruse! You’re being asked to sit tight while they destroy the planet; are you really going to fall for that one?”
“If I may explain, sir, the incoming transmission came seconds after the strange interference that disrupted every electronic communication device on the planet was lifted. And shortly after that, our sensors and satellites transmitted data showing that a space battle was indeed ongoing. As we watched, many of the larger ships firing on us were blown to pieces. I find it hard to think that the enemy would go through such a charade just to bluff us. Not when we can see how easily they’re bombing us back to the Stone Age.”
“General, are you willing to bet seven billion lives on that assumption? Because from where I’m standing, we are being obliterated and we don’t know what kind of tactics these people might be using to make their job easier. Maybe they’re feeding us bogus sensor readings, have you thought of that?”
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