0300 – The briefing room was unusually empty. Only 5 wingleaders with their wingmen were present. Judging from what I’ve seen earlier today I was expecting more people to show up. Sitting in the 3rd row, Rawhide beckons me. He’s my wingleader for today’s mission.
“Sir!”
“At ease, lieutenant. Sit down and let’s see what the eggheads have in store for us”
I can only see two other people in the room that were present earlier at the screening. Somewhere in front I can see Ronin sitting near Bite. Looking through the kill logs I’ve noticed both of them to have an 80% hit ratio with their blasters, which is ridiculous to say the least. No wonder they got paired up.
Rawhide is sitting to my right, waiting patiently. He is the highest ranking officer of the bunch at the screening, so I wonder why did they pair me up with him.
“At ease pilots!” the lights go dim as the CAG comes on the podium. “As you know, the Rising Hand activity in the Alpha Centauri system has increased in the past weeks, so we’ll need to tighten our patrols near strategic areas. We have 5 patrols going out today.
Ronin, your wing will take sector 13, long range scanners have detected unidentified craft in that area.
Rawhide your wing will check the LaGrange relay.
Art and Bego, your two wings will patrol the Sol Wormhole. We have officials coming through today, so keep them safe
Mark , you’re running a CAP for the Atlas until relieved. Your flight recorders have been updated with additional intel, so consult them before taking off.
“Dismissed”
Hmm.. that was fast. Rawhide gets up and looks at me expectantly “You’re with me, kid”. “Yes, Sir!”
We get to the hangar, my pad has a Hawk ready to fly. It’s a beautiful ship. Sleek, fast. Not so heavy on the firepower, but I can safely outrun anything out there. That, and the combat log that we’ve watched earlier gave me a few new ideas.
As I climb into the cockpit I notice that the engine assembly is not the regular one. I guess the guys upstairs know what they’re doing. Rawhide is in front of me climbing in an Eagle.
That fighter is BIG.
“Rawhide checking in. Testing comms , 1, 2”
“Roger Rawhide, reading you 5 by 5, how is my signal?”
“Perfect on this side. Let’s get this rolling. Atlas Control, this is wing 3-06, requesting take-off clearance”
“Atlas Control to 3-06, you are cleared for bays 3 and 6 please stand by for traction”
The pads that our fighters were sitting on started moving. We could see the small automated tugs dragging us to the launch bays. As my fighter gets locked into the launch tube I start my pre-flight sequence. Fuel Core Mk5 … hmm that’s new. I guess that’s what I’ve seen out there in the back of my fighter.
We get permission and blast off. The laser comm indicator flares up. I turn it on
“How’s it goin’ , kid?” says Rawhide. “Good, sir. All systems nominal”
“Great. Now, listen up. Nobody can snoop in right now, so we’re as alone up here as we can be. You know where we’re heading?”
“Sector 12, the LaGrange relay”
“Exactly. Now, before we start. I’ve noticed you at the debriefing. What did you think of it ?”
“Permission to speak freely, sir?”
“Granted”
“Two things were off, sir. First, the High Guard transport was cloned?”
“Good, what else?”
“How did we ever get the hold of the black box data after that massacre ?”
“Exactly! You’re smart. We shouldn’t have known any of those 2 things. But the bigger question is, why did the High Guard attack our wing.” A few seconds of pause followed.. “We’re good here, it seems. Sync your nav computer with mine”
I toggle the NavSync routines. “Done”. We use this all the time for synchronized jumps over long distances. While manual controls work fine as well, usually, it’s better to jump as a tight formation. Less ground to recover when we arrive.
“Jumping in 3, 2, 1… go”
The engines started their micro-jump sequence, pushing me back into the seat. Close-to-light speeds are pretty strenuous, but thankfully we reach our destinations fast enough….
“COLLISION WARNING” The jump drive cuts off, my HUD lights up, and I see two large objects coming very fast towards me. I push down on the stick.and avoid the head-on collision by a few meters. Speed normalizes, and turn my fighter back for a closer look.
What I see is … strange to say the least. An Intruder class corvette with no markings , a fighter docked on the starboard turret clamp, and behind the ship a tug with the designation Mule. The tug has a launchpad fit to it, which makes it look like a strange insect with whiskers.
“3-06, this is the Raptor. Prepare to dock.”
“Roger Raptor, 3-06 docking computers engaged” I hear Rawhide over the comms. The ship started moving by itself. I check the instruments, I’m still synced to his nav computer. Somehow, he has control over my ship. I also notice that we aren’t near the LaGrange relay.
As my computer slowly moves me to dock with the Raptor, I get a closer look at the Mule. It’s external launchpads are almost full with Core fighters. I can see several Sparrows, Eagles, Hawks and Cormorans docked there. Its engines start spinning up as it moves closer to the corvette.
(to be continued)