Talosian Chronicles 2: Star Dancer (13 page)

“Wow, control, you weren’t exaggerating this time, if it weren’t for her lights, I don’t think I would be able to see her at all,” Talena replied.

“That was our read as well, Valkyrie. We need more information on this, so please keep notes on your mission recorders for us,” Brittney said over the control comm channel.

“You got it doc,” Cindy said. Both she and Talena shared a chuckle when they heard the woman sigh.

“Okay, now that the gang’s all here, how about we get on with the testing? I have a date tonight!” Tinker replied.

The flight tests proceeded as planned, and the fighter performed above expectations. However, since no weapons were being fired and the shields had only been on minimum, there had been no way for the little fighter to discharge the energy building up from the armor. Half way through the final test, the readings began spiking into the red.

“Control, this is Tinker, I’m not liking what I’m seeing from the energy readings here.”

“We see that too, Tinker. Please bring your shields to combat mode and enable your weapons systems, stand by for a mission change,” Brittney replied.

“X-One and escorts, alter course to one-niner-two by five-three relative and accelerate to two-zero-zero. Target range approach in one-five minutes,” control ordered.

“Course change acknowledged. Wasp X-One is fangs out. Energy readings increase from shields. Estimate redline in five minutes. Please advise,” Tinker said.

“Valkyrie flight drop back to observation only positions,” control instructed. “Wasp X-One, drop shields, and begin firing weapons. Vector is clear. All units decrease speed to one-zero.”

“Valkyrie One and T wo in position, let ‘er rip, Tinker!” Talena replied.

“Shields reset to flight mode. Firing weapons now!” Tinker replied.

“Tinker, I have the energy level dropping, but not very fast. Can you confirm that?” Brittney said.

“Affirmative, I think I’m picking up energy from the light and heat generated by the lasers. If you can cool them down a bit, I have an idea about how to limit the stray photons.”

“The continuous fire mode is neat, and will do a whole lot more damage per shot, but if you over heat the guns, they’ll shut down. In a Hornet, if you lose the lasers, you’re a sitting duck,” Cindy replied.

“Setting reactor to minimum output. Stand by,” Tinker said.

“Good idea, Tinker,” Brittney said.

“Levels dropping, but still not very quickly. Weapons systems are reaching over-heat. I recommend discontinuing the tests,” Tinker added.

“I agree, with one exception,” Brittney said. “Return to
Star Dancer
for landing and discharge.”

“Understood. Levels are back into the upper green. Setting weapons systems back to stand-by, and returning to
Star Dancer
. Valkyrie, stay close, I might need to punch out without notice,” Tinker replied.

––––––––

B
ack in Beta landing bay, the excitement level had risen as the ground crews got ready for the landing.

“Put ESAR (Emergency Search And Rescue) on stand-by for recovery, prepare for a hot landing. No one is to approach the Wasp unless cleared by Dr. Benson,” John ordered.

No one actually replied to the orders, but Ian could tell that they were acting on them. He was impressed with the efficiency and professionalism of John’s team.

Down on the landing bay floor, men and women were running around securing the bay. Several of the people had suddenly changed into fire resistant suits, and others were double checking the emergency systems built into the bay.

“Ian, the design we decided on is based on a standard Earth aircraft carrier,” Brittney said. She pointed down the bay toward the opening into space and the force curtain that held the atmosphere in the bay, but allowed fighters and other ships to enter and leave.

“Do you see those cables stretched across the deck about twenty feet inside the curtain?”

Ian nodded. “Yes, they look like the landing cables on an aircraft carrier.”

“Exactly,” Brittney nodded. “The Wasp is equipped with a hook that she will lower when she starts her landing. We placed the cables based on the recorded landings of hundreds of other fighters; our pilots as well as from before the crash.  In all but the most heavily damaged, emergency landings, that point is where the hook should grab a cable.

“Now, when it grabs the cable, not only will it work to stop the fighter, it will also discharge the energy built up by the fighter into the storage system built into the cargo hold. By the time the fighter stops moving, it should be safe to work with,” she finished.

“Okay, but what about the Hornets? Won’t they snag the cables with their landing gear?” Ian asked.

“They shouldn’t. The landing gear don’t actually touch the desk for another thirty to forty feet. If the bird is so low that they risk snagging a cable, the controller would give them a wave-off anyway,” John replied. “The hook actually hangs down well below the gear until it’s engaged.” He brought up an image of an F-18 landing on one of the carriers on Earth to show Ian how low the hook was.

“Energy levels rising again. Honestly, Doc, this armor charges up if you even breathe on it,” Tinker said.

“I see that. Are you going to make it back to the ship?” Brittney asked.

“It’ll be close, but I think so. My worry is what do we do if she doesn’t discharge in there?” Tinker asked.

“We get you out of there, then jettison the Wasp,” Ian said. “So don’t worry about it, we got you.”

Tinker chuckled. “Yes Sir, we’re in-bound to Beta Bay. ETA is one zero minutes. Destruct course set to activate on ejection. Initiating crash protocol.”

“Understood, X-One. The pattern is empty, you have priority,” the controller said. John nodded proudly.

“Attention all personnel, emergency landing in progress. All air tight doors are now closing. Port side Maglev tubes will be cleared and sealed in two minutes. Stand-by for further instructions,” Star’s voice could be heard all through the great ship.

Ian grinned at her. She had been quietly standing off to one side and hadn’t said anything for the last hour.

“You’ve been quiet. Do you have any thoughts on this?” Ian asked and nodded his head to the busy activity in the room.

“I’m very proud of these people, Sir. Even though my former crew had been mostly academy trained and had years of experience, this team is acting like a veteran crew. John has trained them well, but I am the most impressed with him. Even without the ability to use the teaching equipment, he has taken to his duties as if born to them. If we ever build more ships like me, I think he would be a very good candidate for the command position,” Star replied.

That did impress Ian. Star had never praised one of the crew as highly, with the exception of Chief Dommer and his engineers.

“Thank you, I will remember that for the future. Perhaps I should ask him if he would be interested in beginning the training,” Ian replied. “I know I certainly trust him, and I’m very proud of what he’s done here too.”

Star nodded. “Did you know that this isn’t the only team he’s trained?”

Ian was surprised. “No, when I met him down at Talos, I got the impression he was only working with this team.”

“No, he has had a hand in training every flight control crew we have in all three landing facilities. The other Flight Commanders defer to him as senior among them. The teams at Talos trained under him as well as their officers. If you will remember, the current Flight Operations commander at Talos came to us as a former civilian air traffic controller,” Star explained.

“I knew he was good, but I had no idea about all of that. I think I should have a talk with him then,” Thank you, Major,” Ian said grinning at her.

“Wasp x-one on final approach! Emergency teams to ready positions!” the controller called out, his voice echoing into the landing bay was heard by everyone.

Even though everyone in the bay wore hearing protection, the individual comms worn by the crew members automatically merged into the controller channels when the crewmen came on duty. It was usual for anyone entering the landing/launching area to be added to the control channels for safety reasons.

“Wasp X-One inbound on final. Engaging automatic landing system,” Tinker replied. Suddenly alarms started blaring, and the Wasp turned away from the landing path. The canopy blew off which was shortly followed by the pilot ejecting into space.

The Wasp turned for deep space and went to full power. A short time later it exploded violently.

“Emergency!” Talena said over the comm. “Pilot ejected near outer marker! Request ESAR immediate launch!”

“I have her,” Cindy replied. “Position stabilized. Activating recovery beacon.”

“Search and Rescue is on the way. Good catch Valkyrie two!” the controller replied.

“Control, what happened? We couldn’t see anything. She called final approach, then ‘poof’ she punches out,” Talena asked.

“I’m patching her comm into my Hornet,” Cindy replied.  “There, how ya doing, Tinker?”

“Woozy, that ejections system really kicks you!” Tinker said. “What happened to the Wasp?”

“Wasp X-One turned on exit vector before self-destructing several kilometers from the ship. We are all damn glad it didn’t do it in here!” the controller said. “I have a date tonight too!”

“The ESAR folks will be here in a second or two, Tinker. Just hang in there,” Cindy said.

Tinker chuckled. “What else am I gonna do? You could always join me out here and we could dance until they get here, Valkyrie Two.”

“My call sign is Athena,” Cindy replied.

“Just before Tinker punched out, the energy levels in the Wasp shot up into the red. Applying full reverse thrust bathed the wasp in plasma from the engine. We thought we had negated the effect that would have when we redesigned the engine cowling. We’ll have to analyze the data, and my pad recorded everything up until it was destroyed, plus there is the box in Tinker’s ejection chair. We’ll get this figured out and fixed. We need these fighters,” Brittney explained.

“Indeed we do,” Ian said joining the channel once again. “Good work today everyone. Tinker, enjoy your evening tonight, but tomorrow you will have dinner with my family. Call it a reward for being the first pilot to eject in a non-training environment.”

“Wonderful, I get a reward for punching out! If the food’s good, I might have to do it more often!” Tinker joked.

“Oh, I think you’ll like the food!” Talena replied. “I swear I’ve gained weight since I’ve started living with them!”

“Well, we know you can’t be pregnant, so it must be the food!” Cindy quipped.

“What do you expect? It’s not like he has a lot of time for me!” Talena replied, jokingly.

“Okay, I think that’s enough you two,” Ian said. “I’m pretty sure that isn’t something to be discussed on an official channel.”

“I don’t know, I could stand to hear more about it,” Tinker said, causing Ian to blush and Cindy and Talena to laugh. No one got upset because everyone knew that Cindy and Talena were trying to help Tinker deal with the feeling of isolation that comes with floating ‘free’ in space.

“SAR team is on station. We’ll have you inside in just a minute, Tinker.” A new voice entered the channel. “The medic would like to know if you are feeling ill, or if you have been injured in any other way.”

“Just my pride, SAR,” Tinker replied. “This is only the second time I’ve had to bail out of a test bed. Although, I think I can honestly say the landing is going to be a hell of a lot softer than last time.”

“Athena, please release your tractor so we can lock on to her,” SAR said. “Yeah, this’ll be a lot softer. Standard procedure is a trip to Med Bay to make sure you’re not hurt.”

When Tinker groaned, Cindy spoke up. “When you get there, just ask for Beth. She’ll get you checked out in no time. While you’re there, stop and say hi our kids!”

“Thanks for the save, Athena and Valkyrie. I owe you both a drink,” Tinker said.

“Valkyrie flight, SAR has the pilot, you are relieved,” the SAR captain said.

“Understood, SAR, We’ll follow you home,” Talena replied. “Control, Valkyrie is inbound, we are escorting the SAR recovery craft.”

“Affirmative, Valkyrie One, good work.”

––––––––

M
oon Base

Selene, (Earth’s Moon)

––––––––

“D
id all the holographic generators get mounted?” Kyle asked.

Serin Vax was reticent by nature, but he was slowly becoming friendlier towards the people around him. Growing up in a slum of old Detroit in Michigan, he had taken a lot of flak for his odd name. When it was discovered he liked computers and other machines more than people, well, he got beat up a lot.

Serin was incredibly smart. Gifted would be the term used to describe him, if he had been born into a wealthier life. Of course, he didn’t excel at everything in academia, in fact, in most of the classes taught at his public school, Serin was barely above failing. However, in Math or anything else dealing with engineering, he always got the highest grades.

All this got young Serin labeled as an outcast. He never had any real friends because he had no social skills to speak of, he had never had a date, and in fact, with the exception of his mother, never actually spoke to a female.

The final straw for Serin was when he applied for college, his applications were all rejected because they said his grades had not been high enough. His parents had kicked him out because he was over eighteen, and they could no longer collect a welfare check for him.

He was standing on a bridge overlooking one of the rivers in Detroit when one of Janet Laskar’s recruiters walked up to him and started talking. Serin thought the man had been totally off his rocker, but since he was going to kill himself anyway, he decided to follow the travelling fool to see how far the delusion went.

Well, here he was, standing on the moon, preparing the base from an upcoming alien attack. He often wondered if perhaps he hadn’t actually jumped that day, and this was just something random his mind had locked onto while dying. Well, regardless, his friend had asked him a question.