Craggy 2: Another Last Flight for Craggy (16 page)

'Thanks. I'm pretty reconciled to the fact. I was lucky to make it this far. Millions didn't. Once I see my pals here being out in the big wide world, I can die happy.'

'Best way to go, I suppose. But I meant what I said, Andy. Call me any time. Right. Misty will be chewing my ears off if I don't go home. I'll see you...'

He was interrupted by all the sirens going off at once, which had the creatures in Base Three getting in a flap.

'That's not good,' said Foreman reassuring Mango.

'No. And that doesn't look good. That's The Eye. Dillow wouldn't be coming down now, if it wasn't something big going on. I'd better get back to Misty.'

Forbes and Potts greeted Lance Dillow and Dan Carter at The Eyes' pad. They had a buggy waiting and drove them to Potts' office.

Dillow said, 'Anybody able to stand and fly needs to get ready. I think this is it.'

'You haven't even told us what you saw, yet,' said Potts.

'Remember the blackness and the pathways under Mons? I think that's what we saw.'

Forbes decided to act and listen later. 'All pilots and crew get to their ships immediately. This is not a drill. Get to your stations immediately. All ground cannon shooters, get to your stations immediately. All shooters to your stations. All civilians stay in your homes. This is not a drill. I repeat, not a drill.' He turned to Dillow. 'What is it you saw?'

'Young Carter here. He saw it first. I'd put money on it being that blackness, on its way here. I think it's a fast way for their ships to get across the galaxy.'

Carter said, 'Like a tunnel through space?'

'Don't ask me to describe it,' said Dillow, 'But yes. Like the ones under Mons, a few years ago. That one was created by Korlyn himself. I need to get back up there.'

Forbes was back on the radio. 'All officers of The Eye report to the ship on the double. Breezy?'

'On my way, Sir.'

'Get ready to take off, Breezy. Commander Dillow is on his way.'

'Yes, Sir.'

Dillow used the radio. 'Fawn?'

'Sir.'

'You and Stella take off. Carter, patch in the coordinates to all our ships computers. Use that computer there.'

'Yes, Sir.'

Potts said, 'Lance. You have a plan?'

'Of course. We kick their asses before they kick ours.'

'Plan approved. Good luck, Commander.'

T
hey had fourteen ships, armed and with experienced pilots and crew. Twelve modified freighters, The Eye, and the ship once owned by the Varlindrans. By the time Lance had strapped himself in his command seat on The Eye, all were fired up, ready to go.'

'Listen up,' said Dillow. 'We're heading to the last known coordinates of that blackness. Anything hostile coming out of there, we blast the crap out of it. Remember, we'll probably be out gunned. Fawn?'

'Sir.'

'You and Stella have our fastest ship. Use that speed. This is it, people. You know what to do.'

Fourteen ships modified with laser cannon, raced across the heavens. None of their crews, other than Dillow and his team on The Eye, had any useful combat experience. They were taking on the natural fighters of Varlindra, capable and willing to wipe out whole populations of any planet they wanted. How badly they wanted Mars, the humans were about to find out.

Rocky Ramshorn and Max Morgan got to Potts' office, as the other ships were taking off.

'Sir,' said Rocky. 'We need to be out there.'

Potts shook his head. 'We only have Big Bird down here and that isn't armed. You two are our best pilots. If war breaks out, God knows how long it will last. You'll get your chance, I'm sure.'

'We'll be ready, Sir.'

On The Eye, Lance Dillow said, 'Breezy. Something has occurred to me.'

Sir?' said Breeze, not looking up from flying the ship. 'Anything useful?'

'Possibly. Radio waves can't travel through the blackness. If they've been listening into our communications before the attack, once in the blackness, they might not be able to pick up any signals until they come out of it.'

'Interesting. So we may have the advantage of surprise.'

'Exactly.'

'Good. I'll take any advantage that I can. That blackness is getting a hell of a lot closer.'

'When we get there, it might be a good idea to stay behind the blackness, and not the way they'll be coming out. That way, we'll be waiting for them to exit the blackness and hit them. One hell of a shock for them when they do come out.'

'It was a bit of a shock for my parents when
I
came out.'

Dillow laughed. 'They're proud as punch of you, and so they should be.'

'A
nd just where do you think you're going?'

Cragg said, 'I need to be useful.'

'Get that moth bitten suit off this minute,' snapped Misty.

'I won't be in their way, I promise.'

'You got that right, you silly old fart. Just for once, do as I tell you.'

Cragg had other ideas. 'I'm not the type to just hang around doing nothing. I'll do anything. Make the Syncoff.'

'I thought you were on our side. I've tasted your Syncoff.'

Cragg kissed Misty, and with his helmet under his arm like a geriatric Knight of Olde, he raised himself up to his full height of five feet seven inches, puffed out his chest and with a wink at his long suffering wife, marched proudly out of the door.

Misty closed her eyes and growled. 'That man is an insufferable, incorrigible pain in the ass. God help me, I love him.'

* * *

'A
re you off to a fancy dress costume party,  Craggy?'

'No, Pottsy. I'm here to help. To offer my decades of experience.'

Forbes stared at the old freighter pilot. 'That word decades. That means
you
are really, really old. Bugger off, Craggy.'

'Only really old, and no. I am not buggering off. Now give me something to do. Oh, come on, Pottsy.'

Potts and Forbes huddled in a corner together.

'You know what he's like, Pottsy. He'll never go away.'

'We could have him arrested.'

Forbes said, 'For what? Being annoying? Where can we send him?'

'Right,' said Potts. 'Craggy. Go and see how the ground shooters are. Make sure they aren't trigger happy and go shooting down our ships.'

Cragg grinned. This sounded like something he could do. He saluted. 'Yes, Sir. On my way.'

As Cragg left the office, Potts shrugged and said, 'Hey. What harm can he do?'

Still with the helmet under his arm, Cragg marched outside. Two of Armour Dillow's security officers were fully armed, on duty outside, ready for any eventuality. They got Cragg, instead.

'Where the hell are you going?' one asked.

Cragg stared up defiantly at the huge man in the black uniform. 'No need to salute, officer.'

'I didn't.'

'And don't think that didn't go unnoticed,' said Cragg, jabbing him in the chest with his finger. 'I need a buggy. That one will do.'

'Hey. No you don't.'

'I beg your pardon, officer...?'

'Sergeant Vickers.'

'And
I
am Commander Dixon Cragg.' He forgot to add retired. 'I'll have you know, I have just received orders directly from Commanders Potts and Forbes to coordinate with our ground shooters. Now, be a good chap and move aside. Better still, you can drive me. Chop, chop. We haven't got all day. There is a war on, you know?'

This time, the big sergeant did salute. 'Yes, Sir. This way.'

To the other officer, Cragg said, 'Carry on. We'll take it from here.'

'Yes, Sir.' He too saluted as Cragg, chauffeured  by the sergeant, drove away. 

A
nna and Bob Graham were also busy. Two of her technicians were still drowsy from enjoying too many beers at the party. She, Bob and a third technician were running communications and radar. Bob had often stood in for a sick technician, so knew the job like the back of his hand. The restored satellite was behaving impeccably.

'Bob. Anything?'

'Our ships are out of our radar range. I have their coordinates, so I can look out for anything coming from that direction. Any Varlindran ships, including ours, will give off bigger signals than either The Eye or the freighters. I'll be ready for them.'

Anna knew they were the first line of defence for anything reaching Mars. It was their responsibility to alert the ground cannon the second anything hostile was coming their way at the same time to make sure their own ships weren't fired on. It was a big job, but they knew they were up to the challenge. All they could do was to be vigilant, ready to react instantly. 

I
t defied logic and any known understanding of physics known to humans. That didn't mean it wasn't very real. It wasn't even a tunnel. It was...a big black empty ball. Armour Dillow's plan to hide behind it to pounce on anything coming out of it wasn't a realistic option.

'It isn't moving,' said Breeze. 'It's just sitting there.'

'Change of plan. Retreat to twenty thousand miles. Surround the thing.'

They all backed off, taking just four minutes to make that distance and position facing the strange impossible ball.

Dan Carter stared at the peculiar black harbinger of death.  'I was expecting...I don't know. When you said tunnel, Sir, I fully expected this to be stretching out across the universe.'

Dillow nodded. 'I expected much the same thing. I've actually been inside one of these, which had been trapped under Mons by Korlyn. I think I'm beginning to understand it a little.'

'You are?' said Breeze.

'When we first saw one of these, we wrongly thought black hole.'

Carter said, 'No. That couldn't be possible.'

'I know. But, I think the Varlindrans developed a state of energy they can control and use the curves of space for ultra fast space travel. Maybe even faster than the speed of light.'

'The very possibility of that is still conjecture,' said Breeze.

'To us, yes,' agreed Dillow. 'These people are way ahead of us. They may have not only solved the mystery of faster than light travel, but can actually use it practically.'

'But that's still a ball,' said Carter. 'Not a tunnel. Perhaps they don't travel through it, but travel in it.'

Breeze and Dillow looked at each other. Breeze said, 'Carter's right. They're not coming through it. They're already here. Inside it.'

'Damn,' said Dillow. 'And all we can do is hope to get them when they decide to come out of there.'

Carter asked, 'Can't we just shoot inside of it?'

'I don't think it would do much good,' said Dillow. 'Physical things can go in and out of it. You, me, a ship. But when we tried to transmit radio waves inside one, we got nothing.'

'One way to find out,' said Breeze. 'Shoot the damn thing.'

Dillow said, 'Captain Flare.'

'Sir.'

'Take one short burst shot at that blackness.'

Flare fired the laser cannon and a red trace hit the blackness dead centre. It was deflected off again, unable to penetrate.'

'Shall I try again, Sir?'

'No, Flare. See? That energy is so powerful, our lasers can't penetrate it. Same as the radio waves.'

'In that case,' said Breeze. 'They can't shoot at us, either.'

Dillow agreed. 'Hopefully. So. All we can do is wait for them to come out all guns blazing.' 

T
he woman in body armour looked suspiciously at the big security officer who dwarfed the man in the suit. 'Craggy. What are you doing here?'

'Hi, Sandy. The commanders asked me to make sure you guys are ok. Everything ready to rock and roll?'

Sandy Beach took hold of the laser on its swing mounting which was set in concrete and tried to shake it.

'Nothing rocking or rolling here, Craggy.'

'Excellent. Just as it should be.'

'Any news on what's happening?'

'I'm not aware of anything, Sandy. Your radio working ok?'

'Fine.'

'Hmm, hmm. Good. Excellent. Now, and the commanders specifically wanted me to clarify this with all you shooters, you don't fire until you're instructed to. We need to make sure the target is not one of ours.'

'Fairly bloody obvious that, Craggy.'

'Excellent. Good to see we're on the same page. Right. Stay alert. Carry on.'

'Err, yeah. Ok.' Beach looked at the sergeant who just shrugged at her.

Cragg said, 'Off we go, sergeant. We've a lot of ground to cover.'

After an hour of driving around, Cragg was satisfied everything was as it should be, and instructed the sergeant to return the buggy.

'Excellent, job, Sergeant. I'll make sure Commander Dillow gets that in my report.'

'Ok. I mean, thank you, Commander Cragg.'

'Carry on, Sergeant.'

'Yes, Sir.'

Cragg walked back inside the Base, only to bump into Forbes.

'Craggy. What have you been up to?'

'Me, Sir? Just following your instructions. I'm pleased to report the shooters are all ready...err... to shoot.'

'I already thought they were.'

'Glad we're on the same page. Well, Sir. Pleased I was able to help. If you'll excuse me, I'm off for a beer.'

F
ourteen crews on fourteen ships, stared at the big black ball of death only twenty thousand miles away.  All were thousands of miles from the blackness, but their screens showed a magnified view of it. It hadn't moved. Dillow had them all change seats every thirty minutes to keep them alert. The ship next to The Eye was the alien ship with his daughter and Stella Wayward on board. He could imagine Fawn with her hands on the laser cannon triggers, and Stella poised to get some extreme speed out of the ship.

He tried to think what was going on inside the blackness. What would he do if he were in there, planning to attack? Could he even think as they thought? In a way, he hoped not. He had killed a few in the line of duty over the years. But what these creatures had done, he knew he was incapable of doing.

He had seen the evidence with his own eyes; the cold blooded slaughter of innocent beings, young and old, without the slightest remorse. And now they were here with the same intentions.