Gray Panthers: Earths Revenge (12 page)

“I seen you doing the piss dance in the hallway when you saw the line to the head. I’m still 70 and can appreciate the need to go, take your piss I’ll cover for you,” He said with a smile. Without a second thought Matt handed his gear to Scott as he ran to the head.

Matt returned to the main bay as the rest of the flight was being briefed by a Captain wearing a black flight suit. “Good, now to reiterate, we will launch single file thirty second separation. Order of launch is myself, then in order of tail number. After leaving the Beater we will take a heading of 90 degrees for approximately a thousand miles then we will conduct basic flight maneuvers in trail formation. After an initial hour I will decide what to do from there. Any questions?”

Matt raised his hand in reply to the question, “Sir, what radio frequencies will we be using to communicate with each other and the Beater? What are the call signs?”

“Good questions, Mr. Andrews had you made it here earlier you would have caught the start of my briefing. That information was loaded to your computer. Now let's all have some fun and not kill each other out there. You have fifteen minutes to strap in and perform your pre-flights; since I do not trust anyone yet I have already done it, but I want you all to do it again. Be sure to buddy up to strap in; we don’t have any maintainers to assist at this time. I will help strap in the last person.”

Strapping in went well as it was familiar from the simulators. “OK Dart flight start engines, reply back to me when green,” Capt McGuire ordered.

“Dart One."

“Dart Four.”

“Dart Ten.”

“Dart Six.”

“Dart Two.”

“Dart Three.”

“Dart Seven.”

“Dart Five.”

“Dart Eight.”

“Dart Nine report status,” Capt McGuire commed.

“Dart Nine, power is only going to 80 percent,” Cadet Scholl replied. Suddenly Short Blade came running out to Dart Nine with a club as big as himself then began to hit the right side of Dart Nine on the fuselage just under the right wing. Scholls initial horror came to understanding as power immediately jumped to 100 percent. He raised his arm to the pint size warrior who then stopped pounding the Dart and stood in the position of attention and saluted before turning and running for cover.

“Dart Nine Green.”

“It's your call Dart Nine,” Capt McGuire commed.

“Affirmative, I’ll write it up in the 781 forms for post flight.”

“All Darts, I have clearance for departure, I’m moving in 30 seconds, remember keep your position speed and distance.” The shuttle launched without problem. Each of the Darts seemed to have some unexpected flight characteristics, but still were flight worthy. Exiting the bay watching the Dart sparkle as it passed through the force field and into the darkness of space, Matt was exhilarated then returned to business as he tried to see the shuttle then used the targeting system until he regained visual on the shuttle. Matt felt all doubt leave and confidence once again buoyed his spirits.

“Dart Flight, you’re looking good. I want you to form on Dart One in echelon right. Dart One you are leader, I am dropping out to observe.”

“Dart One copies,” Matt replied to the shuttle pilot. “OK, Darts just like we practiced, echelon right.” Matt continued through a variety of maneuvers accessing the capabilities when he was startled by the shuttle pilot.

“Dart one, everything is looking good. I want Dart Six to take the second formation. Climb 1,000 feet and mirror your formation, there are now no flight restrictions.”

Matt became suspicious of the new conditions and checked both life support time left and distance to the Arizona Space Ship Cornucopia. Evaluating his loiter time he decided to edge back towards the Arizona Space Ship Cornucopia while enjoying his time, envying the shuttle pilot having an AI to remind him of these things. One hour later the order came to return to the Cornucopia and for Dart One to lead the formation. Matt smiled as he received the call almost exactly when he expected it.

“Dart flight we will resume trail formation, Dart Six let me know when you are in position and we will head for home.” Almost immediately Dart Six was in position as the formation transitioned from echelon right to trail. The rest of the flight was anti-climatic as almost everyone started to feel small aches and pains from incorrectly adjusted equipment and the adrenalin leaving their bodies as they relaxed.

“Dart Flight, Dart One will form on me and I will bring us in. Let's hope we can all thread the needle; that landing bay looks smaller to me than when we launched. The desired jab worked as almost everyone in the flight perceived the landing bay to be narrower as they started to feel their adrenaline once again spike while the pucker factor increased by a factor of ten.

After landing there were now ground crews waiting for each Dart as each Dart shut down a maintenance crew chief approached, with a large cylinder towards the side of the Darts and sprayed the area where the pilot would exit the flight deck. Matt mentally kicked himself for what he had been ready to do in the excitement of his first flight. The crew chiefs then threw covers over the sides of the Darts so each pilot could climb over the side to egress their Darts without getting contact frostbite.

The pilots removed their helmets and looked around to orient themselves to being back in reality before they all ran towards Matt high fiving each other all talking over each other in their excitement. Capt. McGuire walked up to the assembly a stern look on his face that was like a pail of cold water on the group. He turned to an enlisted man walking closely behind him carrying a container, reaching into the container he pulled out a can of beer and tossed it to Matt, and then proceeded to disburse beer to the entire flight. “Shit Hot Darts! HU-AH!”

The bay resounded with the echo of “HU AH” from the Dart drivers as they drank down the beer. “Your folks did outstanding Cadet Andrews. Now each of your people need to debrief their crew chiefs, then the duty day is over and there will be more beer and liquid refreshments. We will be grilling steaks back here in one hour. Now go debrief, a lot of folks want to hear about today's success.”

The smell of burning meat had mouths watering as the group followed their noses to the food. Spirits were still high as they compared notes. Scott was surprised to learn that his ship Dart Nine had the same power problem with the last owners. The defective part on his ship could not be repaired as there were no spare parts since each Dart was handmade without an assembly line. His Dart had been waiting over five years to get back to a depot to have the part rebuilt. The part might have been able to be rebuilt by one of Grubs builders except there was no data and they feared they’d just replicate the part with the problem recreated.

Gray Panther Industries, Arizona

27 August 2128

Juanita had finished her projects for the day and decided to have a chat with Grub. Though the alien AI was beyond stupendous in so many ways, it often seemed to crash to near stupid just as fast. Juanita was interested in the production of AIs and wanted to learn more about them, in part to see if they would have the same problems as Grub. So far those on the Arizona Space Ship Nike and Arizona Space Ship Bia as well as in all the smaller ships had been perfect. “Grub, do you have a moment?” Juanita commed.

“Yes Juanita, how may I be of assistance to you?” Grub replied as his avatar appeared.

“Grub, what can you tell me about the AIs we are using?”

“All of the AIs being used are class one. If Dan did not have control of production the best that would be available might be class three AIs.”

“Wait, Grub please explain that. Remember, I’m only human.”

“Yes, that is so. Usually a class one is only available to Flems, and then only on the home world because of their superior capability and the fear of them being copied by a hostile race. A class two AI would be sold to a friendly government or corporation, especially if funds were needed or it was as a special favor. The class two AIs were used primarily by manufacturing giants or governments to run cities. Class three AIs were used for most space ships and smaller manufacturing facilities. Class four AIs were used for small institutions and homes of wealthy customers.”

“That’s interesting, Grub. Do you have the raw materials needed here to continue to make them?”

“Yes and no. I can continue to make as many as are requested, but there will be no storage for them.”

“Why is that Grub, what is the storage made of?”

“The storage is a natural fluid that allows itself to retain all information introduced to it like a hard drive except one ounce of the fluid could retain all the information contained on all the computers on earth, and still have storage space left.”

“Where does the fluid come from Grub?” Juanita asked feeling like she was pulling teeth.

“There is only one known source of the fluid. It’s on the planet Zia on the border between Republic space and the old League of Planets Space. It comes from a small marsupial about the size of a small mouse, it actually looks like an Earth opossum except for being much smaller and it secretes poison that is extremely deadly. Until the Flem left League of Planet Space it was a lucrative business for the inhabitants of Zia. Since only the Flem had the knowledge to use the fluid. I am sure the planet is probably without any major source of revenue since it is an agrarian race.”

“How was the fluid acquired from the animals?”

“It was only the female of the species that produced the fluid as part of their milk, so an industry was setup around milking the animals, similar to how your dairy farms work, only on a smaller scale.”

“If you were the only customer for the fluid, what did they end up getting for it?”

“The Flem respected the Zians so they paid them in gold, ounce for ounce for the fluid. They considered buying the animals and producing it themselves but they felt it morally wrong to raise animals for their own benefit but not to buy the product from others that raised the animals for profit.”

“So what are the Zians like? Are they similar to the Flem?”

“They are actually more like humans, two arms, two legs, partial fur on their bodies and heads, they are only a foot tall and build dwellings like humans. Technologically they are similar to the 17
th
century, except for their fluid endeavors; the Flem ensured that was as modern and productive as possible. Many species have visited the planet, but it has no valuable ores or anything else of value. The Zians are even too small for slave labor so they are left alone. The neighboring Republic even uncharacteristically has declared their planet a protectorate. So they will not be exploited or harmed.”

“So if we wanted to buy fluid we would have to work through the Republic?”

“That is correct. The Republic uses their Central Bank on Planet Dirt to monitor and protect them. The bank simply lets the Republic military know if any help is needed to get rid of any aggressors, or assist supplies to get through to the planet. They have not had any problems yet.”

“What type of supplies do they bring to an agrarian planet that is technologically in the17
th
century?”

“No, not for the planet, for the Republic’s scientists that study the Zian Society.”

“Did the Flem work through this bank when they did their business with the Zians?”

“No, it was only after the Flem stopped buying the fluid as they prepared to flee the system that the Republic stepped in. It was thought by many that the Flem appealed to them to step in, others thought they came in to learn the secret of the fluid.”

“Grub, please detail a report and send it to my computer. Include everything you informed me as well as anything we would need to know in order to purchase the fluid through the Republic’s Central Bank, also how to get there in the shortest time.”

Arizona Space Ship Cornucopia in orbit around Venus

28 August 2128

The passageways of the Arizona Space Ship Beater reverberated from the “ZEE ZEE” sound of the ships alarms as the hung over cadets poked their heads out of their cabins looking at each other confused. Then they received the comms to report in full flight gear to the Arizona Space Ship Beaters landing bay. Those who checked the time, groaned when they saw it was 0500. The bay was setup as a combination briefing room and wardroom with the smell of coffee and breakfast that immediately got the attention of the cadets. The tables were set up so they could view a large monitor.

“Good Morning intrepid aviators. Today we will be having two sorties. The first will be a continuation of yesterday’s sortie, basic flight rules apply, you will be free to experience your Darts performance abilities in minimum of two-ship formation only. For sake of command, you will launch in two five-ship formations. Cadet Andrews will lead the first formation, Ace Flight. Cadet Hagen will lead the second formation, Brute Flight. Sortie duration will be three hours. Then return to the Arizona Space Ship Cornucopia. After entering the landing bay you will taxi to the Arizona Space Ship Beater and park in the Arizona Space Ship Beaters landing bay. There will be a break including lunch in the wardroom. Then at 1100 hrs will be a second sortie where you will launch armed from the Arizona Space Ship Beater. There will be targets deployed that you must find and destroy. The two with the most ammunition left and most misses will be buying the beer,” Capt. McGuire briefed the flight through the monitor. Unknown to the flight he had pre-recorded the briefing and was still sound asleep in his cabin.

“OK, everyone fill yourselves up and get plenty of water in you. Looks like quite a few of you might be dehydrated. We have a half hour to eat, drink, and take care of nature before we get to the Darts. We are going to make the brief easy. Odd number Darts lead the two ship formations for the first hour. Second hour will switch with even number Darts leading the two ship formations. Last hour we will practice mixed formations I will call them as we go. Then return to base in the same five ship formations as we launched,” Matt briefed between mouthfuls as he hungrily attacked his breakfast.

Half an hour later the flight was launching with only Dart Nine needing its preflight beating. All crews learning from the day before had taken the time to properly don their gear and strap into their Darts so there were no hot spots or chaffing; all thoughts were easily centered on flying. Matt led the flight only a thousand miles from the Arizona Space Ship Cornucopia, towards Venus enjoying the bright view of the orange planet until he started to feel the slight beginning tug of gravity and did a hard bank towards empty space. Matt simply did a quick call to the flight to break into their two ship formations as he wiggled his Dart then went to full power, happy to see his wingman had anticipated the maneuver and was in tight formation with him. The air was live with chatter as maneuvers previously practiced only in sims were now being practiced live with some variations being discovered compared to how the sims performed the maneuvers.

From the flight deck of the Arizona Space Ship Cornucopia, there was much interest as the Darts were monitored closely, in part because of their distrust of inexperienced pilots executing maneuvers so close to their ship.

Matt was enjoying the freedom of pure flight when the threat indicator on his console immediately popped on to yellow. He immediately contacted his wingman Tiny.

“Dart Two this is Dart One, you picking up anything on your threat indicator?

“Dart One, I was just going to ask you the same thing, we aren’t being painted by anyone’s targeting system, that registers differently.”

“Two keep your eyes open and we can fig——” The harsh buffeting of the Dart cut Matt short as the Threat Indicator raised to a dark orange. Matt head swiveled as he tried to figure the threat when he realized the danger. Pulling his thumb back on the yoke he began a lazy climb away from the planet Venus as the buffeting stopped and threat indicator went clear.

“Dart Flight, Dart One, Stay away from Venus; you won’t like it if she gets a hold of you. Time to switch, leads are now wing men, Dart One out.”

Matt maintained position with Tiny with minimal difficulty. Tiny's maneuvers were unimaginative, instead, they were a mixture of speed and brutal harsh turns. After an hour was up, Matt again notified the flight.

“Dart Flight, Dart One, I want the following flight. Suzy, you get Mary and Matilda. Bronia, take Scotty and Tiny for your flight. Zach, Borys, and Andrzej form up on my Dart. Suzy and Bronia, I want your flights to loiter in this area. I will head out a couple thousand miles and head back and try to gun your flights. Try to evade and re-attack me if you can." Matt's flight flew three thousand miles out then turned around to attack the other flights. Matt was surprised to see the two flights had simply cut to quarter power and seemed to be slowly maneuvering in random directions. When he was two minutes away, the two formations formed as two line abreast formations, one parallel to the other only slightly above. Initially unhappy, a smile formed on Matt's face in realization they had done the same thing he would have done. “Borys and Andrzej I want the pair of you to climb a couple hundred miles and see if you can get directly above them and then drop down on them, Zach you and Tiny have my six as we will head straight at them then bank 90 degrees and see if they follow.”

Suzy saw the pair of Darts break off and climb and guessed what was happening next. “Bronia, take your flight and go nose to nose with the high flight. We will take the low flight, pass through them and continue straight. We will do the same with low flight and have our flights rejoin. If he wants to separate his forces, we’ll remind him it’s not a good idea.”

Matt’s smile left his face as he saw the two flights advance towards both his flights.

“Borys and Andrzej, go full power and climb straight.”

Matt was going to draw off the high flight and attack from behind and below when they pursued. Smiling as they closed he saw the high flight begin to trail his high flight. The low flight was still a distance back as he maneuvered to get on their six when they looped the same time the low flight caught up with him at his 3 o’clock position. In less than ten seconds, the high flight passed by him as the other flight passed by him from the other side and continued towards the Arizona Space Ship Cornucopia where they formed up as a single line abreast formation. The distaste of failure was replaced with pride in his flight as they were not just following him but learning as well.

“Darts, shit hot job, we’re near bingo so let's head for the ranch and have a good debrief. We will form on Suzy for trail formation then return to base.”

As her Dart passed through the force field Suzy headed towards the Arizona Space Ship Beater as she received instructions to hover in front of the bay then turn facing away from the ship, and back in following directions as she went. Backing up a Dart was a new adventure for each pilot, especially through the narrow opening of the hangar bay; finally, all were in and down, each pilot soaked with perspiration. The hangar doors shut as they each got out of the Darts. Crew chiefs had dragged tables to each Dart and waited to debrief the pilots. After a short debrief the pilots prepared to break for lunch when Captain McGuire appeared.

“You guys were looking hot out there, I was impressed. Be sure to get a good lunch after you’re done assisting in arming your Darts. When we leave on the mission you will be doing all your own maintenance including arming your Darts so be sure to learn all there is to know.”

The bay started to become less steady as the Arizona Space Ship Beater rose and taxied out of the Arizona Space Ship Cornucopias bay. The cadets quickly found they were “assisting” the crew chiefs by lugging over all the munitions, opening the weapon panels and manually loading the weapons as there were no automated systems for arming the Darts yet. Tired and gritty the cadets were finally able to sit for lunch only to discover there was a problem with the "Chef” and would have to eat field rations. Almost everyone pulled the same meal, 01 Chili with Beans, out of a container housing the MREs, the rule being that you had to take what you grabbed unless you could find someone to trade with you. Matt looked to see what he had grabbed and found he had his favorite 07 Meatballs with Marinara. Seeing the selection from the others, he guessed most folks would have their oxygen masks connected while flying instead of hanging loose.

Short Blade could not believe it when he heard the plan to launch the Darts from the Arizona Space Ship Beater. He knew that they had never been launched or recovered from the ship in space, the Darts had in fact only been cargo. They had flown the Darts into and out of the ship only when on the ground or when the ship was in the bay of a larger ship. He laughed to himself how the humans thought that the Arizona Space Ship Beater was a raider. It not only never was a “raider” as envisioned but instead a smugglers ship that was confiscated and pressed into service with the military as a high speed cargo ship that doubled for delivering classified dispatches.

Assignment to the ship was usually only short term, or as punishment as the ship was so austere in living conditions. Short Blade was the exception as he found it an honor to be trusted to work on the ship since those in his race were generally not trusted with such technical responsibility. As the longest serving crewmember of the ship, he saw many come and go. His willingness to do any task also always ingrained him with all the past crews and was the way he learned everything there was about maintaining the ship. The new owners of the ship, humans, confused Short Blade. Most made it obvious they did not want to be there, but then tried their best to learn all they could and treated him as a total equal, respecting his judgment and willingness to not only work with him but provide camaraderie. He decided he was going to tell his new Captain these things before something got damaged or someone was hurt. He also thought he might tell them about some of the secrets the ship held that only he knew of maybe. Walking up to the flight deck Short Blade began to hesitate, they might get unhappy with him for casting any doubts on their plan.

“Well hello Mr. Short Blade, what brings you to the bridge today? Capt. Johnson asked.

“Captain, you need to know that the Arizona Space Ship Beater has always been a cargo ship, the bay is in fact a cargo hold. This ship was not built for combat but speed; it was a smuggler. Now it was a high-speed cargo and dispatch ship. It has never launched or recovered ships in space.”

“Short Blade, we are not only a raider we are a ship of war now. We are the sum of our components. You see yourself as a maintainer on a cargo ship, you are wrong. Short Blade you are a warrior from a race of warriors. Every crewmember of this ship, except the navigator, has seen combat. Our navigator has trained to be a warrior and has volunteered for dangerous duty. Now I ask you, are you a warrior or a mechanic?”

“I am Short Blade, warrior, survivor of the spirit test, Son of Colonel Blade of the Clan Claw of the Jacka. From the start of known time my people have been the deadliest mercenaries the galaxy has known.”

“Good, we will soon launch Darts for the first time. I am glad you will be here for the first time as part of our team. We will be the first ship to really take the fight to our enemies. Now I need to be in the flight deck for the launch and I believe you are needed in the bay. Good luck, Short Blade.”

Before Matt knew it he was already strapped in and starting engines. He made a point to check with Scholl to ensure Dart Nine had fired up alright as he watched the little alien run to exit the bay carrying his “starter club” as he received clearance to launch as the external doors to the bay began to open. Small papers and assorted junk was blown out of the bay as it decompressed, not having the luxury of a force field to keep the atmosphere in. Matt wondered aloud how long it would take to become habitable when they returned. It had not been covered during any of the meetings. Starting to lift off the deck felt different and he wondered if it was the artificial gravity from the Arizona Space Ship Beater or if it was because the Dart was now nose heavy with a full load of ammunition, increasing thrust slightly he was able to compensate and resumed a more level flight.

The flight formed on Matt as instructions were received from the Arizona Space Ship Bia. The Bia had launched 1000 drones from its orbit of Earth, the target of the drones was the planet Venus. The Darts mission was to destroy all drones and protect Venus. Even as they received their orders, the Arizona Space Ship Cornucopia alerted the flight they had already picked up the incoming drones, multiple vectors and speeds.

“Dart Flight, Dart One, I am going to let Dart Two decide on our tactics, we are going to be overwhelmed by their numbers. What’s your call, basket ball hero?”

Tiny, sat in shock, and then anger thinking, “Why is that little pipsqueak messing with me for no reason? If we were still in high school I’d...” The realization struck home. Tapping into his computer the data as he figured it out he then had it send out locations for each Dart.

“Dart Flight, Dart Two, we are going for a zone defense. Position yourself in the locations I just sent. I will play, safety, err, I mean position myself behind to get any that get by you, any questions?”

“Good job Tiny, that’s why I have faith in you. Everyone take your positions, be careful of where any missed shots are going.”

The 40mm cannon installed under the noses of the Darts had performed better than expected. After a target was acquired only a single shot was required. The 40 mm ammunitions construction includes a mini targeting system to maintain contact with the target, then used its own mini thruster to steer towards it target using the initial energy from being fired to provide its propulsion. Once the shell makes contact with its target a small antimatter explosive is detonated destroying or damaging the target.