Talosian Chronicles 6: Armageddon (19 page)

"
Hell
yeah!" one of the kids yelled.

"As good as that is, we need to keep our attention up here team. You're going to need your complete attention on what we are doing up here. We can update ourselves on current events when we get a break, understood?" Tara said.

"Yes Sir!" the team replied.

"Great. Cub Six, good work on spotting that. It shows your keeping your eyes open. Don't stop doing it. Once we get into this fight, those fighters and fighter carriers are going to come after us with a vengeance. That's why we have three other wings meeting us; to keep them off our backs," Tara explained.

Tara noticed a private comm request form Ashley. "What's up Ash?" Tara asked after opening the channel.

"Are you sure this isn't a suicide mission? 'Cause it sure sounds like one," the girl asked.

Tara chuckled. "Hardly! It's actually more of an important role than I'd thought we'd get. You see, what we're going to be doing is actually important in two ways. First, the destruction of the transports. That's a biggie, we can't let them get to Earth. Second, when we do, the fighters and carriers protecting them will focus on us and not on the fighters attacking them. Caldarian fighter pilots are notoriously single minded when they get angry. They also get an order of magnitude dumber. That'll make them a thousand times more vulnerable to our fighters. The trick here is to pop the transports and get out of there before the enemy fighters pop us.

"I suppose you could say we're bait, but we're not really. When we destroy those transports, it'll piss off the Caldarians, They'll get stupid and try to attack us. When they do, they will run right into the thirty plus shadow fighters that'll be covering us," Tara explained.

"But, even in a Wasp, it takes two or three passes on a transport to get through the shields. Won't this just be a big turkey shoot for the Caldarain fighters?" Ashley asked.

Tara grinned. "Nope, you see, we're going to take them all out in single pass. Think of the transports like a big turtle; the shell is hard as hell, but they do have a weak spot; at the rear of the ship, centered between the four plasma vents, is the main shield generator. Caldarian generators leave a small open space directly over themselves and can be destroyed with a single laser shot. Follow that up with a missile or two and you'll hit the reactor. Poof! No more ship!"

"What? They weren't like that in the simulators!" Ashley replied.

"Actually, they are, but no one has ever taken the time to scan for weaknesses in the shielding. We'll come in from behind them, leap-frog them, and fly right through the incoming Shadow fighters, pulling the now royally pissed-off Caldarian fighters along with us." Tara explained.

"So how big is the target area between the plasma vents? It can't be that big; the vents are only forty meters apart." Ashley asked.

"About five meters in diameter. It won't be that hard to hit if we get close enough," Tara explained.

"What happens if we miss one?" Ashley asked.

"We'll circle around and get it after we lead the fighters into our friends," Tara replied. "Oops! I have a call from the fighter team leader, can you explain this to the rest of our team?"

"Sure, no problem Mama Bear!" Ashley replied teasingly now that she wasn't nervous anymore.

"Smart ass!" Tara shot back before ending the call to speak to the other fighters.

The Croanian flight leader wanted to know how Tara was going to handle the mission. When she explained it to him, he grinned. "A bold plan. Audacious, yet efficiently simplistic and elegant in execution. It is sure to anger our enemy beyond reason." He nodded. "I like it. We will set it up for you."

"If, by some chance, we miss one of the transports, we'll just loop around after we bring you your playmates and finish it," Tara explained.

"…and versatile. Yes, a very good plan. Good hunting, Commander," the Croanian officer replied. "I was unaware the Wasp Fighter had been equipped with a mass driver cannon?"

"These are experimental variants, Force Commander. We are conducting pre-deployment trials. Unlike the cannons you have, ours are smaller caliber, fixed position, single barrel guns. We added them to use against enemy shields," Tara replied.

"I look forward to the performance then. We will take position and await your signal, Lieutenant. It is time for our enemies to greet their ancestors," the being replied.

Tara nodded. "Let's not keep them waiting."

Tara got her team in position and they started their pass at the five large transports. The transports themselves were almost the size of an Imperial Light Cruiser, but carried only some anti-fighter weapons. Most of the ship's armaments was geared to a ground combat support role; which is why it needed the escorts. They were heavily armored and had strong, but slow engines.

Due to the situation, the fighters from the carriers were already deployed, and flying in protective formations around the carriers and transports. Because of the new armor and power systems of the Alliance fighters, the Caldarians had no way of detecting or tracking their opponents.

When the first transport exploded for no apparent reason, it too the entire Caldarian formation completely by surprise. When the second exploded, they knew they were under attack but couldn't find the enemy. The fighters began buzzing around like angry bees without direction; two of them actually collided destroying both small ships.

The third and forth transports exploded almost at the same instant, the Caldarian fighters swarmed around the last remaining transport so closely, Tara's team was having difficulty targeting it. Her team grouped up and literally blasted a hole through the defenders in order to destroy the last ship.

By now, the Caldarians were very angry but finally managed to locate at least some of the ships attacking them. Five of the eight squadrons roared after the escaping offenders to avenge the deaths of their transports.

They blasted forward as fast as they could…

…right into the waiting shadow fighters.

The ploy had worked very well, so well that Tara and her team had been asked to proceed to the next group and see if she could pull it off again. The next group of ships had tried to adjust their formation to prevent a repeat performance. They tried massing fighters behind the transports to protect the weak spot in the shields.

As with the last transport in the first group, Tara's team just blasted their way through and destroyed the transport anyway. The third group moved the fighter carriers themselves behind the transports, and moved all the ships closer together in order to defend them better. Instead of attacking the transport, Tara had her team attack the carrier that so close to the transport, it was almost touching the plasma vents.

When the Carrier blew up, it took out one transport and severely damaged two others. This group wasn't any more difficult than the first ones had been, but it took longer because were catching on to the ploy. The fighters and carriers kept getting in the way.

After the final transport blew up, Tara was ordered to return to the ship to rest and rearm. She was about to protest the orders when she realized it was almost eleven p.m. and they had been in the cockpits since six o'clock.

"That was great work guys! We've been ordered back to the ship to rest and rearm before the next mission. I don't know about you guys, but I'm beat! Freya will debrief all of us on the flight back, we land, get a shower and hit the rack. Any questions?"

"When do we report problems?" Cub Eight asked. One of her missile racks had locked up and she still had two missiles that wouldn't launch.

"The crew chief will be there when we get out of our cockpits. Make sure those missiles are disarmed and the safety is reset on them before you land, okay? We don't want them to decide to launch while we're trying to land," Tara said.

"Yeah, that would be bad," the tired sounding girl replied. "I already powered them down and reset the safeties on them, but I'll recheck them now."

"You guys did great work out here today; I'm really proud of you," Tara said.

The whole team raggedly, and tiredly said thank you. It was obvious they were exhausted. "Now, just hang in there for a little while longer team, we can get to sleep after we land the ships."

An image of Freya appeared on one on Tara's monitors. "I'm beginning the debrief now, Lieutenant."

"Okay Freya, how'd we do?" Tara asked.

"Remarkably well. There were no issues with the control or interface systems. The two issues reported so far were related to the craft and not the control systems. Your pilots performed very well, with a shot to hit ratio twenty-eight point six percent higher than all our other squadrons. None of your craft were destroyed, which considering the action you've been in today is remarkable in itself." The AI replied.

"Yeah, I'm really proud of them. I thought we were going to lose Eight when her missile rack fritzed-out, but three, five and seven were right there before she could even call for help. These may be just kids, but they had really good instincts," Tara replied.

Freya kept talking to her in this manner and the 'debrief' continued. Finally, Freya smiled at her. "You're heath readings are good, but you should eat before you rest. The Commodore is very proud of your team as well, and has recommended commendations for all your pilots. The tactic you devised for dealing with the transport/escort groups had a eighty-one percent effectiveness rating fleet wide. He has also recommended you for promotion to captain. Congratulations, Lieutenant."

"Thank you Freya," Tara grinned back. While they had been talking, the flight had arrived back at the ship and was circling, waiting for landing clearance. Tara could see battle damage to her port-side and one of the massive landing bays was dark.

"Freya, what happened to the ship?" Tara asked.

"One of the Caldarian battleships took exception to our stopping their troops ships. It looks worse than it is. Only the landing bay took significant damage and that should be repaired shortly. The rest is little more than scorched armor," she replied. "Your flight is next up in the landing pattern. Rest well, Lieutenant."

"Thank you Freya, see you on deck," Tara replied, and switched back to her normal comms. "Okay Cubs, combat carrier landing protocol. Let's show these old folks how to make a landing!"

The computers must have realized how tired the kids were and gave them something, because they all sounded much more alert when they answered her this time.

"
Tiamat
flight control, this is Silver Knights Mama Bear, requesting landing clearance," Tara called.

"Silver Knights, cleared for approach starboard-side aft landing port. Call the order,"
Tiamat
control replied.

"Cub Eleven's up first, reverse order for landing," Tara replied.

Her kids got in line for landing, handled it like professionals. Only four of them were left to land when there was a problem.

"
Tiamat
Control, this is Condor Seven-seven declaring an emergency! We have heavy damage to our engines and flight assist is off-line. We're coming in hot! Request medical meet us once we're down!"

"Mama Bear, clear the pattern! Escort Condor Seven-seven in!" Flight control ordered. "Condor Seven-seven who hurt?"

"Commander Ralston took shrapnel damage when we were hit. Our autodoc is off-line and power is failing, we're running on the armor right now."

Tara, Ashley and the two remaining fighters of her small squadron raced out to try and help the stricken craft back to the ship.

"Condor Seven-seven, this is Mama Bear of the Silver Knights. We're right here with you," Tara called. She moved in close to get a visual on the damage. It wasn't good.

"Condor Seven-seven, can you patch the commander's suit?" Tara asked.

"We're working on it. We're not going to make it are we?" the woman asked.

"No, your landing gear are gone and there's no armor under your engines. My sensors tell me you have a mine attached as well. They're using you as a bomb to get to the ship," Tara replied.

"Damn." The woman said. "I was afraid of that. We felt a second impact, but when it didn't blow us up, we thought it's been a dud."

"Sorry, Seven-seven. We'll stay with you until ESAR gets here. Control did you monitor all that?" Tara asked.

"Yes we did. ESAR has been launched. Condor Seven-seven you are ordered to set your self-destruct and bail out," Control replied. "Good luck,"

Tara and her four fighters stayed with the three crew members from the doomed condor until the rescue ship arrived. They followed the rescue ship back to the carrier and finished their landing. Tara and the three other pilots had to go through another, shorter debrief, and it was then they found out the commander had died from his wounds.

The four pilots ate a quiet meal together, with the young pilot's parents before bidding Tara good night and going to bed in the bunk room.

While they had been fighting the Caldarians, the Imperial forces had arrived and the entire sector was now engaged in battle. Tara had all but forgotten everything but her little corner of the war. The good news was that the Empire had destroyed the remaining Caldarian capitol ships, and had been held back from getting close to the civilian settlements, although Mars was now in danger.