Wings of Steele - Destination Unknown (Book 1) (53 page)

"You
got it, Commander!" He ran off in its general direction and
grabbed
another mechanic on the way.

Paul
sprinted to his fighter and went up the ladder one handed,
still
holding his helmet. "So far you're still on hold, sir,"
his Chief informed him.

"That's
Ok, Chief," said Paul, "I got a feeling..." He
flipped on his
comm
unit ahead of schedule. "Tower?"

"Tower,
go ahead."

"Find
Lieutenant Commander Brighton and Lieutenant Carter. Advise them
to
prep, there's a shuttle being readied for emergency recovery."
The tower acknowledged. He pulled on his gloves and began going
through his pre-flight by memory while the Chief strapped him in.
"Mike, you ready?"

"Ready,
Pappy." Mike pulled the canopy lever and the perspex bubble
began
to drop, all his systems were on.

Paul
glanced at the mechanic as he descended the ladder. "Thanks,
Chief."
He pulled the canopy lever.

"Good
luck!" shouted the Chief as the canopy closed. Pappy waved.

"Tower,
we're ready for launch."

"Right.
Stand by, Leader Two."

■ ■ ■

Ahead,
Jack could see the soft glow of Maria's engines on low power
as
she coasted closer to the field of debris. His scanner picked up
intermittent sources of power, but the drifting debris kept
interfering with the computer's ability to make an identification.
Jack thought he could make out the silhouette of a sizable hull
amidst the wreckage. "You get anything yet, Bird Two?"

"Not
on the computer, but I've seen them twice... I think." She knew
the
dot behind her on the scope was Jack approaching. "Glad you're
here, I was beginning to get a little lonely."

Jack
pulled the throttle all the way back and coasted, firing a
short
burst on his braking jets. "So what were they?"

"Well
it was hard to tell, they were kinda far off..." She could
see
the other Warthog sliding up even with hers about a hundred yards
off her starboard wing. She felt better. "One sort of looked
like maybe a shuttle, the other... I don't know." She shook her
head, "Like an egg?"

■ ■ ■

"Pass
the salt will ya'?" Derrik slid the shaker across the galley
table
to Brian. "Thanks." He sprinkled it liberally across his
hash browns. The galley had a few people in it, but it was not the
normal full breakfast crowd.

"What
do you suppose we're on yellow for?" wondered Derrik aloud.

"Probably
asteroids or somethin' like that," answered Brian, sipping
his
juice. The announcement of their names over the paging system caught
him mid-swallow. "Hey!" he said coughing. "That's
us!" They jumped up from the table, upsetting glasses and
plates of food. "Sorry!" Yelled Brian over his shoulder as
the two pilots hustled out. They jogged down the corridor towards
the elevators to the flight bay.

“
All
hands to battle stations! All hands to battle stations!”

The
screaming alarm horn sounded red alert as the corridors were
bathed
in red flashing light. Without hesitation, the two pilots broke out
into an all-out run. Brian, a little faster than Derrik, collided
twice with other crew members heading for their own battle stations.

■ ■ ■

There
were four pirate light fighters and an armed shuttle. A
split
second before they emerged, Jack's computer grabbed recognition and
the identity screen flashed a picture of it in red. An enemy. They
roughly looked like slightly flattened eggs with forward canted
wings. Their guns were mounted on the wingtips. It was a practiced
pirate tactic, to use debris as cover and draw prey into an ambush.
The Fallken fighters charged from the field of debris like angry
hornets, firing wildly as they advanced.

"Break!
Break!" yelled Jack. He slammed the throttle forward and
rolled
right. Maria rolled left. Jack felt the fighter buck as laser shots
hit his shields. "Leader to tower, launch fighters! Launch
fighters!"

"We're
on our way Leader One!" came the reply.

Jack
threw the Warthog into a corkscrew from the roll and tried to
lead
the last fighter as it passed. He squeezed the trigger and heard the
rapid thump-thump-thump of the single Mercury Gatling gun and the
high pulsing whistle of the twin Laser cannons. Red and silver
streaks raced from the nose of the Warthog but passed behind the
speeding Fallken. He'd allowed too short of a lead. The fighter
passed untouched. "Shit."

“
Jaaaack!"
Maria was zig-zagging violently but couldn't shake two
of
the nimble fighters who had latched onto her tail.

"Hold
on!" He thumbed the boost button and looped tightly back the
way
he came. A pair of crimson streaks flashed close across his bow. He
ignored them. "Almost there..." he reassured her. Still a
little too far to be accurate, he fired once to get their attention.
It struck the first fighter. The two pilots hesitated just long
enough... "Break right!" They were slow in responding to
Maria's evasion and Jack held down the trigger. He watched the red
and silver streaks pound on the rear pirate fighter, decimating its
shields and tearing into its plating.

Feeling
the kick as a Fallken fired at his tail from point blank
range,
Jack broke off, easing back on the stick and cutting throttle. The
other fighter shot by below him. "Hurry up, Pappy!"

"Right
behind you, Jack!" A Warthog screamed by Jack's right wing at
full
throttle, guns blazing. The Fallken Jack had damaged, disappeared in
a hot white flash and a spray of debris. "Freedom one, Pirates
zero!" claimed Paul, as he winged over and swung right.

Jack
nosed down and rammed the throttle open in hot pursuit of the
pirate
who had knocked on his back door. He thumbed the boost button but
the pirate was still pulling away. "Damn..." Hearing a
lock tone, he thumbed off the safety and fired a missile. "Outrun
that, shithead..."

"Get
this son-of-a-bitch off me!" screamed Maria. She couldn't shake
the
other fighter.

"Relax,"
said Mike, "I'm right here..." He squeezed the trigger, a
long,
steady burst. "Guns, guns, guns," he announced. The pirate
broke off but never finished his turn. Mike had throttled back and
stayed with him. The Fallken blew in half, spinning slowly outwards.
"Gotcha!"

Jack
closed on his prey as it spun out of control from the missile
hit.
When it finally stopped spinning, the pirate was facing him. The
Fallken, half its shields down, charged, guns firing. Jack throttled
back and squeezed the trigger, holding it down. The pirate was
unsteady and firing wildly. He only hit Jack's Warthog twice, barely
enough to affect its hefty forward shields before his own shields
disappeared. Breaking off, the pirate nosed his fighter down to
avoid destruction as a stream of charged Mercury balls from Jack's
Gatling gun, smashed through his canopy and exploded in his cockpit.
Jack did a wing-over and let the Fallken with the crater in its
center, drift away. "Scratch one!"

After
a deep breath, Steele saw a flash in the distance, below him
and
to his left. "Adios, dirtbag!" He recognized Paul's voice.

"Is
that all of them?" Jack had lost track.

"No,"
answered Maria, "I could use a hand with this shuttle..."
She
was
having a hard time getting a clear shot. The rear gunner was taking
pot shots at her and she was weaving back and forth to avoid being
hit.

She
was all the way on the other side of the debris field and the
only
one in range of the fleeing pirate. "Back off a bit,"
coached Paul. "Lay off your guns and let your shields recharge.
Hit him with a missile
then
close in and finish him off."

In
all the excitement, she'd forgotten the missiles. "Right!"
She
pulled
back hard and reduced power, getting a missile lock a heartbeat
later. She thumbed off the safety and fired one, paused, then fired
another one. She jinked to avoid the rear gunner's fire but it was
easier from a distance. She didn't have to do it again. Two thirds
of the craft disappeared in a double yellow flash.
"Adios,
pendejo,
"
she sneered.

"Good
shot'!" Maria could hear the three men
cheering
her on across the comm as they rounded the debris field.

"Where
do you suppose these jokers came from, Pappy?"

"I
don't know, Mad Dog..."

"When
you get to this side you'll see it," advised Maria. "It's
almost
at the edge of my sensor range."

"How
big?" asked Jack.

"About
the same size as the Freedom, I guess," she answered.

When
the Warthogs regrouped, it was still there. "Let's see if they
want
to play," said Paul. He switched to long range frequency as the
four fighters coasted wingtip to wingtip toward the distant ship.
Paul used his best authoritative voice, "Unidentified ship...
this is Squadron Leader Paul Smiley, of the UFW strike-carrier
Freedom. What are your intentions? Do you wish to engage?" The
ship quickly moved out of their sensor range without replying. "I
didn't think so," added Paul.

"Think
we should see if they're really leaving?" Jack didn't want
to
take any chances.

Paul
switched back to a local frequency. "Nah. They'll go lick
their
wounds after a sound beating like that. The Freedom's behind us,
outside their sensor range. They won't be curious enough to come
back and check."

It
made sense to Jack. "Then let's go see what they were after."

■ ■ ■

The
pilots carefully maneuvered through the drifting debris to its
center.
It was a large ship but so damaged it was difficult to determine
what kind. They could find no markings or identification on it.
"Think it's worth doing a walk through?" asked Mike.

Jack
looked over at Paul. At about thirty feet away, Jack could
see
his face clearly through the canopy perspex. "As long as you're
sure they won't be back."

Paul
shook his head. "I wouldn't. Not if I thought I had to face
a
carrier."

Jack
nodded and smiled. "Pretty slick."

"Hey,"
called Maria, "I've got bingo fuel!"

Jack
quickly checked his, he was half full. "You must have a leak,
we'd
better head back." Jack advised the tower and the four fighters
started back to the Freedom in formation. Halfway there, Maria
reported flame-out on her port engine. "Shut it down,"
advised Jack. She lifted the safety cover and toggled off its power.

With
gear down and anti-grav on, Maria's starboard engine began
to
sputter on final approach. "Uh oh..."

"What's
uh oh?" asked Jack.

"Zero
fuel," responded Maria.

"That's
Ok, Lieutenant," said the tower, "you're lined up, just
shut
it
down and coast in." She acknowledged and toggled off the power
for the starboard engine. Jack throttled down and cut off his
engines to stay even with her.

As
instructed by the tower, Jack applied breaking jets as he neared
the
stern of the Freedom. Maria's fighter passed him by. "Uh oh..."

"What
uh oh?!" shouted Jack.

"No
brakes." said Maria calmly.

The
man in the flight tower sprang to his feet and slammed his hand
down
on a large red button on his console, sounding an alarm. "Crash
crews! Crash crews!" Huge snag nets dropped from the ceiling of
the flight bay and stretched across the landing strip. "Shut
down everything but your anti-grav and comm," he told Maria.
She complied.