Everyday Heroes

Christopher S. Case

1/27/06

One single mistake will get me killed. As Alpha Four ducked behind the relative safety of the Terran destroyer, he almost laughed. Here he was, six other pilots trying to kill him, taking cover behind a Terran destroyer. The really absurd thing was, he felt more secure. After all, it was much harder to hit a moving fighter with a fixed turret, then it was to hit a moving fighter with another moving fighter.

Pulling back on the stick, Alpha Four yawned. With complete ease, he fired, spraying the lead Terran fighter. The front of the fighter exploded, but to his disappointment, it wasn't completely destroyed, merely damaged. He frowned. He knew that so long as a Terran fighter could shoot, the pilot would continue to fight. Alpha Four hated stubborn pilots, especially since he himself was one.

Moving in even closer to the Terran destroyer, he realized that somewhere, deep down, he must be rather insane. Shrugging it off, he focused on his task at hand. If he pulled this off, he might just give the Archigos the advantage it needed to put the destroyer down. Flying mere meters from the destroyer's hull, he dodged the turret fire, and most of the fire coming from the fighters. Much to his delight, they were stupid enough to follow him on this headlong plunge towards death, or something equally unpleasant. Smiling, he knew he'd read these pilots right. By and large pilots were a prideful group, and these Terrans were no exception. They wanted to prove they were better than he was. So be it. They'd die trying.

Alpha Four waited until the timing was perfect. One of the turrets was tracking him, and the fighters were just the right distance away. Heading past the turret, Alpha Four pulled a hard circle right around the turret. Neither the operator of the turret or the fighters expected it. What's more, as he turned, he rolled his fighter so that coming out of the turn, his nose was pointed right down the turret's barrel. He fired everything he had, turning the turret into a pile of slag in a fraction of a second. Then, without hesitating, Alpha Four rolled his fighter one last time, and fired again. Five of the six fighters deformed, and then exploded. Large chucks flew into the hull of the destroyer, causing even more explosions. Now, there was only one thing left to do.

The fighter that Alpha Four had damaged earlier had stayed out of the initial action. Alpha Four wasn't about to forget about him. Admittedly he'd been showing off up till now, but Alpha Four saw absolutely no reason not to continue the trend. Matching course with the Terran, Alpha Four slowly inches closer to him. The Terran tried to loose him, but Alpha four kept right on him. Alpha Four realized that the slightest mistake he made would cause the two ships to collide at rather insane speeds, vaporizing them both. He didn't care.

With a whoop of glory, Alpha Four slid the Terran fighter in between the small slit of his own fighter's wings. The Terran's engines blasted the cockpit, but Alpha Four didn't care much. With extreme skill, he moved the linked fighters towards the back of the destroyer. The plan was to line both ships up with the rear of the destroyer, and then hit reverse, freeing the Terran fighter, and launching him right into the destroyer's engines. Unfortunately, it didn't happen that way. Alpha Four heard the warning tone of his proximity indicator right before all lights in the cockpit went dark, along with his windshields. Before he could brace himself, the lid of the simulator opened, and the harsh blinding white light of the briefing room assaulted his eyes.

“And there we have it, the demise of our favorite pilot, Duncan Kashmier. He will be missed, truly.” Alpha Four's squadron leader was nothing but smiles as he helped Alpha Four out of the simulator.

“Mind telling me what that was that it hit me with?” Duncan's eyes were slowly adjusting. He could see the rest of the squadron sitting in the bleacher style seats of the briefing room. Some were laughing, others were trying to hide it by looking serious.

“Well, you'd just come into range of a highly advanced, recently developed Terran Super Weapon. They call it, 'the subspace drive'.”

“Oh, now I really feel awful. I was killed by something as commonplace as a star ship's subspace drive. What idiot in his right mind would use a subspace drive as a weapon?”

“Any good captain, about to have a fighter disable his ion engines.”

“And what in the universe would you know about good captains?” Duncan glared at his squadron commander. “I still say I had him right were I wanted him.

David laughed, looking as his XO. “Duncan, I think I knew more about 'good captains' than you ever will. About the only thing you're good at is teaching the rest of the squadron which mistakes not to make.”

Duncan looked indignant. “I'm also very good at keeping the tech crew busy. Remember when I broke my leg, and couldn't fly? They got so bored, they decided to rebuild the entire squadron's targeting systems. We couldn't shoot straight for a month.” Chuckles circulated around the room.

“Alright, I'll give you that one too. Now, if you don't mind, please, sit down.”

Duncan made his way into the bleacher seats. He sat down on the opposite side of the room from his best friend, Shelly Zubar. She was smart, nearly a witty as he was, and completely and utterly impossible to sit next to in a briefing. Somehow she had the uncanny ability to get him into trouble without ever being implicated. He was appointed the XO of Aesir Squadron on the soul condition that he never sat next to her in a briefing.

“Ok, some of you might be wondering why I had our resident sacrificial lamb in the simulator when you all got here. We've got some new blood, and I don't expect they know how we run things here. I figured starting you off with a nice demonstration of the skill level you'll be dealing with on this ship would help make you feel pretty uncomfortable. Hope it worked.” A couple of the new pilots shifted uneasily in their chairs. Duncan marveled at how well David could read people. It was very uncanny. He knew just the right things to say and to do to get the desired responses. He also knew which responses would drive people to better themselves, without pushing them over the edge and making them a danger to themselves, and their squadron.

“Now, listen up. The Archigos just got her marching orders, and so did we. This current mission is classified 'Top Secret, Most Urgent'. As most of you know, things haven't been going to well for us in the Rhinedale system. This may be new to you, but things are much worse than we've wanted to admit. We need a swift victory in that system, or the six million colonist in that system are as good as dead.

“Currently, we've got two dreadnoughts in route to the system. The problem is, the Terrans are shooting up anything, and everything they get their hands on. If someone doesn't stop them soon, there'll be no point. So, Fleet Command decided that it's up to the Archigos to hold the Terrans off till the dreadnoughts arrive. Once they're here, we'll be in charge of babysitting some cargo transports, and a few other minor mission.

“If I don't miss my guess, you all were up late last night introducing yourselves to the newbies. In light of that fact, and the more important fact that I've not gotten breakfast yet, you're all dismissed. Have fun, and get some sleep. Chances are we're going to be hitting vacuum sometime around midnight. I want everyone well rested by then.” David gave them a nod, and then yawned, telling Duncan he'd been up with his own kind of introductions last night.

Giving David a knowing look, Duncan made his way over to Shelly, who took his arm without it even being offered. They walked on in silence, and Duncan felt some anticipation. There were three reasons Shelly would every be quit after a briefing like that. Either she wanted to talk about 'them', which usually involved an intense night of arguing, followed by a very intense night of making up. The other two were even less pleasant. She either was sick, and would be in a bad mood the instant he lacked the proper tact required for his usual witty comments, or she was trying to keep him occupied while she lead him into the middle of her latest practical joke. If it was the last one, then there would be a good laugh, admittedly, at his expense. But at least there would be a laugh.

“Dun, how much have I ever told you about my family?” Shelly didn't bother to look into his eyes, and Duncan felt pretty sure he knew where this was going.

“Well, from what I know of your father, he very well could be the reincarnation of Elvis Presley. However, I do know quite a bit about your mother and your sister. “

“Elvis? Where do you get this stuff?” She laughed, and it put Duncan a little more at ease.

“So, was I even close about your father?”

Shelly stopped laughing, and looked at the floor. They walked on in silence. Duncan noticed they were nearing her quarters, which she shared with another one of the Aesir pilots. “Duncan, what are we?”

Duncan almost sighed. He knew this was where things were going. “Well, I heard a rumor that we're pilots. I'm not quite sure though. We could be circus midgets, and everyone's been lying to us for years.”

Shelly didn't even crack a smile. “No, I mean to each other.” She paused for a second as if listening to what she'd just said. “I don't mean relationship wise. We've never been able to figure that out, and one of these days we're going to have to figure that out, but personally, I'm happy knowing I you will hold me whenever I need it. No, I mean on a more basic level. Strip away all the titles, all the social nuances. Who am I to you?”

Duncan took a second to respond. He wasn't going to throw out another witty remark; he knew that it was no longer time for those. “Well, you're my best friend. I guess I love you, but even I don't know what that means for me. I know I love you like a best friend, and in many ways, like a sister. But I love you even more. I don't know what I'd do if I ever lost you. Go crazy, I guess.”

“Good. I feel the same way about you, but with one exception. I know I love you enough to spend my life with you. I also love you enough to respect your feelings, and accept what you decide you want in your life.” She paused again, and looked into his eyes. “Duncan, my family lives on Rhinedale. My mother, my two sisters.. everyone I know about, and everyone I care about lives there.”

“I see. You're worried about everyone you love.”

“No, you don't see.” Her voice was harsh, and Duncan could tell she regretted speaking that harshly. “My... my father also lives on Rhinedale. He's the governor. I hate my father, Duncan. My mother was nothing more than a fling for him. She loved him, though, and kept coming back whenever he would get lonely. He never married her, and he never gave a shit about us. He's married to some high class snob, and has three kids by her as well.

“We've never had much money, and I had to get used to doing without. About the only thing I ever wanted was to be a pilot. When I turned seventeen, my mother approached my father. She demanded he get me pilot lessons. If he didn't, she'd go public with some rather embarrassing information that would force him to step down as governor. In his best diplomatic voice, he agreed. Latter that week, we found out that he was forming a new squadron of fighter pilots for the planetary militia. He hand picked eleven of the most skilled pilots on the planet, and me.

“His whole idea was to throw me into this squadron full of experienced pilots, and watch me fail. He figured after a few weeks, he'd declare me unfit as a pilot, and that would be the end of this nonsense. The whole thing was a temporary thing to him. For me, it was the scariest experience of my life. I knew of most of these pilots, and here I'd never even been in the cockpit of a fighter before. I was terrified.

“Luckily, one of the pilots decided to take me under his wing. He introduced himself as Byron, and told me that he's look out for me. Before our first deployment, he took me aside, and taught me the basics, so I could at least get off the ground. He gave me a special channel we could talk on, so he could tell me what to do. What I didn't know at the time was that he was a good friend of my mother's and had been helping support my family for years. He was the reason my family had anything at all.” She paused, and Duncan could tell she was trying to hold back tears. He waited while she continued.

“Well, I did pretty ok for someone who'd never flown before. A month into it, and my father was beginning to realize I wasn't going to give him a reason to kick me out of the squadron. So, he figured he'd have to get more underhanded. He called me into his office out of the blue. He told me that he was sorry for the way he'd treated me, and that he wanted to give me a gift, to show how proud he was of what I'd done. He handed me the key-card for my fighter, and about six hundred dollars in cash. I was stunned. He told me that now I could go practice on my own, and he encouraged me to do so.

“As I'm sure you can imagine, I was giddy when I got out of there. The first thing I did was to go to Byron, and to ask him to go flying with me. The look on his face when I explained what my father had done ripped my excitement away. He told me to give him the money, and the key-card. He went and looked into the records of ownership for the fighters. What he found was that my father had sold all the fighters to their pilots, except mine. Now, Byron knew for sure he didn't have the money to buy anything as expensive as a fighter. Apparently his nephew is a very good hacker, and Byron had him look into it even more. Apparently the cost for the fighters was transferred into each pilot's accounts before being withdrawn when the sale took place. In order to keep the automatic bookkeepers from flagging the transaction, he sold the fighters for twenty dollars more than he deposited into each pilot's account. Bryon had his nephew hack into my father's accounting firm, and leave instructions to sell me my fighter in the same manner. Then, after it was done, Bryon collected me, and told me to bring a many things as would fit into the cockpit of my fighter, and to say goodbye to my sisters and mother.

“I was sacred, and I didn't know what to do. Byron told me that he believed my father would try to arrest me when I took off in my fighter, but that he'd taken care of everything. He explained about his nephew, and what he'd done. Then, he told me about a friend he had, and gave me subspace coordinates that would take me to his friend. I didn't know it at the time, but his friend was Admiral Case. Anyway, sure enough, when Byron and I lifted off to go for a nice practice session, the rest of the squadron lifted off to, with orders to detain, and arrest me for theft. Byron intercepted them, and informed them that I owned the fighter, and that there was no grounds for arresting me. While they were checking his claims, and discovering the sale, he contacted me on our private channel. All he said was, 'Goodbye. Say hello to Mac for me.' I entered subspace, leaving everything I'd ever known, or loved behind me.

“Admiral Case was very kind, and got me into the pilot program. He even let me keep my fighter. That's why I never gave it to the League, not even 'in trust' like most pilots who own their own fighters do. I buy all my parts for it with my pay, and I try to keep it in the best condition possible. So, now you know why I don't want to go to Rhinedale.”

Duncan was stunned. He had no idea what to say. Luckily, words weren't required of him. Shelly got up, and moved over to where he was sitting. He put his arms around her, and pulled her onto his lap. They sat there for the next several hours, while she cried.

O o O

Feeling the smooth handle of his flight stick in his right hand, Duncan relaxed. He was in his element. No emotions to worry about, no people to impress. It was just him, his squadron, and the rest of the universe. He understood what he needed to do, and he understood the rules of the game. Outside his cockpit he felt clumsy, inelegant. He was just muddling through till he could climb back into his cockpit, and be in control again.

Man, I really need to cut the chatter in my brain. Laughing, he ran through his preflight check with experience swiftness. A quick glance at his sensors told him that he was the first one done with preflight. Even David was being slow. After another minute, Duncan saw that everyone had finished. Three minutes, five seconds. David's not going to be happy about that. Duncan shook his head, knowing David would put them all through preflight drills to get them under three minutes. He prided himself at how quickly his squadron could launch in an emergency, still with full preflight checks. There were times Duncan though David was expecting too much from the rest of the squad, but somehow, everything always seemed to fall into place when it needed too.

“Alpha leader to Alpha Squad. We're going to be launching in forty five seconds. Once clear, we're to form up five kilometers from the ship. We'll be joining up with Beta Squad, before heading to our objective. Triple check your nav points with the main computer. Oh, first one to kill a Terran buys the drinks.”

Duncan leaned back, as he felt his ship accelerate. He loved the feeling of getting pushed into his seat, as his fighter screaming out of the fighter bay. He imagined birth was launching in slow motion. In moments, he his vacuum, and suddenly, nothing existed except his fighter, those around him, and the Terran fighters his long range sensors told him were out there. As he let his autopilot fly him to the way point, he check his sensors. Beta Squadron was already waiting. Suddenly, his gut went cold. He was on passive scanning only, and he wasn't overlaying the friendly flight data from Beta Squadron. If his sensors could pick them up, that meant they hadn't launched in active stealth mode. Oh, shit. Shit shit shit shit! “This is Alpha Four to Lead. Beta does not have active stealth engaged. Repeat, Beta did not launch with their active stealth engaged!” Doing quick calculation, Duncan timed the distance to the Terrans on his sensors, and the time since the first launch of Beta Squad. David was also doing those calculations, and can to the same conclusion.

“Alpha, this is Lead. Active sensors, now! Evasive actions! Break into Flights, and engage hostiles!”

Duncan switched his sensors, and dove, as a Terran fighter opened fire. Had the orders come just a few seconds later, he would have been pelted with a rather unpleasant stream of fire. He inverted, waited the fraction of a second it took for his sensors to register a target lock, and opened up on the fighter who's just fired at him. The Terran was most certainly a new pilot, and it was painfully obvious he'd not seen much combat. Most certainly not with a squadron of the Aesirs' skill. Before Duncan could find a second target, the entire Terran squad had been wiped out.

“Alpha Leader to Beta Leader. Any more hostiles inbound?” Duncan could hear the cold anger in David's voice. Duncan made a note to immediately restrain David as soon as they landed. That poor bastard from Beta squadron isn't going to have a chance. Captain Larom will turn a blind eye, and David won't leave much left to protest Duncan shuddered. Once before, he'd seen David angry. It still made him shudder.

“Terrans must not like us, Alpha. We were not engaged.” Duncan cringed at the smug voice of Beta Leader. The two squadrons did little more than compete with each other, and he'd never taken the time to get to know much about their squadron leader. What he did know only confirmed what he heard in the man's voice. He was an arrogant pretty boy pilot.

“Alpha, Beta, this is Captain Larom. Cat's out of the bag, and we've gotta make the best of it. We're accelerating to flank speed. Beta, our course will intercept yours. Wait for us, then form up. Alpha try your best to keep up. We're not waiting. Hold it together out there, boys, we're going to be in the thick of it soon enough.”

“Alpha, this is lead. We're going to have to burn hot in order to catch up. The Archigos might not seem it, but her flank speed is about at the limit of what these fighters can do. Dump everything you've got into your engines, and push your reactors to 150%. For the newbies, if you took damage, and can't maintain that, alert your wingman, and he'll stay with you. We can't afford to wait.”

“Lead, this is six. Reactor's barely holding at 90%. Seven and twelve both have taken damage, and six lost his com. Three flight won't be able to match that pace.”

“Roger six. Two flight, status?”

Duncan checked in with the other three fighters in his flight. Eight had taken a direct hit to the engines, and was burning hot just to keep up already. Everyone else was in pretty good condition.

“Eight took an engine hit. Everyone else is ok. Recommend we skip the burn, lead.”

“Four, standby.” Duncan knew David was working out a plan. If Duncan had to guess, it would involve a subspace jump.

“Alpha Flight to Archigos. We've taken too much damage to catch up. We're going to do an inter system jump right into the middle of things. Recommend you get there as soon as possible.”

“Alpha, understood. We're leaving Beta behind, and going to 120%. See you there in seven.”

“Alpha, lead. Enter subspace on my mark. Everyone check your wingman, and make sure he follows you in.”

Duncan jumped, and then waited for the rest of his flight to follow suit. Shelly was right with him, as a good wingman should be. Eight had some trouble, and his reactor was running much hotter than he should, but he seemed to be holding to together very well for a new guy. Duncan made a note to buy that guy a drink. As soon as the entire squadron had made it to subspace, David started to move out. It was a short jump, and David was being very precise. He waited for everyone to be in the positions he assigned, and then ordered the jump back to normal space.

All around him, Terran ships bobbed, and jerked around. The exit had done them no favors, throwing enough of a gravity backwash to jostle even the larger capital ships they had jumped out in between. There was only a small window where the squadron would have clear shots at any of the fighters before the capital ships opened up on them. Duncan was most certainly going to take advantage of it. Checking his status display, he notice that the jump had shorted out two of his main cannons. He only had his two Arclight Plasma cannons. That was fine with him, but he was pretty sure his reactor would have much preferred the energy saving q-laser cannons. A few other systems had been shorted out by the jump, but he figured that was what he got for exiting so close to a group of large masses. Damn that graviton shear.

Picking the nearest fighter, Duncan opened fire. So did the rest of the squadron. In moments, they had damaged or destroyed at least another squadrons' worth of fighters. Duncan checked his countdown timer, and saw that the Archigos was still five minutes away, It might as well have been five hours away for how much it helped. Cringing as his fighter took some turret fire, Duncan forced himself back into the game.

“Three, you take point. Eight, Nine, tighten up. We're going around the back end of that destroyer.” Falling in behind Shelly, Duncan almost envied how precisely she handled her fighter. Not a single motion was wasted. That was why Duncan had told her to take lead; they were going around the back of the destroyer, dangerously close to the engines. Too close, and the engine wash would fry half their systems, too far away, and the other fighters would see them coming, and they would loose their advantage. Skip the engines all together, and the destroyer's turrets would have a clear shot. Having Shelly lead increased their chances of being in the perfect position by about two fold.

Pulling in close to the destroyer, three flight hit their afterburners. Duncan felt the acceleration and smiled. A quick glance at his sensors told him that the rest of the squadron was doing ok. Rocketing out from behind the destroyer, three flight decimated most of the Terran flight. The flight leader, however, had been moving to help another flight of fighters that were covering the top of the destroyer. First flight was currently engaging them. The Terran pilot turned around and almost immediately launched two missiles. There was no way he could have gotten a lock, but Duncan knew that they might acquire one in the short seconds before they were on top of his flight.

“Two flight, passive sensors! Incoming missiles! Evade!” Duncan dove, and Shelly followed him a fraction of a second latter. Diving under the destroyer, Duncan almost slammed into a flight of Terrans that were coming up from under the bottom of the destroyer. Dodging out of the way left his fighter open to fire from the destroyer, which took full advantage of it. As the displays on his HUD flickered, Duncan knew he had about two seconds to get out of the cross hairs of the destroyer's turrets before he was nothing more than fast moving slag. As much as the mental image was funny, he had no real desire to see it turned into reality. Jerking his ship to the left and down, he cursed the sluggish controls. An explosion on the surface of the cruiser made him aware of the two missiles Shelly had launched at the turret moments before. He made a note to thank her properly once they got back to the Archigos.

“Four, this is three, you ok?”

“Three, four. I don't know how much of a fighter I've got left. It still moves, so I guess I'm good.” Duncan wanted to punch his mostly dead console.

“Four, I'm reading a complete shutdown in most of your electrical system. Seems like your emergency shutoff got shorted by EMP. Try a restart.”

Duncan tried to point his ship more or less away from the battle. He only had a handful of seconds to restore some sort of power before the Terrans he almost ran into would return. Pressing the reactor restart switch, he sighed as nothing happened. Glancing over the entire console, he notice that his on board computer was still online. On a bet, he did a full systems restart. It would take a good twenty seconds for everything to start up again, but it really was his only chance. Looking out his cockpit window, he noticed the Terrans were on a return vector. The rest of Two flight was behind them, with Shelly covering him as his fighter tried to return to life.

With a satisfying beep, Duncan's fighter came back to life. On his HUD was a prompt asking him for his encryption key. Cursing, he realized his fighter had lost all it's data. Pulling out the miniature keyboard stored in his console, and entered in his personal encryption key. With it, the fighter would contact the rest of the League fighters, and download all the missing navigation, and targeting data he needed. I love modern technology!

As soon as his fighter accepted the key, he hit his after burners. Looping back around, he took out the nearest Terran, this time avoiding the turret fire from the destroyer. “Two Flight, thanks for covering me. Status?”

“Three, lost plasma cannons, and subspace drive.”

“Eight, running hot, felling like I'm sitting on a roman candle.”

“Nine, lost subspace, lost missiles, lost plasma, lost afterburners, hell about the only thing I've got is comm, and q-lasers, which are locked in long range mode.” Duncan wanted very much to punch something. Nine was as good as dead, unless something miraculous happened. From the sound of the man's voice, he knew it too.

“Alright, I want everyone to pay special attention to Nine. Form up on me, and let's move away from the–“ Duncan was cut off by the sound of a missile lock. Hitting his afterburners he broke the lock quickly. Looking back, time seemed to slow down. Duncan could see the missiles heading straight for Nine. There was nothing he could do. Nine's fighter exploded, and then time caught up with Duncan.

“Evasive actions! Terran flight coming in two o'clock low.”

Duncan moved his fighter toward the incoming Terrans. The voice who had called out the warning had been David's. That meant that One flight had finished with their fighters, and were on their way to help Three flight. Too little, too late.

“Alpha, this is lead. Form up. We're not going to last much longer against these fighters unless we take out some of their support. We're going for one of the destroyers.”

Duncan moved his fighter in behind David's. One flight was still intact, although barely. Three flight, which was using their afterburners to catch up was light two ships. Duncan cursed. People had died. Damn Beta! Damn them!

Leading the squadron around the rear of the cruisers, Duncan noticed the ferocity with which David was attacking any fighters that darted across his path. Checking his mission clock, he realized that the Archigos should have been there three minutes ago. Something had gone wrong. The sensors weren't showing the ship at all. Aesir Squadron was on their own. Before Duncan could think about that, he heard a song start up over the squadron channel. Smiling, Duncan appreciated David's taste. It was a favorite of Duncan's, and at least six hundred years old. “...the shit's loaded and they're ready to go...” Banking his fighter, Duncan hit his afterburners. David was taking them right at the side of the destroyer. With enough concentrated firepower, it was possible they just might be able to burn through to the reactor, and take the thing out. It was risky, but they didn't have much to lose. “...one hundred more, another same sound running them off of the machine that you know...”

Switching off his active sensors, Duncan armed his missiles, and over charged his plasma cannons. David fired first, and the rest of the squadron followed. The volley of concentrated weapons fire buckled the hull of the destroyer, and must have blown through at least three decks. It was a start. Half the squadron dove under the destroyer, while the other half buzzed the top. “...all searching for the answers they don't even care to know...” As the squadron reformed on the other side of the destroyer, Duncan's sensors registered a massive energy discharge. Knowing they couldn't have hit the destroyer that hard, he looked back, to see a hole in the middle of the destroyer forming. A lethal beam of plasma, large enough to easily engulf his fighter, broke through, striking the rear of the other destroyer. “...as it's blown apart, hundreds throw away...” Taking advantage of the sudden confusion, Duncan emptied half his missile payload into the newly exposed innards of the destroyer. Most of the squadron followed suit. “...brothers throw apart, mindless drones enslaved...”

“Archigos to Alpha. Get away from that destroyer. Beta's carrying heavier ordinance, and will finish it off. You've done good work. Fall back, and engage any ships trying to leave the area. You've done enough out there. We'll handle the rest of them. Be aware, a League controlled Terran Cruiser is coming in in about three minutes. Do not engage.”

Duncan relaxed, and listened to the end of the song that was still playing over the comm channel. “...Brothers throw apart, mindless drones enslaved. Makes me search for an answer, I don't want to know...” The remaining members of the squadron pulled back from the fight, and followed David to the fall back point. Duncan wasn't happy, but he'd learned quite early on that it did no good to feed that anger. Instead, he was going to take this chance to relax for what it was; a break from the fighting. Switching over to the channel the squadron reserved for casual chatter, Duncan noticed David was continuing to play music. He was sticking with a theme, and Duncan found it fit his mood perfectly.

“Lead, this is nine. Is it me, or was this whole mission a load of crap?”

“Nine, you don't want my opinions on that. Let's just say that I don't trust my targeting computer.”

“Lead, three here. You don't think someone's changed teams, do you?”

“Three, I'm not thinking anything. All I do know is that Four should not have been the first person to notice the lack of stealth. Why didn't the Archigos notice it? Why didn't someone in Beta notice it? From my count, at least twenty people had to drop the ball on this one. If that doesn't smell of a conspiracy, I don't know what does.”

“Lead, nine. No, only two people needed to drop the ball, not twenty.”

“Nine, explain.”

“Well, lead, before Starfighter Command, I was in Intelligence. Also, my family's been building and repairing fighters for generations. All the way back to earth. Something I've always been good at is sabotage. It was something I was trained in, and sort of a hobby of mine. I learned a little trick a few years ago. It's possible, with access to standard maintenance equipment, to lock a fighter into 'simulator mode'. It's useful for people who want to test systems, without powering them up. It makes for a very easy way to ground an entire squadron while you make a get away.”

“Nine, four. I know what you're talking about, I've done it once or twice. I also know that with the proper clearance, you can do it per system.” Duncan didn't like where this was going.

“Exactly. Lead, there is only one person who could have locked the stealth systems. That's the squadron commander. As I'm sure you know, you have access code to all the fighters. Only you have all the codes.”

“That gives us person one. Who's number too?”

“Ops officer. He'd be the one person able to lock out the sensor feeds to all the other stations. He could do it without anyone noticing either.”

“All right. So that means we've got two people who could possibly have ruined the mission. Any thoughts?”

Duncan smiled. “Lead, four. My only thoughts can be expressed best by the three foot steel friend I always carry with me.

“Four, There are days I'm glad you carry that thing with you. Anyone else got any thoughts?”

“Lead, Nine. Only one thought. Turn up that music.”

“Roger that Nine.”

O o O

Duncan's fighter wasn't even fully powered down yet, and he was already out of his cockpit, and heading towards David. The look on his squadron commander's face was almost indescribable. There was a lack of any obvious emotion, but the features were set in a grim sort of determined challenge. His eyes were a hard, cold blue. As he pulled on his uniform jacket, Duncan noticed the glint of steel, quickly hidden by the jacket.

“Ok, so who are we going to kill first?”

David looked at Duncan, making him wish he hadn't spoken. “We'll be asking that question soon enough. First, we need to figure out just how much shit we're in.”

“Sir, I think I can answer that.” The pilot of Aesir Nine was just climbing out of his fighter. Duncan saw the man was small and wiry, but the way he moved spoked of a life time of physical training. He expected no less from a former blackop. “Give me a second while I grab something.” To Duncan's surprise, and slight amusement, the man walked around to a maintenance hatch on his fighter. Out of it he pulled a large EMP shielded assault rifle, several power packs, a backpack, and a standard issue field operative uniform.

“You sure come prepared. Seth, wasn't it?”

“Yes, sir. You never know when you might need some of these goodies.”

“True. Now, you mentioned something about knowing how bad off we are?”

“Well, Terran Intelligence is woefully predictable. They always operate in threes. Operative One is the obvious traitor. He's the one who pulls the trigger, and starts the ball rolling. Operative Two is the undercover operative who will be reveled when it's convenient. They will be in a position of power, and be the guy who's been stationed here the longest. People are convinced that there needs to be some sort of support base for traitors, and this guy provides the 'sleeper' everyone will be looking for. The Third operative is the real sleeper. His entire goal is to remain undetected. He might aid the current operation, but his obligation is to remain hidden. If the operation fails, he cleans up the mess. The other two operatives don't know who he is, but they always know he's there.”

“Great. Now we've got three Terrans to deal with.” Duncan shook his head.

“No, we've got more than that. Did you see that cruiser that came in? We were told it was a recently captured cruiser. The problem with that is simple: This cruiser is the same one that's been operating in this system! Did anyone get a visual of it's name? Sure, the transponder reported it as a friendly, under a League name, but it wasn't.”

Duncan shrugged. “I was too rattled from my near death experience to bother looking at the cruiser. Seen one Terran Cruiser, seen them all.”

“Not quite, sir. But, I bet you any money that thing is full of Terrans, and they're just trying to pull us along for the ride.”

“Why? They could swat us like a fly.”

“No, they can't.” David looked right at Duncan as he spoke. “This is an Archigos class frigate. We were the first of our class. My father was the one who designed this ship. Fact is, that cruiser out there could open up on us with everything, and chances are there'd still be most of a ship left. Granted, most of our systems would be shot to hell, but most of the structure would survive. And, we could take that cruiser out by ramming into it. It'd be tricky, but doable.”

“Ok, so they can't swat us, but they can still beat us to hell and back.” Duncan was feeling annoyed. He was missing the point, and knew it.

“Duncan, some days I just want to slam your head into a wall. Listen, these ships are so impressively strong for one reason. They were used a a propulsion systems testing platform. More to the point, they were testing a new form of propulsion that makes subspace look like a horse drawn carriage. The Terrans have always wanted to get there hands on the research, but they've never know anything about the project. Last year, they captured an old research station. In the station's computer was a partial file describing the scraping of the project. In it, the ship used for testing was listed. My guess is, they are hoping that some information's still stored in this computer, or even some of the modifications are still in place. They want this ship intact.”

Duncan thought about that for a second. “That means they want the crew to get off. I'll bet money that we're going to Rhinedale for resupplying. Then, once we're there, someone will sabotage the reactors, and we'll abandon ship, heading down to Rhinedale. Then, they blow up something about the right size, and we never know what happened.”

Seth looked at Duncan with slight shock. “Impressive. About the only thing that doesn't track for me is how they would explain the Terran Cruiser that came in to help us.”

“Simple. They all defect. I'll bet you all the crew are former citizens of Rhindale.” Shelly smiled. “It's so simple.”

“I'm sorry, I don't see it.”

“Yea, Shelly, I'm with Seth here. Mind explaining?” Duncan didn't realize till he turned to look at her that she'd had her arm around his most of the conversation.

“One of Rhinedale's dirty little secrets is that more than half it's population are Terrans. See, it's a boarder colony. It's got feet in both sides, at least culturally. Many citizens of Rhinedale leave, and join the Terran Military, since their parents, or grandparents were Terran citizens. That's why Rhinedale never worried much, and why this entire thing must be a setup. The fact is, Rhinedale could defend itself against a moderate attack, if it had to. They've got a few frigates, and there's generally a destroyer stationed nearby. All of these are owned by citizens of Rhinedale, so they don't show up as military vessels. That's one of their other dirty secrets.”

“So, this whole bloody thing is a farce? That's it, I'm going to kill someone over this. Two someones if they keep aggravating me.” Duncan clenched his fists.

“Everything fits. Ok, we're going to assume it's all true. Now, that means that someone in engineering is going to have to commit the sabotage. I'm going to head there, and talk to Chief Engineer Lopez. He'll be more than willing to help me out. Seth, come with me. Duncan, and Shelly, I want you two to go find Beta's Squadron Leader, and... keep him occupied. Don't kill him, yet. Head, and the rest of you I want to break into the armory, and get as well equipped as possible. Don't explain what you're doing to anyone. Also, try to keep from being seen, or setting off any alarms. Somehow, I think you know how to get into the armory undetected.”

Head smiled. “Sir, I've been breaking into armories since I was a lad. I have the security code to every armory from here to the bridge. A rather cute commander gave them to me. Oh, she was a screamer, that one. I said to her 'If she didn't stop, the Captain's sure to find us.” Well, after all, we were in his–“ David cut him off.

“Head, enough. I don't give a shit about your sexual olympics in the captain's office. Just don't get caught.”

“If I can keep from getting caught by the captain while I'm playing 'hide the meat' in his officer, I'm sure no one will notice me when all I'm doing is liberating a few guns.”

“I'm sure.”

O o O

Duncan wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth. This Terran bastard sure can punch! Duncan had waltz into the room, sword drawn, expecting things to go easily. Things never go easily. The Terran had been trained very well, and apparently had been well briefed on the eccentricities of Aesir Squadron. We had disarmed Duncan before he could react, and it had turned into an all out brawl. Duncan was unsure where Shelly was, but he had a feeling she was up to something.

“Hey, ugly!” Shelly tapped the Terran on his shoulder, and just like a movie, he turned, and she dropped him with one punch. Duncan had been on the wrong end of one of those punches once. His head hurt just remembering it.

“Nice plan. Let the man get hurt, while you hardly break a sweat.” Duncan retrieved his sword and looked at the heap of unconscious flesh that had betrayed everyone he cared about.

“Hey, that's what you're here for.”

Duncan was still looking at the man on the floor. The anger and rage were boiling behind his face, barely controlled. “I think I'm going to give him a present. My best regards to a job well done.”

“Dun, no. David told us not to kill him.”

“I'm not going to kill him! Just a little present. Something to remember me by.” Duncan pulled out his side arm. He rested the tip of his sword against a table, and aimed his sidearm. He made sure it was set to plasma, and that the energy was set very low. Shelly didn't protest, although the look on her face told Duncan she wanted to. There were times she knew not to get in his ways. He'd never told her where he'd learned how to fight, the type of conditioning he'd been subjected to. Not that he minded it much, now. It had helped him start to repay the debt he knew would only be settled after his death. Forcing his mind back into the situation, he focused on the end of the blade. He had some work to do.

O o O

By the time Head arrived with the rest of the Squadron, Duncan had finished, making sure the traitor had enough drugs in him to keep him out for several days. Head, looking the traitor over, whistled his appreciation for Duncan's artistry. Carved lightly into the man's back was the emblem of Aesir Squadron. On the man's chest was a large red capital A. Duncan wasn't sure if Head got the literary reference, but it didn't matter. With luck, this man would run across that story, and eventually he would understand the scarlet letter he carried on his own chest. That was all Duncan cared about.

“So, Monsieur Artiste, what do we do now? We've got this Terran scumbag taken care of. The entire ship is under Emergency lock down, so something's happened to tip the rest of these bastards off. David should have reported in with us by now.” Head was uncharacteristically worried.

“I'm sure he knows what he's doing. It's only been what, half an hour? I hardly doubt he could have taken the bridge without us, and in only half an hour. Either way, he's too stubborn to die.”

Almost as if on cue, the internal com instructed all members of Aesir Squadron to report to the bridge. It sounded like a normal summons, but the voice has been David's. No one was sure what that meant, but Duncan was pretty sure that it was the universe reminding him that he was never allowed to be right. Noticing that everyone seemed to be waiting to see how he reacted, he grabbed one of the extra guns Head had brought, and headed for the door.

When the reached the bridge, Duncan felt the fear catch in his throat. They didn't know what they were walking into. For all he knew, there was an entire squad of Terran Elite Forces waiting to kill anyone who entered the door. Duncan most certainly wasn't going to take that chance. With the rest of the squadron waiting around the corner, he walked through the doors onto the bridge, gun drawn. There were no troops, but Duncan instantly noticed the smell of death, and signs of weapons fire on the walls. Walking more into the room, he motioned for more of the squadron to follow.

As Duncan approached, he saw two bodies lying on the floor, and one behind the Ops station. The Captain, First officer, and Ops Officer had all been killed. David was sitting at the captain's station, looking more annoyed then worried. Duncan was unsure of what had happened but there was a telltale smell of ozone coming from David's sidearm, which he'd not even bothered to holster. It was sitting right on the console.

“If you had used the other door, you would have been able to admire the rest of my handiwork.”

“I'll make sure to check it out before the exhibit leaves.” Duncan looked around at the faces of the bridge crew, and could see the hollow, exhausted look most people had when they had just been overwhelmed by fear. In their eyes was the dull look that told of their sudden awareness of their own mortality. Let's hope they don't forget it anytime soon. Knowing you can die is a powerful tool, and a heavy burden. It should not be cast away lightly. “So, what happened?”

“The First Officer was the second Terran Operative. He killed the captain when Larom refused to stay out of the fight, and let the Terrans take us out. That was why the Archigos was late. Larom had program the attack sequence in, and executed it right before the First Officer executed him. Then, the traitor ordered every officer to their quarters, and locked the ship down. The only rooms left unsecured were the ones you and Shelly were in, the docking bay, Engineering, and the bridge. Apparently he was getting us ready for a some Terran Troops. I interrupted his plans.”

“Ok, that makes some sense. Now, mind telling me who shot the Ops Officer?”

“I did.”

“Well, why, in all your infinite wisdom, would you have done that, sir?”

“He was the third traitor. I'm not going to tell you how I knew, but I did.”

“Fair enough.” Duncan looked at the rest of the squadron. They all seemed to be accepting everything without much difficulty. They trusted David. Sometimes, Duncan wondered if they had any choice. There was something about that man that almost forced you to trust him, and like him. Even if he scares the hell out of you.

“Now, we've got other problems. The security codes for the ship have been scrambled, near as anyone in engineering can tell. We're almost to Rhineland, and there's a Terran Cruiser sitting outside, wondering what's going on. We're not out of the woods yet.”

“The woods? You stuck in the middle of a whole galaxy of trees. Frankly, I think this is the most completely idiotic thing I've seen you do yet, David.”

Duncan turned around to see a two new people standing on the bridge. One was a very beautiful woman, the other a tall, skinny man who looked like he right out of some retro movie. The woman had hair so black it was almost blue, with two locks of bright read hair framing her face. She wore a tight fitting outfit that Duncan had to imaging was extremely distracting to anyone around her. The man was dressed like the poster child for a hacking convention, complete with darkened glasses, and a leather trench coat. Duncan wondered if he'd seen a more ridiculous pair of people in his entire life.

“Thanks, Liz. Now, shut the hell up. Everyone, I'd like you to meet Lizbeth Locke, and Louis Capell. They're friends of mine, and they've been hiding on this ship for about a week now. Naval Intelligence suspect a Terran attempt to steal this ship, and I was given command of the mission to prevent that. I'm sure I don't need to point out things haven't gone the way I'd hoped.”

“Brilliant powers of observation.” The woman had walked over to the ops station and was examining the body of the ops officer. “At least your aim is better than your mission planning.”

“Hey, I thought he told you to shut the hell up. David she's one of your 'friends'? I think you need to get out more.” Duncan glared at Liz.

“Oh, the sage speaks. Why is it that whenever I see a cute man, he has to open his mouth, and remind me he's a complete moron?” Duncan felt uneasy as Liz walked towards him, and ran her fingers slowly down his chest. “Then again, I might still add you to my collection, if you promise only to open that mouth of yours when I tell you to.”

“Excuse me, bitch. Get your hands off him. I would have thought being the governor's daughter would have taught you some more manners.” Shelly shoved herself between Duncan and Liz. Duncan put his hands on Shelly's shoulders, hoping it would calm her down. The rest of the squadron hung back, watching, ready to pick sides if fighting broke out. David just seemed amused, while the other new comer seemed bored.

“Oh, sibling rivalry is it? You don't want your older sister taking you toy? Afraid he'll like me better than you?” Liz paused, and Duncan felt a slight twinge of jealousy at the way Liz was looking Shelly up and down. “It's a shame we're related. I'd much rather add you to my collection then him.” Liz leaned in closer to Shelly, and Duncan wondered if they were going to kiss. Liz stopped short, seeing the fear, and anger on Shelly's face. “Like I said, it's a shame.” She backed away, and laughed.

“Liz, are you done yet? I've got some other things I'd like to do.”

“Louis, I was just introducing myself to these wonderful people we'll be working with.”

“Yeah, right. You going to get on with it?” Duncan noticed an edge to the man's voice, and instantly was on guard. He didn't trust either of these 'friends'.

“If I must.” In a blur of motion, Liz was crouched next to David's chair, holding a gun to his head. In another instant, Duncan was knocked to the floor, and found he couldn't move. Straining his head, he could see that everyone on the bridge, with the exclusion of Louis, Liz, and David were pinned. From the pressure in his chest, he guessed the artificial gravity had been turned up, trapping everyone where they were.

“This is operative three to Bloody Sabbath. We have complete control of the ship. Most of the crew doesn't know what's going on, and we've secured the bridge. Transmitting visual, so you can see for yourselves.”

“Operative Three, this is Bloody Sabbath.” Duncan saw the image of a female Terran captain appear on the screen. “You should not have revealed yourself.”

“Negative, Captain. I had my orders.” Louis walked towards the main viewer. “As you can see, this is not a normal operation.” Louis motioned towards Liz. “She's from the Terran Sensitive Information Ministry. I've been following her orders, since she became the Captain's mistress a month ago. I don't think you should be telling me my job.”

“Operative Three, please send us confirmation of your identities, and then we'll continue with the plan.”

“As requested.” Louis bowed, in typical Terran Officer style, and then cut the connection. As soon as the connection was terminated, he lost all the crispness and mannerisms of a Terran officer. Duncan felt completely confused.

“Sorry.” Louis pressed a button, and Duncan felt the weight in his chest lift.

Liz walked over, to help Shelly up, while David helped Duncan to his feet. Duncan figured that since David hadn't flinched the entire time, everything had to have been an act.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Liz extend her had to Shelly, who paused a moment, then took it. With another swift movement, Liz pulled her to her feet and kissed her. Shelly shoved Liz away, and threw a punch, which Liz took without flinching.

“Go to hell, Liz.” Shelly turned and left.

“If I had a dollar for every time I heard that...” Louis shook his head.

“Duncan, go make sure Shelly's no too pissed off. Liz, take the first officer's station, Louis you've got Ops station. Someone else, please remove these bodies. Louis, you unscrambled the security codes, right?”

“Did it about three minutes before we showed up here.”

“Good.”

Duncan left the bridge, and ran to catch up with Shelly. She was walking away and waving him off as he approached. It seemed off to Duncan that now, of all times, he would be forced to play her silly little mind games. Realizing that there's nothing he could do about it, Duncan ran past Shelly, and stopped in front of her. When she tried to get past him, he got in her way. She tried again, and Duncan pushed her back.

“Get out of my way, or so help me I'll level you.”

“Deal.” Moving swiftly, Duncan grabber her by the shoulders, and shoved her into the wall. “Now, you listen to me. I don't care if you're pissed off, and I don't care if there's shit from your past coming up for you. Doesn't matter. We're pilots, and we have a mission to fly. Nothing comes between us, and the mission. Right now, our mission's to follow David's orders, and maybe, just maybe we'll all get out of this alive. If we ignore what's going on, and try to fly solo, everyone's going to die. You ran away from that rock a long time ago, Shelly. Don't make the mistake of running away from us now.” With that, Duncan released her, and walked away. Shelly didn't say a word, but followed him back to the bridge. Duncan figured it would be a long time before they talked again.

Walking back to the bridge, Duncan too a hard look at the forward view screen. It was showing a tactical readout of an approaching planet. Liz was glaring at it, and Duncan figured he could understand why. Watching her walk over to the ops console, Duncan thought for a moment that she was going to switch the view off. Instead she switched it to a much more natural view of the approaching planet.

“Welcome to Rhinedale. The site of current and future death by both the League and Terran forces.”

“You know, you and Head should really date. You'd make a cure couple, in a rather morbid sort of way.” Duncan smiled and was awarded a glare that made her eyes almost seems to glow slightly. Part of Duncan's mind said he should see it as a warning, but the rest of him was either too stupid, or to arrogant to care.

“David, they're not even bothering to hail us. I'm slightly surprised. Oh, wait...” Louis started punching buttons very intently. David simply looked at him. “Yes! Sir, I'm reading twelve League cruisers coming out of orbit from behind that planet. They're hailing the Terran Cruiser.” Cheering broke out among the pilots and bridge crew. David just looked hard at Louis. “Wait... oh, BAWLS. There's another Ten Terran cruisers existing subspace right behind us, along with the rest of the Terran fleet rumored to be in this area.”

David looked at Duncan. “I want you to lead the rest of Aesir Squadron for now. I'm going to be playing captain for a while it seems. We need the best squadron in the fleet out there.” Duncan nodded, and motioned to the rest of the pilots. The next order Duncan heard made him turn around, confused. “Louis, contact Glyse. Tell her that we'll arranging for some League crew to go over to the Bloody Sabbath to help her out. For now, she needs to just hang tight, and shoot as many of those Terrans as she can. Liz, you might want to head over there and give her a hand.”

“Wait, sir? Do you mean to tell me that Glyse is the only one over there on that ship?”

“No, Duncan. There's two other people over there. Although one's not entirely sane.”

Duncan noticed that at the mention of this person, Liz winced. “Friend of your Liz?”

“Louis, close your eyes. Auntie Liz is about to turn Duncan into a eunuch.”

David grabbed Liz's hand. Duncan saw Liz and David exchange an intense set of looks. Both of their eyes seemed to be much more blue then Duncan's instinct told him was allowable for a normal human. He had the impression of some sort of struggle on a level much higher then he could understand. In a moment, it was past, and Duncan felt like a bug who'd fallen into the shadow of a shoe, only to be passed over.

“I hate to interrupt, but we're getting orders from the commander of the task force. They're sending over a skeleton crew to the Bloody Sabbath, and we're to provide escort for the Sabbath, while Aesir Squadron will fly escort for the transports. Looks like command's gearing up for a full blown furball.”

“Well, looks like we might have a chance at this slugging fest for once. Duncan, get those pilots to their ships.”

“Aye, aye, Captain. One small request though. Can we take Beta's fighters, since ours are shot to hell?” Duncan smiled.

“Well, right about now, Beta should be sitting in the brig, so I don't think they have a need for them. Go ahead.”

“You heard the man, Aesirs! We've got ourselves some shiny ships to go dent. Let's do it.”

<To Be Finished...>