Steven Gordon 3: The Modloch Empire (42 page)

‘
Red squadron, deploy
in pairs.’ Logan commanded. Two at a time they zipped over the top
of his canopy and then jumped. He counted them away. To his right
Alfie was doing exactly the same. Soon they were alone
again.

‘
Ready,’ Logan
asked.

‘
Yup.’

‘
On my mark, three...
two... one... mark!’

The two Starfighters jumped together to
their search coordinates and started the long patrol. They began
searching their grid in a long curving spiral pattern, will all of
their sensors turned on.

Alfie switched his radio onto local,
directional, so they wouldn’t be overheard by anyone.

‘
So how did your date
go with the Iron Queen?’

There was a long pause and Alfie was
beginning to think John hadn’t heard his question. ‘It wasn’t a
date as such, just dinner.’

‘
Did you tell
her?’

‘
Yup, sure did. Came
right out and told her I thought she was the most beautiful woman I
had ever met in my life.’

‘
Oh yeah, what did
she say?’

‘
She said she gets
that a lot.’

Alfie wasn’t sure how to respond to
that. ‘What did you say?’

‘
Wasn’t sure what the
hell to say bud. I think I stuttered something incomprehensible.
Anyway, she did say that she had always admired me. Thought I was
extremely handsome, very sexy.’

Alfie was impressed. ‘Oh yeah, so what
happened?’

‘
Not a
thing.’

‘
Why the hell not?
Wasn’t that the green light?’

‘
Nope. She sat and
talked about me, about the missions I had done. She asked me a lot
of questions about them. She already knew most of the answers. I
was impressed.’

‘
Yeah so, what
happened next?’

‘
She asked me if I
knew anything about her career. I couldn’t answer her. That kinda
killed it.’

Alfie was silent for a while. ‘Why
would we know anything about her? She isn’t famous like we
are.’

‘
Maybe not in
America. Have you ever asked any of the cadets about
her?’

‘
Hell yeah, same
answer every time. Nice tits.’

‘
Ask one of the girls
next time. I did.’

‘
So?’

John sighed. ‘Turns out she was a top
fighter pilot. She is an ace. Shot down six aircraft, two of them
in one dogfight, guns to guns. Highly decorated. The first female
pilot to be made a Starship Captain. Commended for her part in the
Albany war, for her abilities and her courage. Was given command of
the Sir William Wallace right after. Ever wonder why there were so
many women in our squadrons?’

‘
Let me guess, she is
an inspiration.’

‘
Yup sure is. Know
what she said as she kicked my ass out the door?’

‘
Not a clue
bud.’

‘
Well she whipped
those puppies out and said to me, “These are the bonus prize. It is
the rest of me you have to impress first. If you had just taken a
little effort to see past them, and look at the person
beneath...”’

Alfie took an age to respond. ‘Missed
your chance.’

‘
Yup.’

‘
Man, were they as
nice as they look?’

‘
34 FF, all natural,
with not a hint of sag.’

‘
Holy
shit.’

‘
Yeah.’

They were both quiet for a long time.
‘Do you think you are still in with a chance John?’

‘
Oh hell
no.’

The hours began to drag, but they
couldn’t complain about the scenery. Suddenly an alarm buzzed and
their radios came to life. ‘All stations Whisky Whiskey. An object
has just come through the barrier at light speed. We are feeding
you the coordinates and vectors now.’

Their navigational computers lit up and
the two men punched the throttles of their fighters open.

‘
We gonna make it
John?’

‘
Yeah I think so,
looks like it’s going to cut along the top of our search
box.’

‘
Most
excellent.’

The two laughed as their ships reached
the top of their search grid. Now they began to run back and forth
along an invisible line.

‘
I can only see six
of our guys.’ John told Alfie.

‘
Look again
John.’

‘
I see them.’ Within
a few minutes they could count the ships from both their squadrons
strung out in a long line. Both knew that every fighter from every
vessel available would now be flying along this line. The tension
grew with each passing second.

‘
All stations Whiskey
Whiskey, the package is separating and it looks like it could be in
our sector. Weapons stand by.’

They had no sooner checked their
weapons were ready to fire when something flared on their radar
screens. ‘Woah! There they go. Hit it Alfie!’

The two men punched their throttles
forward and the two objects approached at an alarming speed. John
began braking as they came within range. He was firing before he
even saw the engine. It appeared in front of his nose and green
light lanced into it. ‘I hit it.’ He shouted into his radio. Alfie
was a split second behind him. He also fired but the engine seemed
to slip sideways.

‘
That damn thing just
avoided me.’ He kicked the Starfighter round a hundred and eighty
degrees, firing again. The nose of the engine lifted and his ships
went underneath. In a flash the engine snapped above his head.
‘Watch out, these engines aren’t dumb. They know we are after them
and are avoiding our fire.’

John swung round as two more ships
appeared in his radar. The engine he had hit was staggering, trying
to manoeuvre. He checked the designations of the ships and plotted
the staggering engine. ‘Red section, finish off target one.’

‘
Roger.’

John followed Alfie round after the
second one. Behind him the two fighters blasted the damaged engine
to smithereens.

Both John and Alfie fired at the
remaining engine as it tried to turn, but again it anticipated
their attack and jinked out of their line of fire.

‘
Damn this thing.’
Alfie cursed.

‘
Don’t let it turn,
keep firing. All Starfighters form up on us and fire. If it gets
its nose onto its proper vector, it will jump to faster than light
speed.’ Four ships formed up on them and green light lanced out
into the dark of space. Somehow the engine managed to keep itself
out of their direct line of fire.

‘
It’s still turning,
for God’s sake someone hit it!’ John shouted. Just then green light
shot across their noses and cut the engine in two. The back end
began to spin like a Catherine wheel.

‘
Brake.’ Alfie
ordered and the six ships peeled away.

‘
OK who the hell was
that?’

‘
Who cares, finish
the damn thing off.’ Alfie growled. ‘Follow me.’

John looked out to his right as a
Starfighter slid alongside. He recognised the white ship with the
red stripes and could clearly see her smile across the short
distance.

‘
Commander Logan. I
hope I didn’t steal your thunder.’

He took a deep breath. ‘No Captain
Wilson, not at all. That was beautiful shooting.
Congratulations.’

‘
Thank
you.’

Alfie and the rest of the section
finished off the engine. Jean looked round her, a quick glance told
her, that her birds were undamaged. ‘Listen in everyone, good job.
You have done the Sir William Wallace proud today, well done. But
the job isn’t over yet. There is still one more asteroid out there.
Continue your patrols.’ She gave a short wave and jumped. John
began to wonder at what he may have lost.

A short while later they were back in
their patrol area. ‘That’s some gal.’ Alfie ventured.

‘
Sure is. I wonder if
they will give me a transfer.’

‘
You are shitting me
right, a job training cadets?’

‘
Tell me the last
time you felt so worthwhile.’

Alfie thought it over. ‘You got a point
John. It’s also been a long time since we worked for someone that
could outfly and outfight us. Would they let us work on a British
ship?’

‘
Scottish and
Commonwealth really Alfie. Don’t see why not. After all we are all
in the same damn air-force now.’

Twenty minutes later they were
recalled. The second asteroid had crossed the barrier a few sectors
over. The engines had appeared right under the noses of two Russian
pilots who had reduced them to scrap within a few seconds. Every
battleship turned their attention towards Earth. Many began to
pray.

CHAPTER 52

The destroyers Michael Collins, Buzz
Aldrin and the Neil Armstrong had all managed to get in front of
the asteroid. The Buzz Aldrin had lost its bomb as it accelerated
too hard towards light speed and the tether had snapped. Now it
flew alongside the asteroid and slightly in front. All three
captains were aware of the historical significance of the three
ships coming together like this in a bid to save the Earth.

The Michael Collins and the Neil
Armstrong were about twenty miles apart. The Neil Armstrong,
however, was on the edge of the asteroid.

The bomb from the Armstrong just
anchored itself on to the asteroid. The ships drew away and they
detonated the bomb. There was a brief flash and debris could be see
expanding out from the asteroid. Beyond that, there was very little
damage done.

The Captain of the Collins could feel
the sweat pour down the inside of his uniform. ‘I want to know why
that didn’t work people. Are we wasting our time here?’

One of his operators zoomed in on the
area where the bomb had detonated and noticed something.

‘
Sir, I don’t think
there were any explosives in that area.’ The Captain came down and
leaned over his shoulder. ‘Show me.’

By tracking their cameras over the
area, they could see the spider’s web of explosives across the
surface of the asteroid. It seemed to stop close to where the
Armstrong’s bomb had gone off.

‘
I think your right
son. OK, I want to make sure that there are explosives under that
thing we are towing. Show me where it is going to land.’

The operator changed cameras. Now they
were looking at the asteroid from the camera on the bomb itself. It
was very obvious that they too were going to land their bomb on a
spot where there were no explosives.

‘
This is no good. I
want to know if there is anyone else in position to intercept.’ His
answer wasn’t long in coming. They were the last line of defence.
If they failed the asteroid would hit the Earth.

The Captain searched the surface of the
asteroid for a solution. It looked like the bomb would land on a
small ridge that rose above the surface of the asteroid. On either
side of the ridge, the spiders web laced across the surface of the
asteroid. On the right side of the ridge there was a small
depression that was in darkness.

‘
Light me up that
small depression. I want to see into it.’

The operator obeyed and he saw what he
wanted to. Right at the bottom of the depression was a hole filled
with alien explosives. Lines or wires stretched out from it in
different directions.

‘
We need to land it
right inside that hole. Lower the bomb but disable the
anchors.’

The bomb began to move towards the
asteroid. It landed square on the ridge and remained motionless.
The Captain tutted with frustration. ‘OK, pull it in about a
meter.’ He had a little think about it. ‘Tell the men tending the
wire to start pushing it from side to side.’

It took a few minutes but eventually
the bomb began to swing a little.

‘
OK, tell the men to
standby. When I give the order to lower it, they are to jump out of
the way.’

On the first try the bomb went down the
wrong side of the ridge. On the second it stuck on top of it again.
The third try saw the bomb go part way down the right side of the
ridge, but not far enough. The Captain’s tunic was now soaked in
sweat, right down his back.

He took a deep breath, ‘OK men, we are
getting there. Let’s just try it again.’

It wasn’t until the seventh try that
the bomb rolled far enough down into the small crater. The trouble
was the bomb was lying on its side. He contemplated the
problem.

‘
Reel it in just a
few centimetres at a time.’ They managed to get the bomb half
upright. ‘Right. Fire anchor three and four.’ The two anchors fired
into the rock. He knew this was a one time deal only. ‘Let’s see if
they hold. Tighten up three and four and give the tether a little
slack.’

Men shouted with relief as the bomb
came upright. ‘Slacken up on the tether and pull more on three and
four. I want to see what’s happening underneath the bomb.’

Millimetre by millimetre the bomb was
pulled across the crater until it was directly over the explosives.
‘Fire anchor one and two.’

‘
The bomb is secure
sir.’

The Captain took a deep breath.
‘Release the tether and take us to firing distance.’

It took less than a minute. ‘Ladies and
gentlemen, take a deep breath and pray to whatever damn god you
please. Fire the bomb.’

The asteroid disappeared in a bloom of
explosions and the crew jumped to their feet with a great roar of
triumph. The Captain laughed out loud. He stood and the crew
settled down. They watched him expectantly.