The Spindle Station: Book 2 of the Alliance Conflict (48 page)

Dolen switched to Advranki and responded, “We will discuss that another time. Why/how is the pilot flying in manual mode?”

Captain Solear, “Why, it calms them down and improves their performance. How, our leading theory is that their minds are so empty they can handle the onrush of information. Don’t worry though, the humans seem to prefer flying in manual mode.”

Dolen wasn’t entirely satisfied, but sat back down without further comment. That lasted exactly 18 seconds.

Ace fired 3 fighter-to-fighter missiles in dummy mode directly toward the battleship. There was absolutely nothing in thier path. At this range the missiles would go ballistic long before they struck anything.

Dolen said, “That was stupid. You just wasted half of your ordinance and you didn’t even aim at anything.” The marines may have acquitted themselves, but Dolen was seriously starting to doubt the human’s piloting ability.

Ace replied, “A thousand pardons admiral. I will endeavor to be thriftier with the ordinance in the future.”

Chief announced, “There are three enemy fighters approaching. We are going to have to surrender again.”

Ace accelerated the transport toward its top speed of .12 light. He swooped the transport away from its current path and directly toward the spinning piece of hull plate. He lined the transport up with the hole in the plate. However, because the hole was nearer the edge of the plate, it only appeared for a fraction of a second before spinning away. The three fighters narrowed the gap significantly and fired.

Ace dodged left, then right, then did a 360 degree spin. The transport was now aligned directly with the hole.

Both Chief and Dolen screamed, “No!”

Doctor Purami was too busy studying Ace’s monitor to scream. She couldn’t believe how calm and collect the human was when they were facing certain death. She took some comfort in knowing that the human was this calm, then he thought they could make it.

At the last moment Ace spun the transport to match the rotation of the hull plate and flew through the opening. The three fighters chasing them tried to duplicate the maneuver and failed. The enemy fighters and the missiles chasing the transport splattered against the hull plate and broke it into pieces.

The maneuver had caught the attention of three more enemy fighters. They were practically waiting for the transport on the other side of the plate. The fighters angled directly behind Ace and fired a missile apiece.

Ace fired his only three defensive missiles and broke into a hard spiral turn. He straightened almost immediately afterward and proceeded again toward the
Guardian
. The three enemy fighters closed again, this time to nearly point blank range.

Dolen shouted, “We are out of options. Surrender before you get us killed.”

Ace crossed the path of the three dummy missiles that he fired earlier. He programmed one missile to hit each ship. The missiles literally snuck up behind the enemy fighters and destroyed them.

Chief realized what had just happened and said, “You planned that didn’t you. You led those enemy fighters to that spot so that you could spring a trap on them.”

Ace replied, “Blind luck I assure you.”

Chief said, “Look, there are three more fighters blocking our path to the
Guardian
. I don’t suppose you have any tricks left to get past these.”

Ace replied, “They are going to die like the other six.”

The three fighters started their standard up/down loop maneuver. Ace kept the transport steady and allowed the fighters to set their trap. At the last moment, Ace angled the transport hard down and to the right, slipping through the enemy’s planned pincer point. The enemy fighters formed up for another pass.

They were now clear to land on the battleship. Chief said, “Wow, excellent maneuver. You do realize that we are going too fast to land?”

Ace didn’t answer directly. Instead, he made a general announcement, “We will be landing shortly. Please secure all loose items and put your seats to the full and upright position. Please note that there may be some turbulence as we make our final approach.”

Ace fired the gravity missile directly at the battleship’s hangar bay. He then flipped the transport front-to-back (making the transport up-side-down) and upped the sub-light engines to 150% of maximum allowed power. He adjusted maximum power to his rear shields.

The three fighters reformed in front of the transport. Ace targeted all three at once and fired his remaining 3 offensive missiles in dummy mode. Each missile struck an enemy fighter and destroyed it.

Doctor Purami looked up at the control and noted that virtually every system was flashing red. She looked back at her diagnostic computer and thought, the transport is about to blow up and the human is still remaining calm. Interesting.

Then the gravity wave from the missile struck the transport. Dolen felt like he was going to be ripped from his chair and the chair was going to be ripped from the floor. He felt like a doll being thrown around. The stress was too much for his intestines and he projectile vomited. He noted that Chief and Purami were also puking.

Ace struggled mightily to keep the transport aligned with the battleship and his lunch aligned with his stomach. He could feel the transport destroying itself. They passed through the gravity wave and into the hangar. Ace rotated the shuttle so that it was facing down again.

They reached a velocity of zero only millimeters before they reached the end of the hangar. Ace turned off the sub-light engines before they could damage the battleship. He allowed the transport’s shields to bump the hangar bay’s shields and move the transport a few meters forward – far enough to allow the rear cargo door to be opened. He then shut down the power generator before it could blow up.

Ace said, “We have now reached our destination. Please use caution when gathering your belongings as they may have shifted during flight. Have a pleasant afternoon.”

Paul woozily got up and stumbled out of the cargo bay door. He looked back and noted that none of the Advranki had moved yet. Well, other than to obtain fresh vomit bags that was. Paul pulled out his communication pad and tried to access the ship.

Fortunately, the Hiriculans hadn’t shut off the communication system or disabled the computer. Paul was able to determine that there were 5 Hiriculans aboard. Two were on the bridge proper and the other 3 were on the lowest level of the bridge.

Paul had been sitting relatively close to Captain Koner during the shuttle flight. Paul looked back into the shuttle and said, “Captain, is there any kind of override that you have to keep the Hiriculans from closing the main bridge door?”

Koner replied, “Yes.” He grabbed his com pad and entered his personal code. Koner said, “The command was accepted. The door has been deactivated.”

Paul saw that none of them had started moving yet. He decided to give them a valid reason to remain seated in the shuttle. He said, “Everyone, there are Hiriculans aboard. Please wait here until I give an all clear signal.”

Paul walked from the hangar bay to
Guardian’s
main corridor. He delighted in watching the birds flying around him as he walked down the corridor. Paul entered the bridge and saw the two Hiriculans working at stations. They jumped up when they saw him.

Paul really didn’t know exactly what to do. Both his sword and his Gatling gun were horrendously overpowered to use on an unarmored being. Further, he couldn’t use grenades because he didn’t want to damage the battleship.

They started running, so Paul grabbed one in each hand and banged their heads together. The force was too strong though because he smashed in their skulls. Both were dead instantly. Paul rode the electro lift down two levels and exited. He saw the three Hiriculans working on the computer.

Paul stepped on the first, crushing the Hiriculan’s entire chest cavity. He caught the second and flung him across the room. Then he moved his arm in a backhanded swing and crushed the Hiriculan’s skull.

Paul gathered all five bodies and dragged them back to the shuttle. Once there, he checked and found the Advranki were recovered enough to move. Paul told them it was now safe to leave the shuttle and waved them forward.

Admiral Dolen unfastened his safety straps and gingerly stood up. He looked at Ace and said, “I owe you an apology. I was wrong about your piloting skills. I honestly believe that you are the best pilot in the galaxy. Are all humans that good?”

Ace smiled and said, “No, Captain Solear sent his best pilot to retrieve you. The other humans are pretty good though.”

Dolen exited the shuttle with Ace and spotted Paul standing next to the bodies. Dolen pretended not to notice that they all had been crushed.

Paul asked, “What should I do with the bodies?”

Somehow, Dolen still half-expected the human to eat them. However, it was clear to him now that was just a prevalent rumor. Dolen turned to Ace and said, “Can this transport still fly?”

Ace replied, “Maybe at minimum power and a speed of .001 light.”

Dolen replied, “Put the bodies in the shuttle. Program a course back to the station and put the shuttle on automatic.”

After completing the task, Paul removed his armor. Ace and Paul sat on the hangar deck. There was little else for them to do for the next 7 hours except talk and rest. They were technically stranded on the
Guardian
because there wasn’t enough time to return to the
Sunflower
before the Alliance fleet jumped.

Paul said, “So, tell me everything about yourself.”

Ace replied, “Well, I’m good at video games.”

………………..

Jim landed his fighter in the elevator and got out. It felt strange seeing an empty spot in the formation where Jolly was supposed to be. They had won convincingly, but it still hurt.

Jim looked at his Blaze’s fighter and was stunned to see the amount of damage it had taken. It was scratched and dented and there were several scorch marks on it. The one laser hit had torn a hole from the front to the back of the fighter. It passed right through the cockpit.

Jim looked over at his friend and said, “The fighter is a wreck. I think every major system is damaged. I can’t believe you made it back in one piece.”

Blaze smiled, but didn’t reply. He sat down on the floor in the pilot’s quarters and started strumming his guitar. Blaze was playing a melody that Jim didn’t immediately recognize. Jim turned away to go to the galley when he noticed that Blaze stopped playing.

Jim walked back over and saw that Blaze had slumped over his guitar. Jim thought that he must be sleeping, so gently tapped him with his boot. The guitar slid from Blaze’s hands and his dead body tipped over.

………………..

Solear watched the command carrier
Retribution
come to a full stop and escape pods start leaving the ship. The front part of the ship was still somewhat intact despite have been vivisected and it appeared that there were multiple survivors.

Solear said, “Lexxi, stop firing missiles effective now. Also, deactivate any missiles still in flight.”

As Lexxi was deactivating the missiles, Putat said, “I have received a message from the
Guardian
. They have retaken the ship and they will be underway momentarily.”

Solear checked the main plot. All Alliance warships had left the station and were making their way to the hyperspace lane. The Hiriculan fleet could not catch them.

Solear sent his final order as commander of the rescue fleet. He ordered all ships to form a single file line spaced 5 minutes apart and jump to hyperspace in order.
Sunflower
was leading the pack.

Solear stood up and walked back to the Captain’s chair. He paused for a moment and asked, “Clowy, are all human pilots accounted for?”

Clowy responded, “Humans?” She paused for a moment and continued, “Yes. Four marines and Alpha squadron have safely landed on the
Dandelion.
One pilot and one marine are on the
Guardian.
All remaining pilots are on the
Sunflower
.”

Clowy thought for a moment and clarified, “All living pilots that is. Three fighters were destroyed by the enemy and the pilots were killed.”

Solear grabbed his com pad and found the application to self-destruct the fighters. Solear closed his eyes for a moment of silent thanks and pressed the button. The fighters remaining in the Influenla system violently and completely exploded. Solear completely forgot about Ace’s old fighter still sitting inside the Spindle Station.

Clowy stood up and asked for everyone’s attention. She said, “Today, an alliance of humans, Solarians, Altians, and Advranki fought to free our friends and fellow military members. Although we lost several good friends, we succeeded beyond our imagination.”

Clowy paused a moment. She knew that she had to give an actual account of the battle, but really didn’t want to do so. Once she said it, she knew that Ella’s death would be real.

She finally said, “We launched 40 unbelievably brave fighters. They are credited with killing 237 enemy fighters and one frigate. Thirty-seven returned from the battle, but one died of his wounds. We sent a 6 person rescue mission to the station. They are credited with 23 enemy kills and responsible for rescuing an entire fleet including 1 battleship, 4 destroyers, and 8 cruisers.”

Clowy stopped talking because she had started crying. She sobbed for several long moments. She wiped her tears and continued, “My friend Ella died during the rescue. Finally, the
Sunflower
engaged and killed an asteroid base and a command carrier.”

Solear silently counted – 2 destroyers in Hepitila, 1 destroyer and 2 cruisers in Trilon, and now 2 more in Influenla. The
Sunflower
had single-handedly defeated 7 enemy warships, including two in a populated system. This time, there were far too many cameras monitoring the battle; a revision of history to hide the humans’ performance would not be possible.