Wolfcraft scene 1

A lean and tall Commander wearing a flight suit even in his office greeted us." I noticed that two Midshipmen booked simulator time, more than any other. Again I heard the Midshipmen on Deck 54 have a weekend off and what do I see? Mr. Hi and Mr. Olafson's name on the list for SIM time." He looked us up and down." Over the last few weeks I sneaked a peek to see what SIMS you were running. Lord and behold, two Midshipmen running Wolfcraft SIMS at level 15 and scoring notable results." He leaned sideways and put his feet on his desk." You two are going to serve the next weeks in my squadron. Each of you will get your own Wolfcraft Fighter and we forget you're Midshipmen. I want you to get to know your craft to the last bolt and everything it can or can't do. If I think you have what it takes I might even recommend you for Fighter school." We both stood in attention but I could not completely control my facial muscles and that grin that kept creeping back, glancing over to Har-Hi, and even his usual stern face was not so stern anymore. Wolf-Craft fighter pilots where considered an elite among Navy Officers, and especially the pilots themselves believed that and had a collective arrogance and pride second to none. Wolfcraft Pilots walked like Marines down a corridor, they owned it and others made way. Their state of dress was always different and less regulations. Commander Cotton, opened a drawer retrieved a cigar and lit it." At ease, boys. This is Fighter Country not Noob deck. He then looked at Har-Hi." I sure would like to hear your opinion about comparing the Wolfcrafts to the Karhi-Da Fighter of your people. Only fourteen other space faring cultures we know of developed small fighter craft and Dai are among the best." "Sir, the Karhi was developed by Su-Hi a legendary designer among the Dai, he wanted to create a machine that is able to counter the Wolfcraft and I think he succeeded with the Karhi-Da Type Nine and made a superior fighter to the Wolfcraft IV series. "But it takes a space born society much longer to develop and built new ships. The Union used the V series now and they are as good as Karhi Nines. Now I hear the Wolfcraft VI is going into production." The Commander nodded and waved with his hand." Go ahead boys sit down, smoking permitted if you do." Har-Hi produced the Cigars he always carried in case we would be sent to environmental, handed me one then produced a small knife he carried hidden in the sleeve cuff and cut his cigar. The Commander grinned." Can't believe I have a real Dai in my Squadron. Neat hiding place for a knife." The commander paid little attention to me and said to Har Hi." It will be month before we see the first VI's and scuttlebutt has it, production has been halted and something else is in the pipelines." Har-Hi sighed." The Karhi is faster; better maneuverable than Wolfcrafts but nothing we have compares to the fire power of a W-IV. Dual Translocator Gatlings what could stand against that?" The Commander leaned forward and made an ominous face." I heard a rumor that your famous Su-Hi is now working alongside Heinrich Steinmann and Steve Anderson of SII Aerospace, the chief designers of the VI series." Har Hi's eyes literally glowed with pride and anticipation. "I really would like to fly whatever they come up with, Sir!" "I can see we have a lot to talk about Mr. Hi." I was glad not to be in the focus of attention, since that had always caused me to get into trouble in the past and simply leaned back and puffed my cigar, while the Commander now held two toy models, one a Wolfcraft and the other a red Dai fighter and actually simulated a combat situation while Har Hi leaning forward was giving comments. Just about then a Lieutenant stuck his head through the commander's office door. "Sir we have an escort request from the Flight boss and the Captain. However N'tkkn, Bill, Jim and Duncan just went to sick bay. Do you want me to call the off duty guys down?" "Why are four of my stand-by pilots in sickbay?" "They ate something Duncan grilled and got the runs, Sir. I was on my way to tell you as they were in a hurry." The Commander checked his screen and then said." Teaches them to try Duncan's cooking!" He crushed his cigar and closed his flight combination, while he was reading whatever was displayed on his screen. "No need to call off duty pilots down..." He pointed at us." I fly myself and you two are with me. It is a simple escort request, nothing spectacular, but it gets you behind the controls and out there!" He pointed at an Auto dresser in the corner." It is dialed to Condors, get suited up and meet me at our Pre-flight deck, speed loader 2." Condors were special designed space suits halfway between a Quasimodos and a normal space suit. It had little in terms of weapons, but advanced auto doc features and Deep space flight capabilities. We met the Commander again as he stood on the empty pre-flight deck. A large metal door opened in the ceiling and a robot arm placed three Wolfcraft fighters into the loading tubes of a Revolver starter. Wolfcrafts looked like elongated discs with two huge elongated ISAH thrusters looking almost like missiles on each side of the cockpit. Cotton walked to a personalized Wolfcraft. Instead of the standard Navy gray it had a jumping cat like creature painted on its side and was colored in a shiny black, while weapons and ISAH pods were yellow." Go pick your fighters; you can pick a color scheme after we are back. Both are brand new and drawn from stock. As soon as you pick one it recognizes you as you know. The pilot seats lowered on a hydraulic arm as I approached the third one. It then retracted into the cockpit and I began a system check. While I had never flown a real Wolfcraft, I knew the machine inside our from SIM hours. "I am SII Wolfcraft Type V, Serial number 84887548-WCV-ADCAP78-DEVASTATOR-747. Pilot, fighter symbiosis initiated and complete, Olafson, Eric recognized. Neural Direct feed linked." No longer did I feel my real body or the fighter around me. It was as if I was standing on the Pre Flight myself but my eye perspective was 6 meters of the ground. System data was now send directly down my visual main nerve and I saw all data floating on the side of my periphery, easily expanded or featured by a simulated finger flick. Through the neural direct feed came a voice. "This is Commander Cotton. Pilots do not call each other by rank or name but by a call sign. That is an ancient tradition and is also faster. My call sign is Wildcat. Mr. Olafson you are called Viking and Mr. Hi you will use the call sign Pirate. Now perform a preflight test!" I acknowledged and Har-Hi did the same. "Our mission is to jump to Algeri System and escort a convoy of freighters to the Nobane System. This is a routine mission, but we are close to Nul-Nul space and this is why we are called for an escort. We have a full squadron of fighters and the Devastator is only 12 Light years away in case we need her and there are two or three destroyers at the base in the Algeri System." The mission specs and Nav details flashed into my system. Wildcat came on again. "Any questions?" There were none. "Status?" When it was my turn I said. "Viking here, preflight tests completed, all boards are green." I said and slaved my Computronic to the Nav-system of the leader. "Alright then, T-1 for launch!" The starter tubes lowered us into the revolving starter, to me the bright lit pre-flight deck changed to a shiny metal tunnel, small strips of blue lights ran at its floor to the end. The light strips would pulsate just before launch. There were four fighters to a wing and 5 wings to a squadron. The revolving starter was basically a long cylinder with 20 tubes and ach tube equipped with a Mass accelerator catapult. The cylinder would swing halfway out from the Devi's hull and rotate very fast, and while doing that accelerating and launching a fighter from each tube. Twenty fighters launched in 20 seconds and accelerated to near TL threshold speed. The Devi could launch all her fighter using preloaded tubes in less than 5 minutes. We had been catapulted near threshold speed and went super luminal a heartbeat later towards the Algeri system. After we arrived we immediately found six large Gulliver Class freighters and 2 Container Chain tugs already on their way. The tugs accelerated very slowly and their super luminal speed was also minimal, but we would reach Nobane 12 hours. There was nothing to do at the moment. Our computronics where linked to the commanders fighter and kept automatically in formation. Har –Hi and the commander exchanged conversation regarding the pro and cons of Dai fighter tech so I called up what information GalNet had on Algeri and Nobane. "Algeri was a seven planet system without a garden world. One planet was a mine colony and the other a Navy base, the rest was unoccupied and only superficially surveyed. Both the mining colony and the base had been established only for about twenty years. Nobane was declared a Union System much more recent, about five years ago and while it had nine full size planets and two Gas giants, only a large moon named Banes Moon with marginal Garden world features had been colonized. Nobane was dangerously close to Nul-Nul space judging by my charts and since there was no officially determined border between Union and the Nul-Nul Empire, Nobane it might already be in what the Nul-Nul considered their sphere of influence. The border was not clearly defined as it was between Union and the Galactic Council and the Kermac. It simply stated Nobane as Union System and the next star 12 light years further was marked red and Nul Space. I wondered if there was more behind it all. To me it almost appeared as if this colony was used to provoke the Nul and have a reason to retaliate if they did something about it. The Nul-Nul were considered to be the fiercest warriors and much more of a threat than the Kermac and the Galactic Council. Nul-Nul technology was about two levels behind Union Tech, but considered very solid and durable. Their armor was based on ceramics and on par with Ultronit and their weaponry and shield tech made extensive use of gravitational fields and graviton manipulation. Our Xeno Tech Instructor believed the Nul were at least as good as Union Tech in this regard and warned of their Gravitation bombs and Graviton gun technology. He told us these weapons were utilized with great skill and quite effective and even against Para Dim shielded ships by trapping an enemy between two gravitation centers of incredible strength. In other words two well-placed bombs could rip even a well shielded Wolfcraft apart. On Union side only Terrans developed Gravitation based weaponry and our arsenals included Grav bombs as well and we had trained to avoid them in Simulators. Nothing happened and it was a nice relaxing flight until we reached Nobane System and dropped out of Quasi space, when the threat indicator went red and a Nul-Nul Carrier came from behind the sun releasing fighters to engage us! Commander Cotton's voice was clear and calm." Dev Squadron twelve calling Devastator, we encountered a Nul- Carrier and we are outnumbered at least five to one, request immediate back up." "Devastator to Squadron twelve, protect the freighters if possible and keep the Nul busy. We cannot send any additional forces as we just flew into a hornets' nest and we are currently under attack by a very large Nul force! Reinforcements from Fleet Base Algeri will be dispatched as soon as possible, additional Fleet resources en route." I had seen the Fire power and the number of fighters aboard the Devi. If they could not send reinforcements, I wondered just how big that hornets' nest was. Maybe fleet command send this slow limbering convoy of freighters on purpose to lure the Nul into a fight and see how much force they were willing to commit from preventing the Union to gain a foot hold in this area. There was very little diplomatic contact with the Nul as far as I knew. Commander Cotton cursed." Damn! Alright everyone as you can see this is not a drill and we flew into a hornet's nest of our own. Bravo, Delta, Echo and Foxtrot wing stay with the freighters. Alpha break formation and engage at will. Keep them of their toes!" I was Alpha wing and so was Har-Hi. Wildcat called us." Viking, Pirate. I wish I could hold you back, but I need you. Take it easy and stay as safe as possible and free attack is easier than coordinated defense. So get them and stay away from their grav guns!" "Aye Sir!"

INTERLUDE: DEVASTATOR BRIDGE "I think it is safe to say, the Nul took the bait and there is a security leak as NAVINT expected." Captain Harris said looking at the massive Nul fleet of no less than eighty carriers and sixty Nul Battle ships entering the Algeri System, already releasing their fighters. Stahl standing next to him, grunted." Yes information about the convoy was sent to the Nul and the culprits have been identified, but the Nul responding with the largest strike force I have seen them dispatch since the last Nul Shiss war to take out the base." Harris gave orders to dispatch fighters and to tactical and then said." Maybe I should do an Olafson on them. Tactical you are authorized for Exo Loads, salvo tact. All sniper batteries have fire permission." Stahl did not laugh because the situation was serious but he could not prevent a smile." Maybe we should put that into the books. I am sure we can deal with those but let us hope squadron 12 can hold out that long. One Squadron against a full carrier load of Nul fighters is more than a challenge, no matter how good they are." Harris agreed." Yes but I can't spare any fighters right now. There are 8,000 Nul fighters launched protecting planetary bombers, if they get through the Base is toast. I do my best to clean Har Hi laughed." You did hear her say tomorrow, right?" Lt. Merkus came in; it was never a good thing when a superior officer walked into a dorm at a time like this. Duty full we all stood in attention after Krabbel had announced him. "As you were," and then said what I actually almost predicted he would say." I am sorry but two of you can't go on R&R. Mr. Hi and Mr. Olafson you are with me." We looked at each other but Har Hi was shrugging his shoulders just as I was, but we followed the officer outside. He didn't speak until we reached the next IST and then he turned." You have earned your off time as much as anyone, but you two logged more real and more simulator time than anyone and it was noticed. It does not happen very often and not even every year, but you two are to report to Hangar Deck Sixty. Fighter Wing 12 and report to Commander Cotton." He smiled at us." You are going to learn how to fly Wolfcrafts for the next three weeks!" Har Hi blinked and swallowed." For real Sir?" "Report to Commander Cotton now and on the double and you find out." as fast as I can." Stahl turned to a Yeoman. "Have Midshipman Olafson report to the bridge. I think he might want to see this." The Yeoman acknowledged and came back a moment later." Sorry Sir, Midshipman Olafson is not aboard. He begun fighter training this morning and is out with Squadron Twelve!" "Verfluchter Hund! How does he do it and always get in the middle of things?" "Sir it was Commander Cotton who requested him and Midshipman Hi and it is rare but not uncommon for very good Midshipmen to receive fighter pilot training in the third year." The Yeoman said "Yes but Cotton should not take them out on a real mission the very first day!" Harris put his hand on Stahl's shoulder." Cotton is one of the best we have; he knows what he is doing." The sniper batteries already took a deadly toll and each shot decimated a Nul fighter.

CHAPTER 10: Continued I broke formation and gunned the accelerator to max, arming all weapon systems. Wolfcraft fighters had a deadly array of weapons: two Translocator Gatling cannons, eight faster than light Forced Energy cannons (FTL-FE's) and 4 Loki torpedoes and a forward mounted heavy caliber plasma accelerator. In the corner of my eye a red signal and flashing data announced the quasi space signature of another Nul-Nul carrier dropping into Planck- Space coming in from the Z plane. I couldn't allow it to launch its fighters." Viking here, I got another carrier on my board I am going for it!" "Alright! Try it, more fighters would be very bad news for us but be careful!" Wildcat replied. I programmed a micro jump, the Computronic refused to execute so close to a star. I had to manually over write the lock out. My Wolfcraft came dangerously close to the local star, 800,000 clicks closer than I wanted to be and my fighters engines screamed to get out of the gravitational pull, my shields where bombarded with heat and radiation as I passed through a protuberance of superheated stellar plasma, the system warned." Shields at forty percent!" Instead of fighting the stars gravitational force I changed course slightly and used it to accelerate me even more and I became so fast approaching the second carrier that its target systems recognized me too late. It had just dropped into real space was opening its launch bay. I was glad the Nul did not use Revolving starters. The carrier had to drop shields to launch its fighters and I released all four Loki torpedoes right at the open launch doors and pulled my fighter away. Again my engines pushed past red line and the inertia damper alert beeped in a frantic rhythm some of the gees came through and pressed me deep into the seat and for a second I saw a narrow tunnel before my eyes and tasted blood. The Auto doc of my suit reacted and injected Stimuli- and pain drugs. The Carrier exploded behind me but two of its fighters escaped the anti-matter explosions that obliterated their mother ship and were hot on my tail. My shields still recovering and could not handle a direct hit. One of them did manage to pepper my aft shields almost collapsing it. The main weapon system I had was my Translocator Gatling guns. While neither the Nul-Nul nor any other known species had a direct defense against the Translocator weapon system, the Nul were able to distort the sensor locks of my target acquiring system. While this was not very problematic with large targets, Nul Fighters where nimble and fast enough to make the targeting process required more difficult. I had missed twice already; my shields would not be able to deflect more than one or two shots before I had to shut them down to reset. Resetting shields took only 5 seconds, but five seconds in a fight fought at these speeds was a life time. I reversed thrust and decelerated so fast that my suit auto doc warned of organ damage. I didn't feel any pain because of the drugs the Auto Doc pumped in me. This time they couldn't evade or jam targeting enough and screamed past me directly into my main fire cone, and I squeezed the trigger of the PAC destroying one completely. The second Nul Fighter had moved already outside the range of the plasma accelerator, but a short burst of five TL loads, one detonating right inside the cockpit took it out of the equation The threat board showed there were no bandits in my immediate vicinity and I had time to check the squadron status. There were 18 Wolfcrafts left! One showed as complete loss and one was severely damaged. One of the freighters was also damaged and it's aft burning with the greenish glow of atomic fire consuming higher alloys. Of the 100 original Nul fighters I still counted 50. The fight was intense. Translocator bombs exploding like mini stars and the faint bluish shimmer of Nul Grav bomb funnels flickering everywhere. Damage control of my fighter showed that my shields where still recovering and just barely above 40%, my left engine showed stress damage and my repair nanites where busy weaving structural bonds to fix that. I was almost 12 seconds away from the main fight, so I shut down my shields to reset them, but could not fly very fast for 5 seconds because of the micro matter damage that would occur moving at high speeds without any shield protection. So I was able to take my time and aim the Translocators carefully for long-range sniper shots and destroying six Nul fighters. Three Nul fighters abandoned their attack run on the other freighter and turned to take care of me. I managed to damage one more with a full barrage of all FTL's and it exploded moments later. My shields literally came on in the last micro second as two long range shots came close to my starboard side. Taking evasive maneuvers and now with full shields I could accelerate and maneuver at the peak of the fighter's abilities. I just lined one up and fired, when my starboard engine went way past red line and the Computronic shut it down before it could explode. Despite the Nanite efforts a containment coil had come loose, without containment the antimatter produced from the molecular gas I carried as fuel would make contact with matter of the drive and the resulting explosion would completely destroy the fighter and me. The safety system shut it down automatically just before that could have happened and ejected the faulty containment coil along with the AM into space, where it exploded only a few meters of my side. Luckily there were no shockwave effects in space and the explosion did no damage. A Wolfcraft was designed with two engines for exactly that reason instead of having one bigger engine, and I could operate with one engine just fine, however my speed and maneuverability was cut in half. I targeted one of other fighters who saw their chance to finish me of and instead of relying on precision of automated targeting I aimed semi-manually with the Battle-sights of my suit and fired in cycle mode. Since the other fighter was approaching me dead on, this was possible; no human being could react fast enough to hit anything moving at these speeds except when it came straight at you. The Gatlings released 200 bombs per second and depleted my ammo reserves to almost nothing but the barrage had the effect I hoped for. I expected most bombs to miss the target but one made it and detonated right in the engine module engulfing the Nul fighter in a blinding globe of pure energy. The doomed fighter had fired just before I destroyed it and its shot hammered into my shields pulling them down to 32 percent. The bluish glow of the dissipating Gravo bomb played over my entire ship. "Complete System failure warning, structural damage to base frame and armor, estimated Nanite repair time one hour." The readout showed that I sustained damage despite the shields and that I could not go superluminal. Weapons where still fully operational, but the damage readout showed my other engine also having micro fractures in the containment module. I had to shut it down, so the Nanites could wave material over the fractures or I would lose it. I was now as helpless as a Fangsnapper frozen halfway in a snow drift, the maneuver thrusters where no help in evading enemy fire. The possibility that I had to eject was very real and the thought alone was more frightening to me than the possibility to die in an anti-matter explosion. A Nul fighter made its attack run, there was nothing that could save me. Then there was pain as if a sharp object was trying to push into my mind. The Pain intensified so sudden and so intense, I screamed at first and my sight failed. Suddenly and for a brief moment I thought I saw Narth, his true angelic face not the hooded shrouded figure and the pain ebbed off. I clearly heard him say: "You are Narth! Push!" Then it was gone! I felt numb almost paralyzed; barley heard the Auto Doc's diagnosis. From beyond that numb feeling that surrounded me like a padding of invisible foam I hear a voice and it became clearer."...king come in. Wildcat for Viking!" I coughed blood and said." Viking here!" "God heavens, he is alive! My sensors showed no life signs for almost a minute!" "I am sorry Sir. My systems are pretty messed up. I get you a status right away." The thread board was clear and I saw a wonderful sight on my scanners, the Devastator was there! "Pirate to Viking. You had me worried, very worried!" "Stay of the channel for a moment, Pirate!" Wildcat barked over Har-Hi's voice. "Viking, my system master control shows you are inoperable. The Devi is launching Buffalos as we speak, hang in there. Your Auto doc transmits data I don't like very much!" "I am fine, Sir. I am just a bid tired!" "Stay with me Olafson, you have a massive shock! Your Auto-Doc is damaged and only partially functioning. It can't put you into Cryo from here! Just stay with me! Do not fall asleep" I saw the Buffalo approaching and its claws taking hold of my ship. I tried to sound offended. "Sir .I won't fall asleep on duty." "That is the spirit, son." "The Buffalo is here now, Sir." After the Buffalo had towed me back and I was save on the landing deck. I pushed the system shut down and lowered the seat. I got up, tried to walk over to the others but my legs did not carry my weight, Met Bots and two Med techs rushed towards me and that's when I passed out.