Chapter 1
Chapter 1
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"Gentlemen, start your engines."
The three serpentine craft hovered five feet above the ground, the low hum of the repulsor jets being replaced by the increasing whine of the ion engines, in the otherwise dark and empty hangar. I checked my chrono. Only five thirty, by Hiigaran Standard Time. Quite early. Case in point, I was still groggy from my two friends shaking me out of bed an hour ago to get me to do this.
Yeah, my friends. Out of anyone in the galaxy, they were the two I was closest to. With their faces displayed on the canopy of our new Lance-class Interceptors, I could see them as clear as crystal. There was Jacyn Naabal, a shady character who I once thought to be a Taiidan mole in the old Angel Squadron, the elite Interceptor force that I had only recently taken command of. He turned out to only be a Fleet intelligence spy, who had been secretly transmitting the results of our campaign to attack the Ion Accelerator, an Imperialist/Turanic starship that could absorb and throw back Ion beams. His before slicked back black hair was now parted to the side, and his usual scowl had been replaced by an ever-present grin.
Then, there was my second in command, and my first good friend in the squadron, Nolan "Napalm" Hiilar. A former Major in a Heavy Corvette squadron, his skin was as black as the paint that adorned his tag-along ship, the Black Runner. His courage in battle had won him the Kharakian Cross, a trophy given for his destruction, in a single Corvette, of an Ion array Frigate. In our whole campaign, we had really only flown four missions, but in the three he flew in he had racked up the highest kill score out of all of us, including our former Captain, deceased, and our former XO Lt. Cm. Liir Hra, who left the squadron to join the Kharak Return Fleet.
I would do anything for those guys, and vice versa.
Even this.
"OK," I said. "Ready?"
"Angel Ten is here," replied Jacyn.
"Angel Two in the green," Nolan followed in suit. "One question, Jake."
"Shoot."
"Technically, since you're only a Lieutenant, and I'm a Major, shouldn't I outrank you in the squadron?"
Since he already knew the answer to this, an answer that he had been nagging forever since I was promoted to command the squadron, I simply replied:
"GO!"
And our three ships raced out of the hangar, into the open, beautiful, Hiigaran morning. The sun shone through the mist, and the grass below us trembled as we shot past. "Remember," said Jacyn. "First one to Paktu City pays for the drinks."
The seven hundred kilometers that lay ahead, seemingly so short a distance thanks to our powerful engines, gave me time to admire once again the ships we'd been commissioned. A brand new ship, the Lances were shaped like curving-up U's. At the top of the curve were our cockpits, and the hull was shaped in a turtle-shell design, with white paint and the squadron's three black stripes decorating it. Sporting better maneuverability, especially in atmosphere, and better weapons (like an all new, limited ammunition, missile launcher), they were not so much ships than works of art.
I sighed, and the three of us stayed rather on the same speed. The open plains were quite uneventful. Then, about three minutes into the flight, a huge cliff side showed us the first exciting part of this race. As the grassy terrain became rocky, and ending abruptly, we pushed the noses of our ships down, and cut main engine power. Gravity was going to accelerate us more than enough without burning fuel. Our maneuvering jets and reverse thrusters were working with our navicomps to ensure a flight that was stable and parallel to the cliff side. In the span of seconds we reached the sea at the bottom, and we all initiated maneuvers that, had our anti-grav cushions not been activated, would have broken our necks from the speed.
Now came the fun stuff. The two ships flanking me used their afterburners to jet across the crystal water, and when they were a good hundred meters away they both released chaff bombs. The million shards of metal whizzed past my cockpit, some banging on the wings. With little choice, I plunged nose-first into the ocean beneath me. Switching on the engine compensators, and going at 105% normal speed, I cruised past the dark sea trout that scattered away as I approached. Though my sensors were compromised in such a dense environment, I was able to calculate the right time to jump out of the sea, in front of the other two.
I heard Napalm's voice, "I guess these things are amphibious. We should try fishing with our machine guns down there." Jacyn mockingly replied, "Yeah, not only will we have a lot to eat, but we'll have plenty of time to eat it. I hear those Hiigaran Preservation folk aren't generous with their sentences."
I armed one of my missiles. "Well, the two of you can't take me down, but how about the other way around?" I fired, and through my rearview camera I could see a plume of water jump up when the rocket exploded. My wingmen just swooped on either side of the frothy column and kept coming. Napalm said, "Those things aren't cheap, you know."
Then we arrived to the other mini continent of the planet, one that the Paktu had claimed sole possession of. The segregation of the different Kiith wasn't very comforting for the masses, but as comrades-in-arms, one's birthright had little importance. Good thing, too, as I was of the Sjet Kiith, Jacyn of the Naabal, and Nolan of a very small kiithid, a daughter of the Liir Hra.
A waterfall was beating down the cliff side of the island. This was not unexpected: we chose this course for its difficulty. Soon we were skimming the waters that poured down into the ocean. The cliff was several kilometers high, but since we could move at kilometers in seconds, it wouldn't have taken so long. But we had other plans. This was a race, after all, and I intended to win.
I armed my machine gun (the LCD display showing my remaining ammo lit up) and fired into the stream of water. This caused small splashes in the waterfall, but large enough to be reckoned with. In my rearview cam, I saw the splashes hit both of the other Angel Squadron members, but it was Jacyn who buckled under. He turned into the heart of the falls itself, and was pushed down by the current. Any other pilot may have died in the process, but not a veteran Angel.
Then I saw Nolan creep up to my flank, and when we reached the top of the cliff we saw the sprawling city ahead of us. The outer part was still being constructed: I could see robots that laid down monorails and built up buildings with their construction lasers. Others were heading off to the nearby ore mines. Those must be the new City Construction Craft, I thought. A new generation vehicle, CCCs had the PDA assembly of a Resource Collector, which allowed it to suck resources from the planet, namely the inhospitable zones and often from the sea, and it had laser systems which transformed the minerals into a needed material and aim at a specific target. This allowed huge skyscrapers and apartments to be built in weeks. This construction zone also made the perfect obstacle course.
A huge, walking robot lurched by, carrying a set of steel girders. I dodged it by flying through its legs, which made for a narrow trench. I don't know how Nolan got through, but we met at the other side, zigzagging between metal beams that would one day become a school. It was not easy to tell who was in the lead, because whenever one of us were ahead, he would be pushed back by large piles of duraplast and titanium.
We came to a half-completed building, and by half-completed; we mean that, for some reason, they hadn't built the middle section yet. We chose this as our finish line, and as only one of us could squeeze through, we were trying to knock each other off course, so that we would surely win. We got to fifty meters away from the building…I shoved him to starboard…forty…he swerved and maneuvered to hit my topside, sending me sprawling down to the ground…thirty…I recuperated and locked horns with him, grinding my hull into his…twenty meters…at this rate it looked like our wings would be torn off from the impact, but we were adamant not to let the other win…ten…
"BANZAĎ!!"
Something white shot past us at astounding speeds, forcing us to brake and hover there for a while. The thing stopped, and turned towards us. "Nice try, guys, but we all know who the best pilot is."
I couldn't help but smiling. I love my life.