Mike's War: Sequel to Jesse's Starship (13 page)

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Mike walked into Sparta’s main communication center and saw Tilly asleep at the main console. He shook his head; she had been forced into shouldering so much of the load. He wondered if he had what was needed to do this. He walked up to her chair and stared at her. Her brown hair was starting to show some grey. He leaned down and kissed her gently on the cheek. Tilly smiled, “I was wondering how long it was going to take you to do that.”

Mike smiled as Tilly wrapped her arms around his neck, “I smelled you when you came in.” Mike held her tight and she felt the tension in his shoulders, “What’s wrong?”

Mike sighed, “I just don’t know if I’m up to this, Tills. I’m second guessing myself on everything I decide.”

“I heard John was given a Warthog.” Mike lowered his eyes and shook his head. “Mike, we don’t have the luxury of just sending anyone out to face this enemy. If the pilots of the Hogs aren’t good, we’ll lose all air support for our troops. I’ve seen the tests and the kids are going to have to carry that particular load.”

“What did Jeff say?”

“He was ticked off that John was better than he was.”

Mike snickered, “That sounds like Jeff.”

“Sit down, Mike.”

Mike went and pulled a chair over to the main console and Tilly held his hand, “Mike, the forts are growing quickly. Most of the populations have settled into their new homes and though a number of manufacturing centers have been built, there’s not enough work for many of those that want to contribute. The number of warriors being trained will soon be a million and I suspect it will be two million in less than another six months. We are slowly getting back up to speed on learning how to fight.”

“What about the regulation that everyone on the planet older than twelve has to wear a portable force field and carry a Sliver gun?”

Tilly’s brown eyes twinkled, “The little bit of crime we had vanished. It appears no one wants to take on anyone with warrior training. The crazies that came here have been pretty much eliminated.” Mike smiled. “One more thing.” Mike looked in her eyes. “You know we brought a huge number of tanks here from Earth?” Mike nodded, “Salter and Anotoly have developed a tank round that is pretty devastating. It appears the tanks will be the artillery platforms for our warriors.”

“But how will they stand up to the heavy blasters?”

“The tanks can carry a Q ship’s force field. They’ll give much more than they take, Mike. You should take a look at the initial trials.”

“Tilly…I need to see you more often.”

Tilly laughed, “Then do it! I’ve missed you more than you know. Oh, and one more thing?”

“What is that?”

“The communities have stabilized and we don’t have to spend so much time getting them working together. It is coming together, Mike. You just can’t see the whole picture when you’re standing so close to it.”

“I’d be lost without you making this happen, Tills.”

“Well, you can thank Janet and Eric as well. I couldn’t have done this alone.”

Mike stared in Tilly’s eyes and sighed, “I wish we had brought our old music collection with us. I miss dancing with you.”

Tilly smiled and turned around to the console and pressed a button. She scrolled down a list and pressed the button again. The speakers in the room began playing a solid rhythm and Mike smiled and sang along with the old Gene Pitney song as he took Tilly in his arms and began slow dancing.

“I hardly ever thank the stars above, for sending me your very precious love.”

“You’ll never hear me say a prayer thanking some one way affair for sending such a lucky break…oh no darling…it’ll be with every breath I take.” Tilly leaned in and kissed Mike deeply. They continued holding each other until the song ended and then they heard clapping behind them.

“I think you two should get out of here and let the professionals work.”

Mike and Tilly turned and saw Janet and Eric standing in the doorway. Mike smiled, “Thanks, guys. Thank you for all you’ve done.”

Janet smiled, “Yeah, yeah, yeah; now get out of here and take some time to catch up.”

Mike took Tilly’s hand and walked out of the main communication center. He was ready to work the next day. Tilly always brought the best out of him.

J
osh banked the Warthog at an impossible angle and used the wing’s upper thrusters to push the plane into a descent that was stopped with the lower thrusters on the wing. He absently thought that the hog would have lost a wing in its previous configuration. The new fuselage was incredibly strong and the gravity units relieved much of the stress on frame. He saw the target maneuvering a mile ahead and lined up the shot in his helmet.

The cursor started flashing and he gently pushed the firing button on the steering wheel. He immediately released the button but two hundred rounds hit the target and exploded it into fragments. He whipped the Hog hard left and then back to the right as training beams from other mobile targets began to reach out. He pulled up and went to full thrusters as he pressed the mass button under his left thumb. The plane flashed into the atmosphere and Josh saw that he had been hit by two beams making his escape. He shook his head and knew that maneuver was not one to use. “If the targets could hit him…” He sighed. Getting in to attack ground targets against modern computer guided beams was extremely difficult. He read the intensity of the training beams and saw that his Hog would have survived…but barely. He checked the playback and saw that he was hit when he went vertical. Ummm…what if he had just stayed low and flew away close to the ground. He looked at his threat display on his helmet’s visor and saw two mobile targets separated by two miles.

He dropped the plane’s right wing and applied thrust from the two Assembly thrusters on top of the fuselage. The Hog screamed down to the surface and Josh added mass to stabile the flight pattern. He was twenty feet off the ground and watched the first target getting closer. The cursor flashed and he pressed the trigger and the mass button simultaneously as he banked the plane ninety degrees to the left and then flattened his approach at the second target. He added mass and began firing as the target began moving toward the cursor on his visor. The stream of shells walked across the target and caused it to explode. He reduced mass and broke hard left. He applied full thrusters and went supersonic instantly. The sonic boom roared across the landscape as he flashed away from the area of the exercise. He pulled back on the wheel and the Warthog went vertical. He looked at his scanner and saw that he had not been hit by any training beams.

He sat in his plane cruising at seventy thousand feet above the surface of Sparta and felt the steering wheel begin to feel like a part of his hands. The old pilots had screamed at the removal of the sticks that were once used to fly the old warplane but with so many new systems, the stick just wouldn’t have worked. The old veterans wouldn’t buy into it until Josh and six other youngsters shot down twenty of them in an exercise. They tried to match the kids but just didn’t have the reflexes to pull it off. Josh knew the Assembly engineers were working hard to build a new airframe but they were at least two years away from having it completed and in production. Until then, the former aircraft of Earth’s Military were going to have to be modified and sent into combat.

“Hey Hotshot, that was some pretty good shooting.”

Josh smiled, “Thanks, Prissy. How are you doing?”

“I’ve taken out four targets but I was hit on all four attacks.”

“I think I’ve just discovered that it’s safer to stay low when escaping.”

“I saw that. Were you hit on the last run?”

“No, I think the computers have difficulty separating my plane from the other targets. The Gracken Heavy beams are about twenty feet tall and, if you stay lower than that, It’s almost impossible to distinguish me from the blasters.”

“Thanks, Josh. I’m going back down and take another shot.”

“See you at supper?”

“Count on it.”

Josh watched Prissy’s Warthog turn over and instantly disappear as it went to full speed toward the planet’s surface fifteen miles below. She was good. Actually, she might even be better than him. She was just so beautiful he found it hard to concentrate around her. He knew that every other male pilot in the squadron was really jealous of him. He couldn’t blame them.

He read the scanners and saw another thirty targets had been activated and moved into the exercise area. He picked out two that were rolling side-by-side and rolled the Hog over. He’d take them from behind. Josh didn’t know that the modifications done on the A-10s had changed the character of the warplane. It was now faster than the old Raptors and more maneuverable. The modifications done on the Raptors and 35’s made them incredible. They really were spaceships now and their weapons were deadly. The giant air intakes had been smoothed over and their speed in the atmosphere went up forty percent. The addition of modern Assembly thrusters made them Mach ten. Those aircraft were not flown by the youngsters; they were flown by experienced pilots that had to pass mental tests that revealed who could do three things at once.

Salter and the Assembly scientists were able to convert the air-to-air missiles to space capability by adding thrusters on the missile’s outer casing. The warhead was emptied of its ordinance and replaced by the Sliver explosive. The missiles were not as fast as a starship traveling at full speed but it was extremely dangerous at slower speeds.

The Raptors and 35’s lost the use of their weapon bays, which is what really made them formidable in air-to-ground combat. However, the Assembly scientists and Sparta’s manufacturers decided that if they were going to be used to attack starships, they would have to have a jump drive. The weapon’s bay was large enough to house one and the rotary missile launcher was lost. However, the hard points on the wings could carry ten missiles. The closing of the air intakes also allowed a larger pod for the 22 mm Gatling Guns. The belts could now carry fifteen hundred rounds in each pod and made the Raptor truly a formidable platform. Once the Raptors were converted, the Q ships were all converted to 120 mm cannons. The technology was old but would be devastating to anything without a force field not designed to stop physical objects.

Mike watched the progress and knew that something had to be done to determine where his forces were when matched up to the Gracken. He called in his Senior Military Advisors and former Military Leaders from Earth’s armies.

Mike looked around the table and said, “I think we need to send a force to raid a Gracken held city to see how we match up to them.”

Alex looked at Mike and glanced at Adams and saw his apprehension. He turned back to Mike and said, “Our support forces aren’t ready for that yet.”

“I know, but we don’t have any idea if what we’ve developed will work against real Gracken. I’m thinking about landing a Regiment with their tanks on a city and attempt to remove the Gracken.”

“You know that landing will be challenged by the forces on the planet.”

“They’ll go in with their carriers and after the raid they will lift and go back to their transports before the Gracken can respond.”

General Williamson shook his head, “There are a lot of unknowns in this, Mike.”

Mike blew out breath and nodded, “I know. But the Assembly tells me that the city’s force field is still operational. They blew up the entrance and turned them off without damaging them. We’ll drop in and take the force field generators. Once it’s turned on, we’ll have enough time to remove the Gracken.”

Armstrong stared at Mike for a moment and said, “Why are you dropping the tanks in with them?”

“The tanks will form up outside the city and take out any Gracken that try to escape. The city is on the ocean and there’s only one way out. We also need to see if the tanks can work together under combat conditions. This is a learning exercise for us.” Mike saw the group’s reluctance and shook his head, “What happens when we go to liberate those four planets?”

Adams said, “I’m not sure what you mean?”

Mike looked at Adams, “We’re going to have to go into those cities and remove the Gracken forces without killing the citizens. All of the attacks we’ve been facing in training have taken place outside of the cities. We have to find out if we’re able to remove them.”

General Armstrong leaned back in his chair, “And how are our carriers going to land safely with heavy blasters firing at them?”

“There are very few heavy blasters in the city. Even the Gracken know they’re overkill for a highly congested urban environment; they’re too big to move around. They do have small blasters but our carriers can withstand them long enough for our troops to remove them.”

Adams shook his head, “What about the Gracken Ships in orbit.”

Mike shrugged, “This entire exercise is based on removing them before we drop our warriors.”

Alexander’s eyes narrowed, “Are you certain we’ll be able to do that?”

“We’re more comfortable with that than how our troops will do on the surface. If we don’t kill them, they will be forced to keep moving and won’t be able to bombard the surface. I suspect if we achieve the element of surprise, we’ll remove the ships in orbit.”

The questions continued for two more hours but at the end Alex said, “We can go on coming up with reasons not to do this until we have everything in place. What happens if what we’re building needs to be changed? I think I agree with Mike that we have a real need to see where we are. I think the risk is worth it.”

Adams looked at Alex and said, “Would you lead your troops into this?”

Alex smiled, “Yes, I would. What’s the matter, Seals don’t have the nerve?” Adams stared at Alex and he said, “I know how you want every detail accounted for and planned out in minute detail. We didn’t have that luxury and went in firing hoping for the best.”

Adams sighed, “You’re right. I just don’t like not knowing what they are going to face when they drop.”

Mike said, “How will we know what we’ll face until we do it? We’re operating in the dark. We have no real idea of what we’ll face or what armaments the Gracken have to use against us. I don’t want to find out in a major drop.”