Battleship Furiosa (22 page)

What the hell!

Once again, Nate had to change
his fighter's course, but this time it was made much more
difficult. As well as the constant pattern of drifting
deb
ris, there were the non-stop blasts
coming from the hidden ship. Every time he thought he was about to
break out, another chunk of metal drifted in the way and risked
possible destruction and death. The constantly moving cloud was
like some cruel videogame where it changed every few seconds. He
might have found the challenge to be fun, but not when his life
depended on it. Finally, he was trapped, with nothing but a massive
gantry and the nose of some battered looking freighter still
attached to it blocking his path.

Where is Furiosa?

Nate checked his computer
navigation systems and pointed his nose in the direction of the
massive ship. Debris drifted fro
m both
sides towards him, leaving him little choice as to what to do next.
Either he waited to be crushed alive, or he used the only tools
left to him.

When it doubt, blast your way out!

He
couldn't remember who'd said the words, but right now it
sounded the perfect solution. His eyes ran down the list of onboard
weapons, and he immediately groaned at the wall of red. The
missiles all showed as off-line, two actually coming up with
warning errors. The port side gun had a loading malfunction, and
that meant just one weapon remained functional, the starboard
gunnery system.

Work! Please work!

He
hit
the standby mode, and the gun started spinning, ready to open fire
on command. He held his breath as his finger moved to the trigger
button. Even on such an advanced fighter as the Kerberos Pattern
Lightning, weapons were still released using dumb switches and
buttons. Thought and retina-controlled weaponry were still
considered unreliable.

"Try this on for size!"

He was loud and cocky, but most
of that bravado was little more than nerves. There was always a
chance that something could go wrong. A damaged weapon system could
easily rip itself from its mount, or worse, it could cripple the
fighter, effectively leaving him to die a slow, lonely death. It
was only one gun, but the high rate of fire, coupled with the
pitching and rolling action by Nate, ripped open a path through the
last piece of debris. In that moment he spotted the gap, and
without thinking, he hit the burners.

"Now!"

The fighter made it halfway just
as a long metal gangway swung towards the side. Nate spotted it,
but there was nothing he could do other than brace himself. It
struck his flank as he burst out of the debris field, taking two of
his winglets with it.

"I made it!"

He looked back and shook his
head. The massive cloud looked bigger than the space station and
headed for the side of the group of ships. The computer had already
tagged hundreds of objects, the largest sections now targeted by
the main guns on the Byotai ships. One especially large one swung
down to the bow of Quorra, the lead Viper Class destroyer. Her two
hundred metre-long bulk looked puny next to the cloud of debris
heading for her.

"Lightning spotted.
I
t's Ensign Lewis!"

Nate knew the sound of Valdis’
voice right away, and a wide smile immediately formed across his
face. His eyes then widened as he watched a volley of gunfire from
the destroyer smash the first section apart. Smaller guns then did
their work breaking the rest up so that it struck the ship like a
shower of hail. He sighed with relief as the damage amounted to
little more than scratches or small pieces of armour broken off.
Any other ship would have taken more damage, but Nate suspected the
Nanocrystal paste gave them considerably more
protection.

What about that one?

He
rolled to the right, but with the extra damage already
sustained, his fighter proved difficult to control. The computer
shut down the fault outlet so that he could at least maintain a
reasonably straight course. He took aim and pulled the trigger. A
red light flashed up, and then a heavy thud that set off a series
of alerts through the fuselage.

Great, another problem!

More flashes
rippled along the right side of the fighter, ending in a
gout of yellow flame. Nate shook his head with frustration, and
when he looked ahead, the group of Mantis fighters were coming
right at him.

"Uh...what?"

Three launched missiles, while
the fourth blasted away with guns. All four then split apart,
separating like a growing star in front of him and then to his
rear. Multiple explosions marked the destruction of yet more
fragments.

"Ensign Lewis, get aboard now. That
goes for all of you. Back inside in four minutes, or get left
behind."

"Sir. We're on
it,
" said Lieutenant Commander
Holder.

Nate pulled on the stick, but instead
of rolling, the only response was another red light.

"Not good!"

He pulled to the left, and the
fighter rolled around, so he kept going until reaching the opposite
side. Now in position, he tapped the image of Furiosa and selected
the deck for a forced landing. The computer instantly calculated a
landing route, with more than a dozen waypoints stretched out from
him to the deck.

This is not gonna be easy.

A few more course
corrections
, and he was on the way. Once
sure the fighter was doing as it was told, he checked on his
immediate surroundings. The other fighters were still circling the
ships, blasting apart the parts of the station, while the ships did
they job. Even so, for every piece they destroyed, another four
smaller sections struck the ships. Tiny glints of light and the
occasional explosions indicated where each piece hit, yet still on
came the ships, like great icebreakers of old crashing through
frozen water. Another large deck section spun precariously close to
Furiosa before being shredded by the combined firepower of Narvhol
and Quorra. A ripple of flame marked the death of another chunk,
and through the shattered remnants came the four Byotai fighters.
They exhibited incredible skill, as well as something bordering on
recklessness.

Look at them go.

The formation of Mantis fighters
screeched past and then
made for Furiosa.
Each used their burners to easily out accelerate the Alliance
fighters. As the first made it inside the armoured hull of the
ship, Nate heard a voice that instantly put a smile on his
face.

"Nate, hold on."

He glanced back and spotted Billy
moving towards him. He had no idea where he'd been, but he was just
glad his friend had made it through all of this in one piece. Billy
accelerated alongside and then waved to Nate, who did exactly the
same back. That was the moment when the Lightning finally failed
him. First the starboard engines spluttered, and then a huge
section ripped off and vanished into the blackness. The fighter
began to spin widely out of control.

"Nate!"

Billy pulled away at the last
moment, narrowly avoiding being struck by Nate's flailing
spacecraft. He tugged at the controls, but with each passing
second, another system failed until just a handful of thruster
outlets worked, giving him almost no control. The best he could
manage was to get the nose pointing slightly at the
battleship.

I can't make it back in time.

As he thought of his
predicament
, he felt his chest becoming
heavy. In some ways it was even worse, knowing he was this close to
safety, and yet just as far away as before. Billy moved further
ahead, and though he tried to slow, Commander Higgins instantly
countermanded him.

"Aboard now, do not linger."

"Sorry,
" said Billy as he activated his burners.

The Lightning fighter pulled away
and was soon joined by Matilda and Fletcher as they headed for the
ship. Nate was actually pleased to see his friends go. With so
little control over his fighter, it was just as likely that he
would end up crashing into his friend. The one thing worse than not
making it back aboard the ship would be if he somehow did the exact
same thing to his friend. At least this way Billy had a chance.
Nate licked his lips and tried one last time to bring the engine
back to life. It pulsed once and then cut out
completely.

"Great, that figures."

With the communication system
off-line anyway, there seemed little point in trying to disguise
how he felt right now. He took one hand off the controls and used
his left hand to open his visor. Cool, but fresh tasting air
drifted into his mouth with an odd, partially calming
effect.

"Hold on, Ironclad Six, we have
you."

Nate's brow tightened as he
looked in all directions. Billy and the four Byotai were now
already on the deck of Furiosa, and that could only mean the
Lieutenant Commander and his friends. A shape appeared to his left,
and he looked on in surprise as the fighter came to within a few
metres of his flank.

"The damage is extensive from here.
Deactivate your engines and leave this to me."

Nate lifted his hands in
resignation as he watched her. Even so, he was confused at what she
proposed to do. So intently was he watching the one craft that he
didn't notice the second, piloted by Ensign Hurley. Although
lacking in Nate’s tactical skills, or the sheer intelligence of
Matilda, the young woman was a pilot of perhaps even the equal of
Rex. Only when his fighter shuddered did he look over and see her
fighter actually pressed up against his. Nate jumped but managed to
avoid hitting any controls that could have spelt disaster for all
three.

"Okay,
"
said Lieutenant Commander Holder, "Now we get to the ship, and
fast. We're running out of time."

The two fighters pushed against
Nate's damaged Lightning and partially collapsed two of the already
shattered winglets. The three then followed a long arc at half
normal speed, while the ships continued to blast away at the last
of the debris. Most of the large chunks had now floated past, but
enough remained to be of a threat. One even headed into Nate's
landing path, but a burst from the guns of Furiosa soon knocked it
aside.

"The deck is clear for you. Bring
him home,
" said Commander
Higgins.

They staggered back, like a pair
of friends helping home a drunk friend. It was the most terrifying
experience of Nate's life, as his fighter twisted and groaned
throughout the duration of the entire flight. Yet for all the
panic, they made it to the bow of the ship and the brightly lit
interior. The two fighters stayed with him to the very end, before
finally releasing him and pulling apart.

Here it comes.

Nate leaned forward, clenched his
fists
, and placed them against his chest.
For a second nothing happened, and then his fighter struck the deck
with an almighty crack. He expected it to explode or rip apart, but
nothing of the sort happened. The worst was that one of the landing
struts gave way. Luckily, with a zero-g environment, he just kept
on sliding until reaching one of the many designated landing pads.
No sooner had he slid into place, and the clamps were already
locking him down into position.

"He's on board and intact," said
the Lieutenant Commander.

"Good work. Get off the deck and
inside fast. We start our acceleration to the slingshot phase in
seven minutes. That was close."

As the elevator moved the fighter
down a level, Nate found that he had absolutely nothing to say or
do. He just waited there, a look of total astonishment on his face.
Even when he arrived on the main hangar deck, and the canopy was
lifting up, he still looked just as confused. He tried to stand,
but his legs were like jelly, so he looked down to the right where
the Byotai pilots were waiting. Billy was there, too, waving like a
mad man. Nate shook his head in utter amazement.

"How the hell did I survive that?"

The ladder was now in place, and
this time Billy clambered up to help his friend. Nate kept shaking
his head, but Billy ignored him, leaned inside, and deactivated the
harness before helping to pull him to his feet. It took almost
thirty seconds to get from the cockpit to the deck, but once his
feet were on solid ground, he could have cried with
happiness.

"You okay?"

Nate looked up from his feet at
the pale face of Cassandra. She appeared almost as surprised, and
perhaps as terrified as Nate had been. He reached out with his
right arm, and she grasped it firmly.

"Thank you, Cassandra. That was some
serious flying."

The Byotai pilots moved alongside
the others and waited for them to stop. Valdis nodded in the human
fashion, saluting as Lieutenant Commander Holder approached. The
others did the same until she gave the order for them to stand at
ease.

"Well, that was interesting, don't you
think?"

She then turned her eyes to
the
alien pilots.

"So, what do you think of your new
wingmen? Are they good enough for the Ironclads?"

The ship shuddered a little as
the engines increased in intensity. At the same time, the inertial
dampeners pushed even harder to counteract the effect of the
powerful acceleration. In a matter of seconds, they were already
pushing two-g and still moving faster. Valdis placed an arm around
both Cassandra and Nate and snorted with amusement.