Talosian Chronicles 2: Star Dancer (12 page)

Dren nodded. “Very good. Has the space to ground weaponry been made ready?”

The underling bobbed its upper torso. “Yes Master, as per your orders.”

“Very good. What is our arrival time to the human world?” Dren asked.

“Just under three hundred units, Master.”

“Call a meeting of all tactical and assault commanders in my quarters at a hundred units before arrival,” Dren said. “Until then I’ll be in my quarters.”

“Yes Master. Do you want me to alert you before the meeting?” The smaller being asked.

“That would be fine,” Dren said as it moved back down the hallway, leaving the Bridge.

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F
.S.S.
Star Dancer.

Selene Orbit, (Earth’s moon)

Earth, Sol Sector.

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“W
e have the modifications done, Commander. There is also a Wasp ready at the moon base, do we have your permission to proceed?” Brittney asked over the comm.

“I would like to be there if I may, you are in Beta flight control?” Ian asked.

“Of course, Sir! Yes, we are in Beta control. We’ll see you in a few moments then?” Brittney asked.

“Yes, I’m on my way, Williams out.” Ian walked out of his ready room and winked at Jenny, now setting her watch on the bridge. “I’m heading down to Beta flight control. It looks like the Wasp is ready for a test.”

“Oh? Who’s the pilot?” Jenny asked. “Last time I spoke to them, Kyle and Stephanie were fighting over it.”

“I don’t actually know, Brittney called to ask if they could proceed, she didn’t say who was flying,” Ian replied.

“Okay, I’ll tune into the channel and listen in,” Jenny said. “At least with all these projects happening, this isn’t a boring duty anymore. I’m glad I handed the missing oil thing off to Alan!”

“Alan? Uh, never mind, I’ll ask you about it later, I got the feeling they were kinda anxious to get moving on this,” Ian said.

“You’re the Commander, they’ll wait,” Jenny said.

“Right, you keep telling yourself that!” Grinning, Ian left the bridge for the maglev.

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W
hen he arrived at Beta flight control, in addition to the normal crew he found Star, Major Dommer, Brittney Benson, and John Harris standing by the large armor-glass viewport overlooking the landing area.

“Commander on deck!” Someone called making Ian roll his eyes.

“Carry on!’ Ian replied almost automatically. He approached the group by the viewport. “Gangs all here, should we get the show on the road? Oh, by the way, Jenny wanted to know who won the argument over flying this mission.”

“Chief Borhiem did. He wouldn’t allow either one to fly it. He assigned a test pilot that wasn’t involved with the project so we would get a true evaluation of the equipment. He’s a smart one, I wonder where Mrs. Laskar found him?” Brittney said.

“I don’t know. But she’s really good at finding the best people for the jobs we need them for,” Ian replied. “So, when is the launch happening?”

John nodded to one of the people forking at the consoles. The man spoke and was heard in the speakers of the room. “Wasp X-One, this is Beta control. We are green, launch when ready.”

“Wasp X-One, copies. Selene Control, Wasp X-One. Request launch clearance,” a woman’s voice said over the speakers.

“Wasp X-One, test course is clear, evaluation sensors are reporting green, you are clear to launch,” the male voice of the lunar flight controller said.

“Wasp X-One moving to launch position. Please stand-by.” The pilot replied. “Control please note that armor power levels are rising, but slowly. I think we are still good.”

Brittney who had been watching a tablet nodded. “I agree, Wasp X-One. Please proceed.”

“Wasp X-One is in the lane, ready, and here we go,” the pilot said.

Looking over Brittney’s shoulder, Ian saw the power levels and performance profile of the small craft as it took off and flew.

“Wasp X-One is space-borne. Control, I have power levels in the upper green, but stabilizing,” the pilot added.

“Confirmed X-One, please begin phase one tests,” Brittney said.

“Proceeding with phase one, item one. Standard maneuvering and handling,” the pilot replied.

Ian leaded over the console and asked the tech, “Do we have a visual on her?”

The tech looked surprised a moment, then nodded, and pointed to a large monitor mounted on the bulkhead. Ian nodded. “Thanks.”

There wasn’t really much to see. The craft itself appeared black and against the black background of space, Ian wouldn’t have seen anything if it hadn’t been for the running lights.

“Chief? You wanted us to sound off if anything seemed weird?” one of the controllers asked.

John turned around. “Yeah, I did. Whatcha got?”

“Well Sir, other than IFF and what little visual we have, I can’t get a lock on that ship,” the ensign said. “If she went dark, we’d lose her completely.”

Both Ian and John move over to look over the ensign’s shoulder at the screen. To demonstrate what she had said, she cycled through the different scanning modes available to her.

“You should be able to get an energy reading on her, she’s a flying battery!” John said and leaned over another console to begin typing. As Ian watched he pulled up an energy scan of the area, and saw nothing more than the random background noise from space.

Brittney had followed the men. “Use the IFF lock and rescan for energy readings,” she suggested.

“Control, phase one, test one complete. Moving on to test two” the pilot said over the speakers.

“Hang on a minute please, Nan. Something interesting’s going on,” Brittney replied.

The sarcasm was clear in her voice when the pilot replied. “Care to share what’s interesting with the person who’s gonna die if this bird blows up?”

“Sorry Nan, we just discovered you’re invisible, and we’re trying to find out how and why,” Brittney said.

Ian touched his earpiece. “Computer patch me into Wasp X-One test frequency, please.”

“Patch complete.”

“Nan, this is Guardian One. Do you have shields or cloaking turned on?” Ian asked.

“No Sir, that wasn’t part of this test. Can someone explain ‘invisible’?” the pilot, Nan, replied.

Ian grinned. “Other than IFF and a visual because of your lights, you are not registering on any of the other sensors. If you pulled the IFF and went dark, you’d be a ghost.”

“A ghost with guns! I can’t tell this bird from a normal Hornet so far. Should I proceed with test two?”

“I’d feel better if we had a ship close to her in case something happens,” Ian said. Knowing Talena and Cindy were off right now, and that Cindy had been cleared for duty, Ian called them. “Valkyrie flight, report to Beta Flight Ops for a mission brief on the double!” Both girls replied and said they were on their way.

“Nan, could you hold position? I’m arranging an escort for you in case you get into trouble out there,” Ian said.

“I appreciate it Guardian, the safer the better. But I got to tell you, I’m not getting that scary feeling you get when you ride something that’s going to bite you, you know?” Nan replied.

“Actually, I have no idea what that feeling would be, but I think I understand what you’re saying. Still, I’d rather someone was right there to get you if needed,” Ian replied and turned to John. “New rule, no test flights of any kind without a chaser capable of performing a rescue. I think we should make it a Centurion with a medic aboard monitoring the pilot’s health.”

“We don’t have an extra Centurion right now. All of them are out on patrols and seeding missions, I might be able to get a shuttle, but there is no way it could keep up,” John replied.

Ian nodded. “I know. So for now, I’ll send Talena and Cindy out in Hornets to shadow Nan. But let’s see if we can’t get something planned for the next tests, okay?”

“It’s gonna be a bitch for them to track her, but something is better than nothing I guess.” He turned and looked around; spotting who he wanted, he said. “Tormana! Get with operations and have them work up an escort mission for the Wasp experiment. Valkyrie flight is on tap. You gotta hustle because they’re going to launch as soon as they can get suited up.”

“On it, Chief!”  The young man said and began typing furiously.

Ian activated his comm again. “Nan, we’re going to launch Valkyrie flight as an escort for you. Next time though, we’re going to find something more suitable to recue ops if they’re needed.”

“The wing leaders for Gold Squadron, huh? That ought to cover my ass. Aren’t you related to them Guardian?”

“One of them is my wife, and the other is a very close friend,” Ian replied grinning.

“I’ve never met either of them yet, but I’ve been told they are the two best pilots we have,” Nan replied.

“By the way, is ‘Nan’ your call sign?” Ian asked.

She chuckled. “No Sir, my call sign is ‘Tinker’, ‘cause of my interest in engineering. Doc Benson calls me Nan ‘cause my name is Nancy.”

“Nan actually
is
a doctor; she has a PhD in Mechanical Engineering. Apparently she was an astronaut until she met Janet,” Brittney said off the comm. Then she grinned. “She’s more qualified to do my job than I am!” 

“I doubt that. Besides, I get the impression, she is right where she prefers to be,” Ian replied.

“You got that right, Guardian. Tell Doc Benson that just because you don’t have academics to back it up, if you can walk the walk and talk the talk, then there is no reason for you not to have that title,” Tinker said. “One of you left the mic open.”

“So, you get tired of NASA or something?” Ian asked.

“No, NASA was great, what little bit of time I was actually there. I spent more of my time as an ‘astronaut’ making public appearances and recruiting for the US Air Force. I got tired of never being assigned any real work and left. I met Janet Laskar at a restaurant just off the Academy grounds in Colorado Springs. She’s a very convincing lady, and I’m damn glad she convinced me,” Tinker replied.

About that time, Cindy and Talena came through the door, both dressed in flight suits. They came to attention, and Talena saluted Ian.

“Reporting as ordered, Sir.”

“At ease. We have an experimental Wasp fighter out there by herself. I want the two of you to go out and watch over her in case she gets into trouble. However, you might have a hard time finding her. There has been an unexpected side effect of the new armor and power systems. Without IFF and her running lights, she’ll be all but invisible to you,” Ian said.

“So we need to keep an IFF lock on her. Are Hornets the best craft to be doing this in? We have no medical and no real way to get her back here safely if we need to,” Cindy replied.

Ian shook his head. “No, they aren’t, but for the time being, it’s all we have. Her call sign is Tinker. She is in Wasp X-One and is currently in a testing hold while she waits for the two of you.” Ian looked up at the ensign that was working with operations to get the flight authorized. “Tormana, has operations got us fixed up yet?”

“Just about, Sir. They will be sending the file down here for your signature authorizing the flight, Sir,” Tormana replied.

“Good work,” he looked back at the two girls. “Go mount up and get ready to launch. We’ll give you a holler in a couple of minutes.”

Both girls saluted this time, and left the room. Looking out the window and down onto the open launch and landing bay, he saw Cindy running across the deck to the fighters. She had put her helmet on because of the noise of the bay, but Ian could tell it was her because of her shape. On the other side of the ship, and a few minutes later, he imagined Talena would be doing the same thing.

He walked over to Ensign Tormana and looked over his shoulder. When the document came up, Ian placed his hand on it and spoke. “Commander Ian Williams.”

Like magic, his signed name appeared on the bottom of the document authorizing the launch of two fighter craft as a safety escort for the duration of the test flight of the Wasp X-One. Glancing up, he nodded to John. “Turn ‘em loose.”

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F
.S.S.
Star Dancer.

Selene Orbit, (Earth’s moon)

Earth, Sol Sector.

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“V
alkyrie Two green and awaiting go.” Cindy reported.

A moment later, Talena, out of breath, could be heard. “Valkyrie One is green. Valkyrie flight waiting for go.”

“Mission has been authorized, Valkyrie flight. You have a go. Transferring launch control to fighters, launch when ready.”

“Valkyrie flight, Tally ho!” Talena called and Cindy pushed her throttle into over-boost, and released the little fighter’s restraints. She shot down the tube, pushed by the thrust of her craft as well as the cascading magnetic fields that assisted the fighter to accelerate into attack speed as soon as it left the launch tube. Automatically, she extended the short wings and turned to form up with Talena.

“Valkyrie is clear and on mission. Where are you at, Tinker?” Talena asked even though she already had IFF lock on the experimental craft.

“It looks like you already know the answer to that, Valkyrie. Just keep coming, and you’ll run right over me,” Tinker replied.

“Well, we wouldn’t want that, Tinker!” Cindy replied.

“Wasp X-One, this is control. Please engage all landing lights and visual recognition markers until Valkyrie flight has a positive visual on you,” one of the controllers said. It made Cindy grin to know they were trying to prevent a mid-space collision. ‘Well, that is their job after all’, she said to herself.

Ahead of her, about twenty kilometers Cindy could see one of the lights of space get brighter. However, at this distance, the Wasp still looked like just another star in the heavens.

“I think I see you, Tinker, but we’re still a ways out. I think we’re going to need to put neon lights along the outline just to be able to see you!” Talena said, the grin clear in her voice.

“Intercept in five, control” Cindy reported.

“Understood, Valkyrie Two. Just don’t hit her,” the controller replied.

Demonstrating the speed and maneuverability of the small fighters, Cindy and Talena linked up with the test craft in just over five minutes.