Three years of constant combat, the intelligence to listen to the veteran gunners, and the willingness to stand and fight beside the groundpounders, had made the two teams even better and had endeared the whole group to the troops they ferried.
Now the two teams sat guarding a construction support shuttle on a covert site at the edge of the war-torn frontier while Thor orbited, silent and watchful, above.
The Senior Lieutenants' retort to the jibe was lost in the sudden buzzing of the communications alarm. The three men froze, tense and waiting. After several seconds the buzz stopped only to be followed by a voice announcement that sent chills racing down all three spines.
" All Stations from Central Command. Condition Red! Emergency recall has been ordered! Acknowledge! "
The shuttle crew leaped to its' feet. The sergeant slammed the table into its' stowage without bothering to clear the top, as the two officers raced forward. Dropping his six-foot frame into the pilots' chair, Dan Baumann settled the comm headset over his close-cropped dark hair while his fellow officer strapped into the copilot seat.
" Cencom, AS421. Acknowledged. " the pilot reported.
Dan slipped the safety harness over his broad shoulders and snapped the buckle shut around his slim waist while Tom Drummond began bringing the shuttles' idling engines up to full power.
" Ready, Sarge? " Dan asked into his headset, his dark eyes sweeping the control board before him, coming to rest on the rapidly rising power indicators.
" Locked and loaded, L.T.! " the reply came in his ear.
" Full power, Dan. " the copilot reported.
" Roger! We're lifting! "
With a shudder and a roar, the heavy shuttlecraft rose slowly from the ground.
The AS-class shuttles were not exceptionally large craft. Sixty feet long, twenty-five feet wide, eight feet high inside, the slope-sided, wingless ships were tight and cramped. Fifteen feet of the crafts' flat stern was lost to the engine room, a place crammed with the engine cores, power and shield generators, standby power cells, and life-support machinery. Ten feet of the wedge- shaped, rounded bow made up the flight deck, little more than two high-backed seats surrounded by communications equipment, flight controls, navigation instruments, a dizzying array of displays, and the mounts of the four main guns.
The remainder of the vessel was packed with lockers, storage bins, and benches and jump seats for transporting combat squads and their equipment. In the middle of the ceiling hung the supports and mechanisms for the overhead, twin-gun turret. A thinly padded bench beside the boarding hatch, with two fold-down pallets above that, the fold-up poker table, a closet-size galley and even smaller toilet facilities across from the entryway, made up the accommodations for the crew of three.
" Hold us at two-hundred until the fifty-four is up, Tom. " Dan ordered the other officer, " Has Del lifted yet? "
" Up and waiting, Dan. " the copilot answered.
Glancing out of the canopy, Dan saw the technicians below scurrying into the enormous cargo ship. Four-hundred and fifty foot long, sixty feet wide and forty feet high, the huge shuttle served as transport, powerplant, and barracks for the building crews. Dust from the raw construction site billowed in a roiling cloud beneath the huge ship as the pilots brought their power up. Once well clear of the ground, hatches still closing, the blunt nose lifted and the ungainly vessel started driving forward. Dan watched the huge craft rise upward and guided his own ship off the vessels' starboard side, glancing out to see the AS438 take up a similar position to port. Then the comm crackled in the pilots' ear again.
" All Stations, Cencom. Enemy combat craft incoming. Two groups. Group One is on an intercept course for surface detail, Group Two on a heading for Thor "
The cargo shuttle continued to claw for altitude. The two armed escort vessels maintained their guarding positions easily and the three ships raced for the stars and the safety of the big warship orbiting there.
" Cencom, CS54. Time to intercept! " the cargo shuttle pilot demanded.
" Four point five minutes, CS54. " came the reply.
Dan heard a muffled curse.
" Detail, CS54. Head for the surface. " the cargo pilot ordered, " We'll never make it to Thor before they paint
us. "
The three ships nosed over and headed down again. As they tore through the thick atmosphere of the planet, Cencom gave the detail updates on the time to intercept by the incoming fighters. The detail commander led the flight towards a vast plateau that rose from the desert south of the construction site. Secondary survey data showed the plateau riddled with deep gorges, narrow canyons, twisting trenches, and overhanging cliffs. Obviously, the command officer hoped to out distance the incoming enemy and hide amid the labyrinthine crevasses until the coming battle was done. Rolling in over the flat expanse of the mesa, the three ships ran out of time.
A red indicator began flashing on Tom's control panel.
" We've been painted, Dan! " he yelled to the pilot.
" Run for it, Captain! " Dan ordered the cargo pilot, " We'll give you some cover. "
With that, the two armed shuttles banked away from the big ship and headed off toward the incoming fighters.
" I've got them on scan! " Tom said a few moments later, " Five of them. On your board. Bravo-type pursuit fighters. Twin engines, full shields, six heavy guns, fifty KPH slower than we are though, Dan. "
" Call for some help, Tom. " the pilot said, " Shields up! Here we go! "
The five ships were coming at the shuttles in a tight, wedge formation, and considering the scope of the current conflict, it was a good bet the enemy were veteran combat pilots. Not that the two shuttle crews were novices themselves in the arts of war after having survived three years of bloody combat. Dan heard a familiar whine from back aft as the Sergeant unlocked the gun turret and traversed it forward in preparation for what was to come.
" Let's try and split them up, Del! " Dan ordered his wingmate, " You break left, we'll go right. "
" Roger! " came the tinny reply.
The two ships veered off, going wide around the outside of the fighter formation. AS421 bucked as the ships passed, shuddering to the recoil of the two-gun turret. The canopy before Dan was bathed in a deep, red glow while the shields sloughed off return gunfire from the enemy. The glow faded when the ships had passed, but the shuttle still quaked as the Sergeant continued tracking a target.
" Only one of them following us, L.T.! Another one headed west chasing the 438." the NCO reported, " Three still going for the Captain! "
" Damn! " Dan exclaimed. " Where's that help. Tom! "
" On the way now, Dan! " the copilot replied. " Wait! Cencom reports a cruiser coming in system, moving to engage Thor! Our fighters have all been recalled! "
The shuttle pilot had hoped to split the formation and draw away at least four of the attacking craft, holding the enemy off the ungainly and unarmed cargo ship until help from Thor could arrive. With a warship of equivalent size moving to engage the mother ship in battle, all the fighters would be needed in space which meant the surface detachment must fend for itself.
By failing to respond as intended to his maneuver it was made painfully clear to Dan that they were facing veteran pilots. Now, the single ships would engage the armed shuttles and try to keep them occupied, leaving the other three fighters free to attack the unarmed cargo vessel.
" He's on our butt, Dan! " the sergeant exclaimed as the ship began to shudder with the pounding guns once more.
Dan threw the craft into a sharp bank and settled on a course following the cargo shuttle.
" Knock him down, Sarge! " Dan shouted to his gunner.
" I'm sure trying to, L.T.! " the NCO replied, " He just won't cooperate! "
Even though bigger and heavier, the armed shuttle was slightly faster than the attacking ships, and it wasn't long before the craft came up behind the other three enemy fighters. Automatically, the copilot engaged the forward target sensor and Dan opened fire on the nearest ship as soon as the gunsight locked on.
Bright streaks of energy raced from beneath the shuttles bow and the enemys' stern glowed as his shields countered the incoming gunfire. The fighter began to twist and roll, trying to evade the targeting sensor and survive the attack. The Sergeant gave a loud whoop and the shuttle bucked from a booming concussion astern.
" One down, L.T.! " his voice yelled in Dan's ear.
The turret motors whined for a moment then flashes of intense energy slashed from above the canopy to strike the glowing shields of Dan's target. In another instant, the enemy shields dimmed, and faded away. Glowing fragments began to fly from the fighter where ever the bright rounds touched it. Black smoke fluttered, then billowed from the starboard engine and the enemy ship nosed over, spiraling downward, out of sight. Slashing through the dark smoke left by the damaged fighter, Dan spotted the beleaguered cargo shuttle.
Skimming close to the ground, the huge ship was weaving over a long, wide crevasse, dodging left and right in an effort to disrupt the enemy gunnery. Because it was big and slow, the cargo ship was equipped with powerful shielding generators and so far, those shields were still holding strong under the punishing assault of the pursuing fighters. But, even as he swung the sight onto another target, Dan knew that those shields would not hold for much longer.
The shuttles' forward sensor locked onto another of the fighters and Dan opened fire. The Sergeant did not add his rounds this time, though. Instead, the turret whined about and thundered aft again.
" Incoming, L.T.! " the NCO bawled, " Looks like he took out Lt. Grieves! "
That was a sad but logical deduction. Sad because of the years they had all been friends and comrades in arms, logical because Del Grieves would never have let the fighter get away while his ship could fly. When all else failed, Del would have rammed the enemy ship to knock it down.
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