CH1
"Hey Babe can you hurry it up some? We still have to pick up Don and have you drop us off at the Base." Tom calls out to his wife.
"I'm coming, I'm coming." As L comes into view trying mightily to get her pants buttoned. "My damn pants don't fit anymore." L complains.
Tom just chuckles. "You knew two months ago that you were going to have to go shopping for some new clothes."
"I know. I was just hoping these would last a little longer is all. They are my favorites." L isn't really mad. And she knows she is big on procrastinating. And going shopping for maternity clothes is just not high on her list of things to do.
"You talk to your sister this morning?" Tom is curious.
"Kind of. Mostly what I heard was a lot of yawning." L informs him.
"Oh, and did a certain little someone keep her up all night?" Tom is not surprised and not looking forward to being in the same boat in a few months. Ok, that's wrong. He is looking forward to being a dad. Just not the losing sleep part.
"Yea, seems a certain someone wanted to be fed every few hours all night long. And if he wasn't crying he was pooping and peeing." L informs him.
"And to think we get to join them in the land of 'Misery' in a few months." Tom is joking and it earns him a playful swat to his chest from L.
"And it'll be my misery as I have to get up and feed him and change him. Unless you somehow manage to grow breasts. Not to worry though. I'm sure my mood swings and late night cravings will keep you up all night long between now and then." L is reminding him of his pain to come.
"That and my sudden need to hurl as I watch you eat M&M's wrapped in sliced pickles coated in hot sauce." Tom remembers the story his brother told him about Jenn.
"I eat that and I'm going to hurl with you. I still don't know how she got that to stay down? The smell alone made my nose bleed." L agrees.
Tom can only laugh. "Keys, purse, shopping list?" He asks.
L jiggles the keys in her hand. Shows him her purse and kisses his cheek about the shopping list.
They didn't have to drive far since Jenn and Don only live 2 houses over on the same street. Tom hopped out of the car and rang the door bell.
"That'll be Tom and L, I have to go Hun." As he stops to kiss Jenn and the baby in her arms that she is feeding.
"You be careful. I look terrible in black." Jenn reminds him.
"It's just a milk run. High speed run out to some asteroids. Blow up a few and a high speed run back. Simple" Don reminds her, again!
"I'm still going to worry. Space is unforgiving you know." Jenn is proud of the work her husband does. Just wishes it was a little safer is all.
"We'll be fine. These two are the newest B version. Everyone else is still stuck with the A version. Nothing to worry about. I'll be back for dinner tomorrow. … You be nice to mommy." As he kisses the top of the baby's head that is presently attached to his wife's nipple, and heads out the door.
The drive to the base entrance is mostly made up of baby talk. As in real baby talk. What little Alex has done since getting home from the hospital only a couple of days ago. That and the fact that there are no more M&M's, pickles or hot sauce in the house.
"Laugh it up fuzz ball." Don is teasing Tom. "You just wait, Emily will think of something obnoxious and smelly to eat in the middle of the night."
L takes exception to this comment. "I will not! She may be my sister but that doesn't mean I have her taste buds. Or lack thereof." L is offended.
"$50 says you find something just as obnoxious before delivery." Don is willing to put his money where his mouth is.
"You are on fly boy. That should be enough to help get the stroller I'm looking at getting." L tells him.
Don just laughs and gets out of the car and heads for the gate. Tom leans over and kisses his wife. "I will see you for dinner tomorrow."
"You just see that you do. I'm not raising this baby all by myself." L counters.
This gets L another kiss and Tom exits the car and joins his brother.
The briefing for the flight was simple. A high speed run out to the asteroid belt, fire a single missile at an asteroid to test the new targeting system and a high speed run back to Earth. Each ship will be fully loaded out and topped off with fuel. Everything will be recorded so they can review the data later.
After this high speed sprint and analyze the data they will arrange for a long term high speed cruise around the system in a few days.
This will help them analyze the new engines in the B version as opposed to those still in the A version.
It was also part of a test of the newer flight suit. They had incorporated improvements similar to the targeting system used in the old Apache Helicopter targeting system. It required you to look down at your instrument panel as often. Which was the main problem with the A version.
They had tried this new suit with the A version, however there was so much solar dust that the software was having difficulty on selecting targets. So they had dropped it for the earlier A version.
Preflight had been completed and they were breaking orbit. Being brothers is part of what made this pair so good. Although it didn't hurt that they really were good. And they may be brothers, but out here the talk was all serious.
They were sending back their opinions of the ship and the suit to go along with the flight data that was already being recorded.
The high speed out had shown it wasn't quite the gas hog that the engineers thought it was. Not that it wasn't burning up fuel, it was. Just not quite as fast as they had anticipated.
Tom was all set to line up an asteroid and turn it into space dust when Don came on and told him to hold.
"You see what I see?" Don was all business. But he knew his brother and something in his voice caught his attention.
Scanning over everything Tom finally spotted the two dots moving fast. "I do now. Better tell base."
"Everett this is Whisper flight, I have two bogies inbound from outside. Are there any other scheduled flights tests taking place?" Don calls in.
"Hold one Whisper. …. Negative Whisper. You two are all that should be out there."
"I don't like this bro." Tom is telling his brother.
"Let's find a rock and go silent." Don offers.
"Right behind you."
They each settle in next to an asteroid and shut down all emissions. And watch as the bogies fly over them on their way towards Earth.
With the radios down, they are both talking to themselves and the language is not pretty.
It was a flight of four. Not two. The second pair was tucked in nice and neat behind and a little under the front two. Worse, they both knew from Uncle Rick and Lucile just who was flying them.
Honji Sinhindrea!
Don was powering up with Tom only a fraction of a second behind him.
"Everett this is Whisper one, we have four enemy bandits inbound towards Earth. We are engaging. Request additional ships for support." Don calls out as soon as power is up.
"Say again Whisper one. What enemy bandits?"
Don knows he can't tell them. And even if he did it would take too long to explain. However his brother is a little quicker than he is.
"Everett this is Whisper two. I'm taking enemy fire. I'm going evasive. Request immediate support." Tom calls out. It's only a white lie, since both of them are going to actually be in combat soon.
They both push their engines to full and are coming up on the four fast. Since the laser's have a better range and the missiles are meant for in close they both wait until they are in missile range and then fire their lasers and have the first missile off on the other two.
The new targeting systems on the suit seemed to be working out nicely. The Pulse Lasers are locked on and fire while the missiles have tone and are launched.
The new Pulse Lasers make quick work of the first two and find something vital and explode nicely. Then everything goes straight to hell.
"Son of a bitch. How did he do that?" Don is now talking. These two already knew who they were going after without having to communicate. Which is good when you are trying to sneak up on someone.
His second target had suddenly turned on a dime and was rocketing back their way. Their missiles had no chance of making the turn and just went out past them on a ballistic trajectory.
Don had reached a conclusion. "Punch it Chewie!" However Tom had already come to the same conclusion. They were never going to out turn these guys. Maybe they had more speed and could do strafing runs on them.
The enemy had started firing on them, however due to the speed of the closure rate, Tom and Don were already past them when they started. Problem was it took them a long time to turn around. And when they did they were going head on with them again.
They both fired their pulse lasers from long range and watched as the enemy with superior maneuvering capability dance out of the way. As they got closer they went to maximum speed and caught them off guard again.
However they had a little trick of their own. They both fired their rear facing missiles as they passed. The two enemy had again turned on a dime but one of them was too slow to counter the missiles. He blew up into a very nice number of little pieces.
However Tom and Don were just getting a surprise of their own. Enemy fire from a different direction suddenly reached out and clipped Tom's ship.
"I'm hit. I've got an overload." As Tom's ship veered off out of Don's visual sight.
They have both gotten stupid and had done a rookie mistake. They were too fixated on the enemy they had and were not watching out if they had friends.
Don could now see two more come flying in at high speed and pass them by. He could also see Tom's ship for a little bit before it disappeared.
"TOM!" Don had cried out. Tom was gone. "Bastards you are soooo going to pay for that!" Problem was it was three against one now and they were far more maneuverable. "Where the hell is my help?"
Just as he was thinking it the latest two, one of which had made Tom disappear. "Hey boss, you call for help?" And a flight of six suddenly showed on his display.
"I've got one left. We have to get him. And be careful they can literally turn on a dime. Do high speed runs only." Don informs them.
It was now seven against one and he went down without much trouble.
Don was about to ask everyone slow down and do a search for Tom when he got a new contact. It was just clearing the asteroid belt and it was a lot bigger.
"Form up I've got a new contact." Don tells the rest of the flight.
As they get closer. "What the hell is that?"
"Cut the chatter. Target the rear quarter and put everything you can into it. Let's go children, it's time to play."
Don is faster than the A's but he is not leaving his wingman behind, or his flight. They fight together.
Don does however get the first shot off since his pulse lasers have a longer range. They make a high speed pass and hit his target of choice on one side and sweep around and hit it from the other.
Just as they are finishing their turn for another pass, the target blows up in its own mini version of a super nova.
"Ok, nice work. Now everyone slow down and help me look for Whisper two." Don directs.