Time kept trickling away, and with his inspections complete, and just under twenty four hours until it was time for launch, Devin climbed up the side of the Triple Nickel and slid into the pilot's seat. A moment later Crewman Walsh pulled herself up the side of the fighter and gave him a hand plugging into the onboard oxygen feed and strapping in. When he'd flown the fighter in he hadn't been wearing a full flight suit – which was technically against regulation - but the Eagle did have a pressurized cockpit, and outside of combat it wasn't an issue. However, this was to be a combat training flight – and Devin wasn't stupid, or suicidal. The flightsuit was designed to give him a limited span of protection in a vacuum if he had to eject.
Taking the helmet offered by Connie he eased it on and shifted his shoulders before giving the young crew chief a thumbs up, "Thanks Crewman – you do good work."
She grinned despite herself, "We'll see if you still think that after the flight. Good to be appreciated though Cap'n."
Devin nodded and the girl jumped down and stepped back clear of the fighter and gave him a thumbs up. Tapping a few commands into the console on his left side he engaged the engine start sequence and closed the canopy. He was going out to observe Red and Gold squadron's training runs on the far side of the moon. Because they were still in space dock, the forward tubes were not available for launch, and instead the Ranger was receiving and launching all craft from its rear deck. Flight deck ops had already arranged for all inbound flights to land on the starboard side of the ship, while all outbound left from the port side. So far this had worked out well.
As the impulse and warp engines came online Devin settled his hands on the throttle and stick and glanced around his surroundings. Beside his fighter, the CAG, Commander Wellington was warming up his own Eagle. Switching to the already agreed upon inter-flight frequency he toggled his mic, "Good to go Griff?"
"Aye sir, Viper Two is hot and good to go."
"Roger, switching to Control." Toggling frequencies Devin keyed his mic again, "Ranger Control, this is Viper lead – flight of two, requesting clearance for rear deck taxi and launch."
"Viper Lead this is Ranger Control. You are clear for taxi and launch at your convenience. No inbound traffic to report and yard traffic is low." Came the reply
"Acknowledged Control, Viper is cleared for discretionary launch. Keep the lights on for us."
"Will do, control out."
Flipping back to the flight frequency, "You catch that Two?"
"Roger."
"Alright, let's make this interesting. Formation taxi, line up and hold short of the redline for a formation launch. Show these young pups a couple of old hands still know how it's done."
"Roger that. You have the lead. Call the count."
Devin grinned and snapped a quick salute to Connie who was still standing off to the side observing her fighter. "Advancing throttle to taxi, I'll take the outside lane." And matching his words with action the nimble craft rolled forward on its land gear, which for the first time in over a century was actually wheeled. It made for maneuvering of large numbers of the fighters easier. Easing his fighter around a wide turn he lined up with the opened rear doors of the Ranger, glancing to his right he saw that Viper 2 was matching his wing near perfectly - excellent. "Viper flight, throttle back and engage brakes."
A moment later the two fighters sat 'cocked' at the redline on the flight deck. "Viper Flight engage repulsors and retract gear."
On cue, both fighters lifted off the deck and the landing gear retracted into its housing, "Viper 1, going to military power. On my Mark, 2 follow my lead on a 2 second interval. Mark."
With that Devin shoved the throttle forward and the Eagle fighter accelerated out of the bay – two seconds later, Viper 2 carrying Commander Wellington followed suit. Glancing back over his shoulder he saw Viper two push a bit to slide into a close formation.
"Two, this is lead, We'll make a clearing turn to starboard, make a quick pass of the Ranger and then enter high Earth Orbit around to the night side and head for the moon..." Devin glanced around the shipyards as he began his turn, nice and easy, Viper 2 easily sticking with him, "Do Red and Gold squads have any opposition on this training run?"
There was a pause and then the CAG replied, "Only simulated ground fire sir."
"Well then. What say we play the marauding CAP? It's been a while since I got to shoot at something."
"If you feel up to it sir, Red and Gold squads will be using simulation loads, we'll only have phasers, but if we set them to the same power levels that Red and Gold are using we'll be fine."
"Let's go to it then, you have a feed of the mission in progress?" Devin asked as he adjusted his course to take them into a high polar orbit
"Aye sir, patching you in now – it should be coming up on your MFD. The red outline is the combat course. Red squadron is supposed to play Wild weasel for Gold squadron, removing or distracting the ground emplacements while gold squadron makes its run on a simulated military training facility. Red Squadron is also in charge of dealing with any fighter class threats – though none were expected. As you know, the training facilities are on the dark side." The CAG paused, the continued, "So how do you want to play it Lead?"
"We'll make a warp hop to the moon as planned, but instead of coming out of warp past the moon, we'll make our hop short, slide low on the light side and make our entry into the combat area at nap of the earth. Use the feed from the defenses to see how the squadrons have themselves arranged, and then pop up and start tossing hot light. That work for you? They're you're people." Devin asked as he took his hand off the throttle and accessed the weapons panel, dialing back the power on his pulse phasers
"Roger Lead sounds like a good game plan. Viper 2 is ready to go to warp at your mark."
"Lead copy's. Acknowledge weapon power dial back."
"Weapons dialed back to simulation power sir."
"Roger. Going to Warp, restrict to Warp 1.5 on my Mark… MARK."
On queue both fighters elongated and jumped to warp speed as the computer automatically calculated their course and trajectory. 45 seconds later the fighters came out of warp, in formation heading towards the surface of the moon.
"Clear of warp, heading dirt side, nap of the earth. Keep it tight as your comfortable with 2, and we'll see what these boys have waiting for us."
The fighters entered the moons gravity and descended to fifty feet over the moons surface, traveling near the speed of sound. It wasn't safe, but it was interesting flying. Both pilots disabled the computer's altitude over-ride lock out. In combat, the damn thing could get you killed faster then the ground could.
"Lead, two. I've accessed the combat course's primary mainframe and added us to the friendly IFF list. We shouldn't have to worry about hostile ground fire. I've also silently set us as unfriendly to the Red and Gold squadrons. If they pick us up, we want to at least keep it fair."
"Copy two; I've been taking a look at the course. Sensor's show that Red squadron has placed itself in two groups of six, split into two ship elements with one group flying high and covering CAP and the second flying low and working the ground cover. Gold squadron is following on average four to six seconds behind – 2 six ship groups, the second group another three seconds behind the first. Looks like before they hit the firing area they have to bounce over a ridge line. If we push it we can beat them to the line, and pop up in the middle of Gold Squadron and give 'em hell." Devin responded, sending the feed he was pulling from the combat course over to Viper 2
"Not bad Lead. I'm game – you sure you've never flown combat with the fighter corps?"
"Positive two, but that don't mean I don't know the game. Crossing the day barrier now - we're about three minutes out. All sensors to passive – use the combat course's feed. Keep it tight."
The two ship flight raced over the surface of the moon angling for the combat range. The Captain's plan was a good one, but they had to push the envelope to make it work since both squadrons were already in the thick of it.
Ahead of them, Red Squadron was doing its best to take out the majority of the ground emplacements. The six flying CAP were using active sensors and vectoring the shooters on targets. If they were lucky, that would mean they wouldn't be paying enough attention to flying CAP.
Dropping into a trench that ran most of the way to their ridge Devin glanced over at his wingmate, and keyed his mic, "Obviously you do this for a living. Ridge is coming up in thirty seconds. We should beat them there by just under a minute. Once at the ridge, cut power and we'll settle in to wait. We'll pop up and hit the first wave of Gold squadron, then flip around and hit the second wave as hard as we can before Red Squadron wakes up."
"Roger that. Cutting thrust on your mark."
The two Eagle class fighters slid up over a berm and down under the ridgeline
"Mark - backs to the wall. We should have company in about 50 seconds. Keep it loose but stay on my wing. We don't have any ship to ship munitions so we need to share targets. Link your firing computer with mine so we stay on the same target. Copy?"
"Roger. Targeting computers linked. Call the ball Lead and we'll start the party."
Seconds ticked down, and then the six fighters that were taking on the ground cover from Red Squadron ripped over the ridgeline and headed for the heavier defenses just over the primary target. Four seconds later the Hawk fighter bombers of Gold squadron, followed suit, hugging closer to the ground. Devin's IFF showed that Gold Squadron's commander was flying lead in the first formation. Leading from the front was a good tactic – but now that Devin knew who he was he was going to die. On top of which he was flying an R model, which had the extra ECM and Recon suit aboard. Knocking him out of the battle would make it a bit tougher on the nuggets of Gold Squadron.
Keying his mic as the first flight group cleared the ridge Devin punched his throttle to the firewall, "Start the Party 2."
Devin got a double click as an acknowledgement as both Eagle fighters leapt out of their hole, paired pulse phasers ripping off pinpoint shots at the lead Hawk fighter.
Aboard Gold lead Lt Commander Rice saw her shield indicator light up and cursed, hitting her mic as she tried to break to port and away, "Red squadron missed a battery behind the rid…" Suddenly her comm cut out as the simulation software flashed a big red skull and crossbones on her heads up display… Computerized autopilot took over, pulling back on the stick and exiting her from the exercise. Keying the internal intercom - which still worked Rice growled, "Damn damn damn."
"Don't feel bad boss." Ensign Quark responded from his somewhat elevated position behind her
"And why not WEPS? We just blew the damn mission."
"I'm not sure, but that wasn't a weapons battery, I got a look, just before we were declared dead. I think that was the CAG… and another fighter. Don't know who though, but they both hit us with phasers only, probably passive targeting. We didn't have a chance."
"Sneaky bastards…" Craning her neck, Gold lead looked back down at the moons surface as they rose towards orbit. Red flashes were continuing, and there were more then a few Hawk fighters following her up to orbit under computer assist.
Down on the deck Devin hauled back on the stick which whipped his fighter around on its back, gaining altitude. Between the remaining ground emplacements that Red Squadron had missed, and himself and the CAG they'd knocked out half of Gold Squadron. Chopping the head off had slowed Gold Squadron's reaction time, but as he rolled his fighter and acquired the first of the second group, he saw that they'd broken into 2 ship elements and scattered. He approved heartily.
Two elements from the CAP group had also broken off to pursue them, but they were at least thirty seconds from engagement… Picking the closest group Devin targeted the lead Hawk and keyed his mic as he opened fire, "We've got 20 seconds before we're gonna have company 2."
"Roger. You got a plan?"
"We're local defenders. The bombers are the threat; the fighters can't do as much damage. We take out as many of the big friends as possible while avoiding their CAP." His sentence was punctuated as the lead ship from the first element pulled up sharply – it had registered as a 'kill'
Stomping on the rudder he whipped the nose of his fighter around and brought his guns to bear on the second Hawk – and rolled to port immediately as the rear phaser bank on the hawk flared to life and glanced off his shield. "Son of a…" Devin growled - he'd forgotten the Hawk's weapon officer had control of a rear mounted phaser bank. They hadn't had that problem with the first group because they hadn't seen the attack coming, and they'd been attacked from an angle the rear phaser bank couldn't reach. Rolling back on target he fired again – reducing the enemy shields as they fired on him, another glancing hit, but he couldn't handle much more.
Suddenly Viper 2 popped up from his location directly to Viper lead's Aft, and fired a long burst at the enemy Hawk – which suddenly yanked back hard and headed for orbit.
"Nice shooting two."
"Thanks for playing linebacker 1. Four left…. Shit!"
Viper 2 rolled hard to starboard as a photon missile whipped through the space it'd been in.
Devin pulled up and followed its line, targeting the first of Red Squadron that was bearing down hard from altitude and loosed a long line of phaser fire before breaking off and heading for the nearest group of Hawks, "2, See if you can keep those bastards busy, I'm gonna go see if I can punch a few more holes in our Golden friends.
"Rog…"
The two ships split, Viper 2 pulling high as Viper Lead dumped altitude and headed for the remaining bombers.
Throttle to the wall Devin rocketed over the lunar landscape. He had under a minute at best to knock out the remaining bombers before they hit their targets. Even with only four of the remaining 12, it was possible that they had enough ordinance to complete the mission.
He was only going to get one pass. Either the Hawk's weapons officers would get him, or Red Squadron would – so he was going to have to make this one count. Pulling up slightly he gained about two hundred feet of altitude above the surface, and then killed his forward thrust, over riding the automatic braking sequence he used his rudder pedals to bring the first Bomber under his guns, and opened up, holding down the trigger and painting both bombers by wagging his nose back and forth a bit with phaser fire. Neither bird returned fire immediately, and a moment later the lead bomber went down before the weapons officer of the second started firing back.
It to went down before Devin's shields reported a collapse. The lead ship however had gotten off a pair of quantum torpedoes. The other two bombers had both started loosing shots.
Kicking his rudder over he started firing at the closer of the two bombers, and the pilot tried to jink, throwing off the launch of their next two torpedoes. The second bomber suddenly pulled up, its load expended it rolled over and started playing turtle for its wingman, its weapons officer beginning to return fire with his rear phaser bank.
Shunting main engine power shields since he was coasting, Devin continued firing at the remaining two bombers, and scored another kill. His shields were failing and the torpedo loads were away however. He was about to pull out when he heard the tone of three missile locks. Two seconds later the training loads slammed into his fighter and the system counted him dead.
"Well damn. They got me."
As his ship rose to orbit, the comm system came to life "Good exercise everyone. This is the CAG. All rendezvous in orbit for re-group and flight to home plate. Oh, and Captain? That was some impressive and inspired flying. I'm impressed, even if you got dead. You'd have made a good Death Angel."
"Thanks CAG. You're people fly well. The squads are a little green, and they need to work on situational awareness yet, but it'll come. Good exercise all." Above him, a gaggle of Hawk fighters, two of the fighters from Red Squadron, and Viper 2 were waiting for him. A few minutes later the remaining fighters formed up – and with everyone under control of their ships again, the three groups warped back to the yards.
"I hear you made life hell for Gold Squadron sir." Connie said as she helped the Captain unharness after he and the fighter group and returned to the Ranger, "Didn't peg you for much of a fighter jock."
"I'm not. But I do enjoy flying. We added a completely unexpected element to their mix. I'd say we cheated, but the enemy will cheat given the opportunity and they need to know that." Devin waited until Connie jumped down before pulling himself up and out of the cockpit. "Still – they reacted correctly, if a bit slowly, and did – despite the heavy losses complete the mission. And of course, Red Squadron did kill myself and the CAG. Not a victory – but not a complete defeat."
Hopping down he blinked as he saw a rather large group of pilots clustered around his fighter. A moment later the CAG stepped through the line. "You know sir; I wasn't sure what to make of you flying that there fighter aboard. I'd seen your service jacket – I knew you were qualified, and I've heard from around the fleet that you're more then a fair pilot. You certainly have the quals to prove that."
The CAG paused, "But I'd like to say that when you told me you were going to come along to observe the exercise, I was skeptical. I didn't think you'd have the stones for this kind of flying. I was wrong – you are one of the best non-fighter pilots I've ever seen behind a stick or a control board. That was some impressive flying out there, especially from someone who's not served with a fighter squadron. I guess what I'm trying to say sir, is that while you always had my respect – as your right as our Captain… you earned a measure more today. I'm proud to serve under you. And I think everyone here would agree with me."
As one the group of pilots agreed with a heartfelt "Hooah."
Devin paused a moment, and glanced around at the collected mass, which was starting to draw a large number of the deck crew, "All I can say to that Commander is Thank You. Some of you have served with me under other commands. Most of you have not. I have always been a supporter of the 'fighter corps' as it were, even before it was thought to be a conceivable idea. What you people do, here on the flight deck, and out there in the black – is dangerous, and your survival rates have been calculated as the lowest in the fleet. However – I think what you do is important. I think having the ability to skirt an opponents defenses, and hit him where he's weakest, to give close support to troops on the ground, to have group capable of a fast, and armed response without having to bring a Capital ship into the fire zone is important. You all obviously believe it as well – for you have placed your very lives in support of this fact." Devin paused to let his words sink in and to take a breath. "There are people in the fleet who think we're wrong, and that we will fail. I tell you this now – I won't be out there on the point with you very often, but this ship will always be there to welcome you home. I will stand behind all my people. We're going to prove that this concept works. In 18 hours we go to space for the first time. Our primary mission is to protect the Federation. We are a ship of War, make no mistake about that. We have secondary functions – but our primary job is to take force to the enemy. And while I hope we will never have to exercise this role – We will if we have to. If it comes to that, I can't promise you everyone will survive. But we will always bring EVERYONE home. We will leave no one behind."
A cheer rose up from the surrounding mass; it lasted for just under a minute before the group started to break up. As they did Wellington stepped up to Devin, "I meant what I said you know – I've seen very few pilots like you. You fly by instinct. It's rather impressive to watch."
"You're a damn fine pilot yourself Commander, which I would expect in my CAG." Devin said as he headed for one of the lifts to the hanger deck
Wellington stayed with him, "But I've had years of training. This is my profession."
"If you hadn't noticed Commander, it's been mine as well. I served in Ops before I took the Command track. I spent more then my share of time in shuttle bays. I might have qualled as a helmsman in almost every ship type at one point – but I've always loved flying the little stuff." Devin paused, "But you knew that."
"Indeed. I even heard you volunteered to lead a strike group that was flying a boarding party of a pirate vessel at one point. That's not something one takes lightly." The CAG responded as they stepped onto the lift, "Hell I'd have to think twice before doing that."
"I didn't really have a choice. We had three Argo's we'd stripped down and modified for the purpose. I'd been in charge of the modifications, and if they failed, everyone was dead. I couldn't send people out in that if I couldn't go myself. Besides, I was the most experienced pilot. It was an insane run, but the Admiralty wanted someone to try for the crimes. So we went in. We lost an Argo on the way. If we'd had fighter cover, we might have all made it back." Devin glanced over at Gary, "You know you didn't have to make a big deal out of that."
"Yes sir, I did. I don't know how you ended up with this Command, especially on your first Command, but from what I saw today – I know they chose the right man. This isn't just another ship for you, you believe in the mission. And those kids out there need to know that. Those that were there now know. And everyone else will hear." The CAG replied as they stepped off into the hanger deck and headed for the door that lead back to the ready rooms, "So what do you think of the nuggets?"
"Slow. They're getting there, but not fast enough. Plus they haven't chosen unit names yet." Devin glanced at Gary, "And I seem to recall sending down an order that they get that done over a week ago."
"I know. The thing is most fighter groups get their names from something they did, or a particular oddity the unit picks up. These kids haven't been together long enough for that." The Commander responded
Devin sighed, "Alright. I'll give them a month then – then I name them myself."
"Fair enough, I'm thinking about combining the two like squadrons, make Red Squadron fly with the 'Cards and Gold with the Reavers so they start getting a feel for each other and learning from the 'experts' They need to be ready, and this might help." Gary responded as they both headed into the locker room to change
"Commander, they're your people. While I do have certain expectations, and on occasion I will over-ride your authority - I do expect you to lead your people your way, and will attempt to stay off your toes in that matter. It certainly seems to be a sound endeavor." Devin paused as he set his flight helmet into the locker and started stripping out of the flight suit, "I intend to start flight ops as soon as we're clear of the yard. I want to make sure every thing runs smoothly before we get too far out of Sol."
"We'll be ready sir. I'm looking forward to my first CAT."
"Good."
