Chapter 2:
The Asteroid Belt Fiasco
---
One thing Richard McKnight had learned about the GTVA fighter pilot training
program was that it was not like the military boot camps he was used to. After shipping
out to Port MacArthur, his group of trainees was transferred directly to the GTD
Aquataine, the flagship of the 3rd fleet based in the Capella system. The Aquataine was
among the first ever built of the new Hecate-class destroyers. Over two kilometers long
and half a kilometer in height, the Aquataine boasted a crew of over 10,000.
His training instructor, Lt. J.G. Janice Fargo, had surprisingly few rules. One of
them was that the training simulators were good for finding a way around a cockpit, but
nothing, absolutely nothing, matched actual field training. And thus, a large number of
their exercises were performed around the Aquataine itself, with live fire.
One of Fargo's rules was that "Everybody follow the rules." This was not
as simple as it may sound, as just one of Fargo's rules could be just as harsh and damning
as combat itself, and were seemingly posted for the express purpose of annoying cadets.
Another such rule was "Everybody fights, everybody works." This meant not only did
pilots risk their lives flying, but were also required to maintain and inspect their own
equipment. In the GTVA there was no such thing as a squadron mechanic, and even in those
old archaic outfits that sit had one, he didn't get to sit around in the cushy ship while
the squadron went out fighting. Everybody fights.
To McKnight, there was no problem with him administering care to his own
equipment. He had been a mechanic at some point before he enlisted. However, the
training squadron did have at least two fatalities due to mechanical or technical neglect.
Another facet of Fargo's "Everybody fights, everybody works" was the less
pleasant menial work. This meant kitchen duties, guard patrols, even the dreaded toilet
duties. McKnight had shrugged and figured out that somebody had to do it, and the
GTVA sure wasn't going to waste it's space and time in employing janitors to a military
destroyer.
When he looked back on his training, an event that he would remember above all
else would be his first "real" flight outside the GTD Aquataine. After several weeks of
simulator runs, he was familiar with the controls of the standard GTF fighters, and had
even engaged his squadron mates in mock combat. But both he and his wing were
completely unprepared for this mission.
The call from Lieutenant Fargo had come at 0345. Groggily, he had switched on
the intercom system and was told to be in the hangar bay in 10 minutes, fully flight-ready.
Waiting for him there was a standard GTF Ulysses fighter. He had flown the Ulysses
some times during training, but not often enough to become used to it. The Ulysses-type
fighter was a Great War relic, but still capable of pumping out more speed and
maneuverability then the new Hercules Mark II.
"Okay, pilots, run through your pre-flight checklist while I give you your orders,"
Fargo's voice announced through the communications system. "We will be flying as Alpha
Wing of the mock squadron 999th Minnows. I will be designated Alpha 1, and you will
obey each and every one of my commands. However, no matter what, remember to use
your judgment."
Richard could feel the cockpit begin to thrum with power. No simulator could
match this. "Cadet McKnight, you will be designated Alpha 2. Flying Alpha 3 will be
Cadet Bruner, and Alpha 4 is Cadet Jefferson." Richard nearly stopped in surprise, but
managed to keep running standard diagnostics. The same Jefferson he had met in the
hotel?
Richard heard a faint whistling sound as the atmosphere was evacuated from the
hangar bay. A whistling that faded away into nothing.
"Began take-off procedure. Alpha squadron, trigger thrusters to leave dock on my
mark." Directly ahead of Richard's fighter, the vast, cavernous hangar doors began to
slide open. Whatever atmosphere was left in the bay flooded out into the vacuum.
A single Ulysses fighter rose above the other assorted craft in the Aquataine's
hanger. "Alpha 1, launching," Fargo reported. Her fighter soared out of the bay and into
the void. "Alpha 2, mark." Richard triggered his vertical thrusters, and carefully soared
out of the hangar.
When he cleared the doors, a sudden rush hit him. This was real. This wasn't
going to be controlled. Nothing in reality ever was. A mistake out here could not only
kill him, but his squadron as well.
In quick succession Fargo ordered "Alpha 3, mark! Alpha 4, mark!" All four
fighters pulled around outside the Aquataine.
It was the first time Richard had seen the Aquataine from the outside since he
arrived on the shuttle. And then, it did not have the feeling of... life, and actuality that it
had now.
Simply put, the Aquataine was massive. Two kilometers long. A pilot could
spend hours flying astride it, marveling at the technological wonders encased in its hull.
Not any ship could earn the designation of Destroyer.
The Official GTVA definition of a Destroyer-type vessel was a ship over a
kilometer long, with a crew complement of a minimum of 7,000. Armor had to be well
beyond class G, and at least six beam cannons, eight missile and flak turrets, and twelve
laser ports also had to be present. Anything less would be classified as a Cruiser or
Corvette.
This meant that the Destroyers could stand up to virtually any threat. Almost
nothing could pose a danger to its mammoth interior. Destroyer-class vessels were
extremely difficult to find; the GTVA only had twenty of them, although two had recently
defected to the Neo-Terran Front. Richard considered himself extremely lucky to be
assigned to such an invincible symbol.
The Aquataine was only the second destroyer of the Hecate class to be built. The
original GTD Hecate was currently on assignment to exploration, but the Security council
had recently cleared the Aquataine, and the rest of the 3rd fleet, for combat duty in the
NTF contested systems. From what Richard had heard during the chatter at training, the
Aquataine would arrive in the Deneb system.
It was hard to feel alone out here, Richard noted. From what he had expected,
being a starfighter pilot would give a person an undeniable feeling of loneliness and
isolation during flight. That was difficult out here, however, where the Aquataine
consumed nearly a third of the view.
"Alpha wing, form up. Diamond pattern." As if by instinct, Richard guided his
fighter until he was a mere 150 meters away from Fargo's port. Bruner pulled in to a
nearly identical position on her starboard, while Jefferson remained a full 200 meters
directly behind Fargo.
The GTF Ulysses was a versatile ship, carved by engineers until it was very thin,
almost a wedge shape, making it difficult for hostiles on the Ulysses's tail to maintain a
weapon lock. The Ulysses was very broad horizontally, however, making attacks from
above or below substantially easier. Two twin engines in the rear were illuminated by ion
exhaust trailing from release tubes. It was these bright lights that Richard mentally fixed
on to, keeping on eye on them to ensure he would remain in formation.
"I'm transmitting the Aquataine's flight coordinates now. You should see a jump
node 11 kilometers away at 12 o'clock." At the very same moment that Fargo said this,
Richard's internal cockpit HUD created the green frame-work of a spherical polygon at
the coordinates she had indicated.
The sphere was created by the ship's internal computer and projected onto the
cockpit window to show pilots a point where the normal laws of subspacial physics ceased
to apply. A point where a starship's subspace drive, properly manipulated, would create a
tear in the fabric of space, and join two points at once. Both points would have to be
within the confines of one of these nodes.
These points were only created in substance by the gradual erosion of space
caused by a large gravitational field, such as a sun. At seemingly random positions in a
given star system, the gravitational pull would cause substance to give away, creating
these nodes. The nodes would allow a starship to reach another star. The Aquataine was
headed directly towards it.
"Okay, Minnows, listen up. Ahead is the jump node away from Capella,
destination Vega. From Vega, the Aquataine could proceed easily to the Deneb system,
where Command has requested our presence. The jump node ahead is not widely used,
but it will get us to our destination in the shortest amount of time."
"The reason, Cadets, that it is not widely used is because it exists within an
asteroid field. The asteroids here, while not posing a significant threat to the Aquataine,
may be able to cause minor damage to the Aquataine's hull. Because Admiral Petrarch did
not see the need to sortie the actual fighter squadrons on the Aquataine, he has authorized
our deployment as a training mission. I've picked the best and the brightest from the
training group for this mission, and you people are it. Your objectives are to destroy any
asteroid you see on a collision course with the Aquataine."
"Oh, and pilots... do not miss your target and hit the Aquataine. If so much as a
single burst from your cannons impacts the destroyer's hull, you will be relieved of your
duties as a Cadet in the GTVA fighter pilot training program. This is a Live Fire Exercise.
Understood?"
Richard gave his assent, as did the other two pilots. Richard still could not discern
if Alpha 4's voice was the same he had heard back on the hotel.
"Good. Your onboard computers will calculate each asteroid's course. Asteroids
on a collision course with the Aquataine will be illuminated on hull with white brackets.
You may begin."
His rear monitor projected and highlighted the positions of the target asteroids on
Remmington's front window. Below each bracket was the distance from Richard's fighter,
and the asteroid's distance from the Aquataine. Five were headed directly towards the
prow of the Aquataine, though Richard's target was only 500 meters away from a
collision.
Alpha 3 cut in the communications system. "Shit, shit, they're too close! Alpha 1,
the asteroids are too close!"
"Dammit, what the hell's going on?" Fargo burst, "this isn't supposed to happen!
Aquataine, those coordinates you gave us were bogus!"
"Alpha wing, engage full burners and intercept those rocks!" Jefferson ordered. It
was all the sign Richard needed. He triggered his afterburners, welcoming the unfamiliar
acceleration, and soared alongside the Aquataine's hull towards his target.
The first asteroid was now only 350 meters from the Aquataine's hull, while
Richard was still 1150 meters away from interception. Out of laser range. He let up on
his afterburners slightly, to let them recharge, before he activated another burst. The
asteroid now 250 meters away from the Aquataine. It was now or never.
The weapon load-out Richard's Ulysses had been assigned for this mission was not
a very strong one. He was only armed with 2 Subach HL-7 lasers, one on each side of his
prow, and no missiles. The Subach HL-7 was not the strongest weapon in the GTVA's
arsenal, but it would have to do for this mission. He squeezed the trigger.
Three duo-bursts of purple-tinted energy blasts screeched away from the Ulysses's
cannons. The pure destructive force of the lasers shattered the asteroid, splitting it into
three separate pieces, and spewing out a fiery inferno in all directions.
What was left of the rock was then completely hidden by the flame now spewing
from the center of the asteroid. Richard hit his burners again to escape being torn apart by
the shock-wave sent away.
That wasn't right, Richard knew. The asteroid should have just shattered, not
literally vaporized so violently.
"The ore in this asteroid reacts explosively with our weapons fire," Fargo said.
"Learn to expect the unexpected, kids." Another nearby asteroid disappeared behind a
shadow of fire, never to return, before the vacuum of space extinguished it.
Richard acquired his next target, a larger asteroid 630 meters from a collision point
on the Aquataine. Once again, Richard hit his burners, and fired five shots from his
primary cannons into the rock before pulling away. The explosion nearly blinded his
fighter's optical sensors, and the shock-wave rolled over the Ulysses, shaking the fighter
with an uncomfortable low frequency rumbling.
A nearby asteroid smashed through the Aquataine's hull, piercing it in several
places, but it did not breach any life-support chambers. The explosion nearly
overwhelmed Alpha 4's fighter with molten shrapnel. "Shit!" he yelled.
"Aquataine," Fargo said urgently, "if you want to avoid major damage to your sub-
systems, I suggest you get your gunners on station to assist us, now! Minnows, let's stay
concentrated."
The debris that was now littering the void had knocked another asteroid on a
collision course with the rear of the Aquataine, near the destroyer's engine exhaust tubes.
"My computer says we have another eight rocks heading directly towards the Aquataine.
Intercept, and shoot to destroy. Disregard my previous orders about striking the
Aquataine with your lasers. If you can destroy one of those rocks, a few grazes will not
hurt the Aquataine. Alpha 2, kill that asteroid approaching the engines."
Richard pulled away from the primary conflict, and engaged full burners towards
the destroyer's rear. He did not have a direct line of sight on his target due to the angle, as
the Aquataine itself blocked his shot. He whipped his fighter haphazardly around the
corner, and found himself on the destroyer's rear quadrant.
It went unspoken how important it was for Richard to destroy this one asteroid. If
the explosive material in that rock were to travel into one of the exhaust tubes, the damage
to the Aquataine would be far more then "minor." The worst-case scenario was that the
engines on the ship would be forced to shut-down, leaving the Aquataine adrift in an
extremely hostile environment.
Funny, Richard thought. All this hype about how much power was present in the
Aquataine, and how it was nearly invincible, and suddenly the destroyer finds itself
threatened by the most innocent of natural occurrences, an asteroid field.
As the Ulysses round the corner, Richard could just barely see through the
Aquataine's ion exhaust to see a large, dark mass approaching it. The exhaust was
blinding... the fighter's optical sensors were now completely blinded by the bright pillars of
energy streaming away from the destroyer, leaving Richard to operate by his eyes alone.
By his own inexperienced judgment, Richard extrapolated that was still out of laser range.
He would have to enter the stream of ion exhaust itself to acquire a solid lock. Damn.
The Ulysses entered the ion stream. The pure, negative energy washing over the
hull of the ship began to cause it to rattle, filling Richard's eardrums with an uncomfortable
low frequency roar. He resisted the impulse to shield his eyes from the storm that
engulfed him. The shields on the Ulysses began to flutter in and out of existence as the
cockpit around him began screaming warnings as a result of the engine wash.
Richard snapped off five shots at the asteroid, then soared away from the engines.
He couldn't tell if he had hit, the only indication that anything at all had happened was that
the exhaust trail was suddenly brighter for an instant. He pulled back towards the main
conflict, near the Aquataine's prow, eyes and ears throbbing with pain.
Fargo sounded nervous in his headphones. "Aquataine, where the hell are those
gunners?"
An asteroid that had slipped past Alpha 3 impacted with the hull of the destroyer,
shattering the already abused metal. This time, the explosion went directly through one of
the ship's internal life-support chambers. Richard only saw a plume of oxygen seep away
from the flames before his ship streaked past. He was assaulted visually with three more
explosions Alpha wing continued to struggle. Bruner, flying Alpha 3, began to panic.
"The damage these asteroids inflict isn't minor! The density isn't light! Somebody
made a goddamn mistake! Somebody made a big goddamn mistake!"
"Aquataine, report! Where the hell are those gunners, Dammit?!"
"This is the Aquataine," a female voice said. "Emergency bulkheads have sealed.
Pilots, our weapons subsystem has taken damage. We need at least two minutes to get it
online."
"Who is this? I only have trainees out here, and we need help, NOW!" Fargo
vaporized another asteroid. Richard locked another in his sights, and shattered it with his
Subach, escaping before the shock-wave could claim him.
"This is Lieutenant Alice McNeil, flight communications operator operating with
the authority of Admiral Petrarch. Minnows, we are currently scrambling Beta wing of
the 107th Ravens. They will assist you. After Beta wing launches, we will also sortie
Kappa and Delta. Until then we need you."
Two more asteroids blazed away in silent destruction. Richard targeted another
asteroid, and swooped in dangerously close to the Aquataine's hull, full burners engaged.
"Careful, Alpha 2," Fargo cautioned.
He pulled away again, and participated in the transformation of an asteroid into a
ball of fire and debris. The asteroid had been a mere 50 meters from the Aquataine before
he killed it.
"This is Beta wing of the 107th. Launching now," a monotone voice reported as
four Hercules Mark II fighters soared out of the Aquataine's fighter bay. "Minnows, once
we sortie Kappa and Delta, you will be relieved. Until then, your help would be
appreciated."
"YOU'RE help would be appreciated," Fargo growled, "when you move your
ASSES OVER HERE! MOVE!"
Space had ceased to become a complete vacuum. The gases and plasmas from the
vaporized asteroids had created a thin layering surrounding the Aquataine. Dust and
particles had begun eroding the fighter's hull until Richard had switched his shields to mass
repulsion.
Larger chunks of debris were continually colliding with incoming asteroids,
shifting their courses by critical meters. Several of the rocks were shifted away from the
Aquataine... and several more were shifted towards it. Not even the advanced auto-
computers onboard Richard's fighter could cope with such a mathematical barrage as they
struggled to compute courses from nearly defunct sensors. Several times Richard had an
asteroid in his sights, only to see its status changed from dangerous to non-hostile, and
two more become dangerous. The bright flares of newly destroyed asteroids were only
added to the confusion, each explosion burning out a number of the Ulysses' limited
optical receptors.
"Pilots, this is the Aquataine. The engineers are giving me an estimated time of
one minute until gun platforms are operational. Hang in there."
Easy for you to say, Richard snorted. After he vaporized another asteroid, he
checked the status of the Aquataine. Several more of the ores had exploded within it's
hull, and the destroyer's structural integrity read as only 82% on his targeting computer.
Somebody made a fucking big goddamn mistake. How old were those records of
this belt?
The Aquataine was, however, now a mere five kilometers from the Vega jump
node.
The four Hercs rushed past Richard's craft at that moment, making his already sore
ears began to protest with the sound of their engines roaring past. He laughed
distractedly.
Now that was a funny thing. Richard didn't know if it was the stress, terror, and
desperation of the moment that caused his mind to wander while he was flying, and he
didn't care. He let his instincts take over piloting while he mulled.
The sound of their engines... funny. Very funny, something he never saw coming
until he had actually arrived at the GTVA recruitment shuttles.
There was sound in space. Not sound as Richard had been used to thinking of it.
But the power sources on most space-faring craft emitted a particular type of quantum
wave through subspace. These power sources notably included a craft's engines and
weapons systems. The wave, as it went through subspace, caused a small vibration in
every physical form of matter it passed through, including the human eardrum. The
human eardrum sent the signal to the brain, which interpreted the vibrations as actual
sound. The real irony here was that all the sci-fi flicks of the twentieth century got
something right... the fancy weapons and ships depicted in those ancient visions of the
future actually would make sound.
Richard was snapped back into reality by a nearby asteroid detonation. He found
that he had maneuvered to sight an asteroid that was heading towards the Aquataine, and
vaporized it, and hit the burners again to avoid the shock-wave. His engines started to
moan in protest.
"This is Kappa wing of the 107th Ravens. Launching now." Four new fighters appeared
on his fighter's sensors.
"All ships," McNeil said, "stand clear of the asteroids. Gunnery reports all systems
online."
"Roger that, Aquataine," Fargo said. "Minnows, kill the asteroid you have
targeted, then form up again 2 klicks from the Aquataine. We're heading into the node."
Richard didn't have anything targeted, so he pulled away to the coordinates now indicated
on his nav-comp. "Make sure you don't crash into any rocks yourselves, pilots," Fargo
said.
A bright blue beam emerged from the Aquataine, and vaporized three asteroids
before shutting down again. The beam was accompanied by the trademark high-pitched
whine that was actually the subspace signal Richard had though about.
Three, four, then five more beams accompanied the first, pulverizing any asteroid
they came across, whether or not it was on a collision course. "Beta and Kappa wings,
are you joining us?" Fargo asked through the comm system.
"Of course, Alpha. We're coming behind you now."
Fargo switched to the channel that would enable communications between only
Alpha wing. "Enjoy yourselves, pilots, this is the first time you'll be able to outmaneuver
the pros. Even if you do have a technical advantage with the Ulysses."
Richard smiled. "Where are we heading to, Alpha 1? With all the fire from the
Aquataine, we can't land in its bays."
"Correct, 2. That's why I'm going to prematurely test another of your skills.
We're going through the jump node before the Aquataine does. Remember your training
on the starfighter's subspace drive?"
Richard looked at the node illuminated on his forward viewport. One of the things
he did remember from simulators was that it was extremely difficult for a small mass like a
fighter to properly manipulate the subspace harmonics needed to jump across the light-
years to another star system.
"It gets tricky here, pilots."
"Oh, like we can't handle it?" Jefferson quipped. "We're only cadets and already
we've saved the Aquataine, proud flagship of the 3rd fleet, from complete destruction."
"Don't get cocky, 4. Okay, we're now entering the node. Beta and Kappa, you
ready?"
"We're from the 107th Ravens, Alpha. We're always ready."
"Of course you are. Pilots, engage drives. See you on the other side, Aquataine."
Well, Richard thought, here goes nothing. He pulled back on his throttle, and
entered in the destination coordinates to his navigation computer. Ahead of him, his ship
triggered a fluctuation in the wounded subspace of the area, opening a tear in space that
shone through the cockpit with a bright, unearthly shimmer.
The Ulysses fighter entered the rip.
---
"Cheers. Here's to the Alpha wing of the 999th Minnows," Fargo said after
debriefing, in the Aquataine's off-time bar. He raised her glass, as did the thirty other
Cadets in the crowded barroom. Richard found himself doing also, swept up in the event.
They gulped the ship-made brew down as a group.
"When class resumes tomorrow, we're all going to review the tapes from that
mission. Especially the one recorded from Cadet McKnight's craft."
Richard looked up in surprise. "My ship? Why?"
"You mean you don't know?" It was Fargo's turn to act surprised. Richard
indicated he honestly didn't.
Fargo leaned forward, as if telling a confidential secret. "Well, besides scoring the
highest asteroid kill number, besides preventing an asteroid from entering the exhaust
tubes by flying into the exhaust itself, there was a single, incredible move that you pulled
off that I want to demonstrate to the class. To tell you the truth, I haven't seen many pros
pull something like that off."
Richard merely stared at her.
"You don't know what move?" Fargo asked. Richard shook his head. "Well," she
continued, "After Beta wing flew past you, you targeted a large asteroid that wasn't
heading anywhere near the Aquataine. An instant later, a sudden asteroid collision threw
that rock towards the Aquataine's fighter bays at a fair speed. If you hadn't destroyed it at
that instant, nobody else could have prevented it from annihilating the fighter bays. It
hadn't even been listed as a target, but you saw where the collision with the other rock
would send it. You saved Kappa and Delta wings from being crushed to death in a blaze."
Richard blinked. He didn't remember doing that. How well did Lieutenant Fargo
take her alcohol? He opened his mouth to ask jokingly...
Wait.
He remembered that at the exact moment Fargo had indicated his mind had been
occupied with the problem of sound in space. He had been flying purely on instinct,
disconnected from the conscious portion of his mind. It wasn't possible he had picked that
asteroid to kill from sheer luck...
Or had his subconscious done it for him? Detected the collision between the rocks
before it happened, using the same portion of his brain that could actually calculate where
a ball in flight in a gravitional field would land so he could catch it? It wasn't unheard of.
Richard glanced around him, at his classmates. They were looking at him in
complete seriousness.
He looked down at his empty shot glass, and reformed the words in his mouth.
"Damn, I guess I don't take alcohol well."
A chuckle erupted from the crowd.
"So let's get some more into us!" Fargo yelled then. "We need an excuse! Here's a
toast to Beta wing of the 107th Ravens!"
"Here, here!" came the eager shout as glasses were drained again. Richard barely
had enough time to refill his own glass to make the next toast.
"Here's to Kappa wing!" Again the oily brown liquid swilling in glasses was
transported into the bloodstream. Another toast followed as Cadets rushed to refill,
shouting and laughing eagerly and then drunkenly. "Here's to Delta wing, even though
they didn't launch before the guns came online!"
Richard decided to retreat to the back of the fray then. He had gotten enough
insanity for one day, and wanted time to brood. However he was interrupted as another
pilot who had left the mayhem sat down next to him.
"Jefferson!" Richard burst. "I've been looking for you!"
Red Jefferson set his glass down on the counter and smiled. "So you remembered
my name. That was some pretty fancy flying out there."
"Not so bad yourself, Cadet."
"Psssh," he grunted. "No kidding. There was this one time, when I had an
asteroid in my sights when it was just 20 meters away from the Aquataine, and I..." he
trailed off, shaking his head. "Damn, but that frightened me out of my wits when I heard
Fargo report the bogus coordinates. I swear my blood was boiling! How 'bout you?"
"I was too panicked to do anything but sit there, for a while, before I engaged
burners."
Red guffawed, and idly surveyed the drunken mess the bar had degenerated into.
"I'm kind of chagrined that the Admiral didn't personally thank us," Red said.
"One of those rocks could have landed in the bridge."
"Can't get everything. We're only Cadets, Red. Don't expect full honors... yet."
"Yeah, yeah... still, we risked our lives to save his ass. Doesn't that count for
something? Don't give me any bullshit about rank, we did what we did."
Richard shrugged neutrally.
"Just like Petrarch. Expend his pawns when he needs to, if they do work for him,
afterwards he screws them out of a reward."
"Improper attitude, Cadet," Richard smiled, "Don't they kick you out for that?"
"Yeah, but THEY don't have to know, do they?" Red said, but with no trace of
humor in his voice.
Richard nodded, and decided to change the subject. "So, where are you from,
Red? Vega? Or were you like me, and just enlisted there?"
"Vega. Nice place. Almost the equal to Earth, before the explosion of the Lucifer
collapsed the jump node in Delta Serpentis. Where you from, McKnight?"
That made Richard sorry he had asked Red. He tried to shrug it off with a joke.
"Need-to-know information, pilot."
Red didn't laugh, only smiled. "Ah... again I can see where you are coming from.
After debriefing, I took the liberty of checking into your background. From what I've
found, you don't have one." The smile dropped from his face, Red's expression becoming
one of deadly seriousness.
Richard stared at Red, trying not to let his nervousness show.
"Your file claims you came from the back-world system of Zeta Gomorra. I've
been to ZG, and I can't detect any trace of the native accent in your speech."
Richard looked straight ahead, while a lone bead of sweat dripped down his
forehead. He pretended not to notice it.
"It's okay, pal, I'm not gonna turn you in. I just wanted to let you know that your
secret is safe with me. Let's just leave it at the statement that you're not the only one
onboard this ship with a past to cover up. Okay?" Red grinned, and slapped Richard's
back. "I'm gonna go join the party."
Richard watched him leave and become hidden among the mass of bodies in the
bar. He waited until Red was completely gone before he dared exhale.
The Asteroid Belt Fiasco
---
One thing Richard McKnight had learned about the GTVA fighter pilot training
program was that it was not like the military boot camps he was used to. After shipping
out to Port MacArthur, his group of trainees was transferred directly to the GTD
Aquataine, the flagship of the 3rd fleet based in the Capella system. The Aquataine was
among the first ever built of the new Hecate-class destroyers. Over two kilometers long
and half a kilometer in height, the Aquataine boasted a crew of over 10,000.
His training instructor, Lt. J.G. Janice Fargo, had surprisingly few rules. One of
them was that the training simulators were good for finding a way around a cockpit, but
nothing, absolutely nothing, matched actual field training. And thus, a large number of
their exercises were performed around the Aquataine itself, with live fire.
One of Fargo's rules was that "Everybody follow the rules." This was not
as simple as it may sound, as just one of Fargo's rules could be just as harsh and damning
as combat itself, and were seemingly posted for the express purpose of annoying cadets.
Another such rule was "Everybody fights, everybody works." This meant not only did
pilots risk their lives flying, but were also required to maintain and inspect their own
equipment. In the GTVA there was no such thing as a squadron mechanic, and even in those
old archaic outfits that sit had one, he didn't get to sit around in the cushy ship while
the squadron went out fighting. Everybody fights.
To McKnight, there was no problem with him administering care to his own
equipment. He had been a mechanic at some point before he enlisted. However, the
training squadron did have at least two fatalities due to mechanical or technical neglect.
Another facet of Fargo's "Everybody fights, everybody works" was the less
pleasant menial work. This meant kitchen duties, guard patrols, even the dreaded toilet
duties. McKnight had shrugged and figured out that somebody had to do it, and the
GTVA sure wasn't going to waste it's space and time in employing janitors to a military
destroyer.
When he looked back on his training, an event that he would remember above all
else would be his first "real" flight outside the GTD Aquataine. After several weeks of
simulator runs, he was familiar with the controls of the standard GTF fighters, and had
even engaged his squadron mates in mock combat. But both he and his wing were
completely unprepared for this mission.
The call from Lieutenant Fargo had come at 0345. Groggily, he had switched on
the intercom system and was told to be in the hangar bay in 10 minutes, fully flight-ready.
Waiting for him there was a standard GTF Ulysses fighter. He had flown the Ulysses
some times during training, but not often enough to become used to it. The Ulysses-type
fighter was a Great War relic, but still capable of pumping out more speed and
maneuverability then the new Hercules Mark II.
"Okay, pilots, run through your pre-flight checklist while I give you your orders,"
Fargo's voice announced through the communications system. "We will be flying as Alpha
Wing of the mock squadron 999th Minnows. I will be designated Alpha 1, and you will
obey each and every one of my commands. However, no matter what, remember to use
your judgment."
Richard could feel the cockpit begin to thrum with power. No simulator could
match this. "Cadet McKnight, you will be designated Alpha 2. Flying Alpha 3 will be
Cadet Bruner, and Alpha 4 is Cadet Jefferson." Richard nearly stopped in surprise, but
managed to keep running standard diagnostics. The same Jefferson he had met in the
hotel?
Richard heard a faint whistling sound as the atmosphere was evacuated from the
hangar bay. A whistling that faded away into nothing.
"Began take-off procedure. Alpha squadron, trigger thrusters to leave dock on my
mark." Directly ahead of Richard's fighter, the vast, cavernous hangar doors began to
slide open. Whatever atmosphere was left in the bay flooded out into the vacuum.
A single Ulysses fighter rose above the other assorted craft in the Aquataine's
hanger. "Alpha 1, launching," Fargo reported. Her fighter soared out of the bay and into
the void. "Alpha 2, mark." Richard triggered his vertical thrusters, and carefully soared
out of the hangar.
When he cleared the doors, a sudden rush hit him. This was real. This wasn't
going to be controlled. Nothing in reality ever was. A mistake out here could not only
kill him, but his squadron as well.
In quick succession Fargo ordered "Alpha 3, mark! Alpha 4, mark!" All four
fighters pulled around outside the Aquataine.
It was the first time Richard had seen the Aquataine from the outside since he
arrived on the shuttle. And then, it did not have the feeling of... life, and actuality that it
had now.
Simply put, the Aquataine was massive. Two kilometers long. A pilot could
spend hours flying astride it, marveling at the technological wonders encased in its hull.
Not any ship could earn the designation of Destroyer.
The Official GTVA definition of a Destroyer-type vessel was a ship over a
kilometer long, with a crew complement of a minimum of 7,000. Armor had to be well
beyond class G, and at least six beam cannons, eight missile and flak turrets, and twelve
laser ports also had to be present. Anything less would be classified as a Cruiser or
Corvette.
This meant that the Destroyers could stand up to virtually any threat. Almost
nothing could pose a danger to its mammoth interior. Destroyer-class vessels were
extremely difficult to find; the GTVA only had twenty of them, although two had recently
defected to the Neo-Terran Front. Richard considered himself extremely lucky to be
assigned to such an invincible symbol.
The Aquataine was only the second destroyer of the Hecate class to be built. The
original GTD Hecate was currently on assignment to exploration, but the Security council
had recently cleared the Aquataine, and the rest of the 3rd fleet, for combat duty in the
NTF contested systems. From what Richard had heard during the chatter at training, the
Aquataine would arrive in the Deneb system.
It was hard to feel alone out here, Richard noted. From what he had expected,
being a starfighter pilot would give a person an undeniable feeling of loneliness and
isolation during flight. That was difficult out here, however, where the Aquataine
consumed nearly a third of the view.
"Alpha wing, form up. Diamond pattern." As if by instinct, Richard guided his
fighter until he was a mere 150 meters away from Fargo's port. Bruner pulled in to a
nearly identical position on her starboard, while Jefferson remained a full 200 meters
directly behind Fargo.
The GTF Ulysses was a versatile ship, carved by engineers until it was very thin,
almost a wedge shape, making it difficult for hostiles on the Ulysses's tail to maintain a
weapon lock. The Ulysses was very broad horizontally, however, making attacks from
above or below substantially easier. Two twin engines in the rear were illuminated by ion
exhaust trailing from release tubes. It was these bright lights that Richard mentally fixed
on to, keeping on eye on them to ensure he would remain in formation.
"I'm transmitting the Aquataine's flight coordinates now. You should see a jump
node 11 kilometers away at 12 o'clock." At the very same moment that Fargo said this,
Richard's internal cockpit HUD created the green frame-work of a spherical polygon at
the coordinates she had indicated.
The sphere was created by the ship's internal computer and projected onto the
cockpit window to show pilots a point where the normal laws of subspacial physics ceased
to apply. A point where a starship's subspace drive, properly manipulated, would create a
tear in the fabric of space, and join two points at once. Both points would have to be
within the confines of one of these nodes.
These points were only created in substance by the gradual erosion of space
caused by a large gravitational field, such as a sun. At seemingly random positions in a
given star system, the gravitational pull would cause substance to give away, creating
these nodes. The nodes would allow a starship to reach another star. The Aquataine was
headed directly towards it.
"Okay, Minnows, listen up. Ahead is the jump node away from Capella,
destination Vega. From Vega, the Aquataine could proceed easily to the Deneb system,
where Command has requested our presence. The jump node ahead is not widely used,
but it will get us to our destination in the shortest amount of time."
"The reason, Cadets, that it is not widely used is because it exists within an
asteroid field. The asteroids here, while not posing a significant threat to the Aquataine,
may be able to cause minor damage to the Aquataine's hull. Because Admiral Petrarch did
not see the need to sortie the actual fighter squadrons on the Aquataine, he has authorized
our deployment as a training mission. I've picked the best and the brightest from the
training group for this mission, and you people are it. Your objectives are to destroy any
asteroid you see on a collision course with the Aquataine."
"Oh, and pilots... do not miss your target and hit the Aquataine. If so much as a
single burst from your cannons impacts the destroyer's hull, you will be relieved of your
duties as a Cadet in the GTVA fighter pilot training program. This is a Live Fire Exercise.
Understood?"
Richard gave his assent, as did the other two pilots. Richard still could not discern
if Alpha 4's voice was the same he had heard back on the hotel.
"Good. Your onboard computers will calculate each asteroid's course. Asteroids
on a collision course with the Aquataine will be illuminated on hull with white brackets.
You may begin."
His rear monitor projected and highlighted the positions of the target asteroids on
Remmington's front window. Below each bracket was the distance from Richard's fighter,
and the asteroid's distance from the Aquataine. Five were headed directly towards the
prow of the Aquataine, though Richard's target was only 500 meters away from a
collision.
Alpha 3 cut in the communications system. "Shit, shit, they're too close! Alpha 1,
the asteroids are too close!"
"Dammit, what the hell's going on?" Fargo burst, "this isn't supposed to happen!
Aquataine, those coordinates you gave us were bogus!"
"Alpha wing, engage full burners and intercept those rocks!" Jefferson ordered. It
was all the sign Richard needed. He triggered his afterburners, welcoming the unfamiliar
acceleration, and soared alongside the Aquataine's hull towards his target.
The first asteroid was now only 350 meters from the Aquataine's hull, while
Richard was still 1150 meters away from interception. Out of laser range. He let up on
his afterburners slightly, to let them recharge, before he activated another burst. The
asteroid now 250 meters away from the Aquataine. It was now or never.
The weapon load-out Richard's Ulysses had been assigned for this mission was not
a very strong one. He was only armed with 2 Subach HL-7 lasers, one on each side of his
prow, and no missiles. The Subach HL-7 was not the strongest weapon in the GTVA's
arsenal, but it would have to do for this mission. He squeezed the trigger.
Three duo-bursts of purple-tinted energy blasts screeched away from the Ulysses's
cannons. The pure destructive force of the lasers shattered the asteroid, splitting it into
three separate pieces, and spewing out a fiery inferno in all directions.
What was left of the rock was then completely hidden by the flame now spewing
from the center of the asteroid. Richard hit his burners again to escape being torn apart by
the shock-wave sent away.
That wasn't right, Richard knew. The asteroid should have just shattered, not
literally vaporized so violently.
"The ore in this asteroid reacts explosively with our weapons fire," Fargo said.
"Learn to expect the unexpected, kids." Another nearby asteroid disappeared behind a
shadow of fire, never to return, before the vacuum of space extinguished it.
Richard acquired his next target, a larger asteroid 630 meters from a collision point
on the Aquataine. Once again, Richard hit his burners, and fired five shots from his
primary cannons into the rock before pulling away. The explosion nearly blinded his
fighter's optical sensors, and the shock-wave rolled over the Ulysses, shaking the fighter
with an uncomfortable low frequency rumbling.
A nearby asteroid smashed through the Aquataine's hull, piercing it in several
places, but it did not breach any life-support chambers. The explosion nearly
overwhelmed Alpha 4's fighter with molten shrapnel. "Shit!" he yelled.
"Aquataine," Fargo said urgently, "if you want to avoid major damage to your sub-
systems, I suggest you get your gunners on station to assist us, now! Minnows, let's stay
concentrated."
The debris that was now littering the void had knocked another asteroid on a
collision course with the rear of the Aquataine, near the destroyer's engine exhaust tubes.
"My computer says we have another eight rocks heading directly towards the Aquataine.
Intercept, and shoot to destroy. Disregard my previous orders about striking the
Aquataine with your lasers. If you can destroy one of those rocks, a few grazes will not
hurt the Aquataine. Alpha 2, kill that asteroid approaching the engines."
Richard pulled away from the primary conflict, and engaged full burners towards
the destroyer's rear. He did not have a direct line of sight on his target due to the angle, as
the Aquataine itself blocked his shot. He whipped his fighter haphazardly around the
corner, and found himself on the destroyer's rear quadrant.
It went unspoken how important it was for Richard to destroy this one asteroid. If
the explosive material in that rock were to travel into one of the exhaust tubes, the damage
to the Aquataine would be far more then "minor." The worst-case scenario was that the
engines on the ship would be forced to shut-down, leaving the Aquataine adrift in an
extremely hostile environment.
Funny, Richard thought. All this hype about how much power was present in the
Aquataine, and how it was nearly invincible, and suddenly the destroyer finds itself
threatened by the most innocent of natural occurrences, an asteroid field.
As the Ulysses round the corner, Richard could just barely see through the
Aquataine's ion exhaust to see a large, dark mass approaching it. The exhaust was
blinding... the fighter's optical sensors were now completely blinded by the bright pillars of
energy streaming away from the destroyer, leaving Richard to operate by his eyes alone.
By his own inexperienced judgment, Richard extrapolated that was still out of laser range.
He would have to enter the stream of ion exhaust itself to acquire a solid lock. Damn.
The Ulysses entered the ion stream. The pure, negative energy washing over the
hull of the ship began to cause it to rattle, filling Richard's eardrums with an uncomfortable
low frequency roar. He resisted the impulse to shield his eyes from the storm that
engulfed him. The shields on the Ulysses began to flutter in and out of existence as the
cockpit around him began screaming warnings as a result of the engine wash.
Richard snapped off five shots at the asteroid, then soared away from the engines.
He couldn't tell if he had hit, the only indication that anything at all had happened was that
the exhaust trail was suddenly brighter for an instant. He pulled back towards the main
conflict, near the Aquataine's prow, eyes and ears throbbing with pain.
Fargo sounded nervous in his headphones. "Aquataine, where the hell are those
gunners?"
An asteroid that had slipped past Alpha 3 impacted with the hull of the destroyer,
shattering the already abused metal. This time, the explosion went directly through one of
the ship's internal life-support chambers. Richard only saw a plume of oxygen seep away
from the flames before his ship streaked past. He was assaulted visually with three more
explosions Alpha wing continued to struggle. Bruner, flying Alpha 3, began to panic.
"The damage these asteroids inflict isn't minor! The density isn't light! Somebody
made a goddamn mistake! Somebody made a big goddamn mistake!"
"Aquataine, report! Where the hell are those gunners, Dammit?!"
"This is the Aquataine," a female voice said. "Emergency bulkheads have sealed.
Pilots, our weapons subsystem has taken damage. We need at least two minutes to get it
online."
"Who is this? I only have trainees out here, and we need help, NOW!" Fargo
vaporized another asteroid. Richard locked another in his sights, and shattered it with his
Subach, escaping before the shock-wave could claim him.
"This is Lieutenant Alice McNeil, flight communications operator operating with
the authority of Admiral Petrarch. Minnows, we are currently scrambling Beta wing of
the 107th Ravens. They will assist you. After Beta wing launches, we will also sortie
Kappa and Delta. Until then we need you."
Two more asteroids blazed away in silent destruction. Richard targeted another
asteroid, and swooped in dangerously close to the Aquataine's hull, full burners engaged.
"Careful, Alpha 2," Fargo cautioned.
He pulled away again, and participated in the transformation of an asteroid into a
ball of fire and debris. The asteroid had been a mere 50 meters from the Aquataine before
he killed it.
"This is Beta wing of the 107th. Launching now," a monotone voice reported as
four Hercules Mark II fighters soared out of the Aquataine's fighter bay. "Minnows, once
we sortie Kappa and Delta, you will be relieved. Until then, your help would be
appreciated."
"YOU'RE help would be appreciated," Fargo growled, "when you move your
ASSES OVER HERE! MOVE!"
Space had ceased to become a complete vacuum. The gases and plasmas from the
vaporized asteroids had created a thin layering surrounding the Aquataine. Dust and
particles had begun eroding the fighter's hull until Richard had switched his shields to mass
repulsion.
Larger chunks of debris were continually colliding with incoming asteroids,
shifting their courses by critical meters. Several of the rocks were shifted away from the
Aquataine... and several more were shifted towards it. Not even the advanced auto-
computers onboard Richard's fighter could cope with such a mathematical barrage as they
struggled to compute courses from nearly defunct sensors. Several times Richard had an
asteroid in his sights, only to see its status changed from dangerous to non-hostile, and
two more become dangerous. The bright flares of newly destroyed asteroids were only
added to the confusion, each explosion burning out a number of the Ulysses' limited
optical receptors.
"Pilots, this is the Aquataine. The engineers are giving me an estimated time of
one minute until gun platforms are operational. Hang in there."
Easy for you to say, Richard snorted. After he vaporized another asteroid, he
checked the status of the Aquataine. Several more of the ores had exploded within it's
hull, and the destroyer's structural integrity read as only 82% on his targeting computer.
Somebody made a fucking big goddamn mistake. How old were those records of
this belt?
The Aquataine was, however, now a mere five kilometers from the Vega jump
node.
The four Hercs rushed past Richard's craft at that moment, making his already sore
ears began to protest with the sound of their engines roaring past. He laughed
distractedly.
Now that was a funny thing. Richard didn't know if it was the stress, terror, and
desperation of the moment that caused his mind to wander while he was flying, and he
didn't care. He let his instincts take over piloting while he mulled.
The sound of their engines... funny. Very funny, something he never saw coming
until he had actually arrived at the GTVA recruitment shuttles.
There was sound in space. Not sound as Richard had been used to thinking of it.
But the power sources on most space-faring craft emitted a particular type of quantum
wave through subspace. These power sources notably included a craft's engines and
weapons systems. The wave, as it went through subspace, caused a small vibration in
every physical form of matter it passed through, including the human eardrum. The
human eardrum sent the signal to the brain, which interpreted the vibrations as actual
sound. The real irony here was that all the sci-fi flicks of the twentieth century got
something right... the fancy weapons and ships depicted in those ancient visions of the
future actually would make sound.
Richard was snapped back into reality by a nearby asteroid detonation. He found
that he had maneuvered to sight an asteroid that was heading towards the Aquataine, and
vaporized it, and hit the burners again to avoid the shock-wave. His engines started to
moan in protest.
"This is Kappa wing of the 107th Ravens. Launching now." Four new fighters appeared
on his fighter's sensors.
"All ships," McNeil said, "stand clear of the asteroids. Gunnery reports all systems
online."
"Roger that, Aquataine," Fargo said. "Minnows, kill the asteroid you have
targeted, then form up again 2 klicks from the Aquataine. We're heading into the node."
Richard didn't have anything targeted, so he pulled away to the coordinates now indicated
on his nav-comp. "Make sure you don't crash into any rocks yourselves, pilots," Fargo
said.
A bright blue beam emerged from the Aquataine, and vaporized three asteroids
before shutting down again. The beam was accompanied by the trademark high-pitched
whine that was actually the subspace signal Richard had though about.
Three, four, then five more beams accompanied the first, pulverizing any asteroid
they came across, whether or not it was on a collision course. "Beta and Kappa wings,
are you joining us?" Fargo asked through the comm system.
"Of course, Alpha. We're coming behind you now."
Fargo switched to the channel that would enable communications between only
Alpha wing. "Enjoy yourselves, pilots, this is the first time you'll be able to outmaneuver
the pros. Even if you do have a technical advantage with the Ulysses."
Richard smiled. "Where are we heading to, Alpha 1? With all the fire from the
Aquataine, we can't land in its bays."
"Correct, 2. That's why I'm going to prematurely test another of your skills.
We're going through the jump node before the Aquataine does. Remember your training
on the starfighter's subspace drive?"
Richard looked at the node illuminated on his forward viewport. One of the things
he did remember from simulators was that it was extremely difficult for a small mass like a
fighter to properly manipulate the subspace harmonics needed to jump across the light-
years to another star system.
"It gets tricky here, pilots."
"Oh, like we can't handle it?" Jefferson quipped. "We're only cadets and already
we've saved the Aquataine, proud flagship of the 3rd fleet, from complete destruction."
"Don't get cocky, 4. Okay, we're now entering the node. Beta and Kappa, you
ready?"
"We're from the 107th Ravens, Alpha. We're always ready."
"Of course you are. Pilots, engage drives. See you on the other side, Aquataine."
Well, Richard thought, here goes nothing. He pulled back on his throttle, and
entered in the destination coordinates to his navigation computer. Ahead of him, his ship
triggered a fluctuation in the wounded subspace of the area, opening a tear in space that
shone through the cockpit with a bright, unearthly shimmer.
The Ulysses fighter entered the rip.
---
"Cheers. Here's to the Alpha wing of the 999th Minnows," Fargo said after
debriefing, in the Aquataine's off-time bar. He raised her glass, as did the thirty other
Cadets in the crowded barroom. Richard found himself doing also, swept up in the event.
They gulped the ship-made brew down as a group.
"When class resumes tomorrow, we're all going to review the tapes from that
mission. Especially the one recorded from Cadet McKnight's craft."
Richard looked up in surprise. "My ship? Why?"
"You mean you don't know?" It was Fargo's turn to act surprised. Richard
indicated he honestly didn't.
Fargo leaned forward, as if telling a confidential secret. "Well, besides scoring the
highest asteroid kill number, besides preventing an asteroid from entering the exhaust
tubes by flying into the exhaust itself, there was a single, incredible move that you pulled
off that I want to demonstrate to the class. To tell you the truth, I haven't seen many pros
pull something like that off."
Richard merely stared at her.
"You don't know what move?" Fargo asked. Richard shook his head. "Well," she
continued, "After Beta wing flew past you, you targeted a large asteroid that wasn't
heading anywhere near the Aquataine. An instant later, a sudden asteroid collision threw
that rock towards the Aquataine's fighter bays at a fair speed. If you hadn't destroyed it at
that instant, nobody else could have prevented it from annihilating the fighter bays. It
hadn't even been listed as a target, but you saw where the collision with the other rock
would send it. You saved Kappa and Delta wings from being crushed to death in a blaze."
Richard blinked. He didn't remember doing that. How well did Lieutenant Fargo
take her alcohol? He opened his mouth to ask jokingly...
Wait.
He remembered that at the exact moment Fargo had indicated his mind had been
occupied with the problem of sound in space. He had been flying purely on instinct,
disconnected from the conscious portion of his mind. It wasn't possible he had picked that
asteroid to kill from sheer luck...
Or had his subconscious done it for him? Detected the collision between the rocks
before it happened, using the same portion of his brain that could actually calculate where
a ball in flight in a gravitional field would land so he could catch it? It wasn't unheard of.
Richard glanced around him, at his classmates. They were looking at him in
complete seriousness.
He looked down at his empty shot glass, and reformed the words in his mouth.
"Damn, I guess I don't take alcohol well."
A chuckle erupted from the crowd.
"So let's get some more into us!" Fargo yelled then. "We need an excuse! Here's a
toast to Beta wing of the 107th Ravens!"
"Here, here!" came the eager shout as glasses were drained again. Richard barely
had enough time to refill his own glass to make the next toast.
"Here's to Kappa wing!" Again the oily brown liquid swilling in glasses was
transported into the bloodstream. Another toast followed as Cadets rushed to refill,
shouting and laughing eagerly and then drunkenly. "Here's to Delta wing, even though
they didn't launch before the guns came online!"
Richard decided to retreat to the back of the fray then. He had gotten enough
insanity for one day, and wanted time to brood. However he was interrupted as another
pilot who had left the mayhem sat down next to him.
"Jefferson!" Richard burst. "I've been looking for you!"
Red Jefferson set his glass down on the counter and smiled. "So you remembered
my name. That was some pretty fancy flying out there."
"Not so bad yourself, Cadet."
"Psssh," he grunted. "No kidding. There was this one time, when I had an
asteroid in my sights when it was just 20 meters away from the Aquataine, and I..." he
trailed off, shaking his head. "Damn, but that frightened me out of my wits when I heard
Fargo report the bogus coordinates. I swear my blood was boiling! How 'bout you?"
"I was too panicked to do anything but sit there, for a while, before I engaged
burners."
Red guffawed, and idly surveyed the drunken mess the bar had degenerated into.
"I'm kind of chagrined that the Admiral didn't personally thank us," Red said.
"One of those rocks could have landed in the bridge."
"Can't get everything. We're only Cadets, Red. Don't expect full honors... yet."
"Yeah, yeah... still, we risked our lives to save his ass. Doesn't that count for
something? Don't give me any bullshit about rank, we did what we did."
Richard shrugged neutrally.
"Just like Petrarch. Expend his pawns when he needs to, if they do work for him,
afterwards he screws them out of a reward."
"Improper attitude, Cadet," Richard smiled, "Don't they kick you out for that?"
"Yeah, but THEY don't have to know, do they?" Red said, but with no trace of
humor in his voice.
Richard nodded, and decided to change the subject. "So, where are you from,
Red? Vega? Or were you like me, and just enlisted there?"
"Vega. Nice place. Almost the equal to Earth, before the explosion of the Lucifer
collapsed the jump node in Delta Serpentis. Where you from, McKnight?"
That made Richard sorry he had asked Red. He tried to shrug it off with a joke.
"Need-to-know information, pilot."
Red didn't laugh, only smiled. "Ah... again I can see where you are coming from.
After debriefing, I took the liberty of checking into your background. From what I've
found, you don't have one." The smile dropped from his face, Red's expression becoming
one of deadly seriousness.
Richard stared at Red, trying not to let his nervousness show.
"Your file claims you came from the back-world system of Zeta Gomorra. I've
been to ZG, and I can't detect any trace of the native accent in your speech."
Richard looked straight ahead, while a lone bead of sweat dripped down his
forehead. He pretended not to notice it.
"It's okay, pal, I'm not gonna turn you in. I just wanted to let you know that your
secret is safe with me. Let's just leave it at the statement that you're not the only one
onboard this ship with a past to cover up. Okay?" Red grinned, and slapped Richard's
back. "I'm gonna go join the party."
Richard watched him leave and become hidden among the mass of bodies in the
bar. He waited until Red was completely gone before he dared exhale.