Chapter 9
Shortly after returning, Captain Steinbeck and Commander Emerson walked onto the bridge after emerging from the televator in the hallway.
"You wanted to see us sir?" Steinbeck asked.
"Yeah, Mr. Wayne here has a favor he would like to ask," Admiral Roberts said.
"Captain, I wish to take Selina for a ride in one of your Space Hornets."
"Giving you two a ride would be one thing, but letting you fly one yourself is a very tall order."
"Have you even flown a plane before, Bruce?" Emerson asked.
"Yes. The last time me and Alfred flew to Switzerland he was able to convince the pilot to let me have some time behind the stick, and I even landed the plane without incident. I even got some more flight time on the way back to Gotham too."
"And in case you two are wondering, his private jet is a Gulfstream Five. So he does have some experience with jet aircraft," Roberts pointed out.
"I also have a flight sim on my PC which I've logged a total of two-hundred hours on."
"You know, I think it would be interesting to see how well he handles a fighter. But he and Cat are going to need some flight suits along with all of the necessary gear."
"We're already in the process of making that for them now, Captain Steinbeck," Roberts replied.
"Great. You two meet us in the hangar bay when you're ready."
"Okay," Bruce replied then Steinbeck and Emerson turned and left the bridge.
"When we get out there Bruce, try not to pull any vomit inducing stunts. If I end up puking, you'll be in for an earful and a pounding after the flight."
"Are you sure you want to go through with this, Bruce?"
"Positive, Admiral. Whenever a man decides to do something nice for a lady, he should always follow through."
Roberts couldn't help but smile at Bruce's sense of etiquette.
Hangar Bay one.
Four minutes later.
Steinbeck and Bruce taxied their Space Hornets into launch position as the bay doors opened once again.
"Spaceking One to Bruce, how are your systems looking?" Steinbeck asked over the radio.
"Selina and I just went over them and avionics, life support, propulsion, and weapons are all in the green."
"Great. When we get out there, your callsign will be Rook One."
"Got it. Are you ready for this, Selina?"
"I don't think I would be sitting in this cockpit if I wasn't. And this visor on my helmet is pretty awesome, you can see all of your flight data without having to look at the screens all the time."
"Not only that, but you can also acquire targets for a missile or beam shot simply by looking at them with it.
"Talk about a killer piece of headwear," Selina commented then slapped on her oxygen mask.
"Alright Rook One, get ready for launch."
"Roger Spaceking leader. Selina you might want to grab onto the handle on your dashboard."
"Got it, B."
Ten seconds later, they were propelled ahead at lightning speed and both jets were wheels up just before they left the bay."
"Sweet launch. That made me feel like I was on a roller coaster."
"This is much better than a roller coaster, Selina."
"Rook One, we're going to fly a circle around the Beowulf so you two can see its exterior in all its glory."
"Roger, Spaceking One," Bruce replied then they commenced their flight around the ship. Selina looked out to the right and was impressed by the Beowulf's size.
"Just how big is this thing?"
"Approximately five-hundred and forty meters long, Cat. She was originally five-hundred and twenty meters long when she first entered service, but this is what happens when you decide to give your warships upgrades," Steinbeck replied over the radio.
"I see Erin, and the dark grey paintjob is a nice touch. It would almost be hard to see it from afar with the naked eye."
"Yeah, and you should see the Chinese battlecruisers. They are known as Sun Tzu class ships, but we sometimes refer to them as red Beowulfs."
"Because they look just your ship but have a red paint job?"
"You're right on the money, Cat."
"I always am, Erin. Even my billionaire pilot can attest to that."
"She certainly is. But why didn't the Chinese come up with their own design?"
"They must've looked ours and said that looks impressive, let's run with it. I can't blame them for being impressed but to me, copying shows a lack of creativity."
"And yet they say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery."
"Exactly, Bruce. You two may come from a Earth in a different dimension, but there's really not much difference between us," Steinbeck commented.
"Except that your Earth has come a long way in terms of technology and geopolitical relations. Ours still has room for improvement on both fronts," Bruce replied then they broke their orbit around the ship and headed out into the surrounding space.
"You're doing great, Bruce."
"Thank you, Selina. I was actually a little nervous when I started this plane up."
Selina looked out at the distant stars around them and was mesmerized by their beauty.
"What a magnificent sight. Out of all things I saw myself doing, traveling through space wasn't one of them. Then again, I never thought anyone would look at me as nothing more than a street kid until I met you."
"Your presence in my life has impacted me in positive ways too, Selina."
"I know B. Let's just focus on enjoying the beauty of space."
"Okay, rest assured that this will continue to be a puking free flight."
After thirty minutes of stargazing, Selina had an idea pop into her mind.
"Bruce, Erin, are you two interested in heading back down to that purple planet?"
"I don't have any problem with a second trip back down there since they aren't any threats to worry about."
"Yeah. We can do some cloud surfing, check out your handy work at the spot where that facility use to be, then head back up into space. I always wanted to know what it felt like to climb towards the stars," Bruce said.
"Then it's settled. The young lady wants a trip to the skies of MW-877 and we shall grant it. Bruce, I'll let you take point on this one."
"Roger Captain Steinbeck," Bruce replied then flew out ahead of him and made a left turn, Steinbeck quickly followed.
"Nice turn, Mister Wayne."
"Thank you Commander, Emerson. I think I want to try out this hypercruising thing."
"We're ready when you are, Rook One," Steinbeck said.
"What's hypercruising?" Selina asked.
"You're about to find out. Spaceking One, prepare to accelerate on my mark. Three, two, one, mark."
Selina felt the sudden increase in speed when she was flung forward for a brief second. The harnesses did a good job of keeping her and Bruce from going face first into the dashboards.
"This is incredible, B. How fast are we going?
"Mach 6.2 and best part is that we doing this without pushing the afterburners up to full power."
"Awesome, and I see that our fuel is still at a decent level," Selina replied as she checked the fuel gauge on one of her display screens.
As they neared the planet, Steinbeck and Bruce reduced their speed for the re-entry into its atmosphere.
"Whoa, it's starting to get a little bumpy here," Selina commented.
"We do get a little turbulence every time we enter a planet's atmosphere. Nothing to worry about, Cat," Steinbeck said.
"Is the turbulence bothering you, Bruce?"
"Not at all, Selina. How are you feeling?"
"I haven't passed out or puked yet, so I guess I'm as fine as you are."
One minute later, they leveled out of their dive at fifty-thousand feet and proceeded to fly over a layer of clouds. Bruce even did a few barrel rolls along the way.
"Bruce, you really are a natural in a Space Hornet," Steinbeck commented.
"Thank you, my flight experience albeit limited is serving me quite nicely here."
Selina gazed out at the clouds beneath their wings and smiled behind her oxygen mask.
"Now this is real cloud surfing," Selina commented.
"I tell myself the same thing when I do it in this bird," Steinbeck replied.
After reaching the end of the cloud layer, they dropped down to five hundred feet for a better view of the surface.
"Quite the scenic view."
"Too bad there isn't much to see on this rock, Bruce," Selina replied.
"Hmm, I wonder where that blast site is. I'm not seeing any indications of radiological activity on my radar."
"That's because it's four-hundred miles to the east of our position."
"Did the Beowulf tell you that?" Selina asked.
"Yeah, there sensors are feeding real time data to me," Steinbeck replied.
"Well let's go check it out," Bruce said then the two jets broke to the right and went to hypercruise once again.
At the rate of speed they were traveling, the two fighters arrived over the blast zone within fifty-two seconds.
"When we were down here with Major Gordon's team, we saw plenty of buildings covered by undergrowth. But now it's nothing but a charred wasteland," Selina commented.
"If you look to the right, you can see the missile's point of impact," Bruce said then titled the plane slightly to the left to give Selina a better view of the crater.
"Hmm, it doesn't look very deep and how powerful was that nuke anyway?"
"Fifteen kilotons, Cat. Had it been in the megaton range, the blast radius would've been a helluva lot wider. Those have been replaced because some of our other weapons give you same destructive power, but minus the fallout."
"So why did your bosses back on Earth feel the need to use an actual nuke, Erin?"
"Like Admiral Roberts said back in the briefing, they wanted maximum assurance that this mess would be contained."
"Well they sure as hell got it," Selina replied.
"This area makes me think of the close call we had back in Gotham."
"What do you mean Bruce?" Emerson asked.
"Beneath the Arkham Asylum, there was a subdivision of my company called Indian Hill. It was run by a mad scientist named Hugo Strange. He was conducting illegal experiments on people that turned them into monsters and he even brought some people back from the dead."
"Like Fish Mooney. I'll never forgive that bitch for what she did to Ivy."
"Was she a friend of yours, Cat?" Steinbeck asked.
"Yeah. Continue on with your story Bruce."
"It turns that he was under the control of a secret council that somehow controls everything in my city. They placed a nuclear device in his lab and ordered him to use it in the event his facility was compromised. Had it gone off, everything within a quarter mile of Arkham would've been gone. Add in the fallout…"
"Total catastrophe. You guys really did dodge a bullet," Steinbeck said.
"Yeah, and I got trapped in there when I tried to rescue my other friend Bridget who Strange brainwashed into thinking that she was a fire goddess. Bruce went into save me along with Jim Gordon and Lucius Fox, but I ended up saving them instead. Jim was the one that stopped the nuke."
"And what became of your friend after that event?"
"She disappeared along with some other guy who walks around packing a freeze gun."
"Wow, this is most interesting in-flight story I've ever heard," Steinbeck said.
"Yeah, I wish we could go see Gotham for ourselves," Emerson commented.
"I think a request for an interdimensional vacation would be too risky to approve, Drake," Steinbeck said.
"If by some mysterious fluke you two did come to our city, Selina and I would gladly be your tour guides.
"And as the expert on all things Gotham, I would advise you and your copilot to keep your wallets very close if you showed up. Especially in my neck of the woods."
"Noted, Cat," Steinbeck replied.
Beowulf bridge
"Sir, we just got an important message from Space Fleet Command," Captain Millen said as he walked over to Roberts who was sitting in his chair.
"Let me see it."
Millen handed him the computer tablet and he opened the message.
"Bruce and Selina are gonna be happy to hear about this when they get back aboard."
MW-877
Two minutes later.
Bruce and Captain Steinbeck went through a cloud at high speed on their way up to the ignition point for their rocket boosters.
"We just reached sixty-thousand feet, Bruce, maintain course and speed."
"Roger, Captain Steinbeck."
"Now seventy-thousand, eighty-thousand, prepare to ignite the boosters on my mark."
"Ready."
"We're now at ninety-thousand, punch it."
"Here we go," Bruce shouted excitedly then pushed the booster throttle to the max.
Selina felt like her back was glued to the seat, but that didn't stop her from enjoying this experience.
"This is the best adventure ever," she shouted.
A few seconds later, they were greeted by the sight of distant stars and went up past the Beowulf before switching back to their afterburners.
"Selina, was that an awesome experience or what?"
"You damn right it was, B. I wish we could do it again."
"No time for that, kids. Admiral Roberts wants us to come back aboard. We're heading home and he says that the guys at NASA made a discovery that will help you guys get back to Gotham."
"I can't wait to hear about it, Captain," Bruce commented.
They circled around and headed back towards the ship.
"Spaceking leader, this is landing bay one, we are open and ready for your arrival. Maintain current course."
"Roger that."
One minute later, they touched down in the bay and came to stop.
"Did we just get snagged on something?" Selina asked after removing her oxygen mask.
"Yes, it was one of the landing wires, there's enough of them in here and the bay on the left side of ship to catch forty jets at once."
"Now what happens?"
"We just sit here and wait to be beamed back into the hangar," Bruce replied as he powered down the plane.
A split second later, both planes were enveloped by a flash of light and whisked away.
