Disclaimer: Volition-inc. owns Descent: Freespace, Admiral Shima, the HOL and several other things. I own Vincent Schaard and Lt. Risnan as well as most of the plot, except where it intertwines with or makes reference to the plot of the game.
Fun Fact: As a successor to the system of relative location based on a clock face currently used by the air force (ten o'clock high, six o'clock low, etcetera), I have devised a system using the compass rose and directions fore and aft; North is up, South down, West left, East right, Fore ahead, Aft behind. Using combinations of two and three of these in addition to using them on their own, there are ninety-eight different possible directions, making this system more useful for long-distance relations ("we've detected a Shivan freighter twenty clicks aft-south-south-west of the Bastion").
Chapter Four: 2/12/2335 Meet the Hammer of Light
It's taken over a week, but we had to stop for refueling as well as for repairs to the Apollos. Today, the Intrepid will make the jump from Luyten 726-8 A to Barnard's Star, and our mission can begin. Lt. Risnan briefed us yesterday:
"Here's the plan, boys and girls; at 0700 tomorrow, the GTD Intrepid will arrive in Barnard's Star. The HOL ships located there are in enough force to warrant the use of the Athena bomber as well as cover fire from the Intrepid.
"Our targets are two Aten cruisers and their escorts, which are primarily Seths. We also expect to find a freighter, Bast-class, fully loaded with HOL supplies. Alpha wing will consist of Hughes, Schaard, and myself, Beta will contain Tate, Tinman, Sanford, and D, and Gamma wing will consist of the rest: Fred, Lawrence, Benson, and George. The Intrepid's Athenas will make up Delta wing, and their Valkyries will be in Epsilon wing as reinforcements.
"Alpha wing will target the cruisers' escorts. Beta will cover Delta as it attacks the cruisers. Gamma wing will disarm the cruisers, and, once they're done, disable the freighter for capture. Don't hesitate to call in Epsilon, but remember that we have no other reinforcements, and the Intrepid will provide some heavy cover-fire for us."
The Athena is a recent addition to the GTA, and it's classified as a light bomber. It can't really carry anything unique except for the new Stiletto bomb. The Stiletto is designed to disable ship subsystems and works best on large ships, like cruisers. The Athena is a bit stronger than the Apollo, and it has a better load-out, although we could definitely use a heavy bomber in our arsenal.
I hear the intercom static as it turns on while I head for the hangar.
"Five minutes to the subspace node."
I've heard some pilots around here asking why most ships don't just jump across a system into a node and then through that into the next system to make long journeys shorter. The problem with that is basically rooted in the workings of subspace; a ship can make two types of subspace jumps: intrasystem and intersystem. Intrasystem jumps are shorter and can be performed by any vessel; these jumps can be made from virtually any point in a system to virtually any other point and rarely take more than a few seconds. Intersystem jumps require much more energy, can take as much as twelve minutes, and can only be carried out in certain locations, known as Jump Nodes, where subspace and realspace overlap in just the right way; because of the high energy requirement, bombers and fighters cannot make intersystem jumps, though not for lack of trying.
Subspace is actually another dimension that parallels our own, but is much smaller, spatially, allowing for quick travel between otherwise distant locations. Although even small fighters can make intrasystem jumps, the energy requirement is still fairly large, and it typically consumes more fuel than it would take to cover the distance in realspace. Because of this, intrasystem jumps are often only used at the end of a mission or during a retreat. In order to be economical, any large ship making long-distance voyage will have to stop for refueling at least once, and will only make necessary jumps between systems.
There is also trouble to be had by terminating an intrasystem jump in a jump node. There are only two known instances of this occurrence and neither ended well; the first was during early experiments with subspace, and the ship in question was a GTC Fenris, cruiser class. In a bizarre distortion of realspace and subspace, the ship was torn apart the instant it arrived in the jump node. The damage assessment determined that only two-thirds of the cruiser's mass could be found, the remaining third assumed to be lost in subspace. The other incident was the result of a hasty retreat made by a Vasudan Typhon-class destroyer, the Cairo, during the 14-year T-V war.
I could go on, but I would probably get something wrong, and anyway, McPherson's Multipaedia is much more comprehensive and accurate, and you can check it out of most libraries.
I continue walking until I reach the hangar, only this time, I'm the first one to arrive; I left the rest of the squadron when they were still getting their suits on. I look at our Apollos, all repaired from our ambush. I had made three kills, which made me an ace as well as Tate and Sanford. Ron also had three, which had surprised me, since I thought he would have shot down four or five. A few days ago, I had gone back to my ship and painted on my kills and the number 11, which was the only number left.
Tate had earned 1 with six kills and Sanford took 2, but the rest weren't in any particular order. I already knew Ron had 5, Risnan had a worn-out 3 on his ship, Al was 4, George 9, Fred 10, Tinman 8, Lawrence 6, and D took 7. D got lucky number seven because he was the first one after Hughes to borrow Tate's paint kit. Coincidentally, it turns out that D actually has a long Icelandic name that he refuses to reveal, and he says we would pronounce wrong anyway.
Tinman is a nickname as well; his actual name is Steve Naples. His initials make Sn, and since we pilots have a firm footing in chemistry, Tinman was naturally the first thing to come to our minds.
I turn around to see Risnan approaching. He yawns as he scratches his head, woken from a deep sleep by the ship's intercom.
"'Morning, Schaard," he says.
"'Morning, sir."
"Damn early for an attack run."
Keeping time can be very awkward in space, but we'd been put on Day Shift, meaning that we slept around the same time we would have back on good old Terra. There are four different shifts that are kept balanced for optimized efficiency, and are based around the same system of minutes and hours used on Earth. The Day Shift is 0700 to 2100, the Afternoon Shift is 1300 to 0300, the Night Shift is 1900 to 0900, and the Morning Shift is 0100 to 1500. No one is expected to be on duty for that long, but you're typically awake for the full duration of your shift, and can only be called into action once per shift. Of course, the whole ship can be called to life in an emergency regardless of assigned shift.
Anyway, most of the rest of the 66th has arrived, Al being the one straggler. They all look about as sleepy as Risnan did when he first came in, but when I look over at him, he's still pretty relaxed, but wide awake.
I turn back to see Al skipping and hopping, while trying to tighten the last few straps of his flight suit, "Sorry I'm late, sir," he stops and salutes.
"At ease, Benson. How many times do I have to tell you to only salute to real superiors? I'm just a lieutenant; even 'sir' is going a little far."
"Attention! Prepare for intersystem jump."
Intersystem jumps are pretty smooth as long as you don't move around. Standard procedure is to be seated during a jump, or, if no seat is available, to get down into a crouch and remain still. Very bizarre spatial things have been known to happen by walking about during a subspace jump, although this is never a problem in a fighter or bomber where there isn't enough space to move around.
We look out the hangar to see the subspace portal grow, and then engulf the ship. The eerie, inhuman ambiance of subspace meets our ears, and the calming blue torrents meet our eyes, a bright blue beam of light shining from the opposite end of the tunnel.
Hardly any time passes before we emerge into Barnard's Star. The star of Barnard's Star is a red dwarf, much like the binary stars of Luyten 726-8, the system we had just left behind. The red star brings a harsh glow to the HOL ships ahead. They appear, at first, to be closer than I expected, but Risnan gets up and affirms the original data.
"Yep, right where they should be. Alright, get in your ships and wait for my countdown."
We all climb into our separate cockpits, and I see six Athenas nearby, their pilots already strapped in and waiting. I switch on the power and check my systems; engines good, shields at full, computer systems operating smoothly, primaries: Avenger and Flail, and secondaries: two sets of forty MX-50s. The Flail is a new gun that fires faster than even the ML-16, and has the added affect of firing high-mass shots, which can send a Scorpion twirling. There's also a better missile than the MX-50, the Interceptor, but it was implemented when the Intrepid was in Laramis, which is too far from most systems to have received any shipments so soon.
"Everyone, check in," I hear Risnan's voice over the radio.
"Tate, 1."
"Sanford, 2."
"Benson, 4."
"Hughes, 5."
"Lawrence, 6."
"D, 7."
"Tinman, 8."
"George, 9."
"Fred, 10."
"Schaard, 11."
"Alright, how about Delta wing?"
"All six accounted for, lt. Risnan."
"Great. On my mark; three, two, one, mark!"
Once again, we all lift off, but this time we each exit by wing, Alpha first, followed by Gamma, Beta, and Delta. Emerging from the hangar, the harsh, red glow engulfs our ships and my display. I adjust the HUD color to blue, to better differentiate. I notice the star off to my right; I know it's about the same size as Sol, but it doesn't look it.
"Remember, Alpha and Gamma in front. Beta, stay with Delta," Risnan again. His remark is followed by several murmurs of affirmation from each wing.
The Intrepid is much slower than our ships, so I know it won't play its part for a while yet. The Athena is slower than the Apollo, so Delta and Beta wings should be far enough behind by the time we reach the cruisers for Gamma to disarm the targets. By now, they've noticed our presence, and we meet the first wing of Seths head on.
Risnan cuts in, "Gamma, ignore Virgo wing and keep going. Hughes, Schaard; you know what to do."
"Yes, sir! Yeehah!" once again, Ron is at a weird angle to the rest of us, and he fires a pair of MX-50s at the first Seth, drawing it away from its wing. I take Virgo 2, and Risnan handles the third.
I instantly feel more relaxed chasing the Seth; after wrangling with the bizarre movements of the Scorpion and the outrageous speed of the Manticore, a Seth feels like a reprieve. I toss him about with my Flail, and then fire off a few MX-50s, nearly all of them scoring a direct hit. I'm able to finish him off with my Avenger, and then turn around to cover Gamma.
"Nice shootin', partner!" Ron pulls up above me, upside down so that we can look up and see each other. The next wing has four Horus fighters, the Vasudan's Valkyrie, so we each manage to take one out quickly, and then split up to follow the remaining two. Out of the corner of my eye, I catch the Bast freighter making a jump, and make a note of it for later.
"This is Gamma wing, the cruisers' turrets are down. We're moving to cover Delta."
At this point, Delta wing has arrived, and they begin pelting the Atens' engines with Stilettos. The lights of the engines die, and the Athenas switch over to Fury missiles to finish them off. A few fighters escape, presumably to join the freighter, but the rest of the mission goes off smoothly and the cruisers are destroyed.
After we've returned to the hangar, Risnan calls us together for debriefing, "So, everyone alright?"
There are several "yeah"s from the squad, "I took one or two hits," from D.
I speak up, "Lieutenant, the freighter escaped along with a few fighters."
"Good eye, Schaard," says Risnan, "With the Intrepid stationed so close to the Luyten 726-8 A node, we can only assume they're headed for Dubhe."
There are some murmurs from the rest of the 66th; Alpha Ursae Majoris, aka Dubhe, is a tertiary star system, consisting of three stars, one of which is an orange giant. One of the jump nodes out of Dubhe remains unexplored and the other two are unstable, making it a dangerous system to visit. As if that weren't enough, each jump node in Dubhe is close to its three stars, making anything more than a journey in a pre-determined, straight line tough on the eyes.
We realize that we have a harder job ahead of us, and one that could be our last, but Risnan says something unexpected, "We're going to let them go; it's too risky to go to Dubhe for just one freighter and a few fighters. We'll be shipping out soon, so I suggest you find someplace more comfortable than the floor for the return jump."