CHAPTER 2

DOGFIGHT

U.P.N. Kanto - Bridge

'Hostile detected, bearing 013, by 021. It's riding dark, but it's going active.' John heard Victor say.

‘Jing, power level 4. John, bring us about, get us out of here.’

John nodded and gripped the controls. He swung the ship around and set the engines to maximum thrust. He heard the captain continue her orders.

'Ise, have Lenny run simulations, get us a plan together. Dan, you still with us?'

'Aye Captain, going active now, my stealth is blown anyway,' came the reply over the communicator.

'There might be more coming, stay close to us. If you can drive the bogey off, do so, but you'll need to be ready to re-link with the Kanto when our jump drive comes back on.'

'Roger that Captain, U.P.N. Nimbus will cover you.'

'Jing, what's the status of our systems?' John heard Sam ask. He was eager to hear how long he'd have to keep avoiding the hostile. A glance at his terminal showed it was getting closer.

'Reactor startup in progress. We'll be running on batteries for at least another 5 minutes. Weapons are at minimal range only. Jump drive will be back on line in fifteen.'

'That's a long time to wait, Jing, see if you can speed it up,' Sam urged, 'Vick, anything else on sensors?'

'No Ma'am. It's the strangest thing; it looks like he was just as shocked by the sensor pulse as we were.'

'We'll figure that out later. For now, keep an eye out for more hostiles.'

John saw another dot on his terminal, coming from the first red dot, 'Incoming missile.'

'Victor.' Sam prompted quickly.

'Firing a decoy,’ Victor replied levelly.

John watched the dot getting close, a lump in his throat. It still seemed to be following them. He put the ship into a sharp turn, and the missile wavered on its course, exploding in space where they had been only moments before.

'That was a close one Vick.' John commented.

'Can't help it. Their tracking tech is getting better.' He commented back.

'Reactor online.' Jing reported.

'Anti-missile systems coming on line now. Weapon ports opened.' Victor reported.

'More missiles, we've got three this time!' John reported that lump in his throat back again.

***

The enemy fighter seemed uninterested in the Nimbus, and that served Dan just fine. When it closed in and fired more missiles, he swung around and shot one missile out of the sky with his rail guns. It was a lucky shot, but it did the trick. The Kanto's defences took care of two more, though one got dangerously close.

Dan decided he'd would give the Lobster something to think about.

He brought his ship around again and fired at the pursuing craft. It rolled out of the way and twisted around. Too late, Dan realized his mistake; the Lobster was turning to get on his tail.

Dan cursed under his breath and manoeuvred hard. A missile warning flared up. The enemy had yet to touch his main guns.

Dan held down the kill button on his control stick, shut off his engines and swung his ship around, momentum still carrying him forward. He saw the missile moving closer and fired. One of his shots connected, and the missile exploded. He spotted the Lobster ship angling away after the Kanto and aimed at it.

Dan took his finger off the kill button, and his engine flared to life again. His ship shuddered and flew in a descending arc around the Kanto; his nose still pointed at the enemy fighter. He squeezed his trigger again, firing a rail gun round at his foe.

He saw a flash near the rear of the enemy fighter as something vapourized his shot.

***

'Dan, he's got active defence on his top side. You'll have to hit him from the belly or lure him to us so we can hit him with the Thercon.'

'Roger that.' Dan grit his teeth. Neither of those options sounded easy. If he lured the Lobster close enough for the Kanto to use its thermal cannon, they'd be in danger. If he tried hitting the Lobster on the underbelly, the Lobster would try very hard to avoid that, 'Are you sure he's only got one topside?'

'We've got a nice long scan of his ship while you've been keeping him busy. Lenny calculates that a ship that size will have another two missiles. We don't recognize this fighter type though, so we don't know what it's using as a main gun. It's a new model.'

'Fantastic,' Dan said, his voice flat.

Dan's arc had straightened out, and he was heading in a path toward the planet. Dan checked his scopes, the fighter had decided against ignoring him and was firmly on his tail.

He was pulling away from the Lobster's ship.

I've got the speed advantage, Dan thought to himself.

Dan cut back his engines slightly, so he didn't pull away anymore, and let the enemy fighter close. He manoeuvred his fighter, trying to present a more difficult shot.

A missile warning flashed again. The Lobster was firing from long range.

Dan hit the kill button again, swung the nose around and faced the missile. His computer beeped at him, and he fired off a small interceptor missile. It sped out of his fighter and detonated the incoming missile, but the enemy was still closing.

Another missile warning flashed, this time from behind him.

He swung around again, and there was an indicator on his HUD showing the oncoming missile. He let go of the kill button and aimed just under the incoming missile. Before it got to him, he fired his top side manoeuvring jets, and his fighter kicked downward. The missile passed overhead and exploded behind him. His fighter went into a spin, and his engines cut out.

The stars spun around him, and he struggled to gain control of his fighter. He was acutely aware that the enemy was closing on him.

The first inch of the nose of his fighter glowed white and vanished. A near fatal hit by a thermal weapon.

He got his spinning craft under control and noticed the enemy fighter coming at him from the side. He fired his front jets, and his fighter jerked backwards.

The enemy craft struggled to correct but failed and shot over the front of Dan's fighter. He squeezed his trigger, and a railgun bolt buried itself into the underbelly of the enemy craft. Its back exploded outward in a shower of shimmering debris, and the craft twisted toward the planet.

Dan fought to get his engines back, but nothing worked. He was falling toward the planet.

He activated the crash protocols on his fighter and braced himself.

'Mayday, Mayday, this is Lt Higgins, I'm going down,' he said over his communicator.

***

The message was barely out of the speakers by the time the crew was in motion.

'Track the Nimbus,' Sam ordered.

'On it,' Victor said, 'he's falling toward the planet's surface. He cut off too much of his forward momentum before he got hit.'

'Ise, probabilities?'

'Lenny says there is a high chance of surviving the initial impact, though he will not escape without being wounded.'

'John, get us moving.'

'Yes Ma'am.'

The ship twisted around back toward the planet. The engines flared, and they surged forward once more.

'Vick, where's the lobster's ship?'

'On a parabolic course to the far side of the planet. His landing will not be as rough as Dan's.'

Sam bit her lower lip and thought for a moment.

If that fighter comes back around, we'll have a harder time of it, but Dan definitely hit it. They’ve got to be hurting.

'Ise, what's Lenny's thoughts on that fighter coming back?'

'He has insufficient information on this new fighter to make a prediction.'

Sam nodded slowly to her self; it wasn't what she wanted to hear.

'Okay, we'll get in close to the Nimbus and hover in position. We're not going to go for a full landing. Ise, I want you to retrieve Dan, you don't need a pressure suit to survive, plus you've got the strength to get him back to the ship by yourself if you have to.'

Sam didn't like sending their Advocate out by herself, but they needed to be quick and maintain their combat readiness.

'Yes, Ma'am. I'll retrieve Lt Higgins.'

Sam stood up from her seat and clasped her hands behind her back. 'John, take us to the planet. I want us in position to let Ise drop as soon as the dust has settled.'