When the Stars Fade (The Gray Wars) (7 page)

             
In the cockpit, Cameron flipped on the master power and waited two seconds for the computer self-test to complete. He reached back behind his head and pulled out his helmet from the stowage rack. The water line was still connected, and he bit down to test if it was full. A sweet mixture of a water and electrolytes filled his mouth. He squeezed the baggy and shook, hearing the slosh of a half-empty bladder.
Wo
n’
t be out more than an hour. I
t’
ll be fine.
Cameron pulled his helmet on and plugged into the communication box. Immediately he heard traffic from Wolfpack. It was the usual buzz: what people thought of the mission, if anyone knew something new, did so-and-so hit that hottie last night.

             
Switching to a local line, Cameron spoke
.“
George, you read me
?
”

             
“Lima Charlie, Cam. This shit is crazy
.”
George leaned back as a flight crew Chie
f—
an attractive woman with bright green eye
s—
tugged his harness tight and checked for frays in the straps. As she pulled away, George held up a hand
.“
No kiss for good luck
?”
The Chief smacked his helmet hard enough make him wince, but as she climbed down he saw her blush. George laughed and pulled his canopy shut, waiting for the magnets to connect and seal. He listened until the locks clicked twice before giving the crew a nod. The Heads Up Display read green, meaning the cockpit was now pressurized and ready for launch.

             
Cameron felt rather than saw the crane grab his fighter and begin moving it toward the rails. It was
n’
t as efficient as launching from the airfield, as only two fighters could take-off at once, but the magnetic launcher allowed crews to immediately enter the battlefield rather than waiting to taxi out into the vacuum. Cameron connected his flight suit to the hoses inside the craft. Zero-G combat was a fairly different animal than planetary dogfighting, but the human body was the same. The flight suit would help keep him conscious during even the most intense fights. Air and water flowed in hoses around his legs and torso, contracting and relaxing as the system came online. When needed, this would keep blood in the right places.

             
“This is Wolf tw
o—
shit, Wolf on
e—
show me attached on rail two
.
”

             
“Wolf one, this is Yankee one-two
.”
Captain Newma
n’
s voice came through calm as a schoolteacher over the line
.“
You are cleared to launch in minus sixty seconds. Good hunting
.
”

             
“One-two, this is Wolf six
,”
George said
.“I’
m on the rail, show me outbound
.”
He toggled his power amp, listening to the engines whine.

             
The Phoenix began to vibrate around Cameron as the magnets picked up their spin. Once the green light came, the hangar crew would switch his arresting magnet forward and propel him to launch speed in under two seconds. He remembered the first time h
e’
d launched off a rail. George had been telling jokes into the radio from the ground, and Cameron had turned to make a face at him. When the rail launched, his head jerked back so hard he thought his head would be torn off. Three weeks in a neck brace had cemented that lesson in pretty deep.

             
“George, test control jets
.”
Cameron watched as the twenty vertical and horizontal nozzles on Georg
e’
s fighter spit out white flames in sequence. Once in the vacuum, those jets provided precise control of the craft. Had the fight been planetside, the Phoenix had standard flaps and ailerons for gravitational warfare
.“
Yo
u’
re green, spot me
.”
He activated the jet self-test and watched the numbers count up. A yellow light came on for number 15
.“
Damn it, I thought they fixed that last month
.
”

             
“Yeah, still sputtering. Tha
t’
s fifteen, right
?
”

             
Cameron banged his helmet against his headrest
.“
Same shit, different day. Like I
really
needed to turn right anyhow
.
”

             
“Hey, the day everything works right the first time, call in sick. The universe is clearly trying to kill you
.
”

             
An alarm chimed in their cockpits
.“
T-minus ten...nine...eight..
.
”

             
Cameron pulled his restraints tight. His left hand rested on his engine control and missile guidance stick while his right gripped the yoke. He pressed his head back against the rest and waited for the sudden acceleration. George howled over the intercom, laughing maniacally as he always did before launch. For a moment all was still and quiet, and then the stars rushed forward at incredible speed. Cameron sank into the molded seat, his vision blurring at three hundred kilometers per hour as his stomach somersaulted into his back. Then they were clear, rocketing out of the lunar atmosphere with the dusty ground falling further and further behind.

             
The engines kicked in automatically as soon as the craft were far enough from the rails. With the twin slush-hydrogen jets spewing out a steady stream of white and blue fire, the Phoenixes cruised out of Lun
a’
s gravity and raced to meet up with the rest of the air wing.

             
“Sector Patrol Luna, this is Wolf one. Sight me inbound on approach vector four-two
.
”

             
“Wolf one, this is
Valley Forge
. Approach on flight path whiskey seven, on your HUD
.
”

             
Cameron looked out over his port wing at George
.“
Shit, wrong channel
.”
They shared a look of uncertainty before Cameron went back to the radio
.“
Valley Forge
, Wolfpack is Sierra Papa. Please advice which net to switch to
.
”

             
“Wolf, this is
Valley Forge
actual
.”
Cameron straightened up at that. Commander DeHar
t’
s smoke-charred voice was unmistakable. Head officer of the supercruiser
Valley Forge
, he was second-in-command to Terra Node, which essentially made him second-in-command of the Sol System. That the station had committed its own security detachment meant the threat level had jumped dramatically
.“
You will rendezvous with elements of Eart
h’
s SP and form on CBG Terr
a’
s flank. Fleet has operational control of this task force.
Valley Forge
out
.
”

             
George laughed nervously
.“
Well, now
I’
m sure this is
n’
t just a drill
.
”

             
“Wolf, this is one
.”
Cameron let out a breath h
e’
d been holding
.“
W
e’
re escort for
Savanna
. Tight cluster, nexus formation
.
”

             
“Roger
,”
came the expected response.

             
“Cam
,”
George said
.“
Yo
u’
re almost sounding like a leader
.
”

             
“Not my first wing
.
”

             
“Did I ever apologize for that? Though, to be fair, yo
u’
re the one who let me bring the Maneton inside the armory
.
”

             
Cameron was about to respond when a shadow blotted out the light around him. He looked up, his mouth dropping open. Engulfing all space above his puny fighter, the enormous girth of the TFC
Midway
emerged overhead. The mammoth hangar bays on either side of the flat, boxy body spread out almost a half-mile. An escort wing of Phoenix III fighters flew in graceful figure-eights around the hull, quad-rockets leaving parallel streaks behind them. As the carrier passed, driven by sixteen fusion-cell engines, Cameron made out crews inside the hangars prepping the bomber squadrons for launch. The almond-shaped Seed craft sat on rapid-deployment rails along with dozens more strikers. Soon they disappeared from view as the flagship joined its group outside the standoff between the two mysterious formations. Medium-sized frigates and much larger destroyers took position around the supercarrier while a heavily-armed battleship arrived from the rear.

             
At this distance, Cameron could see that each armada was unique in design. The tiny ships dispersing from the black hive on the left bore red markings on their glossy hulls. Their carrier spun on a central axis and resembled in many ways a be
e’
s nest. Four acorn-shaped cruisers flanked the flagship, cannons peeking out the front of their pointed hulls. Ten destroyer
s—
long, scooped craft with turrets covering their skin like spine
s—
edged slowly toward the other side of the battlefield. Finally, mixed in with the other vessels, spherical missile frigates drifted like space debris.

             
Opposite the dark craft, the silver flotilla was comprised of elegantly designed warships. Their supercarrier, a crescent of platinum and gold, glided on glowing engines toward the fray, surrounded by cigar-shaped cruisers and destroyers. The fighters and bombers were all-too familiar in their saucer shape.

             
“I
t’
s an alien invasion, George
.
”

             
“Tha
t’
s stupid. Ther
e’
s no such thing
.”
But Georg
e’
s voice wavered.

             
Cameron and George finally arrived at the edge of Flee
t’
s blockade. Wolfpack, comprised of seven Phoenix II fighters, floated alongside the missile frigate TMF
Savanna
. Called th
e“
bulldog
,”
the 130,000-ton vessel carried a payload of six hundred Trebuchet missiles, fourteen hundred Ram dummy rockets, forty Brimstone warheads and ten nuclear munition
s—
colloquially called th
e“
Ten Plague
s”
by the crew. Though the silhouette was strangely canine, there was no mistaking the raw power of the warship.

             
“
Savanna
, this is Wolf one.
I’
m on your starboard side
.”
The green lights on the right dorsal fin of the craft bathed Camero
n’
s fighter. He looked up and saw a gunner flash his target strobe; a friendly taunt from the under-gunned ship. Crews of missile frigates knew that without an escort they were slag-in-waiting. Cameron lifted his wing and opened the munition doors, showing off his own assortment of toys.

             
“And now my favorite game
,”
George said
.“
Hurry up and wait
.”
He looked over at Cameron, waving a deck of cards. When his friend nodded, he pulled off a rubber band from the pack and dealt. He pressed Camero
n’
s hand against the glass and let his own float free in zero gravity
.“
Your bet
.
”

*              *              *              *              *

              Not a single signal sent to the alien armadas had elicited a response. The two strike groups drifted toward each other, each well within range of long guns and missiles, yet no one daring the first shot. In the Terran Fleet, fingers twitched over control and triggers, anxious for anything to happen.