Midshipman Henry Gallant in Space Page 34

CHAPTER 18

  BATTLE OF JUPITER

  Ten uneasy days after the first radar sighting of the Titan Fleet, Captain Caine in the Repulse led a small but steadfast band of ships toward the aliens. Captains Rook of the Renown, Minford of the Remarkable, and Waller of the Retribution followed. The four battle cruisers formed a column flanked by a column of five destroyers. Their weapons were at the ready. Their men were at battle stations, fully confident they would prevail.

  On the hangar deck of the Repulse, Gallant watched the refueling, rearming, and pre-flight checks being completed on his Eagle. Kelsey sat nearby, her arms folded and eyes closed. Nearly four hours had passed since they had returned from their solo escort mission. Bone tired, they had tried to nap but failed. The rest of Squadron 111 had returned earlier and was already prepped and rested.

  Making his way through the crowd of swirling technicians, Chief Benjamin Howard strolled toward Gallant. He extended his hand and said, “Henry, I’m glad I caught you. I wanted to wish you Godspeed.”

  “Thanks," said Gallant shaking his hand. "Good luck, Benjamin.” They held their grip for a long moment. Instinctively they sensed that the life they knew was about to change. All too quickly, however, they had to part and return to their duties. Howard left to take his station in the communication shack, as Gallant got aboard his fighter.

  Gallant’s AI console revealed a mesmerizing scene of the two approaching fleets. Recon drones that had been sent hours before were providing detailed information to supplement the current radar readouts. From the combined intelligence, it appeared that the Titans were targeting Ganymede, approaching in three separate formations.

  Like an octopus, the aliens extended their tentacles toward their prey. Each of the three threatening appendages pointed toward a UP target. They acted in concert to threaten the Jupiter frontier; the enemy ships never extended beyond the ability to provide mutual support.

  The first Titan tentacle was the main battle fleet, about thirty light-seconds ahead of the assault force. It was arranged in an ellipsoid formation as it approached the UP fleet. There was a large outer screen of destroyers with two dozen cruisers inside the perimeter.

  The outer screen formed a quilt-like arrangement. Each patch in the quilt made up of a group of a dozen Titan destroyers arranged in a simple geometric form, positioned in three dimensions with three ship triangles at each corner of a square. The overall effect solidified the volume of the outer screen which consisted of 144 ships.

  The Titans had the advantage of being higher up in both the Jupiter and solar gravity wells, so they could withhold their attack until they felt ready. They were on course 010, azimuth up 10 degrees, and speed 0.0022c - a direct intercept course toward the Jupiter Fleet.

  The second formation consisted of twenty-four ships, each of which had multiple large shuttles attached. They had small weapons profiles and appeared to be assault transports. Their course of 015, azimuth up 10 degrees, speed 0.0018c was aimed directly for Ganymede’s main settlement communities, including Kendra, home to over thirty thousand colonists.

  The third formation, made up of another twenty-four destroyers on course 015, azimuth up 10 degrees, speed 0.0022c, acted as a covering force for the transports.

  It was a moot question to ask how large the alien ground-assault force was. The only military presence on Ganymede was the Seventh Marine Regiment—1,800 men with a few armored vehicles and tanks. Clearly they would be outmatched by the contents of twenty-four assault transports. Such overwhelming strength could only be defeated from space before enemy troops landed on the moon.

  Caine sat in his chair on the bridge of the Repulse, broadcasting to the aliens on all available channels. He demanded, “Ships approaching Jupiter Station, identify yourselves.” He repeated this several times before he ordered, “All ships, man battle stations. All fighters deploy in close support formation.”

  Caine broadcast a video message for all members of the fleet. "Officers and crew of the Jupiter Fleet, we are faced with a grave threat. The aliens have assembled a powerful force. It is apparent that they intend to attack our settlements and bases on the Jupiter frontier. As much as I would like to destroy the assault force, we must confront their main battle fleet first. Their arrangement prevents us from passing through their battle fleet without being decimated. The marine garrison on Ganymede, the research lab, and the Jupiter Station must defend themselves until we have dealt with the Titan main body.

  "The enemy’s capabilities and tactics are unfamiliar, but we will learn fast. Their motivation is unknown, but ours is clear. The fate of over three hundred fifty thousand colonists—men, women, and children—rests in our hands. Many of you have family and friends among them. I am certain that each of you will do whatever is necessary to protect them and defeat this callous enemy. Godspeed."

  That afternoon at 1616, Caine made the fateful decision to deploy his fleet to meet the enemy. On the command channel, Caine ordered, "Set course 150, azimuth up 10 degrees, speed 0.002c, at time 1616." The fleets approached each other at a closing speed greater than 0.004c.

  The four large battle cruisers launched their fighters, a total of forty-eight, and moved forward in a column, parallel with the five destroyers to starboard. Caine sent half of his fighter force to fly high cover. The rest of the fighters would remain for close antimissile support. Gallant flew escort around the battle cruisers. Preparations for the battle had kept Gallant so busy that he had not consciously acknowledged the danger. Now after hearing Caine, he felt strong and full of hope.

  The Titans’ main battle force tightened their formation but kept coming straight toward the UP fleet. The alien’s movements were very precise, and Gallant wondered whether the ships were manned by sentient beings or automated. Gallant heard the order, “Flight 4, maintain close support on Repulse’s forward starboard quarter.”

  Gallant began the process of visualizing the planets, moons, and nearby ships, as well as their motion and the space-time curvature around them. The presence of the many UP ships caused him to strain to separate out the distinct patterns. He wondered how the other pilots did this same process. When he tried to concentrate on the alien formations, all he could see at first was a large blur of overlapping images. Slowly, he was able to distinguish individual Titan ships, their trajectories, and their influence on local space-time curvature. After a few minutes, he had a comprehensive mental image.

  When the fleets were at a separation of 1.3 million miles—a full seven light-seconds—the aliens began firing missiles. The tracking radar showed that the missiles’ velocity was 0.11c, ten percent faster than UP missiles. Their flight time would be sixty-four seconds to target.

  Gallant noticed with some concern that the nuclear-tipped missiles traveled in a close-packed grouping. They might achieve a solid hit to their target.

  Heavily armored ships with powerful force shields could minimize the blast effects of nuclear-tipped missiles using speed and distance. Ships moving at 0.002c, or 3720 miles a second, were in the vicinity of the explosion for only a tiny fraction of a second. Most of the blast dissipated into empty space. A missile would do serious damage if it hit directly on the ship’s hull plates. Direct hits could penetrate the ships’ shields and tear openings in the ships’ hulls. Even near misses contributed to the damage ships suffered. Near misses could weaken shields and armor over time.

  The Titan’s close-packed missile launch indicated that they were targeting a small area with a high density of warheads, expecting some direct hits.

  The alien fleet of one hundred and forty-four destroyers and twenty-four cruisers faced the UP's nine ships, but they had no small craft comparable to the UP's forty-eight fighters. Previous encounters had shown that UP ships had a slight technological advantage in weapons and defensive systems, but the saucers were more maneuverable and slightly faster.

  Ship velocity of 0.002c produced small relativistic effects. Gallant knew GridScape would automatically adjust for them. However, fi
ghters and missiles traveled at more troublesome speeds. Fighters traveling at 0.01c, or 6.7 million mph, produced a 0.00005 spatial contraction and associated time dilation. Their missiles accelerated to 0.1c, or sixty-seven million mph, caused a 0.005 spatial contraction and associated time dilation. This was more difficult for the GridScape system to handle.

  Caine ordered a full UP salvo consisting of eight Hydra-III missiles fired from each of the battle cruisers, and four smaller missiles from each of the destroyers. This totaled fifty-two missiles. The fighters’ antimissile missiles were held for close range. Sooner than Gallant thought possible, missiles belched from the Repulse’s bow, and the beginning of a life-and-death struggle was started.

  The aliens' first missile volley contained 384 large and small missiles. Gallant estimated that the larger saucers each had four large missile launchers and some plasma and laser weapons. The small saucers appeared to have two forward missile tubes and some plasma weapons.

  As the alien missiles approached the UP fleet, countermeasures were deployed to good effect. Decoys and chaff misdirected more than a third of the incoming weapons.

  Then, it was the fighters’ turn. They moved through space like sharks hunting for prey. When they acquired a target, they launched their AMM-3 Mongoose antimissile missiles.

  Using his neural interface, Gallant was able to visualize incoming missiles. He had a window of only twenty-four seconds to engage them. He began visualizing the individual missiles, but he was having a problem with the sheer numbers. Slowly and methodically, his mind constructed a comprehensive image of the battlefield, the ships, the missiles, and their trajectories. Finally, he had a grand view, including every individual missile and its flight solution. As his understanding of the dynamic situation improved, he discovered that many of his fellow pilots were shooting at the same targets while ignoring others. It occurred to him that they didn’t have as comprehensive of an interpretation of the battlefield as he did. He wondered whether it could be that, with all their vaunted genetic engineering advantages, his natural talent was superior.

  Over the fighter communication channel, Gallant said, “Red, you are targeting incoming missiles that Flight 5 is also targeting. Shift to the next pair to starboard.”

  “How can you tell?” asked Red.

  “Never mind for now, but I can.” He began to direct the antimissile traffic.

  “Roger.”

  "Flight One, you are targeting the same missiles as Flight Two. Shift to the next two targets to port," he instructed.

  "Roger," the pilot immediately replied.

  Next, Gallant started to direct other squadrons. He said, “Squadron 112 you are overlapping targets with Squadron 113. I recommend you shift to targets below the reference plane and let 113 focus on targets above.” He was pleased that his shipmates accepted his instructions. But then he heard Neumann ask, "Can you really distinguish individual missiles within such a dense launch at this distance?"

  “Yes, I can follow every single alien missile and extrapolate its full trajectory. With your permission, I’ll help direct antimissile launches to optimize our fire,” said Gallant.

  “Permission granted,” said Neumann.

  With feedback from Kelsey, Gallant destroyed eight ship-killer missiles. Under Gallant’s direction, his forty-seven fellow pilots took care of one hundred of the remaining projectiles. Then the UP ship’s own antimissile batteries took out about another hundred.

  Only a few dozen alien missiles detonated near their target, Captain Rook’s Renown. The first tremendous shock of explosions accentuated the grave danger the Jupiter Fleet faced. The nuclear warheads inflicted significant damage to the battle cruiser’s forward shield and bow plates. The Renown’s forward missile compartment was ruptured and rendered useless.

  While the fighters were not as well protected as the larger ships, they flew at speeds up to five times as fast, which limited their exposure to nuclear blasts. Nevertheless, one of the Renown’s fighters was bracketed and crippled.

  The Jupiter Fleet had survived the first blow of the battle.

  “That tells us something of their command structure,” said Kelsey. “They targeted the Renown because they didn’t expect our commander to be in the lead ship.”

  “Good observation,” said Gallant.

  The flight time of the UP missiles was seventy seconds. As the UP’s fifty-two missiles approached their target, the aliens deployed counter measures that diverted only eleven. Antimissile missiles from the saucers were strewn in the path of the remaining forty-one missiles. Nevertheless, Gallant distinguished a dozen explosions that appeared to disable or destroy three Titan destroyers and two cruisers.

  The UP fleet had gotten the better of the first exchange, despite its fewer numbers.

  If Caine remained on his current course, however, the enemy could, potentially, cross his T. It was a long-standing naval convention, crossing the T of one’s enemy, brought superior firepower to bear. In this tactical dilemma, Caine compromised and swung his column.

  Caine ordered, "Hard to port. Come to course 120, azimuth up 10 degrees, speed 0.002c, at time 1626."

  The range continued to close while all the ships reloaded their missile tubes. The destroyer column remained on Caine’s starboard side, the Titan side.

  After a few minutes, the Titans had completed their reloading and launched their second volley of missiles. They changed their course to 330 to close the distance with the UP fleet more quickly.

  Caine ordered a further turn, hoping to confuse the incoming missiles, "Hard to starboard, come to course 220, azimuth up 10 degrees, speed 0.002c, at time 1632. All fighters move to close-in support." Caine was now moving across the Titan's line of advancement.

  "All ships prepare to fire. Fire!" The second UP salvo was on its way.

  The follow-up missile exchange produced similar results. The Renown was bruised, and several fighters were destroyed. Several of the Titan destroyers and a cruiser were knocked out. The two fleets continued to close. At 1638, the Jupiter Fleet had traveled nearly half a million miles since the start of the action. The two enemy forces were now less than a million miles apart, nearly within plasma and laser range.

  Captain Waller of the Retribution signaled, “Recommend concentrating fire on the damaged ships. We could finish them off.”

  Caine didn’t reply but continued on course to cross the aliens' T just as they reached plasma and laser range, allowing the UP force to maximize weapons fire on the enemy while minimizing the Titans’ ability to fire.

  This move probably saved the Jupiter Fleet. As the distance closed, the Titan plasma fire proved devastating, and the UP ships writhed from the onslaught. The neighboring space was lit up with the glow of multiple radiation bursts and reflections. Two UP destroyers were damaged, and the Remarkable took a few hits that scorched its port side. A very confused struggle wore on. The simultaneous missile strikes left behind a mess of drifting broken ships. The bow of another UP destroyer was blown off.

  Caine ordered, "All ships prepare to fire missile salvo. Fire. Hard to port. Come to course 180, azimuth up 10 degrees, speed 0.002c, at time 1646."

  This gutsy call turned the UP fleet directly toward the enemy and closed the range very fast. They were actually following their own missiles toward the enemy ships.

  The missile flight time was a mere twenty seconds, and it didn’t allow the aliens time to deploy decoys, or countermeasures. It completely disrupted their organization. Instead of firing a return salvo, the alien ships spent several confused minutes avoiding collisions after they tried to evade the incoming missiles. A dozen Titan destroyers and several cruisers were destroyed or badly damaged.

  The Titans apparently ordered a general attack at this point, which called for the fleet to split into different divisions and attack independently. The Titan cruisers were forced into repeated evasive actions. This slowed their advance and increased the confusion in the already badly disorganized formation.

&
nbsp; Kelsey said, "Look at Ganymede. It’s being bombarded. I hope there are enough underground shelters to protect the population. Shuttlecraft are on their way to the surface. Alien ground forces are attacking the marine base."

  Gallant thought of Jake’s son, Sergeant Bernstein. He said, "It looks like they'll be overrun."

  Caine must have been thinking the same thing because Gallant heard him signal the Ganymede troops, “Stand firm. We're coming.”

  Caine intended to use his current tactical advantage to pass right through the Titan battle fleet, forcing them to reverse their course to follow him. This would give him a clear shot at the assault force attacking Ganymede. But he would have to hurry; the assault force’s bombardment was wreaking havoc on the moon.

  Caine hoped to cut through the Titan formation just in front of the enemy cruisers, isolating some ships in front and taking them out of combat. The plan would allow the fleets to close their distance as quickly as possible. It would also quickly bring on a frantic battle by breaking the Titan line and inducing a series of individual ship-to-ship fights, in which the UP spacecraft were likely to prevail. Caine knew his ships had the advantage of better gunnery and defensive measures. The main drawback of attacking head-on was that as the leading UP ships approached, the Titan ships could direct broadside fire at their bows to which the UP ships would be unable to reply.

  The United Planets and Titans were now in a ragged, curved line headed toward each other. The badly damaged UP fleet approached the disorganized Titan formation. The foremost UP ships were under heavy fire from several of the enemy ships for a considerable time before they could return fire. For many tense minutes, Repulse was under fire from the Titan cruisers. Although many shots went astray, others killed and wounded a number of her crew.

  The UP fleet passed through the Titans. It was finally able to strike a blow at the assault force. The Jupiter Fleet concentrated their next missile barrage on the assault transports, which were five light-seconds away. The transports were in stationary orbit, and they were not as well shielded as the other saucer ships. The stunning UP salvo ripped away shields and breached hulls on half of the assault ships, causing many to burst apart.

  The shuttles that were in flight were likewise burned to a crisp. The alien assault force was badly mauled.

  However, Jupiter Fleet paid a heavy price for this maneuver. The main Titan battle force launched a missile salvo of its own that had a devastating effect.

  Gallant and his comrades struggled to shoot down the incoming missiles, even as plasma and laser beams cut them apart.

  Despite the fighters’ best efforts, two destroyers were badly damaged and fell out of formation. The Retribution was severely damaged and had to reduce its speed to 0.001c. Twenty fighters, nearly half of the fleet’s total, were also destroyed or severely damaged.

  "Ken, we’re crippled, and we must fall out of formation," reported William Waller of the Retribution.

  In a desperate gamble to save the battle cruiser, Caine ordered, "All fighters attack enemy forces at close range."

  “All squadrons form on 111,” ordered Neumann. “Guide on me.”

  The remaining twenty-six fighters fell into an attack formation and flew at full throttle into the teeth of the Titan fleet, firing their lasers.

  “Flight 4, stay tight,” urged Red.

  Gallant acknowledged, “I’m with you.”

  The fighters weaved through the Titan ships, striking their blows one after another. To avoid collisions with the enemy, as well as friendly ships, they shot at targets of opportunity.

  The Titan’s close-range plasma blasts produced a cataclysm of violence. Gallant was stunned when Sandy Barrington’s fighter took a direct hit. It disintegrated and broke into hundreds of pieces right before his eyes.

  Despite the heroic assault, the enemy ships stayed on course. The fighters, however, were decimated by plasma cannons from all sides and had to break off. Less than half returned to the fleet.

  As the Titans closed in on Retribution, she fought a desperate battle. On her own, against overwhelming odds, she was hit mercilessly with missile after missile. Belching wreckage and air, she staggered bravely onward, until finally, she erupted, and the dying wreck disappeared into a giant fireball.

  As the battle ebbed and flowed, the superior number of saucers had a greater impact on the UP ships. The battle was only one hour old, and thousands had already died.

  When the afterglow of the Retribution’s explosion faded out, Caine turned his remaining ships to open some distance to the Titan main battle fleet. He commanded, "Hard to starboard. Come to course 090, azimuth up 10 degrees, speed 0.0018c, at time 1716."

  The Titans changed formation and also moved to open the distance between the fleets. Both sides needed time to regroup.

  Fourteen of the Titans’ cruisers remained in the center of a screen of forty-eight destroyers—four patches of a dozen destroyers each. Their remaining cruisers and destroyers had been demolished or were left as derelicts floating in Jupiter’s orbit. The battle now continued at long range.

  The enemy assault force continued to attack Ganymede and bombard the Jupiter Station. One group split off to attack the colonies on Ganymede.

  Caine was forced to keep what remained of the Jupiter Fleet together, leaving Jupiter Station and Ganymede to defend themselves.

  Gallant was flying on Gregory's wing when he tracked inbound missiles with a zero bearing rate.

  "Red, incoming. Hard to starboard! Kick it hard!" said Gallant, his stomach reeling from nerves.

  "Roger!" The explosion rocked both ships. Red’s Eagle took substantial damage from the near miss.

  "Henry, my Eagle is badly damaged. One engine is blown. I’m burned down the side of my body, and I think my arm is broken. I'm heading for the barn. You're on your own now. Good luck."

  Gallant covered Red as he left formation to limp back and dock with the Repulse.

  Soon, several more fighters were damaged or destroyed. Then another destroyer fell out of formation, badly damaged from direct missile hits.

  Several fighters tried to extend their antimissile screen to cover the damaged ships, but they became easy targets for the saucers.

  Caine ordered the fleet to maneuver to better support the damaged ships, but the aliens attacked in group formations of a dozen ships at a time. They fired their missiles in salvos, which greatly contributed to the confusion of battle.

  Gallant fired his antimissiles at incoming missiles and fired his lasers at nearby saucers. All the time, he maintained his relative velocity alongside the Repulse by accelerating in a tight spiral. In addition, he constantly offered target information to the other pilots who were eager for his input.

  There was no time for ships to fall back to accomplish repairs or to return to the repair facilities of the Jupiter Station. They could only stop the bleeding and keep fighting. An increasing number of lifeboats were floating among the battle wreckage. Unfortunately, no one could rescue these vessels.

  Jupiter Station eventually became enmeshed in the combat, along with the facilities on Ganymede. However, Caine had prepared a few surprises for the aliens. The laboratory was successfully cloaked, and the Faser cannon it housed was primed and ready to disintegrate any saucers that came within range. Unfortunately, only a few MASS mines had been built, but they were deployed near Jupiter Station. Jupiter Station launched its missiles and coordinated with the Repulse’s GridScape throughout the battle.

  As the battle continued, the aliens concentrated their long distance attack on the battle cruisers.

  Although the outcome of the battle was still in doubt, Gallant could see that the UP battle cruisers had taken serious damage. Fortunately, both fleets were moving beyond each other’s missile range. They appeared to be ready for a respite.

  After several more minutes, Gallant maneuvered his fighter toward a saucer that had been badly damaged by missile fire. He made several passes, firing his lasers until he was convinced
the saucer could no longer resist a direct hit.

  Gallant prepared to press the firing button to launch an antimissile into the center of the damaged saucer, but then he paused. He suddenly realized that he had the opportunity to discover important information about the aliens, if he could get inside the saucer and relay what he found to Captain Caine and GridScape.

  “Kelsey, we’ve got to dock with that saucer and board it. Once we’re inside who knows what we'll discover?”

  Kelsey grew alarmed, “No, no, no. Henry; is that even possible - in the middle of this chaos?”

  “It’s an opportunity we can’t afford to pass up.” He abandoned caution and committed himself to the risky venture. Kelsey stayed silent and motionless for several long seconds. Then any reservations she had faded. She calculated the course to dock, matching the saucer's speed, course, and orientation so that they would be relatively stationary.

  "Kelsey, you’ll have to remain with the fighter and use the lasers to cover my spacewalk, but if things go badly, I want you to break off," said Gallant, strapping on his gun. "I don’t know if the ship’s crew will offer any resistance."

  "I’ll inform Repulse what you’re attempting. Maybe they can provide covering fire if needed," she said.

  “Great idea. I’ll send a video feed from my suit comm pin to our Eagle. You can let Repulse follow my progress and record everything that happens for intelligence analysis.”

  With the aftermath of the violent space battle around him, Gallant prepared to spacewalk to the saucer. He sealed his mirrored armored suit and exited the fighter through his overhead hatch. The suit included an oxygen generator pack that maintained an appropriate atmosphere for him to breathe as he traveled in space. He traveled along the surface of the fighter using short bursts of gas to propel him and then released his umbilical line. Using his propulsion jets he propelled himself forward into the darkness. He looked for a way to enter the alien ship.

  As Gallant floated and maneuvered outside his ship, rapid-sequence cameras on the fighter transmitted his movements. As he left the protective walls of the spaceship, Gallant’s life depended entirely upon the effectiveness of his space suit and the gear he carried. Though the spacewalk looked easy in the silence of space, it was in fact a dangerous gamble that could end disastrously at any moment. He could be hurled off into space, or struck by a missile, or laser blast straying from the surrounding battle, even with the current lull in the action.

  Gallant maneuvered the jetpack deftly. His suit shielded him from incredible extremes of temperature—up to 250 degrees Fahrenheit on sunlit surfaces and down to 150 degrees below zero on the shady side of the fighter.

  Tremendous solar flares continued to spew out radiation that required Gallant to increase the filter setting of his visor. The suit was also designed to protect him from deadly cosmic radiation and possible bombardment by micrometeorites that zipped through space hundreds of times faster than high-velocity rifle bullets. A large puncture in the pressurized suit could make his blood boil within seconds and cause him to explode like a toy balloon.

  Propelling himself forward, he tumbled and then straightened up. By using the communicator to connect to the fighter, he relayed information directly to the ship’s AI. He could also access the ship’s monitoring capability to see how the battle was progressing. Suddenly, the communicator notified him that an alien saucer was approaching. He could see laser shots flash near him. For a moment he couldn't breathe, and then he let his training take over and found the strength to go forward.

  He heard Kelsey call the Repulse, her voice desperate with apprehension. "We’re under direct fire! We need immediate support!"

  Was her anguish because of me? Gallant wondered.

  “We can fire a...missile at...but with the solar interference hitting...would be pure luck.” A broken message came from the officer of the deck on the Repulse.

  “If you fire a missile with external laser guidance, we can ‘paint’ the target with my fighter’s laser,” responded Kelsey.

  “Will do; stand-by.”

  The Repulse fired, and Kelsey used her neural connection to the fighter to light up the target saucer. The result was a satisfying explosion, and the alien ship disintegrated in a sea of debris.

  “Fantastic!” exclaimed Gallant. “Thanks Repulse! Thanks Kelsey!”

  After what seemed an eternity, he finally entered the alien ship through a massive hole that had been torn in its hull by an earlier missile blast.

  Gallant was already exhausted, mentally and physically, but he began a search for life signs.

  At that moment, he saw a sight that would long haunt his dreams; from inside the hull breach, he saw the ruptured bodies of dead alien crewmen floating. They had strange, gray-purple faces. He had to force himself to move past them. Holding his handgun, he entered the next airless compartment of the ship.

  Assessing the saucer layout, Gallant guessed that there was a corridor that ran radially into the ship. He supposed that the bridge would be located at the center of the saucer, while the reactor compartment and engine rooms would be along the outer circumference.

  Gallant made his way to what he presumed was the bridge and opened the hatch. He saw the dead body of a five-foot-tall biped crewmember with leathery features and a strange uniform. The creature wore a pressure suit that provided protection from space and included a supply of an unknown gas mixture. The alien had long limbs and slender appendages.

  That was all he could discern from his brief look. He moved forward, swinging his right hand with the gun from side to side in front of his body. Any time he detected a flicker of motion, he focused the gun in that direction. As he leveled his gun, he noticed the presence of several more alien bodies, badly mangled from explosions and fire. Some of them had not made it into their protective suits. They were very thin and had a grayish-hued skin peeking out through the coverings. He could see no hair or markings on the skin. The eyes were peculiar—violet and cobalt and somewhat iridescent.

  He picked up one of the aliens’ weapons. It appeared to be an assault gun with a highly polished barrel, possibly a form of high-temperature plasma gun. He cast it aside.

  He searched for life signs among the rest of the crew but found none. As he moved about the bridge, he was certain that he was facing an impossible task of trying to understand the controls.

  The hatch to the bridge swung open as two threatening aliens entered the bridge, weapons drawn.

  An impulse of desperate action seized Gallant. With all the bravado he could muster, he thrust himself forward, firing and killing both in succession. He shook with excitement, even though the well-trained part of him responded logically. He thrust the images of the dead bodies out of his mind, along with the heavy thoughts that accompanied them.

  He was examining what appeared to be the central processing unit, when another alien suddenly appeared from the interior of the ship and fired a handgun at him. The plasma blast grazed Gallant’s left arm, causing him to slip and stumble.

  As his armored suit automatically resealed itself, Gallant returned fire, and the face of the alien dissolved into a bloody mess.

  He recognized that at this point, he didn’t have any good options. He activated his suit's emergency medical response unit. It released analgesics and antiseptic to cover his wound. He sucked medication and stimulants from the fluid-dispensing straw within his helmet and then bit his lip from the searing pain he still felt. He tried to keep himself alert to prevent succumbing to shock.

  It was several minutes before the medications overcame the shock and pain from his injury. As soon as he could, Gallant focused again on the task of assessing the alien systems and forms around him.

  First, he took a flask from his belt equipment and collected tissue samples from the alien bodies. Then, using a metal bar from the nearby bridge wreckage, he nervously pried out what he conjectured to be a vital piece of equipment. It consisted of blocks of integrated circuits several feet long. The
body of the mechanism was small, cylindrical, and almost pointed. On the pointed ends were socket caps that he unplugged from their wall connections. The device looked extremely complex, and it bore all the earmarks of the main CPU of the bridge AI system.

  With his injury, Gallant had a difficult time bringing the equipment back to his fighter. Once there, he remained outwardly impassive but asked for help.

  Kelsey grabbed him first and helped him aboard. Then she picked up the mechanism and stored it in a locker below the pilot’s seat.

  He wasn’t prepared for how to proceed beyond this point, but he reported to the Repulse that he had recovered vital alien technology.

  The fleet battle was still quiet as the two sides remained separated from sheer exhaustion. Captain Caine spoke directly to Gallant over a secure channel, asking about the characteristics of the alien technology.

  The only remaining Eagle fighters were piloted by Neumann and Chui. Their incredible flying skill had kept them alive so far. Neumann cut into the communication channel and said, "Captain, let me take the equipment to Ganymede Lab to be studied."

  The battle was going badly, and the United Planets fleet was in trouble. Nearly all the fighters were destroyed or badly damaged. The battle cruisers were all damaged and low on missiles. Caine recognized the critical importance of what Gallant had recovered. He said, “Ganymede isn’t safe. It’ll have to go to Mars.”

  Gallant said, “Let me take it, Captain.”

  Neumann interjected, “No Captain, I should take it. The Eagles can barely travel that distance and the asteroids are inundated with aliens. I’m senior and the better pilot. I won’t let you down.”

  Caine hesitated to decide.

  Gallant didn't waver. He argued, saying, "No, sir. I’m the one who saw the opportunity. I took the risk and captured the technology. I’ll get it to Mars."

  Caine said, "You continue to surprise me, Mr. Gallant."

  He paused and then continued, "Mr. Gallant, break off from the battle and get that alien CPU to any United Planets base you can make with your limited fuel and environmental capabilities."

  Caine ordered, "Flight 3, you will escort Gallant out of the immediate combat area. The battle cruisers will re-engage the enemy fleet for as long as we can, to give you cover. Good luck!"

  Gallant, Neumann, and Chui moved into formation together and turned toward the sun. They tried weaving past numerous alien ships, which seemed to be in disorder despite keeping up a steady fire of missiles and plasma discharges.

  For a moment, it looked like the three fighters would get away, but then two small saucers broke away from the main engagement and targeted the fighters specifically.

  "OK, this is on us, Chui," said Neumann. "Gallant, stay on course. We've got these two."

  "Roger," said Gallant.

  "Don't let us down!" said Neumann.

  Click...click...Gallant tapped his microphone in acknowledgement.

  Neumann and Chui turned and flew to face two aggressive saucers, head-on.

  "Godspeed," Gallant said quietly with a dry throat, as he pushed his throttle to max.

  The next second, his Eagle was heading away, alone.

  Gallant observed Flight 3's Eagles for as long as he could, but they appeared to vanish in a massive explosion at the edge of his instrument range.

  "Oh, Henry," Kelsey said with a gasp.

  Gallant somberly focused his attention on the vastness of space before him.

  As the last star fighter in Squadron 111, Midshipman Henry Gallant headed for the nearest human base in orbit around Mars.

  With the Jupiter Fleet on the verge of annihilation, Gallant expected no help. In order to reach Mars, he had to make his way through the asteroid belt and past alien saucers in the area. He would have to nurse his wounded arm and share the limited life support resources with Kelsey over a protracted journey.

  He realized that with so much uncertainty about the alien capabilities and intentions, analyzing the captured computer equipment in his possession could prove crucial.