Chapter
22
Flyer’s point of view
I looked briefly at my radar, and saw the targeted ship directly
ahead was moving towards us just as fast as we were flying towards them. The
distance meter clocked down at an alarming rate:
6000km…….
5700km
I charged my weapons. Missile banks were loaded.
5300km ……
5000km
Our lasers would only cause damage when fired from at least 3000km
away; we had to get closer.
4800km……
Kevin was our wing leader, so he had to make contact. His grim,
harsh voice sounded over the comms system.
“Valedron fighters: this is Captain Richardson of Dragon Alpha
wing. You have violated the Dragon Empire’s air space. Turn your ships around
and leave immediately.”
“Fat chance, Richardson!” a familiar, snarling voice replied
arrogantly. “There are only ten of you and fifteen of me. You’re odds are not
so good, human!”
I recognised that voice. I knew Kevin did too. It was Captain
Ruggan of the Valedron Alpha wing. Alpha was the designation for the best
fighter wing of a military force, and since our wings were both Alpha, we had
been rivals for a long time. Whoever had a better Alpha wing had a better air
force. Yet, the Valedrons’ had their Beta and Delta wings too.
4500km……..
4300km
I didn’t have to see my leader to know his face was contorted in
anger.
“Valedron wings: this is your final warning,” Kevin began, through
clenched teeth, “turn around and leave the Dragon Empire’s air space. Comply
immediately or we will open fire!”
“Muhahaha!” Ruggan guffawed. “I’d love to see you try, Captain.
Actually, I’d love to see you as a crater on your beloved New Nosteran!”
3500km…… 3200km….
“3000km: in weapons range!” I reported to Kevin.
“All ships engage!” he ordered.
As we neared, both sides roared past each other, and the flash of
blue and red lasers lit up the area as weapons fire tore through both ranks.
After passing the fighters, we U-turned and followed after them, firing shots
at their backs. The Valedrons’ red shields shimmered as they took damage from
our blue lasers.
Kevin’s point of view
We were now all behind the fifteen enemy craft. Yet, they were
letting us follow them. Didn’t they usually turn around and shoot back?
Something wasn’t right…….
Pushing the thought aside momentarily, I targeted the closest
Valedron Beta ship and fired when the rapidly beeping sensor told me the
missiles were locked.
With a stream of blue exhaust, the twin missiles shot towards the
fighter craft. The Beta pilot began to evade, but too late did he react. As the
missiles hit, there was a great bust of red energy as the shields were knocked
completely out. The hit was on the lower side of the now-depleted shields and
the impact sent the ship spinning upwards and out of my vision. I speeded up to
follow. I had misjudged their tactics; they began to follow and fire at me.
“Alpha 2 and 3: watch my six!” I ordered hurriedly.
Flyer and Dommur responded, tailing the ships that were hassling
me. I quickly took out my target and swooped down to fire at the main body of
fighters below. Strangely, most of them were not fighting back but still flew
towards the base. What the hell were they doing?
Yet, a view of the ships from above revealed what was wrong. The
Valedron Delta wing was comprised of five Iguana class ships.
“Aren’t they…?” I began.
“Iguana ships! Delta wing are bombers!” Flyer dismayed. “They’re
heading for the base!”
“We gotta stop ‘em, sir!” Dommur wailed. “There’s loadsa people on
the base, ya know!”
I hastily agreed. I now saw what they were doing. Beta wing was
escorting the Delta bombers, while the hot-shot Alpha team lagged behind to draw
the fire away from the bombers. They were more experienced and so could dodge
most shots. I opened all comm channels to the ships.
“All ships: Delta wing is a bomber wing! Beta Leader, you and your
team deal with the Iguanas! Do you read?”
“Copy that, Alpha Leader! Just give us a hand with the Beta wing
escort when you can!” the Captain replied.
“No problem, Beta Leader. We’ll get those fighters.” I nodded with
confidence. “Alpha 3 and 5: you help out Beta wing with that Beta bomber
escort. Alpha 2 and 4: you guys help me deal with Valedron Alpha.”
“All of them, sir?” Monsoon asked curiously.
“C’mon Alpha 4, we’re the best pilots in this sector. We can take
‘em all on!” I insisted.
Dommur and Forkar flew off in Beta wing’s direction, and we tore
towards Captain Ruggan’s team. I remembered his earlier insult and suddenly
felt stung by it.
“Wanna see me as a crater, do you?” I snarled quietly. “We’ll see
who the crater is!”
Ignoring the other Valedron fighters, I shot several burst of
laser fire in Ruggan’s direction, ensuring he would have a hard time dodging
them. Sure enough, a volley of blue shots mixed with the liquid shimmer of
Ruggan’s shields, spraying purple light across his hull.
“Sneaky shot, Richey!” he jeered. I hated being called ‘Richey’, purely because it was him that called
me it all the time.
“Don’t like it? That’s your problem!” I retorted, firing a single
missile at him. It hit his shields full on, but they held. As another of the
Valedron ships flew across my path, I saw one of Monsoon’s green-tailed
missiles chase and hit it, and, like Ruggan’s ship, the shields held.
“I see you have new ships!” I declared.
“All the better to destroy you with!” one of Ruggan’s team members
sneered.
“My cohort is correct, Richey; we have stronger ships than you. I
see you still have your old scrap heap!”
He used his thrust engines and swung in a tight curve to get
behind me, shooting as he went. As if to prove his point, my shield were
knocked down to 50% strength.
But I wasn’t going to be put off by that. I somersaulted over his
ship, and like a game of tag, I was chasing him again. I relentlessly rained
laser fire onto his shields. A bright flash of red and purple signalled the
death of his shields.
I heard him scowl.
“At least I always know every weld, every circuit of my ship. I
know what it can and can’t do to the last detail. You never have a ship long
enough for that!” I retorted.
I thought to fire a missile to end his worthless life, and his
mockeries of my team and me. But fate intervened.
“Alpha Leader, I could use with some help here!”
Flyer was never very subtle. I left off aiming at Ruggan to help
my friend. Both Valderon Alpha 2 and 3 were pursuing Flyer, while Monsoon
chased Valderon Alpha 5 while being followed by Valderon Alpha 4.
A good few laser bursts dispersed the two assailants. Once lagged
behind Flyer still to try and destroy him, but that was his fatal mistake. A
well-aimed shot to his engines ended his pursuit. A shower of debris and dust
rattled against the hull of my ship as I flew through the exploding fighter.
“Do you want to pull off the attack, or shall I kick your scaly
butt next?” I asked mockingly.
“I’m better than you! You want a challenge? Bring it on, mammal!”
he snarled.
I raised my eyebrows: “Those are strong words for someone with no
shields left!”
A moment of silence passed. I locked on to his ship with my
remaining missile, as his uneasy reply came.
“Erm…. I retain my challenge, Richardson.”
I knew I was worrying him now. He never called me by my full
surname if he was confident.
“Oh, you do now, do you?” I took on a mocking, amused, carefree
tone. “Well, I’m sure that’s not in your best interests. If you’ll just check
your scanners, you’ll see that I’m locked onto you with my missiles. With no
shields…… oh, that would be messy!”
Again, he hesitated with his reply.
“But… but maybe you should have considered bringing more of your
team to help you, huh?” he retorted nervously. “There’ll still be three of my
ships to fight back, even without me.”
“Scratch one bogey, Alpha Leader!” Monsoon chirped over the sound
of another exploding fighter.
“Oh dear, Ruggan. Poor Valedron Alpha 4!” I sneered sarcastically.
“That would leave you and two others left now. Fancy leaving, ‘cause this
missile still has your name on it?”
Ruggan scowled, and the noise of him hitting his controls in anger
was satisfying for me to hear.
“Gah! All ships: pull back!” he ordered to his small fleet.
“Sir?”
“I said pull back, you moron!” he snapped. “I’m your Captain!”
“Yes, sir…” the Valedron pilot responded to Ruggan dejectedly.
“We’ll settle this another sun, Captain Richardson!” Ruggan
ominously claimed.
“Somehow, I think not,” I answered, with a hint of disappointment.
“We’ll be back, with more ships……” Ruggan muttered to his team.
“They’ll pay!”
“But sir, you said that last time we-”
“SHUT UP!!!”
I hear Flyer and Monsoon chortle and I joined in too.
“All ships check in!” I ordered in a light-hearted mood.
“Alpha 2: only a few hits. I’m OK!” Flyer reported.
“Alpha 4: all systems green; time to tally up one more downed
enemy fighter!” Monsoon proudly responded.
“Alpha Leader to Alpha 3 and 5: how’s it goin’ over there?”
“This is Alpha 3. Things got a bit heated over here, but they’re
falling back.”
“Got a kill count?” I queried.
“Two bombers and three escort fighters, Captain, but….”
“But what, Dommur?” I urged nervously.
“It comes at a heavy price.” He replied solemnly. “We lost Beta 2
and 4. We also lost Alpha 5.”
“Not Forkar!” Monsoon dismayed. Monsoon was in charge of training
Forkar lately, and apparently Forkar was a good student.
“Sorry guys. The bombers had really strong shields and we couldn’t
get them safely with the escort on our backs.”
“It’s not your fault, Dommur.” I sighed sadly. “Lets just head back,
guys.”
I signalled to the fellow wing.
“Beta Leader: head back to the base.” I ordered.
“Copy that, Alpha Leader. Heading to Fighter Base now.”
Flyer’s point of view
We all climbed out of our Interceptor ships with sadness. It
didn’t feel right that the station staff were cheering us.
They mustn’t have heard what had happened yet.
“Well done, sirs!” a few shouted. “Way to go!”
“Yeah, nice shooting out there!”
Kevin snatched a wrench off the nearest technician, and banged it
several times against his hull to gain silence from the other workers.
“Quiet!” he snapped authoritatively. “Show a little respect!”
The cheering creatures hung their heads, and the Valedron ones hid
their faces in their wings shamefully. It was customary to maintain a silence
for lost pilots, when a wing returned from combat, until the debriefing. It was
the three races’ way of showing respect to the dead soldiers and pilots etc.
Even though he wasn’t one of the three races, our captain still respected our
culture.
As I shook of my helmet, I joined Kevin and the other team members
as both we and the reaming Beta team members faced each other in a line and put
one arm, wing, or paw across our chests and bowed our heads in salute.
After a moment we wordlessly left to go to the debriefing.
Monsoon’s point of view
“Flyer, buddy!” I called to my teammate.
“Uh huh,” he replied.
“The Captain said something before that I didn’t understand.”
I looked to him. “In the debriefing?”
“No, in combat. When he scared Captain Ruggan off, and Ruggan threatened
to settle it later….”
“You noticed it too then.” I guessed what he had noticed.
“Why did he seem so disappointed when he said that he didn’t think
they would?”
“More importantly, what did he mean when he said he didn’t think they would!!!” I pointed
out to Monsoon. “And what did Admiral Skyir want to see him about?”
“You know him better, Flyer. Could you ask him about it? You don’t
think he’s still mad about that hooker do you?”
“I’ll see…”
Kevin’s point of view
“Are you sure you don’t want to stay for a bit longer? Until after
the ceremony, at least!” Skyir questioned.
I was in my quarters, and he
had come to see me this time.
“No,” I replied bluntly. “I’ve delayed long enough. I’m sorry if
this seems disrespectful to Forkar and the Beta team.”
Skyir sighed uncomfortably. “Captain….” He began then corrected
himself. “Kevin, maybe you should
talk to Flyer about this.”
“I told you before, he’d just want to come too, and I won’t be
responsible for his safety. He’d only get hurt.”
“He’ll be hurt even more emotionally if you leave without a word!
I know Flyer too, you know, Kevin. He’ll feel abandoned.”
I sighed awkwardly now, “Flyer is a smart kid; he’ll get over it,
but he can’t get over being shot down and killed, captured, tortured, or taken
as a slave again! I definitely won’t let him become a slave again, Skyir!”
“Why not think about it? If he’s smart, then maybe he’d stay here
still, and let you leave quietly.”
I held my breath a moment, considering his request:
“Sorry…… tell the others I said I’m sorry I couldn’t attend the
ceremony.” I asked. “I’m leaving.”
Skyir shook his head in defeat, but was calmly tolerant.
“If that is your decision, then we must abide by it.” He claimed.
“We’ll miss you, Kevin.”
I bowed by head sadly and left to find my ship, rugsack over my
shoulder containing my few belongings, hoping the hangar was still empty at
this time of night; I didn’t want my long-time friends asking me what I was
doing.
No such luck……
I headed down the corridor, trying to be inconspicuous. My pilot
jacket was loosely draped on my shoulders, and the rugsack was slung over one
shoulder casually. As I brushed my long hair out of my face – it was long when
I died, and still was now and I had no inclination to change it - I noticed the
glowing blue energy of the Armband.
The Armband……
I hadn’t thought about it too much over the past 6 or 7 years. It
was still immovably clamped to my
wrist. After the first few years, I got used to it. I made me feel a bit more
alive, being in physical form. My initial hatred of it had long since subsided,
but I still wished it was removable, so I could at least take advantage of my
speed in the spirit realm. I could easily cover great distance there, but in
the mortal realm I had to use mortal methods, namely my Interceptor.
I noticed my thoughts had caused me to slow down, and I shook
myself and started off towards the hangar again.
“So, you’re leaving…..” a steady and annoyed voice shouted behind
me.
I stopped dead in my tracks, wincing. “Flyer, I….”
“How could you? Huh? Just leave everyone and disappear without a
word!” Flyer dismayed, but with the hint of anger rising in his tone. “I know
you’re leaving! Else you wouldn’t have all your stuff with you!”
I turned and faced him sadly and awkwardly. “I’m not sure you’d
understand, buddy.”
“What I don’t get is why you were willing to break your promise!”
I sighed, “You see, this is what I was afraid of!” I dismayed.
“Things were different back then. But now you have a safe place to go to, so
you don’t need to come with me to Earth.”
“But what if I wanted to go to Earth anyway?” he retorted angrily.
“Did you ever think of that?”
I opened my mouth to reply, but I realised that I actually hadn’t
thought of that. I closed my mouth again.
“You’ve changed a lot since we were slaves, Kevin.” He stated.
“Back then, you never wanted to see anyone get hurt, and now you don’t seem to
mind just wandering off and not telling anyone, leaving everyone in emotional
pain!”
“You can’t come, Flyer. I don’t know what dangers are out in the
rest of the universe, and I’ll be damned if I’m that one that gets you mixed up
in all sorts of trouble.”
He looked at me with a level of contempt but softened when I spoke
of my concerns for him.
I held out my arm for him, and with some hesitation, he flew and
sat on my wrist.
“The Alpha wing’ll need a new Captain, and I put your name forward
as my replacement.” I claimed. “The Admiral seems to think it’s a good idea.”
Flyer looked at me in awe: “Really?”
“Yeah,” I replied simply. “You’re not my second in command for no
reason, you know!”
Flyer’s face clouded over with sudden conflict. I knew what it
felt like and silently empathised with him. I’d suffered with decisions where
both options had big sacrifices.
“I do want to be a Captain, but I still want to go with you!” he
dismayed, speaking his thoughts.
“Alpha wing has already lost me and Forkar. Losing you would mean
Dommur and Monsoon will need three new pilots.” I began. “That means they’ll
probably get lumbered with some rookies and some other cocky Captain from
another station who doesn’t know the drill around here, since neither Monsoon
or Dommur are trained enough to be Captains. I don’t want them to get stuck in
that situation. If you stay, you’ll all just get two new rookie pilots. You’re
likely to be my replacement as Captain, so the three of you will be able to
keep Alpha wing up to scratch and teach the new pilots.”
Flyer looked away, considering this. I could tell he thought it
made a lot more sense than leaving with me all of a sudden.
“Don’t worry, I’ve already thought this through carefully, buddy.
I’m not as stupid as I look, you know.”
It had the right affect, and he grinned, lightening his mood.
“OK, Kevin. I’ll stay. You’re right about all of this. I still
wish I could go, though. It would have been like when we first escaped the
mines; no settled home, only the ships we were in and the stars around us. When
us and Old Quinn, and everyone were….”
I hit my own forehead in guilt and self-chiding. “Damn it! How
could I forget something like that?”
Flyer just blinked at me.
I explained: “I didn’t say goodbye to Old Quinn.”
Flyer looked solemn and sighed. “Oh….”
“C’mon, you wanna come with me and say bye to him? Best to spend
my last half-hour here with you, old friend.”
Flyer’s point of view
Kevin remained mainly silent as he stood on the greeny-yellow
hill, with me on his shoulder, overlooking a shimmering, stretching lake,
reflecting the crimson sky as the second of the twin Nosteran suns was setting.
The air began to get colder and I shivered, wrapping my wings around me. But,
as usual, Kevin seemed to feel no cold. I always thought there were some handy
advantages to being a Soul Creature.
I looked at Kevin again, and his gaze was fixed on the solitary
grave that he stood in front of.
“Well, I’m leaving, Quinn.” He stated, sighing. “I’m finally going
my own way now.”
Kevin knelt down and rested his hand on the gravestone, closing
his eyes calmly.
“You were a good friend to me, old guy. Suppose I’ll see you again
when my time finally comes.”
I knew what Kevin was talking about. Kevin had often suffered from
serious bouts of depression in the time I had known him, and Old Quinn had
always been his councillor. That was until he slowly faded and died: near to a
lifetime in the mines had taken its toll on him and he lasted only 4 years
after our escape.
As Kevin stood again, he glanced at me sideways, and I sorrowfully
gave him a Valedron hug, wrapping my wings around his neck. He responded by
ruffling my reptilian frill that stretched from my brow to my lower back.
“I’ll miss you, Kevin.” I sobbed.
“Same here, Flyer.”
“Will we ever see each other again?”
“Maybe.” Kevin sounded hopeful himself for a change. “Perhaps our
paths will cross again sometime. But until then…..”
He trailed off: “Goodbye, old friend.” He finished.
“Goodbye.”
I flitted down from his arm to the ground and he slowly turned and
started off down the hill.
“You look after yourself, Kevin!” I shouted down after him.
“Don’t worry!” came his yelled reply. “I’m a Soul Creature!”
He waved behind him and then continued his journey to the
starport, where his Interceptor waited. All I could do was watch as his
silhouette got smaller and smaller.
The shadows lengthened, and the moon rose. Finally, I was left
alone on the hill, the tall, green-yellow grass shoots soft beneath my
footclaws and the stars above twinkling and blinking, so like my own eyes as
silent tears fell. I looked up at the star-filled sky, craning my neck back.
“Goodbye, Kevin.”
***
