Alpha One - Chris Burton [59]
“Afternoon everyone.” Green Squadron Commander Harry Wong stood at the front of the meeting room and addressed his audience. “We have been joined today by the final-year trainee jump ship pilots from the South Downs Academy. Welcome to our world, people. You will all be joining us today in an operational sweep of near-Earth Defenses, by near I mean sunny-side Venus and Mercury.”
Steve was distracted. He was paired today with Lydia Lyons, a particularly fascinating young lady. She was not attractive in the conventional sense, but her pale unblemished completion made her look almost pure. She was bright too. Beauty and brawn, he thought to himself.
“Three groups of five ships coded Green 1 to 15 will launch today,” Wong continued. ”Squadron Leader Dempsey will command Green 1 to 5 with group leaders Paris and Lambini leading 6 to 10 and 11 to 15 respectively. The five Sabre 2’s will be split between Lieutenant’s Paris and Lambini. I will let you draw lots, gentlemen, as to whether you have two or three trainees in your group,” he continued, smiling at the two group leaders sitting to his left.
Lydia Lyons was an interesting person. She was eccentric in an unassuming way, so typical of English girls, thought Steve. He found himself suddenly distracted by Lydia. He had known her for nearly four years, but had never partnered with her in a jump ship before. Probably just as well, he thought.
Steve maneuvered the Sabre into position behind group leader Green 6 and handed the controls over to Lydia.
“Thanks,” she said. “I was hoping to have a go sometime today.”
“Sorry if I hogged the controls. You can have the con for the next hour, if that’s okay.”
“That’s fine, keep your eyes peeled. Soon we will enter the Venusian Void.”
The Void was an area of space between Venus and Mercury. It had no real significance other than being an area of the space way between the two planets, frequented by ‘Wasps’. The Green group’s main responsibility today was to cover the area and seek out the ‘Wasps’. They were here to support the Alpha Patrol vessels covering the space way 24/7, mostly to prevent the ‘Wasps’ from attacking tourist or cargo vessels.
The “Wasps” were modern-day space pirates. They were highly-organized and skilled pirates whose treasure was routed out by firing and disabling their prey, then boarding and hoarding their cargo. They were unusually aggressive and persistent and earned their nickname for this reason. The yellow color of their ships stood for peril. They wanted their prey to know they were coming.
A group of four ‘Wasps’ were detected, one hundred kilometers to port. They attacked a space freighter and were in the process of boarding. Two patrol vessels intercepted and engaged in a dog fight with the ’Wasps’, which was proving futile.
The five Sabres entered the fray, just as the ‘Wasps’ gained the upper hand. The group leader, Lieutenant Paris, signaled to the group to spread out, attack and take out the ‘Wasps’ thrusters and weapons. Lydia took the Sabre in wide and Steve fired the Plasma cannons as they made their first pass.
The first ‘Wasp’ continued to attack one of the patrol vessels, which listed, immobile. Lydia’s Sabre, Green 9, aided by Green 7 and 10, worked together to remove the threat. The ‘Wasp’ was powerless to respond and exploded, taking a chunk of the Freight vessel’s outer hull with her.
The second ‘Wasp’ engaged in a one to one with Green 8, Jake’s ship. Jake had it covered, and the disabled ‘Wasp’ ground to a halt, with smoke billowing from its main drive manifold.
The skirmish was not all one-sided, and there were plasma burns down one side of the Sabre with the main thrusters and nose cone badly damaged. Jake tried to push on and continue his assault, but the damage was hindering the jump ship’s maneuverability.
“Green 8, what’s your status?”
“We have lost our main thrusters on one side. We don’t have full control, Should we continue or return?”
“Return to base, Green 8. You