Allison glanced at Tyler and smiled. She had her arms crossed. Tyler was the shorter of the two. They were waiting at the landing pad that was part of every single building and parking lot. Allison was in her black programable matter armor. Tyler was doing his best not to look too closely at the skintight bodysuit. She smiled Tyler’s eyes went wide when the newly minted Raptor armored attack craft arrived. She hopped on board. Tyler had some issues climbing up. She offered her hand. He took a few seconds to accept. She pulled him up. She sat down on one of the jump benches. Tyler sat across from her. She hit the panel behind the pilot, and he lifted off.
Tyler looked around the drop ship in awe. Allison motioned to a row of drop shoots behind him.
“That’s where the Goliath power armor drops from. Raptor can carry ten. Haven’t been certified on this thing yet. Can’t wait. They have launch tubes for havoc dives along the bottom. They’re used to clear an LZ… err landing zone. Concussive charges. Can even include EMP. Knock out automated defenses. It has two autocannons that fire forward. They can fire a thousand rounds of duralloy ammo. Latest thing from Crusader Technologies.”
Tyler was grinning ear to ear as they looked around.
“How did you get us a ride in it?”
Allison checked her harness, then checked Tyler’s.
“My CO wants me qualified in this class ASAP. I’ve done all the simulation training. I just need to get practical experience, flight training, atmospheric and space. The first step before they’ll let me handle the controls myself is simulating a drop from a ship. They love showing off all the fun stuff to potential recruits. So, they said I could bring you along.”
She turned around and tapped the pilot on the shoulder and pointed up. She smiled at Tyler.
“Hold on tight.”
Tyler wrapped his hands around the edges of his seat. His knuckles turned white.
“Tyler, calm down, it has inertial dampeners. I’ve already done my qualification on un-dampened orbital drops as part of flight school, it’ll be a like a shuttle ride, just a lot faster.”
The Raptor burst out of the atmosphere and stopped there in space before flipping around and plummeting downwards. The shields lit up orange-red as the drop ship plummeted downwards. The pilot hit the antigrav system thirty meters above the base’s tarmac. Tyler tried to catch his breath. Once they’d stopped, he reached up with a shaking hand to fix his glasses. Allison grinned.
“See, easy. Inertial dampeners weren’t quite as effective as I expected.”
Tyler nodded slowly. The raptor gently settled onto the tarmac. Allison punched the button at the center of her harness and stood up. Tyler fiddled with his for a few moments before finally getting it to release. Allison leaned into the pilot’s compartment.
“Thanks guys.”
The pilot gave her a thumbs up. She hopped off the edge when the side door slid open. Tyler climbed down much slower than her. His knees were shaking.
“Come on, let’s go. Need to get you a visitor’s pass. Then Athena visit, and I scheduled us some time in a holosuite. There’s a trainer version of the fighter I used to fly programmed into it. Then range time.”
Tyler rushed to catch up. She got him through security check-in, then took him to the Trainer Squadron hanger. They stored all the starfighters modified for flight school. There were a dozen starfighters in the squadron. Every single fighter was bereft of their solidified black liquid metal coating. The one closest to the entrance was in parts. Much of its interior pulled out. Allison stopped at the third one down. He looked inside the various areas of the fighter. Tyler looked back at Allison.
“Where is the armor?”
Allison smiled and kicked a clear cylinder the size of a twentieth century oil drum. It was filled with a black fluid that had the viscousness of room temperature mercury.
“All in here. There were some issues with the early models. It is easier to do maintenance if you just remove it. It’s pretty easy. You probably already know the VI will shape the liquid metal as required for best performance in atmosphere. You can also take them underwater. All you do to remove the skin is tell the VI to liquify it. The VI’s are all offline. They’re being replaced. The Mark 1’s were glitchy.”
Tyler climbed into the cockpit of Allison’s old trainer. Allison pulled the liquid metal maintenance cable out of its housing and connected it to the power adapter. She climbed in the rear seat and closed the canopy then powered on the 360 degree holographic display that formed, it included the starfighter’s HUD and controls. He looked around in every direction.
“You can see everything.”
Allison turned on the targeting system and gave control to Tyler.
“You can go ahead and target things, the weapons systems have already been pulled out. Look at something then tap the lock target button there. If the VI core were connected you could look at something and say target. You can also set priorities. These fighters were designed for a human pilot and a VI co-pilot. You can fly without the VI or AI in my case but it’s not even close to as effective. You can also link to the fighter with a data jack. Most pilots have them. They can treat the fighter like an extension of their own bodies. The VI takes on some of the mental load for them. For me I use a neural link with Bit… my AI. I connect my mind directly with the AI. Synthlin tech has organic components.”
Tyler messed around with the targeting controls and asked a million questions. Allison patiently answered each in turn. Her wrist vibrated.
“Hey, we need to head to the holosuite or we’ll miss our time.”
She powered down the holo-display and opened the cockpit. There were a few techs in the hanger now, all working on Trainer 1. They saluted Allison when they noticed. She saluted them back then went back to disconnecting the power connector from the wall port. Tyler watched all of this with curious eyes. She led him towards the training facility which held the holosuites and other simulators.
“So, you’re an officer?”
Allison nodded.
“Yes, passing flight school and getting qualified for starfighters, or any role on the bridge of a starship is an instant commission. At least in the Space Navy. Army, you can be non-commissioned and be a pilot. They typically are not qualified for spaceflight. If they are, then there is a very good chance they will be commissioned.”
Allison swiped her left hand over the access panel for holosuites. Her Ident Chit granted her access. She swiped again for access to their actual holosuite. The room shimmered as they walked in. She smiled when she saw the purple Synthlin fighter. It formed ladders for both of them. She climbed in, Tyler did the same. She started her preflight checks. Any piloting time in the holosuites was considered simulator time towards her hours and she’d get flagged if she missed any steps.
“Eden Prime control, this is Shadow One, I have completed my pre-flight checks, I’m showing green across the board, requesting a runway. I have a VIP on board for a fly-along.”
“You are cleared to launch Shadow One, runway six, have a good flight.”
Allison rolled the fighter to runway six and lined it up for takeoff.
“Shadow One launching now, control.”
Allison ignited her conventional thrustors and started accelerating down the runway. Tyler watched the wings extend and stretch to give more air surface. The fighter lifted off and Allison retracted the landing gear. She banked and flew over the base and the colony proper, letting Tyler see all of it. She did the same with all six settlements that were scattered across the planet. Half in the northern and half in the southern hemisphere so there were crops growing at half the settlements no matter what time of year it was.”
She opened comms again.
“Control, this is Shadow One, requesting permission to exit the atmosphere and do a lunar flyby.”
“You are cleared, Shadow One.”
Allison angled the fighter to leave the atmosphere. Her Identify friend or foe system lit up. The fighter had no VI or AI. She’d only set it up for Tyler’s show and tell session. She spoke.
“Hey, computer, this program didn’t have any hostiles programmed in.”
The base computer’s voice piped in through her cockpit.
“The parameters were changed by order of Major Ghai.”
Allison heard Major Ghai’s voice through comms.
“Shadow One, we are tracking multiple unknown bogies. Your drone wing is on route to rendezvous you are to engage and eliminate all targets.”
Allison swore under her breath as Tyler’s hands gripped the edges of her seat. Then responded.
“Control, I have a civilian on this flight.”
The major sounded amused.
“I am aware you have a VIP on board. An attack can come without warning. What does a Special Operations member do when things don’t go to plan?”
Allison rolled her eyes.
“We adapt and overcome, sir.”
Allison started tapping holographic controls to configure the starfighter for combat. Then tapped the controls to link her holo-phone with the incoming drone wing. Two drone starfighters formed up on her wing as she broke atmosphere.
“Shadow One, linked with drone wing. Engaging hostiles.”
She looked back at Tyler who was looking excited.
“Sorry Tyler, this was supposed to be a fun loop around the moon. Just hang on.”
Allison swore out loud when she saw it was a Sal’nash hive. It had launched a series of drop pods each with a horde of Sal’nash inside. The hive was firing plasma blasts to cover the pods. She figured System’s Alliance must have received intelligence from the League. She spoke on comms.
Stolen novel; please report.
“This is Shadow One, what is the ETA on the rest of the defense squadrons?”
The major responded.
“You’re on your own. This test is part of your flight status review. You fail if any drop pods land, or the hive is able to attack the surface. The only resources you have are your starfighter, its armaments and your drone wing.”
Allison flipped up the display to show the armaments she’d been outfitted with. She swore again when she realized she only had particle beams, plasma autocannons and her missile bay was full of swarm drones. The swarm drones wouldn’t be able to destroy the pods at all. She shook her head. Totally unfair test.
“Control permission to use extraordinary measures?”
“You are authorized to use any means necessary, but if you cannot land your fighter, you will fail.”
*****
Major Ghai crossed his arms and smiled after he informed the ensign of the last requirement of her test. He stood at the front of what would be a class room for one of the various trade courses run on the base. Today it was to be an ad hoc demonstration of the kind of soldier Major Ghai was trying to develop. Beside him were General Caltor, and Admiral Tavrov. This demonstration had been intended for System’s Alliance command staff only, but the president had agreed to allow alien delegates. In that contingent, there were two Silwrath delegates, Eminence Keer and First Trimark Nutina. Finally, a Synthlin military leader, Stellar Guardian Rohsal in her ornate encounter suit. Rohsal was the first to speak.
“She chose a Synthlin fighter for simulation?”
Major Ghai turned to Rohsal.
“Yes, she has an affinity for your technology. It has the same modifications her original starfighter had, human tech.”
Rohsal crossed her arms and shook her head.
“You have given her an impossible task. Even our strongest fleet would have difficulties handling a hive ship and a full invasion force.”
Admiral Tavrov nodded in agreement.
“I agree, are you trying to teach her she cannot win every fight?”
Major Ghai shook his head and motioned to the massive screen they were all watching on.
“I am confident she can succeed.”
The group watched as Allison dropped her entire supply of swarm drones. General Caltor scoffed.
“Those things have no chance against those drop pods.”
The group watched Allison program a new attack pattern on the fly after ordering her drone wing to focus fire with her. She destroyed only four of the one hundred pods while reprogramming the swarm drones. The swarm drones scattered and started doing sweeping blasts along the surface of the pods. Then moving on. They were making wide grooves in the pod’s hardened exteriors then moving on to the next. Rohsal motioned to Allison’s hand.
“The ensign is programming an FTL jump but those coordinates are in system, is she running away?”
Major Ghai smiled. Allison spoke again, but she wasn’t addressing control. She was glancing over her shoulder at her passenger.
“Tyler, I can’t do this myself, I’m passing you control of the AM containment unit just move your finger along it so it turns from blue to red on my mark.”
She hit her FTL jump. Caltor smirked.
“The first pods are about to hit atmosphere, looks like your officer has failed.”
Major Ghai pointed to the first to hit the atmosphere. It burst into flames. Then cracked into pieces.
“She used the swarm drone’s lasers to increase their surface area artificially. They have no shielding and they’re burning up.”
Nutina laughed. Eminence Keer grinned a toothy grin. Rohsal spoke.
“She still abandoned her post. The hive ship will be in range in five minutes. It will hit the surface with their weapons.”
Major Ghai held up his hand.
“Just wait for it.”
Allison flashed out of her FTL jump behind the hive. She spoke again.
“Now Tyler! Now.”
They saw her fly close to the hive and drop a container. She did another FTL jump placing her on the far side of the hive ship. There was a brilliant flash. Then a chain reaction on the outer edge of the hive. Every single one of its plasma batteries blew out the side of the ship. Then another blue flash and the hive broke apart. Allison and her drone wing picked off the remainder of the pods that hadn’t reached the atmosphere. She recalled the swarm drones that remained and sent a comm message.
“Shadow One to Control. Splash one hive ship. Requesting permission to resume lunar flyby.”
Major Ghai smiled.
“You are cleared for flyby Shadow One. You were sloppy this time, I expect better than just barely passing. You can do that in school, but this is the military, we expect excellence. You could have done that in ten minutes, you took almost twenty. Control out.”
He motioned for his tech to turn off the screen to give Allison some privacy with her friend. He turned to the assembled military brass.
“This is what my Military Specialist initiative is designed to provide. First in, last out, rapid response soldiers who have a wide range of skills and can think on the fly. They can operate alone or embedded in other squads. The Ensign is only a quarter of her way through the training regimen for the specialty.”
Rohsal spoke up.
“When she looked at her armaments she only had swarm drones and her drone wing. She had no heavy weapons listed how exactly did she destroy the hive? Did she cheat your simulation?”
Major Ghai glanced at the Admiral who nodded to him. Major Ghai responded after getting confirmation it was alright.
“Our fighters have an emergency hyper-matter waste containment dump. She made the longest jump she could to generate antimatter, hyper-matter waste as you call it. She had her guest dump the antimatter into that containment unit and she dropped it on the hive ship. Because she didn’t have any actual antimatter launch vehicles it was the only way she could weaponize it. She had to be right on top so she could hit the point she wanted to. To escape the blast and EM pulse she used another FTL jump she’d preprogrammed to get out of the radius.”
Nutina looked at Keer who bowed his head slightly, neither said anything. Rohsal motioned to the black screen again.
“What punishment would she face from your government for weaponizing hyper-matter waste?”
Major Ghai shook his head.
“Punishment? She’d probably get a medal if she did this for the colony. Standard armament on those fighters always includes at least one antimatter launch vehicle. I left it out on purpose, so she’d have to adapt.”
Rohsal made something akin to a gasp.
“You give children access to weaponized hyper-matter waste?”
Major Ghai got a bit defensive.
“No, we give access to trained pilots who-”
Nutina held up her hand.
“Allow me, Major.”
She turned to Rohsal.
“Your people have never been warriors, Stellar Guardian. The ensign has proven herself in combat against the Sal’nash. In less then two standard hours she killed more Sal’nash then the Allied Defense Force managed in its entire history. Has a Synthlin ever managed to kill a Sal’nash warrior drone in one-on-one hand to hand combat? The Ensign has. You’re here as a courtesy, nothing more. The Ensign is no child, she is a warrior who has bloodied her talons in combat. You would do well to remember that. The League has been too weak to do what is necessary to combat the Sal’nash threat. I commend the humans on their ingenuity in using weaponized hyper-matter waste.”
Rohsal seemed to be sufficiently chastised and bowed her head. Keer looked at Ghai.
“Do you really believe she could have done that faster?”
Major Ghai shook his head.
“No, but she doesn’t know that.”
Keer laughed and his wings shifted.
“Ah, yes, she must dislike you a great deal.”
Major Ghai nodded.
*****
Allison spun the fighter and then pulled in close to Eden Prime’s solitary moon. Unlike Earth’s moon, this one was various shades of pale blue due to the content of its formation. It was pockmarked with craters. Tyler touched the canopy. Allison glanced back. He was smiling. She realized in that moment just how infectious it was when Tyler smiled. She pulled away from the moon and angled towards home base.
“Control, this is Shadow One, requesting a re-entry trajectory.”
It was the simulations voice that answered this time. Allison landed the fighter without the antigrav system to give Tyler the full old style fighter jet experience. She rolled the fighter into its birth and powered everything down. Once they climbed out the simulation ended leaving them in the bare holosuite. Tyler was still smiling. Allison looked around.
“Hey, I’m really sorry about that random combat test. Major Ghai has a habit of making my life miserable.”
“It was awesome. Those bug things looked so real. You guys have people working for you that have crazy imaginations.”
Allison’s shoulders slumped and she sighed. Tyler didn’t seem to notice her mood.
“Imagine if they were real.”
“Yea, imagine…”
She motioned for him to follow her. They arrived at the range just in time for their scheduled start. Allison helped Tyler get kitted out for the experience. They both put on ear protection.
Tyler stood a bit behind Allison, along with a Chief Petty Officer from the Space Marines. Allison had to do a qualification test on the Space Marine’s primary weapon. It was a railgun that fired explosive rounds. It could fire single shots, three round bursts, or fully automatic. It was heavy and usually required a suit of full power armor to utilize, but her armor had enhanced strength, in addition to her own dhampir strength she could use it without the associated armor. This was the Space Marine range. So, they gathered round when they noticed her firing one of their weapons without power armor. Tyler watched on wide-eyed for what seemed like the hundredth time that day. He was starting to realize just how badass Allison was. She finished her testing and placed the gun down and turned to the Chief. He turned his tablet to show her marks. She’d passed.
Allison took Tyler over to the small arms range which was for pistols, and assault rifles that fired small caliber rounds. They would be ineffective against full power armor, and even her armor. They would, however, get through most conventional armors worn by the typical infantry of the day. They were alone in the range beside the range officer. They were on an off night for the reserves, and it was seven in the evening by the time they arrived, most regular force soldiers were just finishing their evening meal. Allison had her ear protection around her neck. Tyler had copied her. Allison had checked out two pistols, one was a conventional projectile, the other was a laser pistol. There were three other projectile weapons. A single shot rifle, an assault rifle and a shotgun. Finally Allison had checked out a fully automatic laser rifle.
“Okay Tyler first rule of using a firearm is, do not point them at anything you don’t intend to kill. In the case of the range, that means at all times your firearm should be pointed down range, if you’re pointing downwards, it still needs to be pointed towards your target.”
The range officer was a corporal, she stood behind the two with her arms crossed. She was nodding along with Allison’s words. Allison paused briefly before continuing.
“If you have a jam with a projectile weapon, do not try to fix it. Place the firearm down, with the barrel pointed down range. Hold up your hand and the range officer will clear the jam and verify the firearm is still safe to discharge. The projectile weapons do have a kickback ranging from fairly minor to very strong. You must maintain control of the firearm at all times. Do not let them get away from you. Not only will it be dangerous for everyone around you, but it can also injure you. Let’s start with reloading.”
Allison demonstrated reloading each weapon in turn. She was using empty magazines and energy clips. She drilled Tyler through them over and over again until he was fluid in his reloads. She motioned to the range officer who placed a full clip down for each weapon on the rack holding them. Allison stepped back.
“Okay Tyler let’s try the laser pistol first, it’s the easiest to handle. Remember we’re not being fancy here, we are just trying to put the target down, that means aim for center of mass it is the easiest to hit.”
Tyler aimed the laser pistol down range and missed the target a couple of times. Allison glanced at the range officer.
“Corporal, may I assist?”
The range officer nodded. Allison moved over to Tyler and gently kicked his feet until he was in a correct stance for firing a pistol. She lifted his hands with her palm and motioned to the iron sight.
“If you were doing real military shooting, you’d have contacts or cybernetic eyes they would have targeting reticles, you do not have either, so you need to use the iron site.”
Alison picked up the empty projectile pistol, then took a proper stance and aimed down the iron site and pulled the trigger.
“Did you see how I did that?”
Tyler nodded. Allison stood back and Tyler fired another few lasers, both hit the edges of the target. Allison moved back up and put her hand on his shoulder and pulled it back slightly. Tyler didn’t flinch. It was the first time she’d touched him and gotten no reaction from him. She smiled. Once she stepped back, he fired again, this time hitting the target in the center of mass. Allison cheered. They moved through the rest of the weapons. Tyler didn’t have any issues with the kick back until it was time to fire using fully automatic fire on the projectile assault rifle. Allison stopped him before the rifle got out of his control completely. It was the last weapon he’d tried. They checked all the weapons back in with the range officer.
They finished off the evening on base in the officer’s mess eating leftovers. Tyler was still doing his best not to stare at Allison.
“Am I making you uncomfortable?”
Tyler almost choaked on the mashed potatoes he’d just put in his mouth. When he managed to speak again, he stammered.
“No… uh.. mm… I… your… black stuff there… it’s just.”
Allison looked down at her armor and blushed.
“I’m sorry… I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable. This armor is very easy to forget you’re wearing it, its super comfortable.”
Tyler nodded. She smiled.
“Did you have fun tonight?”
Tyler nodded again and smiled at her bashfully.
“I’m glad. I hope it makes up for umm me being so mean when we first met.”
“I… I don’t mind. I know you were just trying to protect me.”
He rubbed the back of his neck.
“I overheard you yelling in the office when you first got back.”
Allison blushed and sank into her seat.
“Who else heard it?”
Tyler didn’t meet her gaze.
“Everyone. You were really loud.”
Allison buried her face in her hands.
“That is so embarrassing. Why didn’t anyone say anything?”
“I didn’t want to embarrass you.”
Allison sighed.
“Well thanks for that.”