Did someone removed my seatbelt for maintenance..... guess I am in trouble now..... Mayday! Mayday!
7
If they had told me that we are flying in to a Hot Zone, I would had my drinks send to the Launch Bay but they did not tell us soon enough. We scramble on confirmation of an another fleet coming our into the same quadrant as ours. This is the high point of every fleet; the one on one situation.
Carrier One has four Cruisers ( Four main cannons each, twelve twin cannons and a dozen missiles pods ), ten frigates ( five Class D with 8,000 weight class with twelve twin cannons and four missiles launchers, plus five more Class H frigate 5,000 weight class with eight twin cannons and four missiles launchers ) with eight support vessels, besides herself. Carrier One has sixty Scimitar, ten 350ALPHA, ten Hervey ( thats’ Heavy Bombers with loads of warheads to wipe out a planet or a moon ) plus assorted support crafts and drones.
According to Command we are up against a small fleet size of one mini carrier, one cruiser, and five destroyers, plus five support vessels. Probably forty Lions and Five Rhino’s. So the morale went up and we went into battle frenzy. All crafts ready to fly was lined up and worked to the max on loads and ammo.
Carrier One is ready to do battle and we will mauled those Lions’.
But it was us who got whipped at first.
Intel did not picked up the readings well. There was a main fleet like ours hiding behind the moon nearby. And they numbered full strength; fleet size of one carrier, four cruiser, and eight destroyers, plus ten support vessels.
And probably a hundred Lions’ plus some Rhino’s.
We only knew on flight of the first mini fleet; renamed ‘decoy’.
‘Ugly and Bronco; take the decoy, while the rest covered the fleet from the Main One.’
Mine and Bronco squad; total of seventeen Scimitar’s to intercept forty Lion’s ain’t our choice. The balance of thirty three Scimitar’s is taking defence on the fleet. Guess we ain;t got much choice when you get suckered into a bad card game with all the odds against you.
But I am good at playing poker.
‘Ian, if you win this hand, I am out of the game. So do you want to win so badly that you are willing to removed me from the game?’
I looked at Cecilia, and smiled. ‘Its all fair in the game of cards. You win or you lose.’
‘Okay, so be it. I will deal the cards and you called the bets.’
I looked at her value on the table and whistled my arrogant chorus of victory music coming up. I see her pouting lips now becoming drawn out as she deftly laid out the cards. I did not take a peek at my cards but threw my credits out. It was a challenge to her as that amount was half of what she could afford on the table.
‘I take your call, and double it.’
I loved a good challenge and she is onto it. The classic movement is not to looked at your cards and watched your opponent swagger on the possibility. I took my credits and matched her double.
‘I see you are out of credits. I could offer you some in return for helping with my oil change.’
She threw me her jacket and pouted her lips more. So I guess the answer is no. So I asked her to call her hand, and which she did with a flip of the cards to show the double digits matched cards. I took a peek at mine and smiled.
‘You win’ and I flipped my cards into the pack.
‘No, you won, but you let me win. You bastard.’ I took offence to her remark, so I showed her the cards. It was a not a pair. I walked off to take my shower. I guess I needed the cold water to cool off the anger in me. or was it my frustration.
‘I am sorry.’
I felt her arms coming from my back to the front of my chest, holding me in the cold torrent water flow. Guess you will never see the tears in the eyes during a shower. Just like she will never see my switch of the cards on the last hand. I did had a pair of Kings, but who cares as long we all walked away smiling.
Looks like I am getting a oil change soon.
I did win that day, with bonus credits.
I sure missed those pouting lips.
Memoirs of a Cruiser Gunner, Cruiser Harvey
Gunner Officer Claude Merril is senior gunner's aboard the battle cruiser Harvey; his latest posting to replace some shorthanded gunners. His first task when he arrived was to give his cannon on the Port 2 a good oil rubdown. His crew are all replacement as the previous ones were causalities of a difrect hit in the previous conflict. They were blown out of the Port water with the enitre loss of its crew of five, but the cannons survived that hit. Today we join his words as this new gun crew sits in the turret of one of the ship's big guns and prepares for battle:
‘I made sure the cannons were loaded and rechecked the firing mechanism. I don;t give a frag for eletronic diagnostics; I want hands on feel. The cannons loaded and brought to readiness and locked onto the target tracking module. Then the prep talk of mine was to be heard. I don’t care who they served under before, but here I am their fragging officer. No one tells to do anything except me. I will take no hesitation to my commands or I will mount the ensign on the barrel myself. We all agreed and are now ready for battle. Then the order came to bring the cannons to cover certain quadrant of space. I consulted my allocated space and read the numbers of enemies we have to contend.
Soon the alarm rang, and the first targets were set, and we strapped in to prepare for the onslaught.
For over sometime, the cannons has been firing non-stop and getting some strategic hits. Till now I had not noticed any casualties or damage reports, such as being hit by a cannon, but it came in the first heavy damage probably from their main cannons on the cruiser we are exchanging salvo’s. There was a laud shattering impact on the No. 3 cannon at Port 5. After the dust settled I can see pieces debris flying around where Port 5 was. The impact did not stopped as we got hit the next round but it did not affect the turret, so no casualties were taken but we lost some ammo to the open empty space. But we got the news that the opposing cruiser has been breached and now exploding. Another notch to Harvey, but we saluted the crew who persihed in her name.
But the battle was far from over. The remaining cannons were still firing at other targets, and them Lions are a pest in our midst. I looked through teh console and evaluate the direction of the battle. I think i saw Halley, our sister cruiser heavily damaged doingh the honorable act; ramming herself to the opposing unit. She is going with flames belching from every levels, and she is still taking hits. I closed my eyes at the last second, but I could not avoid the feel of the impact even where I was standing. Halley is gone and so are most of her crew. Bastard war is taking good innocent lives.
‘Strap in and keep those her firing big or small’. We are all suited up for open space and now I strapping in my life cord to the nearest hook; they are designed to keep us attached to the ship in case of a direft hit. The hooks are built to the nearest pillars and theya re to withstand such impact. So if we get thrown off in the seat, the life cord may be our only saving line to swing back to the ship. Or it is black space.
And the worse happened. Port 2 got a direct hit, and we were all thrown off alongside our cannon. The following karge explosion from the ammo case, threw us out. Immediately after that came, what I term, the big hit, and I was dangling in space on my cord line, which saved me from being thrown away from the ship. But I see none of my crews, although I could make out two cord lines severed off at some length. Everything in the space is as quiet as the desert; you feel the wind but no the sound of its impact.
I can see my Cruiser from here, and she looked like the birds has pecked more holes in her than my cottage cheese. Some of those holes are big enough for me to put my body through the hole, but she is still in one piece, although she is listed to starboard. Main cannon 1 and 4 in still in the battle and she is ripping the frigate off her hull. I pulled my cord line to drag myself back to the nearest airlock and dropped back in. I tried to get up but I can’t move my legs. I looked down at my legs and see that the right one is missing below the shin. That was when I blacked out.
‘Veered off, Recon. That Lion has got your ass lined up.’
She did on my call and saved her craft but some scratches. I was not that easy to evade as I lined up my sight and let the cannon do the introductions. We lost three Scimitars in the first pass, and taken down five Lions’. And now we are in a dog fight over the dark space. I press down on my pedal and swing her to port and saw a Lion in my sight. This is not her day to go prowling as I ripped her top hull to the cockpit. Then I am onto the next Lion, whom I was chasing the tail.
‘I need some assistance here. Three on my stern. Oh, sicko tapped my left wing.’ I know that was Zeus and he is in need of assistance. I located him on my scanner and he is off the port not far. So I left my Lion and stalk Zeus’s. Those three are good as they strafe my crew flying in close formation behind Zeus. I came in hot by their starboard, flew over their cockpit and took one of them with my wings cannons. Then I did a sharp turn to starboard, and fly chicken run with them, but I am blazing cannons as I fly in. I ripped off the Lion on the port with my wide dispersed cannon shots. The Lion won’t blow up but she is crippled. I flew over the remaining Lion and gave it my wings salute. That last pass took the thruster and threw the remaining Lion into an uncontrollable dive.
‘Thanks, Ugly. Zeus out of action.’
And that was the last transmission he could make.
The Lion came from his port and took his craft into two parts. There was no chance of ejecting at all.
I wanted vengeance but my tail was set on by another Lion. I stepped on my pedal and trun her to starboard, listening her joints creaked from the strain, but this was to saved both of us. We got cleared in time just before the Lion set her claws out. Them tracers can be seen on my rear and it would had been part of me included had I not turned. I did the most reckless thing in a dogfight; I cut off my thruster. Cecilia went idle in the middle of a dogfight, but I did it to see the Lion flying past me. Then I kick start her and flew after it; it was a gamble and it paid off, but a reckless one. Many a times, when you shut off like that, they may not start for a while. Its called engineering and I am no fragging engineer. But I am darned good combat pilot. The Lion is in my gunsight now and she is gone to pieces in the next 20 seconds.
‘Yahoo! Ugly is mad today....’ I shouted into my comms and I got no replies, only calls for help. Its time to flopped into someone’s flight path and frag these Lions’.
Memoirs of a Deck Senior Officer, Frigate Class D Dover One ( excerpts )
I went through the screens on the console, and referenced them to the visual reports. Of the fleet, we lost one Cruisers; Halley, Harvey and Harriet are badly damaged but operational. Four frigates Class D lost to Lions and we are the only surviving one. I saw Lieutenant Dewey coming to me. He is my liason with the Command. Suddenly he stopped and went to looked at the console nearest to him. I believed he want to reconfirmed his report before he talks to me. Lieutenant Dewey has been with me throught two change of Command on this ship, and we worked well together. He came towards me again with his report and yelled something but I coild not make it up out. So i grabbed the report and read it. I yelled back to the Lieutenant and realised my mistake, so I showed him the thumbs up sign.we are turning course to engage the Main Carrier.
Its suicidal, but this is our only hope of winning the battle. I ignored the Lieutenant’s replies and checked the damage report. Dover One had some hits but she is holding up well. Her cannons are firing and so are her missiles. But she has one special load; a a multiple warheads missile in the bay, loaded and ready to fire. That will be our ace against the Carrier but we need to get close to do it, due to the missile range. I requested for Scimitar cover and those those gunners to heat them barrels up. We are going in to slammed a Carrier.
We took out the odds and now hold the air space. I looked up from my cockpit just in time to see the Lions; running for their Carrier. But she is doomed, as the frigate slammed into her, into her port side. Then came the supply ship from below. As I see the crashing of metal pieces over each other, there was large explosion to follow taking with it the three vessels and some Lions who were too close.
Memoirs of a Deck Junior Officer, Supply Ship 04 ( excerpts )
I got to the bottom level of the ship by the ladder and could not reached the blown out hull, without being suckered into space. If I let go I should go of my ladder now, I will slide down to the level surface and than across like a piece of debris. Two of my crew, seeing my predicament, came to my assistance but I signalled them I am okay. These two men had no thought for their own safety but of the entire ship; they knew the danger down there, but I had to see the damage to assess the needed assistance. There is none.
We took the Lion’s attack with our mounted twin cannons, but we are limited in exposure. The Lion got us there with the missile but it did not explode. When I got back to the Command deck, there seemed to be quite a fair crowd, and they appear anxiou. 'Give way for the Officer coming through’ Someone echoed my request, and I saw the cause of the crowd. The Captain of the vessel is lying on the floor with a bad gaash on his forehead.
'Who is the next officer in command?’, but I knew the answer somehow. I just want to pretend not to know as i am not keen to take command. But i am handed the task now. I clamored over the men and shouted for them to go back to their station. I watched the view screen to assess our position. Somehow we managed to parked ourselves to the edge of the battlefiled. I asked for vessels near whcih can be of support or take us into dark space.
‘We got the Harvey on our port and coming in fast. I think she is ramming the Carrier in her path.’ That was then we knew my command was claled for. I picked up the comms mike and agve the word; ‘Abandon ship.’ Ensigns and officers ran for their space suits and hit the chute tunnels for the escape pods bay. I held out my hand to the pilot and told him to set a course for the Carrier.
Han’s was his name; and he looked at me in the eyes. Then he went back to his console and strapped in to the seat. I holler at him to do as I instructed and leave the fragging seat, but he is not moving. He punched in the coordinates and rev the damn freighter towrds the Carrier. I struck away from my console and reached the pilot, but Han’s told me to frag off. He said he served this vessel from the day she was commissioned and he will take her with him. I pulled my handgun on him, and he smiled; ‘her helm is locked and she is going in.’ It was then the impact on the side hull hurled me across the deck. I stooped up and saw the pilot’s handgun in his hand aimed at me.
‘You crawled thorugh there or I will put you out now.’ I watched the view screen and see the Carrier coming into sight. Frag this command, I am leaving but before I do, I salute Han’s. Then I climbed into my space suit and dropped myself down the chute. There was the last escape pod; probably left for me. I climbed in and press the released code. It must had shot out in a rush as the next thing I saw was dark space. And then a big push from my stern and I blacked out from the force of the push.
‘Woo wee... we got her sister too. ‘ That was Squad Barracuda, assigned to tackle the mini Carrier. So its now back to our dogfight but we see the opposing fleet retreating back to their own space. I wanted to pursue but Command said to return. We done our task and we are going back to picked up the discarded. It was then I came to know of the loss of ’93 and Apollo. That makes my squad short of three pilots. Only Recon was on my port and she is weeping in her helmet.
Memoirs of a Deck Senior Officer, Frigate Class D Dover One ( excerpts continued )
It must had been ages to me, with the cannons on auto tracking and the crew has left on the escapde pods. I see the Lion strafing her, blew into debris by the twin cannons. Petunia, one of our frigate Class H ledning us a hand from a distance. She is swatting the Lions with her cannons. It helped but the Lions are adamant on stopping us. I got on the comms to say thanks to the Petunia before the next impact on the hull threw me off my feet. I was exhausted from getting up on my feet so I sat there behind the console. I won’t be able to see the crash but i will feel it for sure. I took out my personal organiser and send off my last words on the open channels.
The fleet is lucky as we did not get the full treatment of Lions’. The Main Carrier only had fifty five Lions’ out so it was to our one for two fight there. We came out with half the Scimitars lost, and another ten in the drift or badly mauled. The total Lions lost was sixty five, with the balance left in nearby space when they ran out of fuel. Like Ugly Getz, Bronco squad was down to quarter its strength with four crafts surviving. We lost two Cruisers, five frigates Class D, and three support vessels. The balance of the fleet are all badly hit but able to limped back. For the opponents; they lost both carriers’, four destroyers, one cruiser but the rest of their atatcking vessels also suffered bad damages. All their supply ships were safe as they were parked a distance away.
But we won and that matter most to our Command. Who cares about the loss of over the thousands in the war. They are replaceable but not victory itself.
‘Ian, you come back soon to me?’
I looked at Cecilia and smiled. I always do, and right now I need to use the personal cubicle. Why can’t some people understand that at times we need our own privact moments. I am in there for my silent moment when I relfect on my role here. I seen friends come and go, and yet we fly with new faces soon to be old or forgotten faces. We come back and signed the log records and prayed hard the next time, we still do.
And all she care is I come back from my cubicle. Of course I will as I am not flying any Scimitar in there. Unless a Lion got a lucky shot and blowed off the particular section where my cubicle is located, then I am not coming back.
But that is sure of a helluva good way to die without your pants.
‘Ian, you still there?’
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