1 - An explosive learning lesson

           The sky was clear over Western Kansas. Only a slight warm breeze from the South rippled the miles and miles of golden wheat. Captain Mark Greer couldn’t have asked for a better day to fly. He sat strapped into the front seat of the GS8 Super Kitten, the latest generation of star fighters that Earth’s Star Command had on loan from the Primori.

            As much as Mark enjoyed flying, he disliked flying with anyone else. It was a week ago that his commander advised him that he would be taking up, what he was told, a young Primori Star Fighter Cadet. Mark had groaned in disgruntlement as soon as he was outside the command facility at Star Commands Kansas Sky Ramp, a runway that curves from level ground, ending at 45 degrees at its terminus, two thousand feet in length all together.

            Mark told himself, orders were orders. He met the young cadet earlier in the morning. Sedgwick was her last name. Mark had quickly sized her up. A young one, he thought, perhaps 18 or 19 at best. Built well, he couldn’t say anything bad about her physique.

            The young cadet had strapped herself into the rear seat of the Super Kitten and seemed to be relaxed but alert. Mark could watch her through a small screen on his own control console.

            “You ready for this?” He spoke to the woman through the helmet com-system.

            “Yes Sir.” She replied smiling.

            “Okay.” Mark nodded. “Charlie 1 to Flight Command, we are launch ready.”

            A young man’s voice could be heard replying, “Roger Charlie 1. You have a green go, vaulting in 15 seconds.”

           

            Caterina Sedgwick smiled to herself as she heard the familiar sound of the Super Kitten’s pre-launch systems engaging the inertial dampeners and sonic suppression system. In truth the young woman felt bad as she watched the launch clock click down. She would have preferred to have had the Captain know the truth, but she was under strict orders from Primus Command to keep her true identity under wraps for now. Caterina had sized up the young male Earth pilot. In his early 20’s, he looked the part of a pilot who had a few years of flying under his belt.

 

            The launch clock hit zero. Mark felt the gravity tow tug rapidly at the fighter and when they passed the 200 foot mark on the ramp; he pushed forward on the throttle.

            The GS8 Super Kitten shot into the sky, going super sonic only a second or two after it had left the ramp. It accelerated to breakaway speed within ten seconds. Water vapor screaming over the wings, leaving a white contrail behind the fighter as it climbed out of the atmosphere near a speed nearing mach 10.

            Captain Mark Greer rolled the fighter smoothly once as they broke away from Earth gravity pull. “You doing okay back there Sedgwick?”

            “Sure thing Sir.” Caterina replied with a slight giggle in her voice. She could never help but feel a bit giddy when ever she felt the slight stomach churn that happens when transiting from a planets atmosphere. She could see Earth drift past her view as the Captain brought the nose of the fighter around to the left. “Sure is beautiful, isn’t it?”

            “Yep, Sure is. I never get tired of that view.” Mark replied smiling.

            The Captain continued, “We’re going to jump out to Mars today. The plans got you taking the controls through some of the canyons there. You good for that?”

            “I’m good.” Caterina smiled.

            “Roger that.” Mark gave a quick reply as the stars around them became streaking strings of light. “Now cruising at LS 3, should reach the Red Planet in about 10 minutes.”

            He relaxed in his seat as the on board guidance systems controlled everything during light speed maneuvering. As he sat a question that had been nagging at him popped into his mind. “So Sedgwick, just why did your people name this model the Super Kitten?”

            Caterina laughed, “It’s the sound of the wind shear in high speed turns in E-type atmospheres. If the sonic suppression is disengaged, it makes more a mew sound rather than a whoosh or a roar.”

            Mark couldn’t help but roll his eyes and chuckle, “Sheesh and here I thought it was something interesting.” Mark glanced into the video screen of the young woman behind him, “So, I here you’re enrolled in the Wildcat Ranger program on Pandoras 6?”

            “Yes Sir.” She replied.

            “Is it really true that the program is taught by the Legendary Wild Cat, liberator of the Fringe Worlds?”

            “It sure is.” Caterina replied, trying to keep her answers simple.

            “I’ll admit, it must be kinda strange to come from an immortal race. You guys ever get bored?”

            “There are moments, but usually there’s so much to do, one doesn’t really pay attention to time.” Caterina replied just before the Super Kitten’s long range sensor system chirped out a contact.

            Mark became immediately alert, “S**t!”

            Caterina leaned into her flight harness, “What is it?” Her voice concerned.

            “Draconian Drone, a single, on an intercept course,” Mark replied back, his voice tense.

            “Can we outrun it?”

            “Negative. It had the jump on us, coming out of a higher warp envelope. I’m going to have to take it out.”

            “Copy that.” Caterina’s hand twitched over the back control stick, forcing herself to continue to play the part of the clueless cadet.

            “Ten seconds to contact. Taking us out of LS,” Mark’s voice was filled with to much stress for Caterina’s liking, but she remained calm as the Captain broke right dodging the alien fighter. Caterina watched the Draconian ship slip past on their left side. “Mark! It’s not a drone!” Her voice full of concern came through the helmet as she made out the glyphs on the side of the other craft.

            “What?”

            “It’s not a drone. It’s a Prince. He’ll be ten times more skilled than their typical drones. He may not be alone either.”

            “Crap!” Mark cussed, “Hang on!”

            Caterina kept her eye on the canopy heads up display, as Mark evaded another pass of the Draconian.

            “Why hasn’t he taken a shot?” Mark asked.

            “I don’t know. He might be testing us or baiting us into a trap.” The Draconian having not taken a shot on either pass by worried her. The answer became visible off to her left just as the sensors screamed with an inbound target acquisition. “Yank right 15, 2 and jump to LS 1, 7 seconds!” Caterina shouted.

            Mark almost hesitated at the young cadet’s option, but 8 seconds later was happy he listened. Seeing two drones shimmer out of cloak and zip past behind them on the tracking screen. “Holy crap, that was close!”

            Caterina let out a large sigh. Speaking in a calm and collected tone through the helmet com. “Captain, how many Draconian fighters have you fought at one time before?”

            Mark swallowed, “Two, both were drones.”

            Caterina sighed, “Okay… I think it might be best, if I took control now.”

            The man in the front seat made eye contact with the female behind him through the video display. What he saw was a look he had once seen in his fathers eyes. A look of knowing, “You’re not a cadet are you?”

            “No… I’m not a cadet.”

            Mark nodded, “Can get the truth then?”

            Caterina smiled, “Commander Caterina Sedgwick, but through most of the known galaxies, they call me Wild Cat.”

            Mark’s mind warbled for a second, “Why didn’t you tell me before?” His voice was more curious than angry.

            “I was under orders. Primus Command wanted to get a first hand look at how well the Earth Star Fighter pilots were. If it had been up to me, I would have let you know right away. I hate deception.”

            Mark nodded, “Okay. You got the stick Commander. Thanks for owning up. I appreciate it.”

            Wild Cat grinned, “Now, you…hang on.”

 

            Mark sat back as the woman behind him took over, not just any woman, but one who’s legend he’d been groomed on all his life.

 

            “We only bought a few minutes with that last trick. Now its time too gain the advantage and do the hunting.” Wild Cat spoke with the edge of experience and a grin.

           

            The lone GS8 Super Kitten banked right and became a streak of light. Its internal sensors widening out as they switched over to weapons mode. With Wild Cat at the controls it made a series of manual high warp circles of the area.

 

            “2 Contacts,” Mark spoke, “Grid 6 1 3, bearing 10 to the line.”

            “Roger, I see’m” Caterina replied.

 

            The Super Kitten rapidly dropped to sub-light and cut tight through the circle it had been tracing.

            “You’re going to shoot under them.” Mark’s voice filled with frustration.

            “Patience, and learn.”

           

            Mark’s hands gripped the sides of his seat, “S**t!” He cussed as Wild Cat dropped the Super Kitten into a reverse T stall and slipped into light speed, the fighters Rattler weapons firing. The Captain flinched as they shot right between two of the drones, passing by their own weapons fire. Wild Cat arced over the Draconian drones, throttling down to sub-light as two bright flashes could be seen where they had just been.

            “You’re crazy!” Mark sputtered.

            “No way,” Cat laughed. “The key to taking out the drones is to be unpredictable.”

           

            The sensors screamed out and Mark shouted, “Contact, 12 on 1, 6^th to the azimuth! It’s the Prince and he’s got a lock!”

 

            “Yee haw!” Wild Cat shouted rocking the Super Kitten into a series of clockwise spins. Pulses of red laser fire were streaking past as they rolled.

 

            “Drone Contact…6 on 2, 12 low!” Mark shouted, twisting his head to keep a visual view on the incoming drone.

 

            “Perfect!” Caterina grinned. Banking hard left, towards the Drone, firing her own weapons.

            Mark blinked in disbelief as the Rattler lasers went just to the left of the Draconian Drone, “You missed!”

            “No! I changed his course!” Wild Cat rolled into the same direction as the Drone. She smiled as the Prince fired again. Breaking hard right, she spun the Super Kitten out of the line of fire. The drone exploded, as it auto-corrected to miss hitting the Super Kitten.

            “I don’t f*****g believe it!” Mark shouted in excited joy.

           

            Wild Cat reached forward to a small number pad on the side console and entered her Primori Access code. “Mark. The Prince thinks it’s dealing with an Earth human pilot. I’m going to use that to my advantage to take him out. Hope you’re okay with tight places.”

            “What’s that supposed to mean!” Marks voice trailed off as the Super Kitten mechanized quickly around the two, leaving him tightly confined in the rear pilot slot. He saw through the outer sensor screen that they were now motionless in dead space. “What the heck are trying to do?”

            “This!” Wild Cat shouted as the Draconian was already diving in for its last attack. The defensive shields now active in Destroid mode, they absorbed the Draconian pulse laser fire. Wild Cat raised the hand held main rail gun and fired into the belly of the Prince’s fighter as it attempted to roll away. It flashed white and broke into pieces.

           

            Mark’s eyes blinked away the brightness of the explosion as the Super Kitten re-mechanized back into its star fighter mode. “I had no idea that this fighter could mechanize like that.”

            Caterina sighed, “It’s been locked down in the fighters that are on loan to you guys. It takes a lot of training to fight in Destroid mode and we didn’t want any accidents.”

            Mark nodded, knowing the way mankind had a way to bungle things up at times. “That actually makes sense. Still, I’d love to learn how to do that.”

            Wild Cat reached forward and patted the Captain on the shoulder, “So just apply for Ranger Training on Pandoras 6. It’s open to Earth pilots. I’d even give you my personal recommendation.”

            Mark shook his head, “Like Star Command would take time out of their schedule to get me on one of their Trans-Galactic ships and waste 6 months to get out there.”

            Caterina smiled. “Captain, if you needed a ride, the Primori would pick you up and you’d be out there inside a week.”

            “Well, it’s certainly something I’ll think about. We should probably head back to Earth. Star Command is going to want to know about this Draconian incursion into Our territorial space.”

            “You got it Captain.” Wild Cat grinned, throttling forward and jumping to LS 5, “We’ll be there in under a minute.”

Reviews

[Admiral Kirk]

WHOA!!! AWESOMENESS!!! IT'S LIKE... STAR TREK COMBINED WITH... A BUNCH OF OTHER COOL STUFF, AND LIKE, AWESOMENESS!!! YAYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!!! I like the name... "Super Kitten"... That's good...

:D :D :D

[Wolfwind]

Thanks! Just another one of the stories that I'm dabbling with. ;D Eventually they will all go someplace.

[Admiral Kirk]

Haha... :) Someplace epicful.. :)