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  “All Star Rangers? Why no other Clans?”

  “You’ve already got your handpicked pilots, we’re just here for support and training. You didn’t request specifics.”

  “No problem, just remember that as far as everyone else knows, we’re just Humans. So keep the Clan references behind closed doors.”

  “Ah, I can’t make fun of you in public then?”

  “Blake sent you on purpose, didn’t he?”

  Sandra shrugged. “He didn’t want you to go too long without seeing your girlfriend…his words.”

  Mark rolled his eyes. “I am so going to get that punk the next decade I see him.”

  “Ah, come on. You used to like me.”

  “That was mercy. You second gen newbs needed a lot of help after Wilson somehow passed you out of basic.”

  One of the Archons behind Mark snickered, drawing a look over his shoulder from the trailblazer. “My condolences.”

  “For what?” the Star Ranger asked.

  “Being in the same Clan as her.”

  “Are you kidding? She’s awesome. We all want to hook up with her, but apparently she only has eyes for you.”

  Mark turned on Sandra like a whip. “That was scripted.”

  “Was it?” she asked, a devious, yet satisfied smile on her face.

  “Archons don’t date,” he reminded her, turning back to the younger ones behind him. “Even these weaklings.”

  “We did once, and we were Archons.”

  “Workouts aren’t dates.”

  “I don’t know, some of those joint stretching exercises were pretty intense…”

  “Blake!” Mark shouted, rolling his eyes and looking up at the ceiling, eliciting a laugh from Sandra.

  8

  February 18, 2398

  Jartul System

  Daka

  Boen flew wide around a holographic pylon, just skimming the surface of Daka and making ripples in the tall brown grasses that followed his prototype Valerie as he accelerated through the turn, firing off the lachar at a series of targets as the nose of the alien craft passed over them. He hit four of the six before corkscrewing all the way around the pylon and pulling up to shoot through a higher elevated holographic ring that lined him up with a gauntlet run through a series of parallel and very real towers, on top of which were lizard-style anti-air defense turrets, all of which were shielded.

  Boen snapped off a combination of lachars and the concentrated plasma orbs that the Valerie was equipped with, but he did not use the scattergun, knowing that given his rate of closure there was no way it would penetrate the turret shields unless he was at pointblank range, which he wouldn’t be given that he was flying down the middle of the gauntlet. As he kept the ship mostly stable in the center of the trench he fired off weapons independently of one another, aiming well ahead of the craft to keep the angular arc within the weapons’ tilt range so that he wouldn’t have to weave side to side to point the nose at the targets that were flipping by so fast he couldn’t even count them all, let alone shoot them.

  Getting them all wasn’t the point. Hitting as many as possible was.

  Boen kept his cool and methodically shot target after target, then he was clear of the gauntlet and heading up to an even higher altitude where a number of floating, mobile targets representing kirbies were tracing a lazy loop around the area. He began lighting up one of them with the lachar well before he got into plasma range, then saw return fire began to sneak his way. It was low powered, same as his Valerie’s weapons, but it was genuine lizard plasma and the green flashes of light sent a shiver up his back…something he never got in the simulator.

  The Archon methodically flew around, poaching the kirbies before flying off on the last section of this test course, which was located low to the ground and simulated a lizard predator, with Boen knowing this was going to be his greatest challenge. Again he hit it from range with his lachar before coming in close to slug it out with his plasma cannon, altering it into a hold and fire function that allowed extra plasma to accumulate before release, akin to a plasma ‘bomb’ that gave the fighter heavier firepower to hit stationary targets.

  While the predator wasn’t completely stable, it was so slow that it might as well have been compared to the Valerie. Boen flew it right across the much bigger craft on a direct strafing run before rocketing off the other side at a random angle, taking significant anti-air fire on the way, which dropped his shields down to 23%. He looped around at distance and took several more shots at the predator with his lachar, then broke off and circled around again as his shields recharged.

  Trouble was, the predator’s shields were recharging as well and the lachar wasn’t doing much to stop them, though it was scoring hull damage. He didn’t make another strafing run, the first of which was just as a demonstration to prove how effective the predator was at defending against such an attack. Instead he kept circling around at range, firing with his lachar and nicking up the surface of the predator in a specific area until one of its anti-air turrets went down, giving him a less arduous approach vector.

  From there he began making strafing runs, always coming in on the less active side, even when the predator spun around to keep him from it, in which case he’d bank away and come back in again, getting a few plasma shots off in the process while taking a few hits of his own. After a while he stopped trying to approach on the weak side and angled his strafing runs so that he exited across that side instead, still diminishing the amount of anti-air the predator could throw at him and landing a heavy plasma blast each time he came across.

  Eventually he nailed another turret with his lachars, which further opened up his strafing runs, allowing him to make them a bit slower so he could throw more attacks at the enemy. When the shields eventually came down he began lighting it up with plasma, eventually killing the craft after a total of 72 strafing runs and numerous perimeter lachar attacks.

  “There,” he said over the comm to the Calavari team observing him. “Told you one could do it. You just have to be patient.”

  “Not something that’s always an option in combat,” Procarva said, “but point taken. It’s good to know that it is possible, but picking off individual turrets at range is problematic. How did you manage it?”

  “Two ways. One, we’ve been using lachars for a long time, so I’m comfortable with the weapon. Two, I don’t aim for a specific turret. Pick an area of the hull and shoot at it. Eventually you’ll saturate it with enough hits that you’ll get a turret or two.”

  “Impressive flying, but it still isn’t good enough,” the Calavari admitted. “We have to modify the Valerie with a bigger weapon.”

  “You’ll have to sacrifice something else,” Boen reminded him. “This is a big ship, but not that big.”

  “I know, but we need to be able to take down their gunships with a pair of fighters, no more. And we can’t spend as much time on the task as you just did.”

  “I don’t see how you’re going to accomplish that unless you add missiles,” the Archon said as he began flying back to the mountain base from the testing range.

  “Battle longevity is the aim,” Procarva reminded the Human. “We need speed, power, flexibility, and durability.”

  “I don’t see how you’re going to get much more without going over your weight limits.”

  “Neither do I, unfortunately, so we’ll have to be satisfied with this minor progress. Come on back in.”

  “Already on my way.”

  Boen met Procarva at one of the Calavari complex columns within the massive hangar and cycled through their airlock into the more musty atmosphere that they preferred, pulling off his filter mask and slipping it into one of his pockets.

  “How’d the lachar hold up?” Boen asked.

  “The data is inconclusive. On average there was a slight improvement, but we’re still getting varied intensities.”

  Boen shook his head in frustration as Procarva walked him through the complex. “It’s gotta be your
power distribution grid.”

  “It was operating within standard parameters.”

  “What about within the weapon? Do you have any sensors to monitor that?”

  Procarva thought for a moment as they entered an elevator. “All was in working order prior to your flight. Perhaps something is becoming amiss during operation.”

  “Whatever it is, we need to find it. It may be negligible, but it doesn’t occur with our lachars. And where there’s one copying glitch there might be others.”

  “Never the less,” the Calavari said as they stepped out into the research center several floors above the flight deck, “the weapon is adding extra damage at range prior to normal engagement.”

  “But you had to scrap your death blossom to incorporate it. If you are focusing on engagements with the lizard fighters I’m not sure you’ll like the tradeoff.”

  “Death blossom?”

  “It’s a nickname,” Mark said as Boen and Procarva walked up to him, a Star Force tech, and several other Calavari all gathered around an impressive display table that held both flat images as well as holos of different fighter craft. “We have something similar in our fiction.”

  “The radial burst weapon you’re referring to,” Procarva continued, “is used in the latter stages of battle when allied fighter craft are not in the area. It is a last ditch weapon designed to take as many lizard fighters down with the defeated Valerie as possible. I much prefer having a weapon that we can use prior to battle to thin their numbers and attack their larger craft.”

  “As do I,” Vornac added.

  “Don’t underestimate the first strike advantage,” Mark cautioned. “If you have an incoming fighter swarm and you can send out one or two Valeries equipped with the death blossom, have them dive into the lines and fire, then hope to escape out the back side and run like crazy, you could get dozens of kills since the lizards don’t use shields.”

  “We’ve run those simulations,” Procarva admitted. “They don’t prove as promising as you might think. The spherical nature of the attack greatly diminishes effectiveness as distance increases.”

  “What if you modify it for only certain sectors…like, say, omit upper and lower so you don’t waste plasma throwing it into the ground, during surface fighting anyway.”

  Vornac rubbed his chin. “You mean to aim the blast?”

  “Why not, if you can double up the intensity by eliminating other sectors?” Mark asked.

  Boen frowned. “Are you arguing against them using the lachars?”

  Mark shook his head. “No. What I’m getting around to is suggesting they use more powerful lachars, which would mean cutting out other weapon systems. Cut those out and put them on separate craft rather than trying to make a ‘do it all’ version.”

  “You come back to a familiar point,” Procarva said, thinking hard.

  “Because I think it’s important,” Mark said, standing his ground. “We only use skeets because they have a narrow operational window. If we used them in space we’d have an alternate design, and we do have an alternative to deal with the lizard fighter swarm tactics, that being our gunships. The skeets are for fire support and air superiority, and have been so armed.”

  “By air superiority you mean to take down harder targets than lizard fighters?” Procarva asked.

  “Such as Valeries,” Vornac added.

  “Not all races use expendable fighters like the lizards do, so we have to build tougher craft. We also build our designs with the survivability of the pilot in mind and that takes up extra hull space, so we don’t have a lot of weapon options.”

  “Yet you already have 4 on your skeets,” Procarva pointed out.

  “Not really,” Mark admitted. “We have two, a lachar and a plasma. We split the power requirements for a larger plasma weapon into two separate cannons, then added a holding tank that syphons off plasma from those cannons and contains it for the streamer discharge, so in a sense it’s all one weapon pulling the same amount of power, we just included variations on how to use it.”

  “What would you have us do, exactly?” Vornac asked, wanting to clear the air.

  “Tell me what you want and I can give you direction, but without a purpose behind a specific design there’s nothing to work with.”

  “We want a fighter that can kill multiple lizard fighters,” Procarva said, humoring the Human, “survive their anti-air batteries, take down their transports, harass their warships, and be able to outrun anything they can throw at us.”

  “And combat their gunships,” Vornac added.

  “Individually or in squadrons?” Mark asked.

  The Calavari exchanged glances. In the end it was Vornac that spoke. “We wish it could be individually, but we always fight in groups.”

  “Then my suggestion is to continue building standard Valeries, maybe with a few modifications here and there, and supplement your squadrons with specialized versions. You mass produce the standard ones, then add a Valerie specifically designed to hunt lizard fighters en mass to a squadron engaging that foe. Meanwhile you add a Valerie bomber to a squadron attacking surface targets or warships. Make a third to chew apart the kirbies, predators, and whatever else they come up with to throw at us.”

  “And then, just to be on the safe side,” Mark said, lowering his voice, “you make an anti-Valerie Valerie, just in case the lizards develop a stronger fighter or one of your allies turns the technology back around against you.”

  There was silence for a long moment, then a third Calavari finally spoke. “The Human speaks wisdom. The Valerie must be able to accomplish a wide variety of missions, but it cannot excel at all of them. Reserve the radial blast for other craft and put the lachar on the standard model, that way at least a pilot has a small chance of taking down a larger craft, as Boen has just demonstrated.”

  Procarva glanced at the older Calavari. “You want to build variants?”

  Tibeerva nodded. “For ourselves only…and our Human friends if we can ever convince them to use the craft,” the four-armed giant said with a bit of humor. “Utilizing these special craft will take a tactical understanding that I do not trust the other races to wield, and I will not trust them with a fighter than can supersede Valeries.”

  He looked down at Mark. “Now, what changes would you suggest we make to create a Valerie killer…I’m sure you’ve been considering that since the day you got here, in order to upgrade your own craft in place of using ours.”

  Mark didn’t hesitate. “No scattergun. No lachar. Modified death blossom to cover the aft arc only. Add a shield depletion weapon and retain two standard plasma cannons. Lose most of the space thrusters and increase in-atmosphere maneuverability. That’s where the majority of the battles will be fought, and you need to be able to outturn the other Valeries or similar enemy ships. You can create a space-based version if you feel the need and give it extra maneuverability by sacrificing the aerial combat aspect.”

  “You seem to be well ahead of us,” Vornac suggested, “yet your own craft suffer in comparison. Why?”

  “To put it simply, our craft have other design considerations factored in aside from fighting the lizards and we do not want to sacrifice those. If we need to produce anti-lizard specialist craft, we won’t have to. We can just buy the Valeries from you.”

  “But there is something else you want from us?” Tibeerva asked, resting his lower hands on the tabletop as he stared down at Mark. “You will help us improve the Valeries, which will also improve your odds against the lizards, but you wish another trade. Am I correct?”

  Mark also leaned on the table, his smaller arms looking almost comical compared to the others. “I have something to ask of you, yes, though I wouldn’t consider it a trade. As you know, we do not use fighters in space. We do have some attack drones which are piloted remotely, but they are little more than mobile weapon platforms and useless in anti-fighter combat. While Star Force is not going to change our battle tactics…they work well for us…there is ano
ther faction of Humans that live primarily in space. For them I would ask your help in developing a remotely flown starfighter to defend their homes with.”

  “These Humans live in your orbital station?” Vornac guessed.

  “Yes. They are called Canderous. We created them as a military civilization and they take orders from Star Force, but their procedures are a bit different from ours. They have been wanting to develop starfighters for a long time and we’ve been refusing to let them do so because of the low survivability rate. I also want our pilots accustomed to atmospheric flying and not splitting their time with spaceflight, so Star Force won’t be using them, just Canderous. Think that’s something you could help us with, because we have almost no experience in that type of combat.”

  “With no pilot?” Procarva asked to make sure he heard right.

  “No, just a comm control system that we already know how to produce. It’s one of our most guarded secrets, so we won’t be sharing the dynamics of that, but it does take up far less space than a pilot and environmental controls.”

  “What if the enemy jams your communications?”

  “Let us worry about that,” the trailblazer answered ambiguously.

  “Risky,” Tibeerva warned. “With a single weapon the enemy could render all your fighters inert.”

  “We use the system on our warships. Most of our fleet is unmanned and remotely controlled. We’re aware of the risks and have found ways around them, which allows us to fight even more aggressively when we don’t have a crew to be concerned about.”

  All the Calavari within earshot took on a perplexed look, as if they couldn’t believe what they were hearing, but it was Vornac that finally expressed their combined sentiments.

  “The lizards adapt extremely well. They will find a way to neutralize your warships, and when they do your worlds will lie helpless to them.”

  “I know it may appear that way to you, but there are secrets that we have, secrets that I cannot reveal to your or anyone else, secrets that most of our own population are not aware of that make this tactic far less risky than it sounds. The lizards know of our broadcasting signal, and have targeted our transmitters numerous times. They have failed to disable all of them, allowing our fleet to pick them apart while they overcommit themselves. This too they have learned, and now hold back to fight conventionally unless they see an opening to exploit.”