ALTERNATE
TALES OF THE STAR FORCE
STAR BLAZERS---THE NET TIGHTENS
Being the fourth part of
THE NEW COMET--- BY: Frederick P. Kopetz
This Act is being completed with the
Cooperation and Assistance of Derek A.C. Wakefield (as usual)---Freddo
ACT TWO: GRADUATION DAY…
I. CEREMONIES
Planet Earth
The Space Fighters’
Training School
Memorial Field
Sunday, May 18, 2206
1300 Hours: Earth Time
Ensign
Deke Wakefield stood at attention along with the rest of the outgoing Class of
2206 as the Commander of the Earth Defense Forces himself gave their
commencement speech.
Deke,
like all of the others, had been issued his blue and red officer’s peacoat that
morning, and,like all of the others, he wore it over
his Stanadrd Blues rather than over his red and white cadet uniform, which he
and the other soon-to-be graduates had doffed. The reason why the Class of 2206
already wore officers’ clothing was because at midnight, all of them would be
integrated right into the Fleet itself. After all, it was wartime.
Not
far away from
It would have been nice, thought
Deke as the long speech continued, If
Dawn would have shown up…just to say goodbye to me as I graduate. She should be
graduating from Pan-Am sometime this month, and it’d be nice to at least part
as friends. Too bad
Finally,
the speech came to its long-awaited end. The new Ensigns saluted the Commander,
and then, one by one, they were called up onto the stage to receive their
diplomas.
Brew
was called some time before Deke was; Deke felt a little annoyed that his own
name was near the end of the alphabet when he saw Brew coming off the stage
with a big smile as he carried a rolled-up piece of paper in one hand and a
small box in the other.
When
Deke’s name was called, Deke strode forward, hearing a great deal of applause
as he accepted his diploma from the Commandant and then accepted his formal
rank pin from the Commander, who also handed him a letter.
“Sir?”
he said as he saluted.
“Read
the letter after you’re done, Ensign,” said Singleton with a slight grin.”No,
it’s nothing bad…just a parting gift from me. Good luck in the Fleet, son.”
“Thank
you, sir,” said Deke as he snapped the Commander his parting salute.
Deke
came down, nodded to Brew (who was having his rank pin pinned to the collar of
his peacoat by a woman that he knew as his Aunt Clarisse), and then, he stood
stock-still as he felt a light tap on his shoulder.
Deke
turned, and he saluted again when he recognized Commodore Wildstar standing
there in his black peacoat and red-and-white Star Force uniform. Beside him
stood Nova in a very pretty yellow and white sundress (which had a cute
overall-style top that showed off her shoulders and back) with a white hat,
sandals and mesh gloves. Beside her
stood Lynn Westland…Dawn’s mother, who was dressed in a similar outfit, but in
light green.
“Ma’am?”
said Deke to Nova.
“Ma’am?”
said
“Uh…I
was talking to Lieutenant Commander Wildstar, Lynn…I…”
“You
call her by her first name?” said Nova with a slightly raised eyebrow under the
brim of her white spring hat. “That’s…different…”
“I’ve
practically raised him, Mrs. Wildstar….especially after his parents died. I’m
sorry, Deke…Dawn’s tied up. She wanted me to tell you that.”
“I
see,” said Deke as he quietly dropped his eyes.
“What’s
wrong?” said Nova.
“Nothing.”
“Well,
we can discuss that at a later time,” said Nova as she surprised Deke by gently
tapping him under the chin. “Chin up, Ensign. Today’s the day you worked
towards for a couple of years. At any rate, Lynn and I have been talking about
you a little bit.
“The
same goes for the famous Commander Wildstar and the Commodore,” said
“I’ll
do that sometime,
“To
take your picture,” said
“Oh,”
said Deke in a low voice. “
“No,”
said Nova. “That’s because Lynn and a dear friend of mine asked me to do it.
Bear in mind, Deke, I’ve only done this before for one other person…and when I
did it for him, it was a little bit late…but it was when we got to Iscandar for
the first time,” she said as she smiled at Derek. “And I only plan to do this
for my son when I have him someday and he stands here to graduate,” Nova added
as she took the anchor in its box from Deke.
Deke
gulped a little as he felt Nova adjusting his high collar while
“Anytime,
“ replied Nova right before she stood up on tiptoe in her heels to kiss Derek.
“I
remember how much I loved my husband,” said
“Yeah,”
said Deke.
“You
look very handsome in that uniform,” said
Deke
wasn’t sure how to answer
“Deke,”
said
At
that, Deke blushed, until Nova said, “Lynn…if I can call you that…that’s not
weird. My mother and father had twins just a few years ago, and I helped my mother nurse my brother and
sister a little when they were born…mom had trouble with her milk…so, I took a
hormone shot to help her…I lived in San Diego with my dad for a few weeks,
too…when he was on a legal case there, and…”
“My
God,” said
“Yes,”
said Nova with a nod. She smiled, and Derek held her hand, noticing that she
was blushing a little.
“You
can just call me Nova,” said Nova as she blushed right down to her toes. “I
don’t stand much on formality…except where you have to, in the military, that
is…”
This is damn interesting, thought
Deke. Hell, Nova probably saw what I
looked like as a baby…
“You
know, I think I played with you in the sandbox, once, Deke,” said Nova.
“When
was that?” said Deke.
“When
you…uh…wet all over me,” said Nova with a giggle.
“Okay,”
said Wildstar. “You knew him as a
baby, too? Aside from knowing Brew, you knew him, too? Oh, Kamisama, this is weird!”
“I
think I did,” said Nova with a shrug. “I can’t be one hundred percent sure. How
much of being eight do you remember one hundred percent of, Derek?”
“Man,
this is weird,” said Brew. “She knew you as a rugrat, too, Dekesticks! Along
with me! Was she your first squirrel?”
“Hell
no, Dawn was!” barked Deke.
“What
the heck are they talking about?”
whispered Commodore Wildstar to
“Old
home week,” said
At
that, IQ-9 zipped up behind Nova. “Nova, I know where you like to stand!”
“Where?”
barked Nova at the robot in anger as
“You
like to stand on your toes when I do this!” burbled IQ-9.
Then,
Nova looked down.
Of
course, her short skirt was up…revealing a tanned figure and very brief bikini panties in a floral
pattern. Nova stood up on her toes and shoved down the skirt, even as
“Don’t!”
barked Nova. “He’s like a cat! He’ll attack anything
in a skirt that moves!”
“I’m
IQ-9, genius robot and member of the Star Force. Sorry, I’m not interested in
you, you’re too old!”
“Well,
I never…!” said
“He’s
more eccentric than any of us,” said a little fireplug of a man as he appeared
carrying his usual bottle.
“Doctor
Sane, would you help me call off the Tinwit?”
cried Nova as she danced around the little robot while all of the men (even
Derek) watched with some amusement.
“Why
should I?” said Doctor Sane. “Wildstar, doesn’t she look adorable dancing in
that dress?”
“No
comment,” said Derek in a quick (and diplomatic) fashion as he said,”IQ! Cut the crap!”
“OK,
that’s enough! The Commodore says to cut the crap!” burbled IQ. “I repeat, he
says cut the crap!”
“IQ,
why don’t you cut it out?” snapped Nova.
“Nova,
why don’t you take a ^&*%ing leap off a bloody #$%^&*@#&ing short pier?”
“WHAT
WAS THAT?” snapped
“He’s
like a four-year old…he just learned to curse,” said Nova. “IQ-9, if you don’t
stop it, I’ll never look at you again!”
“Never?”
“Never-ever,” said Nova. “And apologize to all
the women here, starting with me, for having a rotten little mouth like that!”
IQ-9
saw Nova’s wrathful face, and then he finally said, “I’m very sorry.”
“Thank
you,” snapped Nova as she tapped one of her high-heeled sandals against the
pavement near the stands. “Now, we have other things to do.”
“Such
as?” said Derek as he smiled at his wife.
“Such
as punching you for looking when IQ was up to his games,” snapped Nova as she
gave her husband a light punch.
“Ouch!”
cried Derek.
“As
for the rest,” she whispered in his ear. “We’ll see later....”
“Okay,”
said Commodore Wildstar as
Finally,
Deke turned to Nova and said, “Seeing her is nice…”
“That’s
good,” said Nova.
“And
depressing, too,” Deke said.
“Why?”
replied Nova.
“We’ll…uh..talk
sometime,” said
“Which
will be soon,” Nova said, as she turned to Derek. “We’ll talk to them later,
Derek. Right now, we need some quality time. You know why.”
Wildsdtar
turned very serious as he said, “Do I ever. We’ll see you later, gentlemen.”
Deke
and Brew saluted the Wildstars, who returned the salutes and left.
Some
time passed. Deke and Brew were speaking in a very desultory fashion as Brew’s
uncle and aunt showed up. Finally, Brew made his leave of Deke, leaving the
pilot alone. Wakefield sighed to himself as he looked at the happy
families….cadets were being thanked, toasted, and saluted everywhere he
looked…one was even being introduced to a younger cousin under a tree (the
younger cousin was at a blushing mother’s breast in the shade, but dad
inrtroduced the new officer to his cousin, irregardless of what a less-than
fully decent Mom thought then.)
“Everyone’s
got a family,” said Deke in a bitter
and wistful tone as he sat down by himself to watch life pass him by. A minute
later, he felt a tap on his shoulder. He started and turned.
“I
hope I don’t look that scary!” said a
young female voice as a pair of brown eyes stared down at Deke.
“Oh,
hi, Sasha,” said Deke in a low voice.
“Hi,
Sasha?” said Sasha with her hands on her hips.”I was watching your handsome
stance over rows and rows of cadets before and that’s the greeting I get?
Excuse me while I talk to this tree…it’s
better company than you at the moment!”
“Sasha?”
said Deke. “Wait.”
“Hi,
oak tree,” said Sasha. “You’re more interesting right now than my boyfriend.“
“BOYFRIEND?”
said Deke.
“Yes,
boyfriend,” said Sasha. “I can’t hold it back, you dopey tree. He’s my
boyfriend but sometimes he acts so dorky that even you seem animated by comparison.
Got anything to say about that?”
Sasha
stood in silence looking at the tree with a grin while Deke stood open-mouthed.
“Sasha…uh..trees don’t talk.”
“How
do you know that?” said Sasha brightly. “Seriously..I wanted to let you know
something of how I felt before I left for training and you left for your first
assignment. This war will get worse, Deke. I feel it in my bones…in the
air…everywhere. Deke, this war is more horrid every day. And it is getting
worse.”
“How
do you know? Sasha?”
Sasha
began to shiver as, to the south, she felt….a strange presence.
That
was the best way she could describe it.
Not
that far away, near a light tower, a figure in fatigues wearing Corporal’s
stripes stood holding a weird, whispered conversation with himself.
“If
that’s
“No,
not now,” said another deeper and slower whisper as the figure stood alone near
a hilltop. “Trust me. I know that it would raise suspicion. I have not lived
for almost three thousand years for naught.”
“He
should die now.”
“Patience,
apprentice,” said the essence of the Dark Lord in a near-silence. “Do you see
that plane above us flying a victory loop?”
“Yes…”
“That
is a classmate of his…or….rather…it was”
said the Dark One as he raised a hand. “Watch…”
The
plane exploded in mid-air. There were many screams.
“Oh
my GOD!” someone yelled. “That was Ensign Comly!”
“How
did his plane blow up?”
“I
don’t know!”
“There’s
debris!”
“Oh,
God, there’s dead children here!”
screamed an onlooker near a growing plume of black smoke.
“You
note,” said the Dark Lord Ekogaru quietly. “You note that WAS
“What
did it do?” whispered Stovall. “To
“It
upset him,” said Ekogaru in a near-silence. He gritted his teeth and then said
to an onlooker in Stovall’s normal voice, “That looks bad! Do they need help, sir? I have medic training.”
“No,
they’ve got people there already,” said the new Ensign. “But thanks, Corporal.”
But
even as the Corporal left, something creeped out Ensign Vandemar, another
member of the Sun Tigers.
He
decided he’d discuss it with his friends later. Something looked familiar about
that creepy-looking Corporal, but he had no idea what it was.
II. THE CUP OF PARTING
Planet Earth
Derek and Nova
Wildstar’s Residence
Sunday, May 18, 2206
1805 Hours: Earth Time
Later
on that day, when they were home, Nova and Derek were lying together on a large
beach towel in the grass near their pool behind the trees and bushes at their
house. The trees and bushes now had thick spring foilage, which was a good
thing, since the two lovers wore absolutely nothing at all as they cuddled
together in the sun. They had just made love, and they were pleasantly sleepy.
But
they knew they couldn’t sleep. Not today. Not with that accident which had
happened (which they suspected was not an accident) and not not the news that
had come in later that the Comet Empire had just torpedoed and destroyed
another Earth freighter near Neptune..
“Just
a few more hours,” said Derek, “And we won’t see each other again…for a whole
year. The Argo will be taking me to
one place…all because of this damned war…”
“And
the
“I
don’t know if I’ll be liking the Living Group Leader I’ll be getting for the Argo,” said Derek.
“I
know Lieutenant Victoria Becker…promise me you’ll at least be nice to her,”
said Nova.
“I
will be…but not as nice as I am to you,” he said as he kissed his wife.
“I
hope not,” giggled Nova. Then, she laughed as her husband climbed up on top of
her, tickled her, and then began kissing her naked breasts.
“I
take it that means you want to go again?” said Nova.
Commodore
Wildstar just growled and kissed his wife’s neck. She laughed as she opened her
arms to him. They were both ready from the last time, so it wasn’t long until
their bodies hungrily joined for a second time. When they had finished and were
showering one another with kisses, Nova said, “Why don’t I get my heels on and
let you take some pictures on me?”
“Won’t
you have to dress and shower for those?”
Nova
playfully hit her husband. “No, silly. I want to pose nude for you. So you have
something of me to remember me by since we’ll be apart for a year?”
“Yeah…”
said Wildstar as he looked his wife’s body over from head to toe. “That would
be…nice…”
“I
thought you’d like that,” replied Nova. “Get your robe on and get your camera
while I check my nail polish and get my shoes on.”
Derek
threw on his kimono and threw his wife a kiss as she ran into the cabana.
A
few minutes later, he was taking some gorgeous pictures of his wife, who wore
nothing but her sandals for the shots. Nova lay in the grass, sat up, stood,
threw back her head, and looked to Commodore Wildstar far better than any
sleazy centerfold model…because she was actually smiling at him while posing
for him. When he had enough pictures, Nova took the camera from him and
wrestled his yuutaka off.
“Hey!”
yelled Derek.
Nova
laughed. “Now, you…”
“Me?”
“I
want something to remember of YOU on this deployment, big boy. Lie down and
behave!”
Derek
laughed as he posed for his wife, who took shot after shot of him. Then, they began to snuggle again.
“I
can’t believe I won’t see you for a whole year after tonight,” said Nova as she
began to quietly weep. “I don’t know if I can take it….”
Tears
ran down Derek’s cheeks as he said, “The same goes for me, Nova.”
“Derek?”
“Yes?”
“Wouldn’t
it be funny if I ended up pregnant now? After all that trying…I mean….wouldn’t
it be…?”
“I
don’t want you have our child alone, without me there,” said Commodore
Wildstar.
“But…what
if?”
“I
don’t know,” said Wildstar. “Nova, I don’t know…”
At
that, they embraced again, and then just began to cry in each other’s arms…they
cried because of all of the hopes and dreams that they had been sharing…the
hope that they could settle down, slow down a bit, have a family…that hope,
again, seemed to be deferred…again..all because of another war…a war that was
going on for longer than they had hoped…or wanted.
III. DEPARTURE
Planet Earth
Space Battleship
Sunday, May 18, 2206
2200 Hours: Earth Time
Finally,
the
“I
can’t believe it,” said Brew as he looked at his the new black and gold Flight
Group uniform he now wore. “We’re members of a Star Force unit.”
“And
we’re gonna be deployed, as scheduled, until next year,” said
“Why
are you carrying DJ?” said Brew. “You can’t bring her aboard the ship.”
“Yes
I can,” said
“Any
command?” said Brew.
Deke
struggled a little as he got out the letter. “Read this, Brew,” said Deke. This
is no shit.”
Brew
read the letter and said, “Yeah…this is serious,” he said.
Soon,
Deke and Brew got over to the head of the
“You’re…”
“Lieutenant
Aliscea Rosstowski, Assistant Living Group Leader of the Space Battleship
“Ensign
Deke Wakefield.”
“You
know you can’t bring that weapon aboard ship, Ensign. You’re not a Marine…”
Deke
showed her his letter. “According to this letter, ma’am, I can bring this
weapon aboard any vessel I am deployed to.”
“Signed
by Commander Singleton?” said Rosstowski. She stood in thought for a moment. It feels right, she thought, and then it doesn’t feel right…I wonder how
we’ll…
A
moment later, Nova Wildstar came down the gangplank. “Aliscea,” she said. “What’s
the holdup?”
“Mister
Wakefield and this letter, ma’am,” she said. “Is this really the signature of
the Commander?” she whispered as she motioned Nova over.
Nova
studied the letter and nodded. “That is his signature. Let Mister
“Aye,
aye, ma’am.” Aliscea said as she saluted.
“I’ll
take over with the check-in here,” said Nova after Aliscea checked in Brew.
Brew was the last Sun Tiger to be checked in. “Lead these Flight Group members
to their cabins so they can drop off their gear; they have to meet with their
Group Leader and be off the ship in twenty minutes to head to the airbase for
their planes.”
“Understood,”
said Aliscea as Nova took over her job.
After
Deke and Brew and the others were shown to their cabins (and
“Yessir!”
yelled all forty-seven of the Sun Tigers.
“You
know your jobs,” said Conroy in his heavy Southern accent. “Go to them.”
At
that, the Sun Tigers began to make ready to leave the ship.
A
few short minutes later, outside, they were again heading down the gangway
towards waiting busses that would hustle them to the flight line at the nearby
airbase. As Deke got onto the bus, he noticed, out of the corner of his eye,
Nova checking in a last tardy crewmember, ranking him out a little, and then
turning quickly to someone in a black Captain’s peacoat. He noticed it was
Commodore Wildstar, and as he sat down in his seat on the bus, he saw Nova and
Derek hugging fiercely for a moment before they spoke together and then parted.
Then,
as the bus began to move,
It
was Sasha. Deke couldn’t open the bus window (it was sealed), but he waved back,
to the amusement of some members of the Sun Tigers. Some of them yelled,
“Dekesticks has a GIRLFRIEND!” as Deke blew a kiss at her before she walked
Commodore Wildstar back to an aircar, alone. Then, he noticed Nova going up the
gangplank, in silence, with her head buried dejectedly in her hands.
Conroy
drew his attention away from the scene as he snapped, “Tigahs! Make sure your
gear bags are complete and make sure you have your flight plans in order…I will
review them with you later tomorrow after we complete our first patrol! Got
that?”
They
all nodded back as the bus pulled away from the
A
few minutes later, Deke and Brew were in flight in their Cosmo Tigers, flying
as Charlie Flight behind an experienced Flight Leader named Lt. Dalton
Hollingsfield. Hollingsfield was also one of the two Section leaders for their
strike fighter squadron, which landed safely in the
The
warp was right on schedule at 0100 on the 19th; one day had passed
into another as they had worked without their being aware of it until now.
After Deke and Brew felt the nausea and disorientation of coming in and out of
warp, they went through the same thing all over again. Their time in warp space
seemed a little longer this time, until they emerged from warp near Pluto.
“Warp
completed,” said Captain Mark Venture’s voice over the shipboard PA. “This is
your Captain speaking. Now that we have emerged from warp, I am asking all crew
members to gather together on the main observation deck at 0130 Hours for a
meeting and briefing regarding our mission. Our mission begins tonight. I will
see you soon.”
IV. THE
The Vicinity of Pluto
Space Battleship
Monday, May 18, 2206
0130 Hours: Earth Time
It
was not the first time that Deke Wakefield had met Captain Mark Venture, but it
was the first time he had served under the tall New Yorker, so he wasn’t quite
sure what to expect as the tall, dark-skinned officer with wavy hair and a dark
blue Captain’s peacoat ascended the podium before the assembled crew on the Arizona’s main observation deck (which
was below the foredeck and ahead of the main guns) and began to speak.
“Gentlemen and ladies. Commodore
Wildstar and I selected all of you for this mission because we felt you could
best adapt to what will be an open-ended patrol with no clear objective except
for one; we, the Second Star Force, and the First Star Force, aboard the Argo, are to detect, find, and engage
forces of the Comet Empire or the R’Khell Union before they can make it to
Earth. Also, we are to assemble information as to the presence of the
Cometines’ main enemy fleet, and to the presence of the New Comet itself.”
A
buzz filled the room as Venture continued. “What I am telling you, Wildstar is
also telling his crew aboard the Argo.
This information is to remain strictly classified, and you are not to reveal
this to any family members that you write to, nor are you to discuss this with
anyone else in the Defense Forces, save with members of the First Star Force
and members of the Commander’s Staff. This is the information we have learned,
from interrogation of Cometine prisoners we have captured, from analysis of
wrecked material from Cometine vessels, and from intelligence gleaned from the
Gamilons and Rikashans.”
Venture
paused as Deke took a deep breath. Then, he said, “What we have learned is that
there is a second Great White Comet, heading slowly towards Earth. Our ultimate
mission is to stop it.”
The
room filled with a lot of conversation before Venture clapped his hands in
front of his microphone. “According to our estimates, the New Comet is somwhere
between a year to a year and a half away from Earth. We think that it is
currently consolidating Prince Zordar’s former conquests between the Andromeda
Galaxy and the Great Magellenic Cloud. Our mission is to defend Earth by
cutting off these attacks upon our shipping and our Defense Forces that seem to
be intended to slowly break down our defenses while the rest of the EDF engages
in a new building and recruitment program. Evenetually, we are to eliminate
these threats to Earth…so that we can give Earth some breathing space. Is that
understood?”
“YESSIR!”
cried out the crew of the
“Very
good,” said Venture. “Our mission begins at once.”
At
that, the meeting ended.
At
0210 Hours, the action began.
On
the
“Where
is it from?” said Venture.
“Twenty-two
megameters ahead of us, I think. This is the transmission; switching to
audio….”
A
moment later, a signal came across the bridge speakers. “Hello, this is the
space frigate Wainwright! Any ship in
our range, please respond! Again, any ship in our range…”
Venture
made a hand motion to
“Captain
Venture! This is Commander Walsh! Pluto’s not responding…I think we’re being
jammed. We were escorting the freighter Valiant
Hope with three other frigates; that is, the Smith, the Cavell, and
the Pearson. We’ve lost contact with
the freighter and the Pearson, and
the other vessels are reporting torpedo hits and jamming, and we have taken two
hits. Can you lend assistance?”
“We
have fighters; where did you last detect torpedoes from?”
“RPX-212;
two megameters ahead of us…we can’t see the ships!”
“Sounds
like space submarines,” said Paul Rosstowski from his post. “Readying space
mines, sir.”
“We’ll
investigate, Wainwright,” said
Venture as he brought up the red alert klaxons. “All hands to combat stations!”
yelled Venture into the PA. “Repeat, all hands, to…”
“…COMBAT
STATIONS!”
“BREW!”
he yelled.
“Ah
know!” yelled Marrable as he got up and threw on his uniform over his skivvies.
Deke had his uniform thrown at him a moment later, and he got dressed in a
heartbeat.
“We
weren’t on alert tonight!” said Brew.
“So?””
said
When
they were ready, both of them ran towards their planes.
A
few minutes later, Deke and Brew received word that they were going to take off
next, following the fighter squadrons led by Conroy and by Thomas “Buzz”
Deke
and Brew got the “launch” signal a moment later from their squadron leader, a
young hard-bitten woman named Michelle Ambrose. Soon, Deke and Brew were
following their flight leader, Hollingsfield, off towards an area of space that
looked empty.
“Why
are we here, sir?” said
“A
hunch I’ve got,” said Hollingsfield. “Stay by me and keep your eyes open,
people. You both copy?”
“Copy,”
said Deke. Deke asked his Radar Survey Officer and aft gunner if they copied;
both of them did.
“Copy,”
said Brew.
A
moments’ worth of time passed; Deke swivelled his head around, watching his
twelve, his three, his six (the Arizona
was right at their six at this point; she was just a small dot that was getting
hard to see) when, all of a sudden, not far from Pluto’s moon (which they were
approaching) an orange light appeared from nowhere…it was the bow of a Cometine
space submarine. Two trails of fire blasted right past them off towards the
When
the enemy sub fired again, Deke was ready. He shot at the approaching torpedoes
with his forward and wing guns, and then switched to missiles just as his RSO
(a young woman known as Ensign Deanna Stern) said, “Skipper, that space sub
isn’t moving; I think he thinks he can ignore us and get the Arizona.”
“Why’s
that?” said Deke.
A
moment later, the sub fired a good number of missiles at them. All three of the
planes dodged the submarine; as Deke dodged, he noticed that, off in the
distance, three more planes from their squadron were attacking two other subs,
while off in the distance, still other Tigers were fighting with smaller,
faster-moving ships. “Looks like there’s more than a few subs,” said
“Looks
like you’re right,” said Stern as she looked at her scope. “Long range radar is
picking up another one off in the distance behind this one!”
“Okay,
we’ll pick these guys off one at a time,” said
“
“Roger
that,” said Deke, who throttled back. On hurried advice from Stern, Deke locked
two of his missiles on target.
A
moment later, all three planes evaded some enemy laser fire and streaked in
towards the Cometine sub. Firing missiles and then laser cannon into the large
sensor at its bow, they soon had the sub burning. As they flew away, it
exploded.
“YEAH!”
yelled
“
Deke
looked back and then he saw it; a Cometine Paranoia fighter was streaking in
towards him from the rear. “CRAP!” he muttered. “Corporal?”
Corporal
Hayes, the ship’s tail-gunner said, “Sir, hold off on manuevering for a
minute…I think I can get him.” Hayes fired, and then, a moment later, a ball of
flame appeared where an enemy fighter had been.
“Well,
that’s not bad,” said Deke.
“Not
bad?” said Stern. “There’s four more of them off our
tail to starboard!”
“Well,
that could be a problem,” said Deke laconically as he threw the Tiger around in
a sharp snap-spin. “Let’s see what we can do if we’re facing those guys…”
“You
still there?” barked Hollingsfield in his headset.
“Yessir,”
said Deke.
“Keep
your eyes peeled; Marrable got into another hairball someplace with those guys;
I have no idea what happened to him. And there’s more coming!”
“Crap,” said Deke in a low voice. He
hated the thought of possibly saying goodbye to his best friend in their first
battle together after graduation. He prayed that, somwhere in this mess, Brew
was all right…
TO
BE CONTINUED…
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