| Jovian APAworks | Volume 2, Number 1 | December, 2001 |
"I have to tell you Gally. I’m nervous as hell." Lieutenant Liliane Cymri said as she finished doing up the front clasps of her flight suit. She cupped her hands in an effort to stop them from shaking. Feelings of dread mixed with anxiousness and bubbled inside of her, leaving her unsure of which emotion to cling to.
Master Sergeant Galen Pax did not look up as he checked the vacuum seal on Lilianes boots. "You have nothing to worry about Lily." he said. "They are not going to make you do anything on this exam that you haven’t practiced. How do your feet feel?"
Liliane tried to look down to where Galen was kneeling but a sharp tug at the back of her scalp jerked her head back up with a yelp. Feeling behind her neck she found that her loose, long red hair had become caught in the back of her flight suit. Liliane undid the top few clasps on her flight suit and pulled her hair free. She could hear Galen chuckle from his kneeling position.
"Get your hair caught again?" he asked without looking up. He already knew the answer of course. Liliane had a habit of forgetting to tie back her hair when she was going out on a sortie. She refused to cut it to a shorter length, as most exo pilots did, and kept it at the maximum length allowed by military regulations.
Liliane smiled despite her nervousness. The two had known met six months ago when Liliane had been assigned to a Pathfinder with Galen as her crew chief. During that time he had come to know her habits and responses. Of course getting her hair caught like this every mission helped greatly.
Galen stood up satisfied that her boot seals were properly closed. Before a mission both pilot and crew chief checked over the environmental seals on the pilots pressure flight suit. It was a safety precaution that was taken because the flight suit was all that was between the pilot and the cold vacuum of space in the event of a cockpit breach. Breaches were not so common now, the cockpits on the newer exo-armours were designed to be much tougher, but the procedure was still followed.
Liliane started to explain that she did not have anything to tie her hair back but Galen held up a hand to stop her. He dug around in the tech pack that all exo maintenance crew wore and produced a small length of fiber optic cable, which he then handed to Liliane. "Use this." he said smiling.
Taking the length of cable, Liliane tied her hair up. As she did this Galen walked over to a rack and pulled out her helmet and a pair of gloves. She almost dropped the helmet when it was handed to her. She laughed nervously. "I guess I’m still a little shaky."
Galen helped her fit the helmet and then the gloves. After checking the fit of the seals on both, he held both of her hands in his, something Liliane did not expect. "You’re going to be fine Lily." he said softly, his eyes connecting with hers. "Don’t worry about it. Worrying is only going to cause you to make mistakes. Clear your mind of everything and just concentrate on doing your best."
Liliane felt herself drawn in by Galens stare. His words were comforting and she smiled nervously back at him. This was one of the reasons why Liliane liked these suiting up checks. It was just Galen and her alone in the prep room. The rest of the universe waited outside the airlock. In here it was just the two of them and no other distractions. Galen had become more than a friend to her these past months. He acted more like a big brother. No matter what she was feeling about a mission, he knew what to do to put her in the right frame of mind. He was always looking out for her. Galen was her rock, her supporting structure. The way that he held her hands drew the nervousness out of her like a sponge soaking up water.
"Jena to Chief Galen." A voice came over the radio, both in Lilianes helmet and Galens headset. Jena was one of the exo Motive Systems specialists on Galen’s maintenance crew. The interruption broke Liliane out of her musings and dragged her back to reality. Liliane blinked. If only she could spend a few more seconds in that moment, in that feeling of confidence that she fed off of Galen.
"Go ahead Jena." Galen said as he let go of Lilianes hands and turned away from her.
"We’re good to go skipper. All set for power up."
"Copy that Jena. I’ll be out in a moment." Galen turned back to Liliane. "Ready?" he asked.
Liliane took a deep breath and straightened up. "Lieutenant Liliane Cymri ready for action, Sir." She gave Galen a mock salute. She didn’t have to as his rank was technically below hers.
Galen smiled and gestured to the airlock that connected the prep room with the main hangar. "After you then, milady."
The airlock cycled and the two entered the hangar. For now there was oxygen, to allow the maintenance crew to work without worrying about bulky helmets and possibly puncturing a pressure suit. In the center of the hangar stood a Jovian Retaliator exo-armour. It stood silently, oblivious to the scurrying of technicians around its feet, and just stared at the hangar doors. The markings that it wore identified it as a training unit. She walked over and ran her hand over the cold metal armor on the leg and muttered a silent prayer.
Galen gave her a moment and then led her to the wheeled lift that would take them both up the 9.5m to the open cockpit hatch. As the lift began its slow movement upwards, Galen spoke into his headset some more, giving his crew some last minute instructions.
Liliane clambered awkwardly into the cockpit and hoped that Galen didn’t see her clumsiness. If he did he showed no sign of it. She lifted herself into the linear control frame for the exo and Galen helped her to strap in. The bare skeleton frame would translate her body’s movements into commands for the exo-armour to take. As she moves her legs the exo would move the same one. Connecting all of the restraints and control linkages was challenging for one person but a great deal easier for two. She secured her arms and fastened the helmet while Galen locked down her legs.
"Comfy?" he asked in that reassuring tone that he used.
"I could use a pillow." Liliane replied with an uneasy grin.
"Cute. Now remember not to tax the thruster array too much. These things can be touchy. Blowing out a thruster array is not a good way to get marks for this exam." Galen smiled, gave her a thumbs up signal and stepped out of the cockpit. He gave a couple loud pats on the hatch to signal that he was clear and Liliane buttoned up the cockpit, the locks clasping with a dull clang.
Liliane was now alone in a large empty sphere strapped to a metallic frame. She took a deep breath, closed her eyes and thought back to the lessons she had taken about the Retaliator in the past few weeks. The Retaliator was more heavily armed and armored than the smaller, lighter Pathfinder, and that extra mass resulted in some handling differences that she had to be aware of. While she had taken simulation and written tests, this was her only test in a live Retaliator.
The Valiant strike carrier that she was stationed on was upgrading some of its Pathfinders to the Retaliator. This last flight marked Lilianes final test. If she passed this practical flight then she would earn her Retaliator pilots rating. She clung to the positive feelings that she would have when she passed this exam and discarded any negative thoughts. Such thoughts did not fade away very easily but she still tried to concentrate on a positive future. If she passed, no when she passed, there would a big ceremony where she would receive her Retaliator qualification amid tables of food and drink. Jena and Galen had promised a special dinner. She would write back to her parents of her success, her mother was an avid modeler and loved the Retaliator. Concentrate on the positive, she quietly told herself.
Taking another deep breath she activated her radio. "Retaliator 1. Radio Check. Over."
"Hangar to Retaliator 1." Galen responded. "Confirm positive on radio check."
"Copy Hangar. We are powering up."
Liliane paused again and then hit the primary starter. The Retaliator hummed to life. The Heads-up Display in her helmet lit up and gave a list of systems that the main computer was starting up. Each item in the list changed from red to blue to indicate successful startup. She could feel the vibration from the main drive coming to life. It sounded different than her Pathfinder, and was one sound that was never really accurately simulated in training. Her metal giant was waking up.
A few more engine subsystems changed to blue and then the sphere in which she stood exploded into colour. Multiple cameras mounted on the outside of the Retaliator turned on and added what they saw to the interior sphere of the cockpit. Piece by piece, a jigsaw puzzle of the outside world was pasted together. This was her primary visual system. Other smaller screens started to light up; damage displays, tactical displays, systems status, communications and navigation information. Liliane looked around the inside of the sphere and her main view changed to follow her line of sight, indicating that the head of the Retaliator where most of the sensors were was mimicking her head motion. As it was now Liliane was a giant standing in the hangar.
A few more subroutines were run and Liliane carefully checked all systems for their proper operation. She let go of the control joystick and activated the exos hand Waldo system. Galen was standing to one side watching the power up and the Retaliator flashed him a thumbs up, which Galen reciprocated.
"Retaliator 1 is good to go." Liliane said into her mic.
Galen turned and walked out of the hangar. "Confirm Retaliator 1. Let’s get you into launch position."
Liliane waited until all of her crew were clear and then walked the Retaliator to the catapult launch cradle. She locked the feet of the exo into the launch cradle and readied herself for the launch. She listened as Galen gave the radio instructions to evacuate the atmosphere from the hangar. Only a few technicians wearing pressure suits would stay around in the hangar, in the event of an emergency. Liliane calmed herself again. Now she was beginning to get impatient.
Silently the hangar doors opened up, slowly revealing a fantastic view of Jupiter. Liliane always loved the view of the planet from space. Jupiter she found especially beautiful with its swirling lines of coloured gases. Capital ships on training maneuvers could be seen in the distance.
"Hangar 12 to Command." Galens voice came over the radio again. "Retaliator 1 is Ready Launch."
"Copy Hangar 12. Standby." Came the cold reply.
Now Liliane waited and steeled herself. She fought to keep her concentration. She had never liked tests and always felt nervous before them. Galen was right in what he said about thinking negatively and she struggled to keep these thoughts away. She watched a flight of Retaliators perform some squadron maneuvers. She was going to be one of them after today. At least she hoped.
"Command to Retaliator 1. You are cleared for launch. Good luck." The words brought her attention back to the catapult in front of her.
"Copy Command." Galen replied. Liliane braced herself. Until she left the hangar Galen was in charge. Having received the order to launch, he would be firing the catapult in a few moments. She was given enough time to brace herself and then she was accelerating away from the hangar.
The catapult spit her off at the end and Liliane thrusted away from the space station. She allowed herself one quick glance back to make sure that everything was okay. The training space station quickly got smaller in size and she could see the hangar doors closing. She turned her attention back to in front of her and just took in the sights.
"Good afternoon Cadet." Liliane recognized the voice now coming in across the radio. It belonged to her instructor from these past few weeks. Usually the instructors did not do the tests but she supposed that hers wanted to make sure that all of her training did not go to waste. "Change frequency to 153.8."
Liliane adjusted the radio frequency to a private band used for testing pilots. The instructors voice continued. "We have programmed your course into your navigational computer. Follow the flight path outlined on your HUD, paying attention to the attitude that you are to take. Any contacts that appear are to be identified and if hostile destroyed. There is a time limit to this exam. Your nav computer will display time remaining. You may begin."
The radio message cut out and Liliane activated the saved program in her nav computer. A series of crossed lines appeared. Liliane adjusted her vector and began to follow it. She had to be careful about her expenditure of reaction mass. Reaction mass was very important for combat maneuvering and could be a death knell if improperly expended. She had heard that really bad pilots tended to run out early and fail to complete the test as a result.
Liliane followed the computer generated path, firing her apogee thrusters to slowly rotate the Retaliator into the desired position. The flight path twisted and turned with the exo-armor spiraling in one direction and then back the other. The flight path became increasingly difficult, the turns and rotations quicker and tighter. It reminded her of the roller coasters that she had ridden when she was younger. Liliane soon found the inside of her cockpit sphere spinning around her. Jupiter was a large blot that spun over, around and under Liliane. The flight path line a ribbon whipping about in a high wind.
Strapped into the linear control frame it appeared that she was tumbling in a controlled spin through space. The radical maneuvers were starting to make Liliane dizzy. It was a feeling much like the training simulator in her basic exo-pilot course where they seated her in a large circle and spun it around on all three axes. The idea was to learn how to control a wild spiral and it was a lot like what she was going through now. She was beginning to have some difficulty with controlling the Retaliator as it thrusted along the path.
The flight path smoothed a bit, giving her a chance to catch her breath seconds before her tactical display lit up with red contacts. Now is when it gets challenging, she thought as she again moved the controls to fire thrusters. The contacts were scattered around the line of her flight. As she neared the first contact, the computer started to put up tracking and targeting data alongside the contact marker. The first contact was marked as hostile. She had to take it out fast, but there would most likely be harder targets along the way.
Flipping the weapon selection over to her JAW-11A Railgun, Liliane moved the targeting recticle over the contact marker with one control while trying to stabilize her attitude with the other. Although the railgun used computer stabilization to steady the barrel during wild maneuvering, she would rather have her exo steady for the few seconds that it would take for her to shoot. It was basic rifle combat. She pulled her exo into a somewhat stable position, with a slower rotation than the wild moves she was using before, and fired off a couple of shots. The first round just missed the target drone but the second scored a hit. It was enough to cause the contact to disappear from her tactical display. She did the same for the next four target drones.
The target drones slowly began to appear in greater numbers now. It was much more difficult for her to just fire the railgun at them, they were beginning to appear outside of her arc of fire. She spun the Retaliator in a faster circle and it affected her accuracy. One target drone she had to fire at again as she missed the first time.
Liliane passed another nav point. She switched the missiles over to voice command and began to target the drones. "Missile lock on contact One One!" she yelled into the mic. The missile-targeting indicator scrolled out to sit over the contact designated 11. "Fox One!" At her launch command a light missile tore out from its bay and streaked out towards the target. Liliane didn’t wait for the result and called out more targeting information. "Missile lock on contact One Two! Fox One!" Another missile streaked away from the Retaliator on her command. The next contact was a little bit closer and she decided to take it out with the Railgun. Two armour piercing sabot rounds tore into the drone, detonating it. She checked the tactical display. There was still time for her to use the Railgun if the missiles did not hit. There was no need. Both contacts disappeared from her display.
The next stretch was the same. Multiple targets appeared on all sides that she had to engage while following the computer flight plan. "Missile lock on target One Four!" she yelled out as her exo twisted its facing in the direction of the target. "Fox…" Liliane started but managed to stop in time. The contact changed from red unknown to green friendly. She had almost fired on a friendly ship. Liliane realized that she was just reacting automatically now, just pointing and shooting. She had fallen into a dangerous rut. Now she began to doubt. Had she blown up a friendly contact earlier? A red contact slipped into her field of view and it provided enough impetus to break her out of her mental wanderings. "Concentrate!" she yelled out to herself. "Missile lock on target One Six! Fox One!" she cleared all of the target drones in this area and turned towards the next stretch.
More contacts dotted her tactical display on this stretch. Once more she sent missiles at the drones and then turned to target the railgun when she noticed one of the contacts moving. It was not due to her relative movement but the drone was actively evading her missiles.
She checked her payload monitor. She had expended her light missiles. "Missile Lock on target One Nine! Fox Two!" she yelled out. A medium missile leapt from her shoulder mounts and streaked towards the drone. The drone thrusted to the side and the missile passed close by. A near miss but a miss none the less. The medium missile however had a much more intelligent AI guiding them than did the light versions and the missile swung around for another pass. An explosion indicated the missile had struck home.
Liliane breathed out heavily. She was getting worried now. Her missile payload was running low as was her railgun ammo. To make matters worse her temperature gauge showed that her thrusters were beginning overheat. All of the maneuvering that she was doing was starting to tax the thruster array. Gally had warned her about this. If the temperature indicator went too high above normal then she would lose her thrusters.
She started in on the last portion of the flight path. The dotted flight path that she was following disappeared. There was only a nav point in the distance marking the end of the exam. Five targets were along the way, all hostile. All were thrusting as well. Liliane fired off her three remaining medium missiles and two targets disappeared. The target drones thrusted wildly, weaving in and out of her targeting screen. The drones stayed away from each other, maneuvering to surround the Retaliator. "Three drones left." Liliane whispered to herself and she checked the clock. Time was running short.
Liliane set audio alarms for the remaining time and for the temperature for the thruster cones, took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. This was the moment of truth, the turning point in the exam. She couldn’t afford any mistakes here and now. With a shout she jerked the controls hard over, throwing the Retaliator into a deep dive towards one of the drones.
The railgun aiming recticle slowly, at an unbearably painful pace, made its way across the inside of the cockpit sphere and onto the drone. As soon as there was a lock she was firing. Round after round left the railgun. The tracer elements for each sabot round left a dotted line as the gun tracked the drone. Liliane twisted the Retaliator around to keep it facing the drone as the drone zigzagged across the face of Jupiter. The drone disappeared from her tactical display, and Retaliator swung around to face the next drone. Liliane applied some more thrust to try and match the drones vector. The railgun leapt into life again and the drone disappeared.
Liliane turned to face the remaining drone. She matched vectors as best as she could and fired away with the railgun. She watched the dotted line made by the tracer elements get closer and closer to the drone and then suddenly stop. It took a few seconds for her to realize that the gun wasn’t firing and she took a quick glance at the status. The weapon status screen displayed ‘Ammo count: 0’ in red. Her gun was empty.
The Jovian pilot cursed in a most unladylike fashion. Her mind raced as she sought to come up with some way to destroy the remaining drone. The only weapons that she had left were a pair of Plasma Lances for close combat. The Retaliator was running low of reaction mass with all of the maneuvering that she was being forced to do. To get close enough for the lances Liliane would have to use up even more. It couldn’t be helped, she sighed.
The Retaliator dove towards the drone. Liliane switched one control over to the hand Waldo and drew out a Plasma Lance. Silently the gases contained in the plain looking cylinder ignited and formed a blade of magnetically contained, super heated plasma. The reaction would last only a scant minute before it was burned out. Both the drone and the Retaliator weaved across the short space between them. Liliane lashed out with the lance whenever she got close to the drone but with very little to show for it.
The Lance died out and Liliane pulled out the second lance. This time she waited until she was in the best position, close to the drone, and activated the lance. The drone ducked under her first couple of swings but Liliane feinted in one direction but brought the blade down in the other. The drone exploded, a fiery finish to the exam.
Back on the station Liliane pushed her way through the collected group of cadets. The final ceremony had finished where each successful candidate earned their qualification rating. Galen and Jena stood against the wall at the end of the room. The crowd was too thick for them to get any closer to the stage. Liliane ran up to them and wrapped an arm around each of her friends necks.
"So I guess you passed?" Galen joked while Jena squirmed in Lilianes grasp.
Liliane pointed to the newly attached Retaliator Rating medal. "I wasn’t worried."
The End
Editors Note: This multi-part piece by Grizzly Bryan Lee. You can follow the story from the beginning here.
| Jovian APAworks | Volume 2, Number 1 | December, 2001 |
Jovian Chronicles is © 1992-2001, Dream Pod 9, Inc. All rights reserved. Jovian APAworks is not affiliated with Dream Pod 9 in any way. Submitted material remains the property of the creator.