Starfire
Copyright© 2025 by Mark Randall
Chapter 22
As Orley stepped into the ready room, he could almost feel the tension in the room. “Everything OK, guys?” He asked.
Claire blushed when she looked up. “I’m worried, boss. I’m not sure if I’m ready for this. I’m afraid I’m going to goof up and let everybody down.”
When Orley looked over at Frank, he could see the agreement in his eyes. “Look, guys,” he said. “We’ve talked about this before. I have full confidence that you will do your best, you are good pilots, and if you follow our plan, you’ll succeed.”
He was interrupted by the overhead speaker announcing that it was time to get into their Starfires. Claire tried to stand but stumbled and had to sit back down again. Orley gripped her shoulder. “Steady on, pilot, calm and steady. You can do this.”
On the flight line, Orley supervised his pilots and gave them as much support as he could.
Then, as Benson, his crew chief, was buckling him in, he asked. “Are they ready, boss?”
“About as ready as they can be, Mr. Jackson. Will they succeed? Well, we’ll see.”
As Orley’s canopy was closing, Benson said, “5 bucks?”
Orley grinned. “Make it 10.”
Soon after, Operations came on the radio. “Dragon flight alpha, status?”
Orley keyed his mike, “Dragon flight manned and ready.” He glanced down at his crew chief, who was saluting. He saluted back and settled back into his acceleration couch.
“Operation copies, Dragon flight Alpha Ready. Launch in Three, Two, One.” As the OPS controller said, One, Orley was shoved back into his couch. Within seconds, he was clear of the launch rail and in free space. Operations came back on the radio. “Dragon Flight Alpha, you are clear. Be advised, Bulldog Flight 1 will launch in 10 minutes.”
Orley replied, “Dragon Three Copies, Operations.” Then switching over to their private channel. “All right, Alpha’s, just like we planned.”
Orley threw his throttle to the max and started powering away. Meanwhile, Dragon One, Clara, broke left, and Dragon Two, Frank, broke right. While they didn’t speed off like Orley did, they didn’t waste time either. By the time the Bulldog ships launched Dragon Three, Orley was at the very edge of Starfire’s detection range. Dragons one and two were nowhere to be seen.
As soon as the Bulldog flight launched, Abe Kirby, Bulldog one, and Cliff Orr, Bulldog two, started searching for the Dragons, but all that was visible was the bulk of the Sewards Folly.
“You see anything, Cliff?” Kirby asked.
“Nothing. You think the kiddies ran home to Mama.” Orr said dismissively.
“I doubt it. Be careful, that Sawyer guy is pretty tricky.” Kirby was nervous.
“Oh, come on. He’s just another play pilot like the rest of them.”
“I don’t think so. I’ve flown a couple of his simulations. They were better than anything I ever flew on Earth.” Kirby explained.
“Maybe so, but I don’t see these three anywhere. My passive sensors have got nothing either. Should we go active?”
Kirby was silent for a moment, debating with himself. After a moment, he decided.
“I’ll go active and do a single sweep,” he said. Reaching over, he flipped the cover off his radar power switch, turning it to standby. He waited for the indicator to signal full power. When the radar was powered up and ready, he switched the radar on. He announced. “OK, Cliff, here we go.”
He watched as the sweep indicator moved from left to right on the screen. Halfway through the sweep, A faint indication showed up.
“Got you,” he whispered. Then he called Orr. “I’ve got something, Cliff. A very faint signal on the very edge of my range. Damn, they must have gone to afterburners right after launching.”
“So, I was right. They chickened out and took off.”
“Don’t get cocky, Cliff. We still have to play this out. The question is, do we chase after them or wait for them to...”
Suddenly, their threat alarms started blaring, “Warning, targeting radars detected.”
Before Kirby could ask where the radars were, the alarms changed to the dreaded missile lock alert.
A new voice came over the radio. “Bulldog flight, your opponent has a missile lock on you. This contest has ended.”
Unknown to Kirby and Orr, and while they debated, Dragons one and two had come from their hiding places on the other side of the Folly.
To read the complete story you need to be logged in:
Log In or
Register for a Free account
(Why register?)
* Allows you 3 stories to read in 24 hours.