He began the start up sequence, it had been a while since he had taken a ride in one of these shuttles. As he worked, he could feel the old techniques coming back, the rust coming away. Controls flickered on and panels lit up across the pilot’s instrumentation, attitude sensors came online, short and long range communication systems came to life, and main power began to build up to full charge.
Michael pressed a few controls on the console in front of him, opening up a communications channel with the Arizona, “Arizona this is Michael Alexander in shuttle Eisenhower alpha-six, preparing to get underway.”
“Confirmed Arizona, shuttles are clear and have left hangar bay, awaiting rendezvous.”
Damn they’re quick, Michael thought, “understood Arizona, getting underway now.”
He keyed in the gravitic engine start up sequence, and powered up the main boosters. The engines themselves roared into life as the solid fuel contained within ignited, slowly filling the giant hangar bay with steam and exhaust gases, keeping the thrust to the boosters at a lowly ten percent, he instead used the gravitic engines to manoeuvre slowly within the hangar bay.
The small shuttle gently inched forward, slowly picking up speed as it began to taxi out into the wide launch bay, Michael saw his own shuttle slowly pass the other in his peripheral vision.
The hangar bay doors opened with a blast of escaping oxygen, and the rush of exhaust gases venting out into space.
“Well, here goes.” Michael said to himself as he increased thrust to the main boosters, the nozzles on the twin directed thrust booster engines opened fully as Michael eased the throttle to maximum. The roar of the engines echoed loudly throughout the entire hangar bay as the shuttle rapidly accelerated, shooting past the hangar bay doors and out into the blackness of deep space.
The stars shone brightly through the cockpit glass. He could just make out the swirling emerald green clouds of a distant nebula, and the bright glow of the second moon of Auriga III, as the light from the system’s sun reflected of its rocky, cratered surface.
Michael had always loved the serene quietness of space, it was one of the reasons why he had joined up to serve as a naval officer in the first place. It was calm and contemplative, immense yet also giving a sense of freedom to those who travelled through that vastness. There was no better view than up close through the simple cockpit glass of a shuttle, sure the Liberty with all its technological wizardry could depict a one hundred and eighty degree, high definition depiction of surrounding space on its viewscreen. It still could not match actually being here, witnessing the spectacle for yourself.
He sighed contentedly as he looked down at his sensors, telling him that the other two shuttles were holding position between the Eisenhower and the Arizona, he keyed in a few controls to release a short burst of thrust from his port thrusters, to bring the tiny craft around. Using its forward momentum, the shuttle deftly flew around the relatively huge primary inter-system boosters of the Eisenhower, each one over three times the length of the shuttle itself. They still gently glowed with the intense heat produced when they manoeuvred the ship into orbit after cornering that last Dracos cruiser.
The Eisenhower and the Arizona, at five hundred and seventy four, and five hundred and fourteen metres respectively, dominated everything around them. The Arizona in particular, being a Jefferson class heavy destroyer, a class which had garnered the nick-name of ‘the mini-monty,’ due to the classes resemblance to the much larger Montgomery class carrier.
As the shuttle flew past the raised crew blocks, dozens of portholes shone out towards him. The Jefferson was designed as a heavier, more survivable alternative to the ubiquitous Gandhi class destroyer, one of which was holding position to the other side of the Arizona out of sight of Michael in the shuttle. The Jefferson was almost twice the size of the Gandhi, and possessed twice the firepower too, in addition it sported a tough reinforced ablative armour hull. Designed during the height of the Krenaran war to make it that bit more survivable when in combat against Krenaran forces. It had mixed success however, many had still bought the farm, despite this improvement.
Michael could see the tiny shapes of the awaiting shuttles, silhouetted against the deep beige backdrop of the planet itself. His craft flew past the various gently raised panels of the Arizona’s reinforced hull, passed its command structure with its tall whip-like communications and sensor antennae, and past the four turreted high power laser batteries adorning the ships gently sloping wedge shaped hull; its primary armament.
Gently manoeuvring the shuttle into position, he joined up with the small formation waiting for him, within a few seconds the other shuttle from the Eisenhower which had been tailing him, had also joined them.
“Glad you could make it; stopping by for a little sightseeing on the way were we, captain?”
Michael recognised that voice, it was one he hadn’t heard for over twenty years, “Ruiz, is that you?”
“In the flesh.”
James Ruiz was one of the cadets who studied in the same pilot training school as Dylan Marcos and himself. For several years, Ruiz and Michael were rivals, not only as pilots, but love rivals also, though time, age and duty had tempered the rivalry between them.
“She’s one heck of a ship isn’t she? not a patch on the Liberty though, you lucky old swine.”
Michael was about to tell him that luck had nothing to do with it, but decided to let the matter drop instead. “She sure is, and upgraded too I see.”
“Yeah, she got an almost complete refit after the fall of Sigma XI, where she was badly damaged by Krenaran attacks, we were lucky to get out of there in one piece. She didn’t re-enter the war for another six months after that.”
Michael remembered that incident well, the fall of foxtrot base, it was one of the opening battles of the war. The Krenarans had taken out the E.D. F’s primary intelligence hub, almost one hundred and forty two thousand people, died in an instant. It was one of the worst atrocities of the war. The massive complex had largely been rebuilt now, though there is now a giant black monolith built just outside of the new foxtrot base, as a memorial commemorating all those who had died.
“Shall we?” Michael said over the comm.
“After you, flight lead.”
The small squadron of four shuttles accelerated ahead of the comparatively giant ships of the E.D. F flotilla orbiting high above the planet, keeping in a close wedge formation the entire time.
“Okay keep close, but not too close, we still don’t know what we’ll find down there.”
“Right with ya.”
The shuttles all hit the atmosphere simultaneously, their hulls heating up rapidly until they trailed fire and super heated plasma, the small craft shuddered violently under the forces exerted upon them as they sped through the upper atmosphere like four bullets shot from a giant gun.
Michael fought hard to keep control of the small craft through the violence of atmospheric entry, and to maintain formation. Eventually the four craft punched through the upper atmosphere, and descended through the thick swirl of the methane cloud cover.
“Ready atmospheric flight systems, deploy wings and stabiliser fins.”
“Copy that, flight systems engaged.”
The shuttle’s large Delta shaped wings slid out from underneath the fuselage, its twin tails swung out from recesses within the crafts two powerful boosters. The small winglets, essential to help stabilise the small craft when in flight slid out from small panels either side of the shuttle’s cockpit, as the four craft gracefully emerged through the thick cloud cover towards the giant structure, dubbed the Eye of the Dracos.