Blind into the Breach (The Hunter Imperium Book 4), page 14
I knew I wasn’t up to the challenge, but now I had a solid reason for making the effort to improve my fitness as fast as I could.
The combat suit itself was relatively simple to use. You stepped in the back, it closed up, and became like a second skin. But walking in it was a challenge, and running for the moment was impossible. It wasn’t a matter of strength, or even fitness, but simply a matter of being a bigger body than you were used to, and not quite the same dimensions either. I fell on my face very quickly, and had to suffer BA laughing while I figured out how to get up.
So for this first session, I was limited to walking around, using the HUD, and firing the standard pulse rifle. It was interesting, and I looked forward to mastering the suit, but I was already too tired to make much progress. All the same, if I had to suit up and fire a gun from the bottom of a ramp, I now could.
Dinner was with the squadron. I sat down wearily at a table in our mess, and Vulture and Falcon sat down next to me on each side.
"I hear you liked the Excalibur," said Vulture.
"Sure did. I can't wait to fly one in combat."
"Tomorrow is the word, but don’t quote me on that. We're backtracking the path the Trixone fleets took crossing the border. So we'll either reach the next planet they hit, or a new fleet heading for where we've already been, whichever comes first."
Kat put a drink down next to me, and I downed it all in one go, receiving a caffeine jolt, which I needed.
"Bring them on," I said tiredly.
"That’s the spirit," said Falcon. "How did you find the Cobra? None of us have flown one before."
"The Cobra? Remind me why we're flying Brawlers at all?"
"That good?" asked Vulture.
"Put it this way. I can understand why the CAG is flying a corvette. What I don’t understand is why the rest of us are not."
Vulture and Falcon shared a glance. And I could see some of the rest of the squadron further down the table listening to us.
"It may happen in time," said Vulture, "depending on what decisions are made as a result of Orion's mission. The truth is, we don’t have a lot of them. There are a dozen with Japanese pilots being evaluated somewhere else, but until about a couple of weeks ago, they didn’t have good enough shielding to be used at all, and they still don’t have enough to really go up against any of the local cruisers. Used to be, a Gunbus could go up against a battleship and score, and the Imperator proved it could be done. The CAG took out cruisers in a civilian model of one during the Midgard War. But here? Not a chance. Even with the new shields."
"You'll notice," said Falcon, "the CAG hasn’t been sent in against the capital ships, but has stayed with the rest of us fighters. There is a reason for that."
"But against massed plant fighters, what he's flying is significantly better than anything the rest of us are flying."
"How do you know?" asked Vulture.
"I don't. But if the Cobra is anything to go by, the CAG has more firepower because he's got a bigger ship. Seriously, right now, I’d take a Cobra into a fighter furball, rather than a Brawler. I can't say for sure yet, but I think I’d prefer the Cobra to even the Excalibur. Which brings me back to why are we flying Brawlers?"
"For two reasons. First, we have plenty of them. But more importantly, they are easy to fly, and we have too many inexperienced pilots. Rockmonster?"
"Sir?"
"What did you think of the Excalibur?"
"Complicated."
"How so?"
"It’s a good ship, but there's too much to concentrate on. I couldn’t use the rear missile launcher at all without missing a threat, and getting hammered. I still haven't got a handle on using the Brawler's missiles and torpedoes effectively, without having significantly more of them. The turrets are nice, but they've actually been distracting me when they fire."
"So you prefer the Brawler?"
"At this time, yes."
"There you have it," Falcon said to me. "It's a step up from the heavy fighter to the privateer, and another step up to the corvette. What each pilot can handle the best depends on time in a ship, and their level of experience."
"Those flying Brawlers," added Vulture, "have yet to show they can properly utilize a bigger ship. In time, I’d say everyone will be flying Excaliburs, and the smaller carriers will need modifying to carry them. But those who can fly corvettes won't be fighter pilots anymore, but navy captains. Eagle and Buzzard excepted. Eagle was flying a destroyer for a while, so the corvette is actually refreshing for him. But for Buzzard, the corvette is a large step up, and he's still getting the hang of it."
"Fair enough. I'll fly whatever I'm put in sir."
Conversation ended with the arrival of food, but I noticed a few of the pilots giving me strange looks from down the table. I pretended not to notice, and after dessert, I took myself back to my rooms.
Jane was waiting for me.
"I hear you've had a full on day?"
I sank into one of the easy chairs, and just let my body relax.
"Feels like it."
"I wanted to check on how your vision is doing. Any problems?"
"Not really. I feel a lack in the simulators, but I appreciate that’s what everyone else is seeing. I'll be interested to see if flying the Excalibur for real allows me to utilize it better than I could in the simulator."
"You think you can?"
"Yes. It’s the extra awareness of what is going on around me. The main issue will be if I'm fast enough to use that awareness effectively. I mean, firing missiles from the rear launcher at just the right time is enough to spare you the need to strafe behind you. But the awareness to do it properly isn’t there in the simulator."
"I heard your comments about the Cobra. Did you really mean that?"
"Mean what?"
"You'd rather fly a Cobra into a fighter furball."
"I think so. But until I try both the Excalibur and the Cobra in actual combat, I won't know for sure."
"I'm not sure the CO and CAG will let you try a Cobra."
"Why not?"
"We have spare Excaliburs. Not a lot of them, but we have some. There are no spare Cobras at all. If you lost one in a fighter mess, we'd lose some marine capability."
"True. Don’t get me wrong, I'll be happy flying an Excalibur next launch. But I'm really doubting using standard fighters in a front line combat role is what we should be doing. The trees are not standard fighters. Fighter size, but they're designed around bigger guns than even our corvettes carry. Maybe they should be classified as fighter-bombers. We should be either hitting them with capital ship missiles, or sending corvettes against them."
"It's being tried, as you heard. But I might suggest the CAG needs to do some experimenting with his two corvettes on our next encounter, so we get the perspective. So far the squadron leaders have been staying out of the thick of things, so the rest of you get some decent combat time in."
"Might be an idea. Pity we can't put up a squadron of corvettes ourselves."
Jane looked thoughtful.
Thirty Three
She changed the subject.
"Getting back to your vision, so no issues to deal with?"
"Just the lack of eye movement on the hero mask."
I shifted the glasses I was wearing still to the hero mask, popped up a hollo, set it to show what I was looking at, and looked around the room.
"What's wrong with this picture?"
"Ah. I can see your point. Your vision is seeing where you want it to, but your eyes don’t appear to move at all. It doesn’t bother me, but you're right it grosses out humans. Let me tweak it."
She was still for a short time, and when she moved next, a pulse came in with a replacement file. I moved it, activated it, and did the same thing as before.
"That does it I think. Your eyes appear to be moving synced to what you're seeing. How does it feel?"
"I can't tell the difference, but hopefully it's better for others now. Can I change the colour?"
"Of the mask?"
"Yes. Black is not really my thing. And skin tone might look better. Although a fire engine red might also be interesting."
"Colour for a mood?"
She was laughing.
"Sounds like an idea."
"You can tweak the colour yourself. Anything else vision related?"
"Nothing really. I'm still getting used to it, but so far it's been great. There are other things I wanted to discuss though."
"What?"
"Kat for one. And the suit armbands."
"Kat is your butler?"
"Yes. Both of them. I was wondering if it's possible to change the way they look?"
"It is possible. The Imperator's primary butler wears an actual uniform, with medal ribbons."
"Really? How does a butler get medals?"
"Being on active duty on a ship awarded unit citations. Jeeves has been through a lot of what the Imperator has been through. I was there as well for most of it, and have the same decorations."
"But you're different."
"How so?"
She was grinning at me now.
I thought about it, instead of saying what the obvious response was.
"Okay. Maybe not so much. But you're making my case for me."
"What case?"
"For changing Kat's appearance."
"What would you prefer?"
"I'm not really sure, truth be told. I'd like him to choose his own appearance."
"The butlers have options, but it's an owner's choice which is used."
"And most go for the stereotypical British old school butler look."
"Is there anything wrong with that?"
"Would you want to look that way?"
"Point. No I wouldn’t."
"Why should they?"
"A good question. I'll put it up for discussion."
"Discussion? With who?"
"Whom."
"With whom then?"
"With my fellow AI's. And probably the Imperator as well. Where is the line between self-determination and servitude? I'm on one end of the scale, and the butlers, maids, and weaponry AI's are on the other. Definitely something to be discussed, and maybe even involve some in depth naval gazing."
"Huh?"
She laughed. I could see some issues. The lower AI's were dedicated to tasks. Was it servitude or slavery? Maybe not. But the butlers were a higher order, even if not in Jane's range or ship AI range. I was really glad I didn’t have to work that one out.
"You mentioned armbands?"
"I've been thinking about them. Now we can program them for specific objects such as accessories, might we not take it further and actually make up some people will prefer to use?"
"What did you have in mind?"
"Caps and hats for one. The uniform doesn’t have one, but down on a planet in the hot sun, people should be wearing a proper hat. And a lot like to wear the old baseball cap style still. I would."
"Sounds feasible. I can bounce that off the Imperator and the four stars. What else?"
"I was thinking underwear."
She chuckled.
"I thought you didn’t wear any?"
"I don’t. But most do. And I probably would if they had a real use. Instead of wearing six armbands which in a hurry you're going to forget to put on anyway, why not have briefs, singlet, and socks, with the suit emulating real clothes as if they were real clothes. So instead of boxers and t-shirt for sleeping in, both are 'real' cotton, but also armband suits."
She looked at me with a skeptical look on her face.
"Picture this. You're sound asleep in boxers, singlet, and socks, and the alarm sounds. You shift boxers to briefs, belt to suit, and put your cap on. That’s five armbands without wearing an armband. In my case six with the glasses or hero mask. You set it for a single trigger shift, and you can bounce out of bed and run, and be fully protected immediately."
"Sounds feasible. What about those who won't wear a cap?"
"Some might want to wear a combat helmet instead."
"What if they all trigger into protection mode all at once?"
"I guess you end up looking like a beach ball." We both laughed. "Actually that’s not a bad idea. In the event of say a ship crashing onto a planet, or into another ship or stations, being in beach ball mode might be what is needed to survive the crash. Hell, a dropship smashing into the ground or a building for some reason might still kill the crew unless all the suits are active together."
"Which they're not at the moment. You make a good case. I'll pass it back to the tool men."
"What do you think of suit underwear?"
"It would cut down on the use of consumables."
"I'm not sure everyone would use them. I mean guys might, but a lot of fems like their lacey underwear, and it might not be possible to emulate those completely."
"I'll look into it."
There was a double meaning there, but I left it alone.
"Could we also do jewellery and badges?"
"You think a lot of the women would prefer to wear the armbands as jewellery?"
"Some men too. And while the uniforms don’t have things like pilots and marksman badges, this would be a way of doing them, and being useful."
"I'll bring it up as well. Try this."
A file pulsed in. I moved it, and used it for one of my armbands. It dropped off my arm, and turned into a cap. The colour was the same as the uniform pants and flight suit, and it had the same ship and name from my belt buckle, and my rank insignia.
I picked it up and put it on, bringing up a mirror to check it with.
"That looks good. Can I wear it while it gets discussed up high?"
"Sure. I'll monitor comments around you."
"Thanks. You know, some of the ladies might like hair ribbons."
"There's a thought. I'll look into that as well."
"Let me know if anything gets adopted."
"You'll be the first to know. Anything else?"
"No, I think that covers everything. I'll be off and leave you to the rest of your evening."
"No more evening for me. I'm hitting the sack."
"I doubt it."
She left with an all knowing smug look on her face. I rose and turned for the bedroom.
"Attenshut!" came a bellow from the still open door.
I turned to find Chaos in the doorway, and groaned.
"Hey, nice cap. And wow, I can see your eyes moving."
"I was just going to bed," I said innocently.
"Damn right we were!"
Thirty Four
"ALL PILOTS TO YOUR SHIPS. THIS IS NOT A DRILL."
Grace had grabbed her armbands, bounced completely over me, shifting from naked into her flight suit in midair, and was running for the door before I’d even recognized I was awake. I had no hope of doing the same, and barely managed to get out of bed without falling down. My suit shifted, I realized I still had the hero mask on, snatched up my own armbands and cap, and ran after her.
She was long gone by the time I reached a travel car, but she was heading in a different direction anyway. My Brawler was near the front end of the ship, and Fearless was on the back end. My brain caught up on it being an Excalibur instead of a Brawler, and the fact it was still four in the morning. Not. Enough. Sleep. But what are you going to do when a superior officer throws you down on the bed? Tell her to get out? Would one even survive that? Would one want to?
But when I came out of the travel car, I found I wasn’t even on the maintenance deck. An arrow pointed the way, and I found myself in a docking tube heading for an air lock. Inside I found what looked like a shuttle interior, with seats for twenty. My arrow pointed to the left, and I followed it onto a small bridge.
Jane was sitting on the left side of the main console, but there was no-one else there.
"Strap in so we can drop."
I hurried to the captain's chair, dropped myself into it, and buckled up. The HUD came up, showing me my setup.
"This is a Cobra?"
"Yes. The brass bought your idea. Ready to drop?"
I quickly checked everything, and nodded.
"Don’t tell me, tell Orion."
I opened ship's coms, and found half the squadrons were already launching.
"Dreamwalker ready to drop," I said.
"Standby Dreamwalker. Waiting on your wingman."
"Standing by."
No more than half a minute later, the ship dropped, shields came on, and Jane had us powering towards Eagle and Buzzard. I checked my wing, and found Knüppel behind and to my right. Squadron Leader Gertrude Simhausen, also flying a Cobra. Seeing it in space for the first time, it struck me as being an ugly duckling, where the Gunbus derivatives were sleek swans. We formed up as the second pair behind Eagle, and I noticed the rest of the squadron leader Excaliburs had formed their own squadron, leaving the four corvettes as a separate flight.
"Dreamwalker, Knüppel. I managed a half hour in the simulator last night, but I believe you spent more time than I did? Any suggestions?"
"The weakest part of the ship is the underside, as most of it is doors and ramps. While you do have some point defense pointing down, most of it will point up, so rolling to keep your top towards where the worst of the action is, seems like the right move to me. Otherwise, there's not a lot of difference to the Excalibur as you should have found. Just more of everything."
"Thanks. I gather you've done more strafing than I have as well. So let me know before you start, and try not to lose me."
"Yes sir."
"I respond better to ma'am."
She sounded like she was laughing.
"Noted. Ma'am."
I wondered what Knüppel meant, and a translation popped up. Bludgeon. I made a note to never piss her off.
"Eagle to all squadrons. We're ten minutes out from an inhabited planet. There's a major Trixone fleet in orbit. There's been a last minute change of plans. Up until now, the emphasis has been on giving you all combat time. The Brawler has been tried and assessed, along with the Excalibur in experienced hands. This time we're sending in the four corvettes we have, and your squadron leaders. Squadrons will stand by for orders."
