One Day on Mars

'All right, XO, are we go on your end?'

'Aye sir!' the Marine colonel replied.

'Uncle Timmy, sound the all-hands.'

General quarters. General quarters! All hands, all hands man your battle stations immediately! Prepare for short hyperspace jaunt in fifteen seconds. Expect multiple ground targets with incoming surface-to-air defenses and multiple carrier-class airborne targets. Prepare for evasive! Nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one. Hyperspace, Uncle Timmy announced over the 1MC intercom as well as directly to all AIC implants on board.

The Sienna Madira along with the rest of the fleet lurched then phased out of normal space with a reversed cascading shower of violet flashes of light. The navigator continued to follow the hyperspace field lines and the trajectories of the fleet vessels. They were following along their respective multidimensional vector spaces accordingly and as far as she could tell would emerge into normal space just as the battle plan required.

'Everything looks right, Captain. Emerging from hyperspace in thirty seconds.'

'Prepare for incoming. Air Boss is go for sorties,' the CO ordered. Violet swirls of hyperspace spiraled rapidly around the fleet and the CO took a brief moment to stare out the stern viewscreen at the twirling, blinking, and flashing light show.

'DeathRay, sir!' Lieutenant Junior Grade Karen 'Fish' Howser ran over to the CAG, who had just stepped out of the elevator into the hangar bay. Fish gave a quick salute to her squadron commander.

'What's up, Fish?' Jack paused from running over and over the battle plans and scenarios in his head just long enough to size up his new pilot. About one and three quarters meters tall, short pilot regulation-cut locks of black hair, attractive in an athletic sort of way, and young. Jack knew that she was a real young lady, not a resurfaced and rejuvenated woman, but a true twenty-six-year-old right out of training and fresh into the mix. And as her CAG he also knew it was her first combat duty.

'Sir. Just wanted to thank you for pulling me as your wingman,' the lieutenant jg said.

'Just do your job and everything will be good.' Jack repeated the words his first wingman told him so many years ago. 'Fish. Just keep your eyes open.'

'Yes, sir. You can count on me.' It was obvious to Jack that the young junior officer was nervous as hell.

'You sure you up for this duty, Fish?'

'Yes, sir. Damn, sir, don't go getting all touchy-feely cat on me.' Fish puffed out her chest and raised an eyebrow, to show her bravado.

'Good, you watch my back out there, all right?'

'You got it, sir. Let's go get 'em!'

General quarters. General quarters! All hands, all hands, man your battle stations immediately! Expect multiple space targets. Prepare for evasive! Emerging from hyperspace in nine, eight, seven . . . Uncle Timmy counted down over the 1MC intercom and again directly to all AIC implants.

The CO gripped his chair a little tighter.

'Good hunting, DeathRay!' The chief snapped a salute.

'Roger that!' Jack saluted back. The chief backed down the ladder, pulling several hardwire connectors and hoses from the fuselage of the plane.

Jack squirmed into the front seat, pulled the hardwire connection from the universal docking port of his Ares fighter, and plugged it into the thin little rugged composite box on the left side of his helmet that made a direct electrical connection to his AIC implant via skin contact sensors in his helmet. Jack's training and years of experience assured him that the odds of needing the direct connection were slim. Every now and then, though, the damned Seppy tech bastards got lucky with some electronic warfare algorithms or gadgets and could shut out the AIC-to-fighter wireless, but that was rare. The wireless connection was spread spectrum encrypted and almost unspoofable. Almost. The hardwire, on the other hand, required a physical intervention so it made a perfect backup. Jack had never needed it in the twelve years he'd been a Navy aviator.

'Hardwire UDP is connected and operational. Lieutenant Candis Three Zero Seven Two Four Niner Niner Niner Six ready for duty,' the AIC announced over the open com channel. Then directly to Jack, Let's go get 'em, DeathRay!

Roger that, Candis!

Jack saluted the flight deck officer and brought the canopy down. The harness holding the fighter lowered and dropped it the last twenty centimeters to the deck with a slight squishing feel from the landing gear suspension. The drop always left him with a lump in his throat and butterflies in his stomach because it always meant that he was about to go screaming out the ass end of the supercarrier into a storm of raining and streaking hell flying from all directions. Jack swallowed the lump, calmed the butterflies, and followed the flight deck sequence. He moved his fighter first in line for takeoff.

'This is double zero, DeathRay,' Jack called over the tac-net. 'This is gonna get hairy, folks and I want everyone covering their wings and following the plan. Good hunting and good luck.'

'Fighter zero zero call sign DeathRay, you are cleared for egress. Good hunting Lieutenant Commander Boland!' the control tower officer radioed. 'Handing off to cat control.'

'Roger that, tower.' Jack went through his ritual. 'Y'all just keep the beer cold and DeathRay will be back soon enough.' Jack taxied to the 'at bat' slot and braced himself.

'Fighter double zero, you are at bat and go for cat! Good hunting, DeathRay!' the catapult field AI announced. Jack throttled forward and switched to hover as the landing gear cycled and extracted. He bit down hard on his temporomandibular joint mouthpiece and eased the throttle just a little more forward so that the fighter slipped into the catapult field. He strained against his TMJ mouthpiece bite block and breathed shallow breaths through his gritting teeth.

'Roger that. Double zero has the cat! WHOOO! HOOO!' Jack screamed through the mouthpiece as the support tube for the bite block started pumping oxygen in his face and mouth. The catapult field flung him out of the rear lower launch deck and Jack was thrust hard into his seat at over nine Earth gravities accelerating the little snub nosed fighter to over three hundred kilometers per hour.

Without the inertial dampening controls of the fighter, DeathRay would have been crushed and his brain sloshed around inside his head to the point of fatal trauma. From zero to three hundred kilometers per hour in one