from the landing-gear suspension, because it always reminded him of what he was about to do. He hated the lump in his throat and butterflies in his stomach that had become his natural reflex to the landing-gear squish. Too many times in the past it had meant hurtling out the ass end of the supercarrier into a storm of raining and streaking hell flying from all directions. But there was nowhere else he'd rather be.
Jack swallowed the lump, ignored the butterflies, and followed the launch sequence, as he had hundreds of times before. The green arrows on the deck lit up and pointed the taxiway directions for him to follow to the cat line. He moved his fighter in line for takeoff. He was presently the only one taking off before the QMT teleport of the supercarrier, but he was pressed for time. The jump was expected in just a couple of minutes. Jack caught a glimpse of his wingman, Fish, to his left. She saluted him, and he returned it. He hated leaving her alone. She was talking to Ensign Zeke 'Dragon' Franklin. He was new to the Gods of War, and it looked like Fish was going to take him on her wing.
'This is double zero,' Jack called over the tac-net to all the pilots in the hangar getting ready to go as well. 'This is probably gonna be a mess of a furball, folks, and I want everyone covering their wings and following the plan as usual. Y'all listen to Deuce. Good hunting and good luck.' He thought his faceplate down and pulled his mouthpiece closer with his teeth. His DTM mindview kicked in, but he ignored it for now.
'Fighter zero-zero call sign DeathRay, you are cleared for egress. Good hunting, Commander Boland!' the control-tower officer radioed. 'Handing off to cat control.'
'Roger that, tower.' Jack went through his ritual as he had since the first actual combat mission that he'd come back from. 'Y'all just keep the beer cold, and good ol' DeathRay will be back soon enough.' Jack taxied to the 'at bat' slot and braced himself for the 'ball,' chewing at the bite block and soaking in the fresh oxygen and stimulants.
'Fighter double zero, you are at bat and go for cat! Call the ball.'
'Roger cat, double zero has the ball,' Boland responded. The little gold catapult field alignment sphere blinked on in his DTM view, overlaying the projected launch window circle in the cat field before his fighter. He sighed a deep breath and focused on relaxing his body from head to toe. He closed his eyes for a split second as he prepared himself.
'Good hunting, DeathRay!' the catapult-field AI announced. Jack throttled the Ares-T forward and switched to hover as the landing gear cycled and extracted. It was always the same when he knew it was a real fight. He was nervous. He bit down hard on the temporomandibular-joint mouthpiece and eased the throttle just a little more forward so that the fighter slipped into the catapult field.
'Roger that. Double zero has the cat! WHOOO! HOOO!' Jack let out his ritual battle yell, and as usual it was muffled through the mouthpiece. The support tube for the bite block started pumping oxygen and stimulants in his face and mouth more rapidly to account for the g-load of the cat field. At over twelve Earth gravities of acceleration, for a brief instant the cats always gave Jack the exhilaration of being on one hell of a ride.
The stars filled his field of view, and the Oort facility was behind him. He pulled his fighter over and looped back along the same vector as the
'CO Madira, DeathRay,' he called over the net.
'Go DeathRay,' RADM Jefferson's voice responded.
'I'm in position, Admiral. Whenever you're ready, sir.'
'Roger that, DeathRay. And Jack?'
'Sir?'
'Good luck.'
'Thank you. You, too, sir. DeathRay out.'
Chapter 15
July 1, 2394 AD
Ross 128, Arcadia Orbital QMT Facility
