Hello, my name is Malcolm.\u00a0 Humanity is a diverse lot.\u00a0 We have many beliefs, many wishes and dreams.\u00a0 We fight each other, sometimes kill each other.\u00a0 Too often, we see only the differences and think they aren\u2019t as good as us.\u00a0 But some days we rise above what separates us.\u00a0 Some days we stand united.\u00a0 There aren\u2019t enough of them.\u00a0 But they are the best of days, no matter how fleeting.<\/p>\n
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Malcolm flexed his fingers as hyperspace roiled around the Blackhawk fighter.\u00a0 In the near distance, Normandy<\/em> flailed through the gravitic maelstrom surrounding the Pleiades Cluster.\u00a0 He\u2019d heard stories of the Pleiades but assumed they were just that.\u00a0 Wild stories told to impressionable children.<\/p>\n Seeing it now, he understood why the NASA missions had never even tried to explore the Hyades Cluster.\u00a0 Her one hundred or so stars tore at hyperspace so badly that old rocket ships could never have navigated it.\u00a0 But the over one thousand<\/em> stars that made up the Pleiades were a true terror to anything without modern gravtech. \u00a0Even modern vessels had to tread carefully and watch for gravitic currents that would pull them into nearby stars without warning.<\/p>\n But the siren call of Celaeno\u2019s effect on hyperspace guided them through the chaos.\u00a0 The giant star stood out even against the backdrop of the cluster, giving them a target to aim for.\u00a0 That beacon star quality was why Constantinople claimed the system decades ago.\u00a0 They named it Bosphorus, after the waterway that had made Byzantium, Constantinople, and even short-lived Istanbul the center of trade on old Earth.<\/p>\n The name made sense.\u00a0 The hot giant star, twenty-five lightyears from the center of the Pleiades Cluster, stabbed a path deep into the hyperspatial maelstrom that surrounded the cluster.\u00a0 Ships sailed that path to the Alcyone star system, deep in the center of the cluster, to find the greatest single reason that anyone ever came to the Pleiades.\u00a0 The Gateway.<\/p>\n Peloran space lay on the other side of The Gateway, thousands of lightyears away as light traveled.\u00a0 It was a shortcut through the stars that could send humanity farther into the galaxy than any man had gone before.\u00a0 Any Earthling at least.<\/p>\n Malcolm flexed his fingers again.\u00a0 A month ago, he\u2019d never dreamed of piloting a starfighter.\u00a0 He hadn\u2019t even flown combat simulators as a kid.\u00a0 A member of the Hurst family, no matter how remote, didn\u2019t have time for computer games.\u00a0 And even though Malcolm had no blood relation to the family, he was close enough that he was roped into all of the Hurst family training.<\/p>\n Some of it he hadn\u2019t minded.\u00a0 They had some amazing daughters after all.\u00a0 Unfortunately, most of them just weren\u2019t the kind of people he wanted to spend time with outside of school.\u00a0 Didn\u2019t matter how pretty a girl was, when her gaze felt like a snake sizing up its next meal he just wanted nothing to do with her outside of approved family functions.\u00a0 Well, he didn\u2019t want to see them at those either, but one had to keep up appearances.<\/p>\n The problem was that none of those family functions, not one bit of the family training, had prepared him for this day.\u00a0 The Hursts were expected to lead mankind into the next century by example.\u00a0 They were not expected to actually pick up weapons and brandish them at the enemy.\u00a0 There were always enough expendables from the lower classes for that brute force approach after all.\u00a0 Let them fight with guns.\u00a0 A Hurst would fight with his mind on the battlefield of the boardrooms and change worlds.<\/p>\n That training had made it possible for him to wrangle the Wolfenheim Project into being.\u00a0 It enabled him to acquire a class one colonization package, the escorting warships, the colonists, and everything else he needed to complete the mission.\u00a0 Because of it, the Wolfenheim Project was a reality.\u00a0 But no amount of family training had ever prepared him for this moment, flying into a potentially hostile system in a starfighter.<\/p>\n They\u2019d drilled every day of the month it took to sail from Independence to Bosphorus, burning the practical lessons of piloting a fighter into his subconscious.\u00a0 He doubted he would ever be as good as Smith, Anderson, Jones, or White.\u00a0 He had to smile as those names hit his mind again.\u00a0 The four Cowboys all swore those were the names they were born with.\u00a0 He thought they were lying through their teeth.\u00a0 But they were Cowboys.\u00a0 Charles flew with them, trusted his life with them, and if Charles trusted them, Malcolm would too.<\/p>\n Malcolm turned from his inner ruminations to his partner.\u00a0 Dawn\u2019s holoform sat atop the console, smiling back at him.\u00a0 The Blackhawk-class fighter didn\u2019t have enough room for her physical avatar to fly with him, and even her holoform stood a mere twenty centimeters tall in the tight confines of the cockpit.\u00a0 She wore the same black combat boots, slacks, and flight jacket that she normally wore in real life though, and he was growing accustomed to seeing her like this.<\/p>\n Dawn was the real brain of their Blackhawk.\u00a0 She flew them, and if they ever had to fire on an enemy, she would be doing that too.\u00a0 Smith had been right.\u00a0 He really was just along for the ride.<\/p>\n \u201cA penny for your thoughts?\u201d Dawn asked with a smile.<\/p>\n Malcolm shrugged.\u00a0 \u201cI don\u2019t know.\u201d\u00a0 She cocked her head to the side, intrigued by his answer.\u00a0 He chuckled.\u00a0 \u201cI guess I just never expected to be here, right now, like this.\u201d\u00a0 He waved at the cockpit around them.<\/p>\n Dawn nodded slowly.\u00a0 \u201cWell, it does give you a nice view of hyperspace.\u201d<\/p>\n Malcolm laughed, leaned back in his seat, and looked out through the canopy at the rivers multicolored gravity flowing around them.\u00a0 \u201cThat it does,\u201d he said in admiration.\u00a0 The sight truly was beautiful, and he felt more a part of it here than on any starship he\u2019d ever seen it from.<\/p>\n A display flashed and he glanced over to see what it said.\u00a0 \u201cAh,\u201d Dawn began, her tone still amused.\u00a0 \u201cIt appears we\u2019re on target.\u201d<\/p>\n Malcolm nodded and scrutinized the display.\u00a0 It showed they were on final approach to Bosphorus, and rising steadily towards the hyperspace wall.\u00a0 The gravity flows brightened around him, colors becoming more pronounced as they approached normalspace.\u00a0 Finally, more displays came to life as recon drones punched through the wall and returned views of normalspace.\u00a0 The sight of hyperspace faded, replaced in the canopy by a view of normalspace all around him.<\/p>\n Celaeno burned in the distance, and behind her the Pleiades Cluster filled the sky with more light than Malcolm had ever seen in any night sky.\u00a0 The light of over a thousand stars within a few dozen lightyears of each other was awesome to behold when one stood on the edge of it.<\/p>\n \u201cWow,\u201d Malcolm whispered.<\/p>\n \u201cYeah,\u201d Dawn returned, her voice hushed as well.<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s\u2026something,\u201d he added, unable to make his mind work enough to come up with whatever words described that sight.\u00a0 Not that he expected to ever come up with those words.\u00a0 No human had ever conceived of a sight like this when they invented language, and even now the words of mankind failed to convey the wonder in his mind.<\/p>\n \u201cThat it is.\u201d\u00a0 Dawn sighed in pleasure.\u00a0 \u201cI thought you\u2019d like that view.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2026love it,\u201d Malcolm whispered in awe.<\/p>\n \u201cMe too,\u201d she answered and they fell into silence as they just watched.<\/p>\n It felt like a minute or an hour before any sound stirred them.\u00a0 Malcolm\u2019s glance at the time display showed a minute, but it felt so much longer.\u00a0 Then the interruption registered.<\/p>\n \u201cWell, now that we\u2019ve all had a chance to admire our destination,\u201d Captain Olivia Wyatt of Normandy<\/em> transmitted in an awed tone.\u00a0 \u201cI think it\u2019s time we actually go there.\u00a0 All ships are cleared to surface.\u201d<\/p>\n He glanced out to see Smith\u2019s Avengers flash out of hyperspace, and then gravity began to swirl around Normandy<\/em>.\u00a0 One second, she was a calm bubble cutting through the chaos of hyperspace.\u00a0 The next second, a maelstrom of gravity erupted as her hyperdrive tore at the wall separating them from normalspace.\u00a0 Then a rainbow of colors flashed for a moment.\u00a0 Malcolm blinked the light away, and when he opened his eyes Normandy<\/em> was gone.<\/p>\n The other ships of the fleet followed her out, erupting in multi-colored flashes of their own and leaving hyperspace a roiling mess of turbulent gravity in their wakes.\u00a0 Wolfenheim<\/em> was last to leave, and her mammoth bulk left a virtual gravitic storm behind as she punched through into normalspace.\u00a0 The other Blackhawks followed her in a staccato series of flashes until Malcolm and the eleven Blackhawks in formation around him flew alone in hyperspace.<\/p>\n He waited for a few moments, watching the natural rivers of hyperspace flow through the wakes of the ships, erasing all evidence that anyone had ever been there.\u00a0 It was like the universe had forgotten about them.\u00a0 He licked his lips, wondering if there was a lesson in that.\u00a0 Something about how humanity might think it was the epitome of power in the galaxy, but next to the power of the universe it was barely noticeable.<\/p>\n Malcolm shook his head against the uncomfortable though and turned to Dawn.\u00a0 She cocked her head to the side, waiting for him to give her the command.\u00a0 He let out a long breath and nodded.\u00a0 That was enough for her, and she turned her head away.\u00a0 Energy crackled through their fighter and the hyperdrive reached out to claw at the very fabric of hyperspace.\u00a0 The displays blanked out, the canopy went solid black, and something snapped around them.\u00a0 Then the displays and canopy returned to life, and normalspace came into focus all around him.<\/p>\n Displays showed nearby space, dominated by the Wolfenheim Project\u2019s fleet and empty of anything else.\u00a0 Other displays showed further objects.\u00a0 Celaeno in the distance, a gas giant nearby, and an Earth-sized moon orbiting her.\u00a0 One display showed Bosphorus Station itself in orbit over that moon, and the scores of freighters docked in her massive bays.\u00a0 Even now, in the middle of War, the business of trading continued.<\/p>\n Between Bosphorus Station and Malcolm\u2019s fleet, much smaller forts formed a shell of protection.\u00a0 Heavily armed and armored, they were the final line of defense against any attack into Bosphorus.\u00a0 Cruisers, destroyers, frigates, and even corvettes swarmed around the forts, a testament to just how seriously the Constantinople Trade Union took the security of their network of space stations.<\/p>\n \u201cContact,\u201d Dawn announced and one of the displays shifted to show a new view.<\/p>\n A single squadron of eight destroyers moved towards the defensive shell, pursued by an enemy Malcolm recognized in an instant.\u00a0 Shang.<\/p>\n \u201cWell, that\u2019s just bloody awesome,\u201d Malcolm noted with a scowl.<\/p>\n \u201cIt gets better,\u201d Dawn returned, highlighting the missiles streaming from ten Shang cruisers.\u00a0 The ten destroyers escorting them did not fire, probably conserving their ammunition.\u00a0 Even Shang destroyers didn\u2019t have enough ammunition bunkers to maintain the long-range missile bombardments the Shang preferred, but the cruisers pelted their targets with wave after wave of destruction.\u00a0 The eight destroyers shot down scores of missiles, their defense grids filling space with laser pulses, counter missile missiles, dazzlers, and more.\u00a0 Decoys sucked Shang missiles away from their targets, but despite every trick in the book, they were only eight destroyers.\u00a0 Several missiles snuck through the squadron\u2019s defense grid and exploded around the destroyers.<\/p>\n \u201cOuch,\u201d Dawn whispered.<\/p>\n \u201cYeah,\u201d Malcolm whispered, even though the handful of missiles weren\u2019t enough to do major damage to a dedicated warship.\u00a0 But as the plot continued to collect data he could see that those weren\u2019t the first missiles to penetrate the defenses.\u00a0 Deflection grids fluctuated and some of the destroyers sent out far fewer defensive missiles and lasers than they should have.\u00a0 The destroyers had been taking fire for some time.<\/p>\n They were Murphy\u2019s squadron.\u00a0 Their identification codes proclaimed it.\u00a0 For a moment, he considered ordering the fleet to jump back out again and leave Bosphorus to its own devices.\u00a0 A quick glance at the ranges of the Shang fleet and the Bosphorus defenses, followed by a second of quick head math, suggested that they could probably get an update on the routes into the cluster quickly enough to avoid any action.\u00a0 As long as Bosphorus didn\u2019t drag their feet before transmitting it.\u00a0 And Murphy was trying to stop him, so he didn\u2019t owe her anything.\u00a0 It would serve her right.<\/p>\n Malcolm let out a long breath.\u00a0 She was here because of him.\u00a0 That made this his responsibility.\u00a0 And whether he liked her or not, she was American.\u00a0 They were Shang.\u00a0 They had enough American blood on their hands already.\u00a0 He couldn\u2019t sit by and watch them add more without doing something.<\/p>\n \u201cBloody hell,\u201d he muttered, shaking his head in disgust.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat?\u201d Dawn asked, looking concerned.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have to do something about that,\u201d he grumbled.<\/p>\n She followed his eyes to Murphy\u2019s squadron.\u00a0 \u201cYou mean we need to help them?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThat does seem kinda crazy, doesn\u2019t it?\u201d Malcolm asked.<\/p>\n Dawn turned back to him with a gentle smile.\u00a0 \u201cSometimes crazy works.\u00a0 The trick is knowing when.\u201d\u00a0 She studied him carefully.\u00a0 \u201cDoes it feel right?\u201d<\/p>\n Malcolm met her gaze and sucked in a long breath as he considered her words.\u00a0 He knew what she was asking.\u00a0 Was it his instincts or his mind?\u00a0 It was easy to double think oneself into doing the wrong thing for the right reasons after all.\u00a0 But doing something just felt right and he nodded.<\/p>\n \u201cGood,\u201d she returned with an approving nod.\u00a0 \u201cThen let\u2019s get cracking.\u00a0 I assume you want to talk to Olivia?\u201d<\/p>\n Malcolm chuckled at how well she knew him.\u00a0 \u201cYes please.\u201d<\/p>\n Dawn looked away for a second, communicating with the shard of herself running Normandy<\/em>.\u00a0 Then she nodded and turned back to him.\u00a0 \u201cHere she comes.\u201d<\/p>\n Moments later, Olivia flickered into existence, her twenty-centimeter holoform standing next to Dawn.\u00a0 \u201cYes, Malcolm?\u201d she asked, her tone betraying mixed curiosity and doubt.<\/p>\n Malcolm smiled.\u00a0 \u201cDawn told you already?\u201d<\/p>\n Olivia chewed her lip before answering.\u00a0 \u201cShe said something crazy about getting involved in a fight with a fleet twice our size.\u201d<\/p>\n Malcolm cleared his throat.\u00a0 Yes.\u00a0 It did seem crazy.\u00a0 He sighed.\u00a0 \u201cLook, we need to help them.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cMy ships don\u2019t have the firepower to take them,\u201d Olivia informed him with a firm shake of her head.\u00a0 Malcolm nodded in acceptance of her statement.\u00a0 \u201cAnd it\u2019s our job to protect Wolfenheim<\/em>,\u201d she added, both eyebrows rising as if daring him to correct her.<\/p>\n \u201cThey\u2019re Americans,\u201d he returned in a calm tone.<\/p>\n Olivia looked uncomfortable and looked away from him.\u00a0 \u201cBut they\u2019re not our allies,\u201d she said, her tone more firm than her body language suggested.<\/p>\n Malcolm smiled at her and shrugged.\u00a0 \u201cThe enemy of my enemy\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIs only the enemy of my enemy,\u201d Olivia cut him off, shaking her head hard.\u00a0 \u201cMalcolm.\u00a0 I understand why you want to help.\u00a0 And God help me I love that you want to.\u201d\u00a0 She smiled.\u00a0 \u201cBut they outnumber us two to one, and outmass<\/em> us by\u2026more.\u00a0 We just can\u2019t do it.\u201d<\/p>\n Malcolm sighed and looked at the display.\u00a0 The eight destroyers still held on, but they weren\u2019t going to make it to the Bosphorus forts.\u00a0 They were taking too much damage.\u00a0 Another salvo of missiles rolled over them, stabbing deep into their defensive grids.\u00a0 They belched fresh atmosphere and wreckage into space, even as another salvo of missiles shot back towards the Shang.\u00a0 The missiles died far short of the Shang inner defensive ring though.\u00a0 Mere destroyers couldn\u2019t fire enough missiles to saturate the point defense of a Shang fleet.\u00a0 \u201cThey\u2019re going to die if we don\u2019t do something.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThey\u2019ll die if we try,\u201d Olivia whispered, her tone resigned.\u00a0 \u201cAll we\u2019ll do is die with them.\u00a0 Trust me, Malcolm.\u00a0 We can\u2019t help.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cSmith wants in,\u201d Dawn interrupted the argument.\u00a0 Malcolm nodded at her and the wing commander flickered into existence next to Olivia.<\/p>\n \u201cWe don\u2019t have to send in the warships,\u201d Smith\u2019s holoform said the moment he appeared, confirming that he\u2019d been listening in.\u00a0 Or that his cyber had brought him up to speed very quickly.\u00a0 \u201cOur fighter wing can do the job.\u201d<\/p>\n Malcolm shook his head.\u00a0 Blackhawks had been the best fighters of their day, but even after the Peloran refits, they were still space superiority fighters, not attack birds.\u00a0 \u201cWe can\u2019t take on cruisers without heavy support.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cBlackhawks<\/em> can\u2019t,\u201d Smith said with a smile.\u00a0 \u201cBut they can seriously Bad Touch a destroyer.\u00a0 And Avengers<\/em> eat cruisers for breakfast.\u201d\u00a0 His smile turned nasty.\u00a0 \u201cBeen there.\u00a0 Done that.\u201d<\/p>\n Malcolm blinked as the thought hit him and nodded very slowly.\u00a0 He\u2019d seen enough battle footage of Avenger squadrons ripping cruisers apart to know that Smith was right.\u00a0 Still.\u00a0 \u201cYou\u2019ve only got one squadron.\u00a0 There are ten<\/em> cruisers.\u201d<\/p>\n Smith shrugged.\u00a0 \u201cWe\u2019re not trying to beat them, right?\u00a0 Just get their attention?\u00a0 Give those destroyers time to make it to the forts?\u201d<\/p>\n Malcolm glanced at the display showing the battle out there and nodded.\u00a0 \u201cYes.\u00a0 That would work.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWell, I can guarantee we can get their attention,\u201d Smith promised with a wry grin.\u00a0 \u201cMove in.\u00a0 Hit them hard.\u00a0 Pull back out once those destroyers get out of range.\u00a0 They\u2019ll never see it coming,\u201d he finished in a proud voice.<\/p>\n Olivia\u2019s holoform shifted on the console to get their attention.\u00a0 \u201cWe can grab their attention so you can sneak in,\u201d she volunteered with a smile.<\/p>\n \u201cHow?\u201d Malcolm asked, intrigued by her sudden change of mind.<\/p>\n Olivia shrugged.\u00a0 \u201cThey already know we\u2019re here.\u00a0 It\u2019s hard to hide a starship-sized transit, and Wolfenheim\u2019s<\/em> a real pig.\u201d\u00a0 She paused in disgust and shook her head.\u00a0 \u201cThey see us right now.\u00a0 If we burn our engines hot, they\u2019ll think we\u2019re running.\u00a0 And that\u2019s guaranteed to get their attention.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAnd while they\u2019re looking at her, we sneak in from another direction,\u201d Smith finished, his tone filled with admiration.<\/p>\n \u201cExactly,\u201d Olivia answered with a conniving smile.<\/p>\n \u201cThat would<\/em> increase the chances of it working,\u201d Smith added.\u00a0 Then his eyes flicked back to Malcolm.\u00a0 \u201cAssuming you\u2019re decided on helping Murphy.\u00a0 We could sail away and know she\u2019s done hunting us forever.\u201d<\/p>\n Malcolm sighed.\u00a0 \u201cI know.\u00a0 But she\u2019s here because of us.\u00a0 And her people didn\u2019t ask to die out here like this.\u00a0 If they do, it\u2019s our fault.\u201d<\/p>\n Smith nodded very slowly.\u00a0 \u201cVery well.\u00a0 You stay with Normandy<\/em>.\u00a0 The rest of us will go in and teach those Shang a lesson or three.\u201d<\/p>\n Malcolm shook his head.\u00a0 \u201cNo.\u00a0 I\u2019m going in too.\u201d<\/p>\n Smith just raised an eyebrow at him.\u00a0 \u201cNo.\u00a0 You\u2019re staying here.\u201d\u00a0 His voice left exactly zero doubt who was in charge on that point.\u00a0 Malcolm might give<\/em> missions, but Smith commanded<\/em> them.<\/p>\n Malcolm swallowed as the old Marine eyes glared at him, but he cleared his throat and met them with stubborn resolve.\u00a0 \u201cMy idea.\u00a0 I can\u2019t send you into danger and just watch<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n Smith\u2019s eyes narrowed.\u00a0 \u201cYou don\u2019t have any experience at this.\u201d<\/p>\n Malcolm shrugged.\u00a0 \u201cAnd I never will if you leave me behind.\u201d\u00a0 Smith cocked his head to the side at Malcolm\u2019s tacit admission that he could do that.\u00a0 Malcolm wasn\u2019t challenging his authority.\u00a0 He was merely questioning the idea of giving<\/em> that order.<\/p>\n \u201cTrue.\u201d\u00a0 Smith nodded and measured Malcolm very carefully.\u00a0 Malcolm sat up straight, willing the man to see that he was ready.\u00a0 \u201cVery well,\u201d Smith finally said.\u00a0 \u201cYou stay behind us.\u201d\u00a0 Malcolm opened his mouth to say that he didn\u2019t need their protection, but Smith\u2019s eyes flashed and he shut his mouth again.\u00a0 Smith grunted.\u00a0 \u201cGood.\u00a0 Captain?\u201d he asked Olivia.<\/p>\n \u201cMajor,\u201d she returned with a respectful nod.<\/p>\n Smith crooked a smile at her.\u00a0 \u201cLet\u2019s do this.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAgreed.\u201d Olivia turned an approving look towards Malcolm.\u00a0 \u201cDirector?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cOlivia,\u201d Malcolm corrected with a smile.\u00a0 \u201cYou take care of the fleet.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYes, Malcolm,\u201d she returned with a smile.\u00a0 Then she sucked in a breath and nodded.\u00a0 \u201cYou come back,\u201d she ordered and turned away as her holoform faded out.<\/p>\n \u201cWell, I see you\u2019re making progress,\u201d Smith noted in an amused tone.<\/p>\n \u201cMmmm?\u201d Malcolm asked, watching the empty spot where her holoform had been.<\/p>\n \u201cShe didn\u2019t order me<\/em> to come back,\u201d the other pilot answered with a snort.<\/p>\n \u201cTrue.\u201d\u00a0 Malcolm aimed a questioning glance at Dawn\u2019s satisfied holoform.\u00a0 \u201cWell, I\u2019m sure you coming back is implied,\u201d he added with a smile.\u00a0 But he breathed in deep, enjoying the fact that she had singled him out for that particular order.<\/p>\n \u201cYeah.\u00a0 I\u2019m sure.\u201d\u00a0 Smith snorted again and his holoform faded out, signaling an end to the conference.\u00a0 Then his voice came from the speakers.\u00a0 \u201cForm on me and follow your beam,\u201d he ordered in a voice that erased all other thoughts.<\/p>\n \u201cRoger that,\u201d Malcolm responded without hesitation as a beam appeared on their displays and nodded towards Dawn.\u00a0 She smiled back and they swung away from Normandy<\/em>.\u00a0 The eleven other Blackhawks of their squadron accelerated with them, maintaining a defensive formation.\u00a0 Each one was controlled by one of Dawn\u2019s shards, copies of her main personality residing in their computer systems.\u00a0 Each fighter could fly on her own, but she and Malcolm commanded the entire squadron from their fighter.\u00a0 Having tested the arrangement in simulations, he liked it.\u00a0 Dawn could easily move the fighters in unison, since she was the brain of every single one and knew her own moves perfectly.<\/p>\n The thirty-six other Blackhawks of their fighter wing formed up into a triangular formation, twirling around each other in a random series of movements.\u00a0 They dove and twirled, thrusters firing in every direction, and Malcolm couldn\u2019t tell which three had pilots.\u00a0 The others had cybers only, like his.\u00a0 It was a good arrangement, giving them heavy firepower and limiting the possibility of losing trained pilots.\u00a0 Building new fighters was easy after all, but it took a couple decades to grow a new pilot.<\/p>\n Smith\u2019s thirteen Avengers took point, thrusters sending them through the same random maneuvers, and accelerated towards the Shang fleet.\u00a0 Malcolm idly wondered why the Cowboys had taken to flying a baker\u2019s dozen of fighters.\u00a0 It seemed counter-intuitive somewhere in there, but he shook his head.\u00a0 It probably made sense somewhere, even if he couldn\u2019t think of it.\u00a0 He would have to consider that.\u00a0 It made interesting ideas come to mind for a planetary defense force.<\/p>\n Then all thoughts of fighters disappeared as the fleet\u2019s engines came to full power.\u00a0 Massive plumes of blue flames reached out from the warships, bringing light to the darkness of nearby space.\u00a0 Wolfenheim\u2019s<\/em> multiple fusion engines, each the size of frigates, belched out the largest torches of light, beacons demanding the attention of anyone with eyes.\u00a0 She was a great big clumsy excuse for a starship, and her engines barely moved her compared to what they would have done to a warship.\u00a0 But what she lacked in nimbleness, she more than made up in ability to catch attention of every single person in the entire system.<\/p>\n In comparison to the colony ship and her escorts, the sixty-one starfighters slunk away in almost total darkness.\u00a0 Malcolm\u2019s displays showed his gigawatt-class gravity drive running far above normal levels, dropping their effective mass to almost nothing.\u00a0 It was an incredibly wasteful way to fly, and Malcolm had to bury his inner accountant down deep to keep from wincing as he actually watched the fuel levels drop.\u00a0 Controlling gravity itself at levels approaching full nullification was expensive, but it had advantages.<\/p>\n The main engines and maneuvering thrusters flared with a dull light, maintaining just enough power to hold them on the crest of the grav wave.\u00a0 The total lack of drive plumes had the advantage of making them all but invisible to the standard shipboard scanners of a Shang warship, even as the grav wave propelled them directly towards the enemy fleet.\u00a0 They passed one percent of lightspeed in a matter of seconds, an acceleration that no warship could ever dream of matching, and continued to accelerate for the better part of a minute.<\/p>\n Then the massive grav drive powered down, the main fusion drives turned off entirely, and they became holes in space moving at nearly ten percent the speed of light.\u00a0 Malcolm glanced at the display showing their course and the projected Shang course.\u00a0 Assuming Murphy\u2019s squadron continued to run, they should intercept the Shang in five minutes.\u00a0 She just had to hold out that long.<\/p>\n Malcolm winced as the displays showed another missile strike breaking through the defense grid, and one of the Austin<\/em>-class destroyers staggered to the side.\u00a0 Wreckage flowed out of her flank, telling the tale of catastrophic damage inflicted on the tiny warship.\u00a0 He looked to Dawn and she returned a worried gaze.\u00a0 Then she pointed him at another display and he nodded in understanding.<\/p>\n The Red Line denoting the edge of the Bosphorus jamming zone glowed behind them on the displays.\u00a0 They could no longer dive into hyperspace to escape.\u00a0 Once they started shooting, they would be committing to combat until they accelerated out of range the old fashioned way.\u00a0 Malcolm smiled, at peace with his decision to intervene.<\/p>\n He flexed his fingers on the controls, leaned back, and watched the missile engagement.\u00a0 The Shang disliked moving in close against the heavy gravitic cannons that American warships used.\u00a0 A well placed, or lucky, gravitic beam could cripple a ship in seconds.\u00a0 Missiles didn\u2019t have the ability to twist gravity as powerfully as one of those powerful cannons, but in sufficient numbers they could do the same damage.<\/p>\n The Shang fired in those numbers, but the American defense grids attempted to stop those missiles with every weapon at their disposal.\u00a0 Scores of decoy drones broadcasting the electronic signatures of destroyers sucked missiles away from the real warships.\u00a0 Other drones simply sought to jam the missiles\u2019 ability to track any targets at all.\u00a0 The real warships cut their electronic emissions to make themselves look like anything but<\/em> a warship, and missiles simply wandered off target to self-destruct after their fuel ran out.\u00a0 It was a complex war between Shang AIs and American cybers that no genetic human could possibly keep up with.\u00a0 It was a war that the Americans enjoyed a pronounced advantage in.\u00a0 Peloran cybertech was simply far more advanced than anything the Shang had, and they\u2019d shared it with the entire Western Alliance.<\/p>\n What the Shang had was numbers.\u00a0 Scores of missiles dove in towards the destroyers, and even if the American cybers tricked scores of them into missing, there were always more missiles flying in with their singular mission being to kill something and die trying.\u00a0\u00a0 As Malcolm watched, a wedge of missiles dove in towards the destroyers, ducking and weaving through the defensive fire of counter missiles sent to slay them.\u00a0 Most died, but some made it through and closed with the destroyers.\u00a0 Lasers lashed them, ripping more apart, but two made it through everything.<\/p>\n The first exploded just short of the target\u2019s deflection grid, tearing at the destroyer\u2019s control over gravity.\u00a0 A gravitic sheer powerful enough to bend even light away from the target failed, overridden in a split second by a missile throwing every last bit of its power into that single attack.\u00a0 A hole opened in the deflection grid, and the second missile flew through it without any resistance at all.\u00a0 The onboard generator became a miniature black hole, sucking everything in for the barest instant.\u00a0 It passed through armor, air, and anything or anyone unlucky enough to be in its path.\u00a0 And then the generator reversed, pushing everything it collected back out.\u00a0 The missile exploded, using fragments of the target to rip it open from the inside.<\/p>\n Malcolm winced as the destroyer lurched, but stayed in formation and continued to fire at the incoming stream of missiles.\u00a0 She was an Austin<\/em>-class destroyer, the best American destroyer ever built, and she would not go down easily.\u00a0 But she would<\/em> go down if someone didn\u2019t do something about it.\u00a0 Which made it a very good thing for her that someone was about to do something.<\/p>\n \u201cAll fighters, attack pattern Alpha,\u201d Smith transmitted.<\/p>\n Malcolm glanced at Dawn and she nodded back.\u00a0 She was ready.\u00a0 He smiled as the grav generator powered up again and they effectively slammed on the brakes.\u00a0 Every other fighter in their formation did the same, shedding velocity as they dove towards their targets.\u00a0 Massive fusion drives fired at maximum power, filling space with kilometers-long blue beacons of exhaust, broadcasting to everyone with eyes that they were coming.<\/p>\n \u201cHello boys,\u201d Malcolm said with a nasty chuckle as one of the destroyers flashed on his displays.\u00a0 \u201cWe\u2019re here<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n The Shang AIs responded to the sudden arrival of the Wolfenheim fighters with missiles and lasers that had been fighting Murphy\u2019s squadron seconds before.\u00a0 But they didn\u2019t have time to do anything else as the fighters closed.\u00a0 It was a perfectly executed high-speed attack coming out of complete darkness.\u00a0 Malcolm continued to chuckle as he imagined the Shang crewmen trying to come to terms with the idea that suddenly they<\/em> were the ones in danger.<\/p>\n \u201cAll fighters, fire for effect,\u201d Smith ordered in an iron tone.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Hello, my name is Malcolm.\u00a0 Humanity is a diverse lot.\u00a0 We have many beliefs, many wishes and dreams.\u00a0 We fight each other, sometimes kill each other.\u00a0 Too often, we see only the differences and think they aren\u2019t as good as[…]↓ Read the rest of this entry…<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":32,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2319","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-2309-wolfenheim-rising-earc","uentry","postonpage-1","odd","post-author-malcolm"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jackofharts.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2319","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jackofharts.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jackofharts.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jackofharts.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/32"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jackofharts.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2319"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/jackofharts.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2319\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2321,"href":"https:\/\/jackofharts.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2319\/revisions\/2321"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jackofharts.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2319"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jackofharts.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2319"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jackofharts.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2319"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}