SPACE: ABOVE AND BEYOND
When
Enemies Become Friends
By Gerald A. Polley
"One of the strangest aspects of war is
that sometimes your bitterest enemy can become your best
friend."
-Anonymous
Chapter 1
Captain Vansen felt like she had just got to sleep when the
lights came on and Captain McQueen's voice boomed in her ear.
"On the deck, Marines! Ready room, ten minutes! Move it!
Move it!" She rolled out of bed, quickly donned her shirt
and pants, and was reaching for her boots when she saw Lt. Hawkes
still in his bed. She went over and shook him.
"Come on Hawkes, come on! We've got an alert! Come on!"
The tank grabbed her hand and looked at her groggily. "We've
just got to sleep, dammit!" he moaned.
"I know," the captain barked, "but roll out!"
She backed off and the pilot slowly rolled from his bunk. Lt.
Wong came up, holding out his wing mate's shirt. The other pilot
took it and grumpily began to dress. Lt. West came up to the
captain as she was putting on her boots.
"It's only been five hours," he complained. "They
said they wouldn't have my ship fixed in less than seven."
"Then you'll have to take a damned reserve ship!" the
captain snapped. "Don't blame me. I'm just as tired as
anybody else. Come on! The man said ten minutes. If you've gotta
do any of the necessities you'd better do them now!"
"Me first!" Lt. Damphousse snapped, heading for one of
the two toilets. "You guys take too long!"
The others grinned at each other. Several minutes later they
filed into the ready room. Colonel McQueen stood by a space
chart. "The 385th is in trouble," he began, "on
Bacchus. They ran into a far bigger enemy force than they were
expecting. We're rallying everything we can get for an evac.
You'll fly cover for the landers. The Chigs are sending in
reinforcements, too. So it's going to be a race! Get to your
ships. Sweep 'em out of the air! Give the guys on the ground
every minute you can! Move out!"
"Yes, sir!" the pilots snapped, and hurried to their
aircraft.
"Here we go again!" Hawkes complained. "I wonder
how many this time, eight to one?"
"Stop griping, Hawkes!" the captain complained.
"You heard the captain, let's move!"
It seemed like no time before they were rocketing away from their
carrier. As they approached Baccus they received a call. "M
58, this is AF137. We have to withdraw. Virtually out of fuel and
ammo! Be advised there's a AI ship in the area helping us. Do not
fire on it. It's smoked more Chig fighters than we have! I don't
know why he's helping us, but he's kept them off the ground
troops!"
Captain Vansen replied. "AF, repeat, did you say an AI
ship?"
"Affirmative, M Squadron!" the air force commander
answered. "I can't explain it, but he's helping us!"
"Understood!" the captain answered. "All ships,
did you copy that?"
All of her squadron answered. Lt. Wong muttered, "Yes, but I
still might..."
"Wong!" the captain screamed.
"Yes sir!" the lieutenant snapped.
"Chigs!" Lt. Hawkes screamed. "Chigs! Eight
o'clock! Going in!"
"They don't see us!" the captain screamed."Break
up! Break up! Attack and destroy!"
The next few minutes were chaos as they engaged the enemy
fighters, getting closer and closer to the planet as they did so.
"Fighter cover!" came a voice, "This is LC1. We're
gong in. Keep 'em busy."
"We're trying!" the captain screamed back. "Don't
waste time!"
Suddenly Lt. West screamed "Wong! Wong! Pull up! Two of 'em
on your tail. Pull up!"
Wong tried to do so, but it was too late. Two hits rocked his
ship. Smoke began to fill his cockpit. "Damn!" he
screamed, "Damn!"
Lt. Hawkes came diving in and with a volley of fire destroyed
both Chigs. "You're on fire, Wong!" he screamed,
"The whole back of your ship is a fire ball. Eject!
Eject!"
Wong began to hurriedly throw switches. He then held on, as his
ship came apart. He was barely clear when it exploded. his escape
capsule tumbled over and over, until its automatic systems
stabilized it. A heat shield bag deployed around it and inflated,
as it plummeted into the atmosphere. When it was some ways down
first a small drag chute deployed, then a big descent chute. The
capsule hit hard.
"LC6," the captain screamed, "one of my people
came down about a mile from you. Can you get to him?"
"Not a prayer 58!" a voice answered. "There's a
Chig division between us. We're barely getting these guys out of
here."
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