Chapter 14

"For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled."

~ Richard P. Feynman

"Warpstar, Alpha One. We are clear of the ship, turning to 3-1-1. It's beautiful out here." Charlene gave her report the moment she left the docking bay of the WarpStar, viewing the system through the artificial viewport in front of her.

"Alpha One, WarpStar Aye. Closing bay doors," a flight deck attendant replied over the open channel, closing the doors behind Charlene and sealing the ship from the void.

"We must be close to a nebula; I can see it clear as day!" Carr could not resist noting the beauty of the pink-orange cloud of interstellar dust working hard to create yet another star system in the galaxy.

John's voice snapped her back to reality. "Stay on mission, we may be explorers, but we have more pressing matters at hand."

"Aye, sir. All slicers follow your designated flight path and go active!"

A 'Slicer' is the nickname of the fighter they were piloting, given by the pilots who fly her. The official name is the F-401 as the current line of Naval Fighters. John himself had also designed the Slicer in the academy as a class project. The Slicer, however, ended up being used in mass production, unlike the WarpStar. The Navy had two distinct fighters that had their own unique niche. The F-201 was an excellent aerial fighter but performed poorly in space. The F-301 was the opposite, excellent space superiority fighter but could not maneuver in an atmosphere. The F-401 was John's answer to the two.

The 401 was a technological marvel, but it was hard to adapt by the pilots. The Slicer was the first fighter ever produced without an actual viewport; instead, an artificial view was superimposed over the H.U.D. in front of the pilot, giving a typical view of what a pilot would see without using weaker material.

The Slicer was named as such due to her shape, and ability to 'Slice' her way through an atmosphere. It had three major sections, the wings, the fuselage, and the stern. All three articles are designed aerodynamically to allow atmospheric flight as well as functionality in space. The wings housed the primary weapons, and the stern housed the two ion engines powered by the single fusion reactor.

"Whoa," Charlene said to herself, without engaging any of her comm systems.

"Warpstar, Alpha one. I am getting some strange readings out here."

It took Ensign Carr and her wing the better part of the four days transit to explore the system. There was an unusual energy signature being emanated from the fourth planet that no one could explain, along with the two contacts that registered as ships in the system. Still, when the flight group got anywhere near the ghost contacts, nothing was there. The rest of the planets in the system were regular gas giants, housing multiple moons each, and were all rich in chemicals and elements needed for production in various industries. The asteroid belt in the system was also rich in metals of all sorts. Almost every element on the periodic table was present in high quantities in this system. John thought, at the very least, this system could be colonized by a mining company and possibly turned into a production system, with gas refineries orbiting the gas giants for fuel production. This is an excellent stop for repairs, refueling, and shipbuilding.

John finally got a chance to climb in his personal F-401 fighter. Inside it, he’d installed Betsy, the prototype Artificial Intelligence unit he’d been developing for the Navy in his free time.

"Good morning, captain," the A.I. known as "Betsy" spoke in a very human-like voice. There was no robotic monotone or emotionless speaking with this A.I. She sounded like a genuine person behind a speaker.

"Good morning, Betsy. Power up sensors, and load a full package. We need to guide the WarpStar in for a proper landing," John requested as he focused his efforts on the routine flight checks and power-up sequence. One of the benefits of having a working A.I. on a fighter is more tasks can be completed at a rapid pace while the pilot is focusing on more essential items.

"Sensor package loaded up."

"WarpStar, Alpha One. Requesting permission to depart."

"Alpha One, WarpStar. Flight is green, opening bay doors, you have clearance. Safe flight," a female flight attendant replied.

"Alpha One, WarpStar." This time, it was Charlene's voice over the speaker. "We have completed our maneuver and are at controllable speeds. I have full maneuvering control of the ship, and are ready to make our approach to the planet for descent."

"WarpStar, aye, departing now," John acknowledged the report as he hit the throttle and left the rear of the ship.

"Betsy, establish a continuous data link to the WarpStar computer, and patch it through the operations station."

"Connection established, lag at zero. We are maintaining enough distance for communications to be streamless, uploading sensor feed now. Assisting the WarpStar computer in calculating the best vector. I am starting to pick up some extensive energy readings ahead, not consistent with a Type 5 planetoid."

The two ships were approaching the planet, which was getting larger by the second in both viewports.

"WarpStar, Alpha One. Datalink should be set up; we will momentarily lose connection once I … " Henderson was speaking to the crew on the bridge of the WarpStar when suddenly, he cut out to static. At the same time, the small two-man fighter vanished from sight. O'Connell shot up, surprised, almost tripping over the shaking ship. "What the hell, hard to port!!!"

"WarpStar, Alpha One. Data Link should be set up; we will momentarily lose connection once I enter the atmosphere. Holy shitballs!!" John was sending a status report when suddenly, mammoth chunks of debris came out of the void. John pulled up on the yoke, turning it to avoid chunk after chunk, pieces of hull everywhere. Taken entirely by surprise, unable to estimate correct course corrections, John had to rely solely on instinct.

"What the hell, hard to port!!!" O'Connell shouted, jumping out of the command seat.

Carr reacted faster than the commander gave the order. She pulled her yoke back and turned it left, trying to make a quick turn to avoid whatever it was that caused John's fighter to disappear. The planet tilted and began to leave the forward viewports on the right when, suddenly, colossal chunks of debris appeared in the WarpStar's path. Carr's eyes widened as she quickly re-adjusted her controls to avoid collision with the supermassive ship in front of them. Charlene was now in full panic.

"What the fuck! Evasive maneuvers!" O'Connell shouted, more to himself than to Carr, since the helmswoman seemed to be already evading.

The Computer blasted warnings from the avoidance system. "Warning! Collision alert. Adjust heading. Too close. Too close!"

The WarpStar moved very fluidly despite having two engines down, forward engines spewing full emergency thrust forward, and venting drive coolant.

Carr was moving almost too quickly. The average person would think she was not human the way she was going from controls to the yoke, back to controls, switching and pushing buttons with emotion and force, not taking her eyes off her H.U.D. readouts.

"Give me more power in the thrusters; her fat ass is not keeping up!" Carr shouted without regard to rank, or professional manner.

"Re-routing power to the aft thrusters!" Jackson's voice was trembling.

"Sir! I am picking up several billion pieces of debris in our immediate vicinity! Ranging from the size of a piece of sand, all the way to..." Lt. Watney hesitated. "Three times the size of the Independence!"

"Proximity alert! Object ahead. Adjust heading! Too close! Too Close!" the Computer continued to scream.

The WarpStar moved up, then took a sharp dive to avoid a large chunk of a hull that was about to smack right into her nose. As she took a sharp dive, Ensign Carr realized she had made a critical error. The dive she chose to avoid a chunk of debris took the WarpStar into an area with no escape.

Ensign Carr had frozen up. She had miscalculated her trajectory and missed the sensor readouts being fed from C.I.C. on her H.U.D. Rookie mistake, she knew this. All she could do was stare in horror as she knew what she had done. She had just sentenced three hundred people to their deaths.

Ensign Carr was not the only one who noticed the sudden doom. Everyone on the bridge was watching in horror as their lives flashed before their eyes.

John sat and watched as the WarpStar twisted, shifted, slid through the pieces and cracks of the dead ships. Then, she took a sharp dive and went out of sight; he saw nothing but debris and had feared the worst.

"Lieutenant! Fire at will!" Commander O'Connell shouted at the top of his lungs as he lurched out of his seat.

The quick tactical officer started mashing all her buttons, activating as many weapons as she could, and put them on a continuous fire mode.

As the commander gave the order to fire weapons, a fire was ignited in Carr. She knew instinctively that the commander's plan would not work. Well, it would not work without a twist. Literally. Without orders, acting on pure intuition, Carr routed power to the maneuvering thrusters, then set the port thrusters to a 45-degree dorsal angle, and the starboard thrusters for a similar angle facing toward the ventral side. She had suddenly jerked her flight yoke as hard to port as she could, also putting the main engines in the same pattern, just not at as a sharp of an angle. This combo put the WarpStar in a fast spin to the port side, and she held it there as long as she could while giving the throttle full power.

The WarpStar came charging the piece of debris ahead, spinning wildly, firing multiple bursts of energy and several plasma torpedo charges. At the last minute, the ship fired the main dual plasma-based beam weapons. When firing in the current spin maneuver, the beam weapons helped cut a circle through the debris while the other weapons cleared and destroyed anything in their current path.

"All hands, brace for impact!!!" O'Connell shouted into the 1MC, as he strapped himself into the captain's chair. Everyone except Ensign Carr did the same thing in their stations. Carr knew, if she let go of the yoke, the maneuver would stop, and the hope of saving the ship would drop dramatically.

The viewscreen showed the explosions from the impact of the weapons getting closer and closer. Everyone but Carr closed their eyes.

From a considerable distance, John watched in horror as he saw a great explosion coming from where the WarpStar made her fatal error.

'No!!!' John thought to himself. He was stunned.

Just as quickly as he thought his friends and his legacy were gone, he noticed energy discharges and two yellow beams in a circular pattern emerge from the bottom of the explosion, followed quickly by the WarpStar!

John let out a cry of excitement, "Yeah!"

Right as the big ball of fire came to the front of the ship, she shook and lurched forward. Everyone feared the worst. Then the day turned to night, the explosions disappeared and were replaced by a pitch-black background with small white sparkling balls of light.

Carr let out an immediate sigh of relief as the bridge crew realized they had come out alive, and all jumped up and cheered at the top of their lungs. They all hugged, kissed, and released their emotions of joy. Ensign Carr stopped her maneuver and brought the ship back to the galactic level, and attempted to slow down. They were out of the debris field.

"WarpStar, Alpha One, please respond!" John attempted contact with his ship.

"Sir! O'Connell here," the commander replied as he accepted the hail on the captain's console. "Hot damn, sir! Your girl here is amazing!!! I have never seen such brilliant flying in my life! She just saved three hundred souls today! I am sorry I had ever doubted her!"

Instead of being excited to get such high praise from her superior officer, Ensign Carr was frightened. 'Saved the crew?' she thought to herself. 'I almost got them killed!'

"I told you she was the best! I'm glad you're alright, ensign, set course—" Henderson began to reply when he was interrupted by an enormous energy blast striking the WarpStar.

On the bridge of the WarpStar, the excitement was not over as she suddenly got hit from a n energy blast and explosions erupted all over the bridge. Several support beams fell on the crew, and three fires started. The main lighting was down; secondary view screens were just showing static. And suddenly, before anyone knew what had happened—BOOM! Another explosion rocked the ship, throwing anyone who was standing upright on the floor.

Sitting in the fighter away from the ship, John had noticed something he didn't see before—a platform several clicks away from the WarpStar firing some blue shots at her.

"Captain, I am reading a massive energy turret firing on the WarpStar at point three-three-seven," Betsy stated.

"Great job stating the obvious!" John yelled out as he started to pilot his fighter toward the turret while enabling defensive shields and weapon systems.

"WarpStar, can you adjust your heading? We need to take that turret out," John shouted into the com unit.

"Negative, sir," Watney replied. "Our sensors are down; we have no idea where we are being shot from!"

"I am transmitting its location, adjust heading, and give it everything you got!"

"Aye, sir," O'Connell replied.

John sent the location to WarpStar, and Carr received it promptly. Using previous navigation charts, she was able to guess her vector and adjust her heading as needed.

It didn't take much to destroy the small satellite that was continually firing on the WarpStar. Once John's fighter powered up, she started blazing bolts of energy toward the turret. While continuously firing on it, the tower simply ignored the small fighter and continued its barrage on the little Destroyer. The cylinder-shaped satellite seemed to be large enough to house everything it needed to be self-sustaining, it appeared even to house a shield generator to protect it from invading enemies.

Just less than a few seconds after unleashing everything the small fighter has on the satellite, the unknown turret exploded, leaving everyone confused. The WarpStar herself never even completed her turn to open fire before the defense structure was obliterated.

"Whoa!" John remarked as he was still expecting to give it all he had. "What the hell happened?"

"I cannot be certain, as there are still numerous variables to account. However, initial scans reveal the defense satellite was only utilizing a small fraction of a percent of its total power. Each blast that was fired at the WarpStar decreased in power and intensity by seventy-two percent each shot. Based on its power requirements, I estimate the satellite was capable of firing shots that were several thousand times stronger than what hit the WarpStar," Betsy replied analytically.

"Is it just me, or does no one notice our toxic planet looks like Earth?" Lt. Jackson pointed out as the bridge crew looked back to the viewscreen up front.

Despite the damage the ship had sustained, the forward viewscreen was still a window and capable of displaying full images just like any display panel or like the other view screens around the ship. However, when the sensors are damaged, and the ship is unable to show an image or H.U.D., the forward viewscreen shuts off, and the crew can look out it as a standard window seeing part of the nose of the ship right in front of them.

"I'm not sure, lieutenant," Commander O'Connell stated sarcastically as he slowly turned to face him. "You are the ops officer, what does your console say?"

Realizing that the commander was right, he looked down at his console to check the sensor readouts. "Uh y-yes, sir. Sir, sensors are reading a typical class 0 planet. The atmosphere consists of 77 percent nitrogen and 21 percent oxygen. Average planetary temperature, 85 degrees Fahrenheit. It's nice down there!" Jackson promptly replied.

"Sir, I have regained control of the stabilizers. I can now control our descent and land safely," Ensign Carr stated.

Captain Henderson's voice came over the comm system. "Good. Land the ship as planned so we can get a start on these repairs."

"Sir, I can get the fighter bay ready for you," O'Connell chimed in.

"Negative, I'm going to ride this down."

"Sir, I must object," O'Connell was adamant.

"Objection noted, now guide her down," John snapped at his executive officer. "Ensign, take her down nice and easy."

"Yes, sir," Ensign Carr replied.

John gave out his orders. "Alright, I'll go down first, set your vector to follow, I should be able to scout for an L.Z."

"Aye, sir, WarpStar out," O'Connell remarked as he sat back down on the captain's chair.

"Alright, let's do this," John announced as he piloted his fighter toward the big blue marble, which had cleverly concealed itself until they got closer. "Betsy, engage in planetary entry mode."

"Acknowledged," the female A.I replied. "Setting power distribution accordingly. Disabling weapons, setting shields to full ventral."

"Alright let's do this, nice and easy."

"WarpStar, my vector is locked, entering upper Ionosphere now, will be in blackout zone shortly, re-establish contact once clear of atmosphere."

"Roger that, good luck on your descent. WarpStar out," O'Connell replied as the WarpStar moved into position herself for a very rough landing.

John put the planet directly under him. Flames, heat, and intense radiation started bombarding the underbelly of the fighter as the turbulence shook the cockpit.

On the viewscreen of the WarpStar, the bridge crew could see a small fireball flying through the atmosphere of the planet just below them.

"Sir, our vector is green, holding steady at point oh-oh five. Atmosphere entry in forty-five seconds," Ensign Carr stated as she read her instruments.

"Alright, ensign, take her down nice and easy," O'Connell replied. "All hands, prepare for planetary entry!"

The planet was still directly in front of them when the timer counted down to fifteen seconds. Ensign Carr adjusted her flight yoke, and the planet came directly under them. She pulled back on the throttle lever and the ship started falling. The same friction, heat, and radiation began to bombard the WarpStar as she made her descent.

"Sir," Betsy was chiming in with her charming, too-human voice. "Estimating safe zone in ten seconds."

"Yup, your readings are correct, get ready for atmo flight."

"Preparing subsystems."

The g-forces reduced suddenly when the viewscreen came to life once more. The blue hue of the atmosphere replaced the dark, starry night of space. Meanwhile, John realized the force of gravity was pulling him towards his back instead of down to his seat. The fighter was in free fall.

"Sir, our vector is not optimal; engines are non-operational. I am unable to compensate," Betsy stated.

"I see that!" John replied as he was fighting his flight yoke to try to correct his problem.

"Fire the dorsal thrusters."

"Firing dorsal thrusters," Betsy replied as the front top thrusters started firing, bringing the nose of the fighter down but burning up valuable fuel needed for the Atmosphere engines to operate.

As the fighter came at a descent angle facing down, John was able to regain control. "Alright, that's enough, cut thrusters, fire engines," John commanded out as he continued to struggle to stabilize his fighter.

"Engines fired up," Betsy reported. John could hear a loud whine as the engines fired up and provided thrust. "I have been programmed to maneuver in the atmosphere if you like safely, I can set a course and land the ship safely."

"Negative, I too was 'programmed' for optimal atmosphere flight!" John replied. He put the throttle at full power and yanked his flight yoke into a spin.

"Sir, this is not 'optimal' flight," the A.I. replied.

"It sure is not, but it is F.U.N.! Wooo!!"

"Coming in at point four-three-nine, seven degrees negative," Ensign Carr reported as she lined the WarpStar up for Atmosphere Entry. "Set friction shield on full."

"E.T.A.?" Commander O'Connell asked Ensign Carr.

"Atmo entry in T-minus fifteen seconds."

"Attention, all hands," O'Connell spoke into the 1MC. "We will be hitting the atmosphere in ten seconds. Brace for impact!"

And just a few seconds later, a tremendous jolt shook the crew of the WarpStar as the viewport turned from a blue marble, on a black background, to a violent aurora of bright yellow-red-orange destructive force all around the ship.

"T-minus one minute until out of blackout," Carr yelled over the violent sounds.

John was having too much fun waiting for the WarpStar to join him. He was so busy completing barrel rolls, loops, and various other tight maneuvers, he didn't even notice what was awaiting him.

"Sir, I believe you should look at this. Your fun time can wait," Betsy commented in a sarcastic tone.

This caught John’s attention. He had calmed down a bit and put the fighter on autopilot to check into what his A.I was talking about.

"Alright, Betsy, what is this that you spotted?"

Popped up on the display panel of his fighter was an aerial view of an ancient abandoned city. It was colossal, larger than any single city that Earth had.

"Whoa," John blurted, "I guess this truly answers the question, are we alone out there." Humans had never had any actual evidence alien life existed beyond the Sol System. The Legion was the closest they had ever encountered, and they were just robotic death machines. Hyperspace was also discovered. However, the running theory was it was a technology created by the Legion and left abandoned many millions of years before discovery. Spotting an actual city, which indicates the existence of a once-ancient civilization, answers the question humans have been asking for thousands of years.

"That would seem logical. My database indicates that no human has ever been to this planet, yet the structures that are here have very strong similarities to the architectural design of buildings on Earth."

"What is this?" John asked, referring to a small spectrograph display on his other display.

"That is a very faint power signature I am picking up from within the city; I am unable to localize it."

As John was analyzing his findings, he looked up to see a fireball headed right toward him.