A Bad Day to be WET - 1. Chapter 1

“What the fuck? They want us to land on an aircraft carrier in the eye of a hurricane? Are they out of their fucking minds?”

“I do not have enough data to determine that,” Aegis replied.

“Aegis, if I didn’t know that you knew me so well, I’d have believed you actually meant that. You can’t pull that trick on me anymore though.”

“Of course, sir. I do need to keep in practice for the next sucker who comes along though.”

“I love you, Aegis. What information do you have for this mission?”

“Hurricane Michelle is a Category 5 storm with current sustained winds at 185 miles per hour. We need to rendezvous with the United States Navy Carrier Rafael Cruz. The Cruz is the lead of its ship class and the largest aircraft carrier ever built.”

Aegis displayed an overhead schematic of the Rafael Cruz before superimposing an image of their ship over it. “As you can see sir, we’ll be a tight fit to land on the forward deck. Just to add a little more excitement in your life, the seas are reported as being extremely rough despite being in the eye of the storm.”

“How did the senator end up there on a carrier in the middle of a hurricane?”

“According to the report, he was in San Juan, Puerto Rico with his son when he was recalled to Alpha Centauri Four. The plane they were flying in was diverted there because of the storm. The Navy went in to get them but got caught in the storm trying to get out.”

“Are they incapable of flight operations?”

“They are on their very limit for conventional aircraft. They would not risk VIPs in this.”

“That would explain why they went so far as to ask us for help. Fucking morons. How do we contact them?”

“You can contact them on USA Channel Three,” Aegis replied.

Bill adjusted course to align for a de-orbiting trajectory.

“Thank you, Aegis. Plot a course to the USS Rafael Cruz.”

“Course plotted. Direct course would require a steep ballistic trajectory as we’ll have to drop straight down into the eye of the hurricane.”

“Great.” He keyed his microphone with his left thumb on the collective control. “TCS Heavy Bomber 113 call sign Jammer to USS Rafael Cruz on your frequency.”

“This is the USS Rafael Cruz. Please stand by, Jammer. We’re not ready for space debris on deck,” a young male voice drawled.

“I have a five-minute window to begin a de-orbiting maneuver to reach your position before I’ll have to make another orbit. If the VIP need is so urgent, is he going to want to wait another two hours for me to orbit?”

There was a long pause. “Commence your de-orbiting maneuver now. We are tracking you on radar and will have the decks cleared for your arrival.”

Bill snorted, leaning forward in his seat. “Appreciate your cooperation, Rafael Cruz. Jammer out.” He shook his head. “Aegis, why the hell do they always cause such a ruckus?”

“I’m an AI; if humans do not understand other humans, how do you expect a computer to?”

Raising an eyebrow, he said, “That was a disturbingly human response, Aegis. I am impressed.”

“Extrapolating from available data and from vocal analysis, I would estimate that the cause was related to human jealousy. The most likely reason, if that is the case, is that positions in the Terran Confederation Spaceforce are highly competitive. Pilots especially so.”

Bill took a firmer grip on the controls and activated his five-point seat restraints. They were largely unnecessary while in space, outside of combat, but were very handy for atmospheric flight. Especially turbulent flight. He couldn’t really think of anything more turbulent than a Category 5 Hurricane. After he was situated and had his game face on, he replied, “You make a good point, Aegis. Commence a de-orbit burn on a priority trajectory. Please set heat shields to maximum. We are going to light up like the sun.”

“Sir, we are going to be entering some very rough air, and the ship is fighting very heavy seas, despite being in the eye.”

“Better set inertia dampeners to maximum, and, when we get near to landing, crank up our antigravity unit. We do not want to slam into the deck of that ship under full mass. We’d crack the ship’s hull down to its keel.”

“My simulations confirm that conclusion. I am currently preparing mission abort parameters in case they are needed.”

“I don’t know what I would do without you, Aegis.”

The first part of the trip into the atmosphere he was just burning his way through. He would have been knocked around a lot had he been in a conventional aircraft. As it was, he was able to make a very fast, but stable, decent. The hard part would be actually landing on the heaving carrier deck at night in the middle of one hell of a storm.

“Aegis, time to target?”

“We should be able to land in four minutes.”

“USS Rafael Cruz, this is Jammer. Requesting clearance to land on your forward deck.”

“Negative, TCS Heavy Bomber 113. We are still clearing the deck. Please do a flyby.”

“If you insist, Cruz,” Bill snapped out before closing the channel. “Aegis, how fast will be going when we hit one thousand feet?”

“At current deceleration, we’ll be just under Mach one.”

“Slow our deceleration and maintain speed for a Mach two overflight. Plot course for an immediate turn and braking maneuver to land.”

“Sir, that will cause a lot of chaos on the ship due to sonic booms.”

“Yes it will. Maybe they’ll stop being assholes. Set the course.”

“Yes, sir.”

Three minutes later they were low enough to see the heaving megaship as they blew past overhead.

“I still can’t believe they want me to land in the middle of a bloody hurricane. These mudpounders are fucking idiots.”

“TCS Heavy Bomber 113, what the hell was that?” the same young voice demanded.

“You ordered a flyby, and I don’t have enough fuel to slow down and then orbit indefinitely for you to pull the thumb out, Cruz. In fact, if you are not ready on my return in three minutes, I am going to abort. Landing a ship this big on your deck in this storm is insane. If my AG generators hiccup at all, I’ll crush your ship like a beer can.”

There was a long pause before a female voice said, “Jammer, you are clear to land now. We have lit the deck for you.”

“Thank you, Cruz.”

Bill slowed the craft down as he approached the ship. He went into hover and gently let the deck come up to him. He then used thrusters to hold him to the deck. “Aegis, increase our weight to just enough to hold us in place. Monitor everything and don’t let us be on the deck if the AG generator fluctuates at all.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Jammer, your guests are coming to you now. Please lower your cargo bay loading ramp.”

“Aegis, let them in.”

It took ten minutes for three people with bags to board the ship. Bill kept his hands firmly on the controls and monitored the ship’s movement the whole time. The entire ship was rocking around like a toy in the bathtub. As bad as this was, this was the eye of the hurricane. He could only imagine the hell it would be in the actual cyclone part of the storm. Bill did not like being in a place with weather.

The passengers were an old man, a guy about nineteen who was clearly his son, and a security guard in his mid-twenties. They each found a seat in the five that were open with the ship’s current configuration, evidently deciding to stay together and not take one of the several seats scattered aft.

“You are in a bit of trouble, son,” the old man stated as he sat in the flight seat.

Bill kept his hands and eyes on his task and did not turn to look at the senator. “I seriously doubt that, Senator.”

“You stirred up quite the hornet’s nest, and I’m sure they are going to call your superiors.”

“The captain of the ship knows I am right. That is why my suggestions were followed immediately. I suppose I could have been more tactful, but if they are acting like assholes, there is no reason I shouldn’t return the favor.”

“They said they were going to bring you up on charges,” the youngest man stated as he took his seat.

“What are they going to do to punish me exactly? Have me run more passenger pickups from Earth?”

“I’m clearly missing something,” the young man replied.

Bill finally took a moment to leer at the young man over his shoulder. “I’ll explain it over drinks later.”

The senator’s eyes bugged out. “Are you hitting on my son?”

“I sure am. You did a great job, sir. He’s Grade A Prime.”

The Senator sputtered.

Seeing as he had successfully flustered the senator, he turned his attention to getting the hell out of there. “Aegis, full power to AG generator as we approach the apex of the next big wave. I want the ship to help fling us off the deck. You gentlemen should buckle up and hold on tight. This is going to be a bit bumpy, even with the inertia dampeners on full.”

“Ship is sealed and ready for liftoff.”

“Cruz, we are going to bounce off on the next big wave.”

“You are clear, TCS Heavy Bomber 113.”

Bill watched carefully, and, as a huge wave approached, he punched the thrusters near the apex of the wave. The bomber lifted gracefully off the deck and went up and forward as the carrier fell away into the trough between wave crests.

“Set course to bring us into orbit”—he glanced back at the old man— “and use a spiral pattern inside of the eye. Direct orbital insertion is a bit too stressful for the inexperienced.”

“Course laid in.”

“Initiate climb.”

“AI has the controls.”

Bill turned his attention to his guests while keeping an eye on his heads up display on his flight visor. “Senator, it would be a vast understatement to say it is unusual to have someone like me pick you up. Though I am commonly acknowledged as one of the best pilots in the Terran Confederation, that is because I’m in the pilot’s seat the better part of twenty hours per day. What is all so hellfire important that you need to be at Alpha Centauri Four so quickly that everyone is willing to risk the tens of billions of credits of this ship and the Cruz along with the thousands of lives on that ship?”

The man paled somewhat but avoided the question by asking his own. “What do you mean risking the ship?”

“There are perhaps two other guys in the fleet who could have pulled the maneuver of landing on that ship. Had anything gone wrong, the size of this bomber and its real weight would have crushed that ship. We are able to alter our weight with our antigravity generator, but if anything had gone wrong at all, the damage we could have done to that ship would be catastrophic. Further, they sent me in a ship that I had literally just completed calibrating the navigational computer. As good as our dock crews are, we have shakedown flights for a reason. They sent me to you without one. Now I want to know why.”

“It’s classified.”

“I think you’ll find, if you check, that I hold an Ultraviolent Security Clearance. They do, after all, send me out by myself in every type of ship we’ve got. As one of only five Jumpers in the fleet, we’re awfully busy calibrating navigation computers to their ships.”

“You have psionic powers?” blurted out the senator’s son, looking a lot more interested even as his cheeks took on a pink tinge.

Bill turned to look at him and wiggled both of his eyebrows. “Yes.”

The teen flushed pink.

Bill blinked slowly at the sudden feeling of lust and curiosity he felt from the teen. “I know a nice little place on Alpha Centauri Four where we can get a drink if you’d like.”

The teen blushed deeper red.

“Hey! You can’t go talking to my son like that.”

“Pfft. I can talk to him any way I’d like. He’s an adult.”

“You are way over the line, mister!” the Senator snarled.

“I live on the wrong side of the line. I do the highest risk job in the entire fleet. Every day for hours on end. There is nothing you can do to me—especially for merely hitting on your son.”

The man snarled and leaned back in his seat. The bodyguard had a stoic face, but Bill could feel the emotions dancing inside the man. He wanted to burst out laughing but knew he’d be in deep shit with his boss if he did.

Bill felt the teen’s surprise with a tinge of admiration. It probably wasn’t often someone stood up to his old man.

“So, why are we going to Alpha Centauri Four?”

“An emergency Senate session has been called because of ongoing riots on the planet,” the son answered when it was clear his father wasn’t going to.

Bill snorted. “This is classified?”

“It is a secret session because they are finally motivated to deal with the Outcast problem.”

“Is that why they are sending you home in a heavy planetary bomber?” Bill grunted. “We haven’t even tested our full arms’ complement yet.”

“Actually, sir, by my calculations we have enough on board to make most of the Outcast territories uninhabitable with our current accuracy settings,” Aegis interjected.

“Thank you, Aegis. Would you mind adjusting your bloodthirsty setting down about fifty percent when we have guests?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Did your AI just suggest killing all of the Outcasts?” the senator asked.

“Indirectly. He has a tendency to do that. He matches my personality very well, and I wouldn’t put up with all the bullshit the Outcasts cause. There is a reason why those obnoxious creatures are banned from every planet except Earth and Alpha Centauri Four. I would think it’s only a matter of time before they transplant them from Earth, drop them on Alpha Centauri Four and then disconnect the planet from the jump network. Well, that’s what I would do anyway.”

The teen was pretty wide-eyed at that statement. “Is that a common feeling in the Terran Confederation military?”

“The people who make up the Outcasts are either out to kill you directly because you don’t match their so-called religion or indirectly through their stupidity and total disconnect with reality. I’d cut all those people off from the rest of humanity. Until they learn to mind their own business and run their own lives, they get what they deserve. And to directly answer your question, I’m probably considered too nice by my compatriots.”

The Senator looked appalled. “How could you think that?”

“Senator, I believe in personal responsibility. Space is the harshest mistress there is. Any mistakes mean you die. Settling a new planet takes a tremendous amount of hard work. There is no room for people who aren’t willing to pull their own weight. And there is even less room for people who want to kill you because you don’t believe in some thousand-year-old book or another. I’m perfectly willing to live and let live, but their poisonous ideas need to die and not infect the rest of humanity. We have been down this road too many times before. The combined dead for those political philosophies and made-up religions worshipping Arabian moon gods is over two billion people. Humans are still animals and all of these things are weaknesses making you not work for your own life.”

The teen fidgeted and then leaned forward. “How old are you, Captain?”

“I’m twenty-three.” He lifted one eyebrow, taking a moment to glance at the boy.

“How long have you been flying?”

“My talent was recognized early, and I started in simulators when I was five. I’ve been piloting actual vehicles since I was ten. I’ve been calibrating navigational computers and jump drives since I was eighteen. Tell me about yourself.”

The Senator sat stewing in his seat, clearly angry but not voicing it.

“I’m Jim Frost, and I’m nineteen. I’m studying mechanical engineering at MIT. I am on the swim team there. I grew up in Washington, D.C. since Dad has been a senator my entire life.”

“Well, I guess not everything that comes out of Washington, D.C. is horrible then.”

The teen looked at him quickly and turned away. “What’s your name, Captain? All I have heard is Jammer.”

“Jammer is my call sign, which all pilots get stuck with sooner or later. My name is William Elijah Thomas. If you ever want to get WET, let me know,” Bill said while turning to give a leer towards the boy.

“Stop hitting on my son!” the senator growled.

“Relax, Senator, I’m just teasing him. What has you so wound up?”

The senator’s eyes narrowed.

“Senator, I’m an empath, and I have no telepathic ability to speak of. I can tell you’re worried and that your anger at me is only a mask. You don’t care a whit whom your son likes. You should tell him that, sir, as your behavior is not helping him at the moment.”

Bill felt the Senator’s surprise.

“Jim, the captain is correct. Though I don’t like the idea of cheap thrills over substance.”

“Cheap thrills? Ha! There is nothing better than a nice flight around Uranus before slipping in, tilting back, and seeing stars.”

The bodyguard, who had been invisible in the way that bodyguards tended to be, finally broke silence after that. “You sound like an interesting man to know, Captain.”

“You can always come along to make sure Jimmy boy stays safe.” Bill smirked.

“Do you practice these lines?” the guard blurted out before the Senator could weigh in again.

“All the bloody time, sir.” Aegis displayed a holographic emoticon of eyes rolling on the display.

“Aegis, you bloody snitch! You’re not supposed to tell people that.”

“Oh, I am so sorry, sir. Should I not mention the videos?”

“Videos?” Jim piped up.

“Oh certainly sir, there are a great—”

“Aegis, mute.”

“Hey, I wanted to hear about videos,” Jim teased back, clearly no longer intimidated by Bill’s antics.

“Stick around, kid, you can star in some,” Bill replied.

Jim blushed scarlet.

“We are now clear of the storm.” Aegis popped back up, ignoring the order to stay mute.

“Approach Control, this is Jammer on Priority One ferry run requesting clearance for Jump Station One.”

“Jammer, you are cleared for Jump Station One. Initiate Plan Epsilon.”

“Acknowledged.” Bill took a moment to mentally review Plan Epsilon. “Aegis, initiate battle stations. Charge weapons and deploy shields.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Gentlemen, something has changed, and I’ve been ordered to go in hot. Jim, please move up here next to me. I might need you for a couple of things. Agent Smith, please sit at the weapons’ station. Aegis will instruct you on what you need to know. Everyone, please make sure your seat restraints are tight.”

Jim and Agent Smith both relocated, and strapped into their new seats.

“Senator, I need more information right now. It is extremely outside of the norm to move into a hostile situation with civilians in tow, let alone a VIP.”

The Senator stayed quiet for a long minute before he finally replied, “There has been some concern that the Outcasts would band together and try to overthrow the government. There were rumors they might have successfully infiltrated some of the Planetary Defense Forces. They are hoping I’ll be able to calm things in negotiations.”

“I see,” Bill said while reading text on his heads up display. He was now authorized to use force in whatever way necessary to protect Terran Confederation interests.

“It appears that I have authorization to use force at my discretion. Aegis, target our jump for Epsilon Delta Charlie.”

“Jump plotted and ready for when we reach the jump point.”

“Hold on tight, gentlemen. We are not going in at the usual jump point as that would be tantamount to suicide if we’re going into a warzone. We’re going to one of the many alternate military jump points, and this is not going to be anywhere near as smooth as a normal jump.”

The other occupants of the ship all gripped the arms of their seats.

“Activate orbital insertion boosters and proceed to maximum velocity for combat jump.”

“Aye. Four… Three… Two… One… Ignition!”

The ship jumped from the fairly sedate Mach 4 to Mach 8 and continued to accelerate as they took a due east near vertical trajectory off the planet.

All the occupants of the ship were pressed into their seats, but the g-force was manageable due to the inertia dampeners. A large bar appeared on the cockpit HUD for everyone to see.

“We’re going to be pushing past the standard inertia dampener threshold when the bar reaches zero. Please brace yourself as the g-force is going to increase. I am monitoring your health signs and will adjust acceleration to keep you safe while going as quickly as we can,” Aegis stated.

“Why do we need to accelerate so much?” the senator squeezed out.

“Two reasons. We need to reach escape velocity as quickly as we can, and it is better to come out of the jump at maneuvering speed,” Bill replied while making a minor course adjustment.

They all felt the acceleration as they continued to increase speed and finally were pushing the upper edge of the atmosphere. They were passing relatively near a massive ship.

“Jesus, we’re close. What ship is that?” the senator asked.

Aegis turned on the identifiers for the heads-up display. “That’s the TCS Wrath of Geronimo. The entire fleet has gone on alert because of your little planetary issue, Senator.” Every object on in the window had a label on it, but the Wrath was the most prominent. There was also an alert flashing in red on the bottom of the HUD, showing that the fleet was indeed on alert.

“All hands, prepare to jump,” Bill stated as a countdown clock appeared on the HUD. It ticked down from five, and they jumped when it hit zero.

As promised, the jump was a lot rougher and longer than usual. They appeared on the far side of fifth planet in the system. There was no traffic in their vicinity.

“Aegis, give me a tactical update.”

“Sir, it looks like the Planetary Defense Tactical Network is offline. The TCS Spirit of Autumn has fighters deployed and is engaged with an unidentified vessel.”

“How are the approaches to the planet?”

“It would be risky to try to move through the combat zone.” Aegis showed a tactical overlay on the HUD with the hostile ships marked in red. “I’m getting Tac-Net data from Autumn.”

“Senator, we can offer our assistance to Spirit of Autumn or we can hang back.”

“Can we jump close to the planet and land from there?”

“Not in this ship, no. We’ve only made one jump since calibration, and I’m not going to trust that to jump near the planet.”

“Why?”

Bill turned to Jim to see a puzzled look on his face. “We might come out of the jump point too close to the planet and disappear into a flaming wreck.”

“Oh.”

“Go ahead and offer assistance,” the Senator interjected before anything else could be said.

“Spirit of Autumn, this is TCS Heavy Bomber 113 Call sign Jammer. Do you require assistance?”

Thirty seconds later they responded. “Jammer, we’re good here. Please stay out of the fight zone with your VIP. We’ll give you clearance as soon as we’re able.”

“Acknowledged.”

They approached the planet without changing speed. It would be hours before they’d have to slow down if they kept the same pace. They had the forward screen zoomed in on the battle when they all saw a laser lance up from the planet and strike the Autumn from behind.

“Senator, it appears your planet has a lot bigger problem than you thought. Aegis, open emergency channel one to Fleet Command.”

“Channel open.”

“Fleet Command, this is Jammer on emergency channel. TCS Spirit of Autumn is taking heavy fire from Alpha Centauri Four. Request instructions.”

There was a minute of silence before Admiral Sukalov appeared on screen. “Jammer, target that planetary defense laser using everything you’ve got but don’t get your VIP killed.”

“Yes, sir,” he replied as he made calculations to do a controlled jump, the communication channel closing.

“We’re going to have to jump near the planet for this to work, and I know I just told you we shouldn’t. I’m going to do the jump myself and not reply on the navigation computer. I’m going to ask you to not distract me at all.”

Bill glanced at Jim and got a nod. “This is going to be rough, but we should make it through okay. Aegis, activate stealth mode.”

“Stealth mode engaged. Emissions have been shut down.”

“Target that laser. Which one is it?”

“The only one firing is on the third continent, New Europe.” Aegis had the HUD show the planet and location of the attacking laser.

“That’s where the majority of the Outcasts are,” Jim informed Bill.

“Aegis, what do we have on board that will crack the shields on that laser?”

“The only thing we have that will get through full shields is a TW99.” Aegis sounded very solemn.

Bill long-blinked and paused for a moment. “Aegis, I, Captain William Elijah Thomas, Alpha Bravo Zulu Niner Niner Five, authorize the release of nuclear weapons under the authority of the Terran Confederation Constitution Article VI. Agent Smith, please second that command at your console.”

“This is Terran Confederation Secret Service Agent Johnathan Yohan Smith, Whiskey Golf Hotel Tango Tango Niner, and the release of nuclear weapons per Article VI of the Terran Confederation Constitution is authorized.”

“Acknowledged. Weapon is armed and ready to deploy.”

“Set the yield to be enough to take out the laser but minimize damage outside that area.”

“Done.”

The tactical display showed the Autumn was heavily damaged and limping away from the planet. The sight of one of his ships showing such damage pissed him off. He cleared his mind and focused on jumping. “Gentlemen, please hold on tight and if you believe in a higher power, now would be a good time to pray.”

Jim bowed his head and gripped the armrests tight.

The heavy bomber stretched as they jumped and appeared in orbit of the planet moments later. Before it could be locked on, Bill fired off the TW99 and immediately started evasive maneuvers to get them away from the laser. The stealth system was enough to keep them from being vaporized in the only shot the laser was able to get off before the whole area disappeared under a large mushroom cloud.

“Now I have become Death, the destroyer of worlds,” Bill said quietly.

The others in the cabin were silent as Bill continued to fly erratically to avoid any fire. “Aegis, how is Autumn doing?”

“It looks like they could use some help with the fighters.” Aegis displayed the tactical map on the HUD highlighting where they needed to move to help out the larger warship.

“Aegis, use the point defense system to take out the fighters as we move closer to the battle. Agent Smith, use your console to shoot anything that shows up on your screen in red. Aegis will handle prioritizing targets for you.”

Bill steered the heavy bomber straight at the ships giving the Autumn the most trouble that Aegis had indicated on the tactical map. With the stealth system they were able to get close enough that the enemy didn’t know they were there until they were under fire, and by then it was too late for them.

With the surprise help from the bomber, the Autumn’s fighters were able to clean up the mess.

“Incoming from Autumn on Channel One,” Aegis announced.

“Thanks for your help, Jammer. We’ve received confirmation from Fleet Command that the Wrath of Achilles and Wrath of Geronimo will be arriving shortly to stand at station. As soon as they arrive, you should be clear to take your VIP to the capital.”

“Acknowledged.”

The occupants of the bomber waited in silence, alert for any more surprises. They watched as the two massive warships jumped into the area with a full array of fighters flanking them and two more Spirit Class Cruisers coming in behind them.

Bill finally released the tension and stiffness in his posture, and he leaned back and eyed the young man next to him. “So Jimmy, do you want to hot bunk with me on Wrath of Geronimo after we drop your dad off?”

“You’re still crossing the line, Captain,” the Senator said, with much less heat than earlier.

“I sure am, Senator, but you’ve got a taste of what my life’s like.”

The senator glanced at his son.

“I’d like that,” Jim said. He met his dad’s gaze steadily.

Bill didn’t flinch when the Senator turned his scrutiny to him. “Sometimes it’s nice to have someone to enjoy those rare quiet moments with, you know?”

The senator nodded reluctantly. “I know.”