Duty, 4: Support Roles
26 Apr 2022Meowers
There's one thing happened last week that I'd like to mention particularly. In general, the week was quite 'usual' both for our rookie wing and by AXDF standards, we were patrolling in the nearby systems, responding to distress calls or long-range sensor signals, chasing those Cyclopes and beating them with our Gauss sticks. Sometimes even yelling some rude words at them, hah. I doubt they had a chance to hear or understand what was going through our comms, but, you know, it's good for morale. I even called them 'flying piñatas' once. However, most of the time we were arriving only to see nothing: either we were slow, or the Thargoids were fast, leaving the place before we could jump in and kick their arse. At least those miners were saying they saw Thargoids suddenly jumping away. Ha! Fear us, you little shits!
Also, I thought sticking to the discipline might pose a problem, but I got it quite fast. Eight hours of sleeping, eight hours on active duty, eight hours on standby. And while there was no intensive aggression from the Thargoids, 'standby' meant doing nothing mostly. I was spending that time on Marshmallow, reading books or local news, running daily maintenance checks or just thinking about stuff, sometimes showing up in the mess to eat something and say hello to people. Oh. I have a chance to become a sociable creature, but not that fast, hah.
But... I went off topic a bit. Or a lot. So, I was worried about David. He got in trouble twice during the last week. One accident was looking like a cavalry charge, he boosted towards the Cyclops and it was, thankfully, a near miss, but the Thargoid was quick enough to turn around and target the back of his Chieftain, sending a long burst. And then the second, two days later, he'd forgotten about heatsinks and thermal vent beams, firing his Gauss cannons for so long that I swear I saw the smoke around his ship and even in the cockpit. Joseph yelled at him and he ceased fire, however, we had to return to the Atlas again.
It was strange. His scores with those training targets were quite nice, but something was wrong during the actual combat. He told us he was scared, even if one or two Cyclopes weren't a danger for our wing. Joseph wanted to give him another round of training routines during the 'standby' time, but I volunteered to help more... psychologically. Told Joseph that I have some experience on that field and 'some of it is first-hand'. Without revealing the details, of course. And he gave me a shot at it.
So, he was scared. Definitely. He couldn't think and act properly, seeing a real Thargoid, and it became clearly visible for me during the next fight. Two Cyclopes intercepted a transport convoy, they had only two AX-fitted escorts and their pilots weren't quite skilled. They were running out of heatsinks and ammo when we showed up. Joseph and Christine went for one Interceptor, leaving the second for me and David and I had to fight it and watch what David does during the combat.
He was quite okay during the initial phase, when I was flying next to him, but then we had to break formation and attack from two sides. He made an inaccurate 180 turn and fired several times just miles away from the target. Okay, that was tolerable, I was already fine with dealing with the Cyclops on my own, but then he boosted again, accidentally I hope. Straight to the Thargoid vessel. I had to unload the flurry of Gauss rounds, almost without any aiming, activating one heatsink after another, to attract its attention and prevent a direct collision. Still, David hit it, got his canopy breached along with other damage and Joseph had to send Christine to me so we could finish the Thargoid quickly.
We returned to the Atlas and his hands were shaking, he was sweating all over and looked pale. He was shocked. Of course he was shocked, I don't think he had an experience of flying with breached cockpit canopy. It was my turn to do something. So... Yeah, it's much probably the worst way of making people calm down and speak, but I bought a few beers for him and invited him into my personal cabin on Marshmallow to have a talk. Anyway, giving him a tranquiliser without a prescription was even worse.
Yup... He had a sad story to tell me. In his past, he lived in one of the systems close to the uninhabited 'buffer zone', on the other side of it, and worked as an assistant on a Type-7 freighter, getting to the sticks sometimes when the pilot wanted to rest. A few hours after he left his home to board the public shuttle to the starport where his transport was stationed, the Thargoids attacked. They obliterated his living block and several other buildings, causing panic and thousands of casualties, and he was left without a place to return to. Being raised in foster care, he never knew his real parents. So, he joined AXDF.
Oh shit... That was really sad to hear. Reinforcing my belief in the hostile, brutal and insatiable nature of the Thargoids. He could think about joining the supply fleet to fly a transport again, providing us with everything we need to keep fighting, however, as many other people here, he wanted a revenge. He worked hard to get that rental contract for a room and start a better life, normal life, and now it was gone with everything he had.
I never thought about the people, the human beings on a war... Being alone most of the time. All those soldiers and pilots from my 'almost-mercenary' past were just folks whom I wanted to support. Green dots on the sensors. Several centimetres of armoured glass and heavy duty metal alloys between me and them, even if I was on their side. And now... There was a young boy sitting right in front of me. A boy who lost everything he had. A boy who was brave enough to stand up and fight, to pilot a powerful combat vessel, to look at his enemy through the sights.
His first fears were completely forgivable. Every one of us has own fears. I've asked him, and everything was understandable; he had a fear of death or being stranded in space, that will lead to a slow and painful death. However, there was a solid, unbeatable evidence of his brave nature; he's a part of our wing, our small and green, but nevertheless AX fighter wing. I told him about it. I told him about the best outcome, about him destroying a Thargoid in the next fight. And about the most possible, he will be afraid, but I'll be nearby, I can cover him. And about the worst; if his fear overcomes again, then we will help him. And his Chieftain is a good, reliable ship, the Cyclopes that we hunt now have no chance and no time to cause fatal damage. We are always there, always close to him and we are ready to tear the bastard apart. That's why we are a wing.
Had to ask Joseph to give him a day off, three of us were doing okay. So, then the next day. A few 'empty' signals for a start and there we go. Two Cyclopes. We spread out, Joseph and Christine attacked one of them, leaving the second for me and David again. I saw their Gauss rounds ripping the cold space and hitting their target, and it meant we had to attack as well.
"David, just fire at that scumbag. Heatsink, shot, cooldown, shot, cooldown, repeat. Move sidewards, forward thrust 30. Repeat the order."
"Heatsink... Shot-cooldown-shot-cooldown... Move sidewards, forward 30. Got it."
And we attacked. David was moving to the right, keeping the Thargoid in his sights and, with the slight forward thrust, his trajectory was almost circular. Almost. Hell, I've seen his hands shaking, he was firing and firing, with multiple misses, his Chieftain was flinching left and right... But he was still hitting the target with at least a half of the shots. Making sure he was concentrated on the fight, I've engaged the enemy, manoeuvring sharply, trying to confuse it and attract more of its attention. Even with that low accuracy David was doing fine with hitting the hull. And I was ripping the hearts off one by one when they lit up.
"Fourth is away, David, nail that arsehole!"
It wasn't just another dead Cyclops. I hope it was his first step on the path of his revenge.
* * *
David Willett