RESCUE PILOTS! Unsung Heroes of the War-Part 3 of 5 "Bug Hell" by Derek Radar
03 Feb 2024Jack Remiet
PART 3 of 5: Bug HellI had never experienced a hyperdiction before. I’d heard tell of them, certainly–the sickening lurch, the pea-soup Thargoid green seeping into the corners of the eyes. But tales don’t prepare you for the real thing. That first hyperdiction began a series of fifteen minute spans, each the scariest moment of my life up to that point, each one topping the last.
“It’s a Medusa,” I heard Orion say. “There’s two,” Ham corrected. “We need to get silent.” “Not yet.” Jack surged Unrest to full power and tried to split them, but the Thargoids lightning attack was too quick. The cockpit felt like a hurricane as Unrest tumbled to an awkward stop. “Shields offline.” "Full pips to engines.” “We need to go silent!” “Not yet.”
And then, just as I thought I couldn’t be anymore frightened, the computer chimed: “Frameshift Drive disabled.” We couldn’t leave. Could we fight? Jack freed the ship and began to put some distance between us and our attackers, taking advantage of his ability to out-turn them. Fire rained on us. “Caustic damage detected.” Jack rocked the ship back and forth, boosting at every opportunity. “Distance.” “Two point two klicks.” “Almost there.” “Two point eight.” “Engage silent running. Disengage flight assist.” Unrest roared quickly around as Jack engaged the afterburners. “Drop a sink. Shut everything down. Full reboot.” Ship systems began an orderly cascade offline as the moisture in the air began to condense into frost. Out the canopy, the Medusas appeared smaller and smaller, until finally we couldn’t make them out at all.
The Thargoids had chased the heat sink, as Jack had hoped, and now had no idea where we were. Twenty minutes later, Bug had the FSD up and running again, and we resumed the jump. That jump felt like the longest of my life, but this time we arrived uninterrupted. Jack set course for Laval Terminal. “We’re going to come in at a leisurely pace, get everything fixed. Derek, you’re unmuted. Twenty minutes everybody.”
I ask Jack how he prepares for moments like this as the crew works. “You have to decide very quickly if you’re going to fight or run,” he explains. “You’ll stand about the same punishment either way, but only one generally will get you out alive, and you have to commit to it right away. We couldn’t win a fight against those two Medusas on our own. But they’re pretty fast and tough to run against; they’ll mass-lock you; you’ve got to get cold and get far away. We were lucky we only lost our FSD to that double lightning attack. Guardian tech was worth the effort to get. That probably would have killed us six months ago.”
There’s a matter-of-factness about Jack that’s unnerving sometimes. I ask if that fact gives him pause. “Like what would have happened today if we didn’t have the Guardian reinforcements?” He shrugs. “I sort of feel like most of all this–” he extends his arms–”is dumb fucking luck? Hell, you're now one of maybe a a couple dozen people to survive a double lightning attack. You."
"What's so special about me?" I ask.
"Well, exactly." He gets up and takes a canteen pull, then indicates for me to grab mine and do the same. "Hydrate," he orders as he approaches my seat. "Same thing is special about you that's special about me. Nothing. We control so little of this whole thing. You're wondering what's keeping us alive, right?"
"In the sense that I'm wondering whether or not you all have a death wish?" I admit. "I suppose, yes, that's occurring to me."
"Well, I don't have specifics on that, I don't think," Jack scoffs. "But, I'm almost positive that--whatever it is-- it's the same thing keeping you alive, too."
Coming Soon…PART 4 of 5: World On Fire