Hawk Fleet (14.4)

After escorting the EC crew and passengers to the safety of Central Station, Laurie went back out to the landing field. She looked up into the clear blue Exandrian sky to see the Hawks descending through the atmosphere, counting the ships as they came down. As she realized how many of the Hawk squad members had been lost, she felt a catch in her throat again.

Once the Hawk ships had landed in two rows on the landing field, Laurie walked down between the rows, glancing at each of the surviving pilots. When she came to the end of the rows, Laurie looked up towards Chris, who was sitting on the edge of his open cockpit, staring into the evening sky.

"Did everyone on the EC ship make it safely?" Chris asked.

"Yeah, a few scrapes and bruises, but they'll be alright. What about the Star Traveler?" Laurie asked; she already knew the answer.

Chris hopped down from the cockpit of his ship.

"The Star Traveler is gone," he said.

Laurie closing her eyes, reached out to steady herself against the side of the Hawk ship.

"They intercepted that shot to save us and the rest of the EC 8 crew," David said as he approached with Mrs. Hagan. "It disabled them and made them sitting ducks."

"Mom, Dad… I didn't know that you were aboard the EC ship!" Chris exclaimed.

"Everything was last minute," David answered.

The realization that he'd almost lost both of his parents left Chris in a daze. Laurie recognized a similar expression on each of the other Hawks.

"Let's go home, son; you've had a long day." Angela suggested softly.

Laurie spoke up before he could answer, "I… um… Mrs. Hagan, if you don't mind… Chris and I need to show the rest of the Hawks to their quarters and get them settled first."

Angela nodded in agreement. "We will head on home then and get supper ready."

Chris answered with a dazed nod. His parents gave him a short hug before heading back down the path toward Dirin City.

"Hawks, sleeping quarters have been prepared for you inside Central Station," a kindly lady stated, appearing around one of the ships.

Laurie's parents could be seen running up the path from Dirin City behind the lady.

"Thank you," Laurie answered quietly on behalf of the Hawks who were still collecting their personal belongings from the EC 8 ship. Returning her gaze to the empty sky, she barely noticed when her parents cautiously approached.

"Where's the Star Traveler?" Eli asked.

"Gone." Chris replied with a deadpan expression.

"When will they be back?" Dr. Kingston asked.

It was then that Laurie realized that no one had told her parents yet. Still facing the sky, eyes now closed against the wave of emotions fighting to overcome her, she shook her head no.

Her parents looked at each other, still confused.

"There is no coming back from that." One of the Hawks mumbled as he walked over to hand Chris his duffel.

Realization crept across the Kingston's faces, darkening their optimistic expressions.

"Laurie?" Mrs. Kinston managed, with a tremble in her voice.

If mom starts crying, I'm not going to be able to hold it together any more…

"We need to get the Hawks to their quarters and call EASA for a debriefing. I'll come on home afterward." Laurie mentioned quickly, before she lost her resolve.

With that, Chris and Laurie left Mr. and Mrs. Kingston standing overwhelmed and stunned in the middle of the landing field. They silently led the Hawks down the path to Dirin City's Central Station.

They needed food, they needed rest, and they needed time to process what had happened. None of them were looking forward to the debriefing they knew awaited them. Laurie held the door while everyone filed in through the double doors to the station. As the last Hawk passed her, she paused to take one last look at the clear Exandrian sky, now turning pink with the slowly setting sun, before heading inside. There were no words she could think of to make sense of this loss, and yet somehow, she would have to find some.

*****

Her heart still aching from the loss of Captain Mitchell and Dr. Smith, Laurie walked out to the landing field early the next morning. Tears blurred her vision as she let the early morning breeze play with her hair as it lay loosely on her shoulders. Seeing a small figure sitting on the ground beside one of the Hawk ships, Laurie approached quietly.

"'Morning, Laurie."

"How did you know it was me?" Laurie asked, sitting down beside Chris, who was working with his MTD and some equipment from his Hawk ship.

A bundle of wires connected Chris' Hawk ship to a small black box sitting beside Chris on the ground. This black box was in turn connected by a single cord to Chris' MTD in front of him.

"You approached quietly enough," Chris answered with a chuckle. "I saw your reflection on the side of my ship. That, and you are the only person in Dirin City that I know of that would be up and about on a Sunday at six o' clock in the morning."

Laurie shook her head as she managed a small smile, "Except for you, of course! Is all of this what I think it is?" she asked, checking out the connections Chris had made.

"Yeah," Chris answered, glancing up at the cockpit of his Hawk ship, then back down at his MTD which he had laid on the ground.

The clear dome that covered the cockpit was open.

"I was reviewing the flight records on my ship's computer. They taught us to do this after every mission in flight training. It's a good thing too because I found something interesting," Chris explained. "See, here is when the Platonians warships attacked us as we approached Exandra."

Laurie nodded, watching Chris' MTD screen.

"Here's the place where the Star Traveler was destroyed," Chris continued, putting the scene into freeze frame.

Laurie gulped, then nodded, still unable to speak. Chris took the stylus from its clip on the keyboard of his MTD and touched an area to the right-hand side of the freeze frame.

"Magnify times ten," he commanded.

Through the debris from the Star Traveler, Laurie could see the outline of two of the emergency shuttles. Chris then fast forwarded the flight record to right before the Platonian warships retreated.

"Right here, you see where the warship retrieved two objects from space with its clawed arm?"

"Yeah," Laurie responded, squinting at the MTD screen.

Chris again touched the screen with his MTD pen.

"If I'm right… magnify times ten -- there!"

"It's the two emergency ships!" Laurie exclaimed.

"There's a good chance Captain Mitchell and Dr. Smith are in those ships."

"We should send this to the Flight Coordinator!"

"I'm well ahead of you; go ahead, Laurie!" Chris answered, typing on his MTD.

"Hello?" The Flight Coordinator answered, his face appearing on Chris' MTD screen.

"Sir? We're sorry to wake you."

"No need, Miss Laurie; I've been up working for some time now. I've received news of the losses from last night's battle. Eleven Hawks, Captain Mitchell and Dr. Smith from the Star Traveler, all gone."

"Yes sir…," Laurie began.

"But that information may not be entirely accurate," Chris answered.

"Which part?" The Flight Coordinator asked, suddenly attentive.

"We have uncovered some evidence that the Captain and Dr. Smith may still be alive. I'm transmitting the data now," Chris answered.

The Flight Coordinator rolled his chair sideways to look at the visual coming in on his second screen. After reviewing the flight data, he slid back to face Chris and Laurie.

"The information that you've sent me shows strong evidence that Captain Mitchell and Dr. Smith may be in the hands of the Platonians; or as you refer to them, the Guild. But I can't allow you to mount a rescue mission just now. All you have out there are the EC ships with no weapons. The Platonians weapons capability out matches the weapons on any of our current ships. We have a team reviewing the logs from your battles with them and are designing a new Star Traveler that will be better equipped to meet these Platonians in combat. We hope to have it ready in a couple of months. Then we will discuss organizing a rescue. But right now, a rescue attempt would be futile‒if not suicidal."

Chris and Laurie glanced at each other, then back to the MTD screen.

"Roger, sir," Chris answered matter-of-factly for the both of them, Laurie appeared lost in thought.

His hands shook at the keyboard as he fought to keep his composure. The MTD screen faded to its main screen as the Flight Coordinator signed off.

"Well the good news is that we have a few months," Laurie stated.

"Good news?" Chris responded, his voice rising and his eyes wide. Laurie smiled. Subsiding a bit he muttered, "Okay, I'll take the bait. What's on the line?"

"Us and two Hawk ships," Laurie answered.

"I see… a spying mission to gather information… if I'm correct," Chris reasoned as Laurie nodded. "But will our parents go for it?"

"It wouldn't hurt to ask," Laurie answered.