Starlight Gleaming Ch. 22

These erratic failings were duly reported back to High Command. The most we heard back was they'd received the reports.

It was bad enough that Izel was requested to attend a special meeting between the Empress via secure satellite link with the Commandant, CAG, and General Barankoshto. Over that week, follow-up meetings were held, and at least we learned more of the situation within the rest of the Empire. Because of our security ratings, both Commander Terkouri and I were present as observers.

The true situation was enough to make one weep in exasperation and frustration. General Barankoshto was so unhappy that she swore and paced about angrily, and at one point, tears spilled down her cheeks; it was disturbing because we knew her to be a solid veteran of many campaigns, some closely fought, and she didn't normally lose her composure. Not even last year, when I was running from a sniper and collided hard into her and some of her staff.

That there was at least one very wily saboteur at the factory was bad enough.

But despite explicit orders from the War Minister, Imperial Security found out about the situation, and in Supay's usual brutal fashion, two companies of his rabid zealots arrived at the production facility and proceeded to conduct some on-site executions based on the flimsiest of evidence. I suspect that even the slightest failure to comply was sufficient proof to warrant death to Supay's bloodthirsty troops.

The result wasn't hard to predict.

Inexplicably, Imperial Security remained on site, and if the workers didn't meet imposed quotas, there were more executions. This succeeded in causing extreme panic; understandably, some of the workers tried to flee the manufacturing plant, only to be gunned down as they tried to flee. Supay denied his people were in any way at fault, but the camera footage provided by Itcha personnel of the carnage was clear - it was a massacre by bloodthirsty zealots.

After that bleak meeting, the Commandant muttered that Supay had done as much damage to the Empire as Atlantis had done during its raid on High Guard. What could we say? The stark truth of his words was disheartening.

It had taken a couple of days for the War Minister, the Air Marshal, and Itcha Aeronautics upper management to get wind of things and act together. By the time Imperial Security was finally evicted from the manufacturing site, fully two-thirds of the plant workers were dead, and many of those remaining were traumatized. The photos we saw and on-site reports via conference bespoke plenty.

The Empire desperately needed a new generation fighter to at least have a chance against the new Atlantean Helios fighters. Instead of working together, there was corruption, lax security, and a dizzying political turf war decimating the skilled workforce crucial to our nation's survival.

Accusations against Minister Supay were lobbied, and he countered with excuses and counter-accusations of his own.

The Emperor was forced to intervene. Minister Supay was brought to heel and he was publicly quite penitent, producing people he blamed for the mess. The accused traitors were executed before any of them could be questioned. Supay's posturing and attempts to deflect responsibility fooled none of us at High Guard. The Empress, from what we could see of her, was also not impressed.

The net result was that there weren't going to be any new circuit boards from that particular production plant for several months at the earliest. Ground Service troops guarded a second plant that was being rushed into production, but retooling the production line took time and it wasn't ready yet. A third facility was ramping up, and Imperial Marines were tasked with guarding that site.

As for the upgrade teams at the airfield here at High Guard, they installed any boards that passed a basic inspection. Janetta had loudly warned the boards needed further testing, but she was overruled by the other pilots.

A few days later, one of the newly upgraded aircraft suddenly and catastrophically lost power. The Lightning was too low for the pilot to safely eject, and rather than hit the airfield, he put the aircraft into the ocean. Unfortunately, he was unable to get the canopy open in time and drowned.

While the Imperial Navy was in the midst of retrieving the downed aircraft and its fallen warrior, just three hours later, a second test aircraft also lost power. The pilot was alive when the rescue units pulled him out, but badly burned, he died on the way to the hospital. I was on hand shortly afterward because huge chunks of his Lightning were scattered and burning across the airfield. While Air and Ground Security worked quickly and efficiently with the rescue and fire teams, the mood of the watching flight crews was grim.

It was quickly determined that both aircraft were using Itcha-made circuit boards.

CAG immediately grounded all aircraft using the Itcha-made circuit boards. The components were extracted and examined by e-men from the ground crews, and if it passed, it then underwent a second inspection by a different team. If at any point, a discrepancy was discovered, the board's inspection process started anew, and if it was determined to be defective, it was pulled to be dealt with by a separate team.

Circuit boards that passed both exams were put under power and tested for twenty continuous hours. Only then was the circuit board re-installed into an AT-7. Meanwhile, the ground crews frantically worked to build more testing stations so they could test more than a single circuit board at a time.

One time, when Janetta and Zinja were three-quarters into a bottle of metl juice, I heard Janetta mutter how much she missed Cholan, how she could have used her help, and cursing Roshan for stealing her away. I just tucked them into bed.

From the start, both Janetta and Zinja were putting in long hours at the airfield. The few times I brought over lunch to Janetta and her ground crew, I could see they were all showing signs of exhaustion. I voiced my concerns, but Janetta brusquely told me "to mind my own fucking business" and "go play at your barbeque with your friends."

This was before I knew what was happening at the place making the defective boards. Her pushing me away like that stung. What she saw a frivolous play I saw as important morale boosting, and for some of those recently traumatized, it was a chance to make new friends and strengthen their support systems while they healed.

I was unhappy, but I held my peace. I was a pilot, but I didn't regularly work with jet aircraft, nor did I have a good understanding of avionics.

Adding to the sense of pressure, the Atlantean peace and war factions were becoming more and more polarized in the news stories they released for public consumption. There was concern within High Command that we'd have a very brief warning if the government suddenly reverted back to the war faction and we had to prepare against further incursions.

After a month of this, the 233^rd had a total of fifty-four upgraded and functional AT-7 Lightnings. However, only seven of those possessed a single energy weapon, and there was concern about how much usage those recovered units would hold up under combat conditions before they failed.

Intelligence reports informed us that the Atlantean Air Force had over sixty of the new Helios fighters, with four new aircraft joining their ranks each week. Their fighters were faster, more maneuverable, and carried two energy weapons against our one. The only advantage was that our weapon was direct fire, or rather point and shoot. Aircraft armed with wing guns use vectoring, with the target needing to be within a certain range to get both weapons to hit the target at the same time; it takes practice to get used to an aircraft's weapons.

The Atlantean Helios fighters had numbers, agility, power, and weapons on their side. Letting the Air Service go head-to-head with Atlantis was folly, and I said as much. Fortunately, the Wing Captains for the 116th and the 233rd, CAG, and the Commandant all agreed with me.

I did my best to keep a happy face for when I spent time with my family, especially when I read them stories. Hopefully, those at High Guard who watched saw a father spending time with his daughters, not a worried warrior waiting for the hammer to hit the anvil and smash High Guard into pieces.

Another constraint was that if we detonated EMP weapons close to Capisco or another city of the Seven Nations, we risked alienating them further. Some reparations had been made for the damage during that first attack, but according to news reports from the Seven Nations, the amounts hadn't fully covered repairs to many of their electronic systems. To ease the situation, the Naval Service deployed some patrol flotillas further forward, closer to Atlantis, with the bulk of them more than a few hundred rads from shore. While we did possess EMP weapons with a much greater blast radius, the subs were armed with more of the short-range missiles similar to the ones that had thwarted the first onslaught.

The margin for error for the deployed naval units, however, wasn't great. Atlantis wasn't that far from the northern continent. With the number of aircraft they had available, they could easily deal with our tweaked Lightnings and have enough air time remaining to raze High Guard. Even if Janetta led the defenders.

There was even discussion about putting up some ground-based surveillance stations, but that meant setting them up within the Screyacha Animal Preserve, which would violate the treaty we had with the Seven Nations. The Commandant didn't have the authority to do that, and he went on record in opposition to the plan. High Guard had satellites dedicated to keeping watch on Atlantis; we would simply have to remain vigilant.

As for Janetta and Zinja, they began having breakfast earlier in the morning before leaving for the day. By the second month, as I had noted earlier, they were frequently returning home in the middle of dinner time. As the days flowed by, their tardiness slowly increased till they were often arriving home after dinner had finished and most everyone was gathered to listen to me read.

On those days Zinja was late, Izel took to sitting with Sisi, who readily adapted. I didn't like the hours or how tired my fierce warrior and my farm girl always seemed to be. On the other hand, every aircraft they successfully completed was another warrior added to our air defense.

It was suggested for morale's sake to withhold the extent of how much damage Imperial Security had done to the Empire. However, officially, we discouraged the arrival of more civilians, and discreetly encouraged the temporary emigration of those living here, or at least taking a long vacation.

There were three bright spots amid our darkening situation.

First, Tohingo Defense Research (TDR) was persuaded to make more shielded aircraft. The aircraft they had upgraded were performing beautifully.

Second, the parts from the Atlantean craft had been shipped there, and somehow the War Minister got a copy of the plans secreted away by Lord Roshan. Three weeks after the fiasco at the Itcha plant, twelve new aircraft equipped with a single working plasma cannon arrived at High Guard to ecstatic cheers, some of them openly weeping with joy. TDR wasn't able to produce many at a time - just four per week - but they were working as fast as they could to expand production. While this was the same rate as Atlantis was building their Helios fighters, TDR was taking existing aircraft and upgrading them.

Third, my father told me they had some other projects nearing completion, but he wouldn't say any more on the matter - and his being cryptic was literal as he told me via email, and not to say anything to anyone else.

During one of our weekend video-chats, my father mentioned that a certain new hire from Copán was a big part of their successful expansion. Then he drolly went on to mention how this young Ground Service officer, Lieutenant Sovansi, liked to tell anyone who would listen about her last days at Copán War Base, and how five men were hurting her when a handsome, golden-skinned warrior with piercing blue eyes, naked "as the day he was born and sporting a very fine specimen of manhood" boldly came to her rescue, effortlessly laying out all five ruffians like a great hero out of legend. While Izel, Calia, and Ixma laughed at me, I don't think I've ever seen my shocked mother blush so much. I also remembered quite a bit of effort on my part.

Izel and the others had heard the story from Mack, who had taken delight in sharing the tale from our trip to Copán. Afterward, even Oceotl gave me a grin and a nod.

My father asked me if I knew who Sovansi could have been talking about. When he cheekily asked if it was true my staff was so thick and long as to intimidate lesser men, I assured him that Sovansi had a great imagination, because at no time did she see me aroused and she thus had no basis for judgment, which caused the women beside me to snort with amusement. Izel, Ixma, and Calia assured my father that they had no complaints, which in turn caused my very pregnant mother to nearly faint.

Even with the efforts of TDR, things weren't looking good. My own estimates were the Empire was at least two years from being able to match what Atlantis was doing. In the meantime, I prayed to the gods to save us from greedy industrialists taking shortcuts and to frustrate any attempts by Minister Supay to help the Empire.

Days turned into weeks, and Janetta and Zinja continued to put in long hours. Lately, they even called stating they were too tired to drive home, and to save travel time, slept on cots they had at the hangar.

This disturbed me.

Janetta had several times told me she didn't sleep well when I wasn't there. I also knew that sleeping in a real bed was a lot more relaxing than a cot. I didn't like it, but Janetta curtly informed me that it was a necessary sacrifice; who knew if just one more aircraft would make a difference in the defense of High Guard.

I grumbled but acquiesced. On those following mornings, I skipped going to the gym in order to bring Janetta and her crew a hot breakfast; the rest of her crew greeted the food with enthusiasm. Zinja smiled at me and accepted a kiss and a hug before returning to her work. Janetta, her eyes on the other officers, refused any of my offered PDAs.

On the weekends, both women slept for hours and hours, often napping throughout the day.

It was during the week following our outing to the park in Capisco. We were midway into Fall, and the weather was definitely growing cooler. Two days earlier, we had survived our second hurricane of the year and the war base was still doing cleanup.

About two hours before my normal end of shift, I got a call from Exham Terkouri at the 1267 Ground Security regiment. I saw the name of the phone's caller ID display before I answered.

Smiling, I greeted him with, "Exham, how are you? And how's your charming wife doing?"

"Doing all right," he answered. "Chandora is still a bit depressed, but she's getting better."

Chandora was his wife. While Exham had been seriously injured during the Atlantean air raid, their youngest child, a six-year-old boy, had been among the little kids killed at the primary school. Thankfully, their two older children were okay.

Then he added, "This isn't a social call, Ranji."

"I see. All right, I'm listening," I replied, sitting up straighter.

"Ranji, ever since the attacks against you and members of your household, if your name or any of the others appear in any field reports, they get flagged and forwarded to my desk. When was the last time you saw Janetta or Zinja?"

"Not since yesterday morning," I answered, and a cold knot of fear formed in my belly. "Has something happened to them?"

"I just sent over copies of the field report and the traffic cam footage—"

"Exham, I asked you if they were all right!"

"As far as I know, they're okay if a bit banged up. They were examined by a Medico on scene, and they both declined the ambulance ride to the hospital—"

Ambulance? I thought. Seven hells!

"Sergeant Zinja admitted she fell asleep at the wheel, and was cited for the stop sign she drove over. Have you received the files yet? I'll wait while you watch them."

Checking my inbox, I found the message from Terkouri and downloaded the report and both attached video files, saving them to my desktop. He waited while I launched the first video file.

It was hard to pick out their faces, being as the incident took place late at night. The street they drove on had limited lighting. The HueCac drifted to the right and crashed into the stop sign, knocking it over and running over the splintered stump.

While there was no obvious damage to the vehicle, nonetheless it stopped and the airbags deployed. Unfortunately, both passengers were hurled from the vehicle, which told me neither one had been wearing their safety belt, making the deployed air bags worthless effort.

Which set off alarms for me. I knew for a fact that two months earlierJanetta had had the doors on her HueCac re-installed in anticipation of winter weather. I brushed that aside, and resumed the video feed.

Janetta never moved very far, however, the camera footage from that angle was mostly obscured by the stopped vehicle. Zinja, however, flew almost twenty feet. I winced as she bounced hard, tumbled, then rolled another ten, ending up sprawled awkwardly in the middle of the intersection. I noted that in the cool night air the wisps of fog collected. While she lay there helpless in the street, if the fog grew, Zinja might be obscured enough to be run over by a driver. I swallowed and reminded myself that he'd already told me they were banged up but okay.

I noted the text appearing in the bottom of the video, proof that the software recognized an accident had occurred and its call to Dispatch and the auto-reply.

Janetta was the first to move. She staggered to her feet, paused, leaning on the hood; her face was visibly bruised in the faint street light, and I hissed in sympathy at seeing her beautiful cheek marred by a bad case of road rash. After close to a minute, no doubt getting her bearings after the accident, Janetta saw the still prone Zinja. She limped over and tried to rouse her injured crew chief. Halfway into the third minute, I was relieved to see a Ground Security cruiser with flashing lights pull up. Both troopers hopped out and rushed over to render aid.

"Seven hells," I muttered, exhaling.

"I take it you were unaware of this event?" he asked.

"Still watching the first video," I told him.

"I know this is personal. Take your time, Ranji," he replied.

Letting the film continue, I saw the ambulance arrive, and the medico examine and treat Zinja, then examine and treat Janetta. Calmer, I said, " I take it the second video file is cam-footage from the other direction?"

"Yes. Unfortunately, it's less informative than the first one. The building blocks most everything. Both women were examined on scene as you can see. Janetta insisted on returning to their hangar. Sergeant Zinja likewise refused to go to the hospital, choosing to go with her officer.

"After they were patched up, their vehicle was functional, but because of shock and exhaustion, neither one was considered fit to drive. The corporal on scene drove the vehicle to their hangar while both women rode in the back of the cruiser. Other than multiple bruises and abrasions, they seemed to be all right, just shaken."

I took a calming breath, then said, "Thank you for the heads up, Exham. I appreciate it. I see you've included the form to cover the cost of replacing the stop sign." Then I chuckled because I had to release the tension somehow. "Thank you for letting me know. I sincerely appreciate it. I'll follow up from here."