Chapter 15: Cataclysm or Redemption

Otis tapped his ear. "Natalie, alert the White House. We're starting. I'm in the shuttle, located near Adak, Alaska. This is prep only, warming the missiles up."

"On it!" she answered. "Obviously I know the order to follow. We've been over this multiple times. Don't panic."

They knew the Wi'Tibold communication was secure—it was the human communications they worried about.

"Drop cloaking," Otis said in an even tone.

"Warning, that will attract hostile attention," the shuttle warned.

"That's the plan," he said. The chatter about his shuttle started almost immediately, filling his head. With that done, he instructed the ship to follow a preset course over Russia.

Leaving the Wi'Tibold communication open, he could hear Natalie making her phone call. He couldn't help it; he didn't trust what he didn't know for a fact.

"Cage door open," she announced, before hanging up. While the aliens understood English, they'd felt no need to learn each native language. Not only that, but they wouldn't recognize common phrases. They could intercept radio messages, but they couldn't translate keywords.

The dozens of urgent Ti'chrk alerts notified Otis that they'd already launched. They'd been waiting for a chance to catch him out in the open. However, instead of heading directly towards him, they were traveling in three different directions, trying to box him in. He was still moving at a fraction of his normal speed.

"Sylvester is out the door," Natalie reported.

"Right on schedule," he answered. "Either this works, or our goose is cooked. Our timing is critical. If anyone acts a hair late, the entire operation collapses. But we've rehearsed this enough. Everyone knows what they need to do. I just need to stick with the plan and hopefully everything will work out." He paused before adding, "However, if someone else does something unexpected, then all bets are off."

Otis checked a separate display screen. "It's taking the Ti'chrk a while to notice Fred and Paul. When they do, they'll merely note it. It'll take even more time to identify the craft. Paul rigged the alien transcoder so it identifies itself as an American jet. It won't fool the Americans, but the Ti'chrk will be too focused on me to pay attention to an Earth bound jet fighter."

"Crossing into Russia," Otis announced. The message was for Paul and Fred as much as Natalie. As he crossed over Russian soil, he also entered the late evening sun. Their other craft was still disguised by darkness and their fake signal.

"Engage," Otis added.

"Roger," Fred answered. He was moving faster now, so he'd be noticed, but hopefully not too soon. They only needed a little time.

"They're approaching." Otis observed a display showing each ship. One was tailing him from the east, others from the north and northeast, the final one was coming in from the south. "Accelerating."

"I need to be careful, add a little too much speed and I'll easily leave them in my dust. The purpose is to get them to expose themselves. Realizing I can outrun them, they'll push their ships to catch up. That means they won't pay as much attention to their other sensors."

Otis accelerated enough to keep them interested. Since they'd activated their shielding to surround their ships, they were significantly slower than before. He didn't want to lose them. A yellow light blinked on his display, rapidly approaching. Otis frowned.

"The Ti'chrk fighters are hesitating. They've noted that Paul is flying too fast for a normal jet. They'll suspect an ambush." His display bore his prediction out. "There they go. Two of our tails are banking away."

"Spring the trap," he told Natalie.

Otis' craft reversed direction, flying straight at his attackers. Although they traveled fast, they couldn't change bearing quickly. The two alien groups used different methods of faster-than-light travel. The Wi'Tibold expanded space before them, and contracted it behind them, creating a simultaneous push/pull to suck their ship in any direction they wanted. They'd mastered the same forces which allow the universe to expand faster than relativity allows. Using that technology, the shuttle could swivel on a dime. Something the Ti'chrk fighters couldn't.

As soon as they committed to their turns, Otis commanded his ship to reverse, heading directly at the banking attack craft. Only, he was traveling much faster than he was retreating before.

"Ha!" Otis shouted. "Since our shuttle has the most advanced weapons, the Ti'chrk take any unexpected actions by me more seriously, exactly as we planned. Yep, here's Paul, catching up and opening fire at them from behind. Since he's only covering his front side, he can travel faster than the other fighters. They'll be looking in both directions, ignoring their display monitors as they track us approaching. Fred's shots are harmlessly passing his targets, but being fired on is a major distraction. There, those two orange lights are our Russian friends. They're just crossing the horizon. The Ti'chrk will note them, but won't pay much attention, since they're essentially harmless. Unless they run into them," he added with a laugh.

"Natalie called the American Ambassador in Russia, who contacted the pilots. The aliens don't speak Russian, and even if they did, the conversations were based on their Air Force slang, which they couldn't figure out." He changed direction again, following his targets enough to make them nervous but not engaging them yet. "The Russian missiles are useless. We had them retrofit their jets, removing all their electronic dependencies. The way the Ti'chrk disabled Earth ships was by disrupting their electronics. The Russian jets' weapons are largely ineffective, but a direct impact will still cripple them. At least that much of traditional Newtonian physics still applies. We instructed the pilots not to eject until they're absolutely sure the two ships will collide." With a Wi'Tibold shuttle attacking from the front, a disguised Ti'chrk from behind, and two Russian jets, the alien pilots' attention was pulled in multiple directions.

"There, the Ti'chrk identified Fred's ship as one of their own, ignoring the false identification. They're issuing instructions to override the controls and have it return to the command vessel. Except, Peter and Paul spent months rewiring and reprogramming their craft, preparing to escape sooner or later. The ship responds to the change-of-command request, sends a positive response, but the control remains in Paul's many tiny hands. When new edicts are issued, it acknowledges appropriately but does nothing. That'll keep those monitoring the situation in the main vessel busy, while the pilots mistakenly ignore Paul's ship."

Two of Fred's shots struck one craft, but weren't direct hits. The vessel rolled to the side, but remained in the air. By then, his craft was well past them and he needed to switch his shields to full-ship coverage, slowing him down too.

Otis' shot was more effective, and better targeted, striking one vessel dead on. However, after hundreds of years of combat, the Ti'chrk defenses protected it. The craft's electronics were forced to reset, which took time. All it would take were a few of those shots before the ship was toast. Once past the target, Otis reversed again for another attack.

"Ha! The Ti'chrk command ship just noted a massive series of explosions on the other side of the globe, but the pilots currently fighting for their lives won't pay any attention to it. However, it'll keep those in command off balance as well. This is the key step."

Closing in, Otis fired one last shot and launched straight up, heading for the command vessel. As Paul and Fred banked to return to the fray, the Russians closed on the same ships. The Ti'chrk began an electronic interference pattern, their normal approach with lower-technology attacks. When it failed, they didn't notice as they tried to figure out how to respond to the changing fight. One attacker was struck by Otis's second shot, its power going out again, losing altitude and staying off longer. Various services in the craft failed. As Paul closed in, withholding his attack until he was closer, the other ship prepared for engagement. The other two Ti'chrk ships not previously engaged tailed their objective, Otis's shuttle. However, not only weren't they as fast, he was heading there in a direct line, while they had to circle to reach it.

Of the two ships remaining, one prepared to fire while the one drifted away, trying to recover. Only the Russian jets opened fire. They didn't expect to do much damage, but their main aim was to keep the pilots off-center. One jet focused on each Ti'chrk vessel. The pilot of the first vessel repeated the electronic pulse, assuming it hadn't worked correctly. That maneuver cost him several seconds. Paul fired striking the ship. It fired back, but its shot was off center and missed. Instead of firing again, the alien pilot had to fire at the approaching jet. Before it connected, he jerked his craft to the left, leaving him unable to attack again.

Paul's second volley was dead on, crippling the craft. The other Russian jet zeroed in on the crippled Ti'chrk, which couldn't take action fast enough. As the pilot ejected, the plane continued, colliding with the fighter and exploding. The Ti'chrk craft was damaged, but not destroyed, but the impact sent it tumbling into a mountainside where it crashed.

The remaining ship tried to escape, but wasn't fast enough. Before it could leave the Earth's atmosphere, Fred fired the final shot, as Paul requested, since Paul refused to kill his prior crewmates. That ship also crashed, but the Ti'chrk prime instruction was to never leave less non-technologically advanced civilizations with their technology, so both autodestructed, killing the pilots immediately.

"Well, this looks like the final show," Otis told himself, approaching the command craft deep into outer space. "Multiple bursts of simultaneous shots. This is what terrifies the Ti'chrk. The Wi'Tibold weaponry are so advanced, they have little defense against it, but their defensive fire is intense and overwhelming!"

"Beginning evasive maneuvers," the ship announced. The display jumped all over, but the shuttles shots remained on course, seemingly impervious to the barrage of incoming fire.

Otis' ship was struck three separate times before it veered off. Its weapons store was exhausted, so there was little more it could do. What's more, time was of the essence.