Chapter 2

The plan was for four spacetubs to attack each pyramid, with the extra spacetubs and Freya to hang back to be the reserve in case of trouble. The mother ship and 63 spacetubs should be able to handle unexpected situations. One team was made up of Nils as a leader, Han'lic as his wing man, Jesus as a leader, and Ac'sus as his wingman. The two oran-utans promised to obey orders, but who knew what they would do when the shooting started. Well, they would all just have to find out.

The drive system used by the pyramids was a gravitic field generated by three antennas located in recesses on the underside of the pyramid. The general plan was to try to knock those antennas out of commission as soon as possible. Once those antennas were knocked out, the pyramid would just drift in space and could be attacked at leisure. Nils, Han'lic, and Jesus were going after the antennas and Ac'sus would go for the one that was missed in the first attempt. Each spacetub carried two missiles with nuclear warheads, and those would be used on the antennas, since they were such important targets.

Nils swallowed his stage fright as he went in first and was met by a shower of small missiles. He used his Gatling gun to blast his way through the missiles as he headed toward the underside of the pyramid. As he got closer, gun nacelles on the lower edge of the pyramid started shooting at him. He expected that his very high speed as he approached the pyramid would protect him from those guns, since they were designed to fire at attackers headed directly at them and not flying passed at a nearly 90 degree angle. Nils did launch four heat-seeking missiles as he flew past, hoping that they could lock on the muzzle flashes.

Han'lic came in, not frightened, but very angry, just after the pyramid had launched that first salvo of missiles, coming in before the next rack could be loaded. Whoever controlled the missile launching on that pyramid was not expecting a second attack to come in so soon. Surely, he would otherwise saved some missiles for the next attacker. Han'lic used the same pattern of attack as used by Nils, save that he did not have to shoot at missiles. Instead, he used his Gatling gun on the pyramid's gun nacelles.

Jesus roared in next, his stage fright having dissipated as he watched Nils and Han'lic's charge. The first two attackers had fired only one of their missiles at their assigned antennas, and Jesus did the same. None of the antennas was put out of action by the nuclear blast. Nils called Ac'sus on his tactical radio, "OK, none of our hits were hard enough. You fire both of your missiles at one of the antennas. We've got to accomplish something before we quit."

Ac'sus acknowledged the order and bore in. The other three spacetubs buzzed around the pyramid trying to distract the gunners and missile operators as Ac'sus made his run. They were successful because none of the shots from the gun nacelles were aimed at Ac'sus. He was shot at by a few missiles, but none came close enough to warrant him using his Gatling gun on them. He pushed his luck a bit by getting very close before launching his two nuclear missiles. Ac'sus pulled away just in time as both nuclear warheads exploded on target.

This time, massive sections of the targeted antenna flew away and the pyramid gave a noticeable lurch as the propulsion system was no longer symmetrical. Nils sent word to the mother ship to relay that it took both missiles going off at once to do any harm to the propulsion antennas. He then turned his attention back to the pyramid.

Nils radioed to Ham'lic, "This time we're going in together and firing together. Hopefully, both missiles will arrive at the same time. Let's go!"

They turned in formation and dove at the pyramid; "dive" was the appropriate concept considering the relative orientation of the three vessels. They met a withering fire from the remaining gun nacells, but Jesus and Ac'sus did a good job of putting them out of action with missiles and Gatling guns. No missiles were launched at them this time; could it be that the pyramid had run out of ready ammunition and had not duplicated more in time for this attack?

Neither Nils nor Han'lic complained as they concentrated on their target. Nils had selected the left front antenna as their target and they pushed their way toward the pyramid as fast as they could move their spacetubs. They were moving so fast that they were just a blur on the sensors in the pyramid. Closer and closer they came; Jesus was afraid that they were going to ram the pyramid the way they were getting so close. At last, Nils shouted, "FIRE!" into his microphone. Han'lic winced as the volume of the order blasted his ears, but he did not hesitate. The two missiles were on their way, and the two attackers desperately pulled their craft away from the impact area.

There was an agonizing delay before the missiles struck. But strike they did! The explosions were near enough to simultaneous that this antenna, too, went flying in pieces into the depths of space. Again, the pyramid lurched and almost looped before the pilot could get it back under control.

But that was the rub! The pyramid was back under control. It was not accelerating as smoothly as before, but the pyramid was still flyable. They had to eliminate that last antenna, but how? Among their four spacetubs, they had only one remaining nuclear warhead. Nils thumbed his frequency selector so that he could talk to the other three members of his flight, "OK, boys, I'm open to suggestions. We've got only one missile left, so what do we do, now?"

There was dead silence for a good 30 seconds while each man thought over the situation. Suddenly, Ac'sus was heard to say, "I have the answer!" Without waiting for comment from any of his mates, he dove under full power at the pyramid.

Nils tried to call him back, "You've got only one nuclear warhead, you can't do anything."

"Oh yes I can, just watch me! By the way, how about some cover? I could use a little help there." Meanwhile, Ac'sus was pouring full acceleration into his dive toward the pyramid.

Nils said, "Come on, guys, let's provide some cover for him. I have no idea what crazy stunt he has in mind, but he's right about needing cover."

The other three members of the flight tore into the gun nacelles about the pyramid, trying to keep them from shooting at Ac'sus as the Arlosian rocketed toward the antenna installation.

Nils glanced at Ac'sus and realized how close he was to the pyramid. "NO, YOU DAMNED FOOL! DON'T RAM YOURSELF INTO THE ANTENNA. WE'LL FIND ANOTHER WAY!"

His plaintive cry was ignored as Ac'sus drew closer and closer to the pyramid. Ac'sus crashed into the antenna and suddenly changed direction. He ran parallel to the bottom of the pyramid, ripping out the antenna by its roots. He came to the end of the antenna and shot directly away from the pyramid at a 90 degree angle. Just as he got away, the pyramid began to tumble slowly. It had gotten just enough off-center acceleration to disturb its stability. The pyramid continued to move in the same direction as it had been following, by now it rolled about its center of gravity. Nils was glad that he was not inside that damned thing as it tumbled, even if he had an antigravity belt on at the time.

Meanwhile, Jesus was cursing at Ac'sus as only a devout Catholic could, and Han'lic and Ac'sus were laughing at Jesus. Ac'sus waited for Jesus to pause for breath and said, "I was in no danger! Calm down! Remember that these antigravity drives have inertial dampening. I was never thrown around as I changed directions, and my dexterity kept me from missing when I needed to make an adjustment on the joystick. I'm sure that you could have done as well if you had thought of it. Nils, let's go back and rearm. We will need a hell of a lot of firepower to crack that pyramid!"

Nils gave the order, and they accelerated to jump velocity. They returned to Freya to rearm and report their success so far. As soon as they could pop their canopies, Jesus ran to Ac'sus and grabbed him in a bear hug. "Man, I love you like a brother. You nearly scared me to death!" Then he turned his friend loose and hit him as hard as he could in the solar plexus. "DON'T YOU EVER DO ANYTHING LIKE THAT TO ME, AGAIN, YOU PILE OF BLUE HAIRY SHIT!"

That was too much for the two Arlosians and they both were immediately on the floor laughing at what Jesus had done. Admittedly, Ac'sus was gasping around his bursts of laughter.