Tuesday Tally: Late Edition

We've begun a project, binge watching some old sci fi shows of our youth. There will be further reports on this in the coming weeks.

With that in mind here's a list of soe great non Star Wars fighters.

From the Original Battle Star Galactica:

The Colonial Viper is a close rival to the X-Wing as far as being pleasing to the eye. Look at the design, look out those sleek lines.

Here we have the greatest sci-fi warship ever.

Galactica is the most badass star ship ever invented. That thing looks like a dreadnought in space.

Next we have the star fighter from buck rogers:

The Draconian fighter ain't bad either.

We also like the Draconian mother ship thingy.

From the short lives Space Above and Beyond, a Marine space fighter. Its a pretty radical departure from previous space fighters, no doubt on purpose.

And my favorite, Michael from Footfall,  and the inspiration for USS Was and Hornet in To Defend the Earth.

The dome is a push-plate for launching the ship into space  via several atomic bombs. Note the inclusion of guns from an Iowa Class battleship. Michael also has four space shuttles and several detachable 'stove pipe' fighter craft.

We'll do a cartoon version of ships later, so for now, enjoy an excerpt from the Battle of Luna in To Defend the Earth:

Masters looked at the sensor readout. The four Jai carrier ships were deploying in an arc on Wasp’s port. At its current speed DELTA would be behind Wasp in minutes. Wasp’s push plate drifted several hundred kilometers to the rear at a little more than half a G.

‘Very well. Mr. Huggins, continue engaging ALPHA, 16s only.’

‘Aye, Aye.’

 ‘Helm, accelerate to 2 Gs.’

‘Aye, Aye Captain.’

‘16s reloaded,’ reported Paradee.

Huggins responded with one word, ‘Shoot.’

Paredee sent another DU barrage into space. This time ALPHA didn’t bother with missiles. Instead its gunners flung a trio of atom bombs at the incoming shells. They had the range and vaporized the volley hundreds of miles before impact.

‘Captain, request permission to load burst shells,’ Huggins asked.

‘Granted.’

Huggins nodded to Paradee who hit a selector switch on the joystick reload button, sending specially modified DUB (Burst) shells up the spout.

‘Shoot.’

‘On the way.’

Paradee depressed all four triggers, firing another 16 shells into space. Again ALPHA fired a trio of atom bombs. This time when the DU shells were at the halfway mark Paradee pressed a button which fired a small rocket engine affixed to the back of each shell. The engine’s three second burst added hundreds of Gs to the shell’s speed, accelerating them well past the A-bomb’s detonation point. The Jai followed with a flurry of point defense fire, destroying a pair of shells and knocking three more off course. Emergency acceleration took ALPHA out of the path of another DU shell. But the other six impacted in a staccato line across the ship. Bulkheads cracked and decks collapsed as the shells tore into ALPHA’s hull. Seeing ALPHA’s distress, the other carrier ships brought their lasers to bear on Wasp subjecting her to several three second laser bursts.

‘Plates hot, but holding,’ reported Damage Control.

Sensors brought the visual scanner onto the ALPHA and magnified until the ship filled the screen.

‘Mr. Huggins, what do you make of that?’

Huggins hunched over and looked at its screen. ‘It’s trailing atmosphere from at least two hits. Looks as if one of the main engines is down.’

 ‘Engines hit?’

‘Could be Captain, we’re only getting one heat plume now. Its acceleration is halved to 1.1 Gs.’

‘16s reloaded.’

‘Shoot.’

Paradee shot another volley into space. This time ALPHA fired six A-bombs staggered in 112 mile intervals, each with random detonation points; all twelve DU shells were destroyed. ALPHA fired its forward and aft lasers and put a volley of missiles in space as well.

‘Captain, request permission to fire our forward battery.’

Masters was reluctant to reveal the existence of the forward lasers so early in the battle, still there was a chance to destroy a target.

  ‘Captain, new targets,’ said Rogers.

Masters looked at his screen and saw a pair of red Jai ships indicated just above the moon’s North Pole. ‘I see them.’

‘Two carrier ships, 1.2 Gs and accelerating hard. 1.3 Gs…Designate Targets ECHO and FOXTROT

‘Alright Mr. Huggins, you may employ the forward batteries.’

‘Aye, Aye sir.’ Huggins turned to his laser tech. ‘Spaceman Martinez, bring the forward batteries online and fire on my order.’

‘Sir.’

Martinez took hold of a joystick, pressed a button synchronizing the two forward batteries and brought them to bear and ALPHA. When the crosshairs on his view screen turned green he reported, ‘ALPHA targeted, Lieutenant.’

‘Fire.’

Martinez squeezed the trigger, producing a three second laser burst from each forward battery. ‘Direct hit, lieutenant,’ Martinez said.

 Masters punched a button, magnifying ALPHA’s image on his view screen. There was a large scorch mark on the hull and a gash several feet long and a few feet high.

‘We’ve hulled it,’ Huggins said. ‘Continue firing, fire for effect.’

Martinez fired the forward batteries, running the crosshairs down the length of ALPHA’s hull as he did so. At the same time the other Jai ships fired their own lasers and launched a volley of missiles.

‘Incoming,’ reported Rogers. ‘Bogeys from BRAVO, CHARLIE and DELTA.’

Master’s screen came alive with dozens of little red points, each representing an incoming bogey. He picked up his black phone. ‘Engineering, bring our acceleration up to 2Gs, I want distance between Wasp and those other contacts.’

‘Aye, Aye, Captain.’

‘That’s not going to work, Martinez,’ Huggins said, as the scattered laser bursts failed to penetrate the hull. ‘Pick one spot and concentrate on it until you bore through.’

Martinez chose a spot close to the fore of the ship and fired again. Two points turned black and then red until, ‘Target hulled, Captain…its leaking atmosphere.’ The hull plates between the two laser points peeled back under the stress and broke free.  The forward batteries had torn open a great hole in ALPHA.  Martinez picked another spot amidships and went to work.

‘More Bogeys!’ Rogers reported.

‘They can tell ALPHA’s in big trouble,’ said Huggins.

‘ALPHA is no longer accelerating. Maintaining constant course and speed.’

By then Martinez had opened up another gash in ALPHA’s mid section. Rather than move on, he fired into the gap again and again until there was an orange fireball within.

‘Oh my god,’ someone said.

            The force of an internal explosion ripped down ALPHA’s hull, collapsed the main deck and shattered all of the armor plates amidships. The blast blew the aft quarter away from the rest of ship which spun wildly on its own trajectory. What remained of ALPHA drifted under the momentum of 2 Gs. Spinning like a Ferris wheel, the rest of ALPHA began to break apart.

‘ALPHA destroyed,’ Huggins reported.

There was no time to celebrate as dozens of missiles were closing in on Wasp. Velarde calmly coordinated the ship’s countermeasures. He ordered the forward Gattlings decoupled, which allowed each to engage individual targets. Every few second a red point on the sensor readout disappeared. But there was nothing to be done about the Jai’s laser fire. Images from the exterior cameras flashed white and a second later there was an explosion near Wasp’s fore and then another. Wasp rattled with the force of the blast.

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