Out of the blue haze above him the nights stars emerged growing brighter and brighter. Klaas could see his reflection in the cockpit window. The noise of the wind disappeared and as the clouds disappeared further below him he turned of the booster engines to level off. The near silence was broken by the radio. "Iccarus lead to Iccarus squadron, proceed to target." It echoed through the speakers before being repeated in French. Acknowledgements were received form the other craft. He looked out the starboard window to see long cylindrical crafts pulling into formation along side, the wings tips pointed up revealing the extra heat shields below. An array of flags lined the length of the craft with the wings and tails displaying the European and UN flags. Their orbital engines ignited and flew out in front like they were skating along the planet. He ignited his engines and soon caught up. Below white Greenland flew past. As they crossed the Davies straight several craft rolled to one side so they could see the Canadian coast. The squadron commander buzzed in and told everyone to return to formation.
"Sorry sir, I was born in Labrador." One of the pilots replied. "I hope our forces can kick those bugger out"
Another pilot buzzed on. "Don't worry, you will be able to go home by Christmas if we do our job-" Before she could finish several alarms went off. Klaas looked down at his radar. There were targets moving in from Newfoundland. "Their altitude is rising, they must be sub-orbital too"
"Looks like we have a change in plan" The commander said "Switch to air-to-air weapons, compensate for altitude and move to alpha formation."
Just as Klaas armed his weapons the program froze. The computer cut in "Time Expired. Please vacate suite". He cursed the computer and ended the program. He left and stopped by the operators desk to book some more sessions.
"Hope you enjoyed yourself sir" The operator asked looking up from his desk.
"Any chance of getting longer sessions?" Klaas asked booking next weeks on the computer system.
"We are heavily booked I'm afraid. What program were you doing?"
"One of my own, a WWIII flight simulator, first earth orbital combat in history and I didn't get to fire a shot."
"We can occasionally offer double sessions but only to on-system programs we can monitor."
"Ah forget it. Might as well try to buy my own holosystem."
Klaas strolled home through the streets with his flight bag slung over his shoulder.
There were a number of small houses in this area, through the tinted windows you could see the figure of people moving around, as he walked on he noticed every screen seemed to be showing a picture of the president making some speech at a press conference interchanging with the Klingon chancellor. He remembered hearing the other day the Klingons has started to negotiate entry to the Federation now they were reforming their democratic systems, they were probably talking about that.
Klaas kicked open the door and slung his bag in the corner. He turned on the computer and brought up the news headlines on the monitor.
PRESIDENT CARLYLE ANNOUNCES SWEEPING INSTITUTIONAL REFORMS TO HEAD INCREASE EFFICIENCY.
ON THE FERENGI MARKETS DILITHIUM PRICES REACH ITS HIGHEST POINT IN 150 YEARS.
DIRECTOR OF GRANT MEDIA KILLED IN SHUTTLE COLLISION.
KLINGONS SUSPEND UFP ENTRY NEGOTIATIONS.
CARDASSIAN REUNIFICATION AND INDEPENDENCE POSSIBLE IN 10 YEARS SAY PRESSURE GROUP.
The comm channel screeched echoing throughout the shop. He switched over to the incoming call, it was on audio only.
"This is Klaas Carmichael, who is it?"
"Is the line secure" The voice was rough and tired, breathing heavily but speaking in a half whisper.
"Is that you? My lines are always secure, what's wrong?" Klaas replied. He recognised the voice as an old Starfleet friend.
"It's got worse since I last talked, I am piggy backing this on a supply request transmission, I need a lift out of here."
"A ship? When"
"Something with fire power and speed for about 20 people minimum. You know where I am. I need it for December 1st, a supply ship is due the day after. Just get a ship to the station and I will handle the rest, sorry mate, times us up-" The transmission cut out.
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