The Black

“Luv?”

Mac Had just said goodbye to the crew after watching messages from his aunt and his brother. Lyrian was frozen, staring at the door and him. He could feel her emotions in chaos.

He took a tentative step towards her, “Lov’?” he asked again, “A bheil rudeigin ceàrr? (is something wrong)”

Lyri eyes refocused as she shook herself and slowly walked up to Mac, slowly put a hand on each side of his waist, “I didn’t… didn’t want… to say until Da had results. Your Aunt…” Her English faltered, and Mac’s eyes widened as she switched to Gaelic instead of Delmar, “Is dòcha gum faigh piuthar-màthar Gwen a miann (maybe Aunt Gwen will get her wish)” She looked down before looking him back in the eyes, “Bha deuchainn Da agam a dh’fhaicinn... feuch am b’ urrainn dhomh do leanabh a ghiùlan. (I had a Da test to see... see if I could carry your child.)” She said finally.

“tha thu dha-rìribh air a bhith a’ cumail a-mach orm (you’ve really been holding out on me)” Mac whispered before switching back to Delmar. Now was not the time to practice another language, “Why didn’t you tell me?” he asked.

She followed his lead, “I didn’t want to get your hopes up. I’ve seen you. I’ve felt how you feel when watching the young ones at the hall during the reunion party, how you played with Tristen’s Children. You want to be a father... I... I didn’t want to get your hopes up. I’m sorry” she finally broke and leaned into him crying softly, “I should have tol…” She gasped in shock as Mac scooped her up bridal carry, just as easily as the first time; and he carried her over to the couch sitting down with her wrapped up in his arms.

“Don’t... you did nothing wrong. So, tell me, what did your father say” He asked gently, pulling her head to his shoulder and wiping her eyes.

“Not much. Just that our DNA is compatible. There is so much more though…” she whispered, leaning into his Human body heat.

“Yea, can you carry to term safely, can your body deliver a partially human baby, what gravity do you need to live in while pregnant, how much can you do or not do…” he started listing off concerns.

“You… you’ve thought about this” She realized, looking up from her happy place in his lap, head on his shoulder.

“I have, I may have been an only child, but I come from a huge family. I just didn’t believe that I deserved children after the War.” He said softly, he kissed the top of her forehead. “Your poor father” he whispered after a moment.

“why?” Lyri asked, sitting up to look at him.

“Lov’ If ‘testing viability’ requires what it requires on Terra, I think we owe your father a bottle of really good booze” he said smiling. “Let’s get to bed, I want to talk to Darclemus in the morning.”

Mac started to get up, just to be pushed back onto the couch by Lyri. “later” she coo’d into his ear, and a shiver went through him as her hands began to wander...

__________________________________________________________________________________

The next day stretched into the next few weeks as Mac stopped off at the Professors Grem to get them started back engineering 34GAU from the round he had pulled form Concord. He spent about half his time meeting with the Helyon leadership, led by Darclemus. Sol sent its first overtures and some detailed information about common Human Power generation and computing technology that were not considered state secrets. They wanted medical technology in response, as an initial exchange to break the ice. Mac was no politician, but he understood building trust. He also got Darclemus to declare the Human Technologies as Helyon state secrets. Mac hated this but He also understood that by doing this, it protected the information from getting out to the greater galaxy too quickly. Technology was going to be their edge, not numbers. In response, Mac decided to request a compete data pack on older Human propellant-based kinetic weapons. It had taken some convincing to get the Helyon council to at least be open to the idea of “such primitive a weapon”.

No race had truly figured out gunpowder. The Unity had accidentally made it that way. The ‘prime directive’ turned out to be just what its Hollywood origins would suggest, a fantasy. After the “Unity Wars”; the newly formed “Galactic Unity” had taken the policy of finding races that were either on the cusp of, or just achieving the beginnings of civilization, and initiating contact. Clan Helyon was ancient, one of the few species to be space-faring at the time of their contact with The Unity. their records showed that if the species that reacted poorly were quietly exterminated, their worlds were left for nature to reclaim until such time as the Unity could “discover” an “uninhabited world” perfect for colonization or farming, or industry. Delmar had almost been one Had it not been to expensive to destroy. The Confederation had slowly clawed back a modicum of autonomy through economic monopoly. This autonomy was why Delmar space was largely under the control of The Delmar Defense Force. They were spied on occasionally, but losing Galactic shipping was considered too great a risk to act more openly.

The compliant races, ones who did not resist “unification”, quickly found themselves awash in magical new technology, and the philosophies of the Unity pressed up on their overwhelmed minds. The unintended consequence was that no species represented in the Unity, other than the few originals, had gone through the natural weapons development and perfection that Human weapons originated from. Doctor Quinn had balked at this until mac had demonstrated how deadly these “archaic” weapons were. For all intents and purposes, a gunpowder-based kinetic weapon was considered so useless that It would be easily passed off as a “Cultural or Religious Item”, or as just “it’s not a laser pistol, who cares”. Mac had been told that security technologies had been so geared toward spotting energy-based weapons, that one could carry massive amounts of mechanical/chemical propellant-based weapons and be unstopped, even as the weapons detecting rods and scanners were swept over the weapons you are carrying.

During this same timeframe, Mac had started Lyri in her Aero/space Combat training as she continued her intensive training. Their house was at a solid 1.8 Delmar G’s now, and She was almost due for another Doctor's Visit. She was able to pull 5-6 Terran G’s internal now on a limited basis. She officially held the record of the most G’s pulled by a Delmar and survived category. Thankfully her physical training only furthered to define her shape, not bulk her up. She was eating about two-thirds of Mac’s normal calorie intake, and Mac had decided to halt his own progress when he weighed his Vest and found that it would weigh as much as another one of him in earth’s gravity. Mac also gave Doctor Bart Grem access to Concord’s Reactors and Inertial dampening system under his authority as an Agent to Delmar.

Mac also decide to take precautions with Traveler. It took long conversation with Captain Silu, but he convinced the captain to upload a Simplified Version of Jarvis to Lucid Travelers main frame patrician. It would helped monitor /power/ and control the manned point defenses. Mac had to drag the poor captain into one of the Defensive batteries’ turrets with a void suit on to show him his gunner’s new HUD interface. It wasn’t automation, but it was free, and it would greatly aid in the gunners’ awareness, and therefore survivability. Mac also took this time as an opportunity to stuff Silu into the back of Concord for the trip to Traveler, the aging captain was game, but Mac could see him wobble slightly after their return flight.

_____________________________________________________________________________________

Mac woke up to the smell of food. It was the beginning of week 6 after he got his messages from Clint and Aunt Gwen. He checked his watch. He had flown Concord up to the Transmission station 3 days ago and the response to Terra’s overtures had gone much more smoothly than the last attempt at galactic telephone. Lyri had not come with, on account of being scheduled for another physical with her father. He had wanted to go to get some more details from him on certain compatibilities, but Murphy interceded, and he was forced to miss it.

On his way back down, he had been intercepted in the atmosphere by two Delmar Fighters who turned out to be more curious than anything else. A quick formation flight and game of friendly grab-ass turned into a message from the Defense Wing commander to come to their training facility for a tour the next day. Lyri had been learning Terran Aeronautical and space-born dogfighting tactics and was itching to come too. Considering the scores Mac was seeing her put up in her Mock battles using Concord in “shadow Boxing” mode, He was looking forward to it.

Lyri pulled a personal best on their run after breakfast and before long, they were in the air car with Lyri at the controls. She loved Vito and was pressing the paradox of a futuristic air car to its limit as they reached the Wing’s base. The look on the pilots’ faces when she stepped out of the driver’s/pilot’s seat after a somewhat flashy landing was priceless.

“Wing Commander Himar Sutrizu, a pleaser to finally meet you Mr Grarzia.” the Middle-aged Delmar nodded to the two of them.

“Likewise, I look forward to seeing what the Delmar Defense Wings are all about” Mac returned the nod.

“And you are? Miss...” Commander Himar began.

“Lyrian Grarzia,” Lyri smiled, “I’m his ‘Wizzo’ and his wife” nodding to the Commander.

The officer quirked an eyebrow, “excuse me?” and Mac chuckled.

“Concord, the ship I was in when your pilots got curious, she is designed to fight with a two-person crew. Lyri is training as my backseater, called a weapons systems operator, or ‘wizzo’.” Mac explained.

“I see, I did not expect your ship to be a multi-person crew considering how she maneuvers.” the Wing commander admitted, “Now! Let’s start that tour; and, if you are willing, My pilots would like a go at you in the simulators. You seem to have sparked their competitive nature, and maybe some exaggerated stories. Some of the boys want to test those stories.” Himar chuckled, then led them into the hanger.

The Wing command facilities were simple, yet effective. The Wing had a Hanger, where their fighters were stored. That hanger, however, was 30 meters up, built up on a particularly massive limb off of one of Delmar’s Jungle Tree’s. the hanger led into the Pilots lounge/living area. The pilot’s lounge was split in half with 6 fully enclosed simulators in one half of the room, and the entertainment/relaxation area for being called to alert on the other.

Mac turned his attention to the Craft in the hanger. There were two types resting to their berths. 5 appearing to be fighters, and two bigger attackers looking craft.

“We utilize two primary craft” Commander Himar began, “Our Fighter/interceptors are of Helyon Defensive Industries design, we call them the HDI-21 ‘rangers’. Capable of both atmospheric combat and inter-solar interception and defensive operations. They are powered by a Single Fusion Reactor capable of charging both the weapons and shield banks in under 20 minutes while providing War Emergency Power to the main thrust drive. Our drives can take us from stationary to the relativistic barrier at a 15 Delmar G profile true, that is reduced to a 7.5 Delmar G profile inside the cockpit with inertial dampening.”

“Weapons and sensors?” Mac asked, almost absent mindedly as he slowly circled one of the interceptors. The fighter was a rear cockpit design, with a long portion of the fuselage that tapered from the cockpit to the rounded sensor dome at the nose. Mac could see the teardrop shape of weapons ports atop and below the wing structure. A few of the weapons appeared to be fuselage mounted as well. Mac assumed by the size of the emitters that the fuselage-mounted weapons were of the Direct Energy variety. The wing was a mid-fuselage mounted supersonic Delta design. Each wing began almost immediately aft of the radar dome and swooped rearward at probably a 15-degree angle from the center line of the craft save for a reverse cut out at the tip of the wing right at the front. Mac was considering this cut out with curiosity when a 6th Fighter approached the hanger's landing pad with a piercing, almost whistling whine and came in for a landing. Mac watched as the forward part of the wing was revealed to be, in fact, a retractable Canard Atmospheric surface. The craft hover taxied in and took its place in an open space before landing on its struts, retracting the canard surface into the position that Mac had seen on the other fighters. ‘Ok, that’s a decent solution’ He thought as the pilot hopped out and positively swaggered over to the group.

“Ah, this is Captain Ivar Tras, The Wing’s flight lead and 2 times Ace in pirate interdiction operations.” Commander Himar nodded to the pilot who walked up, clearly sizing up the smaller ‘human’ and his woman.

“So, which of you spooked the boys” he asked with a grin.

“That would be me, Captain James ‘BigMac’ Mackenzie Grarzia.” Mac gave a Delmar greeting nod then put a hand on Lyris back at shoulder level as an introduction, “My wife and back seater, Lyrian ‘Fizz’ Mackenzie Grarzia.”

Ivar paused, Mac smirked as he noticed it. It was a small tell, but it was there. Ivar had assumed Concord was a single-seated interceptor like the 21’s. Mac didn’t want to reveal just how little he had asked of Concord during the game of aerial grab-ass that had led to this tour. Ivar turned to his Commander.

“Has he seen the sims yet?” He grinned at Himar.

“We were just getting there. To answer your question, Captain Grarzia, we use 4 hull-mounted ship-grade pulse lasers in the body, and there are a pair of plasma cannons located in each wing. The plasma is slow, but if you can get in under capital ship's point defense bubble, they do a great deal of damage at close range to larger vessels. We also do not need nearly the logistic support that comes with expendable ordinance” Commander Himar explained.

“Now, I’m afraid my Pilots are very excited to cross you in combat. The simulators are this way.

“Only if you have room for one more, Fizz’s been working on her primary atmo/intersteller combat training, I would like to see how she does against real people.” Mac responded,

pointedly ignoring Lyri’s amusement-ruined glare at the use of her Callsign.

“Sure, what's one more” Ivar’eke said shrugging. He clearly didn’t mind ‘extra fodder’.

Lyrian leaned to whisper in Mac’s ear, “You sure this is a good idea?”

“Luv, you can probably pull enough G to rip the wings off these fighters... and I have seen your module recordings… Go do your best. It will be excellent training either way. Fighting people is always a little different than the hardest computer. It’s time you experienced it” Mac smiled back at her. She could feel his emotions, he was being maniacal again. She had no idea why, but she gave him a private fang-filled evil grin to show him she knew he was up to something. They were interrupted by a shout and a clamor as the rest of the combat wing’s fighter pilots sprinted over and started arguing over who would get the 6 sims first. Eventually, the two that intercepted Mac were kicked out on the technicality that they already faced Mac. Everyone settled into their Sims as Commander Himar started the safety brief through the coms as the sims sealed themselves.

“Pilots! We will be starting in-atmosphere. The Grarzias will be opfor in identical Rangers. This will be a 4 on two, but do not take your opponent lightly. You will both start on opposite sides of the Hylisti straight with the mission win of the neutralization of the other force. As always, these are full immersion Simulators equipped with spherical artificial gravity manipulation. You will feel EVERYTHING, and you can lose consciousness. All participants ready yourselves! Opfor, switch to channel point 2268 for private coms. Monitor .8871 for exercise command.

Everyone sounded off and the Sims were initialized. The inert cockpits came to life and Mac found himself in an unfamiliar cockpit. ‘Fuck, time to push buttons’ He found that the controls mimic’d Lyrians preferred setup with the throttle on the right, and he found some cheat labels in Delmar showing where the weapons and sensor controls were.

“Begin!” Himars voice came over the channel and the simulation began.

Lyrian immediately formed up on Mac’s left, “what’s the plan” she asked.

“Let’s see how they handle the basics. Four Targets point 334 001. We’ll introduce them to my old friend, Thatch.” Mac said as he turned toward the 4 fighters that had split into 2 flights of two. The two teams closed on each other until the head-on was assured.

“BREAK!” Mac called as He and Lyrian fired a spread of suppressing laser fire and split. Thatch’s principle was as simple as it was ancient. Each pilot flew crossing patterns designed to clear each other’s tail. Mac snapped his aircraft into a right-hand roll and hauled back on the controls. *Over G. Over G. Over G* the warning klackson sounded as Mac slammed the Ranger straight to its maximum limit then a little beyond. He came screaming around his half of the pattern more violently than any Delmar aside from Lyri could handle, and raked the leader of the two-flight chasing Lyri with laser fire. The burst severed the pilot’s left wing in two at the root and set the main drive on fire as it spun in. “splash 1” Mac called. He looked back to see the furthest of his two pursuers detonate in an impressive fireball as Lyrian had passed to within 30ft of her target before dumping a salvo of plasma into his path as she screamed by. At that distance, even slow projectiles were not avoidable. and the pilot had flown straight into enough hate to eviscerate a Frontier Brig.

*Splash 1, reversing!* Lyrian shouted into the frequency as she took the space Mac had given her to do her level best to rip the wings off her ranger in an almost 8 Delmar G turn, cutting the throttles and slamming the air brakes. Mac almost whooped as he watched his pupil pull off a masterful overshoot, forcing her pursuer into rolling scissors that she was quickly winning with her ability to effortlessly keep her ranger at the limit. "Engaged Offensive!" she called.

‘Jesus, she is magnificent’ Mac thought just as laser fire slapped him out of spectating his wife picking apart a veteran Delmar pilot. Two shots scored glancing blows with little damage. He snapped over into a rolling split S and looked behind him. He noticed the markings. It was the Wing lead. The man was good. Staying right on Mac’s ass as he slowly cranked up from 4 to 5 to 6 to 7 Delmar G’s. Mac smiled. This was going to be a battle of endurance… Mac slammed his throttle into differential thrust and stabbed the rudders over hard pulling the craft into mind-bending decelerating corkscrew. He could hear the Klaxon going off again with its G warnings, but he simply didn’t care.

Ivar followed him through, not quite overshooting, but ending in a neutral flat scissors, both craft kicking up spray, barely a meteroff the water. Mac saw a flash of laser fire as Lyrian obliterated her second target and flew over to him. In reality, they were feet from each other, and she just circled. She could feel his hunger. Bigmac was on the hunt. She was caught up in watching the duel. He would have to talk to her about that later; but for now, there was work to do. Mac eased off his pull, matching Ivar move for move, staying neutral. The ace pilot began to tire, and one of the scissor merges was just a little too wide. Mac slapped the rudder, slamming the stick over and gunning the throttles in a nose-high initiated Snap roll that cashed in all of Mac’s ranger’s energy to reverse directions and slot in on Ivar’s tail. Mac pulled hard again *Over G, Over G, Over G, Over G*, His shot finally lined up and Mac fired. Staccato pulses of lasers slammed into the other fighter just behind the cockpit tracing a line down the right side of the fuselage and taking out one of the two main drives. The crippled craft lazily rolled over and impacted the water.

The simulation ended and Mac climbed out looking over to Lyrian. Neither one had broken much of a sweat. The two pilots they had taken out early were staring in Awe at the observation screen. Ivar had to be helped out of his Sim and was laid out on a couch breathing heavily.

Commander Himar finally turned to look at Lyrian, “How, Delmar can’t pull those G’s. How are you not dead?”

Lyrian gave him a cheeky smile and caught a bottle of water Mac tossed to her, “Ive been practicing” was all she said.

Commander Himar turned to Mac, “And you, you did more damage to your own aircraft than the enemy did. We recorded you at over 11 Delmar G in that last engagement with Ivar.. How are you not paste...”

“My home planet’s gravity is over 2 times that of Delmar, I was trained to over twice the Centrifugal stresses that were pulled today.” Mac said simply.

“I had no chance… none at all” It was Ivar. He was sitting now, looking over the back of the couch at the two of them. “If she can do what I saw her do... Can we?” He asked his commander.

“Not without a price,” It was Lyri her voice soft and serious, “I can only do this because I am putting my body through hell so that I may one day visit his home world, should we ever be given the opportunity… It’s not something to be taken lightly. All of this...” her body rippled in a quick flex. “Has a price, paid in dedication and suffering.”

That caused another bout of silence as those words sank in.

“I can teach you what I know, tactically.” Mac offered, “From what I have seen, I think I can offer you a massive improvement in Skill and tactics alone. For example, our opening maneuver. In my home world it has a name, ‘The Thatch Weave’, and it is over 300 years old.”

“If you are willing, I think that would be a great idea. I will get permission for you to see our files. Now, care for another bout? The two of you against each other?” Commander Himar.

“Let’s go, I owe you for my callsign” There were worried looks when Lyrian gave Mac a fang-filled aggressive smile.

“Just don’t Fizz out too quickly,” Mac returned the expression.

“Oh it’s on.. Huuumon” She half snarled.

They both settled back into the simulators.