Catching up

“B-17G 773D13? This is the USN A-4 VA35 Intercept.  Please adjust your heading by-“

“USN A-4V, no can do, we are running late and staying on course.” Michelle spoke into her headset.

“B-17G Perhaps you did not understand me. This is the US Navy, you are in violation of several customs and registration codes. You will adjust your course immediately and we will escort you back to Bravo Delta coordinates as directed. Over?”

Michelle looked at Quest who shook his head and sighed.

“These guys never change.” Flynt said.

“Did they not say the same thing last time?” Stonegrim quipped.

“I believe they did. Mother?” Michelle said.

“Yes my child?” The Freya spoke.

“Rapid deceleration now.”

Vanessa remembered a few things happening at once. Seat belts or straps appeared around her and the others. Quest seemed to fade in and out as the Freya slowed to a near standstill. Her mind refused to accept what was happening before it had finished happening. The impossibility was like a Saturday morning cartoon more than reality, where Bugs Bunny slams on the brakes and the airplanes screeches to a stop in midair.

All she really knew was one moment the two air force jets were flanking them and the next they were gone.  She seemed to remember some kind of radio chatter that might have been swearing but she had a hard time focusing as she felt like Elmer Fudd must have in Bug’s plane- squashed flat against the dashboard.

She glanced around to find fairly sick expressions on everyone else’s faces save for Quest who faded back into being and Michelle who had a wicked grin of elation on hers.

Michelle swung the wheel right and the plane banked sharply as Vanessa realized they were not in fact actually stopped dead still in the air. The Freya hummed as she complied with Michelle’s action and accelerated straight towards a storm bank out on the horizon some miles away.

“Here they come!” Severin yelled.

The two jets hove into view off the left- the stern? Van wondered was that the nautical term, did they used it in flying? They looked very threatening and heavily armed to her untrained eye.

“Mother we need speed.” Michelle asked as she gritted her teeth.

The Freya lurched forward accelerating faster than Vanessa would thought possible.

thanks to US Navy

Quest spoke a word. It must have been a careful word. A word that must have cost dearly. No why did she think that? It was just a word- right? No, every time Quest spoke words like this one, all she could feel was the hidden power in them. The word was unintelligible to her. Was it a magic word? Was this what magic was like wherever Quest had come from? How did it work here? She told herself to shut up. When she looked back, the jets were gone. She felt the beginnings of panic. Had Quest destroyed the Airmen?

Just when she was sure he had, he shook his head at her. No. he would not use the word against them. Then what had he said? What had it done?

“Patience.” Quest spoke from where he stood. “All things come to those who wait.”

“I hate waiting.” Flynt growled.

“Me too.” Kat said.

The two US Navy jets pulled back into view on either side of the Freya, albeit at a farther distance apart than before.

“Firing distance.” Michelle said.

“B-17G? That was some stunt you pulled back there. What did you hope to accomplish?”

“Ever seen Star Wars, Captain?” Michelle answered.

“It’s Lieutenant, and what does that have to do with anything?”

“B-17G is neither the call sign nor the flight number of this aircraft.” Michelle replied.

“Again I must ask what that has to do with anything?” The Lieutenant shot back. “You will alter course immediately or we will shoot you down.”

“In the movie, the Millennium Falcon has dropped out of hyperspace near Alderann- or where Alderann used to be. Remember?”

“Actually no, I never saw it.”

“See? I am not the only one who hasn’t seen it.” Vanessa said before she realized she had said it out loud.

“Well, I will enlighten you then.” Michelle said. “They catch a tie fighter flying through the debris.”

“What is is a tie fighter- nevermind.” The voice said over the radio. “This is your last warning B-17G.”

“The Falcon gives pursuit while the Tie makes for what appears to be a small moon in the distance.”

“B-17G?” The voice clearly sounded frustrated but curious.

“Han Solo the pilot of the Falcon is determined to catch the Tie and ignores the warnings of the Jedi Knight on his ship.”

“B-17G-“ Sound of a sigh “There is a point to this?”

“It’s the Freya, we are the Freya.” Michelle spoke calmly now.

Vanessa glanced forward, the storm from loomed ahead massive and dark- flashes of lightning going off at an alarming frequency. Lots and lots of lightning.

“Freya adjust course immediately- what?” The radio crackled, then a muffled curse.

“The Jedi Knight says- That’s no moon. It’s a space station.” Michelle said altering her course slightly. “To which Han- the pilot says – It’s too big to be a space station.”

“I got a bad feeling about this.” Vanessa said. Eyes glued to the horizon where the storm front had grown into something much, much bigger.

Michelle laughed.

“That is in fact what the Kid said at that moment in the movie.”

“B-17G or Freya or whatever you call yourself. We are done, alter course now or be fired on!”

“The pirateship shudder and the TIE fighter accelerates away towards the Gargantuan battle station.” Quest said suddenly.

“Who was that?” The Navy man asked.

“That was our Jedi Knight.” Michelle said as the Freya accelerated towards the storm.

“Fire!” the radio squawked.

The Harrier jets fired a payload of rockets. They projectiles headed toward the Freya with imminent destruction promised. Then the impossible happened- all four rockets swung off target going in different directions.

“USN A-4V? Don’t let the Death Star or in this case Storm gets you.” Michelle said calmly. “Save yourself and your crew before it’s too late.”

“That’s no ordinary storm.” Quest said.

The Freya entered the leading edge of the storm front still running all out. After a moment, the naval jets peeled off heading away from the storm front. The radio went dead. Michelle sat back then looked at Quest.

“Thanks.”

“Don’t mention it.”

“What just happened?” Vanessa asked, flinching at the proximity of the lightning.

“I called the Storm.” Quest said. “it was already coming but I pulled some of it closer to us.”

“We got away by flying into what will be called a magnetic maelstrom by the more scientific people back in the US of A.” Michelle said.

“Was that why their rockets missed us?” Kat asked.

“Oh, that.” Quest said. “That was a little bit of luck and hocus pocus on my part.”