The Last Starfighter by Alan Dean Foster

“Life support, check,” Grig was murmuring.

“Fire control guidance, check,” Alex declared.

“Emergency backup systems, check.”

“Weaponry activated, check.”

“Propulsion, check,” said Grig as the gunstar suddenly erupted from the surface of the asteroid.

“Let’s go!” Alex shouted, unable to contain the excitement he’d kept bottled up inside him ever since they’d left Rylos. It was for real now. For real and forever.

Long time, forever. He tried not to think about it, tried not to think about dying. If you got philosophical during the game, it would eat your quarter. More than his quarter at stake now. Metaphysics versus reality.

He concentrated instead on the shape looming steadily larger on his battle screen. One chance. Their surprise would probably give him one chance to take out the fighter command center before the Ko-Dan recovered. The game only gave you one chance.

The universe no longer existed. There was only the image on the screen. He blotted out everything else.

Alarms sprang to life within the command chamber of the flagship as a detection officer announced, “Unaccounted for craft in central formation.”

“What is it?” Kril turned instantly toward the detection station, trying to divide his attention between it and the main screen. “Adjust sensors to track.” The view forward blurred momentarily as input was shifted.

“Tracking,” announced an officer.

“Identification.”

“Not possible yet, Commander. It’s moving too fast for an accurate reading . . . wait; first generation computer image is going up.” A faint outline appeared on the screen.

Xur recognized it immediately. “A gunstar . . . that’s impossible!”

Kril turned angrily. “So The last Starfighter is dead. I suppose cargo pilots are flying that?”

“It’s conceivable,” Xur snapped back at him. “If one ship remained operational but all the pilots had been killed in our attack . . .”

“Whoever’s on board that ship knows how to handle it,” said Kril. “Those aren’t amateurs coming at us. Amateurs would have been detected long before this. How they slipped past our fighters I can’t imagine, but it wasn’t by luck and it wasn’t by accident. As for myself . . .” He glanced toward the head of bridge security. “I’m sick of dealing with amateurs. This farce has gone on long enough. Seize him!”

A towering Ko-Dan officer advanced eagerly toward Xur, who activated his scepter and aimed it at the alien. The Ko-Dan officer halted. Xur backed toward the doorway.

“How dare you? I’m the Emperor of Rylos, by decree from your own Emperor! I command you to …”

“You command nothing. This fleet is now on battle standby. I take no orders from this point on from anyone except the Imperial War Staff. It is my opinion that you constitute a danger to the stability and effectiveness of my crew, Xur. Your demented ranting is detrimental to their temperament. I won’t have that during a combat situation.”

As Xur reached the heavy doors leading to the first corridor beyond, they parted, to reveal not a path of retreat but additional security personnel. They promptly grabbed him from behind and removed the deadly scepter from his grasp.

“You’ll pay for this,” Xur sputtered. “You’ll pay with your lives! All of you!”

Kril turned away in disgust. “Get the ‘Emperor’ out of my sight. Lock him up until I have time to decide what to do with him.” He dismissed Xur completely from his thoughts as he turned back to face the main screen. It clearly showed the gunstar approaching at incredible speed. “All defensive systems lock on and destroy the intruder!”

Lights brighter than the distant stars suddenly filled the void around the charging vessel. Alex thought the display was beautiful, like a laser show at a rock concert. All he needed to make the dizzying attack Grig was conducting complete was a good tape of AC/DC or Styx or Def Lepard. Although even if he happened to have one along, he couldn’t have done much more than stare at it. He didn’t think gunstars were equipped with cassette decks.

The eruption of defensive fire from the command ship was so lovely he forgot to be afraid.

“Three milliparts to strike zone, Alex. Don’t miss. We won’t get another unopposed pass.”

Alex noted the explosions and beams of deadly energy lighting space all around them and occasionally rocking the ship as the gunstar’s defensive screens took the brunt of the fire.

“This is unopposed?”

“Remember what I said; everything is relative.”

“Don’t worry. I’m ready.”

“Two milliparts. Wait until you’re sure,” Grig warned him.

Then the command blister was in the center of Alex’s floating battle screen and it was so much like the game back home that he almost, but not quite, relaxed. His fingers moved quickly, instinctively over the fire controls. He was no longer concerned. He’d had plenty of practice.

“Now, Alex!” Grig shouted, afraid the moment would pass. Even as he spoke the gunstar’s weapons systems fired simultaneously at the command ship as Alex threw everything the powerful little vessel possessed at the target. Flaming gas burst from the surface of the blister, enveloping it completely.

“Got it!” Alex yelled as he continued to pour fire into the flagship.

“No time to finish it off now, Alex. The rest of the armada’s nearly to Rylos.” But Alex continued to attack until Grig wrenched them out of range.

The crew of the command ship fought to brace themselves as the big flagship shook from the after-explosions triggered by the devastating attack. The sub-officer standing behind Xur was thrown to the deck. Xur kept his balance, threw himself on the unsteady guard in front of him and regained control of his scepter. As both guards tried to recover they lost their heads to the deadly beam of energy generated by the staff.

Xur vanished into a nearby tunnel, but his destination was revealed by a light that began flashing on a nearby wall panel. The third guard, who’d been temporarily dazed after being knocked against a wall, noted the flashing telltale and staggered to a communications module to report.

“Xur has taken an escape pod and has fled the ship. Repeat, the prisoner Xur has taken an escape pod and has fled the ship!”

The information was relayed to the bridge and was subsumed in the flood of damage reports. Xur’s escape troubled Kril, but he had little time to deal with the flight of a single obstreperous Rylan.

He still found enough time to issue a long overdue order. “Tell the proper agencies to seek and destroy Xur.”

The officer recording the directive looked thoughtful. “I could order a ship or two out of the middle squadron. They would locate and finish off the escape pod in a few moments.”

“No!” Kril steadied himself as still another explosion rocked the great ship. “There’s a gunstar loose out there with a Starfighter behind its firepower, or haven’t you noted that as yet? That is an unpredictable element. There is no room in our plan of assault for unpredictable elements. It must be dealt with to the exclusion of everything else, and instantly.”

“Yes, Commander,” said the apologetic officer.

Kril whirled to face communications. “Alert all squadron commanders. Tell them what has happened here. All units to function to …”

The communications officer replied sorrowfully. “The fighter command blister is gone, Commander. Completely gone. We have no way to direct our fighters.”

Kril growled something so vile that even under the present desperate circumstances his subordinates were shocked.

“Look at them,” Alex said excitedly as they came within visual pickup range of the rearmost squadron of Ko-Dan fighters. “They don’t know we’re here. They don’t know they’ve been attacked yet!”

“They will know soon enough,” Grig said somberly. “We have only moments before the Ko-Dan patch through from the flagship on secondary communications equipment. We must make the most of them.”

“Don’t worry.” Alex readied himself. “I know what to do. After all, I’ve been recruited by the League to …”

“Life support intact, weapons systems still functioning at maximum, propulsion at full strength . . .” Grig was mumbling to himself.

“. . . defend the Frontier . . . and this is it . . .”

Grig sent the gunstar swooping down on four squadrons of Ko-Dan ships. Suicidal it might have seemed, but the Ko-Dan expected no trouble as they moved toward Rylos orbit, and they were used to doing battle under unified control. That control had been taken out by the single surprise pass at the command ship. It should take the Ko-Dan a while to adapt to operating without central tactical direction. Hopefully too much time.

Alex’s fingers played over the fire controls. Taken completely by surprise, the Ko-Dan ships were destroyed before they could react. And when they attempted to contact their fighter command center on the flagship and failed to get so much as a courteous reply, they began to panic. It must have seemed that they were under attack by a hundred gunstars. In every instance their delay in responding was fatal, as Grig wove neatly through the shattered formations and Alex obliterated potential opposition one ship after the other.

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