Attack ships, p.15
Attack Ships, page 15
part #2 of Starwing Elite Series
Soon I found the same point I’d entered from the tree line. Blocking it were three UDF Tactical Marines in full battle gear. Each wore a black mask over their face to conceal their identity. I could tell by the insignia they wore these were assault troops. The colonel wasn’t one to take chances.
“We'll take it from here, Mr. Corwin,” the leader of the trio spoke to me. "Are there any others in the pirate ship?” He and his comrades aimed their guns at the ground, but I’m sure each one had a bullet chambered.
I hesitated and didn’t move.
“I have orders to take these women to the colonel and assume control of the pirate ship,” he snapped at me. “Please get out of my way and let me do my job.”
“Sorry, son,” I replied. “There is a small matter of whose prisoners these women are. I believe they are under my authority because they surrendered to me. Your colonel will need to take it up with the Grand Marshal of the Unified Protection Orders if he wants these women and that ship.” To drive it home I quoted from a manual of military justice and emphasized the relevant passage.
The three marines starred at me for a few seconds them stepped back and had a conference. I caught a smile from Queen Dredge out of the corner of my eye. She’d planned this out, the crazy woman. She knew none of them would’ve survived the day had the UDF Marines taken possession of them. They’d be executed on the spot once the commandoes found what was inside the Thunder Horse.
I watched as the leader of the trio took out a radio and made a brief call. He didn’t count on my not turning the pirate women over to him. The man was some sort of career type and didn’t want this to weigh against his rating.
All around us, I spotted movements. The trio in front of us was the visible side of the marine assault force. The others were there to make sure noting went wrong with the surrender of the ship. They were all about to be disappointed.
“Colonel says he wants to talk to you,” the group leader spoke and handed me the radio. I took it from him, pressed the send button, and spoke into it.
“Corwin here,” I said. “Some problems with my taking control of a set of prisoners?” Then I touched the receive button.
A rapid stream of curses and invectives exploded out of the radio in the voice of the colonel. He knew I had him and he could do nothing about it.
“And you can tell that bitch in charge of your garbage scow I said it!” he roared. “You will stay put in the general vicinity of the pirate ship until it’s removed. Any of those pirate sluts move one millimeter out of the perimeter, my men will shoot them. Any strange movements from that pirate ship before it gets back to orbit, if it ever does, and I’ll see that it’s blasted out of the sky. Do you understand me?” I could hear the forced breathing over the radio.
“Perfectly, Colonel,” I told him. "I’ll stay here until Tank’s FAS arrives. Have him land on the other side of the Thunder Horse so we can keep it under watch.”
He proceeded to tell me what I and the rest of my packmates could do to ourselves and then broke the connection. I handed the radio back to the marine who’d given it to me.
“I'll wait here under the FAS ships arrive,” I spoke. "They will be here in a few minutes.”
“You managed to piss the old man off,” he told me. “I haven’t seen too many people do that and survive.”
“He'll get over it,” I replied. “All it means is that you’re free to be used somewhere else.” He nodded in agreement.
We waited a few minutes. Soon, I heard the plasma engines overhead. I looked up and saw the first FAS, the one I oversaw, come down in the field near us. A few moments after that, the second, Tank’s, came down on the opposite of the Thunder Horse.
Captain would be pissed too, but I’d prevented a major bloodbath by accepting the surrender of the pirate crew. It could’ve been much worse with those three nukes on board. Technically, the nukes would be considered the property of the UDF forces, but they could wait to get them. Until Delios was under government control, they wouldn’t care. Besides, we were, in theory, a branch of the military, although the Orders were all run as independent units.
“Okay, ladies,” I told the women with me, “We have an appointment to make.”
I led them to the first FAS that landed. We formed another line and walked back across the field to the small ship on the ground, right in front of the larger pirate ship. The hatch popped open on it and the ramp extended to the ground.
How did you know which regulation gave your captain authority over us? Dredge’s eyes told me as I walked her and the others over to the FAS. I’d let her probe a bit into my mind, but only at the most superficial level. I had a great respect for her abilities.
I didn't, my mind sent back to hers. I made something up. Worked out well enough. I trust the Captain to know which one to cite in her official report.
I could hear the sound of troop transports in the background. Just as I expected, the colonel would send his forces off somewhere else with greater targets of opportunity. He’d leave a token force here to keep watch on the ship until it was off the planet.
Orlando waited for us after he exited the FAS. His mouth popped open when he saw what followed me to the ship. I could feel a mixture of excitement and fear when he saw those women. Every one of them had the cold eyes of someone who’d undergone torture. Dredge picked her crew well. There was no shortage of women out there who were tortured or abused to the point of insanity. So it was in the free-fire zones. Despite what the UDF claimed, it went on in places they didn’t want to know about. The central government couldn’t be everywhere and plenty of women fell through whatever support systems were supposed to keep it from happening.
Soon, the rest of my crew was outside the FAS and staring at the line of women behind me. Finally, Medoro spoke up.
“Captain wants to speak with you,” he told me. “I think she’s mad.” He handed the small radio he carried to me.
“I seem to be very popular all of the sudden,” I spoke as he gave the radio to me. "Must have something to do with the local weather.” I held the radio up to my ear.
It activated the moment my biometrics were recognized.
“What the hell is going on down there, Corwin?” she yelled into my ear. “I just got off the phone with the Grand Marshal. He claims we are responsible for that pirate ship, the crazy women who flew it, and everything inside. Including the nuclear weapons. He wants that ship with its cargo off the planet asap. What the hell did you do down there?”
I briefly went over Queen Dredge and her terms of surrender. I could hear the steam rise in Captain’s head on the other side of the radio.
“You did what?” she growled. "I suppose I should be proud of your for bringing it all to an end, but now we’re stuck with that ship and getting it off the planet. What kind of condition is it in?”
I looked over at the grounded Thunder Horse. One entire side had a rip in it from where we’d raked it with the chain cannons. The smoke no longer poured out, but it had sustained a lot of damage. The real amazement was how the ship managed to land in one piece. I’m sure Queen Dredge had a story to tell on her end of how they got it down without a major crash.
“It's fixable,” I told her. "Might take some time, but I’m sure we can get into orbit if we aren't under fire when we do it. Two days maybe?” I didn’t want to go into too great a detail.
It took another month to get the Thunder Horse into orbit.
19
Captain wasn’t mad at me for sticking her with responsibility of the pirate ship. She was angry I’d sent eight psychotic women into our ship. The Hard Rain didn’t have much room for prisoners and the UDF military didn’t want them. We were stuck with a group of women who needed constant monitoring on board an Order ship that didn’t have the capability to do such things. We could space them or we could integrate them, unless the plan was to slave them off for short term profit, but Starwing has never been about that.
“I had a look at those women,” Captain told me after I was returned to the Hard Rain. It was several days later before she could return to the roster system. This caused no small matter of concern since none of the crew were accustomed to sleeping alone on the evening shift. Once we were off battle time, she sent out the new roster. I noted that I was scheduled to be with her and Precious as soon as it went back into effect.
We were all three reclining on Captain’s bed after a few hours of quality time. Precious was asleep and curled up on one side of the bed. She’d insisted Captain schedule her with me the moment I returned. Captain didn’t like to be told who slept with whom, but made another exception. There didn’t seem to be any complaints from the other women, but I wished the damn Order could get us some more men for the pack. Dividing my attention between two women an evening was going to be a challenge. In most cases, I would have to leave one woman’s quarters at the halfway point and make myself present for the next.
“What did you think?” I finally asked Captain.
“I can see why they surrendered to us,” she replied. “After interviewing the men they kept on that ship, I realized how deadly these women were. Most places would take them out and shoot the whole lot. Hell, most planets would consider it a mercy to put a bullet into each of their heads. I still don’t know what to do with them or that ship, once it’s fixed. Probably send them to a colony where they can be kept away from people. That Queen Dredge kept ranting about the judgement of Yaldabaoth. I have no idea what she’s talking about. It is generally not acceptable for Starwing ships to profit from selling captives, but I am strongly considering it, regardless of how ill used these women are. They are war criminals, and either we execute them, integrate them, or sell them. Now get back over here, I’m not done with you.”
I got to sleep an hour later.
It was the next day that we learned about the new threat.
I’d assumed the UDF Navy would send us back to border control once we had the Thunder Horse fixed, in tow, and the nukes handed over to the right people. For some reason, they had us stay in orbit around Delios even after the fighting on the surface was over. The Thunder Horse was operational a week after the pirate ship made orbit.
I was in the mess hall when Captain summoned me to her quarters. The previous night was a bit of a challenge, but I was starting to get used to moving from one room to the next in the middle of the evening shift. Most of the men found it a challenge, but one we were up to every night.
I’d passed Tank at one point in the corridor. “Where you headed?” I asked him.
“Alyx," he told me. "You going to Precious again?”
“Nope," I replied. “I'm off to keep Imani company. Besides, Precious isn’t in her own quarters. She’ll be with the same couple all night long.”
“Lucky for her,” Tank muttered as he continued on his way.
“Corwin," the audio system boomed into the mess hall. "Please report to Captain’s room after you’re finished eating.” I groaned.
“Maybe she's starting early,” Tali spoke to me. She sat with Maga and me. I started with Maga and finished with Tali the previous evening shift, so the three of us were at the same table.
“She has been under a lot of stress,” I grumbled when I stood up and left. I made sure to kiss both of them goodbye. No reason to leave them on a bad note.
I entered Captain’s quarters a few minutes later. She was starring a screen and motioned me to sit down at the chair next to her desk.
“Look at what just showed up in our sector,” she spoke to me and pointed at the screen.
I starred at three ships of unknown design that were armed with strange weapons. They were larger than a standard Orders ship, but I couldn’t tell much else about them.
“What the hell is that?” I asked her.
“Bad news,” she told me. “Get your crew ready."
Isaac Stone, Attack Ships
