Attack ships, p.6
Attack Ships, page 6
part #2 of Starwing Elite Series
"Watch the starfighter on the right," I let Tran know. "He's about to try something."
I'd felt a heighten sense of worth from the ship. He was about to earn his place in the merc chain of command.
I watched as the starfighter in question pulled up slightly to reveal its weapons display. And then his sense of glory went to maximum.
"Hit him with the laser," I ordered Tran. "He's about to open fire."
I felt the power level in the FAS drop a few degrees as the quantum laser fired at the starfighter. Laser beams were almost invisible when in use. The only way I could spot a direct hit was from what the target did or how it responded.
The starfighter stopped and began to drift. I enlarged the image and looked as the large hole in one side where the strike took place. The pilot was dead from energy that cooked him in his chair. It didn't matter; there was one less starfighter to worry about. This one was supposed to lead the attack. Now, it wouldn't lead anything.
Once the other starfighter pilots realized their vanguard ship was out of commission, they went to Plan B.
In this case, it involved a full-on strike right at our position.
6
"Take us back to our former position!" I ordered Orlando. Every starfighter in the assault was headed our way. No time to debate over what to do.
As we moved back to our former location, I felt another presence near us. I blinked and tried to remember where I'd felt it before. It couldn't be the Hard Rain, I knew everyone on its call sign. It was how I knew we'd lost Britani and Imani. This was something I'd felt before and needed to identify.
"Hey," Orlando spoke, "check out the radar. We've got some new friends out here."
I turned to have a look at my screens to find out what he talked about. Yes, there it was, coming in on our starboard side. The same patched-together mess I'd seen before.
The pirate ship Thunder Horse. This time it was ready for some serious action.
"What the hell is that?" Modero demanded to know as the pirate ship roared past us. It was headed directly at the mercenary starfighter configuration.
I could feel the rage inside the Thunder Horse as it plowed into the formation of the starfighters. This was something similar to what I'd felt inside Precious, although not on the same level. It was a rage born out of what they'd been through on a collective basis. Although no one of them had suffered as much, combined there was much hatred and fury inside all. This was different from what I'd felt from the mercenary pilots. These women wanted to do as much damage as possible to the mercs and they didn't care what kind of collateral resulted.
And we were that collateral.
The lasers opened up and began to fry every starfighter in range. There wasn't even an offer of surrender. The Thunder Horse wanted to clean up the forward armies of the cartels, and then tear them themselves apart for whatever treasure they could find.
"I don't think we need to do anything," Tran observed as the pirate ship cooked the first starfighter with a barrage of laser fire. The outer skin of the starfighter peeled back in the vacuum of space and flew apart.
The next two starfighters didn't last much longer. The pirate ship was ringed by twelve laser arrays. I knew because I had the AI track them. They weren't easy to identify, and many were hidden in the assortment of junk armor fixed to the outer skin of the ship.
The starfighters attempted to flee and were sliced open when the combined power of six quantum lasers cut through their outer hulls. Most of the time, you couldn't see them at work, as an individual laser only made its presence known after the target was destroyed. These pirate women wanted to hurt their targets before they killed them. I watched sections of the starfighters drift off into space while the lasers probed the ships and found their vulnerable points. Last to go was the pilot module. I don't think they destroyed them most of the time, content to know the pilots wouldn’t live very long in a comprised pod.
"Cruel bunch," Orland observed as we sat back and watched the slaughter. I was reminded of a weasel I once saw on a colony pounce and play with a local rodent before killing it.
"Captain wants to know why you broke formation and plugged that starfighter," I heard Ely transmit over my audio. "She wants you to stay out of the fight until we see what that pirate ship intends on doing."
"I have no intention of making her mad," I transmitted back. "The starfighter I zapped was about to lead an attack and break through our formation, so I took some initiative. Doesn't matter now as those pirates are putting a world of hurt on the mercs. Guess they should never have broken their contract with the UDF."
The mercs had motherships of their own, although they used them more as bases of operation. They still needed to service the starfighters and haul back whatever loot they took. Right now, one of those base stations was trying to get out of the combat zone. The pirate ship scrapped three more starfighters as we watched. We all knew it would finish with the starfighters and then turn its attention on the real prize, that base station.
Most of the base stations didn't have much in the way of armaments. The starfighters were supposed to provide any defense they needed. From what I knew, each base station traveled with ten starfighters minimum, upwards of eighteen if they were willing to sacrifice some mobility. The base stations were platforms that resembled large cylinders. The work done on the starfighters was performed outside the station, so there was no need for hangers or ready rooms.
We watched as the last starfighter was cooked by the guns of the Thunder Horse. I could feel the sadistic glee come from inside the pirate ship.
"Captain wants you back," I heard Ely speak into the audio feed. "The marshal wants us deployed somewhere else in this godforsaken system."
"What about that pirate ship?" I asked her. "When it'd done with the mercs it'll be coming back for us."
"Captain says not to worry about the pirates and the mercs, they can have each other for all she cares. We're not worried about either one right now as there are some more problems with those drug runners in another part of this system. She says for all of you to get your asses back here for rest and refit so we can get to the next objective."
I signed off and relayed the order to the rest of the crew.
"What, boss?" Modero responded. "They want us to bugger off? Hell, we can take both of those groups out in one punch." I heard him swear in an older Earth language.
"Not our problem, men," I relayed to them. "They're letting the pirate ship have them, we're heading back home."
Orlando grumbled and turned the FAS around. I felt the mass inside it shift several times as he made the necessary adjustments to get us pointed back to the Hard Rain. From this distance, it appeared as a bright point of light, but I had the coordinates to bring us back to the hanger.
I was quick to bring up Ely. "Can you send us the assignment roster for this evening? I asked. "I know it shouldn't make a difference, but I'd like to get ready before we shut this warbird down." It was also a way to substantiate what I'd felt when the starfighter collided into the Hard Rain. If captain shifted Britani or Latasha's name from the roster, it would confirm what I suspected.
"Can’t do it, Corwin," Ely replied.
“Why?” I demanded.
"I can't go into it. Captain will be at the hanger to greet all of you on arrival." I didn't ask anything else.
I found out later the pirates had attacked the mercs base station and killed most of the crew. We were surprised when it turned out they didn't kill all of them. It wasn't like pirates to take prisoners, such captives cost too much in food, water, and air to be profitable, unless they were being sold off into slavery shortly after.
We departed the FAS the same time the crews from the other two did. I passed by Shelly and his guys after depositing my armor on the ready racks. We hadn't seen as much combat as we'd have liked, but the order was to fall back and we obeyed.
Captain greeted us alone in the ready room. Tank's crew was already there when we arrived.
"You know we took some damage when that merc starfighter smashed into the hull," Captain spoke to us. She stood there in her uniform with both hands crossed in front. There weren't even the evening's assignments to greet us. My fears were confirmed.
"What you don't know is that we lost some people," she went on. I heard Shelly let out a gasp.
"Who?" Tank spoke first. We all wanted to know, even if I already did.
"Britani," She spoke slowly. "Latasha. Both were in the storage room when the starfighter slammed into the other side. It was quick. Decompression took place instantly and the whole room vented. We're working to patch it up. Another reason the marshal wanted to send us somewhere else. We need time to get the hull patched before another engagement."
She turned to me. "I'm sorry, Corwin. I know she was Kyle's mother. We'll all miss her and Latasha."
"Have you told Kyle?" I asked her.
"Yes," she responded. "An hour ago. He took it like a true son of the pack."
Most of the children were raised with the understanding that death could come at any minute, and that reaching old age was uncommon in our society. They learned to respect death and not fear it. It was the only way they could adjust to the constant threat of combat or an attack on the mothership.
"The bodies?" Shelly asked. I could tell losing both of them hurt him a lot too, Latasha had been his favorite, a bright star in his last duty rotation before retirement to the colonies.
"No time to recover them," Captain spoke. "Especially with our underbelly exposed and the combat zone still hot."
She unfolded her hands and stepped back a few feet.
"Service will be tomorrow morning. Right at assembly time." She turned and left the room.
"Goddamned mercs," Tank swore as he left the ready room. "I hope those pirates killed every last one of them."
I checked the rooster and noted Precious and I was assigned to each other for the evening, the first time since the Captain's chambers. First, I wanted to see Kyle.
He was in the main assembly room when I found him. Kyle sat at one table with one of his aunts and looked through a collection of pictures taken with him and his mother. The screen where the pictures were displayed floated in the air right above the table. I walked over to him and sat down.
Jalilah sat next to him and held his hand. She was the oldest woman on the ship, outside of Captain. She took care of most things that had to do with the women's quarters. Although Kyle came of age with plenty of aunts and uncles, he had a close bond with Jalilah. She was the favorite aunt of all the children. Jalilah blessed the mothership with four children over the years, but the men who fathered them were long dead and the children pledged to other Order ships. As I watched them I felt that I understood more clearly why all of our children had to leave when they came of age. Given our society's breeding and marriage practices, it would be awkward and possibly emotionally traumatizing for Kyle to lay with Jalilah and perhaps even make a baby with her. Better to remain aunts and uncles and send our children away than keep them with us, as much for our minds as the breeding charts.
"Hello, dad," Corwin said to me as he looked up. "Captain said the service will be tomorrow."
"I heard," I spoke to him. "You can speak for your mother."
We talked for a long time. He'd accepted the fate that led to his mother's death, and he was old enough to understand the fragile life we led out there. I'd seen younger children burst into tears when they learned a parent was gone forever. I didn't cry when my father died, but I was always a very stoic child.
"I was accepted into the Great Khan's new class," he told me. "Didn't get a chance to tell mom about it. At least I can tell you."
I didn't respond as quickly as I should have.
"I don't understand a lot of what takes place in this universe," I explained to Kyle. "We'll all miss your mother. She wasn't like many other people I've known.”
"I know Aunt Latasha's daughters were told," he replied. "I wish they could be here tomorrow."
"They'll be here in spirit," I told him. Latasha's daughters had decided not to pledge any other Order and were somewhere inside the UDF. I knew she’d felt bitter neither of them pledged, but there wasn't much she could say. They'd made their minds up as free adults.
We talked for a long time.
The next day, Kyle led the service for his mother and held a photograph of her. I stood by him and held one for Latasha, since her children couldn't be here. We recited the memorial and meditated. No one ever knew who would be next. It was a part of our life on the mothership. All I could think about were the last times I was assigned to be with Britani and Latasha. Neither day was far apart.
I wondered what would be said, should I perish before making it to retirement. Your retirement took place unannounced, as the Orders in years past had too many cases of people trying to do one final desperate act to avoid civilian life on the colonies. Suicide charges might look good in videos, but they seldom accomplished anything, as the Roka had learned. There was still honor in a settled life on the Order colonies, but it was one without glory, and for many, especially the FAS crews, life without glory was a kind of death too.
7
Two days later we received a distress call from the Sans Arc. The hole created by the collision of the starfighter was patched. Captain was still cautious about what she wanted the Hard Rain to do since we still had some structural issues from the collision. Even with the hole patched, the stress factors were so messed up a sudden shift in the overall mass could destroy the mothership. Her plan was to get us back to a repair station and then return to the action.
At least this was the plan.
I knew Captain was under a lot of stress the day before when her name came up on my assignment for the evening. I woke that morning after a long and quiet night with Amarin to check who I would be with that evening. As usual, the screen was next to the shower when we finished. It Captain's name next to mine for the upcoming evening.
"Guess that impact unnerved her," Amarin spoke as she dried my back off. She wasn't that tall, but she was a scratcher, and my back stung a bit when she toweled me off.
I put my uniform on and left with her. We met up with my crew in the mess hall. Everyone ate their fill. At least we didn't have a rations problem. The usual looks and glances came back the day after the starfighter incident and the mess hall felt like family once again.
"I see Captain wants you tonight," Medoro spoke to me as he sat with Maya. She'd begun to show, and I noted Captain still had her off rotation on the roster. Most of the time it was to allow the mother time to bond with the father of her child. Even with the extended ship of relatives, Captain wanted every child to feel close to his or her parents. It wasn't official Starwing policy, but Captain Sophia had a soft spot for parents. It was the only soft thing about her.
"Guess I'll find out why tonight," I responded. It wasn't good form to talk about an upcoming assignment when you sat with the one from the previous night.
"Did you get much from that pirate ship?" Orlando asked me. He sat there with Precious.
Precious had taken to the roster with gusto, and even after just a short amount of time in the rotation, talk from the men about her voracious appetite had begun to circulate. After so many years of sex being a negative part of her life, it was as if her womanhood was reawakened, and she wanted as much as she could get. Pack lives might be short, but they are laid as hell.
"What do you have planned for today?" I asked Precious. I wanted her to feel part of what took place.
"Imani has me working with her," she explained. "She has to take apart one of the loaders for routine maintenance."
"Going to help her with the heavy parts?" I asked again. Precious seemed eager to help.
"No," she replied. "I get to watch the children."
Often the kids, at least those who were old enough to pay attention, were brought in to watch one of the crew perform some routine job. It was a good way to get them acclimatized to life on the ship. The other day I'd walked past a room where Ely had a screen display up as she explained to a room full of children the importance of cybernetic security.
However, I didn't get the chance to find out what troubled Captain that evening, because the alert went up the moment I was ready to come off duty and head over to her quarters.
The klaxon began to blare when I was in the hanger with my guys checking a few things over on our FAS. We stopped what we were doing the moment it sounded.
A few seconds later, Ely's voice broadcasted over the audio. "Change in plans," she explained. "The Sans Arc is under attack. We're the nearest Order mothership in the region and we need to help them out. All FAS crews to the ready room, deck crews prepare for launch.”
At least we were in the hanger, so it was no issue to make our way back to the ready room and get on the armor. I expected we'd be stuck inside the hanger awaiting launch. I didn't know how far away we were from the Sans Arc mothership, but it couldn't be far if we were supposed to help them out. I worried the Hard Rain still wasn’t battle ready. At least the hole was patched.
A few minutes later, the other two crews were in the ready room and suited up as well. I nodded at Tank and Shelly as we did a quick check of everyone's suit power and status. I could feel the humidity in mine as the internal system kicked into action.
"I hope this won't be too long," Shelly spoke to me as we waited for Captain’s order. "Precious is on this evening's roster with me. I've heard a lot of good things about her."
I wanted to tell him what she'd been like before Captain and I pulled her out of a living hell. Let him think his little angel was innocent, but corrupted. No one should ever have to see what I'd viewed in her inner mind.
"In case we do get back," he continued. "Any tips Captain didn't tell us the other day? You know her better than anyone else."
