by M.J. Baker
Dain’s voice only held a hint of power. The merest shred of authority but it was conveyed in such a way that convinced any listener that that shred could rip a man apart.
“Sir.” Ansen began. “With all due respect-”
“I said enough.” Dain said and crossed from the bar to stand next to Sikes. “We're launching in thirty minutes. Do you preflight checks now, all of you.”
“Sir, he hit me.”
“I didn't see anything.” Dain said without a hint of irony.
“Do you know who my father is, Sir?” The last word was added after a moment of silence.
“A good friend of mines and mines is more powerful. Now get the hell out of here before I charge you for insubordination.” Ansen's eyes flicked between him, Marack's and Sikes' before he finally gave in. After a salute to Dain, a leer at Sikes and a dangerous look at Marack he and his companions stormed out.
“Thank you.” Sikes said after they had gone. Dain sighed and shook his head.
“Forget it. I didn't do it to help you out. As far as I'm concerned you both deserved the beating you were about to get.”
“No, and I thought you were the one Irakillion with a heart of gold?” Marack said in mock disbelief.
“My father has a political rally tonight and it would help greatly if his son was there to support him, so I don't want any delay to this mission.” Marack looked at the man. Like almost all Irakillions Marack met, he was taller than him. Well built, as if he had never missed a meal in his life, and with a face that was born to win an election campaign.
“Thanks anyway.” Sikes said with a hint of embarrassment in her voice.
“Better get yourselves suited up and ready to go too. Your freighters should be loaded in about ten minutes.” He gave Sikes the smallest of nods and then just walked away. Sikes grinned and Marack shook his head. He reconised the look on her face.
“Forget about him.” Marack said. “It would kill his career.”
“A woman can dream though.” Marack straightened out his flightsuit and then remembered the manual stuffed down it. He shifted his shoulders until the suit was rumpled again and hoped that Sikes didn't see. He looked back at her he found her staring out the window at Alaris. “You know the Dain family was able to keep most of their estates during the revolution.”
“I thought that all the nobles did that. I thought the only thing they lost were their titles.” He said, not really caring about something that had happened on another planet a decade before he was born.
“I think a few lost their estates, some were killed. Anyway the Dains kept theirs and apparently they have some of the most famed gardens in the sector. I would like to see them one day.” Sikes' voice had gained a edge of distance.
“I didn't know you liked gardens.”
“When I was young I had one of those small crystal gardens. I even thought that if I was really good with it I could feed my family.” She laughed and turned back to him. “I was four at the time.”
“When I was that age I thought that the Irakillions weren't actively trying to kill us.” The smile faded from her face and she shrugged.
“Come on, we'd better get set for launch And Marack?”
“Yes Captain?”
“You ever hit an Irakillion officer again I'll have Commander Raek throw you out of an airlock.”
“Understood Captain.”
Marack knew this dance and hated the inevitability of it. He hated the way that Dain's squadron held themselves back, never going more than a few thousand kilometers from the jumppoint. He hated the way the two freighters inched towards the halfway point. It took them fifteen long minutes to reach it and Marack felt his hands tighten around the control sticks as each second went by. Most of all he hated the sinking feeling that was quickly replaced by terror as the two pirate fighters jumped into the system the moment the freighters crossed the half way point.
“Incoming.” Sikes shouted over her comm-link. “Reading two Castle class interceptors.”
“Bait.” Marack snapped. “Wait for them to come closer, we don't want to get drawn away from the freighters.”
“Confirmed. Vali Leader to Irakillion forces, are you planning on sticking around this time?” Marack was a little surprised to hear a hint of hope in Sikes' voice.
“They're across the line.” Dain said with a sigh. “I have my orders, they are the responsibility of the ADF.”
“Oh come on Dain. It's only by a few seconds. Give us a minute or two and we'll have the freighter turned around and back on Irakillion's side of the line. The lines just theoretical anyway. We're just waiting for them to dump their heat.” Sikes said. Marack kept his eyes on the two Castles. They were decent fighters, if not a match for the Hammerheads that Dain used. He kept his own fighter between them and the freighters as they turned to intercept the freighters.
“Sorry Sikes, that won't work. We're jumping out in ten seconds.”
“Why? This is your chance to be a war hero, isn't that going to help your fathers position even more? A genuine, dyed in the wool hero-” There was a flicker of lights and Dain’s fighters were gone, Sikes’ voice died over the comm.
“We didn't need them anyway.” Marack said, although he couldn't hide the bitterness in his voice.
“Acknowledged. I'll move in to engage, you stay with the freighters.”
“Got it.” Marack watched as Sikes' own fighter moved to intercept the two Castles. He briefly prayed that she would be safe, then forced the worry from his mind. Of course she would be, she was the second best in the entire ADF. At a range of twenty thousand kilometers she opened fire, the flicker of tracer rounds raced forward and Marack turned away. He had to keep an eye out-
And suddenly there they were, four more Castles jumping in on the other side of the freighters. Marack swallowed hard and felt his heart already thumping in his chest. He keyed his commlink to to include the freighters.
“I'm moving to intercept this second group.” He said and then disconnected the comm-link completely. He swung around the freighters and caught his first sight of the four castles, heading directly towards him in a staggered formation. He took a deep breath and noticed that his hands were shaking. Twelve thousand kilometers away and the Castles closed formation, preparing to throw up a wall of mass driver rounds that he couldn't escape from. Marack smiled a little and activated his own weapons, he began counting down the distance between them.
An instant before he hit tenthousand kilometers he jerked his fighter into a barrel roll and saw the four Castles open fire. The fear vanished in an instant. How dare they he thought. The freighters were carrying food and medical supplies, nothing of value to anyone. What kind of sick and twisted-
Acting on instinct alone he returned fire with barely half a dozen rounds. He swore. This is a humanitarian mission. The four Castles continued to fire as the distance closed but at the speed and angle he was going they just weren't able to turn their own ships fast enough to hit him.
“Idiots.” Did they really think that this was enough? Four fighters? It was an insult. At four thousand kilometers he gave up all pretense of firing back and simply swung the fighter in ever more erratic maneuvers. The old Sarmatian couldn't take more than a couple of hits and so he couldn't risk staying on the same course for even a fraction of a second.
“Come on you scum, come on.” He whispered through gritted teeth at two thousand kilometers. One of the fighters ceased fire and began swinging away but the other three, now that the range was so close, redoubled their efforts and Marack's hud was lit up by the flashes of light as the rounds blasted past him. At fivehundred kilometers he gave a yell and turned sharply into their formations, knowing that he'd only get a heartbeats worth of firing at them he made sure the shots counted. A volley of his rounds ripped across the lead craft's fuselage, turning the front of it into a wreak of twisted metal. Marack's heart soared. The fear was gone, replaced by hatred and the desire to prove that he was the better pilot. The three surviving
Castle's shot past him but Marack was already turning, yelling into his disconnected comm-link again as the acceleration pushed him into his seat.
The pirate ships scattered in all directions, any semblance of coordination gone. Marack twisted his fighter in a wide arc that brought him behind one of the craft long enough to fire off another volley. He didn't even wait to see what damage it had done before turning away again. He kept his eyes on the Sarmatian's sensors, continually aware of where the Castles were at all times. Even in the middle of their formation he couldn't afford to stay on the same heading for longer than an instant. One solid hit from any of the Castles could wreak the Sarmatian but Marack had a single advantage.
He was better than them. One Castle flickered into his firing arc for less than a second, but it was enough to send a burst of mass driver fire into its engines. It spiraled away, its pilot desperately trying to dodge out of the way of his second volley. With its engines almost dead it was a easy kill and Marack risked a whole second's worth of steady flying to shred the injured ships fuselage. The two remaining Castles took the opportunity to latch onto his tail and he laughed as their own rounds shot past his canopy.
“Come on then you stupid sons of bitches. You think you're good enough to hit me?” In his minds eye he could see the pilots cursing as he slipped out of their firing arcs time and time again. Marack's grin turned into a