Back at base she allowed shore leave for the men while the station’s maintenance crew took care of the Kee-Raw. She never took shore leave. She didn’t need it, didn’t want it. She preferred the comfort and safety of her ship.
Later that evening, she was alone on board when her com link buzzed.
“Captain Lorcan.”
“Captain, this is Vice-Admiral Iago. I would like to speak with you in my office.”
Her heart quickened. He commanded the entire sector. “Sir?”
“Immediately, if possible. I will send one of my aides to escort you.”
“Of course. Right away.”
“Very good. My aide is on his way. I’ll see you shortly.” He ended the com link before she could utter anything else.
After she swallowed back her initial shock at the vice-admiral personally contacting her, she jumped to her feet and raced for the hatch. She stood waiting, calmly composed by the time the aide emerged from the berth lift a few minutes later.
“Captain Lorcan?”
“Yes.” Despite her racing heart she kept her voice chilly.
“Please come with me.”
She followed the man into the lift and through the secure section of the station to the vice-admiral’s office. She’d never met with a superior officer of his rank before.
Every last one of her instincts hummed, almost as good as the adrenaline rush of a battle.
When the aide escorted her into the vice-admiral’s office, Aine formally bowed before snapping Vice-Admiral Iago a precise salute. “Sir, it is an honor to meet you.”
He returned her salute with a crisp one of his own before indicating she should sit in the chair on the other side of his desk. He waited before he took his own seat, then he dismissed his aide.
Once alone with her, he clasped his hands on his desk and studied her. She wondered what he saw besides a petite young woman barely five-five in height, her short, dark hair still wildly spiked.
After a moment, he spoke. “You are an interesting study, Captain Lorcan.”
“How so, sir?”
“I have been through your personnel file. Orphaned, adopted, growing up in a lifestyle that would wear most adults out, orphaned again. Yet you seemed to thrive.”
“Lifestyle, sir?”
“Being raised on a ship that saw active duty, including some pretty risky situations. I’ve been through Captain Lorcan’s dossier. Senior,” he added with a smile. “He taught you well. I can only imagine what he could have accomplished had he been in the military and not the merchant corps.”
Aine hardened her heart against the sudden inflow of memories threatening to disrupt her equilibrium. “My fathers were both good men, dedicated to their duty and service.”
The vice-admiral leaned back. “Yes, absolutely. And they have given us their daughter, the terror of many Academy cadets.” He smiled again, even more broadly. “My nephew said he ran from a sim session with you and headed straight to a head. Puked his guts up. You scared the shit out of him.”
“I make no apologies for how I taught my classes, Vice-Admiral.”
“I wouldn’t expect you to. He also said you were, by far, the best teacher he had. That it was nice hearing from someone close to his age who’d seen action instead of young teachers going by textbooks or older ones recounting their memories and reliving their glory days.” He studied her again for a moment. “I have a proposition for you, Captain.”
“Sir?”
“We’re about to embark on a widespread blitz of the raiders in this sector. We need to ferret out their regional base of operations once and for all. Are you familiar with the Act’hurans?”
“Vaguely. I know there’s a lot of open and unclaimed space between Confederation space and their territory. They aren’t hostile, and their merchant vessels are allowed to trade at Confederation stations as needed. They allow us the same courtesy.”
“Correct. We do not have diplomatic relations with them yet. Not officially, anyway. Hopefully that will happen within the next few years. They have been, however…” He paused. “What I am about to tell you is strictly classified. It is not to be repeated anywhere. Understood?”
“Yes, sir.”
“We have covertly conducted joint missions with them for years. Over a century now. Usually with technology exchanges as payment. Works for both of us. Your scatter shield technology is a boon not only to our own forces, but would be for theirs as well. The Act’hurans will play a large role in helping us dismantle the raider network in this sector.”
“But a silent role.”
“Absolutely. For now.”
“Where do I come in, sir?”
“I want you to head our forces in this venture.”
She felt her breath catch as she struggled to keep her Ice Queen mask firmly in place. “Me, sir? I’m a captain, not a commander.”
“Bullshit. You’re a brilliant tactician, and you’ve seen enough action with these raiders that I would put you up against our brightest and most experienced strategists without hesitation. You would still captain the Keenoipai Rawlins. You’d be at the front lines, coordinating with intelligence on this end. I can’t think of a better person to spearhead this effort than yourself.”
She studied the older man. “You do realize there’s one helluva bounty on my head, right?”
“Absolutely. If you want honesty, I’m hoping that draws more raiders into the net and allows us the chance to destroy more of them.”
Well, at least he was honest. She gave him credit for that.
He let her think about it for a moment.
“So what do I do next?” she asked.
He smiled again. “Excellent, Captain. Glad to have you on board.”
* * * *
Only weeks into the mission, Aine’s reputation grew by leaps and bounds as the raiders grew more desperate in their attempts to beat back Confederation forces. She knew she had three Act’huran shadow vessels, as they’d been dubbed, working with her forces. Their ships bore special nav beacons identifying them to the Confederation vessels to protect them from friendly fire.
Aine had no direct interaction with the Act’huran captains. The Vice-Admiral’s office and higher command handled that. She'd never met an Act’huran in person but gave thanks for their stealthy hit and run tactics that always took the raiders by surprise before their shadow vessels faded into the background again.
The latest skirmish would take place in the icy and very rocky ring surrounding the uninhabited planet Yaumahn 2. Used as an emergency base by the raiders, Aine knew several gathered there to regroup from the last attack. One major problem for Confederation forces was the raiders mastered using the planet’s treacherous ring for cover and evasion. All a raider vessel had to do was thread its way through the ring and make it around to the far side of the planet to escape relatively unnoticed. The iron-ore chunks in the ring, along with its dense thickness, made it nearly impossible for scanners to accurately penetrate. A nearby asteroid belt lay close enough a ship could escape there and then lose pursuers.
Aine decided this would be one of their major showdowns. She took great pains to use the secure com channel the raiders had already cracked. Her ships were aware of this. All priority com traffic took place on a scrambled channel the raiders didn’t even know existed.
Another of Aine’s inventions.
Her trap set, she drew her forces close to the thick ring and cast her net. With only a skeleton crew of four in addition to herself on board—her other crew already transferred to another vessel for safety—she was the bait. She wouldn’t risk any more of her men than absolutely necessary on this dangerous venture.
The prospect of losing her own life in the process didn’t bother her.
Her crew pointed the Kee-Raw into the Yaumahn 2 ring and crept their way through the debris field, trolling.
Waiting.
Finally, her helmsman alerted her. “Sir, three raider vessels converging upon our location.”
She allowed a pleased smile to slip across her face. “Excellent. More will follow.”
Pretending their modified sensors hadn’t picked up the raiders’ propulsion trails, she instructed her helmsman to maintain course. Another four ships drifted into sensor range.
If they scanned her vessel, they would see an entire crew contingent on board the Kee-Raw, not just five.
“You want me, you fucking bastards?” she muttered under her breath. “Then come and get me and make it good.”
Three more raiders slipped out of hiding.
Their forces, as well as the Act’huran shadow vessels, also waited, drifting, cloaked by a new sensor system she designed and perfected. To the raiders’ sensors, the vessels looked like more debris in the ring. The Confederation ships had moved into place days earlier in preparation for this showdown.
“Okay, this is it. Get ready.” She activated her sensor show, a pre-programmed simulation that, to the less sophisticated raider ships, would make it look like a major disaster just occurred on board. Aine tapped her com button to the unsecured channel. “Mayday, mayday. This is Captain Lorcan of the Keenoipai Rawlins. We’ve had an engine failure and fire. Request immediate assistance. Over.”
There was only a moment’s hesitation before the raider ships increased their speed toward her vessel.
When last updated, the raider bounty on her had reached five hundred million dollars, if she was taken alive. Nothing if she died.
They all wanted her alive.
An automated response, also part of the simulation. “Keenoipai Rawlins, we read you. This is Confederation battleship Axleterrace en route to your location. Over.”
“We’ve just had an explosion. Ordering all hands to life pods. Abandoning ship. Over.”
“Roger, Captain.”
She plugged data into the computer, waited a reasonable time, then launched the first life pod via her command station. Two raider cruisers on the far flank immediately changed course to intercept.
They’d be in for a rude awakening when they brought it on board and it exploded.
“Prepare to cloak on my command,” she ordered.
“Aye, sir,” the engineer said.
She launched another life pod. The raiders would know each one could hold up to four individuals. This one had been set to a different trajectory than the first, and another two raiders peeled off after it.
She repeated the action three more times, then waited. They still had two life pods on board, real ones not rigged to explode, just in case.
The first life pod had almost reached the raiders’ tractor range. Then she laughed as they watched the two raider ships fire on each other in an attempt to pull the pod in. While they were distracted fighting over it, a third raider approached and was immediately fired upon by the first two raiders attempting to protect their prize.
Aine smiled while her men laughed. “Maybe they’ll do the hard work for us.” She anticipated this but never imagined it would work so well.
The interplay was repeated by other raider ships as they attempted to reach the life pods first. She knew the other Confederation ships had to be laughing their asses off over the show. One raider ship had already been destroyed by its own comrades, another terminally disabled. With five more converging on the scene, things really got interesting.
None of the raiders headed toward the Kee-Raw. According to their sensors, it was empty. Another of Aine’s inventions.
As a tractor beam snagged the first life pod, the second also fell victim to a raider’s pull.
Once the first pod exploded, the others were rigged to soon follow. Then the Confederation ships would step in and clean up the leftover raider forces as they caught on to the trap.
But what a hell of a surprise.
In the confusion, the raiders would be taken unaware by the Confederation vessels suddenly stepping out of cloak mode.
“Commence cloak.”
“Aye, sir.”
“Gently push us out of position, idle speed. I don’t want them stumbling into us.”
The Confederation and shadow vessels could see them on sensors, but there was a risk of the raiders accidentally running into them. After making their way out of the debris field, they’d wait until the raiders were defeated. She wouldn’t break radio silence until the support captain gave the all clear.
“Aye.”
The battle raged between the raiders until the first pod, pulled inside the cargo bay of a raider cruiser, exploded. The blast not only destroyed the raider, but the shockwave destroyed the two closest raider vessels.
Aine smiled again as her men cheered.
With the trap discovered, the second raider couldn’t dislodge the life pod they’d snagged in time to escape that blast. Neither could the other three. With the raider forces in disarray, the Confederation forces stepped in and took over, decloaking and catching the raiders by surprise as she predicted.
The Kee-Raw had almost reached the edge of the debris field when a raider ship late to the party blasted around the far side of a piece of rock that created a sensor blind spot. It clipped the back end of the Kee-Raw as it passed. Fortunately, the raider vessel was much smaller than them, and the impact destroyed it.
Unfortunately, the collision breached the Kee-Raw’s hull in the engine room and disabled most of their systems. Bulkhead doors slammed shut in the aft section to protect the crew, but the Kee-Raw was mortally wounded considering the circumstances.
“Abandon ship,” she ordered. Another benefit, the raiders should leave the real life pods alone, assuming they were similarly booby-trapped, and too damn busy defending themselves to fire upon them. She programmed the scuttle command to trigger after her life pod blasted free, and she issued the final order.
The men looked stunned as she bolted from her chair. “I said abandon ship, dammit! Life pods, now!”
This spurred them to action. She stepped into her cabin on the way past and grabbed her old knapsack from her bunk. She always kept it packed and ready to go, the things she couldn’t bear to lose, the only things of any value to her beside her ring and necklaces.
She followed steps behind her men, running as she slung the pack over her shoulders.
The men hesitated at the life pod bays. “All in,” she ordered, pointing to one. “Go!”
The engineer, fifteen years her senior, tried to argue. “But sir, you’ll…be alone.”
She knew what he wanted to say but didn’t dare. “That’s an order, mister. I’ve been alone most my life. Go!”
He finally dove through the hatch. She slammed her hand against the panel, sealing the life pod and launching it. Its trajectory would blast it safe of the debris field so they could hopefully soon be picked up by one of the Confederation vessels.
She dove for the other, used the command panel inside to seal herself in, and launched.
As she looked through the view port at the Kee-Raw growing smaller behind her, she authorized the final scuttle sequence and her ship self-destructed. She prayed her men made it safely out of harm’s way. They had been picked because they were single, without children, and good at their jobs.
She wouldn’t put them at additional risk by allowing any of them to remain with her.
Aine settled in, her pulse slowing.
This is it.
Either she’d be rescued, die at the raiders’ hands, or crash land on the planet.
Regardless, the fact that at last count they’d already destroyed eight large raider ships was something to be proud of.
Dying wasn’t a bad option, either. All the people she loved were dead.
Not long after, she saw on the sensors that a Confederation ship safely retrieved the other life pod. One worry off her plate. She couldn’t signal for help due to more raider ships converging on the area. As her life pod drew closer to the planet’s surface, she wondered how badly it would hurt to die like this.
Hopefully, it won’t last long.
* * * *
The life pod skipped off the atmosphere as the autopilot computers tried adjusting the magnetic shields to change approach angle. With the next skip, it plunged through. As the pod’s hull temperature increased, she buckled herself into a seat and pulled Mal’s pendant from under her shirt. Kissing it while she rubbed her thumb over her father’s ring, she did the one thing she’d never done before in her life.
Prayed.
Although she prayed for a quick and painless death, not survival.
The life pod violently shook and would have fatally bounced her around if she hadn’t been secured. She squeezed her eyes shut and held on for what felt like infinity, until the wind sounded like an inhuman scream slipping past the hull plates even as the landing thrusters struggled to slow her descent.
Just before the final impact came, she screamed, “Aggie!” before she lost consciousness.
Chapter Five
When Aine opened her eyes, everything lay still and quiet around her. Taking a breath hurt, between her chest feeling caved in and acrid smoke filling the cabin. From the angle of the landing she lay on her back while still buckled into her seat.
Correction, everything hurt. Moving wasn’t an option, but she tried wiggling her toes.
Those still worked.
She heard a noise outside, something on the hatch.
Raiders!
She jerked her head up, trying to see the harness buckle so she could unfasten herself. A flare of agonizing pain took her consciousness.
* * * *
The man’s severe face floated into her field of vision. For such a harsh-looking man, his touch felt exceptionally gentle as his finger caressed her chin. His lips moved. She knew he spoke to her but a dull roar filled her ears and she passed out again.
* * * *
She woke up screaming. Jagged bolts of agony ripped through her abdomen. She could hear the man’s voice. Deep, yet soothing.
Fierce Radiance Page 5