Flight of the Reaper

by J. N. Chaney

  "Good," I said. "It’d be a nice change not to be needed everywhere at once."

  Elise crossed her arms. My other companions seemed offended.

  "What?" I demanded.

  "It’s not all about you," Elise said.

  "Might be," I fired back. We’d had this discussion more than a few times and I knew how to push her buttons.

  In fact, there weren’t many people I couldn’t piss off in less time than it took me to light up a cigar—assuming I could locate a heating element or an old-fashioned lighter.

  I was difficult that way.

  "I will remain on the Lady Faith and hack into the Nightmare’s systems from there," Henshaw said, unaffected by my attitude or Elise’s attempts to correct it. "We might need to leave abruptly if things go wrong."

  "See that they don’t," I instructed with all the diplomatic finesse of a flight line boss. "Elise, Decker, Horvath—let’s go."

  Before long, we were in the shuttle making final equipment checks.

  Specialist Carrie Decker steered the shuttle with smooth professionalism. She reminded me of a commercial pilot, bored with something she had done hundreds or thousands of times. We headed toward the Jellybird, a short distance away.

  "You fly well," I told her.

  "I've always been a pilot, regardless of my specialization level," she said. "Have you always been some sort of intergalactic do-gooder?"

  Elise let out an explosive laugh. I was able to restrain my own mirth, but barely.

  "What's so funny?" Carrie asked.

  "No one has ever accused me of being a do-gooder," I explained.

  "That doesn't make much sense, judging from the work you did for us on Wallach. I wasn’t able to talk to anybody who went down after the beast in the power plant, but I heard stories," she said.

  "I'm good at killing things. The problem is, I worked for some bad people before I decided to break free," I said.

  "Well, that's lucky for us, I suppose," she said. "Will we be docking with your ship or is there a landing bay? Can you ask them to drop the stealth shield or guide us in?"

  "X, can you work on that?" I asked.

  "Jelly is taking control of the shuttle," X-37 said. "She asked me to relay to our pilot that she apologizes for any inconvenience."

  Carrie pulled her hands back from the controls, surprised. "That wasn't fun. Remote control of a ship is illegal on Wallach. Definitely a new experience for me."

  "Jelly wishes me to convey that she respects the policy of your people, but also says controlling remotely is sometimes necessary and can be done safely," X-37 explained over the public communications speaker.

  "I’ll survive," Carrie said. "If that’s the biggest inconvenience we face during this trip, I’ll be delightable."

  "Delightable?" Elise asked.

  Carrie furrowed her brow. "Happy? Is that the same word?"

  "Close enough," I said.

  We waited as Jelly landed the shuttle then instructed us to wait for environmental controls to stabilize.

  When it was safe, Elise, Locke, and I hurried toward the bridge of the Jellybird. Tom greeted us with a mixture of hugs and salutes.

  The others were guided by the ship’s AI to their proper stations for the rest of the mission. Carrie and Horvath had key jobs, boring but very important in the transfer of fuel.

  There wasn’t much time to reacquaint ourselves with the Jellybird, but the bridge felt like home. I smiled as I sat down in the pilot seat.

  "Welcome back, Reaper Cain," Jelly greeted. "I spoke with Lady. She is confident that with her and Henshaw aboard the Nightmare, they can keep the vindictive counterattacks of Necron to a very survivable minimum."

  "Thanks, Jelly. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't worried about that scenario going badly." Images of the stolen stealth carrier violently decompressing refused to leave my overactive imagination.

  Elise was worried about the same thing. I saw it in her posture—the way she held her spine a little too straight. We had already lost Gunner during our attack on the AI's first signal relay. Despite X-37's constant assurances that the artificial intelligence of the stealth carrier was less robust than it should be, I respected the awesome power of any ship AI, especially one designed to run a capital warship of the union.

  "Let's get this fuel transfer done," I said.

  Jelly answered without hesitation. "Of course, Captain."

  "Are you ready, Tom?" I asked.

  "Everything is set up, but I think you should be the one to run the controls. Your fine motor control is far superior to any of ours, with the only exception possibly being Elise."

  "Thanks, Tom," she said. "It's nice to be compared to a has-been cyborg assassin."

  "Watch it, kid," I said. "If these remote controls are Union standard, they can be used by more than one person. Elise, let's take adjoining workstations and team steer this one."

  "Okay, Reaper. You and me," Elise agreed, already focusing on the job we had to do. The speed at which she could focus on a problem was almost disturbing.

  I took some time to familiarize myself with the controls, as did Elise. I would run the robot arm, and she would shadow me, calling out mistakes or stepping in when I became fatigued.

  "Tom, take a seat," I said. "You’re making me nervous."

  He wasn’t, but I didn’t want my friend to feel obligated to stand. Nervousness was a rare trait for any Reaper and I was confident Elise and I were going to own this fuel transfer.

  Tom assumed the captain’s chair and interfaced with the Jellybird.

  "Jelly, let’s do it," Tom said.

  "We are closing the final distance now," Jelly advised.

  The space between our ships was small, but the trip seemed like it took hours. We monitored our holo displays and made small adjustments, ready with the robot to connect our storage bay to the refueling arm of the Bold Freedom.

  "This thing is a piece of junk." Elise wrinkled her nose in annoyance, watching as we passed one mismatched section after another.

  "That tends to happen when you build something out of stolen spare parts," I pointed out, barely speaking the words loud enough to hear.

  "I remember how serious the ship engineers were on Dreadmax. They were always trying things out, making one part do ten jobs," Elise said, eyes still on her work. "Feels like a hundred years ago."

  "I wonder how Path is doing with the prisoners," I muttered without thinking about it. Guiding the refueling arm was intense work, but it left part of my mind to wander.

  "I imagine they’ll be bowing and practicing self-defense drills in no time," Tom said.

  "Proximity warning, Captain," Jelly warned.

  I aimed the robotic arm and the fuel tube the last few centimeters, feeling like it was approaching way too fast. When it thunked into place and the locking mechanisms grabbed hold, I breathed a sigh of relief. Elise and the others did the same.

  "The ship is stabilized against the side of the Bold Freedom," Jelly said. "Now it's just a matter of time to transfer the fuel."

  "Is there anything else we should be doing?" I asked.

  "Without all the proper safety redundant back-ups in place, we really should have an EVA crew out there to make sure nothing breaks free," Jelly said.

  Jelly’s suggestion made sense. That didn't mean anyone liked it. I could tell that Elise was bracing herself for another mission. She did well on the last one but would never love them. My fear of heights was worse than my fear of the void, despite how sometimes they felt very similar in the way of anxiety-producing disasters waiting to happen. I didn't want to ask Locke or Horvath either, but Locke was listening in on the conversation.

  "I’ll go," Locke offered.

  Specialist Carrie Decker’s voice came on the line. "I'm the highest rated EVA technician you have right now. I'll go. I can probably do it by myself."

  "Negative," Locke said.

  Horvath came on the line. "I’ll go with Decker." His voice was full of determination.
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  There was a moment of silence.

  Locke cursed uncharacteristically, and when he spoke loud enough to be heard, his words were rough. "Are you sure, Horvath? I need you at your best."

  "But we will," Horvath said. "I know what Gunner would do in this situation."

  "He’d tell you to stay inside before you hurt someone," Decker said.

  Horvath grunted a short laugh. "Yeah, he most assuredly would say that. But I need to do this or I’ll never be able to go on another EVA mission again."

  "Very well," Locke said. “Meet at the airlock and advise when you're ready. I'll monitor your progress from here."

  Elise and I exchanged a look.

  "I bet you're glad they're going instead of us," Elise whispered.

  "I'm an assassin, not a liar, " I said, making Elise chuckle.

  Elise winked. "At least you'll admit it. I'd rather get in a gun battle with Archangels than go out there again."

  "Agreed," I said.

  Before long, we were watching Horvath and Carrie Decker take positions. They connected several safety mechanisms manually and adjusted connection points we hadn't been able to reach with the robot arm. Before long, even I felt more secure about the refueling operation.

  I faced Locke. "Your soldiers are top notch."

  Locke raised his chin. "Thanks, Reaper."

  "We have an update from Henshaw and Lady," X-37 advised me.

  "Great. Any progress?" I asked.

  "Not precisely, Reaper Cain," X-37 said. "It seems that Necron is no longer attempting to quarantine our presence on the ship."

  "What’s the punchline, X?"

  "The Nightmare’s AI wishes to destroy us completely. I have been particularly marked for annihilation," my LAI explained.

  "How do you feel about that, X?" I asked.

  "I feel nothing," X-37 replied.

  "Dishonesty detected," I shot back.

  "That's my line," X-37 said.

  If I didn’t know better, I would have almost thought my digital friend was pleased by the banter.

  We continued to monitor the refueling of the Bold Freedom and communicate with Captain Slipdriver. Each time he opened the channel, I heard his excited crew in the background. Some of them had probably started to doubt they would ever escape the comet, but now it was happening.

  9

  The Bold Freedom struggled, engines flaring like a row of miniature blue stars. The ship clawed its way clear of the comet’s trajectory. From an intergalactic viewpoint, the comet wasn't fast. It took years to circumvent the system. There was only a problem when a ship was caught in its path with nothing stronger than course correction boosters. Basically, the BF had been operating on little more than steering jets for the last several weeks.

  My crewmates cheered as we watched from the Jellybird.

  "Your biometrics are confusing, Reaper Cain," X-37 observed. "My analysis suggests that it would not be inappropriate for you to show your feelings. The situation seems to call for celebration."

  "I get it, X. Everyone's having a ball." It was impossible to tell my limited artificial intelligence what was bothering me. Sure, I was ecstatic to see thousands of innocent refugees escape certain death. I hadn't been able to find Bug among these people, but I thought I would—and if not, that just meant he was in a better place. Or at least some Deadlands shithole where he would thrive with skills he had learned on Dreadmax.

  The real problem was knowledge and experience. I was a Reaper plagued with Reaper thoughts. How long would it be before disaster struck? I could feel the Union stealth carriers hunting us. Nebs wasn’t a man who’d quit hunting his enemies.

  "What are you so pissed off about?" Elise was almost laughing at me. "We've won. Compared to some of our other missions, this was easy."

  I ignored her. "X, what are your predictions for Nebs and the other two stealth carriers?"

  Elise, Tom, and Locke went silent, still basking in the after-effects of their sudden happiness but also aware of what had to be coming next. Novasdaughter was still part of our conversation via her link on the Nightmare’s bridge. The comms were clearer than ever with Henshaw and Lady running things over there.

  "By my analysis," X-37 advised, "Nebs and his Union lackeys are overdue to arrive in this system. I wouldn't be the least bit surprised if they were already preparing to kill us."

  I faced Locke and the others with a knowing look. "There you have it, my limited artificial intelligence at his cheerful optimistic best."

  "I aim to please," X-37 said. "Would you prefer I fabricate less dire warnings in order to spare your human feelings?"

  "No, X, you be you," I said. "Just kick me in the balls every chance you get."

  "I am reestablishing our defensive patrol," Novasdaughter said from the Nightmare.

  "We should be able to maintain our stealth cloak without difficulty," Henshaw added, his image off-screen.

  Elise scanned the area for threats.

  It wasn't long before we were all working diligently, almost like we had done this before. I lowered the volume on the feed to the Bold Freedom’s bridge, where people were celebrating as though they were partying in the good parts of Roxo III before that place slid down the cosmic super drain.

  "We are detecting two slip tunnel openings," Elise advised.

  "Confirmation," Novasdaughter said. "Two large capital warships are emerging in standard Union formation. They seem to be the same class in basic weight displacement as the Nightmare."

  "Do you recognize them?" I asked.

  "We should recognize them from their slipdrive codes, but they’ve been tampered with or wiped, it’s hard to be sure exactly what they did after we stole this ship. Whoever modified the stealth features on the other two did a good job," Novasdaughter said, drawing on her operational experience in Neb’s stealth carrier group as a micro-fighter pilot.

  "Understood," I said.

  "The dimensions and power readings match," Novasdaughter advised.

  I reviewed the data and disagreed. "They’re smaller. Why is that?"

  "Nebs had a hand in planning and development. He won’t allow anyone to possess something more powerful than his own toys," Novasdaughter said. "You should know that, Reaper."

  "Yeah, I get it. He’s a self-aggrandizing prick," I said. Nebs’ ships appeared to us because we knew what to look for. It was more of the fact that the slip tunnel opened for no reason and then closed almost immediately. "X, can you project their vectors based on our prior encounters with this Union stealth carrier group?"

  "I am working on that. As are Jelly and the rest of your crew. My recommendation is to keep our predictions separate until we are ready to compare them. Then we'll see which is the best," X-37 said.

  "It's not a competition, X." I laughed and drew a cigar from a pocket.

  "Plotting possible patrol vectors now," X-37 advised. "Based on my knowledge of Vice Admiral Nebs, I estimate it won't take long for him to close in around us. His two remaining stealth carriers will move into optimal positions and then launch micro-fighters."

  "That was my guess," I said. "Novasdaughter, does that sound about right?"

  She nodded from the pilot’s chair of the Nightmare. "I'm ready to upload my estimates for comparison. Your man Henshaw also looked over it but said nothing. He’s strange and I’m saying that while fully aware he is watching and listening to me."

  "I’m also ready," Elise said.

  I hit a button and sent all of them onto the main holo for comparison. There were some differences, most of them suggesting I was the odd man out.

  We stared at the multiple course predictions, each illustrated in a different colored line.

  "I guess the question is whether we are correct and Reaper Cain is wrong," X-37 said. "There is the possibility that his devious nature gives him insights that each of us, human and machine, lack."

  "Thanks, X. You make me sound like a psycho," I said.

  "No comment," X-37 said.

  I
noticed three shuttles launching from the Bold Freedom the moment it was clear of the comet’s wake and associated cosmic disturbance. "What are those junkers doing?"

  "One of them is heading our way," Elise noted. "The other two appear to be heading for debris fields. I am hailing the BF now."

  I waited until Slipdriver was in view. "We have hostile warships in this system. Now isn't the time for joyriding or celebration. What are those three ships doing?"

  The tone of the bridge crew on the Bold Freedom changed. There was still far too much noise, but they seemed hard at work to decipher what the slip openings meant for their continued survival.

  Captain Slipdriver-Slandonsky talked as he typed. "One shuttle is heading for you—a gift of appreciation since you’re short of shuttles. The other two are responding to distress calls we haven't been able to handle until now. There's a very low chance of survivability for the people who asked for our assistance, but we must do what we can."

  "Recall your ships," I said.

  Slipdriver nodded. "I'm afraid you're right. I don't know what you got us into, but this smells like a Union trap. And I've been in a few of them."

  Both stealth carriers popped into view where Elise and the others predicted they would be. I shoved aside my pride. I’d been plain wrong. Missiles ripped free of the stealth carriers then arced toward the Bold Freedom and each of the three shuttles.

  "Activate shields, Slipdriver," I barked. His holo feed blinked out, but not before I heard warning klaxons and then saw the ship taking evasive maneuvers. It was like watching a giant sea creature lumber out of the shallows in search of deeper water.

  The three shuttles turned and headed off at different angles.

  "They’ll never make it," Novasdaughter said.

  I didn’t argue with her, and neither did Elise. The missiles moved at four or five times the speed of the shuttles and were gaining fast.

  "Jelly, hail the Union stealth carriers," I ordered.

  "They've dropped back into stealth mode after firing. I cannot advise this course of action. It will reveal our position beyond any doubt," Jelly said, her voice stern.

  "Jelly, I have to do something right now!"