"Well you can work the com and detection gear, but keep your hands off of the weapons and ECM."
"Now Foxie ..."
"Don't Foxie me Jack!" I growled. "I'm the pilot of this boat and you're not. I haven't trained with you so I don't know what you'll do. So, you either do it my way or I'll lock your striped furry butt down below with Sam. Understand?"
"And who," He growled, "do you think is in charge here?"
"Me, and don't you forget it. You hired me for this job, so you had better let me do it. Unless you want to fly this thing yourself." I growled back
He put his hands up. "Okay, this is not the time and the place to deal with this. But we will deal with it eventually. For now we'll do it your way."
"Better."
"But," He warned, "I'm not happy about this Dialene."
I grinned evilly, "Oh you are gonna be a lot unhappier before we land cutey. You should have asked my squadron nickname before you hired me."
He paused on his way back to get dressed. "What was it?"
"The Bitch," I sniggered lowly, "I always got my way when it came to flying."
He face palmed and groaned loudly as he left.
By the time he came back we had picked up a straggler. They were trying to be discrete, but when I called for a course change, he made it as well a few minutes later.
"I have his course particulars and basic vehicle info set up on your number two viewscreen Sabre."
"I see it." He acknowledged.
I put my helmet on, I already had donned my own uniform again. Like any pilot I preferred the helmet displays to the console ones. I unlocked the weapon's panel and brought all the systems to life, though I left the targeting systems in the warmup mode. I didn't want to spook anyone yet, or let them know we had teeth.
"Arm all the ECM modules on your board Sabre."
"This far out?" He asked surprised.
"Some of those systems take a while to warm up, and the power profile change will be noticed once our friend gets in closer. I'd rather not give them anything to think about."
I saw his big furry head nod in one of my small cockpit mirrors as the power lights for the ECM went yellow.
For the next 30 minutes nothing happened. Our 'friend' started to draw closer, not fast, but rather slowly. I used a handheld set of binoculars to get a closer look at him, I didn't want to turn the ship or otherwise use the active sensors.
"It's just a Tug," I said, "Lots of engine but no apparent armor or weapons."
"Probably hidden," Sabre growled.
"Or they're just here to keep tabs on us for someone else. Maybe even drag away the evidence afterwards."
"Good point."
I continued to watch our friend as he drifted closer. At a mile I told Sabre and Sam to strap in, for imminent maneuvering. When he hit a half mile I killed the artificial gravity, and went to full throttle. I killed our IFF and set the ECM to active making a sweeping turn to circle our foe. Not an easy task when you consider that there was no air to 'fly' against. Such maneuvers are not typical of space flight and throw off most low grade computers and pilots.
This guy wasn't any different, he started to track our turn, which was an easy pivot on his axis. But when I added a second vector and stopped curving he over compensated and I was suddenly looking at his engines. Not good for him. I triggered the chain gun and sent about twenty non-explosive armor piercing shells into three of his four engines. It wouldn't kill him but those engines wouldn't last much longer and he'd definitely be out of my hair. I spun us on our axis and moved quickly away from him, setting the ECM back to passive and turning the IFF back on.
"Earth Approach, this is Tri-Star Tango two-five. We have an emergency at this time." I said keying the mike. I could see Sabre's head pop up, I waved him back.
"Tri-Star Tango Two-Five, this is Earth Approach, please state the nature of your emergency, number of souls on board, type spacecraft, and your intentions."
"Earth Approach, we are a Mark Three-Zero-Five shuttle, we have three souls on board, the nature of our emergency is a loss of cabin pressure. We seem to have encountered some form of space debris. Our intentions are to enter atmosphere immediately and if possible land at our destination."
"Acknowledged Tri-Star Tango two-five. You are cleared on your present vector. Squawk Seven Seven Three Eight Niner Alpha."
"Roger that, and Tri-Star Tango two-five out."
I turned to Sabre, "You were saying?"
"Nothing. Someone is gonna complain about the tug getting nailed though."
"Space debris, terrible stuff. They must have hit the same patch we did." I snickered, "And none of the flight data records will show differently, or the tracking records. Their pilot will most likely get cited for failing to maintain a safe distance if he bothers to complain."
"Yeah but we're not damaged at all." He pointed out.
"We haven't landed yet either. Now we'll know for sure though if he had any friends. Everyone is tracking us now."
"Is that a good idea?"
"Trust me on this one Studmuffin." I grinned.
"I think I preferred Jack." He grumbled.
Sure enough five minutes later Earth Approach called again. "Tri-Star Tango Two-Five, this is Earth Approach, we are tracking a fast moving object on a collision course."
"Could you give us a range and vector Earth Approach?"
"Tango two-five, range is four zero miles and closing fast, vector is 275 apparent, five degrees above you."
"Roger that Earth Approach."
I turned the ECM back to full active and powered up the targeting systems. I had the incoming on my system as soon as they told me where to look. I started evasive maneuvers. I also killed the IFF.
"See? They have much better radar then we do." I looked to see what other traffic we had in the nearby vicinity. Nothing much really, so hide and seek was definitely out.
"He's ten miles," Sabre commented.
"If he's any good he'll launch his first missile at five. Probably a spread."
"Yup, he did."
"I see them," I started dumping disposables, ECM stuff that worked on missile tracking systems.
"You have the ECM panel. Screw up and I'll be the one giving the lecture!" I growled and turned the nose around to come at the missiles and our attacker head on. He probably expected us to run, the missile salvo was aimed to cause us to bank down and away to avoid it. I was having none of that, this was my dance not his.
"More missles!" Sabre called again.
"Shut up, I see them." I growled and punched his com unit off. I didn't need anymore distractions.
A quick flip and a roll at the last minute got me past the first batch. I decided to fire one of my own now as my thumb was punching out disposables as fast as I could push the switch. The radar alerts from his targeting computer made his missiles out to be fairly cheap ones. I only had two myself, but they were the best Tri-Star made, and as soon as it jumped clear I could imagine what his own radar was going to tell him.
Sure enough he jumped, straight up and then a twist back over as he tried to break lock before the missile had him solid. He was good and it worked for him, however his own missile bays were away from me now so he couldn't launch on this pass. I pulled up and did my best to ram him as we passed. He twitched again, I think he thought I was actually trying to do it.
We both went 'vertical' as we crossed, cockpit to cockpit almost. I looked up and could see their helmets, they were that close. They were in a Nippon Series 8 short range strike fighter. If they had waited till I was in the atmosphere, this would have presented a lot more problems. But for all that I was bigger, here in space without any real atmosphere my bigger engines made up for that. I hit the selector on the stick and kicked the whole ship around on its pitch axis. I hit the chain gun just as they were starting to react. Twenty millimeter HEAT rounds into a cockpit at a hundred yards range isn't a pretty sight. Unless you're the one firing them.
There wasn't mu
ch left of the cockpit, or its occupants as I banked away and turned my nose back towards the earth. The other ship continued full throttle in the opposite direction. I must have missed the flight controls by some fluke, obviously the flight computer was better armored then the cockpit.
"Earth Approach, this is Tri-Star Tango Two-Fiver, please stand advised we are proceeding direct to Tri-Star corporate field Delta-Niner."
"Tri-Star Tango Two-Fiver, that is an affirmative, we track you clear, and former intercept now on an outbound vector. Do you require any assistance?"
"Negative Earth Approach, please notify Continental Control that we will be entering their airspace shortly."
"Have a good day Two-Fiver, Earth Approach clear."
"Have a good day Earth, and thanks for the heads up."
I leaned back in the chair and arched my back, stretching up and cracking my back. I tilted my head back and looked over at Sabre who was smiling.
"Oh, you can turn the ECM back to standby," I said.
"Already done. You know you look good like that. I'd almost forgotten just how nimble you were."
I stuck my tongue out at him, "Get free tonight and I'll be sure to remind you myself. So," I asked settling back down and starting the re-entry procedure. I was planning on going in fast and hot, something assault shuttles did well. "Any comments, questions, or praise? I recommend a lot of the later, personally."
He laughed. "That was very well done. I think I did pick the right person for the job after all."
I nodded and went back to flying by hand. We were entering the outer atmosphere now, and it wouldn't be long until we were there.
"Why don't you go check on Sam and see how she's doing? I'll turn the artificial grav back on now."
Sabre unstrapped and when back down to check. By the time he came back up he was dressed smartly in his suit again and we were five miles out from the landing beacon.
"Everything's fine." He confirmed.
"Good, you better sit down for landing maneuvers."
"So what are you going to tell them about the loss of Cabin Pressure emergency?"
"Oh, thanks for reminding me." I reached a hand back over my seat, "Loan me that hand cannon of yours for a sec."
I pulled it around as he handed it to me, the thing must have weighted twenty pounds! I put the muzzle up against one of the side panes of the canopy.
"Better cover your ears, this is gonna be noisy."
6
We got quite the reception on the ground. Company guards were in full force and they escorted Samantha and Sabre off to her office. There were some press there, the word that something had happened on the flight must have spread quickly.
I got some cold looks from the port officials as I went over the shuttle. I cleaned up the more incriminating evidence of what went on, not that there was much, but I figured being thorough was better then being sloppy. Over all there wasn't much damage. Some burn marks from things that passed a bit too close, a few dings from when I hosed the other ship and got some splash back. I turned it all over to a maintenance engineer who spent more time looking at my chest than my face. Not that I'm complaining mind you.
Then I stood around there looking confused as I tried to figure out just what I was supposed to do next. Security had hustled Samantha off so quick I hadn't had time to ask what to do when I got the ship put to bed. And I had no clues at all.
So I spent a good ten minutes standing there on the tarmac before I finally walked into the flight ops room and found a magazine. Eventually a somewhat flustered man walked in, and spying me came directly over.
"I'm Nathaniel Lentz," he said showing me his company ID. "You must by Dialene. If you'll come with me please I'll run you through the Standards and Practices briefing, and then find out where you're due next."
I set the magazine down and stood up, "I thought everyone had forgotten about me. And I think I'm due at Ms. Harten's office next. Where ever that happens to be."
He looked a bit flustered and led me down the hall to a small room. He pulled out a small pamphlet and handed it to me. "This should cover most of what you need to know. But the basics are that on Earth people can be hostile towards most animorphic types. You must carry ID at all times, must appear clothed in public, be ultra-polite and stay out of any places marked off limits. And there will be quite a few. In any kind of an emergency call the company first. Failure to do so can lead to large fines."
"I think I can remember that."
"Good, now sign here to show you were briefed and let’s go see if we can't find out where you are supposed to be.
I signed the paperwork and followed him out to the hallway again. It didn't take him long to track down where Samantha was and fifteen minutes later he had me in a company van headed off to some other part of the complex.
When I got to her office, she wasn't there. Turns out there was some kind of meeting or other that she had to attend. Her secretary showed me to my new office, well more like a broom closet, and showed me where things were. The previous tenant had left quite a few things laying around, I guess after getting his head torn off no one thought to come here and clean up after him. There really wasn't anything interesting, but there was a list of her personal vehicles and their passcodes. I couldn't believe the twit actually wrote them down.
I checked with Barb, the Secretary, who was actually human. I'd never seen a human secretary before, but then I'd never been in any corporation's headquarters before either. Anyway, I checked with her and found out that Samantha's meeting would run at least another two hours, so I got someone to show me where her personal car was stowed and went to take a look at it. Sure enough the keycodes hadn't been changed, so after taking the time to go over the car, and discard a few things that shouldn't have been on it, I changed the codes and had a little chat with the guy doing security about allowing bombs in the building. At least the rest of her vehicles were at her home. Well except for the shuttle which would have to stay here. I called up the hangar when I got back to the office and had a little chat with them about how I wanted it stored and how I didn't want anyone doing anything to it without talking to me personally. We'd see if they listened or not.
By the time Samantha and Sabre got back from the meeting I had my nice little office cleaned up to remove any effects of the previous joker, and a number of plans as to how to deal with things. When Sabre came in he smiled at me, looking around.
"Not bad, almost as big as mine." He grinned.
"At least it has a door," I grinned back.
"So how do you like having an office?"
"Well," I leaned back in my chair and stretched. I noticed his eyes watching appreciatively. "I think it needs to be properly christened."
"Oh? With what?"
"Close the door and I'll show you," I smirked.
Turns out the door locked as well.
"So Sabre tells me you found a few things on my limo?" Samantha asked as we headed down to the garage a few hours later.
"Yes, I also changed the keycode and plan to change them on every vehicle you own as soon as I possibly can."
"Why's that?"
"Don't you want to know how I got them?"
"I want to know," interrupted Sabre.
"I found them all on a sheet in my office. Wouldn't surprise me if other people had found them too."
Samantha nodded. "Okay change them."
I unlocked the car when we got to it, did a quick check of the interior while Sabre re-checked the exterior. I noticed there were now two guards on duty instead of one. Sabre had told me that there were some strict unwritten rules about how company infighting was to be carried out. The use of company personnel was forbidden, and if you went after people in their offices, and it got found out, there would be repercussions even from your allies. So this basically meant that security could be trusted. But they weren't always the best, a good operator could get around them. Also it seemed this foe was bending or breaking those unwritten rules.
We all got in then and I drove us down the ramp and out of the garage and headed off to Samantha's estate. I had spent some of my time studying local area maps, and while I didn't have all the landmarks down yet, I knew where I was going. We reached her place unmolested and I gave a sigh of relief as we rolled into her garage.
As we stepped out of the limo the house guards came up to meet us. I stopped and looked up at them, surprised. Tigers, all of them. And not just any Tigers, but Siberians. They all saluted Sabre and there was quite a few warm handshakes. I just stood back and tried not to laugh.
"What?" Samantha asked as I stifled several giggles.
"Do I detect a theme?" I snickered.
"Siberian's make excellent bodyguards, everyone knows that."
"Big, tall, well built male Siberians?" I grinned at her.
"Actually the guards are males, the house staff are females." And she looked a bit indignant. "Besides, I didn't actually pick them."
"Oh? Sabre did then?"
She shook her head, "No, my dad grew this bunch personally, just for me. They're all Sabre's crechemates."
I stopped and looked at her, "All of them were made just for you?" I guess I gaped a bit.
"Sure," she nodded, "My dad wanted his daughter well protected. So he made them, raised them and had them specially trained." She had the good grace to blush, "I don't think he intended me and Sabre to, well, become so close."
Something about being confronted with the fact that everyone here was built on spec, and raised on spec as well, for some guy's daughter just so he could sleep at night is shocking. At least it is if you were built on spec yourself, and that daughter is your boss.
I was saved from saying anything stupid by Sabre coming over and introducing me to his Men. Or should I say brothers? Hard to say.
"This is Dialene. Dialene, this is Chuck, Tigg, Al, Pen and Slash."
"Hi, ummm, is it true that other then me and Ms. Harten that everyone here is a Tiger?"
Sabre grinned at me, "Well, the backup pilot is a leopard, but otherwise yes."
Dialene Page 5