Kestrel Class (Kestrel Class Saga Book 1)

by Toby Neighbors

  “Yeah, I was afraid of that,” Ben replied. “Can you get down out of the gravity bubble? I don’t think your weapons will fire right without some gravity.”

  Magnum nodded, and when drifting down toward the open rear hatch. The Scalpers were on the move again. Ben’s stomach was tight. He didn’t know whether there was enough time to get back inside if they were forced to take off. Still, Ben would rather be left behind than see his beloved ship fall into the hands of the Scalpers.

  “Does this ship have weapons?” Kim asked, her voice carrying clearly over the com-link.

  “That’s a negative,” Ben said. “They were damaged in the crash, and I had no way to repair them.”

  “Let’s put that on the list of new priorities,” Kim said. “Re-pair-wea-pons.”

  “I’ve got radar up,” Nance said. “And hull cameras two, six, and eleven are operational.”

  Ben couldn’t see the feed from the cameras. He had known they would most likely need to be repaired. He had spare components in the cargo bay, ready to work on them once they were safely in orbit. He turned and looked over his shoulder. The Scalpers were spreading out as Magnum moved through the antigravity bubble.

  “The good news is the junk is forming a great shield around us,” Kim said. “Those Scalpers will have to get close to do damage.”

  “Magnum is in position,” Ben said.

  “Position for what?” Nance asked.

  “Is he going to shoot them?” Kim asked.

  It was a terrible question. Normally, Ben would order the big man to fire several warning shots, but ammo was precious on Torrent Four. They couldn’t waste it.

  “Magnum, can you shoot to wound?”

  The answer was a resounding shot, the report echoing off the mounds of trash. Ben couldn’t quite see what happened, but one of the Scalpers went down.

  The response was fast. A barrage of shots came crashing in toward the ship. Most pelted off the floating debris, sending junk spinning and twirling. Others ricocheted off the junk closer to Magnum. Ben felt his heart in his throat. The last thing he wanted was for Magnum to get hurt. He should have gone down himself, he thought. If anyone was going to take a risk, it should have been him.

  But then Magnum fired back. Ben pushed more junk away from the ship, sending it gliding toward the edge of the gravity bubble, where it tumbled down the ridge of junk the ship had been hidden in. He didn’t hear the big man’s gun fire, but he heard the cries of distress from the Scalpers. Three went to the ground before the others took cover.

  “What’s going on out there?” Kim asked. “All our cameras are pointed in the wrong direction.

  “Magnum’s kicking ass,” Ben said. “I’ve got the second wing engine clear. You can power up the main drive.”

  “Watch yourself, you two,” Nance said.

  Another Scalper shouted in distress, and Ben saw sparks fly from a pile of scrap metal. He realized the big man was firing lasers at the group of outlaws. Ben didn’t even know they had a laser weapon, much less something powerful enough to fire it. The shots came out in a quick, effective barrage.

  Suddenly the ship began to shake. A loud, high-pitched whine cut through the air. Ben was tempted to fall down and hug the hull of the ship, but he kept pushing the floating piles of debris away from the ship as he moved back toward the rear hatch.

  “Engines are at twenty-five percent,” Kim said over the com-link.

  “Systems are holding steady,” Nance added.

  Ben reached the edge of the hatch. He was still on top of the ship and slipped down behind the big metal door, until only his head and arms were above the opening.

  “Magnum, time to go,” Ben said over the com-link. “I’ll cover you.”

  Ben had the big automatic pistol, but it only had three rounds and he wasn’t sure the bullets would fire successfully without gravity. The flechette pistol, on the other hand, propelled the metal darts using compressed air. And without gravity to slow them down, the flechettes would fly unimpeded.

  Magnum fired several more shots, the laser made a strange twanging sound, then the big man was running. The Scalpers were hesitant to come out from cover. Their number had been cut in half by Magnum’s precision firing, and while they certainly wanted the ship, they didn’t want to die trying to take control of it.

  When Magnum hit the artificial gravity bubble, he drifted up, struggling to keep moving toward the ship. He was vulnerable, and Ben felt fear grab hold of him in an icy bear hug. Two of the Scalpers darted out from behind their cover and began firing wildly. Ben couldn’t tell what they were shooting, but they were guns of some type, and the reports sounded like soft popping. The bullets pinged around the ship, some hitting the ground, others impacting the floating debris, and a couple even finding the ship itself. One popped against the hatch hard enough for Ben to feel the vibration from the impact.

  “Oh no you didn’t,” Ben shouted, as he shot back.

  The flechette pistol was light and made a dry, spitting sound when he pulled the trigger. The razor-sharp finger-length darts flew straight. Two hit the closest Scalper, ripping through his arm and neck. Blood sprayed from a severed artery. Another dart raked through the second outlaw’s outstretched arm. He dropped his weapon and fell to his knees, howling in pain.

  Ben had just enough time to lunge out of the cargo bay door, grab Magnum’s big, callused hand, and drag him back inside. A globule of blood floated past him, and Ben realized that his big friend was wounded, but there was no time to see about him. They were in the ship and Ben hit the autoclose button that sealed the back hatch.

  “We’re in,” Ben shouted.

  “Perfect timing,” Kim said, her voice tight with concentration. “Strap in. Nance, prepare to cut the artificial gravity.”

  “Say the word, Kim,” Nance replied.

  Ben pulled Magnum toward the emergency harnesses on the side wall of the cargo bay. He strapped his friend in, seeing a bloody wound on the big man’s upper shoulder. Then Ben fastened his own safety strap. The engines were screaming loud, and Ben hoped that Kim could hear his reply over the com-link.

  “We’re set,” he said.

  “All right,” Kim replied. “Let’s see what this baby can do!”

  Chapter 27

  Kim was in the big pilot’s chair, her thin body strapped down tight. The ship was flown using a primary joystick, analog controls, a hand-controlled throttle, and two separate foot pedals. She pushed both pedals forward, which tilted the right and left wing engines from the standard horizontal position, straight down. A large rolling ball on the left armrest rotated the main drive.

  As soon as the engines were at fifty percent power, Kim flipped off the safety switches that governed the engines to keep the ship from moving spontaneously. And when Ben radioed in, she shoved the throttle forward. The vessel was shaking hard, breaking loose from the planet’s gravity as the large vessel lifted up into the air.

  “Any way to know what the Scalpers are doing?” Kim asked.

  “Sorry,” Nance said. “All the working cameras are forward facing.”

  “Oh well,” Kim said. “They should know better than to approach a ship that’s taking off.”

  Her feet worked the wing engines back to horizontal as the ship rose steadily into the air, rotating the nose upward as she went.

  “Kill the art grav,” Kim ordered.

  “There was a sudden, nearly overwhelming pressure as gravity pushed Kim back hard into the pilot’s chair. And several hard crashing sounds were heard, followed by the screech of metal grinding against metal.

  “What’s happening?” Ben shouted over the com-link.

  “We have liftoff,” Kim said. “And we’re free of the junk pile.”

  “All systems are green,” Nance said. “Although we took some damage on the outer hull. Looks like some of the heat shield tiles were ripped off.”

  “Do we have a breach?” Ben asked, the fear in his voice undeniable.

  “No,�
� Nance said. “The hull is intact. We’re okay.

  “Good,” Kim said as the radar began to wail.

  “Security forces coming fast from the north,” Nance announced.

  “That would be ground skimmers,” Kim said. “We should be able to get enough altitude that they won’t be able to follow us.”

  “Is it safe to move to the bridge?” Ben asked.

  “Like you could,” Kim laughed. “No way, Benny. Just stay put. Let the girls show you how to get things done.”

  “We’re being hailed,” Nance said.

  “Put it through,” Kim said, still working the controls. “We’re at five hundred feet and climbing.”

  “Do you have to go straight up?” Ben complained.

  “No cargo bay driving,” Kim said happily.

  Strange voices crackled over the ship’s speakers suddenly. Unlicensed vessel, this is Fleet Security out of Longdale City. You are ordered to return to the ground immediately.

  “I don’t think so,” Kim said.

  “They can hear you,” Nance said.

  “Why? I said put them through, not open a dialogue.”

  Unlicensed vessel, I repeat, this is Fleet Security. Turn back now or we will be forced to use lethal force.

  “Range?” Kim demanded.

  “They’re ten miles out,” Nance said.

  “That’s too far for lasers,” Ben said. “They’d have to get within a thousand meters for their laser to be useful.

  “Do they carry missiles?” Magnum asked, his voice strained.

  “God, I hope not,” Kim said.

  “You can bet they’re notifying fleet control,” Nance said. “They’ll be tracking us.”

  “Only one way to lose them,” Kim said as she pushed her joystick forward. “Hang on, people!”

  The wide Kestrel class ship shifted around quickly, diving. The rest of them were speechless as Kim pushed their speed forward and the ship shot south less than a hundred feet from the ground.

  “You’re nuts,” Ben complained.

  “This baby can move!” Kim shouted exuberantly.

  Unlicensed vessel... repeat...

  The warning was lost in static. Kim’s display showed the Echo racing over the salvage yards at over four hundred miles an hour. The ship had been heavy and sluggish at first, but her engines were warming up and the ship seemed lighter and more agile with each passing moment.

  “We’ve outpaced the security ships,” Nance said. “They’re out of communication range.”

  “We still need to get into orbit,” Kim said.

  “What’s the reading on the fusion reactor?” Ben asked.

  “The reactor is holding steady,” Nance said calmly. “Heat gauges are all below fifty percent of maximum, but we’ve burned through ten percent of our Zexum supply.”

  “We didn’t have much to start with,” Kim said.

  “We have to conserve as much as possible,” Ben said.

  “Tell me something I don’t know,” Kim said.

  “Head east,” Nancy suggested. “At this speed, we’ll make dark in an hour.”

  “That’s too long,” Ben said. “I say we make orbit now.”

  “We don’t know if the Fleet is on to us,” Kim said.

  “Better to deal with them in space,” Ben said. “We’ll burn less fuel.”

  “Gravity is such a bitch,” Kim grumbled.

  “We don’t have weapons,” Nance reminded them. “If the Fleet locks onto us, all we can do is run.”

  “It’s a chance we have to take,” Ben said.

  “All right,” Kim said. “Nance, stay glued to that radar. I’m going up.”

  The ship tilted again, rising upward. She would have liked to have kicked on the artificial gravity so that Ben and Magnum could safely move up from the cargo bay, but she knew conserving their fuel was the top priority. Ben was right; once they reached space, flying the ship would be much more efficient. Most interstellar craft didn’t have atmospheric abilities simply because the demands in gravity on fuel supplies was too great. The Kestrel class ship was a rare breed.

  Kim watched the altitude numbers racing by. They were ten miles up, shooting through the clouds, the entire ship humming with a sweet, powerful, symphony of uninhibited flight. The roar of the engines seemed far away, yet the ship responded to Kim’s slightest touch on the joystick.

  “Approaching fifty miles altitude,” Nance said. “All systems green.”

  “Anything on the radar?”

  “Nothing,” Nance replied. “It looks like we’re in the clear.”

  “We just need a little luck,” Kim said, who was starting to feel light in her seat. “We’ll break gravity any second now, Ben. You want to fire up the art grav system?”

  “No,” he replied. “What’s the ETA on the rendezvous point?”

  “It’s seventy-five miles up directly over the southern pole of the planet,” Kim said. “I’d say a couple of hours.”

  “Fine,” he replied. “If you need us, Magnum and I will be in the sick bay.”

  The statement hung over Kim like a dark cloud. She didn’t know who was hurt, or what had happened, and she couldn’t see about it. She couldn’t help. Her job was to fly the ship. The autopilot had yet to be tested, and the Fleet could be on to them, which would require expert flying. The thrill of finally breaking orbit and leaving Torrent Four behind was tainted by fear, but she knew that no matter what happened to them, she would never go back. She was where she wanted to be, and she would die before she let anyone ground her again.

  Chapter 28

  The break from gravity was sudden and seemed right. The vibrations and noises from passing through the planet’s atmosphere stopped. Ben felt weightless and the ship was suddenly quiet.

  He turned to Magnum, who was hunched over, his big coat stained red with blood. Ben pressed the release buttons on Magnum’s safety harness, then did the same with his own. They immediately began to float up and away from the emergency seats they had strapped into.

  “Who’s hurt?” Nance asked.

  “Magnum took a bullet,” Ben said as he took hold of the big man and kicked off the floor. They flew up through the cargo hold toward the railing on the main level just behind the bridge.

  “How bad?” Nance asked, a strain to her voice.

  “It’s nothing,” Magnum said through clenched teeth.

  “He’ll live,” Ben said. “How’s the ship?”

  “Fusion reactor is fine,” Nance said. “I just engaged life support and already the temperatures around the reaction chamber are dropping.”

  “Radar’s clear,” Kim said. “I guess there aren’t any Fleet vessels in low orbit.”

  “So we’re safe for now,” Ben said. “But I won’t celebrate until we have a surplus of Zexum.”

  They drifted over the railing and onto the main deck. Ben had to shift around and push off the ceiling.

  “We’re up here,” Ben said. “Engage artificial gravity on my command.”

  “Standing by,” Nance said.

  Ben had to wait until they were just a few inches from the deck.

  “Now,” he said.

  Suddenly, gravity returned to the ship and the two men nearly fell. It took all of Ben’s strength to hold his friend up until they got settled on their feet. The sick bay was to the side of the bridge. It was nothing more than a room with old medical equipment and secure bins for medical supplies. Ben hadn’t bothered with it, other than to stash a few things in there. He had some iodine and a few clean bandages. An exam table took up the center of the room.

  “Let’s get that coat off,” Ben said.

  Magnum shrugged off the heavy coat from his right side easily, but pain kept him from doing anything to the left. Ben carefully peeled it back. The big man had taken a bullet through the muscle just above his collar bone. Ben circled around him and breathed a sigh of relief. The bullet had gone straight through. He cut away the big man’s shirt, which was plastered to his body with
blood.

  “It looks worse than it is,” Ben said. “I don’t think there’s any major damage.”

  “Hurts,” Magnum said.

  “I’ll bet it does. I don’t have any pain killers either. I’m sorry.”

  Magnum nodded. Ben pulled out the half-empty bottle of iodine and decided it would be better if Magnum lay back on the table. He poured a bit of the iodine on a rag and stuck it under the wound. Magnum groaned.

  “This is going to hurt,” Ben said. “Try not to lash out at me, or move too much.”

  Magnum’s jaw muscles clenched. Ben gave the big man a moment, then poured the iodine into the wound. Every muscle in Magnum’s body clenched in response to the pain. Blood and iodine pumped out of the wound for a moment, then things settled. Ben poured in a little more. Magnum was breathing heavy through his nose, his eyes closed.

  “There, that’s done it,” Ben said. “I’ll stitch you up, and you should be alright in a week or two.”

  Magnum nodded again. It took an hour for Ben to stitch the big man’s wound and bandage him up. And cleaning up afterward was not easy, but by the time he was through, Magnum was asleep on the exam table and Kim was reporting that they were approaching the rendezvous.

  Ben left the sick bay and went to the bridge. The ship’s external camera was displayed on the big panels, which made them look like a window. Torrent Four was a dingy brown to one side, with streaks of white ice caps and dirty white clouds. On the other side, space stretched out and Ben saw more stars than he had ever seen in his life.

  “Would you look at that,” he said as he came to stand beside Nance.

  “It’s beautiful, isn’t it?” Kim said from the pilot’s seat.

  “Unbelievable,” Ben said. “Look at all the stars.”

  “Look at the derelict ships,” Nance said.

  The Confederate agents, if that was really who they were, Ben couldn’t be certain, had selected the perfect place for a rendezvous. The Echo was moving toward the planet’s southern pole, where dozens, maybe hundreds, of wrecked and abandoned ships floated in decaying orbits.

  “I suppose at one time there were ships like this all around Torrent Four,” Ben said. “Their orbits slowly decaying until they broke apart in the atmosphere.”