Partners - Book 1

by Melissa Good

  A what? Dev obediently pushed the throttles forward and kept as close to the rock as she could, sensing a motion in the air behind them. She checked the rear sensors and her eyes nearly came out of her head when she saw a fireball exploding out from under the ledge.

  She hauled up on the controls and shoved the throttles forward again to full speed, hearing the imminent collision alerts and feeling the buffeting as the advance wave of the explosion caught them and she felt the carrier start to tumble.

  She went with the motion shoving hard on the side thrusters to keep them away from the rocks as she fought to regain control over the carrier. The two big engines flared, and she was almost deaf from the alarms and the sound of impacts against the hull.

  No control. She abruptly cut the engines and felt the carrier drop out of the rampaging explosion and plummet for the surface of the water as the energy flared over their heads.

  “Dev?”

  “Yes?”

  “Didn’t mean to show you the ocean this soon.” Jess’s voice sounded concerned.

  “Oh.”

  Dev was aware of the approaching surface and she flared the side and bottom jets, evening out the flight of the carrier before she cut the mains in again so close to the waves they washed the bottom hull.

  Then they were past Gibraltar, and in free air again. Dev gained altitude and started running checks, watching the scan reports for attackers. “Where are they?”

  “Keep moving!” Jess called out. “Head for Alterra.”

  Dev shut off all the emergency alerts, starting some of the programs that would repair what could be repaired in flight. The systems started shunting power, whispers in her ear reporting damage and status.

  They had taken damage in the rear shielding, and three of the external sensors were gone, giving her little view on the port side. The forward sensors cleared after a repair, and she looked out to see a gray lit day and a stretch of ruffled white gray water with a few lumps of island rising in the mist.

  Her heartbeat settled a little as she realized she’d gotten through her very first air battle. “Wow.”

  She heard Jess release her harness behind her and after a moment, she felt a hand on her shoulder. With a start, she half turned and looked up, blinking a little sweat out of her eyes. “Yes?”

  Jess smiled at her. “Good job.”

  Dev smiled tentatively back.

  Jess reset some triggers and then retrieved another two of the drink containers, handing one over to Dev before she returned to her own chair.

  Dev set the container into its swivel and wiped her damp hair back off her brow. She could imagine she still felt the pressure against her shoulder of Jess’s fingers and gave herself a moment, just a small one, to savor this bit of accomplishment.

  Then she went back to the boards, continuing the process of resetting alarms and assessing damage. They were running at top speed a thousand feet over the waves and she could see fog rising from the water everywhere, swirling behind them as their exhaust stirred it.

  It was eerie, and a little beautiful.

  “They’ll be waiting for us at Alterra,” Jess said. ”We need to make this fast. I’m feeding you the coordinates to the science center. Head right for it.” She keyed something into her pad. “Make em believe we’re going to ram this thing right into entrance.”

  “Okay,” Dev said. “Are we actually going to do that?”

  “No, Dev. Dying’s not on my schedule today.” Jess chuckled a little. “Just make them think we are. Then go somewhere else.”

  Go somewhere else. Dev turned and shook her head a little. She saw the coordinates plot on her navigation grid and she flexed her hands, putting them back on the controls and taking off the auto nav.

  At the edge of the grid she could see the Alterra escarpment, and as she did, she saw a set of blinking lights erupt from it. “Is that them?”

  “Yes.” Jess slammed back into her seat and pulled her controls around. “Looks like they spotted us.”

  The lights multiplied and doubled, tripled, filling the screen with alerts and causing the scan to erupt. “There’s a lot of them.”

  “Yup.”

  Dev could see them coming in from all directions. “This is going to be difficult.”

  “Only hard things are worth doing, kid,” Jess said. “Remember that.”

  Dev stared at the oncoming armada. “Okay.” She shifted her hands on the controls. “I will try to remember that.”

  “Good.” Jess tightened her harness and took a deep breath. She got herself set and made live the guns, checking the power reserves and finding them acceptable.

  She hoped her diversion would let Elaine and Jason check the place where they’d last seen the other two teams. She had no idea what they would find, given the carrier she’d blown up. But they knew where to look and they knew what to do with what they found.

  She checked the time and checked her plan grid. Then she started the targeting systems and let the targets flood her consciousness.

  There were a lot. She lined up the first six and launched a blast on alternating forward guns, glad the carrier’s weapon systems had a slightly longer range than their enemy’s. She could see them forming into attack circles and one of them dove right for them.

  In a heartbeat they were in the center of a circle of death. The enemy ships matched sync with them and started firing. Jess fired back, then found herself inverting as the carrier did a barrel roll and the lasers rotated with the ship, nailing at least part of the enemy fighters.

  Then they were through that bunch and going nose on to a second, when two of that group dove right at them.

  Jess fired the forward guns and as they flashed by she grabbed a breath as she inverted again and went under heavy G as the carrier turned on its tail and her fire went right up the tailpipes of the retreating enemy ships and blew them out of the sky.

  Holy crap.

  Still upside down, Jess launched a plasma bomb toward a cluster of fighters and then just before she started getting lightheaded they were right way up and she was holding her triggers down on the forward guns as they went full speed through enemy lines.

  Dev was concentrating as hard as she could. She was aware of the strain on the engines under her control, but she used all the power she had to keep the carrier on a constantly shifting course as the air around her was filled with enemy fire.

  Some were hitting the carrier. She had alarms going off again. The forward screen was almost constantly whitewashed with their own return guns as Jess blasted a path for them through the enemy ships.

  The carrier was larger than the defenders, and better armored. The defenders were more agile and faster.

  Dev spotted the entrance to the science center, a flat platform halfway up the escarpment with thick barricades in front of it. The door looked like it was big, and metal, and pretty much the same as the ones in the Interforce facility.

  She spotted another wheel of figures fit themselves around her and she did another barrel roll, then her eyes widened as she came out of the inversion right into the path of a larger, more well armored craft.

  She saw laser cannons on top of it so she sent the carrier almost straight down, flinching a little as two of the enemy crashed into each other over her head. She pulled up in a high G arc with all her engines firing, gritting her teeth against the pressure as she came up just under the bigger craft, hearing Jess let loose with the upper guns on it.

  “Nice!” Jess yelled.

  Dev managed a brief grin as she dove again, seeing huge breaking waves below her. She could feel the impacts on the hull of fire and a quick glance at the monitors showed a dozen darts coming after her all shooting continuously.

  Alarms blared.

  Dev aimed right for the sea, hearing the mounting damage in her comm set. She knew she had to get out of range of them before the lasers blew the carrier apart.

  Jess was firing the rear guns. “Not much juice left!” She yelled.

>   Dev pulled the nose up just as they reached sea level and a huge breaker rolled up right into her path. She shot down the center of it, taking the carrier right through the huge phosphorescent tube of water as Jess let out a shout of surprise.

  They shot out the other end of the tube and Dev blinked as the salt wash cleared and they were moments away from the escarpment.

  She heard a huge disruption behind her. There was no time to wonder what it was as she fought to control her craft and get the nose up before they went headlong into the rock face.

  By a whisper they didn’t. She shot up the face of the cliff as Jess launched plasma bombs in a thumping salvo against it. She held the carrier in it’s straight up climb until they shot up over the top of it and right into the cloud layer just above.

  A blue light flashed hard on the comms console. Dev didn’t have time to look at it though. She arched the carrier over as they reached an altitude almost too high for the jets and curved back over into level flight.

  Her heart was absolutely racing. Shivers rushed up and down her spine and she was alternately feeling flushed and chilled, panting through her open mouth as she caught her breath.

  “Keep going!” Jess yelled. “Go go go! They got them! We did it!”

  Dev stared in confusion at the console. “What?”

  “The light.” Jess pointed. “That’s an ultraviolet squirt from Jason. They got them. Get out of here! We did it!”

  Dev checked the scan and found only fading targets, blips they were leaving behind as they raced between the cloud layers back in the direction they’d came. “W...why aren’t they chasing us,” she asked. “Where did they go?”

  Jess laughed. “Don’t look a gift horse in the ass, Dev. Just fly.”

  Dev wiped her brow and let out a long exhale, chills still running up and down her spine. “Wow,” she said. “That was crazy.”

  Jess chuckled again.

  “But I liked it,” Dev said, unexpectedly. “I really did.” She half turned in her chair and looked at Jess. “It was fun.”

  Jess peered at her from behind her targeting console, seeing the intense sparkle in her eyes. “Hm,” she said softly. “We may just have to keep you.”

  “Excuse me?” Dev leaned toward her. “Did you say something?”

  Jess smiled. “Take us home, Dev, before this thing falls apart.” She leaned back as the battered craft rumbled through the thick, moist air. “There’s a lot more work to do.”

  Chapter Seven

  THEY WERE THE last ship back. Dev held the carrier steady, limping in on one engine, as she watched the recovered vessel with its four passengers, and the two that had gone with them, sink through the wide opening into the landing bay.

  It was still raining. But it was a steady unrelenting drizzle and the winds had died down, allowing Dev to relax as she waited.

  Jess was in her seat, tapping furiously on her consoles and pad, occasionally chuckling to herself. She seemed to be in a very good mood, and Dev cautiously evaluated the idea that she’d done okay in their mission.

  Her first one. She had, at least, brought them both back in one piece if the carrier wasn’t, and since they’d gotten the other teams back, she figured the whole thing might have been something of a success.

  Not too bad for someone who had only driven a sim before now. Dev glanced at her reflection in the curved forward shield, noting her sweat dampened hair. She raked it back and settled her hands on the controls again, the feeling of the throttles against her palms starting to become comfortably familiar.

  She moved the carrier forward, tilting the nose down a little with a boost on the landing jets to give her a good view of the bay. She could see clear airspace and leveled the craft, then increased the lower jets and cut off her main engines.

  The carrier drifted downward, clearing the bay opening and settling lower and lower into the vast cavern. “BR27006,” she said softly into the comms. “Requesting landing pad.”

  The comm crackled immediately. “BR27006, landing pad eighty-two cleared for your approach.”

  Dev located the spot, marked with big, easily read numbers and adjusted the side jets to move them over, hovering above the numbers before she cut power to the landing jets and they settled slowly into place.

  There was a team waiting. She recognized a group of Ceebees, in pale orange jumpsuits with kits and hoses in their hands. As soon as she cut power to the drive systems, they bolted toward the carrier.

  Two sprayed the outside down with something. “What is that?”

  “Sealant,” Jess said, still slouched in her seat. “In case we popped a line. Don’t want to blast anyone with anything.” She now had her hands folded over her stomach and was just relaxing. “When they make the hookup, send the logs and the flight recorder detail over to storage.”

  Dev nodded. She had been waiting, in fact, for specifically that. She saw a light come on midway up the console, and ran her fingers over the keys, accepting the connection and setting up the sync.

  Another light, and she shut down internal power. They went into pitch darkness for a few seconds before the external connection kicked in and the lights came back on, along with internal ventilation now being supplied from the dock.

  It felt good. The air was cool and fresh and not full of half baked sealant. Dev blinked a little, and unbuckled her harness as she turned her seat around and watched the webbing retract.

  “So.” Jess regarded her. “NM-Dev-1, you can pilot a carrier.”

  “Yes.” Dev smiled. “Apparently so.”

  “Where’d you pick up all the upside down stuff?” Jess asked. “I’m betting the other side’s never seen one of these do that before, cause I sure haven’t.”

  Upside down? Dev frowned a little and her head tilted to one side. “You mean this?” She lifted one hand and tilted it back and forth.

  “I mean when you were flying with the bottom of this thing pointed skyward.”

  “Oh.” Dev nodded. “In space...” She pointed upward. “In the crèche, you get to train in a null grav sim for some of this. It’s all...um.” She considered. “There’s no right or wrong side up in space. You learn in all dimensions.”

  Jess studied her face intently for a long moment. “Interesting,” she said, finally. “Well, I’ll tell you what, Dev. You did as well, or better, as anyone I’ve ever seen driving this bus.”

  “Are you surprised?”

  “Yes.”

  “Me too,” Dev replied, with an almost impish grin. “Sims are one thing, but real is different. This was very difficult. Mostly because I didn’t have any programming on what to do. They don’t give you programs to know what to do when you’re flying at a mountain with twenty planes chasing you and shooting at you.”

  “Ah,” Jess murmured. “So you just did that on instinct.”

  Dev considered that carefully. “I’m not sure what that means.”

  “You didn’t think about what to do.” Jess clarified. “You just reacted. You just did it.”

  Dev considered again, then nodded. She half turned as the comm crackled, reaching over to accept a key.

  “BR27006, you are cleared for exit. Systems stable, please release locks and proceed to debrief,” a stolid male voice intoned. “Agent Drake, Mr. Bain’s compliments.”

  “Hah.” Jess stood up and stretched. “C’mon. Let’s get the brain hosing out of the way and go get a drink. We earned it.” She waved Dev forward, and keyed the hatch, waiting a moment as it unsealed and popped outward.

  She stepped out and down to the ground, as two bio alt techs edged past her, carrying toolkits. She waited for Dev to follow her, not missing the looks of the other bio alts as she left the carrier past them. Mixture of envy and awe.

  Jess was intrigued, but she put it aside as she turned to regard her craft. “Shitcakes.”

  Dev turned and looked, her eyes getting big and round. “Wow.”

  Every inch of the craft was scored by fire, its outside a dark and cre
ased dappled gray. One of the external engine pods was sliced through, dripping lurid green fluid on the ground. There was a huge rent right along the side, its end just shy of the curve of the nose where Dev had been seated.

  A man came up next to Jess, dressed in a deep orange suit. “Holy shit, Drake. What the hell did you do to that thing?”

  Jess glanced at him, bemused. “You should see what the other guy looks like,” she said. “Sorry, Clint. Looks like a total overhaul.”

  The man snorted, then seemed to notice Dev for the first time. “Who’s this?”

  “This is Dev,” Jess said. “She’s my p...pilot.” She felt her tongue stutter, and felt a pang. “Wait till you see the logs.”

  Clint regarded Dev thoughtfully. “Oh, yeah. I heard about that. Nice to meet you.” He extended a hand. “Hope you don’t do this every time. Too much work.”

  Dev politely shook his hand. “I’ll try not to,” she said. “They’re very sturdy pieces of equipment.”

  Clint beamed.

  Jess sighed. “The way to his heart is through a hydraulic tube, c’mon.” She touched Dev’s sleeve. “They’re waiting for us in debrief.”

  They walked along the marked floor, as techs and support people swarmed around them, and the other three carriers who had just come in. The rest of the crews had already gone down the tunnel, so Jess wasted no more time and turned off the rocky floor into a tall, scan equipped deep blue hallway.

  She felt the tickle as she passed through, and saw Dev blink a little. “You feel that?”

  Dev looked at her. “Yes. The scan, you mean?”

  Jess nodded. “Yeah. That’s all security. You have to be coded to go through. If you’re not, you get enough of a blast to take you out when you’re inside. Some places, like central command, you get more than that.”

  “Oh.”

  “I’ll show you the grid when we get back to quarters. We’re coded everywhere, but not everyone is. Good to know if you’re walking with someone outside ops.”

  “I see.”

  Jess led the way toward a closed automatic door, and put her hand on the pad outside it. “Drake, J, and NM-Dev-1 for debrief.”