by Ryk Brown
“Thanks,” Loki replied, finally looking up at Josh. He turned back around, taking his data pad and picture from the locker. “I’ll leave the uniform for the quartermaster to pick up.”
“I’m going to hide it and say you took it with you,” Josh insisted. “That way, I’ll have a spare.”
“You’ll have to get it tailored,” Loki joked, “you being so short, and all.”
“I’m not short,” Josh insisted, “you’re just freakishly tall.”
Loki turned back around to face his friend, extending his hand. “Until the next adventure?”
“Until the next adventure,” Josh agreed, shaking Loki’s hand and pulling his friend in for a hug. “Take care of yourself, buddy, and protect that baby of yours.”
“We’ll be fine,” Loki said, ending the embrace. “We’ve got the galaxy’s greatest pilot flying the ship that protects us all.”
“I’m only the greatest when I’ve got you backin’ me up,” Josh admitted.
Loki patted his friend on the shoulder, then head for the exit.
Josh watched, with a heavy heart, as his friend walked out the door and out of his life for the second time.
* * *
“Explain to me, again, why we’re just sitting here?” Marli asked.
“We either sit here or in space,” Jessica replied. “Here, we can turn around and go back if we need to. Once we jump out, there’s no way for us to return.”
“But someone will pick us up, right?”
“That’s the way it works, yes,” Jessica agreed, “but there’s no use in jumping out before the recovery window. Besides, the Dusahn aren’t scanning your seas. They are scanning your space.”
“You’re not claustrophobic, are you?” Stethan asked Marli.
“I don’t think so,” she replied. “It’s never come up until now. Maybe it’s just knowing we’re a kilometer underwater, and that if this thing breaks we’ll die.”
“You’re not going to do well in space, then,” Jessica warned.
“Your ships are bigger than this, right?”
“Much bigger,” Stethan assured her. “So big that you wouldn’t even know you were in a spaceship.”
“And you’ve lived aboard one for the last seventeen years?”
“Twenty, actually, but I went back to the surface on occasion. You get used to it.”
“I can’t imagine going so long without seeing the sky.”
“The other things you see, things that most people will never see, more than make up for it,” Stethan assured her. “At least, for me it always has.”
“But what will I do there?”
“You said you’re a med-tech, right?” Jessica said. “We always need more medical personnel.”
“I just take vitals and give injections, and stuff,” Marli insisted.
“I’m sure they’ll find you a job,” Stethan promised.
“We’re coming up on the recovery window,” Jessica announced, adjusting herself in her seat. “I’m activating the auto-jump sequencer.” Jessica activated the jump navigation computer and turned the sub’s piloting controls over to the computer. The ship began to accelerate sharply and then pitched upward. At the same time, its ballast tanks began filling with air, increasing the sub’s buoyancy and adding to its acceleration toward the sky.
Marli, again, grabbed both the wall and the back of Jessica’s seat, bracing herself as the sub pitched up and accelerated. “Is this normal?” she asked her father.
“I don’t know,” Stethan admitted. “It’s my first time.”
“It’s normal!” Jessica insisted.
“Are we going to come out of the water before we jump? Can this thing fly?”
“Hang on,” Jessica warned as the surface came rushing toward them. “Three seconds to jump…two……one……jumping.”
There was a blue-white flash of light, and everything became still. Marli felt her stomach turn as the gravity disappeared. “Oh, my God,” she exclaimed. “Are we in space?”
“We are,” her father replied.
Marli noticed Jessica’s hair floating upward. “Your hair!” She leaned to one side to peer around Jessica’s seat, looking out the front windows of the sub at the starry blackness outside. “Oh, my God!” she exclaimed again.
“Incredible, isn’t it,” Stethan said.
There was a small flash of light in the distance.
“What was that?” she wondered, pointing forward.
“That is our ride,” Jessica replied, “and they’re right on time.”
* * *
Nathan mimicked General Telles’s movements, flowing smoothly from one position to the next. “What is this supposed to teach me, again?” he wondered.
“For one to master anything that involves movement, one must strive to have the body immediately do what the mind wills it,” General Telles explained. “To do so, the body must know how to do what the mind wills, without the mind having to send movement instructions.”
“You’re talking about muscle memory,” Nathan realized as he followed the general into the next movement.
“It is more than that,” General Telles insisted. “It is precision, it is deliberate and intentional movement without thought. In essence, it is instinct.” The general ceased his movements, standing normally.
“Are we done already?” Nathan wondered.
“Hardly,” the general replied, one eyebrow raised. “Show me the solo tree branch.”
“Right or left hand?” Nathan wondered.
“Left.”
Nathan repositioned his feet, then raised his left arm in a sweeping motion over the top.
“Why did you position your feet first?” the general asked.
“I was trying to be in the correct balance position,” Nathan replied. “Was that wrong?”
“It was not wrong,” the general replied. “However, it was also not necessary.”
“But, you taught me that position with my feet evenly spaced, facing forward.”
“All things must have a starting point.”
“Okay.”
“The solo tree branch can be done from any position,” the general said. “Attempt to punch me in the face, repeatedly.”
Nathan prepared himself, and then let loose a flurry of punches—left, right, left, right—all toward the general’s face. As expected, every punch was swept away. What he didn’t expect to see was the general doing so with only his left arm, and in a normal stance.
“Again,” the general instructed, turning forty-five degrees.
As expected, each blow was easily redirected by the general, using only a single arm.
“Try harder,” the general insisted.
Once more, Nathan let loose a flurry of punches, this time changing it up a bit. Left, right, right, left, right, left, left… He even threw in some uppercuts and crosses. Again, not a single punch found its mark, each of them being easily redirected by the general’s left and right arms, as well as several changes of body position that allowed Nathan’s punches to find nothing but air. In the end, Nathan was panting and sweating profusely, while the general appeared to be completely unaffected, as if he had been standing still the entire time.
“You’re not exactly……doing much for……my confidence,” Nathan said in between pants. “How the hell do you move so quickly?”
“There are multiple components involved. My mind, my body, your mind, and your body.”
“What?”
My mind watches your body. When your left hand is attacking, the next attack has a greater chance of coming from your right hand. If you do use your left hand two or more times in succession, each following attack will be weaker than the one that came before it and will require less effort to counter. My mind watches your patterns, looks for repetition, predictability, an
ything that would allow me to anticipate your next move before your mind wills it. My mind also knows what patterns of combat you know, either by analyzing your performance or your previous training sessions.”
“Okay, that covers minds,” Nathan said. “What about bodies?”
“The more practiced the motion, the less fatiguing it will be when executed. The muscles have formed specifically to perform that movement. Those who train for size and geometry are no more suited for combat than they are athletics.”
“Are you trying to tell me that I’ve been training wrong?”
“You have been training toward the wrong goal,” the general corrected. “Muscle and strength do not win wars. They are won with the brain first, the body second.”
Nathan sighed. “How long did all this take you?”
“I have been training for thirty years, and I still have much to learn,” the general confessed.
“Great,” Nathan said. “I’m lucky if I’ve got thirty days.”
“Fighting Lord Dusahn would be a mistake,” General Telles insisted.
“You don’t think I can beat him, not even if I train like an animal?” Nathan wondered.
General Telles’s eyebrow shot up at the expression. “I am certain of it.”
“Could you?”
“It would be an interesting contest,” the general admitted, “but I am confident that I would prevail.”
“Maybe we should just tell Hesson to choose you as his proxy,” Nathan suggested.
“I suspect that General Hesson’s interpretation of Dusahn law is somewhat dubious,” General Telles insisted. “Were Lord Dusahn to honor the general’s challenge, it would be because you, his archrival, were the proxy. There is no honor in defeating an old man, even one with similar training. However, defeating you in the Chankarti arena would solidify his position as leader and would obliterate any hope from those he has already conquered, as well as those worlds he has yet to invade.”
“Then, why are we even here?” Nathan wondered.
“Just in case I am wrong,” the general said.
“You, wrong?” Nathan teased, returning to his stance.
“Hard to believe, I know,” the general agreed. “Shall we continue?”
The wall intercom beeped.
“Captain, Comms,” Naralena called.
Nathan walked over and pressed the intercom button. “Go ahead.”
“Commander Prechitt and the Nighthawks have arrived.”
“Great, I’ll meet them in the main hangar.”
“Aye, sir.”
“Saved by the bell,” Nathan said to the general, smiling. “You coming?”
* * *
Commander Prechitt climbed down from his Nighthawk, dropping to the deck from the bottom rung of the boarding ladder.
“Welcome home, Commander,” Nathan greeted as he approached. “It’s good to see you.”
“It’s good to be back, Captain,” the commander replied, shaking Nathan’s hand.
“How many ships did you bring?”
“Ten in total. These four, and six more are still cycling in.”
“I didn’t know you had that many pilots with Nighthawk experience.”
“We lost a few Eagles in the first few days, so I moved those pilots into Nighthawks. Over time, they trained others to fly the Nighthawks, in case we had Eagles down for maintenance.”
“The Casbons didn’t have an issue with you borrowing ten of their ships?”
“The Ahka haven’t attacked in over a month, now; not since we attacked them. It seems they don’t have any interest in attacking people who fight back.”
“They understand there’s a possibility that some, or even all, of these ships might not make it back, right?” Nathan wondered.
“They do, sir. It’s going to be months before they have pilots to fly these ships. Besides, I promised that if we broke them, we’d buy them.”
Nathan turned, noticing Talisha Sane walking toward them from the other three Nighthawks. “Miss Sane,” he greeted. “I wasn’t expecting to see you again.”
“It took a bit of convincing, but I talked the commander into letting me join the party,” Talisha replied.
“Only nine of us had Nighthawk experience,” the commander added, “and ten seemed like a nice round number.”
“The commander told me about your plans,” Talisha added. “I brought along a dozen spare gravity lift emitters for your people to experiment on.”
“I’m sure they’ll appreciate that,” Nathan replied. “Get your people fed and rested, Commander.”
“How long until we see action?” the commander wondered.
“Just under two days,” Nathan replied.
“How’s the Aurora?”
Nathan smiled. “Better than ever.”
* * *
Lord Dusahn walked confidently down the boarding ramp from his shuttle, onto the hangar deck of his flagship, the Kor-Dusahn.
“My lord,” the ship’s captain greeted.
“Captain,” Lord Dusahn replied, not breaking his stride. “I trust all is in order.”
“We will be at full charge in twenty-seven minutes,” the captain replied.
“How long until we reach the staging point?”
“Approximately twenty hours, my lord.”
“Any word from the Jar-Oray and the Jar-Yella?”
“There was a communications drone waiting for us when we arrived at this recharge point, my lord. It contained a message from the Jar-Oray, confirming that both ships are en route and will arrive at the final staging point on schedule.”
“Excellent,” Lord Dusahn replied as he continued across the hangar deck. “We will attack them during their morning. They will begin the new day as either subjects of the Dusahn Empire or as casualties.”
* * *
“I thought you were a party of two,” Nathan mused as he joined his officers in the Aurora’s command briefing room. “I didn’t realize you were on a recruitment mission.”
“Neither did I,” Jessica retorted.
“Glad you made it back safely,” Nathan added as he took his seat at the head of the table.
“This is Marli Ayers,” Jessica said, gesturing toward Marli. “She has provided us with critical intel.”
“How is it that you made contact with Miss Ayers?” General Telles wondered.
“She is my biological daughter,” Commander Andreola revealed.
“Indeed,” the general responded, one eyebrow raised.
“What did you learn?” Nathan asked.
“Kind of a good news-bad news sort of thing,” Jessica began. “The good news is we shouldn’t have any problem taking out the ground forces on Orswella. The bad news is why.”
“I’m not liking the sound of this,” Nathan commented.
“The two battleships that were supposed to still be under construction have already left Orswella,” Jessica reported.
“Oh, my God,” Cameron exclaimed.
“When?” Lieutenant Commander Shinoda asked.
“About sixty hours ago,” Jessica replied.
“I thought you said they were several months away from completion,” Nathan questioned Commander Andreola.
“As far as I knew, that was the case,” Commander Andreola defended.
Marli began to meekly raise her hand.
“That makes five,” Cameron said to Nathan. “We can’t defend against five battleships.”
“Whoa, what?” Jessica exclaimed, leaning forward in her chair.
“Miss Ayers,” Nathan said, “do you wish to say something?”
“Yes, sir,” Marli replied, somewhat shyly. “The Dusahn stopped all other ship production in order to speed up completion of the Jar-Oray and the Jar-Yella.”
“How
long ago?” Nathan asked.
“Two months ago, I think.”
“Then shouldn’t you have known about this?” Nathan asked Commander Andreola.
“Two Orswellan months,” the commander clarified.
“That would be about forty of our days,” Lieutenant Commander Shinoda explained.
“Then the Dusahn increased their efforts just after we destroyed their battleship over Rakuen,” General Telles surmised.
“I guess they didn’t like that very much,” Nathan commented.
“Let’s get back to those five battleships,” Jessica insisted.
“The Dusahn have a battle group en route here,” Nathan explained.
“Let me guess,” Jessica said, “it has three battleships in it.”
“Twelve gunships, two missile frigates, two battleships, and a dreadnought,” Lieutenant Commander Shinoda clarified.
“Shit,” Jessica cursed, falling back in her chair.
“You mentioned Miss Ayers provided you with intelligence,” Lieutenant Commander Shinoda asked.
“She was able to identify the locations of all the Dusahn ground assets.”
“How is it she was aware of these locations?” General Telles wondered.
“Apparently all young women know of, and avoid, these locations,” Jessica explained. She turned to Nathan. “Then, we aren’t going to attack Orswella?”
“No, we still are,” Nathan replied calmly.
“What?” Cameron replied, shocked.
“That shipyard is still a threat,” Nathan insisted.
“Maybe we should be concentrating on the five battleships headed our way,” Jessica suggested.
“I’ll handle that,” Nathan replied.
“How the hell are you going to handle that?” Jessica wondered. Then it dawned on her. “Bad idea, Nathan.”
“That’s Captain,” Nathan reminded her.
“It’s still a bad idea,” Jessica reiterated.
“My understanding is that if I lose, nothing changes. The Karuzari are still free to fight the Dusahn,” Nathan explained. “If I agree to General Hesson’s plan, it might delay the attack long enough to build up more missiles and get all ten of those Nighthawks ready.”
“What Nighthawks?” Jessica wondered, becoming more flustered.
“Prechitt brought back ten ships,” Cameron explained. “Abby and Deliza are preparing them to be used to take down the Dusahn’s shields from inside their perimeter, the same way that Josh and Loki did.”