Wings of Steele: Revenge and Retribution

by Jeffrey Burger

  “I know, I know,” said Nina fighting back tears of frustration, “I'm doing the best I can but she's not producing enough power to regenerate the...”

  The next hit was jarring, sounding heavily metallic, like someone hit the hull with a sledgehammer, the ship lurching, warning buzzers and red lights flashing all across the status screen. The operating temperature for the Starboard engine shot up so quickly that the overheat alarm surprised Jack. In mid-reach for the emergency shutdown it let loose, grenading itself into confetti and spinning shrapnel, rolling the ship on its side from the torque of the remaining engine. “Son of a bitch,” Steele eased the throttle back and wrestled with the controls.

  “I lost one of them, where'd he go?” asked Nina.

  “If we're lucky our engine took him out,” replied, Jack, concentrating on control. “Dammit, we're losing fuel.” He punched the fire control button for the right engine, hoping it might stop or at least reduce the fuel loss.

  A Lawmen pursuit craft pulled up close on the starboard side, flying even with the bus' cockpit, the pilot tapping on his earpiece. “We have received clearance to destroy that ship if you do not return to Rikovik's Reef. Which I will happily do, considering you just killed my flight leader...”

  ■ ■ ■

  The Raven's bow pierced the GOD portal, the filaments of color dancing, reaching across her hull like neon lightning as she pushed through into the black from her short jump.

  “Forward gunners targeting...” announced Maria.

  Commander Brian Carter leaned forward in his seat, peering at the big screen. “What the hell is he flying?”

  The Raven's main tachyon particle drivers, opened fire, their heavy thumping felt in the floor, neon blue streaks passing through the Lawman's craft flying alongside the damaged yacht, cutting through it, instantly blowing it into pieces. The two remaining Lawmen split, one sweeping in on the tail of the yacht, the other breaking for Rikovik's Reef. Between the Raven's main guns and her mercury Gatling batteries, neither one made it very far. The Raven turning them into unrecognizable wreckage.

  ■ ■ ■

  The Raven's sudden appearance was a welcome sight but the pucker factor when her main guns and mercury Gatling batteries lit off in his direction made Steele want to be almost anywhere else. One moment the Lawman was there on his right, then he was gone, replaced with a flash, a swelling spray of debris and spinning chunks of mangled wreckage fluttering outward.

  He nosed the bus over hard to expose the Lawman sweeping in on his tail and the streaks of silver from the mercury Gatling batteries were so close their reflections flashed across the surfaces of the control screens.

  “Damn, that's close!” shouted Nina, “Are they nuts?”

  Steele saw the bogie disappear from the sensor grid. “Just that good,” he croaked, swallowing hard. The Raven passed over the bus in a streak, chasing down the last Lawman.

  His earpiece chirped, “Stay on course, Jax. We will circle back and meet you at the rendezvous, there's another bogie inbound...”

  “Copy that,” replied Jack. “Don't let them delay you; we need to get out of this system.”

  ■ ■ ■

  Slowly drifting in the rubble of Rikovik's mined-out asteroid field, Jack's chin was resting on his steepled fingertips, his elbows on the armrests of the bus' command chair. He was staring out into the darkness and flickering stars, his mind in neutral like the remaining engine. Though they had lost almost a third of the fuel the craft could carry, he dared not shut it off, not knowing how much of the engine control systems were left intact. At least she'd stopped leaking fuel...

  Nina reentered the cockpit with two bottles of water, handing one to Jack. “How are we doing?”

  “Not great,” he replied, popping the seal on the water. “I've run all the diagnostics she's got, but it's not telling me why our shields won't come above fifty percent.” He took a long draw on the water. “We lost a third of our fuel load but we're running only one engine, so I have no idea what that's going to do to our range...”

  “Navigation won't calculate that out?”

  “She's pretty beat up, I'm not sure I can trust the navigation to get it right. It was off three minutes on our arrival to the rendezvous point. Stretch that out over a full system and we could be in big trouble...” He took another long swallow. “How are the girls doing?”

  “Scared.”

  He nodded, “You?”

  “Scared,” replied Nina, picking casually at the label on the bottle.

  He nodded again, he had some serious concerns too. “We'll be OK.”

  “Are you sure... or are you just saying that to make me feel better?”

  “Maybe a little of both,” he admitted. “How's Ruby?”

  “Sleeping. She'll be OK. One of the girls used to be a nurse on Winnie's surgical team, she gave her a sedative from the emergency medical kit...”

  “What about the girl that they carried on?”

  Nina picked at the label on her water again. “She doesn't look good, she's real pale. And she hasn't come-to at all. At the very least I think she'll lose her left leg.”

  “Then maybe it's best she stays out.”

  Nina looked a little queasy, “Yeah, maybe.”

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  JENFAR SYSTEM, FREERANGER – DD217 : LITTLE WHITE LIES

  Commander T. B. Yafuscko propped himself up on one elbow to look at the flashing comm link in the darkness of his suite, blinking away the sleep from his brain. He reached over and tapped the screen, leaving the video off. “Report,” he whispered.

  “Sorry to disturb you Commander, we have recorded a FreeRanger general broadcast.”

  Tibby rubbed his eyes, “What's the topic Lieutenant?”

  “There's been an incident in Rikovik's Reef and Command is looking for some support in the area.”

  “Details?”

  “A few, but they're not terribly clear. Command suggests direct contact with Rikovik's for responding assets.”

  Tibby sat up and swung his feet off the side of the bed, staring into the darkness, “Any other responders so far?”

  “No sir. Not at this time. There are a couple ships stationed in the system though.”

  “Hmm, well, we've got nothing else pending,” said the Commander, thinking aloud, “send an acceptance reply. What's our ETA?”

  “About fifty-two hours.”

  “Send us. Keep me apprised, Lieutenant.” Tibby reached back over and tapped on the screen ending the comm. He could feel Grinah there in the darkness, stretching like a cat, her hand rubbing lazily on his back.

  “Where are we going?” her voice said sleepily.

  “Something going on in Rikovik's Reef... We're going to go and see if we can make some gold.”

  “Mmmm,” she purred, half asleep, “I like gold... Come back to bed for a while.”

  ■ ■ ■

  This was not Commander T. B. Yafuscko's first encounter with Rikovik's Reef, he had been to the socially twisted and criminally overrun planetoid before, but he had never had the privilege of speaking with the Primayor. Not that Tibby considered it a privilege, no, but he was sure the Primayor considered it so, pompous ass. Tibby stared for a moment at the darkened screen in his office after the communication winked out, wishing he could have the last ten minutes of his life back. Remembering he was not alone, he swiveled his chair around, “So? Thoughts..?”

  The three other officers present all began talking at once until he held his hand up, their chatter dying down. He pointed at Grinah, his most trusted confidant. “Ensign, your opinion?”

  “Before or after we had to listen to him ramble on about how great and important he was..?” She waved her hand, “Sorry, had to be said. I think he's a shill for the Syndicate.”

  “There's no doubt in my mind,” agreed the Commander. He pointed at his second in command, Dash Zarnev, “Lieutenant?”

  The Lieutenant scratched his three-day stubble, “Hmmm, I think beyond th
e obfuscation and bullshit, there is gold to be had here. Do I trust him? No. Do I think there's a job here? Yes. But I think we ask for a good-faith retainer. That might tell us if they're willing to pay off on completion.”

  Tibby nodded. “Point taken, good idea. But what do you make of the other three ships they have in the region? Why do you think they want to hire outside guns to handle this?”

  “As I hear it,” explained Dash, “those guys are the gatekeepers. They're FreeRangers, but they're salaried by the Reef. I have a friend on a ship that runs supplies through that area, he says those boats never stray more than a quarter of a system from the rock, and never more than one at a time. Those would be the guys we'd be dealing with if this clown,” he flipped a wave at the blank vid-screen, “decided not to pay off.”

  “Duly noted,” Tibby stroked his own stubble, realizing he'd forgotten to shave. “More guns than we've got. Not something we'd want to tangle with.”

  “Three to one is bad odds.”

  “Still, I suppose we could involve the FreeRanger Council if things went into collections, they could impose some heavy sanctions...”

  Dash made a face of distaste. “That takes time though. Meanwhile we're out the time and energy.”

  “Let's see what he says to a retainer, we'll make our decision then.” The Commander pointed at the last contributor, “Doc, what do you think?”

  The ship's surgeon was leaning against the holo-chart table, his arms folded across his chest. “Well, I'm convinced he's being one-hundred percent honest – about how important he thinks he is. But according to his eye movements and mannerisms, he's telling more than little white lies about everything else. There are some real whoppers in there. I'd go so far as to say some total fabrication woven in.”

  Tibby pursed his lips, “Yeah, that's about what I thought.”

  “I can go over the video playback of the conversation, Commander, I should be able to separate fact from fiction...”

  “Sounds good Doc, get back to me with what you find. Should prove interesting. We'll give the good Primayor a follow-up call when we reach the Rikovik system.” He pointed at Dash Zarnev, “Lieutenant, you've got the bridge, we need to get some breakfast...”

  ■ ■ ■

  Jack Steele's TESS lit up, her holo-screen popping into view. “Incoming signal from Brian Carter.”

  “Connect, TESS.”

  Brian's face appeared, TESS' animated face sliding over to one side of the screen. “You OK over there?”

  “Yes and no,” replied Jack. “I lost an engine and dropped a third of my fuel load. She's pretty shot up... Navigation is glitchy and I'm not sure I can calculate my range accurately.”

  “Send me your Op Stats, we'll run it through our system.”

  Steele glanced at TESS' face and she acknowledged his need with a nod. “Sending.”

  “Nice timing, by the way,” commented Steele, “they were about to finish us off.”

  Brian smirked, “Probably the shortest GOD jump ever made,” he chuckled, “a whole four minutes.” There was a pause in the conversation as Brian looked off screen to his right. “OK, Jack, our nav computer calculated out the best settings for your fuel situation. Set your power at seventy-three-and-a-half percent.”

  “How far will that get us?” asked Steele, adjusting his throttle setting.

  “Through the gate and the transition. You'll run out of fuel halfway through the next system; Aegeron Pass...”

  “Swell.”

  “We should be OK,” waved Brian, “We're sending the Conquest and Westwind the coordinates, they'll meet us there.”

  “Don't they have two other systems to go through?” frowned Jack.

  “Yeah, but at the snail's pace we'll be cruising, they'll probably beat us there. You sure you don't want them coming here to Rikovik's to get us?”

  Steele chewed the inside of his lip. “They'll get jumped at the gate by our little pirate friends... not that they'd be much of a match but I don't want to risk it. Besides, I think this place can be useful if we don't blow our cover.”

  “Some cover,” glowered Brian. “You really think they'd actually let you come back here?”

  “Yeah, if they think there's money in it. I think our contact at Deep Black has a lot more pull than she lets on. And depending on her reach, which seems considerable, she may be very useful in more ways than one.”

  Brian shook his head, “I still don't see how you figure coming back here, waltzing in without them trying to shoot your ass...”

  “Greed. Plain and simple. Greed overrides some pretty strong prejudices...”

  Brian shrugged, “If you say so I guess. It's your neck.” He pinched his lower lip and then waved, his mouth turning up a mischievous little crooked smile. “So OK, I gotta ask; you couldn't find something a little smaller or faster? Something you could have landed in our bay? Explain to me why you decided to steal the equivalent of a flying motorhome...”

  Steele let out a slow breath, “We have a few extra passengers...”

  “Come again?”

  Steele pursed his lips pensively, “We, that is, Nina and I, are not alone... we have a few extra passengers...”

  “Twenty-three,” interrupted Nina. “Girls.”

  “Say what?!” exclaimed Brian, leaning closer to his screen.

  Steele blinked curiously as TESS' holo-screen divided into two panels, then three, as Lisa and Maria almost simultaneously appeared “Twenty -three girls?” they said in unison. “Hiya Nina!” waved Lisa.

  Nina waved back, “Hiya Lisa!”

  “It's a long story,” muttered Jack.

  Brian glanced down at his wrist and pointed at a non-existent watch, “Ooh look, we have time.”

  Steele glanced out at the slowly passing stars. “Smartass,” he grumbled.

  ■ ■ ■

  “Jack... Jack, wake up!”

  Steele's eyes popped open, bleary-eyed, “What's wrong?” He looked outside the cockpit, his mind taking a moment to register the shimmering silver transition tunnel, scanning around then back to her. Nina's hands were on the copilot's flight yoke, her eyes wide with a touch of panic. “How long was I asleep?”

  “I don't know, five or six hours I guess. Focus Jack, the autopilot shut off and when I tried to put it back on like you showed me, nothing happened. So I've been keeping with the Raven manually. But now the navigation system went blank...”

  “Where is she?”

  Nina pointed over the dash at a wavering blue-white light, a spec in the distance. “Right there, the blue-white flame?”

  “I see it. Let's give them a shout and get them to drop back a bit.” Steele noticed his breath in the crisp air of the cockpit and suddenly realized the distinct chill in the air. “Why the hell is it so cold in here?”

  “I don't know, I've been too busy steering...”

  “Flying,” he corrected.

  “Whatever.”

  While still appearing functional, when the ship's comm system refused to broadcast, the first thing that entered Steele's mind was a cascading system failure. “Uh oh... comm's not broadcasting...”

  “I can see my breath,” said Nina, “I think it's getting colder...”

  “TESS, contact Brian Carter.” Please connect, please connect, please connect... Jack waited impatiently as the unit reached out, but he instinctively knew it was taking too long.

  “I'm sorry, Mr. Mercury,” apologized TESS, “I cannot reach Brian Carter. The transition tunnel is interfering with the range of my broadcast.”

  “Crap,” he breathed. He grabbed the pilot's yoke, “I've got the bird, go check on the girls.” Waiting until Nina was clear of the cockpit, Jack nudged the throttle up to nearly ninety percent to close the gap between the bus and the Raven, quickly initiating a diagnostic cycle on the ship's system with his free hand. Given her severely compromised condition, the ship refused to fly a straight course without constant attention. “TESS, cycle a continuous distress call, we need to get
their attention.”

  “Broadcasting,” replied TESS.

  “Christ, it's freezing back there,” huffed Nina, pushing past the curtains into the cockpit. “Everybody's huddled together in the salon. They took all the bedding, pillows and blankets out of the rooms and they're all scrunched together.”

  “How's Ruby?”

  “Awake, in pain, about as comfortable as can be expected. I don't think the other girl is going to make it, though. She's as white as a ghost.”

  “The cold might actually help her.”

  Nina tilted her head to one side, “How so?”

  Jack shrugged, his attention diverted, trying to get some of the systems to respond, “I just know that for some injuries, doctors will sometimes induce a coma and put a patient in a cold environment. I'm not sure how it works exactly, but I imagine it's like a suspended animation.”

  ■ ■ ■

  Lisa Steele was sitting on the deck in the Raven's cargo bay, her back against the landing gear of a four man shuttle, half-watching some of the crew members exercise while she read an electronic version of the Remora's flight manual. She was tempted to sit in the fighter's cockpit while reading to review all the systems while she read. As a visual aid of course. Not that she considered taking it out on a joy ride. No, that wouldn't be safe in a jump tunnel transition. But she enjoyed the thought of an unsupervised flight anyway. Semi-lost in her daydream, the tone of the distress call broadcast by her TESS jolted her back to reality, spilling her coffee at her side and banging her head on the landing gear door. “Son of a bitch,” she hissed, crawling free of the nose and sprinting across the deck toward the exit.

  ■ ■ ■

  “TESS, put it on the big screen,” commanded Brian Carter. “Helm, slow to one third, keep us above transition threshold protocols.” The video was full of snow and the audio was distorted and loaded with static.