by C. R. Daems
“Thank you, Captain.” He grinned. “Sailing with Captain Reese is anything but boring.”
The evening was pleasant. We talked over dinner and drinks afterward. I did most of the talking. I was questioned on the Riss and battles with the raiders. The upcoming action with the raiders was on everyone’s minds, and I was one of the few who had seen action with them. My discussion about unguided missiles and skips brought the most interest. The Captains were very interested so I directed them to Commanders Marken and Orroto. I got some strange looks at times but no feeling of hostility.
The feel of laughter.
I left the club feeling good. I was now the Captain of a Hunter and people were beginning to be more curious than hostile—except for a few young lieutenants. The walkway from the club to the senior officer’s quarters had a well-manicured lawn with small trees dotted around the expansive area. I heard a puff and my back burst in flaming pain. I staggered a few steps when I was hit again. This time it propelled me off the path into a tree. I collapsed. My breathing and heart slowed to nothing. I felt a solid kick to the ribs and wanted to cry out with pain, but I lay there unable to move.
“There dybbuk, the clan owes me a hundred twenty-five thousand credits and recognition as the dybbuk killer.” His laugh faded as he walked away. I passed out.
I woke unable to move or speak.
“Admiral Plimson, she’s paralyzed. She can’t communicate or move, and I can’t use our Rejuv unit because of the SAS restriction on her medical record.” Silence. “She’s alive, either comatose or brain dead.”
Silence.
“Yes, sir, I won’t do anything until Vice Admiral Zann arrives. What do I do about the five Scorpions I have in and around her room?”
Silence.
“Yes, sir. The Admiral said you could stay for now.”
I heard no answer. It had to be Terril. I don’t know who could have thrown her out, regardless of what the Admiral had said. I’d have laughed if I could’ve. Time meant little. Each interval between hearing someone speak, an eternity.
“I’m here, Nadya. I’ll kill anyone that touches you. Rest, Thalia will fix you,” Terril whispered.
I wanted to scream, “Thalia’s gone. I want to die.” I cherished each time I heard someone speak. It was my only contact with the world and out of the void.
“What’s her status, Doctor?” I heard Zann ask. If Thalia were alive, Zann could help. As it was, she was just another voice. I dreaded silence again. “Move her to the Lynx. Doctor Echart is on board. He knows what she can tolerate and what she can’t.”
“Why the Lynx? Isn’t she better off here? Doctor Echart can come here.”
“I want her in command of the Lynx. She can’t do that here.”
“What? If she lives it will be months before she would be able to perform simple functions. She was shot twice with a shard gun and has shards of metal everywhere.”
“She’ll be functional before we reach the raiders. Thalia informs me she’s repairing her connections. After that, with Doctor Echart’s help, she’ll be functional within days.”
Thalia was alive! I wanted to dance around the room singing and hug Terril—of course, I couldn’t.
“Gunny, stay with her,” Zann said.
“Sir, she’s going to have Scorpions attached to her for the rest of my life—with your permission of course,” Terril said, but I knew she planned to do it regardless of what Zann said. Apparently so did Zann.
“Although I suspect it doesn’t matter, I’ll make it an order and put it in writing in case someone gives you grief. Reese, no exceptions or I’ll have you sent to Saipha, and it’ll fifty years before you see a starship again.” Zann leaned close to my ear as she delivered her ultimatum. I suspect the people around me, except for Terril, thought it was rhetorical, since by then I should be too old to be in the military. I decided I wouldn’t take the chance Zann meant it.
* * * *
I knew they’d carried me onto the Lynx by the voices around me. My staff emotions went from panic when they saw me, to astonishment when they were told I would recover, and then to disbelief that I would command the Lynx. I couldn’t blame them. It was hard for me to believe. The thought that Thalia lived gave me hope.
I wanted to cry when I heard Thalia.
Amusement rippled through me. I couldn’t imagine how this could amuse her. I guess the options were laugh or cry—laughing was more therapeutic.
“Good morning or afternoon, Doctor Echart, as the case may be. As soon as I get feeling back in my body, I’d like you to remove the shards. They’re annoying.” I tried to smile. If Thalia thought it amusing, I felt I should. “I need to see Commander Varisko.”
“I’m here, Skipper. So are all your Bridge personnel plus others.”
“Good. You have the watch. I expect you to take us to our place in the formation. Thank everyone for his or her concern and good wishes. Now go and let Doctor Echart get to work. I’ll be up in a day or two.” I watched as they left. They were people I could trust in peace and war. Echart brought me back to the problem.
“Captain Reese, the doctors at headquarters don’t know how you survived. They thought you dead, then paralyzed, and finally disabled.” He laughed. “What do you want me to do?”
“I assume that the wounds are still open or only partially healed. I want you to touch each one. When you do, I’ll let you know if you can operate there to remove the shard. There are going to be a few which will have to wait until Thalia can move them to a safer place.”
It took Echart twelve hours to remove the thirty-two shards Thalia allowed. When he finished, three remained, but they were too close to Thalia’s brainstem.
“Thank you, Doctor Echart. I’m glad you’re the Lynx’s senior doctor. If you’ll get my clothes, I think it’s time for me to get back to work.”
My eyes felt heavy. I yawned and snuggled into the bed. A warm feeling flowed through me. The last thing I remember was a sensation of amusement.
* * * *
I woke slowly, enjoying the warmth of the bed.
“Doctor is she going to be alright? She’s been asleep for two days. I love being the XO, but I’m not ready to be the Captain,” Varisko said. My eyes flew open.
“How do you feel, Captain? You look better.” Echart nodded as if agreeing with himself.
“Yes, Thalia has allowed me to get up. Although I like your company, Doctor Echart, I need to get back to work, if someone will get me clothes.” Within a few minutes, someone had provided me with my uniform, and I dressed quickly. It felt incredibly good to be up. This attack had been a nightmare. I’d never been so terrified in my life. As I exited the room, two Scorpions fell in behind me. I vaguely remember Zann threatening me. When I entered the bridge, they followed.
“I’m sorry, but—”
“How does fifty years on Saipha sound?” Terril stood in the entrance, ha
nds on hips. She turned her SID around and hit the holo. It displayed an official-looking document. “Read, Captain.”
I humored her and scanned the document. I read it. In summary, it stated that I had a permanent escort of an undefined number of Scorpions. They were authorized to accompany me anywhere I went and authorized to shoot anyone who they thought might threaten me. In addition, I was ordered to go nowhere without them. Signed by Admiral Plimson and General Garret. Terril smiled.
“They’re just following orders. You scared me, Captain. Your detail is to make sure you don’t do that again. It’s not good to scare a Scorpion Gunny.” Terril looked far too serious. She turned and left without another word. Everyone was grinning. I took my seat with resignation.
“All right, XO, bring me up to date.”
Chapter 31
Fleet Commander Zann had diverted us to an intermediate solar system designated N237G42 in order to get organized for the assault on Freeland. I sat in her briefing room with twenty other Captains. Everyone gave me a strange look when two Scorpions followed me into the room. I wanted them to stay outside, but they ignored me—as usual. Since Zann said nothing, no one else said anything. I realize now that she’d been serious. If she’d allowed a deviation now, I could insist on others.
“Ladies and Gentlemen, tomorrow we attack the raider’s planet, which they have designated as Freeland. In one way, I hope they fight to the last man for all the pain and suffering they’ve inflicted on the peoples of the SAS. But for that revenge, how many of our people will pay the price? The ideal solution would be an unconditional surrender. We could then quarantine the planet and try the leaders for murder. In reality, we’ll have no control over their response to our invasion, nor do we know the strength of their forces. Captain Reese believes they have an industrial complex like Eden and, therefore, a good-sized military. The question is how many of those ships are presently raiding in SAS, UFN, and JPU territories. We know nothing of their activities outside of the SAS. For all we know, they may be in league with the UFN or JPU. We must plan for the worse and hope for the best.
“We have four Heavy cruisers not counting the Command cruiser. I’ve assigned two Light cruisers to each Heavy. I will keep the four Hunters and an additional four Light cruisers in reserve until we know what we face. The Heavies designations are H1 thru H4, the Lights L1 thru L12, the Hunters T1 thru T4, and the Command cruiser C1. If C1 goes down, control is transferred to H1, etc. We will maintain a two-thousand-kilometer separation for our initial formation. Any questions?”
There weren’t many questions, since this had been planned before we left Eden. Afterwards, we were served dinner. I was shocked when we finished dinner, and Vice Admiral Zann stood and looked at me.
“I would like Captain Reese to give us a brief summary of her encounters with the raiders. She has four battle stars arising from those encounters. I would’ve liked her to have given this briefing before we left Eden, but she was hospitalized due to multiple shard wounds. Captain Reese.”
“The most important fact, in my mind, is that they are clan…”
“…and will be waiting for us when we drop out of the Wave.”
Immediately the room exploded into shouts and talk. I heard “fool, young, stupid, alien, shouldn’t be a Captain,” and on and on. Eventually, Zann stood and the chatter stopped.
“Interesting. She is young and alien to you so you dismiss her out of hand, although no one except Captain Sakaata has fought the raiders. Why then are you so smart? The raiders call her dybbuk, a demon, and have made six attempts on her life because they fear her. She couldn’t attend our meeting in Eden because one of them shot her twice with a shard gun.” Zann stopped and looked around the room. “She is high-Riss, as am I. If she is wrong, you will call her fool among other things. If she is right, you will call her a hero. The Riss have no such terms. They are sisters and all equal. They trust each other to do the best that they can.” Zann turned towards Sakaata.
“Captain Sakaata, Captain Reese served under you as XO. What’s your opinion?” All eyes turned towards Sakaata. She took sip of her kaffa, looked at me, and smiled.
“I and many others on the Snowcat and the Leopard are alive because my XO was able to accurately predict the raider’s tactics. I’d listened to her before and would again. I think she’s in the raiders minds and the reason they want her dead. We’ve had trouble dealing with the raiders because we think of them a bunch of pirates. Reese thinks of them as clan and, therefore, has an insight the rest of us don’t.” Sakaata nodded to Zann.
“My Riss-sister, what do you wish us to consider?” Zann said.
“When we on the Mongoose captured the Vancil, we were pursued by the raider ship Coral. We disabled it as we fought to guard the Vancil, but were unable to destroy it prior to entering the Wave. By capturing the Vancil, we in effect alerted the raiders that we have identified their method of determining targets for their cruisers. If the Coral made it back to Freeland, which we should assume, they will have notified the clans that we captured the Vancil and will be able to find the location of their home planet. That would put them on alert and prepared for our arrival. If they are waiting, as I believe, thousands will suffer even though we prevail.”
“Are you suggesting we go home and leave them to continuing raiding us?” A tall, young captain said as he rose from his seat, sneering. He gave a short laugh. “We’re not cowards.”
I couldn’t help but smile.
“You think this is funny. You’re just like the—”
“Enough! Sit down, Captain. Captain Reese, please continue.”
“I have not suggested we go home or avoid an engagement. I’m suggesting that we attempt to minimize our losses. I, for one, have seen enough friends and comrades die for a lifetime. My Riss, Thalia, has reminded me that revenge is an evil companion. What we should be seeking is an end to the raiding and justice for the evil they have wreaked over the years. No, justice and revenge are not the same.” I stared around the room as I spoke. Some seemed to understand; others didn’t or didn’t want to. “I would suggest we let the Lynx go in first and the rest of the Hunters follow in timed intervals. The Riss on the Lynx will compute skips for each Hunter as they arrive. The skips will allow each Hunter to get close enough to deliver a potentially disabling launch against one target and provide a diversion for the fleet.”
“Can’t be done. Our computers are incapable of doing anything close to that in less than several minutes. Even if you are right and the raiders are waiting, will they will be alert?” a tall, dark-haired Captain said. He stood, glaring at me. Many around the table nodded agreement.
I shuddered at the thought.
Thalia and Zann’s Riss, Danu, exchanged SV of our fight in Lords Landing and Yamhill. Zann held up her hand to stop the conversations that had sprung up around the table.
“It’s possible if difficult and dangerous. I’ve seen it done twice. Thalia and Danu exchanged vids of the two times the procedure was used. Captain Sakaata can attest to one of them. I’ll open it up for discussion,” Zann said.
The discussion went on for hours. I explained the two fights with the raiders and the Riss’ part in each. Sakaata was part of the discussion on the action at Elbe. We discussed other possible approaches in the event I was right. As the discussion went on, a small group continued to insist my proposal was impossible. Finally, Zann scheduled a small test. She selected the ship of Captain Waatsine, who continued to insist the Riss weren’t capable of what they claimed.
* * * *
For the test, Waatsine’s cruiser, the Shikra, would skip to some undefined location. The Riss would compute an appropriate skip for the Lynx within the thirty seconds I claimed it could be done and afterward skip to within ten thousand meters of Shikra.
The entire fleet was watching as the Shikra accelerated away. Five minutes later, the Shikra skipped for five seconds. The clock started the second his ship emerged from the skip. R-Asdis had his position within seconds, which was relayed SV to r-Arthemis who computed and transmitted the vector and skip duration SV to r-Liama twenty-three seconds later. The Lynx executed the skip to within five thousand meters of the Shikra.
An hour later, Waatsine and I were linked into a vid conference with the others who had remained on the Command ship with Zann. He was still skeptical or just plain reluctant to concede the issue.
“That was impressive, Captain Reese. The Riss are impressive. I can understand why any opponent would be at a serious disadvantage against the Riss. Of course, the ship’s engines limit the number and length of skips you can make. And how does this help us? We have no Riss on board.” The room looked to be filled with mixed emotions.
“I suggest we try the same exercise; however, this time the Lynx will pass the information to the Snowcat, which will then make the skip,” Zann said. Everyone liked the idea, and an hour later the three ships were in position: Waatsine in the Shikra, Sakaata in the Snowcat, and me in the Lynx. Although the skip proved as accurate as before and the parameters were ready in time, the human interface on the Snowcat slowed the skip by an additional thirty-five seconds.
This time everyone seemed interested and involved in the critique. The main problem stemmed from their ability to execute the skip quickly enough after they had been given the vector and skip duration. Too much time would mean the raiders might well be able to get in an effective first launch before they could skip. And all their missiles would be targeted against one or more Hunters.