Forge of War (Jack of Harts)

by Pryde, Medron

  He froze, holding her in mid-air, and kissed her again. He felt her heart skip a beat, felt the breath leave her lungs, and felt sparks shoot through both of them. She gasped and really looked at him for the first time, struggling to catch her breath. He smiled, kissed her a third time, and stepped back, pulling her onto her feet with gentle hands.

  She stood there for a moment, on shaky legs, and studied him. He smiled back with a confident, but not overconfident, posture and pulled his hands a few millimeters away from her body. The next move was up to her and he would give her whatever space she needed. She could step away or she could…

  She gave him a sly smile and leaned into him, laying her head against the breast of his Dress Whites.

  “Well, happy New Year indeed,” she whispered into his neck with a light Scottish accent and warm lips.

  A keen awareness of every centimeter of her body filled Jack and he smiled. “You know, I thought about saying something like that, but then I worried that you might take it the wrong way so I kept my mouth shut.”

  She patted his arm. “Smart boy.”

  Jack chuckled. “That’s what my momma always called me. I was her smartest little boy she always said.”

  “I thought I detected an only child,” she said in a needling tone.

  “Oooh,” Jack returned, impressed with her quick wit. “Good one.”

  “Thank you.”

  “My pleasure,” he whispered and wrapped his arms around her. He chewed his lower lip as she relaxed into him. “There aren’t any boyfriends involved here, are there?”

  “Are you worried?” she asked in amused tone.

  “I’m allergic to boyfriends,” Jack whispered. “They get all angry and clingy and bring out shotguns and stuff when you kiss their girl. Kinda like fathers only a bit more unpredictable.”

  She laughed in his arms. “No boyfriend anymore,” she finally whispered.

  “So, does he know he’s not a boyfriend anymore?” Jack asked, just to make certain the coast was clear.

  She laughed harder and patted his arm. “We broke up a week ago,” she finally explained.

  Jack pursed his lips and raised an eyebrow at her. “So I was a rebound kiss?”

  Her cheeks flushed again and she nodded.

  He aimed his best charming smile at her. “Wanna rebound again?”

  Her eyes sparkled with amusement and she reached up, grabbed his head, and pulled him down so she could kiss him again. This time she truly did kiss him, and this time he felt his heart race as eternity passed them by.

  When they came back up for air, Jack opened his eyes to see Betty and Jasmine standing next to them, still wearing their Dress Whites. “Hello, Jack,” they said in perfectly harmonized tones.

  Jack thought he heard the girl squeak and most certainly felt a shiver run down his spine. “You know that can be a bit creepy, right?” he asked.

  They rolled their eyes in perfect synchronation before Betty stepped forward. “Jack, we need to go right now,” she said, alone.

  Jack coughed and held the young lady a little tighter, his expression turning bullish. “Like Hell.”

  Betty gave him a sad look. “The Shang are here. All leaves are canceled.”

  “Frak it,” he swore and shook his head. He looked down at the young woman in his arms. “Sorry, girl, but I really do gotta go.”

  “Wait,” she said and kissed him again, hugging him so closely that every curve of her body electrified him from head to toe. Every hair on his body stood on end, and he felt his toes climbing up into somewhere that couldn’t have been much short of the stratosphere.

  “Jack,” Betty said in an insistent tone that broke through the spell. “The shuttle’s coming.”

  Jack pulled away, licked his lips, and let out a very long breath. She was a damn good kisser. Maybe even as good as he was.

  The young woman examined him for a moment, seeming to measure him for something. He forced a confident smile to his lips and spread his hands out in a “this is it” gesture. She nodded, pulled a scarf from around her shoulders, and hung it around his neck. She ran her electric hands down the scarf until it ended somewhere near his belt. “For luck. Bring it back tonight,” she ordered and sparked a finger across his nose.

  “Yes, Ma’am,” Jack answered with gusto.

  She smiled, turned her measuring look towards Betty and Jasmine for a moment, and then turned away with a “Later, Jack,” disappearing into the shadowy crowd as quickly as she’d appeared.

  “Wow,” Jack whispered, still rooted to the spot by that last kiss. “Did you get the name and number of that bus?”

  “Yes, I did,” Betty answered with an amused chuckle.

  “Thank God.”

  “Now let’s go,” Betty ordered, grabbed him by the arm, and pulled him hard. He had no choice but to follow her. The dance club’s hardlight projectors gave her a form as solid as any avatar he’d ever run into, and she cut through the crowd like a shark through a school of fish. The only difference was that she didn’t leave any blood or guts behind her, which he supposed was a good thing. It wasn’t nearly as much fun to watch of course, but it was a good thing.

  They stepped out of the club, Jasmine bringing up the rear, and Jack’s arm slipped through Betty’s hand. She stopped cold for a moment, looked at her hand, and then met Jack’s eyes with an expression of profound loss. He opened his mouth to say he was sorry but she shook her head. “Not now,” she said and turned to walk out onto the street. The shuttle came down to land in front of her, the ramp lowered, and Jack followed her onto it, Jasmine behind him. As soon as they stepped inside, the ramp pulled up behind them and the shuttle shot away again.

  Jack turned to see he wasn’t the first Cowboy picked up today. “Hey, Buckaroo,” he said with a smile and an outstretched hand.

  “Hey, Jester,” Ken responded and clasped the hand for a moment.

  “You ready?” Jack asked and took the nearest seat.

  “I was born ready,” Ken answered with a grim smile of his own. The Free Japanese had settled in California after the fall of Japan. The fall of Yosemite all over his home gave him a lot of reasons to be ready.

  The shuttle slowed to a stop, the ramp dropped, and Jessie walked up the ramp.

  “Dutchman,” Jack said.

  “Jester,” Jessie answered and the ramp lifted back up to seal them in again. Jessie’s eyes took in the scarf hanging down nearly to his waist. “New fashion statement?”

  Jack shrugged. “A good luck charm, from a very concerned young lady.”

  “I see,” Jessie said with a chuckle and sat down next to Jack. Jack saw a small handkerchief sticking out of his pocket that was most definitely not uniform standard. It was pink and frilly and Jack could have sworn he smelled perfume wafting from it.

  “I see you found one too,” Jack said with a smile.

  Jessie shifted his hand to cover the pocket and sighed. “She was very concerned,” he finally said with a wink.

  The cabin darkened and Jack saw space through the viewports. He turned to where Betty, Jasmine, and the other cybers sat, a confused look on his face. “Where are the other Cowboys?”

  “On the other shuttles,” Betty answered. “They’re in a hurry.”

  “Right,” Jack whispered as the shuttle shot into one of the Guardian Light’s launch tubes and came to a halt in the bay itself, next to an Avenger’s landing gear.

  The hatch opened into Cowboy Country’s launch bay and the pilots ran out. Jack stopped and looked up at the Avenger, then to the small shuttle next to it, and shook his head. He’d forgotten just how huge the Avenger was. It made a shuttle designed to carry ten men look small. Jack let out a long breath and turned to run towards his fighter.

  He saw the ladder to the gantry that ran down to where the Avenger’s cockpit waited for him, but smiled and jumped as hard as he could. He could actually jump very far, though no where near far enough, or high enough to reach the cockpit. But that wasn’t really h
is plan.

  “I’ve got you,” Betty’s voice whispered in his ear as he felt gravity shift around him and pull him up towards the gantry.

  “That’s my girl,” he returned and landed on the gantry as light as a dancer. A quick step forward dropped him into the cockpit with a smile. “Always thinking ahead.” Jack sat down and reached for the five point restraints.

  “Always,” Betty said with an amused smile as he began locking the restraints in. Then she sat down on the console, her Dress Whites flickering away to be replaced by her comfortable yellow sundress.

  “Better?” Jack asked and rubbed a hand down the dark scarf with a smile.

  “Much better,” Betty whispered and examined the scarf. “She seems like a nice girl.”

  Jack sighed. “Yeah. She does,” he said and felt her lips on his again.

  “Cowboy One, to all Cowboys,” Charles transmitted and Jack blinked back to the present. “Report your status.”

  Jack’s eyes flicked over to the displays that showed the British fleet, a quarter of it shattered and floating away from the Shang fleet that numbered over a hundred warships. Only a massive Dreadnought and her escorting battleships held the British fleet together, and even as he watched another battleship exploded under the Shang assault. He looked up at Betty and she nodded.

  “Cowboy Five is ready,” Jack said in a grim tone. He took several deep breaths, bringing himself totally into the present. He couldn’t afford to be lost in the past right now.

  “Launch,” Charles ordered.

  Jack held on to the throttle and stick as the world blurred around him. The lights inside the launch tube became long streaks and then disappeared altogether, replaced by a black space filled with stars. He turned to the side to see New Earth below them. He turned the other way to see the Guardian Light turning away from the planet.

  Jack pulled in a deep breath. “Buckaroo and Dutchman, form on me,” he ordered and pulled the Avenger around to follow the Guardian Light.

  “On it, boss,” Ken answered and Jack saw his fighter slip into formation.

  “I’m with you,” Jessie transmitted and pulled up to match course as well, bringing Jack’s flight up to three fighters.

  He glanced to either side to see the other Cowboy flights moving into formation and syncing into the Guardian Light’s defense grid. More fighters flew in from their flank and locked into formation with the Cowboys. Jasmine, back to her blue jeans and white tank top, faded into existence on his console and smiled. “Hello, Jack.”

  Her fighter waggled her wings at him and Jack chuckled. The Peloran had only had time to build a small number of drones so far. Their fabricators were stretched to the limit already, and still hadn’t repaired all the warships. Still, they’d managed to build a few hundred drone fighters, including some of the drones that looked utterly identical to an Avenger.

  “Hello, Jasmine,” he answered with a smile. Her drone wasn’t really a new build. She was the remains of Jasmine’s old fighter, rebuilt and upgraded to the newest capabilities the Peloran scientists had seen fit to give them all. And now she flew on his wing. “Ready to kill some Shang?” Jack asked. He guessed that made her his cyber too, from a certain point of view. He idly wondered what that meant for the future.

  “Always,” she returned with a grim look.

  Jack found his hand absent-mindedly running along the scarf and frowned. He pulled it away and focused on Jasmine. “You be careful,” he ordered.

  She gave him a big smile. “Back atcha.” She was back in her element.

  “Cowboy One to all Cowboys,” Charles transmitted. “We are approaching engagement zone. Be prepared to enter combat.”

  “Roger that,” Jack answered and focused on the Peloran Battle Squadron. The Guardian Light charged out of New Earth’s gravity well, a single cruiser, two destroyers, and several hundred fighters and drones escorting her. Off to the sides, he saw the French and German squadrons flanking them as well. A final flight of shuttles arrived from the planet, containing the last of the pilots returning from leave, and more fighters continued to spill out of every ship of the three squadrons.

  “Aneerin has built himself an interesting little fleet,” Jack whispered, a frown on his face as he considered those consequences as well.

  “Yes, he has,” Betty answered.

  “I wonder what he intends to do with us all?”

  Betty cocked her head to the side and crossed her legs. “Well, I’d think he intends to use us to defeat the Shang.”

  Jack smiled. “Yeah, I know. But what about after that?”

  Betty cocked her head to the side and aimed a proud smile at him. “Well, I think he would say that is a good question to ask,” Betty whispered. Then she frowned and kicked her feet together. “Do you trust him?”

  Jack sucked in a long breath, let it out, and shrugged. “I suppose I do.”

  The screens came alive with a broadcast from the Shang fleet and the upper body of a Shang appeared. His dark hair and slanted eyes would look at home on any street in China, and Jack thought he recognized the man. He was the commander who told the Peloran to leave or else if he remembered correctly.

  “Your name will always be famous, Aneerin ap Taliesin,” the Shang said in his own language with a bow of his head. A translation of the words appeared on the screen beneath his head. “It is an honor to meet you one last time.”

  “The honor is all mine,” Aneerin answered in the Shang language with a calm voice. “I had hoped we would not meet again.”

  “As did I,” the Shang commander said. “We gave you the chance to leave. Instead you attacked and killed our allies. Leave now, and we will forgive your affront.”

  Aneerin shook his head. “I am very much afraid that you will have to go through us to reach New Earth.”

  The Shang laughed. “You only have four ships left. You have no chance of stopping us.”

  Aneerin returned a calm smile. “I count more than four ships here.”

  It was the Shang’s time to shake his head. “They do not matter and you know it.”

  Aneerin sighed and seemed to lean back, though it was hard to tell. “And that is where you are wrong. They do matter, especially to themselves, and they have a history of destroying those who do not care. I predict that your people will find this out to your sorrow.”

  The Shang’s eyes narrowed. “They have a history of destroying everything they touch. We will stop them, whatever the cost.”

  Aneerin smiled and spread his hands out wide. “And that is why I predict your sorrow. If you leave now, if you leave forever, we will not pursue you. If you remain, you will die today.”

  The Shang’s eyes flashed in anger. “No. Today you will die.”

  The comm. signal cut out and the Shang fleet disappeared behind a wall of missiles. The concentrated salvo flew past the battered British fleet and bore down on the Peloran force at maximum acceleration. Jack flexed his hands on the controls and swallowed, but the Guardian Light did not change course. Eleven cruisers, eighteen destroyers, and over two thousand fighters charged the missiles and as Jack glanced at the displays he saw the point defenses reporting full sync with the fleet.

  The wave of missiles stormed in, and what must have been tens of thousands of point defense lasers came to life. They weren’t visible to the naked eye, even Jack’s, but their effects were. The missiles turned into a rolling wall of fire and debris well short of the fleet. Space cleared between the fleets and the Peloran charged on, engines flaring.

  “Actually,” Aneerin transmitted with a smile. “Today is not a good day to die. For me. It has been an honor to face you,” he finished with a wave of his hand and his communication cut out.

  Every missile tube in the Peloran task force and the British fleet opened fire on the Shang. The Peloran Battle Squadron, with a certain Jack in formation, accelerated away from the French and German squadrons, and Jack flexed his fingers again, swallowing his nerves down. They shot through the remains of t
he British fleet, and the still fighting Dreadnought and the last of her battleship escorts flashed by almost faster than Jack could register. The missile salvo erupted on the Shang point defense, filling space with fire, and they flew through it into the heart of the Shang fleet, gravitic cannons reaching out to tear the Shang apart. A boiling wave of Shang missiles swept back towards them and Jack held on tight to the stick and throttle.

  “Oh, Lord, for what we are about to receive, may we be eternally grateful,” Jack whispered.

  Jack saw the turrets on either side of his cockpit come to life, spinning to fire at the incoming missiles in support of the entire squadron’s defense grid, and a wall of exploding missiles rolled towards them. The Peloran deflection grids bent and flickered in and out, as missiles got through, but just barely held. Jack held his breath and flicked the stick and throttle whenever he felt the need. He rolled to the side and a missile coming from above missed them by meters. He pulled up and another missed them by less. He spun them to starboard and one of the four laser turrets shattered another missile. And with that, the Peloran warships, the other Cowboys, and an Avenger-class starfighter piloted by Jack and Betty penetrated the Shang formation.

  It was a crazy quilt of chaos, missiles flying back and forth, exploding in deep space or next to a ship. Gravitic cannons ripped ship after ship apart, and kinetic lances flickered between the Peloran and the Shang so fast Jack’s eyes could barely track them. Betty kept their own grav cannons and lasers firing as fast as they could cycle, at targets Jack barely saw before they were gone. And that was just the weapons fire between the Shang and the Peloran. Once the British, French, and Germans opened fire and grav beams and lasers linked them from outside, it added a whole new level of chaos to the situation. Missiles ripped through the point defense networks aimed towards the Peloran like Swiss cheese and a half-dozen Shang warships exploded in an instant. The pieces of flying ships erupting through the fleet tipped the balance of the battle from chaos to complete and utter insanity.