Frontline sf-4

by Randolph Lalonde

  “He makes you happy,” Jake asked as much as concluded.

  She nodded slightly, listening to his heart beat under her ear. “I don't know how, but for the past few weeks it's been good mostly. Worth hanging onto.”

  “This was a one time thing then.”

  “A one time thing,” she whispered back. “Are you okay?”

  “Surprised, amazed, maybe a little lost but okay? I have no idea,” Jake chuckled.

  For the first time since they boarded the Triton Stephanie was glad to hear something from the new, more expressive Jake. The old one she knew from the Samson would have given her a one syllable response like; 'sure,' or 'yup,' or maybe deflect the question entirely by asking; 'are you?' She couldn't help but chuckle with him. “If it were a one nighter with anyone else and they told me it was all right if I didn't come back I might be insulted,” pressing her lips to his chest and leaving a kiss there felt like just the right thing to do before getting up and retrieving her vacsuit.

  “If-” he started but stopped himself.

  Stephanie looked at him, her vacsuit half pulled up.

  He ran his hands down his face and sat up, reaching for his own clothing.

  “What?” she asked as she pushed one arm into the shoulder of her uniform.

  “Nothing.”

  “No, really. What were you going to say?” Stephanie pressed.

  “Let's keep this simple for now.”

  “But you don't want them simple.”

  “No, I think it's a one time thing, like you said.”

  “But you said if, and that doesn't sound like a one time thing, it sounds like a many time thing, or a big thing.”

  Jake put his hand over his eyes and sighed; “Can we rewind and keep it simple?”

  Stephanie brought the opening together with her fingers just above the waist of her vacsuit and ran them up to her collar in one swift, abrupt motion. The seam came together and disappeared. “Don't worry, things are simple,” she spat as she snatched her long coat from the floor, popped the sealed door open with a clang and a creak then left.

  Captain Ashley Lamport

  There were at least twenty rivers and streams named after the Thames of Earth scattered on planets across the galaxy. The one that ran through Sheffield was much smaller, only fifteen or so meters across where the old stone bridge crossed it. Ashley and Finn stood against the rail at the highest point in its arch. They looked down the stream, at its bricked banks, the cobblestone streets that ran along and deeper into the city to either side.

  The architects had accomplished their goals in that section of the city, the buildings looked like they were stolen straight out of a period film set in Earth's twentieth century. The crumbling bricks on some of the brown and red buildings looked their age, at least three hundred years. The colony wasn't as old as many on the core worlds, but it was one of the oldest terraformed colonies either of them had ever seen.

  The green trees standing straight out of planters on broad street sides were each a statement of success. Sheffield's history was that of survival, struggle as the land around it, even the very air, was slowly made liveable, breathable. Over the two centuries after initial settlement the toxicity of the land was reduced, the atmosphere thickened, and finally farms began to grow edible food that didn't require complex post-processing.

  The museum at the center of town, built to look like an ancient Abbey, detailed the whole struggle. Finn and Ashley had taken a walk through the complex the previous day. He was genuinely interested in how the terraforming engineers, of which there were several generations, had surmounted the various barriers to modifying the conditions of the world while Ashley wandered about, trying not to look bored or tired.

  She spent as much time as she could speaking to Leland March who was working with the Port Authority and Employment offices to finalize the list of recruits they were taking on to the Cold Reaver for transport to the Triton the following day. Ashley didn't think that Finn noticed much as she tried to help using her command and control unit, reviewing files for different departments, putting in specific requests for pilots, system analysts and deck crew or knuckle draggers as Paula and Angelo called them. People who had mechanical knowledge, maybe even just space faring experience but would be used to perform the tasks on the hangar decks that required the fewest qualifications.

  It was the first time she'd been made acting Captain of anything, her second recruitment trip away from the Triton and she was sure Finn would understand her being called away from the exhibits for seconds or minutes at a time intermittently. Besides, she really had little interest in architecture or the science behind terraforming.

  During the Bauz charity concert that night, an event made to raise money for recovery from the Holocaust Virus, it was Finn who could think of plenty of places he'd rather be. The fast paced, hectic music centred around electric guitar and fierce percussion wasn't something he'd choose to listen to, but to see Ashley bouncing with the crowd, singing along with some of their more well known tunes, that was a beautiful sight. He did his best not to bring her down, to look like he was having just as much fun, but at the end of the night, when they shared a kiss that was just a hair above a peck on the cheek and went to separate rooms he couldn't help but feel like there was something sadly lacking from their budding relationship.

  It was their first time away together and though he liked her, enjoyed her enthusiasm and light heart, conversation was hard. She didn't seem to know what to say, and he didn't know how to fix it. He'd talk about engineering marvels, try to bring up other crew members, get her talking about the Triton and what had been going on while he was out of commission but she didn't speak for long or seem comfortable.

  As they stood on the stone bridge, watching the water flow away, down the river and round the bend both of them were quiet. He looked at her and she sent an uneasy smile back. Larry would be on the Cold Reaver just a few streets down and a lift up going through the pre-flight check list with Ashley's copilot. He was guiding the new recruits aboard and getting everyone settled for the eight hour return trip to the Triton and in the next few minutes they'd be called back to the ship.

  “Good concert last night,” Finn said finally.

  Ashley nodded, despite her best efforts she couldn't help but look sullen. The overcast weather matched her mood. “Thank you for going with me. I didn't think anyone else we had along liked them.”

  “I never heard them before, I liked it though. Besides, how could I let you go alone?”

  “Well, you could have,” she tried to tease, but it came out wrong. It came out seriously.

  He put his hand on hers after watching her for a moment. “Everything okay?”

  She sighed and turned to him, her head down. “I don't know, it's just…”

  “I know, we're not getting along.”

  Bouncing on her heels, something she did when she was trying to shake off nervousness, she looked at him. “You're so easy to get along with. There's just something…” Ashley shrugged helplessly.

  “Missing, I know. I'm sorry.”

  “What for? Before any of this I couldn't shut up when you were around, now I can't think of anything to say. I should be sorry.”

  “We were friends,” Finn shrugged. “Can we do that? I mean, just go back a bit and, you know, just not expect anything?”

  Ashley nodded and smiled, relieved. “I'm sorry Finn,” she leaned into him a little and they embraced. It felt so good along with her relief that she gave him an extra squeeze before they let go. “I had fun though.”

  “Even at the museum?” Finn asked with one of his gentle, unsure smiles she liked so much.

  “Well, with anyone else I think I would have bounced out of there in the first couple minutes. Learned a lot about terraforming though.”

  “I had a good leave,” Finn said simply. “Thank you.”

  “We have to do it again,” she smiled at him. “Maybe see if we can get Steph and Price in on it.”<
br />
  “Steph might want Frost along.”

  “Right. I don't want to listen to them argue the whole time.”

  “I know, how long do you think that'll last?”

  “With my luck they'll be married by the time we get back,” she said, rolling her eyes. Ashley's command and control unit signalled there was an incoming communication. She checked it and nodded. “Larry says the preflight is done, but Leland is back in the hold working on getting everyone sorted. He's been at it for three hours, that seems long.”

  Finn nodded. “How many recruits did you manage to get?”

  “A hundred seventeen. I mean, that's good, but the Reaver can take more than two hundred, it's a drop ship. We'd better go see what's going on.”

  “Aye Captain,” Finn saluted.

  “Don't start that,” she giggled back.

  A distant rumbling in the sky drew their attention upwards. Between the five landing platforms, each covered with brick for the first eight storeys but showing their green and black modern metal arms and towers above, they couldn't see anything, but the sound was getting louder.

  “Whatever's up there is coming in way over port speed,” Ashley said as she started walking faster.

  An explosion pierced the sky like a thunderclap and a flaming wreck broke the grey clouds, descending to the east as a bursting fireball. Secondary explosions burst from the large vessel.

  They both started running for the Nursery Street landing tower. The lift was full when they got there, and Finn stopped but Ashley pushed him in while squeezing between people herself. “Platform twelve C.” She told the lift.

  The tall, scowling woman hammering at the Door Close button with her finger exclaimed; “finally!” as the lift shut and started up the tube at great speed.

  Finn and Ashley were thankful they were one of the first stops, everyone was literally crammed into the pod made for twenty, there were at least twenty five people aboard. As they ran down the gangway to the Cold Reaver they could see its large rotatory engines on the bottom and top charging up, all but one hatch on the surface of the ships dull black hull was open.

  The Bridge Street Tower across the river started taking pulse cannon fire. Its upper levels started to come apart as ships tried to evacuate. Platforms and damaged vessels alike plummeted towards the city beneath, crushing buildings and filling the streets with broken hulls and bricks. Panic had taken hold.

  Small oval shaped silver ships darted past the tower, firing at anything in the air and at the Castle Street Tower as they banked. “Eden drones,” Finn shouted over the din as they finally reached the small forward gangway leading into the Cold Reaver.

  “Aw, crap. Take off, Larry!” Ashley called as they got inside and the hatch started closing.

  They only had to rush up one hallway to get to the bridge. The Cold Reaver was already off the ramp and climbing when Ashley dropped into the lead pilot's seat and Finn stopped to stand at the engineering station.

  “There was no warning. They were just there, in orbit,” Larry said as he transferred manual control to Ashley. He started checking their flight path so he could help her navigate through the mess of ships taking off without direction from Port Control. “Oh God, Navnet's worthless.”

  “Got a route for me?” She asked as she brought the throttle up and tried her best to aim for clear sky.

  “Trying, but everything above us is a mess.”

  “Then we go down until you can find something clear,” she said as she flipped the ship, sending it into a hard dive. Everyone aboard felt it as the inertial dampeners didn't quite keep up with the sudden shift.

  “Shields are up, weapons are ready, integrity's good,” Finn reported hurriedly. “we even have full power.”

  The ship sped between two of the highest buildings and accelerated away from the city centre. A sonic boom was heard through the armoured hull as they continued out over the green and brown countryside.

  “We're going to need it. We've been noticed by a couple of those drones, marking targets.” Larry commented as red ovals appeared on the main display in the dimly lit V shaped cockpit. Everyone sat facing the front. The pilot and navigator were at the fore with engineering and tactical to their left and right, communications and operations behind them. There was no Captain's chair, it was a large, heavily armed troop gunship with enough space to serve as a small troop carrier.

  Leland March ran into the cockpit. “We have two gunners, but Yates is missing.”

  “Yates was supposed to be running tactical! Where is he?” Ashley asked without looking away from the controls.

  “He didn't report back, we were waiting for him and a few newbies.”

  “Then sit down and run tactical, we have company. Oh, and next time someone's over an hour late, tell the acting Captain so she can contact the local authorities!”

  “I've never done tactical on the Reaver!”

  Ashley didn't bother replying.

  “This is Finn's first time working Engineering and Operations on this ship, you don't see him bitching, do you?” Larry said as quickly as he could. “The river you're following goes down into a canyon in seven point five,” he directed Ashley as she navigated within two hundred meters of the ground. Her attention was fully focused on piloting, there was no room for error at the speed they were travelling. “You're not going to want to go in there, it gets jinky.”

  “Describe jinky,” Ashley said as she decelerated below three hundred kilometres per hour and tilted the nose of the ship down to match the decline of the rapids below.

  “Narrow, jagged, impossible to fly through at this speed.”

  Leland finally sat down at the tactical station and looked at the control panels. The tactical holographic display appeared above them and he rotated the view so he was looking at what was behind the ship. “We have five ships behind us.”

  Ashley reduced Cold Reaver's speed to two hundred five kilometres per hour as she followed the river within a few meters. The walls of the canyon rose up on either side of them. “Are they following?”

  “Yes, but they'll be above us I think.”

  She jerked at the controls and guided the ship around a hairpin of stone valley walls then through a gentler curve that led them under a bridge. “Tell March how to run tactical please, get more info from him,” she said quietly to Larry as she concentrated on piloting.

  “Okay, are they above and behind? Right above?” Larry asked Leland hurriedly. He turned his attention back to Ashley so he could continue giving her navigational information, warnings about what obstacles and features she would have to fly through but couldn't see yet. “We have a Forty seven degree left turn six hundred twenty meters ahead. Then we have a twelve degree incline over the next one point four K.”

  “Uh, they're above and behind. We don't have a clear shot with any weapons,” Leland replied.

  “We will,” Ashley said impatiently. “Tell the gunners to be ready.”

  “Four degree decline, narrowing to three hundred meters after this turn, fork coming up in five point six K after that, take the right side.”

  Ashley fired the decelerators hard as she took the next turn, slowing down to just under a hundred fifty kilometres per hour, Finn tried to focus the shields to reduce the amount of space they affected around the ship but as the valley narrowed he didn't get the profile small enough and the port side caught a rocky outcropping, ripping the stone and earth free from the wall as they passed.

  “Any damage?” Ashley asked.

  “No breaches, shields are down to ninety two percent. We're okay,” Finn replied.

  “How's my sky?”

  “We're clear of port traffic. Our friends have caught up,” Larry reported.

  Several more impacts on the shields were reported on Finn's station and he looked over to tactical. “They're firing at the canyon walls, trying to bury us!” He pointed at the projectile warnings on Leland March's station hurriedly before turning back to his engineering station.
/>
  Ashley fired the thrusters hard, increasing their speed to a suicidal velocity, nicking the sides of the canyon with the shields, leaving a dusty wake behind. The rough, craggy split ahead loomed larger in the cockpit screen by the millisecond. “I know you're not sure about what you're doing Leland, but could you at least tell me what you're seeing?” she asked irritably as she made constant fine adjustments to their trajectory. At the last instant she pulled up and increased the throttle to full power.

  The inertial dampeners whined louder than the engines as they accelerated away from the ground beneath, towards the grey skies. Everyone was pressed into their seats by the relatively small amount of gravitational forces the compensators couldn't adjust for. Finn managed to hook his safety line to his station just in time to lean against the support in his vacsuit instead of being hurled to the back of the small bridge.

  As the Cold Reaver's turrets came to life Leland tried to get the missile launchers turned around so he could lock onto their pursuers.

  Finn sent more power to the rear shield emitters as they started taking direct fire from the small Eden Fleet drones' powerful pulse cannons. “Shields down to forty three percent. We have ten seconds at best, trying to route more power.”

  “Do your best, how many have our gunners killed?” Ashley asked as they broke through the clouds to blue sky.

  “They've knocked one down, but I can't get the missile launchers turned aft.”

  “They don't turn aft! Just be ready,” Ashley said through clenched teeth. Her speech impediment, the lisp that made lazy mush out of many of her consonants was gone. No one had ever seen her so frustrated.

  “We're good for hyperspace in a few more seconds, just get us there in one piece Ash.” Larry said as he calculated a course as quickly as he could.

  “Get ready to reverse thrust and focus shields front,” she said more quietly.

  Finn knew exactly what she was doing and smiled. Her combat skills had grown well past what he'd expected through the weeks of simulations she'd flown in while the Triton crew trained just downspin of the Ambrosia nebula. “Ready,” was all he had to say.