A frown broke through his smile. Ten fighters had gone out, but only six returned. Hundreds of Imperials had been killed too, but the Imperial Navy had the resources of the whole system to feast upon. The Alliance ran on a shoestring, and a pretty thin one at that.
Geller was already out of his fighter and was being carried on the shoulders of the crowds surrounding the returning warriors. Envy flashed through Geun. He shook his head. Geller had earned this.
“Hey!” Geun looked down the ladder to find Tammy waiting for him. Her helmet was off and her green eyes glittered with happiness. They looked clear and focused, not twitching or tracking anything that wasn’t there.“Come on down and join the party. It was you and Chuck who waxed the Achilles.” She shrugged. “And without you and Chuck, the Sarpedon might’ve escaped.”
Chuck. That was Raptor Five’s name. He should probably get to know him better. “Sure.” He started clambering down the red ladder someone had pushed up against his fighter when all the cheering stopped.
“Attention on deck!” someone shouted. Movement to Geun’s left drew his gaze. Admiral Banerjee strode onto the hangar deck, an admiral’s usual dogsbodies trailing behind him. All across the hangar deck men and women stood at attention. Geun scrambled down the ladder and did likewise.
The admiral continued his approach. Geun could feel the weight of the Alliance commander’s dark eyes as they briefly lit on him. “At ease.” The hundreds present relaxed. The admiral turned his full attention to the surviving Dragon and Raptor fighters and their crews. “Captain Geller, Lieutenant Geun.”
Geun’s heart skipped a beat. He was being recognized? By the admiral? Buddha! He took one step, then stopped abruptly.
Tammy’s fingers touched his left shoulder. “Go on. You’ve earned this.” Geun swallowed and took another step forward until he and Geller stood side by side before Banerjee.
The admiral smiled. “I believe congratulations are in order. Taking out two Imperial cruisers is quite a feat. I can’t think of the last time the Empire has been hurt that badly.” He paused. “And that victory deserves recognition.”
Geun barely kept his jaw from dropping as one of the admiral’s minion’s brought forward a box of brightly shined wood. A medal? They were getting medals? He was getting a medal?
“The Distinguished Flying Cross dates back to Old Earth,” Banerjee continued. “The Perunese Republic awarded a great many during the Order Wars, as did its successor the Empire now and then.” He paused.“It’s only fitting that we continue the tradition on this step toward the eventual victory.”
The dogsbody handed two medals — silver crosses with one of the Suns Trinity behind the three of the four arms — to the admiral. The admiral stepped forward and attached them to the lapels of Geller’s and Geun’s blue-and-gray flight jackets. “Thank you, sir,” Geller said. Geun said nothing. Beads of sweat already were forming on his brow. A few hours ago, he’d thought of deserting. Now they were giving him a medal?
“Cat got your tongue?” the admiral asked. Geun nodded. Banerjee smiled and stepped back from the others. He rose on tip-toe, looking over the heads of the two squadron leaders to the surviving Raptors and Dragons. “Don’t think I haven’t forgotten you.”
The remaining pilots scrambled forward, coming to attention beside Geller and Geun. Tammy stood next to Geun at perfect attention. She still seemed fit and focused, thank the Buddha. It wouldn’t do for her to have a flashback, not now.
The admiral pinned more Distinguished Flying Crosses on their jackets. Most accepted the medal with the proper deference, but Raptor Five — Chuck, a brown-haired man with one blue and one green eye — couldn’t stop grinning. Banerjee exchanged words briefly with all of them before stepping back to address everybody in the hangar. “And one more thing. Some friends of ours have caused the Imperials a bit of a delay around Aldrin. In fact, the Imperial response has been delayed”— he looked at his watch —“by a few critical hours.” A smile split his dark face. “We’ve dispatched salvage teams.”
The admiral kept talking, but Geun wasn’t quite listening. Salvage teams? Could the Alliance make off with both cruisers? If they could find a friendly harbor, they might be able to repair them, or at least cannibalize the Sarpedon to fix the Achilles. If the Alliance had more than just a few frigates at this point he’d be surprised. Even one functional cruiser could make life a lot more difficult for the Empire.
Geun’s rational mind kicked in. The Sarpedon was probably already a giant smoking crater on the green planet.And the torpedo hits had probably hollowed out the Achilles. There was no way they could get it moving in the hours before the Imperial response came. Heck, the planet’s gravity might well have pulled it in after its sister.
But if the Achilles was still in orbit, even if they couldn’t get it to safety, it’d be chock full of weapons, food, spare parts, and other items the Alliance needed desperately. Depending on the condition it crashed it, the Sarpedon could be looted too.
And if they could leave some lethal surprises for any Imperial salvagers, so much the better.
But his mind kept returning to what he — they — had done that day. Two Imperial cruisers destroyed by ten fighters, most stolen from naval boneyards or even scrapyards. The Empire might not have lost that badly big to pirates, the mafia, or lesser rebellions since the Order Wars.
Maybe they — we — can win this after all.
About the Author
Writing has been Matthew W. Quinn’s passion since he started doodling his own Calvin and Hobbes fan comics and stories about malevolent dinosaurs in diving helmets as a preschooler in the late 1980s. He’s worked in journalism and film and recently embarked on an academic career, all while writing tales of science fiction, fantasy, and horror on the side. He is currently shopping three novels for publication.
Those who would like to keep up with him can do so by visiting his Amazon Author Central page here.
Thank you for reading. All Amazon reviews, positive or negative, are greatly appreciated.
Fallen Empire: Ten Davids, Two Goliaths (Kindle Worlds Novella) Page 4