“This same hour, we hold as our time outside,” Bingaul said. “Outside at the city-surround. We mark this ship from the deck and come here, to mark closer. Elders will not hold we as missing, not until times later.” Bingaul’s nose twitched slowly while Lootan whispered in their ear. Bingaul pointed at the shuttle, saying, “We make enter in this ship?”
Moira had started to explain why that wasn’t a good idea when Bingaul interrupted, “Please! For time short. We mark upon nothing but our city – ever. To mark closely ship from off-world share to we….”
“A memory forever,” Lootan finished.
Moira’s resolve was slowly dissipating. “I know what that’s like,” she sighed. “To be so confined. I used to live in a bubble, too. And I didn’t even know it until they finally let me leave.” She pointed to the open hatch. “Come on in – but don’t touch anything.”
The two Maykure rushed in and excitedly started pelting her with questions. Moira didn’t mean to lie but she couldn’t help exaggerating a bit about how much she knew. It felt so good to be the more experienced one, the one looked up to, for a change. They’d been chatting amicably for about fifteen minutes when Lootan asked, “You make this ship to fly?”
Since Croker had allowed Finnegan to watch him fly the Aurora – a much bigger ship – and it had seemed straight forward, Moira felt it was okay to stretch the truth slightly. “I’ve never flown this shuttle – but I could if I wanted to. It’s pretty simple once you know the basics.”
Bingual leaned forward, studying the cockpit. “Does not mark as simple.”
“Well…you have to know what you’re doing.” Against all of Decker’s warnings, Moira sat in the pilot’s seat, figuring an ultra-quick perch couldn’t really hurt anything. After all, she had no intention of actually trying to fly it. She would merely activate the base-system, lighting up the cockpit, like she’d seen Naiche do, and then shut it all down. However, immediately upon touching the control-panel, a warning light pulsed out red flashes as the deafening sound of a klaxon flooded the shuttle. Finnegan hurriedly tried to reverse her actions but that only activated yet another warning from the control panel.
Bingual and Lootan both had their hands clamped over their ears and Lootan shouted, “Why clamor made? What holds wrong?”
Moira didn’t even bother responding as she frantically worked to fix her mistake.
***
As soon as Kennedy was up and around, Decker apprised him of her wish to visit the Intabet. After one of the sparring sessions they’d initiated to aid in Con’s recovery, she gave him the broad outline of her idea. Con unquestionably approved; he immediately insisted on leading the mission and suggested they set out as soon as they could do so safely. Deck had already informed him about the attack she’d suffered in the float-ways and about the sample of the worm she’d given Aqila and Bly – who were presently at work on the analysis.
Con said, “If I know those two – and I do – they’ll definitely devise a way for us to detect those worms.”
“Once they do that, the mission is a go for us?”
“As far I’m concerned, yes, but you’re forgetting one thing – we’ll need Lindstrom’s approval, too.”
“You think he’ll give it?”
“Only one way to find out.” Kennedy sent a request for a meeting with his CO and Lindstrom quickly granted them a timeslot for the following day at 1130 hours.
Unfortunately, the morning of the meeting they had lingered over their sparring session a little too long and had to rush to clean up and be there on time. When Decker’s hand-held buzzed with an urgent message, she pulled it out, muttering, “Come on, Lindstrom. We’re not even two-minutes late.” After reading the message, she gasped, “Oh, no!”
Con asked, “What?”
“There’s been a security breach of the shuttle. Unauthorized personnel attempting to access the piloting controls.”
“Did you do the check today?”
“I sent Finnegan. She logged a ‘status satisfactory’ almost thirty-minutes ago.” Decker sighed, saying, “Maybe she set it off accidentally somehow. I’ll comm her.” Moira almost immediately answered the hail; Decker could hear, not one but two alarms blaring in the background. “Finnegan! What the hell is going on?”
“I don’t know. I simply sat down and switched on the computer and the shuttle went crazy.”
“Are you in the pilot’s seat?” When she got an affirmative answer, Decker had to take a deep breath to avoid throwing a few choice words at the rattled girl. She wanted to ask why she was sitting in the one place she’d been explicitly warned not to – but first things first. Decker remotely logged into the piloting controls and cleared all of the alarms.
“I’m so sorry,” Moira wailed. “I didn’t mean to—”
The system status was still flashing red so Deck warned, “Get up and out of the pilot’s seat, now, before you reactivate the alarms.” The system immediately turned green, indicating Finnegan had vacated the seat. Naiche snapped, “Why were you sitting there with the system powered up? I warned you several times that it had biometric controls in place – didn’t I?!”
“I don’t know what that means. I wasn’t going to fly it – I merely wanted to show Bingual and Lootan—” Finnegan stopped abruptly and Decker could hear some chirping noises in the background.
“Is there someone there with you? Are you okay? What’s going on?”
“I’m fine. It’s only two Maykure kids I met. They’re really nice. They didn’t mean to cause any trouble, they just asked me—”
“Let’s back up a few steps,” Naiche ordered. “Start with where you met two Maykure.” After a few minutes, Decker was able to piece together Moira’s scrambled, slightly incoherent explanation. “Okay, listen to me very carefully. Get yourself, and your little friends, out of that shuttle immediately. Make sure you activate the system locks and believe me, we’re gonna have a little chat when you get back, about—”
Decker was interrupted by an ear-splitting scream from Finnegan, accompanied by furious barking from Kayatennae. “What’s wrong now?” Moira was sobbing that something had crashed onto the roof, something big. “Okay, okay, calm down. It’s probably a tree or a rock or something. I doubt very much it’s a peerazu. There have been no tremors and no sightings in days. Just hold on and I’ll check it out.” Naiche used the remote access to check the sensor readings; she almost dropped the hand-held at the results.
Kennedy, who’d been silently listening to the entire exchange, must have noticed her reaction. He reached out a steadying hand. “What is it? Is it a peerazu?”
“No,” she breathed. “It’s two of them.” Deck quickly marshalled her wits. She told Moira to stay as calm as possible and hunker down – help was on the way. “Get in the very center of the shuttle and stay low. We’ll be there as fast as we can.”
She and Con raced to Lindstrom’s office – formulating a rescue plan on the way. Kennedy and Decker quickly agreed that it was time to break out one of the Aurora’s small flying crafts.
Lindstrom was easily convinced to approve their plan. Maddox, who’d been summoned along with Croker, was a tougher sell. “There must be another way,” she insisted. “We promised the Maykure we wouldn’t use our small vessels! I gave my word.”
Decker urged, “There are two of their people trapped in that shuttle, too. They’ll understand. It’s the best way to get those peerazu away from that shuttle quickly – while still maintaining a chance of surviving the encounter ourselves. In fact, it’s the only way.”
“How will you even fight them? Our vessels have no weapons.”
“We know,” Kennedy said. “We’ve faced this situation before. Deck will fly it and I’ll hang out the hatch with a rifle.”
Maddox tossed up a hand in surrender. “I suppose I must allow this since you say there is no alternative – but I do so under protest.”
“Duly noted,” Lindstrom said. He nodded at the Tactical leads. “Proceed
with your mission.”
Croker tugged at Con’s sleeve, delaying their exit from the room. “It would be much better if you both could shoot. Would it not?” Before Decker could snap at what an obvious but useless statement that was, he added, “I will fly the ship so you are free to do just that.”
“No, not a good idea,” Decker said. “You don’t have any battle experience.” She and Con took off in a run towards the docking-bay.
“But I wish to help,” Croker insisted, sprinting alongside them. “I won’t let you down again.”
Kennedy stopped long enough to say, “I sincerely believe that. I do. But this isn’t the time. I’m sorry, but three lives are at stake here.”
Croker nodded sadly. “Then go! I wish you all the luck.”
***
Decker settled into the controls of the compact ship, named the Alba. It was much smaller than a shuttle and was obviously meant for no more than four occupants.
Con asked, “You good?”
She scanned the control panel. “Yeah, pretty basic. Piece of cake.” She hit the power drive and they headed out the open bay door. “Let’s see what this baby can do.” They were barely airborne for a few seconds before she was mightily impressed by the Alba. “Whoa – this ship can move. And handles like a dream.” Kennedy didn’t answer as he was situating himself out the top hatch and prepping his rife. Deck cautioned, “You better strap in tight, in case I need to roll or flip.”
“I know – but do me a favor and avoid that as much as possible?”
“You bet!”
When they were in sight of the shuttle it was immediately obvious that the two peerazu were attacking it savagely; a front corner was crumbling away under the onslaught of acidic saliva and their powerful talons. Decker bore down on them at a furious pace while Kennedy peppered their bodies with a steady stream of particle blasts.
Naiche had expected both animals to turn their attack on the Alba, leaving the shuttle behind to chase after the more active prey. To her surprise, the peerazu split up, with one staying behind to continue battering the shuttle. “Son of a bitch,” she whispered, growing ever more concerned about the occupants of the shuttle. “You’d almost think they’re capable of strategy. Well – we’re gonna have to do this the hard way,” Decker announced. She swung around and put the Alba into a deep dive, heading straight for the shuttle at high speed.
“What are you doing?” Con yelled.
“That other one is gonna breach the shuttle any minute. You can strafe ‘em both this way.”
“Are you going to be able to pull up in time?”
Pretty sure, is what Deck thought – “Absolutely!” is what she said.
Naiche did manage to pivot out of the dive, skimming the agile ship over the top of the shuttle. Her ploy worked and both peerazu were now within firing range, though it became immediately obvious that fighting off two peerazu with one particle rifle was a near impossible task. Deck did what she could to help Con – constantly readjusting to keep both animals in roughly the same area but the peerazu proved themselves wily opponents. They kept attacking the Alba from different angles, forcing Con to divide his attention and his blasts. “This isn’t gonna work,” he yelled.
Busy dodging streams of corrosive saliva, Decker answered, “I know. What’s the plan?”
“I need to concentrate on one of them first. I’ll take out the bigger one and you keep dodging the other one as long as possible.”
Naiche knew Con’s plan had possible flaws but she couldn’t think of a better one. “I’m on it.” She zipped the Alba around, evading the smaller peerazu while trying to give Kennedy the opportunity to concentrate on the other.
Striving to keep the two peerazu focused on them, rather than the shuttle, and still stay airborne was a harrowing task. The Alba was alternately jolted by the weighty animals and peppered with droplets of acidic spit she couldn’t completely evade; Decker was keeping them in the fight by the thinnest of margins. It soon became evident that Con couldn’t get a clear shot at his target with her continually whipping the ship about in her attempts to avoid either the peerazu or its saliva. He’d already been forced to switch to Decker’s rifle, since his own had been irreparably damaged by a spray of caustic slaver.
Deck knew she had to try a new tactic and called out, “Hang on tight.” As soon Con had heard her, Deck swung the Alba hard to starboard, crashing into one of the peerazu. She almost lost control of the ship in the maneuver but it worked as she’d intended – momentarily knocking one opponent entirely out of the fight and giving them some breathing room.
Kennedy jumped on his chance – stepping up a blistering attack on the remaining peerazu. “Deck, get us in position – I wanta go right down its throat.” He was obviously taking a cue from Naiche’s successful kill of the last peerazu. Decker accommodated him, swooping down on the animal as he fired at its face. She put her trust in Kennedy, not slowing at all as the Alba headed straight for the deadly animal. On her screen she could see the other peerazu preparing to rejoin the fight.
Kennedy cried, “Bullseye!” firing down the gullet. The peerazu spewed one last shower of liquid fire at them, missing the Alba by inches – then fell back dead. Decker was swinging the ship around to face the remaining peerazu, jubilant at their success when she heard Con gasp, “Oh shit.”
“What? What’s wrong?”
“It got the rifle!”
Decker spared a glance at him – the barrel of the particle rifle was covered with droplets of liquid. She jolted the ship up and away from the remaining peerazu to give Kennedy a chance to examine their remaining weapon. “Can it still fire?”
“No.” Kennedy closed his eyes in frustration as he tossed the useless weapon down.
Without a word, in one fluid motion, Decker closed the ship’s canopy and swiped her hand across the power drive controls. The ship flew away from the shuttle and to her immense relief, the peerazu followed.
“Now what’re we gonna do?” Con muttered.
She didn’t answer at first, frantically formulating a desperate plan. “I’ve got an idea,” she announced as she steered the ship towards the deserted canyons they’d been in days before. Before they left the area entirely, Decker spotted Moira, Kay, and two small Maykure emerge from the shuttle, apparently unscathed.
Kennedy exhaled an audible sigh of satisfaction. “At least they’re safe.” Silently, Naiche agreed, while hoping that they could achieve the same fate.
When they reached the canyons, Decker started blazing circles around the narrow chasms, harrying the peerazu with every turn. More comfortable with the Alba with each maneuver, Deck started pushing the little ship to its limits.
Kennedy asked, “Are you trying to wear it out?”
“I’m trying to piss it off.”
The peerazu roared towards them, talons out; Decker flank flipped into a sharp loop, dodging certain contact by a millisecond.
“You’re doing a great job of infuriating it, all right. Can I ask why?”
“Because,” Deck explained, “peerazu get really sloppy and unfocused when they’re angry. And if my plan is gonna work I need that thing completely out of its mind with rage.” Naiche half-expected Con to demand further explanation but he’d either already read her mind or trusted in her enough to go along with whatever she had planned.
Con proved his usual clairvoyance when it came to her, by observing, “This will probably work – unless we attract a few more on the way up.”
“Yeah, if that happens…then we’re dead meat. But if I time it just right, then maybe they won’t get that chance.” With no other option before her, Deck stuck to the current script.
Her admiration for the swift and agile Alba grew, as she continually buzzed the peerazu before immediately rolling, flipping, or looping away from a direct collision while avoiding streams of saliva. After ten minutes of this deadly ballet, she was starting to ache with the fatigue and stress of the skirmish. Deck wasn’t sure if the peerazu
was distracted enough for her plan to work but she needed to be absolutely on her game to see it through, so the time was now.
On her next loop around the canyon, she swung abruptly skyward, with the peerazu following close behind. She needed to evade the animal and its saliva while keeping it close enough to ensure that its full attention was fixed on the Alba. She also wanted this trip to be quick enough to avoid drawing the attention of additional peerazu. With no margin for error, she carefully tracked ever skyward, constantly monitoring the peerazu to ensure it stayed exactly where she wanted it.
It was impossible to completely avoid occasional hits of saliva. After each one, she held her breath, checking the ship’s data read-outs, praying the hull integrity stayed in the green. With each second nearer to the vacuum of space, Deck kept expecting the animal to fall back – but when the Alba broke through the atmosphere, the peerazu followed. For one brief moment, it seemed as if its great fury would grant it power over nature herself – but finally the peerazu collapsed under the strain and plummeted towards Tolu’s surface.
Naiche and Con shared a brief look of jubilation before she programed in a route back to the Aurora, involving the shortest amount of time in Tolu’s atmosphere. Neither Deck nor Kennedy actually relaxed fully, until they landed safely in the ship’s docking-bay.
Chapter 12
God Hath Not Given
“For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.”
2 Timothy 1:7
When Kennedy and Decker climbed out of the Alba, it was to a truly mixed set of greetings. Aqila, Maddox, and Kay welcomed them back with affectionate joy. Moira threw herself into Decker’s arms sobbing out profuse apologies. Con had to turn away to hide a grin at the sight of Deck uncomfortably patting the girl’s shaking shoulders while still attempting to extricate herself from the embrace.
The Risks of Dead Reckoning Page 13