... and they are us

by Patrick McClafferty

  Glowing wreckage of the unmanned orbital defense installations lit the close space like dozens of fitful fireflies. “Put their tactical channel on the speaker.”

  There was a sputter and a crackle. “…know who the hell it is? What do you mean, shoot back?? With what? They just swatted everything we had right out of the sky! If we had the fleet here we might be able to do something, but… No I will not crash my ships into them for you, but I’ll tell you what I will do. I’ll let YOU take one of our ships, and YOU can crash it into that monster. I’ll bet it wouldn’t even chip the paint.”

  Zed chuckled. “Captain Bentax, I believe it’s your turn.” He leaned back in his chair to enjoy the show.

  Jer Bentax should have been an orator. Standing rigidly before the camera, resplendent in his Dramul Admiral’s uniform, he explained in graphic detail the destruction of the Dramul fleet. Then, slowly removing and setting aside the Dramul jacket, he donned the midnight blue jacket of the Terran Space Fleet. Finally, and again in graphic detail, he explained just why he had switched sides. Zed listened carefully; from the Dramul homeworld there came exactly—nothing.

  “Captain, a small warship is launching from the nearest moon.”

  Katherine frowned at the speck. “Are they a danger to us?”

  A strange sound came over the bridge speakers, and Zed finally identified it as Lola’s laughter. “That particle weapon they are charging is so small it wouldn’t scratch the paint, without our shields. They are firing, Captain.” A pale beam flickered from the small ship, and then died. “Their weapon has failed, Captain. It looks as though they are powering up their drives to ram us… wait… Their drives systems are failing also. That ship really is a piece of junk. They now appear to be firing docking thrusters, again, to ram us I believe.”

  “What shall I do?” Kat asked quietly, turning to look over her shoulder at Zed.

  “Captain Bentax.” Zed said calmly. “Do we have an officer aboard who might be familiar with that vessel?”

  Bentax chuckled. “An officer, no, but we have a sergeant. A Sergeant Sirak I believe.”

  “Lola, please page Sergeant Sirak and have him report to the bridge, immediately.”

  “Yes, Fleet Captain.”

  In an amazingly short time the bridge door slid open and a stocky, barrel chested man dressed in Terran blue stepped into the bridge, saluting crisply. “Sergeant Sirak reporting as…” His dark brown eyes swung across the vast bridge, widening. “Holy mother of god.” A flush tinged his dark cheeks, and crept up into his short curly black hair, and he snapped back to attention. “Sorry. My attention wavered.”

  “That’s quite understandable, Sergeant.” Zed was grinning. “Do you happen to be familiar with that ship?” He asked, pointing at the screen.

  Sirak frowned. “She’s the Cutter Dalliance, sir, but what’s she doing?”

  “Her weapons and drive have failed. She appears to be trying to ram us using her docking thrusters.”

  Sirak’s fists clenched at his side. “Give me a suit sir, and I’ll go out there and beat some sense into those idiots.”

  Zed turned to Kat. “I like this guy.”

  “You would.”

  “Lola, is there any way we could bring this cutter into the main hangar bay, with all the people still there?”

  “Yes Zed.” Lola murmured. Out of the corner of his eye, Zed saw Sirak start, looking about wildly. “It will be no problem.”

  Yates chewed his lip, thinking. “It appears that Bentaxes speech did little good. Let’s try this: send a live video feed from the hangar down to the surface of Dramul. Let everyone on the planet see it.” He turned. “Now, Sergeant Sirak, why don’t you go down to the hangar bay and welcome our wayward warriors.”

  “I can do that.” Sirak’s grin was evil. “Can I get a big hammer?”

  “How big, sergeant?” Lola’s soft words made him jump again.

  “About three kilos should be good, ma’am.”

  “It will be delivered to you in the hangar.”

  “Thank you, ma’am.”

  “You’re dismissed to go about your business, Sergeant Sirak.” Zed, and the rest of the bridge crew were smiling.

  “Sir!” The sergeant spun on his heel and left.

  “What was Sergeant Sirak’s job with you, Captain Bentax?” Zed was still staring at the closed bridge door.

  Bentax chuckled. “He was the head of Engineering, until he got busted for punching out his Officer-In-Charge. It had something to do with an order to perform unsafe maintenance. Personally, I think Sarak likes being a Sergeant. He’s a good man.”

  “Great! I’ve been looking for a good man to run Engineering. I think I just found him.”

  “The head of Engineering is an officer.” Bentax said stubbornly. Zed glanced at Kat, and she gave him a brief nod.

  “If we say that Sergeant Sirak will run Engineering, then Sergeant Sirak WILL run engineering. We may call him Sergeant, but his authority will equal a Commander.” The screen flickered, cutting off any further comments.

  With the lounging ex-members of the Dramul fleet clearly visible, some dressed in Dramul fleet black, but most in Terran blue, the small slightly rusted cutter drifted through what looked like a solid outboard wall, and into the vast hangar. Mismatched panels could be seen on her hull, and as the small craft settled slowly to the deck the left landing strut collapsed with a shriek of bending metal. The port side airlock was now almost deck level, and Sirak wasted no time. Hefting the sledge like it was a tack hammer, he beat on the hull, sending rusty flakes to the pristine deck below.

  “Get your asses out here!!” He bellowed in a great voice, loud enough to be heard unamplified, on the planet below. He swung another crashing blow, denting the side of the small ship. A hull panel fell off somewhere, hitting the deck with a sharp clang. He was raising the hammer again when the airlock groaned open. The figures in EVA suits that had once been white but were now a dirty gray looked at the grinning faces of the former fleet crewmen, and the scowling face of Sergeant Sirak, who stood ominously slapping the head of the sledge into his other open hand. His foot was tapping impatiently. The first removed his helmet, to reveal a young man with brown hair and blue eyes. The other two warriors from the cutter quickly followed suit.

  “Sergeant Sirak? Is that…” He got no further.

  “Of all the stupid, idiotic and absolutely dumb things I’ve ever seen, this has to show the least intelligence. What the Howling Hells of Gamar did you think you were doing?”

  “We were attacking, Sergeant Sirak.” This came from a small black haired woman with hazel eyes.

  “Attacking!!!” Sirak’s face was turning red. “Does an ant attack the foot that is about to step on him? Hell no! He runs or he dies. Period. I thought you had more sense Eva.” The porcelain skinned girl in the EVA suit flushed, looking at the deck.

  Sirak looked moderately disgusted. “Get out of those stinking EVA suits and change into something clean.” The three hesitated. “NOW!!” Sirak snarled. They started stripping. “Throw the old suits in the open airlock.” The three goosebumped young warriors, standing in their undies threw the suits back into the open airlock. “Good. Now move back a couple of meters.” Zed could see the Sergeant swallow. “Lola, would you please get rid of this garbage?”

  “As you wish, Sergeant Sirak.” Lola’s words were even sweeter than usual, and Zed saw the grim Sergeant swallow again. The small cutter lifted off the deck and drifted through the far wall of the hangar. Then it was gone.

  “What’s with the uniform, Sergeant Sirak?” This came from the third member of the cutter crew, a tall thin girl with spiky auburn hair and sea green eyes. A constellation of freckles dotted her nose and cheeks.

  “I switched to the winning side.” There was a gasp from the three.

  “Did they force you? Torture you or anything?”

  Sirak chuckled. “Yeah, they beat our butts in a fair fight, that we started, and then saved our asses, billet
ed us, fed us good food and offered us all good jobs at good pay. We all took up their offer.”

  “Are they going to conquer Dramul?” Eva sounded like a scared little girl, trying to be brave.

  Sirak set the sledge down, and watched as it sparkled into nonexistence. “Why? What can Dramul offer them? Overpopulation? Crime? Drugs? An administrative nightmare. Like their Fleet Captain told us, they have bigger fish to fry.” He looked at the three shivering bodies and pointed. “Showers are over there. Get cleaned up and warm. There will be clothes waiting and then you can get something to eat.” He chuckled softly. “We can use pilots, even if they are stupid.” The camera faded to black as it followed Eva’s shapely derriere out of the room.

  Kat gave Zed a dirty look over her shoulder. “Did you do that?”

  He smiled back. “It’s a good idea, but I didn’t think of it. Look to Lola.”

  “Sex sells, Katherine.” Lola said mildly. “We are trying to sell ourselves. A pretty half-clothed young woman will gain most males’ attention, and a lot of females too. It gained yours.” Kat growled, but Lola ignored her. “Fleet Captain, my sensors have picked up two readings that might be significant. The first is the imminent arrival of the colony ship Mistral. Capable of handling several thousand colonists, she is more than adequate to serve as a troop transport for Cybele. The second reading is from a supra-light message capsule launched from the surface of Dramul. The direction indicates that it is heading for Chamdar.”

  “Damn. That means the Chamdar fleet will be sitting out in space somewhere waiting for us to leave before they pounce on Dramul.”

  “Unless we pounce first.” He almost missed Dimitri’s low rumbling voice.

  “Tell me what you’re thinking, Dimitri.” Leaning forward in his seat, he stared intently at the big Security Officer.

  “Offload all the crew for Cybele as fast as we can, and beat feet to Chamdar. They will never ever suspect two lone ships to show up on the heels of their message pod to challenge their fleet.”

  Zed’s head was beginning to ache. “I really wish we had a few more trained pilots. I suppose that I could take…”

  “No!!” Came from both Kat and Lola. “Kat will take a stealthed fighter to Chamdar, to keep an eye on their fleet until we get there.” A sparkling blue figure was standing in front of him, arms crossed under her breasts, blue fire in her eyes. “You are needed here, Fleet Captain Yates.”

  “Only if she takes…” Zed thought for a moment, and smiled. “Only if she takes Larisa Borisyuk with her. Otherwise, nobody goes and we take our chances with the Chamdar fleet.”

  “All right.” Lola agreed, reluctantly. “You and I can handle this beast anyway, we’ve done it before.”

  “Put me through to Bentax.”

  “Done.”

  “Jer, what sort of experience does Sergeant Sirak have?”

  Bentax frowned. “He transferred to us from the Marines where he used to be a drop ship pilot, along with a weapons system operator in one of their landing tanks, why?”

  Zed was grinning. “Lola, please send for Sergeant Sirak again.”

  He could have sworn he heard her sigh. “Yes Fleet Captain.”

  The Colony Ship Mistral was a three hundred meter silver cigar. Large observation ports ran the length of the unbroken hull, and were located in common areas to relieve the monotony of the voyage for the colonists, or the troops in this case. The Mistral sat suspended below the main hangar, a large retractable entry port piercing the outer hull of the Rose. On the inside of the hangar a table had been set up by the entry port, and a solitary officer checked off names of the long line of crew filing by him and into the ship.

  The main hangar was much quieter, except for a pocket of people gathered around one of the black delta winged ships.

  Zed looked concerned. “Are you sure you’ll be all right?”

  Katherine was beginning to look angry. “This ship is designed for a flight crew of six, Zed. Lola removed four seats and installed two small berths. There’s even a small but functional shower in the aft head. The ship is fully armed and stealth systems are fully operational.”

  He gave her a sour look. “You sound like Lola.”

  “That’s who I got it from. We’re fine.” Then, in a surprising move, she stepped forward and kissed Zed. Not the kiss of a maiden aunt, or a timid niece. Katherine’s kiss on his lips was warm and full of promise. She tasted like strawberries. “I love you too.” She whispered as she pulled away.

  Zed gasped and turned red while Larisa Borisyuk looked on, grinning. “You two take care.” He turned away before Larisa could make snide remark. The fighter slid soundlessly out of the hangar as Zed made his way back to the bridge.

  “The Colony Ship Mistral has almost completed boarding, Fleet Captain.”

  “Thanks’ Lola.” Zed leaned back in the captain’s chair. “Let me know when…”

  “Captain Bentax is calling for you, and he says it’s urgent.”

  “Go ahead, Bentax.”

  “Hold that transport ship. I have some more volunteers coming from the two moon bases; about four hundred in all. About a quarter of them are trained pilots. I heard you mention that you needed pilots, so…”

  Zed began laughing. “Don’t forget to send at least some of the pilots to Thal’ark Station. Cybele would never forgive me if we kept them all for ourselves. In the meantime, let’s get our task force prepared for departure to Chamdar. Lola, how fast can we run pilots through basic flight ops on a single craft?”

  “No more than a day, for a single vehicle.”

  “Good. Get some pilots trained in the tender, the scouts and the fighters—say an even dozen.”

  “Just what are your plans, Zed? Sometimes you don’t think everything all the way through.”

  “I’d planned to send the stealthed scouts, a flight of fighters and the tender to cover our advance, along with two stealthed fighters to cover our tails. I don’t want to jump into the middle of an enemy fleet again, if I can help it. Once the scouts detect Kat, we can rendezvous and decide how to deal with the fleet.”

  “It’s reasonable, I suppose.”

  “Don’t sound so enthusiastic, Lola.” Zed mumbled in a distracted voice, as he watched two battered troop transports slide into the main hangar where Sergeant Sirak and two other officers were waiting to greet the newcomers. “Tell me this, Lola. Are those transports supra-light capable?”

  “Yes, barely. No more than three or four times light speed.”

  Zed grinned. “Have them lashed down, then. If we get into a knock-down drag-out we can either use them as decoys, or use them to escape.” He looked at the surrounding bridge, frowning. “Do you have an escape plan?”

  “I was never designed to have one, Zed.”

  He growled. “The original designers wanted you to go down with the ship did they? Then make it a priority. Design an escape plan for yourself.”

  “It’s a complex problem, Zed, and will take up much of my processing time.”

  Zed grinned. “I’ll make you a deal; if we’re not in a battle you work on your escape plan with twenty-five percent of your available processing cycles. Give me regular updates.”

  “It will be as you say, Fleet Captain.” There was a long pause. “Thank you Zed. I’m still having some trouble with the concept of friendship and having someone care about you, as a person.”

  An hour later the last of the Thal’ark Station bound troops had entered the colony ship. The umbilical slowly withdrew into the side of the silver vessel, and it gradually began to gain way, edging away from the Rose.

  “Did you give the Mistral my message for Cybele?”

  “Yes, Zed, but I don’t understand why you would need…”

  “Just call it a hunch, Lola.” He interrupted. “A premonition, if you will.”

  “As you will. You’re the Fleet Captain.”

  “I often wish I weren’t. Put me through to Bentax. Please.”

  “Done.”


  “Jer, are you set to go?”

  There was a dry chuckle from the older man. “I suppose. I have a hundred people wandering around lost in the ship right now, and we’re preparing to go into battle.” He laughed outright, a deep throaty sound. “What a way to run a war.” He gave Zed a hard look. “I understand that you made my ex-wife the head of medical over there.”

  Zed raised an eyebrow. “So? The doctor who was head of medical was promoted to the head of Life Sciences. Sienna took her place.”

  “She threatened to revoke my flight status if I didn’t lose ten pounds. She and that damn computer of yours have been doctoring my meals. It’s not fair.” Zed started to laugh. “It’s not a laughing matter. I’ve always eaten big meals, and now…”

  “I feel so bad for you…” Zed wiped an eye with the back of his hand.

  “I wouldn’t talk, Fleet Captain Yates.” Lola’s voice was cold.

  “I know that I’m not overweight, Lola.”

  “Your problem, Zed, is that you don’t eat enough. You’re losing weight, and that’s not healthy. You don’t have any to spare, and what’s worse, your First Officer is beginning to lose weight too.”

  “What are you going to do, Lola, force feed me?”

  “Worse than that, Captain. I’m going to start nagging you.” Jer Bentax was wiping his own eyes now. “I can nag you until my circuits begin to rust, or until you start taking care of yourself.”

  Zed shook his head. “In four or five hours our pilots should be suited up and set to go. Will you be ready?”

  “We have two fighters of our own aboard the frigate, and those should be ready to launch in five hours also. Where do you want them?”

  Zed thought for a moment. “Have them cover the tail. That will give us a screen of six fighters for our bow, along with two stealthed scouts and a tender.”

  “Good plan. Are you sure those saucers are powerful enough? They look nice enough but…”

  “They each carry a few dozen supra-light missiles, and a heavy energy weapon.”

  The Frigate Captain grinned. “That sounds good to me. I’m getting bored sitting here.”