"Damn it, where's my heads up?" yelled Starfire as the glowing holographic symbols in front of her distorted, flickered and disappeared.
"The guidance system and holographic heads up display is damaged," Delta Ten might have been talking about the weather. "Repair computers are off line." The lighting dimmed, failed completely and emergency lights came on, making their faces look dark and menacing in their dull, red glow. There was a sudden bang and Delta Ten said, "Hitting the heads up display controls will not actually repair them, Lieutenant."
"You never know," gritted Starfire, "it's worked before." Smoke from a few smouldering panels began to collect and drift as the overhead fans cut out and Starfire flicked a quick hand across a purple crystal. Nothing happened and she called out to Delta Ten. "Del, can you do anything about this smoke?" She rubbed her streaming eyes with the back of her hand and peered forward, trying to see in front of her. The android must have done something, for there was a stuttering hum and the acrid smell of burnt wiring lessened as the smoke drifted upward.
"Star, hard to port!" yelled Hal. She automatically swung the Grennig towards three fighters who approached them on their port side. This time Raan knew what to expect and they fired on the ships together, using the Grennig as a giant rotating gun platform.
They were under constant attack now from the remaining fighters. Roland's flagship had withdrawn from the battle and the cruiser that had taken most of the impact from the exploding Rebel was now an unrecognisable mass of smoking wreckage. Most of the oxygen on board had been used up in the initial blast and the flames had all but gone. The superstructure, which had been white hot, had dulled to deep red and now darkened completely as the cold of space sucked all the heat from the metal. The less damaged cruiser was slowly rotating on its axis and a helpful Delta Ten informed them that its starboard cannons were operational.
"How long till it can fire on us, Del?" asked Erion.
"Three minutes and twenty eight seconds, Major." The Grennig bucked and shuddered as Starfire tried to steer it out of the path of the laser bolts heading at them from all directions by the few remaining fighters. Erion looked down at her fading console and cursed.
"Another ship has appeared on aft scanner."
"What class?" yelled Raan.
"I can't tell you much about it, Captain; my scanner's just gone down. I only saw it for a second, but it was big."
"For Frag's sake!" muttered Starfire. "Just how bad is this day going to get?"
"One way or another, it'll be over soon, Lieutenant," muttered Raan, darkly.
"Two fighter's breaking off," called Delta Ten. His display screens had failed as well so he scanned the area from the windscreen, using his enhanced vision. It was all they had now but it was better than nothing.
"Less for us then," snapped Erion, peering into her flickering navigation grid. "It looks like they're headed for Tranter's base." It went suddenly quiet outside and Starfire caught Hal's eye for confirmation as all the fighters withdrew.
"They're leaving the way clear for that cruiser," he stated as the few remaining fighters headed away from them.
"Starfire, can you move us out of its line of fire?" asked Erion.
"If I do, we'll be in range of those fighters," she replied. "They've regrouped on the cruiser's blind side. I can't see 'em on my heads up. Are they on your scopes?"
"They're just sitting there, waiting for the cruiser to finish us off," put in Raan.
"But they're ready to close in if we try to make a run for it," mused Erion. "The captain of that cruiser wants to take us out himself. That's his first mistake!" She looked at Hal and he nodded as he guessed her next question.
"Sure, Major. If we can get close enough to shoot first, we might be able to take it out in a suicidal blaze of glory."
"Do you have to say it like that?" snapped Starfire. "I might have had plans for later on." Hal grinned, wickedly and Erion looked to the heavens in disgust. Her last command would be with the most undisciplined and disrespectful crew in the galaxy.
"Hold off Raan," began Hal, "let the guns charge up and we'll fire together on full power."
"You got it," answered Raan, gripping his joystick with renewed determination. Hal caught Starfire's eye.
"Get us there, Lieutenant."
"All power to the engines, Major," called Starfire as she pushed the Grennig on emergency full power towards the enemy ship. It appeared to grow in size as they approached and was slowly turning its starboard side to face them. At that moment, it was pointed straight at them and they were so close they could see details on the massive, wedge shaped battle cruiser with the naked eye. Its bow was missing and grey smoke still dribbled from several gaping black holes along its port side. The two storey, forward facing command centre was intact though, and the lights from its windows slowly moved away from them, going from left to right as it rotated.
"Forget the shields; give me more speed, Major," called Starfire. She knew the battle cruiser would fire as soon as its starboard guns had the Grennig in its sights and she pushed their corvette to its limit. The problem, she knew, was that they were outgunned by the cruiser. Its cannons had a much greater range so the Grennig had to be closer to make a hit. She hoped they could make up that distance before the enemy ship was in a position to fire.
"The battle cruiser has locked on to us," said Delta Ten, calmly.
The Grennig lurched suddenly as the cruiser erupted in a massive explosion in front of them. Faster than the eye could see, Delta Ten leaned over to Erion's station, waved his hands in a blur over her console and the Grennig decelerated almost to a halt. Burning debris spiralled outward and smashed into the Grennig's forward shields. Starfire dived downward again and the Grennig lurched in the backwash, bucking and jumping as larger pieces of the wreckage smashed into their shields and bounced off.
"Well done, Del," breathed Erion. The quick thinking android had engaged full emergency shields, which had not only saved them from impact damage, but drained the power from the engines to slow them down.
"You're supposed to say 'bombs away', or 'fox two' or something when you fire if we're this close," yelled Starfire towards Hal and Raan. They glared at each other accusingly while Starfire wrestled with her controls. "I'm supposed to know beforehand. I have to do stuff to get us out of the way!"
"It wasn't me," said Raan. He looked across at Hal, who shook his head.
"Yowee a fight!" yelled an excitable voice over the air.
"What…who?" gasped Starfire.
"That isn't a Federation ship," said Erion, pointlessly as it took out another fighter. She pressed the comlink and spoke hurriedly into it. "Our scanners are out. Whoever you are, this is the Alliance ship, the Grennig and we need your help."
"You got it, Major," yelled Jeddoh Cloud. There was another 'yippeeeee!' as Buck blew another fighter out of existence. "You look pretty banged up, Grennig. We'd be glad to help." The Rising Star, sister ship to the Grennig and also modified by Tranter, joined in the affray. The battle didn't last long after that. It didn't help once the Federation ships realised who they were fighting as the propaganda put out by the Galactic Police had been explicit and grossly exaggerated. Jeddoh Cloud and his brothers had been given a terrifying reputation and a huge bounty was on all of their heads.
The two Corvettes, working together, dispatched three more fighters and the remaining ones wasted no time in heading off across heavens after their departing flag ship.
"Jed, we can't thank you enough," Erion breathed a sigh of relief as the tension from the battle left her. "We couldn't have done it without you."
"That's an understatement," muttered Starfire, quietly, "we would have been blown up!"
"How'd you get here so quick?" asked Raan.
"Well, we were coming back from our mission and a Little Rock found us. Turned out Tranter sent a distress call from his base just before he left and a patrolling Little Rock picked it up. It realised we were nearer than the Cantina and brought
it straight to us." His voice took on a musing tone. "Yeah; clever little bugger! Anyway, that's how come we're here so quick." There was a short pause, then, with a hint of suspicion and foreboding, Jed said, "Hey, where is old Tranter? It's not like him to miss a good fight." Everyone looked at Hal.
"He bought it," said Hal from his station.
"Oh damn," muttered Jed softly, then he rallied, quickly. "Come on boys; let's make sure all our guests have gone." He followed Roland's battered fleet until they jumped into hyperspace and returned in less than five minutes. Delta Ten had been busy in that time and had restored the lighting in the crew compartment to a muted, sarcastic cheer. They could all see now that much of the instrumentation showed red warning lights and most of the delicate crystal controls were lifeless and grey. Starfire raised the manual controls from her console and gripped the steel steering bar with both hands, while her feet pressed various pedals that rose up from the floor.
"Hal, are you there?" It was Jed Cloud.
"Sure."
"How'd Tranter get it?"
"Took out two cruisers with the Rebel."
"Always said that boy had style." A sudden flare from the weapon's console caught Raan's eye. Before he could say anything, it lit up again and Jed shouted. "What the hell was that?"
"Tranter's base, I'm guessing," said Raan. "He set it to self destruct."
"Too early," grunted Hal. "Those two fighters set mines on a time delay."
"Man, that's mean," Raan sighed.
"They didn't do it for meanness, Captain," said Hal. "That robo trolley probably overheard us talking about the information the Colonel left with your android. It must have figured we ran it through Tranter's computers. That's what they wanted to destroy."
"There must be something in it we can use against him then," said Erion.
"I just want to get my hands on that conniving little trolley," muttered Raan.
"I always thought there was something a little too smarmy about that robo butler," mused Starfire. "I bet it managed to get to safety."
"We'd better think along those lines ourselves," put in Erion, "before those reinforcements arrive." She caught Delta Ten's eye. "Can you pilot us to the Cantina from here?"
"Of course, Major."
Erion winced suddenly and pressed a hand to her side. Raan left his seat and gently took her hand away to see blood on her fingers.
"I bumped against the console," she explained, peering at her hand. "It didn't feel that bad."
"You'd better get that looked at," he said, supporting her until Delta Ten leaned in to take a look.
"The plastiskin has come away from the injury to your side," said the stoic robot. "It was a deep wound. I will take you to the medicentre." Without waiting to see if she wanted to go or not, he scooped her up into his strong arms and marched out of the pilot's section.
"Wait," she ordered, turning to look over his shoulder, "Hal….." she began, wanting to explain her outburst just after Tranter's death.
"Forget it," he said softly, not looking up from his console. She didn't pursue the matter and allowed herself to be taken from the room. Hal eased his seat back a little and spoke into the comlink.
"Jed, we're going to the Cantina. We're low on fuel; can you stick with us?"
"Sure. I'll get us clearance. You just follow my tailpipe," he answered. Jed gunned his motors and The Rising Star set off slowly across space with the Grennig close behind it. Delta Ten returned to the pilot section with the news that he had applied new plastiskin and given Erion something to make her sleep.
"Just as well," mused Starfire. "She was getting pretty close to that crazy scrap man."
"Yeah," agreed Raan. "He was a good pan player."
"And a pretty good pilot," admitted Starfire. "That was some stunt he pulled."
"It was typical of Tranter," said Hal quietly. "This time it didn't pay off."
"He was a good friend, wasn't he?" said Starfire, gently. She looked straight ahead, fixing her eyes on the rear engine glow of the Rising Star in front of them.
"I'd known him a long time," admitted Hal, softly. "When this is over, I'll go pay a visit to Mr. Roland." It was the first time they had ever heard Hal make a threat and Starfire shuddered. Sometimes, she thought to herself, Hal was more like a machine than Delta Ten. Raan stood up, walked to the computer station and asked it for a hard copy of the ship's deck plan. A print out duly arrived and he tore it off, announcing to all that, if Starfire could manage without him, he was going to have a look at the damage below decks, eat a meal and then catch a nap. Losing friends in battle was always hard, but it wasn't good to dwell too long on fallen comrades. Raan nodded quickly to Starfire and turned away.
"I'll wake you when we get there," promised Starfire. "I'll need your help to go through the asteroids anyway."
"Hey!" called Raan to Hal from the hatchway. The Terrellian swivelled in his chair and deftly caught the black cheroot that Raan threw to him. "You're a pretty good shot for a Terry." Hal nearly smiled and put it in his top pocket.
"You're a pretty good shot yourself, for a ground pounder."
"Now you no longer need me to guide you to the Cantina," began Delta Ten, "I would like to begin work on the repair computers. They will be needed when we attempt to restore the damaged linkages on the power converter couplings."
"I have no idea what you're talking about," said Starfire. "I fly 'em. I don't know what makes 'em go." Delta Ten left the pilot section and Hal relaxed slightly, leaned back and lit the thin black cigar Raan had given him. It had a silver band, denoting a popular, but expensive, relaxing mixture. He lit another from it and passed it to Starfire, sucked in the smoke and exhaled with a long sigh. He looked up and watched the blue cloud waft upwards to spiral into the air purifier for a moment.
"I think it's the only thing on board still working," mused Starfire as she followed his gaze. Hal slid his chair back, settled himself beside a surprised Starfire in the co pilot seat, raised the manual controls and flexed his fingers. "Let me take her for a while." Starfire thought, 'I won't ask if he's capable of piloting a class six Corvette on manual. Somehow, I know he is.'
"Okay, you have the con." She carefully put out the half smoked cigar and slid her own seat out on its rails. She tilted it back, placed her crossed ankles on the edge of the console and linked her arms behind her head. "Wake me when we get to the asteroids and don't tell Erion."
Chapter 20
There was a very subdued gathering in the bar room of the Cantina later that day. Hal led his party to a large table furthest away from the bar, next to the door that led to Thirty-Seven's office. Jed Cloud and his brothers, Lontrey, Callon and Buck, weaved their way through the tables, looking like four mean gunslingers in a thriller holo.
Gossip had been rife and the talking, laughing and music in the room gradually quietened until there was complete silence. The automatic music was programmed to be a pleasant background sensation and had lowered itself as all the restaurant chatter ceased. Jed spun around, nearly knocking over his brother, Lon, and glared at the silent crowd.
"Okay, so you all know what happened. Con Tranter ain't coming back! Now you all get to your drinking and gambling and carousing or whatever it is you do." Erion stood up, touched his arm, gently and he sat down, staring at the table in silence. A few people began to talk quietly, then more people joined in and the music began to play again.
Hal switched on the privacy settings at their table and the music and buzz of the Cantina conversation faded. Viewed from outside their table, they would have been unrecognisable, blurred shapes and it would be impossible for anyone to hear what they said, or read their lips. Drinks were ordered and brought over to them by a waiter carrying an anti-grave tray.
"By rights we should be at the Gateway," began Callon, when Jed stayed silent, "but the others are already here and it would've been noticeable if we all left together."
They were soon joined by Gant and Elkrist, who said Thirty Seven would be
along soon and to start without him. They all sat stony faced while Delta Ten related the details of the fight and Tranter's subsequent demise. He spoke without emotion, relating the facts in chronological order as if he was reading a statement.
"So, they have used a mind turning machine," said Gant, when Delta Ten had finished speaking. "Banned in every civilised quadrant of the galaxy."
"Somehow, I ain't surprised," said Jed.
"I saw one used on a man once," said Starfire. "Watched him turn into a zombie. They ordered him to walk into a furnace; and he did…" she shuddered despite herself. "That was way out in the edge sectors; I never thought it would happen in the major planets."
"Things aren't the same now Admiral Nooran and General Dubois have gone," put in Elkrist, "we're going back to the old ways, before the Empire wars."
"There was full martial law on Kessel," said Raan. "Galactic Police everywhere."
"It is the same on most of the major planets now, Captain," said Gant. "We are receiving calls for help from some of the outer worlds. The Aurian Federation has tightened its grip on the home quadrant and is spreading outward. Planets are told they must join or they are invaded and taken anyway."
"Most of the outer planets want to join the Alliance," began Elkrist. "We have more requests than we can cope with."
"You'll have to watch out for spies," warned Raan. "Not everyone who asks to join the Alliance will be a rebel with a song in his heart. They'll try and plant double agents."
"I know, Captain. But we will not allow anyone to join us until we are sure."
"Bear in mind that the Cantina is mainly known as a criminal haunt," said Gant. "Very few people know of its other purpose. It is impossible to reach here without a guide and the way in changes all the time because the asteroids are constantly moving."
"The Gateway will not be shown to anyone unless we are absolutely certain they are genuine," said Elkrist.
"We went straight there," pointed out Starfire. "How did you know we weren't spies for the Federation?"
"Your father told us about you before you left for Serrell," she smiled. "Don't worry, Lieutenant; we have our ways." Elkrist refused to discuss the matter further.
Starfire at Traitors Gate Page 25