She pushed her numb arm back into the vac-suit. "Thanks, Cap."
"To life on the edge… with friends," Ada said, holding up her beer.
We all clinked our bottles together and sat back.
"Whatcha got in your hands there, Jonny," Tabby asked.
"One of Thomas Philippe Anino's final requests was that I deliver these to you all. In particular, however, he was so taken by one of you that he asked I make a special presentation," he said.
"You have the floor." I wondered if it was an idiom he was familiar with.
"Thank you, Captain Hoffen. First, I apologize Mrs. Hoffen, when this agreement was made, I was unaware that you would be traveling with us."
"Not necessary," Mom said.
"Thank you. The first presentation is for each of you. The grav-suits - as you, Captain Hoffen, called them - were specifically made for each of you and Master Anino preferred that you have them," he said and handed each of us a package.
"The armor characteristics of these suits are superior to what you are wearing and are considerably more flexible. I was unable to carry the optional helmets and they remain in the hold. While they are not completely necessary, the helmets provide significantly more oxygen as well as increased protection for your heads," he said. "Ms. Bertrand, I've submitted an analysis to your comm queue for review."
"Thank you, Jonathan." Marny stood up and shook his hand.
"I've one more presentation. Even though you were frustrated by Master Anino's initial audition in the Radium Sea, you left a lasting impression on him, Ms. Bertrand. Your instinct to utilize this ancient but deadly katana to defend your crew from the Sephelodon was something he wanted to reward by presenting it to you." He held the blade out to Marny horizontally, bowing his head as he did.
"I can't accept this. It's priceless," Marny said.
"And yet, you didn't hesitate to use it to defend your crew," he said. "It is said a katana will find its true owner. While we do not hold with superstition and legend, it does seem appropriate in this case."
"I… I don't know what to say," she said.
"I believe Master Anino had only one further request."
"Oh?" Marny asked.
"Yes. He preferred that you not use it in salt water," Jonathan said.
We all stared for a moment and then started laughing. While not a very good joke, it was so far from Jonathan's normal repertoire that it was hilarious.
After we'd recovered, I looked at Marny, "What do you think, Master of Arms? Should we be using these suits instead of the armored vacs?"
"They compare quite favorably to our current suits. I'd say it's up to the individual, but I'll make the switch," she said. "The helmets add a significant amount of protection to the head."
"Nick, how long until Ophir?"
"Thirty-five hours and change," he said.
"Okay, let me put some shifts together," I said. "Ada, you have another hour in you?"
"Yes, sir!" she replied a little too sharply. I then noticed she'd already drained her beer.
"Here," I handed her my mostly full bottle. "Let's get you a break. Tabbs, you have first two, I'll take next two and I'll get assignments out after that and I need someone to volunteer to make grub."
"I'll handle that," Mom said. "That is, if I can get Nick to show me around the galley."
"Can do," he said.
"Jonathan, are you monitoring the Yishuv settlement?"
"I am, Captain."
"Please alert me if their situation changes. I'm not sure when their morning will be coming, but it sounded like they were worried about a possible attack at that time," I said.
"Planet Ophir has twenty-six hour days and they are currently well into the evening. We will arrive six hours after daybreak on the second day," Jonathan said. "There will be nothing we can do to help them if the attack comes on the first morning."
"Understood. Thank you. Okay everyone, make sure to get some good rack time. Hard to tell what we're about to step into," I said.
With the exception of the blinking star fields, sailing in fold-space was very much the same as any other trip. We easily fell back into our normal rhythm and time slipped by.
"Captain," Jonathan's voice spoke in my ear and I struggled to wake up. Tabby's warm, not to mention naked body, lay next to me and I didn't want to be pulled from our cozy nest.
"Go ahead," I said, trying to be quiet enough to let Tabby continue to sleep.
"We are seven hours from our arrival at Ophir and the situation has changed," he said.
"Copy. Where are you?"
"On the bridge, Captain," he said.
"I'll be there momentarily," I said and closed the comm. "Tabbs," I shook her shoulder gently.
"No…"
I pulled the covers down, which didn't affect her like it did me, given that her synthetic skin wasn't as sensitive to temperature change. "Tabbs," I turned her onto her back and she rolled back over, covering her head with her hands.
I ran my hands around her back to her stomach and started sending them north.
"Not now," she said and pushed me back.
"Sorry, kid. We're needed on the bridge," I said. I jumped out of bed and started pulling on my prosthetic foot.
"You grope me, then you leave me here?" she asked. "You suck."
"Yup. You're officially a guy now," I said.
I started pulling on my suit and she slithered over to me, wrapping her arms around my waist.
"Don't go. I'll make it worth your while," she said.
"I think there's something going on in the Yishuv settlement," I said.
"Gah. Fine." She rolled to the other side of the bed and pulled on a suit liner.
"Coffee, Cap?" Marny asked as I entered the bridge.
Mom was currently on shift and Marny was seated at the table across from Jonathan on the bridge couch. Marny held a cup out.
"What's going on?" I asked.
"It's about an hour before sunrise, Cap. The enemy has launched an attack on Yishuv. Apparently, one of the Ophie - as the settlers refer to them - gained control of a blaster rifle and has taken out their combat leader, a man named Shem. Their remaining blaster rifle was lost in the struggle and they're having difficulty repelling the attack," Marny explained.
"How is that possible? I was sure they said they had a mounted blaster. That's more than enough to hold the position," I said.
"The mounted gun lacks defenses. Each time they put someone on it, they eventually get picked off. Fortunately, they've kept the Ophie from advancing so far, but their current leader is running out of people who can or are willing to man that blaster turret."
"Frak. Understood. Jonathan, you tried transmitting over that crystal, are you sure it won't work? Can I try it?"
"Certainly," he said and placed the device on the table between us.
"Yishuv settlement, come in, this is Hotspur," I said, holding down the transmit button.
I repeated my call several times.
"What are you doing?" Tabby asked. I gave her the condensed version.
"Try again," she said. "If they don't know it is two-way, it could be in a bag or something."
"Square-wave. Hang on," Nick said.
Generate a square wave at five hundred-twenty hertz, ninety decibels, standard S-O-S pattern, five seconds, Nick said.
In response, a loud, high pitched sound played over the bridge as Nick held the transmitter button down.
"Shite, what in the frak are you doing?" Tabby asked. She'd gone from sleepy to ready to kill in those five seconds.
"Did you hear that?" It was the woman's voice we'd come to recognize as Merrie.
"They heard it," I said. "Do it again, Nick."
Tabby brought her hands up to her ears and glared at me.
Nick repeated the sequence. I chuckled as I noticed that Mom had pulled her suit's helmet up.
"It's coming from Peraf's bag," Merrie said.
"That's ridiculous," Peraf said.
"Empty your bag, Peraf," Bedros said.
"Don't order me around, I'm still the chairperson of our council."
"Do it again," I said. I joined Tabby by placing my hands over my ears.
"Please, Peraf. That's Morse code. It's a request for help signal," she said. "And, we're not generating it."
"Oh fine," she said.
We heard a significant amount of rustling and the muffled voices became much clearer.
"What? Do you hear it now?" Peraf asked, obviously annoyed.
"Yishuv settlement, come in please," I said holding the transmit button down.
"Did you hear that?" Merrie asked. "Who is that? Can you hear us?"
"Yishuv, this is Captain Liam Hoffen, Hotspur, we read you. Please acknowledge," I said.
"Who are you?" Bedros asked.
"Descendants of your founder's home world," I said. "We understand you're under siege."
"It's a trick," Peraf said. "The Ophie have figured out how to trick us."
"Don't be stupid," Bedros said. "The Ophie cannot speak our language and they know nothing of our founders."
"Captain Hoffen, do you have offensive capability?" It was the woman, Eliora, who asked the question.
"Yes. We're traveling light, but we should be able to help. We need you to take a defensive posture and hold on," I said.
"We can't get more defensive than we are, Captain," Eliora responded.
"If those Ophie gain control of your blaster turret that would change," Marny said. "I recommend disabling it if you are unable to keep it manned."
"See, it's a trick," Peraf said. "They want us to give up our only means of defense."
"That's asking a lot," Eliora said. "That turret is the only thing holding off twelve hundred angry Ophie."
"If they can fire a blaster rifle, they can certainly use your turret," Marny said.
We heard a muffled exchange. Apparently, they'd thrown something over the crystal transmitter/receiver.
They finally came back a few minutes later.
"Are you able to render assistance?" Eliora asked.
"Yes. We're seven hours out. Hopefully, we'll be able to communicate at that time," I said. "Also, we'll be wearing blue suits that cover our bodies completely. We'll look pretty alien."
"Do you mind, Captain?" Jonathan asked.
"No, go ahead," I said.
"Merrie, this is Jonathan, a fellow engineer. I have a request," he transmitted.
"Uh, what is it, Jonathan?"
"Have you recorded any of the Ophie speech?"
"No," she said. "Wait. Some. Why?"
"I have access to translation software. With a long enough sample, we might be able to communicate at a rudimentary level with the Ophie."
"Just kill them," Peraf said.
"Not if we have any other choice," I said before Jonathan could respond.
"I can replay a small snippet," she said. "I have maybe twenty minutes of a conversation."
"That would be very helpful," he said.
"Anything else?" I asked.
"No, thank you," Jonathan said.
"We'll be monitoring this communication device," I said. "Please hold on. We'll be there as quickly as possible."
"Thank you, Captain Hoffen. One final thing, would you share with us how large of a force you're bringing?"
"We'll drop three," I said.
"Three hundred? You're a Godsend," Bedros said.
"No, Mr. Bedros, three people," I said. "It will be sufficient, we'll have air-support."
"I believe you've underestimated the situation," Bedros said. "The Ophie are quite large and there are over a thousand of them."
"It does sound like a lot," I said. "We'll be trying to minimize Ophie casualties."
"This is insane," Peraf said and the transmitter was covered again.
"Maybe I shouldn't have answered that last question," I said.
Tabby swatted at me and grinned. "We'll have to work on that."
The next few hours seemed to drag on as we heard no updates from Yishuv. Finally, when we were an hour out, we heard the cover being removed from the device.
"Are you still there?" Merrie asked.
"Roger that," I said.
"Our turret has been run over," she said.
"Do the Ophie control it?"
"They do. So far, they haven't mastered the controls and we're trying to mount a sortie to take it back," she said.
"Merrie, listen to me. Can't you cut the power from it, overload the battery or something? You just need to hang on for an hour, we're almost there," I said.
"Holy buckets! Of course, the battery! I'm so stupid," she said.
"Amon, with me, now!"
I heard a door close.
Half an hour out, we finally dropped from fold-space, fifty thousand kilometers from the beautiful planet, Ophir. It looked drier than Earth, the standard by which all interstellar colonization was decided. Only a third of its surface was covered with water, but as far as planets went, it was a jewel.
"Cap, here you go," Marny said handing me a blaster rifle. "I replaced the grenade charges with crowd control. Won't be a lot of help for a thousand, but if you need to stick a handful of lizards together, it'll do the job. Wear this nano-blade. It will cut right through them. We're going to have to put them down quickly if they get on us. Finally, FBDs.
Marny handed me a pile of small flash-bang disks. Our suits would synchronize with the loud sounds and light flashes.
"I don't know what affect they'll have on Ophir natives, but let's hope they're sensitive to either light or sound. Otherwise, we're going to end up having to kill a whole lot of them," she said.
"Jonathan, did you get anywhere in translating their language?"
"No. I'm afraid Yishuv settlement has cut off communication with us," he said.
"First order of business will be taking out that turret," Marny said. "It's the only thing that I have any concern with and we can't afford to fire on its given position.
"Once we're on the ground, we stay in line of sight with each other. I don't want anyone getting trapped," Marny said.
"Drop on the turret first?" I asked.
"Aye, Cap. After that, I'd just be making up stuff," she said.
"At least you admit it," I smiled at her and placed my helmet on.
"Entering atmosphere," Ada's voice came over the comm.
"Better get in position," Marny said.
Tabby and I followed Marny down to the starboard entry hatch and pulled the armored door open. The pressure barrier became the only thing between us and exiting the ship.
"Cap, you've got point. Tabby, you've the number two slot. I'll follow," she said. "I'll mark the turret as quickly as I can."
"Ada, give us a flyover when we get there, would you?" I asked.
"Can do, Liam," she said. "We're close, I can see smoke on the horizon."
As we approached, the scenery beneath us was gorgeous. The trees were lusher than those we'd seen on Mars, although shorter with a thicker canopy. I wondered what type of star fed the vegetation. We were approaching a tall, rocky mountain and I finally got my first glance at the settlement. A small city rose from the forest, totally surrounded by a stone wall.
As we approached the city, the carnage was immediately obvious. At first, it was only thick, reptilian creatures. When we finally neared a fallen gate, the battle became obvious. Dead humans were strewn everywhere, most dismembered with their heads caved in.
"It's horrible," I said and my mind skipped to Big Pete. If we'd lived here, he would have been at the wall defending us. I reached out and steadied myself on the door.
Marny's steady voice cut through my fog. "Cap, get in the moment. Tabby and I need you."
I sighed. She was right and it was our time now. Our goal was to keep from slaughtering the invaders so we'd have a better chance of brokering a peace, but I was having a difficult time working with that.
"I've got the turret," I said. It had swung around and
a gaggle of Ophie gesticulated wildly as a shot fired wide of the ship. My AI illuminated the turret on my HUD.
"On my six," I said and leapt from the ship.
For a moment, I simply free fell until I remembered how to activate the grav-suit. It was the same as using arc-jets. I bent my knees and leaned in, speeding toward the ugly bastards on the turret. I pushed my blaster rifle onto my back and pulled the nano-blade. We were going to be in close quarters and I didn't want to spray Tabby or Marny.
When I landed, an Ophie jumped into my path and swung his club. My blade effortlessly cut through him and I kicked his corpse aside. Whatever compassion I'd felt on the ship was long forgotten after seeing the debauchery at the gate.
It was at that point I turned into a machine, slicing, kicking and firing my pistol from my left hand. In a few short minutes, I'd cleared the turret of Ophie.
"CAP!" I finally heard Marny's voice over the comm.
"What?" I asked.
"Don't do that! You have to listen to your comms," she said.
"You were talking?"
"Yes. I'm not sure it was such a good idea bring you down here."
"I'm good, Marny," I said.
"You just slaughtered forty Ophir," she said.
I couldn't focus on that. Not now, at least. "What's the play, Marny?"
"Jonathan, tell Yishuv we've gained control of the turret. If they want to send someone up we'll turn control back over to 'em," Marny said.
Movement caught my eye and I saw a small woman sneaking along the inside wall of the city. I wasn't the only one who saw it, as a lizard-man had caught her movement as well.
"Marny," I said and highlighted the woman in my HUD as I took off in her direction.
"Go, Liam. Tabby, stay with him," Marny said.
I landed in front of the woman, who couldn't be over sixteen or seventeen stans old. She pulled up in surprise and then dropped to the ground, cowering. I clipped the nano-blade to my belt and pulled my blaster rifle from my back, leveling it at the advancing Ophie.
"Kid, get up! We're here to help, but you're too exposed," I said.
Tabby landed next to me and we boxed the woman in behind us against the wall. A group of Ophie approached. I could easily take them all, but I couldn't guarantee one wouldn't slip by before I did.
Tabby fired at an Ophie who leapt toward us with club raised. I clipped a second who followed suit.
A Matter of Honor (Privateer Tales Book 9) Page 28