"Miss Valentine, it would be my genuine pleasure."
Sergeant Nál indicated once more to the marine.
"Show me these skills of yours. If you succeed, we will cancel training today, and all twelve of you can take your leave in any way you choose."
"Yes!" cried out one of the cadets.
"On her back!" said another and before long, several more were joining in and chanting the same. Artur undid the zip at the front of his jacket while nodding in time with the chanting. He clearly loved every moment of it. As Nate watched him, he could feel resentment and anger building inside his body. Private Valentine looked perfectly calm, but that didn't seem to have any effect on Nate. The Ensign removed the item of clothing and then cast it to one of his nearest comrades who whooped in excitement. He walked the short distance to the mats before looking to Sergeant Nál.
"Gloves?"
The Sergeant chuckled, a great roar that filled the room.
"Gloves are for gentle training, for when your life is never in threat. You promised me you could put the Private on her back. Now can you, or can you not?"
Nate looked away from the discussion and towards Valentine. She was already ready for the fight, yet she waited much as she'd been since they'd arrived. With no jacket to remove, she simply stood there, her arms down at her side as though bored by the entire conversation.
"Yes, Sergeant."
Artur moved towards Valentine and struck one clenched fist against his open left palm.
"You ready for this, lady?"
There was no reply, so he took a step forward and swung a jab. It was a good punch, and it would certainly have drawn blood, if Valentine were still in the same position. As the strike came in, she twisted her body, narrowly avoiding his fist as it came for her face. The pilot was taking no chances and put all of his energy into the extended strike. Her right arm wrapped underneath the extended arm and locked in tightly. With her left arm, she pushed it up in front of his throat and then swung her leg around Artur's lead foot. With a quick shove, he spun around and crashed to the floor.
"I'm ready," said Valentine.
Artur was back on his feet and now moving much like a boxer. The movements were short but fast. He moved around Valentine, who by now had lifted her hands just above her waist. Her fingers were extended into an open palm, rather than the traditional fist used by most in hand-to-hand combat, the exact opposite was true of Artur who waited with both fists clenched.
"Nice, very nice," said Artur, "Now I've woken up. Let's try that again."
Sergeant Nál pointed to Private Valentine as the two circled around each other.
"I have not seen this marine fight before, but you can already see she is using her training to good effect."
She lowered her eyes to her legs.
"The Ensign's stance is secure, and she moves with short, agile steps. This is good."
Then her powerful arm extended out to her upper body.
"She uses the open hand posture, something we recommend to all marines when they start their training."
Another of the OTC cadets, this time a strong looking figure with an almost completely shaved head, laughed out loudly. Sergeant Nál silenced him with a withering stare, but not before extracting an explanation from him.
"Explain, pilot."
"The open hand, it's not exactly the way to deliver a strike, is it?"
"Name?"
"Ensign Dean Robinson, Sergeant."
"Deano," muttered another from further away.
Sergeant Nál's nostrils flared as though a strong odour had just spread through the training hall.
"Watch, and observe."
The eleven newly minted ensigns watched the rest of the fight with all the excitement of a heavyweight-boxing contest. The Sergeant even ignored their yells as they watched their champion take on the marine. Nate and his friends seemed less excited, though, and stayed in a group to the side.
"Can she win?" Billy asked.
Rex answered without thinking.
"You kidding? She is an animal. That Artur guy is making a big mistake."
Cassandra sighed as she listened to them. Nate glanced back at her with a questioning expression at his brow, and Billy did the same.
"What?"
Cassandra shook her head in mock annoyance.
"Could the three of you be any more obvious?"
She then looked back at the fight as Ensign Augustyniak circled Private Valentine. Nate kept his eyes on Cassandra for a second, and he was sure he saw something closer to sadness in her expression. It was a little unsettling, but the sound of stamping feet brought him back to reality. The Foss twins were both waving their arms and shouting encouragement to their champion.
"On her back! On her back!"
Though still clearly confident of his superiority over his opponent, Ensign Augustyniak was being much more careful. Private Valentine maintained her stance, with her feet apart and her hands low down and open palmed.
"I'm waiting," she said, to the laughter of Billy and Rex. An OTC cadet began muttering something in complaint and was quickly silenced by the raised hand of Sergeant Nál.
"Here it comes," said Ensign Augustyniak.
He feinted twice, and with each movement closed the distance with the marine. Then a jab, that missed, and another that gently brushed against her chest. The Ensign intentionally sidestepped and narrowly avoided being caught out as before. Just as they separated, Private Valentine swung a short hook with her left hand. At the same time, she lifted her left leg and swept it into the back of his knee. The impact was heavy, and the Ensign hit the ground for a second time.
"Thanks, Ensign. Now I'm starting to warm up."
A smile spread across her face, and this infuriated him. He was back on his feet in seconds and pushed in hard against her. His arms swung left and right, and then he was on her. For a second it looked as though his size and sheer mass would overwhelm her. Somehow, she wriggled out of his hold and struck him hard in the stomach with her knee. As he doubled over, she delivered another light kick to the head that sent him staggering back. A trickle of blood ran down from his nostrils.
"What?" he yelled, "You made me bleed my own blood. Nobody makes me bleed!"
That was the final straw for the Ensign, and he completely ignored any kind of training he might have received in the past. A jab extended out, and Valentine deflected it with the palm of her hand and struck him twice in the chest. He punched again, and this time managed to land a blow against her cheek. It snapped her head back, and he leapt back, jogging back and forth while laughing.
"Yeah, now we're talking."
The strike didn't appear to have caused her much trouble, but her demeanour had definitely shifted. They closed again, but this time Private Valentine pulled back her right hand closer to her shoulder.
"This ends...now!" Ensign Augustyniak yelled.
He took three steps and then swung a powerful hook. Private Valentine dropped low and to his right while simultaneously delivered an open-palmed strike to his face. All of them heard the crunch as his nose broke, but the fight was not over. She was merciless and jammed her knee into the back of his before putting him flat on his back. Private Valentine dropped down on him, pinning his left arm down with her knee and raising her right hand to deliver what looked like a killing blow.
"Enough," said Sergeant Nál.
Private Valentine rose to her feet, lowered her hands, and relaxed. Ensign Augustyniak was having none of it, though, and he jumped up and pushed one nostril against his face while snorting. Blood dripped out and onto his top, infuriating him further.
"No, not yet!"
He lurched across the space towards Private Valentine and lifted his hands to strike. The Private could clearly see him, yet she refused to move even a centimetre. On came the Ensign until the massive bulk of Sergeant Nál's arm swung in front of him. The impact was hard and flipped Ensign Augustyniak face down on the mat. He hit the ground hard, and this time
stayed down for good. One of the cadets chuckled in the background, but was stopped by little more than a hard stare from Sergeant Nál.
"Now. You will learn respect, discipline, and agility with me. Play games and you can go back to your videogames and a civilian life. You might be ensigns, but I'm not fooled. You are cadets, and your position is at the discretion of our commander. Understood?"
The room was now silent, and the friendly expression on the Sergeant's face had vanished. She walked in front of the scattered group, stopping to look at the middle of their little band. Nate could see she was not happy, but he also knew that any one of them could technically cause an issue. They were the lowest rank of officer on the ship, and could call out a more junior rank such as a sergeant for any kind of trivial offence. Nate expected one of the OTC cadets to object, but either out of the return of common sense, or because simply due to fear of the monstrous Sergeant, they relented.
"Good. Very good."
She pointed to the bloody Ensign Augustyniak, who had by now returned to his comrades. His nose still bled, and one of his eyes was slightly bloodshot.
"You came to me with arrogance and too much attitude. This is why you have failed my test."
A few of them looked panicked, but she quickly lifted a hand in mock resignation.
"But do not worry. I will not stop until every one of you is ready to do their duty. You will have a schedule sent to your Secpads starting tomorrow. For now...you can form up into two ranks and give my fifty push-ups...then we can get started."
There was a brief pause as a few of them looked to each other.
"Now!"
As one, all twelve hit the ground. Their training under the Marine Corps Sergeant Nál had begun, and for the first time, the Squadron worked together.
CHAPTER SEVEN
Alliance Armoured Assault Ship 'ANS Relentless'
Orion Battlegroup, The Trinity Sector
The fleet had been inside Byotai space for more than a day, and though external communications were still off-line, it was at least now possible to see outside via the myriad of external cameras. Nate and his four friends waited in the corridor outside the briefing room and looked out at the artificial window. Though they were deep inside the ship, the window still seemed very real. By using a modified dual view material, it was possible to create a stable image that gave the illusion of true depth.
"It's beautiful," said Cassandra.
Nate watched as the lights and hues shifted to give the region an odd look. It reminded him more of swirling fluids in a tank of water than of space. The large Alliance warships were the ugliest things in sight, showing up as black smudges set against such a colourful background.
"Weird more like," said Rex, "You've seen the stats on this territory, and according to our survey ships, it will only get worse."
He turned to Cassandra.
"Remember the cloud assault mission?"
She laughed immediately.
"The one where you put your fighter into a dive, and then never came out of it? Yeah, I remember."
Billy chuckled to himself as he listened, but Rex seemed to have mellowed over the last few weeks. He'd always been different to the others, and had stayed well away, with just his friend Jack at his side. With their new role as actual combat pilots, he'd either had a complete change of heart, or more likely decided it was better to be with the other four, than against them. Whatever the reason, as Nate watched him talking, he was nothing but happy they were all back to something civilised.
"This is a problem," said Matilda.
Rex lifted his hands up in mock exasperation. Matilda was the least inspired of them all by the view, but even she had something to say as she examined the key components while checking the data on her Secpad bracelet.
"The origins of the clouds are unknown, but they do present a major hazard for our sensors. Wherever we're going, it's going to be interesting."
Billy moved closer to the unit and looked far off to the right.
"What is that thing?"
Nate moved closer, and then so did the others. Only Matilda had the foresight to activate the panning feature. The image slid to the left at high speed, quickly bringing a view further to the rear of the ship.
"That is not a warship," said Rex.
Matilda tapped the window, and a series of icons and diagrams appeared. She dragged two of them about and started a search routine. It took less than three seconds to locate a match, and then place a wireframe around the ship.
"It's a Prometheus flagged civilian ore hauler. She's big. The figures give her a length of over a thousand metres."
Nate squinted as he examined the data.
"We must have picked her up when we crossed the border. But why?"
None of the other four had an answer, and before they could think on it further, the sound of heavy armoured boots approached.
"Knighthawks, move it!" said a voice from inside the doorway.
Billy turned first and made to move, but the others remained entranced by the view outside. There was something of a dreamlike quality as they watched the Orion Battlegroup making its way to the next waypoint. The ships even left an odd wake behind them as the powerful heat from their engines interacted with the almost transparent clouds. Nate turned away, and Rex moved at almost the same time.
"Come on."
It was only a few steps to reach the doorway, and already a low hum of conversation had filled the space. Rumours had spread through Relentless like wildfire, and as Nate and his friends entered the briefing room, there was an all too real sense of drama. Until now this part of the ship, like so many others, were sealed and shut off from use. There had been no use for such a space when the starship had little to no crew. Now she was fully operational, and hour-by-hour additional sections sprung to life as the ship returned to her previous role as a front-line warship.
"Not bad," said Billy, "Not bad at all."
The five joined the rest of their comrades in Knighthawk Squadron, and even Nate was surprised to see some of them offer a pleasant nod or greeting. Nate had never been inside the briefing room before. As he sat there, more and more pilots and crew arrived from Corsair and Thunder Squadrons. It might have simply been his imagination, but Nate was sure the men and women from the two fighter squadrons seemed bigger and older than they were.
"That is what real pilots look like," said Matilda.
The last few filed in and took their places along with a handful of the deck crew. Nate tried to count them, but he lost his place after counting fifty-three. He might have been confident in his abilities as a pilot, but alongside these real military personnel, he felt more like a fraud. Cassandra looked to him and returned a nervous smile.
"I can't believe we're here."
The room turned silent as a small group entered through the main door. First inside were the two leaders of Corsair and Thunder Squadrons, and behind them, Commander Higgins and Captain Cornwallis. The two junior officers waited at the flanks, the two senior officers moving to the front podium. Everybody was now on their feet, waiting to hear whatever it was the Captain had to say. They stopped and looked out to the assembled men and women.
"Take your seats."
In a chorus of flesh and fabric the audience sat down, and the light began to dim. Nate looked to the right where Billy sat in his usual spot. He smiled at Nate and then to his surprise, Billy leaned closer to him to speak.
"Nate, this is our first briefing. Can you..."
He tried to ignore him, especially as they were not that far from the officers at the front. At seeing his friend look away, he twisted to the right and found himself looking directly at the newly arrived squadron leaders.
"Ensign William Mitchell. Silence if you please."
It was the booming voice of the Captain, and Billy's face quickly reddened. As he looked to the front, Nate spotted Cassandra and Matilda shaking their heads. Rex, on the other hand, was hiding his face and trying not to be seen laughing
. If any of them was ever to get into trouble like this, it always seemed to be Billy.
"As you have no doubt realised, we are now deep inside Byotai territory. We crossed the border forty-eight hours ago."
The door leading out from the room closed just as a pair of marines stepped inside. The increased level of security was something else Nate had noticed. Guards were stationed at all critical stations on the ship, as well as regular patrols.
"What you do not know is that we have been using Spacebridges hitherto unknown to us to make our way to our destination. What would normally take many months will now take less than a week."
The low level sound of conversation surprised him.
"The question you'll all be asking is where are we going, and what will we be doing when we get there?"
A light activated in front of him and up popped a flat two-dimensional videostream. As it moved into focus, the imagery showed the whirlpool shape of a Rift exit and then a new star system.
"We're inside the Trinity region. As some of you may already know, this is the central territory of the Empire and comprises of their three most significant star systems. Hence the name, Trinity."
The feeling of excitement was barely impossible to conceal from the audience.
"So far, we have encountered little more than abandoned transports and destroyed warships."
He shook his head as he spoke.
"The background to what is happening out here is astounding, and quite frankly, I'm still stunned by it. Based on the latest intelligence, including that collected by Relentless and her crew last month, we have fragments of knowledge."
Several of the other pilots looked towards the members of Knighthawk Squadron. For all their misgivings about the new pilots, not one of them could argue that the youngsters had not played their part.
"First thing to know is that the Byotai Empire of old is gone."
Billy's mouth hung wide open as he listened, and Nate nudged him to get him to look a little less stupid.
"This region is in a state of utter collapse. The borders are now completely undefended and vulnerable to attack. Any remaining forces are engaged in a bitter civil war between the loyalists of the old regime, and an unusual alliance of factions led by those calling themselves the Star Empire."
Star Crusader: Knighthawk Squadron Page 13