Lorelei used the distraction to get aboard the gunship. Natalia walked up the group and put her hands on her hips. “Are we ready to go yet? I’m tired of standing around,” she said.
“Who are you, and where did my sweet little girl go?” Reaper joked.
“I want to go to my new home.” Her pouty face was adorable.
“Lieutenant Chavez, could you zip over to the Claymore and bring the captain here for me?” Ben looked at his captain for confirmation and she just nodded.
“Can I go?” the chief asked as he walked up.
“Yes Chief, go on over and check it out. Have E’Aria give you the nickel tour,” he said.
“Get going before Natalia starts beating someone,” the captain added.
They all milled around for another hour after E’Aria and the chief got back. Natalia, the prime minister and Mr. Antonio were aboard the Claymore.
“Let’s go, Captain Aok,” he said. “Our passengers are waiting.”
They walked through the portside airlock. Captain O’Shaughnessy and the major followed them. He pushed the door closed but didn’t lock it. The captain threw her arms around his neck and kissed him full on the lips. She pressed herself against him. It was a great kiss, and it was too bad he couldn’t participate in it fully, he thought. She stepped back with misty eyes.
“I will miss you,” she said. “If this one standing behind me doesn’t show up at your door in the next couple of months, send me a message. I have five years’ worth of leave and pay saved up. You could probably convince me to stay very easily.” She spun around and walked back through the door.
Andrea stood in place looking at him. He could tell she was trying to decide what reaction to take. He didn’t give her a chance. He stepped forward and wrapped his arms around her. He kissed her with passion, even though she stood rigid in his arms. He didn’t stop and she couldn’t stay that way for long. She relaxed and kissed him back until she started sobbing.
“You know where I will be,” he said. “Don’t make me wait forever.” He wiped her eyes with his finger. “I will send you a com tonight before we get too far out of range.”
She walked out and he pushed the door shut and locked it. “Let’s go, Captain,” he yelled. E’Aria lifted the gunship and headed over to the Claymore. They sat down in its docking bay and shut the doors. E’Aria headed for the bridge to get them underway. Ben decided on an officer’s quarters. It was nothing fancy, but the beds were all huge, which he liked.
“Where is Lorelei?” he asked. “She isn’t still hiding on the gunship, is she?”
“She is still hiding,” E’Aria replied. “I think she is waiting for you to tell her to come out.”
“Okay,” he replied. “I’ll be back in a few minutes.”
He walked to the gunship. The door was still open so he just yelled. “Lorelei, we are underway. I want you on the bridge learning every station.”
He heard footsteps moving down the corridor. “Let’s go, slowpoke,” he said. She smiled at him and nodded.
“We are about to go to FTL,” E’Aria said when they arrived at her station. “Once I get that accomplished I will go over each station with her. Would you like me to teach Natalia as well?”
“That’s a good idea, Captain. It may help with the boredom. I will go get her.” He walked off the bridge.
“Just so you know, I can read some Trillond,” Lorelei told E’Aria. “It shouldn’t take me long at all to learn the stations you want me to work.”
“I want you to learn them all,” E’Aria replied. “There will be only two of us on this trip who can pilot this starship. We will have to work two shifts and have some overlap in the middle. If anything happens, we have to be able to act immediately.”
“Aye aye, Captain.”
“Once we get to this planet Anubis he calls home, will you stay around, Lorelei?” E’Aria asked.
“I would like to, if he will let me.”
“He won’t send you away. Once I determine your skills, I think I will make you my first officer. I know you spent a lot of your life in space. What I am looking for now is the trust I need to find in you to be worthy of the position.” E’Aria paused. “I am not Ben. I cannot look at a person and just decide they are trustworthy. You do seem to have changed and I want to see the changes in action. And one more thing. Never ever lie to me or him. I will know.” E’Aria turned back to the console she was working on.
Lorelei stood looking at her back. How will she know if I’m lying? I’m pretty good at controlling my face, she thought.
“Because I will know,” E’Aria said out loud, never turning around. “And I don’t need to see your face.”
Lorelei went white as a ghost. “You read my thoughts,” she gasped.
“I just wanted to show you that I am not making idle threats. I am not going to sit around reading your mind. Believe me, it is really no fun. I’m happy to get away from the Warhammer. I will have some peace for a while.”
“I can understand that,” Lorelei chuckled, and changed the subject. “There is still a message pending on this com, Captain. Should we listen to it?”
“We will when he gets back,” E’Aria answered. “Work your way from one station to then next. Look it over and ask any questions before going to the next one.”
The doors opened and Ben and Natalia walked in. She ran and gave E’Aria a big hug.
“Is it true you are a real princess?” she asked. That got Lorelei’s attention.
“Yes Natalia, it is true but right now it doesn’t matter,” E’Aria said. “I am the captain of this warship and that is all I want to be.”
“You don’t want to wear pretty dresses and make everyone do whatever you tell them to?” the girl said.
“No, I have you for that,” E’Aria smiled. “When we get to Anubis we will get you some pretty dresses, and you can order everyone to do what you want.”
“E’Aria, stop it,” Ben said. “Natalia, you can have lots of pretty dresses but you do not get to order anyone around. That is not how it works on Anubis. People there work hard and are good to each other. Just be nice and they will probably do what you want.”
“You have a message to listen to, Ben,” E’Aria said. “Do it soon before we get too far away.”
“Could one of you bring it up on the vid?” She did so and the Trillond prime minister appeared.
“Reaper,” he said, “I wanted to update you on the movement of the Cjittan. Our long-range sensors have tracked about 50 ships of different classes headed in your direction. The file I sent has a breakdown of the classes of ships. The scouts we tracked already should be very close to Hyson by now. I would recommend you take your ships and move farther back into your territory and get reinforcements. Good hunting.” The message ended.
“Captain,” Ben said, “can you get that file to the Warhammer?”
“Already transmitting,” she replied
“Can you check their status?” he added.
“Let me drop out of FTL and communication will be easier.”
The doors opened. “How is everyone doing?” the prime minister asked.
“We are dropping out of FTL to send a message and check on the Warhammer. Listen to the message.” Lorelei played it again. The prime minister looked very serious.
“How long will it take for a message to reach Trillond Prime and Ares?” she asked.
“A week and a half to two weeks from here,” E’Aria said.
“That is too long.”
“Let us get a answer from the Warhammer, then we can make a plan,” E’Aria said. “Messages are traveling at sub-light speed. If we run the ship at full FTL for three days it would be like taking a week off the message time. I don’t know what this ship will do, so it’s just a guess right now.”
“How many ships can the Trillond system put into the defense?” Ben asked the prime minister.
“If we put out the call right now, we could match the invading fleet. But we won’t have
that kind of time, it seems.”
“You know the Colonial Navy will send you ships also,” he said.
“Captain, we have the Warhammer on the com,” Lorelei said. The vid turned on.
“Captain O’Shaughnessy,” E’Aria said to the screen, “has there been any contact with the Cjittan?”
“Yes, Captain Aok,” O’Shaughnessy answered. “My ship is holding its own but the Morningstar has boarders. We have cleared all the small attack ships from our space except for the ones attached to the Morningstar.”
“Are you at least moving towards friendly space?” Aok asked, concerned.
“We are, but it’s at max sub-light. The Morningstar can’t go FTL with the holes in the hull. Plus they still have a full-on battle going on inside the ship. There are about 30 very tough bugs over there.”
“You have to figure out a way to speed up the pace,” E’Aria said. “You have 50 ships that are soon going to be breathing down on you. Can the Warhammer take on the crew and leave the Morningstar behind for now? Maybe you could hide it in the asteroids with a skeleton crew to nurse it home. We could take some of the crew off your hands.”
“Contact the other captain, Aisling,” Ben said. “Tell him there is lot more of that coming. Have the general order it.”
“That’s part of the problem, Ben,” O’Shaughnessy said. “The general took some shrapnel, and the admiral and colonel are trying to take charge.”
“Talk to the captain,” Ben said. “Evacuate the Morningstar. Have them clear a path to the cargo bay and start getting people off that ship. Have you heard from Andrea? Are they holding their own, do you know?”
“It’s not good, Ben. Some of your team has been killed. As soon as they got onboard they were relieved of their weapons. In her last message she said the admiral and the colonel had roughly twenty crewmen who were armed with lasers surrounding them. They have a few lasers the others discarded and their knives. They made their way to the general and Ronnie is taking care of him, but the team isn’t going to hold out long with those weapons.”
Ben’s knuckles were white, he was gripping the back of the chair so hard. “Captain Aok,” he said tersely, “can we turn this ship around and see what her max FTL is?”
“Aisling,” he said to the com, “if you can tell Andrea and the team to hold out, I’m coming. Tell the captain I will need access to the shuttle dock. I’ll get the bugs off his ship.”
“So your name is Ben,” the prime minister said. He nodded.
“You know your friends could be dead by the time we get there, and we could be next if that Cjittan fleet is there,” she said.
“Yes ma’am,” he said. “That’s why Lorelei will fly the Claymore away once the gunship has cleared the doors.”
“You would put E’Aria’s life at risk as well?”
“E’Aria can drop me off in the hangar and leave to catch up to you.”
“I will not!” E’Aria yelled. “Those are my friends as well. We will save anyone who can be saved. Your counsel is sound, dear aunt, but I am afraid I cannot accept it. Lorelei, come here.”
“Yes Captain,” Lorelei responded.
“This will turn on an auto self defense mode,” E’Aria said, gesturing to a button. “If anything happens, you won’t have time to fly and fight. Touch this light and it will engage and you will only have to identify the friendly ships and it will track and destroy anything else.”
“How fast are we traveling, Captain?” Lorelei asked. She looked over E’Aria’s shoulder and smiled. “Nine times FTL,” she said. “We will be there in 15 minutes.”
“Won’t they be surprised,” Ben said. “Let’s suit up, Captain. It’s all about the guns this time. I’m going to carry extras to give the team.”
Ben had three rail pistols, one on each hip and one on his chest, and two rifles, one in front and one hanging on his back. A shoulder bag held power and ammo packs. E’Aria was loaded down as well, but she had her twin short swords and held her nodachi in her hand. She handed it to Ben. “You take this. I would feel better if you did.”
Chapter 28: Back in Black
They boarded the gunship and prepped it. When Lorelei opened the doors, they were ready to go. He took off the rifles and put the nodachi on, then put the rifles back on. He put his helmet on and locked it down. Lorelei announced the doors were opening and the area was clear of hostiles.
“Lorelei, head away at full sub-light. Things go well, we will catch up shortly,” Ben ordered. He turned on the com. “Aisling, are you there?”
“Go ahead, Ben.”
“Is the captain of the Morningstar on board with the plan?” Ben asked.
“He is, and I have him patched in,” O’Shaughnessy said.
“Okay, good,” Ben said. “We are making our approach. Captain, do you have anyone you can send us who is loyal to you?”
“I do,” he replied, “and they are already there and waiting on you.”
“I am going to apologize in advance for the small holes I’m going to make in your ship,” he said, “but for every hole there will be a dead unwanted boarder next to it.”
“Sounds like a fair trade,” he chuckled. “These bastards are hard to kill.”
“We are landing right now. See you in a little while.” The screen went dark.
E’Aria spun the gunship so it was facing out of the cargo bay. The opened the starboard side main door. Ben looked out first, scanning for movement. When he felt it was clear, he moved to take up position behind some crates. He gave E’Aria the all clear sign and she stepped out and shut the door. A group of navy and marines approached them a bit warily. They had only heard of Reaper and his team but never seen him.
“Who is in charge?” Ben asked.
“I am, sir.” Lieutenant Strakowski stepped forward.
“Lieutenant, tell me what you know,” Ben said.
“The bugs are moving in groups of three or four, sir,” Strakowski said. “They are making a systematic sweep of the floors. Some of them have crew pinned down and aren’t in any hurry to move on.”
“Can you get me to General Grey, Lieutenant?”
“Yes sir. He is not too far from the bridge,” the lieutenant said. “They have piled up furniture in the corridor, for what little good it does.”
“Get me there first. Is that corridor empty?” Ben asked.
“Yes sir, just the marines who are with the general, three or four.”
“We will form two groups,” Ben said. “Captain, take the lieutenant and half the men and clear the left side of the corridor and I will take rest on the right side.”
Ben had a staff sergeant as his second. He took out a pistol and dialed it down. He handed it to the sergeant.
“Even at this setting, it should blow a hole in these bugs, but hopefully not the ship,” he explained. “If it does go through the ship, grab a dead bug and cover the hole with it. It should suck the shell up tight and hold until we can get out of here. You get the idea. We need the force field keeping those huge holes closed.”
They walked in on three of the bugs eating. Reaper could see the black armor-covered legs lying on the floor but couldn’t see the rest of the body. He opened fire with the pistol. Green gore splatter covered the walls. One turned its head toward him and opened it mandibles and mouth, letting out a screech that was cut short by molten tungsten ripping the top of its head off. He heard yelling in the corridor and saw a marine pinned to the floor by another bug. Before it could do anything else, the sergeant put two rounds into its head. The marine scrambled back to the wall with the team. They heard firing across the corridor. The team came out a few seconds later.
“How many?” he asked.
“Two,” E’Aria answered.
“That’s five so far, and we aren’t halfway yet.”
He handed the sergeant a new power pack and ammo. “Load this up and make sure you have a green light,” he said. “Put the partial in your belt.”
He turned to the grou
p. “How are the rest of you?”
“Scared shitless,” one of them said.
“Good answer,” Ben said. “Keep your wits about you and don’t let the fear take control. Being scared is normal.”
Everyone in the corridor was listening to him. They all nodded. “Are any of you expert pistol marksmen?” he asked. A female corpsman raised her hand. He walked over to her.
“I’m going to give you this pistol,” he said. “You are going to cover the rear. So far everything we have shot with these is dead. If you’re really good, just take a breath and blow the fucker’s head off. It will be that ugly thing with the mouth trying to eat you.” He patted her on the shoulder.
They moved on forward and cleared three more rooms. They were almost to the barricade. He looked over and E’Aria held her fist up. She pointed to the room they were about to clear. He motioned for his team to move back and so did E’Aria. It was a good call, because three six-legged mantis-like creatures came out into the hall. Their angular heads with big eyes studied the situation. They stopped and studied Ben the longest. They started chittering and making clicking noises with their mouths.
Ben walked a couple of steps toward them with his pistol in his hand. “I don’t know if you can understand me,” he said, “but you need to try really hard.”
He holstered his pistol and showed them his hands. “The Allith have lied to you to get you to do their fighting for them. If you continue, I will show you no mercy.”
The lead mantis moved forward slowly. It raised one of its front legs and slowly reached out and tapped the Reaper on his chest. He reached back slowly and pulled out the nodachi. It was quiet enough that everyone could hear it slide free. He held it out in front of him. The mantis took in the whole picture. The nodachi was longer than the first section of its front leg. This must have meant something to them. They bent and lowered heads to the floor.
“E’Aria,” he said, “move your team into that room out of the corridor. Sergeant, move our team into that room. Do not bunch up. Spread out and keep your weapons ready but safe.”
The Chronicles of Benjamin Jamison: Call Sign Reaper Page 35