Spinward Fringe Broadcast 7: Framework

by Randolph Lalonde

  “Agreed. That’s why I think the moment you start firing you’ll get marked and be one of the high priority targets for the enemy. You’d get a few good shots in, then get shot down. Taking advantage of your armour, shields, and cloaking to protect the most vulnerable is a better task. It’s a more honourable task as well, you should take that into account. You’re also going to be serving as one of our remote strategic computers. You’ll be able to make a difference that way.”

  “True,” Lewis said. “You always know how to make me feel better.”

  “That goes both ways, Lewis,” Ayan said.

  She walked across the busy hangar and waved to Slick, who was supervising the arrangement of several Uriel and Ramiel fighters. They were all tilted towards the sky near the entrance of the hangar. “How is everything?” she asked.

  “Good, great,” Slick replied. “We’ve managed to re-task all the fighters we were using for parts as mobile turrets. All together we have forty two fighters ready to go, and twenty eight of them can take flight. They’ll be in surface-to-air, or hover gunnery mode until we can safely get birds in the air.”

  “What about gunners?” Ayan asked.

  “No problem there,” he replied. “Starting the hiring was a stroke of genius, Ma’am. We have more experienced pilots than we do fighters. Thankfully, most of them know how to use a rifle too, otherwise we’d have a lot of bored flyboys and girls around.”

  “Good, you’ve done remarkable work getting things set up here,” Ayan said.

  “Did you hear about our latest recruit, by the way?” Slick asked, a big grin on his face.

  “There have been a lot of them,” Ayan replied.

  “Not like this,” Slick said. He pointed to Alaka and a smaller nafalli who had black streaked light fur. Alaka was fitting him with a harness and a small fusion generator, at his feet was a starfighter class particle beam weapon. “Alaka’s son, Iruuk, is joining us on this one. Now those are mobile turrets.”

  “Do we have armour for him?”

  “Alaka’s setting up a really heavy vacsuit. Thankfully he’s small enough to fit in one, though probably not for long.”

  “How old is he?” Ayan asked, looking it up herself.

  “Fifteen,” Slick replied. “But that’s like twenty one in terms of human maturity. Nafalli are self-sufficient at two, able to hunt and set up a den. They don’t like being alone, but they can do it.”

  “I really should learn more about them,” Ayan said. “If only I had time.”

  “Isn’t that always the way?” Slick said. “So you’re going to let him fight?”

  “I’m not going to stand in his way. I trust that his family knows what’s best, I just hope this battle is nice and short. I’d be crushed if anything happened to someone that young.”

  “So you’re sure this is going down?” Slick asked quietly. “It’s nine-oh-two, and there’s no sign yet.”

  Ayan looked at him and smiled. “I hope I’m wrong, but assume I’m right. It’s safer that way.”

  “Yes, Commander,” Slick said.

  “Good work, everyone,” Ayan said loudly enough to be heard by at least a dozen pilots and ground technicians. Beyond the mostly closed doors of the hangar, the settlement had changed.

  Large round segments of emergency habitats from the Enforcer 1109 had been erected to provide extra shielding over the shipping containers used to house their people. The shelters were made to be modular and adaptable to different terrains. They were also quick to set up, a fact that the night shift was thankful for, according to the report Ayan read earlier that morning. The shipping containers were hidden beneath the portable shelters, and they were working on sealing the seams as she passed. They were all-terrain, and capable of surviving meteor strikes. People still had to sleep on bunks in dark shipping containers on the inside though, and that was something that bothered her.

  People stopped and saluted as she passed, but not all. Many avoided looking at her, and some even whispered to their nearby comrades. She guessed they had doubts about her prediction, and probably resented the extra work involved with fortifying their settlement.

  Ayan’s comm warned her that there was a priority call coming in. “Yes, Lieutenant Davi?”

  “Some boneheads are letting about twenty armed Carthans through our West gate,” he replied. He could hear him running. “Remmy and I are on our way to head them off and get details. From what I hear they’ve got an arrest warrant for you.”

  “What?” Ayan was furious. She turned to Slick. “Do most of your pilots carry sidearms?”

  “Aye, standard part of the uniform thanks to Ronin’s rule book,” Slick replied. “Trouble?”

  “We have an armed party of Carthans who want to put me under arrest. My guards are in the bunker,” Ayan explained.

  “Hup!” Slick barked so loudly that Ayan jumped. He had everyone’s attention in a heartbeat, however. “Eyes here! I need volunteer ground shooters for a guard detail. Some Carthans are on their way here and they want to arrest our commander. She doesn’t feel like going for a walk this morning, she’d rather spend a bit more time with us Skyguards, so let’s make her feel welcome.”

  Every technician and fighter pilot, armed or unarmed scrambled. She was surrounded by two dozen people in yellow, orange, blue, and black vacsuits. Most of them had sidearms, the rest held dangerous tools as though they were ready to put them to grisly purpose. Several others manned the five nearest fighters. To her amazement, the machines could walk on four of their thruster pods, and the main bodies could swivel so they pointed like manned gunnery pods.

  “You can’t beat walker mode for making grounded fighters useful,” Slick said.

  Alaka, his son, and several members of security were on their way from different points inside the hangar by the time Remmy and Lieutenant Davi accompanied the large group of armoured Carthans into the hangar. Their leaders were wide-eyed the moment the five fighters shifted on their thruster pod feet and pointed all their weapons at the group.

  “Excuse me,” Remmy said, as he made quick tracks away from the Carthan group. “I’ll just be somewhere else.”

  After stopping for a moment, the major leading the group continued forward. “Your entourage stays right where they are, you can come forward,” Ayan shouted.

  “Or?”

  Slick cleared his throat and regarded her with a raised eyebrow.

  Ayan shrugged and nodded, a signal he interpreted as permission to handle the threat portion of the encounter.

  “Or my fighters slag your guards and everyone else cleans up what’s still moving in the crater,” Slick said.

  “You wouldn’t dare,” the major replied. “It would be the end of everything here.”

  “If my commander’s right, the Carthans are about to get their asses handed to them by the Order of Eden, so I’m not worried.”

  The major looked unsure of himself as he straightened his dress jacket. He signaled his people to remain where they were with a gesture. The chains running across his chest jingled in the quiet hangar as he walked on alone. When he was face to face with one of Ayan’s guardians, a small woman in an orange vacsuit holding a powerful plasma torch, he stopped. “Ayan Rice the Second, I have a warrant for your arrest under the charges of grand theft, conspiracy, murder, and smuggling. You are to accompany me to Greydock, where you will be placed in detention until your trial. You may select counsel to accompany you.”

  Ayan gently pressed her way to the front of the crowd protecting her and flashed a smile at the man serving the arrest warrant. “What’s your name, Major?”

  “Frederick Yardley, Ma’am,” he replied.

  “It’s a miracle that someone let you into our compound, Major Yardley,” Ayan said. “But since you’re here, I’m willing to invite you and your men to stay, because in a few minutes the Carthan Fleet is about to engage the Order of Eden.”

  “I’m afraid I must decline,” the major replied. “My orders are to place you unde
r arrest and safely escort you to Greydock.”

  “Let’s put your orders aside for a moment and talk to each other like two people responsible for the safety of a number of men and women. No one told you an invasion was expected, did they?” Ayan said.

  Major Yardley looked even more unsure of himself, taking a moment to glance at Ayan’s guardians before answering. “No. The fleet has been busy with readiness drills for hours, but that’s all I heard.”

  Ayan found herself considering how much she really believed in the predictions of Roman and the Victory Machine. He’d presented her with a strange mixture of visions. Some, like the invasion of Port Rush, she didn’t want to see come true. Others, like the vision of her children and a much improved Tamber, she desperately hoped for. No vision was perfect. She found herself craving more clarity, but the time had come. She either believed and presented her faith or safeguarded against the possibility that nothing would happen, minimized the loss of confidence her people could have in her.

  The sacrifice Roman made in getting the Victory Machine’s predictions to her was enough to eliminate almost all her doubt. He wouldn’t have sacrificed his life needlessly, and he wouldn’t have used his last breaths to lie.

  “I have a proposal,” Ayan said quietly. She was smiling at him, doing her level best to sound inviting. “I doubt your senior officers will care if you take half an hour to arrest me, so why don’t you wait thirty minutes? If I’m right, the Carthan Fleet will be under attack, and the safest place for you and your people will be right here, under the best energy shield this side of Greydock. If I’m wrong, I’ll go with you and we’ll take care of these invalid charges. Do we have a deal?”

  “That’ll do, but I can’t let you out of my sight,” he replied.

  “Fine, but your men stay out of the way. Set them up outside this hangar, to the side. We have work to do and we’re running out of time.”

  He nodded.

  “Good, I’m going to the central command of our compound now. Pass your orders quickly, there isn’t much time,” Ayan said.

  He turned and started to march back to his people with a steady grace. Watching his slow retreat made her hackles raise. “Oi!” she barked, “I said quickly!”

  “Camp out at the waypoint I’m marking on your Strategic Overlay,” he shouted to his troops as he crossed the distance, making the decision not to wait until he was within easy earshot.

  “Thank you, Wing Commander,” Ayan said to Slick. “I like the name of your wing, by the way, the Skyguard. Wish I had time to properly introduce myself.”

  “You don’t,” Slick said. “We understand. I see you’ve got about five squads coming through the door, so I think they can handle the guarding from here.”

  “I think so,” Ayan agreed. She marched towards the hangar doors quickly, meeting Major Yardley and two armed guards on the way.

  “I’m bringing-“

  “Two guards. Fine. They get in the way and I’ll shoot them myself, then I’ll do you,” Ayan said as she walked. “This is an invasion, Major. You fight me, you’re the enemy, and I’m a trained soldier. My enemies don’t get second chances.”

  Victor Davis heard the last and couldn’t help but grin at her. “The first time we let you roam around unprotected since I was assigned and you almost get arrested,” he said.

  “Are they gathered?” Ayan asked.

  “All on top of the new bunker, aye.”

  “Good, here we go.” She broke into a run, followed by five squads of soldiers and the major with his escort of two. She noticed his armed troop carrier, a thirty five metre long ship hovering outside the shield. “You’re going to want that inside the shield when the first strikes hit. I’m not lowering the shield for anything after this show gets started,” she said.

  “Ma’am?” the Carthan major asked.

  “Are you stupid or deaf?” Ayan asked. “That troop carrier is going to be destroyed if it just hovers there beside our shield. Get it inside, there’s room right beside our hangar on an old platform.”

  Major Yardley made no move to send orders to his transport by the time Ayan arrived at the new bunker. Ayan took one last look around from the centre of their compound before paying attention to the people inside.

  The gate looked abandoned. For the first time in days there wasn’t a lineup of people waiting to leave or enter. Their energy shield was up. They had two arches that allowed them to turn the shield on and off in large doorway sized patches. They’d used the main airlocks from an old freighter they’d picked apart while rebuilding the Samson.

  Their new combat bunker was actually a pair of large converted underground fuel tanks. The filling ports had been enlarged to accommodate an antigrav lift. The whole thing was covered by a salvaged habitat pod that was brought down from the Triton the day before. It was unbelievably easy to set up; Ayan only discovered its existence after they were finished putting it in place and anchoring it. It was like everything else on the Triton: armoured, sturdy, and built by masters.

  “You stay here,” she told the Major.

  “You stay here,” Victor repeated to him with a smile. If he weren’t holding a heavy rifle across his chest, the expression might have been seen as inviting.

  Ayan took the lift down and emerged into the bunker. “Our people did this all in one day and one night,” she said to Oz as he approached her, offering her a hand to step down. “Shelters, a bunker, and a decently organized defensive position.”

  “The miracle is all an illusion,” Oz replied. He walked her over to a makeshift table where they’d placed a few comm units that served as computers and holoprojectors. “I’ve been training the soldiers here for over a month, and we’ve known how to set all the equipment we got from the Enforcer for weeks. All they needed was the order, and they knew exactly what to do. You should know, you trained with us.”

  “Mostly for the physical training, I missed most of the emergency drills and info sessions,” she replied. Ayan nodded at the group gathered around the table and the few technicians she could see. Jenny and several other officers directed their soldiers to help shore up the physical barricades within their settlement’s shields. The walls they began erecting weeks ago were made of scrap panels welded together, strong enough to stop most individuals, but they were trying to reinforce it to withstand real punishment, just in case the shield encompassing their entire settlement went down. It stood five metres tall at the lowest point, and almost nine at the tallest. Thin plating was easy to find, it was the armour they always had difficulty with.

  “Everyone deserves a lot of credit anyway,” Ayan said. “How’s our shield?”

  “Better,” Oz said. “With a fusion chain from the Triton,” he pointed his thumb over his shoulder at the carefully piled and braced mini-fusion reactors at one end of the bunker, “we have reserve power and enough juice to repel orbital strikes. The Carthans have been calling every half hour ever since we turned it on. It’s like no one told them there’s something coming.”

  “I’ve contacted Patrizia Salustri, Ugo Dallego, and everyone else I can call a leader on Tamber and I’ve been put off. No one believes there’s an attack coming.”

  “Oi, that’s not true,” Captain Ruby Sima said as she came out from behind a pillar with large capacitor pods strapped to it. “Otherwise I wouldn’t have brought my ship in under your shiny new shield.”

  “Thank you for lending a hand,” Ayan said. “I was surprised, to be honest.”

  “I’ve got valuables on this rock, two warehouses I’m willing to talk about, and no time to move a thing. Did you get any idea from your encounter that tells you who’ll win this?”

  “We can make Tamber into something amazing if we don’t abandon this moon, or her people,” Ayan replied. “We just have to fight for it.”

  “Some positive thinking,” Ruby said. “I’ll go along with that, trapped here anyway. Just wondering why you sent your best boy away with his shiny new ship if you knew this was coming.
”

  Ayan knew the question would come up, and dreaded it. “He had work to do somewhere else, I wish I could tell you more.”

  “So do I,” Ruby said. “I’m going back up top to make sure the Lord Neptune’s in order. I want my firepower ready just in case we find something in the sky to shoot at.”

  “You will,” Ayan said. “And thank you again.”

  “Are you staying down here, Ma’am?” Sergeant Jenny Machad asked.

  “I’ll be going up top. I want to see for myself what happens when the timer hits zero,” Ayan replied.

  “Well, I’m going up top to help my unit,” Jenny said. She moved around behind Ayan and started strapping a heavy rifle from Triton’s emergency armoury to the commander’s back.

  “I think there are other people who’ll need that more than me. Besides, I’ve got all the firepower I’ll need here,” Ayan protested, patting her sidearm.

  “You’re sending half your guards off, so I’m going to make sure I know you’re well armed,” she replied.

  “Well, I’ll say thank you for now, Sergeant.”

  “You’re welcome, for now,” she replied. “Heading up top.”

  She made sure the Weary Traveller, a ship that they were slowly repairing, had been moved and saw that it was. There were three technicians erecting a portable shelter there, and she was immediately furious. “These three,” she pointed at the hologram hovering above the table. “Get them moved and mark their records with one count of insubordination. I’ll deal with them later, personally.”

  Everyone watched silently as she stepped away from the table and headed for one of the two lifting platforms. “I don’t care if half of you don’t believe what I’m telling you about what’ll happen today, they’ll believe it just fine when they’re crushed by a drop pod.”

  Oz joined her on the lift just as it started rising and smiled at her. “Are you sure this isn’t a distraction from the fact that you and Liam were logged in the same bunk last night?” he whispered.

  Ayan kicked him in the shin just as she felt herself turning red. “Not the time.”

  “I’m a little jealous. A quick comfort on the eve of battle. I don’t blame you,” Oz replied.