“I think Nick’s going to need our help in that cargo bay,” I said. “When you feel like you’re in good shape, come on up and join us.”
“Lipstick on a bulldog, Cap.”
“What’s that?”
“Oh, at this point we’re just putting lipstick on a bulldog.”
“I don’t follow,” It wasn’t a term I was familiar with.
“I think she’s saying we can help him now,” Ada said.
I didn’t have time to argue, or maybe I just didn’t have the energy. We’d been at it for a couple of hours and between the adrenaline leaving my system and the sheer physical effort, I was tired. I was sure that was true for everyone at this point.
In the end, we did the best we could for the cargo bay and shredded engine, overlapping our scavenged pieces carefully until we were confident the new walls of the cargo bay would hold atmo. We found large enough pieces to patch every possible weak spot, including the hatches and doors. Hopefully, the fixes would keep the ship from blowing a seam if we had to put her under more stress. I didn’t think I’d be trusting Sterra's Gift’s hull integrity anytime soon, however.
Finally, Nick was satisfied with the job we’d done and it was time to head back in.
“Lipstick on a bulldog?” I asked, the phrase had finally sunk in far enough that I could ponder it. “Why would anyone put lipstick on a dog?
INTO THE FIRE
It was hard to express how grateful I felt when Tali and Jordy greeted us on the bridge with a banquet of rehydrated and heated meals. They’d thoughtfully brought enough supplies forward for a crew twice our size, or so I thought.
“What’s next, Liam?” Tali asked, once she’d given us a chance to work through the food for a while. I hadn’t been this hungry for a very long time and was enjoying the process of simply sitting and eating with nothing crazy happening.
“I haven’t really thought that through yet,” I said. I knew people were looking for me to provide leadership, but I’d been running on instinct and urgency for so long I hadn’t been thinking about the big picture.
“It’s a problem common to junior officers,” Marny said. It sounded like a jab, but that wasn’t really like Marny.
“Oh?” I asked, not ready to take the bait just yet.
“Yeah, your mind is overwhelmed by all of the details and you’re carrying too much of the load, Cap. Take it from someone who’s been there. You’ve got several amazing strategic minds within arm’s length. Use them.” I was glad that I hadn’t snapped at her like I’d wanted to.
I turned to Tali who was watching me intently. This was a woman who’d seen more combat in her thirty years of life than I ever would - at least I hoped that would be the case.
“Tali, Jordy, surely you’ve been contemplating our situation. What do you see as our options?”
“As far back as the Roman Empire there’s been an understanding about the nature of combat and bold action. This crew is the living embodiment of the simple phrase ‘fortune favors the bold.’ Honestly, it doesn’t work for everyone. It takes a disciplined, focused group to take advantage of the slim line between insanity and acceptable risk.”
“I’m not really following. How does that apply here?”
“Let me try a different tack. What if I could wave a magic wand and we all got transported to a bar on Puskar Stellar?”
“Sounds pretty good at the moment,” I said.
“You’d hate yourself,” Nick interjected. I looked at him. I was missing something, of that I was certain. Nick wasn’t just my business partner and best friend, he was very often my conscience.
It dawned on me, “Frak. Qiu.” Nick nodded sagely at me.
“Give me some options,” I said. I was coming up with nothing on my own.
“We’ve got to stop that ship,” Tali said.
“What then?” I asked.
Jordy almost always let Tali do the heavy lifting when it came to strategic conversations. I didn’t think it was for lack of good ideas. I just expected it was because they were so in-tune with each other that he didn’t mind letting her run with the conversation. So it came as a surprise when he answered.
Jordy’s voice was quiet, almost a whisper. “Get us on that ship with a four-man team and we’ll take it.” Jordy so often presented himself as the light-hearted playboy that it felt like we were talking to a completely different person.
“I count three real soldiers,” I said. It wasn’t false modesty. I knew darn well I wasn’t in their league.
“You’re right, of course,” Tali said. It hurt a little to hear her say it, but it was the truth. “But Jordy already did that math. Would we rather have our whole team here right now? Absolutely. Guess what, though? Combat is all about making do with what you have. It’s time to soldier up.”
“How are we going to stop that ship?” Nick asked.
That was the moment I got it – the feeling of dead certainty. I knew what the right thing to do was. The plan formed in my mind like concrete. Nick was going to hate it, but I was committed to it.
I explained my plan to the group.
“That’s suicide,” Nick said.
“Not even close. It’s the only way. Qiu’s dead if we don’t do this. You didn’t see her Nick, somebody used her for a punching bag.”
“There’s no guarantee she’s still alive.” As predicted, Nick hated the plan. I knew him well enough that I could see him working through it.
“Does that really matter?”
We stared at each other for what felt like several minutes.
“Fine. No. Frak.” Nick finally relented.
“Marny, what’d you hear from Belcose? When will Mars Protectorate be here?”
“They’re still a day out.”
“Jupiter. You’d think with all their ships, they’d have something a little closer.”
“I think most of their efforts are focused within the Mars ecliptic. Jeratorn’s a station of a few thousand. There are fifteen billion Mars citizens to protect. Bottom line is, they just don’t hang around out here.”
Marny and I walked Nick and Ada back to the airlock. I knew Nick felt like he’d drawn the short straw. He was probably already having second thoughts.
“I hate this,” Nick said.
“I know, buddy, but it’s the right thing and you know it.”
“I don’t have to like it.”
Nick and Ada exited the airlock and jetted back toward the waiting Adela Chen. If this didn’t work out, he’d never forgive me.
I entered the bridge.
“Captain on the bridge,” Marny announced. We’d dropped that formality recently and I was a startled to hear her use it again.
Sterra's Gift shuddered as we started our burn. I didn’t know exactly where we'd find the frigate, but it had to still be close to the co-op’s asteroid. Even with a giant hauler, the convoy couldn't have gone very far in the last six hours. Especially since they had to come up with some sort of way to fasten the asteroid to their hauler.
My HUD outlined the triangularly shaped frigate while we were still well out of its weapons range. The hauler Flark had procured was indeed massive and almost entirely engines. There would be sizeable living quarters and likely more than one bridge, but the engines were so large it was hard to see anything else.
Hail the frigate.
I waited a few minutes.
Hail the frigate, tell them we’re requesting a Parley.
I was a little surprised when this got me a response.
“Parley? You little shite. I already ran you off once, I won’t be so nice next time.” Flark’s red face appeared on the forward HUD.
“Give us Lieutenant Loo and we’ll be on our way.”
“Or what?”
“Or I’ll end you.”
“Ha ha ha … you’ll end me? Go home to momma while you still can.”
“Liam, we’ve got company,” Marny said.
Four dart-sized ships had launched from the hauler and we
re headed straight toward us.
End comm.
“Well, we have our answer,” I said. In our current shape, four darts were going to be a problem.
I pushed forward on the thrust control stick. I couldn’t out-accelerate the darts, but I might be able to spread them out a little if I was moving fast enough. Their damage would come from the forward guns. The problem was, once you got past a dart, they’d just flip over and come right back at you.
Marny was strapped into the gunnery chair and fire lanced over the armored cockpit toward the darts.
“Any missiles left?” I asked. I wasn’t hopeful.
“None, Cap.” Marny was concentrating, as her voice was tense.
“Get ready for a change up,” I said.
The darts had split into two teams. One team would fly below, another above. They wanted to flank us and fly up on our tail, where we’d be more vulnerable. With two teams, one could always be behind us.
The first team was set to pass above us and I knew they would flip over and accelerate hard so that they could catch up to us. Just as they passed over, I pulled back on my stick and partially rolled over, putting us on a collision course with the two darts. One of them was able to roll out of the way but I caught the other one with the back end of my ship. The noise was horrendous but no new red statuses popped up. No sane pilot would have made that maneuver, but we’d already taken so much damage, I was willing to trade for a little more. The dart I’d contacted cartwheeled away.
I hit the forward thruster hard and pulled back harder, so I would be facing the remaining three. We were once again taking heavy fire. A red status popped up in my HUD. We’d lost atmo in the main portion of the ship.
Normally, in a fight, I’d be doing my best to keep my heavily armored belly to the adversary. Here, our only chance was if Marny could finish the other three off before they shredded us.
“Got one!” she exclaimed.
Another red status popped up and we lost a significant amount of thrust. It was the top-side engine. We were now sailing on a third of our normal power. That might have been okay against something large, but against darts it would be fatal.
Right in front of us a large explosion lit up one of the darts, vaporizing it. A quarter of a second later the Adela Chen flew through the debris at high speed. I watched on the HUD as Ada spun the freighter like a top and accelerated like a fighter pilot. The remaining dart dodged Ada, but Marny was waiting for the miscalculation and blasted it with Sterra's Gift’s turret.
“Nice job!”
“Finish it, Cap.”
I turned Sterra's Gift toward the frigate and pushed the thruster stick forward. I was used to a lot more acceleration, but this would do just fine. We’d passed over the frigate like this once before and no doubt their gunners were looking forward to another shot at redemption.
The frigate was not without some capability to fire from its stern. In good shape, the hits would have been insignificant, but the plinks and plunks we received were doing real damage and I was concerned for the integrity of the bridge.
The captain of the frigate was trying to position it into a broadside turn, but Flark had apparently been embellishing a little when he suggested they were in good shape. It was clear that the damage we’d done affected the frigate's ability to maneuver. What I wouldn’t have given at that moment, for just one missile - although I suspected Harry Flark had a similar sentiment.
Finally, I found the opening I was looking for. I positioned the ship just below the frigate and well behind its engines. I was in their blind spot from a gunner’s perspective and traveling at the same speed they were.
“Prepare for impact!”
I mashed the throttle forward. On our current course we would pass directly beneath the ship. At the last moment I snapped the flight stick backwards and brought the nose of Sterra's Gift up ninety degrees. The bright flash of the frigate’s engines boiled all around the bridge as we passed through their wash. Our momentum, however, carried us into the actual engine housing and Sterra's Gift ground into the rear of the ship. The inertial system attempted to absorb the impact, but it was too much and we all flew into our flight harnesses. It felt like I would snap out of mine and then through the armored glass in front of us.
The bridge of Sterra's Gift went dark, emergency lighting snapping on, providing an eerie glow.
“Everyone okay?” I asked.
I heard some pained breathing, but eventually they all replied. I had to cut my harness off with the knife Marny had required I strap to my leg.
“That went well,” Tali said when we were all finally standing in the middle of the darkened bridge.
A DEAL'S A DEAL
“I’ll check the airlock,” I said.
“No power, Liam, we’ll have to pop the glass,” Tali said.
“I’ve got it,” Jordy pulled a thin cord from a pouch on his waist. The cord stuck to the glass and he ran it around the entire outline. It was hard to watch. Sure, I’d been the one to drive Sterra's Gift into the engines of the frigate, but blowing the glass seemed to just add insult to injury.
“Fire in the hole …” Jordy warned. I had no idea how strong the explosion would be, so I jetted over next to Marny. We’d lost the artificial gravity with the power.
“Hold on to something …” Jordy jetted back with the rest of us and held onto the back of a chair. The cord simply turned from gray to black and a second later the glass popped out and tumbled away from the ship, propelled by the atmosphere that desperately wanted out. A few seconds later we were in vacuum.
Full crew on this Russian-made frigate is forty-two,” Tali said. “I’ve uploaded the deck plans to your AIs. I don’t think we’re talking more than half that. That’s the good news. The bad news is the best point of entry is on deck five - the bottom of the ship.”
The plan we’d devised was to have Marny provide the tactical walk-through and set the objectives. We’d spent nearly half an hour talking through our approach and I felt good about having delivered on my end of it. Losing Sterra's Gift would be worth it if we could get Qiu back. Getting Flark would be icing on the cake.
“First through the glass is Tali followed by Jordy. You’ll take these defensive positions,” Marny said. My HUD showed two blinking indicators on the three dimensional rendering of the frigate projected in my vision. Jordy would set up high on the engine cowl on the starboard side. Tali, low on the port. “Liam, you and I will set the charges on the engine.”
The first part of the plan was to make sure the engines wouldn’t start up again. We couldn't be sure that the damage we’d caused with Sterra's Gift would be permanent. The frigate had been trailing behind the hauler as it slowly accelerated the asteroid it was pushing. We strongly believed the hauler wouldn't disengage from the asteroid to come to the frigate’s aid. If it did, there would be no time to reengage and begin its slow push before Mars Protectorate showed up on the scene. Sending its darts had been the only help the hauler could give at this distance.
Marny handed me a large blaster rifle. I strapped it to my back and pulled the flechette from its holster.
“You’re going to want some firepower if we get into it out there,” Marny said, noticing my weapon choice.
“I won’t have time to aim it, I need something fast.” I said.
Marny looked at me for a moment and made a decision. “Put the gun away. Normally, space marines hunker down and try to blow holes in things. But you’re fast enough that you may very well get into close quarters combat.”
She pulled a five centimeter flat handle out of my belt and handed it to me. She’d explained its use once already, but it was one of five new weapons that I was carrying. I had no plan to be experimenting with them in combat. She’d insisted that it wouldn’t hurt me to have them available, just in case.
“Hold that. See? It expands into your hand. Flick it outward but away from everyone.”
I’d seen nano blades on vids and had always wanted use o
ne. I flicked outward and a thin blue glowing line appeared at the end of the handle. I knew from her previous description that the blue glow was only on my HUD and invisible to non-friendlies.
“Use that for up close and personal. Otherwise, be using that blaster rifle,” Marny explained. I retracted the blade and reattached it to my belt.
“We’ve gotta get going,” Tali said.
“Go.”
Tali jetted through the blown-out section of armor glass, followed by Jordy. They appeared to be more comfortable with arc-jets than Marny, but both had clearly been born planet-side.
Marny handed me a sack. “Your HUD has the locations to plant these. Just like we talked about before, your HUD arms them once you plant ‘em. I’ll blow ‘em all at once.”
“Roger that.” My HUD presented a path to my first objective and I darted out of the glass. I couldn’t help but look back over Sterra's Gift. We’d ground into the engines of the frigate and it looked like the spine of Sterra's Gift was bent. We’d rolled slightly on impact and torn off the newly added missile launchers. I felt sick looking at it.
“Suck it up, Cap,” Marny reprimanded. She was right, I was starting to wallow again.
I had six charges to plant, all within thirty meters of each other. On the way to the first, I pulled one of the charges from the sack. The charge I held was an unimpressive container with very little that indicated its purpose. My HUD warned of extreme radiant heat on the engine’s surface.
“What’s the operating temp of these charges? I’ve got seven hundred degrees over here.” The HUD had given me the exact temperature but I knew from experience that you didn't want to come in contact with metal which was a dull red color.
“They’re good over a thousand,” Marny reassured.
I ratcheted up my courage and gently pushed the charge onto the surface, being careful not to allow my gloves to touch the extremely hot metal. The gloves could handle it for a couple of seconds, but I didn’t want to test them. The top of the charge flashed a green symbol that I didn’t recognize, but my HUD confirmed that the charge was armed and synced.
Privateer Tales 3: Parley Page 23