And soon after that she was snapping rapid punches at Eva’s gloved hands while the combat specialist barked an equal measure of instructions and insults at her.
They had been so busy the last few weeks that Donnie hadn’t done any real training and it felt good to stretch out her muscles while not being shot at.
Things got a little tense though when Maria came out of her quarters and started working with her weight bench.
Billy had told her to take it easy, so the blonde was working with less weight than usual, but she was still bench-pressing on the high end of what the others would.
Eva, ever the sensitive one, caught on to the awkward atmosphere immediately.
“You two need to put some gloves on and punch it out?” She offered.
Donnie glared at her, throwing three punches into her gloves in rapid succession.
“We’re fine.”
“Of course we are.” Maria grunted sarcastically as she pushed her weights in the air; “What the fuck else are we allowed to be?”
The skipper’s nostrils flared at the biting tone, then wheeled on the muscular woman.
“You got something to say to me, say it. Passive aggression is for pussies.”
There was a resounding clatter as Maria heaved the barbell back onto the waiting rack and rolled off of her back, her cheeks red.
Before they could get into it though, Eniella’s voice came over the ship’s intercom.
“Skipper, you better get up here, we have a serious problem.”
Donnie and Maria glared at each other for a good five seconds.
Finally breaking eye contact with the frustrated blonde, the captain reached one of the wall consoles and activated the coms.
“I’m on my way.”
She looked one last time at Maria as she headed for the ladder to the upper deck.
“To be continued.”
“Looking forward to it.” Maria replied bitterly.
Still wearing the boxing mitts, Eva watched on in silence, a frown on her face.
Chapter 37:
Designation, Stardust
“Talk to me Eniella, what’s so damned urgent?”
Annoyed with Maria, Donnie barely cleared the ladder to the cockpit before she was barking at her FCO.
Eniella gestured at the screen of her fire control console, indicating two dots on the display with nothing to make clear what they meant beyond a series of letters and numbers over top of them.
“These are the same pair of gunboats that were masquerading as the GRC at Kentis.”
Now Donnie was interested.
“Are you sure?”
“Positive, I tagged them after you scared them off. Signature is identical.”
Donnie leaned in over Eniella’s shoulder to get a closer look at the dots on her display.
“How far out?”
“Two thousand kilometers, they aren’t moving though, just... floating there.”
“Maybe they haven’t seen us yet?” Davie called from the pilot’s seat.
Donnie scratched at her chin, her brow furrowed as she puzzled over what was happening.
Her eyes widened suddenly and she flicked on the coms.
“Billy, when was Bryan’s ship leaving?”
It was a few moments before the medic got back to her; with all the hours she had been putting in at the infirmary she had been catching up on her sleep in her bunk.
“Any minute now, they should have launched already actually.”
“Designation?”
Again it took the doctor a few moments to reply.
“It was a mid-size liner, the Stardust. Designation sierra eight one, zulu two seven.”
Eniella spoke right on top of Billy.
“They’re moving now, on an intercept course for another ship, designation...” Her lips moved as she silently read the letters and numbers, finally looking to the captain and nodding; “It’s them Skipper.”
“Fan-fucking-tastic. Billy seal all hatches and get everyone to tac-ops and strapped in double time, we got a fight coming.”
“Copy.”
“You should get down there and strapped in as well Skip.” Eniella warned.
But Donnie shook her head.
“No, I need to be here if-”
She was cut off when Eva’s voice came on coms, everyone in the cockpit could practically hear her rolling her eyes.
“None of this has anything to do with us, let Lewanna security handle it. Who cares?”
“The families of the other people on that ship.” Donnie snapped back before looking to her pilot; “Reeves, set an intercept course and open a dual channel to the Stardust and Lewanna Central, right now.”
“On it. Give me one second... alright, coms are open.”
Donnie took up the communicator above the pilot’s head and got right to the point.
“Lewanna Central this is the Pixie Hazard, get off your asses and scramble fighters. Passenger liner Stardust, be advised you’ve got two gunboats inbound on your position, suspected pirate activity.”
It was a second before the flight control center responded, with great intelligence no less.
“Uh... what?”
“Say again Pixie?” The Stardust’s captain replied with skepticism.
Lewanna’s system was far too well-patrolled for pirates to be able to function for long, so their reactions were to be expected.
Didn’t make it less annoying though.
Eniella was shaking her head vigorously as she prepped the Pixie’s arsenal.
“I’ve sent them the ships’ signatures and coordinates. But it doesn’t matter Skip, they’ll be on them in under two minutes.”
“Oh for- Stardust you’ve got two bogies closing fast! Turn around and go home! Lewanna, we’re going weapons hot to do your job, you’re welcome.”
Now the flight control center had something to say.
“Stand down immediately Pixie Hazard! You are not authorized to-”
“I was just giving you a heads up, not asking permission.” She then addressed the passenger ship; “Tell me you’re seeing them now Stardust.”
“We are, but they aren’t responding to our communications. This is a civilian vessel, we have no weapons!”
“Lucky for you, we do. It’s too late for you to make it back to Lewanna, just... get behind us or something.”
“R-roger that!”
“Davie, how long.”
“Forty seconds. We’ll make it in time to intercept, but the Stardust is like eight times our size, we can’t cover her alone.”
Donnie sighed.
“Don’t I know it. Alright, don’t shoot first. Someone important on Lewanna will be monitoring this by now. Target them with the Dobermans, maybe we can get them to back off again.”
“We can’t use antimatter weapons this close to a settled planet Skip, no matter the circumstance they’d string us up by our ovaries.”
“I’m aware of the accords, just do it! It’s called a bluff-”
But before she finished, the familiar hollow boom of railguns pounding into the Pixie’s hull distracted her, the ship shaking with each strike of the enemies’ weapons.
“Fuck- light ‘em up Mendez! Lewanna central, we are taking fire, say again we are taking fire! My crew and I are using lethal force in defense of our vessel and our lives.”
“Lethal force authorized Pixie Hazard, though you are going to have some explaining to do.” An authoritative male voice said.
Someone on Lewanna likely just lost their job.
The Pixie shook from a nasty hit and Donnie nearly lost her grip on the seat block.
“That’s if we survive this, we’re outgunned up here. Request permission to deploy class-E countermeasures.”
“Antimatter weaponry? Request denied Pixie! We have a warship inbound, just stand your ground.”
She cursed him out, but had to admit she wouldn’t have let her use the Dobermans either; there was no guarantee that they would hit,
and if they missed and the ordinance headed towards the planet she and her crew could end up as mass murderers.
Her musings were cut short by a frantic call from the ship they were striving to protect.
“Mayday mayday mayday! This is the Stardust, we are under attack! Somebody get us some help!”
“Time to intercept three minutes. Just hang on Stardust.” The same military sounding man as before responded immediately.
“This shit will be over in two!” Donnie snapped at him before turning to her pilot; “How’s she doing?”
“Not good.” Davie winced as the Pixie took another hit that caused a number of red warning on her console to light up; “One of the gunboats peeled off, they’ve ignored us entirely and are pounding her hard. Hold on to something Skip. Eniella, we’re rolling. Fifty degrees starboard.”
Her hands were white knuckled on the flight controls as she did her best to outmaneuver their assailant.
“Copy, target optimization on my mark.”
The olive-skinned woman’s face was a mask of intense focus as her hands worked over the weapon controls, the Pixie’s Javelins unleashing their wrath in response to the pirates’ aggression.
“Mark! Roll your boat baby!”
Donnie gripped the handles on the side of the seat block just as Davie executed her maneuver in a bid to distribute the railgun impacts to other parts of the hull and prevent them from boring a hole somewhere.
“Stardust transmitting in the blind, we’ve lost main power to the bridge!” The pleas of the beleaguered vessel’s captain were getting downright frantic; “Please, break off your attack! There are three hundred people aboard this vessel! I don’t even know if anyone can hear-”
The communication cut off in a burst of static and Donnie cursed again.
If the Stardust’s radio was out, than shit must really be bad.
“Mendez, ignore the little prick chewing on our ass, concentrate all fire on the one fucking them up! Their armour won’t take much more of this!”
Though the FCO did as she was told, she couldn’t help but state the obvious, her point made all the more clear by the klaxon alarms blaring around them and the constant booming of the enemy weapons impacting their hull.
“We won’t get them both Skipper, not a chance.”
“We’re not playing to win, we’re buying time! If we can-”
Another alarm came on then, this one much more urgent.
“I’ve got a massive drop in pressure on the lower deck, they made a hole!” Davie declared tensely, as if to support her girlfriend’s point; “I’m rolling again. Aft, eighty degrees, everybody stand by for some G’s.”
This time she couldn’t afford to wait on Eniella to adjust her targeting parameters, executing the roll immediately.
The communicator bouncing in front of her nose, Donnie had to grip the handles with both hands now to keep herself upright as the Pixie pitched around wildly; the ship was shaking constantly from the barrage, its bulkheads creaking from the strain.
The sound of the enemy shells impacting her carapace grew much louder as they put the thicker armour of the cockpit to the test.
But unlike the civilian vessel she was covering, the Pixie Hazard was built for combat, so even with a hole in her belly her essential systems were unaffected as she fought on like a rabid wolverine.
Once the captain was able to stand without white knuckling the handles, she let go with one hand and grabbed for the coms again, her fingers tangling in the spiral cord as she snagged it.
“Lewanna Central, shit is getting really dicey up here! You got an ETA on fire-support?”
The authoritative voice came back again, and for once he had something useful to say.
“Pixie Hazard, class-E countermeasures authorized. I hope you have good aim or you’re going to prison and I’m facing a firing squad.”
Evidently the Stardust’s desperate communications were having an effect on the ground.
Donnie didn’t even have time to be surprised as barely two seconds later Eniella pulled the trigger on the Dobermans, the warheads leaving their batteries with a deep clunking sound that they all felt.
“Dogs are out! All hands brace for impact!” She cried out; “We are way too close for comfort!”
A split second after she spoke, the shockwave of the first antimatter warhead’s detonation impacted the Pixie’s hull, slamming Donnie into the wall as she lost her grip on the seat block.
The second shockwave hit a moment later, but she was already on the floor so it just bounced her around a bit as she turtled into the fetal position in a bid to protect her spine.
“Good hit, good hit!” Eniella crowed; “Both bogies destroyed!”
But her exultation was short lived as the coms crackled to life again, the Stardust’s captain’s voice distorted with static.
“-say again: systems critical! We are dead in the water with multiple casualties! We restored power to the bridge but who knows for how long! Is anyone reading this?”
Scrambling to her feet with a painful grunt, Donnie leaned over the side of Davie’s seat, crowding her again.
“We’re reading you. Stand-by. Reeves, open the shutters and bring us about for a visual assessment.”
Now that the proximity and depressurization alarms had stopped, not to mention the enemy wasn’t beating on their hull anymore, it was almost too quiet in the cockpit.
Once the shutters were open it didn’t take long for them to spot the scuttled ship; the remains of the pirate gunboat was rapidly drifting away from it, the debris highlighted in a number of places by the remnant purplish blaze of antimatter from the Doberman that killed it.
But the damage it had heaped onto the Stardust with its railguns was extensive.
Chunks of broken armour were floating in a halo around the mammoth vessel and her midsection had an inferno shooting out into space where her attacker had found a particularly soft spot.
Donnie had to work to keep her voice level.
“Okay Stardust, shut down all non essentials, in case you didn’t notice, your shit is on fire. Lewanna Central, hostiles neutralized and we are commencing rescue operations, but we are not equipped for this, could really use a hand already.”
But it was a woman’s voice that responded this time.
“This is the warship Andromeda Promise. We are approaching your coordinates, ETA forty seconds. Stand down all weaponry or you will be fired upon.”
“You missed that part knucklehead! Deploy rescue craft!” Donnie snapped back before softening her tone again; “How we doing on that shutdown Stardust?”
After a bit more static the voice came back and it was not good news.
“Reactor shutdown failed, we’ve got a full-blown systems cascade, they must have hit one of the condensers! Passengers are in the lifeboats! We are abandoning ship! Repeat: all hands, abandon ship!”
As they watched, a number of secondary explosions tore through the hull around the inferno, lighting up their faces as more and more flame shot out into vacuum.
“Eniella-”
“On it Skip. Andromeda Promise, we have good launch on multiple escape craft, I’m tagging them now for you to intercept.”
Apparently satisfied that the Pixie was indeed there to help, the warship’s commander responded in a much less aggressive tone.
“Copy Pixie Hazard, tags received.”
“Jesus, she is coming apart fast.” Davie muttered, her eyes wide as the Stardust began to break in two, the halo of debris around her spreading; “I’m pulling us back, no sense us getting a black eye from a piece of their hull.”
“No complaints from me.” Donnie said sadly as she watched the tragedy unfold.
They’d done everything they could; with no rescue gear to speak of all they were able to do now was watch and wait.
Seconds later Lewanna’s heavyweight cruiser pulled up alongside them and engulfed them in its shadow, its rescue boats already shuttling back and forth from the d
oomed vessel.
The Stardust was a big girl, but the military carrier was a true behemoth, a moving skyscraper that dwarfed the Pixie Hazard.
Davie appraised the warship looming large in front of them; despite the destruction of the Stardust it was hard not to be impressed.
“She’s a class four Titan, the latest from Frontline Industries. Likely only been in service for a couple months.”
While listening to the pigtailed redhead, Donnie pressed a hand to her cheek where she had impacted the wall, pulling it away to see if she was bleeding before shifting for an aside with Eniella.
“You put the guns away right?”
“I did.” She confirmed, her eyes glued to her fire control screen and still scanning for escape craft.
“Good, hard to do the hero lap if-”
Donnie paused as the Stardust suddenly exploded, her eyes flinching slightly at the sudden light before the Pixie’s glass auto-tinted against it.
She drew in a slow breath.
“Damn. I hope the crew had enough time to get out.”
Eniella nodded slowly; with her back to the glass and her eyes all over her screens she didn’t catch the explosion directly, but she hadn’t failed to notice the rapid shift in the light level around her, nor had she missed the liner’s transponder disappearing from her scopes.
Suddenly she sat up and tapped several times on the interface to lock onto something that caught her attention.
“Andromeda, are you getting this? That lifeboat is heading for the atmosphere way too steep.”
“We see it, must have been one of the last ones launched, likely clipped by some debris from the explosion.” The commander of the warship let out a heavy sigh; “Unfortunately we have our hands full and it’s already well beyond safe retrieval parameters. We send rescue craft for them, we risk losing three others.”
Davie whistled low.
“Woman’s got ice in her veins, but she’s not wrong.”
“Hey! Can we get out of tac-ops yet?” Eva snapped over the coms; “Or are we totally screwed and somebody forgot to tell us?”
“If we were dead I’d let you know.” Donnie said tiredly; “If you’re feeling bored then get off your ass and get me an internal damage assessment.”
Pixie Hazard Page 31