A Line in the Sand

by Ryk Brown

  “Then why are we coming along?” Mori wondered.

  “More guns, more hands,” Jessica declared as she headed up the ramp. “Besides, we’re going to stop off at a rogue asteroid group between Volon and Ursoot to test out the new guns.”

  “You mean they haven’t been test-fired yet?” Jokay realized.

  “Nope, we get the honor. Time to go to work,” she added before disappearing into the Voss’s utility bay.

  “This should be fun,” Kit groaned.

  Jessica moved through the octagonal center compartment in the middle of the Voss’s lateral corridor, then into the common room in between the port and starboard Lightning bays. “You get a working charter yet?” she asked Nathan, who was studying something on his data pad at the table in the center of the common area.

  “Still in the works,” Nathan replied. “But getting closer.”

  “Sooner or later we’re going to need something for these people to sign.”

  “She’ll get it pounded out in time,” Nathan assured her. “It’s not that complicated.”

  “Then why is it taking her so long?” Jessica wondered as she opened the fridge to get a bottle of water.

  “Caitrin is still thinking like a businessperson.”

  “Maybe she wasn’t the right person for the job,” Jessica suggested, taking a long drink afterward.

  “She’ll get it trimmed down,” Nathan assured her.

  “Hey, when do we get to learn to fly the P-Seventy-Twos?” Kit asked as he and the others entered the common room.

  “You guys want to fly?”

  “We already know how to fly,” Kit assured him.

  “It was one of the new training requirements that Telles instituted back on Burgess,” Jessica explained. “He was planning on building a full sim so we could keep up our skills, but then the Dusahn attacked.”

  “I guess there’s no reason you can’t,” Nathan agreed. “If we’re going to have a Ghatazhak squad on every XK, it would make sense to have backup pilots for both the Lightnings and the XKs. I’ll see about getting VRs for them from Del.”

  “It would give us something to do during those boring diplomatic missions,” Kit agreed.

  “Cap’n?” Josh called over the overhead speaker.

  Nathan instinctively tilted his head up. “Yes?”

  “We’re ready here.”

  “We’re still waiting for Marcus and Vlad to finish recalibrating a few of the starboard emitters,” Nathan replied. “Sit tight. They should be done in a few minutes.”

  “Got it,” Josh acknowledged.

  “That means we have time to check our gear,” Kit decided.

  “What gear?” Nathan wondered.

  “Our mark two armor.”

  “You brought your battle armor?”

  “Never leave home without it,” Kit replied on their way out.

  Nathan looked at Jessica. “What about you?”

  “I don’t have any yet,” Jessica replied.

  “Shouldn’t you?” Nathan wondered. “I mean, you’re the spec-ops lead on this ship, and those are your men.”

  “I doubt very seriously we’re going to need it on this mission,” Jessica replied. “Besides, I have my original mark one gear. And honestly, I prefer handheld weapons to built-in blasters. If they fail, you just pick up someone else’s. There’s usually plenty of them lying around.”

  “That’s disturbing,” Nathan decided. “Logical, but disturbing. Why don’t they feel the same way?”

  “Boys and their toys,” Jessica shrugged. “What you have to remember is that, at heart, the Ghatazhak are more like marines than spec-ops. They’re more about rapid victory through intelligence and overwhelming force.”

  “Like a bull in a china shop?”

  “More like a bull that can charge through a china shop only breaking the pieces they don’t like. Spec-ops, while having similar training, use more of a gray man approach.”

  “Blending into the crowd,” Nathan realized.

  “That’s right,” Jessica replied, impressed.

  “Hey, I had covert ops basics at the academy as well. Although I admit I don’t remember much of it.”

  “But you remember gray man?”

  “Only because the idea of not being noticed appealed to me at the time.”

  “Because of your family,” Jessica surmised.

  “Ironic, isn’t it? I spent most of my life avoiding being a ‘Scott’. Now it may be the only way to save Earth and possibly half the galaxy.”

  “You can’t hide from who you are,” Jessica stated.

  Nathan looked at her. “Who am I?”

  “You’re exactly who you are supposed to be,” she told him. “You’re just like your father. You’re the one who always does what he thinks is right. That’s why you’re a good leader. We can count on you not to follow your own interests at the expense of those who follow you. That quality is rare. It always has been.”

  “You know, there was a time when I found that attribute to be a curse.”

  “I remember,” Jessica replied. “You were insufferable. I wanted to slap you most days.”

  “Well, thank you for not doing so.”

  “Don’t mention it,” she laughed. “But if you ever get that way again, I can’t make any promises.”

  “I’ll keep that in mind,” Nathan promised.

  CHAPTER FOUR

  Nathan made his way through the short corridor connecting the Voss’s common room to her command deck. “Time to go, gentlemen,” he said as he crossed the length of the command deck toward the cockpit at its forward end.

  “They all done?” Josh inquired from the pilot’s seat.

  “They’re buttoning up now,” Nathan assured him.

  “Utility bay hatch is cycling closed,” Dylan reported from the copilot’s seat.

  “Volon awaits,” Nathan stated as he reached the cockpit area and took his usual position, leaning against the railing along the forward edge of the down ladder behind and between the pilots’ seats.

  “Port and starboard reactors are hot,” Dylan reported as he and Josh turned back around to face their consoles.

  “Flight Control, Voss,” Josh called over comms. “Ready for departure.”

  “Voss, Flight. Clear to depart to port. Open vector. Safe flight.”

  “Voss, departing to port, open vector,” Josh replied. He punched in their departure parameters, and then activated the auto-flight systems.

  Nathan’s brows furrowed. “Did you just engage auto-flight?” he asked. “Without any fuss?”

  “I’m trying to be more like Loki,” Josh replied, a melancholy note in his voice.

  Nathan remained silent, not sure how to respond.

  “Don’t worry,” Josh assured him as the ship began to slowly rise. “It won’t last.”

  “What won’t last?” Jessica wondered, having just come up the stair ladder behind Nathan from the deck below.

  “Nothing,” Nathan replied. “Your guys all ship-shape?”

  “They’re in the back, arguing over who gets which gun turret,” Jessica replied.

  “Clear of the pressure shields,” Dylan reported.

  Nathan continued gazing out the forward cockpit windows as the Aurora’s aft propulsion section began to slide downward as the Voss climbed. Just as they reached the bottom edge of the windows, the Voss began her departure rotation, the stars moving from right to left.

  Josh punched in a few more commands, setting their destination so the auto-flight AI could calculate their jump to Volon. “Destination set. Jump in two minutes.”

  The ship’s main propulsion began to kick in. Although the Voss had inertial dampeners, like most ships, it allowed for a bit more of the sensation of flight to be felt by its occupants. Nathan found he actually
preferred it that way, since it made the experience more like atmospheric flight. It made everything far more intuitive.

  Nathan remembered the long summer days he had spent with his grandfather, learning to fly his aerobat. His grandfather had been a proponent of flying without instruments. Nathan’s initial flight training with his grandfather had been with all the flight instruments covered from view. It was not until Nathan could safely fly without those instruments that his grandfather allowed him to fly with them. Nathan firmly believed that his natural flight instincts came from that initial training.

  In spaceships, especially those with fully buffering inertial dampening systems, the only way you knew what your ship was doing was with your flight dynamics displays. Fortunately, the Voss’s dampeners were less powerful. As part of their ZPED upgrades, the SilTek engineers had offered to upgrade their dampeners to be fully buffering, but Nathan had declined. This decision baffled Dylan but had delighted Josh. The fact that Josh was such an instinctive pilot was probably why Nathan had so much trust in him.

  “Want one?” Jessica asked.

  Nathan glanced over at her, noticing the small purple fruit in her hand. “What is it?”

  “Tolee. It’s really popular on Corinair. I’m surprised you don’t know about it, or should I say, that Connor didn’t know about it.”

  “Marcus always steered me away from the cluster, for obvious reasons, I suppose. Where’d you get them?” he wondered. “I don’t remember seeing them in the mess.”

  “Cam has a private stash.”

  “Figures.”

  “Are you sure you don’t want one? They’re really good.”

  “Maybe later,” Nathan replied, patting his stomach. “Big breakfast.”

  “Suit yourself,” she said, taking a seat at the starboard auxiliary console just behind Dylan and throwing her feet up on the narrow desk in front of it.

  “On course and speed for the jump,” Dylan announced. “One minute, and we’ll be approaching Volon.”

  Volon. Every time he heard the name, he couldn’t help but think of Naralena, just as every time he saw Dylan sitting in the copilot’s seat, he thought of Loki. Losing people under his command was tough. Losing friends was tougher. But Loki and Naralena had both been family. He felt their loss as deeply as those of his biological family. So much pain. So much loss. At times, it was overwhelming. His only defense seemed to be the knowledge that he was not alone in his suffering. Everyone had lost someone. It was a pain that bound them all together in their fight. The key was to prevent that pain from destroying all hope in one’s soul.

  “Twenty seconds,” Dylan reported nonchalantly.

  Nathan noticed a hatch indicator light on the overhead console. He reached up and touched the intercom panel above him. “Who’s in the port nacelle?” he asked over the intercom. “We’re about to jump.”

  “Eta ya,” Vladimir replied over the intercom. “I need to monitor the jump field regulators during the jump, to make sure we calibrated them correctly.”

  “Wouldn’t it be safer to do so from up here?” Nathan suggested.

  “This compartment is completely shielded,” Vladimir replied. “I will be fine.”

  “Five seconds,” Dylan updated.

  “Very well,” Nathan replied, switching off the intercom.

  “Jumping in five…”

  Again, Nathan was reminded of Loki, who had always counted off the last few seconds leading into a jump, much to the annoyance of Josh. Nathan wondered if Loki had done so out of a sense of procedure, or just to irritate his friend.

  “Four…”

  “If we have time, I’d like to visit the bazaars on Volon,” Jessica stated.

  “Three…”

  “Ania needs more clothes,” she continued.

  “Two…”

  “That kid suddenly started growing like a weed.”

  “One…”

  “That might be a nice diversion,” Nathan admitted.

  “Jumping.”

  The jump flash washed over the ship, spilling through the cockpit windows and illuminating the interior for a brief moment. Out of habit, all four of them closed their eyes, as the Voss had yet to be equipped with flash-dampening filters.

  It was then that Nathan suddenly realized why Loki counted down the last few seconds before a jump. He probably continued the unnecessary practice just to annoy Josh. It was a constant game which the two of them played, one that Nathan found himself sorely missing.

  “Jump complete,” Dylan reported as the jump flash dissipated. “Volon, dead ah…”

  “What is it?” Nathan wondered, alerted by Dylan’s failure to complete his sentence. Nathan instinctively looked out the forward windows. Ahead was the planet Volon, growing closer each second. But there was something else: a small object. There was also a series of white flashes on the surface of the planet. “What the…”

  “Someone is attacking Volon!” Dylan exclaimed.

  Jessica dropped her tolee fruit onto the console desk, jumping back to her feet and moving closer to Nathan to get a better look.

  “Who?” Nathan demanded.

  Jessica quickly activated the intercom over Nathan’s head, switching it to ship-wide. “Battle stations!” she called over the intercom, her voice echoing through the ship’s internal speakers.

  “Battle stations!” Jessica called over the intercom speakers. “All hands to battle stations! This is not a drill!”

  “What the…” Mori exclaimed, caught by surprise.

  “Did we settle on who goes where?” Jokay wondered.

  “I’m already in the port nacelle, so I’ll take the port gun!” Vladimir announced over the intercom.

  “I thought I was going to take the port gun,” Mori said as he quickly put his gear down and headed for the exit with the others.

  “Marcus takes starboard, Mori to dorsal, Jokay to ventral,” Jessica instructed.

  “What about me?” Kit asked back.

  “You take the tail gun,” Jessica instructed. “I’ll take the nose. But suit up first, Kit. That pressure shield hasn’t been tested under fire!”

  “Looks like Kit drew the short straw!” Jokay laughed as he and Mori ran out through the forward hatch, headed for their respective gun turrets.

  “Funny,” Kit replied, stepping up to his mark two locker. He pressed the activation button on the front of the locker and turned around, placing his feet on the pad in front of the locker, shoulder-width apart, arms slightly spread. His mark two deployment system sensed that he was in position, and the doors swung open, retracting into the sides of the locker. The system began encapsulating him in the components of his armor, starting at his feet and working its way up, one section at a time.

  “I’ve got a second contact,” Dylan announced. “A cargo ship.”

  “Weapons?” Nathan asked.

  “None,” Dylan replied. “Not even shields. I’m running both contacts through the database now,” Dylan reported.

  “Whoever it is, they’re painting us,” Josh warned.

  “Our shields are up, right?” Nathan asked.

  “They snapped on the moment Jess called battle stations,” Josh confirmed. “Dylan programmed the AI to raise shields automatically if it hears the words ‘battle stations’ or ‘general quarters’.”

  “Good thinking, but you might want to check with me before you program the AI to do anything like that automatically,” Nathan scolded.

  “I thought it would save time and keep us safer,” Dylan defended.

  “Or send the wrong message to another ship,” Nathan retorted.

  “Sorry, sir,” Dylan apologized. “I’ll remove those lines of code.”

  “Better charge all weapons, just in case,” Nathan stated.

  “You’re not worried about looking like you’re sending th
e wrong message?” Josh joked.

  “Just shut up and arm all weapons,” Nathan chided.

  Vladimir ducked under the outboard coolant ducts, stepping over the stack of conduits running along the floor of the port nacelle’s engineering compartment. On the other side was the hatch leading to the port gun turret. He slapped the door activation button on the wall, and the hatch slid open, revealing the clear turret canopy on the other side.

  Stepping up to the entrance, he leaned in, immediately feeling the lack of gravity inside the cramped compartment. He reached over and grabbed the rail under the top edge of the canopy, leaning in further so that the artificial gravity created by the ship’s deck plates would lose their pull on him, making his torso weightless. It was sort of a ‘falling-over’ motion to make the transition, only he didn’t actually tip over. Instead, he used the rail to pull himself through the hatch and into the gunner’s chair, twisting and contorting his large frame to wiggle into place.

  “These things were not designed for larger men,” Vladimir complained.

  “I managed just fine,” Marcus remarked over the intercom. “Starboard gun, ready.”

  “Dorsal gun, ready,” Mori reported.

  Vladimir finally managed to get into the seat, quickly fastening his restraints and activating his gun turret. “Port gun, ready!”

  The ventral gun turret along the underside of the ship was even more difficult to get into, as it required the operator to turn completely upside down; a maneuver the cramped turret was not well suited for. Jokay had found that the easiest method was to do a handstand over the hatch with his feet along the vertical ladder, then pull his hands in and let the artificial gravity pull him through the opening, his momentum carrying him all the way into the turret bubble, his body already in proper orientation. From there, it was just a matter of sliding into the seat and strapping in.

  “Ventral gun, ready,” he reported as he charged his gun turret.

  The last piece to go on was Kit’s helmet. Once in place, the locker doors shut.

  Kit’s visor closed, sealing him up inside. The visor’s internal displays lit up, situational and systems data appearing around its outer edges.