by Isaac Stone
“So that you are aware,” she told me. “We will soon parlay with another Order ship to trade mates. The Captain’s Council has finally reached an agreement on who gets what new blood. I’m sure you’ll be happy. It means a few new women for the ship. Probably about three or four, since we’re giving up a few of the youth who are now coming of age.”
“What took so long? We put that request in awhile ago if I recall,” I asked and kiss my way up her spine, the enhancements coursing through her system elevating her pheromones to a point that I couldn't resist having her.
“Something bad is happening in the frontier and there’ve been whole packs hit so hard they might have to be merged, the Council is being very hush about it. So far it's not our problem.”
It made me stop and think. I had a son in the children’s section. My oldest boy, the one I made with Britani, was busy learning how to repair the guidance systems. I found myself wondering if when he finally did come of age and I worried if there would be a place for him in the Starwing Order.
The enhanced pheromones were affecting my brain, so it was hard to keep focus. The enhancers were designed to be used by couples who were assigned to each other and yet struggled to do their duty, either from a lack of mutual attraction or personality conflicts. The enhancers were designed to make the person dosed with them irresistible, and since I was already carrying a torch for Captain Sophia, it was doubly potent.
The communicator buzzed on Captain’s dresser and she rolled out of bed to answer it. She looked awesome strolling across that floor naked; I listened to the smack of her feet on the floor. She walked over and picked up the device. It was rare that anyone called her when she had an assignment for the evening. Captain slept alone most of the time and if she had a warm body next to her, she wanted to be left alone. This had to be something important.
“What?” she said to whoever called her. “He said what? Well, shit, that changes a lot. I’ll deal with it in the morning.” She placed the device back on the table.
“Problems with the Udies?” I asked her when she laid back in my arms. It was the only reason anyone would interrupt her on a night she had company. Funny how we still considered shift on and shift off to be day and night although we seldom saw a sun in the sky. Or any sky, for that matter.
Once again, she reclined on me. I felt a stirring down below and before I was fully aware we were at it again, bodies in union even a she kept talking.
“Goddamn UDF wants us to pull back to the outer rim and wait for further instructions,” She breathed, “Seems the Navy thinks it can handle the Roka from now on. Between Hard Rain and Great Khan I think we showed them up, and now they are regretting getting us involved.”
“Some days I wish we’d tell them to forget about the arrangement and leave for parts unknown,” Captain spoke. “There’s an entire universe out there and we’re stuck keeping out the riff raff from infecting the precious UDF.”
“We wouldn’t get very far and you know it,” I told her as I gripped her waist. “Even if the Udies didn’t send someone after us, where would we go? You have to know where to come out of an Insubstantia jump and they don’t give us any navigations of the rest of the cosmos.”
“It was a thought,” she told me. “Fleeting and errant.”
By the time we got to sleep I felt like I'd paid my dues for the spat with the officer.
8
I found out a few days later Tank and I were in line for testing by the Goat Squad.
The official name of the Goat Squad was the Department of Paranormal Activity and Psychic Defense. I don’t know where the nickname originated, but people had used it for a long time. One day I looked it up to find out what a “Goat” was supposed to be. When I found out, I still didn’t understand.
It was a few days after my crew had stormed the Ove Station with the Silver Horde. Tank and I were about to go on duty and we were having breakfast at the mess hall. As per custom, Britani sat next to me. Indigo sat with Tank. I looked around and noted the morning shift contingent were all there and looking over the morning schedule. The tables had screens materialize over them in front of anyone who needed to see if something and came up the night before.
“So who are you with tonight?” Britani asked me as I looked over my screen.
“Latasha,” I mentioned to her. “I see she has nursery duty today. I need to ask her about Kyle. He’s almost eighteen and we need to prepare for his sendoff.”
“I agree,” Britani spoke. I felt her hand touch mine. “I’m with Tran tonight. He was busy in the pulsar room yesterday, asked for a reschedule. I think he's still shaken up by the close quarters fighting.”
“It was certainly the thickest we've had yet,” I rubble my eyes and looked at the screen in front of me again.
It was a personal message from Captain. The Goat Squad was on its way toward us. Something about the way they’d reviewed the feeds from the station and were impressed. “Damn, now I have to deal with the Udies again."
“You too?” Tank spoke, his arm around Indigo. “I guess they want to run tests or something. I’ve had all the standard ones, this must be something special.”
Something funny is up with her,” Indigo said as she fed a piece of bacon to Tank. “She had four assignments in a row.”
I was a bit shocked. “Four in a row?” I spoke. A thought entered my mind and I brought the roster back up. “Wow, she had Tran, Orlando and Medoro in a row after she saw me. I hadn’t talked to the crew after we returned; when they gave us downtime we tended to take it seriously.
“Maybe she’s trying to make another baby,” Tank spoke. “All from your crew. I guess she wants the genes from your group. Can’t figure out why.” He laughed.
“She told me no,” I spoke. “We talked about a lot of things, but that was one of the first things she made clear. I should ask the others.”
“Tran mentioned she was on enhancement,” Indigo spoke.
“I saw Orlando in the gym yesterday,” Britani mentioned. “Same story. He was with captain and she was vibrant. I think he mentioned enhancement too.”
“Well if Goat Squad is coming let's focus on that. Captain is probably just going through something,” I mentioned to Tank. “None of our business.”
“There they are!” I heard a familiar voice and turned to look at the source. It was Captain in her uniform. She stood next to the table with two men who wore UDF Navy officer uniforms. Both men appeared to be serious and held briefcases by their sides. They'd arrived a lot quicker than anticipated.
“Tank, Corwin,” she called to us. “I need to see the both of you in my quarters. “These men are from the UDF.”
We nodded. Wow, that was fast.
“Good. Let’s get this thing done. There’s a lot of work that needs to be accomplished today before you finish your shifts.” She turned and left with the two men.
I kissed Britani good-bye and told her how much I looked forward to seeing her the next time we were assigned. Tank did the same with Indigo and we hurried to Captain’s ready room.
“At least this time we keep our clothes on,” Tank spoke as he rapped on the door.
“Maybe,” I commented. “We don’t know what kind of tests they want to do.”
Both UDF officers appeared to be young, no more than thirty. I hadn't met them before and didn’t get their names. Captain had us sit down at a table in her antechamber across from them. She’d had someone bring in some extra chairs.
“Guys,” she told us, “These men are with that office that tests people for telepathy or something like that.” I saw them cringe when she insinuated that they were ghost hunters.
“They’re going to ask you a series of questions at the same time,” she told us. “Isn’t that right gentlemen?” The taller of the two officers nodded.
“Alright,” she spoke. “I have to go and see about some shielding problems. This shouldn’t take long.” Captain turned and left the room by the same way we’d entered.
“So what is this?” Tank asked them. “If we do well we get special jobs or something?”
“Neither of what’s wants to leave the pack,” I added. “So what’s in it for us?”
“We’ll be able to make better use of this ship,” the taller spoke back. “If we discover that either of you have a high ability of paranormal talent, the Hard Rain can be used on more sorties.
They asked a series of questions about sensations we’d experienced in combat and how we knew when to avoid enemy fire. They had a whole series about hunches we’d experienced over the years. My impression was that they wanted to know about incidents where we survived over a threat sense before it happened. I answered the best I could. They didn’t show us any pictures of naked women, much to Tank’s displeasure.
After an hour, both of them folded up the portable screens they’d used to record the results and told us they’d be in touch. The timing was flawless as Captain opened the door to her quarters the moment they finished. I suppose they did these sorts of tests all the time, and practice makes perfect.
“All done?” she asked them. She stood in the doorway and watched them put away all their instruments.
“I think we have all the information we need,” the short one spoke. “We’ll be in touch with you in the next day or two.”
As they marched out the door, I noted a silver pin on one of their shoulder boards. It resembled a goat head. Imagine that, even bureaucrats have a sense of humor.
“How did it go?” she asked us later.
“Nothing weird,” Tank replied. “They did want to know how often we had sex in the FAS.”
Captain shot him a “not funny” look. “I'm kidding,” he laughed. “I think they wanted to know if we can anticipate an enemy attack before it happens, and on what scale we can sense it.”
“Seems the frontier is heating up again,” Captain spoke as she sat down next to us. “The Roka are still out there and I have to decide what to do the next time they want to send us into a hot zone. By the way, Tank, I’ve changed the roster and I’ll see you tonight.”
Tank was taken aback by it a bit. “Didn’t you see all of Corwin’s guys last week?” he asked.
“You have an issue soldier?” she demanded. I didn’t like where this was headed.
“No,” he spoke. “Apologies Captain, I guess Goat Squad has me kind of spun around.”
“Focus on your duties and all will be well,” she snapped back. “There are hard days ahead, be on your way gentlemen.”
Captain made good on her word when both Tank and my FAS crew were dispatched against a Roka stronghold three weeks later. We found out after launch the Goat Squad would be in a small UDF Navy vessel away from the fighting, but observing what we did. This didn’t surprise me after our visit by the two officers.
Our target was a supply convoy moving material to one of the Yon colonies on a moon of the gas giant where the Hard Rain was parked in orbit. The convoy was hit once or twice in the weeks after we’d taken back the orbital station. The UDF Navy was determined to keep the colony functional, for some reason.
The convoy consisted of ten supply barges, which were big containers locked together and pushed along by an electrostatic engine. They didn’t move fast, but it wasn’t necessary. Each container cluster had a crew of five that didn’t have to do much. All they needed to do was make sure the engine ran and the cluster was pointed in the right direction. Deep inside the UDF sphere, this wasn’t much of an issue, more of a traffic control situation.
Out on the edge, where we were stationed, it was a different matter.
The cargo clusters had no protection, which made them vulnerable to pirates and raiders. If the cluster was in a problem area, it was possible to send along a few escort starfighters, usually decommissioned UDF Navy ships provided by security companies. They could scout out any problems in advance and keep watch for the small ships pirates often used to sneak in and steal what the clusters pushed along.
Last week, the Roka struck.
Because of all the activity in this system, the navy sent along several UDF starfighters armed with the latest weapons, in case the Roka had ambitions. After we’d cleaned them out of the orbital station, they hoped there would be no more trouble around this gas giant. The UDF starfighters were just in case.
It turned out to be a smart move.
This time the Roka hit hard and fast. They waited until one convoy was about to enter orbit. They matched orbit out of some methane clouds that blocked their presence. It was a nasty fight and all the Roka fighters were destroyed. However, where there were two Roka starfighters, there could be more. This is why the navy wanted us involved.
“Captain wanted you to know she’s sending out Shelly’s FAS,” Ely’s voice came in over the audio. Once again, I was glad she didn’t use that damn holographic version.
“She’s expecting a lot of heat?” I questioned. Captain indicated before we left that there might not be a lot of action on this mission. The Roka took a beating when they tried to hijack the convoy. Most of the UDF people didn’t think they had more than two or three starfighters.
“That’s extreme,” I told her. “Captain’s still short one FAS from last month.” I was a bit concerned.
“His crew wants to go out and she thinks this might give them the action they need,” Elysian explained. “You’ll see them coming up on you soon. Shelly’s rushing to catch up with you.” I looked at a screen to my right and saw that she was correct. There it was, a small icon racing to get to us. its icon was identified by the AI as FAS3.
I guess the time Captain spent with us was productive. She seemed a bit more relaxed as of late. I speculated in my mind whether she’d continue placing herself on the roster. The latest news was that Maya was pregnant, so we were back up to strength in that department. This time Medoro was the father. I wasn’t sure which couple was scheduled next for the baby department, but Captain didn’t always post it right away. Best to give the excitement of the current news to die down.
It hit me I hadn’t been with Elysian in the past three months. She was barely twenty-one, and bright. Captain brought her into the fold from another Order mothership when we were short one woman. She didn’t talk much about the ship where she’d come of age, other than she wasn’t allowed to be married-off until twenty-one. I had the impression there were very few men on the place, but that those men controlled all aspects of the women’s lives. It took her a good three months to quit asking for permission to do the simplest of things.
“Captain seem to be in a better mood today?” I asked Ely, as we called her. I hadn’t seen the captain before the FAS launched.
“Her usual self,” I was told. “Walking around, showing the kids how to do the tasks and checking in with the adults.”
"Is she back in the roster?”
“Yes, but sleeping alone for the next month.”
That explained it. She’d liked the time spent with us. I guessed she’d want to see one or more of us again when this mission was over.
I watched as the third FAS caught up with us. We closed into formation around the long train of supply clusters on their way to the colony. The colony on the gas giant moon wasn’t self-supporting, yet. It needed what was in the convoy to keep it in operation until they’d reached the self-sufficiency level. Only then would they be able to send material out for a change.
The screen showed the long train extended before us as we swooped down below it and looked for hostiles. So far, there weren’t any. I didn’t expect there to be much action right away.
The rest of the crew was anxious and ready to go into combat. This was the problem about these long-haul missions, the wait. It was ten percent terror and thrill, ninety percent boredom. You could never fall into a sense of complacency, because that would get you killed.
“Glad you could join us, Shelly,” I transmitted to him. I used the name we called him instead of Shelly, his official one. He’d come of age in the Hard Rain, one of th
e few allowed to stay on board because he wasn’t a blood relative to anyone in the active crew. It was a cruelty that fate played which forced most of us to leave the home and people we’d known to live in another mothership we barely knew. I learned how to love my new life; I expected most of the others would as well.
“Captain says you needed some help,” he told me. “The crew was glad to get out and look for Roka, so here we are.”
I had Orlando cut back on the plasma torch and we slowed down to the position of the convoy. Flying over it was relative as there was no up or down in space the way there was in a gravity field. I looked at the gas giant we were approaching, which was designated as “down” this time.
The plan was for us to escort the convoy for three days, and then allow the FAS from the Great Khan to take over. There were a few more motherships from the Orders on their way to relieve us all when the time came. The convoy would leave empty and it was assumed the automatic guns mounted to it would protect the clusters from any assault by the Roka.
No one liked being away from the mothership for an extended period of time. Most of the sorties we undertook on the last posting didn’t last much longer than a few hours. You took off, found the target, destroyed it or it destroyed you. We were skilled enough to be on the delivery more times than not, so we kept going back out, doing the only thing we knew how to do, protect the borders from intruders and try not to die in the process.
The attack came three days later. We’d refueled several times and waited for something to happen.
“Stand to, guys,” I heard Ely’s voice on the audio. “The Udies told Captain there are four blips headed in your direction. Appear to be determined, which makes them hostile.”
“Any possibility of lost spacecraft trying to get directions?” I heard Tank ask.
“Negative,” Ely responded. “Whatever it is, they’re refusing any contact from our side. We’re assuming Roka raiders.”
