by Isaac Stone
At that moment, I saw something of why he’d joined up with the Roka.
Once again, my reality sense began to blur with someone else’s. I don’t know if there is a range involved in feeling someone else’s experience because he was a good two hundred miles ahead of us. I felt his experiences as if he was in the same room as me.
I saw a half-starved woman and her child in a burnt-out hovel on some unnamed planet. Next to them, a man in full body armor was burning down an old house with a flame weapon. The woman stood there and didn’t say a word, although you could tell she felt the loss deep inside her. The child who held her hand wailed and clutched a handmade doll.
Thus, another Roka recruit was made. The UDF might be the force of order in human space, but nobody ever said they weren't a bit tyrannical.
Once again, I snapped out of the vision and came back into this reality. The Roka knew we were there and now I could take him out without guile.
“He’s gone into evasive mode,” Orlando announced. “The fighter’s headed down to the surface. No way he’ll survive what he’s about to run into on that gas giant. He's losing orbit.”
“He knows it,” I concluded. “The pilot thinks he can evade us by flying through the outer atmosphere. We’ll have to hunt him down in that mess and fight the gravity. Torch up fifteen percent, I have no desire to let him get away. How’s the fuel?”
“Well that pushes things a bit,” Orlando sent back. “But we’ll be able to do it. I’ll let you know when we get to the critical level. We can’t maintain this rate for too much longer.” He brought up another screen and looked at it.
I watched the fighter descend even further into the atmosphere of the gas giant. As I expected, it was harder to track him down here. The AI had an increasingly difficult time keeping him in our sites. The icon in front of me that represented the Roka ship began to flicker in and out. Still, he was descending into a dangerous part of the planet. Soon the atmosphere would be too thick for the ship to maneuver and avoid us. We would experience the same problem. It was a deadly race to find out who would pull out first. Our ship, I reckoned, had the better shielding, but it wouldn't save us the further down we went.
The letters over the atmospheric screen began to change to all manner of bright colors. I looked at it closer and saw why.
We were headed right smack into an electrical storm. It was thousands of miles across. Given the size of the gas giant below us, this wasn’t a shock. The planet had a very busy atmosphere and it was always in turbulence.
I looked at the indicators. No way could we use the lasers in this soup, they’d never penetrate the gases. Even the missiles would be difficult to guide once launched. We’d need to get a lot closer and open up with the chain cannons if we were going to take out this hostile.
“I appreciate sticking it to the UDF boss,” Tran yelled. “But do you see what’s coming at us?” I knew he wouldn’t lose his composure, but the vast storm was a miracle of nature and terror.
It came at us with a speed I didn’t think possible in nature. I watched as the gas clouds lit up from the electrical discharge in front of me and glowed from the energy sent into it. Dust particles turned into a field of sparks as the power hit them from the storm. Electrical discharges a thousand miles across raked the sky in front of us. Few people in history could boast of what we saw because few people had survived the encounter.
I couldn’t waste our lives in this madness. It was time to give the order to pull up. I cursed the Roka ship that pulled us into this hell.
I opened my mouth to give the order and watched as a bolt of lightning the size of a mountain arced out from one of the clouds and intersected with the Roka fighter. In one second, it was disintegrated by the energy discharge. The icon that represented the Roka fighter blinked out.
“Orlando,” I yelled. “Get us out of here!”
Orlando didn’t give an acknowledgement; he didn’t have to. I watched his image in my helmet screen. He made a series of controlled movements at his station. The torch meter on the propulsion unit pegged out and the FAS began to accelerate away from the surface of the planet. The electrical storm the size of a continent on a habitual planet came at us with the fury of ten thousand predators. I watched electrical fields pulse across the front of the FAS as it rose away and turned around. We began to move into a higher orbit.
The gyro in the conning tower locked me into place. The same happened for all of us on the ship. I could feel the inside of the suit expand to keep me from passing out, although how long I would hold out was in question. The gravity forces piled on top of each other. I saw the foreword screen show the empty stars of space as we climbed out of the atmosphere of the gas giant. Still, we had a lot further to go.
“We’re out of the storm,” I heard Orlando announce. “But it’s below us and I don’t know how far up the next part extends.
The starboard screen showed the ebb and pulse of electrons stripped from billions of atoms. Clouds of pure plasma bounced behind us. Coriolis effects taller than any mountain I’d ever seen reached up in our direction. All one of them had to do was make conduct with our FAS and Captain would need to put in for another crew.
The last few seconds of the Roka pilot’s life came into my mind. I tried to keep the images out, but they were too strong. He felt frustration and anger since there was no way he could escape the oncoming electrical storm. At the same time, he felt joy that he’d lured us into the same storm that would destroy him. He hated what we served and us. The soldiers burning down the house were his earliest memories. He wanted us all dead. This was what he’d lived for since the day the soldiers destroyed his life. He blamed us and the corrupt system that allowed it to happen. I couldn’t keep him out; he was gone and those last few minutes played on a loop through my head.
The FAS rose above the storm, but we still didn’t know if we would survive. I prayed the fuel would hold out. Once glance told me we might not have enough left to get home, but right now all I cared about was staying alive.
And then all was blackness.
11
I came to with the FAS moving slowly in the direction of the Hard Rain. The mothership took up the entire foreword screen. It still stayed up during the flight away from the electrical storm at the gas giant.
My helmet screen showed everyone else normal and coming back to the real world. From what I could tell, when Orlando and the rest of us passed out from the acceleration, the AI took over and guided the ship back toward the Hard Rain. For the first time, I found the name of the mothership funny as few of us had ever experienced rain on the surface of any planet. We all knew what it was from watching the videos, but that was the extent of our information.
“Are we all among the living?” I asked the crew as my eyes returned to normal. One thing I did like about these suits was the way it could administer any medication you might need through membranes that connected it to the wearer. It was one reason we had suits built to our individual specifications.
“I'll take over now,” I informed the AI. I looked at Orlando’s screen and watched him do the same with the guidance of the ship.
“Welcome back, guys,” a voice said in my ear. It was Alyx, who’d relieved her comrade to guide the ship back home. “I can see by the vitals you’re all awake. We were a bit scared for a few minutes, thought we’d lost the lot of you. When your signal died on the way down to the planet, we assumed you were gone.”
“We’re not that easy to kill,” I tried to laugh. None of the other crew joined in with the joke.
“Captain says to let you know she was impressed by how you survived that storm,” Alyx continued. “She also wants to know if you took out that Roka fighter you chased down there.”
“It’s gone,” I told her. “I’ve got the last image of it on video. An electrical arc took it out. The fighter disintegrated when all that energy hit it. We’re lucky it didn’t happen to us.”
“Glad to hear,” she told me.
&nbs
p; We drifted into the hanger. I waited until the doors were shut until the FAS was powered down. I climbed down from the tower and made certain all of us were fine before the door to the ship opened.
Alyx was the only one that greeted us in the hanger. For a woman who was still thirty-five standard years, she knew what all of us needed that moment. A little shorter than most, she stood on her toes and kissed each of the crew on the mouth as we walked out of the FAS door. I noticed she saved me for last.
“This is a bit different,” I told her. “Isn't the last one you greet the one you’re assigned for the evening? Some change I need to know about?”
She gave me a tight hug. I could feel the warmth through her jumper. It made me excited, but another would take care of her.
“Corwin,” she told me. “You're all brave fools. Everyone knows you were showboating for the UDF, and thanks you for it.”
She walked over and took Modero by the hand. “It’s alright, I get the latest dad-to-be,” she informed us. “Come on, brave warrior, I’m in season.” She walked off with him.
Orlando stared at the rest of us. "He gets to make another one?"
I made my way by myself to Captain’s quarters, hoping that the hell to pay wouldn't leave me without my command or my crew.
She had the largest room inside the Hard Rain. Although there was constant modification every time we put in for repairs, her room hadn’t changed much. As I mentioned, each woman had her own space and the men rotated through them. Captain’s room was special in that she’d had the same one since the construction of the Hard Rain. Every man in the pack knew that room. We’d all spent time there in meetings or in her bed. Over the years, all of us men had spent time there in discussion or in her bed. For Captain, an active sex life was something none of us could remember. She was the oldest comrade on board the ship. Every other person who’d served under her when the Hard Rain was launched rotated out years ago and lived on one of the colonies scattered throughout the frontier.
There were rumors that she was on the rooster a lot when the mothership was launched. Captain had plenty of children, every now and then one of her sons or daughters would check in from another ship. I noted they were all in their early twenties or thirties and no more than two years apart in age. This mean she’d been one busy lady years ago. There were rumors as to how Captain would have two assignments a shift if she was under stress. One man, long retired, told me no one ever complained. Her capacity for love and direction was legendary even among the other Orders.
The direction part I was about to experience.
I rapped on her door and waited. It slid open and walked inside. I noted the light inside was unusually dim. Her scent was stronger than ever before.
“Over here, Corwin,” I heard and saw her sitting in a chair in one corner of her room. I noted a pillow before her. For some reason, I wasn’t surprised to see her naked.
“Clothes off?” I asked her.
“Right away,” she commanded. “And then on your knees in front of me.” This explained the pillow.
It took less than a minute to shed my clothes and present myself to her. I walked up to her seated form, the excitement showing without issue.
“I said on your knees,” she informed me. I dropped to the pillow. Her scent was an intoxicant.
One of my cheeks made contact with her inner thigh. It felt warm and smooth. She’s made an extra special effort to shave recently.
“Watch it,” she informed me. “I didn’t say what you could and couldn’t do. Now just sit there and listen.”
“You decided to make policy on your own, Corwin,” she told me as I stared up at her.
I loved all the women on that ship. You had to or you had to leave, it was that simple. I loved the men too, but not it the same way. Captain, her I loved most of all. I think every man in the Orders does. She’d doled out her evenings sparingly over the years, but she could still perform when duty called.
“You disobeyed the instructions of a UDF commander,” she went on as she grasped the back of my head and drew me close, “You can show the right kind of initiative when you have the right motivation.”
She kept me there all evening.
“This Alpha Lance business is a rotten deal,” she told me later that evening. Captain sat on the edge of the bed and looked down at me.
“I need to take the pack somewhere that’s better for everyone,” she noted. “However, until the mission is complete we’re at the mercy of the Udies, but we’ve always known that. I have to do what’s best for everyone on this ship, and right now that's following orders. You do understand don’t you?”
I nodded.
The next day, Captain called all of us together for an impromptu pack meeting in the main hall. She arranged it so that the meeting took place between shifts. I’ve always liked these gatherings as the entire pack comes together for them. Most of the time people need to be away for maintenance or some other task. We don’t see each other in the same area very often, normally only for St. John's day. Even the children were with us, with several parents supervising the entire group. At least two of the women carried babies.
I’ve always enjoyed the way packmates come together for these things and check the roster as they enter the hall. You see couples rapidly find each other and look for a place to sit. It makes it easier for them to go off later.
Once the noise died down, Captain entered the hall and took her customary position in front of the multitude. She was radiant as ever in her formal uniform, something she liked breaking out in times like these.
“The Roka are still a threat,” she began. “When we transferred here, I was told it would be for minor picket duty and we wouldn’t see much action, other than the occasional smuggler. Now we’ve been dumped into the thick of it again, courtesy our friends in the UDF. As you all know, the concern of this pack is my prime concern. I love you all and will not allow this ship to be used as a decoy for hostiles. We haven’t even been sent the new FAS and crew promised to us by the Grand Marshal. I have already made a formal protest to the UDF about the way we’ve been treated. However, the Hard Rain sees missions to completion, and this one is no different. So, can I see a show of hands as to who is ready to pack it up and leave?”
She waited a good five minutes, but no hands went up. Several people folded their arms. Soon, the entire hall was filled with folded arms.
Captain smiled. “I thought so. That settles it.” She adjourned the meeting and left.
The next few weeks were some of the most intense I’d ever seen in my years on the Hard Rain. The entire pack was forced to work hard to keep the lane open for the supply run to that outer colony. I still don’t know why it was so important to the UDF Navy, but they wanted every Roka militant in the Yom system to know that the outer colonies were not to be messed with. On one end of the point where most of the convoy’s left hyperspace was a small fleet of UDF Naval corvettes, ready to snap into action the first time they saw an unidentified blip on the screens.
On the other end of the run, near the gas giant where the moon orbited that the colony was located, was the Hard Rain and support units. Four times, we watched as The Great Kahn moved into position and rip apart Roka sneak attacks. There were no boarding operations after the Ove orbital refueling and repair station was retaken.
Every encounter with a Roka starfighter was to the death. They had obtained some fine attack ships, but we had the better crews and hardier ships. I watched the Horde send in several smaller attack vehicles at the Roka. These were similar to our FAS ships, but only had two occupants. They were smaller, with less range, but a terror whenever the Roka appeared. Not one Roka starfighter made it through our defense. Not that it was without casualties though, as Shelly's crew lost several members, and Tank's FAS was grounded for nearly two weeks after taking several hits that put the vehicle in the repair bay and the crew in the hospital.
We broke up picket duty so that each crew could have some of the glory of
attacking the Roka. Even the gunners on the Hard Rain took out several Roka ships who tried to come at us. After the first waves were decimated by the combined fire of the women on the mothership, they no longer tried this maneuver. I still have vivid memories of one woman rocking a child while operating the quantum laser array against an incoming Roka fighter.
The whole time the UDF forces would remain idle, watching us, and no doubt they were measuring our reaction times, our kill ratios, and asking themselves if our military prowess was worth the hefty sums they paid us in credits and materials, not to mention our general freedom from UDF rule.
After weeks of hell, where I slept in the ready room in my suit armor, the attacks eased off. I still don’t know if the Roka exhausted their supply of recruits and starfighters, but they seemed to change tactics. We all knew this was a false sense of security, designed to make us think it was all over. In truth, the Roka were still out there, just waiting for the right moment to attack again. The Yom system had become a showroom for both the UDF and the Roka, a way of showing each other just how strong they were.
The sleeping schedule was suspended those last two weeks. Everyone pulled together and did what needed to be done. The only relief I had was one shift where I was assigned to help out in the children’s section. Most of the kids wanted to know what it was like being out in the midst of a free-fire zone, but I steered them back toward whatever lessons were prepared for them.
I was relieved when the sleep schedule resumed. It meant less stress and a chance to spend quality time with the women on the ship. Captain took herself out of the rotation, but kept a close eye on how we got along with each other.
12
It was several weeks after the Roka attacks stopped that Captain decided to put the Hard Rain in for repairs and maintenance. Normally, we would find the nearest Order station to have this done, but the Yom system was a good distance away from anything that was administered by an Order. Captain searched around and made the decision to put the mothership in for the local commercial repair and service depot, which was located on the surface of an asteroid not far from the gas giant we patrolled. The Hard Rain could be serviced in orbit while the rest of the crew could be ferried down to have some relaxation on the entertainment part of the station.
