by Melissa Good
Dev shifted her hands on the controls as the craft broke through the high cloud layer and they were between that and the lower. It was dense and dark beneath them, and she could see arcs of lightning in the middle distance.
The shuttle leveled out, then she got a handle on its flight dynamics before she nudged the throttles forward. “I think it is best to remain at this altitude until we are closer to our destination.”
“Yes, some bad weather down there,” Kurok said. “Jess? Directly to the Bay?”
Jess remained silent. “Yeah. No sense in waiting.”
“I have the coordinates for that.” Doug produced his scanner. “Since you got your hands full there, Rocket.” He turned it on and tuned it, then straightened. “Hey we got something coming at us. Fast, from below.”
“Suboptimal.” Dev pushed the throttles forward and felt the large craft respond.
Jess unclipped and moved over to look at the scan. “Bad guys.” She jumped back to her seat and strapped in. “This thing got any guns?”
“Nothing to speak of,” Kurok said with a grim look. “Shields are decent, but mostly because it goes orbital.”
“Suboptimal,” Dev repeated, snugging her restraints a little tighter. “What is chasing us?”
“TR-12s,” Doug said. “Six of em. About to break the clouds.”
Dev regarded the scene outside, then she pitched the shuttle forward and down and headed rapidly toward the cloud layer, glancing to one side at the wiremap that now clearly showed the approaching attackers.
She saw the energy readings peaking on them and knew they were about to fire. She tipped the shuttle to one side, not quite on its side, and accelerated.
“Um. Dev.”
“Yes, I know I am heading at them,” Dev said, just before she got too busy to talk about it as the lead three crafts came out of the clouds into their path and came right at them.
Blaster fire lit the forward screens and washed out real vision. She looked immediately at the wiremap, as the enemy craft split and came around them, still firing.
Suboptimal. She watched them react, their plasma blasters raking the side of the shuttle as alarms and alerts started going off.
“They’re going to turn and come at the shuttle from the back,” Jess said. “They know the shields are lighter there.”
“That’s not good,” Doug said. “We’ve got nothing to fight them with.”
Dev got the shuttle leveled out as the flare faded from the forward screens, and she saw the wiremap acquire the three enemy ships, who were, just as Jess said, coming at them from the rear.
She started a bit of evasive motion, but the shuttle didn’t have the speed or the maneuverability of the carrier, and the response was sluggish at best.
Alarms flared. “Damage on the left rear wing,” Doug called out.
Kurok tapped a key. “Sending silica wash out there.”
The enemy came right up the center, tucking themselves in behind the space engine bells, firing at will at them. “Blind spot!” Doug called out, watching the wiremap.
Dev considered her options. Then she scanned a mostly dark panel and tapped a few keys. “Please hold on. I am going to try something, and I do not know what the result is going to be.”
“Oh, crap.” Doug closed his eyes, and Kurok half turned to watch as she grabbed the throttles with one hand and tapped a few keys with the other. A high pitched whine erupted into their ears.
“Damage to right rear,” Doug blurted. “They’re going to—”
He never got to finish because at that moment Dev tapped another key and pitched the nose of the shuttle down as she triggered the space engines, which roared unexpectedly to life.
Rocket fire was everywhere as the shuttle almost turned on its nose as the engines interacted and two of the enemy craft were caught in the blast before they could spin away. She cut off the rockets and let the shuttle drop, hearing a huge bang and explosion as she came down on top of the third.
Doug was holding on for dear life. “Holy shit.”
Jess just laughed. “Nice,” she said. “You’re gonna get a prize for that one if we ever land in this thing.”
Dev accelerated away, going groundward again as the other three enemy craft arced away and turned back at high speed.
“We just hit the continental plate,” Jess said. “We’re in home territory.”
“Whatever that means,” Kurok muttered.
“Point,” Jess conceded.
They ripped through the cloud layer and were under it, inside a dark and windy storm with blasts of lightning rippling through the sky around them. The alarms kept going off and a moment later they were inside a rainstorm, almost obscuring the window that wrapped around the shuttle nose.
Repellers. Dev scanned the controls quickly and then went back to the wiremap, flying by its information as the view was washed out. “Doctor Dan, does this craft have rain shields?”
Kurok was busy at the console, punching things furiously. “Looking for them, Dev. Bear with me.”
“Oh crap.” Doug covered his eyes.
“You want to try this?” Kurok snapped.
“Everyone relax.” Jess’s voice was low but crisp. “Dev’s got this.”
Dev risked a sideways glance, but remained silent. She felt the surging of the shuttle, its responses so slow to her. The wiremaps showed the terrain that abruptly appeared under them and she could see mountains and valleys.
There were many alarms showing on the boards, but she didn’t know what to do about them, so she let them flash, sparing a moment to reflect that this must be what it was like to be a natural born, having to learn everything the hard way.
Suboptimal, indeed.
“Okay, we’re over the white,” Jess said. “At this speed we’re gonna come over what’s left of North in about ten minutes and be in range of Ten. “I have no idea what they’re going to do.”
“If they saw what Rocket did to those three they’ll keep their asses inside that mountain,” Doug said. “That was crazy.”
Kurok smiled. “Yes, but it worked. What made you think of that, Dev?”
Dev frowned as she studied her displays. “Does something have to make you think of things?” she asked. “I am not sure what that means.” She spotted a control and depressed it. Like magic the forward screen cleared. Now they could see outside, which was awash with violent rain. Visible beneath them was the thick, reflective ice of the white.
It made her feel surprisingly relieved to see the earth beneath her and she wondered about that, but not for long because the shuttles steering was troublesome.
“Crossing over Quebec City in two,” Doug said.
“Someone is trying to hail us,” Kurok said
“Answer it,” Jess said. “If it’s Ten, I’d like to know ahead of time if they’re going to engage us.”
Kurok eyed her, then put the comms helmet on. “This is Shuttle Eleven Beta. Who’s calling?”
“Shuttle Elbet, Quebec City control. Comms it?”
Kurok looked at the board in some perplexity. “Go ahead,” he said, after a brief pause.
“Overshot. You going around? Market needs what you got.”
“Ah.” Doctor Dan grunted. “Sorry, Quebec, emergency run, coastwise. Catch you on the back.”
Jess nodded. “Nice.”
“No no, Elbet! You must c’mon in!” The hailer responded, audibly upset. “You got drugs we need! No scams!”
“I think we have some approaching vessels,” Dev said in an undertone. “From the west.”
“No scams, Quebec, we got damage. Attack over the white,” Doctor Dan said. “Can’t land there. Will come back soon as we can.”
“Fuck!” The comms intoned in a very frustrated voice. “Who attacked?”
“TR-12s, a half dozen,” Kurok said. “We splashed three.”
“Huh.” The Quebec comms grunted. “You go Base Ten?”
Jess and Kurok exchanged looks and Jess nodded. “Yes,” he said. “Endit.�
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He put the comms down and frowned. “Drugs?” He half shook his head. “What else in hell was going on there I had no clue about? I feel like such an idiot.”
The comms lit again, flashing harshly. “Bet I can guess who that is,” Jess said. “Dev, you answer that one.”
“Yes.” Dev keyed the comms. “Shuttle Eleven Beta. Go ahead.”
There was a harsh crackle and she almost removed the comms from her ear, then a soft clicking noise. “Eleven Beta, this is Interforce Base Ten. Identify please.”
Dev looked at Jess and lifted her eyebrows.
“Go ahead and tell them who you are,” Jess said. “They’ll pick up scan in a few minutes anyway.” She shifted a little. “That sounds like reg comms.”
“Base Ten, this is Dev. I am in control of this shuttle.”
Jess leaned forward with her elbows on her knees, honestly at a loss to know what was going to come next. “I think that’s Roger,” she commented. “One of the new techs.”
“You’ve stunned them speechless,” Kurok said. “That’s a first.”
A crackle. “NM-Dev-1?”
“Yes. That’s me.”
Another crackle and the sound of fumbling. “Rocket!” a different voice erupted. “Son of a bitch!”
Dev winced and moved the comms a bit away from her eardrum. “Hello.”
“It’s Jason. Is Jess there?”
“Yes. She is here next to me.” Dev offered the comms to Jess. “It’s Jason.” So far, it didn’t sound too incorrect, and she was glad to hear Jason’s voice, and in the background she was fairly sure she’d heard Brent.
“Drake,” Jess said. “Jase?”
“Dude.” Jason sounded utterly relieved. “Don’t stop here, you heading for home?”
“Yes.”
“Go,” Jason said. “Long story, tell ya later, see ya soon.”
“Endit.” Jess cut off the comms and handed it back. “Best news I could’ve gotten. We’re not going to get blown up on the way.”
“At least not by Base Ten,” Kurok said, but looked relieved himself. “No telling what we’ll find at the Bay.”
No, that was true. Jess settled back in her seat and flexed her hands. “We’ll know in a little while. How ya doing, Dev? Want me to dig up another bar for ya?”
Caught thinking of exactly that, Dev blushed. “Actually I was thinking of those shrimp in Quebec. But a bar would be nice, too.”
Jess reached out and gave her neck a knead then unclipped her restraints and stood up. She stretched her body out and shook herself a little. “We made it back from space at least.” She eased past the pilot’s station and went to the hatch. “Let’s see how far we get now.”
Dev got herself re-settled and reviewed as much of the controls as she could, only then looking up to see Doctor Dan watching her. He was smiling, and she smiled back. “This is really somewhat difficult.”
He leaned on the arm of the chair. “I don’t think anything is too difficult for you, Dev. You’re amazing.”
“Hell yeah.” Doug got up from his jumpseat and stretched his long body out. “I hope we got vid of you torching those TRs. That’s gonna be on replay for a month.” He looked over at Kurok. “Too bad you made these guys sterile, doc. Those genes could do for spreading.”
Kurok regarded him with a wry expression. “Interesting thought.”
Doug waited, but there was nothing else forthcoming. “Well, I’m gonna go find the head.” He started out the hatch, pausing to glance back at them, then going on and closing it behind him.
JESS FOUND THE little mess dispenser occupied as April was rummaging in the supplies as well. “Hey.”
April glanced at her. “Hey. Nice to have my feet stuck to the deck again. We long off?” She seemed to have regained her equilibrium and stolid attitude, without a sign of the angry sarcasm she’d exhibited before.
Jess was glad. She wasn’t really in the mood for a fistfight. “No. We just passed Base Ten.” She picked up a water and two bars. “The bang you heard was Dev knocking three TR-12s out of the sky.”
“Really?” April tucked a bar in one pocket and took a water. “With what? These aren’t armed for crap. Believe me I checked. All they have is that repulsor gun to push meteors out of the way they were using to shoot at station.” She paused. “She use that?”
Jess chuckled. “No. Two of them she splatted with the space rockets and one she just smacked down on top of. Rest of them took off when we crossed the line inbound.”
“Really?” April frowned a little. “Those are battle tactics. Where’d she get that, Drake? Not that I mind, but was that the plan? You coach her?”
Interesting question. “Instinct?” Jess said. “It never even crossed my mind to do that. I sure didn’t tell her to. She even freaked out the doc.”
“So did you contact Ten?” April asked. Jess nodded. “What did they say?”
“Jason contacted me. Something’s going on there, said he would catch up with me later.” Jess half shrugged. “Told me to get through the Bay first.”
“What? That’s nuts.” April frowned. “It was Interforce that attacked the Bay. I saw them. Saw the damn carriers come in shooting, Jess. No bullshit.” She crunched the bottle in her hand a little. “So what the hell?”
Jess shrugged again. “We haven’t talked to anyone since you left. No telling what’s going on there. My damn family could have blown up the place by now and maybe Interforce moved on already.”
“Makes no sense,” April said. “Whole thing makes no sense. I mean yeah, great, growing plants, cred, I get it. My tribe would have sucked the souls out of everyone in the place for it, but it’s just one cave. Tank a homestead for that? Really? ’Specially yours?”
Jess folded her arms over her chest and leaned back against the bulkhead. “Maybe the scientists found something else after we left. I saw a couple of them out on the beach looking around,” she said. “Sorry I went now.”
“Me too,” April said. “Everything got a little sideways after you and Dev left. Political shit going on we could tell, but we stayed clear.”
Politics, yeah. Jess felt tired and annoyed. “Fucked me up.”
“Did,” April agreed. “No going back from it, Drake. You go kick their asses, you’re seriously screwed. Don’t go? More screwed.”
“Sucks to be me,” Jess said.
April nodded. “Does. No win there, unless you want to go civ. Not sure they’d even let you do that.” She opened a water and sucked at it. “Nearest nomad family we bumped into, those ones on the plains, went to ground near the caves you smoked that night. That’s trouble.”
“Why not go with your people, April?” Jess asked unexpectedly. “Why stick on my side? You know I’m going to end up fish food.”
April studied her for a long moment in silence. “You win a lot,” she finally said. “I like that.” She turned and started back to the seats. “And we all have to croak sometime. That’s what my mater used to tell me.” She paused at the door. “I’m going to go strap in if Rocket’s driving. Falling down now’d hurt.”
Jess smiled and pushed off the doorway and went back into the shuttle’s corridor, now level since Dev was flying in a relatively even configuration. She went over to the cargo hold and turned the latch, opening it to look inside.
Her family was in good spirits. A few had gotten knocked around, but it was mostly just bruises and cuts. Now that she had a chance to look, she realized the fifty assorted men and women in sea stained clothing were all youngers.
No seniors, no heads of households. Just singles and youngsters, looking to make a mark.
“We almost home?” Dustin asked. “What’s left of it maybe?”
“Almost,” Jess said. “Going to be fighting when we get there.”
“Hope so,” he said. “Seriously not cool them elders and all getting whiffed. Wasn’t their fault, cuz. We were all whupping up and they took it out on the noncoms.” He was seated on a console, kicking his
booted legs back and forth. “Fuckers.”
Jess leaned against the wall. “So you started it?” she asked. “Not them?”
“Sure,” Dustin said. “Assholes were grabbing what was ours. No way we were gonna let that go on. Mika got all in their faces, Seldon, too, and they started trying to kick people around.”
“Ah.”
“That stuff was ours,” Dustin said. Two others next to them nodded. “We don’t let people come take shit from the Bay. You get it, right? You wouldn’t have let them just grab stuff, would you?”
“If they were blowing up my old uncle, maybe I would have,” Jess said. “What was that crap worth? And I’m active duty, so I don’t know what the hell I would have done. Probably not started a fight with Interforce.”
Dustin looked profoundly disappointed. “But you’re the Drake.”
Jess regarded him. “I’m an enforcement agent,” she said. “Except for a quirk of my father’s, I would have been on the other side shooting at you.”
Silence.
“But now? Yeah. Fuckers. I can’t let that stand. They can’t shoot my old uncle and trash the homestead. I’m the Drake. I’m going to have to kill them.” Jess sighed. “Some days it really sucks to be me.”
Dustin nodded relieved. “You get it.”
“I get it.” Jess now saw the situation in a whole range of other colors. But it didn’t matter really because in the end it would be the same thing. “Anyway, let me get back to the cockpit. You’ll know when we’re landing when this thing stops shaking.”
She walked among the bios, who watched her with quiet trustfulness. “Your guy, the Doc, is being rock star up there,” she told them. “Just relax. Between him and Dev we’re golden.”
The KayTee who’d stuck with Dev smiled at her and waved a little. “I’m glad we went,” he said. “This will be different, even if it’s hard.” He settled back into his cargo restraint. “We will get to see downside.”
“We will,” a BeeAye agreed. “Maybe NM-Dev-1 will take us to see a bear, like on the vid.”
A bear. Jess sighed internally, feeling that day now a lifetime behind her.
Cathy, the lab assistant, gently intercepted her. “Agent Drake.”
