A line of light from the Merciless above turned night into day for three seconds, and when it was gone there was a big white-hot hole in bunker doors that seemed impenetrable a moment before. "All right, everyone get ready to repel Citadel forces; charge shields and find cover." That was as much progress as they'd manage before the enemy Mechanized Suits set down.
"Admiral, the remaining Order Infantry are retreating," reported Captain Stephanie Vega, who was with a small team roving outside of the square. "We're picking any armed soldier we see off as ordered, but…"
"They know heavy armour's coming in," Jake said. "If we don't take care of them now, they'll come out when they're called on to make our day even worse."
"We'll clear them out," Stephanie said, her tone like iron.
The first lander exploded above them, sending its armoured panels down. It was an intentional explosion, meant to free the Citadel Encounter Mechs from the ships that brought them down. Five released from their shoulder harnesses, jump jets reducing the speed of their fall. "Ronin, we need support down here," Jake said as the ground shook, armour plates striking the ground around them, the Mechs touching down. They were three times his height in armour, had similar energy shields, and an array of weapons on each hand. "Concentrate on one target at a time! Find cover!" Jake ordered.
Shards of light burst from the nearest Mech's left hand as a barrage of small seeker missiles erupted from its left. At a glance, two dozen of his soldiers' shields were already down to seventy percent on average, and before he could give it a second thought, Jake initiated his thrusters and hurled himself at the nearest metal monster. "Sorry, Ayan," he said under his breath, fully aware that he was breaking his promise to lead from the middle.
"You're not alone," Shamus added through gritted teeth. He was a second behind him, approaching the Mech from the other side. "This thing's coming down!"
They both knew what they were doing, switching their shield emitters to sync mode, increasing the power, hoping they wouldn't bounce off the Mech or get shot up on the way in. A deft backhand sent Jake flying in an arc across the square, his shields were down to eleven percent. His thrusters weren't powerful enough to save him from striking the ground, leaving a trail of broken brick behind. His dampeners took care of most of the impact, and he was all right, but he needed cover. Shards of light turned the brick to glass around him as the Mech attempted to finish him off.
Any hit had a chance of cutting into his armour, two could cut right through him, and Jake was surrounded by Remmy's group an instant later, their shields protecting him as they fired at the Mech over two dozen strong. Jake unslung his rifle and rattled a few bursts off as they rushed towards the cover they cleared a minute earlier.
"I've got you, you Sol System whoreson!" Shamus Frost declared as his shields synced with the Mech's. It was a trick that worked on most Sol system shielding - if you had a powerful shield of your own and could match its energy system to theirs, you could pass right through - and he leapt up the tall armour's leg, got onto its torso then started blasting the pilot's canopy at point blank range. Strobing, violent light bathed him and the Mech as he let loose with his rifle. "Eject, you cowardly little shit!" he laughed.
"I am so happy he's on our side," Dotty said as they watched the Mech's canopy armour fail, rounds burst through to the pilot. The seven-metre-tall monstrosity sagged, lifeless.
"Get out of there, Frost!" Jake shouted as his tactical map lit up with a warning. All four of the remaining Mechs were marked for air strikes, Ronin and Samurai Squad were about to give them a hand.
"Oh, bloody hell," Frost said, jumping off the lifeless exo-suit and firing his thrusters, nearly scraping the ground on his way to Remmy and his people. A firestorm erupted behind him as missiles made for high speed space combat rained down from Samurai Squadron onto the four Mechs already on the ground. Ten more were caught in it as they landed, and whatever beauty remained in Haven Shore square was wiped out. Only craters and the remains of the first wave of Mechs were left.
"Thanks, Samurai Squadron," Jake said.
"Our pleasure, you're on your own for a while, though. We're picking up nuclear and antimatter alerts from those fighters coming in," Ronin said. "Making for orbit now."
A group of new stars appeared overhead as Samurai Squadron's fighters turned upwards and throttled up. "Acknowledged," was all Jake had time to say before an alert went off in his Heads' Up Display. There were seven more Citadel drop ships coming down and a group - his scanners were having trouble determining how large - of Order Knights were emerging from the bunker they'd just busted open with hundreds of soldiers behind. "Merciless Tactical: Get rid of those drop ships immediately," Jake said as he marked them as high priority targets. Before there was a chance that the Merciless would hit friendlies below the first wave of drop ships, but Jake had his people out of the way this time.
Three of the drop ships was set alight by a barrage of turret fire from the horizon. The armour plating disintegrated several seconds later, and the Mechanized Encounter Suits were spilled out into the air, jump thrusters firing to right the Mechs as they began to plummet. "Sky Queen here," the pilot said on the allied channel. "Happy to report the Nafalli camps have been liberated and rescue is under way. We'll blast these oversized buggers then drop Alaka and his people off."
"Welcome to the island," Jake said, turning to Remmy. "Fire everything you've got into that bunker, I don't care if we collapse it, we need to take those Order Knights out quick."
"Aye," Remmy said grimly. He knew there could be friendlies in there too, but he understood that Order Knights could cost them more lives.
The Sky Queen was joined by the Jester, and they flew circles around the dropships and landing Mechs, which returned fire but were losing numbers fast. The Merciless's light guns peppered the highest drop ships with rounds that cut through their armour, busting them open, sending pieces of the Mechanized Encounter Suits to the ground. A targeting alert showed on the Sky Queen. "Get out of there!" Jake shouted.
A beam from orbit struck the Clever Class Corvette, following the Sky Queen as it tried to evade with a swerve. The shields were depleted in seconds. "Mayday, we're going down," the pilot announced.
The beam broke through its hull and flames erupted from the mid-fore of the vessel, where the small bridge was nestled under layers of armour. The ship tilted down, its port side thrusters fired, then it crashed in the rainforest behind the bunker, shattering ancient trees and shaking the ground. There would be survivors, how many, he couldn't tell, but if Alaka was alive, he'd take the situation in hand.
The beam from orbit had finished firing. If it was from one of the Order Cruisers, it would have to recharge for a while before another strike was possible. The fact that it could strike at all meant that it had gotten past Admiral Rice's group, the Triton and the rest of their ships. Jake made a decision then, it was time to switch tactics entirely, to refocus on their original mission. "Clever Class Corvettes, cloak and converge on Haven Shore." He checked on the evacuation progress. There were still between twelve hundred and fourteen hundred people in the Everin Building. "All ground forces, converge on the Everin Building, fire on the enemy whenever you have the opportunity but keep moving. Our main objective is to cover the evacuation of the last families there then get off this moon as quickly as possible." If the Nafalli need help after that, we'll send everything we can their way, but we can't fight this with split forces anymore. Jake thought.
"Three dead on the Sky Queen," Alaka reported. "Two injured. We're extracting ourselves from the wreck and will join the main force soon."
It wasn't the news Jake was hoping for from that ship, but at least it wasn't all bad news. "What ship was that beam from?"
"It was an orbital defence cannon the Order managed to power up and turn on us," Alaka replied.
"Where is he?" Jake asked in a whisper, thinking of Wheeler. It was his kind of dirty trick.
Fourteen
The Pil
ot Who Followed Her Spirit
* * *
Edda Paley made sure she was in position alongside Minh-Chu Buu, or Ronin as everyone was to call him while he was on duty as a fighter pilot. The new Uriel fighters were grouped together. Hailing from every part of the fleet, all twenty-one of them sent after the hundred five Order of Eden fighters that were coming around from the far side of Tamber.
The Twenty-One were cloaked, signal silent, and their shields were charged. As the darkened atmosphere of Tamber passed below, every pilot watched their weapon targeting systems process the passive scan data coming into their computers. Edda still found it strange that she could be so calm. The silence before violent combat was at the same time a thrill and a comfort to her. It set her senses abuzz, and it felt like time was slowing down.
Years patrolling an edge of the Sionen Nebula in an entirely different galaxy for newcomers and Raiders made Edda used to long silences in space where she had to be aware of many systems at once for long periods of time. That is where she learned calm. It wasn't just a state of being, but a talent. Remain calm. It was one of the guiding credos of the Lorander Corporation Military training. Training she completed in a time that felt long past, but she hadn't matured much since then, so how much time passed didn't matter to her.
When she wanted to get away from Nolian Society, which had been overwhelmed by passivity and too introspective as far as she was concerned, Lorander Corporation offered her a promising opportunity. In a culture where no one wanted to fight, they needed people who were willing to train as soldiers and explorers.
After finishing her training, they determined that she had the mental fortitude and disposition that made her perfect for long term watch missions, so she spent years looking at a nebula that represented the fears of her people, the Nolians. Edda didn't complain. The passivity she tried to escape followed her into space, so she did what the earliest heroes of her people were known for; she made the best of it. When they encountered humans, they avoided being conquered through violence by inviting them in, and centuries later, the Nolians were a blended people, the founders of the Lorander Government and the Corporation. Their history was exciting, featuring many heroes who fought for rights, territory and progress. The Nolians loved reliving that part of their past, they were fascinated by it, but after spending years alone, contemplating the problems that drove her away from her people, Edda realized why she didn’t want to stay with them anymore. Why all the beautiful worlds felt old and uninviting.
When Lorander defended the Nolians against a Raider attack, met a new race or culture, or founded a new colony of humans, her people didn't want to know. Change was vulgar, and there was no room for new heroes. They were happy with the stories they knew, worshipping the idols who had statues in their towns and cities. That was comforting. New heroes pointed to the fact that the universe could still be a dangerous place.
After making that realization and exploring it for weeks, she requested to be transferred to one of the expeditions going to the Milky Way, and she served aboard more than one ship as the pilot. That position was a little different in the Lorander Corporation when it was compared to her current duties. A pilot aboard a Lorander capitol ship had to be an expert on the dangers and features of space and the things that inhabit it. They were the top navigators, advisors, and often astrophysicists aboard the ship. After all the time she spent alone, monitoring the edge of that blue-green nebula, she'd managed to qualify as a Level Three Pilot. It was just high enough to win her a prized position aboard an intergalactic explorer ship.
It meant she could go on exploration expeditions with some of the best people serving in space, but it came with great responsibility. Overruling the Captain where matters pertaining to her qualifications were concerned was a welcome event because it usually meant that the Pilot saved them time, injury or trouble with local governments. In the Lorander Corporate Navy, she only had to use that power three times, and it was enough to endear her to the crew as well as her commanders.
Then they were called to the Rega Gain system, and a whole world of dangerous adventure revealed itself to her. There was also frustration. Not being allowed to help Ayan, Jacob and her people was maddening. Couldn't her superiors see that these people weren't unlike the first humans who blended with her people? Couldn't they understand that the new settlers on Tamber represented the passion and heroism that the Nolians lost so long ago? The leadership was surprised when she volunteered to leave the Lorander Corporation, to help the budding settlement on Tamber.
They denied her request. It was their right, Edda hadn't served her full term with the Lorander Corporation.
Sometime later, when Lorander decided that they would finally help Ayan and her people by giving them a manufacturing system, Edda demanded to go with it. By then, she wasn't alone, and Lorander advised her along with a small group that if they left the service, they might never be able to return to their home galaxy.
That suited Edda. With new enthusiasm, she helped anyone from the new Tamber based military learn about the Solar Forge, what it could do, how it could be duplicated, even showing them how the fast fabrication technology changed things for her own people when someone from Tamber would listen.
When the time came, Edda made sure she was involved with the construction of the War Forge, but there were people with better skills and education for that, so her help wasn't essential. It started to feel like she was drifting away from the promise of adventure that lured her to Rega-Gain, then renamed as the Haven System. That was when she was given the opportunity to help with the technology for the Apex Military Training Program. It was enormous fun to test many parts of the program herself and helping with the creation of training modules that would teach more people how to use Lorander technology made her feel useful. Not like an adventurer, but useful just the same.
That was the first time she was truly able to socialize with the humans. They were exciting, every one of them had a different story about what brought them there, and it surprised them when she wanted to talk to them, follow them to their makeshift pubs aboard the War Forge - which was still being built at the time - and be human.
That's where she was first called 'Dame.' "Look at her, she's so classy, even when Edda's sideways wasted, she apologizes to people for stumbling or needing to lean on them," said her first girlfriend, Fiona. It was shortly before she left on the Revenge on the mission to the Iron Head Nebula. "She's like a Lady, no, no. You're strong, too," she said, turning directly to her, handing her a little glass of Zingara Rum. "We tried some of the advanced physical training exercises together, and we didn't pass everything, but you were one of the last ones to give up. No, you're like a classic knight, you know, the ones that only existed in story books - good manners, always smells nice, and strong - but what's a woman knight called?" she looked it up on her command and control band. "A Dame, I love that," she raised her glass.
Sideways wasted was a term she heard a few times, and Edda was happy it didn't apply to her often, but that night was one of those times. Waking up beside Fiona was a pleasant surprise, and memories of kissing and cuddling drifted through her mind as the morning went on. The nickname, Dame, stuck, and Edda enjoyed it. Even after Fiona was killed along with hundreds of other crewmembers aboard the Revenge, she liked it. The name reminded her of her first love in the Milky Way and made her want to be better in terms of behaviour and skill.
The Apex Program started, and Edda began to understand that pilots were romantic figures in Haven System culture. They were heroes and adventurers as far as the people were concerned. At the same time, soldiers and enlisted were regarded as noble servants of the cause, and that only added to her drive to fight the Order of Eden after Fiona's death. Her first human lover served on a ship of war, so her life was at risk, it was reasonable, but the atrocities the Order of Eden visited upon the galaxy were too much for Edda to abide. With the permission of the Headmistress, Violet Black, she learned how to fly every fighter an
d ship in the Haven Fleet in simulation, then completed all the qualifiers.
To Edda's surprise, she submitted her application to become an official member of Haven Fleet and admission into the Combat Pilot Program happened in the same day. When she was given the list of pre-approved positions available to her, Edda chose to become a Uriel pilot.
The Wing Commander for Void Eagle Squadron, Hamish Gross, assigned her to Enhanced Training in simulations. He made it clear that her service with Lorander Security Forces, watching one edge of a nebula alone in a patrol ship, didn't impress him. That is where she served aboard the War Forge until an opportunity to transfer to the Triton came along. Shortly after her transfer was complete, and she'd found her shared quarters, the great ship was on its way to the Haven System.
* * *
Edda's full attention returned to the moment as the first mission alert went off, they would be coming into practical firing range of the Order of Eden fighters in thirty seconds. Hopefully they had no idea that The Twenty-One were on their way to intercept them. Everything had to proceed perfectly for the rest of the mission as far as Edda was concerned. It was her first time in a real Uriel cockpit. She'd sent five Order of Eden and two Citadel pilots to the next life, but she'd also been shot down once. This, her second fighter, would be the one she served in for the rest of her flying career, she would never be shot down again. The Admiral gave her this fighter, a real hero who stood for his beliefs and saved people. It was a relief that he wasn't a disappointment in person, but a severe injury to her pride that she met him because she'd been shot down. He sent her back up in the air as though she was a truant child caught out of school. Edda was sure that she had a lot of work to do before she earned the respect of command again.
Spinward Fringe Broadcast 14 Page 11
