by A. D. Bloom
*****
Raleigh and Wambach and even Parker were heroes among the redsuits. All the rest of the reds that went too - Komora, Ellis, Hongston. But not Tig Meester. It was his improvised rig that messed up the Chief’s neural interface with her limbs and put her out of action. Nobody said it, but they all blamed him for not knowing it would happen. It all evened out in a weird sort of way. Nobody pinned a medal on him, but nobody tried to break his bones either.
The 48 hours since they’d intercepted Hardway and saved them from ambush had been lonely. If he wasn’t on duty and Parker wasn’t around, then Tig Meester found himself alone no matter how many people were in the compartment.
The redsuits blamed him. He’d done the best he knew how to do. The Chief was the one that gave him the big speech about never forgetting your best is your best and you can’t do any more. Remembering that won’t change anything, he discovered, but it helps hold you together so you can keep going.
He hoped they'd stopped blaming him once they saw her up and around, but the Chief had been in Ibora’s medical bay since coming aboard and the Doc wouldn’t let anyone in there to see her.
In the midships mess, once Parker was gone, he had to eat with the railgun loaders. There were plenty of redsuits in there, but they didn’t want Tig near them. All 30 of them shut him out. Turned their goddam backs.
When the Chief came through the hatch, they all cheered her. Must be nice, he thought, as he saw her blush from it. It was easy to see she was looking for someone even from 20 meters away on the far side of the mess. Her eyes played across the faces of the redsuits she saw there. "Where’s Meester?" Those milky eyes found him. She pointed and yelled it over all the reds along with the rest of the crewmen and pilots when she shouted to him. "AMTS Tig Meester! Get over here. I got a job for someone I trust. You’re the only one that can do it. I need those magic hands."
He didn’t plan to cut right through the middle of the 30 redsuits between him and Horcheese. It was crowded in their section of the mess. He’d have had to shove his way through the chairs and he didn’t plan to do that. He started to make for the edge of the compartment to walk along the bulkhead.
Tig never saw who shouted, "Make a hole," but it wasn’t the Chief. After that, they all stood up and made a hole for him. They stood up and got out of his way and made a corridor for him to pass. Tig walked down it wishing everyone he'd ever known had been there to see him.
If you enjoyed this story from the 2164-2165 war, then read The War of Alien Aggression.
The War of Alien Aggression
Hardway, Kamikaze, Lancer, Taipan, Cozen's War.
All five books in a single volume - the war with the Squidies from the first engagement to the final detonations.
640 pages, 192K words
Hardway
Intelligent life reaches out to Humanity using particle beam weapons and masers. The pilots and crew of the carrier Hardway are first to fight in the conflict that quickly escalates from a bloody first contact to a full-scale, interstellar war. Ram Devlin knows he and the rest of Humanity may have been tricked into engaging in a war that didn't have to happen. The verity of the history being written is in doubt, but the survival of his crew and the very future of mankind is at stake.
Kamikaze
The privateer attack carrier Hardway invades Procyon to destroy an alien blockade gun meant to keep the human race confined. Hardway and her pilots meet their match in the Squidies' massive gun and the alien aces that protect it until they discover why the aliens are beating them. Hardway's officers must commit to paying for victory in war's only true currency.
Lancer
Privateer Admiral Harry Cozen needs pilots for an experimental fighter squadron, so he offers the inmates of Bailey Prison a deal. Colt is serving 5-7 and he knows the deal is too good to be true, but he still takes it. He and the rest of the C-Block nuggets learn to fly the new F-151 Bitzer and prepare to sortie against alien aces on a mission far more dangerous than anyone's telling them.
Taipan
The privateer attack carrier Hardway is drafted into a force group commanded by Harry Cozen's bitter rival from Staas Company. She stole his fighter program and his thousand new pilots. Now, she's determined to use them as cannon fodder. Nobody can argue with her battle record, but the officers and crew of Hardway and the Lancers of the 133rd Fighter Test Squadron may be all that can keep her pilots alive in a knife-fight deep behind enemy lines.
Cozen's War
The Staas Privateers and the UN fleet have brought the fight to the Squidies' home system. The massive Earth invasion fleet faces off against every ship the Squidies' can muster. Harry Cozen is in command and this is his greatest gambit, but alien propaganda threatens to reveal the war's greatest secret on the very day the broadest and bloodiest battle of the conflict unfolds. Knowing how thin the margin is between victory and defeat, Ram Devlin races to the Squidies' homeworld moon with a weapon of mass destruction that could end the war in seconds. Humanity must win, but the price of victory may be a thousand more years of war.
About the Author
A.D. Bloom types loudly on a 1998 IBM M13 mechanical keyboard (13H6705), prefers writing on vertical monitors, and claims he’ll make portable aerial radar from a $12 usb radio dongle when he’s done with his current project.
thewarofalienaggression.wordpress.com
Table of Contents
01
02
03
04
05
06
07
08
09
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18
Epilogue
