Rex's nostrils flared at the rebuff from the marginally older woman. He moved closer to her and then nodded towards the drink dispenser tanks.
"I'm thirsty. Get me a drink."
Her eyes narrowed and her facial muscles tightened.
"No. I'm on duty to provide an escort for our guest. You will have to struggle to the drinks unit yourself."
Rex opened his mouth again, but now Cassandra had reached him and pulled him away. She spoke in angry tones while he began to argue back at her. Nate waited until he was gone before speaking again to Private Valentine.
"I'm sorry. Rex can be..."
Valentine lifted her left hand and shook her head.
"Forget about it."
Her friendly demeanour had gone, and in its place the cold efficiency of an Alliance marine. All kinds of topics flooded into Nate's head, but to bring any of them up now seemed petty and insignificant. A noise from near the food containers made him turn around, and he began to speak without even thinking.
"What happened to him? The criminals on the starbase wanted him dead."
Private Valentine exhaled and did her best to relax.
"His name is Captain Dreuc, and he's a retired instructor from the Imperial War Academy."
Nate continued to watch as the alien sipped from a plastic beaker and continuing his conversation with the intrigued looking Matilda.
"I never saw him before the attack."
Private Valentine smiled.
"Oh, you wouldn't have. He doesn't teach lowly pilot cadets like you six. He's a fleet instructor. Rumour has it that he was a heavy cruiser captain back in the last war."
The alien finally finished speaking and walked back towards the marine, still holding the beaker.
"We go now."
His voice was dry and uncomfortable to listen to. Nate had heard many of his race speak before, but even his untrained ear could pick out the subtle differences between the way he spoke and the Byotai cadets. He was so busy listening he hadn't heard Matilda approaching his side. He glanced over at her. She had a smile drawn across her face, something of a rarity for Matilda. Unlike the others, she was a serious student of almost every subject. She was a competent pilot, yet an exemplary engineer, tactician, and researcher.
"He's one of the ruling castes and speaks the dialect of the patricians. You can pick it up with the inflections and the lack of colloquialisms."
Nate sighed quietly to himself.
"Matilda, what are you doing training to be a pilot? You should be with the intelligence or research division. You're wasted flying fighters."
Matilda pulled her head back in feigned surprise.
"You can't have a brain and fly a fighter?"
She then leaned in and whispered in his ear, "There's nothing like the feeling of combat, that's why. It's just the machine and me versus whoever faces me. You think they'd let me join the marines?"
Nate was speechless. Here he was thinking Matilda was little more than a tech nerd, when in reality, she wanted nothing more than the blast and destroy the enemy; just like the rest of them. Captain Dreuc made for the doorway, but as he reached the frame, he stumbled. It wasn't much, but it immediately betrayed the wounds he’d sustained. Only then did Nate spot the metallic frame attached to his lower legs where rods had been pinned directly into the bone.
"He took seventeen bullets in the firefight. His left leg was shattered, and he still managed to make it back with us."
Private Valentine glanced back into the room but focussed her attention on Nate in particular.
"Another time."
She then moved back into the passageway.
"Cadets."
With that, the two were gone, and just the six of them remaining inside the canteen. The silence was broken by the angry sound of Rex's voice.
"I don't care what he says, the Byotai cannot be trusted."
He then pointed to Matilda.
"You'd better watch yourself. Remember what they did on the starbase. One minute they were our friends, the next they stuck the knife in."
Rex stepped in front of Matilda and slightly to her left.
"Really? I hadn't noticed. I seem to remember this Byotai took it just as badly as we did. You saw his leg."
Rex had already turned away and was heading out of the door, with a bread roll in one hand and the other gripped tightly around a plastic beaker.
"Yeah, I saw. Just watch it. If anybody comes at me from behind.."
He lifted his left hand to strike, but with both hands full he was immediately frustrated in his plans. He grunted and then threw the beaker at the wall, splattering the battleship grey paint scheme with the red fluid.
"You'll what?" Cassandra called after him.
Jack and Rex were now far off in the passageway, but they could still hear the voice behind them.
"Throw juice at them?"
Billy stepped out and looked at the fluid dripping down the wall. He walked back inside, pulled a cloth from the rack unit on the wall, and ran it under the water container. He walked back out and began sponging down the wall.
"What are you doing?" asked Cassandra.
Billy scrubbed again, bending down to rub at the stained metal.
"Somebody has to do it, and we're kind of lacking in crew."
Nate moved back inside and grabbed another cloth, joining his friend to help clear it. Soon Matilda and Cassandra were there, and in less than two minutes, there was little sign that the drink had been thrown.
"There," said Billy, "Just like new."
As they admired their handiwork, none of them noticed the figure of Lieutenant Higgins far off into the distance. He was back to the sidewall and partially obscured by the shadow cast from the wide bulkhead. He waited until the cadets had finished, nodded silently, and then vanished as quietly as he'd arrived.
* * *
'ANS Relentless', Combat Information Centre
The massive warship accelerated through space without a sound to mark her passage. With her course laid in, there was no way to make any meaningful changes. Space travel at these great distances was a complex affair, but there had been few advances in human space travel since the early colonisation of the planet Mars. Only through combining the technologies of multiple races had the secretive scientists at Taxxu produced something more advanced. This technology was currently only used by the elite Interstellar Assault Brigade, as well as the small number of explorer vessels.
Deep inside the many rooms and bulkheads of the ship, the CIC buzzed with the sound of scanners and computer systems. If the ship were fully crewed, it would have been filled with officers. Now there were so few it looked almost empty. The single most significant source of light was the vertical display, but more than a dozen other small units flickered as they brought up pages of critical data on the running of the ship. It was reaching the end of its forward flight and would soon perform a one hundred and eighty degree rotation, ready to begin an eighteen-hour deceleration period.
Captain Galanos looked hot and tired, something quite obvious due to her baldhead glowing with perspiration. The engines were being pushed hard, and though the internal life support system was doing its best, the system was still struggling to disperse the excess heat from inside the main power unit. She moved closer to the vertical display and looked carefully at their destination. White shapes marked the known celestial bodies, with particular emphasis on the largest asteroids in the XX Field.
"So, this is to be our new home."
She looked to the Byotai officer.
"Even if just for a matter of days. We will need time to replenish our food, water, fuel, and weapon stocks. If we're lucky, we might even get some fighter crews and drones back aboard."
She concentrated on one part and let out a slow, long sigh. The imagery showed the barren region, known simply as the XX Field in the Alliance mapping system. Millennia ago multiple star systems had collided, leaving the entire territory a shattered wasteland. At its heart was
a single black hole, itself orbited by massive discs of swirling rock and ice; all that remained of the planets, moons, and even stars that were once there. At her side was Lieutenant Higgins, as well as Captain Dreuc of the Byotai Imperial War Academy. He spoke, and the ship's computer translated on the fly so that anybody in the CIC could hear.
"I assure you, Captain. The Imperial Fleet has no permanent facilities in this sector."
Captain Galanos ran her right hand along her chin. Though doing their best to be discreet, the pair of marine guards at the door were a constant reminder of the danger the ship was in, both to external threats, as well as the potential problem of having a Byotai officer aboard.
"As far as you are aware. Nonetheless, the Deadlands as you call it, is still part of Byotai territory, is it not?"
The Byotai listened carefully as the Captain asked her question. He might look slow, but when he spoke, his own words poured out at quite a rate. The computer system stalled, and it took a full four seconds before finally translating his words for a frustrated looking Captain Galanos.
"That is correct. Our ships frequently patrol the border between the nine quadrants and the Deadlands."
He lifted his right arm and immediately winced. He ignored the discomfort and pointed to a series of icons on the display.
"It is a wasteland, but it also houses rarely used Spacebridge connections to the Ninth Quadrant, as well as the core stars systems in the Trinity."
Captain Galanos moved some of the celestial objects out of the way on the screen, and then pointed to one circular icon now taking up the bulk of the middle of the unit.
"And this sector? According to my data, it is home to a Spacebridge to the disputed warzone you call the Tenth Quadrant. Is this accurate?"
The Byotai appeared surprised she knew this. He opened his mouth twice, letting his body cool before answering.
"Yes, there is a third Spacebridge to that warzone. A regional security force guards it, as well as a small force of border patrol ships. We have only limited control over them."
He looked upwards.
"Since the mutiny, there is no way to know what has happened there. All I can tell you is that it is the main route to smuggle troops and resources to the separatists in the Tenth Quadrant. Their allies took control almost a month ago."
Once more Captain Galanos ran her hand over her chin. The network of Spacebridges that allowed instantaneous travel between star systems was far from complete, and it could take days, sometimes even months to reach the entry point of a Spacebridge. They had only a short time to prepare, and the more she knew about the area the better.
"Will we find allies or enemies in the Tenth Quadrant?"
The Byotai officer made an odd sound, one that might equally have been laughter or choking. He glanced back to Lieutenant Higgins and then to the Captain.
"It all depends who you find. General Makos has vanished, along with the remainder of his fleet. If you run into rebels, or worse the Anicinàbe, then you can expect no mercy."
The two spoke for a little longer, all the while Lieutenant Higgins waited patiently. He'd been summoned twenty minutes earlier, and so far not one question had been levelled at him. By the time Captain Galanos actually spoke, he barely even noticed.
"Lieutenant, did you not hear me?"
He cleared his voice and racked his brain for the words that had not even registered. He was tired, and the pain from his injuries was still causing him trouble. None of that was a reason to have drifted off in a briefing such as this.
"Apologies, Sir."
The words were there, and just another moment and he had them.
"Yes, the cadets."
Captain Galanos nodded impatiently.
"I know, I asked the question. Are they ready?"
Lieutenant Higgins shook his head.
"No, not yet."
There was much more to say, but he knew from experience that if the Captain wanted to know more, she would ask. She turned back to the display and examined the rendezvous location for nearly ten more seconds. Just as the Lieutenant began to relax she looked back.
"Will they be ready when we arrive?"
This time Lieutenant Higgins nodded.
"Yes, Sir, they will be ready."
The Captain seemed satisfied with this. She moved her hand in front of the display and brought up a live feed of the ship's hangar decks. There were crew out on them now, as well as several civilians, presumably those with technical or engineering crews. She started to speak, but this time kept her eye on the screens.
"According to my data, we have only half of the fighters ready for operations, not the ten you described on the deck. Please explain."
She looked at her last remaining pilot and waited for him to speak. The Byotai officer also looked, though it was hard to gauge either his interest or emotion from his face.
"That's true, Captain. The Four Lightnings need ten hours, perhaps twelve to get them functional. Without pilots, they are less than useful. Instead, I've had the work crews strip weapon systems and relevant parts from them to get the Avengers ready."
The Byotai officer said something, and the computer followed shortly afterwards.
"Drone fighters. Can you rely on them?"
Lieutenant Higgins glanced to the Captain, and she gave him the nod to answer.
"Yes, they can be relied upon. Our drones can now only be used when slaved to a control package. Even if connections are severed, they will follow the default program."
"Which is?"
Again he checked with the Captain before answering.
"If undamaged, to return to base and land. If too badly damaged, then to auto-destruct."
The alien seemed satisfied by that and looked back at the many screens of data. Captain Galanos was still there and had brought up the video feed from the canteen where the cadets were just leaving.
"Six rookies, all fresh out of military school. You know none of them has applied for entry to the military after they graduate, don't you?"
Lieutenant Higgins shook his head.
"No, Captain, I did not know that."
She looked at him for a moment, trying to assess the man.
"Lieutenant, in ten hours we will begin reserve thrust. After that, it's a done deal. We will arrive at our destination in little over a day. There could be an Alliance fleet waiting for us, or a Byotai battleship. Just tell me straight. What is your assessment of them? Do I need a new plan for our arrival?"
Lieutenant Higgins remained upright, and his expression hard and uncompromising.
"The six are a mixed bunch, but together they have the potential to be as good as any squadron I've led. By the time we arrive, they will be ready to pilot all of our Avengers. They are practicing reconnaissance, escort, and bombing runs, and they will do what needs to be done."
"Very good. Let us hope they won't be needed."
She looked back at the screen, focussing her attention on the spacecraft lined up inside the hangar bay. One in particular stood out over the rest.
"Your Mauler. She's the single most powerful spacecraft in our inventory. What is her status, and more important, can you fly her?"
Lieutenant Higgins eyebrows rose as he listened to her questions.
"Mongoose took one hell of a beating in the fight. The engineers have repaired her, but the cockpit is too badly damaged to be pressurised, same for the rest of her."
"Understood."
"As for the guns. The secondary turrets are gone, but the forward weapons are still functional. With a gunner she'd be workable."
"And you, Lieutenant. I know you have substantial injuries from our escape. But right now, I don't have much of a choice. I need every asset at my disposal ready and able to fight."
Lieutenant Higgins did his best to stand up as tall and straight as the pain would allow.
"Captain, if I'm needed, I'll fly her."
For the first time in what felt like months, the Captain actually smiled at him
. She was not the kind to show much in the way of emotions, and that was more disturbing to him than anything else he'd seen so far.
"Good work, Lieutenant. I will leave you to continue. Please keep me notified of any changes."
"Sir."
He turned and made for the door where the guards waited, as always. Once outside he almost ran into Sergeant Popwell, his gunner from the last mission.
"Sir."
The Sergeant’s hand came up into a smart salute, and Lieutenant Higgins responded.
"How are your marines?"
The Sergeant winced at the question.
"Not brilliant, Sir. Half of my people were forced to redirect to Gorgon. Now they are either dead or prisoners of the Byotai rebels. What with major injuries, I'm down to eleven combat effective."
"And Gunnery Sergeant Perkins?"
"He's good, Sir. Since we made it back, he's reorganised the remains of our unit, and taken on a group of the younger civilian volunteers."
"What for?"
"Logistics, first aid, and fire duty. They're receiving basic fire drill training as well. It's not much, but it's better than nothing. They'll be handy in a fight, and it's not like we're lacking in spare firearms."
"Very true. Can you do something for me?"
The Sergeant shrugged.
"Of course, Lieutenant."
"Make sure you are available as my gunner when we reach the rendezvous. I'll also need a single experienced fireteam on standby."
"Understood."
The Sergeant began to move away but looked back.
"Sir, are we expecting trouble?"
Lieutenant Higgins laughed.
"Trouble? When was the last time we weren't in trouble?"
CHAPTER EIGHT
Alliance Armoured Assault Ship 'ANS Relentless'
Day 4
Relentless was silent, a ghostly vessel bereft of crew and passengers. In the past she may have been filled to bursting point with officers, crew, and pilots, but no longer. Nate had travelled aboard many ships in his life but never on such a large vessel with so few people aboard. They were already halfway to the hangar deck and still he'd seen not a single soul outside of their own group.
Star Crusader: Hero of the Alliance Page 14
