Moira laughed and nodded. “Yes, she’ll be renamed. I’m breaking out the green, black, and orange paint so I can put our flag on her hull, too.”
“And that flag will be painted beside…” Frost asked, eager to hear what she’d be calling her ship.
“Well, they’re adding four thousand tonnes of armour, not including external plating, which will be another nine thousand tonnes, and I’m requesting a bunch of triple stage railgun turrets. The commodore is helping with the designs, she says the thrust output of this ship is so high, being a heavy hauler made to pull three cargo trains and tug a ship like the destroyer at the same time, that it’ll still be fast even with more armour.”
“So, that’s led you to which name?” Frost asked, an eyebrow raised. “Union Reprisal? Irish Temper? Gael Gale?”
“Union Reprisal, that’s not bad,” Moira commented before continuing, “She’ll have five mine launchers, room for as many fighters as the Warlord, and nine particle beams. Commodore Anderson even promised that I’d have an improved version of the Warlord’s cloaking systems installed. So, I was thinking…” Moira enjoyed testing Frost’s patience. “With all that, what would the best name be for such a ship?”
“Dangerous Heavy Thing?” Frost offered, only a little exasperated so far.
“It would have to be a famous name, because this ship is going to fly along side another well known ship. More importantly, this ship’s officers will be from the Irish Union, whom the Order seem to think they’ve conquered, and there was little chance of us surviving, so what would suit that?”
“If you’re not going to tell me, I’ll just leave,” Frost said, pointing towards the door.
“Morrigan, I’m calling her the Morrigan,” Moira said with a grin.
“I knew it!”
“Liar,” Moira laughed.
“I should have,” Frost replied. “The name suits the ship, or what she’ll be in two weeks, and it suits you.” He sat down at the first officer’s station and it came to life, showing the position of the ship. The Sunny Shifter was hard docked to the new fabrication and repair facility, a sprawling latticework that could service several smaller ships the size of the Sunny Shifter or the Warlord while building a new one and performing work on a vessel the size of the Triton. Watching the facility unfold for two hours from the relatively small box the Lorander ship brought with them was something Frost would never forget. It was as though someone packed a puzzle within a puzzle, and all they had to do was build the station that would reside in the centre of the articulated metal web. “Don’t know if the captain will ever trust me again, but I know what I’d like to call my ship if I ever captain one in this great fleet.”
“What’s that?”
“Union Song,” Frost whispered only loud enough for her to hear. She’d forgotten that he was a superstitious man. That he would believe an aspiration declared too loudly could be denied by fate.
“Beautiful name,” Moira said. “I’m sure you’ll have a ship, there will be a few extra to go around by the end of the year. The fleet will need captains.”
“You’re probably right, but if I get a command it’ll probably come from Commander McPatrick,” Frost said, “never turned against him.”
“You’re going to have to tell me that story, the time you left Valent,” Moira said.
“Some other time, but for now let’s just say I didn’t feel like I’d found my place until all this fighting started. Seems like I was made for war times, and there are days I wish I were made for the opposite. I see people building down there on Haven Shore and think, ‘God would it be good to settle in to a place there and just take time with Steph.’ Maybe I’d have a few boring days, but it would be so good.” She watched him think for a moment before he went on. “Not for me though, maybe someday, but I doubt it. I love building a machine and sending it into a fight too much. It feels like the whole Triton Fleet is doing just that, putting it all together from scraps of metal and a bunch of bolts then running full-on into the fray. God help me, I love it. Signals are coming in from ships telling us they want to sign up since the report on our last mission went public, and I can’t wait to see a flotilla of ships ready to rush in.”
“I’ve got no head for peace time right now,” Moira said. “We’re alike. I don’t have to tell you how I’m feeling, and I know it’s taken a lot of us to a bad end. There’s something I’ve learned about war, though,” Moira said, standing and walking to the engineering station beside Frost. The bridge was too sparse for her liking; there was room for twice as many stations, something she’d have to keep in mind as she was working on converting the heavy hauler into a combat vessel. “There’s almost no upside to war for soldiers like us, but there is something. You go to war, you lose friends, you lose family, but if you survive, you’ll come back with friendships that last the rest of your life. It’s no fair compensation, but it’s something.”
“It’s something,” Frost replied.
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Table of Contents
Prologue: The Hell Shrike
Chapter 1: A Beautiful Day
Chapter 2: One Strange Night
Chapter 3: Perspective
Chapter 4: Haven Shore
Chapter 5: Bargaining
Chapter 6: A Disturbance In The Council Chambers
Chapter 7: Over Issel Gulch
Chapter 8: The Last Garrison
Chapter 9: Dinner
Chapter 10: Predators
Chapter 11: Dirty Tricks
Chapter 12: Birds
Chapter 13: An Unexpected Match
Chapter 14: Uncertain Turnabout
Chapter 15: Broken Things
Chapter 16: Repercussions
Chapter 17: Pondering Escalation
Chapter 18: Looking Back, Walking Forward
Chapter 19: Loot
Chapter 20: Reunited
Chapter 21: Shozo Of House Fallen Star
Chapter 22: Two Captains
Chapter 23: Family Reunion
Chapter 24: Eavesdropping
Chapter 25: Fluid Thinking
Chapter 26: Reassignment
Chapter 27: War Wounds
Chapter 28: The Overlord
Chapter 29: Course Correction
Chapter 30: The Next Step
Chapter 31: The Decks Have Ears
Chapter 32: Unsettled Settlement
Chapter 33: Training
Chapter 34: Taking Control
Chapter 35: Rattling Sabres
Chapter 36: Shadow and Fire
Chapter 37: The Triton Engages
Chapter 38: Farewell
Chapter 39: Enemy Sighted
Chapter 40: One Ship
Chapter 41: Alice’s Battle
Chapter 42: Prepped
Chapter 43: All Or Nothing
Chapter 44: Quick Communications
Chapter 45: Placement and Progression
Chapter 46: Wheeler Interrupted
Chapter 47: The Rush
Chapter 48: The Taking of the Sunny Shifter
Chapter 49: Iron Head Nebula Departure
Chapter 50: Strange Travellers
Chapter 51: The Cargo
Chapter 52: Her Reluctant Majesty
Chapter 53: A Loaner
Chapter 54: The Loathing Of Beasts
Chapter 55: Warlord Triumphant
Chapter 56: Homecoming
Epilogue: The Last Two
Randolph Lalonde - Spinward Fringe Broadcast 08 - Renegades Page 47
