SIEGE (TRAMPS Book 1)

by Ray Blackwell

  Rand re-attached the mag cables. Again they clamped the liners hull and Mitchell pulled the collective plates to full.

  The two encroaching Banshees could easily out maneuver the tethered ships but were cautious to expose themselves quickly.

  Serena caught glimpse of the nose of one Banshee pulling up from the rear of the liner. She let go a burst of hot metal. The projectiles found their target. Most did little damage but a few penetrated the hull and damaged some turning plates.

  If both Banshees tried to bring their aft mounted weaponry to bear they would expose their entire cutter. They would have to adapt a different flying style and approach with the top or bottom of their Battle Cutters first.

  Rands’ Banshee accelerated with the liner ‘below’ them so their flight appeared horizontal, like a vtol or helicopter lifting.

  The nose of the attacking Banshee disappeared from view. Next time they reappeared it would likely be the upper turret first.

  “Terri, you’re gonna have to take out a Banshee!”

  “I know, I’m waiting for a clear shot. I don’t think there’s going to be enough power to jump after this!”

  “They’re not gonna let us jump.” Rand planned it through, “I have a plan but two Banshees are one too many!”

  “Mitch keep us heading for the horizon on Apothos.”

  “They’ll burn up!”

  “The Captains not going to let that happen!”

  “How do ya know!”

  “Wealthy dignitaries!”

  “Huh?”

  “Just trust me on this!”

  Apothos while distant was nearing at an incredible rate.

  “Alright Mitchell, angle toward the center of the planet.”

  Rand yelled to Terri, “You’re going to see him soon.”

  As if on cue, with the tethered ships changing course, the other Banshee became mostly exposed.

  The upper guns fired at Serena’s turret but she was watching the rear.

  The shells impacted the turret sending jarring rattles through the turret pylons.

  Serena’s screen went black.

  “I lost it Rand, I lost the turret!” Serena yelled.

  “Stay in your seat, your safer there.”

  Terri got a clear bead on the nose positioned Banshee. Again the EMP cannon blinded the enemy cockpit and another magnetic pulse went out to finish the job.

  The Banshee quickly veered but then rolled out of control, drifting away at a rapid rate.

  Now the Destroyer had two ships to save if the other Banshee didn’t assist.

  Rand opened the wide band frequency, “This is your opponent, you can chase us and let both ships crash and burn or you can kiss my ass. Your choice.”

  “Now Mitchell, full thrust, nose forward into Apothos!”

  Mitchell didn’t question Rand this time. Their ship accelerated away from the liner with the other Banshee hiding behind and to the aft.It gave them maneuvering room and as expected the Destroyer ignored them and made a bee line for the crippled liner.

  “What’s our next move?” asked Mitchell.

  “It’s going to get very hot.” Rand half answered.

  “Aaron, status?”

  “We’re green minus the top turret.”

  “Ahh, here he comes.”

  The slightly damaged Banshee was coming full throttle but wouldn’t catch them before entering the atmosphere of Apothos.

  The reddish orange flaming ball grew large in the front viewing port.

  Rand got on the intercom once again. “Everyone, find a secure spot. It’s going to get bumpy and hot real soon.”

  “We’re going to skim the surface, make for the southern pole then exit towards Sirius B,” he said to Mitchell and Aaron both.

  “Skim the surface?” Mitch asked.

  “Yep, 300 degrees of pure fun in the sun.”

  Mitch swallowed hard.

  “Uhmm, you want to fly?”

  The cutter rocked and trembled as it entered the upper atmosphere and it was only going to get worse. Mitch was scared and that only worried Rand more.

  “Ok, you can set this one out.”

  They descended steadily even though the Banshee was being tortured by the heat and turbulence.

  Rand took the pilot seat and ran his hands over the controls. ‘Just a stroll on a sunny day’ he told himself.

  They dropped to 2000 feet and could see the canyons filled with lava with heat waves distorting the image. The following Banshee disappeared from radar as the radar flickered and became unreliable. Aaron and Rand both guessed the volcanic ash was building on the tracking sensors. A high ridge lay ahead and the Banshee flew between two peaks. They cleared the peaks and beyond lied a vast ocean of fire. Bubbling and seething with bright orange streams like swimming red dragons. It was frightening to watch but mesmerizing at the same time. Even the other three found themselves staring through the lower shaded portals at the hellish scene below.

  Terri looked at Serena and Perry, “You know guys, if we live through this, imagine the stories we could tell our kids.”

  Terri was right Serena thought, they would never experience anything like this again and if they did it would be too soon.

  The Banshees underbelly scorched black and then something dreadful appeared ahead. A bubble. More like a mountain rising from the hellish ocean. Rand immediately responded,Perry and the girls were thrown to the floor. The Banshee banked hard to the right as grav plates immediately compensated. The three bridge crew looked left and watched the bubble burst upward. It seemed to reach so high, it made it into space and had the effect of a massive mushroom cloud. The Banshee accelerated from the blast and they turned left circumventing the falling magma shower.

  Everyone was tense but Mitchell screamed, “WHOOHOO!!!”

  Rand nervously laughed out loud and pulled pitch. The Banshee climbed from the fiery planet.

  “That’s enough of that!” Rand exclaimed.

  They felt relieved they were pulling out and the others joined on the bridge.

  “Let’s hope they think we died.”

  Serena said, “I was beginning to think we did.”

  “Hopefully the magnetic waves between the stars will mask us until we reach B. We’ll be recharged before then, and we can get the hell out of here.” Rand got up from the pilot seat.

  “Go ahead Mitchell, take her into space and head for B. I doubt anything is waiting for us now.”

  As the Banshee climbed the orange glow slowly faded from her aft.

  In a half hour Aaron got the radar image back and sure enough, there was no one around. If the other ships were running parallel, there was no way to detect the small Banshee.

  “Aaron, set a course for Al Nair. It’s a long haul, but it’s independent and we might be able to find supplies for the long haul.”

  Aaron cautioned, “Rand, that’s pretty close to the Reticulii space”

  “Don’t worry, we’re not going in there.”

  Aaron set the course and Mitchell positioned the ship. He then calibrated and programmed the jump.

  The Banshee hummed it’s reassuring sounds. Once the batteries reached a set 80% charge the Banshee would automatically jump into compressed space/time.

  Rand exhaled a sigh of relief and looked at the crew, “Let’s see if we can find something cold in the galley.” And that sounded pretty good.

  Rand set the radar imaging to sound an alert over ship-wide intercom, in the event something did approach or cause possible collision.

  All six returned to the galley as Rand had something to ask them.

  Rand, Terri and Serena were content with ice water but Aaron and Perry settled for some kind of mixed citrus juice. Perry, being taught many years earlier by his mother not to waste anything, filled a tall glass with the remaining cold coffee. No one said anything, but Serena poured three heaping spoons of sugar in it and stirred briskly.

  He smiled at her, “Thank you Miss Serena.”

  Sere
na winked at him as if to say, ‘It’s ok.’

  Perry slurped his first cup of cold coffee.

  “Oooooh, that’s really good!”

  Rand just raised an eyebrow then figured it was just a normal thing with Perry.

  “Alright everybody, we’ve managed to liberate this fine scorched vessel and survived our first encounter. I was thinking we better name this thing.”

  Everyone jumped on it and started throwing suggestions.

  First thing Rand caught was Perry saying “Numits.”

  Aaron, “Pandemonium.”

  Serena, “Thief.”

  Mitchell, “Moisture seeking man missile!”

  Everyone rolled their eyes at Mitchell.

  Rand held his hands up in a stop motion and looked at Mitchell. “Are you serious?”

  “Uhhhh, no.”

  “Thank God,” Terri remarked pathetically.

  Rand asked Terri, “What’d’ya think?”

  Terri stared at the center of the table thinking; or rather just letting it come to her.

  She raised her eyes to meet Rand’s.

  “Lady Luck, just ‘The Lady’ for short.”

  Rand looked around the table.

  Serena nodded yes.

  Mitchell shrugged, it wasn’t crazy enough for him or either he didn’t think of it first.

  Aaron also nodded, “Sounds good.”

  Trevor just slurped another drink of cold coffee and Rand said, “I’ll take that as a yes.”

  “Lady it is.”

  REPORT

  “Ensign Baker, prep a comm. Buoy”

  “Aye sir, communication open on mark 2,..1,..open”

  “Captain Gregory, 1195LN05506. Commanding officer of TRSF Vanteres.”

  The captain rubbed his head briefly to think of how to word his report.

  “Encountered stolen Banshee. Retrieved original crew and all are in relatively good shape. One was in need of medical attention but expect a full recovery from injuries inflicted....We also rescued a transport from entering the Apophos atmosphere after being hit by the Banshee’s EMP cannon, as well as one of our escorts.”

  “After damaging the said Banshee, they appear to have committed suicide by heading straight into the planets atmosphere. After a sweep of the outer safe limit of the planet, we found no debris. No S.O.S. or signal of any kind. High probability the criminal element was dispatched as was necessitated.”

  “Continuing to monitor wide-band frequency in the same vicinity. Will report if any other evidence to the contrary. Captain Gregory, out.”

  “Alright ensign, launch toward Terra Command.”

  “Buoy drive powering up sir.”

  After less than thirty seconds the buoy launched and engaged it’s hyper, disappearing immediately from the viewscreen.

  “Sir?”

  “Yes ensign?”

  “Do you really think they committed suicide?”

  “Who knows, but they bit off more than they could swallow. I think it was more of a desperate gamble.”

  The ensign looked apathetic, “Had to be a terrible way to die.”

  THE ROAD AHEAD

  ‘Lady Luck’ as they named her, jumped into hyper, just short of Sirius B.

  The crew had settled in various areas for the remainder of their waking hours.

  Serena relaxed in the galley with a pile of uniforms continuing to sew semi-fashionable garments for her over-sized companion. But she smiled, feeling freer than she ever had with the pirates. And she wasn’t letting her newly gained freedom go to waste.

  Terri found a military archive file on the bridge. While many files could be downloaded, she still eagerly memorized Republic outpost and installation locations. There was such a vast collection of military assets she felt like she hit the jackpot. Perhaps Coalition forces knew about most of the Republics arsenal, but having vast knowledge of the Republic’s Security Force information at your fingertips was too much for her to resist.

  She returned to the galley and put on a fresh pot of coffee. It was going to be a long night. Terri for a brief moment watched Serena diligently working on Trevor’s new garments. She listened as Serena hummed what was likely a beautiful lullaby from her childhood. Serena looked as though she had found peace. Terri finished pouring a cup and couldn’t resist touching Serena’s shoulder and gave her a comforting smile on the way out.

  Mitchell and Aaron both joined up in the rec room. Aaron found the compact exercise equipment useful and tried every element of the gym equipment that he could. Mitchell just turned on the music, laid back on a vibrating lounge chair and watched Aaron sweat.

  He figured Aaron was sweating enough for the both of them.

  Rand settled in to his new quarters. He read some of the previous commander’s private memos’ and ripped them from the small book. Rand decided to write his own. He settled back on the bunk after finding a remarkably heavy pen that belonged to the previous owner. It was metallic blue and had the commander’s name Remke engraved in the metal.

  He made a mental note to try and return their personal items if the opportunity ever arose. Though he seriously doubted that would ever happen.

  Not sure how to do this. Never though I would write in my own log book but here it goes.

  Well, to put it simply seven of us stole this Banshee from the Republic Security Force. When I suggested it to Terri Hades (A Coalition Captain) I was half joking ! Haha

  Hope she never reads this.

  Anyway, we named it Lady Luck, seems appropriate.

  We not only overtook the crew but managed to escape from a destroyer and two cutter escorts. If we survive this I’ll pat myself on the back later. So looks like we are going to circumvent the Republic space and try to make it to the Free Worlds Coalition. After that I’m going back to Bella’s Port. I miss Robin’s cooking.

  So here I am with five others; Serena a dust pirate, and really cute.

  Perry, not sure what to make of him. He seems slower than a funeral but he’s also a really nice guy and big as a mountain. Hope he never gets mad at me.

  Mitchell, not sure what his motivation is, unless it’s self destruction but we’ll see. He’s kind of a smart ass, but so was I at that age.

  Aaron, wow! Not sure what to think of this boy. He’s smarter than I am. If he watches his step one day he can be somebody. Hope he doesn’t waste his life.

  It seems like the entire Republic Security Force is after us. Maybe they think we’re dead. I hope so.

  Next stop Al Nair a Republic system. Maybe we can find help.

  We’ll need to keep our eyes open for patrols’.

  Now for Terri, not sure where to start. Maybe I shouldn’t but I’m going to anyway.

  I like her, there I said it. HAHA She’s beautiful, professional, dedicated and all that good stuff. She has the most beautiful sky blue eyes I’ve ever seen. I’m such a shmuck.

  That’s enough for this page. Hopefully I get to write more.

  Rand Welsch.

  Perry laid in his bunk. It was too short for him and he bent his knees to keep his head from hitting the bulkhead of his tiny cabin. He laid there letting his mind drift to all the possibilities he could imagine. He daydreamed of a field full of puppies, then streams of crisp blue water running down through mountain streams, he saw his momma setting on a porch, rocking, and telling him to be good.

  After daydreaming of pleasant scenery he turned and looked at his overcoat hanging from a hook with it’s tails dangling in the floor.

  He grinned as he shoved a whole creamy Moochie into his mouth letting the crumbs fall on his sheets.

  His eyes drooped then closed . Perry’s mouth circled by cinnamon flavored marshmallow cream; an open, half empty, box of Moochies’ wrapped in his arms.

  *** The end of Part I ***

 

 

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