The Ghost Fleet

by Trevor Wyatt

  This allowed him to keep track of what was happening. It was a new technology that some bureaucrat wanted the captains to use to justify the new government contract. Jeryl didn’t care—it wasn’t a bad piece of tech, and it did help him keep track of everything from his chair, which was convenient.

  “Ferriero, how far are the six new ones?”

  “They should arrive around the same time as us, sir.”

  “Good. I want you to maintain fire on the raiders while Docherty gets us in position to get Lydia’s shuttle on board.”

  “Sir, we have to drop the shields in order to allow her to board. That will leave us vulnerable to enemy fire.”

  “I know that, but we can handle their laser fire better than she can. Docherty, I want you to position us between the shuttle and the raiders and open up shuttle bay doors.”

  Docherty and Ferriero looked at each another, but did as they were ordered. Watching the screen, Jeryl saw the Hunters engage with the Udenar raiders. The Hunters were split into two teams of six, one going up, one going left.

  Their movements were flawless, the symmetry undeniable. They moved as though they were one entity, one mind. Twelve raiders went up to match the six Hunters. Ten raiders followed the other six that went left, and the last two raiders continued to chase the shuttle. The six others were still too far away to tell who they were choosing to target.

  Jeryl looked at the Hunters who went to the left since they were going to be the first to engage. The Hunters stayed in close formation, barely dodging the laser-fire. It looked as though they were playing a game of chicken with the Udenar.

  Just as Jeryl was about to yell at them to move, the six broke apart, shooting off in different directions. This seemed to confuse the Udenar raiders—they tried to break off and chase the Hunters, somehow leaving two of the Hunters completely uncovered. Those two changed direction again and began chasing down the raiders that were chasing the other Hunters.

  Meanwhile, the other six began a complicated spinning maneuver. Each ship was spinning as they were revolving around one another, and that kept the Udenar from being able to lock down a target. The Hunters held their fire until they were almost on top of the Udenar raiders, then shot at point blank range, striking with devastating accuracy. Three Udenar were destroyed while four others took damage.

  “Sir, we’re within firing range of the raiders.”

  “Coordinate with the Hunters, make sure to fire on the ones that they aren’t chasing. Get us between Lydia and the raiders and get her on board this ship!”

  “Yes, sir.”

  The Seeker started firing at several of the raiders, hitting two, and sending them spinning uncontrollably in different directions. The shuttle was right in front of them, and Jeryl could see the damage it had sustained. It was a miracle it was holding together. Laser burns covered the entire left side of it, and one of the engines seemed to be blinking in and out. The six new raiders were firing at the shuttle, luckily with terrible aim.

  “How much longer?”

  “Seven seconds. Six. Five. Four. Three. Two…and one! We’re in front of…uh, behind her, sir.”

  “ALL STOP! Get the shuttle bay open! Lydia! Turn the shuttle around and get inside The Seeker as fast as you can!” Jeryl yelled out. Looking at his screen, two of the Hunters were taking heavy damage, one was crippled, and the other nine were flying around like crazy little, drunk hummingbirds, blasting Udenar raiders, then shooting off in a random direction.

  The hostile raiders fired on The Seeker then, rocking the ship. Ship computers were warning of possible hull breaks, but Jeryl wasn’t worried; she was a tough ship and could handle a few seconds of laser blasts.

  “She’s on board, sir!”

  “Shields up! Get us moving! Take out those ugly bastards! I need security and a med team to the shuttle bay, immediately!”

  The awkward white flash of the shields engaging flashed on the screen, and The Seeker started moving and firing. Seeing one of the raiders baring down on the crippled Hunter, Jeryl quickly took over part of the weapons array, aimed, and fired a particle beam. The raider vaporized, leaving behind only a small piece of a wing. Ferriero fired on three raiders as two Hunters fired on them, destroying all three quickly.

  Then Jeryl noticed one of the Hunters flying around and through the raiders, almost as if the raiders were being held back while the Hunter was on fast forward. The Hunter was slicing through the raiders with ease.

  “Who’s the pilot? Identify yourself!”

  Ashley’s voice came over the comm system. “Hey, Captain.”

  “Ashley! What the hell are you doing in a Hunter?”

  “Blowing up Tyreesian leftovers. Don’t worry, I’ll be careful.”

  Shaking his head, Jeryl turned his attention to Docherty and Ferriero. “Help her out, take those raiders out.”

  “Damn, she’s good.” The voice came from behind Jeryl. Looking back, he saw an ensign smiling and watching in admiration.

  “What’s your name again, Ensign?”

  “Ensign Tira Avae, sir,” she said as she snapped to attention.

  “At ease. Pay attention to your instrument panels…and maybe a little to what your First Officer is doing.”

  Shaking his head again, Jeryl looked back at his screen. Four of his Hunters were incapacitated, and only fourteen of the thirty raiders remained. Ashley flew her Hunter with ease, conducting maneuvers that few of her people thought was possible. Jeryl tried to concentrate on the other Hunters, but he kept returning to Ashley’s.

  She flew back and forth, firing off lasers with deadly accuracy. Looking at his screen, he saw that she still had her full complement of missiles, the only Hunter to have more than three remaining.

  With only ten raiders left, Ashley ordered the rest of the Hunters to split into teams of two and to come at the raiders from different directions.

  “Ferriero, get that cluster of raiders on the right, make it easier for our Hunters,” Docherty said as he turned The Seeker to the right. Ferriero took aim, moved his fingers to the plasma cannon button, and fired. Four raiders, clustered together and turning around to come back at the Hunters, vanished from the screen.

  “Thanks,” Ashley’s voice said over the comm. “Hunters, let’s finish them off.”

  That kid, Tira, isn’t wrong, Jeryl thought. She’s good. Maybe too good.

  Ashley

  Ashley Montgomery, first officer of The Seeker, entered the flight bay and looked around at the fighters. She and the other pilots had decided to call them Hunters. They were fearsome, beautiful, and deadly. Bullet-shaped, with two wings that opened to four wings once in flight, each wing armed with a laser and two missiles each, three thrusters in the back, and each painted a dark, metallic gray with white.

  “Commander?” It was Lieutenant Vanessa Templeton, head flight engineer in charge of the flight bay.

  “What is it, Vanessa?”

  “Ma’am, the CNC is looking for you.”

  “Ignore them.”

  “Ma’am?” His look of shock was priceless, Vanessa was a stickler for the rules.

  “I’ll go up there in my own time. I’m inspecting the Hunters.” Ashley ignored Vanessa’s salute and proceeded to look around at the fighters. Each one outfitted for two, that way one could concentrate on piloting while the other handled weapons, although one pilot could do both from their console. It was a sort of fail-safe, if anything happened to one pilot, the other could still fly and fight.

  Jeryl’s voice came on the overhead, “All hands, we’re on red alert. I want the Hunter pilots to load up and prep, you’re launching in forty-five seconds.”

  “Vanessa! What the hell is happening?”

  “There’s a shuttle being chased by about two dozen raider-sized fighters, ma’am.”

  “Get me into a flight suit!”

  “Yes, ma’am!” Vanessa raced to the far side of the flight bay, Ashley right behind him. He helped her into the flight suit as the other pilo
ts were hurrying into their own suits.

  “Powers! I’m going out on Hunter nine, I want you as my second.”

  Powers Boothe barely hesitated. “Whatever you say, Commander. Jensen, your sitting this one out. Let’s move people, we’re launching!”

  Ashley and Powers raced over to the Hunter ship that had a number nine painted on the nose. Climbing the ladder into the front cockpit, Ashley grabbed the helmet and secured it to her suit. She heard the hiss of the suit’s air regulators kicking in, then her helmet’s HUD came on, linking her to the fighter.

  Powers’ voice came on in her left ear, letting her know he was locked and settled. Double checking her instruments, Ashley powered up the Hunter and felt the power of the engines kick in, lifting the ship off the floor.

  Looking around, she watched until the first eight Hunters launched, then pushed the throttle forward, launching her ship into space. The instantaneous push on her body was exhilarating for the split second they were still in artificial gravity, then they were clear of The Seeker and all feeling of weight vanished.

  “We’ve just been fed with information from the CNC. We’re facing two dozen Tyreesian class fighters, older ones. They’re piloted by Udenar soldiers—not that bright, but they outnumber us.”

  “Tell me about the fighters.”

  “Twenty-first century stealth bomber look, class three laser canons on each wing tip, particle beam under the cockpit, twin howitzer-style cannons in the front, armor is weak, but maneuverability is equal to ours.”

  “Got it. Hunter team, Six-Pack Maneuver! Team A up top, Team B go left.”

  “Yes ma’am,” the Hunters replied. Then, the twelve Hunters split up seamlessly.

  “Get them in close before you fire. Looks like The Seeker is going to provide us some cover.” Ten Udenar raiders focused on Ashley’s team that had gone left, twelve on Team A, leaving two to chase the shuttle.

  “Six more raiders just showed up. Thirty in total!”

  “Stay in formation, don’t worry about the six new ones, we’ll deal with them later. Both teams, let’s play chicken with these guys. Keep movements to a bare minimum to avoid their fire, then shatter when I call it.”

  The Udenar were getting closer, but their aim was atrocious. With only the most minimal of movement, Ashley and her Hunters avoided the laser blasts with ease.

  “Commander, if they decide to use their particle cannons, we’ll be hit if we stay this tight.”

  “I know, but they’re not going to use their particle cannons. They failed more often than they worked. SHATTER!”

  Each member of Team-B split off in different directions, hitting their boosters to add distance between them and the Udenar. Ashley wasn’t followed by any of the ten Udenar raiders, so she instantly changed direction and began chasing them. One of her team was being chased by three raiders, so she went in to help. She locked on to one of the raiders and fired her lasers, destroying the raider quickly. She lined up a second one and fired, destroying the left wing with ease.

  Looking over, Team A was zipping back and forth among their twelve opponents. “Powers, keep me updated on how the other team is doing. Jasper, you have one coming on your left!” Ashley chased down another raider, destroying it.

  “Two coming up behind us!” Ashley looked back, saw two raiders come up behind her and jerked her Hunter hard right. She made the Hunter barrel roll as she pushed it hard, changing directions at a blink of an eye.

  If they were in any form of atmosphere, she and Powers would’ve been bouncing around their respective cockpits. But in space, the jerking around was a brilliant plan, and kept the Udenar off their asses.

  Getting behind one of the raiders, Ashley shot and missed. “Damn!” She realigned her shot and destroyed the raider.

  “We got two of the Hunters taking heavy damage, one disabled. Eighteen Udenar remaining.”

  “Shit.” Turning back towards the main fighting, she saw The Seeker vaporize a raider that was bearing down on number 3.

  “Who’s the pilot? Identify yourself!”

  “Hey, Captain.”

  Crap. He’s gonna be so pissed, Ashley thought to herself as she bit her lip.

  “Ashley! What the hell are you doing in a Hunter?”

  “Blowing up Tyreesian leftovers. Don’t worry, I’ll be careful.”

  She clicked off her connection to The Seeker and concentrated on taking out as many raiders as possible. “Hunters, protect our injured. Jasper, you’re with me.” Jasper followed Ashley, helping her take out the raiders as they flew back and forth.

  “Four down, Commander. Fourteen left.”

  “Everyone, synchronize your HUDs with mine. Jasper, hit the one at eleven o’clock, Martinez, three o’clock. Francois, cover Vizzenzi’s ass, you’re always looking at it anyway. Powers, make sure I got full thrusters, I’m going to cut through them like a scythe.”

  “You got it, Commander.”

  Ashley dodged, weaved, and charged full-on, never once using her missiles and hitting each raider with a deadly barrage of laser fire.

  With only ten left, she ordered her remaining Hunters to pair off and chase the rest of the raiders down. As she and Jasper were flying for a pack of four raiders, The Seeker turned and fired off its particle cannon. The four raiders vanished, leaving only small traces of debris behind.

  She clicked on her comm to The Seeker, “Thanks. Hunters, let’s finish them off.” Ashley turned her Hunter around, jerking the stick hard to the left. “Powers, get me a bead on the last six. I want targeting locked down for the missiles.”

  “Aye, Commander.” As her screen lit up with six targeting reticules, she signaled to Powers to give her all eight missiles. The two raiders that were farthest away were each targeted with two missiles on her screen.

  She counted to three silently in her head, then fired. She watched as her full compliment of missiles rushed away from her. One raider exploded, followed by a second, then a third and fourth. The fifth and sixth raiders followed quickly, and everything was clear.

  “Hell yeah! That was fun! How are our people, Powers?”

  “Four incapacitated, but living. Three more have taken damage, but all accounted for, Commander.”

  “Nice. Good job, guys.” She opened the comm to The Seeker. “Captain, we need some help with pickup.”

  “On our way,” Jeryl replied.

  “Powers, did the shuttle make it on board?”

  “Yes, ma’am. The Captain is requesting your presence in the shuttle bay, at your earliest convenience of course.”

  Ashley laughed. That was a blast! I love flying these things.

  She kept her Hunter outside, keeping an eye on her people until they were all aboard The Seeker. Then, she slowly flew her little fighter into the flight bay, landing it in its designated spot. Disconnecting her helmet, she took a deep breath and let out a sigh. She unbuckled, popped her canopy open, and climbed down. Vanessa came over to help her out of her flight suit.

  “Good flying, Commander. I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone fly like that.”

  “Thanks, Temp. It was fantastic. How’s the shuttle?”

  “In the shuttle bay. The Captain wants you there.”

  “Okay.” Ashley shrugged out of the rest of the suit and walked out of the flight bay.

  Jeryl

  “All good?” Mahesh asked, but Jeryl just kept looking straight ahead as he walked out of the CNC, the good doctor trailing after him. Jeryl had summoned him the moment the old HB70 shuttle landed inside The Seeker. After he had seen Lydia on the viewscreen, he knew that she’d need medical treatment as soon as possible.

  “All good, doc,” Jeryl lied, his voice terse. He knew that Mahesh could see through whatever bullshit he espoused, but he wasn’t particularly concerned—more than his subordinate, Jeryl looked at The Seeker’s Chief Medical Officer as a friend. How many of Jeryl’s wounds had the doctor tended to? How many of Jeryl’s officers had Mahesh pried from death’s cold hands? Too
many to count, that was for sure.

  “If you say so,” the doctor shrugged, his voice revealing the true meaning behind his words. Jeryl was pissed at Ashley, and Mahesh knew it.

  “Yeah, I say so.” Jeryl didn’t mean to snap, but the words came out harsher than he had intended. Still, he didn’t apologize—despite having the privilege of seeing the doctor as his friend, him being The Seeker’s captain meant that he had to keep a certain distance at times.

  Of course, he also knew that made a hypocrite out of him; after all, he was married to his First Officer. He knew some of the The Seeker’s crew didn’t approve of it at first, but when Ashley became captain she earned everyone’s trust and proved what she was made of. As far as Jeryl knew, no one had any problem with their relationship. And if they had...well, they could just shove that opinion someplace where the stars don’t shine.

  “You got your stuff, doc?” Jeryl asked, trying to steer the conversation away from his relationship with Ashley.

  “All of it. I’m ready to go.” Mahesh’s face opened into a bright smile as he patted the blue bag he carried on his right hand. Jeryl had known a fair share of doctors in the military, but none quite like Mahesh.

  The man lived to save lives. He was a healer, through and through. Even during the Sonali war, Mahesh had always refused to take up arms and be part of what he saw as a pain factory.

  “Good, man.”

  Smiling back at Mahesh, Jeryl placed one arm on the doctor’s shoulder and squeezed it slightly. It wasn’t exactly the same as apologizing for the way he had snapped at him before, but Jeryl hoped it was enough for the doctor.

  “Do you have any data on the shuttle’s occupants?”

  “None. All we know is that there’s a woman and a small child aboard. That shuttle is just a rundown piece of junk, and we didn’t get any information on the occupants’ vitals. It’s one of those old HB70 models.”

  “They still make those?”

  “I don’t think so,” Jeryl replied, thinking back to the last time he had seen one of those old transport shuttles. He couldn’t even remember when that had been. Maybe twenty years ago? “The corporation that used to build them went belly up when shuttle technology started to improve. I think some Human Confederation colonies still rely on those old shuttles, so maybe that’s where our mystery woman came from.”