by Jay Toney
There isn't anything that any of the pilots could say about me being with someone not of my species. I spent quite a bit of time station side, inside bars, carousing and chasing after women; except for the female pilots who picked up strange men. There aren't any pilots, except Angel and only because she is new to my starfighter wing, that hadn't shacked up with another humanoid or exotic alien species.
"What are you doing?" Doc asked his wife while she was adjusting the straps on her flight suit.
Elaunae knew what he meant by the question. It is obvious that she is changing into a flight suit. She said, "I am coming with you. It is our way. I belong at your side, and that is where I will stay." Elaunae carefully tucked her hair into the collar of her flight suit and put on her helmet. The diagnostic lights on the right sleeve of her flight suit showed that she had a good helmet seal.
Elaunae followed Doc into the shuttle bay. She studied the way he inspected his Marauder. While walking around the starfighter, he inspected: its weapons, landing gear, stub wings and winglets, the thruster modules, and the visible portions of its engines. After he is satisfied with the condition of his ship, he opened the hatch and boarded the Marauder. Then he sealed the hatch behind Elaunae. They moved forward to the cockpit and sat behind the controls.
Elaunae studied the controls and paid attention to what her bond mate is doing. He powered up the Marauder and quickly explained the instruments and their purpose while going through the preflight checklist.
Elaunae absorbed everything that Doc told her. The controls were similar to the transport ship she flew. She was sure she could operate this spacecraft too. She had been with Su'Gateol on a few occasions when he needed to take a shuttle flight and once in a racer. She was allowed to watch the pilots fly their spacecraft, but she was never allowed to take the controls. No Iniguar woman that she knew of ever flew a spaceship, not to mention one capable of interstellar flight until she did. Elaunae was the first and only woman of her species ever to do that, and her people will never know about it.
Every pilot checked in with Doc, reporting their readiness. Doc used the Marauders comm to call Natasha. "We are ready. Open the hangar door."
Natasha turned on the pumps and began pumping the air out of the shuttle bay. As soon as it reached zero pressure, She opened the starboard side door. Doc raised his Marauder on its repulsor field, retracted its landing gear, and then took off. The rest of his wing followed behind him.
They are slightly ahead of schedule and wouldn't reach the planet for six and a half hours at .1c. That wouldn't give them any time to do anything. He pushed the throttles all the way forward accelerating his starfighter to .23c. Now he would have a few hours to raid the buildings adjacent to the spaceport.
Doc ignored the comm requests from the spaceport officials demanding that his group identify themselves. Their transponders are turned off as part of their comm silence. The Corriban government wouldn't launch their fighters until they were sure that they were under attack. By then, it would be too late.
The starfighter group entered the upper atmosphere and locked the starports coordinates into their navigation computers. Plasma heated the nose and wing leading edges. As the atmosphere thickened, the red glow turned to flames and obscured the view of the ground. Doc began rolling and maneuvering his Marauder to confuse possible missile tracking.
Up until then, Elaunae stayed silent, and only watched her husband fly. "You are doing it wrong if you wish to avoid detection and anti-aircraft weapon fire."
"You can do better?" Doc asked.
"I've only seen it done a few times, in sport, but yes. I can do much better."
Elaunae didn't wait for Doc to respond or let her handle the controls. She took control of the starfighter. She pushed forward on the control stick and advanced the throttles. She ignored the v-max warning but retracted the stub wings so they wouldn't be sheared off.
The Engines screamed, and the hull of the starfighter groaned. Doc grasped the armrests on his seat and held on tight. The friction of the atmosphere slowed the ship from hypersonic speed to supersonic, and the flames vanished and were replaced with the view of the ground. Doc stared out the cockpit windscreen unable to look away from the rapidly approaching ground. He managed to ask, "When did you learn to fly starfighters? How many times have you done this?"
"This is only the second time I have flown a spacecraft. I learned when piloting the transport ship I used to escape the purge."
"This is only the second time you've piloted a starfighter?" Doc asked again.
"No this is the second time I've piloted a spaceship. This is the first time I've flown a starfighter."
Doc is too terrified to take the controls. It is a good thing that pilots wore diaper like garments under their flight suits. He could feel a warm wetness spread between his legs. If he weren't wearing a diaper, the other pilots would know how much his wife scared him. She isn't done yet.
Elliot and Bill broke comm silence. "Group leader, are you all right? Are you still in control of the ship?" Elliot asked. "Damn it Doc, pull up! Pull up now! You're going to crash!" Bill Tompkins screamed.
Doc is too scared to answer them. He sat frozen in his seat. He couldn't take his eyes off of the ground. Doc is sure that he is going to die. He is waiting for his life review to start. He heard about seeing one's life pass before their eyes at the moment of death.
Instead of seeing his life flash before his eyes, Doc heard his wife say, "You must learn to listen to your starfighter, trust it, and do what it needs when it needs it." She is piloting the Marauder entirely by instinct, ignoring its instruments. She suddenly pulled back hard on the controls. The ship made a lot of snapping, cracking, and popping noises but it held together and pulled out of the dive. When Elaunae had the Marauder leveled off, she extended its wings and eased back on the throttles. She looked at the navigation map and changed direction slightly heading to the starport.
Elaunae switched on the ECM to jam any anti-aircraft missiles. Gunfire from one of the towers shot towards the starfighter. Elaunae spun out of the weapon fire, lined the target reticle up on the tower and fired a burst from the Marauders 40mm cannons. The high explosive rounds blew the tower apart. She pulled back on the controls into a steep climb, avoiding gunfire from the other towers. She climbed five thousand feet, opened the speed brakes, and fired the forward thrusters until the ship was nosed over and pointing directly at the ground. She lined the target reticle up on the next weapon tower and shot again. Then she pulled out of the dive, closed the speed brakes, and advanced the throttles.
Elaunae circled around the spaceport and selected another target, a gunship. "How do you change weapons to missiles?" She asked Doc. He still couldn't speak, but he was able to use his shaking hands to change the weapon selector to missiles. His wife didn't wait for a lock tone. She lined up on the target, and when she was nearly at it, she pulled the trigger again. Elaunae pulled up hard gaining altitude to avoid debris from the explosion.
"Damn Doc, what in the hell possessed you to fly like that? I've never seen anyone fly like that," Bill said. The Nighthawks and the Reapers attacked the spaceport. One-third of the targets had already been destroyed, by Elaunae, but they didn't know that. They thought it was Doc that is flying.
Doc took over the controls and landed the Marauder on the tarmac. It is several minutes before his heart rate slowed enough that he could get out of the pilot seat and open the starfighter's hatch. While he was waiting for his two squadrons to land, he asked, "You told me that your relatives were killed in a purge. Why?"
"It is of no significance. My people have seen to it that the prophecy ended with the lives of my family," Elaunae explained.
"Tell me anyhow."
"During the last few months I was on
Trek'eet, some of our people were having the same dream. Towards the end, the number of people dreaming the same dream dramatically increased. On the day my temple was burned to the ground, 18 of my followers came to my mate and me to have their dreams interpreted.
With that amount of people having the same dream, it could only be a sign of something significant yet to come. The priests and priestesses of the moon have the ability to visit, live, and interpret dreams. My mate and I learned that a male child is to be born, descending from my family line. That child is to be either the savior of our people or the bringer of the next great war. It was not clear which path he would have followed.
No one in my congregation would have attacked us. We are a peaceful community. I feared that others from outside of our community had the same dream and shared it with other soothsayers. Fear of a possible future drove them to kill my family, my mate, and my friends. My temple and all that I owned were burned to the ground. I barely escaped with my life. Then I was condemned to die with the death of my mate. With my family gone, the prophesied child will never be born."
Bill and Elliott, the reaper and Nighthawk squadron commanders each led a group of 60 raiders wearing black powered armor. Bill, reported to Doc, "Angel, my second in command, is covering us. She has four Marauders patrolling the area to keep any patrol ships away."
"Very good. Let's get the hangar open and see what the people are hiding inside."
There was no resistance from the locals. The security people took one look at Doc's raiders and surrendered. Captain Roberts is ready for almost anything. Whatever is stored in the large building has to be valuable. All information concerning its contents was kept hidden from his reconnaissance team. The doors opened. 12 stellar racing ships filled the floor. They are valuable to collectors and the people that owned the spaceships, but they are of little value to Doc.
The racing ships are designed to carry a crew of four. They are only capable of sublight speeds. The fastest racers could achieve speeds up to .25c. They are not as fast as military spacecraft, but for civilian-owned spaceships, they are quick enough. Billions of fans followed the races and the racers. The racers are from a mix of different human, humanoid, and other alien species. They are made up of the most skilled pilots each different species have.
Doc is pissed. He needed six million credits or enough valuable merchandise that the Alliance would take in place of the money he owed them.
"Those spacecraft are valuable. Each spaceship is worth at least 10,000,000 credits to a collector, some are worth as much as twice that," Elaunae told Doc.
"Perhaps, but I don't have enough time to sell them." But maybe... the Alliance commander Captain Roberts is scheduled to meet is a racing fanatic and probably knows other fans who are serious collectors. He might be able to persuade him to take the ship's off of Doc's hands. He called his squadron commanders over to him. "Elliott, tow these ships up to the Queen Anne's Revenge. Strap whatever ships won't fit into our shuttle bays to the top deck. We are taking them with us.
Bill, send a team to the other two buildings. Hopefully, they will have something of value that we can use. Elaunae and I followed a group from the raiding party into one of the remaining buildings. "Crap!" Doc yelled. He struck out again. The shop is filled with bolts of cloth, sewing tools, notions, and everything imaginable for crafting handmade, custom jewelry. Elaunae's eyes opened wide, trying to take everything in.
"There is so much. Everything I could possibly want is here. My coins are back in our cabin. Can you arrange credit or loan me some credits? I will pay you back when we get home," Elaunae asked her husband.
"Take whatever you want. It is my treat." Doc led his wife to the shop's proprietor. The clerk's eyes followed Docs hand, watching it settle on the grip of his blaster. "My wife wishes to make some purchases."
"Yes, of course, our most popular fabrics are this way." Doc stopped him and eased his blaster slightly out of its holster. "I think we are having a communications problem. I am having a bad day. I advise you not to make it any worse. I'll explain what she needs just once. Only your best and most expensive fabrics are good enough for her. The price is of no concern." Doc eased his blaster a little further out of its holster.
"My apologies for not recognizing her regal status. Of course, you are correct to insist on only our most prized collection of fabrics. A beautiful lady such as your wife deserves only the best." Usually, Doc didn't like suck-ups, but in this case, a little groveling from the clerk helped to ease his tension and his trigger finger.
The clerk took a cart, used by shoppers to hold their purchases. "Something a little bigger," Captain Roberts suggested.
"A gravsled?" the clerk asked. Doc nodded.
The clerk hurried to get the largest gravsled in the building. When he got back, Doc took a seat behind him, and Elaunae sat next to Doc. The clerk drove the gravsled to the back of the building and stopped at a section of shelves on the back wall. "These are our best and most expensive bolts of cloth," the clerk said.
Elaunae pointed to different bolts of fabric while speaking, "I love the blue fabric and the red with the gold embroidery. I simply must have some of the yellow material and look at these flowers."
"We will take them," Doc said to the clerk.
"Which ones?"
"All of them." The clerk got out of the gravsled and removed the bolts of cloth from the shelves and loaded the back of the gravsled.
When he got back into the sled, Doc said, "My wife will need an assortment of sewing tools, notions, and thread. When he stopped on an aisle where they are located, he hurried to gather everything that Elaunae said she needed and more just to be on the safe side. Then he loaded them in the back of the gravsled with the bolts of cloth.
"Do you sell feathers that can be used for earrings or weaved into hair?" Elaunae asked the clerk. He turned to see Doc holding his blaster in his hand. Then he answered, "Only the best. We also have gemstones, fittings, crafting wire, and tools to make bracelets and necklaces. He hurried to where they are located.
Doc took a look at the gemstones. At last, he saw something of value that he could use. Locked behind a counter is a collection of fire opals, emeralds, sapphires, rubies, diamonds, and other gemstones. "We will take them all and all of your gold wire, catches, and fittings," Doc said. The clerk hurried to empty the counter and load everything that Doc wanted into boxes which he loaded into the gravsled.
The next stop was by a series of bins that contained feathers from several different avian species. Elaunae couldn't decide which feathers to choose from, there are so many. Doc suggested that she not worry about the price and take a handful of everything that caught her eye. Elaunae also picked up a few pairs of crafting pliers and cutters which she added to her purchase.
"There must be over a million credits worth of material in the back of the sled. How are we going to afford it?" Elaunae asked her husband.
It is worth a lot more than that. All of the gems Doc chose are of high quality and very valuable. "Nothing but the best for you, sweetheart."
"I don't know how to thank you," Elaunae said to her husband.
"I'm sure you will think of something." Doc kissed his wife.
"How much do we owe you?" Elaunae asked the clerk."
The clerk looked at Doc, then turned to his Elaunae and answered, "Absolutely nothing. Today is your lucky day. You are our ten millionth customer. To celebrate, everything that you want is free." Doc slid his blaster back into its holster. He got out of the gravsled and motioned to the clerk that he should leave. Then Doc sat on the driver's seat and drove out of the building.
Bill is waiting for Doc at his Marauder. When Doc got out of the gravsled, he said, "Sorry, I've been doing a little shopping with my wife. Ho
w did everything go in the last building?"
"Great. The locals were using it to store wine and champagne to celebrate the upcoming race. We emptied the place. When we get to hyperspace, we will have plenty of wine to celebrate with.
"Then let's get the hell out of here." Doc opened the rear hatch of his Marauder then he drove the gravsled into his ship. He sealed the hatch; then he launched his starfighter.
****
Ten hours was all that Doc needed to make his exit from the Corriban star system. It took much less time to reach a safe jump distance and enter hyperspace, especially at the starships cruise speed of .2c, than it did to decelerate from near light speed. The velocity dampers, even in conjunction with the starship's sublight engines, took days and sometimes weeks to slow the cruiser enough to enter orbit or dock with a space station.
A frigate patrolling the star system was is in position to intercept the Queen Anne's Revenge. There was no doubt that it was alerted to Doc's raid at the starport. It was ready for combat and laid waiting in the dark for the cruiser with its drives shut down.
Jadsia's sensor scans showed that the area of space ahead of them is clear. Natasha finished her calculations for the jump to hyperspace. The frigates drive plumes suddenly appeared on her sensors. It is accelerating towards the Queen Anne's revenge at flank speed. Two additional drive plumes joined the warship's, accelerating even faster. There isn't any time to evade the missiles. Natasha engaged the hyperdrive, but not before one of the missiles detonated amidships. Emergency bulkhead doors closed sealing off the damaged sections until battle damage repair teams could assess the damage and make the needed repairs.
