by Drew Wagar
Again! Again, I underestimated her! In my pride I considered her inferior and she took advantage of it!
“ Damn you, fâché,” he whispered. “Damn you to the ends of the universe!”
He left the bridge at a run, heading for the witchdrive core.
Jim started to run towards the exit of the cavern. He realised that Rebecca wasn’t directly behind him. He turned to see what was wrong. Rebecca had hardly moved.
“What’s the matter?” he demanded.
She glared furiously and shook her hands at her dress. She’d tried to hitch it up, but it was too narrowly cut for her to be able to do that. There was no way she could run in it.
“Shall I carry you?” he joked.
Rebecca didn’t deign to give a response. She pulled out her knife and sliced through the dress above the knees, ripping it quickly and efficiently. She shrugged off the excess and seemed satisfied, far more comfortable as she joined him.
If the tailors on Sotiqu had seen that there would probably have been a riot…
They raced back across the dimly lit surface of Oresrati as fast as they could in the low gravity, Rebecca surprisingly fleet of foot despite her bare soles. Suddenly she stopped and looked carefully around her, looking at the depressions in the soil in front of her.
“Where’s your ship?” Jim demanded.
“It’s right here. Zerz took my key though. I’ll have to use the back door,” Rebecca said, holding up her hands in front of her, feeling her way. She looked as if she was miming. “Ah, here we are.”
A loading ramp appeared out of nothing.
Jim stared. “You have a cloaking device too? Where did you get it?”
Rebecca grinned. “From you apparently! Well, sort of. How else do you think I managed to follow you without being seen? Come on!”
“From me?” Jim asked, confused.
“Long story, tell you later.”
Rebecca led the way to the bridge, Jim followed, finding the interior of the Cobra Courier oddly familiar. It brought back memories of their adventures on a similar ship, the SuperCobra, two years before. Jim had se cured his harness in the co-pilot’s chair and was distracted by Rebecca swinging herself around into her seat. The sight of her legs now free from the encumbrance of the dress brought up feelings he didn’t want to have to deal with at this point in time. The shortened dress really suited her…
Focus for Lave’s sake! What’s the matter with you man! You’ve got a job to do! Get a grip!
Within minutes the Eclipse was in flight, roaring up out of Oresrati’s gravity well and into clear space.
Rebecca was back in her element. She set the controls for cruise and toggled the scanner resolution out as far as it would go.
“So,” she said, after checking the instruments one more time and looking out of the forward viewer, “what was it like being dead?”
Jim looked across at her. “Well, it was quiet. Peaceful even.”
“Peaceful,” Rebecca replied. “I see.”
“Lonely, too,” he said, quietly, looking across at her.
She looked back at him. “About before, I’m sorry. I was just trying… ”
“You were trying to save me, by confusing Zerz,” Jim replied. “I think you succeeded, you certainly had me believing it.”
I’m not acting any more, I know what I want now and it’s not Raxxla…
She sighed faintly, and bit her bottom lip. “No more kidding from now on, yeah?”
“Rebecca, I… ”
The scanner pinged. Rebecca immediately focused back to the controls.
“There he is,” she smiled grimly, “the smug bastard.”
“You said you sabotaged his drive?”
“Mucked up the alignment good and proper, while he was watching me too. He should be having a proper hissy fit right about now. Ha!”
“Could he fix it?” Jim asked.
“How good a tech is he?” Rebecca scoffed sarcastically. “As good as you?”
“He was Galcop’s chief technician! I can only assume he’s knows his way around a witchdrive core!”
“I’d better get him quick then,” she reached across, priming the missiles, locking them on target and charging both the shields and the primary weapons. Within moments the ship was ready to fight.
Jim saw her wriggle in her pilot’s seat. She swore.
“What’s the matter?”
She unlocked the seat controls and moved the seat forward a few notches. “I’ve never flown without shoes on before, I can’t reach the foot controls!”
Jim shook his head in amusement.
On impulse Rebecca flicked on the narrowband comm transmitter, grinning with anticipation.
“I tried it once your way Furvel, are you game for a rematch?”
Bet that surprised you, you arrogant git!
There was a long pause, and then the speakers crackled.
“ You test my patience fâché,” Zerz said, his voice raw with suppressed fury. “I will spare you if you withdraw immediately.”
Ha! He’s found out about his drive and he’s not fixed it yet! That’s all I need to know.
Rebecca pushed the Eclipse’s throttles up to full power, zeroing in on the Falchion, which was cruising at less than half speed.
“Time to settle this once and for all, Furvel,” she said gleefully. “And may the best girl win!”
She snapped the narrowband comms off.
“Was that really necessary?” Jim said, raising his eyebrows.
“I’ve been wanting to say something like that for years.”
On the main view the Falchion came about and accelerated towards them. Rebecca saw the signature of a missile lock, the scanner indicators flashing red. Both ships were on a collision course, their range shrinking rapidly. Rebecca pushed the engines to full throttle.
“What can you tell me about a plasma accelerator?” Rebecca shouted over the howl of the engines.
“Only that I don’t think Zerz was exaggerating,” Jim quipped back. “It’s probably at least three or four times as powerful as a military laser. Stay out of his firing solution!”
“No worries.”
Rebecca spun the Eclipse around its central axis, and then began to engage the climb control, corkscrewing the Eclipse, but maintaining forward progress. It was a tough approach for an enemy to hit, but equally it prevented you from using your own weapons. A defensive approach tactic.
Suddenly the sky lit up with fury. Rebecca and Jim got their first view of the unleashed plasma accelerator, a twisting, raging storm of tormented energy, twisting angrily towards them, tendrils of fire mixed with lightning.
“ Ouch!” Rebecca said, aborting the corkscrew and diving the Eclipse out of the way into an outside loop. “Start counting!”
“What?”
“I need to know the recharge time! 1 2 3 4 5! Count!”
Jim counted mentally, as Rebecca turned the Eclipse back towards the Falchion and then dived away again, presenting a tempting target. As she had hoped, the Falchion fired again. She dodged, rolling into the corkscrew manoeuvre again.
“Eight seconds,” Jim called.
He’s got to pick and choose then…
Rebecca triggered the cloaking device, flipped the Eclipse over, dropped the cloak and unleashed a barrage of military laser fire. The missile threat indicator turned green showing they were no longer targeted. The Falchion’s shields flared under the attack, but held. The missile lock from the Falchion re-established itself.
They circled again, Rebecca feinting and ducking the Eclipse to trigger an attack from the Falchion and then using the cloak to hide a turn before delivering a withering blast of fire by return.
He can’t bring that weapon to bear on us…
Rebecca turned again, intending to use the tactic a further time, as it seemed that Zerz had no answer for it. They were wearing him down bit by bit, the Falchion’s shields would be unable to resist the bite of the military laser forever. She fein
ted as before, giving Zerz an obvious shot across their dorsal hull plating. She prepared to dodge again.
“He didn’t fire!” Jim warned.
The Falchion twisted in space, its bow coming around to face them, rotating fast.
Damn, he suckered me in…
“ Yaw thrusters!” Rebecca cried, pushing the Eclipse into a sharp dive and triggering the fuel injectors. “I hate yaw thrusters! I always forget them! Who the hell was it who decided yaw control would be a good thing. It’s just not right!”
Jim saw the plasma accelerator ignite out of the port side viewer, moments before a stream of coruscating, twisting fire lashed out towards them.
It’s going to hit!
The shields screamed. Light flashed around the interior of the bridge and the Eclipse bucked as if a giant hand had snatched and shaken it like a child’s toy.
Rebecca stared at the energy readouts, both forward and rear shields were gone. Fully two thirds of the energy banks had been drained away.
Hell! It was only a glancing blow! I’ve got shield boosters and a military spec upgrade and it almost blew me away!
Rebecca immediately targeted and launched a missile, turned the Eclipse around, hit the fuel injectors and ran at full power. The ringing tones of an ECM echoed through the bridge. Rebecca’s missile was hardened and wasn’t subdued, forcing Zerz to disengage in order to deal with it.
“What are you doing?” Jim exclaimed.
“ If he gets another hit with that plasma gun, we’ve had it! It’s virtually a one shot weapon!” Rebecca replied, “I’ve got to even the odds! We can’t win out here. There is no way I can avoid getting hit again before we can finish him off, he’s too good!”
She saw the missile succumb to fire from the Falchion.
The narrowband crackled online. “Not so confident now, fâché?”
The Eclipse was diving towards Oresrati at full power. Gracefully, the Falchion rotated, and began diving back down towards them in pursuit, its ramjet engines glowing a bright actinic blue and blazing forward at full power. It too triggered its fuel injectors, hurtling towards them.
Courier versus Cobra. It had been a draw last time. This time, round one had gone to the Falchion.
Rebecca instinctively knew that her ship was at a major disadvantage; the plasma accelerator was far beyond the power levels she had anticipated, she’d assumed her modified ship would fare better than it had.
If you can’t win the game, you don’t play. Even Elite combateers know when to run…
She pushed the controls forward. The Eclipse rolled over and dived more steeply toward the surface of the planet. Jim stiffened, bracing himself in his seat as the craggy rock strewn surface of Oresrati filled the viewer, looming larger once more.
“I hope you know what you’re doing… ” Jim whispered.
“So do I.”
Rebecca pulled out of the dive just above the surface of the planet, with the Falchion now closing behind her. As if prompted by a passing thought she suddenly swung to port. The plasma beam flickered out, ionising the atmosphere and vaporising a huge tract of the surface nearby. The heat shields were glowing with the heat generated by punching through the atmosphere at space manoeuvring speeds. Debris and superheated gas flickered past the view screens and disappeared behind them.
Rebecca weaved the ship between hills, down crevasses and around the rampart slopes of the larger craters. The Falchion followed her move for move. The plasma beam flashed out again, detonating the rocky surface of the planet. The Eclipse narrowly slewed out of the way as thousands of tonnes of rock and metal fragments poured down across their path. Each time the plasma beam sprouted forth, it was closer and closer to them. Zerz was beginning to accurately lead her movements, anticipating her reactions. She was running out of tricks.
He’s too damn good!
Jim watched the battle develop. Rebecca was exceeding herself again, but the Falchion’s pursuit was inexorable. Sooner or later a blast from that plasma accelerator was going to hit them, and then it would be over.
We’re not going to get out of here… .
“ There is no escape, fâché,” Zerz voice was full of triumph. “This time you will die for certain.”
Jim looked at Rebecca, she shot him a desperate look.
“I don’t think I can do this!” she said, sounding fearful. “I can’t shake him!”
The Falchion was closing towards firing range again.
“You can do it,” Jim replied. “I know you can… ”
The scanner pinged.
Both Jim and Rebecca looked at it in surprise. Another ship? It was in front of them, closing rapidly. Jim toggled the ident computer as Rebecca evaded another beam of plasma energy.
Galcop Constrictor Prototype.
Mass 120 metric.
0.45 LM.
“Who the hell is flying your ship?” Rebecca demanded.
Jim hit the narrowband comms. “M5! Status report.”
The computer’s peculiar voice responded immediately.
M5 recognises Jim McKenna. Hello Jim. Shields off-line, engines at 72% of rated output, long range…
“M5, weapons status?”
Weapons operative. M5 Standing by.
“Cause of damage?” Jim queried.
This unit was attacked by an unlisted Imperial Courier with an unknown weapon signature.
Rebecca looked at him. “Is that a computer? Ask it how it got away!”
Jim repeated the question to M5.
The computer’s answer was succinct.
This unit is programmed to survive. This unit feigned an uncontrolled crash to avoid destruction.
“Smart-alec computers!” Rebecca shrugged and rolled her eyes, narrowly dodging another plasma strike. Jim issued an instruction.
“M5. Engage and destroy the Imperial Courier!”
M5 predicts the probability of destroying the Imperial Courier as less than 10%. Probability prediction indicates of the chance of destruction of this unit is greater than 80%. Please confirm override of self-preservation imperative.
“M5! Engage!”
There was a pause over the narrowband; a computerised sigh.
M5 will comply.
Zerz hadn’t seen the Constrictor immediately as it was hidden from his view by the fleeing Eclipse. The Eclipse continued to twist and turn across the surface of Oresrati. The girl was a superb pilot, he’d admit that. She was a master at feinting, leading his targeting this way and that before changing direction in an unpredictable way; better than any other he’d encountered. But like any pilot, she had her preferences and habits. Zerz was an astute student, and he was learning fast. The yaw control on the Falchion allowed him to compensate for the Eclipse’s superior manoeuvrability. It was only a matter of time.
The scanner flickered.
Another ship? Where did… the Constrictor! But I killed it!
The Constrictor was closing in at maximum velocity, rapidly closing the range between the vessels. The Eclipse barrel rolled aside, and Zerz found himself staring into the snub nosed prototype fighter’s weapons head on.
The Constrictor was dwarfed by the Falchion. It looked like a wasp attacking an eagle.
Its forward military laser blasted forth, peppering the Falchion with scintillating energy, which blistered across the forward shields.
The wideband comms became active momentarily and a curiously determined computerised voice issued forth.
M5. The Ultimate Computer.
The brazen attack delivered maximum damage, but incurred a heavy penalty in tactical positioning.
Zerz triggered the plasma accelerator.
A final message came over the narrowband onboard the Eclipse.
M5 is unable to complete its objective.
The Constrictor exploded, disintegrating in a shower of metallic debris which sparkled down to destruction on the surface of Oresrati. Rebecca almost felt sorry for it.
Not bad for a machine! And it’s given me
an idea…
The Falchion, its forward shields reforming, came on.
Rebecca tweaked the throttle down slightly, executed a sharp turn into a long narrow sinuous canyon winding down through the surface of the planet. The Falchion closed quickly and followed her move into the valley. Rebecca flipped the rear view screen on. Jim saw it was just like the forward viewer, with an illuminated set of cross hairs.
A rear military gun too? She’s been earning some serious cash!
A warning light buzzed on the console, the ship was overheating as it sped through the atmosphere. Rebecca was quickly flicking between the forward and rear screens, as if judging something. The plasma beam struck out again, narrowly missing them on the starboard side.
Surely she can’t fly and watch both screens at the same time?
Rebecca thumbed the trigger, sending a bolt of laser fire from the rear gun mounting. Staggered that she could line up a shot whilst navigating the canyon, Jim saw the Falchion caught in the cross hairs. Jim watched in astonishment as Rebecca rolled the Eclipse around in a move that kept it on a clear path through the valley and still maintained a lock on the Falchion. The laser fire never wavered.
The Falchion staggered under the onslaught, its forward shields falling again. Jim was dumbstruck at the display of flying prowess. He saw parts of the Falchion’s forward hull crackle and break as the military laser punched through.
How does she do it?
There was more to come. Rebecca had slammed the throttles closed. The Eclipse lurched to an almost complete stop. The Falchion hurtled past. Then she pushed the throttles forward again.
The hunter had become the hunted. Round two to the Eclipse.
The Falchion’s manoeuvrability within the canyon was limited. The energy demands of the plasma cannon had required Zerz to remove his rear and side firing weapons. Rebecca had seen this on a close pass with his ship. Her experience with spaceborne combat had given her a trained eye.
Jim watched Rebecca as she fought. Her face was determined, a look of pure concentration etched on her features, her eyes blazing with zeal. As each move by the Falchion was countered an almost visceral grin crossed her face. She put Jim in mind of a feline stalking its prey, impaling it with its claws before ripping its unfortunate victim to shreds.
