Hawk Seven (Flight of the Hawk)

by Little, Robert

  We quickly overran our two tiny tables, but somehow other tables appeared out of the dim din. A musical group was on stage, and they were very loud. They had a good beat, but little in the way of harmony, or for that matter, lyrics. Still, the dance floor was jammed. Perhaps that was why we were able to come up with those additional tables.

  As usual, we were a mixed lot of sexes and ranks. Master Chief Kana was there, sporting his marine on one arm and a huge tankard brimming over with foam in the opposite hand. He looked so smug that I laughed at him. He grinned good-naturedly and said, “Sir, I know how to get in contact with your wife, and I know more about you than she does. If you like, I could bring her up to date?” I laughed and said, “Chief, you are a big, mean son of a bitch, but I think Nastya could take you and darn my socks at the same time.” He roared with delight and nodded his head, careful not to spill any beer or lose the Marine.

  I looked around the floor and spotted a knot of men surrounding a couple of our enlisted, who were trying to enter the dance floor, presumably with the intention of dancing. I yelled at the chief but he was already standing. In fact, so was his marine. We walked through the crowd and came up behind the five men who were saying something that was causing the female seaman to blush. I flushed with anger as soon as I realized what was happening, but the chief put his hand on my arm and said quietly, “Let me handle this, if you please sir?” I looked at him and nodded shakily.

  The chief bumped into the man who had a hand on the woman and said in the general direction of the two angry almost kids, “You two, see those tables over in the corner? I want you to go over there and say hello to some friends of mine. While you’re doing that, perhaps I could have a word with these fine young men here?” The last was aimed directly at the large man who was restraining her. He glared at the chief but something flickered in his eyes when he took in just how wide chief Kana actually was.

  He let her go and turned to face the chief who said in a conversational tone of voice, “Did you men know that just a few paces from here is a nicely equipped gym?” The man, who stood a good six inches taller than the chief, was a third class petty officer and probably twenty five years younger. He looked down in a little confusion at Master Chief Kana, who was standing in a relaxed and balanced way that seemed to be one thing but was actually another.

  The petty officer bent his head down to within a few inches of chief Kana and said, “Who gives a fuck?” The chief smiled and leaned in a bit himself, “Why, petty officer, I think you do. In fact, I think you and your friends want to go there right this minute. I think that when you get there, you will want to change into some workout clothes, and I think that when you do all that, you will get a workout. Am I correct, petty officer?”

  The man was still confused, but he finally seemed to realize that a challenge was being offered. He grinned without actually smiling and said, “Lead the way, shorty.” Master Chief Kana grinned very nicely and turned his back on the men. He began walking and after a momentary hesitation the six men began following. Elian and I and chief Cadiz brought up the rear.

  We walked in three distinct groups out of the canteen and down a passageway to a hatch, which the chief opened and entered. Inside we found a gym, just as promised.

  The chief closed and locked the hatch behind the men and pointed at the locker rooms, “You can change in there. Let’s not waste any time.” The big and surly E-4 said, “I don’t need to change into some girly clothes to whip your elderly ass.” Chief Kana said, “No doubt. However, if you change into workout clothes, we can get a little exercise and it will be perfectly legal. Or, are you afraid?”

  The petty officer reacted as expected and turned for the locker room. Chief Kana said to the other five, “You can stand around and pick your nose, or change. I don’t care which.”

  That was all it took to goad them into following the chief. Senior Chief Cadiz was already headed for the female locker room and I tucked in behind the chief and headed for the men’s.

  Inside of ten minutes the six men were back out on the gym floor and stood arrayed in a loose line, with Chief Cadiz, Chief Kana and myself facing them. We were now all wearing exercise clothes that the base gym maintained for the steady flow of visitors.

  I felt reasonably confident that I could take any of them as I hadn’t seen the sometimes subtle signs that indicated a man who knew martial arts. I knew the chief did because he and I had been working out together for over six months. What he lacked in art he more than made up for in enthusiasm. He didn’t mind getting hit as long as it would allow him to get his hands on his opponent. That was almost certainly an excellent way for said opponent to get tied up in knots. I personally knew nothing about senior chief Cadiz, but looking at her relaxed stance told me enough.

  I had learned a great deal by working out with the chief. He was a hard man to take down, and he was like an octopus. He seemed to have arms everywhere, and once one of those arms locked onto me, I was as good as dead. I had to utilize my strengths, which were a longer reach and just a little better speed, and had sometimes won a match here and there. Mostly though, I went down, hard. I had good skills, but I hadn’t previously fought a real opponent using those skills, and that is the primary area where I had improved.

  The room hadn’t been unoccupied and we now had a crowd of curious onlookers standing in a loose circle. Chief Kana said, “OK, here are the rules: no gouging, no trying to break anything. When one of you says ‘break’, or slaps a hand on the mat, you’re finished. Anybody have a problem with that?”

  By now most of the men were over their mad and just a little uneasy, but the petty officer was if anything, even angrier. He said, “OK, who do I put down first?” Master chief Kana smiled like a saint and said, “Well, as to that, you have a choice. You can face off against the lieutenant here, or perhaps, you’d like to go a round with that itsy bitsy Marine over there. Your choice. Oh, if you manage to survive either of them, you can have me. Okay, little boy?” The last was delivered quietly, but it was loaded with venom.

  The petty officer looked at me and said, “Okay, sir, I hear the fleet has great medical facilities.” I reached out an open hand and smacked him very hard across the cheek. It rocked him, despite being open handed. He roared with rage and reached out for me, but I simply danced to his left and slapped him again. I had very fast hands, and he had a few beers sloshing around in his innards. He staggered again and turned toward me, but I was still moving. I flowed around him, alternating slaps with fists. Each hit just made him angrier, which is of course what I wanted. I stopped for a moment and he made a run at me with his arms out. From my many painful matches with the chief I knew that if he got hold of me I was probably going to get creamed. Just before he reached me I slapped his left arm inside, put my foot between his two and threw him over my shoulder to slam on the mat. He was back up a little faster than I had anticipated but I back peddled, keeping out of his reach.

  Chief Kana said, “Sir, it’s getting late. Will you stop playing please?” I decided to comply. The petty officer came straight at me again. He just didn’t learn. I slipped inside his arms and threw him down again, but this time I was on him before he could react. I took his hand and squeezed his fingers, causing him a lot of pain, but no permanent harm. He tried to get his free hand around me but I simply danced around behind his head, pulling his hand with me. He roared again and didn’t seem inclined to give. Still holding onto his hand I kicked him on the side of his head and he went limp. I was barely breathing.

  Senior Chief Cadiz walked up and pointed to one of the men and said, “Pull that sack of shit out of the way, now it’s my turn to play.” The other men were by now wishing they were somewhere else, but there was a large crowd of marines who stood shoulder to shoulder between the men and the hatch.

  When none of them volunteered she pointed at the largest man and said, “You, get onto the mat.” The other men shuffled their feet and looked angry. She said, “What, you want to try two of y
ou against one little ol’ Marine?” She pointed to the second largest man and said, “You, get over here next to this other piece of rancid meat. If you don’t want to play with me, perhaps you might look over your shoulder. Now, move.”

  The second man did in fact look over his shoulder and saw that there was not going to be an easy way out of this. At the moment, he probably thought she was the easier, and he took a couple of steps to stand next to the other man. She moved so fast that I barely caught it. She hit the smaller man on the chest, causing him to stumble back a step. Almost at the same time her foot snaked out and struck the larger man in the side of the head. He went down like a sack of potatoes and didn’t move. The second man had just enough time to catch his balance before she seemed to spring forward. One foot struck his groin and as he began to pivot down from the waist her other foot caught him in the side of the head. In possibly three seconds she had both men down and out.

  She looked at the three remaining men and said, “If I ever see you in the canteen again with that man, I’ll assume you want to work out. Do you understand?” They nodded their heads and she said, “Get your silly little asses out of my sight.”

  I caught Master Chief Kana looking at her with such admiration that I burst out in laughter. He looked at me and said, “Don’t you just love her?” I nodded my head and asked her, “Chief, what style was that?’ She said, “Why don’t you meet me in the gym and I’ll show you. This vacuum sucker here says you are ready for your black belt, but you have a few rough edges that need to be polished. I can polish real good, sir.” I laughed and said, “You have a date, chief.”

  She grinned a little more seriously and said, “For one thing, you were just playing around with that man. You don’t dare do that with a man that size – he can kill you if he can get his hands on you. You have to put him down and you have to do it fast.” I nodded and said, “I know that intellectually, but I find it hard in practice.” She said, “Well, just imagine that he’s a bug. I understand that you are a mean mother when it comes to bugs.”

  I smiled and reached out to shake her hand. She grinned and snaked out her other hand toward my face. I blocked it just in time. She laughed and said, “You are very fast, sir. I am going to enjoy working you out. Oh, excuse me, I meant to say, ‘working out with you.” The room erupted into laughter that turned into applause, for her of course.

  I said, “I could hope that I will enjoy it as well, but I don’t think that will be the case.”

  She said, “Time’s awastin’, and I don’t have much time to spend with this elderly excuse for military preparedness, so let’s get changed. I want to see if Chief Kana can dance.”

  I stared at the chief and said, “Let me live just long enough to see Master Chief Kana on the dance floor, oh God, and I will die a happy man.” Everyone laughed, including our large audience. They applauded chief Cadiz again as she walked toward her locker room.

  We changed, ignoring the six men who managed to keep an entire row of lockers between them and us.

  Within ten minutes we were back in the canteen. Our people had managed to retain the tables and we actually found seats waiting for us. Everyone wanted to know what happened and Elian said, “Well, the six killers suited up at the suggestion of Chief Kana, who mentioned that if someone was injured while working out it wouldn’t be a violation of orders.”

  “The skinny underachiever sitting next to me here put the large man down after playing with his face for a bit, and then Senior Chief Cadiz took on the next two and put both of them down and out in something like four seconds. It was amazing. I didn’t even see what she did.”

  Everyone began applauding and she stood up with a big grin on her face and announced, “The next beer is not going to be on me.” The entire table began shouting for a waiter, laughing like hyenas all the while. It was turning out to be an interesting evening.

  Early the next morning I was commed by the admiral and ordered to his office pronto. I finished dressing and managed to run after and jump onto a scooter that was going his way.

  Inside of fifteen minutes I hustled into his office. His aide was sitting at her desk, arguing with someone via what appeared to be a long distance comm signal, judging by the lag between the question and apparently evasive answer. She paused to look up at me, smiled and waved me into his office.

  I knocked and entered and as hoped, saw a platter of doughnuts sitting on a side table next to his coffee urn. He was apparently talking to the same person, but he paused long enough to wave me toward the promised land of fat, sugar and caffeine. I loaded up a large cup with a moderate amount of sugar and selected two doughnuts, basing my decision on the proposition that one super sticky one might just balance out a plain one. I just love Fleet Base Jupiter.

  He finished his conversation by saying ‘yes sir’ several times and then ended the comm. He looked at my suspiciously full mouth and grinned, “Lieutenant, should I die under mysterious circumstances, I order you to kill the politicians.” I grinned and asked, “When you say, ‘the politicians’, am I to take it you mean....” Before I could finish he said, “Yes, I mean every last one of the rat bastard, blood sucking, mealy mouthed, narrow shouldered, grasping, fat assed politicians.”

  He stood up energetically and refilled his cup. Standing he asked, “How soon can you pack your bags?” I looked at him in surprise and said, “Sir, five minutes sir.” He nodded his head and walked back to his desk. He sat and said, “I am hearing all sorts of bad things about that misbegotten Kestrel. I want you to fly to earth and take a look at it. I expect you to comm me the instant you have some information. By information, I do not mean some vague promise, I want the truth. I’m tired of hearing excuses from corporate earth. We’ve got a war on our hands, possibly two wars, and those misbegotten suit-wearing excuses keep trying to rob Fleet blind. I want to know, absolutely know how soon it will be ready, and I want to know how fast it can accelerate and how stealthy it is: those three things, and only those three things. Understand, I’m sending you along with a letter of authorization that will give you the authority to do practically anything, up to and including federalizing that entire company. You will be acting in my name, so don’t take any shit and don’t let them stall you. Take your twin brother with you as well. Go, the shuttle will be waiting for you on pad seven.”

  I got to my feet and looked a little forlornly at my doughnut. He laughed and said, “Take that thing with you lieutenant; you have to keep up your strength. After all, you never know when some big bad petty officer will want to take you out.” I started, and realized that somehow he knew what we had been doing the previous evening. I grinned and said, “Sir, take my word for it, don’t piss off a female marine. They are deadly!”

  He laughed and said, “So I hear. I wish I could have seen that in person instead of having to view it on my pad. Senior Chief Cadiz has been the fleet female martial artist champion several years running, although she lost her title last year. Anyway, go.” He grinned at me and I saluted with my doughnut, causing him to laugh.

  I felt pretty good myself. I hadn’t been to earth since I graduated from advanced flight school and was assigned to the Essex. I caught transportation back to the BOQ and caught Elian just going into the showers. I told him, “You have ten minutes to shower and change into traveling clothes, brother. We are heading to earth.” He didn’t bother being surprised, and just grinned and ran for the shower. Working for the admiral was not boring.

  While he was showering, I commed the chief. He didn’t answer directly, which fact made me grin. I instructed his pad to override any commands he may have placed on it to keep it quiet and gave him the news. He didn’t need explanations either.

  We were at the pad in less than thirty minutes. I was just a little disappointed to find the chief beat us both there, and looked as if he had taken several hours to dress. He not only looked fresh, he looked a little smug, and I pointed at him and asked, “A ceremony complete with swords is in your future chief.”
He grinned and asked, “How did you know sir? I just asked her less than an hour ago?”

  I stared in delight and slapped him on the back. “Congratulations chief, she’ll make both a great wife and bodyguard.” He grinned modestly and said, “Yes sir, if you say so.” Elian and I shook his hand and Elian asked, “Chief, with your permission, Roberto the Lucky and I would love to attend.”

  Master Chief Kana said, “Sirs, I would be highly honored if the two of you would attend. I wish that your wives could attend as well. Now, you won’t be the only one in a mixed marriage sir. In fact, I used just that argument when I asked her. I told her if an itty bitty lieutenant could make a Marine happy, I ought to be able to.” I grinned like a crazy man and he grinned right back.

  We talked about the maintenance that needed to be accomplished on both ships, and the chief solemnly promised to see to it that it was done properly. He waved to us as we walked away. Nobody was around to be shocked. Nobody we cared about.

  A shuttle had been assigned just for us and as soon as we were strapped in it lifted off. Within less than an hour we boarded a destroyer that was heading to earth. It accelerated out of orbit and headed in-system at nearly max acceleration. It seemed that the destroyer captain, who actually was a captain, had his orders to pour on the coal. Destroyers were made for speed and although my Dresden could run away from him I still found myself grinning with happiness.