Freedom Flight (Space Rogue Book 3)

by Jay Toney

  "Captain, we are picking up a battle, between Vista's fleet, and Avalon's. Avalon is winning."

  "Natty, get us there maximum speed."

  "Jewel sound battle stations, pilots to their craft."

  "Jane, get our shields up and secure all hatches."

  As soon as Shar'tu and the rest of second watch arrived, I got him up to speed. This time I didn't have to convince him of the need to kill our enemy. He saw what they did to our refugee's, and was witnessing their cruelty again.

  I was a pirate from a long line of pirates. We killed when we had to, but not innocent people. I did my share of raids, since I was in my teens. I even commanded a squadron of marauders since I was twelve. I only killed when I had to, preferring to hire my enemies when I could. I never killed anyone who couldn't fight back. Most of those I killed were soldiers, and most of them belonging to the Alliance.

  We watched our viewscreen, salvage ships, surrounded ships whose defenses were down, or minimized to begin removing the hull plating to kill the ships crew and make it easy to loot any cargo. Normally these ships were ignored in battle. Their purpose was to help repair their fleets ships when possible, to start salvaging them when not.

  In this case they were employed to kill the opposing fleet, killing needlessly, for little return. I made them our first priority. While our ships went after the capital ships, we would defend Vista's fleet, then join in destroying Avalon's ships.

  We all entered our marauders and vipers. I taxied to the launch tube, with Natty on my wing. We waited for the green light to launch. After our launch, our fleet of ships would overshoot the battle, in our need for speed. They wouldn't overshoot far, under maximum deceleration, and would join the battle in minutes. In the meantime, we would begin defending Vista's fleet.

  The light turned green, and we launched. 20 vipers, and 12 marauders headed towards our enemy, ready to fight to the death. The salvage ships didn't have any defensive weapons, and only minimum shielding. There was no need to fire missiles at them. The vipers 30 mm cannon were enough to rip them apart with their mix of high explosive and armor piercing rounds.

  I selected my particle beam guns, and started destroying the salvage vessels too. It wasn't hard to destroy them. It only took a few well placed shots to leave them lifeless. We managed to disable or destroy all the salvage ships in minutes, saving countless lives.

  We turned our attention to the capital ships. They had three destroyers, two frigates, and a light cruiser. They looked like they were old Alliance surplus vessels, and not maintained very well. It was hard to tell how much ammunition they had on board, but this was at least their second engagement in a short span. We had just about perfected destroying these ships with our fighters and marauders. We would weaken them, and our ships would finish them off, conserving our missiles.

  The vipers split into three groups. 10 vipers went after the cruiser, and the remaining vipers targeted the two frigates. That left Natty, Amber, Jewel, Doc, Mike and I to go after one destroyer, and Nord and the rest of the Vorg pilots to attack the other two. Doc and Mike started systematically destroying the destroyers PDC. Jewel and Amber targeted its gun turrets, I went after the bridge, and Natty targeted the missile tubes.

  With the PDC under attack, I didn't have to worry about being targeted. I flew in straight to the bridge, firing two missiles, before pulling up. I was able to see several bodies being sucked out into space, before Natty's missiles separated the upper deck from the hull. Several escape pods fired, and quickly rounded up by Vista's fleet. Their prisoners would either be executed, or face a life of hard labor, as slaves.

  A missile from the Vengeance finished off the disabled destroyer. With the ship destroyed we turned to attack the remaining destroyers. While lining up on my attack run, I saw two explosions. They were what was left of the frigates, after our fighters disabled them. The Cruiser turned to run, but Red wasn't going to allow it. He fired his main guns at the engines, and followed it up with a full salvo of his missiles. The forward section of the ship was all that was left, tumbling in space. Scavengers from Vista's fleet hurried after the wreckage and any survivors.

  It only took us a few minutes to finish off the last two destroyers. Natty's first missile opened the deck, where the ships turret use to be. I followed up behind her firing two missiles into the open hull. The missiles that were housed below deck exploded, reducing the destroyer to bits of scrap metal. Nord and his group disabled the last destroyer. Vista's fleet surrounded the ship, taking prisoners and beginning the salvage process.

  We returned to our ship, victorious. Natty flew past the Persephone, heading to the Vengeance. The rest of us landed on the Persephone. Amber and Jewel were the last two to land. When they were over the runway, they each rolled their ships one and a half times, (540 degrees), before landing. That was something that I use to do and was frequently grounded for in my youth. They set off another panic with Mikes workers, fearing for their lives. At least this time, I wouldn't be the one in trouble with Doc and Mike.

  With Jewel and Amber being gone from the bridge, I opened the comms myself to contact Red. Both him and Natty appeared on my viewscreen.

  "Nathaniel, well done. Where are Jewel and Amber?"

  "They thought it would be a good idea to celebrate our victory by doing a 540° roll over the runway before landing. Doc and Mike are probably each taking a bit of their hides."

  "And you didn't?"

  "No, I've felt Doc's paddle to many times to chance another beating for that. I've learned to pick my battles. I'll do something else, even more stupid, to earn his wrath in the future. At least it will be for something worthwhile."

  "I feel better now that we have had some vengeance on Avalon's fleet. I can move on now."

  "We aren't finished yet. That was just the start. We have to head back to the Avalon System to finish what they have started. Remember I told you we would be going back. We will take a couple of days to rest, then return. Now that I've seen how they've used the salvage ships, I need more than ever to finish my plans for them."

  I headed to my quarters. Jewel and Amber were there, each sitting on a mound of pillows. I smiled, knowing just what they went through.

  "Doc said, that if we were going to act like you did when you were younger, he would treat us the same way. He brought out a paddle, that he said was one of his few remaining possessions from when you were young. He and Mike both took turns swatting us with it. Then he told us that we would remember this lesson every time we sat down."

  "I thought he broke that paddle on me years ago."

  "Evidently he didn't, or he got another."

  "Was it worth it?"

  "Hell yeah!"

  "Amber, what is going on with Natty? She's been going over to the vengeance every night or sleeping on the lounge chair."

  "I'm not sure I should be the one to tell you."

  "Jewel?"

  "It should come from Natty herself, not us."

  "Out with it!"

  "She is human now, and feeling human emotions. She loves us, but... ."

  "But what?"

  "She has been developing feelings for someone else, since she has been back. She thought she would still be deeply in love with us, and in a way she is. But, she loves someone else even more now. In fact, she is bonding with him now."

  I tried to feel Natty's presence in my mind, but she wasn't there. This was twice that I lost her to someone else. First, I lost her to the person I still thought of as my first love, Tanya. Now to someone else.

  "Who is she in love with? I had my suspicions, but didn't want to admit them to myself."

  "She needs to answer that herself."

  "I
'll make her answer later, but for now I need to here it."

  "I've told you to much already, I'm not answering."

  "Amber?"

  "Me either."

  "Remember, you made me confess about turning off the refrigeration units containing the Niffids."

  "Alright, I guess fair is fair. She is in love with my brother, Adam."

  That was who I suspected, but had been denying. I wished that they had told me themselves. I even saw them together. I still took the news hard. This was my third loss this year alone. I wasn't sure I could take another. I walked into our bedroom and collapsed on the bed, wishing the day had never happened. Jewel and Amber joined me in bed. None of us spoke. We all felt the loss together, through our telepathic bond.

  Vengeance & Hope

  We only spent a couple of days in the Vista System, before returning to Avalon. The people of Vista hailed us as heroes, and we promised to return as soon as we were finished with our business in Avalon. No one knew what that would be other than me. I kept this knowledge to myself, sparing the others the guilt associated with the plan. If anyone suspected what we would be doing, they kept it well hidden.

  Natty finally talked with the three of us, about falling in love with Red. She still felt obligated to the Persephone, as its helmsman, and would be spending her shift here before flying back to the Vengeance to be with Red. In a way I felt more sorry for her, than I did for myself. We grew up, learning to cope with our emotions. She had hers suddenly thrust upon her. Before that she followed the instructions in her personality construct and positronic brain. I suspected that Natasha, the ships AI, often overwrote the programming as a means of controlling Natty. Natty was becoming more individual, no longer entirely Natasha's avatar, attempting to develop her own personality. This time around it was her choice to leave me, to be with Red. She wasn't forced to make a sudden decision. This time around, she knew she would still be welcomed as our friend.

  We moved the fleet to a position just inside of the asteroid belt. My operation required the use of all of our shuttles. We had more than enough pilots to fly both our assault shuttles, and our cargo shuttles. Persephone was busy calculating course and speed for us, while we loaded the shuttles with any rocks that would fit inside. Reds job was to be a diversion, keeping the people of Avalon's third planet's attention. He was also there to record and witness the planets destruction. It was a job that I wouldn't want, and one he couldn't wait to see fulfilling his need for revenge. He left us, promising not to get to close to the planet, and to watch out for our rocks.

  We had 40 total shuttles loading up with rocks. They would accelerate to 2500 KPS before releasing them on an intercept course with the third planet. Then they would return for another load. For a three days we worked around the clock loading and releasing rocks. There were some good rocks that were two large to load inside the shuttle, and were instead towed by between one and three shuttles, depending on the size of the rock.

  There wasn't much the people could do about the storm of rocks that was about to fall on them. They would accelerate even faster when thy were caught by the planet's gravity. Red only had to keep the planet distracted for two more days, then disaster would strike. The devastation on Avalon III would be even greater than it was on Spicer II. It would rain meteors for three days straight. Most of the rocks we collected had high concentrations of iron and nickle. Only a small percentage would burn up in the planets atmosphere. The rest would impact its surface.

  We spent one day cleaning the shuttles, then left to join up with the Vengeance. Red was busy making threats, promising to annihilate the planets fleet of ships, daring them to appear. I was more than happy enough to break into their conversation. The dictator, governess, or whatever she called herself appeared on my viewscreen. She recognized me immediately.

  "So Captain Roberts, you have finally seen the folly in resisting me. It's about time you surrendered."

  "I haven't come to surrender. It's a beautiful night. I wanted to ask you to look up at the stars."

  An aid whispered something to her, and she looked at another monitor. A look of horror, then shock overcame her features.

  "You should not have destroyed an innocent fleet of refugees, killing or enslaving its people, our people. Now its time to pay the price."

  Our fleet watched from a safe distance, as load after load of rocks rained down on the planets surface for the next three days. Civilization, if you could call it that was destroyed. The survivors would remember this day forever. Unlike the people of Spicer, there were no friendly neighbors to help them with their suffering and rebuilding their cities. The survivors would be fighting each other for food scraps and medicine, until they could grow new crops, and start the process of rebuilding.

  Natty spent those three days with Red. She returned on the fourth, in time to begin setting our course back to Vista. All ships reported ready, and we jumped to hyperspace.

  ****

  When we were back in real space, we set our course to the fourth planet. I wasn't in any hurry, in fact I was exhausted from our constant battles. I had Natty slow the ship to 2000 KPS. With our course laid in, I dismissed her telling her she could shuttle over to the Vengeance. I instructed Persephone, to contact me if there was anything I needed to know. Then I dismissed the bridge crew calling it a holiday. I went back to my quarters, and crawled back in bed, and went to sleep.

  I was so exhausted that I didn't wake until well past dinner. Jewel and Amber brought me back dinner from the officer's mess. I ate it, barely tasting the meal. I couldn't tell if it was Rosie's cooking or Docs. After eating I went back to bed needing just one more hours sleep.

  I woke early in the morning, with both Amber and Jewel holding me in their arms. Rosie was busy setting out our breakfast, and making a fresh pot of coffee. I carefully got out of bed, without waking either Jewel or Amber, and got a large glass of cold juice. I was finishing my second cup when Amber and Jewel woke.

  "Nathaniel, are you feeling better?"

  "Much, I needed that extra bit of sleep. I didn't realize how exhausted I was."

  "You didn't get any shore leave when we were in the Nyx System. The last time you had any time off was when we were in the Capsia System. Its no wonder that you are exhausted. We will have to take a few weeks off when we reach Vista IV."

  "I plan on it. We should have a friendly reception there."

  I was looking forward to a short vacation. I was tense, grumpy, and constantly tired. Our reception from the space station was not the friendly response I was looking forward to. After our departure they had an outbreak of some sort of plague. Their doctors had no cure or treatment for the disease. They also had no idea how it was transmitted. All they knew was that it was spreading through their population, both on the planet and their space station.

  We had enough supplies to move on to the next system, but we were out of fresh produce, and running low on fresh meat. That meant manufactured frozen meals. Rosie and Doc could work miracles with them, but I could still taste the difference.

  Both Doc and his assistant wanted to examine the patients themselves. Both specialized in exotic diseases, and were sure they could be of help. I agreed to moor our ships off station and set up a quarantine section in our sickbay. If he could help, we would be able to get our ships serviced. If not, I would have to consider a raid on one of the two worlds.

  Doc and Miranda suited up in biohazard suits and shuttled over to white section, where they would be picking up their first patients. The patients were suited up to prevent any chance of the plague spreading to our ship. When they shuttled back, I had the corridors leading from the dorsal shuttle bay leading to sickbay evacuated and sealed.

  There was nothing I could do. Between the autodoc units
, and Docs extensive medical knowledge, if a cure couldn't be found, it was because there wasn't one. I halfheartedly started looking through our holosimulators library files. One way or another I was going to work in a vacation. The amount of files grew from thousands, to hundreds of thousands, with each stop we made.

  Between, human, Iniguar, and Vorg I was having a hard time choosing. I saw the name Spicer II on one of the files, and decided to start there. I skimmed over file after file, looking at the images of the planet before finally choosing one.

  "Simulation ready," Persephone announced.

  I stepped into the holosimulator and found myself at a plush beach resort. I purchased and changed into a bathing suit, then found an empty lounge chair. I relaxed, adjusting the umbrella to keep the hot sun off of me. A server brought me an ice cold fruity drink. I sipped the drink and dozed off.

  The last time I was on Spicer II, the planet was in ruins and covered by a dust cloud. This was what I imagined it would be like. Amber and Jewel found me sleeping on the lounge chair. They bought bathing suits, changed into them, and joined me, sitting to either side of me.

  Jewel, nudged me awake, giving me a fresh drink.

  "Why didn't you invite us? Its beautiful here. Where are we?"

  "I was planning on calling both of you. I wanted to check out the simulation first, then fell asleep. We are on a beach resort, on Spicer II."

  "I think you just wanted to look at the pretty ladies in their bathing suits."

  I pointed to a tiki hut that was doing a thriving business renting binoculars and mixing drinks. Several people, men and women, were scanning the beach admiring its beautiful people.

  "Well maybe not this time, but you can't tell me that you didn't think about it."

  I handed Jewel the binoculars I had placed under my lounge chair, and sipped my drink. I did think about looking at the beaches patrons, but never got the chance, relaxing instead. This was as close as I was going to get to taking a mini vacation.