by Taylor Smith
She was quite pleased with the menu since Reaper had left Clew. There was everything from spaghetti to pancakes to items she had no idea what to call but smelled amazing. It wasn’t fine dining and maybe sub-par for a restaurant proper, but it was better than what they had on hand before. All she knew is that her grilled cheese was spectacular.
Cade sighed. “All right, princess. What’s the plan?”
Haley snorted loudly and froze in place. She turned beat red before bursting out in laughter. It was good to feel something other than fear and confusion. Saundi could always make her laugh during hard times and again she wondered if her friend was in a Clew brig or not.
Andy nodded his surrender and laughed saying, “Well, Dorian, the plan –“.
“Dorian!” Haley shouted and pointed at Cade. “Aha!”
Cade groaned.
Andy scrunched his face up at Cade. “You never told Haley your first name?”
Haley crossed her arms and beamed with pride at them. Dorian was a good name. A strong name but Andy was right, what was it that kept him from telling her? “What is it with you two? And what’s with the red Jolly Rogers?” Haley asked suddenly feeling brazen enough to pry. She looked at Cade. “I saw your coat when we first met. The skull and swords was silver. Now its red. Is that some sort of rank?”
“Not really,” Andy replied taking another bite. “When Torbeck died, as second in command I became Captain. Cade became my second in command.”
“What?” came the surprised voice of Cade, his mouth still half full. He swallowed hard and said, “Second in command?”
Haley looked between the two, not really sure what to make of it.
“Of course,” Andy said to a confused Cade and turned back to Haley, leaving his friend gaping. “The red Jolly Rogers aren’t rank, though.” He paused and looked thoughtful for a moment then said, “Call it an honor of Clew, and let’s leave it at that.”
Haley grimaced and knew she wasn’t going to get a straight answer on that, which left her frustratingly curious. But then she looked back to Cade and saw again the young man she thought she’d glimpsed several times before. His smile, and even the confused face he wore now, made him look kind.
“I have to do my walkthrough,” Andy said as he finished his meal and stood. “Cade, check the aft sections. Make sure everyone is in their tanks. I’ll meet you in the bridge before we make our transit. Once we get back home, we’ll get our full complement of crew,” he then addressed Haley saying, “and drop you off to join Saundi at the station. Hopefully, we can get you two out of harm’s way before the Deshi arrive.”
“Aye, Cap… Andy,” came the grinned response from Cade as Andy walked away shaking his head.
“You two are close,” Haley said as she tried again to pick apart that armored exterior of his.
Cade looked up from his chili and nodded. “Yeah. He was a friend when I needed one the most after…” he gave her a weak smile and turned back to his bowl. “After I woke up. He’s like a brother now.”
Damn. She almost winced as another layer of armor flew up at her blundering question. So they’d become friends after the Grim Shoals was destroyed. The way they acted together, she suspected they’d been friends for much longer.
Remembering her blundering questions at the restaurant, she decided that anything she asked would more than likely hit a sore spot, so she chose something a little closer to herself. “I never had many friends like that. Just Saundi. I never knew my parents. My father was killed before I was born, and my mother was lost when the Sunspark was attacked.”
Cade gazed curiously at her. “The Sunspark? Is that a ship?”
Haley nodded. “A light cruiser. I was born aboard. I don’t know the whole story, but I know they were on long-term border patrol. A Deshi ship attacked us, and my mother died during the fight.” She picked at her food as she talked. She wished she could feel more for her losses, but as she’d told Cade, she never knew them. It was hard to miss someone you never knew, but maybe it would show him they had something in common.
“I’m sorry,” he told her and looked back down to his bowl.
She reached across the table and took his hand. “Me, too. I know how you feel, Dorian. I –“.
Something in Cade’s face suddenly changed. “You don’t know anything,” he cut her off with a scowl and pulled his hand away.
Strike two. “Sorry,” she said and looked back down with a shake of her head. This just went sideways and she chastised herself inwardly for trying to get closer to him again. She should have learned her lesson back on Clew at the restaurant.
“I spent half my life on board that ship,” Cade started slowly with a dark look.
Haley’s glance shot up to him as a sense of dread overcame her. The extent of her errors suddenly became very real. “Your parents?”
“Yes, my parents were aboard, but the entire crew had looked after me,” he said in a low tone that became more and more laced with anger as he spoke. “That was my home you helped destroy. The people you killed were just as much my family as my parents were.”
She winced, unable to look at him.
He leaned across the table toward her and whispered, “And my fiancé.”
There it was. Haley now knew she’d helped end everything good in his life, and she no longer fought the tears that streamed down her face. She thought back to how excited and proud she was when they’d destroyed the Grim Shoals and felt shame because of it. “I didn’t know,” she said with as much strength as she could in hopes that he’d understand.
Cade stood from his seat and placed his hands on the table before her. “You knew something was wrong, and you still let it happen.”
She covered her face with her hands as he left the galley. He was right to be angry, but he had no right to take all of it out on her.
Chapter 21
“We’re two hours out from Clew,” Cade announced as he looked across his console and compared it to the information that flew across his field of view. They’d dropped from subspace after the one day journey back home, and the crew was slowly waking up. Andy had just walked onto the bridge after opting to sleep on the way home. Cade had been in a dismal mood after the scene in the galley, and he couldn’t blame Andy for not hanging around.
“Smooth ride?” Andy asked as he sat down in the command chair. “You in a better mood, or are you going to be grumpy the whole way home?”
Cade swiveled in his chair to face his best friend. “Yeah, I’m fine. Had a lot of time to think.” He’d felt horrible after calming down and replaying the conversation in his head. Haley was just trying to get to know him better, trying to be friendly, but that was also part of what had made him so upset. Hearing Haley call him by his first name had pushed a major button. Even so, he knew he had taken all his frustrations for Andrelli out on Haley, and he felt ashamed for it.
“Good,” Andy said as Criss walked onto the bridge with her coffee and sat at the communications console. “Good morning, Criss.”
Criss waved, not looking up from her drink.
Criss Hulbert was definitely not a morning person, but she was good at her job and seemed nice enough. Cade smelled the fresh coffee and it reminded him of waking up with the other dents back on the Grim Shoals. He’d had it several times, including during their aftermath of fighting the Valiant and was surprised at how vile it had tasted. “How can something that smells so good, taste so bad?” he asked aloud.
Criss turned to him, her eyes still red from sleep. She grinned at him and playfully said, “It certainly is horrible. The worst thing in the universe.” Then she whispered, “You don’t want any.”
Cade chuckled and shook his head. If Criss wanted all the coffee, it was fine by him.
Cade heard Andy welcome another member onto the bridge and turned to see Haley stepping toward the tactical station. She smiled a tired smile back to Andy but didn’t so much as glance at Cade. He felt worse now, but there wasn’t anything he could do about
it until he had a chance to talk to her alone, so he turned back to his console and double-checked his course.
“Short range scans are clear,” Haley reported.
“How long until we’re in communications range of the station?” Andy asked.
Cade calculated the distance and replied, “Another twenty minutes.”
“Whoa,” came a mutter from Haley. “I didn’t know Clew had this many ships. I guess everyone got the recall?”
Cade turned to her in concern. He found Andy had done the same. “What do you mean?” he asked knowing it would take longer for anyone else to reach them than it had taken the Reaper to get back to Clew.
Haley looked at both of them, then back to the scanner output and said, “I’m looking at maybe ninety ships around the station.” She flipped through several screens and added, “Most of them are very small, but there are some cruisers out there.”
Andy practically jumped out of his chair and joined Haley at tactical. “We don’t have near that many ships.” He studied the console for several seconds before he looked up and shouted, “Cade! All ahead full!”
Cade jerked in reaction and slammed the engine throttle all the way up. The Reaper responded with the constant hum of its systems suddenly intensifying in tone as the ship leapt forward and blasted its way across the vastness of space toward home as fast as it could.
“What’s going on, Andy?” Cade asked as he quickly recalculated the ships course for the change in speed.
“The Deshi beat us home,” he said and turned to Haley with a shake of his head. “Looks like you’re stuck on board for the fight. I can run the tactical station. You go below and strap in.”
Cade turned to see Haley’s reaction and found her eyes were not on Andy, but she’d turned his way. He could tell she was worried, but there was a determined look in her eyes.
Haley shook her head. “No. Let me help make this right,” she said more to Cade than anyone.
Cade smiled to her, their eyes still locked. He was glad she wanted to help. He hoped he could forgive her after all this was done, and maybe she could forgive him for being such an asshole to her. If they survived.
Andy looked from her to Cade and nodded. “All right, then,” he said and sat back down in his command chair. “Run out the guns, Ms. Marks.”
Cade turned back to his station with a familiar excited feeling as muffled clanks ran through the ship along with a fresh high-pitched whine of the secondary reactor coming online to power their energy cannons. “Twenty minutes until we’re in Clew space,” he reported.
“Contact the station, Ms. Hulbert,” Andy ordered.
Criss responded, “They’re contacting us, Captain. Channel’s open.”
The main screens image flickered from the stars outside the Reaper to the face of Mallian Neese in the Clew command center. Cade could tell that armor now covered the windows that encircled the room. “Glad my boys could make it!” the old pirate drawled out with a weary smile as the command center shook.
“Glad to be here. Looks like they beat us back,” Andy replied.
“Aye,” Mallian answered and held on to a nearby console as the station shook again. “They brought sixty ships, including that damned heavy cruiser. Most of em’ are old and not worth spit, but they’ve loaded em’ down with some nasty rounds and are concentrated on the station. We’re picking em’ off best we can, but most of our efforts are focused on interceptin’ what’s aimed for Clew. So far it’s a stale-mate.”
“Where can we help?”
“Get that damned Valiant! He’s pickin’ our frigates off like flies while our ships are defendin’ the station! The Leviathan is coverin’ this half but the lower side is takin’ a beating!”
“We’re on our way,” Andy said then closed the connection. “Ms. Marks, find that bastard and send his location to Cade.”
“Aye, Captain,” Haley acknowledged and went to work. “It looks like the Deshi fleet is mostly populated with small ships like we saw in the Storm System. Seems they’ve been busy retrofitting a mishmash of old shuttles and light haulers as weapons platforms.” She entered a few more commands and said, “Sending data to helm.”
“Got it,” Cade said as he received the information from Haley and adjusted his course. “He’ll be coming up on our starboard side in six minutes.”
“Valiant targeted,” Haley added. “Missile range in two minutes, brawling range in four.”
“Let’s go get him,” Andy said leaning forward in his chair.
The Reaper blasted onto the battlefield at full speed. Explosions littered space around them as Deshi ships hurled their ordinance toward the station while Clew ships scrambled to intercept the missiles and shells that threatened their home. Most of the Deshi vessels were pieced together from scavenged parts, so when one would veer away too far during a firing pass a Clew ship would notice and take the window of opportunity to swat it easily from the stars.
“Another hostile down,” Haley reported. “Entering weapons range of the Valiant. She’s noticed us and is turning to engage.”
“Hold fire until we’re right on top of him, Ms. Marks,” Andy said turning toward her. “I want every shot to count.”
“Aye, holding.”
Cade drove the pirate cruiser right into the action toward his prey. Several ships veered away at their approach as their courses intercepted but still the Reaper held its line.
“Volley range!” Haley suddenly called out.
“Fire!” Andy shouted.
The Reaper tore through space, spiraling toward the mayhem at close range of the Valiant and let loose its fury. As Cade rolled the ship, he gave Haley a chance to fire each weapon twice and spread any damage they took across its heavily armored hull.
Cade heard and felt the ‘whump whump whump’ of the ship’s guns, the shuddering of multiple missile launches and the baritone thrum of energy weapons unleashing pent-up power all at once. The Reaper bucked as a few missiles shot past its defensive fire and Cade felt the straps that held him dig into his shoulders. As his hands flew across his console, he brought the ship around in a wide turn and shouted, “Coming about for another pass!”
“Minor damage to our port and dorsal armor,” Haley reported. “Looks like we took out several weapon emplacements on the Valiant but they’re still near full strength.”
“Cade, bring us around the station!” Andy shouted. “Haley, take any shots of opportunity you can while we round the station for another pass on Valiant!”
“Aye,” came the chorus of replies.
Cade brought the Reaper onto a new heading that would encircle the station and provide some cover for their friends, as well as maybe take a few of the smaller Deshi attackers out.
“Hail from the No Quarter, Captain. Audio only,” Criss suddenly announced.
“No Quarter, this is Reaper,” Andy said looking up.
“Well hello handsome,” came Saundi’s voice over the channel. “The Captain of the No Quarter offers his assistance with the Valiant.”
“Saundi?” Haley called aloud.
“Haley! Couldn’t let you have all the fun, now could I?” Saundi replied over the channel.
Andy quickly interjected saying, “Thanks No Quarter. Have him form up on our flank and hit the Valiant with a consecutive bombardment of missiles the moment we’re back in maximum range. Hopefully Andrelli will be too busy dealing with that when we unload on him at point-blank again.”
“Copy, Reaper. Captain agrees. We’ve got your backside,” she replied over the speaker then closed the channel.
“All right,” Andy said to everyone. “You heard it. Let’s make it happen. Ms. Marks, I still want you taking any shots of opening during our run. Just make sure I’m fully recharged and reloaded when we hit Valiant.”
“Aye, Captain,” Haley replied.
The Reaper angled gracefully around the station, white spears of energy and heavy artillery rounds reaching out in all directions as she flew. Two hapless De
shi ships happened to be in their way and paid for it as their hulls were pried open to space by Haley’s quick eye for targeting.
“The No Quarter has formed up with us,” Cade reported seeing the smaller ship slide next to the Reaper on his screen.
“Start our run!” Andy ordered.
“No Quarter is firing in two second intervals,” Haley reported excitedly. “They’re firing everything trying to keep his attention.”
The bridge shook again, this time sending plumes of smoke into the air along with an angry, three-pulsed alarm.
“Direct hit to our starboard side!” Haley shouted through the claxon, then shut it off. “We’ve lost missile bays three and five!”
“Hold our course!” Andy roared over the Reaper’s protests.
The two Clew warships shot downward toward their target through the melee. Missile streaks, explosions and debris littered the space around them as Cade desperately tried to hold his course and keep from smashing into the clutter at the same time.
A blast rocked the No Quarter, and she veered slightly off course, stunned by the direct hit from Valiant. The barrage from the smaller ship lightened as she struggled to regain her course and speed until the vessel slammed into a glowing wreck of a fallen enemy.
“No Quarter’s hit!” Haley screamed in panic.
“Whoa!” Cade shouted as he twisted the Reaper away from the spinning Clew ship on their flank and scrambled to right their trajectory.
“Almost there! Hold our course, Cade!” Andy shouted above the chaos. “Fire!”
The No Quarter swung wide as it flew uncontrolled over and away from the agile Reaper who let loose another salvo of missiles, heavy shells and energy lances at its foe. The Valiant returned fire, ready for them this time and rolled away to reveal two other smaller, yet dangerous, Deshi warships directly in their path.
The Reaper raked the Valiant stem to stern, tearing chunks of hull violently away from its frame. But the Reaper took the full brunt of all three enemies who now had the Clew ship in their sights. As the Reaper streaked past, it took fire from all three vessels. Andrelli had obviously known they were concentrating on the Valiant and had set up a blockade that would come together just at the right moment.
