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The Fighter King

Page 45

by John Bowers


  She had only seconds to spare before the torpedoes arrived, but quickly pumped out four laser shots, and saw three more Sirians fragment on her screen.

  "Attent!" the AI squawked, "enemy torpedoes, ETA thirty seconds!"

  The Fighter Queen

  The Citadel, New Angeles, Texiana, Sirius 1

  New Angeles lay sprawled across an ancient lakebed, ringed by low hills a few hundred feet high, every square mile gleaming in the blistering heat. The city filled the entire lakebed, flowing up the slopes toward the small sharp peaks until it could flow no farther. Toward the center, skytowers stabbed into the summer sky.

  The peaks to the north were higher than the rest, more forbidding; no homes graced their slopes, nor any civilian installations. Instead, a military base stood guard at the thousand-foot level; a twisting road snaked its way even higher, up to the Citadel.

  The Citadel looked something like a medieval Terran castle, but sported anti-spacecraft (ASC) batteries and electronic shields to deflect incoming space strikes. The Citadel was military headquarters for Texiana, and the Chief of Staff for all Confederate Forces had his headquarters there.

  Major General Martin Vaughn stood in front of his staff in the Planning Room of the Citadel, his rugged features wrinkled with concern. Tall and dark, with an unruly shock of curly black hair, he was every inch the Confederate officer in his light-grey, red-trimmed uniform, a pound of ribbons and medals on his chest.

  "Periscope Harbor has been a resounding success," Vaughn told the assembled officers. "Thanks to intelligence developed by our mole in the Federation, we were able to beat off the Feddie assault and save Beta Centauri. For now, anyway — I have no doubt they will try somethin' again.

  "Another matter has been brought to my attention, however. I will let Colonel Draper give you the details."

  Vaughn took his seat as another officer stood and moved to the front of the room. Draper was a bookish sort, thin and humorless. Without a word, he thumbed a console switch and the lights dimmed, then a holograph flashed to life. It was the picture of a young woman.

  "This is Onja Ka-vorik," he said by way of preamble. "She's a Federation Fleet fighter officer. Not a pilot, but a gunner."

  He swung around to scan the faces of the men at the table. Every last one was leaning forward, intent on the feminine portrait.

  "The Feddies," Draper continued, "call her the Fighter Queen."

  "That girl is a Vegan!" a senior captain blurted. "By all that's holy, I swear she's a Vegan!"

  Draper nodded grimly. "Indeed she is. We don't know a great deal about her yet, but our agents have managed to learn a little. She was born on Vega under our occupation and somehow got off the planet when she was about twelve years old. Ka-vorik is her adopted name; we don't know who she was before that, but we are still lookin' into it."

  The fifteen officers around the table barely seemed to hear him. All were familiar with the characteristics of Vegan women, knew that Vega had centuries earlier bio-engineered its population for physical perfection (something to do with the worship of their pagan Sophia goddess), and a few even owned Vegan slaves. But this girl, in an enemy uniform, was so stunning as to take their collective breath away.

  "I'd shore as hell hate to git killed by some honey like that 'un!" another officer breathed. "She ought to be in somebody's stable!"

  No one laughed — they were all thinking similar thoughts. The woman in the picture was a classic Nordic beauty — wide-set, sky-blue eyes; medium-high cheekbones; full, pouty lips; creamy white skin topped by short, spiked, snow-blonde hair — and a penetrating gaze as cold as arctic ice.

  Draper, annoyed that the holo was distracting his audience, thumbed a switch to turn it off. The men all seemed to slump back in their chairs, as if the holo had held them magnetized. Draper scanned their faces once more.

  "The Feddies are damn proud of this little whore," he told them solemnly. "And well they might be. No one, on either side, has come close to her in combat kills. As near as we can calculate, she has official credit for more than four hundred fifty of our combat fighters, one destroyer, and two troop transports. She also participated in the destruction of one of our carriers, the David Duke, though she didn’t get credit for the kill.”

  He paused significantly, to let that sink in.

  "What else do we know about her?" Vaughn asked, to keep the briefing on track.

  Draper recapped. "Born on Vega, smuggled to Terra at age twelve, adopted by a family in Norway, joined the Feddie Space Force the same day we attacked the Federation. Served in the asteroids, later on Luna; went on medical leave after bein' wounded when the Duke was destroyed. Fought at Alpha Centauri, was wounded again, then took part in the Feddie assault at Periscope Harbor.

  "She's now thirty years old and has refused promotion at least twice, because she wants to keep on fightin'. She likes it! She's been quoted as sayin' her mission in life is killin' Sirians. She's the best gunner they’ve got, and we need to stop her."

  Draper sat down, his face flushed with anger. Vaughn took the meeting back.

  "Well, gentlemen," he said quietly, "as you can imagine, this Vegan bitch is an enemy of the Confederacy. As of today, we are publishin' a memo. One million sirios, dead or alive. Any fightin' man who can kill or capture the Fighter Queen will receive the reward, tax-free. If he can take her alive, she will be awarded to him as a personal slave.

  "Are there any questions?"

  The Fighter Queen Saga

  The Fighter King

  The Sword of Sophia

  A Vow to Sophia

  Star Marine

  The Fighter Queen

  Other Great Science Fiction and Fantasy

  Future Man

  Blanktown

  That Which is Human

  The Complete Alpha Dreamer

  BrownBird’s Luck

  Glowgems for Profit

  Available from

  AKW Books

  Table of Contents

  Acknowledgements

  Map of Vega

  Prolog

  Book One: Sirius

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Chapter 32

  Chapter 33

  Chapter 34

  Chapter 35

  Chapter 36

  Chapter 37

  Chapter 38

  Chapter 39

  Chapter 40

  Chapter 41

  Chapter 42

  Chapter 43

  Chapter 44

  Chapter 45

  Chapter 46

  Chapter 47

  Chapter 48

  Chapter 49

  Chapter 50

  Epilog

  About the Author

  More Books

 

 

 


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