Jake turned his shield off with a shake of his arm and held a finger up between he and his opponent. The Nafalli enjoyed a show. They’d get one, regardless of whether he won or lost. He held his sparking stunner up, cocked with his fist, then he crooked his finger. “Let’s have it, boy,” he growled.
That infuriated Juun, who leapt at him, claws extended, covered in metal armour. Jake started rolling right with a leap the instant Juun’s feet left the ground. His opponent whirled, slashing at him with his claws, and Jake did what he was trained to do with opponents with a long reach, his helmet still down, his expression locked in a hateful grimace. He ducked the slash, but not the backhand that followed it.
Jake was sent over ten metres across the deck, his head saved by his vacsuit armour as it extended before impact. It knocked the wind out of him, but he was on his feet in time to see Juun start running towards him. He activated his shield and put it between him and the charging Nafalli. His claws came down on the energy barrier so hard that Jake was knocked to the deck again.
He tried to roll one way, found slashing claws coming down in that direction, then scrambled backwards. Juun had him, he was in full retreat, it felt like he pulled his shoulder when he blocked. Jake tried to sidestep Juun, falling for one of his young opponent’s feints, and took a hit on his shield from all his claws at once. Jake came down on his back leg hard, his knee failing to support him under the weight of the strike, he felt a pop. He was happy Ayan wasn’t there to see it. Then he pictured her with Liam Grady. She was in his arms, partially disappearing into his robes.
Juun came down with a slash against his shield, crushing his arm into his chest, then backhanded the arm away, he was wide open.
Thought and reason gave way to something else. Something pure, not the rage that would overcome him while he was a framework, but a need for revenge. Juun’s claw raked him across the chest, and Jake grabbed his arm, pulling himself up swiftly. The Nafalli tried to backhand him, Jake ducked it and grabbed the front of Juun’s mouth, his armoured hand grappling hard. His shoulder may have been torn, but he could grip. He punched Juun in the side of the head, the eye, he was howling at the beast, letting the pain in his shoulder drive him as he landed several more hits on its head. Finally, he planted his stunner under its chin and made contact.
Juun twitched, his fur singed, and he fell over. Jake remained standing on his only working leg.
“You idiot,” Zac said as he came to help him. He held his arm up. “So he won? The stupid human won?”
Captain Kuo nodded, looking… what was that? Was he impressed? Was he afraid for his younger brother? It was difficult to tell with blood in his eye. Jake looked down to find that his vacsuit had been breached, two long gashes were open across his chest. “Captain Valent has proven himself,” Kuo said.
“Good,” Zac said, looking at the bracer containing Jake’s shield unit. “Well, that’s fried, maybe the other one will work.” He checked, saw that it was working and turned the regeneration system on Jake’s armour back on, then activated the auto medic. “All right, that’ll take care of the torn ligaments, the displaced knee, broken ribs and lacerations. Next time you want to duel a Nafalli, call me in advance. I’ll get Haven Shore to start printing a clone for you.”
Zac looked to Juun, who was already mumbling, recovering from the stunner’s effects groggily. “When you wake up, take this, it will accelerate your healing,” he yelled. “Good for broken Nafalli, you will feel and look better.” He patted him on the head, looked to Captain Kuo. “His injuries are relatively minor, but you’re going to want to have your medic or dentist look at his left lower incisor. Looks like it’s almost all the way out.” He sighed. “Anyone else duelling today?”
“I think we’re done,” Jake said, feeling the nanobots and regenerative cocktail going to work. His suit sent a local anesthetic to his knee, and he wobbled on the other one. Minh-Chu and Finn moved to his side and started helping him back to his seat. “Wait, wait,” he said. “My suit’s just about to pop that…” he felt pressure and distant pain as all the parts of his knee were pushed back into their rightful places. The sound made almost everyone, Captain Kuo included, cringe. “…back into place. Okay, back to my seat guys, thanks.”
“I have never seen a human who could fight like that,” Captain Kuo said as the white and silver furred Nafalli helped Juun to his feet. He actually looked pleased.
“What day is it today?” Jake asked.
“Thursday,” Minh-Chu replied, raising an eyebrow.
“Only happens on the occasional Thursday,” Jake told Captain Kuo. “I’ll be fighting a Mergillian next Saturday, should be much easier, but a lot more fun. Lots of jumping.” He knew the humour might have been inappropriate, but he didn’t much care at that moment. He was trying to distract himself from the sensation of nanobots and regeneration serum stitching his shoulder’s tom muscles and ligaments back together.
Captain Kuo thought for a moment, then burst into laughter, followed by Juun and his other officer. “I wasn’t sure if you were joking for a moment,” he said. “Mergillian, they are like Nolibips.”
“He said they’re like frogs,” Liara translated for him as Minh-Chu and Finn put him in his seat.
“Right, he gets it,” Jake said. He looked at her. “Did I do that right?” he asked in a whisper.
“You did, Captain Valent,” Captain Kuo said. “It was completely unnecessary; my tribe is highly civilized. I was half between hoping that you’d teach my little brother a lesson and hoping that you’d throw us a banquet when he doubted the quality of your gift.”
“I could go for a banquet,” Jake said.
“The recovery meds may be impeding his judgement a little,” Minh-Chu said apologetically.
“I understand. We’ll have a rest while our champions heal, then we’ll plan the raid. I have high hopes for its success.”
“You just had to grow your legend, didn’t you, big guy?” Minh-Chu said quietly, shaking his head.
“That’s Captain Big Guy,” Jake muttered. The pain management was turned up high, there was accelerated healing happening everywhere except for his head. He could feel the faint sensation of itching in his ribs, the nanobots were repairing more damage than he thought he took in the fight, including more than one open wound on his back. He didn’t realize that Juun clawed him at least once while he was punching him. “I’ll be about five minutes,” Jake said loud enough for Captain Kuo to hear. For the first time since he’d been freed, he wished he had a little framework left in him, but it was a passing thought.
Fifteen
Getting Ready For Another Round
* * *
The Gibson was taken far from the solar system by an automated tug as soon as everyone was off the ship. From long range, a Uriel fighter fired a short burst of gunfire at its belly and for a moment it looked like there was a new sun in the solar system. It was the safest way to deal with a quantity of antimatter that could become unstable at any moment because of damage no one had time to repair.
Alice didn’t have time to deal with the well-dressed but rattled diplomats, or the government representatives. They were quiet anyway, for the most part, eating for the first time in at least two days thanks to the emergency rations Alice’s people gave them. Yawen took their basic information. Alice included it in her after action report, that was the easy part. The harder part was reporting on her own performance in her first hostage situation.
There was a failure in connecting with Pope, the hostage taker. She only had a little time to form a rapport, and she felt that her attempts didn’t make anything better. Much of her training fell away in the situation, revealing her inexperience and inability to make a quick connection with Pope so she could get his demands and start addressing them enough to properly buy time. He was allowed to slip into rants instead, getting himself worked up to a point where any interruption could have made things worse. If the Order of Eden’s philosophy rewarded self-sacrifice and lar
ge scale bombings where the architect of the disaster could somehow gain from it even after death, then she was sure Pope would have set the antimatter off, killing all the hostages, her team, and any refugee ships unfortunate enough to decelerate into the space nearby.
That wasn’t how the Order worked, thankfully. The Order rewarded blind service, and Pope wouldn’t have been around to accept the reward if he pushed his button. It was an idea she wanted to capitalize on during the hostage situation, but she didn’t get a chance to before he was too worked up to really listen. It came down to one fact: she was never really in control of the situation. As frustrating as it was, she didn’t have time to deal with it. She leaned on her training, using her after action report to quickly recognize where she could improve, to pack that experience away, and to move on. Alice decided that she’d review some successful negotiations, there were hundreds of them on file, but for the time being, she had to move on.
The refugees thanked Yawen, recognizing her as the one who took care of them and directed their treatment as the combat shuttle moved them to the Harbour Saint, an old Carthan Heavy Destroyer that had been converted into an emergency rescue ship. The vessel was impressive, more than half a kilometre long and fully reconditioned thanks to the War Forge. It was used as a final test for one of the large fabrication lines aboard the secret station, and Alice couldn’t help but momentarily wonder what civilians thought of the large white ship. A red cross was painted across the front, making the vessel look more like it belonged to ancient crusaders than a large rescue staff.
She knew it was under manned in every department, and that at least one of her classmates was probably aboard, trying to help the crew deal with all the new technology. As she watched the diplomats and civilians leave her combat shuttle, guided by Yawen and her squad, she almost envied whoever was training the staff aboard the Harbour Saint.
A tap on the port side airlock drew her attention to a few deck crew members waiting on the other side. She opened it and accepted a box of emergency provisions. “I’ve got your delivery, Lieutenant,” the deck crewmember said, flashing a smile up at her. “Is it true that you were just on that death trap? The Gibson?”
“It wasn’t so bad,” Alice said, glancing to her left where she could see the black stasis bag they’d secured Pope in being passed through the starboard airlock. “Got our first catch of the day.”
Alice accepted another box from the loading bot. Three deck crewmembers looked up at her through the airlock. They all seemed very young, even the one who was directing things, who had her blonde hair bound in a tight bun. “So, are you guys really a Special Operations team?”
“That’s what they keep telling me,” Alice replied. She took a closer look at the rank on the young woman’s shoulders. It was so high for how young the woman looked, but she paid her the respect she deserved. “Thanks for the re-up, Chief.”
The deck Chief rechecked the holographic list of supplies they had to deliver to Alice’s combat shuttle and nodded to herself. “Our pleasure. One sec, Vema’s running slow on your ship’s scan.”
“It’s good! Shuttle’s good to go!” came a shouted response somewhere further inside the hangar.
“Then check it off, Venma! We’ve got to keep these ships moving,” the Chief shouted back. The display on her comm unit turned green and she gave Alice the thumbs up. “Good to go, Lieutenant. Happy hunting.”
“Thanks, Chief,” Alice said, closing the airlock. “Get this stuff squared away.”
“Aye,” Luu said as she picked up a box. She peeked through the porthole in the airlock door and smiled. “Wow, they must have crewed this ship with the junior division.”
“There’s a junior division?” Tran asked as he picked up the other box of emergency provisions.
“No, I’m just saying that deck chief and her people look sixteen,” Luu replied.
“They’re keeping things moving right along,” Alice said. “I’m sure we’ll all look pretty young to most of the civilians we rescue today.”
The shuttle launched, and Alice watched as the provisions were stowed and her team settled into their seats. “Well done, Lieutenant,” Lieutenant Commander Terran said through the subdermal communications link. “You’re right, you could use some extra work in hostage negotiation, but you got it done quickly and Fleet Intelligence is getting what it wants out of this; a high ranking Order of Eden officer. We’re going to learn a lot from him.”
“You’re going to run a deep scan on him, aren’t you?” Alice asked in a whisper.
“We’ll treat him well, but yes, probably. They’ll trigger thoughts and memories that will help him give us what we need in terms of Intelligence. It’s not for you or me to think about. We’ve done our bit and he’s in Intelligence’s hands already, so we get to move on to the next assignment. You and your team are back in rotation.”
“I’ll be making some changes in my team once this crisis is over,” Alice said.
“I expect you to,” Terran replied. “For now, make sure you’re ready for the next mission. We have ninety three ships incoming, so it’ll be soon.”
“Aye-aye, Sir,” Alice replied. She turned to her crew, and Yawen quieted them by holding her hand up. “I just got word; ninety three ships are about to finish decelerating.” A glance at her comm unit’s tactical display revealed the first batch of ships - over a dozen - appearing in normal space. They were marked as yellow at first, then most of them turned red. Yellow wasn’t too bad, it meant they hadn’t been in communication with Navnet Control yet. When yellow turned red without a box around their markers designating them as an enemy, it meant that the ships were in distress. Alice turned her attention back to her crew. “It looks like most of them are declaring an emergency as soon as they arrive, some are arriving in distress.” A short burst of audio in her ear from Lieutenant Commander Terran told her that the teams in line before hers were both assigned. “We’re up.”
“Wow, that was quick,” Yawen said. “What are the other teams responding to?”
Alice listened to the chatter for a moment. “The ships coming in are old local transit models. Most of them have had trouble with their power and environmental systems. Their jump drives were for emergencies only, short trips between planets, so they are overextended. One of the other teams is responding to a ship that’s issued threats to command. Sounds like armed civilians who are making demands. The other team may be responding to a ghost ship, that’s not clear.”
“What’s going on in the Cefa System? It’s like every ship that could fly is on its way here,” Jessen asked, Knud nodding beside her.
“It’s not our job to know,” Alice replied. “But Intelligence will want every scrap of information we passively collect. Keep your eyes open and scanners running.”
“Lieutenant Valent, your team has an assignment,” Lieutenant Commander Terran announced in her ear. “This one will require a gentler touch.”
“My team is ready, Sir,” Alice replied. At overhearing her response, her team started getting to their feet.
Sixteen
A Stern Talking To
* * *
“That was the most irresponsible thing I’ve ever seen you do,” Stephanie Vega said as she paced the length of the armour room.
Jake checked the replacement cuffs, making sure the command and control as well as the other functionality built into them was working and calibrated. His new shield emitter was present, as was a holdout energy weapon on the opposite arm. The armoured slats across his body were almost perfectly in place, but they needed a little adjustment. He listened to her quietly.
“What kind of example are you setting for the crew? I’m sure there are plenty of young Nafalli who want to test themselves against humans now, especially since their leader was cocky enough to challenge the son of their Captain without strength augmentation or active armour.”
“The armour layers were on, they were doing their job,” Jake said. “They just didn’t stop all the
damage.”
“So if one of our crewmembers makes that mistaken assumption, that you turned your suit’s armour off before facing off against a Nafalli, they won’t get scratched up, instead they’ll get torn in half. That’s so much better,” she said, throwing up her hands. “Worse than all that, Liara says that even most of their warriors are highly civilized, so to them we look like savages now. Fleet is going to love how you handled this.”
“I was acting under the assumption that by facing whatever challenge they threw at me, I would earn their respect.”
“Liara was right there, you could have asked her what the best response was before pushing ahead with a duel,” Stephanie said.
“You weren’t there. If I leaned towards her every time there was a call to make, I would have looked like I didn’t bother to learn anything about their culture,” Jake replied. “When I knew that many personal disputes were solved by combat, and their captain seemed interested in seeing it happen.”
“You could have negotiated your way through it, I’ve seen you in more difficult spots. Did you need to prove yourself? The crew doesn’t care if you’re some kind of iron man, they want to get home in one piece. You don’t have to be the biggest badass on the ship anymore. Leave it to anyone else, you have nothing to prove.”
“Listen, if I could take it back, I would have played it differently. Captain Kuo was willing to accommodate diplomatic imperfect, and I let myself get pulled in to a challenge for pride by his son. It happened, I’m whole again, he’s whole again, and we’re about to raid a really nice little supply depot.”
“I still don’t like you leading this,” Stephanie said. “It should be me. It should be Remmy, even Minh-Chu would be a good choice, he has experience as a marine.”
Spinward Fringe Broadcast 11 Page 9
