Storm Fleet

by Tim Niederriter

  “Me too.”

  They reached the tumbler bay just as Rating Jalee Avencia and another female rating Yajain didn’t recognize finished repairing the access ramp.

  “Careful with her. Don’t try anything rough,” Jalee told Harish. “We don’t know now how well it will hold until the sealant dries.”

  “I’m a light touch,” Harish said with a grin at Jalee.

  The sorai woman rolled her eyes.

  “I’ll take your word for it.”

  Harish shrugged.

  “Couldn’t hurt you to get some first-hand experience. Could it?”

  Jalee walked past Yajain.

  “Can you believe this guy?” she said to the other rating.

  Harish shook his head and boarded the tumbler. Ogidar already sat in his armor on a crate beside the ramp, his fluid-coil rifle propped between his knees as he inspected the barrel. Banedd joined them a moment later. Tei Officer Sogun’s voice popped in over the speaker system of the tumbler.

  “Doctor Aksari, keep Harish careful. I’m still running scans, so you’ll have to lead the team.”

  Yajain grabbed the microphone on her end.

  “I’ll do my best,” she said and seated herself.

  “You’d better. A whole ship is counting on you, here.”

  Yajain thought of Dara aboard Ruane’s Blade. She must be alright. Most of the ship remained intact, judging by the plan.

  “Understood,” Yajain said.

  “We are still on approach. It looks like the Hunter is floating between two pillars. They seem to have limped there after a power short during transit.”

  “Alright,” Yajain said. “Anything else I should know?”

  “Not yet,” Sogun said. “But I’ll keep you up to date. Take the portable receiver with you for when you leave the tumbler.”

  “Got it.”

  “We’re going to launch you in five. Good luck, doctor. It’s cold out there.”

  Yajain buckled herself into her seat and powered up her uniform’s heatsuit. The tumbler ramp closed and locked behind Banedd. Ogidar rose and approached Yajain.

  “Doctor,” he said. “Do you know the story of the DiKandar Family?”

  “Is this the time for Ditari lore?” Yajain frowned. Her voice came out cold. “No.”

  “They were exiled after the war by Dilinia.”

  “That recently?” Yajain clenched her fist. “They were exiled out here, weren’t they?”

  “Indeed. Shaull Cluster. And this region is near their hunting range.”

  Yajain nodded.

  “Thanks for telling me, Ogidar.”

  “We’re all in danger out here. It’s better you know.”

  The tumbler dropped out of the launch bay, making Ogidar stumble as he returned to his seat. Yajain held onto the receiver with one hand, and her restraints with the other. “Harish,” she said. “How far are they?”

  “Twenty Kilometers. We’ll be there in under two minutes.”

  The tumbler burned retros after ninety seconds. In the cabin, a cushion of air pushed Yajain into her seat.

  Ruane’s Blade hung in the overlapping arc fields between two pillars, their shells separated only by perhaps a hundred meters. Both were dark, lacking any solna close enough to supply light or heat. Mist hung thick in the air.

  The tumbler’s searchlights illuminated the Blade’s forward deck, casting the ship’s shadow on the pillar wall beyond. Sections of the white and red hull of the ranger were blackened and breaches steamed in several places on the top deck.

  “They’re in bad shape,” Yajain muttered. “Let’s go, people.”

  The team made their way to the ramp, taking lift boosters on the way. Yajain pulled up her hood and fixed into it a transparent mask for the descent to the crippled ranger. The rest of the team did the same. She fixed the receiver to her collar and then pulled on a pair of thick gloves. She gave Harish a thumb’s up.

  The door at the back of the tumbler opened, letting cold, damp air rush into the cabin.

  Yajain led the way into the open air, ginger of the arc field at first, but quickly satisfied with its strength. Ogidar and Banedd followed, each towing a line of heavy cable for the tumbler to latch onto the Blade. Sonetta emerged last.

  She swam straight to the emergency access hatch on the Blade’s side. She pulled it open. Yajain followed her into the cold forward compartment of the ranger. The smell of burnt metal reached her even through her mask.

  “We’re on board,” she said into the receiver. “Stand by while we look for the crew.”

  They passed through the corridor under a breach in the hull. Yajain went to the sealed door leading to bridge. She glanced at Sonetta, then knocked. The ship’s internal speakers answered her with a female voice.

  “Rescue team this is Captain Luette Narreb. We’ve lost climate control throughout most of the ship. Our people are consolidated in the cabins, engine room, and bridge.”

  “And your tumbler bay?” Yajain asked.

  “It’s intact. All the elders were evacuated to the cabins where it’s still warm.”

  Yajain spoke into the receiver.

  “You get all that, Tei Officer Sogun?”

  “Yes, thank you, doctor. Ask them about their engines. Can they move?”

  Yajain asked both questions and the reply came back.

  “Our core is low on charge. We barely got here with the power we had left after transit. Emergency arc acquisition is keeping us airborne now but can’t do much more.”

  “Stand by,” Yajain said, “We’re going to try to tug you out of here.”

  “Good plan,” came the captain’s tense reply, “but hold on for now. I’m getting some small objects closing with our position.”

  “How small?” Yajain asked.

  “About two meters long. There are four of them.”

  Ogidar DiSayul dropped into the corridor behind Yajain.

  “Doctor,” he said. “There are Ditari hunters out there.”

  Yajain turned toward him, sick to her stomach.

  “I know.”

  The first thump of an impact made Yajain glance down the corridor toward the rear of the ship. She turned to Ogidar as Banedd dropped in behind the Ditari cabler. Words formed on Yajain’s lips, but the second impact stole them away. Its echo reverberated between quiet walls.

  Sonetta trembled and backed toward the bridge door.

  Yajain turned toward her.

  “Stay calm, people.” Her words sounded hollow.

  Sonetta nodded. Ogidar unlimbered the coil rifle from his shoulder strap. He swept the barrel over the corridor that ran the ship’s length and then scanned the ceiling where rents and gouges let in mist. Banedd raised his weapon and checked the emergency exit.

  “Tei Officer,” Yajain said. “Where are you and Solnakite?”

  A long pause followed Yajain’s words.

  “We’re prepping additional cablers.” Sogun’s tone carried tension. “Two of those objects hit your hull.”

  “They’re Ditari hunters,” Yajain said. “Cabler DiSayul recognized them.”

  “Is your tumbler still intact?” Sogun asked.

  “Still flying,” Harish’s voice cut in over the line. “Hold on, doctor, I’m going to start tugging us out of here.”

  “Do it.”

  “I’m getting signals on my motion tracker.” Banedd raised his rifle to his shoulder. “They’re close.”

  Yajain turned to the young cabler.

  “Keep quiet.”

  “Why?”

  “They can hear us from out there.”

  Yajain switched off the receiver and paced to where Sonetta cowered by the bridge door. Sonetta stared down the corridor.

  “Yajain,” she said softly. “What happens when they get in?”

  Yajain shook her head. Let me hope they won’t. She put a hand on Sonetta’s shoulder.

  “Don’t worry abou
t that, we have a lot of trained cablers on board.”

  Sonetta’s eyes widened as she turned to Yajain.

  “A lot?” she said. “I thought there were only six or so?”

  Yajain pressed the heel of her palm against her mask.

  “I think you’re mistaken.” She patted Sonetta’s arm. “There’s at least…” She glanced at Ogidar, whose eyes never left his gun-sights. “…twenty,” she said. “A whole platoon.”

  Ogidar grunted. Sonetta nodded, gaze moving to Ogidar and then Banedd and then back to Yajain. Her eyes widened.

  “Right. We shouldn’t worry.”

  “Right.” Yajain smiled and nodded at Sonetta. Another two thumps came in quick succession from the top of the ship, louder and closer than the previous ones. “Those Ditari won’t know what hit them.”

  The emergency hatch in front of Banedd burst in a haze of sparks and smoke. Sounds of rending metal filled the air. Banedd opened fire with a yell, unable to match the inhuman shriek from seconds prior. Coil fluid spattered on the door frame and shot into the open mist beyond. He stopped firing.

  “There’s no one there. Negative contact.”

  Ogidar nodded.

  “They were trying to fake us out.”

  “Baiting us,” Yajain said. “They like to do that.” She crept to Ogidar’s side. “Do you have a sidearm?”

  In answer, he handed her a beam pistol with a splitting barrel. Yajain took the unfamiliar weapon.

  “Thanks.”

  “It won’t be much use against their armor unless they’re worn down significantly.”

  Yajain looked at the laser. The weak points in her father’s disused hunter armor had always been the eyepieces and the armpits.

  “It’ll do,” she said.

  A blast of fire erupted from the gap in the hull above the corridor. Yajain cringed back, pushing Sonetta away. Ogidar ducked, fell to one knee, and angled his rifle toward the gap, but didn’t pull the trigger.

  “What are they doing?” Banedd said. “They’ve got firepower like that but they won’t come inside?”

  “There are a lot of them.” Ogidar kept his rifle trained on the charred hole in the top of the hull.

  Water droplets dripped in the gap.

  Yajain raised the beam pistol and thumbed on her communication receiver.

  “Harish, get us moving.”

  “I’m trying, but this ship is heavy, doctor.”

  From her vantage, Yajain watched the tumbler pass overhead, visible through the tear in the hull near Ogidar. A ripple of movement passed through the air, vague, distorted, but to Yajain, distinct, a Ditari hunter hidden by active camouflage.

  “Harish cut the cables!” she said. “Get out of here.”

  “Doctor?”

  “Don’t question me. Just go.”

  Sonetta stared at Yajain, mouth open but wordless. Yajain’s grip on the beam pistol tightened. A heavy, metallic crack cut the air. The ends of tow lines slapped the top of Ruane’s Blade. The tumbler accelerated away with a high pitched whine of acceleration.

  Then the fear of being abandoned, what bionetic monks identified with the release of the chemical kuseon in the brain, hit Yajain. Harish left, and now she could not take back her order.

  “We can’t stay here,” she said.

  “Agreed,” said Ogidar. “That hole in the roof makes this position weak.”

  “What about the bridge crew?” Banedd asked.

  “They’ll be safe for now, trapped in there.” Yajain shook her head. “The Ditari only hunt people who can fight or try to escape.”

  Ogidar kept his weapon trained on the hole in the ceiling.

  “Get going. I’m right behind you.”

  Yajain nodded. She moved down the hall with Sonetta and Banedd. They made it to the passages to the lower decks without a sound from Ogidar’s rifle or any Ditari weapons. Sonetta and Banedd glided down the passage, Banedd first, then Sonetta. Yajain motioned for Ogidar to follow. He sprinted the length of the corridor to join her.

  “You first,” he said.

  She glanced at him. Fear kept her silent. She dropped into the passage, slowing her fall only a little with her arc lifts. A hiss of burning mist cut the air overhead. Someone screamed. Ogidar fell down the passage, clutching his rifle arm. He landed on his back. Yajain knelt beside him, feeling the rush of kuseon acutely.

  Ogidar’s mask and armor were blackened down his left side all the way to his hip. Despite that, the mask remained intact. He lurched into a sitting position.

  “He was waiting in the corridor,” the cabler said. “Should have seen him.”

  “Damn it,” Yajain sought in her medical kit. The shot hadn’t been coil-based. It looked like a heat-based attack. “Can you walk?”

  “For now.” Ogidar pushed himself to his feet. “But my lifts may not work.”

  Yajain swallowed and turned to Banedd.

  “Take the lead. We need to find the other cablers on this ship.”

  “Yes, doctor.” Banedd raised his rifle and started down the passage, moving low.

  Yajain called Sogun.

  “Tei Officer, we have enemy contact. Four Ditari hunters all on board Ruane’s Blade.”

  “Doctor, we’re doing our best to get closer, but the storm winds are growing. Ebonwing is on approach opposite our trajectory. We’ll all be there in ten minutes.”

  “Ten?” Yajain took a deep breath. “We’ve got wounded.”

  “Hold on, Aksari,” Sogun said. “We’re doing our best.”

  “Thanks. Tei Officer,” Yajain said and disconnected the receiver. Ten minutes. Damn her.

  She went after Banedd with Ogidar and Sonetta close behind.

  Sonetta glanced at her.

  “Are they on their way?”

  “Yeah, they are.” Yajain gritted her teeth. “But they can’t help us yet.”

  Sonetta frowned but kept pace.

  They followed Banedd to the sealed door of the cabins. Yajain passed Banedd. She hammered her fist on the door.

  “Is anyone in there?”

  A shuffling sound came from behind the door.

  “Yajain?” said a woman from the other side.

  “Yeah.” Yajain’s voice caught. She leaned close to the door. “It’s me. Dara. Can you open up?” Yajain glanced at Ogidar, who was leaning against the bulkhead nearby. “We have wounded.”

  The door unsealed with a hiss and opened a crack.

  “Wounded? What’s going on out there?” Dara pulled the door open the rest of the way, revealing her sweat-streaked face and the ten or so other people behind her in the hallway.

  Yajain waved Ogidar toward the door.

  “Ditari hunters are attacking the ship. Our tumbler’s already had to pull back.”

  “Hunters…” Dara stepped aside, letting Sonetta help Ogidar past her.

  Yajain grimaced.

  “They must be looking for sport. That’s what they do. Don’t pick up a weapon. They should leave you alone.”

  “Should?” Dara frowned. “Right.”

  Ogidar sank down against the wall and looked up at Yajain.

  “That won’t work,” he said. “They’re using war weapons so they must think we’re a real enemy.”

  Dara let Yajain and Banedd inside and closed the door.

  “How is that different?” she asked softly.

  They’ll want to destroy or capture everyone if they’re on war footing. Yajain’s throat went dry.

  “We have to get them first.”

  The halls that led through the crew cabins was different on Ruane’s Blade than on Solnakite. Here the living space lay along a single large corridor. Yajain followed Dara to the midpoint where emergency lights from the floor and over each door were the only illumination. She gripped the pistol.

  “The Sorai elders are in the cabins. Our cabler team is split. Half of them are in the tumbler bay, and the other four are her
e with us, but the ones here don’t have any weapons.”

  “Shit,” Yajain said. “That leaves us with maybe four weapons between us.”

  Dara lowered her voice.

  “I bet we couldn’t outfight these hunters if all the cablers and their guns were here.”

  Yajain leaned toward her, dropping her own volume.

  “Don’t give up.”

  “We still have one hope,” Dara said. “We need to let them know we can’t fight back.”

  “You may be right.” Yajain loosed her grip on the laser pistol a little. “How can we make it clear we’re not a threat?”

  “Surrender?” Dara bit her lip. “Captain Narreb won’t ever do that, though.”

  “Then we have to fight.” Yajain met Dara’s eyes. “Trust me. If they think we’re enemies, it’s the only way.”

  “It’s not a way,” said a voice from behind Yajain. She turned and came face to face with a short, solidly built Sorai elder. Even the feelers over his eyes were retracted, so apart from the small hole at the outside end of each brow, he could have been a nuinn man.

  “Medics, I have seen Ditari fight. They are merciless in battle. Even a formal surrender does not always stop a hunt.”

  “Who are you?” Yajain asked.

  “My name is Ank Vomont. I served alongside many hunters in the last war, prior to our exile.” In the shadows, his expression turned grave. “I likely know more about the Ditari than anyone here.”

  “My father,” Yajain started. “He was a Ditari hunter. Maybe together, we can think of something.”

  Vomont sighed.

  “I hope so. But they will likely attack the bridge first, given they see us as hostile.”

  Yajain’s widened.

  “We need to get back to the top deck. They could already be through the door.”

  “Go cautiously. Say nothing. Use lifts. Make no sound.” Vomont brought his face close to Yajain’s ear. “Take them by surprise or we will all die.”

  She stepped back from him, eyes wide. She nodded in agreement.

  Yajain flew arm over arm down a corridor on her arc lifts. Ogidar’s beam pistol was tucked into her belt, where her medical kit had been before she removed it to keep from making sound during flight. She held her breath as she darted up the vertical passage to the main deck. There, the fully visible forms of four Ditari hunters waited by the doors to the bridge.