"Her sacrifice saved Hornblower," Marny said. "It was very brave. House of the Bold is honored to have sailed with her."
Moyo chuffed in response.
"Are you capable of reaching the surface?" Marny asked.
"We have sufficient control. Moyo desists." It was one thing to talk of bravery and sacrifice. It was another thing to have to live with the consequences.
"We're being hailed by Dskirnss," Ada said.
"Go ahead, Dskirnss," Marny said.
"Marny, you're alive!" Liam exclaimed jubilantly. "We saw a huge explosion in the atmosphere. You must have lost one of the ships. What's your status?"
"We have casualties," Marny answered. "We hit the atmosphere hard and in combination with a combat burn, we're pretty shaken up."
"Ada? Nick? Little Pete?" Tabby asked, worry evident in her voice as she joined the comm channel.
"I'm here, old girl," Ada answered. "Nick and Peter are both solid."
"Oh, thank Jupiter," Tabby answered. "Things aren't a lot better down here. We're getting our butts handed to us. We've been under an onslaught for over three days. We're not sure how much longer we can hold out."
"Do you have mil-comm set up?" Marny asked.
"Linking you in," Sendrei said, joining the channel.
"Sergeant, are you up?" Marny asked over ship comms. As she continued to move, Marny realized she’d sustained more injury than previously though. Peeling back her vac-suit, she slapped a med-patch onto the bare skin of her chest. "Raul? Frak. Ada, you have the bridge, Raul's not answering."
Chapter 18
Turning the Tide
Marny skipped the elevator and jogged painfully to the ladder leading to the main deck below the superstructure where the bridge sat. Using her grav-suit, she guided herself down and half-ran, half-walked to primary fire-control.
"Martinez!" Marny yelled, pushing open the thick hatch. Two of Martinez's Marines were bent over the burly man who lay on the deck. "What happened?"
"He's gone, ma'am." One of the two looked up at her with tears in his eyes.
"How?"
"My console was jammed," the second Marine said quietly. "He'd just unstrapped when we hit the atmosphere. I was on the four-hundreds. We were perfectly lined up to put one of those bastards down."
"Marines, I'm going to order you to do the hardest thing you've ever done," Marny said. "I need you to lay the Gunnery Sergeant on the deck and get in position. We have ground troops under fire and they need our support. Can I count on you?"
"We're going to put it to those Kroerak?" the quiet Marine asked, looking up at Marny for the first time, his face conveying grief and barely-contained rage.
"Aye, Marine, now take your chair." Marny grimaced as she lifted Martinez from the deck and carried him from the fire-control room.
"Marny, we're about to reach the front. You're going to want to see this. I've never seen anything like it," Ada called over comms.
"Duty calls, Sergeant," Marny said, laying his body in the passageway. She didn't look forward to the grisly task of collecting their dead, but knew they had a mission that required her attention. "Ada, I'm taking charge down here. You have the ship."
"Aye, Captain," Ada answered.
Marny re-entered fire-control and eight pairs of eyes focused on her. Each Marine had returned to their station, all of which were lined up against the forward bulkhead. She scanned the bio readouts for the team. Two were hurt badly enough that they had no business being on duty and like herself, the remainder had suffered various, non-life-threatening injuries that would ordinarily excuse them from duty.
"Blakencot," she said, addressing the least injured of the eight. "Medical is going to be overwhelmed right now, but I need you to take Jeppers and Barnieke down there and get them into whatever triage has been set up. Don't leave their side and make sure we get a couple of stop-patches on them. Do you copy?"
"Aye, Sergeant Major." The man she'd only met in passing stood from his workstation and started helping the badly wounded.
"I still got fight in me," Jeppers argued as he fought to stand, looking into Marny's face.
"Good, because this war isn't even half over, Marine," Marny answered, placing a light hand on his shoulder. "You’re not doing me any good standing here, bleeding on my floor. Get patched up. I'll make sure we save some Kroerak for you. You copy?"
"Aye, ma'am," he answered, momentarily brightening.
"For the rest of you, I know you're banged up, but the fact is we have friendlies on the ground who are counting on us. Who here is ready to put it to these bugs?" Marny asked, struggling to punctuate her speech without flexing her broken rib.
"Oorah!" The response, while energetic, was followed by coughing and grunts of pain.
"Listen up. Our job is simple. I want exactly ZERO blue-on-blue. If you don't have a clean shot, you don't take it. Copy?"
"Aye, aye, Sergeant Major."
Marny inspected the eyes of the five remaining Marines, making sure she had their attention.
"I'm clearing the 75mm cannons and all blasters. We'll be firing on ground troops, so no reason to break out the 250mm and 400mm cannons. Use blasters as much as possible. There's a shite-storm waiting for us back home and we'll not be getting fresh ammo until then. Does anyone have any questions?" Marny asked.
"No, Sergeant Major," the handful of Marines cried with as much vigor as they could muster.
Marny sat at Martinez's workstation to review the stark battlefield below Hornblower. Flashes of blue blaster fire streamed between an armored column of vehicles and a swarm of frantic Kroerak warriors. The devastating efficiency of the blasters was as startling as the berserk behavior of the endless supply of warriors throwing themselves at the slowly backpedaling vehicles.
"Ada, take us ahead so we’re forward of the line," Marny instructed, cognizant of the boundary delineating the areas where the Piscivoru could and could not reach with the city's defensive weapons. Just beyond that boundary, fifteen cruisers sat on the ground, disgorging warriors.
"Roger that, Captain," Ada answered.
Onto the master console Marny drew targets on the terrain covered by Kroerak. "Weapons are free."
"Look at those beasts," I said as the bulks of Hornblower and Hunting Fog passed above us. Tabby, Sendrei and I had refueled the Popeyes and rejoined the never-ending battle.
"Frak," Tabby said, between controlled spurts of blaster fire. "Think those bugs know what's coming?"
"The ground forces?" I asked and then answered my own question. "No way."
The ground shook as all but the heaviest turrets on the two cruisers let loose with a frightening salvo, obliterating thousands of Kroerak in a single, controlled burst.
"Ferisk, Jaelisk, try to pull back," Sendrei called over the comms. "We need to give those ships room to work."
"We will do as requested," Ferisk answered.
I watched in awe as a stream of 75mm fire stitched just behind the Kroerak front line, pulverizing the ground and creating a twenty-meter-wide trench of destruction.
"She's drawing a line," Tabby observed.
"Feel like we're in a western," Sendrei quipped, his voice full of pride.
"Sorry buddy, you're on the wrong side," I said, joining in by firing at a group of Kroerak that were now cut off from the rest.
A second line of destruction followed the first and a wave of dust settled over the battlefield as the big ships continued their work, chewing up the ground forces we'd been working on for so long. The Kroerak warriors would not survive long under the barrage.
A concussive shock wave rocked us, followed a moment later by explosions. I zoomed my video sensor, retracing the trajectory of Hornblower’s shell to the exterior of the grounded Kroerak troop ship. As the smoke cleared, I saw some damage, but the ship hadn’t even been holed.
"Frak Marny, was that a 400mm cannon?" I asked.
"Copy, Cap," Marny answered. "Hang on, we're going to try a second."
&nbs
p; I steadied my Popeye as a second concussive wave pushed at me. When the smoke cleared, even more damage showed on the Kroerak ship, but it was far from disabled. "Save your ammo, Marny," I said. "I think Tabbs has a couple of upgrades for you. Once you clear the ground forces, the Piscivoru will run those ships off easily enough."
"With what?" Marny asked. "There's no way a space-targeting weapon can hit those ships on the ground."
"Trust me," I answered. "Let's just get those ground troops dealt with and we'll have Hornblower and Hunting Fog land at the southern base."
"Copy that, Captain," Marny answered. "You have no idea how good it is to call you that."
I quirked my head, not entirely sure what she meant, but at the rate the two cruisers were tearing through the Kroerak warriors, we'd have plenty of time to talk it out soon enough.
It turns out, finding a spot for two giant battle cruisers on undeveloped land is harder than one might think. Fortunately, between gravity assist and the fact that massive objects crushed flat whatever they rested on, we were able to locate both ships within a couple kilometers of the base we'd set up around the defensive weapon.
As the dust settled, Tabby, Sendrei and I approached the bow of Hornblower, resting atop the red limestone and scrub-brush of the surrounding landscape. The size was mind boggling. To my eyes, our Popeyes looked like battered children's toys against the vessel's huge gleaming hull.
Opening my Popeye, I jumped out and approached. For whatever reason, in space the battle cruiser didn't seem quite so massive, but on the ground, it was hard not to feel insignificant next to it.
"She really saved our asses," Tabby said, reaching up and patting the hull.
"Hallo, landlubbers!" I heard Marny's cheerful alto voice from above. Looking up, I saw her leaning out from an airlock five meters above our position.
"Hey lady, you can't park this thing here," I yelled back.
Stairs descended from beneath the open airlock. Before they even hit the ground, Sendrei streaked past us, leapt onto the treads and started running up. We followed close behind, smiling as he lifted the awaiting Flaer in the air, holding the back of her head as they kissed.
I pulled Marny into a hug. "Thank you for coming for us," I said quietly, holding her tight.
"Let go already!" Ada said, pulling at my shoulder. Happily, I pulled her in, enjoying the closeness. "If you ever leave me behind again, I'll end you, Liam Hoffen."
After a moment, I released her and looked over to Nick, who'd been standing quietly by, holding a little bundle of blankets.
"You guys really know how to make an entrance," I said, reaching over to muss his hair. He smiled, even though I knew it annoyed him.
"Ooh," Tabby exclaimed. Holding Ada's hand, she pulled her over to Nick and Little Pete.
I'll be honest. There was an awful lot of gushing talk about babies that I might have tuned out.
"What's with the glowy-eye thing?" Ada asked. Before I could answer, she waved her hand in front of her face and wrinkled her nose. "You all have a pretty strong smell going."
"Blue eyes are a native thing caused by close contact with the Iskstar mother crystals. Don't worry, it's not communicable." I waggled my eyebrows. "And I don’t know what you’re talking about. I can't smell a thing."
Ada rolled her eyes. "You must have burned out your smell sensors." She wiggled her index finger at my face. "What’s that crap all over your faces and suits?"
"Bug guts," Tabby said, casually flicking off a small chunk that had stuck to her suit.
"Eww," Ada exclaimed as our group moved through the passageway, deeper into the ship.
"It's been pretty grisly," Tabby said.
"Speaking of changes, what's with the Tinkerbell pirate outfit?" I asked, as Ada pulled us down the hallway, having collected both Tabby and my hands in her own.
"You like?" Ada let go and spun so we could get a good look at her knee-high leather boots, long tailcoat, colorful vest and dreadlocks. I'd never admit it out loud, but the look was definitely a good one for her. But then again, I wasn't sure Ada could come up with a bad look.
From the corner of my eye, I caught a row of body bags resting in a mechanical storage area off the hallway. I stopped midstride, my grin at Ada's antics slowly fading from my face. "What's this?" I asked.
Marny stopped and turned, nodding with a pained look on her face. "Sorry, didn't mean for you to see that right off."
"How many?" I asked.
Nick stepped between Marny and the bay defensively, as if to shield her from the pain. "Twenty-eight."
"From the atmospheric brake?" My heart sank. It had been my plan and the weight settled on me in an instant.
"We'd never have survived contact with the Kroerak without your plan, Cap," Marny answered. The pain in her face told how heavily the decision weighed on her too.
"Their sacrifice will save an entire species," I said, placing a hand on her shoulder to pull her gaze from the bags. "The Kroerak have been pushing us back every day. We couldn't have held out much longer. You made the right call, Marny."
"Command has consequences," she said. "It's something I'll have to live with."
"We," I corrected. "That plan was mine. I share in that decision."
Marny nodded her head tightly.
"You have no idea how wonderful a shower feels," Tabby said, padding from the head into the sleeping area of the captain's quarters.
I tried talking Marny into assigning Tabby and me to one of the unused junior officer's quarters, which were spacious when compared to the small pad of concrete hallway where we'd been spending our precious few hours of downtime. The fight, however, had ended well before it had started. Before we'd come aboard, she’d already cleared out and relocated herself, Nick, and Little Pete to the first-officer's quarters, insisting that she wanted no part of being captain, ever again.
"That was hard, burying so many sailors from Hornblower and Hunting Fog," I said looking at the floor. "Those darn Abasi are sure stoic."
"You know, we're technically Abasi now, right?" Tabby said, not interested in talking through the pain we both felt.
I nodded, acknowledging her need to leave it alone for now. I stood and tossed my suit liner into the freshener.
"Are you okay with the name 'House of the Bold’?" she asked.
Chuckling, I stopped at the door to the head. "Loose Nuts sounded so clever when I was twelve and we had a pod-ball team. I gotta be honest, I'm okay leaving it behind. I think the better question is — are you okay being number four?"
"As long as I'm in front of Nick," she quipped. "Seriously though, Marny and Ada are natural leaders. Turns out I've realized I'm more of a warrior than a cake eater. I don't like being in charge."
I laughed, shaking my head. "Just now figuring that out, eh?"
"Get in the shower already." She made a half-hearted attempt to slap my butt. If she hadn't been so clean and I hadn't been so dirty, she might have tried harder.
A nagging question weighed on me as I washed a month's worth of accumulated grime from my body. So far, we'd been successful at taking the warriors and small craft down with our Iskstar-tuned weapons. Just how effective those weapons would be aboard Hornblower was yet to be determined. If our range was too short or the rate of fire too slow, the Kroerak would swarm us with no thought to their own safety.
"Marny has food in the wardroom," Tabby announced as I pulled on a clean suit liner and grav-suit. "And apparently Moyo is looking to talk things out."
I placed my earwig into my ear and held it in place as its thin arm affixed to the skin along my cheekbone. Finding Marny's request, I answered that we'd be along in a few minutes.
"Weird to be back on a ship," Tabby said, stepping into the hallway and walking toward the waiting elevator. "I never noticed that everything is so clean."
"No dirt," I followed prompts on my HUD that led us to the wardroom, although the smell of fresh food would have brought us to the right location just as quickly. It
felt weird to be unsure of my location on a ship that I was responsible for.
"No dead Kroerak husks, either," Tabby said. "I was getting pretty tired of that smell."
"Bold Prime and Bold Fourth." Moyo, the Felio we'd met the day before, stepped forward and greeted us as we entered. "You have refreshed from the field of battle."
"Perasti Tertiary, Moyo. You honor our crew by your presence," I answered, already tired of polite conversation, but knowing our words would be replayed by many in the future.
"The legend of your feats of bravery will be told amongst the Abasi for generations. The furless Abasi have earned their place amongst the most powerful of us all," Moyo answered.
I gave her a half smile. I could tell she was just as annoyed with the need to be politic as was I. "Moyo, we have much to talk about. Let's speak as warriors," I said, sliding past the Felio to stand next to the table. "Tabbs, show Moyo the Iskstar crystals."
"So much for foreplay," Tabby quipped, pulling a pair of forearm-sized Iskstar crystals from the pack she'd been guarding.
Moyo stepped forward, her eyes locked on the crystals as Tabby set them on the table. "This is Iskstar? This is what causes Kroerak to desist?"
"That's it," Tabby said. "Replace a blaster tuning crystal with one of these babies and watch the bugs cry."
"Can I touch them? Will my eyes glow also?" Moyo asked hesitantly, her paw hovering over one.
"We don't think so," I answered. "But really, we don't understand exactly what Iskstar is."
"They are warm. Do you think sentient?" Moyo asked, allowing her paw to come to rest atop a crystal.
Jonathan stood from where he'd been quietly observing. "If you would allow us."
"Of course, Jonathan," I answered.
"Yes, Perasti Tertiary. We believe Iskstar represents a complex organism that is sentient. Unlike human or Felio, however, we believe the Iskstar species does not inhabit a specific physical form. At least this is our best working theory."
"I have heard of the one called Jonathan," Moyo said. "You too are a sentient that does not inhabit a specific physical form. Am I correct?"
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