Atlantia Series 2: Retaliator Page 30

  ‘Ranger One, Atlantia,’ Bra’hiv’s voice crackled over the radio. ‘Returning to base.’

  ‘Did you get them?’ she asked.

  ‘The hosatges are aboard and Qayin’s fine,’ came the response. ‘Although if I have anything to do with it he’ll be spending a week in the brig.’

  *

  ‘Reaper Two, you’re number one to land.’

  Evelyn guided her Raython down into the landing bay, aware of the smoke puffing from her starboard engine as she touched down. The Raython’s magnetic undercarriage gripped the deck at her landing spot and she began shutting the fighter down as other Raythons landed around her. The shuttle came in last, its hull scarred with scorch marks and dents from its rough ride to and from the Veng’en cruiser.

  The Atlantia’s huge landing bay doors rumbled closed and the atmosphere was re–introduced as the whine of dozens of ion engines began to subside. Evelyn shut down her engines as ground crews swarmed onto the deck, and she opened her canopy.

  Pilots clambered from their fighters, many of the craft scorched by near misses from Veng’en plasma shots. Some of the pilots looked exhausted, their hair matted against their heads and their shoulders slumped, but she could see smiles and nods of congratulations as they began gathering near the bay exits.

  Evelyn climbed down from her fighter and searched for Andaim among the throng. The commander appeared from behind his Raython where he had been examining some damage with the fighter’s crew chief. He spotted her but to her dismay did not smile or acknowledge her in any way as he strode across to the other pilots.

  ‘Evelyn!’

  She turned and saw Teera rush across and almost collide with her, the younger girl’s arm wrapped tightly about Evelyn’s waist.

  ‘I saw you out there!’ Teera almost shouted. ‘Holy crap, you were on fire!’

  ‘Literally,’ Evelyn managed a smile as they walked toward the exits. ‘I guess I had a good day.’

  In truth, the effects of the drug were beginning to wear off and she felt suddenly swamped with exhaustion, the lights of the landing bay dull, the smell of ion fuel and scorched metal alien and cold.

  ‘A good day?’ Teera echoed. ‘You shot down seven Scythes and took on a Veng’en cruiser, head–on, and you call that just a good day?’

  ‘Well, I’ve had worse.’

  Andaim was debriefing the pilots as they stood in a tight knot by the exits, the Reapers and Renegades mingling and chatting and smiling.

  ‘… so it looks like the training’s paying off,’ Andaim said. ‘We knew that the Veng’en pilots were less capable than us, but even so, I don’t think that we lost a single pilot in this engagement. Lieutenants Veyer and Morgan both ejected safely when their Raythons were hit.’

  A ragged cheer went up as Evelyn and Teera reached the edge of the group.

  ‘Ensign! Attention!’

  Evelyn flinched in surprise as Andaim pointed at her, his jaw set and his eyes hard and cold. She stiffened as the crowd of pilots parted and Andaim made his way through them to stand before her.

  ‘During the engagement you made several key errors. Would you like to explain them to me?’

  Evelyn, her brain beginning to feel fuzzy and disorganised, tried to speak.

  ‘I just did what came naturally,’ she mumbled. ‘I saw opportunities for shots and I took them and…’

  ‘You disobeyed orders on several occasions,’ Andaim growled. The crowd of pilots fell silent as they listened. ‘You broke tactical protocol by engaging a superior vessel’s plasma cannons head–on without countermeasures or Corsair bomber support. You abandoned your wingman, me, twice, and in doing so endangered both your life and my own!’

  Evelyn’s jaw tried to work but she could barely get her words out.

  ‘I…, I’m sorry. It won’t happen again.’

  ‘You’re damned right it won’t happen again,’ Andaim snapped. ‘As far as I’m concerned, you will never, ever be my wingman again and you will never fly that Raython again either!’

  Evelyn stared at Andaim and for the first time in as long as she could remember she fought back tears that welled in her eyes as a terrible sense of shame swept over her.

  Andaim stared back at her for a moment longer and then smiled.

  ‘Because as a fully qualified pilot, you won’t be anybody’s wingman. You’ll be flight lead.’ Evelyn blinked as her exhausted mind tried to grasp what Andaim had said. ‘And you won’t fly that Raython again, as next time you see it Lieutenant G’Velle’s name won’t be there on the canopy frame. It will have your name upon it, lieutenant.’

  A ripple of chuckles flooded the crowd of pilots.

  Evelyn finally smiled as Andaim held out his free hand. She could see the other pilots watching as she looked down and saw a pair of gold metal wings in Andaim’s palm.

  Evelyn reached out and plucked the surprisingly heavy wings from the commander. She reached up and pinned them to her flight suit as the clatter of dozens of boots attracted the attention of the pilots. Evelyn turned to see Bra’hiv and his Marines moving to join them.

  Several of the Sylph’s crew members were being led away by medics along with soldiers on stretchers, their injuries patched with medical dressings as they were rushed to the sick bay. Among them she saw Qayin striding with one hand holding an ice pack to his face and two medics escorting him.

  Andaim saw the big man and the general. Bra’hiv called out to him. ‘I’m sorry to report that our mission was a success: Qayin survived.’

  Andaim nodded, his expression sombre. ‘A regrettable outcome. Better luck next time, general.’

  Qayin’s smile curled from his lips as he held the ice pack in place. ‘So nice to be back.’

  ‘You’re welcome. What happened to the Veng’en cruiser?’ Andaim demanded of Bra’hiv.

  ‘Made a random jump,’ Bra’hiv reported. ‘We’d barely detached when it just vanished. The pilots managed to get us behind a decent sized asteroid when the Atlantia let rip, fortunately.’

  ‘The captain’s going to want to know everything,’ Andaim said. ‘All pilots, report to the ready room for debrief.’

  The pilots shuffled away down the exit corridor and Teera jabbed Evelyn in the side as they followed.

  ‘Told you everything would be fine,’ she said.

  Evelyn managed a faint smile in response, and wondered how much of her success was down to skill and how much was down to the drugs Meyanna had supplied.

  ***

  XLIV

  Evelyn awoke in her bunk and for a moment she feared that she was back inside the tiny capsule from which she had emerged from years of stasis, floating alone in deep space. Then she felt the warmth about her and she reached up to her face. There was no metal mask.

  Evelyn sighed in relief in the darkness and looked at her HandStat. The luminous display beneath the skin of her left hand glowed in the darkness, and she was mildly surprised to discover that she had been asleep for almost twelve hours.

  Captain Idris Sansin had stood the Atlantia’s crew down for twenty four hours after the Veng’en cruiser had fled the scene of the battle. Exhausted, injured and facing days’ of repair duties, there had been no celebrations or award ceremonies. The entire crew had grabbed quick showers, an even quicker meal, and then collapsed into their bunks.

  Evelyn tapped a touchscreen beside her head and the side wall of her bunk hissed open to reveal the tiny twin room she shared with Teera. Barely larger than the prison cells she had once been incarcerated in, it provided a modicum of privacy in the otherwise crowded frigate.

  She climbed out of her bunk, noting that Teera’s was already empty, and hit another button on the wall. The two bunks collapsed automatically and folded up against the wall, providing a little more space in the tiny room. Evelyn washed, and then from one of two narrow lockers she lifted out her dark blue officer’s uniform and dressed.

  A screen on the wall beeped quietly, and she tapped it to reveal a message from Meyanna
Sansin.

  REPORT TO SICK BAY

  The message had been sent four hours previously.

  Evelyn sighed, adjusted her uniform until she was happy with its fit, and then opened the door of the room and walked out.

  The pilot’s crew room was mostly empty, many of the men making the most of the downtime by visiting the sanctuary. Two pilots who were on Quick Reaction Alert, the twenty–four hour scramble standy–by duty, cast her quick glances before returning to their reading. She passed the two pilots by and headed into the ship proper, travelling via the elevator banks to the sick bay.

  Meyanna Sansin was working as ever on the ward, tending to the many injured soldiers and pilots in the aftermath of the battle. Evelyn eased her way past nurses and doctors until she caught the eye of the captain’s wife. Meyanna’s smile was quick and Evelyn saw her take in the wings pinned to her chest and the smart uniform.

  ‘About time,’ Meyanna said as she stood up from applying a gel to a burn on a Marine’s forearm. ‘And the uniform suits you.’

  ‘It’s just my colour,’ Evelyn replied. ‘You called for me?’

  Meyanna removed her surgical gloves and motioned for Evelyn to follow her toward the laboratory.

  ‘Have you been debriefed?’ she asked.

  ‘Only at squadron level,’ Evelyn replied. ‘The captain hasn’t spoken to me yet.’

  ‘He will,’ Meyanna said as she held the laboratory door open for Evelyn and then sealed it shut behind her. ‘You’ll be glad to know that I have engineered a vaccine from your blood that will protect us all against the Infectors, for now at least.’

  ‘No more tests?’ Evelyn asked.

  ‘No more tests,’ Meyanna smiled. ‘At least, not on you anyway.’

  ‘How does it work?’ Evelyn asked.

  Meyanna sighed as she glanced at a handful of blood samples remaining to be checked.

  ‘I’m not entirely sure,’ she admitted, ‘but it seems that you have a set of killer T–cells that react to any foreign bodies that consume iron. Any hint of anaemia in you and bang, they move in to thwart it. The Infectors are sufficiently small that they can be swamped by the killer cells and contained. Their tiny size is normally their advantage but is now also a weakness.’

  ‘Have you inoculated the crew?’

  ‘It’s underway,’ Meyanna replied. ‘I’m culturing your cells as we speak and introducing them to crew members as a standard part of treatments and check–ups. The whole ship’s compliment will be immune to infection within a few weeks.’

  Evelyn nodded, but she could not bring herself to smile.

  ‘What is it?’ Meyanna asked.

  ‘The drugs,’ Evelyn said, having decided that it was probably best to just come right out with it. ‘They got me my wings.’

  ‘No,’ Meyanna insisted, ‘you’d already earned them. The drugs merely sharpened you up at a time when you were exhausted and unable to function properly.’

  ‘And the next time I’m asked to fly when I’m exhausted?’ Evelyn pressed.

  ‘You’ll do fine. You’re being asked to handle a complex fighter craft on just a few months’ training, Eve. Anybody would find that hard.’

  ‘That’s what I mean,’ Evelyn said. ‘The others didn’t get that boost, just me.’

  ‘The others weren’t coming down here and giving me blood every day for four months. The captain knows the situation and so does Andaim. They’re both happy with what you’ve achieved, especially after the battle. Lighten up a bit.’

  Evelyn tried to relax and she glanced at the containment chamber nearby. The Infectors were gone, replaced by a single device that hovered in mid–air inside the chamber.

  ‘The Hunter I captured,’ she said.

  Meyanna glanced at the little device and nodded. ‘Nasty little thing, isn’t it?’

  Evelyn moved closer to the chamber and peered in at it. The tiny machine swivelled its black eyes to look back at her and she shivered.

  ‘Figured anything out yet?’

  ‘I’m working on it,’ Meyanna said. ‘Mostly using X–Rays at the moment to understand how they work and figure out a weakness, but I’m not an engineer.’

  ‘How come they didn’t put the engineering team on it?’

  ‘They did,’ Meyanna replied, ‘but these things are more like biological specimens than machines. They’re made of metal, sure enough, but everything else seems more based on living species. I have a couple of guys from the engine rooms looking at this for me too, but right now we’re just starting out and besides they’re all busy with the repairs right now.’

  ‘Is it still dormant?’

  ‘It seems pliant but we’re keeping it locked down for safety’s sake. Enough about the machine. How are you feeling, despite the obvious self–doubt?’

  ‘I’m fine,’ Evelyn admitted. ‘I slept for twelve hours, near enough. How’s Qayin?’

  ‘Him?’ Meyanna asked. ‘The man’s a mountain. He’ll be back on duty before the day’s out. Andaim and the captain will want to see you on the bridge, but for now I’ll just put you back on full duty if you’re sure you’re okay.’

  Evelyn smiled and nodded.

  ‘I’ll be fine,’ she replied. ‘I just don’t want to be dependent on you giving me a shot next time we come under attack.’

  ‘You won’t be,’ Meyanna replied with a smile, ‘because you never were. Get out of here, and in the nicest possible way, don’t come back.’

  *

  ‘Hull status?’

  Captain Idris Sansin stood with his hands behind his back as Lael read out a series of deck reports.

  ‘Hull breaches on all decks sealed and repaired captain. Crews are still repairing some power lines on the port hull but all weapons, environmental and communications systems are now one hundred per cent ready.’

  The captain looked across at Andaim.

  ‘Flight status?’

  ‘Twenty two of twenty six remaining Raythons are serviceable and ready for duty,’ the CAG replied. ‘Two of those are on QRA right now. All pilots are coming out of R and R as we speak and should be reporting for duty over the next few hours.’

  ‘Don’t rush them,’ the captain said. ‘Let them turn up on their own terms, as long as the QRA fighters are ready.’ He turned to Mikhain. ‘Tactical status?’

  ‘We lost several Marines and two Raythons in the firefight, sir,’ Mikhain reported. ‘But Alpha and Bravo companies are at full readiness. Seven men in the sick bay, no terminal injuries. They should all be back in service within a few days. General Bra’hiv is on temporary leave, due to report back tomorrow.’

  The captain nodded. Bra’hiv was never really on R and R, whatever he might claim, and would probably be watching events from the barracks.

  ‘So, where do we go from here, captain?’ Mikhain asked.

  Idris looked at the now distant asteroid field, the dense clouds of rock and debris a faint, thin line against the flaring brightness of the young parent star.

  ‘Did we track the Veng’en cruiser from its gravitational wave signature?’

  ‘Aye sir,’ Mikhain confirmed. ‘They did not program a jump, as we suspected, but they did have a general trajectory. Analysis confirms that they’re heading for home.’

  Idris saw Evelyn walk onto the bridge, resplendent in her dark blue uniform with the wings pinned to her chest. He glimpsed Commander Ry’ere staring at her for a moment.

  ‘CAG,’ he snapped, enjoying himself as Andaim whipped his head around and came to his senses. ‘What is your assessment of the Scythe forces deployed against us?’

  Andaim performed a rapid calculation.

  ‘They were disorganised and without a strong tactical plan, sir,’ he replied. ‘My best guess is that the Veng’en are as short of experienced pilots as we are. Fortunately our Raythons are worth any two of their Scythes.’

  Idris nodded as he looked at Evelyn. ‘And our pilots worth any five of theirs.’

  Evelyn saluted as she stood below
the command platform. ‘You wanted to seem me sir?’

  ‘I did,’ Idris replied. ‘You displayed some remarkable piloting skills out there yesterday, lieutenant. I’m only hoping that in the future you will likewise obey orders with the same customary vigour.’

  ‘Yes sir,’ Evelyn replied, slightly deflated.

  The captain turned aside and looked at the viewing panel.

  ‘Yesterday, the Veng’en mutinied against one of their own commanders rather than face a suicidal battle plan, something that I never witnessed before in forty years of service. I suspect that due to the adversity faced by both of our species they are being forced to reconsider their tactics and that may play to our advantage.’

  ‘How so?’ Mikhain asked.

  ‘We have a common enemy,’ Idris replied, ‘and in such times, the enemy of our enemy is our friend.’

  ‘You’re suggesting allying ourselves to the Veng’en?’ Andaim uttered.

  The captain turned and looked at Kordaz, who was standing nearby on the bridge and watching the exchange in silence.

  ‘I have come to realise that within all cultures there is the capacity for change,’ Idris replied. ‘If we’re willing to find it.’

  Kordaz did not reply to the captain but he inclined his head fractionally in acknowledgement. Idris turned away and looked at Mikhain.

  ‘Lay in a pursuit course,’ he said. ‘We’ll follow the Veng’en home.’

  ‘That’s suicide.’

  The voice came from Bra’hiv as the general walked onto the bridge.

  ‘It’s necessity,’ the captain replied. ‘Shouldn’t you be on leave?’

  ‘They will kill us as they find us,’ the general insisted, ignoring the captain’s question and glaring at Kordaz. ‘No ship that sought refuge with the Veng’en was ever seen again.’

  Kordaz shook his head.

  ‘My people believed that yours were already infected and fleeing or were actively attacking us. They had no choice but to employ a zero–tolerance approach to foreign vessels entering our space after your apocalypse.’

  ‘Either way,’ Idris interjected, ‘we have little chance of standing on our own once we start getting close to the colonies. Alliances must be forged. General, did you not just assault a Veng’en vessel with a platoon of former convicts by your side, in order to save a man who was once a gangster but now wears your colours? Does that in itself not reflect your own considerable capacity for change?’