Captain Cosette (13 page)

He’s
standing
and
I’m
strapped
in
.

She shoved a control and the ship pitched violently.

Garale crashed against the ceiling, then against the floor as Cosette sent the ship the other way.  Rasora threw himself on Garale with a roar and they struggled for the pistol.

When they rolled towards
Cosette, she kicked Garale in the head with her boot and he lost his grip on the weapon.  Rasora grabbed it and aimed it at Garale.  “Now stay down!” he snarled.

“
Mutiny!” cried Garale, his eyes unfocussed.

Cosette
saw that the pistol’s safety was still on, but she didn’t want to mention it.  If it had been armed, it might have gone off during the struggle and their cabin would have been punctured.  She didn’t want it armed.

She turned her attention to the missiles, now closing in on them.

Chaff
. 

This
ship
has
tiny
decoy
missiles
that
will
give
off
heat
and
electronic
noise
to
distract
the
Charon
-
2
missiles
,
but
they
won’t
work
at
this
close
range
unless
our
cruiser
becomes
dark
.

There was simply no time to ponder.  She fired the decoys and then hit the switches that shut down the plasma core and all communications.

The cabin went dark, except for a few pinpoints of emergency lighting.

“
What do you think you’re doing?” cried Garale from the floor.  “You can’t restart a plasma core out in space!  We’re helpless!”

She unbuckled herself, stepped over him, and sat down in the pilot’s seat.  She turned to Alena. 
“If I have to knock you out, I will.”

Alena’s thin face shone with perspiration, and she raised her hands. 
“I’m out of this.  Just keep us alive.”

Cosette
flipped several switches, and held her finger over the last one.  “We can’t see what’s happening, but if those missiles go for the decoys, we’ll feel particle waves right about….”

They were slammed on both sides.  Something hit the cruiser, vibrating it from nose to stern. 
Cosette flipped the switch, and her screens came back on.  “We’re descending rapidly,” she announced.  “The Union battleships are concentrating on the Alliance cruiser.  It’s making a run for it.”  A flare erupted on her screen.  “They didn’t make it.”

Dyson swore and slammed the side of the cabin with his fist.

“Careful,” said Rasora.  “There’s vacuum on the other side of that wall.”

“
We were bait!” said Dyson, his composure gone.  “All of us, including this idiot lieutenant here.  They got the Alliance to clear this planet and then they moved in.  I should have been negotiating instead of sitting in prison.  I know how Union minds think!  I would never have agreed to this.”  He cursed again, and made another abortive swipe at the wall. 

“
They still think they got us with those missiles,” said Cosette, “but they could pick us up again at any moment.  Strap Garale in so he doesn’t bounce around the cabin again.”  Garale was bleeding from a cut on his forehead, and he looked dazed.  Cosette hoped that it was her boot that had made the cut, and then she felt guilty at the thought.

“
How are you running this ship with the plasma core shut down?” asked Alena hesitantly.  “I was taught that you couldn’t.”

“
The specs say you can bleed residual power from the core to get a ship landed but it erodes the core.  I don’t care what happens to the ship as long as we get down.”  She glanced at the altitude readout.  “We’re approaching atmosphere.”

Things
are
happening
too
fast
,
but
if
I
avoid
thinking
about
it
,
it
seems
that
I
use
my
new
knowledge
automatically
.

Don’t
think
about
anything
!

“
What hit us back there?” asked Rasora, tightening the straps on Garale.  “Any idea?”

“
It’s not what hit us, it’s where it hit us,” said Cosette.  “We’re about to stop being a spacecraft and become an aircraft, and I think our beautiful outside skin could be in bad shape.  Everyone strap in.”

“
Do you know where you’re going to land?” asked Dyson.

Cosette
shrugged.  “Any suggestions?”

“
In the southern hemisphere there’s a continent that looks like a bird with one wing.  The Alliance had a spaceport on the wingtip, but that was before the Union drove us out.  It has a generous landing strip, or at least it used to.”

Alena pointed to a screen. 
“I'm picking up radio noise from that location.  We’ll have to do a turnaround to get there.”

“
Can do,” said Cosette, her navigation knowledge bubbling to the fore.  “If our surfaces let us turn.”  She tried to let go of her anxiety and give her brain a chance to put the pieces together.  A dead stick landing would have meant becoming a fireball to let the atmosphere slow them down, but they weren’t dead, they had maneuvering propellant, and the engines were green.  The cruiser might fly like a crippled hog, but it should at least fly.

“
I don’t understand,” mumbled Garale.

“
What don’t you understand?” asked Rasora.

“
Why they fired at us.  Maybe they thought we were the Alliance cruiser.”

Dyson snorted. 
“They knew it was us.  They fired at both of us.”

“
But I’m a pilot,” said Garale with a whine in his voice.  “I’m valuable.”

“
You think?  Did you offend anyone?  Try to kiss some admiral’s daughter?”

“
No, she wouldn’t have….”  Garale trailed off.

I
guess
he
did
.

“
Why were Cosette and I assigned to this flight?” asked Rasora.  “Can you answer that?  There are other soldiers that could have escorted Major Dyson, other maintenance cadets that could have flown instead of Cosette.  Even a cook would have had more experience than Cosette.”

Garale swallowed.  He looked confused. 
“They told me that Cadet Nicholas knows too much.  I was supposed to keep an eye on her, and you.  Besides, she refused to…”  He blinked and started over.  “It was an honor to be the pilot for the exchange.  They didn’t tell me they were sending battleships after us.”

Major Dyson
humphed.  “There must be more technical knowledge in that blonde head than I realized.  The station command was going to rid itself of several problems at once, a too-friendly lieutenant, a cadet that knew all their secrets, and me.  Alena, what did you do wrong to get yourself assigned to this ship?”

“
I don’t know,” she said, “but I’m doing some serious thinking.”

“
Temperature’s rising.”  Cosette checked her instruments.  “We’re entering atmosphere.”

“
Let me fly it in,” shouted Garale, struggling against the straps.  “I’ve landed cruisers before.”

“
Sit still and shut up.”  Rasora pointed the ion disrupter at him.  “She’s the captain of the ship right now and we’re the passengers.”

Cosette
blocked them out and cleared her mind. 

Landing procedures.

They were in her brain already. 

She started up the maneuvering thrusters.  They were at a fraction of their power, lacking the energy from a live plasma core, but they could fire all the way down, slowing their descent.

The outside pressure built up, and she began to get some response as she moved the ailerons on the wings. 

“
Something’s wrong,” shouted Garale.  “It shouldn’t whistle like that!”

“
He’s right,” said Alena.  “There’s too much noise, too much vibration.”

The ship began shaking, buffeted by the outside air screaming past.

I
can’t
see
the
outside
of
the
ship
. 
I
checked
everything
out
before
we
left
,
it
must
be
damage
. 
A
piece
from
one
of
those
missiles
might
have
torn
something
….

A thought occurred to her, and she checked the armament switches on her left. 

“The cannon ports are open!” she gasped.  She threw a pair of switches, and the buffeting eased. 

“
Why would you open the cannon ports?” shouted Garale.

“
Stop shouting at her!” shouted Rasora.

“
I didn’t open them,” she said sharply, trying to stop her hands from shaking.  “Spinner must have done it, thinking I was going to check the alignment like I did the fighter, but I never got to it, we didn’t have time.”  She shook her head.  “We would have ruptured the wings if I’d left them open.”

“
Time to start the turnaround,” said Alena.  “Thrusters are on full, and I can barely feel them.”

Cosette
took the pilot’s wheel, inhaled, and relaxed. 

Five
degrees
right
bank
should
give
a
wide
turnaround
and
bring
us
in
position
to
find
the
landing
strip
on
the
southern
continent
.

She turned the wheel to the right, and it resisted. 
“Alena, can you get a right bank going?” 

Alena grasped her copilot’s wheel, and together they tried banking the cruiser to the right. 
“It’s not responding.”

“
It’s not a mechanical linkage, it’s all electrical.”  Cosette eased off on the wheel.  “We can’t just push harder.  Can we bank left?”

They turned their wheels to the left, and the cruiser banked and began a slow turn.

Alena looked at her, her eyes large.  “You mean we can only turn left and not right?”

Cosette
closed her eyes, trying to pull some saving thought from her banks of knowledge, but nothing came.  “Looks like it.  This could be fun.”

“
You have a strange idea of fun,” said Alena.  “Can we get anywhere close to that landing strip?”

“
Maybe.”

“
Is there any way to bail out of this thing?” asked Rasora.

Garale snarled. 
“There are pressure suits for out in space under your seats, but no parachutes, if that’s what you mean.  It’s land or die.  Get that woman out of my seat and let me land this thing!”

The cruiser started shaking
again and the air rushing by screamed like a hundred banshees trying to break in and kill them.  Cosette let Alena keep the ship on a slow turn while she tracked the radio emissions coming from the tip of the continent.  She patched the transmission to the speakers, and the sound of pounding music and raucous singing filled the cabin.

“
We’re guiding in on the sound of some kids’ band?” asked Rasora.

“
I like it,” said Major Dyson.  “I used to listen to that when I was growing up.”

“
It’s just noise,” muttered Lieutenant Garale.  “Chaotic.  The Union only allows civilized music.”

Cosette
hadn’t heard such music before.  At least, she had no memory of it. 

I
wonder
what
type
of
music
I
used
to
listen
to
?