Stars of Blood and Glory (14 page)

“
Don’t push your luck,” he said.
“If I weren’t so nice, you’d be naked and in the airlock right
now.”

“
Is that where the Hameji usually
keep their prisoners?”

“
Just pee.”

With a long groan to let him know just how
annoyed she was, she slid the pan so that it was just in front of
her. She tried to figure out the most discreet way to go about it,
but eventually decided to hell with it. After hiking up her skirt
enough to pull her panties beneath her knees, she slid the pan
between her legs and just went. It made a loud dribbling sound, but
she refused to be embarrassed.

“
Do you enjoy watching girls
pee?” she asked sarcastically as the boy looked on. To her delight,
he actually blushed.

“
Give me the pan when you’re
finished,” he said.

“
Oh, I will,” she said, taking
her time. “You got a name there, big boy?” His cheeks reddened even
more.

“
I am Abaqa, son of Qasar,” he
said, as if that was supposed to impress her. “You are Princess
Hikaru of the star known as New Rigel. My brothers are going to
crush your battle fleets and smash your planet.”

“
Ooh, I’m so-o-o scared,” she
said, rolling her eyes. “And what are you going to do to
me?”

His eyes widened, and for a second, it looked
as if he were going to hit her. When he scowled, though, his boyish
look returned.

“
I’m going to take you as my
first concubine,” he said. “It’s only fitting that I should start
my harem with a planetborn queen.”

His answer was so ludicrous that she couldn’t
help but laugh at him. He frowned at her, and his gun hand began to
shake.

“
You don’t think I will? Just you
wait!”

“
Okay, okay,” she said, “but at
least let me finish peeing first.” She carefully slid the pan out
from under her, then pulled up her panties and smoothed out her
skirt.

As Abaqa retrieved the pan and went through a
nearby door to empty it, she searched the room for anything that
could help her escape. The wall compartments were too high for her
to reach with her feet still tied, and the bunk consisted of little
more than a smelly blanket. Still, with her hands free, she could
use it to strangle him or tie him up—the only problem was how to
free her legs. She didn’t think she could subdue him while she was
bound. Even if he was smaller than her, he still had a gun and a
knife. Her best bet was to get him to untie her himself—and she had
a pretty good idea how to do that.

“
So I’m supposed to be your first
concubine,” she said as he stepped back into the cabin. “Does that
mean you’re going to rape me?”

“
I’ll do whatever I want with
you,” he said, still pointing his gun at her. “Put your hands back
together.”

“
You’re not going to rape me now?
What are you, shy?”

He blushed again, this time even deeper than
before. “Your hands,” he said, his voice cracking.

“
Here, I’ll make it easier for
you.” She undid her apron and pulled the blouse over her head, so
that she wore nothing but her skirt, bra, and panties. After
dropping her clothes on the floor, she sprawled out and arched her
back, hands over her head as if she were helpless. “Oh no, save
me!”

Before she could react, the boy grabbed her
hand and slapped a cuff on it, then pulled her up and secured it to
one of the handholds above her. Her eyes widened and she tried to
resist, but he did the same with her other hand, tying it to
another handhold on his right.

“
Wh-what are you doing?” she
asked. “Wouldn’t it be more comfortable if we did it on the
bed?”

“
I have other things to do before
I can enjoy you,” he said, smiling to himself as he holstered his
pistol. “Don’t worry, though—I’m sure there will be time
later.”

“
What? You pervert! Let me
go!”

He folded his arms and laughed while she
tried to pull herself free. With her hands and feet tied down,
however, it was no use.

“
Jerk! These floors are cold. At
least give me something for that—if you don’t, I’m going to
scream!”

“
That reminds me,” he said,
reaching into his pocket to pull out a handkerchief. He stepped
over her and pulled it over her face, forcing her mouth open when
she resisted. After a brief struggle, he tied it back so that it
effectively gagged her, the pressure tight against her
cheeks.

“
Mmm-mm-mmm!” she screamed,
trying in vain to make anything but a loud mumble. He smiled at
her, and she shot him a poisonous look.

“
There,” he said. “That’s much
better.”

* * * * *

“
All battle-stations, report,”
said Katsuichi, gripping the armrests of the command chair on board
the
Divine
Wind.
He
looked upward out the wide dome windows as the officers sounded
off.

“
Piloting and astrogation are go,
sir.”

“
Engineering is go.”

“
Gunnery go, sir.”

“
Fighter wings, go.”

“
Countermeasures are a
go.”

“
Communications, go.”

The white dwarf of Eyn-Gatta stood out amid
the starfield like a pearl on a band of silver. Katsuichi grinned
as a thrill of anticipation passed through him.

“
Colonel Webb?”

“
All good, sir,” came the
Colonel’s voice over the radio. “We’re ready when you
are.”

“
On my mark, then. Begin the
official fleet countdown.”

“
Beginning countdown, sir,” said
the pilot. “Initiating jump in ten seconds.”

“
All cruisers have confirmed
order,” said a dark-haired girl at communications.

“
Charge weapons,” said Katsuichi.
“Let’s go in with our guns blazing.”

“
Copy, sir. Jump in three, two,
one—”

He gasped as his stomach fell out from under
him. He felt as if he were falling, though whether he was falling
up or down, he couldn’t say. He forced his eyes to stay open, but
the universe itself seemed to blink—and then he was staring out at
a much dimmer starfield, with the white light of a much closer star
drowning out all but the brightest stars.

“
Stabilizing thermal deflectors,”
said the chief engineer, a gruff old corporal. “Stand by.” The
bridge lights dimmed for a second, then slowly returned to
normal.

“
Exterior temperature places us
at point-oh-three to point-oh-six AU from the solar surface,” said
the pilot. “Fleet jumping in … spread is within acceptable
parameters.”

“
What about the Hameji?”
Katsuichi asked.

“
We’re having difficulty picking
them up on our sensors—they must be too close to the
star.”

“
How they can stand such a close
orbital, I don’t know,” muttered the engineer.

Kenta gave the man a sharp glance, as if to
scold him for his lack of discipline. Katsuichi waved his finger to
stop him. Propriety or not, they couldn’t afford anything to break
their focus right now.

“
What about the satellites?” he
asked. “Are you picking them up?”

“
Yes, sir, all eight of them.
Exactly as our intelligence indicated.”

“
Good. Move the fleet into attack
formation and have the
Musashi
and
Yamato
knock them out.”

“
Yes, sir.”

Katsuichi toggled the holographic projector
at the center of the room to display a three dimensional image of
the battle as it unfolded. A marble-sized sphere at the center of
the projection represented Eyn-Gatta, while the Rigelan ships were
points of blue. Colonel Webb’s ships showed up a moment later in a
lighter shade of blue, while the Hameji ships, in red, blinked on
and off much closer to the star.

“
The Hameji ships are beginning
the attack,” said the officer at countermeasures, concern in his
voice. “Five of our jump beacons just went off-line.”

“
Spend twenty percent of the
reserves to get new beacons up,” said Katsuichi, “and have the rest
of the fleet do the same.” The jump beacons would draw away any
warheads the Hameji tried to launch through jumpspace, provided
they were placed far enough away. It took a significant portion of
the ship’s energy reserves to place them, but the combined fleet
could sustain a large enough screen to counter anything the Hameji
could throw at them. Unless, of course, the Hameji spent all of
their own reserves on the attack—but by then, the fifth and sixth
fleets would already be at their rear. Casualties would be high,
but the Hameji would not escape.

“
Give me a status report on those
satellites,” said Katsuichi, shifting nervously in his seat. Not
much time before the other fleets were due to move into
position.

“
Three down, five to go,” came
the report.

“
Order the
Musashi
and
Yamato
to empty their reserves; I want those
satellites knocked out before the Hameji can get their
countermeasures up.”

“
Acknowledged, Sir.”

“
With their reserves spent, those
ships won’t be able to jump out if we order a retreat,” Kenta said
softly in his ear. “Are you sure this is a good idea, young
master?”

“
We won’t win this battle unless
we commit to it,” he answered. “You said before that my men were
ready to charge into Hell itself.”

“
Forgive me, Your Imperial
Highness,” said Kenta, bowing deeply. He gripped his sword and eyed
the holographic displays with a face devoid of any
emotion.

“
Hameji forces are beginning to
climb the gravity well,” said the pilot, the stress in his voice
noticeably heightened. “They’re moving to make a frontal
assault.”

“
Have our ships fan out to absorb
their attack. Watch for any breaks in their formation and keep me
updated.”

“
Yes, sir.”

Katsuichi leaned forward with his hands close
together. On the holographic display, three clusters of Hameji
forces began to crawl away from the star and toward the waiting
blue ships. This was it—the moment of truth.

“
Sir,” said the gunnery officer,
“we’re in a perfect position to make an artillery barrage—that
gravity well is going to make our shots shred right through
them!”

“
Wait until they’ve committed,”
Katsuichi said softly, “then assign the targets as you see
fit.”

“
Sir.”

The blue dots slowly spread out as the red
ones approached. Some of the Hameji ships spread out a little, but
several tight clusters remained, as if they had forgotten to take a
defensive stance in their race to attack the Federation forces
first.

“
How are those satellites?” he
asked.

“
Gone, sir,” said the officer.
“All eight satellites have been destroyed.”

“
Then let’s hope the fifth and
sixth fleets pull through.”

“
Sir,” said the gunnery officer,
“we have a clear shot on the first wave. Shall we
engage?”

Katsuichi nodded. “Have the fleet maintain
formation and begin projectile bombardment.”

“
Understood, sir.”

“
The Hameji are launching fighter
swarms,” said the pilot, his voice more nervous than ever. “They’re
converging on our position—what should we do?”

“
Launch fighter drones and move
to intercept. Keep the
Divine Wind
far enough back to draw them to our laser
stars.”

“
Copy, Sir.”

The Hameji ships drew closer, climbing out of
the star’s gravity well as fast as their engines could take
them.

“
First volley away,” said the
gunnery officer. “Shall we follow with a second?”

“
Fire away,” said Katsuichi. On
the holographic projection, a few Hameji ships broke away to avoid
the projectiles, while others tried desperately to shield
themselves with a screen of plasma fire.

“
Firing,” said the gunnery
officer, his eyes glued to his display screen. “Stand by for impact
… now!”

Several clusters broke up on the display,
while many of the ships began to blink. As Katsuichi watched from
the edge of his seat, three of them broke apart into a thin red
mist and disappeared.

“
We’ve taken out two gunboats and
a small cruiser,” said the gunnery officer, his grin irrepressible.
“I told you we’d shred them!”

Overhead, the starfield flashed with
silent plasma bursts as the Rigelan fleets tried to shoot down the
incoming Hameji projectiles. Several of the blue dots on the
projection began to blink, including a few of Colonel Webb’s forces
which began to pull back.

“
Hold formation,” Katsuichi
ordered.

As if in reply, the room flashed bright pink,
blinding him for a moment and sending a few of his officers to the
floor. They recovered quickly, resuming their stations with pale
faces and shaking hands.

“
Hameji are firing tactical
nukes,” shouted the pilot. “They’ve disabled the
Hirohito
and knocked out
several hundred of our fighters. The other Federation ships are
starting to pull back.”