Twin Stars 1: Ascension (12 page)

“You may be wondering how I knew about that regulation, in which case I will tell you. I used it once myself, when I served in the Guard many years ago. You can take that as another reason why I have a soft spot for those willing to take risks to preserve the lives of others.” He laughed heartily. “Well, I should get to the point I suppose- as you passed this trial, I would like to offer you a reward in congratulations.

“The young Squire sitting across from you is yours now Tysen, and I know you will take good care of her and she of you. I’ll miss her dearly, but there’s a time when every good father knows he must let go of his child, and this is one of those times. She needs to see the universe, not just be stuck taking care of an old man. Be a good guide for her, won’t you?”

Tysen’s mind reeled. Esther was…his? Was this possible? He was just a Lieutenant, and poor one at that! How could he be responsible for a Squire?

“Congratulations, Lieutenant, and good luck. Give my regards to Ferris when you see him.”

As the virtual window between them disappeared, Tysen found himself looking right into Esther’s eyes.

Her big, beautiful blue eyes.

“What time should I book the bonding ceremony for, master?”

CHAPTER THREE

2718, Day 164

When someone asks you if you want to take part in a space battle, you say no!

This was the piece of advice that Vaela Smith tucked away for future reference- if she had a future, of course. As things were looking at the moment, she wasn’t so sure.

Strapped into one of the three command seats on the bridge of the pirate ship
Belleflower
, Vaela gawked at what was going on around her in wonder. There was a surreality to it, everything was so quiet, and yet she could feel the tension in the air of the dark cramped confines of the bridge. The people in the four control creches that were paired on each side of the ship’s bridge were working with a quiet, anxious focus, while nearby her friend Ping An, the ship’s captain, stood calmly watching the holographic windows that hung around the command and control area.

“I think I hate this.”

Ping An spared her an amused look. “Liar.”

“No, I really hate this.” Vaela affirmed, “Why didn’t you tell me we’d be in a battle?”

“Ping An! We’re in missile range of the enemy fleet!”

Ahead and to the right at the ship’s helm station, a large, hulking
Morphic
cat-woman swung her seat out and back to look at them- her neck muscles being too thick for her to turn her head properly. Her brindle-colored body was so big Vaela had heard she’d required a special chair be installed because the standard ones were too small. When she spoke she had a slight lisp, and Vaela saw flashing rows of sharp white teeth and fangs.

“Betsey, target the closest ship and fire one salvo from all racks! Keep their point defenses busy while the Gunrig strike flights complete their runs.” Ping An ordered. “Leederman, what’s the status of the other ships?”

“The
Magnolia
and her escorts are engaging the command frigate.” Said the young man at the Operations station to their left. “The other clan ships are attacking the support carrier and the two escorts.”

Leederman was a fellow trainee who’d joined the clan around the same time Vaela had, but she didn’t particularly like him. He’d hit on her a few times during their training, and as we was handsome in his own way, with a long face and spiked brown hair, she’d been flattered- at least until she’d realized that he was also hitting on most of the other female trainees. After that, she’d done her best to ignore him.

Ping An snorted in derision. “Going for the big boys and ignoring the small fry. Everyone wants credit for the big prizes.”

Vaela looked up at the tactical display that hung semi-translucent in the air above them. On it, four large red ship icons that represented the local system’s defense fleet were facing off against eleven blue ship icons that represented ships from the Volkstag pirate clan. The pirate clan ships were slightly smaller, being the usual assortment of makeshift combat craft that the clans operated, but they outnumbered the Star Guard craft they faced and had taken them by surprise.

Between the two clusters, many smaller icons marked fighter-drone groups called Gunrigs engaged in attack runs and defensive actions on both sides. Most of the pirate clan Gunrig groups had taken off from the Belleflower, which Vaela had been told was once a large cargo ship in its previous life. Thus, the
Belleflower
hung back slightly behind the rest of the fleet, while the
Magnolia
, under the command of Squadron Leader Jansen, led the direct assault.

When she agreed to come, Vaela had expected not to be involved much in the battle, for in theory the
Belleflower
was the ship that stayed outside of any combat. But on reflection, she should have known that hanging back would hardly have suited Ping An’s aggressive style.

“Gunrig missiles entering final approach,” Leederman rhymed off. “Point defenses on Cutter designated Alpha 2 are responding….We have impacts…”

Vaela watched as one of the red icons suddenly flared and disappeared.

“Alpha 2 is destroyed, redirecting Gunrigs to designate Alpha 1.”

Ping An nodded, “Reload all racks. Betsey, bring us around for a clear shot at the other Cutter- keep us out of the range of their plasma cannons.”

“Yes, ma’am!” The
morphic
replied in her usual chirpy manner.

Betsey, like most of the ship’s current crew, had been specially selected by Ping An after her promotion to Captain. Ping An had clearly chosen her for her ability at the helm of a ship, and Vaela didn’t know enough to agree or disagree with that choice. However, given her size, and ferocious appearance, Vaela had expected the morphic woman to be gruff or intimidating in the way she presented herself, but in actuality she had an upbeat, almost gregarious personality.

There were a number of morphics like Betsey in the pirate clans. Nobles and standard humans tended to treat the descendants of those whose ancestors had taken on animal traits during the colonization period as somehow being inferior. It all seemed a little silly to Vaela, considering how much humanity had spent the previous few hundred years monkeying with its own genetic code and how many “types” of humans there now were, but sadly she knew that prejudice was a trait that was all too human itself.

“So Vaela,” Ping An said, breaking Vaela from her momentary consideration of human nature. “How are you liking your first real battle?”

The deck of the ship suddenly shook as Betsey failed to keep the ship quite outside of plasma cannon range. Vaela brought her legs up and held them against her chest and shook her head as if to chase away a bad dream.

“I think I’m going to be sick.”

That only made Ping An grin. “Hey, don’t worry. If we take a serious hit we’ll be dead so fast you won’t even feel a thing.”

The young woman fixed her with a sour glare- “Oh that’s reassuring!”

The young captain reached down and tousled Vaela’s long blonde hair affectionately. “Relax, you’re as safe as it gets,” she reassured her. “We’re nowhere near the main fighting, and we caught them by surprise. Jansen’s plan worked…for once.”

“I was your plan,” Vaela corrected, knowing the truth of the matter. “She stole it.”

But Ping An only shrugged. “Doesn’t matter as long as it works, does it?” Then she suddenly got a faraway look in her eye as she clearly saw something on her personal AR displays and turned away, serious again. “Leederman!”

“Yes Bosslady?”

“Change of plans,” Ping An gestured at a drone group on the holographic display and it suddenly zoomed in to focus where she’d pointed. “Have Gunrig groups seven and fifteen let that incoming fighter group close with us. I want to catch them in a crossfire.”

“You got it!”

Vaela looked at her in alarm, “Can’t they shoot at us if you do that?”

Ping An shrugged. “Life’s about give and take.”

“Call me generous, but I’d rather just give!” Vaela said, watching the fighter-drone group close on the carrier. There were a series of faint concentric rings on the display around the ship, showing its optimal weapon ranges. The attackers had a similar ring around them, and as Vaela watched the rings quickly overlapped and enveloped both icons.

“Showtime!” Ping An declared, stepping forward into the middle of the bridge. “Leederman, have the Gunrigs attack. Betsey, fire plasma cannons. Justin, countermeasures.”

A chorus of agreements rang out, and Vaela could feel the big ship shudder as the vibrations from the ship’s weaponry ran through the hull. The Belleflower was meant as a carrier for smaller ships, but she didn’t lack in firepower of her own. Six plasma cannons and over a dozen railguns were mounted on her hull for close quarters combat and defense, and she was using nearly all of them now.

It was over in seconds, struck from three sides the enemy flight disappeared from the display.

“Not bad, Betsey! That’s six down- you’re on a roll!” Leederman called out in appreciation.

“It’s all in the timing,” she said proudly, then her voice dropped into a coquettish tone. “I could…show you sometime?”

Vaela knew pirate crews could be undisciplined, but couldn’t believe she was hearing this as she watched the two exchange a meaningful look.

“Sure,” Leederman replied, pleased. “That’d be great!”

“Speaking of timing,” their captain said, nonplussed. “Can we focus on the battle, people?”

“Yeah, sorry about that Bosslady.” The operations man replied quickly, ducking back to his station.

Betsey, on the other hand, didn’t back down so easily. “Ping An, you’re killing my fun here.” She protested.

“Better your fun than my ship,” the captain said levelly. “Get us back on our original course.”

“On it, ma’am.” Betsey replied, letting her clawed fingers dance over her displays. “But if you look ma’am, the battle is almost done.”

Ping An just nodded, studying the display.

Vaela looked at it herself- the battle was indeed almost finished. There just appeared to be a handful of imperial fighters left, and a ship marked “escort carrier”. As she watched, one of the smaller blue ships from the pirate fleet merged with the larger red icon.

“Captain, the
Stag Beetle
is boarding the escort carrier and is attempting a capture,” Leederman announced. “The Squadron Leader has given orders to cease fire on the carrier.”

Ping An shook her head. “Andrews, you Idiot. That ship will probably blow itself and you with it up before it’s captured.”

Vaela watched with sudden interest. “Why is he being so reckless?”

“That old boarding ship of his is useless in a real fight,” Ping An commented in disgust. “Andrews wants another ship so badly he’s being stupid to get it. This is why he lost his last ship.”

Vaela thought about it a moment, “So, if he captures that new ship, he’ll get it as his command?” It seemed rather brutal to her, but then she was still getting used to the pirate way of thinking.

“Yeah,” Ping An chewed her lip, watching the screen. “That’s the pirate clan way- captains who lose their ships are given command of boarding ships to try and get a new one. Gives them a little motivation to do their job.”

Watching the display, Vaela nodded silently, inwardly agreeing that it would.

“Last fighter group is gone,” Leederman announced. “Fight’s over, Captain.”

“Orders, ma’am?” Betsey asked, pivoting around to look up at Ping An, who was still focused on the screen.

Deciding to leave Captain Andrews to his own fate, Ping An turned to give orders just as a large grey ship icon that suddenly appeared on the display.

“Jump alert!” Justin yelled, alarms starting to go off. “We’ve got a ship dropping in from hyperspace!”

Vaela stared at it in horror; it was a long cylindrical shape several times the size of anything else on the display. For a moment she hoped it was friendly, but then suddenly the computer tagged it as red.

“I’ve got incoming missiles on the Magnolia!”

Vaela looked up at Ping An, who just stood there calmly staring at the display while everything around her erupted into chaos. This was what had attracted Vaela to the ebon haired pirate in the first place, the aura of certainly and calmness that always seemed to surround her. Even at a time like this, Ping An was unflappable.

“Betsey,” she said calmly. “Get us over there.”

“On it.”

“What’s going on?” Vaela said nervously. “W-What’s happening?”

“We’ve got a new problem,” Ping An’s eyes didn’t leave the display as she spoke, carefully taking in every detail. “This system had a bunch of patrol craft- the ones we just ambushed. It also has a cruiser, one that was supposed to be out-system at a fleet repair dock.”

“That thing?”

“That thing.”

“But,” Vaela asked. “There’s just one ship, right? There’s more of us…”

Ping An looked back at her, and that look told Vaela everything she needed to know.