BORN OF HEROES

— by Jeff Karamales

Chapter 14
 

  Saul sat on the bridge looking over the status of the Guiding Angel, alone on the darkened deck and rather enjoying the solitude when the aft hatch hissed open. He turned to see a figure silhouetted against the brighter corridor lighting, and it was a moment before he realized that the form was that of Treena. The hatch hissed closed via pneumatic actuators and she walked forward in the dim light.

  “I thought you were off duty,” the jaguar said as she drew near.

  It had been a busy day, and Saul was pleased with their accomplishments, though he would be happier when they could finally divest themselves of the prisoners from the Incubus. They had left the hull of the Maelstrom class patrol boat floating behind them almost six hours previous after ransacking it for information and intelligence data, and placed a passive beacon on its hull for an SPF salvage team to locate. The beacon would go active once it received the proper code from the salvage team.

  Treena drew close and held out something in her hand and it took Saul a moment to realize that it was a mug of steaming coffee. The ocelot took a seat at the navigator’s console with her own mug in her hands.

  “I thought you could use something to help you keep awake. That and I couldn’t sleep, so I thought you might also like a bit of company.” Treena looked tired, but not sleepy, having spent the better part of four hours helping Cerise download the pirate vessel’s computer data and scrounging for physical evidence. “Rackam really is a piece of work isn’t he?”

  Saul didn’t catch the question at first as he was too elated at being on the bridge alone with this ravishing female, but shook his head to clear his thoughts and turned his attention to Treena’s question.

  “The boy has definitely been watching too many space operas, of that you can be sure. Did you really think the Captain was going to shoot him?”

  Treena nodded. “He had this…look. It was frightening. I tell you, I’ve seen some good acting, and that was an award performance. Does the Captain really hate pirates that much?”

  Saul leaned back with his cup and took a sip before answering. “Did you read the material that Colonel Brees gave you?” He watched as Treena nodded. “There you have it. He really doesn’t like pirates. But he won’t take the law into his own hands. I think what happened to him on the Scimitar has changed him. He wants to put as big a kink as he can in the tails of any pirate or slaver he comes across. He’s driven.”

  The two sat in silence for a while, looking at the elongated streaks of stars that scintillated in all the colors of the rainbow due to the Doppler effect of warp space. Saul kept on stealing glances at the ocelot, wishing he could muster the courage to tell her that he was attracted to her. It was silly, the jaguar thought. He could charge into a battle, fly a ship through an asteroid field, or jump into a firefight, but he couldn’t tell Treena that he was attracted to her.

  His musings were cut short when an alert sounded from the communications console. Sitting up-right and almost spilling the contents of his cup on himself, Saul brought the information up on the pilot’s board and whistled softly.

  He toggled it microphone of his headset as he slipped it on. “Guiding Angel. Hold one, Sir, while I summon him.” There were words that Treena couldn’t hear and watched as Saul nodded before responding. “He’s in his rack, Sir. No, he’ll want to hear this from you. Let me reroute to his cabin.”

  Saul typed in a command and sent the signal to Elias’s cabin and disconnected his headset from the conversation that would soon be taking place.

  “What’s going on?” Treena asked, her ears standing up in obvious curiosity.

  Saul looked at her. “I don’t know, though the Captain will tell us if it’s important.”

***

Elias was curled against his wife’s back, holding her in his arms and sleeping quite soundly when the terminal in their shared cabin beeped annoyingly for his attention. At first the sound was incorporated into the dream he was having of his and Cerise’s time at her family’s cabin. Then the sound pulled him into a state of waking. By the third chime, he was up and out of bed. He clipped his toes on the frame of the bed and began swearing darkly under his breath even as he sat down and activated the terminal.

  Sander Brees looked at him from the screen that came to life, flooding the cabin with subdued blue and gray light with a slight wash of gold.

  “I hope you’re not talking to me like that, son?” the lion asked with a raised eyebrow.

  Though he couldn’t see himself, Elias looked, fittingly, as if he’d just woken up. The fur on the left side of his face was askew and his eyes were red looking. All in all, thought the individual that watched him from the terminal, many light years away, he looked like hell.

  “No, Sandy. Sorry. What’s up?” the fox asked becoming more alert with each passing moment.

  “Oh, nothing. I just came across a bit of information that I knew you’d want. Sorry if it’s a bad time.”

  The fox shook his head. “Just catching some rack time.”

  Sander Brees nodded in understanding. “Sorry about waking you, then, son. Rack time is a sacred thing, but I knew you’d want this as soon as possible. Are you secure on your end?”

  Elias ran a check and saw that they were indeed ‘alone’ and that none of the crew was listening in, though if it was something important, Elias would wind up filling them in anyway. Privacy was simply good manners on a ship this size. “We’re clear, Sandy.”

  “Good. We got word of a ship that was seen in the Lia-Noa system. Elias, it was the Shiva. It hit a supply ship loaded with medical supplies and repair parts. Needless to say with this season’s storms on Crescentis, those supplies were needed.”

  The fox took a deep breath, fully awake now. “When did this happen? How long ago?”

  “Two days. You can’t make it there in time to interdict her,” the lion said flatly.

  “Not there. What kind of medical supplies? You can beam me a full list later, I want to know what the basic components were.”

  Sander Brees looked at a sheaf of papers that were next to his elbow. “Apart from basic medications, analgesics and the like, there was a supply of pan-biotics, a large supply of anesthetics and three diagnostic units.”

  “The diagnostic units. Those are the big ticket items. They can’t get rid of those anywhere in known space except small unregistered colonies or Brandt. They’re too pricey and big for a simple fence operation. I’m not far from Brandt right now. We can try to linger at the systems nadir point and intercept there. If that doesn’t work we’ll have to make intercept on the ground.”

  “It’s your call, Elias,” Brees said. “I’ll have you some help en route in three hours from now. They’ll get there well before the Shiva can possibly make it. It’ll be a ship called the Luna Duchess. Her Captain is Galina Carver. She has a few things for you and your crew, plus she’ll be taking your prisoners from the Incubus.”

  “The Luna Duchess? I don’t recall a ship of that name in the SPF registry. What is she?” Elias asked.

  “Same as you, son. Q-ship hidden in the hull of a Star Hopper interstellar yacht. She’s about the same tonnage as your ship, but with different weapons layout and a heavier interceptor. Her Captain and crew just finished up with space trials earlier this week. And with you going up against the Shiva, I’d feel a lot better if you had back up.”

  Elias gaped a little. “You already have the next Q-ship up and running? I didn’t think she’d be ready for another month!”

  Brees smiled. “You aren’t the only one that’s been busy. Like I said, they have some things for you that you might need. Captain Carver has your codes, so I expect her to contact you shortly.”

  “I’ll go ahead and set a course and get the crew up to speed, then. Thanks, Sandy.”

  The lion gave Elias a long look. “Be careful, son. You of all people know that the Shiva isn’t a ship to engage with on a lark.”

  The fox’s hand involuntarily touched the scar that ran from his nose and up to where the notch in his left ear was. “I do, Sandy. Very much so.”

  The two made their farewells and Elias shut the terminal down and sat back.

  A small sound brought Elias out of his ruminations and he turned his head to see Cerise sitting up in bed. She had the thick comforter pulled up to her throat. It was a moment before he noticed the dampness under her eyes that glinted in the illumination from the computer screen that was lit with a blue field in stand-by mode.

  “Don’t go after them, Elias,” the vixen said softly.

  He stood up and went to the bed, gently enfolding his wife in his arms. “It’s all right, Cerise. It’ll be all right.”

  Cerise laid her head against his chest and clung to Elias, sudden fear gripping her heart. “Not the Shiva, Elias. Not them. Not again.”

  He did what he could to calm his mate, but the feeling of dread persisted in Cerise’s very soul. She tried to put on a brave face for him, and let Elias get back to being the Captain that he needed to be, and not a husband with a frightened wife. He gave word to Saul to set a course back for the Faya system and to call the crew together on the rec deck. Throwing clothes on and running a brush through his facial fur, Elias cast a look at Cerise. None of her attempts to calm her emotions worked, though, and to make it worse she was developing a headache and felt her stomach cramping

  “We’ll have help this time and we know what to expect, Cerise. I can’t let them go. Not if I can help it. No one on that freighter lived. They killed all of the crew and now they have to answer for their crimes.”

  For the first time since they met, Cerise felt selfish and couldn’t help it. “Why you?” she asked hotly. “The SPF has ships and crews aplenty. Why does it have to be you?” She pulled away when Elias reached for her and gave him an angry glare. “Chase them down with a warship! There are others that can do this! The last time you took on the Shiva you almost got killed. Why does it have to be you?”

  Elias let his arms fall to his sides. “Because it’s what I do and what I am, Cerise. You know this. You knew this before we got married and argued the same point, yourself.”

  With a sad look, Elias left the cabin.

  The hatch slid closed and Cerise collapsed in on herself, sobbing. Then with a suddenness that caught her unaware, her stomach roiled and she bolted for the lavatory to retch noisily for several long minutes. When the nausea passed, she splashed herself with cold water before deciding to step into the shower. As the jets of hot water blasted her from three different directions, she calmed herself enough to wonder what was wrong with her. She felt as if her emotions were out of control. He was right. She knew what Elias was before she married him, and had come with him knowing full well what it was that they would be facing. Why was she behaving like this now?  Her thoughts and feelings warred back and forth as she sank down and huddled at the bottom of the shower stall and began to weep anew.

***

  “The Shiva was certainly packing heavier weapons than she should have. Not just the pulse cannon. Almost anyone can get those if they have the available credits,” Elias told the assembled crew who were rubbing red eyes with the occasional yawn thrown in. “The Talon missiles were totally unexpected, though. Nothing indicated that they were carrying military grade weaponry, and when the time comes, I don’t want to underestimate them again. At the same time, I don’t want this ship to get away.

  “As it is, we’ll be joined by the latest Q-ship pirate hunter. The Luna Duchess is built around a Star Hopper hull. She’s about the same size as us, but her layout is a little different, and that has altered her weapons array. She’s also equipped with an interceptor, but instead of a Raptor she carries a Crossbow heavy fighter. We’ll be meeting our sister ship at the nadir of the Faya system next week and they’ll be transferring some material to us. In the meantime, I want every system of this ship gone over with a fine-toothed comb. I don’t want to leave anything to chance because we’ve been lax on anything.

  “Unfortunately this means that all of us, myself included, are going to be pulling extra hours. So with that bit of good news, I want everyone to go over my report on the Shiva again as well, and if you have any input, let me know. I want a different outcome when we encounter her this time. Any questions?”

  No one moved or said anything, and Elias saw that Melise had a particularly hard look in her eyes. Like him, the panda felt that she had something of a personal score to settle. Eventually it was Randy that cleared his throat and spoke.

  “So, the big question I have, is are we going to try to capture and board her, or are we just going blast the Shiva into glowing dust?”

  Elias was a little taken back by the question, but checked himself and gave the inquiry a moment of thought before responding.

  “Randal, I won’t lie. Not to you or anyone else on this crew. I really would like nothing more than to obliterate the Shiva and every individual on her. But that’s not why we’re here. We’ll try and take her and her crew. But if it looks like we’re in trouble, I will hit that ship with everything we have. I’m not going to risk your lives or those of the Luna Duchess’ crew by trying to take her as a prize. We’ll try to board her, but if that doesn’t prove to be viable I will cut that ship to pieces. Fair?”

  The wolf nodded. “Very. I know that you and Melise might feel that you have a score to settle, but they were responsible for the deaths of fellow SPF officers, and the rest of us kind of take that a little personally as well.”

  Elias nodded. “Understood. Well, let’s get to work. Stram? You and Rutger come up with a list of areas you need help with. I want the primary bridge crew to go over their specific areas and equipment. While we’re at it, make sure emergency equipment and stores in each location are set and topped. I don’t want anyone getting caught without the necessary equipment and supplies if something happens to break. And until further notice, everyone wears a sidearm at all times. That’s it. Let’s get to it.”

  The next eight days were a fury of activity aboard the Guiding Angel as all systems were checked and re-checked, cleaned and maintained. There was a surprisingly little amount of work that actually had to be done as the engineering pair tended to keep up on things before minor glitches became major issues. Both the badger and tuxedo tom wormed their way through the bowels of the ship, often more dirty than not, and getting far less sleep and downtime than the rest of the crew until Elias ordered them to take a minimum of twelve hours off for rest.

  All of the crew assisted Lena and Randal with the Cherub, helping the doe check all of the systems on the small craft. Even though the rabbit’s demeanor seemed light and her bantering tone helped keep nerves from fraying too much, it was very evident that she was taking the coming encounter with the seriousness it deserved.

  When everything was inspected, adjusted and tweaked to the satisfaction of all, the entire crew save Elias met in the galley for a lavish supper that Melise had cooked. While the others protested at the amount of trouble the panda went through, making a dish she said was popular on Earth called Beef Wellington, and one of the most extravagant meals many of the others had ever had, she told them that her preferred method of dealing with her own anxiety was cooking. Many of the others joked that if she kept up such exercises in culinary pampering they were all going to get too fat to pass basic physical endurance tests. For Lena, the only vegetarian on board, the panda had put together a salad of fresh greens and a platter of exotic fruits.

  The conversation around the table was fairly light, until Treena posed a question to Melise, the two having become fast friends since the launch of their ship.

  “Melise? What happened on the Scimitar? Not just what the Captain gave us to look over. I want to hear it from you.”

  Melise set her fork down, and her eyes took on a slightly glassy look.

  “We received word through an informant on Ganis that there was a ship that had taken on a load of stolen electronics and was supposed to be delivering them to another ship in the Kennia system. Our Captain took that info and ordered an intercept. We were on the tail-end of our patrol run, but he couldn’t ignore this tip. We’d heard rumblings here and there that apart from piracy, the Shiva was running slaves as well, and he wanted to put paid to their ticket.”

  The panda paused and took a sip from her mug that held a tea that she found relaxing and appealing before continuing. Everyone else was silent and waited patiently for her to continue.

  “We high tailed it after her, and ran into her a ways out from Dennier. It took a day of long distance scanning, but we found two ships that were just lingering about mid-way between Dennier and what’s left of Mainor. One of the ships was an old Mauler class heavy cruiser. And nestled up alongside was the Shiva. We followed standard practice and ordered the ship to stand down for boarding and inspection, and that’s when all hell broke loose.

  “They waited until we got within range after radioing that they would comply, then the Shiva opened fire. Her pulse cannon were heavy units, probably Mark V or better. The first salvo dropped our shields down to fifteen percent power and blew most of the breakers for our subsystems. I tell you, if it weren’t for Elias’ piloting, they would have blasted us into sub atomic particles. Once our shields were down, the Shiva fired a spread of Talons at us. Those things were made to be ship-killers anyway, so we knew that our little sloop really didn’t stand much of a chance. Maybe if we had full shields, but not like we were.

  “The first one hit and was almost stopped by what little shielding we had left. The second exploded before hitting us, the debris from the first one causing fratricide. It was enough, though. The shrapnel and plasma from the detonation opened the ship up for almost eight meters on the port side. That’s when we lost our Captain, First Officer, Doctor and the recruits that were assigned to boarding operations. Fortunately we were all in armored vac-suits at the time.

  “Elias traded shots with the Shiva to try and buy us some time and an exit vector, and we took a couple of more hits, most of them glancing because of his flying more than anything else. That and the debris that was sucked out when we lost hull integrity. Debris and bodies…”

  Melise shook her head and took another sip from her mug. “We were goners. We all knew it. But Elias performed a quick warp before the LC drive folded. Fortunately it didn’t catch fire or explode, but that was only because we had no atmosphere. We mostly coasted to Dennier on inertia to save what we had and lived in suits for almost the whole time it took to get us there. Elias and I repaired the antennae for communications and were able to contact Grandstorm air traffic control shortly before hitting atmosphere.

  “The rest you know.”

  There was silence at the table, and no one could meet the eyes of another.

  After several long moments, Melise picked up her telling of her and Elias’s previous encounter with the Shiva.

  “The others and I were strapped into the crash couches in the section behind the bridge when we hit the water. I could actually see the bulkheads ripple and fold as we hit, and I thought that it was over, that my ticket had been punched. Then the ship settled and it was amazing! I was still alive! We tried to get to Elias, but the hatch had torqued so badly we might as well have been trying to pry open the hull itself. I didn’t think that there was any way for Elias to have survived that. He was my closest friend on board, and I’d just lost him. But I was alive.”

  The panda went quiet and huge, silent tears fell from her glazed eyes as she was transported back to the moment by her own voice. “We were sinking and I remember thinking that it was a hell of a note that I survived the crash only to drown. Bright sunlight was streaming through the rip in the hull, and I looked up at that glorious light, wondering if it would be the last thing I ever saw. Then this huge bird came into view. I don’t know what they’re called, but they’re white with blue and purple markings and just…beautiful. It sat there hovering above the ship. Then it looked at me with the most intense black eyes I’ve ever seen and let go with a cry that was so pure and joyful. Seeing it, I really didn’t worry about what was coming next. Next thing I knew the sun was gone and this huge shadow just engulfed everything.

  “I didn’t know it was one of the freighters from the starport. Then there was this raccoon in coveralls hanging upside down from the hole in hull asking me if I’m all right. I guess I wasn’t because I passed out at that point. Next thing I knew I was in the hospital.”

  It was Cerise’s voice that spoke next, and all eyes turned to her. “Wave Singers. The bird you saw is a Wave Singer. You don’t ever see them that close to the city. They like to fly further out to sea and can stay aloft for days on end in a good breeze. Some on Dennier believe that they are angels that are sent to protect others when they show up like that.”

  Melise smiled, as she batted away the tears in her fur. “Maybe it was.” Then the panda looked at the other female. “I know that as far as the rest of us on the Scimitar were concerned, our angels were the one on the bridge, and the one that helped talk him in.”

  Cerise dropped her head slightly in embarrassment until Melise reached out and took her hand.

  The petite vixen wondered then if everything really was going to be all right.

— NEXT CHAPTER —

Unless otherwise noted, all material © Ted R. Blasingame. All rights reserved.