BORN OF HEROES

— by Jeff Karamales

Chapter 57
 

The ship’s cook that they had found was a fairly young wolf-Chow mix that had just gotten out of his year’s worth of reserve service to the Dennieran Navy. Olin Murphy had served as a firefighter at the naval yards, never having gotten into space, and had gone to school for culinary arts on the educational incentives for military service. His long black fur, golden brown eyes, quick smile coupled with a calm demeanor ensured Sonja had taken an instant like to the young male.

  He’d proven his talents in the galley by producing personal soufflés for the rest of the crew along with flank steaks sautéed in onions and mushrooms and fresh bread, though for Lena he’d produced a salad of greens, complimentary fruits and nuts served in a decorative bowl carved from a melon rind. That he’d whipped up the meal in a little over an hour’s worth of time for the price of a few credits had impressed Elias, though to stock the galley he was given a free hand on the credit account after getting a list of the little things that the rest of the crew enjoyed.

  It really hadn’t surprised anyone when Sonja had volunteered to go with Olin to lay in the food supplies. While that was happening the two engineers that had been hired for the Ascendant Angel were moving their personal tool boxes in, the senior of the two, a panda name Baxter Kynes, looked at the ThunderBolt sitting in the middle of the cargo bay with a wide grin while the second mechanic, Sabine Lansing, a red squirrel with long hair caught into a series of braids, cast a quick, nervous glance at the fighter as she wheeled her equipment into the engineering section.

  The panda looked at the fighter, walking around and admiring the lines. “Is this what we’re carrying for a client?” Baxter asked with his grin growing wider as Lena sat in the opened cockpit calling off numbers while Randal correlated her readings.

  “Nope,” the doe said as she scrutinized her display. “She’s all mine.”

  On the nose in her typical flowing script Lena had given the fighter the name Li’l Darlin’. “May I?” Baxter asked.

  Randy and Lena both laughed. “You’re going to be helping keep her in tip-top shape, so, yeah,” the doe said with a chuckle.

  The panda ran his hand over the hull and down the sculpted strut for the starboard sponson. His visual examination didn’t last long and soon Baxter was lying on his belly on the upper fuselage with Randy going over the different systems. “We’ll tie the diagnostic unit in with the engineering computer for even better calibration. Running through a hundred and forty cycles a minute is better than trying to go through everything ourselves. The question I have is why we’ve got a fighter in our hold? I thought this was just a freighter.”

  Wolf and rabbit chuckled. “Um, didn’t we tell you what kind of business this was?” Randy asked with a smile.

  “I thought we were just some kind of specialized freight haulers,” Baxter said as he scratched his cheek.

  “It’s a little more than that,” Lena said as she set her ship’s systems on stand-by before standing and stretching. “Secure cargoes and personnel. High security stuff. As far as we know, outside the military or SPF, we’re the only ones that’ll be offering these kinds of services. No pirate really stands a chance against this vessel.”

  “Is that why there’s so much armor on the hull?” the panda inquired as he slid to the deck, joined by his two shipmates a moment later, noticing that the other two were awfully friendly with each other, though the lass was a bunny which might explain things.

  “It’s a little more than that. We’ll explain it to you when we all get together before launch tomorrow morning,” Randy told the other male. “Go ahead and get your stuff stowed, Baxter, then we’ll show you where your cabin is. We should probably go check on Sabine as well. It shouldn’t take her this long to lock her tool box down.”

  The trio entered engineering to find Sabine Lansing standing between the two gigantic engines, her hand idly teasing the ruff of fur at her throat, a dreamy expression in her eyes and a smile on her short muzzle.

  “RP-12 power plants,” she kept breathing to herself over and over, her tool box completely forgotten.

  Lena gave a concerned look to her lover who only shook his head and shrugged. Before they could ask the squirrel if she was alright, the little female stepped to the port engine and put her hands on the outer casing in a gentle caress to the housing assembly.

  “You don’t touch me like that,” the wolf said with a feigned note of jealousy.

  When Sabine turned around and realized she had an audience she screamed in a pitch high enough to make the other three cringe in pain.

  “What the hell was that?” Lena asked, working her finger into her ear to clear the ringing that remained from the shrill noise.

  “Sorry, but you scared the dickens out of me!” Sabine said with a hand over her breast as she gulped air and tried to get her heart down to a normal pace.

  “Can I make the recommendation of switching to decaf coffee?” Baxter quipped as he massaged his ears then finally noticed the engines as well. “Whoa! RP-12’s! You can move a small moon with these!” His head whipped around and looked at the other two furs. “Why do we have engines this size on a freighter?” His tone was slightly accusatory.

  “I see we’re not going to be able to put this off any longer,” Lena said with a chuckle. “You two come with us,” the doe said and led the others to the lift, taking it all the way to the third deck. “Get something to drink and get comfortable.”

  Randy and his lover sat at one of the tables and waited for their mechanics, smiling when the panda pointedly kept the other from getting a cup of coffee. As they waited the wolf and rabbit looked at the familiar fixtures on the deck. Virtually nothing had changed and even the Wall of Glory remained with the tally of pirates taken out. Someone had even put up the regimental insignia of the Ganlin Legion with the word ‘PAID” in bold black lettering stamped across it.

  “Before starting Angel Secured Transportation, this ship, and all of us with the exception of you two and our chef, Olin, were with the Spatial Police Force. This ship was a covert pirate hunter and-”

  “This was a Q-ship?!?” Sabine exclaimed as she cut the rabbit off, her eyes widening so far the whites were visible past her brown irises. “Like the ones they did the story about on INN?”

  “Actually this was the first Q-ship,” Randy said with a lopsided grin. “And we were part of the first pirate hunter crew.”

  “No!” the squirrel all but shouted, bouncing in her chair. “Really?”

  “Wow,” Baxter said. “That sure explains a lot!”

  Lena nodded. “This used to be the Guiding Angel. She was hit hard enough to put her in the salvage yard a few months ago on the other end of the tarmac.”

  “I remember that. Something about someone attacking a ship here at the port with antitank rockets…” the panda said with a nod.

  “Yeah,” Randy said with a slow nod. “That was us.”

  “Does that mean we’re with the SPF too, now?” Sabine asked excitedly.

  “No. We all resigned our commissions. After taking care of that mercenary group in the Van Connor Nebula we’d all decided we’d had enough and wanted out, but we also wanted to stay together and flying. So Elias came up with the idea of running secure freight and transport,” Lena explained.

  It took almost an hour to give the two mechanics a quick rundown and condense their exploits during which the wolf and rabbit answered questions. They also covered how the ship had been repaired and refit for service and they had all chipped in to buy it for themselves.

  “You mean that our Captain is the same Elias Tivnan that crashed into the Arvallian Sea?” Baxter inquired. “That guy’s a serious hero! And he commanded the mission that smashed the Legion? And he’s our Captain? I didn’t make the connection during the interview…” The panda shook his head and wiped at his face with a nervous hand. “I’m so glad I’m already sitting down!”

  “Why? Aren’t you feeling well?” Elias asked as he stepped from the lift with Cerise, both foxes carrying cardboard boxes. He gave the others a curious look when the panda gulped loudly and began to shake with an uncomfortable expression on his face. “Um…”

  “I’m working for a living legend!” Baxter said softly.

  Elias’ expression grew quizzical. “What?” He shot a look at Lena and Randal. “What kind of stories are you telling people?”

  Baxter gushed on for several minutes and when he finished lauding Elias, the fox and his wife doubled over with laughter. “I’m no legend!” Elias told the panda. “Depending on your perspective I’ve either been at the wrong place at the wrong time, or really lucky to live through a whole mess of seriously screwed up coincidences!”

  “I know you’re my hero,” Cerise said with an affectionate look.

  “I’ve just been really fortunate to be surrounded by the best friends ever and knew they had my back,” Elias said as he gave Cerise a one armed hug. “That’s the only reason I got out of so many tight spots!”

  “He says the sweetest things,” Lena told Cerise.

  “And he means them,” Elias said with a grin. “It’s true. I wouldn’t be here if not for the best crew to ever come together and friends and a wife I could only dream of and don’t deserve.” The white fox looked at the two mechanics. “We aren’t going to go look for trouble. Out in space it’ll find us well enough on its own. But you can be assured that whatever happens, as long as every one of us does our jobs, we can trust each other with our lives and to get home safely from each cruise.”

  Elias and Cerise began to unpack the boxes, the contents proving to be the mugs for the newly christened ship complete with the new logo. Most were simply ship’s mugs, though there were ones with each crew member’s name on them and they put those on the cup carousel next to the coffee urn.

  “As it is, and because of the nature of the clientele that we’ve set our services for, over the next several days all of us will be heading to the SPF barracks to utilize their range. You’ll be running through immersion training in pistol, rifle and shotguns along with stunners while the rest of us re-qualify and get our PA concealed permits,” the fox said as he took his personal mug, gave it a quick rinse and filled it with coffee.

  After doctoring it to preference, he took a sip and smiled widely.

  “By the Maker it’s good to be home,” Elias said with a thick voice full of emotion and moisture forming in his eyes. He pulled Cerise to him for a languorous kiss before burying his face into the juncture of her neck and shoulder. When he looked up he raised his mug towards the center of the deck. “To Mel, Stram and Rutger.”

  The others seconded his sentiments and as their Captain and his wife left the deck, Randal informed the two mechanics of the loss of their friends.

  “But why do we have to learn how to shoot?” Sabine asked. “I’ve never touched a gun. I haven’t even seen one except in movies!”

  “It’s a tool, Sab,” Lena said with a smile and shortening the squirrel’s name. “Just like anything else. It can be used or misused. It’s nothing to be afraid of. Respected, but not feared.”

  Randy nodded in agreement. “As for why, we’ll also be providing transport for high profile targets. That means that we’ll also be partly responsible for their safety and may have to protect them.” The wolf shrugged. “You wouldn’t use a wrench to drive a nail, would you?”

  “Of course not!” the squirrel exclaimed, rather offended by the idea.

  “That’s right. You’d use a hammer. It’s the right tool for the job. When it comes to protecting others, and ourselves, you need the right tool, and that means a weapon. I’d prefer if you got comfortable with everything that we’ll have on board, but if all you can manage is a stunner, I’ll be happy with that.”

  “I…I’ll try,” the squirrel said in a small voice and shrugged herself uncomfortably into her own shoulders.

  “That’s all Elias, Lena or I will ever ask of anyone,” Randy said with a reassuring hand on Sabine’s arm.

— NEXT CHAPTER —

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