“This isn’t a warship, it’s a high-speed courier!” she blurted.
“It’s used by intelligence services, it must have something special!”
Her face brightened somewhat—a light bulb moment. “Chaff! It’s got chaff! And a grade two jamming suite that’s it . . . I think. But I’ve never used them! I don’t see how they’ll help against fighters.”
He snickered. “Weapons are just one way to establish a tactical advantage. We’ll use what we’ve got.”
The atmospheric patrol fighters had the advantage while in the atmosphere, but soon the pursuit would clear the stratosphere. Orbital defense patrols would be the next problem.
Crazy things happened from time to time, a bored kid stealing daddy’s space yacht—a USSF lunatic on a covert mission. The local system navy never sat idle orbiting a planet twiddling its thumbs. They patrolled deeper out system. Orbital or planetary incidents fell under the purview of local security forces. But this wasn’t an ordinary outlaw.
And this outlaw wasn’t piloting an ordinary ship.
Since when had he started referring to himself as an outlaw?
He finished computing the sequence to jam the radar specific to the pursuing fighter craft. “Jamming their radar now, that should give us a few minutes up front.”
Another warning alarm signaled some form of impending doom. Then again maybe not!
“They’ve locked on! Incoming heat-seeking missiles!” she shouted.
“Well . . . maybe I was wrong.”
She glared at him. “Maybe?!”
“Cool it, spy girl, this is a space affair, you stick to the spying—I’ll handle the flying.”
“You’re barely a level three pilot!”
“Oh? And what level are you, here why don’t you fly—”
“Rayne!”
He smirked. “Hang onto something and stand by to punch the chaff when I say.”
A few moments later, the interior rattled and groaned. The tiny courier rocketed through the atmosphere. The missiles were seconds away.
“Aaron!”
She called him by his first name?
He grimaced, straining with the flight controls. “Stand by!”
“The missiles are almost on us!”
He cut the engines and shoved the manual control stick forward, putting them into a deep dive. “Now!”
She obeyed.
The chaff released and the missiles slammed into it. The shock wave tossed the ship like a sea going vessel on a twenty-foot wave.
“Woowee! I’ve never had an atmospheric ride like this! Spies must have all the fun!”
He yanked the stick back and Star Runner climbed. They’d earned precious seconds until the fighter craft could bank, by then Star Runner would be twenty thousand kilometers away and into high orbit. He pushed the throttle to full.
To his right, Lieutenant Delaine hunched over, maybe she didn’t want to empty her stomach on the deck.
“Don’t worry, those fighters aren’t built for orbital flight. We’re safe for the time being—now it’s your show. We have about six hours before the local navy arrives. I see a patrol destroyer on a vector to intercept us.”
She finally looked up, brushing her dirty-blond hair from her eyes. Those blue eyes could pierce a soul. He looked away quickly hoping she didn’t notice his lengthy stare.
“Head for these coordinates,” she said.
He looked down at the new set of coordinates she transferred to his console. “There’s nothing out there.”
“There’s something out there, a ship.”
“What kind of ship?” His interest peaked.
“You’ll find out when the time comes, Commander.”
He didn’t want another argument. “Right, setting course now and engaging.” He unstrapped his harness. “I’m going down to check on the others.”
He slid down the ladder, scraping his elbows all the way. Next time he’d just take it one rung at a time.
“How’s our patient, Dr. Vee?”
The XO shook his head. “Not good. Two of those slugs hit him in the back and he’s lost a lot of blood. I’ve stopped the bleeding, but we need a transfusion kit to boost him.”
Besides the distant destroyer, there were no nearby threats. Delaine could step away from the flight deck. “Lieutenant Delaine, get down here now.”
To her credit, she came immediately without a hint of protest.
“He needs a transfusion, get a medkit.”
She trotted off and returned with the kit, taking out a med-scanner.
“Forget the scanner he’s A- negative. As am I. Vee, hook us up.”
Alvarez hooked him up to the transfusion kit, followed by Lee.
The tough fighter had turned a pale shade. All the swag had drained from his features and he looked like death. Two holes in his back.
Aaron knelt and whispered into the fighter’s ear.
“Fight, Lee, Fight.”
****
Aaron sipped on his favorite carbonated beverage, washing down a gourmet meal of heated meat patties. Clearly, someone stocked infantry rations aboard Star Runner. When one was hungry enough even infantry rations could taste like a five-star meal.
Lee was stable and resting and Vee had joined them on the flight deck.
“He’s going to need surgery to repair the internal damage. The arm well . . . I suppose the USSF will give him the best one,” Alvarez said.
Lieutenant Delaine’s opinion differed. “How about the best bionic arm, designed for mobile infantry? Those arms are rated to lift approximately one ton. They’re coated with tough ceramics yet still largely retain the mobility and flexibility of a real limb. He could even switch it out to a weaponized arm . . .” Her voice trailed off when she saw the look Alvarez was giving her.
“You think he’s some type of ‘war machine’ for you to tinker with as you please! He’s a human being, not an android!”
“Would you rather give him a hook then?” she queried.
The XO lost it. The most levelheaded man Aaron ever knew.
In a fit of rage the ops officer lunged over at Delaine, his eyes bulged and he snarled like a feral beast. Aaron launched himself and managed to grip a scruff of Alvarez’s shirt and pull him back and down into his seat. “Vee, damn it man, what’s got into you?”
The XO looked at him as though he didn’t know him.
“Where did you find this insensitive, heartless—”
Aaron shook his friend. “Vee! As you were damnit!” He released him and turned to Lieutenant Delaine.
She’d stepped back a few paces. Wise choice. But more likely, she didn’t want to hurt the XO. Since no doubt she was an unarmed combat expert.
Aaron nodded to her former seat. “Sit.”
She stiffened at first, then complied.
He looked back at Alvarez. “Lee will be taken care of. The important part is—he’s alive. He didn’t lose his head. Whatever arm he wants or gets, is irrelevant. He’ll get one. If you have nothing sensible to contribute, sit and listen. Before we discuss what happened planet side, we need to discuss our immediate situation.”
Aaron shook his head. What happened down there that could compromise Vee’s rock solid composure? He made a point of it to ask him later.
Alvarez stood and left the flight deck.
Aaron didn’t bother to stop him. Instead, he spoke to Delaine. “We’re three hours from those coordinates. Initially, I plotted the destroyer to intercept us in six hours. But with the brilliant use of the gravity well of the sixth outer planet, it’s accelerated to .6 c, the top speed for that obsolete Raptor-class destroyer. Time to intercept is down to three hours. With emergency deceleration, it can reach our destination—without overshooting its weapons range—fifteen minutes after us. Despite being obsolete in modern space navy terms, it’ll shred us. Right now, however, I need the specs on the ship waiting at our rendezvous point.”