12


We had been playing hide and seek four hours before everything went horribly wrong.
“Jelly advises that we are closer to the slip tunnel we came through than is ideal given the circumstances,” X-37 said.
“Relax, X,” I said as I considered an unlit cigar and pondered my inevitable victory over Henshaw and the Lady Faith.
“If we came through it, so could someone else. Someone dangerous,” X said far too seriously.
“Wait.” I sat up and began flipping through tactical holos—still no detection by Henshaw, and he was the reason we were this close to the slip tunnel, because he had been hard to get away from with his seemingly random as hell search vectors and sensors too powerful for a pleasure yacht.
It aggravated me that I wasn’t seeing the danger that had X worked up, then on impulse, I flipped to the navigation holo.
“Fuck me in a circle!” I shouted.
“She asked me to tell you because she’s busy with countermeasures,” X-37 said. “It seems we have company.”
“No shit, X. Warn the Lady immediately.” There had been no sign of slip tunnel activity since we arrived, and I had begun using more and more of the system to evade Henshaw and the Lady Faith. “How many ships?”
If I was being completely honest, I was hoping that only one of the carriers had come through, or better yet just a scouting drone.
“All three of the stealth carriers, The UFS Nightmare, UFS Dark Lance, and UFS Black Wing emerged in a standard Union tactical formation then disappeared,” X-37 reported. “We have approximate locations using Henshaw’s improved detection algorithms. The problem is that their stealth cloaks are a much newer design, developed and perfected long after Henshaw parted ways with the Union.”
“Is Henshaw seeing this?” I asked, not liking the vector the Lady Faith was currently pursuing.
“I’ve just sent a warning,” Jelly said. “Her attention must have been on finding us. Simple mistake. He’s smart and his ship has the surprisingly good tech for this kind of thing, but they haven’t been blooded in combat.”
“It’s too late,” X-37 told me privately.
I agreed but decided to keep my mouth shut. Tom and Jelly were working furiously to penetrate the Union stealth cloaks.
Elise and Path rushed onto the bridge, responding to the all-hands alert. They were sweaty and still holding their practice weapons.
“What’s happening? Is it the Union?” Elise asked.
“All three ships. They went invisible almost immediately. We’re doing sensor sweeps to find them,” I explained.
Elise took one of the auxiliary chairs on the bridge and wiped her face off with a small towel. She tucked the practice weapon through her utility belt and began typing on her screen, glancing between the readouts on her workstation and the holo display front and center on the Jellybird’s small bridge area. Path, by contrast, stepped near the door and stood quietly. He watched and listened but didn’t interrupt anyone’s work.
“They are going to catch her,” Tom said, distraught.
Three Union stealth carriers came into view with the Lady Faith caught in their three-dimensional trap. I hoped Henshaw didn’t make a wrong move. There was no way his ship could get away at this point. Nebs had dozens of options that would result in the destruction of the yacht.
“All three Union carriers are launching their ultra-small fighters,” Jelly advised.
“What a bunch of assholes. Fucking great. How smart are you now, Henshaw? Way to get caught!” Losing Henshaw and the Lady Faith wasn’t good news, but I had been right about one thing, Vice Admiral Nebs and his people were predictable. There was only a slight variation from the last time in the way they deployed the micro fighters.
“We expected this,” I said, holding my breath as I imagined flying a ship barely bigger than I was. The pilots of the micro fighters were definitely brave. “Let’s move in for the prize.”
“What about Henshaw?” Elise demanded.
I didn’t have a good answer. The ocular engineer and his yacht were beyond saving. Elise had to know that. We couldn’t fight our way in to save him and his ship and expect to survive. She should know this from our ship warfare training—everyone had improved, but I felt a little pee come out just thinking about doing it for real with such a green crew.
“One thing at a time,” I muttered, knowing Elise was getting tuned up second by second. “We need to play the long game if we’re going to beat Nebs.”
“That’s bullshit!” Elise shouted. “We have a chance to get Henshaw out of there before they lock on to the Lady Faith.”
“You like Henshaw now?” I asked.
“He’s one of us,” she said, fists clenched. “Doesn’t matter if I like him.”
Sidestepping the argument, I presented facts. “Even if we can create a distraction forceful enough to give Henshaw a chance to make a run for it, they’ll just catch him again. The Union has him from three points of navigation. His ship is faster, but not that much faster. And if they think they’re going to lose him, they’ll just blast him out of the galaxy,” I said. “In the meantime, we’re going to get something we can use and make them pay a toll for entering the system. Maybe that will be a distraction Henshaw can use to make a run for it.”
Elise continued to grumble and mutter arguments, but I ignored her. The Jellybird cruised through the system, picking up speed, even though she was in stealth mode. I wasn’t comfortable with it, but we were rolling the dice and winning so far. Risks had to be taken. I wasn’t sure if what I was after was worth it, but it was too late to turn back.
“Are you worried, Reaper Cain? Should I boost your oxytocin and restrict adrenaline?” X-37 asked with too much snark in his synthetic voice, I thought.
“I’m not going on a date, X.”
“Well? Do we want a calm and rational Reaper Cain or one about to rip someone’s arms off?” X asked.
“I’m not scared, X. Get over yourself,” I barked. “I’m calm!”
“I think I know what this means,” X-37 said. “One moment. Consulting my list of idiotic phrases used this month. There it is, get over yourself, an ancient colloquialism meaning to calm down and back off.”
“Give me an update, Jelly,” I said.
“I believe we can isolate two, possibly three, of the small ships,” Jelly advised. “Since we are carrying very little cargo, I believe we have room for one in the cargo hold and maybe one additional prize, but it will be tight and limit the amount of other resources we can haul.”
“Let’s grab one if we can,” I said. “No need to get greedy. We’ll disable those three right there. They’re the smallest group in our sector of this system.”
“Why are we trying to capture them?” Elise demanded. “We should be doing something useful, like helping our friend.”
“Technically, Reaper Cain,” X-37 said, “James Henshaw does in fact fit the definition of a friend who requires our assistance.”
“I’m not leaving him with the Union, so you can all relax. When one of you becomes a hostage rescue expert, let me know. I know how far I can push the odds and now is the time to be smart,” I said. “Be reckless on your own time.”
The Jellybird emerged from stealth mode so near the small ships, she was in range to fire a magnetic tow cable at two of them.
“Targets acquired. Cables are ready to launch at the nearest two. Rockets are ready to fire at any of them you would like to destroy or disable first,” Jelly advised.
Standing so that I could move around the small area, I put a hand on Tom’s shoulder. “Tom, you’re now our weapons officer. Congratulations on the promotion.”
Elise glared at my blatant violation of the combat safety standards I had been beating into their heads for weeks. Suddenly self-conscious, I checked the seal of my helmet to my jumpsuit.
“I wasn’t even certain I had a rank, but thanks,” Tom said, studying the targeting screens we had all practiced with after improving the ship’s weapons. He activated the safety harness on his chair.
“Give it to ‘em, Tom, but try to disable the one nearest us,” I said.
“Yes, sir,” he said, sitting straight in his chair and focusing all of his attention on his work.
“I’m not calling you sir,” Elise said. Her attitude was as sharp as ever, but I noticed she had also activated her combat harness.
“Don’t care.” My response was short because I was now feeling the full stress of ship-to-ship combat. It was worse when I was directly involved and not just a passenger on the way to a mission.
“Firing rockets,” Tom said, rapidly punching three sections of his work screen with his finger.
“Might I suggest you strap in?” X-37 asked.
Without answering or looking away from the action, I lowered myself into my captain’s chair and hit a button. A five-point harness snapped into place as I again checked my helmet and sealed it with my jumpsuit. Losing atmosphere was a real possibility in a space battle. “Put on your helmets. I shouldn’t have to tell you that.”
“We’re not the one walking around the bridge,” Elise muttered, then complied. She seemed both embarrassed that she had forgotten the helmet and angry at me for violating my own rules.
Teenagers, what a pain in the ass. With her, my Reaper LAI, and Henshaw, I was going to lose my mind one of these days. I longed for the old days when I was a lone assassin surrounded by enemies who never saw me coming until it was too late.