Flash Fiction # 466 -- Raiders/16

My brain went into hyper mode.  That happened on the fighter in situations like this --

Well, not exactly like this.  I don't think anyone could have imagined this nightmare.  Not in my fighter.  Not on a ship at all.  Were craft darting out of the Mother Ship and that craft moving in closer as well.

"Befly, Brick -- round up everyone, and all of you get into the core.  No, don't argue with me.  Do it.  I don't want to worry about things other than just the fight.  Go!"

Befly looked at the screen, then turned, grab Brick, and started shouting orders.  I didn't listen.  I did glance at Lisel --
"No.  I won't listen.  Krisin, get your people into the core, too.  We have the control we need, and they're going to need help.  Just do it, or I'll send Tana to root you out."

I kept going over the boards.  I was aware that one ship cut and run -- I wished it luck.  Really.  I tried to get the were fighters interested in us, so they didn't go after them.  I wanted someone to survive.

And I became aware of the odd silence around us.  We were alone on the bay.  I knew the others would still be heading into the core, but here ... it was empty.

"Lisel, you know this is insane, right?"

"Tana, my friend -- it has always been insane.  All the war, the making of the Catchin, us being here -- I don't look for sanity in humans."

"Oh, don't give me that," I said.  "You're human.  Just with fur."

He blinked.

"I suppose that's an insult?" I asked.

"I'm considering it."  But I thought he sounded pleased.  Had I never pointed that out to him before?  Did he think I didn't consider Catchin to be people?  Damn.  I needed to think about that --

Later.

"What do you see here?" I said with a wave of my hand toward the screen.  "Any ideas?"

"We need to scare the Mother ship off."

"Right.  That's going to happen."

"We might if they think we're crazy."

"We are crazy.  What's your plan?"

"We have roboships filled with explosives.  Maybe -- a minefield?"

"That might work."  I leaned over the controls and shot at a couple more of the were craft that had come closer again.  They might have thought we'd run out of power or something since I let them get so close.  "Okay, how about this.  Send a couple robos out to take off a few of the smaller craft.  Stop firing with the upper gun and let it cool -- we can bring it up fast enough if we want it.  Make them think we're running out of resources."

He agreed with a quick nod.  I let him handle the one gun, and I started programming the roboships.  Befly had put in enough info on the explosives that I had a good idea what they would do.

With no humans aboard ... oh, that might be interesting.

"They never shoot at craft once the crew is dead," I said.

"So if we kill ourselves, they'll stop shooting?"

"Ha."

I didn't have time to discuss what I planned.  Lisel was used to that, of course, but there were times when I wondered why he put up with it.  Granted, everything had worked so far, but even I thought most of my plans were more insane than inspired.

Like this one.

Oddly, Befly went along with what I asked, too, and the only questions were technical, not anything about why.

I don't know how long we worked on the problems.  I was aware that the Mother Ship was coming far closer, and the were fighters had begun to fly in more frantic circles.

Just what I had hoped to see.

"I need to take out one of the ships.  Then you can take out all the others you can get.  Just let me have the first, Lisel."

"Sure.  Of course."

I thought maybe I was coming close to his acceptance without question level.  I supposed I had better do this quickly.

I tracked the most likely were fighter through one circle, held my breath, and shot it on the next, clipping the nose and sending it tumbling --

"Tana, it's going to hit us --"

"Yes, it will.  I was afraid I couldn't do it."

"But --"

The were craft impacted low on the station structure and sent a jolt through the shell.  There might have been some damage since bulkheads went down.  I paid it little attention as my fingers played over the controls Befly and I had arranged.  The tiny work ships tumbled out of the bay, and a few broke loose from their holds on the side of the station.

I now had a dozen unmanned craft filled with explosives heading in vaguely the proper direction.  Lisel had taken our five more craft in that time.  I got one more.  The last few pulled back out of range, moving closer to the larger ship.

The Mother Ship hadn't noticeably slowed on the path toward us.  I wondered if they intended simply to plow into us.  I would have to let it get a lot closer before I moved to part two of the plan.

I happened to see that Brick was still with us, his eyes darting from the screens to us and back again.  I offered him a smile, but he looked more panicked afterward.  Maybe I needed to work more on not looking crazed.

The Mother Ship now practically filled the entire screen, making it harder to see the smaller were fighters that might be heading their way.

I would have to do what I could soon, or else the larger ship would get far too close, and no matter what happened after that, there would be extensive damage.  I looked over my board and my controls.  At least this would be fast.

"Tana, Lisel -- reading a laser pistol battle in the Sailfor and heading for the airlock," Krisin warned.

Great.

Flash Fiction # 465 -- Raiders/15

 At first, I didn't understand why everyone got out of our way.  I suppose it helped that we looked like trouble.  Lisel had his ears back and his teeth showing in a snarl I had never seen before.  Krisin walked with a laser pistol in hand.  I almost told him to give it to me -- but that would have been petty and ruined our image.

So I just had to look tough without the teeth or the weapon.  Maybe it worked.  Brick was even slow to approach us.  He signaled his people to stay back, and that was wise.  I couldn't say I trusted them.  I barely trusted Brick.

"We need to access the Sailfor's weapon systems," I told him.  No use playing around.  "We don't need to take the ship. Just isolate the weapon's computer from their control.  We can do that from the outside, but it has to be at the bayside terminal, and that's damned close to their airlock."

"We'll keep an eye on it," Brick said.  How odd that I no longer thought of him as a bully boy.  He was one of us now.  I reached over to tap him on the arm and draw his attention back.

"Be careful," I told him.  "Don't forget your family."

He looked at me, a little shocked, I thought.  But Brick blinked and then nodded.  He looked around the bay as though hunting for some ship to steal on his own so he could get clear with his family.

Maybe I'd help him -- after we took over the Sailfor.

The crew did make an attempt to keep control, but Krisin was fast and steady.  He turned the board over to me.

"How are you going to target them if you can't see them?" Befly asked.

Krisin was already pulling a portable screen over and overriding the computer controls to turn it into a low-resolution targeting board.

It didn't need to be better.  The enemy were very close.  I checked the controls, maneuvered two small hull cannons, and fired.  The one were craft we hit disintegrated.

"That's not normal," Lisel said, his voice hinting at a growl of worry.  "That's two.  Why would -- oh hell."

"Some sort of explosives to breach the station.  And we're turning.  They're going out of range."

They were getting too close.  "Lisel, Krisin, run a weapon's check on the rest of the ships in dock.  Find me something that will give us a --" I shot another one but only wounded it -- "give us another chance at them."

Because there was yet another line of weres coming behind this one.

"Why not use the station's weapons?" Brick asked.

I looked at him with the kind of stare that made me look like an idiot.  I felt like one.  "Station weapons?"

Now he blinked.

"Look, we're ship people," Lisel said.  "We don't spend much time on stations, and station people don't often go out of their way to explain things to us."

"We're out here on the edge of nowhere," Brick said.  "There are problems.  We mostly use them to take out random debris drawn toward the station.  I don't know much about --"

"Found it," Krisin said.  A second board appeared on the screen, blanked for a moment, and then settled into something I understood.  "I suggest you change over, Tana.  These weapons are at the top and bottom of the station, and they have a 360-degree turn."

"Yeah.  Switch me over.  The Sailfor's weapons are crap."

I made a quick change, scanned from both weapon locations, checked out the power -- about the same as the fighter, but there were two of them.  If there hadn't been a station full of people at risk, I might have enjoyed this.

I wanted the fighter in my hands.

"Going back to control," Krisin said.  "Do not let us get killed."

I grunted a reply, already targeting more trouble.  "Lisel, take the lower weapon."

He stepped in beside me.  We had to share the same board, which was challenging but not impossible.  We had worked together for a long time now, and I appreciated that Lisel took his directions from what I did and worked around me.  His long, slightly furred fingers moved in around mine with quick jabs, and he took out a were craft before I did.

So I killed the next two.

Lisel just sighed.  I grinned.

But we had a hard fight.  One of the were made it through our defenses.  Krisin ordered people away from one bay area, and I heard the bulkheads dropping somewhere around the curve.

It hit.  Everything shuddered.  Alarms rang.  I wanted Krisin to cut the sound off -- but we weren't on the fighter, and the people here needed to be aware of the problem.  Civilians.  I didn't know how many lives were in our hands.  More than the ship, which I really missed right now.  I wanted to go home.

Just survive this.

Befly put a hand on my arm, startling me and almost getting a curse --

"I have an idea," she said with a hand on my arm.  "I have the robo miners -- those ships you saw.  Four of them in dock, three more attached to the station.  They're used to mine debris.  We have explosives I'm having loaded in, but I don't know what would be the best --"

"Krisin!  Did you hear?  Can you get me control --"

"Working on it."

I saw the info come up on the side of the board.  They were not powerful little craft but looked tough.  Something we could send out and detonate --

"Tana, we have a problem," Lisel warned.

I looked up.  At first, I didn't understand what I saw.  Something was messing with the scanners.  A large sector had dropped off --

No.  A large section was overlaid by a single craft.

"What in the name of the stars?" Befly whispered.

"Mother ship," I said.  "A damned were mother ship.  Okay, that's it.  Now I'm mad."

Flash Fiction #464 -- Raiders/14

 

Being this far into a gravity well gave me more options than we usually had for maneuvers.  I could use both the local star's gravity and the station's bulk to help maneuver the fighter.

I let us stay dead a little longer.  The last craft went past — the dangerous one that could have taken a shot at us since they were late to the battle.

The station presented a far more tempting target.

"Let's do it," Lisel said.

I had made the calculations in my head since I didn't want to start any equipment.  We barely had the air circulating through life support, which was already tasting a bit stale.

Time to go.

I punched in the main engine, pushed against the gravity well, and did a lovely turn.  It was not a quick one, and we'd drawn attention — but the enemy couldn't move any better than our craft.  Besides, they would have to decide which among them would turn back.  From all I could tell with Were, they didn't like to change plans.

So we came back in range before the chosen craft had done more than start their turn.  We took that one out with a single shot to the side.  I almost felt bad about how easy it was, though I knew it would be our last easy hit.

The aliens were often slow to respond, but once they did, they were quick and deadly.  We still had four craft out there, and all of them now intent on us.  That meant they were not going after the station.

The three of us went into team mode.  Other fighters often had rotating crews, but the my team had been serving together for a long time.  It helped that we were three that no one else wanted on their fighters. We'd tried to run some teaching sims for the others since we had such good luck with aliens, but it always ended in disbelief from the others.

Sometimes realizing what we were doing, I had to agree.  It was crazy.

Two more craft went down, but we'd taken two serious hits, and even Krisin was having trouble keeping power routed to keep us moving and shooting.

"Go for the bay, Tana," he said. "Go quickly."

I could hear that whistle of sound that would have meant death for us if we hadn't been so close to safety.  I turned the fighter -- slow-moving -- and lined up.  A were ship must have sensed our problem, and it came in shooting.  He annoyed me.

So I turned and fired at him.

"Tana, honest to God, you are trying to get us killed --" Krisin snarled as he worked on the power grid again. "If we're going to die, I'm going to strangle you first --"

"Only if I don't disembowel her first -- oh, good shot!"

The were craft disintegrated.  I hadn't seen that reaction before, but I didn't have time to watch.  Instead, we turned back to the bay, and I shoved every bit of power we had to get us inside.  The outer shell was permeable -- but only if you were going fast enough.

I feared we weren't going to make it.  We bounced a little.  Lisel growled.  Krisin added the last power to our engine, killing all the controls.

We went in and basically dropped to the pad, the grapples catching us.  I was gasping.  I didn't know if that came from lack of air or too much excitement.

"Huh," I said. "We made it."

Befly had to pry the canopy up.  Lisel and Krisin jumped out before me.  I had trouble making myself let go of the controls.  By the time I climbed down, they were already helping pull out the damaged section of plating.  I looked around, but everything seemed to be in hand on the station.  Nothing for me to shoot here.  Good, since I didn't carry a weapon.

Befly had come to me with a shake of her head.  I pulled my attention back to reality and waited for the bad news.

"The shot took out half your power grid," she said, running a hand over her stubble of hair. "I've got my people scrambling for whatever we can find. We're asking for anything the ships can provide, too -- but we only have four in the dock, and you blew the hell out of one of them."

"Seemed like a good idea at the time," I said.  We moved around the fighter's side to where Lisel and Krisin were already working at a rather massive hole in the side of my craft.  I was glad that I'd already destroyed the were fighter, whatever one it had been.

"There are going to be more Were craft coming in," I said.  Lisel gave me a grim nod of agreement. "We need to find a way to stop them."

"I've got my people working as fast as they can," Befly said. "But even so --"

"The Sailfor," I said suddenly.

Lisel looked at me. "You blew a hole in it, Tana.  You are not thinking about flying it out there -- ah."

"She'll never leave the station.  But I want control of her weapons.  Krisin --"

"I heard." He ran both hands through his hair and looked off into space. "Let's see if there is enough left there for me to access."

I didn't want to leave the fighter.  I also didn't want to stand here and wait for the were to show up and kill us all.  If Krisin could find a way to access the Sailfor's system ... well, maybe we could surprise the next wave of were.

The crew of the Sailfor might have a few disagreements, but if we got control, it would hardly matter.  And there was always the 'void' option if it became too dangerous to keep them alive.  I had far too many others to consider.

The three of us started down the walkway.  People scattered...

Flash Fiction #463 -- Raiders/13

 I did a quick calculation on the were's direction and speed.  We had a short break.  Very short -- but I knew how to make the most of it.

"Krisin, get your ass moving and head to the repair bay.  We'll pick you up, but we won't have much time."

"Tana --"

"Get moving!  It's one thing for the two of us to shoot at a ship docked, another to take on at least six were ships.  We're the only fighter here, Krisin.  We need to have a full crew!"

"He's already running," a timid voice said.

"Good.  Thank you."

I shut down the comm and looked at Lisel, trying to think what to say.

"We need to be together," Lisel said, glancing my way.  His ears were not back, but I saw a look of resignation in his eyes.  "We need to do this right."

I wanted to say something ... inspiring, maybe.  Something important.

"Let's grab Krisin and kick some alien ass," I said.

Lisel stared for a moment and then burst out in such laughter that he couldn't stop, and I still had to maneuver the fighter into the bay.  Befly handled our quick drop without a problem and had the base turning to shoot us back out before a panting Krisin clambered up and threw himself inside.

We were still laughing.

"No, their fine," Krisin said.  "This is normal."

"The Gods help us," Belfry said but stepped back and gave a signal.  I could see some people rushing our way, but she had others lined up to hold them off.  That would be the Sailfor crew.

We'd come back and deal with them later.

Krisin took his place with a few grunts.  We were already on the turn.  I put the vid on to the back of the craft -- yes, there was a battle back there, but the others were already retreating --

And then we were back out into the endless night.  I chose our path away from the Sailfor and out at an angle to the incoming ships.  We still didn't have visuals, and I wanted to believe we were wrong about the enemy.  

Though at least were would be something I understood.  I might even be an expert on them.  There were rumors that my team had taken out more were craft than any other.  Maybe more than multiples of other fighters.  I did not keep score.  I had a bad feeling about doing something like that.

"What have we got?" I asked.

"Trouble everywhere," Lisel answered.  His hands moved fast across the controls.  Krisin had the engine power perfect and the weapons ready.    I just watched the screens and the area in front of us.  Were could be tricky.  The obvious group coming in might be there to draw attention.

We didn't talk much.  Sometimes inane things.  Krisin's hope for a date with a certain sub-pilot on the Belgium bridge and Lisel's odds on his chances this time.

"It might go up if we survive," Lisel offered.

"You are such a help," Krisin mumbled.  Then his voice changed.  "Moving in range.  We are fully powered with a bias toward weapons.  I can switch to shields when needed. Of course, we'll sacrifice speed -- but we aren't going to be running anyway, right?

"Probably not," I agreed.  I had to give up on the idea that the ships might not be were.  "Any sign of a mother ship or any other larger craft?  These fighters aren't going to collect anything from the station."

"I doubt the were are looking for anything to take," Lisel pointed out.  "They'll leave the scavenging to their human allies.  All they want is the stations destroyed."

"I wonder why," I said.

"At a guess, I'd say they don't like us," Krisin offered.

"Ha.  But really -- why are they attacking stations suddenly?  And why in this sector?  What are we missing?"

"Something I hope we'll have time to figure out," Lisel said.  "After this problem."

This problem was six alien ships, each of them twice the size of the fighter, turning their attention on them.  I shoved my questions to the back of my mind and focused on the trouble.

I had a feeling that the were had become aware of her fighter and crew, but I counted on them associating it with the Belgium and would not expect to find them attached to the station.  I even varied my usual sweep in for the attack, too, just to get them off-center for a little longer.  The closer we got, the better this would go.

Were had never quite figured out how well human ships could maneuver.  Theirs were not as maneuverable, but they did have speed and high-powered weapons -- and a shell that was damned hard to crack.

I knew their weak points.  Taking on one or two wouldn't have worried me too much.  Six, though...

No choice.  Surprise was our only hope.

I flew straight at them, firing one of the guns and taking out two of the misshapen were craft.  I did not turn aside.

"Tana," Lisel said, a bit of worry in his voice.

We took two hits before our fighter went dead, tumbling slightly to the right.  Neither of my companions said anything.  Maybe they'd even figure out my plan.  I was sorry we hadn't had time to discuss it -- though we just would have argued and I would have won the disagreement anyway.  I had the controls.

I keyed up one of our emergency tactics, putting out a lot of electronic chaff that would look as if our system had crashed.  It also masked any close look at the fighter itself.

The aliens rarely bothered with disabled fighters, at least not until they were done with their primary objective.  I was counting on that, but I still held my breath as the remaining four swept over and around us.

"Ready?" I said.

"Note how she asks after we are committed to her plan," Krisin said.

Flash Fiction # 462 -- Raiders/12

 

We knew that there would be more trouble heading our way before this was done, but their appearance already annoyed the hell out of me.  I had hoped we'd have a chance to deal with Sailfor first.

I fired at Sailfor just out of annoyance, even though it would not help our situation.  I caught sight of the blips on the sensor screen, but then I turned away.  They were still out of range.  I had more weapons to take care of on this stupid little ship and one fired before I had even located it --

The blast hit the rear right side of the fighter like a flash of lightning.  The controls went dead for a moment.  We kept moving, and I held my breath, listening for the sound that would mean our deaths -- a leak we couldn't fix.

I didn't hear one.  I didn't hear anything else, though, either.  We were still dead in space, and that was not good since the Sailfor was preparing to shoot again.  I glanced at Lisel, who had already spun to handle some of Krisin's controls.  I watched Lisel's boards for him, though I knew he remained fully aware of what was happening there.  There was just nothing for me to do at the moment. I couldn't fly, and I couldn't shoot.  That left me with too much time to think, which was never one of my better pastimes.  

I wanted to be back in the Belgium.  I wanted to rest in my room, wait for the enemy ... I did not want to be responsible for this entire station full of people.

The captain had to be crazy to send us out on this mission.  We weren't trained for it.  She must have been --

Desperate with no clear idea of what was going on and how to save these people.

The time stretched on, even though it couldn't have been more than a minute and a half.  Lisel was working quickly, half-turned in his seat and jabbing at the controls that were usually Krisin's position.  He mumbled.  He growled.  He yelped -- and we had power.

"Good work!"

He sucked on the fingers of his left hand, but he nodded.  I was already moving us fast in an upward direction, then to the right again.  We were going over the top of the ship, and more weapons were popping up --

I had not counted on Krisin working in the station and helping us in his own way.

"Count of three, Tana," Krisin said.

"Hey.  What?"

"One, Two -- Three!"

A surge of electrical power -- braids of lightning -- flashed along the side of the Sailfor where it was tied to the station.  The braids spread out over the ship in flashes of bright and deadly power.  Now there was a neat trick.  I imagined it fried many of the ship's controls and might have killed a few of the crew.  It also gave Lisel and me the chance to spin around again and locate the engine signature.

"Don't get too close," Lisel warned.  "Any of that power could go for us and fry the fighter."

"Got it."  I was already turning our ship, and Lisel prepared the weapons.  I took the front lasers, and he took the back canon.  We had them angled, so we were not going to fly headfirst into the ship.  That would stop them, of course.  Stop us, stop the station ... might be a bit of overkill --

I got the first hit and scored a shot right at the plates, burning through with a quick flash of power.  Lisel took the second shot right through my opening and hit the core.

We'd done it often enough before with were ships.

The Sailfor wasn't going anywhere now.  I read the scanners and saw that they'd dropped bulkheads into place, so the ship didn't wholly decompress.  That was fine.  I thought someone in authority would want to talk to some of them later.

Lisel and I had other problems.  I could see the line of six ships moving steadily station-ward.  Given the timing, I believed that they were the rest of the raiders, but it might be wise to do our best to make sure of it before we went in shooting.

"Hear me?" Krisin said, his voice breaking up.

"Not clearly," Lisel answered while he worked some of the power nodes.  We must have lost some of the commlinks.  "How is it going in there?"

"Chaos."

"Yeah, I can believe that," I said.  "What have we got on the new ships?"

"Too far yet," Krisin answered.  Lisel had mostly cleared up the comm problem.  "But coming in fast."

"How does the puddle jumper look?  Do we need to take that engine out, too?"  I looked over the scanners, locating that craft.  The engines hadn't powered up yet.

"Brick and some of his trusted people are guarding it.  There was an attempt to take the ship, but he and his people fought them off.  The other ships are locked down. I fear one or two might try to cut and run.  We're trying to work with them to at least not do damage to the station if they leave."

"Might warn them of other ships coming in -- Not the time to try and get clear.  You're right.  These guys are fast."

"It might be better to clear everyone that we can out of the station," Krisin replied.  "I can't say it is safe."

Lisel grunted something and frowned.

"What?" Krisin and I chorused.

"Doesn't that pattern look familiar?" Lisel asked.

I stared at the screen and then cursed.  Several times.

"They can't be were ships," I said.  I shook my head in denial as my rage grew.  "They can't be were because that would mean it was either a coincidence that they are here, or else they're working with the Sailfor.  And I don't believe in coincidence."