Flash Fiction # 470 -- Raiders/20

 "Damn!" I shouted and toggled us out of the way of incoming shots.  "What the hell do they think they're doing!"

"They think they're firing at a were craft that escaped the bay just before -- watch out!"

We ducked a shot from one of our own, and then I took out a hunk of debris that sent pieces scratching over our shell.  More human fighters headed our way, as well as were ships who realized we were not one of them.  Great.

"Take out every were craft you two can target."  Like I had to tell them to do that part.  "I'll do my best to keep us from any fatal impacts.  Sure wish I could see better, though."

"You give us such hope," Lisel said with a sigh.

I didn't have time to answer him.  We plowed our way through pieces of the ship, and I realized that the larger were craft still moved outward, trying to escape.  Limping, at least.  I could see the surge and ebb of power on the screen as the engines labored.  I wanted to go back and take one more swing at it, but I wasn't that crazy.

Yeah, that would have surprised Lisel and Krisin.  It surprised me.  I thought about heading home -- heading toward the Belgium -- but then I decided the station was less likely to shoot at us.

Our own people finally stopped firing at us, but we'd taken a couple hits.  The craft had been hard enough to handle before half the controls died.  Now even the toggle didn't want to work.  I snarled and pounded it with both hands.

Our stolen craft made some sudden odd moves, and I barely stayed in my seat.

"Well done," Lisel praised.  I looked up to see a piece of debris our own size slip past, barely yards away.

I didn't tell him I'd never noticed it.

The humans had stopped firing at us, at least.  The enemy still tried, but the fighters from the Belgium held them off, and except for the stopping part, we didn't have much trouble making it back to the bay on the station.

At least we didn't do much damage.

We climbed out amid shouts of joy.  Brick raced up and hugged me.  He almost hugged Lisel, too -- but came to his senses in time.  He did slap Krisin on the shoulder.  I couldn't clearly hear what he was saying above the other shouts.

Befly had a screen up showing the battle still being fought beyond the station.  There wasn't much to it once the Belgium turned on the were's mother ship.  The final explosion of that larger ship filled the screen with light, and I held my breath -- but the Belgium had come through fine.

There was a lot more cheering.

I just found a quiet corner to sit down and rest for a few minutes...

"There you are," Lisel said.

I sat up, reaching for the controls. "Just shoot the bastards down!  Do I have to do everything?"

Not on a ship.  Oh.

"We've been looking all over for you," Krisin said.  He pulled me to my feet.  "Captain Dundas was starting to get worried."

"I just sat down a few minutes ago."

"We've been back on the station for six hours.  The Captain is here.  Come on."

I wanted to deny the timeline, but just glancing around, I could tell things had changed.  Besides, I looked a lot more alert than Krisin and Lisel.  I almost felt guilty.  Almost.

We passed something odd in an open area just beyond the bay.  Children playing -- Catchin, station, and even some from the Sailfour.  They laughed and chased each other.  I couldn't remember the last time I'd heard any children laughing.  A Catchin woman sat close by and gave us a nod of thanks.

"I am one of ten scouts sent to find us a new world of our own," Lisel said suddenly.  "That's why they know me -- and the two of you.  The catchin on the Belgium are, in essence, my personal crew and staff, who will take up the work of making certain a world is viable.  I have not given up the search, but I realized that the Catchin would not be safe with the enemy still attacking worlds.  Once the war is over, I will go back to the search."

I nodded, feeling a distant hole in my life.  I'd gotten used to my crew.

"I would be honored if the two of you would help in the search."

Krisin and I both grinned with delight.

The station looked well on the way to recovery already.  I hadn't thought they'd be this resilient, but it reminded me of the children.  They wanted their lives back.

Belgium crew guarded the door where Krisin led us.  I ran a hand through my hair, but that was the best I could do.  I feared I smelled like were ship still.

Captain Dundas had taken over a large office near the bay.  The three of us were ushered into a room filled with ship captains, station people, and Belgium crew.  They all looked up and stopped talking when we came into the room.

"We came back sooner than expected, and I think that a good thing on many levels," Captain Dundas said with a wave of her pocket comp, as though we could read the screen from across the room.  "We picked up a message about the Sailfor and her involvement with the enemy.  It had been punched through to the relay at our first jump point.  Before we had turned around to come back, we caught an echo of the Mother Ship.  We returned as quickly as we could manage.  Tana, we were gone for hours, not days --  and we came back to find this chaos and madness." She stopped and took a deep breath, putting the pocketcomp on the table in front of her.  She looked up at us.  "Well done."

The End

Flash Fiction # 469 -- Raiders/19

 

 

The enemy didn't expect us to shoot at them.  They reacted slower than usual.  I listened to their communications, and though I couldn't tell one fighter from another, I did start picking out the Mother Ship's messages.

"They don't sound happy," Lisel said and shot down two more craft.
"I suspect they are going to start coming at us.  Krisin?"

"I think I can start the fighter.  Simple controls.  We'll need to drop out of the bay before we hit the Mother ship, so make sure you aim at her and get down here in time."

"Krisin, if --" I began.

"I'm not leaving without you."

Lisel grunted.  I couldn't think of anything better to say.

I aimed us vaguely toward the Mother Ship, drawing a few more of the craft our way.  Another five launched, though.  Did they volunteer for a suicide mission?

Did we?
"We have a massive disturbance ten degrees from the were ship," Lisel warned.  "I didn't think they'd have a second mother ship in the area.  Damn --"

"Not were," I said and grinned.

Though not for long.  The communication was weak, but I heard enough of it to realize we had real trouble.

"This is Captain Dundas of the Belgium," the woman said, her voice harsh.  "Sailfor, we are now aware that you are working with the were --"

Belgium's canons began to fire up.

No time for subtlety.  I hit the full comm on, not a private link, and even opened it up to the whole ship --

"Don't shoot!" we all three shouted.

We couldn't have done better if we'd practiced.

"What the hell?" Dundas said.  "Tana?"

"Yes, yes.  Kind of busy -- Lisel one's going under --"

"I got it."

"We have something we need to do, Captain," I said.  "Trust us."

"The Belgium hasn't been gone 24 hours.  Do you see the destruction out there?"

But the canons were no longer tracking us, and we were almost to the mother ship.  They still didn't know.  It was apparent they didn't understand human speech any better than we understood them.  And maybe that was the problem, right?

"We're running out of time, Tana," Lisel warned.  "Set it on auto, and let's go."

"You should --"

"I will pick you up and carry you if you don't get your ass out of that chair right now."

Dundas laughed, but I thought there was a touch of hysteria to the sound.

"See you soon, Captain," I said.

Lisel was reaching for me.  I got up on my own and raced him down to the bay.  Lisel has longer legs and better speed, but I wasn't far behind him.

And we all three laughed.  Yes, we were laughing in the face of death, and we knew it.

"What -- what do we have," I said with a breathless wave toward the strange craft.

"I can get the door to open and close.  No airlock," Lisel said.  He threw safety suits to them.  "I cleared the interior atmosphere, but we'll only have the air from the suits.  Get in fast."

He was right.  They had no time to talk about it.  

Lisel mumbled something about his suit being a bit small.

"Largest one they had, Lis," Krisin said.  "Just be sure to keep your claws in."

Lisel nodded.  I was already in my suit, helmet in hand, and went to look at the door.  It had a simple press button again.  She hoped the rest was as easy.

No time.

"Opening bay door," Krisin warned as they settled into uncomfortable seats.  I assumed I was at the ship's controls, but it was mostly a guess.

The bay door opened, though I couldn't see it.  We felt the vibration.  I knew it was right in front of the fighter's nose, though.  So I looked over the controls and then hit three buttons in quick succession.  One moved us.  I thought the other two fired weapons remembering how their shots usually came in two close bursts, but I couldn't see --

Krisin got the screen to work.

It was an odd screen, but I could make out a few things.

We were, as far as I could tell, within fifty yards of the mother ship.  And yes, I had hit it with those two shots.

We were about to enter the Mother Ship bay with the Sailfor following right behind us.

"Tana --" Lisel said with a sound of tried patience came over the suit's communit.

"Just push buttons.  Both of you."

"What if --" Krisin began.  "No, never mind.  It won't matter."

We learned things.  The screen changed colors.  Were liked the sound of chants.  What a suspected were increasingly strong warnings sounded like bird chirps.  They had intricate star maps.

We got closer.

How?  Up and Down.  Left and Right.  They were enough like us --

Toggle.

I found something that looked right and shoved it forward.

We dipped, nose first, straight down.  These fools appeared to have no safety webs to hold them in place.  I hit my head.  Lisel hissed, and somewhere else, Krisin was calling on every known god in every language he could manage, which turned out to be far more than I ever would have expected.

I couldn't actually see what was going on behind -- above -- us, but I had the timing right.  The Sailfor had made it into the bay.  Everything flashed, and vast pieces of the ship began to fly by us.  We were hit, but I had the feel of the craft now.  I also could read the more significant bits of the ship on the radar and worked at avoiding the worst of them.  Krisin and Lisel were shooting the back canons and taking out a lit more debris of any size.

I wanted to know how badly damaged the mother ship was.  The thing was huge, and I couldn't tell if the damage in the bay had spread.

Fighters from the Belgium were heading our way.  Good.

Then they started shooting at us.

Flash Fiction # 468 -- Raiders//18

 There were holes in the Sailfor.  I could even hear a slight hiss of air loss.  Frost had formed on one wall, and from that, we found the hole.

"Not big enough to worry about," Krisin decided.

I supposed he was right.  What we did was going to be over fast.  So we went on by and up to the control deck.  A couple bulkheads had sealed off areas breached by our attack, but overall, the ship had stood up to the battle.

It still had power.  I suspected Sima of that work, reluctant though she must have been to help the aliens.  She had kept the ship -- and her people -- alive.

We saw signs of were in what might have been words carved into the walls.  Lisel took shots of them, and I thought he sent those off to the station if we didn't make it back.

Not that we had any doubts about this.

The control deck was a mess with several pieces of alien technology in place.  I had a moment of consternation before I realized that the regular controls had to still be there since the Sailfor had no trouble maneuvering into the dock.

Krisin made a growling noise that sounded as if it should have come from Lisel.  Then he threw himself into the work.

I listened to the odd sounds at the communications station and realized I was hearing the were trying to contact the Sailfor.  I had heard their voices in the past, the sounds for which they'd been named.  The words all seemed to be high-pitched variations of w and r.  Wr.  Wwwr. Wrrrr.

Did they leave the communications open?  I signed for silence and went to examine it.  There was one little device stuck in the comm board with an indention on the top.

I grinned at Lisel.  He looked worried.

I jabbed at the indentation -- up and down several times while I made were sounds.  I had heard them often enough that I did a reasonably good imitation while hoping the off-and-on link would make it sound as if we had a bad communication board.  I only tried for about fifteen seconds before I yanked the link out and tossed it to Krisin.  He took it out of the room.  When he came back, he sealed the bulkhead behind him.

"Can we fly her?" I asked.

"Systems are intact," Krisin replied.  Lisel was at the weapons board and gave a grunt of approval there.

I settled at the pilot's station.  The chair had been restructured to fit a were, and I was not comfortable.  No matter.  This wouldn't take long.

"Krisin, have them turn us loose," I said.  He had his communit on, and I'd heard him mumble now and then to people on the station.  "I don't want to do more damage to them."

It took a moment, but I felt the Sailfor drift free of the constraints.  The boards came on, and the screen flickered to show -- strange colors, sharper shapes, and more contrast.  That must have said something about the were.  It was giving me a headache, though --

Krisin had done something.  The screen changed back to normal.  I nodded my thanks, not that it was a better scene.  I counted eleven were fighters, and the Mother Ship was still limping away so slowly that I had the odd feeling it might turn back on us.

"I don't want them turning back on the station," I said.

"Yeah, I had that feeling," Lisel replied.  "I'll take the ones on the right.  The fighters will lose interest in the station, and I think we can worry the ship."

"There's a were fighter in the bay," Lisel said.

"Huh."

"We'll need safety suits," Krisin said.  "They should have some in the bay.  I'll go check things out while everything is still calm."

He hurried off.

"This is insane," Lisel mumbled.

"Well, it really is calm compared to most of what we've been doing," I replied.

"That's not what I meant."

"Oh.  Do you mean deciding we can fly a were craft with no idea how they work?  I've seen part of the fighters they've brought in.  We know the were are shaped a great deal like us in the basics -- two arms, two legs -- and hands with six to eight fingers of sorts.  The three of us have had more contact with were craft than anyone else."

"That's still insane!"

"Of course it is," I said.  There was no denying it.  "But --"  I waved toward the controls in front of me.  "The were flew this ship.  We can fly theirs.  Do you have a better idea?  Other than be on the Sailfor when it goes up in a blaze of glory?"

"Somewhere between your species and mine, I think some switch got put in place," Lisel said.  He sounded entirely serious.  "Some sort of defense against insanity --"

"It's not species," Krisin said over the comm.  "It's just her."

"I'm not sure that's better, especially given that we're in this with her."

"Something we can discuss over a couple beers.  The were fighter looks intact.    I'm not sure how to get in, though.  Blowing a hole in the door seems counterproductive."

"Did you find safety suits for us?"  I asked.

"Huh.  Yeah. I suppose it doesn't matter if it can't hold an atmosphere, does it?  I've found the lock on the scan.  I think if I blow that --"

"Safety suit first, my friend," Lisel said.  "No telling what might come out when you open it.  And be ready for trouble."

"Yes," he said.  "Good point."

I could hear a flurry of were voices on the comm.  I didn't attempt to answer them, but I could see the fighters were starting to respond.

"We're about to come under attack," Lisel pointed out.

"I noticed.  Start taking them out.  I think we can still get there."

I didn't, however, say that I thought we could survive it.

Heart Problems (not a flash fiction)

 

 At about 1:30 am on Saturday (7/17/21), I started feeling awful.  It passed quickly into terrible with a headache so bad I can't even describe it, and horrendous pain starting in my neck and spreading down both arms and eventually to my chest.  By then we were heading to the hospital.

They took me right in and called the cardiologist and prepared for a closer look at the heart.  The first guesses were a stroke because of the headache, but they soon realized I was in the midst of a major heart attack.  It held on for over an hour until they found a completely clogged artery and got it cleaned out and put in two stints.  I think I remember it getting better.  

All I really remember is staring at the ceiling and wanting someone to make it stop hurting.  An hour or more of this pain was just too much.  Five minutes had been too much.  I do remember one odd thing, though, after they were into the work.  Someone said something (I don't remember the exact words from either of us, just the gist of what was said):

Him: You want us to go in and fix anything we can and stop the pain, right?

Me: Absolutely

Him: You all heard that, right?

At that point they didn't think they even had time to ask Russ's permission from the next room.  

After they were done, things got better.  Tests, tests, blood tests -- my arms are bruised and sore from elbows to wrists.  My wonderful husband stayed with me except for a couple hours when he had to go to work before they could get someone in.
 
(Yes, it was important he do so.  They proctor tests and they are not allowed to have less than two people working.  If he hadn't shown up, many people -- some of whom had come from out of town -- would have been told they couldn't test.  Another of the workers hurried in as fast as she could, too.)

Now here is an odd thing.  I have always had very high blood pressure.  For insurance reasons, I'd been off my meds for over a month.  However, my blood pressure stayed fine for this entire mess and even went low a couple times -- and since it was a clogged artery causing the problem, being without the pills was not what brought this on.

The worst part, once the pain was gone, was just lying in that bed for hours and hours with noting to do but watch the main monitor.  I learned how to direct one line by moving my arms -- lift the right arm and the line went up.  Lift the left arm, and it went down.  I considered trying to draw pictures.

I had excellent care.  I didn't realize how serious the problem had been until Sunday when the cardiologist said something like "It was a difficult procedure" and the next time he came by he said 'We won one.'  It turns out that a lot of people don't survive this particular kind and strength of heart attack.

All day Sunday, people who had been there at various phases, stopped by to see how I was doing.  "It turns out that the "We won one" attitude had spread.

I am grateful to these people. Even though I was anxious to go home, I was always aware of how much work the nurses put into making sure I was doing all right and helping make me comfortable.

They turned me loose on Sunday afternoon.  We stopped to pick up prescriptions.  I fell asleep three times while we sat there as Russ got the pills and some cat food.

I came home.  I went to bed and slept for hours.  I came out and sat in a comfy chair and slept for more hours.

I still feel off, of course.  Actually, I feel pretty horrible and keep panicking at any little flutter of a feeling.  Russ will be home for a day or two.  I have instructions.  Because of heart damage, I need to go easy for a while.  (Yeah, well, that's never been a problem.)

So, that was my weekend and the start of my new changes in life.  I hope to do well.

Right now, though -- I think I'll go nap.

Flash Fiction # 467-- Raiders/17

 

At least we had a warning. Lousy timing, of course, but there couldn't be better given the circumstances.    We stood ready when the airlock door popped open, and a were tumbled out.

We were not ready for him to be dead.  Nor the next two.  Their helmets had been punctured.

By the time a woman showed her face, I had enough curiosity not to shoot her.

"We found a wreck," she said without prompting.  "Human ship, but it turned out those bastards had already taken her.  They took over the Sailfor, killed our Captain and a few others, and held our children hostages against mutiny.  We took our chances here.  We have seven more dead aliens.  All we ask is that you take our five children and try to keep them safe."

"There is a were mother ship out there," I said with a wave of my hand.  "We're not exactly a safe location."

"Any port in a storm," she replied.  She was pale, thin, and had a few too many bruises.  "They still have a better chance of survival with you than on the ship.  Hell, we hoped when the fight got going between the crew and the station people that you'd take the ship."

"Get the kids," I said.  She gave me a brighter smile than I expected.  "And all the crew, too.  Brick here will take you to the core.  They'll need to be watched, Brick.  Just to be safe.  Go!  Get them!  The core is the only place even marginally safe now."

She turned and shouted to the others.  Lisel dragged the were bodies off to the side and somewhat out of sight.  I couldn't imagine why until the first of the children appeared.  The youngest was barely old enough to walk.  They froze at the edge of the airlock, looking equally terrified and amazed.  The first woman made her way past them.  I counted five more crew besides her.

Brick and Lisel herded the children into a group.  One small girl seemed intrigued by the Catchin fur, so he sat and let her and the others pet him.  That helped to stem the panic, I thought.  I was glad when he handed the last child to another man.  

"What's your name?" I asked of the woman in charge.

"Sima.  I was assistant engineer until they killed Trey.  Since then, I've kept us running."

From the way she said those words, I knew she'd considered blowing the ship to hell, and she still wasn't sure she'd made the right choice.  I couldn't blame her, given the situation.

"I'm Tana.  I was on the fighter that attacked your craft.  I'm sorry.  We had no way --"

Sima put a hand on my arm and nodded.  "You did what needed to be done."

"I think we might need to do more with your ship."

"Do it.  None of us will ever want to go back to her.  The codes are all open.  We had to do that for the were.  She's yours."

Sima walked away with the others, taking that youngest child in her arms.  Lisel watched with me for a moment, but that's all the time we had.

"We will save them," Lisel said.  "We will save them all."

I looked back at the screens and nodded.  I scanned positions and realized it was not going to get any better.

"Showtime," I said.

"Well, I hope it is entertaining," Lisel replied.  He took out another were fighter.  They'd gotten a bit careless since we hadn't been shooting for a while.

I took one last moment to go over my program and make a slight adjustment.  I double-checked my links as well.  I couldn't say that I thought it would really work, but hell -- they trusted me with all this power, I might as well make good use of it.

"And here we go," I mumbled and typed in the sequence I'd set up.

The robo ships came to life, engines firing at full power, all of them turning in one direction -- and surging straight at the mother ship.

"That is a joy to see," Lisel admitted with a true purr.  "One of those rare moments you can only hope to experience once before you die.  And we are going to die, you know."

"Maybe not today.  The fighters are a bit slow to respond."

It felt like an hour, watching those little ships head as fast as they could for the mother ship while the enemy dithered.  By the time they did turn their attention to the unmanned craft, I had adjusted their flight, and they were heading straight for the nearest were bay.  Other fighters were coming out and starting to shoot -- but I'd made plans for that, too.  My little ships began to move in an intricate braiding pattern that took them in wide swings, back and forth.  We lost four.

The rest went straight into the bay and impacted somewhere in the interior.

For one brief moment, a light like a star blazed.  In the next, pieces of the enormous ship broke off.  More fighters tumbled out as well, and Lisel was taking out more than his share that came back at us.

I had the feeling I'd made them angry.

Then, from one heartbeat to the next, the were fighters suddenly spun and sped away straight for the larger ship.  She was turning as well, in an awkward jerking sort of motion that I'd never seen in any kind of ship.  They were trying to pull out.

And for one moment, I thought I would let them go.  Then I looked at the still open airlock to the Sailfor and glanced at Lisel.

He nodded.

"Krisin?  You still there?  I think we're going to need you --"

"Already -- on -- my -way," he answered, breathless as he ran.  "Don't leave without me."

I went to the airlock and looked in, thinking it might have been better if I hadn't already shot the ship full of holes...