Battleship Furiosa (13 page)

"Sir, do we have landing
permission?" Matilda asked.

Before anybody else could answer,
the robotic voice of the flight controller filled the cockpits of
the fighters.

"This is Furiosa. Landing permission
granted to Knighthawk fighters."

There was a slight pause, and then a
final few words that sounded equally solemn.

"Welcome aboard."

Nate laughed to himself as he heard the
words. They might have been trying to be friendly, but the
translator system developed by Alliance technicians was still poor
at detecting and passing on emotions and inflections.

"Follow the landing vectors. You have
six bays cleared and marked for your fighters."

The two bow
structure
s extended outwards, with large
monofilament wings extending out like feathers. He knew from
experience that these parts of the ship hid the massive mass
drivers. These weapons hurled large projectiles that could batter
through multiple layers of armour with ease. In simulation, he'd
seen them cut a Liberty Class destroyer in half with a single
volley.

She is a beast.

Nate banked to the left and lined
up on the projected landing lights. The glowing dots showed the
exact path he would need to take to land inside the vessel's
cavernous interior. As he ma
de the
changes, he noted markings on the upper side of the ship that
served as a reminder of the horrors that had befallen the once
proud Empire. Streaks of black and a massive indentation showed
where the vessel had sustained a concerted bombardment. No attempt
had been made to cover up the damage. As his eyes moved along the
hull sections, he gasped. Hundreds of smaller holes covered
plating, and entire outer plates were now completely
missing.

"Are you seeing this, Sir? Is she able
to operate with this kind of damage?"

The Lieutenant Commander
answered instantly.

"We have assurances from her
o
fficers that she is one hundred percent
operational. Any damage you see is superficial, nothing
more."

Nate acknowledged
and turned his attention to the centre of the
vessel. The inner hull sections were coloured in a dull tan, with
glints of gold in places. Armour bulkhead sections were light grey,
in direct contrast to the golden inner sections. Finer details were
picked out in dull orange, especially in ridges along the top of
the hull and around the main control tower further back.

"Okay, take your fighter in slow.
The shielding will pulse as you travel inside, but it's nothing to
worry about."

As Nate moved into
position
behind Matilda, he could see the
layered hull with its wide tan-coloured sections. The main deck was
far behind the bow struts and flanked by the long, smooth grey bone
shape sections of hull. Further back again was a second layer, much
like a roof to the main deck. Multiple wing segments extended out,
absorbing solar energy, as well as apparently giving the ship extra
thrust from the solar winds. They looked much like sail fins on a
large predatory fish, and for all their beauty, he knew only too
well what power was hidden inside the ship. A brief pulse of white
marked the thrusters of the first Lightning as it moved between the
landing lights.

There she goes.

Matilda vanished between the two
layers and behind a translucent shield. Once through, her craft
became little more than a blurred shape. Nate adjusted his landing
approach and then noted the myriad of turrets tracking him. Like
all capital ships, Furiosa was well equipped with more than just
fighters and long-range weapons. Scores of smaller turrets covered
the outer bulkhead ribs and slats with high-velocity
cannons.

"Next one in."

Nate acknowledged the order and
boosted his engines. He applied a little too much and had to
reverse thrust a tiny fraction.

Don't be an idiot. A lot of people are
watching this.

He dropped his forward speed
a
nd drifted closer and closer to the ship
until he was between the two decks. The flanks were almost
completely exposed, giving perfect line of sight for the many more
turrets he could now see. These were substantially smaller than the
bow-mounted guns, but of a similar size to the primary weapons
fitted to the Crusader Class warships.

This thing is a monster.

As he looked
to the front of the ship, he noticed he was drifting a
little too much to the right. All it took was a subtle course
correction and he was back on the glide path. Directly ahead lay
the mirrored surface of the shield. Marker lines pulsed on his
helmet overlay to inform him of the proximity to the landing zone.
It was still a zero-g environment, and that surprised Nate. In the
simulation, they had been forced to deal with changes in
gravitational forces until landed.

Okay, this is weird.

Even though Nate knew it was of
no danger to him, he still held his breath as the nose of his
fighter touched the surface. T
he pulsing
energy shield changed colour, and ripples spread out as though he'd
just disturbed the surface of a placid pool of water. Then his
fighter pushed through, and with nothing more than a flash he was
inside.

Phew
!

With a landing speed
of no more than twenty kilometres an hour, he
could take his time, and with a subtle shift the fighter rotated
about on its own axis so that he could survey the landing area. At
the same time, he activated the landing mode. In an instant the
controls altered, with more dampening added and less response to
smaller actions from his hands. He had to move the controls twice
as much as before for the same outcome, effectively slowing
everything down.

"Incredible. Just incredible."

Unlike Alliance ships, the entire
deck was given over to fighters. Bays on each side held nine
fighters, while the space in the centre was kept completely clear
for spacecraft to use for taking off and landing. What amazed him
even more was the size of the place. He knew from the computer on
Relentless that the ship carried eighteen fighters, but he
suspected she could carry at least double that number, plus other
craft just on this one deck.

Okay, here goes nothing.

He moved
over his designated bay and then slowed to a halt, rotating
a hundred and eighty degrees so that he was facing back to the
centre of the deck. Ahead of him was a line of Byotai fighters,
each looking large and menacing next to his craft.

Slow and
s
teady. Small movements and
no sudden moves.

The fighter moved closer to the
deck
, and Nate began to smile. This was
one of the lessons he'd been forced to learn over and over in
simulation. It was natural to tug at controls and to react overly
fast, but a landing was a calm, controlled affair. Making a sudden
move could be all it took to hit a storage unit or clip a bulkhead,
and end his life as well as destroying a major asset of the
Alliance military.

Just another
metre
!

The counter continued to read
down until it hit zero, and he was still moving lower. Nate gulped
uncomfo
rtably and checked the downward
facing camera feed. It showed the flat deck, but not that the inner
section was several centimetres lower. The fighter moved just a
little more, and then he felt the impact. It was gentle enough, and
the landing skids compressed inwards as they absorbed the downward
movement of the fighter.

Still no artificial gravity.

The fighter shuddered as a
magnetic
grav clamp activated and locked
it into position. Now secure, Nate deactivated the internal power
systems and switched off everything other than life-support. He
looked to his left to check on his comrades. Two more fighters were
in position on their platforms, but none had exited them
yet.

Okay, now what?

The fighter shuddered slightly,
and then the deck began to move upwards. It took a moment for Nate
to realise that his landing pad was descending inside the ship. As
they moved inside, he felt a little nauseous. Indicators inside his
helmet confirmed the change in gravity as it went from zero-g to
ten percent normal, and increasing. The fighter groaned as it began
to feel its own weight pulling itself down onto the pad. Then they
stopped, and a darkened screen lifted away to reveal the interior
of the ship. At the same time the cockpit release activated, and
the canopy lifted up to grant him his first view of the inside of
an actual Byotai military ship.

"Welcome aboard, Ensign
Lewis,
" said a nearby Byotai
soldier.

The voice was robotic
and sounded identical to the translated tone
they'd all heard during their final approach.

Nate nodded at the warrior as he
lifted himself up out of the cramped interior. He stopped and
looked about, turning his attention back to the soldier. Only then
did he realise that there were two of them, the younger one
remained silent and stationary, while the second took a step
towards the ladder. This one was bigger, but very different to any
Byotai he'd seen before. The bone structure was familiar, but the
paler skin and slight build made him look closer to the Anicinàbe
clan warriors he'd seen images of.

"I am Deck Captain Sobiex. I
command this part of the ship and will function as your liaison
with the crew. If you need anything, you come and see
me."

The officer wore the standard body
armour common to the Imperial military, and a heavy looking pistol
slung down low on his hip in the human style. He head was bare,
though a small communicator unit hung down from one ear.

He's a big one.

Nat
e
was hardly a monster of a man and compared to the marines on
Relentless he was probably below average height. Even so, next to
this Byotai he looked like a school kid. The officer was bigger
than Prince Kratha, and his leathery skin paler. He turned and
pointed to the cavernous deck that was nearly fifty percent bigger
than the one they'd first landed on. It was very well lit, with
every single centimetre bathed in yellow light that gave a warm,
friendly feeling. What really stood out for Nate was the complexity
of the design. Though largely open space, there were raised storage
bins fitted along the outer walls attached to a complex rail
system.

"
You
look confused. Is there a problem?" Sobiex asked.

Nate shook his head.

"No. Everything is good, thank you. I
was admiring your ship."

Nate stepped down the ladder,
relieved at seeing the expression on the Byotai's face change. It
had taken Nate several seconds to realise he was looking at one of
the so-called, Half-Bloods. Apparently, there were many families in
the Empire with mixed ancestry, but much of that had been hidden
from public view. All of that seemed to be changing in this new
world of war and survival.

"Yes, Furiosa is indeed a mighty
ship. We are all honoured to be working aboard her. She is now our
home."

Nate wasn't quite sure what else
to say and was pleas
e
d to see Matilda and Billy
heading for him, behind them Lieutenant Commander Holder. They
stopped at his flanks while the Captain introduced himself.
Finally, he looked back to Nate.

"
You
may not recognise me, Ensign, but we met briefly when you first
arrived aboard our space station."

Nate nodded politely.

"You were involved in the Star Crusader
contest?"

He shook his head.

"No. I was passing through three
weeks before the rebellion began. Some of our pilots watched the
first of your public contests."

Nate tried as hard as he could, but he
could simply not place the Byotai. There were so many of them that
he had met, and as awful as it sounded, it was often hard to tell
them apart. Even so, he was surprised he hadn't remembered such an
unusual looking officer.

"Right. That feels like a long time
ago."

The Byotai paused for a second,
and then signalled for them to follow him. All of the pilots were
not there, and the little group followed the Captain into the
middle of the main deck. He pointed to marked areas on the
floor.

"Normally, we carry eighteen
strike fighters in the hangars, with space for another eighteen
above us for fast launch. Under stress conditions we can take forty
fighters on board."

He opened his mouth in a strange grin
as he watched their faces.

"She's capable of operating as a
battleship, or a heavy carrier. But today we are limited by
resources."

The
Lieutenant Commander looked pleasantly surprised, though as
she looked around, the lack of fighters became obvious. Far off in
the distance there were the dark shapes of cloth-covered
spacecraft.

"And now?"

The Captain looked up, opened his
mouth
, and breathed slowly. The pilots
waited patiently until he looked back at them.

"We have
four pilots left, and all of them are dark."

Matilda and Nate knew what he
meant, but Billy could not keep it to himself.
As usual he spoke without thinking, and had he been a
little closer he would have kicked him in the leg to stop
him.