Defender of the Empire: Cadet #1 (36 page)

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Chapter 27
- The Universe’s Joke

              “Let’s get out of here before that ship decides to show the Telmicks their displeasure.” Westley said.

             
“Mhmm.” Marius voiced with a nod. The two of them tapped in their instructions and the ship responded.  I sat back in my seat, glad that we were getting out of here. The LFA jerked and I had to grip the arm rests to keep from flying off the seat.
Right, need to strap in.
a thought muttered inanely.

             
“What happened?!” Jason asked.

             
“I thought you released the lock.” Westley turned to Marius.

             
Marius stared at his console. “So did I.” He replied. He tapped his command into the console again. Westley tried once more… with the same results.  “What the hell!” Marius cursed and tried something else. “Shit. Well, now I know why we didn’t see anybody on the way. They were waiting for us to trap ourselves.”

             
“They locked us out of hatch, didn’t they?” Westley asked wearily.

             
“You got it.” Marius smiled humorously.

             
“Damn.”

             
The ship’s com peeped and Jason swallowed. “It’s the Telmicks.” He said. “Should I answer it?”

             
The rest of us traded a glance before Westley said. “Why not? It’s not like this can get any worse.”

             
“Shh!” I hissed at him, knowing all too well that the Universe was listening and could take up his challenge. I really didn’t want to see what could possibly be worse. My imagination was bad enough, thank you.  Westley glanced at me in bewilderment just as the view of the Zar’daken ship was replaced by the visage of the Telmick mercenary leader.

             
His yellow eyes were cold as he eyed the four of us. “Children of the Fleet, I demand that you return to us our property.”

             
Before Westley could reply I leaned forward, saying “I’m not sure what you are talking about. We haven’t taken anything of yours. We were retrieving a friend
you
had stolen.”

             
His eyes narrowed at me. It made me wish that the view screen didn’t automatically make the person larger than they really were. I mean, honestly, he was a Telmick. They were already big and didn’t need any help from view screens in that department. I just knew I was going to have nightmares of this tattooed mercenary after this. “Possession is nine-tenths of the law.” He replied.

             
I snorted. I have no idea how I kept my outward appearance calm during this conversation. I just knew I was grateful for it. “But you
don’t
have him.”

             
“I disagree. I have all of you.” He pointed out sitting back in his chair.

             
I was silent for a moment. Westley met my gaze.
The mercenary has a point
his expression said clearly.   I frowned and met the smug yellow eyes again. “And the Zar’daken’s own you.” I stated.

             
It was his turn to frown. “The ses-Ky are free. We are owned by no one.”

             
My brows rose. “But they are the ones you were selling to, yes? They own you by contract.”

“We both own the contract.”
He corrected stiffly.

“But you don’t get paid if you cannot de
liver on it. And it’s worse if…” I trailed off and actually smiled at him. “I’m curious. Did they already pay you? Because if they did then I would have to say that yes, they do own you.”

He actually growled. “And we will deliver what they are owed. Give us bac
k the boy and we will let you leave.”

“Like to the
vacuum of space, right?” I guessed because there was no way they were going to let us live after the insult we had just dealt them.

“That’s
a risk you face.” The tattooed leader said. “You either give us the boy and have the chance to live or we kill you all.”

I shook my head. “I don’t believe you.” I said flatly.
His eyes widened. I could feel my companions look at me in a similar manner. “We both know that you won’t be paid if the boy is dead.  That is the only reason you haven’t maimed him in the day you have had him in your custody. It’s the only reason why you’ve only beaten him to show him who is boss.” I said coldly. His eyes widened again. Before I could continue pushing him or he could cut in we heard alarm klaxons sound from his end. “What is happening?” I asked looking at Westley.

“Another ship has shown up…” Westley grinned. “It’s
one of ours. An LFH class. ”

“The
Hail Mary
?” I asked breathlessly.

When the ship’s com beeped again, Jason didn’t even ask if he should answer it. The screen flipped from a hardened mercenary to Captain Wingstar
’s much more welcomed features. A smile touched his lips and humor glittered in his gray eyes. “Heard you lot might need some assistance?”

Four relieved grins greeted him. “You could say that, sir.” Westley answered with a salute. “
Thanks for coming when you did.”

The captain’s gray eyes found Jason. “Besides the enemy ships, it looks like you mos
tly succeeded in your mission.”

             
A bridge crewman said something and all humor, expression really, vanished from the captain’s face. A look of utter determination ruled his features. “RAISE!” the rest of his command was cut off.

             
“What happened!?” Westley snapped.

             
“I don’t know!” Jason said with wide eyes. His fingers scurried over the controls on his console. My eyes, meanwhile saw something that made my mouth go dry.

“
Damn.
” Marius swore darkly. Considering he was looking where I was, I figured he saw what I did. “I thought they were just interested in watching.” The other two paused in what they were doing and we all watched in horrified silence as two enormous balls of light flashed from the Zar’daken warship to the
Hail Mary
. They were timed to be just one after the other. I flinched when the blasts smashed into the Legion Fleet ship. 

“Their shields held.” Westley said softly in relief.

“That was close though.” Marius said with a slow shake of his head. “I’m not sure they could take another hit like that.”

             
“I still can’t hail them.” Jason said, his tone anxious. His finger repeatedly hitting a button on his console as if the next time would change the fact that the
Hail Mary
wasn’t responding.

***

              “Shields are down to twenty percent! We won’t survive another hit like that!” The helmsman shouted, unknowingly repeating Marius’s assessment, over the alarm klaxon.

             
“Turn that klaxon off!” Braeden ordered. It wasn’t helping anyone. He doubted anyone was still asleep after the shudder that had vibrated through his ship. “Return fire. Chars and lasers. Let them feel a little heat. Then micro jump two points starboard.” He ordered.

             
“Aye captain!” Evens and lieutenant Milo called from the helm and weapon stations respectively.

             
Braeden turned his second. “Race, get the LFGs out there. The more heat we give them the better.”

             
“Aye, sir.” Race turned and quickly relayed the order to the waiting pilots. Moments later Char missiles and laser filled the space between the
Hail Mary
and the Zar’daken ship like wasps from a struck nest.

             
The Zar’dakens returned the favor, but the
Hail Mary
made her delicate little jump and the blasts missed them, by a margin. But they still missed. LFGs, or Gladius class ships, poured from the hanger bays along the
Hail Mary’s
sides. A hundred ships resembling an old earth stealth plane zoomed around in coordinated chaos. Their sides blazed with plasma that would cut through anything they flew near enough to slice. Equipped with lances that punched temporary holes in shields, the little ships were slashing menaces. And being only a little bigger than an LFA they were fast.

             
Of course, a battle wouldn’t be a battle if the enemy didn’t have nasty surprises too.
Braeden mused as a swarm of drones spiraled out of the enemy ship like a thousand darts. The flights of LFGs engaged the drones, their plasma blades having no problem dicing the little buggers. Only problem was the little buggers had numbers on their side. And each had a nasty sting.

             
“Rael! Let me know the second those cadets are onboard.” Braeden ordered the lieutenant at communications.

             
“Aye, captain.”

             
Braeden turned to Race again. “Once the cadets are on board get the LFGs out of the way.”

             
“And that is when we cue the cavalry?” Race asked wryly. Braeden nodded.

             
“Captain! We have a problem.” Rael said in an uncharacteristic monotone.  She met his gaze and said “the cadet’s ship is still locked with the Telmick vessel and I can’t get through to them. The Telmicks have put some kind of jamming signal in place.”

             
“Find a signal that works!” Braeden ordered. “Try individual lines if you have to.” He said. Because if they didn’t get those cadets back soon, they couldn’t ‘cue the cavalry’ as Race had said. It would be too risky, especially if the SCF included the Telmick vassal in its wake.

             
A moment later the
Hail Mary
groaned and Braeden was out of his chair. And that damn klaxon resumed.

***

              “What is taking so long?” Francesca muttered as sat in her command chair aboard the
Terrenza
. She understood that waiting had its place in schemes, especially ones that employed surprise tactics. But that didn’t mean she had to enjoy the wait. Especially when she knew the captain she was dealing with had a different interpretation of when a good time to call for aid was. He and his crew were much the same in that they tended to wait until they could no longer wait, always believing that any sooner would put too many people at risk. It was noble and all, but it drove her nuts. She had the ship with the battle turning weapon after all. And what was the point of having a weapon like that if the ones you are coming to back up have gotten themselves killed not wanting to risk you?

             
This wasn’t to say that Braeden was a horrible captain. He wasn’t. He was, as she had once told Rylynn, one of the best the Legion Fleet had. He had the respect and admiration of his crew and peers… and those above him in rank also. He knew the risks of what he did and he would protect his crew, if they would let him. They knew the risks of being in the Legion Fleet and they had made it their mission to stand between others and harm. It was what drove them to do what most thought impossible. But Francesca knew they were still mortal. She had to do what she could to keep the lot from killing themselves.

             
“Kem, give them another minute then hail them.” She told her communication officer.

             
“Aye, ma’am.” Kem enunciated crisply before turning back to his station. He rolled back a sleeve to count the seconds, his finger on the button to send the hail right on the dot. It was why she had told him the amount of time to wait because for her, the minute was already up. Eleven second minutes. She really did hate cooling her heels.

             
“Ava, make sure everyone is ready, things may be a little hot where we are going.” She told her second.

The
silver haired woman grinned in anticipation. Her navy blue eyes sparkling. “Yes, ma’am.” Ava replied in the crystalline voice that marked her D’av Marion origins. Ava was from a race of predators, so of course she was looking forward to a good fight.

***

              He really was going to petition that klaxons be eradicated. To hell with the fact that they were an alarm system. They were just loud and didn’t need to keep sounding like this till manually turned off. They made him
want
to pass out just so he could escape it. Wouldn’t that just irritate their creator who had made them to
wake
people up.

             
BEING KNOCKED ON YOUR ASS SEEMS TO MAKE YOU ALL KINDS OF PLEASANT. Raj snickered.

             
Shut up, Raj.
Braeden said opening his eyes. The bridge swam before his eyes for a moment. Flashes of light, both of the red klaxon and the more ominous sparking of broken circuits, stung his eyes.  He stared at his chair wondering how it got to be so far away.
Right, unexpected flight.
He remembered siting up gingerly. His body seemed to be in working order, just grumbling about that tumble he took. His temple ached and he touched it lightly. Wincing he looked at his fingers. The white electric light showed him that yes, he did have blood on his fingers. Lovely.