The Honour of the Knights (First Edition) (16 page)

He’s still a touch grumpy though and doesn’t have a lot to
say, so you could probably imagine my surprise when he came over
and spoke to me.
I was sitting on my bed
writing and he asked me if I wanted to go for a run with him. He
hardly said a word to me while we were jogging, but we held a good
pace together and he slowed when I needed to (I really need to work
on my stamina). We spoke briefly afterwards, but it was mainly
about the run. I decided not to talk about anything else though,
didn
’
t want to
burn any bridges. We
’
re still not sure what got him so upset with Commodore Parks.
I saw that he got another one of his video disks a couple of days
ago. He also received one when we were stationed at Xalan, but
became really defensive when we asked him about it.
I
’
m intrigued as
to what
’
s on
them, but we
’
ve
decided it
’
s best
not to ask him about it, just in case he stops talking to us
again.

I do feel sorry for Estelle though. We might be enjoying
ourselves here more than we expected to, but Estelle sees herself
as being stuck in a rut. I think she put in a request for a
transfer, but it was denied. I hate to sound selfish, but
I
’
m glad.
She
’
s one of my
dearest friends and I would hate to see her go. I can sort of
understand what she
’
s going through though. She really had her heart set on
things back at Xalan and the transfer here (especially given
Spirit
’
s
reputation) must have nearly killed her inside.

“
Kelly?”

The word drifted through Kelly Taylor
’
s head as she continued to work,
failing to registering. It being her day off she had spent most of
the day writing, the stylus strokes of her normal handwriting being
transformed into characters on the screen. Just now something had
broken her concentration and she struck through the word she had
written to erase it, trying to regain her train of
thought.

“
Kelly? Hey!” an impatient voice called out, making the young
woman jump. Kelly looked up from where she sat, cross legged on her
bed, to see that Estelle had been demanding her
attention.

“
Sorry, Estelle, what did you say?” Kelly asked. She then
noticed that Estelle was wearing her flight suit and felt a small
twinge of panic in the pit her of stomach.

“
I said hurry the hell up because
you
’
re
going to make us late for our patrol! Our transport is waiting to
go!”

“
I… I thought we had the day off?”

“
No, that
’
s tomorrow! They changed the
schedule this morning! Come on Kelly, you
’
ve only got a couple of minutes to
suit up! We
’
ve
got to get to landing zone G and that
’
s not exactly next
door!”

Kelly
swore as she jumped off her bed and hurriedly began packing up her
belongings. She cursed herself for being so busy that day reviewing
her journal, correcting spelling and reading through past entries
that she had neglected to check the patrol schedule. She tugged
open her locker, pulling out her flight suit and boots, tearing off
her clothes and throwing them to the floor.

She
struggled to get into her flight suit as fast as possible, managing
to get one leg in and then starting on the next. The flight suits
were skin tight and did not slip on very easily; it was like trying
to put on a wetsuit…

“
Stop bloody staring, you perv!” Estelle’s
voice came. Kelly followed Estelle’s icy glare to a man who had
been reclining on his bed opposite, reading a book. He had since
lowered it to take a look at Kelly as she stood in her underwear,
but with Estelle glaring at him, he was once again returning to his
reading material. Kelly saw Estelle turn back to her once more, her
eyes still narrowed, and quickly turned away to concentrate on
getting ready. She didn’t want to hear any accusations roll off
Estelle’s tongue right now, she was more than capable of imagining
what they might be, having heard them on occasions
before:
wondering how Kelly could
be such a good pilot and yet so absent minded at other times,
spending too much time scribbling in her journal when there were
more important things - such as this - that she needed to pay
attention to, and questioning why she kept a journal at all; no
good would ever come from all the constant writing.

Thankfully, Kelly was just about done.

“
Do the rest on the way,” Estelle
suggested whilst Kelly
’
s fingers attended to the various clips on her boots. Her
boots more or less fastened, Kelly picked up her personal belonging
and threw them in her locker before securing it. Although she got
on well with the others in their shared quarters, she did not know
any of them well enough yet to trust them. She had also written
little comments about each of them in her journal that she thought
they
’
d be better
off not seeing.

“
Okay, ready.” Kelly said, turning back to Estelle.

“
Kelly, where
’
s your helmet?” Estelle
said.

Kelly looked at the floor, then her bed and realised that
she
’
d left it
inside the locker. She yanked it out and then secured the locker
once more.

“
Ready
?”
Estelle asked once Kelly finally appeared to be done. She did not
wait for an answer before indicating that they had wasted enough
time already.

“
Where are the others?” Kelly asked, as the pair hastened down
the various well lit corridors, dodging other inhabitants of the
base as they sort to ensure they made it to the transport in
time.

“
They
’
re there already. I came back to
find you.”

“
Sorry.”

“
Just don
’
t make a habit of it.”

They
stepped out of the barracks, into the open air, where they stepped
up their pace in order to reach the assigned pick up point. The
shuttle craft awaited their arrival, but Kelly could see the air
around the engines shimmering, indicating that it was prepared to
set off the moment the two women were aboard.

An air
marshal stood by the side door watched their approach. “de Winter?
Taylor?” he asked the pair as they arrived at the
transport.

They
nodded, somewhat out of breath.

“
Good. Get inside. We almost had to go without
you.”

The door
shut and bolted behind them and they sat down on one of the two
steel benches running either side of the length of the
craft.

“
Hey,” Kelly said to the rest of her team, once she managed to
get her breath back. The shuttle was full today, all thirty places
taken up. Kelly reached up and pulled the restraining harness down
around her. The transport was far less glamorous than the one they
had used when they had been ferried to and from Xalan, being a lot
more cramped and uncomfortable with no view of the outside
world.

“
Journal?” Enrique, whom she had sat next to, whispered in her
ear. She gave a sheepish nod in reply. It wasn’t the first time -
and unlikely to be the last - that her hobby had almost landed her
in serious trouble.

“
Prepare for takeoff,” the
transport
’
s pilot called back at them. The craft shuddered as the
engines engaged and Kelly felt them leave the ground. The
shuddering increased as the transport lifted them into orbit. She
always hated this part. Even after several weeks of having to do
endure it, it still did not get any better. Around her others had a
tight hold of their restraining bars, some with their eyes closed.
She joined in. The journey to the orbital station was not long, and
a short time later the restraining bars were disengaged.

* * *

“
Today you will be patrolling route Delta D-15,” the Officer
of the Deck said as he handed Estelle an electronic map of the
route around the Temper system. “You should ensure that you hit all
four check points at least once an hour.”

Dodds stole a glance over Estelle
’
s shoulder at the route map to see
if there was anything interesting on their patrol that day; even a
minute piece of information that might make the next four hours a
bit more bearable. There was nothing. For Dodds the patrols were
now becoming a chore; a regular job that he dreaded going to each
morning and which did nothing except take up his free time. He
desperately wanted something to happen to break the monotony of the
hours he spent in the cockpit. He had twice had to endure just over
six hours in the seat, doing nothing but watching a jumpgate and
its uninteresting traffic flow, with little more than an
hour
’
s break. It
was just as he had feared after Meyers’ briefing all those weeks
ago and he had been mentally and physically exhausted after both of
those. It was like being tortured to death.

The
flight deck of the orbital station was never silent. Starfighters
were for ever being returned to their bays or taxiing to the
catapult, preparing for launch. Engineers and technicians were
working to repair wear and tear, as well as performing general
maintenance. Munitions handlers were moving heavy laden trolleys
around the deck, so that they could be loaded onto
fighters.

A number
of different craft occupied the bays here, the TAF being the most
common. Next there was the two seater Ray. Though the fighter was
less nimble than the TAF, it benefited from greater defensive and
offensive capabilities. On their patrols Chaz and Enrique would
usually fly one together, availability allowing. Otherwise their
flight group consisted exclusively of TAFs.

Several Rooks occupied other bays, though none of them had
moved in all the weeks that Dodds had been stationed at Spirit, the
fighters
’
main
purpose said to be the defence of the station itself. The Rooks
were almost never allocated to patrols, the easier to maintain TAFs
and Rays being given that duty. Dodds was not fond of the Rook
himself, the craft feeling far too bulky and sluggish in flight. It
felt even worse in combat, where lighter and faster starfighters
could outmanoeuvre it. Even so he had, at one time, looked upon the
Rook in awe; there had been no denying it was a powerful craft. He
now gave them little more than a sideways glance, aware that the
crown belonged to another.

“
Hot out there today?” Enrique said, as Dodds and Estelle
continued to study the route map.

“
Been all quiet so far, sir,” the officer replied.

The response did not surprise Dodds.
Should have applied for that damn transfer
, he thought. Though after Estelle had been denied her own
request to seek adventure and excitement elsewhere - actually, in
her case, recognition - he was pretty certain he knew what the
answer to his would be: remain at Spirit until further notice. He
was just going to have to lump it for the time being; he was not
about to return to Earth with his tail between his legs.

Around Dodds others were finishing their patrols. He watched
with envy as the appreciative pilots removed their helmets and left
the flight deck to return to their quarters for a well-earned hot
shower. He looked forward to being in their position later on. At
least today
’
s
patrol was only three hours long.

He
watched as Estelle clicked through the map a few times,
scrutinizing each segment before handing it back.

“
Thank you,” she said.

“
Everything good?” the flight officer asked.

“
Yep.”

No
, thought Dodds.

“
Okay, we’ll see you back here at twenty hundred hours,” the
flight officer replied, before heading off.

Only if
I don
’
t die of boredom in the cockpit
first.

“
Right, Kelly, I want you out there first,” Estelle said.
“Takeoff and then hold position outside the orbital until we are
all assembled. Got it?”

“
Yes, Lieutenant,” Kelly said, shuffling off towards her
waiting TAF.

“
Best to make sure that she’s actually with us and not
bumbling about some place else,” Estelle muttered to the three men
stood on the deck next to her. The four watched as Kelly’s TAF
accelerated down the catapult.

“
Who’s acting wing commander for this patrol?” Dodds said, as
Estelle began to make for her allocated TAF.

“
I am, Dodds,” Estelle answered with a flat, tired
voice.

What a surprise
, Dodds thought
gloomily. On a patrol it was hardly a significant duty, but one
that might help to lift his spirits a little. He thought of the
irony of the name of the planet he was based.
Two hundred and thirty five minutes to go. Two hundred and
thirty if I’m
really
lucky
.