Wings of Steele - Destination Unknown (Book 1) (35 page)

He
knew there wasn't a better dog anywhere, but wished he could make
him
understand completely. Jack stared down at the sparkling eyes like
polished black Onyx and couldn't help smiling. The dog's tail swayed
slowly. "Beep beep." Jack squeezed the dog's nose and
watched him make a sneeze face. He snorted instead, wagging his
tail, never taking his eyes off the pilot.

Communications
were brief as information was exchanged from team to team in an
effort to keep abreast of the situation as it developed. Each call
would chirp before the comm started and chirped again at the end.
"Here they come." Jack recognized Brian's voice on the
comm set and
peeked
through the space between the containers. He could see the pirates
disembarking from the shuttle.

Dressed
in mechanic's overalls, Jack and the others could move about in
general anonymity, but with over fifty extra people in the bay, all
armed, he felt it best to keep everyone in concealment.

Gantarro
stood off to one side of the ship with another officer and
greeted
the pirates warmly. That's it, thought Jack, make them feel at home.
No threat, complete cooperation. Jack's view was partially blocked
by the shuttle, but Brian was positioned on the other side. "How
many do you count, Bri?"

"Looks
like twenty, give-r-take one or two. All armed too. I don't
see
their Commander though."

"Ok."
Jack didn't expect Kidd to be with the boarding party, too
risky.
Better to find out if the natives are friendly first.

Almost
immediately, the pirates spotted the two F18 Hornets on
Brian's
side of the bay and wanted to know more. They gestured wildly with
excitement and appeared to quiz Gantarro. Several crewmen stayed
with the shuttle as sentries, the others moved closer to the Hornets
for a closer look.

"Jack,
they're asking Gant about the other plane and all the
crew
people."

Steele
wondered how they knew there was another plane. The Sweet
Susie
was on his side of the bay and they couldn't have seen it yet. And
how did they know about the pilots? "Something's fishy, Bri."

"Maybe
it'll be ok, Gant told `em we stole a shuttle and disappeared
about
three weeks ago."

"Did
they buy it?"

"I'm
not sure, but it looks like they did."

■ ■ ■

Several
times, Brian and Jack had to order their people to retreat
to
a more rearward position in order to prevent discovery as the
pirates inspected containers and their contents. More than once,
discovery was mere inches away...
Brian
sat curled in a ball, his Colt .45, a semi-auto 1911 style pistol,
clutched tightly in his hand. Concealed by a group of storage
crates, he fought to control his
breathing
as a pirate opened the container directly behind him. If he decided
to go farther back, Brian was sure he'd be discovered. Guiding his
people rearward, the pilot had been cut off by wandering members of
the boarding party and now he was trapped. He held the .45 close to
his chest with his finger resting along the side of the frame and
longed to wipe the sweat from his hands. He dared not put the weapon
down, knowing that would be the moment he'd be discovered. Brian
caressed the safety with his thumb and wondered how much noise it
would make if he released it now.

Bored
with the results of his rummaging, the pirate decided to
explore
further. Secretly stuffing into his tunic the only desirable item he
found in the container, he stepped around the stack of crates. The
pirate paused only twenty-four inches from Brian's feet and adjusted
his tunic as he attempted to decide which stack of crates to pillage
next. A half turn to his right and he'd have to be blind not to see
the pilot curled on the floor at his feet.

Brian
stiffened, his finger moving to the trigger and his thumb
resting
heavily on the safety release. Beads of sweat rolled down his face
and stung his eyes, but he refused to blink. Instead, he angled the
barrel of the .45 so the first slug would hit the pirate in the
temple. The first indication of discovery, would seal the pirate's
fate. Brian held his breath... As the pirate stood, hands on hips
and surveyed the landscape of containers, the nervous tension of
Brian's thumb, released the .45's safety with a click that sounded
deafening to him. A sudden chill raced up his back as he realized
the pirate had to have heard the noise...

"Bakir..!
Bakir let's go! Kidd wants us on the bridge!"

The
pirate shrugged his shoulders heavily and shook his head,
"Bakir,
Bakir," he mimicked sarcastically. The exasperated pirate
sighed and mumbled quietly, "Bakir do this, Bakir do that, the
Captain wants this, the Captain wants that... Oh no! Can't
disappoint the Captain, by God..." When he turned to depart, he
turned away from the exposed pilot.

Unbeknownst
to the disgruntled pirate, that simple act saved his
life...
for now.

Brian
took a deep gulp of fresh air and gently clicked the safety back on
before dropping the .45 into his lap. He wiped his shaking hands on
his coveralls. It took him several moments before he could hear the
comm pickup over the pounding in his ears. "You Ok Brian?"

"Sure,
Skipper, I'm fine," he croaked, as he stared at his
still-trembling hands. "Christ that was close."

"Too
close... but a good job keeping it together there. Listen, the
boarding party is headed to the bridge. It
looks
like Kidd is moving us off the trade route..."

"That's
good, right?"

"Yeah,
the First Officer says Kidd's bringing his ship in. The
boarding
party will take control of the bridge and move us to a meeting
spot."

Brian
stretched his legs from their cramped position and winced, "You
sure
that thing'll fit in here?"

"God,
I sure hope so, it's our best chance." Jack checked over the
top
of the containers to spy on the pirate sentries near the shuttle.
"By all the numbers, it should slide right in."

"Tell
me again, what're we gonna' do with it, when we get it in
here?"

Jack
smiled to himself, "We take his ship."

"Uh
huh. That's what I thought you said. Just wanted to make sure I
didn't
dream it." Brian leaned back against the storage container and
wiped the sweat from his eyes. It was time for everyone to take a
little breather.

"Commander
Steele..." the voice was soft on his comm unit, little
more
than a whisper.

"This
is Steele, go ahead."

"First
Officer here... We've reached the meeting place. Kidd has
recalled
his fighters. As soon as they've been recovered, he's planning to
board... cruiser and all. He's completely convinced we will offer no
resistance."

Jack
acknowledged as he watched the pirate sentries through the spaces
between the storage containers. They must have already gotten their
orders because they were moving their shuttle to the far side of the
landing pad to make room for the sizable bulk of the pirate cruiser.

Supervised
by the pirates, two of the landing bay work crews were
busy
moving containers and equipment back for the same reason. "Stand
by to receive pirate cruiser." The announcement echoed over the
bay's address system. "Entering final approach. Landing
Guidance Officer to the tower, please. Landing Observers to the
pad."

Jack
realized the increasing flurry of activity would hide any
excess
personnel and their movement. "Ok, boys and girls, let's take
our places, the real show's about to start." He instructed
those with inferior stun weapons to maintain positions up close.
Since the stun weapons were small and concealable, many took
positions with the crews on the landing pad. Jack, armed with his
.45 1911, was concealed on the fringe of the landing pad, while the
others who had carbines, took positions further back, which offered
them a wider field of fire.

■ ■ ■

The
nose of the pirate cruiser was visible in the floodlights just
outside
the bay door. Lights on the ceiling of the bay, once dark,
flickered, then shone brightly on the upper hull of the ship, as it
was guided expertly in by the Landing Observers and Guidance
Officer. Battle scars and repairs, hidden in the darkness of space,
now became obvious.

Brian
shook his head in amazement, watching the Observers walking
under
the cruiser to check the clearances. "It's like threading the
eye of a needle with a damn camel!"

"You
mean, passing a camel through the eye of a needle... don't
you?"
asked Jack, laughing.

"Whatever..."
muttered Brian.

"Don't
you worry about that, sir," said one of the crew on the deck.
"We'll
get it in here, you just make sure he doesn't get
out
."

Touch
é
,
thought Jack. They were all in good spirits and he found
that
very promising.

As
the ship inched its way into the bay, it almost completely filled
the
doorway. To anyone watching from either side, it would've appeared
stuck if not for its forward motion. Only the people in the tower
could see the full picture of progress, and thankfully, the Guidance
Officer gave a running narrative over the com units. It took nearly
thirty minutes to get the entire pirate cruiser into the bay, but it
entered without adding so much as a scratch, to its fifteen-hundred
foot long hull.

"All
personnel, clear the pad, prepare for touchdown." The short
announcement
sent workers and pirate sentries, scurrying off the pad like
frightened mice. And rightly so. Any biological lifeform caught
underneath a vessel during the use of its suspension field during
landing or liftoff would, in short, be compressed flatter than a
pancake.

The
pirate cruiser was beautiful, in a brutish sort of way. Jack
could
see the damage and scars, but could imagine her restored to her
former self... fast, lethal, clean, pure. He felt a strange sense of
excitement, a mixture of anticipation and a slow build-up of
adrenaline as the cruiser settled to the deck.

Her
bulk was supported by rows of three-toed landing gear with
hydraulic
legs the size of tree trunks. Jack correctly guessed the gear was
designed to evenly distribute the ship's weight automatically on
either rough or smooth terrain. With a hiss like a great sigh of
relief, the landing legs accepted her weight and leveled the ship
high enough to easily move about underneath her hull with service
equipment or vehicles.

Jack
was in awe. Forget the fact that the cruiser was sitting in
the
flight bay of a ship that dwarfed her, she was impressive. About
four-hundred feet at her widest, Steele was beginning to wonder if
they were in over their heads.

"Christ,
Steele," said Mike, interrupting his train of thought. "It's
as
big as the Shenandoah!"

"Actually,"
interrupted Paul, "I've never seen our carrier from this
point
of view, but I think the Shenandoah is a little larger. But not by
much..." It was then that a frightening thought hit him.
"Christ, Jack, the Shenandoah's crew was over four-thousand...
this thing's gotta be able to hold at least two-thousand... man, I
think we're in over our heads."

Even
if Jack had his own doubts, he couldn't let others know it,
nor
could he let them doubt themselves. "No problem, Pappy. Gant
told me a full crew doesn't exceed three-hundred..."

"Three-hundred!?
How could you possibly run a ship that size with
only
three-hundred people?"

Jack
shrugged to himself, "Hell, I don't know where you'd put
two-
thousand.
Gant says a skeleton crew of fifty could run her. He's guessing
Kidd's crew is in the neighborhood of about one-fifty."