Dying For Space (Sunblinded Trilogy Book 2) Page 5

  When the General eventually sent for me again, I kept telling myself that Jessica was right, I needed to make a stand. Which didn’t prevent me from shaking like a wind-caught rag by the time I was escorted to Norman’s study.

  His expression was inscrutable as he ordered me to sit. I couldn’t figure if he was truly angry, or trying to frighten me. Didn’t really matter, because I was already terrified. It was a relief to see George seated alongside him. He grinned reassuringly at me and I smiled back.

  “I have been giving your demands a lot of consideration and I have a proposition to put to you. But I am telling you plainly – I will not permit you to go on active service. That is not up for negotiation.” Narrowing his eyes, he fumbled for a cigar. “No matter how much you sulk and whine.”

  I needed to keep calm. If I lost my temper while trying to persuade Norman into letting me train as a patrol ship captain, then it would be all over in no time flat.

  “Considering your skillset and your unique situation, we have decided to offer you a position in the Equipment Procurement Department. Your experience with Lieutenant Farview on Shooting Star should come in useful,” announced Norman. As if he was doing me some big old favour!

  I stared back at him, struggling for composure. I could have wafted into this job after a couple of weeks of training – what’s the point of enduring all I’ve gone through on the Cadet Officer course?

  “Despite what the grunts say, it is a department that is key to the successful running of the outfit,” George added, smiling at me again.

  This time around, I didn’t smile back.

  “You will be living on Restormel base, with the prospect of eventually becoming part of the strategic management team that makes decisions about the future of the outfit,” Normal continued, his eyes boring holes into my soul, willing me to agree.

  Yeah right. That’d be worth more than the stale air you just spouted if you ever listened to anything anyone else said.

  “But there will be regular visits to suppliers around the Sector. And Procurement often sends personnel out in the field to ask our fighters whether the equipment is performing properly.” George was clearly just as keen for me to accept this position.

  “I was hoping for a position on a patrol vessel after my experience on Shooting Star. Maybe working towards a captaincy…” I faltered as Norman shook his head.

  “Word would get out. Every limp-brained scuzzer in this slice of the galaxy would hunt you down. Either to use you as leverage against me. Or revenge,” he said.

  “You were lucky to survive your last kidnapping experience,” George butted in. “No sense in putting you at such risk again.”

  Disappointment blurred my vision. I hadn’t put in all that effort to become a mere adminite!

  Norman lit his cigar and puffed out a plume of blue smoke. “Don’t decide, now. Take time to think it through. Meantime, I am prepared to allow you to begin your first Probationary training task – the Liveaction phase. You will be seconded to Peacebringer under Captain Morrigan. They are hunting a band of pirates operating out of that rats-nest, Erato.”

  The very name caused a frisson of excitement and a sliver of hope, despite my misery. Erato was infamous as the main stronghold in Sector Two for any lowlife with a fast craft and a photon cannon. And serving on Peacebringer would give me a chance to prove to Norman and George just what a good fit it would be if I were to continue serving there. But first, there was something I needed to clear up. “And I don’t have to agree to the Procurement post to get to go? Or sign up for some adminite training course?” Surely there’s a catch?

  Norman’s scowl was ferocious. “Hell in a black hole, girl! What d’you take me for?”

  “The sharpest wordwinder in the Sector.”

  Norman chose to believe I was joking, so his belly laugh and the big hug he gave me finally lifted the gloomy atmosphere that had settled like a black cloud across Restormel.

  However, I’d been right – there was a catch. Sergeant Gently was to accompany me as my babysitter.

  CHAPTER FIVE

  Morrigan and her crew had been trailing a particularly nasty pirate outfit for the last three months in Peacebringer. But every time she got close, they’d run back to Erato. Sometime soon, I figured Norman should send a major force against this vile cesspit which was providing shelter for much of the pirating activities in Sector Two. Till then though, a single hunter-class ship would only become a debris patch if Captain Morrigan tried to breach Erato’s formidable defences.

  Gently and I joined the patrol by hitching a ride on the cargo ship delivering Peacebringer’s regular provisions. In allowing me to do so, I reckon that Norman was relying on the same old pattern repeating itself – that Morrigan would chase the bad guys till they reached safety, when she’d be forced to break off. But those zilchers made a big mistake during the second week of my secondment.

  While heading towards their haven, they’d tripped over a small merchant vessel and stopped to strip it. As we continued closing, no one could believe our luck and their stupid greed. Immersed in their disgusting activities, the pirates were too far from Erato to outrun us by the time they finally pulled away to head for their lair. During that twenty-one hour pursuit, you could taste the excitement aboard Peacebringer as she steadily gained on the pirate ship. But when Captain Morrigan opened a channel to negotiate their surrender, the bilgescum had a message of their own. The merchanting family weren’t all dead and listening to their panicked pleas for mercy wasn’t pleasant.

  However, the pirates continued making mistakes. Pushing their ship so hard that they killed their engines, they had to bail out onto the surface of a small moon, Modimo.

  Hearing the hostages’ appeals for help had hardened the mood on Peacebringer. I swear the crew would’ve spacewalked down to Modimo, where we finally cornered the slimers. They were heading for a series of caverns in the foothills surrounding one of the biggest plateaux on the dirtball. Bilge-babble claimed that Morrigan was up for vaporising the moon, but as it orbited the mining planetoid Hosi, that was a complete non-starter.

  Our fighting force landed over the horizon from their camp. We spent a long, unlovely journey bouncing around the transporter as it jolted along what passed for a road on this dust-scuffed ball. Then, bruised and aching, we disembarked and crawled for a long light year to surround them, all fully suited as Modimo’s atmosphere was only just breathable if you moved no faster than a dozing snail. We’d just got into position when their proximity alarms started howling.

  Sergeant Gently’s face tightened behind his facemask as his voice growled into my eardrop, “Right. This is liable to get flooding messy.” He glared at me as if it were my fault. “You stick with me like we’re Tuf-Taped together. Got that?”

  “Yessarge.” My mouth was on auto while the rest of me was struggling to take it in. I was actually seeing real action. Today some bad people were going to die. Maybe some of us would get hurt, too. My guts churned with excitement and fear. Inside battle gauntlets, my hands were damp. The only dank spot was having Sergeant Gently alongside.

  Even now, as lasers spat and spyflakes sizzled on max power around me, resentment burned. Was I also rushing to attack alongside the rest of the crew? Nah, I was tethered to Gently’s apron-strings. Gripping my weapon, I cursed under my breath as everyone else surged past us. Fact was, I was so busy fuming about being kept out of the action I missed Sarge’s first hand-sig to move up. His slap across my visor soon had me paying attention, though. After which, I was struggling to keep up with Gently, who must’ve been related to a snake, the speed he belly-wriggled across the ground.

  Come to think of it, his Mum being a poisonous reptile would explain much about him.

  “Give it up! You’re not gonna get outta this. Throw down your weapons!” Morrigan’s amped voice roared over the opening stutter of weapons’ fire.

  “Go prod yourself, bitch! Or better still – wait till I give you one, myself!” came back
the reply. “Keep this prod-fodder company, why don’t you?” A girl about my age stumbled as she was shoved out from behind a rock, falling to her knees. Wearing nothing but a few shreds and a breather, she was bloodstained and filthy. And so traumatised, she seemed indifferent to the weapon trained on her head.

  They’d chosen their position well. It was a small gully surrounded with boulders and the geo-fiz readouts suggested the area was honeycombed with caves. We all knew if the pirates managed to escape underground, we could spend the next year trying to flush them out. Our air-drone hovering over their camp suddenly exploded in a fireball and sadly, the flaming remains didn’t land on top of them.

  Sarge started swearing under his breath as the Captain’s voice came through my eardrop, “Our spyflakes are being fuzzed, but we estimate there are around twenty bandits and between four and ten hostages. So careful who you’re shooting at, people. That said – our instructions are that this scum don’t leave here in one piece. The ship they took is one of our subscribers.”

  Does that mean the hostages are expendable? I didn’t know. Thinking of that girl and what she’d gone through made me sick to my stomach. Looking up, I spotted another air-drone buzzing in the sky. Laser fire broke out ahead of us and the ground shook as something big exploded off to the left. I couldn’t see a thing, stuck behind the largest rock Gently managed to find. Indeed, it was so big you could’ve fitted at least another two useless newbies behind it. I started shuffling to the edge. Until a hand landed on my shoulder.

  Sarge growled in my eardrop, “If I had my way, we’d still be aboard Peacebringer alongside Morrigan – but she wanted me with the troops. Which is why you’re here. But don’t you so much as breathe without my yaysay, girl.”

  “No, Sarge.” My voice was flat with the effort of holstering my temper. I was s’posed to be experiencing action – not shielded behind some old rock while everyone around me got to join in!

  “Cover my back and then follow when I’m in position. On my mark,” he snapped.

  Easing right up behind Sarge, the sharp smell coming off him was a shock. He’s afraid.

  “Now!” Gently dived across the gap between our rock and the next smaller boulder. For an older man, he moved fast.

  Jabbing my weapon out round the rock, I let off a couple of volleys. Then recalled Morrigan’s words about being careful who we shot at. Cold with horror, I stopped. What if I’ve just taken down one of our own? Or worse still – one of the hostages?

  A zipping burst pinged off the rock, pattering stone shards onto the sand. I crawled to the other side and risked a quick look. A bandit had my boulder in his sights and was waiting. I jerked back as dust and hot splinters flared off my suit shielding. Another spatter of laser fire erupted on either side of me. What if they’ve surrounded me? What if I’m cut off? What if I hit Sarge and I’m left here?

  Get a grip, for Mother Earth’s sake! Jessica’s nagging was no help.

  Gritting my teeth, I loosened the flap on my pulse grenades. The crudsuckers weren’t taking me without a deal of grief. After seeing what they’d done to that poor girl, no way was I gonna end up like that.

  “Norman! Move up,” roared Sarge. “Now, flood it!”

  Light-headed with terror, I flung myself across the gap to the smaller boulder. The bandit who’d been shooting at me was slumped across the scarlet-splashed outcrop. I only managed a fleeting glimpse as I dived for cover, but the sight brought a savage spike of pleasure. Yeah! Hope it hurt, you hell-bound bilgescum.

  Sarge was waiting, eyes glittering behind his facemask. “When I say, ‘Move’ I don’t ʼspect you to take all day over it!”

  “No Sarge.” There was nothing else to say, especially as he had a point.

  “We gotta lay down some diversionary fire. Trust your suit. It won’t fail. Think you can do it? Cos if you can’t, there’s no shame in it. This sliming mess,” he muttered, jerking his helmet towards the fighting, “isn’t normally how we ease newbies in.”

  My face burned with shame. While I’d been cowering behind that rock, I’d left him waving in the wind. I should’ve been the one to take out that pirate, not left it to someone else. “I can do it, Sarge. My word on it.” I hefted my weapon, flinching at the bright green readouts winking back at me. Everyone’s firearms around me were mostly showing orange.

  I ducked out from behind the boulder. Two pirates had just set up a phase cannon off to the right, which could potentially pin down several of our positions – including ours. However, it was pointed at one of the smallest rocks where a couple of our people were trapped.

  As he started shooting, the shielding flared red around it and Sarge’s voice sounded in my eardrop, “If the scumsac gets a shot off at that rock, Claxton and Thursk will be chewing carbonised sand.” He paused as he squeezed off another round. Soon as he stopped, I aimed and fired, swallowing rancid-tasting fear.

  Claxton and Thursk were in a world of trouble. The only thing stopping them being blown off the face of the dirtball was our combined firing. Because to fire the cannon, the zilchers would have to drop their shields and so long as Sarge and me kept up our barrage, they wouldn’t risk it. So we thought.

  One of the bastards ducked down and bobbed back up, holding up a small boy in front of him and the cannon. They were going to use him as a human shield while they blasted away at Claxton and Thursk. About the same age as Luke, the child was crying as the slimesac jabbed a laser pistol at his head.

  “Mine!” Sarge knelt up, steadied his weapon and aimed.

  I held my breath, waiting alongside him. As soon as the tell-tale shimmer outlining the cannon and its crew disappeared, I heard Sarge hiss.

  OhMotherEarthabove, he’s not going to— But he did. That headshot was the sweetest piece of targeting I’ve ever seen – and I’ve seen a whole lot since then. The scuzzer slumped forward, knocking the boy clear of the pirate’s outcrop. The child curled in a ball, screaming for his Mummy.

  I was on my feet, zigzagging towards him before I thought about it. My suit flared a couple of times as I drew enemy fire. But the air around me hissed and spat with volleys of covering fire.

  Yeah – go for it, Lizzy! Faster! Dodge to the left. And to the right - again! That’s it!

  I stopped thinking and just reacted to Jessica’s yammering in my head as she directed me which way to jink and dodge, while the distance between me and the boy closed. I got off a shot at the other slimer, who’d grabbed the laser pistol from his fallen companion. However, he didn’t have a chance to use it. He twitched and jerked as several blasts hit him at the same time. The hot-air stink was overlaid with that of charred meat.

  “C’mon. To me! To me!” I howled at the boy, scooping him up. He clung to me like a monkey.

  I felt my suit shield flare as I spun round and lobbed a pulse grenade in the direction of the cannon, where a bunch of pirates were swinging it round towards us. Pushing the boy to the ground, I flung myself on top of him as Jessica screamed encouragement.

  The air thundered pressing heavily on my back, before stones and rocks started thudding out of the sky. Wincing, I managed to whack my shielding up to double-strength. It would only last a few more minutes at that rate, but I figured it was worth it if I managed to avoid a broken arm or leg before getting back to the safety of our rocks. Didn’t have to make the effort as it turned out. Next thing, I was being hauled up by strong hands. I started struggling, till I registered the P’s uniform. One of us. I was being rescued.

  “Didn’t believe all that stale air ‘bout you being the Ol’ Man’s by-blow,” bellowed a voice in my ear. “Till now—” There was a gurgling howl as he slid to the ground.

  Another pair of hands grabbed me. Next thing, I was being hurled behind a boulder. Our boulder. To safety.

  I dropped to the ground, desperate to join in the barrage of protective fire raining down around the three men who’d been injured trying to rescue us. Don’t let these brave souls die saving me.

  For
once, my prayers were answered. The P’s don’t leave wounded behind. By the time our force had retrieved them, the firepower pinning down the pirates was so intense the boulders offering them cover glowed.

  Holed heavens, that’s Sarge out there! With shocked admiration, I watched him hitch a wounded man over his shoulder and race back towards our sheltering rocks, while I continued firing at the pirates. Several of the mercs alongside sigged OK at me, jerking their helmets in the direction of the small boy I’d rescued. Smiling back at them, it felt like I belonged for the first time since we’d disembarked onto this sorry dirtball.

  Yeah! This is what I trained for. It helped that Sarge was busy somewhere else.

  And then he wasn’t. “Norman!”

  Reluctantly, I ceased firing and turned to face him.

  “What part of ‘Stay glued to my side’ don’t you understand?” Gently’s clench-jawed growl was almost as scary as the General’s as he gave me a thorough verbal smacking in a parade-ground roar to the effect that orders should be followed, while those around us busied themselves firing at the pirates. He finally wound down after I muttered an apology, afire with shame.

  “Dismissed.” He sounded tired. “You’re to escort this boy, back to the First Aid post. Seeing as you were prepared to trash your orders to get hold of him, you can nursemaid him back onto the shuttle.”

  A relief to no longer be sharing air with him… “Yessarge.”

  His eyes suddenly bulged behind his breather. “And while you’re sitting there, yaysaying me, you think about our three men lying on stretchers waiting for pain meds cos of your stunt, you cocky little bitch!”

  I sucked in a trembling breath. “Yessarge. Sorry.”

  “It’s not me you should be sorrying at. I’m sick of wearing my eyes out on your useless carcass.” After punching up the fightmap on my suit-scanner, the Sarge pointed out the first aid point. “Here. This is where you’ll be headed.” Then turned away and started firing.