Alien Courage (Rise of the Empress) (27 page)

The view he saw shocked him. The devastation behind the
building went for miles, great columns of thick black smoke reached high into
the sky, flames burning bright orange and red were everywhere. He struggled
with the unconscious man across his shoulder to his Starfighter. He uncloaked
it and flicked the switch for the auto ladder to descend. He climbed the ladder
and without regard for safety upended the Administrator into the rear seat and
quickly climbed into the front and reinitiated the cloaking. In an instant he
had the engines operational and was hovering over what was left of the building
he was just in, He manoeuvred his craft into a thick column of black smoke just
before the T334 reappeared. It had been blown many miles away in the blast. It
scanned the entire area paying close attention to ground facilities. The
Starfighter above its head went undetected in the thick chemical laden smoke.

Toormis stayed in the centre of the thick smoke and
ascended as high as he could. Calculations he made earlier indicated at the
junction of the ionosphere there were natural disturbances and when the smoke
particles hit that zone the disturbance would increase, maybe enough for a
Starfighter to exit the atmosphere undetected, he thought. He knew he couldn’t
do it cloaked as the heat exchange would be intense and may shut his engines
down.

“Well… here goes,” he said to an unconscious
Administrator and
decloaked
.  He operated the
thrusters spasmodically so as not to present a predictable pattern on scanners
or radar. His ship slipped out of Ennack’s atmosphere. The moment his
instruments indicated he was clear he cloaked his ship and slowly drifted into
outer space.

“What was that?” A technician at Ennack’s Planetary
Defence said noticing a slight blip on his monitor then it was gone. He
replayed it to his supervisor, “Probably something to do with that explosion,
debris passing into the ionosphere I imagine. Keep an eye on that area and
report it if it happens again.”

Toormis slowly drifted his cloaked Starfighter deeper
into space. He checked all systems and everything was operational. He knew he
couldn’t travel very far with the ship cloaked but hoped he’d make it past a
small asteroid belt as it would be harder to be located by Ennack’s Planetary
Defence. The problem of fuel he decided, he would worry about later.

He set the ship on auto pilot and leaned over his seat
to reach the Administrator. With a lot of effort he managed to get him right
side up in the seat and buckle him in, “I don’t know who you are or what you
have done,” he said to his unconscious passenger, “but you are going to tell me
everything and explain to me why my Commander died for your sorry looking
hide.”

Toormis had nothing left to do except wait for
something to happen. He couldn’t use any form of communication as Ennack knew his
Starfighter identification codes and he hoped they assumed his ship was
destroyed along with Lord Ambrae’s. He suddenly felt remorseful and very sad,
Lord Ambrae meant everything to him and now Irrimus had to fight for its very
existence. He wondered about Cassy and how she would take the news of her
father’s death. A terrible feeling swept through him as he realised Cassy might
blame him for all this. He stared into the void of space as his ship silently
drifted toward the asteroid belt. He took a couple of breaths of suspended
animation gas through a special face mask used for extended space flights to
conserve the precious life support systems and fell asleep with a heavy heart.

Toormis’s deep sleep was broken by a screeching alarm.
Foreign bodies were smashing into the shields around his Starfighter. He looked
out of his canopy and saw thousands of flashes around his ship as clouds of
small stones and other space debris struck the shields. Quickly he fired up his
engines and swung his ship around. A larger asteroid smashed into his port side
shield and deflected him into the path of an even a larger one, Toormis now
fully awake gunned his ship and dived missing the asteroid by inches and he
curved his ship around object after object as his speed increased. Soon he had
enough velocity he could manoeuvre easily but the amount of asteroids was
increasing not only in number but in size. The shields were generating great
heat by the constant impact with dust sized particles and bigger. The ship was
soon haloed with a soft glow as the shields were getting hotter and hotter.
Another alarm sounded indicating a drop in shield effectiveness. Toormis now
turned his ship to go with the flow of asteroids. He fought to keep the particles
from degrading his shields further; one impact after another strained his
nerves as he struggled to hold his ship on course with the asteroids. He saw a
huge asteroid to his left; it was almost three times the size of his
Starfighter. He studied its rough surface and course, he decided it wasn’t
spinning very much and manoeuvred to get behind it. His instruments told him he
had lost seventy five percent of his shields, soon he would be smashed.

With one big thrust from his port thrusters he slipped
in closer behind the asteroid and engaged a half strength tractor beam to the
back of it. The ship was now effectively being towed by the asteroid and the
half strength power setting on the tractor beam allowed an elastic
manoeuvrability to counter the spinning. Toormis relaxed his muscles in his
shoulders and flew instinctively. Slowly his shields cooled as the impacts were
dramatically reduced.

He was towed by the asteroid for what seemed like an
eternity until he finally saw a gap in the asteroid belt coming up. With great
skill and a lot of luck he timed the release of the tractor beam with full
thrust power and used the asteroid to slingshot his ship clear of the asteroid
belt into clear space.

He didn’t even realise he had shut off the cloaking in
the excitement and quickly calculated his position. He was well clear of Ennack
scanning range but also exactly the other way from Irrimus or any of her supply
outposts. He brought up the space chart containing Zion. At least I’m heading
roughly in the right direction he thought consoling himself. He altered course
slightly and looked at his fuel gauges. He had five percent capacity left and
required eighty percent for the trip to Zion. He checked his position against
all known fuel depots. Ennack was the closest then Volen, all others were
beyond his range. Ennack and Volen he knew he couldn’t use so he switched his
non essential systems to hibernate mode to conserve energy and drifted into the
endless void. He looked over his shoulder at the Administrator who was still
unconscious. He wondered what the Assengi had done to him and was glad it
wasn’t him. He switched his internal lighting off and settled back to sleep; I
really don’t have anything else to do he thought and dozed off.

Toormis woke up quite some time later and sipped water
from a tube. His body felt uncomfortable being cramped up for so long. He
twisted and looked back over to the Administrator, he didn’t like what he saw
as the Administrator was very pale and his breathing was quite shallow. He wet
a cloth he kept in a compartment and wiped the Administrator’s face and
dribbled some water between his lips. “What have they done to you?” Toormis
said always amazed at the cruelty and sadistic behaviour of the Assengi.
“Anyway my friend,” he said, “our situation will soon be worse, far worse, our
life support system will not last all that much longer. You may be the lucky
one after all.” Toormis sat back in his seat and sighed. His eyes started to
sting, a sure sign of life support systems beginning to degrade. He took a
breath of gas and allowed himself to drift off to sleep once again.

Sometime later the faintest blinking of a button
caught his attention but he wasn’t sure if he was dreaming or not. He reached
down and pressed an alarm checking sensor to wake
himself
up, a loud screeching siren sounded in the cockpit. He woke up fully and shook
his head. The light was still blinking, he wasn’t dreaming. The blinking button
indicated there was ship to ship or ship to base communication somewhere
nearby. He scanned at maximum range, nothing yet the light still blinked. It
stopped; Toormis sighed and tapped the button, malfunction he thought. But it
started up again.

He scanned again and still nothing. “Oh!” He said out loud,
“let me see what we have here.” He changed frequencies again and again, still
nothing. He brought up old computer files on smuggler’s activities and searched
for any common frequencies they used. He calculated what would be the average
frequency and scanned for it. On his forth scan he located the transmission.
Without hesitation he interrupted the communication.

“This is Irrimus Starfighter IR-EJ75. I request
assistance. I have onboard malfunctions. Life support systems are compromised.”

“Acknowledge your transmission Irrimus Starfighter.
What is your location?”

“Sector 21 BA- 129.”

“You’re a long way from home Starfighter.”

“Yes I am, please identify yourself,” Toormis asked.

“This is VL 429 Volen Research Outpost.  This
frequency is restricted. Advise how to
came
to use
it.”

Toormis knew something was wrong. A vessel with
malfunctions in open space has the right to assistance; even the Trigeals give
assistance in open space. Smugglers he decided, they are deadly people but I
need them. “I repeat I have onboard malfunctions and life support is
compromised. I require assistance. I found this frequency by trial and error. I
have been transmitting on hundreds of frequencies.”

“I understand Irrimus Starfighter. We are very short
of supplies and are waiting for our own resupply. Our present supplies are very
valuable to us. Do you understand?”

“You will be well compensated by Irrimus Space Fleet.”

“We are not authorised to operate with any official
organised Fleet of any House without prior approval. Volen standard operating
procedure policy especially with Irrimus is very specific. Do you understand
our situation is delicate? It will take some time for clearance to assist you.
”

Toormis’s modified combat computer now had a lock on
the transmission source and he knew it would take the rest of his fuel to get
there and none left for any fighting he may have to do. “I seek nothing more
than fuel and a few simple circuit board replacements. I have a custom made
hand held light weapon which I believe is valuable. Will it be sufficient
payment, no one ever need know I was ever here. ”

“What type of light weapon?”

Toormis knew this light rifle was illegal in
Confederate space but took his chances with the smugglers really wanting it. It
was a gift from Lord Ambrae. “It’s a Sabre Mk44.”

“You have a 44! That’s illegal.”

“True, but it’s worth a hundred times what I’m
requesting. Do we have a deal?” Toormis was getting frustrated with the
smugglers.

“What we have decided is a positive response to your
call for assistance. Proceed to position Sector 21 BB198. A space craft will
meet you there and escort you to our base. VL 429 out.”

“Irrimus Starfighter out.”

This will be interesting thought Toormis; they expect
to gain themselves a Starfighter as well. He fired up the engines, set his
navigational computer and flew toward the smuggler’s co-ordinates. He also
armed the auto destruct mechanism so that anyone apart than himself attempting
to fly this ship will trip the circuit and blow themselves to pieces.

Toormis was fully awake and ready for anything when he
picked up the other ship on his monitors at the co-ordinates. Just beyond the
ship was a group of barren asteroids. His computer indicated the other ship was
an Echo Class Fighter. Yes, they would want a Starfighter if their main fighter
is the less efficient Echo Class, he thought.

“Irrimus Starfighter. Please proceed to coordinates
Sector 21 BB 196. You will see a small space dock on our asteroid base. Please
land and taxi your craft to the rear holding position, Thank you.”

“Roger Volen.”

Toormis flew a little faster than the pilot of the Echo
Class would have liked and the Starfighter gained a little distance on the
other ship. He saw the space dock built into the asteroid and the minimal
lighting common to smuggler bases. Much to the horror of the smugglers Toormis
flew into the space dock at speed but pulled up quickly with thrusters and
swung his Starfighter around sliding it backwards into position, its nose
pointing now to outer doors. No one in the space dock had ever seen anyone do
anything like that before. The space dock doors closed and sealed.