Rebel Fleet (11 page)

=18=

When I turned off my enhanced perception, I was instantly returned to the cramped quarters of
Hammerhead
. With a growl of frustration and disbelief, I threw a punch at Dalton. He dodged away and looked at me in shock.

“Okay, I get it,” he said. “You like it here. They bought you off with flying a fighter again. Or maybe you’ve gone—”

“Shut up,” I said. “Do you really think the Fleet will let us escape? They’ll find us again. They’ve got to have some way of finding us by our syms. Did you even think of that?”

“Who cares?” Samson said, floating up from the mid-deck to the flight deck. “The Fleet is pulling out. They won’t delay to hunt down one crew.”

I looked at Tand. He had been a good officer. Shaw was a bastard—but Tand had been very focused and professional.

“What are we going to do with him?” I asked.

“I’ve got an idea…” Dalton said, pointing toward the airlock.

Becoming angry, I climbed out of my seat.

“This isn’t our war, Leo,” Gwen said, touching my arm. “You have to admit, this is the best chance we’ll get.”

“Yeah,” I said, “yeah okay. It just took me by surprise. Everyone get to your stations—but leave Tand alone. We can leave him marooned on Earth for now.”

They scrambled into their positions around the ship, bumping their heads into equipment because no one was used to null-G yet.

Remembering what Commander Tand had taught me to do, I first scanned for Earth. For a panicky instant, I couldn’t find it. We were farther out than we had been the first time I’d seen our home world.

But then I spotted it, and I zoomed in.

“Everyone hang on to something,” I said. “Applying thrust.”

The ship bucked and swung around in a sickening loop. I closed my eyes to prevent a wave of vertigo, but my mind kept feeding me data. I could see it all.

We were heading toward Earth at a violent pace, accelerating steadily. How fast could this little ship go?

“
Hammerhead
,” I heard a voice in my mind say. “This is traffic control. We’ve detected a protocol breach. You’re about to leave the exercise zone.”

My face screwed up into a grimace of worry. I didn’t even know how to operate the com system. Experimentally, I tried simply talking to it.

“Traffic control,” I said. “We’ve got a problem. We’ll let you know when we’ve got it fixed.”

This was nothing like the carefully coded back-and-forth exchange between Navy pilots on Earth, but I wasn’t surprised. A hundred worlds probably had a hundred different communication protocols.

“
Hammerhead
, this is traffic control,” the voice continued. “You’ve exited the safe zone. You’re ordered to reduce your speed and alter course immediately.”

“Working on it,” I said confidently.

“Go faster!” Dalton hissed. “Get us home!”

I didn’t even look at him. I was too busy trying to use my enhanced perception to scan local space.

Tand had hinted that detection systems like radar and lidar were inherent in the interface I was using. I only had to allow the computers to send that data to me, to let me
see
what was around our ship.

After another few seconds, I managed to enable the sensors. A mass of data flooded in, stunning my mind with moving diagrams and colorful shapes. All this was overlaid on a magnificent view of space around
Hammerhead
.

There were contacts. Lots of them. The big one had to be
Killer
. Far away, maybe a million kilometers off, were more big ships like ours. Each carrier was hanging in space at a great distance. Around them were swarms of tiny contacts, like bees circling a dozen hives.

As I grew more able to interpret the massed data, I saw that many of the closest spacecraft were converging on our position. We were passing another carrier, in fact, and its fighters looked like they were chasing us.

“It’s no good,” I told my crew. “We’re surrounded. They’ll start shooting soon. Even if they don’t, they’ll recapture us when we get to Earth—I don’t even know if I can figure out how to land in an atmosphere without burning up.”

I looked around the group.

“It’s your call, Blake,” Dr. Chang said. “We can’t see like you are able to.”

“You’re a bloody coward,” Dalton said. “That’s all this is.”

“I say go for it,” Samson said. “We’re all going to get killed in this crazy war, anyway.”

My attention turned toward Gwen. “What do you think?”

She looked frightened. “I don’t want to die right now under their guns. I’ll take another week of life and hope for more.”

I nodded and killed the ship’s acceleration. Turning my attention aft, I was able to spot our carrier and focus on it.
Hammerhead
dutifully swung around and headed home.

“Everyone hang on,” I said. “I’m going to kill the anti-gravity system.”

“What?”

They scrambled to strap in. I killed the anti-grav and we were suddenly being torn apart by what registered to my sym as mild acceleration compared to what we’d been pulling before.

Handling the ship as gently as I could, I contacted
Killer
again.

“Traffic control,” I said. “We have regained control of our spacecraft. There was an accident, and we’ve got an injury. We’re heading for base. Please clear for an emergency landing.”

“
Hammerhead
, switch over your manual controls to remote-enabled when you get within ten thousand kilometers. We’ll take over from there.”

All around us, I saw a cluster of thirty fighters imitating our maneuvering. They swung close, examining us curiously.

My crew stared out at them, able to see them with their naked eyes, they were so close.

“You weren’t lying,” Dalton said. “Do you really think they would have shot us down?”

“No army likes deserters,” Samson said.

No one else spoke while we flew back to
Killer
. When we got close, I engaged the remote piloting option, and we were drawn up into the carrier.

Five minutes later, we opened the hatch. A dozen armed troops surrounded our fighter. They aimed their disruptors at us, and we put our hands on our heads. These weapons didn’t look like much, but they weren’t going to fire on low power this time.

An angry group of thumping creatures with bulging back muscles and skins like rhino-leather boarded
Hammerhead
. They marched us off the ship, took our sidearms, and shoved us into our group pod.

The pod sank into the deck. It had become a prison again. I had no idea what they were going to do with us. They hadn’t even asked any questions.

But I didn’t think they were happy about our attempt to go AWOL.

=19=

Shaw ran his eyes over a flimsy slip of screen-paper. These computers, which were like sheets of cloth, could display anything you desired. They were lightyears ahead of conventional tablets and notebooks back on Earth.

Lightweight, highly responsive and intuitive to use, screen-papers were everywhere aboard ship. We’d all been issued a personal unit as well when we’d qualified for flight training.

“You’ve all been reduced in status,” Shaw said. “Your failure has lowered my rank as well, because I’m your immediate superior.”

I saw his triangle was now silver. My crew had carried silver circles, now they were coppery, and mine was silver. What surprised me was they changed on their own. Apparently you didn’t have to pin on new ones. They must be controlled remotely.

“Sir,” I began, having worked out my lie ahead of time. “I accidently disabled the gravity controls. Commander Tand was knocked unconscious as a result and—”

Shaw threw up an irritated hand. “Save your lies. The investigation will be conclusive.”

“Who will perform this investigation?” I asked.

“Commander Tand, of course.”

Dalton made a pained face.

“I see…” I said. “That seems like an easy way to bring down a competitor, don’t you think?”

“What are you talking about?” Shaw demanded.

“Officers gain rank by dueling or outperforming their superiors, right?”

“Of course. There is no other way.”

“Ah, but there is,” I said. “An opportunistic officer could claim another man’s underlings were insubordinate. That way, the rival’s score would suffer without requiring any direct conflict.”

Shaw curled his lips back to show me an overabundance of teeth. “This is why I hate primates! You think like dishonorable dogs!”

I cocked my head to one side. “Then it’s happened before? Good officers have been reduced in this way?”

“Yes, it has happened. Honest predators always lose against such tactics. Most of our top commanders are primates precisely
because
you’re naturally underhanded!”

This was all news to me, and my mind was churning as to how to use this tidbit. I knew that I was considered by everyone aboard to be a sneaky primate. If they were going to prejudge me anyway, I figured I might as well own it.

“Listen, Shaw,” I said. “There’s no need for you to join in our punishment. I’ll take full responsibility. I’m a new pilot, flying for the first time. The fault was mine.”

He looked at me with narrowed eyes. “Don’t you think I know that?” he demanded. “But your failure is my failure.”

“It doesn’t have to be. It’s unreasonable to expect a perfect performance from a rookie pilot. Do all your pilots fly like experts their first time out in space?”

He shrugged and chuckled.

“No,” he admitted. “Most of them fly like birds with a broken wing.”

“Exactly,” I said. “I can fly, but my mistake was due to natural distraction. I was overwhelmed by open space. Disoriented.”

He looked at me suspiciously. “Why are you so willing to take all the blame?” he demanded.

“Because that’s
my
path to honor.”

He showed me his teeth again, but I could tell he was beginning to buy it. I only hoped there wasn’t a log someplace recording the fact that I’d waited a full three minutes after Tand was knocked out to turn off the anti-grav.

“You’ll learn your fate during the next work period,” he said at last.

Then the pod doors shut, and we were locked in for the night.

We schemed all night long, just the way primates everywhere tended to do, apparently. When the pod doors opened again, we had our stories straight. Everyone’s report would match down to the last detail.

But, as it turned out, none of that mattered. Commander Tand himself opened the pod at the start of the next shift, and he looked at us with baleful eyes.

“Here is my fine pack of failures,” he said. “It took all I could do to prevent them from gassing your pod while you slept in it.”

None of us had slept much, but we’d never thought it might be our last moments of life. We all stayed quiet and listened.

“Scoundrels, all of you,” he said. “When that anti-grav system was accidentally disabled, you should have contacted traffic control immediately. Instead, you tried to fly back to Earth!”

I blinked three times before that sank in. When it did, I lowered my head in shame and mumbled an earnest apology.

“I’m sorry sir,” I said. “I’d only learned how to fly
Hammerhead
minutes before the accident.”

“That’s what saved you,” he said. “I emphasized the stepped-up training schedule. I explained that your home planet was probably the only landmark you knew in space. Still, it was a hard sell. Most of the upper officers are primates, you know.”

“Is that right?” I asked, as if it was news to me.

“Yes, and like you, they’re suspicious of the motives of others. Predators are always more direct. Your type—creatures that have always been the hunted as well as the hunters—you’re always filled with guile, treacherous.”

It was clear when he said these words that he believed there was nothing lower in the cosmos than a primate. Still, he was giving me more hope than ever. He spoke of these things as if they were foreign ideas that he’d recently learned about and didn’t yet fully comprehend. I could barely believe my luck, but it sounded like the Commander was falling for it.

Over the last few weeks, I’d come to understand that even though everyone aboard was genetically related, we weren’t all alike. We’d evolved on separate worlds for many generations. We’d taken on characteristics that were unique to our backgrounds and our personalities.

“As to punishment,” Tand continued, “you’ll not be allowed to board
Hammerhead
for two shifts!”

I had to will my face not to react in astonishment. We looked at one another, baffled. To these people, that was a punishment as it was a dishonor to be useless. To sit around without an assignment was humiliating.

To us, of course, it was a vacation.

“Um,” I said, “what are we supposed to do in the meantime, sir?”

He made a sweeping gesture of dismissal. “Explore the ship. Sit in your pod and rot. Play with your genitals the way all primates seem to do. I don’t care.”

He left us with an air of grave disappointment, and we shared secret smiles.

“This has to be the best punishment duty I’ve ever pulled,” Samson said. “You’re some kind of genius, Leo.”

“Thanks,” I said, accepting the compliment at face-value.

“He’s no genius,” Dalton objected. “He just got lucky.”

“He seems to do that a lot,” Gwen pointed out.

She approached me while everyone watched, and she put her hands on my arm. “Hey, maybe we can take a look around together.”

“Okay,” I said, seizing the moment. “Let’s go.”

I left the others muttering in disappointment as I walked the decks. We were in mid-shift, and that was a good thing. Most of the crews were too busy with their ships to pester us. Many were starting their flight training just as we’d done a few days ago.

As we walked along, my eyes scanned the place desperately, looking for a spot where Gwen and I could be alone. She wasn’t thinking that way at all, unfortunately.

“Hey, there’s Dr. Chang,” she said. “He’s at the elevators to the reactor. You want to go down there? I want to see the cores with him.”

I snaked an arm around her waist and pulled her to me. It had been weeks since I’d last been with a girl.

“I had another idea in mind,” I said.

She pushed me away. “No way,” she said. “I can’t believe you’re even thinking of
that
! Besides, there are a million people watching us.”

“There’s always somewhere to go.”

Shaking her head, she retreated. I threw up my hands and sighed.

She relented long enough, looking me over thoughtfully, to give me a kiss on the cheek.

“Maybe someday,” she said. “Just not today.”

Then I watched her trot away to join Dr. Chang.

“Rejected?” asked a voice behind me.

I turned to see one of Ra-tikh’s females. She was the one with the smallest ears and the biggest butt. I’d been checking out the cat-girls now and then. It was hard not to. The truth was, they had excellent body-shapes. I wasn’t used to their faces yet, but the biggest contrast by far with any human girl was their coat of fine fur. They also had those long tails… which had begun to intrigue me.

“Who are you?” I finally asked her.

“I’m Ra-tikh’s fourth.”

“That’s your name?” I asked incredulously. “What, are you ladies—his slaves or something?”

She grew instantly angry. “You know nothing of the people of Ral, yet you make crude and offensive jokes? I’m leaving!”

“Wait,” I said. “I’m sorry. You’re right. I don’t know what I’m talking about. Tell me about yourself.”

Pausing, she reconsidered then stepped closer to me.

“I’m Ra-tikh’s fourth,” she repeated, “but my name is Mia.”

At least, “Mia” was what her name sounded like to me. But I could hear more guttural syllables underneath the translator’s sound than I could ever hope to pronounce.

I looked into her big, remarkable golden eyes. I could certainly get used to them, I thought.

“Mia,” I said. “That’s nice. Show me around the ship, Mia.”

“You order me? I’m not part of your crew. I’m not your—”

“Hold on,” I said, putting up my hands.

That was another mistake. She put her hands up, claws out, in a gesture that matched my own as if we were going to fight.

I lowered my hands slowly. “I meant that as a request. Will you
please
show me around the ship? You’ve been here longer than I have.”

She looked at me warily for a few seconds then suddenly warmed up again. I was getting the idea these cat-people were all touchy and moody. They could be friends one second and vicious enemies the next. In a way, it wasn’t surprising. I’d petted more than one purring cat only to have it bite me a moment later.

“I’ll honor your request,” she said. “Walk with me.”

We moved together down the central aisle between the fighters. Each sat in a dished-out region of the deck. Many were surrounded by their crews who climbed over them, working hard. As we passed, the crews looked us over in surprise.

“You make them stare,” she said. “They know you’ve put down Ra-tikh twice. They all must know this.”

“Uh… Yeah, sure. I bet they do.”

I was lying of course. I doubted most of them knew who I was. But if a girl wanted to be impressed by me—even a cat-girl—I couldn’t very well let that go to waste.

Mia led me farther away from her crew and mine with every step. When we were close to the recycling systems, she took my hand.

Her palm felt odd. It was a little leathery in the center and decidedly fuzzy around the edges. It was a warm, small hand. I took it in my larger grip and held on.

“Behind these tubes,” she said, leading me into a dank area.

Some of the big tanks that surrounded us now were dripping. The steamy tanks warmed the air and left puddles on the deck.

When we found a private spot, she stopped me then went to look around in several directions.

“No one is here. No cameras—at least, none that I can see.”

“Okay… that’s good I guess.”

She returned to me and turned around, aiming that shapely butt in my direction. I looked at it admiringly, but I was confused.

“Mia, why’d you bring me here?”

She looked at me over her shoulder like I was some kind of idiot. “You may hold my tail. Isn’t that what you want? That’s the signal your pheromones are sending.”

“Uh… I still don’t understand. Are you going to pee on me?”

Then she did one of those instant switch-things, changing gears from nice to nasty in less than a second.

“You insult me? You lead me on then refuse? I am humiliated. Can you hate Ra-tikh so much that you would do this?”

“No, no, hold on. Are you suggesting we have sex?”

“Of course! Is this not the way your people mate?”

I looked around. We
were
in a secluded place. She was still dressed, but I knew these uniforms could be pulled open in any number of ways. They’d been built so as to accommodate various physiologies.

Realizing I had a decision to make, I took a full two seconds to make it. That’s a long time for a young guy who’s been alone for weeks.

It wasn’t the environment that was making me stop to think. To be honest, I wasn’t so sure
how
I was expected to perform. Clearly, I hadn’t thought this whole thing through. And what was Ra-Tikh going to do if he found out? I guess I was a bit thrown off.

I didn’t know what I’d really expected. Sure, I’d been flirting with a girl-cat, but I hadn’t expected her to be so direct.