Riss Series 3: The Riss Survival (26 page)

CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

Captain Pavao

Pavao reluctantly rose from the Captain's chair and left the Bridge. Ni'Shay was right. It felt like being among the space gods. She had been a Captain for over twelve years, but never had felt so … alive, content.

A vid of twenty plus Riss climbing a steep, snow covered mountain with one Riss after another helping her over places impossible for a human to navigate. Before she could respond, Cethlion set another vid of Pavao stopping to point to hidden trails and traps.

A feeling of amusement.

A concept she had heard many times and thought she understood but didn't. Nadya was right. Hosting a Riss was a precious gift.

A vid of the view from a snow-covered mountain, and at the top, a Riss sitting in a lotus position. Pavao had a feeling of contentment so strong she felt it in her bones.

She knew she would never go back to being—just human. She would do her best to see the Riss down the path and see where it led. Smiling, she continued down to level one and the Sharks—Ghosts—area.

"Captain Pavao, I see you are following in Captain Reese's tradition. A Riss cruiser is strange, in an exciting way. My pilots and I have always felt … superior to the army … and frankly, non-pilots. Forcing us to mingle is breaking down those prejudices, not to mention Captains visiting me." He laughed. "What can I do for you Captain?"

"I agree with you, Commander Clarkson. Strange but exciting." She nodded. "No, I'm just checking to see if you need anything, before the entertainment starts."

"No. Everyone is excited to be here and morale is excellent. And these are the best accommodations we've ever had, especially level three. We're feeling special."

"Me, too," she waved as she exited his office. Pavao felt like skipping down the hallway to the Scorpion area. Ironically, she had never visited the army area on her other ships.

"Captain Pavao, welcome to the Scorpion's area," Colonel McTosh said as she entered the area where Scorpions were busy practicing boarding mockups. She stood watching for a few minutes, realizing this was the army's simulator.

"Just checking to see if there are any problems before it's too late."

"No, except I can't get my troops to stop smiling. They're hoping you are going to be their totem," he said, grinning. "Life for the army on a cruiser is mostly boring. We train to engage the enemy, but even during an engagement, we're used mostly on repair crews. Crewing with Captain Reese has always been exciting. That's why she has no trouble getting volunteers. They're hoping you're our new totem."

"Yes, we all secretly wish for the opportunity to be heroes, although deep down we know the horror of war—friends and comrades dying. Let's hope the Eirene can help us be heroes while minimizing the horror."

* * *

Her visit to the Intel unit was stranger than the Scorpion area. Intel had always been off limits, even to a Captain. The two Scorpion guards allowed her in with a minimum check, since Lt. Commander Jackson had already authorized her access. He gave her a tour of his domain, and they spent some time getting to know each other. He also bubbled with excitement at the prospect of seeing the Aliens and their technology.

* * *

Pavao opened her SID. "Thalia's bored. We're on Ship Standby, one-third of each unit on duty each eight hour shift."

Strange she thought. Her position was Captain; therefore, every Riss on the Eirene would accept her decisions without question. But unlike the military where your superiors—Leader in this case—suggestions were an order, here they were suggestions, since her position was Captain of the Eirene.

CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

Aliens arrive

Silver dots appeared on the VTM tagged A1, A2 and A3.

Another silver dot with the tag S1 appeared.

Jaelle asked.

I left the ship's state as Standby, since our participation wasn't required. Wattson wanted to let the Aliens do whatever they did, before confronting them. I'd bet Byer and Seng were shocked as they watched the cruisers pass us on the way to the planet. I had learned a lot from Si'jin. Most of a battle involved mind games and that required one to remain relaxed and calm—tensed muscles were slow to react and a tensed mind unable to see clearly.

For the first few hours after the cruisers arrived, the humans seemed tense, but as the day wore on it eased and by the next day the mood was relaxed and the ship had returned to normal. Wanting to reinforce the Standby state, I decided on a workout and found Terril teaching a rather large Si'jin class, which included Lt. Commander Katlin and several of the Ghost pilots.

"Well, Master Reese, are you so bored you've come looking for a fight?" She used the title of Master as I was dressed in normal Si'jin garb. "A few of my instructors are bored, too. They’d like some action. You do kind of owe us some excitement."

I hadn't been doing much working out since we left Freeland, so not everyone had seen me fight. Katlin and her pilots hadn't and were staring open mouthed.

"All right. I don't want anyone bored. It's bad for morale."

"Master Garritt, here's your chance to earn another knot," Terril said, waving at a tall lanky man in his early thirties. His belt had seven knots, and he walked like a snowcat. I felt no emotions from him, nor would I expect any from a solid seven-knot practitioner of Si'jin. As he approached, Terril stepped towards us to begin the match, but before she could raise her hand between us, he attacked. He had the advantage of reach in arms and legs. A variety of sweeps, spinning kicks, and punches followed in rapid succession. Only my time with Master Wei helped me avoid the initial onslaught. The couple of scores he managed were feather light. My counter moves weren't. I scored three to one, but he managed to deflect most of the force, until what should have been a well-executed sweep.

I would be a second late getting out of the way, so I leaned towards him as his leg caught me at the ankles. I use the force to spin in the air, and as I completed the spin, drove my elbow into his chest. As he fought to regain his balance, my head slammed into his and he fell backward. I fell with him, driving my knee into his chest as we hit the floor and then rolled away and onto my feet. He lay still, fighting for air.

"Master Garritt, when you're through resting, why don't you take the class. Master Reese and I are going to see if that counter move was an accident or a reproducible move." She steered me over to a vacant corner. "That was a very impressive move, Nadya, considering he caught you napping."

"I've had good teachers."

"Or just lucky. Let's find out." Terril and I spent the next hour duplicating the conditions. We found leaning into your opponent when your feet were swept from under you allowed you to use the force of the attack to spin you into your opponent. When we stopped, we had acquired a crowd of spectators and got a round of applause. I returned to the Bridge relaxed and refreshed.

CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

Aboard the cruiser Tetia

The Alien's cruiser tagged A1 settled into an orbit above the city of Zig, the second largest city and hub of Zigzag's limited commerce and shuttle traffic to and from their small space station.

"Captain, the Alien's ship A1 has begun broadcasting … in standard Eden," Commander Ellison, the XO of the Teita, said in a tone of surprise.

“I suspect more surprises are coming,” Captain Burglin mused. “Who would expect an Alien culture to speak your language? The great thinkers had developed elaborate messages to be used when we encountered Aliens, which would provide a framework for communications.” He wasn't sure whether the Aliens knowing how to communicate with us constituted a good or bad sign. They were soon to find out.

"Comm, put it on speaker. I'm sure everyone is interested, and tight-beam it to the Golden Eagle." A few seconds later, a mechanical base-sounding voice spoke.

"People of Zigzag, the Supreme Council of the Gods have placed Zigzag under permanent quarantine. We are here to enforce their decree. You will be allowed eight hours to evacuate the space station and the two spaceships docked there. At the end of that time, they and anyone with them will be destroyed. From now on, you are restricted to the surface of Zigzag and forbidden from flying any object. Violating these restrictions will have severe consequences." The voice continued the same message every fifteen minutes for the next six hours. Then they began announcing the time remaining every fifteen minutes.

"What do you think, Skipper?"

"Well, we now know how they isolate a solar system—destroy the Comstat, space station, and any space going ships. We also know it's an edict from the Supreme Council of the Gods, which does not give me a warm, comfortable feeling. Not only are gods scary but so are the people who claim to speak for them. The question is, why the edict? It would seem easier to raze the planet."

"Maybe they don't have the technology."

"Or … maybe they are afraid they wouldn't kill everyone." Burglin whispered.

"Captain, one of the merchants is making a run for it," Lt. Babbin on radar shouted. The words had no sooner left his mouth, when. "Missiles fired … they're defenseless … multiple explosions. Nothing survived that."

"We can't just sit here, Captain!"

"Yes we can, and yes we will. Admiral Wattson was very specific. We will take no action until he orders an attack. Our top priority is to collect information about the Aliens. As cruel as it may be, we aren't here to protect or save anyone. Soon the Harris and Teita will be given orders to attack A1. We are the least capable ships in the squadron—we haven't been upgraded and don't have the new missiles. We are another information gathering source, so don't feel too sorry for the merchants—they had a choice."

"It's two against one, and that cruiser is less than three-quarters our size," Ellison said, his jaw set in determination.

"Let's hope size matters," Burglin said. He hoped in this case size did matter. His XO had forgotten about the Riss cruisers, which were smaller and uglier.

The Bridge remained quiet for the next hour. There was plenty to think about: the people of Zigzag, the merchants, and the upcoming engagement.

"Captain, four missiles launched towards the space station … the merchant ship exploded." Thirty seconds later. "Another four … massive explosions on the station."

"Another piece of the puzzle, XO. Our Aliens' ships have four missile tubes and can fire every thirty seconds. The good news is we have six; however, it takes us sixty seconds to reload. I'm glad that the Harris will join the party. It’s a new Light and has eight tubes, but like us, time to reload is sixty seconds."

"Captain, Admiral Wattson has given the order to attack."

"Light her up, XO. It's party time." Burglin had no sooner spoken than A1 began to move. He knew they had less than thirty seconds until A1 could launch missiles.

"Tac, fire when ready."

"Missiles away. Sixty seconds to impact."

"The
Harris
has fired."

"A1 has split its fire. Time to impact … unknown."

"Shit, no hits." Radar reported. Forty seconds later, the Teita shook as one of the two missiles from A1 eluded ECM.

"Those damn missiles somehow turnoff when they detect chaff. They become just a piece of metal and are a bitch to locate. Something like our new Riss missiles. And they are fast. I estimate thirty-seconds per light second. Ours are slower by fifteen seconds."

"Another data point." Burglin nodded. "None of them good."

The battle raged on for what seemed like an eternity. When the battle ended, the
Teita
had launched one hundred twenty missiles and the
Harris
one hundred sixty, scoring a total of only sixteen hits. The fighters scored multiple hits. A1 had launched one hundred sixty missiles during that time, scoring fourteen hits on the Harris and seventeen on the Tetia. The Harris remained marginally operational, but the Tetia was destroyed along with six Strikers when A1's ten fighters targeted the
Tetia
.