Human, page 21
part #1 of Humanity Ascendant Series
“Hard to say with visions.” Sulak sniffed at the strip and shuddered, disgusted by the odor but not enough, apparently, to get rid of it. He shoved it back into his robe. “Vague things, visions, and you are particularly difficult to see through the veil. You seem to cloud things somehow.” He shrugged, not very bothered by it. “Technically, even Varangians are native troops, and they often cloud visions, so…”
“Well, Father, since we don’t even know where this takes place, I might as well sort out our new crewmen and then head for Dur.” He looked to the door in the aft bulkhead.
One of the warrant officers from the ‘lick & stick’ ship (it didn’t even have a name) was standing to one side, regarding Eth with a quiet awe that he’d felt from the moment she stepped into the bridge.
“Now that I can tell you,” Sulak said with a grin as the warrant officer approached.
“You don’t know what species foils Uktannu but you know which planet?”
“I can recognize the world of my own birth.”
“That was the reason you came aboard, isn’t it?” Eth demanded, though he wasn’t upset. It was hard to get angry at Sulak.
“Well,” Sulak waggled his head, “that and the fact that Heiropolitans are a pack of window-licking jackasses!”
Eth felt the nervousness of the warrant officer. She was standing next to one of the first Humans to earn a commission and he knew the stories on the voyage out here would have made far too much of his accomplishments. She was also shocked at how familiarly he spoke with a Quailu oracle, even a filthy one like Father Sulak.
He was surprised to realize he felt some resentment toward this new influx of Humans. They came with inflated expectations, looking to him for leadership and continued success.
As far as Eth was concerned, half of his success to date had been due to luck. Maybe more than half.
You couldn’t plan on luck. You could only try to place yourself in luck’s path and hope for the best.
He turned to her.
“Warrant Hela, sir.” She came to a position of respect. “I have five hundred twenty-three personnel on our l&s.”
“Your timing couldn’t be better, Warrant,” Eth said. “We’ve recently seized this cruiser and we’re trying to run her with three scout-ship crews.” He tilted his head. “What are your backgrounds?”
“Five small-unit raiding teams, like the one you led, sir, though two of them are still pretty green. The rest are grown to the same pattern but without actual combat experience. We’ve all been imprinted with the fleet training modules as well.”
It was no surprise that Eth didn’t recognize her. Mishak had always skirted the fine line between noble and pirate and he had dozens of teams to carry out his raids. He couldn’t even say for sure whether his own team had been treated any differently, though it seemed that way.
“Equipment, Warrant?”
“We have the l&s that we arrived in, as well as five shuttles, six hundred side-arms, six hundred fifty assault-weapons as well as the standard pressurized combat-suits.”
“Rigged for infantry combat?”
She nodded. “They’re rated for shock suppression and they all have grenade dispensers.”
“Five shuttles,” he mused, opening a channel. “Second Lieutenant Noakenu, please report to the bridge.”
Sulak grinned.
“You’ve seen what I’m going to do, Father, or do you have gastric distress?”
“Can’t really say no to either option, Captain,” Sulak replied cheerfully. “Do you have coffee aboard, by the way?”
“What does that have to do with anything?”
“It has a lot to do with me drinking coffee,” the oracle explained helpfully.
“Uktannu must have been getting a good bulk price through his brother,” Eth said. “The main locker behind the galley service counter has about three hundred pounds.”
“And now you know the main reason why I asked you for a ride!” Sulak beamed.
Eth looked at him. “But you’re not rushing off to the galley, I see.”
“I said main reason,” the Quailu shrugged. “There are other, lesser things one might wish to stick around for…”
“Vagueness seems a good quality for an oracle,” Eth mused.
“Indeed?” Sulak prompted, darting a playful wink at Hela.
Eth smiled, feeling her consternation at this undignified attention from a member of the master species. She’ll have to change her attitude toward the Quailu double-quick if she wants to stay alive out here. I don’t want her freezing up when she needs to kill one of the bastards.
The corners of his mouth dropped a little as he realized how quickly he’d acquired the habit of thinking freely in the presence of the Quailu. “Vagueness lets an Oracle claim knowledge of just about anything that comes to pass.”
“Hah!” Sulak gave Eth a thump on the shoulder. “You know why I like you Humans so much more than the Heiropolitans?”
“Because they’re all assholes?”
“Well, there is that.” Sulak shrugged. “But it’s more about the soup, as they say…”
“Soup, father?” Hela asked, curiosity overcoming her awe.
“An old saying among my people.” Sulak turned the full force of his random charm on her. “But it applies here. If the lieutenant here were to piss in my soup, as the old saying goes, he’d climb up on the table and do it right in front of me. A Heiropolitan would sneak into the kitchen.”
Noa arrived, taking note of the new warrant officer as he approached Eth. “Sir?”
It was a little odd to hear that from Noa. Even though he’d been their leader for a while, he’d only had his commission for a few days. Now with a new influx of crewmen, he’d have to get used to a little more isolation.
He nodded toward the holo display. “That L&S ship – how many scout-ships do you figure you can make from its nanites?”
Noa grimaced, bringing up the datasheet for the ship. “Maybe two, if we’re lucky but we’d want some cores and we only have four shuttles aboard this cruiser.”
“This is Warrant Officer Hela.” Eth gestured, waiting for them to exchange polite nods. He could feel her getting used to the idea of dealing with Human officers. Noa was far less intimidating than meeting him and Sulak at the same time.
“She has five shuttles aboard.”
“Ah! That changes things! We could manage three easily and still have plenty of nanites left over.”
“That’s what I figured.” Eth considered for a moment, then opened a channel. “Warrant Carolkenu to the bridge.” He turned to Hela. “Warrant, how would you like a ship of your own?”
“A scout-ship?” Hela’s eyes were shining. “I’d like that, sir!”
“I’ll keep Carol in command of the Last Thing You’ll Ever See as well as being the senior scout. The other two of the original scout-ship crews will stay aboard the Mouse . We can’t crew this beast without some experienced people. We’ve all had the fleet training implanted but it’s a far cry from actual experience.
“With three new ships, we’ll need another four crews beside you. Do you have any recommendations, Warrant?”
He watched her as she thought it through. He felt an honest effort to identify the best of the new warrant officers. If he sensed any cronyism from her, he would have politely ignored her suggestions.
“To start with, sir, I’d definitely recommend Colm and Fink, the two with combat experience. It was mostly infantry work, of course, but I don’t need to tell you it involves some pretty dynamic situations and we often end up taking fire while flying in or out of a target zone.”
She frowned for a moment. “I think Henrik and Bel would be the best choices from the rest.”
“Good! Thank-you, Warrant. Now, let’s get started on moving the new recruits over to the Mouse. I want those new scout-ships built before the Lord Sandrak remembers you have shuttles aboard that heap of nanites and tells us to shift them over to his flagship.”
He felt mild alarm from Hela at his irreverent attitude toward a prince of the realm.
Had he been that innocent when he left Kish? As far as the rest knew, they’d only been away for a couple of months but he’d spent a lot of time in a semi-conscious state while under Varangian care.
Noa hadn’t experienced more than a couple of months of this life and he showed not the least concern. Then again, he’d killed a few Quailu himself.
The myth of the master species grew thin surprisingly fast when you were ordered to kill them.
“We’ll be training against Sandrak’s fleet before we move on,” he told them. “Warrant, the sooner you can get that L&S emptied out, the better. Head over there and get everyone moving.”
She turned and left, passing Carol at the bridge’s main entry hatch.
“Reporting as ordered, sir.” Carol came to a stop in front of Eth.
“Your scouting force is going to get a lot larger, Warrant.”
“My force, sir?” A definite thrill of anticipation.
“I’m making you our senior scout,” he confirmed, “and I’m registering a new warrant for you.” He opened a system holo and accessed the personnel menu. “As of this moment,” he said, inputting a change and watching that record turn from red to green, “you are Master Warrant Officer Carolkenu.”
“But,” she spluttered, staring at the file, which was clearly green and not the intermediate orange of a pending file, “confirmation from our lord…” Shock, guarded exhilaration.
“Was entrusted, pro tempore , into my hands until we return to the fleet,” he explained. “It’s done and you’d have to give a damned poor performance to make our lord rescind it.
“Moving on to new business, I have some new crews pre-picked for you to start with. Use the existing scout-ships and start training them. We have permission to stalk the Lord Sandrak’s ships for the next two days, so don’t waste any time.”
Grinning, she nodded in agreement. “Yes, sir. Thank-you, sir!” She made for the exit hatch at a pace that could almost be called a sprint.
He still hadn’t decided where they’d be going, two days from now, when they left orbit.
Eth wasn’t eager to get back to Mishak’s fleet. Sulak might not be bothered by his inability to read the Human officer, but the other Quailu in the fleet certainly were. Even Mishak seemed to be more distant, now that he didn’t have his empathic advantage.
He was faced with a rare opportunity to get away from the stultifying environment of a Quailu fleet, even if only for a few days. It was a bit of an over-reach for his limited authority but, if he could pull this off, all would probably be forgiven.
Probably…
There was no way he’d be able to stop Uktannu’s mischief if he went back to the fleet. There wouldn’t be time to get to Dur, convince Mishak and then get reinforcements into place. More than that, Mishak would be far too busy consolidating his new position and he’d need all of his forces to pacify his new holdings.
Sulak seemed to think Humans would come to the rescue, so why not?
Hot From the Forge
I f you’re trying to kill yourself,” Carol roared at Hela, her voice crackling as the helmet speakers attenuated the volume, “then do it on your own gods-damned time and make sure I’m not on the same ship! Close with them, damn your worthless hide! Don’t just sit out here with your pants down, waiting for a thermonuclear suppository!”
“Eve,” Hela began, her ears burning, “take us…”
“Belay!” Carol overrode her. “We’re already dead by now. Take us back to the jump-off point and reset the exercise.”
Hela knew her skin was flushed, showing her mingled shame and rage but her only real outlet at the moment was to obey orders and try to redeem herself. At least they were rigged for combat and her helmet hid her flushed skin.
It didn’t stop her suit from filling with the rank scent of stress from her sweat.
She nodded to Eve. “Take us back.”
Carol, the master warrant officer in charge of scouting, wasn’t done. She glared around her at the rest of the crew. “If any of you walking organ-banks think I’m just yelling at your captain, think again!”
She jabbed a finger at Hela. “She’s taking the heat on your behalf, like a good leader should. A poor leader might have offered up excuses.”
“Eve,” she barked, without turning to look at the pilot, “what do the SOP’s tell you to do when you’re lit up during a stealth approach?”
“Close and board.”
“Because the enemy,” Carol growled, “has missiles and gunnery and you have what exactly?”
“Infantry weapons and ration breath,” Gleb offered with an unreadable smile.
Carol considered reprimanding him for answering a question he wasn’t asked but it showed, at the very least, initiative under stress. It was also possible that he was attempting to draw heat from his crewmates.
Either way, it was a good sign.
“And you can’t always count on your breath,” Carol emphasized, “so you nuzzle up close, get aboard and make the little darlings fight our strengths , rather than our weaknesses .”
“So I shouldn’t wait for the order to…” Eve trailed off, ears turning red, probably realizing that her question was pushing responsibility for their last failure onto Hela.
“If Hela has some other plan in mind,” Carol explained, “it’s up to her to communicate it. Otherwise, when Gleb says you’ve been made – and he doesn’t wait until someone asks about it before passing that on – you should get this shit-wagon moving without having to be told. If your captain has to tell you, she might as well just be the pilot herself and cut one link out of the chain of command.
“A crew that survives is a crew that acts without delay, cooperating in a pre-arranged plan without needing their hands held the whole way.
“Every second you waste looking for orders that confirm the obvious,” Carol continued, raising her voice as if the crew in the engineering space couldn’t hear at her previous level, “is another second for those dim-witted ass-sniffers in the enemy ship to notice you, get over their shock and remember that they actually have weapons.”
Those dim-witted ass-sniffers were Quailu but nobody objected to Carol’s choice of words.
“Gleb, you should be highlighting insertion points based on coverage from other ships in the enemy formation – the ones that are in a position to fire at us. As Eve takes us in, both she and Hela should be able to use that data to formulate their next steps. Eve, you need to pick an insertion point on your own initiative and make for it.
“This is knife fighting, people. Your captain has a dozen things to prioritize so she can’t be holding your hands. You handle the obvious so she can deal with the clever .”
“We’re back in position, MWO,” Hela advised.
Carol nodded. “You may commence a new stalking run when you’re ready, Warrant.”
Hela took a deep breath and put on a calm demeanor like she was putting on an EVA suit. A sweaty, stinky EVA suit.
“Aye, ma’am. Meesh, dump what we have in the heat capacitor and reset emission-management systems to full tactical. Gleb, plot us an approach course for the Lord Sandrak’s flagship.”
There was a momentary pause, the kind that usually follows something completely unexpected.
“Aye, Warrant,” Gleb finally responded. “Passing a course to the helm now.”
Carol gazed at Hela for a few seconds as the small scout-ship got underway. “You’ve got some minerals but, if you’re going to stalk the elector, you’d better not bugger it up or I’m gonna enjoy breaking my foot off in your ass!”
“No unnecessary talk during the approach, if you please,” Hela snapped. She could have sworn she saw a ghost of a smile on Carol’s face before she turned away.
“Target is keeping station over the planetary capital,” Gleb advised. “Her engines are running at sixteen percent.”
“Understood,” Hela replied. “Bring us in astern, keep us in her baffles.”
The area behind an active engine was relatively opaque to sensors due to all the heat and radiation. It would ease the load on the scout-ship’s emission management systems.
“Keep in mind,” Carol advised, “that the Quailu mind is hard-wired to pay more attention to the rear than we Humans tend to. Their vision is nearly three-hundred-sixty degrees so they don’t like blind spots in their sensing suites.”
“Understood.” Hela nodded.
They cruised along, approaching the ship’s blind-spot from behind at a velocity that balanced speed with the need to manage the waste heat from their own pitch drive.
Carol was pleased to see that Gleb was already putting up recommended insertion points as they moved in.
“Take us up to the dorsal edge of the baffle,” Hela ordered. “Let’s see if there’s any Sig-Int to pick up while we’re here.”
Carol nodded to herself. Hela had definite potential. After a dressing down that would have left some small unit commanders too shaken to perform, she’d not only approached to within the designated approach-phase distance undetected, but she had the presence of mind to think of signals intelligence as well.
Now, if only…
“We’re lit again!” Gleb announced. “I think the bastards are towing a sensor array. They’re rigging for combat. Recommend the dorsal engineering insertion point.”
“Belay!” Hela cut in. “Eve, take us dorsal, but all the way up to the bridge. We’ll go after the command center.”
Carol frowned. “The chances of seizing critical systems are higher in engineering,” she offered diplomatically, noticing, with approval, that the crew were still executing Hela’s orders despite the interference from the training officer.
Hela smoldered for a half heartbeat. “My chances of seizing a prince of the empire are far higher on the bridge of that ship. I’ll trouble you not to interfere in the exercise of my command again!”
Top marks! Carol thought as the flagships turrets flashed past them at bowel-loosening speeds.
They left Eve at the helm and moved to the weapons rack in engineering. They were ready to fight just as the hull began melting out of the way on the port side. Hela led the way through and Carol, her heart in her mouth, followed the last of the boarding party.
