"They have signed a contract with the Malin Commonwealth to teach an advanced fighter pilot training course," Martin Mason said as he swirled his whisky around in his glass. "However, I can't see fighters, no matter how improved, determining the outcome of a war."

  "I would agree, except for that incident with the Skulls," Joshsa said, drumming his fingers on the table. "Against four cruisers, the War Horse should have been easy prey, and if it survived, it should have been scrap metal. The Skulls were experienced raiders, not just any armed merchants."

  "Maybe they have developed robot fighters to ram cruisers?" Art Vega offered with a shrug.

  "Whatever they are doing, we need to know," Joshsa said, glaring at the two men. "A major surprise or miscalculation could cause us to lose the war, and you and I know Jax will not settle for anything less than an unconditional surrender."

  "I heard a rumor" –Mason smiled and finished off the last two fingers of his whisky– "that the Jax has a contract in the Ceetana system in the Grus League. With the right incentive, the surviving Skulls may find out for us."

  "Incentive?" Joshsa asked, narrowing his eyebrows in a scowl. "What can they find out?"

  "The Jax will use one of their cruisers to ferry the Black Guard team to Ceetana. The Skulls have more than ten to twelve cruisers in their fleet. The new leaders might, with a little encouragement, be willing to take on the Jax cruiser with their remaining cruisers. If so, we could learn a lot, get rid of one of the Jax cruisers, and force them to send another cruiser to pick up the Black Guard."

  "What sort of an incentive?" Vegas asked, his voice interested.

  "Money," Martin said and smiled. "Money to help repair any problems with their current fleet, and a contract promising a bonus for each Jax cruiser they destroy. We could also find out how many cruisers went to Jax because Jax destroying four doesn't mean they only sent four. If so, the ones that survived would have valuable information."

  "That would be a worthwhile investment," Joshsa said, nodding slowly as if in thought. "Right now, we are working blind. We need more information to help us sort through the hundreds of rumors we are hearing and find the truth. We are playing with fire; let's make sure we aren't the ones who get burnt." Joshsa smiled at Mason. "Make it happen, Martin."

  44 – New Assignment

  The assignment at Vargas went well. The defense minister and the pilots heard what had happened at Imodgin and were enthusiastic and motivated. At the end of the month, the newly reconditioned and recommissioned Sabretooth entered Vargas with Captain Sapir and sixteen Black Guards.

  "Well, Kat, are you looking forward to your new assignment?" Josh asked as he watched me pack.

  "Actually, this advanced pilot training has been fun, and I've been kept busy all day. I like being on a cruiser, but life on one is pretty boring. I guess it's no worse than a Black Guard, who spends most of their time standing around waiting for someone to try and kill their client."

  "You have nothing to complain about." Josh laughed. "You have had more action than any of us–the Skulls and now raiders–and a chest full of medals. Speaking of which, all of us agree with you on not wearing awards. I think it could create an unhealthy competition and encourage reckless behavior. Besides, it somehow makes us feel elite, like the Black Guard."

  "Good," I said and gave a wry smile. "I feel like I got a medal because I was there when shit hit the fan, not because I am any better than someone else who could have been there instead of me. Josh, do me a favor and pass on Admiral Noam's warning. It's something we all need to think about before we act. No sense getting demoted for a medal you cannot wear."

  The Sabretooth dropped a shuttle for me as they already had my squadron and my Besras transferred from the Black Panther.

  I was met by a lieutenant when I exited the shuttle. He saluted. "Commander Quinn, Captain Sitala has asked for you to attend her powwow tonight at nineteen hundred hours." He smiled. "Her heritage is American Apache Indian, and she likes the image. Now, if you will follow me, I'll take you to your quarters."

  "In what bay are the Besras parked?" I asked, anxious to see my squadron mates.

  "Bay 5, ma'am."

  My room was a standard commander's room: a reasonable size with a small fresher unit, pulldown desk, and built-in cabinet for clothes. The Sabretooth was a standard Jax cruiser, so I didn't have any trouble finding Bay 5 after storing my clothes.

  "Hi, boss," Ryan said when he saw me. "You will be happy to know my quick survey of available men and women on the Sabretooth shows the numbers are more than adequate."

  I smiled, thinking I should follow his advice, but dating somehow didn't feel right. I was certainly the right age. At my current age, my brothers had been going steady or were engaged. However, marriage appeared complicated for military personnel since there was no guarantee you would both be transferred to the same cruiser or even a naval station after a year of cruiser duty. Furthermore, marrying was prohibited if your husband or wife was in your chain of command, and if you had a baby… It gave me a headache just thinking about all the problems. Of course, I doubted Ryan was contemplating marriage any time soon.

  "It's the perfect diversion," Ryan continued. “No one is looking for a serious relationship at our age. Just a fun way to pass the boring time off duty." He laughed. "And as you frequently point out, we have an excess of boring time."

  I had to agree with Ryan, I conceded as I made my way to the captain's dining room. When I entered, there were two women and three men standing around with an assortment of drinks talking. I recognized Captain Sapir and assumed the striking woman with the long black hair, angular hawk-like face with a red stripe, which I thought a tattoo, ran from between her eyebrows almost to her hairline, and black and white feathers for earrings was Captain Sitala.

  She turned toward me with appraising, predatory eyes. "Welcome, Commander Quinn. Another warrior with no medals. I approve. I'm Captain Sitala, Commander Alion, my XO, Colonel Mosi, marine battalion commander, Commander Rostek, fighter wing commander, and Captain Sapir, Black Guard." She smiled as she looked the group over. "Here, we have four groups each capable of independent command; it's like having four tribes banded together for war: Apache, Kiowa, Sioux, and Comanche."

  She turned back to me. “Ladies and gentlemen, the young commander is Caitlin Quinn, who commands a Besra squadron. She goes by Kat, an interesting handle–implying sharp teeth and claws. After dinner, she is going to tell us about her very secret squadron and the cover story that will keep us from spending the rest of our lives on a Jax maximum security reservation."

  The dinner was cordial, with general discussions about news around the inhabited systems. Sapir gave a little background about her present assignment in the Grus League: a king whose dukes wanted him retired to make room for one of them.

  "Well, Kat, your turn," Sitala said, smiling. "We have all heard the rumors but hope they aren't true. With my deepest respect for Commander Rostek and his fighter pilots, fighters that can fit into my shuttle bays are not going to change the final outcome of a war. Just as the defeat of Custer at the Battle of Little Bighorn didn't change the course of the war for the Indians."

  I smiled. "J-SOC, Jax Special Operations Command, was conceived over eight years ago when the Jax Military Committee realized that the Helix Alliance could mean the demise of the Jax…” I went on to explain Admiral Noam's vision for the Besra. “Today, J-SOC is officially a testing ground for new fighters, a school for advanced fighter pilot training, and the Besra an advanced fighter. That is the cover story that will keep us off the reservation. In reality, the Besra is a stealth mini-cruiser capable of entering the Wave and caries twelve Vulture W8R missiles, four fifty-centimeter lasers, and two plasma cannons. For those who are interested, I'd be glad to give you a tour."

  Everyone was interested, so we retired to Bay 5.

  After a two-hour tour, we returned to the captain's dining room. The captain was the first to speak. “They don't look like they could stand up to an assault from several Javelin fighters."

  "That's the image Admiral Noam wants you and everyone to project, ma'am. Jax is developing new fighters which are little better than the old ones." I held up a hand. "He wants everyone to be thinking inside the box, thinking in terms of combat engagements–face to face, best commander, cruiser, person, or fighter wins. Think outside the box. Besra squadrons are assassins. They are not looking for a fair fight or to prove anything. They are sneaky killers. They give up honor and glory for their beloved Jax." I paused to let everyone consider what I had said and took a sip of water. "The Skulls invaded Jax with eight cruisers. At that time, the War Horse was the only Jax cruiser available to meet them, because the Crouching Tiger had insufficient crew on the cruiser to join the engagement. The War Horse killed one cruiser. The other seven died without even knowing the Besra squadron was stalking them."

  "Kat," Sitala said into the quiet that had descended on the room, "the black uniforms certainly suit the Guard and the Guardians."

  45 - Skulls, New Players

  "This clusterfuck our dead genius captains created might just turn out to be our chance at fame and fortune," Captain Dardan said, smiling at the irony. "Captain Pallan, Captain Damsan's replacement convinced the other senior Skulls' captains, Balok, Tara, Kobb, and Furlow that raiding Jax would make them legends, and according to Martin Mason, head of one of the Lariw ruling families, the Jax were weak and vulnerable. They only had two cruisers guarding Jax and the other Helix systems were banding against the Jax and would not interfere. Normally, wisdom would have prevailed, but Pallan, Tara, and Furlow had their egos damaged by Captain Sapir and wanted revenge bad enough to think they could stick their head into the lion's mouth and pull its teeth.

  “The rumors coming out of Jax claim the Skulls had only sent four ships and that one Jax cruiser had destroyed them, but Dardan knew the Skulls had sent eight functional cruisers. So, Jax had lied, but why? Had they somehow found out what the Skulls planned and had all their cruisers waiting for the raid? Or could Jax have an unknown defensive system, like mines or missile platforms guarding the planet, because Dardan was sure one Jax cruiser didn't destroy eight Skulls cruisers. I don't know what happened, but I'm smart enough to know you don't raid Jax. Once you engage the Jax, only one of you is leaving the party."

  "So, what is this great opportunity?" asked Fisnik, the captain of the last of Furlow's cruisers. "Our four remaining cruisers of the League of Skulls aren't in prime condition." Fisnik was an elderly man with enough scars on his face and body to attest to his thirty-year career as a mercenary, and while old, not one to anger.

  "I talked to Martin Mason–" Dardan began but was interrupted.

  "The guy from Lariw who told Pallan that the Jax was weak and vulnerable?" Captain Fisnik snarled. "We should cut his throat. He probably sold us out."

  "The very same man," Dardan said, smiling. "This time he's not suggesting we attack Jax or that we play with the Jax for fame and glory. He's offering us a contract. A very lucrative contract."

  "How much and what do we have to do to earn it?" Captain Baukis asked. He was tall, athletic, and the youngest of the four captains, deadliest with a knife and not above sticking it into your back.

  "He informed me that the Jax are negotiating with a king on Ceetana for Black Guards. In that case, a Jax cruiser will be delivering them to Ceetana. He thought we would have between a week and two to prepare. He is offering to fund the repair and upgrade of our cruisers and to pay a bounty for each Jax cruiser we destroy."

  "Four against one is good odds, and we would have the element of surprise," Captain Eilian said. He was a nondescript individual, an excellent tactician, and a dangerous opponent. "So unless anyone here thinks the Jax cruisers are capable of destroying eight enemy cruisers… It sounds like a deal that could jumpstart the careers our predecessors managed to flush down the toilet."

  "Good," Dardan said as he pulled out several documents and laid them on the table. "First, here is a draft of the contract Outpost, Valhall, and Lariw are proposing."

  "Why is there a bonus for more than one Jax cruiser?" Fisnik asked. "I'm not sure I want to engage several Jax cruisers at one time."

  "Nor do I," Dardan said with a wry smile. "The scenario Mason envisions is that we will destroy the first one and the Jax will have to send another to replace it since they have a contract. Alternatively, he might locate another opportunity at a later date." When everyone nodded, he continued, "Next, we need to make a list of the essential equipment we will need to have replaced or repaired, and after that, we can develop a plan of attack."

  46 – Ceetana, in the Grus League

  The transit time to the Grus League from Malin was close to five days, so I took Ryan's advice and began visiting the recreation room, which was the size of a fighter bay. The room featured separate areas for watching movies, gaming, and a lounge, which served non-alcoholic drinks, and snacks. Ryan was right. There were plenty of crew looking for hookups. In general, rank was ignored, but everyone tended to use last names, which reduced being too familiar and prevented a slip when on duty, although I imagined most tried to avoid getting too friendly with folks in the same section and their chain of command. I was fair game for everyone as I was in no one's section or chain of command. My first night, I got hit on so many times I lost count around twenty, or maybe it was thirty. But I had to admit, I enjoyed the conversations and learned things I would not have found in books about the sections or navy life.

  "Pardon me for saying so," a good-looking full lieutenant said with a friendly smile. A group of close to ten men and women in their late twenties had collected around me when they learned I was not only new to the Sabretooth but also with the new fighter squadron. "But unless you look a lot younger than you are, you are very young for a lieutenant commander."

  I laughed. "I'm not a day older than I look, unfortunately. I was just lucky to be selected for a new command, which provided me opportunities I wouldn't have had in a regular outfit."

  "What is your command, and what do you do in it?" a shapely redhead asked. We were both wearing fatigues, so I was able to identify she was a nurse.

  "I'm in J-SOC. That stands for Jax Special Operations Command. I'm a test pilot and instructor at the advanced fighter pilot training school."

  "How?" someone interjected.

  I took that to mean how did I get to be an instructor. "When I entered J-SOC, they put me in a two-year course run by combat veterans. They were hard teachers and I learned a lot, not that I'm anywhere as good as them. Right now the navy is looking to see how the new fighters can be useful on a cruiser. So, here I am as wet behind the ears as the Besra fighters."

  That earned me the laughs and grins I was hoping for.

  "Is the school worthwhile?" asked another full lieutenant, who I identified as a pilot.

  "I think so. The veterans who taught me survived shooting engagements with enemy pilots and had a lot of tips and tricks. In an engagement, that may make the difference between winning and losing, and the course is only one month."

  "That new fighter looks clumsy," a lieutenant said, "compared to the new Javelin fighters."

  "That's because the Besra has a lot of nasty weapons and a weapons officer who has dedicated his life to killing everything not Jax-certified, leaving the pilot to concentrate on keeping him alive and putting him in a position to do his job–"

  "Attention, Battle Stations. Repeat, Battle Stations. Commander Quinn, report to the Bridge.”

  That cleared the recreation room like it was on fire, sweeping me with them like a tidal wave out the door and into the hallway. When I reached the Bridge, the hatch was open and Sitala waved me in as the hatch slid closed.

  “Since you and the Besra are new, I have no idea how to best use you; however, Captain Hwang did tell Hawkins to give you the status and let you do your thing. That is consistent with what the smart people do with Sapir. All right, my sensor suite has identified two Skulls cruisers approaching us from the planet–"

  "Captain," a lieutenant commander interrupted, sounding a bit nervous, "two more Skulls cruisers just activated their systems. They are about two hours behind us."

  "I guess it is a General Custer moment," Sitala said without any hint of concern. "What do you think…Kat?"

  "Can I use your navigator for a minute, ma'am?" I asked.

  "Bishipe, Commander Quinn has a question for you."

  "Sir, the speed of the Besra is approximately ten percent faster than the Sabretooth. If I leave now, can I reach the two Skulls cruisers before the Sabretooth is in their missile range?"

  "Yes," he said after a minute on his computer.

  "Can I get to the two Skulls cruisers behind us from there before they are in missile range of the Sabretooth?"

  "No," Sitala said before Bishipe could answer. “They will speed up in order for all four cruisers to converge on the Sabretooth at the same time. Don't you want help from the Sabretooth?"

  "No, ma'am. It will be less messy if you are not engaged in a missile duel with the Skulls at the same time," I said, pursing my lips in thought. "Ma'am, can you turn to a new vector that will lengthen the time before one or both are in missile range?"

  Sitala looked to Bishipe. "Can we?"

  Bishipe was quiet for several minutes. “Yes, Captain, but they will eventually each have us in missile range for fifteen to twenty-five minutes. Positioned the way they are now, they have us in a box. Any way we choose to go, they can take a vector to intercept us. The two closest to the planet will be able to engage us first as turning on the new vector will bring us closer to them. The two closest to the Wave will catch up approximately five minutes before we lose the first two."

  “Commander Bishipe," I said before anyone could speak. "Can you plot me a vector that will permit me to intercept the two Skulls cruisers closer to the planet before they are in missile range?"

 

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