Attack Ships, page 11
part #2 of Starwing Elite Series
Chanita and a few of the other women were already there when we stepped out of the ship. Because of the tragedy that took place with Shelly’s FAS, they were to be the first ones to see us. Our assignments for the evening waited inside the ready room. At least Precious wasn’t part of either group. I hoped she was assigned to one of Tank’s crew. Precious needed special attention. Both Captain and I agreed Precious needed to be with a new man every night until she was comfortable being part of the pack. Now Shelly and his crew were gone. At least she’d been with a few of them before their FAS was shot down.
“Thank the stars you made it back safe,” Chanita told me as I stepped out of the hatch. She gave me a big hug and did the same to the others who stepped out with me. "What happened down there?”
I gave her my quick summation as to how Shelly’s FAS was hit by a ground missile while it was on its final approach to the planetoid. I told her about the UDF marines and how they took out most of the mercenaries on the ground. I spoke of the pirates and their strange, sudden appearance. I also let her know how I felt we’d been used as a lure to bring the mercenaries out from their dug-in positions.
“Your FAS doesn’t appear to have taken a lot of damage,” Chanita spoke while she looked it over. "I’ll run some diagnostics on it tonight since I don’t have an assignment.” She stared at the deck. "I was supposed to be with Marcus tonight. Guess that will never happen again.” I watched as a tear came to one eye, but she wiped it away.” She and Marcus’ son Samuel would never know his father.
“Captain will want to talk to you tomorrow,” she spoke. "She said to tell you to go ahead and spend the evening with your assignment. I saw Indigo in the ready room on my way in and she’s waiting for you. So are the other women for the rest of your crew.”
Our assignments were lined up when we entered the ready room. Indigo helped me remove my armor and put it away. The others did the same for the rest of the crew. In a few minutes, all of us were walking down the adjoining corridor to the respective rooms.
“We're all pretty upset over what happened,” Indigo told me. She squeezed my hand. "Captain said to tell you that the Goat Squad contacted her when you were on the way back. They said your paranormal readings were off the scale. Hope that helps.”
“It won't replace Shelly,” I told her. “Or any of his crew.”
12
I learned the next day that the pirate ship was headed to Prime City, the capital city of Delios Prime.
I’d had a pleasant evening with Indigo, but it was hard to take much pleasure in each other’s company when the tragedy of the previous day was on both our minds. We made love as soon as we’d retired to her room, but we didn’t do much more. Both of use held each other and tried to find some meaning in the senseless death of an entire FAS crew. We’d all known and loved them as family. We’d lost half the men on the ship in a short period of time and it hurt.
After morning mess call, Captain held the memorial service for the crew. We all tried not to look at each other. I noted Precious stood with Rod, the pilot for Tank’s crew. She looked at me a few times. I could sense the confusion in her mind over what happened, though Rod had answered many of her questions the night before and it helped her understand.
“We've lost more packmates,” Captain spoke from the podium after the words were said in memory by the mothers of the children the crew had sired. "I’ve put in an urgent request to get more men on the ship. We can’t function much longer with these numbers.”
She turned and looked in my direction. "Corwin, I need to see you in my quarters right away.”
Captain spoke a few solemn words and the assembly was over. Everyone headed off to their task that was on the dayshift.
“Guess she'll want an account of what happened,” Indigo said as she kissed me goodbye. "Let me know how it went later.”
Captain was alone at her desk when I entered her room. She looked up and motioned to a chair next to her. One ear was attached to the phone on her desk.
“Thanks for letting me know, Marshal,” she told the person on the other side. “It changes things a lot, but nothing makes sense these days.” He placed the phone receiver back on its cradle.
“As you might have guessed,” she told me. “That was the Orders Grand Marshal. More interesting news, the damn pirate ship has reappeared, and it’s headed to Prime City.”
“Why there?” I asked. "What the hell could those pirates want with the capitol?”
“The same as they’ve done to every other place since they appeared; destroy it after they get what they want, whatever that is. The marshal was told about your paranormal abilities and wants you to report any insights you might have about that ship. Those women may be insane, but they have control of a warship that can take out the entire planet.”
“Replacements?” I asked her. "We’ve lost half our men and don’t have any more, other than some green recruits, to help out on the ship.”
“He told me he’s working on it. They may pull some males from the Horde.”
I tried to reach out to Dredge as I sat in front of Captain. It wasn’t easy to find the pirate captain. Then I remembered her women called her “Queen”. Queen Dredge was out there, but she managed to shield her thoughts better than anyone I’d attempted to probe. Before now, most of what I received when I tried to search a person’s mind was scattered. The best I could get were impressions. It was worse when someone knew they were being tapped, they’d shut down immediately and refuse me entrance. It was rare that I encountered someone such as Precious who was an open door.
“Go ahead,” Captain spoke to me. “See what you can find out. I can wait if you want to try.” She leaned back in her thick chair and watched me.
I found Dredge in a few minutes. I knew Captain would keep any background interference at bay, so this wasn’t an issue. If I had to do it on my own, the process would’ve been much slower. I focused on Captain’s eyes and melted into her consciousness.
Soon, I was across the system and in orbit around Delios. I zoomed into the pirate ship that was on its way toward the city it intended to destroy. Inside it was a cacophony of horror, anger and sadism. I’d found the pirate women.
Queen Dredge was the one in charge. I zoomed in on her titanium will. She was surrounded by the thoughts of her crew, women who’d been left for dead on countless worlds. I remembered not to probe too deep into them. Like Precious, they were all broken. Unlike Precious, no one had been able to pull them out of their inner dungeon of pain and suffering. They fed on each other’s torment and amplified it. Dredge was the conductor of their orchestra of hell and used them for her own purpose.
Which was the complete destruction of Delios Prime.
I saw the glee in her mind as she contemplated the radioactive clouds that would blossom over the remains of the capital city. She chortled over her inner images of the cartels as they were incinerated in nuclear fire. Dredge only had one regret, that the objects of her wrath couldn’t suffer more. Something had made her want to exterminate the galaxy from the plague of these people. I had no love for those who profited from the addiction of others, but Queen Dredge lived to see them tortured over an ant mound. I think she would have chopped her victims up a bit at a time and fed the pieces to large carnivores if she could.
I know you, she said to me in her mind. I watched as Queen Dredge turned in my direction and starred directly at me. You’re that rat bastard who works with the government. I’ll kill you too. Every last one of you. The cartels, they’re just the beginning. I’ll build armies, and then they’ll go forth and rid this reality of all of you!
Once I destroy this city, she continued. It has too many of those bastards in it. I turn it into a pile of glowing ash and take the treasure that’s left behind. They were smart to hide it where the nukes won’t get to it. Not smart enough to hide it from me. I want the goddamn UDF to know I’m serious. Once I've destroyed Prime City, they’ll know I mean business. I want them to beg for death.
I broke off contact with her immediately. She was damaged, broken, and sick beyond anything I’d considered. She fed off the anger and pain of the women around her. Anyone else would be dead by now. Even Precious was only good as an assassin by the time the Roka found her. Queen Dredge was that rare individual who could turn her pain into an instrument of her own will.
And she was in command of a starship with enough deadly force to take on the UDF Navy.
I blinked my eyes and Captain’s face filled into my vision. I was back on the Hard Rain with someone who loved me. I looked down and saw her standing over me with one hand in mine.
“Almost lost you, Corwin,” she spoke. "What the hell happened?”
“You wanted me to find out something about that pirate ship,” I explained. "I found the pirate queen. I probed her mind. She’s insane. Not insane like drooling on herself; she’s beyond that. She controls that ship and the crew. She won’t stop until Prime City is nuked from the sky. We have to do something.”
“I picked up a bit of what you saw,” she told me. “Don’t have anywhere near your abilities, but it was enough for me to pull you back. I believe you, that woman is far more dangerous than anyone ever believed. Are you going to be okay for now?” She reached over and stroked my cheek.
“I'm fine," I told her as I stood up from my seat. “Promise me that you’ll inform the marshal about what I saw. He has to concentrate everything on that ship of hers. The cartels can wait until she’s dead.” I wobbled a bit when I stood up.
“I'll talk to the marshal,” she replied. “But the final decision is his. He has to work with the UDF. With all the mess we’ve had to deal with, maybe he’ll see some logic for a change. Stars and stones, I still can’t get a decision on when we’ll get some replacements for the men we’ve lost. At this stage, even some trainees would help.”
“Do I have permission to go, Captain?”
“You may. Any bad aftereffects, contact Cherish right away. I don’t need you out of operation with our numbers down.”
I walked to the door and put my hand on it.
“One more thing, Corwin,” I heard her call out. I turned to see what it was about.
“Because we’ve lost two crews of men,” she continued. “There have to be some changes on the roster. You’ll find that some nights two women will be assigned to you. Because of that, one will always on a POC.” She waited to see my reaction.
A POC, or planned ovulation cycle, was her term for women who were menstruating. Even with the conception controls we all took, it was best to make sure the women still could ovulate, albeit on a predictable pattern. Since they would be fertile, unplanned pregnancies were a risk. Usually, this meant that the women undergoing POC’s slept alone until the bleed began. All that it meant was one of the two women I’d be sleeping with couldn’t have sex unless she was marked for impregnation and paired with a suitable father.
“I don't have any problem with that,” I told her. It was a situation I’d been through in the past.
“Good," Captain replied. "I didn’t think you would. I haven’t encountered the man yet who had a problem with two women in his bed.”
I laughed and went out into the corridor.
Most of the pack was busy at work. I walked past Alyx, who had a small group of young children with her. This was an older group allowed to wander the ship with supervision. I remembered my own pack at that age, eager to explore the world outside the children’s section and find out what the grownups did when they weren’t with us. She was on the way to the mess hall with them so they could learn how to prepare food. A lot of the routine work was automated, but it was essential they learn how to cook when they came of age. Every one of us was expected to be able to survive on our own if we crashed on the surface of a habitable world. There were legends about Starwing Order ships who built an entire settlement awaiting rescue. They even maintained the roster years after the crash with women given specific huts and men sleeping in a common longhouse.
This was the legendary “lost pack” where the ship went down on a planet in the early days of the Order and didn’t have contact with human civilization for a hundred years. Three generations maintained the legends of how their ancestors came from the skies and waited the return of their people. By the time contact was eventually made, there were three packs on the planet ruled by a common “Great Captain”, while each one was supervised by a local captain.
I felt something reach out and contact my mind. It was strong. I had to put one hand on the corridor wall to keep from crashing to the ground. No one ran to may assistance, thank the stars. Most of the pack knew a bit, by now, of what I could do, but they didn’t know a lot about the extent of my gift. I preferred it to remain that way.
Did you think I would leave you alone? The voice in my head spoke. I knew who it was.
Dredge, I thought as the world faded around me.
QUEEN Dredge, the voice replied. And don’t you ever forget it.
I felt a pain in my left hand. She wanted to cause more, but couldn’t focus at this range. Good, because I didn’t know how easily she could be resisted. I ignored the pain and focused on my new surroundings.
We were in the main command post of her ship, the Thunder Horse. I wondered about the source of the name, and then decided it was best I didn’t know. In front of me stood Dredge. She was alone, but I could hear screams in the background. Her own crew was busy at work.
Like what you see? she thought. I looked around.
The interior of the command post was covered with all matter of bizarre religious symbols. No two were alike. I saw Christian crosses tacked up next to Hands of Fatima. Santaneria statues were stationed around flickering electronic lights next to Happy Buddhas. There were more symbols, but I didn’t recognize them all. Why did they have this bizarre fascination with religious symbols? At least I recognized them this time.
The largest one of all was the lion-headed creature. I stared at it for a few seconds. I wasn’t really in her ship, just allowed to see it all through her own perception. The lion-headed icon shone bright; it was the most important one to her.
Queen Dredge, up close, was the source of it all. I couldn’t understand how she managed to do this until I caught the shimmer on the surface. She stared in a mirror so I could see what she appeared to be.
Two coal black eyes that filled their corneas looked back at me. Her teeth were either filed sharp or made of synthetic replacements. I saw the burn patterns and scars work their way down her body. She wore some kind of leather harness, so there was plenty to see. Her skin was tanned, but her own origins were hard to tell.
Do you find me pretty? she asked. I ask all my men that question. It’s the last thing they hear. Except you. I can’t bring you here right away. But I will, and then you’ll get to meet me in person. Won’t you like that?
I'd like to know what you pulled out of the wreckage of the starfighter, I asked her. I wanted to know a lot more, but no reason to push things just now.
He wasn't quite dead, she explained with a grin. We like them fresh. They taste better.
I shielded my disgust. She was far over the edge. What horror produced the woman in front of me? Did the UDF know they’d been responsible for people like her and Precious? I doubted if they knew or cared. So long as the costs were kept down, they would continue to tolerate a lot.
Queen Dredge took a few steps toward me. I could feel her hunger.
“I can't even go and leave you for a moment,” I heard. Once again, I’d returned back to the ship I called home.
Captain was in front of me with one hand on my shoulder. She looked at me and pulled both of my arms away from the wall where I’d propped myself. Queen Dredge faded away in my mind. Contact was broke and she could no longer influence my mind.
“Dredge again?” Captain asked.
“Queen Dredge,” I corrected. “Captain, we have to do something soon. Did you know she and those women are cannibals? Something...terrible happened to her. I don’t know what, but imagine what’s inside Precious and pile it up to the stars.”
“What did you say about me?” I heard. It was Precious. She stood next to Captain. With her was Talia.
“Didn't I tell you that you’d have two to sleep with two women?” Captain reiterated. “I thought by now you’d have checked the roster. It’s almost time for evening shift. You’ll be in Talia’s room tonight with Precious. Corwin, do you hear me?”
“Yes...did you say it was almost shift change?”
“Shift change started ten minutes ago. How long have you been out?”
“I don't know.”
She turned and looked at Talia. “Any problems with him, let me know. There’s something wrong with Corwin and we need to watch him.” She didn’t want to go into detail with anyone else present.
“You'll be happy to know the marshal gave us an order to pursue the Thunder Horse,” she told me. “We’re to pursue and subjugate it by any means necessary. I don’t know how he did it, but that ship is now listed as ‘shoot on sight’ to all UDF naval vessels. We have the singular task of hunting it down. We’re already in pursuit.”
“Good," I managed to speak.
“That's all I want to hear from Talia tomorrow when I talk to her,” she returned. "Precious is on POC, so you won’t need to keep her satisfied tonight. Talia, on the other hand, has missed a few nights because of our situation. You'll need to make up for that.”
I did my duty. Precious seemed to understand her role and stayed on one side of the bed, massaging my back when I was on top of Talia. My assignment that evening was a few inches taller and more than a decade older than I was. She’d introduced me to several things over the years when I was assigned to her. Finished, I lay next to her and held hands.
I remembered Precious and reached out for her hand too. She held it and leaned on my other shoulder after she pulled the sheet over the three of us.
“I know Captain’s promised to get some more men,” Talia spoke to me from the other side, “But there is no way she’ll be able to replace the ones we’ve lost. I know you miss Britani extra hard since she was Kyle’s mother. All the men I had children with myself are long gone.”
