[05] Elite: Reclamation (25 page)

‘We can’t take off in a thunderstorm …’ Hassan began, hitting the opposing control. The hydraulics stopped, shuddered and then began hissing back down.

‘He’s here,’ Salomé yelled, pushing past him. ‘Bounty hunter! He’s after me.’

‘After you? Who’s after you?’

Salomé reached out to press the close control again. Hassan grabbed her arm and pulled it aside. For a moment they struggled back and forth.

‘He’s going to kill me!’

‘What the fuck are you talking about?’

The man appeared at the bottom of the ramp. He had drawn a gun.

‘Shit …’

Hassan backpedalled. Salomé reacted instinctively; somehow her body knew exactly what to do once more. She twisted Hassan’s wrist around, dropping into a crouch and twisting her hips in a practiced motion. Hassan yelled in surprise as he was flung through the air and slid down the slick rain-swept loading ramp.

Lightning flashed again and the rain poured. Thunder made the ship vibrate.

Hassan bounced clumsily onto the tarmac, straight into the man at the bottom, knocking him backwards off his feet. Salomé hit the close button and retreated back as the ramp closed. She saw a hand grasp the frame of the ramp. The man had jumped up and caught it as it rose into place. He struggled to pull himself into the bay before the ramp closed. She caught his eye as he looked directly at her.

‘Open the hatch, Kahina. Stop. Listen to me …’ His voice was deep and commanding.

The name struck dread into her, like a physical blow. She staggered backwards in shock.

Kahina? Kahina!

What did it mean?

‘No,’ she yelled. ‘Go away. Leave me alone.’

Full circle.

More words pounded at her mind; more death and betrayal; a blonde woman’s face, splattered in blood. She could remember his proud and haughty expression. She had known this man well. Was he responsible for what had happened to her? He’d stabbed her with a sword!

She cast around and caught sight of Hassan’s gun next to the ramp controls. She grabbed it, turning towards the man and squeezing the trigger. She saw his eyes widen. The gun spat fire and with a yell the man dropped out of sight in a shower of sparks. She didn’t know whether she’d hit him or not. The hatch sealed and locked into place with a clunk and a hiss.

Salomé ran to the cockpit.

***

Dalk dropped heavily back to the floor of the pad, rolling in a practiced manner to absorb the impact. He got back to his feet in a smooth move. His shoulder hurt. A quick inspection showed that a bullet had clipped him. Lucky for him he’d never taught Kahina how to use a firearm properly.

He heard the sound of the young man getting to his feet and pulled out his own gun, training it on target without even looking.

‘Don’t move.’

The young man held up his hands immediately. Dalk looked down on him, the gun held in his right hand, pointing directly at the youth’s head. The cascading rain flooded down, splashing off his clothing. He could feel it impacting on his head, heavy and thick. It was coming down so hard it was splashing back from the ground and his clothing.

‘I didn’t kidnap her, it was an accident,’ the youth stuttered. ‘She just stowed away, I was just bringing her back here for a medical, honest. I didn’t hurt her or nothing. She’s half out of her mind …’

‘Shut up.’

Dalk looked up as the whistle of the main drives started up above them.

‘Shit. She’s taking my fucking ship,’ Hassan yelled. ‘The bitch …’

Dalk grabbed Hassan by the throat and pulled him off balance, teetering on tiptoe, water drenching him.

‘Hey …’ Hassan grabbed Dalk’s arm, struggling uselessly for a moment.

‘You taught her to fly?’ Dalk asked angrily.

‘What?’

‘Can she fly?’

Hassan gasped. ‘I showed her the basics; orbital manoeuvres, drive trim. She was pretty good for a rookie …’

‘Does she know how to operate the hyperdrive?’

‘I guess so …’

‘You guess?’ Dalk squeezed his fingers tighter.

‘Ow! I showed her how it worked, so yeah.’

‘What about the weapon systems?’

‘She’s fired the laser a couple of times.’

‘Wonderful.’

Lightning crackled again followed by a distant boom. But it had competition now; above them the
Talon
rose on its thrusters. A blast of wind caused them both to stagger. Water swirled around them, whipped into a frenzy by the rising bulk and drive thrust from the ship. It continued to rise gracefully before angling itself upwards and moving away. The reverberation of its drives faded rapidly in the warm, humid air.

Dalk dropped Hassan back down, spun him around and then grabbed his collar.

‘We’ve got to stop her. You’re coming with me.’

The traffic control officer for the downtown launch corridor frowned at his read-outs as a new entry appeared on the list, flashing red for his attention. It quickly began moving across the display.

He gestured for information and the flight specs of an old Eagle fighter appeared on the screen. He quickly read and then thumbed the narrowband comms link.

‘Eagle Mark 1
Talon
. You are not cleared for launch, abort and return to base. Do you copy?’

The blip on the screen continued moving, erratically weaving across the screen.

‘Eagle Mark 1
Talon.
Respond please.’

The track of the ship was going to intersect a major flight corridor in the next few minutes. He followed his procedures.

‘Eagle Mark 1
Talon
. Launching without permission incurs a hundred credit fine. Acknowledge and return to base. Do you copy?’

Only static returned across the link. The officer switched to wideband comms.

‘All ships in the northeast corridor. We have an unresponsive vessel in the pattern. I repeat; we have an unresponsive vessel in the pattern. Target is an Eagle Mark 1 Fighter, ETA one minute. Adopt holding position and advise if you have contact.’

The blip continued moving, heading upwards. The officer tagged the vessel and applied the fine. Whoever they were they wouldn’t be landing here again without spending a little time cooling down in the cells. He sat back, watching as the markers for the other vessels stopped their own descent and adjusted course. The flash of active scanner traces flickered across his display as all the ships in his airspace tried to locate the rogue ship.

He was just keying in the registration information so the ship could be intercepted by authorities in the surrounding systems when another blip appeared on the screen. He stared at the read-outs in disbelief.

‘What’s going on out there?’

***

Salomé ignored the demands from the narrowband comm system. It made no difference to her whether a fine was incurred or not, escape was the only consideration. That man, it was him, the one who had stabbed her. His face was clear now, she could remember a fight, a dual with swords … and she’d lost. What happened after that? She was still alive somehow.

Kahina. Is that my name? My real name?

Sudden brightness forced her to squint and shield her eyes from the glare. The
Talon
had breached the top of the cloud layer.

The console beeped loudly in front of her. The ship lurched; she could see the speed was no longer rising. The throttles were set full forwards. Messages were scrolling up the display in the centre.

Warning! Undercarriage down. It may be damaged by micrometeorites.

She hunted for the controls she’d seen Hassan use on the approach and stabbed at them. With a whirr and a clunk the landing struts folded away and the ship blasted forwards again. The sky ahead slowly darkened from azure to mauve. Checking some of the other controls she flipped a series of switches and was gratified to see a message appear.

Hyperdrive subsystem, spooling.

She saw the scanner light up with a contact on the stern quarter. It immediately turned red and began flashing. She locked the computer on target as Hassan had shown her.

Target Locked. ID: Coup de Grâce, Class: Asp

Salomé remembered what Hassan had told her about the colour coding and shoved the flight controls downwards, dropping the
Talon
into a sharp dive.

***

Dalk pulled Hassan aboard his own ship and flung him bodily into the second pilot’s chair, triggering the automated sequence for launching. The ship's system lit up and switched to a ready state in seconds.

‘Buckle in and keep quiet. We’re going after her. Any attempt to interfere and I will kill you. Understood?’

Hassan nodded, his eyes wide and his hands shaking.

Dalk expertly raised his ship and set off in pursuit of the fleeing Eagle. The narrowband comms flashed for attention.

‘Asp
Coup de Grâce.
You are not cleared for launch, abort and return to base. Do you copy?’

Dalk acknowledged the call. ‘Port authority, I am in pursuit of a dangerous political criminal. Please tag the Eagle fighter as fugitive and hold for further instructions. Clear the flight corridor around that vessel and do not engage.’

There was a pause on the other end of the line. ‘
Coup de Grâce
. Who the hell are you?’

‘Authorisation Pi, Alpha, Delta, Niner, Zero. My ID is in your systems.’

An even longer pause followed, the voice subdued when it responded.

‘Sir, you’re cleared. All traffic will be rerouted.’

Hassan stared at Dalk. ‘You can override traffic control? But only the military …’

Dalk ignored him, concentrating on pushing the
Coup de Grâce
forward through the atmosphere in pursuit of the
Talon.
It didn’t take long for him to close the range. The Eagle was flying with its undercarriage down.

 ‘Still a lot to learn,’ Dalk mused, ‘but she learns fast. She always did.’

‘Who the hell is she?’    

‘Her name is Kahina Tijani Loren, daughter of Senator Algreb Loren, the last of her line,’ Dalk replied, gliding his vessel onto an intercept course. ‘She belongs to me.’

‘Belongs to you? A Senator’s daughter?’

The Imperials ships! A Senator!

‘I saved her life.’ Dalk looked across. ‘She didn’t recognise me. Why?’

Hassan looked bewildered. ‘She doesn’t know who she is. When she woke up on my ship she was all over the place. She’s a crazy ninja woman. She went berserk and killed two guys back there! Her memory …’

‘The pod was opened too early,’ Dalk interrupted. ‘No wonder she’s …’

As they watched the undercarriage on the
Talon
finally retracted and the ship rocketed upwards. Dalk triggered the weapon deployment and Hassan watched as a pair of heavy duty looking gun implacements rose out of the forward hull of the Asp.

Rich ship … military laser and a rail gun!

 Dalk locked the targeting computer onto the Eagle. Flickering triangles appeared around Hassan’s ship, shrank and flashed red.

Target Locked.

The laser aboard the
Coup de Grâce
fired, the dynamo thrum of discharging power echoing through the hull. Laser beams streaked towards the
Talon
, narrowly missing as it twisted and turned ahead of them. It yawed sideways and abruptly dropped out of the sky like a stone, spinning out of control.

‘You’re going to kill her,’ Hassan said, hands clenched in the co-pilot’s chair.

‘I’m not going to kill her. I’m going to bring her down,’ Dalk nudged the controls and snaked his ship around, aiming to keep the Eagle in the cross-hairs. It was jinking erratically. Kahina had no grace whilst flying, but she was certainly unpredictable.

‘And who the hell are you anyway?’

 ‘I’m the one who’s trying to save her from Octavia.’

 ‘Octavia’s here?’ Hassan’s face drained of colour.

‘It’s only a matter of time. She hired a pack of bounty hunters to come looking for you.’

‘And you …?’

‘Lucky for you I got here first. I only want the girl,’ Dalk triggered the laser again. ‘She’s all that matters.’

The laser fire splashed across the
Talon
. Hassan saw the shields flicker and drain as they struggled to repel the fierce energy.

‘That’s my fucking ship!’ Hassan yelled. ‘It matters to me.’

Dalk spared him a brief glance.

‘Then let’s hope I don’t damage it too much.’

***

Salomé didn’t immediately recognise the laser fire. She belatedly looked at the scanner and the rear-view display. The
Coup de Grâce
was firing on her! As she watched another fierce beam flashed out; searing red in the atmosphere. The man was trying to kill her again. She flung the controls hard over and the Eagle yawed into a stomach lurching flat spin, dropping precipitately.

Salomé felt the seat material push back hard against her as the world outside whirled around. When she could stand it no longer she pulled the controls back. The Eagle’s nose twisted back, the drives hammering back to full power. The atmosphere faded away, stars shone in the darkness ahead.

The rear-view screen was empty for a few moments before the other ship drifted back into the frame. Laser fire flickered towards her again, this time splashing across the rear shields. She saw the shield indicators flicker from a healthy cyan to dim red. A moment later the cockpit displays blinked and signalled more bad news.

Shields failed!

***

Another laser discharge from the
Coup de Grâce
finally penetrated the rear shields of the
Talon
. Hassan saw the shields on his ship sputter and collapse. A cooling vent took the brunt of the remaining undeflected beam, glowing white hot before melting, disintegrating and breaking off from the dorsal hull plates.

‘For fuck’s sake be careful!’ Hassan yelled as he saw his ship stream a shower of sparks. ‘She’s old, she won’t take any more punishment,’