Battleship Furiosa (28 page)

Nate's eyes ran along the various
routes to the upper parts of the ship. There were entire areas
still held by Imperial forces, and Nate tried to move them from his
mind. They were clearly fighting for their lives and making the
attackers' time much more difficult. He pointed to the area
directly above the infantry deck.

"The Sergeant wasn't kidding,
look."

Both turned their attention to
the block of blue and green. There were several major compartments,
all surrounded by blinking red.

"The S
ergeant has created a hold on the enemy. Incredible," said
Valdis.

The diagram showed the medical
deck and the attached sections as an isolated bulge, an entire area
held by loyalists. Above this area were the command deck, bridge,
and crew areas. Valdis pointed to the command deck.

"Our units have secured the main
routes to engineering and blocked the shafts. The only way for
these rebels to defeat our ship is to breach the middle decks and
penetrate the command deck."

"What happens then?"
Nate asked.

Vadis sighed. Dogg heard them
speak and inched past with her prized carbine held tightly in her
hands. When she spoke, the words came out more quickly and with a
much thicker accent than that of Valdis.

"If they take the command deck, they
will take the bridge and control of the ship."

Nate looked back to Valdis.

"Then we'd better hurry."

Another twenty steps and they
reached a round platform with a sealed compartment door in front of
them. The surrounding walls were much older looking than the other
parts of the ship, and the golden gilt faded and chipped to reveal
the dull underside. Valdis and Dogg moved to it and tried their
luck with the access panel. Nothing happened.

"What?" Billy complained,
"Are you kidding me? We can't go
back."

As if to emphasis the point, a loud
rumble shook the ground, followed by a long, nearly continuous
burst of gunfire. Nate was no expert, but he was sure he could hear
both Byotai and Alliance weaponry being used. It could also just be
nothing more than his imagination. Svana sent him a withering stare
before placing her communication device alongside the control
panel. She then flipped open the wall mount and began her work.

"She's hacking the door?" asked
Cassandra, "Fascinating."

Captain Sobiex signalled for them all
to move to the round platform and wait for the door to open.

"Check your weapons. We have to be
ready."

Nate and Billy moved back and
lifted their carbines to the shoulders. The sounds of battle
continued, and Nate hated being trapped in this grim part of the
ship with nothing but battle all around them.

"Remind you of anything?"

Nate looked to his friend and
grinned.

"Yeah, we seem to end up trapped inside
ships and stations, don't we?"

Matilda moved alongside Svana and
watched her carefully. It wasn't because she didn't trust her, but
merely to be educated in the use of the equipment and tools.
Matilda was ever curious, and this was a skill that might come in
handy again. Svana muttered and then whispered, while continuing to
work away.

"The ship has been sealed against
intruders. Only senior officers have access to the codes."

That seemed to have the opposite
effect on Billy as he watched. It did little to pacify
him.

"So how can you open it? You're not a
senior officer, are you?"

Svana stopped for a second and turned
her gaze on Billy.

"No I am not, but I know an officer
that is."

She winked with one eye and went
back to work. Billy turned to Nate and Valdis, and shook his
head.

"I...uh...what?"

Valdis laughed in that odd, alien
fashion that always threw them off guard.

"She means she's spent some close time
with him, and that helped her gain access."

Svana chuckled.

"Something like that. He has no
secrets from me, anymore."

The door hissed open, and a stack
of boxes collapsed in towards them from the brightly lit room.
Billy panicked, spun around, and opened fire. The three shots
narrowly avoided Svana, before punching into the wall and leaving a
deep wound in the material. Nate struck the weapon from above and
the muzzle dropped down.

"Watch your fire, Billy."

Captain Sobiex grabbed Billy's arm and
snatched the weapon from it in a single, smooth motion. He then
flipped on the safety and spun it around before placing it back in
Billy's hands.

"Be careful with your gun, or I may not
be."

A low pitch sound filled their
ears, and then the door swung open, sending in a thick smell of
burning. There was light out there, and it was much brighter than
Nate had expected.

"Follow me,
" said Captain Sobiex.

The Captain stepped out first,
and one by one they followed until only Svana remained. She
reclosed the door and then sealed it using her device. They all
headed to the right and towards the rear of the ship. Nate looked
in the other direction, but the passageway was obscured twenty
metres away as a broken pipe vented steam, effectively blocking his
vision.

Convenient.

Valdis' computer was too far away
to see, but from memory he knew they were now roughly on the same
level as the medical deck, and just one ramp away from the command
deck. They filed along th
e open space,
staying close to the walls. The passage was hexagonal in shape and
lacked any obvious bulkheads, other than those that marked each of
the compartments. Lighting in the walls, floor, and ceiling
provided a well-lit and relatively warm part of the ship compared
to where they had been.

Man, I wish I
were
back in my fighter right
now.

That made Nate
think of the hangar deck, and his already battered
Lightning.

I wonder if she's still intact?

He shook his head, forcing
himself to concentrate on the mission. The passageway was like any
other in the sh
ip, and as Nate followed
Valdis and the Captain, he spotted bodies. This was not the first
time, but with such bright light he could see everything in great
detail. Captain Sobiex stepped carefully and checked the first few
while muttering to himself.

How could they get so
many aboard, and so fast?

Ahead of them was a double blast
door, and unlike most in the ship, this one was half open and the
corridor beyond completely black. As he watched, a light flashed
once, and then it turned dark once more. Blue sparks crackled down
the right-hand side from the shattered controls. Captain Sobiex
stopped at the opening, lowering his body to look inside. He then
pulled back slowly.

"Are you all ready? Do not fire unless
you know the target is hostile. This is disputed ground. We have to
get to the General, and fast!"

Nate nodded and then
pointed
at the steam blocking their
rear.

"What about the reinforcements? You
said for them to come here."

The Captain snorted while lifting his
nose to the air.

"Yes, and they are not here. Either
they are unable to come here...or they..."

He paused, not wanting to say
more. Valdis had no such qualms.

"Or they are dead. We can wait no
longer, Nathaniel."

Ensign Fletcher groaned as he
lifted his own carbine, while the others did the same. Nate looked
back to his comrades and made sure they were all accounted for.
Even the Byotai crew appeared ready, if more than a little
overwhelmed. They were technicians, engineers, medics, and
caterers. From the way they moved, they were definitely not
soldiers, yet now they were doing just that, and not one of them
shirked their responsibility.

"This is not exactly a unit of
special forces, is it?"

Nate shrugged.

"It's what we've got,
Billy.
I just hope it's enough. What's
ahead?"

The Captain smiled
in that weird, reptilian fashion, and then ran
through the doorway.

"Let's go!"
Nate yelled.

The group charged through the
doorway and into the unknown. Nate was third through and had
expected to be hit by something as he crossed the threshold. The
passage widened to double the size, and he quickly took up a
position to the right. Billy moved behind, and soon half of them
were past the bulkhead. They waited as their eyes
adjusted.

"Keep moving."

Captain Sobiex was gone, and Nate felt
a moment of panic. He knew little about the layout of the ship, and
now the officer had rounded the corner and vanished from sight.
Billy pushed him from behind.

"What's the hold up?"

Nate gulped and then lifted a foot to
move forwards.

"Nothing, let's go."

He moved to the bend, and as he
rounded the corner, a light flashed on, momentarily blinding him.
Instinct made him cover his eyes, yet for some reason nobody fired.
He lowered his arm and looked ahead to see a line of Byotai
soldiers, five kneeling and four more upright behind them. It was
like an ancient formation of musketeers, and all eight pointed
their guns directly towards him. Nate gulped once more and began to
lift his weapon.

"Lower your weapon, Ensign!"

Nate's brow raised in confusion.
The voice was familiar, yet he recalled no Byotai speaking like
that. He lowered the muzzle and from behind the formation came the
armoured figure of a Marine. The warrior stopped in front of him
and deactivated their visor. The metal moved away to reveal the
face of a young woman. Nate's confused look immediately transformed
into a smile.

"Valentine? What are you
doi
ng here?"

She grinn
ed at seeing his expression, but then signalled for him to
keep moving. She might be a friend of Nate’s, but she had a job to
do, and no pilot would keep her from that. Nate had never seen her
so motivated before, and he could only assume she'd been put in
charge of this small unit.

"Get behind us.
W
e're expecting company."

Captain Sobiex marched up to
Valentine.

"The General?"

Valentine nodded quickly.

"He's safe. Get behind us, Sir,
now!"

The Byotai officer seemed taken
aback by her order but didn't wait to argue the point. The Byotai
soldiers separated and let them through. After the last of the
group was safe, they reformed, and Nate could look back. There were
actually six Byotai soldiers in full armour and three Alliance
marines mixed in with them, plus Valentine. That was when he
noticed a dead Byotai officer and two more soldiers. A pool of dark
blood surrounded them.

They've been hit already!

For all of this, Valentine still
managed to smile at Nate, but that expression quickly turned to a
frown. Her attention moved back to the
direction Nate had arrived from and the dark passage off
into the distance. The sound of running figures returned, along
with the whoop and howl so familiar to them all now.

"Here they come again!"

Without thinking, Nate checked
his weapon and moved alongside Valentine on the gun
line.

"Aim low!" she whispered.

Nate lowered the barrel of his carbine
and waited, his finger on the trigger.

Byotai Imperial Battleship
'Furiosa'

Approaching Martos Rift, Serpentis
System

24 December 2472

This wasn't the combat Nate had imagined
when he signed up. The contest in the alien domain of the Byotai
should have been every teenager's fantasy becoming real. It had
been that way, but not for long. Fun and adventure had quickly
turned to fear, terror, and the unknown. Even after he'd agreed to
join the fledgling squadron on ANS Relentless, Nate hadn't expected
to have to stand in the line, carrying a Marine's weapon, and fight
in a deadly firefight.

It's not like I can strafe in this
position, can I?

Nate had
, of course, spent hours on ground combat simulations and
first person shooters. But the reality was nothing like the game,
nothing at all. With just his PDS Naval armour, he was barely
protected at all, and in the battle if felt more like he was
fighting without any protection at all. He looked down at the body
of a Byotai soldier. The armour had gaps, but the projectile that
had killed the soldier had breached a chest plate. The remnants of
a thermal bolt still extended from the armour.

If that hits me, I'm gone.

Nat
e
ran his hands along his chest and against the thin, form-fitting
PDS gear. The clothing offered protection from the cold, as well as
an inbuilt pressure suit mode. Ballistic protection was little more
than adequate, though, and the test footage he'd seen showed that
it was proof against shrapnel and a modicum of explosive energy.
That reminded him of Ensign Fletcher. He looked over and found the
uncomfortable looking pilot leaning against the wall, a carbine
still in his hand.

"You okay?"

Fletcher grimaced.

"It's getting a bit better."

He could see Nate was
concerned
and did his best to
smile.