Battleship Furiosa (8 page)

"Oh, very nice. You trying some of the
tricks we've been taught, right?"

Now Rex was furious, and his voice rose
to a shout that caught the attention of the deck crew.

"I'm gonna make sure you never fly
again...you are an incompetent..."

Matilda
had no qualms at keeping quiet and stepped alongside Nate,
instantly allying herself with one side against the other. The two
remained shoulder to shoulder while Rex snarled back at
them.

"Rex, you need to grow up.
Have
you even bothered to look at the new
duty roster? You're not going anywhere."

Again Rex attempted intimidation
and stepped so close to Matilda that she could have bitten him on
the nose, had she been so inclined. He started to shout, so Matilda
instinctively drove her left knee up hard into his groin. None,
especially Rex had expected the quiet twenty-one year old to react
quite in this way. As he doubled up in pain, she grabbed him and
pushed him past her so that he slid to the ground in an
unceremonious heap.

"Do
not
speak to me like that, ever!"

Her tone was stern, but she did
not raise her voice. Rex lifted himself up and turned back, still
bent over and clearly in discomfort. His face contorted, Nate
spotted his hands clenching into fists. He stepped out and between
Rex and the others.

"That's enough, Rex. You need to
calm down or get off this deck."

Rex shook his head.

"Oh, no, I don't think
so."

Nate braced himself, but as Rex
charged at him, he realised it wasn't enough. They crashed
together, and Nate lost his balance. Time seemed to slow as he flew
through the air until finally crashing down on his back. The sharp
pain at the back of his head quickly replaced the initial shock of
the fall. Nate shook his head to clear his vision and found Rex
there.

"Yeah, you ready, Nate?"

The fi
st came down hard and struck his nose. The pain was
agonising and sent blood dripping down his cheeks. Nate struggled
to get up, but then another blow came down, and another before
Billy was there and tugging at Rex. His vision blurred, but he
shook his head and forced himself into a seating position. Rex
swung at Billy and struck him several times until knocking him
against a racking mount filled with parts. The entire unit crashed
to the ground, sending pieces of equipment flying.

"Hey!" yelled one of the engineers.

Several more crew ran over, but
they were too late to help. Rex looked back to Nate and then
marched towards him. Matilda tried to help the shaken Billy to his
feet, and then marched towards Rex, her hands up ready to grab him.
She was too late, though. Rex stopped in front of Nate and lifted
his right boot.

"No more flying for you!"

Rex had no idea what was
happening as the huge, muscular arm struck him in the side. He
tumbled to the ground and slid along the floor. He coughed from the
surprise of the blow and then rose to his feet.

"Who the hell..."

His mouth hung open in surprise as he
looked upon the massive bulk of Sergeant Nál. She tensed her
muscles and then pointed to Rex.

"Want to try that again?"

Rex shook his head quickly. The
synthetic warrior looked like a monster, and though she wore her
Marine Corps uniform, it did little to hide the bulges of her
thick, taut muscles.

"I thought not."

The Sergeant then signalled for
two of her marines to move in and grab the deflated Ensign. They
marched him off, but not before Cassandra called over to
him.

"You idiot, Rex. You'll lose everything
because of this."

Sergeant Nál moved over to Nate and
helped him to his feet.

"I saw what happened.
A
re you injured, apart from
that?"

Blood continued to run down Nate's
face, and his nose looked a little twisted.

"Yeah, I'm good, Sergeant."

Sergeant Nál sighed.

"You'll need to visit
m
edbay and get that nose fixed. Next
time, try not to get hit."

The Marine Corps Sergeant turned to
walk away, but Cassandra chased after her.

"What about Ensign Hampel?"

Sergeant Nál shrugged.

"He's part of this crew, and like
all of us, he will take responsibility for his actions."

She
looked back towards Nate who was talking with Matilda and
Billy.

"Next time you might want to help
your comrades when they are prepared to help you. Ensign Hampel
doesn't have what it takes to be a fighter pilot."

Alliance Armoured Assault Ship 'ANS
Relentless'

23 December 2472

Captain Galanos looked at the others in
the room and shook her head while the ghostly images of the other
senior captains looked on. Only three of those in the room were
actually physically present, including her, Captain Cornwallis and
the venerable General Honorius. The remainder of the senior
commanders were virtual presences created by the projector unit at
the centre of the room. She stopped the moment the ghostly form of
Prince Kratha began to speak. He'd transferred to his new flagship
in the last hour, and it felt odd seeing his virtual presence
instead of his physical form.

"As you can see," started the
Admiral,
"Nothing is getting through that
Rift unscathed. With ANS Promethium operating as the gate guardian,
they are taking a beating. Sending in formations in rotation, we
are able to maintain continuous pressure on whatever comes through
with fresh ships."

The video imagery
showed the flaming ruins of yet another small
group of ships, though this time they were clearly little more than
abandoned transports. Many had been taken prior to the arrival of
the Alliance ships and Operation Hellfire. Though hundreds of
thousands had now escaped the fighting, that hadn't stopped more
than thirty ships falling to the Techno Militia boarding parties.
The name had been little more than a shorthand, but in the last
days it had begun to stick. The few ships that breached the Rift
lasted a matter of seconds before vanishing inside the cloud of
mines. It was a violent end to a ship that had probably never seen
combat before.

"
My
orders from Admiral Anderson and High Command are simple. We
protect the shipping lanes into the Alliance, and assist local
Byotai systems that ask for our help. We cannot leave these entry
points to the Alliance undefended."

He
pointed to the map that showed the Spacebridge leading back
into the Ararrh System. The unit flashed and then enlarged to show
the region they had so recently vacated.

"An hour ago I sent in another
squadron of reconnaissance drones escorted by Avengers through the
Rift. I needed to know what is on the other side, and they did
their job, for a time."

He licked his lips before
continuing.

"The drones use
a deployed buoy network to stay in contact, but
they still only remained active for thirteen seconds. This is what
we saw."

The map changed to a vertical
videostream of the colourful region of space, where the drones
dashed about to avoid fire. Guns and missiles streaked in all
directions, and after the first five seconds, it became a blur of
noise and fire.

"A mess, b
ut the scans can be combined to show us this image. It is
incomplete, but already gives great cause for concern."

The number of icons silenced even
the most vocal of the captains as they looked upon scores of ships.
There wasn't enough time to identify them all, but more than half
were clearly military vessels
, and they
were ready to fight. One of the captains began to speak but was
silenced as the feed cut to black.

"Analysis shows that there
are
fifteen Anicinàbe cruisers at the
rear of the formation, and a minimum of thirty Byotai ships,
including this one."

Prince Kratha gasped upon
seeing the shape of the vessel, and every one of
the captains turned to look at him. Admiral Churchill said what all
of them must have been thinking.

"This ship appears to be of the same
design as your flagship, does it not?"

Prince Kratha tried to speak, but
nothing came out except a few painful gasps. General Honorious
could se
e that his Prince was suffering
and immediately took over in the discussion. Even so, the old
warrior still sighed before explaining. Unlike the Prince, he spoke
more slowly so that the translator could keep up.

"Yes, that is
one of our Legion Class battleships, the most powerful
warship ever constructed by mortal hands. It would appear that the
enemy has obtained at least one of the relics."

At
mentioning the class of the ship, his tone changed. Even
for those that had never heard a Byotai speak, it was clear that he
assigned great reverence to the ship. His rhythm changed, but that
didn't stop him explaining.

"
Tradition states that the Legion Class were built hundreds
of years ago as front-line warships to use in the war with the
Biomechs. Back then, they were considered little more than
cruisers, our standard warship of the age."

He smiled
as he recalled the old stories, and especially the stunned
look on the faces of the officers present.

"That is right."

He chuckled in the odd Byotai
fashion that sounded more like a snort.

"At present,
your Alliance can muster what, a hundred or so front-line
warships?"

Admiral Churchill nodded politely.

"Something like that."

"
Today
is an age of decay, but we may still prevail. Back in the dark
times of the past, there were nine races under the thrall of the
machines and their legions. We were all that remained of the dozens
of different civilisations."

He sighed as he imagined the lost
worlds and races.

"After centuries of slavery, all
of our worlds had been taken, and the enemy began the unthinkable
task of using our own people as raw material for their war
machine."

He looked to Prince Kratha.

"That was when we joined together
to fight the creatures in one last, bitter war. It raged for
hundreds of years, and the Legion battleships fought in every major
battle."

Admiral Churchill smiled as he
listened. Their own war with the remnants of the Biomechs had been
massive and bloody, yet compared to the ancient tales it paled into
insignificance.

"At the
last engagement over Helios Prime, more than fifty of our
battleships fought against impossible odds. By the time the enemy
had been crushed and exiled to the Black Rift, only three
remained."

"I see," said the Admiral,
"And this is one of them?"

Prince Kratha nodded slowly.

"Yes, the ship is the same class
as Furiosa and is one of the great ships that saved Helios and
every other world we now hold dear. I tell you now, I would not see
that ship destroyed, even if it were to cost me my
life."

Admiral Churchill shook his
head.
He'd spent enough time around the
Byotai to know they could be pig-headed and stubborn when they put
their minds to something. He understood the attachment to the old
ship better than most, but he was in no doubt that if it came to
it, he could disable or destroy her.

"
Young
Prince, it should not come to that. I will promise you this,
though, nothing is more important in your domain than the people
that inhabit it. Ships are nothing without the citizens they are
built to defend."

He then pointed to the ancient
warship.

"Tell us, what is her
name?"

The reptilian P
rince lifted his mouth and opened it for a few seconds. By
now, all of them were at least a little familiar with the odd
behaviour of their alien guest.

"She
is
the Red Star, former flagship of the Imperial Fleet. Of the
remaining three Legion battleships, she is the oldest and the most
famous. Red Star and Firestorm were sister ships, built together in
the Imperial shipyards."

The Prince rubbed his brow as
he
struggled to continue.

"She was commanded by my father,
and I was on board when she was taken by Tahkeome."

He turned away from the imagery and
towards the Admiral.

"If Red Star is here, then
Tahkeome and his minions have taken control of her. She is a deadly
vessel, equipped with many warrior and fighters. There is no better
designed or equipped to be used as a flagship, and she will be more
than capable of engaging a ship even as impressive as your
own."

"
Yes,
we suspected that," said Admiral Churchill, "It might also interest
you to know that she was heading away from the border and back into
your territory, along with a number of other Byotai
warships."

Prince Kratha shook his head.

"I cannot tell you what I do not
know. Perhaps Makos has forced them to redeploy their forces, or
maybe something else has threatened the stability of their
so-called Star Empire. This is all the more reason for us to take
decisive action, now!"