Not the Man She Thought (26 page)

“You can’t,” Dev said from behind her.  “We can’t break
radio silence or the Feds will be able to locate our positions.”

Laken didn’t stop, but instead, continued her headlong
flight up the stairs. “The Federation already knows your positions.  Which
is why we have to call off the attack.”

Dev and Kellen hurried after her, their booted feet loud on
the metal steps. 

“What are you talking about?” Kellen demanded.

Laken stopped mid-way up the steps to turn and look at
them.  “The whole thing was a trick.  I overheard it when I was down
on the planet.  New Ashanti has conspired with the Federation to betray
Marlon Prime in return for favored status.  If we don’t do something to
stop the attack, then we’ll all be slaughtered.”

Both Kellen and Dev went pale at that. 

“It’s too late,” Kellen said.  “The attack is going to
start any second.”

As if on cue, a loud siren sounded throughout the ship. 
Laken’s hand tightened on the railing.

Kellen pushed past her, taking the steps two at a time in
his haste.  Laken and Dev hurried after him, all three of them running
down the passageway that led to the bridge as the alarm continued to sound.

“Give me a clean visual on the main screen,” the first
officer ordered Jorn when they got to the bridge. 

At his command, a picture immediately popped up on the big
vis-screen mounted on one wall of the bridge.  Directly in front of them
was the Federation Command Cruiser, along with five other Federation
ships.  Though not quite as large as the Cruiser, the other ships were
still bigger than anything the rebel forces had. 

Laken watched in horror as the Federation ships opened
fire.  The cargo ship immediately bucked beneath her feet as laser fire
hit it, and she grabbed onto the door jamb to keep from falling.

As if having the Federation ships shooting at them wasn’t
bad enough, the Ashantian ships began to fire at the Marlonian and pirate ships
from behind.  Laken tightened her grip on the door jamb as another round
of laser fire sent the ship rocking.

“Should we retreat?” Kam shouted, glancing over his shoulder
at Kellen.

“There’s nowhere to retreat to,” the first officer told
him.  “Return fire!”

Releasing her grip on the door jamb, Laken pushed past Dev
and raced down the passageway to the communications room.

“Laken, what...?” the other woman began.

But Laken ignored her.  Running into the com-room, she
hurried over to one of the computers, practically falling into chair in front
of it as the ship bucked again.

“What are you doing?” Dev asked as Laken’s fingers flew over
the keys.

Laken didn’t look at her, but kept her gaze focused on the
computer screen.  “I’m typing in the security command codes I ran across while
Rade and I were prisoner on that Federation ship.”

“You memorized all those numbers?”

Laken nodded as she typed in the next string of
numbers.  “Yes.  And if we’re lucky, they haven’t changed them. 
If they use the same codes for all their ships, I may just be able to do
something to get us out of this mess.” 

Beneath them, the cargo ship bucked and screeched as it was
hit again and again.  Laken typed faster, afraid the ship was going to
explode from a direct hit any second.  But her fear for herself and the
rest of the crew was nothing compared to how terrified she was for Rade. 
She would have felt a lot better if he were there with her.  Even if they
were in incredible danger, at least they’d be in danger together.

Just then, her computer screen lit up as the security code
she had just entered was accepted.  She didn’t even slow down to
congratulate herself, but immediately dug her way through the endless menu
options to the Command Cruiser’s Operating System. 

“I’m in,” she told Dev.  “Get Kellen on the ship’s com
for me.”

The other woman didn’t ask why, but hurriedly did as she was
told. 

“Kellen, it’s Laken,” she shouted over the com.  “Tell
the other ships to concentrate their fire on the Command Cruiser.”

“That’s worthless,” the first officer yelled back. 
“Our weapons won’t do much damage from this distance, and if we move closer,
they’ll blow us out of the sky.”

“Trust me,” Laken told him.  “Just do it!”

* * * * *

Rade knew the little shuttle ship he was commanding couldn’t
take much more of this.  They’d been hit more than a dozen times and their
hull was bleeding atmosphere like crazy.  But to their credit, his small
crew of Marlonian volunteers wasn’t giving up.  Though they were cussing
both the Feds and the Ashantians to the Seventh Hell and back, none of them had
ever once suggested surrendering.

The moment he realized they’d been betrayed, Rade had
ordered his little transport to close the distance with the Federation
ships.  While their own ship didn’t have much in the way of weapons or
armor, he knew that if they stayed close to the Feds, not only would the
Federation have a hard time targeting them, but that the Ashantians wouldn’t
fire on them, either.  The bastards were too chicken to risk pissing off
the Federation by firing in their direction.  Of course, if the Feds
managed to hit them with one direct impact from their high-powered lasers, it
would vaporize the small shuttle immediately.

Dammit, he wished he had taken Kellen’s advice and told
Laken he was in love with her.  On second thought, it was better he hadn’t
because if he had given voice to his feelings, he would never have had the
strength to let her go.  It was more important that she was safe, even if
it meant she would be in the arms of another man. He swallowed hard at the
thought.

“Captain!”

With a curse, Rade forced himself from his musings and
turned his attention to the crewman.  Shit, he thought as he took in the
kid’s lanky body and shaggy hair.  What was he, fourteen? 

“What is it?” Rade asked.

“All of our ships are concentrating their fire on the
Command Cruiser,” the kid said.  “Should we do the same?”

Frowning, Rade leaned closer to look out the
vis-screen.  He’d be damned, The kid was right.  What the hell were
the Marlonians up to?  He wished he still had commo, but that had been
blown out within the first thirty seconds.

“Captain,” the kid said.  “The Feds have suddenly
started targeting the Ashantian ships.  Why are they doing that?”

As Rade scanned the screen in front of him, he realized that
for the first time since this debacle had started, their ship wasn’t taking
fire. 

“Sir, do we retreat?” his second-in-command asked.

Though not much older than the other kid, this one at least
looked like he was old enough to be out of school. 

“Hell no,” Rade told him, an idea coming to him.  “Put
this heap right down the front deck of that Command Cruiser.”  He glanced
over to the dark-haired youth manning the weapons system.  “Gunner, I want
every round right through the front door of their command deck.”

His second-in-command blinked in surprise.  “Sir, that
approach will put us directly in line with their main gun batteries.  They
won’t even have to get lucky to hit us.”

Rade grinned.  “Sometimes, you gotta take a chance if
you want to win the fight,” he said, then,  “Helmsman, what are you
waiting for?  Let’s go!”

“Yes, Sir!”

* * * * *

“What did you do, Laken?” Kellen called over the ship’s
com. 

“I kidnapped the Federation’s vis-screens and forced them to
use their external sensors instead,” she told him.  “When the battle
started, the Ashantians began transmitting a code to the Federation, so the
Federation would know who they were supposed to shoot at.  Once I took
control of the Federation’s operating system for their computers, it was pretty
simple to trick the sensors into thinking the Ashantians were us and vice
versa.”

Kellen said nothing, though Laken imagined the first officer
probably wore the same expression of disbelief that Dev did. 

“It wasn’t a big deal, really,” Laken said.  “Anyone could
have done it if they had the codes.”

Beside her, Dev let out a snort.  “Yeah, right. No big
deal.”

“Well, however you did it, it’s working,” Kellen said over
the com.  “The Ashantians are turning tail and running.”

Laken was just starting to relax a little when their ship
suddenly bucked.  From the passageway, she saw a bright flash of light, as
if something had lit up the vis-screen on the bridge.

“Kellen, what was that?” she asked.

“One of the small Marlonian shuttles just put a laser burst
right through the Command Cruiser’s Conning Tower.” 

On the ship’s com, she heard Kam and Jorn let out a cheer.

Laken looked at Dev.  “What’s a conning tower?”

“It’s the armored command station where all of the senior
officers are located during the battle. It has all the controls for the entire
ship.  If the damage is severe enough, the whole cruiser will be useless.”

“She’s keeling over out of control!” Kam shouted from the
bridge.

Laken grinned.  Maybe this was going to work.

“That she is, but we’re far from done,” she heard Kellen
say.  “There are still five more Federation vessels to deal with and they
still have a lot of firepower.  If they get past Laken’s trickery, we’re
still in trouble.”

Laken chewed on her lower lip, thinking for a moment. 
“I might be able to help with that, too, Kellen.”

Turning her attention back to the computer, Laken typed in
several commands.  A moment later, she sat back with a sigh of
satisfaction.  “That should do it.”

“Now what miracle did you pull off?” Dev asked, looking over
her shoulder at the computer screen.

Laken grinned.  “I turned off their cooling generators
and locked them completely out of the system.  In about thirty seconds or
so, they’re going to have to shut down their engines or their drives will go
into meltdown.  No power, no guns.”

She was right.  Within minutes, all laser fire from the
Federation ships ceased as they were forced to shut down power.  No longer
needed in the communications room, Laken hurried back to the bridge, Dev on her
heels.

Since radio silence wasn’t necessary now, Kellen had ordered
Kam to open the link, and Laken listened in as the Marlonian Commander
negotiated the Federation’s unconditional surrender.  Of course, the fact
that what was left of the Command Cruiser was slowly dropping into Marlon
Prime’s atmosphere at the time helped to speed up the negotiations. 

Once the Marlonian Commander had the surrender well under
way, Kellen and the rest of the Rebel ships began to scour the area for
survivors. 

“Where’s Rade’s ship?” Laken asked nervously, her eyes
desperately searching the vis-screen.

Kellen didn’t answer, but simply frowned as he tried to
locate his friend.  At his silence, Laken felt her stomach knot.  Oh
God, Rade couldn’t be dead.  He just couldn’t be.

Then suddenly, Kellen pointed at something on the
vis-screen.  “There!”

Laken sagged with relief.  Thank God, she thought, only
to immediately tense again when she saw how heavily damaged Rade’s small ship
was.  It looked like it was going to slip into Marlon Prime’s atmosphere
at any minute.

“Kam...” Kellen began.

“I’m on it,” Kam said.

Kam moved the cargo ship in quickly, maneuvering up to the
smaller vessel so that he could latch on to it.  Eager to see Rade, Laken
hurried from the bridge and down the passageway to the hold, Kellen, Dev and
Jorn on her heels.

Despite how eager she was, however, once in the cargo hold,
Laken hung back when the rest of the crew gathered around the door.  She
smoothed her hands down the front of her dress anxiously, unable to calm her
wildly beating heart.  She was nervous about seeing him, she
realized.  While everyone else on board the ship seemed to be convinced
Rade was head-over-heels in love with her, she wasn’t so sure.  He had
sent her away, after all.  What if he didn’t want her?

Abruptly, the door to the hold opened and as Rade stepped on
board, all the misgivings Laken had disappeared at the sight of his tall
form.  His face and clothes were smudged with soot, but she’d never seen
him look so gorgeous.

Laken stayed in the background as Rade and his ragtag crew
were surrounded by Kellen and the others.  She watched as they joked and
laughed and clapped each other on the back, wondering how to approach him.

“Did you see that amazing shot this crew pulled off back
there?” Rade asked, grinning at the group of youths who had come aboard with
him.  “Took out that Federation Cruiser with no problem at all.”