Battleship Furiosa (14 page)

"Dark?"

The alien officer made a sound that all
recognised as a chuckle.

"Dark."

Billy shook his head.

"Yes, I heard. But what does that
mean?"

"Billy,
" said Cassandra.

Her tone did nothing to hide her
irritation, but Billy was unable to conceal his fascination.
Luckily for all of them, the Byotai officer appeared unoffended,
though perhaps more than a little amused at the question.

"They are young and
inexperienced. That is what dark means. You see; all Byotai start
off dark, only with age and experience does our skin fade, like
this."

He ran his hand along his cheeks, where
his skin looked old and faded.

"Oh, okay. What happened to all
the pilots of the Ironclads?"

It was hard not to cry out in
surprise
at Nate asking the question. The
Captain was not offended, although he did look saddened. They
walked on through the massive deck until they were in the
centre.

"We were all there, at
Ctenosaura. One by one, our ships were lost, including the Red
Star. We presumed all were gone when the order was given to
withdrawal. By the time the battle was over, we'd suffered more
than a thousand casualties, lost all but four fighters, and all our
pilots."

He closed his eyes.

"Even as we escaped, we were
boarded by shock troops. Most of our officers were lost, and we
sustained major internal damage before fighting them off. Now we
are all that remains."

His eyes opened, and Nate was sure they
were glazed over.

"For all of us, it was the end of the
war...and the Empire."

Lieutenant Commander Holder
reached out and placed her hand on his arm. It was clear she knew
more about the emotional state of the Byotai than any of them
there.
Nate and his friends might have
fought with Byotai of their own age, but it had been in simulated
battles. They had never developed this kind of rapport, and it made
all but Matilda uncomfortable.

"We're sorry to have brought it back to
the surface."

He placed his hand on hers and
nodded in the human fashion. Nate felt like he should do something,
but as the two veteran officers shared the moment, the rest of them
watched on in silence.

"Thank you. We will not forget
the friendship of humanity in our struggle."

"Captain Sobiex!"

They all turned around to see
Commander Hig
gins walking towards them,
his physical disabilities now barely showing. Nate's heart leapt as
he spotted four marines marching behind him. Two were new to him,
and one was the massive and redoubtable form of Sergeant Nál. Even
at this distance, the Jötnar looked like an armoured giant. The
fourth was a lady that was very rarely away from his mind. As their
eyes met, she gave him a half wink.

Private Valentine!

Nate shook his head and tried to hide
his smile. At the same time, Cassandra nudged Matilda and beckoned
towards the new arrivals.

"Look who's
here
."

Matilda's brow tightened, but she said
nothing, not that Nate was showing them any attention. Right now
all eyes were on the approaching group.

"Commander Higgins."

The Byotai seemed genuinely happy to
see the Commander. Once close enough they embraced in a familiar
way. As they separated, the Commander nodded to his four
escorts.

"We're pushed for manpower, but
I've managed to get a full Marine Corps fireteam on board, along
with the renowned Sergeant Nál."

Captain Sobiex's expression
transformed at seeing the large Marine Corps warrior.
To any that had not seen a Jötnar before, it was
always an odd situation. They had been created as synthetic
warriors back in the War, but since then, and through the
assistance of Alliance technicians, more had been created
naturally. Initial hostility to the idea had been quickly quashed
after their selfless sacrifice in so many battles. There were no
more loyal warriors in the entire Alliance. Their numbers were
still relatively modest, but they made up for it with brute
strength and a surprising agile and adaptive mind.

"Sergeant Nál, I am honoured."

The Byotai officer bowed down in
respect, and the Sergeant nodded politely.

"Thank you, Captain. The honour
is mine. I have heard of this ship. We have spoken of the exploits
of your battleships before, on Hyperion."

Nate had never heard her mention
the forest world before, or even of her knowledge of Byotai
warships. It left him wondering what else she and her people got up
to on that hostile and deadly planet.

"I have never met one of your race
before. Is it true, that you have the strength of many men?"

He looked down at her feet and
then up to her chest and the open visor on her helmet. To a human
eye she was overly muscular, ill proportioned, and ugly. Some
openly called them monsters, or trolls, but this Byotai appeared in
awe.

"You have the physique of a god.
Please...show me?"

He stepped closer to the Sergeant and
extended out his arm.

"What is he doing?"
Nate whispered.

Matilda sighed.

"Really? Can't you tell?"

Sergeant Nál chuckled as she
deactivated her armour while signal
ling
to her comrades. Each moved around to pull the sealed sections from
her body until only below her waist was protected by the armour.
Those unfamiliar with a Jötnar might be unsure even if this was a
male or female. Only by standing alongside the slightly larger
males would it become more obvious. Her chest was slightly larger,
and her waist a tiny fraction smaller.

"Let's do this."

Sergeant Nál extended her right arm and
grasped the Byotai's. Almost immediately their muscles turned taut,
and the Byotai began to grunt. He altered his stance to put more
weight down onto her limb.

"Not bad, not bad at
all,
" said the Sergeant.

With a short shudder, the Jötnar
forced the reptilian officer's arm back and then flipped him over
so that he landed flat on his back. Sergeant Nál leaned in over the
fallen officer and extended her hand to help him up. Nate's mouth
hung wide open as he watch the Byotai wipe the dust from his
uniform and then look back at the Sergeant. His expression seemed
neutral, perhaps even a little hostile. Then his mouth opened wide,
and he nodded repeatedly while talking. So fast was his voice that
it took a full second for the translator to catch up. When they
separated, it was obvious that a bond had been made. Commander
Higgins said just a few more words and then turned to move away,
but stopped and indicated to Lieutenant Commander
Holder.

"I must speak with the Captain.
I'll leave you to get acquainted. Don't take too long. We enter the
Rift in less than five hours."

He then pointed to the pilots.

"And I need all of you ready to
launch."

With those brief words, he was
gone and took the group of marines with him. Captain Sobiex waited
until the mysterious Jötnar was out of sight before looking back to
the pilots and nodded furiously once more.

"Come with me. I will introduce you to
the rest of your squadron."

They walked across the
deck
and past a pair of battered looking
Byotai fighters. Nate had seen the designs before but had never
been this close to one.

"Captain. Are these fighters
operational?"

Captain Sobiex shook his head.

"No. These two have been stripped for
parts. We are using whatever we have left to keep the ship
going."

On they went until reaching a row
of parked up fighters. They were all sitting on their hydraulic
platforms, and the nearest group bore small markings along their
noses.

"What are these?"
Billy asked.

A
shape
emerged from behind the fighter, followed by three more young
looking pilots. They were only a year or two older than Nate and
his friends, yet their clothing and expressions betrayed the weeks
of bloody battle that they'd seen. Their faces were much darker
than Captain Sobiex, and the leader of the group's cheeks were
coloured with dark brown strikes, almost like the flanks of a
Tiger. They were slighter in build to the Byotai and wore tight,
corset like body armour that emphasised their chest and neck. Nate
spotted Billy staring at the pronounced cleavage of the first
officer and shoved his elbow into his side. He groaned but got the
point, and lifted his eyes to theirs. All four sported colourless
hair that hung down to their shoulders. So pale was the smooth
looking strands that they looked like transparent acrylic. Billy
leaned close to Nate and whispered, "They have hair?"

Nate shrugged.

"Looks that way."

The tallest of
the
m looked at Nate and his friends,
opened her mouth, and hissed slowly before speaking.

"They are
the last of the Mantis Fighters from the Royal Retinue of
the late Imperator."

To their surprise, the young
Byotai spoke without a translator, though
her accent was thick and muffled.

"Mantis fighters,"
Billy whispered again. He then looked to Nate
and raised his eyebrows, "And she is hot!"

Nate looked to his friend to
shush him.
They had seen these craft in
simulation. Though similar in shape to the Hawkmoth fighters, the
elegant Mantis fighters were equipped primarily with low rate of
fire guns and long-range cruise missiles. The designs were longer
than the Hawkmoth and with a pair of much bigger engines stacked
one on top of the other. In the Star Crusader game, they had proven
to be almost impossible to catch with gunfire, and could out
accelerate any fighter in the Alliance inventory. While most seemed
absorbed in the four female pilots, Nate's attention was firmly on
the fighters.

"These are incredible machines. I
never imagined I would see one in the flesh."

The Byotai nodded politely and
then walked to Nate.
For a second, he
thought the pilot was going to attack him. He instinctively brought
out his hands but kept them hung down low at his flanks, just as
he'd been taught. She moved so close that he could smell a cinnamon
like aroma about her, presumably some kind of perfume. Once
directly in front, she sniffed and then reached out, took his hand,
and turned him around so that he was now alongside the fighter.
Still holding his arm, she moved to the spacecraft and placed his
hand on the cool metallic surface.

"
All
fighters and ships of the Royal Retinue are coated in a hardened
layer of the Nanocrystal paste. It is a great honour to command
fighters of such value to the Empire."

Nate shook his head in awe.

"I've seen reports on the
mate
rial. It is mined and refined at
Melantias, in the Tenth Quadrant, isn't it?"

The Byotai lowered her head but
said nothing in reply.
Nate had heard of
the material before, but this was the closest he'd ever been to the
stuff. He ran his hand along the surface, surprised to find it had
a hard, smooth finish like a layer of glazed pottery. As he moved
his head, it distorted and bounced the light in ways that he'd not
seen on a fighter before.

"Isn't it incredibly expensive? I
heard it was more valuable than precious metals to the Khreenk. You
and your fighters must be truly blessed."

The pilot nodded once
more.

"
Yes,
we are truly blessed. The technology and equipment we use is the
best the Empire has to offer. Using it, the elite pilots of the
Ironclads have a kill ratio of eight to one since the revolt
began."

Matilda did the
math
s in her head and gasped at realising
how much damage they must have caused. At the same time, Lieutenant
Commander Holder moved closer as she finished speaking with another
pair of senior officers. She walked past her own pilots and stopped
in front of the Byotai. She extended her hand, and the alien shook
it slowly.

"Lieutenant Commander, you are
very welcome here. Your Squadron's reputation precedes
you."

Nate watched carefully, but it
was hard to gauge the emotions or intentions of the Byotai at the
best of times. Their expressions could often be impossible to
guess. There was something about this four that he found hard to
place. They were clearly under a great deal of stress, yet they
carried themselves with great dignity.

"I am Flying Officer Valdis
Ferreus, and these are the three remaining pilots of the
Ironclads."

She
then looked to her comrades.

"Svana, Dogg, and
Lilija."

Each
straightened and saluted as their name was called
out.

"We transferred
here a week before the battle, new recruits
direct from the Military Academy. There were fifteen of us on that
transport. But now there are just four of us."

She
lowered her head as though ashamed to continue. Sensing the
shift in mood, Lieutenant Commander Holder indicated to her own
pilots.

"
Well,
today this will change. I am taking command of the Ironclads, and
between us we have ten experienced pilots, all of whom will make a
valuable contribution, I am sure."