Craggy 2: Another Last Flight for Craggy (17 page)

Dillow also realised that the blackness could not be judged by size. There could easily be one ship or a thousand inside that thing. He really felt like a knuckle dragger compared to the creators of this technology.

He was thinking all these things, when one ship flew out of the blackness. But it wasn't like anything they were expecting. It was a ball.  It exited the blackness, no obvious signs of propulsion; its surface covered with small, mirror like circles. Propulsion system or not, it was fast and tiny. Dillow guessed it to be about two yards in diameter. Its makers were small, but he figured not that small. It flew several thousand miles from the blackness, stopping as instantly as if slamming into a wall.

'It's a probe. Flare. Kill it.'

Flare took careful aim and fired, but the probe was already racing back to the safety of the blackness. Flare continued chasing it with the laser cannon. Seconds before the probe reached the blackness, she got lucky, but only scoring a glancing blow. A small part of the probe flew off, and the probe wobbled, regained control and vanished inside the blackness.

'Shit,' said Flare. 'Sorry, Sir.'

'Are you kidding? A flying target that small from twenty thousand miles? Damn fine shooting, Captain.'

Breeze said, 'True, but that thing has now told them we're waiting outside.'

'Get ready, people. Things are about to get interesting.'

It seemed an interminable wait for the inevitable, but come it did. Four ships, similar to the one Fawn Dillow commanded, burst simultaneously from the blackness, at unstoppable speeds, in four different directions.

'Fire at will. Fire at will.'

The Varlindran ships were as fast as they were deadly. One freighter disintegrated before it even got a shot off.

'Get after those ships. Take them out, take them out.'

Thirteen ships chased four Varlindran ships, both sides lashing out with whips of power. Only one ship under human command had the speed of those four ships.

Fawn Dillow knew that. 'Go, Stella.'

Stella wayward had the ship flying so fast, it ran rings around everything else. The Varlindrans knew this was the one to take out more than any other. The others were slow. They could wait their turns. Dillow was blasting at them, as they twisted and turned, her shots, their shots, missing by milliseconds.

'They're chasing us,' yelled Stella.

'Yeah, let 'em. Get them away from the others.'

Stella headed for Phobos, the Varlindran ships on their tail, firing and being fired on. 'I'm going to do a fast loop around Phobos, come out behind them. Get ready, Dillow.'

Stella almost misjudged the manoeuvre and had to spin them out of a crash course, hurtling back from behind the tiny moon. One of the Varlindran ships took a large chunk of Phobos off it, and Dillow let rip with blasts from her own cannon. Now
they
were doing the chasing. The four ships suddenly fanned out in different directions, about to double back on themselves. Dillow concentrated on one, fired a steady laser stream and caught the ship as it rolled. Stella had to fight the controls to avoid the debris smashing into them.

The next fastest ship was The Eye and it was gaining on them. 'Nice shooting, Fawn.'

'Thanks, Dad.'

'Now get the hell out of the way. I don't want to shoot you by mistake.'

'Stella. Hide us behind Deimos and let my dad play.'

Stella took advantage of their speed and got them behind the ugliest rock in the solar system. The Eye, flown by Breeze, with Captain Flare in charge of the cannons, was a good match for one Varlindran ship, but not three. It scored one hit, just a scratch, but it was enough to have it scurrying back to the blackness. This meant there were thirteen ships against the two undamaged Varlindran ships. The damaged ship plunged into the blackness.

'Sir?' said Breeze.

'Go after it, Breezy.'

Not knowing what they would find, Breeze took The Eye into the unknown, and there found...nothing. She slowed right down.

'
We're
here. Where did that ship go?'

'That's not what bothers me,' said Lance Dillow. 'That over there. Now that worries me.'

Coming directly at them from the far side of the blackness, were eight more Varlindran ships.

'Get us out of here, Breezy.'

Breeze did just that, with eight ships right behind her, all firing their laser cannons. 'Time not to be here,' said Breeze.

Flare was already at the controls of the rear cannon, and she hit ship one as they burst out of the blackness. The Varlindran ship also came out of the blackness, but it exploded as it did so. The other seven ships flew out of the blackness, only to find the freighters ready to take them on. All ships were at maximum speeds, bolts of laser energy tracing red lines in every direction. One Varlindran ship was damaged, but still just able to fly, and it took out two more freighters, one totally, one just wrecked. Breeze could see the stricken ship about to be finished off, when she yelled, 'get ready'.

The Eye did a blindingly fast loop, and Flare finished off the crippled ship. It was becoming an even fight, with the humans giving everything they had. Then, as the battle was cranking up to another level, all the Varlindran ships raced back to the blackness and as the humans pursued them, the blackness simply vanished.

'Where'd it go?' Carter asked.

'Don't know, don't care,' snarled Lance Dillow. 'Let's get our injured home.'

They homed in on the damaged freighter. 'Hello? Anyone home?'

'Yes, Sir. Three of us alive, one injured. She needs help fast.'

Lance Dillow shouted, 'Can you all get to the airlock, so we can collect you?'

'Negative, Commander Dillow,' called back a frighteningly young sounding female voice. 'That side took a direct hit. We are relying our suits for air. And something is burning on here.'

'You take care of the fire, we'll get you out of there. Just sit tight.'

'Where the hell are you going, Sir?' asked Breeze.

'Out of here and over there. Why?'

'You can't space walk with all this going on.'

'Watch me. Get me closer.'

S
pace Security Commander Lance Dillow stood on the lip of the outer airlock, a safety line secured to his belt. Before leaping across to the damaged ship, he looked to see if the blackness had returned, although being between the two ships, his view was reverely resticted.

'Breezy. You see anything out there?'

'No, Sir. I still think you're a crazy bastard.'

Dillow laughed. 'Part of my charm. I'm going over.'

Dillow propelled himself off The Eye and hit the ship, finding something to hold onto. 'Can you hear me in there? Hello? Anyone?'

His helmet radio crackled, and he could only hear somebody, hardly able to speak.

'I...Jeez. Please. Get us out of here.'

'I'm on your ship. What's your name?'

'Rosy. Rosy Thorne.'

'Nice. What's going on in there, Rosy?'

'A fire. We put...We put it out, but it keeps starting again. For God's sake, help us.'

'Try to keep calm, Rosy.'

Frantically, Dillow was at the airlock. That whole side of the ship was damaged and an attempt by someone on the inside to open it had failed. With only his bare hands to work with, Dillow tried to prise the outer door open.

'Maybe this will help.' Dillow hadn't seen Dan Carter until he'd appeared at his side. He was carrying a length of steel, about one yard long, six inches wide and one half inch thick. 'Part of a shelving unit. I thought it would come in useful.'

'Good thinking. We gotta get the doors open fast. The space vaccum will put the fire out.'

Carter rammed the flat end at the edge of the airlock door. The first attempt failed, but the next powerful thrust jammed the steel into the join. Together, the two men worked the lever; all the time trying to block out the screams from the youngsters inside. The lever started to bend, but the door budged. Just one inch, but enough for Dillow to get his fingers in.

'You lever, I'll pull.'

With Carter forcing and twisting with the lever and Dillow using his brute strength, the door gave. It was enough for the smaller Carter to squeeze inside. The inner airlock door was undamaged, and Carter hit the control and there was a groan as the electric motor tried to work the door open. Carter hammered on it, yelling, 'Come on, you son of a bitch.'

It was enough, and the door opened. It was pitch black inside, with most of the electrics fried. The fire had been extinguished the second the door opened. Carter could see two people on the floor and neither were moving. Another, a girl, was collapsed in a chair.

'Are you Rosy?'

'Yes.'

'Can you move?'

'I...I'll try.' She yelled out in pain. 'My arm. It's broken.'

'We have to get you out of here. Come on. That's it. Commander. One coming out.'

Dillow was on the outside, waiting for the girl. Knowing she had at least one broken limb, he grabbed hold of her belt with one hand and hauled them along the line with the other.

'Stay in the airlock. We'll get the others.'

He had just made it back as Carter was helping an unconcious young man out of the airlock. Dillow grabbed the man and Carter went back inside. Dillow now had two in The Eye's airlock and was heading back for the third.

'Sir,' said Breeze. 'The blackness. It's back.'

'Shit! Carter...'

'I heard. On my way.'

Breeze said, 'Three enemy heading our way.'

Fawn Dillow yelled, 'We'll hold them off. Dad. Move it.'

Carter and Dillow pulled and pushed the limp body into the airlock of The Eye and Dillow hit the red button and the airlock was sealed.

'Breezy...'

'You stay put and hang on. I'm heading for Fawn.'

Stella and Fawn Dillow got their ship between the blackness and The Eye. Dillow spraying anything that moved with her laser cannons. She annihilated one, the ball of flame going out in a second. Every freighter surrounded the two ships, and they exchanged fire, then the two Varlindran ships bolted for the blackness which promptly vanished.

'Yellow bellied chickens,' screamed Fawn Dillow. 'Come back here. I wanna kill ya.'

Lance Dillow jabbed Carter in the ribs. 'She's my daughter,' he said, proudly.

'Sounds like such a sweet girl.'

'Just don't piss her off. Let's get these inside.'

Carter opened the inner airlock and with help from the other side, got the injured strapped onto bunks. Dillow and Carter buckled in their seats.

'Home, Breezy. Everybody home.'

P
aramedics and fire crews were on standby as the eleven surviving ships landed. Forbes and Potts were there.

'We're holding our own,' said Lance Dillow, as he watched the paramedics take the three injured away. 'But only just. That blackness. Any number of ships can come through that. We took a handful out, clipped a couple more. They took out two frighters. All killed on board. One freighter shot to hell, but we got the crew home alive.'

'You're all doing a magnificent job,' said Potts. 'Take a quick break before you go back out there.'

'Dad. You ok?'

'Thanks to you and Stella. Where is she?'

'With Breezy. Those things can come back at any time.'

'We'll take half hour to grab a feed and think what to do. Hey, Carter. You did good.'

'Thanks. Do I get the job?'

'Good, but not great.'

'Dad!'

'Yeah. Just kidding. Welcome aboard, Carter.'

As they took half hour out, Potts told Lance Dillow, 'We have Ramshorn and Morgan itching to get stuck in.'

Dillow sipped his water. 'We need them. We need experience. But split them up. No more than two crew in each freighter. We don't want people killed for no good reason.'

'We'll take off anyone we can,' said Potts. 'I'll get that organised now.'

D
ixon Cragg had gone over to the medical centre. Dr Jill Hill was just coming out of the sick bay.

'Hello, Craggy. Look. This is not a good time. You'll have to make an appointment.'

'I'm Fine. I just wondered how those kids were doing.'

'They'll all live. That stuff Rocky brought back will see to that. What the hell are we doing, sending kids like that into battle?'

Cragg sighed and nodded. 'The world has always done that.'

'The one with the broken arm says she's going back out there.'

'You strap her down if you have to. She's done her part.'

Dr Jill said, 'And what about the others? One of those who died. Eighteen. Just a rookie.'

'That's just plain wrong.'

'Craggy...'

'You're busy. So am I.'

Cragg gave new meaning to deviousness. He made his way to the launch pads. Rocky and Morgan were already getting into two freighters, both with a shooter each, waiting for Lance Dillow to order them up. There were a few youngsters, grim faced, scared but ready to put their lives on the line again. Cragg, carrying his recpad, went over to one young team of three.

'Hi. You've done a great job.'

'Thanks. Boy, those things are fast.' He was a lad. Younger than his own lost son had been.

'You the pilot?'

'No. I work the cannon.'

Cragg pretended to study his recpad. 'Your name's Peter?'

'Dex.'

Cragg nodded. 'Ah, yes. That's what I meant. Dex. That's what I meant. You're wanted in Commander Forbes office, immediately.'

'But..'

'Don't keep the commander waiting. Go.'

Dex hurried away and Cragg turned his attention to the other confused pair. One was about thirty, the other looked about twelve, but Cragg decided was probably in her late teens. Her face was white with fear and she looked on the edge of puking.

'And you are...?'

'Val. I'm another shooter. Toby's the pilot.'

Cragg tapped his recpad. 'Val. Yes. I have you here. Hard is it, this laser cannon lark?'

Val shrugged. 'Point and shoot. Anybody can do it.'

'I thought so. Commander Potts wants to see you.'

Val looked at Toby, both confused.