Star Runners (23 page)

Gan leaned forward. "So we figured you know more about Scorpion than we do."

"What do you mean?"

"Since you shot her down, we thought you might know her. Tell us how to ace this class."

Austin snorted. "I hate to disappoint you guys, but I don't know anything about her. I didn't even know she was a woman until today. Did Scorpion dominate your servers too?"

Gan nodded. "You bet. Some of the other guys this morning were saying she's already been through several tours. They say she was recruited from a dark world like we were and that she's one of the best pilots in the Legion."

Austin thought of the gossip in high school. Some things don't ever change. "Well that's probably true, I guess. Some of it is anyway."

Skylar stood at the end of the table and carried her tray to the dispenser.

"I'll be right back." Austin hurried over to Skylar before she turned to leave the room. "Hey!"

She turned around. "Yeah?"

"You okay?" he asked, shifting his feet and burying his hands in his pockets.

"Fine. Why?"

He thought of their kiss the night before. "I was just checking."

"Oh," she said, widening her eyes. "Thanks for checking."

She left before he could respond.

He walked back to the table feeling like he'd just been sucker punched.

"That your lady friend?" Gan asked.

"No. Well, I mean, yes. Ah, we're good friends."

Gan stood to leave. "Might want to figure out a direct answer to that question, friend."

*****

Austin lingered in the mess hall until the lights dimmed for the station's evening shift. The crew cleaned the floor while he read in his tablet on the emergency procedures during loss of atmo. Austin expected Scorpion would give a quiz on this tomorrow after her continuous reminders to read this chapter.

"Studying late already, son?"

"Nubern? I’m sorry, captain." Austin moved to stand, but his mentor held out a hand to stop him.

He sat on the other side of the table as if he carried a great weight. "How was day one?"

Austin shrugged. "Another day of school, but this time I like the subject. Oh, and the school is on a space station, so there is that. Lieutenant Zyan isn’t what I expected."

“What did you expect?  Scorpion is the best there is.”

Austin blinked. “I don’t know.”

“Oh.” Nubern eyed him. “You didn’t expect a woman?”

“No, sir.”

“I’m not surprised. Your planet has some strange ideas of the capabilities of a female. Erase that from your mind. Scorpion is one of the best pilots in the Legion. We are lucky to use her talents for training and recruitment while she is available.”

Austin stared at the stars, thinking of the burning freighters under pirate attack. "Did you go out in the attack yesterday?"

Nubern's face hardened. "Yes."

"Do the attacks happen often?"

"More than we would like to admit." He gazed out toward the nebulae. "Tarton's Junction has been a terminus for space travel for a thousand years. Maybe more. It’s a crucial point in Quadrant Eight. Pirates have always preyed on this location, but since Dax Rodan took over things have been worse. Yesterday, we were caught sleeping."

Austin felt his face flush. "You shoot anyone down?"

Nubern eyed him for a moment with a cold look until his face thawed. "I've been in more conflicts than I can count. Somewhere along the line you quit etching your kills on the side of your fighter."

Austin shut his tablet and sat in silence.

"I am sorry I didn't tell you more before we arrived," Nubern said. "It's sometimes easier to throw it at students all at once. What do you think?"

"It's a lot to take in."

"We do not take recruits older than twenty-five. Do you know why?"

Austin shrugged. "Fitness requirements?"

Nubern shook his head. "We have found it is easier for the younger minds to accept they are not alone in the universe. Unless there is a special circumstance, we try to recruit young."

"Were you recruited?"

"Yes, but I was born on a Legion planet, not a dark world like you. It was always a part of my life. Do you agree?"

"About what?"

"That it is easier to accept since you are younger. For instance, do you think your mother would be able to accept the truth?"

"Oh, I don't know."

Austin stared at the stars, thinking of Mom.

"I'm just a student," he said barely above a whisper. "All I've ever wanted was to finish college for my Dad. That's all. Now I'm here and expected to kill. I don't want that responsibility. I'm still a kid."

Nubern leaned over the table. "No matter what you try, no matter what you do, time doesn't stand still. Things will change. They always do. You can take this opportunity, learn from it and excel, or quit. If you quit, you will regret it forever and wonder what might have been." He glanced at his watch. "Class is in six hours. Better hit the rack."

Austin nodded and watched Nubern march across the mess hall with a confidence Austin wished he felt. With his stomach in knots, Austin continued reading the chapter on what happens to the body in the vacuum of space.

*****

Austin had been awake for twenty hours, and his eyes grew heavy. He shook his head and left the mess hall.

He strolled through the empty halls and watched the bots polish the floor to a high shine until it looked like he walked on the surface of a still pond. Outside the view ports lining the halls, the nebulae sent its violet and red color palette spilling onto the reflective floors. Two Tridents flying patrol zipped by the window. He paused, watching them soar until they vanished out of sight. He smiled, imagined being in the cockpit and continued walking. 

Metal crashed down the hall, sending a ringing sound bouncing through the halls. Austin frowned.  He hurried

around the corner toward Pod C when the same sound rattled through the halls. One light beamed from the end of the hallway. Heavy breathing echoed followed by a grunt. He stepped forward for a better view of this room just a short walk from the mess hall.

He gasped.

Inside the room, exercise equipment lined the walls. Digital readouts glowed from the elliptical machines, washing the room in a green and blue hue. The salty smell of sweat and putrid body odor smacked him in the face, but he didn't mind. Sitting at one of the machines, her hair pulled back, Scorpion performed curls. She wore lose fitting green shorts and a black sports bra drenched in sweat. Her tanned skin glowed, her biceps bulging.

She slapped another weight on the bar and glanced at the door. After placing a translator in her ear, she asked, "What are you doing?"

Austin's mouth was dry. "Nothing, ma'am."

"You up early or late?"

"I was heading back to my pod to sleep."

"Class is in four hours."

He looked down. "I know."

She laughed. "Gimme a spot since you're just standing there."

Austin tossed his Tizona tablet on a bench at the door and stood behind her. She moved to another station and leaned back on the bench, exposing her bare stomach and legs. A black and red tattoo of a sword crossing a shield stretched the length of her forearm. She finished her reps and sat up to dry her hands.

"How long have you been in here?" Austin asked.

"Too long," she said, grunting as she got back into position for more bench presses. "I can't sleep longer than a couple hours. When I wake up, I'd rather come in here than toss and turn in my bunk."

The bar crashed down as she finished. Scorpion leaned forward, her skin glistening with sweat, and took a long drink of water.

"Went through two tours in the Carmicha sector dealing with the extremist revolt," she said, her full lips not matching the voice he heard translated in his ear.

Austin paused. "What's that, lieutenant?"

"I saw you looking at the tattoo. It's hard to miss, I know. Got it on my first combat tour."

Austin blushed and forced his eyes on the wall. "Oh."

"Was ordered back here when Dax Rodan and the Tyral Pirates starting flexing out in Quadrant Eight. Command wanted to boost training and recruitment."

"So how did you end up here?"

Scorpion shook her head. "In other words; what's a girl like me doing in a place like this?"

"I didn't mean that." Austin wanted to jump out an airlock, but instead shut up and hoped for an escape route.

"It's okay. I'm just kidding," she said, wiping her face with a towel. "I was recruited by Nubern just like you."

"You played the game, too?"

"Yes, that's part of the reason they use me to monitor the servers on a couple planets when I have the time." She stared at the nebulae. "It was strange when I was recruited. I'm sure it is for everyone. My home, Lian, is dark like Earth. We are taught to fight from birth on Lian. It's just part of our culture."

"How so?"

"Wars I'd rather not think about. Wasn't much time for anything else, but I always dreamed of being a pilot, so that is the path I resolved to take."

"Not much of a life there, I guess."

She glared at him. "What does that mean?"

"I mean, you know, you don't have much time for fun on your home planet."

Scorpion snorted and prepared for another round of reps. "Waste of time."

Austin shifted on his feet. "You like teaching?"

"We’re required to spend time in the classroom. I also have to spend time monitoring the sims. I've had Earth for a little while now. That's how I met you."

"You were so good," Austin said without thinking.

Scorpion paused and gripped the bar. Her fierce exterior seemed to melt away for an instant. She blinked. "Were?"

Austin smiled. "Are."

She looked at him for a moment with dark eyes. "You should probably get ready for class."

Austin nodded. "I'll see you there."

He strolled to the hallway and turned back to see Scorpion staring after him.

"You are lazy, incompetent nubes who will never be able to fly!"

Austin resisted the urge to glance at the other students, knowing it would draw criticism from Lieutenant Maddox. For the past three weeks, Maddox, with his brooding wide shoulders and closely cropped hair, had been barking orders at the students during their sidearm training.

Austin would have enjoyed firing the laser pistol at the station's gun range if it weren't for Maddox, who seemed to possess the powerful ability to make everything seem like a chore. Following the first week of class, Scorpion's flight instruction would dismiss after lunch into Maddox's hands to learn the basics of firing a laser pistol. Whenever they flew on mission, Legion pilots were required to carry their sidearm.

Before the training, Austin had only fired his neighbor’s pellet gun. The laser pistol surprised him as it had no kickback when he fired it into the holographic targets. It was no different than firing the guns at an arcade. He even recorded the best accuracy one day.

Maddox screamed at the Tizona students as he marched them down a dimly lit hallway. He carried a black helmet under his arm and wore a black leather flight suit.

“The admiral has ordered us to attempt to train you and you all get the chance to fail! Everything up till this point has been paper doll time!"

Austin sighed, careful to hide it from Maddox. The past week of endless classes on thrust, pitch, yaw, power distribution and emergency life support course work had finally led them to the primary hangar of Tarton's Junction. Upon entering, Trident fighters of various classes stretched for several hundred yards. Pilots and crewmen mingled on the flight deck. Off to his right, Josh spoke with six other pilots all clad in the forest green of the Lobera squadron.

He stretched and rotated his arm as Maddox continuing yelling about the dangerous nature of space flight. All Austin wanted to do was get in the cockpit. Maddox, with his buzz cut hair and weathered skin, looked like a man who'd spent his life in the desert, not the veteran pilot Scorpion told them to expect.

Austin stretched again, fighting the tightening blue flight suit. He gripped the matching helmet under his arm and felt the weight. Soon, he would actually be flying in the Trident. All those hours spent in his bedroom with an energy drink and packs of chips would pay off. He smiled at the thought. Who would have thought he would be able to say such a thing?

He glanced at the Trident behind Maddox and studied the two cockpits. He might not be flying solo, yet, but this was close enough.

"You've all been nothing but sim rats to this point," Maddox said, his voice booming over the machinery of the active hangar. "Today, you get behind the stick. The Trident trainer was designed to have someone there to save your butt when you screw up. Take it seriously and maybe you won't kill yourselves and your trainer. Remember your classwork and don't try to show how amazing you are. Recruits die that way."

He gestured back to the Trident.

"This baby'll do almost everything the standard Trident will do. Once you've clocked a few hundred hours in her, we'll start dog fights with holographic fire and damage. While the combat is simulated, the dangers are always very real.

“Captain?"

Nubern, clad in a Tizona flight suit with a simple white bar on his left breast pocket, stepped forward. "Thank you, Lieutenant Maddox. Recruits, follow your instructors to your assigned fighters. Dismissed."

Bear, appearing even taller in his flight suit, was flying with Scorpion this morning. He was the envy of all the male recruits. As Bear walked away with a stupid grin on his face, Austin stepped up to Nubern as the other recruits and instructors scurried toward their fighters. Nubern held his helmet, painted with talons on either side, and smiled.

"Ready for a quick spin around the station?"

Austin imagined the Trident in the blackness of space. "I've been ready for this my whole life."

Nubern grinned and nodded as he exhaled. He placed a hand on Austin's shoulder. "Take your seat."

Austin's feet barely touched the ladder as he climbed into the cockpit. He sat into the soft seat and allowed the cushion to engulf him. Nubern, his helmet already on, knocked on the side of the craft. Nubern tapped the side of his helmet, motioning to his ear. Austin nodded and twisted his helmet's cables into place while plugging into the Trident's life support. The interior lights of the helmet glowed a soft blue and a metallic air hissed into his helmet and suit.

"You in, Rock?" Nubern's voice crackled in his ear.

"Yes, sir."

"Alright. Strap in. Canopy coming down." The clear canopy slid into place as he spoke. "I'm going through preflight. Listen. Next time, it'll be your turn. After that, we'll depart." 

Austin's HUD glowed green and displayed the preflight checklist. Nubern checked through the list and the cockpit controls glowed as they came to life. A distinct but subtle vibration hummed around him as the Trident's systems came on one-by-one. He slid his gloved fingertips across the canopy and looked at the fighter's wings in upright position for parking.

"Preflight complete. Tower, this is Talon, requesting clearance to takeoff." He clicked over to the secure channel. "Rock, pay attention and make a mental list of questions if you got'em. Otherwise, soak it in and enjoy the flight."

Nubern's voice seemed deeper.

"Roger," Austin said, wondering if he might get a chance to fly this time out.

"Talon, this is tower. You are clear for takeoff."

"Roger, tower." The radio clicked. "All right, Rock, here we go."

The Trident rumbled, pressing Austin back into his seat. The fighter shot through the hangar to the star field beyond. His stomach lurched as they passed beyond the hangar and left the artificial gravity of the station. The hangar doors passed by and, for the first time since arriving, Austin was outside Tarton's Junction. After the wings lowered and locked into flight position, Nubern pulled back on the stick, pushing the Trident into a slow loop back toward the station. Tarton's Junction, spinning like a spindle, appeared much larger.

"Let's ease around the station and take a walk around the block," Nubern said.

Nubern maneuvered into a wide sweeping circle around the station. Other Tridents left the main hangar and fell into formation behind them.

Austin watched his stick respond to Nubern's movements. The cockpit was just like the game and the simulators; all the readouts were in the familiar place. Austin grinned at the scene of other Tridents flanking them in flight as they continued the sweep around the station.

"Recruits, this simple formation will be old hat to all of you in a few weeks," Nubern said. "Next time we go out, you all get to fly."

He switched back to the local channel. "This may seem like a simple maneuver, but I wanted you to get an early feel without the pressure. Besides, not every patrol is exciting. Get used to that seat, Rock. Even when the flight appears monotonous, stay focused. Mistakes lie in the realm of a wandering mind."

Austin would have to grow accustomed to no gravity. His arms moved differently, felt strange. He opened and closed his gloved hand as he surveyed the cockpit before leaning back into his seat.

A flash of light burned across the canopy like a bottle rocket and his HUD indicated a brief drop in shields.

"What was that?" Austin asked without thinking.

"Relax," Nubern said. "Welcome to real space. Debris or another particle bounced off the deflector shield. Nothing to worry about."

After an hour of flight time, Nubern indicated it was time to return to the nest.

Since Nubern was in command of today's exercise, they would be the last to land. Austin watched as the rest of the fighters filed into a neat line and headed for the main hangar. Nubern dropped the Trident's engine power, allowing inertia to move them forward.

Austin scanned the black around the station. He didn't want to go back. He looked to the nebulae past the station. From the space above the nebulae, the black wavered as a curve materialized. A freighter passed through the curve like it was splitting through the surface of a pond.

"Captain!" Austin yelled.

"I see it," Nubern grumbled. "Tower, we have an unscheduled arrival at point six-four, two-eight, one-seven. Gotta an ID?"

"Negative, Talon. Freighter is squawking Legion codes. Running a check."

Austin's heart raced.

"Talon, tower. Freighter is part of a relief mission to the Chas System. They were scheduled to arrive tomorrow with four other ships, some carrying passengers for Tarton's Junction."

"I see," Nubern said. "Permission to investigate?"

"Granted," the tower responded after a pause.

"Scorpion, withdraw from landing," Nubern said. "I want you with me."

"Copy," Scorpion shot back.

Through the canopy, Austin watched Scorpion's fighter bolt out of its direct line with the hangar. He smiled at the sound of Scorpion's voice.

"What do I do, sir?" he asked as they changed direction and bore down on the freighter.

"Shut up," Nubern shot back.

Austin frowned. "Yes, sir."

As they closed on the freighter, Austin saw streams of gases escaping the rear of the ship. Burns covered the hull. Near the ship's engines, massive holes ripped through the otherwise smooth surface.

"Pirates?" Scorpion asked, her voice rising in pitch.

"Looks that way," Nubern said. "Tower, we are going to need the alert fighters out here to guide this vessel inside the station's perimeter. Recommend a team board and assist with the injured. Looks like they got the hell kicked out of ‘em. Over."

A message from the damaged freighter flashed across Austin's HUD.

COMM OUT
XXXXX
ENGINES ON RESERVE POWER
XXXXX
LIFE SUPPORT SYSTEMS FAILING
XXXXX
REQUEST IMMEDIATE ASSISTANCE
XXXXX

"You receiving that tower?" Nubern asked.

"Affirmative. Launching alert fighters now. Medical team assembling."

"Roger. Scorpion, keep your eyes open." Nubern killed the feed and smashed his hand on the side of the cockpit.

Austin looked at the wreck of the ship as Nubern took the fighter in a wide circle. Surveying the escaping gasses and on board fires visible through the existing view ports, Austin knew people were dying on board. A cold dread slipped down his back like an ice cube. Scorpion had said pirates, so this must be the work of Dax Rodon and the Tyral Pirates.

"It's getting worse, isn't it, sir?" Austin risked asking.

"Yes," Nubern answered without delay. "It is."

*****

A pirate fighter, sweeping through the blackness of space like an inverted jellyfish, crossed into his line of fire. Austin squeezed the trigger, releasing the missile on its deadly path. The missile adjusted course, turned, and bore into the enemy's engine.

"Got him," Austin said with a smile as the ball of fire flashed.

"I saw it," Skylar said into his ear piece.

Austin checked the scanner. Skylar tangled with another Tyral Pirate at the edge of the simulation zone. "I'll be there in ten seconds."

"I've got it," she said, her voice straining.

He veered toward her and set up his targeting computer. Within two seconds, the scanner found the pirate tailing Skylar and locked onto his signature. A few more seconds and the pirate would be in range. Austin keyed for his last missile, armed it, and put as much power into the engines as he could to close the gap.

Skylar slammed on her reverse thrusters, sending her fighter backwards. A move like that could throw off your systems, not to mention jar the pilot's sense of direction. Her Trident spun around twice as the pirate shot past. With a flash of the stabilizers, the Trident somehow leveled off. Her laser canons flashed, filling the black with sharp red streams of death. The fire was off at first, but soon centered on the rear of the enemy fighter. One shot flashed on the shields and the pirate fighter lost power just before another bolt crashed into the engine. The fighter exploded.

"Wow." Austin shook his head. "Nice shot, Cheetah."

"Thanks," Skylar said with so much energy Austin knew she was grinning.

He checked the readout. "We took out all four enemy fighters. Looks like we're done for the day. Wanna kill it?"

"Yep."

The simulator screen darkened and Austin pulled the lever under his seat. The sim pod opened like the doors on a sports car and revealed the dimly lit simulation room lined with other pods. Skylar stood next to her pod, taking off her gloves.

"I guess I'll see you," she said with a brief smile.

"Hey, wait a minute," Austin said as he took off his headset. "What's up?"

Skylar blinked. "What do you mean?"

"You're really getting good on these sims, but we've hardly talked the past few days. How are things?"

"We haven't had anything to talk about."

Austin frowned. "Oh."

Her face softened. She leaned back against her pod as she exhaled. "I'm just missing our friendship. We were so close when we got here. We talked about everything back at the academy. Then we get here and it's all changed."