Star Runners (34 page)

"Okay, buckle down if you can," Austin said, breathing heavily. "I'll get us home."

He took a deep breath, wondering if he had just told the biggest lie of his life.

He took the first step down the ladder, but Scorpion rested her hand on his, gripping hard. She sat forward, pulling his helmet to hers until they touched. She locked her moist, bloodshot eyes to his, her bottom lip trembling. She softly brushed dust from his visor and pulled him close. Her eyes took in his entire face. She brought his hands into hers, squeezed again as she stared at him.

"Thank you." She looked at him questioningly,

searching for approval in his face. "Thank you?"

His heart froze, his jaw dropping as he stared into her bruised and battered face. Her voice shook. He took her helmet in his hands.

"Yes," he said, nodding. "Thank you."

She closed her eyes briefly.

"Thank you," she said with confidence before squeezing his hands again and whispering, "Thank you."

He pulled her close, embraced her, holding her tight. "I would do it all again. I would do it all, all of it, again."

They remained at the edge of the ladder for a long moment before parting.

"Let's get out of here," Austin said, the reality of the situation falling hard on his chest. In the coming minutes, he would have to successfully conduct an atmospheric take off and departure, open a distance curve for home and, if he got that far, land on Tarton's Junction.

He climbed down as the trainer canopy shut. He reached the bottom and saw Scorpion staring down after him.

*****

After plugging his suit into the fighter's life support, it took him ten minutes to warm up the Trident, and another ten to finish preflight. Scorpion sat in silence behind him as she tried to sit comfortably in a one person trainer seat with Nubern, a task made more difficult given the man's tall frame.

As he completed preflight, the helmet translator beeped once to show it activated and charged enough to function.

"You got me now?" he asked, tapping the front of his helmet.

"I got you," Scorpion said, her voice still weak. He missed her Lianese. "Can you handle this? What can I do?"

Austin scanned his controls. "Preflight is done. We are good to go. I'll probably need your help with the curve if you can, but I can get us off this rock first. The shroud is still active, but we are going to have to disengage to conserve power for takeoff."

"Yes. Hopefully our friends have gone."

Austin gazed into the sky, thinking of the pirates hunting Flin Six over the past day.  "Yeah."

Turning back to the controls, he began the engine startup sequence. The fighter buzzed, then rumbled as the engines came to life. He shifted power to the engines and deactivated the shroud. The air outside his cockpit wavered and the scorched wings materialized into view. The fighter would now be visible to anyone searching from orbit. He wished he could keep the shroud active, but knew the gravity of Flin Six wouldn't let his fighter leave unless he gave the engines all the possible power.

"Okay, hang on back there," Austin said. His heart pounded as he exhaled, and he closed his eyes. "Here we go. Gonna move fast."

He eased back on the controls, shifting his thrusters to vertical lift, and pushed more power into the throttle. The fighter shook as it lifted off the ground and clouds of sand and pebbles lifted with it. The Trident rocked as the wind brushed it to one side. Austin adjusted, tilted the nose back and launched into the clear atmosphere, the force pushing him hard back into his seat. Far below, he watched the brown lifeless ground fall away. In the back of his mind, he hoped to never return to Flin Six.

The tan sky dissipated to a deep blue as the fighter shot into the upper atmosphere. Austin scanned his sensors. Nothing there, yet. The sluggishness of the controls faded away, the swiftness coming back to his fighter as it left the atmosphere. He moved the Trident back and forth, checking the controls. His spirits lifted. It felt great to be back in space.

The blue space faded to black, the Trident leaving Flin Six behind. The heavy gravity pressing down on his chest since arriving eased. He took a deep breath, some of the fatigue washing away from his body.

"Alright," he said with a grin, "let's start plotting that curve. I should be able to -"

The alert siren wailed, his HUD flashing a crimson red. His eyes widened, his stomach erupting into his throat. He stared at the sensors. Two Tyral Pirate fighters flew in patrol in front of him, about eight hundred MUs away in high orbit. To his rear, another four fighters locked in tight formation flew in the opposite direction, apparently unaware of his presence.

"Should I use the shroud?" he asked.

"No," Scorpion said, clearing her throat. "We need power to open a curve. Head for deep space, mark three-oh-five. I'll take care of the curve, you keep us alive."

He adjusted course for the black, distributing power between his engines and rear shields. His fingers trembled over the stick. The pirate fighters in both groups stirred and scrambled into formation in his direction.

"Bogeys inbound," he said softly.

"Got it."

The HUD flashed as the pirates tried to get a lock on his fighter. He rolled, banked, rolled again, the pirates unable to get a lock. Two missiles without a lock appeared on his sensors, fired out of frustration by untrained mercenaries.

"You should have taken my offer, Rock," Dax Rodon sneered into his ears. "You won’t get out of this alive."

Austin clinched his teeth. "We'll see."

"Ignore him!" Scorpion snapped. "Don't let him get to you. I need forty seconds."

"We'll be dead in forty!"

"Just take evasive action."

Austin seethed at the sensors, the bogeys closing fast. He did the math. Forty seconds was too long. They would be on him in half that time. He had to do something. Without any missiles or torpedoes, there was only one thing to do.

He balanced the shields to cover the fighter equally, shifted the thrusters and fired the engines. The Trident spun end over end and faced back toward the pirates.

"What are you doing?" , Scorpion asked

"Focus on the curve," Austin said, lowering his gaze and thinking of Josh's present the final Christmas they were on Earth. "I've read Rodon's book. I've got this."

He targeted the lead pirate fighter, the fastest of the bunch, knew it had to be Rodon. "You want me, Dax? Come on!"

He buried the throttle, the Trident trainer shooting forward. Laser bolts lit the space as he powered toward the enemy. Two stunners without a lock shot past him. As they closed on one another, two of the pirate fighters scrambled, breaking formation. Austin locked his crosshairs on Rodon.

The first bolts sizzled high, missing Austin's fighter. The next bolts flew low under the belly of the Trident. Austin braced himself knowing a pilot like Rodon would adjust his fire.

He did.

The bolts flashed into Austin's shields like lightning. Austin shifted the rear shields to the front as the power drained.

He held his fire, rolling the Trident as he closed in, hoping the shields would hold against the deadly assault. The distance dropped. Three hundred MUs, two hundred, one hundred. The other bogeys joined in the fire, most of the bolts flying wild. Austin watched the bolts fry the shields, the light flashing like a strobe. Scorpion swore behind him.

The distance dropped to fifty MUs and Austin squeezed the trigger, draining all the remaining power from his energy banks. His lasers burst to life, sending waves of energy into space.

Rodon must have thought the Trident trainer didn't have weapons. The laser bolts smashed into the pirate leader's cockpit, wings and tail, sending pieces of the fighter coiling off into space. The bogeys shot past him, Rodon's fighter nearly colliding with theirs.

Austin spun his head around, trying to assess the damage to Rodon's fighter. He checked the targeting computer. Rodon's main power fluctuated, the shields buckling to life. Austin spun his fighter around, staying right on Rodon's tail. The other bogeys scrambled for position to Austin's six. He didn't care.

He transferred what little power remained in his shields into his weapons.

"You just powered down our shields!" Scorpion yelled.

"I need the weapons and you need the curve. Just get us out of here."

Austin squeezed off two shots, the bolts flying over Rodon at this range. He buried the throttle, but the engines didn't have much. Two fighters closed in behind him, searching for a missile lock. He launched into evasive, trying to make for a hard target while staying on Rodon who remained on course away from them.

His targeting computer flickered and Austin risked a glance. Rodon diverted his power to the curvature drive.

"He's trying to run!" Austin yelled.

"Let him! I still need twenty seconds!"

Austin sighed, thought of Etti, her sweet smile and bouncing red curls. He thought of Rolling, his soft southern accent a welcome change on the basic sound of the translators on Tarton's Junction. And then there was Josh, his best friend. All of them gone, killed by Dax Rodon. Something stirred deep inside. He clinched his teeth and keyed for a gamma wave.

"Running so soon?" he asked, taunting Rodon.

There was a pause as Austin's fighter closed the gap. "Perhaps another time, Rock, another place."

The HUD flashed, one of the bogeys to his rear locking on him. A missile fired, the red square appearing on his sensor. He fired off his countermeasures and rolled the fighter. The action fooled the missile's computer. It followed the spinning decoy as it shot in the opposite direction, sending out a mock signature of Austin's computer.

Austin held his breath, adjusting his course back on Rodon as the space in front of his fighter wavered and the curve materialized.

Austin fired off five quick shots, the energy banks refusing to release any more to the lasers. The bolts smashed into Rodon's fighter, sparks and metal flying off into space. The fighter sizzled, a piece of the wing bending away, but it was too late. Rodon slipped into the curve and disappeared, the space closing around the fighter and shifting to black.

Austin fell back into his seat and smacked his thigh with his fist. "I had him!"

The HUD flashed again. With five bogeys behind him, he didn't have time to worry about Rodon. He pressed the nose down, sending the Trident into a dive.

"Alright!" Scorpion yelled, sending static into his ears. "Curve plotted! Ready when you are!"

"Got it!"

The Trident continued downward in a reverse loop. A bogey strayed in front of him, confused by the sudden change of direction. Austin fired off two bolts from his lasers, the second fizzling out and dissipating before reaching the bogey. The other blasted into the bogey's engines, ignited a small flame as the pirate craft spun off to the right.

"Nice shot!" Scorpion yelled.

Austin grinned, staring off after his victim. The fighter spiraled as the fire in the engine grew. Before he looked away, the fighter came apart in a ball of fire. Austin blinked at the fading fireball as it fell behind them.

"Open that curve! Two more bogeys coming in behind you."

Austin pulled back on the lever on his left, the curvature drives whining loudly. The control board faded as the power levels fluctuated, the Trident compensating for the large amount of power heading into the curve.

"Come on, come on," he said as the space wavered.

The remaining four pirates, now adjusted to his sudden downward loop, closed in, their targeting computers searching for a lock. "Come on open!"

The curve indicator blinked from red to yellow on his HUD, each moment dragging, his eyes flashing from the curve reading to the sensors as the bogeys closed. The curve is taking too long to open ...

The HUD flashed as two bogeys locked onto his signature.

This was it.

The curve flashed green.

"Go!" Scorpion snapped.

Austin launched all he had left into his engines, the Trident shuddering forward as it passed into the curve. The missiles, shooting toward their position, vanished as the Trident passed out of normal space and into the curve. The blackness around him warped into a smear of colors before normalizing.

His head fell back into his seat, his eyes closing. He exhaled and his shoulders slumped.

He opened his eyes to Tarton's Junction, just a flash of metal shining in the distance, hanging in front of the familiar purple and red of the nebulae, welcoming him home.

The tubes beside the bed moved like pistons, liquids surging into the lines. Scorpion's almond skin was battered and bruised, a dozen tiny scratches covering her face, neck and arms like roads on a map. She looked at him, a purple circle surrounding her right eye. Austin reached down, clasped her hand, but wondered if such an action would be appropriate on the station.

To his relief, she squeezed back, a hint of a smile forming at the corner of her mouth. He stared at their hands locked at her side, his own knuckles scratched and bruised from the ordeal on Flin Six.

Since they landed on Tarton's Junction three hours before, staff rushed Austin, Scorpion and Nubern to the infirmary. Word spread amongst the crew of the incident, a mix of cheers and solemn nods greeting them as they hurried through the halls on stretchers. Four veteran Tizona pilots saluted and moved to the side of the corridor as his stretcher passed. One leaned over him and winked, whispering, "Good job, Rock."

A sadness swelled through the ranks as well, the word of the three deaths reaching the officers, crew and trainees waiting in the hangar deck. Some sobbed openly, falling to the hangar deck and crying out the names of the fallen.

The doctors gave them a thorough examination when they reached the infirmary. Austin's doctor, a man named Hara, said rest and a good meal would help, but he was fine other than scrapes and bruises. Nubern had a severe concussion and would be kept in the infirmary under observation as his body healed. Scorpion on the other hand, would be leaving Tarton's Junction for surgery and rehab, her right leg shattered.

"Rock!"

Austin yanked his hand away. Captain Ty Braddock marched into the room like he was on an inspection, a tablet in his hand. Austin’s mouth went dry, his guts in knots at the sight of this officer. He swallowed hard when Admiral Tolan Gist, clad in the same uniform he wore during orientation, stepped in behind Braddock.

"Trainee, I see you are visiting our Lieutenant Zyan today," he said, stepping up to her side. "How are you feeling?"

Scorpion nodded. "I'm fine, sir, good as can be expected."

Braddock reached down, his expression softening in a rare showing of compassion. "You take care of yourself. We need you out there." He snapped back to attention and faced Austin. "As for you, son, I think we need to have a chat."

Austin stood at attention, his arms at his side as he back straightened. "Yes, sir."

"What you did out there defies explanation," he said in a deep voice. "Wouldn't you agree, admiral?"

Gist stepped forward, extending his hand. "I offer you my congratulations on an exemplary job. You saved the lives of two veteran instructors and officers of the Legion Navy. You had one confirmed kill of a hostile and one probable. Very impressive." He held out a black case. "You have received a commendation for your performance."

Austin's jaw dropped as he looked at both of them, then down at Scorpion. He clasped the admiral's hand. "Sir, thank you. I don't know what to say. I was doing my job, sir."

"That you were," Gist said with a grin. "And how can we reward such efforts, Captain Braddock?"

Braddock folded his arms across his chest. "I believe, sir, this pilot's training is definitely over. He should be promoted to second lieutenant immediately and granted two weeks leave before receiving his first assignment."

Gist looked back at Austin, his face filling with pride. "I think that is a great idea," he said, offering a salute before adding, "lieutenant."

Austin returned a crisp salute.

Gist nodded and swiveled on his heel, leaving the room.

Braddock glanced over his shoulder and looked back at Austin. He stepped forward and pinned the silver wings on Austin's shoulders. "You'll leave on tomorrow's freighter for Earth. Your two-week leave will start when you arrive at Atlantis. You've certainly earned it."

When Braddock left, Austin sat in the chair next to Scorpion's bed, his muscles aching from the ordeal. Scorpion stared up at him.

"In shock, lieutenant?" she asked, a hint of playfulness in her weak voice.

"You bet."

She sighed and winced. "Can't believe you pulled that off. Rumors going around you might have destroyed Dax Rodon with those last lucky shots."

"I doubt it."

Her eyes shot back toward him. "How is Nubern?"

"Bad bump on his head, but he'll pull through."

Scorpion closed her eyes. "Thank you for coming after me." She swallowed. "I am sorry I have been hard on you."

"Sorry?"

"I reacted poorly after the competition when you ignored my orders. I allowed command to get to me when there was probably no right call to make. That batch of Lobera students was good, real good, and I don't think it was your fault, even though you defied my orders."

Austin smiled. "It won't happen again."

She stared at him. "But it did happen again, and I'm alive because you did."

"I know."

"Do you understand why I did it?"

He shook his head.

She reached out, gently clasped his hand in hers. "I wanted you to be safe. I didn't want them to get you. I thought if I drew them away, you would have time to escape. You have the chance to be a great Star Runner, even better than you are now. You mean too much to the new generation, and you mean too much to me."

Her face blushed and she stared down at their hands. "But you came after me anyway, risking a court martial by defying my orders. I don't know if I could have done the same."

Austin rubbed her hand. "Don't think about it. We're safe now." He stood, his eyes burning and his throat constricting. "I will be here when you get back."

"I will never forget it, Austin." She smiled softly, blinking as the pain medicine appeared to take over. "Stay a little longer."

"Okay." He sat back down and watched her drift to sleep.

In a few hours, she would be on her way back to the Legion core worlds for her surgery and rehab. For the first time since they returned, a wave of sadness fell over him. Once again, all of the people closest to him would be going their separate ways.

*****

On the floor of the mess hall, the three caskets sat before the line of officers clad in Tizona blue. Nubern, his head wrapped in a blue bandage, stood opposite the officers. His hands clasped behind his back, the nebulae glowing behind him.

"We are here because this is where our friends spent their time, laughing with each of us," Nubern said. "We know this fate is possible for all of us, yet we fly and fight anyway."

He stared down at the caskets for a long moment. "It may seem senseless at the time, but we must not forget their bravery, their sacrifice for the greater good of the Legion.

"Captain Rolling and Lieutenant Snake were Star Runners," Nubern said as if he considered each word. "I will miss them, both as comrades and as friends."

He stepped in front of Etti Mar's casket, the image of her tiny face hovering above. He paused, his chin touching his chest. Someone choked back tears from down the line. From the corner of his eye, Austin saw Gan Patro weeping.

Nubern's chin trembled. "I don't have the, ah, I don't have the words for when one so young is taken from us." He looked up again, his eyes glassy. "We will all remember Etti, her smile lighting up the room and, more importantly, her talent as one of our upcoming Tizona pilots. She will be missed."

Austin clinched his teeth, fighting back tears.

"But she will fly with us," Nubern said, strength returning to his voice. "She'll be with us when we run the stars, maybe in that ray of starlight flickering across our canopy or in that impossibly beautiful nebulae. She'll be with us as long as we remember her."

Nubern nodded to the guards. "Attention!"

The Tizona pilots snapped into a perfect line. The Marine guards, dressed in black, stepped forward, pushing the caskets out of the mess hall. Austin looked down, staring at his reflection in the flawless Tizona blue caskets moving by his feet. Etti's face stared back at him. He thought of Nicholas Pavlosky bullying Etti in the mess hall, her eyes staring at Austin for help. But now there was no helping her, nothing he could do. She was gone.

He swallowed hard, forced his mind elsewhere.

When the caskets left the hall, Nubern dismissed the group and turned to stare out the window. As the trainees mingled quietly with other Tizona pilots, Austin stepped beside Nubern and gazed out at the nebulae for a long minute. Slowly the rest of the pilots left them alone in front of the view port.

"Sir? Did Lobera have a similar service for Josh?" Austin asked. "I would have liked to have gone."

"He's missing in action, not dead. There won't be a service since he might still be out there."

"I see, sir."

Nubern took a deep breath. "I didn't get a chance to thank you."

"You don't have to, sir," Austin said, his voice cracking as he blinked. "I was doing my job."

Nubern turned to face him, his eyes red. "How can I repay you, son?"

Austin's face wrinkled as the emotion took over. He convulsed, the fatigue and wear of the past two days taking over. He couldn't hold it at bay anymore, the images of Etti, Rolling and Josh flashing through his mind.

Nubern stared at him, his brow lowered. He outstretched his arms. "It's okay, son. It's okay."

Austin buried his face into Nubern's shoulder, sobbing. "I'm sorry, sir."

Nubern embraced him tightly, just like Austin's father used to so many years before. "Nothing to be sorry about. Nothing at all."

*****

The signal at his pod door beeped. Austin tossed another shirt, one from the Earth, into his bag. "Come in!"

The hatch opened, revealing Skylar standing in the hallway. "Am I intruding?"

Austin blushed. "Hey, Skylar. Not at all. Come in, please."

He continued packing his bag.

"Wow," Skylar said, glancing around his pod. "You're really leaving, huh?"

Austin followed her gaze, noticing the bare pod. "Looks that way. I already wrote Mom to tell her I'm coming home. It's almost October. Strange, huh?"

"Yeah." She pointed at his shoulder. "You're a lieutenant now. Wow. Congratulations."

He heard the sadness in her voice. "What's wrong?"

"I don't know. You've always been there." She walked over to his tiny view port and stared out at the stars. "I can't imagine going back to my life without you. It's just strange."

Austin zipped up his bag and walked over to her. "I know. As much as we tried not think about it, I guess we knew this would happen, didn't we? They were going to ship us all to different parts of the galaxy when our training was done."

She turned to face him. "We never talked about that night. You know after we-"

He placed his hands on her shoulder. "Don't worry about it. There will be time to talk later."

She smiled. "Okay. So what's your plan now?"

"I'm heading home. That's all they have told me so far."

"I've heard command is going to give you a choice of your next assignment."

"That's news to me." He glanced at his watch. "I have to head down, my freighter's leaving in twenty minutes. Want to walk with me?"

Skylar shook her head. "I'm never good at goodbyes." She looked at her feet. "I'll see you soon. Keep running."

Austin nodded slowly, thinking of all the times they had run on the Tizona Campus. "I'll call you soon."

He left his pod. Before he turned the corner, he heard Skylar sobbing.

He swallowed hard, and kept walking.

*****

He marched through the corridors of Tarton's Junction, his bag slung over his shoulder. He weaved through the hectic halls, dodging pilots and crews rushing in different directions. On his first day, it had seemed impossible to navigate. Now, he eased through the traffic.

In the hangar, Nubern stood next to the landing ramp at the base of the departing freighter.

Austin shook his hand. "Thank you for everything, sir."

"The pleasure has been mine, son." Nubern cocked his head to the right. "You sure we can't do anything more to repay you for your performance?"

"I didn't do it for a reward, sir," he said with a smile, gesturing to the silver wings on his chest. "I'm a Star Runner, just doing my job."

Nubern eyed him. "You know, the Legion is always in need of talented and experienced medical personnel."

Austin froze, the gravity of the words hitting him. He thought of Mom at home, alone in that big house with nothing but her thoughts, going to work each day without any friends, without her husband or her son. "Medical personnel?"

Nubern smiled. "Anything is possible. You think about that on your trip home. Why don't you send me a message once you arrive?"

Austin smiled, thinking of his mother and how she would react to this entire new world. "Thank you for the suggestion, sir. It's something to think about."

"Safe travels."