Wings of Steele - Destination Unknown (Book 1) (36 page)

Paul
Smiley leaned back against the interior bulkhead of the Sweet
Susie
and glanced at Mike who was shaking his head. "Imagine that..."
said Paul quietly, "you could run that monster with only fifty
people..."

Mike
stared at his wing leader in the darkness, trying to see his
face
in the splinters of light coming from the cockpit perspex. "Maybe
someday they won't need crews at all..." Both men fell silent
and listened to the muffled sounds outside the airplane. The young
pilot switched off the miniature microphone on his com unit.
"Pappy..." he whispered.

"Yeah?"

"D'you
ever think about death? Y'know, dying I mean?" It was the type
of thing men only
spoke
of in the protective veils of darkness, granting all men anonymity.

Paul
cleared his throat and remembered the air combat over the arid
deserts
of Kuwait. He remembered the sight of his first Mig kill. The way
his Sidewinder chased up its tail and turned it into a fireball,
pieces fluttering and spinning slowly to the ground. There had been
no chute. "No," he lied. Silence fell once again. An
empty, lonely silence.

Maria
sat quietly in the upper turret of the Sweet Susie and very
diligently,
watched the pirate ship. She found if she breathed slowly, she could
almost hear the two pilots below her. She strained her ears to hear
a sliver of the conversation, desperately wishing to be included.
Unfortunately, before she could determine the gist of what they were
saying, it grew quiet. "Drat." It was a feeling greater
than just her normal tendency to be nosy, she hated feeling like an
outsider. And at that moment, she felt more alone than ever before.

■ ■ ■

Waiting
to see what the pirates would do next was like being on pins
and
needles. Jack relieved the tension by letting his mind wander. Not
so far that he was out of touch, but just enough. It wandered home.
To a warm, sweet, sun-drenched beach of golden sand, awash with the
salty foam of gently rolling turquoise waves... it almost seemed
like a place he'd never been, a place he'd only dreamed of...

■ ■ ■

Brian's
people were pushed almost as far back as they could go. They
watched,
weapons ready, as the pirates moved the two Navy F18s toward the
pirate cruiser. The pirates were using automatons like the one the
pilots had first encountered, to tow the planes around the flight
deck.

Two
cargo ramps, one port and one on the starboard side of the
cruiser,
opened like giant maws to receive goods into its belly. More of the
pirate crew disembarked, descending down the loading ramps like
worker ants to assist in the theft of the precious booty. A small
armed detachment of pirate marines joined the original boarding
party to help guard the entrances of the cruiser and maintain
control over the flight deck. Though they remained vigilant, it was
obvious they did not anticipate any problems. Their demeanor was
casual, even jovial with comrades and landing pad crew alike. So
far, Jack's plan was proceeding almost exactly as planned.

Jack
watched carefully as the pirates cleared the way and rigged up
two
automatons to tow the Sweet Susie into the pirate ship. He was
praying they wouldn't feel the need to look inside the B25 before
moving it. "Pappy, they're hookin' you up now." Jack heard
the
thump
thump
in his headset as Paul tapped on his mic to acknowledge. Jack
swiveled around to look across under the cruiser. One of the Navy
jets had disappeared, the other was at the foot of the starboard
ramp. He almost wished they had taken the B25 in first. This waiting
was killing him.

Timing
was crucial and time was running short. Pirates were
wandering through the rows and stacks of crates to pick and choose
their booty... Jack wondered just how long the ambush parties could
remain undetected. The B25, towed by the automatons and escorted by
several pirate workers, rolled towards the port-side ramp of the
cruiser. "Ok people, get ready, we're getting' close..."

“
Jack,
we've got a rather sticky situation developing..." It was
Derrik
from the roof of the Control Tower.

"Dammit!"
Jack wanted to hit something, "What... Where?!"

"Starboard
of the tower, they're getting close to a few of our
people..."

"Who?"

"I
can't tell..."

"Any
way to take them down quietly?"

"Sorry,
old boy, not a chance."

Jack
eyed the Sweet Susie which had just reached the base of the
port
cargo ramp. "Damn, we just need another minute or two..."

Derrik
watched as Professor Edgars adjusted the rear sight on his
carbine.
"Uncle says he can hit them easily..."

"
No,
"
said Jack, "not yet..." He eyed the B25 which was slowly
inching
its way up the ramp and the automatons laboring under their heavy
tow-load. Hurry up, you lousy overgrown tin slugs... He wanted to
scream it, but chewed on his lip instead.

"Oh,
man
..."
Brian pinched the bridge of his nose.

Part
of Jack didn't want to ask but he had to know. "What, Bri?"

"Gant
is standing right out here in the middle of the pad with that
pompous
ass, Kidd. They're gonna be right in the middle..."

Jack
peered between the crates but could not seem to find them.
"Well,
let's just hope he's fast on his knees."

■ ■ ■

Raulya
could smell the pirate coming, long before Derrik had spotted
him
as a threat. But she was trapped. During the last pull-back to avoid
the foraging pirates, she had chosen a dead end in the maze of
crates and storage containers. Separated from her security comrades,
she was on her own. "I want all of you to stay put," she
whispered into her mic. "We will not jeopardize our goal for
just one person." Clothed only in her security uniform and
holding an M1 carbine, it would be obvious what her intent was.

Raulya
crouched behind her protective cover and watched the burly
pirate
stroll between the crates and rummage through the containers. He
looked big… big and stupid. Her mind raced while she stroked
the carbine resting across her thighs. The weapon would be too
noisy, she'd have to do him by hand. She was going to need an edge,
she'd have to completely surprise him... He was getting close. She
quickly pulled off her Comm unit and shoved it between two
containers with her carbine...

■ ■ ■

Pangor
could hardly believe his luck. The female Ketarian officer
was
beautiful. Beautiful and unconscious. The pirate stared down at the
prone female sprawled at his feet, her tunic laid open to reveal her
bare breasts, her uniform pants pulled down to her thighs. It was
obvious someone had already had their lustful way with her, but this
concerned him not. Women, much less a woman as attractive as this,
were more often than not, sold to the highest bidder. And a lowly
pirate soldier like Pangor could rarely afford more than the haggard
concubines of the various bazaars. He could not resist this
delicious opportunity.
He
glanced cautiously around to be sure he was unobserved. Reassured
,
he dropped to one knee beside his illicit discovery. He was
determined to have her, even if he could not keep her. Pangor laid
his laser assault rifle on the deck and slid it carefully out of the
way, never taking his eyes off the woman. The lusty soldier rubbed
his stubbly beard as he hungrily studied the curvy figure before
him.

Letting
his desire overtake him, Pangor reached out and stroked the
smooth
white skin of her stomach as he fumbled clumsily with his own belt.
He paused at her breasts and felt her nipples grow firm under his
fingers. Losing all restraint, the pirate tore at his clothes as he
straddled the woman's body. With the fire of passion burning in his
brain, fueled by Raulya's special perfume, Pangor buried his face in
her breasts.

Raulya's
knee caught Pangor squarely in the groin, toppling him
forward.
The fire in his brain was replaced by the fire in his loins which
raced through his body, crippling his ability to respond. As he
cried out, Raulya gripped his head by the hair and brought his
throat to her waiting fangs. In a manner more familiar to her
ancestors, she instinctively tore the throat out of her enemy.

The
taste of fresh blood awoke ancient cravings for battle... the
natural
animal instincts to hunt and kill. Raulya rolled Pangor's lifeless
body off hers, his life's blood spilling across her face, neck and
mane. She pulled up her uniform pants and removing the carbine from
its hiding place, never bothered to re-button her tunic.

Alerted
by the muffled cry of their crew mate, two more pirates moved
to
investigate the corner occupied by the Ketarian officer. It was a
bad decision. The vision that appeared before them was both horrific
and unnerving.

Raulya
stepped out from protective cover, her eyes glazed, fangs
bared,
driven with blood lust. Great crimson stains ran down her bare
breasts and matted her golden mane. The two pirates stopped dead in
their tracks, transfixed by her appearance. Raulya snarled a long,
deep, howling cry, which could be heard throughout the landing bay.

Jack's
hair stood up on the back of his neck. "What the hell was
that
?
"

"Raulya,"
was Brian's simple answer. "The proverbial shit is about to
hit
the fan, Jack..."

Jack
glanced up the cruiser's port ramp as the B25's tail vanished
through
the cargo door. "It's ok, we're ready!
Go,
Go, Go!
Myomerr, take the pirates on the bridge!"

Raulya
did not wait for Jack's order, she squeezed the trigger and
fire
leapt from the muzzle of her carbine. The recoil surprised her but
she corrected for the second squeeze. The pirate, still frozen by
her horrifying appearance, was knocked backward off his feet. His
crew mate, standing beside him, pitched forward, struck between the
shoulder blades by a well aimed .30 cal. round from Professor
Edgars' M1, shooting from the flight tower's roof.

Several
pirates fell before they realized their peril. The
flight
deck quickly became a dangerous criss-cross of fire and return fire
as the pirates scrambled to recover from the surprise attack.
Quickly realizing they could not advance through the maze of crates
and containers, the pirates were forced to take defensive positions,
using the docking equipment and the landing gear of their cruiser
for protection.

Jack's
com-link filled his ear with shouts and cries. He could
no
longer communicate with his people and it quickly began to show.
Most of the ground crews and security people had never seen any kind
of combat or conflict and the superior weapons and skill of the
pirates would soon panic them into retreat or surrender.

■ ■ ■

Myomerr
lead her security people onto the bridge of the Princess
Hedonist
like seasoned storm troopers. The seven pirate guards watching the
bridge crew were dead before they hit the floor. Myomerr killed two
herself. The first as she entered the door, grabbing his ample hair
from behind and pulling so violently, she snapped his neck. The
second, with a shot from the hip, with the old Colt .45 she got from
Brian. The .45 slug traveled across the bridge and struck the pirate
sergeant square between the eyes, splashing his brains across the
giant vidscreen in a smeary mess.

Myomerr
looked at the pirate corpses scattered about the bridge,
"Send
out a distress call," she instructed the Princess' helmsman.
"And get us back on course. When we leave, seal the doors.
Admit no one until you have proper clearance." She admired the
.45 in her hand, "I
like
this
WEAPON!"
she snarled. "Let us find
MORE
vermin to kill!"