Wings of Steele - Flight of Freedom (Book2) (15 page)

Ensign Grinah strolled over looking way more ladylike than the Commander was used to seeing her. She sipped her drink, “You still drinking that acid wash Tibby?”

He nodded, “It's an acquired taste I know...”

She shook her head, “You know they use that stuff to get the carbon deposits off of thruster and burner nozzles, right?”

He grinned, “It keeps my pipes clean...”

“
I don't know how that stuff hasn't burned a hole through your stomach and down into your leg...” she quipped. “Speaking of which, how's the leg?”

He wiggled it on the chair, “It's all soft tissue damage, nothing broken.”

“Stimulators?” she asked, pointing at the wires and little modules strapped to his leg.

“
That's what the doctor said, though I think it's all a bunch of crap.”

Grinah moved around behind him so she could watch out the window as the DD36 slid away. She sipped her drink and her free hand rested on Tibby's shoulder, something more than just a friendly touch. “How long will we be here?” she asked, facing the glass.

“About ten days,” he replied, “they're bringing up a destroyer from the rear.”

“
Hmm, wondering who we'll be serving with...”

Tibby patted her hand, “It's
our
ship, they're giving me command.”

“
We don't have enough crew left, do we?”

He looked up and back over his shoulder at her, “I gave them a head and duty station count, they're sending it with a partial crew.”

She hugged him from behind and playfully kissed the top of his head, “That's wonderful, Tibby...”

“
What's this then...?”

Grinah stood up looking a little caught off guard as several crew mates entered the empty lounge, “We were just celebrating, we're getting a destroyer...”

“It's not a cruiser, but it'll do...” said one, getting a drink resembling a beer from the bartender.

“
Does it have a GOD drive?” asked another.

“
Oh right, because that worked out so well for us last time...”

Tibby motioned them all to sit down and get comfortable. “I don't think so, the jump drives only fit in newer ships, older ships just don't have the room. From the information I was given, it's an updated and refitted Miro Class destroyer...”

“Miro Class is a forty year old ship... we're screwed.”

“
But the Miro was a fast and maneuverable design...”

“
Yeah, read between the lines - fast and maneuverable is code for tin can with teeny guns...”

Tibby held up his hands, “Hold on, hold on! The DD217's never been hit, her main guns have been replaced with brand new boron laser cannons, her electronics and sensors are all up to date, her engines are only five years old and her shields are new...” he let that sink in for a second. “It's either that or walking.” It was quiet for a moment.

“Who's the skipper Tibbs?”

Tibby took a sip of his drink and winced a little. “I am.”

“Oh shit yeah, I'm in.”

“
Fuck it, me too.”

“
Outstanding, count me in...”

As more surviving members of the crew filtered into the lounge the news disseminated through the group with few complaints. Tibby as a commander was well liked and respected - probably far more than their late captain.

A young pilot leaned against the glass near Tibby, sipping a drink. He was just a kid really, barely twenty, thin and lanky with a buzz cut. “I heard a rumor walking through the bazaar...”

“
So that means it's at least twenty-five percent true,” joked the Commander, eliciting chuckles from the group.

The pilot shrugged, “Maybe, but I heard the Council is putting a bounty on the cruiser that got us... it comes out to about a million credits per crew member.”

Tibby straightened in his chair, “Really? That might be interesting... but it only
looked
like a cruiser, damn thing had a ton of fighters...”

The pilot shifted, standing with his back against the glass, his foot against the wall below, making him look like a bird standing on one leg. “I wouldn't know, I never got launched...” He was feeling a little guilty about being the only surviving pilot on the ship but if he hadn't been around to pilot the shuttle,
none of them
would have left the crippled ship.

“
And thank the Gods for that, Ensign, or none of us would be here.” The Commander swallowed the last of his drink and winced, “It wasn't pretty. Our first flight lasted about sixty seconds, maybe a whole two minutes. They were outnumbered, outgunned and outclassed. There's nothing you could have added to that fight except another frozen corpse floating in space.” Tibby hailed the bartender signaling he needed another drink. “So did anyone else hear this rumor too?”

“
I did,” said a stocky engineer with curly rust-colored hair. “I was talking to one of the mechanics, he said they put out the bounty because we weren't the first to fall to that ship, it's got quite a tally - he said about ten kills... And get
this;
it
used
to be
one of ours!”

“
The guy switched sides?” asked someone.

“
No,” replied the engineer, “the ship belonged to one of our FreeRanger freelancers, and it was stolen!”

“
The UFW stole a ship? I find that hard to believe.”

“
As I heard it,” said someone else, “he's a freelancer on
their
side.”

Tibby got his drink and sipped, wincing. He waved a hand, “OK people, remember these are rumors and only about twenty-five percent of what you're hearing is true. And from what I'm hearing from you, it might be closer to ten percent...” A roll of chuckles crossed the group. “A freelancer for the Federation? I just don't see that, they're far too rigid to allow that.” He adjusted his injured leg. “But I do want to find out more about this bounty and see if it's real... I wonder how the Council would plan to pay it out if there were more than one ship involved in the take-down...” He eased his leg to the floor and reached for the cane the doctor had given him. “Let's go get some dinner and discuss this a little bit more - this deserves some consideration and investigation...

“You think that's why the skipper was so anxious to get to Klinghoffer?” asked Grinah as she helped him up. “He wanted the bounty?”

Tibby looked down at her as she shouldered underneath him to help support him, “Y'know, I hadn't even considered that. I guess it would depend on
when
the bounty was issued... if it's even real.” He nodded, his mind working on that concept. “But that would explain some things, wouldn't it?”

“
Like his odd behavior...” added Grinah.

Tibby smiled, “His behavior was
always
odd. But he
did
seem to be acting differently.” He motioned toward the elevator, “Let's go make a comm call, I have a friend I need to talk to.” He waved at the group, “We'll meet you in the restaurant in a few minutes, I need to make a comm call first...”

■ ■ ■

“Supply Command, Major Izadore, can I help you?” He wasn't even looking up at the screen.

“
Commander T. B. Yafuscko of the DD217...”

“
Tibby?” The Major looked up. “Buddy! The 217 is for you?”

“
Yep! How's it going, Izz?”

“
Always good here in Supply Command, Tibbs. Hellion, if I knew the 217 was going out for you I would've... wait, hold on a sec,” he turned to his right, working on a computer, the keys
pipping
under his fingers. “There.” He turned back, “I bumped it up on the schedule, it'll go out tomorrow, you should have her in four or five days. She was actually due in about two weeks... they'll load her up tonight.”

“
Izz, I really appreciate it...”

He waved his hand, “Don't mention it my friend... say, what happened to that cruiser you were on?”

“Gone...”

“
Gone
gone?”

“
Gone
gone. UFW blew it right out from under us. The skipper over-extended our jump. We came out of portal with no system power to speak of, right in front of three UFW cruisers on patrol...”

“
Oh, God! When did this happen?”

“
Day before yesterday. The strange thing was, one of the cruisers had fighters... lots of them, like a small carrier or something.
They
were patrolling in front of the cruisers.”

Major Izadore sat back from the screen, his hand rubbing the top of his shiny head, “You poor bastards... I hadn't heard about
any
of this yet. How did you make it out?”

“
Two of our destroyers GOD-jumped in to their rear to pull the UFW off of us and jumped back out again. It gave us enough time to get out. The destroyers rendezvoused and picked us up later, dropped us off here.”

“
Wow
, amazing...”

“
But that's not even why I called, Izz... we've heard a
rumor
that they issued a
bounty
... I need to know if it's true... and on who - if you know.”

“
That's my boy, Tibby, always after the credits,” smiled the Major. “I've heard something about that, but tied to a desk, I don't really pay much attention to that stuff.” He turned again to the computer beside him. “Let me look it up, see if I can find anything.” The keys
pipping
under his fingers, he scrolled through reams of digital papers. “Any idea when this was supposed to have been issued?”

“
Recent, say a week or two?”

“
Hmm...” the Major kept looking. “Here's something, there's only
one
that recent... Oh shit!
One hundred-million credits
... Bounty order number FRC05/232/8411, issued on the ship; UFW JCC 54 / Freedom.
For extreme aggression against the FreeRanger fleet and assets...
” He looked back at the comm, “It looks like it was initiated a couple weeks earlier, but it was rushed through and issued right after they destroyed the Oceania in Haruna Tier. It must've been the final straw.”

“
Wasn't the Oceania an ore miner...?”

“
Yeah,
ours.”

“
Really? When did we get an ore miner?”

“
You really don't know...? We have a whole fleet of them. VirTech Mining is a FreeRanger company... not that the UFW would know.”

Tibby shook his head, “Shit, I had no idea.”

The Major smiled, “It is an extremely valuable asset... allows us free access to almost any system... the UFW even purchases some of the materials VirTech offers.”

“
So why did they destroy the Oceania then? Did they figure it out?”

The Major leaned back in, “No I don't think so, the official UFW report is that the ship was adrift without power or crew and it was dangerously close to a gate. When our destroyers jumped in, the UFW assumed it was to pirate the Oceania, so they destroyed it.” He shrugged, “Kind of ironic actually.”

“I'm betting VirTech didn't see it that way...”

Major Izadore leaned back, guffawing, “Yeah, probably not.”

CHAPTER EIGHT

UFW77, TERRAN SYSTEM:
SOMEONE CALL FOR A TAXI?

Commander Renae Ribundell swiveled her seat to accept the hot coffee-like drink handed her, “Thank you...” she blew on it before sipping, turning back to the main screen. A giant blue and green marble covered with swirls of scattered white, enveloped in a soft blue halo and suspended in the starry blackness, filled most of the screen. Half of the globe was shrouded in darkness. “Never been to this one,” she commented, “It's rather pretty...” The screen's glow illuminated the dimly lit bridge of the corvette, UFW77.