Zero (51 page)

“
Part of the company was dispatched to Earth last week to increase manpower around the North America border disputes.”

“
Have they been recalled?”

“
Yes, sir. But they won't be here for hours yet. Civilians are answering the recruiting call, though,” he said, managing to sound disproving. “We've managed to fill four more fighters.”

“
And I'll take one more.”

“
Commander?”

“
I'm not going to sit staring at Analyst data whilst everyone else takes the hits,” he snapped, handing the panel back.

“
Very well, sir.”

“
Kaleb!”

Hugo spun, not quite believing his ears. Harvey strolled towards him, waving. She had on a Service-issue vacuum suit and her smile was wide and bright.

“Marilyn,” he said, blinking and glancing at Fraser. “I mean, Captain Harvey... what are you doing here?”

“
Far be it from me to ignore a Call,” she said with an even wider smile and a mock salute. “Especially one with such a handsome return. So...” she stood with her hands on her hips and looked him up and down. “Service all along, huh?”

“
Yes.”

“
The crew too?”

“
Everyone.”

She shook her head, still grinning.
“Should have guessed. Good lord,” she let her glance slide from Hugo to a very uncomfortable looking Fraser. “With friends like the Service who needs enemies, huh?”

Fraser stiffened.

“Fraser. To your fighter. Report in to
Assertion
with our status.”

“
Yes sir.” Fraser flung another dark look at Harvey then strode away.

Harvey laughed.
“You know, I can forgive myself for not figuring it out. You were always stiff as a board, Kaleb, but never as stiff as that.” She gestured after Fraser. “Hey,” she said, sobering up. “Can we talk?”

“
It's good to see you,” Hugo took a step closer to her and lowered his voice. “It really is. More than I can say, even. I wish I could talk -” He trailed off as more shouts and the clunks of sealing cockpits rang out around them.

“
It's good to see you too,” she said, her snide smile melting into something a little warmer. “Shall we agree to both make it through this so you can answer all my questions?”

Hugo managed a smile of his own.
“Not all of them, maybe.”

Her smile faltered.
“There's one main one. Webb...?”

Hugo felt his spirits slump back down.
“Did you hear?”

“
I don't know what I heard,” Harvey said, face grim. “I heard that he's... alive? How's that possible?”

Hugo shook his head, the hum of fighter engines starting up filling the bay.
“There's too much to explain. And even I don't entirely understand. Keep that promise and I'll tell you everything. Or I'll try to.”

Harvey's eyes flickered for a moment, then she nodded.
“Okay, Kaleb. Commander, even. You better get to your ship.”

Hugo nodded,
glanced around and then leant forward and kissed her on the cheek. The brief moment when he could smell her skin made him feel strong. He pulled away and made himself turn and head to one of the berthed fighters where a technician was shifting from one foot to another, visibly resisting the urge to tell Hugo to hurry.

Hugo scrambled up the ladder and strapped himself in whilst keying in the commands to raise the engines and seal the cockpit. The tech scrambled away with the ladder and Hugo watched his hands move over the controls as if from a distance.

“Gamma Company,” he said, pulling on his headset. “Move out and report in.”

The unit reported into his earpiece in a regimented and practised order as he eased his fighter up from the berth and steered it towards the drift shield
and open space beyond. They were followed by the brusquer and more garbled reports of the civilian recruits without code names. Harvey was last and he could hear the grin in her voice as she addressed him as Commander.

Hugo pushed thoughts of her from his mind a
s they left the fighter bay and Command fell away in his rear-view display. A glance at his other screens showed Gamma Company falling into perfect formation around him. The
Assertion
loomed ahead with other companies assembling around her and he headed in her direction, manoeuvring between the milling companies of fighters and fuel ships, repair rigs and communication vessels.

“
Commander Hugo, Gamma Company, reporting in,” Hugo said over the comm as they left the bustle of Command behind and his hail cue came in from the flagship.

“
Nice of you to join us, Commander,” Luscombe grumbled. “I have been told we don't have time to question why you are in a fighter and not here at your station so I will store that away for later. Along with many other things we need to chat about. Form your company up at point 5-0-99 and await orders.”

As he moved along the underbelly of the
Assertion
, steering his company between the bands of skiffs, fighters and tugs that zoomed through the shadows, he saw a familiar shape up ahead. The
Zero
hung steady in the light beyond the flagship with her three fighters formed up beside her. The fractured light made her hull gleam and he felt a catch in his throat as he realised he knew every scratch and dent in her hull.

There was a sweeping moment of vertigo whilst he struggled with the notion he was in drift around her rather than in her command chair and wondered if he would get to sit in it again.

Hugo keyed in secure comm codes. “Webb? Are we set?”

“
Sure are, Hugo. Shall we dance?”

“
Fall in and follow me.”

“
Gotta say, Hugo,” Webb said with an edge in his voice. “This is kind of exciting, huh?”

ɵ

Webb listened to the silence that was Hugo's reply to his comment with a grim satisfaction stealing through him. He engaged
Father
's thrusters just as Gamma Company's formation drew level and he pulled in alongside. The others fell in to port and they followed the unit to the rendezvous.

He took a moment t
o blink at the Assertion. It filled his whole screen, a great stretch of silver, blinking lights, busy portals, rows and rows of viewscreens and gargantuan thrusters mounted at her stern. He would have mistaken her for a colony, had she been more battered and possibly with some patched-up breaches in the hull.

The monstrous bridge arched up out of the main body of the ship like a cobra's head.
Her guns mounted below were easily each as big as the
Zero
. He swallowed, knowing that another, newer, one of these ships was waiting for them at the strip.

He was so busy staring that Hugo had to repeat his command.

Webb shook himself. “Say again... Captain? Commander? What do I call you, anyway?”

“
Hugo's fine,” Hugo grunted and Webb couldn't stop his grin. “Be ready. Admiral Wilson's fleet is almost re-grouped. We'll be launching for the strip in four minutes.”

“
Roger, Hugo,” Webb said. “Everyone got that?” His crew all responded with clipped affirmations. Webb hesitated then turned the comm back on. “Look, guys... I know this is weird for you. And I'm sorry. I'm aware I haven't exactly handled this whole thing well. But Hugo's right. This could be the beginning of better things. If we make it through.”

Silence replied to him but he blundered on.

“You might get some medals. Or some decent pay. Fuck, you might even get a chance to make your own decisions about your future. Weirder things have happened. Apparently. But... I know it's what he would have wanted for you. What do you say?”

“
Sure thing, Commander,” Sub replied. “For Webb.”

“
For Webb,” said Bolt.

“
For both of you,” More said. “And for Hugo.”

“
Steady, More,” Webb tried to make his smile heard in his voice. “Don't you think his head's gonna be big enough after this as it is?”

“
Depends how it ends, I suppose Commander.”

“
Guess so,” Webb relented. He paused, chewing his lip and staring at the fighter positions on his display. Then he switched the band to single communication before he could change his mind. “Anita?”

There was a pause
before Rami replied. “Yes?”

He took a breath, shook his head.
“Look… I… dammit. It's just -”

“
It's okay.”

“
No,” he snapped, rubbing his eyes and willing the ache inside his ribs to ease, just for a moment. “There were lots of things he should have said to you, Anita. Lots of things he wanted to say.” He paused. Commands from Hugo started to scroll over his screen but he just stared at them, listening to Rami not speaking. “I know what they were... if you want to hear them.”

“
I think I know already, Commander,” she said after a silence. “But... thank you.”

He nodded though he knew she couldn't see him. The ache hadn't shifted, it had just became sharper. Power surges from the surrounding ships showed on his display. He switched the comm back to group transmission, breathed in, straightened his back and put his hands on the controls.
“Okay folks. This is it. See you on the other side,” he said, impressed despite himself that he managed to say it with a steady voice. He tightened his grip on the controls and told himself again to ignore the feelings that weren't his battling in his brain. He'd made up his mind. They'd already done their mourning for him. He was making things right.

ɵ

Hugo took a breath as his fighter got up to speed and allowed himself one moment to close his eyes to be away from it all, then he opened them and slid into his role like climbing back into a second skin. He only let himself check that the
Zero
and her three fighters were in formation behind him once as Gamma Company moved out before being taken over by the command feed from the
Assertion
, reports from his company and the Analyst data already feeding in via murmured commands in his headset and data on his screens.

At maximum speed they came up to the Lunar Strip in less than three hours
, but to Hugo it felt like it could have been anywhere between three seconds and forever. The moon hung bloated and pale in the distance, her string of colonies nothing more than glints stretching off into the darkness of space until they looked like no more than extra stars flecked across the blackness.

His screens showed the
Resolution
and her fleet were right in their path, but they weren't even in visual range before Pharos flung her first wave at them.

The flat, toneless voice of an Analyst came through his headset
over the pounding of his own pulse. “Alpha, Omega. Sweep 6-6-1 and come up at level 3 engagement. Gamma and Beta counter-approach. Fire at Will. Acknowledge.”

“
Acknowledged,” Hugo muttered as he swept his fighter down and away from the approaching enemy. “Stay tight, Gamma. Engage at 6-8-4.” He paused. “Fire at will and listen for commands.”

The lights from the unit's auto-acknowledgements all flicked on across his monitors. Webb didn't respond but a scan of his instruments showed the
Zero
hanging just out of formation and then he pushed them from his head.

Pharos's fighters started firing even before they were near enough for accurate hits. He'd seen the technique before, designed to split up formations before they got too close, but Hugo sent a course correction on silent commands through to his company and they missed the bulk of the shots and pulled up as they did so, slamming into the midst of the enemy squadron from below.

He skimmed and pulled, swerved, shot and swept through the formation. His company followed his commands and section by section they started to split the nearest enemy squadron up. His cockpit was occasionally swept white with the light of the fire from the
Assertion
's cannons.

Hugo shook his head. The flagship’s cannons were powerful but the fighters were too manoeuvrable, dodging the
Assertion
’s fire more often than they were hit. But too many of their people had died already at the hands of supposed comrades. He suspected Wilson was trusting in their numbers to negate the need to conserve firepower. Either that or showing mercy was not in the forefront of his mind.

Hugo kept one eye on his screens as he swept back again. An
other enemy craft ballooned into a silent fireball on his port side but a glance at his reading showed he had already lost three of his own. One civilian. His heart climbed into his mouth before he realised it wasn't Harvey. He shuddered and re-engaged.

The battle wore on. His pulse stayed steady though sweat was breaking out on his forehead.
His scopes displayed his unit as green dots taking out the red dots of the enemy. Out of the viewscreen he saw them as flashes of fire against the blackness of space that flared before being sucked into nothing.