chickens because they've had their dicks cut off," said Zin Zin struggling with a zipper. "For god's sake, Jerry, suck in your gut! You're getting as fat as Ranger."
"Hey, little lady," said Ranger, thumping his belly. "This here is just some baby fat."
"Yeah? Well, you might want to consider giving some of it back to that baby whale. Dangit! What's with this thing?"
Dakota and Sha struggled to hook up the last snaps on Jerry's boots.
"I can dress myself," Jerry grumbled, trying to slap their hands away. Th'han'dra ignored him and finished the last connection avoiding his flailing arms.
"If a chicken is a chicken because its had its dick cut off," puzzled K'hon, "what's a chicken called that has a dick?"
There was a brief silence.
"A dicken?" offered Jerry.
Mak tried to join in the explosion of laughter. He just wished somebody would shoot the alarm drilling its way into his head. The whole galaxy surely knew by now BG Cobra was going to war. Th'han'dra inspected Mak with concern. She'd taken on more responsibility this last week, watching him withdrawing from his duties. He wondered again whether he should just turn it all over to her. He knew he was eating less than usual, but he just wasn't hungry. He couldn't help it. He just felt like he was wasting away. Not even Jerry could get him to surface.
Blue Box was finally ready.
He nodded at them, and they moved out. It was a short run. Pilot dorms were close to the launch bays. When there was a TOCSIN 5 alarm, this was the worst part. Running to his pod. Trying not to break out into a frantic sprint. He heard no sounds of firing and there were no indications the X was taking fire. But that didn't matter. Something about this quick dash emphasized his vulnerability. At least they weren't scattered throughout the ship. He wouldn't have to wait for Blue Box to assemble. Once in his pod, even if he wasn't going to launch, at least he felt he was in control. As much as he loved her, he didn't want to die on the X.
They mounted up.
"Blue Box Launch Commander, Blue Box reports launch active."
"Blue Box, Blue Box. This is Launch Commander. Launch is a go. On my mark, three, two, one, mark."
There was the familiar lurch as he went from the artificial gravity of the X to weightlessness. He glanced quickly at his control board to make sure they all were away. His visor gave him coordinates to rendezvous. He knew they weren't in a fire fight yet. Something else was up. The pods were armed and ready to kill. They just didn't have anything to kill just yet.
He commanded Blue Box into a distributed attack pattern. They were going to rendezvous with Red Raven and Silver Shark. His scopes showed the other squads in their distributed formations. None of the pods were visible through the small window. Don't bunch up, he heard his instructors say.
Relax, was the other thing they screamed into the trainees ears. It was the key to flying a machine which detected every little twitch and translated them into flight instructions. Many trainees washed out simply because they couldn't keep themselves from twitching and fidgeting and moving around at the wrong time. Or they couldn't translate their wishes into the tiny motions necessary to get the pods to do what they wanted. As he approached Blue Box station, he allowed his pod to slowly circle the point.
BG Cobra was distributed as well. He could only make out the X. The other, DN's, Hammers, and Raptors were around but he didn't spend time trying to find them. He could easily locate them via the visor. Whatever was happening, didn't involve a whole bunch of shooting.
He didn't chatter back to Squad Ops stating they were on station. It should have been obvious to them.
"Blue Box, you're on X One Delta Point Three. Proceed to coordinates." Numbers flashed out onto his visor. They were automatically entered into his navigation computer. "Support Red Raven and Silver Shark. X One Delta Point supports Jaguar and Trudy."
Raptors. One Earth and one Hellborne.
He stifled the urge to ask what the hell could cause BG Cobra to declare a TOCSIN 5 when nobody was doing any shooting. But he indicated to his Pod to fall into a Delta Point configuration. He could barely make out a couple of the other pods now. But on his visor, Delta Point was clear. Red Raven was lead with Silver Shark and Blue Box in support. They were heading to two larger blips. The Raptors were circling something. And around them two other Delta Points, one each from the other DreadNoughts.
Nothing worth shooting showed up on his scope. But there was something in the middle of the circle.
"Red Raven Leader, this is Jaguar." One of the Raptors was contacting the X One Delta Point. Red Raven was the Delta Point leader.
"Go ahead Jaguar
"Red Raven Leader, status please."
"Jaguar, we're Delta Point on approach. ETA, two minutes."
"Red Raven Leader, Delta Point station at the following coordinates." Mak watched the coordinates click into his computer.
"Roger that, Jaguar, thank you."
The Delta Point took their station and held. Blue Box meshed with the rest of the pods surrounding the two Raptors lazily circling whatever was in the center. There was chatter between the Raptors and the main Battle Group. He settled himself back to do the inevitable waiting. The Unity's space fleet, now everybody can hurry up and wait at light speed. He kept an eye on the scopes sweeping away from the group for intruders. But there was no way anybody could approach the Battle Group without being detected. The Jaguar started to approach whatever they were circling. Mak badly wanted to turn his own sensors to see what they were looking at but resisted.
The chatter had died down to just what was going on between the Jaguar and Battle Group Cobra Command.
Then, from the Jaguar, "Cobra Command, Gold Ghost confirmed."
It surprised him enough to roll his pod slightly. What the hell did that mean?
"Jaguar, how many?"
"Cobra Command, we count eight."
"Jaguar, we copy eight. Any life signs?"
"Cobra Command, that's a negative, We detect no life signs."
"Jaguar, please confirm no energy signatures."
"Cobra Command, we confirm no energy signatures, they are dead in space."
There was complete silence on the channels.
"Jaguar, this is Cobra Command. What formation is Gold Ghost?"
The Jaguar moved a little closer.
"Cobra Command, they are clustered together. Are you receiving telemetry?"
"That's affirmative, Jaguar. Please three-sixty them."
"Copy that, Cobra Command."
The Jaguar did a slow circle around the cluster. There was silence as the Jaguar spiraled closer to the Gold Ghost pods.
"Jaguar, we think that's close enough."
"Cobra Command, we detect nothing other than the pods. Request a pod take a closer look."
"Jaguar, standby."
The tension was starting to make him itch. He twirled so he could stretch. He noticed other pods also took the time to gyrate wildly as the pilots released tension.
"Blue Box, this is X Squad Ops." The duty Squad Ops Commander was Tenor, thankfully. She was good.
"Squad Ops, this is Blue Box Leader. Go ahead."
"Blue Box, proceed to these coordinates. Inspect the pods. Confirm them as Gold Ghost."
"Squad Ops, we copy. Inspect and confirm."
Mak nodded internally. Rightfully, the X's squads should investigate. Blue Box regrouped into a tighter formation and swooped towards the cluster. It stretched their Delta Point out, so Silver Shark and Red Raven tightened their connections to compensate. More chatter was heard as the ships and pods reformed themselves into a different attack configuration. The Jaguar and Trudy moved away to give Blue Box room to maneuver.
Mak hated this part. He wanted to be the one to get in there. As Leader, however, it wasn't his place. More than once, Th'han'dra would hold him back from taking the lead position. It pissed him off. What was the point of being the Leader if he couldn't lead?
"Blue Box 2 and 7," he murmured over the comm. That
was all that was needed.
Th'han'dra and Sha swooped in close to the Gold Ghost cluster. The chatter died down again. Mak tapped into the visuals of the two pods since they were transmitting that along with the telemetry. The rest of Blue Box circled around closer than the Raptors but not as close as the two inspecting pods. Everybody feared the worst. If all of Gold Ghosts armaments were rigged to explode, the two Blue Box pods wouldn't stand a chance.
The pods certainly looked like Gold Ghost. Their signature was plainly stamped on the hulls. The right numbers were stenciled on the side. Why were they so close to each other? Don't bunch up, Mak heard his instructor saying. With Sha covering her, Th'han'dra maneuvered closer to the nearest pod, ostensibly Gold Ghost 5. She extended a grappler. It touched the pod and grabbed a hold of it. Then Th'han'dra backed away with its capture.
The rest of Gold Ghost stayed where they were. Why wouldn't they? His scanners worked them over constantly. If any of them twitched... His weapons strained with need.
Th'han'dra extended another arm and used the camera on the end to look into the interior of the pod. The cockpit was empty. The harnesses were still buckled as if the body had simply evaporated. Where'd everybody go?
"Blue Box 2, this is Squad Ops." The sudden voice startled him but not enough to do anything more than cause a slight pitch which he easily corrected. He noticed most of Blue Box was still though K'hon danced a little.
Th'han'dra piped what he guessed was an oath then, "Squad Ops, this is Blue Box 2, go ahead."
"Blue Box 2, please examine the port engine and report."
"Squad Ops, copy that."
The camera swung back and roamed over the port engine. There was a shiny new seam where some work had been performed recently.
"Squad Ops, I see evidence of recent repairs."
"Blue Box 2, thank you. Please disconnect and standby."
Th'han'dra didn't need to be told twice. She released and retreated rapidly, leaving Gold Ghost 5 in a slow spin.
How could this possibly be Gold Ghost? Mak knew he wasn't the only one thinking that. BG Cobra had Jumped three times between where they had lost Gold Ghost and here. It was impossible for a pod to get ahead of them. Pods could do many things. Jumping was not one of them.
So how did they get here? And if somebody put them here how did they know Battle Group Cobra was going to be at this point in normal space? And what happened to the pilots? And what was the reason? It had to be some sort of delaying tactic which meant the mission was already compromised. He felt the pod dancing a little as he became more agitated. Relax, gotta relax.
There was a sudden flurry of chatter. The X was on the move. At least he had something to do now. While the Raptors withdrew, the pods reconfigured to make room. He knew exactly how they were going to proceed. He also knew what they wanted to do: Bring the pods on board. But this was too strange and in the military mindset, strange equated to Bad. The what-if's were too many: Hidden explosives, bio-weapons, tracking devices.
The X's hull puckered to reveal a single weapon. She trained that weapon on the empty pods. Then two bright beams shot out. And the Gold Ghost pods were just a memory.
The next day found Mak scowling at the flight schedule on his monitor. There was a Jump coming up in one day. He suspected it was the last Jump but nobody was telling him. And because of TOCSIN 3, there were more squads on patrol. Being down a squad, the X's squads were flying more. And they still didn't know what the mission was.
He exited his cubicle into the mess that was Blue Box dorm. There had been an accident a few days ago. The damage was extensive and it just happened to take out the listening devices not only in the dorm but in the bathroom and his cubicle as well. Zin Zin had taken to suddenly sticking her head through the cubicle hole to ask questions. He whopped her on the head with some dirty underwear and that put a stop to that.
"You know, Boss," said Zin Zin watching him hop from his cubicle to the common table across the metal floor. "You could put some socks on or something."
"Eh, they look dorky," he said. The floor was always so chilly.
"Oh," Jerry said, eyeing him critically as he sat down. "And hopping over here like some kind of a duck doesn't look dorky?"
"He's trying to inspire us with them leadership qualities," Ranger remarked, which elicited a huge guffaw from K'hon.
He ignored them. Maybe he would put some socks on next time though.
"The schedule's up," he told them. He informed them about Blue Box responsibilities. They didn't take to it with any kind of enthusiasm. Fatigue was starting to set in. "And no, I don't know any more about Gold Ghost than I did before. I do know that whatever the mission is, we're proceeding."
"Great!" K'hon snapped, slamming a fist into his palm. "The Kyrzal know every damned move we make and we're still being kept in the dark,"
"You know," drawled Ranger. "You should switch hands so you don't wear that one out."
"Nah," said Jerry. "He's wearing that one out doing other things."
He ducked out of the way when K'hon took a half hearted swing at him.
"What about that?" Dakota asked. "Can the Kyrzal really know so much, including our Jump points? I mean if they do, then we are well and truly up the creek without a paddle."
"If they know so much," Th'han'dra said. "Then why play such elaborate games?"
"Maybe they're testing us?" Sha offered.
"Why? They kidnap Gold Ghost right from under our noses and then return them?" Dakota said. "What's the point?"
"Maybe it's not the Kyrzal," answered Jerry. "Maybe it's their new friends."
"I've heard some things about our mission," Zin Zin said. "I was mumphing this chick in the upper echelons and?"
"I'm sorry," Jerry said, holding up his hand. "You were whating this chick in her upper echelons?"
"Not her upper echelons, silly. She's from the upper echelons."
"Oh, excuse me then. But what exactly were you doing to her?"
Mak was glad Jerry asked. And he was glad he wasn't the only one with a blank look. Sha blushed, but Dakota smirked. Must be some Upper Level slang.
"You know," said Zin Zin, incredulously. "Mumphing, you know. Like, like, uh, mumphing."
She pantomimed something.
"Oh," said Jerry, pulling out a pad. "I didn't realize that had a particular name. Guess I'll have to make a note of it."
"Well, yeah. Say, do you know what pegging is? That's when it's a guy and a girl but the girl has a?"
"Zin Zin," said Mak, a pained look on his face. "I'd like to hear what you found out not how you found it out."
"Okay, Boss," she said grinning. "Later, Jerry. I can demo it for you."
"Uh, thanks. A full description would be just fine."
"Suit yourself," she shrugged.
She waited for them to quiet down.
Some months ago, Unity intelligence picked up a transmission. A Kyrzal ship was entering the SJ-1 system. There's not much there. No colonies, no mining, nothing habitable. It's in disputed space but there's no strategic importance to it. The Kyrzal ship failed to report back. The Kyrzal sent two ships to look for it. Those ships also failed to report back. They sent ten more ships. The Unity don't know what happened to those guys. By this time, the Unity'd taken notice of it. Guess they thought at the time that maybe the Kyrzal were using SJ-1 as a new staging area. Then the Unity thought they were testing some new kind of weapon. When their armada showed up then disappeared, intelligence concluded something else was going on. The three ships are still there. But as far as the Unity can tell, they are dead. The Unity wants to know what's going on. Find out if there's a weapon there the Unity can use. At the very least, make sure the Kyrzal don't end up with whatever technology it is. Intelligence theorizes the Kyrzal have found the source of their new technology. The Unity thinks the Kyrzal are still secretly trying to figure out what's going on at SJ-1. BG Cobra's mission objective is simple. Find out if there's a new player. Make sure he's the Unity's
ally or nobody's ally.
They were silent.
"How good's your information?" asked Th'han'dra.
Zin Zin shrugged. "Who knows? These other two guys sort of gave a similar kind of story. But could be just the same turd swirling 'round the bowl."
"Lovely, Zin Zin," Jerry remarked.
"Alright. Let's see if we can figure out what's going on around here," Mak said. He indicated the walls. "What about our friends?"
Th'han'dra spoke first. "I can't say I have anything definitive but I've tried to be more sociable with the Academy types. I've never been one for that crowd so it could be just me. But sometimes I'll have the feeling I've interrupted something with some of them. Or they change the subject to something comfortable when I'm around."
"Is it all the Academy types?" Mak asked.
"No, I've made a list but it's just a feeling. I'm not even sure I'd feel it if I wasn't primed for it. And it could be just because I don't socialize with them. It's not like I'm their friend." She shrugged. "Not much to go on."
Ranger spoke next. "Pretty sure some folk think something's screwed up somewhere. Was hanging around some of the pod techs and they were bitching up a shit storm..."
"Wow, there's a surprise," Jerry said, dryly. "Tech's complaining."
"Yeah," he grinned. "Hold them presses. But they were bitching about how they were tired of their supervisors suddenly up and running off without so much as a by your leave. There was the usual crapola about being kept in the dark but they reckoned there was more going on than usual. Could be they're just twitchy from Gold Ghost disappearing then reappearing. The rumor mills are burning up the overtime now that Gold Ghost pods have shown back up without the pilots."
K'hon scowled. "I got jack. Nobody on the D'ha'ren ships seems to know anything. Some vague shit but nobody's got anything real. They're just a bunch of dicks who don't want to talk to me."
"And with your charming personality, who would have thought," Jerry marveled. K'hon made a hand gesture. "Well, I made hopefully discreet inquiries on the Hellborne ships but they too know very little. There's a feeling. But considering what we've done so far on this mission, obliterate a rock cloud, kill some civilians, and destroy our own equipment, then emotions are unsettled to say the least."
Jerry's brevity made it plain he was concerned. The Hellborne pilot could ramble on for hours on the fact that nothing was wrong. Mak's insides clenched a little tighter. Nobody else had anything even a little substantive.
Except Zin Zin had one more thing. "I was bonking the Quartermaster?"
"Bonking the Quartermaster?" K'hon said incredulously. "He's gotta be like ancient."
"He's not that old and anyway, I'm on top so it doesn't matter. Anyway, you wanna hear this or not? So, he was complaining about having to do extra work since there was a batch of explosives missing. He was sure he'd done a physical inventory and they had been there, but now they were gone and according to the manifest they'd never been there. He figures the computer is lying to him one way or the other."
"Has he told anyone?"
"Told anyone? That guy runs off at the mouth like he's being paid by the word. He said it pissed him