Still, they were Unity members. The Kyrzal were small fish with big ideas. Troublesome, but never showing this kind of belligerence before. The Unity, of which Earth was a founding member, had eventually dispatched a diplomatic task force along with a Nickel Group. The mission was just barely newsworthy. At first. The negotiations should have been no more than the diplomats laying down demands, and the Nickel Group backing them up. The Nickel hadn't included a DreadNought. Arrogantly, the Unity had decided a Nickel was message enough. The Kyrzal, however, had apparently made some new friends. Friends who had given them some fun new toys. And with these fun new toys, they had destroyed the diplomatic task force. That got people's attention big time.
The government controlled media finally had something which seemed almost interesting.
Who supplied the Kyrzal with these weapons?
We're investigating.
Where did they get the money?
We're not at liberty to say.
What's the Unity's response going to be?
That's classified information.
Fantastic developments from the war! Tune in for the latest up-to-date information!
The Unity ended negotiations and went straight to threats. The Kyrzal marauded into other systems. The battles escalated, the war ramped up, and the media went wild. Rumors said that after months of unproductive fighting, the Unity had finally let the Kyrzal float to the top of their priority list. The enemy were finally going to get something they really didn't want: The Unity's undivided attention.
While in normal space, at least two squads from each DreadNought were always on patrol. Gold Ghost had been on point, ranging ahead of Battle Group Cobra, extending the X's sensors via the pod's own instruments. Mak scanned the Big Board. A gold line indicated Gold Ghost's trajectory. It terminated at the edge of a small group of asteroids. One of the oddities in this quadrant. Clusters of rocks not associated with any star system. Rock clouds. They'd encountered dozens of them before. Some were small, only a few rocks clumped together in a relatively compact shape. Some were large, consisting of enough rock to make up a planet, spread over a wide area. Mak knew from his reading it wasn't planet debris though. Nobody really knew what they were. They held no interest for BG Cobra. Navigating around or through them was uncomplicated. None of these clouds posed any threat. Sensors penetrated them easily. No ship of any kind could hide there. And this rock cloud was one of the smaller ones.
Two more lines tracked along the gold line: Red Raven and Silver Shark both from the X. Squads from the other DreadNoughts covered the perimeter. Silver Shark took a different approach to cover Red Raven.
Mak saw Th'han'dra looking down from the Squad Ops Briefing Room. He clambered up the steep metal stairs and passed through the door to sit beside her in the dimly lit room. Here, they could see not only Squad Ops but most of the Bridge. She nodded at him but gave no salute. He didn't expect any. She'd been part of Blue Box long before he'd joined them. With a different brand of luck, she would have been Blue Box Leader. He didn't think she cared but then she was a D'ha'ren, so he couldn't really tell. He thought of her as mostly Human. Right number of fingers and toes. Proportions looked good. A casual glance in a dark room, and it'd be easy to mistake a D'ha'ren for a Human.
There was a hint of gold in her pale skin which glowed slightly as if her face was burnished. Her hair was greenish blonde and long, pulled back into a braid. Her eyes were yellow; the whites were very white. She was petite, thin, smaller than other D'ha'ren he knew. He was short at 5'6" but he felt like he towered over her. He found himself slouching in her presence, unused to looking down on anyone. Especially Th'han'dra. She was beautiful and smart, her experience in flying was far beyond his. When he first joined Blue Box, he could hardly mumble two words to her. Luckily, she hadn't cared. At least he hoped she hadn't cared.
Suth, the captain of the X, and Squad Ops Chief Telli were speaking by comm. Their conversation could not be heard, but he could see the captain at his Command Console looking at Telli through the armor glass separating Squad Ops from the rest of the Bridge. Telli looked back giving her appraisal of the situation in short bursts of information. He could tell they were discussing bringing the BG to a halt. The BG Commander-in-Chief, the leader of the Battle Group on the DreadNought Warszawa, would be informed but no decision would be made yet.
Battle Group Cobra's mission was unknown to Mak. It wouldn't have mattered to him normally but now? If the mission was time critical, they would not halt the BG. They'd leave Gold Ghost behind.
The Big Board didn't tell him one thing.
"What was Gold Ghost looking for?" he asked Th'han'dra.
"Detected metal in the cloud," she murmured.
D'ha'rens almost sang, rather than spoke. It was as if they were listening to some internal music. She rarely talked which was a shame. Listening to her speak was a real pleasure. Not just because it was great to hear her voice but because in a few words, she'd given him all the information he needed. Nobody, the X nor the other squads, had detected metal. And Gold Ghost had not found metal before their disappearing act.
Most importantly, however, nobody was finding the Gold Ghost pods.
No one knew why they were called "pods". They just were. Maybe once they looked more "pod like". Somebody told him it was because they lived in bays so they looked like peas in a pod. That made absolutely no sense to him. Whatever the origin, pods didn't look anything like their names. They were huge, bigger than a house in LA back on Earth. Roughly spherical, they were made up of weapons, engines, some weapons, fuel, some more weapons, a small cockpit with life support, extra weapons, extra fuel, and a bunch more weapons. They weren't meant to be stealthy. Nor subtle. And they didn't hide real well. Maybe for a few seconds one could play hide and seek in a rock cloud but eight? Not a chance.
Silver Shark was running the perimeter, their pods spreading into a pattern to probe the rock cloud. Red Raven was splitting up. Two pods continued to follow Gold Ghost's trajectory. The rest of the squad took up supporting positions.
White Wolf and Purple Panther were launching from the X.
Telli caught his eye. He held up one finger. Blue Box had one more hour of sleep scheduled. She looked away. If need be she could wake Blue Box. Other squads had only just begun their sleep shift. No need to wake them either.
Hammers and Raptors ranged ahead of the X towards the rock cloud.
The Big Board indicated two squads from each of the other DreadNoughts had launched. The other squads weren't going to support Red Raven and Silver Shark. They were looking for a trap, an ambush, on the edges of the fleet. BG Cobra would have skirted the rock cloud in preparation for a Jump when they reached the other side. That much Mak knew. Jumping where? Like the vast majority of the people on the X, he'd find out when they got there. He hated Jumping. That was where the X shredded the laws of physics so a journey which would take light many years to travel would take just a few days.
The X's captain didn't like losing a squad. He relayed that to the BGC Commander-in-Chief who didn't like unknowns. The Commander-in-Chief's philosophy was destroy anything he didn't understand. There was a subtle quickening of pace around the Bridge. BG Cobra was coming to a halt.
The captain of the X pointed three fingers at his first officer. The X was now on TOCSIN 3. If the X was home, it would be at TOCSIN 1. In normal operations, it was at TOCSIN 2. But something was up, so TOCSIN 3. No claxons, no alarms, but the right people were being summoned to their stations or put on alert. Just a change in rhythm.
The two Red Raven pods entered the rock cloud at the same point as Gold Ghost had. Gold Ghost had entered in much more dispersed formation, but the two Red Raven pods flew tightly together following the main Gold Ghost trajectory.
Mak touched a switch on his comm, and listened for squad chatter. Jokes and laughter usually clogged the channel. Now it was entirely silent as it should be except for the call of Red Raven 3 as it navigated the cloud.
"Gold Ghost," came th
e deep and melodic voice of another D'ha'ren. "This is Red Raven 3, please acknowledge."
Nothing.
Mak's comm switched channels as the hail went out on all known frequencies including the emergencies.
"Gold Ghost, Gold Ghost, please respond. This is Red Raven 3. The X misses you. Gold Ghost, Gold Ghost, please respond."
Mak tensed as the two Red Raven pods approached the last known position of Gold Ghost. They slowed. He knew the pilot of Red Raven 3. Being bait would put him in a really foul mood. When he returned to base, Mak would make sure to stay out of his way. Slowly the two Red Raven pods moved through the area following along the projected path.
Telli spoke softly to the duty Squad Ops Commander. He relayed the order to Red Raven.
The rest of Red Raven swooped into the rock cloud joining the two other pods. Red Raven exited at the other end of the cloud.
Telli nodded, and the Squad Ops Commander spoke again. Silver Shark entered the cloud.
They too exited without incident. And also without Gold Ghost. The two squads tried other maneuvers and different approaches. Nothing showed up. Nothing was found. Nothing.
Telli looked at the X's captain. Gold Ghost was living up to it's name.
Mak and Th'han'dra stood. Almost two and a half hours had passed. Nothing was going to happen now that involved them.
"Food?" Mak asked.
Th'han'dra nodded at the suggestion. Mak tried to stretch the coldness out of his spine. The X's rhythm had definitely been disrupted.
The Exeter's crew, mostly flight support, packed the mess hall, one of many spread throughout the ship.The Blue Box pilots had taken over a corner table. Rarely did the team eat breakfast together. Someone was always sleeping in. Usually Mak. He and Th'han'dra made their way through the food line, a mixture of people on different shift cycles, all grumbling about the wait or the food or both. Some got breakfast, others lunch or something more substantial. Mak got just enough food so he could conserve his food tokens. If he didn't go over the magic free threshold, he'd cash those tokens out at the end of his tour of duty. Th'han'dra had already joined the squad table.
Blue Box was a varied group. Th'han'dra had the most seniority. She should have been Blue Box Leader. If it'd been up to him, she'd be wearing the insignia of Squad Leader not him. The engagement responsible for killing the former Leader and one other Blue Box pilot had almost killed her as well. Mak had clamped onto her injured pod with his own. He ordered others to do the same to the other disabled pods, then given that fateful order. "Follow me!" He wasn't even next in the chain of command. But he had acted with a swiftness which surprised everyone, including him.
Later, he'd tried to explain he didn't really know what he was doing, didn't know where he was going, didn't know what was happening. He just knew their asses badly needed saving. Running was suicide. Somebody said it was like the Charge of the Light Brigade. He'd had to look up what that meant. He was glad his ending had turned out a whole lot better. The Kyrzal had caught Blue Box in a bunched formation too close between enemy ships. The squad was outnumbered and outgunned, completely cooked. The Kyrzal figured Blue Box would turn tail. When the pods attacked right into the enemy's middle, it caused a cascading panic in their ranks. And what should have been a total massacre of the pods turned into a stunning victory. At least that's what the brass called it. Personally, he just thought they'd fouled up big time and gotten real, real lucky.
Th'han'dra had been in sick bay for weeks but she said she was coming back. He believed her. And she did. But by then, Leader had been stuck firmly in place next to his name. Not until she had taken her bunk, had he finally moved into the Leader's cubicle.
Sometimes, while being bored into a little pile of dust in some meeting, he wondered about just turning the whole stupid thing over to her. Right now, she seemed to be doing most of the work anyway. She'd look over his shoulder, helping him struggle through the huge tedious pile of paperwork. Without her, he was sure none of the reports would ever get done properly. She was a great pilot, had everyone's respect, and always looked so calm. She spoke only when she had to. What she said, and the way she said it, it made him feel like a tongue tied fool. Never did he feel her wanting to take it away from him. She had too much class. She could've though. He knew it. The squad had been with her longer than him. And she was Academy. Real military. Not a worm like him.
The two new pilots recruited into Blue Box to replace the dead, were young and straight out of flight school. Dakota and Sha. He drilled them personally in as many aspects of squad flying as possible. He even managed to get the other members of the team to volunteer to help mentor them. Something he wish had happened for him when he joined Blue Box. Th'han'dra had seen the value of it from the start. She seemed to know what to do before he did.
Dakota was a gangly teenager. He grew a scraggly beard Mak suspected he wore to hide his youth. He liked hitting the tanning beds. A bright silver loop adorned one ear. His teeth seemed really perfect, bright and white. He was handsome and knew it. Excellent pilot on some days. On others, he flew as if he'd left his brain on the X. Sometimes, Dakota thought he was the best thing that had ever happened to Blue Box. Other days, well, somebody would have to haul him out of his funk. Mak thought his own confidence was low when he'd joined Blue Box but he couldn't compare to this rookie. Dakota would sometimes swear he was quitting because he just dragged the whole team down. He was an Academy graduate from an Upper Levels' military family of some city on Earth. Dakota would swing between an almost funny hero worship especially when Mak was forced to wear the medals the brass had stupidly awarded him for the engagement, and an arrogant, condescending attitude which made Mak want to slug him. If his bad days didn't kill him, then maybe he'd get to the point where he'd only have good days flying.
Sha was the other rookie. A tall, shy young woman who would make a hell of a pilot one day. If she survived long enough. She was a little over six foot, athletic, her short brown hair framed a handsome pale brown face. He hadn't figured out what part of Earth she hailed from. Brazil somebody had told him once. He wasn't sure that was even on Earth. All she lacked was confidence. He just needed to draw her out, get her to execute, find that killer instinct. It was working but slowly. The slight hesitation in her flying was gradually being bled away. She was so shy he sometimes wondered if there was some sort of speech impediment causing her to whisper all the time. And she would blush like her head would explode. Whenever he wanted to talk with her, he had to make sure that it was in some quiet spot so he could hear her. She had this caught in the headlights look around him. It was funny since she towered over him. The good food of the Upper Levels had given her a beautiful set of long legs. She'd hardly look at him. He wouldn't look at her either. Her breasts were almost perfectly at eye level for him. The two pilots would end up staring off in opposite directions. She could fly, though, oh how she could fly.
Ranger had joined Blue Box from another squad a little after Th'han'dra had joined. Happened sometimes. Maybe a personality clash or the brass wanting to spread experienced pilots around. He came from a squad which had been virtually destroyed. A very good pilot, courageous, followed orders without question, but, Mak had to admit, not much imagination. No ambition other than to serve out the rest of his tour of duty. Then he'd either sign up again or go do something else as he put it. Mak doubted whether he'd ever leave the service. His big balding head shone under the light. Mobile and active eyebrows crawled above little piggy eyes. A big tomato nose was plastered right in the middle of his face hovering above an insatiable maw. He was amazingly nimble for a man who had never seen the inside of a gym. It was a bad mistake to think his lazy demeanor was apathy. He never cared about saving tokens. He loaded up his plate with huge mounds of eggs and bacon and pancakes and shoveled them into his mouth. The calories seemed to go straight onto his waistline. He could barely fit in a pod. Never affected his flying. And that was all that mattered.
K'hon was a D'ha'ren. M
ale. Big. Muscular. Loved to question authority. He wore his greenish brown hair in short spikes that Mak thought made him look like he'd stuck his head in a plasma conduit. Dominated by a hawk like nose, his craggy face maintained an almost permanent scowl. He was always challenging, ready for a fight. SOP for a D'ha'ren. But like so many of his kind, the attitude was mostly bluff. Mostly. He was a good pilot but thought he was better. Few knew but in the engagement, he'd almost lost it. Handling surprises wasn't one of the things he did real well. Now, he was almost reckless in his need to make up for something few knew about and nobody blamed him for. Unfortunately, he sometimes believed he should have been the one tapped for Leader. But for all his arguing and impatience and temper, Mak knew he could count on him. K'hon just had to be keep his flying from going completely berserk.
Zin Zin. Everybody smiled at Zin Zin. Just couldn't help it. Even Th'han'dra who kept a stern visage around everyone else. Her reddish blonde hair fell in great curls around a wicked pixie face that dimpled and grinned at everything. She laughed and bounced and was full of life. It was infectious. Not much taller than Mak, she possessed a body that was buxom and curvaceous. Twinkling green eyes and luscious full lips emphasized her raw sexuality. She seemed to be trying to have Aphro sessions with every member of the crew. Even though he now declined, she still invited him. Her sessions were strenuous. Intense. Imaginative. He still remembered, before he became Leader, her asking Th'han'dra and him for a threesome. It was like she was asking him to pass the salt. Th'han'dra had smiled and simply said not tonight. He thought his head would explode with embarrassment. Now, Zin Zin always teased him and no matter how hard he tried, he'd blush furiously. Her sessions crossed gender, species and rank. He always wondered whether her lack of inhibitions was what made her so completely lethal. Her kill rate was the best amongst all pilots on the X. Some said across every DreadNought in the entire fleet. She never held back. Never gave quarter. Mak had a private name for her: Killer.
Jerry was one of the few non-Human, non-D'ha'rens on board the X. It was a matter of practicality more than anything else. D'ha'rens and Humans were virtually interchangeable. Just about the same gravity, life support requirements, and physiology. Jerry was Hellborne. It was the closest translation of their name which Mak had once tried to pronounce. He thought his vocal chords would be in traction for a month. Hellborne. Something to do with their religion