Outriders Page 20

  Aleksy prodded at his plate of food in the mess hall and casually jabbed a fork toward the camera. “She puts everyone at ease, which is a rare talent. Trainees, new recruits, dumbass officers fresh from their swanky candidacy school…the lieutenant calms their nerves. She can mend an overwhelmed newbie or furious officer and have them both apologizing for their behavior. Hell of a gift she has.”

  “I’ve known terrible officers in the academy and with Fleet Command before I jumped ship to starfighters,” Hayato affirmed. “Some were vindictive assholes, some were morons who didn’t know the first thing about tactics, and almost all of them came from wealthy families and bought their commission. But Lieutenant Aylett, she’s one of the finest leaders in our navy. She’s fair and intelligent, and I learned long ago to trust her judgment.”

  “Scared the ever loving crap out of me at first,” noted Diego. “Almost made me reconsider my career choice. She was tough, demanding, unyielding. But the lieutenant also cared about every pilot who crossed paths with her. She doesn’t want us to stop pushing ourselves or settle for being mediocre. Moxie lit a fire under my ass and taught me more practical lessons in a month than I learned in an entire year at the academy.”

  Trish reclined on a couch sipping from her drink. “Hell of a pilot. Might be the best I’ve ever flown with. And I don’t mean her technical skills or experience. All that can be taught. Any idiot has the capability to learn the basics of flying after a couple years. But Clara possesses an instinct that can’t be taught, an ingrained skillset that elevates her above her peers and superiors. She knows how to react before a situation even arises. I’ve gone up against her in simulator runs and she’s thrashed me every single time. She’s the equivalent of any three pilots in Starfighter Command at least. A damn fortunate thing she’s flying on our side.”

  “She’s a friend, first and foremost,” Malcolm declared. “It’s been my privilege to know her almost the entire time she’s served with Starfighter Command, and my son thinks of her as an aunt. Clara enriches the lives of every person fortunate enough to meet her. She also happens to be among the most intelligent officers in the entire Elathan military. I’d recommend her for promotion, but it’d be a shame to see her sitting behind a desk coordinating movements and wasting her talent on administration. Clara needs to be here with the younger pilots, shaping them into our future leaders. I’m confident she’ll be given her own squadron in the coming years, and she’ll make them an elite force. On that day I’ll hate to see her leave the Corsairs, but I’ll be filled with pride, too.”

  Akira stared beyond the camera at Ammar with an expression suggesting nervous concern. “Maybe you should ask the others instead of me.”

  “Why’s that?” inquired Ammar.

  “Most of you have known Lieutenant Aylett for a year or longer. I’ve only been in this squadron for three weeks. I’m not sure I’ve earned anything yet.”

  “Nonsense. You’re a Corsair, Akira. And you earned your place over two dozen other applicants. Plus you’re Clara’s wingmate now.”

  “Yeah, because she needs to whip me into shape.”

  Ammar’s hand appeared in front of the camera as he silenced her self-doubt and criticisms. “She’ll want to hear from you. So think about Clara and what you want to say to celebrate her anniversary.”

  “Okay.” Akira shifted in her chair and placed one arm on the desk. “I felt scared coming here after the academy, and you obviously knew that when you decided to start calling me Spooks. I was afraid I’d ruin my chances or not measure up to your expectations. You expected the best from me, and pushed me hard to excel, not allowing me to be anything less than my potential. But you also welcomed me and helped calm an anxious girl living away from her family. Thanks, Lieutenant Aylett. For making me feel at home, and for always looking out for me. I know I’m in good hands with you.”

  Clara flipped a switch and the video closed down, leaving her quarters darkened and quiet. She clutched the helmet in her lap, leaned forward until her forehead rested on its visor, and felt tears roll down her cheeks.

  *

  “Alexis, wait up a minute.”

  She turned around in the corridor and saw Reyes jogging through the infirmary. “Need something?”

  “Good news. I finally heard back from the Confederacy about my request to release non-classified data.”

  “Does that mean you know where your mom’s frigate is stationed?”

  Reyes nodded and smiled like a giddy schoolkid. “Achilles is scheduled to conduct exercises in the Himavan system for the next five weeks. I can finally send her mail again.”

  “Nice. Upload your vid message to my terminal and I’ll connect to the communication relay once we reach Amaterasu. There isn’t reliable network access until then. If there aren’t any hitches, Captain Canales should hear from her son soon after.”

  “Any idea how long it’ll take for her to receive the file?”

  “Hard to say,” Alexis admitted. “Amaterasu is the main artery connecting to the Uisneach Spine, and its allotted bandwidth is limited. Government and military communications take precedence, followed by corporations and businesses paying for the privilege. Yours is low-priority, so it might take a couple days to be flagged for processing. Sorry I can’t give a better estimate.”

  “I haven’t been able to send anything for seven months, so a few days is bearable.”

  “Want me to authorize a receive-and-hold? Any reply your mom sends will return to the Amaterasu comm relay and they’ll archive the message for us until we connect to the network again. Otherwise she has no idea where our freighter will be and can’t respond.”

  “You’re a damn lifesaver. Thanks, Alexis.”

  “Happy to help.”

  Reyes playfully patted her shoulder on the way past and turned into the galley. Alexis followed for a few steps and bypassed the intersection, instead continuing toward passenger dorms located at the stern above their engine room. Only one chamber was occupied, though the lights remained dimmed.

  Alexis knocked on the door and waited for a muffled response before entering. She found Clara sitting on the floor cradling a flight helmet in her hands. Despite only paltry light leaking in from the hallway, she could see the other woman’s face was reddened and streaked in tears.

  “Hey, Clara. Are you okay?”

  She placed the helmet down and wiped her eye with a sleeve. “I’m…I’m fine. What do you want?”

  “We’re dropping out of FTL travel in about thirty minutes to vent our propulsion core heat buildup and recalibrate for the next jump. We’ll all be eating dinner while we wait for the discharge to finish. Even Tessa and Harun decided to share a meal with us. I know you’ve normally brought food back here to eat in your room, but you’re welcome to join. If you want.”

  “Thank you.” Clara sniffed and pivoted on the floor, turning her back to the entryway. “But I’m fine here.”

  “You don’t have to be alone. I have no idea how long you’ll be staying with us, but for the time being you’re part of this crew.”

  “I…I appreciate that. I’d still rather stay in here today.”

  “Okay. You know where to find us if you change your mind. I’ll bring a bowl for you after we’ve eaten.”

  Alexis shut the door behind her and retraced her steps on the freighter’s upper level until reaching a bend. She crossed into the galley and smiled when the aroma of simmering food touched her nose. Evan and Rinko stood in front of their stove with various ingredients spread across the counter and noticed Alexis skip closer.

  “Is Clara coming?” asked Rinko.

  “Not today.” She snatched a small piece of meat from the cutting board and kissed Rinko on the cheek. “Smells delicious. Don’t let me get in the way.”

  Rinko shooed her away with a ladle. “It’ll be ready soon enough.”

  Alexis sauntered to the table and claimed a chair while they finished preparing dinner. Evan stirred their pot of rehydrated oats, beans
and barley while Rinko added a liberal dusting of rosemary and oregano. Dried meat scraps leftover from previous meals tumbled in afterward, stewing for several minutes until the meal was ready. Together they ladled their concoction into bowls and served the dinner to everyone gathered around the dining table. Coffee, tea and crackers already sat on its surface.

  “Sorry about our lack of fresh food,” Rinko said as she slid a bowl toward Harun. “Or appetizing food. Oddly enough we haven’t had time to re-provision lately.”

  “This isn’t a bad meal,” he remarked. “I’ve had much worse in the field.”

  Reyes scattered broken crackers into his bowl and poked his spoon at Harun. “Worst meal you’ve ever eaten.”

  “Almost a decade ago I was on an assignment in a star system nominally claimed by Delbaeth. No habitable worlds, but we thought Delbaeth had a construction facility hidden there. A small group of us landed on a miserable planet with a chlorine and sulphur dioxide atmosphere that also happens to rain glass sideways, the winds are so fierce. Resupply was impossible, due to the hellish weather and the need to keep our presence a secret. Only problem is the mother of all storms struck us on what was supposed to be our second to last day, and we couldn’t leave the habitat to reach our ship.”

  Harun stirred his porridge absently. “We had enough food to last us several weeks beyond our mission as per standard protocol, but no one anticipated the storm to be this bad. We ran out of everything except these vile tubes with a liquefied paste that was supposed to be flavored like meat and potatoes. The procurement people at our agency claimed they were edible, but no one could ever stomach that crap. If we’d been smart, we would’ve rationed the tubes with our other meals, spread them out at a bearable pace. Instead we shoved them aside and figured the storm would pass soon enough. We ended up with nothing to eat but a few crates of that paste. I ate seventeen straight meals of gooey, dissolved meat and potatoes smeared on a plate.” He lifted a spoonful of tonight’s dinner. “Your oats and beans medley isn’t half bad by comparison.”

  “We’ve had to survive just on plain oats in water before,” affirmed Evan. “You’re enjoying a luxurious meal for an interstellar freighter crew.”

  “What do you normally eat?”

  “It’s a good day when we can get our hands on fresh produce, fish, cheese and breads, maybe some pasta. Nothing too lavish, but hearty fare.”

  “I know the captain is from Vanir,” Harun said, “and Alexis told us she was raised on Thoth, but what about everyone else? I don’t have experience flying alongside folks from anywhere other than Elatha. Evan, where were you born?”

  “Varuna, one of the moons orbiting Indra, an ice giant of swirling cobalt and turquoise. The moon doesn’t have an atmosphere, so I spent practically my entire childhood living beneath ceilings and domes four and a half billion klicks from our sun. I didn’t feel wind or rain on my skin, or the warmth of sunlight, until my family flew offworld for the first time when I turned twelve. As you might have guessed, I’m not clamoring to fly back home and head underground. Indra sure as hell was beautiful to gaze up at though, since we didn’t really have sunsets in the usual sense.”

  Harun glanced at Rinko while she wiped porridge from her chin, until she noticed and seemed abashed. “Where’d you grow up, Rinko?” he asked.

  “Sarruma in the Hurrian system.”

  “I don’t know much about that system.”

  “Most don’t.” She finished with the napkin and placed it beside her bowl. “Hurrian is almost the farthest a person can get from the Heliades and still be in Confederacy territory. We’re a border planet, no two ways about it. Small population, irregular InCore access on good days, minimal tech and few to no travelers. Didn’t see my first interstellar starship until I was nearly fifteen. Never browsed InCore and other networks for a couple years after that.”

  “Yet here you are as the technical specialist.”

  “I’m making up for an early life spent playing in the dirt. Now I get to explore entire systems and make any reality come true with the right software and programing. Deny a person something special for long enough and you’ll end up creating an obsession. When I touched my first computer I never wanted to let go.”

  “And your first mate?” Harun questioned. “Where does she hail from?”

  Kyla sipped from a mug of tea and sucked her teeth. “Grew up in Celeus Aquatic City on Aetheria.”

  “A fellow independent. I wondered why you seemed to be the most sensible member of this crew.”

  “I’m not keen on the Confederacy, but that doesn’t mean I’m a flag-waving loyalist for Aetheria either. A damn stubborn population that doesn’t want to hear they aren’t loved and admired by all of civilization. You should consider heading there on your next vacation; you’d fit in well. Only thing I miss about home is the cuisine. You haven’t eaten seafood until you do it on an ocean world. Trust me.”

  Connor glanced to his left at Kyla with a dripping spoon held in one hand. “Are we going around in a circle? Am I next for our story time?”

  “If you’d like,” Harun responded. “Did you spend your days as a child near some busy spaceport, watching all the unusual starships landing?”

  “Not exactly. I was born on Aztlan in the Tollan system, another far flung outpost in the wondrous civilization humans have carved for ourselves. I learned to fly because I was so damned desperate to escape that boring piece of crap planet, and I knew piloting myself might be the only way to do it.” Connor licked his spoon clean and nudged one end toward Reyes. “If you’re looking for a more unorthodox tale, ask him.”

  Harun looked at Reyes expectantly, who shrugged and swallowed a mouthful. “I have citizenship on Mihashira because of my mother, but I wasn’t born on the world.”

  “Orbital station?”

  “Nah, the census still would’ve put the planet on my birth certificate,” said Reyes. “Same goes for those born on its moons. No, I come from a system you’d have trouble finding on most star charts. My mom was serving as an officer aboard the Confederacy frigate Rimward while it conducted tests, except she went into labor almost two months early. I was born on the fringes of a system called MT42790156 and I can tell you practically everything about it. All the planets – eleven, if you’re curious – and asteroid fields. I even came up with my own names for a couple dwarf planets, since they had stupid number designations. I was fascinated with the place as a child, because I’m the only human in history to ever be born there. An entire star system, all mine. One day I’ll return and reclaim my birthright as its king.”

  “No legitimate attempts at colonizing?” asked Harun.

  “The neutron star is an erratic, nasty piece of work that showers the system with far too much radiation for most habitats and shielding to withstand. Not many folks and corporations are willing to shell out the money investing in new technology when there are far more pleasant star systems to colonize and call home.”

  “What was your mother’s warship doing in such a bleak place?”

  “Would you believe I never found out?” Reyes smirked and ladled a spoonful of porridge into his mouth. “Mission was classified at the time, and still hasn’t been released to the public. My mom happens to be a stickler for protocols and regulations, so she never answered my questions either. The whole reason I was born in MT42790156 is a mystery to this day. It’d be nice to learn why eventually, but I stopped searching for answers years ago.”

  Alexis nibbled on a cracker dripping oats. “I have a question for you, Major. What made you want to join intelligence? Read too many spy novels as a kid? Or did you join for the adventure?”

  “Never something I planned, to be honest. And not a path I ever expected to be taking when I was a young man. I went to university for statistical analysis—”

  “No wonder I find you so dull,” murmured Rinko.

  Showing a tendency toward the inexplicable, Harun merely grinned and continued. “I had an aptitude for patterns, number
s and recognizing trends. When I graduated top of my class I was approached by a recruiter with the agency. She offered a challenging position and more pay than anywhere else. I moved through the ranks and eventually showed potential for field work. But like I said, this life was never planned.”

  “Wow that’s an anticlimactic tale for a spy,” said Connor. “What about you, Tessa? Let me guess, you volunteered so you’d have the legal authority to shoot people.”

  The other agent sat hunched with a spoon submerged in her bowl. Having not spoken a word since joining them at the table, Alexis hardly expected Tessa to respond. Yet this continued to be a day for surprises.

  “I don’t come from wealth,” Tessa explained, “or anything resembling comfort. I grew up in Ealadha, a city in the middle of what might generously be called a shantytown on the continent Salinnis, half-way around the world from the glamor and affluence of the capital city Formorii. We had precious little, my family and our neighbors, yet we were still a target for exploitation. My neighborhood was crime-ridden, unforgiving and violent, its streets and blocks carved up between rival drug cartels and their ruthless enforcers. Orphaned children desperate to eat were used as drug-runners or unwitting assassins armed with crude homemade explosives.”

  Tessa rested her forearms on the table and fiddled with her hands. “When I was a child I idolized the police officers stationed throughout Ealadha. I naively believed they kept us safe and protected the innocent from criminals. Watchful sentinels always wary of deceit and cruelty in their distinctive navy blue uniforms bordered in gold. Only when I was a little older did I understand they were all corrupt, each one taking bribes to look the other way, misfile witness statements or damage evidence. I even heard rumors some helped dangerous witnesses disappear before they were able to testify, and I never doubted those stories. So long as the bloodshed remained confined to certain areas and no one important was targeted, the police dishonored their oaths and allowed the cartels free reign.”

  “That sounds horrible,” Alexis whispered.