Star Crusades by Michael Thomas (whitelam books txt) 📗

okay,” explainedValentine, “That’s just us passingthrough the Rift. The Captain said it might be a little rougherthan normal.”

One of the two looked at her but said nothing at all. He was quitestocky, with a strongly built torso and a completely hairless head.There weren’t even eyebrows, giving him a bizarre artificial look.It was obvious something had happened, but Valentine chose to saynothing. The last thing she wanted was some incident aboard thedropship with people she didn’t know.

“Private Holston, the Lance Corporal spoke to you,” Alexis said in astern tone, “And every soldier in the Novas is a brother andsister. Show her the respect she has earned.”

The short man looked to his own leader before staring rightback at Alexis. He still said nothing, and Valentine could sensethe rage building. It was the kind of feeling she frequently feltherself, but over time had learned to control it. The man took in ashort breath, and then spoke.

“Sorry, Acting Corporal. I didn’t hear you.”

Alexis fully detached her harness and stepped across the crampedinterior of the Jackal. Valentine tensed up, half-expecting thingto turn sour, and a fight to break out onboard the dropship. Shethen leaned in closer to the man. He chose to remain straight as anarrow, and Valentine was sure she could make out a snigger comingfrom him.

“Don’t play games withme, Private. We’re going into combat. IfI can’t count on you, then you can stay right here. And if you tryanything in combat, I’ll frag you myself. Do youunderstand?”

The man opened his mouth, but hiscomrade alongside him stamped on his armour foot. The impact was sogreat it would have broken a man’s foot,and instead left dents and scratches along themetalwork.

“Yes, Corporal.”

“Better.”

She turned and walked away just asSergeant Jablonsky entered and moved towards the rear of thepassenger area.

“Problem?”

“No,Sergeant. The Private here was just saying something to the LanceCorporal.”

“Well…out with it, man.”

“Yes,Sergeant.”

He then looked to Valentine who did herbest to hide her smile.

“Thank you, Lance Corporal.”

“You’re welcome. Private.”

“Good,” said SergeantJablonsky, “Three lances is pushing us tothe limit in here, but we’ll make it work.”

“Why are we loading up soearly?” asked one of the new members ofTsarkov’s unit.

“Want to take that, Lance Corporal?”replied the Sergeant.

“Yes,Sergeant.” Valentine barely concealed her smile. “We’ve lostcontact with patrols in the system. Last time that happened weentered the system just after ANS Kraken.”

“Kraken,” said the man, “Wait aminute, I know that name.”

He considered thatfor a few seconds, and then looked to hiscomrades.

“That’s the same ship as this one, right? The ship that wentmissing?”

“Oh, it didn’t go missing. Kraken was shot out of the sky the secondshe arrived.” Valentine looked to the floor of the dropship, “Andif that happens to you, trust me, you’ll want to be in thedropship, and not in the rec room having a snack. There’s not a lotworse than being sucked out into the abyss.”

“You’re not wrongthere, Val,” said Alexis, “It’s now SOPwhen entering a hostile area to be locked and ready to drop. One ofthe benefits of dying more than once, you start to learn from yourmistakes.”

Hawkins laughed at that.“Well, not everybody.”

“True,” said Valentine, much to his amusement, “Some of us just keepon dying!”

A few of the other Novas laughed as Sergeant Jablonsky lookedaway and spoke into the intercom built into his half-sealed helmet.Valentine could hear some of the words, but she intentionallylooked away instead of listening in.

“We’re through,” said SergeantJablonsky suddenly, “Escorts and fighters are pushing ahead. Nowwe’re in the hot zone. Stay sharp. It’s a lot worse than wethought.”

“Worse?” Valentine asked.

“Sensors have picked up a lot ofdebris and flotsam around Eridani Prime, much more than expected.There’s not much here but wreckage near the Rift. The carriers aresending out fighters to investigate. There should be two patrolsquadrons out here somewhere.”

“What about us?”

“We’re going to investigate theanomaly.”

“Anomaly?”

The Sergeant shrugged.

“Who knows? Could bewreckage, or it could be a Ski’lig fleet. Sosettle in for the next few hours.”

CHAPTER SIX

Alliance HeavyStarcarrier ‘ANS Izumo,Epsilon Eridani

27th May2475

Lieutenant Jack Petersontensed up as the outer doors opened, and hecould see space for the first time. He was a skilled pilot, butthis was his first ever mission into an active warzone, and hecould feel the nerves. The entire squadron had been officially atraining unit until a month earlier, and now they had been rushedto the ship as part of her growing fighter complement.

Andwhat a ship!

Jack looked off to hisleft towards the thick internal bulkheadribs that gave away her age. ANS Izumo was a world apart from thenewer ships in the fleet, with a design built for the smaller andlighter fighters of the Confederate era. Over time, the old warshiphad been upgraded and refitted and was more than capable ofhandling modern fighters. Perhaps the most impressive upgrade ofall her powerplant and propulsion system had been upgraded with thesame technology used for the latest Alliance cruisers, allowing herto travel faster than light along with the rest of thefleet.

Jack looked to the line running along the ground and to the opendoors of the massive hangar. Izumo was fitted with two sets ofhangars, both served by the magsled the fighter currently sat on.Unlike the more modern carriers that could fight in the line withpowerful particle weapons, this ship was designed to operate purelyas a fleet carrier. Her onboard weapons were defensive in nature,and her massive fighter wing provided the real defence.

I can’t believe it. This is for real.We’re going into combat!

Jack nodded towards the nextfighter and shook his head as he watchedthe deck crew remove the safety locks from the missiles. It wasrare enough for them to fly with live weapons, and today hisfighter was heavy laden with a mixed spread of ordnance. Thefighters had been made to wait inside the armoured hull as theypassed trough the Rift, and now all he waited for was the finalcommand to launch.

“Peterson, youready?” Lieutenant Ajax asked from theadjacent fighter.

“I’m good to go,”he replied as confidentially as hecould.

“Thisis the big time. I’m gonna get me some insects!”

Jack smiled to himself. They knewenough about their enemy to know the threat theypresented. More importantly, they had allseen the imagery of Mars and its moons.