Children of Steel Page 14

  "You did do pretty well, I have to admit. Any idea what he's up too?"

  "He said it was secret, but as Balizar is working with him, I figure it has to do with the troops in the module we're carrying." She whispered in my ear.

  "What?" I was shocked, and a little confused. "Wait a second, that's empty, they told us so before we left."

  "Raj, I work in engineering remember? That thing is drawing full life support, I noticed the power loss when I was doing some drive tests." She gave me a conspiratorial look.

  "Then why didn't they tell us?" I think my confusion was showing now.

  "Because silly, they want to surprise someone. There's probably a spy at that dock, or something like that. I bet they announce it, as well as our actual destination as soon as we're in jump," she suddenly looked very worried.

  "What's wrong?" I asked concerned.

  "This means that Banner's going to have to fight I guess. I hope nothing happens to him," she laid down on the bed.

  "Don't worry," I said turning out the light, and curling up next to her. "He's an old Pro. If anybody's going to get it, it'll most likely be one of the new guys." As soon as I said it, I realized whom I was talking about. But the excitement of possibly seeing action out weighted the fear.

  "Oh! I hadn't thought about that!" she turned to me in the dark. "You better be careful too then. After all, I still need to get my revenge."

  I fell asleep wondering, just where we were really going, just what we were going to do, and just who were we going to do it to.

  We were awakened later that night by Banner, who mumbled something about getting done early. It was a little tight for three, but as we were just sleeping it was actually kind of comfortable.

  The next morning the three of us went down for breakfast together. I could tell from the rhythm of the ship that we were in jump now.

  "So," I asked Banner, as we walked into the mess, "when do we meet the troops?"

  "Right now," he replied, and I looked up to notice there were a lot of new faces in the room. "We unsealed the access hatches last night, right after we went into jump. They're all pretty happy to be out of that module and have access to the ship and a real mess.

  "When did you figure it out anyway?"

  "Don't look at me, ask your mate here." I indicated Terease who was trying to look innocent.

  "How'd you figure it out? I only learned yesterday myself!"

  She told him while we waited on line in the mess. It was a much longer line than usual, the addition of another five hundred or so troops made a big difference. The mess was packed, but from the looks of it, a lot of the new troops were almost done. The mess itself could handle about one fifty or so, as the crew normally didn't all eat together. With addition of all these extra people I could see that we were all going to have to eat in shifts.

  I looked around at the hundred or so troops that were there. There were a lot of tigers, lions, and leopards among them and quite a few rhinos too. They looked like a pretty tough crowd, real Billy Bad Asses. We finally got our breakfasts and found a spot on one of the tables that was mostly full of our new guests. I noticed that Terease sat between Banner and me, but I didn't blame her.

  The Tiger I was sitting next to was friendly enough; he spotted the wings on my uniform right off and wanted to know how good the shuttle crews were on board. I answered his questions and asked a few of my own. I found out that there were only two extra shuttles in the Module's small bay, and they had brought crews for both of them.

  He also told me just how cramped it was stuck in there for the week that acceleration had taken us. He didn't know where we were going yet either, and as he was a Captain I figured it must be important.

  After telling him about the makeup of the hundred or so troops we had on board, he told me about his group. They turned out to be tough sounding group all right. About two hundred big Cats, almost a hundred Rhino's, about another hundred Wolves, and the remaining hundred made up of specialists; Eagles, Weasels, Badgers, and Beavers mostly. The last two groups being sappers.

  "How did somebody as big and tough looking as yourself end up a shuttle pilot?" He asked giving me a good look over.

  "Well to be honest, when I graduated from advanced, I was surprised at the offer myself. But my instructor's told me it was a good idea, so I took it."

  "You went through advanced?" He looked a little surprised, "I wonder why they stuck you on a ship then? I would have expected them to put you with a combat group like us."

  "Really?" I had to admit that sounded pretty exciting, "I got the impression that I was a last minute fill in." I lowered my voice, "The guy I replaced kept busting on the ship's Tigers and had an accident."

  He smiled knowingly at that, nodding his head.

  "Anyway," I continued, "like I said before, all the pilots on board are combat flyers, and the ship's troops are all pretty tough themselves. From the stories I've heard, this ship has seen quite a lot of action."

  We talked a little more before going our separate ways. I asked Banner if he knew anything that he could tell us, but he shook his head.

  "I don't know too much yet myself, but I expect we'll all find out soon enough."

  I headed down to the flight deck next, where even the off duty crews were hanging around trying to find out what was going on. The Chief showed up then, with an Eagle, a Leopard, and two Wolves.

  "Everybody, I'd like you to meet the crews of the two shuttles on the Troop module." He made introductions then.

  The Eagle, and one of the Wolves were the pilots. That they were all female went over fairly well with our group, which was eighty percent male, only three WSO's and one of our pilots were female.

  Dave zeroed right in on one of the Wolves, and I had to admit I went after the Leopard myself. Her name was Fran, and her pilot, the eagle, was Storm.

  "A real pleasure to meet you," I said, "another leopard is always welcome."

  "Especially if it's a female one too, right?" She smiled.

  "It never hurts!" I smiled back.

  "Don't mind Raj," said Rudy, "once he stops drooling, he's actually quit nice. A little slow maybe, but nice."

  "Most males are," replied Storm, "but they do have their uses."

  "Don't encourage him," Rudy said quietly, "he's only been here four months and already working on a reputation!"

  "Me?" I replied incredulously, "It's the bad company I keep! If anybody deserves watching it's the rest of these clowns. And that one," I pointed to Rudy, "is perhaps one of the slyest around!"

  "Don't worry Rudy," Said Fran with a smile, "I'll keep a close eye on your pilot here. I know the type."

  I let my shoulders sag, "Ah well, caught again."

  "That's what you get for accusing such an obviously respectable person as Rudy here," replied Storm. "You really don't deserve him I bet."

  "Care to swap?" I asked hopefully.

  "I can see we're going to have watch you alright." said Storm smiling.

  They then went off to meet the others. I looked at Rudy.

  "Eagles Huh? I'm beginning to wonder who the real stud on this crew is."

  "Hey, a good line is half the contest," Rudy smiled, "and feathers look like a good change. Why are you complaining? You're up to your ears in it."

  We walked over to Gabe and Dave. Dave looked happy, I guess he was more successful than me.

  "He's in love," said Gabe, "again."

  "You're just upset that she didn't ask you." retorted Dave.

  "Ask you what?" said Rudy.

  "Oh, she asked Dave for a tour of the ship, tonight."

  "I guess us pilot types just don't spend enough time learning the right skills," I told Gabe. "I think Storm is developing an interest in Rudy too."

  "Look who's talking," said Gabe, "the guy who never sleeps at night."

  "I'm not that bad."

  "Oh? Then how come you're dragging your tail half the time?"

  "Face it Raj," said Rudy, "until the numbers of
single female foxes pick up, he'll be unhappy. Anyway, sometimes you are that bad!"

  We went to our seats then, as the Chief said he had a briefing for us. I noticed that Storm and Fran did sit with Rudy and me.

  "Okay folks here's the story," began the chief after the door had been closed. "One of our mining interests on a planet has been taken over. Basically the claim is that it has been nationalized by the newly established local government. But the reality is that some small company has put up a false front and moved in on us. They've got backing from another corporation of course, somebody big we think, but we can't tell who yet.

  "Normally what goes on in one of these things is that they hope we can't get there quickly. That gives them time to try to get themselves declared legit by the Earth's authorities and to reinforce or dig in. But we got lucky on this one. A fast packet ship got away right at the time of the takeover. It got to Hobson's a week later and we arrived at just the right time, so we were diverted to this mission.

  "We expect to breakout in almost three weeks, it'll take about another five days to make orbit. Needless to say the Captain has decided to breakout as close as possible. They'll have had about two months to dig in, so it's going to be a tough fight."

  "What about our people on the planet?" asked one of the WSO's.

  "They'll probably be in some sort of a prison camp, or out hiding in the forest. They may even be causing trouble for our enemy. I really don't know for sure, these things can be pretty nasty sometimes.

  "So, from this point on we're going to start drilling for the landings. I want our part to come off clean. Once the troops are down, we're going to use the assault shuttles for air cover."

  "What kind of equipment do they have down there?" asked our own eagle, Jerry. "If they've got some good fighter aircraft, we could lose a couple of shuttles."

  "We don't think they have anything real high-tech, but just in case we loaded two F-60's back at Hobson's."

  Everybody looked blankly at each other; I know I hadn't seen them.

  "They were in those large crates marked 'Hydroponics equipment'," he explained, "and were partially disassembled so as to fit. The Techs will be spending the next three weeks getting them ready for use."

  He then went on to show us what type of profiles we'd be using, and the general assault plan. As each assault shuttle could only take twelve troops with all their gear, and we had at least six hundred troops combined now, it would take about seven trips.

  That was if you could use all the shuttles all the time, but after the second trip, two shuttles would be used for air support. They would be rotated out after the next trip of course, but it still cut down what could be used. Also more shuttles could end up in that roll.

  This also meant that the ship's regular shuttles would be used, as soon as a secured landing zone was achieved. That would help to get more troops down quickly; it was also the only way to get a lot of the heavy equipment and artillery down as well. Unfortunately, those shuttles weren't very big on performance, and I'd hate to be in one if anything went wrong.

  For the most part, life went on as normal on the Astra. There were some minor differences due to the large number of people on board. The Transport module supplied sleeping and waste facilities, but for fresh food and exercise space they depended on the ship.

  It was on the third night that my clan's meeting took place. Balizar invited the leopards from the module, which was now home to B Company of the first heavy assault division. When I finally showed up most of the people where already there.

  I had never seen the like.

  There were at least eighty leopards. Balizar had moved the meeting to where the Tigers normally had theirs, one of the large workout rooms. I literally dove right in; I saw that Katrine, Mist and Herza were all the subject of a lot of attention. I wasn't too surprised about that, but I wasn't too happy either. I guess I'd be sleeping alone a lot more often.

  I mingled with the others, and made some introductions, when I was quite suddenly surprised to hear a familiar voice from behind.

  "Hi Raj!"

  I turned around to see my sister Lisa behind me.

  "Lisa!" I shouted grabbing her and tossing her in the air, "What are you doing here? I thought you were assigned to the Bennington." I caught her and set her down, ignoring the startled looks around me.

  "I got reassigned after seeing a little action on a place called Drixon. I volunteered and the Colonel accepted it."

  I looked her up and down; she was in good shape, better than I remembered. "You really filled out didn't you!" she had always been the biggest and toughest of my sisters.

  "What about yourself? You must have gained at least thirty pounds," she thwacked me on the stomach, "and all muscle at that."

  "Forty actually,” I grinned, “But I think I've finally maxed out. Why’s everybody giving me those sidelong glances anyway?" I asked a little nervous.

  "Oh, the last time a strange person grabbed me I nearly punched his lights out," She sniggered, "I make them earn my favors, it's more fun that way."

  "You always did like to be treated special." I admitted, "So how's your love life?"

  "You kidding?" she grinned, "The males outnumber the females in this group. I haven't had a lonely night since I left the Bennington."

  "I was afraid of that," I groaned, "I think that I may be about to start."

  "Are you crazy? Look around Raj, you're the biggest Leopard in here. You've already got a few admirers, as a matter of fact here comes one now!"

  I looked around, "Where? All I see is Fran. Ouch!" Lisa had kicked me in the shin.

  "That's who I'm talking about stupid," she whispered as Fran drew close, "she's told all the girls that she gets first shot!"

  I found that very interesting, I never claimed to be a genius, but maybe I really was attractive. I'd have to start looking in the mirror again.

  "Hi Fran," said Lisa with a predatory look, which I knew was faked. Except for Cassandra, I had never been interested in any of my sisters. "I believe you've met Raj?"

  "Yes, actually I have." She moved up on my other side, "I met him on the flight deck a couple of days ago." Her tail started to flick with agitation.

  "Hmm, well I don't know if I should let you have him," she said teasing and grabbed my arm. "If you've ignored him for two whole days now."

  I could see that Fran was really beginning to get irritated, Lisa always did like to tease people.

  "Ahem," I cleared my throat and stared at Lisa, while putting my other arm around Fran, who brightened visibly.

  "Okay Raj, you never were much fun when it came to teasing, were you?"

  Fran looked a little confused.

  "Fran, allow me to introduce my sister." I said smiling.

  "You're a Rakir?" she looked at Lisa's smile and tried to squirm free. "Please not another one!"

  "I'm not like her, believe me." I said dragging her back against me. "I'm actually as dumb as I claim."

  "Maybe dumber," laughed Lisa, "but he'll never tease you, and he doesn't squeal or tell lies. Just don't piss him off!"

  "Why?" Asked Fran, who had stopped struggling and was making herself comfortable again.

  "Cause he'll beat the snot out of you," Lisa laughed.

  "I used to spend half my time keeping her in line," I admitted.

  "You actually beat her up?" asked Fran.

  "Several times," I admitted. "But she asked for it."

  "That he did, and looking back I guess I may have deserved a little of it," admitted Lisa. "I always knew how to make him really mad."

  "I take it you're still up to your old tricks?" I asked.

  "That's a fact," said Fran. "She's got several of the guy's running in circles. I don't know how she does it."

  "Practice, lots of it!"Laughed Lisa, "I had to learn the limits real quick with Raj here. When he blows, it happens so fast you don't even get the chance to react, he doesn't give any warnings."

  "That true?" asked Fran, look
ing from Lisa to me.

  "More or less, but I've mellowed a lot since then," I admitted sheepishly.

  "Can I have your attention please!" Balizar was standing up front, with another Leopard I'd never seen before.

  "Who's the guy on the left?" I asked quietly.

  "That's the head of our Clan, Major Frankle," answered Lisa.

  What followed was a brief introduction by Balizar, and a few cautions about what the Astra's Captain did and did not like. Then they opened the bar, and that was it.

  We sat and talked for a couple of minutes then, I told Lisa of the letter from Sunil and Nepal at Hobson. She hadn't been to the surface as they had shipped back out as soon as they had gotten in. She told me that she hadn't run into anybody else yet, but wasn't too surprised as she had spent quite a bit of time on Drixon.

  "May I join you folks?" Asked a well built spotted male, he was about six foot and easily two hundred pounds.

  "Sure Jemaal, pull up some floor," said Lisa.

  "Hi, I'm Raj," I said shaking hands, as he sat down with us. "Lisa's brother."

  "That would explain why you're still in one piece then." He grinned, "She usually dislikes people to take such liberties with her."

  "Telling Raj not to do something is like talking to a brick wall," smiled Lisa, "he ignores you and does what he wants anyway."

  "I was the one who used to make her behave," I explained.

  "If you'd like your old job back, I think several people would be willing to help swing the re-assignment!" He said merrily.

  "No thanks, she's your problem now!" I grinned at Lisa, who made a very rude gesture at me.

  "So what do you think of our clan? Excluding your sister of course?" asked Fran.

  "I don't think I've ever seen so many Leopards at once. If I'd know that there were this many in the Security troops, I might not have gone to Flight school."

  "Well not all of the companies have this many Leopards, but our size, strength and attitude are good in combat."

  "Yeah, crazy buggers everyone of us," laughed Lisa.