Children of Steel Read online

  We got her inside the shuttle, and while I started heading back for the Astra, Rudy set about patching the few holes we had gotten ourselves, so we could get an atmosphere inside. Twenty minutes later we had air and I helped Rudy get her out of her suit, we discovered that she was a young and very attractive silver fox.

  I had laid in a minimum fuel approach to the Astra due to our fuel status, so we wouldn't be back for almost two and a half hours. At least they weren't accelerating away from us anymore, actually they were back to decelerating, which meant that they were effectively accelerating towards us. As for our prisoner, she wasn't too badly hurt, some depressurization burns, and a few good cuts. But nothing we couldn't handle with the supplies at hand.

  She was so thankful that we had come back and not left her there to suffocate, that she offered us everything she had, namely herself. Rudy and I had the manners to politely refuse and tell her just to calm down and relax. But I couldn't blame her; if I was in her place I'd be pretty thankful too. It's not that everybody doesn't check for survivors either, it's just that sometimes they can't find you or get back to you, or worst of all, there's nobody left.

  We kept pretty quiet on the way back, after all what do you say to someone who was trying to kill you just a few minutes ago? Especially when you don't want to be the one to tell them that all of their comrades are now just ionized particles drifting on the solar wind.

  When we docked with the Astra we saw that she hadn't escaped totally unscathed, there was some damage to the forward sensor array, and one of the pods had a few holes in it. But all in all nothing had done any serious damage. The shuttles were a different story of course.

  My own had several fist sized holes in it, and one of the wings had been badly damaged. Gabe's was shot full of holes, and Dave had even picked up a little shrapnel when they had been too close to a detonating breeching charge. Jerry's was spotless, except for where a piece of the exploding ship had barely clipped the tip of his vertical stabilizer. Somehow none of us were surprised by that.

  The other two of our shuttles had some damage too, but it was a toss up between Gabe and myself for the worse. Nobody mentioned Klien of course.

  As for the two enemy shuttles, or rather our new ones, they were both moderately damaged, but the WSO in one had been hurt pretty bad and his station was totally trashed. They weren't as good as ours either, less weapons capability, less ECM, and a smaller hold in the back.

  As for the prisoners, they were all sent down to the brig, or sick bay, depending. Their employer didn't turn out to be a surprise either, Rudy and I had figured it out as soon as we saw the suit on the dead WSO, The Masong Trading Franchise. I was willing to bet that was why the Captain had used a nuclear torp instead of one of the conventional ones. Masong was a loosely organized company and in the past they had wiped out several ground bases rather than let the forces there surrender. One of those bases belonged to Tri-Star, so from that moment on we had joined the large group of corporations trying to put Masong out of business. The fact that they had sent Weasel assassin teams to other corps crèches during the Corporate War's had also given them a very bad reputation as well.

  The biggest problem however, was that being a franchise, their corporate headquarters always claimed no responsibility for those who were practicing such abhorrent behavior, and that they would be separated from the company as soon as possible. Sure enough, the next time you saw that ship, it had a different name, papers, crew, etc, and everybody would claim that it was a 'different' ship. So legally there wasn't much that could be done, hence the ten megaton torp goodbye.

  Nobody really blamed the prisoners though; they just had the bad luck to be born into a really bad company. Usually companies would ransom back such captured employees, there were conventions and legalities covering such behavior. Masong however often didn't want to spend the cash and many of their people didn't want to go back even when they did.

  What that meant was that the holding or capturing company would assess a debt based on losses in the action that had taken place. That became your new bill, and they could even stick interest on that! As for the job you got, it usually wasn't anything good, after all how do they know they can trust you and you're not a plant? With a company like Masong, our prisoners would probably be working in the mines we’d just come from or something equally bad if they stayed. Not an enjoyable future to be sure.

  We all headed back into the flight room to find out what the plan was now. The shuttle techs were working like maniacs trying to get the three good shuttles loaded and back on the launch rack.

  "Well the first round has gone in our favor, but don't go feeling cocky yet," the Chief started in as soon as we entered the room. "It wasn't just chance that they were waiting for us, we scored another four craft in the area as well. It looks like they saturated the most likely area and we just happened to come out on the edge of it.

  "Now as for the other four, only one is in any kind of position to give us any grief, but it changed course after we torped the enemy ship. However, they know our course and it'll be four days before we're inside the local defenses."

  That started us all muttering among ourselves.

  "So here's the plan, the Captain is going to start with a course change as soon as that last ship makes its jump, the others already have. Then he'll lay a bunch of mines behind us, and we'll have two ships on picket duty at any time. Hopefully if anybody jumps out near us we'll be able to nail them before they nail us.

  "Now get back down there and help the techs fix the shuttles, I'll give you your orders as I write 'em. Dismissed."

  We all went back down to the bay, and did what we could to get the shuttles in order. Within an hour we had two out on station, and after that the next four days was continuous work. Either repairing shuttles, or sitting on station. At least we could take naps during the later.

  The trip finished without further incident, and we found out later on that there had actually been ten ships spread out in the most likely areas of our entry. If we had broke out inside one of those groups rather than outside, we wouldn't have lasted long at all.

  I had never known that the heavy and super dense elements were worth that much.

  That they knew exactly when we left, how much we were carrying and our exit vectors, made it obvious that there was definitely a spy back at Osborne. I didn’t know if that was better or worse than the one we suspected the fanatics had here at Hobson’s Choice.

  Unloading went easier than normal this time; they left most of the stuff in orbit to be processed there. That was fine with me, I just wanted to sack out as soon as possible, the double shifts had really been a strain.

  Once planet side we had a going away party for all those who were leaving. It was the first thing we did actually, as some of the people going would be leaving the next day. It was a pretty good bash, no outsiders allowed of course, and I got pretty stewed like most everyone else.

  When I awoke however, I found myself tied hand and foot, spread eagle outside a third story window. I threw up, just barely missing myself, and looked around at my predicament.

  "Hello?" I asked quietly. No answer of course. I could see that I was still on company grounds, actually it looked like the barracks building, but I was having a hard time moving my head as it hurt pretty bad still. My hangover was definitely making things worse, I really needed an anti-tox pill. I must have forgotten to take one before I went to sleep.

  But then I never had gone to sleep, the last I remembered was Terease handing me a drink. That woke me up, I straightened suddenly as I realized she had finally gotten her revenge!

  "Owww" My head spun from the sudden movement. If I wasn't so sick, it wouldn't be so hard to get out. I started to examine the situation more closely, and slowly as my head was really giving me a rough time.

  My hands and legs were tied to rings set at the window's edge. The bonds were padded somewhat, so I wouldn't have to worry about a total lose of circulation. But it stil
l hurt. There wasn't any kind of ledge that I could get my heels on unfortunately, and when I tried to get a claw on the ropes, I found to my chagrin that somebody had taken the time to give me a manicure.

  "Damn!"

  The window next to me suddenly slid open, "Hi Raj!" It was Herza.

  "I though everybody promised not to help her!" I glared accusingly, but not too successfully I feared.

  "Oh, she did it all by herself believe me. She even carried you up the three flights of stairs all by herself," she purred, "You would have been proud Raj."

  "Great, how about helping me get down from here?"

  "Now Raj! That would be cheating," she grinned.

  "Then why are you here? To gloat?" My head started to spin again for a second, whatever she had used was really messing me up.

  "A little," she smiled again, "but I wanted to say goodbye, I'm leaving soon, and I don't think you'll be free by then."

  "Oh," I waited a sec for my head to clear a little bit, "You wouldn't have an anti-tox pill by any chance would you?" I pleaded, "Whatever she gave me is really making me sick."

  "I guess I could do that much for you," she smiled and swung out on the sill of the open window and put it in my mouth.

  "Thanks," I said swallowing it. She hung there a minute and looked at me, I could feel it starting to work by then and my head cleared pretty quickly.

  "Better?"

  "Yes lots. Well, I guess this is goodbye then. Sorry I can't give you a hug, but I'm kind of tied up." I smiled.

  "Oh that's okay, I think you've already given me something to remember you by anyway." she actually leered at me and patted her belly as she said that!

  "Oh, that reminds me." I looked at my arm to make sure I was still had it on. "I want you to have this," I gestured with my chin towards the armband I had gotten on Pharaoh.

  "Raj, I can't take that! It's worth a small fortune," she exclaimed. "Use it to help pay yourself off."

  "It’s not for you silly!" I said laughing at her expression, "I want you to use it for the Cubs, our Cubs. I don't want you to bear the burden alone," I didn't mention the fines that she might very well receive for breeding while still under contract. They could be pretty sticky about that sometimes even with permission.

  "Thanks," she said, and worked it off my arm with her free hand.

  "And I expect pictures too," I said as she put it on her arm.

  "You got it my sexy big Tom," she leaned way out then and gave me a kiss. "Bye Raj, I'll write."

  "Bye Herza, take care." She popped back in and that was that.

  It did take me awhile to get down, I finally used the back of my head to hammer in the window until it broke. Then I just kept widening the hole with my back, butt and elbows. I picked up quite a few cuts, but I eventually got the glass by one of my bonds broken and was able to saw through it.

  I nearly fell once or twice while getting the bonds on my legs cut, my hands where pretty numb but at least Terease had been careful, so they weren't totally useless. I finally got back inside, found that it was my room, so I hit the bed and went to sleep.

  They made me pay for the window of course, but I really didn't care. At least I had gotten down before somebody saw me and got the bright idea of taking a picture!

  I got in touch with Kathy the next day and we all got together that night at the Lining. We were going to be in port for nearly three weeks this time, so the replacements could be worked in. It was a good time off, even though I did have to work some during it. We even had a big party for Gabe and Karen out at her folks' place.

  Terry moved out of the apartment, to her own place, and Gabe moved in. I was really curious to see how they'd be doing the next time I was in port. Gabe started work after a one week adjustment period, so during most of the time that I spent with Kathy it was just the two of us.

  Balizar also took the Clan back out to the resort we had been to before. We spent a week there and I moped around a bit, missing Herza. But Mist, and surprisingly Sheen too, did their best to cheer me up. It was more than enough actually, and I was over it by the time we had come back.

  As for Kathy and myself, we did have quite a few enjoyable times together, but our relationship was starting to turn more towards friendship than sex. We still had fun together, but we both knew that we would never be a long term relationship, I had my sights set on Cassandra and Kathy I think wanted something more than I could offer.

  She was getting close to graduation now herself, being in her final year at school and I suspect she had a serious boyfriend waiting somewhere in the wings. I could understand her not wanting to confront him with me if that was the case; she was probably worried how we'd react to each other. Human society was a little more uptight about such things as multiple lovers. At least that's what I've been told, but she still wore the ring I had gotten her at least, and that made me happy.

  I did make a trip down to Martial, the fight bar that Herza had taken me to. I brought Banner and Terease along, Banner was there in case of trouble, Terease came just out of curiosity.

  I did pretty well and made about a thousand on bets. When Banner decided it was a good time to leave nobody decided to argue this time. I guess the extra bodies might have helped.

  The only other thing that was new was the mail. Sunil had been through twice since my last trip. He had updated news on Kali and said she was doing fine and the legs looked perfect. He also had run into our sister Laeloni who was working on an orbital platform doing communications work.

  The new crew members had been showing up over the last few days, I hadn’t really talked to any of them yet, I was enjoying the last few days of my leave. When we started shipping freight almost the day my leave ended I was too busy working to sort out the new members either, but I noticed them immediately, kind of hard not to after seeing the same faces all the time for two years now.

  “Hey Raj!” Chief Shandour called to me while I was helping Rysan the loadmaster secure some cargo on one of the large freight shuttles, “Take five! Balizar wants a word!”

  I looked up and saw Balizar standing there with the Chief and wondered what I could possibly have screwed up this time. Shrugging at Rysan I walked over to Balizar as Shandour walked off to deal with other issues.

  “Yes Sir?” I asked coming to attention.

  “At ease, this is clan stuff, not official Raj,” And then Balizar grinned, “and you’re not in trouble. We picked up four more clan members with the new crew members.”

  I nodded, hopefully they weren’t all males or I’d be spending a lot more of my evenings alone.

  “Now I don’t know about the females in the group, but I can assure you that Hawkeye is going to be looking you up on fairly short order. Probably when you get off shift tonight.”

  I nodded at that and unconsciously cracked my knuckles. Only one male? Not bad.

  “He’s Herza’s replacement and I don’t want you thrashing him. Understand? You bow to him and acknowledge him as your superior in the clan. Got it?”

  I looked down at Balizar, he was a couple inches shorter than me, but then I’d never run into another leopard who wasn’t. “Why?”

  “Because you’re still too immature for your size and the position, because I want you to be listening to him when he talks, he’s got a lot more experience than you do. And because I will open your skull with a spanner if you don’t do as I tell you to. Am I clear?”

  I thought about that, I was bigger than Balizar, I was definitely stronger than him, on speed, I’d say we were about even. I’d never ever sparred with him, what I’d heard was true, he never sparred with anyone but Sharazad, and they only did it in private.

  “I want something from you if I’m going to do this Clan leader Sir,” I said as respectfully as I could.

  Balizar tilted his head and flicked an ear in annoyance. “This isn’t a negotiation Raj.”

  “I want to spar with you, just once. That’s all.”

  “No.”

  “Then
how am I supposed to believe you can open my head with a spanner?” I asked him.

  “I could just have Chief Shandour sit on you for me.” He growled.

  “But that isn’t what you implied and you know it, Clan leader Sir. If I’m going to roll over for a physical threat, I want to see that the threat is real.” I grinned at him then, “With all due respect Clan leader Sir.”

  He scowled at me and then sighed, “You are just itching to see if you can take me, aren’t you?”

  I curled my tail and ducked my head in embarrassment ears splayed, “Yes Clan leader Sir. Though I will still honor and obey you even if I should win.”

  “Win?!” Balizar growled. “Why you impudent cub! Fine, defend yourself.”

  I blinked and stepped back and took a defensive stance. “Here? Now?”

  “Will one fall be enough?”

  I nodded. “Yes Sir!”

  “Ready?”

  “Yes Sir!”

  I bowed, and then he bowed and I stood there in a combat stance as he looked at me.

  “I don’t have all day Raj,” he growled.

  I gave an inward shrug and shuffled in fast to attack, coming in low and hard. One of my better speed attacks that put my center down low and let me test my opponent.

  And suddenly I wondered why I was on my back looking at the ceiling as Balizar looked down at me.

  “Do I need to get a Spanner?”

  “No Sir,” I shook my head and tried to play back just what had happened. I couldn’t, it didn’t make sense and it had happened in the blink of an eye. “Can you teach me how to do that Balizar?”

  “Maybe when you’re older, if you learn to behave.”

  “Yes Sir. Clan Leader Sir. Most Honorable Clan Leader Sir.”

  “Stop kissing my ass and get back to work.”

  I rolled over and got to my feet. It took a second to get my balance back. “What about the other three?”

  “Up to you. Clan meeting this Saturday night, see you there Raj.” Balizar said as he walked away.