The Landfall Campaign (The Nameless War) (18 page)

“
Well you
’
re here, so it can
’
t have worked completely,
”
she replied.

“
Well if you were looking to piss people off, congratulations. Even the Skipper looked unimpressed. Y
’
know you
’
re supposed to have your survival suit on in here.
”
Deyn nodded towards the main hatch.

Alanna glanced down at herself.

“
To be honest I forgot.
”

Deyn studied her fighter.

“
Your gunner was telling me you were gonna call your bird D for Dusty,
”
he said.

“
I changed my mind,
”
Alanna replied with a shrug.
“
Pilot’s prerogative.
”

“
Dubious,
”
out of the corner of her eye Alanna saw him give her an appraising look.
“
Dubious was the nickname of the old
Dauntless
. Honouring the dead?
”

“
Something like that,
”
she replied quietly.

“
I couldn
’
t quite believe it when I heard old Dubious had gone into action at Alpha Centauri. I wish I
’
d been there.
”

“
If you had, you be dead by now.
”

Deyn paused,
“
What was it like?
”
he asked hesitantly.

“
It was war,
”
she replied simply.
“
I watched my squadron get whittled away to nothing, saw
Dauntless
and her escorts go up, even saw my gunner die. I was the only one to survive.
”

“
Is that why you volunteered for this posting?
”
Deyn said. When Alanna looked as him sharply he shrugged.
“
Your gunner told me you applied for this. Do you think you shouldn
’
t have survived?
”

“
If you
’
re about to start talking about survivor
’
s guilt, believe me, I am already familiar with the term.
”

“
It is a cliché, but it
’
s a cliché for a good reason.
”

“
I hate clichés,
”
she grunted,
“
and I hate all of that head doctor babble,
”
before sighing,
“
I attacked the Nameless fleet twice and both times I beat the odds to come out alive. Then, when everyone else was dead, I sat in the wreck of my fighter, waiting to die of hypothermia, but I beat the odds again and a rescue ship found me.
”

“
And now you
’
re playing the odds yet again.
”

“
Yes,
”
she replied.
“
I
’
m a fighter pilot. What else can I do?
”

“
What do you think?
”
Crowe asked as he closed the cabin hatch behind them.

“
She
’
s in need of therapy,
”
Hockley said as he sat down.

“
Certainly that was one hell of a way to shut the conversation down.
”

“
I
’
m sorry, sir, I didn
’
t get much of a chance to speak to her before we left Earth. I didn
’
t…
”

“
It
’
s alright Commander,
”
Crowe interrupted.
“
What we have is an officer who came out of the far side of a massacre. Being a bit short with people does not make her a head case. That being said, if she twitches the wrong way even once, she
’
ll be off my ship so fast people will think I used a rail gun!
”

___________________________

Deimos
dropped back into real space at the head of the convoy, with gun crews closed up. Behind her filed the rest of the ships, dominated by the looming presence of the battleship
Renown
. As they cleared the jump portal, the two fighters curved round and back to cover the convoy
’
s rear. The task group lingered at the edge of the solar system, sweeping with their passive sensors while destroyers broke and jumped away, to get far enough sideways to see behind the various planets of the system and the star itself. It all looked much as it had when
Deimos
fought her way out in August. But there was still one place where the Nameless could potentially hide.

“
The task group is going to proceed to within one hour
’
s

flight of the rings,
”
Crowe told his two flight crews. They were all squeezed into a space that prior to the refit had been designated for the storage of non-critical materials and was now grandly titled the Pilots
’
Briefing Room.

“
At that point the heavy cruiser
Zeus
will be detached and proceed into the planetary rings. You
’
ll be joining the
Zeus
and her fighters to sweep the rings around the site of Junction Station.
”

“
Do we think we
’
re going to find the station, sir?
”
Alanna asked.

Crowe paused before replying.

“
I don
’
t know Lieutenant. When we were last here the station was badly damaged. A lot of the infrastructure had been torn out. The Nameless might have destroyed the place after we left. We don
’
t know. Alternatively they might have left some surprises. There
’
s even a chance that a few of their ships might still be in there. Either way you will be providing close escort.
”

As the flight crews file out, Crowe called Alanna back.

“
Lieutenant
Deyn is pretty green. This is going to be his first real combat op. You
’
re lead pilot, so keep an eye out for him.
”

“
I will sir,
”
she replied.

I wish they
’
d remember
I
’
m
pretty green, Alanna thought to herself as she buckled into Dubious. The only thing I
’
ve got lots of experience in is watching people die.

Even now, decades after First Contact and interstellar travel becoming if not quite routine, then relatively easy, there were people who still insisted on thinking spaceships spent at least half their time dodging around asteroids. In reality, if you took a slow boat between Earth and Mars you
’
d pass through the system
’
s asteroid belt and probably not even see one. Space was largely big and empty and the only place you were likely to come across asteroids in any kind of serious density was in the rings of a planet. Even then most ring formations were only a few hundred metres thick at most. Within human space, the rings around the planet Phyose were an aberration. With an average thickness of thirty kilometres and largely made up of building sized lumps of rock and ice, the current theory was that they were the remains of a moon that was destroyed in an interstellar collision within the past million years. But the practical effect was that an entire fleet could hide in them. If the notion took it.

Normally Dubious
’
s active and passive sensors could see for tens of thousands of kilometres in any direction. But inside the rings, they could barely tell Alanna what was going on ten kilometres away. It was one of the few times in space when the old mark one eyeball trumped modern technology. If that wasn
’
t bad enough there was their speed. The unofficial motto of the fighter wing was
‘
speed is life
’
, so the fact that they were bumbling along at a velocity of only a few score meters per second was making Alanna grit her teeth. But the alternative was to leave
Zeus
far behind and probably end up laminated against the side of an asteroid.

“
Dubious, this is
Zeus
Bridge,
”
the main radio channel crackled.

“
Receiving you,
Zeus
,
”
Alanna replied.

“
Just like to pass along a complaint we
’
ve received from the survey team. They
’
re saying your base ship made a lot of mess when it was last here. Apparently many asteroids have had their orbits disrupted.
”
Captain Lokke sounded amused.

“
In their defence, Ma
’
am I believe they were being fired on at the time.
”

“
Apparently that detail is barely worth mentioning. Dubious, we
’
re coming up on Junction station in the next ten minutes. We
’
re going to hold at the outer beacon. I want you and Casper to sweep the perimeter of the cleared area. Our fighters are going to escort the survey team to the station, assuming it
’
s still there.
”

“
Understood,
Zeus
. Dubious out.
”

“
Do you think the station will still be there?
”
Schurenhofer asked.

“
I wouldn
’
t put money on it,
”
Alanna muttered.

A few minutes later Schurenhofer replied:
“
pity you didn
’
t, Skip.
”
As they entered the small open area that had been created around Junction Station a spotlight from
Zeus
speared out, illuminating the station. The damage was apparent even at a distance but didn
’
t look any different from the last available images.
“
Doesn
’
t look any worse than it did when
Deimos
was here. Wonder why they didn
’
t smoke it?
”

“
Might not have thought it was worth it. After all, they were about to wipe out Earth,
”
Alanna replied.
“
Zeus
, this is Dubious. We
’
re breaking off to sweep the perimeter. Casper, form up on my wing.
”

“
Roger that Dubious,
”
Deyn replied.

Together they began to make a slow sweep of the perimeter.
Zeus
held position at the beacon and her own fighters made a close range inspection of the station. They evidently saw nothing to alarm them, for twenty minutes later a boarding party left
Zeus
in one of the cruiser
’
s shuttles, while the cruiser itself moved more completely into the open area.

“
God, you
’
d pity those guys,
”
Schurenhofer said breaking a long silence.

“
Hmm?
”

“
That,
”
Schurenhofer nodded towards the wreckage off in the distance. It had been one of Junction
’
s two hydrogen skimmers. Its stern quarter and the engines they had contained had been blown apart, while the bows, which had held the crew quarters, were now flattened against the side of an asteroid.
“
Amidships looks relatively intact. I wonder if anyone survived impact? Christ, can you imagine sitting there with the power off
…”
she trailed off as Alanna glared at her,
“
Sorry Skipper. I forgot.
”