Voyages of the Solar Wind 1: A Fire in Heaven (3 page)

Rilar twirled and holstered her weapon without even looking. The short white hair on her head gave her a sexy tom-boy type look, and I was down with that. She's the sexiest best buddy I've ever had!

"Great shooting as always, Ri." I grinned and hugged her.

"Thanks, Dex." Ri grinned and hugged me back. "That felt good!"

"Killing bad guys usually does." I admitted.

We got the rest of the way back to the ship after watching the cleaning droids remove the bodies and Port Royal Security get there, late as usual.

Rilar decided then and there that she didn't like Port Royal station. "If this is going to become a regular thing, I would prefer that we not come here to get contracts, Dex. You never know when someone might get the drop on us."

She had a point. "I know, Ri. I hear ya on that."

We got aboard and back to our quarters. We had to get some shuteye. We stripped down to our birthday suits and got under the sheet on our bunk. Rilar cuddled close to my chest that night, and I fell asleep with her breath on my chest.

We awoke the next morning to the com beeping in the cockpit. I got up, stretched, then pulled on a flight suit as Rilar slept on. I looked at her and admired her beauty. Then the beeping cut through my daydreams and I ran up to the cockpit to answer the call.

"Solar Wind, this is Administrator Jeka. Come in, Dex."

"Go ahead, Jeka. Sup?" I asked, still shaking off the sleep.

"There you are, I thought you and Rilar had finally quenched your unrequited lust for each other." She joked.

"Ha ha. You know that's not gonna happen. What's the skinny, Minnie?" I chuckled.

"Got a job for you, Pick-up is on New Haven, and the drop-off is on Gurhin. Half hour trip after the two and a half from here. Pretty quick." She informed me.

"What's the payout, darlin'?"

"Two K. Interested?" She asked. Two K was a lot to me back then, and would go a ways toward refilling me and Ri's account after refurbing the ship.

"Lords, yes! Send me the veggies, and we're on it. Thanks, Jeka!" I like Jeka. She still creeps me out slightly, but hey. I'll take any friends I can get, and she's one of the best!

She sent the file and I scanned it. Food run, high end. Two crates for some Gurinkan big wig's retirement party from the planetary government. I grabbed the contract in a mad second.

"Ri! We got a gig! You ready, sweety?" I shouted back towards our quarters.

"Mmppphhh. Mmk, Dex. Mm'll be up inna moment." Her soft and groggy voice came back. I smiled. She's just adorable.

I did the preflight checks myself, jumping from my seat to Ri's and back. I got everything good to go and lifted. I plotted a course for New Haven as we exited the docking bay into space and hit the Slipdrive.

Ri staggered up to the cockpit as we entered the slipstream.

"What's the gig, hon?" She asked.

"Food run from NH to Gurhin City. Two K paycheck." I smiled at her, and she smiled back, now fully awake.

"Our first paycheck, sweety!" She jumped into my lap and hugged me. I hugged her to me and we were now seeing our dreams become reality. We were gonna get paid to have fun!

We talked and ate and drank a few beers, wondering how we were going to spend our new money.

"First of all, we need beer," she said, and I agreed. We only had a six-pack left from Helliot II.

"After beer, we need food." I have my priorities straight. Trust me on this.

"After food, we need better sidearms and ammo." Ri said. She's a gunner. It's in her blood. Her father, General Keldor, came up as a Gunner in the Confederate Army, Armored Cavalry. It was in her genetics.

"Ok, so after beer, food for what? Six months just so we don't have to buy it every time we dock?" I asked and she nodded enthusiastically. "Then some RailPistols and a few thousand MagPellets in the right caliber. Anything else?"

"Ground transportation in case we want to go sight-seeing." I hadn't thought of that! That's one reason I love my best buddy.

"Hovercycles?" I grinned.

"Fuck yes!" She grinned back at me.

"Sweet!" We were both happy now.

We had our priorities straight when we dropped out of the slipstream around New Haven.

"New Haven Control, this is the SS Solar Wind out of Helliot II and Port Royal, requesting permission to land." It felt good to say that.

"Solar Wind, this is New Haven Control, what is the nature of your visit?" He asked.

"Business, Control. Free Trader picking up a delivery for transport to Gurhin. I'll send you the details." I transmitted the pickup order.

"Very well, Solar Wind. You are cleared to land at Landing Bay 8 at Haven City Spaceport." He confirmed.

"Thank you, Control. Received route, and coming in. Solar Wind, out." I cut the com, and Ri was as giddy as I was!

I landed at Bay 8 and contacted our client. "Solar Wind to Syl Nyles. We are docked at Bay 8 at Haven City Spaceport and awaiting delivery of the shipment."

"This is Nyles. Very well, Captain Relway. The shipment will be there in five minutes." He said.

"We'll await delivery, sir." I answered. It would always pay to be polite to a client, I figured.

We twiddled our thumbs and waited in the cockpit until until we saw them enter the bay. "We're up, Dex!" Ri bounced out of her seat and so did I. We were both grinning like Cheshire Cats when we lowered the boarding ramp and went down to receive the shipment on the hovercart. Two crates of food and a half hour trip to Gurhin, Rilar's home planet, for two K credits. Sweet deal!

"Here you go, Captain." Nyles handed me the signover log, and I signed my Dex Relway to it.

"Pleasure doing business, sir. We will have it delivered within the hour." I shook his hand and we carted the shipment up into the ship and down the corridor past our quarters to the hold. Once it was secured, we went back up to the cockpit and lifted after pre-flight.

We grabbed sky once we were clear of the bay, and I hit Flank Burn all the way out. We broke atmo in less than thirty seconds.

"OOoooh, Dex! I will NEVER get tired of this speed!" Rilar was even more giddy now.

"I know, sweety. Neither will I!" I plotted a course for Gurhin and engaged the Slipdrive, entering the slipstream and shooting towards our first payday.

We exited the slipstream over the tropical paradise that is Gurhin, and hailed Control.

"Solar Wind, this is Gurhin City Control. What is the nature of your stay?"

"Business, Control. Delivery of high end foodstuffs for a retirement party. Collection agent is Mr. Leddor." I said.

"Good copy, Solar Wind. You are clear to land at landing bay 2. Welcome to Gurhin." I'd been there before, but thanked him nonetheless.

When we landed, our client was waiting for us already. Wow, the Gurinkans take their food seriously!

We brought our cargo out and signed it over, collecting our payment. "Pleasure doing business, Mr. Keddor."

"Thank you, Captain. First Officer." He nodded to me and gave a leering bow to Rilar. As he left, I looked at her and raised an eyebrow.

"No way, Dex. I'm saving myself for the right guy. He is NOT the right guy." She rolled her eyes.

"Hey, Ri," I said as we walked up the ramp. "I just wanna see you happy."

She looked at me through narrowed lids as if she wanted to say something, then shrugged and let it go. She slipped her arm around my waist and gave me a hug as we got inside and I raised the ramp and secured the hatch.

"I know, Dex. I wanna see you happy too." She gave me a quick peck on the cheek.

"You're the best friend I've ever had, Ri." I hugged her back and kissed her cheek too.

"And don't you forget it, flyboy!" She laughed.

"Ok, let's break atmo and go contact Jeka for another job." I grinned. We were now two thousand credits richer!

Ri grinned back at me. "Yes!"

We broke atmo at breakneck speed again and some fireworks off our port bow caught my attention. "Ri, we got a battle going on over there." I nodded my head, and Rilar was on her scopes immediately.

"Looks like a cruiser is getting pounded by another cruiser and some fighters. Not sure who the victim is, but the attackers look like Silver Leopards, Dex!" Oh shit. Silver Leopards were Hegemony funded pirates. We'd fought them during the war.

"Ri, wanna give Hugs and Kisses a workout?" I raised an eyebrow and smirked. I already knew what her answer would be.

"Fuck yes, Dex! Let's light those fuckers up!" That's my best buddy! She HATES Silver Leopards with a blinding vengeance.

"Then fire up your guns, energize armor, and hang the fuck on, sweety! Let's get some!" I shoved the throttle to Flank and hit the Burner at the same time. We shot towards the pirates.

"I have thirty-seven fighters and the cruiser on scope, Dex. Opening fire now."

"Do it, Ri. Give 'em hell!" We both grinned as it started feeling like the fun part of old times.

We shot through the middle of them and Rilar was on her game. On our first pass, seven Silver Leopard fighters went fireball. "Hugs and kisses, bitches!" Rilar shouted in victory. I swung wide and came back for another pass.

"See if you can break your record, Ri!" I chuckled.

We shot through again and I managed to give her optimal targets and range. I was awed by her skill as she popped twelve on the second pass. "Record broken, boss." She smirked. "Give me another pass and I'll fireball the rest of them!"

"Your wish is my command, sweety!" I swung around again and noticed the remaining fighters coming right at us. Their mistake.

Rilar doesn't like, head to head gunfights. She LOVES head to head gunfights, especially against mutiple enemies. I had discovered that years earlier when we fought off a shitload of Hegemony fighters at the Battle of Harad's Reach. I spared a glance at her now, and she was grinning like the cat that was about to eat eighteen canaries. She started shooting almost immediately, and before they could get a lock on us, she had fireballed all of them in record time.

"HUGS AND KISSES FOR YOU, MOTHERFUCKERS!" She literally roared. While she has a very sweet and soft speaking voice most of the time, Rilar showed off her great cat heritage from which her people had evolved with a roar that would make an ancient Earth lioness proud.

The cruisers were still locked in a duel, and Ri opened up on the Silver Leopard ship. Her shots against capital ships were always precision, and its shields were already down. I watched and grinned as she popped several 200mm turrets on the Leopard cruiser, and the red independant cruiser blasted the Leopard to dust with missile salvos and its own remaining 200's.

"SS Solar Wind, this is SS Blood Oath. Captain Bloodskull here. I am requesting... assistance." The low feminine voice said in a strained tone.

"Blood Oath, this is Captain Dex Relway. What can we do for you?"

"We're dead in the water, Captain. We could use your assistance onboard. We have an enemy boarding party that was cut off, but they have us pinned down in the cockpit and our engineering crew is dead." She said, in a calm but still strained voice.

"No problem, Captain. We'll be ready in less than five minutes once we dock. Can you lay us a red carpet?" I asked. Red Carpet is the term for a free docking port.

"Good copy, Captain. We have Docking port two for your use. You will come out behind the attackers." Captain Bloodskull replied.

"We'll be there shortly, Captain. Solar Wind, out." I cut com and brought us alongside the Blood Oath. I docked us at the port and nodded to Rilar.

We ran back to our quarters and changed into our tactical armor that we had kept from our Navy days. I slipped into my armored vest and leggings, zipping them up and folding the flap over the zipper on the vest. I looked at Rilar, and she had hers on already.

I hit the hatch as we Prepared to board. We checked the loads in our sidearms and were ready. We ran into the airlock and cycled the Blood Oath's side. Ri peeked around the corner and showed five fingers and four. Nine enemies in sight. I nodded back, and she rolled into the corridor with me right behind her. We came up shooting, and annihilated the Leopards in record time. Even with two PuNCH pistols, Rilar STILL got more kills with her one Rail.

I prefer PuNCH pistols for fighting aboard ship, as Rails can puncture the hull if you miss. Rilar, on the other hand, doesn't miss. Her 3mm hit every single target she aimed at.

Three more rolled into view from the left, and I popped two as Ri popped the last one. We advanced with weapons at the ready and saw that all hostiles were down.

"Hello! Captain Bloodskull! This is Dex Relway. Your enemy boarding party is down and out." I smiled as the biggest woman I'd ever seen stepped into view from the cockpit corridor. She had green hair and black irised eyes with red pupils.

She was an Amazon. Male Amazons exist, but they never leave their home planet, and are kept as mates for the Warrior Women who run the show. It's feminism in the extreme.

"Thank you, Captain. We are in your debt." She bowed. "Can you aid us with further repairs? We need to get to engineering and stop an Aquataine leak."

"I can do that, Captain. And call me Dex." I bowed to her. I turned to Rilar. "Can you get that leak locked down, Ri?"

"No problem, boss." She smiled and ran back towards the engine room.

"Then call me Harrana. Free Horizons, Dex." She smiled, and my blood suddenly ran a little cold. Free Horizons. The pirate greeting. I then remembered her from our conversation with Jeka the day before. I had to play it cool, though.

"Free Horizons to you, Harrana." I smiled a bit nervously.

"Are you an electrician, by chance?" She asked and smiled.

"As a matter of fact, yeah. What did you need?" I answered.

"We need our air scrubber circuits fixed if possible. Once our engines are back on-" She was cut off by the sound of the engines firing back up.

"Rilar's fast as both a gunner and an engineer. Chances are she used duct tape and chewing gum, though. You're gonna have to get actual repairs soon." I smiled in pride for my best buddy.

Harrana was impressed. "She's more than just a pretty face. Are you, Captain?"