WP3025 Chpt 14

<<Next Chapter - Return to Story Index - Next Chapter>>
==Chapter 14 - Winged Praxis (Battletech 3015 CYOA)==
----
===Thoughts about relationship ethics===
Dropship Siduri, Zenith Jump Point
Aitutaki System
Principality of Regulus, Free Worlds League
23rd January, 3015
----
"Looks like breakfast didn't sit well with you, Sir." said Captain Kumari as I entered the hangar.
 
"I'd believe a lot out of Siduri's chefs," I said, "but I don't think even they could cook something that could leave me bruised like this, Captain."
 
"I wasn't referring to the bruises, Colonel. More the pensive look on your face."
 
I nodded absently. "That's not the breakfast," I said, still turning over my thoughts about relationship ethics. "But speaking of the bruises, did we get lucky?"
Kumari frowned. "It looks like we might be getting the dregs. I think Crossbones Squadron ended up coming away better from the impromptu recruiting scheme. We got three sniffs, but only one of them is probably worth recruiting at this point."
 
"I was afraid of that," I said with a sigh. "Well, with luck, they'll head out Canopus way and we can snag them there. Talk to me about the potentials?"
 
"The worthwhile one is a tech. If they're not lying about their scores, they should be able to train up to ASFs without too much trouble. The complication is that their sister is also applying, and she's armor track." The look on her face said that she didn't see what use we'd have for an armor crewer on the Siduri. "The last one is jump infantry."
"Officer track?" I asked.
 
"Infantry and armor," she confirmed. "The tech is under specialized training."
 
I hummed. "Well, if they're willing to put aside their ego, we could use the treadhead and bouncy for astech and security duty."
 
"Blower driver, actually," corrected Kumari. "We could do that. It might shake loose a couple of others if we make a hire or two. Shall I have the files on your desk?" She didn't look that sanguine, but equally, not inclined to argue about it.
 
"Please." I nodded to the Corsair. "How's your bird coming along? Will it be ready for the airshow on Regulus?"
"Assuming nothing goes wrong, we should be able to get it into something approaching parade condition before the show. We need to discuss parade paint, incidentally."
"I was thinking we'd go with the mottled haze gray." I said. "Play up the Battle of New Olympia angle." I also knew that it was a good low-visibility scheme against oxy-nitrogen skies, which was a plus in my book if we didn't have time to swap from parade to theater-specific camo.
 
"On Regulus?" asked Kumari.
 
"Good point. Leave it with me, and I'll get back to you on it. I suppose we can always change it when we fold in TASS."
 
"Yes, Sir. I also wanted to talk to you about the flight roster for the show."
 
I raised an eyebrow. "I was assuming that you and Terri would be flying the demonstration as the primary pilots."
 
Kumari shook her head. "The Tomlinsons are too tied to the Marik loyalist faction to play well on Regulus, even if the Principality did just declare for Janos Marik. You've had some stick time in her F-90. Do you think you can make it perform for the demo?"
 
"With some time for refresher, sure. So, you're thinking the two of us for the roster?"
 
"No sir, you and Kundaraju. Both of you are competent pilots, and a demo shouldn't be an issue, but neither of you has announced a show before. It'll also be worth it to have a recognizably Regulan pilot in the air."
 
I nodded. "I see your point. Assuming Terri doesn't have an issue with it, I agree."
 
"Sir, you can order it."
 
I shook my head. "Can't, actually. She's an owner-operator, and this isn't combat-related. I can ground her, but the Stingray doesn't fly against her objection unless it's related to the primary contract or combat ops." I shrugged. "Shouldn't be an issue. I don't think she'd refuse."
"As you say." said the older lady.
"But with that caveat, I agree to the roster. If Terri won't play ball, do you want me or Socks flying?"
 
"You," she said without a beat. "I've got more to work with on the announcer patter with you, and since you're the CO, we want eyes on you. I can have Kundaraju do meet-and-greet on the flight line, or perhaps do some co-announcer work."
I nodded. "Sounds like a plan."
 
"We also got a message from Crossbones Squadron, asking when we'd like to dance?" The captain inclined her head towards me with a questioning tilt.
 
A nagging memory resolved itself. "We talked about perhaps doing some DACT with them last night. Do you think we can fit it in?"
 
She considered the question for a second. "I think we had better. No telling when we'll be able to get another chance. And you three are light on void fighting experience. Shall I arrange for the day before our jump?"
"That'd be excellent. Any other urgent items?"
 
"Only whatever is on your mind, Duster." she said, transferring from officer formality to pilot comradery.
I nodded towards the tug's cabin. She followed, and I let out a weighty sigh after she closed the hatch behind us. "I just got a reality check," I explained.
 
"I assume this has to do with Tomlinson," she said. Seeing my nod, she shrugged. "Like I said before, this is why the FWLM has non-fraternization regs. For what they're worth, anyway."
 
I bit my lip. It was well known that fraternization regs were loosely enforced, and really only at the discretion of the powerful. In some ways, I was surprised that I hadn't been brought up on them by Listz's and AMI's hatchet job. Only the fact that Terri and I were technically the same rank at the time, and the fact that it would have implicated her had saved me from being tarred with that particular brush.
"But things tend to be even looser in mercenary units. Home is the regiment, and all that."
 
"La familia," I mumbled. "I suppose." I rotated my hand. "But being CO and employer feels deeply unbalanced."
"It is." My gaze snapped up to meet her level stare. "I'm not here to sugarcoat it, Duster. You are in a position of power over everyone in the unit. That's just how things are."
"I suppose I have been, ever since I got this ridiculous inheritance," I said. "Money is power."
 
"It can certainly buy it," she said. "But you might want to consider that your relationship predates that. The two of you certainly were invested enough in the idea to be sleeping together at a military academy, despite the risk. And let's be fair, she doesn't need this work."
 
All valid points. I nodded. "Are you telling me not to worry about it, Cliffhanger? Just go ahead and rekindle things best as I can?"
 
She paused, looking like she was picking her words with care. "You may be worrying too much," she said, slowly. "But I think you'd be safer just sleeping with the Capellan."
 
I blinked. I hadn't been expecting that. "Dios mio, porque?" I shook my head and repeated myself in English. "God's sake, why?"
 
"She's obviously one of their cultural ambassadors." said Cliffhanger. "No percentage in being a spy. Capellan, sure, but…" She held up another hand. "On the other hand, Tomlinson comes with noble baggage and politics."
 
I frowned. "That's not Terri's fault," I said, remembering that her father had pretty much placed her out here as a lure for me.
 
"No," said Kumari. "But she is still wrapped up in it all. Probably doesn't know how not to be."
I nodded, uncomfortably. "And her father wants her to tie me to him."
"No idea what failure to do that would mean," said Cliffhanger. "Or what she would feel about the situation. Like I said, Duster, not here to sugarcoat it. I don't think you have a perfect option."
"No," I said, then slid my officer mask back on. "Well, Captain, I'll go speak to T-bone about the show roster and look over the possible recruits. Will you work up a DACT menu?"
"Yes, Sir." She saluted, and we left the tug.
----
===Duel in the starry Night===
Open Space, Zenith Jump Point
Aitutaki System
Principality of Regulus, Free Worlds League
25th January, 3015
----
(("Well, that could have gone better.")) said Socks as his Corsair peeled out of formation, victim of a three-wave attack by Crossbone Squadron. (("Computer has me as killed."))
 
>>"Copy kill."<< said Terri from the tug.
I was too busy to talk, flipping the Stingray end for end, and squeezing off an inhibited PPC shot at the drive flares of Crossbones' two Centurions. Shoving the throttle into overboost to try and hold the range closed longer, I was rewarded by one of the Centurions cutting its drive and peeling off, counting as a kill.
 
That was two of the six fighters arrayed against us destroyed, including a Cheetah that Socks had spitted with a 8-cm beam on their run in before tearing it to shreds with his full array as soon as the smaller beams had come in range. Technically, we were ahead in tonnage destroyed. On the other hand, they had a pair of lances to my lonesome self. Not great.
 
Stepping on the rudder pedal, I twitched my nose to the side and triggered TIC 2, scoring with one of my two beams on the Centurion's wingman. Unlike the PPC, the computer didn't reward me with a fuel detonation this time, and he left me behind, evading a second PPC shot before he slipped out of range.
 
Feeling sweat bead up on my skin from the excess heat the rapid firing of my big weapons had built up, I brought the throttle back to idle, knowing that there wasn't any point in wasting the hydrogen. Crossbones was controlling this engagement, and I had no doubt that they'd be reforming for another massed run. It'd take them time to kill their velocity and…
 
"Puta madre!" I swore at myself, flipping the Stingray over and boosting away from Vixen and her light fighters. I hadn't been thinking correctly about void fighting, focusing on keeping my nose on the bandits. But that lent them closing velocity, allowing them to get in range for their 5 and 3 cm lasers all the faster, while only having to suffer a volley or two from my longer ranged guns. If I killed my relative velocity, perhaps built a vector away…
 
<("Very good, Duster.")> said Kumari over comms. <("Better late than never. You might be able to get out another cycle of fire this way. Two if you're lucky. Keep an eye on the threat board, and cut the flip back as tight as possible.")>
 
"Retro thrust?" I asked as 4.5Gs pressed me back into the seat.
 
<("No. Save the thrust for translation burns.")> I heard her tapping a finger against the tug's comms panel. <("If you're having trouble judging the flip, you can keep nose on and use retro thrust to kill closure, but you won't get as much for that. And it can help dodging missiles or ballistics.")> Left unsaid that it was almost useless against energy weapons.
 
"Copy." I grunted. On the combined sensor fusion display we used for space combat, the 'threat board', I saw Crossbones start to close the distance again. Unlike atmospheric combat, where sensors could be degraded by terrain or weather conditions, causing the DI computer to throw out potential contacts as ghosts, space was a realm of almost perfect information.
Combined with the obscene engagement ranges, most of void fighting was done heads-down, maneuvering off the information the threat board gave you, only looking out of the cockpit to fire weapons. Some pilots even set up a HUD symbology repeater overlaid on the threat board so that they could continue to fight entirely heads-down.
 
I saw the argument, but I found myself looking out the canopy when it was time for shooting. I found it good practice for those times when void fights did turn into a rolling close-range tangle.
Just before the speedy little targets of Crossbones Squadron came into PPC range, I chopped throttle and flipped Terri's Stingray end for end, lashing out with a whip of lightning. The leading Cheetah rolled out of the way, but the Sabre following it was less lucky, taking it on a mostly denuded left wing. Its DI computer shut down the laser mounted there, then that sides' entire RCS system as it computed the likely damage. I could tell the pilot was struggling to figure out how he could maneuver effectively. You could do that in space, with no aerodynamics to worry about, and no ground to crash into.
 
I didn't give him the chance, sighting in through the zoom of the HUD and giving him another PPC bolt as soon as the indicator flicked back to green. His torch winked out, and I slewed the nose to the remaining Cheetah, firing first one, then the other large laser. Heat flooded the cockpit, but I was too focused on the fight to pay it much heed.
 
Both hit, but it was Vixen's turn to be lucky, as the damage was restricted to armor ablation on the nose and wing. And I couldn't push the heat much further without risking the F-90's FLCS glitching on me. As it was, the two large laser shots paired with the PPC were pushing it a bit.
 
Snarling, I switched targets, not wanting to give both the remaining Sabre and Centurion a planform shot at me and laid into the Sabre with the PPC and my 5 cm lasers.
 
The return fire from the light fighters clawed armor from all over my wings and nose before flashing by. The computer didn't flag any breaches or critical damage, but I knew that wouldn't last for another pass. On instinct, I slewed the fighter around, practically standing on the rudder pedal and kicking in lateral thrust.
 
The Crossbones fighters were fanning out on the egress, and my impulsive spin gave me an angle on the Centurion I had smacked earlier. Ignoring the rising heat, I gave him TIC 1 and 2 right up the torch.
 
The computers called that a solid kill, even as I felt the fighter's FLCS go squirrely on me. Advancing the throttle for another potential shot, I blinked away droplets of sweat, only to realize my mistake.
 
Vixen and the Sabre, who I would bet was being driven by Candy, had reversed into me, and I had just helped them close the range. I could only get my guns on one of them. Figuring the Sabre for the easier target, I pulled my nose around triggered the large lasers, knowing I needed to unload some heat.
The cockpit got a bit cooler, and the computer reported the Sabre as a kill. Good news.
Vixen was saddled up on my tail. Bad news.
 
I cursed and spat as I tried every trick I knew to get the little Cheetah out in front of my guns, to no avail. Vixen carved me apart, and there was nothing I could do to stop it.
 
As the computer decided that I had gone up in a fuel detonation, the comms system toggled back over to a general channel. "Good kill." I said. "Congratulations. Crossbone Squadron."
 
<<"Thank you, thank you.">> replied Vixen, not quite gloating. <<"Well flown to you too.">>
 
{"Yes,"} said Candy. {"Any reason you went for me in that last split?"}
 
I stretched, feeling like a worm on the line as the straps held me in place against the freefall. "Figured that you were the easier target. Less thrust to spare."
 
He chuckled. (-"Well maybe. But you should have gone the other way. Your previous volley knocked out all of my guns."-)
 
I let the words sink in, then swore. "Carajo! No! I was so close!"
 
The other pilots had a chuckle at my expense, then Captain Kumari cut in. <("That's actually an excellent point. If Socks hadn't gotten unlucky with his damage, he would likely have stayed in the fight for another couple of passes at least. If he had stayed in longer…")>
 
<<"You would have won.">> filled in Vixen. <"As it was, it was Phyrric for us.">>
 
(<"I think you have something with your combined attack strategies,">) said Cliffhanger. (<"But you might need a larger unit to make it work. As it is, you risk losing too much strength with each pass and can't hammer even a medium fighter under except by luck.">)
 
<<"Yeah,">> said Vixen. <<"That is the drawback of light fighters.">>
 
I nodded to myself. Having spent most of my flying career on the other side of the equation, I knew plenty about the limitations of interceptors. I hadn't quite appreciated just how bad it was in a void fight, though, having done all my fighting in atmosphere and all my practice fights against other Sabres. Perhaps, I thought, there was something to the whole medium fighter concept after all. "It highlights the utility of heavier birds for securing objectives." I said. "We couldn't have run down you guys, but if we're sitting on something you have to strike or if you're trying to kill us, it's a mite trickier."
 
{"We probably would have disengaged after taking out Socks."] said Candy. {"Gone back for repair and refit, then taken you on fresh."}
 
"Makes sense." he said. "Don't want to bite off more than you can chew, and with me being such a prime cut of meat…"
 
We laughed. "I'm afraid we need to be heading back." I said, checking the mission chrono. "Gotta redock and be ready for the jump. Hope we see you in Canopus."
 
<<"Might do.">> said Vixen. <<"If you're lucky and we have the same tastes in pleasure circuses. Good flying against you all. Clear skies and good hunting.">>
 
"You as well." I said as I brought the Stingray in for a landing on the tug to the inexpert marshaling of our new hires. We had debriefing to do.
----
===Airshows and Palace of Mirrors===
Dropship Siduri, Planetary Transfer Burn
Aitutaki System
Principality of Regulus, Free Worlds League
29th January, 3015
----
"What do you think, Sir?" asked Kalpit Datta, TASS's chief tech by default and brother of the best swordswoman I'd ever seen as he stood next to Cliffhanger's Corsair.
 
I whistled as I looked over the dark purple, silver, and gold paint scheme that I had kludged together from color shifting the Black Eagles' air show paint. "Better than I'd hoped," I said as I checked the lines on the purple eagle that stood out on the silver belly. "Very good job, Datta," I continued as I looked over the gold highlighting the wings and fuselage, nodding at how it stood out from the purple base. "Socks and I will have to bring our A-game if we're going to live up to your painting."
 
"Thank you, sir." Kalpit had a justifiably pleased look on his face. "I've got Ikshita and Jai finishing up the Stingray now."
 
"Good." I nodded towards the deck that separated us from his sister and the jump infantry officer. "They aren't giving you any trouble, are they?"
 
"No, they're being good little astechs. It helps that we don't have to do anything too complex yet. And that you pilots have been pitching in."
 
"Still less than we were doing a week ago." I said, walking over to the ladder that led to the Siduri's bay deck. "Carry on."
 
"Yes, sir."
 
I climbed down, watching as the erstwhile astechs passed a UV lamp over the new paint on Terri's F-90, accelerating the curing process. There was still work to do, so I left them to it, as much as I wanted to corral Ikshita to arrange a match later in the evening. Instead, I walked over to Terri, who was standing by the side with a paint gun. "Hey."
 
"Hey, Gid."
 
"Still feeling okay with me flying her for the show?"
 
She gave me a wan smile. "Better if you quit asking me."
 
"Lo siento."
 
"But yeah. No one I'd trust more at the stick. And Cliffhanger's right about me being a liability for recruiting on Regulus. I just…" Her face screwed up. "I just wish I knew what was up with Cliffhanger."
 
"Huh?" I hadn't noticed anything different with Captain Kumari.
 
"She…she feels like she's suspicious of me." She crossed her arms. "I don't like it. Don't get it either." She scuffed her boot across the deck. "Kinda wish you were bunking up here, rather than on Terra-deck with your Cappy bedwarmer."
 
"Terri…"
 
"That wasn't fair, sorry." She sighed. "Mad at myself, really. She seems nice, the times I've seen her."
 
"I haven't really seen her much outside of meals." I said. "All this," I gestured to encompass the bay that TASS occupied. "Has been keeping me plenty busy."
 
"I know. I just…I wish I knew you still wanted me."
 
I couldn't help it. I snorted. "Of course, I still want you, Terri."
 
"Doesn't feel like it, sometimes." She looked away.
 
"Hey." I took her hand. "I still want you. Us. I'm just trying to figure out where and what, like we said. Things have changed. Lots of things have changed. The want? That hasn't changed." I turned her face back towards me. "Okay?" I asked, staring into her eyes.
 
She nodded and placed her lips on mine. All my concerns melted away for a few precious moments.
 
Too soon, our lips parted. I squeezed her hand. "After the airshow, do you want to see the Palace of Mirrors?"
 
"Gideon Zalman, did you just ask me out on a date?"
 
I winked. "Surely did."
 
 "I'd love to."
----
*;Notes from the Author : We've made it to the Regulus system, with the unit starting to grow. There's some more scenes to cover before we make it to Canopus, but I can promise an absolute minimum of at least one jump, if not more, per chapter moving forward.
----
<<Next Chapter - Return to Story Index - Next Chapter>>
14