REBELS AND SAVIORS

Armada

Sean tried to get Michael to talk during the thirty-six hour trip to the Etruscan system, but about twelve hours into the journey it was apparent that Michael wasn’t in the mood to discuss anything, and especially not Maria.

It was hard to decide what Michael was pissed off about most, the fact that Maria didn’t even bother to try to crash the salvage operation, or that he had to leave without knowing where she was and what she was up to.

“This love thing...it really sucks, huh?”

“What?” Michael looked at his friend and frowned at being pulled from his own thoughts.

“Being in love...it sucks.”

Michael just grunted. Being in love was inconvenient at the worst of times, but remembering the last few times with Maria...how she woke him that morning, and even how she invaded his space...it was hard to hate something that gave him a sense of belonging.

“It’s tolerable at times.”

“Maybe you’ll get over it soon.”

Michael was amazed at the sudden stab that remark caused in his chest. Get over it? Get over Maria? All he knew was that someday, one day soon, she was going to step into a machine called the Granilith and she would be gone. Somehow knowing this made it worse. Max didn’t know in advance he was going to lose Serena, not until the moment he actually did. But Michael didn’t have that luxury. He wasn’t looking at an endless road, but rather a road with a definite end.

“Yeah...maybe I’ll get over it.” Michael went quiet again. Sean finally gave up and went in the back compartment to get some sleep.

Several hours later Michael called, “Sean, we’re almost to the Etruscan star system. Can you get the sensors online?”

Sean came forward and took the co-pilot’s seat. The navigator was already plotting their entry into the system and out of the slip stream. Sean pushed his sensors to the max, which was beyond their normal capacity. Maria had helped him tweak them a few weeks back.

As soon as they emerged, Sean began scanning the field. This operation would require them to set down on the Etruscan’s ruling planet of Zion and discuss terms and sign contracts. But once they entered the system, Sean immediately searched the Nebula for their salvage. It was always best to have an idea of the complexity involved so the proper fee could be charged.

“Michael, we’ve got a problem.”

Michael turned in his seat. “Tell me.”

“The Nebula is a Class Four One with an ionic displacement field. There are active ionic showers, and I am locating a ship trapped in the center of the field.”

“That must be the salvage. How big? Can we pull it free, or are we going to need to dock and evacuate the crew and cargo?”

Sean looked at Michael, the worry plain on his face. “It’s a full brig ship riding adrift.” Sean double checked his sensors. “Michael, there’re no life signs.”

“The crew’s dead?”

“I don’t think so. When Maria tweaked our sensors, it made it easy for us to scan internal areas of ships. Michael, it’s on automatic pilot. It’s a dummy ship, a decoy.”

Michael looked at him sharply. “Fuck! Full sweeping scan! They were expecting the Shiva, not just the Vishnu. They’re out there, and they’re waiting for the rest of us to catch up.”

Michael took his controls off automatic approach to the planet of Zion, and quickly raised all his shields to maximum. Arming his weapons array, he called to the back for his men to arm the aft gunneries.

“Strap it in boys, looks like an ambush.” Michael swiveled around to his navigator. “Plot me a slip stream out of here. Fast!”

“Michael, too late. They must have read our weapons and shields coming online. They’re powering up.”

“Who? Who’s powering up?”

Michael followed Sean’s view. A full fleet of Imperial cruisers. “Fuck me!” Michael took pilot control and employed diversion tactics, staying clear of any larger ship’s tractor beams. “Sean, tell me something good. We’re not lasting long in this.” Michael looked back at his navigator trying to get them a plotted course. “Chas, today would be a good time to jump out of here.”

“Working on it, Commander.”

“Work faster!” Michael cussed as he avoided oncoming cannon fire. “That good news would be appreciated, Sean.”

“Maria tweaked our shields and weapons as well?”

“Dammit, Sean, I said something good.”

Sean looked out the viewer and checked his sensors. “Too late. First battalion of fighters coming in. We’re toast.”

“Not yet, and not before we take some with us.”

Michael piloted the ship through the worst of the attacking fighters, his gunners taking out as many ships as possible. Sean targeted the larger ships' forward gunnery arrays to take them out as they passed. The shields were holding, but they took full hits to the port nasails, and their environmental dampers were offline.

“Sean, I lost an engine.”

“Direct hit to the coolant tank, I can’t repair it.”

“Sean, I need that engine. I can’t jump into a slip stream without it.” They took another hit and Sean slammed forward and then to the side directly, into Michael with their heads hitting hard.”

“Shit, get off me! Get me my engines back!”

“I can’t. The forward shovels are toast, ballast  is gone, and the inertial dampening field is going.” Sean rotated in his seat checking his control panels trying to control a fire in the front impulse engine. “The shields are holding, but another direct hit to port, and they’re gone.”

Michael looked at Sean. “Transmit a distress warning to Shiva. Word is, 'We’re gone; she is not to pursue'.”

“Communications are down, and they are blocking all transmissions.”

Michael’s jaw clenched. His eyes narrowed as he took out more of the smaller fighters. Lining up his run, he slipped between them drawing the fire power of the larger Imperial cruisers to take out their own ships. Using Maria’s method of letting the stronger opponent use their own strength against themselves, he almost decimated the attacking battalion.

But there were more.

Sean was impressed, but the odds were too steep. “Michael, don’t be stupid. What are you planning?”

Michael just shrugged. “I’m thinking today's a good day to die as any, and I’m taking some of those sons-of-bitches with me.”

Sean read over Michael’s console and noticed him targeting one of the large Imperial Cruisers. They were lining up for a dead man’s run with direct impact.

“Michael, we’ll never penetrate their forward shields. It’s suicide.”

“We’ll penetrate if we flood the compartment with antimatter before impact.” Michael looked at him. “We take out as many as possible so Shiva doesn’t land in the middle of a firefight.”

Sean looked at him as if he was insane. That would cause a cascading reaction that would not only blow the Imperial cruiser, but many of the ones around it.

“You’re a crazy bastard.”

“I am.” Michael began the run by clearing the road along the way, taking out smaller ships, but sustaining massive damage. Max. Maria.

“Michael wait! I’ve got increased fire power coming over us fast!”

“Another fighter battalion?”

“Negative. They’re not targeting us. They’re taking out the surrounding fighters.”

They watched as a full spread of torpedoes fired over them, straight for the Imperial cruiser they were targeting.

“Those torpedoes will never penetrate the shields.” Michael held his course.

“Michael! Power back! They penetrated!” The full spread torpedoes went through the larger Imperial cruiser’s shields as if they didn’t even exist.

Michael quickly changed course, and tried to distance himself from the larger craft before it exploded, taking everything with it. His inertial dampers were gone, and the final ballast was blown to hell.

“Sean, sound for impact. I’ve got a dead stick. We’re going in.” Michael couldn’t see the ship that had come to their assistance. The engines were roaring as he tried to hold the ship steady, but it was in gimbal lock, as the shakes and shimmies increased. “What are my shields like?”

“Gone before we clear the upper atmosphere. We’ll go in burning.” Both men looked at each other and braced themselves. Before they went down, they saw another explosion as another cruiser was taken out.

~~~

“Helmsman, set a course, full speed.” Max rushed to his chair in the Bridge. The entire flight deck was in chaos as all stations were manned. “Battle stations. How soon can we make the Etruscan system?”

“With full engines through a slip stream, earliest is eighteen hours, Cap.” Sam turned in his seat. “It’s dangerous. If we deviate in the stream for even a moment, we’ll be pulverize.”

“Do it.” Max cussed a full stream of vitriol. “Batten down the stations! Full alert! They must have entered an ambush. All hands to battle stations, and running lights only.”

Alex entered the Bridge and took the science station. Looking at Max, the two men understood much. It had to be Khivar, and if it was, he would need a full fleet to board Shiva.

“Did Michael send anymore information, Max?” Alex asked quietly.

Max just shook his head no. “It wasn’t Michael. It was a witness to the Vishnu going down.”

“Any coordinates where they went down?”

“Zion. Location unknown. I hope it was the capital city. Those bastards will pay for their part in this.”

Alex didn’t say anything. Max was feeling the separation from his twin, and killing an Attilaan twin was a serious offense.

“I’m sure Michael is okay.”

“He better be.” Max didn’t mention that he couldn’t feel his bond to his twin. With the distance separating them that wasn’t surprising, but it was still no comfort.

“Max, you should go sleep while you can.”

“I’ll sleep when I get my brother back, or when I remove any and all persons responsible for his death.”

Alex didn’t say anything else. Attilaans were warlike by nature, and blood feuds were what raced in their veins like passion. If it was war that Khivar wanted, it what he was going to get in full spades.

~~~

Michael regained consciousness to the sound of rushing in his ears, and a splitting headache. It took him a few moments to orient himself and realize that the rushing was blood streaming down his face. He had a scalp wound and it was bleeding like a bitch.

Shaking his head to try to restore his normal vision, he looked over at Sean who was still out. Sean had a large gash across his forehead, and his left arm was at an alarming angle.

“Sean? Come on buddy...stop sleeping, you lazy bitch.”

“I hate you...” Michael just smiled at his friend’s voice, but the slurring of his speech worried him.

Looking over his shoulder, he saw Chas. He had taken a piece of shrapnel in the chest. Reaching over in pain, Michael closed his eyes. Leaving the flight deck, he entered the forward compartment. Some of his team were already waking and helping others.

“Jonesy, what’s the situation?”

The large dark man looked at Michael with bloodshot eyes, and just shook his head. “Ten dead and six wounded.”

“Make that eleven. Chas didn’t make it. Take Reis to get the wounded out and collect all ordinance.”

“Aye, Commander.” Out of a crew of twenty-seven, he had eleven dead and seven wounded counting Sean. That left only nine men able to fight including himself, and Michael couldn’t move his right arm without almost passing out from the pain. He still had double vision and a rushing sensation in his ears that wouldn’t stop.

They set up a defensive perimeter, but they needed to move away from the wreckage. It would be the first place the Imperials would come. Michael had one of the men strap his right arm in a sling, and then reconnoitered to surrounding grounds trying to find a defensible area.

They collected water, supplies, additional live rounds and laser rifles. The area was a dense forest with minimum visibility - hardly an ideal area to defend.

Michael returned to camp, and sat next to Sean who was sweating. His arm wasn’t just broken, it was a compound fracture that broke through the skin. They had covered it as best they could, but Sean needed medical attention soon, as did his other men.

“I found a defensible cave, but it is five clicks to the north. There is no way to move all of you at once, and I’ll not leave any behind. Three of you won’t make the move.”

“Leave us and go.”

Michael took a drink of water, and tried to ignore his increasing headache. “Shut up Sean, or I’ll beat you bloody myself.”

“Michael, save those that can be saved.” Sean was having a hard time breathing. He didn’t want to mention the rib that seemed determined to puncture his lung, so he remained silent. “Shiva won’t be able to punch it even in slip stream under eighteen to twenty hours max.”

“She’ll be here.”

“I know.” Sean breathed in a hushing breath. “Look, if I don’t...”

Michael just swore and interrupted him. “Dammit, Sean. I told you to cut out the dying shit!”

Sean finally held his tongue. Michael didn’t look that great either. He was better than most, but even Sean in his state could see that the man had a concussion and his right shoulder was fucked.

“So this 'love' thing. Does it really feel that terrible?”

Michael closed his eyes and put his head back. He was on sentry duty in an hour. Letting himself think of Maria, he softly answered Sean, “It’s...I don’t know. Confusing. But it makes me care about things, about her...and about making it home.”

Sean was silent for a moment, thoughtful. “That must be nice. I can’t remember the last time I cared about anything, or even home.”

Michael just passed the water to his friend, but Sean didn’t take it. He was unconscious again. Michael didn’t sleep. He just kept watch over his friend.

“Commander, we’ve got movement coming from the North.”

“Full spread. Weapons on kill. I’ll circle to the left, you cover the right. Leave three to protect the wounded.”

Michael moved as fast and quietly as he could through the brush, but his arm was hampering him. Pausing and listening, he heard the movement again. It was in front of him and to the right. Anticipating the position of the intruder by dead reckoning, he aimed and waited for the next movement.

When the movement came it wasn’t where he expected it to be. It was directly behind him. Swinging quickly, his gun was to the forehead of his attacker, as was hers to his.

“God help me, Michael...if you shoot me, I won't ever sleep with you again! And forget about anything else!”

“Maria.” Michael slumped back and dropped his arm.

“Miss me?”

Michael's only response was to cuss.

~~~

Maria scanned the wounded, and paid special attention to Sean. She had brought as many supplies as she could carry from her own ship.

“I sent a communication to Shiva,” she told Michael as she ran a medical scanner over Sean, gazing at him in concern. “Internal bleeding. Compound fracture, concussion, fractured rib and a punctured lung.”

Michael was digging in her pack. “It was you that took out the Imperial cruiser?”

“Yeah...abandoned partner to the rescue.” Maria said dryly.

“I thought I told you to stay put.”

“You know, could you just be a little more ungrateful, or more of an asshole? I didn’t like you out here alone getting into trouble. You do do that, you know.”

“I get...” Michael just closed his mouth.

“I found the Vishnu. She went down hard. I spent a little time wiping away your tracks and building a false trail. They'll circle back around soon when the false trail ends.” Maria leaned in and kissed Sean on his forehead. “I’m sorry I didn’t get here before you took so much damage. For a second there, I thought you were starting a suicide run.”

“Shocking how it can look in a battle.” Michael said dryly.

“Hmm...” Maria ran her scanner over him. “Your right shoulder is dislocated. Your thick head took a bad bump, and that scalp laceration needs to be closed.”

“I’m fine.”

Maria just looked at him with disbelief and concern. “Either way, I can’t fix you right now. We need to move to a better location.”

“I know, but there is no moving some of them, not the distance we need to go.”

“I’ve got a cave...”

“Five clicks to the north. Yeah, spotted it myself.”

“That’s where I set down. It’s got a clean water supply as well.”

Michael looked at her, sitting down hard. He was tired. “You might notice it's too far for us to travel and transport everyone.”

“No, it’s not. I’ll open a distortion field. It will be as simple as taking a few steps.”

Michael looked at her, not sure he was understanding what she was saying. “The thing that Alex was doing?”

“Yeah. I can do it on a world in limited space. Anything larger, and it’s difficult. For that I would need help in the form of a machine such as my ship or the Granilith.”

Michael took in what she was saying. “Then why the hell didn’t you open one when we were trapped on the Saratoga freezing our asses off?”

Maria just scowled at him. “If you remember, first I was half frozen and my brain doesn’t work in the cold, and I was also without air.”

Michael conceded the point, but just barely. It wasn’t a good idea to give Maria too much room. She was able to squirm out of a lot.

“Okay, whatever. Just open this stupid thing and let's get everyone undercover.”

They quickly fixed everything for transport including the wounded. Maria would have to make two trips. She opened the first field and most of the wounded were taken through. Going back, they collected the last of the supplies and weapons, along with the remaining wounded.

Moving inside the cave, Maria tossed Jonesy some emitters.

“Set these up around the opening to the cave - both sides. They’re a security field. I use them when I camp on planets with large wildlife. It keeps you from being eaten while you’re sleeping.”

Jonesy smiled at her. “Yes, Princess.” Michael just growled at Maria’s latest conquest.

“Neat little thing those emitters, Maria. They should keep the Imperials out.”

Maria looked down at the now awake Sean. “They will, but it's false hope. They might not be able to enter and kill us, but they can just target this hillside and bring the mountain down on us in a rush of stone.”

Sean looked up at the ceiling of the cavern. She was right. The shield kept their area safe from invasion, but not from a cave-in.

“Great. So what do you suggest, Princess?” Sean asked, ignoring Michael who was looking paler as every moment passed.

“That we go out and hunt them down before they hunt us. You Attilaans know how to hunt, don’t you?” Maria teased.

“Aye, that we do.”

“Good. But first I need to do some repairs on the Commander. That shoulder needs to be reset.”

Maria reached down and kissed Sean gently on the lips. “Don’t go anywhere, sweetie, and ignore the Bellowing Bitching Bear.”

Maria went over to a resting Michael who had silently watched her interact with Sean. He was quiet. The pain was starting to really take its toll, but his vision had finally cleared. Now he was only seeing doubles and not sets of doubles.

“Sean?”

Maria knelt down beside him. “He needs more medical care than I can give him. I stabilized his arm, and sealed the gash on his head, but the internal bleeding is going to take Kyle’s special touch.”

“Did you give him something for the pain?”

“Yeah. But my stuff and yours is dwindling fast.” Maria took his head and looked at the scalp wound. “This isn’t too bad. Scalp wounds bleed like crazy, but it’s not serious.”

She quickly cleaned and sealed it to keep infection and dirt out. Kyle would need to  finish it later.

“Maria.”

“Michael?”

Michael said softly, “I’m glad you’re here.”

She looked down at him with a softness entering her eyes as she searched his face for humor or sarcasm. Leaning down, she kissed him lightly on the lips, avoiding his tongue. They needed to finish this first.

“You ready to set your shoulder?”

Michael groaned. “Do I have a choice?” She just shook her head slowly. “Then do it.”

Pushing his shoulder firmly against a wall, she added her weight to the front of his shoulder and pushed hard. Michael actually shouted a nice plethora of obscenities that had Sean chuckling. Maria felt the shoulder move back in place.

“It’s going to continue to hurt, but you should be able to use it now. When you don’t need it, I want you to rest it in a sling.” Maria quickly immobilized his arm in a sling.

“Take it off me. I need the arm until we can be rescued.”

Maria  took his face in her hands and kissed him. “You scared me, Commander. For a moment back there, I was afraid you were going to be gone for all time, heading for that damn cruiser.”

Michael started to say something smart mouthed, but stopped. His eyes met hers, and suddenly all those off-handed remarks were gone - meaningless under the power of her regard.

Michael couldn’t break her stare. She pulled him close and as each part of her touched him, the heat spread and created a cascade effect that he could feel everywhere. Michael felt the creeping stain of red moving up his neck as his body felt like it was steaming. Neither of them could control the desire. His ever-present erection was painful against the restrictive cloth. A kind of madness overtook them, and there was no concept of prudence.

She placed a hand on either side of his face and turned his head so her lips had access to his. Michael relaxed and let her have the lead, refusing to even pretend to resist as she deepened the kiss. Her tongue slid into his mouth, and he felt another wave of desire rush from their mouths, down his neck and settling into the most appropriate places on his body.

Michael broke the kiss and moved his head to her neck. They were both panting now and all he could think of was that there was nothing to stop them. He couldn't imagine what their combined body temperature was at that moment, but it had to be somewhere between hell and a nuclear meltdown.

“You know, there are wounded people watching you two. Think you could wait until you’re alone? Not that I mind watching because watching is fine with me, but...”

“Shut up, Sean.” Michael said in a husky voice.

Maria laughed softly against Michael's neck as she heard Sean’s singsong voice bitching in the background.