"RED LIPS AND WHITE FANGS" BY: Fenris Wulf
Jack Tolliver picked up his spanner and attempted again to adjust the receiver shielding on the HPG relay station's reception dish. His EVA suit felt heavier than usual and he certainly wanted to finish the job, and be gone. Jack hated this Station, he always felt cold here.
"Heads up Jack!" A voice came over his comm. set. "Looks like there's a Dropship closing in on this position." It was Troy, the Shuttle Pilot who had ferried him out here. He must have been asleep at the stick, to give such a late warning.
Jack looked over his shoulder in time to see a Leopard Class Drop Ship emerge from behind a planet shadow, less that a kilometer away. The Dropship looked like an oversized Aerodyne, a stark contrast to the Egg & Sphere Shaped Dropships that were so common. He could see that the Dropship did not bear any symbols of allegiance, and only had "REDEMPTION" lettered in Gold under the bridge's forward view ports. He also noted that as the Dropship lumbered past the relay station, that 2 "Cheyenne" class Aerodyne Fighters were flying escort. One of the fighters veered starboard and began to close on his position.
He thought that the pilot was going to attack but the aerodyne slowed and when it was within a few meters of the station it banked to port, and began a lazy circle around the station. Jack could see into the cockpit now, and the pilot turn his head, and flipped up his visor. Jack looked on in disbelief, as the pilot looked directly at him, it was a woman. She smiled and waved to Jack. Jack just smiled in a stunned sort of way, and waved back absently. She gave a thumb up sign and then pressed her index finger to her ruby lips, signaling him to "be quiet." She maneuvered her Cheyenne closer, circled the station 2 or 3 times. She began adjusting some controls and equipment in the cockpit. Once she seemed satisfied, she looked up at Jack, smiled, and then blew him a kiss. She engaged her Cheyenne's afterburners and banked starboard. She burned the engines long, and rejoined The Redemption on its mission. Jack could only float in stunned silence.
"Jack! What was that all about, I thought that fighter was going to attack!" Troy's voice sounded excited, and a little agitated.
"I don't know, but that was one good looking female!" Jack said as he stared at the fading light of the afterburners on the departing fighter.
"Female?" Troy sounded incredulous. "Well, good looking female or not, that fighter hacked my systems! She stole all my flight information; my transceiver number, my re-entry security codes, AND she's scrambled half of my systems...I had better call this into planetary Control."
"I wouldn't do that if I were you, Troy." Jack said has he turned back to the relay station, and started back to work.
"Why the hell not! That bunch is obviously up to no good, man!" Troy stammered.
"Exactly! And how bad do you think they would feel about locking on of those Naval Gauss Cannons onto an old wrench monkey, and some lazy, backwater shuttle pilot?"
Troy's voice came over the COMSET again, this time more tinged with more fear than indignation... "You don't think that that good looking Fighter Pilot would kill us? Do you?"
"Oh yeah, I know she would." Jack laughed as he moved the spanner into its final position.
"How can you be so sure?" Troy said again, voice cracking a bit.
"She smiled at me...and behind that pretty little smile...I saw nothing but fangs." Jack said, grunting, as he finally wrenched the spanner into the position he wanted. The red signal readout shot up fourteen bars out of red and into the green range. The HPG relay station was operational again.
"Yeah, I think we should wait until we are on the ground again before reporting this..." Troy said a bit less apprehensively. "That my friend, it the smartest thing you will do all day."
"By the way, what did she look like?" Troy almost sounded more intrigued then afraid now.
Jack sighed, and closed his eyes, bringing her into his mind, and described her to Troy..."Blonde hair, green eyes, pouty red lips...and the silliest call-sign I have ever seen, so she must be one hell of a pilot!" Jack said has he pulled himself hand over hand along his safety line toward the open shuttle bay.
"What was it?" Troy asked.
Jack smiled and pulled himself into the airlock, and shut the door; his voice crackled as the Airlock pressurized...
"Marzipan."
