DR: Well, not as many reviews as I had hoped, but I'll post this anyway.
Kaylee: Awwhh, you're sweet.
Dr Keller: That you are.
Bit: Whoa... Kaylee in stereo.
DR: Enough Bit. Little foreword: this chapter departs from Serenity to go visit a certain beautiful captain, whose about to face one of the nightmares of the Blue Sun system...
Chapter 9: Reaping Reavers
In the depths of the huge system, far from any of the planets or trade lanes, a sleek, lean ship glided forwards with grace and latent power. The lean destroyer was steadily circling around the star system, mapping out all the planets... in particular, those with signs of human life.
Within her armoured hull, the Colonial crew went about their duties quietly and without fuss. Most of them were finding this long mapping mission tedious, even dull. Still, it was giving the new crewmen and women time to adjust to ship board life.
On the bridge, Captain Athena was doing something she had never done before: she was dozing in her chair. With everything running to routine, there was little for her to do.
However, just like her crew, she was ready to spring into action at a moments notice.
And fate rarely leaves people alone for long.
The Communications Officer frowned, pressing the headphone to his ear a little. The Gamma frequencies had long ago been abandoned by the Colonials, but here they were still the primary means of transmitting data over short and medium ranges. At longer ranges however, signal lag & degradation made hearing messages difficult, at best.
He twiddled the dial a little, trying to find the correct frequency that matched the faint, static laced words he thought he'd heard. Just as he was about to give up, the words came through much clearer.
After listening for a moment, he realised that this was big.
"Captain?" He called out, turning his chair to look up at her. "We're receiving a distress call."
Athena, awoken instantly by the officers' call, sat up straight in her chair. "Locate the source, and pass the coordinates to the helm." She then took a deep breath. "Let's hear it."
The bridge speakers began to crackle: not because the speakers were faulty, but because the signal was broken. Never the less, the words – and the emotion underneath – came through loud and clear.
"... repeat, tiss is the Transport ship Rejackenar, we arr being chased by Reaver ships! We'rrr at full burn, butts not enough! Theyll be on top of us in minutes! Any Alliance ships in range, please assist! We'rrr carrying nearly theee hundread people, many of them children! Repeat, we ave Reaver ships hard on our tail!"
"Got them sir." The sensor officer called out. "One ship, light cruiser size, eighty-two degrees off the starboard bow. There are at least nine ships in close pursuit."
"Any other ships close by?" Athena had to ask.
"Negative Captain. Only a couple of small ships, and they're turning away from the chase."
Athena sighed, then hardened her expression. "Helm, plot an intercept course, best speed."
To an outside observer, the Rosetta swung about to point almost directly to starboard, and then seemed to leap forwards as her engines blazed with power.
For the next couple of minutes, the crew sat silently, the boredom of earlier gone, replaced with nervous tension. On the bridge, the Rejackenar'scontinued cries of help echoed about, getting clearer agonisingly slowly.
The Rejackenar was an inelegant vessel, with a bulbous midsection, a blocky rear section containing the drives and crew quarters, and a small blister above the bow containing the bridge. Modest sized engines were at the four corners of the main hull, clearly intended for landing on a planets surface. In contrast, the Reaver ships running the bigger ship down were misshapen, scarred hulks, their outer hulls torn and twisted, daubed with corrupted Kangi characters. Several of the Reaver ships sported grisly trophies, charred human remains literally tied to the craft. Further corrupting the ships outlines were jagged pieces of metal welded onto the surface, jutting out like spines and blades randomly. The lead ships had already armed their grapples, both cable and magnetic, in anticipation of the prey ship coming into range.
Within the Rejackenar families clung together in fear and panic, barricaded within their cabins. Others had armed themselves with whatever they could find, and waited for the assault. Those in the crew who were not required to fly the ship had ransacked the small armoury, and along with those passengers who had their own weapons gathered, ready to defend the ship. None of them however had any hope of surviving the attack.
On the bridge, the ships captain paced about, one hand resting on the holstered pistol at his waist. Tall, blonde and with a craggy face, he was clearly a descendant from Scandinavian people. Right now that heritage was strong, as the grim face he wore made those crags deeper.
"How long have we got?" He asked the bridge at large.
"Less than two minutes before they overhaul us." Was the resigned reply. The bridge crew had all but given up hope.
"Contact ahead sir!" The pilot called out. "It's... Holy Jesus... its closing fast!"
Before any of the other crew could respond, a strong female voice came over the comms.
"Attention Reaver ships. Break off your attack now, or we will make you break off."
Truthfully, Athena didn't expect the Reavers to take any notice to her broadcast. Mal and his crew had filled them in about the Reavers at length. However, on some level they were still human, and Athena just couldn't go in weapons blazing without giving them at least a chance to see reason.
The only Reaver response came a few seconds later, with the lead ship firing its harpoon at the Rejackenar. The hardened spear of metal stabbed through space, trailing a long, heavy chain behind it. It glanced off the large ships stern, before jerking to a halt, at the end of its tether.
"Well, there's our answer." Athena muttered to herself, before speaking up. "Gunners, fire at will. Take them down."
Everyone who had a view craned their necks as they watched the sleek Colonial ship race past, quite a few jumping when ruby red darts lashed out from across the ship. Behind them, the mass of Reaver ships crumpled and erupted into explosions at the gentle caress of those bolts.
It was perhaps one of the shortest battles in Colonial history. The cannibalised and thrown together Reaver craft were simply incapable of withstanding the assault of the Colonial destroyer. Several tried to engage the new threat, but their weapons didn't even scratch the hull. Hardened steel harpoons, powerful enough to spear right through the hull of an Alliance cruiser, just bounced off the Colonial alloy hull, bent and buckled. A swarm of small fighter type craft swept in on one flank... and were just as quickly wiped out as the Rossetta's side batteries cut loose.
Athena watched in satisfaction as the largest ship in the Reaver force, once a mid-bulk freighter, was ripped in two with her ships forward beam lasers. The agile destroyer roared through the expanding debris field before coming about in a graceful arc, ready to mop anything that escaped the first attack.
Sadly, the one ship that did survive had not deterred from the original target.
"Frak!" Athena cursed when she saw the horrifically mutilated mid-range transport practically sitting on the Rejackenar's hull. In the rapidly shrinking space between the two, cables and chains could been seen, linked the two craft together with a web of steel. Already the cutting torches around the hatch were glowing, eager to saw into the larger ship.
She looked about her bridge, searching for an idea as to help. And then her eyes landed on the man stood near the entry hatch...
"Lieutenant, assemble your men in the landing bay. You're heading over there." She pointed at the Rejackenar through the view port.
X-X-X-X-X-X
Ensign Blake crouch down behind an overturned table, the shotgun he held shakily pointed at the massive hatch that separated the Rejackenar's main section from the stern. The Reavers had burned through into an empty crew compartment, and ever since the crew had been trying to hold them back. But the Reavers threw themselves at them without any regard for safety, and the crew had only a half dozen guns between them. Some of the passengers had added a couple more, but it was like trying to hold back a tidal wave. They had been forced to leave three crewmen behind, several more wounded.
Now only a handful held this position, the last before the helpless passengers. The incessant banging on the hatch as the Reavers broke it down only tore at already shot nerves.
Blake looked over his shoulder, wondering where the XO had gone to. 'The gorram coward must have jumped in a lifeboat!' He thought. Another look at the now buckling hatch, and suddenly the idea of climbing into one of the coffin sized pods seemed like a good idea...
The thumping of heavy boots behind him drew his attention, and he looked back to see the XO step back around the corner... and for several well armed and armoured soldiers to trot round right on his heals.
Each trooper wore a tough looking tan jumpsuit, over which they had layered thin panels that almost totally encased them. Although the panels were painted a darker brown, the way the light reflected off them suggested they were metal. The helmets these men wore were open faced, with a lowered orange tinted visor before their eyes. Each one carried a large pistol in a hip holster, a set of grenade like objects, and a large black rifle. As more and more troops moved in, the lead set began to take up the empty slots in the hasty defences. More than happy to let professionals handle the Reavers, Blake stepped aside into a cross corridor, letting one of the soldiers drop down to one knee in his place. As the trooper raised the rifle to the ready, Blake got a good look at it, and he realised that it was much more advanced than anything he'd seen before.
The soldiers formed a pair of short double lines, the lead four of each kneeling behind the overturned tables on each side of the passageway, the rear four standing behind them. Into the gap left by the lines stood two more men. One was dressed like the others, but instead of a rifle like theirs he held a longer, narrow weapon, with an armoured tube that ran from the weapon to a bulky backpack he wore. A tiny blue flame burned at the muzzle...
Blake's eyes widened. 'They brought a flame-thrower?!'
The other man was armoured just the same as the others, but had a definite air of command. Instead of the rifle he held a smaller weapon in one hand, more along the size of a carbine. In the other he held a sabre. Gold sparkled from his collar.
As the hatch finally yielded, the officer barked out his command.
"First rank... FIRE!"
X-X-X-X-X-X
The Rosetta idled alongside the much larger Rejackenar, awaiting a report from the Marines that had been sent across. The shuttle remained where it had docked, an expandable cofferdam reaching out from the much larger craft and latching on around the marines craft.
The Colonial Marines were an evolution of the old Colonial Security force. Recognising a need for a capable, dedicated ground force, the marines were a fusion of Colonial technology with Earth based history, training and experience. With literally hundreds of ground wars under their collective belts, the Earth origin humans had a lot to offer the well equipped, but poorly experienced Colonials.
The marines were intended for the most brutal fighting; boarding actions, initial combat landings and surgical strikes. They were to hit hard and fast, the heaviest weaponry they would field being a variant of the new Blade Raptors. Miranda Schubaltz had, reluctantly, agreed for her new zoid to be sampled and cloned, to be used only by the new marine force. A more regular force, pieced together from the nations of Zi, would handle more conventional battles.
Right now though there were only four platoons of marines, one on both the Rosetta and Phoenix, with the last two on Thunderchild. Of those four, only the two on the battlecruiser had their full range of weapons and personal, including the zoids. The other two were currently operating light, with only two dozen men and a third of their heavy weapons. Right now the platoon assigned to Rosetta was fighting off the Reavers on the Rejackenar, their first 'Baptism of Fire'.
At last a signal came through. "Captain Athena. We have cleared and secured the Rejackenar's rear quarter. There are high levels of radiation coming from within the Reaver ship however, so I'm reluctant to order my men in there without suitable equipment."
Athena nodded. They had detected the dangerously high levels of radiation the Reaver ships emitted earlier. How the Reavers survived that...
"Did you find those crewmen that had to be left behind?" She asked.
There was a long pause before the Lieutenant answered. "Yes sir... what was left of them, anyway. Frankly Captain, the inside of the Reaver ship smells like an abattoir... one that hasn't been washed down in years."
There were a number of nervous swallows and grimaces at that statement. After taking a moment to placate her stomach, Athena gave her orders.
"See to detaching that ship Lieutenant. We'll blast that... abomination, into scrap once it's clear of the Rejackenar."
"Understood." There was click as the channel closed.
Athena leaned back in her seat, a small smile on her lips. Once the tale of this rescue got out, and she was sure the crew would start telling anybody they met, then it would give the Colonials a positive image in the minds of the people. If they could win the people over, then the corrupt government that oppressed them would fall that much easier. 'Hearts and Minds' Sire Masters had called it.
As she allowed the tension to flow out of her, Athena wondered what was happening both across the system and back home...
DR:
No, that's not a bit of foreshadowing there. Next time we return to Persephone, as the Ball gets underway... and the other half of Atherton's dasterly plan in put into motion...