Slowly Jenna turned her head in the direction of the suddenly familiar voice. The stocky form and round face of Lu Cener swam into view.
“Well, fancy meeting you here!” Somehow Jenna managed a smile as she waved at a seat,
“What are you doing here?” Lu whispered.
“I’m on the run remember, what are you doing here?”
Lu shook her head, “I took a contract to fly a ship here and have a pass to fly back to my home.” She stared at her erstwhile classmate. “After that, I don’t know.”
“I see.” Jenna mused sending a look at the unnamed spacecraft, stark and forbidding as it sat parked on its loading pad. The guard was visible and appeared interested so she knew that she didn’t have much time.
“Listen Lu I won’t explain, it’s better that you don’t know.” Jenna took a breath as Lu Cener leant towards her. “You know the Tapir Bull?”
“Of course, it’s on the far side of the annex.”
Jenna almost smiled. Any good pilot kept an eye on comings and goings of ships. It was just a smart thing to do. “Good. Go to it and talk to the captain, I’m sure you know who he is.”
“Simon Bush.” Lu nodded.
“Good. Go tell him that you are the new pilot.”
“What?” Lu started.
Looking across the open area to the ship that was her goal, Jenna repeated her statement. “Go, you have a new job. Don’t ask, just go.” A new man had joined the guard, not as big, he still radiated authority. He would be the captain. “Go.” Jenna urged the younger woman.
With a final glance at Jenna and the men gathering at the base of the access ladder, Lu nodded and left without another word.
The group now numbering four had openly watched this byplay with interest. Three left and walked over to where Jenna was sitting.
“That was Lu Cener who ferried a ship here. What did you want with her?” the captain asked.
Nothing subtle about any of these men. Jenna thought. “I didn’t want anything from her. I was surprised to see her here.”
The man grunted. “So what did you talk about?”
“I told her to see Simon Bush and tell him she’s his new pilot.” Jenna said with a shrug. “Only right I should save him the job of looking for a new pilot. I owed him that.”
None of the men’s expression changed.
“Do you know who I am?” the man in front asked finally.
“Congra, Hallard Congra. Captain of the Walter Four.”
“You really want to fly with us?”
“Yes, but I’ll add one thing.” She stood and stared at the captain. “Piloting your craft is all that I will do!” Jenna transferred her stare to the weapons master then the security guards. “Clear?”
The weapons master smiled along with a soft rumble of approval while the third man continued to glower. Congra stood expressionless, then nodded. “Okay, lets board.”
*********
On the other side of the annex, an uncertain Lu Cener was standing in front of an impassive Simon Bush and his unhappy looking bridge crew. It was with some relief to Lu that Simon just nodded and said, “Let’s get aboard, we have to move to a loading slot for our cargo.” He turned to Ressi Blue. “Get her signed in.”
As the pair left, Junt turned to his captain.
“You sure about this?”
“We expected this,” Dirk answered, “and if Jenna picked her, this pilot will be ok.”
“Yes,” Simon agreed, “a woman of Christos pays her debts.” They boarded their ship discussing the cargo they were now going to carry, Jenna of Christos was in the past and all but forgotten.
*********
Onboard the Walter Four, Jenna was ready to depart. The controls were the same as the mid-sized freighter she had last flown before being recommended for the advanced course, which itself was the final prep course necessary for acceptance into the Legion, a small number of pilots took a different route into the legion than the usual induction of recruits. That loss was a bitter pill for Jenna but she thrust it down as she activated her station.
Running through the warm up and pre-departure checklist, she had the usual hitch’s and bugs to clear up, programs to sort into their proper order. The bridge crew here was limited, just Congra and the weapons master whose name Jenna had learnt was Tembra. She had also met the engineer, Hallie.
If Congra had any issues with the way Jenna ran the pilots station, he didn’t mention them but fell in with Jenna. On the other hand Tembra was openly pleased, answering crisply back and confirming receipts of whatever Jenna sent his way.
“Told you Hallard,” He commented at one point, “I have flown with pilots from Christos before.”
“Okay, Tembra, you win.” Was the grudging response. Jenna felt that grudging seemed to be the ship’s captain default position.
“Pilot station ready.” Jenna announced. “Ready to depart. Warning broadcast enabled.”
“Confirmed, station advises they are ready to activate departure procedures.” Congra replied.
A fraction later Jenna announced, “Anti grav lifters engaged, legs retracted, secondary doors open. Backing out to exit door.” There was silence for a fraction, then; “Secondary doors closed, decompressing departure hanger.”
Finally, “Main doors open, backing out and rotating.” Jenna’s hands flew across her board. “Scanners on full, departing to hyper threshold.”
“Update from local space control.” Congra stated in a bored tone. “Seems a legion task force departed to the seventh cluster a couple of periods ago.”
“Same node?” Jenna queried.
“Yeah, Rockmans Galaxy lower node Blue.”
At that, Jenna grunted as she announced. “Approaching hyper threshold. Engine room, going to main engines.” The usual sensations flooded over the crew as the ship transited to hyperspace.
*********
The Walter Four was at least a hundred years old but well maintained. Strictly utilitarian, it carried few of the niceties of larger dual purpose ships who also carried passengers. However Jenna saw possibilities in the large cargo space. This was empty except for a shuttle craft.
Sweat rimmed Jenna’s body as she exercised. Flexing her short, broad bladed and razor sharp sword, she whirled, spun and jumped in a coordinated series of martial arts moves. At first alone as she preferred, the sounds of her exercises inevitably attracted attention from the security team on board.
Watching for a fraction, the men, Tembra and three soldiers, who also acted as cargo handlers, expressed admiration about Jemma’s athleticism and skill.
“Now that’s what I call a dance.” Roger, the tall one, who had first watched her said, clapping his hands. The second, a shorter man with cruel yellow eyes that made Jenna’s teeth clench, gave a soft laugh. The third who had come over with Tembra simply said that he would enjoy learning her workout.
“Sorry Macil, I can’t do that.”
“Why not?” Bendrick, the one with the cruel eyes demanded. “You put on a good show for us, now you say no?” Swaggering forward, he stopped a few steps from Jenna.
“It is not permitted…” Jenna began.
“Screw that.” Bendrick sneered, “I’ll show you what you are permitted.” He reached out to grab Jenna and snarled when Jenna smacked his hand away and took two quick steps to towards the center of the cargo bay.
“Don’t touch me, ever!” She hissed. Even watching her antagonist, Jenna was aware that Congra, wearing a blue flight single suit like hers, had joined them along with Hallie, the engineer. Like the three mercenaries, Tembra was wearing red. The engineer worn black.
When Macil and Roger stood and made to move forward, Tembra stopped them. “It’s between the two of them.” He said, sitting back and clasping his big hands together, nodding to Congra as he did.
Bendrick considered the woman in front of him. An experienced fighter, he knew better than to just rush in and try to grab her. Instead he circled her and looked for an opening. Thinking about how Jenna dealt with the pilot Pressis, he moved in. While ready for Jenna to sidestep, he wasn’t ready for the foot to his groin followed by an elbow to his jaw.
“Never touch me,” Jenna hissed again, “that was your one warning.” She added as the stunned man landed on the deck. Turning away, Jenna picked up her towel with her left hand. As she did, Bendrick, rage clear on his face bounced to his feet and charged Jenna, ignoring a shout from Tembra to stop.
Warned by Tembra’s shout, Jenna twisted and drew her sword at the same time. Bendricks eyes bulged as he saw the sword too late. Still twisting, Jenna swung her sword with deadly skill and the onlookers stared as the head of the would-be assailant bounced on the floor, Jenna stepping to the side as the rest of the body followed it.
Silence followed, then Roger spoke. “Nice move, I want to take a closer look at that sword Jenna if you don’t mind. It looks effective and useful in close quarters.” Chuckles followed and Congra stepped forward as Macil left.
“The idiot got what he deserved!” He said. “Jenna, it’s your mess, you clean it up.” He poked a thumb at Roger. “They will help.”
“I will have to freeze him until we leave hyper.” Jenna pointed out.
“There’s room.” Hallie said in a bored voice.
“And sanitise him.”
“Just the bag is enough. We can flash freeze the bod.” Hallie left, almost colliding with Macil as he returned with a body bag.
“Had to find this.” He said. “Don’t use them much.” The grin sat easy on him as they started with the messy process.
I guess Bendrick didn’t have too many friends here. Jenna thought as she helped Macil lift the body into the bag, both taking care not to get any more blood on themselves then necessary.
They all chuckled as Roger lifted the head up saying, “Poor, poor Bendrick, you just had to be a bigger arsehole!” The head was deposited with the rest of the body and frozen. After they had exited hyperspace, the body would be dropped into whatever star was handiest.
That done, they turned to cleaning up the cargo bay. This was easier and with the help of cleaning droids, the cargo bay was soon cleaner than it had be for a long time! The three crew members quickly cleaned themselves, changed then ate. It was ship-time for lunch and Jenna was hungry.
