out.
“Had you practiced before hand?”
“Oh, yes. Endless blasted drills.” Still grinning he rolled his eyes. “We didn’t know why, of course. And troopers like me—we just watched while the weapon crews went through their paces. It all made sense later, of course.”
“No planetary bombardment?”
“At Jossur? No. We didn’t stop, the ship hardly slowed down. You could call it a fly-by shooting.” He laughed at his own joke.
“What about the other ship?Intrepid ?”
“Hey, I’m impressed. Not too many people know about the attack on Jossur, let alone the names of both ships.”
“What didIntrepid do?” Allysha pressed, leaning at Erascu across the table. He looked a little startled.
She backed off and forced a smile. “It was an interesting maneuver. Quite daring and unexpected, I’ve heard. I’m curious to know what it was like actually being there.”
Erascu smiled. “Yep, daring and unexpected. That’s Grand Admiral Saahren. He is amazing. Best there is.” He drank some more beer. “Intrepiddid what we did—jumped in, blew away a target and jumped out again.”
Allysha rotated her glass between her hands. No planetary bombardment. Back home on Carnessa, everyone believed the two Confederacy cruisers deliberately bombarded the planet from space. Her father had died there, collateral damage in a war that wasn’t his concern. Saahren had told her he hadn’t ordered a planetary bombardment but she didn’t believe him. Maybe Erascu was mistaken. After all he was just a trooper; he said so himself.
“We had a kind of competition going betweenProserpine andIntrepid while we were practicing. You know what I mean? Who’d get the first kill, who’d get out first? Ended up, there was nothing much in it.
ButProserpine won. The captain announced the results when we finished training.” He said the words proudly.
She chewed at her lip. “You know, the ptorix version of the story is that the planet was bombarded.”
He waved the remark away. “Didn’t happen. I don’t know how anyone could believe that. We found out later the battleshipProserpine blew away crashed into their orbital space station and they both came down on the planet. Sounds right to me.” He shrugged. “Anyway, all you have to do is look at our logs of when we exited shift space and when we went in again. No time to achieve orbit, let alone bombard anything.”
“Can you be certain?”
“About that, yes. See, when you come out of shift space and go into orbit, the ship has to slow down a lot or it’ll overshoot. Troopers get a feel for it. You go into orbit, soon you’ll be in action. She hardly slowed down at all, just like in the drills.”
“What made this maneuver so different?”
“The timing and the pin point accuracy. We transferred in very close to the target. They don’t usually do that because if you make any sort of mistake…” He lifted his shoulders. “And then the shot had to be just
so or we would’ve missed.”
She nodded. Everything Erascu said meshed with what Saahren had told her. Damn it. Always assuming that he hadn’t planned that the crippled warship would hit the space station. She supposed that was possible.
He finished his drink. “Another one?”
“Er… no. I’d better go. I’ve got work tomorrow and it’d be nice to get some uninterrupted sleep.”
He smiled in sympathy. He would have known almost as well as Allysha how many times her sleep was interrupted during the past week. “True enough. Come on, then.”
Carrying Allysha’s bag, he maneuvered his way between tables. The bar was even busier and louder as more people came in after work. Somewhere under the chatter, a popular song struggled to be heard.
As
they passed one group a fellow sergeant called out to Erascu. “Hey, Ras. Introduce us to your girl.”
Erascu smiled and shook his head. “Not now.”
“I’d like to ask you out,” he said as they walked through the park. “But I get the
“Had you practiced before hand?”
“Oh, yes. Endless blasted drills.” Still grinning he rolled his eyes. “We didn’t know why, of course. And troopers like me—we just watched while the weapon crews went through their paces. It all made sense later, of course.”
“No planetary bombardment?”
“At Jossur? No. We didn’t stop, the ship hardly slowed down. You could call it a fly-by shooting.” He laughed at his own joke.
“What about the other ship?Intrepid ?”
“Hey, I’m impressed. Not too many people know about the attack on Jossur, let alone the names of both ships.”
“What didIntrepid do?” Allysha pressed, leaning at Erascu across the table. He looked a little startled.
She backed off and forced a smile. “It was an interesting maneuver. Quite daring and unexpected, I’ve heard. I’m curious to know what it was like actually being there.”
Erascu smiled. “Yep, daring and unexpected. That’s Grand Admiral Saahren. He is amazing. Best there is.” He drank some more beer. “Intrepiddid what we did—jumped in, blew away a target and jumped out again.”
Allysha rotated her glass between her hands. No planetary bombardment. Back home on Carnessa, everyone believed the two Confederacy cruisers deliberately bombarded the planet from space. Her father had died there, collateral damage in a war that wasn’t his concern. Saahren had told her he hadn’t ordered a planetary bombardment but she didn’t believe him. Maybe Erascu was mistaken. After all he was just a trooper; he said so himself.
“We had a kind of competition going betweenProserpine andIntrepid while we were practicing. You know what I mean? Who’d get the first kill, who’d get out first? Ended up, there was nothing much in it.
ButProserpine won. The captain announced the results when we finished training.” He said the words proudly.
She chewed at her lip. “You know, the ptorix version of the story is that the planet was bombarded.”
He waved the remark away. “Didn’t happen. I don’t know how anyone could believe that. We found out later the battleshipProserpine blew away crashed into their orbital space station and they both came down on the planet. Sounds right to me.” He shrugged. “Anyway, all you have to do is look at our logs of when we exited shift space and when we went in again. No time to achieve orbit, let alone bombard anything.”
“Can you be certain?”
“About that, yes. See, when you come out of shift space and go into orbit, the ship has to slow down a lot or it’ll overshoot. Troopers get a feel for it. You go into orbit, soon you’ll be in action. She hardly slowed down at all, just like in the drills.”
“What made this maneuver so different?”
“The timing and the pin point accuracy. We transferred in very close to the target. They don’t usually do that because if you make any sort of mistake…” He lifted his shoulders. “And then the shot had to be just
so or we would’ve missed.”
She nodded. Everything Erascu said meshed with what Saahren had told her. Damn it. Always assuming that he hadn’t planned that the crippled warship would hit the space station. She supposed that was possible.
He finished his drink. “Another one?”
“Er… no. I’d better go. I’ve got work tomorrow and it’d be nice to get some uninterrupted sleep.”
He smiled in sympathy. He would have known almost as well as Allysha how many times her sleep was interrupted during the past week. “True enough. Come on, then.”
Carrying Allysha’s bag, he maneuvered his way between tables. The bar was even busier and louder as more people came in after work. Somewhere under the chatter, a popular song struggled to be heard.
As
they passed one group a fellow sergeant called out to Erascu. “Hey, Ras. Introduce us to your girl.”
Erascu smiled and shook his head. “Not now.”
“I’d like to ask you out,” he said as they walked through the park. “But I get the
Similar Books
