an endless voyage ch 46: The Admiral's Birthday
Imported from SF2 with no description.
Two weeks since leaving the planet with the technologically primitive sentient kangaroos behind,
the fleet was once more out of hyperspace for sceduled maintenence, breaking in their new engines.
This time, there was a large comet nearby, which the Confederates, Russians, Chinese and British all wanted to take scans of. Seeing as they needed to remain sub-light for at least 24 hours anyway, Maya had agreed the fleet would fly a course paralell to that taken by the comet so they could all take all the scans they wanted.
It was half an hour after breakfast, that Feena contacted the bridge, asking Admiral Maya to come down to the main fighter bay. Figuring it would only take a moment, Maya left Kayla in command, and headed down to see what Feena wanted. When she arrived, Feena pulled the tarp off the freshly restpred Phoenix Mk II, and then an instant later the captains from all the Earthships beamed over bearing gifts. Vice Admiral Karen slid out from beneath The Raven II (Sarafina's Raven) and shouted "Surprise!"
All the fleet captains then jumped in with "Happy Birthday, Admiral!"
First was Captain Jim, of the CSS Lee, who gave Maya a fifteen piece coinset of Confederate half-dollars. They were a special edition minting, featuring the greatest Confederate Generals, and the 14th and 15th coins featuring Jefferson Davis (#14) and Chloe Landry (#15)
Next, Captain Patterson gave Maya a ship in a bottle he'd made, featuring the seafaring vessel H.M.S. Queen Elizabeth, that was his ship's ancient namesake.
Captain Poloniev gave Maya an ornate hand crafted chess set, glass pieces with a wooden board which he said was a family heirloom from his great great grandfather who had made it. "I would very much enjoy playing a master strategist of your level, Admiral." He added. "I brought a bottle of the finest Russian Vodka for the match."
"Shure 'nuff." Maya said. "Feena, clear that ordinance cart s' we kin use it fer a table, an' git us a couple chairs."
"Yes ma'am." Feena said.
While Feena got things ready, Captain Cheng gave Maya a hardback copy of the teachings of Tsun Tsu, which she'd secretly had Molly translate into Canid.
Captain Mike gave Maya a bottle of Kentucky Bourbon.
and one by one the other Confederate captains gave Maya their gifts as well. A wad of Confederate money, a hand painted portrait of Maya in her command chair, a gold pocketwatch, a Confederate 6x51mm Assault rifle with a crate of ammo, a LED flashlight, a jar of peanut butter cookies, a jug of moonshine, some porn DVDs, and various other odds and ends.
Vice Admiral Karen gave Maya a set of urethral sounding probes, and a very passionate kiss, saying she'd give the Admiral something even better later.
Tom, who had changed into his flightsuit already, gave Maya his old "Johnny Reb" combat knife.
The rest of the crew would all give Maya their presents later, as many were flying combat patrol or otherwise busy.
Feena finally had a suitable table set up, and had bolted spare fighter seats to metal crates to serve as chairs, and Maya started setting up the chessboard while Captain Poloniev opened the vodka he'd brought and poured them both a drink.
"Would you like to place a wager on the match, Admiral?" Captain Poloniev asked. "If I win, we eat Russian food at next week's meeting."
"Shure nuff." Maya said. "An' if'n Ah win, we play again every week. 'S tough findin challengin opponents."
"Yes I know what you mean, Admiral." Captain Poloniev said. "We are agreed."
"Shure 'nuff." Maya said. Then to everyone watching; "yer welcome t' watch, but no talkin. Ah want no distractions s' me an' Dimitri kin both play at our best."
Once all had agreed, Maya and Dimitri each made their opening moves, taking a swig of their drinks while contemplating the next, and at last the match was underway. It was certain to be a very interesting match, as Dimitri was a chessmaster back home, so he was good at not giving away what he was thinking, in addition to planning moves carefully, and likewise Maya's typical stone-faced expression betrayed nothing. It was hard to say who was doing better at the moment, and Tom who was a casual chess player himself -and had taught Maya the game- seemed to think they were pretty evenly matched.
The enormous room was very quiet, with only the faint hum of overhead lighting, and the distant whine of the ship's engines cutting through the silence. Occasionally one would hear the players drink, the rush of liquid as thir glasses were refilled, and the click of the glass pieces being set into place as the players made their moves.
All eyes were on the chessboard, as even those unfamiliar with the gamewere very curious to see the outcome.
So far, Tom's prediction seemed to be spot-on. Both Maya and Dimitri had lost their queen's bishop, and two pawns. Tom felt a shiver of excitement as he noticed Maya setting the trap she had confounded him with so often, but of course Dimitri saw right through it and managed to counter with an equally complex series of carefully planned moves that netted him one of Maya's knights but had cost him a rook. Maya could have taken his queen, Tom noted, but would have had to sacrifice her own to do so, and in doing so would have left a gap in the overlapping movesets of pieces she had protecting her king.
Dimitri had hoped Maya would have taken his queen, overlooking the two pawns diagonally behind it, as overlooking pawns was a common mistake which would have cost her her own queen, but Maya was not the sort to overlook anything as he discovered. He couldn't help but smile at that. This was the first time since leaving Earth years ago that anyone had played so flawlessly as to really make him think hard as to his next move. There were some skilled chess players in the fleet, of course,but none that matched wits with him the way Maya did.
Genius that she is, Vice Admiral Karen picked up how to play the game just by watching them. She stood closest to the table, and kept refilling their glasses as the match went on.
She hoped to see Maya eventually prevail, ''for the honor of the ship'', but mostly she just enjoyed puzzling over their strategies as each move was made.
Minutes turned into hours, as time seemed to slow to a crawl. In fact the only real indication how long the game went on, was the steadily dropping level of vodka in the jug Dimitri had brought. Each time one of them would seemingly gain an advantage, the other would pull off a brilliant move that countered it.
It looked as if the match would ultimately end in a stalemate as a result.
As the bottle ran dry, and they each drained the last from their glasses, Maya finally slipped a pawn through to reclaim her queen's bishop, and then, narrowly evading checkmate several times in the process herself, at last followed through with her endgame.
"Checkmate." Maya announced. "Very well played, Dimitri. Ah really enjoyed it!"
"Yes that was refreshing, Admiral. I look forward to playin you again." Dimitri replied.
Maya carefully packed the chess set away back into its handcrafted wooden carrying case after that, and then, while Tom took all Maya's presents to their cabin, Vice Admiral Karen brought out the smaller version of the two cakes she'd had Dawn make. It was a peanut butter cake with lioness-milk cream cheese filling and real lard based icing, and licorice bits for various pieces. It was a likeness of the Admiral, in full tactical gear with a rifle slung across her back. Captain Mike placed a candle in the likeness' muzzle as though it were a cigarette, and lit it, prompting Maya to ''make a wish'' and blow it out. Maya did just that, wishing safe journeys for her fleet in the return trip. Then, Using a laser-scalpel she'd borrowed from Sick Bay so as not to mash the cake, Karen cut a piece for herself, Feena, Tom, and each of the captains of the fleet, then gave Maya the slightly larger piece that remained, and as soon as Tom returned, everyone dug in.
Maya foodshared the last few bites with Tom and Karen, and then after that, Maya stood for a photo with Vice Admiral Karen, and all the captains of the fleet, while Feena put the paper plates and cake tray in a recycler chute.
After that, Maya and Karen both went to change in the pilots' locker room, Maya exchanging her Admiral's uniform, and Karen her Vice Admiral's uniform (both full dress honors) for Avenging Aces flightsuits.
In spite of being considerably smaller than Maya, the seat od Karen's flightsuit looked as tightly stressed as Maya's was.
The fleet captains had chosen to watch the mock combat demonstration to come from the great chasm of Excalibur's open fighter bay doors, as with the forcefield preventing decompression, it gave the best vantage point for the display to come. Feena had just finished topping off the fuel tanks when Maya and Karen returned.
As Karen made her way to the Raven, Maya led Tom to the old Phoenix Mk II.
"You sure this old bucket will fly?" Tom asked as he climbed into the back seat. Clearly he was much more concerned about the age of the plane than he was with riding second seat with a pilot who'd drank as much as Maya had during the chess match.
"She'll fly." Maya said. "Jus' hold on t' yer lunch, Inertial dampers wadn' 's efficient back then." She finished strapping in as she spoke.
"Just remember you cant detect The Raven so dont try." Feena told Maya, "Rely on visual line of sight alone."
"We're gonna get our butts kicked ain't we, honey." Tom remarked, fastening his helmet into place and securing his mask as Maya did the same.
"Prolly." Maya said. "But havin the level a' control fly by wire don' allow, we jus might come through."
Checking over her analog guages, Maya ran through a mental checklist, and toggled the appropriate switches to bring the main systems online, activate the fuel pumps, and finally engage the jet-starters. As the antequated engines began to spool up, Maya manually closed and latched the cockpit canopy, and then pulled the lever marked "pressurize" (in canid) and held it until a guage showed optimal pressure. The engines fired up with a deafening roar just as she released the lever.
Maya taxied up beside Karen, who was in the Raven, and already running her engines up, then locked the landing brakes, and proceeded to do the same. They flashed eachother a 'thumbs-up' awaiting clearance from the Bridge.
Finally, "Death Angel, Lovegoddess, clear for departure." Kayla's voice came through their comms.
They both released their landing brakes, and the captains of the fleet watching were treated to a great showing of technologies old and new as the old Mk II and modern Raven accelerated side by side. The deafening roar of their engines at full afterburner made it impossible to talk and be heard, but nonetheless watching the two planes of different eras accelerate, and then lift gently into the air before barreling through the forcefield keeping the air in, and out into open space.
Once they were through the forcefield the deafening roar subsided as the vacuum outside deadened the noise from their engines and the fleet captains at last could talk among themselves as they enjoyed the show.
"Lovegoddess, Death Angel." Maya said on comms. "Form up on me, once around the fleet, then yer butt's mahne."
"Wilco Death Angel." Karen said. "And we'll see about that, my sweet."
"Catch me if'n y' kin manage, honeybuns!" Maya said excitedly. "Yee Haw! Gods Ah love bein' a pilot!
"It certainly has its moments, Death Angel." Karen agreed. "Just remember I built The Raven...and lets just say I know how to squeeze a bit more out of the engines than is listed in the specs."
"Yer gonna be wishin' she's analog like mahne 'fore we're done." Maya said. "The Raven's a fine ship, but y' caint feel yer way through yer combat maneuvers lahk in a analog bird."
They met up with the combat patrol as they made their circle around the fleet, and Maya tool a page from Gunner's book, flying upside-down as she passed over the Phoenix Mk V's so close that electricity sparkled between their shields.
"Uh, Honey, any reason we're upside down?" Tom asked, as he returned the thumbs-up from Sarah, Hank, Yuri, Kelly, Danny, Sam, and many more as they passed by so close it made the hair on the back of his neck stand up.
Maya flipped the plane upright after passing the last of the patrol, and moments later Karen inverted the Raven and flew upside-down above them as Maya had done the patrol. "Jus' havin' a little fun!" Maya remarked.
They made a close approach to the comet flying like this, Then Maya peeled away in a sharp high-g turn remarking "Alrahgt Lovegoddess, 's see what that newfangled ship kin do!"
"Gods! Death Angel! You're insane." Karen remarked, matching Maya's moves. "And I thought Sarah was nuts!"
"Jus' a bit a' comet trail!" Maya said. then to Tom "The debris'll make 'er sensors 's blind 's ours."
..........
fighter bay
"That's crazy." Captain Patterson said. "What the bloody hell is she thinking! ?"
"No its brilliant." Mike said. "She's using the comet's trail to blind The Raven's sensors so they're both on equal ground."
"Lee, Jackson, and Stuart says it doesn't work." Jim said, placing a $100, $50 and $20 Confederate bills on the table.
"You're on." Mike said, matching Jim's bet.
.......................
Karen and Maya pulled out all the stops, pushing their fighters to the limit as they chased eachother through stomach-wrenching high-g turns and crazy high-risk stunts in the elegant dance of two seasoned pilots locked in a duel of skill and machine ability of close-in aerospace combat. For the moment, neither was able to shake the other, but they traded position so often neither couold get a clean shot (dummy rounds loaded with paint capsules) either.
The way Tom's vision blurred, and his stomach felt, he felt like he was the one who had drank as much Vodka as Maya had. Considering he was a decorated and seasoned pilot himself, that said a lot as to the G-s they were pulling, but Maya didn't let up. Not even when Tom remarked; "Its just a game, hoeny. ease up a bit."
"Treat ever mission lahk 's the real thang." Maya remarked, flipping the plane end over end and then accelerating toward The Raven Head-on trying for a cockpit shot.
Karen saw what Maya was doing and reacted instantly, turning The Raven up on its side as she accelerated, and touching off a burst of paint capsule AC fire in the process.
Maya dove under the oncoming fire and jinked the stick over as they passed eachother, setting The Raven spinning as a shower of sparks erupted in space where their shields ''kissed.". "Bumping" was a dirty move as it left the pilot vulnerable as they fought to regain control. Unfortunately it didn't work quite how Maya had planned. Or rather, Karen still had an ace in the hole Maya was unaware of.
<'Alright Admiral, now the gloves come off'> Karen thought to herself, forcing herself to fart as the pressure would help the seat sensor read her anal gland scent through her flightsuit, as she keyed the touchscreen sequence to override all the computer's control inhibition safeties, while quickly regaining control with careful manipulation of the flightstick and rcs pedals as she worked.
""Scentscan varified, Override accepted"" flashed in Canid on the screen, and Karen accelerated in a vertical climb as Maya fired another burst, evading the oncoming fire entirely.
"That aint possible." Tom said. He had no way of knowing exactly how fast Karen was going of course, but it looked like she was exceeding what they all knew was The Raven's top speed, and by quite a bit too.
The FTL of the Mk II was even more stripped down than it was on a Mk V, as there was no computer at all. It was basically a preset system that gave between 1 milisecond and 1/4 second at 4x the speed of light in the direction the fighter was pointing, with no provision for navigation or exit vector control. You turn a knob to set the desired time, and push a button on the side of the throttles handle to trigger the jump.
Maya used a 1 milisecond jump to catch up with The Raven, and once more worked to line up the shot, trying to keep the (+) gunsight on the nose of the Mk II painted between The Raven's engines as she loosed another burst.
A few ''rounds'' struck and The Raven's computer dialed back the shields to simulate the ammount that would have been drained, but Karen spun the Raven into a crushingly tight 180 degree u-turn, foiling Maya's aim and subsequently retaliating.
The analog tick counter registered a few hits and a gear driven mechanism reduced the avalible shield power appropriately as Maya barrel-rolled, and dove under the speeding Raven, flipped inverted briefly as she pulled off a somersault maneuver attempting to line up another shot in the brief moment she was behind The Raven once more.
It went on like this until neither plane had any shields left, and the duel became even more fast paced. One good shot was all either pilot needed to win the match, and both were equally determined to score the final blow while denying their opponent the same.
To the onlookers it seemed as if the newer plane would prevail, when Karen, pushing The Raven beyond safety limits, stayed behind Maya long enough to get a shot off, despite turbine overspeed warnings blaring in her cockpit.
The rounds "shredded" one of the Mk II's engines, (the tick counter cut fuel to that engine through a gear driven mechanism), but as Karen zeroed in for the "kill" on the wounded bird, Maya spun the plane about, using the RCS pedals to counteract the tendancy to spin out of control with one good engine, and nailed the Raven's cockpit point-blank, ending the match.
"Well played, Death Angel." Karen remarked on comms.
"Yeah, nice match. Y' really gave me a challenge an' Ah thought shure y' had me that las' time." Maya replied.
They both switched off the 'training mode' of their fighters, re-fired the engines, and flew eachother's wing like the friendly pilots (and lovers) they really were on the long return to the fleet.
"Great show both of you!" Gunner remarked
"Yes that was a beautiful display." Shark agreed
"Dammit! You had her, honey." Hank told Karen. "All joking aside though, nice match!"
and so on as they all offered words of congratulation and good sporting to both pilots for a match well played.
"We should send someone up in the Mk II with live rounds." Karen said. "Those analog systems wouldn't be affected by the charged particles in the cometary debris. I bet you could get close enough to shoot a piece off for the Earthships to study."
"Ah plan on it." Maya said.
The open fighter bay doors were fast approaching, and Tom could see the runway lights from the back seat as Maya pulled the throttles back, lowered the flaps and deployed the tailhook and landing gear. Beside them, Karen did the same in The Raven, while The Bridge directed them to assigned runways, and Feena, holding a pair of bright yellow lightsticks standing between their assigned runways, directed them in.
Both pilots cut the throttles back to idle as they felt the bump of the landing gear against the flight deck, and began to apply landing brakes. Moments later their tailhooks grabbed the arresting cables, bringing both planes to a stop. The pilots locked their landing brakes, then shut down their engines, opened the cockpits, and set about shutting everything down and unstrapping themselves.
They extricated themselves and climbed down without incident, and Tom noticed there was a definate wobble to Maya's gait. She didn't seem terribly impaired, but still it was a sobering reminder he'd just rode second seat through insanely difficult maneuvers with a pilot who was undeniably under the influence. "Buzzed'' flying was still drunk flying afterall.
Few people seemed to notice Maya's less than perfect gait however, as the back seam of Karen's flightsuit split open before they had walked more than a few paces.
"I thought the ship's tailor fixed these." Karen remarked, twisting about to examine the damage.
"Supposed t' be." Maya said. "Strongest material known."
The fleet captains all made various sexually themed comments about the Vice Admiral's wardrobe malfunction while at the same time congratulating them both on a very well done match.
Karen took it in stride. She was used to that sort of attention so she saw it for what it was, praise for her good looks rather than something to be embarassed about. "Feena, get the Mk II refuelded and loaded with live rounds while we go change." she said.
"Yes ma'am." Feena replied.
Maya pushed a comm button on the wall, "Belle, git yer sexy butt down here, yer takin the Mk II up with live rounds." she said. "Ah want ya t' shoot a chunk off the comet fer the Earthships t' study." she released the button.
"Yes ma'am." Belle replied. "I'm on my way."
The comm fell silent, and Maya followed Karen off to change. She couldn't help smiling seeing the male captains of the fleet all pitching tents as bad as Tom was, and her nose told her the female captains were similarly aroused.
Feena worked to refuel the Mk II, and exchange the training rounds in the autocannon feed magazines with standard ammunition while Maya and Karen changed back into their uniforms. When she finished, she set the empty ordinance cart aside for when Maya returned.
Belle arrived and went to change into her flightsuit just as Maya and Karen left the pilots' locker room.
Feena directed Maya to sit in the ordinance cart, which she, Karen, and two of the fleet captains each got a corner of and loaded onto a utility cart. Karen drove, while Mike took the passenger seat, and the other captains stood in the cargo section, some holding onto the ordinance cart Maya was sitting in to keep it from rolling around on the drive up to the mess hall.
When they got to the mess hall, Mike, Jim, and Dimitri helped Karen unload the ordinance cart and push it to the senior staff table, where she and Maya took their seats, directing the fleet captains to do the same. Usually this table was reserved for Excalibur command staff only, but today was a special occasion. A feast had been prepared in Admiral Maya's honor, and while the galley distributed the larger cake to all the crewmen present, the Admiral, vice Admiral, The captains of the fleet, and Tom who was 3rd in command, next in line after Karen, all took their seats at the senior staff table and the feast was set to begin. Normally people had to get their trays from the Galley, but today, Dawn had placed already made trays piled high with some of everything on the table before them, as well as extra tables in the room being piled high with the same dishes from which to refill their trays.
Maya started them off, with a muzzleful of Meat-o and some goodies dribbling from the sides of her muzzle, after demonstrating the purpose of the dipping sauce.
Everyone hungrily dug in after that.
The Earthship captains were used to some of these foods, from meals served during the weekly meetings, but still there were a lot of dishes which came as a complete surprise. the intense scents, flavors and textures came together un uniquely wonderful ways none of them knew possible, much less expected.
"I can not help noticing the potent aroma of every dish." captain Meilin Cheng pointed out. "I feel it contrasts the flavor very well."
"Fer us, scent's 's important 's flavor if'n not even moreso." Maya said. " 's no such thang 's bland Canid food."
"Yeah." Tom said. "Its easy to get hooked too. Eat Canid food every day for a while, and Earth food seems bland by comparison."
Some of the bridge crew were seated at the table now as well, having recently arrived, and to Mike's delight, Erika was among them. "Sorry my love." Erika told Mike. "I had to go with Kelsie to Sick Bay for her preg check."
"Is she?" Mike asked.
"Not yet but only because Hotshot didn't know he needed to get the shot. Kelsie said he's getting it today though so that will soon change." Erika explained
There wasn't a lot of talking beyond that. Most people were too busy eating. There was a bit of smalltalk here and there, occasionally. But it wasn't until they needed to refill their trays that the captain of the C.S.S. Kentucky remarked; "That was a nice bonus, your flightsuit splitting like that, Vice Admiral! I'd heard you all have the same anatomy as ferals but seeing it for myself, well, now I know I'm gonna accept that cute Husky girl asking me out on a date."
"Yeah s' a good ahdea." Maya said. "Serenity's a lot a' fun. Y' won' regret it, captain."
"Is there anyone on this ship you haven't slept with, Admiral?" the captain of the Jefferson Davis asked.
"Shure nuff." Maya said. "The survivors a' the the three ships that're livin on Excalibur." she paused then, "All Avengin' Aces personnel're sexxed in."
"Yeah." Tom said. and then to the captain of the Kentucky; "I didn't know you were zoo."
"I was "KYhuskylover" on several zoo sites." the captain said. "I believe you were "LGDbuttlover" if I remember correctly."
"Yeah that was me." Tom said.
"Any particular sport you follow, Admiral?" Captain Patterson asked next. "I've always been a fan of womens futbol myself. "
"Ah lahk watchin an' competin in deathmatch, fighter or mech battles." Maya said. "If'n only physical sports count, then MMA. Ah lahk both the Earth variant an' the various mammilian styles."
"I used to be an MMA fighter myself." the captain of the Jefferson Davis said. "Care to go a few rounds once our stomachs have gone down a bit, Admiral?"
"Ah kin always use a sparrin partner!" Maya replied.
"Back home I enjoy competitive Chess, and ice hockey." Dimitri said. "But I like to watch you Confederates racing those crazy jet cars on the international channels too."
...................................
Hank was flying Belle's wing as she set up for an attack run that would take her through the comet's trail, on approach to the icy core. He couldn't stay in the soup long once they entered the tail, as charged particles would play hell with his newer Mk V's systems, but even when he had to back off, he would stay as close as possible spotting for her.
"Looks like thats as close as I'm gonna get." Hank said. on comms. "Gotta pull out of the soup but I'll stay as close as I can. Good luck."
"Wilco Gator, and thanks!." Belle replied. then quietly under her breath she said to the comet, "Alright you big ugly ball of ice lets see how you handle this." To her wingman she said, " Target in sight, commencing attack run."
There was a small pocket of calm where the trail joined the main iceball. The haze thinned enough Belle could make out various bits of rock and cosmic debris imbedded in the ice. As she centered her gunsights at the base of a chunk which looked to contain the most variety she couldn't help thinking sending someone from the mining ship in an EV suit to take core samples with a portable drill rig would have been more effective. Nonetheless, she lined up the shot and squeexed the trigger. A cloud of ice shards and spacedust rolled up where her autocannon bullets struck. The microgravity of the comet let the shards bounce and roll and the cloud to flow like liquid.
Belle stitched a jagged line of bulletholes along the base of the chunk, until it finally broke free.
<So far so good> she thought. She still had to somehow get the chunk out of the comet's trail so it could be easily recovered, but the hardest part was over. And better still the piece looked to be a good fifty meters or so in size. Big enough it could easily be broken into enough chunks for all the earthships to have a piece to study.
She tried her magnetic grapple, used for retrieving escape pods and cockpit modules first, hoping there was enough ferrous content in the rock within the ice that it would work. It stuck, but when the cable pulled taut, the weak magnetic grip it had on the chunk failed, barely imparting any motion to it at all.
As she retracted the cable for the grapple, Belle said on comms. "No joy on the grapple, Gator. I'm going to have to try something else.
"Understood." Hank replied. "Just be mindful of your fuel guage, I'm good for now but that can change fast."
"No worries Gator, we'll be headed home long before we're bingo-fuel." Belle replied.
<ok how about this then> Belle thought, toggling the hydraulics to lower the tailhook, and making a close approach lightly skimming the fragment with her shields.
The hook slid along the craggy ice gouging a deep line as it went. It seemed like it was never going to catch anything, but then all of a sudden Belle was jolted forward in her seat as it snagged tight on a chunk of ferrous rock. Wasting no time, Belle made a slow turn away from the comet's trail as the fragment was dragged along behind her. "Gator, I have it." she said on comms.
"I have visual on you." Hank replied. "Looking good, watch your airspeed as we head back. dont want that thing becoming a projectile as we approach the fleet."
"Wilco Gator, I'll keep it under 400 kph." Belle replied. "Lets go home."
"Lead the way." Hank replied.
And with that they set about returning to the fleet. It was a slow tedious journey at 400kph, but any faster and Belle's plan to kill the fragment's inertia by pulling a tight u-turn before retracting the tailhook would likely fail. Even at this slow pace the stress on the rock it was stuck in would be iffy, but there was a good chance it would hold.
Even at 400kph, a fifty meter chunk of ice and rock could be dangerous if it got away from them. particularly to the smaller Earthships. Karen had added a layer of honeycombed-structure ablative battleplate to their hull armor, but even so, the support superstructure underneath not being designed the way Excalibur was, would make the projectile a serious threat.
Fortunately the rock the Mk II's tailhook was lodged against held, and Belle had cut it loose by retracting the tailhook at just the right point in the u-turn so as to kill the chunk's momentum without accelerating it in the opposite direction.
A shuttle from the mining ship set to work slicing the fragment into manageable pieces with an industrial cutting laser, while Hank and Belle refueled. Belle had gotten a feel for the Mk II now, and wanted to remain out for the duration of this patrol.
The mining shuttle sliced the fragment into several pieces, each a couple meters across, and then tagged each one with a transporter enhancer making them easy to lock onto. Not long after the shuttle reported the task complete, the first officers of each Earthship ordered a fragment beamed up into cold storage for study.
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In Excalibur's gym, after they'd both stripped down to their underwear for unrestricted movement, Maya and the captain of the C.S.S. Jefferson Davis stepped into the ring which had been set up for the match, and faced eachother in what would prove to be one of the greatest MMA matches of all time.
Technically it wasn't a ''legal'' match in championship terms, as Maya had a significant size and weight advantage over her human opponent, but there were no officials out here in The Expanse to say it was unfair.
Aside from the weight class being disregarded however, Captain Mike served as referee to ensure all other rules were followed.
Maya had to constantly remind herself to pull punches. Put only enough force into it as necessary, but not so much as to shatter bones. The much smaller human had the advantage of agility which he used to annoyingly good effect, but when his attacks collided with Maya's toned body it was like slamming into solid steel. And each time, the sudden realization just how much Maya must be holding back, sent a chill down his spine.
No wonder taking a solid punch felt like getting shot. He knew if Maya were to hit him full force, the blunt force trauma would pulverize flesh and pulp bone like a hydraulic press.
Nonetheless he stood his ground, sweaty, exhausted, and bleeding from the mouth and nose, through the full duration. Twice Mike nearly called it, but the captain managed to pick himself up at the last second, determined not to give up. He had a feeling Maya was stringing him along for the audience's sake, but he kept fighting, struggling to make use of his nimble smaller stature right up until Maya knocked him unconscious in the final match.
Doc Natalie checked him over, and he regained consciousness as she was treating his injuries.
"Nice match, Admiral." he said.
"Yeah." Maya said. "Y'all fought well. Ah really enjoyed it!"
Following the match, the fleet captains returned to their ships as soon as Natalie finished treating the captain of the Jefferson Davis' injuries, and Tom was in command on the bridge, while Maya and Karen went to Maya's cabin for some special private time. Karen had to give Maya the other present she mentioned earlier, afterall.
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