Chapter 1
The shuttle shook a bit as we started re-entry. I got that fluttering feeling in my stomach I always did when the artificial gravity really started fighting with the natural gravity of the planet. It just helped to amplify my excitement to be home. No matter how many times I visited Earth, coming home to Venus was always a great feeling.
The ship we were flying was an advanced transport shuttle of the Venusian Protectorate. The main fuselage was long and tubular, but squashed downward to form a more oval shape. It then sloped smoothly into the wings that helped in atmospheric flight. The wings likewise sloped back from the front of the vessel which gave it an almost triangular form. Once within considerable atmosphere, fins would erect from the ends of the wings and the tail of the fuselage for added maneuverability. Two turreted guns, one rail gun and one plasma cannon were also housed beneath large retractable panels above and below the center of the fuselage respectively.
As the blue sky started to push the black of space from the windows, my greasy, blonde-haired image began to fade from view. My hair was very short and combed backward, as was required for Captains in the Protectorate. My thin face, with its angular features was starting to sprout its almost invisible blonde whiskers. It looked like I hadn’t washed up in a week, when in reality, it had been only the two day flight through normal space.
Erika, my twin sister and co-pilot snorted to my left. I looked at her and smirked. “What?”
Her hands flicked a control here and another there and floating screens appeared, shifted, and changed in front of her. “You always watch the skyfade with that same dreamy look.”
I sighed heavily and looked back out the window. “It’s good to be home.” Then after a moment I looked back at her quizzically. “What are you doing? The computer is setting us down.”
I could see in her deep blue eyes, so identical to my own, thinly veiled concern. “Nothing,” she began. “I just- I think I…”
Reaching over, I touched the corner of a screen floating in front of her. With a flick of my wrist, I put it in front of me. It was the shuttle’s rear view. I could see our contrails and the heat lines in perfect clarity, but not much else. Then there was a flash of green light and the camera went dead. Almost at the same time, lights lit up all over our control panels and alarms started to blare.
Erika cursed under her breath and pulled up the damage control screen. “That was a plasma hit. We’re under attack,” she said rapidly. “Rear thruster three’s out. Docking pins eighteen through twenty-four are out.” It was my turn to curse.
“Evasive maneuvers!” I shouted at the computer, and the whole shuttle jerked starboard. A plasma bolt flashed outside my sister’s window, bright green. “Definitely pirates.”
The internal com clicked on and Senator Lacy’s old creaky voice came on. “Erik? What’s going on?”
“Not now, Senator.” I clicked off the com and then switched it back on, broadcasting out. “Mayday, mayday, mayday!” I called. “This is Senator Shuttle Kappa-One, declaring an emergency!” Again we shook and more lights came on. “Repeat: Mayday, mayday, mayday! This is Senator Shuttle Kappa-One, we are under attack by Uranian Pirates! Please respond!”
I noticed that we were flying dead straight at the same time Erika said, “Computer Pilot Out!” and two pirate fighters flashed passed us. They quickly banked to come back around.
We simultaneously gripped the arms of our seats and different screens popped up in front of us. On my screen, the front of the ship appeared and I gained complete control of its flight. On Erika’s were the main cameras for both turrets. Smoke obscured most of one screen and I heard her swear again.
“Erika!” I scolded as her chair started to spin and tilt in place. “You kiss your mother with that mouth?” The sounds of the plasma cannons slowly churning to life echoed throughout our cabin. “What was that thing the Captain used to always say to us?”
I banked hard to port and rolled, trying to give Erika a better view of our attackers with the belly gun. Not exactly what the shuttle was built for, but it worked. Instantly, she began to fire and again we shook. A green light appeared on my screen as it confirmed a kill.
Erika, through gritted teeth and in a gruff imitation of our old captain, said, “You only swear when you don’t have a more intelligent word to use.”
Again I banked and then rolled in the opposite direction and the plasma cannons thoomed. Another green light appeared on my screen. I quickly reached forward and slammed a fist into the console violently. Thankfully, the scanners rebooted and I could finally see we had two more fighters behind us. “Why don’t the scanners ever pick up the Anus gang before they have time to attack us?”
Erika fired again, but I knew she didn’t see anything. She was just trying to force them into a better position to shoot them. “What fun would that be?” This time, when she fired, another green light appeared on my screen and one of the triangles in the three-sixty scanner disappeared.
“Nice shot.”
“Shut up and fly.”
I did. But the last of the pirates was obviously the best of them. The simple fact that he didn’t bug out the moment he was alone spoke volumes. But the fact that no matter what I threw at him, Erika could not get a clear shot spoke even louder. This guy wasn’t good, he was great. The ships that the pirates used were old, rebuilt, junker, Knife class Starfighters. Compared to the Razor class fighters the Terran Naval Fleet flew, the pirates might as well have been flying kites.
Granted, I was flying a Senator Class shuttle, built big for comfort and not very maneuverable by comparison. But even when the Knife class ships where new, they still were only a step or two better than this beast. In an atmosphere, like we were, the shuttle’s wings tipped the balance toward our favor. I wasn’t a great pilot, certainly not when compared to some of the other Senator Protectorate pilots, but I could hold my own. My twin sister Erika, on the other hand, was top of our class in Starship Gunnery and still rated in the top five active officers. Our skills combined together never failed to get us out of trouble… so far.
I considered all of that quickly as I banked, turned, flipped, and generally spilled anything loose back in the main cabin all over the place. This thought crossed my mind briefly, so I clicked on the coms into the back and said calmly, “This is your Captain speaking. Anyone not already buckled in, please do so now as we are under attack from Uranian Pirates. Thank you.” I then jabbed it off.
Dropping the shuttle into a quick dive to drop off a lot of altitude, I tapped the button to turn off the artificial gravity and then leveled off.
“What are you doing?” Erika screamed. “You’re giving him the top shot!”
“No I’m not,” I replied, just above a whisper.
Then I put every Btu of energy I had gained from the artificial gravity into the thrusters and rocketed straight upward, spinning the shuttle so the underside of the hull would pass the pirate as he descended.
I could hear Erika chuckle as she understood what I was doing, but being so pinned in my seat from the g-force I couldn’t look at her. The plasma cannons thoomed as they belched forth a constant stream of plasma bolts. When it stopped, there was no green light.
“What happened?” I called, killing all the engines and leveling off.
“I… I missed…” she replied, shock quieting her voice.
The external coms clicked on and a smooth female voice licked forth from the speakers. “I have to say you are the best team I’ve ever faced. If I wasn’t so low on fuel, we’d be continuing this game. What’re your call signs?”
I punched the engines back on and nosed down back toward the spaceport. Erika and I looked at each other. “Who wants to know?” Erika asked, still looking me right in the eyes.
The voice returned just as the proximity warning light clicked off. “My call sign is Lucifer,” she said.
I swallowed.
Lucifer was the most profitable pirate known. No one had ever seen him and lived to tell the tale. Or I guess it should have been, no one had ever seen her and lived to tell the tale. A fellow pilot in the Protectorate named Gradient had once faced off with her and lost his ship. He also lost the Senator he was protecting and only survived by ejecting right on top of Luna Base. Senator Lee was later ransomed off and Gradient was flying a garbage scow.
“The gret you are,” Erika replied. “Lucifer’s a guy.”
Laughter, clean and full of joy, poured like honey into my ears. “That’s the best thing I’ve heard all day,” Lucifer laughed. “Now, one more time, what are your call signs. I’ll make you famous.”
Again I swallowed, or tried to as I realized how utterly dry my mouth was. “Red,” I said.
“Valkyrie,” Erika said.
Lucifer’s voice, starting to break up, asked, “Red?”
Still staring at my sister, I cleared my throat. “Affirmative. As in, ‘Erik the-‘.”
The honey flavored laughter returned. “Erik the Red and Valkyrie,” she said. “We’ll meet again.” And just like that she was gone.
My sister blinked which snapped me out of my terror-induced zombie state. I turned my attention back to landing the shuttle.
The coms clicked back on again making my sister and I jump.
A man’s voice I had heard way to often of late followed. “Kappa-One, this is Paradise, responding to your mayday. SITREP.”
Erika smiled at me. I gestured ascent with one hand and she clicked her coms on. “Hello, Paradise. Nice of you to respond so quickly. Situation Normal. We took care of if.”
“Valkyrie?” Paradise asked. “Is that you?”
“Affirmative,” she replied playfully. “What the hell took you guys so long?”
I started the landing procedures and shook my head. “Yeah,” I chimed in. “Your laziness cost the taxpayers about a thousand creds in repairs to this pile of flying debris.”
Paradise laughed. “Sorry, Soon-to-be-Brother-in-law. Terran Control can only get us to the opposite side of the sun so fast.”
I sighed. That is exactly why we had just gone to Earth. In the last few years pirate attacks had increased exponentially. Senator Lacy was the biggest proponent for getting a base put on our own moon. Aeneas was way closer to us than Luna- obviously. Unfortunately, Earth Senate didn’t see it that way. They consistently argued that if we had our own TNF base, we’d just use it to start a civil war. So instead we had to continue dealing with these attacks, people dying, public officials getting kidnapped, and expensive things getting stolen; in short, complete stupidity.
“Don’t get my brother started,” Erika called. “There’s a reason he’s best friends with the Senator we protect.”
“Roger that, Valkyrie.” A high-pitched whine cut into the broadcast signaling that Ground Control was now listening to everything we were saying. It was a trick Paradise had taught to Erika while we were in the Academy. She altered the communication system in every plane we flew now to signal us with that whine. “And on that note,” he said, recognizing the noise, “Vector Squadron is on your six and will follow you in.”
“Roger,” I said. “Thanks again for responding Vector One.”