Children of Steel (19 page)

He smiled knowingly at that, nodding his
head.

"Anyway," I continued, "like I said before,
all the pilots on board are combat flyers, and the ship's troops
are all pretty tough themselves. From the stories I've heard, this
ship has seen quite a lot of action."

We talked a little more before going our
separate ways. I asked Banner if he knew anything that he could
tell us, but he shook his head.

"I don't know too much yet myself, but I
expect we'll all find out soon enough."

I headed down to the flight deck next, where
even the off duty crews were hanging around trying to find out what
was going on. The Chief showed up then, with an Eagle, a Leopard,
and two Wolves.

"Everybody, I'd like you to meet the crews of
the two shuttles on the Troop module." He made introductions
then.

The Eagle, and one of the Wolves were the
pilots. That they were all female went over fairly well with our
group, which was eighty percent male, only three WSO's and one of
our pilots were female.

Dave zeroed right in on one of the Wolves,
and I had to admit I went after the Leopard myself. Her name was
Fran, and her pilot, the eagle, was Storm.

"A real pleasure to meet you," I said,
"another leopard is always welcome."

"Especially if it's a female one too, right?"
She smiled.

"It never hurts!" I smiled back.

"Don't mind Raj," said Rudy, "once he stops
drooling, he's actually quit nice. A little slow maybe, but
nice."

"Most males are," replied Storm, "but they do
have their uses."

"Don't encourage him," Rudy said quietly,
"he's only been here four months and already working on a
reputation!"

"Me?" I replied incredulously, "It's the bad
company I keep! If anybody deserves watching it's the rest of these
clowns. And that one," I pointed to Rudy, "is perhaps one of the
slyest around!"

"Don't worry Rudy," Said Fran with a smile,
"I'll keep a close eye on your pilot here. I know the type."

I let my shoulders sag, "Ah well, caught
again."

"That's what you get for accusing such an
obviously respectable person as Rudy here," replied Storm. "You
really don't deserve him I bet."

"Care to swap?" I asked hopefully.

"I can see we're going to have watch you
alright." said Storm smiling.

They then went off to meet the others. I
looked at Rudy.

"Eagles Huh? I'm beginning to wonder who the
real stud on this crew is."

"Hey, a good line is half the contest," Rudy
smiled, "and feathers look like a good change. Why are you
complaining? You're up to your ears in it."

We walked over to Gabe and Dave. Dave looked
happy, I guess he was more successful than me.

"He's in love," said Gabe, "again."

"You're just upset that she didn't ask you."
retorted Dave.

"Ask you what?" said Rudy.

"Oh, she asked Dave for a tour of the ship,
tonight."

"I guess us pilot types just don't spend
enough time learning the right skills," I told Gabe. "I think Storm
is developing an interest in Rudy too."

"Look who's talking," said Gabe, "the guy who
never sleeps at night."

"I'm not
that
bad."

"Oh? Then how come you're dragging your tail
half the time?"

"Face it Raj," said Rudy, "until the numbers
of single female foxes pick up, he'll be unhappy. Anyway, sometimes
you
are
that bad!"

We went to our seats then, as the Chief said
he had a briefing for us. I noticed that Storm and Fran did sit
with Rudy and me.

"Okay folks here's the story," began the
chief after the door had been closed. "One of our mining interests
on a planet has been taken over. Basically the claim is that it has
been nationalized by the newly established local government. But
the reality is that some small company has put up a false front and
moved in on us. They've got backing from another corporation of
course, somebody big we think, but we can't tell who yet.

"Normally what goes on in one of these things
is that they hope we can't get there quickly. That gives them time
to try to get themselves declared legit by the Earth's authorities
and to reinforce or dig in. But we got lucky on this one. A fast
packet ship got away right at the time of the takeover. It got to
Hobson's a week later and we arrived at just the right time, so we
were diverted to this mission.

"We expect to breakout in almost three weeks,
it'll take about another five days to make orbit. Needless to say
the Captain has decided to breakout as close as possible. They'll
have had about two months to dig in, so it's going to be a tough
fight."

"What about our people on the planet?" asked
one of the WSO's.

"They'll probably be in some sort of a prison
camp, or out hiding in the forest. They may even be causing trouble
for our enemy. I really don't know for sure, these things can be
pretty nasty sometimes.

"So, from this point on we're going to start
drilling for the landings. I want our part to come off clean. Once
the troops are down, we're going to use the assault shuttles for
air cover."

"What kind of equipment do they have down
there?" asked our own eagle, Jerry. "If they've got some good
fighter aircraft, we could lose a couple of shuttles."

"We don't think they have anything real
high-tech, but just in case we loaded two F-60's back at
Hobson's."

Everybody looked blankly at each other; I
know I hadn't seen them.

"They were in those large crates marked
'Hydroponics equipment'," he explained, "and were partially
disassembled so as to fit. The Techs will be spending the next
three weeks getting them ready for use."

He then went on to show us what type of
profiles we'd be using, and the general assault plan. As each
assault shuttle could only take twelve troops with all their gear,
and we had at least six hundred troops combined now, it would take
about seven trips.

That was if you could use all the shuttles
all the time, but after the second trip, two shuttles would be used
for air support. They would be rotated out after the next trip of
course, but it still cut down what could be used. Also more
shuttles could end up in that roll.

This also meant that the ship's regular
shuttles would be used, as soon as a secured landing zone was
achieved. That would help to get more troops down quickly; it was
also the only way to get a lot of the heavy equipment and artillery
down as well. Unfortunately, those shuttles weren't very big on
performance, and I'd hate to be in one if anything went wrong.

For the most part, life went on as normal on
the Astra. There were some minor differences due to the large
number of people on board. The Transport module supplied sleeping
and waste facilities, but for fresh food and exercise space they
depended on the ship.

It was on the third night that my clan's
meeting took place. Balizar invited the leopards from the module,
which was now home to B Company of the first heavy assault
division. When I finally showed up most of the people where already
there.

I had never seen the like.

There were at least eighty leopards. Balizar
had moved the meeting to where the Tigers normally had theirs, one
of the large workout rooms. I literally dove right in; I saw that
Katrine, Mist and Herza were all the subject of a lot of attention.
I wasn't too surprised about that, but I wasn't too happy either. I
guess I'd be sleeping alone a lot more often.

I mingled with the others, and made some
introductions, when I was quite suddenly surprised to hear a
familiar voice from behind.

"Hi Raj!"

I turned around to see my sister Lisa behind
me.

"Lisa!" I shouted grabbing her and tossing
her in the air, "What are you doing here? I thought you were
assigned to the Bennington." I caught her and set her down,
ignoring the startled looks around me.

"I got reassigned after seeing a little
action on a place called Drixon. I volunteered and the Colonel
accepted it."

I looked her up and down; she was in good
shape, better than I remembered. "You really filled out didn't
you!" she had always been the biggest and toughest of my
sisters.

"What about yourself? You must have gained at
least thirty pounds," she thwacked me on the stomach, "and all
muscle at that."

"Forty actually,” I grinned, “But I think
I've finally maxed out. Why’s everybody giving me those sidelong
glances anyway?" I asked a little nervous.

"Oh, the last time a strange person grabbed
me I nearly punched his lights out," She sniggered, "I make them
earn my favors, it's more fun that way."

"You always did like to be treated special."
I admitted, "So how's your love life?"

"You kidding?" she grinned, "The males
outnumber the females in this group. I haven't had a lonely night
since I left the Bennington."

"I was afraid of that," I groaned, "I think
that I may be about to start."

"Are you crazy? Look around Raj, you're the
biggest Leopard in here. You've already got a few admirers, as a
matter of fact here comes one now!"

I looked around, "Where? All I see is Fran.
Ouch!" Lisa had kicked me in the shin.

"That's who I'm talking about stupid," she
whispered as Fran drew close, "she's told all the girls that she
gets first shot!"

I found that very interesting, I never
claimed to be a genius, but maybe I really was attractive. I'd have
to start looking in the mirror again.

"Hi Fran," said Lisa with a predatory look,
which I knew was faked. Except for Cassandra, I had never been
interested in any of my sisters. "I believe you've met Raj?"

"Yes, actually I have." She moved up on my
other side, "I met him on the flight deck a couple of days ago."
Her tail started to flick with agitation.

"Hmm, well I don't know if I should let you
have him," she said teasing and grabbed my arm. "If you've ignored
him for two whole days now."

I could see that Fran was really beginning to
get irritated, Lisa always did like to tease people.

"Ahem," I cleared my throat and stared at
Lisa, while putting my other arm around Fran, who brightened
visibly.

"Okay Raj, you never were much fun when it
came to teasing, were you?"

Fran looked a little confused.

"Fran, allow me to introduce my sister." I
said smiling.

"You're a Rakir?" she looked at Lisa's smile
and tried to squirm free. "Please not another one!"

"I'm not like her, believe me." I said
dragging her back against me. "I'm actually as dumb as I
claim."

"Maybe dumber," laughed Lisa, "but he'll
never tease you, and he doesn't squeal or tell lies. Just don't
piss him off!"

"Why?" Asked Fran, who had stopped struggling
and was making herself comfortable again.

"Cause he'll beat the snot out of you," Lisa
laughed.

"I used to spend half my time keeping her in
line," I admitted.

"You actually beat her up?" asked Fran.

"Several times," I admitted. "But she asked
for it."

"That he did, and looking back I guess I may
have deserved a little of it," admitted Lisa. "I always knew how to
make him really mad."

"I take it you're still up to your old
tricks?" I asked.

"That's a fact," said Fran. "She's got
several of the guy's running in circles. I don't know how she does
it."

"Practice, lots of it!"Laughed Lisa, "I had
to learn the limits real quick with Raj here. When he blows, it
happens so fast you don't even get the chance to react, he doesn't
give any warnings."

"That true?" asked Fran, looking from Lisa to
me.

"More or less, but I've mellowed a lot since
then," I admitted sheepishly.

"Can I have your attention please!" Balizar
was standing up front, with another Leopard I'd never seen
before.

"Who's the guy on the left?" I asked
quietly.

"That's the head of our Clan, Major Frankle,"
answered Lisa.

What followed was a brief introduction by
Balizar, and a few cautions about what the Astra's Captain did and
did not like. Then they opened the bar, and that was it.

We sat and talked for a couple of minutes
then, I told Lisa of the letter from Sunil and Nepal at Hobson. She
hadn't been to the surface as they had shipped back out as soon as
they had gotten in. She told me that she hadn't run into anybody
else yet, but wasn't too surprised as she had spent quite a bit of
time on Drixon.

"May I join you folks?" Asked a well built
spotted male, he was about six foot and easily two hundred
pounds.

"Sure Jemaal, pull up some floor," said
Lisa.

"Hi, I'm Raj," I said shaking hands, as he
sat down with us. "Lisa's brother."

"That would explain why you're still in one
piece then." He grinned, "She usually dislikes people to take such
liberties with her."

"Telling Raj not to do something is like
talking to a brick wall," smiled Lisa, "he ignores you and does
what he wants anyway."

"I was the one who used to make her behave,"
I explained.

"If you'd like your old job back, I think
several people would be willing to help swing the re-assignment!"
He said merrily.

"No thanks, she's your problem now!" I
grinned at Lisa, who made a very rude gesture at me.

"So what do you think of our clan? Excluding
your sister of course?" asked Fran.

"I don't think I've ever seen so many
Leopards at once. If I'd know that there were this many in the
Security troops, I might not have gone to Flight school."

"Well not all of the companies have this many
Leopards, but our size, strength and attitude are good in
combat."

"Yeah, crazy buggers everyone of us," laughed
Lisa.

"Speak for yourself girl," said Jemaal, "the
crazy ones tend to get weeded out early. But we do tend to be more
ah, determined, I guess."