Citation Series 1: Naero's War: The Annexation War (25 page)

And she was too weak to stop it
.

A voice murmured and call to her through a dizzy haze
.

Strong hands pulled her out
.

Someone
weakly struggled to tend her wounds again.

Then she felt stout arms curl around her protectively
.

Bot
h of them passed out, floating above the floor, but wedged under the tiny sleeping panel, holding one another.

*

Naero came to, warm and safe.

Her head still hurt and her body ached in several places, but as long as she didn’t attempt to move or even blink her eyelashes, for the moment, she felt all right
.

Then the ship lurched, groaned, and jerked around again in jump space, causing her eyes to pop open wide in
fresh, sharp, stabbing pain.

She finally realized that she lay curled up in
Leftenant Hayden’s powerful arms, pulled close to his broad, bare chest.

When she turned her ear, she could
easily hear his mighty heart thundering. He breathed at peace.

Apparently he had stripped down
–to tend to several of his own shrapnel wounds on his torso, shoulders, and arms–while she was busy in the shower. He had clearly removed several bloody pieces of shrapnel from those various wounds. The shrapnel from the blast had penetrated even his combat armor.

Yet he had new wounds to his head
, and the right side of his face was bruised and swollen. Blood had streamed down over his eyes again.

When the ship hit that patch of jump space turbulence, Hayden must have been tossed about and re-injured as well
, just as she was.

When he called to her, and she did not answer, he c
ame and pulled her out, and closed her wounds off again. He barely finished doing so, before they both passed out together.

Haisha, he was in fact a very handsome young man, barely three or four years older than her
self. And a fine warrior, whom she greatly respected.

She could do much worse than wak
e up naked in his arms.

He
had most likely saved her life–again–by not letting her bleed to death as she lay helpless, even though he was injured again himself.

She got up and got some stuff to clean the blood off him and check his wounds
, although his breathing and heart rate all seemed fine.

Most Spacers simply needed time to rest and let their bodies heal, as rapidly as they did
.

But maybe she should put some clothes back on
, before he woke up.

Yeah, that was probably a great idea
.

But before she did so, she could not help leaning over him and caressing his chiseled face with the light touch of her fingertips
.

She could not resist a sudden, wicked urge to press her lips against his
.

And of course at that moment, the ship jerked violently again, and Hayden’s eyes flashed open in startled surprise
.

Naero pulled back slightly and smiled. She felt no shame
.

Slight embarrassment
, perhaps, but no shame.

Hayden seemed more
embarrassed that she did.

“Uh…Naero? Are you all right? I hit my head and you got hurt in the shower. I stopped your bleeding again
, before I blacked out.”

Naero giggled and snuggled down with him again, rubbing her cheek and her
long dark hair against his chest.

“You saved me, Jeremiah. You saved my life again, and we woke up, hol
ding each other close. I like that…you holding me. It’s very nice. I don’t have a problem with it. In fact, I say let’s do it some more.”

She tried to pull his arms around her again
.

But this time he resisted
, and actually pulled away from her.

“I’m sorry, Naero. You don’t understand. I can’t do th
at.”

Naero grinned.
“We haven’t done anything…yet.”

“And we’re not going to
.”

Hayden backed away and held up his hands, looking very nervous. The cramped quarters of the miniscule cabin made it
all super awkward.

In the end, Hayden backed down the hall like a crab
.

Naero continued to smile and slowly c
ame toward him, not unlike a female panther, stalking her prey.

“You know,
a little snuggling might not be so bad?”

She saw Hayden swallow hard, considering all of it for a split instant
.

Then he shook his head, violently in denial
.

“Naero…I’m sorry
–I’m married. I have a wife. A little boy, and a baby girl on the way. I…can’t.”

Naero froze
.

Dammit. Married.
Haisha!
Just her luck.

A great guy, and he was already taken
.

Crap. Crap. Crap!

She sat back, clearly disappointed.

Naero crossed arms and legs in front of her, and let her long dark, shimmering hair
cascade and cloak over herself.

“I’m sorry too, Jeremiah. H
onestly. I didn’t know. Now I feel like a total idiot.”

He sighed heavily and then nodded. “Don’t. It’s okay. It’s not like it came up. We
passed out and woke up together…at a very awkward time. Both of us were…hurt and vulnerable. We’re both human.”

He sighed heavily in relief once more, failing to notice that Naero was doing her best not to pout like a frustrated child
.

He sighed with relief again
, rubbing his face. “I’m just glad we stopped, and that you understand. Nothing against you, Naero. In fact, you are…extremely beautiful.”

Yeah, for all the good that did her
.

“But I love my wife and my kids, and I…I–
”

Of course he did.
Haisha. Please…please just shut up.

He was
only making it all worse.

Naero smiled sadly and cut him off
, doing her best to let him off the hook.

“
You’re a good man. An honorable man. I understand honor, Jeremiah. Believe me, I understand it as much as any Spacer. Don’t worry. I won’t tempt you anymore, now that I know the score.”

Hayden nodded and looked away, averting his eyes
.

“Thanks. Boy, that
is such a huge relief. I’ll just…go check on the guys. You should…maybe get dressed. Please get dressed.”

He left pretty quickly and did not look back
.

Yeah, bopp
ing around naked with a bunch of Marines. Probably not the best idea.

Clothes
. Most likely a good thing.

But Naero still cursed her rotten luck with good looking guys
she felt a spark for.

And even rarer–guys
that she actually happened to like and respect.

It just wasn’t fair
.

She could not catch a break to save her life
.

She didn’t count Max Lii; t
hat had been a unique case and remained so. How could she have possibly had an affair with such a high profile celeb–not to mention one of her junior officers–right out in the open for everyone to see? It was fortunate, in the end, that nothing had happened between them, either.

T
hey fell out of jump ten minutes later.

Naero was dressed again by that time
.

She
checked their location in fear.

T
hankfully, they came out in a rearward sector of the Alliance.

She immediately
sent out coded may day calls for rescue.

The death of Admiral Sandusky and his loss to the Alliance quickly eclipsed any petty personal problems that Naero had
.

The only good thing was that they had wiped out the assassin
phaze squad, captured the dangerous phazing tek for Intel to study, and a few of the good guys even survived to tell the tale.

Just not certain embarrassing parts of the
story, that no one needed to hear. Ever.

33

Naero recovered quickly.
She and her people endured two more very intense engagements, and then her unit was forced to pull back. Strike Fleet Six was simply too beaten up once more, and had to come off the line.

Chaela
had already entered their WebBall team into an open, single-elimination tournament that took place a day later.

Match-ups
in the tourney would be chosen at random.

Saemar called in briefly and begged off from the match, saying she wasn’t feeling well
.

Just their luck,
a key team member short and they drew a contest with one of the top semi-pro teams.

They
all wore tight, two-piece, Nytex WebBall uniforms, patterned in neon blue, black, and silver for their team. Shorts down to their knees, and shirts from their ribs on up, exposing their midriffs; that was just the current style. WebBall shoes were like padded slippers, designed for pushing off in zero-G.

Each of them had a number on
their front and back.

Naero wore
number six, her lucky number.

Even in her skimpy little WebBall uniform, big, buff Chaela still looked like a
Viking war goddess. Especially so, with her two long golden braids.

She called the team together right before the
ir match started.

“Guys,
we’re up again a tough one. We know this other team is far more experienced and just plain better than us. They’re favored to win the whole tourney. We can play our usual game, or we can try one of our other strategies that we’ve been practicing.”

“Scoring denial and
cancellation,” Naero guessed.

Chaela and several others nodded. “My exact thoughts as well
, N. We don’t have to win, we just try not to let them win, by not letting them score, and by reversing as many of their goals as we can.”

“Interesting,” Enel said. “It sounds crazy enough. It just might work
.”

“What have we got to lose?” Naero said. “We know they’d beat us straight on
.”

All
forty-nine of them spiraled up and slapped hands with each other in a spray of players, fanning out.

“Let’s…
go for it!”

The cou
ld only have two dozen players in the playing field at one time. Substitutes could switch in and out between serves, side outs, and time outs.

The denial strategy was simple. They formed up around the goals and did their best to track them when they shifted
.

They tried to score as much as they could when they had the serve. But when the other team was up, they did everything they could to reverse scores and deny the other team any points
.

They ended up with a fast-paced, low scoring game, and only lost
–in the end–17 to 13.

The other team
captain even congratulated them.

“Great denial strategy. But for you to win, you guys have to get better at running up
your own points.”

“Thanks,” Chaela said, shaking hands with the other team’s coach and captain. “We’ll get better. We haven’t been playing for very long
.”

“You look like you have some great athletes. Is that little woman with the long black hair really Fleet Captain
Naero Maeris?”

“It sure is
.”

“She looks very different than in her fleet vids in uniform
.”

Chae grinned
and chuckled. “She’s chameleon all right.”

They tried to call S
aemar to tell her about the match and check on her, but she wasn’t accepting any links.

*

Naero’s battered strike fleet remained in the rear areas, scheduled for almost a complete refit.

People tried to rest and relax, but the war still raged at the front, and they would rush back to it soon enough. Technically, this wasn’t a leave
.

As usual, they prepared to hold wakes for their dead, and continued to care for their fresh batch of wounded, and the
inevitable new group of replacements.

Everyone kept busy
.

Then Naero received private distress calls from Chae, Tyber, Tarim, and finally Zhen. One right after the other
.

All of them begged her to come down immediately to one of the flagship launching bays–one already prepped for funeral services
.

Something was
seriously wrong with Saemar.

That’s all they would tell her
.

Naero raced down to that part of her flagship
.

Tarim secured the door and would not let anyone else past that point but her
.

She swept in. The lighting was subdued and down low
.

She heard sounds of weeping and sobbing and went straight to them
.

Her other friends stood gathered around the room, off to one side
.

Ranks upon ranks of silver
casket pods lay lined up in the the darkened launching bay, ready for the funeral ceremony the next day, after the wakes that night.

Tyber stood up, his face wet with tears and red from crying himself
.

Naero drew closer and found Chae and
Z, sitting on the floor, up against the hull.

They held Saemar between them. Their faces were red too, and they also wept. But their arms were wrapped tightly around their poor friend
.

Saemar seemed to have completely broken down and lost it. She was in her normal uniform, hugging her knees up close to her tight, trembling face buried in her knees
.

She sobbed
and shuddered uncontrollably, like one completely shattered.

Naero had only seen Saemar like this once before
.

Back when
Saemar’s fiancé, Mitsubishi Hikaru, perished in a fierce starfighter battle–just before Saemar came of age. Hikaru died right before their wedding.

That
had been a very bad time for Saemar.

She
had never been the same since.

What could have happened to bring her that low again?

Naero got down on the floor and tried to help console her friend, checking her and trying to soothe her with gentle touches.

“Oh, Saemar…What is it…what happened
?”

Her friend sobbed even louder, lunged forward suddenly, pulling away from Chae and Zhen. She nearly knocked Naero over onto her back
.

Naero held her protectively, using her greater strength to remain upright
.

Saemar curled up desperately in her arms, like a very small, sobbing child. She shuddered and convulsed beyond control, still unable to speak
.

All of them were at a loss
.

Zhen and Chae closed in around them again, hugging them both between them. Naero stroked Saemar’s curly auburn hair, soaked with tears and sweat
.

Naero looked to her friends, like them, completely at a loss. She whispered to them softly
.

“How long has she been like this? Who found her? Does anyone know what happened
?”

Everyone shook their heads
.

They were all under a lot of stress, every day. Maybe Saemar just cracked and gave in to it. It could happen to anyone. Maybe she just needed to break down and have a good cry
.

But this seemed
much worse than that. Something had happened.

L
ike the time with Hiker’s death.

Naero looked around, rocking softly
, and patted Saemar’s back.

She saw all the casket
pods from their latest losses once more.

Why had Saemar come down here?

Hundreds of shiny, mirror-finished caskets.

Who were these dead?

Were some of them from Saemar’s unit?

Had someone died that Saemar cared about–much more than she had let on?

Naero held an index finger to her pursed lips, and then quietly called up a holo screen above them with the latest KIA figures.

She scrolled down by unit designation
.

Then starfighter pilots
.

Saemar commanded about a hundred fighter pilots in The 129
th
Tactical Starfighter Wave, with a total of five fighter squadrons of twenty, further divided into ten fighter wings of ten fighters each. She commanded the first wing personally.

Naero suddenly gasped slightly
.

She saw the data flash across the holo screen, scrolled back
, highlighted it–and pointed it out to their friends.

Their mouths fell open, almost all at once
.

Saemar had lost twenty-seven of her one hundred pilots during the last heavy engagement
.

Over one quarter of her unit, KIA
.

That included
all nine
of the other fighter pilots in her own fighter wing.

Everyone in her wing had been killed but her.
Every single one of her closest comrades–wiped out.

And knowing Saemar, most of the male pilots had been her lovers as well
, at some point.

Seven of those nine pilots were male, with two females
.

Saemar didn’t sleep with women
.

Yet, when it came to her units, Saemar chose to fly directly with only the elite-of-the-elite
.

Only the best pilots in her wave got to be in her direct wing, based strictly on merit, skill, and ability. Nothing else. Her wing had one of the top records in the Alliance
.

And now, all of them had died in that last terrible battle
.

All of them…except
Saemar.

Their friend had lost her entire fighter wing, and over twenty-five percent of her entire unit
, total.

A
ll of them had been too busy to notice.

Naero swore at herself silently
.

How could she have been too busy to notice
something like that?

For Naero, it would have been the same
as if twelve or thirteen of her complement of fifty command warships were all completely destroyed–lost within the course of the same engagement all at once.

No wonder Saemar was a wreck
.

She had known every one of these people…intimately.
They fought together, trained and lived together.

They were her closest family
.

Saemar screamed and thrashed and tore herself out of their arms
.

They released her
.

She staggered toward the shining caskets in the subdued light of the silent hangar
.

She stabbed absently at her wristcom
.

Exactly twenty-seven of the caskets nearby lit up all around them, displaying their data screens and a holo image of the fallen Spacer pilot within
.

Young, gallant pilots from all the Clans
.

All gone now
.

129
th
Tactical Starfighter Wave

    2
nd
Squadron

    1
st
Fighter Wing

1
st
Leftenant Teodor Donovan

129
th
Tactical Starfighter Wave

    2
nd
Squadron

    1
st
Fighter Wing

Commander Wendil Gordon

129
th
Tactical Starfighter Wave

    2
nd
Squadron

    1
st
Fighter Wing

Leftenant Commander Vaellani Lakota

Saemar went to each of the caskets for her people and stretched her arms across them, lying over them and placing her head down close. She sobbed
and wept over each one. Then she whispered and muttered unintelligibly to each of them like a madwoman.