THE PLANET THAT LOVED PEOPLE (standard:science fiction, 2518 words) [17/18] show all parts
Author: Danny Raven	Added: Mar 05 2016	Views/Reads: 1761/1246	Part vote: 0.00 (0 votes)
PART 1 - CH 16

Click here to read the first 75 lines of the story

now. Ex-everything. And Tyler had been responsible for it all. 

The bitterness and hate flowed through him and he gripped the arms of
the chair tightly and saw it all again. 

The Fleet had been his life. He'd never wanted it any other way. The
Fleet Academy had been a natural step for him. Qualifying. His first 
posting as a Lieutenant on a Battle Cruiser. Learning. Absorbing. 
Making decisions. Making mistakes. Then spells as a Navigator and 
Pilot. Posted to a Falcon as its First Officer. Then Captain of his 
first Ship, again a Falcon. 

Which is when he'd first met Tyler. They had become Captains around the
same time, flew in the same Squadron for a while. Eventually they 
became Squadron Commanders and were sent to handle the war between the 
planets Greva and Salyak. Greva was under Earth rule, mainly because it 
was silicon rich, which was what Salyak wanted. 

Greva was a long way from Earth and the situation was worse than they'd
expected. Apart from the inter-planetary war, an unexpected war had 
flared up on Greva, started by Salyak sympathisers. 

While Kane tried to stabilize the planet, Tyler was patrolling above,
trying to stabilize its air space. This wasn't what Salyak wanted 
however – they wanted the civil war to continue so they could move in 
after the chaos and take over. Under the pretext of being a peace 
mission they sent in a couple of Ships which Tyler stupidly let 
through. 

Once through his cordon they turned unexpectedly on him and annihilated
most of his Squadron and he panicked and ran. Before Kane could get his 
Ships up most of them were destroyed by the rest of the Salyak Fleet 
which had now arrived, backed up by sympathisers on the ground. 

He returned to Earth with two Ships, both of them damaged. Salyak then
took over Silicon rich Greva which seriously displeased Earth. 

Kane was arrested immediately on his return, charged with responsibility
for the entire affair because of Tyler's lies and thrown into a high 
security prison to await trial. Which gave Tyler time. Time to send 
back to Salyak with the offer of continued support for their plans if 
in return their Government backed him up against Kane. 

Between them they rigged up a story saying he'd been in contact with the
Salyak Ships and the Salyak sympathisers on Greva. Charged with treason 
against Earth and with no way to clear himself, Sirene was only a short 
step away for him. Tyler was eventually promoted while Kane languished 
on the penal colony. 

Sitting on the Bridge, he saw the bleak ugly planet again where he'd
spent two years and relived the bitter hopelessness which in time gave 
way to one burning desire. Not to clear himself. There was no chance of 
that and he was beyond it all anyway. All he wanted to do now was kill 
Tyler. 

Kill Tyler. The thought had kept him going during the freezing winters
and grey summers on Sirene. How many times had he sat on the flat 
boulder on the hill, just thinking about it? Too many to count. One 
thing he was sure of though – it would happen someday. 

Two long years on Sirene while Tyler had been plotting and scheming
until he was promoted to Fleet Commander. Two long years when he had it 
real bad and Tyler had it real good. 

One of the Guards strolled into the Bridge and called to him, chasing
the last of the scenes away. He unstrapped himself from the Captain's 
chair and massaged some life back into his numb hands. Killing Tyler 
was all that remained for him now. Perhaps an opportunity would come up 
if they made it back after the mission. And after that? He shrugged. He 
would take things day by day. He took a last look round then followed 
the Guard off the Bridge. 

***** 

Pilot Officer Talis pressed a button on her Jetpak belt and shot
silently into the air. She levelled off at about fifty feet and peered 
down at the others below. 

Miller, Sinto, Muslik and Corthan were looking up at her as she
demonstrated the latest Jetpak. As they watched, Talis casually 
performed some loops and dives for them then went up another fifty 
feet. 

“Do we have to go up as high as that?” Miller asked nervously. 

The Fleet Sergeant looked at him contemptuously, at his booze-stained
overalls, his head band, his scruffy hair and beard. “Higher!” he 
barked with satisfaction. 

He strolled past the four of them, glaring at each in turn. “Jetpax!” he
yelled at Muslik, “Are very useful!” at Sinto, “For killing!” at 
Miller, “In air to ground combat!”, at Corthan. 

He waited for a reaction, eager to use his electrostik which he'd set at
maximum but they were engrossed with their new Pilot's ability with the 
Jetpak. 

“She's pretty good,” Sinto muttered to Muslik. 

Muslik nodded agreement. 

Above them, Talis began to dive down then swooped over a target and
sprayed it with laser fire. It disintegrated into pieces of flying 
metal and wood. 

“You look like a drug addict,” the Sergeant said to Miller. 

“You look like an asshole,” Sinto said to the Sergeant. 

The Sergeant snarled and lunged at him with his electrostik. Sinto
grinned and swayed to the side, expertly knocking the weapon from his 
hand then chopped him on the side of the neck. The Sergeant staggered 
to one side and Sinto dived on him but the Sergeant rolled backwards 
and flipped him over his shoulder as they hit the ground. They 
scrambled up and faced each other but the ground between them was hit 
by a laser shot and grass showered over them. 

“We're here to learn about Jetpax!” Talis yelled, landing a few feet
away. “Save that for some other time.” 

The two men glared murderously at each other for a few seconds then
Sinto brushed the grass from his overalls and strolled over to the 
others. 

Talis removed her Jetpak and passed it to Muslik. He slipped it on,
adjusted it and Talis explained the controls to him. The Pak was 
controlled by various buttons on the waist belt with one hand, leaving 
the other free to fire the short laser rifle. 

Muslik took the laser from her then grinned and shot silently into the
air. He hovered about twenty feet above them then quickly mastered 
speeds and directions. He shot up to fifty feet then turned and dived, 
swooping low over a target, destroying it with one shot from the laser 
rifle. He landed and bowed to them. 

Corthan was next and he too quickly mastered the Jetpak, casually
destroyed his target and landed as smoothly as Muslik had done. 

The Sergeant took the Pak from him and threw it at Sinto. “Up!” he
barked. 

Sinto pulled on the Pak and adjusted it. He was reaching for the laser
from Corthan when the Sergeant grabbed it. 

“Up!” he ordered, levelling the rifle at him. “Let's see how good you
are in the air.” 

Sinto grinned, gave him the finger and shot into the air, easily
learning the controls as he rose. At one hundred feet he hovered and 
looked down. 

The Sergeant was sighting up at him. Sinto waved a finger at him then
drifted sideways as a beam shot up. He dived straight down at them then 
veered sharply away as the Sergeant tracked him. His shot was wild. He 
followed Sinto all over the sky, laughing crazily and firing beam after 
beam. 

Sinto swooped down close to the ground, zigzagging along at about ten
feet. Laser fire dotted his path. He held his course straight for a few 
seconds and the Sergeant carefully lined up on him and squeezed off a 
shot. Sinto pulled up sharply into the air and the laser beam destroyed 
one of the targets. 

The Sergeant cursed and Sinto finished with a wild loop and landed
easily beside them. 

“Target destroyed!” he announced, unbuckling the Jetpak. “I'm even
better than you without a laser,” he said to the Sergeant. 

The Sergeant raised the rifle at him and his finger tightened on the
trigger. “I imagine you'll be heading for Sirene if you pull that 
trigger,” Talis informed him. 

The Sergeant cursed and threw the laser rifle to Miller who caught it
clumsily. 

“Get the Pak on and get up in the air!” he yelled at him. 

Miller fumbled with the Pak and Talis strolled over to help him. 

“Get fucking up!!” yelled the Sergeant. 

Miller panicked and pressed one of the belt buttons as Talis was still
adjusting the Pak. She had no choice but to hold on as they went 
shooting up into the air, face to face. 

The Sergeant's mouth dropped open as he watched. Muslik grinned and
Sinto roared with laughter. Even Corthan managed a smile. 

“Level off!” Talis yelled at Miller, tightening her grip. 

“How!?” Miller screamed, terrified. 

“The third button on the left!” yelled Talis. 

“Christ, he could strip down a Drive but he can't master a fucking
Jetpak!” said Sinto. 

Miller fumbled at the belt and the laser rifle slipped out of his hand,
tumbling down and smashing into the ground. A beam shot out, 
disintegrating the last target. Sinto applauded. 

High above them, Miller found the correct button and managed to level
them off. They hovered about and Talis looked down. Miller felt her 
grip tighten even further. 

“The left hand button!” she hissed. “Take us down!” 

Miller pressed the wrong button and they went into a tearing dive. 

“Oh fuck!” he yelled, shutting his eyes. 

Talis screamed. “The left hand button!” she yelled. 

Below them, the ground was coming up fast and the others moved out of
their way. 

“You're heading for Sirene if they croak it,” Sinto said
conversationally to the Sergeant. 

The Sergeant paled then started screaming instructions to Miller who
couldn't possibly hear him. 

“The button at the left!” Talis yelled again, trying not to look down. 

Miller pressed the one next to it and it pulled them into a slow upward
arc a few feet from the ground. Talis felt her feet dragging along the 
grass. She screamed and let go, rolling over as Miller sailed upwards 
again. 

Shakily, she got to her feet and brushed at her uniform. She strolled
over to the others and was comforted by a hug from Muslik. 

As they all watched, Miller performed an unintended double loop before
he shot away from them at a hundred feet, screaming. 

“At least he destroyed the target!” Muslik remarked as Miller went out
of sight behind a building...... 

......“Three aces!” the Fleet Guard said, placing his cards on the table
with a flourish. 

The other Guards cursed and threw their cards down. The winning Guard
rubbed his hands together then reached out to drag the pile of 
UniCredits towards him. His hands were just closing round the money 
when Miller came crashing through the window. 

He landed in the middle of the table, scattering cards, UniCredits,
drinks and Guards. He sat up, shook some glass out of his hair and 
looked round as the Guards got to their feet. 

“Any you guys want to buy some Dreamtabs!?” he asked, grinning. 


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