Sarah Dvorak, a slender, redheaded girl of thirteen, gazed out past the glass port of her hover-shuttle, a gift for her birthday a week before. She had fallen into the habit of taking it out onto the frozen landscapes of California Minor every morning, and not returning to the tundra mansion her father owned until well into the evening. The sprawling mountains of ice were quite a sight; it was the only place she really felt comfortable these days.
One of the consoles beeped rudely, braking her reverie. It was the Parental Control, informing her of the five minutes remaining before it went on autopilot and brought her back to its place of origin, in this case her father's house. She had, of course, hacked the machine and disabled all the overrides in the half-hour period she'd been left alone with it after the party had ended; unfortunately, she'd forgotten to take all the various unnecessary warning systems out, and she kept forgetting to go back and finish the job.
She didn't really care about it anyway...she just wanted off this rock and some space of her own, literal and figurative.
The news alert beeped; that was one thing she was going to keep aboard.
"Today, the terroristic Hellfire Legion conducted another raid against Los Angeles, severely damaging the Yukon and bombarding the planet. The capital's shields held, and only three of five capacitors suffering noticeable damage. Afterwards, Propaganda leaflets were launched from their bombers along with the munitions; Congress advises anyone in possession of such to burn them immediately, as they may contain neurotoxins. In other news..."
She grinned. Now these guys had there act together. She'd always been a fan of theirs; destroy the Navy and rip off the illusion of freedom the citizens had become accustomed to. It was definitely an interesting career choice...hell, she'd join up, if she could ever get off this frozen hellhole...
And that's when the Sabers came roaring over her parked little shuttle, knifing through the atmosphere at several times the speed of sound.
"Oh, awesome!" She cheered and waved. One of the pilots came in low, sighted her, and gave a thumb's up.
*****
Johnathan Dvorak stared angrily at the back of the seat ahead of him, bearing the Planetform insignia. Well, that little project was done with. And nothing left of his house, either; bloody Hellfire. He looked over at his attendant. "Where's Sarah?"
"I don't know, sir. She wasn't here when I boarded; I assumed she was with you."
And as he said those very words, a dagger flew in close to the window of the transport; the pilot, long golden-red hair flowing out from under her helmet, promptly gave a fine example of nonverbal expression with her gloved hand before jamming the throttle up and pushing off Cali Minor into deep space.
"Oh bloody hell!"
Really don't mind if you sit this one out...
Your words but a whisper...you deafness a shout.
You may make me feel but you can't make me think...
Your soul's in the gutter, your loves in the sink.
So you ride yourselves over the fields,
And you make all you animal deals,
And you wise men don't know how it feels...
To be thick...as a brick
Ian Andersen, Jethro Tull's Thick-as-a-Brick
Quote:Quick comment - we thought that Panzer was the Leader, Swift. -Agmen
Sarah leaned back on her cot, wishing the interrogator wasn't taking his damn time. She contented herself by dragging her fingernails along the steel bars, drawing the occasional annoyed hiss from the Corsair one cell over.
It was really amusing, how she'd gotten her. She'd flown out to Freeport Four on her brand-new Dagger, courtesy of her father's ex-security force. She found the local Hellfire recruiter, whom promptly rejected her because she was a little girl, and little girls don't fly fighters. She then brought up Maggie Bonello (Ace at fifteen) and Marie de Queveda (ace at fourteen). Mister Recruiter then tried to chase her of with his gun; it was at a point about one-point-six seconds later he found himself on the floor, both wrists broken and a little girl standing on his chest pressing his gun to his forehead. At that point, his security men had intervened, and she gladly let herself be taken; all she needed was the attention.
breaking her reverie, a robust man in a rather elaborate black-and-red uniform stepped in front of her door.
"So you're the lady who took down Lieutenant Biggs?"
"Damn straight. Somebody had to fix him; that attitude needed some serious help."
"Ha! Indeed." his silky baritone floated through her ears as if probing her. "I must admit, none of the staff are complaining...he was well-humbled, shall we say."
"Glad you agree. Anyways, I'm here, all nicely orphaned and pretty damn good in a Dagger. Do you want me or not?"
"That, madam, is what I am here to find out. I'm Captain Denicalus of the HFC-Magda. If you'll accompany me to the hangar..." The doors clicked ans slid off into the wall.
Sarah grinned; finally, a task worthy of her attentions.
Quote:Quick comment - we thought that Panzer was the Leader, Swift. -Agmen
...And hence, six years later, Sarah dropped into the chair in front of the Rostock Shipwrights.
Rostock? What in all hell...
"We are glad to be of any assistance to Republican, madam. Anything else we can provide, please, don't hesitate to call."
"Oh, I certainly shall." She dropped an overly heavy steel suitcase onto the desk. "Four Hundred Million Credits, as requested. And she's fueled up and armed?"
"The engines are idling; the guns are juiced." He smiled sinisterly. "All Kusari Primaries, as requested." she stood up once more. "The new Republican Shipping Escort Battleship Thick-as-a-Brick shall depart in fifteen minutes! Thank you, gentlemen."
She moved quickly out of the office door, her green-and-gold Republican cape floating in her wake.
*****
The brand-new Thick-as-a-Brick, a top-of-the-line special-order Bounty Hunter Battleship cruised out of Rostock; said proceeded to explode into a very large fireball.
Sarah Mail, Admiral of the Hellfire Legion and owner of a brand new Bounty Hunter Battleship, stroked the credit case set across her lap. They didn't even bother to check the money! Idiots.
Quote:Quick comment - we thought that Panzer was the Leader, Swift. -Agmen
Damn do I love my job. We just got back from Rostock, and interestingly enough we came back with a fun new toy... A Bounty Hunter Battleship, brand spankin' new, with better guns than I've seen on any Bounty Hunter craft, ever. She can literally fly circles around Lord Thastus's flagship, and put a large dent in the shield, too... Decided to keep this log, organize my thoughts and all.
They sent me my new 'assistant', which basically means "paperwork slave", which works for me. His name's Chris, and for once he's cute! Apparently some relative of the Don, so we're showing him the ropes or something like that. Should be fun, breaking him in. I wonder how he is in a fighter? More to find out.
Oh my god. I've been writing a bloody diary. Help me, sanity... heh. Sarah Dvorak, logging out.
Quote:Quick comment - we thought that Panzer was the Leader, Swift. -Agmen
Jerry Sagar slid out of the airlock and into the great floating scaffolding of Rostock Shipyards, Inc. The order he'd just received was for his pride and joy, the Pursuer-class battleship. And they'd ordered one of the all-the-bells-and-whistles, too... an extra 200 million credits, to be sure, but hell, who questioned Republican Shipping's motives? They could make Rheinland hell for his bosses anyway. Follow the money...
"Mister Sagar!
He rotated his vac-suit's head best he could, and viewed his engagement. She was wearing a heavily modified combat suit, stripped of all armor and weaponry so it showed her form perfectly. Damn, that's sexy...
"Ah, Miss Dvorak! Pleasure to have you with us!"
"Glad to be here. That keel looks small, is that thing really only that big?"
"Indeed! It's on par with the Liberty Dreadnought in terms of maneuverability, and actually exceeds it in terms of firepower, though the armor's a bit underpowered...And what's this thing you mentioned in your memo? The Graviton drive thing you mentioned..." Jerry wasn't supposed to talk about that; it had become a recent new feature in the flagship. The Rheinland navy had come up with it, as an alternative to their incredibly gas-guzzling engines, and Jerry had lifted it... He was the only one who could understand the designs, anyway. He'd destroyed those plans.
"Listen, Sagar, you know exactly what I said. I want those engines of yours on that ship, or I tell Admiral Heinemann over on the Schwerin who it was that got into his system. Get on it."
Jerry groaned. This could not end well...
Quote:Quick comment - we thought that Panzer was the Leader, Swift. -Agmen
Sarah stared at him over the brim of her green glasses; completely false, of course, but they made her look older, which was important here. This was one of the idiots who'd need putting in line...
"So, Miss Dvorak, what exactly is it you do over at Republican, anyway..."
"I'm a defense coordinator...hence I ordered one of your battleships, instead of simply purchasing surplus Wraths. It's a fine ship, that pretty little thing you make, and maneuverable, which is wonderful considering she's going to be killing Hessians and Corsairs. We'll be glad to have her as a flagship."
"Heh. I suppose all mention of our engines will be lost in paperwork somewhere..."
"Oh, I don't know about that. Maybe, later, but until I receive some results..."
*****
Benny Dorson stared into the endless void called a Bill.
"Four Hundred Million Credits!?"
"I know, I know...but she found out about the new engines! There was nothing I could do, we have to give them to her!"
"Oh my god...who is this girl? She can't be more than twenty..."
"Nineteen-and-a-half. She's got some skill, too, she vaped an entire patrol of Corsairs as they came in on her Wrath. Didn't even use missiles."
"Damn...I think we're in over our head here. This is the last time we do business with Republican."
"Seconded."
Quote:Quick comment - we thought that Panzer was the Leader, Swift. -Agmen