Max smiled. “I couldn’t have said it better myself, Flaps.”
****
Aaron approached the doors to the gym. He’d checked in with Vee two hours before, the XO told him Rachael wasn’t there at the time. Aaron tricked the tricky XO. She must have been there, and if Vee was being Vee—then the gym should be empty now.
That was a mistake.
The gym was full. Everyone was there. Damn Vee must have figured he’d do this.
“Ah! The whole gang is here, looks full I’ll pop back in—”
Lee stepped forward. “Oh no just hang on, Commander, Lieutenant Delaine needs a sparring partner. Flaps has Vee and Dr. Tanner is just sitting there watching—says he can’t endanger his precious hands. One day left, time for the final session.”
Rachael taunted him. “What’s the matter, Commander? Frightened a mere spy will knock you off your space boots?”
She’d better be careful; he’d mastered the art of getting inside someone’s head. “You do look kind of fragile.”
Her playful smile faded as quickly as it had appeared.
“That’s an advantage in my work,” she said.
Lee sounded overly cheerful. “Good, front and center, I’ll referee as usual. Whenever ya’ll are ready, just give each other a nod and go.”
They both stepped to the center of the padded deck. On the far side of the gym, Vee and Miroslav stopped their jostling and turned their attention to the new pair on center stage.
Aaron nodded to her and she returned the nod.
They both crouched, arms raised. A good stance for boxing. They pivoted and stepped around each other in circles for a few moments.
“Aaron,” she said. “Are you ready to begin?”
“No one lives forever.”
He pivoted in toward her and jabbed a couple times, she deflected them while stepping back. He jabbed again, this time, she stepped left and grabbed his arm and pulled him in toward her, a mere half inch from her face. He looked directly into her eyes and froze—whumpf, she raised a knee into his gut and shoved him away.
“Oh good one, Lieutenant!” Lee cheered. “I’d have done the same. No offense, Commander.”
Aaron shook his head. “None taken, Lee. Either our spy is a quick learner or you’re a good teacher. I’m inclined towards the latter.”
This time she lunged in with a jab of her own, a definite feign. The movement in the corner of his eye warned him and he ducked under her right cross and tackled her at the waist. He lifted her into the air and dropped her on the mat. It was her turn to gasp for wind.
She wrapped her legs around his hips. He leaned in to punch her. She shifted her hips and twisted throwing him over onto the carpeted deck hard. She swiveled on top, straddling him.
He flipped his hips up enough to throw her forward and wrapped his arms around her neck. He held her down close to him. It forced her to use her arms to brace herself against the deck. She couldn’t strike at him without losing her position. She raised her palms off the deck to strike and he shifted to rock her over, forcing her to brace.
He tightened his grip around her neck, pulled her head down below his chin and he breathed into her ear.
“You know I think you’re enjoying this.”
“Really? I’m on top—I have you at a disadvantage. I’m winning,” she replied, catching for breath.
“Oh you’re winning alright, but I don’t think that’s what you’re enjoying. I think you enjoy being in control. I’ll stop fighting and let you hold me down if you like.”
Her mouth twisted into a snarl and she raised her arm off the deck to strike him again. He caught the arm and spun on his back. He raised the back of his knee above her neck and the other across her chest. He pulled down on her arm between his legs until she tapped the deck with the other arm.
He let go and spun to his feet.
Lee was clapping. “Well done, Commander! I thought she had you there for a second. Lieutenant, how could you let him get up from there?”
She rose to her feet breathing hard. “Forget it.” She grabbed her hand towel and left. Lee was clueless. “Was it something I said?”
Vee walked over and whacked Aaron on the back. “It’s not you, Lee. Remember our Commander here has a unique way of getting under people’s skin. Even the most stoic of us. Isn’t that right, Aaron?”
Aaron was grinning. “All I did was asked her if she liked being in control . . .”
Max sounded off from where he sat. “Shenanigans. He got into that poor girl’s head. Shame on you.”
Before anyone could reply to that, an alarm blared and the deck rattled.
The ship was no longer at warp.
Chapter 16 – Article 39
Phoenix
“We’ve dropped from warp,” Vee said.
He voiced what everyone knew. They stared at each other for a moment. It was likely the others were wondering the same thing as Aaron—what could have pulled them from warp?
“Get to the bridge and prepare this dragon to fight. Unless the drive malfunctioned, we’ve been interdicted.”
Tech-5 star systems had interdiction drones strategically patrolling at specific light year intervals around them. Since planetary bodies orbited their stars, entering the system from a particular vector in the interstellar medium did not guarantee you would enter the side of the star system closest to its habitable world. However, planetary orbits of mapped star systems were tracked and recorded by computers. Therefore, defense operators programmed their drones to patrol along these vectors with higher frequency.
Interdiction drones were small spacecraft similar to probes. They formed part of the interdiction network around a star system wishing to prevent unknown or unauthorized ships operating within their space. If a ship came within the influence of one while at warp, it disrupted the ship’s warp field, and prevented it from creating another.
These drones worked in tandem with other planetary defenses—massive sensor arrays and multiple sensor relays. Operators could manually guide the drones to intercept detected vessels which didn’t broadcast the correct authorization or transponder.
Prior to the ability to detect ships at high warp speeds, the drones used to patrol randomly. Then twenty-third century renowned scientist Doctor Casi Newson, successfully tested a technology to detect gravity waves. A ship at warp pushed gravity waves ahead of it. Due to the nature of how the warp bubble kept the ship contained, these gravity waves intensified when traveling at higher multiples of c. A ship at high warp forced ripples ahead at many times the multiples of c the ship was traveling. This enabled the telemetry to reach sensing equipment long before a ship reached its destination. The drone would then inform the operator a ship was approaching at high warp.
Lieutenant Delaine was already on the bridge. She didn’t look up from her station as Aaron entered.
“Interdiction drone pulled us from warp,” she said. “Two Border Worlds navy ships, directly ahead. Our warp capabilities are offline.”
Vee reported from the ops station. “Two Broadsword-class destroyers, weapons primed. They’ve painted us with the whole gamut of targeting sensors. Looks like they’re already spoiled for a fight, Commander.”