Angels of Eternity Read online

  She was wearing her standard warbride uniform, which was bothersome enough. Most of the women found the grey tunics uncomfortable and just wore enough for modesty when they were alone in the corvette. It wasn’t unusual to float into the command center, where there was no gravity, and see three topless women wearing wraps around their waists while they ran diagnostics on the Widowmaker. Bravi would wear nothing if Shakti hadn’t informed her it was unsanitary to be in the command center with her ass uncovered. For most of the women, a breast wrap was essential in zero-g since the women with larger ones had them in the way.

  ‘I don’t want to be a bother to you,” Seth told her and lay back on the infirmary bed. His vital signs were posted on a screen over him.

  “I’m letting you know,” Shakti told him. “We may be in for some rough weather because the war college wanted us to jump into this particular sector right away. I don’t know why, they seemed to feel there might be an intrusion from the wasps here. It’s far away from any settlements, so I don’t know what they’re thinking.”

  Her wristband buzzed and Shakti raised it to her ear. She could tell by the call sign that it was Lashmi. “What?” she said to it. “I’m down here with the colonist. What is so important you have to call me right now?”

  “Durga said you might want to get up here pretty quick,” she told her. “Something has come up and we need you to see it.”

  “Give me five minutes,” she told her. Shakti turned to Seth and smiled. “Just be a good boy and stay out of the way. And let me know if any of the women decided to spend too much time down here with you.”

  She emerged into the command center and floated down by way of the handholds mounted into the walls of it. The first thing she noted was the casual atmosphere of the women. Bravi had lifted the thin shirt she wore and let Kamala see her nipple piercings. Curious, Kamala reached out and touched one of them.

  “Don’t those hurt?” the big woman asked her.

  “Only when you tug on them too much,” Bravi told her. “They got me plenty of tips the last place I worked, but I had to let the men know when to quit. So, are you going to show me how to swing that big ax of yours in zero-g?”

  “Only when the Boss…” Kamala started to say, and then stopped when she saw Shakti. “Oh, there she is.”

  Shakti glared at them as she floated by in the direction of Lashmi. The tried to look busy and she ignored them. Lashmi was next to Durga floating over a set of communication panels.

  “Seth okay?” Lashmi asked her as Shakti moved over to them.

  “He’ll be fine so long as he stays put,” she informed her. Shakti turned to Durga. “Why did you need to see me right away?”

  The tall woman turned her ice blue eyes on Shakti. “We just received a message from the war college. You need to see this.” She pointed to the screen in front of her.

  Shakti looked down at the screen and began to read. In the distance, she could see Tara talking with Chimata. Both of them were wearing a pair of shorts and nothing else. She needed to talk to them about their choice of clothing or lack thereof. With Seth around it would become a problem. Chimata was telling her co-wife how she ended up on Harmony from Skullstone. Dharma was by herself and quiet for some reason.

  “Urgent message to the corvette Widowmaker,” the message from the war college began. “We have detected three enemy ships in the sector you were sent to investigate. They do not appear to be traveling at relativistic speeds, so you will have no trouble with them when they come into range of your instruments. You are ordered to intercept but do not engage the enemy unless fired upon. We have prepared a contingent of dreadnoughts to destroy them once you have determined their velocity and location. The crown prince is in command of the dreadnoughts and wishes to eliminate the wasp ships for the honor of his father.”

  “I thought you’d find it a little disgusting,” Durga told her. “They want us to let the wasps through so the prince takes the credit for destroying them.”

  “This is ridiculous,” Shakti pointed out. “If those ships don’t have the ability to fold space, we can handle the situation ourselves. It’s a waste of time and firepower to let them through.”

  Durga placed one hand on Shakti’s back and put her lips to her commander’s left ear. “It did say not to engage unless they fired on us. All you have to do is get in range and they’ll have no other choice.”

  “It would be one way to get around the order,” Shakti told her while she pushed Durga away. Like many of the warbrides, she didn’t like to be touched.

  Shakti turned and noticed Dharma was back to working on the diagnostic she was supposed to accomplish by the end of the day. She tended to fade in and out mentally and this worried the other warbrides.

  “You didn’t work very long in a pleasure house, did you?” Bravi asked Kamala after she dropped her shirt. “You don’t have the same attitude the rest of us have.”

  “It was all I could find when my family was rounded up,” she told the other woman. “They were all smugglers and I was the only one the judge set free. I don’t know where the rest of them ended. After four days of starving on the streets, a lady in fine clothes asked me if I wanted to learn how to make some real money. I told her yes. Guess I did the job too well.”

  Shakti turned around and saw Lashmi wasn’t there. She glanced up and down the command center, which was built so every part of it was visible to anyone on the inside. Not much privacy, but the reason was clear. When the ship was under fire, everyone needed to be accounted for in short time. Shakti liked Druga’s suggestion about provoking the wasp ships and needed to get everyone else’s input. Right now, Lashmi was the only one not in the command center.

  “Anyone see Lashmi?” she called out to her co-wives.

  “Check the infirmary,” Tara called out. “She keeps talking about the colonist.”

  Shakti flipped the screen to show the inside of the infirmary. Low and behold, Lashmi was there already, next to Seth. This wouldn’t do. Shakti buzzed Lashmi on her wrist unit. She watched Lashmi turn her tattooed face up to the camera.

  “I need you right now,” she snapped. “And don’t be so quick to leave the next time.”

  She watched Lashmi hold her wrist unit up to the camera and shake it. Oh, this was absurd. She expected her to believe it was malfunctioning? Shakti swore and turned to the other women.

  ‘Listen up, girls,” she said to them, “I just received a message from the war college. We have three wasp ships headed our way and they want us to ignore them unless we are fired upon. The war college wants the crown prince to take credit for their destruction. I think we should save our husband’s favorite son the trouble and engage them ourselves. But I want to know what you think before I make the decision.”

  “Any idea what we’re up against?” Chimata asked her. “We haven’t run into too many of them yet. The last one was unarmed by the time we got there. I’d like to know what we’re expected to fight before I vote.”

  “I don’t know,” Shakti explained. “The best information I have tells me the three ships are traveling at sub-relativistic speeds. Which means they’re not pushing too hard. We don’t think the wasps know how to fold space yet, so we have that advantage over them.”

  “I’ll tell the war council we received their message,” Durga informed them as she made some adjustments on a panel. “I just won’t tell them what we’re doing.”

  Dharma was still in an unresponsive state. Shakti looked over at her and saw the small woman fidgeting a lot as she floated over her station. She didn’t like the way Dharma appeared. Shakti knew most of the women carried baggage from their former professions. The toll it took on them was great. She herself had issues with closeness to any of her co-wives. It was only the responsibility she felt for them, which motivated her. If it wasn’t for the threat the wasps represented to humanity, she’d suggest they take the corvette and fold space beyond the reach of the empire.

  “Should we even care about the war co
llege?” Kamala brought up. “We’re out here on our own. They sent us here because there might be some wasp activity and now we’re supposed to avoid them? The hell with that.”

  “She’s right,” Tara added. “What is the point of us being sent here to take out the wasps if we’re supposed to let the prince get the credit? What are they going to do? Let him push the button on a nuclear torpedo after it’s been sighted?”

  Shakti clicked the screen back to the infirmary and found it empty. What the hell was going on down there? Now both Lashmi and Seth were gone. This was not a time to be searching over the ship when she had to make an important decision. Shakti decided she would have a conversation with Lashmi when this alert was over.

  “I think there may be something wrong with Dharma,” Durga said in a low voice, while she floated next to Shakti. “I don’t like her lack of response.”

  Shakti nodded in agreement, but didn’t say anything. She would address Dharma’s behavior later.

  “I need to know everyone’s vote,” Shakti announced. “Do we avoid these three wasp ships or do we find an excuse to engage them? I want to hear your opinions. Durga?”

  “I think we need to hit them head on,” the tall woman argued. It was hard to believe she was just nineteen standard years. “Forget coming up with an excuse. Go after the three of them directly and find an excuse later. We have the pirate ship to use; you can send some of this over there. Did we ever come up with a name for the pirate ship?”

  “No,” Shakti said. “They just gave it to us and said to use it. What do you want to call it?”

  “Call it the Bugkiller,” Durga announced. “Anybody else have a better idea?” No one said a word.

  “Okay,” Shakti announced, “Bugkiller it is.”

  Shakti looked at the port entrance to see Lashmi floating in as she held Seth by the hand. The sense of irritation created by her appearance cut through the room. This was simply beyond control. Not only had Lashmi left without permission, she brought the colonist into the command center back with her. Seth looked confused, which was not surprising. Shakti had told him to stay out of the way. Now here he was in the thick of it all.

  “I see you’ve managed to find your way back,” Shakti said to Lashmi. “Good, I want to hear your opinion on whether or not we should attack the incoming wasp ships or let them past for the prince and his dreadnoughts.”

  “I say let them past,” Lashmi announced. “I don’t see why we should go after the wasps if the crown wants them for publicity. There will be other wasps to stomp.”

  “Hello,” Durga said as she looked at a screen in front of her. “We have company. One, two, three, the war college was right. Three wasp destroyers in range. Moving faster than I would have expected too.”

  Shakti floated over and looked at the screen. There could be no mistake at the profile.

  “Chimata?” Shakti asked her co-wife. “What do you think?”

  “I think we need to fight directly,” Chimata responded. Her hair was not tied down and floated about her head. “I’m with Durga on this one.”

  “Kamala?” Shakti asked the big woman. She had some idea what her response would be.

  “Go ahead and take them out,” She replied. “Come up with a reason later. They shot first; we were in their direct path. They picked us up and changed course to intercept. And I don’t care. The war college sends out here and they don’t want us to do anything? It’s crazy.”

  Shakti saw a glint and realized Bravi had floated near her to get in on the conversation. The nipple rings were silver and reflected light. At least it made her easy to locate. Poor Seth was doing his best to look away from the semi-naked women around him. He wasn’t successful.

  “So what’s your opinion?” Shakti asked Bravi. Naturally, her uncovered breasts were floating in two different directions.

  “I don’t think it’s a good idea,” she gave her opinion, as she did her best to float near Seth.

  Damn, that woman can’t turn it off, Shakti thought.

  “Tara?” Shakti said as the small, muscular woman moved in closer to be in on the conference.

  “I’m suggesting we avoid them,” she commented. “As much as I would like to kill every single one after what we found on the brood ship, I don’t think it’s a good idea. We’re outnumbered and have no idea what kind of weapons they have on those ships. Let the dreadnoughts have their fun. The war college with find us another target.”

  “That leaves you, Dharma,” Shakti said as she turned to the corner of the command center where she was before the vote was taken. However, Dharma was gone.

  “Did anyone see where she went?” Shakti asked. Her brown eyes flared. Why had Dharma left the command center when she knew an important decision was about to be made?

  “I think I saw her head out into the habitat entrance,” Tara mentioned. “Was she supposed to go get something?”

  “No,” Shakti announced, “she wasn’t. Look, everyone, we need to keep things disciplined around here. We're not sitting in a parlor hoping to be picked so the rent can be paid. Lashmi, why did you bring Seth up here when we are about to go into combat? I thought I told everyone he wasn’t supposed to leave the infirmary.”

  “I like having him around,” Lashmi said. “Wasn’t he a gift or something? Didn’t our husband send him here to keep us company?”

  “No he didn’t and keep it in mind,” Shakti snapped at her. “He’s a civilian and hands off unless you want to be guilty of cheating on the emperor. That never goes down very well. We’re warbrides and don’t forget it. I’ll let it go this time, but you are not to bring Seth up here again!”

  Lashmi pouted. “I don’t see as how he’s a problem. There’s no reason to keep him down it the infirmary.”

  Shakti didn’t answer Lashmi, as she needed to find out where Dharma went. She turned to the rest of the women who were gathered around her.

  “I make the decisions here and we’ll take out the wasp destroyers,” she spoke to them. “This is combat; get some clothes on because we’ll armoring up in ten minutes. I don’t know what kind of firepower those wasp ships have. Chimata, take us close to their flight path; if they don’t acknowledge us, I want the Widowmaker pushed into their collective faces. Lashmi, arm those torpedoes because we’re going to need them and keep an eye on Seth since you had to bring your boy toy up here.”

  Lashmi glared at Shakti over the term she used, but returned to her panel. She pulled Seth close to her as he stared in confusion at what was about to take place.

  “I have identification on the wasp ships,” Durga announced. “They’re destroyer class, just as we thought.”

  “Tara,” Shakti barked again, “go find Dharma and get her back up here. The rest of you know the drill. I hope your suit armor was repaired after our last dance because we are going to need them.”

  She had a thought and looked over at Durga.

  “I want you in the Bugkiller,” she told her. Durga frowned.

  “I wanted to be up here with you,” she explained to her commander.

  “I need you in that pirate ship,” Shakti responded. “Take Kamala and Chimata with you.” Shakti turned to see Tara leading Dharma into the command center with her arm around her naked shoulders.

  Sweet mother of the universe, Shakti thought, not at a time like this.

  As Tara and Dharma floated closer, she noticed the red cheeks on Dharma’s face. Tears moistened them. She cried silently and Tara rubbed her back. What the hell?

  “She’s better now,” Tara announced. “Dharma had some…problems.”

  “Tell me what to do,” Dharma choked out a response as she looked to Shakti with her red eyes.

  “To your station." Shakti ran her hand through her short fine hair and wondered how long they could survive if this became a regular incident.

  “Three wasp destroyers about to intercept us. I need you stay put.” She had another thought. “Forget what I said about uniforms, everyone armor up. Helmets too.
If the hull is compromised you won’t have the chance.”

  “What about Seth?” Lashmi asked.

  “You should have left him down it the infirmary,” Shakti shot back at her. “There is a reason it’s located deep in the ship. Just pray there’s not a breech because we don’t have any suit armor for him.”

  There was a mass movement of bodies as the warbrides floated to their lockers and pulled out the suit armor. In minutes, they were in their protective gear and had the helmets sealed in place. The first few times they learned to use them, the armor was bothersome. After a week of constantly use, the women were accustomed to them. Since most of the warbrides were the same size, it was hard to tell them apart once they were suited up.

  The only way a casual observer could tell the difference was the names stenciled on the helmets and individual symbols painted on the front. Under the symbol of the warbrides, each of them had their own personal device for recognition at a distance. They picked their own symbols. It meant something to each one, although not obvious. Shakti had a stick figure of a human on her chest plate and Kamala, appropriately enough, a noose on hers.

  Durga floated into the corridor and stood on the floor when she pulled herself up. The rotation of the ship took effect and gave her simulated gravity. She looked behind and saw the two suit armored figures coming out of the entrance to follow her. She saw the coin painted on the front of one and nodded at Chimata. She was right behind Kamala.

  “Do you have any trouble receiving me?” she asked both of them over the transmitter.

  “No,” they answered at the same time.

  “Good, let’s get over to the Bugkiller. We don’t have a lot of time.”

  Back in the command center of the Widowmaker, the remaining warbrides were hard at work turning all the battle stations on. Although the central computer controlled most of the functions of the corvette when it was in combat, the human pilots made the final call. They also selected the targets and told the ship how to evade the enemy. Centuries ago, the emperor’s war college experimented with warships operated by artificial intelligence. The results terrified the experimenters and it was decided never to allow an artificial mind to have control over any vehicle built for destruction. The computer system on the corvette didn’t even have a personality, another decision reached by the war college in ages past.