Scout's Honour Read online

  ***

  The combustion engine in Jayson’s ship served as a backup to charge the solid-state crystal battery, in addition to powering the ship by itself as a last resort. He had no fancy cold fusion reactor like Richard’s or Val’s ships. When the battery needed juice his ship relied on good old-fashioned fossil fuels. The engine may have been a relic, but the diesel fuel sitting untouched in oil refineries around the world were his for the taking. Since Julie had revved enough power into the batteries that evening Jayson felt he could begin his journey straight away.

  He shut down the combustion engine, booted up the crystal battery and fed power to the jets. After a quick check in with the Academy Air Traffic Control, they opened the roof and Jayson launched the ship up into the deep hazy sky.

  Once in the air, Jayson plotted the course to Hong Kong and set the ship to autopilot. It would warn him on his iPC display when they neared their destination. He jumped up and made his way to the engineering deck.

  The ship had three levels, making it much larger than Richard’s or Val’s design. The Machaera was short and squat, made for pushing through enemy lines and delivering troops to hit the rear. It had a bulbous nose at the front for the cockpit, which flattened into a tall rectangular rear that formed the main body. Two wide wings equipped with conventional jet engines fanned out from the upper section of the body. Jayson had mounted a couple of Gatling guns on the underside of the wings. It wasn’t a pretty ship to look at, nor the most cutting edge, but it was functional and had pulled Jayson out of dozens of scrapes.

  The cockpit where he spent most of his time led in a straight passage back to his bunk. Jayson took a right and walked around a short corner to the crew area where a rack of bunk beds and a small kitchen lay opposite each other. There was a wider space in the centre where the crew could meet to discuss tactics. Jayson picked up his pace as he continued down in a spiral to the engineering section. Weapons lined the walls on the way; a selection of pistols, submachine guns, rifles, Stunners, knives and even a couple of swords. If he had a larger crew they could pick up their weapons from here on their way out into battle. He’d never been in that situation, having kept a healthy distance from head-on engagements. The Confederates who’d owned this ship as a troop transport, before Jayson commandeered it, had been kind enough to leave their weapons here for him.

  Jayson walked out into the engineering deck, which served as a staging area for missions. There were control panels set into the bulkheads and another on a raised dais at the top of a loading ramp, which led outside. Two ladders on either side of the room connected to a catwalk above his head, and allowed access to the ship’s multiple engines if repairs were needed. Secondary equipment was strewn about the room, such as parachutes, wingsuits and survival gear.

  Zoe was helping Matt into his body armour, over the top of an Academy jumpsuit. She glanced up as Jayson walked in. ‘We’re expecting a fight.’ It wasn’t a question.

  ‘You think so?’ Jayson replied. He wasn’t paying much attention as he fiddled with the controls on the dais, and thinking of Julie’s swaying hips.

  ‘Casey trusts his contact far too much,’ Zoe said. ‘It doesn’t make any sense to meet here in the middle of Confederate territory.’

  ‘Whatever,’ Jayson said.

  ‘Aw, your concern touches me. Right here,’ Matt tapped on the solid plates strapped over his chest.

  Jayson punched Matt’s armoured shoulder. His hand came back well tenderised. ‘Drone fire will bounce right off you in this, and Sarah tells me you’re second only to her in drone combat class.’

  Matt looked shocked at the compliment.

  ‘You’ll be fine,’ Jayson continued, unaware of the effect his words had had on Matt. ‘I’ll be just offshore, anything happens, you buzz me and I’ll come in guns blazing. Got it?’

  Matt nodded and swallowed the lump in his throat.

  ‘We’ve done this a million times,’ Jayson said. He sighed and went back to fiddling with a control panel, almost bored with the routine of it all.

  ‘Yeah but never this close to Hong Kong. It’s drone central,’ Matt said, unconsciously wiggling his fingers by his side. Jayson caught the gesture - Matt was scared. Damned kids. What am I, a babysitter?

  ‘Zoe will be covering you the entire time.’ Jayson turned to her. ‘Got your spot all picked out?’

  Zoe sent the topographical map that she had been studying in the corner of her eye to Jayson’s iPC over a direct peer-to-peer connection.

  ‘I’ve highlighted my nest,’ she said. A small yellow X appeared on a hill shrouded in shrubbery. It overlooked the meeting place with a perfect view. ‘I’ll take Gilda on this one,’ Zoe said.

  ‘Who’s Gilda?’

  Zoe smirked and picked up a well-loved sniper rifle. ‘She likes to be taken out to fancy places like this.’ Gilda looked as though it was cobbled together from bits and pieces scrounged from countless firefights or poker games.

  ‘Weird name for a Frankenstein’s monster of a gun,’ Matt commented.

  ‘Gilda, don’t listen to the mean boy,’ Zoe pouted and stroked the metal finish on the barrel. ‘She can fire several types of ammunition, like large calibre rounds that could stop an elephant, high explosives, and small sub-machinegun bullets. She even has a modified Stunner, compacted for mobility and very rare.’

  Jayson nodded in approval. ‘I’ll do a flyby along the coast after I drop you, Matt and... Gilda, at the coordinates. Hopefully any curious drones will follow me away from your position.’

  ‘Why the hell are we risking our necks for these supplies anyway? Mine in particular,’ Matt asked.

  Jayson shrugged. ‘Casey says jump…’

  In truth, he liked living in the Academy. He was like a kid in a candy store. If the price of admission, even without receiving any tuition, was to run supply missions like this, so be it. Jayson just couldn’t admit to these two kids that all that sweet sugar was bad for him. They got along well enough, but it wasn’t like they were friends.

  Matt snorted, ‘Yeah right. There’s more to it than that, I guarantee it. When we get back we’re confronting Casey. I don’t see how just supplies can be worth risking our lives over.’

  Jayson’s iPC chimed. They were coming up on Hong Kong. ‘Show time,’ he said, and raced back up to the cockpit.