Nano-Fic:The Gentleman Scoundrel (4)

“Whadda ya mean, you didn’t tell him?” The voice rumbled from deep within, like the growling of a great cat made of stone. It was an apt description, for the creature Sagkal.
“He kicked me out!” Ruku pleaded. Even at her height, barely 155, Sagkal had to look up slightly to meet her eye. Since he was nearly a meter wide, and all of it blocky muscle covered with a hide that was more metal than skin, Sagkal had no problem with dealing with those taller than he. Especially the shrinking Navigator, Ruku Mat.

“Kicked you – just get in the Chair!” Sagkal all but tossed the diminutive woman into her control seat in the cockpit and lurched into his gunner's Station. “Zag, you there?”
          A burst of static crackled from the intercom. “I'm hooked in from down here. You got my six?”
          Sagkal resisted the urge to smash his fist on the thin metal console while waiting for the CRT monitor to warm up. When active, the screen showed a near panoramic view from the starship's dorsal quarter, as seen from the wide lens of of the Scoundrel’s top laser emitter.
         “That's not good,” Sagkal muttered, louder than some people shout. “I'm looking at about a thousand ground pounders and maybe five tanks. If I can see them, they can see us. And if the infantry has anti-tank rockets, we won't be able to shoot 'em down this close.”

         “I've got another four or five tanks on my side.” Zag Essuru said. “Boss give clearance to raise ship?”
         “Ruku didn't even ask 'em.”
         “He kicked me out!” Ruku protested.
         The intercom crackled again. “Well, I'm not going to die because Mat's too polite to interrupt his Holiness. Get Ipa out of the shower; we boost in two.”