by Marc Stevens
The pirates who had taken refuge in the remaining shuttle finally decided the wisdom of doing so was faulty on a variety of levels. They unassed the shuttle only to find that the boarding ramp was no longer attached to the mooring pads. The twenty or so fools gathered at the end of the shattered walkway. I guess they were trying to figure out if they could leap the two-hundred-foot chasm my antimatter shell had created. Coonts wasn’t taking any chances they might somehow sprout wings. He raked them with cannon fire and then shredded the shuttle, adding to the growing conflagration in the bottom of the docking bay. Coonts used the targeting screen to scan the loading area for more hostile targets. The surviving pirates retreated into the base, conceding the docking bay to us. The familiar sound of a Chaalt grenade detonating somewhere down the passage from the bridge pulled Coonts and I away from the weapons console. Klutch and Sael went in that direction to secure the approaches to the command center. I looked over at Tria, and she waved us on. We ran out into the passage and saw smoke rising up from the lift tube. It wouldn’t be hard to track Klutch and the Operative. The trail of carnage left in their wake was easy to follow. We stepped out of the lift tube and found the mutilated recipients of the grenade. We were in a large corridor that led to the hold; the hallway had several bodies scattered down its length. Sael and Klutch were nowhere in sight.
“Klutch, give me a sitrep.” I called.
“I am in the cargo bay, Commander, and it is now secure. The Operative went aft to the engineering spaces. You may want to take a look at what is in the hold.”
“Roger that, Troop Master, I am on my way. Sael, what is your status?”
“I have secured the engine room and have the full cooperation of the engineering crew,” Sael said. “Send the Troop Master to stand guard over them.”
Sael’s leadership was officially over. She had stomped all over my patience. Yes, she led us to a quick and decisive takeover of the freighter, but the turmoil of her command style had hit the tipping point.
“Negative! Hold your position,” I ordered.
“I would be better—”
“Senior Operative! That was not a request!”
I took her silence as an acknowledgment of my order. I saw Klutch wave to Coonts and me. He was standing in front of the large pressure doors that sealed the hold. My exchange with Sael was over our group comms. I couldn’t think of any other reason for the smile on the Tibor’s face. Just inside the doors were seven or more dead bodies and several weapons scattered on the deck. It was hard to tell because most were shot to pieces. I was willing to bet the Tibor’s minigun ran dry before he decided the pirates were no longer a threat. Several shipping crates full of credit vouchers also suffered from his attack. There were hundreds of vouchers scattered about the hold. Coonts disappeared among the crates and returned several minutes later.
“Commander, I can only speculate, but the value of the artifacts that I could identify are worth hundreds of millions of credits,” Coonts said. “That is only what I could see on this side of the hold. Along with the unknown amount of credits, we are talking about hundreds of billions in wealth, possibly more. I would like to make a suggestion.”
“Okay, let’s hear it.”
“I think we should take the freighter and link up with the Zaens and transfer the cargo. It will be less exposure to hostile retaliation if the Murlak call for additional reinforcements. It would be an error on our part to think that they have not already done so.”
“Can you do it with just the captain and the engineering crew?”
“Yes, if the Operative stands watch over the engine spaces, we can do it. We still need to get out of the asteroid. If you can get the access doors open, I can get the freighter to the jump off point.”
“I still want antimatter charges set in the cargo hold,” I said. “If we fail to get to the jump off point, I want you and Sael to abandon ship and destroy the freighter.”
“Roger that, Commander. Klutch and I will set the charges now.”
Coonts was right. It made sense to steal the freighter since the Murlak were kind enough to load it for us. The transfer at a secure location would also keep our freighter from being identified by hostile forces. I didn’t want it to be a target for retribution, especially if it was carrying Containium from El Dorado. Sael was going to crap a Throgg when she heard what the new plan was. She didn’t have to like it; she just needed to do it. I might as well break the news to her and get it over with.
“Sael, I have made a change of plans,” I said to her over our comms. “You are to stay in place and make sure the engineers have the star drives ready for departure on a moment’s notice. We are going to take the freighter to the jump off point.”
“The engineer Coonts would be the appropriate candidate for that duty,” Sael protested. “You would be better served if I was on the assault team that attempts to get the access doors open.”
“Coonts will be on the bridge with the Murlak captain piloting the freighter. You have your orders, and I expect you to carry them out. Are we clear?”
Sael must have been busy crapping more than one Throgg, because she failed to answer. I took that as a yes.
Coonts and Klutch finished planting the charges and joined back up with me. My heated exchange with Sael had big grins on both their faces.
“Let’s get moving!” I said.
We went back to the bridge, and Coonts took over the captain’s chair from Tria. My armor was a bloody, gut-covered mess. Without a thorough cleaning, my cloaking systems were useless. I approached the captain of the pirate ship. He tried to back away, but Tria stopped his retreat by stepping behind him. My appearance was probably doing additional damage to the already poor condition of his undergarments.
“Open a comms channel to the base,” I told him. “Tell Eiger the demon that destroyed his outpost and his battleship wants to speak with him.”
The captain hastily complied. His shrill, almost pleading voice added a nice touch to the transmission. Unfortunately, it did not inspire anyone to answer. I summoned the most sinister voice I could muster and called out over the open channel, “I am coming for you, Eiger!”
We were going to have to do it the hard way. I waved to Tria and Klutch. Before we could exit the bridge, Coonts grabbed Klutch and turned him around.
“You should take my minigun munitions. You may need them if the pirates decide to fight.”
Klutch clapped the engineer on the shoulder and nodded. He ejected his empty ammo pack, and Coonts clipped his into place.
“All kills made with my munitions will be credited as mine. You are currently only six ahead of me,” Coonts called to the Tibor as we turned to leave.
I knew the two meatheads had a wager of some kind going. Now I knew it was on how many pirates they could each kill. Klutch spun and faced Coonts, raising his finger.
“Move out, Troop Master!” I yelled.
He quickly complied without further comment. We didn’t waste time messing with the boarding hatch in case it was being targeted by the pirates. We crawled up the rescue hatch into the hull maintenance tunnel. Klutch made a hole, and we were once again on the outer hull. The chamber was now filled with thick, dark smoke, which obscured the loading area. The fires down below were somewhat diminished due to the low oxygen levels. It was getting lower by the minute, and the inconvenience of not having breathable air would force the pirates to use suits or masks. I didn’t know if they had another scrubber they could bring online. The probability of repairing the damage we caused on our insertion was low. The Chaalt grenades we left behind would discourage all but the most well-endowed in the nads department to make an attempt.
Coonts was monitoring our progress and dropped the freighter’s shield long enough for us to clear the hull. We engaged our gravity drives and made a fast drop to the wrecked loading area. We set down behind a large gravity sled that got upended by my antimatter shell. We came under fire by automated turrets that dropped from the overhead in front
of the atmospheric lock. They were blasting the gravity sled to smithereens. Klutch’s answer to the problem was to burn them down. He unclipped his plasma caster and pumped four big glowing globs of plasma over the top of the sled and onto the overhead structure. Oxygen was a great accelerant, but plasma didn’t need it to burn. The inferno Klutch started rapidly spread to all the equipment near the entrance to the base. First one turret went silent, and the other quit seconds later. The bad thing about Klutch’s plasma toy was it burned at such high temperatures it wasn’t healthy for us to go wading through it. We were going to have to make a hole somewhere other than here. I did not want to risk damaging our armor.
I pointed up at the rock bulging out into the docking chamber by the detonation of our antimatter charge. There was a chance the rock that fractured off of its surface made the remainder thin enough to use the portal device. We boosted up to the damaged wall, and Klutch chose the spot he decided would give us the best chance for a usable portal. Before he could trigger the device, a rumble resonated through the docking chamber that rapidly turned to a roar. The thick smoke that was helping to hide our activities was disappearing at an alarming rate. The pirates were opening the asteroid’s access doors. Everything not securely locked down went flying out into the void. As the big doors slowly parted and the smoke and debris cleared, I could see an unpleasant sight: The Murlak Warbringer’s huge weapons-covered nose filled the expanding opening. I should have known the pirates were up to something. I doubted if they were going to destroy their freighter, but they effectively blocked its exit. Eiger was forcing a standoff he thought he could win. The odds had shifted into the pirate’s favor but rebounded back in ours as a very welcome voice came over our comms.
“Commander, are you in need of assistance?” Justice asked.
It was hard to say if the AI’s casual inquiry was to instill calm to our rattled composures, but my reply was anything but.
“Justice! Strike the Warbringer now!” I shouted.
Two blindingly bright beams struck the battleship’s shield amidships, causing it to flare a bright milky white. A pulsating ball of energy quickly followed. The brightness of the anomaly rivaled a star and blacked out our HUDs. Its velocity slowed slightly as it passed through the ship’s shields. Its impact was dramatic and devasting. The massive battleship seemed to wrap itself around the wound inflicted on it and started melting away into the blinding pyre. I was awed and shocked at the same time. The power of the Oolaran weapon was frightening to witness. I hoped it had the same effect on the pirates as it was having on me. The momentum imparted by the massive energy release shoved the huge battleship aside. Coonts did not hesitate and accelerated the freighter out of the opening. It veered sharply away from the collapsing warship and disappeared into the asteroid field. I thought the Grawl was cutting the clearances a little too close, but his decision to flee proved to be the correct one. The Murlak ship parted in the middle, and the fat blunt nose careened into the asteroid, crashing into the edge of the access doors. One of the giant doors came loose and floated across the bay in our direction. We boosted hard to get out of its way as it struck the wall several yards from where we were going to make our insertion. The corner of the door saved us the troubled of porting through. It punched a large hole through the rock, decompressing the base’s interior. As it rebounded off and headed for the bottom of the dock, it was being trailed by three flailing Murlak pirates and a considerable amount of unidentified junk.
We reversed our course and flew back to the rend created by the door. When the outflow of debris slowed to a trickle, we boosted inside. The interior lighting was flickering but still operational. We could see that safety pressure doors had slammed shut on both ends of the corridor we were in. The pirates still had a small quantity of usable atmosphere. That wasn’t going to work for me. If we had to operate in the void, then the pirates would as well. I raised my launcher and gave the door farthest from our position a five-shot burst of high explosive. One or two would have probably gotten the job done, but the Tibor had rubbed off on me enough to imprint his philosophy of more is always better. The hatch blew inward, crushing an unknown number of hostiles. The void quickly claimed the bodily remains and sucked them from the opening with other assorted pieces of trash. Klutch charged forward and held up a grenade. When the gruesome discharge slowed, he threw it into the opening. We were disappointed when it did not detonate. I had my doubts that we had accounted for all the pirates.
“Justice, can you get an interior scan through the dock access?” I asked.
“Negative, Commander, the interior spaces are well-shielded.”
Tria got my attention and raised her launcher. Klutch saw what she was doing and did the same.
“High explosive, five-second delay, five-round bursts,” she called to Klutch.
He gave her a thumbs up and stepped up to the opening so he had a good angle to bounce them down the passage. They opened fire, sending the explosive shells ricocheting in both directions down the passage. The rippling detonations sent small vibrations through my boots. I pushed off the floor and floated to the junction. The corridor was filled with clouds of debris, but there was no sign of the pirates anywhere. There was not a lot of base to hide in. Klutch went left, and Tria and I went right. We could see the front entrance because it still had plasma fires marking its location. We slowed up when we came to a large vault door. It was the former treasure chamber for the pirates. It was closed, and depending what Klutch could come up with, it had to be one of the few places left to hide. Klutch hailed us a few minutes later.
“Commander, I have no live combatants to report, and none matched Eiger’s description.”
It was an interesting way to word his report and did not include any additional information. I surmised he may have found live pirates, but they were no longer alive. I was not going to second-guess him, but it would have been nice to question someone as to the whereabouts of the remaining pirates. I looked back at the vault door, wondering if the pirates had indeed trapped themselves in the chamber. I could only think of a couple of reasons they would do that. The one that made the most sense was they were taking refuge until help could arrive.
“Justice, did the Warbringer launch any comms buoys?”
“Affirmative, Commander. They launched a total of eleven since their arrival in this system. The most recent were the three they launched just before they moved into the asteroid field.”
“Don’t you think that would be information I should know?”
“Unless the pirates are able to summon a fleet or they have developed new shields and weaponry, it will make little difference on the outcome of your mission.”
The AI had a point. The Murlak’s technology was no match for ours. If they sent other ships, they would share the same fate as Eiger’s flagship. Klutch joined back up with us. He was examining the vault door with Tria.
“Did Coonts jump out of the system?” I asked Justice.
“Yes, Commander, he has sent an IST report back to me. He has rendezvoused with our freighter, and they are transferring the cargo. He estimates it will take them approximately three hours to complete the loading operation.”
“Roger that. As soon as they get the cargo transferred, I want him to cut the Murlak freighter loose and let them go their own way. Tell him and Sael they are to stay with the Zaens and jump to the Sig base near El Dorado. We will join up with them there.”
“Sending message now, Commander.”
Tria and Klutch had disappeared down the corridor and into one of the side passages.
“Nathan, we have a wall that may be shared by the vault enclosure,” Tria called to me. “Klutch wants to use the portal device to determine if we are correct. We will hold until you join us.”
“I am on my way.”
Unless we killed Eiger in the shuttles, he had to be hiding in the vault with the last of the pirates. It would have been a simple matter to port a hole in the vault door and give the scum hiding
there an antimatter gift before we abandoned the base. But in order to get the closure on Eiger I was seeking, I would have to positively identify him. It made no difference if he was dead or alive as long as I could get a good look at his face. An antimatter shell in the confines of the vault would no doubt leave little in the way of remains to identify. I chose instead to leave a grenade against the door and set it to remote detonate. Boosting down the passage, I found the storage area where Tria and Klutch waited for me. Tria met me at the entrance and pointed to the rear wall.