Cosmic Captor

by Stella Cassy

  15

  Fighting the Good Fight

  ~ Tarion ~

  Noticing movement in our peripheral vision, Lehar and I turn at the same time to see Carissa leaving the bridge. “Shall I go after her, sir?”

  Turning back to the task at hand, I shake my head. “Leave her be. I will dry her tears myself once the battle is won. As much as I’d like to leave in the face of battle and go running off to see that she is well, I’m more concerned with ensuring our ship isn’t blown up by a superior force.”

  Paxian is not a language we have in our translation matrix, so it’s taking a micron or two to create it. Right now it just sounds like a lot of angry yapping over the communi-channel. Not usually a complainer, I find myself asking, “Is it me, or is the translator taking forever to find the base code for their language?”

  “Since the Pax started showing up to trade more frequently in this sector of space, I’ve been meaning to locate a translation program in case we ran into them. As it stands, we’ll have to break the code and formulate a rudimentary translation matrix on the fly.” Lehar adds with frustration, “This is not what we need right now.”

  No sooner were the words out of his mouth than the translator kicked in. “You have stolen property belonging to Paxian Alliance on your vessel. Stand down your weapons.”

  Clearing my throat, I open my end of the communi-channel and stare down the pale white creature who has been shouting at me. “Tarion of the Hielsrane does not trade in stolen merchandise.” That’s a lie of course, but I’m hoping he doesn’t know for sure.

  The look of derision on his face is accented by the sight of his tiny mouth twisting into a smirk. “Your reputation precedes you, Tarion of the Hielsrane.”

  I’m not surprised he’s heard of me, everyone has after all. Unfortunately, that’s not working in my favor today. Folding my arms over my chest, I respond indignantly. “To fire on my ship is an act of war. The Drakon will not allow such an insult to go unpunished.”

  Stepping forward menacing, his large black eyes shine with dark humor. “Stow it Captain Hielsrane. I’m aware the Drakon trade fire with each other and every other species in the verse with alarming regularity, so let’s not pretend my doing so is out of the ordinary.”

  He’s got me on that one, but I’m a stubborn male. “Who are you and what exactly do you want from me?”

  The large boxy head wobbles slightly as he speaks. “I am Captain Emf'phet. The Paxian Alliance has tasked me with securing the return of certain valuables, which our scans verify are on board you vessel.”

  Smoothing down the front of my uniform, I feign boredom. “You’re wasting a lot of my time. Can you get to the point?”

  He responds curtly. “You will turn over slave 2701, the cube of chromite and the Class D vessel the slave escaped in. If our property is damaged, you will be responsible for making that right as well.”

  He apparently has not heard of our creed. Once plunder is in holds, we never give it back. I make my eyes big and state innocently, “I’m not familiar with slave 2701. Can you describe him to me?”

  The older Paxian captain is not falling for my antics. In fact, he’s beginning to lose patience with the whole situation. His voice turns menacing. “Don’t play games with me, Captain. A reward has been posted for her return and I intend to collect it. Your cooperation is required by law.” His voice is so flat it’s unreal. Truth be told my computer’s version of his words have more warmth than he does as a real live being. The thought of my Carissa being helped by such people makes me double my resolve to get her free of their clutches.

  Moving slowly, I plop down at a console and open a “Hold on, let me scan my manifest to see if we might have this slave you’re looking for on board this ship. If we do and I can find an outstanding wanted posting for her, I might consider turning her over to you.”

  Lehar turns his back to the view screen and frowns at me. We both know that I’m playing for time, until all my fighter drones are programmed and ready to launch. It shouldn’t take but a couple more microns. I begin scanning through the assortment of postings that were blasted over the communi-channels in the last lunar. He’s looking for my new brooder. I recognize the number from the wanted postings.

  It sickens me to hear him referring to Carissa by a slave number. He doesn’t even see her as a fucking person. I suddenly realize how very convenient that is when you are the one claiming ownership.

  Then I remember that I would have done the same a lunar ago. It’s amazing what love can do to a perfectly reasonable warrior. This entire ordeal has been been an especially horrifying experience for my Carissa. Frustrated, I turn to the inglorious bastard. He’s still going on and on about the condition of their property. The next words out of his mouth seal his fate with me.

  “If the slave has been used as a brooder, any and all young she produces as a result of that contact will, by law, belong to the Paxian Alliance. Do not think to stall us until she has completed the regeneration cycle.”

  I realize Carissa is correct. People without a soul find sanitized ways to discuss stealing away another being’s rights. It enables beings to talk about gross injustice in a polite manner and in doing so avoid accepting responsibility for their behavior. What was obscured from my awareness is now clear in my mind’s eye and I do not like what I see. Growling, I have to force myself not to shift into my fighting form. Captain Emf'phet seems startled at the sound that emanates from my throat. It stops him in his tracks.

  “I have a response for your absurd request.” There is a half a micron of silence while he waits for my answer. Shooting a quick glance at Lehar, he nods, eager as ever for a good fight. Turning back to the view screen, is see that the startled Paxian captain is now glaring me. “My answer is no. She will not be returned to you. I found her in the black, far from a habitable planet running out of oxygen and food. She would be dead if not for our ship rescuing her. Since she was found in a nearly derelict vessel in the black of space, you legally have no claim on the brooder. It is unfortunate for you that you couldn’t manage to secure one small human female. That she out-smarted you speaks to your weakness and incompetence.”

  Appearing none too happy, he knows that I’m correct in my interpretation of the law. She was one step away from being space junk when we found her. It used to be that one could not claim a vessel with living beings on board. Several species made a strong argument that taking ships destined to be delicts before the crew expired was an act of compassion. The council agreed that shadowing a ship with no hope of making port before the occupants died was a barbaric practice. They quickly enacted laws to allow the culling of such vessels with the thought that a life of slavery was better than death. It so happens that I’m a bit of expert on the finder’s keeper’s part of intergalactic law, since this particular bit of intergalactic law is of use to me as a raider. The captain’s annoyed voice draws me back to the task at hand.

  “I’m authorized to increase the bounty by half in exchange for the slave being returned unharmed.” His expression is one of thorough loathing.

  Taking a step closer to the view screen, I jerk my chin up defiantly. “You dare make demands of Tarion of the Hielsrane? It’s clear you have no idea who you’re speaking to.”

  “Indeed, I do know of your exploits. I calculated the exact number of fighters needed to complete this mission successfully. It seems I overestimated the firepower. If you engage in a battle with me, you will lose.”

  He’s right. The battle will be unbalanced because so many of my ships stayed behind to take shore leave. “It is you who will not survive. None who move against me have lived to speak of it. Surely, you have heard this, for it is known far and wide.”

  “The tales are fit to strike fear into the mind of weak-minded beings. As you can see, I do not fear doing battle with my enemies.”

  “Raise your chain of command on the communi-channel and alert them that when you do not return, it is because Tarion of the Hielsrane has
laid waste to your vessels.”

  “You risk much for one lone slave, Tarion of the Hielsrane.”

  “Let them also know we will appeal to the galactic council to cease all trade with the Paxian Alliance. Though it’s true, many of our member worlds have slaves, we keep them with dignity. I have seen the markings left on the brooder’s body by your people. Your version of slavery is based on ownership, abuse and greed. Our slaves are protected, trained to care properly for themselves and treated humanely.”

  “Slavery and bondage are practiced widely in the verse. Only a prideful fool attempts to dictate how a being uses his own property.”

  The note of disdain in his voice drives me to threaten him with what the Pax surely fear most. I can see the fury leap on his face as my arrow hits its mark. “We will appeal to the galactic council to cease all trade with the Paxian Alliance. As your people are but visitors to our sector of space, you have no right to make demands or start hostilities with a member world.”

  “Think carefully about what you say, Captain. The Paxian Alliance will not permit you sour our trade with the worlds of the galactic alliance, nor will we allow you to keep property that rightly belongs to us.”

  At that moment Carissa walks back onto the bridge and slips into an empty seat near the communications array. My chest constricts. The feeling I once thought was an exotic illness is in fact love. It can be nothing else. The Pax will have to go through me to get to her because I’ll never surrender her willingly.

  Shooting Captain Emf'phet a look of resolve, my voice turns icy. “I would fly this ship into the sun rather than capitulate to a filthy slave trader like you.”

  Lehar cuts the communi-channel with my nemesis screaming like a madman. He states almost cheerfully. “That went well. Do we have something approaching a plan yet?”

  “There is nothing unique or special about the Pax or their fighting techniques.”

  Nodding, Lehar perks up. “Alright, we’ll go with the throw everything we’ve got at them plan. That usually works.”

  That’s an oversimplification of a complex plan of attack that normally works to our advantage. Why Lehar is always so happy in the face of a virtually no-win scenario, I’ll never know. He’s been like that since we were younglings, fighting with our classmates on the grassy hills of our home world.

  Closing the distance between me and my beautiful new brooder, I stoop to buckle her securely into the seat. Her eyes are large, inquisitive and slightly apprehensive. Cupping her cheek, I kiss her chastely and give her a few words of sage advice. “Hold on tight, my sweet. This is the part where things get a bit bumpy.”

  Her face isn’t as nearly worried as I feel. “I’m ready to fight. Just let me know what you need.” Her sweet words fill me with pride.

  Without looking away from her, I speak to the crew. “Launch all first wave fighter drones and fire laser cannons at will. I need the flagship shields down within five microns.”

  Instead of withdrawing into herself, like females are wont to do, she perks up. “That sounds just like action and adventure.”

  Smothering back a smile, I try not to sound flippant or overly proud. “We’ve got less than a forty percent chance of survival, but I wouldn’t miss this battle for all the world.”

  Lehar rolls his eyes. “Since we’d lose more running than fighting, we’ll have to hit them hard and fast.”

  I stand, as my crew flies into action. “If we win, drinks are on me. If not, it’s been a privilege serving with you.”

  Along the sides of the main view screen, the secondary screens show my bay doors opening and thousands of fighter drones flying out. When they near the enemy fleet, we watch the battle playing out on the big screen. My huge hoard of drone fighters swarms the five Paxian ships. They are light, maneuverable and keep chipping away at the enemy vessel’s shields.

  “Move half of the fighters to the flagship. I need those shields to come down right fucking now.”

  “I’m on it, sir.”

  As my crew continues concentrating most of their laser fire on the first ship, we get a lucky strike in on one of the others. Our laser cannon makes a direct hit into one of their phase cannons, causing a huge explosion on their ship that takes them entirely out of the fight.

  Lehar thumps his chest and shouts gleefully. “They’re on the drift. That’s one down and four more to go, sir.”

  I’m pleased, but unlike my first officer, I’ve got no time to enjoy it. “I don’t think we’ll be quite that lucky again.” Still, I find myself eyeing the Paxian ship. It will be a wonderful addition to my armada if we win this battle. In fact, all five of the flashy battle ships would be nice trophies, proof of exactly what a bad idea it is to fuck with Tarion of the Hielsrane. Glancing at Lehar, I ask anxiously. “Are all our extended crew on board yet?”

  “Just about, sir.”

  “I want them all safely aboard and in their seats at the control panels below before this battle heats up.”

  “The last two are docking now, sir.”

  “Shields?”

  “Holding at 97%.”

  Within moments the doors to the bridge open and several crew members slide into control chairs. I jerk my chin at them and they get down to business. Dropping down into the captain’s seat, I give the go ahead. “Coordinate for a full frontal assault on my mark. Three, two, one… execute.”

  Suddenly, all the drone fighters converge on the flagship and all seven ships in my armada turn their fire on the huge state-of-the-art vessel. The remaining three ships attempt to protect Emf'phet’s flagship by picking off the drones one by one. Since they haven’t been successful penetrating our shields, it is a logical course of action for them to take at this point in the battle. Cautious pride blooms in my chest. Our most trustworthy plan is working against this nearly invincible enemy.

  Carissa makes a strangled noise when one of the fighter drones explodes. When one of the smaller ships in my armada falls prey to enemy fires and one explodes, she starts silently crying. That’s when I realize she doesn’t know how we operate.

  “There is no need to worry. There are no crew members on the other ships in my armada. We always pull in the skeleton crews behind our main shield at the first sign of battle. Their crews operate them remotely.”

  She tried to pull herself together. “I hate our fighters being out there in harm’s way.”

  Grinning, I shake my head.

  Her face scrunches up into a delightfully confused expression. “They’re remote controlled too?”

  “That wouldn’t be possible, since there are almost a thousand of them. You probably can’t tell because they’re far away and it’s difficult to see scale when there’s nothing to compare them to except the enemy ships, but they’re drones designed to look like fighters. Each one has a life-sign artificially worked into the system. It usually takes our adversary a few microns to figure out they’re drones but it doesn’t matter because as long as the drones pose a threat, they must waste firepower shooting at them. It is why we swarm them in great numbers.”

  “So nobody’s going to get killed in this battle?”

  “I wish that were the case. When the time is right, we’ll release our real fighters. Our goal is to draw down their power reserves. Each ship only has so many energy packs to power their weapons. Our goal is draw theirs down while, saving as much as ours as possible for the real battle. Lives will be lost. There is no getting around that.”

  “But this strategy minimizes the number we lose.”

  Nodding, I can see she is impressed with our fighting skills.

  “Sir, we’ve drawn down our drone count by fifty percent.”

  “How close are we to bringing down their shields?”

  “Their shields are down to forty percent.”

  “Release the fighters and then pull us back just enough to provide cover fire.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  In my mind, the real battle starts now. We have to thin our shielding for the th
ree microns to allow my fighters to move through the barrier. This normally does not cause a modicum of anxiety for me. However, now I have a beautiful brooder to consider and I do not like having her vulnerable. Emf'phet is an older captain, clearly well versed in the art of war. Not only is he aware of our weakness, he immediately exploits it with a sustained burst of fire from his plasma cannons directly into my primary loading bay.

  “Gods of chaos, we’ve sustained a direct hit. He’s damaged a third our fighters and isn’t letting up.”

  “That’s a lot of damage considering that only half of his fire power is penetrating our shields. Pour everything we’ve got into a concentrated burst right above his primary weapon.” To use his most effective weapon, he’s had to lower his shield as well. We’re almost equally matched and hoping the other will misstep. If not, the success of this battle will rest upon who can hold out longer.

  I realize a moment too late that victory will not be mine today. Our ship’s shields come down in spectacular fashion with white energy conducting along the walls and ceiling. The energy overload doesn’t reach our control panels. Anticipating this day, we protected our consoles with a special coating against such abuse long ago. With any luck we might just have enough maneuverability left to jump to lightspeed. My mind is already formulating a strategy to get us clear of this battle, so we might live to fight another day.

  16

  Fighting In His Stead

  ~ Carissa ~

  I watch in horror as things go bad. Tarion and Lehar are shouting orders to the crew and for a brief moment it looks like we’re winning, but we end up in some kind standoff shortly thereafter. When white tendrils of electricity crackle along the interior of the bridge the situation beings to become a little surreal. My heart comes to a shuddering stop as I watch it engulf the captain’s chair and Tarion along with it. For a brief second my eyes play tricks on me as his face beings to morph into something unrecognizable. Tearing the safety belt that he so tenderly clicked into place earlier off I scramble to his side. Unaware and uncaring of the danger, my body moves without conscious thought. Though my heart is pounding in my chest and my feet stumble, I reach him moments before his crew.