I also was informed that a fleet of Takkian civilian ships was already on its way and the news that their ancient chant slates were actually correct and that there was a Conck had traveled fast and caused a religious revival on Takkian and Takian worlds. The plan was that the Takkian would settle the moon and Little Hell and then ‘officially discover’ the Conck and claim the system.
Of course, I had also informed the admiral about everything in great detail. It wasn’t the most elegant solution, according to the admiral, but the best available.
After the Chimera was loaded and we had received some additional supplies, we bid them farewell and Krabbel put in a course that would take us Port Brhama.
I had the crew assemble in our pirate’s den and said to them, “Now after a little unplanned detour, we are back on track with our original mission. We are once again pirates to the world. Any ship that crosses our bow is likely prey, and we are going to hunt other pirates and criminals.”
I held up a print-out and said, “This is a summary of the CID report about the attack on the Danny Huston, the civilian passenger liner that was attacked by pirates while we were at the Golden Bazaar and I want to read it to you.”
I cleared my throat and began to read out loud, “On February 5th, 5021 the Passenger Clipper Danny Houston on its way from Seven-Skies to Fairfield Planet was attacked and heavily damaged. The shipmaster of the Danny signaled full cooperation with the attackers and asked for mercy for his passengers. He assured the attacker that they were a completely unarmed civilian vessel.
“The Danny was boarded by pirates, and seventy passengers were taken captive. Every crew member was killed; the shipmaster was spaced without a suit.
“Four female passengers were brutally raped and afterward killed. The remaining forty-eight passengers, including children and the old not worth much on the slave market, were also spaced without suits.
“Aboard the Danny Huston were Saresii, Humans, Klack, Purple-throat Shiss and two Shail. Only one passenger, a Stellaris, managed to survive in space clinging to the outside of the stripped wreck.
“The pirate was identified as Captain Swift of the ship Swift Profit.
“It was the captain who did the raping himself, as you see can now behind me on the field screen. This footage was taken directly from the interior visual sensors of the Danny Huston. I realize the images are hard to stomach and quite graphic, but I wanted you to see them and get the same angry feeling I got watching these, the same feeling I got fighting that scum at Outpost 96. I want you to see why we do what we do.
“Some of us didn’t have a proper vacation or might resent the fact that we can’t go to port at regular intervals, but those passengers won’t come home at all.”
I was in my ready room. Moments ago, I had finished my daily logbook entry and now had taken my boots off and had my feet up on the desk. Leaning back, I was looking outside my viewport into the darkness of space.
It was late and the first night watch was about to leave the bridge to be relieved by the officers and crew members of the middle watch. I could hear the fourth bell that signaled the last thirty minutes of first night watch that went from 0000 hours to 0400 hours. I glanced at the roster readout I always kept open on one of my screens. It would be the first watch with Sobody being the Officer of the Deck and having the conn. Although he was not an Academy graduate or had all that much Union Fleet experience, he was conscripted, and Admiral McElligott himself wanted him to be an ensign. He was not inexperienced when it came to making command decisions. He had led an entire civilization for twelve thousand years and traveled aboard starships for at least that long. Besides, he’d turned out to be an asset and reliable, and I’d made the decision to put him on the rotation roster for bridge watches. We were still eighteen days away from our next destination, Brhama Port. Space was vast and to meet another ship outside planetary systems was very rare, even on very busy traffic routes. Our sensors had not detected anything for the last two days. We could not use the full range of our active sensors because active sensors could be detected, and no Kartanian would have the sensor range of a modern Union ship.
I said, “Ship, give me a bridge visual.” Normally I would not spy on my officers and crew, but I wanted to see how Sobody came on and how he handled himself.
A new field screen established itself before me and Ship said, “I am curious, too, as to how he will do.”
To my ship AI, I said, “I still find it amazing to hear a computronic use words like curious and have the intuition to know why I wanted to watch. I wonder if we should not have more sentient computronics.”
Ship responded, “As much as I am thankful to you, don’t think it would be a very good idea. If personalities can choose to be good, then they also have the choice to do bad, and what damage could a ship’s AI do if it was malicious.”
I agreed and said, “Thinking it over, it wouldn’t be fair to the AIs anyway, as they had no choice but to become Ship AIs and serve. Not much of a choice.”
While I watched the first watch go through the final motions of their shift, Ship said, “I would have made that decision even if I had other choices. I am very content to be your AI.”
“I still think we need to find a way to treat you more fairly. You are on duty all the time, no free time, no leisure time and all that.”
“I am not human, Captain. I am sentient but not a biological being. I perceive things differently. I am made to function around the clock. I don’t require sleep, and I can think and act on many levels simultaneously. I can dedicate a section of mine to spend time on my hobbies when there is not much going on.” Ship paused and then said, “I speak and understand all languages of the Union and many more, and yet I can’t find the appropriate words to express how you make me feel when you say something like that.”
“Don’t get all mushy on me but I think we should explore if we can’t use Avatar technology or maybe a robot body of sorts. I know Mothermachine had something like that to attend the festivities of Union Week on Pluribus.”
“You would allow that?”
“I am recommending it.”
“You are the best captain an AI can have.”
I smiled at that and said something similar in return and then watched the Golden and his nine duty officers come on the bridge. I actually laughed as I saw the little Holdian walking briskly behind the Golden.
Ship said, “Those two are almost inseparable, as you can see. The Holdian specialist is the duty engineer of that watch.”
The transfer went smoothly, and I noticed that the Golden did everything by the book. Even more so than most, and his transfer could have been recorded for Academy instructions.
He sat down on the command chair and was calling in the standard reports of all departments. My supervision was not needed, and since I had changed my own schedule to morning watch in order to be on the bridge when we reached Brhama Port, it would have been a wise decision to go to bed.
I was just about to turn off the field screen when Ship said, “OPS just reported a contact on the scanner horizon. Correction, there are two contacts now, and weapon energies are exchanged.”
My ready room was right behind the bridge, and it took me only a few moments to reach it. Just as I entered, Sobody called me over Intra-Ship.
As always, two Marines guarded the bridge access door and announced me. “Captain on the bridge.”
Sobody vacated the seat, and I said to him while I sat down, “Sorry to cut your first watch short, but I think you did fine, and you are on the permanent watch roster now.”
He bowed slightly and said, “Two contacts, Captain, and right in our path. Looks like pirate action.”
I put myself on ship-wide and said, “Ship, sound battle stations. Senior officers to the bridge.”
The light on the bridge changed from bright to red, and it took seconds for my team to reach their stations.
Narth, of course, was first, as he simply appeared and took his seat behind th
e OPS station. Seconds later, he gave me the first analysis. “Contact one emits energies consistent with a Bolgar Class armed trader and contact two energy signature is Kartanian and on file. It belongs to a known pirate ship called the Mighty Nine. The identity of the pirates themselves are not listed, but the ship and associated energy signature are on the Union wanted list for acts of piracy.”
Ship reported that all stations had signaled stations and that meant that every being aboard the ship had reached their battle station, fully.
I acknowledged and said, “Shaka, get us within one light minute. Mao, raise shields and arm weapons.”
On most Union ships, there would be little to do for the Science Officer, as all scanner and sensor resources were used by tactical and OPS, but not on the Tigershark. Shea allocated almost all sensors to her station and left only targeting and threat sensors with tactical. What made our system somewhat different was Shea’s intricate knowledge of the sensors and their capabilities, her incredible intellect paired with human emotion and intuition to correlate the scanner results with established knowledge. She worked in perfect synergy with Ship and the other departments.
Right now, she sent Hans the wide-spectrum images of the ships, and he used them to check with Union intel and law enforcement data banks. Ship used the energy output and energy signatures and calculated the energy technical capabilities of these potential opponents. She used a fine raster spectronomy to analyze shields and armor of the other ships, and Mao used this data to create a targeting logarithm that would allow him to disable, disarm, or destroy depending on my orders.
It all happened in mere heartbeats, and she said, “Captain, the Bolgar Class is registered to a small Union company that does trading business with several Free Space civilizations. According to their GalNet, mostly buying and selling declassified civilian goods. The company is suspected of also dealing with the Togar, according to an Intel report. Which is not against the law, as long as they don’t sell Mil-Tech.”
Mao reported, “The Mighty Nine is well armed with Kartanian Yukti ship-to-ship missiles and four faster-than-light directed-energy cannons, but nothing bigger than one megajoule per second. The Bolgar has three FTL DE turrets but only Class VIII. Both ships have standard shields. The Bolgar’s aft shields are about to collapse.”
Elfi followed right after Mao saying, “Captain, we are being hailed on Tachyon Radio, by the Mighty Nine.”
Har-Hi pulled his folded helmet out of his collar, and it became rigid as soon as it was completely out. It covered his face to the chin with a yellow-tinted faceplate, obscuring his identity. He handed me my mask. “I assume we are going to talk first, right?”
I laced the mask tight and gave him a scolding look. “We always talk first. Elfi, open the channel as soon as Narth verifies the bridge image matches our ship’s disguise.”
She responded, “You’re on, Captain. Bridge image confirmed.”
A shaggy-looking creature appeared on our screen. It had an elongated somehow bean-shaped head with four pointed ears and a drop-shaped nose that extended over the most of the upper half of the head. It had four eyes and a small rigid mouth. The head and much of the exposed upper torso was covered in finger-long unkempt-looking, orange fur.
Narth informed me telepathically, “This is a Volting, and they are members of the Galactic Council. I can sense him pretty easily, and he is as wanted there as he is wanted by the Union.”
He squealed in a hoarse voice, “Who do you think you are, interrupting my business?”
I said to him, “My business is interrupting yours. So lower your shields and deactivate your weapons and we will make it fast and quick. We leave with your valuables, and you leave with your life. I assure you, you won’t like the alternative.”
Even though it was the first time I saw a Volting, I could tell by his reaction he did not expect me saying that. “Don’t mess with me, female. I am of the Sinister Alliance and have many friends.”
He couldn’t know that this was the wrong thing to say to me. I remembered the attack on the outpost as if it was yesterday and of course, the little Holdian commander. I responded, “Well, your friends aren’t here, but I am.”
Elfi signaled me that the other ship was hailing us now as well, and I had her put them on simultaneously. The screen split and a human captain became visible. He wore a corporate uniform in bright reds and blues, and I found it a tad too colorful. He had dark hair and bushy eyebrows that almost united above his wide nose. “I am willing to offer you 25,000 Polo coins if you help me escape this gangster who dared to fire upon us. I am a peaceful trader and have little of value aboard.”
Narth’s mental connection transferred an emotion I had never thought possible with him. My friend felt disgusted, and he sent me his thoughts. “Eric, he has the most disgusting and horrible freight. What I am sensing cannot be described.”
I wondered what Narth had seen and said to the human, “I make you the same offer as I made to your Volting playmate. Surrender, lower your shields, and prepare to be boarded and you might walk away from this.”
To Mao, I said, “Open gun ports and incapacitate them, Shaka, show them what a real helmsman can do.”
I moved my seat into battle mode, and our disguised ship shot like a rock shark between a group of Three Finners. Our Nul Froth Casters that were part of our disguise were quite functional, and those Nul graviton pulse weapons were second only to the latest Terran weapons and enormously powerful and especially damaging to shields.
It was a thrill ride I could equate to nothing else. Shaka was more than just good. It was as if he could predict when the other ships were firing and corrected the course with the speed of thought and evaded both ships’ barrage with apparent ease, while he never exceeded speeds that a Kartanian could not obtain. I was fairly certain, however, that no Kartanian ship had such precise helm control systems reacting in nano-second delay to Shaka’s control commands.
The stars danced around me in a wild, erratic manner whenever Shaka changed course.
Mao, who of course had trained with Shaka, knew his friend’s style and adapted his gunnery to the flight pattern and none of his shots missed. His targeting sequence was on the spot, and he actually used manual intuitive fire control.
Our ship shuddered ever so slightly as all our turrets pointed to one side and gave the Mighty Nine a broadside.
Mao said, “Shaka, I am giving the Bolgar the same medicine; prepare to compensate for weapon recoil.”
Shaka responded, “I am using that drift into fire on purpose; no sense wasting perfectly good kinetic energy.”
I had to laugh. My friends were having fun, enjoying themselves doing what they did best.
Har-Hi said, “Captain, both ships are rendered inoperable, and their shields are down.”
It took a second to get my seat out of battle view and then I said, “Mao, pound them with tech stop and paralysator rays. Har-Hi and Hans, you take the Mighty Nine. TheOther, you are with me, we going to visit the Bolgar. Hans, I need twenty-five Marines and two Fenris stat.”
Har-Hi shook his head as we both rushed to the IST. “There is no sense stopping you, or is there?”
Everything in me urged me to rush and board that ship, but I’d made Har-Hi my XO and he had a point. I stopped and sighed, “You are right. I will remain aboard.”
He laughed, already at the door. “Just kidding, Captain; I wanted to be at the door first. Stopping you from getting into the thick of the fray would be cruel.”
I actually cursed him and said, “Shea, you have the Conn.”
Running behind him, I yelled, “What a fine friend I’ve got!”
I almost caught up with him at the Battle-Dresser at the deployment deck as he said, “You don’t know how much I respect you for actually heeding my objection, Captain.”
“You are the XO, after all.”
He launched himself into space, his boot thrusters glowing bright white before he even made it past the forcefield c
urtain and he said via Command Channel, “Whoever calls object secure first wins.”
“What’s the wager?”
“If I win, we keep the pool temperature at a cozy 38, and if you win, I prance around in high heel boots for an entire hour.”
“I thought you hated swimming?”
“I am getting used to it, as it seems you’ve completely lost your fear of space.”
“I didn’t lose it; I simply don’t find the time lately to feel it.”
“All you need is a fight at the other side, and you’d cross hell to get there. I am slowly getting used to water and swimming, but I tell you, jumping in a pool that is kept at only four degrees is anything but fun. Only afterward was I told that the temperature is at such a freezing temperature because my captain took a swim an hour before.”
I could see the freighter now with my own eyes as the strong lights of our suits revealed details of its hull. There weren’t enough photons out here to reflect and see the ship on its own. “You better get an appointment with Cateria then, because walking in these heels isn’t as easy as it looks. I am almost there.”
“You forget I have Hans with me, and I am already halfway there!”
Once again, I flew through deep space toward a hostile ship, accompanied by Elite Marines and two Fenris robots. Har-Hi was right; I was no longer as afraid of space as I was before.
Har-Hi and I had stopped our banter as we had to concentrate on the job at hand. Right next to me was TheOther, who looked truly frightening in his modified Gilgamesh suit. Without my special sensor optics, he would have been completely invisible as the suit’s adaptive camouflage had taken on the darkness of space itself.
TheOther was the first to reach the Bolgar ship. Bolgar was not a species, but an old Union company that manufactured civilian spacecraft for about two hundred years but went out of business for some reason.
Still, there were many Bolgar ships out there, and they had a reputation for being solid and reliable. The ship was about 350 meters long and had the simple shape of a dull cone with a base radius of 80 meters. Six ISAH pods attached to its aft.
Eric Olafson: Space Pirate Page 41