Atlantia Series 3: Aggressor

by Dean Crawford

  ‘Very much,’ Taron replied. ‘In fact, as far as I can tell he’s never been happier.’

  ‘Who is Salim Phaeon?’ Bra’hiv asked.

  Idris placed his hands behind his back as he replied.

  ‘Salim Phaeon was one of the most feared brigands ever to come to the attention of the Colonial Forces, back when I was in command of an active ship of the line, Ventura. He was leading a flotilla of pirate vessels and causing mayhem in the Tyberium Fields before we were called in to flush them out and engage them directly, to protect the shipping lanes out near the Icari Line.’

  ‘You’ve met this man?’ Mikhain asked.

  ‘Not in person,’ Idris replied. ‘But I have engaged him in combat and in doing so killed several members of his family. Salim is not going to want to do any kind of deal with me. If we negotiate, it’ll have to be with somebody else acting as commander of this vessel.’

  Mikhain stood a little more upright behind his console.

  ‘I would be happy to play that role, captain.’

  Idris peered at the XO. ‘It’s captain now, is it? And there was I thinking that you no longer held my command in the highest respect.’

  ‘It’s not your command that I disrespect, sir,’ Mikhain replied. ‘But what I think does not matter right now. Getting our people back aboard before this Salim murders them is what matters.’

  Idris nodded thoughtfully.

  ‘I want to know what Salim is doing down there,’ he said to Taron. ‘Why is he holed up on this planet, in a dying system?’

  ‘Why do you think?’ Taron asked rhetorically. ‘Because it’s a dying system very few vessels ever ventured out this way. There has been a smuggling settlement on Chiron IV for decades, not that any of you thought to search for one.’

  ‘The system was off-limits due to the stars’ instability, Admiralty’s orders,’ Mikhain uttered.

  ‘Since when do pirates obey the Admiralty?’ Taron murmured in response. ‘The system’s instability provides the perfect cover for Salim’s operations.’

  ‘And now?’ Bra’hiv asked. ‘The Admiralty is long gone, nobody is hunting Salim so why is he still here?’

  ‘The star,’ Taron said and tilted his head toward the bridge’s main viewing panel, where an image of Chiron IV and its parent star dominated. ‘It emits vast amounts of energy, magnetic fields, cosmic rays and such like. As it turns out, the Legion doesn’t like to play when the sun’s shining too brightly.’

  ‘They’re driven away?’ Idris asked.

  ‘Can’t say for sure,’ Taron admitted, ‘but whenever an infected ship has entered the system it’s always pulled away again before reaching too deep. Many of the ship’s Salim’s men have plundered were found because they fled here and managed to escape pursuit by the Word.’ Taron grinned. ‘Out of the frying pan…’

  Idris turned away thoughtfully but it was Mikhain who responded.

  ‘This could be the kind of place we were looking for after all,’ he suggested. ‘A safe haven, as long as we keep an eye on solar activity. That star could take decades to become truly dangerous.’

  ‘Or it could flare up tomorrow and blast Chiron IV’s atmosphere into oblivion,’ Bra’hiv countered. ‘This isn’t a safe place.’

  ‘Nowhere is truly safe,’ Mikhain replied. ‘But a planet in a zone where the Word will not travel isn’t something we can lightly pass by.’

  Idris stared at the deck for a long moment. ‘We need supplies,’ he said, almost to himself. ‘That really is something that we cannot pass by. Chiron IV there is more than big enough for us and Salim’s fleet.’

  ‘And this time we’ll be ready for them,’ Mikhain added.

  ‘You’re forgetting,’ Taron murmured, ‘that he’s holding several of your crew hostage. He may not allow you to descend toward the surface again.’

  Idris’s features creased into a grim smile.

  ‘Then we’ll have to test his resolve,’ he growled. ‘I’m not about to let my crew be pushed about by a common criminal.’ He turned to Lael. ‘Activate all electronic countermeasures and broadcast at full power. Salim’s going to hear what we say whether he likes it or not.’

  ‘Her won’t listen to you,’ Taron reminded the captain smugly. ‘You’ll need us to liase with Salim.’

  Idris, his fists clenched by his sides, bellowed out a new command.

  ‘Guards, get them both out of here and into a holding cell!’

  Two Marines thundered onto the bridge and grabbed Taron and Yo’Ki, disarming them and turning them toward the exits. Taron’s voice called back to Idris as they were escorted from the bridge.

  ‘Only way out of this for your people is to listen to me, captain,’ he called. ‘We’re useless to your captured crews in a prison cell.’

  Idris waited until the smuggler was off the bridge before he turned to Mikhian.

  ‘We need a solution to all of this and fast.’

  ‘What about the prisoner from the sanctuary?’ Bra’hiv asked again. ‘We need to find out where he’s getting his Devlamine supply from.’

  ‘We will have to deal with him later,’ Idris replied. ‘Right now we may have a hostage situation and that takes precedence. Have your men ready to move at a moment’s notice, general.’

  As the general saluted and marched from the bridge, Mikhain stepped up.

  ‘Who is going to play the role of captain, in your stead?’

  Nobody answered for a moment as the captain turned to look at Mikhain. He looked as though he was about to reply when the bridge doors opened and Andaim strode onto the bridge.

  ‘Reporting for duty, captain,’ Andaim said.

  Idris turned to face the CAG, and he grinned.

  ‘Welcome aboard, captain.’

  Andaim frowned in confusion, and Idris did not see the scowl darken Mikhain’s features behind them.

  ***

  XVI

  ‘Get out of your ship with your hands where we can see them!’

  Evelyn punched her harness lock as she watched a group of flamboyantly dressed men encircle her Raython fighter. Their faces were tanned and several were scarred or laced with tattoos, both human and other species alike, some of which she had never seen before. All were heavily armed, their weapons trained on her as she flipped a switch and her canopy opened.

  A blessed gust of fresh, wind-swept ocean air swept across her face as she stood up in her seat and clambered out of the cockpit. A vast ocean glittered in the sunlight, nearby cliffs bathed in glowing yellow light from the sunrise, their wind-swept tops a hundred feet over her head. For a few moments the cold sweat and nausea was blown away by the crisp, clean air.

  Evelyn jumped and landed on soft earth for the first time in months as the men advanced around her.

  ‘Hands behind your head!’ one of them bellowed.

  Evelyn slowly raised her hands and placed them behind her head as she watched Teera being likewise detained nearby. The shuttle had landed but not yet opened its rear ramp. Heavily armed and not likely willing to surrender without a fight, the Marines inside might charge out with guns blazing. Evelyn kept one eye on the shuttle as a brigand approached her.

  His face was heavily pock-marked like the surface of a battered moon, and wiry stubble sprouted here and there around a mouth filled with yellowing teeth that stank of old tobacco. A thick, stubby cigar was clenched between them as he peered closely at her with a jaundiced gaze and lifted his rifle up to rest on his shoulder.

  ‘Well, aren’t you a pretty little thing? I’d like me a piece of you.’

  Evelyn smiled at him and then drove her knee deep into his groin with a grunt of effort.

  The man’s cigar blasted from between his teeth and spun over Evelyn’s shoulder as he dropped like a stone to his knees, the rifle swinging back down to point at her. Evelyn grabbed the weapon and ducked down beside the man’s body for cover as she grabbed his scrawny beard and yanked him sideways.

  The pirate spun about awkwardly as Evelyn twis
ted the rifle around and jammed it up under his armpit. She activated the magazine and faced the men surrounding her.

  ‘Come any closer and I’ll fry his brain!’ she snapped.

  The men looked at each other and then to her dismay they began laughing.

  ‘Do it, honey,’ one of them called. ‘Old Feyzin stinks to high heaven anyway!’

  More laughter and the men closed in further.

  ‘You can’t shoot us all, missy,’ another of them sneered.

  Evelyn glanced at the shuttle craft. A small group of men were approaching the rear ramp with their weapons aimed at it, but it still had not opened. She looked back at the pirate who had spoken to her.

  ‘I don’t have to shoot you all,’ she replied. ‘Just a few will do.’

  She pushed the rifle harder against Feyzin’s ribcage and heard the old man wince in pain.

  The pirates hesitated, unsure of how to respond.

  Evelyn saw the shuttle’s ramp emit a wisp of vapour as it cracked open.

  ‘Come now missy,’ said the advancing pirate. ‘There’s nothing to fear here.’

  Evelyn grinned at him without warmth. ‘Yes, there is.’

  The shuttle’s rear ramp suddenly dropped and hit the earth with a deep thud and instantly a salvo of plasma blasts cracked from its depths and cut down several pirates in a hail of fire as the Marines rushed out from the shuttle’s interior and fanned out, firing as they went.

  The pirates confronting Evelyn whirled in surprise at the sudden noise and Evelyn opened fire. Her first shot blasted Feyzin’s head clean off of his shoulders and her second dropped the nearest man before he had even realised that she was firing at him. The plasma blast blazed through his chest in a cloud of smoke and burning flesh as he screamed and toppled backwards.

  As the pirates scattered Evelyn ducked into cover behind the nose of her Raython and saw Teera jerk her head backwards into the face of the man holding her and break free of his grip. She dashed for her fighter and rolled beneath it as a haze of plasma fire ripped the air around her.

  The Marines spread out, firing controlled bursts at the pirates and cutting them down one by one. Evelyn fired at another man, his colourful billowing coat slowing him down as he ran. Her shot hit his cheek and blasted the top of his head off, his body collapsing in a rolling heap.

  The pirates retreated toward their own craft, taking shelter behind them as the shuttle closed its rear ramp and its engines whined into life. Evelyn yelled across to Teera.

  ‘Get airborne and cover them! We’re getting out of here!’

  The shuttle’s pilot spun the craft in mid-air and aimed its small plasma cannons at the various pirate craft landed around them. The cannons fired a crackling blaze of plasma rounds that smashed into parked craft and sliced through their metallic hulls in bright flashes. A series of explosions shattered the air, thick clouds of black smoke boiling up into the perfect blue sky.

  Teera dashed for her Raython’s cockpit and clambered into it as Evelyn laid down covering fire against the pirates closest to her wingman’s fighter. The shuttle’s cannons hammered the ground around the pirate’s craft and two more of the parked vessels crumpled amid explosions as they were hit.

  The Marines, still laying down heavy but controlled fire, moved position as they headed toward a series of low bluffs for better cover. Evelyn whirled for her Raython’s cockpit and made to climb aboard when a huge blast shattered the air above her.

  Evelyn threw herself instinctively to the ground and glanced up as she saw the shuttle spin sideways through the air as it trailed a dense coil of black smoke. Even as she watched a second blast smashed into the shuttle and it exploded in a massive fireball that showered burning fragments down onto the beach and littered it with debris.

  Evelyn, her ears ringing from the blast, struggled to her feet and turned to see a large vessel bristling with weapons hovering over the cliffs. The X-winged vessel’s long, cruel, hooked nose extended back toward a large hull, a billowing cushion of heat haze rippling beneath the craft as it moved out over the ocean and descended, turning to face back toward the beach with its heavy weapons aimed at the Marines.

  As the craft was expertly hovered just a few cubits above the beach, a ramp lowered and dozens more pirates and giant, lumbering figures hefting heavy weapons descended onto the beach and advanced toward the Marines’ position.

  Evelyn felt her shoulders sag as the pirates, backed by their ship, marched without fear and their leader, a swaggering man with a loud hailer, called out above the roar of the ship’s engines.

  ‘Surrender, now, or this is all over!’

  Evelyn looked across at the Marines, and after a few moments the soldiers lowered their weapons and emerged from cover. Evelyn reluctantly stood up and held her weapon in the air as the pirates marched up to her and grabbed the pistol from her grasp, spun her around and slammed her down onto her knees on the beach.

  Her arms were yanked behind her back and bound firmly by heavy metal manacles, and then she was dragged to her feet and shoved toward the surrendering Marines, a pistol barrel jammed hard under her ribs.

  The large vessel changed position, its engines blasting clouds of sand across the beach as it hovered toward more stable ground and settled down onto a series of landing pads that extended from beneath the hull. As Evelyn was shoved toward the Marines and forced onto her knees to join them on the beach, a portly man descended the pirate gunship’s ramp as its engines whined down into silence, his robes colourful and his skin oily. The man approached the Marines and pilots and paused to look about him at the smouldering debris and dead bodies on the beach.

  He shook his head and tutted.

  ‘Now there was really no need for any of this, was there?’

  Evelyn looked up at the man but remained silent. She realised that the Marines surrounding her were all watching her expectantly, and then she got it: with the shuttle pilot dead, she was now the ranking officer.

  ‘My name is Salim,’ said the portly man with a cold smile, ‘and you are all now mine.’

  ‘Our ship is in orbit, the frigate Atlantia,’ Evelyn shot back. ‘They will begin a bombardment any moment.’

  Salim looked down at her for a moment and then up as he surveyed the flawless sky above. He looked back down at her, the smile still affixed to his face.

  ‘Strange, then, that I have taken your ships, killed several of your people and apprehended so many more, yet nothing has happened?’

  ‘They’re biding their time.’

  ‘And you’re wasting yours,’ Salim smirked, and then he looked up at the huge creatures looming over them, thickly muscled and with simple, flat faces.

  ‘Take them to the camp!’ he ordered.

  ‘You’re making a mistake,’ Evelyn insisted. ‘We were here only for supplies. Now you’ve started a war.’

  ‘I think, my dear, that this war has been fought for many years,’ Salim corrected her. ‘Chiron IV is our home and you’re trespassing. If your frigate’s commander makes any attempt to attack us, it will be you who is killed first.’

  Even as they were about to be led away, a pirate hurried up to Salim and whispered into his ear. The portly man grinned broadly and glanced at Evelyn.

  ‘It would seem that your commander cares for you after all,’ he purred. ‘Captain Ry’ere has requested that we begin a dialogue for your release.’

  Evelyn almost frowned in confusion at the pirate’s use of Andaim’s name as the Atlantia’s captain, but she managed to check herself. Whatever was going on up there, Captain Sansin would not be talking to the pirates.

  ‘Rest assured,’ Salim promised them. ‘I will talk to your captain as a matter of common courtesy, but none of you will ever leave this place alive.’

  ***

  XVII

  The vessel in which Evelyn was manacled touched down, the interior vibrating as it landed and her fellow captives shaken in their seats.

  ‘Where the hell are they taking us?’<
br />
  Teera’s whispered question was not heard by their giant captors, whom Evelyn had learned were called Ogrin and who squatted around the ship on giant, flat feet, their grim faces hung low and their eyes devoid of anything other than the most basic of intelligence.

  ‘I don’t know,’ Evelyn replied, and tried not to think too hard about it.

  Fact was, she knew damned well the practices that pirates enjoyed, chiefly those of slavery and debauchery when not hunting down prey in the shipping lanes. Many of the most gruesome stories of pirate activity were myth, enhanced in the retelling, but others were not. Entire slum-cities of captives had been discovered during the great Colonial crack-down on piracy a few decades previously, thousands of slaves liberated from endless years of back-breaking labour under the cruel gaze of their piratical foremen. Whether building new spaceships, mining or running sweatshops printing fake cash or forging fake minerals, the pirates wasted very little time on worrying about their workers’ rights.

  The rear ramp of the ship was lowered, daylight and fresh air wafting inside as the engines wound down and Evelyn was led outside with a push and a shove. She stumbled out into the bright sunlight and almost immediately her breath was taken away as she looked up at the huge frigate looming over them.

  ‘I’ll be damned,’ Teera gasped. ‘That’s Arcadia!’

  Evelyn stared up at Arcadia, one of several sister-ships to Atlantia and a former Colonial frigate retired from combat duties almost a decade before and employed in the prison service. The huge vessel seemed even larger when viewed on foot, her keel resting on huge docking cradles and her hull towering over the landscape around them.

  ‘How the hell did they get Arcadia?’ Teera wondered out loud. ‘The prisoners must have escaped somehow, like they did on Atlantia.’

  ‘Except they were successful in taking the ship,’ Evelyn replied, realising what might have happened and where so many pirates and criminals had managed to turn up in the same place at once. ‘They’re reparing the damage.’

  Evelyn’s eye scanned the Arcadia’s hull and spotted signs of battle damage, workers high up on her surface welding giant hull panels back into place or repairing damaged power conduits.