by Jay Toney
"We should all be so lucky to hear one of her jokes. I'll replay the security recordings when I have more time.
We have completed our initial damage assessment and diagnostic testing. The freighter can be patched up given a few days time. Randolph and I will rebuild the shield generators while Gloria concentrates on replacing damaged sections of power conduit. A maintenance crew is suited up and working on patching the freighters outer hull plating. The inner hull is intact, and so far there are no signs of structural damage or hull leakage.
The cargo team is moving a gantry into position to lock the freighter in place for towing. The framework should be in place and clamped to the freighters hull by morning shift," Jane reported to Doc.
"What about the cargo and scanning team?"
"The only things we have found are personal valauables hidden in the officers quarters. The rest of the ship is clean so far, but the scanning crew is still searching the freighter. I'll send a list to your comp. The credits and other valuables we collected are in the purser office.
As for the cargo, so far it matches the manifest. We can't check everything without unloading the freighter, but the cargo handlers are inspecting whatever they can get to. Most of what we have found so far is prefab construction material, power generators, drilling equipment, and water purification systems. It looks like the Alliance planned on building a base or an outpost on Talos IV." Jane told Doc.
"No cargo leaves the freighter until after it has been verified." Doc ended the transmission. Alliance merchant officers are left to develop their own pension program. That meant deals on the side that often resulted in items being smuggled and traded on the black market. The money, jewelry, and other valuables that Jane found are probably the better part of the officer's retirement savings. The rest will show up as freight that is not listed on the cargo manifest, or smuggled goods hidden under the deck plates.
Doc made a call to his security chief. He needed to do something to cause a rift between Mr. Harding and the rest of the freighter crew. He isn't sure if he wants him as a member of his crew, but so far he has proved his worth. "Tom, remove Mr. Harding from the holding cells. Issue him some coveralls and a basic kit. Then give him temporary quarters in one of the junior officer cabins and unlimited access to the galley and recreational facilities."
"Won't giving him special treatment cause problems with his fellow crewmen? He is already taking a lot of flack for being in charge of his superior officers. They are already calling Mr. Haring a turncoat, a traitor, and worse. The security guards have had to stop three attacks on him," Tom said to Captain Roberts.
"I'm counting on it. I want to widen the rift between Mr. Harding and the rest of the prisoners so that there is no question of where his loyalties lie if I decide to keep him aboard." Doc ended the communications. Captain Roberts, his wife, Jadsia, and Devon left the bridge leaving Natasha and her avatar to monitor the ship's systems.
The next morning when Doc woke, the air is noticeably better, but it still stank, and the smell made his breakfast taste like Thranx droppings, not that he knew what they tasted like, but he has a good imagination. In his youth, he watched holovids of captured Thranx feeding on an animal carcass and saw the black semi-fluid droppings that they left while feeding. He could imagine the smell coming from the scat. After force feeding himself, in the foul air of his starship, he could also envision what the steaming black puddles of goo taste like.
Doc used his comp to read through the morning reports. The freighter is locked in place and ready for towing. Repairs are still underway, and the scan team is still searching for unmanifested and smuggled goods and opening potential smuggling compartments. As Doc suspected the freighter crew saw their junior officer's special treatment as a sign of his changing loyalty. Security had to assign one of their team members to Mr. Harding full time to keep him from harm. The best news is that his ship's cargo holds are decontaminated and sealed off to prevent recontaminating them. The cleaning crew is working on cleaning the corridors, ductwork, and affected cabins. Doc suspects that the air will continue to noticeably improve until it is back to normal. He is anxious for the starship's air to smell like cleaning chemicals and disinfectants again.
Doc and Elaunae headed to the bridge after eating their breakfast. They are the first officers to arrive. Natasha's avatar is seated at the helm station. She is unfazed by pulling an all-night shift by herself. There is a charging station on the bridge so that she can recharge when needed. She is capable of processing food for fuel in a similar fashion to humans, but she preferred not to eat and only took in fluids as she needed them to maintain proper hydration.
Devon and Jadsia arrived soon after Doc and Elaunae and sat at their consoles. Doc rotated his command chair to face Natasha's avatar. "Natasha, plot a course for Talos IV. We are going back to the space station.
Devon, send the space station a copy of the freighter's cargo manifest and list everything as for sale. List the cargo ship as for sale too. I want it sold fast, even if it is to a starship broker."
Next, Doc called Jane with the ship's comms. "Get the workers inside and seal the docking tubes. We are about to change course and accelerate back to Talos IV." Doc waited 30 minutes then he sounded the acceleration warning. Anyone stupid enough to ignore the acceleration warning didn't belong on his ship or any other starship. He nodded to Natasha, and she fired the main engines accelerating the ship towards the planet at 12 gravities. It is less than normal acceleration, but it is as much as he dared with another starship attached to the Queenie's hull. Anyone still outside of the freighter is lost, left to drift alone in space until their life support system fails or they open their helmets.
The starship's sublight engines are programmed to burn for the next 10 hours. Work could continue inside the freighter, but not outside of it until they stopped accelerating. The cargo ship's inertia dampers and gravity plates are designed to protect the crew inside of the starship, but they have little to no effect on its exterior and inside of the docking tube between the two ships.
Natasha added our course projection to our main viewscreen. She is starting to show intuitive thinking by anticipating what I wanted before I gave her the command. I am not sure if it is a result of Randolph's tinkering with the synth or the experience she gained over the last five years since her activation; much longer if you counted the 72 years that the AI has been operating.
It took another week to reach Talos IV and dock at its space station. Other than some construction material not listed on the cargo manifest, nothing was found hidden inside of smuggling holds, even in the areas of the ship that Doc recommended inspecting. Not every cargo container had been opened, they couldn't be opened without unloading the freighter, but the ones that weren't checked will be, and their contents verified before the cargo is transferred to the space station. Almost everything listed on the manifest was sold before they reached the space station. The rest would sell shortly. No offer was made on the freighter itself. After Doc offered to include changing the freighters name and transponder codes as part of the deal; five starship brokers made appointments to inspect the vessel.
Doc has no intention of staying long. In fact, he wanted to collect the credits owed him and head back to Antares. He needs to get back home fast so that Elaunae could give birth to their son or daughter planetside. Dr. Marcus couldn't provide an exact date for the child's birth. He didn't have any training for delivering alien or hybrid children, and there is no information in the ship's extensive libraries about it. His only source of information is Elaunae and his experience from delivering human babies.
Elaunae did not know anything about delivering hybrid children. She only knew that it had been done and she assumed that it would not be any different than normal childbirth. Sex between Iniguar women and Human men is rare. Only a few human trad
ers are allowed into Iniguar territory. Rarer, are the pregnancies resulting from copulation between the two species. Not a lot is known about it, but it does happen. Spacers, being what they are, take certain liberties with women, alien or human, when they visited their spaceports and space stations. Unlike the human species, Iniguar men and women do not practice birth control. Even if they agreed to use the devices, human implants do not work on their species.
The freighter sold within a week. So did the rest of its cargo. After discovering that the Queen Anne's Revenge no longer stank, several traders are eager to load cargo into the cruiser's empty cargo holds. The traders are willing to pay higher fees for Doc's cargo space with the insurance savings they get for putting their freight on an armed ship. No pirate would be stupid enough to attack a fully armed heavy cruiser.
Doc reluctantly agreed to have his ship's cargo holds filled, only because, the shipment is going to Antares IV, his destination. He didn't particularly care what he is hauling as long as it isn't Jakaroot and it could be loaded quickly.
Doc ended up spending three additional weeks that he didn't plan on in the Talos star system, before finally leaving. According to his wife's calculations, he had three weeks to reach Antares before their child is born. Doc planned on being there in eleven days. Natasha has the sublight engines operating at full power. With the starship pushing 0.3c. They reached a safe jump distance in seven hours, and then engaged the hyperdrive. The sublight engines powered down, and armored shutters covered the starship's viewports. Then the Queen Anne's Revenge entered hyperspace.
During the ninth night of the trip home, Elaunae woke from her slumber. She shook her husband's shoulder to wake him. Then she said, "Wake up. It is time." Doc opened his eyes and tried to look past his wife to see the chronometer. He couldn't see it, but he is sure that it is still late at night. Doc closed his eyes and replied, "It's still hours before morning. Go back to sleep."
Elaunae shook her mate a little more forcefully and pulled the blanket covering them from the bed. Doc sat up. "What is it?"
His wife answered, telling him again, "Call the midwives. It is time for our child to be born." There are still two days before they exit hyperspace into the Antares star system and a few days at high speed to reach orbit. That left a two-day safety margin. She couldn't be having our baby now.
Elaunae's scream, caused Doc to jump out of bed. His wife, without a doubt, is having their baby now! "Natasha, privacy mode off."
"The privacy mode has been deactivated," the starship's AI answered.
"Wake Dr. Marcus and send an emergency medical team to my cabin. Elaunae is having our baby."
"The medical team is on the way," Natasha assured Doc.
When the medics arrived, Doc helped his wife onto the gurney. He assured Elaunae that she is going to have the best possible care with Dr. Marcus. She argued, "I don't need a doctor, I need experienced midwives."
Doc told her, "Dr. Marcus has more experience delivering babies than any team of midwives and he hasn't lost one yet." That isn't entirely true. In fact, it isn't even close to the truth. Dr. Marcus is a highly qualified medical doctor. Doc trusted him with his life and his wife's life too, but even the best doctors don't have perfect records. Dr. Marcus served aboard the Queen Anne's Revenge during Bartholomew Robert's command. During that time he has delivered a lot of babies. Unfortunately, some were premature births that didn't make it, some were stillborn, and a few were horribly deformed with no hope of any quality of life. He mercifully, euthanize those.
Every time Elaunae experienced a contraction she screamed. Between her contractions, she yelled at her husband. Doc didn't take it personally. He knew his wife is in pain. One of the medics loaded a hypo with Terbutaline and administered it to Elaunae. Her contractions slowed, and so did the screaming, but not the yelling and cursing. The medics took Elaunae to the nearest lift and rode the elevator up one level to deck three. From there they rolled her gurney aft towards sickbay. Doc followed them at a safe distance. It didn't take him long to learn to stay out of reach of his wife's arms and legs. In the few minutes before the medics slowed her contractions, he acquired a respectable collection of scratches and bruises.
When they got to sickbay, the medics rolled Elaunae straight into the operating room. Dr. Marcus is already there waiting with a hypo. He administered the anesthesia to Elaunae. She fell asleep in a few seconds. Dr. Marcus turned to Doc Roberts and said, "Well, what are you waiting for? Scrub up! I need an assistant. You will have to do."
"Dr. Marcus, you know that I don't like the sight of blood and the thought of seeing my wife's innards is already making me queasy," Doc said.
"I heard all about how you handled the thieves on Antares. If you can stomach that, this will be a breeze," Dr. Marcus told the captain.
"I am sure what you heard was an over exaggeration. With each telling, the stories get further and further from the truth."
"Well, let us see how close they are. I heard that you slow burned the first person with your blaster."
"I only fired once. The cutpurse was dead before he hit the ground," Doc answered truthfully.
"You really did a number on the second person. His guts were spilled all over the alley floor, and his throat was cut. If you can do that, a cesarean delivery will be easy."
"It happened too fast. I didn't even notice what I did. I was too busy with the thief's partner."
"You messed him up good too. What I heard is that you opened his gut, reached inside of him and pulled out his still beating heart. I found it hard to believe, but you didn't deny what you did to the last man."
"I stabbed him. His heart didn't beat long. He bled out internally."
"I heard you made the last man suffer."
"No need to finish. What you heard was probably an understatement. I don't like even thinking about what I did to that jerk, but the idiot shouldn't have called my wife a whore."
"Like I said, a cesarean section will be a synch. Now, scrub up!"
Doc helped prep his wife for surgery. After she was undressed and her abdomen coated with an antiseptic, Dr. Marcus made the first incision down low on her waistline. Doc Roberts turned noticeably pale, but he handed Dr. Marcus the surgical tools that he asked for. After exposing the uterus, he carefully made an incision across the muscle. It parted exposing a gray bulbous form, the amniotic sac. Other than the fact that it was gray and opaque rather than transparent, it looked normal. Dr. Marcus gently pulled the amniotic sac from the opening in the uterus. "Congratulations Doc, you are the proud father of a blob."
Doc stared in horror at the object that Dr, Marcus is holding, then fainted. Dr. Marcus chuckled, "It gets them every time." He finished the delivery, closed the uterus and the incision. Then he gave Elaunae an injection of nanites to finish the healing process. In 24 hours, she wouldn't be able to tell that she was ever pregnant. There would be no scars or stretch marks to cover and hide. He cleaned her up and put a blanket over her. Then he gave her the antidote for the anesthesia and woke her. "Congratulations, you are the mother of a healthy boy." Dr. Marcus put her baby in her arms, and then he wheeled her into the recovery room.
"Where is my bond mate?" Elaunae asked the doctor.
"Doc will be fine. He just needs a little more time to recover," Dr. Marcus said pointing to Doc's unconscious form on the floor. "What is his name?"
"His name is Nathaniel. In our language it means gift from the gods," Elaunae explained.
"In our language, it is similar. It means God has given."
"It is fate that has brought him to us. His name having the same meaning in our different cultures is a sign that he is surely the chosen one. Someday my son will bring new order and peace to our people."
Three Year
s Later
During our last raid, we hit the motherload. Well, maybe not a motherload, but it was undoubtedly a good and profitable haul. Inside of the warehouse we raided on one of Aldebaran III's starports was a load of gems and precious metals neatly stacked on pallets waiting to be shipped off. My raiders saved the people of Aldebaran III the trouble of transporting it elsewhere. Unfortunately, there was some confusion as to who has ownership rights to the property. Bill and Angel took care of that and made it clear that Captain Roberts is the owner. No one inside of the warehouse was left alive to dispute my rights to the property, and no one dared stop my raiders from taking what we came for. Of course, none of what we took appeared on the books. I have other credits I could use to make my next payment to the Alliance tax collectors.
The government regularly cheats on our agreement. I am sure that I have only stumbled across a small portion of their treachery. So I do my best to reciprocate by cheating them. Of course, I make sure that there are no records that could be used to incriminate me. I am careful to keep records showing that I am elsewhere when their starships vanish without a trace and the wealth that I have accumulated is carefully hidden from their inspections and examination of my logs. I make sure that there are enough minor infractions in my records to keep them from being suspicious. A clean file with no infractions would be a sure sign that I am cooking the books.
The Queen Anne's Revenge came out of hyperspace in the Antares solar system. Natasha altered our course to take us to the fourth planet, and Jadsia's sensor report shows that there are no unexpected visitors in my solar system.
We are returning home after two months of raiding to celebrate our success and take on supplies before heading to the Osama star system to pay the taxes that I owe the Alliance government. My friend Admiral Mavis, well maybe not my friend, but an Alliance officer who treated me fairly for years did me a parting favor without my asking or having to pay for it. He warned Alliance command to keep Captain Thornton far away from me and my business. He told them that if we should ever meet again, one or both of us would not survive the encounter. So far, Alliance High Command was careful to keep the Ajax closer to their borders where they could keep an eye on Captain Thornton.