Mika sighed. “We need to be careful about where we sale this.”
“I agree. I don’t want to try to sale it in Suiko space for sure.” Alberta snorted.
“Yep.” Mika crossed her well-muscled armed. “Well if you’ll excuse me, captain. Me and my people need to get these containers locked down in storage.”
“Of course.” Alberta smiled and walked away with Keiko and Heidi in toll.
#
Alberta yawned.
Guinevere’s Daughter jumped out of hyperspace in the Tanegashima star system.
“Okay, Donna.” Alberta recrossed her legs. “Shut down the sail.”
“Yes, captain.” Donna tapped her screens and controls. “Shutting down the sail. Rocketship is cooling at a normal rate.”
Alberta checked a data screen to see what their post-jump momentum looked like. It was nothing abnormal. “One burst of the reverse engines, Linda.”
“Yes, captain.” Linda said from her co-pilot chair.
There was just the slightest of a shiver that ran through the rocketship as reverse engines slowed her vessel down. Later Alberta would call from a second burst.
“Launch a probe, Fiona.”
“Yes, captain.”
Alberta checked for the first info dump from the nearest buoy. I wonder what we can sale here? I sure don’t want to take a chance with that possibly stolen minerals we got. I’ll sale that out in the frontier, if we ever get the Guinevere back from the damn aliens. Alberta read the data screens for an hour and wondered when the next info dump would come in. She wanted to see how much the market had changed since the first dump.
“Captain, there’s a ship headed in our direction.” Fiona announced from her sensor chief station. “Its going fast. Pulling a lot of gees to reach us.”
“Where did it come from?”
“Sorry, captain.” Fiona replied. “It must of had good stealth tech, but now they must have turned it off. Info coming in. Its a navy ship. Possibly a frigate or a light cruiser. Here comes the ID.”
“Damn it.” Alberta rubbed the back of her neck. “Agatha call Jacob Musashi. Tell him what’s going on. Maybe he can help smooth things out.”
“No. It isn’t Suiko. It’s one of ours. A Yin Navy ship. USS Chicago.” Fiona frowned at the info. “Its Senior Captain is Commander Juliet McLean, second shift junior captain is Commander Pollyanna Clerge, and third shift junior captain is Lieutenant Commander Mia Jacobs.”
“Captain. We are being hailed.” Agatha Gee told her from the communications station.
“Agatha, put them on one of my visual screens.” Alberta gestured at them. Agatha did it quickly and the face of a Yin Confederation navy officer appeared on one of Alberta’s visual screen. “Hello this is Junior Captain Alberta Williams. Currently commanding Guinevere’s Daughter. How may I help you, Chicago?”
“This is Junior Captain Mia Jacobs of the Yin Confederation Navy’s USS Chicago. On behalf of the government and citizens of the Yin Confederations you are ordered to surrender.”
“We are citizens of the Yin Confederation.” Alberta replied. “We have the right to know why we our being ordered to surrender.” While Alberta talked she sent a text to Jo Grant Williams telling the attorney to get her butt on the bridge immediately.
“You have been accused of stealing a rocketship, kidnapping children, and piracy.” Captain Jacobs snapped. “You shall surrender now.”
“No. With all due respect Captain Jacobs you do not have authority in Suiko space.” Alberta held up a finger. “In fact this is an illegal action. I don’t the Suiko navy would approve of you doing this.”
“Missile launch!” Fiona screamed.
“Captain Jacobs! Are you nuts?” Alberta snapped.
Captain Jacobs smiled on her screen.
Alberta waited as the missile neared. The missile exploded half way to them. Alberta sighed in relief, but forced any fear out of her face. She heard Linda let a soft moan.
“A none-nuclear missile, captain.” Fiona announced. “It self-destructed.”
“Thank you, Fiona.” Alberta replied with as much calm as she cold force.
“Captain?” Tiffany called from her tactical station.
Alberta held up a hand to her gung ho tactical officer. She looked at Captain Jacobs. “I will make a formal complaint about your violent actions, Junior Captain Jacobs.”
Captain Jacobs nodded calmly. “You have that right. Now surrender.”
Jo Grant Williams raced onto the bridge and dropped into Janet’s old XO chair. She turned the visual screen to her face without asking. “I invoke Section 29403 A-I of the Yin Confederation Laws of Interstellar Space.”
“What?” Captain Jacobs turned called out to someone on the bridge. This person must have stepped forward off screen to speak to her captain. Captain Jacobs listened intently as this woman told her about that particular law. Afterward Captain Jacobs turned to face them again on the visual screen. “Captain Williams?”
Jo quickly turned the screen back to face Alberta and leaned back in her chair.
“Yes, Captain Jacobs?” Alberta grinned.
“That will only pause our actions. If you surrender peacefully your actions will be seen positively by a Yin Confederation court and jury. I highly advise you to accept it.”
“Thank you, Captain Jacobs. I will consider your offer.” Alberta turned Captain Jacob off before she had a chance to respond. Alberta turned to Jo. “What the fuck was that about? Section 29303?”
“It just gives us a chance for a break on religious grounds to pray.”
“Pray?”
“Yes.” Jo chuckled.
“Okay.” Alberta heard the elevator door open again. This time Jacob Musashi entered.
#
“The cavalry is on their way, captain.” Jacob Musashi chuckled as he walked over to Alberta’s command chair.
“What do you mean?” Alberta looked up him.
“Once Agatha told me what was happening I made a call to the nearest Suiko navy ship.” Jacob Musashi put his hands behind his back. “I was surprise to find a battle carrier out on patrol in the area. The HMS Tsushima. The seemed very concerned that a Yin navy ship was in Suiko space without permission. They’re on their way.”
“Excellent.” Alberta turned to Jo who was still seated in Janet’s old chair. “How long do we have?”
“A day, captain.” Jo scratched her ear. “I doubt if we can hold it longer than that.”
“That should be enough for the Tsushima to get here.” Jacob Musashi told Alberta.
“I wonder if I should warn, Captain Jacobs.” Alberta recrossed her legs. “Nope. I think not. We’ll all wait.”
“Yes, captain.” Jacob Musashi chuckled. Alberta smiled like a cat after a mouse.
Alberta went to a data screen to check the latest info dump sent by the nearest buoy. Jo checked the laws of interstellar space for Yin and Suiko. She had said she wanted to reconsider some things. Alberta called up an extra chair from our of the floor for Jacob Musashi. Eventually Alberta received another called from Captain Jacobs just after Fiona announced another ship was headed their way and it was very big. Gigantic. Captain Jacobs’s face appeared on Alberta’s visual screen.
“Hello, Captain Jacobs. How can I help you?” Alberta forced down a chuckle at the other woman’s hostile frown.
“I’ve just been hailed by a Suiko battle carrier, Captain Williams.” Captain Jacobs snorted. “I wonder why they just showed up?”
“Hmm. I asked a friend on board to call them. He’s an important…citizen of Suiko.” Alberta bit her lip to stop herself from laughing at the expression on Captain Jacobs’s face.
“They’ve launched corvettes and drone spacefighters, Captain Williams.” Somehow Captain Jacobs frowned harder.
“Then I suggest you surrender to them and apologize, Captain Jacobs.” Jacob Musashi through in.
“What? Who’s that?” Captain Jacobs asked.
Alberta turned the vis
ual screen to face Jacob Musashi.
“Greetings, Captain Jacobs. I am Minamoto Otomaru Jacob Yayoi Musashi. Fifth child of Shogun Minamoto Hayashi Koyo Reiko and Doctor Minamoto Annabelle.”
“Shit!” Was Captain Jacobs first response.
The USS Tsushima contacted Jacob Musashi and he thanked their senior captain for their assistance. After trading in the Tanegashima star system Guinevere’s Daughter traveled to the edge of the system and got in a queue of spaceships to be jumped into hyperspace by a hyperspace laser station.
CHAPTER ONE HUNDREDTWENTY-EIGHT
Space fighters
Guinevere’s Daughter jumped out of hyperspace in the Oki star system.
“Okay. shut down the sails, Donna.” Alberta’s eyes were on a data screen.
“Yes, captain.” Donna Williams said. “Shutting down the sails. Rocketship is cooling at a normal rate.”
Alberta glanced at Janet’s empty XO chair. Jo had left the bridge and so had Jacob Musashi. They both earned their pay today. Wait. He isn’t paid. At least not by this family.
Alberta checked where the nearest buoy was. It wouldn’t be long until the first info dump from it arrived. First we have our rocketship’s post-momentum speed to deal with.
“Thank you. One burst of the reverse engines, Donna.”
“Yes captain. One burst.” Donna nodded.
“Fiona, launch a probe.” Alberta ordered.
“Yes, captain. Hopefully this will be quieter than the last Suiko star system.” Fiona complained.
“We can hope.” Donna said.
“Hope? What’s wrong with you guys?” Tiffany laughed. “That was exciting! A light cruiser fired a missile at us!”
“You’re weird.” Donna chuckled.
Alberta found that the first info dump had arrived. There was a message for Guinevere’s Daughter. It’s from Spirit! Jacob Musashi said Erica and Martha were aboard Spirit. It just said they were looking for us and jumped out five days ago. They didn’t leave a destination.
“Damn it. Where did you go?”
#
Guinevere’s Daughter jumped out of hyperspace. Iki was a dwarf star. The Iki star system had three rocky planets and two gas giants. It had very few asteroids and the gas giants only had a couple of moons. The Iki had only one planet in the so called Goldilocks zone where it was warm enough for water and life. That was the closest planet to the sun called Toshiba. There was still a little mining go on in the Iki star system, but not a lot.
“Donna, shut down the sails.” Alberta ordered.
“Yes, captain.” Donna replied. “Shutting down our sails. Rocketship is cooling at a normal rate.”
“Launch a probe, Fiona.”
“Yes, captain.”
“Give me a burst from the reverse engines to slow her speed, Donna.” Alberta watched her map screen and data screens. The exhaust from the reverse engines erupted from the bow of Daughter to slow her nearly speed rush across the edge of the Iki star system. Soon she’d have Donna give another burst from the reverse engines to bring their speed down to normal. Alberta checked the data screens for the first info dump from the nearest buoy. She saw a few promising merchandise offered at the main spacestation orbiting the closest planet to the local sun. But we don’t have time for that. I want to head for the nearest hyperspace laser station to get out of here. Maybe my old friend Emily Zhou will be waiting for us in the Koga star system. We had some good adventures and fun in Koga system a few times long ago in our younger years.
#
Guinevere’s Daughter jumped out of hyperspace. It was the Koga star system. The star was also a dwarf, but it had a few more planets than the Iki star system did. It had two planets that could sustain life without artificial environments. The first planet from the local sun was Hataya. The second planet was Naoe. Naoe was the more popular destination with lots of bars and places to eat. A number of beautiful beaches to swim in. Alberta chuckled quietly to herself about the memories of some fun times at those beaches and bars.
“Shut down those sails, Donna.” Alberta smiled at her memories and shook her right foot that hung over her left knee.
“Yes, captain. Shutting down-” Donna response was interrupted when the rocketship shook. A few sparks jumped from the stations around the bridge, but no one was hurt.
“What ha-” Alberta looked at her sensor chief. What did we hit? Debris?
“We hit a space-mine.” Fiona announced.
“Mine?” Alberta tapped at her data screens. “There’s no wars going on in this part of space. Why would it be here?” Who dropped the space-mine? Was this where the Hungarian Empire and the Egyptian Stellar Monarchy fought their war a thousand years ago? Why didn’t someone clean this shit up? No this must be a new mine. The Suiko would’ve cleaned up by now. This isn’t a shitty fallen star system like where the planet Caroline is.
“It didn’t cause too much damage.” Fiona replied. “It gave us an EMP burst that messed with our electrical and computer systems a little. No major damaged. Everything should be fine in a few minutes.”
“Launch a probe, Fiona.”
“Yes, captain.”
“Donna, I want a burst from the reverse engines.” Alberta ordered her pilot. They still needed to slow the rocketship down from its post-jump speed.
“Yes, captain. One burst from the reverse engines.”
“Shielding is down sixty percent, captain.” Tiffany Williams said from her tactical station.
Alberta made a call to her chief engineer. Catriona Zhou’s face appeared on one Alberta’s visual screens. “Yes, captain?” At least there’s no causalities. Maybe we should of stayed in the Iki star system a little longer. I sure wish Jacob Musashi had gotten us a Suiko navy escort.
“Fiona told me we hit a space-mine that hit us with an EMP burst. How are things in engineering?”
“So that’s what that was. I was going to ask. Damn.” Catriona rubbed her nose. The engines are running fine. It didn’t cause much damage. Our safe guards held up just fine.”
“Glad to her-”
“Drone fightings! Captain, drone fightings are approaching!” Fiona interrupted with obvious alarm. “Damn it! That EMP from the space-mine caused a negative reaction in my sensors. I wasn’t getting very much data on nearby threats for a few minutes. Drone fighters in laser range, captain.”
“Agatha warn them to stay away and send a distress call to all nearby vessels.” Alberta ordered. She glanced at her tactical chief. “Tiffany?”
“Shielding is eighty percent and raising.” Tiffany were beating her controls like their drums. “Sorry, captain. I’m trying my best. Lasers are at eighty-four percent. I knew we needed to buy a couple of those drone fighters I saw with we were in-”
“I don’t need drone fighters, Tiffany.” Alberta snapped. “I need lasers and shields at full power.” We’re being attacked again! I hate this shit! We’re civilian traders! This isn’t the military ship nor a damn privateer! Why won’t stop attacking us?
“Yes, captain.”
“How many drone fighters, Fiona?” Alberta asked.
“My sensors tell me six, captain.” Fiona replied with a head check. “Damn it! Probe was destroyed by a drone. I only have ship sensors.”
Alberta knew she must be made at herself for not seeing what was there. Even though the EMP from the mine had blinded her for a few minutes. It would seem that wouldn’t be enough to matter, but it was enough. Drone fighters had no need for life support and could shut down nearby and wait just like the damn space-mine. They probably were programmed to come on line as soon as the mine exploded. Also most drone fighters were designed fairly similar to drone probes with about the same amount of artificial intelligence. Most were armed with lasers, but a few of the larger versions carried missiles. These were the small, but they didn’t look like any thing Alberta or her Daughter’s data banks had on drone fighters.
“Watch out! These are Lorkiiz drone fighters.” Alberta realized that they
looked similar to the alien probes. Her map screen showed the drone fighters moving in for an attack on her rocketship.
“Aliens?” Tiffany inquired.
“They’re firing at our port side in sequence. One after another.” Fiona said.
“Shields holding, but not increasing.” Tiffany told her. “Firing port side lasers one and two!”
#
The lasers on Daughter’s sides were more defensive lasers than offensive lasers. Unlike the big laser that was on Daughter’s bow. Alberta smiled when those lasers got some good hits on the drone fights. She turned from her map screen to a data screen to see the damage on them. Not bad. The drone fighters circled around the rocketship firing at certain spots in a sequence. One drone fighter would fire its two lasers at a spot. Then a second one would hit the same spot, then a third, forth, fifth, and sixth. An alarm went off on the data screens that Alberta was staring at. She felt Guinevere’s Daughter shake violently. What the fuck?
“Shielding at sixty-one percent, captain!” Tiffany announced. “I wish those damn things would hold still so I could hit them as many times as they hit us! I’ve lost two lasers on the starboard side!”
“Damage teams are on their way to repair one of the lasers on the starboard side.” Agatha Gee announced.
“That would be nice.” Tiffany snapped. “Damn them drones!”
What do I do now? I don’t want to lose everyone. I don’t to die either! Damn it! Options. What are my options? Think Alberta! Then Alberta remembered their rocketship was still moving at high speeds even if with the first burst from the powerful reverse engines.
“Donna, give me a burst from the main engines.” Alberta ordered.
“Did you say main engines?” Donna turned gave her a frown.
“Yes. Do it!” Alberta snapped.
“One burst from the main engines.” Donna replied.
Alberta enjoyed the feel of the burst of power from the main engines. The rocketship zipped away from the drone fighters at near light speed. Alberta quickly tapped on the map screen to tell Tiffany which one to hit first. She knew that everyone on the bridge including Tiffany was watching a similar map screen at their own station. Now it indicated targets for Tiffany.
The Star Traders: The Star Traders Series Volume One Page 37