“Well, sir, we are coming in a month after they arrived and there was a battle that happened before ours,” the XO pointed out reasonably. “But it’s also possible that that ship is simply out of sensor range further in the system.”
“Yes, it is,” he said. “All right. Comms, send a message to the trade station, let’s see what kind of response we get. Let them know the outcome of the battle and that we’re in control of things again. Once the Gunny gets the pirate cruiser captured, we’ll set it up for a tow and we’ll bring it in system.”
Kamerov frowned. “You want to keep it, Captain? A pirate cruiser?”
Duncan shrugged. “Well, we can’t stay here forever. We turn the ship over to the locals and let them fix it up. Maybe they can use it to defend the system. Depends on what the engineers say and of course how much carnage the gunny and his boys inflict on the internals of that ship.”
“What do we do with the crew?”
Harth started to answer, but Khovik interrupted. “Captain, I’ve got an incoming message from Gunny Rajendra.”
“Put him on.” The channel opened. “Gunny?”
“Captain, we’re moving through the ship, so far, minimal resistance. I’ve got fire teams spreading out through the ship. Moving on the engine room, bridge and environmental.”
“Good. Keep me informed, Gunny.”
“Understood, sir. Rajendra out.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Verrikoth was fuming. Jensen Tyler was concerned that steam was going to start emitting from the chinks in his carapace; he had never seen his lord so incensed. “They are in possession of thiss ssysstem again. They ssteal one of my cruiserz!” He hissed several times, as though he was trying to control his temper. “What iz the sstatuss of Cierre and Ajax?” he demanded, whirling on the sensor officer.
“They will be departing the trading station within the hour, Captain,” the comms watch replied. “They are loading up the computer cores, weapons and other items on the list. Leader Wu says once that is completed he will be headed straight to the hyper limit and from there straight to the rendezvous.”
“Good. I do not want thiss sstop here in Byra-Kae to have been a losss.” His mouthparts writhed for a moment before he spoke. “Tell him to make ssure chargez are planted on the station’z reactorz. The Republic might own thiss ssysstem again, but they will own a dead ssysstem.”
“Leader! We’re buttoned up, the holds are full.”
Wu jumped into his usual seat at the operations console of the armed merchant ship Cierre. “Good. Disengage docking clamps, clear mooring lines and get the sublight engines humming. We need to get gone before that Republic ship decides to pay us a visit.”
“Pulling away from the station,” his pilot reported. “Thrusting away at fifty kps.”
“Activating sensor suite,” Wu said, tapping a control on his console. The sensor display activated, showing the station and the nearby shuttle traffic. There were two freighters currently docked here at the station, freighters that did not belong to Lord Verrikoth and therefore were expendable. The Republic had been in control of this system for centuries and the few cargo ships that were still in the Argos Cluster tended to come through here at one point or another. There were four, in fact, that didn’t stray more than two systems from Byra-Kae, foolishly assuming that the Republic ships here would protect them. But it was a flawed theory. As Lord Verrikoth had proven, the Republic and its ships weren’t invincible. Tough, yes. Unbeatable? Clearly not.
And now, Cierre’s holds were full to bursting with anything related to the Republic: Sierra-class missiles, computer cores, small arms, ammunition, as well as more mundane bits of swag like gold bars, containers of gadolinium, 100 liter drums of He3 fuel, even ration packs. They’d also loaded up the two class-three industrial replicators, which were packed very delicately, wrapped up in secure packing materials to protect the machinery. Those two replicators were worth more than all of the rest of the cargoes combined.
“How close are we?”
“Ten klicks, Leader,” the pilot replied.
“Good enough,” Wu said. “Engage main engines. Max accel away from the station and closest vector to the hyper limit. Make sure that Ajax is following on the same vector.”
“Copy that, Leader,” the Secaaran sitting at the comms station. “Should I also send a message to the Ganges?”
“Yes, do that. Inform Lord Verrikoth that we’ve cleared the station, our cargo bays are filled with everything on the checklist and the charges are set. We await his order to detonate.”
“Incoming message from Gunny Rajendra, Captain,” Khovik said, some time later.
“Put him through,” Duncan said. “Gunny, what do you have for me?”
“The ship is secured, Captain,” the Marine said, puffing slightly. He was standing on what appeared to be the bridge of the ship, communicating through the light cruiser’s own comm array. He was still wearing his battle armor, but his helmet’s visor was popped open. It looked as though the armor had some carbon scoring from some blaster hits, as well as superficial damage from bullet strikes. “I’ve lost four of my Marines, with seven more injured, the rest of us are fully combat functional. I’ve got seventy-three prisoners, and over a hundred casualties from the ship’s crew. I think there were somewhere around four hundred people on board initially, but they apparently lost a lot of people to the hull breaches. And I think a few were taken to crew the lighter unites you fought against earlier. But otherwise, the ship is ours.”
“Very well done, Gunny. Can the ship move under its own power?”
The Marine shrugged, his armored shoulders actually bobbing up and down slightly. “I doubt it, sir. Especially with what my tech boys are saying. I think it might be repairable, but as of this moment, this ship is not going anywhere. We’re going to need a tow into the inner system.”
“Understood, Gunny. I’ll need your people to stay aboard the prize until we can get Ravage spaceworthy enough to fly in system, then we’ll be able to tow you in. Will you be able to keep a lid on things?”
“No problem, sir,” he replied confidently. “My boys and girls have plenty of ammo and the remaining crew are pretty docile. We’ve got people stationed in all critical sections of the ship, and we’ve secured people in the berthing areas. Any troublemakers are sitting either in the ship’s small brig, or, in one case, I’ve got him standing at attention in one of the airlocks.” The gunny smirked. “He thinks he’s all big and bad. Amazing how cooperative he got after we threw him in there.”
“Gunny…” Duncan said tiredly.
“Sorry, sir. But to answer your question, no, there won’t be any problems. I’ll keep things under control here.”
He nodded. “Very well, Gunny. It’ll be another two or three hours to set up bucking cables for the tow. Unfortunately, our tractoring beams took hits in the fighting, so we have to get a bit more old school.”
Rajendra shrugged again. “Not my department, Captain. Either way is fine for me, but we might need a tech or two over here to help with the link ups for the bucking cables.”
Duncan smiled. “Gunny, don’t try and fool me. I know you have techs of your own among your Marines.”
“Of course,” he said. “But my techs are a little busy working on prelim repairs over here on the ship, Captain. I think we’d all like to keep the lights on and the air circulating.”
“I’ll get a team over there as soon as we can, Gunny.”
“Understood, Captain. We’ll be waiting.”
It took six hours to get things stabilized on board Ravage, which had taken serious damage. They’d gotten the breached sections buttoned up and power restored to the engines and the survivors of the corvette’s crew set a course to the trading station. It would be slow going, but Lieutenant Tran was determined that he and his people would make it. The lieutenant was determined that he would not lose his ship, his first real command. Duncan couldn’t blame him; you always remembered your
first and it always held a special place in your heart.
The tech team was over on the prize ship, making sure the systems were stabilized and the tow lines were secured when the com-tech called to the captain’s cabin. “Sir? We have an incoming transmission from the pirates, sir. They’re transmitting in the clear.”
Harth rubbed his face, sitting up in his bunk. He groaned. “All right. Put it through.” He brought up his HUD, and mentally directed the transmission to his implants.
The display on his HUD showed the scarred carapace of the pirate lord. The image was zoomed in on his face and Duncan had to fight his impulse to recoil at that hideous insectoid visage. “To the Republic pigs who have dared to attack my sshipss, I am Lord Verrikoth. You might believe that you have won, that you have beaten me.” He actually inched closer to the vid pickup. “You could not be more wrong. You believe that by forcing me to withdraw, you have reclaimed this sstar ssysstem.” He hissed with laughter.
What an arrogant piece of work. He’s lost, but he still thinks he’s in control. Duncan had to salute his tenacity, or his ability to delude himself.
“You have taken one of my cruiserz while I sstill have three of your vessselz. I suppoze that might be conssidered a fair trade. But I am not trying to be fair. I will rule the Argoss Clusster and I will eradicate all who sstand in my way. Sso, Republic pig, ssee here the fruitss of your victory!” And the transmission ended.
Duncan blinked. “That was it?” He thought-clicked a macro, calling the bridge. “What happened? Was there more to the transmission?”
The com-tech shook his head. “No, sir. But there was a signal sent at the end of the transmission, but it wasn’t directed at us.”
“What the hell? Can we determine what he was aiming at?”
The young man looked flustered. “Not so far, sir. I’ve got my team analyzing the signal, but it was so brief, just a single pulse, really. We’re trying to track it from his ship to… whatever he was aiming at.”
“Well if it wasn’t meant for us, the only logical targets would be either his cargo ships, which we learned from the captured cruiser’s databanks are docked at the trading station, or the trading station itself.”
“We’ll investigate, Captain. I’ll get back to you as soon as we have something.”
“Very well.” He blinked and cut the connection.
Leader Wu watched his aft sensor pickup as the signal from Ganges was received. The trading station was a structure floating in the Lagrange point in the inner system that had been there for centuries, which had received upgrades over the years, which had had countless feet or ambulatory appendages stepping over its deckplates over the years. Once the signal came in, detonators attached to explosive devices planted throughout the station activated. In a matter of seconds, several dozen devices activated.
Bursts of energy erupted from all the levels of the station, tearing the structure of the station apart at predetermined stress points intended to cause the most amount of damage. The station seemed to expand outward like an illuminated bubble for all of five seconds, until the detonators attached to the station’s fusion reactors exploded. An instant later, the station was nothing more than a rapidly expanding ball of dust and shrapnel. The site where the station had hung suspended for centuries glowed for a long moment, lit up by the ignition of the He3 fuel and the oxygen atmosphere. And then it was gone.
Wu watched it all, keeping his eyes focused on the destruction and pure carnage of it all, unflinching. He wanted to feel elation, excitement and by all rights he should. His lord had just stolen an entire star system from the Republic, leaving them nothing behind that they could use. But all he could think about were the several thousand people of various races that had just been exterminated.
“Continue on course,” he ordered, switching off the sensor screen. He leaned his head back on to the headrest of his chair.
“Captain, the analysis just came back,” Drommen reported several minutes later. “That pulse transmission the pirates sent out, well I tracked it. It was directed at the trade station.”
A chill went through his veins. Duncan swallowed hard, but managed to speak. “Send out a communication to the station. Now. Query their status.”
“It will take several minutes for the response, assuming they respond right away,” the comms watch replied.
“Just send it, Comms,” the captain ordered, his voice harsh. The young man sitting at the console blanched, but immediately turned to his station and sent out the message.
Duncan watched him send the message, but he had a terrible feeling he knew what response he would get back from the station. There would be only reason the pirate lord would send him that kind of message with another pulse wave sent out in the direction of the trade station. The vicious bug didn’t want the Republic to have any kind of victory from this. He would destroy the station, murder everyone on it, just to deny Harth a win. And now, with the station gone, the Republic had no official ties to the Argos Cluster. A new base would need to be selected, built and a new flotilla of defense ships would need to be sent out here and with resources and attitudes the way they were back home, it would be unlikely that anyone would. Once Duncan Harth and his grouping of ships returned home, assuming they could save the pirate cruiser and Ravage, they would most likely be redirected to other defense forces within the Republic. Admiral Tandred would very likely write off the Argos Cluster and why shouldn’t he? It was a loss.
“Captain?” the comms watch replied, his voice sounding puzzled. “I’m not getting a response from the station. It’s been long enough that they would have been able to send something back to us.”
“I know that, Comms,” Duncan said, nodding wearily. “And I don’t think we’re going to get a response. Keep sending a message to the station, but I don’t think they’re going to answer.” He turned to Kamerov. “XO, keep on with our own repairs and keep me apprised of what’s going on over on the pirate cruiser. I want to get over to the station as soon as possible, see if there’s anything we can do to help.”
“Understood, sir. We should have the cruiser locked with bucking cables ready for a town in a couple of hours.”
“Good. I’ll be in Engineering.” Harth rose from his chair and walked off the bridge. He hoped that it was just a bad feeling, that there were still survivors. But he was kidding himself. Verrikoth might be a pirate and a barbarian, but it didn’t appear that he was a fool. He nodded to himself as he entered his cabin. If he destroys the assets at Byra-Kae, he’s betting that the Republic will dump all its interests out here and leave him alone. And he’s probably right.
Chapter 10
Turan arrived in the wardroom and flopped bonelessly into a chair. The long-necked alien was clearly exhausted, his normal gray skin taking on a dull pallor, his black eyes half-lidded. His gills were flaring as though he needed to suck in air as fast as he could. “Well, the last of the patients is out of surgery,” he said, resting both of his flipper hands on the table. It was clear that he needed them there to hold himself up.
“Stars, Turan, you look terrible,” Vincent said, with serious concern. “What the hell are you doing up here in the wardroom? Get down to your cabin and sleep!”
“I wanted to make my report,” he replied. “I want to put in all of my medical people for special commendation. They worked tire… tirelessly.” His shook himself a little, clearly trying to keep himself awake.
“Stella, get a couple people up here to escort the good doctor to his quarters,” Vincent said to the air.
Stella appeared on the monitors behind him, dismay on her face. “Doctor, how many stim tabs have you taken?”
He sighed, his body seeming to deflate. “I had patients who needed me,” was his only response.
A moment later, two burly cargo handlers arrived in the wardroom. “Captain?” one of them said, questioningly. “Stella contacted us…”
He nodded. “Yes, thank you for coming up. Please help the good doctor here
to his quarters,” he told them, gesturing. “I think he’s going to have some trouble staying on his feet, so please make sure he gets there safely.”
“Course, Captain,” the other one said. “Come on, doc. Let’s get you to bed. Can’t help your patients if you’re about to collapse.”
Turan was so exhausted that he didn’t even have energy to argue. The two men gently helped the Guura to his feet and followed closely behind as he stumbled out of the wardroom, almost not making out over the knee knocker.
Vincent sighed and rubbed his forehead as the trio departed. Stella transferred herself from the monitors to the holo projector in front of him. She looked worried. “He’s pushing himself too hard.”
“I know, Stella. But there isn’t anything I can do. He’s right, the patients need him. At least he’s finally gearing down,” Vincent said.
“He’s going to damage himself,” she continued. “And I’m concerned that with so many people that are wounded, he’s going to try and push himself beyond his limits. In fact, I’m sure he already has.”
“Not going to argue with that. Keep an eye on him, Stella, please. Report to me immediately if he leaves his quarters if he hasn’t slept for more than eight hours. Oh, and also report to me if he tries to hit himself up with more stims. We’re not playing that game, not on my ship.”
“Understood, Captain,” she said, nodding. “He really scared me.”
“Me too,” he replied. “And he better not do it again. I know he’s dedicated to his work and his patients, but I’m not going to let him kill himself.”
“Perhaps we should look into hiring more medical staff,” Stella mused.
“Can’t really use much more aboard ship. And we’re not a roving hospital, we’re a cargo ship.” He pursed his lips. He groaned and scrubbed his hands over his face. “How are the teams doing down on the surface?”
Stella nodded. “They’re on schedule, Captain. It’s not a fast job, even though the parts were all ready and the teams were prepped. Keeping the locals on task is proving easy. They’re motivated but they’re not doing anything stupid, which apparently is impressing Quesh.”
First Principles: Samair in Argos: Book 3 Page 25