by D. J. Holmes
Alongside the information on the slave markets where Sarah had been bought, Alexandra had found some information about Divar’s homeworld. Divar had been abducted by Draxler five years ago. Since then he had been forced to help the pirate carry out his nefarious activities. When looking for any information that might help them deliver Divar home safe and sound, Alexandra had found a warrant for Divar’s arrest. It turned out the police on Divar’s homeworld didn’t think being a slave was a good enough excuse. They had Divar listed as a wanted pirate. The consequences had broken Divar’s heart. In the Elder’s eyes, once you were a pirate, you were always a pirate. There was no way he could return home. He was stuck. Sarah still held out hope that one day they could sneak Divar home to see his family. Or maybe they could smuggle them out for a meeting. Yet Divar had all but given up.
“Look,” Sarah said in a more conciliatory tone. “Our actions, even if we didn’t mean them, have already caused a great deal of death and hurt, pretty much everywhere we went. For all we know, Ankara has been added to that list. If Angrave was there, then so was Klixar. Do you really think he would have spared the colony?”
“No,” Divar responded quietly.
“We may never get a chance to go home,” Sarah continued. “Even if we could just fly to either of our homeworlds right now, it could be the end of them. Klixar could follow us there and destroy them. But we can help here. Ranack needs us, I intend to be here for him.”
“And how long are we going to wait?” Divar asked. “There are other possibilities. Maybe Ranack is genuine. But maybe Angrave managed to track him and capture him. For all we know, Angrave and Klixar could be on their way here. We can’t wait forever.”
“One more day,” Sarah said slowly. “Give me one more day, and then we’ll leave for Kashel. How about that?”
“Okay,” Divar conceded. “But I’m going to hold you to that. I know he’s your species, but that doesn’t make him any more trustworthy.”
“I know,” Sarah responded. Though a part of her didn’t believe it. She and Ranack had a connection. She knew he would come. He wouldn’t let her down. Lost in her thoughts, Sarah didn’t notice time moving on.
“Contacts,” Alexandra said to Sarah and Divar twenty minutes later. “Five of them. They’re exiting subspace five light minutes away from us.”
I knew it, Sarah thought, more than aware of the fact that Alexandra was hearing her thoughts. He has come.
“Power up the energy screen,” she ordered. There was no point taking any risks. “We’ll wait and see who they are before we reveal ourselves.”
For the next half an hour, they quietly watched the five ships. Just as Ranack had said, four of them appeared to be pirate vessels. Basically, they were upgraded freighters. The final ship was different. Its hull design was sleek and angular, clearly marking it out as a warship. Alexandra’s passive sensors were also having a harder time identifying it because it gave off so little waste energy emissions.
“I believe it is a Cervellian destroyer,” Alexandra said. “It’s an eighty-five percent match to the sensor data I have from a previous encounter with one. From my records, it should be armed with six x-ray lasers and eight hypervelocity missile ports.”
“If Ranack’s friends have managed to keep the warship in working order,” Divar said.
“At least it appears he was telling the truth about his comrades,” Sarah said. “I think it is time to reveal our presence, agreed?”
“I believe so,” Alexandra said.
“If we have to,” Divar added.
“Power up the main engines, and take us towards them slowly,” Sarah ordered.
Right away Ranack’s flotilla of ships reacted. They clustered tighter together into a defensive formation and powered up their weapons. “At least they didn’t run,” Divar said. “Either they are brave or they really do think they can take on an Elder warship.”
“We’re being hailed,” Alexandra reported.
“Put it on the main holo projector,” Sarah requested.
“Sarah,” Ranack said with a wide smile as soon as the two-way COM channel was established. “I can’t say how happy I am to see you here. I knew you wouldn’t let me down.”
“It’s good to see you too,” Sarah replied, unable to stop herself from smiling as well. “You are a little late. We almost left.”
“Yes, I’m sorry about that,” Ranack said. “A couple of my partners were coming from another nearby black colony. It was attacked by Elder ships. They managed to escape but they needed to carry out some repairs.”
“Elder ships?” Sarah said in concern as she looked over to Divar. “Were there any survivors?”
“Only those who managed to escape before the Elder warships got into range of the planet,” Ranack said. “I don’t think anyone else stood a chance.”
“Damn them,” Sarah said. She glanced over to Divar. She knew what he was thinking. More deaths on our hands.
“Yes, the Elders have literally trillions of deaths on their hands,” Ranack said, not aware of what Sarah was thinking. “At least today we have a chance to save some people. And maybe in the future we can do even more. Are you happy to come over to my ship and meet with the others on my team?”
Sarah paused to look over to Divar before answering. Ever so slightly he shook his head. “Yes, we’ll take a shuttle over momentarily,” she said nevertheless.
“Good,” Ranack said with another smile. “I’ll see you shortly then.”
“It’s too risky,” Divar said as soon as the COM channel closed. “If we both go over there then they could take us hostage and demand we hand over Destiny.”
“We’re already taking a risk in trusting them,” Sarah countered. “If we are going to trust them we may as well go all in. I don’t see how going to meet them is any more dangerous than what we are already planning on doing.”
“Fine,” Divar said in a sulky voice. “I’m bringing my laser rifle though.”
“I’m sure Ranack would be disappointed if you didn’t,” Sarah said as she got up and moved out of the bridge.
*
As soon as the rear shuttle ramp descended to reveal the hanger bay of Ranack’s ship, Sarah saw him waiting to greet her. When she began to descend, he moved up to meet her. As they got close Sarah began to panic, she didn’t know how to properly greet him. Ranack didn’t have any problems. Reaching out, he pulled her into a tight hug. Sarah was all too aware of how closely their bodies were being pressed together.
“It really is good to see you again,” he whispered into her ear. “I know we only met for less than a day, but I missed you.”
“I missed you too,” Sarah replied as they broke apart.
“You obviously didn’t just forget about me,” Ranack said.
“I… ah...” Sarah stumbled as she reddened. Can he read my thoughts on my face?
“About my plan I mean,” Ranack said as he chuckled at her discomfort. “I’m glad you have decided to help me. I’m sure you’re not just doing it for Earth’s coordinates. You have a good heart. I knew I could count on you.”
“You’re right,” Sarah said as she tried to focus. “This isn’t just about Earth. I want to make a difference.”
“Good, good,” Ranack said as he reached down and took Sarah’s hand. She didn’t try to pull away. “Let me take you to our main briefing room. My partners are waiting to meet you. Ah, I see you brought your trusty protector,” he added as Divar came down the shuttle’s ramp.
“I’m here to make sure she is looked after,” Divar said as he rested his laser rifle on his shoulder. He glanced down at Sarah and Ranack’s hands. The look on his face told Sarah he didn’t approve in the slightest.
“Ordinarily I would be offended,” Ranack said. “But we don’t know each other too well yet. I’ll win you around, you’ll see.”
“Humph.”
After being introduced to Ranack’s partners, Sarah sat down around the table Ranack had set up. She wasn’t su
re she remembered the names of half the aliens sat beside her. Each of the ship’s Captains had brought their second in command and some had brought others as well. Though she felt a little overwhelmed, she was also impressed. Never before had she seen so many different species working together for a common cause other than piracy. They all seemed to defer to Ranack, suggesting he was the one who had pulled them together. That impressed her all the more.
“Now that we are all here,” Ranack said from where he was standing beside his seat. “Let’s get down to business. I have asked Giloria to prepare our final briefing. As always, I’m open to any suggestions you come up with.”
As he sat down, Giloria stood. “This is the 10045x system,” she began as a holo projection of a star system appeared in front of everyone. With a tap of a button the image zoomed in on the outer edge of the system. “And this is our target. As you can see, it has no designation. It is a rocky barren world. There is almost no atmosphere either. As far as we can tell, the prisoners are made to work outside with only the most rudimentary of breathing apparatus. More importantly, the planet is only half a light hour away from the system’s mass shadow. This gives us our greatest advantage.
“Captain Sisaro took her ship through the system in stealth a week ago at no small risk,” Giloria continued as she nodded to one of the other aliens seated around the table. “Thankfully there is no evidence she was spotted. Here is the intel she found on the planet’s defenses.”
The image of the penal colony changed to show a single ship and two smaller stations in orbit. “It seems nothing has changed from our last recon mission,” Giloria explained. “There is still just one Elder frigate and two small defense stations. Our plan therefore, is to jump out of subspace at our maximum safe velocity. We should be able to close the distance to the planet in less than an hour. This should take the Elder ship completely by surprise. Even so, history suggests it will still try and take us on. Ranack has told me that Destiny should be able to pass herself off as a pirate ship?”
“Yes,” Sarah answered. “We can alter her electromagnetic radiation emissions to disguise our identity. It won’t fool an Elder frigate’s sensor for long, but it should work for a while.”
“Good,” Giloria said. “Then the Elder frigate will probably come out to meet us. I’m sure they will not fear six pirate ships. Even if they choose to stay and fight with the two stations, I’m confident that with Destiny joining us, we can easily handle them. Our analysis indicates the two stations are monitoring and cargo transfer stations rather than dedicated defense stations. Even if they are though, they are very small. They shouldn’t be able to put up much of a fight. The Elders won’t know what hit them. Even without Destiny, we’re not exactly your typical pirate flotilla, are we?”
A chorus of chuckles followed Giloria’s comment.
Sarah smiled with the others. Nevertheless, she leaned in closer to look at the dimensions of the two stations. “What do you think?” she asked Alexandra. “Could those stations house a particle lance? That would be dangerous.”
“It would be very unlikely,” Alexandra said. “The stations appear to be Mark VII cargo stations. They are all but defenseless. It is strange there are two of them though. One is usually enough to service a small Elder base.”
“Maybe they get a lot of prisoners,” Sarah said.
Alexandra didn’t reply, for Giloria had continued her briefing. “Once we destroy the Elder frigate and the stations in orbit, we will begin landing our ground forces. What we don’t know is how many Elders are on the surface. Yet there are not likely to be many. I can’t see them devoting many of their species to overseeing a prison world. It may turn out that most of the prison guards are actually another race the Elders have forced into working for them. Either way, with orbital support, we should be able to free the slaves pretty quickly. If anyone gives us any trouble, we can just drop a couple of mass driver rounds onto them. Then all we have to do is load up the prisoners and get out of there. Are there any questions?”
“Where do you plan to take all the prisoners?” Divar asked. “If the Elders attacked a local black colony, others in the vicinity could be at risk.”
“A pertinent problem,” Ranack responded. “Giloria?”
“After the assault on the planet we plan to split up,” Giloria answered. She changed the image on the holo display to show the nearby sectors of space. Four relatively close systems were highlighted. “These are black colonies that it should be safe to travel too. We will be offloading our prisoners here.”
Divar nodded and then gave Sarah a covert glance. She nodded back to him ever so slightly. She had told Alexandra to analyze the image. There were no coordinates on the image, but the artificial intelligence could extract the image from Sarah’s mind and overlay her star charts onto it. Having a few worlds they could visit that they knew Angrave didn’t know about could prove to be very useful.
“Any other questions?” Ranack asked as he reached over and turned off the holo projector.
“How are we going to take on the Elder frigate. Do you have a strategy worked out?” Sarah asked.
“We were going to get to that,” Ranack said. “We have a plan that involves our ships. Basically, we’re going to form a tight defensive formation. The biggest threat the Elder frigate possess is its anti-matter hypervelocity warheads. If we can overlap our point defense fire, we should be able to neutralize that threat. Then, when we get into laser range, we plan to split up and surround it.”
“Its missiles are the frigate’s second biggest threat. You need to worry about its particle lance,” Sarah said. “We’ve never used Destiny’s, but we’ve seen a particle lance in operation before. One hit and even your Protector World ship will be gone. The lance is effective up to a range of five light seconds. You will have to break up your formation before then, or one particle lance beam could take out two or three ships.”
“Then we better make those alterations to our plans,” Ranack said. “What about Destiny, how can we use her to her full potential?”
“I think Destiny’s identity will be hidden better if we are placed right in the center of your formation,” Sarah answered after taking a few moments to consider her response. “We won’t be able to use our point defenses to their full ability, but if we can stay hidden until we reach particle lance range, then maybe we can end the fight with one shot. If the Elder frigate doesn’t realize we have a particle lance, they may not try to take evasive maneuvers until it is too late.”
“Excellent,” Ranack said. “I’ll get Giloria to go over the finer points of the formation we have worked out with you later.”
Sarah nodded and then sat back to listen to the other members of Ranack’s team discuss more points of the operation. Overall it seemed like everyone was on the same wavelength. They had obviously been planning the operation for a while.
“Then that is us,” Ranack said fifteen minutes later as he stood. “We’ll depart in two hours. You may see to your crews.”
“Let’s get back to Destiny,” Divar whispered to Sarah as they both stood, “We have a lot to discuss. I want to make sure we are taking as few risks as possible in this battle. There are going to be a lot of variables with so many other ships involved.”
“Care to retire to my quarters for a drink?” Ranack asked Sarah as he came over close to her. “Divar is invited as well,” he added as he saw alarm in Divar’s eyes.
“We have a lot to prepare,” Divar answered for Sarah, irritating her.
“It’s alright,” she said. “We can spare a few minutes.”
“Perfect,” Ranack said as he held out his elbow to Sarah.
Not knowing what to do, she moved her hand towards his. With a smile Ranack reached out with his other hand and placed her arm through the crook of his elbow. “This is how a man escorts an important woman in our culture.”
“I am important, am I?” Sarah asked as her stomach fluttered.
“Well you do have the most im
portant ship in our fleet,” Ranack answered.
“Oh,” Sarah said as her face dropped.
“I’m kidding,” Ranack said. “That’s not why you are important to me. You know I don’t go around kissing just every woman I meet.”
Sarah’s face reddened as she broke out into a delighted smile. Behind her she heard Divar break out into a fit of coughing. Great, she thought. Now I’m never going to hear the end of his concerns.
“I only have time for a quick drink. Divar and I have to get back to Destiny and make our final preparations,” Sarah said, hoping to appease Divar. “We also need to speak to Giloria some more.”
“That’s ok,” Ranack said. “I just couldn’t let you go without spending a bit more time with you. After all this is over, we can spend even more time together. Once I give you Earth’s coordinates, we can discuss working together. Hopefully today will just be the beginning of what we can accomplish together”