Last Man Out (Poor Man's Fight Book 5)

by Elliott Kay

  “Only gives us a ten-minute head start,” Vince considered.

  “Do we need more than that?” Ivan replied. “If we chase her away, that builds our lead on the cavalry, if they even respond at all. As long as we don’t have to put any holes in this ship, we can be done and gone before they even get moving.”

  “We might have to put holes in her,” warned the quartermaster. “But it sounds worth the risk to me. Put it to a vote?”

  “Nineteen minutes now,” Static noted as an update.

  “Call the vote,” said Ivan. “Not hard to guess how it’ll go. I’m on my way to the bridge.”

  Static canceled the screen and looked to Brock. “Do you think he could tell I’ve been sleeping?” she asked.

  * * *

  “Oh my god, your face right now,” Olivia laughed.

  “She’s so cute!”

  “Yeah, I know.”

  The German Shepherd in front of him was easy enough to see through. No one mistook holograms for solid images unless they involved a fully-stocked projection environment. Despite the limitations of Olivia’s holocom, Tanner felt the tug of his emotions as Olivia’s dog sat and rolled over in front of the clutch of students sitting around tables in the ship’s galley.

  The relative luxury and spaciousness of the liner had been left behind for this final leg of the journey. Big liners didn’t go all the way out to Minos on a flexible schedule. On Qin Kai, the last inhabited planet short of their final destination, the class piled in along with cargo and mail on the Orca.

  The Mercury-model sloop was built more for utility than comfort. Lacking the class space and recreational options of their previous vessel, lectures and parties had tapered off into anything that could pass the time. Now out of FTL and transiting the inner orbits of the star system, nobody had anything better to do than to sit around the galley and talk.

  “I wanna pet her and it’s killing me,” said Tanner.

  A couple of his classmates chuckled. Olivia smiled. “I know the feeling.”

  “How old is she?”

  “Sixteen now. We got her as a puppy.”

  “Aren’t longevity treatments for animals expensive?” asked Antonio. “I’ve never had a pet, so I never looked into it.”

  “They were while CDC had a virtual monopoly on the drugs,” Tanner answered. “Then they were undercut by a couple of smaller companies, so CDC turned around and flooded the market to spite them. Happened about ten years ago.”

  “How many pets have you had?” asked Naomi.

  “None. I knew about the drug thing ‘cause I always wanted a dog or a cat. I made it part of my lobbying strategy toward my parents. Didn’t work, though. They didn’t allow pets where we lived.” Tanner hardly took his eyes off the holographic dog. “I’d probably have three cats and a dog by now if it weren’t for my living situation.”

  Before he said anything more, Tanner felt a subtle rumble through the ship. Dishware rattled in its racks along the galley’s main counter. His stomach told him of a shift in heading with a mild but unpleasant lurch.

  Then the vibration tapered off. His classmates kept talking. He wasn’t sure how many had noticed. He could think of a few explanations for the shift. None of them appealed to him.

  “Red pandas. Those are the cutest,” put in Emma.

  “I know, right?” said Nigel.

  Amelia’s hand touched Tanner’s arm. “What is it?” she asked.

  “I think we turned,” said Tanner. “And we’re accelerating.”

  “How can you tell?”

  “I can’t for sure. I don’t really know this ship.” He shrugged. If it was any of the things he dreaded, he’d have heard an alarm, wouldn’t he? “Guess they could be doing an engine switch or something.”

  “Hey, Tanner,” Naomi beckoned. She tilted her head back away from the group, drawing him off for a side conversation. He followed her over to the galley entrance. “Seems like everyone’s getting along with you now, huh?”

  He looked back over his shoulder. “Yeah, I guess. It’s not like we’re really talking about anything important, though. Family and pets and stuff. They kind of eased up once we were in more classes together.”

  “They eased up once they started seeing you as a person rather than a character from the news,” Naomi pointed out.

  “None of my other classes have worked out that way. Not before now.”

  “You were in bigger classes before now. Those people had less exposure to you. And then they went right back to the same media garbage and the same rumors from people who know even less about you.” Naomi nodded to the others. “It’s hard to hold onto those stereotypes once people have some personal exposure.

  “They’re seeing you as a person. Somebody who helps people with classwork and gets shmoopy-faced at the sight of cute animals. All you needed was a chance to undermine the whole bloodthirsty war criminal narrative.”

  “Is this something you had in mind all along?” Tanner asked.

  “I was hoping,” Naomi confessed. “Can’t say it was a plan or anything I was sure about, but I talked myself into it before I called you.”

  “Wait, are you talking about their impressions of me, or yours?”

  “I watch the news, too,” she said. “I’m not immune. Except I kept telling myself to be a good scientist and not let the myth and the hype distract me from the evidence.”

  “Anytime you want to hear my side of it, let me know. I’ll tell you the whole story. You or them.” As he spoke, one of the ship’s crewmen approached in the passageway. Tanner stepped aside to make way for him.

  “You might want to let the shmoopy-face impression sink in a bit more first,” Naomi suggested.

  “Excuse me, Mr. Malone?” asked the crewman. Rather than moving on into the galley, he’d stopped at the hatch. His expression was grave. “You’re Tanner Malone, right?”

  “Yeah,” Tanner answered.

  “I’ve been asked to bring you to the bridge.” He glanced nervously at Naomi, hinting at some concern he wouldn’t voice, but returned his attention to Tanner. “The captain needs to see you right away.”

  The pair followed. When the crewman picked up his pace into a jog down the passageways, they kept up. “What’s going on?” asked Naomi.

  “We’re about to find out,” Tanner grunted.

  “Then how come you sound like you already know?”

  Tanner bit his tongue. He still hadn’t heard any of the ship’s alarms or an announcement over the intercom. No sense getting anyone worked up prematurely, he thought.

  As soon as Tanner stepped onto the bridge, he saw reason to be worried.

  The compartment rose in a small dome constructed to bring the ship’s sensor “bubble” into a large projection floating over a semicircle of watch stations. The captain and first officer had their chairs at the center of the half-ring, but neither man sat. Instead, they stood by their stations looking up at the astrogation holo with concern.

  As Tanner stepped up, the projection switched from a long-rage display to a split image. The same display shrank to only half the dome’s area, still effectively showing the Orca and the space around her, including the nearest planet, a couple of moons, and a single second ship now following the Orca on a course turned away from Minos.

  The second half of the projection dome switched to an image of another ship. Stats appeared, marking the dart-shaped vessel as an Emerson courier ship… only the model didn’t strike Tanner as the sort meant to carry a laser cannon or external missile tubes. The protruding weapons looked like later modifications.

  The first officer nudged the captain’s arm, then gestured to the newcomers. The captain turned to meet them while the first officer tended to the bridge.

  “Is that ship coming toward us?” asked Naomi. What is it?”

  “That’s not a system patrol ship,” said Tanner. “Is it, Captain?”

  “No. No, it’s not.”

  “Fuck.”

  “Then what
is it?” Naomi repeated.

  “Pirate,” said Tanner.

  Naomi’s eyes went wide.

  “She jumped out at us from that moon,” explained the captain. “We didn’t want to panic, but once we confirmed the intercept course, we turned around and hit the accelerator. As you can see, it won’t be enough.”

  “What?” blurted Naomi.

  “They could be in shooting range in twelve minutes,” Tanner thought out loud, staring at the holo image of the pirate ship. “Why didn’t you hit an alarm?”

  “Everyone’s already at their stations,” said the captain. “They’ve been warned. We didn’t want to frighten the passengers until we knew for sure. But we know now. It will be over an hour before anyone near Minos hears our distress call or sees what is happening out here.”

  “We can’t outrun them and we can’t put up much of a fight,” said Tanner.

  “No.”

  “So what happens?” asked Naomi.

  “They’re going to overtake us and board,” said Tanner.

  Naomi brought her hands to her mouth. “Oh, you’ve got to be kidding me. Just like that?”

  “The math is clear, miss,” said the captain. “We have only minor defensive systems. They outclass us in range and power. The odds of doing significant damage to them before they cripple or destroy us aren’t good.

  “It’s my responsibility to make the decision, and I’ll own it. That said, Mr. Malone, you have more experience with pirates than anyone in my crew. I called you up here in case your expertise might make any difference.”

  “I’ve only had two real incidents. But I’ve read a lot,” he murmured, his eyes now glued to the image of the pirate ship.

  They couldn’t escape. Ship-to-ship fighting wouldn’t likely do any good. He considered the next steps. Though the ship had visible weapons, he saw no grapples—and if they hadn’t tried to hide the guns, they likely wouldn’t hide those, either. They probably relied on sheer intimidation to keep a vessel prisoner until they set up an airlock vestibule and sent over boarders to take control.

  It wasn’t all that big. Orca was larger. The pirate was sixty meters long, perhaps three decks at the most. She could hold only so many bodies comfortably. Tanner traced the pirate’s trajectory back to the moon where she’d appeared. If she’d been lying in wait for someone to come along, she’d probably been there for some time. Days if not weeks. That implied she couldn’t have too big of a crew. Not unless they wanted to live in the sort of cramped conditions that led to misery and discontent. They weren’t hitting settlements.

  It was all conjecture, of course. He had nothing to go on but educated guesses.

  “Captain, we’re picking up a broad-band transmission from the pirates,” reported one of the bridge crew. “They’re ordering us to stop and surrender for boarding.”

  “They don’t want us to power down?” Tanner murmured. The implications became clear as soon as the words left his mouth. “Shit. They want to keep the engine hot.”

  “What does that mean?” Naomi asked.

  “Eleven minutes at current speed before we’re within long range of their weapons,” noted the first officer.

  “Understood,” the captain replied. Under his breath he asked, “Do you have any ideas, Mr. Malone?”

  “Yeah. Do you have any guns on board?” asked Tanner.

  “Guns?” Naomi blinked. “Wait, are you serious?”

  “I believe we’re on the same page, then,” said the captain. “Unfortunately, we have no guns of any kind. Qin Kai and Minos both have strict rules on personal firearms. Nor is there much familiarity among my crew. I could hardly spare anyone from their stations right now, anyway.”

  “Okay. I’ll make do. Where are you going to put my class?”

  “What?” Naomi interjected.

  “Engineering offers the most protection. The hull is thickest over the forward sections and it has the most safety measures. I should make the announcement now regardless.”

  “Good. I need to go there, anyway. If you could tell the engineers I’ll need to grab a few things from them, I’d appreciate it. And let me know which airlock they use as soon as they get started.”

  “Understood. Good luck,” said the captain, turning to his duties.

  Naomi grabbed Tanner’s arm. “Would you quit pretending I’m not here?”

  “I’m not,” he said. “Come on.”

  “Attention, passengers and crew,” began the captain. Tanner and Naomi heard his voice over speakers in the passageways as soon as they stepped out of the bridge. “We have come under pursuit from an unidentified vessel. At this time, we are attempting to flee, but as a precaution we require all passengers to make their way to engineering…”

  “What are you planning?” Naomi demanded, keeping up with Tanner as he broke into an urgent jog. “What aren’t you telling me?”

  “I’m not hiding anything,” he explained. “I’m still trying to think things through.”

  “Okay, so what are you thinking? You and the captain said we can’t win a fight and we can’t get away. What else is there? Bail out on the lifeboats?”

  “Too dangerous. I wish it was an option, but it’s not.”

  “Why not?”

  “These guys have at least a half-hour head start on any rescue, if one even happens. That’s plenty of time for them to chase down lifeboats if they want hostages for ransom. Lots of pirates do it. Or they could blow us out of space to tie up loose ends. Or for the hell of it.

  “Listen. Everyone’s going to be freaked out. I need you to keep them from panic.”

  “I’m freaked out,” said Naomi.

  Tanner threw open the hatch to the galley. Loud, frightened voices immediately spilled into the passageway. “Yeah, well. That makes it unanimous.”

  Chapter Nine:

  Areas of Expertise

  “Captain Casey and most of his compatriots may be captured or killed, but their successes still inspire others. We had pirates before them. We have even more pirates now. This problem isn’t going anywhere.”

  --Union Assembly Report on Interstellar Traffic Safety, June 2280

  Stalker rode a parallel course only a few hundred meters above the sloop’s. The ship was still far too distant to see with the naked eye. Stalker’s sensors and imaging tech resolved all that on the bridge. Hard screen displays and holo projections marked the distance out to just under six figures and falling rapidly.

  “Thirty seconds,” reported the helmsman.

  “Guns, are you ready to go?” asked Vince.

  “I’m on it,” reported the man at the weapons station. “Not like they’re going evasive. They’re still on a straight line. I figured they’d dodge and weave by now.”

  “They might think our guns have a shorter range than they do.”

  “I still don’t think it’ll come to that,” said Ivan. “This won’t take more than a warning shot.”

  “Ten seconds.”

  “Okay,” the captain said. “Let ‘em know they’re out of time, Guns.”

  A red beam shot out from Stalker’s main cannons, running clear of the sloop—and, more importantly, past it. No one could miss the implications.

  The numbers flashed again with an important update. The helmsman eagerly translated the news, though anyone could see: “She’s cutting her thrusters. Holding course but slowing fast.”

  “Finally picking up a signal,” reported another crewman, who paused to listen before he reported the rest. “Hah! They’re ready to ‘negotiate.’”

  Ivan looked to Vince with a smug grin, holding out an empty hand to Stalker’s quartermaster. The other man grudgingly shoved a bearer card into the captain’s palm to cover the lost bet. Ivan slapped him on the shoulder. “Have fun ‘negotiating,’” he said. “I’ll let ‘em know you’re on your way over.”

  “Thanks,” Vince grunted. He tapped his holocom as he walked off the bridge. “Boarders, head down to Airlock Two. Deck hands, we’re gonna need a ve
stibule. Let’s make this happen fast.”

  Ivan took over the communication channel. “Sloop, you will cut engines and roll up ninety degrees for airlock link-up. Do not try anything stupid. If anyone on your ship resists, we will shoot them and whoever else is next to them, and that’s only for starters. If you cooperate and give us what we want, we will leave you unharmed.”

  * * *

  “Fighting will only anger them. You’re going to get yourself killed.”

  “Professor, the moment those guys recognize me, they’re going to murder me. They’re going to murder me a lot.”

  They crowded around Tanner at a small workspace table up from the main power drives. The sudden drop in ambient noise had only heightened everyone’s fears. The few who couldn’t guess the meaning of the change could see it laid out on the condition monitors overhead.

  Tanner grunted, twisting hard to wrench another shielding cap off the cylinder tucked under one of his arms. He had to unfasten both ends to release the contents inside. Up until now, he saw wisdom in the design. Now it was a pain in the ass—like the professor, apparently.

  “Then you should hide,” said Vandenberg.

  “No, sorry. Won’t do any good.”

  “How do you know that?”

  “Because I know these guys, professor. I know what they’re like. I know how they operate. They’re pirates. They’re gonna do like pirates do.” With another loud grunt, Tanner loosened the cap. Finally. He dropped the casing down onto the workbench.

  “How do you know? How can you be sure?”

  “Personal experience. A little military training. Hell, I’ve even talked to a few of these fuckers face to face. They were screaming and swearing at me, but I guess you could call that an interview. Throw that on top of a mountain of obsessive reading after the first incident and then even more after the second and yeah, I kinda feel like I know what I’m talking about here.”

  Nigel scowled. “You can’t base everything off of what you’ve read in—”