Chronicles of a Space Mercenary 3: Vengeance

by Ronald Wintrick

  “The noose he puts our necks in,” Bren said as he entered, “but it wasn’t Marc who got us out of it this time, it was the Alartaw. They must have destroyed the Kievor Trade Station.” He had a knack for knowing when to show up to watch the usual interplay. It was an expertise we all seemed to share.

  “If it was the Alartaw then why aren’t they behind us?” Tanya asked.

  “You sound as if you miss being chased.” I said.

  “Crewing with you I’ve gotten used to beings trying to chase me down and kill me.” Tanya said. “Whatever else can be said for your formula for success- that of making as many enemies as possible as the safest course for survival- seems to be working. Once again we walked through it with our skins intact. Since it is clear I will never understand how your formula works I do not bother thinking about it. I would like to know if it was the Alartaw who had come to our rescue where did they go? If these were the Alartaw and they had come to rescue us then I would think we could have expected some kind of communication- but they did not communicate. Nor would either these Alartaw or the Kievor have a problem tracking us- but they’re not tracking us. Both sides seem to have forgotten about us.”

  “I know I don’t want to see more of the Kievor first.” I said, thinking of how utterly powerless we were against them. I did not like the feeling.

  “If those were Alartaw,” Bren said as he sat down at his station, “then we can assume they damaged or destroyed the Station. Otherwise I think we would have seen them behind us already, but that doesn’t necessarily mean the Alartaw knew who we were. We may have just gotten in the middle of their war.”

  I noticed Tanya scowl at that. She noticed me looking and as was her wont had something more to say about the matter. She spoke directly to me; “I want my jewels and I want my Crown. You find these Alartaw and you do not leave that warp-scan imager unattended.” Her scowl in place she left the Bridge, ostensibly to get some sleep but who knew knowing Tanya. She only slept with one eye closed anyway so I could never understand how she ever got any rest.

  “For all the two of you know I made that story up about you and Tanya being the rulers.” Bren said with a sly smile after Tanya left. I looked at him only a moment before I spoke;

  “I wouldn’t want to be in your shoes when she finds out she’s really not an Empress.” I said, but the story was too fantastical to be made up and there was no denying the technology.

  “I didn’t make it up.” Bren said seriously.

  “Can you find these Alartaw?” I asked, not sure really whether I wanted to find them or not, not quite as sure as Tanya they’d want us back.

  “I can build a transmitter and we can find out.” Bren said.

  “Do it.” I said. “I’m tired of hearing Tanya bitch about those jewels.”

  Chapter 14

  The Universe is chock full of diversely intelligent, aggressive and deadly life. In fact you could hardly turn around these days without running into somebeing and that was exactly what happened. I honestly had no part to play in this. This was just the way the old Universe turned round. These weren’t old enemies who finally tracked me down. We were so far from human space that I hadn’t bothered asking Bren to figure it out exactly and could imagine no enemy who would track me for this distance other than the Kievor themselves- and I was trying to think of them as little as possible. No these were just your average cut-throat pirates who thought they had found an easy meal. Cut us to slag and then salvage the remainder. I was familiar with the process they just weren’t familiar with me.

  “Who is it?” Tanya demanded as she charged into the Bridge- about two seconds after the proximity alarm went off. Bren was in the machine-shop working with some of the raw materials we had just harvested from a small asteroid-field and I had been right where I was supposed to be when we were out of warp and friends far and few between. In my pilot’s seat and prepared for the inevitable instances such as these.

  “Three unknowns,” I told Tanya and the ship at large over com, “closing with evil intent.” I knew evil intent when I saw it.

  We were drifting passive so I doubted they had just come across us. They must have detected our entry and tired of waiting for us to come out and fall into their trap were taking a more direct approach. Our own scan was limited because of the asteroids around us and the pirates were almost on us by the time the alarm went off. “Good job letting them get so close.” Tanya said as she landed in the gunner’s seat. As she landed I hit full thrust- crew with me for more than a day and you learn to get buckled in quick when the proximity alarm goes off.

  One of Last Chance’s rear plasma cannons began firing and I saw that it was Melanie’s gun and felt a twinge of guilt that possibly Janice or Manuel had been trying to get to their guns when I hit thrust. “Everyone alive back there?” I asked. I honestly hadn’t thought anyone would be bothering with those plasma cannons.

  “I was on my way.” Manuel came back over com. “Now I’m not.”

  “In my gun.” Janice said as she opened up as well, but the odds of either doing any real damage before Tanya finished them off with the new cannon were long in my opinion. Scrap metal the mass of which we would be better off without.

  The red beam of a photon sliced out of nowhere through some obscure passage amongst the constantly moving asteroids. It struck just forward of our bow and burned through the monstrous chunk of rock I was racing Last Chance alongside for cover. The photon beam barely missed us but cut the monolithic chunk of rock completely in half right beside us. I plunged Last Chance under the forward section of the now separated asteroid as the two halves began to go their own ways. I had to do anything I could to get us away from the accuracy of the alien ship’s targeting abilities and all the while expecting to be attacked by the others. It was a small field and we would be out of it shortly where the odds were going to get even longer. Three against one with targeting abilities like those already displayed and suddenly we were in a fight for our life that left my throat dry at the thought.

  Tanya returned the fire of our unseen attacker though by now whatever random clearing which had appeared and which had given the attacking ship a momentary avenue to fire on us was long closed. We watched on the main screen as the scan image brought us the computerized recreation of the white/yellow blasts of explosions marching along behind us through the asteroid-field as Tanya targeted the red blip and the cannon threw its energy into the weaving panorama of the constantly shifting field. The red blip remained determinedly on the scan screen as the bolts were blocked by the field itself. This would give them an idea of what they were up against but I did not think that would scare them into calling off their attack. We were one ship and they were three and they were not early space-farers. This bunch had been around the block and this was what they did for a living. They would be confident and assured of their success. I wasn’t so unsure of it myself.

  “We’re not going to have any cover back there in a moment.” I said tersely as Tanya continued to blow away the asteroid-field behind us. In an attempt to vaporize the whole thing I could only surmise so that our enemies would have nice clean shots at us. I was fighting to hold Last Chance as close to the monolith as was possible expecting them to take advantage of the newly cleared field but it was at times like this that I didn’t bother voicing my opinion. The blurring black haze above us on the forward screen was the best recreation the scan computer could give us of the cold rock surface whipping past us. I brought Last Chance under and around it mostly on intuition alone- never knowing if it would be a jutting crag sticking out from the monolith that we never see coming or the photon fire of one of the attacking pirates- which we would not see either- which would get us first. Then the monolith was behind us, between Last Chance and our stern enemy and Tanya was swinging the cannon around to fire on our bow attackers.

  There were two enemy ships in front of us as I brought Last Chance up and around the massive half-asteroid. The two red blips were showing on scan but bo
th ships those blips represented were still outside visual range, our main-screen visual feed still only showing what seemed an endless asteroid-field though scan showed we were almost clear of it. Clear of it and coming into range of those red blips which represented ships which wanted to cut us to slag. One of the red blips was to starboard-bow and the other to port-bow and both advancing on Last Chance in a pincer movement. All three of the enemy ships were closing, the ship now to stern already within the asteroid-field as it followed to close the pincers of the three pronged attack.

  Chapter 15

  “We’re going to be caught in their cross-fire!” Bren yelled over com- as if I wasn’t already aware.

  “Really,” I replied sarcastically though my concentration was fully on the job at hand- that of piloting Last Chance with our lives in the balance, “I thought they were the Welcome Wagon come to make us at home in their neighborhood.” Bren didn’t reply- probably scared I’d lose my focus as I ripped Last Chance past a boulder half the size of us but which would demolish us with the merest scrape. Tanya began firing again which meant a clear avenue had materialized between us and our port-bow attacker.

  Tanya was the gunner and I was the pilot for a simple reason. I was the best damn pilot in the Universe but I couldn’t perform miracles. I didn’t have the time to look at scan much less be expected to pilot the ship and target the enemy. If she had seen the avenue they could have seen it and I was busy heaving on Last Chance’s yoke to pull us out of that avenue before the enemy could get a lock. These were the times why I kept Tanya around, whatever her reasons for staying. She had the fastest reflexes of any human I had ever seen, faster than most reptiles- and that is fast. The red photon beam came out of nowhere as I had expected but it only burned through the vacuum where Last Chance had just been. As I gained the cover of one of the last large asteroids on the outskirts of the field I did take a moment to look at scan;

  “This is why I keep you around.” I told Tanya. It was now two against one. She had silenced one of the attackers.

  “You couldn’t keep yourself alive if I wasn’t around.” Tanya said as she opened up on the next target on her scan, though the blasts were just marching across the monstrous asteroid beneath our keel as I raced Last Chance towards the end of it, open space and direct confrontation with the second of the bow attackers. I held Last Chance on a steady course and Tanya kept her gun locked and firing on the enemy as we flashed past the end of the asteroid and back into open space. The blasts of white/yellow fire marched right off the end of the asteroid and flashed across the span separating us and our target.

  The red photon beam which instantly speared out at us- we flew right into their targeting lock- dissipated just before striking us as Tanya’s fire found the enemy first and extinguished its fusion producing capabilities. Any effective weapon’s fire had to get to its target quickly and I was suddenly amazed all over again. It traveled more rapidly than a photon, whatever it was! I supposed that in a more restful moment I could ask Bren the mechanics of my new cannon but the thought soon slipped away. We had just sailed on past the end of the asteroid and the first the enemy saw of us was the white/yellow blinking of Tanya’s cannon and then nothing more.

  “One to go.” Tanya said as I heaved a sigh of relief- quietly.

  “You may have recalled that I mentioned wanting one of those.” Janice said over com as both she and Melanie now turned their efforts to our stern, pouring the plasma back into the asteroid-field while I continued to accelerate out of the field.

  “Where are you going?” Tanya suddenly demanded.

  “Warping out of here.” I said, meaning to do just that.

  “Not quite yet you’re not.” She replied meaning it, never wanting to leave enemies behind if it could be helped- especially the bushwhacking kind- but it was already clear there would be no other option. She would get no further argument from me I realized as I glanced at scan. The alien marauder was going to reach the outskirts of the field and have us in range before we attained warp velocity. We were not going to be allowed to run.

  “I’ve got them where I want them now.” I said.

  “Aye-aye Captain!” Tanya said with an amused laugh- murder and mayhem always cheering her. Especially when she was the one doing the murdering and especially when it was somebeing in such clear need of being murdered. A cut-throat pirate is always in need of murder, in Tanya’s opinion, I had noticed. She’d crew with a pirate though I wasn’t the bushwhacking kind. I didn’t need to be the bushwhacking kind when all I had to do was show my face and trouble was sure to arrive. Tanya would always go out of her way to kill these types when they inevitably arrived though she had never shared her reasoning for her ruthlessness when dealing with them. If she held some particular enmity for them or if it was simply an opportunity- as I surmised- to vent her frustrations through murder. I knew very little about her motivations other than what I could see for myself. Despite our years together I still barely understood her. Tanya shared sarcastic comments and that was about all.

  I swung Last Chance in wide curve back around that last asteroid to keep the asteroid itself between the last enemy and ourselves. The marauder was just on the other side of the asteroid and was going to come out the same end we were at nearly the same time.

  “I’m going to roll us past the end of this asteroid.” I told Tanya as I thought about that photon beam and how close that marauder was going to be to us when we both hit open space on the opposite side. “I’ll try to bring it about just as we pass.” I was going to barrel-roll us past the end of the asteroid and simply leave it up to Tanya to get that last-moment lock and light them up. If I timed this correctly Tanya’s cannon would rise into firing position just as Last Chance passed the end of the asteroid while our sudden change in vector hopefully throwing off the alien’s first shot. If it missed its first shot it wouldn’t get a second, or at least that was what I had planned because if I couldn’t make it miss at this close range we were going to mutually destruct. I was not the type who would be happy as long as I took my enemy with me. Tanya just glared at me, probably thinking I was only doing it to make her job harder since she was the one who had brought it to my attention. In a way she was right but mostly I just wanted to live and once again that was in question.

  “Stay sharp back there.” I told Melanie and Janice- they knew who I was talking to and they had scans so knew what was coming.

  “Bring it on.” Melanie said, hoping to at least stripe the enemy before Tanya’s cannon obliterated it. She got more than her wish as the alien ship came around the curve of the asteroid and we passed one another no more than meters distant. There was just the flash of a strange dark ship racing across my screen and then gone. It came firing knowing we were there. Knowing we knew it was coming. Knowing it was flying into sure mutual death but no longer caring. I rolled Last Chance fully as I had planned but didn’t time the difficult maneuver quite correctly and we passed the end of the asteroid before the roll brought Tanya’s cannon around and into play.

  The strange enemy ship had no means of propulsion I could see and was moving much faster than I had anticipated. Though my roll was late bringing Tanya’s gun into play when I underestimated its velocity it did succeed however in throwing off the marauder’s targeting. The strange ship lost its lock and passed right under Melanie without firing. It was little more than a blur as it went under us but Melanie striped it down its entire length- and right across the photon cannon just as they reacquired lock and it fired. The explosion occurred behind us as I quickly accelerated for warp. I’d had my fill of this sector of space.

  “By the way Marc, you don’t keep me around.” Tanya said as Last Chance gained warp and she rose from the gunner’s station to seat herself at the warp-scan imager. “Nor will you ever know my true motivations.”

  Chapter 16

  “We seem to have eluded our enemies for the moment.” Tanya said three days later when I came on the Bridge again to see if she was still th
ere. She was as I knew she would be, not that I was ever far away, but this visit was different than the last. Tanya’s constant vigilance was beginning to wear into her reserves. Eyes bloodshot and clearly exhausted she still had a surprise in store for me. “Now to the business of finding our Empire!” She added.

  “I’m not so sure that’s a good idea.” I said. I had been thinking about it a lot and the more I thought about contacting these Alartaw the more I wasn’t so sure it was a good idea. “With Bren’s knowledge of Alartaw science we’ll have every bit of their technology- anti-gravity, trans-metal… everything. We don’t need to contact them nor do we need to broadcast our location to the Kievor!”

  “I thought you might see it that way,” Tanya said bluntly, “but we won’t live through another encounter with a Kievor Trade Station and there isn’t far enough to run. We’ll have to take our chances that the Alartaw will respond first once they are aware of who we are. The only reason they haven’t come is because they aren’t aware of us. We have to make them aware.”

  “What if they’re already aware and just don’t care?” I asked to a stony uncaring look.

  “That’s just a chance we’ll have to take.” She replied. “The boldest course seems to be the safest course- at least amongst present company.” Just then Bren entered with a look I recognized. Maybe they thought they hid it well but it was always immediately clear when they were in cahoots. If they weren’t arguing I knew they were plotting.

  “I believe I may happen to have the instrument you require.” Bren said though he didn’t appear to be carrying anything.

  “Then let’s get it operational.” Tanya said.

  “What if it gets us in contact with the Kievor first?” I asked. “I hate to sound repetitive but…”

  “The Kievor will detect us in warp eventually,” Bren interrupted me, “and probably much sooner than eventually. I’m more scared not to try it than I am in just waiting for the Kievor to show up. It’s only a matter of time before they track us down. I could track any ship with Alartaw technology so I know they’ll be able to, and the Alartaw must be made aware of us. When they get this signal and realize you’re alive they’ll come.” He glared at me after making his little speech.