by Jay Toney
"You do realize that we have a battleship standing by your space station?"
"We know of Red. He has been this way before. He wouldn't dare fire on this station while we have you captive in our hangar."
"Let me think about it and get back to you."
"Take your time. If I don't hear back from you in 10 minutes, I will send in our troops."
The transmission ended.
I contacted Red, he appeared on my main viewscreen.
"Red, I am being held captive again. They saw my silver while searching the ship for Doc, and they want it very badly."
"Just how much do they want?"
"Between 90 percent and all of it. By the time they take my 90 pallets of my silver, they will have added more charges to take the rest, and more."
"I can't fire on the station with you still aboard it."
"You may have to. They are counting on the fact that you won't."
"They are pretty heavily armored we won't be able to do much damage."
"You wont need to, you just have to show them that you are serious, and scare them."
"If you insist, I will."
"Power up your main guns and shields. Have the Lucy do the same. I'm going to see what havoc, I can cause from here."
"Mike is there any way to open the hanger doors?"
"Not from here, they are controlled by the operations manager."
"Persephone, is their a way to hack into the system?"
"The operations computer doesn't have any direct link to the main computer. I can't hack into it without direct access to a terminal."
"It looks like we will have to blow the doors."
"These doors are a lot stronger than the San Paulos space station. The missiles alone wont break the hinges on the door."
"What if we increased the heat and pressure. We can also angle our shields, and use them as a sort of wedge."
"That just may do it."
"Jane bring our shields up, full strength and angle them against the doors."
"Natty, we need to heat things up a little and increase the pressure. Clamp us to the hanger deck, and fire up the engines, bring them up to 1/4 power."
"Captain Roberts be reasonable, you can't escape that way, our doors are reinforced against it."
"We will see. I'm not surrendering my silver to a bunch of greedy thieves."
"Your just adding up charges. We may even end up taking your ship before we are done with you."
"Red, I need you and David to attack the station now."
Red fired his main guns on the space station, they didn't do much damage against the stations shields. The Lucy fired her guns at the station. The shields did nothing to stop her 30mm and 40 mm rounds, and she began chipping away at the stations heavy armor. The hanger was heating up, and the pressure was dangerously high. The station managers had to evacuate most of white section, and all of the repair docks.
"Natty, increase the engine power. We need more pressure and heat."
She advanced the throttles a little, worried that the docking clamps on our landing gear might fail any second.
"Captain Roberts, be reasonable. You are causing harm to innocent people."
"Me be reasonable. Open the doors, or you will see just how unreasonable I can be. I see your bulkheads are beginning to buckle under the heat and pressure. You hanger walls are glowing a nice shade of red. I bet it extends quite a bit further."
"We have dealt with people like you in the past. We know you are the son of the Dread Pirate Roberts. You can't escape."
"You're mistaken, I am the Dread Pirate Roberts. It is I that caused the niffid infestation, that you are suffering from. I assure you that if you don't let me go, I will cause a lot more problems, before I am satisfied."
"We thought that you may be somehow responsible, and you will pay dearly for that."
"Red, fire a couple of missiles on the hanger doors, they should be glowing a nice shade of red, and easy to target."
"That will be dangerous."
"Do it, I need the doors and structure weakened. Have the Lucy follow up behind you, then get clear. I coming out."
The hole hanger shook with the explosions. The doors buckled but held. They were weakened, hopefully enough. I could see that the hinges were cracked, and twisted. The seals were also failing and leaking in several areas. Thousands of high explosive rounds followed behind the Missile attack. The hanger shook, but not nearly as bad as when Reds missiles struck and exploded.
"Jane, I need full screens on our bow."
"Mike, do you think we can get through now?"
"I didn't think you could the last time. We will just have to see."
"Natty fire two missiles point blank."
The two missiles detonated against the hangar doors. Between the added pressure and the explosive force from the missiles, the hanger doors and a lot of the surrounding structure were blown out into space. The station manager was right though, the hinges held. As soon as the hanger door and other debris was clear, Natty released the magnetic hold on our landing gear, and we were off.
The station managers shouted threats. We ignored them. Our course was set to the next system, and we jumped to hyperspace. We were close enough to surprise them with the jump. They never saw ships jump near a gravity source, and survive. Usually a ship trying to jump so close to a planet, was enveloped by a small singularity, or worse, they simply imploded.
Pieces & Parts
The Avalon system was supposed to be a friendly system to our cause according to Red's files, but so was the Nyx System. Greed for our remaining silver was more than enough to turn them to enemies. We would never be heading back to that system again anyhow, so to hell with them. If we ever decided to go back, we could easily do so using Iniguar and Vorg territories to skirt the systems, that were now opposed to us.
Natty was spending most of her off time away from us. It started happening while we were in the Nyx System. She spent most of her time aboard the Lucy with Amber and Jewel, but she was also spending more and more time with Red. He was my brother in law, so I wasn't worried about him.
She was sleeping on the lounge chairs now instead of sleeping with the rest of us in bed. Something must be troubling her, but I couldn't guess what it may be. While we were in normal space, she would fly over to the Vengeance in her marauder, right after dinner. She would return in the early morning hours, taking the helm seat on the bridge.
She was on time, even early reporting for duty, and always cheerful. I was about to ask her about what she was doing disappearing every night, when Amber interrupted, "Captain, I'm picking up debris at the edge of our long range sensor sweeps. It looks like debris from a recent battle. There is nothing on our charts. The Navigation buoys are not reporting any type of debris, in this sector."
"Jewel, put it on screen, maximum magnification."
It was too distant to make out what we were looking at. "Jewel contact Red."
Red's image appeared on our viewscreen. Most people found him intimidating. After getting to know Red and becoming first a friend, then a brother in law, I didn't. His large features were a comfort to me. I knew that if I were in trouble, nothing would stop him from rescuing me.
"Red we have picked up what may be battle debris at the edge of our sensor sweeps. It is to far away to identify any of the wreckage. I suggest we move in closer to better examine it."
"Be careful, who knows what may still be around. The Lucy and I will be right behind you."
"Jewel, sound condition yellow, battle stations."
"Jane seal a
ll hatches and bring our shields up."
"Natty, set an intercept course with the debris field, ahead slow."
Natty changed our course, heading slowly towards the mess. First small pieces appeared on our viewscreen. They were two small to make an identification from. We slowly moved deeper into the debris, our deflector shields, pushed the small pieces from our path. Larger pieces of hull fragments bounced off our hull, as we eased our way into the debris. When we got deeper, into what was a earlier battle, the fragments of ship hulls came into view. The hulls of three freighters were mostly intact, and easy to identify. The stern of a destroyer floated nearby, the rest of the ship was gone. There were also small pieces of what I thought were torpedo boats, and a scout ship.
Our sensors did not pick up any signals from escape pods, or life boats. We searched hoping that they had their transponders turned off, so they could hide in the dark. We found no escape pods or signs of life amongst the dark hulks.
Scavengers were just starting to search the ships, so the battle must have been very recent. Most of the damage was typical of the damage caused by missiles and energy weapons. However, there was damage that was not typical of any type of weapon I ever heard of. In some places, the hull plating on the freighters looked like it was ripped away from the structure.
It was impossible to tell if it happened during or after the battle. The most disturbing thing was the lack of escape pods, life boats, or shuttles. They were rarely picked up as war prizes. The management and care of prisoners wasn't worth the credits they would get selling them or holding them as hostages. They had to have another purpose, and that usually meant something very dark and wicked.
Red was able to Identify the wreckage, as belonging to a group of refugees that he sent out to the Hades System, our rendezvous point. For all of us, the chances of our building a fleet from refugees he sent out ahead of the Alliance incursion, looked bleak. We still had hope, only about half of his refugees were identified as being lost or destroyed.
He was short on pilots for his marauders, having sent them out with the refugees. The pilots he lost were friends and mercenaries that he fought with and respected. He had hoped that he would be able to rebuild his squadrons from them, but already we were short at least half of his pilots. He had 49 marauders aboard his battleship, but could only muster four pilots, including himself.
Thanks to the Vorg, I had 27 Vorg pilots to fly our Vipers and Marauders on top of my skilled pilots. Most of my bridge crew could fly the marauders, and I had a few more pilots in training. I had 33 ships, and 37 pilots I could choose from. I had a little more room for a few more marauders, but I was just about out of cabin space. I couldn't afford to expand into anymore of my cargo space. I needed what I had to store extra ammunition, missiles, and spare parts.
So far the ship was in peak condition, and our only need to change parts, was for routine time changes. There was nothing left here worth salvaging, so we left what was left of the fleet to the scavengers. Red and I would both be searching for any clues that would lead us to the people who killed our refugees.
It didn't look like the work of renegade pirates, the Crimson Tide organization, or the Alliance military. All three were cruel, in their handling of prisoners, but none of them had the means of ripping the hull plating away from a ship. It was something that was only done in salvage yards. Whether it was done to get at survivors, or cargo didn't matter, any survivors would be killed by their exposure to vacuum. Whether they were after the cargo, or prisoners didn't matter, either way they left any survivors dead by removing the ships layers of plating and armor.
We left the debris and headed to the third planet. It was supposed to have a spaceport located in its largest colony. Our course would take us through a crowded ring of asteroids, between the fourth and fifth planets. The Avalon system consisted of five planets orbiting a yellow sun. The third planet was the only habitable planet in the system, with the outer two planets being gas giants. The asteroid belt looked like it was the remains of a large planet, possibly destroyed by the gravitational tug of the two gas giants. The resulting ring was filled with the doomed planets debris. The ring was dense, but it wasn't very wide. If I was a rock hound, this would be the ideal place to set up mining.
We were given permission to orbit the planet and land at the colonies spaceport. Amber and Jewel both volunteered to accompany me down to the planets surface, and get a feel as to how are reception would be. I cautioned Red and David to wait in orbit, until they heard from me.
Something just didn't feel, or look right. According to Red the planet was a haven for smugglers and thieves. They only charged a small tariff against any traded cargo to keep the dealings anonymous. This was usually beneficial for both the government and the trader. The spaceport and air traffic should have been full of traders, but wasn't. This absence was the reason I chose to use caution only sending down three of my ships.
We flew down towards the planets surface, and spaceport, in formation. Amber and Jewel stayed on my wingtips, use to my insane flying habits. They didn't have any restrictions on weapons, so we flew down in marauders instead of cargo shuttles. Randolph and Kim were busy getting our cargo shuttles ready, while we were doing a reconnaissance mission.
When we got over the landing field, and close enough to see, I discovered why. The landing field was covered with assault shuttles and gunboats similar to our marauders. Pilots could be scene scrambling to their shuttles. The three of us pulled up into a steep climb, accelerating away from the planets surface.
"Red, David, and Shar'tu go to battle stations. Get our ships out of here."
I didn't have to give an explanation. A hundred or more ships were leaving the surface, in our pursuit. The information from our sensors was transmitted to our ships, and made available to our tactical screen. Our small fleet, of three ships broke orbit, heading away from the planet.
I urged every bit of power that I could out of my marauders engines, trying to gain more distance from the pursuing fleet.
"Jewel and Amber, we need to land fast. We haven't practice this type of landing, because of its danger. Follow me in single file. When we fly past the Persephone's starboard nacelle, flip your ship 180 degrees, kick in your reverse thrusters, and roll your ships upright. I know you two can do it."
I knew that the three of us would get a lecture from Doc about this type of landing. At least I wouldn't be alone this time when I faced his wrath. Mike would probably be joining in, chewing us out. But we didn't have the time to spare, every second counted.
Natty asked, "Cappy, do I need to scramble our fighters?"
"No just stand by to receive us, we will be landing in a few seconds."
After I flew past the nacelle, I dipped my ship down a little, flipped my ship, and kicked in the reverse thrusters. When I was halfway down the runway I rolled my ship upright and touched down, braking hard. Amber landed 5 seconds behind me, and Jewel 5 seconds behind Amber.
The maintenance and rescue crewmen dove for cover, sure that we were going to crash. I parked my ship, and waited only long enough for Amber and Jewel to catch up to me. We hurried to the bridge, with Mike hot on our heels.
The landing we did was outlawed by the Alliance long ago. It was deemed to dangerous. Before they outlawed it, they lost several good pilots, trying to perfect it. I knew its history, but ignored it. This was the fifth or sixth time I landed like this. Both Doc and Mike were shouting, but I ignored them for now.
Jewel got busy on her communications console. A lady appeared on our viewscreen dressed in a black and gray camouflage uniform.
"Captain Roberts, there is no escaping us. We will collect the bounty the Alliance has on your heads. It is dead or alive. I would prefer it to be alive. If you surrender, I will promise that you will be ke
pt in good health, until the Alliance arrives. But if you resist, I will be forced to kill you and all of your crew. We will keep you and your crew frozen, in space, until they return. Either way we will get the reward they have placed on your head."
"What happened, this planet use to be peaceful towards traders such as myself?"
"Times change, and so do governments. I have taken over this planets military and its government. All sympathizers of the former government have been taken care of. Surrender now, while you can. Our fleet should be finishing up with our pesky neighbors, and returning anytime now."
"Jewel, cut our comms, and get me Red."
The planets new leader was replaced by Reds image.
"Nathaniel, I know you have a plan or at least an idea how to treat these people, what is it."
"Red, I know you want revenge, so do I. But for now we have to leave, but we will return soon, I promise."
"They have to suffer for what they have done to my friends. I can't leave until then."
"Do you want to end our mission here and now? We can stay, bomb their planet from orbit only causing minor damage, while we fight their defense forces and later their fleet. Or, we can do it my way, and make them suffer total destruction. To do it we need to get to the Vista System before its to late. Then I promise we will return here to finish what they started. You will have your revenge."
"I'll follow you to Vista, but that's as far as I am willing to go, before I turn around and destroy them."
"Natty, I need a synchronized jump to the Vista System."
"Our course is laid in and we are ready to jump."
"Jump to hyperspace, now."
After we were safely in hyperspace, Doc and Mike rounded the three of us up and moved us into the anteroom. At least I wouldn't be facing Doc's wrath alone this time.
****
Vista was a large system. It had a large Red sun, and nine planets orbiting it. Three of its planets were capable of supporting human life. The fourth planet and its space station was our destination.