by J Palliser
The two Lieutenants, Captain Hans, and his staff began going over star charts and debating the merits of different targets in and near the pirates' known area of activity. The military people brought decades of combined experience. Sonya had some experience in general. She also had some experience in her knowledge of these pirates in particular.
The pirates had been very active the past several months, which had been the main thing that had drawn the Kriegsmarine's attention to them. They regularly hit two or three targets a week. They also regularly divided their ships, sometimes hitting a target with as few as one of their freighters and a single flight of strike fighters.
Captain Hans officers had been building a database of every thing the pirates had stolen, including when, where, and how much. They hoped to use the information to predict where they might strike next. There were still a lot of targets out there. For the next week or so, they chased the pirates. On their third attack, they missed them by mere minutes. Frustrated, Sonya, Casana and Captain Hans command staff retreated back to the situation room to discuss strategy.
Between the two groups they soon had a list of three potential targets. One was a large shipment of high-end consumer electronic components. That had decent security though, and a small window of opportunity. The second potential target consisted of high-grade ore. The security was minimal, but it would take time to move the ore on the black market. The third target they were considering was a smaller transport carrying krypton-xenon. It also had minimal security, no doubt because it didn't have a lot of high-value goods.
"The xenon are used in their Avenger cannon assemblies," Casana pointed out. "They'll definitely want those." "They can take over the whole ore transport though, and disappear in minutes," Captain Hans said. "And the ore is basically untraceable on the black market."
"All those electronic components are going to be hard to pass up," the intelligence officer countered. Sonya didn't think they would go after that one. It was just too risky. She did her best to listen to her instincts. The problem was, it was leading her to both the ore and xenon.
"The xenon is pretty rare," Captain Russell said. "They can get ore or electronic gear any time."
"I believe they'll try for both the ore and the xenon," Captain Hans said in a calm, commanding voice.
"I agree," Sonya added after a moment's consideration.
Everyone glanced between her and Captain Hans without speaking. "They'll have to divide their forces, but if the ore shipment attack goes smoothly, then they can send back up to the strike on the xenon," Sonya explained.
"Their cruiser is the priority," Captain Hans informed everyone. "This is our best opportunity to take it out." Sonya really wanted to go after Breslin, but she had to agree with Captain Hans that the pirates' command ship was the primary target. They quickly formed a plan. The entire task force would ambush the Republic-class cruiser in the asteroid belt where mining took place, before the ore hauler left. Sonya and Casana would hide in the asteroid belt and hit the ship with shadow bombs to disable it until Captain Hans arrived with the rest of the task force.
Once that battle was well in hand, Sonya would lead the light escort with its squadron of Defenders and a squadron of Valkyries from the Hamburg to ambush the second group of pirates.
***
Sonya was brought out of her meditation by Casana calling her. She glanced at her screen and saw that the pirates had arrived. She acknowledged Casana, and began powering up her engines. They had been waiting for nearly three hours.
The two Lieutenants set down on an asteroid near the ore hauler and quickly powered down their Sparrows' systems. They were just inside an abandoned mining shaft. The only things they left on were passive sensors, and their personal comm. They didn't think the pirates would be there for several hours, but they wanted to be hidden long before their arrival in case they sent scouts in ahead of time. While they waited, each spent some time in meditation while the other kept watch.
The pirates had their cruiser, a squadron of Avengers, and three smaller freighters. Captain Hans had a pair of Valkyries further away that would be alerting him to the pirates arrival. Sonya and Casana would be conducting a straight forward surgical strike on the Republic-class cruiser's engines.
As soon as their engines were powered up, the two headed for the cruiser's stern. They kept most of their systems offline to maximize their stealth. The heavy-metal content of the asteroids would also help hide them from the pirates, just as it had helped hide them from the miners. Sonya hoped to get close enough to launch the fusion bombs without having to fight their way in.
With twelve star-fighter pilots actively looking for threats, plus the crew of the cruiser, it would be a difficult task. Still, so far, they had stealth.
At just over two kilometers out someone noticed them. Suddenly star-fighters were changing course to intercept. Sonya and Casana immediately began powering up the rest of their systems—most importantly their shields. A few seconds later, the pirates' cruiser started firing at them.
Dodging pulse cannon fire from the not-quite-distant ship was easy enough for the two Sparrows. Only two of the pirate fighters—A-1's—were close enough to pose a serious threat. After dodging their fire for a few seconds, Sonya's cannons were powered up enough to shoot back. She quickly fired off a quad-linked burst at the closest one. It juked to its left, and was hit by another burst from Casana's Sparrow.
Before they could finish the A-1 off, the two were past them, and lined up on the cruiser's engines. At seven hundred and fifty meters Casana launched a pair of fusion bombs, followed by Sonya a half-second later. They both promptly veered away to keep the pirates attention away from the four bombs.
Since fusion bombs didn't have propellant or guidance systems, the two had to use perfect target alignment to guide them to the target while avoiding the cruiser's pulse cannon fire and the other pirates' star-fighter cannons, and keeping the bombs from being hit as well.
About twenty seconds later, Casana's bombs exploded against the cruiser's still-powering-up shields. Sonya's passed through the hole, and exploded against the ship's engines, crippling the Republic-class cruiser.
Sonya took a moment to fire at—and hit—a pirate Avenger as she and Casana circled back around to the cruiser's engines. They each had two more bombs, and there was no point in letting them go to waste.
Once they got back to the aft of the ship, Casana dropped two more bombs. One hit the re-charging shields, while the other did even more damage to the the cruiser's engines.
Then they flew towards the bow of the ship along its spine. Sonya dropped her bombs midway. One hit the shields, creating a hole. The other dropped through, and destroyed their topside shield emitter. Now even if they didn't fire another shot, the pirates would be in a repair dock for at least a month. Since their fusion bombs were all gone, Sonya and Casana occupied themselves by destroying a few pirate fighters while they waited for the rest of their task force.
Less than two minutes later—right on schedule—Captain Hans Valkyries arrived to join the fight. TheHamburgand Z41 gunship were close behind. With a crippled Republic-class cruiser and less than one squadron of star-fighters, the pirates were badly over-matched against the Hamburg, Z41, and three squadrons of Valkyries. Then Sonya heard the chirp of a comm channel opening.
"This is Captain Hans of the Kriegsmarine Fleet. All hostile ships in the system are hereby ordered to power down and surrender immediately, or face the gravest of consequences," Captain Hans announced over an open comm channel.
Sonya listened to the announcement with detached interest. She, Casana, Captain Hans, and his command staff had decided to offer the pirates the chance to surrender, even though they doubted they'd accept. The pirates had a prompt answer.
"Captain Hans, you can take your surrender and shove it up your ass!" Captain Tolvin screamed over the comm channel. The point was further made by a salvo of pulse cannon fire from theRepublic-class cruiser—directly at Sonya's
Sparrow. Fortunately, her instincts had given her a warning, and she was able to juke out of the way in ample time. The nearest blast missed her by more than a dozen meters.
"Shit Sonya, looks like you really pissed somebody off," Casnana commented over the comm.
"It happens," Sonya replied offhandedly, firing at a pirate Avenger that crossed in front of her nearly a kilometer out. Sonya was mildly surprised Captain Tolvin felt that way about her. She had thought she had departed on pretty good terms, after her assisting in the transition from pirates to mercenary. She was even more surprised that he knew that it was her that had been after him and his gang of pirates.
The Hamburg and Z41 began firing their pulse cannons as soon as they were in range. The pirates returned fire, but it was clear they were over matched. Sonya and Casana broke off and prepared to enter gravity-drive to ambush Breslin and the rest of the pirates. The Schmittclass light escort, with its squadron of Valkyries, were ready to jump with them. Also accompanying them was a squadron of Defenders from the Hamburgthat were jumping on their own, like Sonya and Casana.
Sonya and Casana's astro-navigation had both doublechecked the jump coordinates from the light escort. All Sonya had to do was jump, and everyone would follow her. She held her finger over the switch... and hesitated. Her senses were telling her to wait.
"Sonya," Casana said over the comm. "I think we should wait a minute."
"I feel it too," Sonya agreed. A moment later Sonya got a routine inquiry from the light escort requesting a status update. She told them to stand by as she ran through a calming exercise.
Captain Hans had the battle well in hand. The rest of the pirates were probably killing innocent people while she sat there wriggling her mind. Still, her instincts was telling her to wait.
Nearly thirty seconds later, Sonya felt a surge of danger, then saw ships exiting gravity-drive right in front of her. Before the alarms in her Sparrow even began, she knew who they were. The rest of the pirates. Somehow they had arrived early.
Sonya opened fire almost before her astro-scan began identifying them. She destroyed an A-1 before it could even raise its shields. Casana matched her by taking out a Warthog bomber. The other fighters in Sonya's group began firing as well.
Within thirty seconds nearly two squadrons of pirate starfighters, along with a pair of small freighters had exited gravity-drive. The light escort began disgorging its snubfighters to assist. Sonya and her forces quickly began decimating the newly arrived pirate fighters. A squadron of Defenders from Captain Hans ship broke off to assist as well.
*** "I'm glad you stayed," Captain Hans told her after the battle. "The second group of pirates would have caused some damage before we had reacted."
"I was only following my instincts," Sonya replied with a nod. There weren't any Avengers among the destroyed or captured pirate fighters. After interrogating the captured pirates, they had discovered that the four Avengers and two A-1 fighters had escorted the freighters with the xenon to a secure location to store the stolen parts.
The fighters that had escaped the battle had most likely gone straight there and warned them. Captain Hans decided not to go after them, and saved the intel for later.
Captain Tolvin, who was in charge of the pirate ship, was unaccounted for as well. Since the bridge had taken a direct hit, and the entire bridge crew was also unaccounted for though, everyone agreed that he was dead.
Sonya was pretty sure Breslin had been leading the second attack, and flying one of the Avengers. That meant he was still alive, and had nearly a squadron of fighters and several armed small freighters at his disposal. She would have to contact Raeder, and tell him that she wasn't finished, whether or not Captain Hans stayed to continue the fight.
Since the Pirates' Republic-class cruiser was destroyed, Captain Hans and the Hamburg were reassigned. The Kriegsmarines left the Schmitt-class light escort with its squadron of Defender star-fighters to continue hunting the pirates. Sonya made a few comm, and secured the Z41 gunship for a couple more weeks as well.
The new task force quickly went to work. They managed to find the pirates two days later, but couldn't engage them. They did get a good look at what was left of their fleet though. The pirates had the four Avengers, five A-1 fighters, two Warthogs, and four small freighters.
The next day, Sonya's task force caught them near a moon's gravity well just before they made an attack, and destroyed a A-1 fighter, Avenger, and a freighter. Three days later, they caught them again. This time, the pirates only had three Avengers, two A-1 fighters, two Warthogs, and two freighters. She assumed the others had left the group to hide somewhere.
Sonya's task force destroyed both the A-1 fighters, and an Avenger. She didn't think Breslin had been in the Avenger though.
After that, the Kriegsmarines pulled the gunship, saying that four star-fighters weren't enough of a threat to the public to justify the expense. They also told Sonya that the light escort and its squadron of Defender star-fighters would be pulled before very long.
The Captain of the Schmitt-class light escort was a Drac named Malik. He didn't have the large command staff that the Hamburg had. Captain Hans did turn over all of his intelligence on the pirates to him though.
Sonya, Casana, Captain Malik, and his staff began reviewing the intel. Sonya and Casana also listened to her senses. In just a couple of hours they had a good inclination on where to look for the remainder of the pirates.
Unfortunately, they missed them by less than half-anhour. They went back to their intel, and came up with another target. This one was a small spaceport on a moon nearly a day away.
When they arrived at the spaceport, they found a freighter, two Avengers, and two Warthogs on a docking pad, all under false identification. The port officials were happy to help Sonya and Casana, as they claimed they were already suspicious of the supposedly legitimate star-fighters and freighter.
With the port officials' help, they were able to use the surveillance cameras to track the seven pirates' movements through the port. Sonya and Casana took two squads of Waffen-SS, along with half-a-dozen more volunteers from the light escort down to the moon to apprehend the pirates. The light escort and its twelve Defenders stayed in orbit, just over the horizon from the spaceport, in case the pirates made it back to their ships and tried to escape.
First Sonya, Casana and a squad of SS went to secure the freighter and star-fighters, while the rest split up to find the seven pirates that had left the ships. The arrest teams were were supposed maintain their distance from their targets so they wouldn't be spotted before Sonya and Casana's team secured the ships.
Sonya and Casana were both wearing black combat jumpsuits with ten centimeter high-heeled boots. Casana was wearing dark green fur hide wristbands, and Sonya's were black. Sonya was also wearing a black fur hide collar, which was mostly hidden by the tight collar of her jumpsuit.
The two Lieutenants used their intel to know that there were only two people on the freighter, with the ramp down. Sonya and Casana led the way in. Sonya led four of the SS two the cockpit, where she sensed one pirate, and Casana led four to the cargo hold, were they sensed the other one. Once the freighter was secure, Sonya and Casana left the SS and they went after Breslin.
They found him and a petite brunette having dinner in a restaurant. They went out of their way to make sure they weren't noticed as they casually made their way to the table. The woman looked familiar, but Sonya didn't pay that much attention to her.
"Mind if we join you?" Sonya said as she sat down in the chair to Breslin's right, pressing her pistol into his side.
Before either could react, Casana sat down opposite of Sonya, and had her pistol in the woman's side.
"Fuck," Breslin muttered in disgust. Sonya kept her pistol pressed into his side and quickly relieved him of his weapons. Casana did the same for Breslin's companion. Only then did Sonya pull her pistol away, although she kept it in her hand.
"How you been doing Breslin?" she asked him
flirtatiously. He took a big swallow from his drink. "I was okay until you and the Casana started chasing me," he replied, nodding his head towards Casnana.
Casana's mild surprise that he knew her. Sonya sent her a look that was half-warning-half-amusement. "Aww, I just couldn't help it," Sonya told him sympathetically. "I heard you were pirating and all sorts of other nasty stuff, so I had to come find out what was going on, especially after you escaped Khrom."
"It's a living," Breslin replied with a shrug, taking another swallow of his drink.
"So, what happened to being a mercenary?" Sonya asked more seriously. Breslin shrugged his shoulders again. "Fuck Sonya, I didn't want this. A Republic-class cruiser is insanely expensive to operate."
Sonya sensed he was telling the truth with the first sentence, but she had little sympathy for him. "So instead of selling your flashy little Avenger the Kriegsmarines got for you and living a normal life somewhere you decided to become a pirate and terrorize half the sector?" she asked him pointedly.
"Who said we still aren't mercenaries?" Breslin replied quietly.
That remark immediately caught Sonya's attention. "What do you mean?" she asked. Breslin gave her a slight smirk. "About three and a half months ago a Bren claiming to be an agent for other parties approached me and Captain Tolvin, offering to give us intel on freighters and other targets to hit. The best part was, we got to keep all the loot."
Sonya could sense that he certainly believed everything he was saying. "So is this mysterious Bren going to testify for you at your trial?"
"If I ran, would you kill me?" Breslin asked, staring into Sonya's eyes. "Not unless I had to," she replied seriously. "But I promise you won't escape, and you might have to spend some time in sickbay for your trouble."
Breslin let out a sigh of disgust. "Why don't you let Courtney go," he suggested, gesturing across the table at his companion. "And the others. We both know it's only me you want."