“You said a few modest improvements. Like what?’
“Thank you for asking, Nicky. I’m quite proud of my bots. Using engineering data from the Argos, they were able to tune the engines to slightly higher performance. The best part is that her laser weapons now have fifty percent more power. That’s not a lot by Argos’ standards, but a considerable change to this old ship. We may be able to improve on weapons later when we have more time. I was able to improve her stealth system; however, I could not improve it to Argos’ standards, which would allow her to fire weapons with stealth engaged. She has old Arkon technology that would need a major overhaul to change. The same would be true of any ship we gained out here.”
As I watched, Tiana slowly walked around the revitalized shuttle, stroking its sides and giving every appearance of conducting a pre-flight inspection. I don’t think Wizzy’s comments registered on her. When she stopped the shuttle’s examination, she turned her gaze on the bay itself, looking over every inch. I saw her stripes get just a pinch darker. I think that meant she was impressed and pleased. I interrupted her examination.
“You can fly one of these?” Meaning the shuttle.
“I can fly both if that is what you are asking. When I was young, I spent time on my family’s ships and small craft. I learned to fly them all. Until…”
She stopped talking, and I immediately knew the memory of her family’s death was crowding in on her. I tried to ease her back to reality.
“That’s important to hear. We were wondering what to do with her. We can’t fly two ships at once, you know.”
That got her attention. Her green eyes got as round as silver dollars when she realized what I might be saying.
“You will give her to me?”
“To you and the Resistance.
When I saw her smile and her darkening stripes, I knew she was excited. With Sif in charge of the fast shuttle, I sent Tiana back to Tye to recruit a crew. This would also be a test to see how the two could get along unsupervised. Before she departed, I told her about Toor mentioning Larona, as well as our suspicions about her potential involvement in our sabotage. I asked her to pass the information along to the Resistance. Tiana was our only way to contact the Resistance without going through Larona.
Chapter 15
In four days, Tiana and Sif were back. I was relieved that they came back without wounds inflicted on each other. For a person with so much hate for the Arkon, Tiana was at least tolerating being around the Arkon Red. She had managed to recruit ten crew members with more promised back on Tye. The fast shuttle, after all, could only hold twelve people. That was enough to run the old ship and even to conduct limited space fighting. We deposited the new crew on the Dreng to prepare for flight. Tiana and I shifted to the captain’s cabin to discuss the way ahead.
Before I could discuss planning, however, Tiana was bursting with news that the Resistance had captured the majority of the supplies and materials from all the remaining storage sites on Tye. The rest was taken by Toor’s old teams for their own use. No major fights occurred, although there was a rumor that Toor’s replacement had been named and was in place. Nobody knew yet who that was. I was relieved to hear that the supplies had been taken by the Resistance. All that loot was part of a preliminary plan that Tiana and I talked about before she left for Tye. At least, I thought it was a preliminary plan. Tiana understood it differently.
Before she left for Tye, Tiana and I agreed that we had to find a way of drawing Gurko out. We hadn’t established the best way to do that, however. At least that’s what I thought. When back at Tye, Tiana set a two-phased plan in motion. First, she began a grassroots protest on the payment of the many fees charged through Gurko’s people. In one case, Resistance members even rushed the port authority buildings at Viron and Kiber, temporarily taking them over as they looted the script supply and passed it out to everyone. Like Robin Hood, if I remember the stories of my youth.
As she left Tye, Tiana also advised the Resistance that they would be smart to establish a black market with the supplies they recovered from the storage facilities. This would be an alternative to the markets controlled and manipulated by Gurko. Prices would be fair to the poor citizens for a change, and the script originally going to Gurko would diminish significantly. That whole process was just starting.
Initially, I was a little pissed that she did all that on her own but then decided that I would have done the same given the chance. The only difference it made was that the time until Gurko reacted would now be shorter from my point of view. Also, while the Resistance was now getting more volunteers, I hoped that might mean getting more people for Dreng.
“The best news is that three of our ship captains now have enough money to man their crews, pay their debts and leave Tye. They are ready to work with us and are almost here. I told them where to meet us. That means five ships. Isn’t that great?” Her stripes were getting darker.
It was good news, except for one thing.
“How many of those three ships have weapons?” I asked.
I knew the answer immediately when Tiana’s stripes faded as she hung her head and whispered, “None.” Then she brightened, along with her stripes. “But they are loaded with many taken from the supply bunkers. And they carry more volunteers.” Clearly, they were expecting more help from us.
I didn’t plan on Tiana’s and the Resistance’s new expectations of us. At least, not so soon. I either had to call a halt to them or accept them. If I accepted, then we had to join the fight of the Resistance. I didn’t see a reasonable alternative. I crossed the line and committed the Argos to help. I risked the end of my brief career, but I thought it the right thing to do. I would cling to the part of my orders that allowed me the latitude to deal with the unexpected as appropriate. I knew it was a flimsy hope, but I did it anyway. Now, we had to mount the weapons and train the crews, but did we have the time or the capability? I broke the news to my crew, and, like I did, they expected something like this to happen and were prepared. Given we were still trapped here, they also saw no other choice.
We were barely done with the first week of crew training in fleet maneuvers, small formation combat, and the upgrades in weapons systems when the first bad news came in from Tye. Amini was well enough now to man her station on the Argos bridge.
“Nick, I am receiving some long-range chatter from the area of Tye. Too broken to get real detail, but the gist is that warships are imposing sanctions on Tye if they don’t pay back what was stolen. There is more, but I can’t get it.”
“Wizzy.”
“I heard, Captain Nick. I am listening along with Amini. What we are hearing is backscatter from free ions in space. I’m surprised we are getting as much as we are. To learn more, we have to get closer.”
“How close?”
“We need to cut the distance in half.”
“That’s too close. If we had to run with these cargo ships, any warship would be on them before they could get away, and we can’t take on unknown warships with this group at present. Need a better idea.”
“Captain Nick, there is no other option unless it is to do nothing.”
“Maybe. Remind me what you said about the communications from Base 1, where we were captured.”
“Why?”
“I think you said it had more power than any ship can generate plus something about relays.”
“Yes, but… Oh! I see where you are going. Why didn’t I think of that?”
“Perhaps ape brains have qualities you aren’t aware of.”
“Maybe. But with these ships, it will take a long time to organize and get to Base 1 and listen in.”
“We’re not taking any ships. Just Argos. Tell Tiana to send us some of her best fighters.”
“And if she asks why?”
I didn’t have time to explain it to her. “Just tell her to trust me; it’s urgent.”
>
Tiana did trust me and sent half a dozen of her best to us in full combat gear. They weren’t fully trained yet, but they were all we had.
In less than an hour, Argos got underway and did an FTL jump to Base 1. We planned the maneuver to drop us a little distance from the supply base and then moved in on normal power alone, under stealth. In the hours it took to complete the FTL flight, I took it upon myself to look into the failure of the leap drive. I had done this a few times since the failure, but I still couldn’t figure it out. Wizzy couldn’t either, so my ego wasn’t bruised.
There were no ships tethered to the unmanned hulk and no lights showing anywhere. From our first visit there, we knew the asteroid contained a significant underground facility and prison cells. The communications center, however, was above the surface and was adorned by the variety of antennas one would expect. We hoped to enter the communications center, listen in, and then leave explosive charges behind in the center to eliminate the important part of the facility. Remembering what happened last time, the Resistance volunteers would be prepared for a hot reception. Sif would not let me go without his “protective” services, so he was also along for the mission.
We used Shuttle 2 to descend to the surface and, leaving one Resistance fighter in charge of the shuttle, we moved in lightweight combat suits to the door of the surface facility. This time I carried the mantis drone which, I think, was the same one as before. In any case, it cracked the cipher code, and we were in quickly, leaving two fighters outside to guard the airlock entrance.
Even with three people left outside or in the shuttle, the communications room was crowded. Sif placed the majority of them in an arc facing the interior door in case we had company.
“Ok, Wizzy, what do I do?”
The AI could see what we saw both from the drone and the cameras on our suit helmets.
“Easy. See the big round viewscreen in front of you?”
“Yes.”
“Right under that is a red switch. Flip it up. Then turn the dial next to it clockwise until I say stop.”
“Ok, here goes.” I flipped the switch and began slowly turning the dial.
“Stop.”
“You sure? I just started.”
“Of course I’m sure you knucklehead. Now flip the switch under the dial and listen.”
I did so and heard nothing. We waited for what I thought was a long time. I was getting antsy.
“Wizzy.”
“Quiet, dum-dum. Just wait.”
Then it happened. Voices blared through an unseen speaker, and my suit translator began working.
“People of Kiber. This is Captain Reinen again. You have two daghs (days) remaining to return the stolen script to the facility from which you took it and to stop the illegal sales of contraband. One of your ships in orbit above your city has been destroyed by my frigate as a demonstration of my power. The same has happened over Viron by a corvette I command. We have smaller fighting ships to punish you and your facilities more if you do not comply as I demand. You have two days.”
“That is an Arkon voice,” Sif interjected as he placed a few explosive charges around the center. I nodded my head and continued to listen, but there was no more. A frigate and a corvette, we thought they had only one corvette and knew nothing about the frigate. As I was considering the new problem, the voice of a Resistance member came over the radio.
“Captain Reinen. We cannot do what you ask in two days. We need at least five days to collect the script that was distributed among the people and seek a halt to the sale of goods. Even then, we cannot guarantee that every piece of script will be found or that every sale will stop. That is the best we can do.”
The reaction to the Resistance statement was slow in coming. I could picture conflicting emotions tearing at the Arkon commander. On the one hand, he would be chastised for showing leniency, and, on the other hand, his boss would be out a great deal of wealth if he refused. Finally, the response came.
“You have three days.”
We waited for more, but nothing else came through. That the Resistance spokesman succeeded in gaining another day was a surprise to me. I didn’t think the Arkon I knew of were very flexible. But the value of the potential gains on their part probably contributed to their flexibility. I hoped three days would be enough.
I’d like to say that this was a simple operation and that we just went back to the Argos. But nothing is simple. No sooner had we heard about the extension and we thought all was good, than the interior door flew open and a grenade bounced off a panel and onto the floor before exploding. It was the equivalent of a stun grenade designed to temporarily disorient an opponent just before the thrower and his friends attacked. Besides, they didn’t want to destroy their own communications system. It worked, sort of. Before we knew it, a howling, scrapping group of enemy fighters in their version of lightweight armor followed the grenade into the center. Our backs were nearly against the airlock hatch, which someone managed to open, and we piled in, closing the hatch behind us, and it locked. When the outer hatch opened, we all spilled out on to the surface, the hatch closing automatically behind us. Knowing the enemy would be right behind us,we all took cover behind a rock formation, weapons at the ready.
The fight shifted from a hand-to-hand battle to a firefight between surface rocks now that the center wasn’t at risk. I was getting frustrated as valuable time went flying by, and a few of our fighters fell injured to the fighting owners of the asteroid base. Once out of the confining center, it was clear there were fewer enemy fighters than the crowded interior space suggested. But they were determined. What they didn’t count on was a motivated Arkon Red warrior coming up behind them as he emerged from the center after setting the explosives.
I suppose that had we not been in the relative vacuum of space, we would have heard that horrible warrior howl that Sif used. As it was, however, the surprise was enough to turn their attention to the fierce weapons attack of the angry Red from the rear and allow the rest of our force to close in and finish the action. I decided I still wasn’t a big fan of this surface fighting stuff, but I was getting better, and our Resistance fighters got some important OJT (On the Job Training).
As we flew away, we were treated to the bright flash of an exploding communications center and at least the short-term end of Gurko’s operations out here. I smiled, knowing how that would piss him off and perhaps goad him into coming out faster. Later, we might come back to see what the storage hulk contained, but we didn’t have time for that now. We had to get to Tye.
Chapter 16
We had now been in Tye space for a month and a half. However, even while we were traveling, progress was being made. For example, the disruption of Gurko’s business on Tye was having positive results. The Resistance now owned the majority of his supplies on Tye, the theft of the script was helping the people pay debts, and the black market was taking business away from Gurko even faster than we had hoped. The problem spoiling all this progress was that Gurko sent his chief enforcer, Captain Reinen, with two warships to punish the Tye people for their rebellious attitude. In combat terms, a frigate and a corvette can play hell with lightly armed cargo ships and crews not used to combat. Things might be different with heavier armed ships like the Argos, the Dreng, and especially the Falcon. Our other three cargo ships, even with their initial light arming, may not be playing a significant role, except as distractions. Our initial advantage would be the lack of mutual support by the two enemy warships since they were on opposite sides of the planet from each other. If we could defeat both these two ships in sequence, we could implement the next phase of the plan: stop his supply lines; deplete his number of cargo ships by capturing as many as possible or destroying others. Gurko would have to come out then for sure. At least, I hoped.
The timeline Reinen had agreed to was about to expire as we approached Tye with our small flotilla. I had to decide w
hich ship to take on first.
“Wizzy, tell me what you know about the frigate and the corvette in orbit over Tye.”
“They are old, poorly maintained pieces of crap.”
“I know that bonehead, but they are still dangerous. What can you tell me about their capabilities relative to each other?”
“Oh, why didn’t you ask that first? Let’s see. Hmm, OK, yes. Each ship carries the same basic armament. Mostly lasers and missiles. The difference is that the frigate has a few more laser cannons, two missile launchers instead of only one on the corvette. And of course, the frigate has the capacity to store more missiles and has a greater power output that makes her lasers slightly more powerful. The corvette is slightly faster than the frigate and maneuvers better. But those are relative terms. They are both old ships and not comparable to more modern construction methods like ours. There is one file in my records that implies that before the end of the war, some frigates and larger ships were receiving a form of plasma cannon though none have been seen. Finally, as you know, the Arkon have never been known for high maintenance priorities. I don’t expect the current Arkon commanders to think differently about that.”
Except for the possibility of a plasma cannon, that fit with my memories from the Arkon war, but I needed the confirmation. For our best chance of a win over both, my decision was to attack the frigate and her small craft first. That way, we could bring our maximum power against the larger ship. After that, we could still fight the less capable corvette when she arrived to help her sister ship, even with any damage we might take from the frigate. The three lightly armed cargo ships could standoff and be used if and when necessary or help fight off the small craft.
As expected, we located the frigate loitering over Kiber, while her small craft were away buzzing the city taking potshots at any convenient target. No real damage was being done except to morale. I suspect Captain Reinen allowed or even encouraged these antagonistic actions to speed up the Resistance response to his demands. Our three cargo ships broke away and slowly orbited the area over Kiber like ships wanting to stay out of the fight until this whole thing blew over. Not far from the truth. Argos, with Falcon integrated, and Dreng proceeded under stealth.
Crucible: Records of the Argos Page 16