The Eye of Orion_Book 1_Gearjackers

by Mitch Michaelson

  “How do you plan on dealing with this, Steo? It’s your ship and your crew. You recruited them. When you refuse the attackers, they will target the Eye of Orion with nuclear missiles. Even the wreckage of this ship would be valuable to them,” Renosha said.

  Steo pulled up models of the pirate ships and their weaponry.

  Renosha asked, “Why did you disarm this vessel? Did you think enemies would flee at the sight?”

  When Steo didn’t respond, Renosha said, “You did consider the possibility of an attack. It’s that you don’t want to kill, isn’t it.”

  Scrolling through data, Steo said, “It isn’t necessary. We can run. We have resources. I know, if they have one more missile than we have decoys, we lose.”

  Renosha pulled out a chair and sat in it.

  “You’re an advisor, what’s your advice?” Steo asked honestly. The embarrassment of the yelling on the bridge still left him hot.

  “You’re smart, Steo. You’re coming up with options. The will to choose one is the challenge. Even if it’s one you take no pleasure in.”

  “So many times I see people willing to take those options easily.” In his transient lifestyle, people often wanted the worst from him: a way to destroy the enemy. Steo knew what lines he would cross and which he wouldn’t. Not unless he had to. Now the galaxy put him in a spot where he had to choose.

  The rest of the crew checked systems and prepared for movement. The pirate ships had plenty of energy stored in their e-cores, more than enough to chase the Eye of Orion.

  “Perhaps it’s your desire to avoid violence that makes you a good person, Steo. If it were only your life in the balance that might be an easy decision. Out here, away from the relative safety of the civilizations you’re used to, good people die.”

  Steo was lost in thought. He fiddled with some holographic data. Right and necessary struggled in his mind.

  Hawking soon came to the doorway and said, “Sir, the enemy vessels are approaching. They maintain a close grouping, since they have seen no offensive fire from us. We have precisely three minutes before we must act.”

  Steo waved his hand and the holobridge went blank. It was just a white room. He made up his mind. One more chance, he thought.

  “Hawking. Do you have complete energy signatures of the three ships?”

  “Yes sir.”

  “Did you see what I was studying here?”

  “Yes sir, I monitored it.”

  Steo walked into the bridge. “Glaikis, locate the inner asteroid field on the main panel.”

  She obeyed. “I have it. It’s the remains of a rocky planet, broken up by natural forces long ago so it’s not hot. It’s not a big field, though.”

  “Yuina, do we have enough energy to get there?” Steo asked.

  Yuina stopped her own computations, and did a new calculation. “Yeah, but that’s all we have. I don’t see how that’s going to help.” Her tone was still irate.

  “Go,” Steo said. “Get us into those asteroids and maintain position there.”

  Glaikis charted and Yuina flew. The pirates gathered speed and followed. Once the Eye of Orion had flown into the asteroids, Hawking raised shields a little higher to protect them from small collisions.

  Steo activated the front panel and transmitted, “Tollmaster Buchen, back away. We’ve taken no aggressive actions against you so far. Your sensors will tell you this is a new military-class corvette. We have heavy shielding and are in no danger from your missiles. Leave us or suffer the consequences.” He cut off the transmission. It would take a minute to get there.

  “A bluff?” Yuina scoffed. “You should have let me do that.” Her disdain for his repeated attempts for peaceful resolution was clear.

  Steo said, “Which ship did their transmission come from?”

  Hawking said, “The Desolization, sir.”

  “Load the energy signature of the smaller of the other two vessels. Yuina, I’ll take jamming controls for this. It’s my call.”

  Glaikis and Yuina looked at each other, puzzled. Renosha calmly leaned on his pole.

  A transmission came in from Buchen. “Stopping in the asteroid field only protects you from missiles that need to hit your ship. They don’t protect you from nuclear explosions, fool. You backed yourself into a corner. I’ll loot your ship and leave you in cold-space if you don’t surrender now!”

  Steo immediately sent a reply, “Never.” He knew what would happen and his hands felt cold. He flexed his fingers.

  Glaikis and Yuina’s expressions changed to nervousness.

  The three pirate ships stopped a safe distance from the asteroid field and the Eye of Orion inside it. Three red dots appeared and flew toward the corvette.

  Steo commanded the jamming controls through a console on the side of the bridge. He tapped several points and dragged icons around.

  Nothing could be seen in space, but the bridge panel displayed a green beam leaving the ship, targeted at the missiles.

  Abruptly, the three missiles turned course and zoomed back at the pirates.

  Hawking said, “Signal accepted. Missiles redirected.”

  It was silent in the Eye of Orion’s bridge. They watched as the red dots flew toward the pirates.

  The three ships launched decoy drones and tried to move away from one another. They were too slow. The three missiles headed toward the Encapture. More defensive maneuvering and actions took place.

  A bright white glow blossomed on the point labeled “Encapture”. It expanded. The Eye of Orion’s internal sounds played a distant rumble, though that wasn’t necessary since everyone watched in rapt attention.

  Two more white globes appeared, producing a flower on the forward panel of the Eye of Orion’s bridge. The icon for the Encapture disappeared.

  The Desolization and Paratimizer drifted away.

  “Encapture destroyed by nuclear explosions. Paratimizer was on the edge of the first explosion,” Hawking emotionlessly reported.

  Glaikis turned away from the front panel and checked her own console. “She’s damaged but maintaining control.”

  Steo punched his console and said to Yuina, “You have the controls back.” He wore an expressionless mask.

  She didn’t take her eyes off the panel as the white spheres shrank, turned yellow, then red. “What just happened?”

  Hawking answered. “The missiles were a particularly old design. Master Steo sent them a signal that changed the signature they were tracking: the signature of the Encapture. The missiles followed orders.”

  “But they launched decoy drones.”

  Steo left the bridge.

  “Their decoy drones were also old. Master Steo’s application – which I advanced since we left NBS 2 – could distinguish the difference.”

  “Why the smallest ship? Why not the command one?” Yuina asked.

  Hawking said, “You would have to ask Master Steo.”

  Renosha spoke up, “Because it caused the least loss of life. The commander could order both remaining ships away. Kill the commander and the other two might panic and do something foolish.”

  “Oh,” she said.

  “Although his crew may not follow him after this,” Renosha added.

  CHAPTER 23

  The Amaranthine

  The Eye of Orion remained in the asteroid field while the two pirate ships drifted away. There was nothing left of the Encapture to save or loot. Finally the pirates fled the system.

  Glaikis talked to Hawking about destroying the mines but there turned out to be thousands of them, some old and quite dangerous, scattered around the solar system.

  Tully got an update from Yuina. He kept the ship motionless while it gathered enough energy in the e-cores to make an FTL jump. Their next destination was Kurzia Station, several light years away.

  Once the ship was accumulating power, Tully found Steo in the dining room, looking at navigational data on a small wall panel. He sat across from Steo and adjusted something in a box with wires hanging
from it.

  “Something broke already?” Steo asked.

  “The graviton manifolds linking the four e-cores were locked in a narrow beam. They couldn’t be adjusted. They were built with military specifications so idiots couldn’t monkey with them. With my adjustments, they can be widened or narrowed now. This is the last one.”

  “Thanks for the doubletech,” Steo said about the jargon.

  “You hired an engineer. You’ll thank me when these improvements get us out of a tight spot.”

  Steo didn’t reply.

  “Good job up there. I saw it on my panels down in engineering,” Tully said.

  “We made it out. That’s all that counts.”

  Tully set the box on the table and scratched his jaw. “You and I served together on the Pan-Combine ship … the Amaranthine, wasn’t it? That was what, ten years ago?”

  “Seven.”

  “Oh yeah. You were young! Just a tech apprentice, but you stood out. Enough for Captain Jhadav to notice and take you under his wing though, eh?”

  Steo thought back to those days. He had quit school and forged his paperwork to get an apprenticeship on a research ship. A lot of like-minded people nurtured his curiosity and eagerness on the Amaranthine. Academics and scientists, poets and students, they traveled the Tarium arm like a university. The ship was massive, holding over 11,000 people.

  Some of the best jobs in the galaxy required time spent on ships like the Amaranthine, but Steo did it for the experience alone. He spent many nights debating his shipmates on this technology or that philosophy.

  At first, Captain Jhadav seemed strict and unyielding to Steo. Those were not qualities Steo had a habit of responding well to. He amassed enough reprimands that he thought he would be dropped off on the next habitable planet. Instead, the captain took him under his wing and taught him about responsibility and work ethic. Steo carried the lessons with him. Captain Jhadav made him a better man.

  “Have you heard from Captain Jhadav or anybody from the Amaranthine?” Steo asked hopefully.

  “Captain Jhadav is dead,” Tully told him.

  Steo was taken aback. “What?”

  “Killed by pirates.”

  “On the Amaranthine?” Steo asked, dumbfounded.

  “No, he was on leave. Aboard a transport ship, way out on the end of the Tarium arm. The ship was found days later. The bodies of the crew and passengers were floating nearby. The pirates had shot them out of airlocks one at a time, just to watch them die in cold-space. Men, women and children. Killed just for fun.”

  “What? That doesn’t even do anything! Bodies don’t explode in space like people think!”

  “You know that. I know that,” Tully said.

  “Dead for no reason.”

  Tully let it sink in. “My family thanks you for not letting me get shot into space for some butcher’s entertainment. Think on that will you, Steo?” Tully got a nutrition bar and left the dining room.

  Steo stopped looking at his panel and remembered the renowned diplomat as a strong man. He was a mentor and friend. How can I live up to an example like that, he thought.

  Now Captain Jhadav was dead. The galaxy was worse for his loss. Steo wasn’t sure what would he do to stop something like that from happening.

  CHAPTER 24

  Trail of the Vadyanika

  “The e-cores are fully charged,” Tully said over ship-wide comm.

  “Thank you Tooly,” Yuina replied.

  She giggled to herself and waited for Glaikis to get the astronavigation done. Having some free time, she checked her hair.

  A tirrian’s hair grows faster than a human’s so her straight blonde hair was already spilling down her back. The blue tips were vibrant. She fidgeted with her shirt. The hair on her shoulders and neck was getting long and beginning to bunch up under the shirt. The crew shirt was standard attire. On Tirria, she let her hair grow because women didn’t wear shirts there, but among aliens like croymids and humans she found the custom is for everyone to wear tops. She wasn’t sure her fellow crew were ready for her to go topless yet.

  Yuina was an emotional girl and still harbored resentment at Steo’s choice to disarm the ship. He also got them out of trouble and now she knew he could have done that at any time. She trusted guns more than people but if she’d had her pistol on the bridge, she’s not sure she would have actually shot him.

  Steo had unlocked all the controls, so now she could see the full capabilities of the Eye of Orion. The weapon pods on the sides were packed with scanners. Where offensive missiles would have been were racks of decoy drones, chaff and other defensive tools. She would have preferred Tyrant Missile Packs.

  “Hey Hawking or Glaikis. We’re going to this free station to get info, then we follow the science vessel right?”

  Hawking answered. “Indeed, Pilot Yuina.”

  “So we might be done with this little jaunt soon, maybe a couple days?”

  Hawking gave a standard answer, “I cannot predict.”

  “What math do you have?” Yuina asked.

  “Less than a day to the free station, but beyond that I don’t have enough data.”

  Glaikis said, “Odds are the Vadyanika isn’t far, so I’d guess we’ll find them within a couple days, Y-fly.”

  “What’s the free station we’re going to? Is it spicy?” Yuina asked.

  “Kurzia Station.” Steo came in the bridge. “Like I said before, it’s dangerous.” He wasn’t used to being yelled at and was still on edge.

  “I could use a leg-stretcher,” Yuina said.

  “That would be like throwing oil on fire.” Steo got what he needed and left.

  Sensing his agitation, Yuina leaned over to Glaikis and whispered, “What’s oil?”

  “A lubricant,” Glaikis said.

  Stumped, Yuina said, “Why would you throw that on fire?”

  Glaikis ignored her. About half of what Yuina said went in one ear and out the other. Done with her work for the moment, the navigator left the bridge.

  “Nice engineering room,” Glaikis said from the doorway.

  “Small talk?” Tully said. He didn’t slide out from under his console. A diagnostic tool in his hand flickered multicolored lights.

  She walked in and looked into the tachyon engine, its purple glow lighting her face. “I suppose it’s not my strong suit.”

  “I didn’t think it would be. You doubt Steo, I suppose. You know your job. You’re experienced. Does somebody like you really need my advice?”

  “Experienced. Somebody like me. You mean a mercenary.” She turned and leaned against the tachyon engine.

  “I’ve worked with mercenaries before. It always ends in violence with you people. No offense to you in particular.”

  She shrugged. “I’m an astrometeorologist. Navigators don’t start space battles, we just get people there.”

  He slid out from under the console and shut off his tool. “You have the mods though, don’t you? You could kill a man with your hands if you wanted to.”

  She flexed her hands. Although she didn’t confirm it aloud, her expression left no doubt. Glaikis wasn’t the sort to look away when asked a hard question.

  Governor rolled into the room. He looked as if he was going to say something, considered their stern expressions, and left.

  Glaikis said, “When Steo said this ship had no weapons, I could only think what a staggering mistake that was.”

  “Sounds like mercenary instincts.”

  She snorted. “Probably. At first I thought he didn’t consider that we might be attacked, and it was an incredibly bad decision. I’ve been around a while and seen a lot of battles. Been on powerful ships loaded with weapons. But I’ve never seen a ship this small kill pirates with ease. He could have killed all three ships without firing any weapons – even if we had any.”

  “Yeah, he could have, but don’t get cocky. There’s late tech out here in the Percaic arm.”

  “Still, respect for what he did.”


  “Is that what you came to talk to me about? You respect him now?”

  “You know him best. Steo ran the edge of risk for his ideals. I’m not sure about a long-term contract working for him.”

  “A merc is defined by a contract. I never heard of a merc who needed to follow a captain with ideals.”

  “What do you need? What are an engineer’s instincts?”

  “Navigators and engineers both get the ship where it needs to go. Myself, I want more than a contract and credits. My instincts are that this will be something more.”

  Over the next few hours the crew got everything in order and jumped to Kurzia Station. In his quarters, Steo prepared for the trip into the station.

  Days ago, he sat in the pilot’s chair of his new starship, feeling energized and optimistic. Hours ago, he’d vaporized a ship with nuclear missiles. He could have detonated them in space but he made the decision that the pirates wouldn’t be easily deterred. He held no lingering doubts that it was a necessary decision, but somehow he still wished it could have been another way.

  To take his mind off the tense bridge scene, he retrieved the devices Renosha had given him: the shield drone, a red disc-shaped light manipulator and a silver tube.

  He turned on the shield drone and practiced moving with it. It tended to stay in front of him. Steo wondered what would happen if someone took a shot at him from behind. He also wondered how far it could detect an attacker. Could it react to a sniper’s laser from a thousand yards? He learned by accident that if he waved his hand, he could move it to a new position, protecting him from a certain angle.

  “I wish I had a couple more of these,” he said.

  He stored it and brought out the red disc. Renosha had said back on Zivang that the manipulator was more powerful than a light interface hub. A lee portrayed translucent images, but the manipulator could do more. Steo found that its red surface reacted like a touchpad. He was startled when a person appeared in front of him.

  It was a middle-aged man in civilian clothes. He looked solid and real. In fact, he blinked and breathed. Steo waved his hand through him.