The Lost Gunboat Captain

by J. D. Oppenheim

  “Captain, we are in position,” said Katy.

  “When is our window?” said Jolo.

  “Two minutes,” she said.

  “Koba, are your calculations good?” said Jolo.

  “I hope so,” he said. “2.6 km should do the trick. We should have enough altitude, yet not so much to arouse the Federation ships. They’ll think we are coming but won’t expect us to jump early.”

  “We've got to go now,” said Katy. “The BG cruiser is only about three minutes out.”

  “Okay,” said Jolo. “Take us up.” He got on the comm and made an announcement to the whole ship. “We're about to make the jump. Find something to hold on to.”

  Jolo called down to engineering. “Hurley, are you ready?”

  “Yeah, I'm ready, Captain,” said the old man.

  “Okay. Engage the warp drives on my command.”

  Just then another BG cruiser popped up on Katy’s screen. “Captain,” she said, “there are now two BG cruisers and one is within range.”

  “Koba, how soon until we have proper elevation?”

  “42 seconds. But the eclipse window won't open until about a minute and 30 seconds from now.”

  “Captain, the closest cruiser is locking on.”

  “Katy, raise forward shields.”

  “The BG cruiser's hailing us,” Katy said.

  “Okay put them through.”

  “Synthetic creature who calls himself Jolo Vargas. Land the stolen ship and the people aboard will live. You alone will die, though a synthetic being never truly lives, do they?”

  “They said they would rather die than go with you,” said Jolo.

  “It is a shame that a creature such as yourself would kill so many innocent human workers. And gaining altitude will not help you in a fight.”

  Jolo gave Katy the signal to cut the comm.

  “Koba, are we ready?”

  “We are in position. But they're gonna know if we start to generate a warp field.”

  ……

  Silas remained on the bridge of the Marusen, patient as ever, but his mind began to drift a few days into the future when he would give the president his little prize. The thought of it delighted him, though outwardly his face remained a scowl. Yes, he thought, the president was weak, but he could play that into his favor, could predict his moves, just like he guessed correctly that the weakling would sell the Fed out to the black menace. I’ll bring the synth in alive, he thought, and throw him at the feet of the Federation leader. Yes, that would be best.

  His thoughts were interrupted by his comm officer: “Commander, the Jessica has gained altitude.”

  “You're wasting my time,” he said.

  “Well, sir, the Jessica is about 2.5 km above the surface.”

  What is that synthetic little bastard doing? thought Silas. Does he truly think he has a chance, in atmosphere, against a BG cruiser?

  “Put our boats on high alert. Let's hit him hard the moment he pops his nose up. Though I’d like to take him alive if we could.”

  “Aye, commander.”

  ……

  “Captain, the BG ship has a lock on us,” said Katy.

  “Koba,” said Jolo, “window?”

  “22 seconds.”

  The BG ship began maneuvering. Slowly circling.

  “Katy, keep our forward shields facing the cruiser,” said Jolo.

  Then he looked at Koba.

  “15 seconds,” said the scientist.

  The BG cruiser came through the intercom. "Stolen Federation gunboat. I have authorization to use deadly force."

  "Please hold your fire," said Jolo. "We are going to surrender."

  "Why are my scanners picking up warp field generation signs?"

  "We are having problems with the engines. And we have no engineer. Please just give us a moment to fix the problem. We will surrender to you."

  Jolo looked at Koba again. And then Koba nodded. "We are in," he said.

  "Why are you generating a warp field?" said the BG pilot. "I'm not going to wait to find out. No more stalling. Now you all will die." And then he closed the comm channel.

  Jolo called down to engineering. “Hurley, engage the jump drives!” Then he sat down and gripped the edges of the arm rests, waiting for the jump.

  But nothing happened.

  Then Hurley’s voice came over the comm: “Can’t,” he said. “Ain’t got enough juice.” Jolo stood up again, took a deep breath.

  “Koba, lower all shields,” he said. Koba hesitated. “Now!” Jolo yelled.

  “Try again,” he said to Hurley, never taking his eyes off the BG cruiser.

  A few seconds passed, Jolo still staring at the enemy boat, waiting for the jump drives to engage, and then the forward plasma guns on the BG boat suddenly went from gray to bright blue and for a second Jolo couldn’t see the black ship anymore, just a bright flash. The Jessica rocked and he was thrown to the ground. Then screams from the storage hold, as a burning smell hung in the tingling, crackling air around them. They’re going for the fuel cells, Jolo thought. The Jessica was designed to withstand a beating, especially from energy weapons, but a direct hit with no shields was another story. They couldn’t take another hit, Jolo thought.

  “Katy, what’s the status?” But she did not reply. She was sprawled out the deck with a gash on her forehead.

  The lights on the bridge dimmed, replaced by an orange pulse as the ship went into energy conservation mode. “Enemy ship is locked on,” the onboard computer announced. “Hull integrity compromised. Survival odds: one in seven. Further damage via plasma energy weapon will reduce survival odds to one in six hundred seventy two thousand…”

  “Raise the shields!” yelled Koba, climbing back into his chair.

  “No!” yelled Jolo.

  Koba looked back defiantly, his glasses hanging off his face at an odd angle, then started to reach for the console next to him. “I’m raising the shields,” he said.

  Jolo didn’t have time to grab the man so he did the next best thing: he shot him.

  The bullet went right through Koba’s hand and shattered the console screen. Koba screamed and fell to the ground as both BG ships came into view. Jessica couldn’t take another hit.

  And then his whole body moved slightly and the air around him changed. It was as if time had stopped—as if his breathing had stopped. And suddenly the stars in the view port were gone. He couldn't move and he couldn't speak. Was this the end? he wondered. The BG ships had fired the kill shots.

  But there were no more explosions. No more screaming. And then he remembered this odd feeling in his body, this strange movement. He’d done this before. His body knew it. This was light speed. They were making the jump.

  The ship came out of warp in the Marvis system as the Jessica’s onboard computer repeated, “Fire. Fire in lower deck, rear galley. Life support systems at forty-two percent.”

  Jolo ran to Katy, who was still on the floor. She opened her eyes and he said, “We made it out.” She smiled and put her hand to her bleeding head.

  “Greeley,” Jolo yelled through the comm, “send a med bot to the bridge.” He looked over at Koba, who was curled up under his burning console and said, “Check that. Two med bots.”

  “Roger that,” the older Greeley said.

  Jolo checked Katy’s console and located the fire.

  “Uh, other Greeley,” he said. “There’s a fire near engineering in the rearward galley. Seal that area off so I can vent it out into space,” said Jolo.

  “On it,” the younger Greeley replied.

  Jolo could hear screams from the storage area where the refugees from Qualus were. “Everyone okay down there?”

  “It got hot, but we’re fine,” came Berg’s voice.

  “Keep them calm and I’ll be down in a minute.”

  Then Jolo called down to engineering. “Hurley, you okay?” Jolo said.

  “A little dinged, but still breathing.”

  A few minutes later th
e Greeley’s had done their job and Jolo vented the fire into space. The warning lights went out and the bridge lights came on. The two med bots started working on Katy and Koba. Jolo stared out through the port screen.

  It was Hurley’s idea to jump to Marvis. The thick gas clouds interfered with Fed scanners and would give them a little time to plan their next move. Jolo could see nothing but purple and orange. He checked Katy’s console and there were no ships in the area except for a lonely frigate on the edge of the scanner’s range, but it was gone in a second as it jumped to another section. They were alone and Jessica was still in one piece.

  Jolo called down to Berg. “We’re in the clear for now,” he said. And then Jolo heard more yelling. “Everything okay?”

  “Oh, we are great,” said Berg.

  “What’s with all the screaming?”

  “Those are cheers.”

  “Oh, so you told them we were safe,” said Jolo.

  “Naw, they knew that. They’re cheering because the younger Greeley brother found a box of synth ale and I think we’ve got the makings of a party.”

  The bots gently picked up Katy and Koba to take them down to medical. “I’m fine,” said Katy. “I can stay here.”

  “Go rest,” said Jolo.

  Koba held up his right hand, wrapped in white gauze. His eyes were unfocused and his lips moved erratically. “Pain killers,” he said, grinning like a drunk man. “Somebody shot me, Captain,” his face suddenly serious.

  “I’m not even going to ask,” said Katy. “Are we in the clear?”

  “For now, yes,” said Jolo.

  “I’m sorry I doubted you before.”

  “We ain’t out of the woods yet,” said Jolo.

  Jolo sat in his chair alone, the bridge quiet except for the muffled sounds of singing coming from below. He checked the console again for any signs of Fed activity, but the screen was still blank. They had no idea where he’d jumped to. He imagined them sending out scouts to all reaches within the Jessica’s jump range. They were safe for now, but it wouldn’t last.

  Even so, he allowed himself a moment to rest. For the first time in the last 24 hours he could relax. But the moment he let go just a little, when he closed his eyes and stopped worrying about the hounds of hell that Barthelme had warned about--Jaylen popped into his mind clear as day. Like a waking dream, he could see her face, the soft curve of her chin, her long hair against her shoulders. He wanted to touch her again, to feel her against him. I am coming for you, he thought. But he knew if he was to find Jaylen he needed a better hiding place and then a solid rescue plan.

  I’ll let the party below go on for a little while longer, he thought, but then we have to move. They are hunting us.

  Duval, Revisited

  In the gas clouds of Marvis.

  Jolo sat in the captain’s chair eyeing the console. The Jessica had been hiding in the nebula for three days. Small local traders, big freighters and just about every boat in the Fed navy fleet had popped on screen in that time. The traders would jump out as soon as they made calculations, but Fed ships would pause to scan the sector in search of a rogue synth in a stolen gunboat.

  But Jolo wasn’t taking any chances. He’d shut the power down to the bare minimum, just essential life support. The Jessica had gone dark and quiet, just another rock in space, no heat signature could be detected from her fuel cells or thrusters. A Fed ship would have to be right on top of her to be seen.

  He imagined the Federation in a buzz trying to find him. But it was like finding one tiny light in a galaxy of stars. They really had no idea where he could go, but they did know his range. And that's what worried him. He knew he had to move sooner than later. But where?

  He slumped back into his chair and thought about the people down below that were starting to get restless. Fights had broken out in the last day or so. They were not used to being in a ship, trapped in a storage bay with nothing to do. Especially when the lights were nearly off and orders were to be quiet.

  Katy walked in with a plate of food. "Here eat this," she said. "What do you do all day up here?" She put the tray down next to him and he eyed the white gauze wrapped around her forehead—small brown hints of blood showing through.

  "How are you doing?" he said.

  "I was a little dizzy for a day or so, but now I'm much better.” She straightened up, then bowed. “Ready for duty sir." She smiled at him and he reached out for her hand.

  "Thank you for being here."

  "I'm glad to be here."

  Jolo looked down at the tray and started to laugh. Fed greens. He thought about Barthelme. Wondered if he was okay. He had risked himself for Jolo, just like Katy and the rest. And now Jolo had 84 people in the storage bay to take care of. He was starting to feel the weight of it. If he killed himself alone in a capsule then so be it. But if one of his decisions killed someone else, he didn’t know if he could take it.

  When Jolo wasn't sitting in the captain’s chair eyeing the console, worried that some large BG cruiser was going to pop in unexpectedly, he walked the corridors of the Jessica. He'd often stand in Jaylen's room, which was now half-empty, and wonder where she was. He sat in what used to be his quarters, pictures of the former captain’s young wife and their small boy on the wall. There just weren't enough answers.

  Jolo took a few bites of the fed green, thought about what Barthelme had said, about how he wasn't supposed to like this. "This stuff ain’t too bad, is it?" Katy just rolled her eyes at him and shook her head.

  "It'll keep you alive, but that's about it," she said.

  Just then the younger Greeley's voice came through the comm. "Captain, we got a situation down the storage bay. They're fighting again."

  Jolo sat the tray down. "Okay, both of y'all suit up and meet me at the entrance to the bay."

  "Can I bring the heat? I’ll set it to stun."

  "No guns." They had been through this previously.

  Jolo met the Greeley brothers at the entrance and they followed him in. There was a big commotion in the center of the large room. Berg was there between two other men who had been fighting. One man was on the ground with a bloody face. Berg saw Jolo coming and gave him a strained look. "We can’t keep them trapped in here much longer," he said.

  The man with the bloody face started to yell, trying to get the captain aligned with his side of things. It was a gambling dispute. There were packs of rations strewn across the floor along with a deck of shiny octagonal playing cards.

  Jolo looked around the room at the mothers, grandmothers, small children--all of them well fed, but dirty and tired and ready for something new.

  "I know that you are all miserable here in the storage hold," said Jolo. "But I promise you right now that we are going to leave very soon. We'll find a place where you can find work and avoid any more BG or Federation, uh, entanglements." One of the women stepped forward.

  "Thank you for saving us, Captain Vargas. I’m Bertha.” She was the matriarch who took care of the orphaned children and young mothers. “We need one more favor though. Please bring us down to some planet that will have us. Where we don't have to fear for the safety of the children anymore."

  "Or if the bastard’s do come they'll be a gun nearby that we could shoot ‘em with," said an old man.

  Jolo put his hand on her shoulder. "We’ll find a good place. I promise.” And then he turned to the two men who’d been fighting. “But from here on out no more gambling and no more fighting.”

  Jolo turned to the Greeley brothers. "Go get Hurley and Koba and meet me on the bridge.” And then he turned to Berg, "you coming?" Berg nodded.

  And soon they were all standing around the 3-D star map. Jessica was a tiny green dot in the center, and all the planets within several jumps were displayed around that point.

  Koba had not spoken to Jolo in three days, since Jolo shot him in the hand. The med bots had done their job and there would be no permanent damage, but Koba was still bent and there was no getting around it. "Ma
ybe we should just go back to Qualus and shoot everything we see," said Koba. Jolo just ignored him.

  "Well I don't think they would expect that," said Hurley, in his old-man’s scratchy voice, trying to smooth things over.

  Some said it was best just to run to the edge of space. But then you had problems like depleted fuel cells, running out of food, pirates, and a host of other issues. But the choice between dealing with pirates and the BG was easy. They all agreed that dealing with the pirates would be better. Hurley said a pirate was the most honest man you’d come across, because you knew exactly what they wanted. They’d come on you face to face and declare their intentions: fight us or pay us. Not so with the Fed or the BG. They’d call you friend until you didn’t suit their needs, then they’d take everything you had.

  Jolo stared at the map and once again was drawn to a star cluster on the edge of their range which held the small planet Duval. Would the Fed expect him to return there?

  After some discussion they agreed Duval was worth a try. The Fed didn't pay much attention to Duval, though there was a BG presence monitoring the alacyte production facility there. “We’re fine if we stick to the other side of the planet--the pirate side,” said Hurley.

  "I think there's a town there called Jaxxon," said Katy. "It's pirate territory, but I think there's work. Our people would have a chance there."

  "Okay. It's settled," said Jolo. "We head for Duval. Come in on the pirate side, away from the BG alacyte production facility."

  ……

  Jolo set down in Jaxxon and let the former BG slave workers off the ship. There was a thriving community there and even though the pirate element was strong, Berg and Bertha seemed confident that he they could find work and assimilate. The BG were mainly concerned with protecting their alacyte production on the other side of the planet and the Federation had no real presence there other than the Valhalla II, which was mainly just reconnaissance.