by gerald hall
“Yes, I certainly hope so. It would be most disappointing if we didn’t.” Alec said with a laugh.
An image of a statuesque red-haired beauty suddenly appeared on Alacrity’s main bridge viewscreen. A student of film history would have recognized the image as that of the American 20th Century movie legend Rita Hayworth. Only the AI animated the image in an extremely lifelike manner as it spoke to Alec again.
“I will do everything that I can to keep you from being disappointed, you lovely man.” The AI laughed, the mirth spilling out through the image on the screen.
“I am definitely counting on that, Rita.” Alec said while laughing in return.
“It is going to be hard on our people though. We are going to have to spend long periods of time away from any civilized world. I remember what that was like from my days with the Gliese Confederation Navy. The months on patrol put a lot of strain of the members of the crew. I want something better for the lives of all of these people who have chosen to join me.”
As the AI continued to listen to Alec, she also was assessing his character at the same time. The AI’s admiration for the new privateer commander grew exponentially as he revealed more about himself.
Alec and Alacrity’s Libertad-designed AI continued with their banter well into the night. Someone listening in on their conversation and not knowing all of the participants would have never guessed that one of them was a sophisticated computer program. The conversation just seemed all too natural and even sometimes quite intimate.
Alec and Rita talked further about the captains that he had just hired. Like Alec, Rita was somewhat concerned about the age of Colin’s battler, but still supported Alec’s selection of him because of Colin’s proven skills at ship repair and modification. The AI’s private view was that Colin would eventually obtain another battler that would be much more capable than his Orca. It would just take a little time to accomplish.
In the following days, Alec arranged to purchase a pair of large, old cargo modules for scrap metal prices from another orbital yard in the Tau Ceti system. Once the modules arrived at Alacrity, Alec quickly got his people busy refitting them for other purposes in addition to carrying cargo. One of the modules was fitted with twenty small craft bays hidden behind camouflaged doors. An old trick used by both pirates and privateers would be to carry one of these concealed fighter garages. The module would instantly turn even an unarmed jump tender into an instant fighter carrier.
Unfortunately, Alec soon learned that there was no way that he could quickly find enough pilots and craft to even remotely fill all of those bays before he needed to leave. So, in the interim, he used the space to carry additional supplies and cargo. Those modules could also be repurposed to be the basis of an ad hoc space station. More than one group of mercenaries in the Orion Arm had built their own orbital base using multiple converted cargo modules linked together. Alec was willing to do the same to create a semi-permanent home base for his new organization if necessary.
Alec recruited as many new technicians and ship’s crew as he could afford. A handful of mercenary marines, including a squad of former Confederation troops who still had their powered armor suits, rounded out the new recruits for Alec’s growing force. Of course, before Alec made a final decision on hiring anyone, he allowed Rita to do a deep search through the public and not-so-public databases to ensure that no turncoats or enemy agents slipped into Alec’s employ at the same time.
While not exactly having the numbers and equipment that he wanted, Alec still was eager to get started in the privateer business. With that in mind, Alacrity and her crew made their first jump towards an exciting but still uncertain future.
Chapter Three:
Tau Ceti Orbital Station.
Tau Ceti Four
September 15, 2320
In the course of his journeys in the service of the Gliese Confederation Navy, Alec had made more than a few contacts with government officials. They had been a ready source of information and access to other resources over the years. One of those contacts would be Alec’s next destination as he laid the final groundwork for his new privateer group. Alec just hoped that this contact would be fairly forgiving.
Alec confidently walked into the Earth Fleet office as though he didn’t have a care in the world or any outstanding issues that needed to be resolved either. After a cursory inquiry by the clerk at the front desk, Alec was led without much fanfare into his contact’s office.
“Hello, Joseph. How are you doing today?” Alec asked.
“I’m doing fine, you old pirate. What do you need from the good people of Earth Fleet today? Don’t tell me that you have gotten into another dispute with one of the outer systems again.” Joseph Kent remarked with a sarcastic laugh while seated behind his desk at Earth Fleet’s main administrative center at Tau Ceti in orbit at the colony’s main space station..
“No, my friend. I managed to clean the slate with all of my old business partners and settled those other issues as well. What I need is some official documentation for a new business venture that I am preparing to begin.
I understand that the Navy is having a few problems along the border with both the Lu’non and several of the corporate syndicates. The fighting is draining the Fleet’s resources very badly. This is largely due to the cutbacks in military spending that the United Earth legislature had pursued for the past couple of decades, as I recall.
“Yes, Alec. The damned legislature on Earth has been so busy pinching pennies regarding defense spending that they neglected to consider the possibility that we might have to go to war someday. Now, that war is very nearly upon us. The Lu’non are genocidal monsters who we have been fighting on and off for decades ever since we first encountered them. When full scale war eventually begins with the Lu’non, it is going to get very ugly, very quickly.
On the other hand, the corporate syndicates just want to take over the government wherever the ‘suits’ establish a foothold. If the Syndicates manage to take over the Terran government and gain control of Earth Fleet, they will run roughshod over everyone, not just the colonies living on the borders. The syndicates have gotten so powerful that they are using real warships of their own to threaten border colonies and have even initiated hostilities with Fleet patrol vessels several times.
Of course, we also have some religious nutcases who want to wage holy war or jihad or whatever the latest name for forcing others to go to their church by the sword. Unfortunately, many of these religious nutcases like The True Way are also very well organized and very well armed, having warships that they stole from real navies like ours and those of some of the colonies.
That’s not even considering those folks at Libertad. The theocratic isolationists on that world are supposed to be just as dedicated to their religion as the jihadists are to theirs. But Libertad’s leaders have continued to piss off the syndicates with their passive-aggressive stances on their world and a variety of other issues. I don’t even know what to think of those people, but at least they are not waging war on their neighbors just yet.
Finally, I have to listen every damned day to our military people complain about being tasked with too many missions and not having enough hulls or personnel to accomplish even half of them. I have to make do with the resources that I have available nonetheless.”
“In view of all of the problems that you already have to deal with. Maybe, I can help you and the other folks from Earth Fleet on that particular issue, Joseph.”
“And how do you plan on doing that, Alec? It has always seemed that the only thing that you have succeeded at was in getting into hot water with one group or another.” The local Earth official noted with a grimace.
“Perhaps, that was true at one point. You have to do whatever is necessary to make it out there away from the core worlds. You know that already, Joseph. Plus some officials just don’t have any sense of humor at all, especially when their personal enrichment programs don’t quite work out as planned.” Alec said wit
h a sly smile.
“No, they just don’t like being lied to and cheated by every independent captain that shows up on their doorstep.” Joseph grumpily responded.
Alec chose not to pursue the subject further, especially since his experiences also included dealing with more than a few corrupt Earth Fleet officials. Some of these officials coincidentally were also among Joseph’s friends also. Alec needed Joseph’s cooperation for that letter of marque. So it would not be a good idea for Alec to get into an argument with the Earth Fleet official at this time.
“In any event, Joseph, I heard about something that got my attention a few months back. This was just as things were beginning to heat up along the border.
It is my understanding that the Earth Fleet has now started issuing official letters of marquis of their own to captains operating along the border. These letters provide official sanction of armed operations against pirates and certain other elements hostile to Earth, with the promise of prize money and salvage rights. Some of these documents also apply to certain specific situations between other players in conflict, I understand.
While things have not improved along the border since the Earth and some of the colonies in the past few months, they also haven’t gotten any worse either since those those letters of marque began to be issued, have they?”
“No, they haven’t. But, we’ve still lost too many damned ships in the past couple of years between the Truist mutinies and the skirmishes on the border with the Lu’non. The legislature still isn’t allocating nearly enough funds to build replacement ships, much less to increase our naval strength. But, at least, the privateers haven’t been the problem…mostly.” Joseph angrily growled.
“So Earth Fleet is continuing the program of sanctioning privateers, correct?”
“Yes, they are. I guess that you are going to tell me now that you have a ship that you want to play privateer in.”
“I do have an old jump tender that I recently acquired and refitted. It took every credit that I had and the calling in of every favor that someone owed me to get my ship ready. But I’m here now and I have a sponsor.
So what do I need to do to apply for my letter, Joseph?” Alec asked with a smile.
Joseph grimaced for a few moments before handing Alec a data tablet and beginning to give him instructions on how to make the application.
“Come back in a couple of days. I will let you know then if your application was approved, you old pirate.” Joseph growled after Alec had handed him back the data tablet with the completed application.
Three days later, Alec received a message to come to Joseph’s office once again. Alec quickly set up an appointment and arrived there, his normal fifteen minutes prior. It was an old military habit that had served Alec well long after he put on his military uniform for the last time.
At the appointed time, Alec was escorted into Joseph’s office. The Alliance official then asked Alec to take a seat.
“Alec, I would like to know if you are just going to become a hired gun or if you plan on conducting any more respectable business activity as well? Obviously, you have a patron somewhere with some very high-level influence because of how quickly your application was approved.” Joseph asked first.
“I certainly can use Alacrity as a merchantman, especially since I have four docking collars that are currently not being utilized. I’m sure that a well-protected jump tender would be a hot commodity with the current situation in human-colonized space. For someone who absolutely, positively needs to get personnel or cargo to a destination, we can offer a lot of security for an affordable price.
We can certainly look as innocent or as threatening as needed. Whatever the customer wants, we will out best to provide the required service.”
“I would prefer that you remain as innocent looking as possible around here, Alec. Once you leave my jurisdiction that is a completely different matter, of course.”
“Of course.” Alec smiled.
“Do you have a name yet for your little privateer group yet?”
“I was thinking about naming it Martinson’s Marauders, Joseph. Do you think that it is aggressive enough?” Alec asked.
“Let me give you a word of advice, friend. If you really want to play things low key to avoid getting all sorts of unwanted attention, you don’t want an aggressive name. You can train your people to be all kinds of aggressive without needing a loud name anyway. You need a name that will get you included in polite company where the real deals are made, not something that immediately screams ‘Murderers for Hire’.” Joseph said as he leaned forward and looked Alec in the eye.
“Do you have a suggestion in mind, Joseph?”
“How about Martinson Mercantile Group? If you really are planning on including transport services in your offerings, then you want to keep your fangs and claws hidden as much as possible. Otherwise, someone is just going to assemble enough force to overwhelm you no matter how aggressive or powerful you look on the outside.”
Alec thought for a moment. A lot of the most successful private military companies on old Earth had names like ‘Executive Outcomes’ that didn’t openly reveal the fact to the average citizen that the company and its employees were very well-armed indeed.
“Alright. I see your point, Joseph. So, Martinson Mercantile Group, it is. Thank you very much for your assistance, Sir.” Alec said with a smile.
‘Good luck out there, Alec. Please don’t do anything to make my life any more complicated than it already is around here, though.”
“I will try, Joseph. You know that I prefer to operate within the rules.”
“I also am aware that you have a reputation for stretching the rules some when it suits you too. That is what worries me. But, at least you had never been accused of deliberately targeting non-combatants fortunately. So, Do us all a big favor and play nice while you are out there.” Joseph said while shaking Alec’s hand before Alec turned and left the Earth Fleet office to return to Alacrity, the necessary documents both in hand and on data chip.
“Well, we have our official letter of marquis now from Earth Fleet. Next, we need a nice, out of the way, star system to set up a base at. The base doesn’t have to be anything fancy. But it will be the heart of our operations, repair, training and planning. Our base of operations also has to be close enough to the commercial shipping lanes that we don’t spend most of our time in transit.” Alec told his bridge team leaders after returning to his jump tender.
“I will get started working on possible candidate star systems, Sir. I still some other maintenance work that I need to do also.” The Alacrity’s navigator Joanna Tallmanz quickly replied. Joanna also did double duty as Alacrity’s first officer. But she always saw herself as a navigator first.
“Joanna, the completion of Alacrity’s refitting has to come first, of course. But as soon as you have a chance, please see what you can do about finding some candidate star systems for us to look at.”
“I’ll do my best, Sir.” She said with a smile before turning around to resume working on a series of wire bundles under her navigation console. Even with all of the work that Alec had arranged to be done to prepare Alacrity to be his flagship, there continued to be numerous systems onboard her that required updating and maintenance.
A couple of days later, Alec walked onto Alacrity’s bridge and saw Joanna still hard at work at her hands deep within the circuitry of the jump tender’s navigation console.
“Any luck with that search for a new base of operations, Joanna?” he asked, half expecting that Joanna had been far too busy working on getting systems operational to be able to come up with an answer for his earlier question.
“Actually, I think that I found something of interest in the constellation of Cancer.” She quickly replied after putting down her tools and standing up.
“The Constellation of Cancer? That is a hell of a long ways away from old Sol, Joanna.
“I know, Sir. But if we are going to be able to refit without unwan
ted guests knocking on our door, we have to put some distance between ourselves and the places where other folks might go looking. This particular star system might be a little out of the way, but it actually is fairly close to where syndicate types have installations and shipping routes. Our Kepler friends also do a lot of business in that area.”
“Do you have someplace in specific in mind?”
“Yes, I think so.” The Alacrity’s navigator said while entering in some commands into a console by her station. A few moments later, a holographic display appeared showing a second of space.
“This is the Messier 67 star cluster. There are over five hundred stars located there. Most of them are within ten light-years of the center of the cluster.” Joanna said before punching in a few additional commands. The view on the hologram then focused in on one specific star.
This particular star caught my eye because it is a very near twin to Sol. Even as far back as the early twenty-first century, that star system was identified as having at least one planet orbiting it as well.”
“Has it been explored?” Alec asked.
“I don’t know. There were no records available to indicate that it had been explored or colonized. This assessment is based on what Rita and I have been able to find so far. That may very well be because of its distance away from Sol at over 2700 light years from Sol. I have to warn you that this star system is also fairly close to the border of Lu’non space, Sir.” Joanna answered.
“Well, that would certainly put a damper on any colonist wanting to check it out, I suppose. We just have to watch out for local ‘bug’ infestations.
What is the star’s designation?”
The Terrans referred to it as ‘YBP 1194’. Their research also indicated that the system has a very large planet in close orbit to the star itself. This planet is several times larger than Jupiter and is even closer to the star than Mercury is to Sol. I didn’t see any information on any other planets in the system, however.”
“It sounds like that particular planet would not be the sort of place to set up a colony at, I would imagine. But perhaps there are other planets there that are much more suitable for our needs, huh?