Privateer's Moon

by gerald hall

  Anyway, the syndicates did not want anyone in the colonies or within the Terran general public to know what had been happening on the Lu’non border. They were afraid that there would be such outrage that Earth would have no choice but to send its fleet to exterminate the Lu’non. A few details did leak out, but they were quickly squashed or explained away.

  My source felt that it was very probable that some of the syndicates had been conducting clandestine trade with the Lu’non. Apparently, trade with the Lu’non was so lucrative that the syndicates were more than willing to sacrifice human colonists on the border in order continue with their business.”

  “Those bastards. Do you think that this is part of the reason why we have been hired by the Kepler’s to hit back at the Lu’non?”

  “Possibly, but we are going to need to grow our little group quite a bit if we are going to have a chance against the Lu’non. That might take some time, I’m afraid. Besides, our primary targets are still supposed to be ships from the Belair syndicate and other human pirates. We are not going hunting Lu’non unless they put themselves into our crosshairs. We also need to make sure that we don’t end up on their menu at the same time.”

  “I understand, Sir. What are you looking for next?”

  “Obviously, we need more battlers. But we also need to find some fighters along with pilots for them. There is also that small matter of boarding troops, preferably at least some of them equipped with powered body armor. I have recruited a few already, but we definitely need more.

  It doesn’t do us one bit of good to catch and disable an adversary’s ship if we don’t have the means to go inside and finish the job with the enemy still alive inside of her. We would just have to blow her up. We can’t get any salvage or prize money when we do that.”

  “What about armed robots? Can’t Rita control them remotely?”

  “That is an option. But robots by themselves simply can’t take the place of a man or woman with a weapon going inside or fighting on a planetary surface. It would be best if we can find a good supply of both combat bots and experienced infantry troops though. At least with human marines, I can arrange to also have them trained to do other jobs when they are not running into enemy fire to capture ships and kill bad guys.

  Combat bots are usually only good for one purpose. We can’t have those fixing ships or tending our wounded, I’m afraid. They wouldn’t do a very good in either case.”

  “But they would be a very useful complement to conventional boarding troops, Sir.”

  “True, but we aren’t exactly wealthy at the moment. Everything that I am doing right now is on a shoestring budget. We need to get a few successful operations under our belt first. That will pick up some decent prize and salvage money from those. Then we can seriously look at purchasing things like combat bots. OK?” Alec said with a smile.

  “Roger that, Sir.”

  Chapter Seven:

  Pirate Jump tender: Black Diamond

  Near Zenith Jump Point

  Kepler 162b System, Orion Arm

  October 18, 2320

  The bridge of the pirate jump tender was a flurry of activity. Technicians and engineers scoured the displays for information on the Jihadist Tramp, its battler and combat shuttle that were rushing to dock with the enemy jump tender. As Captain Farrow looked from the main bridge viewport, First Officer Bucholtz walked up to him with her hand still cupped over a radio transceiver earbud. She was receiving reports from the boarders about the status of the newly captured shuttle and was recounting them to the pirate commander.

  “There are half a dozen aerospace fighters in the lower cargo bays of the captured heavy shuttle. They all appear to be upgraded colonial designs. This ship has also been heavily modified with eight capital missile launchers. There are nearly thirty missiles still in the missile magazines. We’ve also already found that at least one of those missiles has a nuclear warhead.

  We also found something else unusual inside of their shuttle. They had a prisoner tied up in one of the compartments. Fortunately for him, it was sealed off from the rest of the ship so he didn’t get a dose of the nerve gas. But it looks like the Truists tortured the hell out of him. He's in pretty bad shape.” Sarah reported.

  “I wonder what the Truists were trying to get from him. Something very important, I imagine. The heavy shuttle sounds like one of those disguised warship conversions that Angela confirmed the rumors on earlier. I wish that we could get that ship back in action at this point, especially now that we know that jump tender belongs to ‘The True Way’. Who knows what else they have in the system right now.

  Those damned Truist cyborgs not only killed more than a dozen of our people, but they also blew the hell out of the bridge and engineering sections with some sort of built-in suicide charges.” Captain Farrell noted. He had already been told earlier about the casualties and the damage to their new prize.

  “I’ve got Moriarty working his magic on the shuttle’s computer right now. He says however that it will still take over a month to get this ship running, even if we can get the parts. I’m also going to see if Angela knows something more about this heavy shuttle as well. After all, she used to be a Truist technician herself.

  Of course, we will have more enough booty in the heavy shuttle’s cargo bays to pay for repairs on all of our equipment. If we can also seize that Tramp and her shuttles, we will be very well funded for a long time to come. But you are right about Crewman Collins. I saw her when she first went aboard that shuttle. It was as though she was all too familiar with that particular vessel, especially when I saw the expression on her face. She's been on that ship before or another one like it, I am certain.” Sarah replied after pausing for a moment to receive additional reports through the transceiver bud in the left ear.

  “We need to find some way to get to that Tramp before she jumps away. We’ve already gotten signals intercepts on the other two Truist shuttles. They’re burning at high-G and will be back to their jump tender in less than an hour. One of those shuttles may even be a purpose-built battler. If they think that we are sending one of our own shuttles instead of their ship, the Truists will know for sure that we have captured their vessel and disposed of their crew.

  We’ve been sending audio messages pretending to be the Truists ourselves to deceive them about our having captured their ship. I've got our people telling that Tramp's captain that the Truists have made slow, but steady progress taking our ship in spite of heavy casualties.” Sarah continued.

  “Do you think that the Truists have believed the messages that we sent them?” Captain Farrell asked.

  “I don’t know for sure. At least their big armed shuttles aren’t coming our way.”

  “I need to ask Moriarty something.” Captain Farrell said, before talking into his personal com unit.

  “How’s my electronic genius doing?”

  “I’m doing alright in spite of having to try to piece together what is left of this shuttle’s bridge. I really hate exploding cyborgs.” Moriarty wryly replied over the comlink.

  Captain Farrell smiled as he presented a question to his electronics tech.

  “Do you think that you can copy their IFF signal?”

  “Hell, yea!!! I broke their crypto nearly twenty minutes ago while I was patching up some of the mess here.” Moriarty excitedly replied.

  “What are you planning on doing?” Sarah asked the grinning pirate commander.

  “Sarah, I want you to move every warm body with a gun that you can over to the Buccaneer’s Dream. You’re going to pretend to be their shuttle and try to board that Truist jump tender before their armed shuttles arrive. We should be able to reach that jump shuttle long before their other ships return from the planet.

  Fortunately, both heavy shuttles are externally identical, even down to the standard commercial paint scheme. If they don’t let you dock, get in close, open your gunports and demand their surrender. Up close, we are at least as well armed as they are. A Tramp is far too
fragile to risk a knife fight against a very heavily armed shuttle or battler. If you absolutely have to though, blast them all to hell. We’ll just salvage what is left.”

  “I understand.” Sarah noted while continuing to work on her noteputer.

  “Let’s go to it. Let’s play a little ‘shell game’ while we are at it. ”

  “Yes, Sir.” Sarah answered as the preparations for battle continued.

  “Launch the Buccaneer’s Dream.” Captain Farrow ordered almost two hours later.

  The Black Diamond shuddered for a moment as the docking clamps released for both of the heavy shuttles; Buccaneer's Dream and Hidden Blade.

  While the pirates were making their move, the jihadists of The True Way, were frantically making their own preparations to avoid a worst-case scenario.

  "Has Blessed Sword finished securing to Number Two docking collar?" Captain Stern asked.

  "Adept Marten has reported that they will be ready in just a few minutes, Sir."

  "Very good."

  Victor had been anxiously waiting for Blessed Sword to finally arrive. The Lion's crew had pushed hard to catch up with the Dagger of Truth. The Lion had stayed behind for a short time after the Truist troops had left the targeted world. Then the big battler conducted a heavy bombardment of the settlement to destroy anything that had been left behind.

  Demi-Precentor Mirabella was expected to return to the Tramp's bridge any moment now. However, everyone on the bridge quickly turned towards the sensor operator as he made an unexpected report.

  “A heavy shuttle from the Invader is slowly accelerating towards us.” Acolyte Martin reported from his bridge console.

  “Is it the Hidden Blade?” Captain Stern asked.

  “I don’t know. The vessel does have the signature of a Conestoga. The Invader turned around its long axis before detaching two heavy shuttles. One of them started to accelerate towards us while the other remained beside the jump tender. Since both shuttles were blocked from our sensors briefly by the jump tender, we couldn’t visually confirm which one was which. However, the heavy shuttle approaching us is squawking Hidden Blade’s IFF code.” Acolyte Martin replied.

  “Have we established visual communications with her yet?

  “No. Audio only. They still say that they are having commo problems.” A communications tech responded.

  “Well, whoever those people are who are now in possession of Hidden Blade, they are not ours. I'm sure of it. Our people would know and use the proper communication protocols, even with equipment failures. What is worse is that these infidel usurpers will be in capital missile range in less than three minutes.” Captain Stern solemnly responded just as the Demi-Precentor arrived. She heard the news at the same time that everyone else did as she silently stood there.

  “Oh Merde…” gasped another acolyte on the bridge. They knew all too well about the effects of a nuclear missile detonating against a target in space. Only they had always been the ones launching them at other ships in the past.

  “What about Dagger of Truth?” Acolyte Martin quickly asked.

  “Her captain knows the standard procedures for when a jump tender is forced to escape a star system before pickup. We will jump back in eighty hours at the preset rendezvous point to pick her up at that time. But first, we must ensure our survival if we are going to be of any use to them.

  Alright, everyone get to your jump stations. Navigator, prepare to initiate jump.” Captain Stern calmly ordered. Demi-Precentor Lucas had already strapped herself into one of the open bridge chairs almost immediately after she arrived on the bridge. There was nothing more that she could do at this point.

  A few seconds later, came the order; “Jump….”

  “Scheisse!…” growled Captain Farrow as he saw that before Buccaneer’s Dream could reach firing range of the Truist jump tender, the Tramp had jumped out of the star system and disappeared. Fortunately, the Buccaneer’s Dream was outside of the jump tender’s distortion field and suffered no damage.

  “Damn it!!!” the first officer loudly grumbled. “Not only did we lose the chance at capturing that jump tender, but the Truists have now ID’d our ship.”

  “Yes. It was a missed opportunity.” Captain Farrow calmly said as he played absently with his moustache. “But, the Truists are far too busy with their little Jihad against the rest of the Orion Arm to go chasing after our insignificant band of pirates.”

  “Besides…..All they saw was an Invader carrying a pair of heavy shuttle class cargo ships. That makes us look like more than half the jump tenders in this part of the Orion Arm. They still have no idea of the long, sharp teeth and claws that we have.” Captain Farrell said with a predatory smile.

  While Captain Farrow said this, he was patting the builder’s registration plate that had been part of the ship since she was first constructed….a brass metal plate that proclaimed the ship’s name as the Earth Fleet ship Scimitar.

  “Navigator. Set jump coordinates and prepare for jump as soon as the two heavy shuttles are docked with us. I don’t want that armed Truist ship to come after us. We then need to go to a friendly system, replace our losses, finish repairs on that converted Conestoga, and sell the booty from her cargo hold. A nuke will certainly fetch a very good price as long as we are very careful. We can’t have the ‘wrong’ people learn about our new acquisitions, now can we?” Captain Farrow said with a smile on his face.

  “We’ve all been deceived and taken our licks. But we still got the better end of the deal, haven’t we?”

  "What about their prisoner? Are we going to keep him or just flush him out the airlock with the rest of the garbage?" Sarah grimly asked.

  "Let's see if we can convince him to tell us first what the Truists wanted from him before we decide to dispose of him, alright?”. Captain Farrow said with a shake of his head before finishing with the comment. “Sarah, you are indeed bloodthirsty as hell, aren't you?"

  Chapter Eight:

  Location: Unknown

  Time: Sometime after October 1, 2320.

  My name is Jonathan Murrel. I used to work for Galactic Expeditions, searching for lost caches of technology in the far reaches of the Orion Arm…..before I died…..before the Demons came to take me.

  “My friends….my co-workers…..all dead at the hands of the Demons after being taken from the Equus that we traveled on. Yet, I still live. Why?” I ask myself.

  I find myself upright, stripped of all clothing, bound and suspended by my wrists and ankles, completely helpless in the apparent absence of any gravity. The chamber where I am being held is dark, illuminated only by red light. I have lost all track of time since the Demons took me. The pungent smell of sulphur fills the air that I breathe. I do not remember when I was last given any food or water. But my mouth is filled with the bitter taste of wormwood.

  “Am I in hell?” I ask as I strain to look up.

  The Demon stands before me. I see dark wings unfolding from his back. He is huge, at least two meters in height. His visage is beyond terrifying…. His smile displays bright white teeth and long fangs that contrast with his coal black inhuman flesh. His hands and feet end in sharp talons.

  “Yes. There is no escape from here either. Abandon all hope, because your flesh and soul belong to me now.

  The Demon’s unnaturally booming voice is so powerful that it even shakes the walls of the chamber that I am being held in.

  “Your travels within the Orion Arm have offended My Master. My Master has questions of you that he wishes answered now. I obey My Master’s wishes no matter what the cost…as will you …”

  “Get behind me, Satan…” I cry out defiantly, clinging to my faith for strength

  “The Demon pulls out his whip, sparks flying along its length, and repeats his demand…”

  “Tell me what you know….where you have been….what you have seen…or you will suffer as no man has ever suffered before.”

  “Never!!!”

  “My body feels like it is on fire
as the Demon’s whip lashes over my body like what had been done to My Lord before He was crucified….”

  “I scream in agony, but I will not give in to the Demon. I pray for salvation even as the lash violently wraps around and caresses my naked body with pure, unadulterated pain…”

  “The Demon continues to torment me. The lash scourges my body again and again over even my most private parts. I completely lose track of time as the pain overwhelms me. It could be hours. It could be days.”

  “I lean on my faith as never before that My Lord will save me from this horror….that He will honor His promise never to abandon me as I remember the verses from Psalms that promise protection even through the Valley of Death.”

  “I suddenly hear screaming coming from many other voices and feel the entire chamber tremble. Then I see bright lights and hear loud noises that sound very much like explosions before I pass into blessed unconsciousness”

  Chapter Nine:

  Pirate Jump Tender: Black Diamond

  Near Zenith Jump Point

  Kepler 162b System, Orion Arm

  October 18, 2321

  Angela Collins sat there in the Invader’s briefing room. The petite blonde was still wearing the same dirty coveralls that she had on while trying to make a myriad of badly needed repairs on the pirate band’s newly acquired heavy shuttle that had been converted into a disguised battler. She heard the door open and saw Captain Farrow enter the compartment. She started to speak but he quickly held his hand up to stop her. He then took a seat at the table next to Angela and began to speak.

  “Angela, I know that you were busy with repairs on the shuttle that we just captured. I really hated to interrupt you and your work. But I need for you do to a very special task for me, Angela."