Pirate Moon

by C P MacDonald

  For Calin the ship’s only weakness was she didn’t have weapons. Captain Neomi refused to install them, her philosophy was smugglers sneaked when they could and ran when they couldn’t. Getting into a firefight with the PPD only brought you a lot of unwanted attention. Don’t poke them and they won’t poke you she would always say. Until today that is, today the PPD seemed to have started a new, more aggressive policy directed at smugglers, illegal mines, and Moonies.

  The Sea Rover had interplanetary flight capability, a technology only available to the super-rich or the military. With plenty of cargo space and two crew cabins for long runs, Neomi had no problem finding them jobs or clients. Hell, he had even flown her on some Saturn runs a few times.

  And despite all the years he had worked for her, the Captain never revealed the details of how she had acquired the Sea Rover and Rose. But as long as he got to fly her he didn’t care.

  “Hurry, get on board! They would have seen the decompression.” Calin ordered the miners and waved his arm forward.

  As if on cue, blaster bolts and military powered lasers from the troops outside flashed through the cave.

  Everyone moved as fast as they could in the low Moon gravity and took advantage of cover from the boulders on the cavern floor. Calin and Neomi herded the group of miners toward the rear of the Sea Rover and the loading ramp. Dean rushed ahead to complete preparations to get underway. When they reached the bottom of the ramp, Neomi motioned for the miners to get aboard the ship. Two miners stepped aside and helped provide cover fire with their mining lasers. The mining laser, used by miners for carving out the tunnels through the Moon rock, had no trouble burning through a human body. It was a formidable, albeit clunky and inaccurate weapon. But the fireworks show they added was impressive.

  Calin continued to lay down cover fire from behind a landing leg of the ship. As he picked off targets one by one he prayed the damn arm wouldn’t glitch out on him again. Glitchy arm or not, he wasn't going down without a fight even if he had to throw rocks at them.

  Neomi had retrieved a blaster rifle stored next to the landing ramp and sprayed a stream of laser fire toward the mouth of the cave, forcing the Moon Authority troops to dive for cover. Her smile and the gleam in her eye were visible even through her visor. Calin couldn’t help but shake his head in amusement, she was enjoying this! Even though he admired and looked up to her, there were times he thought she was a little bit crazy.

  Life on the outer fringes of modern Moon society was a less than civilized one, a dangerous life always on the run. So older Moonies like Neomi, who spent most of their time outside the normal population, were accepted even if they were more temperamental and less restrained than the regular urban Moon resident.

  As the last miner loped up the ramp, a laser bolt flashed by Calin’s helmet so close he swore he heard it sizzle even in the vacuum of space.

  Immediately, out of the corner of his eye, he saw Neomi stumbled backward a step.

  His eyes widened and his breath caught in his throat when he saw the burn mark on the chest of Neomi’s suit. A small puff of smoke curled out, followed by a little stream of air before her suit auto-patched the hole with quick seal. Neomi grabbed his arm hard, her face pale with shock. Quickly he wrapped one arm around her and fired a flurry of bolts at the mouth of the cave with the other. He carried her up the ramp into the ship, her small frame even lighter in the Moon gravity. Once inside a miner slapped the emergency panel to raise the ramp and flood the cargo room with air. Another miner activated the gravity plates, the sudden increase in weight almost caused him to drop Neomi.

  He gently lowered her to the floor and removed her helmet and upper suit. He slid his helmet back into his collar and hit the comm unit to the bridge, “Dean, get those shields up, now!” he ordered. The thud of the blasters and lasers against the hull diminished as the shields activated. Calin knew they wouldn’t last long, the shielding was designed to deflect micro-meteors and space dust, not a constant barrage of military blaster fire.

  As the rush of fresh air hit her face Neomi’s eyes flew open, and she took a deep rattling breath.

  “Damn, that wasn’t part of the plan.” Her smirk turned into a grimace as pain racked her body.

  “Getting shot never is, now hold still.” He instructed her as he tried to gauge her injury.

  A miner stepped forward and said, “I’m the mine medic, maybe I can help.”

  “Med-pack… my quarters…” Neomi said in between labored breaths.

  With the medic’s help he picked up her up again, cradled like a child.

  After he had carried her to the Captain’s cabin and laid her on the bed, the noise of blaster bolts and laser-cannons against the hull increased in tempo. He knew at this rate the shields would fail in minutes. They needed to get out of there, and fast.

  Calin tightened the safety straps over Neomi as the medic removed the med-pack from the wall and placed it over her chest. With a series of squeaks and pops it activated and began to diagnose her wound. Using the room comm he called the bridge and asked; “Dean, is the ship ready?”

  “Warmed up and ready to fly.

  “Good. Head down to the cargo hold and make sure everyone straps in, it’s going to get bumpy.”

  “On my way,” Dean replied.

  Next he turned to Neomi and grabbed her hand, “You hang in there. Time for me to earn my pay and fly us out of this mess.” He said.

  Neomi gave a slow nod of her head, the painkillers from the med-pack already in effect. When he stood up to leave, she gripped his hand with a strength that surprised him. “Keep my ship safe,” she whispered.

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 3

  Calin ran to the cockpit and strapped himself into the pilot’s chair, without a conscious thought his hands flipped the pre-flight switches for takeoff. The cockpit was cramped with just enough room for the pilot chair, the copilot chair next to him where Neomi sat, Dean’s engineering station behind him, and passenger seat.

  He advanced the throttles forward. Under his hand he could feel the vibration of the ship increase. The downward thrust of the engines lifted the ship up off the floor of the cave. The beating of the blasters on the shields increased in response to the ship’s movement. As the ship's nose rotated to point out of the cave, the PPD forces filled the cockpit window. A dozen troop carriers had landed across the crater floor outside, with a half dozen surface patrol ships hovering above them, weapons ready. Several squads were positioned at the mouth of the cave their weapons fire directed at his ship, an action he did not take kindly to.

  “They’re really intent on ruining my day, aren’t they?” he grumbled as he double-checked his safety harness.

  Calin rotated the engines to forward flight mode and slammed the throttle forward. The Sea Rover exploded out of the cave hard and fast. He flew straight at the surface vehicles hovering in front of the cave entrance. When he flew over the troops on the ground, he angled the downward thrust of the engines at them. The exhaust blasted the soldiers across the floor of the crater, tumbling over each other like tumbleweeds in their heavy armor.

  The pilots of the patrol ships in front of him had enough time to slip sideways to avoid a collision. As he flew by one he rotated the Sea Rover onto her side to blast one of the patrol ships with his engine thrust. He smirked in satisfaction has the patrol ship slammed into the crater wall and crashed to the floor.

  Calin continued the barrel roll all the way around until the ship was level again and pulled the nose up to climb the wall of the crater. He danced the ship side to side so the laser fire from behind missed. His goal was to gain enough altitude to leave the surface ships behind. Once in orbit, the Sea Rover had stealth tech to make them disappear from PPD’s sensors and radar. It wasn’t the best stealth tech available, but it was useful enough at a distance in the vast emptiness of space.

  "Not today, assholes. Better luck next time." he snorted as they sped up the crater wall. But as they cleared the rim,
the Sea Rover slammed sideways as an explosion rocked the ship and they lost speed.

  Dean raced into the cockpit and strapped himself into his station. Running quick fingers over his Engineering panel he reported, “We took a hard hit on the left engine.” With the nose of the ship plunging back toward the surface of the Moon, Calin took a quick glimpse at his display. The left engine pod flashed red and then went offline. “Shit!” he exclaimed, resisting the urge to pound his fist into the wall. With only one engine there was no way for them to reach orbit and escape. He increased the throttle of the remaining engine to 110% as he pulled the nose of the ship up to level out of the dive. Large boulders below flashed by the side window as they skimmed the surface.

  The aft sensors showed two patrol ships in pursuit as they darted out of the crater behind them. Calin pulled up a topological overlay on the front viewport. He hoped to find a spot to hide in until they could get out of this mess. A deep pit or cave, anything to help them disappear. But for now, the only alternative he could see was to head toward a nearby mountain range as fast as he could push his one engine.

  Dean stared out the window at the fast approaching mountain range and cringed. “We’re headed in there?” he asked as he gripped the arms of his seat, steadying himself against the wild maneuvers of the ship.

  “I thought we’d take the scenic route home,” Calin replied, keeping one eye on the rear scanners. Great, now there were three patrol ships off their stern.

  “Any chance you can get that engine back online?” he asked.

  Dean ran some quick diagnostics through his station. “Maybe, but we need to land so I can go outside and take a better look.”

  Calin shook his head negatively, “I don’t believe that’s a choice at the moment. Look at the maps for this area. Find somewhere we can get out of sight.” Jerking a thumb behind them he said ” With only one engine we can’t outrun our friends back there for long.”

  Dean scanned through the maps of the nearby regions. “Hey, I remember this mountain range. We had a delivery at an operation there a few years ago. The head engineer was that cute brunette, you remember?” Dean asked with a grin.

  “Oh, the one that turned you down?” Calin asked with his best innocent expression.

  “She didn’t turn me down. We didn’t agree on things is all.” Dean replied defensively.

  Calin rolled his eyes and continued, “Was that the large open to space tunnel? The big mine that went all the way through the mountain?” he asked as he tried to remember.

  After Dean confirmed he ordered, “Give me the coordinates, but we need to lose these clowns first.”

  Calin checked the rear sensors and noticed the patrol ships had moved closer, he needed more speed!

  He tilted his head up and spoke “Rose” to get the ship’s Artificial Intelligence attention.

  “Yes Calin?” replied the A.I.

  “I need emergency power transferred to the right engine, push it to 130%” he ordered.

  “Unable to comply, Captain’s authorization required for safety overrides.” Rose answered.

  “How much power can you transfer without override authorization?”

  “120% is the recommended maximum power level.”

  “Do it.”

  Calin felt the ship tremble more as its speed increased another 10%.

  The requested coordinates from Dean flashed on his screen as the Sea Rover hurdled into the mountain range. The PPD patrol ships edged closer and were almost in firing range.

  Dean gripped the armrests of his chair until his knuckles turned white, the mountain walls streaked past the window in a blur.

  The sensors sounded a warning, the patrol ships were going for weapons lock.

  “Torpedo incoming.” warned Rose.

  Without hesitation, Calin dove the ship into a deep canyon and spun into evasive maneuvers to keep the torpedo from locking on. He tipped the Sea Rover on her side and skidded around a small mountain so fast the gravity plates struggled to compensate for the high-speed maneuver. An intense flash of light filled the rear screen as the torpedo hit the mountain behind them and exploded.

  Calin knew they had been lucky so far, the PPD had sent only their surface ships after them. These were fast, well-armed ships designed to travel long distances by skimming the surface of the Moon. They were not equipped for high altitude flight or orbit. With their altitude limited they had no choice but to follow him on the surface. Which meant a level playing field.

  If he was an ordinary pilot that is, which he wasn’t. He twisted the Sea Rover in, out, and around the mountain peaks. He dove into valleys and swooped around large boulders. The flash of the blaster bolts hitting the mountainside lit up the night around them. Calin dropped the ship as close to the surface as his nerves would allow. With a jerk of the stick he slid the ship across the face of a mountain, a large thick cloud of Moon dust bellowed out behind them, the wake of their engine thrust spinning it into a thick vortex. Without slowing he flipped the Sea Rover onto her side and squeezed her between two tall pedestals of rock. The PPD pilots, being competitive as he knew pilots tended to be, tried to match his maneuvers. When they flew out of the dust cloud two of the pilots managed to match his maneuver, but the third turned into a giant orange fireball that filled the rear display.

  Dean punched the air in excitement, “One down, two to go!”

  The explosion gave Calin an idea. Since the Sea Rover was unarmed, he would have to improvise a way to go on the offensive. Captain Neomi’s philosophy was to run, but with her out of commission the decision to fight back was his alone.

  Calin warned Dean, “Hold on,” as he yanked back and twisted the control stick to pull the ship into an inverted loop. Looking above their heads through the top viewport they watched the patrol ships zip by beneath them. With a quick snap roll to get her right side up Calin flew the Sea Rover back into the treacherous mountain range.

  Beside him, Dean gulped and gripped the chair even tighter before saying “Those two pilots made it through the pillars the first time, they might make it through again.”

  “Then we will have to make it harder for them. We still got those blasting barrels in the cargo hold?” he asked.

  “Yup, we never had time to unload them at the mine with all the excitement and all,” Dean replied in confusion.

  “Get everyone out of the hold and open the rear hatch. Strap a mining laser to a barrel and set it to overload as the Captain did back in the tunnels. When I say when, eject it out the hatch.”

  “You want me to make a bomb, onboard the ship, while we are being shot at?” Dean looked at him like he had lost the last bit of sanity he may have possessed. Even Rose interjected, “I don’t think Captain Neomi would approve of having a bomb on board during a fight.”

  “I didn't say it was a good idea. If any of you have a better one I’m listening.”

  Dean shrugged and gave in. “I guess I'm making a bomb,” he mumbled as he rushed out of the cockpit.

  Both to give Dean time and to bring their friends in closer, Calin slowed the ship and slipped it side to side and up and down. The random movements gave the impression the Sea Rover was having control issues. The patrol ships tucked in close behind them, confident their mission was coming to an end. Calin hugged the bottom of the ravine between the tall mountains and continued the injured ship charade. After a minute Dean called over the comm from the cargo hold, “Ready when you are.”

  Calin took a deep breath and slowed the Sea Rover even more.

  “Come on, closer, closer!” he whispered as he watched the distance to the ships behind him decrease. When he believed they wouldn’t come any closer, he barked to Dean “Now!” and shoved the throttles forward. The rigged barrel dropped out of the ship’s rear hatch as they shot forward again at full speed.

  Distracted by the sudden acceleration of the Sea Rover, the pilots didn't notice the barrel bounce off the lunar surface until it exploded right in front of them. The lead ship didn�
��t have time to react and flew straight into the fireball. The second pilot swerved and avoided the explosion itself, but chunks of his wingman delivered a broadside hit to his hull. Damaged and flying slow, but not out of the fight yet, the pilot continued in pursuit of the Sea Rover.

  Chapter 4

  Dean, back from the cargo hold, studied the radar data.

  “I’m sure that last pilot radioed for backup. We need to disappear.”

  “I’m working on it,” Calin grumbled scanning the map projected on the window.

  “Not to add pressure, but I stopped by the Captain’s room. She’s not doing too good, we need to get her to a hospital ASAP.”

  In a tight voice, Calin repeated, “I’m working on it.”

  From above Rose announced “We are 6 hours and 35 minutes away from the nearest civilian medical facility.”

  Scowling out at the lunar surface flying by he continued, “It will take a few minutes for their backup to arrive, I need time to think."

  He kept the ship flying straight toward the coordinates Dean had provided as his mind raced for ideas.

  Turning to Dean he said, “Take the controls, I’m going to go see the Captain.”

  “You are aware I’m not a pilot, right?” Dean pointed out.

  “All you do is keep flying straight, Rose will help you. And if our friend back there somehow manages to get within a klick call me.”

  When he entered the Captain’s cabin he whispered to the medic attending her, “How’s she doing?”

  The medic gave a slight shrug, “We are still in the touch and go stage. If she was in a hospital, she would have a better chance. She needs real medical care, not this.” He said, gesturing to the portable med-pack.

  “The closest medical care on this side of the Moon would be the PPD back at that mine. They might treat her, if they don’t shoot us out of the sky first,” offered Calin.

  “You will do no such thing.” Neomi interrupted as she opened her eyes.