by Dietmar Wehr
“I..I’m Torrence Lorgan, Barra…Prince Barragon’s Base Director. Prince Barragon left here almost 1200 hours ago. He told me he was going to Joyeuse to see about finding investors to replace the missing equipment.”
“Now why would Barragon need to replace missing equipment when his six ships took all of our equipment?” Lorgan looked confused.
“No, you don’t understand, Admiral Harkaman. It’s true that Prince Barragon got Prince Viktor’s help in recruiting five other ships to raid Tanith, but those five ships didn’t bring their stolen equipment here as promised. The only equipment that we have here from Tanith, is what the Prince’s ship was able to carry itself. All the rest went somewhere else. That’s the missing equipment that he wants to replace.” Harkaman was momentarily confused but then a thought occurred to him.
“Did Viktor accompany Barragon’s and the other five ships to Tanith?” Lorgan nodded.
“So Viktor’s ship was the seventh ship that stayed out beyond the no-jump zone. I’ll bet that Viktor bribed those other five ships to take the stolen equipment back to Xochtil.”
“That was Prince Barragon’s guess as well, Admiral.” Harkaman started to laugh.
“Well well. So Viktor got Barragon to do his dirty work for him and then pulled the rug out from under him, figuring that Prince Lucas and I would come looking for Barragon with blood in our eyes while Viktor got away with most of the loot. It almost worked too. In fact it still might. Barragon got double crossed himself but that doesn’t let him off the hook for organizing and leading the raid. He’s still got payback coming for that!” He paused to think. Lorgon kept quiet. Finally Harkaman said,
“So what kind of equipment DID Barragon bring back himself?” Lorgan thought for a second then said,
“It’s mostly robotic manufacturing equipment.”
“Where is it now?” asked Harkaman immediately. Lorgon told him and Harkaman ordered one of his ground force officers to check out the information. As they waited for the report back, Lorgan asked,
“What will you do with us after you have the equipment back, Admiral?” Harkaman’s opinion of Lorgan went up. It took nerve to ask that kind of question to a man sent to exact some kind of revenge.
“My Prince’s grievance is with your boss. He has no desire to make you or your people suffer for Barragon’s madness. As long as your people don’t interfere with our recovery efforts, nothing will happen to them. After we leave you can carry on as normal.” To his surprise Lorgan laughed bitterly.
“Normal? You mean carry on existing here on this ‘base’ that can’t do anything a normal base can do, to ships that aren’t coming here? Most of us think Barragon’s dream of resurrecting this base is futile. It wasn’t doing that well even before you raided us and killed his two sons. Most of us would leave if we had the chance.”
“Can’t you take passage on commercial freighters?” Lorgan snorted.
“We could if any of them came here. Even the Gilgameshers aren’t coming here anymore. And even if they did, we haven’t been paid in months and most of us wouldn’t be able to afford to pay for passage elsewhere.” Harkaman’s expression became thoughtful. After about a minute, he said,
“Tanith is well on its way to becoming operational again. The robotic equipment, that you say is here, will help but Barragon’s raid on Tanith killed some of our people too and consequently, we’re short of some technical skills. Anyone who wants to leave Dagon for good, and is willing to swear allegiance to Prince Lucas, can come back with us when we leave here. I give you my personal word that everyone who comes back with us, will find work of some kind and decent pay. And if you decide you don’t like it there, at least there’ll be freighters to take you somewhere else.” Lorgan looked skeptical.
“That’s a most generous offer, Admiral, but I have to ask. Why are you doing this for us?” Harkaman shook his head.
“I’m not doing it for you. I’m doing it because Tanith can benefit from the skills your people will bring and Tanith’s gain will be Barragon’s loss. Your collective skills can partially make up for the missing equipment. So I’m sending you back out to your people. Find out who wants to come with us, make a list of names, including family members, along with their skills and those on the list will be given the opportunity to gather their personal possessions, which will be limited to what they can carry. My people will then provide further instructions.”
“Thank you, Admiral. I’ll be coming back with you along with my family. Thank you, again.” By the time Lorgan left the Bridge, word came back that Lorgan’s information about the robotic equipment checked out. Harkaman ordered it loaded aboard Corisande immediately and gave orders to prepare to take on passengers. When his two ships left Dagon 48 hours later, there were almost 500 additional men, women and children aboard. In order to make room for them and for the robotic equipment, Harkaman ordered most of the ground combat equipment sabotaged and left behind. With each captured ship having its own combat equipment, Tanith had far more already than it could use and they would not miss the tanks and personnel carriers left behind, nor would Barragon be able to use them for anything but scrap metal.
Viktor was satisfied and frustrated at the same time. He finally had 11 ships ready to leave Xochtil for Marduk. That was the satisfying part. What was frustrating him was that it took much longer than he’d expected, to get to this point. It was just over 800 hours since Captain Estherson’s Damnthing arrived from Marduk.That was five weeks of cajoling Viking captains to sign up plus get their ships repaired and resupplied. The whole enterprise had almost fallen apart when Viktor announced that he himself would be staying behind on Xochtil. He had a good excuse but not one that he could share with the other captains. His Black Hawk’s Captain had correctly pointed out to him that Captains Forvill and Estherson were known to be friends and Estherson seemed to be on good terms with Prince Lucas. Therefore, it made sense that Forvill would have gone to Tanith and warned Trask about Viktor’s plans to raid Marduk. Since Trask was friends or at least on good terms with Marduk’s new Sovereign, the natural conclusion was that Marduk would be warned. That wasn’t a problem. Marduk would detect the raiding ships when they were still out beyond the no-jump zone so a surprise attack was never realistic anyway. What made the situation very interesting was when Kraggor pointed out that if Trask wanted to punish Viktor for the Marduk raid AND acquire equipment to get his base back into operation, then attacking Xochtil when Viktor would be on his way to Marduk, would make perfect strategic sense. It was exactly the kind of move that Viktor would have made had he been in Trask’s boots and given that Marduk was one of Trask’s verboten trade planets, a punitive raid led by Harkaman was only a matter of time.
Viktor had briefly toyed with the idea of keeping the Black Hawk on Xochtil but Kraggor had pointed out that not sending any of his own ships on the raid that Viktor was trying to organize, would give the other captains the impression that Viktor didn’t think the raid had much chance of success and they would then drop out. So the Black Hawk had to go on the raid but with orders to pull out at the first sign that the attacking force didn’t have a clear superiority over the defending forces. As luck would have it, the timing couldn’t have been better. The new shipyard was set up and the two ships, which Viktor owned but hadn’t had a chance to repair, were now in the process of being made combat capable and would be ready to defend Xochtil by the time that Harkaman could conceivably get his ships back to Xochtil. With Viktor’s two ships plus the 3-4 Viking ships that were usually in orbit around or on Xochtil at any one time, plus the considerable ground-based, anti-ship defenses that Xochtil had, Viktor figured he could beat off any attack from Tanith. With the distances involved, by the time the Black Hawk returned from the raid on Marduk, any attack by Tanith ships would have occurred by then and Viktor could then proceed with his plan to conduct raids on other Viking bases with ships disguised as Tanith ships. If Trask sent ships to attack Xochtil, then that would lend credence to the claim
that Trask was out to eliminate the competition from other Viking bases. The groundswell of anger directed against Tanith would result in a large scale, punitive raid on Tanith and Viktor’s Xochtil would be the only operational Viking base left standing. Viktor contemplated these thoughts as he watched from his underground Command Post, as the attacking fleet crossed the no-jump zone threshold and prepared to hyperjump to Marduk. As the fleet jumped away, Viktor smiled and headed to his groundcar for the trip back to his palace and another visit with his harem.
Trask just happened to be visiting the underground Command Center when the Ragnarok emerged from hyperspace. He was chatting with the Duty Officer in his office when they heard the alarm denoting a hyperspace-to-normal space transit. By the time both of them got to the Command Center, the incoming ship had made its final micro-jump to just beyond the no-jump zone. Trask could tell from the background chatter that Acting Admiral Valkanhayn had been alerted and was standing by to send a suitably enticing video message to the new ship to lure it into the no-jump zone trap. One of the technicians said.
“Incoming transmission from that ship!” The Duty Officer looked at Trask who said,
“Let’s listen in.” Seconds later the transmission was on the main viewer.
“…just arrived from Xochtil. We have heavy damage and the loot to pay for repairs. I’m hoping your shipyard can accommodate us, Admiral Valkanhayn.” Boake’s response was immediate and by now well rehearsed.
“Certainly, Captain Forvill. We just love to welcome ships that need repairing and have the loot to pay for it. Come ahead and you’ll receive final landing instructions in due course.”
“Very good, Admiral. I also have some urgent information that I’ve been told by Captain Estherson of the Damnthing, that Prince Lucas would be very interested in hearing. Can you connect me with the Prince?” Valkanhayn hesitated for a couple of seconds and then said,
“I’d be happy to pass on any information that you’re willing to share, Captain Forvill.”Trask saw Forvill shake his head.
“I’m afraid that this is information that I can only share with Prince Lucas himself and the sooner the better.” Trask turned to the Duty Officer and said.
“Open a video channel to that ship, Commander and make sure that Admiral Valkanhayn is connected as well.” It only took seconds for the video hookup to be established. Boake was in the middle of explaining why Forvill would have to tell him first when both of them heard Trask’s voice.
“Captain Forvill, this is Price Lucas. I happened to be in my Planetary Defense Command Center when you arrived and I’ve been listening to your conversation with Admiral Valkanhayn. What is it that you want to tell me?’” The sudden addition of Prince Lucas’s video feed to the two way conversation was so surprising that Forvill didn’t respond right away. When he did, he said,
“Prince Lucas?...Ah…a pleasure to meet you, Your Majesty. Captain Estherson was most anxious that I come here directly from Xochtil to inform you that Prince Viktor is recruiting Space Vikings in order to launch a massive raid on Marduk!” So, thought Trask, Viktor really is going to attack Marduk. Harkaman was right again. He took a deep breath and said,
“Well, well. That IS interesting information. Do you know when he’ll launch the raid and with how many ships, Captain?” Forvill shook his head.
“Unfortunately, no. When my ship left…or rather was ordered to leave Xochtil, Prince Viktor had just begun to recruit ships and at that point had three ships committed to the raid plus Captain Estherson’s commitment conditional on the attacking force having at least 10 other ships besides his own. I got the distinct impression that he really didn’t want to participate in the raid but felt he couldn’t say no outright. I imagine that it’ll take some time for enough other ships to arrive at Xochtil to make up that large a raiding party. Estherson told me that you’d be grateful for the information. Is that correct, Your Majesty?” Trask was actually conflicted. He was grateful to Estherson for sending Forvill’s ship here and if Tanith was still a Space Viking Base then he’d be willing to show his gratitude to Forvill by repairing his ship for free but it wasn’t and repairing that ship and letting it go on its way to potentially inform other ships and bases that Tanith was at best no longer welcoming Viking ships and at worst was attempting to capture incoming ships, would be a disaster. Forvill’s ship would have to be captured just like the rest.
“Yes, that is correct, Captain. I’m going to show my gratitude by having your ship repaired free of charge.” Forvill looked suitably impressed.
“That is indeed very generous of you, Your Majesty. I’ll be sure to tell any other Viking captain I meet that they should come here from now on as I will.”
“Very good, Captain. When you land, I’ll send a car to bring you to the Royal Quarters. I’d like to hear more about what happened to you on Xochtil over drinks and cigars. Until then, Captain.” When Trask was certain that the connection to Forvill’s ship was broken, he said,
“Admiral Valkanhayn? Can you still hear me?” Boake’s image appeared on the main viewer.
“I’m still on the line, Prince Lucas.”
“Good. Proceed as you normally would and let me know when that ship has landed.” The capture of Forvill’s Ragnarok went off like clockwork although Forvill himself was nearly apoplectic with rage when the trap closed on him. When the ship landed and all of its crew were gathered together, surrounded by contra-gravity tanks, personnel carriers and over 200 ground fighters wearing combat armor and carrying automatic weapons, Trask was notified and he instructed Boake to hold the crew there until Trask could talk to them. It was still daylight by the time he got there. He climbed up on one of the armored personnel carriers and took the microphone that allowed him to project his voice by loudspeaker. Because of the way he was dressed and the way his men deferred to him, some of Forvill’s crew figured out who he was and started to boo him. Trask waited until he was able to pick out Forvill in the crowd and continue to look at him as he started speaking.
“Officers and crew of the Ragnarok. I’m Prince Lucas.” More boos. “You’re quite understandably angry at having been lured into a trap and I can sympathize with that. I’d feel the same if it had happened to me. I don’t usually come out and speak to captured crews like this but I’m doing it this time because it’s important to me that all of you understand why I ordered your ship captured even though your captain did me an enormous favor by coming here to warn me that Prince Viktor is in the process of executing a massive Space Viking raid on my ally, Marduk. Tanith was recently the victim of a Space Viking raid by Fedrig Barragon of Dagon so even Viking bases aren’t safe from being raided. Just as you take pride in your ship, I take pride in my planet and I feel an obligation to protect the people who have acknowledged me as their Sovereign Lord. I decided that I wasn’t going to risk having my planet…MY planet…attacked again by Space Vikings. That’s why I and my allies, including Marduk have declared war on all Space Vikings. You are the scourge of the Old Federation and quite frankly we’ve had enough of the death and pillaging that you and others like you are carrying out.” He paused. The booing had died down now. He had their attention.
“Having been a Space Viking myself, I know that people become Space Vikings for many different reasons. My reason was revenge. Others do it because they’re good at it or because they don’t know any other way to make a living and still others do it because they like the killing and stealing. I have men who used to be Space Vikings and they’ve given that up to help me defend and build Tanith into a Civilized World. They have status and rank, with a comfortable future to look forward to when they decide it’s time to retire. For those of you who raid planets because that’s all you know how to do, you have a choice now. If you sincerely want to stop robbing and murdering as a means to make a living, you’ll find a home in my Fleet or Army. That’s an offer that I’ve made to all crews of captured ships. The rest of you will have to stay on Tanith until either the war is won or until o
ur strategy of capturing incoming ships is no longer a secret. At that point, captured crews will be allowed to take passage as passengers on freighters and the Crown of Tanith will pay the freight. In recognition of the good that this warning of the attack on Marduk will do, I will also pledge that when you’re free to leave, you’ll also receive an amount of gold or other precious metal, that will be commensurate with your rank as my thanks to the Captain, officers and crew of the Ragnarok. Let’s hope that I’ll be able to let you go home soon.” When it was clear that he was finished speaking, the prisoners started to murmur but there were no boos. As Trask carefully jumped down from the personnel carrier and walked back to his ground car for the ride back to the Tower, Boake nodded to him and fell in step beside him.
