The Deadliest of Intentions

by Marc Stevens

  “Justice, designate the largest hostile ship as target one and fire when you have a solution,” I ordered.

  The jump the hostile ship had made put it at a considerable distance from our current position. Justice made a turn that aligned us with the target. I thought he was going to close with the target but was proven wrong when he opened fire. My HUD blinked, and the target turned into a debris cloud that spread like dust in the wind. Holy crap! The Grawl were not kidding when they said our beam weapons would be more destructive. It was like the hostile had no shields at all. Justice did not have to say it, but he did anyway.

  “Target destroyed, Commander. On your order, I will target the remaining hostiles with only one weapon in an attempt to disable the ships.”

  I was still a little shocked by how efficiently our weapons killed the enemy. The other ships must have been getting sensor lag because they were not breaking off their attack.

  “Target the closest aggressor.”

  “Firing!”

  The entire rear of the hostile ship disappeared in a bright flash. The two ships following it didn’t need sensors to determine what had happened. They abruptly broke off their attack and were going to make a run for it.

  “Justice, hail them in the languages they used to call our freighter. Tell them to shut down their drives and shields or they will be destroyed.”

  “Message sent, Commander.”

  No dice. Why they thought they could still get away was beyond me. They attacked a Sig-flagged freighter without provocation. According to Tam Lin, nobody in their right mind would do such a thing. One explanation was the pirates that operate this far out on the fringe may just be the biggest dimwits in the galaxy. There was always the slim possibility they didn’t know anything about the Sig, or perhaps they thought superior numbers would get them a quick surrender. It didn’t make any difference at this point because they were not stopping.

  “Justice, call our freighter and have them hold their position. Launch a comms buoy and alert the closest Sig fleet that we have stumbled upon a pirate operation that needs to be cleaned up.”

  “The freighter has acknowledged the order, Commander. They are reporting no injuries and only minor damage to three shield emitters and two defensive weapons. The comms buoy has been launched and will transition in thirty seconds.”

  “Take out the lead ship.”

  In a blink, the smaller ship was gone. Their shields were no hindrance to even a single shot from one of our beam weapons. You would have thought that the trailing ship would have thrown in the towel, but it surprised us when it transitioned. Justice alerted us that it was an intersystem jump. The hostile emerged from hyperspace and was now moving toward a small planetoid on the edge of an asteroid field. The weak central star was so far away, it cast very little light on the target’s destination.

  “Justice, let’s follow them and see where they are going.”

  “Affirmative, Commander.”

  Justice jumped to within spitting distance of the vessel. It started launching missiles in response to our transition distortion waves. The pilot knew we were pursuing but could not detect our location. The missiles passed harmlessly to port, and we snuggled up to the fleeing ship.

  “Commander, I am intercepting encrypted comms traffic to and from the planetoid. It appears the target’s destination is a small base on the surface near the polar cap. I am detecting weapon tracking systems coming online. The count is twenty-seven fixed position missile and energy beam batteries. We have been swept multiple times, and the weapons are still in search mode.”

  We had more important things to do than chase pirates around the fringe of the galaxy. The pirate ship we were pursuing was not stopping. The captain must have thought the base’s defenses could shoot us down if we got close enough. I had Justice send them a final warning, which, to their peril, they chose to ignore. Our range to the target was so close that a single shot turned the ship into a cloud of shrapnel. As we passed through the debris, they created glowing sparks cascading across our forward shields. I considered doing the same thing to the base, but Tria suggested we disarm the base and let the Sig deal with it. At some point they would give us a detailed intelligence report on who or what they found.

  I was in agreement and told Justice to destroy the defenses. To make sure we were not missing any secondary defenses, Justice uncloaked and gave the pirates a stationary target to concentrate their fire on. It took the Legacy forty-two seconds to shoot down all the incoming missiles and destroy the base’s last line of defense. As far as I was concerned, the engagement was a fitting test for our upgraded weapons. I considered boarding the disabled pirate ship that was slowly spiraling its way into the void but decided I had wasted enough time. We needed to get the Containium to a secure location and move on to the next mission I was trying to piece together in my mind.

  We joined up with our freighter and jumped to a location that was closer to the mine but would not divulge its location. I wanted to make sure that El Dorado’s location would remain secret for the immediate future. Justice notified me that a Sig comms buoy transitioned into the system where the pirate base was located. It was broadcasting using our encrypted codes. The Sig would have a fleet of twenty-six warships in the star system in seven hours. There was a good chance the life expectancy of the pirates at the base would only be another hour or so after that.

  21

  We left the freighter in what I hoped was a more secure position. It was drifting in the void and well away from any star system. I ordered Broza to power down the ship’s drives to minimize their scan signature. Justice did a thorough scan of the surrounding space and verified we were indeed alone. We made a few random jumps to throw off anyone who may have been trying to track us. When we finally showed up at El Dorado, we found Coonts and Klutch impatiently waiting. They had all the Containium blocks floating in the void between the two shuttles. Justice started loading them into the cargo hold while he pulled Eagle One into the hangar.

  When Coonts and Klutch debarked the shuttle, they cornered me in the hangar. Both were pretty wound up about not being in on the action. Even after I related the story of what took place and how well the new weapon upgrades performed, they were still a little pissy. They somehow felt that having to haul freight was a waste of their talents. Admittedly, they were probably correct, but I was not going to let scientists and engineers with no combat experience under their belts take on that responsibility. Their incessant grumbling was getting on my nerves. It must have bothered Tria that the two of them were bitching about such easy duty. She pulled me aside and whispered that it might be a good idea to let the pair stay behind with Eagle Two while we did the transfer to the freighter. That put a smile on my face. I liked the idea. I had Justice hail Eagle Two. I told Jaran to bring the shuttle in close to the hangar so Justice could lock onto it with the tow beam. He pulled the rear of the shuttle into the hangar, and I called the Grawl and told them they were being relieved. When they came down the shuttle’s ramp, I congratulated them for a job well done. As I turned around, I saw Coonts and Klutch making a beeline for the ready room. They already determined what I had in mind for them.

  “Coonts! Klutch!” I called.

  They stopped in their tracks like they had run into a brick wall.

  “You will be relieving Xul and Jaran from duty. The two of you are going to take Eagle Two and patrol El Dorado until we return and can take you aboard.”

  The pair slowly turned and were not hiding their dissatisfaction well. It looked like Coonts might have something to say about it, but Klutch elbowed him hard enough, it almost knocked him to the deck. The two walked by, slapping at each other but without further comment. They boarded the shuttle, and Justice wasted no time pushing them out into the void. Justice secured the last of the Containium blocks, and we jumped back to the freighter. Tria and I went aboard to let the Zaens and Sig know what a great job they had done.

  Broza and Hylet were both physically s
haken, but the Sig crew acted like it was no big deal. They were more interested in finding out if they could get weapons like the Legacy’s mounted on the freighter. I could only imagine how blown out of proportion our pirate encounter would eventually turn out to be. We gave the Zaens coordinates that would take them to a point in the void that was halfway to Alpha Base. It would be more than fifty hours in hyperspace to reach that destination. Once at that location, the Legacy would rendezvous with them, sans shuttles, and take the cargo from there.

  I watched from my command chair as the freighter disappeared into hyperspace. We made a standard transition back to El Dorado that lasted more than thirty minutes. It took Justice less than twelve seconds to locate Eagle Two, and we quickly ran them down and loaded the shuttle into the vacant cargo hold. Coonts and Klutch avoided eye contact with me as I thanked them for doing such a great job. They stalked off to the ready room, and I returned to the command deck.

  “Justice, take us home.”

  “Acknowledged, Commander. DEHD core activation in ten seconds.”

  As everything around me glowed a bright white, I thought about what I should do next.

  As my world faded back to reality, I was still trying to make up my mind. I would discuss it with Tria, and if we came to a consensus, I would gather the crew and see what they thought. We had more than forty hours until the freighter would reach the rendezvous point, which was more than enough time to make a decision on what to do next. When we landed at Alpha Base, everyone pitched in to get our supplies squared away. The Grawl and Felix were genuinely happy to be back to the place they called home. A great many of them went back to working on projects they had abandoned to work on the Legacy. I had a meal with Tria and quietly told her we had enough intel to go after Eiger, but I wanted her input first. Her answer gave me a lot to think about.

  “Nathan, if we go after Eiger on his home world, even the smallest misstep could mean disaster,” she said. “I don’t deny Eiger needs to be dealt with, but at what risk to the other members of our crew? We should ask Coonts and Klutch what they think and make a decision based on everyone’s input.”

  There was no arguing with Tria’s logic. I would have got around to asking for other opinions sooner or later but usually after I had already made up my mind. We would go over the intel and then decide if the risks were acceptable. Before I could open my mouth and call a group meeting, Justice intervened.

  “Commander, the Overseer is reporting a breakthrough. The last remaining Prule entity has provided the location of a base it claims was where Gredda’s strike team was to evacuate the Hivemind. It also states that Gredda passed the information to the rogue council members. That opens the possibility the base may now harbor the Fury.”

  “Do you think the information is accurate?”

  “Yes, but I must caution you the Hivemind might also have ulterior motives for giving us this specific information. I would also like to add that if we do not provide aid to the entity, it will perish within the hour.”

  I was thinking about calling Klutch and having him provide the aid, but there was a good chance it would end up killing the Prule anyway.

  “Okay, Justice, minimal life support. Make it known that information will be the bio machine’s only lifeline.”

  “Affirmative, Commander. I am processing the information, and it appears the base’s location is in uncharted space.”

  I now had to make a decision on what to do about the freighter. It was still more than twenty hours from the drop-off point. Should we act on the information immediately or wait until we collect our cargo from the freighter? I decided to have a talk with Graf and Jaran. I found them in the base cafeteria and told them what was going on. They came to the consensus that our priority should be to investigate the Prule base. Jaran said they could use Eagle Two and our Coram shuttle to collect the Containium. It would take at least ten trips, but they smiled and said they had nothing better to do. I could not help but love those guys. They were nothing like the rest of their race and proved to me every day that change was possible. It gave me hope for my own kind. If the Grawl could do it, so could the human race. I thanked them.

  “Alert the crew and tell them we are preparing for a combat deployment,” I called to Justice. “I want Eagle One in the hangar and the Daggers in the hold. I want a full mix of nanite and antimatter aboard; I don’t want to leave anything to chance.”

  “Message sent, and I am queuing the ordnance for loading.”

  The alert started a flurry of activity. Everyone from the Grawl to Felix made sure we had a complete loadout. I had Justice put the Prule containment vessel back in the brig. If the mission turned into some sort of trap or a wild goose chase, the Prule entity would not be on the return trip. The Legacy was loaded and ready for war in just over an hour. Everyone was anxious, but that was normal for one of our deployments. Our encounters with the Prule have never been without injury. I was hoping this would be an exception but knew it was wishful thinking. The beast inside of me stirred with anticipation.

  We launched, and Justice made a DEHD core jump to the edge of known space. It would be suicide to jump directly to the coordinates not knowing what would be awaiting us there. We opted for a scan and jump routine that would get us there eventually. We wanted to make a stealthy approach, and this method would give us the best chance at doing it. We had already made two jumps equaling eighty light-years each. We still had two hundred and ninety to go. It was on our third scan in preparation for a jump that Justice called out.

  “Commander! I have two separate transponder threads emanating from both Guardian Transponders. The threads are so close together they appear as one. I speculate this phenomenon is caused by the thread’s termination points being in close proximity to each other. Both threads have terminated at one hundred and forty-two light-years. I have recorded the data for future reference.”

  We had made so many DEHD core jumps that it was easy to forget we had Guardian transponders. Now that we were making a number of standard transitions, the magical alien tech would have a chance to make detections. My curiosity was piqued, but the threads would have to wait until we investigated the Prule base.

  “Go ahead and jump to the next waypoint when you are ready, Justice.”

  Our jumps had been uneventful; this time, however, our prejump scan detected distant ship traffic. Justice engaged our stealth systems, and we closed with the contacts.

  “Commander, I have identified the contacts as Scrun motherships. They have detected our transition, and power emanations suggest they are preparing to jump to hyperspace.”

  “Can we stop them from jumping?”

  “No, Commander. We will be unable to close the range before they transition.”

  That fact was verified when the two red triangles on the view dome disappeared. The chances were high the ships had slaves aboard.

  “What do you get when you backtrack their course?”

  “If the Scrun ships did not alter their trajectory, the course intersects a star system less than one light-year from our location.”

  “Jump to the edge of it and let’s take a look.”

  An eye blink later, the jump revealed a red giant central star and two planetary bodies. The larger of the two was being cooked by the star, but the second smaller planet was distant enough it could support life. The noted white hue hinted it was perpetually winter on the surface. Since Xul was now on the crew, we would give him a designation to associate with our planetary discoveries. The planet would now be recorded as X-Ray One unless we found data that said otherwise.

  “Commander! I detect a Scrun mothership in low orbit of the smaller planetary body. I am also detecting emanations from six shuttles climbing out of the planet’s atmosphere.”

  “Disable the mothership’s drives in case it tries to run!”

  The Legacy accelerated to maximum and fired a glancing shot to the Scrun ship’s shields with the beam weapons. As we passed the mothership, Justice poured
a stream of rail cannon fire into the depleted shield. A shimmering hole appeared where the shield was flaring the brightest. The rear of the ship started going to pieces and jetted clouds of pressurized atmosphere. The defensive systems on the Scrun ship locked onto our weapons discharge. Return fire blazed against the Legacy’s shields, revealing our location. A salvo of missiles leaped from the ship in search of a target to lock onto. Justice made a short jump to lose the missiles and let the shields regenerate. Justice alerted us that the Scrun shuttles were now diving for the surface of the planet.

  “Justice, hail the mothership,” I ordered. “Tell it to cease fire and shut down its shields.”

  We turned back to the target and jumped in close. Justice sent the message, and the Scrun mothership replied with more blind weapons fire. Justice pounded its shields until they failed then shredded the upper decks before jumping away. The damage left the ship defenseless against incoming fire. The Scrun broadcast a surrender message. Knowing they were born liars, I had Justice jump back in and blast the weapons turrets from their hull. Our recorded blueprints of the mothership allowed Justice to make precision shots on known chokepoints and main corridors. Heavy smoke and debris were jetting like fountains from the back of the wrecked starship. Those unfortune enough to be in the rear of the ship would find it difficult to make their way to the forward spaces. The Scrun commander was now pleading for us to cease fire. Justice had purposely avoided shooting up the hold and the hangar bay.