"Prepare to jump to a position one kilometer off the Coma ship's stern," ordered Firebrandt. He grabbed a handrail along the wall.
"Calculated," responded Computer.
"Jump!" ordered the captain as he closed his eyes. In the space of a few seconds, he felt as though someone were hitting him repeatedly in the face. In a dream-like state he felt as though the tentacles of an Alpha Centauran strangled him. As he fought to hold onto the railing, he realized the ship had already jumped. He struggled to look at the hologram image. He saw a hepler pulse coming from the stern of the Coma ship.
"Defense shields!" he ordered.
"Shields up," reported Computer as they were hurtled to the deck.
Roberts pulled himself to his feet. "What's the matter, you lazy scum dogs! Fire back, damn you!"
The two gunners stationed at the front of the battle deck hurried back to their seats as fast as aching muscles would allow. They manipulated their computer pads, then entered their firing sequences. It was slower than Computer's direct access. However, there were only a few people who could become one with the network without losing themselves to it. Unfortunately, those people were rarely talented gunners.
The two human-built ships moved through space at a tremendous velocity. Each was a giant cylinder. The EQ generators glowed an eerie blue at the stern of each ship. The black, Erdonium hulls were bathed in the light of a nearby star. Shots flew from the hepler guns that rung the bow of the Legacy and tore into the Coma vessel's thruster pack. One shot tore into the hull near the bow of the foreign ship where the bridge was located. Roberts lightly smacked the back of the gunner's head that had made the mistake. "Standing orders, engines only!" Another shot hit the Legacy and sent the captain to the deck.
"Starboard thrusters destroyed and damage to starboard gangway port," reported Computer in a monotone.
The Legacy fired again. This time they scored a hit on the EQ generator. On the hologram, Firebrandt could see that the engine glowed a little less brightly. The large freighter fired several more shots, clipping the hull of the privateer.
Sparks sputtered from one of the gunner's stations. The gunner screamed when the station burst into flames. Roberts slapped him into silence. Panic could be far too infectious on a small ship. The captain ordered fire crews onto the battle deck. The remaining gunner kept firing.
"Computer," called Firebrandt. "Assume control of starboard weapons and maintain firing!" The captain saw Computer's brow crease as he took over firing control. Computer might not be as good a shot as the gunner, but it was better than losing half of Legacy's fire power.
A team of fire fighters stormed onto the battle deck. They sprayed the gunner's console using small, chemical extinguishers. Acrid smoke issued from the console.
"Second direct hit on enemy's EQ generator, sir!" shouted Computer over the din of the fire fighting crew.
"Another shot should do it," snarled the captain.
The freighter started to turn. Roberts gulped. He hoped no one on the battle deck noticed his momentary lapse of calm. It was possible that the large ship was bringing a large bow gun about. "Evasive!" shouted the captain. The fire at the gunner's station was out. The fire crew stood, gaping at the holo-viewer.
"Clear the damned bridge!" roared Roberts. The fire crew scurried off the deck.
"We're hardly moving, Captain," reported the helmsman.
"Ship's performance down twenty percent," reported Computer.
Roberts pounded the wall of the deck. He looked at the captain as a thought came to him. "The starboard gangway port!"
The captain turned to Computer. "Seal off deck two, section two. Open the starboard port!"
"Inadvisable, Captain. Opening the port will only damage it further."
"Open the damned port!" shouted the captain as he waved smoke out of his face.
Computer nodded. When the port opened, air rushed out and swung the ship out of the helpler gun's range. Roberts pointed to the holo and the gunner fired, destroying the gun with Legacy's starboard hepler.
The freighter shuddered spastically as it turned back on course. "I want the rest of those thrusters out of action," grumbled Firebrandt, waving at the smoke. He started to pace the deck.
Roberts coughed. "Aim amidships," he ordered the gunner. "Get those fans on in here!" he roared at the helmsman. The buzz of the fans became audible. As the acrid electrical smoke began to lift, Roberts saw two red pulses of energy strike the freighter. The thruster pack exploded with fiery brilliance. Inertia carried the freighter forward, though its course was altered and its speed reduced by the force of the explosion.
"Match the Coma ship's course and speed," ordered the captain. He lit his pipe and studied the crippled ship. "We knocked out her main gun," he mused. "She'll have others to fend off an approaching ship." He sucked the pipe stem for several moments. "Computer, using other Coma ships on record as a norm, what would be the range of the guns we have not destroyed."
"Standard range for close proximity weapons is one half kilometer." Computer looked as if he were thinking for a moment. "I should also point out, sir, that the large gun we destroyed is not standard for Coma merchant ships."
"Hmmm..." mused Roberts. "I didn't think it looked normal."
"No, it didn't." The captain turned to the helmsman. "Bring us out to five kilometers distance. Fly us in a spiral pattern until we are one kilometer away from the Coma ship." Turning his attention to the gunner. "I want all of her short range armaments knocked out. Keep an eye out for surprises."
"Aye aye, sir," said the gunner.
The hologram projection at the front of the battle-deck began to show the movement of stars. The captain turned his attention to the dazed gunner sitting in front of the charred remains of his station. "Mr. Neal, you panicked while at your station."
"Yes, sir," he said, his head down.
"Have you calmed down enough to perform your duty?"
"Yes, sir," responded Neal, a glimmer of hope showing in his eyes.
"Then I want you to get your station operational again." The captain contemplated the pipe for a moment as he considered the punishment. "You are not to leave your station until it is fully operational. Do you understand, Mr. Neal?"
"Yes sir, I understand, sir." Neal was pleased. He knew the captain could have punished him far more severely.
The captain returned his attention to the holographic viewer. Legacy was cleanly picking off the remaining guns on the hull of the freighter. It still wasn't as easy as it should have been. Legacy was moving far too sluggishly since the loss of her starboard thrusters. But, by the time the helmsman reported that they were one kilometer from the ship, it seemed as if all the guns on the freighter were destroyed.
"Helmsman, you may proceed with docking," ordered the captain.
"Aye aye, sir," said the helmsman.
"Preparing bow grappling ring," reported Computer.
"Mr. Roberts, assemble the men for boarding and meet me at the airlock." The captain tamped out his pipe and strode off the battle deck.
* * * *
Roberts was at the airlock in Legacy's bow with a boarding party of twenty men when the captain arrived. He looked them over. They had all been on raids with him before. They were brave, sturdy souls. Wordless, the captain moved in front of the airlock. He turned and faced the crew, grinning confidently. His confidence was a ruse, but it inspired the crew to do their best against the freighter's crew. Alpha Coma was a human colony. There would be no terrible aliens on the other side of the airlock. Firebrandt's crew had to know they were on the side of right.
The captain drew his sword and held it high. The crew let out a fierce battle yell. Firebrandt knew the crew was ready. The crew fell silent as they waited. Firebrandt drew a hepler pistol. At this signal, the pirates drew their own weapons. A bump was felt as the ships met. Hands tensed.
Roberts moved to his captain's side. There was a sudden whoosh of air as the airlock doors opened. The captain and R
oberts quickly blasted through the freighter's airlock. Poised on the other side was a small group of defenders. The boarding party charged headlong into the pulsed high-energy weapon's fire.
Swords clanked. Even in the heat of battle, Firebrandt found himself listening to the sound. Swords were anachronistic weapons, but they inspired a terror that no other weapon could. Heplers fired, flesh burned, and screams came from all sides. Blood covered the deck of the freighter.
The captain stood, out of breath, amazed that the battle was over. His white blouse was torn and stained red. Sweat matted his hair to his forehead as he looked around. All of the defenders were down. Including himself and Roberts, only four men from the privateer stood.
"Victory is ours!" shouted one of the men. Firebrandt growled and the man fell silent. The captain turned to give instructions to Roberts, who crumpled to the deck, stared in horror at the cauterized stump where his right hand once was. Firebrandt and his men dropped to their knees, scanning the passageways, looking to see where the shot came from. The two men covered the corridor while the captain moved to Roberts' side. Firebrandt helped Roberts to a sitting position against a wall, then stood with his hepler drawn, to face his new adversary.
A woman emerged from the shadows at the far end of the deck. She had gray hair. A scar ran from the edge of her mouth to her chin. She wore the uniform of a Lord High Admiral of Alpha Coma Berenices. In one hand, she held a sword. In the other, she held a laser pistol. Behind her were a young man and a young woman, both in the uniforms of Alpha Coma Berenices. Firebrandt assumed that they were flag lieutenants. "Order your men to drop their weapons!" shouted the admiral, her voice hoarse as though she had been shouting orders for most of the past hour.
"Looks like a stand off to me," growled Firebrandt. A bolt of energy flew from the male flag lieutenant's gun. One of Firebrandt's men fell to the deck with a gaping hole in his chest. "Not any more. Two of yours to my three," said the Admiral simply.
Firebrandt put his hand on the shoulder of his remaining crewmate. The man let his hepler clatter to the deck.
"Now, what is the meaning of the attack on this vessel?" demanded the Admiral, stepping to Firebrandt.
He sneered. "I thought that it was against the articles of war for an admiral of any fleet to use a civilian vessel as a flag ship."
"Piracy brings the death penalty on Alpha Coma Berenices," the admiral answered.
"We are not under Coma's jurisdiction," growled Firebrandt.
The admiral looked into his eyes. "No?" She looked to the deck and at the walls of the ship. "Look's like you're in Coma's jurisdiction to me."
Firebrandt raised the hepler. He felt something pierce his skin. Pain seared through every nerve in his body and he crumpled to the deck. The admiral and her lieutenants—one of them holstering a mini dart gun—stepped into Legacy as he blacked out.
* * * *
Firebrandt awoke. A sick pain throbbed throughout his body. He managed to look around. Roberts was gone, but bodies still littered the deck. The captain decided that he could not have been unconscious for very long. He tried to stand, his head still swimming from the drug that had been shot into him. He staggered and fell on the slippery metal deck. After a second try he managed to cross back to the Legacy.
Aboard the privateer, there were no signs of battle. She was as clean as when he left her. Firebrandt made his way to the battle deck. Roberts was there, weak and pale, sitting in the corner. He was bandaged and in a clean uniform. No one else was on the battle deck. Even Computer was gone.
"What's happened?" asked Firebrandt. "Where is everyone? Where's Computer?"
"Those who didn't fall in action are my prisoners," came a gruff, feminine voice from the rear of the battle deck.
Firebrandt looked around to see the admiral. As he moved toward her, the female flag lieutenant led Suki onto the battle deck. He stopped. "You had better not harm her." The captain aimed his finger at the admiral.
"Harming her is the last thing on my mind." The admiral smiled a queer smile. "For some reason, she seems to love you."
"I love him very much," Suki said.
"Humph," muttered the admiral. "What do you say, Firebrandt?"
"How do you know my name?" demanded the captain.
The admiral inclined her head. "Don't play those games with me." She looked at Suki, then to Roberts. The captain began to fume. "And don't blame them. They are loyal to you. Damn it, everyone on this ship was loyal to you." The admiral snorted. "They are all misguided fools!" She walked up to Firebrandt and looked him over. "I don't see why, but both Suki and Roberts seem to adore you."
"So, what are you going to do with us?" asked Firebrandt.
"Ellison Firebrandt is known throughout this sector of the galaxy. I'm within my rights to have you executed." The admiral pursed her lips and contemplated the captain's reaction. He was defeated and she knew it; his dream of a life of luxury and pleasant retirement shattered. "However, to destroy a folk hero is never good. To destroy someone who is so well loved is virtually evil. I will let you go."
"What about my crew?" Firebrandt asked, numb.
"I will pardon the survivors and return them to their home planets."
Firebrandt looked at his feet. "What about us?"
"Well, under the articles of war I am allowed to take from your ship what I need. I've already stripped her of many parts, but she'll still fly. I will leave you with your ship and your supplies. I've disarmed your weapons. I want you out of this sector. With Roberts and Suki, you'll be able to manage the ship."
"Just barely," complained Roberts, nursing his severed hand.
"So much the better," grinned the admiral. "I want you to find a world—a world to settle down on and enjoy your life together. I do this under one condition—that I never hear anything of raids by the dread pirate Firebrandt, ever again." She took a couple steps away and turned again. "If I see any of you in my jurisdiction again, I will not hesitate to execute you as war criminals."
Firebrandt nodded. "I understand."
The admiral turned to leave. Firebrandt rushed forward and grabbed her by the arm. "Wait a moment," he said. "I feel like I should know who you are."
"I'm sad to say, your father never gave us the chance to get to know each other." She laughed lightly at his perplexed expression. "I'm pleased to meet you," she said holding out her hand. "I'm Lord Admiral Barbara Firebrandt."
MAROONED
Firebrandt, Roberts and Suki stood on Legacy's battle deck. The Admiral and her staff had departed nearly an hour before. At the front of the deck, instead of a hologram was a blank wall. The captain realized that it had been turned off during the battle. He stared at his feet and stroked his moustache. Roberts still sat at the gunner's rig and stared blindly at the far wall. Suki walked up to the captain. "We have to do something," she said.
Firebrandt looked up. A single tear escaped his moist eye. Suki moved closer, but the captain put up his hand. Shaking his head he wiped away the tear. "We will not lose our freedom," he said deliberately.
Shaken from his stupor, Roberts asked, "What are your orders, Captain?" The lieutenant's face was sickly pale, looking more like a skull than ever.
The captain frowned. "Are you sure you don't want to rest?"
"I think I need to work," said Roberts, purposefully. "I need to know I can."
Firebrandt nodded grimly.
"I'll check the hold," said Suki. "We need to know what we have to work with." She smiled sheepishly. Firebrandt stepped to her and they embraced warmly. The captain felt renewed purpose. They stepped apart and Suki left.
Firebrandt and Roberts busied themselves, hoping to repair enough damage to get underway again. The fact that they could walk about the ship unaided indicated that there was no damage to the graviton generators. The most devastating blow was the loss of Computer. Firebrandt rewired the human interface connections into a terminal and keyboard. Unfortunately, the characters that appeared on the screen were utter
nonsense. The terminal was receiving images and words meant to be interpreted directly by the human brain.
Roberts began writing software that would translate the symbols into something that was meaningful when read. His work was slow. He wasn't used to typing, much less onehanded.
Firebrandt inspected the engine room. He found that the EQ generator was intact. Unfortunately, the EQ drive was useless until the ship's network came back on line. He checked the Quinnium reserves. As he suspected, the admiral had ordered all but one tank drained. Legacy literally had fuel for a one way trip. At the same time, he found that two of Legacy's four large thruster packs for intra-system travel had been stripped of parts. That combined with the loss of a third thruster pack during the battle meant Legacy would be able to maneuver, but she was absolutely powerless as a privateer.
Suki picked her way through the ship's hold. She was surprised to find that most of the items Firebrandt had acquired during his travels were still there. Some rare and valuable art works were gone. She frowned. The artwork had been stolen from collectors who had moved away from Earth. The captain had intended them to return home. Suki realized that Firebrandt's mother must have recognized the value of the works and took them to return to the collectors.
At the end of the first day, Firebrandt tried his hand cooking in the ship's mess. The food was edible, but not exciting. All three were exhausted and hungry, so any food was good. Firebrandt asked about the network.
"Well, I've set up a basic command line interface. It's about as primitive as you get," said Roberts.
Firebrandt contemplated the report for a moment, glad to see that Roberts' color was better. "That may be adequate. We'll see if we can manage to plot a course in the morning."
The Pirates of Sufiro (Book 1) (Old Star New Earth) Page 2
