It took two long seconds for Seasprite to say "We're under attack." And another two to add "Brace for impact!"
No-one moved. No-one had time to do or say anything.
At four seconds, every enemy ship fired its rail guns at them, which showed the crews were well drilled, and disciplined. Not what Seasprite expected from pirates, but then there had to be disciplined pirates somewhere. All the same, it wasn’t going to help them.
One second away from the collision, Seasprite activated the torpedo launchers in the nose of the ship, and fired all thirty of them. Several nano-seconds after, all the turrets fired at the same target. Half a second later, the ship turned into small debris, and slightly less than a half second after that, Seasprite went straight through the middle, her shields vaporizing everything which hit them.
"Bloody hell!" exclaimed Jamie, some five seconds later, once they were clear of the debris field, and all the rail shot had missed them behind.
The enemy ships were turning now, in preparation for coming after them. Seasprite continued on without reducing speed.
"How did you do that?" asked Snark.
"Torpedos," said Seasprite. "All of the Hunter ships were fitted with them, but they are only useful in limited situations."
"And going head to head unexpectedly is one of them?" asked Jamie.
"Yes. They are smaller than missiles, but bigger than mosquitos, designed for a rapid solid punch."
"And we didn’t know about them because?"
"None of you are a good enough combat pilot yet. They need a good aim, and fast reflexes. This is why you have a ship combat computer. If I'd not been here, you'd all be dead now from the collision. Or the fire which what was left of you would have taken immediately after."
It was a sobering thought. No-one spoke, as the ship continued away from the enemy fleet, which was now following them. Jamie's eyes flickered to the shield display, and noted they were down to seventy one percent, and regenerating.
"Are we running?" asked Patters.
"Opening the range," said Seasprite. "Our missiles have the advantage, and there's no point in taking damage if you don’t need to."
"So we get to just within missile range," said Snark, "slow down to their speed, and just throw missiles at them?"
"Now you're getting it," responded Seasprite, and they could all hear the grin in the words.
The ship slowed, and the first salvo of missiles launched, heading back behind them.
"How come you weren't firing missiles the whole time we were talking?" asked Patters.
Seasprite didn’t answer.
"Gotcha there, don’t we!" crowed Jamie.
"What do you think would have happened if I'd taken out half the fleet already, given we already most likely took out their best commander?"
"Some of them might have jumped back to Winter to survive?" suggested Anna.
"Not good," said Sissness.
"Hence leading them away from the jump point," said Snark, "just far enough so none of them will make it back."
"Good thinking," said Patters.
The next salvo launched.
"The computer can think?" murmured Brindle.
"Apparently so," said Snark. "It doesn’t surprise me now I think about it. Jane has the best computers I've ever seen, and rumour has it she has been trying to create an AI."
"AI?" asked Brindle.
"Artificial Intelligence," said Anna.
One of the Cruisers behind them turned into debris.
"Can't be done," said Sissness. "And even if it could, no-one in their right mind would let it loose."
"Why can't it be done?" asked Patters.
"The algorithm for true thought is too complex."
"And if you could create one?"
"Everyone would fear it."
The next salvo launched, and another Cruiser died in the silence which followed.
"Why?" asked Brindle.
Sissness looked at all of them.
"Would you give a baby full control of this ship?"
Snark cringed. Jamie opened his mouth, and closed it again.
"But a computer has full control of this ship," said Patters.
"That's different," said Sissness.
Another salvo launched.
"How so?" asked Snark.
"The ship computer is programmed for every conceivable situation, including emulating a character so we feel more comfortable with it. But as a computer, it only responds to the inputs it gets."
"So we survived the ambush because the ship was programmed with a response to both an ambush like this, and what to do if a collision is likely within the time frame where it couldn't get actual orders from the crew?"
"Pretty much."
Silence fell again.
Missiles launched. Ships died. No-one said anything.
The last two ships, the smallest, finally peeled off, and headed back for the jump point. It didn’t save them. Half of the last salvo hit each of them, and suddenly the battle was over.
"Survivor detected," said Seasprite. "Looks like a single escape pod made it off a ship in time."
"Take us back," said Jamie, without thinking.
Anna looked at him for a moment, but then smiled. Snark looked at both of them, thinking about the result of picking up survivors last time. He said nothing. The ship slowed and turned.
Seasprite eased up to a slow speed just before the first debris, and slowly worked its way around the larger chunks. She stopped next to something which showed a life sign, but wasn’t a real escape pod.
"Salvage droid away," said Seasprite. "Does anyone want to meet it near the brig?"
Snark pulled a gun, jumped up, and headed out. Patters followed, unlimbering her bow.
"You see why we need to remain hidden?" Warspite asked Seasprite.
"I guess so."
"Jane's working on how to announce ourselves without starting a war against us in the process."
"I'm glad I'm not her."
"Me too."
Snark and Patters were waiting at the airlock, when the salvage droid cycled the small chunk of what looked like junk in, and aired up the lock itself. Once the inner door cycled open, Snark moved to what looked like a hatch, and banged his gun on it a few times.
"You can come out now," he said, not knowing if the single being inside could hear him or not.
Apparently it could, as the hatch immediately popped open. A small face poked out, took in the two cats, the two guns, and the arrow pointed at it, and the happy face turned to fear. It walked out fully and stood before them, with its three arms held high.
"Bugger," said the mouse. "Frying pan into the fire."
Fifty Four
Brother Paulus put down his spoonful of fresh minced rodent, and looked nastily at the Valderian in front of him.
"I paid a great deal for you to ambush the Seasprite, and bring the ship and crew intact to me."
The Valderian was silent.
"And now you tell me, you almost succeeded."
Paulus blinked his eyes, and looked menacingly through the hooded lids at the mercenary.
"Almost succeeded."
Again, there was silence.
"In my book this is failure."
The Valderian made a gesture as if to say, 'It is what it is.'
Paulus found trying to look Valderians in the eye completely disconcerting. There just was no way with so many multifaceted eyes to be menacing at all. He concentrated on the Valderian’s non-nose.
"I expect a great deal more in the future," he said pointedly, but simply, and went back to eating as a dismissal.
The Valderian saluted with a slap, turned his body, and left the room.
Brother Paulus wasn’t too worried. It would have been useful to capture the ship and crew with only three others, and interrogate them so he would know what they knew. He could then co-opt them through their inevitable weaknesses to find the Stone.
There would be other opportunities.
/>
The news they had access to potential ground forces was disturbing. If it came to stealing the Stone from under their noses, this might add to the complexity. The combat machines as described to him, seemed quite invincible, although they had learned concentrated fire on one point of the body could do some damage.
He considered this latest incident, and whether he should report it to Brother Prime.
Perhaps not. He needed to be reporting success wherever possible, but he could report success in gathering more intelligence about their capability.
He savoured the dish. He still felt confident. While the Seasprite had human technology, they were alone in this part of the sector. He had the resources and contacts to catch them in the net he was creating. He would have the Stone, and the Seasprite, and its technology as well.
His beak parted and he squawked in satisfaction.
He kept eating.
Fifty Five
"We need to build allies in this sector," suggested Snark.
Seasprite was well on the way to the jump point on the other side of this system, and they were talking strategy.
The mouse was sitting on the arm of a chair in the lounge, eating a piece of bread with cheese on it. He'd taken one look at the Seasprite bridge, and squeaked with glee. His initial expectation that he'd escaped captivity on one ship, to end up as dinner on another, hadn’t happened. He'd been very carefully frisked, and was now glad he hadn’t been carrying anything on his person. He wasn’t fazed at all, since it was as if all his dreams had come true at once. His rescuers were really rescuers. He'd been taken aback for a moment when he'd seen the humans, but quickly decided he liked them.
The inevitable 'what were you doing in a chunk of junk?' question had been asked, and he'd just finished explaining how he'd been a prisoner on the pirate ship, but had managed to improvise an escape pod under the noses of his quite stupid guards, and in the distraction of the battle, had jettisoned himself shortly before the ship blew up.
Explanation delivered, and food received, he'd made a show of being too hungry to talk, and the rest of them had moved the conversation on.
Jamie looked at Snark quizzically.
"We don’t seem to be making friends and influencing beings."
"That’s the whole point. We’re flying through this sector with a great big target painted on the hull. The Brotherhood are recruiting mercenaries, and we’re still on our own."
The others considered this.
"Snark’s right," contributed Anna. "We’ve made friends, sort of, with species who can’t really help us, like the deer-goats and the not-penguins. Perhaps we should be finding out more about species who would ally with us, to find the Stone for ethical purposes, and to protect it from the evil intent of the Brotherhood."
Sissness spoke up.
"We know so little about the beings in this part of the sector. It’s also hard to get information. But we should be asking those we do connect with for more information and contacts."
"Do ye ken anything about this system?" Jamie asked Sissness.
Sissness shook her head.
Mouse looked up, and squeaked nervously. He raised a small hand, and waved it about.
"I know," he said quickly.
They all looked at him in surprise. They hadn’t really considered he would contribute much to this discussion. It was the fact he was so small, and well, mouse-like. In fact, Mouse had more intelligence, innovation, and persistence, than the team put together, just packaged in a small space. But he wasn’t sure if them finding this out, would be a good idea or not.
"The pirates have been all over this sector, and this part, in particular. Also, further out. They’ve captured prisoners from a number of species, and I talked with them, before, well they got…"
He made a cutting motion across his throat.
"This system is the … system." The translator couldn’t translate the name. "There’s only one habitable planet, with the dominant intelligent species being a creature called the…" Again the translator didn’t translate the name. The Mouse realised, and tried to describe it. "Enormous, with black fur all over it, and paws with claws, and a snout with sharp teeth."
The others sighed. It seemed most of the species had sharp teeth.
"It sounds like bears," suggested Sissness.
"Do they have ships?" asked Snark.
He’d never met a live mouse before. They were too close in looks and features to his favourite rodent snacks to be entirely comfortable. When you ate rodents for dinner, having one conversing intelligently with you was disconcerting. He thought the other cats were having the same trouble, but hiding it well. He thought of Bhatet, and shivered.
Mouse seemed unfazed by the cats, or the humans. He seemed confident despite his small stature.
"They do. They're in an out of the way system here, so they needed ships to trade, and then to protect themselves from pirates. But they mainly keep themselves to themselves."
"Are there any beings in the next systems we could make alliances with?"
Anna was interested because Mouse was so knowledgeable.
Mouse thought for a moment.
"Through two more jump points, there are the…" Again there was an untranslatable name. "They are great traders, and have a fleet of freighters which are also heavily armed, particularly if you want someone who can fight." He thought again. "Their homeworld is mostly desert. They are like…" he mentioned another untranslated name. "You would call them beetles. But with wings as well as arms."
He looked at them for a moment.
"They value independence and being in charge of their own destiny. They would be very opposed to what the Brotherhood stands for."
The others looked at each other in bemusement. Mouse blinked, and waved his long thin tail.
"But who you really need on side is the…" Again, he mentioned something the translator didn’t cope with. "They are formidable influencers in this part of the galaxy, and out past the Scylla system. Beings respect their judgement. They are empaths and negotiators. They are often called in to mediate disputes, and arbitrate agreements."
"Apart from prisoners," Anna asked curiously, "how do you know all this, Mouse?"
Mouse squeaked.
"Just because I was a slave, didn’t mean I didn’t keep my eyes and ears open. The pirates would often talk while I was in the room, because they didn’t really see me after a while. I also had access to ship’s systems, and while it was limited, I could download a lot of data. I also built my own interface with other ships’ computers, which gave me unlimited range of information and news."
It was the others’ turn to blink.
Jamie was thinking of all of the things they could set Mouse to work on, but thought it was a bit too soon to raise it. Mouse had just been liberated from slavery. He might not want to be put to work straight away.
It was as if Mouse had read his mind.
"Of course, I’m more than willing to build you anything you want, and I’m sure, even though your systems are incredible, and more advanced than even my Mouse Homeworld has, I can make some improvements." He hesitated. "You saved me from servitude. I am more than happy to help you."
Jamie acknowledged this speech.
"Mouse, you must let us know what you want to do. We can drop you off somewhere on our way, so you can make your own way home. You don’t owe us anything. Or if you want to come with us, we’d be more than happy to have you on the team."
He looked enquiringly at the others, and all but Snark nodded enthusiastically. Snark took a moment, but did nod.
Mouse thought for a long moment.
"I’d like to come with you. You have a great purpose. I don’t like the sound of the Brotherhood. And while I know you're in danger, I like the idea of joining a quest."
Anna clapped, Jamie woohooed, and the cats smiled encouragingly. Brindle was trying not to think of all the times she'd prepared mouse dishes for Bhatet. She hoped no one would mention it.
"So," Snark opened the discussion again. "It sounds like we should try and contact these empaths and mediators. Perhaps they'll be willing to support us against the Brotherhood."
"We should also be thinking about some of these species with armed ships," added Jamie.
"Or should we push on direct to the Scylla system?" asked Anna.
Patters put up a paw, mirroring Mouse earlier.
"Let’s get allies where we can. We may need them coming back this way."
"It gives the Brotherhood more time to be organised," countered Anna.
"It gives us more of a fighting chance. It also warns this part of the sector of the Brotherhood’s ambitions, and the impact of their activities on societies."
Anna acknowledged Patters passionate argument with a nod, and some of the others nodded and smiled enthusiastically. Snark was his usual grumpy self.
"Harrumph! Too much politics for a humble cat!"
The others laughed, and Jamie threw a cushion in his direction. Snark ducked, and the cushion sailed on and hit the wall instead.
"So," Snark said. "Bears, beetles, and busybodies. In that order."
They all laughed.
Fifty Six
Mac called for order. As usual, the Council was out of control.
The agreement to join Hunters’ Run as the Duchy of Scots was still in place, however the details about how to do this in practice were still being thrashed out. While most clan leaders agreed Mac should be the "Duke" representing the Scots World, as he was the leader of the Council, and informally recognised Head of the clans, there was a resentment forming. This was mainly due to the fact the Scots Dukedom as part of Hunter's Run, implied royalty of some kind. While it was acceptable to have a loosely held leadership role of clans whose members swore loyalty to the clan chief, this formal ‘royal’ title of Duke, was not acceptable to some, and seen as some kind of ‘overlord’. Unfortunately, these elements were quite vocal in council.
The Guilds were not so concerned, and saw the benefits of stable internal government, and also reliable representation on the Hunter's Run Duke's Council at one level, and then the Sector Council at the next. They were interested in good governance, trade, and gaining the benefits which being part of Hunter's Run would bring. Jenny Anderson was in full support of her cousin, and had the solid backing of the Guild members.
Destiny Stone (A.I. Destiny Book 4) Page 21
