Doc Roberts: Space Pirate
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Doc Roberts: Space Pirate
Jay Toney
© September 2018
Copyright
The characters and events in this book are fictional. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author.
All rights reserved. In accordance with the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, the scanning, uploading, and electronic sharing of any part of this book without permission of the author are unlawful piracy and theft of the author's intellectual property. Thank you for support of the author's rights.
Introduction
Plundering innocent worlds. That is Doc Roberts job, and he is good at it. He was awarded a letter of Marque and a territory to hunt in exchange for his service to the Alliance and of course, a cut of his take.
The Alliance government can't openly operate in Commonwealth territory without starting another war, so they use privateers like Captain Roberts to destabilize governments and cause unease among the people in hopes that they will ask for Alliance protection.
Cheating and treachery cause Captain Roberts to reevaluate his loyalty. He can live with a little pilfering, but not outright stealing from him by trespassing on his planet. There is only one thing he can do. Teach the Alliance government that there is a price to pay for taking what is not theirs.
The Alliance goes too far when they send an assassin to kill Doc's wife. Now it is outright war, for Captain Roberts anyway. Now he is both a pirate and a rebel with people on both sides of the border who either love him or hate him.
After fighting a duel with one of the Alliance's promising new captains, torturing him, and leaving him for dead; he has made powerful enemies in the Alliance hegemony. The Alliance military leaders want to make Captain Roberts suffer like he made their captain suffer.
One man can only do so much, and Doc is getting tired. It is time to pass the reins of command to his son. But first, he must crush his son's dreams and teach him what it means to be an Alliance citizen.
WARNING! This is a stand-alone novel that contains grievous violence some of it extreme and graphically written, nudity, and mild cursing. After all, it is about a pirates life, and that is how they live. There are adult situations, but nothing graphic and no erotica. If any of this offends you, do not buy this book. But if you choose to open its cover and peer inside, I'm sure that you will enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it,
Table of Contents
Title Page
Copyright
Introduction
Raid
Temple of The Sun & Moon
Antares
Back To Business
Doc Meets Girl
Thornton
Antares
A New Hope
Three years later
Payback
Revenge
Raid On Antares
Return To The Alliance
Journey To Avalon
The Alliance
Afterward
More By This Author
Raid
"Captain Roberts, I have the convoy on my sensors," Jadsia reported.
"Natasha, set an intercept course, full power to our sublight engines.
Devin, maintain communication and transponder silence. Sound condition red, all hands to battle stations.
Jane, get our shields up and secure our bulkhead doors," Doc ordered.
Usually, Captain Roberts didn't target freighters. Typically, there is too little profit to be made from seizing their cargoes. Most freighters carried bulk cargoes of foodstuffs, metal ore for processing, or agricultural goods such as fertilizer, pesticides, and farming equipment.
The tip that Doc Roberts got was that this convoy is carrying valuable cargo. The tactical display shows three freighters in the convoy and two armed mercenary patrol vessels escorting each cargo ship. The escorts are a good sign that the cargo the bulk freighters are carrying is valuable.
Nibaru III is a technology 18 rated planet. Their spacecraft have FTL drives giving them a trading advantage in this sector. Chances are the freighters are carrying high tech computers and starship parts. Both of which could be traded for high profits in the Antares star system, where the Queen Anne's Revenge's base of operations is located.
Natasha's voice interrupted Doc's thoughts, "10 minutes until weapons range."
"Devin, scramble our Marauder pilots and launch our starfighters. Instruct the Reaper squadron to concentrate on the escorts and have the Nighthawks disable the freighters. Make sure that our gunners only target the freighters engines and shield generators."
Jadsia reported, "Two minutes until weapon range. The convoy is increasing power to their engines and making a run to the nearest hyperspace jump point. They will reach safe jump distance in 20 minutes."
That gave my raiders and gunners only a small window of 18 minutes to disable the cargo ships. It is unlikely that we could do it with energy weapons alone. I needed to disable their shields and engines fast without destroying the cargo that the freighters are carrying.
"Natasha, I need your avatar at the weapons console. Start computing missile tracking solutions; target the freighter's propulsion sections. Open our forward missile ports and prepare to fire."
****
"All Reapers, split off into your assigned attack groups. Draw off the escorts and disable or destroy them," the squadron leader commanded. Bill and his wingman split off from the formation to attack one of the patrol ships escorting the lead freighter. Red bolts of energy shot from his Marauder's particle beam turret. His wingman got a missile lock and fired. The escort ship fired chaff and flares, but the missile was launched too close to the patrol craft to give his defenses enough time to confuse the missile targeting system. The missile hit amidships. The explosion was powerful enough to break the small escort ship in two.
The two Marauders turned to join up with the rest of his squadron. Energy bolts were exchanged between the escorting starfighters and the attackers. The freighters joined the attack firing their gun turrets at the Marauders.
****
"Nighthawks, attack! We are in the clear. Take your assigned freighter down as fast as you can. We don't want our bonuses escaping to hyperspace before we can spend the credits.
Keep your eyes on your scanners, and stay clear of weapon fire from the Queenie," Elliott warned his squadron.
****
Seven minutes of our time is gone in an instant. Three of the escorts are destroyed, the other three are still engaged with the Reaper squadron. Bolts of energy from the Queen Anne's Revenge struck the lead freighter's shields, but so far they are still holding. Captain Roberts could bring the freighter's shields down with a couple of hits from the cruiser's main guns, but chances are, that his raiders would end up having to sort through its derelict hull in the hope of salvaging enough cargo to cover the cost of the expended ammunition.
"Natasha, target the lead freighter in the convoy and prepare to fire," Doc ordered. A targeting reticle appeared on the main viewscreen and centered on one of the cargo ships. Natasha's avatar made a few adjustments to the targeting computer. The weapons sight moved aft on the target and locked onto the drive section of the freighter. "Fire missile #1."
The Blood Hound Mk II missile left the launch tube and
accelerated towards cargo ship. The freighter's captain fired chaff and flares in an attempt to confuse the missile. It didn't work. The Bloodhound missile has multiple redundancies in its targeting system. It uses radar, thermal imaging, optical sensors, and other sensors designed to lock onto the targets energy emissions.
The freighter couldn't change course or start any evasive maneuvers. The Marauder squadrons under my command blocked every avenue of escape. The missile found its target and detonated on impact with the freighters drive section. The explosion from its warhead destroyed three of the freighter's four engines. The last engine sputtered and died, leaving the ship to drift out of control.
"Natasha, lock onto the next cargo ship, and fire missile #2," Doc ordered. Another missile left the Queen Anne's Revenge's launch tubes and accelerated towards its target. The missile struck the freighter at an oblique angle. The exploding warhead separated the cargo ship's primary hull from its drive section.
"Natasha, target the last freighter, "Doc ordered.
"Captain, the captain of the Argos, wishes to talk terms of surrender," Devin reported.
"Natasha, hold your fire but maintain a target lock. If the freighter tries to run, don't wait for my order. Shoot to kill.
Devin, announce to all hands to hold their fire, but standby. Then put the freighter captain on the main viewscreen."
Devin made a general broadcast to our gunners and our Marauder squadron leaders. Then he announced, "Captain Foster of the freighter Argos is on screen for you."
The captain, dressed in black pants, a bright yellow long sleeve shirt, and a reptilian skin vest, was pacing his bridge in a rant. When he noticed Captain Roberts staring at him on his viewscreen, he turned and said, "I will see that you are hanged for this! You and the rest of the Alliance have broken the 100 Years War treaty. Your attack was unprovoked. All of you are nothing but bloodthirsty pirates."
"Are you finished?" Doc asked. Instead of waiting for an answer, he continued, "Threatening the person who has your life in his hands is not a very good way to start a conversation. I believe a demonstration is in order.
Devin, have our Nighthawk squadron target the bridge of the lead freighter, and fire."
The comm officer relayed the order to the squadron leaders. Jadsia split the viewscreen into two views, showing the lead freighter and our forward view. All twenty Marauders from the attack squadron paired up, and each pair strafed the disabled freighter firing their 40mm cannon at the bridge.
"You can't do that! They are defenseless," Captain Foster complained."
"Is another demonstration necessary to show you what I can or cannot do?" Doc asked.
"Another demonstration won't be necessary," Captain Foster capitulated.
"Good. It is an expensive waste of ammunition that I need to replace. Your assumption that I am a pirate is correct. I come from a family of pirates dating back two generations. I am also an independent businessman with no affiliation with the Alliance." That wasn't entirely true. In fact, it was an outright lie. Doc was granted a letter of Marque from the Alliance government. As such, he is a privateer, corsair, pirate, call it what you will. Captain Roberts works directly for the Alliance government. His purpose is to persuade the Common Wealth of Free Systems to accept Alliance protection. His Letter of Marque isn't free. It comes at a cost. Doc has to tithe the Alliance 10% of everything he stole from the Commonwealth. That came from the top, not the profits. In exchange, Doc Roberts is granted a territory of his own to hunt in. He is also allowed to purchase restricted weapons from the Alliance military. The Antares star system was granted to him for his base of operations. Captain Robert's territory extends for 50 light years in all directions surrounding the star system. It wasn't as much territory as it seemed. Antares is located on the very fringe of the Andromeda galaxy. More than half of his territory is nothing but empty space. If nothing else, he could use Antares as a place to hide when things heated up.
"Power down your shields, weapons, and engines. Your freighters will be boarded and cargoes taken. Any resistance will be punished by death. I will start with yours. You have one minute to inform your crews of their need to cooperate."
"What is to be done with us?"
"That is yet to be determined.
Devin, end comms."
Doc opened a comm channel to engineering. "Jane, you and Randolph take out a couple of repair pods and bring the first freighter in." Next, Captain Roberts opened the ship-wide comms. "All security personnel, report to the main hangar bay. Prepare for boarding operations."
Doc headed to the hangar. He wanted to personally see what was so valuable that the freighters were flying together in a group and why they were being protected by mercenary pilots.
Doc watched Randolph and Jane clamp their repair pods onto the freighter's hull and guide it into the Queen Anne's Revenge from an observation viewport. After the freighter was positioned over the deck, gravity was restored to the hangar, the hangar doors closed, and the shuttle bay began pressurizing.
Doc joined the assault team, and they entered the hangar together. The assault team members were dressed in black power armor, hiding their identity, and protecting them from harm. Doc Roberts wasn't. He was dressed in what could be mistaken for an Alliance officer's uniform, but there was no rank insignia, medals, or decorations of any type, except for his starship's patch which was sewn onto the left shoulder. He was wearing a gun belt with a Macon blaster, and an energy sword clipped to the belt.
Doc tapped on the entrance hatch to the freighter. There would be few survivors if any after he used the freighter's crew to make a point, and there would be no one left alive on the bridge to open the entry airlock. As he suspected the hatch remained closed. The airlock door controls are locked out.
Doc signaled to one of his boarding party's breaching experts. He came over and examined the hatch controls. Then he removed a couple of thermite charges from his vest and placed them over where the locking mechanisms are located. After he and Doc were a safe distance away from the boarding hatch, the breaching expert remotely detonated the charges.
There was no explosion. Instead, two jets of white-hot flame burned away at the hatch's locking mechanisms dropping molten metal onto the hangar deck. After the thermite finished burning and the metal cooled, Doc pressed the door's controls again. This time the airlock door slid open and a boarding ramp lowered.
A squad headed up the ramp. The inner airlock door opened and the team entered the freighter. Doc followed the assault team into the cargo ship, and the rest of the boarding party followed him inside. Search teams began searching the freighter for survivors and the cabins for valuables. Other members started salvaging the ship for usable parts. The majority of the boarding party headed to the cargo hold with Captain Roberts.
Doc copied the freighter's cargo manifest to his comp while cargo handlers opened containers to verify the contents. Then they loaded the crates onto gravsleds. The cargo was valuable, mostly high tech computers, memory crystals, and AI components, but it didn't rate having an armed escort. Something was missing.
Doc opened a channel on his personal comm. "Sgt O'Connor, get some mechanics from engineering and pull up the deck plates, search the air ducts, and anyplace else where there might be cargo hidden inside of smuggling holds."
"Right away, Captain."
Three survivors were brought to Doc. "Captain, I found these survivors hiding inside of a smuggling hold," one of the search team members said.
"You are mistaken. There are no survivors." Doc pulled his blaster from its holster and shot each crew member in the chest. Their dead bodies collapsed to the floor. Doc stepped over the dead bodies on his way out of the freighter.
Every crew member that could be spared was
inside of the freighter either loading cargo onto waiting gravsleds or pulling up deck plates to see if there was any merchandise not recorded on the freighters cargo manifest. Two hours after Doc left the freighter, Sgt O'Connor called him to make a report. "Captain, we hit the mother load We found a cache of weapons and Sybilian Nectar.
Sybilian Nectar is highly sought after for its use as a recreational drug. It causes hallucinations and a feeling of euphoria. The drug is highly addictive with 80% of its users becoming hooked after their first use. It is outlawed in most civilized star systems driving the price up on the black market. It regularly trades for 10 galactic credits per gram, and we have at least 10 tonnes of the drug.
Captain Roberts' prohibited his crew from using Sybilian Nectar. They needed to be straight during combat. In their off time, they were allowed to use lesser nonaddictive drugs for recreational use. The crewmen and women could and would benefit from what was found. Everyone will get a healthy bonus after selling the contraband. Of course, none of it would be reported to the Alliance. Doc needed to make a profit. He has a starship to maintain and a crew that needs to be paid.
After his crewmen and women finished unloading the freighter and salvaging the cargo ship's valuable parts, Jane and Randolph took the stripped hull outside and dumped it where it could continue its journey out of the Nibaru solar system. At least, until scavengers found its remains and salvaged what was left of the freighter.
After releasing the starship, Jane and Randolph clamped their repair pods onto the second cargo ship. With its drive section separated from the primary hull, it made bringing it aboard the Queen Anne's Revenge much easier.
This time, when Doc tapped on the main hatch the door opened and the boarding ramp lowered. The crew exited the freighter in single file with their hands in the air. "Sgt O'Connor, line the prisoners up and have them strip," Doc commanded.
Making the prisoners strip wasn't done to satisfy a perversion. It was done for the safety of the crew. There are only a few places a prisoner could hide a weapon or other contraband on their body after their means of concealment is removed from them. Those places will be searched too.