Doc Roberts: Space Pirate

by Jay Toney

  The Alliance didn't keep their newest captain away from me because they cared about what would happen if we met again. They did it because they did not want to lose their cash cow. I am both a source of wealth for the Alliance and a destabilizing force against the Commonwealth of Free Worlds. In several of the star systems surrounding Antares, I earned the title of the Dread Pirate Roberts.

  The Queen Anne's Revenge's engines fired decelerating the ship for entry into orbit after it passed the orbits of the planet's six moons. Then the starship's thrusters fired making a final course correction. Natasha reported, "We are in orbit." She fired the maneuvering thrusters to change the starship's orientation, and the planet came into view on the viewscreen.

  Doc left the bridge with his wife and son. They didn't stop at their quarters but continued passed it to the Chief Engineer's cabin. Doc knocked, and the door opened. Jane is expecting the trio and invited them inside.

  "I'm sorry, we can't stay," Doc told Jane. "Elaunae and I are in a hurry. Thank you, for watching Nathaniel for us.

  Natasha, help Jane with keeping an eye on Nathaniel. He has been wondering off a lot lately."

  "I am sending my avatar to Jane's cabin to help keep an eye on him and entertain him. She will be there in a few minutes."

  Doc isn't worried about anyone harming his son, but lately, Nathaniel has a tendency to disappear when he isn't being carefully watched. The last two times he vanished, he was found in the shuttle bay looking at the Marauders. Nathaniel isn't old enough to understand the depressurization warnings, and he is small enough that his presence in the hangar could be overlooked. He has to be continuously watched to prevent unintentional harm.

  "Be good for Aunt Jane and Natasha, and I will bring you back a surprise," Doc told his son. Nathaniel did his best to stand straight and look like an officer. He gave his father his best salute, which his father returned. Elaunae scooped her son up, hugged and kissed him. "I will see you soon. I love you." Nathaniel laughed and kicked with mock resistance, but kissed his mother back and said, "I love you too, mommy." Elaunae set her son down, and he ran off to rummage through a toy box that Jane kept in her cabin filled with toys for Nathaniel to play with when she watches him.

  Doc and Elaunae left Jane's cabin and hurried to her husband's private launch. It is twice the size of a regular shuttlecraft. The small ship is unarmed like the smaller transport shuttles. Inside it is eloquently furnished and designed to carry its captain and passengers in comfort. Unlike shuttlecraft, the launch is capable of short trips in hyperspace, but as far as Doc knew, the hyperdrive has never been used.

  The topside shuttle bay depressurized while Doc cycled through the spacecraft's preflight diagnostic checks. When the air was completely pumped out, the hangar doors opened. Doc started the spacecraft's repulsorlift engines, and the launch lifted off of the hangar deck. He used the vessel's thrusters to maneuver the small ship out of the shuttle bay; then he fired the main engines.

  Doc pulled back on the ship's controls, and the shuttle lifted away from his cruiser. He rolled and turned the ship towards the planet before engaging the autopilot. The launch made a few correction burns to put them on course for reentry. Then it fired the main engines accelerating away from the cruiser and towards the planet,

  They are in high orbit, 15,000 miles above the planet. That would change soon. In 12 minutes the transport ship will start its descent into the atmosphere. The thrusters fired rotating the launch. Then the main engines burned decelerating the vessel. The launch slowed, and then it rolled again in preparation for reentry.

  Doc stayed at the controls, ready to take over from the autopilot. After spending a lot of time in the simulators, Elaunae has a much better understanding of how things work in a spaceship and can use the instruments and navigation aids, but she still tends to fly mostly by instinct. The launch isn't as durable as a Marauder and is less forgiving, especially in an atmosphere. The last time that my wife flew my ship, she over-geed it, and I pissed and soiled myself. I was terrified to the point that I was sure that she was going to kill us both. I couldn't stop her reckless piloting. I was pinned back and couldn't get my hands on the controls. I don't care what Jane said about the Marauder's diagnostic report, I know the starfighter's inertia dampers malfunctioned.

  Elaunae isn't the only one whose piloting improved. When I am flying, I rely less on the instrumentation and more on feel and intuition. My Marauder feels like an extension of my body, and I treat it as such. Even Angel cannot outfly me any longer. I hold the top score in simulated combat missions with my wife in a close second place. Angel and Bill regularly score in the third and fourth positions. Angel is a better pilot than her husband. I should promote her over Bill, but I don't think that she cares as long as she is with the person that she loves.

  Doc took over from the autopilot and eased the nose down a little. The nose of the ship and the wing leading edges glowed from atmospheric friction. The glow turned to flames as the ship descended and the atmosphere thickened. Doc started circling to reduce the launch's velocity during the descent. The engines are at minimum power, but they are moving too fast to open the speed brakes. Doc pulled back on the controls to ease the nose of the ship up and used the belly of the ship for aerobraking. If he was flying his Marauder he wouldn't bother with slowing down, he would increase the descent angle and increase the starfighter's thrust to get to the surface faster. He couldn't do that with the launch. The stress would tare it apart if it didn't burn up first.

  The flames vanished as the ship continued its descent through the stratosphere. Doc opened the speed brakes long enough to slow the transport ship down. Then he re-engaged the autopilot. The thrusters fired and autopilot corrected the course for the spaceport. "We will be landing at the spaceport in a few minutes," Doc told his wife. "We are less than 100 miles away."

  The autopilot started its approach descent. The launch slowed, and the spaceport came into view. The transport ship's repulsorlift engines started, and the landing gear lowered and locked into place. Doc took over the controls.

  There is a group of shuttles on the landing field that he isn't familiar with. They are painted black with yellow and red stripes on their stub wings and its tails. There is no activity around the strange ships, so Doc assumed that they are here for trade. He knew a lot about the local star systems. These spacecraft are from any of the star systems in the area, but these shuttles might belong to a trader from outside of Doc's territory, but where is the mothership?

  Doc lined up with the landing strip and landed on the spaceport's runway. He shut down the main engines and used the ships thrusters to maneuver his launch to its parking spot. When his ship is in position on the tarmac, Doc shut down the engines.

  Doc and Elaunae exited their launch. A ground car is waiting to take them to the hotel that Doc frequently stays at. Doc and his wife aren't planning on staying long. They planned on leaving the first thing in the morning. They are only planetside for a quick shopping trip. Elaunae has a list of herbs and spices that she wants to season their meals with. What Doc is looking for is something special for his wife and son before returning to the Queen Anne's Revenge.

  They checked into the hotel, and Doc paid for the night's stay. They didn't go up to their suite. There was no need. They didn't bring any luggage with them on this trip. If there is anything that either of them needed, it could be purchased locally in the market square. Everything and anything could be bought there for a price if you knew where to look.

  They left the hotel and walked the short distance to the open market. It gave Doc more time to be alone with his wife. When they arrived at the market entrance, Doc rented a cart. He pressed his palm to its biometric scanner, and the cart scanned his palm print. The vehicle followed Doc and Elaunae into the market area. It stopped and waited for them at every
booth that they stopped at. Elaunae looked at the contents of the booths they passed looking for spices that she regularly uses when cooking and healing herbs. Dr. Marcus took an immediate interest in some of the medications Elaunae uses and added several of them to his treatment plans and the infirmary's supply.

  Every time they stopped, Doc got the feeling that they are being watched but every time he turned to look, there is no one in sight other than shoppers and merchants barking their wares. Doc took his wife's hand and led her to a section of the market that catered to entertainment. Small private tents with star gypsies are intermixed with larger tents with magicians performing simple tricks to attract an audience and scantily clothed human, humanoid, reptilian, and insectoid exotic dancers.

  Elaunae stopped. "I want to have my fortune told."

  "I can tell you that if we stop here, it will be a very short one," Doc told his wife.

  Doc hurried Elaunae past the tents heading to a red and white striped tent. He paid for two tickets and hurried his wife inside. The entrance is filled with distortion mirrors. Elaunae stopped in front of a mirror to admire her reflection. The mirror distorted her image to make her look tall and thin. She stared at her reflection and laughed. Then Elaunae stepped in front of another mirror. That one made her look short and squat. She couldn't believe her eyes. She went from mirror to mirror laughing at the changes they made to her reflections. Doc loved hearing his wife laugh and ordinarily, wouldn't mind spending all day inside of the funhouse with her. "We have to hurry," Doc urged his wife.

  "What is the problem? Why must we hurry? We have nothing like this on my homeworld. I want to spend more time here."

  Doc didn't want to worry his wife, but he had little choice. "I think we are being followed, and if my suspicions are correct, we are in serious trouble."

  "I have seen no one," Elaunae told Doc. "You are just acting paranoid."

  "Please... " Doc urged his wife. "If I am wrong, we will come back and spend the entire day here if you wish."

  "Very well, but if you are wrong, we will come back here and stay until I hear you laugh and I see that you are truly enjoying yourself."

  "If I am wrong, I promise that we will spend as much time as you like in the entertainment section enjoying everything there is to see and hear. We will even visit every star gypsy to have our fortunes told." They only needed to survive this day. Then he would restore order, and things would be back to normal.

  Doc took his wife's hand and led her into a maze of mirrors. He held her hand tightly. If they separated, it might take hours to reunite. Their reflections appeared on every mirror, going in every direction and their reflections were each in turn reflected on other mirrors. Doc did his best to ignore them and stared at the ground. He stared at the floor looking for anything that might be a clue for a hidden door. They are common in mazes like this, and people periodically stumbled into the secret rooms and alcoves. Doc is looking for one, in particular, that would lead into the center of the maze. His wife oohed and awed with each turn they made in the labyrinth.

  Doc suddenly stopped. Then he stepped back a couple of steps and stared at the floor. Five yellow specks the size of grains of sand formed an arrow of sorts. Doc had to look two, then three times to be sure. It was hard to tell if the arrow is just a collection of specks among the other bits that cover the flagstone floor or if it is indeed a marker. Doc pushed on both sides of the mirror's frame. The right side pushed back slightly, then sprung forward allowing him to grasp the edge and pull the hidden door open. He hurried Elaunae inside, followed her, and then closed the door.

  The floor inside of the room is covered with a rug and has a bench on its far side. Doc and his wife sat on the seat. He looked up at the ceiling and could see reflections of the mirrors throughout the maze. The mirrors are angled so that Doc and his wife's images are not reflected in the mirrors. This gave him the advantage of being, for all practical purposes, invisible to his pursuers.

  Doc signaled to his wife that she needed to remain silent to continue the effect. They stared up at the mirror and waited. They only waited for a few moments before two people dressed in the black uniforms of Alliance soldiers entered the maze. Their visors are down preventing Doc and his wife from seeing their faces. Both of them carried blaster rifles aimed in front of them. "They can't escape, we have the pavilion surrounded," One of the guards assured his partner.

  "Be quiet. Our prey might hear you," the other guard said.

  "It doesn't matter. They aren't leaving hear alive."

  Elaunae looked into her husband's eyes, she didn't need to speak. Her eyes conveyed her fear. Her mate was right. She should have listened to him, but she was having so much fun. She had never been happier since she bonded with Doc Roberts. Now it looks like her happiness might come to an end.

  Doc isn't ready to give up yet. If it wasn't for his wife being with him, he might try shooting it out with the soldiers. He has a plan for escape, or at least he hoped that he has one. He wanted to find this particular room for two reasons. The first was to verify that he and his wife are being pursued. The other is for the escape route that smugglers use to elude law enforcement.

  Doc moved the rug aside to reveal a trap door disguised to look like the flagstone that covered the rest of the ground. He lifted the door using finger holds on one edge of the stone. The door opened smoothly and silently on well-oiled hinges. He motioned to his wife to climb down the rungs into the tunnel below them. Elaunae scrunched up her face but obeyed and climbed down the rungs. Doc followed her, closing the trapdoor behind him. He locked the door into place with a hasp and latch that had been placed there to prevent pursuit.

  Doc climbed down nearly 40 feet into a tunnel system that serves as sewers for the town above them as well as a smuggling route for the black market surrounding the city. The tunnels are dimly lit with utility lights. He and Elaunae are standing in a cross section that branched in four directions going north, south, east, and west.

  The spaceport is to the west and Doc is sure that avenue of escape is guarded. Going south would lead them into the cities warrens and slum areas. Heading that way is as dangerous as facing their pursuers. That left north and east. Going in either direction, they could emerge from the sewers in the markets black market areas.

  "It smells worse than Jakaroot down here, and there are rats," Elaunae complained.

  "There are worse things than rats down here," Doc told his wife.

  "Like what?" Elaunae asked her husband.

  "Spiders for a start and there are worse things in the water. Make sure you keep out it. The water is infested with boreworms," Doc warned his wife.

  "I suppose they get their name from what they do? We have no worms that tunnel through the flesh of the living on my homeworld."

  "It is, in part, for the young anyway. Once the worms are inside of you, they eat their way through you and usually end up in your intestines or colon. That is the good part. Bore worms grow to be about 18 inches long. When they are mature, they lay eggs, hundreds of them. The eggs travel in the bloodstream until they hatch. The young worms are attracted to the soft tissues of the brain and swim in the bloodstream until they get there. Then they feed on their host's brain. It is not a pleasant way to die. Death can take weeks or months depending on how many worms hatch and survive. Elaunae stepped back from the trough that carried the sewage water, getting as much distance from it as possible. She and her husband started walking North. Doc pulled his comm from his pocket. The signal to his ship is weak, but it might be strong enough to get through the ground above them. He pressed the alert button. Natasha's voice filled the tunnel, "Are you and Elaunae in trouble? What can I do to help?"

  "Sound general quarters. This is not a drill. There are Alliance soldiers here."

 
"Our sensor scans aren't detecting any Alliance starships in the system," Natasha told Doc.

  "There is a warship here someplace, hiding from our sensor scans." Doc should have recognized the Alliance shuttlecraft. The black paint, yellow and red striped wings threw him off. The Alliance typically painted their warships, gunships, and shuttlecraft a utilitarian gray. "I saw no less than ten Alliance shuttlecraft at the spaceport," Doc advised the starship's AI.

  Elaunae screamed. Doc pulled his blaster from its holster, but Elaunae reacted quicker. A rat reared up standing on its hind legs, rising slightly higher than knee height. His wife used her knife to slice its throat. Then she began skinning and gutting the rat. "Tonight we will have fresh meat for my cook pot. The swamp rats back home get a little bigger than this one, but it is still a good size to eat. Rats are the only animal on Trek'eet that are not protected. My mother taught me several recipes for preparing them. They are our sole source of meat back home," Elaunae explained to her mate.

  After Doc's wife finished cleaning the rat, they continued walking north.

  About 30 minutes later, an explosion shook the tunnel. Either the Alliance is trying to blast their way into the sewers, or they lost their patience searching for Doc and his wife and blew the pavilion apart hoping to kill them in the process. Either way, they are serious about wanting to kill them.

  Doc hurried their pace. He stopped Elaunae at a ladder leading back to the surface. They are still in the city, but probably somewhere in the northern warrens. That could work to their advantage. It is where a sizable portion of the black and gray market operated. No one there would report seeing Doc or his wife to Alliance investigators.