by Marc Stevens
I was interrupted by an IST transmission from Sael. “Nathan, what is your status?”
I filled her in on everything that had transpired and the fact we were still no closer to finding Eiger. I told her of our concerns for our allies, and what we thought had happened to them. She was not a lot of help and stated what we already knew.
“If I were you, I would think long and hard about attacking until you can locate the Zaens. If they are being held on one of the ships, you could very well kill them with your preemptive strike. Another thing to consider is that Eiger must know we are actively hunting him. If he does not have the Zaens and you make a big stink trying to rescuing them, what do you think will happen if word gets out who is responsible? You may never get another shot at him.”
“We will wait for the time being and concern ourselves with finding the Zaens. We can only hope that Eiger does not have them.”
“Keep me appraised of the situation and I will make my way to your location as soon as I am able.”
The transmission ended with me wondering what was keeping the Operative from joining us. My crew was having a discussion on how to find the Zaens. They came up with an idea, which, at the moment, was more than I had. It was simple and straightforward. We would make an IST transmission back to Alpha base and contact young Felix. He would know standard communication codes necessary to contact Broza’s ship that would not compromise our discrete code system. We would then put a message on a comm buoy and launch it into the system so it arrives close to the outpost. The message on the buoy would say that he was not able to contact the Murlaks on outpost 9765 and was stuck with twenty suits of Murlak armor. We would have him say something to the effect, he would sell the armor at a discount to recoup the investment made to build them. We had hopes that greed would take over if the Zaens comms were being monitored. If an acknowledgement is broadcast to the buoy from their ship, Justice would be able to locate them.
I made the call to Alpha Base and Felix wanted to help anyway he could to find his clan members. He was more than just a little concerned for Broza and Hylet. It took him three tries to get the panic out of his voice while making the message. Justice snuck us out of the local system and prepped and launched the buoy. He programmed it to make four different jumps that would take it on a roundabout course. The buoy’s last vector would jump it to the location of the outpost from the far side of the system. We would have plenty of time to pick a strategic location to observe the dust nebula and the outpost if our little trick raised a response from the Zaen’s ship.
Justice hid the Legacy in the edge of the dust cloud near the most direct route to the outpost. I sat doing one of my least favorite things: waiting. I was slowly learning how to control the Oolaran soldier that haunted my thoughts, but I could not stifle its constant goading. The yearning for combat was still highly contagious and the anxiety that came with it an unwelcome distraction. I wasn’t sure if Tria could sense my restlessness, but she got up from her console and stood by me. When she placed her hand on my shoulder it was if she was siphoning off my pool of bloodthirsty thoughts. I partially relaxed.
“Commander, the buoy has transitioned into the system and is broadcasting now.”
I didn’t have any idea how long it would take to get a response, but Tria’s touch was now having a different effect on me and I wrapped my arm around her waist. She looked down at me and cocked an eyebrow. The damn fool machine put his two cents worth into an already increasingly awkward situation.
“Commander, perhaps it would be wise for all crew members to take a rest period while we wait to see if the Zaens respond.”
Klutch and Coonts gave each other a frown then both looked back at Tria and me. They both quickly turned back to their consoles but could not contain the snickers that were easily audible. Tria rolled her eyes and let her hand fall from my shoulder. The spell was broken, and I leaned back in my chair drumming my fingers on the armrest. Tria went back to her station, but not before walking by Klutch and cuffing him on his bullet head. The pair could no longer contain their laughter and both broke out in a loud guffaw. Xul looked on with a very confused expression on his face. Sweet mother of my maker! My crew is turning into clowns just like Karl and me used to be back in high school.
I had my fill and got up from my chair. “Tria would you like to join me in the galley?”
“Yes, I believe I would.”
As she got up to walk out, she passed by Coonts, giving him a slap to the back of his head as well that shut up the cackle coming from his pie hole. Klutch found Coonts’ reaction to being cuffed even funnier than my embarrassed behavior. He was now laughing loud enough I considered it an assault on my ears and wondered if he would commence rolling about the deck. Xul beat me to the drop tube and disappeared down; Tria and I quickly did the same.
We had not been seated for more than a couple of minutes, and I was working on my third bite of food when Justice alerted us. “Commander, a response from the Zaens has been sent and it originated from the location of one of the Tibor shuttle carriers! I will play the transmission and I believe you will find the message very interesting.”
There was a short pause and then Broza’s voice filled the galley. “Felix! I am so glad to hear from you! Yes, I can sell all of the armor suits. Can you let the shipping department know that the large shipment of Dorta sea snakes that was to be shipped to Haras on outpost 9765 needs to be shipped to 6854 along with the armor? Let Haras know I will give them a discount on the replacement order for the inconvenience. I await your arrival schedule — please transmit it as soon as possible.”
Broza was one smooth operator: he just slipped us a warning about the Tibor pirates holding him. They probably thought the Zaen was trying to bribe his way out of the mess he was in by stuffing their faces with their favorite delicacy. If I had my way, they were going to get stuffed all right. I heard some thumping footsteps and Klutch rounded the corner into the galley with Coonts right behind him. The expression on his face was pinched and his large dark eyes had tears in the corners. It was about that time that Klutch’s scent caught up with him and I shoved my plate away. Looking at Tria, I saw her take a quick breath and do the same.
“Klutch, calm yourself! I can’t think with your warrior’s scent choking me. Let’s go to the conference room and figure out how to get the Zaens out of trouble.”
Tria, Xul, and I quickly headed to the lifts to get a breath of fresh air. Coonts wasted no time bringing up the rear. Klutch had a disturbing look on his face and was pounding his fists together but had the decency to give us time to put distance between us and him.
He yelled after us. “Commander, the pirates that hold the Zaens dishonor all Tibor clans and they must be cleansed from the galaxy!”
I put my arm around Tria and gave him a thumb up with my other as we disappeared upward. As we stepped into the conference room Justice put a holographic depiction of the Tibor shuttle carrier over the middle of the table. We took our seats and then Klutch joined us, but his odor was not quite neutral yet. I gave a slight cringe and shook my head. It would have to be enough for now, and I pointed at his chair until he sat.
“Klutch, if you have additional knowledge on the carrier, please fill us in.”
“Commander, the vessel you see was used very little because it had a large number of flaws in its design. It was never accepted into service but led to a much better design. I know of only eight ever built for trials, and of those, only five survived to be sold for scrap. How the pirates came into possession of two is anybody’s guess.”
“Well, they are here and we will have to deal with them. What are the weapons capabilities and what could we expect if we attempt to board that thing?”
“The initial design had sixteen shuttles, as Justice already pointed out. The number of troops he mentioned was also correct if all the shuttles have complete assault crews. The ship itself had three officers and twenty-one crew members to operate it. I have serious doubts as to the pira
tes having a complete crew.”
Xul held a finger up to me and silenced Klutch for the moment. I gave him a nod. “Is there something you would like to add, Xul?”
“Yes, Commander. While Coonts and I were on the outpost I kept count of all the possible hostiles we encountered when we departed the shuttle. In the docking areas we passed through, there was forty-seven Tibor and sixty-two Murlak including the two that shadowed us. I only counted these numbers because they were openly displaying weapons. All of the market areas we passed through had two hundred and five Tibor, and one hundred and seventy-one Murlak that were armed. If we were to assume the rest of the outpost was as heavily guarded, that would make the chances of the shuttle carrier having a complete crew very unlikely.”
The little Grawl took his seat. I looked over at Coonts and could see he was embarrassed by the fact he did not think to do the same thing.
“Thank you, Xul, that is an important piece of intelligence and will make a big difference in our threat assessment.”
We gave Xul a nod and Klutch continued. “What we are not seeing is whether or not the ship has its original armament. The ships had large quad energy beam weapons on the top and bottom hidden in armored bays. Next to the batteries were two missile tubes for a total of four. Around the perimeter guarding the hangar bays were eight defensive energy weapons. Again, I can only speculate because if the weapons are present, they are hidden behind armored hatches.”
An idea was forming in my head. “Justice can you get us in close for a detailed scan of the ship?”
“Yes, moving now Commander.”
“Klutch, what were some of the design flaws you were talking about?”
“For starters, the star drives were much too small and underpowered to give the carriers sufficient speed to keep up with normal fleet combat maneuvers. The powerplants also lacked heavy enough armor to protect them in combat. Some brilliant fool decided that the extra weight would be detrimental to the already slow design and gave it very good shields in an attempt to offset the shortcoming. Initial testing revealed the shields could withstand a good beating, but once they were overwhelmed, it only took a couple of strategically placed shots to completely disable the ship. This may sound like it would be an easy fix with a power plant and armor upgrade, but what really killed the project were the fire suppression systems. The piping supplied by a third-party vendor was substandard and not properly tested. It was internally plumbed throughout the ship and not tested until void trials. The first time the piping was pressurized, it leaked so badly the chemical suppressants flooded internal machine spaces, disabling critical combat and life support systems. More than a few military leaders thought that it was espionage and the project was abandoned to the scrapyards. If the Throggs on those ships don’t know that, we should start a fire to show them.”
In the back of my mind the beast in me was contemplating a bonfire complete with a war dance. I shook my head, clearing the image from my brain. Justice put a viewscreen on the wall and we got a close-up of the target ship. It was still ready for the scrap yard. I suspected it was more of a base of operations than a space-worthy combat ship.
“Justice, have you picked up any comms coming from the carrier or any of the other ships?
“Negative, only the transmission from the Zaen’s ship. My scans detect thirty-nine life forms on the Tibor carrier. I am unable to differentiate between the Tibor and Zaens. All of the target ships are running on minimal systems and their powerplants are working at negligible output. The probability of the vessels being maintained by nominal crews is high and I believe that the remainder of the personnel are on the outpost.”
Our view was growing larger by the second and finally stopped when we were looking directly into one of the hangar openings. Sitting just inside hangar number four according to the identifier on the deck, was the Zaens oblong culvert pipe shaped starship. Scanning the rest of the opening, Justice put the images of four Tibor assault shuttles in the back of the hangar. It was obvious from his scans that at least three of them were partially disassembled. A plan was starting to come together in my head. Tria squeezed my hand and then called to Justice.
“Justice, take us to the other carrier, if it is crewed in the same manner we might be able to do a covert recovery mission and depart the area before any are the wiser.”
She must have been doing that annoying Chaalt mind-reading trick because I was thinking the same thing.
37
Our scans turned up nineteen crewmembers on the second carrier. It seemed that most everyone was on the outpost, possibly out of necessity. Justice alerted us that the second carrier had no operational atmospheric retention fields. The subzero temperatures in sixty-nine percent of the ship indicated that most of it was in perpetual vacuum. I wondered what sin the remaining crews had committed to be stuck aboard those wrecks. Sucks to be them and they had no idea just how bad yet!
“Klutch, are you familiar enough with the deck plan to search for the Zaens if they are not being held on their ship?”
The Tibor looked thoughtful for a long moment. “Familiar would not be the optimal word I would use, but I do recall where the bridge and comms are located. From that location there is a service tunnel that runs through the ship to the machine spaces. If we control those areas, we control the ship.”
“Start working on a plan to rescue the Zaens. I want it to be a covert attempt, and if that fails, things will become difficult very quickly.”
“Justice, we need to make contact with Felix so we can give Broza a reply message.”
“IST transmitter is online and ready, Commander.”
I made the call to young Felix and he was only partially relieved that we had located Broza and Hylet. The reputation of Tibor pirates was well known and he feared his relatives would be killed in our attempt to free them. I could not blame him because I was more than worried it might turn out that way as well. He made us a message that stated he would arrive with the inventory in two standard rotations. If the plans we were making panned out, we would broadcast the final message we had Felix make. It was a call we knew would never be answered by Broza if we rescued him and Hylet. It was a request for coordinates to a meeting place to transfer the cargo. When he did not get an acknowledgement, he would broadcast he was leaving the sector. Looking at my crewmates I made eye contact with each of them.
“We need to do this in such away the Zaens won’t be a target of the pirate’s revenge. Since we haven’t got a solid lock on Eiger yet, we need to get in and out without tipping anyone off as to who is behind what is about to happen. Klutch, you said that thing was a fire trap. Well, we are going to make sure that is the case if we get the Zaens out of there. We need to make sure it looks like a tragic accident. If Eiger does show up, we try to take him out with as many of these Throggs as we can. OK. let’s hear some ideas.”
Klutch stood back up. “The accident you speak of will be the easiest part of the operation. The hard part will be making sure no one can use the comms on the carrier or the Zaen’s ship to call for help. We must make those targets our first priority. Like I stated earlier, the bridge will be another important target once the comms have been silenced. As far as a fire goes, if we make it to the service tunnel unhampered, we open every service hatch we pass and start a fire in the lower spaces. The fire will spread quickly, so we will want to make a very hasty retreat.”
Klutch sat back down and Tria added something I really hadn’t thought of. “We should invite our new friends the Sig. They tend to make all races nervous because their motives are always suspect.”
Everyone nodded and Coonts added to her comment. “Commander, if they were to make a close pass, the security teams on the outpost would be on their highest alert.”
I liked the idea and wondered if it would trigger a call to Eiger to bring his Warbringer into the system, or if it would scare the coward off. No matter the consequences, we needed to get the Zaens out of the dilemma they were currently in.
“Justice, launch a comm buoy to our closest communication relay and contact the Sig.”
“Commander, I recommend we move to the outer reaches of the system before we launch a buoy. There is a small possibility it will be detected this close to our target area.”
“Roger that. Let me know when you reach them.”
I was going to wait until I knew if the Sig could free up some of their assets before we sent Felix’s response to the Tibor holding the Zaens. Timing was going to be on the tight side if they were more than a couple of days out. They should have several vessels in the neighborhood around the Scrun base we captured. I knew those ships were within a day’s jump to this location.
“Commander, Sushi has responded to our message.”
Justice put a viewscreen on the wall of the conference room and Sushi’s image appeared. “Nathan Myers, I hope you and your crew are well. How can I be of service to my fellow clan member?”
It warmed my heart knowing we had made friends with another race and it did not involve shedding each other’s blood to do it. “I have a favor to ask and it should not include any major risk to your people.”
The look I got from Sushi indicated he was disappointed.
“I was hoping you were going to tell me you had some more slavers that needed to be eradicated.”
“Not this time my friend. I need you to make a fly-by of outpost 6854.”
The Sig looked puzzled. “I know of the trading post and it is rumored that a large number of pirates are firmly entrenched in that sector. If you are attempting to capture the trading post I will have to summon a larger fleet. We have had a few run-ins with the Scrun over our new base of operations. It has been quiet for a while, so we think they may have given up and moved on to other places.”
