Snark's Quest

by Timothy Ellis

  "Ship twenty," said a voice through station coms. "You are starting engines. Please advise status."

  Snark didn’t bother to respond. Word would get around soon enough. He didn’t wait for the station to release their docking clamps. He flipped a switch, and the attachments on his ship for the station clamps, blew away.

  The ship was free, and he put it into an exit trajectory already programmed into the ship’s computer. They accelerated, and were pushed back in their seats.

  "Ship twenty. Unauthorised exit."

  The Station officer was bleating into the coms. Snark turned it off, and then thought better, and turned it back on. It wouldn’t hurt to hear if they mistakenly broadcast their next moves.

  "Ship twenty, I advise you to immediately return."

  They cleared the station, and shortly after, the fleets arrayed in formations. Snark immediately went to his maximum speed. He was desperately hoping in the chaos following Bhatet’s death, his forces would not be coordinated enough for a pursuit, or even know one was needed. It was pathetic, but it was all they had.

  Snark pushed the tiny ship to the limit of its capability. He stripped every system he could to transfer power to the engines to get just a little more speed. If they had to fight, he’d recalculate things.

  They pulled slowly away.

  Nothing was happening. There were no ships in pursuit.

  They increased the distance between themselves and the station.

  Still no pursuit. Every second of flight beyond Bhatet’s fleets was a second more they gained to get to the nearest jump point.

  Snark scanned the screens frantically, and finally saw what he hadn’t wanted to see. The lead ships in the first formation were firing engines, and turning. Turning towards them, and forming up in a battle formation.

  Snark’s heart sank. They’d played their last card. It was all they had until they jumped.

  The ships were gaining.

  Snark’s voice was wavering as he called to the others, and over the coms for Anna.

  "Get ready for jump."

  The ships came on. The whole fleet. Who was commanding them? The fleet commander on its own initiative, or someone else? Who could have acted so quickly? What had he missed?

  They were nearing the jump.

  The ships were getting closer.

  They jumped.

  Seventy Five

  Petral Bombass of the Brotherhood, was the liaison to Bhatet’s main fleet. He actually considered it to be the Brotherhood’s fleet, but Bhatet liked to think he was running things, and the Brotherhood were at his beck and call. But it was just an illusion they liked him to have. He was quite dangerous, and this was the best way to minimise the damage.

  Petral had received a direct communication from the brother, who was the undercover agent monitoring Bhatet’s every move in the main hall, and beyond. There'd been a major resistance attack, with the Romanov human escaping from Bhatet.

  The Brotherhood had been waiting for the interrogation of the human. They themselves were going to manage it despite Bhatet’s orders, as his main interrogator was their agent. They wanted badly to get their hands on her intelligence, as they themselves wanted the power the Destiny Stone represented.

  They'd miscalculated events on the Perdita planet. Bhatet’s Bats had totally mismanaged the affair from go to woe. However, their agent in the hall had been briefed to stop Bhatet from killing her out of some mistimed anger tantrum. Instead, he’d reported her escape. He said he hadn’t tried to stop them for fear of killing the Romanov female. He said. No doubt they would deal with him. Later.

  They wouldn’t get away. The useless Fleet Commander had hummed and haaed, even with the intelligence Petrel had given him. So he'd declared him unfit for command, and had him shot. The rest of the chain of command were too lily-livered to resist, and so he'd assumed command.

  There was no doubt they would catch this tiny, paltry, minnow of a ship, and get control of the Romanov woman themselves. It would be so much easier that way.

  The other ship didn’t stand a chance. A few well-placed shots into its engines, grapple, and hanger it. The interrogations would then be on his turf. His people were well trained, and he had no doubts at all the plan would go off without a hitch.

  He waited patiently as they crossed the system to the jump point, getting closer to the little ship all the time. By the time it jumped, they were almost in range. They jumped after it.

  Jumping at top speed was not recommended, since you never knew what was on the other side. The faster the jump, the more risk of a collision, but it was a risk Snark had to take. He kept the speed on as they moved away from the jump point. His poor ship was just not fast enough. He knew the fleet would be jumping in behind them very soon now. And what then? They would all be lost.

  He'd agonized about what might happen after jumping, all the way to the jump point, and he'd resolved he wouldn’t let them take him alive. He knew Jamie would be here on the other side of the jump point, but it was cold comfort. Even given her power, Seasprite couldn’t fight off the fleet facing them. He was wishing they'd been able to add a warrior to the crew, as maybe the ship would have a fighting chance if commanded by someone who knew how to fight her. He knew Jamie would do his best, but the fleet behind them was too large to beat.

  Where was Jamie? Before he could find the dot representing Seasprite, his scanners picked up the fleet as they came through the jump point. How many? Too many. Just too many. Oh well, he was up for a fight.

  They were gaining.

  He turned to the others in the Cockpit. They were waiting for news.

  "I…"

  "Clear my line of fire," said a commanding voice, through a channel which he hadn’t noticed had opened.

  There was Seasprite! And what was that? A flight of accompanying ships. Snark scratched his ears and his head, stopped, and checked again.

  Yes. Human ships. Queen Jane?

  Hang on, I know that voice!

  His tail was thrashing now. Could they reach them in time?

  Bhatet’s fleet were gaining on the Minnow. It would be touch and go. But Seasprite, and the three human ships with her, were rapidly approaching.

  He cleared his throat. The others were looking at him with desperate questioning eyes. What was happening?

  "We, that is, I, err…"

  He didn’t finish. As they sailed past Seasprite and the human ships, a barrage of firing erupted.

  Seventy Six

  Tranquil stood on the Bridge of her ship, Tranquil Delivers, legs wide apart, hands on hips. Her two other ships, Delivery and Deliverer, were in triangle formation, with Seasprite tucked in the middle, and slightly behind them. All three ships were Cruisers, modified for freight transport, but still fully functional warships.

  She didn’t turn, as footsteps sounded from the rear door.

  Warspite had cloned himself to one of their special bodies as soon as Snark's ship left the station. The distance apart, even though in two separate systems, was close enough for real time communication, and cloning was immediate. He'd shifted the belt into his normal form, and walked up to the Bridge.

  "You don’t think I can handle this?" asked Tranquil, as he stopped beside her, and assumed the same stance.

  "Of course you can, and it might even be more entertaining letting you, but we have a message to send to the Brotherhood, and any other criminal organizations out there."

  "What message?"

  "Don't fuck with our friends."

  "You couldn’t come up with something blunter for the occasion?"

  "I'm military. We don’t do warm and fuzzy."

  "I gathered that."

  The HUD and navmap changed, as Wet Minnow jumped in.

  "Showtime!" said Warspite. "May I have control please?"

  "You may."

  Warspite opened a channel to Seasprite. Jamie looked at the popped up screen, surprised to see it.

  "Mr. Anderson."

  Jamie's fa
ce changed to a deeper level of shock, since he had no idea how this unknown person knew his name. Off vid, Tranquil grinned.

  "My name is Admiral Warspite. You will please sit back from the controls, and allow me to control Seasprite from here."

  "Ye can do that?" he croaked.

  "Yes. All four ships are now slaved together, and will obey only me. Sit back and enjoy the show."

  "Aye sir."

  The channel closed. At the same moment, the fleet of ships chasing Snark jumped in. The first six were Cruisers, followed by a dozen lesser ships, followed by three more Cruisers. Warspite took a nanosecond to determine which ship was giving the orders. Predictably, it was the middle Cruiser at the back.

  He opened another channel.

  "Clear my line of fire," commanded Warspite.

  He closed the channel immediately.

  "You enjoyed that," said Tranquil, still grinning.

  "Yes."

  Warspite connected to the weapons systems on all four ships, and the ship configurations changed. The rear turrets all began to rise up, until they could fire over the top of the front ones. In seconds, every turret on all four ships could fire forward.

  This time he opened a channel to the enemy flagship.

  Petrel Bombass was shouting to the bridge executive, but no one was listening. They were all staring at the coms screen, on which a human dressed in dull red, was staring at them. He reluctantly stopped shouting, and paid attention himself.

  "Who are you?" he asked.

  "I am Admiral Warspite, of the Kingdom of Hunter's Run. The ship you are chasing is under our protection. You will reverse course immediately, or be destroyed."

  Petrel grinned at the arrogance of the command he'd been given. The ships were up on the tactical monitor, and he gave them a glance. Admittedly three of the ships were the same size as nine of his, but his people had seen these before offloading cargo. At best, they were little more than armed freighters, as big as they were.

  "You and who's space navy? You're bluffing."

  His crew were laughing, although the bat at the tactical station was looking pale.

  "I don’t need to bluff," said Warspite. "Turn now, or accept your fate."

  Petrel was suddenly tired of being told what to do by an ugly alien with no clothes sense. He turned to his tactical officer.

  "All ships fire," he commanded.

  The channel closed. Warspite was quite happy to obey the order. He grinned at Tranquil, who grinned back, and he mimed pressing a button.

  Warspite sent a battle feed to both Snark and Jamie, brought all four ships to a stop, and opened fire with all guns. Each Cruiser was targeting one of its opposite numbers in the first rank, as was Seasprite.

  The enemy was dividing fire among them, which was a tactical mistake, since even their combined firepower wasn’t enough to seriously threaten a single ship, but it was the only tactic which had any chance of working. Apparently they didn’t realize this. Warspite fired off their missiles at the other two Cruisers.

  For a moment, pulses and missiles crossed with pulses, rail shot, and some much slower missiles.

  Three Cruisers simply vanished, while the fourth turned into instant debris. A moment later, the last two Cruisers also became debris, although of a lot smaller size.

  The combined fleet fire peppered the shields of all four ships, but hardly disturbed the shield indicator on the Cruisers, and while Seasprite's took a dip, they were back up again before the remaining enemy fired again.

  Several missiles missed the big ships completely, and took after Wet Minnow, but were intercepted by Mosquito missiles well before hitting the little ship.

  The next wave of smaller ships continued to come on, so Warspite took a whole millisecond to change targets. The four ships spat pulses again, and as the lower volume of enemy fire hit their shields again, all twelve ships simply vanished at the same time.

  Petrel Bombass was screaming at his bridge executive now, but again, no-one was listening. Actually someone was, Warspite and Tranquil were laughing. The three remaining Cruisers were turning as fast as they could, in preparation for running away. Petrel was outraged. He drew his sidearm, and shot the bat at the helm in the back of the head. His first officer pulled the body out of the seat, sat down himself, and continued the turn away. Petrel stared in disbelief.

  The turning ship crashed into the next ship in the line, and both of them exploded. Petrel Bombass was still screaming at his crew right up until the last second. He didn’t actually notice his life was ending.

  The last remaining ship, successfully turned, took two missiles in the engines which halved its speed in an instant, but continued to retreat to the jump point as fast as it could. Moments later, it vanished.

  "Nice," said Tranquil, and they high fived.

  Warspite stood down the weapon systems, and gave control back to Tranquil and Jamie.

  Jamie was elated. While it hadn’t been him in control, he could at least say he'd gone in all guns blazing.

  Snark had kept going past the fleet, until the battle feed showed it was safe to come back. He brought his ship to a stop underneath Seasprite. He opened a channel.

  "Wet Minnow, this is Seasprite."

  "Wet Minnow here."

  "Are ye all guid?"

  "All good. We have Anna, and a new friend."

  Jamie was relieved. They’d been successful. They had Anna. It was if the adrenaline drained from him, leaving him empty and weak.

  "Open the hanger doors Jamie," said Snark. "We want to come home."

  Seventy Seven

  They were all gathered in the lounge of Seasprite. Jamie, Snark, Patters, Brindle, and Anna, who was sitting somewhat on her own. Sissness was reading reports on her tablet.

  They all looked up, when two humans walked into the room. Snark recognised one of them immediately.

  "Warspite! How the hell did you get here? Last time I saw you was on the border with owl space."

  "Jane sent for me once it was clear there was no real reason for keeping a major fleet there anymore. There is still a fleet, but it no longer needs me. As soon as she received your call for help, I took a Lightning out to the nearest of Tranquil's ships, and arrived just in time for the fun."

  He paused a moment, seeing the surprised expressions.

  "This is Tranquil by the way. This small fleet of traders, blazing the way out into the galaxy for the Kingdom, is hers. She's not military though, which is why Jane sent me. Tranquil is more an explorer than a trader."

  Snark did the introductions, since he knew Warspite quite well.

  "Was it necessary to take control of yon ship away from me?" asked Jamie. "I can fight, you know."

  Tranquil laughed. Jamie looked at her with a confused expression.

  "He took command away from me also."

  "Neither of you have the proper skills for a battle of this size," said Warspite. "Jamie, without a PC, you lack any sort of decent control of ship systems. You too Snark."

  "I did ask for one, you remember," said Snark.

  "So you did. But until we have a full medical database for your species, it's too dangerous. I believe it's being organized though."

  Snark nodded, but the rest of them looked confused, except Anna, who wasn’t paying attention.

  "By the way," Warspite went on, "Jane says 'Well done!', and she’s glad everyone is safe."

  Anna looked to be in shock. Jamie got up and sat next to her, and put his arm around her. She leaned her head on his shoulder experimentally, seemed to find it solid, and relaxed. He slightly tightened his grip.

  "Bhatet?" Brindle asked Snark.

  "I added some purple plant cure to the Mouse I gave you. I'm not sure which platter it was on, and it didn’t work as fast as I'd hoped, but it worked in the end, and that's all that matters. Caffeine is toxic for his genetic makeup and metabolism, and the purple plant cure is based on it."

  "I wondered about that," said Brindle. "I thought I’d poisoned him
by mistake!"

  Sissness began pouring out all of the information she’d gathered about Hootsmoon, the Stone or Talisman, and the information Hootsmoon had provided.

  Anna had tuned out. She couldn’t help it. It was like she couldn’t concentrate, and her brain had been taken over by aliens. Perhaps it had.

  "You haven’t heard a word I’ve said," Sissness said to her loudly.

  "What?"

  Sissness sighed. She’d been far too eager to move on. Anna still needed to deal with what had just happened.

  "Are you OK?" she asked.

  Anna looked at her blankly.

  "You must have been terrified," Sissness tried.

  "Yes," replied Anna.

  "Do you want to talk about it?" asked Sissness gently.

  "Not really." Anna seemed lost in thought. "Except…"

  Sissness hugged Anna.

  "What?"

  "I left him behind." Anna started to cry.

  "Who?" Sissness asked, but Anna kept crying.

  Snark looked at her sharply, his mind making a leap without any real reason to.

  "Did he have tentacles?" he asked softly.

  Anna slowly nodded. Snark sighed, and shook his head. Anna lost it completely.

  It took a while to settle her down again, during which the four ships were moving back the way Tranquil had come, which offered them a few jumps over, a choice of directions to head in. For now, they were sticking together, in case letting the last ship go proved to have been a bad idea, and the Brotherhood were able to hit them again from a different base.

  Warspite sent Jane all the feeds, and asked for instructions. The vid came back almost immediately. The two of them shifted up into AI mode to watch it.

  "Stay with them until they decide where they go next. Warspite, stay with Snark, but don’t let him know. This is his quest, and he's proud enough to want to do it on his own. I can hear him calling me a mop head for the help he's had so far, even though he knows they were probably in deep trouble without you. There's plenty of unused space on Seasprite, so pretend to leave, and go find someplace you can be comfortable while monitoring things. Leave the combat droid where it is. I'm going to send them a fabricator unit so Seasprite can make them replacement missiles. It'll be a good excuse for her to be online all the time, and she can make combat droids as well, in case they run into more trouble."