by Ryan Krauter
"Captain Two-Swords," he began as his fellows slid to each side while they exited the hatch into the corridor proper, handguns drawn. "I hope you've told your crew to be cooperative. Heroes have a way of getting themselves and the people around them killed. We just want the cargo, but understand that we'll do what it takes to make that happen. I hope I'm clear on what that means, yes?"
"I just want to get my crew through this," the captain bit out through clenched teeth. "What do you want?"
The Trin continued. "You and your most junior cargo handler are going to come to the cargo control center with us. I want the newest, greenest, most inexperienced man or woman you have.” A Chief might think they know something about this ship they could use against him, but a rookie would just do what the pirate commanded. “Now let's get you to that panel over there so you can make the call." The Trin gestured to a video screen at the junction between two corridors
"Crewman Web Barazian report to Main Cargo Control," Web heard over the ship's loudspeakers.
"That can't be good," Web said under his breath. His station, the pod monitoring console, was a few dozen steps from the main control center, an area reserved for the senior cargo handlers. There was no real good reason for him to be there, unless it was something the pirates had wanted specifically.
A few of the other cargo types gave him apprehensive glances as he left the small collection of stations they were at and headed fore towards the control center. As he approached, he heard a commotion; a few shouts, rattling and scraping of equipment of some sort across the decking, and a thud that was most likely the sound of a body falling to the floor.
"Web Barazian reporting, Captain," Web said meekly as he stuck his head into the crowded control room. It was filled with displays, consoles, chairs, and even an old fashioned writing surface on one wall where notes could be scribed by hand. It was also filled with three Solar Venturer crew, the captain, and three pirates. The extra bodies were already making the compartment warm, and Web could see a few of the freighter crewmembers start to sweat.
"Captain Two-Swords says you're the most junior cargo handler," the human said menacingly as he brandished his tarnished handgun.
"I guess I'm the newest arrival, yes," Web replied shakily. Whatever was going down, it was important that he be involved. If they wanted a scared junior crewmember, that's what he would be.
"Good," the human continued. "You and the captain are going to stay here while the rest head up front with the other crew."
With that, the Qualin motioned to the forward hatch and roughly pushed one of the cargo handlers through; the rest followed obediently. The Trin, who seemed to Web to be in charge despite the human's tough talk, nodded at the human and also left.
"Captain's going to look at the inventory and tell me which pods he wants to transfer to our own ship," the human began. "You two are going to make sure that happens smoothly. All goes well, you probably won't even have to get hurt." The human leered at Web and Captain Two-Swords. "Probably."
The human stepped to the hatch to confer with the Trin for a second.
"Mr. Barazian," the captain whispered, "we need this to go off quickly. No problems, ok? We need them off this ship. The cargo's insured, so there's no reason to cause any problems here." The captain looked right into Web's eyes.
"Yes, sir," Web replied. He was torn; there was the off chance this was the sort of thing he should break cover on. If things got out of hand, his first responsibility was to the crew of this ship. True, they weren't technically Confederation citizens, but if the pirates got out of hand he wasn't going to sit and watch them toss the crew out of the airlocks. He just wished he could talk to Halley.
"Excuse me," Two-Swords called out to the pirates, still engrossed in their private conversation. "Do you have any pods for me to move yet? I'm sure we'd all rather be done with this as soon as possible."
This seemed to anger the human, and the Trin made no move to stop him from stomping over to Two-Swords. "We'll tell you when this is done with, got it?" he yelled, sticking his handgun right under the captain's jaw.
Two-Swords nodded imperceptibly.
"Good," the human replied. "Now, my captain is going to go watch the guys toss your cabin. You could save some damage if you just tell us where the safe is and give us the combination straight away."
Two-Swords just looked nervously at the pirate, and Web saw something flash between them. Suddenly the captain was more nervous than before. "I can only open the safe in port," Two-Swords stammered. "It's a lockout so I don't skim and you can't steal. I'm sorry."
The human continued to stare at the captain, who finally looked away nervously.
"You're a horrible liar," the Trin captain out in the corridor commented. "We'll get to work. If it takes too long, we'll just come back down here and start cutting off fingers. From both of you."
And with that, the Trin was gone.
CHAPTER 6
Halley remained on the bridge where two pirates with automatic blasters covered the crew where they were clustered in one corner by the astrographics table.
The First Officer, Lirik Daemon, ended up right next to her. She had been ordered to call up on the main viewer a schematic of the cargo pod rings and was watching as the pirates sorted through the database, trying to decide which ones to take. Daemon was watching with intense interest as the pirates highlighted pods to remove. From what Halley could see, there wasn’t much rhyme or reason to what they were taking.
"They're not touching some of the real obvious pods," she whispered to the First Officer, "even though there are some pretty valuable goods in some of them." Like Web, she had debated breaking cover, but also like Web she'd elected not to unless lives were about to be lost. She hated to be so cold in deciding that this piracy was not her problem, but there were greater issues at stake and she needed to get to Callidor more than this shipping line needed to protect a few insured cargo pods. Nothing said she couldn't prod the FO along, though, and hope she did something to help.
She looked back at Halley nervously. "So?" she replied. "As long as they leave, that's all I care."
That wasn't the response she was expecting. "But why would they take the pod filled with farming equipment for an agri-moon," she continued, "and leave behind advanced fabrication equipment bound for Callidor?"
Daemon snapped her head to look at Halley and whispered quietly but harshly, spit bubbling up on her lips. "What do we care? As long as they take it and go I don't much care. Just leave them be so we can get this over with!"
"You," a pirate commanded, pointing at First Officer Daemon. "Come over here. You need to switch off the external security feeds and the computer inventory. No need to have you figuring out what we're taking too quickly."
Daemon shuffled over compliantly and sat down at a console, then slowly and nervously started pecking at the controls as commanded.
Web and Captain Two-Swords sat quietly at the cargo control consoles as the human pirate paced around the compartment, inspecting displays and occasionally looking out of the small viewports high up on the bulkheads which afforded fore and aft views over the cargo pod rings. The pirate didn't seem to consider Web and the captain too much of a threat, and that was just fine with him.
The captain suddenly tensed as he looked at one of the monitors.
Web noticed immediately. "What's wrong, Captain?"
"Um, nothing, I hope," the captain stammered, but Web knew that wasn't true. He saw the captain was looking at the internal server display and that it was showing attempted breaches of the secure data archives.
"Something in the computer they shouldn't get?" Web asked cautiously.
Captain Two-Swords looked at Web suspiciously. "What do you think you see?" he asked.
"I see somebody trying to access the secure areas of the main computer's storage as well as our comm logs," Web said evenly. "I can see why pirates would do that, but you seemed to react when you saw."
"You're mistaken,
" the captain replied brusquely. "I don't want them pawing through any parts of this ship, that's all."
"Okay," Web said noncommittally.
"Shut your mouths over there!" the human pirate commanded at them, then turned back to stare out the forward viewport as the pirate's own cargo container ship started to ease into place overhead.
The pirate's comm device chimed and he tapped the earpiece in his left ear with his finger. "Yes? It's down here now? Alright; I'll get them to it." With that, the pirate turned to Web and the captain.
"I have our list of pods you're going to put in the release queue." He tapped a few commands onto the screen next to Web and a list popped up, showing cargo pod serial numbers and routing information. "Put the ones on that list into the release list. Have the computer get it all set up, and then you two are going back with the rest of the crew while we work. Make it fast."
As the pirate stomped off, Web took another glance at the captain. He looked back at Web.
"Mr. Barazian," the captain said slowly, as if it pained him. "I need to ask you to do something for me. For this ship."
Web tried to look like he was concentrating on the displays and list the pirate had given him, but he shot the captain a look out of the corner of his eye as he worked and nodded imperceptibly.
"There is some information on this ship that I can't let the pirates have. It's in my personal memory buffer in my cabin. It came to me inside a message two days ago securely for me. They can't see it." That's all the man would say.
Web didn't have much time to think about it. Something was going on, but he had no idea what this mystery information was. Was it good, bad, secret, damning? He was almost done with the pod list and had to act quickly. Something told him to just do it, so he opened a new portal and quickly searched for the message using a hacked login he'd established as soon as he'd arrived onboard the ship. He found a coded message to the captain with a large attachment, and curiously enough the source was redirected enough times as to be untraceable.
The pirate was stomping back towards them and Web hurriedly tapped more commands. The display flashed a confirmation box showing that the pod release sequence was set just in time for the pirate to peer at Web and his handiwork.
"Looks like you're all done here," he said, and pulled Web's chair away from the console. Then he stepped back and motioned for Web and the captain to stand up using his blaster rifle.
"Start marching. Everyone's headed to the mess hall while we work."
They walked down the corridors, the pirate a few steps behind them. On the way, they were joined by some more crew, also being herded by their own small band of pirates.
"Did you do it?" Two-Swords whispered nervously as the pirates greeted each other.
"Yes."
"Where is it?"
"Safe. I'll tell you when we're alone," Web promised.
Halley entered the mess hall with the first officer and rest of the bridge crew. The large room had been turned into a holding area, with both hatches to the outside corridors guarded. The pirates had made a quick sweep of the kitchen and pronounced it clear, but none of the crew had seemed to want to leave the comfort of the larger group.
Halley sought out Web and managed to get near him.
"We need to talk," she said softly.
"About what?" Web asked innocently, but saw the look on her face and knew something was bothering her deeply. "Alright; let's make some stim-caf."
He led the way the few steps to the galley and pointed to the doors as one pirate glared at him. "Thought I'd crank out some stim-caf. You folks are of course welcome to take some first."
"You know we will," the man replied gruffly, then motioned for Web to continue. Once he and Halley were in the galley, she helped him set up the machines to produce a steady stream of the stuff. They had to keep up the act since everyone in the mess hall could see them through the pass-through heating plates where the food was transferred from galley to counter up front.
"What's going on?" Web asked as he measured out ingredients.
"Something's rotten here," she said in an intense whisper. "The FO doesn't care at all what's going on. Now, I can understand wanting to cooperate, but she's too laid back about it. It just doesn't feel right. Have you seen anything odd?"
"Well, there is the small issue of the captain asking me to hide an encrypted file he received so the pirates can't access it. That struck me as a bit unusual, don't you think?"
"Are these two going to get us all killed?" growled Halley. "There aren't any covert Confed activities going on that should have intersected with our mission. I get angry when I don't have all the facts, and for damn sure one or both of these two are holding out."
"Just to give them the benefit of the doubt," Web said gently, "maybe they're just trying to get the ship through this as painlessly as possible."
Halley seemed to think about that for a second, then shook her head. "No, I think something's going on here. We have at least a couple hours to figure this out before they've taken all the pods on their list. We need to get to work."
Web grabbed a platter and set a half dozen mugs of stim-caf on it. "Then let's get going," he replied, and headed to the doors.
Avenger cruised out-system along their assigned vector. Another half hour and they'd be clear of all traffic lanes and gravity wells. In a truly desperate situation, they could always just travel perpendicular to the system's elliptic and escape much faster, but leaving through charted traffic lanes was otherwise expected.
"Care to wager on how our next stop goes?" Captain Elco said softly to Loren, who sat at the XO's console across from the captain's on the bridge.
"I wouldn't be so bold at this point," Loren replied. Even if he had something groundbreaking to say, he couldn't do it on the bridge because as far as the crew knew this was strictly the diplomatic mission that Admiral Bak had cut orders for. And besides that, the truth was that he was starting to think this was going nowhere.
"Traffic control has cleared us," reported the comm officer from the side of the bridge.
"Thank you," Elco replied. "Navigation, distance to clear?"
"We'll be beyond the repair yard in three minutes, Captain," was the swift reply.
Loren stared at the main viewscreen. Absent a tactical need, or captain's command, the main holo was dormant and the viewscreen was showing a forward camera view. He called up control of the cameras and slewed to take a better look at the mothball yard off their port side.
"That's a lot of ships," Loren said to Captain Elco. He saw a local patrol ship just disappearing behind the moon on the far side of the facility, and noticed on the tactical plot that Avenger was raising her nose a few degrees to clear the near moon's gravity well as soon as possible.
"Captain," Loren heard Lieutenant Caho say. She said it slowly, but as the word stretched out her voice rose in pitch and volume. Without waiting, she continued. "Something's in that facility! I'm seeing power blooms, three of them, and they're headed for us."
"Are some of the ships in there powering up somehow?" Elco asked, immediately knowing in his heart that it couldn't be something so innocent.
"The tractor field is shredding our sensor readings," she replied as she swiveled her chair to look at the captain, "but I'm pretty sure they're Priman."
"This far out in the core?" Elco said in shock, but once again, that little voice told him it couldn't be a coincidence. They were lying in wait, hiding from both Avenger and the locals. It seemed like the Primans had placed a death mark on his ship. "Shields!" he commanded, then turned to look at Loren who was already halfway to the starboard escape trunk and its steep stairs down to C3. "Loren, let's make them pay."
Elco hit the comm controls in his chair's armrest. "Lieutenant Mastruk," he barked into the intercom, "Commander Stone is on the way down. We have Primans popping up around us. Get the point defense and weapons ready, but don't launch any fighters."
"Torpedoes inbound, Captain!" Elco heard from be
hind him, and his blood ran cold. He knew what that meant; he'd read the briefs about the Primans and their new EMP torpedoes. There was no shield or maneuver that could stop it. They couldn't hope to shoot down every incoming torpedo, and it only took one to apparently neuter the ship and turn it into a dark and cold coffin. There were theories and suggestions about what might improve chances of survival, but nobody had tried any of them yet. Or perhaps more accurately, tried them and lived to tell the tale.
Elco glanced at the 3D holo field in the front of the bridge. It showed Avenger just rounding the outer moon, with three Priman ships emerging from the dense mothball shipyard behind it in their baffles. It was a good enough plan; there was no way Avenger would clear the moon's gravity well before the Primans would get plenty of time to launch salvoes of torpedoes and laser volleys.
Elco saw lights blink on over by the tactical systems display, signifying the laser batteries, torpedo tubes, and AA turrets were all ready. He stabbed the button to talk to Loren again. "Let them have it, Commander!" Elco commanded, and watched at Avenger rippled off a four torpedo salvo from her aft tubes, followed by intermittent bursts from her laser batteries that could be brought to bear on the targets behind her.
Fire from the Primans was already on the way, and laser blasts were soon splashing off Avenger's shields.
Elco had a split second to decide on a course of action: make for open space and hope they could avoid an EMP torpedo hit, or head for the only cover in sight; the mothball shipyard. The Primans were all emerging from the back side of the moon instead of sending at least one out in front of him. They were obviously confident their torpedoes would stop his ship from running.
