Surreptitiously, I raised my eyebrows at Marny. Koosha always laid it on thick, but he was making an extra effort and I wondered what I’d gotten myself into.
The glint of sunshine glancing off armor caught my attention as my HUD displayed a red flashing indicator. We had incoming hostiles and they were close. I slipped from my chair, took a knee and grabbed for my flechette as Marny spun and extended her bo staff. In the blink of an eye she snapped the bo staff out and caught an armed Pogona beneath the chin, laying him out onto the ground.
“Nooo!” Koosha wailed. His concern was too late as I zeroed in on the second armored Pogona who was extracting a holstered blaster pistol. I fired five flechette darts into his center mass. Three of the darts deflected harmlessly off the armor, but two found their home.
“Stay down,” Marny growled as I leapt across the space that separated me from my adversary. I brought the butt of my pistol down on the wrist that had grabbed the pistol and several rounds were fired into my leg. I can’t say it didn’t sting like crazy as my grav-suit absorbed the energy, but I was fortunate that the alien had an inexpensive weapon. I scooped the blaster from the ground as it clattered away harmlessly.
“Why have you attacked my boys?” Koosha exclaimed, as if I’d mortally wounded him. I couldn’t blame him entirely for his concern. One of my darts had creased the skin of the lanky youth’s loose wattle and pale orange blood streamed to the ground.
The Pogona youth looked at me with contempt and tried to sit up.
I lowered my weapon at him menacingly. “Keep moving and you’ll be wearing the rest of my clip,” I said, pushing him back with my foot.
“Gunjeet,” Jala said, dropping to her knees near the boy’s head. “What has happened?” She looked up at me, confused. “Why would you attack my children?”
My AI recognized my need to understand why it had flagged the two Pogona as imminent threats. My HUD replayed the scene from Goboble’s attack at the green landing zone. The two Pogona boys were unmistakably highlighted. I heard a grunt of understanding from Marny. She’d seen the same accounting.
“Your boys are lucky to be alive this day,” I said. “They were part of Goboble’s team when we were attacked.”
“No,” Koosha said. “This must not be so. They are good boys.”
“Get off,” Gunjeet said, pushing at my foot. He was strong enough that I started to lose balance. Wearing my grav-suit gave me options he couldn’t understand. I lifted up from the ground and pushed my foot harder into his neck, letting it slide to his still-bleeding wattle.
“Arijeet? Speak the truth.” Jala looked to the boy still lying beneath the tip of Marny’s bo staff. I had to give it to the woman, she was not easily flapped. Sure, she was concerned for her boys, but her voice had hardly risen during the entire encounter.
“We have no bad intent — today,” Arijeet said. “We wore our armor to make an impression.”
“Arijeet, this is no answer,” Jala said. “Gunjeet, do you deny what Liam Hoffen shares with us? Have you joined with the gangs?”
“My life is my own,” he said. “Have your best shot, human.”
I pulled my foot up as I floated back and set his confiscated blaster pistol on the table. “Out of respect for your parents, I will hold my hand.”
Jala helped Gunjeet to a chair while Koosha retrieved a clean towel and dabbed at his son’s bleeding chin.
“Humiliation upon my head. I beg of your forgiveness, Liam Hoffen," Koosha said.
"Stop it, old man," Gunjeet said. "You grovel like a sickly sewer rodent."
"Gunjeet, you will leave us," Jala said. "You have no place."
The words were spoken quietly, but the impact to Gunjeet was great. I had to replay the last few seconds in my head. It was as if Jala had reached across the distance between them and struck him with a club.
"You are lost and you take Arijeet with you," Jala continued.
"No, mother," Gunjeet pleaded.
"Koosha,” Jala spoke wistfully, as if we weren't there. “Arijeet and I can still travel with Liam Hoffen. Tell him."
Gunjeet got up from his chair and reached for his blaster. I placed my hand on it and shook my head in the negative.
"How could he ever trust my family?" Koosha asked.
"Convince him, Koosha. Save Arijeet," Jala said.
"What is it you want from us, Jala?" I asked.
"Take my wife and my son," Koosha answered instead. "I give them to you."
From the corner of my eye, I caught Marny's raised eyebrow. I would never live this conversation down. If not for the lizard chin, Jala was about as attractive a woman as I could imagine and now Koosha was intimating that she was property. Somehow, I knew this was going to turn around on me in the worst possible way.
"Uh. That's not how we do things," I said. "You can't give your family away."
"Jala is strong, as is Arijeet. They will work tirelessly," he said. "You have said you need understanding of our people. I ask that you allow me to entrust my heart with you."
"Marny?" I asked, looking for help.
"We will take both boys in addition to Jala. They will report to me. Do you understand?" Marny asked.
"A man does not answer to a woman," Gunjeet said, having stopped several meters from where we were talking.
"Oh, by all means. I'm in, Cap," Marny said, smiling.
“Petersburg Station, this is Tuuq. We’re requesting bay assignment,” I said.
“Greetings, Liam,” Katherine LeGrande answered. “I believe the Norigans anxiously await your arrival. You’re cleared to raft up next to Intrepid’s Cargo Bay Two.”
“Copy that, Katherine. Tuuq out,” I said. “How about that? Cargo Bay Two. I’m gone for a couple weeks and suddenly we have another cargo bay.”
“What, you didn’t believe Nick?” Tabby asked.
“I wasn’t expecting it to be fully functional.”
I rolled Tuuq as we passed alongside Intrepid. Something was up with her armor — it was splotchy-looking in a way I didn’t much appreciate. It was confusing since there had been nothing wrong with the armor. The idea that someone was messing with it irked me.
“What do you think, Cap?” Marny asked as we slid around to the new forward, starboard cargo bay. It was open and large enough that we could fit Tuuq’s nose inside.
“Now that’s a cargo bay,” I said, trying to tamp down my ire.
From our vantage point, the armor on the round forward section was uniformly black. It was then that my brain caught up with what I was looking at. “Is that Hotspur’s stealth armor?”
“Caught that, did you?” Marny asked.
I frowned at her. “But it’s only on part of the ship.”
“Anino is waving us in,” Tabby said.
Indeed, Anino, Roby, Sempre and the entire gaggle of Norigans were looking out at us through the transparent pressure barrier.
“I’d hate to ruin their presentation.” Marny nodded toward the assembled group. “Ask ‘em about it.”
I couldn’t imagine what unevenly applied stealth armor would do for us, but the revelation had put my mind at ease. Perhaps they hadn’t had time to skin the entire ship and would get to the rest shortly.
“Copy that,” I swung the aft end of Tuuq around and slid its hatch through the barrier. As soon as the ships made contact, a light on my console showed a strong magnetic connection had been established, joining us.
It took some climbing to get over the supplies we’d ferried from Azima. The smell of fresh station air greeted us as I dropped the ramp. Sempre’s whiskers twitched as our atmo comingled with theirs. It had to be from the scent of the residual bovine crap.
“Welcome back, Hoffen,” Anino said, stepping forward. “What do you think?”
“Thanks. If the rest of the ship looks anything like this cargo bay, we’re in for a pleasant surprise,” I said.
“No shortage of upgrades on this old girl,” Anino said.
“Liam Hoffen!” Jes
ter Ripples clambered up onto me and gave me a hug that I hadn’t realized I’d missed. I’d never considered myself a touchy-feely person, but I did miss the Norigan’s daily presence. Just as quickly as he arrived, Jester jumped down and made the rounds with the rest of the new arrivals.
“Cargo bay looks really nice,” I said.
“What do you think of the armor?” Roby blurted out, grinning wildly.
“I’m not sure I understand it.”
“Did you bring the screens and holo gear Nick was manufacturing?” he asked without explaining further. His question caused a wave of tittering through the already excited Norigans.
“It’s at the front of the hold. We’ll have to unload the station supplies first,” I said.
I’d barely gotten the words out when a Norigan I’d met only once, Big Cabbage, stepped forward, powered up the stevedore bot, and started offloading Tuuq’s cargo onto grav pallets.
“The Norigans would like you to wait until they have a chance to install the last of the equipment onto the bridge before you see it,” Sempre said. “Is that acceptable?”
“Sure, I can help take supplies to the station,” I said.
“Liam Hoffen, please do not go. We have only a short duration required to finish with Intrepid’s bridge.”
“We could drop our things into our quarters and get a shower,” Tabby said. “Tuuq wasn’t equipped with a real head and I’ve been looking forward to cleaning my suit.”
"Marny, why don't you show Jala, Arijeet and Gunjeet to their quarters."
"Copy that, Cap," Marny agreed.
“Please utilize the port passageway,” Jester Ripples said. “We will take care to unload supplies.”
My HUD highlighted the passageway that exited the cargo bay on the port side. With a little imagination, I could still see the crew bunks that had been removed to make way for the bay. It was the same place a Kroerak had broken through the ship’s armor, attacked Nick, and nearly taken me out. I felt guilty leaving the cargo to the Norigans to unload, but I understood their enthusiasm. I was also with Tabby; a shower sounded amazing.
I breathed a sigh of relief as we entered our quarters. It was a sight I thought I’d never see again and it felt like home. A fresh coat of paint, new bedding, and a suit cleaner had been installed. My desk and chair were still missing, but that was something I could find at a future date.
Twenty minutes later, we’d both showered and cleaned our grav-suits. Tabby had just fallen asleep, resting against my chest with one leg tossed over mine when I heard a light knock at the door.
“That’s us, Love,” I said. Tabby sighed and pushed away from me. We’d been pushing hard and were both running short of sleep, but I was excited to see what the Norigans had to show us.
I opened the door to find Sempre holding Jester Ripples on her hip. I smiled, enjoying for a moment their new friendship.
“Big Cabbage has asked that you join us on the bridge so that he might officially return control to Hoffen Captain,” Sempre said.
“After you.”
Tabby and I fell into step behind Jester Ripples, who’d dropped from Sempre and was now pulling her along. I’d never heard the Felio giggle before. It was infectious, as was the excitement I felt as we passed the Norigans. They had lined up in the hallway and were saluting us as we walked through. It would have been comical if the stubby, frog-headed sentients hadn’t looked so serious.
“It is I, Sempre, who request entry to the bridge. I am honored to escort Hoffen Captain and Masters First,” Sempre said, sounding official.
“Permission granted," Ada answered.
The bridge was one of several technologically dense sections of the ship. The destruction I'd initiated had left the room completely burned out and devoid of any usable systems. The change from that burned-out husk was dramatic. Instead of a single captain's chair sitting fully aft, there was now a trio of chairs, two forward and one slightly elevated behind them. It was the layout we'd had on Hotspur and fit our style.
"Captain on the bridge," Marny announced and stood stiffly, just short of attention.
The bridge had been narrowed, but since the cubicle-style stations had been removed, there was more space available. Aft of the captain's chair was a u-shaped configuration of stations: one against the port side, two along the aft bulkhead and another single station against the starboard. Further, the entire forward bulkhead was covered in vid-screen glass that curved when it reached the corners and wrapped around on the sides, coming back a meter.
"As you were," I said, reciting the words Marny had taught me to release bridge crew from observing discipline when I entered.
"What do you think, Liam?" Ada asked.
"It's beautiful," I said. "I have so many questions. Is it all working?"
"Big Cabbage," Ada said, turning to the Norigan standing between the pilot's chairs and the forward vid-screen. "I believe the captain has requested a forward view."
"Oh, Ada Chen, it is my excitement to demonstrate this delightful view." Big Cabbage seemed to vibrate as he bounded back to the starboard workstation. His powerful tri-digit fingers flew across an embedded keyboard and suddenly the vid-screen glass disappeared and a full view of Petersburg Station showed, as if Intrepid simply ceased to exist.
"Wow," Tabby said, grabbing my arm and clamping on. "Wait! Your eye!"
I did a double take as I looked back to a smiling Ada. The brown skin of her face was just as I remembered down to the freckles along her cheek bones. Perfectly matched, her two bright eyes looked back at us where, before, the left had been covered by a patch. Tabby jumped across the space separating them, pulled her into a hug and swung her around, joyfully. When they stopped moving, I wrapped my arms around them both.
"Seriously, guys," Ada finally said, opening her arms and gesturing around the bridge. "What do you think?"
"It's so clean," I said, wishing I had a better description. "Is it all working?"
"Liam Hoffen, I programmed your holo display just like you used to have it," Jester Ripples said. "You should see that all primary and critical secondary systems are functioning at high levels of perfection."
I moved to the captain's chair and used a familiar gesture to bring up the holo-projector, which cycled through system statuses. Jester Ripples was right, there were several non-functional systems, but those were very much in the minority.
"How was it possible to affect this much repair?" I asked. "Was the damage to Intrepid not as bad as I believed?"
"I brought the critical components with me," Anino said. "It’s funny, you know. I always believed Jonathan’s fate would rest in your hands."
“How do you know he and Sendrei are still alive?"
"Jonathan and I have always communicated using embedded quantum crystals. They are literally a part of both of us," Anino said.
"You really went out of your way on Intrepid,” I said. “You must have spent millions.”
“We left millions behind quite a while ago,” Anino said.
"Then why not just bring a new ship?" Tabby asked. "With a load of platinum bars instead of making us work so hard to survive?"
"Successful crews all have one thing in common," Anino said. "Would you care to guess what that is, Tabby?"
"Alcohol consumption?" she shot back with a wide grin.
Anino paused and looked to the side for a moment. When he looked back to Tabby, he smiled. "Alcohol poisoning to interrupt cognitive function is indeed common, Tabbs."
“That’s Tabitha to you, Tommy,” Tabby shot back. For some reason, she found Anino abrasive. I suspected it had something to do with how she interacted with her own wealthy family who refused to come to her aid when she’d been injured and needed medical treatment.
"Struggle for survival, Tabbs," I said. "He's saying he only wants to get us back on our feet. We have to work for the rest."
"You have proven the value of this time and time again, Hoffen," Anino said. "It is only when your survival is threatened
that you truly meet your potential."
Chapter 15
Back in Black
“Captain Fateh of the Shetak Blossom asked me to communicate his regards,” Mom said. “You've made a friend for life in that one. I believe his words were: ‘courage in the face of adversity.’”
We were enjoying an evening meal together on the promenade deck in advance of our upcoming trip to Rehema, a moon over Abasi Prime, to drop off the boisterous Norigans.
“Anyone would have done the same. Those cutters would have ripped him to shreds if we hadn’t helped.”
“Well, he was quite impressed.” She gave me a warm smile. “Big Pete would have been proud.”
I’ll be honest. I enjoyed hearing the pride in her voice.
“We cleared twenty thousand on ship repairs, refueling and the like,” Merrie said. “Rai Group is a huge Pogona corporation. I think there’s a good chance we’ll get additional business through Petersburg, especially when Zuri’s orbit lines up between Brea Fortul and Tamu wormholes.”
I smiled. I’d also done research on Rai Group. Captain Fateh sailed for their shipping division. Ordinarily, their frigates sailed in convoys of three or four, which would have eliminated the issues they’d run into. I suspect Shetak Blossom had been under time pressure. Under duress, previously hidden mechanical failures made the ship vulnerable at the worst possible time.
“Okay, now someone needs to tell me what’s up with Intrepid’s patchwork of stealth armor,” I said.
“Liam Hoffen loves Intrepid too much to see everything clearly,” Jester Ripples said, having taken a place on Sempre’s lap. I found it interesting, although not surprising, that the young Felio and the Norigan had bonded so quickly.
“You aren’t overly observant,” Anino said.
“What are you guys talking about?” I asked.
Jester Ripples jumped from Sempre and placed a small holo projector onto the table where Tabby and I sat. Intrepid sprang to life, showing a starboard view.
Corsair Menace (Privateer Tales Book 12) Page 18
