A Pride of Lions

by Mark Iles

  “Yes, Ma’am, Sharon Potts” the Lieutenant replied, saluting her and then shaking the proffered hand. “If you’ll come with me I’ll show you to your cabin. Then we can take a look around your ship.”

  Insisting on carrying her own bags, Selena dumped them on the bunk in her small and somewhat austere cabin, before following Sharon on a guided tour.

  When they’d finished she allowed herself the luxury of a cup of tea before attending the programmed meeting of the ship’s officers, remaining silent as Sharon introduced them.

  “This is Sub-Lieutenant Norma Stacey, your gunnery officer. She’s in charge of all weapon systems, security and boarding parties. Sub-Lieutenant Joe Pickering here is your navigation officer, also in charge of admin, while Sub-Lieutenant Josef Khan is in charge of stores. Including yourself, Ma’am, there are a total of forty-five crew. Our sister ship, the Victory is the same class of vessel and has the same crew number. She’s under the command of Lieutenant James Harding.”

  “Very well,” Selena said, sitting back and taking a sip of her tea, her eyes flicking from one to the other. “Are there any urgent issues I need to be aware of?”

  “Yes, Ma’am. We took some damage during our last engagement with the pirates. Your Coxswain, or Sergeant Of The Guard, Chandler, was badly injured and is still in hospital.”

  “Prognosis?”

  “Well, he’s a tough cookie and will be there for some time, but he’ll pull through – he’s too damn stubborn to die. We can manage without him for a while and bump Corporal Jones up to acting-sergeant in the meantime...”

  “No, I want Chandler replaced and I have someone in mind. I won’t have my ship under-manned. I’ve read all the reports and, to be frank, I’m not impressed.” Selena paused, thoughtful for a moment, noting the whitening faces of her officers, before continuing. “Is it me, or are the pirates always one jump ahead of us? That concerns me and it needs to change, immediately. I want results, not casualties and excuses.”

  Sharon blushed. “Yes, Ma’am. I’ll see about getting a replacement drafted—”

  “Belay that. I’ve already contacted headquarters and asked for Corporal Kes Philips to be drafted here, as Chandler’s replacement.” She glanced at Sharon. “I told you, I’d read all the reports. He’s a good man and I’ve served with him before. Now, is there anything else?”

  “The Vampyre’s an old ship, Ma’am. She’s a workhorse, just not as fast as we’d like. The pirates can usually out-manoeuvre and outrun us.”

  “Then we need to outsmart them, don’t we? I’ve had Philips promoted to sergeant, he’ll be with us in the morning. Potts, make sure he comes to see me immediately he’s settled in.”

  “Yes, Ma’am. The CO of the Victory is waiting in the wardroom, to update you on their status.”

  “Have I got to?”

  Sharon gave the ghost of a smile. “I’m afraid so, Ma’am; protocol and all that.”

  “Very well, send him in. And ask the steward to bring refreshments for the both of us.”

  A few moments later there was a knock at her curtained door. Sharon showed James Harding in and, after brief introductions, Selena was informed that the Victory was ready to sail and, recently out of refit, she was in good condition.

  Selena was quite impressed with the man. Short, dark haired and bright-eyed, James was astute, not given to embellishment and was both frank and concise. In fact he was a breath of fresh air, and someone Selena immediately felt could be trusted. They shook hands and parted on happy terms and Selena knew that the Victory was in good hands with him in command.

  * * * *

  Kes joined at eight the next morning, shortly before the two ships took off and began their first patrol. Normal procedure was for the two vessels to operate separately, so that they covered twice as much area. Selena immediately cancelled that and implemented new orders, so that both ships stayed together, thus doubling their firepower. Unlike previous patrols, she kept their route secret so that only herself, her XO Sharon Potts and their Navigating Officer knew of their intended areas of operation. But to Selena’s utter dismay, the pirates struck each time they went out on patrol, and the victims were always too far away for them to answer the distress calls quickly enough. By the time they got there, it was too late. The ransacked ships lay drifting in space, cargo gone – as were the females and youngsters. She

  noted with despair that the pirates always got rid of the rest of the crew and male passengers by throwing them out of an airlock, most of whom were still alive when they were spaced. The pirates didn’t take male prisoners or leave witnesses behind to tell the tale, so ejecting them into the cosmos seemed an easy option.

  “Why do they kill the men?” she asked her XO bleakly, over a glass of brandy in her cabin.

  “Off-world women and children fetch a good price on the slave market, Selena,” Sharon replied, “and there’s only so much room on a ship. I’d guess that it’s a case of value per person.”

  “What about the men, surely they must have some commercial value?”

  “Sure they do, but again it’s taking what carries the most value, not the least. Even the organ smugglers find it cheaper to snatch people off the streets than to buy them off the pirates. They can grab their victims as and when they need them, then strip the organs and transplant them directly. The problem is DNA testing. There’s a complete inter-system DNA record; but it’s not Federation-wide, so out-of-system ‘donors’ are still in vogue. I’m also told the recipients prefer to see a living donor next to them on the operating tables, even though the price is dropping rapidly due to the increasing availability of organs. It’s a lot of work with little reward, tracing people from out of the system, so you have two markets for the women and children – slavery and organs. Yeah, it sucks, I know...”

  * * * *

  Two weeks later, Selena sent for Norma and Kes and, as they knocked, she told them to enter and shut the door behind them.

  “Sit down,” she ordered, swivelling the black leather chair behind her desk to face them. “I’ve been here for five weeks and we’ve not even had a glimpse of these bloody pirates. Something stinks, and badly. The odds are that we should have bumped into them even by sheer accident somewhere along the way. Looking through the ship’s logs, it appears we’ve only run into them once in the past six months, and that was shortly before I joined and when the ship was returning home early — without notice — due to mechanical problems. It occurs to me that somehow these pirates know where we will be, and when we’ll be there. I think someone, somewhere, is selling us out.”

  “How can they?” Norma demanded. “There’s only the four of us, you, myself, the XO and Joe Pickering who knows what the programme is. Oh, and now the Coxswain here,” she said, indicating Kes.

  “Sergeant Phillips and I go way back, I trust him with my life and these issues were happening before either of us arrived. You’re right about those who know our plans, but don’t forget there’s also the equivalent on the Victory. So, I’m planning a little surprise. You’re the ship’s Security Officer; only you, myself and Kes are aware of this information. No one else is to know; that includes the Xo and Navs. The supply ship Hyperion will be sailing tomorrow morning and carrying a valuable cargo of raw wood, mahogany and extremely valuable. As a non-military ship, she’ll be cruising at sub-light until she hits the system perimeter and then she’ll jump. I suspect that the pirates will attack her just before then and I intend to be there, waiting for them. We’ll jump to her perimeter jump-point two hours before she arrives and remain there waiting in stealth mode. The pirates won’t have a clue we’re there and with luck we’ll catch them out. I’m the only one who has the full details of this new mission and all communication with the outside world is to cease with immediate effect. We’re on silent mode, as from now. Same goes for the Victory. No communications whatsoever. Norma, ensure all comms are locked down tightly. Any problems, I want to know.”

  “Will do, Ma’am,” Norma re
plied, eyeing her speculatively.

  * * * *

  As planned, Selena kept the full details to herself until the very last moment. Sitting in her chair on the bridge, she turned to her navigating officer and said: “Joe, change course. I want you to jump to these coordinates.”

  “But, our course is already laid in, as per our pre-planned route.”

  “You have your orders, Navs. Carry them out.”

  “Yes, Ma’am.”

  “Selena,” Sharon said, rising to her feet from her station on the left and turning to face her. “You can’t do that. As Joe said, the course is all laid out, we’re committed to –”

  “I’m your Commanding Officer, Lieutenant,” Selena snapped. “You’ll call me ‘Captain’ when we’re on the bridge. Don’t ever question my orders again. For your information, we’re committed to nothing. As the ship’s Commanding Officer I say what goes, not you or anyone else. Now, engage stealth mode and jump!”

  Moments later they came out of hyperspace and simply sat there, dead in space.

  “Both ships are on station as ordered,” Sharon reported, “stealth mode is engaged.”

  “Good,” Selena said, sitting back and eyeing the front view screen. “Let’s see what happens next.” She leant forward and checked her controls. The camouflage systems were working well. Micro cameras picked up what lay around them in all directions and displayed it on the opposite side of their shields, making the vessel virtually invisible from any direction – all one could see when looking at them was what the cameras were replaying from directly behind them. Their low radar signature also prevented the ships from being picked up on scanners. If they were detected the signatures would be minute and it was likely they’d be dismissed as a very small piece of space debris. To all intents and purposes they weren’t there. Strict radio silence ensured they didn’t give themselves away, so it was just a case of waiting to see if the rats came to the cheese.

  Eighty minutes later they could see the Hyperion’s engines shining brilliantly at sub-light speed in the distance.

  Then Norma looked up suddenly. “Five contacts, Captain, closing fast. It doesn’t look like they’ve seen us either. Small ships and well armed by the look of them. They’re hailing the Hyperion, and telling her to hove to or be fired upon.”

  Victory and Vampyre slid behind the approaching pirate vessels and lined themselves up. They waited for a while to see what would develop and when the pirates repeated their demands Selena came to a decision.

  “Weapon systems ready and locked on,” Guns reported.

  “I want the two middle ships captured, aim for their generators. Destroy the others. Fire all weapons when ready.”

  “Very well, Captain; firing.”

  Sun beams lanced through the night, taking the pirates completely by surprise and slicing through the two lead ships’ generators. A pair of missiles coughed away from the Vampyre towards each of the other pirate ships, impacting in brilliant balls of flame; Victory followed suit. Two of the vessels immediately burst into brief clouds of fire that were quickly extinguished in the cold cruel vacuum of space, debris scattering in all directions. Explosions blossomed on the third target, and she drifted mortally wounded for a moment before Vampyre fired again and she was obliterated.

  “All three vessels destroyed, Captain,” Sharon reported. “The other two are disabled.”

  Selena smiled. “Good. Despatch boarding parties.”

  The Victory and Vampyre came alongside the remaining two ships and docked.

  Immediately, commandos in armoured spacesuits stormed through the airlocks, bullets and beams ripping through the brief resistance mounted by the shocked pirates.

  “Sergeant Philips is reporting that both ships have surrendered, Ma’am,” Norma said. “Good, then let’s go and see what we’ve caught shall we? XO, you have the bridge.”

  “Shouldn’t I go with you, Ma’am?” Sharon asked.

  “Why? Guns is coming with me. I need you here, in case any more turn up. As XO, you’re second in command.”

  Collecting side-arms from the armoury, Norma and Selena boarded the captured vessels that were now linked together and then eyed the pirates, lined up as they were under the armed and watchful eyes of Kes and the boarding party.

  “You’ll pay for this!” one of the brigands roared as he saw Selena. “You must be Dillon, the villain: we were warned about you. Word is you’re a prize bitch. There’ll be a price on your head after this!”

  “You’re remarkably well informed as to who I am, considering I’ve only been here a short while,” Selena purred. “How do you know my name?”

  The pirate whitened and bit his lip.

  Selena strode up to the man and stared into his furious eyes as he glared back at her. Then she smiled demurely and turned away, listening as Norma appeared at her side and whispered into her ear. Selena turned back to face the pirate and gave them a shark-like grin “Never mind,” she said. “We’ve got what we came for. Space them all.”

  “What? You can’t do that!” the man stuttered, horror written all over his face.

  “Why not? That’s exactly what you do to your prisoners, isn’t it?”

  “Well, yes, but you’re military. You can’t do that and you know it. You have to obey the law, and the law says that prisoners have to be treated with respect!”

  “Oh, I’m sorry, you see we’re not standard military; we’re Penal Corps and don’t follow regular army rules. Sergeant, you heard my order, space them — respectfully.”

  Ignoring the protestations, she turned and followed Norma to what had been the captain’s cabin. Two troopers stood armed guard at the door while they went inside and looked around.

  Norma sat down at the pirate captain’s desk and tapped furiously at a display. “It’s encrypted, Ma’am,” she reported. “but, all being well, I should be able to crack it in a short while.”

  “Good.” Selena turned to the two guards standing in the corridor. “You men, help the Gunnery Officer transfer whatever equipment she needs over to the Vampyre.” In the distance, the complaints from the begging pirates were silenced suddenly, and then the airlocks cycled with a loud hiss. “Report to me when you’re done, Guns,” Selena said with a nod, and turned away to attend to other matters.

  “Aye, Ma’am,” Norma replied, watching her captain nervously out of the corner of her eye. “My report will be with you as soon as possible.”

  * * * *

  “Captain to the wardroom!”

  The urgency of the call took Selena by surprise. She rose from the seat in her cabin and hurried along the bare steel passageway. Plunging through the curtained wardroom door she was shocked to see a medic and Kes hovering over her prone gunnery officer.

  “What’s going on?”

  “Guns is dead,” Kes said, rising to his feet.

  “What?” Selena said, stunned.

  “My God!” Sharon gasped, she was close behind Selena but had stopped at the entrance, and stood staring down in horror at Norma’s body.

  “Looks like suicide,” Kes said, shaking his head. “The data she got from the pirate ship is erased, and she’s been shot in the head.”

  Selena frowned. “Why would she erase the data?”

  Sharon came and knelt beside the body, then looked up at Selena. “She must have been involved with the pirates and realised that the data would give her away. I guess it was her only choice. Tragic, isn’t it?”

  Selena turned to the medic. “Take the body away. Put her in the meat locker, until we return to base. Kes, I want a complete investigation into her records. Is the data completely destroyed, or can it be recovered?”

  Kes looked at her. “Sorry, Ma’am, looks to me like it’s totally wiped. There’s nothing we can do that will get that lot back.”

  “Okay. I want her cabin searched. Let me know what you find, immediately.”

  “Yes, Captain.”

  Kes ordered the medics to remove the body and then deployed t
wo men to search Norma’s cabin. He remained at Selena’s side until the others had left the room. Ordering the steward to clean the blood from the seating, he sidled up to Selena.

  “What is it?” she asked, quietly.

  “Remember when Yung shot herself, when we were back in basic training?”

  “What about it?”

  “Yung used the same kind of pistol as this one here; it’s standard issue. I remember looking down at her body and seeing powder burns around Yung’s face. But there aren’t any here, so Norma couldn’t have shot herself, could she? I’d say that the weapon had to be several feet away, probably on the other side of the room.”

  “Are you saying she was murdered?”

  “Yes, Ma’am. That’s exactly what I’m saying.”

  * * * *

  Selena banned all shore leave on their return to port, and had the ship sealed down tight. No one was allowed on or off the ship and there was no communication to outsiders, except for her report to command. To all intents and purposes the lockdown was for the duration of the investigation into Norma’s suicide. The Special Investigation Unit came and went. Selena took their senior officer into her confidence and had the death put down as suicide, while the real investigation went on unnoticed.

  Selena had command arrange to take the two captured pirate vessels to a remote moon, where their generators were quickly replaced, the weapons upgraded, camo systems added and the ships re-crewed. Two days later, both vessels were ready. She renamed her two new commands Viper and Valiant and ordered all four ships back to the vicinity of the attack on the Hyperion, which had long since jumped to safety. Due to their design, the two ex-pirate ships only needed a crew of ten to man them, but each also held a complement of sixty commandos in their expansive holds. Ordering Viper to shut down and remain adrift, as if dead in space, the other three ships went into silent mode, then sat and waited to see what developed.

  Two days later, Joe Pickering, the Navigation Officer, who was doubling up in Norma’s post, turned to Selena and said, “Unknown vessel on approach, Ma’am. They’re hailing the Viper; codes unknown.”