by gerald hall
For this raid, Tessa Hart’s battler would be key to its success. Tessa’s Longbow had a special internal cargo compartment specially designed to carry skimmers and additional Marine personnel when not transporting a flight of fighters. In this case, the compartment was filled with privateer raiders and their swift vehicles for the first real ground action that Alec’s people had ever conducted.
The light battler swooped down through the atmosphere, leaving a trail of ionized particles behind her in the night sky. Within fifty kilometers from her objective, Tess’s Challenge pulled her bow up to rapidly decelerate, using her hull as a massive airbrake. Just a thousand meters above the ground, the Longbow engaged her belly thrusters to bring her bow completely to the vertical and extended her landing legs.
Several doors in her stern opened up to allow a group of thruster-assisted ground effect skimmers loaded with troops to exit. The skimmers then sped towards the Syndicate installation with its vast warehouse complex. The relatively heavy gravity of this world made it necessary for most of the raiders to utilize powered armor suits.
Only a few Syndicate security personnel were on duty at the time of the raid. Even though the battler’s rapid descent set off numerous alarms within the local Belair Syndicate headquarters office, no one was prepared for such an intrusion. As a result, the Syndicate security force was overwhelmed in mere seconds after the arrival of the privateers’ skimmer-borne troops.
“Alright people, let’s get our search teams deployed to the bunkers and warehouses. I want to know about every major end item that these syndicate people have in this facility.
Fifteen teams scattered out throughout the facility. If a bunker or warehouse was locked, the teams all had enough demolition charges to blow open anything short of a bank vault.
Within fifteen minutes, Tessa had started to receive a continuous stream of reports from her teams about what they had found. After an initial compilation, Tessa made her own report up to Alec who remained on Alacrity, watching for any Syndicate intruders.
“We’ve got thousands of tons of military equipment here. There is no way that we can even put a small portion of this inside of my battler’s cargo bay. We were hoping to capture one of their ships to carry our booty in for us.” Tessa informed Alec via encrypted radio.
“They have no transport craft at all?” Alec asked, concerned about this glitch in his plans.
“They don’t have a single cargo shuttle here at all, Sir.”
“Then we will just have to take a chance and send down our Dromedary to pick up those crates. She’s not armed, but she should have enough space in her cargo bays.”
Just as soon as the cargo shuttle Salamis detached from one of Alacrity’s docking collars, it rapidly turned and began its journey to join Tess and her raiders at the Belair Syndicate outpost.
Just as soon as Salamis landed on the depot’s landing strip and taxied to the cargo terminal, Tessa’s raiders were already waiting with trucks loaded with scores of cargo containers. Requisitioned industrial exoskeletons quickly started taking the cargo containers and loading them into Salamis’ cargo bays.
“We need to get this equipment loaded up quickly so that we can get out of here. None of us want to be around if a big Syndicate force arrives and catches us with our pants down.” Tessa said to the teams loading up Salamis.
After another thirty minutes, Tessa got a signal from her teams indicating that they were done and that Salamis was ready for lift-off.”
“Alright, people. It’s time to go. Let’s get loaded back onto ‘Challenge’ and off of this rock.” Tessa said just after telling the commander of Salamis to go ahead and immediately fly back to Alacrity.
Salamis and Tessa’s battler were just clearing the planetary atmosphere when Alacrity picked up something on the sensor drones that she had deployed upon entering the star system.
“Sir, I’ve got a Tribal-class jump shuttle that just arrived in system. She’s squawking from her transponder that her name is the Navaho. According to our database, she belongs to the Belair Syndicate.”
“Excellent! That ship is either here to deliver materiel or to pick some of it up from the depot. Go ahead and adjust our own transponder to identify us as the Kepler customs cutter Shanghai. Let them know that we require them to stop and be inspected as part of the current ‘situation’ between the Belair Syndicate and the Kepler colony.”
“Aye, aye, Sir.” Susan Emmlich, Alacrity’s bridge communications tech replied with a smile
“Sir, they are saying that we don’t have any authority to stop and inspect them.” Susan noted after sending the requested transmission to the Syndicate jump tender.
“I guess that we are just going to have to make our point a little more emphatically. Go ahead and launch ‘Tomahawk’. Tell Emily that when she gets into range, she is to fire a volley of lasers across the bow of that jump tender. That should be sufficiently convincing to her captain that he needs to stop his ship.”
The privateer Archer sped towards the incoming Syndicate jump tender and her cargo shuttles. A single volley of lasers from the battler quickly got the point across to the Syndicate jump tender’s captain.
Less than thirty minutes later, the Syndicate vessel had cut its maneuver drives and Alacrity was pulling up to well within visual range. The Syndicate jump tender had four docking collars. Two of them had heavy cargo modules attached. A third collar had a Dromedary-class cargo shuttle while the fourth collar had a much larger cargo shuttle.”
A full score of armed men and women accompanied Alec inside of Alacrity’s airlock when it docked with the Syndicate jump tender. Tessa kept a watchful eye on the Syndicate vessel from her battler. When the other vessel’s air lock inner door finally opened, the Syndicate captain greeted Alacrity’s people. He did not look very happy.
“I must bitterly protest this action. This is a civilian ship carrying legitimate cargo.” He complained.
“Sir, I know for a fact that armed military vessels belonging to your syndicate have fired upon, boarded and confiscated ships and cargo belonging to the Kepler colony that I work for. As a result of your organization’s actions, there exists a de facto state of armed conflict between it and the Kepler colony. Therefore, I have every right under interstellar law to do as I see fit here, especially if I find materiel that is deemed military in nature.
So you and your people will get the hell out of my way. If I encounter any interference, I will reply appropriately all the way up to the use of deadly force.” Alec bluntly stated before he led his ‘inspectors’ through the syndicate jump tender. They started by searching the large cargo containers attached to the jump tender’s docking collars. Then they looked through the Dromedary, followed at a distance by small groups of sullen-faced Syndicate crewmembers. Unlike the Syndicate personnel, all of Alacrity’s personnel were heavily armed.
“They don’t look very happy to see us, do they?” One of Alacrity’s boarders sarcastically said with a smirk to one of his companions.
“No, they don’t. I wonder what we are going to find there that they are so anxious for us not to see?” came the reply.
The last areas to be inspected were the cargo bays of the large shuttle that was attached to the jump shuttle’s Number Three docking collar. It was one of the common Conestoga-class heavy cargo shuttles. But once Alacrity’s boarders got past the angry crewmen, the privateers were very pleased with what they discovered within the Conestoga’s huge cargo bays.
“Well, well. What do we have here?” Alec said to himself as he saw hundreds of tons of military equipment of all types within the first bay that he entered. There was even more military equipment in the cargo shuttle’s other five cargo bays. While not every piece of materiel inside the Conestoga was of utility to Alec and his organization, there was certainly quite a bit of it that would be.
“We are going to confiscate this Conestoga and all of its contents in the name of the Kepler colonial government. We will be bringing aboar
d a prize crew and will require you to evacuate any personnel that you have aboard. You will assist in detaching this shuttle from your docking collar as soon as our prize crew comes aboard.” Alec told the Syndicate jump tender captain.
“I will do no such thing!” the Syndicate officer brusquely declared.
“Yes, Captain. You will most certainly comply with my instructions or I will confiscate your entire damned jump tender and all of its cargo in compensation for the damages that your Syndicate has inflicted upon my colony and its legitimate interests.. If you force me to do that, I will pile every one of you into one of your escape pods and eject it. Your choice.” Alec ordered, a cruel smile appearing on his face at the end to replace his ‘righteous anger’ expression.
The reality was that Alacrity only had one available docking collar, so they either had to take only the one cargo shuttle or they had to find enough crew to man the entire Syndicate jump tender. Alec was still a little shorthanded to do that, he admitted to himself. But he would not tell that to the angry Syndicate captain, of course.
It only took a few seconds before Alec saw the Syndicate captain’s defiance melt away when faced with the possibility of losing his entire command. The Syndicate officer faced not only the guns carried by Alec’s crewmen standing next to the latter, but also a heavily armed battler closely watching from just a few kilometers away. He had no effective way to resist.
The Syndicate officer also knew that if Alec had been a pirate, there would have been no choice given at all. A pirate band would have not only taken the entire Syndicate jump tender and her cargo, but would have also likely have killed her crew in cold blood.
“As you wish.” The Syndicate jump tender commander conceded, the bitterness dripping from every word as he continued. “But you can be certain that we will be protesting your actions immediately when we arrived at our next destination.”
“I’m sure that you will. Until then, I need your crewmen to evacuate this shuttle and prepare to release it from its docking collar clamps.” Alec instructed.
“Yes, Sir.” The defeated Syndicate captain sullenly answered.
Thirty minutes later, the Conestoga was attached to the Alacrity’s spare docking collar and the privateer was on its way out to prepare for a jump to its next destination. A team of nearly a score of Alec’s crewmembers was now even more closely inspecting the contents of every cargo container aboard Salamis and captured Syndicate Conestoga.
“So what all do we have here now?” Alec asked as he walked among the people opening up every container. Following closely behind Alec was Joanna Tallmanz, Alacrity’s navigator and one of Alec’s most trusted officers.
“We’ve already found eight medium aerospace fighters. They are all state of the art vessels based on Earth Fleet designs.” Sergeant Wilma Barker enthusiastically called out.
“Tsk, tsk. Who would have guessed that the Belair Syndicate would have been stealing Earth Fleet military technology?” Alec sarcastically commented.
“Sir, we have also discovered one hundred powered armor suits, enough armored air cushion and antigrav skimmers to equip a light armored battalion, over a hundred capital anti-spaceship missiles and hundreds of lighter missiles of various types. We are still opening up containers, but so far, it appears that there are enough small arms and ammunition to outfit several thousand soldiers.
There is also over ten thousand tons of spare parts for spacecraft and the like.” Sergeant Barker reported.
“There is a lot of the equipment that we can certainly use, including the eight fighters, those capital missiles and sixty of those powered armor suits. I also want to keep enough small arms to outfit all of our personnel, current and projected. We could use a few of those skimmers also for ground operations.” Alec declared.
“What about the rest of it?” Joanna asked.
“We are going to drop off the Conestoga and the rest of its cargo at the closest Kepler outpost after we finish transferring the cargo that we want to keep to our own cargo holds. Of course, we are keeping the spare parts too. Otherwise, I would never hear the end of it from Mister Sampson.
The Kepler authorities can pay us the prize money for the cargo shuttle and its remaining contents at that time.”
“You don’t want to keep this Conestoga, Sir?”
“No, Joanna. We have plenty of cargo capacity with our existing Conestoga-class vessels already. What we need are more funds to pay for Mister Sampson’s constant ‘shopping lists’. We also need more fighting ships, not just trash haulers. Besides, a little cash bonus to our people for all of their hard work will be great for morale, don’t you think?”
“Sounds good to me, Sir. The crew is going to be very happy with the profit from this operation.. We didn’t even have to fire a single shot except for the lasers that Emily fired across that jump tender’s bow. They were close enough that I bet a lot of their bridge crew had to change their underwear afterwards.”
“Yea, I thought that smelled something a little rank when they opened their airlock for us.” Alec laughed.
“I certainly would not be in the shoes of that jump tender commander when he has to explain the loss of his shuttle and cargo. The Syndicate’s military operations against Kepler will take a big hit as a result of what he did today too.”
“Yes, Mister Wisp will be very happy with us too, I’m sure. Now, let go find us someplace to drop all of this booty off now. Then we can go back home and enjoy the fruits of our labor for a little while. Before we can afford any more cargo ships, we are going to need at least a couple hundred more personnel anyway.”
Another text message came up on Alec’s personal data terminal screen with an updated inventory from the captured Syndicate Conestoga and the planetary depot warehouses. Among the findings were at least fifty shipping containers with what was described as ‘drones’. Alec was pondering what those might actually be as he continued to scan through the inventory of prizes.
“Our people just found a container filled with one hundred combat robots of various types. We are definitely going to keep those as well.” Alec said as he typed in a text message back with instructions concerning the container.
“Our boarding troops will certainly appreciate having the help during the next boarding action that we have to make against an unwilling target.” Joanna commented.
“Of that, I’m sure. Let’s hurry up and get ready to go now.” Alec told his people before heading back off to Alacrity’s bridge.
Less than an hour later, Alacrity and all of the spoils from the raid were on their way toward the nearly Kepler colony outpost for a little ‘deposit’ there. Mister Wisp would soon learn about the successful operation.
Chapter Twenty Nine:
Belair Syndicate Headquarters
Proxima Centauri B
Proxima Centauri Star System
The Chief Operations Officer of the Belair Corporate Syndicate, Lindsey Buckman, was coldly livid that afternoon after she received word of the most recent attacks upon her Syndicate’s outposts and shipping. Lindsey was not the sort of person that you wanted angry with you either.
The COO was perhaps 1.7 meters tall, slender and with an angular face framed by shoulder-length curly brown hair, so by conventional standards Lindsey was reasonably attractive. But she had not reached her position in her mid-forties by her appearance. Lindsey had done so with an insightful ruthlessness that few of her male counterparts matched. She had also been brilliant in her utilization of assets in achieving her goals. No one dared crossed swords with her either. Lindsey left far too many bodies on her way to the top of the Syndicate ladder. To many of the people around her, Lindsey was arrogant, haughty and proud. But she succeeded in her objectives when many others had failed. This was why she sat in that chair in that Belair Syndicate Headquarters corner office.
“We have had far too many failures in our recent operations against our rivals. What the hell is going on here?” She demanded as she lit a cigarette and deeply suc
ked in its smoke. Smoking had gone out of fashion in many parts of inhabited space. But for some of the elite, tobacco use had made a comeback. It was the wealthy’s way of saying that their money bought them virtual immortality, even from the most lethal of vices that they had the freedom to enjoy.
“We have continued to apply economic and more aggressive means to convince Libertad, the Kepler colonies and several of the independent colonies as per your instructions, Ma’am.” Martin Peel, the Syndicate vice-president for corporate acquisitions.
“But you have failed miserably in your efforts, Mister Peel.” Lindsey said amidst a growing cloud of grey acrid-smelling tobacco smoke.
“Ma’am, we have had a run of very bad luck.”
“Luck is not a factor, Mister Peel. If you have done your job properly, you will succeed in your mission. You know that!” Lindsey harshly replied.
“Ma’am, those religious fanatics on Libertad absolutely refuse to allow any mining concessions on their world at all. They control all of the orbitals in their star system with multiple heavily armed defense platforms. So, we cannot force our way in, even with armed ships. All of Libertad’s merchant ships are also too well-defended to be easily threatened or interdicted.
On another matter, I know that you have authorized the use of armed action against the various Kepler colonies. At first, we achieved a certain degree of success, especially considering the limited size of the typical Kepler colony’s naval forces. But at least one of them has not only declared a legal conflict against us, but also hired a company named Martinson Mercantile Group to support them.”
“Your point, Mister Peel. So far, all that I have heard are excuses. I know of the difficulties with Libertad. We will ultimately deal with them in due time. But the Kepler situation is beyond mere excuses. It must be dealt with immediately.” Lindsey’s expression emanating pure disgust towards her subordinate as she crushed out her cigarette after one last drag.
