by gerald hall
“But this is the war that we have to fight. So we might as well give it our best shot, shouldn’t we?”
“I guess so.
Chapter Thirty Three:
Kepler-186f Colony Headquarters
Kepler-186, Orion Arm
November 27, 2331
“Apparently you and your people now have a bounty on your heads, courtesy of the Belair Syndicate. You have made quite an impression upon our adversaries, it seems.” Mister Wisp told Alec after asking the privateer commander and Alacrity to come visit their primary sponsor’s home star system.
“I’m not so sure that I would consider that much of a complement that I would want. That will have a lot more people hunting for us now. We put a lot of effort into maintaining our security to preserve the safety of my people. But now, I am a little worried. This little raid that you asked for has obviously ruffled some feathers high up in the Belair Syndicate offices.”
“Don’t worry, Captain. You are going to be compensated well for your successful operation. We have also come through with some additional recruits for you, as promised. These new personnel were not informed who exactly they were being recruited to work for either. Therefore, they will not be able to compromise you and hand you over to the Syndicate. We also used a double-blind recruiting and screening process to ensure that no Syndicate infiltrators will have slipped in. Their psychological profiles make these candidates very unlikely to abandon or betray you and your organization as well. These people have been told that it could be hazardous duty at a remote location though.”
“They hold the skill sets that we need?”
“Yes. We filled the requirements that you asked for as much as possible. The fact that you were willing to accept entire families helped the recruiting process considerably.”
“Thank you. Fortunately, we have a surplus of living space at our base for the time being. I also have someone working for me who is very talented at repurposing components as needed. This includes spacecraft staterooms and associated compartments.”
“Some of my colony’s senior management are a little uncomfortable about not knowing where exactly your base of operations is located still.”
“I understand that. But the secrecy of our location is paramount for our safety and the effectiveness of my unit. Otherwise, you can be certain that the Belair Syndicate will find a way to drive a wedge between my group and your colony.” Alec insisted.
“I understand. It is just that a few of our leaders worry that you will someday be on opposite sides from us.” The Colonial representative noted.
“If you treat us right, we will never be on opposite sides of a conflict with you and your people, Mister Wisp. Tell your leaders that if they truly have a concern about us and our future plans.” Alec confidently replied.
“I will, Captain. While you are here, I have some intelligence for you about the Syndicate’s latest movement of its forces and assets. The Belair Syndicate apparently doesn’t take their operational security very seriously.”
For the next two hours, Alec and Claude went over dozens of reports, graphs and charts. At the end, Alec stood up and looked at Mister Wisp.
“I guess that they finally consider us a real threat. But these movements also leave us with a lot of openings at the same time. Are you worried at all that some or most of these movements might be a deception effort, Mister Wisp?”
“I have to admit that they could be. Captain. But our analysts have based their assessments on multiple, corresponding reports from reliable sources. A lot of these movements were directly observed by some of our own ships or by people that we implicitly trust. So, I have a high degree of confidence on what these intelligence reports say.”
“Then we will act accordingly. I will still take reasonable precautions, of course. But we do have a chance to possibly hit the Syndicate hard and keep them off balance.”
“I trust that you will do just that, Captain.”
Chapter Thirty Four:
New Hope Station
YBP 1194 Star System, Messier 67 Star Cluster, Orion Arm
December 12, 2321
Alacrity began passing into the base’s central chamber, following three battlers and a like number of cargo shuttles that she had transported into the star system with her. After dropping off the seized Belair Syndicate ships and cargo at the Kepler outpost, he also picked up an additional sixty-eight new recruits for the MMG. This included four new families who would soon be living inside of New Hope Station.
Alec’s arrangements with Mister Wisp for assistance in recruiting additional personnel for the MMG helped fill out some gaping holes in the unit’s personnel structure. Obviously, Alec did not have time to do this himself because of his involvement in so many of the group’s operations. Alec also knew that the Kepler colony that Mister Wisp represented also had many more assets to not only recruit the kinds of people that Alec needed, but also to vet them properly so that infiltrators from hostile groups would not slip in.
Alec had his own security measures as well. None of the new personnel were told exactly where the base was located. This way, they could not compromise the security of the base by accident or by deliberate malicious intent. The other measures were more basic in some cases. The station’s AI program also proved to be an invaluable aid in protecting the security of the base from internal threats.
Alec had no illusions about Mister Wisp however. He knew that the agent for the Kepler colony very likely had slipped in one or two operatives of his own into Alec’s organization to keep an eye on what Alec had been doing. But Alec couldn’t afford to go on witch hunts looking for outside operatives either. He had to trust that the Kepler people, whoever they were, also were working towards the same objectives that Alec was. Besides, witch hunts tended to tear apart the very entities that the leaders were trying to protect more often than not.
The new arrivals were about as varied as one could imagine. There were technicians, ship’s crew and warriors, of course. But there were also medical specialists, logisticians, cooks, aquaponics farmers and others from a score of additional specialties whose skills were badly needed to keep New Hope Station running.
Most of the people now living on the station had either been personally selected by Alec or had been recruited through the Kepler colony’s resources. But there were a few exceptions, most notably Angela Collins and Jonathan Murrel. Both joined the group after the encounter with a pirate band immediately after the discovery of the hidden lunar base. They quickly found a place within the unit, becoming trusted very quickly by everyone. It was no surprise at all that they eventually became a couple romantically though. Angela and Jonathan turned out to be only the first of over half a dozen couples that found love since joining Alec’s little group of privateers.
With the arrival of entire families to the station, there had to be even more changes. Colin found himself beginning to build new housing units to be attached to the habitat rings after having run out of space in the staterooms that he had salvaged from derelict ships and repurposed to be the housing areas for the station.
Then, there were the children. A school inside the station had to be set up as a result. A couple of Alec’s officers noted the analogy with the one room schoolhouse of Earth’s nineteenth century. But these also had high technology computer learning stations that greatly reduced the workload for the people who unexpectedly became teachers to these young boys and girls. Alec knew that eventually; some form of higher education or apprenticeship program would have to be established within the station. Otherwise, the older children, and quite possibly their entire families, would be forced to leave the station to seek higher education elsewhere.
Angela and Jonathan set up a small worship center for the Christians and Jews who lived in the station also. For many of the members of Alec’s unit, this church was a place where they found peace after an arduous operation. Sometimes, Alec would also come there to pray as well.
But for all of the comp
lications of operating a remote space station on the edge of human-colonized space, Alec did not feel unduly burdened. He had many good people working for him that helped in the operation of the station. This allowed him to focus on the larger picture.
A few minutes later, Alec walked through the station’s habitat ring and saw, not only the men and women who worked directly for him, but also entire families including young children running around and playing. This was not exactly the sort of excitement that he thought that he wanted when he formed his privateer unit. But he found having this new and growing family to be far more satisfying however. But there were still times that Alec needed to find a place of solitude to escape the pressures of leadership for a short time.
Eventually, Joanna Tallmanz found Alec watching out at the star-lit sky from a transparent observation dome on the surface of this peculiar moon that had been transported as an asteroid into orbit by a mysterious alien race long before humanity ever set out into space. The observation dome was normally concealed from outside view by a pair of heavily camouflaged and armored doors.
A small powered lift took personnel from the habitat rings to the dome. The lift was unusual in that partway up, the lift would slowly rotate so that the floor would become the ceiling at the point where the centripetal force induced by the moon’s rotation would be cancelled out by the gravity produced by the moon’s mass. At the habitat ring, ‘up’ was facing towards the center of the moon. But a few hundred meters from the moon’s surface, gravity turned ‘up’ back towards the space beyond the moon.
So once the passengers on the lift reached the observation dome or any of the hidden airlocks to the moon’s surface, they could stand upright in the moon’s light surface gravity. The sight that greeted them was quite spectacular. With the slow rotation of the moon around its long axis, an observer could look at the beautiful blue and cloud-covered surface of the planet below for several minutes. Then the view shifted gently over to see the brilliant star that brought light to that world. Then the rotation would be the darkness of the space beyond, illuminated only by the specks of light of millions of distant stars.
Anyone who went up to one of the observation domes could not help but to be mesmerized by the beauty of it all.
“I thought that I might find you here, Sir.” Joanne said after the lift reached the dome.
“It is pretty peaceful out here, Joanne. Visiting this place gives me a chance to think without all of the hustle and bustle going on inside the station. Mind you, our people are doing great in there. But some private time is something to treasure as well.”
“I think so too. Plus, the view out here is incredible of all of the stars clustered around here and that beautiful blue world below us.”
“You did very well pointing us to this star system, Joanna. I don’t think that either of us would have guessed that we would find this installation here though. Thank you.”
“It just seemed to be the right place to go, Sir. I’m glad you appreciated my efforts too.”
“I certainly appreciate all of your efforts, Joanna.”
“I’m glad that you got me out from behind a desk, Sir. I was trained to be a pilot, navigator and warrior, not a damned office clerk. You just don’t know how much that means to me. Now, if the boss around here wasn’t being such a ‘monk’, he might be kind of cute.”
Alec laughed for a moment before responding to Joanna’s gentle flirt.
“Well, I’m afraid that I wouldn’t be all that good of a companion. I worry too much and get a bit fussy when things aren’t quite right. But realistically, I don’t need any romantic complications in my life right now. I just have too much to do at the moment for that sort of thing.”
“Well, Sir. You do need somebody, whether you want to admit it or not.” Joanna gently insisted.
“Well, I already have a family that has well over a thousand people in it. I also have three flirty female AI’s who watch my every move. I think that I already have enough wives and children as it is.” Alec quickly retorted.
“You know what I mean, Sir. You carry a lot on your shoulders. It wouldn’t hurt to let someone in to care for you a bit and help relieve that burden a little.”
“You are not wrong there, Joanna. I just have to find the right people to be with first. It can’t be just anyone, you know. It is especially difficult because basically everyone here works for me in one form or another. Do you realize the complications that can happen when a commander gets involved in a romantic relationship with a subordinate? Nothing good happens in the long run.”
“I know. But we do have some single women here who do not work directly for you. Granted, there are not a lot of them. But we do have them.
Just don’t set your standards so high that no one can meet them either. Love still has a funny way of showing up when you least expect it. Just remember, don’t wait on Miss Right to show up. Just work on being Mr. Right and the person that you are truly destined to be with will show up just when you need her most.”
Joanna had already pretty much figured out that Alec exclusively preferred women in terms of romance anyway.
“Well, getting onto more serious subjects. Things for us could be getting a lot more ‘interesting’ in the Chinese definition of the word soon. I just learned our client’s sources that the Belair Syndicate has shifted around some more military assets recently. They are seriously hunting for us now, both in the shipping lanes and perhaps also looking for our base here also. We need to be prepared for that.”
“I’m sure that we can deal with whatever we encounter. I understand that Colin is even putting the finishing touches on another Q-ship to add to our available assets.”
“Yes, it is one of the Dromedary’s that we captured from one of the pirate bands that we put out of business. The ship is going to be named Papillon. We still need more real battlers. We can’t afford to waste resources on ships that will not be able to survive a straight-up fight either. A Q-ship is great against a pirate or when we can set up an ambush. But you and I both know that the Belair Syndicate will not grant us many of those opportunities.”
“You know, Colin. He is trying to make the best with what resources that we have, Sir.”
“Yes, I do know. I can’t fault him for what he is doing. I just wish that we had the ships and weapons that we need for the fight to come.”
“I’m confident that we will have everything that we need when that time comes, Sir.” Joanna calmly replied as she looked out into the star-filled night sky.
Chapter Thirty Five:
Orbital Base Alpha One
Wolf 359, Orion Arm
December 24, 2321
Alec had just disembarked from the Dromedary that Alacrity had brought into the star system, when he saw a tall, brown-skinned man who he immediately recognized.
“Mister Wisp, what an unexpected pleasure. I wasn’t expecting to see you here, especially since your checks have all been clearing their funds into my credit account very satisfactorily.” Alec said with a smile. As far as he knew, everything had been going well towards fulfilling the terms of his contract with Mister Wisp’s principals.
“My employers knew that your ship has been coming here on a fairly regular basis to pick up supplies. So, they arranged to have me transported to meet with you here.” The Kepler colonial representative explained in a friendly enough manner.
“I see. I trust that my people and I have been fulfilling our portion of the contract in a satisfactory manner?”
“Yes, Captain Martinson. We have been quite pleased. In spite of your relatively limited assets, particularly at the beginning of our contract, you have certainly made your presence felt within the Belair Syndicate. We were very pleased with the confiscated cargo shuttle and the military equipment that you recently seized and delivered to us. I don’t think that I need to tell you that the Belair Syndicate is continuing to actively seek you in order to remove you as a particularly obnoxious thorn in their side.”
&n
bsp; “That is to be expected, of course. That is why my unit’s security is so very important, Mister Wisp.”
“Of course. We will do everything that we can to ensure that security. You also have put quite a dent in several of the pirate bands that had been operating along the spinward border shipping lanes.
It is my understanding that you essentially destroyed one of those pirate bands and drove off two others.” Wisp noted.
“Actually, we have fought against four pirate groups so far, Sir. The fourth one was eliminated when we captured its jump tender last month. They had no idea that they were facing a Q-ship when they attempted to board our Conestoga. After capturing that pirate shuttle, we turned around and used it as a Trojan horse to escort our own Q-ship to dock with the pirates’ jump tender.
We hit them with two squads of powered armor by surprise when the airlock door was open. There were no survivors among the pirates. But we kept the entire incident quiet. We are considering the idea of ‘stealing’ the late pirates’ identity for future operations.”
“What did you do with their ships, Captain?
“I arrived to this station aboard one of their cargo shuttles. Their jump tender and other shuttles have been working for us since the incident. We did trade one of the smaller cargo shuttles to one of the other colonial shipping lines in order to obtain some components to upgrade several of our other units though.” Alec explained while choosing not to reveal the existence of the Golden Phoenix to his employer.
“My employers were curious about where you are operating from. None of our people ever see any of your ships using any of the normal space docks for operations or repairs.”
“We have our own base set up. But we prefer to keep its location and capabilities to ourselves however. We wouldn’t want any unwelcome guests to arrive at our home seeking revenge, of course. As you said yourself, the Belair Syndicate is very actively looking for us now.
