Privateer's Moon

by gerald hall

  “Well, I have some orders to give now. Thank you for your information. I will take things from this point.” Alec said as he politely dismissed Angela and Jonathan from the station command center. Then he called Doctor Lofton and the station security chief.

  Technician Thomas Johnson aka Carl Wilkins saw on a station video monitor less than an hour later that he was required to report to the station medical station for required inoculations. There were several other names on the list as well, but he was scheduled first. In fact, he had less than thirty minutes before his appointment.

  The Truist infiltrator knew that the last thing that he needed to do was to draw undue attention to himself by failing to show up for a medical appointment. So, he dutifully made his way to the station’s medical section.

  Waiting on him was Doctor Serena Lofton. She smiled as her new patient came in, but inside she was still very concerned. Alec had explained to her about the potential danger of the Truist infiltrator. Just as soon as ‘Thomas Johnson’ appeared at the medical office, the messages for any personnel to come to see Doctor Lofton immediately disappeared from the station’s data monitors.

  “Hello, Mister Johnson. Welcome to New Lake Station.” She told him. Alec had instructed her not to even reveal what the actual name of the station was.

  “I saw on the station’s public data system monitors that I was supposed to report here for immunization shots.” ‘Thomas’ told the waiting doctor.

  “That’s right. We really feel that everyone’s health here is very important. Please sit down here and then roll up your sleeve. This will only take a few moments.”

  ‘Thomas’ did as instructed, allowing the female doctor to give him a single injection.

  “Please let me know if you feel any adverse effects, Mister Johnson.” Serena said.

  “Alright, Doc.” The Truist infiltrator replied. After a few moments, he decided to try to stand up, but his knees immediately collapsed under him. He looked up at the station’s doctor and said.

  “I feel really dizzy. What’s happening?”

  All the while, the doctor seemed mysteriously unconcerned though ‘Thomas’ was now lying flat on his back. He tried to resist whatever he had been injected with but failed. A few moments later, ‘Thomas’ fell unconscious.

  Waiting in the next compartment were Sergeant Julian Arromanche and four other heavily-armed Marines. They were there just in case that Carl Wilkins decided to not cooperate with Doctor Lofton and her ‘inoculation’. At Doctor Lofton’s signal, the Marines came in and securely bound the unconscious man with flex cuffs. She then checked the man’s vitals once more to ensure that he was in no danger from the injection she had given him earlier.

  “What did you inject into our ‘friend’ here, Doc?”

  “I injected him with a fast-acting anesthetic. It will keep him knocked out for hours. Then I can give him something else to keep him unconscious. You know that I wouldn’t have done any of this if you were going to harm him at all afterwards. That would have been completely unethical.”

  “I know, Doc. The Boss would have never forced you to do anything like that. We are just going to put this guy into therapeutic torpor and send him to the authorities with Earth Fleet. They will keep him in custody since they have a few questions for him reference the mutiny of his ship and charges of piracy after he wakes up.

  But could you do one more thing for us, Doc?”

  “What is that, Sergeant?” she asked.

  “Could you please run your medical scanner over this guy right away? I would hate to find out later on that this guy was one of those ‘Uomo Dominante’ cyborgs. If he is, we would need for you to immediately ‘disarm’ him so that he won’t try blowing us up with any of his cybernetic implants that Angela warned us about.

  Until we are sure that this guy is ‘safe’, if he even twitches a single muscle, I will have to immediately shoot him. One way or another, he must be neutralized.” The big Marine replied firmly.

  “Of course. But if I do find anything, you better have someone here to do the ‘disarming’. I’m a doctor, not an explosive ordinance technician.”

  “Certainly, Doc. We will bring someone in to support you in the event that your scanner does find something. You will have to cut him open. Our EOD tech will then disarm any devices that you expose. Though, hopefully we won’t need to do anything like that.”

  “I hope so too, Sergeant.” Serena said with a wry smile.

  “What do you need for us to do now, Doc?” Sergeant Arromanche asked.

  “Well, I do need a hand getting this man onto the medical scanner table so that we can examine him for any of these cybernetic implants that you are so afraid of.”

  ‘Of course. Anders, Wilder and Kline; you three help lift up Mister Wilkins and put him up on the scanner.” The Marine sergeant ordered three of his personnel.

  After they put the unconscious man on the scanner, Doctor Loftin activated the device and scanned the prisoner from head to toe. Her eyebrows rose for a few seconds when she noted a small dark spot in the scanner’s monitor that was located just behind the prisoner’s left ear.

  “I guess that I am going to have to do a little surgery after all. I had hoped to avoid that.” Groused Serena.

  “I had hoped that too. But he can’t keep whatever that is with him. At least, he doesn’t have a bunch of weapons hidden in his arms or anything like that.”

  “I need to prepare him for surgery though. At least, it shouldn’t be terribly complicated. After all, that thing behind his ear is just too small to have a bomb built inside of it, isn’t it?” The doctor asked.

  The look that she got from Sergeant Arromanche sent chills down her spine. Apparently, he thought it just might have a bomb inside.

  “I’ll have the EOD tech here just in case. But whatever that is, it needs to come out now. It just don’t think that it is benign in nature, not by a long shot.”

  “Alright, Sergeant. I’ll get it out of him. If there are any problems, I am immediately stepping away though.”

  “Good enough, Doc. Let’s get started. I want to get this guy into the cooler and on the way out of here as soon as possible.”

  The procedure turned out to be fairly simple, with a small electronic device removed from just behind the prisoner’s ear.”

  “It’s certainly not anything that I have ever seen used to repair deafness.” Serena noted after removing the device.

  “I will have one of our electronics technicians take a look at it first. My guess is that it is some sort of communications device. Most importantly, he no longer has it.” Sergeant Arromanche said.

  “Alright, gentlemen. Let’s get this man prepped for therapeutic torpor. I’m sure that you are eager to get him secured and on his way to wherever you are sending him.”

  “I imagine that the Captain will be taking this individual with him. I just heard that Alacrity will be going back out in another couple of days. Then the Captain can give our ‘friend’ here all giftwrapped to one of his contacts within Earth Fleet on the way out to another mission for our Kepler patrons.

  Several weeks later, Carl Wilkins woke up in a room very much different than Doctor Lofton’s office. He also found himself strapped down to a table with nothing on but a pair of briefs. Three large men and one smaller one were looking at him with eyes as cold as ice. All of them were wearing Earth Fleet uniforms, which send terror running the length of Carl’s spine.

  “Good morning, Technician Carl Wilkins. I hope that you are feeling well. We have been waiting a very long time to speak with you. We have so many questions that we wish to ask you. Trust me, Mister Wilkins. Before we are done with you, you will have answered every single one of our questions to my satisfaction.” The smaller man in a plain Earth Fleet uniform said. “Do not try to hold back any information either. If you lie to us or leave anything important out, we will find out. You will then pay dearly, I assure you.

  So, let’s begin. Shall we?”

&
nbsp; Chapter Thirty Six:

  New Hope Station

  YBP 1194 Star System, M 67 Star Cluster, Orion Arm

  December 31, 2321

  “Jonathan, what are you planning on doing to keep yourself occupied and productive now that you are settled down here?” Angela asked as she and Jonathan stood inside one of the station’s surface observation domes, watching out towards the planet that the captured asteroid orbited. Normally, these domes were kept covered by a camouflaged shield for protection and concealment. But the crew would sometimes visit the domes just to watch the skies when they had a break from their tasks.

  “From what I have seen, the people running things at this station are good people. Because of that and because I want to help protect the world that this lunar station orbits from exploitation, I would like to stay here for a while longer. Besides, you know that I am still a pretty good technician from the work that we did together helping Colin with that old combat tender.”

  “I think so too, Jonathan. Mind you, they are privateers. Some people see that as being little more than pirates, only with a ‘hunting license’ issued by some government. But I haven’t seen them do anything that was particularly inhumane or capricious. From what I have been told, they are fighting a corporate syndicate that has been attacking ships from one of the outer colonies. They have also been tasked with protecting shipping against piracy and attacks from the Lu’non. This all seems to come under the guise of waging a ‘just war’ to me.”

  “They still appear to me as being the ‘good guys’ here, Angela. I’m going to do what I can to help them and keep them on the straight and narrow path as much as I can.” Jonathan confidently said.

  “I have to agree with you. I’ve seen life from the sides of groups who were not very good at all. As you well know, I’ve had to do things that I didn’t agree with personally while serving with violent jihadists and evil pirates too. I hope that somehow I can make up for all of that while I am here. That includes what I did to you.”

  “I’m sure that the Lord has always known what was in your heart, even while you were in such dark places, Angela. As far as what happened while I was a prisoner of the pirate band that you worked for, I know that what you did was to protect me from an even worse fate. The Lord worked through you to protect me and to deliver us both to here.” Jonathan said with a smile that almost hid the pain that he felt during those dark times of captivity.

  “We are called to love our neighbor, aren’t we? You were hurt and needed to be comforted, not being forced to endure even more pain just because you knew something that others desired. I couldn’t do anything less for you. I just wished that I could have done more.”

  “I know. I love you for that and so much more, my friend. You are a major part of the reason why I have chosen to remain here, Angela.” Jonathan admitted as he reached out and embraced Angela, tears running from their eyes as they stood there together.

  Both Angela and Jonathan felt blessed that they met each other, even in spite of the circumstances that brought them together.”

  “I love you too, Jonathan. You have such strength and kindness. You have enriched my life so very much.”

  “I hope that I am not being too presumptuous here.” Jonathan said as he reached into one of his coverall pockets and pulled out a simple gold ring as he knelt down to his knees in front of Angela.

  “I managed to salvage a little bit of gold from some scrap circuit boards and had a friend cast it into this. I was hoping that perhaps we could go pay the station chaplain a visit or possibly the Captain if you would prefer. I want to spend the rest of my life with you as my wife, Angela, my beautiful angel. Will you say ‘yes’?” Jonathan asked, tears already welling in his eyes.

  “Of course, Jonathan. I want to marry you.” Angela quickly said as she wrapped her arms around Jonathan and kissed him, her own tears rolling down her cheeks.

  They held each other for what seemed to be an eternity before either of them spoke again. Jonathan finally broke the silence as he wiped the tears of joy from his face.

  “Let’s go get married now. I hear that there is no waiting period in this place for weddings. It’s all, first come, first served.”

  “Who do you want to marry us? The chaplain or the Captain?” Angela asked.

  “Let’s get them both. I know that we both want this to be a Christian wedding service, but Captain Martinson was instrumental in us being here too. If he and his people weren’t here when those pirates came to this station, none of this would have been possible.”

  “What are we waiting on then?” Angela gleefully replied.

  “Well, you do remember that Captain Martinson is out on another mission, partly because of that Truist infiltrator that you spotted trying to get in here. If you want him as part of our wedding, we are going to have to wait until Alacrity gets back home.”

  “We can still talk to Rev Bev first and get the planning started though, can’t we?” Angela asked. She had forgotten in her excitement about Alec’s departure.

  “Of course, my dear angel. I’m sure that she has a few words of wisdom that she will want to impart about marriage, commitment, love and all of that. Then when the Captain returns, we can have everyone here that we need to make our wedding complete.”

  “Let’s go see the chaplain then right now. I don’t want to waste any time at all, Sweetheart.”

  Chapter Thirty Seven:

  New Hope Station

  YBP 1194 Star System, M 67 Star Cluster, Orion Arm

  January 31, 2322

  Colin was helping with the refitting of a Dromedary into another Q-ship inside one of the pressurized repair bays when Major Compton walked up to him. At first, the Major reached out to shake Colin’s hand until he saw that the technician’s hand was still covered in a layer of dirt and grease. Colin politely smiled and understood when the Marine officer reluctantly pulled his hand back.

  “Hello, Colin. How it the work going on the latest creation of yours?”

  “I hope to be done in another week or so. She will give an adversary quite a surprise someday, I’m sure. Our adversaries won’t be expecting for a smaller cargo shuttle to be so well armed. Anyway, things have been pretty quiet since Alec left with Alacrity and most of our battlers a couple of weeks ago. I finally have had a chance to work on this particular little project of mine.”

  “I haven’t had much to do myself. Alec took all but one of my Marines, who would have also gone with him too if his power armor suit had been ready in time.”

  “It is nice to have a little down time though. I know that a lot of people have been taking advantage of the free time to go down and visit the underwater habitats.”

  Before Colin could say anything else, a loud klaxon began to be heard throughout the station. Major Compton quickly contacted the station command center via text over his internal communications link. The message that he received back sent chills down his spine.

  “I need to go to the command center immediately, Colin. I suggest that you gather together anyone who knows how to run the ships that we have. They may be getting very busy, very soon.”

  As soon as Major Compton arrived at the command center, the sensor technician on duty reported his findings.

  “We’ve picked up a Lu’non combat tender that has jumped into our star system, Sir. It appears that she arrived sometime in the last couple of hours.”

  “Do you think that she has spotted us?”

  “I’m not sure. We have had a couple of shuttles in transit to and from the water world during that period. In any event, she appears to be moving in our direction.”

  “Then we have a fight on our hands for sure, Major.”

  “Yes, I’m afraid so.” The Marine officer grimly replied.

  “Orca is ready to get back into the fight. She’s been sitting at home for far too long now.” Colin replied as he quickly walked into the station command center to learn the reason for the alarm.

  “It’s going to be
a difficult fight for a battler as old as Orca is, Colin.” Major Compton noted.

  “I haven’t been sitting still in regards to my own ship these past few months, Major. Whenever I have had the chance, I have been continuing to upgrade her original systems to make Orca as combatworthy as possible. Orca’s weapons and fire control are substantially better than what they were when I first arrived here. I’ve even upgraded all of the autocannon-based point defense systems with modern dual-purpose lasers.

  I’ve still put all of the old equipment that I pulled out of Orca to good use though. The old autocannons are now mounted in emplacements on the surface. They will not only defend against incoming missiles in our previous dead zones. They will also be very useful against any enemy personnel that manage to land on the surface this moon.” Colin said before opening up a communications channel to the ‘Phoenix’ and her AI.

  “Jill, you have access to our station sensor feeds. What does your data base say about that Lu’non ship out there?” Colin asked.

  “It looks like one of their Spear class combat tenders. She can carry nine light Class-One battlers aboard in addition to having a very heavy missile and laser armament of her own. I’m afraid that she and her host are probably going to be more than a match for Orca, even with your upgrades, Colin. These Lu’non light battlers are as fast as a heavy fighter and are also very well armed with missiles and directed energy weapons. My files also indicate that these battlers are frequently used in boarding actions, so they each carry at least a few boarding troops. One bit of good news is that the Spear class does not carry fighters of her own, though she does have the ability to carry a few light, fighter-sized shuttles.”

  “Thank you for the information, Jill. So now we know what we are facing. We can’t let that Lu’non combat tender get away from here, one way or another. If she does, we will have a dozen more like her appear on our doorsteps within the month, I’m sure.” Major Compton noted.