A Pirate's Tale: The Only Solution Is Retribution (20 page)

All fifty targets were cut apart in less than a minute.  After the exercise was over, the two women looked at each other with wide eyes.  Even the metal posts the targets were bolted on were cut apart.  Gem said, “I’ve made two swords with dull edges for you to practice drawing them and putting them back in the scabbards.  Your sword training will be learning to draw them and put them away without cutting yourselves.  Your physical talents give you all you need to use them in actual combat conditions; you need no training on how to effectively use them.”

Desiree looked at Gem, “I think Leonidas could use one of these.”

Gem walked over to the locker and pulled out another scabbard, “The trader had three and I purchased all of them.  This will be Leonidas’ sword.”

Victoria put her sword into the locker as Gem handed her a matching sword with a dull blade.  She took the scabbard and put the leather strap over her shoulder.  She tried to put the sword into the scabbard and failed miserably.  Gem smiled, “Practice drawing it first.  You’ll get a feel for where the scabbard is located on your shoulder.  You have to raise it high over your shoulder to draw it and to scabbard it.  Focus on that feeling as you draw it and over time, you’ll get the feel.”  Gem left them to practice and wondered about the metal in the swords.  One day, a trip to Bellingham might be called for.  He didn’t tell them about the fourth sword he kept for himself.

He went to his quarters and felt his communicator vibrate.  He activated and it and started reading.  It appears the Romanovs knew about the purchase of the two ships on Luminus around the time Ana disappeared.  That put Victoria square in their sights and it was a certainty that she would be accosted by armed Romanov ships when she returned to her home galaxy.  He thought about the issue and how to get around it.

• • •

“Captain, I have a ship on my scanner behind us that appears to be trailing a commercial freighter directly in front of us.”

“Is the ship in the Cartian Registry, Carl?”

“It’s listed as a privately owned vessel.”

“What planet’s flag does it use?”

Carl looked up from his monitor, “Tortuga, Sir.”

Embree snorted, “That’s being rather open about their intentions, isn’t it, Sir?”

Leonidas shrugged, “Not every ship that comes out of Tortuga is a pirate.  There is a huge community of commercial companies that provide the support needed to keep the pirates flying.  Tortuga also has a large fleet of commercial vessels that the local inhabitants use.”  Leonidas pulled up the data on the ship and absently said, “I notice that there are no reports on that ship being a pirate.”

“Then why is it trailing that freighter?” Barney asked.

“Just because it has not been reported doesn’t mean it’s not a pirate.  What it probably means is that they kill all the beings on the any vessel they attack.  I’m reasonably sure they shoot off the long range communication dishes immediately to prevent an attack report from being generated and if they leave no witnesses…” Leonidas shrugged.

Carl shook his head, “There’s more than three hundred crewmen on a freighter that size.  I can imagine the grief and sorrow of the families of the crew if their fathers are killed by pirates.”

Leonidas nodded as he stared at the two ships on the main wall monitor.  He looked at Carl, “Does the registry give a contact frequency and name for that ship trailing the freighter?”

Carl pressed some buttons on his console and looked up, “Yes, Sir.  It does.  Its name is Braxel.”

Leonidas nodded slightly as he continued to stare at the two ships.  After a minute he pressed a red button followed by the intercom button.  Orange flashing lights began strobing as he said, “All hands to Battlestations.  This is not a drill.”

Barney looked at him, “What are you going to do?”

“Tell them that the freighter is our bone and not theirs to chew on.”  Leo looked at Carl, “Put the contact frequency on my panel.”  The frequency appeared in the communicator display and Leonidas pressed it as the crew rushed to Battlestations, “Attention Braxel, I notice that you are now following a freighter that I’ve been trailing for more than three days.  I would appreciate your backing off and leaving.”

An alien appeared on Leo’s display and snarled, “You would be well advised to go elsewhere.  What I do is none of your concern and I do not tolerate interference in my actions.”

Leo looked at Carl, “What kind of species is he?”

“Beligeese, Sir.”

He turned back to the display as a printout appeared next to the alien’s image with information about its home world.  “Unfortunately, I claimed this freighter before you showed up today.”

“THEN YOU SHOULD HAVE TAKEN IT!!”

“Finding the proper place to do that is what’s caused my delay.  You know how it is, too many witnesses.  That’s why you’ve not moved in on it yet as well.  I will tell you that if you attempt to take my freighter, I will be forced to stop you.”

Leo muted the frequency and looked at Carl, “Weapons?”

“Similar to our own; four blasters, however, I see no missile ports, Sir.”

“Sir, their thrusters are one half the size of ours; they will not be capable of matching our speed!” Embree said from his console.

“Sir, all crews have reported in and are at full power to their weapons,” Barney added as he shut down the strobing orange lights.

Carl looked up, “Sir, they’ve slowed and the Freighter has opened some distance from them.”

“Barney, boost the ship closer to the freighter and keep us between them and the freighter.  Notify me if they move inside blaster range.”

• • •

The Thermopylae accelerated and moved in close behind the freighter.  They followed the freighter for six hours as the pirate maintained position behind them.  Leonidas’ display illuminated and the alien appeared, “You’ve had plenty of opportunities to take that freighter!”

Leo smiled, “And the only reason I haven’t is because you are waiting for me to do just that.  Any idiot knows that attacking a ship leaves you wide open to be attacked while your crew is on the other ship.  You should leave, now!”

“We could agree to share in the takings from the freighter and take it together.”

“I might have accepted your offer six hours ago but it’s clear your intentions were to attack my ship when I moved on the freighter.  I don’t like that and will not share anything with you!”

“You have no proof that was my intention!”

“You’re now wearing a space suit.  You don’t have the helmet on but I can see the suit below your face.  You don’t need a space suit against an unarmed freighter.  Oh, your intentions are quite clear.”

“If you wait much longer, that freighter will arrive at its destination and you will lose it.”

“There will be others,” Leonidas replied as the display went dark.

“Sir, I detect power being directed to their blasters,” Carl announced.  Suddenly, Carl’s head went back, “Sir, I have another ship moving at high speed toward us on the filament.”

“Where is it flagged, Carl?”

Carl looked at Leonidas, “Tortuga, Captain.”

“Barney, slow the ship so the Freighter moves out of scanning range.”  The Thermopylae slowed and the Pirate behind it slowed as well maintaining its distance.  The second ship arrived twenty minutes later and pulled up alongside the first pirate.  Leonidas looked at the ship on the tactical display and said, “Weapons, Carl?”

“The second ship has six blasters on its hull.  It doesn’t appear to have missile ports.”

Leonidas nodded, “That must be the Pirate Captain and he’s coming to support one of his vessels.” He pressed his intercom button, “Missile Crews, you have the second warship.  Blaster Teams, I want you to target the four blasters on the first ship and nothing else.”

Gold had arrived on the bridge earlier and was listening to the exchanges, “Do you think it’s a good idea to use a missile?”

“We need to know what the missiles are capable of doing.  I don’t believe they’ll be able to determine what type of missile is being fired once we go to full battle speed.  The first ship’s scanners can’t keep up with what’s going on tactically.”  Gold raised his arms and nodded.  Leonidas looked at Barney, “Once they start their attack runs, move the ship across the filament to the opposite side and turn back toward them; we’ll open fire as they pass.  Keep us at the outer edge of their blaster range!”  Leonidas watched the two ships and knew they weren’t going to delay much longer; they’d lose the freighter if they did.  He looked at Gold, “Am I correct in assuming our blasters have a much longer range than those two ships?”

Gold glanced at the tactical monitor and nodded, “They appear to be using standard Unity Blasters.”

“What do you mean, ‘appear’?”

“You do as well.  You won’t know until you enter combat if they’re more than they appear to be.”

Leonidas looked at Carl quickly, “What power rating did you detect going to the blasters on the first ship?”

“The power transfer matches with standard Unity Blasters, Sir,” Carl answered.

“You have the ship, Barney.  Make it dance.”

Barney stared at his panel and waited for the two ships to start their attack run.  He kept his hands on the booster and lateral controls as he stared at the display.

• • •

“Why didn’t you attack that ship?  Your ship is a match for it.”

“Captain, take a look at the boosters on that ship; they’re double the size of those on the Braxel.”  The Captain nodded to his scanner operator and saw the large thrusters behind the ship ahead of them.  His brow lowered as he wondered why the ship hadn’t run when he appeared.  It was clear that it was outnumbered and out gunned.  But it didn’t flee and that bothered him.  “I offered to share in the takings with him but he refused, Captain.”

The Captain really had no choice but to attack.  He realized that if that ship hailed from Tortuga, he would have been bound by the covenants to back off the freighter due to it being found by the other ship first.  But it didn’t hail from Tortuga and, if he backed off, his crews would start to question his bravery.  That could lead to a mutiny and he wasn’t prepared to deal with that issue.  There were already some in his fleet that wanted a change in leadership.  “Go to full power and prepare to take that ship on both sides.”  The two ships started moving forward and the Captain nodded to his pilot.  Both ships went to full boost and moved toward the ship in front of them at full speed.

• • •

Walt looked at Frick and Jim sitting beside him at their missile control panels, “I’ve been designated to take the shot.  Frick, you have the follow up it it’s needed.”

“Tracking now!” Frick replied.

• • •

Barney pushed the booster handle forward and the ship accelerated away from the incoming pirates at an incredible speed.  The Pirate Captain wondered if it was fleeing but saw the ship suddenly turn at an impossible angle across the filament and come roaring back at them with a tremendous closing speed.  “TURN ACROSS THE FILAMENT!!”  Before the ship could respond, the other ship was roaring up on their port sides.  “FIRE ALL BLASTERS NOW!!”

• • •

Walt watched his panel as the launch button turned green and he pressed it.  At the same moment, four blasters fired at once at one of the passing pirates.  The larger of the two pirate ships went up in a massive explosion just after the other ship shuttered as its stardrive failed and it exited under space into normal space.

“Take us to the pirate’s exit point!” Leonidas commanded.  The Thermopylae turned back across the filament and stopped at the debris of the destroyed pirate ship.  Barney shut down the stardrive and the ship entered normal space.  Five hundred miles away they saw the second pirate ship smoking from the blaster hits it had taken.

Gold looked at the ship on the monitor and tilted his head, “It appears you missed one of the blasters on the bottom.”

Leo nodded, “I can see that we hit it to the left side.  I think we disabled it.”

“Don’t get close enough to find out,” Gold suggested.

Leo nodded and lifted his communicator.  He pressed a button and the pirate commanding the Braxel appeared, “I didn’t destroy your vessel because I want you to go back to Tortuga and let everyone know that I do not tolerate interference with my rightful actions.”

The Pirate stared at him and his rage was clear.  He kept waiting for his Captain to appear to assist his damaged ship, but he didn’t show.  Leo smiled, “I think you’re going to need another Fleet Captain.  Pass the word.”

The Thermopylae disappeared as it activated its stardrive and the Pirate knew he was lucky.  He was defenseless and was now certain the Captain wasn’t as fortunate.  He looked at the pilot, “Stardrive status?”

“It was knocked off line but is now operational.”

“Get us back to Tortuga.  We owe that ship!”

“Perhaps you might ask others to go and take revenge,” the Weapons Controller suggested.  “I don’t want to ever run across it again!”

The Ship Commander looked at him in anger but, after a moment, had to admit that he agreed with him.  This will be left to whomever was chosen to be the new Captain to handle

L
eonidas looked at the recording of the attack and turned to Gold, “That missile is something else in the world of warfare; I’ve not seen anything that can match its destructive capability.”

“That’s why I would prefer you not use it unless absolutely necessary.  It is a new development and the Queen want’s it kept secret.”

“The first ship was knocked out of subspace before it hit.  I’m sure they weren’t able to track it.”

“Still, in the future…”

“I’ll not use it unless absolutely necessary,” Leonidas interrupted.

“Sir, should we go after the freighter?”

Leo looked at Embree, “Why do you ask that?”

“I think the pirate you caught and released will check to see if we took it.  It would add a layer to our cover story, even if we don’t attack.”

Gold nodded, “Your officer makes a good point.  Destroying that freighter after your fight with the pirates would make excellent sense.”

Leo looked at Carl, “How far is that freighter from its destination?”