Birthright: Battle for the Confederation- Pursuit (10 page)

"I just want to get my crew through
this," the captain bit out through clenched teeth.  "What do you
want?"

The Trin continued.  "You and your
most junior cargo handler are going to come to the cargo control center with
us.  I want the newest, greenest, most inexperienced man or woman you have.”  A
Chief might think they know something about this ship they could use against
him, but a rookie would just do what the pirate commanded.  “Now let's get you
to that panel over there so you can make the call."  The Trin gestured to
a video screen at the junction between two corridors

"Crewman Web Barazian report to Main
Cargo Control," Web heard over the ship's loudspeakers. 

"That can't be good," Web said
under his breath.  His station, the pod monitoring console, was a few dozen
steps from the main control center, an area reserved for the senior cargo
handlers.  There was no real good reason for him to be there, unless it was
something the pirates had wanted specifically.

A few of the other cargo types gave him
apprehensive glances as he left the small collection of stations they were at
and headed fore towards the control center.  As he approached, he heard a
commotion; a few shouts, rattling and scraping of equipment of some sort across
the decking, and a thud that was most likely the sound of a body falling to the
floor.

"Web Barazian reporting,
Captain," Web said meekly as he stuck his head into the crowded control
room.  It was filled with displays, consoles, chairs, and even an old fashioned
writing surface on one wall where notes could be scribed by hand.  It was also
filled with three Solar Venturer crew, the captain, and three pirates.  The
extra bodies were already making the compartment warm, and Web could see a few
of the freighter crewmembers start to sweat.

"Captain Two-Swords says you're the
most junior cargo handler," the human said menacingly as he brandished his
tarnished handgun.

"I guess I'm the newest arrival,
yes," Web replied shakily.  Whatever was going down, it was important that
he be involved.  If they wanted a scared junior crewmember, that's what he
would be.

"Good," the human continued. 
"You and the captain are going to stay here while the rest head up front
with the other crew." 

With that, the Qualin motioned to the
forward hatch and roughly pushed one of the cargo handlers through; the rest
followed obediently.  The Trin, who seemed to Web to be in charge despite the
human's tough talk, nodded at the human and also left.

"Captain's going to look at the
inventory and tell me which pods he wants to transfer to our own ship,"
the human began.  "You two are going to make sure that happens smoothly. 
All goes well, you probably won't even have to get hurt."  The human
leered at Web and Captain Two-Swords.  "
Probably
."

The human stepped to the hatch to confer
with the Trin for a second.

"Mr. Barazian," the captain
whispered, "we need this to go off quickly.  No problems, ok?  We need
them off this ship.  The cargo's insured, so there's no reason to cause any
problems here."  The captain looked right into Web's eyes.

"Yes, sir," Web replied.  He
was torn; there was the off chance this was the sort of thing he should break
cover on.  If things got out of hand, his first responsibility was to the crew
of this ship.  True, they weren't technically Confederation citizens, but if
the pirates got out of hand he wasn't going to sit and watch them toss the crew
out of the airlocks.  He just wished he could talk to Halley.

"Excuse me," Two-Swords called
out to the pirates, still engrossed in their private conversation.  "Do
you have any pods for me to move yet?  I'm sure we'd all rather be done with
this as soon as possible."

This seemed to anger the human, and the
Trin made no move to stop him from stomping over to Two-Swords.  "We'll
tell you when this is done with, got it?" he yelled, sticking his handgun
right under the captain's jaw. 

Two-Swords nodded imperceptibly.

"Good," the human replied. 
"Now, my captain is going to go watch the guys toss your cabin.  You could
save some damage if you just tell us where the safe is and give us the
combination straight away."

Two-Swords just looked nervously at the
pirate, and Web saw something flash between them.  Suddenly the captain was
more nervous than before.  "I can only open the safe in port,"
Two-Swords stammered.  "It's a lockout so I don't skim and you can't
steal.  I'm sorry."

The human continued to stare at the
captain, who finally looked away nervously.

"You're a horrible liar," the
Trin captain out in the corridor commented.  "We'll get to work.  If it
takes too long, we'll just come back down here and start cutting off fingers. 
From both of you."

And with that, the Trin was gone. 

CHAPTER
6

Halley remained on the bridge where two
pirates with automatic blasters covered the crew where they were clustered in
one corner by the astrographics table.

The First Officer, Lirik Daemon, ended up
right next to her.  She had been ordered to call up on the main viewer a
schematic of the cargo pod rings and was watching as the pirates sorted through
the database, trying to decide which ones to take.  Daemon was watching with
intense interest as the pirates highlighted pods to remove.  From what Halley
could see, there wasn’t much rhyme or reason to what they were taking.

"They're not touching some of the
real obvious pods," she whispered to the First Officer, "even though
there are some pretty valuable goods in some of them."  Like Web, she had
debated breaking cover, but also like Web she'd elected not to unless lives
were about to be lost.  She hated to be so cold in deciding that this piracy
was not her problem, but there were greater issues at stake and she needed to
get to Callidor more than this shipping line needed to protect a few insured
cargo pods.  Nothing said she couldn't prod the FO along, though, and hope she
did something to help. 

She looked back at Halley nervously. 
"So?" she replied.  "As long as they leave, that's all I care."

That wasn't the response she was
expecting.  "But why would they take the pod filled with farming equipment
for an agri-moon," she continued, "and leave behind advanced
fabrication equipment bound for Callidor?"

Daemon snapped her head to look at Halley
and whispered quietly but harshly, spit bubbling up on her lips.  "What do
we care?  As long as they take it and go I don't much care.  Just leave them be
so we can get this over with!"

"You," a pirate commanded,
pointing at First Officer Daemon.  "Come over here.  You need to switch
off the external security feeds and the computer inventory.  No need to have
you figuring out what we're taking too quickly."

Daemon shuffled over compliantly and sat
down at a console, then slowly and nervously started pecking at the controls as
commanded.

Web and Captain Two-Swords sat quietly at
the cargo control consoles as the human pirate paced around the compartment,
inspecting displays and occasionally looking out of the small viewports high up
on the bulkheads which afforded fore and aft views over the cargo pod rings. 
The pirate didn't seem to consider Web and the captain too much of a threat,
and that was just fine with him.

The captain suddenly tensed as he looked
at one of the monitors. 

Web noticed immediately.  "What's
wrong, Captain?"

"Um, nothing, I hope," the
captain stammered, but Web knew that wasn't true.  He saw the captain was
looking at the internal server display and that it was showing attempted
breaches of the secure data archives.

"Something in the computer they
shouldn't get?" Web asked cautiously.

Captain Two-Swords looked at Web
suspiciously.  "What do you think you see?" he asked.

"I see somebody trying to access the
secure areas of the main computer's storage as well as our comm logs," Web
said evenly.  "I can see why pirates would do that, but you seemed to
react when you saw."

"You're mistaken," the captain
replied brusquely.  "I don't want them pawing through
any
parts of this ship, that's all."       

"Okay," Web said
noncommittally. 

"Shut your mouths over there!"
the human pirate commanded at them, then turned back to stare out the forward
viewport as the pirate's own cargo container ship started to ease into place
overhead.

The pirate's comm device chimed and he
tapped the earpiece in his left ear with his finger.  "Yes?  It's down
here now?  Alright; I'll get them to it."  With that, the pirate turned to
Web and the captain.

"I have our list of pods you're
going to put in the release queue."  He tapped a few commands onto the
screen next to Web and a list popped up, showing cargo pod serial numbers and
routing information.  "Put the ones on that list into the release list. 
Have the computer get it all set up, and then you two are going back with the
rest of the crew while we work.  Make it fast."

As the pirate stomped off, Web took
another glance at the captain.  He looked back at Web.

"Mr. Barazian," the captain
said slowly, as if it pained him.  "I need to ask you to do something for
me.  For this ship."

Web tried to look like he was concentrating
on the displays and list the pirate had given him, but he shot the captain a
look out of the corner of his eye as he worked and nodded imperceptibly.

"There is some information on this
ship that I can't let the pirates have.  It's in my personal memory buffer in
my cabin.  It came to me inside a message two days ago securely for me.  They
can't see it."  That's all the man would say.

Web didn't have much time to think about
it.  Something was going on, but he had no idea what this mystery information
was.  Was it good, bad, secret, damning?  He was almost done with the pod list
and had to act quickly.  Something told him to just do it, so he opened a new
portal and quickly searched for the message using a hacked login he'd
established as soon as he'd arrived onboard the ship.  He found a coded message
to the captain with a large attachment, and curiously enough the source was
redirected enough times as to be untraceable. 

The pirate was stomping back towards them
and Web hurriedly tapped more commands.  The display flashed a confirmation box
showing that the pod release sequence was set just in time for the pirate to
peer at Web and his handiwork.

"Looks like you're all done
here," he said, and pulled Web's chair away from the console.  Then he
stepped back and motioned for Web and the captain to stand up using his blaster
rifle. 

"Start marching.  Everyone's headed
to the mess hall while we work."

They walked down the corridors, the
pirate a few steps behind them.  On the way, they were joined by some more
crew, also being herded by their own small band of pirates.

"Did you do it?" Two-Swords
whispered nervously as the pirates greeted each other.

"Yes."

"Where is it?"

"Safe.  I'll tell you when we're
alone," Web promised.

 Halley entered the mess hall with the
first officer and rest of the bridge crew.  The large room had been turned into
a holding area, with both hatches to the outside corridors guarded.  The
pirates had made a quick sweep of the kitchen and pronounced it clear, but none
of the crew had seemed to want to leave the comfort of the larger group.

Halley sought out Web and managed to get
near him. 

"We need to talk," she said
softly.

"About what?" Web asked
innocently, but saw the look on her face and knew something was bothering her
deeply.  "Alright; let's make some stim-caf."

He led the way the few steps to the
galley and pointed to the doors as one pirate glared at him.  "Thought I'd
crank out some stim-caf.  You folks are of course welcome to take some
first."

"You know we will," the man
replied gruffly, then motioned for Web to continue.  Once he and Halley were in
the galley, she helped him set up the machines to produce a steady stream of
the stuff.  They had to keep up the act since everyone in the mess hall could
see them through the pass-through heating plates where the food was transferred
from galley to counter up front.

"What's going on?" Web asked as
he measured out ingredients.

"Something's rotten here," she
said in an intense whisper.  "The FO doesn't care at all what's going on. 
Now, I can understand wanting to cooperate, but she's too laid back about it. 
It just doesn't feel right. Have you seen anything odd?"

"Well, there is the small issue of
the captain asking me to hide an encrypted file he received so the pirates can't
access it.  That struck me as a bit unusual, don't you think?"

"Are these two going to get us all
killed?" growled Halley.  "There aren't any covert Confed activities
going on that should have intersected with our mission.  I get angry when I
don't have all the facts, and for damn sure one or both of these two are
holding out."

"Just to give them the benefit of
the doubt," Web said gently, "maybe they're just trying to get the
ship through this as painlessly as possible."

Halley seemed to think about that for a
second, then shook her head.  "No, I think something's going on here.  We
have at least a couple hours to figure this out before they've taken all the
pods on their list.  We need to get to work."

Web grabbed a platter and set a half
dozen mugs of stim-caf on it.  "Then let's get going," he replied,
and headed to the doors.

Avenger cruised out-system along their
assigned vector.  Another half hour and they'd be clear of all traffic lanes
and gravity wells.  In a truly desperate situation, they could always just
travel perpendicular to the system's elliptic and escape much faster, but
leaving through charted traffic lanes was otherwise expected.

"Care to wager on how our next stop
goes?" Captain Elco said softly to Loren, who sat at the XO's console
across from the captain's on the bridge.

"I wouldn't be so bold at this
point," Loren replied.  Even if he had something groundbreaking to say, he
couldn't do it on the bridge because as far as the crew knew this was strictly
the diplomatic mission that Admiral Bak had cut orders for.  And besides that,
the truth was that he was starting to think this was going nowhere.

"Traffic control has cleared
us," reported the comm officer from the side of the bridge.

"Thank you," Elco replied. 
"Navigation, distance to clear?"

"We'll be beyond the repair yard in
three minutes, Captain," was the swift reply.

Loren stared at the main viewscreen. 
Absent a tactical need, or captain's command, the main holo was dormant and the
viewscreen was showing a forward camera view.  He called up control of the
cameras and slewed to take a better look at the mothball yard off their port
side. 

"That's a lot of ships," Loren
said to Captain Elco.  He saw a local patrol ship just disappearing behind the
moon on the far side of the facility, and noticed on the tactical plot that
Avenger was raising her nose a few degrees to clear the near moon's gravity
well as soon as possible.

"Captain," Loren heard
Lieutenant Caho say.  She said it slowly, but as the word stretched out her
voice rose in pitch and volume.  Without waiting, she continued. 
"Something's in that facility!  I'm seeing power blooms, three of them,
and they're headed for us."

"Are some of the ships in there
powering up somehow?" Elco asked, immediately knowing in his heart that it
couldn't be something so innocent.

"The tractor field is shredding our
sensor readings," she replied as she swiveled her chair to look at the
captain, "but I'm pretty sure they're Priman."

"This far out in the core?"
Elco said in shock, but once again, that little voice told him it couldn't be a
coincidence.  They were lying in wait, hiding from both Avenger and the
locals.  It seemed like the Primans had placed a death mark on his ship. 
"Shields!" he commanded, then turned to look at Loren who was already
halfway to the starboard escape trunk and its steep stairs down to C3. 
"Loren, let's make them pay."

Elco hit the comm controls in his chair's
armrest.  "Lieutenant Mastruk," he barked into the intercom,
"Commander Stone is on the way down.  We have Primans popping up around
us.  Get the point defense and weapons ready, but don't launch any
fighters."

"Torpedoes inbound, Captain!"
Elco heard from behind him, and his blood ran cold.  He knew what that meant;
he'd read the briefs about the Primans and their new EMP torpedoes.  There was
no shield or maneuver that could stop it.  They couldn't hope to shoot down
every incoming torpedo, and it only took one to apparently neuter the ship and
turn it into a dark and cold coffin.  There were theories and suggestions about
what might improve chances of survival, but nobody had tried any of them yet. 
Or perhaps more accurately, tried them and lived to tell the tale.

Elco glanced at the 3D holo field in the
front of the bridge.  It showed Avenger just rounding the outer moon, with
three Priman ships emerging from the dense mothball shipyard behind it in their
baffles.  It was a good enough plan; there was no way Avenger would clear the
moon's gravity well before the Primans would get plenty of time to launch
salvoes of torpedoes and laser volleys. 

Elco saw lights blink on over by the
tactical systems display, signifying the laser batteries, torpedo tubes, and AA
turrets were all ready.  He stabbed the button to talk to Loren again. 
"Let them have it, Commander!" Elco commanded, and watched at Avenger
rippled off a four torpedo salvo from her aft tubes, followed by intermittent
bursts from her laser batteries that could be brought to bear on the targets
behind her.