The Terran Privateer (35 page)

Of Course We’re Coming Back
’s main viewscreen flickered with the radiation burst of the opening hyperspace portal, then stabilized as the scout ship slipped through the gap in reality back into regular space. Despite only having a minor upgrade to their speed, the two Terran scout ships were still the
stealthiest
ships in the pirate armada.

Of course, hyperspace portals weren’t particularly stealthy at the best of times. There were solutions to that.

“How are our decoying friends, Sarah?” Andrew Lougheed asked, studying the screens.
Of Course
and
Oaths of Secrecy
had cut their drives just before opening the portal, and were now moving entirely on cold gas jets. Compared to the interface drive’s near-instantaneous acceleration to large chunks of lightspeed, the jets’ single gravity felt glacial.

“Our pirate friends are screaming across the system at forty-five percent of the speed of light,” his tactical officer reported, directing a smile Andrew’s way that skittered the edge of professionalism. He
probably
needed to talk to her about that, but they
were
privateers now.

How much of the old rules really still applied?

For the moment, however, his focus was on the two pirate ships, each roughly two thirds the size of an A!Tol destroyer, screaming across the star system in front of him. They would get a clear initial scan of the system and its contents, but details took time—and so fell to the two Terran ships that could drift through the system without being seen.

“They have
someone’s
attention,” Sarah Laurent pointed out. “Check out planet four.”

The system, Lambda Aurigae on the old Terran charts and Orsav on the A!Tol charts, had no gas giants or asteroid belts. It did have fifteen small planets, ranging from the size of Mars to five times the size of Earth, that got icier and icier as you moved farther out-system. None were habitable, however, making Orsav spectacularly useless for everything except its location.

Planet four was the
closest
to being habitable, with an orbit that gave it liquid water on some parts of its surface for roughly one quarter of its twenty-three-month orbit. Without much in terms of atmosphere, however, that water didn’t do much other than sit there and boil off.

Right
now
, however, the main point of attention was that someone had just booted up an interface drive and gone charging out after the two pirate ships. Size was difficult to tell at this distance, but the ship was moving at a full half of lightspeed, rapidly closing on the slower pirate ships.

“Are they going to make it out?” he asked slowly.

“Scans make our new friend a destroyer,” Laurent replied. “She could take either of our decoys without even breaking a sweat, but against both of them…I’m not sure she
wants
to catch them. Just make them run.”

She shrugged.

“Either way, I’m not shedding tears for our local pirate scum,” she pointed out.

“Fair,” he admitted with a chuckle. “Just remember that category
includes
us now!”

“We may be pirates,” Laurent said softly, “but we’re
not
scum. You’ve seen this bunch.”

Andrew shook his head and pressed his finger to his lips.

“I have, but they’re our allies today,” he reminded her. “What do we have on planet four?”

“Focusing the passives as we close,” she confirmed. Laser linkages to
Oaths of Secrecy
allowed them to get data from different angles, dramatically expanding their effectiveness.

“Defensive constellation detected,” Laurent reported a moment later. Additional red icons started to flash onto the screen. “Estimating in excess of five hundred contacts, missile and beam platforms.” She shook her head. “I hope Forel isn’t lying about that code, sir. We’re resolving more contacts by the second. That constellation would eat the entire armada.”

“What about the base itself? And the ships, for that matter?”

“We got a
big
thermal signature on the planet,” she replied after focusing on her data. “Looks like half a dozen or more
massive
fusion plants fueling some kind of facility; that won’t be small, sir.”

“If it were small, this whole endeavor would be a waste of time and money,” Andrew pointed out. “And the ships?” he repeated.

“I’ve got two more heat signatures in orbit; I
think
they’re destroyers,” she reported. “No sign of the cruiser Forel expected.”

“Keep an eye open as we close,” he ordered. “We’ll need to relay everything to Captain Bond and the others when they arrive. If the cruiser is missing, no one will mind. If
we
miss
her
, the armada might be in for a world of hurt.”

#

The two Terran scout ships continued on their slow way deeper into the system, watching with a careful eye as the A!Tol destroyer overhauled the two pirate ships.

The details of the logistics base resolved with further clarity as the ships approached. The constellation had been assembled to stand an attack by a full Kanzi battle group based around at least one ship of the line. It was impossible to get an
exact
count without getting far closer than Andrew or Captain Sade planned on getting, but it was somewhere between seven hundred and one thousand platforms.

“Datapulse from our decoys,” Laurent announced. “I’m incorporating it, but I’m not seeing anything new. A little bit more resolution: I’ve got a third destroyer in orbit. That gets us to four total.”

Which was about what Forel had told them and, apparently, a standard subunit used for A!Tol Imperial Navy light warships. That still left them missing a cruiser, a warship supposedly a match for either of their heavies—though Andrew had his suspicions about what
Tornado
’s upgrades would mean for any cruiser unfortunate to tangle with her.

“Destroyer is opening fire,” Laurent continued. “Missiles closing on one of our friends—she fell about a half-light-second behind the other, and it looks like she’s going to pay for it.”

His tactical officer didn’t sound particularly bothered by this at all. She hadn’t been one of the people grabbed by the Kanzi slavers, but she was good friends with Lieutenant Mosi. Mosi had recovered from her
physical
injuries, but that didn’t stop the entire flotilla being coldly furious with the very
concept
of slavers.

And too many of their erstwhile allies dabbled in slavery, for disposing of captives no one would ransom if nothing else.

Andrew couldn’t bring himself to rebuke her for her apathy regarding the fate of their allies. He didn’t particularly disagree with her.

“Are they going to catch them?” he asked.

“Missiles will,” she confirmed. “Impact in sixty seconds, hyper portal safe distance in one hundred and thirty-six seconds. I don’t think our laggard friend will make it.”

“Turn the passive sensors up to maximum sensitivity,” Andrew ordered. “If she goes up, that will give us one
heck
of a hard radiation blast to bounce off everything in the system.”

“I thought I
wasn’t
supposed to be happy they were about to die?” she asked with a smirk.

“I am shocked and saddened by their imminent demise,” he replied virtuously. “But let’s use it to our advantage regardless.”

He settled into his command chair to watch the show. Laurent had estimated the time perfectly, and the first salvo of missiles slammed into the trailing pirate exactly on time. Like most ships this far out the spiral arms, apparently, the pirate ship lacked any kind of active antimissile defense, but her shields absorbed the impact.

The second salvo suffered the same fate, and Andrew mentally saluted the pirate captain. Whoever they were, they hadn’t skimped on the defenses for their ship. Those were impressive shields for a ship of its size.

The captain clearly didn’t trust their ship’s shields to hold through another salvo, and
Of Course
’s sensors announced an ugly burst of radiation as the pirate ship tried to open a hyperspace portal, still over a dozen light-seconds inside the safety zone.

The portal failed in a flash of light and energy that slammed back into the pirate’s shield, setting them to flickering with energy overload—and then the Imperial destroyer’s missiles arrived. The shields wouldn’t have held either way, but with the energy flare from the failed portal, they never stood a chance.

The scout ships were too far away for Andrew Lougheed to even be sure how many missiles the destroyer had launched, let alone how many had hit home. Enough made it through that the four-hundred-thousand-ton starship vanished in a ball of flame and hard radiation, energy ripping apart antimatter and fusion power plants in a burst of destruction.

“Hyper portal open,” Laurent announced. “Our other decoy is clear.”

“Is the destroyer pursuing?” Andrew asked. “And is that pulse giving us any data yet?”

“We’re a good two light-minutes away,” she pointed out. “We’re still waiting on the reflections from everywhere else.” She checked something in response to his first question as well, then shook her head. “Destroyer is not pursuing; she is coming about to return to orbit.”

Andrew nodded. No one—except the decoy ship’s crew themselves—would have minded if the destroyer had gone into hyperspace after the decoy. The prize wasn’t going to shrink if the defenders weakened themselves.

“Gotcha!” Laurent suddenly snapped. “Radiation pulse is pinging off artificial material in orbit of the fifth planet. I can’t resolve a
lot
of detail, but it looks like we’ve got a major starship hiding behind the moon.”

“Sneaky tentacled bastards,”
Of Course
’s Captain noted aloud. “Make sure it’s in the data packet and fire it at
Tornado
’s emergence time and location.”

“Data packet on its own way, sir,” she confirmed. “What now?

Combining the exotic-matter arrays of the eight largest ships in the pirate armada allowed the fleet to rip open a portal over a hundred times bigger than the usual one
Tornado
created. Instead of being slightly larger than the opening ship, barely large enough for a second ship to slip through if you were clever, this portal was a full light-second across.

Fifty-four pirate ships, with
Subjugator
and
Tornado
in the lead, passed through the portal at forty-five percent of the speed of light. There was no subtlety, no attempts at tricks or stealth. With this many ships, it would have been wasted time.

“We are receiving datapulses from the scout ships,” Chan announced. “Relaying to Rolfson. Looks like four destroyers in orbit of planet four with the base and the defense constellation, and a fifth ship, probably our cruiser, hiding in orbit of planet five.”

“Forward the data on to the armada,” Annette ordered. She studied the tactical plot as Rolfson started to update it. The defensive constellation was the joker in the deck. The defensive plan, if she were generous enough to call it a plan, was clearly to pin any attacker between the cruiser and the constellation.

“New orders for the scout ships,” she continued after a moment. “They are to exit the system as soon as practical and proceed to Rendezvous Point Sigma Three.”

Sigma Three was a rendezvous they had
not
shared with Forel or his friends, a point in deep space on the route back to Alpha Centauri. An easy spot for Annette to swing through on the way to Tortuga or back to their cache in Alpha Centauri system.

Somewhere safe from any treachery or betrayal Forel had planned.

“Now get me Captain Forel,” she instructed. “Time to get this show on the road.”

“A moment, ma’am,” Rolfson interrupted. “I should note that our own sensor sweeps cannot confirm the presence of a ship at planet five.”

“Lougheed and Sade did say it was hiding,” Annette pointed out with a nod. “Better to assume they’re trying to sneak up behind than that they don’t exist, yes?”

“Yes, ma’am,” he conceded.

A moment later, Chan opened the link to
Subjugator
. Once again, Forel sat moistly at the center of a very narrow view excluding the rest of his bridge. She knew, intellectually, that his race was amphibious and his fur and skin had to be
much
more comfortable damp.

It still felt like she was looking at a sweaty used car salesman with a damp comb-over.

“Captain Bond.”

“Captain Forel. If you don’t have those constellation codes you promised us all, this is going to be a very short and painful operation,” she reminded him. “Shall we open the dance?”

“I think we should give our tentacled overlords time to feel the water heating up,” Forel told with his horrible fake smile. “Let us see if we can lure our cruiser friend out to play before we demonstrate our toys.”

“It’s your code,” Annette said sweetly. “I’ll just remind you your ship
is
in proton-beam range of mine if I think you’ve lied to me.”

She smiled at him, an expression that none of her crew would have thought was genuine for a moment.

Forel sucked his tongue fully into the back of his mouth in a convulsive gesture, pausing for a moment before responding.

“I do see your concern,” he finally said. “But such actions will not be necessary.”

“Of course not,” she told him. “Your lead, Captain Forel.”

She made a sharp gesture and Chan shut the channel.

Moments later—probably enough time for Forel to unswallow his tongue—
Subjugator
turned in space, shaping a direct course for planet four and the logistics base. Over the course of the next several seconds, the rest of the armada began to follow in a disorganized gaggle.

“Keep us on
Subjugator
’s flank,” Annette ordered. “Watch for the cruiser and keep an eye on that constellation. Let me know a minimum of ten seconds before we enter its weapons range.”

The pirate fleet continued on its course, barely in anything remotely resembling a formation to Annette’s eyes. She sighed. There was only so much competence or discipline she expected from a set of pirate ships, but at least some basic station-keeping would have been helpful.

“Forel is transmitting to everyone,” Chan advised.

“On screen.”

Once again, Forel appeared on the screen. This time, only his face was visible, in a screen-within-a-screen as the rest of the transmission was a tactical view of the defensive constellation. Proton-beam satellites and missile launchers filled the sky over their target, each satellite surrounded by a force field stronger than many of the smaller pirate ships.

“This is the moment you have been waiting so impatiently for,” he told them all. “Look at this. An A!Tol Imperial Class Four Defense Constellation. Capable of standing off a
ship of the line
. We have mustered one of the most powerful collections of pirate vessels ever seen in this arm of the galaxy, and that constellation alone could fight us to a standstill.

“But you came because I promised you an answer, and so I shall deliver the rising tide of our victory!”

Forel did something out of the scope of his screen and the lights representing the constellation flickered on the display for a moment, and then returned to full strength.

“Wait for it,” he ordered calmly. “And when the shields go down, target the constellation and fire every missile you have. The A!Tol are perfectly capable of overriding the code, given enough time.”

“Now,
that
is something I’d like to have known in advance,” Rolfson snapped, his hands suddenly flying over his controls as he queued up
Tornado
’s missile batteries.

“And…now,” Forel announced. A moment later, the constellation satellites icons flickered again—and this time stayed dark. “Their shields are down,” he informed his followers. “Take them out.”

“Kill the channel and confirm that,” Annette snapped.

The screen cut back to
Tornado
’s standard tactical plot as Rolfson and his computers tore through their scanner data, seeking the tiny imperfections and twists of light that marked the presence of an active energy shield.

“He’s right,” Kurzman confirmed. “Constellation shields are down. Launch when ready, Commander Rolfson.”

Subjugator
had fired first, but
Tornado
’s computers and sensors were the best in the armada now. Many of the other pirates apparently took
Tornado
firing as proof of Forel’s claims and joined in. Moments after Forel had declared the constellation disabled,
hundreds
of missiles were flashing toward planet four and the defensive constellation.

There were multiple different speeds amongst the missiles—in fact, Annette was relatively sure some of the missiles she was seeing fired were the Terran-built point six cee weapons she’d sold at Tortuga—spreading the attack out over almost a full minute.

By the time
Tornado
and
Subjugator
’s second salvos arrived, hundreds of the platforms making up the constellation were gone and the A!Tol ships clearly realized there was a problem. All four destroyers charged out, actively trying to shoot down missiles with their own weapons.

“Ma’am, we have a ping from the fifth planet,” Rolfson announced. “Looks like the cruiser is coming out to play.”

“Leave the constellation and the destroyers for the smaller ships,” she ordered. “Bring us about and take us at that cruiser.”

She glanced at the screen and confirmed she didn’t need to reach out to Forel:
Subjugator
was making the same course correction. Both of the pirate heavies were turning to face the largest of their opponents, leaving their lesser companions to deal with the four destroyers—at over twelve-to-one odds, the smaller ships should at least be able to keep the destroyers occupied.

“Ma’am, you need to take a look at this,” Kurzman suddenly told her quietly over the link from CIC. “We’ve got a solid scan on the ship leaving that planet and we may be in trouble—that’s no cruiser.”

#

Annette Bond ran over the numbers the ship’s computer was assembling on the newcomer and a chill ran down her spine. An A!Tol Imperial Navy cruiser was a two-million-ton ship half a kilometer long, roughly the same size and mass as
Tornado
.

The ship now pulling fifty percent of lightspeed toward them was easily twice
Tornado
’s mass. It was an elegant thing, all curves and lines and extending nacelles, over eight hundred meters long and three hundred wide, with an energy signature that suggested she was going to be a headache.

“What am I looking at, Harold?” she asked her tactical officer.

“I’m not sure,” he replied. “We don’t
have
a lot of detailed files on the A!Tol Navy; she’s smaller than the battleships they showed up at Earth with but bigger than the cruisers. Ki!Tana?”

“It did not occur to me to arrange more detailed files,” the A!Tol admitted. “Most piracy avoids heavier warships. It is likely one of their fast battleship units, designed for rapid deployment.”

“So, a battlecruiser,” Annette noted, mentally slotting it into a class she could hold easily in her head. “Heavier weapons or defenses?”

“Depends on the class,” Ki!Tana replied. “If they’ve assigned it as the lead defensive unit for a post like this, it likely has heavy shields and a lighter armament—but still heavier than a cruiser’s.”

“And shields are vulnerable to beams,”
Tornado
’s Captain noted. “Chan, link us in to Forel. We’re going to need closer coordination with
Subjugator
than planned. Amandine, set us on a direct intercept course; I want to force her into proton-beam range. Rolfson…she’s going to have more beams than we do. Kill her first.”

Her bridge crew leapt into action, a reassuring sign of competence and confidence as her ship went into action against a superior A!Tol warship for the first time since they’d fled Sol.

Annette herself carefully wiped her palms against her uniform pants, hoping none of her people spotted her sweaty palms. The last time they’d faced a real A!Tol military force, they’d been forced to flee their home. This time would have to end better.

“Captain Bond, my friends did not warn me about a vessel of this scale,” Forel admitted, his red-furred face appearing on her command chair’s small screen. “This is…”

“Within the capacity of our vessels combined,” she said swiftly. “We need to close together, force the battlecruiser to split her fire. She’s bigger than we expected, but we’ve come this far, Karaz Forel. Will you give up the prize now?”

The amphibious alien shivered, droplets of water flickering off of his fur onto the camera, then once again gave her a wide fake grin.

“You are correct, of course,” he told her. “We share the current, Captain Bond. Let us strike as one!”

#

The two cruisers shot toward the battlecruiser at half the speed of light, and the battlecruiser charged toward them at the same velocity, both calculated relative to the local star. The
relative
velocity between the three ships was only eighty percent of lightspeed, but it was still enough for the five-light-minute distance to melt away as they closed.

Both sides opened up with missiles while still two light-minutes apart. All three ships were carrying modern point seven five cee missiles, which meant they had effective closing rates of over ninety percent of lightspeed.

“Bogey is focusing fire on
Subjugator
,” Rolfson reported. “She has over fifty missiles inbound. I can deploy rainshower drones to protect her?”

“Negative,” Annette ordered. “Let’s not flash
all
of our new toys where Mister Forel can see them. Focus missile fire and charge the proton beams.”

The two pirate heavies had fewer launchers between them than the battlecruiser did. The battlecruiser was throwing over fifty missiles a salvo, but the pirates were only replying with forty-six. As the seconds flickered away, that still turned into
hundreds
of missiles flying each way—and the A!Tol missiles were focused on
Subjugator
.

“Let’s see how our friend holds up,” Annette murmured as both sets of missiles closed on their respective targets. “Let me know if any of those missiles start turning our way,” she ordered.

“Yes, ma’am.”

The first missiles slammed home, dozens of weapons unleashing unimaginable kinetic energy as they hammered into each ship’s shields. Both ships took the beating with unsurprising grace, even these massive salvos insufficient to bring down heavy shields in a single strike.