My Other Car is a Spaceship (12 page)

“When do you want to begin interrogating our share of the pirates?”

Kalen opened his eyes. “Might as well begin as soon as the injured are patched up. I know I won’t be getting any sleep tonight.”

“Roger that. I’ll let you know as soon as the first one’s ready.”

“Good. I’ll be in my ready room if you need me.”

“Yes
, sir.”

Kalen made his way to the back of the
bridge.
Such a waste.

“So what is
your
name, scum?” Chief of Security Arouk’Brout’Voul towered over the diminutive Blensian sitting at the table across from Kalen.

The
captain held up a hand to tell Brute to back off. There was perhaps more to his animosity toward the lavender creature than the fact that she was a pirate. Just as some people are naturally drawn together, and others just as naturally grate on each other’s nerves, some species simply do not get along. Such was the case with the Chan’Yi and the Blensians. Over their long association, there had been a number of dustups over disputed territories and even a bitter war generations ago. It was fair to say that in general the Chan’Yi held no love for the Blensians.

“Look,” Kalen began,
his face close to hers, “You’re facing many years in prison for your actions today, as well as any other crimes we can link you to. You can buy yourself some leniency by cooperating. Tell us what you know about the pirate operation, planned attacks, the location of your bases, and anything else you know. That’ll go a long way toward reducing your sentence.”

“Screw you.” The epithet sounded odd coming out of a froglike creature, but the meaning was quite plain
: she wasn’t going to cooperate. Just like the eight pirates before her. Whether it was a stubborn streak, a code of silence among the pirates, or fear of reprisals from other pirates, they uniformly clammed up in the presence of a Unity official.

“Damn it!” Kalen roared. “I’m sick and tired of you pirates thinking you own the universe and you can take whatever you want. Well no more. I’ve given up on turning the lot of you over to more ‘civilized’ systems. I’ve decided to let the Foren on the planet below have you.”

The Blensian looked up at him in confusion.

“Oh, haven’t you heard? The Foren are executing
the pirates you left behind when your ships broke orbit to engage us. Here, let me show you the holo.”

Kalen
used his implant to bring the viewscreen on the far wall to life. It showed three pirates—one of them a Blensian—being shackled to a handrail running along a high wall. Moments later, a dozen Foren dressed in civilian clothes, not the uniform of the local constabulary, raised a collection of energy weapons and slug-throwers and opened fire. The three prisoners sagged against their shackles, riddled with holes. Some of the executioners—the ones who’d lost friends and family in the pirate attack—had fired more several times.

The
prisoner gasped in a high-pitched voice. “Trensen!” She slumped in her chair, looking even smaller than before.

“So you knew him.”

She performed the Blensian equivalent of a nod.

“A good friend? A lover, perhaps?”

She nodded again.

“That’s too bad. We all hate to lose friends and loved ones.
One of you pirates murdered my wife six years ago. It wasn’t you, but I don’t mind if you stand in for the real murderer. I’m sure you have enough blood on your hands for five pirates. I have no qualms about letting the Foren have you. No cushy jail cell on a civilized planet somewhere; just a dirt grave out by the garbage dump. Unless you tell me what I want to know, I’ll personally put you on the next shuttle down to the surface, and I’ll happily record your death for the next prisoner to watch. Last chance. Talk now or you’ll be on that shuttle in the next ten seconds.”

“I
—” Her eyes went wide and darted around the room, as if looking for escape. “I—”

“Five seconds.”

“I cannot—” She began trembling.

“Two seconds.”

“No! I—”

“Time’s up. Brute, escort the
condemned prisoner to the shuttle.”

Brute gripped the prisoner fir
mly by the shoulder and pulled her from the seat.

“No! Wait! My name is Jendel Bhornetha Crah. I will tell you what you want to know.”

Kalen smiled.

At last. A break.

“A
fortress
?” Hal’s eyes shot wide. He sat up straight in his chair.

“That’s what she c
laims.” Kalen wore a deep frown as he paced in his office. “Not just a base somewhere so they can meet up and refuel, but a major stronghold with serious defenses.”

Hal
whistled in amazement. “If true, that’s bad news.”

“If
even
half
of what she said is true, we’re in deep denjin dung.”

“
Is it operational yet?”

“
For several weeks, apparently.”

“Damn.
” Hal paused in thought for a moment. “So much for a lightning strike before they get it finished. What else did she tell you about it?”

“Not a lot. She said her ship only visited once and they were
very hush-hush about it. But she knows it was carved out of a huge asteroid in the Borhtar system. That makes it easier to locate. We can start with the biggest ones and work our way down. But perhaps we can get more information from the other prisoners, using what she told us as leverage.”

“
It’s worth a shot. But then what? What can we do about it?”

“We?
” Kalen shrugged. “Nothing. It’s much too big for us. Maybe HQ will have some ideas.”

“I sure as hell hope so.”

“Thank you all for coming. Please be seated.” Spelvin Mynax gestured to the chairs arrayed around a large oval table in the conference room.

Commissioner of the Fleet Boutan’Mourn’Froul was already seated at the head of the table. Mynax took his seat at the opposite end once the commodores of the eight Merchants’ Unity squadrons found theirs.

Boutan’Mourn’Froul cleared his throat to still the murmurings around the table. “First of all, I would like to personally commend Senior
Captain Jeffries for bringing this crucial information to our attention. Without his diligence, we might yet be oblivious to this most serious pirate threat.”

The circumstances were too
dire for any congratulations, but the other Captains nodded their approval.

“The question before us
,” the commissioner continued, “is what to do about it. Or, to be more precise, to determine what we
can
do about it. In the month since Captain Jeffries brought this information to our attention, we have endeavored to learn as much about the pirate fortress as possible. We have learned far less than I would have hoped, but what we have discovered is frightening.

“
We have sent a series of piloted craft and drones into the Borhtar system. Uniformly, they have been intercepted and destroyed before they could get close enough for a detailed inspection. However, from long-range scans we have been able to piece together the following data: First, there most definitely is something major going on in one region of the asteroid belt. Dozens of ships a day come and go. They do not appear on any registry of commercial or private ships, so we are forced to conclude that they are indeed pirate ships.

“
Second, they have moved hundreds of asteroids to form a defensive cordon—a spherical shell or shield wall around the fortress—such that it is impossible to view it directly—and more importantly, it is impossible to attack it directly without navigating what is undoubtedly a rather daunting gauntlet. And third, since the fortress became operational, pirate activity all over the sector has increased by forty percent. The activity appears to be coordinated from this new base. We must cut off the pirate threat by severing its head.”

Senior
Captain Jesthentar raised a yellow-orange tentacle. “Why not simply stake out the system—or only the asteroid belt—and intercept the pirate ships as they come and go?”

“
I wish it were that simple,” Mynax responded. “Unfortunately, there are so many hyperspace vectors for entering and leaving the system—which presumably is the reason they chose this particular system—that it’s logistically impossible for us to cover them all. We might guess right occasionally, but we’d tie up too many ships in the attempt.”

Captain
Jesthentar pursed his mouth slit and nodded his understanding.

Senior
Captain Tra Mastul spoke up next. “Sir, what do we know about the fortress’s defenses?” The downy facial stripes of the Thorian clenched in a frown.

“Not
much,” the commissioner replied. “However, we have tracked massive purchases of missiles, gravity mines, and power generators recently to several agents known to do business with the pirates. It is likely that much of that has gone to the fortress, but this is merely conjecture. We know nothing for certain about its offensive and defensive capabilities.”

“Perhaps not,” Senior
Captain John Wessel responded, “However, we can make certain assumptions based on what we would do in their shoes. It seems likely they would use the shield asteroids to limit the pathways into the fortress. That way they control the directions ships would have to take to enter. And those pathways are undoubtedly lined with gee mines and weapon emplacements. At least, that’s what I would do in their place.”

“Indeed,” the commissioner replied. “And we cannot afford to assume the pirates are less intelligent or less versed in military strategy than we are. The fact that they are using the other asteroids as shields tells us that the pirate base will not be a pushover. Similarly, the fact that they refer to their base as a fortress tells us that it will be heavily defended. They are not merely relying on obscurity for defense.”

“Still,” began Senior Captain MarLekzol, “because it is a fortress, rather than a warship, it is immobile. This means it cannot elude us. We have the advantage of mobility. We can approach from any direction, and we can retreat, if needed. The fortress is pinned down, in effect.” Her red antennae twitched as she spoke.

“
Excellent point, Captain. Ladies and gentlemen, it is time to devise a plan of attack. We must find a way to destroy this fortress before the pirates become too powerful to defeat. We have little operational data on the base, so we must account for all eventualities.

“Now, if you will direct your attention to the
holoscreen, you will see the latest images we have of the asteroid belt in the vicinity of the pirate base.”

Four days later, after the battle plans were finalized, Kalen met with the senior crew of
Adventurer
in the captain’s ready room. The somber mood of those seated around the table was in stark contrast to the cheerful rosy glow of the lighting.

“Ladies and gentlemen,”
Kalen began, “we’re about to undertake the most ambitious assault ever attempted—or for that matter, ever needed—against a pirate base. I don’t have to tell you how vital it is to the future of the Unity, and indeed the future of civilization in this sector of space, that the assault succeeds. You have before you sealed copies of our orders. Now that we’re under way with no chance of the information leaking out, I’m authorized to reveal them to you. Please open your packets and take a few minutes to review the material within. Then we’ll discuss these plans.”

The room was silent but for the sounds of magnetic seals clicking open and the rustling of sheets of plastifilm as they slid from the numbered packets on the
table. The silence continued as the crew read the contents of the packets, broken only by a sharp intake of breath here or a chuckle there. Each person took his or her time. No one wanted to miss something important through haste. Fortunately, the packets contained concise overviews of the tactics each ship would employ, as well as the overall strategy of the fleet. The specific details would be devised
en route
by each ship’s crew, and by coordination between the eight squadron commodores and all the other captains.

When the last person laid down his
or her packet, Kalen spoke. “Before we discuss operational matters, does anyone have any questions or comments about what you’ve just read?”

Chief
of Security Arouk’Brout’Voul nodded. “I do, sir. It appears the Unity is committing nearly eighty percent of its ships to this one assault. Is that not rash? What if the assault fails? That would spell the end of the Unity as an effective fighting force.”

“I understand your concern, Brute, and believe me, I share it. However, based on the intelligence the Unity has gathered over the past weeks, we
really don’t have a choice. As best we can ascertain, a smaller force wouldn’t be able to stand up to the firepower of the fortress. That means this is an all-or-nothing assault. If we succeed, we severely hurt the pirates’ ability to coordinate their activities and that gives us a chance to reduce the pirates to nuisance status once again. If we fail, the pirates
own
this sector of space. That’s an option not worth contemplating.”

“Of course.”

“Did I read correctly, Captain,” Dr. Chalmis’Noud’Ourien began, “that the Unity has obtained
nuclear
missiles from the Alberian military for use in this assault?”

“Quite right, doctor. We have a need that
nothing else could fill. Your staff will have to be ready to treat radiation sickness if things go wrong.”

“We will be ready,
Captain.”

“I know you will, Nude.”

Next, it was Hal’s turn. “Captain, I understand the need for the extra power generators strapped to the hull. That’ll give our shields and our energy weapons a lot more strength. But the unbalanced weight distribution and the shift in the ship’s center of gravity will play holy hell on my ability to bob and weave if we get into a firefight with other ships.”

“I understand,
Hal. It can’t be helped. Our only hope of reaching the pirate base through whatever booby traps and firepower they have waiting for us—and our intel, spotty as it is, tells us it’s massive—is to beef up our offensive and defensive capabilities.”

“I realize it can’t be helped. I’m just pointing out the consequences of that decision.”

“Believe me, it didn’t go unnoticed. It was a matter of finding the lesser of two evils. Still, you have almost two weeks to get used to the different feel of the ship before we get there. I trust that’ll be enough?”

Hal
shrugged. “I can’t promise she’ll fly as well as before, but I’ll fly her as well as it’s possible to do.”

“That’s all I can ask for. Now,
are there any more pressing questions before we get down to operational details?” There were none. “Good. Then let’s begin with how best to make use of the additional firepower we have at our disposal, considering that we’re up against asteroids in addition to ships.”

“Sir, a supply ship just brought confirmation that more than a dozen Unity ships staged for fuel and supplies at the spacedock facility orbiting Thessis.” Jern Ishtawahl continued with his report. “Our agent there estimated two more days before they would be ready to leave. That was thirteen days ago.”

“So,” Penrod said with a thoughtful nod, “
that makes more than eighty Unity ships congregating at spacedocks in seven different systems, all within a couple jumps of us.”

“More than eighty
that we know of
,” Ishtawahl corrected. “There may be more in systems where we don’t have spies.”

“Right.
Good point. I have to concur with your assessment. The Unity is finally getting off their asses and coming after us. How long do you think we have before they get here?”

“It is impossible to be certain;
however, we can be reasonably sure the fleet will not want to delay before attacking. From their standpoint, that would increase the odds of us learning of the attack plan and destroying their advantage of surprise.” The two pirates shared a wolfish grin. “It seems likely the entire fleet would meet up somewhere, perhaps in interstellar space, before jumping here. Given the maximum speed of their ships, the differences in the distances to cover from the various spacedocks, and allowing for the possibility that they had to wait for another group of ships following the last one we know of, I would estimate that we have between seventy-seven and ninety-two hours until the fleet arrives in this system.”

Tarl Penrod
pursed his lips as he took in this information. “They’ve pulled the fleet together sooner than we anticipated, but not by a lot. We must really have them worried.” He smiled. “We knew they’d have to respond this way sooner or later. So it was sooner rather than later. No matter. Is everything ready?”

“Yes sir.
We are as ready as we can be to defend against an assault of this magnitude.”

“So much the better. When we destroy their fleet, the Unity will fall.”

“Sir.” Ishtawahl hesitated, not wanting to anger his boss.

“Spit it out, Jern. What’s bothering you?”

“I just hope we are not being overconfident.” By ‘we,’ of course, he meant Penrod. “Even though we
think
we are prepared for all eventualities, with a fleet of this size anything could happen.”

“That’s exactly why I prize your council, Jern. I expect you to tell me if I’ve overlooked anything. If you see any holes in our plan, by all means, let me know so we can fill them.”

Jern shook his head in the human way, his green scales reflecting the bright overhead lighting. “That is exactly what I mean, sir. It is impossible to foresee every eventuality, every stratagem the enemy might employ, every diversion, every counterintuitive ploy. One can never be sure that there are no chinks in the armor somewhere. Perhaps they have new weapons we know nothing of, or maybe they have suborned some of our people and know more about this facility’s design than we give them credit for.”

Penrod nodded
in thought. “I consider both of those possibilities highly unlikely. We’re too well connected not to have heard even an inkling of a secret weapon project. And none of our top people have been off this rock in months. However, your point is a valid one. Consider my overconfidence suitably tempered.”

“That is good to hear, Tarl.”

Penrod always knew when his second-in-command was back in his comfort zone: He dropped the ‘sirs’ and called Penrod by his given name.

“Excellent. But just to be sure, have all the department
Chiefs run their environmental, power, and weapon systems through level-three diagnostics one more time. This would be a bad time for one of your unforeseen circumstances to jump up and bite us.”

Ishtawahl grinned, an unsettling sight to those not familiar with the Alberian species. His
120 razor-sharp teeth glistened in the bright light. “I will do that, Tarl, with pleasure.”