Galactic Freighter: Scourge of the Deep Space Pirates (Contact) (3 page)

Buck stood, gave his most dour look at the woman. "I have to get under way. You can make this run but when we get back to Iona, you’re going dirtside."

"We'll see," she said. Her attitude didn't seem defiant but a bit challenging.

"What's your name?" Buck had to admire her grit. She didn't come across as belligerent or churlish and was pleasant to look at.

"Molly Durham. Molly Celeste Durham. Just tell me where to stow my gear and what you want done." Her smile was hearty and contagious.

Buck told her to follow and in giant strides, made for the bridge.

Molly matched the pace but waited in the passageway. Unless invited, only designated personnel could enter the bridge and her stopping didn't go unnoticed by Danko.

Buck watched the monitors as his crew prepared for their first run as a commercial freighter. For the most part, they ignored the trim tall woman waiting near the hatch.

The bridge layout had everything Buck had envisioned and that included the forward structure. The horseshoe shaped bridge design put every operator no more than three steps from the captain's chair and yet a crewmember could move from station to station without difficulty or interfering with those around. Most ships put astrogation in the center of their design but he'd moved it back, no more two steps from his chair and elevated for ease of viewing; other designs had the captain behind the operator.

He closed the forward blast shields that kept prying eyes away from the reinforced bow. Special metallurgy containing boron, nickel, molybdenum, niobium and titanium, formed into a wedge with one purpose—given the opportunity, to ram any pirate who tried to board him. At ramming speed, which he estimated at seventy-five kpm, Phoenix could kill another ship while avoiding damage to its own hull. He meant what he said: if he couldn't shoot them with the energy cannons, he'd ram any pirate that got careless attempting to board Phoenix.

"Tommy, we'll take this run easy," Buck said; his face glowed with pride. "Now we see how well she handles a load."

Danko had limited bridge experience, but Buck turned the con over to him. "Take us out, easy," he ordered.

With Molly in tow, he made some accommodations for her, something that grated on him. Buck offered to help as she cleared a storage room for her quarters and he designated the closest head as hers. With the gravity reduced in that section, it didn't take her long to clear the stowed items and move in a few amenities, a cot, table, and chair. Buck made an effort to help but that got him a “thank you” along with a determined comment that she could handle it. And she did. Within the hour, Molly Celeste Durham had transformed the area into decent quarters.

Buck told her it would take a few days to install a sonic shower as he prepared to leave.

"I prefer Molly Celeste," she said primly as he stepped through the open hatch.

***

Two days later, Phoenix orbited Broken Rock. A smaller mining company held the sole mineral rights and Buck contacted the superintendent. Accustomed to handling freighters with cargo holds crammed with a dozen or so other companies goods, it didn't take the miners long to move Phoenix's solo load dirtside.

Pleased to get his freight days earlier than expected, and not having to manhandle anything to get what was his, the manager offered Phoenix a backhaul of processed ore. As often as possible, such a prized load would leave with a convoy. But with the armament Phoenix carried, the manager considered it a risk worth taking.

"You'll have to go a little out of your way on the return to Iona. You'll rendezvous with the deep space freighter, Somerville, and transfer the load."

Buck agreed and welcomed the job. This first trip would be a moneymaker.

***

Two days out of Broken Rock, Danko dropped Phoenix from hyperspace.

Buck hit the comm icon and jumped from his bed wide-awake as the klaxon blared.

"What's going on?" Sleep was still in his eyes but his command voice left no doubt he was alert as he stepped through the hatch onto the bridge.

"Captain, looks like we've got someone else expecting us." Danko put the trailing ship on the overhead view screen. "Haven't spotted the Somerville." Phoenix had shed velocity to search for the deep space freighter.

"So it does." Buck sounded more curious than alarmed. With its oversized engines, Phoenix had more than enough electrical power and he'd kept the weapons armed at all times. This masked the electronic signature and eliminated anyone knowing they were ready to shoot. Energy cannons could fire without being fully charged but with minimized destructive force. Normal warm up took thirty T-minutes.

"Weapons, you ready?"

"Yes, Sir." The approaching ship hadn't powered their weapons as it was five T-hours distant. If the bandit took the bait, Buck’s plans wouldn’t involve the cannons at all.

Four T-hours later Buck, in his cabin, commed the bridge.

"They haven't answered our hail and from the approach vector it looks like she means to board us," Danko said. "Velocity, fifty thousand kps, deceleration's one thousand kps."

"Give them something to think about; send the distress signal." Buck felt like a kid, though the ram blade and cannons meant this wasn't kid's play. Those who knew the captain understood that when in a fight he was relentless.

Inexperienced spacers often sent a class one signal when pirates closed to board them in hope someone nearby would come to their rescue. That seldom happened and served to raise the pirate's anger. More commonly they sent a signal that someone hostile had boarded them. Pirates took the effort as that of an inexperienced captain… just what Buck wanted.

Even at Phoenix's acceleration, now at zero and velocity less than fifty thousand kps, had Buck chosen he could have outrun their antagonist. He was ready to try some of his tactics and new gadgets and the approaching pirate gave him what he wanted. In the back of his mind, Buck wondered if it was coincidence that the pirate knew with precision where they would enter normal space.

"She's heeled over, shedding delta v at one hundred kps," said Danko in a calm deliberate manner.

For one hour, they watched. One thousand meters from Phoenix the pirate reversed attitude again, his final maneuver in preparation to boarding.

"Looks like the pirate captain fell for it." Buck said. "This guy must be new to his trade. No experienced captain would make that maneuver unless he believed we were helpless to stop them." Experienced pirates always expected and prepared for the worst.

"Closing velocity?" he asked eyes locked on the plot screen.

"One hundred meters per minute," Danko responded sounding like an excited kid. "Coming in low and slow."

"We're comin' aboard," a voice boomed from the speakers. "You can make it easy or hard. Your choice."

Buck ignored the warning. He wanted the closing rate below fifty meters per minute before reversing Phoenix's attitude. That would leave the pirate with only one option—to run or at least try.

In their spacesuits with the hatches closed, the Phoenix crew had no idea what to expect, this being their first ramming.

"Standby." Buck’s voice held deadly menace. "On my signal, bring our nose around one hundred eighty degrees."

By reversing, Phoenix would collide with the pirate in twenty seconds. When the blade hit, Buck could adjust the ship's attitude for maximum impact.

Their antagonist was now less than one hundred meters abaft the rear hatch and off Phoenix's starboard. Reversing was a tricky maneuver for Danko, but it was part of the learning process.

"Now, Danko." Buck’s voice was a deadly whisper full of anticipation. He added, "All hands, standby for ramming. Grab hold of something and hang on." He tried to keep the excitement down but his first attempt to ram another vessel energized him. A number of times he had gone over what it would be like. Few of the crew believed Buck would actually attempt a ramming and had passed it off as wishful thinking.

"Look at her, Captain." Danko jabbed at the plot. "She's using thrusters trying to get out of our way."

"Retract the antennae, probes and open the blast doors." Buck ordered the reinforced wedge exposed. He wished he could see the pirate captain's face.

"One hundred kps acceleration," Buck said. Triggering the comm, he added, "Everyone, keep your grip. No telling what this might be like."

Buck moved to the control console and as the wedge struck, toggled the forward and aft thrusters to raise and lower Phoenix's nose. The wedge cut like a giant sledgehammered ax, striking the pirate amidships at its weakest point, slicing and crushing the hull, venting the ship to space.

The impact jostled the bridge crew but all had heeded the warning and had braced for it.

"Mark anything leaving the ship. We'll pick up survivors after this is over." Any captain who left an escape capsule would be condemned, pirate or not.

Already in spacesuits, the crew assigned to board added grav-boots and climbed from Phoenix's top hatch.

Buck waited until the four crewmen stood on the pirate's hull ready to enter before backing his ship from the hulk. He had tried to establish radio contact with the pirate but had gotten no response and ordered the crew to enter and secure the ship.

"Damn, Captain, just like you said. They didn't expect a ramming," the comm squalled. "Haven't found anyone alive; seven dead so far. Maybe two escape capsules got away."

Sixteen hours later, after retrieving the two pirate crewmen, they searched for the Somerville.

The giant freighter’s captain said the pirates had made a half-assed attempt to board. They’d gotten an invitation to try but were warned that the crew of twenty was well armed.

Ten hours later, with the load transferred and their prize in tow, Phoenix set a course for Iona. Buck would sell the ship and give the two rescued pirates to the Marshal.

Chapter Four:
Another Kill

P
hoenix deorbited Iona and arrived two T-days later, a parsec distant, at a designated location. Buck studied the plot. Given this position by a dealer, two billion kilometers above Iona, he expected to see a ship taken by pirates and then abandoned, the crew most likely dead.

"What's going on?" Buck questioned at his cabin desk.

"Captain, I'm picking up two ships." With calm deliberation, Danko added, "Their acceleration and vector says they're not here to welcome us."

"I think you're right." Buck, now on the bridge, studied the plot. "It would seem someone else expected us."
Another coincidence
? How would pirates know?

Jarred Mahoney came to mind. The man had made it known he'd do what he could to bring down the freighter. There was no doubt killing was on Mahoney’s mind and the man would be relentless given the opportunity. Buck had been off-planet during time when the Emperor appointed Jarred Mahoney Minister of Iona's Foreign Intelligence. He had never met the man yet knew he'd made a fortune dealing with other planets. His off-world contacts and influence were unmatched and that had led to the appointment. However, Mahoney wasn't satisfied being just a minister and turned the ministry to his innermost desire: to depose Sebastian and take the throne. His plot discovered he had fled Iona to continue his quest. A few years earlier at a meeting of independent freighters, Buck had stood up against Mahoney, ending an attempt by the man to gain control over inter-planet freight that would have put, de facto, these worlds under his control. Buck later learned he had destroyed Mahoney's first move toward total intergalactic dominance. Mahoney seemed likely to use pirates as his tools.

Buck leaned over the plot board and studied it intently. "Looks like they intend to make a high speed pass and hit us with everything they've got. Don't want to give us a chance to take them on." He laid in a course change. "That should give them something to think over."

The two mystery ships’ current acceleration and heading gave Phoenix less than an hour before entering energy cannon range. He keyed the comm and assembled everyone on the empty cargo bay, leaving Tommy in the engine room and Danko at the helm. "Spacesuits and body armor with oxygen. Draw blaster rifles and side arms from the armory. I plan to vent the ship so make sure you have extra oxygen. Molly, stay in your cabin. Keep a blaster handy."

"Nope."

Buck turned toward the woman, his face wearing an expression like a gas pain had struck him.

"Excuse me, nope, Captain," she said her eyes dancing. "I'll be there with the rest of the crew. I know how to welcome guests: invited or otherwise."

Buck didn't argue. He knew from earlier exchanges that to do so was useless. Instead, he returned to the bridge.

"Why remove our air, Captain?" The comm operator’s voice spiked with puzzlement.

"Just a little added deception. If they hit us I'll vent Phoenix just enough that they'll think we're crippled and let their guard down. I want them to believe they have an edge. They'll never know." Buck returned to the plot and punched in new coordinates.

"You're setting them up for an attack." Danko’s voice became high with excitement, as he added, "You're going to hit them first." It was evident that the pirates, on their current vector and acceleration, would not have time to make the defensive corrections and were vulnerable.

"That's the idea. Let's hope it works." Buck let a short snort escape. "Where did you see this little trick?"

"I served one tour in the Iona Navy and spent time on a picket ship," Danko said with a touch of pride. "We got into it with some pirates. Four to one: we were the one. Pickets don't have much to fight with so our captain set them up. We got one, and the others scattered. Where'd you see it, Captain?"

"Lt. Donaldson commanded that picket didn't he?" Buck kept his voice affable.

"Yeah." Danko grinned. "You know him?"

"Yes. Met him at a meeting on pirate attacks. Admiral Basselrod had called the get-together and someone laid out how the pirates often set up a ship in order to board it. He asked me how I would deal it. So I told him."