A Pirate's Tale: The Only Solution Is Retribution (10 page)

S
erge looked at his Security Chief and his rage was clear, “MY DAUGHTER HAS TAKEN ALL THE FUNDS FROM THE SALE OF THE TELEPORTATION COMPANY!!  I WANT HER FOUND, NOW!!”

“Sir, we’ve been flying DNA drones all over the planet along with using satellites DNA scanners and; as of yet, she has not shown up on any of them!”

“GET HER SISTER IN HERE IMMEDIATELY FOR QUESTIONING!!”

“Sir, we’ve been keeping a tight surveillance of her since the Starliner arrived and she has been calling my office demanding to know what we’ve done with her.  The detectors have revealed that she is not lying and does not know where she is.  Ana has also not attempted to contact her.  Someone is preventing our finding her.”

“Who?”

“Her sister says that she was chasing a man who was on the ship with her after they landed on Kellinger.  She told us that she wanted him to make the Pirates pay for their actions and she was going to use him to do it.”

“What is his name and who is he?”

“Sir, his name in not on the passenger’s manifest and there are no images of him on the Starliner’s database.”

Serge sat down and stared at the Security Chief, “How would someone be able to make that happen?”

“There is only one way, the man had to be carrying a Purple Card.”

“You are trying to tell me that my inexperienced, dumb daughter managed to find one of ten possible Purple Card holders in the known universe?”

“That is the only way that man could have avoided being recorded or tracked in the Starliner’s database, Sir.  I suspect it was he that changed the delivery plans for the Trillium.”

Serge thought about the information and asked, “Have you been able to find out who in my organization is working against me?”

“No, Sir.”

“USE YOUR DETECTORS AND QUESTION EVERYONE!!”

“I’ve done that already, Sir, and no one has turned up.”

“If she’s with a Purple Card Holder, she’s probably off the planet by now.”

The Security Chief nodded slightly, “I don’t know how she could board a Starliner and leave Kellinger but I also don’t know all the assets a Purple Card Holder has at their disposal.  He may have access to a ship we don’t know about.”

“Contact the Unity and get a list of Purple Card Holders!”

“That is something you will have to do, Sir.  I could be arrested and incarcerated for simply asking.  It will take someone of your status to even broach the topic with the Unity.  I have been told by one of my sources in the government that no list is kept in any computer.”

“WHAT?!”

“They issue the cards and keep no record of who receives them.  The vote on approving a Purple Card takes a unanimous vote by the Major Assembly but the name of the holder is never mentioned.  The actions of the individual being considered are discussed but that is all, there is no mention of names.  The President of the Assembly might know who they are but he would be the only one.  Do you have a working relationship with the President?”

Serge scowled, “No, he has made it clear he detests me.”

“Then finding out from the Unity who that man is will be next to impossible.”

“Would another Purple Card Holder know the others?”

“Probably not.”

“Well, she’s taken a rather large sum of my credits and I will not tolerate that happening…ever!  Find her!!  I don’t care what it takes, find her and bring her to me!!”

“It could cost in the billions, Sir.”

“I SAID I DON’T CARE WHAT IT TAKES!!!”

“Yes, Sir.  I’ll expand the search now.”

• • •

The Spider sat at the console and saw the instructions being issued by the Security Chief.  Ummm…it appears that Little Girl Romanov has upset Daddy.  How was the daughter going to be found by the assets available to use?  Romanov would have far more tools to use and to start actively searching for her might expose them.  Should patience be exercised and plan to take her from those that might find her?  Let’s just wait and see what develops before taking an active role in capturing her.  The pirates might have to be called on again but that would be done later after Daddy’s tools found her.  The Spider leaned back further and smiled.  Upsetting Daddy was the favorite pastime and this looked like another dagger that could be twisted in him.

• • •

The three ships moved on a filament leading to a blue and green planet close to the center of a Red Giant Star System.  All stars were connected by the filaments that moved out from every star to others close by.  The subspace filaments had two flows on them; one moving away from the star and the other moving toward it.  Both moved at superlight speed and allowed starships to move around the universe at incredible speeds.  This filament had no traffic or Cartian Traffic Controllers on it.  No one violated the Insectoid’s Territory, to do so would lead to a certain death of the violators.

Ten Insectoid Warships boosted off the planet and Gem activated his communication system, “These two ships are with me.  They will not be harmed.”

“You know the rules about bringing ships here!” he heard over his communicator.

“I do and you will return to your base and not challenge me again!!”

“Yes, Majesty.  I will have to report this to your mother.”

“Do whatever you want.  The next time you come out to challenge my ship, I will have everyone on the offending ships executed!!”  The ten warships turned and boosted away from the three ships at high speed.

An hour later, Gem saw his mother’s image appear on his console, “Is there a reason for your behavior, Prince?”

“I am bored and have chosen to involve myself in correcting a wrong that has been committed.”

“What are your intentions?”

“To arm the two ships coming with me and go with them once that is done.”

“I’ve given you a lot of freedom but this is causing me to question my decision.”

“Are you ready to step down and allow me to replace you?”

“Of course not!”

“Then until you are ready to do that, I need to keep my mind developing and active.  This will keep me involved and away from your Realm.  I would think that is reason enough to allow me to play.  I pose a distraction for you every time you make an unpopular decision.”

“I miss being able to go out and play,” the Queen said with a sigh.

“I know you do, Mother.  I should be allowed to use the free time given to me to enjoy myself and this adventure appears to be just what I need to bring me joy.  You know I wouldn’t bring anyone here that I don’t trust and these beings are worthy of my assistance.”

“Would it not be safer to just give them two of our warships?”

“It would be safer but the ones that need to be punished would never come close to one of our ships.  I do intend to make these two vessels as powerful as our warships.”

“I would ask you why you’ve chosen to do this but I have too much to do to take the time to examine it.”

“I know, Mother, and one day I will no longer have free time to enjoy the universe around me.  I know my duty and will be a good successor when that time comes.  Please indulge me and allow me to follow my whims.”

“I will notify our engineers to follow your orders precisely.  I’ve missed you.”

“You don’t have time to miss me.”

“I know, but I find moments where I do.  Good luck in what you have chosen to do.”

“Thank you and I’ve missed you as well.”  The display went dark and Gem pressed a button on his console, “Leonidas, have your two ships follow me down to the planet where you will find two empty berths on the ground.  Land your ships on them and I’ll meet you on the surface.”

“Thank you, my friend,” Leo graciously responded.

“Notify Victoria and Desiree that their training will start this evening after their physical training.”

“Will do.”

Gem pressed another button and an engineer appeared on his display, “I need two structures built immediately at the shipyard equipped to house the species known as human.  I want two private quarters in one of them for two human females.”

“How soon do you need them?”

“Within the hour.”

“It will probably take three hours to build them both.”

“Then complete the one with the private quarters first.”

“That can be done in the timeframe you command.”

“I also want clothing for them in each structure.”

“We’ll have that done within the hour.”

“Thank you for your promptness.”

“It is my pleasure, Majesty.”

Gem sat back and thought about Victoria.  He had made a mistake years ago and was still paying the price.  It wouldn’t do for Mother to know about it; she would not be happy.

• • •

“Leonidas, you need to look at this.”

Leo looked at Carl and said, “Put it on my panel.” 

An image of the place on the planet they were moving toward appeared and he saw thousands of Insectoids building some kind of structure.  It looked like watching a high speed recording of a time lapsed event.  The building was going up at an incredible speed and he could only shake his head, “That is absolutely amazing!”

“How do they move that fast, Sir?”

Leo smiled, “Trust me on this, Carl, the Insectoids operate on a different timescale than we do.  They are faster than any species I’ve ever seen.  That must be where we’re going to live while the ships are being modified.”

Barney looked over from the thruster controls, “I’ve heard their warships are beyond anything in the known universe.”

Leo nodded, “The insectoids don’t go out of this galaxy and pretty much ignore the rest of the universe.  I guess we could say the same thing.  We pretty much stay here as well.  There might be other species scattered around the universe that would be a match or even superior but I’ve not heard of any civilization in our galaxy that could handle them.  I know the Unity was sent packing when they tried to force them to join.”

Carl looked up from the scanner screen, “I understand that the Unity was able to destroy some of their ships in the initial battle.”

Embree called out from the communication panel, “I heard that as well from a Unity Officer but he said that it took ten Unity Warships to defeat just one of theirs.”

“The important thing to remember is that no single ship can defeat an overwhelming number of attackers,” Leo quickly added.

“What are we up against, Sir?” Jack asked.

“Tortuga is the planet where all the pirate fleets call home.  They are protected there and outside forces are not allowed there with warships.  There are more than eight thousand pirate fleets that call that planet home and the one we’re after is just one of them.  However, they will all come to the defense of any pirate fleet that is attacked at Tortuga.”

“How many armed ships are there, Sir” Carl asked.

“More than a fifteen thousand Pirate warships are on Tortuga at any given time.”

“And we’re going after this pirate with just one ship?”

“We are and we can’t just wait for this particular pirate to leave the planet.  The planetary scanners are the best in the galaxy and we’d be seen if we moved anywhere near enough to scan for him to exit the planet.  We’d be asked the nature of our business and if we didn’t have a good answer, several thousand pirate ships would come after us to find out.  Even if we stayed far out on the filament, the traffic going in and out from the planet would see us hanging around and issue a warning to the planet.  The end result would be the same; we’d be approached by a large fleet and questioned.”

“This sounds like a tough nut to crack, Sir.”

“It is, Embree.  The only way to do this is to join them.  We have to become pirates in order to move around freely on Tortuga.  There are rules to living on Tortuga and we’re going to have to learn them and follow them to the letter.”

“Is that why you say this mission could take a couple of years?” Barney asked.

“Yes it is.  And we may be forced to go out with a pirate fleet to take part in an attack on an innocent ship.  I hope it doesn’t come to that but it very well could.  I suspect there have been many that have gone to Tortuga masquerading as pirates and the Tortugan Pirates have a system devised to separate real pirates from secret agents.  I know that I’m not the only one looking for revenge against a pirate that killed a loved one.”

“Sir, Victoria’s ship is moving toward the ship berth to the north.”

“Thanks, Carl.  I have the ship.”  Leo took the controls and started the ship moving into the planet’s upper atmosphere.  An hour later, he had the ship hovering over the south Berth and slowly lowered the ship into it.   He opened the exit port and stood up.  He walked to the landing bay and saw the crew was waiting for his arrival.  “Everyone remain on board until I call you.”  Leo exited the ship and saw Gem waiting at the foot of the exit ramp.”

“We’ve completed the first building and both crews should go there and settle in for the moment.  That building will be for Victoria’s crew but you can share it until your building is completed.”

Leo lifted his communicator and said, “Everyone pick up your duffle bags and follow us.”  The crew picked up their bags and started exiting the port.  They looked around and saw all of the Insectoids close to them were staring at them in silence.  Carl said to Embree, “I imagine we’re just as ugly to them as they are to us.”

Embree smiled, “You think!”  Carl laughed and led the crew behind Leo and Gem.

Leo looked at Gem as they walked toward the building, “How long do you think it will take to arm the ships?”

“About two or three months.”

Leo’s eyes narrowed, “Why that long?”

“I’ve ordered your ships to be pretty much stripped of their hulls and replaced with the material we use on our warships.  We will also have to engineer in the modifications that hide the majority of the weapons we’re going to install.”

“But I need my ship to look like it’s an old vessel.”

“The paint put on it at the end will take care of that issue.  We’re also going to replace your reactors and reengineer your booster tubes to handle the increased thrust.”

“Gem, I don’t expect you to go to this much expense.”

“My mother insists that the ship be powerful enough to protect me should I be on board.  This is not optional or I wouldn’t be allowed to participate in your little venture.”