Birthright: Battle for the Confederation- Pursuit (16 page)

"Well, they still have to be out
there," mused Elco.  He turned to his conn officer, seated next to the
woman at the helm console.  "Where are we on the major systems?"

"Sublight is at one quarter. 
Engines don't seem to be damaged, but the computer is having trouble getting
power from the reactors to the engines.  Hyperdrive is offline, no recent updates
from Engineering.  Sensors and detection are at about half status, shields are
at basic navigational hazard deflector level only, and torpedo tubes are still
offline.  Starboard laser batteries are all in the green, port side seems to be
suffering from a massive failure of the main power relays.  Life support is ok
and damage control teams have the fires in the engine spaces from that torpedo
hit under control."

"So we're still in no condition to
fight," Elco said darkly.  "Comms, get me the Intruders."

A second later, Elco was back at his
chair looking at the face of Cory's section commander in his Intruder. 
"Commander Nu," the captain began, "form up and range ahead a
few points on the vector Lieutenant Caho is sending to your computers as some
nav waypoints."  Elco was tapping spots and tracing an arc ahead of
Avenger on his own desktop tactical display, which he sent to Caho's station
for her to quickly review.  He turned and looked at her, receiving a nod in
response to indicate she'd sent the data. 

"This is roughly the direction where
we lost contact with the Priman cruisers.  We're still fairly defenseless, so
if they break through you're ordered to attack them and try to make them break
off.  If we can get Avenger in fighting shape soon we'll work on an actual
attack plan, but for now just be ready."

"Yes, Captain," the man said,
and clicked off. 

"Now," Elco said as he turned
to Caho once again, "where are Captain Sosus and her wingmen?"

CHAPTER
NINE

"So, what's the picture?"
Halley asked Web as he worked intently on the status board where he sat.  The
Trin pirate was once again unconscious in the airlock, a result of Halley
lowering the air pressure just enough to make him pass out.  She promised Web
to return pressure to normal before any permanent damage would happen to his
physiology.

"I'll try to keep this brief,"
he said distractedly.  Captain Two-Swords and First Officer Daemon hovered just
behind him as well.  "The pirates seem to only be going after a portion of
the pods that were bound for Callidor- not all of them.  Of twenty-three pods
headed to Callidor, the pirates removed ten so far and replaced three of them
with pods stuffed to the gills with explosives.  The combination of scattering
our sensors plus replacing most of the pods they stole means they're trying to
cover their efforts."  He looked over his shoulder at Halley.  "You
believe him that they don't know which of the ones they left untouched were for
the resistance?"

"I'm inclined to, yes," she
replied.  "His bunch was being well compensated for their part, and all
they had to do was take their pick of the pods offered up as valuable.  If we
believe what he said about certain pods that were required to go back in
specific docking points, that means we can check the manifests and see what the
targets were."

Web manipulated the console before
speaking again.  "Those three pods were headed to a refinery, fuel depot,
and cargo trans-shipping yard."

"Going after the
infrastructure," Halley murmured.  "Makes sense."

"Now what?" asked Daemon after
a pause.  She seemed more timid that she'd ever been, something Web attributed
to what Halley had mentioned about the woman realizing there were real people
down on Callidor that would have died by her actions.

"You want to take this one, Mr.
Barbarian?" prodded Halley with a smirk.

He almost smiled himself, putting on the
show as they were for the ship's command crew.  Oh well; he'd have fun and play
along.  "Well, looking at the raw data feeds and seeing that there are two
pods left in the queue for removal from this ship, it looks like they have two
to steal yet.  I'd give a rough guess that it would take another twenty minutes
to release and transfer those last two.  So, once they unlock, the clock
starts.  My plan, if I were in charge, you understand," he bowed
theatrically at Halley, "would be to wait until they've released our last
two cargo pods and then launch two of the explosives-filled ones they gave us
back at their two corvette escorts.  We blow them up or disable them, and then
it's just our freighter and theirs.  We'd need to put our defensive weaponry
back online.  I know the guns were dismantled and stored, but if we could get
even one back on-line that would be more than the pirate freighter over there. 
If I were feeling really vindictive, I'd say we should launch the last
exploding cargo pod at their own freighter, but that's not necessary for
survival so it's something that would be nice to do but not required as long as
we can get one of our guns working."

"I'm sorry," started Daemon,
"but this is Captain Two-Swords' ship.  Who put you in charge?"

Apparently
, Web thought,
her confidence and
abrasive attitude were making a comeback
.

"Nobody," Web replied easily. 
"The cute engineer asked my opinion and I replied.  But I do believe we
need to do something about this situation."

Web knew there were all kinds of
conflicting motives.  The captain wanted to pass on his info and materiel to
the Primans, but Web had already deleted the data package and Two-Swords must
know the cargo was forfeit as well.  The first officer wanted to supply the
resistance on the surface with the cargoes in some of the pods and have the
ones the pirates swapped out used as demolition charges.  Both people were at
complete odds with each other but didn't know it.  Web was hoping that their
sense of self-preservation and responsibility to their ship and crew would
start kicking in soon.

"Just realize this," Halley
cautioned them.  "If these pirates succeed, we all die.  Either they kill
us before they leave, or they let us go, we deliver the exploding cargo pods to
Callidor, and the Primans hunt us down and kill us in retribution.  No matter
what, if the pirates leave in one piece, we're all humped."

Neither of the Solar Venturer's senior
crew said anything for a minute, and Halley was considering just rendering both
of them unconscious and taking over the ship.  She hadn't done that in her time
as a SAR operative yet, so it might be a fun experience.

"We'd need the whole crew to
help," started the captain slowly.

"What would we tell them?"
asked Daemon in the same hushed tone.

"The truth," Halley and Web
said at the same time.  Halley carried on after an inadvertent grin at Web. 
"Pretty much, at least." She ticked off her fingers as she listed the
facts.  "These pirates are stealing some of our cargo.  They're replacing
some with the explosive pods which we weren't meant to discover.  We leave out
the part about the resistance, though.  The crew can keep guessing about where
the pirates got their intel in trade; we need everybody focused on getting this
ship back, not on whether anyone on the crew is in the resistance and was
almost part of getting us all killed."

"Can we do this?" asked Daemon.

"He used to work for a Fixer,"
said the captain, gesturing at Web.  "He has some skills to offer."

"And what's your story?" asked
Daemon of Halley.

"I'm an independent contractor who
likes adventure and loud noises," said Halley.  "Is that all?"

"How many pirates do you think are
left aboard?" asked Web to Halley.  "They really did a number on a
lot of the ship's systems; I can't use the internal sensors to sort out crew
versus pirates."

"I took out the nasty human with the
EVA suit in the mess hall," began Halley.

"I got the other human in the
captain's cabin and the Trin who was in charge is still drooling in the airlock
over there," continued Web.

"Which leaves at least the Qualin in
the mess hall and whoever else came over," finished Halley.  "That
shuttle they came in didn't have room for more than, say, eight or ten. 
They'll need one or two on the bridge and a couple back in the cargo control
center to watch the cargo pod docks since they're doing manual releases.  So,
start with ten, three are down, we know one is in the mess and let's say one on
the bridge.  At least one or more likely two in the cargo decks and that leaves
three floaters, maybe two.  I like those odds."

"You seem to be enjoying this,"
said Captain Two-Swords to Halley.

"Maybe I am," she replied. 
"Let's go to the bridge.  We'll leave the cargo spaces for last since
we'll need the rest of the crew working with us before we mess with their cargo
operation."  She hefted her rifle, Web drew his blaster and Two-Swords
held his in a white-knuckled grip.  Web immediately walked over to the man and
gently pried it from the captain's hands.

"I appreciate you wanting to
help," Web started, "but I think it's more likely you'll accidentally
shoot one of us at this point.  I'll hang onto this for now but if things go
right down the toilet you'll be welcome to have at it, alright?" 
Two-Swords simply nodded.

Web looked at Daemon, who tensed under
his gaze.  He quickly finished his turn and stood by Halley, indicating she
could make the call. 

"Okay," she said.  "I'll
go first.  Everyone stay a frame or two behind me.  I'll try to take out anyone
I see by hand first to keep things quiet if possible.  Web, you bring up the
rear.  Captain, FO, you're in the middle.  Let's go hunting."

They crept forward, Halley in the lead
and confident, the senior officers of the Solar Venturer must less sure of
themselves.  Web got caught up in watching Halley operate, appreciating her
practiced ease at clearing corners as well as admittedly admiring everything
else about her along the way.  She caught him eyeing her up once and shook her
finger at him, then softened it with a quick grin before pointing behind them
in the corridor to remind him to keep their six clear.

It only took a minute to reach the
bridge.  The cargo ship had a very simple layout, unencumbered by the redundant
hatches and emergency bulkhead points that Web was used to from all his time
aboard warships.

They stacked at the hatch, Halley
signaling Web to take the left while she took the right.

"This is the only way in," she
reminded Web.  "Nobody gets out."

Web only nodded seriously.  "We each
taking half the room?"

"Yep.  I'll go right, you take
left."

"Just remember my crew is in there
with these people," warned Captain Two-Swords.  "Don't hurt anyone. 
And be careful when you shoot!" he added as an afterthought.  "You
can't put any holes in the hull!"

"I think you and I both know I value
these people just as much as you do," Web grumbled softly to him. 
"Maybe more.  Just let us do our jobs, alright?"

Two-Swords and Daemon exchanged glances,
but in the end backed up a half step and said nothing more.

 Halley set her rifle against the
bulkhead and gestured to the captain's pistol in Web's belt, which he handed
over.  A quick check of the weapon and they were both ready.  Without any more
wasted time, Halley elbowed the hatch release as they both rolled around the
frame and into the room.

Web saw the jumble of people and knew the
pirates would have had an immense advantage if they had in fact been truly good
at their craft.  Having entered on the left side, Web quickly swept the hard
corner to his left and was returning to the center.  He saw a pirate standing
behind the main helm console, a long stand-up station with several displays and
some holographic glass standing vertical at the front edge.  The crew was all
hitting the deck; Web saw there was nobody behind the man and so he put two
shots center-mass right through the glass and into the Drisk pirate.  The man
crumpled to the deck amidst the tinkling sound of shattered glass hitting the
metal plating.  He completed his sweep to the center of the room only to see
Halley about to strike.

The pirate closest to her had been within
arm's reach, which was truly an unfortunate thing for him.  He had almost
raised a short-barreled large bore blaster of some sort when Halley reached
him.  She knocked the weapon wide with her left arm and struck him in the nose
with the butt of her blaster, breaking his nose and sending a spray of blood
washing down his face.  Without wasting any movement, she stepped inside his reach,
then reached back and hit him in the face again, this time with her right
elbow.  Everyone heard a crunch as his nose was smashed flat.  She barely had
time to wrench the rifle out of his hands as he collapsed to the deck, body
shutting down in a reflexive response to the overloaded pain messages his brain
was receiving.

The Venturer crew on the bridge was ten
strong, and though startled, a few gathered themselves well enough to stand up
as though they were trying to decide what to make of the situation.

That's when Captain Two-Swords and First
Officer Daemon walked into the compartment and were unable to conceal their
surprise at the scene that greeted them.  Halley and Web were examining the two
fallen pirates as the captain held up his hands to get the crew's attention.

"Everyone," he said in a
confident voice that Web hadn't heard since before the pirate attack.  "We
don't have a lot of time to explain, but our lives are in danger from these
pirates in ways we never could have guessed."  There was a low murmur as
people started to talk amongst themselves, but the captain spoke a little
louder to regain the group's attention.  "These pirates are stealing cargo
pods, yes, but they're also replacing some of them.  And those new pods are
filled with explosives."

This time the crew couldn't contain
themselves, and several different voices were all heard at the same time as
multiple people tried to ask the captain questions.  They were all silenced
when Halley closed the bridge hatch and turned to stare at them all.

"We don't have a lot of time to
gossip here, folks," she began.  "With apologies to the captain, I'm
going to give you the scoop and make it quick.  The pirates think we're going
to send those booby trapped pods to the surface of Callidor because we don't
know they've been substituted.  If we don't get scanned and blown up in orbit
by the Primans, then when these things hit dirt planetside and go boom they'll
track us down and blow us up later.  Either way, these pirates are going to get
us killed.  I'm not sure why they're doing it, but they're obviously getting
paid and usually that's enough.  So, the question is, are you going to help us
do something about it?"

"And you don't think your little
performance here is going to get us killed first?" Web heard a gruff voice
bark out.  He knew who it was; the Drisk engineer he'd learned to despise for a
laundry list of reasons.