Pursue the Past: Samair in Argos: Book 1 (62 page)

              Six hours later, the corvette pulled in close to the planet (while still maintaining a high orbit) and still the locals had not made a peep of acknowledgement.  However, as they pulled in, they noticed that every one of the ships was scanning
Fury
with every sensor that they could.

              “Active sensor sweeps coming in from all four of those ships, Captain,” the sensor officer reported, staring at his console.   “They’re not showing the least amount of restraint.”

              Sykora chuckled.  “All right, Tom, Yankee search.  Hit them with a ping of our own.  I’m a little tired of these games.  And make sure you get everything you can from the sweep.”

              The sensor watch beamed.  “Yes, sir!  I’ll get the serial numbers off the hulls for you, Captain!” he said excitedly. 

              “That’s fine, Tom.  Make sure you get them all,” Sykora said with a smile.

              The man blushed.  “Yes, Captain,” he said, lowering his gaze, embarrassed.

              The captain turned to his communications officer.  “Open a channel to the planet.  Use the encryption and channel codes I’m sending to your terminal now.”  He pressed a few controls on his own console to get the information over to communications.

              “Got it, Captain,” the man replied.  “I’m sending a hail now.”

              It took about a minute for a response to come through.  A hissing, clicking voice replied, one filled with anger and malice.  “You have some serious courage coming here, Republic.”

              Sykora grimaced.  “You and I have an understanding, Captain,” he said, his voice firm but calm.  “Don’t get too much attitude.  I only came here to speak.  A small situation has come up; one that I thought you would be interested in hearing about.”

              “You Republic Navy presume much,” the voice came back.  “We have an agreement, this iss true.  But you assume we will move to your commandss.”  He spoke Basic fluently, but all of the ‘ess’ sounds in his sibilance were pronounced.

              “I don’t assume anything, Captain Verrikoth,” Sykora replied.  “But I come with a matter that concerns us both.  And you know that we allow each other to tend to our own affairs.”

              “And yet you are here?”  The voice was suspicious.

              He sighed.  “Captain, let me ask you this.  Do you think I would come to Trullium without any other escort with hostile intent?”

              There was another pause.  “Republic Navy sometimess do foolish thing.”

              “I’m not a fool, Captain,” Sykora told him.  “But we do need to meet.”

              “Very well.  Bring your shuttle down, we will discusss your important matter.”

              “Now you’re insulting me, Verrikoth.  We each send a shuttle, and we meet up in space.  The shuttles will link up through their airlocks.  And don’t try anything cute, Captain.  We really do need to speak.  You can bring one assistant only, and I will only bring one.  Anybody tries anything and all of our ships will open fire.”

              There was the sound of hissing laughter.  “Republic Navy not so foolish after all.  My sshuttle will launch in thirty minutess.”  The connection cut.

              “That was a dirty trick,” Lieutenant Vos put in sourly.

              Sykora shrugged.  “I expected he’d try something like that.  And there’s not a chance in hell am I going down to the planet’s surface without a battalion of Marines with me.”

              “And at least a battleship in orbit,” Vos said darkly.

              The shuttles linked up about fifty kilometers from
Fury
’s bow, about the same distance from two of Verrikoth’s ships as well.  Both sides had their weapons powered and their shields up; no one was taking any chances.  The Republic shuttle was very angular, octagonal in the aft section, but ovoid toward the front, with a pair of engine nacelles attached at the ventral side aft.  The pirate shuttle was much boxier, little more than a rectangular shape with a pair of nacelles on the sides.  The two shuttles docked with some difficulty, as they were not meant for this sort of maneuver.  In the end, the pirate shuttle extended a flexible plastic boarding sleeve, completely covering the Republic shuttle’s airlock.  Once there was hard seal, both ships opened their airlocks so they could speak.

              With the airlocks open, the zheen didn’t waste any time.  He grabbed the bar above the airlock door and pulled himself through.  He floated down the short tunnel to the other ship, then grabbed the edge of the airlock and pulled himself inside the Republic ship.  He landed lightly on the deck and then stood up to look at his ‘hosts’.

              Lieutenant Wallace Sykora looked like many humans that Verrikoth had met over the years.  Pale skin, with a small amount of fur on the top of his head, with a small amount of fur just under his olfactory on his head.  He was dressed in the same gray and red uniform that most of those Verrikoth had seen over the years would wear.  Verrikoth wondered if all humans wore that same sort of outfit in the Republic.  That seemed to be the only thing he ever saw them wear, though he was willing to admit that it had been more than six decades since he had been in Republic space.

              Verrikoth looked much like most of his zheen brethren, as far as Sykora could tell.  His exoskeleton was a dull purple, though he had white scars running over his arms and thorax, as well as his neck and face.  He also had luminescent tattoos on his neck and arms of designs that Sykora didn’t recognize.  They were etched into his carapace in a yellow color that seemed to glow as though they were electric.  He was dressed in a shipsuit cut to fit his frame, and a heavy pulser holstered at his hip.  He also had a brace of knives on a bandolier across his chest, and another blade in a scabbard on his right wrist.  On his left wrist was a small datapad with a retractable antenna.  His multifaceted eyes seemed to shine in the interior lights of the shuttle.

              “Lieutenant Ssykora very brave to bring his one sship into my sstar ssystem,” Verrikoth said in a hissing growl.

              Sykora shrugged.  “This isn’t about bravery,” he replied.  “As I said before, there’s an urgent matter that you needed to be made aware of.”

              “Sso you keep ssaying,” the zheen said irritably, his antennae flaring straight.  “Ssay what you came to ssay and then leave before my patience endss.”

              “There’s a navy reserve vessel that is currently going through the Cluster,” Sykora began.  “The Admiral did not send it, which means that either it
isn’t
actually a reserve ship or it’s been sent by military intelligence to try and determine the status of the Argos Cluster.”

              “What are you telling me?” the zheen raged.  “The Admiral iss no longer in command of his own fleet?  That you are abrogating our deal?”

              “I am abrogating nothing,” Sykora snapped.  “I just need you and your people to keep an eye out for this ship.  And if you should catch it, you should blow it apart and kill everyone aboard.”

              The pirate’s antennae flicked in surprise.  “Republic Navy wants a Reserve vessel destroyed and crew killed?  Unuzual.”  His voice buzzed on the last word.

              “Either way, the ship needs to be taken care of,” the lieutenant informed him.  “Unless, of course, you want our arrangement to end.”

              “Perhapss I do,” Verrikoth replied snidely.  “If one sship cauzez this much trouble, perhaps this arrangement iz not as profitable as it once was.”

              Sykora sighed, eyeing the defiant pirate before him.  “We have a good working relationship, Captain.  It’s been very profitable.  The Admiral allows you to go where you like in the Cluster and turns a blind eye to your activities in exchange for a cut.  I think you’ve managed to do quite well for yourself since we started this.”

              Verrikoth waved a hand dismissively.  “I could have done just as well without hiz… help.”

              “On four separate occasions, most notably four months ago in the Kigri system, I have allowed your ships to… operate without my interference.  I also have bagged a number of your competitors, making it easier for you to maintain your activities.”  The lieutenant shrugged.  “If our arrangement has ended, then
Fury
will open fire on your ships in this system and destroy them all.”

              The zheen bristled.  “Your sship iz military, yess, but it is only one.  A corvette iz not a particularly powerful sship.  Limited ammunition.  You couldn’t sstop all of my sships.”

              A slow, nasty smile spread over the lieutenant’s face.  “So you’re saying we’re done here?”

              His antennae drooped.  “I ssuppoze I am.”  With speed the lieutenant wouldn’t have thought possible, his hand whipped one of the knives free from his bandolier and slashed the lieutenant’s throat.  Blood fountained from the wound and Sykora’s hands flew to his throat, gagging.  He collapsed to the deck of the shuttle before pitching over on his side, a pool spreading outward from him.  Verrikoth’s fellow, a Severite armed with a pulse rifle, raised his weapon and fired, killing Sykora’s pilot with a hit to the forehead.  The catlike creature stepped forward and pumped three more shots into the pilot’s chest.

              “A waste,” Verrikoth said softly.  “We
did
have a good working relationship.  But I think it iz time for us to expand our operationss past what the good Admiral had in mind.”  He activated his communicator on his wrist.  “All ships, open fire on the
Fury
.  Take it out.”

              Both pirate vessels fired.  Rail guns sent a storm of metal hammering into the corvette’s shields.  Grasers blasted against the corvette’s shields, which was causing them to weaken.  The other two ships moved up from their positions in lower orbits, targeting the outnumbered Republic ship.  They weren’t in range yet, but they would be in less than a minute.

              “What the hell?” Vos demanded as his ship was suddenly under attack.  “Helm, go evasive now!”  The helmsman responded immediately and the ship began to accelerate, banking hard to port, the inertial compensators barely managing to keep everyone from being flung against the bulkheads.  “What happened to the Captain?” he bellowed.’

              “I’m only reading two life signs aboard the shuttles, Lieutenant,” the sensor officer reported looking up from his displays.  “One of them is zheen, the other is Severite.”

              “Damn it,” Vos said, dropping into the command chair.  “All right, I’m assuming command as of this date.  Tactical, lock all weapons on the closest ship and open fire.”  He smiled grimly.  “Lock a missile on the pirate shuttle and destroy it.”  He allowed himself one instant to mourn his captain.  The man was a good officer and he had done his job well, but he had foolishly brought them here to this system, arrogantly assuming that his Republic uniform and
Fury’s
presence would protect him against someone who clearly held no regard for anyone’s life except his own.

              It would take every ounce of skill he and his people had to get out of this viper’s nest. 

              The pirate shuttle detached from the other and began racing for the planet’s surface, while the Republic shuttle remained in position, unmoving.  A Sierra missile launched from
Fury
’s starboard launcher, locked on to Verrikoth’s tiny craft.  A short pursuit, as weapon shots were traded back and forth between the Republic and pirate vessels, and the missile caught up to the shuttle.  The small ship tried to evade, tried to make a hard turn up and to the starboard, but it was too late.  The Sierra clipped its ventral hull and detonated.  The vessel exploded in a ball of expanding gas and warped and twisted metal.

              “Good shooting, Guns,” Vos congratulated.  “Helm, go to port three zero, climb two-seven.  Guns, open up on the pirate as soon as she’s in range.”

              “We’re too far away, XO,” Senior Chief Ros Dragomirov informed him.

              “We won’t be,” Vos said.  “When we’re done with that maneuver, he’s going to be right where we want him to be.  You just make sure that you have the weapons ready, Mister Dragomirov.”

              A particularly vicious hit struck
Fury
on the port side, causing all of the bridge crew to grab hold of their stations hard to avoid being tossed across the bridge.  Apparently, things would not be so simple in this fight. 

              “Direct hit to the port quarter!” the sensor operator called out.  “They launched a missile at us and it got through the shields.  Hull breach on deck two; sections twenty through twenty four.”

              “Seal it off,” Vos ordered.  Not good.  If the pirates had already breached the shields and punched through the hull, they were in deep trouble.

              Verrikoth sat in the pilot’s seat of the Republic shuttle.  His little ruse with the other ship had worked like a charm, though the zheen was willing to admit simply sitting there waiting for his pilot to try and escape the missile was incredibly nerve wracking.  Clearly, the Severite had been unable to evade the Republic weapon and had been killed with the shuttle.  The zheen shrugged to himself.  It was no matter.  He had more shuttles and other pilots.  The cat had decided that he was going to try and save the ship instead of simply remote piloting it from here and had underestimated the tracking capabilities of Republic missiles.