Rookie Privateer (24 page)

"
You got her?" I asked.

"
Yup."

Inertial dampers on. Combat avoidance now
. I tried to sound calm, but I'm pretty sure I screamed it.

The ship's gravity returned and we all sunk back to whatever was between us and the floor. For me it was the pilot's chair. My arm hurt, but I had use of it so that was all I cared about.
Sterra's Gift
peeled off on a close vector to the approaching ship and fired the engines hard.

We only had a few moments before the pirate cutter would turn around and likely fire missiles at us.

Burn rate max. Override now!

I was slammed back into the chair. The inertia and gravity systems could barely keep up with the amount of thrust I was pouring into
Sterra's Gift
. We took off at an alarming rate and were putting considerable distance between us and the pursuing ship.

Find objects within 10 seconds
.

My heads up display showed a few nearby asteroids. Good
. I headed toward a clump of them.

Missiles inbound
, the ship warned me.

Countdown missile impact. Override engine safety burn, one twenty percent
.

Six ... Five ...

Max thrust.
The ship lurched forward again, we were accelerating even faster. I hoped that Nick was well tied in. The g-forces were insane and my vision was starting to narrow. Frak, what a rush.

Six ... Eight ...

We were just about to the asteroids, but were moving insanely fast.

Turret control heads up display. Constant fire. Track reticle to eye
.

My heads-up display showed a red glowing field which was the range of the turret on top of
Sterra's Gift
. The slugs started tearing up a smaller asteroid we were headed directly for, with no effect. I switched to another asteroid next to it ... same ... switch ... same. Finally, on the fourth asteroid I saw what I was looking for. Parts of the small asteroid were chipping off.

Reduce thrust. Keep missile at three seconds
.

The ship didn't seem to slow much.

Five ... Four ...

I kept firing into the asteroid and just before I overran it, the asteroid burst apart into thousands of small parts.

"BITCH!" I exclaimed.

I thought I heard Nick say
"frak," but I wasn't sure and I was pretty busy.

Asteroid pieces impacted the ship and alarms sounded. The bridge door slammed shut. I must have holed the ship and we'd lost vacuum. I was thankful that the bridge hadn't decompressed. More importantly, the missiles also exploded behind us on impact with the ice chunks we had flown through.

"Are you frakking crazy?" Nick yelled.

Reduce thrust 80%. Where is that other ship?

Twenty kilometers and closing in forty-five seconds.

Keep them at twenty kilometers.

I watched for our thrust and saw they were running at 100%. So they weren't willing to damage their ship. Good to know.

Hail Baru Manush authority
. "This is the ship
Sterra's Gift
en-route from Colony 40. We are actively being pursued by pirates and request assistance," I sent.

I received an immediate reply,
"Wait one."

Set course for Baru Manush. Keep pursuit ship at twenty kilometers
.

The pirates seemed to be content to keep us in range and follow. We were burning an insane amount of fuel, but no way was I interested in them catching us. The navigation computer showed a series of course corrections that would take us around Ceres and match velocity with Baru Manush. We were fifteen minutes away at our current speed.

Five long minutes later, a woman's voice came over the channel I had opened with Baru Manush. "This is Lieutenant M. Bertrand with Ceres Defense. What is your sit rep and who am I talking to?"

"
Captain Liam Hoffen of the cutter
Sterra's Gift
. We are actively being pursued by a hostile ship and request assistance."

"
Aye. Be advised we have no craft capable of intercepting. Uploading our defense boundary grid. Those bastards won't follow you into the grid. You will need to stow your turrets once inside or you will be fired on. Copy?"

"
Roger that," I replied.

The pirate ship must have either intercepted the transmission or could see our new course and turned within a few minutes
of that conversation. I didn't want to be fired on, so I stowed the turrets once the pirate cutter was comfortably heading away.

"
Captain Hoffen, I am showing you are no longer being pursued. We request a weapons lockout now that hostilities have ceased."

"
Granted." I didn't think we had much of a choice. Baru Manush was asking to take control of our turret now that we were within their boundaries. It was a reasonable precaution.

"
Captain Hoffen, do you require further assistance?" Lieutenant M. Bertrand asked.

"
We have two wounded. One prisoner and my first mate. I believe my ship is holed. Do you have a pressurized bay available?" It would be difficult to move wounded people through a zero pressure environment.

"
Aye Captain. Uploading now. We will have to impound your ship for an investigation."

"
Understood."

I got up and reviewed the state of the bridge. Nick was propped into his chair leveling the laser pistol at Xie's still unconscious body.

He looked at me. "I think I killed her."

I moved over to her and retracted her suit's helmet. She had been thrown around the bridge a fair bit, but she wasn't dead. The aftereffects of adrenaline were still leaving my body but I didn't care about her condition. I was really tired of getting shot at and beat up.

"She was going to kill us, Nick. How is your arm?"

"
I can't feel my hand and the rest of it hurts like you can't believe."

I backed away from Xie and took the laser pistol from Nick.
"Hang in there for a little longer."

Xie moved, opened her eyes
, and looked around. Nick had shot me through the outside of my left arm. I had full movement and while it burned like the devil, it didn't otherwise seem to be causing any problems. Xie, on the other hand, had a wound below her right breast. She wasn't breathing very well.

"
Point Hoffen." I said unkindly to her.

"
You're never getting out of here alive, pal." Claws out and fully extended.

When we crossed the boundary into Baru Manush defended space, the ship's AI relayed a request from Baru Manush Defense to pilot our ship into a quarantine bay. I accepted. I sincerely hoped M. Bertrand would not be a pain in the ass.

I didn't want to let Xie know what I was doing, so I pulled up a virtual keyboard. I punched in a message to Gregor Belcose on the
Kuznetsov
. When we left Colony 40 he had asked to be kept up to date on any pirate activity we might run into. I sent him our bridge log from the last hour with no other information. I figured he could do with it what he wanted.

"
Did you see where that marble device went to?" I asked Nick.

"
Nope, easy to find though."
Show bridge log last half hour
, Nick ordered.
Center on Hoffen. Speed four times
. Nick was watching on his helmet display.
Stop. Reverse. Stop. Zoom in on Hoffen's right hand. Forward quarter speed. Stop. Select spherical object in Hoffen's hand. Trace forward to real time
.

"
It's in her suit," he informed me.

I looked down at Xie.
"Pull it out and put it on the ground."

"
Why don't you grab it yourself?" she said silkily.

"
Sorry Nick, I am going to need you to grab it. Xie, I will not hesitate to shoot you if you make a move."

"
You are making a big mistake, boys." Xie said and pulled out the marble-sized device. She handed it up to Nick.

"
You keep saying that. Just toss it away from you. Then lie down."

"
On this floor? It's disgusting."

"
Last warning." It really was. I was prepared to shoot her right there and then, because I still believed she could jump up and kill us both. I later found out she was holding on by a thread and was a much better bluffer than I realized. I turned my attention to the approach to Baru Manush.

The space station was a large, man-made rectangular structure in geo-synchronous orbit above Ceres. It was home to twenty-two hundred colonists who were mostly involved in gas and ice mining ventures on Ceres. A space station isn't much to look at when you come upon it. There are lots of flashing lights and various bays and landing pads connected to each side.

The computer-controlled flight brought us to an upper level and we sailed neatly into an open bay. The docking bay door closed behind us and atmosphere was pumped into the bay.

Incoming hail from Baru Manush Defense, Lieutenant M. Bertrand.

Accept
.

"
Captain Hoffen, I hope you understand, but for our safety, we must be armed when we board your ship. Will you comply?"

"
Yes. We are on the bridge and I have a wounded prisoner under guard. I will not be able to lower my weapon until you take control of the prisoner."

"
Okay, Captain. I guess we are going to have to trust each other here. Will you release your airlock?"

Release airlock
.

"
Careful of those bags, they contain waste," I warned.

I heard a loud rapping on the door of the bridge
and walked over, keeping my gun on Xie's prone body. I pulled the door open to see the muzzle of a laser rifle. A large woman in armor stood behind the rifle.

"
Please stow the weapon, Captain." I recognized the voice of Lieutenant Bertrand. In my mind I had seen her as a slight-framed spacer type. This woman was my height, just shy of two meters, and had the build of someone who had grown up in full gravity and then some. Put an armored vac-suit on her and she was absolutely intimidating.

I stammered slightly.
"Yes ma'am." I placed the laser pistol onto the bulkhead of the port side back wall of the bridge.

Bertrand didn't lower her weapon, but pushed her way onto the bridge and swung her weapon first to Nick and then down to Xie. Bertrand was followed by a smaller man, also dressed in armor and carrying a laser rifle. He pointed the gun directly at me.

"Secure the prisoner, Feitz." Lieutenant Bertrand said.

The smaller man pushed his rifle at me and said gruffly,
"Hands on the wall dumb ass. Spread 'em."

I started to turn away when Bertrand interrupted.
"Not the Captain. The woman on the floor."

"
Sorry boss." Feitz pulled Xie’s arms behind her back and cuffed them at her wrists.

"
Come on in, Doc," Bertrand said into her communicator.

An older man with a small spacer build, entered the bridge a couple of moments later. He was graying and wore a harried look.
He carried a bag I had come to associate with doctors. The doctor made his way directly to Xie and pulled an instrument out of his bag and held it on her chest. He was wearing glasses that were obviously connected to the instrument and providing him information.

"
She'll make it, but she's in pretty bad shape," he said after a couple of minutes.

"
Lieutenant, she is very dangerous."

"
I think we can handle it, Captain," Lieutenant Bertrand replied.

"
Doc, can you take a look at Nick's shoulder?" I asked.

The doctor looked at me and I nodded to where
my friend was sitting. He made his way over to Nick and put the same device on him. After a few moments he said, "He will need a few hours in the medical bay, but the first aid he received was sufficient to keep from ruining his shoulder. Lucky hit, really."

"
Fietz, get this woman over to the infirmary. I want you personally to keep guard on her until I relieve you. Copy?"

"
Copy that boss," Fietz said.

"
Is it okay if my First Officer, Nick, follows them to the infirmary to get patched up? I am at your disposal until this is resolved," I said.

"
No problem that, Captain. Doc can you take care of Mister …" She looked at Nick expectantly.

"
James. Nicholas James." He followed the doctor off the bridge.