Different Paths (2 page)

Chapter 3

“One minute until re-entry. Please secure all loose
cargo and fasten all seat-belts.” Pax’s monotone voice echoed over the speakers
throughout the ship.

Iaido moved forward, seated himself into the
captain’s chair and clicked the five-point restraint system into place. “All
right Pax, arm all missiles, ready the cannons and power up the deflector
shields.”

“Affirmative.”

Iaido could tell that Pax, his ship’s A.I. -
Artificial Intelligence - was slightly offended at being told the obvious but
then he didn’t like leaving anything to chance. He studied the star chart on
the screen at his side before adding, “Prepare evasion programs Charlie and
Delta.”

“Affirmative.”

Iaido glanced out the cockpit window. He could
tell that re-entry was only seconds away by the way the lights danced around
his ship.

Technically, any starship equipped with a
hyperdrive could enter or exit hyperspace at any point in space. For ease of trans-galactic
travel, the Galactic Marshals had set specific marker buoys throughout the
region and those routes were logged into every astronavigation computer.
However, re-entry from hyperspace was always tricky.  Certain natural
phenomenon such as comets, solar storms and meteors tended to affect ships
traveling in hyperspace. A few unnatural objects could do the same thing, most
notably a gravitational generator.

Grav-gens were a piece of hardware designed to
create artificial gravity for use on orbiting space platforms. It was a
wonderful peaceful invention that the military perverted for its own wartime
uses. It had been known to be used as a method to pull ships out of hyperspace
early or at wrong locations, such as near a planet where the gravitational
forces would pull it to its doom or into an ambush. With the war officially
over, several mercenary companies had gone rogue and had been raiding known
shipping lanes. At least one of these pirate bands had a working grav-gen and
was using it to good effect.

The Galactic Marshals hadn’t been able to capture
these pirates yet and had placed an ample bounty on them. Iaido wasn’t even
tempted by the sum…at least not until it was double the current amount.

Pax triggered an alarm notifying him of re-entry.
A sudden lurch forward and the stars settled into normal patterns was all that
marked their emergence from hyperspace. Iaido quickly pulled up and back on the
yoke with a quick turn to starboard, thereby taking his starship into a ninety
degree vector from his initial re-entry. A quick glance at one of the monitors
showed that his prisoner was secure and in relative good health.

“We have company. Two bogies at three o’clock.
Twenty-five kilometers out and closing fast. Preliminary scans show both
vessels to be Raptor Class, Mark 4s.”

Iaido’s HUDs, heads-up-display system, began
showing him all pertinent data on the enemy ships. The Raptor M4 was a one-man
starfighter with no hyperspace drive but large sub-light engines capable of
pushing the ship to speeds of zero point eight the speed of light. Standard
armament consists of ten anti-matter missiles, one .75 caliber projectile
cannon, two turbo-lasers and minimal deflector shields. The Raptor was a
military grade starfighter primarily meant for interplanetary defense. Built by
Titan Avionics, they were originally designed and built for a Coalition
contract in 2120 but lost the final contest to the Avionics Strategic
International Dragon which has become the standard UNCF Fleet starfighter for
the last quarter century. Titan Avionics was left to peddle their starfighter
to the colonists. However during the war, the Confederacy had used the Raptor
to deadly effect. Iaido wasn’t overly concerned over the turbo lasers or the
Raptor’s cannons. Neither were powerful enough to penetrate his shields on any
single hit, a constant barrage would most defiantly hurt but nothing short of
that would harm his ship. On the other hand, the anti-matter missiles the
Raptor carried could easily disable or destroy his starship. Since these bogies
were the latest version of the Raptor; Iaido knew that these pilots took care
of their ships.

“Incoming transmission from the lead Raptor,” Pax
said. “They are maneuvering for missile lock, target jammers at max but
estimate missile lock in twenty-five seconds, plus or minus five seconds.”

“Roger. Evasion pattern Charlie. Prepare
countermeasures and plot an escape vector back to hyperspace.” Nodding in
satisfaction at Pax’s efficiency Iaido said, “Now put this idiot through.”

“Starship Nemesis, power down all systems and
prepare to be boarded.”

Iaido toggled his mic. “On whose authority?”

“This is Captain Dixon of the Jupiter Defense
League.”

“My apologies captain but I have checked my
nav-system and I am in inter-galactic space. So, I will have to respectfully decline.”

“Starship Nemesis that was not a request! You will
power down all systems and prepare to be boarded. You are harboring a known
fugitive and we plan to take custody of him.”

“Now we are getting somewhere, Captain Dixon,”
said Iaido. “You want Jagger Jax? That’s a simple matter; pay the bounty on him
and he’s yours.”

While his wingman broke to port, the JDL captain
slid his ship onto Iaido’s tail tighter than a bra on a ten-dollar whore. “We
don’t pay bounties!”

“I didn’t think so.” Iaido tapped several commands
into his nav-system. “If you aren’t willing to pay, then no deal.”

“This is your last warning Nemesis...power down or
die.”

“Not today, Captain.”

Although the Raptors were newer, smaller and more
agile than his aging warship, Iaido was a veteran of many battles and had
numerous tricks in his arsenal. Cutting the power to the engines, he pulled
hard up on the ship’s controls while firing the maneuvering jets causing his
warship to flip on its axis. It was now facing the complete opposite direction;
right toward the JDL Captain’s Raptor but was still moving forward on its
previous vector. Having never encountered that particular trick before, Captain
Dixon panicked and pulled his ship hard up which exposed his engines to Iaido.
A quick burst from the Nemesis’ 50mm railguns and the JDL Raptor was floating
helplessly in space.

Seeing his commander in trouble, the JDL wingman
altered course to intercept and fired.

“Incoming missiles.  Anti-matter signature,” said
Pax. “Firing counter-measures and engines. Initiating evasion pattern Delta.”

Iaido could do nothing but hold on as Pax
accelerated to combat velocity and twisted the Nemesis in an intricate evasion
pattern that confused missiles and pilots alike. The JDL Raptor dropped in
behind and the chase was on. Of course, the Raptor was one-fifth the size of
the Nemesis and probably three times as maneuverable but they didn’t have Pax.
Iaido was a skilled pilot; his flight log would show that but he also knew his
limits. With two anti-matter missiles homing in on his ship, he knew that Pax
was their best chance for outmaneuvering the missiles. All missiles operated on
a scaled down version of A.I.s, not anywhere near as advanced as Pax and very
limited, but still fully capable of tracking starships through an asteroid
field. All A.I.s operate on an advanced algorithm that Iaido didn’t understand
nor did he want to, however he knew when to let Pax do her thing and when not
to, and this was a time to let go of the reins.

Pax danced the warship through several hard
banking moves which caused Iaido to experience over one hundred times the
normal gravity force for several seconds. He felt the G-forces trying to push
the blood out of his torso and into his extremities. But at the same time, he
knew his armor would react to the increased pressure; the interior lining would
automatically constrict on his legs and arms forcing blood out of his
extremities and back into his torso. Having years of space combat experience,
these maneuvers were unlikely to cause him to pass out. Even so, if Pax
continued pulling those types of turns there was still that possibility.

Iaido glanced at the monitors and could see that
the missiles were closing. Pax dropped a few more countermeasures and took the
Nemesis into a corkscrewing spin, getting faster with each revolution. Iaido
watched as the missiles also started the corkscrewing motion. With each
rotation the missiles got closer together until they finally ran into each
other which detonated their warheads.

The Nemesis rocked slightly with the force of the
explosions but it was already outside the dangerous blast radius and closing on
the remaining Raptor.

“Pax, charge the EMP cannon and give me manual
controls.”

Twisting the ship, Iaido fired a quick burst of
cannon fire. The 50mm railgun rounds flew harmlessly to the port side of his
opponent yet the JDL pilot reacted by banking hard to his starboard. With a
slight grin, Iaido twisted the controls a bit and let another burst, this time
to starboard. The JDL pilot immediately banked to port, showing Iaido how
unskilled the pilot really was, he was reacting reflexively to cannon fire that
had no chance of striking his starship. Iaido began to herd the Raptor with
short blasts from his cannons while using the powerful engines on his warship
to close the distance.

Pax announced, “EMP ready and active”.

EMP, Electro Magnetic Pulse, cannons have
disadvantages and advantages in combat. The disadvantages are severe
considering combat conditions; EMP cannons take time to charge, require a lot
of energy and have a very short range. The effective target range was less than
three thousand meters, which is almost point blank range for combat situations
in space. However, Iaido had always found that the advantages offered by the
EMP cannon especially useful in trying to capture a mark. There was no need for
a target lock since the blast covered a wide area in front of the cannon and
any ship caught in it would find all of its electronic components immediately
disabled.

With an EMP cannon, Iaido had an effective way of
stopping the fleeing ship without destroying it if his mark bolted; giving him
a salvage claim once the criminal was convicted.

Iaido had gotten the Nemesis, his Cerberus class
warship, from one such mark. A UNCF Fleet captain had gone rogue, hijacked an
old warship and was raiding local shipping lanes. For six months the Fleet was
unable to capture him and out of desperation placed a bounty on the rogue
captain and his crew. It took Iaido exactly three days for the capture.

He loaded a small freighter with an EMP cannon,
cross-referenced all the routes the rogue captain had been raiding then flew
the routes himself. When the rogue warship approached and threatened Iaido’s
freighter, he powered down all systems except the EMP cannon and waited till
the rogue captain came in range before disabling it with one quick shot. This
left the deadly warship adrift in space and at Iaido’s mercy. After towing the
disabled warship to the closet UNCF station, he received the bounty for the
AWOL officers and filed his claim for the salvage on the warship. Since the
Medusa, his ship’s original name, wasn’t an active Fleet vessel at the time, it
had been decommissioned for nearly twenty years; the UNCF was obligated to
honor his salvage claim. With the large bounty and a warship at his disposal,
Iaido ‘Achilles’ Spartan the bounty hunter was born.

“Range to Raptor Beta forty-one hundred meters and
closing fast…Raptor Beta is within effective EMP range. Range to Raptor twenty-seven
hundred meters…”

Iaido triggered the EMP cannon. It blasted out in
front of the Nemesis in a wide arc and looked like a lightning storm in space.
Engulfing the Raptor, all systems were immediately shorted out and the JDL
Raptor became a flying coffin, still heading in its last direction.

Iaido keyed his mic. “Nemesis to Captain Dixon.”

“Go for Captain Dixon.”

“I let you live this time, take this as a lesson
learned and one not to be repeated.”

“Nemesis, there will be another day and another
time. This isn’t over.”

“Yes it is. Heed my warning or die. I have you
marked, Captain Dixon. Don’t cross me again. Next time I won’t be merciful.”

Iaido turned off the com-link. “Pax send out a level
one distress for the Raptors, plot a course for home and complete a sector scan
of the surrounding area.”

“Affirmative. Distress beacon dropped and course
laid in to Starbase Alpha. ETA three hours. Sector scan is clear of all
traffic.”

“Engage.”

“Captain, you have three messages waiting for
you.”

Unhooking his harness, Iaido stood up and
stretched. “Transfer the messages to the dojo.”

“Affirmative.”

Moving out of the cockpit, Iaido moved down the
short passageway to the main deck of the warship. It wasn’t large but he had
converted the mess hall to a workout room. A heavy bag hung from the beams, a
small shrine was along one bulkhead, a futon was against the opposite bulkhead
with a vid-display and comm-center controls alongside it. Pulling off his helmet,
Iaido placed it on a rack designed for his armor.

“Play messages.”

The image of a petite blonde with short spiky hair
filled the screen. His assistant Diana had a gorgeous smile that was
infectious.

“Hiya Boss. Here’s the run down. KC is going to meet
you at Stardock 5 at 0600 hours UTC, try not to be late. Don’t forget to
collect the bonuses on the bounty. You know they always conveniently forget
about them. Also be careful, it seems the knowledge of your cargo has leaked
and you may run across some bounty jumpers. Oh…some guy named Sergeant Major Spenton
called for you earlier and said he was an old friend. He seemed to be a bit
upset but left no contact info. That’s about it. See you when you get back.”

Blowing the camera a kiss, Diana ended her transmission.