Privateer Tales 3: Parley (28 page)

“I can’t believe we’re gonna let this happen,” Marny said, pissed.

“Not sure what you’re whining about,” I said. “You don’t work for me
so you don’t have to abide by my commitments.” I looked over my shoulder at Marny, her anger turning to a smile.

“Why you little turd …” She turned to Flark who was gingerly walking past her and jammed the butt of her gun into his face shield. Ordinarily, the helmet of a vac-suit can take a pretty good pop and to its credit this one didn’t split open, but apparently the contents were jostled somewhat and Flark crumpled to the ground.

I rushed into the open vehicle. Qiu was slumped into the seat, breathing roughly. Perversely, the first thing that went through my mind was just how many nanite trackers were being sprayed all over my body.

“We g
ot her Ada. Tell Nick and Jordy we found her,” I was elated. Whatever came next, I would be okay with it.

It was misery helping Qiu into her vac-suit. Flark had brought it along, but just hadn’t taken the time to get her in it. She was burning up with fever and groaning painfully, so we worked as gently as possible.

“We’ll take the runabout over to the frigate,” I said. “They’ll surely have medical kits on board.” We loaded onto the small ship.

“Ada, we’re coming out in the runabout, Qiu needs attention.”

“Okay, right behind you,” Ada said.

Establish comm with the frigate
.

“What do you have, Liam?” Nick asked.

“We have Qiu on a small runabout. We’re headed your way now,” I said.

“There’s an infirmary on deck three,” Jordy said.

“Just don’t shoot us,”

The little vehicle had good acceleration and we got to the frigate quickly. The large hauler was still not completely out of enhanced visual range and a flotilla of small ships
was buzzing the behemoth. I suspected they would eventually be successful at destroying the hauler. What I wasn’t sure of is if they would be able to bring the co-op’s asteroid back. Personally, I’d try negotiating with the hauler at that point.

“Check Qiu’s seal, I’m going to evacuate the atmo.” We weren’t going to land in a pressurized environment and it would take sixty seconds if I wanted to evacuate it without causing all of our ears to pop.

“We’re all green,” Marny said. I was glad she was talking to me.

“Qiu first? Then we can take Flark over?” I said.

“I’ve got Qiu. I’ll take her right down to the infirmary,” Marny said.

“I imagine Tali and I can handle Mr. Flark.” It was a little bit of a joke since he was still unconscious. I hoped Marny hadn’t killed him, but for all the death and destruction he’d caused, I wasn’t sure I cared that much.

I also wondered what had happened to Beth Anne Hollise. We really didn’t have anything on her directly. She’d stepped into some of the nanites, but then so had a lot of people. We’d chased her tracks straight to the docking bay, but when we’d gotten there, she was nowhere to be found. I’d thought she might be on the runabout, but that also wasn’t the case. It was a mystery I wasn’t interested in at this point.

I sidled up next to the larger ship and Tali pulled open the runabout’s door and jetted across to the airlock to start it cycling. I was suspicious of Flark’s prolonged unconsciousness, so I surreptitiously watched for him to make a move. Sure enough, with Tali out of the vehicle, he made a grab for Marny, just as she started to lift Qiu.

I pulled my flechette pistol and fired several times, point blank into his shoulder. I didn’t want to kill him, but I’d be satisfied with a good maiming at this point. I was surprised at the impact the flechette darts had. I’d been shot several times with flechettes and aside from feeling like I’d been stuck by a needle – which, coincidentally, was the entire point - I hadn’t taken too much damage.

To be fair, Marny had mentioned that this particular flechette pistol was not in the same class as those smaller weapons I was used to. She made sure this one
carried a significant punch. I felt terrible as I watched Flark’s body spin, out of control, into Marny’s legs as she was trying to get out of the door, carrying Qiu.

“What in … You got him, Cap?” she asked.

“Yeah, sorry, more punch on this flechette than I’m used to.”

“I told you. You’ve really got to start listening to me on these things.”

Flark was drifting away from the vehicle and flailing, obviously in pain. His vac-suit had no doubt sealed back over the now well-embedded darts. I jetted out toward him and grabbed his arm to stop his spin. I’d removed his AGBs, so he had no capacity to steer himself. If I gave him a little toss in one direction or another, he’d just keep going that way until someone saw him or … heck, it could be a long time.

I came even with his mask, “Try anything else and I won’t come for you next time.”

He nodded his understanding.

Tali and I cycled through the airlock with Flark. It was unnecessary with Tali along, but I kept the flechette pointed at Flark just the same.

“Should we segregate him?” I asked.

“I wouldn’t think so. All the big boys went over to the hauler. Be good for him to spend some time with the rank and file,” Tali said.

I put cuffs on his hands and sat him down next to one of the other prisoners. Once on the ground, I cuffed his ankles. We were getting low on restraints at this point, but I thought we were probably just about finished.

I hugged Nick when I saw him.

“Good to see you on the other side,” I said.

“You too.”

“Marny might be a little pissed at me. Maybe you could put in a good word with her?” I asked.

“Really?” He looked at me, surprised.

“Yeah. Any idea who the Navy sent?”

“
Kuznetsov
.”

“Seriously? Oh shite. She’s gonna be pissed.” Commander L. L. Sterra was in command of the Navy’s Corvette
Kuznetsov
. She was the namesake of our now foundered ship.

“Probably not, since we recovered Qiu and Flark.”

“Are you okay with all that?” I asked.

“My objection to the plan was never the ship. Does it suck that we ruined a ship we’d restored from the brink of the boneyard? Yes. I estimate our loss to be just south of a million m-creds, none of which is insured, by the way. My objection was that it was too risky. We can’t keep taking risks like this, Liam. The odds are going to catch up with us.”

“I don’t know how to step back. I couldn’t leave Qiu. You saw her - she wouldn’t have made it.”

“I know. I get it. We shouldn’t have been out here in the first place. I’m the one who wanted this job and it nearly cost us everything. I’m just saying we have to be more careful.”

“Okay, we’ll work it out. Let’s get this thing mopped up.”

“Agreed.”

“Any thoughts on how to lash a frigate and cutter to a string of ore barges? I was thinking that if we got the Navy to give us this frigate as a prize, we might be able to raise enough capital to get another ship.”

“Sure, we could totally do that,” Nick said. I loved this little man. It was like he’d never been introduced to the word ‘no’.

“How long before the Navy gets here?”

“Four hours,” he said.

“Ada and I are going to hunt down
Sterra's Gift
. It can’t have gotten far.”

An hour later, Ada and I pulled up even with the tumbling
Sterra's Gift
. She looked so forlorn out here all by herself, tumbling with no power. My eyes burned as I thought about how far we’d come with this valiant little ship. It’d been worthwhile though and the circle was complete. Flark had no doubt been the mastermind of the attack on Colony 40. It was that attack that had given us
Sterra's Gift
and in return for that, we’d been able to use her to bring him down.

I didn’t consider myself a sentimental person, but if I’d been asked to speak at that moment, I wouldn’t have been able to. Ada seemed to sense that I was having a difficult time seeing the ship in this condition. It probably caused her pain, also, so soon after having seen her own freighter torn apart.

She reached over the console and just held my hand as we sat in the quiet.

After several minutes I broke our silence, “Think you can capture her and break her spin?”

“Do ducks fly?” Ada asked. She had me there. I remembered that ducks were like chickens, only wilder. And … chickens didn’t fly, or did they? I looked back at her blankly.

“Oh good Lord, Liam. You spacers are all the same. Let’s just see what I can do.”

The last time I’d had to stop a spinning object, I’d done it by allowing it to make contact with the flat side of my ship. Of course, that time was when I’d captured Ada’s lifepod. Ada took a completely different approach. First she matched
Sterra's Gift’s
tumble - I couldn’t even begin to imagine what possessed her to do that. I felt like I might get sick and had to look down. Once my head cleared, I noticed she wasn’t looking out of the armored glass but looking at a screen in the console.

Ada nudged the
Adela Chen
in close to
Sterra's Gift
and caught the longer ship on its frame. She slowly twisted and turned the joy sticks until both ships were no longer tumbling.

“That is the wackiest thing I’ve ever experienced,” I said.

“You have a better idea?”

“Not at all, it was incredible. I’ve never heard of someone doing that.”

“It’s how the Navy ships recover debris.”

“Those aren’t manned ships though.”

“Doesn’t mean it doesn’t work.” Her logic was flawless, but I still thought she was crazy. I wondered how many pilots in the solar system could execute that maneuver.

“Where to, Captain?”

“Let’s drop it inside one of our barges. For later.”

“Can do.” Ada slowly accelerated, gingerly keeping
Sterra's Gift’s
hull in contact. She neatly decelerated on the other side of the first barge in the string, backing the carcass over the top. The string was currently generating a small amount of gravity to keep the ore from wandering, which it wouldn’t do without an external stimulus.
Sterra's Gift
settled down on top of the ore.

“Think that’ll be too much mass?”

“Nope. Each barge is holding about two-point-five kilo tonnes right now. What’s her mass, another hundred fifty tonnes?”

“About a hundred.”

“Won’t even know she’s there. Are you planning to do the same with that frigate?”

“If the Navy gives her to us.”

“Won’t matter. We can carry them both easily. This old girl has lots to give if you treat her right.”

We flew back to the frigate just ahead of the
Kuznetsov
.

“Glad you’re back, Cap. Navy’s asking to board the frigate. Any issues?” Nick asked.

“None at all. Especially if they grab the prisoners. They know about Qiu?”

“Yes. They’re in now. I gotta go.” Marny cut the comm.

The
Kuznetsov
was a gorgeous ship by Navy standards. It was long and thin, shaped like an arrow. The body bristled with weapons. It was amazing to think that every bit of it could be retracted to reduce the sensor signature of the corvette to virtually nothing. It was made to sneak up on its enemies or simply outrun them. By the time you knew one was nearby, they were already well past you. If they decided to attack, then it would be a guerrilla, hit and run style fight.

Nick hailed me this time, “We’ve been invited to a meeting on the
Kuznetsov
with Commander Sterra.”

“No rest for the weary,” I said.

“They’ve dropped a gangway on the port side. Just come in the starboard airlock and I’ll go over with you.”

I was already familiar with the
Kuznetsov
, so I wasn’t surprised when the corporal who was accompanying us led the way into a meeting room we’d seen before. It was a nice touch that a plate of sandwiches and pouches of juice had been left on the table. We’d made friends with the ship’s steward, Polly Gellar, on previous visits and it seemed to be benefitting us now. The corporal bade us to dig in while we waited.

I found it impossible to stay seated when Commander Lavonne Sterra entered the room. She had what is referred to as 'command presence.' She held her hand out and shook both Nick's and my own. I felt grubby next to her. I couldn’t estimate the number of hours we’d been in these suits and I believed the side of my face was still bloodied. I was embarrassed by my lack of decorum.

“It looks like you boys have been deep in it.” It was a statement, not a question.

“Yes ma’am.” It was all I could come up with, but it caused her to smile.

“Let’s get business out of the way first and please don’t stop eating on my account. You have no doubt earned a rest, not an appointment with a paper pusher. There is a matter of your firing missiles at a civilian structure. Do you have anything to say on this matter?” she asked.

“Should we retain counsel?” Nick asked.

“Let’s start with a statement. If I think you’re stepping into something, I’ll stop the interview and we'll call Mr. Telish in.”

I trusted the Commander and I knew Nick did as well.

“It wasn’t something we had a lot of choice about. We’d have happily sat in the docking bay and let things play out, but the frigate was broadsiding the entire concourse. We couldn’t survive. When we tried to run, the station’s defensive guns started ripping us up.”

“That’s what we were able to gather from the recorded evidence, as well. I’m finding that your actions were justified.”

“That’s it?” Nick asked.

“All of the video evidence has already been filed. Mr. Telish had three officers analyze your actions and go on record as to their opinions of the necessity of firing your missiles at the station. All of the officers found that you acted well within your rights to defend your ship.”