Harlan Quill lowered his hand. “I know about Savannah, Captain Selan. You have my deepest sympathies.”
“I’m sure the ghosts of my people appreciate your sympathy,” Victor said.
Holace Quill cleared his throat. “None of that is relevant right now. My son knows who you are and can be trusted with that. Can I trust you to work with him?”
“As long as it furthers my goals as well, yes,” Victor said.
Holace Quill nodded. “Good. You and Harlan will help me convince Tabor to join the Alliance.”
“I gathered that,” Victor said. “What exactly do you plan?”
“Chancellor Forsythe, the head of Tabor’s legislature, will be traveling aboard the cruiser
General Ian
to attend a trade conference on the planet Guthrie.”
“And you want me to destroy that ship?” asked Victor.
“No, I want you to save it actually,” the high councilor said. “The
General Ian
will come under attack by a flotilla of pirate vessels hired by the Lysandran Empire to take the chancellor hostage.”
Victor arched an eyebrow. “That’s not how Magnus Lacano works, High Councilor.”
“I know. It wasn’t him who hired the pirates.” High Councilor Quill smiled. “It was me.”
Victor blinked, then glanced at Harlan Quill. “Does he really tell you everything?”
“No, not everything,” Harlan said, crossing his arms across his chest.
“Just as it happens, my son will also be visiting the planet Guthrie to assist them with integrating their military into the Alliance,” Holace Quill said. “Your ship will be accompanying my son’s for added security. If your ships depart the Tabor system precisely twelve hours from now, you should ‘stumble’ upon the
General Ian
as she’s coming under attack. The
Alexander
and
Waynesburg
together should be more than enough firepower to deal with the pirates.”
“How many pirate vessels are we talking about?” Victor asked.
“At least half a dozen, possibly more,” High Councilor Quill said. “Enough to overpower a single cruiser.”
“This strikes me as a bit risky,” Victor said. “What if they kill the chancellor?”
“It will complicate things, but it will by no means be devastating,” the high councilor said. “And, besides, there’s a lot more money in it for the pirates if they take Forsythe alive.”
“In that case, I should return to my ship and get her ready to depart,” Victor said. He nodded to Harlan. “Captain Quill.”
Quill nodded back. “I look forward to seeing you work, Captain Selan.”
“If you stop using my last name, we should work together just fine,” Victor said, before departing.
***
Fara smiled up at him from her seat at the
Alex
’s helm. “So, Captain, how was your trip over to the
Gryphon
?”
“Short and to the point,” Victor said. “We’re on a false-flag operation.”
“False flag?” she asked.
“We’ll make it look like the Lysandrans tried to kill the Tabor’s chancellor,” he said.
“And how will we do that?” Fara asked.
Victor shrugged. “By saving him from the pirates who are intent on capturing him.”
“I see,” she said. “So when do we head out?”
“Less than twelve hours from now. Get in an escort formation with the
Waynesburg
. We’ll be working with the high councilor’s son.”
“The High Councilor has a son?” Fara asked.
“Yep. He’s the Captain of the
Waynesburg
,” Victor said.
“I’ll get on it right now then,” Fara said.
Victor left Fara to fly the ship and headed to engineering in the back of the ship. There he found Cormac with his long frame drooped over a control console.
The starchild looked up from his monitor. “Captain?”
“We’ve got a job,” Victor said. “It could get a bit hairy, so I want you to run a full check of the ship’s systems. I want us ready for a hard fight.”
Cormac nodded. “Of course, Captain. What is the mission?”
After Victor outlined their job, Cormac said simply, “In that case, I will begin right now.”
“Good,” Victor said. “You should have plenty of time, so no need to rush it.”
“I never rush, but I do appreciate having time,” Cormac said.
Victor nodded and turned to leave. At the exit, he ran into Gaz.
“Hey, Cap, Fara filled me in on the mission,” Gaz said.
“Then you know what we’re going up against,” Victor said. “How are your new recruits?”
“Better than the useless fucks Warwick always gave me. No offense, Captain,” Gaz said. “They should be more than able to deal with some pirates.”
“Good. Keep drilling them as best you can. I know you don’t have a lot of room on board for that,” Victor said.
Gaz chuckled and flashed his spiked teeth. “Compared to the
Fortune
, I got loads of space. I’ll keep my people as sharp as you need ’em, Captain.”
“Good, because this next mission will be pretty delicate,” Victor said.
***
Upon arrival in the Wilks system, the
General Ian
was where she was supposed to be, just a few million kilometers from the jump point. However, there were twice as many pirate vessels as expected, and one of them was docked with the
Ian
.
“Shit,” Victor said. A tightbeam message came from the
Waynesburg
. He accepted it. “Captain Quill?”
“We’ve got a problem,
Alexander
,” the other captain said.
“Yeah, your father said we’d only be facing six pirate ships,” Victor said.
“No, he said
at least
six,” Harlan said. “But I don’t think he expected them to already be aboard the
Ian
.”
Victor gritted his teeth. He wasn’t sure how long ago the pirates had boarded the
Ian
. For all he knew, he and Harlan were too late. Then a broadcast came from the Taborian cruiser.
“This is Captain Indira Gale of the Taborian cruiser
General Ian
to Mustanger vessels. Our ship has been boarded by pirates and requires assistance.”
Victor was about to answer the call, but Harlan Quill beat him to it. “This is Captain Quill of the
Waynesburg
. I read you, Captain Gale. Help is on the way.”
“Please hurry, Captain Quill. They’re already cutting through the bridge’s hatch.”
Quill switched to the tightbeam. “Captain, we don’t have a lot of time. We’ll need to work together on this.”
“What’s your plan?” Victor asked.
“Your ship is smaller and nimbler than mine. You get to the
General Ian
and try to launch a counterboarding action. My ship will deal with the other pirate vessels.”
Victor nodded. It was what he would have suggested. “Affirmative,
Waynesburg
. I’ll board the
Ian
while you provide cover.”
Harlan Quill nodded. “Get to it,
Alexander
.” Then the screen went dark. On the tactical screen, the
Waynesburg
’s drives lit up, and the cruiser flew off to engage the pirate vessels, launching a volley of missiles to get their attention.
“Fara—”
“Close and dock with the Taborian cruiser. Got it,” she said.
The
Alexander
’s drives then alit, and the frigate leapt away at just under 100 gs of acceleration. It was less than half of her rated acceleration, but it kept the larger and more powerful
Waynesburg
between them and the pirates.
The twelve pirate vessels not docked with the
Ian
scattered from the stricken cruiser as they tried to evade the missiles launched by the
Waynesburg
. A panicked, undisciplined response to a surprise attack.
“Amateurs,” Victor muttered.
Some of the pirates got off missiles of their own, all directed toward the
Waynesburg
. However, none of them got through the cruiser’s defenses.
On the other hand, two of the
Waynesburg
’s missiles hit pirate ships, dropping two hostile contacts from the tactical screen. The
Waynesburg
then turned on the nearest isolated pirate vessel and fired her main guns, and a third contact dropped.
“I think Quill Junior’s got this,” Victor said. “Fara, get us to the
Ian
.”
Fara pushed the
Alexander
to full acceleration, sprinting past the
Waynesburg
as it picked off the remaining pirate vessels.
They were soon close enough for the visual sensors to make out the
Ian
and the pirate vessel boarding it.
“Oh, shit, that’s the
Fortune
!” Fara said.
Victor glanced at the long-range camera feed. It did look like the right class. “Are you sure, Fara?”
“I flew that piece of shit for two years, Captain. That’s her.”
“Then let’s take advantage of that. Move to dock with her,” Victor said.
“What about the
Ian
?”
“Gaz and his people will board through the
Fortune
and take the pirates from behind,” Victor said.
“There may not be time to do that,” Fara said.
“That’s not all I have planned,” Victor said. He activated the intercom. “Gaz, one of the pirate vessels, the one boarding the
Ian
, may be the
Fortune
.”
After a brief pause, Gaz’s voice came from the intercom. “Oh, I hope that’s the case, Captain. I’m looking forward to getting some payback.”
He opened a channel with the
Ian
. “Captain Gale? This is the
Alexander
. We’re almost close enough to dock. What is your status?”
“
Alexander
, this is Captain Gale. The pirates are cutting through the hatch as we speak,” Captain Gale said.
“Roger that,
General Ian
. Help will be there in a few minutes,” Victor said. He switched to the intercom. “Gaz, is your team ready?”
“Already lock ’n’ loaded. What’s the plan, Cap?”
“You and your team will board the
Fortune
and hit them from behind. With luck, Warwick in still on board.”
“Why not just blast the
Fortune
?” Gaz asked.
Victor shook his head. “No. Too dangerous for the
Ian
. And, besides, I figure you’d like to deal with Warwick personally.”
“Damn straight,” Gaz said. “Just give the word.”
“I will, when I get to the airlock,” Victor said, getting up from his seat. “Fara, you have the bridge.”
She looked over her shoulder. “Wait, what? Captain, what are you doing?”
“The
Ian
will need all the help she can get. Plus I have a plan,” Victor said.
“If you say so,” Fara said. “We’ll be close enough to attempt a boarding in two minutes.”
Victor nodded and closed the visor of his armored suit and then left the bridge. He stopped by the armory first, grabbing an assault rifle and a belt of ammunition. He then checked to make sure his pistol and variblade were secured to his combat suit. The suit itself was a new model, made of interlocking reinforced plating. Only powered armor offered better protection.
At the airlock, he found Gaz and his team of armored boarding specialists waiting.
Gaz nodded at him. “Hey, Captain. You coming with us?”
“Not quite. I’ll board the
Ian
directly to reinforce them,” Victor said.
Gaz arched an eyebrow. “Do you want some of my team to go with you?”
“No, take them to the
Fortune
and secure her. Try to get their captain if you can,” Victor said.
“So you’re going alone?” asked Gaz.
Victor nodded. “It’ll be too crowded to send a whole team. And, in any case, I’ll just disrupt their attempt to breach the bridge and distract them while you take them from the rear. Got it?”
“Got it,” Gaz said.
“The
Alex
is in position to begin boarding, Captain,” Fara said through his suit comms.
“Thanks, Fara.” He grabbed a thruster pack from the side wall and attached it to his combat suit.
“Let me help ya, Cap,” Gaz said. When he was done, he looked Victor in the face and nodded to the other thruster pack hanging on the wall. “Not too late for me to put on one and join you.”
Victor laid a hand on Gaz’s shoulder. “You lead your people, Gaz. I’ll be fine.” He nodded toward the airlock’s inner door. “Shall we?”
Gaz nodded. “We shall.” He locked his helmet over his head.
They entered the airlock and sealed the inner door. While the chamber depressurized, Victor opened a comm to the
Ian.
“Still with us, Captain Gale?” Victor said.