Unknown Heroes: The Pirate - Chapter 2

[Warenwolf]

I have been busy last two weeks, with my hands full with work. I had finished the chapter for some time but unfortunately I never got around to putting together the chapter properly.

As always your comments, both encouragements and constructive criticism is welcome and wanted.





Chapter 2





In the shadow of a giant





“Where to next?” Otto asked Erich, watching the map display representing the Known Universe. The Black Gang pirate clan had been repairing damages in the unnamed system Professor had led them to for more than a standard week. For every system that was repaired, another damage would be uncovered and the list of the things that needed repairs just grew. The damages in secondary docks, where Mother had been hit by torpedoes, were much more serious than anyone had initially thought. The old Rhino* part of the ship was old construction when Split tended to build ships in a single piece, a fatal construction error. The effects of the shockwaves caused by the explosions had spread beyond the immediate impact area, weakening entire central construction. Cracks were discovered by the crew everywhere, in places far from the original explosions points. One more torpedo hit and Mother would have disintegrated. The clan was forced to stop and divert the few men they had to repair works. The Mother’s structure was too weak to withstand stresses from another jump event.
After the very first day of arrival here, a Khaak cluster jumped in and attacked one of the patrols Otto had set up. Before the other patrolling fighters had managed to reach the attacked patrol, four ships were destroyed without any survivors. The Khaak attackers were all destroyed, yet several ships had been damaged. Needless to say, the next days everyone was waiting for another Khaak attack, that usually followed after raiding clusters had made contact with a target. The wait added more to the stress of the overworked crew. Everyone seemed to seek refuge in alcohol and drug induced dreams, making Otto worried about clan’s battle readiness. Finally, after more than seven tension filled standard days, the engineers reported to Erich that Mother was ready for a jump. It was the question of where to that had brought Otto to the Office.
“We got several millions worth of loot, plenty energy cells and enough food to last us a month. But we are running low on spare parts and water,” Otto continued.
“Anarchy Port and Elysium are the only options,” Erich said after thinking for while. He stood beside Otto that was fidgeted with Universe Map display, browsing through sectors, reading the information the ship’s database had on them. To his chagrin, the previous leaders of the clan never bothered to keep the database updated, making it awfully outdated. Finally, giving up on the map, Otto suggested, “Anarchy is closer and it is lot easier to sell the loot there”
“That’s true but Split would be waiting for us there…” Erich pointed out.
“Right… If I was Split commander, I would positioned my scouts there, waiting for a ship to jump in”
“Besides, all those rocks would make it difficult to find a place big enough for Mother to jump to. Elysium has excellent shipyards, we already know coordinates of a clean spot that is far outside the range of E.Y.E* network and I am thinking of adding more firepower to Mother itself.”
“I can’t agree with you more on the last issue. If that Split commander had more sense than pride and had us engaged from distance, waiting for the fighters to join his corvettes in the attack, we would have been space litter in mizuras… But you can bet he wouldn’t make that mistake again. And if we don’t have long range weapons by then, we will be done for”
“So how about we load Cutpurse and Highway robber with as much loot as they can carry. We change their looks and let them jump to Anarchy Port, selling as much stuff as they can while we take a jump to Elena’s Fortune. Split commander would not be able to distinguish Q-ships from ordinary freighters traveling through area. The trade run would give us enough credits to do initial repairs and buy spare parts on Elysium”
“Good plan. It would do men some good to get their feet on Elysium, get some real food and take proper shower or two. The Mother is starting to stink. And while we talk about that, I will point out that some of us are more adding to this stench than others…”
Just as Erich was about to retort, battle alarms sounded. The two men rushed to the sensor reading screens.
“Another cluster,” Otto groaned, “big one too”
The attack was vicious. Mother’s shields, while not exactly the state of art technology, could withstand the Khaak kyon beams that were striking the mothership. The same could not be said about the Mother’s escorts.
Khaak Scout ships, with their weak shields and fragile construction, were easily dispatched but there was many of them. They choose their target and then entire swarm attacked as one. Seven ships were destroyed or damaged before last of the Khaak ships was destroyed. Entire battle did not last more than few mizuras. Otto didn’t even manage to climb aboard the Mamba he now used as his own ship before Danger Over signal sounded.
“How many did we loose?” he asked the passing technician as he climbed out of the heavy Split fighter.
“Six men and seven ships, Sir. Three more are damaged by fragments from explosions, one probably beyond repair. The kid brought his ship to close to Scout when Khaak exploded”
Otto shook his head. The raids, battle with Split and now Khaak attacks all took toll on men and machines. Clan pirates, while most of them excellent star navigators, were inexperienced in pitched battles that new Khaak threat demanded and lack of team work and coordination showed.
He walked back to the Office, meeting Ni Lan on the way there. Erich waited for him looking through the clan statistics. His friend was worrying too about the pace of the losses.
“From initial twenty eight fighters, who were already in sorry state when we took over the shop, we are down to four fighters, including the two Mambas we bought…” Erich stated not looking up from the screen.
“This is greater rate of loss than in combat units,” Otto commented looking over Erich’s shoulder to see the numbers for himself.
“I heard that some of the older pirates are going to go planetside,” Ni Lan said.
“Great, just what we needed… Where did you hear it?”
“In the bar. It seems that humans and Teladi are tired of constant fighting. Many of them have now lots of credits stashed away thanks to raids on NSM convoys. Split though are staying. They had never had it as great as when you took over, they are saying. They were constantly asking me if I knew who will you attack next. The bets are on the Paranid space…”
“Heh, I feel honored. We are soon going to lack pilots too if those humans and Teladi you heard taking really leave”
“One problem at time. Let’s head to Elysium first. There we can look forward to recuperating and gathering our strength. Q-ships can take loot to Anarchy Port and at same time look for new recruits…” Otto suggested.

The clan was ready for transport in very short time, which to Erich was a very visual symbol how much he lacked the manpower. The problems with jump drives seemed to be over and that gave him some consolation. He sat down and watched the countdown to the jump.
No one can describe the jump event. Fighters claim that they can see blue vortex before appearing on the destination but this jump to Erich seemed as if someone turned off and on the lights in the office. The screens linked to outside cameras and sensors took some time to stabilize and it was only then he could see that they had arrived in Elena’s Fortune, next to the familiar Accelerator Station that had been long deserted. He stood up from the chair, pressed a button that would open a channel to the docks. He ordered dockworkers to prepare the two Mamba fighters and one Vulture transporter. It was time to visit Elysium.
Ha’nt was piloting the other Mamba, since Otto had issues with owner of the Elysium station, Elisa. He pretended to ignore Erich’s jibes about that story. Ni Lan was piloting the Vulture freighter. When they left the station, another freighter, this one owned by one of the pirates, left the station. Onboard was group of ten humans and Teladi pilots and technicians. The trip was uneventful for a change and Erich was grateful for that. The sector was full of signs of battles such as wrecks and bits of ships’ hulls. Now and then, destroyed escape pods would appear on scanner readings. Few Khaak ships appeared on the scanners but they kept their distance. After one stazura of flight, not encountering any other ships beside few Khaak, they arrived within visual sight of Elysium station.
“This is Elysium Station flight control. You are cleared to dock on bays 4 to 6, entrance number 5. Keep up your speed and watch your six. Khaak have been assaulting us daily and they have tendency to bounce ships that attempt to dock”
“Roger that,” Erich responded.
The docking authorities were friendly this time, Erich noticed, very much unlike the first time they had tried to dock with the station. Back then only the bribe of giving the Elysium engineers a brand new type of Buster convinced the docking authorities to let them dock. Elysium’s rulers got even more friendly once Erich did a dirty job for them which involved removing the previous leader of Black Gang pirate clan. It happened less than then three mazuras ago and Erich reminded himself that it was only half jazura ago that his life took a 180 degrees turn. Back in those days he had been a successful assassin. Nowadays he was a pirate chief. Rich and powerful one too. Being assassin was less stressful though.





Senator McCarthy Senior knew very well that people in crisis preferred leaders that were men of action. Of course everyone he achieved the power he wielded, had to be a capable man but general public did not need to know exactly how McCarthy achieved his position. To most of them, he was a man that represented the regular man. This was farthest from the truth but few knew that. Now in middle of presidential campaign, McCarthy played the media and other politicians as chess master played his pieces.
Two standard weeks ago, he started propagating idea of adding the system Elena’s Fortune to the Federation. So-called political experts called that a bad political move since everyone knew that a successful military campaign would mean that current president’s ratings would improve, lowering McCarthy’s chances for victory. But that was what differentiated McCarthy from common politicians – he was a visionary. He KNEW that he would win the elections. What he was doing, was to prepare for future. Adding another system to Federation would further dilute the Senate, giving the president even more power, especially when the future pair of senators were under his control.
Everything developed as planned and McCarthy mastery choreographed everything that happened.
The interview he was giving in his senatorial office was done by supposedly independent media service that distanced itself from “Big Money” media companies owned by few men. In reality, it was owned through straw men by the same men the very media service liked to criticize. The questions asked were already known to McCarthy.
“How do you react on the opinions of some political experts that your proposition of the inclusion of Elena’s Fortune into the Federation is bad tactical move in the race for the presidential seat?”
McCarthy gave a contemptuous look into the camera, slightly shaking his head as if surprised by the question.
“Sylvia,” he said, calling the journalist by the first name, “let us view this in proper light. Here we have an issue that is bigger than my rating polls or for that matter any individual. Right not only is the Federation, but entire human race, under assault by pirates, terrorists disguised as secessionists, criminals, Khaak, Xenon…Did I miss anyone?”
“I don’t think so…”
“The people are getting slaughtered as we speak. Couple of days ago over fifty people were killed at New Stockholm Massacre, month ago we had huge battle in Omicron Lyrae and bomb blast at a Space Port. Federation has obligation to protect human life. There are people who just by the fact that they live outside Federation “jurisdiction” - which in my opinion is fancy word invented by politicians to avoid responsibility whenever they don’t feel like taking it – the people that live outside Federation are left to mercy of anyone that happens to come along, be it a pirate, Khaak or Xenon.”
The Senator took a brief pause, as if he regretted what he had to say now, “I know that we live in times where no one does care how it goes with fellow humans. Many will say – why should Federation help people of Elena’s Fortune? What interest does Federation have of helping them?”
“I suppose many will do ask those questions, Senator”
“Elena’s Fortune is den of cutthroats, wrecksweepers, drug producers and most disturbingly it is the center of production of the ships pirates fly. On so-called Elysium station the pirates produce Mandalays, Orinocos and Bayamons that the pirates then use to kill and rob Federation’s freighters. Removing this cancer will deal a severe blow to piracy. ”
“Well argued Senator. To the next question…”

One tazura later, in Elena’s Fortune, Elisa, the “queen” of Elysium station as the station’s population affectionately called her, watched the interview on a TH projector together with her security commander Christine Holm.
“Will people buy into this garbage?” Elisa asked.
“Afraid so. We discovered another destroyer arriving in The Wall.”
“So the Intel was right. First Khaak attacks and now this…”
“And their timing is bad for us”
“I know,” Elisa rested her head against her palms, “after building this place up in twenty years, standing up to pirates, warlords, even Xenon raids in the beginning, my lifework ends like this… And we don’t even have enough cargo space to transport all the people”
“That is partially why I came. There may be solution to this…”
“We can’t resist Federation, Christine. This isn’t another warlord…” Elisa interrupted her. The people had come up with all kind of battle plans for resisting the Argons but Elisa knew the folly of trying to battle Argon Navy. Such battle could only have one outcome.
“That is not what I am talking about. Mr. Erich Campbell paid us another visit here. Bought 30.000 cubic meters of water and lot of spare parts. Needless to say we were happy to sell things we were about to leave behind anyway. However, another group docked with station right after. Looked like pirates that got too old for their line of work. Of course we checked them out to see who they were. After hitting the bar, they started to spend money – and I mean really big money. It appears that they had been Black Gang people before Mr. Campbell took over the place”
“So it appears that rumors are true”
“Yes, the assassin had taken over. Anyways, after Mr. Campbell takes over, the clan’s luck really takes upswing. But in process they take beating. Now those guys figure out – Hey we got lots of Credits to burn and life of a pirate is cheap”
“So they figure out that it is better to have little money and live to spend it than be filthy rich and dead. Has happened before.”
“Right. But those guys are really rich by any standard. But that is not what caught my interest. It appears Mr. Campbell got himself a Squid”
“What is that?”
“Boron station moving ship that attaches itself to a station and then by use of gateless jumpdrives jumps to the new location without need for gate.”
“Oh those… Didn’t one of those disappear when things got interesting in Omicron Lyrae?”
“That was Mr. Campbell apparently…”
“Go on, this is getting interesting”
“He connected the Squid to an old Rhino TL that the Black Gang was using as a homebase. Now he got a mobile base with jump capabilities, which he calls “Mother”. As you often say, men never let go of their mothers, even if they are cold-blooded murderers. Anyway, he was asking questions at Engineering that indicated that he wanted to turn the Mother into a pocket battleship or something. Initially we rejected the job because the situation is developing as it is and our days here are numbered. But then I got this idea – if we fill all the ships we possess with people, we would still have to leave behind 1250 people. What if we made deal with Mr. Campbell – he moves the population of the station and some of the equipment to the Freeport and in return we install the heavy armament he wants.”
“We don’t have time to produce the hardware, Christine”
Her security chief grinned, “We don’t have to – we just strip stations own power generators and heavy armament that we are about to leave behind anyway”
“You are right! He can move all those people before Argons manage to assemble their forces… And since we don’t have to focus on evacuation we can move our remaining fleet in more defensible manner which will help against Khaak and pirate attacks”





“We get hardware and they got their people transported. Ni Lan did the calculations and we can do it under two tazuras,” Erich briefed others about the offer he received.
“Where would they do the necessary installations?”
“Freeport. The woman that took over that place is apparently cousin to Elisa”
“Didn’t you?”
“Yes, fate works in strange ways.”
“What did you do?” Ha’nt wanted to know.
“Well, let us say that if you are unfaithful to a woman she sometimes can be very angry. Her husband was head of management at Freeport and had affair with secretary. His wife found out and contacted few old friends who contacted me. She paid me a substantial sum to eliminate the unfaithful husband. I did that contract before I assassinated Max Rudel.”
“I thought all of Freeport management died in terrorist attack on their shuttle,” Ni Lan said.
“They died in explosion. I placed the explosives in the escape pod”
“Why did you kill entire management?” Ha’nt asked.
“Because if I only killed woman’s husband, police would immediately suspect her, especially after they found out about his affair. When entire management died, everyone interpreted it as attack against Freeport,” Erich patiently explained.
“You have saved my life and all… But sometimes I find your brutality really disturbing,” Ni Lan said.
“I find it inspiring,” Ha’nt said, obviously deeply moved.





The evacuation did not go smoothly. Khaak attacks never ceased or decreased in intensity. Whenever Elysium’s Protectors destroyed one cluster, another jumped in. As time went fewer and fewer Protectors were there to meet them. It was an attrition battle that Elysium’s Protectors could not win. The Black Gang clan could not do much to help – being down to five fighters, they needed their remaining fighter fleet to provide escort for Mother. Several times the Khaak broke through and attacked the Mother while she waited for all passengers to get onboard. The clan’s mothership could take lot of punishment but several times Erich had to order an early jump moments before shields failed.
All of this slowed the evacuation. Second day of the evacuation, the connecting tube between Mother and the station had been severed by Khaak fighters, killing many people when the atmosphere decompressed. From then on, the people were transported with freighters to the Mother, slowing down the evacuation process even more.
“How many left?” Erich asked Ni Lan, who was tasked with keeping track with number of evacuees.
“1270”
“We should have been done by now,” Erich commented as another Khaak attack broke through defenses. For some reasons, they were concentrating on the Mother each time. Fortunately, the concentrated fire from Mother’s turrets and Elysium’s weapon platforms eliminated the Khaak ships before they managed to do much damage.
“According to my calculations we need only to do four more trips”
“Perhaps three if Khaak keep on destroying the transporting freighters,” Otto glumly said watching the dwindling number of Protectors trying and failing to stop another group of Khaak fighters getting through.

The old Split fire control systems of the ancient Rhino ship were not capable of interlinking with Boron Squid ship. So when the two ships were connected together into Mother, large portion of turrets had to be manually controlled.
Ha’nt, having nothing meaningful to do in current situation, tasked himself with controlling one of the turret clusters. He hated the Boron part of the ship. The Boron hybrid of organic and metal construction left Split feeling as if he was inside a gigantic carcass. It smelled like that in any case.
Trying to ignore the contractions of the wall and sticky feeling of the controls, he focused on the group of Khaak fighters that had broken through Elysium’s defenses and were heading for four freighters that were heading for the Mother. Unlike other races, Boron designs focused fanatically on damage reduction oriented construction.
While typical Split or Argon turret would have all its weapons in a gun cupola, Borons opted for so-called main turrets and auxiliary turrets that were linked to the main turret. The main turret had most of the tracking and targeting hardware and software and acted as master during the firing. Smaller auxiliary turrets, positioned some distance from the main turret, would act as slaves to main turret, targeting the main turret’s target. This configuration ensured that even if main turret was hit, crew could still manually control the auxiliary turrets. The price was increased complexity, cost and “hull estate” that could have been used to something else.
Ha’nt checked if the auxiliary turrets were working as they were supposed to do. Establishing the range to Khaak fighters, he picked one and targeting software calculated the necessary lead and convergence point for the three particle accelerator cannons. Ha’nt saw that computer had options for one, five and ten sezura bursts. He choose manual control and pressed the execute button, holding it for few moments. Target camera zoomed to convergence point and he could see his fire hitting its mark. The Khaak ship tumbled and then disintegrated. Ha’nt let out a battlecry and eagerly locked on another target.
Now the Khaak ships were flying evasively so the ever-friendly Boron targeting program politely suggested that he should wait for targets to come closer. He ignored the suggestion and instead ordered program to give him total manual control. Ha’nt now made auxiliary turrets fire parallel to the main turrets fire direction. Next he sprayed the area where Khaak ships were flying with accelerated particles, firing long time. He let out a victory cry as two more Scout type ships exploded.
“This was fun,” he told himself and considered his new tactic of engaging far away targets. Then he got an idea. Happy with himself he started typing a long series of commands in the consol.

“Persutalos,” tall, gauntly human asked the Teladi next to him.
“Yesss?” lazy response came back.
“Why are the shields levels of Mother dropping?”
“What!?” Teladi asked, his attention fully on the technical readings.
“There,” the human technician pointed out, “see now it is building up again. It is nothing significant, but it is strange”
“Look now it isss dropping!”
“Bring up the energy flow list”
Teladi typed in few buttons and the energy flow schematic appeared on the screen.
“The dedicated power plant isss working but it isss not channeling power to the shield projectorsss. It is channeling power to…jump drive capacitatorsss”
“Shouldn’t they be drawing power from main power plant?”
“Yesss…” Teladi said as he asked computer for power distribution of the main power plant. The answer surprised him.
“It appearsss that weapon fire isss drawing all available energy – and 78 percent of usage are turret clustersss 7, 9 and 11. They have been continually firing for 5 mizurasss ”

Even Khaak had their limits. The few Protectors could not stop the swarms of Khaak fighters heading towards Elysium. But continues fire from three turret clusters lasting several mizuras could do that. The Khaak were first slowed and then stopped by never ending fire that presented a deadly wall to advancing Khaak fighters. The strength of Khaak attacks lessened and then the attacks stopped altogether.
In the Office the new development surprised everyone until Ha’nt marched in and proudly announced that “Ha’nt’s wall of Death” had stopped the Khaak attack. He was less proud when minutes later, engineering reported that six particle accelerator cannons had overheated beyond repair and further two had been damaged. Additionally, the energy transfer lines had melted on several places on the mothership. Despite material damages, Ha’nt’s experiment had caused Khaak to focus on other targets in the sector, assaulting other stations and the stronghold of the various pirate clans and warlords that inhabited the system, giving the Elysium’s defenders a much needed breather.

Nine hours and several jumps later, last of the Elysium’s citizens walked the ramp into the shuttle that would take them to Freeport, largest Independent station in the Known Universe now that Elysium had been abandoned. Those that belonged to Elysium’s Protector force, stayed behind to set of the scuttle charges throughout the station. They would then undertake long and perilous journey through almost half of the Known Universe to come to Freeport. Elisa did not look back at the exploding station – it was not her style.

Black Gang did not stay behind to watch the fireworks as the station died. Before the last passenger had left the Mother, a swarm of droids and construction crews in EVA suits approached the big ship and started working on her. Otto discovered that Freeport’s engineering capabilities rivaled those of the major powers. Freeport had not big enough yard facilities to handle the ship of Mother’s size and Otto had been worried that despite Freeport’s promises the new hardware could not be possibly installed here. To his pleasant surprise he discovered what Freeport engineers proudly referred to as their Mobile Construction Moduls or MCMs. A MCM was floating platform in space with small crew quarters that had atmosphere, armed with array of robotic arms. Each could be easily modified to perform a variety of tasks and towed to the places they were needed. Freeport had perfected the construction methods in space and Otto saw that lack of large sized yard did not slow the engineers working to modify Mother.
In next few tazuras, most of the particle accelerator cannon clusters had been removed and instead old/new technology was installed –eight flak guns. This weapon had been used in ancient times and discarded when guided missiles became more common on the battlefields. Many thousand jazura passed and then a brilliant lieutenant in Argon Navy, reading a book about ancient weapons, concluded that reintroducing old AA heavy guns would be just what Navy needed on its heavy spaceships for it close range point defense. Extremely cheap to produce and much more efficient than previously with addition of modern technology, the heavy AA gun experienced a comeback. Its shell was cheaper to produce than a missile since there was no need for advanced guiding and targeting systems. Without need of engines, larger warheads could be used, giving larger yield and still the new projectiles were much smaller than missiles. The media dubbed the new weapons “Flak AA turrets”, ignorant of the fact that Flak simply meant AA in ancient languages. New weapon soon showed its worth as point defense weapon, not only excelling in anti-fighter role but also in anti-missile role.
The Flak guns were not the only innovative addition to Mother’s arsenal. Elysium designers came up with idea of placing the two heavy photon pulse cannons in a large turret on the top of the ship. As far as Otto knew nobody had ever done it before. New design gave Mother 360-degree coverage with a heavy weapon, making it possible for Mother to use photon pulse cannons both when chasing and being chased. New power plants, linked to the PPCs were installed right under the turret and separated from the main power grid thereby increasing the weapon system’s safety and redundancy (as the guns could still be powered by main power plants) at once.
The two ships that Mother consisted of, acted as two separated entities, making fire control tricky. But now, the two parts were truly merged together and new integrated command and control system was installed.
The tactical picture of the system could be seen right in the Office, with every sensor aboard the individual fighters, sensor drones and satellites feeding their information to a central coordinating system. A missile could be fired by one of the clan’s fighters on the targets that were outside the range of sensors of that particular ship. The missile would “see” its target since the necessary information would be provided by the central coordinating system, giving the clan ships “beyond the sensor horizon” fire capability. Otto considered this the best of the new additions to the clan. The new fire coordinating system would now increase the clan’s fighting ability, giving them a decisive edge in any future battles.
Still, the new systems were no good unless there was someone to man them. Presently the Mother looked like a ghost ship with only few lights in the corridors. Most men gathered in the residential areas around the docks and the Office, leaving large portions of the ship deserted. One could walk for hours without meeting anyone. Along with contractions of the metal and the sounds it created, taking a walk around could be an eerie experience. Erich had already tasked Ha’nt and Ni Lan to check Freeport station out and see if there was any place where less honorable citizens gathered in hope to find few recruits willing to join them. Otto had his doubts about it but he decided to check out how Ha’nt and Ni Lan dealt with their task. He took out his PDA and called Split and Boron’s com links.
“Hello you two, how is it going?”
“We found nothing Warlord Erich asked for,” Ha’nt responded. Otto smiled. Ha’nt had started using, to Split ears at least, honorable title Warlord when speaking to or about Erich. It was meant to symbolize the Erich’s uncanny ability to win battles.
“But we did find some Paranid and Humans that might come close,” Ni Lan added. Next, an intense discussion between Split and Boron followed about whether those people were something Erich needed. Soon Ha’nt threatened to shoot Ni Lan for not following the path the Warlord Erich had decreed and Otto had to step in,
“Calm down you two – I want to know what characters you two stumbled over”
“They are people that you pay to fight for you,” Ni Lan started.
“Dishonorable mercenaries,” Ha’nt clarified.
“I don’t know about their honor or lack of such, but they seem capable pilots”
“Who clearly are not what Warlord Erich had asked for,” Ha’nt interrupted again.
“Perhaps not, but nobody fits the people Erich had asked for!”
“Then we don’t need to bother Warlord about bunch of no-good, dishonorable, pay-per-minute lease warriors!”
“Stop you two!” Otto interrupted what seemed to develop into another fight, “Ni Lan, you know that mercenaries are not potential pirates. Difference between a mercenary and a pirate is, among many things, the fact that mercenaries work on the legal side of the law - something we clearly don’t do…”
“But please hear – those mercenaries don’t work legally! I and Ha’nt overheard them describing one of their fights on Olmancketslat’s World…”
Otto understood Ni Lan’s point. Half jazura ago, all major powers except Split Patriarchy accepted a resolution against allowing mercenary companies working in Independent Systems. The purpose was to avoid situations where one of the major powers would send in military force in a sector stipulated by the Peace Treaty to be a Demarcation System, under guise of mercenary force. Since Olmancketslat’s World was in an independent system, it indicated that those mercenaries were not the type that was too much worried about which side of the law they operated on as long as the pay was good.
“Alright I understand,” Otto said, “come back to the Office. We will have to discuss this all together”
He shut down the link and turned to the screen again, watching the droids installing the brand new missile turrets on the Mother.

“Too much risk,” Erich objected.
“Do you think that the people that have already left don’t present a security risk?” Otto countered. After having initial doubts, Otto had warmed to idea of hiring mercenaries instead of recruiting pirates the traditional way.
“Mercenaries are people that only have loyalty to their company. We hire the company – sure they will work for us. But the moment fecal matter hits the fan they will leave…”
“You think the traditional pirate crew wont?”
“At least I can keep the usual pirate crew under control. The moment we get mercenaries onboard we will have parallel lines of power in the clan. If the mercenary boss doesn’t like our suggestions we are in trouble. That would be like Douglas situation, only fifty times more difficult to handle,” Erich argued.
“But on the other side we would get battle hardened veterans instantly. And all the money we get from raids would be going directly to us,” Otto pointed out.
“Sorry but I have to say no to this. If there was fifty pirates and ten mercenaries than I would have hired those people right away. But not with handful of men left.”
“There is a middle way,” Ni Lan suggested. He pointed to the Universe map, depicting the system they were in and surrounding sectors. Freeport station was situated in a system dubbed by locals Liberty that was totally unknown to the neighboring Split system Family Zr’t. Accessible only through well-guarded and mined gate, sector was haven for those that were escaping the authorities. As such it attracted different people than Elysium but the laws on the station was just as strictly enforced. Nearby M type planet was home to thriving colony numbering forty thousand humans and just as many Paranid. The defenses of the Gate were constantly improved, in preparation for the Split attack that was bound to happen some time. The Gate linked the system to series of Split controlled sectors and Ni Lan was concentrating the display on those.
“Here and here,” he said pointing to spots in sectors Family Zr’t and Family Ryk, “are two well known death camps for captured pirates. I am sure if we raid those, we will get all the manpower Mother needs. We only have to decide which one to raid. And by hiring mercenaries we will get an experienced assault force for the task…”
“I would suggest the one in Family Z’rt,” Ha’nt said, “the borders between Split Families are just as tightly guarded as those between Argon Federation and Patriarchy. You can forget about smuggling assault force into Family Ryk system.”
“Sound plan, tactically speaking. However, I will point out to you guys that we don’t know anything about those mercenary people. For all we know they might be police posing as mercenaries”
“Doubt that. Paranids and humans together in police operation? No way!” Otto disagreed.
“Still we need to find out more about those people. Someone has to take a trip to Olmancketslat’s World and see what they can find out about those people”
“We’ll have to wait until Crow returns with Q-ships and then I can take the trip,” Otto volunteered.
Erich nodded in agreement, “Ok, it settled then. You find out what you can about those people and then we plan from there. In mean time, let us all keep the mercenaries under surveillance, see who they meet and things like that”

Three tazuras later, two Q-ships under Crow command docked with redesigned and improved Mother. Crow was cheered as hero as the crew of Q-ships unloaded space fuel and fresh food supplies. Dodging the cheering crowd, Crow hurried to the Office where Erich waited for the report.
The cyberborg did not waste time on pleasantries, “How much profit did you bring us?”
“Four hundred thousand, minus supplies. No recruits either – the clan over there are keeping their men under tight control”
“You got be kidding me!? We spent millions on refitting the Mother!”
“Sorry Master, but only Nividium was easily sold. Biomachinery and agronomical chemicals are still in our holds. We sold only five percent of entire stock,” Crow explained.
“Why not?”
“Nobody has enough money or for that matter the will to buy the stuff. We sold some machinery to couple of Independents but that’s it. Smugglers and fences aren’t interested in things that are hard or take time to sell…”
Erich lent back on his chair. Just like everything on the ship, it was brand new, made from finest pseudo-leather. The cyberborg was silent for few minutes and then said, more to himself than to pirate standing in front of him, “We need fence ring of our own…”
“How do you plan to get that, Boss?”
“There has to be Teladi somewhere willing to give us license for a small trade outpost or whatever they call those things, without asking us too many questions”
“With all due respect, Sir – but the point of the clan owning a mobile station is to stay constantly on the move, if you know what I am meaning”
“Sorry, I don’t…”
“Well, it is the security aspect that worries me. We’ll easily find some Teladi that will give us a license in exchange for twenty grand or less. But the moment we set up the shop, your enemies Sir – I don’t know who they are but I am sure they are powerful – those enemies will pin down your location”
Erich focused on Crow’s face, using his thermal scan, observing the body signature of the pirate, “What do you know about these enemies?”
“Sir, men have come to some conclusions. We are always hitting the convoys from the same company. Otto is drilling men in military maneuvers and you, Sir, are spending millions of Credits on making this ship into mini battleship. Every pirate I know would be spending those credits on women and luxury. I do. But not you, Otto and those two aliens.”
“Do you have a need to know more about four of us?”
“No, Master. Far from that. I just bring this up in connection with your plans on the trading outpost. Otherwise this matter does not concern me at all”
“I am glad you have healthy view of this…matter.” Erich immediately regretted that the veiled threat in his words. Crow did not deserve such treatment. It was too late now to take it back, so Erich continued, “Now about the security aspect. We can’t avoid taking risks all the time. The status quo cannot be upheld. We lack man – therefore we will be forced hiring a band of mercenaries”
Crow started to curse but stopped himself, realizing it was not the proper for the moment. He knew very well why mercenaries and pirates never mixed.
Erich understood what was going on in Crows head. He continued, “So you see, the situation is changing fast. It is crucial for survival of the clan to have proper cash flow. Those millions we spent on the Mother are going from my pocket and that pocket has its bottom…”
“I see, Master”
“So we need to take certain gambles. Now to other issues. I want you to prepare Cutpurse for immediate departure. Otto will accompany you and will explain the mission further”
“I will immediately start preparations, Master Erich”





With Otto gone and Erich working on closing deals on supplies with local merchants, Ni Lan and Ha’nt were left on their own how to find out more information about mercenaries. Hanging out in same bars was easy but not really productive. The mercenaries were meeting with representatives of other companies but that was it. After three station day circles, the two of them figured out that they were going nowhere. So Ni Lan suggested another approach. He and Ha’nt entered the bar mercenaries were usually using, right after opening when few patrons were in.
Ha’nt walked over to the barkeeper, a bald human that was drying the glasses,
“Hello human – this warrior wants to ask you question or two”
“If I don’t mind the question I will provide you with answer or two. Ask away”
“How many mercenary companies operate on the station?”
“Why do you want to know?”
“A friend of my thinks of hiring few people”
“I see. You got Atlas Starprotection Inc. and Enzfeldt Company. But both of them are gone on missions”
“How about those fellows that hang around here? They look like mercenaries”
“They are out of the game”
“I don’t understand human”
“They are stranded. Their ship is gone and they are low on credits”
“I see. Well that is bad. I was hoping on good bargain but without transporter…” Ha’nt feigned disappointment.
“Better to wait for Enzfeldt. They will be back in few tazuras”
Ha’nt thanked the barkeeper and left the fifty credits chip on the table. He walked back to the Ni Lan and two of them left the bar.
“So what did you find out?” Ni Lan asked.
“They are stranded here and it appears they are low on cash”
“That could be a good… Hey, what is Professor doing here?” Ni Lan said, pointing to the shop that was selling sensor, auto-mech and drone equipment. The old Boron was asking the Teladi shopkeeper about some message drones that were displayed prominently. The two of them bargained for few mizuras, before finally agreeing a price. Ni Lan and Split walked over to the shop as the Professor was leaving.
“Hi, Professor what are you doing out here?” Ni Lan asked the old Boron. The Professor turned towards them, obviously startled by two of them.
“Oh, it is just resupply for Mother’s message drones”
“I do believe that we have still many of those left,” Ni Lan said. The logistics of Mother was steadily becoming more and more his responsibility and by now he had pretty good overview of Mother’s stocks.
“Yes, but those are hard to come by so I use every opportunity to fill up the reserves,” Professor responded in polite tone, turned and headed of towards the docks.
“That is strange,” Ni Lan commented, more to himself than to Ha’nt. Split said nothing, his eyes wandering between older Boron’s back and Ni Lan.





The Argon Federation Navy advanced as an unstoppable tide. They entered the Elena’s Fortune from West Gate, splitting their battle group in three, with each group having different objectives. Two smaller groups were supposed to destroy any known and suspected pirate strongholds. Additionally they were tasked with clearing out the system of self-declared rulers, which meant warlords and their like. The largest group engaged Khaak ships that had been wrecking the system for last wozura. Each of the groups were trailed by several civilian ships transporting journalist that all came here to document the latest of the human kind’s glorious victories.
The pirate clans and warlords almost all surrendered, few of them offering only sporadic resistance that was easily overcome. Khaak proved more tenacious, battling the Argon Navy for hours, bringing in new clusters as reinforcements to their existing forces in the sector. But Argons could not be stopped. After H plus nineteen hours, the Argon Navy was firmly in control of the sector.
The last act by Khaak, that no one could foresee and prepare for, had been destroying of the gate leading to Olmancketslat’s Treaty sector. The journalist covering the event saw no need to put damper on celebrations back home by giving this irrational act to much weight, downplaying its significance in their reports. One day later, in a grand ceremony, the Elena’s Fortune system was annexed by Argon Federation. The locals were less than pleased but nobody asked nor cared for their opinion.





The message drone traveled the last leg of its journey. It entered the Argon Prime sector, announced its presence to the police buoy, as required by the law. Then it continued on its reported course for few mizuras, mingling in the sector’s bustling traffic. The drone was small and soon it disappeared from the tracking sensors, disappearing in the signal mist of thousands of emissions by passing ships. The man manning the monitoring computers did not mind. After all, millions of drones entered the sector daily and one could not monitor them all. The drone engaged slowing down procedure until it completely stopped. Checking once more if it was on right position, the message drones shut itself down.
Less than ten mizuras later, a Navy Intelligence Nova arrived on same position and picked up the drone. Jane Freedman asked Stella to decipher the contents of the message. After hearing it once, she asked Stella to repeat the message once more in case she had missed something the first time. After she was finished she sat course for AF Navy station AP5, orbiting the blue homeworld of the Argon race.

Continue to next chapter

[Captain Chris sTc]

So They now have a Pocket battleship, But a lack of crew to man it. Here's to hoping that the raid on teh split prison goes well.

Any how great as ever. Here's to hoping the next chapter is here soon.

Chris.

[KiwiNZ]

Great new chapter, mate! Otto and Erich are somewhat on track but with no man-power left. I wonder if Elisa would join forces with them, now that she has lost her base, or at least some of her people. But then again, I guess Erich isn't exactly on her list of most liked people. It'd be funny to see her meet Otto as partners hehe.

Looking forward to the next chapter!

[Megbeth]

It is a good chapter and it is nice to see you have not lost your humor (Ha’nt’s wall of Death). I hope you write the next chapter soon.