A Matter of Honor (Privateer Tales Book 9) Page 11

  "I'll take it under advisement and assume that means you're set. Jonathan, are you also good to go?"

  "Hoffen, you'll…"

  Mute Anino.

  Jonathan replied to my request. "I am ready, Captain. I see your crew has been inventorying and checking the status of ship systems. I have some recommendations for additions, if you are amenable."

  "Of course," I said. "Please send them along to Nick and he'll see they're distributed."

  My HUD showed a high priority comm in my queue. I had a few minutes while Nick distributed Jonathan's recommendations, so I opened it. It turned out to be a rant from Anino insisting that I listen to him about getting underway immediately and not losing time.

  "Marny, are we secure?"

  "Aye, Cap," she acknowledged. "We're secure and all weapons systems are at one hundred percent. For a big girl, she might be a little under-gunned, but any one of these turrets would open Hotspur up after a few solid hits. I just wouldn't want to run into anything too big."

  "Roger that. Nick, environmental systems, fuel and friggin' singularity?"

  Nick choked back a laugh, trying to remain professional. "All systems nominal. We've enough supplies for a hundred souls for the better part of a month."

  "Ada, Tabby, flight systems?"

  "We're green," Ada replied.

  "Tabbs, how are we locked in here?" I asked.

  "Magnetic station clamps. I show zero drift and can release on your command," she said.

  I pulled the flight stick up with my right hand and the throttle control with my left. The ship had bow and stern thrusters that I could feel as small nipples on the left control.

  "Release, Tabbs," I said.

  A slight shudder rippled through the ship.

  "We're free, Captain," she said.

  I nudged the flight stick and throttle gently forward and we slid from our cradle.

  "Drift, forward on starboard side," Ada announced.

  Indeed we were drifting slightly toward the stationary platform. I gave the starboard bow thruster a nudge, overdoing it slightly, so I tapped the port thruster to make up for it. I ramped up the throttle just a smidge and we moved forward. It took almost twenty seconds for us to clear the platform.

  "Will you look at that," Ada said, her words almost reverent. She and Tabby had constructed an external holo view of Mastodon and located it between them.

  I had to agree with her sentiment. The ship was magnificent in its stately proportion.

  "All hands, this is the Captain. This would be a good time to buckle up and set aside any volatile experiments. We're going to see how this big girl dances," I said.

  I pushed forward on the throttle and pulled back gracefully on the stick. The lag I'd expected was there, No matter the size of the engines, one point eight kilo tonnes just can't respond immediately. When we did start moving, I reveled in the power the engines produced. We might be big, but we could be graceful. It was nowhere near as bad as pushing one point two kilometers of barge weighing in at seven point five kilo tonnes. Sailing a tug had been all about predicting when you wanted to make your next move. Mastodon just accelerated on a delayed schedule and she was a race horse wanting to be let free.

  Clear of the platform, I set a course to take us a hundred thousand kilometers beneath Curie, where there was virtually no traffic. I also intended to do this at full burn. Tabby and Ada predicted this move, quickly settling into their chairs.

  "Prepare for hard burn," I said, turning the ship onto the new course I'd laid out.

  I gave it a five count and pushed the throttle down, stopping just past the hard burn indicator. On my holo display, the four engines came to life, a brilliant blue glow extending behind them just before the acceleration caught up with the rest of the ship. I allowed the acceleration to push me back into my seat. It wasn't anywhere near what we experienced on Hotspur, but on such a massive ship it was exhilarating.

  The inertial and gravity systems caught up and the familiar feel of 1g rested on us. It would take twenty minutes to sail past Curie and I would remain in my seat, checking the monitors. If we were going to have a problem, it could come at any minute and I wanted to be ready.

  I checked my system display. Something had knocked loose in the bilge and was giving us a yellow status. Boy, did that sound familiar. "Nick, you seeing that bilge issue?"

  "Roger that. I've dispatched a repair bot. It's not critical," he said.

  Unmute Anino.

  "Phillippe, how are you hanging in there?"

  "What the frak are you doing, Hoffen?" His teenaged-voice cracked as he spoke.

  "Taking her out for her maiden voyage," I said. "And remember, I'm in the chair. Call me Captain." I knew I was pushing him, but I needed to firmly cement the idea.

  "Well, Captain, you've all but wrecked my lab," he said.

  "Understood. I'd get that stowed. You've twenty minutes before our next maneuver," I replied, trying hard not to feel smug.

  "Are you trying to piss me off?" he asked.

  "Is it working?"

  He cut the comm.

  At a hundred thousand kilometers, we were well out of the influence of Curie's gravity, so I hadn't expected any problems. I cut the burn and allowed us to drift past, all the while reorienting for a much closer pass. I would bring us in close and fast so that the gravity of the planet would significantly deflect our trajectory. I worked out the navigation pass as I spun the engines back up. We'd turned almost a hundred eighty degrees and as a result it would take twenty minutes to zero out our delta-v with Curie and about the same amount of time to get back in for our next pass.

  "Check me on this, Tabbs," I said and sent my plan to both Ada and Tabby.

  "You know the ship would make this calculation for you," Ada said.

  "Just being cautious," I said.

  "You're good," Tabby said. "If you add another five degrees, you'll intercept an old ship graveyard. There are big hulks in there for Marny to get in a live fire test."

  "Brilliant. Add it," I said.

  She pushed it back to me and I plugged it in as our new path. The ship adjusted slightly and we kept sailing on.

  Just as we'd barely zeroed out our delta-v with Curie, Marny cut in. "Cap. We've a heavy cruiser approaching fast to the starboard. They're hailing us. It's Fist of Justice."

  "That was fast. We haven't done anything provocative yet, have we?" I asked.

  "Guilty conscience is about all, Cap," Marny said.

  Accept hail.

  "Mastodon here, Captain Liam Hoffen. How may I be of assistance?" I asked.

  "Hoffen? This is Admiral Tullas. I need you to heave to for a confab," she said.

  "Admiral, is this official business? We're right in the middle of running a shakedown cruise," I said.

  "Where's Anino?" she asked.

  I was surprised at the informality of her communication. She was in a smaller ship, at least by weight, but her guns and armor completely out-classed us.

  "I'm not at liberty to say. You mind telling me what this is about?" I asked.

  "Heave to, Captain," she commanded. "If you need that to be a directive, it is."

  That was good enough for me. I wasn't ready to take the next step. I pulled back on the throttle and allowed us to drift forward. At our current velocity it would take sixteen hours to reach Curie.

  My status screen lit up with the words 'DON'T LET HER ON THIS SHIP.' I didn't have to wonder who'd written it. Anino had his reasons and I'd do my best to honor them.

  "My partner and I will shuttle over when you get here," I said.

  "Understood." She terminated comm.

  "Confab?" Nick asked. "Sounds like she's trying to keep this conversation private."

  "Anino, your presence is requested on the bridge," I said.

  No sooner had I said the words than the doors of the lift opened.

  "I can't believe she got here so fast," Anino said. "They must have been waiting for me. You should have taken off like I s
aid. This mission might be screwed now."

  I sighed and scowled at him. "Remember when I told you what would happen if you held things back from me?"

  "I didn't know she'd be coming," he lied.

  "You just admitted it," Nick said.

  "Fine," he said. The cocky little rat didn't sound at all chagrined. "I strongly suspected Belirand was waiting for me to launch. They've known for a few weeks that Mastodon was nearing completion."

  "Well, we're not going to outrun Fist of Justice," I said.

  "What are you going to say to her?" Anino asked.

  "I'll tell her the truth."

  "You wouldn't dare."

  "You're crazy if you think I'm lying to that woman. She'll eat us alive. That said, I've been known to leave out details," I said. "I assume you don't want her to know you're on this ship?"

  "That's right. But they can scan the ship and find my signature," he said.

  "We'll see. Nick take Anino down to Hotspur and fire up silent running protocols. I'd be surprised if her scanners can penetrate both ships and that armor," I said.

  "You want me to come over with you?" Nick asked.

  "I was thinking of taking Tabbs. She probably speaks officer better than I do," I said.

  Nick laughed mirthlessly. "Be careful, Liam."

  "Ada, you have the helm. Marny keep us safe," I said.

  "You are relieved," Ada said, adopting the formal words we used in watch changes.

  Tabby and I joined Nick and Anino on the lift and took it down to the top docking bay where we separated - Nick and Anino to Hotspur and Tabby and me to a shuttle.

  "Ada, how close are they?" I asked.

  "Ten minutes max," Ada answered.

  They were really burning hard to catch us that quickly and it concerned me.

  "Cap, I've a location for your meeting. It's within a sweet spot for Mastodon's turrets. I'm transmitting now," she said.

  "Can't believe we've stepped in the crap this soon," Tabby said as we sat in the shuttle.

  "Seems about right to me," I said.

  Take us to these coordinates. I flicked Marny's instructions to a console. I wasn't at all interested in trying to figure out how to fly the shuttle manually. I wondered if that was how Anino felt about Mastodon, although that seemed ridiculous.

  The shuttle easily disembarked and sailed toward the location as instructed. Both Tabby and I gawked at Mastodon as we flew past. It was beautifully constructed and appeared that no expense had been spared. I couldn't fathom the wealth required to manufacture a ship of that size.

  "Is there any food aboard?" Tabby asked, pulling open cupboards. "Bleh, all they have are meal-bars. You want blueberry or cherry?" she asked.

  I laughed, it was an old joke. Meal bars pretty much tasted the same no matter what their packaging boasted.

  "Cherry for me," I said.

  "Suit yourself." She tossed me a bar with a pouch of water.

  We sat back and watched as the Fist of Justice arrived. It was an intimidating ship, bristling with hardware. Even if we'd wanted to make a run for it, we'd never have gotten away from such a decked out ship. And, once it caught us, it'd be bad on an epic scale.

  Half an hour later, a shuttle departed The Fist and glided over to us.

  "Captain Hoffen, would you and your partner care to join me?" Tullas asked over the comm.

  I looked at Tabby and she shrugged. There really wasn't any getting around it. I depressurized the cabin and we arc-jetted from our shuttle to the larger shuttle. We worked our way through the airlock and were immediately met by a thickset uniformed man holding a heavy blaster rifle.

  "You'll need to deposit your weapons here." He indicated a table.

  "Probably not," Tabby said.

  He stiffened. "Let's not do this the hard way."

  "I live for the hard way, pal. Belirand has no jurisdiction here," she said.

  "It's okay, Bjarno. There's no threat. Right, Captain Hoffen?" Tullas asked.

  "Far as I can tell, the only threat is Fist of Justice," I said.

  "Quite right. Let them by, please," she said.

  "Yes, please do," Tabby said, patting Bjarno on the chest as she brushed past. She had some steel ones, that girl. It made me proud.

  "You wanted to talk?" I asked.

  Tullas thumbed a small device and dropped it on the table in the middle of the small room. She then crossed behind us and closed the door.

  "What are you doing on that ship, Hoffen?" she asked.

  "I explained that already. It's a new ship and this is its shakedown cruise."

  "Anino has you involved in a conspiracy that we are determined to stop," Tullas said.

  "We, as in Belirand? Or, does that include you? What if the cause is righteous? I thought you were an honorable woman," I said.

  "Anino is holding out on you, drawing you into his web. There are secrets for which I would destroy your entire crew to keep. Once you allow Anino to spread his lies, you will have crossed a line and we'll become enemies," she said. "And I'm afraid you've misjudged me, Captain Hoffen. There is plenty of blood on my hands. I'm not proud of everything I've done, but I believe I've done more good than harm. I tell you this so that you'll believe me when I say; if you continue on this path, I will hunt you down and I will kill you and everyone Anino's poisoned along the way."

  LIKE A BAD PENNY

  "How'd that go, Cap?" Marny asked as Tabby and I walked back onto the bridge.

  "Let's say she was right to the point," I said. "Ada, how's flight system status?"

  "Still solid, Liam." She looked at me, worry in her eyes.

  "All hands, prepare for hard burn. We've people that need saving," I said.

  "What are you doing, Liam?" Tabby asked. We hadn't talked much on our shuttle ride back.

  "We've committed to shaking this girl down, let's get it done," I said.

  "We need to talk about this."

  "Not here."

  "Right." Tabby leaned in and kissed my cheek. "I'm with you, no matter what," she whispered.

  I rubbed my hand on her back as she walked forward to take her seat. I looked at the captain's chair that sat in the middle of the bridge. Never before had I felt so isolated. My friends, who were also my crew, would follow my lead, but the threat to our existence had never felt so real.

  "That bad, Cap?" Marny asked. I hadn't realized that Marny, Ada and Tabby were all watching me and couldn't imagine how much my face was giving away.

  "It's not good. Let's get out of here," I said.

  "Just give me the word," Ada said.

  "Engage."

  What I hadn't realized until that moment was that Ada had subtly turned Mastodon so that the wash of the four heavy engines would just clear the bow of Fist of Justice. They'd feel us leaving. While it was technically a legal maneuver, it was very much on the provocative side of the line. I smiled despite my foul mood.

  "Marny, keep track of Fist, would you?"

  "Aye, Cap," she said. "They've turned and are spooling up in our direction. They intend to give chase."

  For a moment, I considered ratcheting up our maneuvers next to Curie in an attempt to shake the heavy cruiser. I discarded the thought, Anything Mastodon could survive, the cruiser would handle. We were both outgunned and outclassed for speed.

  "Well, frak. Of course they are," I said, sitting back into my chair.

  I'd been stewing for a few minutes when I heard the lift open behind me. I turned to see Nick.

  "That was pretty rough," he said, walking up to me. "You doing alright?"

  "You were listening?"

  "Yeah," he said, nodding. "Anino owns the patent for the tech she used to mask your conversation. We heard everything. What do you make of it?"

  "Honestly? I'm confused. It doesn't make sense that Belirand would go so far out of their way to shut this operation down. I can see them wanting to keep things quiet, but their response feels disproportionate. And Tullas hates Anino. I know he's annoying, but how cou
ld you hate someone that young, so much?"

  "I asked him about that. He said he's had to flaunt his wealth and connections to build this platform. Tullas has been tracking the technology he's been buying up," Nick said.

  "But, Tullas is the one who put us together," I said.

  "It was a woman in Tullas' office. Apparently, Tullas took that rather badly too."

  "There's something else going on. I'm not sure what it is, but this has a stink to it," I said.

  "Anino said we can pull out with no repercussions from him."

  "And Cape of Good Hope? What happens to them?"

  "I think he'd try the rescue mission by himself," Nick said.

  "It's a lot of weight to carry, Nick. I know if I say go, you all will follow."

  "Cap, command is a lonely place, but we're all volunteers here," Marny said. I wasn't surprised she was listening in. In fact, I wasn't surprised to see that everyone was paying attention.

  "You ever ask yourself what we might do if you tried to step away?" Ada asked. "This mission is bigger than all of us. There are forty-five souls whose only chance at survival depends on us."

  Tabby spoke up. "I'm with Ada. I couldn't give two shites about Anino's tussle with Belirand or Tullas for that matter. You think there's more going on here, fine. We'll deal with it. If you think I'm backing down because some petty tyrant threatens, then you haven't been paying attention."

  I looked around at my friends. Their eyes were all on me, waiting for my answer. They were right.

  "Ada, how far to that scrap heap?" I asked.

  "Forty minutes. I'm planning to reverse our burn after we bend through Curie's atmo to give Marny a longer window," she said.

  "Tabbs, Nick, I want you both in gunner's chairs for this pass. If we end up getting into it with Tullas, it'll be Ada and me on the helm and the three of you on turrets," I said.

  Send comm to Fist of Justice on an unencrypted broadcast.

  Admiral Tullas – we will conduct a weapons shakedown on the coordinates I've attached. Please stand clear. We'll broadcast our combat data streams on a similarly unencrypted channel for the benefit of public research.

  Even with the communication disruption common during a hard burn, I knew Fist of Justice would receive the comm, given their position directly behind us.