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"Capitan, Comm for you from Capitan Ceryl of the Shadow King." Came the voice from the speaker in my quarters. It was Shelly's voice, but it was the middle of the night. Well, there really is no "night" in space - or maybe it's more correct to say there is no day - but human beings learned long ago that not breaking up time in day and night cycles can lead to all sorts of mental issues. I don't sleep anywhere near as much as other people do but I do occasionally sleep. For once I really was sleeping.
One of the things that Morganite Fleet Ops does well is how they sync the day/night cycles of the ships in the fleet. So, when more than one ships get together to form a unit, all it takes is a bit of adjustment to put them back into sync. Hauley was synced with Admiral Thomas' fleet, so when I got to the Unchained Fury Settlement, we adjusted something like 164.2 seconds to sync up, and it was less than a second when we formed up with the families' fleet. So I knew Capitan Ceryl knew she was calling in what passed for the middle of the night.
"I'll take it in my quarters Shelly." I said.
"It's encrypted, sorry Capitan, it'll take me a few seconds to get this set up." Shelly replied.
Encrypted? Of course it was. All the families' fleet comms were encrypted. And they were moved to a laser data-grid as soon as we saw the Morganite fleet show up and start shooting, so Shelly reminding me seemed odd. Unless...
"OK Capitan, I have this set up in a private channel with a revolving encryption as per Capitan Ceryl's request. Whenever you are ready Capitan."
"Put her through Shelly, thanks!" Private channel with revolving encryption? This must be serious.
"Good morning Capitan Ceryl. What can I do for you?" I asked.
"Capitan, we have a problem." Capitan Ceryl said. "I've had Goose very carefully working on securely contacting a sensor pod network my family has stationed closer into the station. The station is dead, but the enemy fleet is still taking pot shots at it. The problem is, there are a number of destroyers and frigates that we saw with the Morgan... The enemy fleet when they arrived that the sensor pods can't seem to find."
"Ceryl, if they see that pod network, they'll know someone is out here watching. How could you be so reckless?"
"Sorry Capitan, I should have said. The sensor pods are stealth pods that my family has been developing. They are tiny, and highly camouflaged. Practically invisible. They are connected using a laser system similar to what we're using, but with a finer beam. They are almost undetectable, and as far as I know, the enemy doesn't even know the project exists, let alone that we have already have prototypes deployed. If I wasn't sure they're safe, I would have set them all to self-destruct."
I didn't like it, but other than these kids saying I was in charge, there wasn't an official power structure in place, so they didn't feel like they needed to get my permission for anything. I would need to either reign that in or accept it for what it was. Geran probably didn't know just how much he undermined my authority with the rest with his petty targeting of his little sister. Not that there was anything I could do about it at the time. There is a reason that fleet commanders pick the biggest, baddest ship in a fleet as their flagship. It keeps everyone honest.
"So, either a bunch of destroyers and frigates left, or we have incoming." I said.
"Yes, the Pepper is working on deciphering where they are and how many, but they lost contact with the pod network when we bugged out, so their control of the network is still propagating. These things are pretty amazing, but it takes a while to get them to come on line because of the stealth.
"You could have contacted me through the normal network, why all the extra encryption?" I asked.
"Capitan, the Tonamann family and the Cox family don't exactly get along. Well, I like Tessa Cox, and I think my little brother Julius, Capitan of the Ground Thumper, was sweet on her. You know, before the accident."
"What accident? You realize I'm an outsider here, I'm not privy to everything that's happened."
Ceryl Sighed. "Well, I guess this line is as secure as we could make it. About a year ago, Geran Cox decided to test his siblings, so he lobbed some kinetics at them. Small ones, big enough to cause damage, but supposedly not big enough to destroy a ship. The kinetics pretty much bounced off the destroyers. It did put a small hole in the Efreet, and Cecil did lose a couple crewmembers, but not the ship. Linda moved her Box of Rocks out of the way in time, which really pissed Geran off. Poor Tessa wasn't so lucky. The Gladway was severely damaged. She lost most of her crew and Tessa herself was severely injured. Geran said it was because Tessa was incompetent and went in for the kill. Julius put his Ground Thumper in the way, covering the Gladway while Linda evacuated the crew of the Gladway on the Box of Rocks."
"He tried to kill his own sister?" I gasped.
"Yes, and the Cox's are crazy. Their father sided with Geran and refused Tessa medical care. As far as we can figure, Tessa spent months in the sub-par autodoc aboard the Box of Rocks. She had crewed the Gladway with her friends. So when she woke, half of her friends were dead, and the other half went back to the Unchained Fury Settlement. The Cox family had harassed them enough that there is no way any of them would step foot on a Cox ship again. Nobody outside the Cox family has seen her in person. She only has vids up on the comms when she has to. That girl practically single handedly rebuilt the Gladway with her bare hands. Geran wouldn't let anyone help, not even her brothers. Linda, of course helped. She's the oldest and doesn't take any guff from Geran, and so far has managed to stay one step ahead of him."
"Thank you. Please keep me posted about the sensor pods. It looks like we got trouble incoming, I'll call a Capitan's meeting for first thing in the morning so we can be ready for them."
A few moments after the Comm with Ceryl ended, I got a second call.
"Capitan, Geran Cox is on the comm, demanding to talk to you." Shelly said.
That was quick. "Put him through Shelly."
"Is this how it is? Secret meetings with the Tonamanns in the middle of the night? Conspiring? Just wait till I tell the others!" Geran Cox said.
"I don't care what you tell anyone Geran. Now, what do you want?" I said
"Capitan, passive scanners picking up someone actively targeting us!" Lt. Tine said over the speaker.
"Evasive!" I ordered and almost immediately felt the Haul-o-caster shift. Well, not directly. Hauley's inertial dampeners are good. I just know my ship well enough that I can feel what she's doing.
"HA! Made you flinch!" Geran chortled.
"You dumbass! If you're actively targeting me, the enemy can pick that up and know right where we are!"
"Enemy? You really are a traitor then. Thanks for letting me get a recording of that." Geran laughed again. "You know, I'm tired of listening to a bunch of women. I'm going out there and joining the Morganite Fleet. You silly assholes can play hide and seek if you want, but I know where you all are, so good luck getting away!"
With that Geran cut the communication.
"Capitan, The Paveway is going full active on scanners, and is painting the entire Family fleet." Lt. Tine said.
"Capitan," Shelly added. "Geran Cox just ordered the Cox family to follow him to join the Morganite fleet. Full power, in the clear. Not on the laser link network."
"That fool! I'm on my way!"
By the time I got to the bridge - which was not long considering its a whole ten steps from my quarters to the bridge - the Paveway and the Ptarmigan were openly heading in system towards where the Unchained Fury used to be.
I was surprised to see the entire crew on duty, Barona stood and offered me the Capitan's chair. "Do none of you sleep?"
"Shelly woke us when an encrypted communication came in that she thought sounded bad." Barona answered, "She wouldn't tell us who it was from, just that it sounded serious. Then we heard your conversation with Geran. The whole fleet heard it. They were blasting in the clear."
"Thank you XO. It was a good thing Shelly woke everyone. We probably have incoming." I said, "Battle Stations! Set us to Alert to condition one Mr. Dorn!"
"Comm from Shadow King, Capitan." Shelly said.
"On main screen Shelly."
"Capitan, whatever to I have to thank for your presence?" I asked.
Capitan Ceryl seemed confused for a split second, the moved forward. "That bastard Geran has betrayed us! Just wanted you to know I'm opening fire on all Cox ships."
"Stand down Shadow. That's an order. We have bigger problems than your petty squabble with the Cox's at the moment." I said.
"Capitan, Paveway and Ptarmigan just opened fire, targeting the Gladway, Box of Rocks, and Efreet. Gladway and Box of Rocks both seem to have avoided any major damage. Efreet took a few hits, but nothing seems to have penetrated her armor."
"Firing on their own family?" I asked.
"Probably didn't agree to join him committing suicide." Capitan Ceryl said.
"Barona, coordinate with the fleet, we need to get out of here before that fool brings the whole Morganite Fleet down upon our heads." I ordered. "Get them into formation, we'll run for open space."
"Running again?" Capitan Ceryl said. "Is that wise?"
"Sticking around to get killed isn't wise." I answered. "Paveway and Ptarmigan don't know it, but they just volunteered to be our distraction. We're heading for the jump point."
"huh?" Ceryl asked.
"Translation Matrix." Barona helped.
"Very good Capitan, Shadow King out!"
I couldn't have asked for a better distraction really. I know they didn't do it on purpose, but the Paveway and the Ptarmigan ran right into the fleet of destroyers and frigate that were sent out after us, scanners active full blast, giving us a good look at what we were facing. They only started fighting back when it was obvious that their scheme to join the fleet and betray us wasn't going to work out for them like they hoped.
Then to my dismay, Efreet. Then Box of Rocks. Then even Gladway slowly turned and fed themselves into the fray. What Capitan Linda and Capitan Tessa thought they were going to do to help was beyond me.
"Shelly, is the Family Fleet encrypted net still up?" I asked.
"Yes Capitan, you are live!" Shelly answered. She was crying, but still manning her post like a pro.
"Fleet! I don't want to see any more of you losing your minds like that! But the Cox's have given us an opportunity and we're taking it. Tighten up the formation, we're running for the Translation Matrix and getting out of here." I knew that by now they all knew the plan, but I wanted to try to head off any more fits of stupidity.
"Capitan, there is a shuttle trying to catch up. It appears to have come from the Paveway." Lt. Tine said. "We are already too far ahead for it to catch us."
"Barnes." I said.
"Snag and go!" Barnes replied, I knew she would know what I wanted.
"Fleet! I'm going back for a straggler. I'll catch up."
Catching the shuttle was pretty easy. The only dangerous part was matching speed and docking, but with Barnes at the helm, even that went well enough. Barnes docked the shuttle to the less often used top hatch so that it would fall right into our graviton shielding without having to make a lot of adjustments. The surprise was the contents of the shuttle.
I had seen Tessa Cox on vid during the Capitan's meeting. Of course, what I saw was a filter, not the actual girl. Tessa would never be referred to as a great beauty, but I would say that her face could be described as cute. At least by my admittedly somewhat skewed standards. The scarred face that looked at me from the topside hatch airlock was... Still cute. In a round cheeked, green-eyed, dark-haired sort of way. To me the pink scar stretching from the bridge of her nose down her right cheek didn't really detract that. The rest of the skin on her face was covered in fine scars, fine enough to almost not be noticeable. Almost. I recognized the fine scarring as the fingerprint of the older generations of autodoc. Hauley's autodoc is practically state of the art by comparison and wouldn't leave scarring like that, but the older generations weren't as delicate. That kind of scarring is common among freighter crews.
As Tessa emerged, I could see that her Right arm and leg were cybernetic prosthesis, also from a much older generation of technology. Usable, but I could see the tell-tale box shape of the controller under the hair on the right side of her head. I wondered how much more of her was artificial but didn't want to ask. Her eyes went wide when she saw me. Her eyes then went to my rank insignia.
"Permission to come aboard Capitan?" Tessa asked. It was almost a question as if she expected me to reject her or make her stay in her shuttle.
"Granted. Welcome aboard. Do you need medical attention?" I asked.
She barked a laugh, that sounded self-pitying. "Capitan, I've had all the medical attention I can handle."
"Then welcome aboard. I'll have a VIP cabin prepared for your use. We couldn't tell who was in the shuttle and didn't want to draw attention with scanning." I told her. "Is there anyone with you?"
"Not since the accident." Tessa said, holding up her hand as if to indicate the accident in question. "By VIP cabin, you don't mean brig?"
"Have you done something I should throw you in a brig for?" I asked.
"I escaped a brig, and since you aren't Julian Tonamann, I kinda expected to be thrown right back into one." She said. "I suppose hoping Julian might magically find me and hide me was childish and stupid. Hell, he would probably take one look and toss me out an airlock. Besides, I don't even know if he's still alive. Geran..." She shook her head as if to clear a horrible thought.
"You were in a Capitan's meeting with him just recently. Are you sure there wasn't some bad air in your shuttle?" I asked.
She laughed again. "Capitan... sorry, I never caught your name... I've been in a cell on the Paveway for... I don't know how long, I think it's been months, maybe a year?"
"Tell us your story child." Mother Ahmisa said gently. She had accompanied me, along with Lt. Cmdr. Dorn to greet our visitor, but had hung back with the Lt. Cmdr. up to this point.
"Do you know about the accident? Incident? Whatever you want to call it?" Tessa asked. "I don't recognize any of you, what family are you from? What ship is this? Did we get some new ships?"
"I'm Capitan Kid. This is the Haul-o-caster. We came to Unchained Fury Station for supplies and assistance." I said. "We were about to leave when part of the Morganite Fleet translated in and attacked Unchained Fury Station.
Tessa gasped in horror. "How's my ship? How many were lost? Who's left?"
The Cox family fleet is gone. Apparently, your escape was a fortunate coincidence, because you escaped right when Geran Cox and Bennie Cox took the Paveway and the Ptarmigan hoping to join with the Morganites. When they were set upon, the Efreet, Box of Rocks, and Gladway all joined them. I don't know if they were trying to rescue them or what, but it was ill-advised because all five ships were destroyed. Most of the rest of the family's ships are in a fleet with us, running for the transition matrix."
Tessa looked like she was in shock.
"Now, I hate to be mean, but it sounds like there are things that we don't know that we might need to know." I said. "Could you enlighten us?"
"The settlement?" Tessa asked.
"It is gone child." Mother Ahmisa said.
I expected a much bigger reaction from Tessa, but she just shrugged.
"The settlement was gone for me the day I survived when I should have died. Damn Linda, why'd she to do this? She could have let me die. And I guess she's done it to me again. It was Linda and a couple of her crewmen who sprung me from Geran's cage. They didn't make it. Geran's Mother caught them cutting the lock and killed all three of them. Stupid old woman ran to get help and didn't even realize she left the cutter within arms reach."
I could tell Mother Ahmisa was shocked. "You mean to say Paveway's Mother ordered your rescuers to be shot?"
"No Mother. Mother Diazan pulled out a blaster and shot them. She aimed at the back of Linda's head and pulled the trigger. I tried to warn her, I yelled, but it happened so fast." Tears were streaking down Tessa's face. "They aren't the first ones I've seen Mother Diazan kill. That woman is a killer. It was her who pushed Geran to "test" us all by firing on our ships."
"You have to be mistaken child. A Mother wouldn't do such a thing. A Mother doesn't carry weapons or kill people." Mother Ahmisa cried.
"No Mother. I was there. I saw it. The Mothers on the other Cox ships are almost as bad." Tessa said. "The Mother on the Gladway, MY Mother, was a tyrant. The only good thing that came from the test was that woman getting sucked into space." Mother Ahmisa staggered. Dorn had to catch her.
"Maybe you should tell us your story now." I said.
"When the Paveway fired on us, I was in the galley with Mother Geetoh, receiving a beating, once again, for all my failures. I don't really remember what that one was for. Probably someone on the night shift left food out again, since I distinctly remember we were in the galley. I heard the Kinetics hit the ship and the world exploded. I had just enough time to watch Geetoh get sucked out of the rent in the side of the ship before I blacked out. I probably would have gone with her, but I was stripped naked and tied face down over the edge of the table, which was bolted to the deck. Near as i can figure, the second round from the Paveway is what took my arm and leg. Next thing I remember was waking up a freak."
She looked at me and blanched, "No offence intended."
"No, no. Us freaks gotta stick together." I told her. She gaped in shock at my words. "Go on."
"I woke up on Linda's ship, the Box of Rocks. I learned that Linda and her crew rescued me and about a third of my crew, none of them will talk to me now. Especially when they found out about my..." She once again held up her cybernetic hand. "The family had a little meeting. More of a trial, and I wasn't allowed to talk, not even to defend myself. Not that I was in any mental condition to do so. Geran argued that my incompetence caused the Gladway to be lost, and that I should be spaced to remove my embarrassing presence from the family. He also argued that the Box of Rocks should be taken from Linda because she didn't stop me from taking the coward's way out and becoming a freak."
Tessa sighed, "In the end, the family voted to space me, but let Linda keep Box of Rocks, because none of the boys wanted to Capitan a stupid freighter."
"Hey, I Capitan a freighter, it's not so bad." I said defensively.
"So did I Capitan, and I agree. I loved the Gladway." She said. "Anyway, Linda doesn't bend so easily and tricked Geran into a bet. If i could get the Gladway back up and running, Geran had to leave me alone. In spite of all the dirty tricks Geran tried to pull to keep me from repairing her, I managed to get the job done.
"At first, I had trouble finding a crew. Nobody wanted a freak for a Capitan. I was finally assigned Mother Kessik as Gladway's Mother. She found me a crew. Then on our maiden voyage, Mother Kessik, lead a mutiny and I was stuck in a cage on the Paveway. At first, Geran told me that he volunteered to be my jailer because he knew I wouldn't survive the brig on Unchained, and Father hated me so much he refused to keep me in the cells on the family quarters. Eventually he admitted he just liked having me in a cage so he could torture me. Like telling me that the Ground Thumper was lost with all hands, or having his engineers take my arm and leg apart and passing the parts out to the crew as rewards. They made me... do favors... for them to get them back, and I didn't have any tools, so I managed to get them all back together, but nothing is tighter than finger tight. I don't suppose I could borrow a screwdriver, could I?"
"I'll send my engineer in to rebuild it and get it all in top shape." I offered.
Tessa blanched, "NO!.. I mean... It's rather intimate to get to the different parts. I have to take my shipsuit off, and I don't like people to see." She seemed on the verge of panick
"Ok Ok," I said, trying for a soothing voice. "How about this, I got a couple top notch engineers, a state-of-the-art autodoc, and some excellent fabrication facilities. How about we upgrade your arm and leg to something a little more modern? Something a little more useful."
"That kind of technology is taboo in my Sect. Linda was nearly excommunicated for doing this to me. I was excommunicated and exiled; I can never set foot on Unchained Station again."
"If that's the case child," Mother Ahmisa said, "You are in the right place. The Capitan isn't a Morganite at all, and no one on the crew is of your Sect. You'll find no animosity here. you will find only acceptance."
"You have time to decide, for right now, I need to get back to the bridge, we aren't out of the fire yet. Mr, Dorn, could you show Capitan Tessa to her quarters on your way back to the bridge?"
"Yes Capitan."
"Capitan, the entire Morganite Fleet seems to be chasing us now." Lt. Tine said as I entered the bridge. "The advanced unit that turned towards us after destroying the Cox family, and now the main Morganite Fleet has turned towards us from the remains of the Unchained Fury Settlement. Both units are behaving in a highly unprofessional way."
"How so Lt. Tine?" I asked.
"They appear to be behaving chaotically. The faster ships are leaving the slower ships behind, so their formation is stringing out. It is like they are in a race to catch us." Lt.Tine reported. "The fastest ships will catch us in approximately six hours."
"Hmmm... faster usually means squishier, right?" I asked.
"I would not describe a warship as squishy Capitan, but if I understand your meaning, yes. The first few ships that reach us will be scouting vessels which do not carry as much armor, and only carry medium to light weapons."
"AAARRRR..." I smiled.
"She's doing the pirate thing again; I love it when she does that!" Squeaked Shelly.
"Barona, get on the horn and re-order the fleet. Dozer's Thunderbird is to take point, all non-combat ships are to join up in the middle. The Pepper and Owlfeather are to cover the flanks. The rest of the combat ships are to ease back to the rear. We have some of the smaller Morgaite ships, scouts... possibly frigates. coming upon us to the aft. Aarrr... have 'em send them scallywags back to the void from which they came! Hoist the Jolly Roger!"
"HOIST THE JOLLY ROGER AYE AYE CAPITAN!!!" Yelled my crew. It wasn't timed very well, so it sounded terrible, but that didn't matter to me. I'm not sure when they decided to embrace my weird love for ancient sea pirate stories, and talking like a pirate, but hearing them try made me so happy.
"Um... Permission to enter the bridge?" Tessa asked.
"AARRRR... Permission granted lass. Were about to tussle with some scallywags. Have a seat, enjoy the show."
"Um... Capitan? Why are you talking like that?" Tessa asked.
The whole crew burst out in laughter.
"The Capitan does that sometimes. Secretly we think she's got a chip loose in her Cyber brain, so we just humor her." Cmdr. Barona said.
"Hey! I do not!"
Tessa stumbled in and found a seat, we really would have to do something about her cybernetic arm and leg soon. Both look like they were built by someone using instructions from a book that only contained grainy photographs and bad line drawings.
"What's our status Mr. Tine?"
"We will be overtaken by seven small ships, a few at a time, within the next thirty minutes Capitan. The ships don't even seem to be covering each other."
"Barona?"
"We got it Capitan... Um I mean... We'll send those scallywags to their mother's... um... Aarrgh?" It was a little pathetic, but at least Barona was trying to get into the spirit of things.
"Capitan, I believe we will have another two waves of attacks before we get to the jump point. The next wave appears to contain smaller frigates. Fast, but not as heavily armed or armored, and they are strung out like the scout ships. The final wave contains some heavier frigates more heavily armed and armored that the lighter frigates, they might be a problem for us. Nothing else should catch up to us before we reach the jump point. The rest of the advanced fleet should reach the jump point an hour after we do, and it should be hours before the Main Fleet reaches the jump point."
"Good," I said, "Barona, how much control do you think the Family Fleet can manage?"
"What do you have in mind Capitan?"
"Can we mark a target, and have two or three of our ships fire at it all at once? I would like to see some impressive explosions, and I would like it to look like we're doing it on purpose."
"To what end Capitan?" Barona asked.
"If we meticulously, and maliciously take out the approaching ships, the ships in the next wave are sure to see that, and hopefully it will cause them to pause. Any choking by them can only be good for us."
"I'll try." Barona said.
The plan didn't work out so well on the scout ships. The slippery little things weren't as easy to hit as I had hoped. However, having multiple ships target each one at once meant at least one would hit. Our rear guard made short work of the enemy's scout ships.
Watching, I got the impression that the frigates of the second wave thought they were invincible. Maybe they kinda were compared to the scout ships. At least they had armor and could shrug off a hit or two. Unfortunately for them, the reason our ploy didn't work as well on the scouts was because they were fast and maneuverable. The frigates, while being able to run circles around larger ships, didn't fare so well against us. Even less so since most of them had decided to plough right into our formation. I don't know if they had delusions of killing the freighters, or if they didn't have any experience with fighting ships, but they basically impaled themselves on our guns. With the ships coordinating and firing together, I got the big explosions I wanted.
"Capitan, the third wave seems to be slowing. If we maintain course and speed, we should be able to reach the jump point before they catch up." Lt. Tine said.
A cheer rang out on the bridge.
