Chương 38

"Firing missiles!" I called out, as I hit the button, and the Crabbits would do their work.

Loading up four of the Crabbit controlled missiles for the first barrage would hopefully mean four hits to start us off.

Just because I was confident in my ship didn't mean I wanted a battle. I wanted a massacre.

The moment the first ship burned around the asteroid I'd hidden against, I counted the seconds.

I didn't even hit three before it jerked to the side altering course in a rush, no doubt trying to run.

The ECM envelope was already mixed, the enemy was fully visible on all sensors, and only minor glitches as whatever ECM system they used tried to throw me off.

"Weapons locked Green!"

"Fire." I confirmed and the laser arrays all lit up.

Even as the pirate tried to bail out, its counter measures activated, an array of flares firing off which didn't distract the crabbit missiles at all.

I bet the Crabbits controlling the missiles were screaming in joy at moving so fast.

The lasers hit first, four beams that showed blue to my eyes as I looked out starboard and raked across the flaring pirate freighters shields.

Even at this distance they glowed bright enough to see as the two energy systems clashed. The lasers weren't there to break the shields, just to force the emitters to drag power away from other locations.

A moment later the first missile hit, a plume erupting against the shield as the warhead kicked off, and dumped far too much power for whatever shield emitter it hit to resist. Then another, and another, and the last.

I didn't say anything, but it looks like the crabbits had aimed for different spots instead of trying to plow through a weakened shield into the hull.

Something I'd talk to them about later, maybe I'll make a nice little VR environment for them to practice. I'd have lots of data from this battle.

Either way, the ship listed to the side, sparks crackling along the hull as the emitters overloaded and sparked off.

The captain was competent. They were already shifting, trying to roll to show still functional emitters, but it had just been knocked around by the missiles.

The starboard laser battery fired off again. Four blue streaks that reached out and touched the enemy's hull, slowly dragging across and tearing furious lines into the metal.

"Hit hit hit!" Tactical Crabbit cried out cheerfully.

But that was all the time I'd have to focus on one enemy, as the Phantom Star rocked after being struck.

"Shields holding! Blaster barrage!" Tactical cried out, and I jerked the controls, pulling 'upwards' as I kicked in the engines. Standing still had been a nice trick, pretending to be hiding, but the other ship had taken advantage. I felt the ship rock once, twice, then again, as the second pirates blaster cannon on the front spewed plasma bolts into my shield.

But I managed to give us that second of avoidance.

"Prepare the Lance!!" I called out, and Tactical laughed evilly as the turret was already supposed to be aiming for the second ship, one ship got missiles, and lasers. The other, the Thermal Lance.

"Firing!" Tactical cried out, as the laser repeaters on the Lance started firing rapidly. The Pirates second ship jerked just before we had fired, no doubt its sensors noticing the power build up, and then suddenly the ship exploded in a gray cloud.

"What is that, Chaff?" I asked as the sensor readings went screwy.

"Laser disruptor, you see it on Dommy ships." Sin called out, and I nodded. Of course the Dominion would find some way to resist Kenish lasers.

"Fire the Thermal lance into the chaff!" I called out, and Tactical obviously didn't want to, but a moment later there was a massive flare of light as the Thermal Lance fired.

The chaff looking like a cloud having erupted out of the pirate ship was punched through and suddenly it was far less effective when a large majority of it was blown away by a plasma explosion.

"Got them!" Tactical called out, and I saw the turret shift and start firing again. The pirate ship now revealed from the much smaller cloud as it started hauling ass to escape.

The streak of the turret laser repeaters filled my sight as the ship tried to run. Then a moment later the lasers locked onto the ship's emitters.

And the lance once more fired, a stream of plasma arced out and touched the pirate vessel.

Its shield popped like a soap bubble, the blue lights shifting to red and then disappearing in an instant as the energy crashed through and then into them. There was an explosion as the plasma dispersed and I couldn't see it, but I knew what was happening.

Melting hull, and that entire side of the ship simply ceased to exist.

Its shield had been strong enough to last until the plasma had already dispersed.

There might still be survivors, but either way that ship was disabled.

"Sin you still have the other ship?"

"Barely! They're fairly stealthy, and actively trying to throw us off." She grunted, her hands dancing across her controls.

"As long as they're still in the asteroid field, they shouldn't be able to jump into subspace." I muttered and kicked the engines, following the trail of the first pirate. They'd already made it around an asteroid and were no doubt trying to break contact.

"I've got a sensor blip… They dropped a screamer, trying to trick us. Ignore the sensor return!" Sin called out, and my screen updated with an alternate path.

I rounded the asteroid, and saw a flare of light in the distance, but turned away from it.

The pirates were hiding, low emissions, they'd be hard to find if they knew what they were doing.

Or if I hadn't already wounded them.

Heh. There was a trail of slightly melted metals that we were following instead.

The Pirate ship was bleeding from the lasers. If it bleeds, we can kill it. I grinned, as I pushed the engines a bit more following the trail.

The pirate ship was fast, I just had to hope we were faster.

"Sin?"

"Just keep following! I'm disrupting the sensors so they can't try and force a jump!" She called out sounding harried.

I nodded, and focused on my job then.

"Navigation, keep tracking the returns, I'll do the rest." I called out. Following a small trail of melted metal through an asteroid field wasn't easy.

"Got em!" Sin cried out, and the screen shifted, showing me the fleeing pirates. They'd tried a similar trick to what I had done, hiding among the side of a large asteroid and turning everything down.

Sin's expertise was really coming in clutch.

"I want an immediate lock and fire! Before they can turn their shields back up!" I called out, and Tactical went silent as all the weapons on the ship shifted, the Thermal Lance shifting to port, and I could hear the armored flaps protecting the laser array pop open through the hull.

"Firing!" Tactical cried out cheerfully, and our port side suddenly lit up.

Blue lasers, mixed with the red of the lance turret, lit up space, and the pirate apparently knew it was coming.

Without warning they suddenly jerked straight up, a flare of light coming from the bottom of the hull as they moved way faster than I would have given the ship credit for.

It also caused all of our lasers to spray where they had been.

"What was that?"

"EES. Emergency evasion system. It's a one use burst… Poor bastards."

Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on.

"What?" I asked, as I flicked through my Tab shifting us forward to resume the chase as they started trying to turn the asteroid to break our line of sight again.

"The EES usually max out the Gravity Plates. They tend to focus it on the bridge… Most of the crew is probably dead." Sin said bluntly, and I wanted to stop and stare at the very horrifying thing she'd just said.

I had never seen what happened to a person when the ship started moving without Gravity panels to counteract the force on them.

I never wanted too.

Jelly… Probably?

I shuddered at the thought.

"Get me a lock!"

"Can't! Can't!" Tactical whined, the freighter had released that same gray chaff cloud that the other one had, the screen glitched and jolted, as they no doubt threw everything they had into ECM despite being so close.

I glared as none of the systems would lock in the moments before they dipped around the side of the asteroid causing the sensors to scramble through all the interference.

I slammed the engine forward, Phantom Star practically purred as she raced at full speed around the asteroid. I wanted to get another crack at the pirate ship, no way was I letting them escape!

I was so focused, I didn't even notice the sensor chirp just as we made it around the rock. I gasped, having only a split second to react, I pushed the ship down. All four engines shifted, angling as I slammed the controls. The hull thrusters kicked on trying to drop the Phantom Star's nose downwards from our current position.

The pirate ship had turned around and gone for a full burn ram. No, I thought as I watched it approach, engines brilliantly blooming behind the freighter, it was going much faster than it should!

"Fuck!" Sin screamed, but I ignored her, keeping control, as I reacted on instinct, rolling as much as I could to starboard as the Freighter's ramming maneuver brushed past us. I felt the jolt and screech as we collided, the ship jolting, and then a feeling like a buzz coming over everything.

The Gravity panels kicking up to beyond the maximum to try and keep us from being shaken into jelly.

Then it was over.

"Damage report! Check on Hammond! Tactical! Weapons!" I roared, as I jerked the controls, and felt the Phantom Star start swinging her back out.

Damn them! They scratched my ship!

I could just imagine the amount of shield emitters I'd need to replace!

"Wait!" Sin cried out, half out of her chair as she sort of stumbled back into her spot.

"There's no point in firing at them, Captain." She said, and I turned to look even as I kept the controls drifting, to line up a shot.

"What do you mean?"

"That was another EES look at that speed… They're dead."

I blinked, and glanced at my Tab. It only took a second for me to see the relative speed of the ship…

Yeah. Unless they had a lot of extra Gravity Panels, and the energy to overlock them. They probably weren't alive…

"They…Killed themselves?" I whispered in disbelief, what kind of pirates killed themselves? I mean…

I guess if they knew they were done the only fate they had in store was being shot.

"Captain! If we want that ship, we need to stop it." Sin reminded me, and I nodded.

"Right!" I once more adjusted the ship to fully turn around and speed up. It would be a pain to catch up to the pirate ship, and hopefully I could do it before the damn thing smacks into an asteroid.

What a… Weird ending to all of this.

—-- Captain Benjamin Teller Flying Prak Connorsday System

"Well?"

"Looks like they took the bait." Ben exhaled, long and hard. The escape pod was dark, small, and cramped, but it had an Iris Drive and the ability to get them back to their base.

"What the hell did we piss off?" He hissed, the ship hadn't been some pirate hunter, but a full on military vessel!

"What now Captain? Pirate from an escape pod?" He turned at the almost mocking voice. Killer was looking at him, from the cramped seat with a glare. The title had been mocking.

"Shut up you fool. You think I installed this escape pod, a method to ram my own ship into some fucking piece of shit and don't have a back up plan? Why do you think you're sitting on the ship's main Iris Drive? We'll wait it out a while. Make sure THAT thing is long gone, and head back to the rock. Remember that old scrap hull that I told everyone to not worry about?"

Killer watched him for a while before nodding.

"That's the Captain for you, always one step ahead." He said joking, the previous threat in the man's voice gone.

Pete just nodded, looking very uncomfortable.

There hadn't been a lot of chairs in the escape pod, so the poor fuck was practically pressed up against Killer.

Honestly Ben hadn't intended on keeping any crew if he ever used this, but wasting time trying to pull a fast one on your crew when shit was getting bad was stupid.

Keeping these two would at least give him somewhere to start again.

Fuck.

He'd really liked that ship. Oh well, obviously it was time to get out of here.

—--

"Aaand we're down to zero." I called out, as I finally brought the ship to a stop, getting close enough to use the Gravity panels to slow a speeding ship wasn't easy, and my hands felt slick with sweat from how careful I had to be.

"Should I tell Gramps we're docking with it?"

"Nope." I sighed, and then brought up my tab and pulled up a new navigation goal.

"No?"

"While I want to clear this ship, the other one is only disabled, we need to lock it down, I want both of these ships." I said, as I pulled away and started flying towards the first ship we had disabled.

"They'll probably be trying to get the ship running."

"I know. I'll come down on them from the starboard side, since they damaged my ship." I said a bit darkly. There was a section of the ship without proper shields now! I'd have to repair the hull and put down new shield emitters.

I guess it was a good reminder, desperate pirates could still damage me regardless of how powerful I thought my ship was.

"Crabbits. Get the shield ready, and the Blaster Crabbits need to get ready to load up." I told the crew as I flew and there was a stir and an excited shout from deeper into the ship.

I smiled at their happy little shouts. Even if what was about to happen was serious.

Getting a visual of the pirate ship confirmed it was still disabled. The sight of its melted hull where the thermal lance had splashed across its hull stood in stark relief.

Yep that ship wasn't going anywhere. I'd probably have to scrap it right here in system.

"I'm going to push us into a safe orbit before we dock." I called out, as I nudged the Phantom Star in, scanners constantly running checking for any power surging to weapons…

"Looks like they didn't manage to get anything working."

"Maybe, but my ship has been scraped up enough for one day." I told Sin as I brought us in. The Gravity Panels reaching out, once I was close enough to start affecting the pirate ships rolling movement. I slowed us both down until we were still.

"Anything yet?"

"Nothing." Sin confirmed.

"I'm trying to get access to their system, but I'm either completely locked out, or they don't have anything running."

"Probably the latter. The ship doesn't look like it handled the attack well."

"Armor is expensive. Shields are cheaper, and more weapons are usually more effective." Sin offered a bit of her pirate knowledge.

Yeah but armor is important, or else your ship gets turned into scrap in one solid hit.

I rolled the Phantom Star around keeping the Starboard side towards the pirate ship just in case.

"You think that docking ring still works?" Sin asked, as I brought up the visual of the pirates docking port.

"No. We'll have to cut through." I said without a second thought. It was too melted to work.

"Crabbits, set up a forcefield for our docking port okay?"

"Yes yes!" I got shouted back at me, and then I slowly inched into place, docking port to docking port, but a foot or so distance.

Enough that Hammond could jump over, and more importantly, a bit of protection in case of some trap.

"Hammond, open the port once the forcefield is up. We'll need to blast in."

The Crabbits responded to me in a moment.

"Hammond says okay okay!"

I nodded, and settled in, as much as I wanted to get up and go look myself, to help break in, I needed to be here just in case.

Hammond would be able to handle this.

—-- Hammond Kristler

"I don't need you." He grumbled a bit looking at the shield that was hovering around him.

"Uuuu." The little AI whined, slumping a little in the air.

"But we want to help!"

"Hmm." He grunted, with a sigh. The forcefield was up, his personal forcefield was on, and he was surrounded by a few experimental AI weapons.

Eh, it could be worse. He could be working for some insane noble that wants to do bayonet charges onto enemy ships or something.

Some nobles just weren't right in the head. Katherine was alright for a civvy captain, even if she had potential.

"Just don't explode on me."

"We won't!" They chirped happily.

"And you. Watch my back, don't fire forwards, I got that."

"Yes yes!" The Crabbit with a Blaster installed was practically buzzing. Not a good sign.

With that all done, he picked up his laser cutter. He'd picked this one up from a raid a few years back. Usually you couldn't find these in the normal markets, but the pirates they had wiped out had just hit a military transport.

He'd kept this thing because it was incredibly useful.

Once he settled the heavy weapon into his arms, he flipped the switch. Set the distance, and aimed. The hum of the laser kicked on, and red flashed across his vision.

They colored the damn thing to keep infantry from killing each other with it. The red laser arced out and slammed into the melted docking port of the freighter, and started burning through nice and quick. Slowly he circled the door until it was free, the lack of atmosphere escaping from his cuts told him the pirates were in rough shape.

Not a surprise.

He settled the laser cutter down, and picked up his rifle, checking it over one last time he moved, leaping across until he hit the port door and kicked.

The massive metal chunk went flying forward into the ship, and he went flying back onto the ship, stumbling for a moment as he went from zero G, to gravity again, but he kept his rifle up and pointed and waited.

The door eventually clanged into a wall across the hall but to his surprise no return fire, no pirates… Nothing.

"Alright we're going in."

"Yes yes!" The AI cheered, and Hammond once more took a step across the way and onto the gravity less ship.

The armed drone settled up against his back and he felt his feet settle onto the flooring.

He hummed, honestly having his own gravity made fighting easier. Not that he wasn't well trained in Zero G, but it was nice to be able to react with all his reflexes.

He stalked forward, the shield behind him following as he reached the first junction, poking his head out, he saw bodies already. A few floating void deaths.

He stepped forward, the drones following, and his gun raised.

—--

"Hammond says the ship is clear clear!"

I breathed a sigh of relief. It had been slow ten minutes waiting to hear from Hammond as he stalked through the ship.

The Crabbits hadn't reacted so I knew he was okay but it still made me nervous.

"Alright. Tell him to finish up and get back. We still need to deliver these goods before the fines start increasing, and then we can come back and salvage these."

"Captain."

"Sin?"

"We should just salvage it first. The fines are nothing, and someone could come by."

"I know, but we did make an agreement. Besides, with the pirates gone, it's not like we have to worry about them coming through."

Sin looked at me for a while staring before shrugging.

"Alright, but we should probably leave a transponder saying the salvage is claimed at least."

"That's a good idea!" I turned in my chair and got to work. I could just send a Crabbit out to do that, and we should be back in a few hours!