Reavers (Book 3) (38 page)

“Do you think
you
could have stopped him?”

“To be honest, I’m not sure.  Now look, I’m not saying he’s dangerous or anything.”

“How can you say that?  He . . .”

“Hold on.  I said he attacked the troopers that were threatening us, and I
thought
he was going to beat the raider.  He has yet to act without provocation.  He still follows orders to the letter.  In fact, I’d say he is the most loyal to me of any of the raiders.”

“Then what do you want?”

“He needs a break.  We’ve been raiding nonstop since the Freeport.  Right after he broke up with Sasha too.  He’s so detached now and he is definitely getting worse.  I think if this keeps up it will kill him.”

“You are in charge of the raiding parties.  Why ask me for permission to bench him?”

“It’s not that simple and you know it.  These targets we’ve been hitting lately aren’t bloodshot long haulers that roll over with a suggestive wink and a sneeze.  Navy freighters, ITU convoys, and even a battleship!  You know full well I need Kevin for those kinds of runs.  I can’t ask any of the other knuckle heads to lead.”

“So we pick easy targets while your star sleeps it off?” Rosalyn asked, slightly annoyed.  “That’s a lot to ask for one guy.”

“He’s earned it.  We would have been caught or killed at
least
three times if not for him.  Which would cost you more?  The lost freight from a big target, or replacing an entire raiding party?”

“You know how to play me better than even Andreas,” Rosalyn said with a smile.

“So do we have a deal?”

“I’ll . . .”

The lone speaker in her quarters interrupted with a warning tone.

“Captain to the bridge,” Andreas said.

Rosalyn and Revel both started toward the bridge.  They both recognized his tone of voice as the one he used when he was about to hit someone.  They knew they had to get to the bridge before he worked through his last nerve.

“What’s going on?” Rosalyn shouted as they finally reached the bridge.

“Andreas is being
difficult
,” Longin said, clearly frustrated.

“And that’s surprising?” Revel joked.

“He wants us to attack a Core Industries
super freighter
,” Andreas said, not taking his eyes off Longin.

“Have you gone insane?” Revel shouted at Longin.

“I’m sure he has a good reason for his temporary insanity, right?” Rosalyn asked.

“We couldn’t even hold a tenth of a super freighter’s cargo!”  Andreas continued shouting.  “We don’t have anywhere near the cargo space.  Plus, don’t forget those things are normally built like fortresses, but this is a
Core Industries
variety.”

“So?” Longin asked indignantly.

“
So?
” Andreas repeated in disbelief.  “What do you mean,
so
?  The ITU are bad enough.  Provided you can fight off the PSF and then find some way to break through that monstrous armor, and you
might
end up breaking even after all the trouble.  Core Industries doesn’t play that nice.  They don’t even bother with PSF escort because their super freighters are armed to the teeth!”

“We managed to raid a battleship,” Longin protested.  “Surely a freighter couldn’t be more trouble.”

“That battleship was full of recruits and under-trained Navy personnel,” Tardos said, butting into the conversation.  “The closest any of them had ever gotten to actual combat, before we showed up, was in closely controlled simulations and a few 3Ps.  Core Industries isn’t in the habit of handing their super freighters over to novices.  Andreas is right.  Going up against a hardened veteran at the controls of one of those behemoths is a death sentence.”

Andreas blinked a few times as he realized Tardos had taken his side.  The short man had increased somewhat in his vision.

“So what?” Longin pressed.  “We fire off one of those mystery missiles we looted from Military Intelligence.  A
hardened veteran
will realize the fight is lost and will surrender instantly.”

“He does have a point,” Rosalyn said as she rubbed her chin.

“You can’t honestly be considering this!” Andreas protested.

“Longin hasn’t steered us wrong yet.”

“What if the captain’s crew doesn’t give up as easily?” Revel asked Longin in a chilly voice.  “It’s easy for you to say who we target from the safety of the bridge, but I’m the one risking my life.”

“What are we aiming to steal?” Rosalyn asked.

Revel stared at her skeptically.  Abruptly, he recalled their conversation in her quarters.  She wanted to know the value of their prey, no doubt to weigh the monstrous costs against it.  Revel found himself hoping that the man had some idiotic goods in mind.  From the way a large grin slowly crept over Longin’s face, he knew his hopes were about to be crushed.

“Eidolonium,” he said with an air of triumph.

“This is a bad idea,” Andreas said as he stood stiffly.

“We can’t pass this one up,” Rosalyn said.  “Believe me, I wanted to.”

Longin stood victoriously by the navigations officer.  Tardos kept shooting nasty glances at the man as he worked with the tactical officer.  Standing to her left was an uncomfortable Andreas.  Behind him was a large dent in the wall.

Rosalyn sighed.  Eidolonium was the single most precious resource in the entire Commonwealth, so precious in fact that it was treated more as a mystic element of legend than an actual substance.  A few good-sized chunks of the stuff could buy a small rim world. 

Longin was promising several crates
full
of the stuff.  It had taken some doing and more than a few displays of foolproof evidence to confirm his story, but finally Longin had convinced her.  Revel had stormed off the bridge at her acceptance.

He had been so furious that he had slammed his fist against the wall plating, permanently leaving an impression of his fist behind.  She understood his frustration, but this was too much to pass on.  If they managed to get their hands on the quarry they would never need another credit as long as any of them lived.

“All systems read ready,” Tardos reported.  “If we are going to undertake this madness, at least we are as ready for it as we will ever be.”

“The super freighter should finish its twenty-fifth jump in another forty seconds,” Longin said proudly.  “We’ll have more than enough time after that.”

Rosalyn nodded and leaned back.  As the time slowly passed, she was overcome with second thoughts.  Taking on a super freighter was paramount to suicide under normal conditions.  Even with their mystery missiles, it was incredibly dangerous.  What was worse was that for the first time she had gone against Andreas’ tactical opinion.

She ignored most of his taunting and suggestions, but never when it came to his job.  He picked targets and oversaw everything until contact.  Up until the moment that Rosalyn talked to the trader captain, Andreas was running the show.  Even with the five previous targets Longin had suggested, Andreas had been the one doing the legwork.  It felt wrong to disregard his intense apprehension.

“Time has elapsed,” the navigations officer reported.

“Jump!” Longin gave the order.

Rosalyn’s second thoughts were shaken off by the tingle of the Wall as it passed through the ship.  As they exited the jump window, they were face to face with the monolithic super freighter.  It was an immense gray rectangle that easily stretched five times the length of Rosalyn’s ship.

“Report!” she said apprehensively as she tried to take in its size.

“No response,” the tactical officer said in surprise.  “They aren’t reacting to us at all.”

“What?” Andreas asked as he stepped over to check the man’s words.

“It’s true,” Tardos confirmed.  “They are dead in the water.  Not even targeting us.”

“Our reputation precedes us,” Longin said proudly.

“Get me a communication link,” Rosalyn demanded.

“Working on it, but they are playing deaf,” the woman to Tardos’ right said.  “I’m not picking up any distress signals, though.  Complete silence out there.”

“We’ve got contacts,” the tactical officer said in a calm voice.

“An ambush?” Longin asked, his confidence stripped from him in an instant.

“Nope,” Tardos said as one of his eyebrows slowly rose.

“They are lacking the proper identification signals,” Andreas said.  “Not CI or Navy.”

“I’ll be . . .” Tardos’ voice trailed off.

“What?” Rosalyn pressed.

“They are pirates,” he said slowly.  “Raven’s Talons if I’m not mistaken.”

“More contacts,” the tactical officer interrupted.  “Five groups, all on attack vectors to the super freighter.”

“The Golden Claw, Banshees, Shadow Lurkers, Rapiers, and the Steel Fist,” Tardos said, identifying the pirate guilds as they jumped in.

“What’s going on?” Rosalyn asked.

“Looks like Longin’s
confidential
sources are double dipping,” Andreas said with a smirk.

“We’ve got pirates on every channel,” the communications officer said.  “It’s getting pretty heated out there.  We’ve got three who want to speak to you, Captain.”

“Let’s get to the bottom of this; put them through,” Rosalyn said as she composed herself.

Instantly, the main monitor shifted its view to an image divided into three slices, a pirate captain in each.

“I didn’t mean at the same time!”  Rosalyn buried her head in her hand.

“You have no right to this prey!” a man dressed in gold and silver said through his three chins.  “The power of the Eidolonium belongs to the Golden claw.”

“Oh, shove off, you bloated idiot,” a sickly, thin man moaned.  “I’d like to see you get to it before we Shadow Lurkers snatch it.  If you are lucky, we might leave you some table scraps.”

“Approach that ship and we will sing your requiem,” a tall female said.  “You’ll find we Banshees are more than a match for the rest of you.”

“Looks like we’ve got a circus,” Andreas whispered to Rosalyn.

“Have to be major guilds,” she whispered back.  “No minor guild could run around in those getups and be taken seriously.”

“Don’t ignore me!” the fat man shouted at Rosalyn.  “The Golden Claw demands you explain your presence . . . all of you.”

“I assume we are all here because that ship has some . . . valuable cargo, idiot,” the skinny man taunted.  “I knew you were ugly, but I didn’t think you were stupid, too.”

“You dare mock the power of the Golden Claw?” the fat man shouted back.

“Your ships are just like you, fat and slow.”  The skinny man sneered.  “My fleet could race circles around you without breaking a sweat.”

“The two of you are nothing more than repugnant children compared . . .” the woman’s voice abruptly ended.

Rosalyn sat forward.  Their mouths were still moving, but she couldn’t hear anything.

“I’ve not gone deaf, have I?” Andreas asked.

“We’ve got bigger things to worry about,” Tardos said.  “I cut the audio.”

“They are not going to be happy about us ignoring them,” Andreas said with a smirk.

“They are not going to care in another thirty seconds.”

“More company?” Rosalyn asked Tardos.

“No, I just figure that’s how long it will take them to notice.”

“What are you rambling on about?” Longin asked.

Tardos tapped a few controls on the console and the three images of the captains faded back into a view of the super freighter.  Rosalyn couldn’t believe her eyes.  The ship was breaking into pieces.

“They are so busy bickering with one another, no one is noticing the ship wasn’t real.”  Tardos shook his head in disapproval.

“An ambush?” Longin asked, fear coating his words.

“Or a trap,” Andreas said.

“But then where is the Navy or CI?” Rosalyn asked.  “Any jump signatures or windows?”

“Sensors are clean,” the tactical officer said.  “Nothing but void in every direction.  If this is an ambush, they are certainly taking their sweet time.”

“This is your show; what do you recommend?” Rosalyn asked Longin.

No response came.  The navigations officer turned to face the silent man.

“He’s wet himself!” the navigations officer said as he jumped out of his chair.

“Someone is certainly cool under pressure,” Rosalyn scoffed.

“It’s not his fault,” Tardos said, his voice quaking.

Rosalyn realized that both men were staring at the main monitor without blinking.  Glancing at the screen, she wondered what was bothering them.  There was no fleet jumping in to attack, nothing even remotely hostile.  Something grabbed Rosalyn.  Almost subconsciously, she rose from her chair and walked toward the monitor.

“What is that?” she asked.