Smuggler's Dilemma (38 page)

"Yes. Lay in this course," I said. Nick had worked up a careful navigation plan that would allow us to skirt North American and Chinese territories and slide down the edge of the neutral zone between Mars and Chinese space. Essentially, we were headed directly toward Jeratorn.

"How quickly would you like to arrive?" she asked.

"Make all possible haste," I said.

It would take fourteen days and we would burn an unimaginable amount of fuel. On board we were operating with a skeleton crew of two hundred and ten. Many were hardened criminals, others simple slaves who had been pressed into service. Separating one group from the other was a duty beyond our capability so we remained locked on the bridge, except for Tabby who preferred the solitude of the
Hotspur
. I suspected it had something to do with the privacy she needed to deal with her disability. Unfortunately, I couldn't leave the bridge of the dreadnaught as it felt we were in a very delicate situation.

If the pirates on board got wind of what we were doing, there would be rioting and we might never make our destination. Xie had done a good job of whipping them into a frenzy about the next colony we were going to sack. She'd explained that Jeratorn was our target and revenge was our goal. We'd suffered our only defeat there and would wipe them from the history books.

At mid-point, Nick and Marny accompanied me back to the
Hotspur
to make the all-important call to Mars Protectorate.

We wouldn't be fulfilling the letter of our agreement with Mars Protectorate and I wasn't sure how they'd handle it. But, I didn't care. They'd pushed us too far, using us to do their dirty work. They had leverage and used it. It was now our turn to use the leverage we had. In my mind, M-Pro differed from Red Houzi because they had laws they upheld. But in this action, they'd been little more than thugs.

"Belcose, come in, are you there?" I asked.

I waited a minute and tried again.

"Belcose, come in, are you there?"

"Belcose here. What's your status,
Hotspur
?"

"Gregor, I need to talk with Commander Sterra," I said.

"What's your status?" he asked.

"We're up, but we've got a change in plans."

"Please communicate," he said.

"I need to talk to Commander Sterra," I repeated.

"Understood."

The four of us sat in my office, waiting. I felt the pressure of the situation.

"Commander Sterra here," came a familiar voice.

"Commander, we've got a situation."

"I see. How might I be of assistance today?" she asked.

"Commander, I'm sorry for putting you in this position, but honestly you're the only one at the Protectorate that I trust."

"This sounds pretty serious, Liam. What's going on?"

"I need you to take command of a dreadnaught filled with pirates," I said.

"Are you joking?" she asked incredulously.

"No, certainly not. But, I have some terms that have to be fulfilled first."

"Are you saying you've located the dreadnaught and you want to change your deal with Alderson?" she asked.

"No. I'm saying we've captured the dreadnaught and I want to change the deal. I don't trust Alderson."

"Liam. He's a good man and is under a lot of pressure."

"Be that as it may, will you negotiate with me?"

"Are you sure you want to do it this way?"

"Yes. Terms are pretty straightforward. We'll deliver the dreadnaught to the neutral zone. The Judiciary will pardon Xie Mie-su for all crimes. The Navy will pay to restore all of Tabby's limbs and let her have her spot back at the Academy once she's healed. And we want to be held harmless for all actions up to this point and be kept anonymous." Nick had given me most of the terms.

"That's it?"

"Yes."

"And if we refuse?" she asked.

"Don't," I said. "What we're asking for is fair."

"I thought Mie-su was your enemy."

"Things change. Also, you might be interested to know we destroyed the Houzi's second fleet," I said.

"Say again?"

"As well as their outpost," I said.

"Please repeat last," she said.

"The Red Houzi's second fleet, consisting of one destroyer, two corvettes and several frigates, was destroyed. We have data streams we'll share with you once we come to an agreement."

"Give me an hour," she said.

"Roger that."

"You didn't need to put me into all of that. I'm just glad we got out of there alive," Tabby said.

"It's not enough for me. Mars needs to pay their debts to the veterans. I can't make 'em do it for everyone, but I can at least make them pay for you."

"I can't say I haven't dreamed of it," she said.

"I know."

Marny disappeared for half an hour and came back with a tray full of steaming food. We'd been limited to ration bars for the last week and it smelled delicious.

It was hard to enjoy the food, as my stomach was nervous. I had too much riding on this. The Navy could treat us as the enemy. If they did, I wasn't sure what we'd do.

"Captain Hoffen?" It was Admiral Alderson's voice.

"Speaking," I said.

"This is Admiral Alderson. I understand you've got news for us," he said.

"Yes, sir. We've captured the dreadnaught
Bakunawa
and would like to deliver her to the Navy for safekeeping."

"I understand you have some conditions," he said.

"We do."

"It feels like you're going rogue on me here. You realize I could declare you an enemy of the state and throw you in prison for the rest of your life."

"Yes, sir. I do," I said.

"And you want to proceed with your demands?"

"They are hardly unreasonable conditions." This man infuriated me, but I just needed to get through the next few minutes.

"Wouldn't do you much good from prison," he said.

"I would hate to need protection from my own country. But if I do, it seems that the North Americans or the Chinese would love to get their hands on this ship. If you ask me, I'd like to see Mars Protectorate come out on top here. Are you sure you want to go down this path?" I asked.

"No, probably not. I like to test the mettle of the men I go up against and I like that you haven't caved. I took a big risk trusting a group of mercs like yourselves, but Commander Sterra was right about you and Mars needs this win," he said. He clearly couldn't see the sweat dripping from my face. "I accept your terms."

"We're sending coordinates now. We'll be there in a week," I said.

"We'll make sure to provide a warm reception," he said and signed off.

I looked around at my crew and friends. "Do you think we can trust him?"

Marny was looking at me, face ashen, and eyebrows raised.

"What?" I asked.

"Do you realize you just threatened an Admiral in the Navy? That was Buckshot Alderson, for frak sake," Marny said.

"So, you think he's good for his word?" I asked.

"That was a recorded conversation. You can't get a more binding contract. And he might be a hard-ass, but I've read about him. He's as honest as he is scary," Marny said, shaking her head in disbelief.

EPILOGUE

Even with Xie's frequent updates, the crew was restless. And, for good reason. We barely had enough hands to keep the ship going, feed everyone and perform necessary maintenance. It was obvious to the veteran pirates that we weren't on the up-and-up with them and we ended up repelling a couple of mutiny attempts. Fortunately for us, the fortress design of the bridge, as well as the overwhelming force of the mechanized infantry suits, made the few ill-conceived assaults short-lived.

A day from our destination, our thoughts turned to what we'd do next and I realized that it would be our last chance to load up on supplies before the Navy took over.

"Nick, can you see if you can find some missiles? We should load up the
Hotspur
while we're here," I said.

The
Hotspur
had two launch tubes and room for six missiles in total. If you could find them, missiles sold for seventy-five thousand and you could pay two or three times that amount if you weren't close in to Mars.

"Good idea. There are two pallets on the starboard flight deck," he said.

Marny and I equipped the mechanized suits and tromped our way down to the flight deck. Under normal circumstances the deck should be filled with twenty fighters. A single fighter, apparently not operational, sat abandoned and alone on the otherwise barren deck. The missiles weren't difficult to find, held in a rack that was designed to hold thirty such pallets.

Once I saw the pallets, it wasn't difficult to convince Marny to help me load them into the hold. Originally, I'd just thought to grab six and arm the
Hotspur
, but twenty four missiles were hard to ignore. We were careful to strap them tightly to the floor of the hold. It would be the only booty we'd take. I was a little disappointed to discover the pirates didn't have a treasure trove, but two dozen missiles wasn't nothing.

Once loaded, I pushed Tabby to take off in the
Hotspur
and meet us after the exchange was complete. Initially, she'd resisted, but the very real possibility of the Navy coming at us aggressively changed her mind - especially with a hold full of missiles.

A significant design difference between a naval ship and a pirate ship is the ability to control just about every function directly from the bridge. On a naval ship, there is a reasonable expectation that competent men and women will perform their jobs, better than any commander or bridge crew could possibly do by themselves. On a pirate ship, there's no reasonable assumption of loyalty. As a result, every aspect of the ship had to be controllable directly from the bridge. Operating this way was not something that could be done well, but at a minimum, every system could be shut down or frozen.

Under Xie's command, the
Bakunawa
came to a halt at our pre-ordained coordinates at exactly the time we'd arranged. I felt a certain amount of letdown when there was no Navy to be seen. Over the last twelve hours we'd been shutting down major systems throughout the ship and closing off bulkheads, slowly at first, with the goal of segregating the crew. Shortly before arrival, we'd shut down all major systems and movement throughout the ship was extremely limited. Marny, Nick and I had spent the last six hours of our approach hunkered down outside the bridge in the mechanized suits. We'd anticipated a final rush on the bridge, but none came. I had to remind myself that the crew we had on the
Bakunawa
had been rejected by not one, but two different fleets the Red Houzi had organized.

One moment, we were sitting in empty space, a million kilometers from Jeratorn, barely poking our toe into Mars Protectorate space. The next moment, a giant fleet of M-Pro Naval ships appeared, virtually from nowhere. They'd executed combat burns, arriving neatly, formed up five kilometers off our bow. In space combat terms, they'd landed on our head.

This was no quick reactionary force, but rather the biggest collection of ships I could imagine. There were three battleships, seven destroyers and more corvettes, frigates and cutters (although I admit to not even looking for them) than I cared to count. In short, if they wanted to make an example of us, there would be little we could do about it.

All hands
, "This is Captain Xie. If you look at your monitors, you'll see that we've run into a small snag. I've overridden all systems and have no desire to go down in a blaze of glory. If you would be so kind as to patiently wait for a friendly boarding party, I'm sure we'll be back about our business shortly."

"Having fun?" I asked her.

"Something about having a shiny new record has put me in a good mood," Xie replied.

"You know, that's only for past sins, right? You have to straighten up now," I said.

"It's certainly something to consider," she said. "By the way, the boarding parties are only two decks away. I recommend you disarm those suits, I doubt you want to appear too provocative."

"Aye, Cap. I think she's got a point there," Marny said.

We stripped out of our suits and joined Xie on the bridge. We'd bound the remaining bridge crew, more for their safety than ours. Under different circumstances, they seemed like they might be decent enough people.

Admiral Alderson swaggered onto the bridge, leading two of the burliest Marines I'd ever seen, who were desperately trying to get in front of him.

"I admit to being a little disappointed you didn't put up any resistance," he said.

"I like to keep my word," I said biting off what I really wanted to say.

"I appreciate that, but it would have made quite a recording," he said.

"Any chance we could get a shuttle to our ship? It looks like you have this more than under control," I asked.

Admiral Alderson was magnanimous, directing a cutter to take us wherever we requested. There was a tense moment when we loaded into the mechanized suits, but he apparently preferred to have us out of the way and stood his guard down.

I was relieved when we finally loaded onto the
Hotspur
and watched the cutter speed away.

"Xie, where can we drop you?" I asked.

"Where are you headed?"

"We'll probably burn for Jeratorn - we're short on fuel - then on to Mars."

"I wouldn't mind visiting an old friend on Jeratorn," she said.

"Hollise?" I asked.

"How could you possibly guess that?"

"Are you sure you want to go into business with her?"

"What. Beth-Anne? She's mostly harmless. Smuggling is much less dangerous than being a pirate."

Two weeks later we finally arrived at Mars, having dropped Xie off at the Welded Tongue bar on Jeratorn. I wasn't sure that Xie was making a great life choice, but it was certainly hers to make. News reports from the Navy were incredible, not to mention completely fictitious. The news outlets had been buzzing about the end of the Red Houzi pirates and how the Navy had gloriously captured a previously undiscovered dreadnaught and destroyed all traces of the once mighty opponent.