Pursue the Past: Samair in Argos: Book 1 (95 page)

              “Good.  Comms, anything from
Ganges
about what our shuttles are doing?”

              Serinda shook her head, tucking a tendril of dark hair behind her ear.  “No, Captain.  Not a peep.  There’s a good deal of comm traffic between the other ships, but nothing directed at us.  Or at the locals either.”

              He nodded.  “All right.  Carry on, everyone.”

              Half a day later, the convoy had broken apart, all of them heading to the hyper limit.  Two of
Grania Estelle
’s cargo bays had been loaded up with asteroids, which were already in the process of being broken down for transfer to the replicators and the shuttles were back in the boat bay.  There were a lot of repairs that needed doing, and not many that could be done in hyper, namely shield relays, sensors, and replacements for the rail guns and laser cannons, but there was a good deal of work that needed to be done inside the ship while they were waiting.  And it would be an extremely long trip from here to Amethyst, trundling along at Red level six in hyperspace.  No one was looking forward to the ninety-six day trip, now that they’d gotten used to doing the same distance in a little over three weeks.

              “Captain, we’ve got a hyper footprint,” Kutok reported succinctly.  “Fifteen light minutes away.”

              He turned to her.  “Anything more than that?”

              The hak’ruk angled her head slightly as she worked her console, studying the readings.  He didn’t get aggravated at her because the contact was quite a distance away, but everyone on the bridge was hanging on her every word.

              “Another of Verrikoth’s friends, perhaps?” he mused.  The soldier standing at the doorway to the bridge, shifted his stance a little, but he didn’t speak.  The captain glanced over at the human male standing there, a rugged man, his face covered with burn scars, his chest armor looking worn, though his weapon was immaculate.  The soldier met the captain’s eye for a moment before looking away to ogle the communications officer.  Serinda pointedly ignored him.

              “Could be, Captain,” Kutok replied slowly.  “It’s a warship, definitely, and from what I can tell, it’s a bit bigger than
Ganges
and her sister ships.”

              “Keep on it, Kutok.  Serinda, anything?”

              The young woman blinked.  “Captain, she’s a warship, all right, Kutok is right about that.  But she’s broadcasting Republic ID!”

              He shrugged.  “That’s not too uncommon,” he drawled, though his mind was racing.  “Get Moxie on the comms, now.”

              Serinda looked puzzled for only an instant, but then she got it.

              Tamara trotted onto the bridge a few minutes later.  “You wanted to see me, Captain?”

              “We have company,” he replied, pointing to the display.  “A Republic warship.”

              She shrugged.  “Had to happen sometime.  I admit their timing could have been a little better.”  She ignored the glare the soldier behind her gave her.  She didn’t need to turn around to know that the man had been checking her out before she’d spoken.

              “I was thinking, and I believe you’re right, Moxie.”  He eyed her, clearly trying to send a message to her through willpower alone.  “Do you remember what happened at Instow?”

              Tamara nodded in understanding.  “I do.  You want I should do that now?”

              “Yes, Moxie, I do.”

              She walked over to the communications console, and Serinda gladly slid over to accommodate her in the cramped space.  Tamara went to work on the console, bringing up with the same ID and communications codes she’d used back at Instow to trick the Republic ships there that
Grania Estelle
was actually a Naval Reserve vessel.  It was a risk, in fact, a very serious risk, should Verrikoth decide to take retribution for this act.  She nodded to Kutok, who acknowledge her by nodding her shiny black head. 

              “Good to go,” Tamara reported, mentally crossing her fingers that the soldier wouldn’t react.  He didn’t seem the terribly interested in what they were doing.

              “Hold until five light minutes, Moxie.”

              “Understood, Captain.”  She glanced over at the guard, who leered at her suggestively.  Tamara gave him a disparaging look and then returned her attention to her console.

              “Commander, we’re got a small flotilla of ships that are moving toward the hyper limit,” the sensor operator reported.  “They’re about eleven hours away at their current speed.”

              “The bulk freighter is broadcasting ID,” the communications watch said excitedly.  “It’s her, sir.  It’s
Grania Estelle
.”

              Commander Harth tapped his fist on the arm of his command chair.  “Finally,” he said aloud.  After months of chasing them across this Cluster, they finally caught up to them, with the possibility that they might even catch them.  “Helm, set course to intercept, best speed.”

              “Aye, Commander,” the helmsman replied, putting in the commands on her console.

              “What’s her status, Sensors?” he asked, referring to the freighter.  “Are they indicating Naval Reserve status?”

              “No, sir, she isn’t.  She’s not as hale and hearty as we got at the reports from Hecate, sir,” he admitted.  “She’s taken some engine damage, in fact four of her six propulsion units are offline.  Also, her shield strength is considerably lower than it was before.”

              “Maybe they’re just keeping them up to hold off solar radiation, but not keeping them at full power?” Harth suggested.

              The sensor officer twisted his lips.  “I don’t think so, Commander.  Their power plan output matches the reading we got from the people at Hecate, in fact, it’s a little higher.  But I’m detecting a fair amount of hull damage on the port side of that ship, which is facing us.  They’ve got about half the number of shield relays they should, or
did
have back at Hecate.  I think they’ve been in a battle.”

              “What’s the story with her escorts?” Harth turned to his own display, frowning as he did so.

              “Eight ships, sir.  Three light cruisers, a corvette and four modified merchant vessels.”  The sensor officer frowned and then turned back to his captain.  “Sir, the corvette that’s holding position close to
Grania Estelle
, sir.”

              “What about it?” he asked.  There was a shiver in the deckplates as the artificial gravity systems compensated for
Legacy
’s acceleration.  He pressed a button and the display brought the corvette up, the sensor readouts scrolling down beside it helpfully.

              “Its Republic design,” the man replied.  “In fact, it’s
recent
design.  I’d say it was Cygness class, similar to that of
Fury
.”

              “
Is
that ship the
Fury
?” he asked, pressing a few controls.

              After a moment’s checking, the sensor officer shook his head.  “No, sir.  Same class, but it’s definitely a different ship.”

              “But it could be from
Fury’s
patrol unit?”

              The man nodded.  “Yes, sir, it could be.  In fact, it probably is.  They’re broadcasting their ID,
Ravage
on a Republic frequency, but they’re not using standard Republic military channels.”

              “Are they indicating they’re a Republic ship?”  That didn’t make sense.

              But the man was shaking his head again.  “Oh, no, sir.  Sorry, I didn’t mean to confuse you.  I meant they’re using Republic ID frequency, but they’re not using military codes.”
              The Commander waved one hand as though shooing away a fly.  “Whatever.  They’re with that rat pack of ships, and the fact that
Grania Estelle
is showing more damage makes me think that we’ve fallen in with a group of pirates.”  He smiled wolfishly.  “A group of
well
-armed pirates, but pirates nonetheless.”  He looked over the other ships on his display.  “What about the cruisers?  How much trouble did we just drop into?”

              “Well, from what I can tell, we might have a bit of a run for our money with those cruisers, Commander,” the sensor officer replied.  “Against one, we’d mop them up.  But against three, I think they could move around quick enough that we might not be able to focus on one long enough.”  He shook his head slowly.  “They’re outfitted with turbolasers and a few heavy laser cannons, but I think I might be seeing a couple of missile batteries on each of them.”

              Harth sighed.  That was a big force multiplier.  Of course,
Legacy
was also armed with turbolasers and heavy laser cannons on her broadsides, as well as a pair of Sierra-missile batteries in the bow and on each broadside.  A Republic heavy cruiser was no slouch and certainly nothing out here in the Cluster could stand toe-to-toe with
Legacy,
but as a group, depending on what they were armed with, they might be in a little bit of trouble.  Oh, Harth had no doubt he would emerge victorious, but his ship might take more damage and suffer more casualties than he’d like.  He didn’t want to suffer any, truth be told.

              “We’ll just deal with it.  Now I wish we’d loaded up with a couple of fighters.  Would have helped a lot with point defense.”  He sighed, straightening in his seat.  “Nothing for it now.  Continue on course.”

              “Captain, it’s a Republic heavy cruiser,” Kutok reported. 

              “They’re closing fast,” Eamonn replied.  “I suppose that’s a good thing.”  He smiled ruefully.  “I guess that’s what we wanted.”  Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the soldier by the door shift slightly.  Still nothing threatening, in fact, he seemed to be just as at ease than before the cruiser showed up.  Either this guy was the most laid back soldier imaginable, he was completely out of the loop as far as what his bosses were doing, or he knew something that Eamonn and his crew did not.  Eamonn was a betting man, and he was betting that the third option was the correct one.  He typed out a question and sent it to Tamara’s private frequency, the one Stella typically used to contact her on her implants.

              [The soldier on the bridge is way too relaxed.  Are we missing something?]

              Tamara tried to keep her face expressionless, but she shrugged noncommittally.  She motioned for Serinda to do her thing, and the younger woman quickly did another scan of all communications frequencies.  She shrugged her shoulders slightly, indicating she didn’t find anything out of the ordinary.  Tamara replied subvocally, sending a message to the Captain’s display.

              [Serinda and I aren’t finding anything, Captain.  This guy just might be way out of the loop, but I agree with you.  I think something is up.]

              The captain tapped his lips with one finger and then sent Tamara another message.  [Do it.]  She nodded, though he was facing away for her and couldn’t see.  She pressed the control and the
Grania Estelle
’s ID changed.  The bridge officers continued to stab at their consoles, Tamara watching over Serinda’s shoulder, all of them clawing at their heads trying to make sense out of this situation.  Why wasn’t the guard concerned?  And for that matter, why hadn’t Tyler or Verrikoth, or even the commanding officer on
Ravage
sent a message demanding to know why
Grania Estelle
was broadcasting Republic ID?

              Unseen by the others, the guard only smirked.

              “Commander,
Gra…
I mean Target One has changed her ID code,” the sensor officer on
Ganges
reported.

              “Changed how?” Tyler demanded.

              “They’re broadcasting Republic ID, sir,” the man replied meekly.  “Republic Navy Reserve.”

              Tyler frowned. 
Was it possible that this bulk freighter and her pain-in-the-ass captain were actually Republic Navy?  Is that why they fought so hard and so well to keep us away?

              But Verrikoth looked interested as he walked over.  “What iz thiss I hear about
Grania Esstelle
broadcassting Republic ID codez?”

              “Confirmed, Captain,” the sensor officer replied, bypassing Tyler, who grimaced. 

              The zheen let out a hissing laugh, though his face and antennae indicated he wasn’t really amused.  “It sseemz we have a very clever new member in my growing fleet, Commander.  The Captain of the bulk freighter is trying to ssignal the Republic cruizzer.”

              “That bastard,” Tyler swore.  “Even now, with troops on his ship and
Ravage
ready to pound him to scrap, he keeps trying to swindle us.”

              Verrikoth tipped his head to look over at the human.  “Sswindle uss?” he asked, hissing again.  “Thiss iz not some sshady buzinesss deal here, Commander.  I am looking to rule this Clusster.  And if the Republic decidez to come ssnooping around, then we musst deal with them.”