Hunted (Space Rogue Book 2) Read online

  "We don't even know what the freighter is carrying in its cargo holds."

  "It doesn't matter. The Alliance wants what that freighter is carrying. That is good enough for me."

  "They're making a run for deep space," Natasha reported.

  "Set an intercept course, flank speed."

  The freighter couldn't escape us and they knew it. The engines powering the hedgehog were salvaged from a destroyer. They were much more powerful than the freighters civilian engines. The freighter's helmsman tried evading.

  Natasha was temporarily handicapped, by not being able to communicate with her our ships computer. Her core memory was in the process of being installed in the cruiser that was being rebuilt to replace the ship I sacrificed to destroy the Alliance space station in the Faraka system. Even limited to the processing power and the files stored in her avatar, Natasha was more than a match for almost any pilot. She anticipated the helmsman's maneuvers before he even made them.

  Our ship closed to within firing range and our gunners fired. They concentrated their weapons fire on the freighters engines and shield generators. A mix of armor piercing 40 mm rounds, high explosive rounds and energy bolts from the Hedgehog's plasma cannon brought the freighters shields down and tore its armor plating apart.

  An explosion in the aft section of the freighter, followed by its drives shutting down signaled the freighters defeat. Our gunners, well trained, stopped firing but maintained their readiness.

  "Tanya, signal the freighter. Terms for surrender are unconditional. Any member of their crew with a weapon will be thrown out the nearest airlock.

  Natty, dock on their port side."

  I switched on the ship's com and addressed the crew, "All hands assigned to boarding team alpha report to the starboard airlock; Bravo team report to security stations.

  Natty, stay here. You have the controls.

  "But..."

  "Don't worry. I'm wearing my lucky armor. I'll be okay," Tanya assured her.

  Amber, Tanya, and I left the bridge and headed to the starboard side airlock. There was a slight jolt when our docking port extended and connected with the freighter. The docking clamps locked; the docking tube pressurized, then we got a green light signaling it was safe to open the airlock doors.

  I opened both airlock doors and crossed the short distance to the Alliance freighter. Its airlock doors stood open waiting for us. I was met by four men and a female inside of the freighter; the bridge officers. They were all dressed in charcoal gray ship coveralls. Each coverall had two patches, one over the heart with the Alliance symbol, a burning torch; the other was the ship's patch identifying the freighter as being called the Double Deuce with two dice each showing the number two.

  "I am Priam, captain of the Double Deuce. Attacking and boarding my ship is an act of Piracy."

  "My name is Captain Roberts. Consider yourselves fortunate. We have just come from the Rylon system, and I have no wish to return anytime soon. My presence here is an act retribution, not piracy. The Alliance owes me for what they have done to my friends and family."

  "Roberts? I heard you were dead. I know of your traitorous acts. You are a dead man. The Alliance will hunt you to the end of the universe. When the catch you and your crew, all of you will hang. I look forward to watching your execution."

  "That is not a good way to greet your benefactor." I pulled my blaster from its holster and shot two of the officers. They weren't dead; they were only stunned. He didn't know that. "Amber, take the female prisoner aboard the Hedgehog. I'll deal with her later."

  "You can't do that; she is my wife. I paid good money for her contract."

  "She is either my slave, or food; I haven't decided which. Do not cause me any further displeasure."

  "We will not cause any problems."

  "Let's take a look at your cargo. Lead the way."

  I no longer wondered why the freighter was unescorted. The cargo was useless to us. It consisted of mostly food and personal hygiene items commonly used by the Alliance military. The food was rated below anything I would consider feeding my crew; I couldn't sell it and make a profit, but I couldn't let the Alliance keep the food.

  "Captain, have your crew remove two containers of food and move them to your personal storage. Everything else will be jettisoned."

  "The Alliance will not be happy."

  "As you said, I am already a dead man. Besides, they should thank me for dumping this garbage for them."

  After making sure the cargo was jettisoned, I sounded the recall and headed back to my ship. I switched on my comlink, "Amber, you can send the prisoner back to her ship."

  "She doesn't want to leave. She has even agreed to be your personal servant in exchange for her freedom."

  "I don't need or want a servant."

  "We need more crew. She is a skilled mechanic."

  "Have Jane remove her control collar. Assign her a birth and put her on the duty schedule."

  I sealed and locked our airlocks, then headed to the bridge. "Natasha, undock and set course for home."

  "What about the freighter?"

  "They are free to leave. It will take them a few days to make repairs, by then we will be long gone."

  "It is unlikely they will be able to repair their ship. We have their chief mechanic aboard our ship."

  "Then they will have to wait until someone friendly repairs their ship or tows it away."

  It took us an hour to reach a safe jump point and enter hyperspace.

  Busted

  "What in the hell did you do to my ship!" Red yelled. "I sent you on a simple cargo pickup, and you came back with my ship's hull scorched, all of the paint burned off, and half of the ammunition expended."

  "The damn bugs attacked us!"

  "Everything was prearranged. All you had to do was give the Rylons the prisoners in the cryogenic pods."

  "I did. I even gave the damn bugs a bonus. I let them have the traitor who gave me away to the Alliance for free."

  "Then why did they attack?"

  "How should I know?"

  "Tell me what happened. Don't leave anything out."

  "I left here in the Hedgehog a month ago."

  "Skip to after you gave the Rylons the Alliance soldiers and collected the empty cryo-pods."

  "The Rylons escorted us to the second planet in the system. Minerva wouldn't let us land. She was afraid the bugs would eat us. She told us that she never landed there before without escort ships to make sure that you were safe. Our landing was delayed by almost 8 hours. She finally agreed to land after we constructed six launchers and loaded them with canisters containing a strong neurotoxin. Everything was going as planned until we were in the middle of loading the last gun. That is when the bugs attacked. It looked like every Rylon on the planet was attacking. They ambushed us with the crawler halfway up the ramp. Minerva fought the bugs off long enough for us to finish loading the gun and take off. After that, we came home."

  "The Rylons must have hatched a new queen and killed the reigning queen. That is the only explanation for their attack. But, it doesn't explain how my ship got cooked."

  "The Rylons attacked us from orbit while we were still in the atmosphere. I took manual control and did a full power dive towards the planet skimming the surface and used the speed we gained to climb out on an angle away from the bugs. When we got far enough away, we entered hyperspace and came home."

  "That explains almost everything. You were at the helm, not Natasha."

  "If I wasn't at the helm, we would have been food for the bugs, and the Hedgehog would be a roach motel."

 
"How did you come back with more crew than you left with? Did you steal her from the Rylons dinner table?"

  "No, we picked her up on the way back."

  "Don't bother trying to explain how you did that. At least you brought my ship back in one piece this time."

  The last two times I borrowed Red's ship to pick up weapons he salvaged from wrecked or abandoned warships, the Hedgehog spent a month in the repair docks having its hull patched and armor replaced. It wasn't my fault that there were other people interested in his weapon cache. The Hedgehog had a lot of guns mounted to its hull, but it lacked missiles. That meant we had to get in close to our attackers and fight harder. Red shouldn't be so upset. His uncle was paying for the repairs, not him.

  After defeating the people who attacked us, we had to leave the hulks behind for the scavengers. The Hedgehog's docking clamps weren't designed to withstand the stress of towing another ship.

  Thankfully, my new ship would be ready in a few days. After today, I wouldn't need to worry about Red getting mad at me everytime I scratched the paint on the Hedgehog. Besides, repairs to the Vengeance were nearing completion, and he would be busy captaining his new ship.

  Like me, Red was busy recruiting crew for his new ship. Unlike me, he had a lot of mercenary friends volunteering to sign on as crew for his growing fleet. He needed thousands of people to man his ships. I was having problems finding 100 crewmen and women to sign on to as my crew. I developed a reputation, and it wasn't a good one. People thought of me as a trouble magnet.

  I paid better than anyone else. A lot of my old crew were wealthy. A few were even able to retire after being paid their bonuses. The problem was, people were afraid they wouldn't live long enough to get paid. That was ridiculous. I made sure my crew got paid monthly, and every time we came into space dock or planetfall.

  It turned out that Crewman Donovan had a lot of friends. She had a lot better luck filling my vacancies with qualified volunteers than Amber or I were. Of course, a 50 credit bonus for everyone she got to sign on was a hell of a motivator. She made more credits during the last few days than most of my crew made in a month.

  I still had to come up with a name for the christening of my new ship. It couldn't go out being called the nameless ship, although a few had. I didn't need that reputation too. I had been researching different names whenever I had free time. I wanted a name that was unique and didn't sound like the name of a warship. It had to be a name recognized in history, preferably a female name, and with a good story behind it. I just finished reading one that I liked on my comm unit.

  "Amber, what do you think about naming our ship the Persephone?"

  "Who was she?

  "She was probably some floozy he picked up in space dock," Tanya insisted. "You shouldn't let him name the ship, especially after a female. His reputation is already bad enough."

  "I never met anyone named Persephone."

  "How do you know? You rarely get the names or comm codes from the women you sleep with. The few that you managed to get have nicknames like Trixie or Stella."

  "Stella has a nice sound to it. I'll add it to the shortlist, maybe Stella Star, but I need to find a story to go with the name."

  "I am still waiting for an answer. Who was Persephone?"

  "According to the historical files I read, Persephone was a goddess who lived, thousands of years ago, on Earth. Her mother, Demeter, was a horticulturist. She was responsible for growing crops for all of the people. She must have been in charge of a large agricultural center, maybe even the CEO of a biodome. Her father was Zeus. He was in charge of everyone. He must have been a starship captain to have such responsibility.

  Anyhow, Persephone was very young and beautiful, probably around the age of twelve." I showed the picture of her, which I still had on my comm unit, to Amber, Tanya, and Natasha. Persephone had long sandy blond hair and bright blue eyes. She was wearing a white, full-length white tunic that was tied at the waist and had ornate clasps on the shoulders. Over the tunic, she was wearing a light blue toga.

  "She doesn't have any boobs," Natasha pointed out.

  "Back then women didn't develop as young as they do now."

  "But she is already twelve. Most girls have respectable boobs by the age of nine."

  "Even without boobs, most females were married by her age. But, her mother didn't want her even dating until she was older, maybe as old as sixteen."

  "That is too old to start dating," Tanya said. "I started dating when I was ten."

  "I got you beat. I had sex with Doc 20 minutes after I was activated."

  "Jewel and I didn't start bringing boys home, to have fun with, until we were twelve."

  "Anyhow, one of her uncles, Hades, felt sorry for her. Persephone looked good enough that he was willing to overlook the fact that she was already past her prime. He saw Persephone, alone, picking a bouquet of flowers and abducted her. He brought her to his home in the underworld.

  When Persephone's mother found out, she stopped all food production and started a riot with her workers. She kept the people hungry and rioting until Zeus agreed to bring her daughter home.

  Persephone knew that if she ate the food in the underworld, she would be bound to it and Hades forever. Hades liked to host parties and prepared a banquet for his friends and family. Persephone's hunger got the best of her, and she gave in to it and ate some food."

  "How come the other people could eat the food and Persephone couldn't?"

  "They were all adult gods and goddesses. They were powerful enough that the food didn't affect them. Persephone was only a young girl and didn't have much power yet.

  After a lot of arguing, Zeus and Hades agreed to let Demeter's daughter return to the world of the living. Persephone would be allowed to return to her mother for a part of the year. She had to return to the underworld and spend one month with Hades for every plate of food she ate.

  Persephone returned and spent the spring and summer months with her mother, Demeter. Hades felt lonely for the first time in his life. He realized that he came to love Persephone, during the time she spent with him as his captive. When Persephone returned in the fall, as promised, Hades married her and made her the Queen of The Underworld."

  "Are you sure you are not making that story up?" Tanya asked.

  "I'll send you the file. You can read it for yourself."

  "I like the name Persephone a lot better than Stella Star. How many other names do you have on the list?"

  "So far those are the only two."

  "Then let's call Chief Mike and let him know that we have decided on a name."

  Amber made the call. While she was talking with him, I had another flash of inspiration, "Let's board the Persephone and explore our new ship."

  "We can't board the starship until after the christening ceremony," Natasha explained, " Red has his men guarding the docking tube."

  "We can take a shuttle and board the Persephone through the dorsal shuttle bay."

  "None of the space station's shuttle pilots will take us there. They are all afraid of what my brother will do to them. Jewel can help sneak us aboard one of the Lucy's shuttlecraft. No one will be expecting us to borrow one of my sister's shuttles."

  The Hedgehog was docked on the green ring, two rings below the maintenance docks. Mike could unload the guns in the Hedgehog's cargo hold there and move the ship into a hangar for repainting later when he had more room.

  The Lucy was docked on the blue docking ring. It was a long walk coreward to the express elevators, that could take us directly to the blue ring, then a long walk back to the outer docking ring and the space docks. Instead of walking, I hired a shuttle to take us to the blue docking ring, and
let us off as close to the Lucy as he could manage. The Lucy was a busy ship, and most of the docks around it would be occupied.

  The shuttle docked in docking bay 17 and let us off there. We had to walk the rest of the way to dock 23. It could have been a lot worse; he could have taken us to dock one or to dock forty-four.

  The Lucy's entrance stood wide open, inviting us inside. It was early evening and prime time for the Lucy. Very few people caused problems aboard the freighter, fearing they would receive a lifetime ban if they did. Customers walked into and out of the docking tube, but mostly into the ship.

  The four of us walked into the Lucy close behind another group of people, close enough that anyone observing us would think that we were one large group. No one challenged us.

  We headed from the business section of the Lucy's former cargo hold to Jewels cabin. Jewel was a masseuse and worked during the day. She had a small client base; she barely made enough credits to stay current on her rent aboard the Lucy, and have a few credits remaining to spend on herself. Jewel didn't need or want much. She was satisfied with just being close to her friends.

  Jewel could have made a lot more credits by giving exotic massages with extras or just having sex with the customers, but that type of lifestyle didn't interest her. She was far from being a puritan and enjoyed having sex. She was just very choosy about who her partners were. She and I hit it off right from the start. Even when I didn't have time, I made time to visit with her. When I visited with Jewel, either I had to have Amber with me, or I had to tell my wife every detail about the visit. Jewel would tell her anyhow, so there were no secrets between us.

  I pressed the button outside of her cabin door to announce us. The door slid open. "It is about time you stopped by to visit me. Where in the hell have you been!" Jewel had a big smile on her face, so I know she was glad to see us.

  "It's nice seeing you again too. We just got back a few hours ago. We've been busy with a bug problem in the Rylon system."

  "Don't the Rylons eat people?"