Frozen Soul, and other works: Chapter 168

(Pirate Ship Love Gunn, Amazon System)

Captain Gunn was liking this whole setup less and less. They had one hundred and twenty-five pirate ships here in the Amazon system. This was the larges pirate armada that had ever been assembled in one place at one time for attacking a single target. And they were all doomed to die a dog’s death if the Pirate Lords had their way.

If they were going to descend upon one of the fringe worlds of the different empires, or perhaps one of the less powerful planets in the Free Worlds Alliance, then they would have been poised to make a tremendous windfall on raiding a planet. But the Pirate Lords had gotten it in their heads that Nuevo Edo was ‘an isolated colony’ with a young navy. The Black Stars had moved most of their people out of the system, and the Nuevo Edo Navy was beginning to step up and become the primary force in the system. To the Pirate Lords, that meant that a planet full of mostly women was relatively unguarded, protected only by a young and inexperienced Navy.

Even if, in the best-case scenario, that was correct, the ships the NEN used were Black Star designs, and had been battle tested against the X’thari. He’d seen the reports on the forums about what those ships were capable of. Worse, it was almost certain that the system would be absolutely filthy with tarpits to keep them from fleeing once they showed up, while no one knew for certain if the NEN had any of the Black Stars’ FTL weapons. Those weapons scared the hell out of Gunn, as they did any sane person. By the time you realized someone was shooting at you, you were already dead.

The Pirate Lords did not know who they were messing with. The idea that all the Black Star ships would be missing, while they still had Black Star facilities in the system, was simply ignorant. The boss of Black Star was too damn paranoid and controlling for that. There would be actual Black Star ships there, and they most certainly WOULD have the best that Black Star could offer. That guy didn’t believe in ‘fair fights’, either.

Twenty-five ships in the fleet had Nomads on them. He was one of five Nomad captains in the pirate fleet. Fifteen more had Nomads as either the first or second officers on their ships. The other five had Nomads as crew, but their Captains knew that the Nomads were able to get information they couldn’t otherwise get hold of, so they had some influence. That was enough ships that they could form a pretty reasonable pirate clan, on their own. So, Gunn had been quietly (VERY quietly!) discussing things over the Nomad chat for the system.

Most of these pirates had only heard exaggerated stories of what the Black Stars could do. The bastard was a streamer, so the Nomads knew much, much better how nasty tangling with Black Star would be. When he made my pitch, he used the footage I’d been able to get of the battles. The first clip he used was the battle of Edena, showing what just a handful of ships created by Black Star could do to superdreadnoughts, which were worlds more powerful than anything in the pirate fleet. After that, the next three clips were of the Black Star response to the Booty Bay pirates attacking them, starting with the stealth ships appearing out of nowhere to ravage the pirates, then the ‘battle’ over Booty Bay itself, which was more of a slaughter, and finishing up with the footage of the Pirate Queen’s execution.

By the end of his presentation, the twenty-four other captains had agreed to his plan, at least as far as not going into this death trap. A couple had a friend or two on other ships they wanted to bring in to this, but when they were asked whether they trusted those friends enough to keep their traps shut instead of blabbing to the Pirate Lords, they shut up fast. Everyone knew the risks. This was mutiny, and there was only one punishment for that, unless you had something to offer as a slave.

It was a big risk they were taking, but the fact that the convoy that was supposed to come through Amazon on their way to this new colony the Black Stars had set up had suddenly gotten spooked suggested that the Black Stars were watching this system more closely than anyone suspected. That meant that any direct attack from Amazon was doomed. And going ‘the long way’ was pointless, because there were only two targets of note in this whole arm of the galaxy, and Black Star was sitting on both of them. Pirates were not soldiers. The sight of any potential profit rapidly evaporating along with the chances of any of the attackers returning from a raid on Nuevo Edo played well. When forced to choose between loyalty to the Pirate Lords and survival, they chose to survive.

So, when the Pirate Lords finally got things organized, and the fleet jumped into warp to take the two week long flight to Nuevo Edo, twenty-five ships hung back, and then quickly dialed the Gateway for Coraline. All under the watchful gaze of the Black Star probes in the system.

(Espina Naval Base, Nuevo Edo Orbit, Nuevo Edo System)

Admiral Gabriela Saez shook her head as she watched the sensor data the Black Star officer had dropped off at her office. She had known that they kept probes watching the Amazon Gateway, so the fact that a group of pirates were preparing to launch an attack on her system was not a surprise. It was, however, interesting to see a full fifth of the fleet apparently get cold feet and run back where they came from. It seemed that some of those pirates were smarter than others. However, that still left just over a hundred pirates to deal with.

The Black Star officer and her aide had run the numbers, and they weren’t as bad as they might otherwise seem. The majority of the pirate ships were frigates and corvettes, with several cruisers in the mix. The big hitters were all destroyers, heavily armed and armored, but not up to the same standard as a X’thari superdreadnought. She shook her head again.

“What do these pirates think they can gain from this, other than a quick death?”

The officer coughed, and said, “With respect, Admiral, they probably are blinded by the fact that your navy is young, and that this planet still has a population of almost 73% females. Because the new ships have been kept in stealth for the most part, the true size of the Nuevo Edo Navy and Black Star Navy forces in this system has been reported by some passing through the system as being a skeleton crew. The NEN Wrath of Sekhmet has not actually been seen in action before, and the yardies have managed to hide new ship construction with repairing the old ships. So they believe you are a nice, juicy target that can’t defend itself.”

Admiral Saez grinned fiercely at that. “Well, we shall certainly disabuse them of that idea. Has Admiral Mollen given any orders to Black Star for this battle?”

“No, Ma’am. Currently, the Fifth Group is still working to bolster system defense. He did, however, offer two courses of action. In the first, the Black Star forces take the lead, intercepting the enemy forces and destroying what we can. Unfortunately, that would leave only scraps for your crews, and it would likely be deleterious to your people’s morale.”

Saez grimaced. The thought of ‘hiding behind Black Star’ would cripple the confidence of her crews. They had accepted it and even embraced it early on, because they did not have the strength to stand on their own against a foe that was clearly out of their depth. And they had fought as well as the Black Stars, earning their commendations. No, she couldn’t do that to her crews. “And the other suggestion?”

“To flip the previous scenario, and have the Nuevo Edo Navy meet the pirates in battle, with Black Star backstopping you to prevent any lucky pirates from being able to reach the planet or flee the system.” Admiral Saez smiled now. That was far more to her liking. It would allow her crews to fight and gain experience, while ensuring that the planet was protected. And the image of Black Star supporting the Navy, instead of the other way around, would be a great bolster to the fleet, even with losses in combat.

Of course, she knew that Black Star won either way. If they led, then they got combat pay, and salvage rights. If Nuevo Edo led, they would still gain from the contracts to repair and replace any ships damaged in the fighting. That didn’t matter to her. All that mattered was that she kept her planet safe, and made sure that the Navy could grow into something they could be proud of.

Looking at the Black Star officer, Admiral Saez nodded, and said, “Yes, I will lead the fleet from the Wrath of Sekhmet, and we will destroy these pirates while the Black Stars keep watch over the planet to ensure that there are no unpleasant surprises. It is time for the people of Nuevo Edo to see that the Nuevo Edo Navy is capable of defending them. And it is time for these pirates to learn that we are no longer prey.”

(Black Star Shipyards, Dimiya Orbit, Dimiya System)

In the part of the shipyards reserved solely for ships that were slated for the Black Star Navy or the Black Star Company as a whole, the first of an all new line of ships was nearing completion. Though it was the roughly the size and shape of the Starlight Raven and her sisters, this was no freighter. The ship was far more armored than the freighters were, and had a distinct lack of cargo capacity beyond supplies for its small crew of two, plus an onboard AI.

What was going in all that space, if it wasn’t cargo and crew? Especially since the ship barely had any weapons to speak of? The simple truth was that this ship, the BSS Heartseeker had been designed to be massively overpowered. Not in terms of weaponry, of course, but the power core was equivalent to a military vessel far larger than it was, the engines were some of the most powerful ones in existence, and in addition to the hyperdrive, it also had twin X’thari Anchor Drives, which, when both were charged, allowed the ship to drop in to any Gate system, and then pop out very shortly, if needed. Of course, that massive power plant also helped charge shields that would be the equal of a heavy frigate. Combined, there were very few things which could catch up to the Heartseeker, and fewer of those things could do her harm before she could escape.

This was a good thing, in Drah Sross’s opinion. After her Master had recruited her for this gig, she’d done her best to familiarize herself with the Heartseeker’s schematics. The little ship wouldn’t win any fights, but she could get away from them without too much trouble. Most of this, however, would be deep reconnaissance. They would be going far into the unknown, with no backup and no possible help. Anything that managed to catch them would probably kill them.

She was surprised to learn that she was nominally in charge of this mission. But then, that made a certain kind of sense, since she was the pilot. The mechanic doubled as a navigator, and they were both backed up by the AI, which was the primary sensor tech. Oh yeah, another very large portion of the Heartseeker’s mass was given over to the most advanced and extensive suite of sensors Drah had ever heard of on a ship this small. It would rival the power and sensitivity of the most advanced warships in any navy, and here it was on something that was basically a light freighter purposefully rebuilt into a scout ship!

She still hadn’t met her two crewmates, but she hoped that they would at least be able to stand each other. Deep space scouting missions meant a lot of time in close quarters. If your crew got on your nerves, that was going to be a major problem, sooner rather than later. But the Master had given them a task, and she was eager to go. Now if only the ship would finish being built already!