(Main Control Room, Madrigal Base)
“Boss! We’re getting a transmission from one of the relay satellites outside the asteroid field!”
Administrator Mathers looked up from the table where he was going over the information that I’d brought him, while we worked to make the Captain’s Meeting happen. The ‘two hour’ timeframe had already been pushed back to three, because pirates were pirates, and some people had to be talked to just right. Fortunately, Mathers was an old hand at getting the pirates to work together. Well, if not ‘together’, at least he got them working ‘not against him’, which was no small thing.
“Well, what does it say?”
“The Vile Lust was coming back with prizes, and got jumped just outside the field! The transmission broke up fast, but they said it was Black Star ships!”
That news did nothing to ease the Administrator’s state of mind. In fact, he got positively frantic about it now. “FUCK! We gotta lock this place down right now! Miles, we gotta get those drones up and ready to fight!”
Branchaven was about to say something, but the sound of a stunner came out of nowhere, and his eyes rolled up into the back of his head, before he dropped to the floor, completely out of it. Though they looked the same in their Marine armor, I knew that would be Major Khan. Good, single shot to the back of the head, close enough that there was some energy singing on the target’s hair. Two other marines stopped acting casual, and snapped into motion, quickly covering the room with their weapons, while the fourth bound the man’s hands and slapped a slave collar on him.
“What the hell? What is the meaning of this? Shaxidor, you dirty, double-crossing—” The administrator’s rant failed instantly when he turned to see my own stunner held directly in his face.
Still wearing Shaxidor’s face, I smiled, and said “So sorry, Administrator. We would have preferred doing this the quiet way, but it seems uninvited guests came to the party early. As of now, Black Star controls Madrigal Station.” And then I pulled the trigger, sending the Administrator to the blissful oblivion of sleep.
THAT finally caused all the other pirates in the room to start panicking, but the first ones that tried to act like they were going for a weapon or calling for help got shot down with stunshot, and before long everyone that wasn’t Black Star was either lying unconscious on the ground or on their knees, but either way they were now wearing shiny new slave collars. I looked at my bracer. It had been three minutes since the Cassandra order had been given.
Tapping on the bracer, I brought up the comms, so I could get a status report.
M.Mollen: Main Control is secure, all hostiles collared. Report in.
MelMeyers: Engineering locked down, hostiles eliminated.
Raven: Computer Control and Drone Command locked down. Hostiles collared. Infiltration of ship systems 97%. All infiltrated ships have powered down and are on lockdown. Three ships are resisting infiltration, all belonging to the Lark Clan.
BangBang: All sweep teams reporting. Pillars empty, locked down. All hostiles collared.
M.Mollen: Zero atmo on the pillars. Full lockdown protocols. Isolate the pirates from their ships.
Raven: Done.
Wataru: Setting off atmo leak warnings on the promenade. Pirates rushing for the shelters. Looks like they know at least that much of ship drills.
Bagman: Captains and their guards that were on their way to the meeting are trying to run back to their ships. Shots fired!
Yeller: Shit, shots heard on the south end of the marketplace. People are trying to rush back to their ships.
M.Mollen: Weapons free. Stun when you can. Kill if necessary. Boots on the ground make the call.
Yeller: Aye, Sir.
Looking over to the Major, I asked, “You got things while I go slip into something more comfortable?”
Major Khan smirked. “Sure. We’ve got eyes on the cameras, just in case any of the idiot pirates decide to grow a brain and try and take the control room. Most would probably be running to their ships, but with no atmosphere in the pillars, the doors are automatically locked down, and the pirates don’t have suits, from what we’ve seen.”
You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.
I laughed. “Ship suits are common as hell, yeah, but they’re expensive to get and hard to repair, especially if you’re likely to get shot or stabbed a few times. Which is why they don’t wear them unless they’re going ‘outside’ or doing maintenance.”
And with that, I stepped into the administrator’s office, and made sure that all the recording devices were off, including the ‘special’ ones that Mathers had for recording his ‘licensing review’ sessions with some of the station’s escorts. He was into some kinky stuff, if the info I got from his mind was any indication. Once I was alone, and not recorded, I stripped off Shaxidor’s clothes, and shifted into my ‘normal’ form. A few minutes later, I was armed and armored in my spec ops gear, ready to take the fight to whoever was trying to ruin my day. A couple of the pirates who weren’t unconscious saw me, and their eyes went wide as they realized the disguise. Let them try and figure out how I’d pretended to be Shaxidor in close quarters.
“Status?”
Major Khan looked up from a tablet, and said, “Lockdown procedures in effect, Admiral. We’ve managed to isolate active resistance to four main areas, and are preparing to use the atmospheric controls to neutralize them if they get too troublesome. Most of the resistance elsewhere is disorganized, with sidearms, and easily dealt with by sweepers. We took down several key troublemakers before the Cassandra call went out, which pleased our ‘guides’ to no end.”
“I imagine they were a lot less pleased when it was their turn, hmm?”
Khan snorted at that. “Yeah, you could say as much. Quite a few very hurtful words were levied at our Marines, before they ordered the idiots to be silent, or just stunned them. All stunned targets are coming around, no complications from the rounds. Marines are using lethal rounds on the rioters, since they won’t have time to collar the targets before stun shots wear off.”
“Boots on the ground make the call. We want the facility intact. Any ships and crews that live through this are bonus points.”
Raven’s voice came over the room’s speakers. “Captain, we have a problem. Maintaining 97% intrusion and nullification of pirate vessels docked to station. Of 100 ships on the pillars, 16 are unmanned, 1 is the Death’s Shadow, 58 are on partial crews and their personnel have been isolated in cabins and nonvital areas, and 22 had crew actively attempting to disable countermeasures, resulting in termination of the crew by various means. Currently, 3 ships are still resisting infiltration, and have cut themselves off from the station datanet. Station cameras have detected airlocks opening and crew exiting the craft in EVA gear with what appear to be explosive devices.”
I sighed. Of course, it couldn’t just go our way. There were fourteen ships belonging to Lark’s clan in dock at the moment, but Raven had managed to get into all but three of them before they could respond to the damn alert from the pirate. Nothing for that, now. At least most of the ships were locked down. I didn’t bother asking how Raven ‘terminated’ the crews that resisted. Probably just vented the atmosphere, or similar. It was a simple and easy fix.
“Launch drones, and see if you can’t take out the engines. If possible, take out the space-walkers before they set their charges. That’ll give people something to think about. The Death’s Shadow is to launch and begin containment procedures, helping to kill or disable any ship that tries to leave without my permission.”
“As you wish, Admiral. Drones are launching. ETA to target, 60 seconds. Estimated time until first ship manages to set charges, 83 seconds. Prioritizing EVA crew as primary targets.”
Major Khan looked over to me, and said, “Admiral, the fighting is contained, for the moment, but three of the sections which had been separated by bulkheads have managed physical overrides, and opened their part of the station up to each other. They’ve also physically disabled environmental controls in those sections. I think they’re going to make a push for either Main Control or Computer Control. Our guys have them out gunned and outskilled, but they’re outnumbered 4 to 1. They can hold a couple choke points, but if the pirates start human wave tactics…”
“Show me the sections on the station map.”
“Here you go, sir.” Major Khan brought up the station map, and showed three sections that had (coincidentally) been located around the primary area for entertainment and shopping (meaning it was mostly bars, brothels, and stores). The fourth section was isolated from those three, but was located near the primary slave market. Hmm. I’d have to check through there for anyone useful when we pacified it. For now, I checked the schematic again.
“Pull back troops back behind bulkhead 13, and have them clear corridor D from bulkhead 15 to the intersection with Pillar 10. The entire run is to be blocked off from the rest of the station, just a clear channel straight to Pillar 10.”
Major Khan nodded grimly, knowing what that kind of order meant, and quickly gave his orders. Like a good commander, he confirmed that troops were moving in the right direction before reporting. “Corridor clear in twenty seconds. Troops pulling back behind bulkhead 13. All troops clear in sixty seconds.”
“Wait until all troops are clear, and then seal bulkhead 13. Once we have seal, Dock 1 on pillar 10 is empty, so open the airlock, and unseal the bulkhead at the base of Pillar 10. While we wait for the atmosphere to evacuate, have the Marines set up the temporary airlock so they can take out anyone who has ship suits or breathers on them once they’re ready.” I paused, and then said, “Raven, when we begin evacuating the atmosphere near the main fighting, I want you to pick some good footage, and pipe it through to the other sections, with the message ‘Surrender or Die’.”
“Understood, Admiral.”
Major Khan nodded. “Do you think the pirates will get the message? I know some of the troops would rather just shoot someone clean than see them suffocate to death. It isn’t a nice way to go.”
I shrugged, and said, “Hopefully, some will. Pirates hate the idea of getting spaced just as much as anyone who lives out in the black, so I really do hope that we’ll have some that will decide not to be stupid, especially in the slave markets and any isolated groups that might be holed up in access tunnels or crawlways and the like, thinking they’ll do hit and run shit. I’m not racking up casualties for this place. I’d love to have the extra workers, but for now I just want this station.”
“But there are innocent people in those sections! You can’t just kill them!”
I turned to look at the man who spoke up, one of the technicians who had been working a communications console before we took control. “This is a black market station specifically providing services to pirates, smugglers, escaped criminals, and all other manner of disreputable figures. Every free man and woman aboard that is not a part of Black Star is either a criminal or complicit. That I am attempting to take this station at all instead of blowing it out of the sky should be considered a grave mercy, and one that none of you deserve. The closest thing to innocents on this station would be the slaves. And I will do what I can to ensure that as many of those are retrieved alive as possible, but not at the expense of my people. You are all pirates, or supporting piracy, and Black Star has been hired to end the threat you pose to this sector.”
“But—!"
“Be silent! All of you are ordered to remain silent unless spoken to.”
Major Khan grunted to the side. “All troops have pulled back. Bulkhead secure. Ready to vent atmosphere.”
“Open the airlock. Don’t restore atmosphere to the sections until after pacification is complete, or the pirates signal surrender unconditionally.”