Chapter Twelve

Tantos System

The merchant transport Pride of Artax left Tantos III early in the morning, by local time, and began to make its way towards the edge of the system to make the jump to its ultimate destination, Aurann. Pride was a large starship, but obviously not one designed with sustained combat in mind; vaguely trapezoidal in shape, its immense length was mostly composed of storage space for its cargo. It was armed only with a handful of small cannon on its brow and along its edges, and it was accompanied by a small squadron of fighters that resembled flattened metal wings, for Duke Hiram and the guilds were aware of the pirate problem and were unwilling to send a valuable shipment off without at least some protection. Still, it seemed a tempting target to any would-be attacker.

Its manifest said that it carried a cargo composed primarily of heavy ores that would be used at Aurann for the creation of more war machines of the sort Duke Respen took such pride in. They could also be sold on the black market for an exorbitant price.

The Pride had been underway for several hours and its fastest sublight speeds and had reached a point where it could begin preparations for jump, near no major bodies save for a handful of asteroids whose course took them not far away. The captain was laying in the coordinates for Aurann when the space in front of them seemed to… ripple. And suddenly, it was no longer empty.

A tight cluster of craft appeared in front of the transport as the pirates dropped their cloaking shield. The fleet was small, but still seemed fully capable of handling anything that the Pride or its escort might be capable of dealing out. Six of the ships were small transports, similar in structure to the Pride but on a smaller scale; they were, however, far more heavily armed. The pirates had obviously not been idle since the ships had fallen into their hands, and now every available surface on them bristled with heavy weapons, mostly beam cannons of a far more powerful model than those adorning their intended victim. Around the edges of the small fleet hovered dozens of fighters of the same make as the Pride's escorts, though most of these newcomers had been painted with skulls, strange symbols, and the occasional crude insult.

At the center of the small fleet, the others keeping close by so that its cloaking shield could protect them all without overextending its reach, was a ship of an entirely different design. Nearly half as long as the Pride, it was far sleeker, coming to a sharp point at its front with four wings curving out behind around the engines. All four gleamed around the edges with ready cannons integrated much more smoothly on its hull than those of the captured transports, and it was mostly painted black, with red highlights around the edges. Someone had wanted the ship to look ominous; they had succeeded.

Pride's captain stood on the bridge of her ship with hands resting on the control panel. Around her, her officers looked to one another fearfully, but she maintained her composure. One didn't rise to the position she had in the guild hierarchy if one couldn't remain calm under fire, and she knew that pirates were unlikely to kill on sight, regardless of their reputation. You didn't become a pirate because you loved murder – you did it because you wanted to be rich. That meant to wanted something, and people who wanted something were willing to talk. Guildsmen and -women dealt with that sort of people – albeit usually in a less threatening way – every day.

As expected, the Pride's comm chimed; the captain glanced down at it, waited a moment, then answered. "This is Shipping Guild vessel Pride of Artax out of Tantos III, en route to Aurann," she said calmly. "You are in violation of sovereign Tantos space and the laws of the Kingdom of the Dozen Stars. We request that you stand down and let us pass, or we will fire upon you. You have been warned."

The captain knew that the pirates wouldn't respond to such a threat; they'd recognize it for the toothless bit of bravado that it was. Still, rules were rules, and she had to play out her part in this little drama to the end. She hadn't written the script.

Still, if things worked out, the pirates hadn't written it, either…

The comm crackled, and the mechanically distorted voice that spoke on the other end was cold. "You're in no position to threaten us, captain," it said. "Really, look around you. You have a few guns and a squadron of fighters; we have more than ten times the amount of firepower you do. We're going to get what we want, one way or another. You can resist, in which case you and your crew will die, your ship will be destroyed, and we'll pull our plunder from the wreckage – or you can cooperate, keep your crew alive and your ship intact, and be allowed to leave in one piece once we've gotten what we want. Which of those courses of action do you think will profit your guild more?"

As much as it galled her, the captain knew she only had one answer. "Stand down," she ordered her crew and escort. "They're right; we can't win this. Better to live and fight another day."

"Very wise, captain," the pirate's voice said. "Now, here is what you will do. Power down your engines and weapons and order your escort to do the same. You will allow us to take up positions beside your ship, and then open the cargo bay to vacuum. We will remove your cargo and load it onto our vessels, and when we have what we want, we'll let you go. Is this agreeable?"

"It is," the captain said, grimacing as she did so. She turned to the rest of her bridge crew and flipped a switch to open a channel to the fighter squadron. "Do as they say." The crewmembers exchanged nervous glances, but training took over and they nodded. The Pride cut her engines and hung dead in space, the fighters around her doing the same. The pirate fleet moved forward quickly, enveloping the guild convoy on all sides with their fighters while the captured transports took up their positions alongside the freighter's hull. Only the pirate flagship hung back, seeming to watch the proceedings like a wary predatory bird. All was in readiness.

"Open your cargo hold now," the pirate's voice said.

The captain nodded, though she knew the pirate couldn't see her. "Understood," she said, and then took a deep breath, muttered a silent prayer to the Lord – her first in years – and then flipped a switch on her control panel. The cargo hold opened.

/

At first, the pirates aboard the stolen transports were confused, as their scanners didn't pick up any of the ores that their information had indicated this particular freighter was set to be carrying. Then their surprise turned to shock and horror as something else came boiling out of Pride's cargo hold.

Dozens of fighters, all of them painted in Tantos colors, shot out of the freighter, opening fire as they did so. A dozen of the pirate fighters fell in the first barrage without time to react; the captured transports were scored by the blasts, but the fighters' cannons were insufficient to penetrate their armor. They fell back to a safe distance and turned their own weapons towards the oncoming fighters, which now formed a protective screen around the Pride. The fighter escort that had come with the freighter now powered their engines back on and took up their positions alongside the newcomers.

It was a trap, had obviously been a trap from the beginning – even the most thick-witted of the pirates could tell that they'd been set up. Still, as they warily regarded this new enemy and wondered what course of action their commanders would take, they knew that this was not, in the end, a threat to them. The Tantos fighters had the advantage of surprise, but that was now spent. The pirates had the advantage of numbers, and their most powerful vessel had yet to even enter the fray. Soon, now, they would show Duke Hiram and the guilds why they shouldn't try to resist them, with an example that no one would be able to ignore.

That was when the pirates received the first alarms of another group of enemy ships appearing on their scopes, emerging from behind the asteroids…

/

Duke Mardoban ast Orlanes smiled thinly as he stood on the bridge of the Tantan warship that was now powering up from behind the small asteroid cluster with a small battlegroup of similar vessels. They'd been keeping their energy emissions low so that the pirates wouldn't detect them, but now the time for stealth had passed. The pirate fleet had taken the bait; now it was time to spring the real trap.

"Your orders, my lord?" the woman who stood beside him asked; she was around the Duke's own age and of regal bearing, clad in sleek green armor and leaning on her dueling sword. Her name was Kallistrae, and she was one of the highest ranking of Duke Hiram's knights and a first cousin of the Duke himself; Hiram himself, of course, was no soldier and hadn't come on this mission.

"I think it's time we showed the pirates that the people of the Dozen Stars aren't interested in being their victims any longer," Mardoban said mildly. "Let's take the fight to them, shall we?"

Kallistrae nodded and shot him a fierce grin. "Forward!" she said, gesturing with her free hand. "Form of perimeter around the pirates; we don't want them to escape us again. Let's end this today." The bridge crew saluted her sharply, and then they set the warship moving forward, its companions around them doing the same.

The four warships were of the standard Equestrian model used by the Dozen Stars; if not as powerful as the immense dreadnoughts the Empire fielded, they were cheaper and easier to mass produce, and were both hardy and adaptable in command. Mardoban had seen such ships in action before, and he'd match them in battle against any two of the pirates' stolen transports, and even against the flagship itself, though that was of a design he hadn't seen before and he wasn't certain what its capabilities really were.

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Moving at top sublight speed, the four warships converged on the convoy and took up their positions around the pirate fleet, which held its own position warily. Mardoban nodded to Kallistrae, and she pressed a button on the panel in front of her and activated her comm.

"Attention, pirate fleet," she said. "This is Lady Kallistrae ast Tantos of Tantos III, here on the orders of His Grace, the Duke Hiram ast Tantos. You are violating His Grace's territory, threatening his subjects, and impeding the lawful and necessary work of the guilds. His Grace is a patient man, but he can no longer abide your destructive and criminal actions. You will stand down at once, or you will be destroyed. Am I clear?"

The pirates made no response – or at least, not a verbal one. The enemy fighters and three of their captured transports opened fire on the Tantos fighters guarding Pride; the other three transports reoriented towards the battle group. The flagship still hung back, a waiting, cautious predator. Mardoban smiled coldly. It had begun.

"Are they mad?" Kallistrae asked as she regarded her scopes in disbelief. "Those transports of theirs can't be any sort of match for our warships, no matter what sort of weapons they've upgraded them with. What are they thinking?"

"I'm assuming that they're either overconfident from their previous successes," Mardoban said, "or else they fear what might happen to them if they flee too much to retreat. Either way, they've made a mistake. Let's inform them of that fact, shall we?"

Kallistrae smiled thinly. "I think, my lord, that we shall," she said. "All batteries, fire on those pirate ships!"

Even as she spoke, the transports had closed enough to open fire themselves; bolts of energy lanced from their cannons and impacted harmlessly on the warships' shields. Mardoban could imagine the surprise aboard the pirate vessels; he doubted they'd faced much in the way of serious military hardware before. Then the warships responded, their own cannons illuminating the darkness of space in blinding blue light. Several beams converged on the first pirate ship, tearing cleanly through its shields and slicing the ship itself in two. The pieces drifted for a moment, energy crackling along them, before they exploded in a brilliant burst.

"Well done," Mardoban said to Kallistrae as the bridge crew cheered.

The knight shook her head. "We're not out of this yet, my lord," she said. "We need to protect the Pride and its escort. Launch fighters to assist the squadrons with the transport; target main guns on those pirate transports. I want them down!"

The warship began to move forward into the gap left by the first enemy ship's destruction, while the remainder of the battle group engaged the remaining enemies. As it moved into position fighters launched from its underside hangars and quickly shot off towards the fast-moving storm of tiny lights that was the dogfight around the Pride. It was too far away to tell anything for sure, so Mardoban leaned over a nearby crewman's monitor and glanced at the friend-and-foe display; it appeared that with this latest reinforcement, the Tantos fighters now outnumbered the enemy. Good. The pirates excelled at quick, surgical strikes, but now they were forced into an extended battle with a numerically superior foe, and it was clear they weren't sure how best to handle it.

"Main cannons in position, my lady," a gunner shouted from across the bridge.

Kallistrae smiled. "Excellent," she said. "Give them a taste."

The gunner pressed his trigger, and a thick bolt of blue-white light lanced towards the pirate transport. This enemy ship, however, was better prepared and better piloted than its unfortunate comrade; it managed to jerk just out of range of the blast before it could impact, and the beam shot out unimpeded into the depths of space. Kallistrae scowled and made a sharp chopping gesture with one hand; the gunner prepared to fire again, but before he could press the trigger the warship was rocked with sudden force. Mardoban and the knight both had to cling to a nearby railing to steady themselves, and the crew were visible jostled in their seats.

"What by the Evil One's bloody eyes just happened?" Kallistrae demanded angrily.

"Missile impact, my lady," one of the crew said from her seat. "One of the pirates shot it at us from behind; so far as the sensors can tell, some sort of cobbled-together design that packed a lot more wallop than it should have. It didn't break through our shields but came close. Looks like they're gearing up to fire again, but the scanners can't tell if it's the same type of missile or not."

"Let's not take the time to find out," Kallistrae said. "Tractor beam, can you lock onto the missile when they launch it?" When the crewman she'd addressed saluted, she smiled coldly. "Then we'll give them a taste of their own medicine."

"Pirate vessel launching missile, my lady!"

Kallistrae nodded. "Tractor, lock!"

"Tractor beam locked, my lady!" the crewman called back.

"Good. Now, let's give them their toy back." Kallistrae made a sharp gesture with one hand, and the crewman at the tractor station made a series of quick adjustments, then pushed a large lever and smiled.

"Missile rebounded, my lady," he said. "Impacting… now."

"Pirate ship sustained heavy damage," the officer who'd first described the missile strike said, a satisfied look on her face. "Looks like their shields and engines are down, along with a good chunk of their weapons. I don't think they'll be able to continue the fight."

"Well done," said Kallistrae. "Now, let's not give the other one the chance to duck and run again. All batteries target the pirate transport off Pride's aft, with overlapping angles. I don't want them getting away this time."

The gunners saluted and made the necessary adjustments; a flurry of bright beams lanced from the front of the warship. The pirate transport tried to dodge again, but with so many incoming attacks its pilot, however skilled, couldn't anticipate them all. The transport narrowly avoided a beam that would have struck its bridge, only to have another shear off the bulk of its engines. It listed in space and then exploded.

"Well done," Mardoban said to Kallistrae, who smiled at the compliment. "I had a feeling that if we had time to prepare, the pirates wouldn't be able to stand up to us."

"It was your plan, my lord regent," Kallistrae said. "I merely have the honor of executing it." She glanced to the nearest crewman. "Status of the overall battle?"

"Two more of the pirate transports are down, in addition to the three we disabled or destroyed," he said. "Along with most of the pirate fighters. Our battle group have taken damage, but all four warships remain functional. My lady, I do believe the battle is ours."

The warship suddenly rocked again, harder than it had before, and Mardoban could tell in his gut that this was different from the missile impact. The lights along the bridge's ceiling dimmed, and most of the crew's screens flickered on and off. Kallistrae's expression of shock was clear as she looked at the Duke, and then she steeled herself and turned back to the crew.

"What in the hells just happened here?" she demanded.

"The pirate flagship has entered the battle," a shaken officer reported. "They hit us with some sort of energy-disrupting weapon, so far as I can tell – my instruments are still confused. Engines are down, weapons are at half-power, though they seem to be recharging."

"Damn," Kallistrae muttered. "Why didn't they do that before? Why wait until now?"

"If our engines and guns are already recharging," Mardoban said, "I would guess their weapon doesn't have a very long effect – any maybe eats so much energy itself they don't want to use it if they don't have to. Maybe they're covering their retreat?"

"Sensors show that the last intact pirate transport is indeed turning away from the battlefield," said one of the crew, "as are the remaining pirate fighters. All of our ships seem to be temporarily disabled as well; looks like they're weapon had an area range. Pirate ships are regrouping by the flagship – sensors show flagship is indeed powering up its jump engines."

"Damn them!" Kallistrae swore. "Do we have weapons back online yet? Can we stop them before they escape?"

"Weapons can fire but are unlikely to hit their target before the flagship can jump," the crew said.

"Cowards," Kallistrae muttered.

"I wouldn't say that, Lady Knight," a deep, thickly distorted voice said suddenly over the comm; the entire bridge seemed to still at the sound. "Think of us rather as pragmatists who would rather avoid a fight we obviously cannot win. But don't think that because I've been defeated today, that you will win should we cross swords again."

Mardoban cleared his throat. "Am I to assume that we are speaking to the man I've heard referred to as "the Commander", then? You seem to be someone with rather a lot of authority – and bravado."

The distorted voice chuckled. "And Duke Mardoban – Regent Mardoban, I should say. I knew that Hiram would be too much of a coward to be here, but I wondered if you were nearby. It seems that your meeting on Tantos Station yielded more results than we had realized. I should know better than to underestimate the information a certain acquaintance of yours can acquire – and sell. I won't make that mistake again. But yes, I am the one they call Commander. A pleasure to speak to you at last, Mardoban."

"You seem rather confident for a man who just lost most of his fleet," Mardoban said amiably.

"Most of my fleet? Hardly. I would think you were enough of a strategist to realize that I wouldn't commit the entirety of my resources to a given engagement. I assure you; you have no idea the forces I can still bring to bear against you."

"Brave words, from a man who tried to have his lackeys assassinate me in the middle of a market," said the Duke. "What exactly was that little move supposed to accomplish, anyway? I hear you wanted me dead even before I met with Specter. Are you that afraid of me, coward?"

The Commander laughed, a mechanical hissing sound. "I don't fear you, Regent. I merely sought to impress upon the people of this Kingdom just how far my reach can be. I wanted them afraid, seeing the weakness of their leaders and their institutions. And they are afraid, Mardoban. As they were afraid fifteen years ago, when your Queen was killed in her own council chamber…"

Mardoban went white, and he gripped the railing so tightly he could feel the metal digging into his palm. "What do you know about that?" he managed to grate out.

"Much," the Commander said. "But you and I will have to discuss it some other time. Goodbye, Regent – until we meet again." The line went dead.

"Flagship has jumped, taking the transport and surviving fighters with it," one of the crew said, looking up from his display. "The pirates have escaped."

"Damn them," Kallistrae muttered. "But at least we caught some of them and killed a lot more - and we know about their disabling weapon now, so some good came from this."

"More than some, I hope," Mardoban said, trying to still his breathing even though the Commander's words still echoed in his mind. He walked over to a comm station and opened a channel to the Pride. "This is Duke Mardoban," he said. "Are you all right over there?"

"A little banged up, but in one piece," the freighter's captain said, sounding weary. "Looks like our trap worked, even if it didn't catch them all."

"It didn't," Mardoban said, "and I'm glad of that." He smiled slightly at Kallistrae's bewildered expression. "What's the status of the little presents we arranged for our pirates?"

"We released the sensors when the cargo bay opened," the captain said. "A number of them attached to enemy ships – and some of those fighters survived and made the jump with the flagship and are still transmitting. Sending information to you now, my lord."

"Well done, Captain," said the Duke. "Anyone who says the guilds fold under pressure is a fool. It looks like we've gotten something valuable today after all."

"Does this mean what I think it does…" Kallistrae said slowly.

"It does," Mardoban said. "With the help of the Pride and its crew, we managed to get top-of-the line transmitters attached to some of the pirate fighters. They may find them, but it'll take a while – they're designed to be hidden. And that means…"

"That we can find their base," Kallistrae said, a look of satisfaction growing across her face. Mardoban returned it.