Favors Part 4
16 May 2024Vasil Vasilescu
Following Title of Marque Part 4The Destinies Jester shuddered, racked by a series of explosions as one of the interdictor arrays detonated. Kai, Phresh and the other ships that managed to get inside of the Jester’s close defense systems raced past the Jester’s bridge and turned for another run.
“Dammit,” snapped the first mate, Bill Baines. “How hell did they get in so close! And where the hell did they come from!”
“Frame space fluctuations detected near the Anansi,” combat control calmly reported amid the chaos.
“They're preparing to jump,” Bill said to the captain. “If they damage the second interdictor array, we won’t be able to keep them engaged for long after that.”
“Flight coord, what’s our combat reserves status,” asked Red Jade.
“Löwe reports four flights,” said the flight coordinator.” Four on the Jester, including two IISS flights.”
“Have the Löwe commit half of their reserves to the Anansi,” said the Captain. “Target command and control and kick the bastard’s head in. Clear the remaining IISS flights for hot launch and carrier defense. Wish Major Stiles happy hunting.”
Two IISS clippers and their four eagle escorts hot launched from the Destinies Jester, boosting directly from the hangars rather than waiting to be lifted into place.
“Let the wings breaking off from the Anansi deal with the FDLS.” said Major Stiles as the six IISS ships fanned out to engage the attackers. “Crossfire pattern one on the torpedo boats. Herd ‘em and burn ‘em.”
Red Jade studied the swarming red and green dots on the primary combat holo. The Anansi was preparing to jump. Some of it’s support ships looked like they might be getting ready to run as well, which was understandable given that recovering ships in the middle of a fight was risky. They still outnumbered the Anansi and though capturing the craft and crew were preferable, that would not happen if they got away.
“Comm, open system-wide broadcast channel,” ordered Red Jade. If the Anansi was attempting to flee, maybe she could work the impending retreat to her advantage.
“Channel open, Captain.”
“This is Red Jade. Anansi, you are outnumbered and will not last long enough to jump from this system. I urge all Anansi forces to surrender. Anyone surrendering will be afforded the rights guaranteed to prisoners of war by the Convention on Interstellar Conflict. This I promise in the name of the Emperor. All you must do is eject from your craft and carrier. You will be recovered safely. For those who refuse to surrender, and for those aiding the Anansi, the Emperor’s justice will be swift and uncompromising.” She added the last part as a reminder that the IISS was on the field and that surrendering to the Jester might be better choice than being hunted down by the IISS.
Red Jade left the communication channel open to be certain the entire system heard her next order. “No boarding actions. Concentrate all fire on the Anansi. Blast it into tin foil before it jumps.”
Red Jade gave the signal to cut the channel. There would be no negotiations. No compromise. Bill Baines looked to her, their gaze meeting. He saw doubt in her eyes despite the force of her words. She had just put the lives of any slaves on board the Anansi at risk. Bill assured her with a nod that he understood and supported her decision. People like those on the Anansi only understood strength through violence, and Red Jade could not afford to appear weak.
Capturing or destroying the Anansi made little difference to the IISS as long as the slaving operation was stopped. For the crew of the Destinies Jester, capturing a carrier would be an incredible prize, but the profit from its scrap would do as well.
“You heard the captain,” Bill bellowed. “Send ‘em to Hell!”
* * *
Vasil had heard nothing from Mercy regarding his last message about the Jester attacking the Anansi, and had decided to follow the original plan. He jumped to Summerland where Mercy said the pirate forces were marshalling and started scanning for her carrier. It was not there, but the Anansi was, right where Mercy said the pirate would be. And so was the Destinies Jester and the Löwe.
From what he could tell while orbiting Summerland 8e, the Anansi was having its ass handed to it at 8b. Long range scans determined none of the transponders he expected from Mercy’s fleet were in system. Vasil considered that maybe Mercy had changed her mind about helping the pirate and not bothered to inform him. While annoyed at this possibility since he was doing this a favor, Mercy did not strike Vasil as the type to abandon an agreement without telling everyone involved.
Or maybe she was in a place where she could not inform him. At this point, it did not matter. If she was not in the fight, he did not need to be there providing promised repair and recovery support. Curiosity, more than anything, kept him there just to see how the fight ended. On hearing Red Jade’s message, though, Vasil saw opportunity.
He charged up the Long Road’s engines, pulled out of orbit around Summerland 8e, and steered the Type 9 towards the fight. “Victor, power the limpet controllers and program for repair and recovery. Set AIS and VTB to unarmed neutral rescue.”
Setting the Auto Identity System and Vessel Transceiver Broadcast to mark the Long Road as a neutral recovery vessel was no guarantee he’d not be shot at. However, acting as a search and rescue agent usually meant that the combatants would not fire on the rescue ship just in case they needed their escape pod recovered later on in the fight. It also meant that the rescuer was not obligated to hand over recovered pods to anyone except an official Rescue Ranger agent.
Given the current situation with the IISS involved in the fight, it would be advantageous to have escape pods from both side of the fight on board. Being neutral rescue ship, the IISS would not flag his transponder as suspect if he was recovering pods from both sides.