A rescue operation in Pleiades, part 5 (15-16/03/3304)
20 Mar 2018Archived
Previously in James' LogbookThe search of Sib's brother, Adam, finally brought some results, though not the ones they might have expected. They found that young Hudson has joined the Ant Hill Mob and was responsible for several attacks on civilian vessels in Maia and other systems.... Sib didn't take this information too well.
***
Onboard Federal Corvette 'Hyperion'
Agricola’s Ascent
PLEIADES SECTOR DL-Y D65
“Are you sure you’re going to be fine?” - James put his arm on Sib’s shoulder and looked at her with concern.
“I will” - she said, but avoided the eye contact- “I... I just need to think... I don’t know if I want to see him. If he is alive at all...”
“He is not dead. Ant Hill files said: MIA. Perhaps he found a good moment and just fled?” - tried Barrett, but deep inside he knew that what he was saying didn’t make any sense. If there was even a shadow of doubt, the pirates would have tagged Adam as a deserter and put a bounty on his head. He sighed - “Alright, lass. You get some rest. We will go back to Maia with Blasius and see if we can learn anything. I’ll stay onboard Hyperion for this one. See you when we get back.”
“Alright. James... be careful”.
“Hey, this is a Federal flagship and Hajdu is an experienced commander. I’ll be fine, don’t you worry.”
***
6 hours later
Deep Space
Maia System
Rear Admiral (aux) Blasius Hajdu checked the readout on his Heads Up Display and frowned. It was seventh USS in the row that has been identified as a non-human source by the onboard computer.
“I can’t help but wonder.. what are the bugs doing in all those places? Are they pulling our ships out from supercruise to attack them? Or are they just checking the normal signal sources? You can find them even less then 1 ls away from the stations...”
“Aye, I’ve been thinking about that myself as well. It doesn’t make sense. In the beginning it was creepy to see them, now I don’t even pay attention to it anymore... But here’s another riddle. Have you checked the system status of the Ant Hill Mob?”
“What do you mean? They control every single station here”.
“Exactly. And yet their official influence is at 0%. Which means someone is heavily tampering with the system or they have backing from the Pilot’s Federation...”
“Interesting. Maybe... hey, got combat aftermath dead ahead, let’s check it”.
They dropped into a middle of debris from a large ship, a T9 by the looks of it.
“Heads up, company” - announced Blasius.
“Got them. A Gunship and a Vulture. Preparing the fighter”.
“Yeah. I have a black box and a few escape pods. Let’s take care of the bandits and pick up those poor souls”.
“Roger that, in hot”.
James loved piloting the fighter. In most cases he used the tele-presence, though in some instances he preferred to personally get into the pit. And he did so this time. He was angry. Angry at the whole situation, angry at Ant Hill Mob for luring Sib’s brother to join them, angry at the fact that there was nothing he could do to help her. He needed adrenaline. He needed to be in real combat, to smell the burnt ozone when his shields got hit, feel the vibrations as he spat hundreds of bullets from the dual multi cannons of the Condor. He quickly went after the Gunship and sat closely on its tail, shooting. He remained there until the second pirate ship got behind and forced him to take evasive manoeuvres.
The Vulture was destroyed first, torn to pieces by concentrated fire coming from the Hyperion. Other vessel tried to run for it but its pilot made a mistake, first wanting to deal with the small fighter - he opened up on James with every weapon at his disposal. It was a heavy barrage and Barrett barely managed to escape, but he bought enough time for Blasius to come guns blazing on the remaining target. As the Federal Gunship went down in a huge fireball, James looked at at the status display and laughed. Armour integrity was at mere 1%. The pit was filled with sparks and smoke.
“Hey, Admiral. Sorry, I damaged the Condor a little. But it was a deadly fight, I loved it”
“Don’t worry, I’ll send you the bill for repairs. Now get back onboard and let’s see what happened here”.
***
2 hours later
Onboard Hyperion
Deep Space
Maia System
“Sib will not like it...” - James shook his head, looking at the display - “She won’t like it one bit..”
A 3d holovid has shown the footage from one of the drones launched by the attacked vessel. The transport ship fought valiantly against 4 pirates to the bitter end, even though the outcome was evident from the very beginning. There was also an audio log, and that was what worried James most. Just before the attack the Ant Hill wing leader requested that the Type 9 captain gives up, and as the skipper refused, other pirates started to make some helpful comments to their boss, in two instances - a clear sign of being overly confident - calling him by the name. Adam.
“Do you think its him?” - asked Blasius.
“I don’t know. But I am sure Sib will recognise her brother’s voice...”
“Hey, look. More ships coming” - Hajdu pointed at the far edge of the area of the recording, where two Vultures with AEGIS markings appeared and attacked the pirates. The video feed stopped before the new skirmish ended, but by then three out of five Ant Hill vessels were already destroyed.
“Interesting... at least they paid the price. Have you checked the ID of the people in the escape pods that you scooped?”
“Yes. All crew and passengers of the T9.”
“That’s cat. Alright, let’s see what they will tell us when we get back to Agricola”.
***
2 hours later
Agricola’s Ascent
PLEIADES SECTOR DL-Y D65
“What do you mean she took off?! When?” - James shouted at the dock worker, grabbing him by the collar. The young man went pale and started to sweat.
“I.. don’t know, sir.. 45 minutes ago... she just took the ship and flew. I couldn’t have done anything, could I?”
“Let him go, James. We will find her, she couldn’t have gone far” - Blasius put his hand on friend’s shoulder and Barrett released the boy - “Hang on” he added as his communicator went live. He pressed the hand to his ear and stood motionless for several seconds, before saying “Be there in five, fire up the engines. James, come on. Sib’s in trouble”.
***
10 minutes later
Onboard Hyperion
“Give me a situation report” - Blasius demanded as soon as they entered the bridge. His corvette was already passing through the station’s mailbox, making it for the open space.
“Yes, sir. We received a distress call from the ‘Grasshopper’ on the encoded frequency. Under attack by the pirate ship. A Python”.
“Status?”
“Link was severed six minutes ago, we triangulated an approximate position of the last transmission”.
“Set course, full speed. Screw the speed limits” - he added as he saw his first officer opening his mouth to protest - “Emergency jump as soon as we clear the perimeter, battle stations everyone”.
James buckled up watching as ‘Hyperion’s’ crew were preparing the huge ship for an FSD leap to Maia.
“Maia? Of all places she went to Maia?” - James couldn’t believe that.
“I am afraid she has, James... hold tight. We will find her”.
***
Deep Space
Maia system
They did. The escape pod was floating in the middle of smouldering remains of the ‘Grasshopper’. As they got closer and Blasius enabled the powerful search lights of the corvette, James saw his ship’s name plate float by. There was a bullet hole in the middle of an “o”.
“Pod secured, sir” - reported the helmsman.
“Life signs?” - asked Blasius.
“Weak, the occupant is wounded. She needs to get to the fully equipped medbay ASAP, sir.”
“Set course for Agricola. On the double, everyone!”
***
Medical Facility
Agricola’s Ascent
PLEIADES SECTOR DL-Y D65
James had this odd feeling of deja - vu. Few months back in one of the imperial systems he was standing in front of the doctor, asking him how Sib was faring after ejection from their Keelback. They both had to punch out after station security mistakingly opened fire on them... seems such a long time ago. In different life almost.
“So, will she be OK?’
“She should make it, but we need to keep her in an artificial coma for at least a week or two”
“Do what you can... is she fit for space travel in the cryopod?”
“Yes, I think so, as long if you don’t plan to fly her to Colonia”.
“Grand. Please prepare everything, we shall depart tomorrow” - with that James left the facility. He nearly bumped into Blasius.
“Alright, I have news. A good one and a...” - he hestitated - “I guess good one. Which one first?”
“The good one.”
“I’ve managed to secure an Asp Scout for you that will take both of you safely to Freeport”
“Grand. I spoke to the TCF contacts, they will take Sib from there to their clinic in Eranin. And the ‘I guess good’ one”?
“We’ve checked with the “Penitent”. in PLEIADES SECTOR HR-W D1-79. Adam Hudson is detained there and waiting for his trial”.
“Grand. So at least he is alive. When is the process due?”
“Difficult to say. They are preparing a model mass process, so probably they will want to wait and get as many pirates as they can. Two or three weeks?”
“OK. What is the punishment for piracy in this system?”
“They are under military courts rule here... so he is facing a death sentence, James”.
“Fuck…”
***
The following day
Agricola’s Ascent
PLEIADES SECTOR DL-Y D65
James shook Blasius’ hand.
“Thanks for everything. I will see you back in the bubble. Once I know Sib is in safe hands, I’ll get a new ship and prepare it for the journey with the Professor. He was rather patient, but I can’t delay it any longer. What are your plans?”
“I’ll stick around for a day or two and then go back to LHS 3006. If all goes well, I’ll join you in your journey, as promised”.
“Grand. Take care, James”.
“Yeah, you too, Blasius. And thanks again”.
OOC
Many thanks again to Balimko for his participation and ideas during this adventure. Also, thanks to DevilOnTheWall for the background information on the Ant Hill Mob.