Wanderer by Chris Nuttall

Author:Chris Nuttall
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Published: 2012-07-17T09:02:14+00:00

Chapter Sixteen

Citizen V: This fight is completely unnecessary.

Deadpool: Blasphemy! All fights are necessary.

-Cable and Deadpool #29

I reached the bridge in record time. We’d placed all of the crew positions near their stations, so we could bring the ship to battle stations as rapidly as possible, but I wasn’t sure how much good it would do. Wanderer might be impressive to my eyes, but to one of the Galactics, she was little more than a garbage scow. The newcomer might be a threat, or he might intend to just play chicken with us again, or he might be friendly…but the odds weren't good if it came down to a fight.

“Report,” I snapped, as I took my command chair. The bridge was darkened, a sign that all extra power had been diverted to the shields and weapons, such as they were. We might even be able to stand up to a Galactic superdreadnaught for thirty seconds. “What’s happening?”

“One unidentified starship, matching course and speed, on attack vector,” Tim said. The display revealed a flashing red icon as the unknown starship closed rapidly. We could have matched its speed, but the odds were that it was actually faster than us in warp drive. “It’s closing in fast…”

I scowled. Combat at warp speeds wasn't easy, which was why the Galactics preferred to leave it strictly alone, using warp missiles for long-range combat. The unknown hadn’t fired off a brace of warp missiles at us, which suggested that they wanted us intact or that they didn’t have warp missiles, but it wasn't much of an advantage. We didn’t have warp missiles either. In order to attack us, they would have to match their warp field with ours and link the two fields together, or force us out of warp and engage in normal space. Either one would probably work; Wanderer didn’t have the kind of shielding and defences that most Galactics would have had.

“Pirates,” Mikkel said, sourly. The Traders normally hunted pirates wherever they found them, but didn’t always have the time to complete their destruction, preferring to leave that to the local powers. The Tabakah were the closest, but they obviously hadn’t destroyed this ship…and they might even be Tabakah. The links between pirates and those who supplied them, according to the Galactics, could be far closer than most people understood. “They’ll try to disable the ship and then board us.”

I had worked that much out for myself. “Do you have any leverage with them?”

Mikkel smiled a thin Trader smile. “They might get something in return for my safe return,” he said. “They won’t want to advertise that they harmed a Trader starship, however; it won’t earn them anything, but a quick death. It’s much more likely they’ll simply loot the ship and blow the fusion plants afterwards. This far from the Tabakah, or anyone else with an interest in policing this sector, no one will ever be able to prove what happened to Wanderer.”

The display updated as the unknown slid closer. Evading him

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