Chapter 9: Going After the Pirates

After clearing up from breakfast, we left my cabin and moved to the main bridge. We all took a seat watching the tactical display. Jem and Koluna looked at me, it seemed they elected me to lead.

“Ship, let us assume the probe returns with news that there are several pirate vessels in that star system ahead. What can we make use of to neutralize them without putting ourselves at risk?” I asked.

“This vessel has several pulse energy weapons that have a long range. If we keep a distance, we could fire on a pirate vessel without getting too close. Of course, they might have similar weapons,” said Ship.

“What about defensive shields?”

“Our shields are probably similar to the shields on the pirate vessels,” said Ship.

“Can we cloak this ship like you did with the probe?”

“At present, the cloak is active, although the energy requirements allow either continuous shielding or cloaking, but not both.”

“I think direct confrontation is too risky. What if several pirates attack us at once? They could overwhelm us.,” said Koluna.

“I agree with Koluna. I prefer not to be there. Ship, can your cloaked probe deliver a payload or carry anything offensive? That way we can keep out of harm’s way,” I said.

“Confirmed,” said Ship. Jem watched me with a look of awe. The display of feelings made me feel uncomfortable. As a Tian, we never did that. What am I missing here?

“What do you have in mind?” Koluna asked.

“Well, um, I think I have an idea. Does Baglogi technology include nano-bots?” I asked.

“What do you mean by nano-bots?”

“They’re microscopic robots. They can do simple tasks, and can also replicate themselves,” I said.

“Yes, we have those. We use them for medical and other delicate applications. Do you intend to use them on the pirate vessels?” she responded.

“If we can, yes. Can you create a batch of self-replicating nano-bots that latch onto and consume the outer hulls of the pirate vessels? They must distinguish the hull of a pirate vessel from Ship’s hull. We must have a way to deactivate them remotely. They must function in space,” I said.

“That sounds nasty! Ship, can you handle that?” said Jem.

“Confirmed,” replied Ship.

“And Ship, for delivery, I have in mind some kind of spray that delivers a minute quantity of nano-bots in the desired direction. Density should be low, up to 100 nano-bots per cubic unit of space, to avoid detection. The probe can creep up on the pirate vessels and spray nano-bots towards them. We could even create clouds of nano-bots in the flight path of a pirate vessel. It would be hard to detect and hard for the pirate vessel to change course in time to avoid it.”

“I can outfit two probes with a delivery mechanism. The shielding on the pirate vessels might neutralize the nano-bots., so delivery is best when their shields are down,” said Ship.

“Thank you Ship. Uh, does anyone have something to add to the plan? What are we missing?” I asked.

“We should be in the system, cloaked. Away from the action, but close enough to control the nano-bots. And make double sure we can turn them off safely,” Koluna said.

“Agreed. And Ship, you need to track the movement of these clouds of nano-bots, to avoid us flying into them,” said Jem.

“Acknowledged,” said Ship.

“Is there anything else?” I asked.

Hearing no responses, I thanked them, and we declared the meeting over. It amused me it went smoothly. So far, it was all positive, so I let it play out.

Later, I returned to my cabin to rest. Since moving out into space, and the chaos, my internal chronometer was a bit messed up. I was still used to the planetary cycles. So far, they didn’t assign me duty hours like I had on the freighter. There was nothing for me to do. I could have walked around Ship, learning more about the systems. I was a little bored and mostly tired, so I returned to my cabin.

But it wasn’t just my cabin any longer. Koluna and Jem soon joined me. I wasn’t about to decline their company, of course. It was a new and positive development in our relationship, and I was glad about it.

“We should get lots of rest. When we find the pirates, we’ll need to be sharp,” said Jem. She and Koluna stripped out of their uniforms this time and got into bed. They left a space in the middle for me. Soon I was between them, and we found a comfortable position to sleep. Ship lowered the lights, and we slept.

During the night, we must have moved around somewhat. Fortunately, I woke on the side of the bed. I got out and used the en-suite. Then I sat at the table and had a beverage. Jem interrupted soon after and called me to return to bed. After my drink, I got back into bed and tried to get more sleep.

Later, Ship awakened me with an alert that the probe was now returning. We all got up and dressed and Jem and Koluna said they’d meet me in the main bridge. I took my time and made my way, arriving first. They arrived soon after.

In order to retrieve the probe, Ship had brought us to a complete stop.

“Ship, please present your findings,” said Jem.

Ship then went through a detailed report of the intel gathered by the probe. The quality of the intel impressed me. It showed the pirates had a base on the surface of a moon orbiting the second planet in the system. There were seven pirate vessels either docked or in orbit around the moon, and one vessel appeared to be patrolling the system. The details on the ship types meant little, though.

The intel didn’t include a specific count of the crews aboard the pirate vessels, since that would have required an active scan. Active scans would likely have alerted the pirates to the probe’s existence.

We knew for certain the pirates were in the system ahead of us. We knew the number of vessels there.

Soon after that, Ship engaged the hyper-drive to take us closer to the edge of the star system.

Ship announced to everyone we were coming out of hyper drive and decelerating to sub-light speed. We arrived at the edge of the star system, and hopefully out of direct line of sight from the pirate base. We continued in with our sub-light engines as Ship deployed the two probes. One probe headed directly to the pirate base as the other one searched out for any patrolling vessels.

We sat together in the main bridge, following events on the tactical display. The probes were running full stealth, which meant that there was no live data from them. Any broadcast would alert the pirates, and that would ruin our plans.

Ship was running in stealth mode, drifting around the star system to locate any pirate vessels on patrol. Weapons were ready, but only in case the nano-bots didn’t work.

“My calculations suggest that probe one has reached the pirate base,” announced Ship. We continued to study the tactical display. There was no sign of the patrolling pirate vessel. Lots of thoughts went through my head. What if the pirates were gone? Maybe they had left on another raid, or perhaps they’d discovered the earlier probe and hidden to ambush us.

On the tactical display, a pirate vessel moved from the far rim of the star system, travelling towards the location of the pirate base. It was moving pretty fast. Perhaps it had detected something and was returning to base. Jem ordered Ship to move in a little closer, so we might observe the events.

“There’s something wrong with that pirate vessel,” said Koluna. “It looks like it’s on the wrong trajectory and speed to attain orbit around the moon.”

Soon after, the vessel crashed into the moon.

“No-one could have survived that crash,” I said.