“The people who fly ships like that aren’t going to show up in any database, even the transit records are going to lie to you because they probably have forged credentials,” argued Vitrian, still seemingly incredulous that Bella was able to identify the ship.
“I thought the same thing, Holt,” agreed Captain Estrada, who then keyed his own tablet and put the bounty profile on display for everyone to see, “Until I saw this.”
The bounty profile was a single page, shorter and more lacking in details than any profile Rhett had ever seen. Usually, they knew everything there was to know about a target before hunting it down. The profile was streaked with black lines across nearly every piece of information, having been heavily redacted by whoever placed the bounty in the registry. The only useful information not blacked out was a series of photos of the ship itself, several of them noting the unique after-market modifications to the vessel that would distinguish it from others of the same make and model. It looked ugly, it looked mean, and the redacted streaks of black leapt out at Rhett, silent and foreboding.
“What am I looking at, Captain?” asked Rhett, his guts twisting into knots as he looked at the replay of the ship passing by the data spore, a dark shape set against the pitch black of space, a predator seemingly on the drift.
“A nameless cutter with stealth grafts and a redacted bounty profile,” sighed Vitrian as he rubbed his temples, “That we wouldn’t have even noticed had it not basically run over Bella’s data spore. We should let this one go Captain.”
“Says the salary man,” growled Doak.
“Enough, I’ve already flagged it on the registry as being in progress, we are doing this. Straight recovery mission. We track it down, secure it, and tow the monster back to the yard,” said Estrada while he zoomed the display in on the reward being offered for the ship, “As you know, I am generally not inclined to go after blackline bounties, though I’ve never seen one that pays what this one does. You understand why we can’t pass this one up, yes? We score this one and half of you will have your indentured obligations wiped with money to spare.”
“That’s a slave ship,” John spoke up finally, after looking intently at the video, ignoring the other displays. He picked up his tablet and looked at it for a moment, until Rhett realized that the former marine did not know how to manipulate the display and helped the man key in his commands.
“If you look at the aft section you can see that it’s been modified. Those slots on the hull are for pressurized cargo pods. They’ll keep the high value stock in the main hold and then put bulk captures in shared pods that get slotted into the hull,” said John as he zoomed in on the display to show what he described, before zooming out and then into another section of the ship where what looked like a massive tuning fork had been attached. “That’s a ship grappler, it shorts the prey’s vital systems so that boarding actions go more smoothly. This is Tasca Cartel, no doubt about it. Back during the Ellisian trade war we Reapers had to fight these guys off of prize salvages more than a few times.”
“Well, even without the grafts baffling my scanners I’d have no way of knowing for sure if the ship has power or anyone aboard, the spores have their limits,” said Bella while she pulled up a star chart and activated a navigation simulation. “I was, however, able to extrapolate their trajectory from the close-range scans and plot a course proposal. Vitrian should be able to make minor mods to this plot and have us intercepting in a week or so.”
“I know we didn’t get the amount of shore leave you people are accustomed to, and after the AG16 and losing Vader, this might seem to you like we’re pushing it. You aren’t wrong, we could have all used more downtime, and mission fatigue is nothing to scoff at,” said the captain as he made eye contact with each person in the room, “However, I have always made it my policy to be honest with you when it comes to this job, and so I must tell you that once Bella ran the image comparison in the registry, this mission was marked as alpha priority with the bonus reward you saw before. That’s right, fleet contacted me directly and we were ordered to pull anchor and get this done.”
Captain Estrada zoomed in once more on the ship and let the image of it fill the display.
“Someone very important has a vested interest in recovering this vessel,” said the captain as they all gazed at the silent ship. “If Kratos is right, and this is a slave ship, that would explain why the profile is redacted. The fact remains that it was entered into the registry, so a degree of collusion from far above our pay grade is implicit. This job is ours whether we want it or not people, so let’s get it done and hope the next one has us back on the scrap. We have a week before intercept, so rest up for the next two cycles and then start your drills. Dismissed.”
10. SLAVE SHIP
The week passed quickly for Rhett, and he was thankful for that. He needed to be engaged, whether it was the heat of the mission or the depths of pleasant vice, he needed to be in the action to feel steady. It was the downtime that always twisted him up, when he had time and space to think, to remember, to consider what he could have done differently. There was much to do in the way of preparing for the mission, as there had been meager shore leave, and much of the refitting work was yet to be done.
Kratos turned out to be as capable a soldier as he was a cutter, which came as no surprise to Rhett. Neither Kratos nor Rhett was any match for the former cultist twins when it came to marksmanship, though John was a former salvage marine. Being a man with wartime military experience made John unique amongst the group, and Rhett was pleased to have him on the team. Vader had been a skilled cutter, one of the best in the business, though when it came to combat he was more like Sparks and Quinn, less like the hardened veterans Rhett suspected might be needed.
Soon the nameless ship had transformed from an image on the briefing display to a dark shape materializing out of the void ahead of Vulture Six. Rhett stood behind Vitrian as the pilot brought the Six into scanning range. Captain Estrada and Bella were pouring over the data coming back from the scanners, and Rhett found himself unable to look away from the ship.
It was roughly the same size as Vulture Six, though it was outfitted for ship-to-ship engagements, that much Rhett could see with his own eyes at long last. Once they’d had more time to track the ship it had become clear that the vessel had fired its engines at maximum, possibly to break orbit from whatever dirtside it had originated from, and shortly after it hit void the engines burned out from the stress. Now that they were in visual range even Rhett, without extensive knowledge of ships, could see that the thrusters were slagged. It still hurled through space at a good speed, though nothing a ship with working thrusters couldn’t easily keep pace with.
The ship positively radiated with menace, and Rhett wasn’t the only one who felt it.
“Back home there are these predatory fish that hunt in the open waters of Brittle Sea, where my family would sometimes visit before I signed on with the fleet,” said Vitrian, partly to Rhett and seemingly partly to the room itself, his voice thick, “Sharks, they were called. Really, just eating machines, endlessly prowling the waters, always hungry. That, my indentured friend, isn’t a ship, it’s a shark.”
“Then let’s hope it’s a dead one so we can do this and head back to the light,” said Rhett as he clapped Vitrian on the shoulder before turning around to address the captain.
“Orders, sir?” asked Rhett.