"So much for getting the new engines installed."
Jake simply nodded.
"Do we have any sign at all from Ayan since she last reported?"
"None. As far as we can tell they've found a way to block any signals from or to their command units. They did just open a micro-wormhole. Jason's working on decrypting the communique."
"How long did he say it would take?"
"He's bringing the Minuteman supercomputer online, he said it would be about two hours after that."
"Good."
"Sir, the station's sent us a message."
"Put it up," Jake said, surging to his feet.
A hologram of a woman in an old, loose fitting heavy vacsuit appeared in front of him. " Triton. We will be willing to allow your crew members to leave after you've remanded all the raider crews into our custody. They will be charged with destruction of property and piracy. You've already taken numerous vessels into your hangars, we will expect you to comply with our demands within the hour using those ships." The message ended.
Jake grunted to himself and sat down.
Oz started looking up the regional law on piracy with the provision of being enslaved at the time the crime was committed.
"It's life. The sentence for piracy in this region of space is life for free crew or slaves. It doesn't make a difference," Jake told him quietly. He was reviewing the readiness of the torpedo banks, missile turrets, gunnery deck, and beam weapon emplacements.
Until then the weaponry on the Triton had just been a list, like any other feature he'd never seen. As he looked at the tactical view of the ship, left of centre on the bridge he realized how very deadly the vessel was. Thirty six torpedo tubes in nine loading rooms across the port, fore, aft and starboard sides were loaded with driller rounds, set to detonate after punching through a hull and detecting an atmosphere. The fourteen missile turrets along the lower hull were loaded with two hundred eighty kilogram seeker projectiles. The gunnery deck's eighty four 280mm round guns were set with electromagnetic pulse rounds while its fourteen 450mm guns were loaded and ready with fragmentation burst rounds. The last of the weaponry, the eight carrier class electromagnetic beam weapons were half charged.
"There she is with all her teeth bared," Oz breathed as he looked over the broad, gleaming stingray shaped vessel. The only visible flaw was the absence of half her massive main engines, leaving recessed swivel ports open in the lower aft quarter of the vessel.
The first squadron of seven Uriel fighters, led by Ronin launched from the lower hull and began moving into position around Triton. "Where do you want me Jake?" Oz asked him.
Jake manipulated a series of remote controls and gave the Palamo a heading that led it very close to the station, between it and the Triton before answering.
"I need you here," he replied dryly. With a flick of his finger he engaged privacy mode around the command seating. "It's Ayan over there, I need someone who can command this carrier better than I can. I don't know what I'll have to do in the next few minutes."
"What do you want to do right now, Jake?" Oz asked quietly.
"I want to load every seasoned soldier we have into the Clever Dream, blast my way into the station and pull her out."
"I don't think the standard smash and grab tactics will work here. We don't know enough and with the material that station's made of it may as well be a prison."
"All the more reason to act sooner rather than later, I can put a plan together enroute."
"Have you looked at that thing? From the way those turrets are moving it looks like they have weapons back online. If I'm not mistaken their guns could do serious damage to the Triton, the Clever Dream would be cannon fodder."
"They'd have to get a clear shot first. The Palamo is moving in to provide cover on remote. I'll pass her controls on to you, her reactor is wired to blow, just in case."
Oz looked Jake right in the eye. "What if Ayan's working a plan of her own? She could be in harm's way and we'd never know it."
"I'll be careful."
"You're not level, Jake. Let me put a plan together."
Captain Valance sat back, his suppressed tension showed in the flexing of his jaw. "All right. You put it together, I'll lead it."
"We're not trading the slaves, right?" Oz asked.
"Hell no."
"Had to ask." He brought up a listing of ships they'd taken from the raiders and chose the one in the worst condition. "Give me five minutes."
Jake watched his old friend focus on a captured raider vessel. It was called the Jade Whisper. At just over seventy meters long, it was a distant relative of the Samson in design. Between the scars of long past combat damage and fresh damage caused by Minh's fighter wing, there wasn't much left, but it was basically operational. "Thank you Oz, I don't lose focus like this."
"It happens to everyone. If I were in your shoes I wouldn't be much good for heavy thinking either."
Jake realized he was practically breathing over Oz's shoulder and stood. The privacy barrier only extended a meter past the edge of the command seating, and he stepped outside of it. He was immediately confronted with the three main holographic displays, one focusing on the Triton, the central image was a more expanded view of the area and the right hand image had been switched to a visual representation of the asteroid field outside. The data was being updated by a Uriel starfighter holding station outside the obscuring barrier with a micro wormhole pointed towards the Triton. It was the early warning system, their only way of monitoring what was happening outside.
"Jason, have you seen any more transmissions incoming or outgoing from the station?"
"No. They've gone silent. My guess is they've consulted their backers and are operating under their instructions until help arrives."
"Do we have any idea who these people are associated with?"
"It's an independent station as far as I can tell. The cargo containers adrift in the area are marked with a lot of logos." Jason grimaced and shook his head in aggravation. "Why can't I figure out why we're not getting an active signal from our people in there! It's not like any jamming I've seen!"
Jake walked over to the communications station, a semicircle with all five seats filled, Jason was in the centre. "Would a tether work? Maybe an actual line leading to a ship breaking through the hull?"
"Of course, you can't jam a hard line without tapping it."
"Okay, start working under the assumption that we have a rescue party getting ready to go."
"Do we?"
"Oz is working on something."
Jason couldn't help but pause a moment before nodding. "Okay, then I'll work under that assumption and move on to other things."
Jake walked back to the centre of the bridge and looked at the curved lattice work of the station. He had a sinking feeling, like the situation was slipping out of his control. "We're coming, hang on, we're coming," he muttered.
Chapter 15
Victor watched as Ayan was boosted into the shaft that would lead her directly into the ruined communications hub of the station. According to what she said it had been severely damaged well before they arrived. His forensic scanners couldn't so much as penetrate the bulkhead so he took her word for it.
"Vic, you're following her," Alaka told him.
It wasn't like him to hesitate or question, but being singled out to protect the darling of the Triton alone wasn't exactly what he expected when he followed Alaka off the Cold Reaver back into the station proper. He also couldn't agree with her need to make some kind of diplomatic appeal to the people who were keeping them locked in.
"You're the narrowest, get on up there," Alaka reinforced, offering him his big cupped hands to step into.