* * *
It had been a long and arduous two years, and the miners were joyous to be returning after so long a time in the asteroid field of TilgathPilneser. The rewards for all their work had been paltry, making the outlanders even more homesick than usual. The arrival of the collier, MoonDust, on its annual passage to Sustrepho was fortuitous for these tired laborers. They would now be able to arrive at ChailDeiah, a tiny colony on that planet, months ahead of schedule.
The MoonDust was a small transport vessel, shipping about eight hundred tonnes. It supplied needed fuel rods to generating power plants that served several frontier colonies like TilgathPilneser, where solar and other energy sources were insufficient to sustain habitation. When completing its circuit, the ship would return to Desiah, dropping off the spent rods and loading new ones for another trip. At Desiah, the spent fuel rods were either rejuvenated or broken down to remove any risk of radiation.
It was just past the dinner hour when the first mate notified the captain that two ships were shadowing them. “Stasis!” He muttered, as he jumped from his seat and exited the tiny galley.
Upon entering the command cabin, the captain scanned the monitor to find the locations of the phantom vessels. They were moving fast and closing, one on their starboard and the other directly astern. He could clearly see that their target was the MoonDust, but it made little sense to him. First, Stasis pirates seldom worked in teams. Most of the time they acted like lone wolves…or maybe it was weasels. Second, they were on a main trade route. Stasis prowled the back-waters - places where there was little chance of encountering a fleet patrol ship.
The captain also wondered at the intent of pursuit. By now, projection radar should have returned pictures to the other ships, identifying their intended victim to be a collier out of Desiah. There was little of value on board for any Stasis. Fuel rods were inexpensive and common, but also potentially dangerous. That’s why specially built colliers like the MoonDust were used to deliver new rods. The ore and rough jewels that the miners carried were also of little value. Besides, how would the Stasis pirates know those people were aboard? No. Something didn’t feel right, but the captain couldn’t put his finger on it.
When the lead phantom ship closed within short-range communication, it heralded the MoonDust to stop and prepare for boarding. In an anxious voice, the first mate asked if they should send a distress signal.
“I think not…not yet.” The captain cautiously replied. “We shouldn’t have much to fear, unless they become angry. There is nothing of real value on board, and I doubt it’s the ship they want, seeing the cargo it carries. Few of them have the ability or patience it takes to operate such complex generating systems as use this fuel.” He sighed. “Let them board and have a look around. What food and supplies we have, they’re welcome to. I think we carry sufficient quantities of those things to pacify them enough to avoid violence.”
A short while later, two ships came drifting in upon the MoonDust. The larger one pulled up along side, about a quarter mile on its port, while the smaller ship passed by, stopping about a mile ahead and starboard the collier.
In only moments, several hatches opened along the top and sides of the larger ship. From them, half a dozen small self-propelled pods exited and then headed for their hapless victim. These little pods were commonly called ‘sculls’ or ‘scullers’. They were modified versions of ship-to-ship shuttles, ranging in length from fifteen to thirty feet, and able to carry from eight to twenty-four occupants. The pilot and drive engines were located in the rear of the craft, thus the name ‘sculler’, and the passengers or cargo were in the front.
When the naval wars began, these scullers were modified to be used as small gun-ships and boarding craft. The nose of a scull was designed to fit over a door on the main ship or, if necessary, to attach directly to its hull. On the outer side of the front seal on the sculler, ordnance was mounted, allowing for the penetrating of the skin, permitting the boarding of the enemy vessel where no door existed. After setting the air lock, the gunner would blow a hole through the hull and the boarders would storm the ship. In times of peace, the sculler could also be used for its original purpose, an ordinary shuttlecraft.
A sculler locked itself over a hatch forward amidships, just behind the pilot’s bridge. The remaining five sculls drifted beside the MoonDust, their crews waiting further orders while searching for other doors. Soon a loud banging was heard on the hatch. The captain motioned for assistance and hurried to the door. As it opened, a heaving mass of wild-looking men piled through the entry, spilling into the narrow chamber.
The apparent leader of the group shoved the captain back, slamming him against the wall. As that man pinned the captain there, others closed the hatch. In a few minutes another sculler had deposited its barbaric crew through the same door. This was repeated three more times. By now, there were well over forty of these Stasis thugs rummaging throughout the collier. They rounded up the remaining crew and passengers and herded them all into a nearly empty storeroom abaft the galley. A total of seventeen people - six crew and the eleven miners - all nervously huddled in the center of the room while the Stasis loudly plundered the rest of the ship.
The noise of shuttles going and coming echoed down the long narrow corridor to the storeroom. The Stasis standing guard would crane their necks from time to time to try and see what was transpiring down at the other end of that hallway. Suddenly they heard the clack of hard-soled boots hitting the steel deck plates. A look of nervous disquiet filled their faces and they began to fidget with the weapons they held.
A gruff voice blasted the air, shouting, “C’mon, you lazy bastards! Get your work finished fast or I’ll hard shell ya!”
It was quickly followed by an equally sinister, but more refined one. “My dear Commander, don’t waste my time with your ape-boys’ pursuit of trinkets and baubles. There is more important work to be finished here. And soon!”
The two men stopped at the doorway and peered in, both smiling as they viewed the fear on the faces of the hostages. The man with the gruff, coarse voice was dressed as ragtag as the others, but the more refined speaker was featured in a natty red-kilted uniform. The neatly attired officer addressed the commander. “Now, my good fellow, be off and bring back to me thirty or so of your creatures.”
He looked again into the room where the five women and twelve men huddled. “Yes, that will be good.” Grinning, he again eyed the Stasis commander. “Yes, that number will do.” He clapped his hands. “Now hurry along! Time’s wasting!”
The Stasis commander swore a trail of foul words at the officer as he hurried down the companionway. In a few minutes he returned, his men following close behind.
The neatly dressed officer, who had been whistling some little ditty while he waited, now addressed the captain of the MoonDust. “My good fellow, would you please accompany us forward to the bridge and provide me with a look-see? And…” He raised his hand, extending a finger upward and wiggling it side to side. “I would so appreciate your encouragement for the others to also quietly do as they’re told.”
In a little while, the crew and passengers had been separated into ones and twos, then were led to various other rooms on the ship. For over an hour, screams and cries for mercy rang though the metal hold of the dying vessel.
At the height of this madness, the officer took an idle stroll around the ship, eventually finding his way into the entry passage just outside the sealed chambers where the fuel rods were stored. There, a Stasis pirate busied himself with the hatch leading into the containment area. Without saying a word, the officer drew his side arm and fired an energy blast point-blank at the man’s head. Instantly, his skull shattered, coating the wall with pieces of its contents. In seconds, the Stasis commander’s heavy boots were heard pounding along the corridor.
“What the hell are you friggin’ doing, you shit slime?!” He screamed.
&n
bsp; The officer swung his weapon around, pointing it directly at the Stasis commander. He mildly explained, “I just saved us all from a very unpleasant experience. That fool was attempting to gain access to a room alive with enough radiation to fry us all in minutes. Do you wish to argue the point, or do you agree that I had no other choice than to dispatch him before he contaminated us all?”
The Stasis commander was fuming. This was the third man he had lost to the officer in less than two weeks. Still, the restitution offered had been quite adequate for the others. “What will you pay me to let it go?”
The officer promised to richly compensate the Stasis commander for his loss. The man agreed to overlook what happened. After all, it was for the protection of everyone on board. Eventually, the officer made his way back through the ship. Along the way, he passed now silent rooms where unspeakable horrors had recently been carried out. In some places, blood flowed out the doorways, collecting in little pools on the deck plates.
As he neared the shuttle door, he encountered three of his own men, as neatly dressed as he was. Two were ordered to set timed charges for the destruction of the gravity machines, temperature control, and lighting systems. The other was told to accompany the officer to the pilot’s bridge. They waited for the last of the Stasis pirates to depart, leaving only himself, the Stasis commander and seven of his own men. He then ordered the ship to have its course set for Sustrepho at one quarter speed and to also send out a distress signal.
The party finally entered the last remaining sculler. After returning the Stasis commander to his ship, the officer parted company, claiming an urgent need to report to his superior. He made arrangements to join up at another location three weeks hence. The commander agreed to make the rendezvous - one he would fail to keep.
The officer made haste for the gathering fleet, hidden somewhere deep within the dust-filled asteroid fields off Candletoe, while the Stasis commander busied the crew at stowing away their newly acquired riches. Soon the Stasis ship slipped away into the shadows of space, seeking more flies to ensnare in its web and more stolen goods for its larder. But even now, at this moment of celebration, the darkening hour for the predator was growing ever nearer. The cave wasps were preparing to swarm...