Chapter 183: Chapter 183

"They must be pirates. We stumbled onto a pirate base, and they caught us. The only reason they haven't blasted us to bits already is they want to steal our ship," my little sister mumbled as she slumped back in her seat.

She sounded almost resigned as she continued, "Once they've got us docked they'll force their way on board, then they'll make us choose our fate. Death, or spend the rest of our lives serving them."

My ears were folded back while I reviewed the data our sensors picked up before they were jammed, but I shook my head as I replied, "You've been watching too many adventure vids."

"There hasn't been any pirate activity reported in this part of the sector," I added. "It's all been up around Marshal's World and the Garrett Cluster. That's twelve to fifteen days away at Jump-0."

After another second or two I continued, "We're in the middle of nowhere sis. Nobody comes this far into the asteroid field. So why would pirates build a base here?"

"That's exactly why they're here Amanda!" she exclaimed in frustration. "Duh! It's a secret base, obviously they put it where nobody's going to come looking for it!"

I shook my head again, "There's no sign of any pirate ships here. And they can't all be hiding in those two docking bays, they're not big enough. At best those doors could fit a light freighter like the Demeter. Maybe a couple fighters? Or a scout ship like the Artemis. But you're not going to squeeze a carrier through those little doors." Dıscover more novels at novęlfire.net

"Anyways pirates would need some way to refuel their fleet," I pointed out after a short pause. "Even if this asteroid has a refinery, there's no source of raw fuel around here. No gas worlds to scoop from, there aren't even any stars around here for planets to orbit. It's just airless rocks for hundreds of light-days all around."

Nyssa sighed, "Even if it's not pirates it has to be someone up to no good. You don't build a secret asteroid base in the middle of nowhere so you can open up a shipping port or a tourist destination."

"Yeah," I frowned as my tail tucked down under my seat. "I can't argue with that sis."

The two of us went quiet again, as we stared out the windows at the asteroid in the distance ahead of us. After a minute or so Nyssa broke the silence to ask, "What do you suppose they're doing with that warship? They're not trying to repair it, are they?"

I shook my head, "They're carving it up into scrap metal. It looks like they've already gutted the interior. Engines, power plant, weapons, that's probably all gone by now. There's nothing left but the hull, so they're taking that too."

She frowned, "Why? It seems like a lot of work, for some rusty old chunks of metal."

That made me smile, "It's not rusty. Metal can't rust in the vacuum of space. And starship hulls usually aren't made of anything prone to that kind of degradation anyways sis."

Nyssa rolled her eyes, "You know what I mean. I get that the engines and weapons and all that stuff's valuable, but why bother with the hull?"

I explained, "It's cheaper and quicker to recycle scrap metal than it is to refine new alloys from raw ore. You're right that literally everything else in a ship is more valuable, but if you need raw metal then a derelict hull is a pretty good source."

She frowned again, then her attention returned to our predicament. She gestured at the helm controls in front of her and asked, "Why don't we try and break out of their tractor beam? This ship's supposed to be fast, right? Maybe we could use the jump drive to escape?"

"That's honestly a really bad idea sis," I sighed while my ears drooped. "Our conventional drive's definitely not strong enough to break us free. And if we tried using the jump drive, there's a pretty good chance the Artemis would end up becoming a trail of fine dust spread out over a few thousand kilometres. And us along with it."

My sister pouted, but before she could respond the comm panel lit up with an incoming signal. It was a local transmission, and it wasn't hard to guess where it was coming from. That asteroid base was looming pretty large outside our windows, in fact we were close enough that I could see the starboard docking bay doors had started to open.

I glanced at Nyssa and made a 'shh' gesture to her, then I tapped the controls to see what our would-be captors wanted. I also made sure to record the conversation, I figured if we did manage to escape then Rebecca would want to hear all the details.

As soon as the channel was open a voice came through the speakers, "Confederation scout-class vessel, you are ordered to power down your engines. Keep any weapons and defences off-line. If you attempt to flee or fight you will be immediately destroyed with no further warnings. If you surrender and comply with all orders, you will be treated fairly according to agreed protocols. Do you acknowledge?"

The person sounded like a young man, maybe in his early twenties. His tone was mostly level and his voice calm, like he was trying to stay professional. I was positive I could hear an undertone of nervous excitement though, like he definitely seemed eager to capture us.

I motioned again for my sister to keep quiet while I responded, "Unidentified station, this is the Merchant Vessel Artemis. Please identify yourself, and explain why you've illegally detained our craft in your tractor beam."

Rather than answer my questions the voice came over the comm again and stated, "Scout ship Artemis you have sixty seconds to shut down your engines and signal your acceptance of the terms of your surrender."

Nyssa and I glanced at each other, and I could see the fear in her eyes. I was honestly pretty worried as well, but I tried to put on a brave face for her.

I toggled the mute function on the comm so we could talk without being overheard, then gave my little sister what I hoped was a reassuring look. Although I could feel my ears drooping, and I knew my tail was still tucked down under my chair.

Still, I tried to sound confident as I told her, "Just try and stay calm, ok sis? The fact that they're pulling us in means they want us alive. If they wanted us dead they could have killed us already."

"Ok Amanda," she nodded slowly. "I'll try."

"Scout ship Artemis you have thirty seconds to shut down your engines and signal your acceptance of the terms of your surrender," the young man's voice came through the speakers again.

He was still trying to sound calm, but this time I was sure his voice carried a little more anxiety and a little less excitement. Like maybe he wasn't as confident as he was trying to appear. Unfortunately I couldn't think of any way to capitalize on that, at least not in the half minute I had left.

I sighed as I unmuted the comm then replied, "Fine. Shutting down now."

Then with my tail still tucked down under my seat I reached over to the helm controls in front of Nyssa and powered down our ship's engines. The moment they were offline the comm channel went dead, while the tractor beam continued drawing us in towards the base.

Within another minute or so the asteroid filled our view outside the windows. We were only about two hundred meters away from it, being pulled in towards the open doors of the starboard docking bay. We were close enough I didn't need the sensors to see that all the installation's gun ports were still sealed.

"Look at that," Nyssa whispered as she stared out the windows. She wasn't looking at the asteroid though, her eyes were on the derelict warship.

We were practically alongside it by that point, and I ended up staring at it as well. The vessel was only a little smaller than the Hammersmith, and she was probably a sleek and impressive craft back in her day. Now she was anything but. And seeing her all dead and gutted with those little salvage drones picking away at her hull actually sent a pang of sadness through me.

"I'm positive that's Jenny's old ship," I commented quietly as we both looked out at the derelict. "Now we know why we couldn't find the Kára, someone else got their hands on her after all."

The two of us continued to stare as we were pulled past the old warship, and an uncomfortable feeling settled in my gut alongside the sadness. Even though I'd never seen her before, I knew the Kára was once home to the person who's body I now occupied. Knowing I was basically a clone of somebody who died on that ship felt almost haunting in a way.

For a couple seconds I found myself wondering if that body was still in there, if I had a doppelgänger floating dead somewhere a few dozen meters off our starboard beam. Then I told myself I was being superstitious. I turned my attention back to the situation at hand, just as the Artemis was drawn into the base's starboard docking bay.

We came to a stop in the middle of the hangar, then as the bay doors began silently closing behind us a pair of docking clamps extended from either side of the hangar to secure the Artemis in place. A half minute later I felt a little shudder through the ship as the clamps locked tight against our hull, while at the same time those armour plated doors sealed shut behind us.

"Amanda...?" Nyssa whispered nervously.

I nodded, "I know sis. Try and be brave though, ok? And let me do the talking."

"Alright," she sighed.

With the Artemis completely immobilized, an articulated gangway extended out from the back of docking bay. It coupled with the airlock on the main deck of our ship, and once the gangway was pressurized the comm channel came to life again.

"Both of you please exit your craft and follow the red indicator line," that same young male voice stated, and he still sounded like he was trying to come across as more confident than he really was.

"Do not bring any weapons or other equipment with you," he cautioned. "This includes communication devices. You will be scanned, if any weapons or other devices are detected you will be destroyed. You have two minutes to comply."

This time my ears angled forward and my tail twitched as I half-demanded, "I'm not surrendering my ship or crew until I know who you are, and what you want with us."

It took a few moments for our captor to respond. And when he did, all he had to say was "You have ninety seconds to comply."

I may have growled slightly in frustration at that point. Then I stated angrily, "I'll come out alone, but my crew stays on my ship."

Without waiting for a reply I shut off the comm then got to my feet as I told my sister, "Nyssa you're staying here while I try and talk our way out of this. I'm going to seal the airlock behind me, don't open it for anyone but me."

She immediately started protesting as she followed me aft towards the main deck airlock, but she could probably tell from my body language that I wasn't going to change my mind. My shoulders were set, my ears angled forward and my tail stood out straight behind me. In my mind I looked angry and dangerous, but the reality was a little less imposing. As my sister reminded me when I got to the airlock.

"Amanda? Maybe you should put on some pants before you go confront whoever's on that base?" she asked. "Or a pair of shoes?"

Just like that some of my anger faded. My shoulders and tail slumped while my cheeks heated up as I realized she was right. All I had on was my nightshirt, since I'd been asleep in bed before the whole crisis began.

After a second or two I set my shoulders again and shook my head, "No time sis. There's probably less than a minute left on that asshole's countdown. I said I'd go out there and talk, so that's what I'm going to do."

"Anyways," I tried to joke, "You know what Sarah says, right? I'm way more of a badass when I'm not wearing any pants."

Unfortunately the situation was too serious for jokes. My sister didn't laugh, and my smile faded a moment later.

As I stepped into the airlock I reminded her, "Stay on the ship. Don't unseal it for anyone but me. I'll be back as soon as I can. Stay safe."

With that I hit the control to close the inner airlock door, then I turned towards the outer hatch. According to the panel that gangway outside was safe, it was fully sealed and pressurized and there was standard gravity.

Then I took a moment to mentally prepare myself. I reminded myself that I was smart, and thanks to my genetically enhanced body I was a lot stronger and faster than I looked. Plus I'd gained a lot of experience over the past year or so dealing with tricky situations. My goal was to talk our way out of this, but if talking didn't work then I was more than capable of fighting my way out too.

And with that in mind, I set my shoulders and unsealed the outer hatch.