17:45 Rec Room

Theresa, Alice, and Jessica were sitting on the makeshift couch and watching a chick-flick. There were a couple of enlisted members playing a game of cornhole behind them. The three weren’t having a hard time believing John helped make this room a reality, that he asked for permission first still befuddled the trio.

“Alice, am I correct in assuming it sucks to sharing a room with us?” Jessica asked.

“Honestly yes. I love you all, but I don’t sleep well here. I miss having the big lug around me,” Alice was hugging a throw pillow very tightly.

“I’m missing Kevin too, there’s literally no privacy on the ship either,” Theresa’s eyes were transfixed on the screen.

“I feel like I’m going to be Andern if I start counting down the days we have left,” Jessica laughed.

“It’s in twenty-three days,” Alice and Theresa said in unison.

The girls laughed and continued to watch the movie. Thomas walked in and sat in the chair next to the girls and started talking to them. He couldn’t stop giggling at the room. And that it was created conforming to Naval regulations was nothing short of a miracle.

Eventually, the group left to go to one of the study rooms for an hour. After studying they’d head to their departments to drill for an hour. There was always something going on for the cadets. Except when they were sleeping.

12:15 Mess Hall

“Morning honey,” John kissed Alice on the seat after sitting down next to her.

“Nice job on the rec room. But if I’m allowed to be a critic the couch leaves a little to be desired,” Alice was smirking.

“Planning on rectifying that after we dock at Olympus Minor station. Already contacted the quartermaster there,” John was smiling

“So, do you have a busy shift coming up?”

“Yeah, we should be intercepting the Scaley Bastard.”

“The what now?” Alice looked and sounded confused.

“The owner must be a smartass. It’s an independent mining ship.”

“What are we doing with them?”

“Verify their flight logs and whether or not they are mining what they should. If we were to do a ship inspection we’d check to see if the ship was smuggling anything.”

“No fights then?”

“I would be shocked if that would happen,” John was spreading some strawberry jam onto some toast.

“Don’t tell Andern this, but we already started counting down to shore leave.”

John let out a loud laugh, “Caleb has a running countdown timer at his workstation on the bridge.”

The couple continued to chat, and each mentioned that they missed one another. They would continue to talk until the top of the hour. Alice was heading off to her bunk and John was heading to the aft weapons to drill with them before his shift.

16:30 Bridge

“Mars Control, CNS Marcinko beginning deceleration burning, en route to the IMS Scaley Bastard and asteroid B One-One-Delta-Charlie-Five-Seven-X-ray,” Lacey said into an open communications link.

“Copy CNS Marcinko, happy hunting.”

“Caleb, flip her around begin the burn. Lacey has the Scaley Bastard responded to our hails?”

“Roger that, beginning burn,” Caleb said as he was entering the commands into his terminal.

“Negative sir, the ship appears active, they are either ignoring us or haven’t noticed our messages.”

John shook his head, “Continue trying to hail them. Caleb, time to intercept?”

“We’ll be in visual range in twenty-two minutes.”

“Wei, are all departments standing ready?”

“Yes sir, they all have confirmed they are operating within expectations.”

The bridge maintained a degree of tenseness during the deceleration. The mining ship still hadn’t contacted them. By this point, they were guilty of two dozen minor violations in maintaining communications with the local naval fleet. John was ready to tear the captain of the mining ship a new asshole for their complete lack of communications.

“On screen, please. Wei, is the core active? Is there a stable atmosphere in the ship?”

The screen at the front of the bridge zoomed in on the mining ship. John’s first question appeared to be answered as it was actively cutting into the asteroid.

“Yes, to both sir.”

“Still no response to our hails,” Lacy interjected.

“Fire a warning shot, ten percent power with a plasma lance above her bow,” John leaned back and waited.

Wei slid her chair over to the weapons console and aimed three kilometers above the Scaley Bastard and fired off a mild charge of intensely bright plasma. Inside the Marcinko they could hear the power draw increase, then a mild static discharge was heard when the lance fired its shot. A moment later they received an incoming hail.

“Why are you firing on us?” an irritated young man said.

“Ahh, finally the Scaley Bastard speaks. Accept the visual communications and state your name and rank,” John said calmly.

The screen shifted and the image of a very dirty man appeared on the right half of the screen. In the background parts of the bridge, or what the crew presumed was the bridge, could be seen. The room the man was in appeared to be a filthy clusterfuck.

“Paul Orgeron, mining specialist.”

“Paul, acting Captain John Lief of the CNS Marcinko. Where’s the captain of your ship?”

“In the refinery.”

“He has five minutes to be on the bridge with you.”

John muttered something under his breath when the young man ran away. He ordered that weapon be locked on the aft freight holds. John was also verifying with Lacey the violations the Scaley Bastard had committed in not responded to the hails. There was some discussion about when the violations actually began occurring. John conceded Lacey’s point and there were only thirteen communications violations.

“Captain Dick Murdock, what the hell are you doing firing on us?”

“Well Dick, when y’all don’t respond to your bloody communications we’re left with an unannounced boarding, which usually ends badly for belters. Or we try alternative ways to reach out. I figured you didn’t want us firing a worm and shutting all your shit down,” John leaned to one side on his chair.

“Well, what do you want?”

“Transmit your log, cargo, and flight plan over so we can inspect.”

“But we filed all that information.”

John rubbed his forehead, “You look old as hell Dick, you cannot tell me this is the first time the military has intercepted a ship you’ve been on. Your choices are to transmit that information, or the military does a surprise inspection on your ship. What would you want to do?”

“Transmitting the information.”

John was pulling up Murdock’s personal information. John grinned when he saw the number of warnings he had received. John honestly didn’t want to harass these guys, but his defensiveness and the lack of communication implied he was hiding something. John knew he was lying from how he was talking. But the man was trained well to keep psychics out of his mind.

“We’ve received your information. You’ve been warned many times about communications, but you continue to ignore the warnings. Stand by,” John pointed at Lacey, she closed the channel.

Wei began reviewing the documentation that was sent over. She noticed their logs were woefully inadequate and appeared to be missing large swaths of time. Their duty roster also didn’t match what was file. The only thing that they seemed to follow was their flight plan, though that was likely because they knew Mars Control would actually reject any future flight plans they submitted.

“Sir, nothing checks out,” Lacey spun around in her chair, “the logs are a mess, and the duty roster doesn’t match what was filed.”

“Wei, at what distance do we need to be for a probe to be undetectable to them?”

“Twenty thousand kilometers.”

“Coordinate with Caleb on the outgoing burn, we’re going to circle back to these assholes in a bit,” John’s assumptions about this ship had shifted as they now had a circumstantial case against them, “get Dick back on coms.”

The man’s dirty face appeared on the right side of the screen again and said, “Jesus, how long were you going to make me wait. I’ve got an operation going on.”

“Dick, you’re in violation of the communication protocols. This is the thirty-fifth time someone has mentioned this to you. The kid gloves approach has clearly not worked. The Scaley Bastard is being fined thirty-five thousand credits and may not leave the dock until the fine is paid. You, as the captain of the vessel, will also be fined five thousand credits and are ordered to take a remedial class on ship-to-ship communications. Your flight license will be suspended after you dock next or upon completion of your current scheduled plan. It will be reinstated immediately upon completion of the course.”

John made a motion across his neck to kill the line. He then ordered Caleb to move them on to their next target. Caleb and Wei coordinated with one another and decided they’d drop the probe at twenty-seven thousand kilometers. The probe was launched as expected and began storing data, it could send information back to the ship on a secret channel undetectable by civilian ships.

John knew smugglers could detect the channel occasionally. In this case, they should be safe unless another ship would come towards the Scaley Bastard in the same direction as the Marcinko was leaving the area. John finished writing the violations and submitted them to Sector Command.

An hour later the ship was back to its cruising speed and heading towards the next ship they would inspect. Kristin would get to manage that contact in eight hours. The bridge was planning to run a drill when Lacey received a message.

“Captain, Lieutenant Page would like to speak with you after our drill.”

John chuckled, “Yeah I figured she’d ask why I issued a fine to a miner. Let’s get the drill done so I can go justify my decision.”

00:15 Officer’s Conference Room

“Ma’am. You wanted to talk to me?” John said as he entered the room.

“Were the fines really warranted? And firing the lance as well?”

“Thirty-five previous warnings and nineteen in the last twelve months. Had they answered one message or not given me any attitude I would’ve given another warning. We were well within our rights to issue the fine and frankly, the military has given out worse fines for far less,” John paused and grinned, “besides, I strongly suspect the Scaley Bastard is going to lead to bigger prey.”

“Very well, I can’t fault your decision or interaction with them. You were fully within the regulations of dealing with the mining vessel. You’re dismissed.”

John saluted and headed back to the bridge. Mars Control contacted them three times with minor course changes. The bridge ran an attack drill which didn’t end well, John gave the bridge an assignment to study some items before the next shift, which was a not-so-subtle hint that they’d see that drill again soon.

04:15 Primary Study Lounge

John pumped his fist awkwardly as he entered the lounger and found not one but two open workstations. He walked over to the closest one and started the lessons. His goal was once again to get three classes wrapped up today. John did have an ulterior motive, like he always did, by getting the classes done as quickly as he could. That would result in more time in the rec room or drilling. Both were things he would rather do.

Ninety minutes later John had exceeded his own expectations and managed to wrap up four lessons. He got up and stretched then headed toward the after weapons room and drilled with them for another hour. John complimented the enlisted members that were part of the drill, but more than anything else he was happy to see how his officers were listening and interacting with the enlisted men and women on board his ship.

John was walking through engineering when Kevin interrupted him, “Captain, a moment.”

“What’s up?” John asked as he walked over to Kevin.

“The chief noticed you dropped a buoy and was scanning through what it had sent over. There were three other drive patterns that we’ve separated from the background radiation.”

“That doesn’t surprise me, I’d bet all my money on them being a hub for smugglers in the belt. Ships offload their wares and pick up other things, or have multiple ships docked with them as they are used as neutral ground.”

“One of the vessels is a known pirate ship, ‘Folly of Icarus.’ I’m sure you’ve heard of it.”

“Only via rumors and innuendo. Interesting development. Hold on to that information for now. Work with the bridge, I want that engine signature being scanned while we’re out here.”

Chief Stroll walked over and joined the conversation, “I’ve already prepared a scanning pattern for y’all to run.”

“Thanks, chief. One of you let the bridge know and have operations run this in the background.”

05:00 Mess Hall

Alice wasn’t there this morning. John cursed himself that he got so caught up in things that he didn’t get to spend any time in the rec room. He resigned himself to that failure of time management and helped himself to a triple serving of bacon.

“I have no idea what time it is,” Nathan said as he sat down across from John.

“Yeah, me neither,” Brian chimed in.

“Morning, how are y’all?”

“Sleeping arrangements are fucking terrible. Though the enlisted keep telling us that all of the modern ships are way nicer than this heap,” Nathan took a drink of milk.

“I could do without the schoolwork. Let me guess, you’re working on getting done ahead of schedule.” Brian squirted some ketchup onto his eggs.

“You’re a fucking savage for doing that to your food,” John laughed, “and for the record yes, the sooner I wrap the lessons up the better. More time to drill and chill in the rec room.”

“Yeah about that, one nice work, two, the couches and chairs are awful,” Brian paid no heed to John’s criticism of his food choices and mixed the ketchup into his scrambled eggs.

“Getting some replacements at Olympus Minor station. Won’t be new stuff, but it’ll do. Also going to pick up a few more rec items, a replacement for the screens in the mess, and a couple of rugs that really bring the room together.”

“Out fucking standing. I swear that room will help me manage my sanity on this bucket. Are you liking being in control?”

John smiled, “Of course, a hell of a lot of work though.”

The intercom in the mess activated, “Captain Lief, report to the bridge.”

“Thank god I finished my food,” John laughed, “it’s nice to see you guys again, can’t wait till we’re all off duty and can have a beer together.”

“No doubt, cya,” Brian said as he focused his attention on his plate of food.

05:45 Bridge

“Captain on the bridge,” Andern said from the operations station.

“At ease, Kristin, what’s up?”

“On screen. That,” Kristin pointed at the display screen.

The screen focused on the remains of a ship. The wreck of the IMS Dirty Fellow was orbiting the mineral-rich asteroid. John looked at it.

“What have you learned from the initial scans?”

“We’ve got drones scanning her now. All hands are lost. This wasn’t an accident. Andern, show him the damage on the port nacelle.”

The image changed to previously recorded images and video of a drone scanning the damage. It was clear that a missile had impacted the nacelle. Frozen plasma was orbiting the wreckage.

“Scan the background for the engine pattern that was sent up here a while ago.”

“Already did sir,” Andern answered, “Direct match.”

“Until further notice, we’re on yellow alert. Get those drones to access that ship’s computers. I want to know how long she’s been dead. Contact Mars Control and inform them of this mess. Contact Lieutenant Page and have her meet me in the officer’s conference room in five minutes.”

John walked out of the bridge. He shook his head cursing to himself that he may not get much sleep. He walked down the hallway and entered the conference room. He took a seat directly in front of the doors.

06:15 Officer’s Conference Room

“Ok, so she’s been dead twelve hours. Which means it is out there,” John waved his arms aimlessly, “We need reinforcements for this hunt.”

“I was going to tell you that pirate ship was just a bad rumor that kept getting brought up around here. But now…” Page trailed off.

“I’ve ordered the crew to be at yellow alert, I’m halting classroom duties until this mess blows over.”

“I’ll take control of the vessel,” Page neither looked nor sounded confident stating that, “it’s the only way.”

“With respect, you have less experience commanding a vessel than I or my two subordinates do. I will support your decision should any of us not prove up to the task.”

“You can’t be serious.”

“Oh, deadly serious in fact. Please feel free to talk with the Chief to see if the enlisted trust the officers. If they don’t then the Marcinko is all yours to command.” John smiled, “But if they are content with the competence of her officers then let us do what we’ve been asked to do.”

“Get some rest, we’ll meet again in four hours.”

“Ma’am,” John saluted and walked out the door.

He walked down the hall and went up the stairs. Then John headed to the bridge. Kristin was made to close the rec room until they were in the clear. John smirked in the background that his name didn’t go on that order, Kristin would now be on most people’s shit list for the immediate future.

John coordinated with engineering to try and detect this ship. It likely had a cloaking device or an elaborate system to make it blend into the void. They were able to get vectors on where the pirate vessel went after attacking the mining ship. It was entirely possible they wouldn’t pick a fight with the Navy, but John wasn’t going to risk anything.

The Marcinko was now hunting. This hunt wasn’t going to be easy but given the proclivity John had for getting into trouble or stumbling upon it, this was but another step in his journey. This time though he had a whole crew working with and behind him trying to achieve the same solution.