Shipping Mishaps chapter 10

The face on the holo screen was ugly, green and speckled with saliva. “You will shut down your engines and prepare to be boarded.” It said with a nasty sharp toothed grin. The rest of the thing wasn't any better looking in Geo's eyes. Mangy looking fur with dried food in it. A torn up and hole riddled shirt, ripped down to the middle of a distended belly. It was kinda dog like, just ugly.

“Listen here puta, I ain't doing anything that you demand. Not even if you ask politely. Now to quote Grandma Penny, Bless your little heart.” Geo said back, smiling, deliberately showing her teeth.

“You have been warned, stupid creature!” The thing on screen looked to its left, “Hansert, open fire. Lets open up that tin can!”

“Bring shields up to full. Charge three Sliver cannons, and prepare to fire on their engines.” Geo announced to the bridge crew. “Bring up a view of the other ship on the aux screen.”

The opposing ship; a tramp freighter that was bristling with weapons; fired a full volley, just as the Nautilus brought it's shields up to their “full” strength of 46%. The incoming blasts of energy beams and kinetic slugs made a slight ripple against the shields.

“Eat a bag of .” Geo smiled into the holo, then commanded “Return fire!”

Three “small” hatches opened on the side of the Nautilus, uncovering the point defense Sliver Cannons. Each of the cannons fired their 2 tonne Iron/ceramic rounds at the ships engines. The first round went wide and the weapons tech cussed under her breath. The second round blasted through the freighters shields and impacted the engines with such force that the vessel started to spin end for end in the vacuum of space. The third round hit the spinning craft in the bow, slowing the spin, but tearing the front third of the ship off.

“Captain Lod, do we have to render assistance to our opponent?” Geo asked.

“Well, Admiral, as they are pirates, and attacked us, we are not required to render assistance.” was the response.

“Good to know.” She looked to communications, “Get me a comm channel to our opponents. I want to ask for their surrender.”

As the seconds ticked by, Geo thought over the last three days. The pay scales were fairly easy to adjust. The contracts she, Campy and Lod had come up with were reasonable. Of the POWs, 6 had elected to not sign on for full term contracts, as they had family they desperately wanted to see. All things said and done, I haven't done too bad, she thought, now I just have to do my first delivery.

The holo cleared and a very frightened creature stood in the cameras eye. Behind it, the bridge was in tatters and smoking. “We surrender! Please! Don't shoot us again!”

Well that was easy, “Stand down and prepare to be captured.” With a wave of her hand, she cut the transmission. “Docking bay, Tractor-beam that ship and bring it onboard. Security, gear up for bear and report to the Docking bay.” Geo snickered. Bear. Mr. Teddy. She laughed, garnering strange looks from the crew.

*-*-*

Grespa 3 station was about ¼ the size of the Nautilus, if one was being generous. Very generous. Small ships were clustered like flies at an outhouse around the station, and soon around the Nautilus. Several of the small ships practiced strafing runs, peeling off just before hitting a tall piece of superstructure. One small ship missed, destroying itself completely on the shield.

Eventually Geo had communications call Grespa 3 station for coordinates for orbital stationkeeping . The station's comm officer just laughed, “Park that tub anywhere you want.” So they did, between the station and the system's sun, just close enough to block the station's solar arrays. Five minutes later they got a call, “Move yer 17s thrice damned tub out of the light, or we are going to fire on you!”

“That got their attention”, Geo mumbled. “To whom do I have the pleasure of addressing?” she asked.

“I am station manager Mjois. Now are you going to move, or am I going to have to make you?” Mjois asked.

“You are welcome to try, but I will move momentarily if you can answer three little questions. First - Who won the 1987 World Series? Second - Have the Packers ever not sucked? Third – Does Oigf the Curious still want his package?” Geo asked, a very amused expression on her face.

“... What the … What does a series of worlds have to do with anything? We do not mock the packers of anything here. I will have someone go and ask Oigf if he still wants his packages. Now MOVE.” Mjois answered with a look of anger and confusion.

“Helm, you heard the being. Lets move... And lets not be about it.” Geo said.

The Nautilus moved out of the way of the sun, and Geo started thinking on the last three days again, we have a full manufacturing suite on board. Our armories are fully stocked. We haven't been able to search hardly any of the ship, we may have a colony of self aware and very angry mice on board and no one would ever know. In three more stops we will be in a system with a shipyard that might actually be able to handle fixing this old thing. I wonder if we could add a resort in one of the docking bays...

Her train of thought was interrupted by the Comms officer. “Transmission from Oigf, voice only.”

“---Cargo ship, if you can hear me, I do want my package, but I'm being chased by some unsavory characters. If you could come and help me, I would be more than willing to reimburse you.” Oigf said.

Without even thinking Geo asked, “Security, do you want to go break stuff on the station with the pretense of saving a customer in the name of your Admiral?”

Mr. Teddy looked at her like she was an idiot, “Of course they do. They’re drop marines, after all.”

“Splendid! Comms, direct the Marines to draw lots and send the 4 losers down to guard the pirates. The rest, yes all 40 of them, are to armor up and retrieve a Mr. Oigf from the station. You have 5 minutes.”

*-*-*

In the mad shuffle of the draw and armoring up, Bfop'r*ik forgot to pay attention to where his ex-wife placed herself. As second in command for security, she was on duty in the barracks (Hanger deck 4) and could pretty much do as she pleased. When she sat down beside him on the cargo transfer shuttle, instead of the cockpit he wasn't surprised. “Do you remember my first combat drop? You were so sweet, helping me get things right.” She said with a laugh.

Well here it comes, an invitation to her bed after this is over. I'm going to refuse this time for sure. “Yeah, I remember.”

“After this is over, we should go renew our marriage.” She said.

His mouth on auto pilot, Bfop'r*ik replied, “Sure, why not.” Then his brain kicked in. . “Um, I mean...”

“Excellent, my sugar sweet! I will make the arrangements when we get back!” She beamed with pleasure.

Bfop'r*ik just nodded, speechless, as his ex-wife, soon to be wife #2, walked away. The marines around him clapped him on the back and a chorus of “Congratulations”. Maybe I will die on this drop and save her from this embarrassment he thought. And maybe the sun will go supernova.

They dropped to the station.

*-*-*

Grug and Glug were digging out Oigf's package when they noticed it. It was up against the far back wall and was covered in what must have once been a stealth tarp (the type used to conceal tanks and such). It was an old fighter craft. As they neared it, Glug tapped the wall it was resting against and the wall crumbled and fell on him with a deafening crash. Thankful that the wall had only been 30' tall, Glug crawled out from under the rubble with only a few bruises (He lied to Grig about it in his OSHA report).

Behind the fallen wall was something to behold. Fighter craft. Lots of fighter craft. They had hit the jackpot. Grug had also found the package.

*-*-*

Now, gentle reader, imagine if you will, being a member of a criminal organization. Imagine that you and your gang of thugs are chasing your target down a dimly lit corridor. Chasing them hard. They are slowing. BOOM, the walls to each side of you explode. Out from the now destroyed walls come a full platoon of Drop Marines. Weapons of a very deadly military variety pointed at you. What do you do? You “could” stand and fight the battle armor, and die. Or you could do the smart thing, run.

As you drop your weapons and bolt like a udse, heading for your burrow. Behind you you hear laughter. And someone saying “Target retrieved”.

*-*-*

The rescue operation had gone according to plan and Geo was pleased. “Well done Lieutenant Fluffy Blue! Tell your marines that I am very proud of them. An extra ration of rum will be supplied with the evening meal.”

Grug came charging onto the bridge, eye-stalks and mouth tentacles waiving wildly.

“Were you able to find the package?” Geo asked.

“That and so much more, Admiral Geo! We found something very good. Come and see! I don't think I have the words!” Grug squealed in excitement.

Geo cocked her head to one side, “OK then. Captain Lod, you have the bridge. Grug, lets go.”

*-*-*

They approached the broken wall carefully, not wanting any more of it to collapse. “So what was so important that you had to have me come and look at it?” Geo asked. Then they reached the opening and she gasped. “Oh my god... They’re beautiful!” She stared across the deck at the several hundred various fighter craft. “I think I may have just peed myself a little bit...”

*-*-*

Oigf, one of the dog like Fellinid, was standing and staring at a Dirt-rockian. In the flesh. He knew, from reading way to much, what she was, who she was, and how she had gotten here. He had also seen the news broadcast about the treaty she had signed with the Grand Admiral. But it was different to meet one in the flesh. She smelled...Exotic? Nice? Good? And for some reason he didn't understand, he wanted to please her. “Um, hello Admiral Geo, of the Dirt-rockian people. Thank you for coming to my aid. Is there any way I could repay your kindness?” He asked.

“Well, that depends. Are you good at anything?” Geo replied, “Oh, and I also need you to sign here, and blood sample here.” She held out a Data pad to him.

He took the pad, signed his name, and pressed the button. A needle sampled his blood, then the device beeped twice, recognizing him for who he was. He handed it back. “Well, before I came here, I was a medical doctor, specializing in cybernetics. I am also a competent engineer.”

“Very well. You can have a job. Captain Lod, sign him on, and let's get out of here before the idiots decide to do more than splatter themselves on our force screen.” Geo said, then headed for the lifts.

Oigf's head was spinning. “What, who, huh?” He looked at the Gorak standing next to him.

“Yeah, she's like that. You get used to it. And yes, Everyone wants to please her. Grig has an idea about why, but even she isn't sure.” Captain Lod answered. “Now let's get you kitted up, and introduce you to your new bosses.”

*-*-*

The three surviving members of the pirate crew were busy cleaning a docking bay floor, with toothbrushes. They had decided this was the best thing to do in order to avoid the Dirt-rockian's wrath. Captain Lod had explained that “Admiral Geo”, in the best of times, didn't like being shot at, and that they were lucky that they hadn't been “stuffed and mounted” or “cooked and eaten”.

The youngest of them, one of the octopus like Sldvbivlvin, looked at its companions, “Do you think she will like our cleaning job? I don't like the way 'Calamari' sounded.”

Hansert, the bat like Lsvrt ethui, who had, until recently, been second in command, replied, “I don't like how she said 'Bat wings for the cauldron’ either. That woman scares me. Right down to the tip of my tail.”

“I think she's nice.” said the immature eight legged Unfrlk. “I think she would go far in the nest. Probably eat the Queens and take over.”

“Do you ever think about anything other than food?” The Lsvrt ethui asked.

“Um, not usually. Only just now I'm thinking that I can sense her approaching the door, and I don't want to be her supper.”

*-*-*

The prisoners were doing an excellent job scrubbing the floor. Geo was pleased by this. Maybe I should give them the proper equipment and turn them into the janitorial staff? She thought. Well, if they can earn my trust, I will offer them the job.

She opened the door. “Gentle beings, you are doing a wonderful job! Keep up the good work and I might offer you a job that isn't as a food.” Geo said.

The former pirates had stood at attention when the door had opened, actually they had come to attention just before the door had opened. Very peculiar. She would have to think about that later. “Now, since I can't be bothered to set a permanent guard on your door, I am going to have it mechanically sealed. But if you really feel the urge to escape, I will have the blast door emergency open control button reactivated.” She gave a full toothed smile, “Your feed station over yonder has been stocked with nutria-paste tubes so you won't go hungry, and the bubbler has clean water. I believe you have found the waste disposal system et-all. I will see you in a few days.” She waived and stepped back out the door.

“Campy, what the hell am I supposed to do with prisoners?” She asked the AI.

“Well, we could turn them over to the authorities at the next station. Or vent them into space. Or just let them stay in there until they die.” Campy replied. “Or we could transfer them to the actual brig.”

“Wait, WE HAVE A BRIG?!?!” Geo yelled, kicking herself mentally. “Of course we have a brig. This was/is a military vessel.”

“We do. Sadly it is currently being used as secure storage for small and expensive cargo.” Campy sighed, “But now that you have fully unbound me, we could put all of it into the actual shipboard vault.”

“We have one of those too?”

“Yes we do. It is currently only at 54% capacity.”

“What's in it?”

“Former occupants special belongings, payroll for the original crew, special orders, and military decryption codes.”

“Oh bother.” Said Geo.