Hell's Hoplites - Book 1 - Thebes - 6 - Chapter 5

Chapter 5 -

Sol System - Saturn Orbit - Space Station Haven

Grey Cloud Bistro

June 29th 2535 AD - 14:30

The Grey Cloud was a small somewhat upscale bistro in a decent sector of the Haven Space Station. Generally nothing much ever happened there either but when Salvador Geracini saw the five men; one of which was wearing a Hawaiian shirt, and another a cowboy hat; he just knew there was going to be some breakage to his establishment before the night was out.

Jack opened the door to the Grey Cloud and a chime tinkled over his head as he entered followed by Rick, Samuel, Ren, and Fuji. All of them were armed and wearing loose clothes to conceal the fact that they were armed. Jack had his Five-Seven FS in a small of the back holster hidden under his Hawaiian shirt while the others had their various implements of destruction tucked away in shoulder and hip holsters under their light jackets.

Jack saw the owner staring at them and smiled; but the man just flinched away and shouted something in Greek into the kitchen and soon a petite woman with black hair and Mediterranean features was bustling towards them with a hand full of menus and a smile plastered across her face. Her bright white teeth contrasted against her dark olive skin and the white dress shirt she wore under a black vest and over black dress pants seemed luminous in the dim light of the bistro.

“Five in your party today gentlemen?” she asked still smiling.

“Yes five, thank you,” Jack paused looking around for a second, “can we have a corner booth please?”

“Certainly Sir, if you will just follow me,” the woman said sweeping an inviting arm in the direction that she had turned and headed in.

Jack and the others sat down at the booth she indicated; it was covered in a light gray tablecloth with a hurricane lantern light in the middle of the table. The place was way more upper-class than Jack had expected for a piratical hang out, but he and the others kept up their guard all the same.

Sol System - Saturn Orbit - Space Station Haven

Grey Cloud Bistro

June 29th 2535 AD - 14:45

Sarissa had stayed at the Grey Cloud longer than any of the other pirates and had decided to wait till the others had left to eat. She was just now finishing freshening herself up in the restroom and wasn’t paying all that much attention to things when she started to open the door, however a voice stopped her dead in her tracks. The voice was deep and male and addressed the waitress in polite tones, the voice also sounded out of place in the Grey Cloud, most of the rest of the Bistro’s clientele were of Greek descent and this voice didn’t have a single Mediterranean tone to it.

Easing the door slowly closed Sarissa went into one of the stalls, closed, and latched the door as she crouched on top of the toilet seat in a position where she could balance herself she pulled out her comm and keyed it. “Safrien, I think the guys who set off the booby trap are at the Grey Cloud, gather up a dozen of the crew and come down here and take them out,” she ordered.

“What? But dee boss man say to stay on the sheep and keep it ready to go, and a dozen extra men is all I have,” Safrien said in his thick Jamaican accent.

“Yeah, well I’m changing those orders. So get your butt down here and be loaded for bear. There’s probably at least half a dozen of them eating dinner in the dining room as we speak,” Sarissa commanded in a whisper.

“Alright, but you be taking it up wit dee boss if he gets angry with us,” Safrien grumbled over the comm. “We be der in about fifteen minutes,” he muttered.

“Good,” Sarissa turned her comm off. Great now I have to do a balancing act on a toilet seat for at least another forty-five minutes while waiting for the others to get here, and then sneak out while they distract those guys, this just isn’t my day, she thought to herself as one of her boots slipped into the toilet bowl and she made a disgusted sound.

Sol System - Saturn Orbit - Space Station Haven

Grey Cloud Bistro

June 29th 2535 AD - 15:15

Jack was just finishing some kind of Greek desert when he heard racing engines pull up in front of the bistro and tires squealed to a halt doors opening but not closing again. “INCOMING!” He had just enough time to shout as he slithered down under the booth table from his seat and the front glass window exploded into shards that scythed through the dining room but thankfully missed the restaurant owner and his family.

Sol System - Saturn Orbit - Space Station Haven

Grey Cloud Bistro

June 29th 2535 AD - 15:15

Safrien wasn’t exactly one of the most subtle individuals in Midea’s crew. His idea of fixing a problem was throwing enough bullets at until it wasn’t a problem anymore or it ran away screaming.

After getting off the comm with Sarissa he had gathered up a dozen of the skeleton crew members aboard the Sorbonne and had them gather up their motley collection of assault rifles, submachine guns, shotguns, and pistols then piled into the two cars that were kept aboard the ship for just such purposes; that and to go carousing.

Safrien and his men had made good time; the trip from the ship’s dock to the restaurant only taking them thirty minutes rather than the usual forty-five to get there. Racing up they squealed to a stop and dumped out of the cars bristling with guns, opening fire on the front window of the bistro.

Sol System - Saturn Orbit - Space Station Haven

Grey Cloud Bistro

June 29th 2535 AD - 15:16

Salvador Geracini crouched behind the counter facing the kitchen and shook. He knew if he stayed on Haven that eventually this would happen, he should have listened to his cousin Anatole and moved his restaurant to Cidonia City. After this was over that is definitely what he was going to do he vowed to himself.

Sol System - Saturn Orbit - Space Station Haven

Grey Cloud Bistro

June 29th 2535 AD - 15:17

Sarissa nearly dumped her ass in the toilet bowl when gunfire erupted out front of the restaurant and was soon answered by return fire inside the restaurant. Sliding off the toilet she unbolted the stall door and quickly crossed to the one leading to the restaurant proper; her boot squished dismayingly and she grimaced at the thought of toilet water in her boot.

Opening the door a crack she peeked out and saw the five men she had heard inside the restaurant crouched behind four overturned tables and returning a lesser amount of firepower at their attackers.

Crouching down she opened the door just enough to squeeze through and crab walked to the counter where Salvador and his wife and sister were cowering.

“Miss Sarissa you are still here?” Salvador asked surprised to see her in the restaurant still.

“Yeah I kinda took too long in the bathroom it looks like,” the words were said with a faint grimace as an errant round pinged off of one of the copper pots above the cooking area.

“Is there a back door?” She asked.

“Yes Miss Sarissa; it is through the kitchen and to the left it leads to a service hallway and out into the rear parking lot,” Salvador told her.

“Okay, you follow me and keep your heads down. I parked my car out back when I got here so we should have no problem getting to it; I’ll drop you off someplace safe and then let the authorities know what is happening,” of course Sarissa had no intention of letting the authorities know what was going down at the Bistro; she was going to get on the Sorbonne and high tail it back to base.

Sarissa lead the Geracinis out the back door of the bistro into the rear parking area. Once outside she found out that the Geracini’s had also parked their vehicle there and she watched as they piled in and sped away down a back street.

“Now to get out of here myself,” she muttered and jumped over the door of her little red convertible and sped off clipping a street sign as she did so.

Sol System - Saturn Orbit - Space Station Haven

Grey Cloud Bistro

June 29th 2535 AD - 15:20

“Boy you sure do know how to pick restaurants Jack,” Rick said flipping the cylinder of his Colt Python open and pressing up on the ejector rod. The six spent shells tinkled to the tile floor and he slid another speed loader in place; twisting the knob he dropped the fresh rounds into the gun and slapped it shutting and making sure to pocket the now empty speed loader. Of course no one really heard the sound of them doing so considering a dozen automatic weapons were firing at them and chipping away at the heavy slate dining room tables. As the rounds impacted the tables the clothes covering them fluttered and danced and the imbedded hurricane lamps smashed with a tinkle of glass and metal.

“Hey at least the tables were made of slate,” Jack said sticking his hand up over the edge of the table and firing off two three round bursts in rapid succession.

Samuel just grunted and stuck the barrel of his Glock over the table edge and fired off four rounds.

“I say we just blame it on bad Karma,” Fuji said firing off the entire magazine from his Colt.

“Yes we’ve gotten so much bad Karma from killing all those poor defenseless terrorists,” Ren said rolling his eyes at his brother. “Oh wait most of those fuckers had more money than some third world countries and friggin backpack nukes,” Ren said sarcastically and popped up over the table edge during a lull in the firing and managed to take out one of their attackers with a shot right through the heart from his SIG.

“Let’s not forget the 72 virgins they get when they die, no wonder they were always so ready to wear Composition overcoats,” Jack replied, all of them were falling into the natural banter they had developed during long years as squad members.

“Did anyone happen to bring any grenades?” Rick asked.

At the question everyone looked at Samuel. “What? Why are you guys looking at me?” He asked disgruntled.

“Because you usually have at least some oddball piece of ordnance on your person somewhere,” Jack told him with a wolfish grin just before rising slightly over the table edge and stitching a burst from the waist to Adam’s Apple of one of there attackers then immediately ducking back down behind the tables before having his head taken off by automatic weapons fire.

“Well it just so happens…” Samuel relented.

Sol System - Saturn Orbit - Space Station Haven

Grey Cloud Bistro

June 29th 2535 AD - 15:25

Safrien was getting frustrated; he had forgotten that the tables in the Bistro were made of heavy slate and were acting as perfect bullet stops plus he had already lost two men.

“You, you, and you,” Safrien said jabbing a finger at three of the men with him. “Go around back and get them from behind,” pausing for a second he considered his next move, and then stabbed his finger at two more men. “You two give the rest of us covering fire while we charge them,” he ordered.

“Charge them? Are you insane?” Yelled one of the pirates only to have his head roll across the street.

Safrien wiped the blood from his machete on the man’s shirt and then re-sheathed it. “Does anyone else have any complaints?” Everyone else shook their heads at the question.

“Now you two,” he said pointing at the two he had designated as covering fire. “When I…,” the rest of what Safrien was going to say was interrupted by a shape that came flying out of the window and bounced a couple of times with a metallic clink and then dropped right at one of the men’s feet and spun for a second. When it stopped he saw that the object was approximately the size of a twelve ounce pop can.

“Oh fuck me,” the man whose feet it had landed got out a few seconds before it detonated.

Now generally a flash bang won’t kill a person but this one was a military grade type with a little extra oomph thanks to some of Samuel‘s tinkering; that and the fact that it landed right at the guy’s feet didn’t help him any either. When the grenade detonated with a reverberating bang shattering windows nearby it spewed out a blinding flash of magnesium powder with the concussion lifting the man up and over one of the cars and setting his pants and rather hairy legs on fire as he was dumped on the other side of the vehicle landing at a bad angle and breaking his neck. As for the rest of the pirates they were sent reeling, blinded, and deafened, some of them had blood coming from ears due to burst ear drums.

Safrien recovered just enough to see five shapes come rushing out from behind the tables and through the window with weapons firing. He felt the impact of slugs against his chest and was knocked back until his thighs bumped into the fender of the other car. Legs buckling he was deposited on his ass as he blacked out.

Sol System - Saturn Orbit - Space Station Haven

Grey Cloud Bistro

June 29th 2535 AD - 15:27

Jack came up and over the tables after the detonation of the flash bang with his FN burping out three round bursts. He saw a large black man with dreads stumble backwards and then slump against the fender of a car.

That would be his target then, he also appeared to be unconscious at the moment so he helped the others finish off the ones still reeling from the flash bang and checked the one who had been thrown over the car; his neck was clearly broken but Jack double checked to make sure.

While the others dug through the cars and pockets of their dead attackers Jack turned his full attention to the black man. Leaning in he listened for a second and heard an odd whistling sound and saw pink froth on the man’s lips. Jack grimaced at the sight and sound; the man was lung shot; a bad way to go.

Reaching out Jack slapped the man lightly on the cheeks till he started to regain consciousness.

Safrien regained consciousness to find himself looking into a cold, wolfish smile and even colder green eyes that reflected light like polished emeralds. The man in front of him was crouched down on his heels with one hand nonchalantly holding a pistol over one knee.

“So my friend,” Jack said. “Who sent you gang of skeevy murdering bastards to kill us while we were having a nice lunch?” He asked.

Safrien coughed and felt something tear in his chest as he tried to inhale enough to speak.

“Oh yeah by the way, you’re lung shot,” Jack said. “Now you can cooperate and I’ll finish you off before you drown in your own blood, or I can just leave you here to die slowly and painfully,” he explained coldly.

Safrien nodded his head but winced at the movement and licked his lips tasting the bloody froth on them.

“What you want to know Mon?” Safrien husked out.

“Who sent you?” Jack asked crouched in front of the man.

“We work for a pirate captain name o Midea; but he’s not the one who sent us after you,” Safrien coughed a wet nasty sound and spit out a bloody chunk of phlegm.

“What you moonlighting as hit men between pirating jobs?” Jack asked sarcastically.

“No mon,” Safrien wheezed. “It was Midea’s second in command Sarissa Hermanez,” he managed to get out.

“What she look like?” Safrien gave him a description of Sarissa and something about it nagged at the back of Jack’s mind but he pushed it aside.

“Alright I’m a man of my word,” Jack told Safrien and put the barrel of the FN to Safrien’s head. The click of the fire selector switch being flicked to single shot could clearly be heard as the others had stopped their searching and watched.

Just as Jack was about to pull the trigger however Safrien jerked and coughed violently. You could practically hear something tearing loose inside the deathly injured man at the wracking cough and then he gave one final wheeze as his last breath rattled from him and he slumped sideways, his bowels voiding as he did so.

“Oh god, that is rank,” Rick said putting a hand to his nose.

“Man what the hell was he eating, rotten cabbage,” Samuel said.

Ren and Fuji just moved back and Jack stood up. Walking back into the restaurant he left a thick stack of 100 dollar bills on the counter and hoped it would cover the repairs to the small bistro.

Sol System - Saturn Orbit - Space Station Haven

Grey Cloud Bistro

June 29th 2535 AD - 15:38

Jose Marcone crouched behind the counter in the kitchen and overhead the conversation going on between Jack and Safrien. Deciding the better part of valor was to skedaddle out of there and back to the Sorbonne he quickly crawled away. He would let Sarissa know what had happened at the bistro. Jose motioned to the other two men with him as they made their way quietly from the restaurant and out the back door; a few blocks later they stole a car and Jose called Sarissa on his comm telling her what had happened.

“Alright meet me at this address and then we’ll get back to the Sorbonne,” She told him.

“Why are we meeting in the warehouse district, why not go directly back to the ship?” He asked confused.

“One you are driving a stolen car, and two did you ever think that maybe those guys knew you were there the whole time and might be following you,” she explained through clenched teeth to the idiot.

“Oh,” was all Jose said in way of reply. “Okay we’ll meet you there,” he told her.

Sarissa didn’t reply and the screen went blank.

It took Jose nearly an hour to get to the warehouse district on one of the lower decks; he made sure to take precautions about being followed on his way there as well.

Getting to the warehouse district he spotted Sarissa leaning against her car, it was a sporty little red convertible and he pulled up next to it in the stolen car.

Walking over Sarissa leaned in the window. “Okay here is what we are going to do,” she said and shot Jose between the eyes blowing chunks of his brain and skull over the other two passengers.

The front passenger was too stunned to move and took a double tap to the chest slumping against the window; the backseat passenger however was yanking on the door handle and scrabbling at the lock.

“I guess you stole a car belonging to someone with kids,” Sarissa said and shot him in the back of the head. The .357 Magnum round mushroomed as it passed through his skull splattering the window and cracking it.

“Damn,” Sarissa said as she wiggled a finger in her ear to try and lessen the ringing from having fired four shots inside the vehicle’s cabin. Walking back to her car she opened a pouch under the front seat and pulled a thermite charge out and set the timer for five minutes then tossed it into the car landing it on the front seat passenger’s lap.

Climbing back into her own car she raced the engine and peeled out and headed back towards the ship. Behind her the thermite charge went off with a dull crump and destroyed all evidence that would lead to her.

Before driving back to where the Sorbonne was docked she tucked the little red sports car into an alley and with no little amount of regret set off another charge of thermite, walking a few blocks away she hailed a cab and was dropped off at the Sorbonne’s dock.

Making her way aboard the ship she hit the bridge and sat in the command chair. “Deveraux get us ready to leave dock we’re heading back to the Magpie,” she ordered using the nickname that the pirates had hung on the small abandoned SSPF outpost turned pirate base.

“What about Safrien and the others?” Deveraux asked.

“Safrien is dead,” she told him coldly.

“Dead, what the hell do you mean dead?” Deveraux shouted.

“They tried to take on a group of guys that they thought had set off the booby trap on that last ship we raided and crashed,” Sarissa said and then booted him in the back of the head bouncing it off the console in front of him. “Now get your ass moving before they show up here,” she ordered.

Deveraux’s nose impacted with the console in front of him and there was a wet crunch as a streak of blood was left on the panel. He whirled on her, one hand holding his nose and the other scrabbling for the gun in his shoulder holster. “Bitch you broke my nose,” came out nasally.

“I’ll do more than break your nose,” Sarissa said pointing the .357 between his eyes. “Now once again get your ass in gear and get us to the Magpie,” she said coldly the weapon never wavering.

Deveraux practically went cross eyed trying to watch the barrel of the Glock and then turned back to his console grumbling under his voice. Holding one hand cupped to his nose which bled for several minutes splattering himself, his clothes, and the console.

Sarissa sat back in the command chair with the Glock still in her hand and watched Deveraux as he punched in commands and then contacted Haven Station Docking authority.

“Haven Docking Authority this the privately registered vessel Sorbonne, requesting release of docking clamps and flight profile to leave Haven space,” she told HDA.

“Roger that Sorbonne,” Docking Authority replied and they felt as much as heard the huge docking clamps and buffers release from the ship. “Sending flight profile in 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, flight profile uploaded, please acknowledge receipt,” the Docking Authority ordered.

“Flight plan received and receipted Docking Authority,” Deveraux acknowledged and with a few deft key strokes the vessel was moving slowly towards the huge bay doors that would allow it to enter space.

“Roger that Sorbonne, have a nice trip,” Docking Authority called out before signing off.

“Thanks Docking Authority,” Sarissa said cheerfully.

Sol System - Saturn Orbit - Space Station Haven

Grey Cloud Bistro

June 29th 2535 AD - 15:45

“Jack we got everything we could snag from these guys,” Samuel said holding up a small pack that Jack assumed held the pocket contents of the downed hit men.

“Alright police up their weapons and let’s get the hell out of here before the SSPF shows up,” he ordered standing up from his crouch and grabbing up various weapons and ammo from the dead bodies.

Within minutes the five of them were gone and back at the Hoplite. In the cargo bay they spread out the pocket contents and the weapons they had snagged.

“Well these guys definitely weren’t pros,” Ren said holding up a cordite and carbon encrusted S&W pistol.

“God, it’s amazing that thing didn’t blow up in his hand,” Fuji said examining the pile of knives they had taken from the bodies; he separated out a couple of them and tossed the rest into a metal recycling container.

“Definitely not,” Samuel said grunting as he disassembled an ancient HK33 and yanked the bolt free with a somewhat nasty sucking sound.

“Professionals no, but I think someone tipped their hand early,” Jack said musingly as he went through the pile of wallets on the table.

“What do you mean?” Rick asked lounging against one wall content to let the others sift through the crap.

“What I mean is, someone sent those guys after us on purpose, and I think it’s our buddies from the bistro who left that little present at the crash site,” Jack told him.

“Plus we have this mysterious Sarissa Hermanez that the Jamaican mentioned,” Samuel said setting various gun parts in a tray of industrial gun solvent.

“There is that,” Jack said another flash of something stirring in the back of his brain. “I just wish he had been able to tell us where their hideout is,” he muttered in irritation.

The others just shrugged and went back to sifting through the items to see if they could find any clues.

Sol System - Saturn Orbit - Space Station Haven

100,000 Kilometers Out - Kawamura Industries Registered Vessel - New Edo

July 5th 2535 AD - 9:00 PM

Edgar rice was lounging in the dining room reading something on his E-PADD when the assistant COMMTECH entered and handed him a hard-copy.

“Interesting,” Rice mused as he quickly scanned the sheet and then looked up at the COMMTECH. “This just came in?” He asked.

“Yes sir, it’s the first download we could get from Haven Station,” the COMMTECH told him.

“Alright, return to the bridge and tell the Captain I want to be in Haven as soon as possible,” Rice told the man who turned and hurried out of the room.

Turning back to the piece of paper in his hand he picked up his E-PADD and tapped in the access code printed across the top and brought up the main page of the Daily Haven E-Paper and started reading the full article.

Daily Haven E-Paper - June 30th, 2535

Shoot Out In Quiet Neighbor Hood Leaves Bistro Bullet Riddled

By I.M. Ngtive - Reuters

Last evening authorities were called to the scene of a gruesome shoot out at the Grey Cloud Bistro. Investigators say that at around 16:30 hours yesterday afternoon authorities were called from the normal quiet retail district where the Grey Cloud is located.

Callers stated that someone had started the 4th Solar War out in the street.

Despite the exaggerated claims when police arrived they found no less than nine dead bodies, two bullet riddled cars, and the front and interior of the Grey Cloud Bistro heavily damaged by gunfire.

Authorities say the odd thing is that no identification or personal belongings were found on the victims bodies and even though hundreds of shell casings were found spread around the bodies no weapons were found either.

Police say that identification of the victims is currently ongoing but their identities may never be known due to the fact that Haven has such a large transient population.

When the owner of the Grey Cloud Bistro was asked for a statement all he said was that he would be moving his family to Cidonia City on Mars and re-opening his restaurant.

At this time SSPF has no further statements or comments.

BBQ Cars Found In Warehouse District

By I.M. Ngtive - Reuters

This morning two abandoned cars were found in the Warehouse District of Haven Station, one car an SUV of some kind was found with three bodies with the other car being found a few blocks away apparently a small convertible, no bodies were found in the convertible.

When asked if these destroyed vehicles and additional bodies may have any connection with the shoot out that took place in front of the Grey Cloud Bistro earlier in the day the SSPF had no comment.

However sources reveal that the three bodies found in the SUV were shot before a thermite charge was detonated in the vehicle, and tests show that the same type and grade of thermite was used on the abandoned convertible.

Edgar set his E-PADD down and considered it for a moment, even with Haven’s wild, wooly, and generally larcenous ways that was quite a bit of unexpected activity. “Should we go there,” he mused aloud to himself. The data news stream itself was already five days old and the actual occurrences a day older than that. Of course it could have nothing to do with the group of mercenaries he had hired to recover Kawamura’s daughter, although it was an awful big coincidence if it didn’t involve them, and Rice hated coincidences.

Decided Rice pulled out his comm and keyed in a code.

“Rostov here,” the bearded Russian answered.

“Rostov this is Rice, get your boys into the least conspicuous clothes they have and have them lightly armed, we are making a detour to Haven before heading to the Io facility,” he ordered.

“Yes Sir,” I’ll get the boy’s ready and then get the SUVs loaded with spare equipment,” Rostov told his boss.

“Good, make sure you have plenty of spare ammo, I have a feelingly we may need it at some point,” Rice told Rostov.

“Alright, I’ll toss some additional bullets and beans in as well, Rostov out,” said before the screen blanked out.

Rice pondered his comm for a minute deciding whether he should take the time to send a message drone back to Earth to inform Kawamura what was going on. In the end he decided not to however. The drone would take several days to reach Earth and several more to get back to Rice, if anything went down at Haven it would be long done with, no he’d update Kawamura once they reached the Io facility.

Sol System - Saturn Orbit - Space Station Haven

Hotel Montego Suites 3A & 4B

July 3rd, 2535 AD - 6:52 PM

Jack and the others decided to lay low for a few days and do some discreet checking about Midea and Hermanez. Unfortunately it was nearly five days before they finally got a break and learned that Midea and Hermanez kept suites at the Hotel Montego.

While Jack and Rick searched Hermanez’s suite, Ren and Fuji searched Midea’s, and Samuel stayed with the car in case they needed to make a quick getaway considering they were pretty much breaking and entering.

The two suites were a study in contrasts; both of them had do not disturb signs over the door knobs to keep the maids away but Midea’s could definitely use the attention of one. Dirty clothes littered the floor, porno mags were stacked in wobbling piles on the floors and chairs, greasy and rotting food filled dishes covered most of the flat surfaces and even sections of floor. The bathroom itself had mildew ridden towels all over the place and it stank as if someone had gutted a ten day old deer carcass and left it to rot in the room. They found nothing at all but a gross and disgusting pig pen and both brothers were gagging by the time they left, on his way out Ren flipped the do not disturb sign around to maid service required.

In Hermanez’s suite as a contrast it was neat as a pin save for the rumpled bed where the comforter had been piled at one end of it. As for the rest of the room it didn’t offer many clues; half a dozen gray spider-silk full body suits hung neatly in the closet and socks and lingerie were folded with military precision in the dresser, in another draw were half a dozen spare magazines for a Glock 53 and two hand grenades, as well as a small switchblade.

Rick and Jack were just about to give up when Jack spotted a glint of light off of something shiny; walking over to a potted plant against one wall he reached behind it and pulled out a broken E-PADD. “Well, well, what do we have here,” he mumbled.

“What did you find?” Rick asked.

“Looks like little Miss Hermanez got sloppy,” Jack said holding up the busted E-PADD.

“Think we’ll be able to retrieve anything from it?” He asked.

“It’s possible; it looks like the only thing really wrong with it is the screen and a crack in the case. Let’s get out of here,” Jack said and slipped the E-PADD into a pocket on his cargo pants. Just as Jack was leaving the room he caught a whiff of some perfume that made him pause, it tickled a memory but he couldn’t pin it down.

The two of them left and were soon back in the car where Ren and Fuji were waiting and looking a little green around the gills.

“Find anything?” Rick asked.

“Other than the fact that Midea should be killed just because he’s a total fucking pig,” Ren snarled.

“Well why don’t we work on doing that and we’ll recover the Kawamura girl at the same time,” Jack said.

The others just nodded and Samuel dropped the SUV into gear driving back to the Hoplite.

Back aboard the Hoplite Ren took the E-PADD too the electronics shop aboard the small escort ship and started working on it.

“So what’s our plan of action if we find out where the Pirates are?” Fuji asked.

“Well, I have a plan,” Jack said and the others groaned at the cheesy tone of voice he used.

“I hate it when he uses that tone, it usually means we get stuck doing something either stupid or extremely dangerous,” Rick said pushing his replacement sunglasses up on his head and rubbing his eyes.

“Usually both,” Samuel said with a hint of disgust in his voice.

“No, no, hear me out guys, this one won’t be dangerous at all,” Jack said with a smile.

The others gave him a dirty look.

“Well maybe not extremely dangerous anyway,” Jack retracted.

“So what’s the plan Oh Great Leader,” Rick said sarcastically.

“Simple, we’re going up against pirates right,” the others nodded. “Well let’s give them a fat juicy target then,” he said with a grin.

“Now how are we going to do that?” Samuel asked.

Jack looked over at Rick. “You still have some of those fake IFF codes from our days in the Marines?” He asked the pilot.

“Sure half a dozen or so,” Rick replied warily.

“Any of them for a former military escort turned cargo hauler?” Jack continued to question.

Rick ran a hand through his hair thinking for a second, “Yeah the transponder code for the Daisy Mae will probably do the trick.”

“Well what I was thinking is, since we are going up against pirates, we use the Daisy Mae’s IFF code, fake an engine shut down, pop the escape pods, insulate some of the tool lockers in the machine shop so that they mask our bio-signs and run lines from the oxygen reserve tank to them so we can lie in wait for the pirates,” Jack explained.

“Wait, wait, wait, wait,” Rick said shaking his head, “One you want to fake an engine shut down, not possible, I’d have to take the reflex induction furnace offline completely leaving us totally vulnerable. Two you want us to hide in tool lockers in the machine shop just waiting for the pirates “To Show Up”,” Rick said making quotation marks in the air with his fingers. “And three you want to pop the escape pods?” Rick asked with an incredulous expression.

“Yeah I think that pretty much covers it,” Jack answered with a faint smile.

“You are fucking nuts,” Rick said crossing his arms and glaring at his former NCO.

“Maybe yes, maybe no, But can you do it?” Jack asked giving him a heavy look.

“Yeah, yeah, I can do it,” Rick said throwing his arms up in the air. “Come on Fuji let’s get started on those lockers, it’s going to be a bitch to run those lines from the reserve oxygen tank to them anyway so we might as well get started,” Rick complained heading out the door.

After Rick and Fuji left Samuel looked at Jack. “He’s right this is a nuts plan, what happens if the pirates don’t show up and we run out of oxygen before we can get the reflex induction furnace back up and running?” The large ex-marine asked.

“I’ll leave us a safety buffer to make sure we can still breathe and get the ship up and running again,” Jack told him seriously.

“And what if we need the escape pods?” Samuel asked.

“Well I guess we’ll just be screwed. When have I ever let you guys down?” He asked with a lopsided grin.

“Well there was that one drop on Venus…” Samuel started.

“Shaddup,” Jack said.

New Avalon System - New Avalon

Sons Of Maerlin Council Meeting Chamber

July 5th, 2535 AD - 07:00

“The Maerlin shall now speak,” the chamberlain said and rapped his staff on the ground three times.

As one of the most powerful members of the Sons Of Maerlin, Eldred Hawkwing looked the part of the Maerlin. A long flowing beard spread from his chin and white hair hung down his back in an untangled mass, the only thing that threw the image off was the three piece business suit that he wore.

“Brothers,” he began gravely. “The auguries show us dire tidings, tidings of something dark returning to the light, of death, and destruction, and mayhem of unknown potential,” he told them heavily.

“How can this be?” one of the members shouted from his seat.

Hawkwing made a placating gesture with his hands. “My only guess is that humanity has reached a technologically advanced state high enough to draw the eyes of those who were responsible for the destruction of those who came before,” Eldred explained.

“But they were even more advanced technologically than humanity is now and they were virtually wiped out,” the member paused for a breath. “If this darkness does return there is no hope for humanity,” he said a quaver in his voice.

“What is our course of action going to be then?” Asked another member.

“We must send representatives to Earth and contact our allies there and get a better picture of what is happening,” Hawkwing said.

“But there hasn’t been a member of the Sons of Maerlin on Earth in almost 1400 years,” one member blurted out.

“Yes I know this, but it is time we returned to our cradle and help make sure the home of humanity is not destroyed again,” Hawkwing said coldly.

“All vote in favor,” the chamberlain said and rapped his staff on the ground three more times.

The vote passed almost unanimously; it was decided that a member of the council of 100 would be sent along with 200 lower ranking members; they would make contact with their allies and try to warn the various governments in the Sol System and act on any information that they came across while there, and they would be staying for the foreseeable future.

After the other members left the room Eldred Hawkwing stood alone at the podium with chin on fist contemplating what the auguries had shown him. The portents were not good, of course one couldn’t expect goat guts to be anything more than obscenely vague when it came to telling the future. Maybe we should start using crystal balls he thought and his mouth quirked in a small smile. “And then we can start saying Abracadabra,” he said aloud and snorted at his own poor humor.

Soon even Hawkwing left the great chamber its lights dimming automatically and the room that saw much action over the past 1500 or so years lay silent with its breath waiting for the next thing to happen.

Sol System - Saturn Orbit - Near Titan

Abandoned SSPF Station/Current Pirate Base Magpie

July 5th 2535 AD - 11:00 PM GMT

Not all the chunks of rock and Ice in Saturn’s Rings were nothing more than mineral exploitations waiting to happen. One of those chunks of rock was a former SSPF Station that was abandoned and stricken from the books due to budgetary cuts and the fact that Haven came online shortly thereafter. Although whether it was stricken because it was thought destroyed, or if someone paid someone to do so was an unanswered question.

Sarissa sat third watch and stared dully at the chrono on her control console as the seconds slowly ticked from 11:00 to 11:01. She still had another hour to go; but at least she wasn’t on the dogwatch. Midea was pissed about losing the dozen men on Haven but was still slightly afraid of the somewhat more ruthless female pirate who was also still a complete mystery to him.

Sarissa and the Sorbonne had reached the Magpie without incident and she’d immediately reported to Midea; or at least that little snitch Deveraux had. She should have planted the heel of her boot all the way through his scrawny head. Sarissa kept that vicious thought to herself and then shook herself at the blood thirsty image, she had been slowly getting more and more out of control lately, she needed to remember exactly why she was here, and who she was doing it for.

After her watch was over Sarissa went to the main dock where the remaining pirates were scrambling over the hull of the Sorbonne to get her as combat ready as possible. The Louvre had been pretty much ignored in the smaller aft dock Of the two vessels the Sorbonne was more heavily armed.

With the loss of Safrien and his men Midea was worried that whoever had set off the booby trap and killed the men would soon be coming to the Magpie to finish the job. It never occurred to him that they might actually be after the girl that they had kidnapped on a commission from an unknown party.

Sarissa just shook her head and leaned against the rail as she watched inexperienced pirates maneuver missiles through the main cargo hatch clumsily; she winced when one of the high explosive tipped ship killers banged off the side of the hatch frame.

Instantly Midea was rocketing through the zero-gravity in the cavernous hangar and screaming at the top of his lungs at the five man crew that had been maneuvering the missile into the ship. Even from her perch on the railing Sarissa could hear the imprecations he slung at the men and could imagine the frothy spittle that was gathering at the corners of his mouth as he screamed.

Shrugging slightly Sarissa let go of the rail and kicked herself towards the air lock leading out of the ship hangar and cycled through to the main part of the station and headed inward towards her own cabin.

Once inside the cabin she did a quick inventory and started pulling stuff out of the wardrobe on one wall. Her Skinsuit was already on a dressing dummy against another wall and she added her shoulder rig to it, on one side was a holster for another Glock 53 with spare magazine pouches riding a strap that would snap to her web belt. A small shotgun rode a short tactical strap on the other side with a dozen shells on it, she added a small pack to which she put half a dozen of her gray spider silk suits and underwear for a week, a couple boxes of spare ammo, some spare magazines for the Glock and the stubby H&K MP22K PDW also went into the pack.

Satisfied with the gear she had chosen Sarissa lay back on her bed and read a book from her E-PADD for several hours.

“FUCK!” Sarissa shouted sitting up straight from her reclining position and dropping the E-PADD. “Dammit“, she realized she had left her broken E-PADD still laying against the wall in her Suite at Hotel Montego. If the men she had sent Safrien to kill had managed to get anything out of him or his men they would have probably been able to track her to the hotel and find her suite. She had all sorts of information in the discarded data device. She had been in such a hurry that she had forgotten to erase it’s contents.

Swinging her legs over the side of the bed she gathered up her gear and some extra equipment and making sure no one was around headed for an abandoned portion of the former police station. Once there she opened an air lock that had caution strips across it saying the outer lock was open to space; instead there was a small corvette docked to the facility that none of the other pirates knew about. Loading the gear she started the ship up and detached from the air lock letting the vessel drift from the side of the small asteroid before engaging the engines. She would head back to Haven using another cover identity and wait the storm out there. She was almost one hundred percent certain Midea and his cretins were about to get their butts handed to them on a bloody silver platter.

Sol System - Saturn Orbit - Space Station Haven

Docking Hangar - Kawamura Registered Vessel - New Edo

July 6th 2535 AD - 14:32 PM

Rice and his men had scoured the station from end to end only to find out that the mercenaries had left five hours before they had arrived. Now they had wasted over ten hours trying to find the mercenaries and the girl. Thankfully AstroNav had plotted them till they had gotten out of range. So at least Rice had an initial heading to give the ship’s captain; after that he’d have to see how it went.

Pulling out his comm unit he punched in the bridge’s code. “Captain, once we reach the end of the course that AstroNav gave us I want to go full stealth, and get the weapons up and running but keep the targeting LIDAR and Radar offline till I tell you,” Rice ordered.

“Yes Sir. Are you expecting trouble?” Captain Greaves asked.

“No but if the Mercs have been able to locate the pirates we may have to aid in their assault, from the data we gathered on Haven this particular group of pirates that Simarron and his men were asking about have at least two armed vessels,” Rice explained.

“Not a problem, I’m issuing orders now to get us underway,” Greaves told Rice.

“Good, keep me informed of any changes I’ll be in my cabin,” Rice said and flipped to another channel. “Rostov this is Rice, have your boys in full gear for the foreseeable future, or at least in shifts, we won’t reach the end of the course Haven AstroNav gave us for at least two days,” Rice told the big Russian.

“Aye, I’ll have three teams up and one team down on a rotating four hour shift,” Rostov replied immediately.

“Good,” Rice finally shut his comm off and pinched the bridge of his nose. Rostov had probably set that schedule up before Rice had even ordered it. But it was always better to be safe than sorry.

Sol System - Saturn Orbit - Space Station Haven

Privately Registered Vessel - Hoplite

July 6th 2535 AD - 03:39 GMT

It had taken Ren only a few hours to fix the busted E-PADD that Jack and Rick had found in the suite of Sarissa Hermanez and when he did they found a jackpot of information. Not only did the data device list the location of the pirate’s base but it also listed all the booty the pirates had picked up in the last six months and a detailed transcription of a conversation held with a Mr. Dark who had commissioned them to kidnap the Kawamura girl.

“This gives us everything we need,” Jack said tapping a fingernail against the imbedded screen of the small plotting table on the bridge. “Did you guys get the modifications to the lockers done yet?” Looking up at Rick and Fuji he asked.

“Done and ready to roll,” Rick said wearily. The two of them had busted their humps over the last few hours to get the modifications they would need into place.

“Alright here’s the plan then,” Jack said going over the plan again. “Once we are inside the lockers and have them sealed Rick will send the signal that will cut power to the Reflex Induction Furnace, shut down life support, initiate the May Day, and eject the escape pods. Once pirates have hauled the Hoplite into their little base of operations we bust out and terminate anyone not the girl,” Jack said.

The others winced at the mention of the escape pods being jettisoned, but voiced no questions or opinions, or complaints amazingly.

“Alright let’s gear up it’ll be about four days by the time we get the ship into position, get your gear ready and stowed, and then get some rest,” he ordered.

The others just nodded and broke up; they’d all get their gear ready and then take up their positions on the bridge until go time, and then would rotate for sleep.

Sol System - Saturn Orbit - Near Titan

Abandoned SSPF Station/Current Pirate Base Magpie

July 10th 2535 AD - 19:59 GMT

“Boss!” The sensor tech yelled across the stations bridge to Midea who was slouching in his chair in the center of the bridge.

“Yeah, what is it?” he hollered back grumpily.

“We got an escort sized ship that just squawked a may day and then jettisoned her escape pods.

Midea’s eyes took on an avaricious gleam as he got up and walked over to the sensor tech’s console. “What have you got?” He asked.

“Well she’s squawking the IFF of a vessel named the Daisy Mae,” the tech said and punched some buttons on his console. “She’s a privately registered cargo ship out of Mars,” the tech said reading the rest of the data on his screen.

“What do the sensors say?” Midea asked leaning over the tech.

“Sensors show that the reflex induction furnace is offline, so is life support and there are no life signs aboard her,” the tech answered.

“Great, tell the Sorbonne I’m on my way down and to get ready to get underway. We just got a juicy prize dropped in our laps. And also see if anyone has seen Sarissa lately,” Midea ordered.

“Aye, Captain,” the Tech said and radioed down to the Sorbonne, to let them know the captain was coming.

Upon reaching the bridge of the ship Midea ordered them out to the supposedly stranded vessel and then went into his day cabin to put his Skinsuit on which he had a hell of a time doing. He really should lay off the Greek food for awhile; his gut was starting to get a little too unmanageable.

The pirate ship made the trip fairly quickly and reached the abandoned vessel in only a couple of hours. Midea had them run another scan but no life signs were detected and he had the salvage crew attach first a tow cable over five meters thick between the ships and then install magnetically locked and remote controlled reaction thrusters.

The job of installing the thrusters complete one of the techs activated the thrusters and while the Sorbonne headed back to the Magpie he kept the towed vessel from yawing or pitching which could cause the two vessels to collide.

Sol System - Saturn Orbit - Near Titan

Near Abandoned SSPF Station/Current Pirate Base Magpie - Privately Registered Vessel - Hoplite

July 10th 2535 AD - 22:07 GMT

Jack felt rather than heard the krump of the remote thrusters being attached and hoped the others didn’t jump the gun. They didn’t dare use the radios in case the pirates were doing random scans to detect any signals.

Sol System - Saturn Orbit - Near Titan

Near Abandoned SSPF Station/Current Pirate Base Magpie - Kawamura Registered Vessel - New Edo

July 10th 2535 AD - 22:10 GMT

“There they are sir,” one of the bridge techs said tapping the plotting table screen with a stylus.

“What’s this?” Rice asked indicating a red bead with a blinking red circle around it.

“Unknown vessel sir, most likely a pirate,” the tech replied.

“What are they doing?” one of the other techs asked out loud and indicating the ship they knew belonged to the mercenaries with a stylus of his own.

“My guess would be is that they are laying a trap for the pirates,” Captain Greaves said.

Rice nodded agreement after thinking about it for a few seconds. “Makes sense, if they were only going to wipe them out they would probably go in guns blazing, but since they have a hostage to recover it would be a lot easier for them to trick the pirates into letting them into their base then escaping from that point,” Rice allowed.

It still amazed Rostov how intuitive Rice could be on such matters, as a former spetsnaz himself it was probably something he would have done.

Rice looked up from the plotting table. “Alright as soon as they get the merc’s vessel close to being docked I want a full spread of our heaviest missiles right up the tail of that pirate ship,” he ordered.

“That might take out the merc’s ship as well,” Greaves told his boss.

“If it does, it does, if it doesn’t it doesn’t, it just means that we may have to recover the hostage ourselves,” Rice said coldly.

“And if some of the missiles should hit the station?” Rostov inquired.

“Then we go back to Kawamura and offer our condolences,” Rice said without some much as an eye blink.

The others around the table just nodded. Cold Bastard, Rostov thought to himself and then left to get his men ready in case they needed to enter the space station to retrieve the girl.

Sol System - Saturn Orbit - Near Titan

Abandoned SSPF Station/Current Pirate Base Magpie - Pirate Vessel - Sorbonne

July 11th 2535 AD - 00:22 GMT

“Alright disengage the towing cable and guide her in by the remote thrusters Darius,” Midea ordered.

“Aye, Captain,” the tech said and waited while the towing coupling was released and then gently started moving the abandoned vessel the last few hundred meters into the space dock of the station.

Midea was practically rubbing his hands together in gleeful greed as he watched the ship move slowly towards the dock on his consoles screen. However his contemplations of wealth and booty were interrupted by the sudden blare of proximity alarms.

“What the hell is that?” he bellowed snapping up in his chair and staring at the pirate at the tactical station.

“Incoming missiles, launch position unknown, we’ve got two birds, no four, shit,” the pirate snarled as his board lit up like a Christmas three. “Two dozen incoming missiles, launch position still unknown, computer is designating them in the ship killer range,” the tactical pirate said in fear.

Midea practically shat himself; one ship killer was large enough to do damage to a battle cruiser let alone the tiny little cruiser he was in. Twelve missiles would obliterate his ship and him along with it and the fact that no one had created effective energy shielding save for those used against radiation and micro-meteorites didn‘t help matters much.

His mouth dry Midea shouted orders. “Take evasive maneuvers, pop chaff, flares, and counter measures,” he screamed. While rail gun fire could easily be dodged missiles were a stone cold bitch in space literally, since space was so cold and the only heat in space would be an object warmed by solar radiation and whatever heat of it’s own it was emitting most missile designers had opted for the simple expedience of IR and thermal sensors.

The ship visibly chugged as the aft chaff and flare dispensers spat out clouds of metal tinsel and white hot flares; the ships ECM rather weak and outdated as it was spun up quickly and the tactical officer started sweating buckets as he tried to suck missiles off course with a continuously changing band of ghosts, static, and false images.

The ships defenses worked to a degree but couldn’t stop all of the missiles, three still got through, the aft of the ship bucked as if in agony as nuclear tipped warheads in the megaton ranged ripped into and ravaged the small vessel. They tore off the aft third of the ship and irradiated the middle third.

Miraculously, the front third of the ship survived rather unscathed as bulkhead doors slammed shut stopping the exhalation of oxygen and crew members.

Midea found himself on the floor having forgotten to lock his crash frame and frantically slamming his Skinsuit’s helmet down he sat back in his command chair and made sure this time that his crash frame was locked.

“Status,” Midea screamed half hysterically.

“Rear two thirds of the ship is completely gone,” the TAC officer said. “Weapons are all off line,” the pirate said breathlessly.

Midea swallowed and knew that it wouldn’t be long before they were finished off.

Sol System - Saturn Orbit - Near Titan

Near Abandoned SSPF Station/Current Pirate Base Magpie - Kawamura Registered Vessel - New Edo

July 11th 2535 AD - 00:30 AM GMT

“Move in and finish them with the rail turrets,” Rice ordered and sealed his helmet over his Skinsuit; he was also locked into one of the observers seats on the bridge.

“Mr. Toshiko, give us a course with best angle of attack on the remainder of that ship,” Captain Greaves ordered.

“Aye, Sir,” the navigator said and soon the vessel was sweeping across the other ship at an angle that allowed the ventral and dorsal mounted rail gun turrets to swivel and fire continuously as the wounded ship was finished off and disappeared in a massive explosion.

“What’s the status of the merc’s ship?” Rice asked.

“The portable thrusters that were attached to the ship have gone wild and are accelerating toward the station, if nothing is done about their angle of intercept the starboard bow portion will impact with the side of the dock and either rip the ship apart or send it spinning into the dock area itself,” the tactical officer replied.

Rice just nodded his head with a calm expression.

Sol System - Saturn Orbit - Near Titan

Near Abandoned SSPF Station/Current Pirate Base Magpie - Privately Registered Vessel - Hoplite

July 11th 2535 AD - 00:34 AM GMT

Jack was thrown against the inside of the tool locker he was hiding in as the ship yawed and pitched sharply and then acceleration from the magnetic thrusters shoved him hard against the side of the locker.

“I think things just went FUBAR,” Samuel said breaking radio silence.

“Nice TARFU dude,” Rick said.

“Yeah but this is just a SNAFU like it usually is,” Ren chimed in.

“I’m going to kick you all repeatedly once this is over,” Jack grunted against the inertia.

“Does anybody besides me think it was a bad idea to jettison the escape pods?” Fuji said.

“Yeah in the head like I’m trying to make a field goal with a soccer ball,” Jack said and kicked the door open to the locker and tumbled out into the machine shop soon followed by the others.

“I think our plan went a little awry,” Rick stated dryly.

“Ya think,” Samuel growled over the comm.

“Come on bozos I have a feeling the only safe place will be in the cargo hold, and I have an idea,” Jack ordered.

The others groaned at the words.

“Don’t worry you’ll really like this one,” Jack said with a wolfish grin.

It took them only a few minutes to reach the cargo bay and pile into the SUV but they were slammed around the corridors of the ship like pinballs most of the way there.