The Shadow Warrior spoke. “The data is as promised. Our payment is here also as promised. Make wise use of them-they are rare and increasingly hard to find. Many K’Rang died gathering this amount for you.”
As the second K’Rang laid his pack on top of the first, it was opened for inspection by the human. The senior Warrior thought how stupid these humans were to place such value on something so worthless that K’Rang children used them to skip across the water on home world. It did not matter. They now had the information they needed to push the Humans back and keep them back from the three K’Rang main worlds in what the Humans called the Scutum sector. Once the one Human world was destroyed, they would fortify the area and take back their territory. With fewer habitable worlds in the K’Rang Imperial space than in the Galactic Republic space, their few main worlds needed a buffer zone to protect them.
The larger K’Rang turned to the man, with a semblance of a smile on his face, “Please forgive my earlier rude outburst. It has been a long journey and a tense wait for us. Now that our initial business is complete, perhaps we can have that drink you promised us. And while we choose not to partake of the nepetalactone, perhaps we could have some to take back as a gift from you to our superiors.”
The Human positively beamed. “Why, of course, take as much as you want. Take all of it. Here, let me get you something to drink. Is Scotch all right? This is Real Scottish whiskey from Earth, aged 50 years. It’s the best single malt Scotch there is.”
The Human babbled on about the Scotch for hours as the two K’Rang Shadow Warriors sipped theirs and made pleasantries. If it wasn’t that they still needed him to get them on their way across the frontier, they would rip his throat out with only a flick of their claws.
Kelly had done some research on the K’Rang ships around them. The heavy attack ship was a third the size of the Vigilant. It carried guns and 12 medium anti-ship missiles. It was the greatest threat. The scouts were the medium class scout ships, not the small mosquito-looking one he’d dealt with before. They had a small caliber particle beam turret, but it was mainly for self defense, not for attack, so were no threat. The big unknown was what was still on the FTL ship behind them. If it had more fighters, things could get real dicey here on this side of the frontier.
Their best course of action would be to take out the attack ship first. It had no idea the Vigilant was there, so surprise and superior firepower was on Vigilant’s side. After taking out the apparent threat, Vigilant could deal with the scouts if they made any move. Finally, if the larger FTL ship launched something unpleasant, Vigilant would have 5-10 minutes to employ the EMP device against the courier’s ship once it showed up, board it, grab the courier, and scoot back across the frontier, blowing a hole through the mines with Vigilant’s guns.
In a few minutes, Timmons briefed him on the same plan. He did come up with a twist though; he was going to use the EMP device on the attack ship and take it out. All Vigilant had to do now was wait for the courier ship to come along.
“Shadow Warrior,” began Alan Shepler, “We will be leaving the system soon. Come with me and I will introduce you to our shuttle’s controls.”
“That is not necessary Mr. Shepler. We are both proficient in piloting this type of ship.
Shepler continued, “Well then, relax here until we are out of the system. We will parallel the frontier for a time before turning toward our next destination. You will drop off before we turn. You may take the shuttle with our compliments. Would you care for some more Scotch?”
Sensors called to the bridge that the Manchu Warrior was departing the 6633 system. Kelly brought the sensor plot of the Manchu Warrior up on his monitor. It was leaving Refugio and heading toward the frontier. It made a turn to starboard. Kelly expanded the field of view to encompass the FTL ship behind them. He expected to see the courier’s ship belch forth for the meeting. Nothing appeared.
The captain took his seat on the bridge.
“Kelly, I think we’ve been suckered. The courier’s ship should have appeared by now. We’d better get ready for our run to the border. We’ll take out this guy above us with the EMP and go out the way we came in. We’ll wait ‘til the Manchu Warrior is out of range before we scoot. That EMP burst will show up a long way on sensors.”
“Bridge, Sensors. We have a shuttle leaving the Manchu Warrior. It's heading for the frontier and directly at us.”
The captain looked up in surprise. “What the hell? What can it be meeting up with? Oh hell, it’s meeting the fighter.”
Kelly called up the schematic on the fighter. “It can’t, sir. The fighter has no docking collar or hatch. Same thing for the scouts. It must be going for the FTL ship behind us.”
The shuttle punched through the frontier without a stir from the K’Rang sensors or mines. The two scouts out on the flanks turned and headed back toward the FTL ship. The fighter above them started to pull out of the tendrils’s mists to join up with the shuttle.
The captain keyed the intercom and said, “All sections to battle stations. Prepare to employ the EMP. Marines, to your boarding stations.”
There was only a small amount of movement as most of the crew had been at or near their battle stations for two hours. Everyone was anticipating this action.
Chief Watson reported, “Sir, the Marines and all sections report ready.”
The captain said, “Helm, take us out and in pursuit of the fighter. Weapons, prepare to fire the EMP on my order, and heat up the guns. We’re about to need them. Don’t fire on the shuttle, but everything else is fair game.”
“Kelly, if the EMP doesn’t work, lock on, and kill this guy.”
Kelly switched his monitor to weapons control and sat ready.
The Vigilant jumped out of the cloud, directly under the emerging fighter. The Vigilant turned upwards and aimed squarely at the center of the fighter’s belly.
The captain keyed the intercom, “EMP device, stand by.”
The Vigilant quickly closed the distance.
“Weapons, fire the EMP.”
There was no light or sound, but the fighter above them lost engine power and stability. It started to tumble. The turret gunners targeted the missile bays and guns. The Vigilant shot through the exploding ball of fire and debris that previously had been the fighter.
The shuttle reacted to the fighter’s demise by kicking into high speed and making a beeline toward the FTL ship. It would not get there in time. With the fighter gone, there was nothing in range that could come to their aid in time. The captain ordered the helm to pursue, and the distance closed in seconds.
The EMP pulsed again and the shuttle lost propulsion and stability. The helm closed in on the shuttle, locked it in place with the tractor beam, and turned to align the assault pod with the port side of the shuttle. The dorsal weapons pod hatch opened and the pod’s docking collar extended, preparing to attach to the side of the shuttle.
A slight shock was felt as the docking collar contacted the shuttle. The captain had the tractor beam hold the shuttle in place to keep it from tumbling away. Kelly switched his monitor to LT Chen’s helmet cam feed.
As in the training simulation, the white circle flared and a section of bulkhead fell into the shuttle. Two marines with stun guns rushed into the cabin, followed by LT Chen and the rest of the assault squad. The two K’Rang occupants hit the deck immediately and were quickly bound, gagged and transported out the hole into the docking collar.
The two scout ships had turned to try and come to the aid of the shuttle, but they would be too late. At max burn they would find only empty space when they got here. The captain keyed his intercom and said, “LT Chen, place your charges, but don’t set the timers yet.”