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The other shook his head as he replied in the same language. "No, sir. Not a peep. They thought it was a drill."

The leader nodded. "Excellent. Engineering, what's your status?"

"Not as good as it could be. Those damned Strengl s have some nasty weapons! I estimate twenty hours to restore the inertial drives."

The leader nodded. "Good. Get the Vishnu techs over here and get them to work. We'll earn more than a few credits for this day's work!"

The Captain had finished his announcements, and turned with a frown. "Vishnu? Are they the ones supporting you?"

The leader grinned. "Nope. These are strictly mercenaries. Now, Captain, I want you to prepare your crew to disembark; you will be going aboard another vessel as prisoners of war. You will not be mistreated, and you will be exchanged or released at the end of the war."

The Captain nodded sadly. "One question, sir. What are 'privateers'?

The man's grin widened even further. "Let's just say we've got a pirate's license!" he replied.

Leaving several of the Vishnu techs and a small prize crew behind, Cheetah, Ilocan's Revenge and the Strengl headed inward toward the unsuspecting home planet.

"Damn, Cale, Look at all those fat merchantmen!" Zant exclaimed as they approached Santiago and their sensors began to register.

It was true. Dozens of merchant vessels, ranging from a big Beta-class freighter to Epsilon-class tramps orbited the planet, their captains unwilling to risk the reported minefields.

Cale grinned and connected to Mong. "You were a merchant skipper," he said. "How many of those ships can we crew?"

Cheetah had left the mine filled to capacity, with Cale, Dee, Zant, and nine supernumeraries who would become prize crews, if they were lucky. Crewing the frigate at the jump point had reduced her supernumeraries to six. Four other techs and crew had come from Ilocan's Revenge.

Mong's answering grin was as predatory as Cale's. "We could perhaps grab that Beta-class monster," he replied, "but we'd have to strip the boat crews to man her, and I don't recommend it. We don't want to bother with the ships hanging around the orbital factories; they're empty and waiting for cargoes. No, I'd say we could afford to grab a Chata-class and one or two Din-classes. That will still leave us about five boat pilots, and with you and that strengl, we should be all right. We want the ships orbiting the farthest out; Santiago Control would have put the ships ready to depart as far out of the way as possible."

Cale nodded. "Seems like a plan. Now, we don't want to damage these ships; we won't have time to make repairs. I'm hoping we can talk the crews into abandoning ship. No muss, no fuss, and a fat prize."

Mong nodded. "If we can get them undamaged, we can use three to crew a Din-Class and five for a Chata-class. That means your six could crew two Din-classes, and I can crew a Chata-class."

Cale turned to Zant. "This is where your Strengl will really pay off. Strengl s are shown in every sensor tech's records; it will be identified at once. And no merchant ship, armed or not, wants to tangle with a Strengl. When we close, we'll launch you, and you can zip around, running practice attack vectors, and overall just looking like a bloodthirsty madman."

"In other words," Dee put in, "just act normal. Every time you get in that thing you act like a bloodthirsty madman!"

Zant raised an eyebrow at Cale. "Oh, I just do it to impress the girls," he said with a broad wink. Dee reddened, and Cale burst into laughter.

" Estrella de Santiago. Privateers commissioned by the government of Ilocan have captured your ship. You are surrounded by armed vessels, and any attempt to resist or escape will result in your destruction. The crew is ordered to suit up and exit the ship. Rescue officials will be notified of your locations, so you can be picked up. We are aware of the crew size of a Chata-class. You have ten minutes to evacuate, or we open fire."

The reply came in heavily accented standard. "Please! Do not shoot! We will comply. But our suits have not been tested for a long time. We will need more than ten minutes to check them out."

The raider's voice replied in excellent Santiagan. "Understood. It takes about ten minutes to check out a suit, and you have a crew of six. You have one hour, from now. One minute after that deadline, we open fire."

" Si senor. Comprende."

While the boats and Ilocan's Revenge waited for the crew of the Chata-class to abandon, Cale took Zant and Cheetah to a fat-looking Din-class, where the same technique was used.

All of the communication with their victims had been on low-power intership comms. Santiago Control was trying to identify the new vessels, and figure out what they were doing; but their hails were being ignored. When the Chata-class had hung in orbit close to Estrella de Santiago, Control decided to send a cutter to investigate. The cutter reported a number of small craft in the vicinity, and reported their intent to board the silent Chata-class. No further reports were forthcoming, despite Control's demands and pleadings. A rising level of confusion began to manifest itself at Santiago Control.

The first Din-class, the Dona Maria, had an efficient captain; her suit inspections were current. The crew made their ten-minute deadline with time to spare, and Cale's three prize crewmen swarmed aboard and began spinning up her inertial drives.

The captain of the second Din-class, the Viajero, wanted to argue. Finally, Cale had Zant hover his Strengl directly in front of Viajero 's main viewscreen sensor, nose on, while a computer voice counted down from ten minutes. The Strengl filling the entire viewscreen was a threat no one could ignore. The last crewman out, the Captain, made it with six seconds to spare.

With all three prizes preparing to boost, Mong called Cale. "I suggest we get rid of the prisoners from the frigate," he said. "I see no sense in transporting them out of their home system, only to bring them back later."

"Do you have enough suits?"

Mong shook his head, but smiled. "Nope. But Santiago Control was kind enough to donate a cutter that will hold them all. With the boats gone, we can just bring the cutter into the hold, pressurize it, and load them up. They will be crowded for a while, but they're in orbit. They'll be fine."

Cale thought about it. "It's a good idea, but don't turn them loose until we're ready to leave, and disable their comms and drive, but not their beacon."

The prizes began to boost for the jump point, escorted by Ilocan's Revenge. Loaded, they were much slower than Cheetah. Cale, Zant, and their five remaining boats stayed behind to spread hate and discontent. Mong was reluctant to leave so quickly; he waited long enough to punch meter-diameter holes in several orbital factories before breaking orbit and hurrying to catch up with his convoy.

There was no thought of bombarding the planet; they wanted to demoralize the Santies, not enrage them by inflicting unnecessary casualties.

So they headed for the orbital factories, where their powerful lasers and quickfirers wreaked havoc among Santiago's production facilities. As they approached the first orbital station, Cale finally broadcast a message powerful enough to blanket Santiago's Worldnet, telling who they were, and what they intended. Finally, he closed with "Admiral Gonzalez-Villareal will soon have problems of his own. This war was entirely of Santiago's making, and thousands on Ilocan have died in it. If it does not end soon, the people of Santiago, not just its factories, will pay the price. You started this war, people of Santiago; now it is up to you to end it!"

The President's council was in emergency session, and no one was happy.

"You will have my resignation in the morning, senor Presidente," said Tomas Santos-Villareal, the Minister of Defense.