Private Raider

All my life the True Republic has been at war. It has been going on for almost twenty years. Before that was only ten years of peace and before that was almost thirty years of civil war. I was born on a mining station and grew up around some of the toughest men and women around.

My education was like a jack of all trades and master of none. I graduated with several certificates in ship repair at the age of twenty. During the time I had gone to school I had lost everyone in another system raid. The Kyle Empire were ruthless and had not only destroyed the mining station but they had taken the time to destroy every lifeglobe.

Not only had there been no fleet in the system, there had been no defenses. It had taken half my credits to get to Olympus. The ships that had been damaged bad enough that they could not be used anymore were just shoved into the graveyard. I shouldered my kit bag and walked away from the busy cargo ship.

The personal transport stopped just long enough for me to jump off before it left. I walked the last three kilometers through the hulking wrecks of destroyers and cargo ships. The small building I stopped at had all the doors and windows open to let the air flow in. I stepped in and knocked on the door frame as I looked around.

It was a minute before a middle aged man stuck his head around another door frame. He stepped out and smiled, “lost?”

I tried not to stare at the false leg as I shook my head, “I wanted to use the yard ship list.”

He looked me over, “looking for spare parts?”

I shook my head again, “looking to play Frankenstein.”

He grinned, “what type of ship?”

I shrugged, “I think a smallish cargo ship.”

He walked closer and held out his hand, “Jacob McCandless.”

I took his hand and shook, “Edward Steele.”

He turned and gestured to a corner, “take your time.”

I glanced into the corner to see a modern comp on an old wooden desk. I nodded and crossed to sit in an old chair and bring the comp alive. The list of ships was extremely long but I focused on small cargo ships. I found the type I wanted near the end of the category. The small cargo ship type was a hundred years old and had been used during the civil wars.

I went over the records for the sixty ships left in the yard. I glanced at Jacob when he slipped a cup of coffee onto the desk, “you are looking for one of the old Pegasus class cargo ships?”

I sipped the coffee before glancing at the screen, “I think the class may work if I can find enough to make one ship.”

He grinned, “you have a crew?”

I shook my head, “first I use a molecular cutter and welder to rebuild one ship. I will put in a new reactor instead of an older model along with….”

Jacob chuckled, “I get the idea, Frankenstein.”

I smiled as I went back to the hard task of looking at each ship’s damage. When my stomach was growling so bad I could not think I sat back. I stretched and Jacob laughed from across the room with several other men. I glanced at him and then at the other men. He nodded to a small ship’s table with plates of sandwiches.

I nodded and stood before going to the table. I slipped a few credit chits into the cup that held others before grabbing a sandwich. Jacob crossed to me and nodded to another man, “this is Tom Joy. He was a gunner with me.”

I nodded and ignored his eye patch and scared face. He grinned, “Jacob said you are building a small cargo ship.”

I looked him over before looking at Jacob, “I intend to make a raider.”

They froze and looked at each other. I shrugged, “the Pegasus is perfect for two parallel 450 rail guns on each side with a ventral gravity phase lance and another on the belly.”

The other men came closer and Jacob grinned, “a parallel 450 rail gun will suck everything…”

He got a thoughtful look before looking at another man, “Peter? Would a new medium fusion antimatter reactor supply enough power for a Pegasus and two parallel 450 rail guns?”

The man stepped forward and nodded, “with only half its output.”

Jacob grinned as he looked back at me, “you would not be looking for a crew would you?”

I looked at the group of battle damaged men before smiling, “sure.”

As we ate I went over the ship plans and what I wanted to do or add. I woke in the small cot with warm scented air blowing through a window above me. Jacob turned and grinned when I sat up, “you do not sleep long do you?”

I smiled and looked around, “do you have someplace I can clean up?”

He nodded and gestured to the open door, “first wreck on the left. I keep the captain’s quarters operational.”

I nodded and stood before grabbing my kit bag on the way out. I had the day planned out as I walked out and looked around. The ship Edward directed me to was a small cargo ship missing most of the port and aft bulkheads. I found the quarters and washed before heading back to the shack. The others were waiting as I set my kit bag in a corner and led the way out.

A large salvage vehicle was beside the building and we headed deeper into the wrecks. I spent the day using the molecular cutter to remove damaged hull and some of the frame. The other men pulled out the remains of one wrecked engine and the life support systems. Over the next two weeks we slowly put together a ship.

The frame and hull might have been almost ancient but everything else was new. Our first test went a thousand percent better than planned. We tested every system over the next couple of weeks before I was ready. We used jump maps that were over a hundred years old with new danger information.

We used the older maps because no one used the jump points anymore. I carefully selected our first target system using fleet Intel. Normally a ship jumped out of a wormhole on the horizon heliopause. We appeared and jumped out straight up above the system. We started down in normal space as we started running passive scans.

David finally turned and grinned, “just like fleet, they only scan out to the horizon heliopause. We can skip in using micro holes to within five light minutes to Trevor Station.”

I grinned and relaxed and brought the ship alive and began the wormhole sequence to skip into the system. I glanced at the holos of David, Jacob, Tom and Peter, “get the reactor ready to go fully online Peter. Jacob, you and Tom wait for David to start the targeting scans when we get closer.”

Several hours later I glanced at David as he snorted, “only four ship out patrolling. The rest are docked with their reactors down.”

I glanced at his updated scan of the station, “what about the fighter bay on the station?”

He grinned, “barely readable energy readings.”

I nodded and glanced at the timekeeper counting down, “target the fighter bay with the 450s.”

I looked at Jacob and Tom, “arm your weapons.”
I smiled at Peter, “bring the reactor fully online.”

I made a last skipping wormhole jump before accelerating at full speed. All four weapons began firing and ships started exploding as the lances sliced through armored hulls to rupture reactors. The 450s ripped the fighter bay apart before they switched to destroyers. I started jamming as I turned and rolled the ship while we flashed above the station.

A second later I rolled and dove as our weapons continued to destroy everything they targeted. I turned and rolled again as I suddenly slowed and came to a stop and the weapons went silent. I used thrusters to bring us closer to a large cargo hatch as David called off the distance to the four warships closing with the station.

We were behind the station but he had kicked out several small remotes. I docked and slid out of my seat to run towards the hatch. Peter and Jacob were already there and the hatch was just opening. We moved into the panicked station and I ran to access the station cargo database. I turned and grinned, “bay seven below us.”

We closed the hatch and ran into the station corridors that already had people rushing around. We headed down and opened the large bay filled with Capsten seeds and anti matter containers. Peter started the loader bots as Jacob ran to the hatch and opened it and extended the hatch seal. David whispered that the four warships were patrolling the station.

Jacob and Peter began loading the cargo through our belly hatch as I went out to pull up another inventory. I ran down the corridor to a small secure bay and used a portable loader to bring back two large crates. I slipped them into our ship before dumping the loader in the station bay, “Peter! Jacob! Time to go!”

I waited and closed the hatch after they ran through. I ran for the bridge as they headed back to their stations. I slid into my seat and looked at the scan display David kept updating. Tom had kept a running passive target on each of the enemy ships for both his weapons and Jacobs and I glanced at the holo of Peter.

He grinned and nodded as I kicked us away from the station, “FIRE!”

All four weapons fired and the 450s continued to fire as the other two ships exploded.