Chapter 13

The ship dropped out of a warp.

They wanted to do long-range scans before they slowed to enter Uno’s system. The map of the two systems made Pat think of a barbell as it depicted the two planetary plates travelling around their suns, forming the weights on the ends. The three suns sat one above the other, and the magnetic links formed the bar.

From the direction they were travelling, the tri-system was lying on its side, but they were looking at the outer edge of one of the weights. Ships had to pass through one planetary plate, curve around the strong magnetic field between the three suns and then pass through the next planetary plate.

The smaller ships tried to use the first sun to sling them around past the tiny second sun to the third sun. A micro-jump across the plate then positioned them to sling around the third sun and out of the system. This way, they didn’t lose any speed. That was why the pirates had trouble stopping them.

Because small ships like theirs could micro-warp sooner, they could pass through both systems in four or five days rather than the ten or so days the bigger ships took. Smaller ships generally got into grief because of the greater number of floating bodies in the two systems and having poorer sensor return at their speeds.

Chris and Dusty suspected the pirates were based on the habitable planet in The Uno system. The big ships coming from Earth had to slow to navigate through this system. They passed near the outer edge of the huge asteroid belt, and they needed to scan it.

This system also had asteroids that travelled on elliptical paths and some that were moving at odd angles other than horizontal, because of collisions. The belt could really be separated into two obits.

The outer belt had a greater population of asteroids, and it covered a wider and higher area than the inner belt. The little planet had its own orbital path between them. This was why it had been hidden from the scientists from Earth.

The system needed to be scanned, and the bodies in it were plotted every time a ship came through it. They were mapping the system as they neared it. It would be at least another six hours before they needed to slow into stealth mode.

This was so the pirates couldn’t scan for them.

The team was also looking for any beacons that didn’t return the correct code or were located out of sequence with the ones they should find.

Dusty, who was on the bridge with Pat, wasn’t surprised when four beacons popped up on their scan as being unidentified. The fact that they weren’t where their charts said the UNSEC beacons should be didn’t surprise her either.

“Pat,” she said to gain the other woman’s attention. “It seems that we are in the right place. They have replaced the correct beacons. If we follow those beacons, we will be drawn in closer to the asteroid field.”

Pat looked at the display more closely. She could see what Dusty was getting at. She traced the path.

“What’s the bet they hide amongst that cluster of asteroids. If the beacons were triggered, then they would have time to get to them from the planet. They could let the ship go past and then pounce on them.”

“I concur. It’s a sweet set-up. If they don’t like the look of the ship or its escorts, then they could slink away, and the people on the ships would be none the wiser. I think they have at least two ships, possibly even three.”

“See this spot here. I think it’s where a bigger ship waits. The spotter sits here. The big ship opens fires and disables the target. The spotter comes up behind and makes sure the engines are out.”

“If I had a third ship, I’d station it here,” Dusty added as she pointed at a new spot on the screen. “It would be the boarding ship. While it latches on, the other two ships move into position and harpoon the victim.”

“They then reverse thrust and slow the disabled ship. It would pull up about here in the larger gap in the asteroid field. Depending on how heavy it was they may drive it to this spot. They could then pull it into a wide orbit around the planet and strip it at their leisure.”

“The ship’s systems would provide spare parts, and Ozlium sheeting has a lot of uses. I wouldn’t be surprised if they try to capture some of the smaller freighters intact so they can reuse them.”

Pat nodded, “Very feasible. Have you any Intel on how many ships the pirates have?”

“Not conclusive but going by some of the ships that have failed to reach their destination, I believe three. One of the ones that went missing a year ago would have been perfect as their third ship.”

“Also, the three biggest freighters that have gone missing in this system have done so since that ship disappeared. Captains of settlement crafts are more inclined to give up quicker, to save the loss of life.”

“The missing passenger ships were also smaller until nine months ago. One of the bigger ships that also had an escort went missing. So, I believe they added a third ship to their arsenal,” Dusty told Pat.

“So, what are your plans?” Pat asked.

“We believe someone is feeding the pirates information on when ships are supposed to be leaving Armstrong Station. They haven’t sent a settlement ship for more than two months since the last two didn’t make it past this system.”

“Tensions are getting high because the Earth nations want to send the settlers. The freighters from the nations that use Luna have also been leaving with at least two escorts from that nation since then.”

“So far, those ships that should have made it to Terra have. The pirates would need more than three ships to take out two armed escorts. So, three ships in a group seems to be the magic number.”

“Ships that leave Morpheus (the Earth’s Space Station) seem to get hit more by chance. The pirates may not always monitor the space beacons when they are not expecting a ship.”

“My data is that about ten days before we left, Earth started to send settlement ships from Morpheus again. UNSEC wanted them to send escorts with the ships, but the nations concerned didn’t. At least three more ships left Sol space before we did.”