Chapter 9

Bjorn had taken his heavy cruiser, Balder, to the jump gate to assess firsthand the damage and take control of the pirate prisoners. They’d been interrogated, and this group was much more forthcoming. They’d identified Kat Fiske as the leader of The Lost Ones. When she executed her first officer and then abandoned the boarding parties, it loosened their tongues.

While Loki’s Mischief effected repairs, Pursuer and Relentless had been sent to the pirates’ asteroid base, another depleted mine. They’d found it abandoned, so they stood off and blew the floating rock into gravel.

When Balder micro-jumped to the jump gate, Bjorn found it crowded with cargo transports waiting for the gate to be repaired.

Bjorn’s first order of business was to summon Brodie to get his personal account of the incident. His son must have anticipated Bjorn’s summons because the jarl was informed that his son had just touched down in the massive cruiser’s landing bay. Bjorn quickly sent a message to Freya to join them. His wife, as a shield maiden, was his first. She and his son, accompanied by Aurora, arrived simultaneously.

As they all sat down, Bjorn asked his AI, Nerthus, “How long until the gate repairs are completed?”

“Estimated completion time is eight days, three hours, and sixteen minutes,” the monotone female AI’s voice replied.

He turned to Brodie. “I’m going to ask you to organize a barge train and slave the cargo transports to Loki’s navigation system when you travel to Mulheim. We must keep the trading lanes open, or some items will go bad.”

One of the top Norse moneymakers was fresh fish. Getting it to Mulheim was a priority.

“Should I really leave the system now that Kat Fiske has been identified?” Brodie asked.

“Our King has summoned you. I’ll use our Goth guest to help me ferret her out of wherever she’s hiding,” Bjorn said.

Brodie agreed with his father using Carmichael Just to lead the hunt for the pirate leader.

“I want you to take Pursuer and Relentless to back you up,” Bjorn added.

“Why? Do you think Brodie will be in danger from his own King?” Aurora asked.

“I didn’t say that. Brodie must learn to work with Erik and Val as a team, so, for now, where he goes, they go,” Bjorn ordered.

“Then I need to get back to my ship and organize the jump to Mulheim.”

Before he could leave, Freya interrogated Brodie and Aurora about exactly what had happened. When done, Freya gave Brodie a fierce hug.

“Be safe, and take care of my boy,” Freya added as a parting order to Aurora.

There was an old earth term, herding cats, that applied. The transports seemed to want to bunch up and try to crash into each other. When Brodie was nearing his wit’s end at getting the barge train lined up to jump, Loki fired a warning shot across the bow of one of the barges.

“The next one of you who alters course will be holed,” Loki announced over open comms.

Brodie glanced at Aurora and saw she agreed with the AI’s approach.

“All in position. Initiating jump in three, two, one...” Loki counted down.

“We lost one,” Aurora announced.

Brodie was surprised it was only one. He’d instructed Val and Erik to wait before jumping in case that happened. They would pick up the wayward cargo transport and help them jump.

“Ship is secure, Captain,” Loki announced.

“All hands, resume repairs,” Brodie called out over the comms.

His bridge crew all got up and left, so Brodie slaved their displays to his.

“I’ve updated the Death Board,” Loki said.

Death Count
Loki – 118
Beck – 87
Brodie – 63
Gunner - 62
Aurora – 12
Erik – 4
Val – 0

“I see I’ve overtaken Gunner. How’s he taking it?” Brodie asked.

“He pointed out that if I slept through the next few engagements, you might overtake my spot,” Loki said, making Brodie chuckle because it sounded like the AI was pouting.

“Just remind him that his captain has only four kills,” Brodie said.

“Thank you, sir. I will do that,” Loki said, sounding almost happy.

Brodie settled in and began reading status reports to keep his mind occupied during the jump.

Loki had calculated their jump to come close to the transport hub; they wanted to minimize the time it would take their cargo transports to fly at sub-light speed to offload their goods. They hadn’t considered how the Mulheim defense grid would react to so many ships jumping in so close to the planet.

“We are being actively targeted,” Loki announced.

“Are we giving the correct transponder identifications?” Brodie asked.

“Yes, sir. I’ve also put on a loop that we are friendlies from Norse,” Loki said.

“We’re receiving a message from Mulheim. They’ve given us landing coordinates,” Aurora announced.

“How long until Val and Erik arrive?” Brodie asked.

“They just dropped into orbit,” Loki answered.

“Tell them where to land. I want them with me when I meet King Denhardt.”

The three Norse captains sat in the King’s waiting room across from Brodie’s nemesis, Sven Haugen—the King’s hersir. Sven wore an eyepatch, which had Erik and Val smirking, while Brodie showed no emotion.

“Aren’t you going to ask about my eye?” Sven finally asked Brodie.

“Not really. I made you a promise, and if it hadn’t been for my father, it would have been much worse,” Brodie said quietly.

Sven’s face darkened momentarily, but he took a deep breath and relaxed.

“King Denhardt agreed. I want to thank you for not taking the eye,” Sven said.

It was Brodie’s turn to be disturbed. “I don’t buy that for a second.”

Sven’s lips pinched before he said, “What happened at the academy needs to be put behind us since we’ll be working together moving forward. I understand you won’t forgive and forget, but we have to at least tolerate one another, if for no other reason than the security of the realm.”

Brodie had no reason to trust Sven’s words, but he was now Hersir of Norse and would be forced to work with Sven now and then. He surprised his counterpart when he stood and offered him his forearm. Sven jerkily stood up, and they grasped forearms. Once the show of friendship was completed, the King’s man announced he was ready to see them.

Brodie had no doubt the King had orchestrated Sven’s effort to bring them closer together.

King Denhardt wasn’t one for displays of power. They were invited into a room that looked like one used for strategy sessions. The first order of business was a recap of the latest pirate action.

“May I invite my AI to this discussion?” Brodie asked before starting.

“Why? What can he add?” Sven asked.

“We’ve recently made a lot of modifications to Loki’s Mischief, and he’s more familiar with them than I am,” Brodie said.

“Agreed,” King Denhardt said.

Once Loki was looped into the room’s comms, Brodie began.

“Jumping to the stargate, we came out in an EMP minefield. We’d adjusted the ship to help survive something of that sort. If we hadn’t, their initial missile attack would have destroyed us.”

Loki provided a holo of the action to show everyone what had occurred.

“Impressive,” Sven said.