Innes in Command
Copyright© 2026 by Lumpy
Chapter 17
“Mayday, mayday, this is the merchant vessel Andomaru requesting immediate assistance. We are being pursued by two unidentified vessels and cannot outrun them. Any naval or security forces in range, please respond.”
Innes was at the primary console going through what had become his standard afternoon routine when the staticky message came over the comm. Innes waved away the crewman reaching for the comm switch and picked up his transmitter instead.
“Andomaru, this is Ensign Kingsford, Concordian Defense Fleet detachment aboard Shiro Station, transmit your current position and heading.”
A burst of static preceded the response. “Shiro detachment, we’re approximately forty minutes out from Shiro at standard approach velocity. Two vessels came out of the belt and began a pursuit of us. They have no transponder signals but are broadcasting demands for us to cut engines and prepare for boarding. They’re very fast and cutting that margin every minute.”
Numbers scrolled across Innes’s display as the merchant captain continued.
“Do not comply with their demands,” Innes said.
If they were pirates, which they almost certainly were, then any boarding would lead to most of the people on the ship being killed. They didn’t like to leave witnesses.
“Affirmative. I’ve refused all contact since the initial transmission. I’m considering altering course toward the asteroid belt. If I can reach the debris field, maybe I can lose them in the sensor shadows.”
On the face of it, that wasn’t a bad plan, since the belt did make it hard to keep a firm lock on another ship, except he’d just said the pirates had come out of the belt. It was very unlikely that they only had two ships, and odds were there were more hiding in the belt, ready to pounce.
“Andomaru, negative on that course change, do not enter the belt. Repeat, do not enter the asteroid belt.”
“Shiro, those ships are gaining on us, this is my best chance to...”
“Captain, listen to me, the belt offers concealment, but it also limits your maneuverability and sensor range. If there are pirate bases in that belt, and there’s every reason to believe there are, you’ll be running directly into more hostiles, not fewer. That debris field is where they want you to go. Maintain your current heading toward Shiro Station; we can reach you faster if you stay on approach.”
The transmission dissolved into static before he finished speaking. Fragments of the captain’s response came through, something about the pirates closing too quickly, no choice, have to try, and then the channel devolved into interference. Innes adjusted frequencies, attempted to boost signal strength, but received only static in return.
“Andomaru, respond. Andomaru, this is Shiro detachment. Acknowledge transmission.”
The silence stretched for ten seconds before Innes accepted what the static was telling him. Either the merchant vessel had lost communication capability, or it had already moved into a region where signal propagation was compromised. Given the captain’s stated intention, Innes suspected the latter.
“Baker, alert the CAP to burn at maximum thrust toward the Andomaru’s last known position. The assault shuttle will follow, but they are to reach the Andomaru with all speed and render assistance until we can get there.”
“Aye, sir,” Baker said.
Innes was already adjusting for the internal comm channel to the marine section. “Lieutenant Roberts, this is Kingsford. I need your duty squad to board the assault shuttle for immediate deployment in full combat loadout. We have a civilian vessel under pirate attack and may need to repel boarders.”
Roberts’s response came back within seconds. “The squad will be at the shuttle in five.”
“Make it three.” Innes closed the channel and stood. “Chief, you have the watch. Coordinate with station control and keep trying to raise the Andomaru. If you get through, tell them to hold course toward Shiro and that assistance is on the way.”
Baker looked up from his console. “Sir, with respect, the commanding officer should remain here to coordinate the response. If you’re on that shuttle...”
“Then Lieutenant Roberts is in tactical command of the Marines and I’m available if something goes wrong that requires a decision above his pay grade. I’m not letting my people go into a fight on their own while I sit behind a console, Chief. You have the watch.”
He didn’t wait for Baker’s acknowledgment before stepping through the hatch into the corridor beyond.
The station’s internal layout had become familiar over the weeks of his posting, and Innes moved through the passages at a pace just short of running. People moved out of the way as he ran past, not wanting to get trampled. He took the most direct route to the hangar bay, cutting through a maintenance junction that shaved thirty seconds off the journey.
The hangar bay doors were already cycling open when he arrived. The assault shuttle sat on the deck, its rear ramp lowered, and Marines were hauling equipment cases up into the cargo hold while others jogged aboard in their standard duty uniforms. Lieutenant Roberts stood at the base of the ramp directing traffic, a datapad in one hand as he checked off each marine and equipment container that passed.
“Sir.” Roberts looked up as Innes approached. “Squad is loading now. Armor and weapons are going aboard, we’ll kit up in flight.”
“How long to get everyone suited?”
“Eight minutes once we’re airborne, maybe ten. The boys have drilled it.”
“Good enough.” Innes followed the last equipment case up the ramp.
The shuttle’s interior was crowded with Marines finding seats and securing gear. He worked his way past them to the tactical station mounted behind the cockpit bulkhead. The pilot and co-pilot were already running through pre-flight checks.
“Sir, departure clearance from station control is confirmed. We’re good to lift as soon as you give the word.”
“The word is given.” Innes dropped into the tactical station’s seat and pulled the restraining harness across his chest. “Get us airborne.”
The shuttle’s engines came to full power, and Innes felt the deck drop beneath him as the craft lifted from the hangar floor. Through the cockpit viewscreen, he watched the massive doors of the docking bay as they slid past, and then they were clear, accelerating away from Shiro Station’s bulk into open space.
Innes activated the tactical display at his station, pulling up the latest sensor data from the station’s arrays, which were much more powerful than the sensors on the shuttle itself. The Andomaru was no longer transmitting, but passive sensors had tracked her course change. The merchant vessel was heading toward the asteroid field, just as her captain had threatened, and two smaller signatures were closing from behind. The pursuing vessels were running hot, their engines pushing well beyond safe civilian limits, and the gap between hunters and prey was narrowing with every passing minute.
“What’s our intercept time?”
“Twenty-two minutes to the Andomaru’s projected position. The fighters have a ten-minute head start on us and are opened full out. They should be in position in another two, maybe three, minutes.”
That was something, at least. Innes watched the display, running calculations. At current closure rates, the pursuing vessels would catch the Andomaru just before the fighters got there.
“Push the engines,” he said. “Everything they’ve got.”
“Sir, if I redline the drives, we might shave four or five minutes off that time, but...”
“Do it. Five minutes might matter. Order the fighters, disable if they can, but I want those pirates taken down.”
The pilot’s hands moved across the controls, and the shuttle’s acceleration pressed Innes back into his seat as the engines climbed past their rated output. The hull vibrated with the strain.
On the console, the Andomaru had crossed into the outer fringes of the asteroid belt, her course weaving between the larger debris masses. The pursuing vessels adjusted their trajectories to match, their smaller size and greater maneuverability allowing them to follow where the merchant ship struggled to lead. The fighter icons were closing fast, but not fast enough.
The lead pursuer caught the Andomaru first. Innes watched the two signatures merge on the display, the pirate vessel matching velocity, which meant boarding.
The second hostile vessel settled into a circling pattern around the joined signatures, probably providing overwatch while its partner’s crew forced their way aboard. It was standard pirate tactics, with one ship used to board and secure the prize while the other intercepted any rescue attempt.
They didn’t know what was coming. CDF fighters did not have much in the way of protection, so their biggest defense was their small size and the electronic warfare equipment that allowed them to be difficult to pick out from background noise. Not much different from how the buoy was constructed, now that Innes considered it.
It was obvious the moment they got close enough that the pirates had picked up their signal. Instead of trying to support or defend their partner ship, the circling vessel turned and made a run for deeper into the belt.
The tactical display updated as the fighters engaged. Innes watched the maneuvers play out with the fighters catching up to the fleeing pirate vessel, which tried to evade hard but did not have anywhere near the maneuverability of a Resolute-class strike fighter. The engagement lasted less than ninety seconds before the pirate signature vanished from the display entirely, replaced by the debris cloud that marked a kill.
“One down,” the pilot reported, sounding satisfied.
But the other signature remained, still merged with the Andomaru’s icon. The pirate boarding vessel had locked itself to the civilian transport, and the fighters pulled back to a holding pattern rather than pressing the attack.
Innes understood why without needing to ask. Any weapon capable of destroying the pirate ship at this range would also damage or destroy the civilian vessel it was attached to. The fighters had eliminated the external threat, but they couldn’t touch the pirates who were now presumably aboard the Andomaru.
“Pilot, time to intercept?”
“Seven minutes, sir.”
Seven minutes was a long time in a boarding action. Innes didn’t know how many pirates were aboard the Andomaru, didn’t know if the crew was fighting back or had been secured, and didn’t know if he was flying toward a rescue or a recovery.
“Roberts,” he called back toward the troop compartment. “Get your squad at the ready. We’re going to board.”
When the shuttle arrived, the two fighters swooped in and matched its trajectory, falling into formation. While they wouldn’t stay with them once they docked, since they needed to fly patrol in case more pirates showed up, it was possible the pirate vessel currently latched onto the side of the civilian ship would detach and try to take a shot at the assault shuttle as it connected to the ship, which was one of the more vulnerable moments for a ship like this.
Thankfully, that didn’t happen.
The assault shuttle shuddered as the pilot adjusted thrust to match the Andomaru’s drift. Through the tactical display, Innes watched the merged signatures grow larger as they closed the final kilometers.
“Shiro Actual, this is Paquette.” The fighter pilot’s voice came through the comm. “I count at least two breaches in the civilian hull. She’s venting atmo from multiple sections.”
“Understood.” Innes studied the display, calculating angles and approaches. “Maintain overwatch.”
“Copy, Actual. Paquette out.”
“Sir, I’ve identified a docking collar on the Andomaru’s port side, opposite the pirate attachment point. Should give us clean access without alerting them,” the shuttle pilot said.
“Make it happen.”