Amantus
Copyright© 2026 by QM
Chapter 4
“Status?” Mance asked Venn.
“Damage control is working on the outer hull near engineering; it should be repaired within a hundred rotations, sir,” Venn replied. “Their destroyers mostly went after ours, I think, to overwhelm us later.”
“Seems likely, how is the Lance?”
“Dead in space, sir, their powerplant got hit with a hyperbeam, the only one to cause significant damage.”
“Pinion?”
“Bit of a mauling, but still functional, sir.”
“Butcher’s bill?” Mance sighed.
“Thirty-five dead, majority on the Lance and the powerplant strike, which vented the section,” Venn grimaced.
“The freighter should have shuttles for cargo haulage,” Mance said to Zaka. “Use them to transport any crew not required for repairs on the Lance here.”
“Sir,” Zaka saluted.
“Get a trooper content onto the freighter to maintain control, and when we’ve finished with the Lance, start removing the enemy to the freighter,” Mance added.
“Yes, sir.”
“Call from the governor of Dephrar, sir,” Venn announced.
“On screen.”
“Putting him through now, sir.”
“Hisuat Gonfal,” Mance acknowledged.
“Captain Mance,” Gonfal replied. “Congratulations on your victory and my condolences on your losses.”
“Thank you, sir,” Mance nodded.
“I hear you have a number of involuntary colonists for us?”
“We do, sir, though I have not been informed of numbers as yet.”
“Could you have the details sent to me when you do, including skill sets?”
“Of course, sir.”
“Thank you, the station is sending its tug complement out to assist, along with a company of troopers,” Gonfal concluded.
“My thanks, sir, that will assist us greatly,” Mance replied.
“Keen,” Zaka chuckled after the governor signed off. “Or does he just need the skilled help?”
“I think the Protectorate went for competent on an outlying colony,” Mance shrugged. “Either way, the help from him is welcome.”
“Troopers have debarked to the freighter,” Venn informed Mance.
“Good, well done everyone, no doubt the bounty on the captures will give the crew a nice bonus when we hit port,” Mance smiled.
It took two days for the Lignet to sort out the situation, though the arrival of two tugs from the station to assist in towing the wrecks back to the station was a big help. The prisoners were all being held on the freighter, fully aware that if they started any trouble, the hatches in the cargo bay would be opened and they’d be spaced. The senior command crew of the Troneks were held separately awaiting trial. Some had tried to resist the boarding of their vessels by the trooper complements, though this had ceased immediately when Mance had ordered stiletto beam strikes on their positions.
Amantus had observed all this and had made copious notes in his perscomp for later review. He went over these later when he met up with Crendon and Mabis, both of whom had come through the battle unscathed.
“Wonder if you’ll be entitled to prize money, Amantus?” Mabis pondered during their dinner break.
“I don’t know, I haven’t a clue as to what restrictions are in my records, other than the ban on reviews and results,” Amantus shrugged, as what money he did have, he never touched, relying on Fleet to feed and house him, boring as his diet could be.
“That ... that’s just wrong if you aren’t to get it,” a shocked Crendon replied.
“I have no idea what the rules for me are, or whom to ask,” Amantus chuckled.
“The Captain, I suppose, though it might be unwise to do so,” Mabis replied.
“Yep, I have no intention of bothering him with trivia,” Amantus smiled.
“Will you be going over to the freighter to assist?” Crendon asked.
“She’s called the ‘Bulka,” Amantus replied. “And yes, I’ll be going across with Sub-Lieutenant Lorra to assist.”
“He’s a pilot, isn’t he?”
“Yes,” Amantus nodded. “I’ll be working with him for a few days, getting experience.”
“Sounds fun,” Crendon nodded. “I’ll be across there with Commander Ticce.”
“The senior engineer?” Amantus asked.
“Yes, the grav drive they have is obsolete, and he wants to take a look at the schematics,” Crendon replied.
“Why?” a puzzled Mabis asked.
“Hobby of his, plus you never know when knowledge can be useful,” Crendon chuckled, making both Mabis and Amantus smile.
“Guess so,” Amantus nodded.
“You guys have all the fun,” Mabis sighed. “All I get to do is monitor a plant.”
“We’d be dead if you didn’t,” Amantus sympathised.
“Yep,” Crendon nodded.
“True, but it would be nice to get out of hydroponics occasionally,” Mabis chuckled. “All I do is go there, or the canteen or my cabin.”
“You can always visit mine,” Crendon offered with a lewd smile, then a loud laugh.
“Don’t go all Middie Parse on me,” Mabis giggled.
“Parse?” Amantus asked.
“He’s on yellow shift, has a permanent boner, and thinks Mabis is gagging for it,” Crendon explained.
“Oh, one of those,” Amantus chuckled.
“I have a man friend on Gevase,” Mabis shrugged. “I don’t need extra.”
“No lady friend in your life, Amantus?” Crendon asked.
“Kind of cautious around them after what happened to me,” Amantus admitted. “Guess I was a bit like Parse, only it came back to bite me.”
“Really?” Mabis asked, looking surprised.
“I had all the bad habits of my class,” Amantus shrugged. “It’s why no one believed me.”
“You really came from a different world than us,” Crendon mused. “Still, you haven’t caused us any issues.”
“True,” Mabis nodded.
“Not here to cause issues,” Amantus replied. “I’m here to learn and maybe, just maybe, learn enough to get revenge.”
“Don’t let it eat up your life,” Mabis warned.
“I won’t,” Amantus replied. “But the system I’m in seems skewed to make me angry.”
“Yeah, I get that,” Crendon nodded.
The Lignet had two landing craft that were also used as shuttles. Currently, Amantus was aboard one as an understudy to Sub-Lieutenant Lorra. Also on board were Crendon and Commander Ticce, though the pair were going over the schematics of a drive system projected from Ticce’s perscomp. Amantus was currently observing Sub Lieutenant Corus as she guided the craft to the Bulka.
“It seems pretty straightforward,” Amantus commented as Corus gave a teach-in.
“Looks easy, yes,” Corus replied. “In practice, not so easy as it’s all too possible to overspeed into objects.”
“Aren’t there shields?”
“Yes, but consider this, the internal grav generator can only compensate so far on a small vessel like this,” Corus replied with a slight smile. “So try to avoid objects.”
“Space is mostly empty anyway, but you want to avoid trouble by being reckless,” Lorra added.
“Final approach on the Bulka, permission to dock granted,” Corus informed the passengers.
The Bulka was huge compared to even the Lignet, though the crew was minimal and mostly confined to their cabins, other than visits to the canteen area under guard. The vast majority of the ship was made up of adjustable holds for transporting cargo, though currently they were full of the crews of the planet raiders, unguarded yet vulnerable to the Protectorate troopers opening the freight airlock, hence very well behaved.
Amantus saw none of this; he’d reviewed his briefing and knew he was to assist in getting the Bulka to Dephrar station and its impoundment. The bridge of the Bulka was tiny compared to that of the Lignet. With just stations for the pilot, navigation and communications, along with a Captain’s chair.
Lorra went to the pilot’s seat and examined the console, grunting with satisfaction. “Pretty standard if much lower tech than the Lignet,” he confirmed.
“Take your word for it, sir,” Amantus chuckled.
“Heh! True, you never got a look at that, did you?”
“Not yet, sir, but hopefully after we return to normal duty,” Amantus replied.
“Seems likely, though we’ll be getting shore leave when we return, followed by some sort of ceremony involving the governor,” Lorra informed Amantus.
“My first real leave in something like twelve binary cycles.”
“Didn’t you get any in basic?”
“Confined to the base, sir,” Amantus sighed.
“Oh, right, forgot about your circumstances,” Lorra nodded. “Oh, and drop the sir stuff, as we haven’t any real seniors on the bridge.”
“Thanks, Lorra,” Amantus smiled.
“All stations confirm their readiness to move out,” Sub-Lieutenant Maxis on comms announced.
“Course set,” Sub-Lieutenant Junn informed Lorra.
“Got it,” Lorra confirmed. “We can move when ordered.”
“Captain Mance confirms,” Maxis announced. “Move out, stay in formation.”
Lorra gently moved a sliding bar up to halfway on the panel as Amantus watched the display showing the Bulka beginning to move. Lorra then moved the controls as the Bulka swung around to the preset heading.
“Commander Ticce reports the grav drive is within parameters, though power-to-mass constraints will limit acceleration and deceleration,” Maxis informed Lorra.
“In short, she won’t stop on a credit,” Lorra chuckled.
“Captain Mance says to hold this speed; the tugs can manage this fine.”
Lorra moved the sliding bar back to its unpowered position and relaxed, occasionally glancing at a screen that showed the Bulka’s position relative to the other ships in the formation.
Lorra then gave Amantus a teach-in on the console, similar to the one on the landing craft, but pointed out the XD controls, which were in a separate section.
“So we don’t use constant acceleration?” Amantus asked.
“Depends on what we’re doing,” Lorra replied. “In this case, no, the tug drive systems aren’t built for it.”
“So, in theory, we could get close to lightspeed?”
“In theory, yes,” Lorra chuckled. “With all the issues to do with time dilation, oh, and running into stuff that we can’t detect because of our speed.”
“Time dilation?”