Chapter 6: Teeth for Marsh Hare

"Solace, I need a favor," I asked the engineering officer. "It involves wearing clothes."

What I wanted were teeth for Marsh Hare, my 'light fighter' spacecraft. Marsh Hare had been demilitarized by removing the weaponry, a missile launcher and a beam weapon. The fire control system was intact, but disconnected. The fire control software was still in the computer but hidden in the directory. All I needed were weapons. There were enough spare weapons aboard the Lightning Bolt. The stores were needed for a star ship that operated beyond the frontier, beyond ready assistance. I might have been able to install all the weaponry myself, but with Solace Marsh Hare would be ready when we emerged from jump space.

"Why do you call this the Marsh Hare?" Solace asked.

"There are thousands of stories about rabbits and hares," I explained. "Long-eared rodents with short tails. Rabbit is what most predators eat. We humans love to munch bunnies. Sometimes the rabbit is able to outsmart hunters, especially humans. The hare picked up a reputation as a clever trickster. One set of stories is about a hare that lived in a marsh. His mortal enemy was a fox, a predator. I thought the name appropriate for my get-away buggy."

"Why do you want weapons?" Captain Manchester's voice came from the door as she emerged from the bridge.

"Because I'm convinced that we're going to be ambushed when we attempt our wilderness refueling operation in two days." I said. "It would be easy to kill or capture us. We look like a light freighter. Most of the weapons are hidden, and if ambushed near the comet when we attempted refueling, we'd be an easy target for boarding action. A shot or two to the power plant and a boarding party would be enough. Ashley could be taken or she and the Heir murdered along with the rest of us. If taken, the Heir would be the ticket for the pirates to claim Zheeyad's throne. How many people know we have custody of an Heir?"

"That's paranoia!" Manchester snapped.

"Paranoia is Peter's profession," Medical Technician Kelsey Wright said as she lead Ashley into the common room. "Let's make a bet. If Peter is correct, if there is an ambush waiting for us at the comet, you'll totally submit to him."

"And if Peter is wrong?" Manchester asked.

"Then I'll become your submissive, Manny," Constance offered as the ship's steward placed dinner on the table. "That means my submissive will also be your submissive. Two for the price of one. How long were you offering to become a slave girl to Peter?"

"I wasn't," Manchester objected. She faced me and asked, "If you are so sure that we'll be ambushed, what will you bet?"

"I don't bet anything I cannot deliver," I said, "even when I am dead certain that I'm right."

"Tell Manny about the one missile that all fighter pilots have," Ashley suggested. "Even unarmed fighters. Go on, tell her."

"Okay," I was reluctant because it would upset someone. "A fighter pilot can always try ramming."

"You were planning to ram any attacker with Marsh Hare," Kelsey accused. "Don't. You won't save anybody that way."

"Peter, you look guilty," Constance observed.

"It was a back-up plan," I admitted. I outlined what I wanted Lightning Bolt to do: immediately prepare a micro-jump upon emerging from jump space. That would, in effect, be a time machine; Lightning Bolt would re-emerge close to its insertion point in the standard 150 hours a hyperspace jump took. The Lightning Bolt would launch a spread of drones to investigate the comet first—with Marsh Hare pretending to be a drone.

"We can program some of the drones to be decoys," I explained. "They'll look like the Lightning Bolt and as long as the enemy is kept at a distance, they can have fun guessing which decoy is real. Meanwhile I'll be hiding out in the drones and when they attack, I'll be in position to hit their power plant. The combination should buy enough time to make the jump. I'll hide out and wait for you to return."

There was some heated debate, but eventually Captain Manchester was persuaded to do it my way. There was little to lose, only some hydrogen fuel. We were going to siphon fuel for free. Oh, yes – time! It would add several hours time to do the fly-by before refueling and to maintain the picket line during refueling. Then picking up drones and the Marsh Hare prior to jump space insertion would add complexity and time. The payoffs were my peace of mind and training opportunities for the entire crew.