Chapter 16

Edited by Steve

Sarha found something at the far end of the scanner’s range, “Tim, you are needed on the bridge.”

Tim entered the bridge and said, “Sarha, what do you need?” He looked around and saw that he was the only one there, and he sat down and waited.

“Tim, I have brought the ship to a halt. There seems to be something in our way.

My scanners show approximately 150 small objects in front of us.”

“Can you put it up on the big screen? I need a closer look?” Tim inquired.

The large screen now displays the contents of the scanner. With a closer look, Tim saw what seemed to be a pattern. “Sarha, send a probe? Before we proceed, we need to know what these things are.”

“A probe is being sent.”

“Sarha, have the girls come to the bridge,” Tim said. Now Tim was studying the objects and wondered why someone would put something out in the middle of this part of space with no warning.

Tabitha, Tammy, and Pauline all entered the bridge at the same time. Tammy asked, “What’s up, Tim?” Each one had taken their seat and checked their control panels.

“Ladies, please look at all the scanners for anything. We have objects ahead of us that are unfamiliar. Sarha, how long before the probe gets within range?” Tim said cautiously.

“Two minutes,” Sarha replied.

“Tammy, please, place the space probe camera on the main screen,” Tim asked. Everyone now saw what the probe was seeing, and they saw a much better picture of the objects now. The things are spaced equally, about ten feet across, with spikes. “Those are mine!” Tim said.

“Sarha, bring the probe to a stop, but keep it there. Girls, I need an exceptional scan of the area.”

The girls started to do the work as soon as Tim asked, and they did their best to obtain all the necessary information. Tammy yelled out, “Tim, nothing on the scanner.”

Pauline said disgustingly, “Tim, those are small mines, and they are not meant to kill or destroy, only disable.”

“Tim, this sounds like a trap. What are we going to do about it?” Tabitha asked.

Tim thought, ‘We have a few things to think about here. First and foremost, who would set such a trap? Second, where are they now? Third, do we spring it and wait, or clear it out and then leave? “Well, ladies, I’m open to your thoughts. Tabitha, you are first.”

Tabitha asked, “If we set the mines off, what would happen?”

“There are one hundred fifty mines to blow. After that, what do we do next?” Tim asked.

Tabitha sat back and said. “We leave.”

“They will come back and set the trap up again,” Pauline said with annoyance.

“Let’s set a trap of our own,” Tammy replied.

Tim said, “Okay, that seems like a good idea,” Then he asked her, “How do you want to do it?”

“I don’t know, what if we put Tabitha’s ship out there, making it look like it hit a mine, and then when they come back, we blow them out into space?” Tammy said.

“I think you’ve got a plan. Tim, do you think it would work?” Tabitha said suggestively.

“Yes, I think it will work, Sarha; I would like the bot out there to blow two mines. After blowing the two mines, Tabitha will then place her ship in that area. Then, Tabitha, you will be transported back here and wait.” Tim stated.

“Before I leave the ship, should I make a distress call?” Tabitha asked.

Tim said as he looked at each girl, “No, what happens if somebody hears the call and comes to see what happened? They’re not the bad guys. Okay, girls, let us think about this a little more; we will meet back here later.”

Tim left the bridge and headed to the fitness room. Sarha was to have Scrappy meet him there for their regular workout. Tim was now running about ten miles at five-minute miles. Then over to do bench presses. He was now doing more than 800 pounds. The workout took about two hours. Tim left the fitness room, headed back to his quarters for a shower, then to the bridge.

As Tim walked onto the bridge towards the debriefing room, he asked, “Sarha, could you have all the girls meet me in the debriefing room?” Taking his seat on the far-right side, he waved as the girls came in. They took their seats, starting next to Tim, Tabitha, Tammy, Pauline, and Madlyn.

Tabitha asked as she turned toward Tim. “What are we here for?” The rest of the girls were in their seats and waited to see what Tim wanted.

Tim looked at each girl and said, “We must decide what to do about the trap. I need your ideas.”

“Tim, you were a member of the military. Why do you need us?” Tammy said. She now sat up straighter in her seat.

“Yes, I was in the military, but you girls may have better ideas. It is always nice to use all of one’s resources.” Tim said that with a smile. “Who will be the first with a good idea of how to act?”

Pauline asked. “How do we know how many are coming?” She leaned forward in her seat and looked at the other girls to see how they reacted to her question.

“We don’t. That is why we need to plan this out now. We need more than one plan,” he replied, sat back, and looked at each girl’s face.

“Do we have any idea who will be coming?” Madlyn asked with a worried look. “What are we going to do if there are too many of them?”

“That’s the question I want you girls to answer! I need each of you to tell me what you want done. Each of you has had a run-in with the pirates. Now, this might be a pirate’s ambush for someone else, and we must know how each of you feels regarding this?” Tim asked.

“Tim, I would not want anyone to go through what Tammy and I went through. But at the same time, I want to stop all this pirate shit. These attacks on smaller ships, I believe, are just the beginning!” Tabitha said.

“If we stop this now. The pirates will start it somewhere else. Then what will we do? Go across these universes looking for them. We’ll spend the rest of our life chasing them.” Tammy replied.

“So, we just move on and let someone else fall into the pirates’ trap,” Madlyn asked curiously, sitting there with a sad and worried look.

“If we stop one group and save one more life, will we feel satisfied or will we try to do more?” Tabitha asked for their opinions.

“We don’t have to go looking for them, but if we come across them, we don’t have to run either. Look, each of us knows how it feels, and I don’t want anyone else to be placed in danger like Jeanne and I were.” Madlyn replied with a stern look on her face.

Each girl knew precisely what she meant and had just been told how she felt. The truth was that each wanted to do something to the pirates to get back at them.

“Do each of you feel the same way?” Tim asked, looking from face to face, each face showing a look of fear and horror. He knew the answer.

Tim now sat a little straighter and a bit taller; now that he knew the girls had just talked themselves into this fight, each of them had a personal reason to want it. The only thing now was to get them to understand how we needed to do it without being killed.

“Okay, we know we’re going to put Regel 1 into the minefield. And use it as bait for our trap, okay? Now what?” Tabitha said, and she looked around.

“We wait to see who comes to the rescue; if it is friendly, we tell them we corrected the problem. If they are not friendly, then we kill them.” Tammy replied.

“How are we going to kill them?” Pauline asked the question. The worried look is gone. Now a hard-looking face appeared.

“How will we know if they are friendly or not?” Madlyn asked; she got up to get a cup of java. Asking, “Does anyone else want a cup?”

They all shook their heads, no. She then grabbed a cup of java and sat back down. She turned to look at Tim, and Tim looked back, just nodding his head.

“I’ll have to be on my ship, waiting to be rescued. They will see me there, thinking I’m alone.” Tabitha states.

“Tabitha, I will set up a system where we hear everything going on over there. That way, there will be no surprises. I will also place probes around your ship so we can see everything.” Sarha replied.

“If they are friendly, they will believe you. Otherwise, a pirate will want to come aboard to see if you are okay.” Pauline said.

“What if there is more than one ship?” Asked Madlyn. She was the one with the worried expression now. “What if they come with ten or more ships?”

“Sarha, can you move the mines if needed?” Tammy asked.

“Why do you want to move the mines?” Pauline asked with a puzzled look.

“If there is more than one, we could use the mines to take out a few of their ships,” Tammy said.

Tim sat back and watched the women work the whole battle alone, and he smiled the entire time. Who would have guessed that these women and their battle ideas could work?

“If we could push the mines into the oncoming path of the ship, it would slow them down,” stated Tammy.

“I could have the bots manufacture small probes to push the mines to where you wanted them. Even to get them right up against the ships before detonating them.” Sarha replied.

“Sarha, could you start on them now?” Tabitha asked. Sarha nodded her head.

“Is there any way to make more of those nano-bots we used on Madlyn’s four pirate ships? Do you know the cloaked ones? Maybe we could set up a line of them.” Pauline looked at Sarha; she smiled, hoping her ideas could help.

“I will have more bots work on them. Are there any more ideas?” Sarha replied.

“I can do the same thing as before.” Sarha replied, “I can scan each ship for the body count and weapons. Maybe I can hack into their onboard computer system and download all the information for future reference.”

Tim was impressed. Even Sarha was getting into this, and she was the ship’s AI who previously expressed cautious neutrality. “Sarha, how will you hack into their ship’s computer system?”

“Tim, all ships have a diagnostic hookup on the exterior of their vessel. I will send a cloaked probe over to one of their ships to find and hook up to it. When I find it, use the programming I have obtained from others and have already been using to change words from their language to yours so you will understand. I can change some of their ship’s commands.” Sarha replied.

“I wondered how I could understand everyone’s language. I thank you for that,” Tim says, surprised. “Okay, everyone, go ahead with your plans; let us hear more.”

“What happens if their ships get past all of this?” Madlyn asks.

“Because we have a larger firing arc than they, our long-range Cannon will take care of most of them. We have two pulse lasers to take out if they still get closer, and our shields are more substantial than anyone else’s,” Sarha replied.

“Sarha, could you have an assault rifle moved to my ship? Also, about ten preloaded magazines of ammunition,” Tabitha asked.

“Who will pilot the ship while all this is going on? Might I ask? Tim enquired.

“I will be doing that, Pauline will be handling the guns, and Madlyn is going to be the tactical person,” Tammy said.

“And may I ask what I am to do?” Tim asked with a questionable look.

“You will be with me as my bodyguard, if that is okay?” Tabitha reassured him.

Tim, before you start guarding her body, Sarha said that you needed one more shot of micro-nano-bots if I could get you to come down to the medical bay. After that, you can guard her body all you like.” Madlyn said with a chuckle.

“When we first started talking, I said, “That’s why we need to plan this out now, and we need more than one plan. And you women just did just that, and you covered the whole thing. Now everybody knows what needs to be done and how it is to be accomplished,” Tim states.

“The next question is, when do we do this?” Tim asked.

“Tim, it will take two days to manufacture all the parts and to put them together with all the settings. Then place them into position.” Sarha replied.

“Okay, three days from now. Is that okay with all of you girls?” Tim asked.

All the girls nodded their heads yes.

“Has everybody seen the boxes brought on board? Well, I need each of you to find the box with your name on it and try on your new armored spacesuit.”

Everybody got up and headed to the cargo bay. They found the box with their name on it and then put on the body armor. Each girl walked around the bay to get used to it.

“Tim, why is the armor black? We are the good guys. And what’s with all this writing on the left side of the faceplate?” Tammy asked.

“The black color will allow you to not appear so easy, that writing lets you know what is going on; you have infrared lights for nighttime and night vision. On your right shoulder, you have three silver reflex stripes. That is to let you identify friendly personnel. The buttons to control the light are on your left wrist.” Tim replied.

All the girls walked around and got used to their new suits. Tammy asked, “Sarha, is there any way we could use these outside the ship? So, we could get acclimated to using them in space?”

“I could set up docking bay three, opening the doors so it would have no gravity. However, I would place a safety net before the doors, so no one floats away.” Sarha replied.

“That will work. Each of you girls should take your time getting used to the suits and handling them. I will head to the medical bay. See you for dinner.” Tim said.

Tim walked into the medical bay and saw Jeanne had been up and walking around. “Are you feeling better now?”

“Yes, Captain, I’m feeling much better now,” Jeanne replied. She moved over to her bed and leaned against it.

“Please call me Tim; Captain sounds so formal, and we are all friends here.” He said, grinning.

“Jeanne, have you been up walking around?” Madlyn asked as she entered the medical bay right behind Tim. Did you take the pills I laid out for you?” She walked up to Jeanne and kissed her cheek.

“Yes, boss, I did what you told me to do,” Jeanne said as she returned Madlyn’s kiss.

“Did you get introduced to Tim?” Madlyn asked quizzically, looking at Tim.

“Yes, I called him captain, and he said to call him Tim,” Jeanne said.

Madlyn walked over to the counter, opened the medical cabinet, and pulled out a syringe. “Are you ready?” She asked, turning back to Tim.

“I guess.” Tim stood up and rolled up his sleeve.

“You were not awake for the first two shots, were you?” Madlyn looked at Tim.

“No, why?” Tim said, as he stood there.

“I didn’t think so; drop your pants and bend over the table, please,” Madlyn said with a smile.

Tim was a good soldier and did what the doctor told him to do. He looked over his right shoulder and saw Madlyn and Jeanne looking at his backside. Madlyn walked up and placed the syringe into his right cheek. After withdrawing the needle, she patted his right cheek and said, “Now, that’s a good boy; pull up your pants.”

Tim turned to look at Madlyn while he pulled them up. “Doctor, was it necessary to have Jeanne watch me get a shot?” He took his time and had to place his dick inside his shorts. But first, he made sure both women had a good look.

Madlyn whispered, “Well, Tim, I wanted her to know where you got the shot in case you need another one or other assistance.”

Jeanne said, with a surprised look, “Madlyn, you very seldom show me something that big. You know I seldom use things like that.”

“You are talking about the needle, right?” Tim asked.

“Sure, I guess,” Jeanne stated.

“Yes, and sometimes the needle gets bigger, I mean.” Madlyn purred contentedly.

“Doctor, is there anything else I’m needed for right now? If not, I’ll be on my way.” Tim asked, turning to walk out the door.

Tim said to Madlyn, “Doctor, if you ever need me to stick you with my big needle, just let me know.”

“Tim, I will do that, and thanks for telling me. It is the information I needed to know.” She laughed.

Jeanne, with a stunned look, “Madlyn, you can’t talk to the captain like that.”

“He has fucked me twice, once in the pussy and then in my ass. Both times I asked, and he did.” Madlyn walked over, sat on Jeanne’s bed, and patted the bed next to her. “Come on over here; I’ve missed you.”

Jeanne walked over and sat down next to her. “I am sorry. I did not expect to be alive now.” She placed her top arms around Madlyn for a hug and started crying. “I am afraid I have nightmares about all of it.”

“I do, too; watch them whip you. Seeing all the cuts and blood was too much, and I told them I would do whatever they wanted to stop the whipping.” Madlyn reassured her.

Jeanne saw the look on Madlyn’s face. “How do you sleep? I tried last night but did not do too well. Every time I closed my eyes, I would see them. Could you tell me how we got here?”

“I’ll say Tim and the girls, whom you’ll meet later, came aboard the hospital ship and saved us.” Capturing or killing all of the pirates.” Madlyn said.

“There must be many people on this ship, then!” Jeanne asked.

“There are four other people here, that’s all. Tim is the only male.” Madlyn replied.

Jeanne stated with a grin, “If he has fucked you twice, then he must be fucking the entire crew.”

“I don’t think so; Pauline seems to be happy alone. She is a shapeshifter. Jeanne, I need to tell you something. In three days, we are battling pirates, and I will need your help.” Madlyn gasped.

With a surprised look, Jeanne said, “You are telling the truth, right? Why?” She rose and took a step back from Madlyn and looked at her.

Madlyn volunteered this information, “We came across a trap set up by the pirates; now we are going to use it to our advantage. By setting up our other ship. I need your help; it seems Tim cannot be killed, and Tammy is starting to heal quickly. I need your help figuring out what is going on with their bodies.”

“Okay, how can I help? I’ll do whatever needs to be done. Jeanne said.

“If you feel up to it, I will bring Tammy down here, and we can start on her. Sarha, could you appear here, please?” Madlyn asked.

Sarha appeared on the other side of the bed, looking at both women and saying, “Madlyn, how may I be of assistance?”

“Jeanne, this is Sarha. She is the ship’s AI and will tell you where things are or get a bot to do it. This is fast, but we work with two other doctors.” Madlyn replied.

Sarha had Doctor Marus and Doctor Wellbe enter through the doors. “I have asked Tammy to come to the medical bay if that is okay?”

“But these are bots, not doctors,” Jeanne said. She now had a serious look on her face. “You can’t be serious,” she said as she turned to face Madlyn.

“These doctors took care of me, Tim, Tabitha, Tammy, and Pauline. They also took care of you. So yes, I am serious. Please say you are sorry.” Madlyn reassured her.

“Madlyn, I am all right. We got used to those comments from the first crew. Please, how may we be of help?” Doctor Marus, who stood to the right of the medical bay doors, said both Doctor Willbe.

“Doctors, I am genuinely sorry for my reactions. I am pleased to meet both of you.” Jeanne said.

Tammy entered the door, “Did someone want to see me?” She looked around and saw people and bots.

“Yes, Tammy, first Jeanne, this is Tammy. She is the navigator.” Madlyn said. Tammy and Jeanne shook hands.

Jeanne wanted to have fun, sticking out both of her left hands. Tammy looked puzzled at which hand to shake. When Jeanne smiled, she realized it was for a good reason. She shook the upper hand and then dropped to her knees to shake the lower. Jeanne said, “You are the first to do something like that, and most just stand there.” She has now lowered both hands to help Tammy stand back up.

“I see both of you are going to get along simply fine. Now, Madlyn, I will return to my other duties if I am not needed.” Sarha replied and then disappeared.

“What am I needed for now?” Tammy asked. She turned to look at Madlyn.

“Tammy, I want to know as much as possible about you. To be more exact, why did you suddenly start to heal faster? Is that okay with you?” Madlyn said pleasantly.

“Have I done something wrong?” Tammy asked curiously, and she now looked for a place to sit.

“No, you haven’t done anything wrong. We would like to see if we can find out why. All we will do is run tests and take blood samples, and maybe a few other things. There is nothing that will hurt you.” Madlyn replied.

Jeanne said with a wide grin, “I’m here to sit on you and hold you down while Madlyn handles the drill.”

“If you’re going to sit on me, you’d better sit on my face,” Tammy said with a massive grin on her face.

“I see I’m going to have my hands full with you too. Now, can we get started on the tests?” Madlyn giggled and went over to the counter to get some equipment. “First, I need a blood sample, and then we will sit down and start asking questions.”

Tim sat in the lounge and said, “Sarha, can you appear here, please?” Sarha appears next to Tim. “Sarha, I need to ask questions about you. Could you answer them?”

“Tim, you are now the captain of this ship. I will answer all questions asked.”

“I am not trying to do anything. I have questions about your knowledge.”

“Tim, I am not human; I do not have feelings, so please just ask.”

“You said you had been translating words for me. What do you mean? From whom have you been translating?” Tim exclaimed.

“Tim, I have been translating all of Pauline’s talking to everyone. In her native language, you would not have a clue about what she is saying, and I also translate back to her.” Sarha replied.

“May I ask why you did not tell me this upfront?” Tim asked.

“Most of my other captains did not want to be bothered with having to ask if I was translating each time. I am sorry if I hurt your feelings. If you wish, I will stop translating at once.” Sarha replied.

“No, keep doing it. Thanks, now to the next question. What other things are you doing without being told to do them?” Tim replied.

“Tim, I need you to ask a specific question for me to give you the answer,” Sarha replied.

“All right, you said, hacking into another ship’s computer. Have you ever done this?” Tim asked.

“I did this by running through all of the programs I picked up on my travels, some of which were hacking programs. Now, I am running through them, setting up a program. Tim, I have been through so many galaxies, picking up information on everything, then just storing it. Now I will start using it for you.”

“Sarha, going through those programs, if there is something you think might be of use to us, I need you to tell me immediately, no waiting. Also, if you find any improvements for the ship and/or weapons, let me know again.”

“This ship, you? It seems to be lacking in armament and shields. Are you truly this weak?”

“No, I am much stronger than you have seen. Until you officially became Captain and part of my crew, there was a lot I could not tell you. I use standard shields and weapons unless I am in a battle with a serious chance of harming myself. When there is a serious chance of damage, I can use battle shields and weapons. I haven’t met any hostile ships for which I’ve needed to use this option,” said Sarha.

“Along with the two heavy power pulse particle beam cannons, there is one high power particle beam, a long heavy power cannon, sixteen beam cannons, and 12 interceptors, and I can also deploy ten other heavy power pulse particle beam cannons, twenty-one high power particle beam cannons, nine long heavy power cannons, fifty-two beam cannons, and twelve railguns with static, explosive, or anti-matter loads. I can also deploy sand, explosives, or anti-matter mines shielded from sensors. Also, there are thirty-six remote-controlled interceptors, and these can be controlled from a room on deck eight.” Sarha said.

“Sand mines? What are they?” asked Tim.

“They are simple but amazingly effective weapons. Remember that a meteor that hits your home planet’s atmosphere normally travels only 40,000 kilometers per hour. The mine explodes as a fast-moving ship nears. Consider what would happen if a ship traveling at 300,000 kilometers per hour collided with thousands of sand particles traveling at a few hundred kilometers per hour relative velocity. The shields fail within a few hundred milliseconds, and the hull will usually fail within five hundred milliseconds. Few ships have any chance if they try to attack us from the stern,” said Sarha.

“Tim, there are so many things I will be looking for and at to keep you and the girls safe. We will be stronger with weapons and shields over the next few weeks.”

“Do not do more than you must. I do not want your system to slow down when we need you. Do you understand?” Tim asked.

“Yes, Captain, I will do as you ask. Is there anything else, Tim? If not, I will tell you about some other items you will have available to you while in combat.”

“Tim, on deck eight, is the engineering bay and other systems to run this ship. I have told you this previously. There is more there. I have four more power generators, and two of them are for battle shields. The shields can withstand twenty lasers firing simultaneously when they are brought online. The other two generators are for guns. Each battle gun has heat sinks, allowing them to fire continuously. On that deck, I have one bay assigned for both nano-bot and sand mines.”

“Tim, this ship can and has taken on as many as two hundred ships. That is with a captain who had no military training.” Sarha stated.

“Sarha, why did you keep this a secret until now?” Tim asked.

“Because if you did not want to fight and thought we had inferior weapons, You would leave things alone, and we would travel. But since you want to help others, I saw the need to tell you this.”

“Sarha, is there any more information or equipment I need to know about? Tim, as of this moment, there is no more, but going through the information I have gathered, I will let you decide.”

“I will leave you to your own devices while I reflect on what I have just learned.” Tim sat there and thought about everything he had just said.

Madlyn and Jeanne sat at the counter while they ran the tests. “Madlyn, who is the patient in the next unit?” Jeanne inquired.

“Right now, we shall call her Jane Doe, like always. We retrieved her from the limo trunk, and she is in terrible shape.” Madlyn states.

“Where did she come from? Her skin is all red.” Jeanne asked.

“She came from the Shayeland Shipyard. When we picked her up, she had white skin, black hair, and was all cut up.” Madlyn mumbled.

“But now she has snow-white hair and red skin, with very few cuts. How long has it been?” Jeanne asked.

“We got her here the day before you woke up. I was hoping you could check on her and do the usual stuff. Avoid touching her hands if you can. You will experience burns. Look closely at the fingertips. See if you see any little yellow dots.”

Jeanne looked at Madlyn like she was crazy but walked over to do her job. She did the tests and checked her pulse, and she got a little too close to the hand. Three yellow dots appeared on the middle three fingers, and they started getting bigger and warmer. Jeanne pulled her hand away quickly, and the dots disappeared. “Holy shit, what was that?”

“I told you not to get close to the hands. I don’t know what they are, but they want to protect Jane Doe.” Madlyn said.

Madlyn kept on with her tests on Tammy’s DNA. “I’ve checked her DNA from the first time she came onboard to the last two times, and her DNA changes a lot.”

“How could someone’s DNA change?” She walked over to stand next to Madlyn, looking over her shoulder. “It is hard to see the DNA pattern on a small screen,” Jeanne asked.

“You’re right. I need a bigger screen, Sarha. Is there any way to get a larger screen?” asked Madlyn.

“I can give you a larger screen tomorrow morning if you want,” Sarha replied.

“That would be extremely helpful. Thank you,”

“This would be an excellent time to take a break,” Jeanne said. She moved her upper arms to Madlyn’s neck and shoulders and began to massage them. With her lower arms, she began to rub the middle of Madlyn’s back.

Madlyn felt her back and shoulders relax. The anxiety left her physical form, and she now felt like she was floating on a cloud. She let out a soft moan.

When Jeanne heard the moan, she knew the massage was doing its job. She kept up with what she was doing to help Madlyn relax. Her friend has had a tough time in the past few weeks.

Wow, Jeanne, that felt wonderful. But you keep that up, and I will be asleep,” replied Madlyn. Sit back and savor a great massage. The thought of being in a safe place with friends made the moment even more enjoyable.

“Madlyn, why not just go straight to your quarters and bed? You and your body could rest, and I will stay here and watch the patient.” Jeanne said this while her hands continued to massage Madlyn’s body.

“I think I’m going to take your suggestion. This old body needs to lie down after that good massage.” Madlyn said as she got up from the chair and headed to her quarters.