Chapter 7: Stealing a battleship

Gama 09714365 was not listed on the gal chart as an inhabited system. We left the station three days after bringing the freighter in. I was in the pilot seat when we jumped and had my fingers crossed. We did not know the size of the system so I had been cautious when we jumped. We emerged well beyond the heliopause and I started us moving slowly.

Everyone not working at a station was watching from around the captain’s chair. I grinned when Edgar relayed and enlarged the scan holograph, “So it looks like they are mining.”

It would take us several days to get in position but there was not even a warship in the system. The closer we got the more I saw. I was sitting in my cabin a couple of days later and turned when Peter knocked and stepped in, “Have you seen the new scans from the asteroid belt station?”

I nodded, “They have a processing plant and on the far side is a shipyard.”

He walked closer, “But did you see the ship?”

I nodded, “A battleship and it looks like it is close to being finished.”

He shrugged, “It looks finished.”

I grinned, “Maybe but it is still in the yard.”

I turned and brought up the scan repeater on my desk. He leaned over to look and I sat back, “You know the system planets are almost blocking us.”

He looked at me quickly before grinning, “Thinking of taking a trip in?”

I touched points on the scan, “You know I skipped a barge deep in a gravity well.”

He frowned, “Yeah but...”

He leaned closer, “You want to use each planets gravity well to skip?”

I grinned, “As a reference point.”

He nodded and then grinned, “They use those on surveys.”

I looked at the scan again, “Once we are out from behind the last planet we can come in over the asteroid belt and it will only take a couple of days. If the battleship has a reactor and engines...”

He laughed and turned, “Let me tell Samantha and Sonia.”

It was a day before I started plotting the first skip and we jumped out and into orbit around the last planet. Everyone was tense as we ghosted around in orbit before I plotted the next skip and we jumped to the next planet. It took hours to skip in until we finally ghosted towards the asteroid belt under minimal power.

We were only using passive scans and it took two more days to get close to the station. I jerked up as Edger stiffened, “A ship jumping in!”

I cursed and waited and he turned with a frown, “A personal transport?”

I blinked and turned to look at Peter in the other seat. He grinned, “The ship needs a crew.”

I twisted to look at the battleship before sliding out of the seat, “Take us in and dock with the battleship’s far side.”

He came and replaced me as I went to suit up with the boarding party. We waited for a couple of hours before Samantha jogged down into the airlock, “Just a couple of minutes before we dock.”

I nodded and went to look at the docking hatch vid. A few minutes later I was extending the docking clamps and pulled us in and sealed the hatches. I closed my helmet and opened the outer hatch before checking the other hatch and opening it. There was air in the airlock and I glanced back and signaled before walking into the battleship.

I headed for the bridge as the rest of the boarding party split up. No one was even on the ship and everything was on standby. I checked and it had a quarter tank of fuel. Andy came on my suit comm, “Engineering is clear.”

I grinned and sat in the pilot’s seat, “Bring the reactors fully on line.”

I started a system test, “Find anyone Samantha?”

“Clear.”

I grinned, “Send half your people back to our ship.”

I undocked the huge ship with the station before using thrusters to move away. It was like flying a barge again and I shook my head, at least it seemed a tiny bit more agile. The comm came to life as the station controller began calling. I turned and started accelerating as I opened our private comm, “Peter?”

“Yeah?”

I grinned, “I am heading straight out as fast as this barge can go. Stay docked unless we have something jump in.”

“Copy.”

I looked at the holograph of Andy, “How does it look?”

He grinned, “I have to keep moving but everything looks real good.”

I nodded and opened our comm, “Peter ask David to come help Andy.”

“He is on his way.”

I glanced at the new holograph of Samantha when it appeared. She grinned, “This weapon control suite is nice.”

I chuckled as I finally turned and continued to accelerate over the asteroid belt. A few minutes later I saw Lorenz with Andy and blinked. A moment later Sonia leaned over to look at the controls, “Looks simple.”