Chapter 11

There were no questions, so Doug went on to describe the training plan. This was divided equally between physical training and shipboard combat training. For the fun of it, the team decided to call themselves "The Enforcers." The Irzons quickly learned to stay well out of the way during an Enforcer training exercise. No Irzons were hurt, but several of the stubborn ones were embarrassed when they were zapped by the stun guns: the Irzons, too, had to change clothes after being stunned.

Meanwhile, Jim had been working with electronics experts who had come up with a super stable frequency multiplier, which, in the hands of a skilled operator, increased the range of the transporter to cover the galaxy. Once the coordinates of all the significant planets were entered into the database, there would no longer be a need for spaceships for more than local commerce or for people who just liked to ride around in spaceships. However, it could take years for this database to be assembled.

In any case, there were still pirates on the loose and they needed to be caught. In light of this, a special portal was built which was large enough to handle the entire The Sword of the People and it was mated to the first transporter equipped with the new extended-range system. Esther was assigned to master its controls and The Sword of the People spent a lot of time being moved around the galaxy as she learned the finer points of the system.

It was during one of these exercises that the first response was made to a pirate attack in progress. This was a first for everybody, so there were no standard operating procedures (SOP) for this kind of situation. Always, in the past, the police had arrived long after the crime had taken place.

The Enforcers were alerted to suit up while the police ship was being set up and transported to the crime scene. The call for help from the target ship had, of course, come in over a trans-com, so the exact coordinates were available and were quickly translated to fit Ester's requirements. The Sword of the People was transported to within sight of the attacking pirates and went into action, immediately.

Dan used the standard hailing frequencies to order the pirate ship to hove to and prepare for being boarded. The response translated into, "Fuck you, coppers. Stop us if you can!"

This all took a few minutes, which gave Sharon time to use one of the stealth viewers to examine the pirate ship and show the results on the Sword's display panels. The pirates were quickly identified as Simolians, a species with amoeba-like physical characteristics. They were almost all brain and very little else; they were parasitic and could live with virtually any host.

Their current custom was to couple with a large caterpillar from their home planet. This being had a multitude of arms and hands which could be controlled directly by the parasitic Simolian. The combined creatures were then encapsulated within a metal robotic body with multiple arms and legs which could be changed or modified as needed for the job at hand.

This structure was particularly suited to piracy, since the metal body protected them from a stun weapon, and the metal was thick enough to block most projectiles or blades. They knew that they were practically invincible and took full advantage of this characteristic. The only defense from the Simolians was to run away, a defense which rarely worked.

When this information was flashed back to the Enforcers, Doug held a council of war. What could they use to fight these minitanks? There was some discussion and then Jack Smith suggested sledgehammers. His argument was that only blunt force would work against the Simolians, and it would rattle them like hell if they received a sharp rap on their armored shell.

Jack's suggestion was received with glee and Dan was contacted for a source of sledge hammers. The Sword's repair facilities had several sledgehammers in different sizes and these were immediately delivered to the Enforcers. Sharon was brought into the plan because her quick action was the key to success.

The Simolian structure resembled a ball mounted to one end of a cylinder and three legs mounted to the other end. Various arms were distributed around the body at strategic locations. The structure was about five feet tall, overall. The ball functioned as the head and was about 10 inches in diameter. This housed the controlling brain and its caterpillar host. Various sensors were spaced around the ball.

The plan was for an Enforcer to stand clear of everybody else and swing his sledgehammer as hard as he could at an imagined Simolian. As soon as the swing was well started, Sharon would transport him into position beside the Simolian in such a way that the sledgehammer's blow would impact the "head" of the robot. The attacker would be brought back to the Sword as soon as the blow was struck. It was expected that the blow would disable the Simolian and the quick removal would protect the Enforcer from retaliation.

This was tried against the Simolian captain with Jack having the honors, since it was his idea. The scheme worked to perfection. They watched the entire attack on the Sword's display screens and cheered when the Simolian captain sprawled, senseless, on the deck.

Dan again asked for surrender and was refused. The next attack, identical to the first, on the Simolian second in command, had the identical result. However, it did take three more attacks before the Simolians surrendered. Their ship was boarded and the crew was locked in a cargo hold while Esther transported the ship to space police headquarters. The Enforcers were transported back to the Sword and a grand celebration was held.

It was nearly a month before another pirate attack was intercepted. This time, the police didn't get the call until after the pirates had already boarded the attacked ship. The pirates had boarded their victim by means of a shuttle craft which they had parked next to an emergency exit. A few minutes with a cutting torch had enabled them to open the door. The airlock had functioned automatically and they were aboard without much effort.

The pirates were rogue Krinthons, and it was difficult for the humans to think of Goofy as being mean and dangerous; however, the evidence was irrefutable. Their victims were Angorans, who looked like big, lovable pandas. The Angorans certainly were big, but they hardly qualified as lovable. One always had to be formally correct around Angorans, because they had very short tempers and very long claws. The pirates solved this problem by pumping a sleeping gas throughout the Angoran ship.

Dan and Doug decided that the best course of action would be to put the pirate ship's offensive weapons out of business, first, and then take care of the rest of the problem. Otherwise, in a fit of pique or desperation, the pirates might decide to destroy their victim. Doug proposed to use thermite bombs placed directly on the weapons to melt them into useless slag. Dan concurred, so they set the plan in motion.

Sharon had done a quick recon on the pirate vessel and had pinpointed the targets; there were four of them. A thermite bomb was issued to each of four Enforcers and they were transported to the weapons, deposited the bombs, triggered the fuses, and returned to Sword before the pirates had time to react. There were four very satisfactory white flashes on the pirate ship and she was disarmed, as far as offensive action was concerned.

Dan wanted to disable the pirate ship so that she couldn't escape and Sharon volunteered for this one. She very adroitly plucked the FTL drive from the ship's engine room by means of the transporter. She "ripped it out by the roots." The FTL engine was in place on the pirate ship one moment and in the Sword's hold the next moment. They didn't care that the pirates could still move at less than light speed: they weren't going to outrun anybody that way!

The only thing left to do, now, was to separate the pirate boarding party from the victim. Doug felt that The Enforcers needed the practice, so they were transported to the victimized spaceship and allowed to chase the pirates through the ship's corridors. The only real worry was that the pirates be prevented from harming anyone aboard the ship.

The pirates knew what had happened aboard their ship, so they were somewhat demoralized before they were even attacked. An order was sent through the ship's PA system for the pirates to surrender, and a couple actually did. The other four should have given up, but were just too stubborn to listen to reason. They couldn't escape; by this time, Dan had put an energy bolt through the shuttle ship's engine and had effectively put it out of operation until it could receive a major repair.

Doug put a 15 minute time limit on his party. If they had not subdued the pirates by that time, Sharon would just transport them directly to the cells aboard Sword. This was a dig at the pride of The Enforcers! They attacked with a degree of ferocity that overwhelmed the pirates in less than 10 minutes. The special absorption suits worn by The Enforcers rendered the stun guns used by the pirates totally ineffective, so they were in no real danger of losing the contest.