Chapter 11

The Didgeridoo set down on the moonbase spaceport near the access dome airlock. She had barely settled down onto her landing skids when two figures exited the airlock door. They made their way quickly to the ship's hatch and cycled through into the ship.

James popped off his helmet and was calling for the main computer, "Didgi, make ready for launch. Set an intercept course for the tagged ship. Full stealth, I want to maintain surprise as long as I can."

"Aye, aye Captain. Launch ready. Course is plotted. We are en route. Full stealth running. Do you wish to release the weapons pods?"

"Yes, push 'em out. But do not charge up yet; I don't want the power to bleed through our stealth shields. How much power is in the sumps?"

"Plenty. You could take out half the fleet in this system if we had to and they sat still long enough."

Portions of the outer skin of the Didgeridoo started to bulge out and suddenly split along hidden lines. The conical business end of an AP lance pushed out from a newly exposed weapons pod. Another pod exposed the smooth bore of a 10-cm plasma cannon.

James had made it to bridge and sat down in the command chair. He had not shed his combat suit and set the helmet down beside the chair. Luke followed him and sat down at a free bridge position.

"James, what weapons does this ship have? I noticed the standard freighter anti-boarding particle beams when you set down in the park. But those won't take out a warship like the computer implied; they are strictly to hold off pirates and ground defense." Luke looked at James intently.

"That's all you are supposed to notice. AP lances and 10-cm plasma cannons tend to make port officials nervous when they are not on one of their own military ships." James smirked.

"An AP lance? Are you crazy? Those things are not stable." Luke sounded worried.

"They are plenty stable if you have all the power you need to triple the standard containment fields for the anti-protons. Besides, I don't haul around the anti-protons. My AP lance creates them on the fly as the weapon fires. Works pretty damn good against standard ship's shields and multiple successive hits can drop a cruiser's shields."

"Create anti-protons on the fly? No way do you have enough power on this ship for that."

"Luke, I'd love to have an in depth discussion on what my weapons can and can't do. But this really isn't the time. Suffice it to say that if I did have the power, then I could use a special replicator to create many, many anti-protons that I can then safely hold in containment until they are then shot out a rather unique particle beam accelerator. A particle beam accelerator is, after all, what an AP lance really is in the first place. Just a 'special' particle that is more overwhelming to defensive shields than an ion cannon. A bit more compact too."

"You're right, sorry. You keep pulling all this wiz-bang shit out. I'm not used to it. Let's go get Tarra back from that monster."

"Now you are talking sense. Didgi put a display of this system with the target ship and ours highlighted on the holo-table." James and Luke moved over to the table.

James looked at the display intently. He pointed at the blinking red icon representing Dumitrescu's ship, "His ship is off of stealth right now. That's strange. He must have had some kind of malfunction in the stealth shields. He's headed towards the next planet out. We are closing pretty fast. Didgi, when will he be in range of our weapons?"

"In weapons range in just under 10 minutes," Didgi replied.

"We can't shoot them with Tarra on board," Luke sounded worried.

"I know that. But we have a lot more options when we are in range and as we get closer, we can target just portions of the ship. If we can disable them, I can board in my combat suit."

Dumitrescu checked the sensors. The ship's stealth shield was down completely now and he knew that anyone's sensors could pick up the ship. The field was leaking before, so he was sure that the launch was picked up by the ship or ships that the colonists had used for the assault. He had detected the launch of at least one stealthed ship briefly, just after he had launched the in-system shuttle.

He had to guess since he could no longer sense the stealthed enemy ship. Based on the launch timing, he expected that they would be in weapons range soon. He spoke a command to his ship's computer and verified that the ship was on a new heading at maximum speed. He didn't care if he redlined the engines. They would not need to be used for long anyway. He turned back to check on his guest.

Dumitrescu loomed over Tarra's naked body. He stared down at the unconscious chameleon. He had briefly roused her after knocking her out with a disabling round. He had attempted to get more information about the force that had taken over the moonbase. She had been unwilling to tell him anything. She did tell him that he should give himself up as they had the entire base under their control. She had then lapsed back into unconsciousness.

He had not known whether to believe that. But the fact that he had been unable to contact any of his staff or the Colonel did lend some credence to her claims. He decided the best course of action was to launch his hidden ship. If they followed, he could deal with that contingency. How many ships followed would also tell him just how strong they were. If he was just facing one or two ships, then he may yet have a chance to make his escape.

Worst case he had one of the colonists with which to bargain if he needed it. She was one of those damn chameleons. No doubt they would want her back.

He slapped her hard. Tarra moaned.

"Wake up bitch. I've got more questions for you."

Tarra fought back from the blinding pain shooting through her head. She opened her eyes to slits. She was in a ship of some kind. Her arms were bound behind her back. A moment of panic rose up. Where was this madman taking her? She took some deep breaths to try to calm down. Nausea turned her stomach into a knot as she moved her head. She groaned.

"I told you I don't know a thing. I'm just a grunt in the militia." Her voice was dry and cracked.

"Even if that was true, you still know more than you have given me. How many militia members are on the moonbase? Was there more than one ship involved in the assault?"

Tarra forced herself to think. She needed to delay Dumitrescu. If she bought time, James and her father would be more likely to find and rescue her.

"I was loaded on the ship with my squad. I don't know how many other squads there were or how many ships. Where are we going?" She started coughing which quickly turned into a retch.

"If you are going to be sick, lean over the side and use the container on the deck there. If you make a mess, you'll be the one cleaning it up."

He studied her intently, "Don't worry about our destination. If and when I want you to know it, I'll tell you. If we get bored, I'm sure we can figure out something to do to pass the time."

Tarra leaned over and was sick into the container. It was her only reply to the innuendo.

James tried not to let his worry show. He was being eaten up inside with concern over Tarra's fate. It was some consolation that Howard had just been stunned; it was likely that Tarra was still alive and being held. It was the thought about what someone who was a confirmed genocidal murderer was capable of doing that had him the most upset. He knew that he couldn't lose them unless they transferred to another untagged ship. If this ship had FTL capability, it would have already been gone.

Didgi interrupted his thoughts with a report on the ship they were fast closing on. James quickly read the rapidly updating figures on the holo-display. He pointed at the displayed enemy ship.

"The tagged ship is accelerating - making for the outermost planet at top speed - pretty respectable pace too. We aren't gaining much on him; in fact it looks like he is actually pulling away now. He's got some pretty hot in-system engines on that ship he's in or he's running them way past redline."

"Can he lose us?" Luke wanted to know.

"No, not with the neutrino tag on them. As long as they don't have FTL capability they have to stay in this system and we'll be able to find that ship. There must be some kind of hidden base or FTL ship out by the outer planet that he is making for.

"Didgi, increase our speed so they aren't pulling away. I don't want to give them any more of a lead."

"Aye, aye Captain. We are going to need some tender-loving-care on the engines when this is over. I can already feel the burn. This must be what indigestion is like for you."

"Don't worry your shiny little butt over it. We'll patch up anything that goes kablooey if we have to."

"Gee thanks, that's such a comfort."

Luke looked at James a little strangely, "That's quite an interface you have on your ship's computer."

"You don't know the half of it. My mother spent a lot of time and effort with Didgi programming her. But, I wouldn't trade her for the world; she's about the most advanced AI that I've ever encountered - definitely the most ornery one."