Chapter 14: The Pirate Attack

The nineteenth day into the trip home brought home just how unsafe space can be traveling alone.

I was sitting in my cabin check various pieces of information on the ladies and their jobs, when Sally called me from bridge.

"Sir! We've detected six small ships approaching us on a high speed intercept course". I could hear the panic in her voice. The only people who intercepted a ship with six ships were pirates. She knew this.

"Sally! Calm down! I know what you are thinking. We will be ok, I promise!"

"Yes sir". She did not look convinced or sound convinced.

I started for the bridge and continued the conversation on my commlink. "Sally, go to the emergency panel we talked about. Enter the code 25225255 and when the compartment below opens there will be a blue toggle switch in the top left corner. Switch it to on". This toggle switch changed the ships automation setting from 'routine' to 'maximum' power available. It probably could have waited but I was not sure how fast the pirate ships were. The toggle switch also caused the ships robots to stop doing various maintenance tasks and prepare the ship for battle.

"Yes sir!" She went to the panel and entered the code. The panel opened and she switched the blue switch on. Her voice was trembling the whole time. "It is done, Sir!"

"Good honey, I am on my way. I'll be there in a minute. Don't do anything silly. I promise nothing is going to happen to you or anyone else on the Zeus".

I continued quickly to bridge. I was worried more about Sally than the pirates. The pirates had picked the wrong ship to tangle with. The Zeus was the best defended freighter in FoM space. The FoM military had seen to it.

When I arrived on the bridge, other than having peed herself, Sally was fine. The other girl on the watch was Kelly and she was also scared to death but she seemed in control. I walked over to Sally and said, "I have the con and the bridge. Go clean yourself up in the bathroom and come back. You need to see what's going to happen next".

As she left, she glance a couple of times at the navigation tank. She was totally total freaked out. "Kelly, go with her. Do not take your eyes off of her! If there is ANY problem call me".

They left, I changed course to give us more time. I called Paula, Linda, Jackie, Amanda, Yoko, and Robin to the bridge. I wanted all the senior sisters to see what the Zeus was capable of doing. I wanted Linda and Jackie around in case Sally had a problem. Sally probably thought she was about to survive another death of her master. She would possibly be correct too, if the ship was not the Zeus.

I had had Sally activate the Zeus' defensive systems to save a little time. By now the ship's robots had secured what ever maintenance they may have been doing and prepared the ship for battle.

The Zeus' bridge had several control panels that were covered by blank panels to hide what was behind them. I went to the emergency panel and switched on several other systems, and put the code in to release the tracking, weapons and shield panels. I took off the covers to the hidden panels and set them aside. I activated the panels and immediately the systems reported their status as ready.

By this time Sally and Kelly had come back and the 10^th tier ladies had arrived. I walked over Linda and Jackie and told them to help Sally if she needed it. Jackie had brought the surgeons kit with her since she had no idea why I called, but she wanted to be prepared. Apparently I sounded more stressed when I called them than I thought.

I quickly told the ladies what was happening. They all went into a panic except for Paula, who quickly said, "Ladies! He said it will be ok. This man, our companion, has told us it will be ok. There is a lot about him we don't know. What I do know is he had been straight with us always. Let's calm down and let him do his job".

I decided that this was not the appropriate time to tell them about my first three wives.

About then the pirate ships hailed the Zeus. I started the process of opening a communication channel to all six ships and set it up so there appeared in a 3x2 arrangement on the main communications screen. All six pirate captains appeared on the screen. Sally fainted then and there. Paula and Amanda both took in deep breaths.

Amanda said, "Sir, the center bottom captain is one of the men who assault the women on the last trip home!"

Paula added, "Sir, that's not the half of the problem, the man in the top right is the captain of the vessel which killed Sally's first and second masters. The man in the lower left is the man who killed Sally's fourth husband. I recognize them from their wanted posters. I need to make sure I see them before Sally does".

Jackie was next to Sally starting to revive her, I said loudly and forcefully, "Jackie, be careful. She is going to wake up and strikeout at anything she sees".

Linda got behind Sally and said, "Here Jackie, let's sit her here before you revive her I'll restrain her. Kelly and Paula were also helping at this point.

Meanwhile before answering the hail I ran the six captain's faces and ship data through the FoM criminal database. Each captain had quite a reputation and rather long records for a pirate. The rewards on any one of them would set up a person up for life. All six ships were also on the FoM military's "Destroy on sight, no questions will be asked list". It took quite a few attacks for the FoM to put a ship on that list. The rewards on these ships were staggering. If I was flat broke, I'd be staggeringly rich in about thirty minutes.

Sally came to about 5 seconds later and nearly broke out of Linda's hold. But they managed to hold on to her until she realized who she was fighting.

I opened the communications channel. I said, "Hello Gentlemen, I am Captain Edward Jones of the Earth Freighter TFC Zeus. How may I help you?"

The first captain replied, "TFC Zeus. I am Captain John Smith of the Zego Autonomous Group, we have detected illegal cargo aboard your ship, heave to and prepare to be boarded".

I replied, "Captain may I see you credentials, I am surprised to see Zego ship this far from their home, I need verification".

They were well within firing range of the Zeus by now.

The pirate captain replied, "TFC Zeus, comply with my orders or I will have your ship disabled".

I replied, "Sir without proper credentials I will not comply. Besides who is kidding who here, your ships are all wanted by the FoM and this FoM territory".

The pirate captain said, "Well Captain, I guess then there is no point in continuing our deception. We want your cargo. If you let us have it we will let you die easily, continue to resist and you will die very slowly. You have 30 seconds to decide".

I replied, "Captain Smith, I have no cargo in my holds, surely you scanned my ship and can see that".

The pirate captain replied, "Captain Jones, I am talking about the women you rescued from the Beverly. We have business with them and we want them. It is as simple as that. Heave to now!"

I sent the expected mayday, for help.

One of the pirate ships sent a beam weapon shot across my bow.

"That was your last warning".

I scanned the pirate ships for unexpected surprises. The ships hand nothing that the Zeus' shields and defensive weapons could not handle.

When the enemy locked its weapons on the Zeus the defensive systems of the Zeus turned on automatically, including its powerful shields. The pirates should have thought about that before they started shooting.

When the first pirate fired the shot bounced harmlessly off the Zeus' shields, I designated the pirate ships as hostile at the tracking station then I set the Zeus' offensive systems from 'standby' to 'active/automatic/destroy'. Seconds later all six pirate ships opened fire.

The Zeus took its vengeance on anyone who dared fire on it. Twelve anti ship missiles were launched at the pirate ships seconds later. The pirate ships maneuvered to attempt to elude the missiles. They might have stayed their course for all the good it did them. These missiles were designed to destroy the cruisers that some pirates operated. One hit would have been enough, but all twelve hit. The six ships were gaseous clouds 30 seconds later. There were no survivors. Two of the pirate ships fired missiles at the Zeus. The Zeus automated defenses destroyed them both. Pirate ships were no match for the military grade weapons the Zeus had. This was a good example of how helping the FoM military was in your best interest.

I cancelled the Mayday call. I sent the communication and ship's logs to FoM fleet command and the local star base to report the incident.

I then shut the weapons, tracking and shield systems down replacing the panels on the bridge consoles hiding them again. I locked the panels in place and shut down the defensive system power.

The ladies were just sitting there stunned. They had not said a word. When I was done I walked over to them and said, "Ladies, you can count on one thing for certain, short of a FoM heavy cruiser, Zeus can handle anything thrown at it. Follow the rules I lay down in my household and you will be protected to the best of my ability. I can not promise that no one will hurt you, no one can. I can say that if someone hurts you or tries to hurt you, other than punishments or rituals approved by your sisters or myself, I will deal with them harshly".