Jolo would never target the same company in the same month. Never the same sector, never the same type of cargo, never the same time. He wanted to be as random as possible, like a ghost. The ruthless pirate Jolo Vargas would show up anytime, anywhere, to take your stuff.
It’d been a clean run up to Vesper. Jolo figured Koba earned a lot of the heat he and Greeley sent his way, but one thing everyone agreed on: Koba’s ship id scrambler was a fine piece of kit. The Fed was looking for an Argossy, but their scanners always said something different.
“What are we now, Koba?” Jolo said, one jump away from Vesper.
“I’ve got the transponder set to C-class Runabout with Calamar registration.”
“Sounds good,” said Jolo. Then he grabbed the comm and called down to Hurley for a final check. “Hurley, everything okay down there?”
“We all good, Captain. The engine repairs are holding fine,” he said.
“Okay, boys,” Jolo said into the comm shipwide, “we’re jumping into Vesper. Look sharp. We don’t know what’s there.”
The Argossy popped into Vesper space and immediately the warning klaxon started repeating: “Hostile vessel in current sector!”
“Koba?” said Jolo.
“It’s a Grana boat, Captain. Bigger than a Cruiser, but it’s got full shields up and the guns are hot.”
“Distance?”
“38.792 kilometers. The Derbinster ain’t here yet.”
“Damn, the BG boat’s waiting on the hauler. Have they all gone pirate?” yelled Jolo.
“Koba, give me an ID on that BG boat. Let’s see if we can find a weakness. I got half a mind to take that thing out.”
“Uh, Captain, if Katy was here she’d say that was a shitty idea,” said Koba.
“Yeah, and if George was here he’d say we had a 26 point blah blah chance,” said Greeley. “But they ain’t here, so I say we blow that big, black bastard the hell up.”
Jolo knew Koba was right, but it pissed him off anyway. Was the freighter hauling galaxite? he wondered.
“Koba, where’d the Derbinster originate?”
“Uh, Sartus, in Regulus. Heart of Fed space.”
Computer, Jolo thought, how close is Sartus to Corpus 2.
Corpus 2 is one jump from Sartus in Federation space, came the reply.
“The hauler’s got galaxite,” said Jolo. “Shite!”
“How do you know?” said Greeley.
“The Fortinbras made an unscheduled stop at Corpus, and the Derbinster’s origination point is one jump away from there. And look at the BG boat. It’s bigger than a Cruiser, probably with more cargo space.”
“Captain, the BG boat is an Absalon class transporter. It’s big, made to carry stuff, usually has at least a Cruiser for support, but she’s solo right now.”
“Guns?”
“Nuttin’ we can’t handle with ease.”
Just then the Derbinster popped into the sector. “The party’s started, Captain,” said Greeley.
Immediately, the BG boat opened fire on the the big, slow hauler. “Koba, ease us in closer, keep the guns hidden.” The freighter released it’s anti-pirate drones, which the BG ship shot down one by one with its top-mounted turret. Then the BG boat tried to take out the bridge with its rail gun. “They’re going for the head, just like the Fortinbras. Jolo took a deep breath. He could risk attacking the BG boat, or just wait.
“Captain?” said Koba, and Jolo knew this meant he wanted to help the Fed boat.
“We are not here to help the Fed. Shite on all of them,” said Jolo. But something pulled at him. Did he hate the BG more than the Fed? The BG were the ones trying to destroy another planet. His planet. The Fed were just ignorant. He called down to Hurley. “We ready?”
“We can fight,” said the old man. Meanwhile, the BG rail gun pounded the forward compartment of the big freighter. Finally, one of the pirate-buster drones attached to the BG boat and exploded, but it only took out one of the engines. Three remained.
Jolo couldn’t stand it any longer. “Koba, take out the BG’s rail gun,” he said.
“Light that black bastard up!” said Greeley. But just as the large, alacyte covers opened fully and the Argossy’s cannons came up, a Fed gunboat popped into the sector. It moved into position, then paused for a moment. Meanwhile, Jolo had Koba retract the guns. We are just a small Runabout with engine trouble, thought Jolo.
“Captain, you wanna bug out?” said Koba.
“No, let’s watch and see. But be ready to run.”
The BG transporter was no match for the Fed gunboat. The Fed ship opened fire and took out the BG ship’s engines and it looked like the Derbinster was in the clear, but then a BG Cruiser showed up. It opened up on the Gunboat and suddenly the tide turned. The first volley took out the Gunboat’s starboard engine, but the Fed captain wasn’t going down without a fight. He hid behind the Derbinster, then dropped under and got a solid hit on the Cruiser. But the big BG transporter, now nearly disabled, was still firing on the Gunboat and doing some damage. The Gunboat couldn’t take on both at the same time.
Jolo knew the party was about to be over. He looked at Katy’s seat. He knew what she’d be saying right now, but why should he risk his life and the lives of his crew for the Fed? Katy would say they are people, and the BG are trying to kill all of us.
“Koba, bring out the toys,” said Jolo. “Let’s party. Hit the transporter first.”
The Argossy came into range and took out the big BG’s gun. But the Fed Gunboat was in bad shape: it was
