“What about the military?” said Marco. “There’s some good men, there. I know it.”
“I already tried that,” said Jolo. “I told a captain everything and he laughed at me. I got no faith in the Fed.”
“They’re never going to believe the pirate Jolo Vargas. And their war hero, Captain Vargas, is dead to them,” said Katy, putting her hand on Jolo’s shoulder. “I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be. You’re right.”
“But what about Barthelme?” said Marco. “Maybe they’d believe him?”
“We can’t get to him,” said Jolo. “The prison planets are well-defended.”
“They were, until recently,” said Marco. “The BG can’t be everywhere at once. Especially when they are mobilizing for war. I’m still getting some information, but they aren’t as well defended.”
“So you think Barth can bring the Fed to our side?” said Katy.
“I think we should commandeer the biggest freighter we can and get everyone off this bomb of a planet,” said Jolo.
Marco put his arm around Jolo. “Son, I think you should get Barth.”
Jolo took a deep breath. “I want to get him, too. But it’s crazy to think about rescuing one man when we’ve got a planet to evacuate.”
“That one man could sway some people. And we can’t do this alone,” said Marco.
……
The next day everyone gathered in the Atrium surrounded by Marco’s plants. Most were seasonal vegetables of every shape and color, from small, green pumpkins to big, yellow, butternut squash. Behind the rows of planters stood a forest of edible perennials from the large-leafed sea kale to okawakame vines. Beams of bright light filtered down into the open space, a gift from the hidden solar illuminators on the surface above, keeping all of the greenery healthy and lush.
Spirits seemed to lift a little in this room, and Jolo knew that’s why Marco had everyone meet here. It’s easier to think dark thoughts in the artificial light of a hangar bay or even in the library, but standing in the real light of day in a jungle of green could put a positive spin on just about any situation. George’s update last night after the unexpected BG assault, in which three separate tower busting crews were attacked, had sucked the hope out of Duval. Only five towers had gone down yesterday, triple that had been erected by the BG, and 52 of Duval’s people had been killed.
In the center of the Atrium, everyone stood around a holographic display of a planet called Sotec, in the Scina system. It looked so small there in 3D above the display table, but Jolo knew on the ground were large numbers of warriors defending the slaves, and BG warships in orbit above. Sotec was an ice mining operation. The BG used the prisoners to drill for and secure ice, which then got loaded into black transport ships and hauled off to BG strongholds in Grana space.
“Well, ain’t that a nice little picture,” said Greeley. “All we gotta do is take out the boats up top and then disable the ice harvester, snuff out a few walkin’ mech worms, grab the fat man, and come on home.” The big man was ready to go. He shook his head up and down like the decision had been made and it was time to prep the Argossy.
“How many in orbit?” said Koba.
“Usually one Destroyer and several cruisers,” said George.
“You’d think there’d be more now,” said Jolo. “If the BG take out Barc, then that little ice rock Sotec is even more important.” Jolo paused for a moment to consult his computer, then continued. “Don’t forget: Barc’s floating desalination plants crank out about 18 million cubic meters of fresh water a day. If that goes then the BG will protect Sotec. They’ll keep it away from thirsty Fed boats.”
“So that’s just great. It’s hopeless,” said Katy. “Marco?”
“I agree with Jolo’s logic, but the last message I got from one of our pirate friends in the area was that Sotec only had three cruisers in orbit. The Destroyer is probably moving in closer for the coming assault on the core planets.”
“With Mantis’s help we could take out three cruisers,” said Jolo, and suddenly the plan was back on.
“And then we bust in, have us a little worm hunt, grab the old engineer, and bug out,” said Greeley, this time sure the plan was a go.
Everyone looked hopeful, except Hurley, who usually didn’t have much to say, until then.
“So, y’all just gonna fly in and disable an ice harvester? That’s a good way to git dead quick.”
“You know about the harvesters?” said Marco.
“Know about ‘em? Hell, I used to run an old Titan Mark II on larger asteroids back in the day. The T2s ain’t around no more and the BG probably got the newer Mark IVs. I seen two old Asmor Stinger pirate ships one time try to disable a T3. Both them Stingers ended up in the ice.” Jolo queried his computer for the Titan IV schematic. It was twice as big as a Federal building on Sol and cost four times as much to construct. The early ones were Fed designed but were now made on Grantis near BG space. They used a compartmentalized design so even if you breached the outer hull, the big machine would keep right on going.
“How’s an ice hauler gonna take down a gunship?” said Greeley.
“That’s what everybody forgets,” said Hurley. “After a few of them T2s got taken in pirate attacks, the newer models got fitted with some real nice guns. The T4s got ion cannon turrets on top as big as that monster the Fortinbras was carrying. That freighter only had one of those
