Tenari

By Michael Merriam

---

The thing that surprised Captain Kathleen Reed the most about commanding a pirate ship was the amount of paperwork it involved.

She set her data pad on her grey metal desk and closed her eyes. Pain was starting to set in behind and between her eyes, the kind of pain that only the master of a marauding space vessel knew. Too much paperwork, not enough plunder, that was the problem. If only she had stayed sober, she would never have gotten into this mess.

The ship’s intercom buzzed on her desk. She barely recognized the voice over the static. She thought it might be her executive officer, and he might have said, “Captain to the bridge,” which was reason enough for her to leave the ship’s accounts unfinished. Captain Reed stepped from her ready room onto the bridge of her ship, The Black Manta.

She looked at her executive officer. Roger Baldry was well into his seventies. Most thought him far too old for this life—and he did have grandchildren back on Pegasus—but she knew Roger Baldry could out-fight, out think, and out-drink any two of her crew.

“What have we got?” she asked.

“Civilian bulk freighter,” Baldry said. “An old Savros, probably a second series model three.”

She raised an eyebrow. “All the way out here and all alone?”

A throat cleared. Captain Reed turned to her chief of gunnery and ex-wife. “Yes, Janet?”

“It’s a trap, Captain. That’s a Melpomene cruiser disguised as a freighter. There’s no other explanation.”

Captain Reed nodded. Janet Sobrinski thought everything was a trap, up to and including the food served in the mess. The annoying thing was, sometimes Janet was right.

“Orders, Captain?” Baldry asked.

Reed looked out her window at the freighter. “Fire a laser burst and transmit an order to cut their engines and prepare to be boarded. Tell them if they cooperate, no one gets hurt.”

“Aye, ma’am,” Janet said.

Captain Reed felt the low hum of her ship’s cannon powering up. The lights on the bridge dimmed and the ship gave a slight shudder as the weapon discharged.

The engines on the big freighter glowed white-blue and the ship turned starboard and down.

“They’re running,” Baldry said.

“So it seems,” Reed sighed. “Match their speed and course. Stay with them, Helm.”

“Aye, ma’am,” her helmsman said. “They won’t get away.”

Captain Reed wasn’t worried about her quarry escaping. Old her ship might be, but there was no way a freighter would be able to best The Black Manta’s speed and maneuverability.

“XO, get the boarding party together and down to the airlock, I’ll join you after we’ve docked,” Captain Reed ordered. “And Roger, tell everyone we’re going to be extra careful over there. They might be smugglers, this far away from normal shipping lanes.”

Baldry nodded. “Yes, ma’am,” he said.

Reed turned to her gunner. “Target their engines. Use a missile. I want them to know we mean business.”

There was a metallic clank from deep in the ship, and The Black Manta rocked.

“Missile away,” Janet reported.

Captain Reed watched the chemically propelled weapon close rapidly on the target. She was surprised at the lack of any counter-measures by the freighter. The warhead on the missile exploded before impact, sending a shockwave into the back of the big ship. The old freighter’s engines dimmed. “Helm, take us in.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

Captain Reed sat in her chair and grabbed the armrests. Roberts, her helmsman, made the landings hard and noisy to frighten the occupants of the ship they were raiding. She watched the freighter fill her view screen.

There was a jolt and a series of loud clangs as The Black Manta’s landing gear slammed into the hull of the freighter and gripped it magnetically. There was a second loud thump.

“Lock and seal,” Roberts said.

Reed stood. “Good. Mr. Roberts, you have the bridge. Janet, you’re with me.”

Captain Reed smiled as she rode the lift to the lower decks. This was exactly what she needed to take her mind off her troubles. Two minutes later she was standing among a dozen members of her crew, her pistol drawn, preparing to board the freighter. “Open it,” Reed commanded.

A pair of crew members stepped forward: Jeffers, a young blonde man carrying a small electronic device and Tilly, a brown-haired woman nearly as old as the captain, holding a large wrench. The young crewman placed his piece of equipment near the joined airlock and started punching buttons. After a minute the lights on the device and the airlock control both turned green.

“Ready, Captain.”

Reed looked at Tilly and nodded. The woman jammed the wrench handle through the airlock turn-wheel and, with a grunt, gave it a tug. There was a hiss of air and she withdrew the wrench and spun the airlock mechanism. The hatch opened. The smell of stale air and food past its prime filled their noses, and no one was shooting at them. This came as a pleasant surprise to Captain Reed.

“Go!” Reed shouted.

Janet Sobrinski charged into the vessel, screaming at the top of her lungs. Behind her a dozen of the crew followed, each brandishing their weapons and yelling a battle-cry.

Baldry snorted and stepped through the airlock onto the freighter. “Janet likes doing that entirely too much.”

Reed laughed. “All the youngsters do, too.”

“No sound of gunfire. Maybe this will go off clean after all.”

“One can hope. So, what do we have on the chief’s wish list this time?” Reed asked.

Baldry pulled the pad from the pocket of his flight suit. He poked at it a couple of times, shook it, and then slapped its side. The pad whined and gurgled and made a noise like a hissing cat.

“Induction couplers and coils. Targeting sensors. Circuit boards of any kind. Soldering wire. Copper tubing, fresh water, and yeast—”

Reed smiled at the last. “So that’s what he plans to do with all that wheat grain he’s been hiding in the engine access tubes.”

“It’s supposed to be a secret.” Baldry paused. “Smithwick will brew up something that won’t kill the crew or make them go blind, unlike some other idiots we have aboard.”

The captain’s reply was cut off by screaming ahead of them. Drawing her pistol, she set off at a jog toward the voices. She turned a corner and pounded down a metal staircase toward a narrow corridor as the young blond technician started up it.

“Report!” she barked.

“Captain, there’s...well, I think you’d best see for yourself, ma’am.”

“What is it, Jeffers?”

“Children.”

The captain looked up at the sound of her gunnery officer’s voice. Janet stepped around a corner and into the corridor. A brown-haired girl, no more than ten years old, clutched Janet’s hand as if it were a lifeline. The girl’s face was flush from crying and she stood slightly behind Janet, barefoot and shivering in her faded floral dress.

“There’s nothing but children on this ship,” Janet said.

Captain Reed holstered her weapon. She squatted down and looked at the little girl and smiled. “Can you tell me where all the grown-ups are?”

“The Tenari took them.”

Jeffers snorted. “There’s no such thing as Tenari. The shadow-stalkers are a bedtime story spacers and colonists tell their children to scare them into line.”

Kathleen Reed stood and drew her pistol in one swift motion. “No,” she whispered. “The Tenari are real.”

She made eye contact with Baldry, who swallowed, sweat breaking out on his bald head. If the girl was telling the truth, they were well and truly screwed.

They had met the Tenari, Reed and Baldry, and done battle with them in the one encounter between the two species decades ago. They knew the myth for its ugly reality.

In those days, the Black Manta was just the Manta, a fast attack interceptor of the Colonial Defense Forces protecting the far-flung outer colonies. Lt. Commander Baldry was the ship’s chief navigator and second officer, Reed a senior lieutenant.

By the time they escaped the colony planet of Iago II with the children left behind from the Tenari raid, half the landing party was lost to the shadowy, lightning-quick creatures, and The Manta, her captain killed in action, had fled the sector at best speed, their hold filled with frightened, orphaned children. It was the last time humans and Tenari had interacted for nearly thirty years. Until this raid.

“How many kids are on the ship?” Reed asked.

“At least fifty.”

“When they came, the adults loaded us all on the ship and we ran, but they found us,” the girl whispered in a tiny voice.

“Captain?” Baldry asked.

“Round the children up and transfer them to the Manta. We get them safe and we run. Keep the crew in teams of three or—”

“Ma’am!” a voice cracked and hissed into her ear. “We have incoming ships! Two minutes to intercept! I don’t know where they came from, captain. They must have been running silent.”

“Seal the airlock and undock!” she shouted into her comm-link. Her ship was helpless attached to the hull of the freighter.

“Ma’am?” Robert’s voice crackled.

“That’s an order, Mister Roberts. Undock and send a distress call.”

There was gunfire, a sound like ripping cloth, and a man’s short scream echoed down the corridor. The lights on the freighter flickered and died as the wail of terrified children filled the air. The comm-link in her ear went silent. Baldry and Janet produced emergency lights from their belts, filling the corridor with flickering, washed out illumination.

Captain Reed gripped her weapon tighter and licked her lips. Her crew had gathered around her, a gaggle of dirty and underfed children mixed into the lot. “All right, Baldry and Jeffers come with me to the Bridge. Janet, take the others. Round up the children and get them to Engineering. Barricade yourselves in and try to get this tub working.”

She turned to the woman at her side. “Tilly, you’re the closest thing to an engineer we have in this party. I’m counting on you to get this ship moving. We need power and propulsion, and we need it yesterday.”

Janet took a deep breath and turned to the rest of the crew. “You heard the captain! Form a circle around the young’uns and stay sharp. Who’s got more lights? Get them out! Move, people!” With a sloppy salute to Reed, Sobrinski took point of her little party, and the whole mess moved out.

Reed watched them for a moment before turning to the two men with her. “Let’s go.”

“Captain? What’s the plan?” Jeffers asked.

“Draw the enemy off. Try to gain control of the ship at the Bridge,” Baldry answered. He looked at the younger man. “You ready for some close-up action?”

Jeffers nodded his head yes, his face pale in Baldry’s emergency light.

They moved around a gentle curve in the corridor and found the first casualty. Baldry frowned. “Levy, God help him.”

“No one can help him now,” Reed said. “We trust to speed. Don’t worry about noise. We want to draw them away from Janet and the children.”

Baldry nodded. “I’ll lead.”

Reed gave him the go-ahead and the older man set out down the dim-lit corridor, Reed in the middle of the formation, with Jeffers bringing up the rear.

“How far to the Bridge?” Reed gasped out between breaths. She was not familiar with many of the older ships still in service.

“It should be just another twenty yards or so, then up two levels. Shouldn’t—”

“Drop!” Reed yelled, raising her pistol. Baldry dived toward the deck and twisted, bringing his own weapon into play.

It shimmered from the darkness, a long, sinuous shadow, six-limbed, the barest hint of wedge-shaped head on a long neck.

Reed fired wildly as the thing moved along the ceiling. The pistol roared and echoed in the enclosed space, bullets rang off the steel walls. Jeffers ducked as Reed fired over his head. As quickly as the creature appeared, it was gone.

And so was Jeffers.

Katherine Reed stared into the darkness that had seemed to consume the man. Just like that, silent as the grave, one of her crew was no more. “Jeffers!” she called.

“He’s gone,” Baldry said, grabbing her arm. “We have to get to the bridge. Captain!” Baldry barked in his best parade ground voice when she failed to move.

Reed jerked her arm out of Baldry’s grip and pushed a fresh magazine into her pistol. “Lead on, Mr. Baldry.” Reed kept glancing over her shoulder, looking for any sign of the Tenari. She had remembered how hard they were to fight, but one of her crew was snatched away while only a handful of feet from her and that brought it all back. She was so busy watching behind them, she ran into Baldry when he stopped at the ladder leading up to the bridge.

Baldry pointed his weapon upward. The light he carried shone silver against the polished steel of the tube. “They could be in there, waiting for us. It’s what I’d do.”

Reed peered over his shoulder up the tube. “Is there any other way up?” she asked.

“Yes, but this is the most direct route.”

“Let’s go.”

Baldry holstered his weapon and started climbing, scrambling up the ladder with the grace of a monkey, despite his advanced years.

Reed gave the corridor a last glance and then followed until Baldry called a stop. Reed looked back down the dark tube, one hand holding a ladder rung, the other aiming her pistol into the darkness. Above her, Baldry worked the hatch, his light rod gripped between his teeth. It unlocked with a clang. Baldry pushed the hatch open and scrambled over the edge, Reed hard on his heels.

Nothing attacked them. Reed closed the hatch and spun the locking mechanism. She stayed crouching, ready to fight, and swept her gaze around the Bridge.

Several of the control consoles were lit up and the navigation station was giving off a gentle beep. “There’s emergency power,” Baldry said, flipping some of the switches. The lights flared to life. Reed holstered her weapon and stepped up to the helm and navigation controls.

“Can you get me internal sensors?” she asked.

“There aren’t any, but I can get the comm working.”

Reed glanced out the port window. Large pieces of wreckage floated past. “Roger?” she called.

Baldry looked up. “Not ours,” he said after a few seconds.

Reed nodded. “Looks like Roberts gave them a good beating. I hope he got away.”

Neither needed to say what they thought. They were trapped, surrounded, and all alone. The soft rustle of movement reached her ears. She turned and drew her pistol. To her left, Baldry had done the same. He pointed at an access panel under the damage control station. Reed nodded, reached down with one hand and snapped the panel open. Baldry reached inside and yanked out the occupant. The small, twisting mass pulled away from Baldry’s grip and backed away from the two pirates. It was a young woman. Her brown hair was ratty, her clothes wrinkled and torn. Like the other children, she looked underfed.

The captain held up her hands. “Easy girl. We’re not going to harm you.”

The young woman gave each of the adults a quick look. “Who are you?” she demanded.

Reed decided on honesty. “Well, we’re the ones who disabled your ship, truth be told. I’m Katherine Reed, captain of the Black Manta.”

The girl frowned. “You’re a pirate?”

“Yes, but we’re not going to harm you. We don’t rob children. You got a name?”

“Mira. Mira Morgan. You shot us.”

Reed shrugged. “I didn’t know it was a ship full of kids running from the Tenari.”

“How did you avoid getting snatched?” Baldry asked. “You look old enough for them to take.”

“I hid. They didn’t find me.”

Captain Katherine Reed cursed herself. She had fired on a ship loaded with defenseless children. Reed swore that if she somehow survived this encounter, she would give up pirating. If someone else wanted to take the Manta and continue pirating, fine. She was done.

When she and the others had stolen the Manta from the salvage yard, they were recently decommissioned officers of the Colonial Navy, cast aside after the war with Earth. Their beloved ship, well past its prime and no longer needed by the service, was towed to the salvage yard to await scrapping. They had gotten drunk, and Janet had suggested they steal the ship and go rogue. Reed, several cups past sober, had agreed to be their commander. They captured the ship with no resistance and robbed a remote weapons depot. From that point on, it was all raiding and running from the Colonial Navy. That had been nearly seven years ago. Now here she was, shooting at children.

“I’ve got Janet on the comm,” Baldry said.

“Sobrinski, this is the captain. Report!”

“We’ve made it to the engine room. Tilly says she can get you about one-quarter speed in maybe ten minutes. Captain, I lost a couple of crew along the way. Travers and Burke are gone.”

Reed grimaced. “We lost Jeffers, too. I want you to sit tight, barricade the doors, make sure there’s no way into the room.”

“Captain,” Janet’s voice sounded strained, “these creatures, how do we fight them if they get inside?”

“The best thing to do is set up a hail of bullets.”

“I’ve got external sensors,” Baldry said. “There’s a ship approaching.”

“Ours or theirs?” Reed asked as Mira started to shiver and whimper.

“Ours. We’ll have to wait until she docks and use your radio.”

Reed looked to her long-time friend and executive officer. “Recommendations?”

He frowned. “Go back to the original plan. Get the kids on the Manta and run like the devil is on our heels.”

Reed nodded. Speed was their best bet. She looked at the girl. “That’s my ship coming in. Once she lands, we’re going to make a run for the airlock. I want you to stay between me and Mr. Baldry. We’ll get you to safety.” After Mira nodded her understanding, Reed tapped the ship’s internal communication control. “Janet, are you all right down there?”

“We’re still here, Captain.”

“Roberts is bringing the Manta. As soon as he lands, I’ll give you the all-clear. I want you to move your group to the airlock.”

Janet chuckled. “And we just got settled in.”

The hull reverberated as the ships docked. Reed opened a channel on her personal radio. “Reed to Manta. Report, Mr. Roberts.”

“Two hostile ships attacked. We destroyed one. The other fled, trailing atmosphere. We’ve sent a distress call, but long-range sensors show three more hostiles approaching, twenty minutes out.” He paused. “We took some damage, Captain. I don’t know how much fight the ship has left in her.”

“Very well, Mr. Roberts. Sit tight and wait for orders.” She turned to Baldry. The XO was frowning.

“We might be able to evacuate everyone in that time if everything goes smoothly,” he said.

Reed nodded in agreement. It was time to modify the plan. “Janet, how close were you to having the engines running?”

“Tilly says any second.”

“Get them running and then head for the airlock on the run.”

“Captain,” another female voice broke in, “I’ll need to baby-sit the engines if you want them to keep running.”

Reed growled. “How long will they work on their own?”

“A couple of minutes at most,” Tilly said.

“What are you thinking?” Baldry asked.

Reed settled into the helm chair. She touched the controls on her headset. “If we start moving away, even at a limp, we could buy ourselves a little extra time. Mr. Roberts, give me a heading away from our friends.”

“Make your heading two-one-eight mark six, ma’am.”

Reed punched in the course and gave the old freighter all the power it had. They started a slow turn and acceleration.

“Mr. Baldry, take our friend and meet Janet at the airlock.”

“No, ma’am,” Baldry replied, stepping up to her.

“Roger, I don’t have time to argue this.”

“Captain, the crew needs you to organize the evacuation.” He smiled at her. “They need their captain if they’re going to get out of this alive.”

“Roger, whoever stays here—”

“Probably doesn’t make it. But I’ll seal the bridge, and once you’ve got most of the crew and the kids on the Manta or the engines stop working, I’ll try to join you. Those Tenari ships are coming, and the Manta needs her captain. “

Reed turned on the comm. “Janet, tell Tilly it’s her choice if she wants to volunteer to stay, but the rest of you need to move out.”

Reed relinquished her chair to Baldry and grabbed Mira by the upper arm. “Come on.”

She stepped to the floor hatch, spun the lock, lifted the hatch, and pointed her pistol through the opening. Nothing swarmed up from the darkness to attack them.

She looked back to Baldry. “Roger—”

“Get ‘em to safety, Captain. I’ll join you soon enough.”

Reed nodded. “Good luck,” she said and started down the ladder. She heard Mira climbing down above her and the sound of the hatch closing. They both hit the bottom deck within seconds. Reed looked at the ragged teenaged girl.

“If you think you see anything, scream and point.”

The girl nodded, her eyes wide with fright.

As they approached the soft curve where Reed’s party was attacked previously, they heard distant sounds of shouts and weapons firing. Reed quickened her pace, dragging Mira along toward the apex of the curve.

It rushed toward them. The Tenari’s narrow, furred face on its wedge-shaped head looked surprised in the dim light. There was a dark fluid running down the front of its clothing and into the fur along its slim frame. It bunched its four back legs and leapt at her, extending the dagger-like blades it wore on its hands.

Reed stepped into the middle of the corridor and fired, getting off three rounds before it slammed into her body. She jabbed her weapon into its belly and fired again, even as it stabbed her in the shoulder. Reed pulled the trigger on her pistol again as the Tenari withdrew its blades and slashed her across the face, opening a cut on her cheek. The creature pulled itself up, trying to disengage. She grabbed its clothing, holding it fast and fired into its chest again. The alien gave a low whine, and slumped back down onto her, dead.

Reed pushed the body off and rose to her knees, bleeding from her shoulder and face. She stumbled forward, moving to where she hoped her gunnery officer was evacuating the rest of the crew off the ship. A light touch on her arm made her jerk away and raise her pistol.

Mira jumped back, shrieking.

“Sorry,” Reed gasped, leaning against the wall. She felt the young woman move toward her, settling under Reed’s good arm and taking her weight.

“Come on,” Mira said. “I’ll help you.”

The two limped down the corridor to the airlock. They found most of the Manta’s crew forming a defensive perimeter around the airlock as Janet and the others ushered the last of the children on to the pirate vessel.

“Janet?” Reed called out.

“Captain, we just need another couple of minutes.”

Reed nodded. “Finish up here. Baldry’s still on the bridge trying to buy us some time.”

Janet nodded. “Tilly’s down in the engine room as well.”

“Captain,” a younger voice said. She turned to face her helmsman, who was standing guard in the airlock. “Four ships are on intercept. The one that got away is coming back with friends, ma’am”

“How long until they get here, Mr. Roberts?”

“Five minutes at most.”

The freighter shuddered, and a low hum started up. Reed looked around the area for a comm panel.

“Help me over there,” she said to Mira, who was still supporting her weight. The two women hobbled to the unit. Reed toggled the switch. “Roger?”

“We’re accelerating,” came the static-riddled reply. “I can get us a couple more minutes at this pace.”

“Roger, you and Tilly need to come here. We’re out of time!”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“You too, Captain,” Janet said. “I’ll take care of this.”

Reed nodded in agreement. She was starting to get dizzy from blood loss, and she would not be doing her crew any good if she was passed out on the deck. She let Mira help her all the way to the bridge. Reed settled in the command chair. “Mr. Grisham,” she said.

The man turned in the helmsman chair. “Hostiles will be here in two minutes. Gunny Sobrinski reports that all the children and crew are aboard except Commander Baldry and Ms. Horn.

Captain Reed sighed. She couldn’t wait any longer for Baldry or Tilly. They were on their own. “Mr. Grisham, secure the airlock and begin the launch sequence.”

“Yes, ma’am.” She felt someone press a bandage onto her shoulder. Reed looked to find Mira, who had pulled the first-aid kit from the wall.

Janet Sobrinski dashed onto the bridge, followed closely by Roberts and the rest of her bridge crew. Roberts slipped into the chair Grisham vacated. “The kids are in the hold,” Janet said. “The Tenari are thirty-seconds out.”

“Ready for launch,” Roberts reported.

“Get us free, Mr. Roberts.” Reed held the arms of her chair as her ship shuddered and powered up, pulling away from the freighter. “Janet?” Reed asked.

“Laser cannon powered and ready. Missiles loaded.”

“Mr. Roberts, turn us toward the enemy. Janet, fire a full spread. Given ‘em a punch in the nose.” A series of deep thuds sounded in the ship, and four missiles raced toward the Tenari. Reed decided it would be enough to cover their retreat. “Turnabout. Best speed toward the nearest friendly warship or outpost.” I’m sorry, she thought to her crew still on the freighter.

The Manta shuddered and rocked, its lights dimming. Sparks flew from several control stations, and anyone not sitting or holding tight to something was thrown to the floor.

“We’re hit!” Janet cried over the alarms. “Near the engines.”

“Damage?” Reed called.

“We’re losing power.”

“Captain!” Roberts said.

Reed looked out the window to see three of the large, predatory-looking ships, each the size of a cruiser, closing on her damaged craft.

“Missiles!”

“Loaders are jammed,” Janet replied.

“Laser cannon, Mr. Roberts.”

The cannon fired. Its deep hum and discharge left the bridge nearly dark. The beam caught one of the hostiles, slicing it in half. Debris tumbled through space. The remaining Tenari ships fired their slow moving-missiles at the wounded Manta.

“Evasive maneuvers! Engage counter-measures!” Reed felt her ship turn as she heard the soft clang of the chaff-launcher engaging. One of the missiles exploded harmlessly to starboard. The other passed over the Manta and detonated, setting off a fresh round of fires and alarms. The ship decelerated and the hum in the deck plating stopped. The Black Manta was dead in space. Reed looked out the window.

The two remaining Tenari vessels had formed up together and were closing on them.

“Are they going to board us?” Roberts asked from his useless helm controls.

Reed sighed and blinked back nausea and light-headedness. “No. I think they just want to be sure of their shot.”

Reed watched quietly as the two alien vessels closed the distance. “Janet, transmit the log to the nearest colonial base.” She paused, took a deep breath. “It’s been a pleasure to serve with all of you,” she said to her bridge crew.

“Likewise, ma’am,” Janet said. Her weapons station was dark and smoldering. “I think the Manta gave a good accounting of herself today.”

Reed nodded agreement. “Our little attack ship took out most of what looks like a cruiser battle group. The Manta did good.”

“Look!” Mira yelled, pointing at the edge of the window.

The Savros freighter, her fusion engines burning bright white in the darkness of space, slammed in the formation of smaller Tenari ships. The first of the crafts disintegrated on impact. The second Tenari vessel started to turn away, but the lumbering freighter’s crumpled bow caught it as well, sending it spinning as all three ships broke apart in space from the force of the collision.

“Goddamn it, Baldry,” Reed whispered, trying not to cry. “You crazy old bastard.” Reed slumped back in her chair and closed her eyes. Her adrenaline crashed, and the blood loss finally overwhelmed her. She blacked out.

Reed looked around the bridge of her new ship. She ran her hand over the control console. It was clean and shiny.

“Admiral Weston on the comm!” Janet Sobrinski called out.

Reed turned and looked at her view screen. An older woman looked back at her, seated from the office on the space station they had just left.

“Ready to go into harm’s way, Captain?” she asked.

Reed nodded. She liked the fleet admiral, had served with her during her first tour out of the academy, when Weston was the executive officer on the battle-cruiser Nairobi. “Yes, ma’am. The Black Manta and crew are ready for action.” Reed paused for a moment before giving the flag officer a salute. “Admiral, I just wanted to thank you again for advocating for my crew. Without your voice in the High Command, we’d all be breaking rocks on Freyr or something.”

Admiral Weston snorted. “You’re the only commanding officer to ever fight the Tenari twice and live. We need you in the captain’s chair of a warship, Kathleen, not rotting in a prison cell. A blanket pardon for you and your crew in exchange for accepting a letter of marque to raid Tenari commerce and scout their border was a good comprise for everyone.” The admiral frowned at her. “Find out what you can as quickly as possible, Captain. We need facts about the Tenari, not space-tales. Good-luck to all of you.”

Reed nodded. “Yes, ma’am,” she said. The admiral nodded and signed off.

Captain Kathleen Reed settled in her comfortable new command chair and punched up her letter of marque on the data pad resting on the chair’s arm. The Colonial Assembly didn’t want to send a Navy task force yet, wasn’t ready to commit to war with an enemy they knew almost nothing about. The Colonial Navy, however, was happy to send a flagless freelance-warship to the border, armed to the teeth.

“Mr. Roberts?” she said.

“We have permission to depart the system,” her executive officer reported.

“Ms. Sobrinski?”

“The crew is at action stations.”

Reed smiled. It was time to pay back the Tenari for Baldry, Tilly, the rest of the Manta’s lost crew from both battles, and the colonists they had taken. “Very well. Mr. Grisham, take us to Tenari space.”

“Aye, Captain.”

The Black Manta leapt forward.