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“Well, it doesn’t look like an extremist warship.” Ariana mused.
“Neither did that last one,” Olivia said.
“Fair. Keep our distance just in case.”
“Do you treat everyone you meet like a potential threat?”
Ariana glanced back toward her Echanic prisoner, handcuffed to a handrail behind her. Javi stood next to her holding a weapon. She didn’t like the idea of leaving Serene unguarded or with just one person other than Squee. But she also didn’t trust leaving her with Noah. Not during a potential battle, at least.
That meant tolerating interruptions, “Not until recently.”
Serene smiled, “I am glad I could have such a positive impact on your life. A healthy dose of caution will help you in the long run.”
Ariana sighed and looked back at her sensor display. The two ships were approaching on a tangential path. Every move Olivia made triggered a counter move from the other ship. But she couldn’t quite discern the pattern.
“They don’t appear to be trying to close on us, but also aren’t running away either.”
“It’s like they can’t decide what they’re doing. Only having functional sensors on one side isn’t making my job very easy either. I can’t just turn away, or we’d lose sight of them.” Olivia said.
“Vlasa, what do you make of her?”
“Small freighter. Bigger than us, but mostly cargo space. More massive, which makes her maneuvers more sluggish by comparison. That might account for some of it. By the time the ship completes a maneuver, it’s to counter something we did a minute ago.”
Ariana thought for a moment, “All that mass could easily be used to disguise weapons or the ability to launch a smaller, more maneuverable ship. I’m going to power the weapons. Just as a warning.”
They were far enough away from the other ship that she felt comfortable drawing power from the shields to bring both weapons online. Without knowing what kind of sensor array the other ship had, she couldn’t be sure they would see that change. And she wanted them to know it.
“Sending an active scan pulse. Just to show them we’re watching.” Ariana announced. She triggered the active sensors, and a pulse of energy flashed through space. She would be able to gather far more data this way than just the passive sensors. But she didn’t follow up or narrow the scan, either. Those actions could easily be interpreted as hostile.
To her shock, the moment after the active scan completed, the other ship cut its engines. A large mass ejected from the ship. Whatever the object was, it moved slowly on a course that would take it near, but not directly to, Seraph.
Performing another more focused active scan, Ariana tried to determine what had been sent their way. She once again cursed her cut-rate sensor system. She could get an approximate mass of the object, that it was unpowered and metallic. From that, it could be anything from a bomb to a crate of toys.
A light flashed on her display indicating they were receiving an incoming communication request. She supposed that talking would be one way to clear things up. She accepted the request, and switched her channel over.
“Pirate ship, this is the MSV Love Lost. We have jettisoned our most valuable cargo. May we proceed to our destination?”
“Love Lost, this is Seraph, we’re not pirates.”
“I’m sorry! I didn’t mean that. I meant we’re just going to leave this very valuable cargo here and be on our way. Of our own free will. Please don’t kill us.”
The transmission suddenly cut off. A few seconds later the other ship’s engines activated again, and it started accelerating away. Within a few moments, Ariana was going to have to choose to keep their sensors focused on the fleeing ship or the object now floating toward them.
Switching back to the ship’s internal network she said, “They appear to think we’re pirates. They ejected some cargo as a fee and are now running for their lives.”
Behind her, Serene laughed as Noah said, “Nice work, Cap. Free loot.”
“We can’t take that!” Olivia said, “That would be stealing.”
“They just left it here. That’s not stealing.” Noah argued.
“Because they thought we were pirates.”
“I can’t control what other people think.”
Squee joined the discussion; “We did just throw several bodies out into space and then point our weapons at them. With the addition of the tri-cannon, we would appear to be considerably well armed.”
Another chuckle came from Serene who could not hear the discussion raging, “I assume Noah is advocating picking up the cargo while your noble, and valiant crew opposes?”
Ariana shifted in her seat, “You know him well, it seems.”
“Very.”
“He has a point.”
“That’s surprising to hear from you, Captain. You strike me as the honorable, by the book type.”
“You obviously don’t know Ari very well.” Javi quipped.
“Oh, but I’m getting to know her. She seems more and more like my kind of captain. Pragmatism. That is how you survive in this galaxy.”
Ariana shifted back away from Serene. She and Noah had a good point. That other ship had just left the cargo sitting here. She had tried to tell them she wasn’t a pirate.
“Noah, are we close enough to ping the containers manifest ID tag? If it even is a cargo container.”
“Not yet.”
“Olivia, bring us within range, but no closer than necessary.”
A few tense minutes passed as Seraph moved closer to the object. It took longer than necessary, as Olivia had to make a wide approach to keep both fleeing ship and container in their sensor window. Ariana wondered what the other ship would make of that. It would not be hard to guess their crippled state.
“Okay, I’m getting a reading from its ID tag. It contains something called a TC-F54 Toroidal Field Coil. An MC-7X Ion Cyclotron System. And GA-1K Torus CryoPump. None of those sound like weapons. Or valuables.”
“They are even better than that.” Vlasa said excitedly, “Those are components for a fusion reactor. With them, I might be able to upgrade our own, so we can actually power everything.”
“Might be able to?” Ariana asked.
“Those are not the components used in our current reactor. I won’t know if I can integrate them with spare parts we have on hand until I get a closer look.”
“Might be is still better than can’t.” Ariana decided, “Olivia, bring us within teleporter range.”
“Captain,” Serene began. Unlike before, her words were oddly hesitant.
Ariana turned around and gave a curious look at her prisoner. Timidity was not something she had come to associate with Serene. Apprehensively, she said, “Go ahead.”
“I would like to offer my assistance to you. It’s clear to me that you are a worthy leader to follow. I understand now why Noah has decided to join your crew.”
Narrowing her eyes, Ariana studied Serene. The cybernetic eye implants made it difficult to gauge her sincerity. Despite years working with Vlasa, she hadn’t quite picked up Echanic body language.
“You tried to steal my ship and threatened to sell my crew and me into slavery. And now you want a job?”
One of Serene’s more enigmatic smiles returned, “Like you, I am a practical woman. I could continue to cause trouble and remain chained to walls until you decide that the most practical solution is to strand me somewhere. Or I can take a gift when I see it. Unlike my former employer, I don’t think you’d ever torture me.”
“No, no I wouldn’t. But then I’m not in the habit of subjugating people into slavery either.”
“We all have questionable events in our past. I, no more than Noah.”
“I’m sure.” Ariana agreed noncommittally, “I’ll think about your offer. For now, Javi, take her back to her quarters. I’ll send Olivia and Squee to relieve you.”