Free Accord of Honor by Kevin O. McLaughlin Page B

missiles took out one pirate. The Chief’s glare silenced them. I winced as each missile struck Defender. I think a couple of people started crying as we watched those last nukes explode near the ship, and saw the secondary explosions scatter bits of the hull into space. Then Defender went into a slow tumble and stopped accelerating.
    Dad’s missile launches had done their work too, though. Of the four enemy ships that had tried to withdraw, another blew up completely and at least two more took serious hits, slowing them down. Only one of the ships looked to have gotten away clean.
    And then... Nothing. No power up from Defender, and the Mars radars lost track of the ship entirely as it continued off into deep space. We kept vigil in the command room, watching the screen and listening for a call.
    It was two hours before we saw the signature of a ship under light acceleration on the Mars Station long range radar. I heaved a huge sigh, the weight lifting from my shoulders. We knew from the location that it had to be Defender, and another cheer went up around the room. I looked at Chief Acres and saw him visibly relax, exhaustion replacing the tension in his posture. I wasn’t the only one worried about Dad.
    As Defender began to slowly limp back toward Mars, the Chief clapped his hands together. The booming noise startled everyone.
    “The Old Man’s done his part!” he said. “Now it’s our turn. Meg tells me the Inde will be ready to leave within the hour. If we move fast, we might be able to catch those injured rats with their pants down. Crew on board in fifteen minutes, prep for launch.” Everyone sat still another moment, staring at him. We’d all been sitting so long, watching the screen, that it took a few minutes to bring ourselves back to where we were.
    “What’re you looking at?” he roared. “Move, people! Scat!”
    The crowd cleared out double fast. I stood up, my legs aching from tension and sitting too long. “This blows our careful planning up, pretty much,” I said.
    “Plans never survive past first contact with the enemy,” Acres quipped back. “I’ve got an idea or two that might turn the liabilities of our merchant ship turned war ship into benefits. Let’s get her out where she can do some good.”

    A fter launch , we spent several hours on high burn, pouring on the speed. A lot was riding on us beating those other pirate ships back to the captured repair station. All too soon though, we had to drop back down to a more basic acceleration. We wanted the pirates to think we were just another dumb ore carrier, and we were getting close to the outside edge of their active radar. Coming in at ten gravities of acceleration would have been a dead giveaway that we were more than just a merchant ship.
    We’d done our best to quickly camouflage the modifications to the ship. The engine was impossible to hide, of course. A bigger engine is a bigger engine, and it was sticking off into space for everyone to see. But the missile tubes were already pretty hard to spot when the ports were closed. You really had to know what you were looking for to see them. That left the antimissile gatlings and the nose mounted rail gun. Meg designated a crew to quickly tack some scrap plates over them. The end result wasn’t going to fool a careful inspection, but might be enough to make a less cautious observer assume the ship was what it looked like – an old and somewhat outdated cargo carrier that had been upgraded a bit by her captain.
    I was working bridge crew as damage control, which is to say I was doing nothing except staying out of the Chief’s hair. Being his exec had been an experience so far, but I wondered if I was going to have a chance to do much at all in the upcoming fight. I hated sitting still.
    “Active radar and laser pings from the station ahead!” Jim called out. We were out of our helmets and breathing cabin air again. No point to burn up the liquid stuff when we were only pulling