Free Reaper Inc. by Thomas Wright Page B

getting
her shit together and will be headed in our direction shortly, making most of
the journey in FTL. I think she will contact us once she is somewhere we can
meet her," Ben said
    "I
concur," E'Aria said
    "E'Aria,
we have a corvette moving in our direction at a high rate of speed. I guess
they made some decision," Andrea announced.
    "Lorelei,
ahead 50 percent, let them get closer then increase speed and keep us
equidistant for at least 12 hours."
    "How far
apart?" Lorelei asked.
    "Three
times weapons range and look for a good location about 12 hours from here to
see if that captain is any good."
    "E'Aria,
you ever play chicken when you were a kid?" Ben asked.
    "Why would
I act like some creature your species love to consume?"
    Ben looked at
her then the light went on. "Yeah, guess you’re right. It’s a game of
nerve, let me explain it to you."
                                       
****
    Captain Stren
walked on her bridge to relieve her XO. She had slept four hours, showered and
ate. She was going to take the next 8 hours.
    "Captain
on the bridge," the marine at the door announced.
    "At ease,
everyone. XO, anything to report?"
    "No
Captain, they are still exactly the same distance away as they were at shift
change. Who are these people Captain? Who is on that ship?"
    "Commander,
I wish I knew. Maybe we will find out when our marines are kicking their doors
in," Captain Stren answered, trying to mask her lack of information.
    "Captain,
you have the bridge," XO said for the record.
    "You are
relieved, Commander. Get some rest, eat something. See you in 8." Captain
Stren sat down in the captain’s seat and transferred everything to her up to
the second. She adjusted herself in her chair, trying to get comfortable. She
looked at her bridge crew. Even though they were all supposed to start at the
same time, they made sure they were in their seats before her and on their
game. Five seconds into her watch, she could ask them a question and they had
the answer.
                                       
****
    Ben stood on
the bridge in a four way conversation about how best to deal with the war ship
following them.
    "I know
the Captain of that ship," Andrea said. "She will follow orders and
play it all by the book. She will also underestimate us and try and disable
then board us."
    "I still
say we play chicken with them. Once we are past them, we come in behind before
they can turn around and blast their drives. We can wave bye as we head on to
the border."
    "No!"
Lorelei said. "I am not piloting into a head on collision."
    "Well, I
hope not. You turn away at the last possible second while Andrea is blasting
and disabling their weapons."
    "No, she
is not!" Andrea added in support.
    "Maybe she
is," E'Aria said
    The two women
looked at her like she was crazy. Natalia was listening but didn’t care as long
as they did something to kill the boredom.
    The schematics
of a colonial corvette appeared on the screen. "This right here,"
E'Aria pointed out, "is where the long-range transmitters are located. The
short-range are on the other side. It is housed in the tunnels. That’s what we
used to call that area of the ship. Instead of their weapons, let’s disable
long-range com and the drives. We will leave them with weapons and short-range
coms. This way they can't contact the rest of the group until they are very
close and by then, we should be in Trillond space."
    "What if
they try to contact the corvette and it isn’t answering? Don’t you think they
will hurry to find out?" Lorelei asked.
    "No, I
don’t think they will. They might pick up the pace but they won't race to find
them. I don’t want to kill them or us, but I really would like to shake them
up. What did you say earlier, scare the piss out of them?"
    "I think
that’s fair. They would be doing a lot worse to us if they caught us," Ben
said.
    "Lorelei,
turn us around and proceed at full power," E'Aria