X4-A2

Random idea I've been toying with for a while.  Don't know what I'm gonna do with it, but I like the idea - any comments/suggestions/ideas would be welcome.


Gabriel threw the ship through dozens of high-G rolls in an attempt to shake the pursuers.  He wasn't sure how well his attempts were, for the simple fact that he juked to the right and he saw an unguided torpedo shoot by at hypersonic speeds, narrowly missing his engines.  Handing control of the ship to the computer, he turned his seat and grabbed the canteen next to the console and took a long draught of the liquid within.  The sickly sweet smell of blood reached his nostrils as the tang of iron filled his mouth and swirled around his eyeteeth slowly being drawn up into the cavity in his body that takes care of the distribution of the sustenance.

Sated, he returned his attention to the console, retaking control of the ship.  Gabriel suddenly threw the ship into a level of G-forces that would crush a normal human.  Luckily I'm not human, he thought with a dry chuckle.  Flipping the ship suddenly, he got a second glimpse as his pursuers, a corvette that decided a pirate boat would be a better target than defending the battleship it was supposed to have been.  But appearances can be deceiving, as Gabriel was intending to prove to his attacker.

The Mosquito, to all appearances, is a defenseless trading vessel.  Contrary to appearances, however, the ship boasted more weaponry than most battleships.  With a trio of 20mm railguns and a set of top-of-the-line guided torpedoes, the Mosquito could eviscerate half of a system defense force and be home in time for supper.  The corvette had a plethora of weapons that most people should be afraid of, but the Mosquito also sported a set of 180mm-thick adamantine armor-plating, so even a battleship would be hard-pressed to penetrate to important systems.

Gabriel grinned as he shot past the corvette and quickly rolled to put him with an easy shot at the engines.  Locking on, he launched one torpedo per engine, rendering the corvette dead in the water.  Tapping the comm-link, he sent a slow drawl to the drifting ship, "SDS Raptor, this is the Mosquito.  You seem to be having technical difficulties.  I am willing to render assistance to return your engines to usable conditions so long as you surrender your weaponry."

A few moments later, a growl came over the link, "Mosquito, I am Captain Jonathan Burgess.  You have unlawfully attacked a ship of Her Majesty's Holy Armament.  Doing so is an act of war, and if you do not surrender, we will be forced to destroy you."

Gabriel let out a bark of laughter, "I'm not sure you have noticed, Captain, but in this particular instance, I hold all the cards.  I deliberately chose not to destroy you, for the simple fact that we would like your weaponry.  If you would prefer, I could easily remove your weapons control and force the issue, but I'd rather not have that many dead on my hands.  Still, the choice is entirely yours.  To prove my point, I will being powering up my railguns."

The officer growled again, "You're bluffing, you don't have rail-captain! Sensors are picking up three large railguns, sir.  If he fires, we won't have a prayer."The comm went dead for some time before the officer returned, "What kind of trading vessel are you, Mosquito?"

Gabriel chuckled, "The best kind.  Am I permitted to render assistance?"

The officer responded quickly, "Of course, Mosquito. Any assistance would be appreciated."

Gabriel responded one last time, "Very well, captain.  I look forward to removing your weaponry.  Also, in case you plan on being less than cooperative, the railguns will be linked to me in a dead-man's switch.  If I am killed or otherwise hindered in my goal, the ship will fire on you, removing you from this life."

Cutting the link, Gabriel unbuckled himself and floated through the door into the bridge.  Tapping the nano-cover on his ear, he called his boarding party to the shuttle bay.  His crew were already there, and he pointed at a female, "Emma, ship is yours.  We'll be back in time for lunch."

She nodded with a smile, "Have fun, captain."

Gabriel winked, "Always."

Leading his party into the shuttle, he strapped in and waited for the other ten passengers to do the same.  Two of them were engineering, the rest were security.  Pulling out of the shuttle bay, he powered toward the dead corvette.  He noticed the shuttle bay on the corvette was already open, and he guided his shuttle into the open dock.  He lowered the rear hatch and his security detail bustled out, relieving the crew of sidearms and any possibility of fighting back.

When he received the all-clear, he led his way down the hatch, the engineers taking up a march on either side of him.  Standing in front of him was the captain he spoke to.  In an attempt to further unnerve him, Gabriel sneered at him, allowing his teeth to become visible to the man, who blanched further, "You're a vamp."

Gabriel rolled his eyes, "Of course I am.  Who else would be willing to do the high-G acrobatics you saw me go through?  Now my security detail has already relieved you of your sidearms, but I'm going to send one with my engineers, just in case, while the rest load your armament into my shuttle.  Meanwhile,  you can give me the run-down on what exactly you're packing."

Snapping his fingers, his boarding party disappeared to do their job, and the captain began outlining exactly what they had.  As it began piling up in the shuttle, the captain began stammering.  It was an impressive armament, to be sure, but Gabriel took it all.  After it was all removed, the security detail began removing valuables from the quarters.

After half an hour of this, the boarding party returned and boarded, and Gabriel smiled at the captain one last time, "Well, captain, I think we're done here.  We did just enough work on your engines to make them usable after you finish the rest of the work.  Shouldn't take more than a few hours to do the requisite work.  It's been a pleasure doing business with you, friend.  I will listen to the newsreels to find out what your fate will be."

Bowing in a flourish, Gabriel closed the hatch and took off, musing to himself, "Interesting.  They didn't try anything."

Docking in his bay, he set his crew unloading the new cargo and returned to the bridge.  Powering down his railguns, he turned around and warped out of system.

-------------------------

Gabriel made it a habit to watch the scintillating colors in the warp, if only because it was one of the activities that he had to hold over the heads of the norms.  After all, his wizened age gave him certain protections from the maddening properties, something that humans could not share due to their short life spans.  The colors in the warp fascinated Gabriel to no end, the depths of color far more evolved than the human mind could possibly comprehend.

He went over his rendezvous with the pirate fleet again, taking in the subspace transmissions from the rest of the fleet as they finalized their cargo manifest.  He made notes of what he would need to trade for, putting emphasis on a pallet of X4-A2, his own supply running low from the long run he just made.

Sending his own manifest, he offered a trade for the X4-A2, putting most of the torpedo stock he just 'liberated' from the corvette.  A few moments pass, and his trade was accepted - luckily the owner of the X4-A2 uses primarily unguided torpedoes, so the trade was easily accepted.  Now all he needed to do was get to the rendezvous coordinates.

An hour later, Gabriel switched the warp drive off, the ship shuddering out of the warp and returning to normal space.  Gabriel noted with content that his trading partner was already there.  A few moments later, the two were locking airlock hatches, and soon the trade was taking place.  Gabriel met with the opposing captain at the airlock, who asked, "Where'd you get so many unguided torpedoes?"

Gabriel shrugged and said, 'The system defense corvette didn't need them anymore, so I figured I would find someone else who would."

The captain let out a bark of laughter, "Amazing.  You took out a corvette alone?"

Gabriel grinned, "Why not? He was didn't quite understand what he was getting into, so I was obliged to give a bit of a demonstration.  I even let him live so he could learn from his mistake."

"Hah!  I bet his superiors aren't gonna be very happy to find out a system defense ship was robbed blind with no casualties!"

Gabriel winked at him, "It's a shame, too.  He was such a good-seeming guy, if a little slow in battle.  I almost feel sorry for the guy."

The trade finished, and Gabriel shook his opposing number's hand, "Pleasure doing business with you, good sir.  May the stars shine on your good fortune."

The other murmured the traditional greeting of piracy and they split contact without any problems.  Gabriel went to the cargo bay and began divvying up the X4-A2 to his crew.  There was enough supply to keep the crew alive for the next six months, which allowed some leeway in terms of their options before resupply.

As he handed month-supply packets to each crew member, he mused to himself, 'Whoever created this stuff was either a genius or a damn fool, depending on what race he was.'Gabriel chuckled to himself at the thought, causing Emma to cock her head in his direction, "Care to share the joke, captain?"

He turned to gaze at his second-in-command and sometime lover, "Nothing, I was just thinking about how much we've come to rely on this stuff.  I recall a time we simply stayed inside out of the sunlight."

Emma nodded thoughtfully before responding, "Ah, but there's no such thing as night in space.  We either rely on this dope, or we stay planetside.  I love flight too much to stay planetside, so I figure this stuff is a necessary evil."

Gabriel nodded in response before popping a tablet into his mouth, grimacing at the taste, "You'd think someone would end up making it taste good."

Emma simply chuckled and popped one of her own, shuddering at the taste, "It ain't supposed to taste good, boss.  It's meant to keep us from burning up at the touch of sunlight. Sides, the formula-"

Gabriel waves her silent, "I know, I know.  'The formula doesn't allow for flavor, and all attempts at adding flavor destroys the capabilities of the capsule.' I've heard the excuses a thousand times; doesn't mean I have to like it."

Shrugging helplessly, Gabriel turns and strides back to the cockpit, preparing to take the ship back to their home port.  He warps out of the system at the same time as the ship he just traded with, leaving empty space again.