Starship Isabella Ch. 03

Pirates!

After the Isabella boosted from Earth and began their journey, everything went smoothly. The ship was well known in this area, and nobody considered their cargo to be of any value. After two weeks in the known space lanes, they jumped into a region of space known only to Allen and his staff. Everybody took up six-hour watches, with at least one pilot and another person to help keep an eye out for unusual activity. Rob, Brad and Allen took the lead in controlling the ship. Ana, Gabby and Gia took turns looking through the long-range sensors in the surrounding region. Of course, AMI took over most of the navigation duties and left the three teams in more of a monitoring role, rather than in active control of the vessel.

When the pilots rotated on and off their shifts, one of the women went back with the pilots to their rooms on their rest breaks. Ana normally went back with Rob during his sleep periods to make love and to rest. Gabby usually went back with Brad, and Gia and Allen spent their rest periods together as well. Break times and play time were different. The men didn't know who was going back to have sex with them during their breaks, but Ana, Gia and Gabby had worked out a daily schedule to keep the men guessing. On the days that Gia and Ana had scheduled, one of them went back with Brad to continue his lessons.

A week after being forced to use the standard routes again, their luck finally ran out. AMI was about to execute another jump on another secret "shortcut" route, when she detected three small ships taking up the same heading as thetheirsand drawing closer to their position. The fact that the Isabella was traveling this far from its normal routes had aroused suspicion. With little warning, AMIflashed an alarm and a claxton wet off.

"Three pirate ships are closing in on our location," AMI told them.

Allen and Gia, Rob and Ana joined Brad and Gabby in the control center. "Can't we outrun them?" Gabby asked Brad. "Let's take one of Grandpa's special shortcuts!"

Brad was about to explain why they couldn't change course to a secret route at present, when AMI made an announcement. "There are multiple hostile targets arranging themselves in all directions around us," AMI told them. "There are two other ships waiting at the terminus of our jump point. One of them is the Viper," AMI said.

"How do you know about the Viper?" Rob asked AMI, shocked to hear the name of the pirate vessel whose crew had boarded his ship and raped and murdered his wife.

"All the data from your and Allen's ships were integrated into my system," AMI answered.

"I'd like to surprise the pirates at the terminus of our wormhole and destroy them," Brad told AMI without hesitation. Gabby looked shocked. They were actually going to have to fight their way out of this mess. She had hoped that it wouldn't be necessary to fight.

Ana noticed the look on Gabby's face and told her. "AMI and Isabella are more than a match for these pirates," she told her daughter. "I just hope that Brad knows what he's doing."

Brad looked at the tactical plot that AMI had already calculated. "AMI, what armament do the pirates have?"

"Each vessel has between six and eight class D guns," AMI answered.

"Charge all guns for rapid fire. I want to let the trailing pirate vessels close on us and come within range of our long-range aft guns before we get in range of theirs. At that point, adjust our relative speed so that they don't get a chance to close on us. On my command, I want you to use our guns' superior range to fire on them and destroy them!" Brad instructed AMI.

Gabby looked at her mother. Ana was determined to carry out their mission without regard for the lives of the ruthless pirates. Ana quietly explained to her daughter that all of the pirates had to be destroyed now that they had been targeted. Only then would it be safe for them to resume their journey to Eden, using the secret shortcuts. Ana held Gabby, while Rob's teeth were clenched and he was squeezing Gia's hand tightly.

Brad gave AMI further instructions. "Before we get in range of the Viper, I want to talk to the captain if it doesn't put us at greater risk. Take your cues from how they respond, but in no circumstances should they be allowed to train their guns on us," Brad commanded. "After I talk to the captain of the Viper, outmaneuver and destroy both ships," Brad told AMI.

"Please fasten your safety harnesses as there will be potentially violent maneuvering," AMI said emotionlessly. "We are being hailed by the pirates," AMI announced moments later.

"What cargo do you carry?" the pirate captain asked Brad, his scarred and ugly face appearing on the viewscreen.

Rob and Allen stiffened.

"That's him!" Allen gasped.

"I want to talk face to face with him," Brad told AMI. Brad could see that the pursuing pirates were still behind them, but were no longer closing. AMI had selected the perfect spacing between them. AMI switched on the audio-visual connection, showing a totally nude Brad standing in the control center of theship. "Actually, I'm glad you called. I was just going to call you to tell you why I am going to enjoy destroying your ship so much," Brad told the pirate.

"Destroy me?" the captain asked incredulously. "I've taken the Isabella before. I see that you have some new whores on board. I'd love to fuck them too, just like I fucked the other whore," The pirate captain taunted Brad.

"That was my mother you raped and murdered. I just wanted to remind you why you were being executed," Brad told the man.

"She fought hard. She was a great fuck by the way," The pirate captain continued to try to enrage Brad.

Brad kept his cool though, reaching down to scratch his balls nonchalantly. "I hope it was good enough to die for," Brad told him.

"My pursuit team is gaining on you. They're nearly in range. Go to hell!"

"Those guys?" Brad asked, referring to the ships holding a constant distance from them. Brad smiled broadly at the pirate captain. "Payback is hell. Take them out AMI," Brad said calmly.

The aft guns of the Isabella fired in rapid succession, vaporizing the pursuing vessels who were too far away to use their guns effectively.

A look of confusion spread across the pirate's face. "How did you?"

With the highly improved calculating power of AMI, the old freighter used its enhanced wormhole generators to accelerate suddenly and make several sharp turns. The inertial dampers couldn't quite keep up with the rapidly changing vectors, so the crew were whipped around in several different directions. Brad was thrown to the deck, but everyone else was glad they were strapped into their consoles.

"Where did they go?" the Captain of the Viper demanded from his men.

"They're behind us sir!" Another pirate responded. Brad was watching the pirate's expression the moment that he knew he was screwed. The scanners flashed brightly when all guns on theIsabella came to bear and fired repeatedly. When the occupants of the ship looked through their scanners again, they could see the remnants of several destroyed pirate vessels floating dead in space.

Following the battle, Ana burst into tears of relief and Rob took her in his arms, soothing her. Their nightmare was finally over, the Maxwell family and the Feldon family had finally received justice. The remaining pirate vessels in the area backed off, unsure of what had happened.

"How did you know what to do when we encountered the pirates?" Gabby asked, impressed by her boyfriend's decisive actions.

"I told you that I studied to be a tactical officer at Space Academy," Brad said. "I would be a tactical officer on a Fleet ship now, except that they let me out of my commitment when Mom died. They released me so that I could help my dad with the business. I've fought over a hundred simulated battles during my schooling, and was the overall champion of the Galactic Defender simulator tournament," Brad smiled.

"Simulations?" Ana asked, alarmed at Brad's explanation. "Our lives depend on your skill playing video games?" Ana asked, the disbelief in her voice evident.

"Hey! They're not games, they're military simulators. I've won several championships playing the tactical officer's role in that game with my friends at Space Academy," Brad said defensively, as if that explained his abilities.

"I guess that makes you our tactical officer then Son," Rob told Brad.

"I concur," Gia said. "Neither Allen nor I have ever had experience fighting space battles."

"But they were all just simulated battles!" Ana objected.

"Simulated experience is better than no experience Mom," Gabby told her mother.

"I guess you're right," Ana conceded. "We're placing our lives and the fate of the embryos in your hands Brad."

Maybe it was the sudden rush of adrenalin, or the close encounter with death, but Gabby was hornier than she had ever been. She just had to have Brad's cum in her mouth. She needed his masculine essence inside her. Gabby went down on her knees and took her boyfriend's cock in her mouth. Ana and Gia did the same with their men. Gia watched as the twenty-year-old serviced her nephew's cock to the best of her ability. Gia was going to have to teach this girl a thing or two about giving head, including eliminating her gag reflex, but she was impressed with Gabby's enthusiasm.

Other pirate ships that were monitoring and observing the Viper, had notified their comrades about the Isabella's unusual abilities. Before the Isabella could lose their tail and jump into another secret shortcut, a sizeable group had gathered, with more pirates coming.

The Isabella was obviously no standard freighter. Their ability to prevent detection had worked well for over a month, but that illusion was gone now. What was the freighter carrying that was so valuable? After nearly a week of playing cat and mouse with the ever-increasing pirate group, everyone was exhausted from a lack of sleep, especially Brad. After the week was over, AMI noticed that the majority of pursuing pirate vessels had disappeared. Rob wondered out loud why the bulk of the pirates had abandoned the chase. Allen had knowledge of Fleet operations straight from the Admiralty. After the Space Fleet had failed miserably defending the space lanes, Stellerdyne bought the Fleet and took control of the force. The Confederation Fleet was now a privately owned security firm. Progress had been slow in upgrading the equipment and retraining the officers and crew. Rob had been trained at the old Academy, but Brad had been trained at the Stellardyne school.

"They're confused, Allen explained. The pirates have no idea of the cargo we're carrying, but we are heavily armed. We've captured their interest. Their dilemma is that they've recently found out that the Fleet will be transporting all of the embryos from Earth to the Fleet base at Vectum," Allen confided in them. "The Fleet operation, using obsolete drone warships, is landing on Vectum now.

"But we are carrying the embryos," Brad insisted, they're with us, not on Vectum.

Allen smiled conspiratorially. "That's correct, but the pirates don't know that. Actually, Vectum is a trap. All Fleet personnel have been removed from Vectum and the number of planetary defense batteries has been increased tenfold over the past three years."

Now it was finally time to spring the trap. Allen had hoped that the Fleet operation would have coincided with the return of the Isabella to regular space lanes, so that all of the pirates' attention would be diverted to Vectum. Unfortunately, there had been delays and not all of the pirates took the bait, remaining in their regular hunting grounds. The Isabella had been discovered in the middle of their final jump in charted space.

The vast majority of the remaining pirate captains had hightailed it out of the Isabella's sector and joined the growing pirate fleet off Vectum. The captains of the current wolfpack following them had decided not to let the pirates gathering off Vectum know about the Isabella. This was their prey. They would reap the rewards for capturing the prize. They still didn't know exactly what the prize was, but the overall commander of the wolfpack, a former Captain in the fleet before it had been purged and modernized by Stellardyne, was a traitor. He had been suspicious about the activities at Vectum. He had tried to warn some of the other pirates about his suspicions, but only the few dozen ships that followed him now had listened. He suspected that the embryos were not on Vectum at all, but aboard the Isabella.

The lead pirate ship was also a converted freighter, Reaper was a much newer version of the mid-sized transport, and easily twice as large as the older versions. Somehow, the Reaper was able to get 8 Class C guns, probably on the black market. Brad had to make sure not to get too close to them. AMI had done a good job of assessing the risk and had been keeping a safe distance from the big ship.

Reaper led the first attack on the Isabella, its guns hitting the fortified hull at the extreme range of its guns. Isabella returned fire, causing Reaper to fall back. It was obviously damaged, as it did not have the heavy shielding the of the Isabella. Other pirates had already committed to the attack, thinking that the Isabella would be damaged by the leader's heavy guns. AMI and the Isabella quickly dispatched over a dozen unsuspecting pirate ships.

"They're falling back!" Gia said excitedly.

"That's exactly what I would do if faced with this situation," Brad said calmly. "The Reaper's captain obviously has had Fleet tactical training. It's just a matter of who fucks up first," Brad said. "But his ship doesn't have the same guns or the advanced AI that we do. I think that we still have the edge."

"What about those other pirate ships? What do we do with them?" Gia asked, still shaken by their encounter with the pirates that had killed her mother.

"The pirates have our number," Brad said. "They have probably guessed that we are the ones actually carrying the embryos, and not the Fleet ships. I doubt that they'll tell anyone else though. I suggest that we leave the ecliptic of the galaxy altogether. Now that I know what AMI and our ship can do, we'll need room to maneuver. We have to destroy every one of those ships if we ever hope to make it safely to Eden," Brad told them.

Before Brad finished speaking, AMI had calculated several possible routes that fit Brad's criteria and plotted them on the main view screen. AMI affirmed that Brad's recommendation to move to the emptiness beyond the mass of stars in the galactic disk was the correct tactical move.

"AMI, pick the best route to Eden considering that we will have to fight pirates all the way there." Brad told the Artificial Intelligence.

The next two days were a running battle with the pirates. Reaper had affected repairs and was still leading the remaining pirates. Brad asked AMI if she could decipher the pirates' communication. AMI replied that since the pirates had communicated heavily with each other since the battle, she had been able to pick the code they were using apart. AMI told Brad that during the next broadcast of the Reaper, she could guarantee the messages at 99.9999%. Brad just laughed and asked AMI what she thought the pirates were saying.

Fleet vessel seemed to be giving orders to the entire group. Brad was relieved to discover that he and AMI would now know the plans of the pirate ships before they maneuvered. If he and AMI played their cards right, they just might get through to Eden in one piece. Brad was finally able to get a solid eight hours of sleep while AMI to evade the pirates even more effectively. AMI never hesitated before or after each jump and they easily ended their jumps where the pirates weren't. By the end of the third day and more than a few hours of restful sleep, AMI reported that twenty-three pirate vessels had formed up ahead of them at the terminus of their current wormhole. The Captain of the Reaper was able to correctly deduce the Isabella's plan to get to intergalactic space before striking. They met the Isabella at the end of the most likely terminus. Brad told AMI that it was time to take the offensive, to confront the pirates and pick the enemy apart with fast reactions and guerilla tactics. AMI displayed a dozen scenarios on the viewscreen to show Brad her plans based on certain contingencies. Brad approved the recommended tactics even though he knew that they would be hit several times. He was counting on the hardened systems and the added shielding to protect them all.

"Everybody strap in" Brad told the crew as he strapped himself in.

Brad knew that no human could make the calculations and execute the movements of the ships and guns needed to fight a battle when outnumbered 23 to 1. He was counting on the fact that Isabella's guns had father range and that AMI was faster and more capable than the Artificial intelligence of the big ship that was leading this group of bloodthirsty pirates. They would only be able to sit back and watch AMI and Isabellado what they had been designed to do.

The pirate's vessels finally made their move in an area of space devoid of any celestial objects. In the millisecond that the pirate fleet dispersed for an anticipated multidirectional attack, AMI jumped the ship outside of the global attack formation. Rather than see their prey in the center of their spherical trap as they expected, they appeared on the outside of the inward focused formation, vaporizing the periphery ships as it made its way around the outside of the globe. Before the pirate formation could regroup, the Isabella had moved off out of the range of the pirate's guns. Seven ships were destroyed before the pirate ships dispersed.

Realizing that they had been outmaneuvered, the pirates attempted another formation, only to be fooled again. Another six ships were destroyed, leaving the pirate fleet with only ten ships remaining. The leader sent instructions to the remaining pirate vessels. Using one ship to draw fire while multiple other ships pressed the attack from all directions, the Isabella was hit several times at close range, but not from the big guns of the Reaper. On this final attack all of the hidden guns popped out of their turrets and began firing. The Reaper had been able to withdraw in time to survive, but it was heavily damaged. The Isabella had been hit several times, but sustained no substantial damage.

"We are being hailed by the Reaper," AMI told them after all but three ships had been destroyed.

"Put it on the screen," Brad commanded.

"Who the fuck are you?" The angry pirate Captain demanded.

"Hi, I'm Brad," he said in a friendly tone. "I'm here with my mom and dad, my Aunt and my fiancé. Who are you?" Brad asked, knowing that his disrespectful response would rattle the enemy.

Infuriated by the insolence of the youngster, the pirate Captain began spewing insults at Brad.

"Hey!" Brad told the pirate Captain. "I told you that my Mom was present. Watch your language!" Don't listen to this fucking traitor Mom," Brad said to Ana.

Red faced and totally out of control, the pirate Captain held up the middle finger on each hand and screamed. "Fuck You! You Mother Fucker! I'm dead out here, my reactor is offline and I can't move. You aren't going to leave up out here outside the galactic disk, are you?"

"I have no way of towing you with my ship. I'm not really sure what you're going to do. Maybe some of your pirate friends will come back and help you," Brad said coldly.

Brad noticed that one of the Frigates guns was moving slowly, trying to aim at the them. AMI noticed it too. The AI didn't give the Frigate a chance to lock on target. The pirate ship was blown to smithereens. The Frigate hadn't lost all power, it still had enough to fire its big guns.