Bandits Engaged (Battlegroup Z Book 4) by Daniel Gibbs (novels in english txt) 📕

a reputation for not harming spacers and even giving ten percent of the haul to charity. For a time, much profit had been made off megacorp freighters.

Eventually, the megacorps wised up, expanded their security divisions, and worked with the military forces from neutral worlds and the empires that would do business with them to crack down on pirates. It drove them to attack smaller freighters, and before too long, they were robbing hand-to-mouth independent spacer captains to feed themselves.

That a hardened criminal would commit murder on a large scale just to get a payday wasn’t such a stretch, but Papoutsis had always thought himself better than that. Now he knew he wasn’t. The idea of death terrified him, because he had a sneaking suspicion that when he finally passed on from this universe, he would face judgment at the hands of a higher power for all the sins he and those under him had committed. Papoutsis sucked in a breath and resolved to delay that day for as long as possible. Perhaps in time, I can atone for my misdeeds in some way. For the moment, the only way forward was with more innocent blood on his hands.

7

For Tehrani, the adrenaline rush of fighting for her life had given way to the boredom of deep-space anti-piracy patrol. Jump after jump, solar system after solar system, the Zvika Greengold and Battlegroup Z had a lot of ground to cover. The prospect of combat against the pirates was as much a chess match as it was a brawl against an asymmetrical opponent. After standing watch during the first shift, she went to her day cabin and started the usual grind of paperwork. With some level of amusement, Tehrani glanced at a message proclaiming a new initiative to reduce the complexity of personnel transfer forms. Yet it had three new forms attached to it. She chuckled.

The intercom on her desk buzzed. “Colonel, I’ve got flash traffic for you from CIS. Agent Grant is requesting a vidlink, ma’am,” Lieutenant Singh informed her.

Tehrani sucked in a breath. “Put him through.” I’ll probably need a shower after this.

“Aye, aye, ma’am.”

A moment later, her tablet came alive with Grant’s smiling face. “Colonel Tehrani! So good to see you again.” His voice oozed fake charm, not unlike a proverbial used-helicar salesman.

Forcing the most pleasant tone she could muster, Tehrani spoke. “I take it you got my message, Agent Grant?”

“Yes, I did. Very, very interesting, I might add.”

“Do I have to pry it out of you?” Tehrani’s patience ran thin with most spooks but was nonexistent with Grant.

“You don’t like me very much, do you, Colonel?” Grant smiled ever wider.

Tehrani fought to keep herself from rolling her eyes. “No, Mr. Grant, I don’t. Not after our last encounter.”

“I told you. My unique skills are useful. ” The smile disappeared in an instant. “And whatever else you may think about it, know this: I detest the League of Sol, and I’ll do whatever it takes to purge that monstrosity of an ideology from the universe.”

“Oh, I’m sure you’re telling the absolute gospel truth.” Tehrani’s eyes narrowed. “Which is why I distrust you.”

“You need me about right now, Colonel.” Grant’s smug smile returned. “I have something you’re in desperate need of.”

Again, the bile rose in her throat. Oh, how I would enjoy ripping that expression off his face. “A fleet of escorts and a few more escort carriers?”

Grant chuckled. “No. A Q-ship.”

“A what ship?”

“Converted freighter… the CSV Farnborough. It presents as a regular old Aaron-Elesinberg MkII freighter but has stronger weapons than a frigate. Moreover, I’m assured we can fit some of your space-superiority fighters into the cargo bays.” Another smirk flickered onto his face. “I should mention those holds open up to the void.”

The tactical possibilities swam through Tehrani’s mind. We could catch an enemy by surprise. Especially pirates, even if their modus operandi is different than the norm. “That sounds like an interesting vessel—but how do you know it's not compromised? A ship such as what you describe must have been spotted at some point.”

“You never miss a beat, Colonel.” Grant licked his lips. “CIS goes to great lengths to keep the actual ownership and purpose of the Farnborough a secret. She’s designated as the ISV Dumaran and registered with the Interstellar Spacers Union. The entire crew has deep-cover legends. It speaks to the extraordinary nature of the threat I believe we face that CIS would sanction an operation involving her.”

“Pirates?”

“Colonel, you’re far too smart to play dumb with me,” Grant scoffed. “These are no ordinary pirates, if that’s even what they are.”

While Tehrani had her doubts after facing the enemy in battle, she was intrigued by Grant’s statement. “What do you think we’re facing?”

He shrugged. “Perhaps a significant escalation from drug- and human-trafficking cartels or an unholy alliance of megacorps. Nation-state involvement can’t be ruled out, including the League of Sol. Unfortunately, my colleagues believe we’re just dealing with up-gunned pirates.”

“Are you saying you don’t have sanction for whatever you’re proposing, Agent?” Tehrani groaned inwardly. She immediately sensed, from a strategic and tactical perspective, the odds of successfully completing her mission went up dramatically with this Q-ship. I’m also uninterested in a court-martial. A smile briefly creased her face. We hit Earth and survived. These pirates have nothing on the Zvika Greengold.

“Don’t ask questions you don’t want the answer to, Colonel.” The used-helicar-salesman smirk returned. “Look, the piece of information that blew this situation wide open for me is your confirmation on Matrinid-tech weapons. I cannot stress to you how closely they guard technology. Anything can be bought for the right price, but we’ve been trying for decades to access meson-based energy weapons—without success.”

“In other words, whoever’s behind these attacks has serious juice?”

Grant nodded. “Got it in one, Colonel. I’ll send you a set of coordinates in deep space for a rendezvous. While I’m good at the cloak-and-dagger stuff, space combat isn’t my thing. By the time we meet, have some fantastic CDF battle planning completed. Remember—I