Page 27 of Emperor of Draconis

“We won’t tolerate this. Any suggestions for how to take out those ships without killing everyone?” Torr asked.

“Maybe send out an energy pulse to see if it would knock out their motors?” The captain, Horon, suggested. She had met him several times.

“Do it.” Torr agreed. Two of the older ship dropped back and appeared to no longer be running. “That leaves four more ships. Any other suggestions?”

“Can you send a boarding party to them?” She asked.

“Can we?” Torr asked.

“We can to the two nonoperational ships. I’m not sure about the others. We’ll have to get more information. Their ships aren’t like ours.” Horon admitted.

“Let’s not send our men to the other ships too soon. If they know we took them over, they might try to destroy them.” Torr suggested.

“Any way we can target something essential in a way it won’t hurt the ship as a whole or the crew?” She asked.

“Such as?” Horon asked.

“The engine?” She suggested.

“On the newest ships, yes. We can definitely try that. They use renewable energy. That would be the two lead ships. The two slightly behind them use a fuel that would be explosive if hit.” Horon explained.

“Try it.” Torr said. “These are pirates. This group is made up of the two modern ships in the front which should be the hardest to take out. The oldest ships were probably acquired during attacks and not as capable as the others which is why they are in the rear during attacks. The two middle ships are probably the ships they used before they bought the newer ones.”

“Pirates just keep adding to their group until they are either taken out, or they retire and sell them all.” Horon explained. “They rarely mess with our ships. I believe they already regret doing so.”

The next shot rang out hitting the first ship. Now it stopped moving too. The second ship was hit just as it tried to move away. Kitty had to admit this was exciting. The two ships left that were under their own steam made a run for it.

“Let them go but call in their descriptions and I.D. numbers for our ships to look out for. We’ll get them, just not today. Meanwhile we have plenty to do with four ships to take over.” Torr directed.

“Want us to send boarding parties to each ship so they can take over and stay with us as we head back home?” Horon asked.

“Exactly. We’ll wait as they get the ships ready to go. I hope the engines can be brought on line quickly.” Torr observed.

Immediately the bridge became busy as people were selected and sent to the other ships. Some of the new soldiers were added to the boarding parties based on their skills. They were sent over wearing gas masked and would gas everyone on the ships rendering them unable to fight. No point in risking crew unnecessarily.

Pirates, apparently, were known to kill captives and destroy anything of value when they feared they would be taken. This would prevent that from happening. Now all they would do on their ship was wait for news of how the attacks went and watch in case the other ships or any other enemy ship was spotted.

“There is no point in us sitting here waiting. We will likely not hear a thing for hours.” Torr said. Was it her imagination or did the bridge crew look relieved?

“Okay. We should probably get to sleep. Tomorrow we have other work to do.” She agreed. As they left, she was sure the crew would be more relaxed. Being around the emperor put them all on their best behavior. No one liked that for an extended time.

Torr escorted her to her door and gave her the usual kiss. “Aren’t you going to ask me in for a night cap?”

“That’s an old habit that’s rarely followed anymore.” She pointed out.

“It doesn’t mean we can’t do it.” He said as he followed her in. Things were getting too close between them and anytime it might turn physical.

She’d not had a man or rather male in a long time. Torr was extremely desirable, especially after watching him take charge on the bridge. The interesting and surprising thing is he’d taken her suggestions.

“You were surprised?” He asked as he poured them each a drink.

“I was. I wasn’t sure my suggestions would be worthwhile much less that you would take them.”

“Normally we just shoot first and ask questions later. We captured a pirate ship not long ago and found it had a cargo of females and other valuables. There was also Intel that proved useful. Destroying them is no longer the best option. We need new ones. The pirates can be sent several places, so they are not wasted either. Coroga is for those that might be redeemed. It’s a sink or swim solution.”

“That makes sense. I’m glad I was able to help.” She offered.

“How did you come up with those ideas?”

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