The freighter should not have been there. It hung on the outer edge of the asteroid belt. There was no sign of life or power. The only reason the two fighter craft patrol found the drifting hulk was the constant training they needed had left them with few areas of unpatrolled space for maneuvers.
"You get anything off that hulk Wiz?" Lt. Cmdr. Janice "Sparky" McGuire asked her backseat weapon's officer. She was the flight leader of the two plane formation and she wanted to know what was going on.
"No joy Sparky," Lt. Michael "Wiz" Wizanski replied. "No power, no answer to my hails."
"Chunky, Sparky, you guys getting anything?"
"That's a negative here Sparky." Lt. Carl "Chunky" Martin, the painfully thin back-seater in the other ship responded.
"Kay, I am going it for a closer look, cover me." Sparky said.
"Wilco." Lt. Cmdr. James "Killer" Killian responded, breaking hard left.
Janice rolled her ship over and went towards the drifting freighter, her wingman spread out to cover her, but still following. The monster ship dwarfed the fighters and blocked out the light from the distant star and the asteroids were moving over the giant hulk.
Janice pulled a full orbit over the top of the hull with no readings, but there was as a small signal from the far side.
"Killer, we are going to check on a signal on the far side. Come and take over top cover and watch our six."
"Right behind you," came Killer's response.
Janice arched the fighter and dropped down the dark side of the ship, relying on her instruments to avoid the giant hunks of drifting rock.
"Anything Wiz?"
"Nada boss."
"Let's get out of here." Sparky said. "We will notify home-plate when we are clear, they can send a tow."
"Killer, Sparky, we are on our way out." Static was her only reply.
"Killer, you read me." Still no answer.
"Killer, quit screwing around and respond."
"Wiz, can you reach that idiot."
"Negative, I think the asteroids may be refracting our signal."
Something twigged inside Janice's head and she hit the throttle wide open.
"Master arm on," she screamed. "It's a trap."
"What," Wiz questioned, flipping the switches to arm the weapons.
"Comms were fine as we approached the freighter, now we can't reach Killer." Janice said, willing her fighter to make it into open space, just as a massive impact shook the ship.
"We've been hit, major damage to all syste..." Wiz said, then static in her ears as blue lightning erupted inside the cockpit.
"Wiz...WIZ." She yelled. Turning in her seat after the lightning passed, she could only see his head hanging down, sparks still jumping in his cockpit.
"Home-plate, this is Recon Alpha One, am under attack, lost Killer and Wiz." Janice said sharply. She checked her instruments and saw that all her power levels were dead, she wasn't putting out a signal and she wasn't moving, at least not forward. The freighter passed beneath her and she saw that she was moving backwards.
"Home-plate this is Recon Alpha One, am being drawn beyond the freighter by some magnetic beam. Think same beam shorted out ship systems and possibly Wiz." Janice knew that she wasn't putting out a signal but she hoped that the cockpit recorder might still be working.
A large piece of wreckage passed before her and she saw the markings of her squadron. Killer and Chunky's ship had impacted on an asteroid, killing both of them. She could see their lifeless bodies; both helmets and canopies open to space.
"Killer and Chunky are dead. I can see their bodies still in their ship."
A large shadow passed over her cockpit and Janice looked up to see the hull of a large ship pass overhead as her fighter was pulled into the bay. One look at the colour scheme of the hull was all she needed.
"Home-plate, am being taken by Vantarian pirates. Will set self-destruct."
She broke the lock and flipped the cover up on the overload switch and pushed it firmly. Nothing happened. She hit it again and still there was no response. Cursing fluently, she reached under her seat and pulled the old fashion explosive device out. It was a last ditch device, designed for just such an occasion. It had a proximity sensor, anyone getting in the seat, without a fleet implant would activate it, one minute later, there would be little left of the craft, and anything else within fifty meters.
She armed the explosive and put it back under her seat, but she changed the timer to five minutes. She wanted to make sure that the explosion got as many pirates as possible.
The fighter moved into the bay and was locked down and chocked into place. Janice sat still for a moment, and then began her normal shut down routine. The longer it took them to get the craft going the better.
Her canopy popped and the three pirates pointing frag guns at her. The frag gun was a particularly nasty weapon, it fired fragmentation darts that exploded on impact, or could be set for delayed detonation, to explode after it entered the target.
Janice raised both her hands, pulled her sidearm from its holster with two fingers and dropped it to the floor of the fighter. She unhooked her suit from the ship and stood slowly. She turned around and saw Wiz. There was blood down his face and most of his body was covered in electrical burns. He was clearly dead.
Janice climbed out of the cockpit and stood on the platform. The first pirate motioned with his weapon and she preceded him down the stairs to the hanger deck. A pirate leaned in, flicked the canopy close switch and leaned out of the way. Janice paused at the bottom of the stairs and watched her fighter as it was pushed out of the bay and grabbed by the magnetic beam. An instant later, she saw the flash of the explosion as the fighter impacted on an asteroid. The bay hatch slid closed as the guard pushed her with his rifle.
Janice made her way through the ship until they arrived at the hatch marked Captain, it parted as they approached and she was pushed roughly inside. Seated behind a large desk, made out of what looked like actual wood was a thin looking man. He was short, sandy haired and dark eyed. His face was dominated by a large hook nose and too small mouth. He stood up and Janice saw that she was only about three inches shorter than he was, but the look on the face of the crewman who had escorted her there was one of absolute obedience.
It was inconceivable that anyone so small and timid looking could be in command. He looked like the guy in that Christmas special that her mother had watched every year, Cratchett something. Another thought entered and she finally understood the term her great great grandmother had used. Here standing in front of her was what Grangran had called a Nebbish.
"Welcome aboard the Destiny." He said in a smooth voice and Janice blinked that such a cultured deep voice could come from such a small man. "I am Captain Jason Hillson."
"McGuire, Janice, Lieutenant Commander Alliance Command, SV four eight niner seven one three epsilon."
"Yes Commander, we know who you are." He told her and she looked surprised in spite of herself, he nodded down and she looked down and saw her name and rank on her flight suit.
"I do apologize for having to bring you aboard so unceremoniously, but it couldn't be helped. Your fighter wandered into our recovery zone and I can't have anyone finding out about our operation here."