"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."
"What operation?"
"Why we are salvage experts." He said pleasantly. "We recover spacecraft and other material and sell it or dispose of it safely."
"They why did you kill my EChO?"
"That was a tragic accident of the magnetic beam used to bring you aboard. Now unfortunately your unexpected arrival has caused us to accelerate our time table and I have other duties to attend to, but I would appreciate it if you could join me for dinner in an hour. You escort will show you to your quarters, where you will find a shower and more appropriate clothing to wear rather than your flight suit. And before you refuse, just let me inform you that if you don't dine with me you won't eat and that you can't stay in your flight suit forever, it's limited internal power will run out eventually and while we are not equipped to service such suits, I think we can jury rig something to keep it recharged in the event that we are called to quarters and you need your suit. Good afternoon Commander."
He turned his back to her and the pirate behind her grabbed her arm firmly and pulled her out of the office. Janice could have withstood him indefinitely, but she wanted to keep her superior strength a secret till it became time to escape.
Her quarters were just down the corridor from the Captain's office and were rather nicely decorated. There was a large comfortable looking bed and a wardrobe ready for any kind of clothes that she would need and a large locked cabinet. There was a replicator, but when she checked it she saw that the food settings were locked out. The suite had its own shower and head and she stood in the middle of the room as the guard walked slowly backwards from her to the hatch, his weapon never wavering.
Janice looked around after the hatch closed and realized that the room was a prison, maybe well appointed, but a prison none the less. She checked the storage niche and found that with a little adjustment, she could indeed charge her suit. She stripped it off and hooked it up, and then padded into the head. The shower was real water, not just sonics and she luxuriated in the feeling. Water showers were a rarity on board ship. She rinsed off the sweat of the flight and tried to let the guilt at losing her ship and friends go with it, but it was hard.
She slipped out of the head, still naked and drying herself, despite the monitoring equipment that she knew as watching her and proceeded to the wardrobe. She found a rather exotic style of clothing; most of it looked like it came from the whore houses of Deneb Two and then turned to the replicator. It responded to her request and produced a simple white blouse, black pants and low heel boots. As she finished drying her short mop of curly brown hair, the door to the cabin opened and the same guard who brought her there stood in the opening. A quick flick of his weapon and she walked calmly to the hatch and down the corridor.
The trip to the Captain's dining room was short and unceremonious. The large table was set for ten and she was shown to the right hand seat by the head of the table. The rest of the officers were already seated and as soon as her backside touched the seat the chair emitted a hum and she was pulled back and locked into place.
"Sorry about the tractor web." The Captain said has he entered the cabin, "but your orders undoubtedly include trying to sabotage this ship, destroy it and escape if possible. I'm sorry, but I can't allow that at this time."
"You know that you can't get me to revel anything through torture." Janice said with difficulty.
"I have no intention of forcing you to revel any secrets; you will tell me of your own free will." He smiled gently at her. "But in the meantime I can't have you running around loose on board doing who knows what. To that end, I have a little fashion accessory for you to compliment your outfit."
He reached over to her and unbuttoned the top two buttons on her blouse and held up a ring for her to see.
"This collar is for you. Call it a present if you will." He slipped the collar around her neck and she heard it snap shut with dreadful finality. "It is magnetically locked, so you can't remove it. It will also prevent you from doing anything unfortunate while you are with us." He sat down and leaned back comfortably. "Also the collar will be able to determine if you are being truthful or deceitful. If you respond to any question without the complete truth, you will be punished. If you tell the whole truth, nothing will happen, in addition, if you say nothing, you will not be punished, just a little warning." He pressed a button on the arm of his chair and the tractor field released her. "Please don't attempt anything violent, the collar will react badly."
