Sarha found something at the far end of the scanner's range, "Tim, you are needed on the bridge."
Tim entered the bridge saying: "Sarha, what is it that I'm needed here for?" Looking around, seeing he is the only one there. Sitting down and waiting.
"Tim, I have brought the ship to a halt. There seems to be something in our way.
My scanners have approximately 150 small objects in front of us." Sarha replied.
"Can you put it up on the big screen?" Tim inquired.
The large screen now displays the contents of the scanner. Tim, on a closer look, there seems to be a pattern. "Sarha, can we send a probe? We must know what these things are."
"Sending a probe, now," Sarha replied.
"Sarha, have the girls come to the bridge," Tim said. Now he is really studying the objects. Wondering why someone would put something out in the middle of this part of space with no warning.
Tabitha, Tammy, and Pauline all entering the bridge at the same time. Tammy was asking, "What is up, Tim." Each one has taken their seats and has checked their control panels.
"Ladies, please watch all scanners for anything. We have objects ahead of us that are unfamiliar. Sarha, how long before the probe gets within range?" Tim said cautiously.
"Tim, two minutes," Sarha replied.
"Tammy, please, place the space probe camera on the main screen," Tim asked. Everyone now sees what the probe sees. The objects are spaced equally. They are about ten feet across, with spikes. "Those are mines!" Tim said.
"Sarha, hold the probe up, but keep it there. Girls, I need a real exceptional scan of the area." Tim said.
The girls started working as soon as Tim asked, they did their best to obtain the necessary information. Tammy yelled out, "Tim, nothing on the scanner."
"Tim, those are small mines. They are not meant to kill or destroy, only disable." Pauline said.
"Tim, this sounds like a trap. What are we going to do about it?" Tabitha asked.
Tim was thinking,
We have a few things to think about here. First, who would sit a trap like this? Second, where are they now? Third, do we spring it and wait, or clear it out and then leave?
"Well, ladies, I'm open to your thoughts. Tabitha, you are first."
"If we set the mines off, what would happen?" Tabitha asked.
"There are one hundred fifty mines to blow. After that, what?" Tim asked.
"We leave." Tabitha sets back and thinking.
"They will come back and set the trap again," Pauline said with annoyance.
"Let's set a trap of our own," Tammy replied.
"Ok, that's seems like a good idea, how do you want to do it?" Tim asked.
"I don't know, what if we put Tabitha's ship out there making it look like it hit a mine, then when they come back, we blow them out into space," Tammy said.
"I think you got a plan. Tim, do you think it would work?" Tabitha said suggestively.
"Yes, I think it will work, Sarha; I would like the bot out there to blow two mines when I say, after blowing the two mines, and Tabitha will then place her ship in that area. Then, Tabitha, you will transport back here and wait." Tim stated.
"Before I leave the ship, should I make a distress call?" Tabitha asked.
"No, what happens if somebody hears the call and comes to see what happened, and these are not the bad guys. Ok, girls, let's think about this a little more, we will meet back here later." Tim said.
* * * * *
Tim leaving the bridge, was headed to the fitness room, having Scrappy meet him there for their regular workout. Tim was now running about ten miles, at five-minute miles. Then over to do bend presses. He was now doing over eight hundred pounds. The work-out took about two hours. Tim was leaving the fitness room headed back to his quarters for a shower, then to the bridge.
* * * * *
Tim walked onto the bridge, then towards the debriefing room, asked, "Sarha, could you have all the girls meet me in the debriefing room?" Entering and taking his seat on the far-right side. As the girls came in, taking their seats, starting next to Tim, Tabitha, Tammy, Pauline, and Madlyn.
"What are we here for?" Tabitha asked. Turning towards Tim. The rest of the girls now in their seats and waiting to see what Tim wants.
Tim is looking at each girl, "We need to figure out what we are going to do about the trap. I need your ideas."
"Tim, you were a member of the military. Why do you need us?" Tammy said. She is now sitting up squarer in her seat.
"Yes, I was Military, but you girls may have a better idea. It is always nice to use all of one's resources." Saying this with a smile. "Who will be the first with a good idea on how to act?"
"How do we know how many are coming?" Pauline states. She leans forward in her seat, turning to look at the other girls, just to see how they act.
"We don't. That is why we need to plan this out now. We need more than one plan." Tim replied, setting back and checking out each girl's face.
"Do we have any idea who will be coming?" Madlyn asked, with a worried look. "What are we going to do if there are too many of them?"
"That's the question I want you girls to answer! I need each of you to tell me what you want done? Each of you has had a run-in with the pirates. Now, this might be a pirate's ambush for somebody else, and we have to know how each of you believes regarding this?" Tim asked.
"Tim, I would not want anyone to go through what Tammy and I went through. But at the same time, I want to stop all this pirate shit. I think these attacks on smaller ships are only the beginning!" Tabitha said.
"If we stop this now, the pirates will just start it up somewhere else. Then what will we do? Go all across these universes looking for them? We'll spend the rest of our life going after them." Tammy replied.
"So, we just move on and let someone else fall into the pirates' trap," Madlyn asked curiously, Sitting there with a sad and worried look.
"If we stop just one group and save one more life, do we feel good, or do we try to do more?" Tabitha was just wanting to know.
"We don't have to go looking for them, but if we come across them, we don't have to run either. Look, each of us knows how it feels. I don't want anyone else to be placed in danger like Jeanne, and I were." Madlyn replied. She now has a stern look on her face.
Every one of the girls knows what she means. She is just saying how each one of them feels. The truth is each one wants to do something to the pirates, to get back at them.
"Does each of you feel the same way?" Tim asked, looking from face to face, with each face showing the look of fear and horror. He knows the answer.
Tim is now sitting a little straighter and a bit taller, knowing the girls just talked themselves into this fight. Knowing that each of them had a personal reason for wanting this, the only thing now was getting them to understand how we need to do it without getting killed.
"Ok, we know we're going to put Regel 1 into the minefield. And use it as temptation for our trap, ok? Now what?" Tabitha said. She is looking around,
"We wait to see who comes to the rescue; if it is friendly, we tell them we corrected the problem. If they are not friendly, then we kill them." Tammy replied.
"How are we going to kill them?" Pauline asked the question. The worried look is gone. Now a hard-looking face appeared.
"How will we know if they are friendly or not?" Madlyn asked, getting up to get a cup of coffee. Asking, "Does anyone else want a cup?" looking around.
All head's shaking no. She then grabs a cup and sit's back down. She turns to look at Tim. Tim, looking back, just nods his head.
"I guess I'll have to be on my ship, sitting there waiting to be rescued. That way, they will see me there, thinking I'm alone." Tabitha states.
"Tabitha, I will set-up a system where we hear everything that is going on over there. Also, I will set-up the cameras to see everything. That way, there will be no surprises. I will also place probes all around your ship, so we can see everything." Sarha replied.
"If they are friendly, they will believe you. Otherwise, a pirate will want to come aboard to see if you are ok." Pauline said.
"What if there is more than one ship?" asked Madlyn. Now she is the one with the worried look. "What if they come with ten or more ships?"
"Sarha, can you somehow move the mines if needed?" Tammy asked.
"Why do you want to move the mines?" Pauline asked, with a puzzled look.
"If there are more than one, we could use the mines to take out a few ships," Tammy said.
Tim is sitting back and watching the women work out the whole battle by themselves. Smiling the whole time, who would guess that these women, and their ideas of battle, could work.
"If we could push the mines into the oncoming path of the ship, it would slow them down," stated Tammy.
"I could have the bots manufacture, small probes, to push the mines to where you wanted them. Even to get them right up against the ship's themself before setting them off." Sarha replied.
"Sarha, could you start on them now?" Tabitha asked. Sarha nodded her head, yes.
"Is there any way to make some more of those nano-bots, we used on Madlyn's four pirate's ship. You know the cloaked ones? Maybe we could set-up a line of them." Pauline looking at Sarha, she was now smiling; maybe her ideas could help.
"I'm having more bot's working on them, Are there any more ideas?" Sarha replied.
"I can do the same thing as before." Sarha replied, "I can scan each ship for the body count and weapons. Maybe I can hack into their onboard computer system, download all information for future reference."
Tim is really impressed. Even Sarha is getting into this, and she is only the ship's AI. "Sarha, how are you going to hack into their ship's computer system?"