7

Two days before the planned arrival of the pirates JumpShip the DroST IIb stowed to the abandoned JumpShip, to delay the enemy detection when they would come out of hyperspace. With it were the two Hammerheads and the four Intrepids, loaded with the marines.

Three days later, the pirate ship returned as planned.

The problem was that it didn't return alone. Just a few seconds after its jump, another JumpShip, a Merchant, also exited hyperspace.

Faced with two targets instead of one, the Hammerheads stuck to the plan "neutralize the Leopard", while the Intrepids split in two with one pair facing each JumpShip.

But this time, luck was not with the Revenants and not only did the Leopard manage to unlock faster than anyone expected but with a lucky shot, it hit one rocket pod destroying one Hammerhead.

The other Hammerhead hit with a revenge the pirate DropShip, thanks to a concentrated massive salvo of rockets and two large lasers landing on the roof. Some shots must have penetrated the cockpit because the DropShip suddenly stopped to maneuver or to return fire, moving erratically.

While the force sent to the Merchant encountered little resistance taking both the JumpShip and DropShip with little casualties and freeing prisoners, the pirate numbers and skill extracted a bloody price from the marines trying to capture the Tramp or more precisely the Buccaneer. Only the arrival of one of the other Intrepids with reinforcements changed the situation and allowed for the capture of both pirates ships although at a high cost in personnel.

Capturing the damaged Leopard proved difficult. Not because of any organized resistance but its damaged cockpit made it very difficult to stabilize and move it. Only through the use of the Intrepids as improvised tugs and the jury-rigged repairs done by Dr. Murad's team did we manage to stabilize the Leopard. Reattaching it to one of the JumpShips was a long and nightmarish operation.

Inside were less 'Mechs than I had expected. The pirates had lost half their forces during a not so successfully raid and were left with one Phoenix Hawk and two Wasps, all in very bad shape and displaying the marks of a narrow escape.

The sole DropShip attached to the Merchant was an old Monarch.

Soon after, I received a video call from the men sent to capture the Monarch. Surprise... The ship was full with a Canopian diplomatic team and their leader wanted to talk with me.

Looking at me on the screen was a very striking woman – tall, a mix of African and North European traits, blue eyes, with long brow hair and a very elegant business suit, perfectly dressed, even if a few moments ago as been in pirates hands ...and I had the distinct feeling that I knew her from some place…

'Mister Bassot, thank you for freeing us from these pirates. My name is Ana Maria Centrella and I'm leading this Diplomatic Team. We were in route to our destination when we got captured.'

That's it! She was the Canopian diplomat from the HBS game !!!, Boy, ten years early and pretty (my twenty something body screamed "Holly Shit Shes Hot", but my fifty six mind said "heck, she's pretty")

'What I can do for you, Lady Centrella?'

'What I would like to know is what you plan to do with us?'

'Well Lady Centrella, since my security force are confident that all the pirates are dealt with, you and your team are of-course free to go your own way. Can I be of any further assistance ?'

'I don't think so. In my name and in the name of the Magistracy, I would like to thank you and your force for freeing us from these pirates. Just out of curiosity could you tell me how you found us?'

'Well, Lady Centrella, we were executing some anti-piracy operations in the area, when you and your captors just came by. '

'I see. Farewell Mister Bassot,'

Luckily for her and her team, only their security team had been killed while the rest were left untouched by the pirates. Clearly they had expected to extract a big ransom from the Magistracy from this coup.

A few days later our JumpShip departed for Detroit taking with it the liberated slaves and with orders to buy enough helium and if possible spare parts to help repairing the abandoned JumpShip. Just a precaution in case Murad team couldn't produce or repair everything.

At some point during our wait, Vasseur entered my makeshift cabinet.

'Do you want something, Brigadier?'

'I just wanted to make the final report for this operation, Sir'

Well, well – from son to Sir. This was going to be fun.

'Please do so Brigadier.'

'We captured one damaged Merchant that our techs are confident they can repair, a Tramp that is in decent shape, a Trojan, that is in surprising good shape and fully armed and can be used as soon as our techs repair the frozen docking collar in the Merchant, a very damaged Leopard that needs a new cockpit at least, a Buccaneer that can get a refit but for now is usable and a Jumbo that is also almost repaired by our resident tech wizard. You can add to this three 'Mechs, one Phoenix Hawk and two Wasps. However, I would prefer that V4RU do a comprehensive repair and refit before any of them is deployed. The other goodies obtained from the ruins of the Argo were a small but well equipped and highly automated hospital and enough simulation pods to increase the capability we already had from lance to a full company simulation. We also got several parts from the ones that we destroyed and hundreds of tons of useful gear from that wrecked massive DropShip that we came to capture. That one is a total loss, I'm afraid. Our losses are one Hammerhead and ten soldiers, six assaulting the pirates base and the other four during the assault on the JumpShips and DropShips but we had a lot of injured people in that one.'

'So, not bad after all, even with us failing to obtain our principal objective.'

'Not bad? We get in one single mission more booty than several forces in a life-time! And the thanks of a high-ranking diplomat from a neighbor nation that could be useful in the future. When we present the report to the MRB, our rank is going up and not just a bit.'

'To be fair, Brigadier, I only planned to deal with the ground forces the pirates had and if possible take the Argo. I never dreamed of also taking such so much booty.'