Chapter 37. Stand Down or be Boarded.


    It took Watkins only a few moments to calculate the optimal position for mounting the beehive weapons. No matter which way he maneuvered, at least one should be facing a possible threat. There was also going to be little trouble in rolling the ship to present an unfired beehive if more than one shot proved necessary.


    Hours passed as they closed in, and still, the kobolds gave no reaction to their presence. Even with substandard commercial grade sensors, they should have noticed the Canon by now. He now had three missiles completed and loaded in the magazine, and his drones were well on their way to completing a fourth.


    A quick systems check gave Watkins a rundown of his ship’s readiness. His two main gun turrets were ready to fire, and the four point defense weapons were also functioning perfectly. The torpedo tubes were operational, and he had something to shoot. Loading the two tubes from the magazine would take him a few seconds, but he’d rather not keep anything in the tubes and ready to fire until they were closer.


    His hull armor was green across the board, and any imperfections in the section weakened by the void creature’s acid were fixed. The shields were rather weak, and something he’d have to upgrade when there was more time. For now, they’d at least give him an additional layer of protection over just the armor.


    His sensors were working great, and the picture of what they were heading into was getting clearer by the minute. Watkins could feel Lani’s attention shifting between helping the drones building the beehive systems and watching the ruins of the station they were rapidly approaching.


    “Looks bad, but at least part of the station seems to have had makeshift repairs completed on it. I wonder how long the kobolds have been here,” Watkins said as the examined at the orbital station. A large chunk of the station was just gone, blasted away by the missile attack over a century ago. Any debris had long since drifted off into space or crashed to the planet below.


    “I estimate a third of the station remains, though it looks like only half of that has been made habitable. At least they rebuilt a docking collar,” Lani said, drawing Watkins’ attention to the small ship still docked there.


    The kobold ship wasn’t all that impressive to Watkins. It was slightly smaller that the Canon, and it looked like a long cylinder with a larger, oddly shaped fore and aft sections The bow featured a wedge shape, and the hull appeared pitted from contact with debris over the long years of its use. Mounted aft of the main cylinder that made up most of the ship was the boxy main drive housing. Sporting only a single main thruster, about the size of one of Watkins’, the ship must have been sluggish off the line.


    He was too far out to get an idea of how many maneuver thrusters the kobold ship had, but he was willing to bet it wasn’t anywhere near as maneuverable as Canon. As far as weaponry, there was a single point defense weapon mounted in a small turret at the bow, and nothing aft that he could see.


    On the long cylindrical hull, three rectangular modules that reminded Watkins of shipping containers were mounted. On top of each module was a makeshift missile launcher. All the launchers except for one were empty, and the one that had ordinance only had a single missile loaded. The lack of missiles seemed to confirm that this was the ship that had fled the battle earlier. It had fired off several missiles at the halfling raider, and either had saved its last shot, or the missile was non-functional for some reason.


    “It’s about what I expected, an older cargo vessel that’s been converted into a pirate raider. I don’t have data on the exact specifications on that type of vessel, but it’s similar to other short haul vessels I remember. Normally the whole cylindrical main hull of the vessel would be covered in layers of those cargo containers, but now, it seems they have lost or sold all but the three remaining ones,” Lani said.


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    “I agree, it doesn’t seem all that impressive, but the station could be armed as well,” Watkins said, shifting his attention over to the station. The ship was docked via a flexible boarding collar and connected to the station’s largest surviving section. It was a rectangular module that was more than double the size of the ship.


    Made of an unknown alloy, Watkins didn’t believe the station’s hull was armored to stand up to any kind of real battle. Four more sections of the station survived with varying degrees of damage. A solar array was attached to the second brick-like module of the station and must have provided at least some of the station’s power, though he did detect a poorly shielded reactor onboard the same section as the solar array.


    The station sections were all connected by a pair of short metal tubes that must have been only wide enough for two people walking side by side. Oddly enough, one of the tubes on each section of the station had been intentionally cut away, leaving only a small, jagged end sticking out. Maybe that was for the kobolds to block access from potential enemies.


    Having two entrances open was a lot more dangerous than a single choke point if the station were boarded. The third module of the station had several lights that were visible through the viewports that were liberally sprinkled about that particular module. It gave Watkins the impression that this module was their living quarters. As for the fourth module, it was dark, and while it seemed intact, there were several dents and scars on the hull of the station module, like it had barely survived the blast and subsequent debris hammering into it.


    The final module was ripped in half, and didn’t appear to be used. All in all, there wasn’t much left of the place, and Watkins could feel his mood darken as he realized that the odds of his crew surviving were slim. Still, he had to see for himself what remained aboard the battered station’s remains.


    As the range closed, they were nearly into maximum range for his missiles when things started happening. A targeting scan hit his ship, and the power plant on the kobold ship began to warm up. Watkins was surprised when his ship was hailed by the station.


    “How should we handle this? Is there anything I should know if we talk to the kobolds?” Watkins asked Lani.


    “I’m not sure, though these creatures generally respect strength, so don’t appear weak or too friendly. Also, unless you want them to think you’re a ship full of halflings, which is probably not a good idea, you better just do audio only,” Lani suggested.


    “Got it, here we go,” Watkins said, accepting the direct communication link with the station.


    “What you think you doing here? This is our territory, the Scale Breaker Clan,” a shrill and hissing kobold voice said.


    It was obvious the kobold hailing them was trying to appear tough but was doing a rather poor job of it. If anything, Watkins pegged the kobold speaking with them as frightened. The bad part was, frightened peopled tended to do stupid things. Now, he had to figure out how to reply to the kobold.


    Watkins didn’t necessarily want to pick a fight if he could avoid it, but he also was damn sure going to get his MOBS aboard the station to see if he could find his crew. Maybe it would be best to start out firm, but diplomatic before he lit them up with laser fire and missiles.


    Before replying, he had both missile tubes loaded, and his main guns trained onto the kobold ship. There might be some defenses on the station, but so far, his scans hadn’t revealed any threats. Activating the comm link, Watkins responded.


    “This is Captain Wakins of the USS Canon. We are here to inspect the station. Stand down and allow us to do our inspection and we will leave you in peace once we are done,” Watkins said. A reply wasn’t long in coming.


    “What species you? You ship is odd, but whoever you are, you can leave-flee now,” was all the kobold said in reply.


    “Lani, what are the odds that they’ve loaded our crew, or your server onto their ship? I know you don’t have all your information on the kobolds, but I want your best guess before I shove a missile up their main thruster,” Watkins asked.


    “I would say that it’s a very low probability that they’re aboard. The stasis pods and my server would be stored in a secured area and hidden from casual observation. They’d have to have torn the station apart to find them. Even if they did find them, until they had a buyer, they’d probably leave them aboard the station to save room on their ship for plunder if they encountered an unsuspecting victim out in the shipping lanes. We’re talking about very specialized equipment, and unless they wanted to sell them at scrap value, they’d have to spend time looking for a buyer who not only had a need for the device, but also wouldn’t ask too many questions,” Lani explained.


    “Attention station, power down your targeting array and stand by to be boarded. This is your last warning,” Watkins growled.


    “This last warning? No, this is last warning, I warning you that you dead now,” the kobold hissed before cutting off comms. A threat indicator appeared automatically in Watkins’ vision as the missile on the kobold ship’s hull ignited its engine and hurled toward them.


    Missile launch detected.