Castle's Tanks

By

UCSBdad

Disclaimer: Tanks, but I don't own Castle. Rating: K Time: Several centuries into an AU future.

Castle was just finishing his meal when Christophe sat down next to him.

"If you don't mind me asking, Lieutenant, how did you end up running a platoon of Tarkai scouts?"

"Long story."

"We have time, sir."

"The planet Tark was discovered by humans about a century ago. It had an indigenous race that had just gotten started on smelting metals and there was really nothing about it to attract anyone's attention. But there's a non-human race in the Europa Cluster called the Ardizir. They discovered FTL drive a couple of centuries before we did, but they lacked the humans' interest in exploring, trading and settling new planets. But they did manage to find out that a plant on Tark could be refined to provide a medicine for a neurological disorder they suffered from. It could have been made in a lab, but they have a religious or philosophical dislike of medicines from dead machines. The Geiser Company hired my parents to set up plantations on Tark, hire Tarkai and whatnot."

Castle sighed, remembering those days.

"Anyway, my parents loved the Tarkai. They set up a school for Tarkai kids and taught everyone basic hygiene. My mom even tried to become an expert in Tarkai medicine."

"A planter named Demming objected to all of this. He wanted the Tarkai to work on plantations and do nothing else. My parents refused. So, one day Demming and some others came to our plantation and murdered my parents and older brothers and sisters. I was playing with some Tarkai children and ran home when I heard the screams and shots. I would have died as well, but a Tarkai woman grabbed me and took me to the spaceport. As luck would have it, there was a recruiting team from Black Jacques Schram's unit there, just passing through. I told them I wanted to become a soldier to kill the men who'd just killed my family. For whatever reason, they loaded me on their ship and took me away. Schram paid for my education up to a two-year military college and when I was commissioned, he hired me. I not only spoke Tarkai, but knew about their culture and my family was famous among the Tarkai. And, so, here I am."

"One day I want to raise my own force of Tarkai and get justice for my dead family and enslaved Tarkai."

"Best of luck, sir."

"I'll need more than luck."

Problems began on the second day of their trip.

Lisa Ianelli, the sensor officer, checked her screens again.

"Captain, our sensors are going all wonky."

Xi came over and looked at the screens.

"What's causing that?"

"I think our sensors are being jammed, Captain."

"Damn. Military?"

"I can't tell."

"See if you can get a look at them."

Ianelli called her team together and got to work.

"Captain, I don't think it's military, but something is coming up behind us really fast."

Xi got on the intercom.

"Engineering, we're being chased. Go to 100% power."

The Just Deserts shot ahead briefly, but then the stranger began to close on them again.

'Engineering, go to 105%."

This time the Just Deserts hardly got ahead of the other ship at all.

"Engineering, disengage the safety protocols. Give me everything."

"Captain, we can only hold that for maybe an hour. If we don't blow up, the engines will stop."

"Do it. That's got to be a damned pirate behind us."

"Incoming signal, Captain."

"Captain Xi, this is the Jacquerie, Captain Goddard, at your service. I see that you've disengaged your safety protocols, so you can only run at that speed for an hour or so. My ship, however, is only running at 95% power. I suggest you surrender. Your ship, your cargo and your crew will belong to me. I know that you have enough money to pay me a handsome ransom for your ship and crew. I'll keep whatever cargo you have, though."

"Let me think about it." Xi said angrily.

"Don't take too long. Blowing up your ship will do neither of us any good."

"Captain Xi, I came up to the bridge to see what the problem is." Castle said.

"Well, now you know."

"He referred to your cargo. He doesn't know you're carrying us."

"So?"

"Maybe nothing. But tell me how this pirate operates. Does he have weapons on his ship?"

Xi shook her head.

"No. I know about the Jacquerie. They don't want to risk damaging a valuable starship. They'll come alongside of us, use a magnetic grapple to mate their airlock with ours, then open the airlock and flood our ship with an incapacitating gas."

"Can we keep our airlock closed?"

"No. Airlocks are made to be easy to open for obvious safety reasons. Even if we jammed it, they could punch a hole in it and shoot the gas in anyway."

"How many people are on the Jacquerie?

"Maybe a dozen crew and another dozen goons for the boarding party. Are you thinking of fighting them off?"

Rick smiled.

"I'm thinking of taking their ship."

"Okay, one part of his intelligence was wrong. I'm short of cash, which is why I took this job. He'll end up with my ship and me and my crew will be sold as slaves somewhere. I don't know what he'll do with your troops."

Castle shrugged.

"Best we don't find out. My troops have military chemical warfare gear. Their gas shouldn't bother us too much. Give us ten minutes and then agree to their terms."

Castle put Sergeant Gorad and his team, wearing chameleon suits, the closest to the air lock. Two squads were placed down a passageway from the airlock where they couldn't be seen by the boarders as they came in. Another two squads were with Castle, ready to board.

The Just Deserts slowed down and Rick could hear and feel a distinct thump as the two ships mated. The airlock was opened and a man came through spraying gas. It had no effect on Castle's troops, but it did knock out the crew and all of the troops who had no protective gear.

The gas sprayer was followed by ten lightly armed men. They carried either pistols or shotguns. As soon as they reached the two squads in the passageway, the Takai opened fire, cutting them all down. The scouts in chameleon suits threw concussion grenades through the airlocks and into the Jacquerie. The flash and bang of the grenades disoriented the two nearby pirate crewmen.

Castle led his two squads through the airlocks and into the Jacquerie. Two men by the airlock were armed and were shot. Sergeant Gorad's scouts were left to make sure the two ships remained connected. Castle led one squad to where he hoped the bridge was and the other squad headed for the engine room.

Goddard was screaming orders when Castle led his squad onto the bridge. Sergeant Saava dropped him with a rifle butt to the head. The rest of the bridge crew surrendered, as did the engine room crew.

Private Denka stuck his head in the bridge.

"Sir, Corporal Boonef has found something. He wants you to come and see."

What Boonef had found were six locked doors with a small door at the bottom. Tarkai and humans were yelling back and forth.

"Don't shoot us. We're hostages." The humans inside kept screaming.

"I'm Lieutenant Rick Castle, Black Jacques Schram's Brigade. We aren't going to shoot you. How do we open the doors. All we can see are small doors."

"They give us food through the small doors." Was yelled back. "The pirates have the keys somewhere."

Since their radios didn't work well in the metal confines of the spaceship, Castle sent a soldier back to Sergeant Saava to find the keys.

Rifleman Phu'un soon brought back the keys and Castle opened the first cell.

"Who are you?" He asked the man standing nearest the door. He was a bearded, older man wearing a somewhat tattered blue uniform.

"I'm Captain Seamus O'Donnell, captain of the Connaught Spacelines ship Dublin Girl. Although I imagine my ship and her cargo are long gone. These are my officers and an engineer from the company who was deadheading with us."

The other cells contained similar hostages, being held for ransom. All together there were twenty-eight people.

Castle took them back to the Just Deserts and had Doc Charles look them over.

"Any wounded?" Castle asked Charles as he looked over a freed crewman.

"Of the eleven people who boarded the ship, nine were killed. Two are still alive, but not for long. I don't have the experience or the facilities to help them. I sedated them so they'll die peacefully."

"What about the crew of the Just Deserts?"

"We're just fine." Said Captain Xi, although she looked a little wobbly.

"Everyone?"

"Yes. And you took the Jacquerie, captured her crew and rescued some hostages?"

"Yes. We have twenty-eight freed hostages."

"My god, we're rich. Lieutenant, you're rich. Your troops are rich."

"How come?"

"We'll put in a claim for the ship at an Admiralty Court on Rendezvous. Any kind of FTL ship is worth millions. Plus, there's a bounty on Goddard and his crew. Several planets have a price on their heads. And the shipping companies who won't have to pay a ransom for their crews will be happy to give us a nice bonus. We're rich."

"No, Captain Xi. You're rich and so is Colonel Schram. Aside from consumables we pick up on the battlefield such as food, water, ammo, medicines, and some weapons, anything captured by Colonel Schram's troops belongs to the brigade. We will probably all get a bonus, but that won't make us rich."

'That's absurd. Schram was nowhere near here."

Rick just shrugged.

"That's what's in the contract I signed. And it's a good idea. Without it, too many soldiers would just become looters."

"Can't you do anything?"

"Not really. And I like working for Schram. If I broke the contract, I'd never work as a mercenary again. At least not for any unit better than a bunch of rent-a-cops."

Xi shook her head and went back to the bridge.

She had Captain O'Donnell take over the Jacquerie and both ships headed for Rendezvous.

The day before they arrived at the planet, Castle asked Xi a question.

"Can you tell me anything about Rendezvous?"

"I've only been to the orbital spaceport, not dirtside Rendezvous. If you've seen one orbital spaceport, you've seen them all. But Rendezvous planet is a lot like Transit in the Europa Cluster. All it's got is location. At least a dozen trade routes pass right by there. The planet itself will never amount to much."

"Why not?" Castle asked. "I was told it's an Earth like planet."

"It is, except for one thing. Nothing that grows there is edible by humans, or most sentient beings, for that matter. The proteins and vitamins are all wrong. I'm not sure why that is, but if you tried to eat nothing but native food you'd starve."

"How do they feed the people on the planet then?"

"They import some food. The city of Rendezvous grows some food in greenhouses in the city and some Earth type foods are grown outside the city. But it's very hard to grow Earth foods there. Wheat won't grow at all. Some kind of bug attacks the wheat. I think they can grow rice and corn, but they lose a lot of the crops to local parasites and they're far harder to grow than on more friendly planets."

As soon as they came out of FTL in the Rendezvous system, Xi commed the orbital spaceport and advised them that they'd captured Jacquerie and Captain Goddard and his crew.

"They'll have an Admiralty Court waiting for us when we dock at the spaceport." Xi told her crew and passengers. "They'll want everyone to testify, but the former hostages will be the most important since they can directly prove piracy."

"What'll happen to the pirates?" Rick asked.

"They'll be convicted. Rendezvous doesn't have much in the way of a court system. After that. I'm not sure."

TBC