The Fringe Wars

1.24

Divide and Conquer

"Why would they be out here?" Critch asked. "The fleet base of operations is in between Myr and Alluvia. They're on the wrong side of Myr."

"Heid said Ausyar was making changes to the fleet," Reyne said. "My guess is this is all his doing."

"You think he moved the fleet farther from Alluvia to make it easier to control?"

Reyne shook his head. "Don't know, but I do know they wouldn't send the entire fleet for a single crew of torrents. They have to be out here for some other reason."

"Let's hope that reason doesn't involve shooting us and fucking up our plans."

Reyne turned to Critch. "Don't slow down, and don't veer off course. We want them to think we're just passing through on a regular run."

"You want to fly?" Critch snapped back.

"Yeah, I do," Reyne answered.

Critch hesitated. "Well, you can't."

Reyne eyed the pirate long and hard before forcing himself to relax. On the Gryphon, he'd have access to systems to see everything Critch was seeing. But the Eagle was an obsolete craft. It had few redundancies, including a single panel for piloting and navigating. It made Reyne feel downright helpless.

"Aw, hell," Critch muttered. "We're being hailed."

"Myrad Eagle II hauler Four-Six-Seven-Four-Five, this is the Collective Unified Forces destroyer Vigor. You are cleared to pass through to Myr. Adjust course to heading seven-eight-four-point-five-point-three-two. This is to have you maintain a safe distance of at least one hundred clicks from the fleet."

Critch paused for a short moment before sending a response. "Vigor, this is Myr-Four-Six-Seven-Four-Five. Message received. Adjusting course to maintain a safe distance. Thank you, and have a nice day."

A response came speedily back. "Have a good day, and safe travels Myr-Four-Five."

Reyne chuckled. "Even their old junkers get treated better than colonists."

"Assuming they're not drawing us into a trap," Critch said. "This feels eerily similar to how I nabbed an Alluvian cruiser a few months back."

Reyne frowned. "I wish Demes could be plugged into their systems right about now to see what they're thinking."

"Agreed." Critch rubbed his hands. "Well, we're a Myrad hauler, and we're going to cruise right past the entire CUF fleet and through that space barrier as if we've done it a hundred times before."

Reyne cocked his head. "I never took you for an optimist."

"All pirates are optimists; otherwise, they'd never leave the docks."

"I thought you were all opportunists."

Critch shrugged. "No difference."

Silence fell on the bridge. Reyne broadcast nothing to the crew in case the CUF was picking up their radios. He knew the crew was nervous, and he considered making rounds to update them, but he couldn't bring himself to stand. Not when the view screen was filled with several dozen warships, frigates, destroyers, gunships, and patrols.

As they approached the fleet, Reyne and Critch shot harried glances at each other. They were easily within shooting range and could be blown into the abyss without a single chance for counter maneuvers. Not that they could make any kind of stand in this ship, as it were.

The ships sat in loose groupings. The warships sat together, with the frigates and destroyers separated. Gunships sat closer to the barrier. Patrol ships, work ships, and mish-mash of smaller ships sat as outliers.