Mitchell's Revenge

Tim Stern decided it was time to get some high powered help. He had his suspicions as to where the IGM were taking Anja, and was frustrated that Jake had no news as yet. Sibil was trying to stay calm, but he could see she was struggling to cope.

Anja meant the world to Sibil. After Anja, she had been unable to have another child. They had tried all sorts of treatments and then given up, grateful that they had at least one daughter together. Tim was glad that she viewed Jake as if he were her own son.

Sibil’s work as a fashion designer was quickly de-railed by her worry over her daughter. She found she simply couldn’t concentrate. When she wasn’t moping around the apartment she was at the local pool, swimming laps, in the vain hope that the activity would take her mind off it all.

Tim felt this was a particularly vicious form of revenge for something that had nothing to do with his family. The software issue alone had damaged the reputation of Universal Starship Enterprises to the point that orders were being cancelled despite the launch of Mitchell’s Revenge. The Tigerline case was ongoing and Erik was also embroiled in a nasty lawsuit against BSC, the company that had supplied the faulty product.

The Karhu system military was one of the few organisations to stick by them and take delivery of their completed stealth ships. When Lauri failed to diagnose the problem with the new software, he returned to their former supplier. The cost was higher than the BSC product but it was reliable. They were able to complete the construction and testing of the remaining Sniper class ships without incident.

Tim racked his brains about what to do since giving his instructions to Jake on board Mitchell’s Revenge. He pinged Lauri at the shipyard and asked him to contact his colleague in the Karhu System Military.

Admiral Andreus Bokkveld had authorised the release of the code used to repair Lucy and had championed the continuation of the contract with U.S.E. He trusted Lauri and knew that he would deliver on his promise. The revised stealth ships were exactly what they wanted, fast and manoeuvrable, with reliable FTL capacity, and the ability to vanish when required. Their weapons comprised the latest military hardware developed for small craft.

The coms unit chimed and Tim picked up the call.

“Admiral Bokkveld,” he said, “Thank you for calling me. We have a situation here, and I wanted to ask your advice.”

“I heard about it,” the Admiral chuckled. “A random event’s got you into hot water with the IGM.”

“You could say that,” replied Tim. “Did Lauri tell you about my daughter?”

“Sort of,” said the Admiral. “You’d better tell me what happened. This is a secure line. Go ahead.”

Tim took a deep breath and told him the full story.

“So you see,” said Tim, “I’m in a very difficult situation. I don’t want to involve the in-system police, I’m still trying to keep my company afloat, and I suspect we’re going to need a bit more help than Mitchell’s Revenge. Will you help us?”

“I don’t think I can do much at this stage other than send out a few scouts,” replied the Admiral. “I’d be reluctant to get too involved or questions will be asked. And that might prevent me from doing anything at all. I’ve got some ships, including some of your new ones, on training manoeuvres out past CX9 on the edge of the system.”

Tim’s coms unit chimed again. He glanced at the display and saw that Jake was finally calling him. He connected to Mitchell’s Revenge and asked Jake to listen.

“Excuse me Admiral,” said Tim, “Jake’s calling me now, I’ve asked him to listen in if you don’t mind.”

“Certainly,” said Admiral Bokkveld. “Have you any news Jake?”

“Only a suspicion,” replied Jake. “Nothing concrete yet.”

“So, tell us,” said Tim.

“Lucy’s convinced that Anja’s been snatched by the crew of the IGM ship Zond,” Jake replied. “It got in a scrap with an Eridanian boarding vessel in the Spansion Shipping Lane. Surely you saw the news feed?”

“Yes, I saw it,” said the Admiral. “But I didn’t know about your little problem at the time.”

“It looks like the Zond destroyed the boarding vessel and jumped away. The mother ship following them went berserk and...” Jake paused. “Hold on Admiral, there’s something....” His voice faded from the connection momentarily.

Tim and Admiral Bokkveld listened intently, waiting for Jake to come back to them.

“I don’t believe it!” Jake’s voice came back loud and clear.

“What’s happening?” they both asked at once.

“The Eridanian warship’s just turned up. It’s hot on the tail of a very ugly little boat which goes by the name of the Guardian Angel.” Jake replied. “This doesn’t look good. If you could send me some help Admiral, that would be great. I’ve got to go.” He severed the link.

“So do I,” said the Admiral. “I’ll see what help I can muster up. I’ll talk to you later Tim.” He cut the connection.

Tim sat staring at the coms unit in front of him.

“This just goes from bad to worse,” he thought morosely. “What the hell is an Eridanian anyway?”