Asteroid Belt

I laid on the floor underneath one of the instrument panels in the crow's nest where the sensors array and communications were housed trying to adjust the sensors by using the communications array. Taping my foot in time to the radio channel I was playing over the intercom. One good thing about having the ship to myself I suppose. The one thing I knew that worked without a doubt was the propulsion system which made her one of the fastest ships in the entire solar system. Allison's fusion drive hadn't disappointed me as I had pushed it to the limit. Maybe a little too fast for her own good as I thought she might break apart when I had pushed her to her limits to see what she could really do.

Sadly the ship had no weapons installed so I was going into a fight without any teeth not that they would do me much good considering the vessel I was after had taken hostage. Still no word on ransom for Amanda but they had released demands for the other passengers and arranged a drop point near Vesta though meeting their demands would take time. Something the hostages didn't have. It only took one person to lose their cool or one of the hostages wanting to be a hero for this to all go to hell and the longer this went on the more likely things were to go south. The fact that they hadn't made demands for Amanda had me worried. No doubt they had found out who she was and thought the daughter of a UN general made a better shield than a bargaining chip. They were sadly mistaken to think that having her on board would keep them safe.

That made this tricky at best but now imperative. I wasn't the one looking for them either. They had hit a martian ship a week earlier and the Martians were also out here looking for them. I had avoided their patrols so far but it was only a matter of time before the Martians found them or me so I had to find the ship first.

I had an idea where they were hiding but searching the entire asteroid belt was looking for a needle in a barn full of haystacks. I had narrowed it down some but it was still a large area to cover. They would stay away from areas that were heavily mined as well as stations like Vesta and Ceres that saw a fair share of traffic. Close to the border between mars and earth so they could run one way or the other if things got too hot. Their last known course had them heading for Vesta but I had a hunch that was just to throw off the scent and they had doubled back and were playing dead somewhere among the rocks.

“How is that Artemis.” I asked as I sat the holo phone upright that I had sitting on my chest that I was using as a flashlight. The hologram of Artemis appeared before me on the screen wearing a mechanics uniform with the front unzipped to show off her cleavage. Artie was an AI avatar of the ship herself and pretty much ran the entire ship for me.

“You did it.” She smiled as she leaned over making her tits hang down in her coveralls. “Sensor range has increased though might I suggest a bit more power to the radar imaging relay. That would give us a clearer picture at longer range.” She smiled and brushed a stray lock of hair from her face.

“Knew that already. I just wanted you to check my work.” I said playfully swiping my finger at her breast making them jiggle and she giggled as she popped at my finger.

“Um, hum. Of course you did.” Artie shook her head at me and put her hands on her hips.

I slid over and spliced in a little more juice into the sensors array receiver. I imagined the guys at the docks would have a fit how I was rigging up the sensors array and comms systems to work together but the idea was to use the comms system to amplify the range of the radar. A radio signal was a radio signal. It be more akin to a sonar pulse than radar imaging which system was designed for. Add in a little music and any ship that did pick up my scan might just play it off as some asshole jamming his radio over open comms. On the flip side anyone within a few thousand kilometers would know I was here so I would have to keep moving so the martian patrols couldn't pinpoint the source but every ping would allow them to chart my course eventually. It was a risk I had to take and I could always play lost though not sure if that ploy would work with the Martians.

“That should do it.” I said as I crawled out from underneath instruments and down the ladder into the cockpit.

“Confirmed. Sensor resolution increased.” She replied as she appeared on the main screen back in her standard flight suit avatar.

“Lets give it a try.” I smiled and went back to pilot's seat and sat down pulling up the display.

“Scanning.” She said and transmitted the signal. I had up to date map of the asteroid belt so I was looking for an out of place asteroid that wasn't where it was supposed to be. “Nothing.”

“Lets keep moving.” I shrugged and changed course to put some distance between me and the broadcast point. Heading deeper into the martian territory. Once at a good range I did another ping. Nothing and headed deeper along the belt doing a third sweep. “Anomaly detected.” She said a little while later.

“Identify the anomaly,” I replied and pulled up a map of the sector and a view from the telescope.

“Unknown object does not match the shape and size of any known asteroid previously reported. Judging by the size it might be the ship you are looking for.” The asteroid belt had been mapped for decades before man ever reached them and every mining company in the system constantly remapped them looking for ore. Occasionally a rock did get knocked out of place but most had stable orbits.

“Can you get a clear image?” I said looking at the picture of where she was looking. There was something there but it was blurry. It might be the old asteroid mining ship we were looking for but who could say for sure. Previous mining created dust clouds in the area.

“Not at this range. Dust particles in the area are scattering radar and Lidar would give away that we see them.” She shook her head and pouted. Sometimes I wondered if I gave her too much personality. If I focused too much on the spot they would know I saw them. That left visual imaging which was fuzzy at best. She was right.

“They are probably using iron or some other metal dust from mining to hide.” I shrugged. That play hell with the sensors which might explain the fuzzy radar signal. The perfect hiding spot to wait for their next victim.

“I would concur with that assessment. If it is a ship they are powered down to life support and thrusters only.” That was her way of saying they looked like a rock. On the plus side, they couldn't see me yet if it was a ship they wouldn't be running active sensors that gave them away. I would have to get a lot closer.

“Is there a course that will take us closer while it wouldn't be obvious we know they are there but keep us out of the belt.” I asked. I didn't want to go into the rock field if I could help it to find they were not alone or had set some kind of trap. Even a small asteroid loaded with explosives made an effective weapon.

“A course correction toward Ceres would take us close enough.” She said as an image of the solar system came up on the map. Ceres was neutral territory but under UN control so the Martians patrols wouldn't bother me. Plus it would look like I was heading somewhere and not just wondering aimlessly looking to get caught.

“Set course for Ceres. Push her a bit but not too much that they can't hit us." I smiled.

“Confirmed. Adjusting course and speed. Estimated time to encounter with unknown target twenty minutes.”

I went to my quarters to gear up in a combat spacesuit I had bought but never hoped to actually have to use. Sadly something I had not made myself. I hope it worked like advertised given what I paid for it. It was made of carbon fiber weave dipped in a shear thickening fluid that hardened on impact with thick sheets of lightweight polyethylene covering the body parts that didn't need to move. A layer of shock-absorbing gel was supposed to reduce the **** of impact of any bullet and seal any holes if the suit was punctured. Additional ceramic plates provided a little extra protection. It was designed to be lightweight for use in zero gravity rather than for actual military use and was closer to something a swat time might wear than the military. If I lived through this I would have to upgrade to something a little more durable.

I checked my gun. A light carbine for tight quarters. I set it to semi-automatic fire instead of burst fire wanting control of the weapon over damage needing to watch out for collateral damage. I checked the magazine which was loaded with Electrothermal chemical propelled, subsonic velocity, plastic tip expanding rounds that flattened on impact which would cause less collateral damage to the ships while doing more trauma to soft targets like flesh and muscle. I loaded the magazine into the stock receiver then I flipped on and off the flashlight and laser sight then checked the optics.

Next I picked up the revolver. A good old-fashioned large caliber slug thrower with a sleek modern design. It was a sledgehammer to be used as a last resort. The laser sight turned on the second I put my finger on the trigger which was a nice touch. I holstered it on my hip and then grabbed my helmet and headed back to the pilots chair. Our course was displayed on one screen to my right while our suspected target was on another to the left. The image was still a little fuzzy but it looked like a ship to me. Still, nothing to make it stand out but it was what I didn't see. The one thing that they had missed was it was stationary. It had a slight drift that one would expect in any space rock but no rotation of any kind.

“Our ghost ship changed course by a few degrees. It was hardly noticeable if I wasn't looking for it. It is diffidently a ship. They must have adjusted to avoid colliding with a nearby asteroid.”

“Or they are moving behind that rock so we won't see them until we pass.” I shook my head and strapped myself in then put on my helmet encase they put a few holes in my hull. They had seen us and were moving slowly to ambush us. We would lose sight of them once they ducked behind an astroid where they would power up and wait for us to fly past. They had taken the bait. “ETA?” I said as I powered on the helmet. The heads-up display coming to life coming to life.

“We will be in their weapons range in five minutes,” Artemis replied.

“Give me the stick.” I said taking hold of the two joysticks to either side of the

“You have the controls captain.” She responded. “They are moving out of the line of sight.” The ship

“Noted.” My heart was pounding with anticipation as they vanished from scopes as all I could see was a big ass rock. I could almost admire their tactics if they weren't so predictable. The smart move would be to circle around behind them and cripple their engines, if I had any weapon systems to speak of that was. I wiggled my fingers and readjusted my grip. I knew how I wanted this to play out in my head but once things started even the best of plans could go to hell. Even the best-laid battle plans could go to hell the second bullets started flying.

We passed by and the ship came out from behind the asteroid.

“Target reacquired. They just fired up their engines and or on an intercept course.” Artemis said.

“I see that. Tell me something I don't know.” I nodded.

“They are powering up what looks to be an accelerator gun.” She replied quickly with a little sass in her voice. I was surprised a ship that size had a rail gun. It was more firepower than they needed and hard to maintain. I also saw a single-point defense gatling gun. They had barred their teeth and were ready to attack.