Interrogate The Prisoners.

“In that case I don't need you.” I drew the pulse pistol on my hip and put it to his head.. While energy weapons had been used in combat for several centuries now they had only recently been scaled down enough to be portable though they still weighed a lot. With the magnetohydrodynamic power cell and liquid nitrogen cooling system a pulse pistol weighed five pounds. Rifles weighed three times that if not more though the fire power made up for the added weight. At this close I would be wearing him at this close of range.

“No don't.” One of the prisoners said. A woman. One of the men behind her grabbed her shoulder and pushed her back down as she tried to stand.

“Last chance.” I said pressing it against his thick skull.

“Fuck you.” He sneered and looked at me daring me to do it.

“If your going to bluff you should at least turn the gun on.” One of the men said. A younger man who looked barley old enough to shave.

“A deserter my lord.” Jenkins said.

“I prefer the term self liberated.” He replied.

“Your the pilot.” I said harnessing my gun.

“Was.” He replied.

“I take it you know?” He said cryptically. He was interrogating me in a sense to see what I knew.

“About the carrier. Yes. We back tracked your flight trajectory. Lead us right to it.” I said and they looked at one another but none said a word. “Take everyone to the brig except for this one. See that they get food and water. I wish to interrogate him first.”

“You coming Miss Bake?” I said as I nodded my head. We went to the ready room and sat on one side of the table while the guard sat him on the other.

“Let me contact my people and warn them. We both know there heading into a fight but they don't. If I call them and warn them they will break off and head for the nearest jump point.” The young man said.

“And attack someone else. You know I can't let that happen.” I shook my head. I knew ours couldn't be the first system they hit. The carrier gave them jump capabilities and the gunships let them conduct raids. If things got to hot they could jump to a new system and vanish without a trace.

“There are families on board. Women and children.” He replied in anger. That changed things. This wasn't a group of just typical cut throats.

“I only have two options. Destroyer her or capture her unless you think they will surrender?” I stated.

“Not likely. Not without a fight.” He shook his head. I expected as much.

“How did you and you're people get your hands on a battle carrier?”

“Found her drifting on the rim of the wolf system. She had taken quit a beating but she was still operational with a little work.” He shrugged.

“Let me guess you have been jumping from the edge of one system to another and using the gunships to steal what you can and then move on.”

“Sounds about right.” He nodded.

“Any Imperial personal on board?”

“A few for leverage.” He lied. He was better then most.

“Are the fighter drones active?”

“Yes.” He shrugged. Another lie.

“Is the ships engines running at full capabilities?”

“Yes.” Another.

“Short range guns?”

“Yes.”

“CQB Missiles?”

“Active.”

“Long range guns active?”

“Yes.” That was the first time he told the truth meaning they could engage the fleet in a fire fight.

“Nukes active?”

”Yes. We bypassed the system manually.” Fuck. Another truth. Nukes had little impact on objects in space that where hardened against radiation and there is no shock wave. Nukes where used for planetary strike meaning they could fire at the homeworld. That made them a serious threat.

“How many children?”

“Around twenty?” He nodded. He was telling the truth wanting me to know the consiquensies.

“Women?”

“Thirty to forty maybe.” He nodded

“Crew?”

“Around a hundred.” Lie.

“Or less?”

“I would say more?” Lie.

“How many gunships?”

“We managed to repair seven.” Lie. He was just playing games and wasting my time.

“So no Imperial prisoners. No drones. The ships engines are not running at maximum. Short range guns and missiles are off line but some of the main guns and the nukes are active. Your numbers on the women and children are accurate but you have less then a hundred men on board and you have less then seven gunships. You have repaired the ships primary weapons but not it's close quarter armaments and you have no fighter drones.”

“I never said that.” I shook his head and looked at me with discontent.

“I can tell when I am being lied to. Stash him in the airlock and don't let him see the others. Bring in the next prisoner.” I looked at the guard.

“Yes Baron.” He nodded and grabbed the prisoner.

“Can you really tell when a person is lying.” Ms. Baker asked

“Most times but not always.” I shrugged.

“He will call in the next one and ask the same questions and judge their responses based on facts we already know. Even if they don't answer they will still react. Facial movements, body language, tone of voice give a person away.” Miranda added.

“Ask another person the same questions and see how close their answers are and you can weed out the truth.” I said rubbing my temple. Sometimes I wish I had never took that shot. It made trusting people hard sometimes.

“Would you space him. I mean with the airlock.” Ms. Baker asked.

“No but sitting in an airlock scares the hell out of people. Knowing that the dead of space lies on the other side of a door. You could die at any second with the push of a button.”

The guards brought in another who was even less helpful since all his answers were fuck you. I could tell when I got close as he got more hostile when I hit the nail on the head but when I was way off he would make a little laugh. The third was the woman. She was the first to answer all my questions truthfully. She didn't know the process numbers but she wasn't lying about not knowing.

“Where did you find the ship?”

“They found it in the wolf system on the edge of space. They brought me on as a mechanic a week later. Promised me a cut of the spoils.” She said. I didn't sense any deception out of her.

“What did they do with the crew?”

“Nothing. I was told they had all left. There was a blood and damage from small inside the ship it was like a war zone but I never saw any bodies.”

“There was a fight on board?” I asked. Something new though who where they fighting and where did the bodies go. Not that she could answer. If any jumped ship their escape pods where never found.

“It looked like it.” She nodded.

“What condition was the ship in?”

“The entire electrical system was fried. The reactor worked but the power wasn't going any where. We fixed the grav gens first so we could work without floating about. After that life support so we didn't need suits. After that we worked on the gun ships to do raids for parts and supplies which is where they put me to work.”

“You where going for the ship yards?” I frowned finally catching on to what they where doing. They needed parts, materials, and maybe even more people to fix the ship up. The ship yards were the place they could find what they needed in bulk.

“Yes. We were suppose to scout it out. We heard the baron was killed and the system was in disarray so it was suppose to be an easy score. We where on or way back when we saw the hauler. I linked into the ships manifest and saw it was carrying stuff we could use. We went for it hook, line, and sinker.” She shook her head. That meant they had taken relay equipment from a miners ship so they could hack into the outer systems digital network. They knew the location of every mining and cargo ship, what they where hauling, what had the parts they needed. They weren't hitting ships at random like we had first thought.

“How is security on the ship?”

“Light. The men carry guns on them from the ships armory but all the security systems are busted. Their more worried about an attack from the outside then one of their own.” She replied. That wasn't good. A battle carrier held enough weapons to single handily supply a planetary ground campaign.

“Any have military training?” Someone was running this show. Someone with experience.

“Some are deserters from the war and have gone through basic training, others are draft dodgers. The guys in control are ex-pirates.” She replied.

“Don't seem so Ex to me if they are stealing.” Miranda spoke up.

“Like you would know what it's like to scrap by.”

“Calm yourself ladies.” I looked at Miranda. I knew she had a thirst for blood when it came to pirates.

“Sir. I am telling you this because I don't want them to die needlessly. I don't have family on board but some are my friends. We just wanted to fly off into the black and look for a home away from the empire and this war.” The woman said.

“Do you think they will surrender if one of the crew asked them to?” I asked though I knew the answer. It was the one thing they all agreed on.

“No. The only one they would talk to is Gregor. The head of our little landing party and he won't help you. You saw that he rather die first. Even with a gun to his head.”

“Anything else you can think of that will be helpful?” I said sitting back.

“Not that I can think of.” She shook her head no.

“Guard. Have this woman escorted to a room but keep her under lock and key.”

“Yes sir.” The guard nodded.

“She was telling the truth?” Ms. Baker asked.

“Mostly. She was the most honest out of the whole bunch.” I shrugged.

“Want me to bring in their leader now.” Miranda asked.

“No. I doubt we will get anything out of him.”

“Should we let the others out of the airlock.” Miranda smiled.

“Out of the airlock or the ship?” I looked at her knowing which she would pick.

“Either sir.” She shrugged. She had a twisted sense of humor at times.

“Let them sweet for another hour then bring them back to the brig." I shook my head. I wish I had time to interrogate them again but that carrier was getting closer by the minute and didn't have time to play more games. Well maybe one more. "Have the guards stash their leader in an airlock and tell them that he made a deal for himself and the woman. Tell him that one of them talked and pointed the finger at one of them. Turn them against him and see who else wants to make a deal." I sat back rubbing my temple. They all would serve serious sentences. **** if they where lucky but I would never grant such a mercy myself. No man truly feared ****. We all knew it came for us all sooner or later. Some even begged for it at times. Others embraced it and died nobly for one cause or another. It was the waiting that men feared. Knowing that it would come but not knowing when or how we would meet it. Not knowing what lied on the other side or if this was all their was.

“So do we have a plan?” Miranda looked at me. I knew she would support any decision I made even if she didn't like it. Hell I didn't even like my options. Their where innocent lives on both sides and I had a choice of two evils.