HERESY! Story Submissions Thread

[Tamur]

The Heretic Ship

      It was late evening in Brussels, the massive capital city of the VNC. Skyscrapers loomed for miles.
      The galleries of the high court unusually packed. Like an old coliseum, trials took place in the center ring, judges on one side and defendants on the other, surrounded by guards. Spectators were seated all around. Tunnels under the galleries led to the court floor.
      The doors to the largest of those tunnels opened and the group of seven premier judges walked out. All eyes in the court at once turned to look at them, and all mouths clamped shut. The judges took their seats, and the high judge spoke.
      "We have reviewed the evidence relating to the crimes these men are charged with. We have also reviewed their statements made in their defense," she said. She had no microphone, but every person could hear her, so silent was the court.
      "We have judged their statements," she paused, "and found them to be guilty of heresy!"
      A brief burst of noise filled the court.
      "We have also found them guilty of all charges," she continued, "Their unrepentant nature and vile heresy means there will be no attempt to realign their attitudes. We sentence all the defendants to death by lethal injection. There will be no appeal."
      The crowd erupted into shouts and cheers. The main phrase being shouted was "kill the heretics".
      "Well," said one of the defendants, "so much for plan A."

      Several months previously, a lone starship flew through space to Mars. It was roughly shaped like an egg, with the bow smaller and rounded, and the stern larger and with three large engines. In all, it was 150 yards long. The name Icarus was painted on the side.
      Their destination on Mars was less than 12 hours away. The entire crew was nervous, to one degree or another. They had never attempted something so daring as this. A few wondered if perhaps they were going too far. Even the captain, Danar Lyius, sitting in the bridge, brooded over his plan. The plan was simple enough, though a host of factors could spell their doom.
      Lyius sighed, thinking about the many potential problems. The payoff would be enormous, he knew, stroking his sideburns. They had been in scrapes before, and managed to get out. His crew was a motley bunch; mostly men, they wore no uniform and had nothing in common except for their desire of the loot. All were fair shots with a rifle, and most were good.
      The ship continued on to Mars, flying without signaling planetary orbit control, coming in on a weird orbit to sneak past the various radar stations. The crew milled about, anxious for action, dreading the calm before the storm.

      Finally, they came in close to their target, the sun setting over the terraformed surface of Mars. The targets had been spotted with the thermal sensor, 10 miles distant. The ship quickly closed the gap. Lyius stood next to the cargo bay doors, along with most of his 32 person crew. The rest were manning stations on the bridge or in the engine room. Lyius checked his weapon again and looked at the door.
      "Prepare to fire!" the pilot's voice commanded, and the ship braked quickly to a stop. The wide door fell down, giving the captain a wide view of the Martian landscape. Centuries of terraforming had turned this part into a verdant green pasture, with the occasional clump of trees giving off lengthy shadows.
      Then he saw them, the target of the raid - a herd of over 100 cows. Lyius praised every divine figure he could think of, then raised his rifle. The ship was still 100 feet off the ground, tilted so that the soldiers near the door could shoot at the cows. And shoot they did, dropping cow after cow with well aimed shots. The remaining ones began stampeding before they, too, were dropped. A few managed to escape, but Lyius ordered the pilot to descend so they could begin loading the dead bodies.
      As his crew jumped out, Lyius checked with the bridge to make sure no other ship were approaching. Knowing the urgency, the crew quickly finished loading the dead cows into the huge freezer onboard.
      With that done, the Icarus took off and angled to blast out of the atmosphere. Captain Lyius sat down in the bridge, enjoying a very fresh cut of steak.
      "By the storms of Jupiter, this is delicious! This mission could not have gone much better. Sure stuck it in the eye of those VNC jerks. Ha!"
      "Next time," said the pilot, Robert Greenhild, "They'll be ready. And the fanatics are going to really hate us. Hold on - another ship is hailing us. I'm opening the channel."
      He flicked a switch and turned on the communication speakers.
      "Starship Icarus, this is the Solar Shepard. You will halt in static orbit and prepare to be approached, under council law that authorizes us to enforce the high moral code."
      "Oh, by the very bowels of the fiery hells of Venus! That the fanatics had to be here now!" cursed the captain. Then, he was seized with another look of terror.
      "Don't worry sir, I have not yet opened channels for communications from us," said Greenhild.
      "Thank the stars," Lyius said, then opened his ship's emergency broadcast system, "Attention, battle stations! The Sea Shepard, yes, the Sea Shepard, is here! Prepare the torpedoes and prepare for relativistic acceleration! Move yourselves!
      "Okay, open communications, Mr. Greenhild."
      A holograph of the Sea Shepard captain appeared in front of the bridge windows.
      "Greetings, Sea Shepard. We are honored to meet the glorious defenders of the Moral Code," Lyius said evenly.
      "You have not yet begun a static orbit around Mars, Icarus. Do so now. Prepare to be boarded," the unflinching Sea Shepard captain said. He wore a pale green uniform.
      "Of course. We're just now altering our course," Lyius's earpiece buzzed with news that the crew was ready, and he reached for the discarded steak.
      "What is that?"
      "Why, a nice, juicy steak, freshly cut from martian cow," answered Lyius, trying not to smile.
      "You killer! You cold blooded murderer..." the captain could barely get the words out, and his face was turning red.
      "Would you care for some? Fresh meat is so juicy," taunted Lyius, smiling and taking a bite.
      "Slaughterer! Crew, prepare for battle, open fire at the Icarus! Destroy her!" screamed the captain.
      "You'll have to catch us first! Your pathetic Vegan Nation Council can't stop meat eating!" And with that, the engines of Icarus roared to full capacity, driving the ship towards Saturn. The Sea Shepard followed and began firing all the rail guns and missiles it had. Just then, a few torpedo tubes on the stern of the Icarus opened, releasing two torpedoes and many flares. The great heat from the engines and the cloud of flares blinded the Sea Shepard sensors. Only when the torpedoes were less than 50 miles away were they finally picked up, not nearly enough time to maneuver at the great speeds of the ships. Both hit, causing massive damage from explosives and kinetics, sending the Sea Shepard into deep space in a spin, debris streaming from it.
      "Excellent! Not every day you get your enemies to hit your torpedoes."
      Greenhild let momentum carry them around Saturn, and back to the asteroid mining outpost near Jupiter. During the journey home, they painted over the name on the side and processed the cows. Once in the grimy station they called home, they enjoyed their bounty and made a few discrete sales to trustworthy buyers. After a month, they were ready to begin planning their next raid. The planning was interrupted, however, when the crew awoke to find guns pointed at their faces, with VNC enforcers behind them.
      After being thrown in a cell on earth, Lyius asked Greenhild if he had any ideas.
      "Well, sir, we could always try arguing for man's basic right to eat meat from a philosophical position, with ample use of science."
      "We'll call that plan A", Lyius said. They had enough time for many other plans as the VNC prepared to prosecute them as murderers for wanton slaughter, and a thousand lesser charges.


      "Well, seems plan A didn't work so well. Time for plan B?" inquired Greenhild, a gleam in his eye, as he reached under his coat.
      "Plan B it is. Hurray for lax security practices!"
      Lyius and the rest of his crew all pulled out small, synthetic pistols and begin blasting the bewildered guards. The crowd began screaming and ran for the exits. The judges ran too, but were overtaken at the tunnel doorway by the Lyius and his crew. Lyius had them lead the crew to their private hanger. Lyius rushed his crew into the spacecraft reserved for the use of the High Court, dragging the protesting judges along. Greenhild eyed the controls, and smiled.
      "Prepare for liftoff! We're flying out hot!"