In My Father's Name

"Oh! No! I protest!"

Molly's voice was full of indignation. "This means I've automatically become Molly One. I can think! I'm a thinking entity! I'm not one of those stupid answering machines!"

Yang Ming smiled with narrowed eyes. "All right, Molly One."

Molly's image appeared on the forward viewport, arms crossed in anger.

Pretty cute, actually.

Yang Ming tried to return the glass panel, but Kolev refused.

The old man said seriously:

"It's yours now, Hanton. It's a portable control system. When you're piloting a small vessel, you can use it to control the Feinan, provided you stay in contact with Molly Two.

"Don't tell me you can't scrape together a mere million credits.

"Molly Two's first loyalty is to you, and she has a lot of potential. But you'll need to give her enough computing power to reach it. Now, try calling her."

Yang Ming cleared his throat. "Molly Two."

Beside Molly One, a virtual image of Molly in the form of a young girl appeared. She bowed to Yang Ming.

A cold, synthesized electronic voice sounded throughout the ship:

"Captain, I am your comprehensive virtual ship assistant. You may ask me about the status of any area of the ship. Compared to the last refit, thirty-six new sensors have been added throughout the ship, along with one thousand six hundred and twenty-five new hull-sensing modules. The ship's mechanical crew has gained sixteen new members. Their models are..."

Molly Two launched into a long, mechanical report.

Yang Ming blinked, then turned to Kolev and muttered, "You're Second Mate now, Kolev."

Kolev rolled his eyes in irritation. "Let's not go to the bridge yet. We'll head to the Tail Compartment first. I still have one last lesson in piracy to teach you."

Yang Ming asked with interest, "What's the lesson?"

Kolev narrowed his eyes with a smile. "How to force your way into a target ship when it resists. But before that, how about the two of us unwind a little? There are two special robots here."

Yang Ming's eyes lit up.

Would it be a problem if Milili found out the two of them had been unwinding aboard the ship?

Whatever.

He was Uncle Hanton, after all.

A few minutes later.

Yang Ming lay in the Feinan's lounge with a dark look on his face, enduring a robot's slow foot massage. He glanced over at Kolev, who was reclined in a barber's chair enjoying a beard treatment, and silently flipped him off.

These were the special robots?

Shouldn't they have been highly agile, lifelike companion bots?

Yang Ming called softly, "Molly Two, show me a monitoring panel."

Several cameras in the ceiling projected beams of light that joined to form a pale blue Projection screen.

Yang Ming began studying the interior layout of the ship.

The Feinan was 123 meters long. Back when it still had its main gun, it had been a light gunship, usually deployed as an auxiliary firepower position in large-scale fleet battles. Against the main guns of a heavy battleship, it wouldn't survive more than two hits.

The ship's main gun had been removed, which was why its bow now had a pincer-like shape.

Kolev had redesigned the hull and rearranged the interior compartments. He'd converted the crew quarters, recreation rooms, dormitories, and other areas into a dark-energy battery matrix, giving the ship greater endurance and stronger shields.

To improve its defenses against surprise attacks, Kolev had added twelve concealed point-defense cannons, bringing the total to thirty-six and ensuring full coverage from every direction.

Its exterior armor had also been thickened by a full three layers. It was now as durable as some ring-mining ships.

From a pirate's point of view, this ship was a turtle shell. It was meaningless if it couldn't threaten merchant vessels. But for fulfilling Kolev's dream of "eternal travel," it couldn't be more suitable.

So it seemed Kolev hadn't lied to him.

A million Federal Credits had bought goods worth fifteen million, and Kolev had even let him pay on credit...

Even Yang Ming felt a little embarrassed, shameless as he was.

He knew perfectly well.

That million Federal Credits weren't just about fulfilling the pirate code Kolev had mentioned.

The old man was doing it for Milili.

He was afraid something might happen to him during this operation, so he wanted to use this to bring Yang Ming and Milili closer. Even if Kolev were gone, Yang Ming would probably look out for Milili in the future, and the million-credit debt would give them another bond.

This old man dotes on his daughter so much, he has no idea how talented she is at piracy.

Yang Ming smiled and continued browsing the ship's compartments, watching the maintenance robots stand around in a daze as he considered how to repay Kolev for selling him the ship so cheaply.

—They'd worked together to escape, so neither owed the other anything.

Well, killing Gimo was a pretty good option.

The most crucial part of a successful space raid was figuring out how to attach drones and boarding craft to a merchant ship.

Merchant ships usually had civilian shields. One of their main purposes was to prevent pirate incursions, but even low-energy shields had their weaknesses.

The two military Assault Boats before Yang Ming were a case in point.

They looked like ten-meter-long claws.

The front half of each Assault Boat consisted of four alloy grappling hooks arranged in a square. They were not only razor-sharp but also fitted with all kinds of precision instruments. The deflectors mounted on them could prevent shield energy from spreading evenly over a small area.

The middle section was a piston-like cockpit. Once the hooks had embedded themselves firmly in the enemy ship's hull, it would "inject" three assault troops into the vessel.

Afterward, the Assault Boat would keep filling the breach in the enemy ship, preventing its compartments from losing pressure.

Kolev, an old hand with over forty years of experience as a pirate, patiently explained:

"Merchant ships are usually several grades cheaper than warships. Think of them as flimsy composite coffins.

"Raiding them is a battle of wills, and this is our trump card.

"These two in front of you are fairly advanced Assault Boats, the same model used by the Sherman Empire. Each one costs a twentieth of what this ship does. The Sherman Empire calls them piranhas. We prefer to call them Little Bees. They give those big brutes a little sting."

Yang Ming folded his arms. "Merchant ships' Guard Cannons aren't exactly harmless."

Kolev put his hands in his pockets and said with a chuckle:

"They have small shields. Hard to believe, isn't it? They can withstand about half a minute of Guard Cannon fire. They're also incredibly powerful, equipped with sensitive warning systems, and able to scan an enemy vessel to find the best point of entry... That's why they're so expensive."

"I need to practice piloting," Yang Ming said quietly.

"You'll have plenty of time and space to practice later."

Kolev fell silent for a moment, then said abruptly, "Hanton, I want to set out as soon as possible. How about tomorrow?"

Yang Ming asked, "Just the two of us?"

"The two of us, Molly Two, and this ship," Kolev said. "I'm planning to bring twenty of the more capable robots. With Molly Two coordinating them, they'll be enough to maintain the ship and handle ordinary emergencies."

"Then you need to say a proper goodbye to Milili."

"No," Kolev said. "She'll insist on coming with me, and my old comrades will insist on joining me too. I don't want that, and they wouldn't be any help to us anyway."

Yang Ming said seriously, "That's up to you. As I see it, nothing brings a father and daughter closer than a heart-to-heart. Go tell her how much she means to you."

Kolev sighed. "Don't worry, I will. I'm a much better father than you are."

As it turned out, Kolev was as stubborn as ever.

He didn't give Milili a proper goodbye. Half an hour before departure, he merely met with her and asked her a lot of questions about becoming a pirate captain.

Milili rarely came to the hangar.

So when the ship began loading supplies, checking the outer hull, and detaching from its moorings, she didn't notice anything unusual.

It wasn't until the hangar roof began to open slowly, a two-hundred-meter-long trench appeared in the high ground along the canyon, and the whole base started to tremble faintly.

"Hey, Molly."

Milili set her book down and rested her hand on the desktop. "Was that an earthquake?"

"Yes, Mistress Milili," Molly One replied calmly. "It happens often here. Please keep studying. It's nothing to worry about."

Milili was about to resume reading, but she paused.

She suddenly felt much lighter.

A Gravity Field!

Milili sprang to her feet, rushed out of her bedroom, and ran down the corridor toward the hangar.

Molly's holographic image appeared beside her and followed as she ran, but said nothing.

Molly could hear the conversation on the ship's bridge.

"Gravity Field at one hundred percent."

"Ship diagnostics complete... Let me see the report."

"As long as it's all green, that's good enough. Hanton, hurry. Keep radio silence and maximize stealth. Don't expose the base."

Yang Ming pressed the launch button. The ship gave a low rumble, and waves of heat swept through the hangar.

A row of treaded robots stood in a corner of the hangar and saluted in unison.

On the Feinan's clean, spacious bridge, Yang Ming and Kolev reclined in their modified pilot seats, with more than a dozen screens flashing data in front of them.

The new screen in the lower-left corner of Yang Ming's view showed Milili running down the corridor.

A tear glistened at the corner of her eye.

Yang Ming turned to Kolev, intending to tell him to say something, but noticed an identical Projection screen beside Kolev's hand.

The ship slowly rose into the air.

Milili appeared behind the glass window in the upper-left corner of the hangar.

She couldn't go any farther. Every path to the hangar had been sealed, and most of the air inside it had already escaped.

Milili pounded on the window.

Kolev lowered his eyes to the tiny screen.

The hangar roof began to close. The ship glided along a few hundred meters above the ground, gradually leaving the base's internal network. The little screen trembled, blurred, and soon vanished.

"It wouldn't have hurt to bring her along," Yang Ming suggested. "Later, whether Molly Two stays behind to watch the ship or Milili does, it's the same either way."

"No, you're wrong," Kolev said. "People are emotional, while machines are cold. Molly Two can fully understand our orders. Milili would let her feelings get in the way."

"She's grown up."

"She's still not mature enough."

"Fine." Yang Ming slid the main control panel aside. "You're in charge of piloting the ship now."

"I'll give her everything I have. Molly will take good care of her," the old man murmured to himself. "Gimo has no idea what a stupid mistake he's made! Hanton, do you know what I'll do to anyone who dares to hurt my daughter? I'll make him pay. I swear!"