Unidentified and gone, just plain gone and not found where they were supposed to be, or even in some cases dead for odd reasons, the final links in the chain of attribution were always broken.
Neither had they extensively searched the sector. Hadn't been necessary so far. It'd been surprisingly easy to locate the pirate bases they'd already destroyed. It'd been long standing fear not solid secrecy that'd had kept them safe for so long.
So Torson had no solid positive evidence for the existence of another pirate band. He did have a big pirate band sized hole in his data.
It might not do his career any good to point that hole out. Wouldn't do his career any good if Captain Karl Student later surfaced and it turned out Torson had missed him either.
Torson left some high value coins on the table as he rose to leave.
He was going to have to suggest to Commodore Zanjani that he ask his tired, eager to go home, crews to carry out a series of searches certain to be mostly boring and likely to be fruitless. Best word his report in the most convincing and soothing manner possible.
It was going to be a long night, and a longer morning.
* * *
Jeannie ducked as Sheena's foot passed over her head.
The sparring suit she had changed into as soon as they'd reached the gym would have prevented any serious permanent injury from that foot connecting, but it would have hurt. Hurt her pride, but physically too.
It was less than five minutes since they'd started fighting, ten since she'd left her quarters in a huff. She was already sweating, and her anger was dissolving.
"Need to concentrate. Stay in the moment, ma'am," Sheena said.
"Thanks," Jeannie returned while launching a full kick thrust from her crouching position.
Sheena effortlessly avoided the attack.
"Always going for the knock out blow," Sheena said.
Jeannie danced back up onto her feet putting a little distance between herself and her guard. "You're bigger than I am. Heavier with a longer reach. More experienced, better trained too. Stamina matches mine. You're almost as fast. I need to overwhelm you fast," she said.
Sheena moved in, crowding Jeannie back she fired off a flurry of short powerful blows. Jeannie managed to dodge or deflect each one while making her own attack against the side of one of Sheena's knees with a short sidewards kick. Sheena evaded that but her retreat to one side allowed Jeannie to slip around her and regain the open center of the fighting ring.
"That's gambling with your life," Sheena said. Sheena's people didn't believe in gambling. They believed in disciplined moderation. They frowned on drinking to excess, womanizing and partying in general. They did dance, but their dances were measured and stately. They were a dour folk.
"What's life without risk?" Jeannie asked while making a set of quick feints at her opponent.
"Longer and truer," replied Sheena who held her ground while being kept at bay by Jeannie's efforts.
"Truer?"
"Gambling leads to imbalance. Gambler's deceive themselves and others with false hope. They risk what they cannot afford to lose. They fail to acknowledge their setbacks. They double down on their mistakes and become desperate. Desperate people do bad things," Sheena answered. She moved forward as she spoke.
Jeannie made a wild kick at Sheena's head. Sheena's deflection knocked her off balance. She recovered with an effort. "Not every place is as harsh and unforgiving as Kliest's World," she managed to gasp out.
"True," Sheena said pressing Jeannie back. "But safety and wealth everlasting without hardship are passing illusions everywhere. Only the young and fortunate think otherwise and bet on them."
Kliest's World was Sheena's home world. It produced people who were hardy, tough, and independent, but loyal and honest. It didn't produce many comedians, party animals, or ne'er do wells for that matter.
"There's more to life than just surviving," Jeannie said, backing up all the while. All her motion and feints were failing to deter her brick wall of a friend and guard.
"Without survival there's no life," Sheena replied systematically forcing her way forward.
Jeannie feinted left. Sheena shifted ever so slightly to match her. Jeannie put the full weight of her body into an all out attack to her right. It was a mistake. Sheena hit her hard while she was off balance. Jeannie stumbled back into the wall behind her.
"Concede?" Sheena asked.
"Come and get me," Jeannie answered. Sheena obliged, she must have known Jeannie would try something desperate but the smaller woman's wild bounce off of the wall and back at her head still achieved surprise.
Sheena grunted and fell backwards, Jeannie on top of her pinned her by her throat with a forearm.
"Concede?" Jeannie asked with glee.
"I concede," Sheena responded with dignity.
Jeannie stood and offered Sheena a helping hand up. An unnecessary courtesy but a courtesy.
They turned and moved to leave for the showers.
"Sheena, do you think I'm spoiled?"
"Not as much as might be expected, ma'am."
* * *
Coming out of the shower and feeling calm now as well as tired Jeannie donned her shipsuit again.
She looked at Sheena who was standing at parade rest in the dressing room. She sighed. "You're not going to shower? You know there's no danger on station here."
"No, it's a bad habit when guarding someone to relax that guard," Sheena replied. "Also no such thing as somewhere completely safe. I'll shower when I get back to my quarters."
"Okay, thanks by the way for the sparring session," Jeannie said. "I really needed that." Jeannie would have thanked her for more, for being a good friend, and being forthright with her, but she knew that her guard would have been offended at being thanked for just doing what was right.
"Part of the job, and I enjoyed it," Sheena answered.
They walked down the wide corridors of the upscale section of the station quietly and without further conversation until they reached Jeannie's rooms.
"You should take the remainder of the evening off, get some rest before departure tomorrow," Jeannie said. "I'll be staying in my quarters until 0530."
"Yes, ma'am," Sheena said. "See you then."
Jeannie watched her walk away. The woman was the closest thing to a friend that she had. Her father was the only person she was closer to. Now that her anger had dissipated and the exhilaration of the fight was winding down she was feeling sad.
Letting herself into her rooms, she thought about it. She needed more friends. She needed more people willing to be frank with her but who weren't pursuing agendas of their own.
After getting herself a hot tea from the beverage dispenser in her tiny galley Jeannie sat down on the sofa that lay along one wall of her living room and relaxed.
Unfortunately for her social life Jeannie had obligations to both her family and her clan. Obligations that meant she had to take up a leadership position, that most of the people she dealt with were either subordinates or at least potentially below her in the chain of command.
Jeannie was tired of feeling sorry for herself. She thought she'd done enough of the poor little rich girl routine for one day. Still had to think that her social isolation had stunted her skills in dealing with people as peers and that that could be a weakness someday. It was an awkward problem. She'd have to give it some thought. Later, though, for the immediate future she would concentrate on making the trading expedition a success.
She considered Sheena's remark she wasn't as spoiled as she could be.
Emotionally she couldn't help be pleased by the thought that she was innately better than circumstances might dictate. Practically being seen as even a little spoiled was a problem.
Practically she had to evaluate the orders group that had been so upsetting in that light. She had made it clear she was in charge. That'd been necessary. She could have done so in a manner that was more sensitive to her people's feelings. Done so in a manner that presente
d her in a more favorable light, more confident and considerate both.
Her father had always been the center of her life, and her aspirations had always been to excel in intellectual and practical pursuits in such a manner as to earn his approval. She'd always been at pains to be the sharpest knife in the drawer.
She'd never had that much patience for the methods of the politician and the salesman.
Flattery, glad handing, and soft soaping people, buttering them up with polite nothings and insincere expressions of praise, interest, and shared hobbies, while never contradicting them or otherwise discomforting them had never been her way. It wasted time and felt dishonest too.
Perhaps she should rethink that attitude.
Even if she was in charge, it wouldn't necessarily hurt to give the impression that she valued the opinions of others. She needed to make it clear she did.
She had to be patient. She had to be softer in how she expressed herself. She had to refrain from embarrassing her subordinates.
In particular it was obvious that Captain Lee felt uncomfortable with having her in charge. She could just override the woman at need, but that likely wouldn't work out well.
No, she was going to try and woo the captain and the rest of the crew over. When it was important she'd convince them gently.
When it wasn't she'd be deferential and let them have their own way.
Starting tomorrow there was going to be a new modest, pleasant, not so full of herself Jeannie.
* * *
The Pirate Chief was in the History's Revenge's mess enjoying a spicy tofu and vegetable curry on rice when the news came.
"Captain, comms got notice," his First Mate said handing the Pirate Chief a flimsy piece of folded hardcopy. The Pirate Chief had a thing about making electronic copies. He preferred not to.
Reading the short message the Pirate Chief broke out into a grin. "This is excellent news," he said slapping his First Mate hard on the back of his shoulders. "Excellent news. Inside source reports our prey is coming. Leaves 0800 station time tomorrow. Be here in a few days."
"The men will be pleased to hear it," the First Mate allowed. "All this waiting and not even knowing if anything will be coming. Part of the game, for sure, but, for sure it stretches the nerves."
"I'll cheer them up. Splice the mainbrace. A tot of rum for everyone," the Pirate Chief said. "Two days minimum watch and no turn to. Mind you, no grog trading, no getting drunk. Crew can sing, dance and sleep to their heart's content, but I'll have no getting drunk, or partying, and if I catch anybody fornicating in some corner they'll be going out the airlock together. We're still a voyaging and in harm's way."
"It'll be good to have the crew at their best for boarding," the First Mate said. "Bloody clever of you, Captain."
"Aye, figure it is," the Pirate Chief agreed. "We'll put on a special meal tonight too. Cake and Ice Cream for dessert."
"Cake and ice cream," the First Mate said. "The men will like that. You know they thought was sissy at first, but they've come to rather like it."
"I like cake and ice cream," the Pirate Chief said smiling as he stood up and faced his mate. "You think I'm a sissy?"
"No, sir, nobody thinks that," the First Mate said with the slightest tremor.
"Good, might spoil the fun," the Pirate Chief said whacking his mate on the back even harder than before.
"Yes, sir, wouldn't want that, sir," the First Mate choked out.
The Pirate Chief smiled some more. The First Mate was afraid of him. That was good. Not so afraid he couldn't do his job or felt he had to conspire against the Pirate Chief for his own safety. That was good too.
"We'll be needing to form a special boarding party," the Pirate Chief said. "They may decide to fight."
"We could just hole them from a distance if they don't surrender," the First Mate said. "But I thought you had an in with the crew."
"I did but the owner has decided to accompany the ship," the Pirate Chief said. "They're not likely to surrender and I want to take live hostages, even if we have to fight for them."
"So figure get the crew all relaxed, half drunk and happy, and you'll get yourself some volunteers," the First Mate said.
"Best they think it's their own idea," the Pirate Chief said. "There'll be extra shares for them such as volunteers. You have any better ideas, Mate?"
"No, sir, that sounds right clever. I swear, sir, you could convince the turkey to look forward to Thanksgiving dinner."
3: Departure
Wealth, status, pride
Are their own ruin
Jeannie sat on the bridge of Chang's Venture and watched as the image of Pedlar's Haven station dwindled in size.
She'd have rather been standing. She would have rather been the one giving the orders or actually piloting the ship. It was her role to watch quietly as Captain Lee in turn watched First Officer Okoro pilot the Chang's Venture out of her berth and on the path to the first navigation point on their route.
Jeannie was pleased to be finally departing and with how well that departure had gone so far.
First Officer Okoro was, to the best of Jeannie's knowledge, both the best pilot and the best navigator of all the officers in the Chang trading fleet.
Jeannie didn't, couldn't, know just how good the officers of other organizations, other trading clans, the SDF, the various system navies, were. This was valuable competitive information no one was eager to share. Nonetheless, without false pride in the quality of the Chang clan's people, she thought this meant that First Officer Okoro was likely one of the best ship handlers in human space.
Captain Lee's choice of Okoro to pilot the ship out of dock had been the safest and most cautious she could make.
It was not Jeannie's place to dispute it. To suggest either that a more junior officer could have used the experience, or that Okoro had other pressing responsibilities as the captain's executive officer.
It was within Jeannie's rights to observe her people at work and give praise where it was due.
Between her arrival onboard early that morning and their departure she'd made a point of walking the length of the ship and talking to as many of the crew as she could without distracting them from their duties, and at the very least being seen by all of them. She'd tried to have a positive word for all.
"First Officer Okoro," she said. "Congratulations on a perfect evolution. Exactly what we all expect of you, but just the same its a delight to watch you in action."
"Thank you, ma'am," Okoro replied. Quietly and blushing a little. As outstanding as her technical skills were Okoro needed to improve her people skills. She needed more confidence.
"Captain Lee," Jeannie said to the captain who was looking her way. "I believe the entire crew performed excellently and I'd like you to pass that on to them."
The captain nodded and keyed several buttons in arm of her command chair. "Now hear this. This is Captain Lee," she announced, her words being picked up and repeated by speakers through out the ship. "On behalf of Owner Chang and myself I'd like to commend the crew on an excellent showing during its first maneuver of a long voyage. If you continue to perform at this same high standard throughout I have no doubt this will be a safe and profitable voyage for us all. You may now stand down to condition X-ray as we cruise in system. At 1330 we will go to condition Yankee in preparation for jump. That is all."
It was not usual to spend so long in system before a jump. A freighter on a routine run would have made their first navigation point to clear the vicinity of the station and then from there made straight for the most convenient jump point.
The Chang's Venture on this trip was deliberately setting course for a jump point on the far side of the system's primary from Pedlar's Haven.
The system was called "Spice". Not the clan's choice, but that of a bored or mischievous survey captain a couple of centuries ago. In any event Spice was not a well populated system, most of the people in it lived on Pedlar's Haven which was its only large station.
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Pedlar's Haven orbited the moon of the Spice's outermost large gas giant. A gas giant with mineral rich rings. The moon was called Peppercorn and the gas giant Pepper. They provided the raw materials that made a Pedlar's Haven a major shipyard and refueling station. Key to Jeannie's plans it meant all the mining, refueling, and gas scoop stations and people manning them were close to Pedlar's Haven.
Although Spice system had no living, let alone earth like planets, there was a large Mars like in system. Called Nutmeg, not being in humanity's home solar system, it would never be worth terraforming. It did make a good site for a few small domed agricultural stations that provided fresh food and other biologicals for Pedlar's Haven.
Currently Nutmeg was on the same side of Spice's sun as was Pedlar's Haven. An important point as it meant that there were no populated places on the other side of the system. No places for a random stranger to observe a ship's comings and goings.
Only Jeannie and a few of her senior officers knew the Chang's Venture's planned route.
Pirates were in business, and not noted for being patient, they couldn't position a ship in ambush on every possible route the Chang's Venture might take.
Keeping the ship's exact path secret was the best defense Jeannie could think of.
If any competitors or pirates had observers in system they'd not be in any position to observe the ship's actual jump. It ought to work.
* * *
One system and a day out from the Spice system and Pedlar's Haven and so far all was going well.
Jeannie felt uneasy. She believed she had reason to be pleased that they were finally underway. She didn't for no good reason that she could explain to herself.
Pirate Stars Page 3
