Rookie Privateer

by McFarlane, Jamie

  "Yeah right. Frakking pansy-ass kid."

  I stood up and held my hand out to Marny. "Knife. Go get the other one. This one isn't going to last," I said.

  Marny extracted her black knife from her sheath, handed it to me and simply walked out of the room.

  "You took my foot, shithead. You won't be missed." I jammed the knife into his chest, then pulled out my laser blaster and fired twice.

  Marny ran back into the room with the female who had attacked us first.

  "Crap. You killed him?" She was genuinely alarmed.

  "He ruined my family. I swore I would end him if I ever saw him again."

  "I, I don't know, Liam. That's pretty twisted. He was tied up." Marny was shaken. I could almost understand.

  "You'll get paid and we can part ways. Let's get through this first. I reached over to Xid's prone body and pulled the knife out. It was dripping with blood."

  I leaned over the body of the woman we had tied up earlier. "Okay. So we have one more pirate after you. Then I have to start making decisions. We could easily just shut down the power and wait for our friend, Nick. He had plenty of missiles and will have taken out your buddies’ ship by now. There is no help coming for you." I looked at the now terrified woman. "Do you have the codes or not? I have five minutes before I have to figure this out."

  I crouched in front of her and showed her the bloody knife.

  "Houzi 498," she said, cowering.

  I jumped to the console and typed in the code she gave me. I was in. I ran a quick scan of local space and didn't see Sterra's Gift yet. Oh man, I hoped Nick was okay.

  "Marny, get something on Xid's chest or he's gonna bleed out," I said over my shoulder.

  Marny's head swiveled to me and understanding slowly crossed her face. "You rat crap little spacer trash bastard!"

  "You need to work on your cussing. Or are Earth Marines not quite as badass as their Mars brethren?"

  "Don't push it," she said.

  I figured I'd better leave that alone for now. I heard Marny working on Xid. I'd purposefully tried to miss his important parts with the knife, even though I would have been fine with things going another way. The laser blasts were completely for show. Then I hit him as hard as I could in the head with my gloved fist. That was purely personal. He probably had a concussion. Even if he were damaged for life, we still wouldn't be even.

  I punched Sterra’s Gift’s signature into the defensive system and locked out all other ships. The pirates had programmed in more than one hundred ships that this computer would recognize and treat as friendlies. Great, I had made some powerful enemies.

  I downloaded as much information from the defensive system as I could for Mar’s Protectorate. With great relief, I finally saw Sterra's Gift show up on the far scan. Nick was decelerating hard and I couldn't yet detect any pursuit craft.

  Nick was running the play. He had put significant distance between himself and the other cutter. I hoped it had been enough to stay safe, but not enough to discourage the pursuit. Nick's deceleration vector was such that he would blow right past the asteroid, but he would be well inside the range of the hideout's heavy turrets. He had too much faith in me. It made me proud and scared all at the same time.

  After applying a med-patch to Xid, Marny dragged the last pirate into the room, dropping him on the ground.

  "What about the first guy?" I asked.

  "He's dead. I got him chilling," she responded.

  "What are you going to do with us?" I heard a small voice from behind me.

  "Quiet," Marny replied. "Do you see Nicholas yet?"

  "Yes. Here." I pulled up a display showing Sterra's Gift decelerating. We couldn't see much, but it looked like she had taken some damage. We wouldn't be able to penetrate the hard burn with our transmissions until he passed us by.

  I saw the other cutter enter the range of our sensor net, showing yellow on my screen. I didn't want the guns to shoot at it yet. The trap would be sprung soon enough. I needed them to land that ship.

  Fire a pattern of warning shots around Sterra's Gift. Do not hit the ship under any circumstance.

  All three turrets showed targeting solutions and fired a couple of shots.

  Continue to fire warning shots for ten seconds.

  The guns barked to life and sprayed laser bolts on a near-miss course. It was an impressive display and I was glad it was AI controlled. I would have surely hit the ship if I had been aiming. Nick would overshoot us enough that it would take him five minutes to get back. He had changed our plan a bit but it made sense. He would gain safety behind the asteroid and likely sail back around the bottom side, forcing the pirate cutter to stay in range of our weapons for the longest period of time.

  Sterra's Gift finally passed the station, still decelerating. We could open communication with Nick.

  Hail Sterra's Gift. Secure channel.

  "Nick report! No casualties on station. I repeat. No casualties."

  "This is Sterra's Gift. We are flying without pressure in main hallway. I am not sure, but I think the airlock door got blown off. I am unable to raise the brig. Engines are showing stress and we are running at 60% ammo."

  It was a good report. Nick was alive. That was the only thing I cared about. To hell with the rest. I breathed a sigh of relief and felt Marny's large hand on my shoulder. I thought I might cry in relief, but of course I didn't do that sort of thing.

  "You made some tough calls, Cap. Welcome to command. You did good, now don't get cocky."

  "Nick, I got an idea. Give me a second."

  "Hey. You want your freedom?" I asked the young woman.

  "Like you would give it to me," she said.

  "You got any better offers? Besides if we lose, you can say we had a gun to your head."

  "What do you want?" I understood her suspicion.

  "Tell them that Xid and the other guy got hit by fire from my buddy's ship. You're here all by yourself. Tell them that the defense systems disabled the ship and forced it to land."

  "What do I get out of it?"

  "We will drop you at Terrence."

  "They'll kill me."

  "Red Houzi? What if you had money? How about Terrence with a platinum brick worth twenty thousand and anything from here that you can stuff in a bag?" I wanted this to work.

  "Okay?" I could hear in her voice that she didn’t trust me. That’s fine. I didn’t need much from her.

  Marny stepped toward her menacingly. "You cross us and I will kill you on the spot."

  The woman glared back. "Don't think you can hurt me."

  I worried Marny might take it further so I stepped in. "Look, we have no interest in hurting you. If you guys had left us alone, we wouldn't even be here."

  "They can't allow Mie-su to be captured by the Protectorate," she said almost involuntarily.

  Hail Sterra's Gift. "Nick, come around and set down way off to the side. Make it look like a forced landing."

  "Shouldn't be too hard." Nick wasn't one for a lot of words. I watched happily as he landed Sterra's Gift in front of the main building. Marny was outside the airlock when he landed.

  Nick and Marny cycled through the airlock as the enemy cutter hailed the station.

  "Xid. What’s going on down there? What's that ship doing on the ground?"

  The young woman nodded at me and I knew it was go time.

  "You do this right and I will live up to my promise. You say anything wrong and your life is forfeit." I helped her to the chair and cut her hands free.

  I could hear Marny running up the stairs with Nick behind her.

  "Alexander. They're all dead."

  "Who is this? Dontal? Who's dead? What do you mean? Spit it out, you stupid bitch."

  "Xid, Peng. We have a lot of damage here. They were firing on us. I think they are still on the ship. The turrets knocked them down. I haven't seen anyone come out. I didn't want to fire at them, Mie-su was supposed to be on board. I told them I have the turrets on them. Been waiting for you.
"

  "Sounds fishy. What are you up to? Gonna come down there and cut you if you are frakking with me."

  I cut communication at that point. It sounded like they mostly believed her. Nick and Marny were in the room. I stood up and walked over to embrace Nick. I hoped we wouldn't ever need to split up like that again.

  "Sounds promising," Marny said, "How many on that ship?"

  "Three," she replied. "Gunner, pilot, engineer."

  "You will understand that I have to bind you again. Not that you're not trustworthy and all." Marny was trying to keep it light, but under the circumstances I could also understand why she didn't get a great response.

  "Just like every other man," the young woman retorted.

  It was eerie watching the cutter land. It looked so much like Sterra’s Gift – although it was in much rougher shape. Our next action depended entirely on what the pirates did next. Two figures disembarked from the enemy cutter and bounded over to our ship.

  I looked over at Nick, "You locked it, right?"

  "Door got blown off."

  Fire turrets between Sterra's Gift and approaching men.

  Laser bolt rounds fired deeply into the ground in front of the approaching men and they froze in place.

  Hail cutter not identified as Sterra's Gift. "This is Captain Liam Hoffen of the cutter Sterra's Gift. I am currently in control of your heavy turrets. Stand down or be destroyed."

  I saw the turret of the enemy cutter swivel over to point at Sterra's Gift.

  Fire five second burst two meters in front of enemy cutter. Laser bolts tore into the ground causing shards of the asteroid to explode in all directions around the front of the cutter.

  "Next one goes through your ship turret. You won't get another warning. Tell the men outside to drop guns or I will fire on them. Disembark the ship and present yourself in the airlock unarmed. No harm will come to you."

  "You killed Xid. Why would we expect any different treatment?"

  Send video of Blaine Xid to enemy cutter.

  "He is alive and bound. No harm will come to you if you surrender. If you resist, you will be destroyed."

  "You appear to have all of the cards," the man replied.

  "Place your weapons on the ground and enter the airlock."

  After a few minutes of what must have been a very tense conversation they dropped their weapons on the ground and walked up to the main building with their hands up. We held our blaster rifles on them through the airlock.

  "On your knees," Marny demanded. "Search 'em, Cap."

  Nick had remained in the control room with the other three pirates, one of whom was still unconscious. Marny had given Nick strict instructions about keeping a gun on them while we dealt with our new friends. We only had a few hours before the two intercept ships arrived. These ships were our primary concern as they had a significant speed advantage over Sterra’s Gift. If they caught us out in the open they would shred us.

  "Your survival depends on following my instructions," I said calmly. "My partner here has informed me that spacing you all would make our lives a lot easier. You have fired upon us, so there would be no moral dilemma for me. Now, before you threaten us with Red Houzi retribution, understand we have been living with that for a while now. Not a game changer. Savvy?"

  I got a confused look from one of the pirates. "Understand me? Geez can't anyone talk pirate?" I was getting tired and maybe a little goofy.

  "Yeah, we got you," replied the blonde-headed one.

  "First, give me the command codes for the cutter out there."

  He paused and looked around. I had time to be patient, so I waited him out.

  "They'll kill me," he whined.

  "Not today and I will give you a good head start," I said.

  "How do I know you won't kill us once I give you what you want?" he asked.

  "You don't. Holy crap you're a pirate. Do we really need to do this dance? Threats, torture, removing limbs, all that? You hold on to the hope that I won't do awful things to you and you give me what I want. I already have control over the turrets. I have my own ship. This thing is done."

  I stared. They were getting uncomfortable on their knees.

  "Let me start again. You have something I want, albeit not of great importance. I get to decide if or how painfully you die. How about I sweeten the pot? We will drop you all at Terrence. You each get to load six crates with the best stuff you can find here. I will give you two of those crates and keep four for myself. From there you should be able to get wherever you want. Now, give me the command codes for the cutter. Otherwise, we start the dance. I win either way. You choose."

  "Okay. Okay," the blonde-headed man replied.

  We took the trio over to the still-functioning habitation pods and made them remove their vac-suits. They probably thought we were preparing to space them. There wasn't much they could do, what with Marny and me still in our armor vac-suits holding blaster rifles on them. We watched as they emptied the farthest pod and then we sealed them in. We depressurized the connecting habitation pod, making it a reasonable short-term brig.

  REVENGE IS NEVER SWEET

  Keeping captives was the last thing I'd ever expected to do. We were short-staffed and it took a lot of creative energy to figure out how best to keep us safe from them while preparing for the approaching ships. The young woman, Celina, was not a very nice person, but was also terrified of being left alone with any of the remaining men. According to her, she had been taken from Terrence by force. When I asked what she did on Terrence she was evasive. Marny suggested that she had likely been a prostitute.

  We agreed she would remain tied to a chair while we prepared for the incoming ships. I felt like at least part of her story was straight, since she would rather be tied up than join the others.

  We checked on Xie in Sterra's Gift and discovered that, while the hallway was open to space, the brig had kept its seal. She was pissed, but otherwise in good shape. We could deal with that later. I moved Sterra's Gift to the back side of the asteroid and waited for the arrival of the fast attack ships.

  We received a hail when they finally showed up on our sensor net.

  Nick and Marny stayed in the command center with Celina still tied to the chair. I was in Sterra's Gift ready to join the fight if it came to that. I hoped we wouldn't need to use our ship, I'd be terribly outclassed. But we couldn't afford to rely only on the heavy turrets. It was a precaution that turned out to be unnecessary.

  Celina proved helpful again and provided the appropriate pass phrase. The small ships entered the space near the pirate's hideout and crossed the threshold where the turrets would have them in range. The trap was sprung.

  "We need a status on the target," one of the pirate pilots requested.

  "Stand down," I ordered.

  "What the frak!" The pilot of one of the fast attack ships replied.

  "I said stand down. You will land those ships. Any aggressive ..." I was cut off by the firing of guns from one of the two ships on the main building.

  "Cease fire!" I yelled over the comm channel, but the damage was done. The attacking craft had turned and was making a run for it, but the heavy turrets stitched laser bolts into its hull and it exploded. The second craft turned to flee and met a similar fate.

  We met back in the control room of the main building and Marny left to check on the prisoners. We had been going hard for the better part of twenty hours and fatigue was setting in fast. If we didn't have a load of captive pirates, I might have felt safe spending time on this rock. We were well protected as long as we had control of the hideout's heavy turrets. It had taken less than two seconds of concentrated fire to blow up each of the smaller attack craft. It might take a little longer on a cutter, but not much.

  "Any thoughts on fixing the airlock on Sterra's Gift?" I asked.

  "I should be able to get us to a station at least," Nick answered.

  "Marny's med patch is going to wear off pretty soon and I don't think she's going to be
moving much after that. When she gets back, I say the two of us work on that airlock. I'm beat, but if we push, we should be able to take off in three or four hours."

  "What about other incoming ships?"

  "There is only one that is even remotely close. We will have two ships on one."

  "Are we taking the other cutter?" Nick asked surprised.

  "Yes, I have a plan. Celina, do you want to help us with the door? The sooner we get outta here, the sooner you will have us out of your hair." She was still tied to the chair.

  "What? You trust me now?"

  "Not at all," I answered. "I have an idea for you though. Better than sitting here tied up."

  "Fine," she spat.

  Nick and Celina worked on the door while Marny stood guard. I sent a quick message to Belcose and explained our circumstances. He had sent an update on the ships still headed our way. The lead ship was a few hours out and the other ship had fallen back and was well behind that. Neither was a match for Sterra's Gift in speed, but our other cutter would easily be caught.

  I worked on several different simulations based on when the pirates would discover our heading. If we could take off within two hours, we had a chance. I walked back to view the progress and saw the work was nearly finished. Celina was a quiet worker.

  "Okay, I'm going to change things to improve our arrangement." I said to no one in particular.

  "Gee. Couldn't have seen that coming," Celina said dryly. "Is this where I get to take a cold dark walk?"

  I chuckled. "No, this is where you get a better deal than you have now. No strings attached."

  "Oh, do tell." She wasn't a believer yet, but I would convert her.

  "Do you trust any of those others?"

  "Are you kidding? They kidnapped and used me for the last several months. They don't deserve to live." She was hot.

  "Oh, I wish we'd had this conversation earlier," I said honestly.

  She just stared at me.

  I explained my plan to her and she looked at me in shock. Marny looked surprised as well. To her credit she didn't express what she was feeling.