Harry stepped forward. Charley could smell the muskiness of his sweat. It was incredibly attractive. The old pirate favored the classic-style naval trousers an open-necked shirt. His body armor was thinner and lighter than Vin’s, but then he probably depended more on agility than brute power. As an older man, his clothes suited him. Harry was a throwback to a simpler time. Charley was drawn to that. She almost wished she’d been around when Harry was in his prime, blasting enemies and looting treasures at will. No doubt he had skeletons in the closet - all pirates did. But there was a gentle way about him, something that suggested he’d really learned how to live. Harry seemed like the perfect pirate to Charley. Harry and Silverton, who she knew all too briefly.
Silence wormed its way into the rainforest. Charley supposed the animals were still spooked by the arrival of the firebirds. A cicada wail tentatively emerged, steadily building into a shimmering curtain of noise. Charley felt a little pool of sweat at the base of her neck. It slid down her cleavage. She stood straight and tall, unafraid of Harry’s proximity. He was very close indeed - close enough to touch her.
“It’ll be alright, Charley,” he repeated.
His words somehow drew her closer to him, so close that her lips were almost touching his chest. She breathed him in, feeling completely safe in the tapo basket. The jungle was a beautiful, radiant collage of greens and browns. The day carried a warmth that soothed the bones and stirred desires. Harry’s hand crept down her spine, over her lower back. Charley prayed for it to continue on it’s way. Harry obliged, cupping her buttock. She sighed. Surely it was an inappropriate time to be doing this? Danger was so close at hand. If she wasn’t vigilant, death would surely come quickly. And yet both his hands cupped her buttocks now, kneading them with intense desire. Charley held herself at arms length from the old man. He knew exactly what she wanted him to do. Up came the hand, unzipping her from the front. Her cleavage opened out until most of each breast was visible. All but the critical points. Harry ran a hand up the middle of her breasts before teasing them out one by one. They were engorged and supple in the radiant heat. A patina of sweat made them glisten. Harry cupped and massaged them gently. At length he pulled the zipper down as far as it could go. His right hand crept below her navel. Charley groaned at the attention, knowing she was right on the edge. She closed her eyes and let the ripples of pleasure wash over her. With a firework of sensation, her body pulsed and throbbed. She felt at one with the steaming jungle for a moment, just another organism thriving in the dirt and the trees. She didn’t care about the violence of the day or the danger they were in. At that moment, all that existed was her body and the waves of joy cascading through her core.
Harry stepped back and watched Charley’s glorious climax.
“Amazing,” he said with that ever-present twinkle in his eye. “I’ve never seen one quite like that.”
“Quite like what?” Charley asked self-consciously.
“Nothing,” Harry said, kissing her on the forehead. “Let’s just say you’re one of the most wonderful creatures I’ve seen.”
Charley was happy with that. She wrapped her arms around the pirate, forgetting that her breasts were still exposed.
“I suppose you’re OK, then,” came a voice that triggered a cold chill.
Bathed in sweat, Vin had hauled himself along the zip line. Charley’s gaze was inevitably drawn to the intense fury etched on his face. She zipped herself back up in a smooth movement, but it was obvious what she and Harry had been doing. Vin made no effort to hide his pain.
“I’ll keep moving,” he said. “Stay here if you want, but you might get more visitors.”
With that, he continued down the line. He was really pissed. Charley looked at Harry with intense shame. The old man shrugged.
“At least he didn’t come earlier,” he observed. The dry humor alleviated Charley’s embarrassment a little, but she still felt guilty. After a rough start, Vin Teks had been good to her. But right now it was time to move. With a worried glance over her shoulder, she grabbed hold of the zip line and followed Harry. Swinging down the line was harder than it looked and required a surprising level of strength. Charley wasn’t sure how far she’d get before her arms were overrun with lactic acid. Gunfire rang out behind her and chips of bark were stripped off a nearby tree. Armored bandits were giving chase. Thankfully, they needed to stop before they peeled off shots, and even then aiming was difficult. With Harry calling out words of encouragement, Charley moved along the line with all the speed she could muster. Vin had already disappeared far up the line. Charley wasn’t sure he would care if she and Harry were dropped by the bandits. There was nothing she could do about it except accept the consequences. To make matters worse, she began to fade over the next hundred yards. Her arms felt like lead and screamed at her to stop.
“Harry,” she breathed. “I’m not sure if I can keep going.”
She didn’t want to contemplate the long drop to the forest floor.
“That’s normal, Charley,” Harry said reassuringly. “I’m feeling a little beat myself.”
“How long to the next transfer platform?”
“Imminent, I think,” came the reply.
Sure enough, the next platform appeared around the bend. The flat ledge encircled the yaob tree, but there was no obvious way of climbing down. Harry dropped to the platform and Charley followed suit. They stood behind the tree and waited for the first pursuers to appear. The Silent Runners came quickly, four in quick succession and moving faster than Charley had been. Harry picked off the leading bandit with a well placed blaster shot. The man screamed all the way to the forest floor. Charley found it more difficult to drop the bandits. Their armor was blaster resistant and her targeting computer wasn’t great at predicting the trajectory of targets bouncing around on a zip line. Her blasters heated out before she could score a kill, but Harry dropped his second victim with minimal fuss. The remaining pair dropped boldly to the platform. Charley could hear their combat boots on the wooden slats. Her blasters were still cooling when the first enemy appeared. She drew her scimitar and swung it in a vicious arc. To her surprise she cracked the man’s breastplate, stopping him in his tracks. He tried to bring his blaster to bear but Charley lopped off his gun hand with a quick horizontal strike. The bandit howled as he was faced with his bloody stump. Charley finished the kill with an efficient chop to the neck.
The last bandit cleverly used Charley as cover, narrowly avoiding Harry’s deadly sights. But that meant facing her scimitar. Such weapons were no longer common in the galaxy, as guns usually got the job done. The vast majority of enemies weren’t trained in the use of swords or in the defense against swords. Charley wasn’t trained either, but she was the one holding the sword. All it took was a crazy feint followed by a fist to the balls to knock the bandit on his ass. Harry finished with a neat shot to the man’s visor. It cracked and splintered under the force of his plasma blast. Charley didn’t need to see what happened next - shots to the face were never pretty. A more pressing issue was finding a way down the yaob tree. It was difficult to find handholds and she began hesitantly, half expecting to slip at any moment. Luckily, the dry weather made climbing less difficult than it might have been and she reached the bottom without mishap. Harry dropped beside her and planted a passionate kiss on her lips. Charley responded with vigor, unable to help herself. She could see more bandits edging along the zip line to the east. Her comrades were nowhere to be seen. She hoped Vin had been able to get away.
“Let’s run, sweetheart,” Harry said.
The pair broke into a sustainable three-quarter run through the undergrowth, following the zip line without difficulty. At length the terrain opened out into sparse woodland. The zip line was clearly visible and Charley could see Vin and Gronko swinging desperately toward a second bunker facility. The lake shimmered through the trees. Charley figured there were bandit facilities dotted all around the shore.
“Keep your head down,” Harry warned, pointin
g to the canopy.
A squadron of Silent Runners weren’t far from Vin and his alien partner. Just as she was drawing her blaster, a series of plasma bolts sang through the trees and the first two bandits fell. Harry took care of the rest, dropping the distant targets with unerring accuracy. Charley turned to see Vanessa crouched in the trees, panting wildly. The blaster Charley had given her was already heat maxed.
“Nice shooting,” Charley said, unable to hide her surprise.
“Thanks. It was either get involved or tear myself apart with panic. I couldn’t stay on the line so I jumped off at a transfer platform. Been following Vin and the other thing ever since.”
Vin and the “other thing” were now safely dropping to the roof of the lakeside bunker. And yet something wasn’t right about the scene. Where were the bandit firebirds? Shouldn’t they be waiting for the fugitives here? The lakeshore was open and suitable for ambush. The silence was ominous as Charley, Harry and Vanessa emerged from the trees and cautiously approached the bunker.
“Charley,” murmured a electronic voice. It was FIGJAM, sounding coy.
“What is it, Figgy?”
“You were so hot back there,” said the PalBot. “With Harry in the tapo basket.”
44
Charley felt a wave of embarrassment. “And I should know to shut you down when those things happen,” she said sharply.
“Relax, honey,” FIGJAM said. “Just playin’ with you. And being serious at the same time.”
“Shut up,” Charley muttered. The PalBot could be really annoying sometimes.
Vin and the alien were waiting for them inside the bunker. A smaller facility that the first, it didn’t have a perimeter wall or defensive turrets. There was also no sign of enemy activity, as if the facility had been abandoned. The zip line, which might normally have run deliveries of tapo fruit for export to the salukar, was inactive.
“None of this adds up,” Vin said with a frown. Charley had to agree.
The only tech in the building was a boat. A tough, rugged inflatable with twin motors and a gun turret at the back. The support struts were rusted and dirty, suggesting it hadn’t been used in a while. Gronko activated a valve on the wall and water began pouring in from the lake, lifting the boat. The pirates made their way to a raised gantry. The water rose steadily until the boat was floating freely but still tethered to a stanchion. Vin found the release toggle for double doors along the north wall. They slid open to reveal an expanse of water, glittering in the noonday sun.
“I don’t know,” Harry commented. “No firebird waiting for us, no bandits stationed here. This boat, abandoned and rusty. Something tells me they don’t like this lake at all.”
Vin nodded, reluctantly agreeing with his father. He still looked angry.
“We have no choice but to cross the lake,” Charley said. “It’s either that or cower in the forest, waiting for the bandits to overwhelm us.”
“She’s right,” Gronko growled. “We continue north or die.”
“I’m picking up a transmission,” FIGJAM announced. “Would you losers like me to play it?”
Vin looked like he wanted to smash FIGJAM once and for all.
“Just play it, FJ,” Charley warned.
A silence fell over the pirates. “Emperor Galactus’s” voice had been deep and commanding. Gronko snorted in disdain, but even he appeared a little shaken.
“Just another enemy to deal with,” Vin said in an attempt at bravado.
“Why are they so focused on routing us and the other nefarious guilds?” Charley asked.
“Because they need our combined wealth,” Harry said. “The drugs, the contraband, the weapons. All of it can be turned to the war effort.”
“I don’t like it one bit,” Vin said. “This Galactus sounds like a slave driver to me.”
“Let’s focus on the task at hand,” Charley suggested. “We need parts for the Surprise. Then we make our delivery to MinCorp. From there, we have numerous options.”
“I agree with Charley,” Vanessa said quickly. “We need to focus on the here and now.”
Vin clearly agreed because he jumped onto the boat and tried to start it. The tired old engine only came roaring to life when he’d opened the fuel line several times.
“Just enough fuel to make it across the lake,” he said. “What the fuck are you all waiting for?”
Charley climbed aboard gingerly, sliding in next to Vanessa at the rear of the craft. Gronko stood at the turret like a towering sentinel. Harry and Vin shared the controls. Within seconds the boat was skimming over small waves. The day was clear and the sun danced on the mesmerizing water. Charley might’ve enjoyed the ride if not for a strange sense of foreboding. Not only were there no enemies in sight, there was no birdsong, no sign of fish. There was an electric tension in the air that made her hair stand on end. Instinct told her there was life at the lake, a rich presence that dominated the region. A glance at Harry and Vin confirmed her fears.
The attack boat bounced across the waves and Charley felt a somewhat revived by the salt spray. The water beneath them was a deep, fathomless blue. As she gazed into the depths she saw a flash of light radiating from a central source. It might’ve been beautiful if it didn’t seem so threatening.
“You guys see that?” she asked out loud.
A second flash of light rolled to the water’s surface and the engine began to choke.
“… the fuck?” Vin muttered as he worked the ignition furiously.
It was no use. The boat bobbed uselessly on the low waves.
“The water’s changing color,” Vanessa reported, peering over the edge.
And so it was. It had gone from deep blue to pale yellow.
“Could be a seismic event,” Vin suggested. “Earthquake or somethin’.”
“That’s no earthquake,” Charley said, unable to tear her gaze away despite her horror. A creature was moving toward them from the depths of the lake. It was truly immense, filling the entire water body.
“Bigger than a town,” Harry said.
“At least a mile in diameter,” Vin returned.
As the beast moved closer, Charley could see pink filaments along its body. Tentacles. The water was a forest of writhing flesh. The tentacles were thin, floppy and occasionally flashed with energy.
“Maybe it’s curious,” Harry said hopefully, but no one believed it.
A tentacle rocked the boat, almost turning it over. Charley was pitched into the cold water and flailed in panic. There were no water bodies on her home planet and she didn’t know how to swim. To make matters worse, the water was heavier than usual, dragging her down with relentless power. She sank despite her best efforts to resist. The boat shimmered above her. Charley could even see her comrades’ worried expressions as they leaned over the side. An explosion of bubbles told her that someone had dived in. It was Vin, stroking powerfully toward her. He grabbed her hand and, with amazing strength, dragged her to the surface where Harry hauled her into the boat. She reached down to return the favor, but Vin’s armor was slick from the lake water. Snake-like filaments wrapped the
mselves around his ankle, infusing his body with a yellow glow.
“Vin!”
A sense of dread overcoming Charley. The lifeforce of the lake was claiming Vin and she was powerless to stop it. Harry lent his support, pulling his son’s arm in vain. Even Gronko muscled in, but neither of them were a match for the tendrils dragging Vin to the bottom of the lake. Charley pulled and pulled until she was worried she might rip Vin’s arm from the socket. She pulled until tears were flowing freely down her cheeks. A blizzard of thoughts flooded her skull. The strange thing was that none of them were actually hers. The lake creature was trying to communicate with her. Charley shut her eyes in a vain attempt to ignore the assault on her mind. At length she grasped that the creature had lived in the lake for several millennia and reserved the right to claim anyone who entered its domain. The monster was trying to convince Charley that what it was doing was not only justifiable, but fair. Overwhelmed, Charley concentrated on Vin. The burly pirate took one last look at her before disappearing under the water. She watched in horror as he was enfolded by soft folds of pink flesh.
“A mammoth jellyfish,” Harry said in disbelief. He was right. A huge, ancient, intelligent jellyfish.
“It can do what it wants,” Charley said in a soft voice. “Until this planet is properly settled, it rules all.”
Harry and Vanessa nodded. Gronko spat into the water, but otherwise held his tongue. The jellyfish began descending in a halo of tiny bubbles. Vin had, for all intents and purposes, been consumed.
Unable to control her grief, Charley sagged over the edge of the boat. She didn’t care if the monster came back to claim her too.
“Vin,” she breathed. “What have I done to you?”
45
Guilt threatened to overwhelm Charley. Would Vin have survived if she hadn’t had her moment of weakness with Harry? He’d been acting strangely since he discovered the pair together. But then Charley had been the one to fall into the water first. The jellyfish had multiple chances to claim her but didn’t. Why had Vin been chosen? She’d lost her second-in-command and a very good friend. Vin was a prickly character but she loved him in a number of ways. It was heartbreaking to lose him so soon on their pirate adventure. It was Vin who had given her the means of buying the Surprise. It was Vin who had made her pirating dream a reality.
The Pirate Guild Page 21
