“Not much use to us,” Charley said dismissively.
“Hold on a second,” Molly said. “When they see we’ve come into these maintenance tunnels, they might deactivate life support.”
Charley frowned - it made sense. Life support on these warships was compartmentalized.
“Take that suit,” Charley said. “I’ll check the other locker.”
Charley found a second suit and the women changed into them. The pirate captain had just taken her first steps when she began to float into the air. The Imperials had already removed life support, probably by sealing the tunnels and opening a port to open space. Charley smiled at Molly, not willing to say anything over the com link. The Imperials would be listening in on the frequency. The pair headed down one of the side tunnels running from the maintenance locker room. They soon ran into a T-intersection and turned left. Charley calculated they were traversing the port hull. There were regularly-placed hatches along the wall and Charley was momentarily tempted to climb outside, but such a move was simply too dangerous. There was no way of knowing how fast the warship was moving. On the other hand, the notion of throwing the Imperials off their scent was attractive. In the end she held their bearing, hugging the port wall and making as much ground as she could. If they were heading toward the foredeck, as Charley predicted, then they might chance upon a means of escape in one of the smaller hangars. Warships like this one housed all kinds of small to medium vessels for various objectives. If the pirates could somehow jack an Imperial scout, escape was a remote possibility.
Charley’s anxiety was salved a little when the entire ship rocked. The sabotage of the propulsion bulb had been carried out successfully. She looked back at Molly, who was grinning from ear to ear. Hopefully the prop bulb was so damaged that the warship was a sitting duck for the rebels. Finding a weapon that could hit it from the planet’s surface was another matter altogether. Charley had a spring in her step as she continued down the maintenance tunnel. It wasn’t likely that the Imperials could pinpoint their exact location, so in theory it was possible to leave via one of the internal exits and not be confronted with a welcoming party.
Charley stopped at an internal hatch that seemed as likely as any. It wouldn’t open. Of course. The Imperials were controlling life support, which meant the exits were sealed. Then again, the Imperials were playing a dangerous game because there was nothing stopping the fugitives from strafing an exit with their plasma blasters in the hope of flooding the adjacent deck with vacuum. Charley didn’t want to kill Imperial crew members in cold blood if she could avoid it, but she wasn’t about to wait in the maintenance tunnels while the air in their suits ran out. Whoever was supervising their capture was evidently thinking along the same lines, because the women came crashing to the floor as normal air pressure was restored.
“They’re gonna rush the tunnels,” Charley said, activating the nearest hatch. It hissed open, admitting to a storage bay. The women removed their suits and calmly made their way down an axial corridor that offered portside views of deep space. Imperial staff went about their business here, only this time Charley and Molly received more than casual interest. It was only a matter of time before someone identified them. Just as the women quickened their pace, a marine patrol turned the corner ahead of them. Charley grabbed Molly and ducked into a side passage. The corridor ended abruptly at a drop tube that was currently engaged. Molly herded Charley towards the tube.
“Kneel behind me,” the bodyguard said. “This could be tricky.”
Charley shook her head and assumed a firing position next to Molly.
“Let’s do this together,” she said with a grin.
With bated breath Charley waited for the first marine to appear. These troopers were dressed in light armor - if the attacker was skilled and clean, direct hits could be made. Molly was both of those things. The foremost marine’s head snapped back as he received a plasma bolt to the neck. He tried to stem the fountain of blood with a scarlet-gloved hand but it was a losing battle. A second marine knelt and fired but the women already had him in their sights. Charley’s targeting computer guided her shots into the marine’s most glaring weak point - his fingers. A soldier couldn’t fire if he was missing the necessary appendages. The man’s blaster clattered to the ground along with a fore and index finger. The drop shaft behind the women emitted a chime to indicate it was ready to receive passengers. Molly shoved Charley into the tube and received a blast to her leg for her trouble. Charley dragged her bodyguard into the shaft and they sank to a lower level. Hopefully there would be less marines in the bowels of the ship. The drop shaft released the pirates into a dark, cool corridor. Charley assessed Molly’s wound. An ugly glancing blow that had taken a chunk of her leg. The poor woman was probably in excruciating pain. Charley regretted not taking some of those battle chems they’d seen in the infantry pod. With admirable determination Molly rose to her feet and continued down the passage.
“Don’t worry about me,” she gasped. “Let’s get the fuck out of here. Ma’am.”
“Affirmative,” Charley said, rushing down the corridor.
Several unarmed engineers cowered further down the way. Blasters poised, Charley and Molly paid them no heed. One engineer blatantly keyed his wrist com and put out a general alert. Charley was tempted to blast him but couldn’t bring herself to do it. What interested her more was what the engineers had been doing - tinkering with an array of pods attached to the port hull. Escape pods! If the warship was prepping its escape pods, things looked grim indeed. Perhaps Molly’s exhaust dump had wrought more destruction than first planned. Whatever the case, Charley wasn’t one to waste a golden opportunity.
67
“Get the fuck out if you want to live,” Charley barked.
“The hell we will, bitch,” said one of the older engineers, probably a foreman. “You’re coming with us.”
Charley calmly shot the man in the forehead. He collapsed to the floor. Shocked silence filled the corridor. Even Molly looked at Charley with alarm.
“Go,” the pirate captain growled.
The engineers trooped down the passage without further protest. Charley nudged the foreman out of the way with her boot and clambered into the nearest pod. Molly closed the hatch behind them and they strapped themselves in. Charley checked the nav projection and gave a low whistle. The engineers had already keyed a launch sequence. She confirmed launch and the pod thrummed with power. Her stomach lurched as the tiny orb detached itself from the warship’s hull and accelerated away. She wondered whether a barrage of missiles would pursue them, but nothing came. Outside, the huge warship span listlessly. Escape pods and larger vessels were pouring from various bays and hangars. A full scale evacuation.
“I wonder if Galactus is on one of those ships,” Molly mused.
“Probably the cruiser,” Charley said. “Let him limp back to the core worlds.”
Molly chuckled at the notion, but she was obviously in severe pain. Charley scrabbled at a supplies panel and found few vials of med salve. She tore Molly’s uniform away and applied the thick liquid. The viscous substance sealed the wound and began binding the flesh. Molly gradually regained her color and composure. Charley glanced out the porthole worriedly - where was the pod taking them? They seemed to be moving away from Frostfire.
“We could be on a pre-planned course back to the core worlds,” she said. “Any ideas?”
Perhaps it was a narcotic effect of the med salve, but Molly calmly raised her blaster and fried the navigation core. The panel fizzed and the pod shook. At length the craft’s power shorted out and the sphere dropped like a stone toward the planet’s surface. Charley held on to her straps in white terror as the pod, haloed by orange flame, scudded through the upper atmosphere. The craft fell through several banks of white cloud and Charley was sure they’d be dashed against a mountain. But then a landing sequence kicked in and an inertia field glowed blue underneath the pod. By the time the women had reached the troposphere, the sp
here was almost drifting. The weather was clear and Charley could see an endless expanse of icy tundra.
The ground rose up to meet them and the pirates braced for impact. The pod struck a powdery ridge of snow before rolling several hundred yards across the uneven tundra. Charley was tossed around so many times she felt like vomiting by the time they finally came to a stop. Molly unstrapped herself and opened the hatch. Cold air greeted them. Charley stepped out gingerly and surveyed the terrain. The landscape was bleak, running silver and blue all the way to the horizon. She hugged herself against the cold, her breath visible in the late afternoon air. Her friends were over on the night side, many of them celebrating what had been decisive victory against the Imperials. Her crew would be desperately worried about her, particularly Harry. She tried hailing him on her wrist com. At first she got static, but on her third try, the old pirate’s voice chimed through.
“Had to decide what to wear,” Charley said affectionately. “Wanna come get me or you gonna make a girl walk?”
“Thanks, Harry,” said Charley. “What’s your ETA?”
There was a pause as Harry did his calculations.
“Copy that, Harry,” Charley said with a smile.
Molly limped out to stand next to Charley on the ice.
“How’s your wound?” the pirate captain asked with concern.
“As good as new,” Molly replied cheerily. “Did I just hear right? We don’t get our rescue for four hours?”
“Unfortunately,” Charley said. She was tired and hungry. It’d been a long time since she’d had a proper meal. “Let’s just lay low for a while. The escape pod is well insulated.”
“Aye aye, ma’am,” Molly said. “A grand idea.”
The women withdrew to the escape pod where they gladly shut the hatch behind them. Snow began dusting the tundra, a strong fall that emerged from the gathering gloom.
Charley was woken by shafts of strong blue light. She and Molly sleepily clambered outside. Harry’s welcome face appeared through the gloom and they knew they were safe. The trip back to Ottova was completed without incident. The icebird was an impressive vessel, a powerful air rescue unit fully adapted to the cold. Charley laid back on a comfortable stretcher bed and let their thoughts wander. The icebird descended through the night gloom and landed at the spaceport’s well-lit central airfield. Charley allowed Harry to carry her exhausted body across the tarmac and into the warm barracks building.
“Sorry, we haven’t had time to set up nicer digs,” Harry said.
“That’s fine, Charley said tiredly. She was asleep as soon as her head touched a pillow.
68
When Charley woke she found herself tucked into the rearmost bed in the Imperial barracks. She let her mind drift for a while, guessing the time of day by the cast of sunlight through the windows. It was probably early afternoon. Her wound dressed and bandaged, Molly lay in the next bed. They chatted quietly about their adventure. When she felt ready for the world, Charley pulled on some clothes she found at the end of the bed. They were no replacement for her utility suit, but they made her feel like a local, a rebel, and that counted for something. She’d been through some major struggles with the Frostfire settlers; enough to feel responsible for them. It was a bright day and the white sunlight hurt Charley’s eyes as she went in search of her friends. Harry spotted her immediately and wrapped her in a bear hug.
“You’re the most courageous young woman I’ve ever met,” he said tenderly. “You risked your life for the cause and we all think you’re a hero.”
“All in a pirate’s day’s work,” Charley said humbly.
The dull roar of thousands of people could be heard beyond the airfield fence.
“What’s going on?” she asked.
Harry held her at arms length and looked her in the eye.
“Once they’d heard of your heroics, settlers came from all corners of the globe. They’re camped outside the city - thousands of them. Ready to die for you if necessary.”
“Galactus will return,” Charley said quietly. “What happened to the Imperial warship?”
Harry’s smile faded. “Crashed somewhere in the Southern Wastes. There weren’t any survivors, but then there weren’t many on board.”
“Most escaped,” Charley said, remorseful for those who had died. “Galactus could be halfway to the core worlds by now.”
“No doubt,” Harry agreed. “But the situation here has changed. Galactus badly misjudged the mood of the settlers. He thought they were scattered farmers, nothing more. He wasn’t expecting a defense force led by the famous Pirate Guild.”
Charley couldn’t help but chuckle. The way Harry put it made it sound wonderful. And it was, in many ways. They’d gone from a small, desperate operation to a force to be reckoned with. A leader of armies.
“There she is, my little pirate commander,” came a familiar voice. Harry melted away as Jack Kovacs padded towards her like a panther. The scounger’s hug had a sexual charge to it. Jack smelled like sandalwood and sweat, a sexy, masculine combination.
“It’s good to be home, Jack,” she said. But what was home? It certainly wasn’t the spaceport. Was it Frostfire? There were questions upon questions.
“What were the losses?” she began.
“Not terrible, but not great either,” came the honest reply. “We lost over two hundred good soldiers in the spaceport assault. Good people, mothers and fathers.”
“I’m sorry to hear it,” Charley said quietly. She was silent for several moments while she reflected on the fallen.
“We have a memorial service organized in two days,” Jack said. “After that we’ll focus on rebuilding the city. Boosting our defenses.”
“The remaining Imperials have been captured?” Charley asked.
“Rotting in cells,” Jack answered venomously. “They won’t be seeing the light of day any time soon.”
Charley nodded. She sensed it was best to leave punishment to Jack and the other rebels.
“It’s been a big couple of days,” she said. “What are you planning now?”
“There’s a lot to do here,” Jack said. “Soon I’ll head back to Ghost Fort and meet with other rebel leaders.”
Charley understood. Jack was tied up in the new political order of the place. Frostfire had a newfound confidence. When the climate finally changed for the better, the mobilized populace would be ready to thrive. Unless, of course, Galactus returned with a fleet of warships.
“Why do you think the Imperials came?” she asked finally.
Jack frowned just like Harry had.
“I’ve heard rumors,” he said cryptically. “Nothing for you to worry about right now.”
“Fine,” she said reluctantly. She was too tired to digest bad news anyway.
Perhaps reading her thoughts, Jack grabbed Charley’s hands and looked her in the eye. She almost melted from the close proximity of those ice blue beauties.
“Why don’t you wait for me at the Fort?” he said. “We can relax together. Heal together.”
“I can’t stay for long,” Charley said, looking away. “I’m a pirate, after all.”
Jack’s eyes widened for a moment. He wasn’t used to women dictating terms to him. He smiled mischievously.
“Looks like I need to find reasons for you to stay.”
69
The next few days passed by in a blur. Charley made sure she stayed for the memorial service in Ottova, honoring the memory of those who had died defending their home. She caught up with Gronko, Vanessa, and an indignant FIGJAM too. The PalBot was furious upon seeing Charley again, but it soon became apparent that its anger was only skin deep. An emotion born out of love. Char
ley was happy to slot the little robot back into her utility belt, especially since she’d left her pirate pellets and scimitar on the Imperial warship. She convinced Harry to take her south to the warship crash site. Truth be told, she wanted her pirate pellets back. She’d taken on the Silverton name and it felt only right that she preserve the old pirate’s memory. As for her scimitar, it was the first sword she ever bought. A sword paid for with hard won credit, back when Charley was first learning what being a pirate was all about.
Trawling through the wreckage was a harrowing business. There were several bodies littered amongst the scrap. Perhaps sensing Charley’s guilt, Harry squeezed her arm and assured her that bringing the warship down was a necessary act of war. If it hadn’t happened, Galactus would’ve simply peppered the rebels from orbit, causing widespread death and destruction. It was difficult to determine exactly where the lower deck was. The warship was scattered over many miles. Charley and Harry had to identify the right part of the ship from the air. Charley felt more uncertain the longer the operation took. Did she have any right to poke through the wreckage just for her pirate trinkets? Something kept her going though, and she doggedly clambered through huge, exposed sections of deck. Harry identified the lower support decks that housed cleaning and pressing chambers. Finding the right corridor in all the wreckage was nigh impossible.
Charley was just about to give up when Harry spotted a crumpled corridor that looked familiar. Charley needed a boost to climb up to the tilted, naked corridor but she was able to slide down with no real difficulty. At length she found the adjoining storage closet she’d ducked into with Molly. And there, stashed into a wall panel, was her sword and pellet containers! Unable to suppress a wide grin, she slotted the pellets into her belt and fixed the sword and scabbard to her waist. As she negotiated her way back to Harry, she decided that their grisly efforts had been more than worth it. She didn’t feel like a pirate without her old-fashioned weapons. She wrapped Harry in a hug, thankful that the old man had understood. Together they trudged back to the icebird, taking their time to chat about Frostfire and how amazing their new situation was.
The Pirate Guild Page 32
