The Star Pirate's Folly

by James Hanlon

  “What kind of needs?”

  “A girl I know went missing before the comet passed. I want to find her but I’m inside a bombardment bunker underneath Overlook City. The police won’t let me leave and they’re too busy to comb the city looking for her, but I might know where to find her. Can you get me out?”

  “Sir,” Robert626 said with firm resolve, “it would be my absolute pleasure to assist you today.”

  One hour later, Sergeant Mallory stormed into the room with another man in tow. The oddly proportioned sergeant stood at the door and gestured for Hargrove to get up and leave.

  “Alright, let’s go,” Mallory said. “You don’t want our completely secure fortified facility to keep you alive, it’s your right to be a moron and get yourself killed. We’ve got all this square on the record so when you get hurt don’t think you can get some kind of settlement from this—we’ll come down on you with all the stars in the ‘verse.”

  The slim man who followed the sergeant in walked toward Hargrove, hand outstretched in greeting. He wore a tight-fitting white jumpsuit with black and red trim. Hargrove shook hands with him.

  “Wonderful to meet you, sir. I’m Robert626 and now that I’m here you’ve got nothing to worry about.”

  “Just get me out of here,” Hargrove said.

  ***

  “Half a mile from the dome, boss,” Gruce said over the private channel to Starhawk, heaving for air as he sprinted downhill toward the dome with his men.

  “You sound fat, Gruce,” Starhawk said with an amused chuckle.

  Before Gruce could react to the barb, superheated beams of light sliced through the canopy above his squad. Dicer, his number two, crumpled instantly as a red laser bored through his skull, burning through the nullsteel armor like plastic. The suit drifted eerily through the air, weightless, Dicer’s body still twitching inside.

  Two-Gut threw himself away from his position and felt the heat from a laser scorch the armor on his right shoulder. Aerial attack—drones, maybe. Bad news. He scrambled behind a massive fallen tree trunk and swapped his filters to x-ray. His lens display picked out four human targets above him—a squad of nullsuits. So they came out personally to greet his attack.

  “Suits in the air, scatter!” Gruce barked over the common band. “Whistler, drones up!”

  “We got you, big man,” rumbled an unfamiliar voice in reply. “Squadron C assisting.”

  Diving away from the tree trunk, Gruce glanced at his map as three warships peeled off from the formation of ten above the city, just beyond reach of its defenses. The four suits above him flitted around, their laser beams raking the forest floor nearby as they struggled to hit him. Whistler’s drones drew their fire for a moment, giving Gruce time to take cover and watch as his air support swooped in.

  Machine guns from the three ships shredded two of the enemy suits and the other two dropped into the forest. One was too slow and a hail of bullets found its target just as he dipped below the tree line. Gruce grinned and doubled back toward the last remaining suit. That would be his ticket into the city.

  Gruce spotted the fallen suit face down on the ground near Dicer’s body. Looked like he yanked himself down too hard, crumpled his arms underneath his body. Rookie mistake. Lost his weapon, too. Gruce vaulted over the fallen trunk and surged the gravity nodes in his boots and palms to pull himself down onto his foe, driving a vicious heel into the suit’s exposed neck as he landed.

  The Cap City trooper inside the suit died in an instant under Two-Gut Gruce’s heel, snuffed out like Dicer on the muddy forest floor beside him. He kicked the suit over onto its back. No glory in a merciful death. Gruce knew if today was his day he wouldn’t go out so peacefully.

  “Pluck, I’ve got our key to the city,” Gruce said.

  “Moments, dearest,” Pluck said, the words tumbling from his mouth with excitement. “Only moments.”

  On the map, Pluck’s icon came streaking toward him. The squirrelly tech expert leaped onto the dead suit with a gleeful cackle and pulled a long spike from his belt which was connected like an umbilical cord to his suit. He arched his back as he brought the spike over his head with both hands and plunged it into the top of the suit’s helmet.

  The dead man’s suit spasmed as though in agony, writhing in the mud underneath Pluck who howled and whooped as he struggled to hold the suit’s arms down.

  “Oh, I’m in deep,” Pluck moaned. “Still warm, it’s all still warm. Everything, everything, give me everything, my love!”

  “Boss, we got keys,” Gruce said over the private channel to Starhawk.

  “Good,” Starhawk said. “We’ll make a hole. Get inside, get the map, and get to the gate station. My birds are dropping you some fresh grubs. Don’t be wasteful.”

  Gruce watched as the three warships overhead opened their underbelly doors and hugged the treetops. Six more armors stepped out of each craft and plunged into the forest nearby. The ships zoomed off to rejoin the others above Overlook City. Flak clouds blossomed in their path and a trio of sonic booms cracked the air as the three nimble craft dodged away from the city’s defenses.

  Gruce drew his rifle as he approached the new armors. These were Starhawk’s men, not his. Any one of them could have orders to put him down and take over.

  “Fresh grubs up front!” Gruce shouted over the common band. “First one in the city gets a quarter of my share.”

  A raucous cheer went up and several of the more enterprising new recruits shoved their squadmates out of the way to get a head start. Now numbering twenty-eight, the armored pirate soldiers stormed the city, zigzagging randomly to avoid being tracked by the city’s defenses. When his men in the lead broke through the forest into open grassland Gruce saw more squads of enemy suits deploy from the city. Drones, too.

  It would be a bloody advance. Gruce brought up the rear of the formation with his own men, stopping at the edge of the forest. The troopers in the Core weren’t used to fighting battle-ready men like his, true killers who fought to win. They’d be a good distraction for his own crew, the real threat. With access codes to the city’s entrances they could break inside undetected.

  His men in the lead were out in the open now. They didn’t have the trees for cover, so they changed tactics—the men took a skier’s stance, leaning back while using their boot nodes to push them a few feet from the ground as their palm nodes pulled them forward. At breakneck speed they raced to the city’s walls.

  “Cloaks up,” Gruce said over the private channel to the remaining ten armors from his original crew. “Put some distance between you and every man around you. We bounce high and fast to the city when the hammer drops.”

  ***

  Hargrove stuck close behind the recruiter as they made their way toward the elevator to the surface. Every other person in the compact hallway hurried in the opposite direction, forcing them to shoulder their way through at points. They were followed by two Overlook City police officers, their escort to the surface.

  “How did you get me out so fast?” Hargrove asked.

  “A VCM badge gives you a lot of leverage,” Robert626 said over his shoulder.

  Hargrove was suspicious of the Volunteers’ intentions—nothing good ever came from an unsolicited call. But at least he was out of that damn holding room. Now he could focus on finding Bee.

  “When we get up there we should try the hotel first,” Hargrove said.

  “Oh, we’ve got a team looking for her already,” Robert626 replied.

  “What do you mean?”

  “Well, you gave me her information and I passed it along to one of our teams up in the city.”

  “I didn’t know,” Hargrove said.

  He hadn’t seen the recruiter make a call, which meant if he was passing information along it was through a neural link. Thought computers made Hargrove’s skin crawl. His opinion of Robert626 and the Volunteer Core Militia sank further.

  “Don’t worry, they’ll find her—they’re very good.”

>   Hargrove stopped in the bustling hallway. “No, I want to look for her myself. That was the deal.”

  Robert626 swung around to face Hargrove, pulling him off to the side. “I completely understand. Of course we’re going to look for her as well—we’re on the way right now to a squad of VCM troopers who are going to escort us through the city. But we’ve got some of our very best members on it already. They might even find her before we get up there!”

  Hargrove pushed past him and resumed walking to the elevator. “Let’s just go.”

  “Absolutely, sir,” Robert626 said, hurrying to catch up. “It’s right around the corner here. I’ll take your oath in the elevator.”

  “Oath? What oath?” Hargrove demanded, whirling on the smaller man and forcing him to stop again. “You never said one word about that.”

  Robert626 shrugged. “It’s more of a ritual, really. All for one, one for all, that type of thing. It’s not a big deal, trust me. Just part of joining the club.”

  Hargrove glared. “I don’t trust you.”

  People started to jostle them now as they passed, angry that the two men forced the flow of traffic in the hallway to move around them.

  “Come on, move it,” one of the officers flanking them said.

  “If you could just wait until we’re in the elevator—” Robert626 began, urging Hargrove forward.

  “No, you’ll tell me about it here. I won’t have a choice once we get in there.”

  Robert626 seemed hesitant, but after a moment’s internal deliberation he took on a stiff and formal tone. “The Volunteer Core Militia regretfully rejects your application, sir. Good day.”

  The recruiter shoved past Hargrove with surprising strength and threaded his way through the crowd to the elevator. Stunned, Hargrove lost sight of the man in the white outfit. That was his way out, his only path to Bee.

  “Wait!” Hargrove shouted as he chased after Robert626, heedless of the calls of the officers behind him.

  ***

  Starhawk brought the remnants of his fleet in close, keeping to the blind spots in the orbital guns’ coverage. They coasted in low planetary orbit directly over Overlook City, the last population center in range of bombardment—and the juiciest. Before long the noose would close in around him and he’d be forced to fight or flee.

  His flagship Deep Fog sandwiched itself between the two carriers Polyphemus and Bleachbone for protection. Ten warships filled out the fleet with moderate firepower—he’d sent the other ten to assist Gruce, who was somehow still alive. The fool could have made it through the atmosphere intact if he’d stayed aboard Red Shade and slowed her descent instead of evacuating. Instead he let her burn into a steaming pile of slag.

  After Red Shade went down Starhawk aborted the pincer attack and brought his fleet back in close. Every one of his remaining ships had its guns pointed at Overlook City. Two-Gut and his men on Surface were breaking away from the wild grubs charging toward the city. Now it was Starhawk’s turn to add to the chaos.

  “Let’s knock on the door,” Starhawk said to his fleet. “Focus fire on the southern edge of the dome.”

  Dozens of cannons primed and launched a salvo of bombardment shells specially designed for orbital attack. Without the Core Fleet at home the station must have been hesitant to engage, but now they would be forced to send ships after him—they couldn’t stand by and let the bombardment continue. Starhawk would keep it going as long as he could. His men would need the support.

  “Fighter coverage,” he ordered.

  The carriers Polyphemus and Bleachbone opened their docking bays and released squadrons of spherical drone fighters. Hundreds of them swarmed into defensive formations between Starhawk’s fleet and the orbital station. When the hangman came for him he’d be ready.

  ***

  Hargrove caught sight of the stark white jumpsuit Robert626 wore and lunged forward, grabbing the man by his shoulder. He lost his grip on the slick material and the recruiter slipped a hand like iron around Hargrove’s wrist, pulled him forward, and twisted his arm behind his back. So strong—

  “Oh, it’s you,” Robert626 said, immediately releasing Hargrove. “I hope I didn’t hurt you.”

  “It’s fine, it’s fine. Just quickly—tell me about this oath.”

  “I’m sorry, sir, but your application has been rejected.”

  Hargrove felt the blood rise to his face. “Now, you listen here! Your organization invited me, not the other way around. You’re a recruiter, for stars’ sake! We had an agreement!”

  Robert626 shook his head in apology. “It’s out of my hands, sir.”

  “I want to join your damn group and you’re not going to stand in my way!” Hargrove boomed.

  The recruiter beamed and stuck his hand out. “The Volunteer Core Militia is happy to formally accept your application.”

  That took the bluster out of him. Hargrove balked but took the recruiter’s hand. “What—?”

  Robert626 leaned in with a grin as he shook Hargrove’s hand. “We always say no to new recruits the first three times. Helps to weed out the ones who aren’t serious. Are you ready for the oath?”

  “Fine. Yes. I’ve come this far.”

  “Do you, Hargrove Levene, declare yourself a member of the Volunteer Core Militia?”

  “Yes.”

  “Do you swear to protect the brothers and sisters of the Volunteer Core Militia as they have sworn to protect each other?”

  “I swear.”

  “Welcome to the Volunteers, Mr. Levene.”

  Chapter 19: Optima

  “You want slow movements—it’s easy to pull a muscle thrashing around trying to get your balance. Know exactly what you want to do before you do it,” Truly said through a speaker inside Bee’s helmet.

  The proximity of his voice unnerved her still despite it being their fifth nullroom session together in as many days. Bee couldn’t help but feel like he said the words from just behind her ear. It made the hair on her neck stick up all weird.

  “Okay, here goes,” she said.

  “Not too much force,” Truly reminded her.

  Bee squatted against the wall above the door to the nullroom, both boots planted square underneath her. Just stand and push off with your feet, he said. Stand and push. Not too hard, she thought as she looked up to gauge the distance to the other side. She straightened her knees to stand and shoved off from the wall, immediately feeling the temporary brain-freakout free fall still gave her.

  “I said not too much…” Truly shook his head from his vantage point on the ceiling.

  She’d pushed off too hard, zooming toward the opposite wall faster than she intended. She flung her arms out like Truly had told her to do if she needed to stop and the nodes in her palms shot beams of energy toward each wall. Her arms flexed from the strain as she slowed, stopped, and turned to pull herself back toward her starting point.

  “Well, you didn’t hit the wall this time,” Truly said.

  “Yeah, I’m a real pro.” Bee closed her hand into a fist, reached out to the wall, and exposed the node in her palm when she was ready to move, tugging herself carefully forward with the green beam of energy.

  “I’ve seen worse. You’re no natural, but put in the time to practice and nobody can tell the difference. For less than a week in the nullroom you’re doing alright.”

  “Less than a week’s probably the most practice I’m ever going to get,” she said. “We get to Optima tomorrow, right?”

  “Yup.”

  “And then you guys are off on your treasure hunt.”

  “Which you’re not going to tell anyone about,” Truly said. “Right?”

  “The Captain already talked to me,” Bee said as she raised her boots to the wall. “If anyone asks you’re on a routine salvage expedition.”

  The nodes grabbed on and she dropped onto the wall in a standing position. Moving in the suit was becoming much easier for her—she’d learned in the time she and Truly practiced how the suit used n
atural, intuitive motion commands to control the nodes. It was starting to feel like a second skin.

  “Yeah, well you didn’t talk to me yet. And don’t think anyone trusts you just ‘cause you’ve been working everyone on board.”

  Bee reeled from Truly’s combative tone. “What? Where did that come from? I’m not—”

  “Please. You’ve been pumping every person on this ship for information since day one. You know too much for me to be comfortable.”

  Truly descended from the ceiling and flipped himself to land on the floor. He started dismantling his armor as he walked to his locker.

  “Well no shit, of course I’m asking questions. I want to learn from you guys,” she snapped, glaring at him from her perch on the wall. “You’re the real thing. Privateers. That’s what I want to be.”

  “Oh, I see. You think it’s that easy?” Truly laughed and mocked her with a high-pitched voice. “I’ll just become a privateer, that sounds great! This is no cakewalk, Bee. You can’t just sign up—and even if you could we wouldn’t be bringing on some damn teenage girl.”

  “You know what, Truly? Why don’t you go suck vacuum.”

  “Don’t get all upset, it’s not personal. It’s my job to make sure this doesn’t end up being our last trip out there. You’re a liability. Just keep your mouth shut after we drop you off.”

  “I’m not gonna say jack, okay?” Bee said. She walked down the wall toward the floor. “Why would I do that?”

  “There’s people who might come asking about us.”

  “What does that mean?” She hopped from the wall to the floor, wobbling as she found her balance.

  “Captain’s not a popular man this far out. Back in the Core he’s got lots of friends, but the rest of the system’s not too fond of privateers. He’s got more than a few enemies on Optima and they don’t ask nice when they’re looking for information.”

  “Well that’s comforting.”

  Truly closed his locker and walked past her. “Like I said, just keep your mouth shut and you’ll be fine. No one’s going to know you came in with us and you won’t be there for long. But if anyone asks…”