Contents
Prologue: Blood Oath
Chapter 1: Hell Hath No Fury...
Chapter 2: Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap
Chapter 3: The Last Privateer
Chapter 4: If If Anyone Here Can Show Just Cause...
Prologue: Blood Oath
The Solar Wind is a fast light freighter, heavily modified for sub-light speed and maneuverability. Twin dual 100mm Railguns and a Talon missile system round out her armaments. Rilar, First Officer, Gunner, and Chief Engineer, painted the names 'Hugs' and 'Kisses' on Rail batteries 1 and 2 respectively. She also painted heart symbols in pink at the beginning and end of each name. She had tried that on the CSS Lu Bu's 125mm's, but had been overruled by Confederate Fleet Command.
But when she's the best damn gunner in the galaxy, I'll let her paint whatever the fuck she wants to paint on her guns.
That was my stance on it, anyway. I'm Dex Relway, Captain Dex Relway of the SS Solar Wind. She's my and Ri's baby. I did the electronic mods while she did the engineering and weapon mods. It's kind of our thing. She's my best friend, and I love her. We've been together now for eight years since flight training, and just got out a year ago when the war ended.
"She looks good, Dex." Ri stood grinning at me with her hands on her hips as we looked over our baby. We'd painted her steel blue with 'Solar Wind' emblazoned in red along the side with a 4 pointed starburst centered over the O. I went and checked the port wing Rail battery. 'Kisses' was polished to a shine, and Rilar had done a great job painting the letters and heart symbols in pink.
I shook my head and laughed. It was an old joke going back to our time as crew of the Lu Bu during the war. Whenever she would land a killshot on a Hegemony ship, she would shout "Hugs and kisses, bitches!" as the enemy ship exploded.
"Yes she does, Ri. One beautiful ship we have here." I grinned back at her. Once again I admired Rilar's beauty. Her Gurinkan appearance is striking, to say the least. Her light purple skin, almost lavander in shade, was offset by the shockingly white hair on her head and eyebrows. I also knew from long years of cuddling together while sleeping that she had that same shockingly soft white hair down her spine in a narrow stripe.
I wondered sometimes why I didn't put the moves on her one night, but decided that I didn't want to ruin our friendship if she were to reject me. Oh, well. We'd become best friends quickly during flight school, and had been assigned to the CSS Lu Bu as Captain and Gunner. Two man frigates were the scouts and fighters of the Confederacy since its founding over six hundred years ago. Battleships had huge crews, as did Cruisers. Destroyers had normal sized crews for their ship size, but Frigates were little more than gunboats with energized armor and shields.
It was in flight training that I first saw Rilar's skills behind the trigger, and she first saw mine behind the flight stick. We bonded instantly over beer, which is today still our favorite drink.
Eight years of being best friends, and now business partners. She had nominated me as Captain and Pilot, and I had graciously accepted while nominating her as First Officer, Gunner, and Engineer. We both wear the hat at different times as Ship's Medic, but that's a story for a different time.
"Are you ready to fire her up, Dex?" Rilar asked as I rejoined her at the front of the ship. It wasn't a pretty ship with it's bulging cockpit and strange wing orientation. The port side wing was much larger than the starboard wing, and was the only wing with a gunnery hardpoint on it. That was Railgun 2, AKA 'Kisses'. Railgun 1 (Hugs) was up under the cockpit in front of the forward landing skid. There were a few gunnery blind spots, but that was normal of any ship. Ri counted on my piloting skills to compensate during a firefight, and I was more than happy to oblige her.
"Hell yes I am, sweety." I gave her a hug and put my arm around her shoulders as we started up the boarding/loading ramp on the port side of the ship in front of the big wing.
Anyone who saw us might think we're a couple, but our relationship is... unique. We're best friends who are comfortable around each other, even naked, but we aren't having sex. We tell each other everything, but we just had never taken that step with each other. I'd been interested right after we first met, but she had seemed uninterested, so I'd let it drop.
We entered our ship and went up to the cockpit together. My pilot's seat was to the left and Rilar's Gunnery Seat was to the right. Her twin sticks controlled each gun battery independently, and her twin viewscreens for aiming were placed side by side. My flight stick controlled our missile battery, but I had a second stick for controlling the aiming and target lock for my weapon.
"Let's see if the Aquataine can handle the power draw from all the systems at once." Rilar suggested.
"Good plan. It should work, though. You're one of the best engineers I know." I said back with a grin.
We fired everything up, from guns to engines to energized armor. There are no written regulations that ban energized armor plating from commercial or civilian ships, but our Aquataine supplemental power plant was iffy at best. A ship this small shouldn't be able to field guns as big as the twin 100's we were sporting. It's a gray area, so we just shrugged and went with it. Free trading is a dangerous business with pirates around every asteroid.
"It looks good, Dex. Power steady at seventy percent. At Flank Burn, we'll still have fifty percent, and with guns firing while at Flank Burn, it will drop to just around thirty-two percent." Rilar gave me the veggies.
"Beautiful, sweetheart! Rilar, I loves ya!" I said as I opened our hangar remotely from our cockpit.
"Loves ya too, Dex!" Rilar was grinning as I lifted straight up and surveyed the barren landscape of Helliot II. My home planet was a wreck from war after war being fought across its surface. Mom had settled here with my now gone father who had left shortly after I was born, but had stuck around long enough to name me 'Dexten', which I hated. He named me after some Robin Hood style buccaneer from a few centuries back, but I didn't give a shit. Dex works just fine for me.
"SS Solar Wind, this is SS Avenger. Is that you, Dex?" We heard mom's voice come over the com unit.
"Yeah, mom. We're off to Port Royal to register with the FTA." I said back.
"Well, I hope you kids have fun. And if you don't find it to your liking, you're more than welcome as pilot and gunner aboard Avenger." I rolled my eyes at that. We'd had a huge blow up over the past year about what Rilar and I had planned to do after we got out of the Navy, since Mom had wanted us to fly with her aboard Avenger. Her pirate hunting vessel had a crew of twenty, and was heavily armed, even for a Cruiser.
Rilar had seen the specs and her mouth had watered over controlling so many guns at once, but she knew that this was what she and I both wanted. We wanted the freedom to go where ever we wanted. We wanted to stay out of fights as much as possible, having seen more than our share during the war. But even though we started out trying to avoid fights, we wanted, and installed, weapons big enough to hold our own against most pirate ships, at least until we could outrun them at Flank Burn before engaging Slipdrive to escape into the slipstream.
The slipstream is the faster-than-light highway throughout the universe. All the Slipdrive really does is access it and allow transit through it. It's a lot of Quantum Physics shit that nobody but the brainiacs really understand, so I don't even try. Rilar tried once, but it gave her a migraine, so she stopped too.
"Mom, we've been over this. Tell you what, though. If we don't have a successful business in two years, we're all yours. Clearcut?" I smirked at her face on the screen.
"Diamond, Dex. Just so you know, I hope you make it, sweety." Mom replied with a smile.
"Thanks, mom
. Solar Wind, out." I cut the com and we grabbed sky.
"Good shakedown so far, Dex. Everything seems to be holding up. Try Flank Burn." Rilar was as excited as I was.
"You don't have to tell me twice, babe!" I hit the throttle full forward and depressed the little red button on the side of the throttle lever with my thumb.
"Hooooooollllyyyyyy shhhhiiiiitttt!" I exclaimed as we were both thrown back in our seats while the sky turned to stars quickly and we were moving faster than any other ship on record. I let off the button and we slowed down a bit.
"Gods of Gurshinka, Dex! We just broke the record!" Rilar bounced out of her seat and onto my lap. She hugged me tight, then bounced back to her seat.
"We're going to market that, sweety!" I grinned and promised her.
"Great marketing tool. 'Solar Wind, fastest ship in the galaxy!'" Rilar was bubbling over.
"I know, right?" I said. "Ok, setting course for Port Royal, and.... we're gone!" I engaged the drive and entered the slipstream.
It was a four hour trip from Helliot II to Port Royal, the largest independent space station in the galaxy, and Headquarters of the Free Trade Alliance. Rilar and I decided to catch a catnap in our quarters. When we'd bought the ship for a song of five thousand credits, it had come with two bunks in the master quarters. Both bolted to the wall at the head of the bunk. We had unbolted Rilar's and rebolted it right next to mine so we had one big bunk that was more comfortable for snuggling.
I watched her as she unzipped her flight suit and let it fall to the floor. I unzipped mine as well and we were soon naked.
I got on the bunk and felt her mold her body to mine from the back. Her very warm body felt good against my back after months of work to get this ship in shape. She purred softly as we drifted off to sleep.
I had a dream during that nap about Rilar and me, and how we would be as lovers. Her mouth on me, her lips around my cock, how her pussy would feel as I made love to her. It was extremely erotic, and I woke up just before the five minute warning with a hard-on from hell. Ri was still asleep against my back, but I had to move. I realized her hand over my side was nearly touching my cock, so I moved her arm as gently as I could and scooted out from under it. I went to the head and closed the sliding door and locked it.
I jacked out a rocket fast, thinking about that dream. Those dreams didn't happen very often, but they came up every now and then. She's my best friend, though. It was better for me to do it myself than to risk our friendship like that.
I heard the five minute warning as I exited the head and Rilar stretched out languidly. I smiled at her as she got up and went to her side of the closet to get dressed for Port Royal. I went and got dressed too, in my jeans, t-shirt, the old CSS Lu Bu flight jacket that I'd kept from our time in, my boots and gunbelt. I strapped the TacDraw holster to my thigh and slid my NanoMark 3mm Railpistol into it.
Rilar dressed in black flexarmored skin tight leggings with matching kneehigh boots and a red halter top. Over that, she put another flexarmor black vest. She never wore bra or panties, I noticed. Not that I was complaining. I suppressed a smile. "That looks good on you, Ri." I complimented her.
"Thanks, Dex. Let's go see Jeka and get registered with the FTA." Ri was giddy, as was I.
"Hell yeah, sweety." I hugged her tight, then we went up to the cockpit just as we exited the slipstream.
"Port Royal Control, this is the SS Solar Wind out of Helliot II requesting permission to dock, preferably near the FTA offices." I said over the audio only com with all Docking Control stations.
"SS Solar Wind, this is Port Royal Control. Dex, is that you?" The voice was familiar.. no fuckin' way!
"Rick! Holy shit, man! It's been fuckin' forever! Yeah, if you can get us in a good spot by Jeka's office, I'd appreciate it." I said with a grin, then Rilar grabbed the com.
"Ricky! It's Ri! We're gonna have to get together once we're on station!" Rilar was as excited as I was. Our two best buddies from Flight training were both on Port Royal!
"Hey, Ri! No problem. Umm, I've been through the ringer a few times since the war, but I'll meet you both at the Jolly Roger Pub in an hour after I get off shift. I have a spot in Docking Bay 941 for you. Go ahead and dock. Royal Control, out." Rick cut the com.
We flew into the docking port and set her down easy. I shut down our systems and we exited out onto the ferrocrete tarmac and towards the Promenade on Level 900 near the 'equator' of the station, which was as big as a decent sized moon. Port Royal had been founded six hundred years before, and had been a free trade hub and rumored pirate hangout for nearly that long.
We stepped out into a throng of people, and I made sure to keep one hand on my pocket with wallet and credit chits at all times. We got to the office a few hundred meters from the hangar with only a minor bit of jostling and stepped inside. I took a look at the receptionist's friendly face and nearly choked as I zipped up my jacket the rest of the way to cover my throat.
I swallowed my irrational fear and stepped to the desk. "Captain Dex Relway and First Officer Rilar here to see Administrator Jeka, ma'am." I forced a smile for the Selarian receptionist.
"Hi there," she said. "I'm Rela, Administrator Jeka's assistant." She grinned, and my blood drained from my face. Yes, Selarians are real life vampires. Jeka's one too, but I'm used to her. Rela was still an unknown as far as I was concerned.
"Good to -gulp- meet you, Rela. Is Jeka available? We have an appointment." I smiled as much as possible.
"She should be free momentarily. Don't worry, Dex. I don't bite, unless you want me to." She winked, and I nearly ran for the door.
Some guys fantasize about flirting with, and having a vampire flirt with them. I knew deep down that most Selarians were good people, but that didn't change the visceral reaction I had to their appearance. Alabaster white skin, red irised eyes with jet black hair. Slightly pointed ears and long wolf-like eye teeth rounded out their iconic appearance.. They really do drink blood, too!
I have had Jeka flirt with me back in flight training, and it had taken months for me to trust her enough to flirt back. Now we were actually friends, so I was almost comfortable around her. Selarian women are uniformly beautiful in an extremely goth sort of way. That wasn't my problem. It was what I imagined them doing to me once we had finished fucking that made me stop short of anything physical, even when Jeka had been into me.
"Rela, nothing personal, but I try to avoid flirting with women who could bleed me dry at a moment's notice." I smiled, and she laughed warmly.
"Don't worry, Dex. I'm used to it." She sighed.
"Maybe in a few decades when I'm able to get over my admittedly irrational fear, sweety." I shrugged and smiled back at her.
We heard Jeka's door slide open and a Shivos captain slithered out the door. Shivos are snake-like beings with two arms but no legs. They literally slither on their tails while their torsos remain upright like a biped. It was funny that I didn't have near as many hangups with the snake people as I did with the vampires.
He nodded to us and we nodded back as he slithered out and we heard Jeka call out "Next!"
"That's us, Rela. Thanks for the help." I said with a smile, then nearly ran for Jeka's door.
Ri said "sorry about him" to Rela and caught up with me as I reached Jeka's office. Finally in the presence of a vampire I was reasonably comfortable with, I relaxed.
"Dex, if you don't stop with the Selarian hate, I'm gonna bleed you!" Jeka threatened with a smile.
"It's not hate, Jeka. It's irrational fear brought on by watching too many ancient Earth movies!" I said.
"I know, Dex. I'm just giving you shit." She grinned, and I paled.
"Ha ha. Funny. Luvs ya too, Jeka. Now, we have business." I smiled.
"Yeah, I've got your application to the FTA here, and your fee is being processed now. It's a one time fee with no annual renewals, but our cut is taken off the top of each job. That is a hundred credits for any contract under ten K, or a thousand credits for any
contract over ten K. If a job is over a hundred K, we take ten K. You will never see the full fee, since it's not just you, but every Free Trader who signs on. Fees aren't really for pilots, but are taken from the contractors themselves. I'm just legally obligated to tell you about it." She shrugged.
"We have no problem with that, Jeka." Ri grinned warmly. I was grinning too. We were about to live the dream we'd had since we were flying the Lu Bu into combat against the Hegemony.
^V^V^V^V^
It had been one night when I had snuck a six pack of beer onboard at WesternStar Station, and we were out on a two week recon mission deep in Hegemony space. We'd stopped in deep space where it was unlikely we'd be spotted, and had started talking about what we'd like to do if or when the war ended as we swigged a couple beers.
Ri swigged her beer. "I want to be free. I grew up in a military family, and my dad is going to retire after he hits thirty-five years in, or when the war ends, whichever comes first. I just want to go where I want and do what I want and get paid for it."
"Same here, sweety. How about Free Trade?" I asked.
"Fuck yeah!" Ri exclaimed as I swigged my beer. We only had a six pack, so it would have to last us until we got back to WesternStar. We were sitting on her bunk naked and getting ready for sleep. I'd been admiring her gorgeous body while smiling and drinking. "That sounds awesome, Dex! Go where we want, get into or out of trouble by the seat of our panties!"
"Ummm, that's Pants, not Panties, Ri. Especially since you never wear panties." I grinned and she laughed.
"I don't like being restricted down there any more than what pants do already. I do like bikinis, though." She shrugged, and I felt myself starting to get hard. I shook it off as best I could and finished the rest of my beer in a few quick glugs. I had a raging hard on but just turned to face the bulkhead.
"I think I need some sleep, Ri." I said while trying not to think about her beautiful body impaled on my cock.
"So do I, Dex. G'night." She kissed my neck quickly and cuddled up to spoon me. We fell asleep like that a lot back then, and still do today.
Voyages of the Solar Wind 1: A Fire in Heaven Page 1
