Rookie Privateer (33 page)

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.

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.

"
Are you in?" I asked finally.

"
Are you for real?"

"
Both airlock doors will work for now," Nick announced.

"
I want to be ready to sail in two hours," I replied.

We rounded up the pirates two at a time. I made good on my offer to allow them to pack six crates each. They were very efficient in their choices. Everything from real silk fabric and intricate artwork to a variety of Earth-grown spices and crates of weapons. I hoped that somewhere in the warehouse we could find some of the precious metals taken from Colony 40, but if any of them knew about it, they weren't letting on.

I picked two crates from each of the pirates and had them loaded into the second cutter. The remaining crates were loaded onto
Sterra's Gift
. I also found over one hundred kilos of frozen coffee beans, and another hundred kilos of cocoa powder. Those were worth a small fortune by themselves, but I couldn't imagine selling them. We loaded both ship's armories with blast rifles and ammunition. It was a thief's dilemma - trading time for loot.

We were finally ready to go. Sheriff Xid was in the brig of
Sterra's Gift
with a very sulky Xie Mie-su. Marny, Celina and I were on the other cutter with the remaining four pirates. Marny would fly the cutter and I would keep guard on the prisoners with Celina's help. I wasn't trusting enough to allow Celina to have a weapon, but I felt like our objectives were in line enough that she would help me foil any attempts at mutiny.

I made one last trip back to
Sterra's Gift
for supplies and we launched without ceremony.

Marny's med patch had completely worn off and she was mostly immobile, but I didn't want the pirates to know about her infirmity. We slaved our ship to
Sterra's Gift
so that it would fly in formation. We were a pretty beat up group, but now that we were in space we would be able to relax, at least until we met up with the first of the two remaining pirate ships.

The heavy turrets were set up to deactivate if we ever returned, but if approached without the correct security sequence, they would defend the asteroid. I didn't know if we would ever return, but I certainly didn't want the Red Houzi to set up shop again. We would also receive weekly logs from the sensor net. Nick would find that more interesting than
me.

Twenty minutes into the trip I regretted not being on
Sterra's Gift
. This ship was disgusting and didn't have a coffee brewer. We headed to the small mining colony of Terrence. Terrence was smaller than Colony 40, but it was steadily growing as production increased. I knew a few people who had moved there from Colony 40, but it wouldn't matter. We weren't planning to dock.

Celina and I sat in silence for the first couple of hours. I tried talking with her, but it was fruitless. After four hours, Marny hobbled back to where I sat. She wanted to take over guard duty.
I'd been up for twenty-eight hours and was fighting off sleep and didn't have it in me to argue. I made it back to the bridge and slumped in the chair. I sure hoped we wouldn't have an emergency anytime soon. I set an alarm for four hours. We had a minimum of five hours before any possible contact with the first ship and I needed to be a little sharper before that happened.

Four hours came almost as soon as I laid back. I didn't feel at all refreshed.

Hail Sterra's Gift
. "Nick, you there?"

"
Yup." His voice sounded groggy. I hoped he had gotten a decent amount of sleep.

"
Anything new?"

"
Nope."

"
Did you check for anything new from Belcose?"

"
Yup, nothing."

"
Roger that. Changing shift with Marny."

I escorted our prisoners one at a time to the head and got them each a meal bar. We had been accelerating since leaving the pirate hideout. If the approaching pirates hadn't discovered our new course, they wouldn't be able to adjust quickly enough to intercept. Only time would tell.

Marny and I continued flip-flopping shifts. After twenty-four hours, I started to feel considerably more rested. It was almost a letdown when Marny informed me that Nick had received a message from Belcose and the two pirate ships had changed course and broken off their pursuit. We were out of danger.

Terrence was ten days out on the most aggressive burn plan I could come up with that also left us enough fuel to get to our final destination. I was willing to use our fuel inefficiently if it meant getting rid of our passengers sooner.

Celina started to warm up ever so slightly by the fifth or sixth day. We weren't going to be buddies, but she was able speak to me without glowering. She had stopped referring to Marny as a man. I hated to think about what kind of experiences could make a person so hard.

On the ninth day, both ships cut power from our deceleration into Terrence. We were only a day out and were getting close enough that it was time to part ways with Celina and our three prisoners.

"You understand?
Sterra's Gift
has missiles locked on?" I was looking directly at Celina. "You will be locked out of the helm until we have cleared a full five minutes of hard burn. After that we will release the bridge and the armory to you. It is your responsibility to release the other pirates. Do you understand?"

She looked at me with her eyes full of distrust,
"Forgive me if I still don't believe you." Her voice was softer than I had ever heard. She wanted to believe. I imagined there had been a time in her life where she had believed in something or someone good. I didn’t think it had turned out well for her.

"
We will burn for five minutes and then turn it off. I will contact you by comm. Good luck Captain Celina Dontal. You are now in charge." I pulled the five hundred gram bar of platinum out of my pocket and handed to her. It was our deal, after all.

Marny had already cycled through the airlock and was on board
Sterra's Gift
, manning the turret.

I turned away and cycled the airlock. When the outside lock opened, I waved at Celina through the window, then turned and jetted toward the welcoming door of
Sterra's Gift
. I almost felt guilt leaving Celina on the badly damaged ship. I knew from experience that the repairs needed were more costly than what it was worth.

I reminded myself what she did have, however, was the one thing she most desired: freedom. Something I had taken for granted.

When I walked onto the bridge, Nick announced, "Captain on the bridge." My chest filled with pride. Having spent the last ten days on a poor imitation of
Sterra's Gift
, those words were ones I could really appreciate. How much like home this ship and her crew felt.

I relieved Nick on the bridge. He had been all but chained to his chair and it looked like he would appreciate stepping away.

Engage burn plan for the Protectorate Platform Valhalla. Burn at forty percent and disengage after five minutes
.

I hadn't spent much time on
Sterra's Gift
since it had received its overhaul and I had spent a solid ten days on a cutter with engines that felt like they could fall off at any time. It felt great to hear the engines hum to life as they smoothly spooled up.

Five minutes
passed quickly.