by M. D. Cooper
“Hi,” she said. “I don’t know what you were expecting, but I promise you this: we’re not it.”
The man’s wide-eyed stare went from her to Kiyoshi and back to her. “You’re…not OFA?” He looked at Kiyoshi again. “He’s got their armor.”
“He’s got their bad attitude, too,” said Sean. “But no. He’s with me. You’re on the starship Promise. We’re…privateers.”
“I’m going to die,” said the man, like it was a refrain he was used to repeating.
“Maybe,” said Sean. “Much of it depends on what’s going on.”
“We’re from the Transcend,” said the man. “I’m…my name’s Gerwulf Foster. Maybe you’ve heard of me?”
Sean turned to look at Kiyoshi, who shrugged. She then looked at Jaimee, who mouthed ‘who the fuck?’
“No,” said Sean. “Never heard of you.”
“Oh,” said Gerwulf, looking away. “I guess that’s why they call it a black site, right?”
Sean stood, helping Gerwulf up. “Black site?”
He looked stunned. “I shouldn’t have said anything. Let’s just say, uh. If you can contact the Transcend, there will be a….” he looked like he was trying to find the right word, “reward.”
Kiyoshi stepped close. “That seems non-specific.”
“Escape,” said Gerwulf. “I’d need to be taken to Transcend space. You’d be guaranteed passage.”
Sean weighed that in her mind. It didn’t take long.
“Works for me. It might be time for a little shore leave, Transcend style. I can’t think of a better way to get across the DMZ than with a container of now free Transcend scientists.” At Gerwulf’s wide-eyed expression, she said, “That’s what you are, right?”
“Uh,” said Gerwulf.
Sean smiled. Profitable, and with an escape from OFA space? This mission was the best yet.
* * * * *
Sean was going to give herself a migraine, looking at that damn red star. The bridge windows tinted the light so it wouldn’t sear her retinas, which was a plus, but it didn’t stop the ball of fire from sitting out there like some kind of OFA statement. Getting Gerwulf and his team back to the Transcend would be worth more than credits.
She wondered what Marci would think. Would she say, ‘You deserve a rest’, with a smile, and walk away? Or would she have looked at her feet, and said, ‘You can do better. You can do better for all of us, Sean.’?
“Fuck,” said Sean, with some feeling.
“Right now?” said Luke. “I mean, sure, but you said to get the ship…” He trailed off at Sean’s glare. “OK. OK! Later, then.”
She wanted to glare at him again, but Luke was like all of them aboard the Promise—doing his best in a bad situation. Working with what he had. He was a lousy pilot, but he owed no favors to the OFA. Luke flew for her because the money was good and the work was…satisfying.
Then Sean’s thoughts turned to Kiyoshi. He was a rough man, so used to killing it was almost habit. But he bore an unreasoning hatred for the OG, the military he’d served for so many years. Would he stay with her, lending his support for work that was somehow both more and less honest?
“Fuck,” she said again.
Sean frowned.
And then her comm was gone, snapped out.
Sean leaned forward.
she said.
Her pilot took in her stance and her glare, then said, “Who you going to kill?”
“Haven’t decided,” Sean said as she stalked from the bridge, sealing the door behind her.
* * * * *
Sean wanted her particle gun, but her locker was empty. Not of clothes, but of weapons. She had a hunch who had done that. There were two options.
Jaimee, who’d played them all and was bargaining with Gerwulf against her safe release. It made sense. The stowaway owed them nothing. If Sean was being totally honest with herself, and their roles had been reversed, she would have felt mighty upset about someone trying to space her at their first introduction.
Gerwulf was the second option, a man in a container of Transcend scientists, destined for freedom. It didn’t wash. Not at all. He was on the brink of safety.
She left her cabin, went to wait outside his. When Kiyoshi opened the door, his hair still wet, she gave him a quick up-and-down.
“Where’s your weapon?”
“My body is a weapon,” he said. He held up his empty hands. “Also, someone’s taken my stuff.”
“Stars,” said Sean, striding toward the hold. “How did we lose control of our guns? We’re pirates, for fuck’s sake.”
“How you want to play this?”
“I want to beat whoever’s responsible like a toy drum,” said Sean. “You know what to do.”
Kiyoshi nodded, then began removing one of the Promise’s access panels. She left him to it. Her job was to buy a little time. Or a lot of time, because Kiyoshi had a ways to go.
She hurried to the cargo bay airlock. It opened before her. The scene took a few cycles to process.
Jaimee was lying on the deck, a cut over one eye, knocked out. Gerwulf stood above her, looking like an asshole and carrying Sean’s particle gun. There was a small collection of weapons behind him, leaning against the crate they’d liberated. Pulse weapons. A maser she’d been keeping for old times’ sake. Kiyoshi’s coilgun. All there.
Sean cleared her throat. “You’ve been busy.”
Gerwulf nodded as the door sealed behind Sean. “You will take us to—”
“No,” she said.
“I’ve got the gun!”
“Doesn’t matter.” She leaned against the airlock. “I’ve got the starship.”
Gerwulf looked at her, then pointed his weapon at her instead of Jaimee, which for some reason made Sean feel better.
You’re getting soft. You barely know this stowaway.
Gerwulf looked like he was thinking things through, then he said, “I could kill you. Take the ship.”
“You could do one of those things,” amended Sean. “You’ve got my crew to deal with first.”
“Pirates?” Gerwulf laughed. “I’ll pay them.”
Sean nodded, like she was considering it. “You could pay them, that’s true. I guess the question is, what with?” She gestured, nice and slow, to the cargo container. “They already own the cargo. You’ve got nothing on you except a white coat and a bad attitude. Neither of my boys look good in white—”
“—and they’ve both got bad attitudes already.”
“I could kill her,” said Gerwulf, swinging his weapon back to Jaimee.
“The stowaway?” She laughed. �
�Be doing me a favor. We were going to space her, anyway.”
“Of course,” he said.
“But you’re a Transcend scientist,” said Sean.
She figured she knew what was going on now, but wanted to hear him say it out loud. If he was like most assholes, he wouldn’t be able to resist gloating.
Gerwulf smiled.
Bingo.
“I was with Transcend scientists,” he said. “How do you think we got them in the first place?”
“You lifted them from the Transcend?” said Sean. “Do you want a job?”
“What?” said Gerwulf.
“A job,” she repeated. “On my ship. I need men who can get things done.”
“I…what?” he said again, blinking.
“Look, I get it,” said Sean. “You’re expecting this to be some big freedom fighter thing. It’s not. We’re pirates. We are the pirating kind. We like money. Fame and fortune don’t hurt, either. Pretty sure there’s a way we can square this away. Make it shipshape, see? You get your box of corpsicles, and I get my credits. Everyone wins.”
“The Guard doesn’t pay pirates, and we don’t negotiate with terrorists,” said Gerwulf.
“Whoa, now,” said Sean, noting his use of ‘we’. She kept her stance casual, still leaning against the door. “Who said anything about terrorists?”
“Kiyoshi Langford,” said Gerwulf. “He’s known to us. We want him back.”
“The war crimes thing?” said Sean. “Don’t be ridiculous.”
Gerwulf opened his mouth, thought for a second, closed it, then started again.
“His file is quite specific.”
“You and I both know that files are more of a, shall we say, ‘creative’—” and here, she made air quotes with her fingers, “process than actual documentation. Kiyoshi’s harmless. Basically past retirement. I keep him on because I owe him a favor.”
With a roar, Kiyoshi descended from the ceiling of the cargo bay amidst a clatter of metal panels. Gerwulf sprung aside, particle gun firing. He missed Kiyoshi, but Kiyoshi also missed him, the first mate landing in a crouch, now staring in naked hatred at Gerwulf. The only thing keeping Gerwulf alive was the gun pointed at Kiyoshi.
Time to fix that.
Sean jumped the short distance to Gerwulf, knocking into him. The particle gun fired again, narrowly missing Kiyoshi, the heat haze of the beam causing her first mate to yell in pain.
Sean punched Gerwulf in the back of the head, putting plenty of hip into it, and when the man didn’t go down on the first strike, she kicked him in the back of the knee and then hit him in the head again. Gerwulf slammed against the deck with a clang.
Sean picked up her particle gun, checked it, then rolled Gerwulf over with her boot. “Kiyoshi?”
“That fucking hurt,” he said, face already blistering.
“Throw this trash in the airlock,” said Sean. “It’ll give you something to do other than complain.”
Kiyoshi said something that sounded like ‘fuck you’, but he dragged Gerwulf across the hold. Sean left him to it, checking on Jaimee while also reaching out to her pilot. She was sucking oxygen, but still out for the count.
The ship rumbled in agreement, thrust pushing them away from their parking orbit. Sean considered the situation.
Odds were good they’d be caught eventually. But this way, it would be more in the manner of their choosing. What Sean would give for a decent set of beams on the Promise’s hull about now. Still, maybe once they got paid—by some damn faction or another—she could upgrade the ship. Assuming that’s how this ended, and not with them all sucking hard vacuum.
She hefted Jaimee from the deck, carrying her to a spare cabin, a good place for the other woman to be until she came to.
* * * * *
The bridge was full of anxiety and tension. All of it came from Luke.
“You need to relax,” said Sean. “See? Those OG clowns are still circling that rock like we’re there. And here we are, next to Virtue Station.”
“I don’t like it,” said Kiyoshi.
“For once, I agree with him,” said Luke. “This isn’t a glass half-empty problem. There’s no fucking glass.”
Sean sighed. She wished she knew what Jaimee had wanted to say before she got cut off. Just after she had warned Sean about ‘that fucker Gerwulf,’ she’d said, ‘But I have…’.
Sean didn’t like playing with only half the information. It was like trying to cheat at cards with only half a deck; you could still make out OK, but it was tough work.
The holo tank updated as the Promise’s sensors watched the OG vessel. It shifted away from the asteroid, starting a burn for them, or for the station. They were one and the same.
“Oh,” said Luke. “That’s not good.”
“This is why I don’t like this,” said Kiyoshi.
“We’re being hailed,” said Luke.
“OK, bring it up,” said Sean.
She straightened in the captain’s chair, as the holo tank filled with the visage of a haughty man, military uniform below a face that had probably smiled twice in his life.
“Promise, we have you on scan,” said the man.
Sean sighed. “Look,” she said. “I don’t want to be a dick about this, but you started it.”
“I…what?” said the enemy commander.
“What I was going to say was ‘go fuck yourself,’ but if you’ve got something to add, now’s the time,” said Sean.
“Prepare to be boarded,” replied the commander, but his voice sounded confused.
“OK,” Sean grunted. “Go fuck yourself.” She cut the comm.
Luke’s eyes were wide. “What are you doing?”
Sean thought about Marci, and she thought about all those souls in the cargo container, waiting for freedom, slavery, or death. Not knowing how it was going to turn out.
“I don’t know,” she admitted. “But I think it might be the right thing. Death, rather than endless slavery.”
Kiyoshi shifted. “I can live with death.”
“I’m not onboard with this plan,” said Luke.
“It’s like this,” said Kiyoshi. “The captain’s recruited both of us because we hate the OFA. Haven’t you noticed how our jobs trend toward taking those fuckers down a notch?”
“Sure,” said Luke. “But they control everything. They’ve got all the stuff worth stealing.”
Kiyoshi nodded. “Yes. They stole our freedom. Our lives. I want no part of a deal that means we live as slaves, or sell others for the same.”
Sean blinked. “You knew why I brought you on board?”
“Be a lousy first mate if I didn’t.”
“Hell,” said Luke, turning back to the controls. “I don’t much feel like dying today. How about we run?”
“For all we’ve got,” agreed Sean. “Into the black and beyond. They’ll catch us for sure. Hole our hull. But we don’t go quietly.”
“Wait one,” said Luke.
The holo tank updated, another ship blinking into existence.
“That…wasn’t there before.” He worked his console. “
No transponder signal. A black ship. But it looks…new.”
Sean leaned forward. “Pirates,” she breathed. The new ship had broken stealth, opening up on the OG vessel. Particle beams raced across the inky black of space, tearing a chunk from the side of the OG patrol boat.
The OG vessel returned fire, particle beams scoring bright, molten hits against the newcomer. Gases vented before the newcomer’s railguns pounded the dark, coring the OG ship’s hull.
A moment later, the OG ship was gone, a bright bloom that made Sean wince as the reactor died in a brilliant flare.
“They’re…hailing us,” said Luke.
“Well,” said Sean. “You’d better put them on.”
CHAPTER FOUR
STELLAR DATE: 04.29.8945 (Adjusted Years)
LOCATION: Promise
REGION: Vasara System, Orion Freedom Alliance
“Your real name’s not ‘Leland Miravet’, is it?” said Sean.
She and Leland sat in the Promise’s small galley, coffee untouched between them.
“It’s as real as the Promise,” countered Leland.
“Got you,” said Sean.
Leland was dressed in black, like a pirate should be, his armor shining in the ship’s lights. He wore no markings or insignia.
“Jaimee’s with you, right?” she asked.
“She can be with you, if you’d like,” said Leland. “She read your file. She chose this mission.”
“OK,” said Sean. “Just who the fuck are you guys?”
“No one,” said Leland. “But this might help a little.”
He pushed a data sliver across the table. It was just like the one she’d gotten from Average Guy. Unremarkable. A little worn. An everyday unit you could get from any store.
Leland stood, nodding at her. “Captain. I’ll take my leave.”
“That’s it?” said Sean.
“Well, obviously we’ll be taking the hostages,” he said. “Their families are waiting for them.”
“Obviously,” agreed Sean, feeling dazed. She held up the data sliver. “What’s on this?”
“A promise,” said Leland, leaving the galley.
She heard two sets of boots head down the deck, as Kiyoshi escorted him away.