by Guerin Zand
If you’ve been keeping up with my story, you’d know that I took it upon myself to fix a problem that the Collective wouldn’t. The Trogan emperor, Heesa Deuce Baghan, had sent agents to Earth to destabilize our governments. It almost started World War III. It resulted in thousands of human deaths including the death of my wife and a good friend Tim Hill. This problem wasn’t going to go away any more than that clock was going to correct itself. I made it go away, just like I fixed that clock. I killed Heesa. To hell with the Collective’s bullshit rules.
I killed a living being. My religious upbringing told me this was wrong, but if God wanted us to deal with our own problems, was it really? I had a lot of time to think about it. If you study the actual language of the oldest recorded version of the ten commandments it doesn’t say “Thou shall not kill.” It actually says, “Thou shall not murder.” Murder implies malice. I didn’t kill Heesa with malice. Yes, I did hate that man for what he had done, but I killed him because I knew he wouldn’t stop until somebody stopped him. More lives would be lost because of that man. More of my friends would die. The Collectives solution was to take away more of his privileges. He and the Trogan empire had already been given a time out which obviously did no good.
Of course, it’s possible I was just trying to justify this act to myself. If that is the case, was I not also wrong for the work I had done for the Collective on Earth? I had taken actions that eventually led to the crisis on Earth. My actions were directly, or indirectly, responsible for the deaths of hundreds of Chinese intelligence agents and thousands of innocent civilians. Wasn’t I also responsible for all the human lives lost due to those actions? Wasn’t my wife’s death my fault?
The Collective was only upset with my killing Heesa. I had broken some cosmic union rule. It was their responsibility to deal with the Trogans and their emperor, not mine. All those other deaths didn’t really matter to them. It was just like that fucking clock in my office. It didn’t matter that it was wrong, and I fixed the problem. No. All that seemed to really matter is that I broke some bullshit rule. They had allowed the Trogans to kill millions over time without, what I would call, any real punishment. Why was it that I felt so guilty about all those innocent deaths my actions may have caused and not about killing Heesa?
After killing Heesa, I left Collective space to make my own way among the unaligned worlds. These were worlds that weren’t aligned with any empire or the Collective. This included the majority of worlds that were occupied by intelligent life. I wasn’t going to be called in front of the Collective, or the Bree Council to be judged. Just like the little union incident back on Earth, the aliens refused to produce the rule book. Throughout the centuries to follow, I continued to fix the problems that I saw and no one else seemed interested enough to do anything about.
So there I was, soaking in my tub, with plenty of time to let my mind wander and ponder these sorts of things. The reason for this little rant is to hopefully help the reader understand why I acted the way I did. I didn’t blame God. He didn’t have to answer to me or explain Himself. I had to do what I thought was right and trust my own judgment. I could only hope that God had endowed me with the ability to make the right decisions when it came time. That was the best I could do. As I said at the start of this little rant, how could I possibly understand God without being God?
I would always be that little Catholic boy, and I just had one simple question. Why? Still, even to this day, no one seems able to answer that question. Still, I’m punished for asking the question.
Chapter 1
The Dread Space Pirate Roberts
It was around 10 AM in the morning, according to my digital watch, and the date was June 2, 2264, A.D. It had been over two hundred years since I left the Bree main ship to join friends of mine from the Allied Systems Trade Network, ASTN. This was pretty much as it sounded, a group of loosely allied systems that were primarily concerned with the open promotion of trade between like-minded societies. They didn’t belong to the Trogan empire and were not members of the Collective for a variety of reasons.
I had met up with these folks back on Earth when I visited The Lodge in South Dakota. I made it a point to stay in contact. Putting all my eggs in the Collective basket never seemed like the smartest move to me. When I met a group from outside the Collective, that weren’t looking to collect the Trogan reward on my head, I decided to explore possible options.
I knew after the assassination of Heesa Deuce Baghan I wasn’t going to be very popular back on the main ship or any other Collective territory. Bart and Gladys had helped me with the assassination by providing me the transportation I needed to get to the planet Trogan. Then they helped me slip past security to the Emperor’s residence. Afterward, they brought me to the planet Trinix in one of the ASTN systems.
No one seemed to be too upset for the help I received from Bart and his wife from what I had learned, and I wanted to keep it that way. Bart and Gladys were Erandisi, and their society still had an intense sense of honor and justice for a Collective member. Although they themselves would not have resorted to violence, they realized that the killing of my wife would force me to act at some point. As my friends, they saw no conflict in helping me succeed since the alternative was my death. In their way of thinking, someone was going to die, and it might as well be somebody they didn’t like. They were also fond of my late wife and our daughter, so their actions made sense to them.
The planet Trinix was located in the area of the Milky Way we referred to as Orion’s belt. I guess it was not much of a surprise that a lot of the intelligent races I had met in my space travels came from areas that we as humans had identified as constellations in our past. The Orion constellation appeared to be a hub of intelligent species in the ASTN. The planet Trinix was a beautiful Earth-like planet with slightly more ocean area than Earth. It was a tropical planet and the major city of Ferlintha was very much like Hawaii. The temperature was very comfortable and from what I understood, they didn’t have the extremes in weather over the various land masses due to the ocean effects on weather.
I didn’t spend much time on the planet. A few days after arriving I joined a crew of a small freighter as a ship’s hand. I went by the name Roberts, for reasons that should be apparent, and I won’t waste time explaining. This ship delivered goods and people between the various planets in local space. It also would quite frequently raid ships from the Trogan empire that had violated the quarantine.
It was quite common to find Trogan slave and merchant ships trying to sneak through with slaves and goods captured from less advanced races. These ships were violating the laws of the ASTN and as such could not expect local authorities to defend them or intervene on their behalf. We would seize the ships, free the slaves, and sell what we could, including the Trogan vessels. In a lot of cases, we received recovery fees for the return of the slaves, so these raids could be quite profitable. Who said, “There’s not a lot of money in revenge.”? I forgot to mention, that unlike the Collective, these folks believed in money and capitalism, so I got along just fine with them. It was a somewhat civilized form of piracy, but I embraced this new lifestyle. Earth was a more massive planet than many of the Orion worlds which meant we were built heavier and stronger than most of the other races. This was especially true in comparison to the Trogans. In addition to my simple ship duties, taking out the trash and cleaning the head, I was always included in the boarding parties. I enjoyed hurting Trogans and I took pride in my job.
Over the years, I moved up the ranks, and about twenty years into my new career I came into possession of a Collective shuttle. The circumstances surrounding this acquisition remain a little cloudy, as did the identity of the original owner, but suffice it to stay that the maritime laws of salvage were just as shady in this part of the universe as they were on the oceans of Earth. Regardless of how I actually came into possession of this ship, I did, and I was the captain of my very own pirate ship. I named her Vengeance. I know, staying with the theme
it should have been The Revenge, but I liked Vengeance better. It sounded more threatening to me. I had the ship painted black-hole black with the Jolly Roger painted on both sides with red glowing eyes.
Being a Collective shuttle of the Minnow class, this ship outclassed anything in ASTN space, or the Trogan empire. It was now possible to perform raids in Trogan space with impunity, and that’s exactly what we did. Captain Roberts, and the pirates of the Vengeance, were wanted throughout the Trogan empire and celebrated in the ASTN. Being a pirate was good, and I was finally realizing my dream. Things were too good, which of course meant it wasn’t going to last.
“Captain Roberts, we’re being hailed by a Bree ship. They insist on speaking with you.”
“Tell them to go fuck themselves. I’m busy, Sestan.” Sestan was my second in command. He was from a planet in the Lyra constellation called Censtantia, and apart from a rather odd red color of hair and a wide nose, he looked like any other human. It had been over two hundred years since I had spoken to the Bree. I had been in contact with some of the Collective members, but I had thought the Bree were simply glad to be rid of me.
“She said, and I quote, ‘Fuck you, asshole! I would think you’d treat a friend with a little more courtesy.’”
“Did she give you her name, Sestan?”
“She said her name was Cindy.”
Well, that was a surprise. I suspected it would have been Julie which would fit right in with the whole “my days about to be ruined” feeling I had. “I’ll take it, Sestan, thanks.” I threw on my bathrobe, grabbed a cup of coffee from the replicator and sat at the foot of the bed. I activated the viewer in the bedroom and smiled. “Cindy! Baby Girl! How are you doing?”
“Well if it isn’t Captain Roberts. Should I swoon or something?”
“Very funny, Cindy. Don’t tell me the Bree bitch gene has kicked in in your old age.”
“I’m not old!”
“You’re like over 250 years old, Cindy. You know I don’t date anyone over 30.”
“But when I was 30, you said I was too young for you?”
“I lied, sorry. So, now that I’ve let you down easy, what brings you out here?”
“Can’t a girl just drop by for a visit?”
“Sure.”
“You seem to be enjoying your new life as a pirate. Do you want to introduce me to the two lady friends in your bed? I assume they were what was keeping you so busy you couldn’t answer my call?”
“That’s Crystal and this is Cheyenne.” I pointed them out to Cindy and the ladies waved at her. “Actually, those aren’t their real names. Their actual names are too hard to pronounce so I just named them after a couple of strippers I’d known in the past.”
“Well, isn’t that sweet of you. Still the ladies’ man I see.”
“I have a reputation to maintain as a pirate captain, Cindy. It’s really all about image in this job. So, do you want to tell me why you’re really here?”
“The Council is requesting your presence back on the Earth ship.”
“The Earth ship?”
“That’s what everyone is calling the main ship you visited back in the Andromeda constellation. It really has taken on an Earth-like atmosphere with the rest of your team and daughter spending a lot of time there. Plus, most of the residents are involved in some way with the Earth project. There’s even a McDonalds in the food malls now in addition to other Earth fast food. A lot has changed in 200+ years, Guerin.”
“You haven’t, Cindy. You’re still just as cute and sweet as ever. I’ve missed you. I was just getting ready for breakfast. Why don’t you come aboard and join me? We can talk more when you get here.”
As soon as I finished saying that, a portal opened in my bedroom and Cindy walked through. She walked up to me, pulled me in close, and gave me a very nice kiss.
“Always showing off, aren’t you, Cindy?”
“Of course. I’ve missed you too, Guerin.” And Cindy hugged me like her life depended on it.
Crystal and Cheyenne got dressed and kissed me on the cheek as they headed for the door. Crystal looked back at me with a smile from the doorway and said, “We’re going to help Sestan with whatever he’s doing, Guerin. We’ll see you later. Nice to meet you, Cindy.”
“Where did you find those two, Guerin?”
“One of the raids on a Trogan slave ship. We offered to drop them off back at their home planet, but they asked if they could join the crew. They’re actually pretty good cooks and they’re doing a great job with the ship's finances. You wouldn’t believe the paperwork involved with the running of a pirate ship.”
“You expect me to believe that? Let me guess, you keep the ships accounting logs in your bedroom?”
“I’m a pirate captain, not a monk. This is exactly why I left the Collective. I’m finally having fun. I like being a pirate captain, and I’m damn good at it. How did you find me anyway?”
“Well, you may have disabled the tracker but…”
“The transit portals. They leave a signature you can trace, don’t they?”
“Yes. It’s not that simple, but it can be done. That, and the Trogan slavers you’ve spaced sort of gave your position away. No one spaces anybody on purpose, Guerin. That’s one of those sci-fi ideas that you seem to be fond of, so we knew it had to be you. We’d hoped you’d get past this pirate phase and return on your own, but since you didn’t we had to track you down.”
“So, they sent you?”
“I volunteered. It’s my first mission command too, and like I said, I’ve missed you. I figured you’d at least talk to me.”
“Well, come on into the kitchen and let’s get something to eat. I was going to have breakfast if you’d like to join me.”
We headed out to the kitchen and I whipped up a plate of chicken fried steak, two eggs over easy, and another cup of Joe. Cindy had a fruit bowl and a cup of Joe as well. We ate our meals and then I sat back to enjoy my coffee. I pulled a small flask from my bathrobe, added a little kicker to my coffee, and offered some to Cindy who surprisingly accepted. I grabbed the pack of smokes from my pocket and lit up. I offered one to Cindy as well, she declined.
“You start drinking with breakfast, and you’re smoking again?”
“I’m just having a little drink. It’s not like I’ve become an alcoholic.”
“You know you look like shit, Guerin.”
I stood up, spread my arms wide, and said, “What’s wrong with the way I look?” I had on my bathrobe, which was wide open now, a happy face t-shirt with a bullet hole in the forehead, my desert combat boots, a pair of boxers, and my trusty 45 hanging loosely from my waist belt’s holster. My everyday pirate outfit.
“You’re wearing a ratty old bathrobe over, what are those pants, underwear?”
“Yea, my boxers.”
“Would you mind closing that bathrobe, please. It doesn’t leave much to the imagination, and quite frankly, I had imagined a bit more.”
“Oh, very funny, Cindy.”
“And do you really need that gun?”
“I’m a pirate. I have to be armed at all times. You never know when the crew might mutiny. Besides, I’ve been looking for I don’t know how long, trying to find a decent ray gun, blaster, or something. Most of the ones I’ve found are pretty small and come across as a little on the feminine side. This 45 is a man’s weapon. It’s big and heavy, and it scares the shit out of people in the immediate area when I fire it. When I put a bullet in some assholes head with this, the sound, the scattering blood and brain matter, and the large cloud of smoke really adds to the overall dramatic effect. Those little space guns are silent and don’t even make a mess.”
“I’m sorry I brought it up, but really? The ‘Dude’ look isn’t the most appealing and you could use a shave. The long hair isn’t too bad, I mean at least you aren’t sporting a man bun. Thank God you don’t smell as bad as you look.”
“Gees, thanks, Cindy. I want you to know a lot of ladies find this new me very
attractive. Besides, it’s mostly just for appearances. There’s no such thing as a metrosexual space pirate you know.”
“So, exactly what new persona are you trying to portray here? It isn’t really the classic pirate look. Perhaps a vagabond? A scoundrel? A cad maybe?”
“A cad? You know, I like the way that one sounds. Sort of an asshole but intelligent, sophisticated, maybe even a little adventurous.”
“A cad and an asshole are not the same things, Guerin. Of course, one can be both.”
“Oh please, enlighten me, Cindy.”
“Well, a cad is someone who would, for example, sleep with two vulnerable slave girls for his own selfish pleasure. An asshole would boast about it.”
“Ouch!”
“You really are enjoying this life, aren’t you, Guerin?”
“Yes, I am. What’s wrong with that.”
“Nothing. Ignoring the fact that you look like a total dirtbag, it’s nice to see you happy at least.”
“Who said I was happy? Tell me what I have to be happy about, Cindy?”
“Guerin, you need to put the past behind you. I know you’ve been hurt since you first met us, but that wasn’t anybody’s fault. Sometimes things just happen. You need to let it go now.”
“I should let go of what happened with Milly? Let go of my wife being murdered? Let go of my daughter who you all took from me?”
“No one took your daughter from you. She made her own decision, and she has her own life to live. I know it was hard to let her go so soon after losing your wife, but you should be happy for her. Maybe if you weren’t such an asshole, and hadn’t run away for a few hundred years, you’d see that for yourself.”
“You know why I always liked you, Cindy?”
Cindy just shrugged her shoulders.
“It was because you were the only alien who was always nice to me. No matter what, you never insulted me or called me names. I guess even that’s changed now.”