by Saxon Andrew
Table of Contents
Title Page
Contents
Books by Saxon Andrew
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two
Chapter Twenty-Three
Chapter Twenty-Four
Chapter Twenty-Five
Epilogue
Copyright
A Pirate’s Tale
The Only Solution is Retribution
Contents
Books by Saxon Andrew
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two
Chapter Twenty-Three
Chapter Twenty-Four
Chapter Twenty-Five
Epilogue
Books by Saxon Andrew
The Annihilation Series
Love Conquers All
The Power of a Queen
A Rose Grows in Weeds
Tommy’s Tale
Searcher
Demon’s Sacrifice
Finding Keepers
(The Seven books above are audio books at Audible.com)
Prequel-Psychic Beginnings
Searching for a Hero
Dahlia’s Deception
Annihilation-The Complete Series Box Set
Ashes of the Realm
Juliette’s Dream
Greyson’s Revenge
Death of an Empire
The Return of the Realm
Lens of Time
The Pyramid Builders
Planet Predators
Pray for the Prey
The End of Time
Star Rover-The Worst of Time
Star Rover-Running Out of Time
Lens of Time-Chosen To Die
The Fight for Creation
Life Warrior
Scout Warrior
Ultimate Warrior
Star Chase
The Lost Prince
(An audio book at Audible.com)
Nowhere to Run
Nowhere to Hide
Probe Predators
Jesse’s Starship
Mike’s War
Joshua’s Walls
Nemesis
Revenge is Best Served Hot
The Search for Orion
Trapped in Time
The Time Takers
Taming A Planet
Exinction
Escape to Earth
Running From Fate
Fighting for Space
Defending Holy Ground
The Legacy of a Conqueror
Living Legends
Defending Earth
The Sequel Series to Escape to Earth
Searching for Death Feeders
Discovery Means Death
The Death Prophecies
The Coming of the Prophet
The Eyes of the Prophet
The Unknown Enemy Will Kill You
No Technology Is Invincible
Survival is Never Free
The Last Prophecy
Stories from the Filament Universe
Gregor’s Run
A Pirate’s Tale
Coming soon
The Death Filament
Chapter One
The tall pirate looked at the assembled passengers and crew in the commercial liner’s landing bay as he stared at the images on his communicator. His crew had gone through the ship and moved everyone on board to the bay, except for the small babies in the nursery, which were left unattended. He glanced at the back wall and saw the armored safe with green lights still glowing above the rotary dial. He took a piece of paper out of his pouch and said, “I’m looking for a passenger named Serge Ohaulo.” No one moved and he nodded to the pirate holding a blaster next to him. The Pirate walked forward, grabbed a woman out of the crowd, and threw her on the deck away from the others. He fired the blaster and the woman didn’t have time to scream before the upper half of her body disappeared. The tall man sighed, “Serge, I’ll keep doing this until you step forward.” The pirate nodded again and four passengers grabbed a man and shoved him out of the crowd. A middle aged woman along with two dark haired girls came running out of the crowd and stood beside the man.
The pirate smiled, “Good, I was hoping I wouldn’t have to find the three of you as well.” He turned to the man, “Serge, I need the code to open the safe.”
The man raised his chin and said defiantly, “I won’t give it to you. Too many families have trusted me with their life savings and I’ll not betray them. Kill me if you must but I will not give you the code.”
The pirate walked over in front of the middle aged man and shook his index finger at Serge, “Tisk, tisk! I wouldn’t be so stupid as to kill you. Then how would I get the code.”
Serge smiled, “Exactly!”
The pirate pulled a dagger out of a scabbard on his belt, moved forward, and jammed it into the top of the woman’s head standing next to Serge. It penetrated all the way to the hilt and the woman fell right where she was standing without making a sound. Serge’s mouth went wide open as one of the young girls standing next to him fell to the floor on top of the dead woman wailing and sobbing. The Pirate shook his head, “Serge, Serge, why does it have to be like this? The next one to die will be one of your daughters here and if that doesn’t work, I’ll have her baby brought down from the nursery and continue this exercise. Why don’t you save me the trouble and just give me the code.”
The young girl looked up at the pirate, “You’re nothing but a coward!!” She turned to her father, “Don’t tell him anything; he’s going to kill all of us anyway!!”
The pirate put his hand to his chest just under his neck, “You cut me to the quick. I never kill needlessly. Your mother would still be alive but for Serge’s reluctance to do as I request.”
A young man standing in the crowd said where everyone could hear, “He’s being honest. He won’t kill us if you give him what he wants.”
The woman looked at the young man and sneered, “You must be one of them!!”
The tall pirate looked at the young man and asked, “How do you know this?”
The young man shrugged, “You’re Captain John Blakely. You are known for your ruthlessness but you’re also known for not killing needlessly.”
“And you know this because….”
“I’ve read about you. You once said it was bad for business to kill needlessly. You said you could always recapture those you freed later, hold
them for ransom, and continue to profit. They would be a gift that keeps on giving.”
The pirate chuckled, “You’re right.” He looked at the girl still on the floor with the dead body of her mother, “I will set you free if Serge here will just give me the code. I‘ll really take no pleasure in killing you, your sister, and your nephew. But if he continues to refuse to give it to me, I will do it.”
Suddenly, Serge grabbed the dagger protruding from his wife’s head, pulled it out, and stabbed it into his heart.” The girl screamed again as the huge pirate lunged to grab Serge’s arm and stop him. He didn’t make it in time and he looked up and rolled his eyes as Serge died in front of him, “Hell’s pus bucket!!” He looked at the pirate beside him and saw he was quivering, “He moved too fast, John!!”
The pirate sighed and then shook his head, “Recall the crew. Serge was braver than I ever thought him capable.”
“John, we could take the liner and disassemble it elsewhere,” a pirate holding a blaster pointed at the passengers and crew suggested. The tall pirate started shaking his head, “Jeremy, when we stopped this ship, it automatically sent out a distress call. It will continue to send out distress signals and attempting to tow this ship away will only slow us down and allow the Proctors on Unity Warships that are coming this way to find us easily.” The younger pirate opened his mouth and the big pirate said, “And before you start suggesting we just cut the safe out of the wall, the safe will auto-destruct the moment we interrupt the power source to it and take us out with it. Serge won this round and there’s nothing we can do about it now.” The pirate looked at the crew and passengers packed into the landing bay and then turned to the young man, “Its times like these that really try my patience. I should kill everyone here but that would be…”
He lowered his head and stared at the young man, who said, “Bad for business.”
“Can you tell me why it would be bad for business?” the pirate asked with a smile.
“Because if you killed everyone you captured, what would be the incentive for anyone to ever give the code to a safe?”
The pirate laughed out loud and then said, “Very good!!” He looked down at Serge and sighed, “You earned the faith of your investors. It’s such a shame that the brave are always the first to die.” The pirate turned and walked out of the landing bay into the port of the starship connected to its hull without looking back. The five other pirates backed out behind him covering the landing bay with their hand blasters, and exited the port. The room was silent except for the young woman’s wails as they waited for the pirate ship to fire on them. They watched the huge vessel move away from the hull, ignite its boosters, and disappear. Most of those in the landing bay fell to the floor in relief.
The Captain of the commercial liner walked up to the young man who had called out the pirate with two crewmen behind him, “Tell me how you know so much about that pirate!?!”
The young man looked at the two large crewmen and shrugged as he turned to the Captain, “It’s like I told him; I’ve read a lot about him. John Blakely killed my brother on a ship like this a year ago. I’ve come out here to hunt him down and kill him.”
The Captain stared at the young man and started shaking his head. He was about six foot two and had a lean physique. His facial features were sharp and his green eyes didn’t waver. “You aren’t big enough to handle my sailors much less that giant pirate.” The young man shrugged and the Captain said, “Put him in lockup for the authorities to question when we land.”
The young man lowered his eyes and said, “I’ll gladly go to the authorities when we land but I paid for a first class trip and I intend to take advantage of my fare. I will not allow you to, as you say, lock me up.”
The Captain sneered, “Lock him up!!”
The two crewmembers came around the captain and in an instant, they were on the deck writhing in pain. The young man moved forward until his face was an inch from the Captain’s, “Would you like to be next?”
The Captain’s eyes went wide in fear as he heard his sailors moaning in pain, “No! That won’t be necessary!”
“Good. I told you that I’ll meet with the Proctors without resistance when we land. I won’t be going anywhere.” The young man turned and walked out of the landing bay toward the first class corridor. The young woman watched what happened in silence as she held on to her mother and father’s bodies. She looked at her sister and said tearfully, “You should go to the nursery and stay with Ethan.” Her sister nodded and walked away weeping as she turned back to her dead parents in her lap and closed her eyes as she quietly wept.
One of the passengers said loud enough that everyone could hear, “That young man probably saved us by reminding that brute that he doesn’t kill needlessly. He certainly doesn’t deserve to be incarcerated.” The other passengers applauded his remarks.
• • •
The young man sat in his chair in first class and heard the passengers behind him start murmuring. He exhaled sharply and turned around. The Captain and a crewman holding a hand blaster were walking up the aisle toward his row. He looked at the passenger sitting beside him and said, “We really should trade seats.”
The man sitting next to the aisle stood up and the young man slid into his aisle seat. The Captain walked one row past him and turned, “You will go now to our lock up or I will order you to be shot.”
The young man smiled, “Ok, order it.”
The Captain’s face showed his shock, “I’m not kidding!!”
“Go ahead. If you think your crewman can hit me without hitting the bulkhead or another passenger, go for it. I feel I must tell you that if he even starts to pull the trigger, I will take that blaster and shove it up your backside!”
The Captain stared at the young man as the crewman put the blaster on the back of the young man’s head. In an instant, the crewman was holding his hand and it was clear two fingers were broken. The young man had the blaster and held it out grip first to the Captain, “Please take it. You’re pretty good at putting your crew in danger. Let’s see if you have the courage to do your own dirty work. Please, take it, Captain!”
The Captain’s face was white and showed his fear as the other passengers in first class began yelling at him. They called him names that the young man decided he should be writing down for later use. It was clear they did not appreciate the Captain’s behavior. The young man stood up and stuck his face back in the Captain’s, “If you bother me again, you won’t be able to command a liner for six months!” The young man moved the blaster in his left hand and held out the blaster’s power pack. The Captain’s eyes grew wider; a power pack could not be removed without special tools and this man had taken it out in a couple of seconds with just one hand.
“Who are you?”
“Your worst nightmare if you bother me again!” He looked at the crewman, “You need to get those fingers looked at.” He sat back down and ignored the Captain, who walked out of the first class section to the jeers of the other occupants. The young woman sat in the rear of the section and wondered, like the Captain, who was this man?
• • •
When the ship landed, the young man stood up, retrieved his backpack out of the storage bin, and walked calmly to the landing bay where the Captain was standing with two Proctors. The Captain pointed the young man out and one of the Proctors raised a device and pointed it at him. He studied the small display on the device and nudged the other Proctor with his elbow. The other Proctor looked at the device and they stepped aside as the young man walked past them.
The Captain watched them and said sternly, “What are you doing?!”
The ranking Proctor looked at the Captain, “You say you threatened him with a blaster?” The Captain nodded. The Proctor snorted, “We are going to recommend that you be relieved of your command and never be allowed to command another ship.”
“WHY?!”
“You deliberately threatened a Purple Card Warrior. You’re lucky he didn’t ki
ll you.” The young woman who was following the young man out of first class, lingered to hear the Proctors. She began moving quickly through the crowd to catch up to him. He stopped suddenly and turned toward her, “Why are you chasing me?”
“I need to talk with you!”
He tilted his head slightly, “I’m sorry about your parents, but….”
“Don’t be. My father saved my life by taking his own. He also saved my sister and her baby. However, I heard you say you intend to kill that Pirate.”
The young man lowered his eyebrows, “That is between me and John Blakely.”
“It won’t cost you anything to listen but a few moments of your time; talk with me! Please!”
The man sighed and stepped aside. She walked past him and saw her sister rushing out of the gathered crowd carrying her baby. The young woman hugged her sister and said, “I’ll talk to you about what happened later. I have something to do first.”
Her sister’s eyes were red and tearful as she said, “What is more important than telling the family what happened?”
“Making the one that did it pay for his actions!!” The sister glanced at the young man watching them and nodded in agreement as she walked away.
• • •
Two armored security guards carrying shoulder blasters came up to the young woman as they walked off the Starliner and she waved them away. They stepped aside but continued to follow them at a discrete distance. The woman walked into a restaurant on the departure level in the space port and went to a corner table. She sat down and the young man pointed to the other side of the booth, “Pardon me, but you should sit there.”
“Why?”
The young man smiled, “My Grandfather told me that one should never put their back to an open room.”
“My father told me the same thing. Come over here and sit beside me if you want to see the room.”
The young man stared at her for a few moments and then went to her side of the booth and sat down beside her, “What do you wish to discuss?”