The Star Traders: The Star Traders Series Volume One

by Gary W. Feather

  “Okay.” Piper agreed.

  “Actually, my bridge crew don’t have much to do right now, Piper.” Alberta said. “They could take over for your security women, so Keiko will have a large force to fight with.”

  “Good plan, captain.” Piper nodded. “Though I’ll still want security women guarding the entrances to engineering, but most can go. Keiko, start getting everyone into the security armor we brought with the blaster rifles.”

  “Sure thing, boss.”

  CHAPTER ONE HUNDREDSEVENTEEN

  Punch a pirate!

  Keiko led her team into Cargo Hold A where the pirates were trying to break into containers, while others were trying to get into a few of the shuttles that weren’t closed up in the containers. Keiko had thirty-one women with her. Only one of them wasn’t security and that was Mindy Bettencourt that Keiko had kidnapped from Agatha Gee.

  “They seem to be working hard, Keiko.” Mindy whispered beside her.

  “Yes. That’s surprising for such lazy bastards.” Keiko whisper back. She waved Heidi over. Heidi leaned her ear close. “Take fourteen women over there to section four. We’ll be able to hit them from two side, but it’ll be closer than going all the way on the opposite side of Cargo Hold A.”

  Heidi nodded. “Gotcha.”

  Heidi her fourteen women over to section four, while the rest of them stayed put. Mindy looked at her tablet again. “I’m sure if you give me a few minutes inside the pirate ship I would have full control of that thing.”

  “No.” Keiko shook her head. She glanced from her tablet to the area around them. The tablet showed the locations of all the pirates. Piper was sending her that information from engineering. I respect Mindy’s hacking abilities, but that’s insane. “They probably have booby traps all over the place.”

  “Okay.” Mindy whined.

  “We’re about ready to go.” Keiko told everyone and sent a message to Heidi. She waved with her blaster rifle. “Let’s go.”

  Keiko’s team and Heidi’s team took the pirates by surprise with their blaster bolts cutting into a number of them. A few took cover and fired back. But I’ve planned this out pretty well if I say so myself. Mindy was watching my team as took cover behind shuttles and Heidi’s team did the same thing. We moved forward and struck like tigers. Half the pirates are dead or wounded. Nice work, ladies! Keiko glanced back at Mindy who was looking down at her tablet and frowning. Keiko got a called from Mindy.

  #

  “There’s something wrong out there.” Mindy warned.

  “I’m busy, cuz.” Keiko complained. “There’s still a few of them bastards to shot at us.”

  “I’m serious, Keiko. I sent a message to Piper in engineering for her help. It looks like a flicker of light. There’s another one. What? Wait. Another one? Oh shit!” Mindy suddenly started waving from where she was at something Keiko couldn’t see. “Keiko! Watch out! They have invisibility suits! Keiko!”

  Suddenly the pirates in invisibility suits must have decided to switch them off. One of the pirates slammed his rifle butt in Keiko’s face. Keiko fell backwards against the side of the shuttle. She shook her dizzy head to free it of the cobwebs. Keiko heard screams and more blaster fire. Everything is fucked up! Where’s my rifle? The pirate his rifle butt into her head and her mind went blank.

  #

  Keiko saw light and a blurry face looking at her. She heard someone talking to her and then felt the cold water. They’d dumped it on her head. Keiko shook her head and spit water out of her mouth. She blinked and saw an ugly pirate man snarling down at her.

  “Thought you were smart, huh?” the pirate spit in her face. “Lucky for us our alien friends gave us these invisibility suits of theirs. Nice, huh?”

  The pirate chuckled. “But don’t worry we only had to kill a couple of your women. All of you are more valuable alive than dead. The Dinesens pay good money for Yin women, especially the t-females. Now I know this is a family ship, so where are the children. Now that’s what they pay sacks of gold coins for. Yep.”

  Keiko heard some evil chuckles from the other pirates that surrounded her. Some of them were women and didn’t expect any sympathy from them. Keiko’s hand’s were bound by rope. Through the pirate’s legs she could see her security women and they were bound the same way. Keiko forced back a smile, since her legs weren’t bound by rope. How could they be that dumb? Though at the moment she was surrounded by heavily armed pirates, so she’d have to wait before she did something about it.

  One of pirate women started rubbing her butt against one of the male pirates. Then she unzipped her coveralls and let it drop. She was half naked. Her coveralls dropped to her boots and only a t-shirt to cover her chest. Keiko turned away as the man by her unzipped and entered her body.

  “What’s a matter, beautiful?” the ugly pirate leader belly laughed. “Don’t you want to watch? Or maybe you’d want to join in, hug?”

  Keiko frowned, but respond. He backhanded her. “I’m Captain Big John and I own you, bitch! You’ll do what you’re told.” He hit her a couple of more times. “Look.”

  I won’t break. I won’t break! Keiko told herself. She was hit again and the pirates laughed louder. Until some of them started to scream and holler. I’m floating! The gravity was off in the cargo hold! Keiko interlocked her fingers to form a double fist and crashed it into Captain Big John temple. The blow flung her backwards and she flew away from the pirates.

  Keiko saw a wall behind her and carefully got her legs ready. When she hit the wall she stopped herself with her bound hands. Then she pushed away from the wall. This sent her flying towards the pirates again. Both of Keiko’s feet smashed into Big John’s teeth and nose. Blood and spit slowly splattered in the null gravity.

  “Keiko!”

  Keiko followed the shout to see Mindy with a blaster rifle. “Thanks!” Keiko took it. All around them her security women were fighting back against the pirates, who obviously hadn’t done much fight training in null gravity. A pirate aimed her blaster rifle on Heidi. Keiko shot her down. Keiko was flung towards the wall by the moment of the shot. She kicked the wall and flew back into the fight. Heidi had snatched the dead pirate’s blaster rifle and tossed her fun to another security woman.

  Keiko searched for a target, but all the pirates had surrendered; or they were dead or unconscious. She whistled at Mindy for waving is a dumb thing to do in null gravity. “Turn the gravity back on!”

  Keiko and her security women came down on their feet, but most of the pirates weren’t quite as skillful. They gathered up the living pirates and bound them in their own rope. Keiko contacted Piper.

  “Good work, Keiko.” Piper said. “We just got a call from USS St. Louis a light cruiser with two corvettes. They’ve just showed up and dropped some marines into the pirate ship. After they deal with those pirates the marines will take charge of your prisoners.”

  “Glade hear someone was listening to our calls for help.” Keiko chuckled when she saw Mindy standing by her side looking at the bound pirates. “Oh and I want to mention that we couldn’t have done it without Mindy’s help.”

  Mindy looked up and blushed.

  “Thank her for me.” Piper said.

  “I will.” Keiko turned and messed up Mindy’s dreadlocks.

  “Hey! Stop that.” Mindy frowned and rearranged her colorful dreadlocks.

  CHAPTER ONE HUNDREDEIGHTEEN

  Panic

  Alberta relaxed into the command chair on her bridge. The bridge was running again, but without Janet. Goddess I hope she’s okay and Jessica too. My baby sister and my baby girl is both in the hands of the damn Lorkiiz. Hopefully Erica is still safe on Jezebel in the Lilith star system.

  They were headed for the planet Delos, which was the forth planet in the Diana star system. Alberta checked the distance again on one of her data screens. Good it won’t be too long until we dock at Delos’ main spacestation Stag. She knew that some Wiccans worshiped the ancient Roman goddess Diana. According
to one ancient Roman legend Diana and her brother Apollo were born on the island Delos. Diana was the goddess of hunting, which was way most of the spacestations orbiting Delos were named after old Earth animals; Stag, Boar, and Wolf.

  Guinevere’s Daughter docked at spacestation Stag with no troubles.

  “Well done everyone.” Alberta told his bridge crew. “That was one screwed up mess we were in, but we pulled ourselves out of it. Let’s help that what’s to come can be conquered the same way.”

  Alberta got nods and agreements from her bridge crew.

  #

  Alberta sighed for she just remembered she hadn’t checked any of the info dumps Daughter had been given on their way here from the spot they entered the Diana star system. She checked one of her data screens and found a new law suit from Ellie and Tawny both. Shit! I’ll need to tell Jo about it and go over it with her. Damn it! She made an announcement through the intercom about the rocketship having docked and that soon people will be allowed to visit the spacestation. Alberta that those under eighteen would not be permitted to leave Guinevere’s Daughter without an adult.

  Alberta nodded at the co-pilot. “Linda, your officer of the watch.”

  “Yes, captain.” She nodded. Linda came out of the University of Yin a year before Alberta’s daughter Jessica had. Linda had showed herself to be a good pilot. “Call one of the teenage girls on the pilot-apprentice list to keep you company.”

  “Yes, captain.” Linda grinned and nodded.

  “Just don’t let the kid run off on joyride, while I’m gone. Understood.” Alberta gave her frown.

  “Y-yes, ma’am.”

  “Good.” Alberta chuckled and gave the young woman a wink. Alberta led Donna, Fiona, Tiffany and Agatha into the elevator. They were followed by two young women who were Fiona’s sensor techs

  “I saw the crap about Ellie and Tawny hitting us with more lawsuits.” Tiffany shook her head. “That’s not right. I’m sure that the Lorkiiz forced them to do it.”

  “I still find hard to believe that they were that stupid.” Fiona mumbled.

  “Of course they were.” Donna added. “They saw a way to get control of Guinevere and didn’t give a shit about who they hurt.”

  “I’m going down to talk to Jo again about the legal mess we’re in.” Alberta told them. She’d told the elevator computer to take her to the deck that Jo Grant Williams’ office was located. Donna, Tiffany, and Fiona had told it to take them to the cafeteria. Agatha was heading for her quarters that she shared with her wife and their new born baby daughter. The door slide open and Agatha waved goodbye. Then the elevator resumed its journey.

  Soon the door opened again and Alberta waved a goodbye.

  “Don’t forget to eat something, captain.” Fiona called out just as the door shut.

  Alberta walked down the hallway before reaching the door marked Jo Grant Williams / Attorney at Law / Second Shift Crew. She opened the door and found Jo waiting with Piper. Both were seated. Jo stood up.

  “There you are.” Jo smiled and waved her to a seat beside Piper. Jo sat in the chair opposite of her desk from them. Jo tapped on a data screen for a couple of seconds then flipped the screen around so Alberta could see it. “It seems they just hit us with a new law suit. Worse the previous ones.”

  “Really? I thought it was the same thing?” Alberta to check the legal gobbety goop that was hard for a non-lawyer to understand.

  “Its horrible, Alberta.” Piper was upset and Alberta could tell she was holding back tears.

  “They’re accusing us of kidnapping children.” Jo said.

  “Our own children?” Alberta snapped and thumped the desk. Piper gripped Alberta’s hand.

  “Some of the children don’t technically belong to the adults on this rocketship.” Jo sighed. “There’s even an accusation we plan to sale them to the Dinesen Empire.”

  “That’s bullshit!” Alberta jumped out of her chair.

  “I know. I know.” Jo waved Alberta back to her chair with Piper’s help. Alberta crossed her arms. “But the local authorities are taking it seriously.”

  “What? No.” Alberta shook her head. “They can’t! They’re our family. How can they do this to us?”

  “The damn Lorkiiz are putting them up to this.” Piper put her arm protectively around Alberta. Alberta leaned into her wife’s strong warm arms.

  “Of course, but it’ll be difficult to prove for a while.” Jo shrugged.

  “Damn it.” Alberta waved her arms. “We were just attacked by those damn pirates! They-”

  “I know, darling.” Piper rubbed her back a little.

  #

  “They’ll make their move as soon as we open the doors of Guinevere’s Daughter and let the crew disembark onto the spacestation.”

  “Most likely.”

  “Then we won’t.” Alberta set her jaw firmly. “We are leaving. Immediately.”

  “But…we can’t.” Jo rubbed her nose for a second. “We have to take to this to court and show that we’re not kidna-”

  “No.”

  “Alber-” Piper tried to speak, but Alberta pushed her away. She stood up.

  “We are leaving.” Alberta turned and left without another word. Time to get back to the bridge. She stepped back into the elevator. Maybe this isn’t such a good idea. If we took this to court we might be able to bring the truth to light. Alberta told the elevator to take her to the bridge. Or they might hand all of our children over to Ellie and Tawny, who in turn give them to the damn aliens! I should have waited and talked this over with Jo. Alberta shook thought out of her head. No we need to get out here. Get some more distance from the Lorkiiz.

  The elevators slide open. Alberta stepped inside her bridge and saw Linda turned in surprise from where she stood behind the pilot’s seat. In the seat was a teenage girl, who was probably the pilot-apprentice next on the list. Most likely Linda had been putting the girl through a pilot simulation test with the actually pilot station, while the rocketship was safely docked. Nothing out of the ordinary. No what was out of ordinary was me returning to the bridge. Linda and the girl both were staring with their mouths agape.

  Linda was the first to recover. “Captain, do you forget something?”

  “No, Linda.” Alberta sat in her command chair,. “We’re leaving.” She realized her hands were shaking and squeezed them into fists. No. I can do this. We need to get out of here. Alberta let her hand relax. They weren’t shaking. She reached for a visual screen to send out an announcement out to the crew. Alberta tapped the screen to get it ready. She cleared her throat. “This is Junior Captain Alberta Williams speaking. All leave is canceled. Bridge crew immediately return to the bridge. We are leaving this star system as soon as possible. I-I’ll make another announcement later to explain why. Captain Alberta out.”

  Alberta looked at Linda and the girl. “I’m sorry young lady, but you’re not going to get the chance to practice flying today.” The girl blinked and nodded. She looked disappointed. Can blame her. Alberta remembered long ago when she was an pilot-apprentice wanting a change to sit in an actually ship pilot’s chair, even if the ship was docked. How long ago was that? Fifty years? Sixty? I’m so old. Alberta sighed. She forced the thought out of her head. Alberta glanced back as the elevator door slide open. Donna led the way inside with Tiffany, Fiona, and Fiona’s two sensor techs. Alberta turned back to Linda. “Put her back on top of the list, Linda. She barely had time to sit in the chair, so let’s give her another chance later.”

  “Yes, captain.” Linda nodded. The girl sighed loudly with relief. Alberta pretended not to hear. The girl vacated the pilot’s seat for Donna with a shy nod. Linda sat in her co-pilot’s seat.

  “So we’re actually leaving, captain?” Donna asked.

  Alberta received a call from engineering and suspected she knew who it was. “Hello, Catriona.” Alberta said before the chief engineer’s face appeared on a visual screen.

  “What’s going on?” Catriona asked. “I
thought we were going to rest. I still would like to run some more tests on our main engines.”

  “Sorry, Catriona. You’re going to have to wait until we get to Yin.” Alberta rubbed her chin. “Sorry.”

  Alberta looked back as she heard the elevator door opened. Agatha Gee entered and gave Alberta a wave before returning to her communications station.

  Catriona Zhou grumbled and glanced behind her back. She looked at Alberta again. “Fine. I suppose you’re going explain this later, captain.”

  “Yes, Catriona.” Alberta nodded. “Thank you for your understanding and loyalty.”

  “Ship is family. Family is ship.” Catriona said the old saying among space trader families before her face vanished from the screen.

  Alberta turned to Agatha Gee. “Agatha inform the spacestation that Guinevere’s Daughter wishes to disembark from the spacestation.”

  “Um. Yes, captain.” Agatha looked to her data screens.

  Alberta checked her own data screens. The main engines were warm again and so were the rest of the rocketship’s engines. She looked up and gave brief nods to Fiona, Tiffany, and Donna. Alberta was surprised by the elevator doors opening again. She looked to see Piper enter. Piper smiled at Alberta. She walked over to where Alberta was and took Janet’s empty XO chair. Piper nervously smiled at Alberta a couple of times before whispering. “Are you okay, dear?”

  “Yes, Piper. We need to get out of here.” Alberta held a thumbnail to her teeth for a second. She set that hand down to her lap. Piper reached out to hold it and interlocked their fingers. Alberta drew courage from Piper and realized how frightened she was. She whispered to Piper, “They want to steal our children. Give them to the damn Lorkiiz. I can’t allow that.”

  Piper nodded, but didn’t speak.

  “Captain, the spacestation says that our actions are irregular. If we demand to disembark we’ll be fined for it.”

  “Okay. Tell them that we’ll accept the fine.” Albert frowned. Piper squeezed her hand and Alberta smiled at her.

  “Yes, captain.”