by Aria Bell
A surge of anger and concern filled me. “No unnecessary violence,” I growled.
By his expression, Gren’don didn’t appreciate my warning. He fingered the hilt of his sword, and I waited to see if he would be foolish enough to draw. I was the better bladesman, and it was clear from his expression that he knew it. I didn’t want to have to kill him, but he’d become increasingly insubordinate since the last ship we’d captured—a fuel-freight jumper with very few raw materials and supplies on board. And insubordination was something we just couldn’t have.
Still, I didn’t want to slay him on the bridge. Not only would it make a terrible mess on sensitive equipment, it wasn’t good for morale. Until now, pickings had been poor, and that meant morale was low enough without me killing the ship’s officers.
This time Gren’don read the warning in my eyes and looked away. “All I’m saying, Captain, is I don’t want us to start having…problems…with the crew if we don’t start earning some money.”
“Any problems that arise, Mr. Surdal, will find themselves without heads.” I didn’t like his hints at mutiny, but there was always the threat of it in this business. We hadn’t made nearly as much as I’d promised when I’d convinced the crew of the Defiance Blade to risk heading this close to the galactic core. I was in a precarious position. Captains could be replaced if they didn’t deliver the payoff. To be captain on a Jardan pirate ship, I had to be stronger, tougher, and smarter than all the brigands under me. Lucky for me, I was. I might’ve been expelled from the prestigious Interstellar Space Academy for behavior unbecoming a cadet, but there was a reason I’d been at the top of my class, and it was only partially due to cunning, deviousness, and pure ballsy charm.
Still, there were more of them than of me, and they were starting to feel a bit too light in the pockets for anyone’s good. Gren’don Surdal was right. This had better be a good haul.
I scanned the holo-screen readouts one last time, pausing on one screen that showed the boarding team assembling at the assault dropship in the docking bay. I began to have second thoughts about leading the charge to the Mero Tallasa and leaving Gren’don in charge on the bridge.
But no, he wouldn’t betray me. He couldn’t, actually, at least not yet. We needed the supplies from this haul to get back to the outer rim and away from the law. Any potential mutinies would have to wait till we finished bringing in the haul. And if I didn’t lead the charge, then I’d have to send Gren’don as the second highest-ranking officer on the ship. Under no circumstances would I allow Gren’don on that pleasure cruiser. I couldn’t risk his bloodlust.
I kept my expression dark as I glanced his way. “Mr. Surdal, you have the bridge. I’m going over there personally to oversee the haul.”
His mouth twisted in a smirk. “So you saw something you liked?”
“That pleasure cruiser is bursting with things I like.” What I didn’t say was that I was mostly looking forward to meeting the little human female captain. I enjoyed how much she hated me. I liked how she had submitted on the outside with icy professionalism, surrendering her ship, but on the inside she was still defying me with her fist raised. And she’d taught me an amusing new word. Pig. I felt the smile tug at my lips as I thought about it. But no matter how much she might loathe surrendering, she had put the good of her passengers and her crew above all else. As any truly good captain would.
“And if we pull the kind of haul I expect,” I added, “drinks at Naraxis Station are on me.”
The bridge crew roared with excitement. Sometimes my job was easy.
Before I left the bridge, I turned to the system tech, a Jardan named Far’lak. His area of expertise was computer systems, and he was good at it. He was the one who maintained our hack bots. We had full control of the cruise ship, but tempting as it might be, we could not steal the ship itself. It was full of rich passengers, the kind who wielded too much influence with the galactic police, and perhaps even the military. They would come after us hard if we took that many important people. The pleasure cruiser had no cloaking device, so it couldn’t be hidden, which meant we’d never make it back to the outer rim. And a pirate couldn’t sell a ship that big unless he already had a buyer lined up—which I didn’t.
This wasn't a suicide mission. It was a simple smash and grab. Steal from the rich passengers and the Xexe Moray Corp and run. No messy killings or hostage takings. Nothing that would bring more heat down upon us than we could handle.
Besides, I simply didn’t approve of taking hostages. It was too much like taking slaves.
“Far’lak,” I said. “Keep feeding me scan information when we’re on board. They have a lot over there, but I want to make sure we get the best of it. Give me locations on gold, crisyncore, tungsten, but also food, sick bay supplies, and reactor fuel cells.”
“Aye aye, Captain,” Far’lak said. “We’ll keep comm lines open.”
While precious metals and jewels could gain huge amounts of credits on the black market, I also needed things like non-perishable foods, medical supplies, and fuel for our own use. Particularly food. The types of food they’d have on a pleasure cruiser were the kinds of things my men would rarely get. And in quantities that might even keep a ship full of Jardan fed for a while.
I tapped the supercomputer link in my left ear with its brainwave integration matrix. “Don’t send the feeds over the comm. Send it to this.”
Using the link would mean I’d remain in constant contact with the Defiance Blade in case something unexpected happened. Galactic military ships could show up, answering a distress signal we’d missed blocking. The pretty captain might’ve set a trap for us she would spring as soon as we arrived. Humans were devious that way. Or Gren’don Surdal might be stupid enough to attempt the mutiny he was thinking about before we finished bringing in the haul. I wanted to make sure I didn’t have to rely on a comm that could go offline, particularly if Gren’don decided to take it offline himself.
A short time later, I was flying our combat dropship from the Defiance Blade toward the interstellar cruise ship. I was piloting the dropship because I loved to fly. I’d been a pilot a lot longer than I’d been a pirate, and if I didn’t spend at least a little time at the controls, I would start climbing the walls and looking for things to break. I had ten of my crew in the back of the dropship, all armed with blasters and blades. The dropship had plenty of hover-carts and locking containers for us to gather everything we were after.
The docking and loading bay of the pleasure cruiser was massive, far bigger than that of the Defiance Blade. It was so easy it was almost boring steering through the atmo-containment field and setting the dropship down at the far end of the bay. A group of the Mero Tallasa crew—mostly humans—were waiting for us. In front was the fascinating Captain Trasker, attired in her white dress uniform and standing at rigid attention.
My boarding crew waited for me to finish the landing procedure and lower the ramp. I powered down. I preferred to lead from the front, so I was the first off the dropship, hand on the hilt of my sword, and my boot steps ringing as I stomped down the ramp. My raiders followed after me, weapons drawn. I kept my own weapons sheathed and holstered as if I hadn’t a care in the world. It made for good theater.
But behind the brash smile I wore, I never considered this a game. I scanned the area for signs of danger, of ambush. I found none. So I headed over to greet the captain.
She stood in front of her crew, glaring at me as if she hoped to burn me alive with her fury. I admired her spirit. Humans were small, and their females even smaller, but Captain Trasker seemed bigger than she was. And surprisingly, even more appealing in person. Milky skin, dark brown hair pulled back in an elaborate braid beneath her hat, her hazel eyes large and expressive. Well, good at expressing fury, at least. Since she stood at rigid attention, I had ample opportunity to admire her figure as I walked over to her.
“Captain Trasker,” I said. “Nice ship.”
“It was until you stepped on board,”
she snapped.
I laughed. “And here I thought pleasure cruisers were renowned for their hospitality.”
“That doesn’t extend to filthy pirates, I’m afraid.” She folded her arms across her chest. I noticed she had a very nice chest too. Very round. I felt a moment’s regret we weren’t meeting under different circumstances, because she did indeed look very sexy in her crisp white captain uniform.
One of my raiders glowered at her, his lip curling in anger, but I stopped him with a single look. She could be as angry and insulting as she pleased, but I wouldn’t allow her, her crew, or the passengers to be harmed. Not unless they actively fought back. But the group had come to the landing bay unarmed, so the captain, despite her dislike of me, did keep her word.
I certainly intended to keep mine. I turned to face my raiders. “You know the routine. Reactor cells first. Leave enough for this ship to limp home. Then move down the list of valuables. I want our dropship full.” I scanned the landing bay and pointed at one of the cruise ship’s cargo shuttles. “Load up one of these shuttles as well. We can always use another shuttle for the Defiance Blade.” I narrowed my eyes. “Don’t use force unless absolutely necessary. Captain Trasker has assured me there won’t be any resistance.” I glanced at her. “Isn’t that right, Captain?”
She nodded curtly. “The passengers are in their staterooms. I’ve made an announcement, and they understand what is happening and what to expect.”
Good enough. “We have twenty standard minutes to take all we can and warp-jump out of here.” After that, we were certain to start seeing a galactic police response. We’d jammed the signals before decloaking and attacking, but once their ship went off grid and out of contact with the central planet hubs, it wouldn’t be long before authorities responded. I planned to be long gone by then.
They scrambled at my orders, heading deeper into the ship with their weapons ready. I hoped for the Mero Tallasa’s sake that the crew kept the passengers confined to their rooms and were maintaining order. I intended to stay with the dropship and oversee the loading and departure prep.
Also, Captain Sylvis Trasker was here.
Far’lak’s voice came over the mini terminal link in my ear. “Captain, we broke their remaining systems wide open. We have locations and codes for all passenger safes in the first class suites as well as locations for all resources we might be interested in. We also have the location and codes for the ship’s armory. Records show the crew didn’t access the armory after our attack, so we can expect minimal resistance.”
Good news, but we’d have to stay on our guard all the same. There wouldn’t be heavy weapons in the armory of a pleasure ship, but what small weapons they might have for standard shipboard security were always easy to sell. I reached up and activated the terminal so I could reply.
“Good work. Send all locations to our raiders. Have them empty the armory as well.” I disconnected and turned to Captain Sylvis. “Thank you for keeping your word. We confirmed you haven’t accessed your armory. You’re doing the wise thing.”
Her scowl deepened. “Save your praise and get off my ship.”
I folded my arms across my chest, my synth-leather coat drawing tight over my biceps and shoulders, but I only ended up grinning at her. “Don’t be a sour loser, Captain. I have no desire to stay on this bloated, over-priced pleasure scow any longer than necessary.”
Her mouth dropped open and her eyes widened in outrage. She had pink-tinged lips, looking soft and full. For no particular reason, the color of her lips made me wonder at the color of her nipples. Would they be pink and tiny or would they be dark and big? How would they respond to my tongue on them, teasing them, nipping at them? My cock began to stiffen at the thought. It was unfortunate that she clearly hated my guts. A dalliance might be a thrilling diversion.
Captain Sylvis Trasker drew in a deep breath and finally vented her indignation. “Did you just call the Mero Tallasa—the crown jewel of the fleet—a scow? A rutting scow?”
“Would you prefer the term barge, perhaps?”
“You…you…” Her throat was working as she seemed to choke on her words.
I made certain to flash her my most charming smile. “By all means, Captain. Speak your mind.”
She took a deep breath. Then she lifted her chin, clearly getting herself back under control, even though her eyes blazed like ship thrusters on full burn. “I will not.”
“Probably best.”
“Fine then. Since you asked, I will speak my mind, you draxil-brained, one-testicled, foppish, ignorant pig!”
“Foppish?” I frowned. “I’d say dashing.”
“No one else in the galaxy would!”
I was torn between amusement at her unbridled fire and irritation at the inaccuracy of her insults. I was probably lucky she’d run out of breath or I’d still be listening to her insult me.
My chuckle seemed to annoy her to no end. “The lack of hospitality on your glorified tugboat of sex and excess is frankly shocking, my lovely.” I hesitated, tapping my chin with a finger as if lost in thought. “I suppose it’s my fault for encouraging a female to speak her mind.”
Her fists clenched. Her jaw clenched. She stared up at me like the defiant little warrior she was. When she spoke, her voice seemed to suck the heat out of the air. “I’d like to break every one of those perfect teeth in your mouth. By dropping a toilet. On your face.”
I threw my head back and laughed. By the stars, I really liked this female. She was as fiery as any Jardan female and at half the size. “I suppose that means a parting kiss is out of the question?”
She paled and refused to answer that. Perhaps she’d seen how much enjoyment I’d been getting out of provoking her. What a bastard I was. Really. I supposed that was another reason I’d been booted from the Interstellar Space Academy. That, and the fact I’d stolen crisyncore reactor fuel and sold it on the black market for fire wine and fouzysh beer for an after-finals celebration.
None of that mattered now. Captain Sylvis’s scorn didn’t matter either. Soon this would be over, and we would be on our merry way. Captain Sylvis could steer her ship back to port, safe and sound. Meanwhile I’d head for the outer rim at full warp before the galactic police started a quadrant-wide hunt for the Defiance Blade.
My raiders were steadily bringing back hover-cart loads of reactor cells, supplies, and loot—jewelry, precious fabrics, mini-terminals we could hack-siphon credits from. I left the captain and her officers—all of them looking either furious or terrified—and headed back to the dropship to oversee the cargo loading. I’d already picked out one of the Mero Tallasa’s fancy shuttlecraft to load with loot and fly back to the Defiance Blade. It was a bit pretty for a pirate ship, but once it had a few dents and plasma burns on its hull, it would fit right in.
I used my personal supercomputer terminal to track the operation, the time we’d spent, and to listen to a steady stream of status updates from my ship. Then Far’lak’s voice came onto my secure-cast channel. “Captain, we were digging around in the Mero Tallasa’s secure system files and we discovered something you need to know.”
With a touch, I switched my terminal from standby scan to active. “What is it?”
I was thinking it would have something to do with one of the passengers, perhaps a diplomat or a member of the galactic police or the military. Or perhaps Far’lak had uncovered evidence of bribes—the Xexe Moray Corp greasing palms to keep their systems and voyages running smoothly. It wouldn’t surprise me in the least.
What Far’lak said, however, did surprise me.
“Captain Sylvis Trasker is the daughter of a Tirinvan Duke, Archa Trasker of Von. Apparently, he’s close in the line of succession to their king. She’s their only offspring.”
I paused and glanced across the loading bay at the captain. What in the deepest depths of a black hole was the daughter of rich aristocrats doing captaining a pleasure ship? I smiled at that. What she was currently doing was scowling at my men as they
loaded our stolen loot onto the dropship and the shuttlecraft we intended to steal. She kept her dignity about her, though, and except for when I managed to get under her skin—a particular talent of mine—she displayed a cool professionalism that was far better than some of the captains we’d robbed.
“That’s all very interesting,” I broadcast back to Far’lak, keeping my voice neutral. “But I don’t see how it relates to us.”
At least I hoped I didn’t. But with Gren’don Surdal on the bridge, I had a feeling I did.
“Gren’don wants to take her hostage and ransom her back to her family for credits and weapons.”
Of course he did. “Tell me you didn’t let this information out to the rest of the crew before informing me.”