“I don’t know about you, but I need to take these off,” he said, pulling his trousers free. Kovacs clearly didn’t believe in underwear either. He removed the rest of his clothing. He was a hairy bastard, rippling with muscle. Charley wanted to run her hands through that chest hair, but it was important that she stay where she was.
“Come here,” she said. “It looks like you have a problem.”
Kovacs walked over to where Charley was standing. Luckily Harry had shut the door and they were completely alone. Charley dropped to her knees, looking up at Kovacs the whole time. After a few minutes she felt a tingle between her legs. Then it was Kovacs’s turn to kneel. Charley had to grip the weapons rack behind her for support. One of his hands reached up and grabbed at her breast. She liked a man who could multi-task.
At length, when Kovacs had done so much work down there that Charley felt like she would burst, she drew him to his feet. He stepped forward and seemed to slot inside her straight away.
Kovacs thrust his hips and Charley strengthened her grip on the weapons rack. With her arms in the air her breasts were perfectly positioned, and he made sure he dipped his head to feast on them.
Charley threw her head back, savoring the ecstasy radiating from her groin. Kovacs continued to push hard and showed incredible stamina. Charley got the impression he’d been building up to this for a long time. Maybe there weren’t many women in his band of scrappers? Whatever the case, he was like a rabid animal.
Kovacs held both of Charley’s breasts as he stiffened and thrust in and out like his life depended on it. Charley could feel him about to come, which tipped her over the edge in turn. She gripped the weapons rack above her head until her knuckles were bone white. Her body convulsed and she poured all her concentration into that swirling maelstrom of feeling between her legs. One orgasm rose and fell. Then a second. A third had exploded like a fireburst before Kovacs finally removed himself from her trembling body. She gasped in awe as he kissed her tenderly on the neck and stepped away humbly.
“I think I worship you,” he mumbled before pulling on his pants.
Then he was gone, just like that. Charley frowned, still panting.
What was all that about?
10
Enjoying the afterglow of what was perhaps the most full-blooded multiple orgasm she’d had in a long, long time, Charley took her time in putting her pants back on and picking up her weapons belt. FIGJAM seemed to be too awestruck for words also, which was fine with Charley. She kept telling herself to stop having sex with people in front of the PalBot. It just didn’t seem right. Especially when that PalBot was like a pervy, lecherous beast.
Settling her nerves, Charley headed back out to the rampart and into the main keep.
Harry and Vanessa were looking at the long range scan projections from Kovacs’s little command center.
Vanessa took a sideways glance at Charley and looked away. She knew. Women always knew. Charley felt cold all of a sudden as she rejoined her friends. Of course, she hadn’t done anything wrong. She couldn’t control the feelings of those close to her. She really liked Vanessa - she found her as sexy as hell. But she wasn’t bound to her any more than she was bound to Kovacs, who she’d just met. Charley liked to keep things simple and that’s the way things would stay. She was glad to have Vanessa on her crew, and would hopefully continue to have sweaty “moments” with her, but beyond that there was zero obligation. She wished she could explain all of that to Vanessa at that moment but there were more important matters pressing. Like the fact the that the villagers were arriving.
Kovacs ensured that the inner keep doors were open as Durant lead some sixty villagers into the main hall. The filed down the steps looking tired and afraid. Charley’s heart melted when she saw women and children among them. These families had led tough lives - they were true survivors. They weren’t criminals, they weren’t bandits or robbers of any kind. They were just people who believed in their home. People who hoped for a better future. An indelibly human trait and one that Charley was prepared to risk her life defending.
She welcomed several of the newcomers, looking each of them in the eye and hopefully giving them a reason to believe. Harry and Kovacs were looking at her strangely as she went about her work. The shine of admiration in their gazes was obvious. She supposed she was just becoming more comfortable in her skin as a space pirate. A key realization was that being a pirate wasn’t all about violence and riches. It was about standing up for the downtrodden against overwhelming odds. That was the essence of being a modern space pirate.
Charley made sure the villagers were warm and comfortable. Kovacs showed everyone where the base kitchen was and told them to come and go as they pleased. Apparently Kovacs’s scrappers were adept at hunting for small game out on the plateau and there was no shortage of meat and fresh herbs.
Once the villagers were settled, Charley checked in on Harry at the command post. Night had settled in outside and a strong wind was pushing up against the keep and whistling through the cracks.
The global situation was perilous. The Imperial cruiser had continued its run to the west, ravaging towns and villages as it went. The newly arrived warship was breaking orbit some 760 miles to the west, deploying what could only be troop carriers to the ground. It seemed they were desperately keen to secure the planet as quickly as possible. For the moment Ghost Fort was not in the line of fire, but Harry predicted that an attack sometime the next day was entirely possible. “It’s time to prepare for a ground assault,” he said grimly.
Charley had no experience of actual battle, but the prospect seemed onerous to her. Right at that moment there were barely one hundred people within Ghost Fort’s keep. If they couldn’t get the gun turrets up and running they were in for a world of pain. Even if they somehow miraculously held off an Imperial attack, what then? They would need supplies and personnel to maintain their defense. Evidently Harry was thinking along the same lines.
“Our first priorities are those turrets,” he said. “Find Kovacs and have him run the new settlers up to the rampart.”
Charley found Kovacs in the kitchens serving food to the settlers. Together they led the new arrivals up to the rampart where they each attempted to unlock the DNA-activated turrets. Many claimed to have bloodlines running back several generations on Frostfire, but it wasn’t until the third last settler stepped up that Charley actually believed it. The man’s name was Fandir and he had different facial features than the others. His cheekbones were prominent and his eyes were a striking ice blue. He was also taller and thinner than most of the settlers.
Charley felt numb with relief when Fandir pressed his hand against the lock and it glowed a reassuring green. The settlers stirred anxiously as the turrets powered to life with a deep, rumbling hum.
Charley ran the length of the rampart, unable to contain her excitement as she descended the stairs to the inner keep. She couldn’t keep the smile off her face as she delivered the news to Harry. The old pirate’s face lit up.
“Our chances just improved from impossible to unlikely,” he said with a smile.
“These people need sleep,” Kovacs said, returning with the settlers.
“And sleep they will,” Charley said with authority. “Set up pallets here in the keep, just beyond your command post. At first light tomorrow I want everyone up on the rampart ready to report to me.”
The settlers wandered off with Kovacs to be set up for the night. The scrapper leader was revealing a strong compassionate streak that Charley responded to.
Yawning, Charley grabbed Harry, Vanessa, Gronko and Molly and went off to find somewhere warm to sleep. They eventually found a chamber above the kitchen that was warmed by the fires down there. There weren’t any beds as such but there were several bedrolls stacked against the wall.
Charley settled down on the floor with her crew, thinking of nothing but sleep. The last sound she heard as she drifted off was the bass hum of the gun turrets. It made her feel protect
ed and relaxed enough to shut her eyes against the enemy she knew was fast approaching from the other side of the world.
Dawn light filtered through cracks in the walls and raised Charley from her slumber. Though she’d slept well the thin bedroll had been murder on her body. Stretching the stiffness from her neck, she woke the others and made her way down to the kitchen to grab what she could. She found a haunch of rabbit over the fire and ate hungrily, encouraging her crew to follow suit. Gronko happily consumed his own body weight in meat and greens. Charley didn’t admonish him, figuring she’d need the burly renki at his best later that day.
Once everyone had eaten their fill Charley led them up to the rampart where a bracing cold wind screamed in from the plain.
The river to the south was glossy with ice. Charley cursed to herself, figuring enemy ground troops would now have an easy way across. Unless…
“We can melt that ice with plasma at the right time,” she commented.
Harry nodded. “That would only work once, but it would definitely slow them down.”
A heartening sight was the hundreds of refugees stumbling across the ice from the south.
“We put a call out to some of the southern settlements who had escaped the first pass of that Imperial cruiser,” Kovacs said, joining them on the rampart. “People all over the plain will be rolling in today. Most of them are orchard farmers, trappers and the like, but they will fight to defend their homes, which is all that matters.”
Charley agreed. She had never herself been enamored by her shanty town on Abeyas, but these people were proud of their simple way of life and truly believed in a better future. It was true that the planet seemed to be in a state of flux. In many locations the snow, though heavily packed, was melting steadily, filling the streams and rivers with fresh water and allowing plants to thrive. Charley got the impression that Frostfire was a planet coming back to life after a long period of hibernation. Perhaps that had given Emperor Galactus extra motivation in selecting this planet for whatever he was planning.
Watching the settlers scramble across the ice before the Ghost Fort, Charley estimated that there could be as many as two thousand able-bodied defenders by the end of the day.
Harry was flushed with excitement as he watched the incoming flood of humanity.
“I don’t know if we’ve got a chance in hell of surviving but at least these people get to defend themselves,” he murmured quietly.
“I agree,” Molly said. “In my experience, you can’t storm a fort like this one without heavy losses.”
It occurred to Charley that Molly’s security experience would be a great asset in this situation.
“Jack,” she said, “Could you please show Molly around the fort and she’ll be able to advise on your weak points, if any.”
Kovacs bowed, happy to help and led Molly off the rampart.
“We need to get these settlers used to firing guns,” Charley mused. She looked at Harry. “Let’s get them up here.”
Within an hour one hundred settlers had been arranged along the top of the rampart, plasma rifles in hand. Charley had dispatched Gronko to go look for more firearms. One hundred guns was nice but two hundred would allow them to keep some armed troops in reserve.
Harry instructed the settlers in the use of the plasma rifle. There was only so much he could do in such a short space of time, but he was an excellent communicator and she could sense the settlers were gaining much confidence from him.
“You’re all about to experience fear like you wouldn’t believe,” he said in a strong voice. “When that happens, all you need to do is focus on your target and fire. That’s it. Once you get your first shot off, whether it hits or not, you’ll be in the game. Riding that wave right to the end.”
It was somewhat bleak advice when you really thought about it, but strangely comforting. Harry had seen a lot of action, including pitched battles like the one they would soon be facing. Charley appreciated the fact that pirates found themselves entangled in all kinds of conflicts. She had no doubt she was on the right side of this one, and that her conscience was crystal clear. She headed down to the command post with Harry’s words ringing in her ear.
Kovacs had finished her tour with Molly and was standing before a bank of lightscreens. He turned to Charley with a frown.
“The advance has begun,” he reported. “The Imperials have landed south of Ottova, here.”
He jabbed a finger at the projection. Ottova was one of the larger towns to the south, beyond the Hanov Range.
“Once they’ve secured Ottova, they’ll press north through the Hanov Pass and travel north to the Ghost Fort,” said Kovacs. “ETA is three o’clock this afternoon.”
“Giving them one hour of daylight to storm the fort,” Charley said, deep in thought. “We need a general briefing as soon as possible.”
She headed back up to the ramparts to check on the arms drilling. Harry’s voice had become hoarse but he was well into his third group. She arranged for the settlers to make their way into the keep on the hour. Next she sought Kovacs and his lieutenants and they sat together in a quiet chamber down from the kitchen that was still furnished with chairs and a large round table.
“How many of you are familiar with those missile turrets?” she asked, getting straight down to business.
“None of us,” Kovacs said.
“But we know the programming behind the interface,” a blond-haired scrapper said. She went by the name of Summer.
“Can you control our long range targeting during the battle, Summer?” Charley asked hopefully.
Summer nodded. “I was hoping to man the rampart, but so be it,” she said.
“Thank you,” said Charley. “If things don’t go to plan you could well be needed up there anyway.”
Other matters were discussed in detail, including the provisioning of troops over the coming days should they successfully repel the first attack. Kovacs and two of his best hunters would slip out that night and scrounge as much food as they could. There was also the question of security. It was agreed that two armed guards would be placed at each of the potential weak points identified by Molly. These guards would report keep breaches as soon as they were sighted. Charley called Harry over her wrist pad and asked him to join them for talk of battle plans. The old pirate believed they would be best served by pretending the missile turrets were inoperable. Once the Imperial forces had massed at point blank range they would activate the towers and open fire with everything they had.
Kovacs pointed out that for such a plan to work the defenders would need to put up a reasonable approximation of battle, otherwise the attackers would suspect a trap. Harry admitted that the settlers would need to fight from the rampart, and there would be early losses.
Charley considered this for a moment and came to the conclusion that Harry’s plan was the only one that had a chance in hell of succeeding.
“Let’s do it,” she said. “Summer, go and deactivate the missile turrets, but be ready to re-engage on my command.”
Summer got up and left without a word. Charley was a little surprised at how prepared these folk were to obey her orders. Then again, they were scared more than anything else, and the discipline of organized defense was the perfect way to harness and control their emotions.
11
The final matter was that of ground deployment. Gronko had found another seventy-five pistols in what used to be an infantry barracks. They were old and dusty but functional. That meant one hundred rifles and seventy-five pistols. The riflemen would man the rampart. Charley saw sense in replacing defenders as soon as they fell to give the illusion of a huge army waiting in the keep, ready to defend as necessary.
A platoon of settlers under Charley’s command would be allocated the pistols and held in reserve to snuff out enemy incursions should they arise. Charley nominated Gronko as a perfect second-in-command. All matters concluded for now, Charley and Kovacs headed back to the command post for another report. She was su
rprised to find it was already noon.
According to the map projections, the Imperial force was indeed on the move, threading through the Hanov Pass with unexpected speed.
“There’s a fleet of drones in the northwest tower,” Kovacs said. “Shall I sent one to gather intel?”
Charley nodded. She saw no reason to refuse drone surveillance. The Imperials were in the open and fully exposed to the air. Kovacs went off to organize the drone.
“There’s a heap of troop carriers,” Summer said from her post. “I can tell from the dense heat signatures.”
Charley swallowed her anxiety. That meant the battle was going to be highly intimate, a face-to-face affair. Unusual in this day and age, but not unheard of. Charley made sure her targeting computer was operational - she was gonna need it for sure.
A series of warnings flashed across the terrain display.
“I got several ships over the Hanov Range!” declared one of Kovacs’s men.
Kovacs stepped up to the projection. “Stealth bombers,” he said. “They can’t stay cloaked the whole distance. Our sub-range scanners got them.”
“I thought they wanted this place intact,” Charley pointed out.
“So did I,” admitted Kovacs. “Let’s go have a look.”
Charley followed Kovacs up to the defensive rampart. Harry stood tall, his optics locked on the approaching enemy. To his credit, the settlers had already assumed a rigid defensive wall along the back of the rampart, rifles ready.
“Seven of them,” Harry said, passing the optics to Charley. She zeroed in on the grey, elongated ships lined in a row. They were sleek and deadly-looking, like huge lean falcons. Bomb canisters were located under each wing.
“They can’t release until they’re right on top of us,” Harry said.
“Withdraw the settlers,” Kovacs said.
“Inside!” Charley yelled. “Wait for my command!”
“Of course, we could utilize the missile turrets,” Harry said. “They wouldn’t stand a chance. But we’d lose the element of surprise.”
The Pirate Commander (The Space Pirate Chronicles Book 3) Page 6