“Got him. You all right sir?”
“A little singed,” Jake checked with the medical readout on his arm unit which confirmed that he had surface burns on his face, but they weren't deep. “Stings but I'll be fine. It's what I deserve for taking the strong arm tact here. Do a sweep of the cargo bay,” he said as Frost helped him to his feet.
“That's how ye take the hard targets, get aboard afore they know what's goin' on.”
“Thanks for reminding me, next time I'll bring half the crew with me and they can go first.” He turned to the crawlway hatch. “How is it going Finn?”
“I see it! It'll take me just a few seconds to decouple.”
Captain Valance opened a channel to the Ferret III on his command console. “Captain Raines, last chance, turn your ship in. We've stunned all but one of your crew and he's probably in there with you.”
The main lights went out, emergency lighting came on and the ship stopped humming. “I got it!” Cried Finn from inside the crawl way.
“Good lad!” Frost replied.
“Well, there goes your starboard power and your reactor is off balance so it's on automatic shutdown. I'm calling the port authority right now so they can crack your bridge and take you into custody for not keeping up with your lease payments. That's a capitol offence here. They might hang you.” Jake waited a few seconds and his patience was rewarded.
“Wait! Wait!” Came the voice over the communicator. “If I leave right now you won't turn me in?”
“That's right, so come on out and take your crew with you.”
“It's just me and my First Mate, I'm on my way.”
Frost finished his sweep of the cargo hold and started dragging the first crew member outside by his feet none too gently.
As Finn was emerging from the crawlway hatch the door leading to the interior of the ship opened. Captain Raines came out slowly with his hands up, his face red. His First Mate, a younger fellow, was right behind him.
“Command codes?” Jake asked.
“Front pocket, it's on the data chip.”
“Finn, come over here and get this guy's command codes.”
Finn ran across the cargo bay and up the stairs. He carefully reached in and retrieved the centimetre by centimetre gold collared data chip and handed it to Captain Valance, who had his arm command unit pointed towards Raines. He accepted the chip and activated it. “Command code confirmation for the Ferret Three. A small status bar appeared holographically above his arm command unit and said; “Confirmed identity: Captain Valance, would you like to assume command?”
“Immediately,” he replied.
“Command granted to authorized party. Thank you for choosing Marvelway Engineering's Aprisa Cargo Hauler,” replied the cheery automated voice.
Jake retrieved a data cylinder from his pocket and handed it to Finn. “Activate this and give it to Raines here. It's my repossession license and entitlement.”
Finn nodded and handed it to the former Captain, who snatched it from his hand then tossed it away. “I don't need more God damned paperwork from you! I know exactly who you are. If some corp is paying well enough you'll be their dog and fetch any bone they want. You're just another puppet that gets off on taking things from people just trying to make a living.”
“I only help people get products that didn't get paid for back. If you paid your bills I wouldn't be here, now would I? Now get down the stairs before I change my mind about that bounty and sell your First Mate here to a male brothel. They pay well for trained cabin boys.”
“You son of a-”
Jake took a quick step forward and slammed the palm of his right hand down across Raine's nose then stepped right back with the stunner at the end of his arm unit pointed at him. No one saw it coming, it was so quick for a moment everyone there doubted it happened for a few seconds.
Then it was all too apparent. Under a heavy enough impact Captain Valance's vacsuit, most good vacsuits for that matter, harden on the surface to prevent crushing damage to the occupant. Jake had hit Raines so hard that his suit had become as unyielding as hull plating and it crushed his nose. Blood came in a gush and Raines crumpled, holding his face and standing on his good
leg. “You bastard! Took my ship, my crew's gonna slag me for not making payroll, and you BROKE MY NOSE!”
“Get the hell off my ship,” Valance said quietly. “Frost, show these gentlemen to the door.”
Frost half lead, half dragged Raines down the stairs, his First Mate followed quietly. Captain Valance was right behind.
As soon as they got to the end of the gangway Captain Valance stunned Raines and his First Mate then walked back up the gangway followed by Frost and Finn. “Make sure Raines' head is turned to the side, we don't want him choking to death, then drag the rest of the crew members off the ship. We'll seal her up and do a quick pass with scanners, make sure there's no one left aboard.”
“Aye.” Frost said as he headed for the nearest unconscious crew member, sprawled unceremoniously across a small crate. He motioned to Finn to help him. “I'm just wonderin'.” He said as he quickly checked through one crew member's pockets.
“Yes?”
“Was there a bounty on Raines?”
“Nope, he owes a lot of money, but not enough for a bounty.”
“Good thing he believed ye then.” Frost commented with a chuckle as he picked up the crew member's feet and Finn picked up the hands.
“They usually do.”
Departure
Frost and Finn arrived back at the Samson alone and the scene on the landing platform was just as Ashley had predicted. Most of the crew had finished servicing the ship and they were laying out on the deck as bare as they dare on blankets, old folding chairs or on top of the hull.
Ashley was laying on her stomach, getting some sun on her back and one of the crewmen beside her whispered; “Psst, Ash, they're back.”
“Aw crap,” she said quietly as she made sure her top was in place and got to her feet. “How does it look?”
“Looks like we have a five mil recap, that's what it looks like,” Frost grinned.
“What? I thought you were just going scouting!”
“Nope, Captain didn't give us much advance warnin' but he just walked in there, bloodied the deadbeat's nose an' tossed his ass out the back.”
“It was amazing,” Finn added, nodding.
“Dangerous you mean. There must have been some shooting,” Ashley scolded with her hands on her hips.
“O' course there was some shootin'. Captain even took a hit but you know him, slid off like he's made of miracles.” Frost pulled a perfect, ripe orange out of a brown sack and tossed it to Ashley, whose eyes went wide with glee. “Get into that and prep the ship when you're finished. Captain wants us out of here in an hour. We're headed to a collection point.”
“Already? I was hoping we could stick around.”
“I know darlin', an' trust me, I would retire in a straw hut on the beach down there if you and that bikini would join me,"
"It'll neeeeveeeer haaappen," Ashley sung quietly as she peeled her orange.
"But Captain's got four bounties in stasis and this ship to haul back," he went on. "I think he's lookin' ta get paid, and if he's gettin' paid, we're gettin' paid." He handed the sack over to Finn and smiled at him. "Hand 'em out kid, take one for yourself when yer done."
Finn took the sack and started making the rounds as Frost walked up the gangway into the ship with Ashley not far behind. Each crew member waited their turn but were eager to get an orange when he came around and most of them took the opportunity to introduce themselves if they hadn't already.
In less than an hour the ship was ready. Ashley brought the Samson to hover just a few feet over the mid section of the Ferret III. The maxjack, a collection of extendible claws and grapplers combined with a reinforced airlock, came to life. Operated expertly by Frost the claws and clamps shifted and moved so they'd fit the contour of the other ship's center then lower
ed and clamped on firmly.
The airlock extended and sealed. A moment later the control and power systems were linked between the two ships and the Ferret III 's engines started burning just enough to lift it off the deck. With Captain Valance at the controls of the second ship to ensure everything was linked up properly to the bridge of the Samson, the two ships lifted off and broke orbit.
Minutes later they were in hyperspace, leaving the great green and blue orb well behind.
In hyperspace the Samson normally kept four or five crew on duty, leaving the rest to take care of other things. Most of the crew were off in their own corners resting or just filling the time. Finn was restless. After going along to recapture a ship, seeing his first firefight, being given a critical task right in the middle of it and stopping the ship from taking off, he was still keyed up a day later.
He wandered into the galley, where he expected to find half the crew, but to his surprise there was only Ashley at one table and another older woman sitting somewhere else. It was dimly lit like the rest of the ship, but cleaner. There was seating for about thirty with eight tables and not quite enough chairs. The four dispensers along the wall were pretty standard, except for one that looked like it had been stolen from a cafeteria somewhere. It advertised fruit cups and frozen drinks.
Finn nervously nodded at Ashley and walked on over to the fruit machine. He knew it wasn't going to dispense the real thing, just flavoured substitutes in different varieties, but he ordered a bright red coloured one that said it was cherry strawberry flavour. He knew what strawberries tasted like, but had never tried a cherry.
A large cup with room for at least sixteen ounces dropped out of the machine and a liquid so cold it was red slush filled it in the space of a couple seconds. A claw came down and affixed a top equipped with a straw and the machine said; "Your drink is ready, enjoy!" It had obviously seen better days, the voice sounded sickly garbled and distorted.
He picked up the large cup and was about to sit down when Ashley said; "Hey, what, am I invisible?" She smiled at him and pushed a chair out with her foot.
Mixing the drink with his straw, he walked over and took a seat. "How are you doing?" He asked quietly.
"Great, wishing this was real apple sauce and Silver wasn't stuck on the bridge though," she said as she stirred her fruit cup with a small spoon.
"There's tons of fruit in the hold of the Ferret. Literally."
"I know, can't get into that stuff though. Doesn't belong to us, it belongs to Captain."
"Oh," Finn said before drawing on his straw. He grimaced for a moment. "Wow that's cold."
"Yup, ninety percent water, seven percent life essential nutrients and three percent concentrated sweetener. The machine serves it at three degrees."
"Maybe I'll let it sit for a few minutes."
"Won't make a difference, that stuff stays cold for days. It's great for black eyes and bruises."
"Does that happen often around here?"
"What?"
"Black eyes and bruises."
"Well, we're not exactly hauling cargo. In our line of work getting bruised up a bit isn't out of the ordinary."
"What is our line of work anyway? I know there are bounties in stasis, and I was along for a repossession of a ship, is there anything else we do?"
Ashley and the other woman in the galley laughed for a moment. "Steph, how long have you been aboard?"
She was dressed in the same black vacsuit as Captain Valance, Ashley's was similar as well, only it was dark red with a golden dragon traced from the back of her thigh to her shoulder so it looked like it was crawling up towards her neck. Stephanie's heavily armoured boots, sealed up to the knee, made her footfalls sound heavy. She smiled at Finn and offered her hand. "Stephanie, everyone calls me Steph."
"Good to meet you," he smiled back. Her hand shake was firm.
"I've been here just about five years, longest surviving boarding crew."
"Wow, that long?" Ashley said, shaking her head. "I knew you got on board before me, but I didn't know it was that long ago."
"Yup, I was around for the privateering days. You can add that to your list," Steph said to Finn.
"Piracy?"
"Well, privateering, there's a difference. The Damelian Government gave us a letter of mark against the Ausins. We took out a couple small patrol craft, got the lowdown on their supply lines from their databases and went after all the soft targets we could. For a while it was incredible. I hadn't seen that much action anywhere before. That maxjack got one hell of a workout."
"I could imagine!"
"Well, that came to an end when the treaty was signed and we moved on. Captain got his first cargo hauler on one of those raids though. The Damelians legitimized his capture as a spoil of war and he got to keep it legally."
"Yup, I replaced the pilot who went to that ship. Captain allowed her to retire to it. I think the pilot before her was promoted to Captain," Ashley added.
"How many ships does the Captain own?"
"Three. Two cargo haulers and this one. I don't know how he got the second hauler though."
"I heard it was a card game," Steph said as she picked a piece of some kind of puffed snack from a plastic bag and popped it into her mouth.
"Captain doesn't gamble," Ashley replied, leisurely shaking her head.
"Good point. Guess I'll have to ask him sometime when he's feeling chatty." Steph said before laughing along with Ashley.
"I've never seen it. I'd trust him with a secret as much as I do with my life."
"Yup, I've been on a lot of boarding actions with him. He may take personal risks, but he doesn't throw crew members away. Doesn't tell us what we don't need to know either."
Finn looked like he was holding something back and took another slurp of his tall drink.
Both of the women at the table looked at him. "Out with it newbie," Steph ordered quietly. "We won't hurt ya, promise."
Finn smiled uneasily and put his cup down on the table. "There just didn't seem to be much planning when we took the Ferret."
"You might be right, he's been known to improvise too," Steph affirmed. "How did it go down?"
"Well, he went in like he was invincible, shooting everyone inside with his stunner. Frost followed him but got cover. When most of them were down he sent me into a crawl way to disconnect a main power line. There were a few more shots while I was doing that, then I came out of the crawl way after disconnecting the power. Raines came out, Captain Valance roughed him up a bit, got the command codes and then dragged him off the ship and stunned him."
"Sometimes Captain Valance gets that way. I've never seen it backfire though," Ashley said quietly.
"I've been there when it happens, it's like nothing can touch him. Scares the hell out of everyone trying to hold their ground. That shakes up anyone but a professional soldier, people just start missing and throwing down their guns. Still not how I'd go in, mind you. Normally he'll bring the boarding crew and a few others with experience."
"So he'll just go in without a plan sometimes?"
"Nope, that's not what I said. Think about it, think about what he would have to know to make things happen the way they did. He probably gathered information on the crew of the Ferret if possible, checked for military experience."
"He did know that there was only the Captain and First Mate left after he and Frost took care of the crew in the cargo bay."
"See? Now he probably looked like he knew where he was going, and he knew he'd need a mechanic, so he took you along."
"You're right, and he knew exactly which crawl way I needed to access to get to the main power lines."
"Captain Valance knows what he's doing. I've never seen him in a situation where he seemed lost or out of ideas." Stephanie said.
"Neither have I, I guess I take it for granted now."
"Where does he come from? I asked Frost and he didn't seem to know anything."
"Did he give you the 'Captain just hatched here one
day and started taking crew on' story?" Ashley asked, doing her best impression of Frost.
"Yup."
"Well, that's the only story. I know he's got engineering training, lots of it, can tell you anything you want to know about a solar system if you point to it on a map and has got to have some heavy military experience from somewhere. Lots of military experience," Steph said quietly. "I've never seen him communicate with family or run into a friend he met before I came on board either."
"He won't talk about the past. I keep thinking he lost everything in some war somewhere and just struck out on his own," Ashley added.
"Well, I love the man, he's like a father to me. It makes me almost wish I were staying aboard after we get paid."
"You're leaving us Steph?" Ashley asked, a little surprised.
"Yup, after getting my share of these bounties and that five mil cap, my retirement fund will be nice and full."
"Sorry, I heard that before, what's a five mil cap?" Asked Finn.
"Well, a cap is when we capture a ship or cargo. This one is pretty juicy since returning the Ferret Three in working condition will net us five million United Coreworld credits. So, we call it a five mil cap, or five cap."
"Five million credits?"
"Yup, and you'll be getting a share. Everyone on board will," Ashley said, scooping at the last of the synthesized apple sauce in her cup.
“Except for Burke. He didn't bother running any code cracks on the Ferret even though the Captain specifically told him when and how he'd be doing it. Refusing a task is the surest way to blow your share.”
“That's not the first time, he's been getting under the Captain's skin. Oh well, more for us. A lot more.”
“How much are we getting?” Finn asked quietly.
"Well, the Captain gets fifty percent, then ten percent goes to ship stores and general upkeep. Crew gets a share of the rest. Sometimes the Captain will give someone a little bonus out of his share, but it's only happened a couple times I've heard of. I got one for saving his butt once. Frost gets bonuses for finding us work all the time, he has a lot of connections," Steph said with a smile. "Unlikely you'll see a bonus of your own, but if you do see a little extra, just keep it to yourself. Thank the Captain when you see him alone if you have to, but he doesn't really need to hear it. He knows you're thankful, trust me."
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