“Thank you,” he whispered.
I didn’t know what to say. I felt the tears come, and I choked back a sob of my own. I reached out to tassel his hair and stopped before my hand touched his head. The last thing I wanted to do was make him feel more uncomfortable. Men had reached out to touch him before, and their touch had not been kind. Instead I nodded to him. “I only wish that I could give you the chance to kill him a hundred times. Even then it might not be enough.” The boy nodded to me, and the women steered him back into the group.
The next man was already screaming and banging his fists on the glass. He knew what was coming, and that he had no chance to escaping his fate. I had wanted to let another group of the victims take care of this man, but the princess had insisted that she be allowed to do it herself. Who was I to deny royalty? None of the other victims aboard the ship had challenged her claim, so I let her demand stand.
The princess was no longer hiding. Sometime between when the giant pirate ship sucked us inside and now, she had shed her disguise and was wearing much more formal attire. At the moment, she wore a flowing dress made out of some kind of silken material. The bright colors of her garb stood out against the bleakness of the pirate ship and what was about to happen. Her wrists were covered in jeweled bands, and she had gems attached to her face that signified her position inside of the royal family. The princess’ face was set in a scowl of determination.
She walked forward slowly, making sure that the man knew what was coming his way. It was inevitable that death would find him in the next few moments. Her eyes were hard, but her scowl slowly turned into a smile. It was as if she was going to relish in delivering justice to this man. The princess kept her eyes locked on the man inside of the airlock, and he stopped pounding on the plexiglass and watched as her hand moved over the button that would space him.
The man fell to his knees, and you could tell that he was praying to whatever gods he believed in. Whether he was praying for mercy, salvation, or atonement none of us could tell. The princess held her hand over the button but never took her eyes away from the man that was now kneeling before her. Tears were streaming down her face, and finally she broke her eye contact with the filth in the airlock and turned towards me.
The pirate’s eyes lit up with hope the second she broke. He must have thought that he had a chance to live now, but that was never going to happen. I watched him as his lips formed the words yes and thank you, before turning my gaze back towards the princess.
Raising one eyebrow in question, I waited to see what she would do. The ferocity of the grin that settled on her face almost made me take a step back. She had gotten exactly what she wanted. She had given the man hope, and now she was going to snatch it away.
“All men who bask in the glory of darkness shall be cleansed from this world.” She turned back towards the man and shook her head slowly as she appraised him. The hope drained out of the man’s features in mere seconds, but she waited, letting him suffer through the process of realization. His death was inevitable now, and he knew it. “You have been judged. Only your god can save you now.” Without hesitation, she hit the button blowing the man out into space like a piece of scrap.
It was over, but the air still felt heavy. There was a different feeling when you killed a man outside of the battlefield. In combat it was you or him, and it only took a split second to make the choice that you appreciated your life a lot more than the other guy’s. Here the choice had been made slowly, and despite how much they deserved it, I still felt a shiver run down my back. I’d been on the wrong side of a few deals in my day, and the reality that this could have happened to me more than once didn’t escape me now.
Still, I had lived my life with more honor than any fucking pirate. Sure I wasn’t above stealing and smuggling, but I never trafficked in human cargo or with those that did. You had to draw the line somewhere, and mine stopped well before that. I wouldn’t say that I was exactly hero material, but I tried to do what I could.
There had been a moment when I thought about destroying this ship. It would have made me feel better knowing that it was gone, but in the end, practicality had won out. We’d been living on scraps since we lost our status with the mercenary’s guild, and since we’d been reinstated we weren’t doing much better. That was my fault. I’d deemed it too risky to take on any big contracts, and the crew was suffering for it. The sale of this ship would end that and go a long way to making things right with them.
I turned around and made a shooing gesture to everyone waiting behind me. The show was over, and we needed to get this ship back on its way to the guild offices. The extra credits would let us do right by the victims we found here. I wasn’t going to give up my entire haul, but we could at least get them fed, in some new clothes, and enough credits to get wherever they wanted to go. If the princess wanted to do more for them, that was up to her. It was cruel out in the blackness of space, and I wasn’t running a charity.
The good news was all of this would be over for us in a few hours. Being able to sell this junker meant we could engage the FTL drive and still come out way ahead in costs. Getting the princess off the Talon was my first order of business. The longer she was here the bigger the target was that we had painted on our backs. Our job was to get her safely to the space station, and we were going to do that. Once everyone had filed out, I opened up a line to Ice on the bridge.
“Ice, are you ready to engage the pirate vessel’s engines and set it on autopilot to the nearest mercenary hub for retrieval?”
“It’s all set, Captain. Just give me the word, and I’ll send it on its way.”
As far as I could tell everyone had moved back onto the Talon. I sealed the door and let out a sigh. This job had been a little more than I had bargained for. If nothing else we had earned a damned good vacation. Normally my thoughts would have drifted towards a week or two on Serenity Station, but that was out of the question now. Three years ago our destination would have been Zimmorra Station, but the N.E.A. had blown the whole damn thing out of the sky. Kitra hadn’t won any friends with her treachery. That meant if we wanted to do things right, we had to hit one of the resort planets and just enjoy ourselves like the everyday citizens we were. Talus Five came to mind, but I probably wouldn’t book it unless the crew gave the ok.
The ship shook briefly as we dropped out of the larger freighter’s hold and back into space. Ice moved us away from the empty vessel as I started to make my way to the bridge. “Just so we are clear, you can get that ugly fucking junk heap out of here.”
“You got it Cap, one piece of space trash heading back to headquarters,” Ice said, the smile in her voice apparent. Her share of the ship’s sale wouldn’t be a small sum.
“Now get us where we need to go so we can wrap this up.”
“Captain, nothing would make me happier.”
The ship seemed to shift under my feet for a moment as Ice engaged the FTL drive. Now I had to see what we could do about getting these people cleaned up before we dropped them off. It would have been easier to do it aboard the pirate’s vessel, but I knew none of them wanted to stay there a moment longer than they had to. We had two open cabins onboard, and each of them had showers. We also had an additional shower in the medbay.
As I walked past the door to the common area the madam came out of the room and approached me. I guess calling her madam probably wasn’t fair at this point. I had the distinct feeling that she was a handmaiden to the princess. That didn’t explain all of the other women though. Some of them were clearly hookers. As tempted as I was to ask questions, it would be easier to deny that we knew who they were if we didn’t learn any more about them.
She stopped me with a brief touch to my arm. “I thought for sure you were going to hand us over to them.” Despite the insulting nature of her comment, she actually looked grateful for what I had done.
“I’d love to tell you that the thought never crossed my mind, but I’d be lying.” It had crossed my mind but only
for a brief second. It paid to look at all the angles, but I wasn’t in the business of doing what some pirate captain commanded me to do, not ever.
She smiled and patted me on the chest. “You’re a horrible liar, Captain Drake.”
“Ahh well,” I didn’t know what to say to that. The truth was if it came down to it, the choice between them and my crew was an easy one. I’d have saved my crew every time. With pirates you never really had a choice, you either won or you were dead. “I’ve got a reputation to uphold.” Was all I managed to say.
“Your secret is safe with me.”
I looked past her towards the women milling about in the room behind her, and my mind bubbled over with useless questions. All of them were doing whatever they could to take care of the victims we rescued. “I’ve opened up our two reserve quarters so you can start taking them in bunches to get cleaned up and changed. We don’t have a lot of spare clothing, but I had Kyra bring everything that we had up here. Anyone that’s hurt can head to medbay and shower there. Doc said he would be more than happy to examine anyone that needs assistance in any way.”
“It’s very kind of you to offer his services.”
She was probably wondering why I would offer something like that free of charge, especially when they didn’t pay a lot for this job. They sure as hell didn’t pay for us to storm a pirate ship. But the victims we found on that ship deserved whatever assistance we could give them. The Doc had a special place in his heart for the victims of pirates after previously being one himself. “The doc, isn’t a big fan of pirates. Trust me when I tell you he’d be more than happy to help in any way he can.”
“Thank you again.” She patted my chest one more time and then moved back into the common area shouting orders.
All of the women moved to obey her without question. Maybe they would be all right after all. Turning away from the room I headed towards the bridge. Sometimes you had good days, and sometimes you had bad days. All in all, today was a good day. We saved a few people from a fate worse than death, and we got paid. I’d chalk that up as a win any day of the week.
Ice was waiting for me on the bridge, and for once Kyra wasn’t sitting in her lap. Kyra sprung out of the co-pilot’s chair as I walked in. I motioned for her to sit back down and leaned against the back of the console to speak with them. “So after we drop off our passengers, what would you two say to a little vacation?”
“Vacation sounds good,” Kyra said, smiling over at Ice. “As long as it’s somewhere I get to wear my new bikini.”
“Well if it comes with my girl in a bikini, I’m in,” Ice blurted out before shooting a wicked grin over at Kyra before turning back to her screen.
“You two are such easy marks. All I had to do was say vacation, you said beach, and now we just have to pick a destination, as long as everyone else is on board.”
“Did you say something about a beach?” Samantha asked, walking in. She had her shirt off, but thankfully her bra was still in place. She had one end of a towel draped over her shoulder as she used the other end to dry her hair.
I couldn’t stop myself from giving her body a quick once over, before turning my gaze back on my two fully clothed crew members. Both of them seemed to be enjoying the eyeful of vamp flesh as well. So at least I wasn’t the only one trying to pull my head out of the gutter. No one had spoken for several moments, and it was on the border of getting slightly awkward. Samantha looked up from drying her hair and Ice hit Kyra on the arm to snap her out of the moment.
Samantha looked over all of us, and a wicked grin spread across her face. She promptly dropped the towel to the ground and then bent over slowly to retrieve it. As she rose she turned to face us again placing a hand on one hip and striking a pose that only accentuated her flat abs. “So are we going to the beach, or what?”
Maze walked in from the other side of the bridge and tossed her a small bundle. “Maybe put on a shirt before you try and talk to these three.”
Samantha’s smile quirked up on one side as she tried to add one more member to her adoring fan club. Samantha pouted her lips in Maze’s direction before striking three quick poses in a row. Once she saw that Maze was still unaffected by her attempts she pulled on the shirt she had been given and laughed all the while. “You three are unbelievable. With all the flesh you can see just down the hall you’re worried about me while I’m still in a bra.”
“I’m not worried,” Kyra blurted out. “In fact, I rather like that look on you.”
Ice hit her in the shoulder again. “I’d feel a lot guiltier for taking in the view if I didn’t still have visions of Kyra dancing around in her new bikini going through my head.”
Maze just snorted, but she looked relieved that Samantha had put a shirt on. I moved over to her and pulled her into a quick hug. “So what do you think about a little fun in the sun?”
“As long as there are cold drinks and good food, I’m in,” Maze said.
“I’ve still got to get the ok from the two boys, as long as Samantha’s on board,” I said looking over in her direction.
“You do realize that my bra is just like my bikini top right?” Samantha pointed out keeping her gaze moving across all of us. “And just who is paying for this exclusive beach getaway?”
“The trip and the bungalow will be on me. After that, you’ll have to fend for yourself.”
“I’m in then,” she said before turning and strutting out of the room.
Three of us had to pick our jaws up off the floor while Maze just shook her head in disgust. “All right, I’m going to check in with Doc and Gabe and then I’ll get something booked.”
“Just remember, we only stay in high-class establishments, Captain,” Kyra said.
“Yeah, let’s not repeat that trip we had to Malstrom,” Ice added.
“Hey, that was just a mistake.” I shrugged. “Johnson assured me that hotel was amazing.”
“Yeah right, Amazing doesn’t normally mean defending my clothes from rats and hurricane strong wind gusts outside,” Kyra muttered, scrunching up her face in disgust.
“I’ll help him pick the right place,” Maze said. “I thought Telgerus might be just the spot.” All of the other women started nodding and talking about what they were going to do when we got there.
I waved over my shoulder and went in search of Gabe. I found him about right where you would expect, talking to the seven women that surrounded him about how he had killed the pirates to make sure they were all safe. I made sure he focused on me for a moment before asking. “You up for a vacation after we drop off our passengers?”
“You mean this doesn’t count as a vacation?” The girls around him giggled.
“I’d be more than happy to keep your share of the pay if that helps it feel like more of a vacation for you.”
His smiled turned into a quick frown. “Then this isn’t a vacation so much as a brief break at the end of a mission. Still, I wouldn’t mind getting off the Talon to stretch my legs for a bit. I mean, so long as we aren’t headed back to Malstrom. That place is worse than half the unterraformed worlds in the midrim.”
All I could do was shrug. “It wasn’t my fault.” If I ever saw Johnson again, I was going to kill him.
“Whatever you say, Captain.” Gabe smiled and turned back towards the women surrounding him. “Anyone care to join me for a little fun in my cabin before we reach our final destination?”
I just couldn’t help but thinking about the joys of being single and surrounded by grateful working girls. This time it was my turn to shake my head as I left the room and headed back towards the medbay. When I walked in, the doctor was working with one of the girls we had rescued. She had showered and had a stack of clothes next to her but was wearing a simple robe. Two lines had been formed by the women. One led to the shower in the back and the other from the shower to the doc.
I waited for Richard to finish with his patient and grabbed his attention before his next patient moved forward. He moved away from the exam
table to talk to me a few feet away. “How bad is it, Doc?”
“It could be worse.” He shrugged. “In fact, I’m still waiting to see some of the worst cases. Colleen thought it would be more efficient to move the least severely injured patients through first.”
“I appreciate everything you’re doing here, Richard. It feels almost callous to ask you this now, but would you be up for a vacation after this?”
Richard looked at the line of women still waiting for treatment. “I think I’ll deserve one. So I’m in as long as I get to treat all of my patients before they have to disembark the ship.”
“You have my word.” Richard gave me a quick smile before turning back to the woman now sitting on his exam table. He spoke to her in a soft and soothing voice as he started his exam. I left the room and headed back to my quarters. The doctor was a good man, and we were lucky to have him on the crew.
Chapter 9
Captain Drake
If anyone ever told you herding over sixty women off a ship and out into a crowded spaceport was easy, they were either really high on jumjum root, or they were working for the military. The group in front of me had zero procession and even less discipline. It didn’t help that the doctor was running around like a chicken with his head cut off as he tried to make sure his temporary patients had everything they needed before leaving the ship.
I watched everything unfold with detached interest from the catwalk above the cargobay. Maze was standing next to me watching the fun, while Gabe was down below saying farewell to his favorite ladies. The other three members of my crew were nowhere to be found which probably meant they were up to no good. I couldn’t blame them for trying to plan ahead for our trip though. So far I had spent the day being reminded that no one wanted a repeat of our visit to Malstrom.
Little did they know, Maze had already talked me into booking the most expensive bungalow we could find on Telgerus. I’d never dropped that many credits on somewhere to stay before, but she assured me it was worth every one of them and that the crew deserved it. The accommodations came with a private chef that prepared breakfast and dinner. You were left alone to fend for lunch, but we had paid extra to have a spread of fruit and nuts provided by the hotel.
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