Mated to the Alien Pirate: Celestial Mates

by Leslie Chase

“You do not,” she said. “I’ve watched you — first into battle, charging ahead of your crew. It’s like you’re trying to get yourself killed.”

  My surprised laugh stunned her, and I tried to explain. “I’ve learned a lot over the years, Marcie. I’m a skilled warrior and a good leader, but that’s not enough to make a captain. Being a good pirate captain is ninety percent showmanship. I wear this coat because it looks good—”

  “Oh, it does,” Marcie interrupted with the ghost of a grin. I laughed and shushed her.

  “Not like that, though it makes my heart glad that you like it,” I said. “But wearing it, I look the part. That’s also why I charge ahead, and let my prey see me coming. I frighten my enemies, strengthen my allies, and spread my legend. Foes who would fight back if I played it safe back down instead. Pirates who’d cower behind a barricade follow me into battle. That keeps me safe.”

  The look she gave me was telling, and I laughed ruefully. “Fine. It keeps me safer, then. There will always be those who fight back even when they can’t win. Hell, I was one of them. So were you.”

  “We have that in common,” Marcie agreed. With a sigh, she nodded. “I don’t suppose there’s anything we can do to make your life safe, but I’d still rather be here with you than somewhere else.”

  My heart thumped in my chest and for a moment the only response I managed was a nod. She wants to stay with me, I thought, a foolish grin trying to force its way onto my face.

  No words could have made me happier, but the fear of losing her was still all too real.

  “If you stay, you will not risk yourself on another raid,” I said, doing my best to sound stern despite my eagerness to keep her with me. “Be the ship’s purser, take charge of our funds, earn your place with those skills.”

  “Oh god yes,” she agreed, nodding readily. “If I never take part in another boarding action it’ll be too soon! No, I’ll stay here with the spreadsheets and the funds and wave you off to battle with a kiss for luck.”

  “Now you’re talking,” I said with a grin. “But there are a few things we need to do first.”

  She raised an eyebrow quizzically and I pulled her to me, kissing her. Marcie squirmed delightfully against me and my body responded. By the time we parted, we were both breathing fast and I felt her pulse race.

  “I thought you had work to do,” she said breathlessly.

  “I’ve just found my mate,” I told her. “Work can wait a few hours.”

  Jorn can hold down the fort for a little longer, I told myself as I pulled Marcie back to bed.

  17

  Marcie

  It took us a long time to get out of Arrax’s cabin, and the delay was worth every second. But eventually hunger brought us out of our cave. I looked at the remnants of my Earth clothing and laughed — Arrax’s impatience had left my t-shirt torn and ruined, and if it hadn’t been cheap tourist clothes I’d bought in the spaceport, I might have been upset.

  As it was, I had to borrow one of his shirts. Huge, it fitted me like a tent, and I promised myself that I’d get something more suitable soon. But at least it didn’t say ‘Welcome to Earth’ across my breasts anymore, which had to be an improvement.

  The rest of the crew weren’t up much earlier. A minimal watch kept the Atreon’s Revenge operating while everyone else recovered from the party. The party’s fallout immediately claimed Arrax’s attention as Doctor Jorn called him aside to talk about the injuries crew members had suffered.

  I didn’t blame him for hurrying off to deal with that. Three wounded in brawls meant he had work to do if he didn’t want reprisals, and I’d distracted him for long enough already.

  A warm shiver ran through me at the memory of how we’d distracted each other and a goofy smile spread across my face. Yeah, hopefully we’ll have a lot more of that in the future, I thought.

  If we were going to have stay aboard the Atreon’s Revenge, though, I needed to pull my weight. And after my last attempt at helping on a raid, I didn’t want to rely on my nonexistent fighting skills to pay for my keep. Instead, I called up the ship’s finances and got to work on something I actually knew how to do.

  Pirate accounting. I’d never expected to put my education to this use, but I had access to the Revenge’s spreadsheets, and a chance to piece together where the money was going. For want of an office, I settled into a corner of the mess.

  ‘Mess’ was a good word for it. No one had tidied after the celebration, and the remains still littered the deck. Idly, I wondered whose job it was to clear up. Someone had to do it, and soon — I shuddered at the thought of the ship going into combat with this detritus lying around. A sudden move would send shards of glass scything through the air.

  But it wasn’t going to be me. I hadn’t made this mess, and there was no way I’d be the one to clean it up. Claiming the least messy table for myself, I cleared it enough for my phone to project a holographic screen and keyboard and got to work.

  The first hour, I lost myself in the chaos of the accounts. To Arrax’s credit, it looked like he’d recorded everything. Unfortunately, there was no rhyme or reason to how he’d recorded it — just a giant dump of receipts and notes and figures.

  I started by sorting them into piles. Records of ship maintenance expenses here, consumable supplies there, capital expenses floating above the table, income off to one side. How people used to work when they’d used paper I had no idea — the holographic interface let me spread the documents out in three dimensions. Soon I was lost behind a wall of glowing document icons.

  All too many of them were red. Running a spaceship wasn’t cheap at the best of times, and a pirate ship got into lots of fights on top of normal wear and tear. The repairs added up fast, and on top of that there were the running costs. No wonder Arrax needed to take a ship, and soon — just keeping the ship airtight cost a lot more than I’d expected.

  A thump interrupted my thoughts, and a bowl of something skidded through the wall of hologram documents, threatening to spill into my lap. Squeaking, I caught it with one hand, gesturing with the other to clear a space.

  Vissa grinned at me from across the booth, another bowl in her hand. “I don’t know what you’re doing, but you’ve been doing it for hours and you haven’t taken a break. So eat some damned food, Earthwoman. I’m supposed to look after you.”

  I opened my mouth to protest and shut it again as I realized just how hungry I was. This was the first food I’d seen today, and I’d burned a lot of calories the night before. Sheepishly, I nodded and took the spoon Vissa offered me.

  “Thanks,” I said, digging in. “I get lost in my work sometimes.”

  Her knife-sharp smile widened and she ate too, with quick, darting movements. The thick stew made for an odd breakfast, but it was delicious and filling. I barely managed half the bowl before I had to put it down and push it away.

  Vissa laughed and kept on eating, finishing her meal with evident delight.

  “How the hell do you eat so much?” I asked, laughing. “I was famished, and half a bowl was enough for me.”

  The small pilot put down her bowl, grabbed mine, and set to work finishing it. “I’m a xil,” she said. “Fast reflexes, fast metabolism. One of the good things about working on this ship — the captain’s not stingy with rations. Been on ships where they half-starved me.”

  Yeah, I didn’t think Arrax would mistreat his crew. Thinking back to a bill for food supplies, I saw how some captains might want to shave costs there, but not him.

  “What else do you like about the Revenge?” I asked, curious and not wanting to waste a chance to learn about the ship and her captain. If I was going to spend time aboard, I ought to know how things worked.

  But really, I wanted to know about him. What kind of captain was Arrax? What kind of man? A great fighter, an incredible lover, those I’d seen for myself, but I didn’t know what he showed those who worked for him.

  Vissa looked at me, cocked her head to the side. A grin flashed across her
features. “The Captain runs a good ship, if that’s what you want to know. We all get a share as long as we all pitch in, and he’s never left crew behind. Makes sure we’re all well taken care of, too. Trin got hit once, in a raid. Her fighter lost contact and most captains would have given her up for dead. Not Arrax, we stayed and recovered her fighter. Saved her life.”

  She shrugged, dropped the second empty bowl. “Not that everyone likes the way he does things. We could make a lot more money if he didn’t have his principles.”

  “Oh?”

  “Those slaves we rescued, the ones he’s planning to put safe ashore,” she said, giving me a sharp glance. “They’re worth a small fortune in the right market.”

  I recoiled at the idea, and Vissa laughed uproariously, slapping her thigh and doubling over. The fit of humor left as quickly as it arrived and she straightened up with a serious expression.

  “Oh, I agree,” she said. “Fuck the slavers, I’d rather lose my wings than sell someone. But not everyone aboard thinks that way, and we’ve been light on prize shares for a while now. There’s grumbling about how much money we’d make if we bent the rules just this once after the Jester’s Last Laugh and the Crimson Feast. Every attack costs us fuel, risks our lives, and what do we have to show for those two? A hold full of people we’re ferrying to freedom, some fresh food for the galley, and that’s all.”

  And me. She didn’t need to say it, her meaning was clear in her eyes. I blushed, wanting to sink into the deck.

  “So he needs a victory, one where the Revenge makes some actual money,” she continued with a shrug. “And he doesn’t need to be wasting days distracted by his new girl, not when the rest of us are waiting for our pay. I’m a xil warrior, I fight for the joy of space under my wings, but I need money to keep my fighter in order. And there are others who are just here for the wealth they can cash out — neither of us want him replaced by one of them, girl. They won’t be so kind to a pirate who can’t contribute to the ship.”

  “I’ll pull my weight,” I promised. Vissa snorted, and my blush deepened. “Okay, fair, I didn’t make a great showing in the raid, but there are other ways I can be useful. If money’s the problem I can definitely help with that.”

  “Oh? How?” The sharp look she gave me belied the distain in her voice, and Vissa leaned across the table to look at me. “Not that the money concerns me, really. I’m a xil warrior, and I fight—”

  “—for the joy of space under your wings,” I finished with her, risking a grin of my own. Her grin flashed again, lightning-fast, and I breathed a little easier. Vissa wasn’t easy to read, but I’d guessed right and she wasn’t as serious about her warrior heritage as she pretended. And I needed more friends than just Arrax if I was going to stay aboard, that much was clear.

  Plus, I didn’t understand the entries in a lot of the accounts. I needed someone to explain what the pirates were paying for.

  “You can help if you like,” I said. “I’m trying to understand the ship’s finances, and if I can manage that I can budget more effectively. I can tell there’ll be a lot of savings the Revenge can make, once we understand where the money’s all going.”

  With a quick, darting motion, Vissa pulled a file over to her side of the booth and scrolled through it. Nodded as she read, and then looked up at me ready to help.

  “Anything to get out of cleaning up,” she said with a little laugh. “This counts as work, right?”

  “You bet,” I said, relieved and grateful for the help. “So, what the hell’s this charge?”

  Vissa peered at the sheet I indicated, running a finger through her feathers. “That’s medical supplies — Raxa’s cyborg arm, and Oshimo’s eye replacement. Some captains wouldn’t pay for that, but Captain Arrax says if you take an injury fighting for the Revenge the ship’s responsible for making you whole.”

  I didn’t know how to feel about that. On the one hand, I liked the fact that Arrax paid for medical care out of the ship’s funds when someone got injured. On the other, the fact that the crew needed a policy for replacing eyes was frightening.

  I guess piracy’s a risky business. At least it’s a good sign that he looks after the crew.

  There were more signs of that, scattered through the accounts. The food Arrax bought, for example — there were notes attached to the orders, reminders to pick up specific items because one crew member or another liked them. And media services, too. I smiled at the thought of whichever pirate liked the romantic comedies Arrax made sure to download onto the ship’s system and wondered who it was. None of the crew seemed the type to enjoy them, but under the hard exterior someone had a soft spot.

  Those extra expenses added up, though, and while they had to be good for morale I wondered if they were worth it. Whether they were or not, it made me smile to know that Arrax took such good care of his crew.

  The day passed quickly, or felt like it did anyway. Other crew members turned up over the hours we worked, putting the mess back into some semblance of order around us. No one interrupted our work, though, for which I was grateful.

  There was a lot to learn, and more to sort out. But by the time Trin came by to drag Vissa away, I had a handle on the ship’s financial situation.

  It wasn’t good. In fact, it was bad enough that I hoped Vissa hadn’t followed too closely. The biggest problem was that the ship’s funds didn’t include enough money to cash out all the crew if they wanted their shares. Technically it was there, if they were willing to take part-payment in spare parts for the engines or in ammunition, but I didn’t think the crew would take that well. None of that spent like actual, honest money did.

  Shutting the files with a sigh, I rubbed my eyes. Organizing all this would be weeks of work, and though I was certain I’d be able to make a lot of savings by the end of it, it would take a while for the effects to show.

  “Maybe we’ll have a profitable raid before I’m done,” I muttered to myself. “Then I can give a nice, positive report.”

  “Oh, I’m sure we can turn a profit,” a fresh voice said. “We’ve already taken all the prize we need, thanks to you.”

  I hadn’t even noticed Zarr, the green-skinned man was far sneakier than anyone his size ought to be. He leaned against the wall next to the booth, watching me with a smug smile on his face. With a quick gesture I saved my work and shut the display down.

  Once the holograms no longer blocked my view, I saw that the mess was busy again. Not with a raucous party like last night, but still full of pirates getting their meals. And Zarr had pitched his comment to carry — several aliens looked around, wondering what he was talking about.

  I pocketed my phone, trying to ignore him. Whatever he had in mind, I doubted it meant anything good for me. But when I tried to stand and get my own meal, his powerful hand landed on my shoulder and pressed me back into the seat.

  “What the fuck?” I said, trying to stand again. Against his strength, that was impossible.

  Across the room Trin and Vissa jumped to their feet, knives drawn so quickly that I didn’t see their hands move. But others looked less friendly as they reached for their own weapons. The two xil looked around, and while they didn’t show any sign of fear, I didn’t like their odds.

  “Take your hands off her,” Vissa said. “She’s crew, same as us, and there’s no fighting amongst the crew. Captain’s orders.”

  Zarr laughed, an unpleasant sound. “The captain gives a lot of orders that benefit him, doesn’t he? Not so many that work in our favor though. Look at this one, for example.”

  His fingers dug into my shoulder and I squirmed, trying not to show my pain.

  “I asked our new friends from the Crimson Feast, and she’s famous,” Zarr said, nodding to one of the new recruits. “An Antaran cartel on Earth will pay a hundred thousand credits for her, alive or dead, and for the data she’s carrying.”

  Oh crap. All around the room, eyes lit up as the pirates imagined what they’d do with their share of the money. Trin sna
rled and gestured, her knife cutting through the air.

  “She’s crew, just like you and me. Half of us have a bounty on us somewhere or other! If we sell each other out for the rewards, we’re all at risk.”

  “She ain’t bled for us, or taken a ship,” a crewman called out. “She’s just Captain Arrax’s pet, that’s all, not proper crew.”

  “Yeah,” someone else agreed from the back of the mess. “She’s worth money. Arrax wants her around, fair enough, but he can damned well pay us a share for her.”

  A chorus of voices agreed, and my heart sank.

  My eyes darted around the room, weighing the mood, and I cursed under my breath. Too many here were on Zarr’s side, and a glance up at his smug grin told me it wasn’t a coincidence. He’d known his audience, waited until people who’d follow him were gathered together. They outnumbered the others, the crew who might have spoken out against Zarr, by a hefty margin.

  I guess I’ve found a way to make up for the crew’s budget shortfall after all, I thought, trying to ignore the sick feeling in my stomach as Zarr worked the crowd.

  18

  Arrax

  “You’re not paying attention, are you?” Miggs asked with a sly smile. I glared, wanting to punch it off his face, but the engineer had a point. Distracted by thoughts about my mate, I’d hardly heard his report. My whole day had been like that, a pleasant haze filling my mind while I tried to concentrate.

  It had been long, long years since I’d felt anything like this happiness. Doctor Jorn would never let me live it down. He’d already had some fun at my expense while he talked me through the injuries from the party, and I had the sinking feeling he intended to keep it up.

  Worth every second, I thought, before dragging my mind back to the present.

  “Walk me through it again,” I said. “The engines need work?”

  “Yes, Captain. We pushed ‘em too hard getting to the Crimson Feast. Either we do a proper refit of all of them, or I shut number four down and use it for spares to keep the rest running. Until we do one of those, though, we’re not safe at full acceleration.”