The Space Pirate 1 (19 page)
Read The Space Pirate 1 Online
Authors: George Lambert
“There wouldn’t be any less than five men on that ship,” Vinnie said. “They’re confident they can subdue us and be on their way in no time. Fucking Night Runners are getting too cocky.”
“Let them,” Charley said firmly. She was beginning to feel her fear melt away. It was replaced by anger. Anger that most people in the galaxy, including her, had to grind for survival all their lives. So much hard work to get just one opportunity. And yet there was always someone standing ready to take that opportunity away. Fuck that. She wasn’t gonna let these bastards win. They’d been winning for too long. It was time for someone to break the cycle. It was time for someone new.
“Put your fucking helmet on,” she said to Vinnie, as she put her own on. He looked at her blankly, then did as he was told.
And with that she tossed another three red pellets against the aft bulkhead. This time the hull was perforated in several places. Charley and Vin were forced to grab hold of the cabin rail as air was sucked through into space. Charley opened the hatch for good measure. The dashboard came alive with a litany of warning signals.
Charley positioned herself in the corner of the cabin, gesturing for Vinnie to lie on top of her.
Vinnie stood a moment, watching the Armadillo creep closer on the nav projection. Charley could see that he felt cornered, like a rat in a trap.
Without another word he settled himself on top of her, but he couldn’t bring himself to look at her. Charley smiled as she felt his heavy muscled frame rub against her. Sometimes even the craziest plans had their compensations.
The scout lurched as the Armadillo drew alongside it. Charley and Vinnie waited as they heard the sound of a hatch opening and footsteps on the roof. Charley rolled a grey pellet across the floor where it dinged against the far wall. Smoke began to fill the cabin.
Vinnie said. He was finally beginning to see what Charley had planned. He hooked his hands into the storage handles on the wall, anchoring himself across Charley so they didn’t float away in the zero gravity.
Charley got a thrill from Vinnie’s hot breath on her neck. She wished they were together on the ground for altogether different reasons. She realized she was attracted to this man, for all his many faults. He was rude, selfish and unkind. But he was also unbelievably sexy. Charley felt her body coursing with adrenalin just from being close to him.
A noise at the top hatch drew her attention. Through the thick smoke she saw the muzzle of a high powered shotgun, then a thick-set man in an armored air suit. Damn - this was gonna be harder than she first thought.
The first man climbed down into the cabin. He was followed by three others, but none of these had an armored air suit.
Charley’s heart almost stopped when a searcher’s boot nudged Vin’s limp leg. The ex-pirate had the good sense to play dead, his entire body weight pressed against Charley.
came a second voice.
Charley could now see three figures hovering in zero gravity over Vin’s body.
Helmets cracked, shattered and filled with blood as Charley fired from point blank range. The three figures were strafed with magenta plasma bolts and were thrown back against the far wall to float like rag dolls. Charley realized she was still howling like a banshee when Vin gripped her arms.
A shotgun blast ripped shreds into the bulkhead where they’d been lying only moments before. The armored bandit was still at large in the very small cabin. Vinnie kept them both moving, practically throwing Charley across the room and into the armored bandit. Whilst the impact nearly broke Charley’s arm, it disrupted the man’s aim and his third shot thudded into the ceiling.
On impulse Charley threw a purple pellet at the armored man. It attached to his left torso and stayed there. A small limpet mine!
Charley couldn’t help but grin as she focused on the Armadillo now towing the scout at cruise speed.
Charley looked at Vinnie. The pilot of that craft, referred to by the armored bandit as ‘Fletch’, may not be aware that his comrades were dead. And the air suits they were wearing were roughly the same color as those the fallen bandits had worn. Well, enough for a pilot looking distractedly at the rear viewscreen to activate the airlock for them.
And so it proved. Pulling hand over hand, Charley followed Vinnie across the tow line and onto the Armadillo’s roof. Unlike the scout, this vessel had a separate airlock. Charley breathed a sigh of relief when the outer hatch slid open to admit them. Vinnie dropped through first and lifted Charley down. Through the inner airlock door, which was closed, they saw the pilot sitting in the cockpit.
Feeling giddy with opportunity, as if this moment had been pre-destined, Charley strolled up behind the pilot as she pulled her helmet off and pressed a blaster against the back of his head.
“Stand up,” she said in a voice dripping with menace. She was surprised at how easily it came to her.
The pilot froze and took a moment to understand the situation. Realizing that any sudden movement would result in his death, he stood with his hands clasped behind his head.
“Over to the port bulkhead,” Charley spat. Vinnie stood at her shoulder, watching with interest.
“Thanks for sparing me,” the bandit said. “I only just joined and haven’t killed anyone.”
It occurred to Charley that the Night Runners were so entrenched now, so powerful, that their very presence caused their victims to surrender. This was why they were recruiting young men who had yet to see any real action. A glance at Vinnie confirmed that he was thinking the same thing.
It made her sick. It meant that the Night Runners no longer had any competition. That the golden age of pirates was officially over.
She regarded the young man intently. He’d made a very bad life choice - the Night Runners prided themselves on their brutality, even if his claim of innocence was true. For that, he needed to pay. It was less about him and more about making a statement - cross the pirates at your own peril. It was time to even the scales.
Charley squeezed the trigger and forced herself to watch the bandit’s brains splatter across the bulkhead. She made a silent pledge to always look her victims in the eye, determined to never become numb to taking lives.
Vinnie looked at Charley in astonishment. “Did you change your mind?”
“No,” Charley said with a grin. “I just didn’t want brains on my new dashboard.”
“Our new dashboard,” Vin said, squeezing past her and sliding into the pilot’s chair.
“Even though you destroyed the scout, I have to admit you won the day, Silverton.”
Charley smiled, enjoying the sound of that name. It made her feel like she belonged. She wondered if Vinnie knew that she wasn’t actually Silverton’s daughter. It wouldn’t hurt for him to believe it.
27
“What happens now?” Charley asked.
Vinnie sighed, kneading the bridge of his nose.
“Now? Now we go and see the Guildmasters in Galveston. We register our kill and take ownership of the Armadillo.”
“And then?” Charley prompted, wondering what would happen to their ship.
Their
ship. After the adrenalin of the battle Charley couldn’t believe she actually half-owned a ship. A fighter, no less!
Vin shrugged. “Then we consider the fact that every Night Runner from here to Bonesse will be after us. No one has challenged that Guild for years.”
Charley looked at Vinnie defiantly. “I have no problem with that.”
The hint of a smile played on Vinnie’s lips. Charley got the impression that he wasn’t too upset at all. That he welcomed the recent violence and was elated to score a genuine fighting ship. Perhaps it had stoked fires that he thought were dead?
“It needs a coat of paint,” he said teasingly, looking at the galley and the living quarters.
Charley felt a flush of excitement. “Does that mean you don’t want to sell it?”
Vinnie looked into Charley’s eyes. “I’ll let you choose the colors,” he said sexily. “Choose well, cos it’ll be the colors we wear with pride.”
Charley wrapped Vinnie in a huge bear hug. She couldn’t help it. Not only was the Armadillo now the Pirate Guild’s vessel, Vinnie was hinting at returning to the fold! For Charley, the result couldn’t have been any better.
“Why the change of heart?” she asked when she finally extracted herself from him.
“I loved my father,” he said with more than a trace of sadness. “But the Guild needed a change. New blood.”
He paused, his eyes looking Charley up and down. “I believe in my new leader.”
Charley felt as though her heart might burst. She finally understood the riddle of Vinnie Teks. He was a lost soul searching for direction, searching for guidance. The drudgery of career work wasn’t for him - he was a man who liked to be inspired. Whatever she’d done in the last two days, she’d found a way into his heart.
“How long to Galveston?” she asked, casually, releasing the air seals on her suit.
“At this speed? Maybe an hour.”
Charley drew herself free of the suit, stepping out of it with relief. She still didn’t own any underwear, and so stood stark naked in the Armadillo’s cabin. It was a little cold in there, which affected her nipples rather embarrassingly.
“You need a shower or something?” Vinnie asked, looking anywhere but at Charley.
She took a step forward.
“I suppose one of us should keep a lookout for more bandits,” she said.
Vinnie took one quick look at Charley and something seemed to snap within him. He reached out and pulled Charley closer to where he was sitting.
“You can do it,” was the last thing he said.
She gasped as he began to explore her with consummate skill. She held his head firmly, marveling at how silky his black hair was.
With one eye she kept an eye on the nav projection even though she was being catapulted to cloud nine and back.
Life as a pirate was about to become very interesting indeed.
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