Reavers (Book 3) (3 page)

“We’ll be taking on an extra crewmember,” Rosalyn sent.

“Duda?” her pad vibrated Andres’ message.

“As if I would let that man’s stink on my ship.  It’s some friend of his.”

“I didn’t think Duda had friends.”

“He doesn’t.  Name is Tardos Novák.”

“I don’t like this Rosy.”

“It gets better.  After I accepted, I talked Duda into ten percent over.”

“
Over
?”

“From the look on his face, I probably could have gotten twenty.”

“This is going to be trouble.”

“Tell me about it.  Have you rounded up the potentials yet?”

“We’re waiting for you back at the docking port.”

“What would I do without you?”

“Find someone better probably.”

With a happy chuckle, she quickly headed back to her ship.  Duda’s friend would not get her down.  Completely ignoring the street merchants and passersby, she examined her appearance.  Everything had to be perfect.  She adored nothing more than the expressions of those trying to join her crew when they saw her.  As she finished with the last bits of straightening and primping, she let herself giggle.  She couldn’t help but imagine the scene.

She would gracefully return to the ship.  As she rounded the corner, her elegance would be slowly revealed.  Her gorgeous body would mesmerize the potential crewmembers.  They would then fall over themselves at the prospect of joining her crew.  A grin filled her face as she neared her ship.

Her grin instantly vanished as she saw the waiting group for the first time.  Half of them were barely able to stand in place while the other half smelled of grease and
other
fluids.  Storming over to Andreas, Rosalyn glared at him.

“The best we could round up,” he said without glancing up from his pad.  “A raiding party of the Raven’s Talons took heavy losses.  They picked this rock to recruit new bodies.  It’s getting harder to find
good
candidates on Freeports.”

As the urge to shout at him passed, Rosalyn looked over the assembled group.

“How many?” she asked in annoyance.

“At least seven.  Ten would be better.”

Her shoulders sank.  This was not what she had been looking forward to.  Andreas had said “at least.”  There was no point in arguing.  The ship wouldn’t be able to function unless she forced herself to pick seven of these poor excuses for pirates.  As she walked down the assembled line, she studied the gathered.  There were probably twenty people total.  As she inspected them, a few made the effort of straightening up.

Of the twenty, sixteen were utterly hopeless.  If Rosalyn had to choose between any one of them and a lifeless, empty crate, the crate would win hands down.  The remaining four showed a hint of promise, but it was just the whisper of a hint.  The four with promise were evenly divided between two women and two men.  Rosalyn walked up to the first promising girl.  She was on the short side but looked strong.

“What do you think you’ll be doing on
my
ship?” Rosalyn demanded.

“Anything that will get me off this rock.  I can lift twice my body weight and can defend myself if need be.”

With a nod, Rosalyn moved on to the next candidate.  He was a tall man, with a strong looking face.  His grimy clothes didn’t hide his muscled physique.

“And you?”

The man didn’t stir.

“The captain asked you a question,” Andreas said firmly.

The man slowly turned his head and locked his gaze on Rosalyn.  She noticed his muscles tensing slightly.  For a reason she couldn’t explain, she felt a sudden mixture of fear and sadness at the man’s expression.

“Don’t mind my friend,” a high-pitched voice said, interrupting her thoughts, “he doesn’t talk to people he doesn’t know.”

Rosalyn turned to face the owner of the voice.  He was a short man who always seemed to be fidgeting.  It was obvious he was used to being in tough situations and was working on his last few nerves.  At
best
he was about four feet tall and, to Rosalyn, strongly resembled a monkey.  Andreas never would have picked someone like that for the crew.  A sudden thought flashed in her mind.  With a quick glance at Andreas she confirmed it.  The small man was Novák.

“Took him a whole week before he said anything to me,” the squirrelly man continued on, “and we work in the same section.”

“Does he have a problem with authority?” Andreas asked.

“Not that I know of.  He’ll do anything he’s ordered to do, just don’t expect a long-winded discussion.”

Rosalyn smiled to herself.  At least there were a few
interesting
candidates.  She would enjoy breaking these in.

“We’ll take these five,” Rosalyn said, pointing at her choices.  “As for the rest, spin them around three times and whoever doesn’t fall over gets to tag along.”

They had been right about Captain Dubois.  She was both beautiful and confident.  If Tardos had been a decade or two younger, he might have been swayed by her loveliness.  Of course, he was
not
a decade or two younger.  His days of swooning over pretty young things were long behind him.  Tardos had never had the pleasure of meeting her mother.  However, from the way Duda described her, it was obvious where the beauty came from.

“We’d better hurry, Tardos,” Kevin said in a hushed voice.

Broken from his idle thoughts, he remembered where he was.  The second in command had just finished ordering those assembled to spin in place.  The drunks fell over instantly.  Tardos tried to ignore the smell of vomit as those selected rushed into the ship.  Entering the ship, he instantly felt uneasy.  The ship was obviously a custom job.  The walls, floors and even the ceiling mildly reflected them as they walked around.  But they were not quite mirrors; the reflections had a glossy haze to them.  As Tardos watched his double, he realized it was almost exactly like a ghost he had seen in a 3P years ago.

Tardos had never really been a big fan of the 3Ps.  The idea of a device projecting data directly to his brain didn’t sound safe to him.  However, on a small ship the pad-sized 3Ps offered entertainment without taking up much space.  So, despite his misgivings, he had gotten used to passing the long days in those artificial narratives.  Ghosts and the like were fine in 3Ps; he could turn those off when he wanted.  Having one stare him in the face in real life, on the other hand, was unendingly unnerving.

“Is there a problem?” the second in command asked.

Realizing he had lagged behind the group, Tardos quickly broke his lock on his ghost and ran to catch up.

“Just admiring the design,” he said with a smile.

Even if the walls scared him a bit, he knew better than to publicly criticize his new home.  Being a custom ship, the captain had no doubt desired that effect.  To criticize the design was to criticize the captain directly.  Without a word, the second in command led the group to their bunks.  Tardos let a smile fill his face when they arrived.  Despite being more crowded, the room was easily twice the size of the one he had lived in back on the Freeport.  He couldn’t help but snicker when he noticed several of the crewmembers had hung up posters and the like to block the walls and their eerie reflections.

“We don’t bother to assign bunks here; if you want a bunk take it,” the second in command said briskly.  “Get a good night’s sleep.  Tomorrow you start your new lives.”

With that he turned and left.  Tardos noted he kept his right hand in his pocket the entire time.  The way the pocket fidgeted he was obviously playing with something.

“So you are the new blood we’ve been promised?” a gruff voice said.

Turning, Tardos jumped back.  A man easily twice his size was looming over him.  His face made it evident he did not approve of the newcomers.

“You got a problem with us?” one of the females in Tardos’ group sneered back.

“I just don’t like the idea of my life being in the hands of
runts
!”

Before Tardos could react, the hulking brute of a man had grabbed him by his collar and was lifting him off the ground.  He was so focused on the threat of immediate dismemberment that he hadn’t noticed Kevin move to his side.  Kevin leaned a bit forward and whispered in his ear.  If his body wasn’t in mortal peril, Tardos might have found it funny that he had been lifted into the air to the point he was the same height as his friend.

“Where would you like to sleep?” Kevin whispered in a calm voice.

“You got something to say?” the hulking man holding Tardos demanded.  “Speak up!”

Kevin ignored him completely.  Tardos tried to scramble his wits to him.  As he nervously bit his lower lip, he focused on what Kevin had said.  Quickly glancing around he noticed a bunk that looked inviting.  Weakly, he pointed at the bunk.  The hulking man raised an eyebrow and followed the pointing of the little man’s hand.

“That bunk’s taken, runt,” the hulking man said with a smirk.  “In fact, as far as you are concerned, they are
all
taken.”

The hulking man started to laugh.  It sounded more like thunder claps.  Those in their bunks started to join in the laughter.  The new crewmembers visibly started to back away, except for Kevin who stood perfectly still.  The hulking brute holding Tardos did not miss that fact.

“Tough guy, I see,” the hulking man said, looking him over.  “I’ll have to teach you your place.”

“I wouldn’t recommend that,” Tardos said with what small scraps of courage he had left.  “I’ve seen him seal off blown relief valves - by
hand
.”

The hulking man stared at him, clearly not understanding.  Tardos silently rebuked himself.  This dumb ox would have no idea of the force of a blown relief valve, let alone the incredible strength it would take to turn the seal by hand.  As he was about to give another example, the hulking brute tossed him aside.

His eyes quickly shut tight and his body cringed in preparation of the pain that was about to come.  To his surprise, no pain came.  Opening his eyes, he found himself standing on the floor plates, Kevin’s hand firmly on his shoulder.  As Kevin took a step toward the bunk Tardos had indicated, the hulking man slammed his fist against the wall.  The meat of his arm created a human wall that stopped Kevin’s advance.

“Maybe I haven’t made myself clear,” the hulking man said, obviously infuriated.  “I’m Revel.  I run the invasion teams.  Every time we raid a ship I’m the first to board her.  That means when the captain isn’t here,
I
run things.  My word is law.”

Tardos couldn’t believe it, but a small smile appeared on Kevin’s face.  As anger flushed over the hulking man’s face, Kevin grabbed the arm stretched out in front of him.  Before Revel could react, Kevin had bent the arm in an unnatural direction.  The sickening sound of shattering bone filled the room.  Those who had been enjoying the sight instantly sat up in their bunks.  As the tall man fell to the ground cradling his arm, Kevin casually walked past him. 

With a gentle hand, he gestured for Tardos to sit on the empty bunk he had chosen earlier.  The nearby pirates quickly packed up their personal belongings and fled to bunks farther down the room.  Tardos sat on his new bunk completely dumbfounded.  He knew Kevin was strong but had no idea he would actually hurt anyone.

Looking down the walkway between the bunks, Tardos watched as the hulking man silently stood and marched off.  That man must have incredible endurance and fortitude not to cry out against the pain he had to be feeling with a broken arm.  As the wounded, hulking man passed the other newcomers, one of the girls stuck out her tongue at him

“Serves you right,” she said with finality as he walked past her.

As the other newcomers searched the room for places to sleep, Tardos turned to Kevin.

“You shouldn’t have done that,” he said, wiping the sweat off his brow.  “This will be trouble for both of us!”

Kevin didn’t say a thing as he sat in the newly vacated bunk next to Tardos’.

“He was going to make trouble anyways,” an energetic voice said from behind them.

Looking over his shoulder, Tardos found the girl who had stuck out her tongue at the hulking man.  She was taking the bunk on the other side of him.

“I’ve seen the type,” she continued, “not happy until everyone is scared of them.  Nothing more than a bully.”

“Bullies have a tendency to get revenge,” he said with a worried tone.

“Somehow I don’t think you need to worry about that.  Your friend seems able to take care of himself.”

The girl smiled warmly at Kevin.  Tardos restrained a chuckle as he realized the girl was far more interested in Kevin than himself.  After a few moments of silence the girl’s warm expression faded.

“Don’t like me or something?” she asked.

“You’ll have to excuse Kevin.  He doesn’t talk much to anyone.  Took a week before he said anything to me.”

“Really?” she asked, sounding even more interested.  “What did he say?”

Tardos couldn’t help but burst into laughter.  The girl tilted her head, not understanding what was so funny.