The Pirates of Sufiro (Book 1) (Old Star New Earth) (3 page)

The captain drew his sword and held it high. The crew let out a fierce battle yell. Firebrandt knew the crew was ready. The crew fell silent as they waited. Firebrandt drew a hepler pistol. At this signal, the pirates drew their own weapons. A bump was felt as the ships met. Hands tensed.

Roberts moved to his captain's side. There was a sudden whoosh of air as the airlock doors opened. The captain and Roberts quickly blasted through the freighter's airlock. Poised on the other side was a small group of defenders. The boarding party charged headlong into the pulsed high-energy weapon's fire.

Swords clanked. Even in the heat of battle, Firebrandt found himself listening to the sound. Swords were anachronistic weapons, but they inspired a terror that no other weapon could. Heplers fired, flesh burned, and screams came from all sides. Blood covered the deck of the freighter.

The captain stood, out of breath, amazed that the battle was over. His white blouse was torn and stained red. Sweat matted his hair to his forehead as he looked around. All of the defenders were down. Including himself and Roberts, only four men from the privateer stood.

Firebrandt growled and the man fell silent. The captain turned to give instructions to Roberts, who crumpled to the deck, stared in horror at the cauterized stump where his right hand once was. Firebrandt and his men dropped to their knees, scanning the passageways, looking to see where the shot came from. The two men covered the corridor while the captain moved to Roberts' side. Firebrandt helped Roberts to a sitting position against a wall, then stood with his hepler drawn, to face his new adversary.

A woman emerged from the shadows at the far end of the deck. She had gray hair. A scar ran from the edge of her mouth to her chin. She wore the uniform of a Lord High Admiral of Alpha Coma Berenices. In one hand, she held a sword. In the other, she held a laser pistol. Behind her were a young man and a young woman, both in the uniforms of Alpha Coma Berenices. Firebrandt assumed that they were flag lieutenants. "Order your men to drop their weapons!" shouted the admiral, her voice hoarse as though she had been shouting orders for most of the past hour.

A bolt of energy flew from the male flag lieutenant's gun. One of Firebrandt's men fell to the deck with a gaping hole in his chest. "Not any more. Two of yours to my three," said the Admiral simply.

Firebrandt put his hand on the shoulder of his remaining crewmate. The man let his hepler clatter to the deck.
"Now, what is the meaning of the attack on this vessel?" demanded the Admiral, stepping to Firebrandt.
He sneered. "I thought that it was against the articles of war for an admiral of any fleet to use a civilian vessel as a flag ship."
"Piracy brings the death penalty on Alpha Coma Berenices," the admiral answered.
"We are not under Coma's jurisdiction," growled Firebrandt.
The admiral looked into his eyes. "No?" She looked to the deck and at the walls of the ship. "Look's like you're in Coma's jurisdiction to me."
Firebrandt raised the hepler. He felt something pierce his skin. Pain seared through every nerve in his body and he crumpled to the deck. The admiral and her lieutenants—one of them holstering a mini dart gun—stepped into
Legacy
as he blacked out.
* * * *

Firebrandt awoke. A sick pain throbbed throughout his body. He managed to look around. Roberts was gone, but bodies still littered the deck. The captain decided that he could not have been unconscious for very long. He tried to stand, his head still swimming from the drug that had been shot into him. He staggered and fell on the slippery metal deck. After a second try he managed to cross back to the
Legacy
.

Aboard the privateer, there were no signs of battle. She was as clean as when he left her. Firebrandt made his way to the battle deck. Roberts was there, weak and pale, sitting in the corner. He was bandaged and in a clean uniform. No one else was on the battle deck. Even Computer was gone.

"What's happened?" asked Firebrandt. "Where is everyone? Where's Computer?"
"Those who didn't fall in action are my prisoners," came a gruff, feminine voice from the rear of the battle deck.
Firebrandt looked around to see the admiral. As he moved toward her, the female flag lieutenant led Suki onto the battle deck. He stopped. "You had better not harm her." The captain aimed his finger at the admiral.
"Harming her is the last thing on my mind." The admiral smiled a queer smile. "For some reason, she seems to love you."
"I love him very much," Suki said.
"Humph," muttered the admiral. "What do you say, Firebrandt?"
"How do you know my name?" demanded the captain.
The admiral inclined her head. "Don't play those games with me." She looked at Suki, then to Roberts. The captain began to fume. "And don't blame them. They are loyal to you. Damn it, everyone on this ship was loyal to you." The admiral snorted. "They are all misguided fools!" She walked up to Firebrandt and looked him over. "I don't see why, but both Suki and Roberts seem to adore you."
"So, what are you going to do with us?" asked Firebrandt.
"Ellison Firebrandt is known throughout this sector of the galaxy. I'm within my rights to have you executed." The admiral pursed her lips and contemplated the captain's reaction. He was defeated and she knew it; his dream of a life of luxury and pleasant retirement shattered. "However, to destroy a folk hero is never good. To destroy someone who is so well loved is virtually evil. I will let you go."
"What about my crew?" Firebrandt asked, numb.
"I will pardon the survivors and return them to their home planets."
Firebrandt looked at his feet. "What about us?"
"Well, under the articles of war I am allowed to take from your ship what I need. I've already stripped her of many parts, but she'll still fly. I will leave you with your ship and your supplies. I've disarmed your weapons. I want you out of this sector. With Roberts and Suki, you'll be able to manage the ship."
"Just barely," complained Roberts, nursing his severed hand.
"So much the better," grinned the admiral. "I want you to find a world—a world to settle down on and enjoy your life together. I do this under one condition—that I never hear anything of raids by the dread pirate Firebrandt, ever again." She took a couple steps away and turned again. "If I see any of you in my jurisdiction again, I will not hesitate to execute you as war criminals."
Firebrandt nodded. "I understand."
The admiral turned to leave. Firebrandt rushed forward and grabbed her by the arm. "Wait a moment," he said. "I feel like I should know who you are."
"I'm sad to say, your father never gave us the chance to get to know each other." She laughed lightly at his perplexed expression. "I'm pleased to meet you," she said holding out her hand. "I'm Lord Admiral Barbara Firebrandt."
MAROONED
Firebrandt, Roberts and Suki stood on
Legacy's
battle deck. The Admiral and her staff had departed nearly an hour before. At the front of the deck, instead of a hologram was a blank wall. The captain realized that it had been turned off during the battle. He stared at his feet and stroked his moustache. Roberts still sat at the gunner's rig and stared blindly at the far wall. Suki walked up to the captain. "We have to do something," she said.
Firebrandt looked up. A single tear escaped his moist eye. Suki moved closer, but the captain put up his hand. Shaking his head he wiped away the tear. "We will not lose our freedom," he said deliberately.
Shaken from his stupor, Roberts asked, "What are your orders, Captain?" The lieutenant's face was sickly pale, looking more like a skull than ever.
The captain frowned. "Are you sure you don't want to rest?"
"I think I need to work," said Roberts, purposefully. "I need to know I can."
Firebrandt nodded grimly.
"I'll check the hold," said Suki. "We need to know what we have to work with." She smiled sheepishly. Firebrandt stepped to her and they embraced warmly. The captain felt renewed purpose. They stepped apart and Suki left.
Firebrandt and Roberts busied themselves, hoping to repair enough damage to get underway again. The fact that they could walk about the ship unaided indicated that there was no damage to the graviton generators. The most devastating blow was the loss of Computer. Firebrandt rewired the human interface connections into a terminal and keyboard. Unfortunately, the characters that appeared on the screen were utter nonsense. The terminal was receiving images and words meant to be interpreted directly by the human brain.
Roberts began writing software that would translate the symbols into something that was meaningful when read. His work was slow. He wasn't used to typing, much less onehanded.
Firebrandt inspected the engine room. He found that the EQ generator was intact. Unfortunately, the EQ drive was useless until the ship's network came back on line. He checked the Quinnium reserves. As he suspected, the admiral had ordered all but one tank drained.
Legacy
literally had fuel for a one way trip. At the same time, he found that two of
Legacy's
four large thruster packs for intra-system travel had been stripped of parts. That combined with the loss of a third thruster pack during the battle meant
Legacy
would be able to maneuver, but she was absolutely powerless as a privateer.
Suki picked her way through the ship's hold. She was surprised to find that most of the items Firebrandt had acquired during his travels were still there. Some rare and valuable art works were gone. She frowned. The artwork had been stolen from collectors who had moved away from Earth. The captain had intended them to return home. Suki realized that Firebrandt's mother must have recognized the value of the works and took them to return to the collectors.
At the end of the first day, Firebrandt tried his hand cooking in the ship's mess. The food was edible, but not exciting. All three were exhausted and hungry, so any food was good. Firebrandt asked about the network.
"Well, I've set up a basic command line interface. It's about as primitive as you get," said Roberts.
Firebrandt contemplated the report for a moment, glad to see that Roberts' color was better. "That may be adequate. We'll see if we can manage to plot a course in the morning."
Roberts nodded, too tired to argue one way or the other.
Suki and Firebrandt went to their quarters. The room had been ransacked, but very little was missing. One key item that had vanished was Firebrandt's privateer's license. It had hung in a frame on the wall. He sat on the bunk and put his head in his hands. Suki sat next to him and put her arm around him. "Are you okay?" she asked.
Firebrandt nodded, his head still in his hands. They sat in silence for some time. Finally, he looked into Suki's eyes. "A boy is supposed to love his mother, isn't he?"
"You never knew your mother," said Suki.
Firebrandt sighed. "Growing up, I never had any love for her, because, as you say, I never knew her. Now that I've met her, I find that I actually hate her." His eyes glazed over. "My own mother represents everything I hate. She represents the formalized military. She represents regulation of the space ways. My life is about freedom. It's about adventure." He shook his head.
"You grew up with your father's values." Suki and the captain had had this conversation before. Only now, there was an added dimension. "But, she let us live."
Firebrandt stamped his foot on the deck plate. The pain made him wince. "That's the point. She let me live; she let me be born. My very existence has depended on her mercy."
She gently stroked his long, red hair. "You depend on me, lover," she said carefully.
"The difference is that I choose to depend on you," he said. "You give me comfort, companionship. She never did that. You depend on me as well." His voice trembled slightly.
Suki nodded. She noted that his rational mind was functioning again. She loved him for his emotional side, but knew that if his emotions took over at this time, they would not get to a planet safely.
They held each other, each drawing emotional energy from the other. She looked into his gray eyes. They kissed, gently, at first. Her lips parted and their tongues intertwined. She helped him pull off his tunic and pants. His hands caressed her body, slowly. She let him control, allowing his mind and heart to work together. As he caressed, he slowly removed her clothes. They became one and rocked slowly back and forth. "We have freedom, together," he said gently.
"I love you," she whispered. Though he said nothing, she felt him tremble as she held him. Eventually, they fell into a deep sleep.
* * * *
The next day, Suki and Firebrandt found Roberts in the mess. He looked better. There were subtle burns on his face where the sonic razor had burned him. Roberts was still adjusting to left-handed coordination. His face was set into a determined scowl. He made coffee and was attempting to break eggs into a skillet using his one hand. Suki offered to help.
"No," Roberts said, nudging her away with his elbow. He saw the hurt look on her face. "Sorry," he said. The egg he held crushed into little fragments; egg yolk oozed over his fingers. Roberts growled, his skull-like head giving him an especially fierce expression.
"Won't you please let me help?" asked Suki.
Roberts sighed. "It's just that if we're going to settle a new planet, I need to be able to do things for myself. I can't rely on your help."
She nodded, understanding. "Then let me help you to help yourself." She reached over, grabbed an egg and broke it one-handed. Roberts watched carefully, then nodded. He grabbed his own egg and broke it into the skillet. It wasn't perfect, but he was able to pick out the shell fragments and use the egg this time. He scrambled some eggs and fried some ham.
"This isn't exactly a regulation breakfast," said the captain, grinning. "Too much cholesterol in this stuff."
Roberts sneered. "The man is marooned in space. He may not live to see his next meal and he's worried about cholesterol." He started to serve up the plates. "This is a man who has a taste for real tobacco, no less. What does he care about heart disease?"
The three laughed lightly—a necessary release—as they sat down to eat. "So," said Roberts. "You two slept in late enough."
"As you say," said Suki. "We may not live past today. Why not have a leisurely morning in bed?"
The three finished breakfast in silence. After eating, they stacked dirty dishes into the auto cleaner. Roberts tried to turn it on. "Is nothing sacred?" he asked when nothing happened.
"What's the matter?" asked Firebrandt.
"They took the auto cleaner motor." Roberts sneered. "The ships in the Alpha Coma fleet must be in pretty sad shape."
"Leave the dishes," said Firebrandt. "I'll get them later."
The three walked forward to the battle deck. Firebrandt thought it felt strangely empty. He expected Computer to give an instant report of the ship's status. He looked at Neal's gunner's rig. It was still scorched, the fiber optic links pulled out. Firebrandt asked Roberts about the gun mounts. Roberts shook his head. They had removed those too.
"Efficient and thorough," sighed Firebrandt.
The three gathered around Roberts' jury-rigged computer console. He turned it on. The screen flickered to life. Roberts typed in the command: "Captain on deck." The terminal printed out a ship's status report. Firebrandt nodded approvingly. Unfortunately, the ship's status was not terribly good. It confirmed the low fuel and minimal operating systems.
"The important question is, can we make it anywhere?" Suki brushed black hair from her face.
Roberts typed a command. A list of stars appeared on the screen. "We have fuel to take us to the jump points for any one of twenty-seven G-type stars," he reported. He scanned the list nodding his head approvingly. "We could even go home, to Earth."
The captain shook his head. "No, not to Earth." He sighed, thinking he should ask what they wanted, however he had been captain for a long time. Command was a virtually impossible habit to break. He would have to learn to ask for opinions.
"I agree," said Roberts. "Could you imagine what they would say if we turned up in this stripped out ship?" The three of them grinned, the tension somewhat broken.
More to the point,
thought Firebrandt looking at his feet
, what would people on Earth say if they found out that his mother had captured and stripped the ship in the first place.
Not the least of their problems would be the fact that they would never get another ship again. Another problem was that even with what they had in the ship, they would still be poor. No, it was best if they found a nice uninhabited world. The captain looked up. "We can make it to the jump points for twenty-seven stars, but what do we do after we've jumped?"
"Good point," said Roberts. He entered the new constraint. They had to be able to travel from the receiving jump point to a habitable planet. Only six star names were left. Firebrandt reasoned that the list was cut largely due to stars without any humanly habitable planets.
"Now," said Firebrandt, "which ones are uninhabited?"
Roberts entered the constraint. The list was cut in half. He shook his head. "Look at those names. All of them have been charted by Rd'dyggian ships."
"So?" asked Suki. "Who cares who charted them as long as they are uninhabited? After all, the Gaean Alliance and Rd'dyggia are both members of the Confederation of Homeworlds."
"Unfortunately," explained Firebrandt, "it is only a confederation and Rd'dyggians are extremely possessive. At least Rd'dyggians can live in the same planetary environment we can."
Roberts looked at the list again. He pursed his lips and sat back. "Only two of the worlds have actually been claimed for Rd'dyggia," he said.
"What's wrong with the other one?" Firebrandt's bushy, red eyebrows knitted.
"Don't know," said Roberts rubbing his hand over his head. He requested more details. "The only thing it tells us is that the Rd'dyggians left that one open to general colonization."
"Meaning?" asked Suki hopefully.
"Meaning the Rd'dyggians didn't find anything they wanted there," said Firebrandt, cynically. He looked at the description and the galactic coordinates of the system. "It's way out on the edge of everything, out on the galactic farside, isn't it?"
"No doubt about it," said Roberts. "It's a frontier world."
"In other words, the Rd'dyggians found nothing and it has no strategic value." The captain stroked his moustache, nodding.