By David C. Daoust
Sweet Honey Zhou entered the ship’s bridge with a flourish, the sharp heel of her thigh-high boots clacked strongly against the grated flooring of the Swiftblade-class Starship, known as ‘the Black Bruise’. The urgency could be felt in her posture and the grim look on her face, enough to keep the crew from bothering her with any mindless chatter. The talking head on the oversized monitor was there to greet her, as many of the aforementioned crewmen were busy at their separate stations.
The Black Bruise was the most famous of all pirate ships throughout the Onion; this of course, was by design. Sweet Honey Zhou had cultivated her reputation carefully over the years, building up a number of assets; the respect of other shady Captains, notoriety among the masses, and, most of all, loyalty among her men. She was everywhere. One boot in the desperate world of the starving patriots that made up the lowest regions of the Crag, the other boot, not only in cahoots with successful corporations, but also taking orders directly from the Trade Consortium’s ‘Board’. In fact, her ability to exist in both worlds made her an invaluable Seaguard Agent.
The Foreman, whose head currently filled her view screen, was a minor nuisance at the best of times. A pipsqueak, meant to keep the rest of the peons in-line. Yet here she was, charging into her bridge, to answer his call.
“You half-wit Ginny Gobbler,” Zhou scolded the man, “You’re supposed rob the shipments, not lead the law back here…!”
The Royal Alliance Law-bringer-class ‘battleship’ had appeared in the sector but moments before, or rather, they revealed themselves in the sector but moments before. Setting off so many alarms, it was all Zhou could do, to keep the men from bolting out of the system completely.
“Ginny Gobbler?” The man was clearly offended, though there was something different about his demeanor, -he was not afraid-, “I think we’ve all had just about enough of your tactics, Miss Zhou.”
Zhou had strong armed all the foremen into covering the moon’s losses. They talked their workers into high jacking as many Alliance shipments as they could get their mitts on, thereby making any losses, caused by her own projects uprising, -the Alliance’s problem.
‘Strong arming’ them, was not a hard task to accomplish. Considering they were all contracted to a highly classified moon, meant they were extremely well paid to keep their mouths shut. The prospect of losing these highly sought after wages, was enough for them to do whatever was asked of them. In fact, if they weren’t willing already, they probably would have been passed over in the hiring pool. In the Consortium, losing such a job, meant losing everything. They were paid in company Scrip, which meant any possible savings were no longer honored, after employment was terminated. This meant they should all be scared, all the time, which meant, if this foreman wasn’t scared, he’d jumped ship.
“You bloody Traitor,” Zhou snapped at the man, then accused, “You brought them here!”
“Hah! What do we know about high-jacking shipments!? People started going hungry, Constabulary was called in. We got caught,” the man shrugged, then easily tossed out, “We cut a deal.”
Zhou wasn’t happy, but she didn’t bother adding anything to the conversation.
“Considering you’re the ‘Notorious Pirate Queen’ to the rest of the Onion,” he continued despite her silence, “You made a pretty tasty offering to the Alliance Constables!”
Zhou stewed.
“I’m being told that’s enough, they have your location,” the man said, delighted at the chance to make it clear, just how far he’d gone to get her caught. Before the screen went black, he waved and added, “Enjoy the Stockade!”
“Traitor Scum,” Zhou muttered.
A Swiftblade was no match for a Battleship, the Black Bruise was only slightly larger than a standard freighter. While the law-bringer was not quite as large as a Cruiser, it was still a colossus, and it was built for battle.
Unlike most pirate ships, Zhou had access to the ‘stealth fields’ just like a full sized Consortium Cruiser. She’d dumped her own money into the stealth tech. The crew of the Black Bruise relied on these fields to keep their edge over every other ship out there. But if someone could track their communications array, they could find their location, easy.
Usually her array would be hidden as well, but since she opened a channel to the traitor foreman, the Constables were able to follow his access point; which meant her little communiqué, in reaction to the Alliance ship revealing their location in the sector, led them directly to her.She’d played right into their hand!
The Black Bruise was incredibly fast and agile. She belted out orders to her men. The first series of missiles arching towards their location, missed completely, as the pilots reacted to Zhou’s commands.
Her mind reeled with what to do. She hated that guy. That was pretty much all she was thinking. She hated that fucking guy. She could not let him win. She knew the Bruise was lost. No matter how strong her shields were, or how fast her ship was, or how skillful her ace pilots were. That Law-bringer was just the stronger ship.
She was krill outrunning a whale.
It wasn’t enough. She could not give up. She wouldn’t! Not only that, she had to turn it around. She wanted that foreman’s head. She hated that traitor scum! The bridge shook as the next set of missiles collided with her hull; she knew the shields would hold, at least for a bit longer… they were going down though.
“Head for Taman,” Zhou commanded, better to try and crash on a habitable moon, than be obliterated in the vacuum of space. “We’re going down, prepare to brace for impact!”
The alerts began to flash throughout the ship, her first mates voice could be heard echoing her last statement to the crewmen throughout the ship.
It was not enough!
“Get as many men in a ‘Jacker’ as you can…” she said this directly to her first mate, as her long stride carried her from the bridge, “Save one for me! That Law-bringer’s ours, by the end of the day, or we die trying!”
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