NASTRAGULL: Pirates (27 page)

Alexa tried to catch Zuzack's eye, but he studiously ignored her. After assessing the scene, and then glaring at the women for a long while, he reached down and tore off Alexa's gag, his face a mask of anger.

Alexa shouted, "Whatever that rat bastard Hughes told you, he's lying!"

"Shut your hole, traitor!" the brave Hughes shrieked from behind Zuzack's back.

"We were attacked and were fighting off the mutineers down the corridor when this idiot attacked us from behind! He should have assisted us, but NO! We had no choice but to defend ourselves!"

"That's as may be, but why were you and your lovelies packed for a long journey?" Hughes sneered, glancing at the luggage bags stacked against the bulkhead.

Zuzack looked at Alexa, wrinkling his forehead, waiting for an answer.

"Standard procedure, you dumb shit!" Nina screamed as she managed to shrug off her gag. A medical andy was tending to the stump of her left arm, as she sobbed in pain and shock.

"No standard procedure of ours," Hughes pointed out.

"We thought we were under attack by a CPH ship and that they'd managed to penetrate the
Bitch
," Alexa explained in a cold voice. "As you well know, whenever something like that happens, everyone goes for their important loot, in case we have to abandon ship. Dumbass." She glared at Hughes. "We've always done it that way and always will."

Hughes was about to make another remark when Zuzack raised his hand, gesturing for Hughes to be silent. He looked around the room and back down at Alexa's friends, who were all, except for Alexa, avoiding his gaze. He saw that Nina was casting Alexa an odd look; to his surprise, Alexa answered it with a quick glance.

Zuzack snorted. "You told me you wanted to be part of the Clan, you did. You made me believe in you." He stalked over to the computer console and snapped on a monitor. He pushed a few buttons, and the firefight in the hallway displayed on the monitor. He peered closely, then rewound it and watched it again. When he was done, Zuzack looked up, confused, and glanced at Hughes. "Have the Doctor heal them at once, and make sure they are clean and fresh. If anyone touches any of them, especially Alexa, I will skin that person alive. Do you understand, Mr. Hughes?"

Hughes look as if he had been betrayed, but his submissive bow quickly his facial expression.

"Make sure they are all in perfect health, as we do with all our slaves before we sell them," Zuzack pronounced.

Hughes raised his head, his eyes shining, as Alexa and Nina shouted out their protests. "You can't, Father!" Alexa shouted, her voice trembling.

Zuzack took a shiny new slave collar out of his pocket and leaned down towards Alexa, fastening it securely around her neck. "You were never my daughter, Alexa, just a fuck-toy. And now I'm tired of your lies. Hughes, take them down to the infirmary and have them repaired at once, especially Nina."

"But Captain, we have hundreds of injured brothers and sisters who were loyal to you, and..."

"Indeed we do, but we'll make no money off them, now will we?" Zuzack jabbed a finger at Hughes, then toward the bound women. Hughes nodded sharply, as the Captain turned to one of his combat androids and ordered it to follow Hughes and make sure nothing happened to the prisoners.

Chapter 17

Alec Hornet woke up wondering where the hell he was. Rubbing the sleep from his eyes, he looked over the large, messy bed, which was currently inhabited by two naked sleeping beauties in addition to himself. Both young women were blondes; one of them was clearly an Oman, like himself, while the other—a lanky orange-furred minx with six breasts—belonged to no species he was familiar with. He rubbed his throbbing forehead as he tried to remember what, exactly, had happened the night before. He peered around the luxurious suite he found himself in, and noticed several different styles of bottles and canisters clustered on a nearby table, and several others on the floor. He shook his head, and was startled when a loud buzz came from the direction of the door.

Alec pulled himself up from the bed, removing a thin pink blanket from one of the blondes, who made a murmuring sound as she turn over and went back to sleep. The bell kept ringing. He moved towards it, attempting to conceal his private parts, and that's when he noticed the color of the blanket. He lost his concentration and stumbled on the end of the blanket, falling hard.

As he got back to his feet, a complaining voice from behind him made him forget about the annoying doorbell, and when he looked he saw a strange and very ugly creature lying on the floor, snoring and scratching itself. The sight brought Alec fully awake, and he looked at the thing in horror; then he shook his head and muttered, "No way in hell. I wasn't that wasted."

The door buzzer reminded him of why he was awake, and he finished wrapping the pink blanket around him. Before he could get there, though, the door crashed opened and in marched Nikko Behl, former Captain on the liner
Bright Star
and, for the last two months, Alec's personal flight instructor. He was grinning widely, and charged into the suite like a tornado.

"Wake up, all you tramps, wake up and get out!" There were some languid motions and complaining voices as the inhabitants of the room dragged themselves awake, too slowly for Behl's liking. "I said wake up, or I'll have you all keelhauled!" Behl shouted, sending a well-aimed kick at the pudgy being on the floor. He snatched up a couch pillow from the sofa and tossed it at the protesting blondes. By then, the alien on the floor had come to, and had begun a long, hard journey on its hands and knees towards the door, mumbling something in a language Alec didn't know. It left what appeared to be its clothing behind; instead going for an odd-looking bag with canisters attached to the sides.

The two blondes leaned on each other as they yawned and grabbed their clothes, if indeed that was what you could call the gauzy strips they donned. Once they were more or less dressed, they toddled over to Alec and began kissing and caressing him. At that point the diminutive alien, who looked something like a cross between a meerkat and an aardvark, cleared its throat and rumbled, "Stop it, girls, he only paid for the one night. Now help old Pulp to her old feet, and let's be gone." When they did, Pulp walked over to Alec and grinned, then reached up and pinched his cheek. She said in a slurred voice, "Listen, kiddo, if you want more, just let us know. You know where to find us." Then she stumbled toward her blonde charges, who ended up having to carry Pulp between them as they finally exited.

Behl tapped a button on the wall, and a large section of said wall folded up into the ceiling, revealing a duraplast window that opened onto the star-speckled darkness of deep space. Alec started in surprise when a sleek little speeder passed the window, just a wee bit too close for comfort. Snugging the pink blanket around his loins, he stepped over to the window and looked out. Near-space was alive with hundreds, perhaps thousands of spacecraft, ranging from one-man speeders to battlecruisers the size of cities. Most were docked to the various rings of a massive space station, with numerous others in the process of arriving or departing. Orbiting the giant space station were several smaller structures of various types and sizes. There was no obvious order, but the traffic appeared to be moving along just fine.

"Nice view, isn't it?" Behl asked, beaming at the scenario in front of them. "New Frontier is one of the larger outposts in the Neutral Zone between Florencia and Nastasturus. I think it belongs to both the Merchants
and
the Traders. God only knows who all those little private stations belong to."

"I don't remember too much," Alec admitted, rubbing his head in a vain effort to diminish a splitting headache.

Behl clapped him on the back, causing him to wince. "Well, whatever you took with your joygirls there, it'll soon dissipate and your memory will come back. Here, have some of this." Behl handed Alec a small pen-syringe.

Alec dialed up a dose and jabbed it into his left bicep. A second later, his eyes opened wide as what felt like a bolt of lightning flashed through him. He trembled for a long moment and then, muttering, "Never, ever again," he tottered toward the head, ignoring Behl's laughter.

When Alec returned, freshly shaven and still damp from his shower, he felt almost human again. He saw a small bundle of clothing lying on the bed, and looked at Behl questioningly.

"General, sir," Behl said innocently, "I took the liberty and selected some clothing from your duffle. We need to hurry, because there's something I'd like to show you." As Alec started to get dressed, Behl asked expectantly, "Do you still want to go forward with the plan?"

"Of course. We'll stay our course and move on, assuming you're still with me."

"No worries on that point, lad. I'm in debt to you. You saved my life, you gave me my dignity back, and on top of that you awarded me with more money that I ever dreamed of having—when you didn't have to. No one has risked themselves for me for a very long time." Behl fell silent, his eyes watering.

Must bring back some bad old memories,
Alec thought. Aloud, he said, "Well, sir, let's move on once we've had something to eat. I'm starving."

"No surprise there."

Alec and Behl walked down the wide, lush corridor and came out on a large observation platform five floors up from the first level. The bustling station spread out before them, packed with merchants, traders, and passersby conducting business in the various shops and offices scattered throughout the promenade. When Alec looked up, he could count at least another ten levels above. After contemplating the sight for a few moments, they moved on and caught an elevator down to the main level, where all the restaurants and food courts were located. Large expanses of transparent duraplast separated the businesses, revealing the traffic outside the station. As they passed one window, they noticed a mid-sized cargo ship docking at the main ring of the large station, which appeared to be several dozen kilometers away at least. Behl stepped up to the window and gestured Alec to join him. When he got there, Behl pointed out a beautiful, slim ship, its design ultramodern and its hull gleaming dully in the reddened light of the local primary. "Ah, there she is. See her?"

"Yessir. What type of class is she?" Alec asked.

"Medium frigate class, Marengan design. She's a cargo ship, more or less."

"She looks small for a cargo ship."

"Sure she's small, but she's also very fast, and she's made for transporting exotic materials. At least one of the cargo bays is designed to hold radioactives of the highest ratings. That alone can make a grand profit."

"What about the crew?"

"Twenty to fifty, depending on what you want to transport, but we can easily bunk five hundred hired troops in the holds."

Alec was silent for a moment; and then he asked, "Weapons?"

"Already fitted with some of the best that I know of. However, we can always improve her defenses and weapons at any neutral port that has one or more arms dealers in residence."

Alec looked out at the beautiful ship and said eagerly, "Let's go make a deal."

"Wait, lad. We can't operate her alone. We need a crew."

"Then we'll find one. Surely there'll be some spacers hanging around the station at loose ends, looking for their next berths."

Behl placed his hand on Alec's arm and said, "I know you want to save your friends, lad, and that shows me what a gallant individual you are. But finding a reliable crew qualified to operate that ship
and
willing to go a-hunting for one of the universe's most feared pirates will be well-nigh impossible. And to top it off, finding this pirate will be just about impossible too, as far as I can see."

"Finding him will be the easiest part, I think. I'll admit, though, the crew might be a minor challenge."

"And how will you find him, son? He could be a million light years away or right beside us, for all we know; these pirates can disguise their ships quicker than a chameleon can change colors."

Alec smiled tightly. "Captain, I have something of his, and he will search for me until he finds me." He looked towards the frigate, and his smile relaxed into genuine pleasure. "I know of some people who would gladly join us; all we need is, what, thirty people for the operations crew until we get there?"

"Uh huh. And where is this place, if I may ask?"

"On a mining moon...I think."

"Oh, a mining moon, you
think
. And who does this little moon belong to?"

"Florencia," Alec said tersely. "Now let's check out the ship."

Behl rolled his eyes. "Let me guess: more advice from that little voice inside your head?"

Alec ignored Behl's expression as he muttered, "Yeah, I think so." He peered out at the enormous space station in the distance and all the traffic swarming around it, and abruptly pointed at a cluster of bright motes racing around one of the station's rings. Behl smiled and leaned closer to watch the impromptu race; they could barely see the little speeders at this distance. "How big is this station?" Alec asked, gesturing with his arms towards the station they were on.

"Oh, not so big. It can hold maybe fifty thousand people."

"That's all?"