The Space Pirate 1 (5 page)

The patter of footsteps spun Charley around. A man rushed her with a pool cue, striking her hard across the temple with the improvised weapon. Charley saw stars as she hit the ground. The targeter suggested shooting the man’s knee out through a blue, non-lethal graticule. Charley obliged, splitting the graticule from point blank range. The man’s knee splintered like a tree trunk and he went down with an anguished shriek. Charley popped him in the chest to finish him off.

She looked up a spiral staircase, adrenalin coursing through her veins. She felt alive with action. She regretted the loss of life, but it was nothing she hadn’t been exposed to on the streets of Sandflower Downs on a daily basis. It was part of her life. The same cycle of life and death threatened to consume her until she decided to do something about it. Until she decided to take her opportunity with both hands and never look back. She didn’t know these men, well, not really, but the chances were that these guys were on the wrong side of the spiritual ledger. At the end of the day they were just trying to survive, just as Charley was, but not everyone could survive on a planet without resources. That was just a harsh fact of life.

Charley moved smoothly up the staircase, blasters extended. She felt like a badass and hoped she looked like one too. She made a mental note to upgrade her pathetic clothing situation as soon as she had funds. A pair of scantily clad women rushed past her down the stairs. Charley had no beef with them and let them escape.

The second storey of Boss Pete’s sanctuary. A garish shrine to decadence. Expensive paneling and provincial artwork. A soft, expansive futon and fully stocked bar with all manner of exotic bottles.

A three-stage spa network for cold, tepid and steaming hot.

Charley checked the huge room carefully, finding nothing but expensive knick-knacks. A box of Anfar cigars. An antiquated set of blasters set in a display case. A wall-length poster of Miss Kulin, a famous porn star. A number of sex toys were strewn across the floor. Rust-colored powder had been spilled on the white sheets. Charley had interrupted quite an orgy.

Just as Charley was about to climb the stairs to the third level, a bulbous, pale man rose from the soapy spa water like a walrus. He was brandishing M33 plasma blasters - they had more range and power than the M31s Silverton had passed on to Charley. For a moment Charley thought she was finished, but Boss Pete’s blasters misfired, causing the entire mechanism to rupture. The barrels exploded, sending shrapnel back into Boss Pete’s face and large gut.

“Suppose they’re not waterproof,” Charley offered dryly. She’d managed to spook Boss Pete into making a lethal mistake.

One of the benefits of a kamikaze run on a compound thought impregnable for many decades.

Boss Pete grunted in agony, his face pockmarked with bloody wounds. He let go of the useless blasters, letting them sink into the water. He looked at Charley with a mixture of anger and disbelief.

“Tell me what you want and you’ll have it,” he said.

Charley marched over to the garbage lord, her right blaster trained at his head.

“Give me the access codes to your speeder,” she said with forced calm.

Boss Pete smiled indulgently, perhaps sensing she wasn’t quite as confident as she looked.

“I must admit, I enjoy seeing this,” he murmured. “A young lass from the slums making a desperate play for power. Where did you get all that tech?”

Charley refused to answer that one.

“No matter,” Boss Pete said. “What matters is what I can do for you. Someone with your skills could advance quickly under me. As of today several positions have opened on my staff.”

He laughed, a shrill sound. His gut wobbled with mirth.

“I must also confide that seeing someone like you barge your way in here with so much energy and verve is exciting for an old man like me.”

Charley was sickened to see that Boss Pete had a podgy erection peeping through the water.

“Don’t take this personally,” she said. “But I can see further than fucking Sandflower Downs. One day I’ll have my own ship.”

Boss Pete’s eyes glittered.

“Good luck with that, girlie.”

Charley sent a bolt into the water, which quickly turned syrupy scarlet. Boss Pete’s body shuddered and a sweaty, meaty stench filled the air.

“I might be a girl, but I’m also a pirate,” she said softly. “Maybe.”

Charley left his corpse in the water. She had no idea what would happen to Sandflower Downs in the power vacuum and she didn’t care. Probably nothing would change. Some other bastard would assume control of the garbage transfer business and exploit the people of the shanty town like they always had been. There would still be a severe lack of resources, just enough to keep the strongest alive but nowhere near enough to allow anyone to escape the town and start fresh somewhere else.

It had taken a rare event for Charley to get the chance to make something of herself. She was determined to make it last as long as she could.

Forcing herself to stay vigilant, she ascended to the third level, wondering how the hell she was supposed to start Boss Pete’s speeder, which would no doubt be DNA activated.

The third level consisted of a number of smaller storage rooms. Charley would’ve liked to pillage them for valuable items but there really wasn’t much time. She guessed she would only have a half hour or so before scavengers from the town took advantage of the lack of security at the compound.

8

The room at the far end of the hall was shut. Charley kicked it open and found a bedroom replete with musical gear and a huge, spherical VR harness. A young man spun in the harness with a laser rifle, picking off enemies in the interactive game he was playing.

Charley deactivated the VR harness at the power supply. The boy slowed to a halt and removed his helmet.

“What the fuck …?”

“You Boss Pete’s son?” Charley asked.

“If you say so,” he muttered, climbing down and looking at Charley with wide eyes. “You from the slums?”

Charley looked away self-consciously. “Is it that obvious?”

“Nope,” came the earnest reply. “You’re too pretty for the slums. Wanna take a ride in Dad’s speeder?”

Charley realized that this kid was oblivious to all the violence that had taken place. He probably thought she was a call girl, in the villa for his father’s benefit. He probably also thought her blasters were role playing toys. She looked at him closely. He was eighteen or nineteen, no more. Fresh-faced and freckly. Tall and gangly in that awkward teen way. In short, only a year or two younger than she was. How could she exploit this situation? The boy had just offered her a ride. He probably had access to Boss Pete’s speeder. For this plan to work, she needed to lull the boy into a false sense of security. That would require something her body was aching for.

The pressure of battle had been intense. Charley’s body was flush with adrenalin and she needed release. Why not kill two birds with one stone?

Charley shut the door behind her with a grin.

“No offense, but your father is a bore,” she drawled. “I’d much rather spend the next few minutes here with you.”

The boy smiled, instantly hardening. “I’m Van,” he croaked.

“Nice to meet you, Van,” said Charley, feeling in complete control. She pushed him gently back against his futon and removed her shift, laying it down carefully so the pirate pellets wouldn’t roll anywhere. Her sword and pistols clattered to the floor also.

She clasped her hands together so her cleavage was emphasized. Van looked at her with hungry eyes, pulling his trousers over his stiff manhood. Charley stroked him with one hand and removed her bra with the other. She enjoyed the sensation. After a while she removed her panties and climbed on him. She was alive with the energy of battle and didn’t really care if he came or not. After a while she throbbed and shook uncontrollably, savoring the glorious moment of release. Then she threw her clothes on and grabbed Van’s hand.

“Let’s go for a joy ride,” she whispered. Van threw his trousers on, oblivious to the fact he hadn’t yet had his way. Charley dragged him out to the staircase, making sure he didn’t look too closely at the spa. Entranced with her presence, that wasn’t too hard at all. Charley kept Van engaged until they made it to the basement, where he keyed a code into the security door and lead her into the cool basement.

Boss Pete’s ride stood waiting for them. Van activated the engines and had the beast throbbing with anticipation as the front roller doors opened. Van guided the powerful vehicle out into the yard and stiffened when he saw the corpses. Charley gripped the overhead roll bar and kicked at the young man, sending him over the side door and out tumbling into the dust.

“Sorry, Van, but I’m flying solo,” she said, taking his place and pressing hard on the accelerator.

The speeder soared past the front gates and a gaggle of curious townies who would no doubt be scavenging the place by nightfall. She wondered what would become of Van. He’d probably be attacked and killed. If he was smart and could leverage his father’s bank account, he’d find a way to survive.

Charley didn’t really care either way - she was free from Sandflower Downs for the first time in her life and it felt incredible.

“Yes!” she screamed, as the speeder zoomed over the shimmering salt pan.

She was actually leaving!

It felt so amazing to finally be rid of the daily grind of her hometown. The constant pressure to raise credit for dinner had begun to wear Charley down. Who knew what she would’ve become had she not met Silverton?

She didn’t even mind the harsh sun on her back as she soared west over the flat pan. Her nav computer told her that Zeba was 434 miles to the west and lay flat in the middle of the Sarzor Salt Pan. As such, the trading hub was accessible from all directions. The only thing Charley had to watch out for was the odd granite mesa that towered over the inter-linked pans. Traveling over this terrain couldn’t have been any easier. Charley had to wonder how Silverton had contrived to hit a rock in his own speeder. Charley even took her hands off the steerage bar and luxuriated in her new freedom. She had forty credits in her pocket and a number of items to sell. What would she do with the money? The smart play was to sell one or two items and lay low for a while while she found a job that wasn’t hideous. If everything she’d heard about Zeba was correct, that might be a tough challenge.

Of course, the playgirl in her fantasized about settling into a leisure house for some serious pampering over a few days. There was nothing remotely like that in Sandflower Downs and this girl was overdue for some serious TLC!

But then a cold realization gripped her - she’d forgotten Silverton’s body! The old pirate was still back where she’d left him. Furious with herself, Charley assessed her options. Of course, she could continue on her way and simply start a new life in Zeba. Tempting, especially now she’d come all this way across the pan. On the other hand, Silverton did represent the only way she could get into his loot cache. Where she could loot gear that would improve her financial position even more. Allow her to invest a little capital in her own business in Zeba. That was super attractive. Charley was turning the speeder around in a tight arc before she knew what she was doing.

The trip back to Sandflower Downs was tense because Charley had no idea what to expect back at Silverton’s speeder. Would the body be there at all? Scavengers or desert crawlers might have gotten to it. She would need the body to prove that she had succession rights to Silverton’s name.

With immense relief she saw the corpse just where she left it. One or two gangers seemed to be loitering just out of town, watching the six ganger corpses Silverton had dropped earlier. Charley had no doubt those bodies had already been looted. Charley left her speeder running while she hefted Silverton into the back with great difficulty. With a grimace she realized how lucky she was that she hadn’t killed the propulsion bulb. Only Van’s DNA could now start this speeder. Which effectively made it useless once she shut it down in Zeba. She’d need to sell it on the black market to someone who could codejack the thing. That meant she needed to find alternative transport to the Dusty Mountains for Silverton’s loot cache. Damn, this was all getting too complicated.

With Silverton’s body secure, Charley gunned the prop bulb and was away at top speed within seconds. Her fuel reserves would hold until she reached Zeba. At least she had the right cargo now and could relax, although doubling back had taken some of the gloss off her escape.

9

The hours passed in shimmering monotony, the salt pan sliding by as if in a dream. The only way Charley knew she was traveling at all was the odd mesa that slowly passed by. At the three hour mark Charley’s neck grew stiff and she desperately needed a break. She stopped the speeder and let it run. Peeing on the salt pan, she grinned as she watched the liquid sizzle under the sun’s glare. There was a hazy black object in the distance which seemed to be getting closer. The object resolved into five smaller objects that wobbled and changed shape constantly. Frowning, Charley reached for the nocs she found in the central console. She enhanced by 150% and got a sharp shock.

The approaching objects were devil dogs, so-called for their jet black color. They were vicious desert attackers, desperate for meat and efficient in their predatory habits.