Privateer's Commission - Ch 5- (Patreon)

Ralph glanced to the output of his AI as it’s screen flashed.

He reached over and tapped the screen once.

The AI would interpret that as it had his attention.

A readout was provided by the AI then.

An anomaly had been spotted along the route they were traveling on, though behind them.

A momentary shadow of radar, a whisper of a reading from a communications relay, a twinkling of light, anything could get the AI to pay attention and monitor the situation.

Ralph kept his AI locked up behind many things, but his sensors and readouts were not included. The AI on board the Siren wasn’t great at many things, but what it could do really well, was parse sensory data.

It was important to know where people were as a smuggler after all.

Grunting, Ralph accepted the report, then tapped one of the pre-generated replies.

The screen flickered as the “best guess” button was depressed and replaced with a new readout.

No sooner than Ralph saw it then he knew what he was dealing with.

“Well, I guess I get to show them why we’re the Siren,” Ralph mumbled and looked away from the sudden picture that the AI had provided him with.

One of the ships docked at the Bazaar was behind them it seemed, trying to be quiet about it, and pursuing them. If it was indeed the ship that the AI was suggesting, it wasn’t military, or even something that was armed beyond simple rockets strapped to the vessel, or a laser cannon.

Personally, Ralph was betting on it being the three men who had been staring at Marionette. Either they wanted her for themselves, or they wanted her bounty.

He wasn’t sure which, and it didn’t matter.

In either case, his course of action was clear.

Take them out into non-Confed space end things.

The AI once more made a suggested reply and Ralph took it without really thinking about it. At this point, after ten years, the AI was pretty well aware of what he wanted.

He may not trust it, but at least it knew his wants.

Given the response of “Lure and Plunder” the AI was now plotting a new route, the shortest distance to dark-space.

Where no one had buoys and didn’t like to explore.

After a few seconds a new route was passed to the main display for his travle-route and current speed.

“Three days for dark-space,” Ralph mused and shook his head. After having seen it, it didn’t really fit what he watned. “But… we’re only one day away from the border to Malev. Their entire communication array was down due to extremists wasn’t it? Is it still down?”

Reaching out Ralph tapped at the screen several times, paused, and then reached out to the AI terminal and tapped it once.

A new route appeared.

“This’ll work,” mused Ralph as he looked it over. It’d only take them twelve hours in the end. It wouldn’t even take them too far off the original course either.

Inputting the new route, Ralph leaned back in his chair.

He’d been sat here for the better part of two hours.

Marionette had checked on him twice as well. Offering him a snack as well as putting a glass of water in front of him.

He’d declined the former but drained the latter.

Unbuckling his harness he swiveled around in the chair and looked down the corridor. Getting up he slowly meandered down it, wondering where the Lady Siren had gotten off to.

He didn’t find her in the kitchen or the dining room.

Nor was she in the living room.

Ralph found her passed out crossways on the bed and still dressed. As if she’d laid down for a moment and ended up falling asleep.

Snorting to himself, Ralph considered what to do.

Then he shrugged and stood in the doorway.

“Lady Siren,” Ralph said in a soft though firm tone.

She didn’t stir.

“Marionette,” he tried.

Nothing.

Frowning, he walked over and tapped her forearm.

She was like the dead, though her chest rose and fell.

Grabbing her by the shoulder her gave her a small shake.

Her eyes blearily opened and she looked at him without seeing him.

“You should change for bed,” he offered. The time was late enough that she could easily sleep through “night” hours for her home planet now.

Marionette grunted, still clearly asleep.

Then she moved herself awkwardly to the edge of the bed. In no time at all the beautiful woman stripped to being nude, shucking her clothes to the side.

Ralph found that the view of the naked Marionette was extremely more appealing than the clothed version. All her clothes did was hide how impressive she was.

Not bothering to get dressed she instead pulled the sheets back to his bed, slid in, and immediately fell right back a sleep. A soft snore emanating from her within seconds of her head hitting the pillow.

Shrugging, Ralph left the bedroom, closing the door behind him.

He went over to the living room and sat down at the computer after noticing the monitor was still on. Marionette had left the browser paused at a video.

It looked to be some type of journal from someone acting as a ships-mistress according to the title.

Raising an eyebrow, and suddenly feeling curious, he briefly considered checking her history. Then decided against it.

He wanted a quick nap before they got into a fight.

After having been in a shootout, a run-in with a military fleet, then having to cow the Bazaar owner, he was tired.

Extremely tired.

Glancing at the closed bedroom door, Ralph realized he didn’t want to go in there. For whatever reason, sleeping next to a naked Marionette seemed problematic at the moment.

Though he hoped that feeling would fade soon.

A naked Marionette was already at the forefront of his mind and he’d only seen her for less than ten seconds.

Moving to the sofa he made himself comfortable there. A second after closing his eyes, he passed out.

***

“Uhm, Ralph?”

Grunting, not wanting to visit the land of the waking, Ralph instead tried to roll over.

There was nowhere to go since he was on the sofa. All he manged to do was stick his face into the backrest.

Blowing out a breath, he laid there, face pressed to the fabric.

“Ralph, I looked at the controls… I think we’re only ten minutes away from the route you plotted in. I think?” Marionette said. She sounded unsure. “I tried to search a bit on the web to figure out what it all was and I think that’s what it is.”

“Ten minutes?” he asked and rolled back over the other way.

Squatting there in front of him was Marionette. She was dressed in very casual looking clothes that emphasized how pretty she was.

When dolled up, she went above and beyond.

Though even in casual wear, she had the look of someone that needed to be photographed.

It also did a great job of showing off her body.

“Yes,” she confirmed with a smile. “I made a simple breakfast and some coffee for us. Would you like to join me in the dining room?”

Grunting yet again, Ralph lifted his hands and dug his palms into his eyes.

“Uh yeah,” he finally got out and then moved to a sitting position. “That’d be great.”

He’d never been woken up with breakfast and coffee before.

Standing up, Marionette smiled at him. Only then did he realize she was wearing an apron that really did a number of pulling the eyes to her chest.

Pushing himself out of the sofa only to follow Marionette as she went into the dinning room. He felt somewhat odd as she shuffled along, his feet moving but his body feeling stiff.

“You slept so hard that I didn’t want to wake you, but I almost thought I should put you in our bed,” Marionette murmured as she gestured at the table.

Bacon, sausage, and hash-browns were there. Though the poor potatoes looked to have been over-cooked on one side and under-done on the other.

Ralph was most certainly not going to complain about hot food ready for him after waking up. Instead he sat right down, picked up his fork, and started to eat.

He did his best to do it swiftly, yet politely. As much as he wanted to go look at the monitor, he did need to eat.

Marionette only laughed, sat herself down, and began to work at a much smaller plate of food.

She did eye him several times as he ate. He noticed it and then realized he couldn’t just be a robot at the moment.

Setting his fork down he swallowed, picked up his coffee, and took a sip. Once he’d cleared his mouth he picked up the provided napkin and dabbed at his mouth.

“Thank you, Marionette, it’s good. I really appreciate this,” he murmured. “Normally I’d just roll out of bed, grab a hunk of jerky and plop down at the terminal.”

“It’s what I’m here for, isn’t it?” Marionette replied happily, smiling at him. “And you’re welcome! But… what’s going on? Where are we going?

“The route listed isn’t-isn’t the same that we’d discussed previously. I thought we were going to the Blood of Calesat?”

“People following us,” Ralph said as he took another drink of his coffee. “Someone from the Bazaar. They either want you because you’re as beautiful as you are, or your bounty.”

With a single further scoop, Ralph finished the hash-browns off. All and all they’d been pretty good. He could have done better but this had been a gift that hadn’t required any effort on his part.

“Oh… oh dear. It seems I’m causing problems. I’m so sorry,” apologized Marionette.

“I knew it was a possibility given your looks but… it’s fine. I may be a Privateer on a mercantile ship, but I’m still a Privateer,” excused Ralph. He didn’t want her to feel guilty. “We’re going to pull them out into a dark spot and show them the error of their ways.”

Marionette looked somewhat surprised at those words. However, she also looked really pleased.

She was staring at him with a piece of bacon halfway to her mouth.

“Thank you for the compliment and… really?” she asked. “Do-do we have time to eat? Should we be going over to the cockpit now?”

“No. Until we reach the point I set up we’ll be within sensor range of a number of buoys. Once we cross over then it’s a question mark of when they’ll rush in,” Ralph explained. “After that, then it’s time to cause problems. Once we’re in that dark spot I plan on opening up the shutters on our rocket bays. They’re not really legal but… there’s no way I’d ever go unarmed.”

Marionette’s eyes widened and she nodded her head.

“I knew it! I knew it. I knew-are we going to blow them up? Kill them?” Marionette asked, her words practically spilling over one another.

“If I can’t disable them, yes? I want their cargo and whatever I can strip from their ship,” confirmed Ralph. “Picking through debris is never as easy as just taking everything from an intact ship.

“As to killing them, probably. We’re in a sensor blind spot so there’s no reason not to. If you’re willing to attack someone else and possibly kill them, you need to be ready to die yourself.

“Could strip the ship of anything of worth and sell it to the Blood. They buy anything ship-related, really. Just have to make sure we wipe or destroy all the drives as well as the transponder.”

Marionette continued to rapidly nod her head as he spoke. There was a strange excitement to her.

Then he realized what was happening.

She’s never really taken a life or seen someone lose their life.

I wonder if she’s even seen someone grievously hurt.

This is still in the “adventure” phase.

“Well, first we—”

There was a long and loud beep that sounded throughout the Siren.

It would most certainly raise the dead with how loud it was.

Snatching up his plate Ralph rushed off, darting straight toward the cockpit as soon as he heard the sound.

This noise was someone painting the area he was in with radar and probably lidar. Which given his instructions, his AI was already working the counter-measures for and sealing their communications.

“What was that!?” Marionette asked as Ralph got into his seat. He quickly buckled himself in and then set his plate down on his lap.

“People trying to figure out where we are,” he growled and turned to look at the monitor his AI worked in. Despite his distrust for the thing, he knew it would do it’s job perfectly. “Before you ask, the AI is already running all of our counter-measures. A lot of which are just passive. Well, passive, but need to be activated.”

“I don’t… they don’t know where we are?” Marionette inquired, seating herself in the co-pilot seat and then pulled her straps on. The apron folding low as she did so and pulling her a bit further out of her clothes in an impressive way.

“Until I dump our ass, yeah. But that’s fine,” answered Ralph. He watched as they ticked over into the sensor dark area. The only reason he knew it since the AI had already closed their communications was that the constant detection he’d been getting from the buoys, also on the AI monitor, slowly fell away.

Checking the course of where the cargo bay would go if he detached it he ran a plot for it. It’d just keep sailing off indefinitely and shouldn’t run into anything at all.

Or at least, anything that was charted.

Man, I don’t want to replace the cargo bay again. That was awful last time.

The detection from the buoys went silent. Their systems no longer pinging him as they entered the area completely.

Ralph stuffed a piece of bacon into his mouth and then rapidly hit several switches and pushed a button.

A clank and a soft boom behind him told him the cargo was sealed.

Another button press and the cargo bay was gone, leaving the Smiling Siren as a sleek and lethal ship more akin to a large interceptor.

The disconnect had given the Siren just enough distance that he could fire off several momentary maneuvering thrusters to get out of it’s way.

Thankfully the bay would also block those thrusters from view from those who pursued them.

They were staggered bursts though so that the ship would list to one side, and partially spin. Putting the underside in line with the people pursuing them.

At the same time he pulled the toggle that’d activate the shutters that hid the rockets. The heavy thick plates that were just beyond the gravity deckplate slid apart.

Hiding his full broadside here, and with the overwhelming and always on gravity plates, had kept them hidden quite well.

The laser cannon in the nose would also now be able to be used if they kept in line with the cargo bay.

“We have those… ah… jammer things? I read about them, too,” asked Marionette.

“Yeah. Radar dampening panels, too. Paint, materials, and even the fasteners. All of it. For all intents and purposes, we won’t show up as well now. If we do show up, it’ll look like a ship much further away.

“They’ll focus on our rear end as it floats off on it’s merry way. As if unware that it’d just been painted.”

“People wouldn’t normally know?”

“Depends on the system. Mine are very touchy. Any type of active scan will show up. Infrared and basic heat signatures would still spot us but all the things I’d want to hide are behind us. We’re actively blocking our own problems.”

“I don’t really understand it all but… good. I’m glad.”

“Even I don’t fully understand it all, I just make the best use of it all I can. Now… let’s see who we have.”

Pulling up the AI monitor once again, Ralph looked to it’s display.

There was a large heat signature coming off their pursuer. They were now attempting to close the distance and catch up.

On top of that, their active sensors were giving them a gigantic signature as well.

Looking at it, Ralph wanted to make sure they crossed into the sensor gap before he did anything.

He could be ready though.

There were minor fluctuations coming from behind the ship though as if it were red-lining it’s thrusters. They’d be a giant beacon to anyone behind them for quite a while on thermals.

Unless they spent money on dampeners or heat sinks to try and counter that but he doubted it.

That thought just reminded Ralph that he didn’t like space.

Space was a strange place to Ralph.

He had always thought it was cold but given that it was a void, there was nothing for heat to transfer to. Heat loss in space was only due to radiation.

Some materials could dump their heat much faster than others and Ralph had been picky in his upgrades for the Siren.

Much of the equipment he considered battle oriented had been made of some very expensive materials.

Thrusters, plates around said thrusters, communication equipment, weapons.

Those materials were mostly carbon based things made in a lab that Ralph couldn’t remember the name of, though he could remember the hefty price tag.

Materials that were often included into Walkers to offset their high-heat usage and that the military loved.

The ship had moved into range now and was still burning along after the cargo bay. Unaware of Ralph and Marionette watching them.

“They don’t see us?” Marionette asked, staring at her own displays intently.

“We’re a black ship, in a sea of black, without external lights,” Ralph remarked with a laugh.  Then he picked up a sausage and took a bite out of it. When he finished chewing he sighed. “We’re doing everything we can to look like void. Or a really distant ship to them.

“Thankfully they’re not military or this’d be a lot harder. A whole hell of a lot harder. Their sensors are considerably better and it’d likely turn into a rocket fight and trying to dodge.”

There was a soft ping noise that let him know the ship was now within range of his laser canon, though it wasn’t at a lethal range.

“Well, we’ll give them the threat first and see if they surrender. A lot of ships will just give it up when you give’em the threat. If they do surrender, then they get to live,” Ralph explained, his fingers moving across his controls as he fed small shifts in his maneuvering thrusters to bring everything into range and line with their target.

“And if they don’t?” Marionette asked.

“Then we space’em,” Ralph declared and then locked his laser cannon to what his AI had identified as the cockpit. There was no glass-steel to see out of it and it looked like this was an entirely enclosed design.

It was black of course and almost impossible to spot normally.

Their own heat signatures and sensors made it as easy as it could be, however.

At this distance, he was now certain that this ship was from the Bazaar. Based on their trajectory in this moment, as well as their active sensors still ranging outward, he didn’t think they meant him well.

In the blackness of the sea of stars, there was only the quick, and the dead.

Ralph was quick and he was sure that these people meant him harm.

If they didn’t, he’d deal with the consequences later.

Powering up the weapon he saw the weapons cross-hair swing around rapidly as the cannon slid out of it’s cradle, pivoted, and locked on.

“That’s the threat?” Marionette asked.

“No,” Ralph said with a smile. He fired off a single rocket that scorched through space. The distance wasn’t great and it made it there in no time at all.

Then it slammed home into what the AI had identified as the communication array.

It wasn’t an explosive round and was really just there to do exactly this job.

A solid weapon that was sent to maul equipment and little else.

There would be no way for them to send out any type of distress now given the damage.

“That’s the threat. Because now it’s just us and them. If they power down and go nice and quiet, it’ll be fine. If not, well… we put another rocket like that one into their ship and vent them all to space,” Ralph explained and looked to Marionette.

She was grinning ear to ear looking at the screen.

He once again couldn’t help but admire the way the straps were holding her and pushing her anatomy about.