Privateer's Commission - ch 10- (Patreon)

Getting food went well.

Shopping went well.

Even the embassy visit went well.

Marionette’s bounty was wiped, she was turned into cargo, truly put into his roster as crew and property, and there wasn’t a single hiccup.

Xas never showed up.

Ralph had gone ahead and spoken to station security about it, but they didn’t have anything to say, or offer, to the situation. Xas hadn’t undergone any type of status change that they knew of, he was a citizen in good standing, and hadn’t left the station.

They did say that the security cameras had gone off for maintenance three days prior. Nothing had been picked up before or after that period.

Nor did anyone go into Xas’ shop, which was somewhat surprising.

To Ralph, that meant something happened to him and the last to find out was station security, which meant it was the Confed who’d done it, or a criminal organization that silenced everyone involved.

Not waiting around, and not wanting to be involved, Ralph had fled. His senses had been screaming at him that multiple issues were cropping up and he was going to get caught up in it.

“—then she got real nasty and told me all my acting skills were in my chest,” Marionette got out in a growl and then clicked her tongue. “Though to be fair, I really am extremely fortunate with these. I was told more than once I should get a reduction if I want to be taken seriously. I thought it was a stupid idea.

“I’d be trading what actual fame I had for the assumption that I might have more jobs. No guarantee on that, but I could easily guarantee I’d lose the modeling jobs.

“The back pain gets annoying after a while but it isn’t anything a great bra doesn’t fix and some painkillers when I end up with a bad bra.”

Ralph raised his eyebrows and looked across the dinning table at his Lady.

“Really?” he asked. Life as a beautiful person, let alone a beautiful woman, was foreign to him in every way.

“Oh yeah. Women who complain about back pain just never took the time to get fitted for the right bra,” she answered while picking at her salad. “You can’t just throw on any bra and think it’s done. That’s just asking for problems.

“That and let’s be honest. My breasts are assets. I have to take care of them as such. The right fit, the right lotion, not too much sunlight. It takes work to make sure I keep myself marketable.

“It’s not like I enjoy eating salads. But my figure is also an asset. My mental fortitude has to be strong enough to resist a lot of things.”

Ralph nodded his head, frowned, as he considered that.

“And before you say it, don’t. I need to make sure I keep myself as I am for my future,” Marionette interjected. “I know you were going to say something flattering and that I can eat what I want.

“It’s fine. I enjoy the control and I want to remain this way for as long as I can. It’ll fade in time. Make hay while the sun shines, right?”

Once more, Ralph nodded at that.

He had more than a few similar thoughts given he was working himself as hard as he was as a smuggler and merchant. Many of the things he was doing right now would be infinitely harder in a few decades.

Even with the longevity work he’d had done, he was going to age eventually.

That brought a different thought to mind.

“Want me to get you longevity treatments?” he asked suddenly.

Marionette blinked, her forkful of salad forgotten as it hung in mid air. Then she slowly put it down, put her hands to the table, and met his eyes without blinking.

“Ralph, my dear Captain, do Privateers get access to special medical procedures?” she inquired.

“No, not generally,” admitted Ralph. “But I do. I made more than a few deals with some docs in the corridor. I’ve had them done myself. I’m thirty-two.”

“You… look like you’re twenty-one,” mumbled Marionette.

“Does that mean I should put in a request? It’s expensive but we can negotiate on the price,” Ralph offered. “It’d give you a much longer life-span and remain as you are, if not even younger for some, for quite a while.”

“Yes. Yes please. Don’t worry about the price, just add it to my debt,” Marionette said dismissively. Then she picked up her fork again and started eating once more though she had a grin from ear to ear. “Any other procedures I could get? I’m not adverse to alteration. I’m not a purist.”

“I’ll ask. I didn’t really care much if I’m being honest. I just go back regularly as they update the longevity stuff,” Ralph admitted. “But I—”

A short alarm went off and shook Ralph down to his boots.

Shooting away from the table and his meal he just about slammed into his seat.

“What was that?” asked Marionette, standing behind his seat as he began to tap through his screens.

“An alert that something that appeared on sensors,” Ralph grunted out as he dove into the AI report.

Something slipped out momentarily ahead of them.

A brief burst of radiation that had likely been spotted through hull damage.

Ralph had already kept the Siren’s communication hardened as they traveled through the fringes of Blood space. Out here, laws were very different compared to the Confed.

Most peoples of the Blood didn’t have personal ships, nor did they have many merchants. Those that were out in space were often raiders who dipped into Confed territory and came back.

“Now I’m glad we sold everything in the Corridor,” confessed Ralph. “You were right about just getting rid of it, my pretty Lady. My greed was getting the best of me.”

“I was just being cautious, I didn’t know any better,” mumbled Marionette. “What do you think it is?”

“Probably a raider. They tend to linger in these fringe areas looking for a way in. I don’t think they actually know we’re here,” explained Ralph. “They’re not throwing anything active out and we’ve been traveling silent since we left port. Probably just enjoying themselves and planning another trip.”

“What? Like… hostages they took enjoying themselves?” Marionette asked in a rough voice.

“Ah? Oh. No. Blood don’t take hostages like that. They kill everyone generally. Unless you fought really well, then sometimes they let you leave with your life,” Ralph answered quickly.

Only Confed pirates, or Privateers I suppose, take hostages.

“Then what do we do?” Marionette asked. “I… they didn’t see us, I think. There’s nothing active.”

She said the last while gesturing at the screen.

“They might be listening passive but we’re running zero emissions and as you’ve told me, the Siren’s hull is… well, it’s probably illegal, right?” Marionette asked with a laugh.

“So illegal. Like not even showing up on radar guns while blowing past a police officer in a car ninety miles per hour over the limit, with blacked out license plates,” Ralph admitted with a laugh. “But they’d have to check me to discover that, and they can’t because… Privateer.”

“And-and that’s also why you like laser pistols. The materials don’t set off alarms and-and how you can sneak them onto stations, but can’t be casually searched,” Marionette confirmed. “Ballistic pistols would set off sensors.”

“Mmhmm. Also why we need to get you some,” Ralph answered.

A sudden flurry of information flashed through his screen, that there was minimal data being received, but enough to hypothesize that there were two ships out there waiting for him.

Communication by laser or other means that didn’t flag external sensors very much.

Doubly so if the point of origin and destination were both inset into a ship which would make it even harder to detect.

Ralph had no doubt that these two ships were definitely looking for the Siren.

They were here to find him personally.

The ships had placed themselves on the route he had charted after leaving the station but only if you had the Confed sensor buoy information.

Which… which Ginil would have.

Well damn. Someone really wants to get Marionette back, or me.

One or the other.

Do they want to capture her, or kill her, I wonder?

They don’t even care that the bounty has been rescinded.

To be fair, they could claim they didn’t know and just blew us up anyways or took us prisoner.

“Oh,” Ralph blurted out as he truly understood what was happening.

“Oh?” asked Marionette.

“They’re right in front of us I think. One of them, at least is in a direct path with us given the small amount of sensor information we’re getting.

“We’ll have to fire on them or change course. Doing the second would just invite them to tear our drives out, speed past us, and capture the ship,” he continued. “Also… I think it’s Ginil. Again. They don’t care that we got your bounty cleared I guess.

“How are you worth this much, my Lady? You’re beautiful to the point of being obscene, but this is a bit much, isn’t it?”

“I really… I don’t… ah… what… are you going to surrender?” she asked, sounding terrified.

“Like hell,” he grumbled. “No way I’m giving up my Lady.”

He didn’t mention the fact that they’d likely just slit his throat and say his ship was drifting in space even if he did try to hand her over.

After their last experience Ralph’s paranoia had remained in high gear. He had angled the Siren so that her rocket bay was facing toward their destination. The nose mounted laser cannon able to fire forward or backward.

“You’re my Lady and I won’t be giving you up,” asserted Ralph again. “Well… we’re in Blood space. They’re not supposed to be here.

“I can blow them up and it won’t even be an issue. Hardly an inconvenience. In fact… I’m sure the Blood will award me.

“Let’s obliterate this fool in front of us and see if we can’t just push right through past the second one. The explosion of the first will probably hide us fairly well from their sensors. Active or not. That’s my best plan and I think it’ll work.”

Ralph quickly tapped through the controls.

His rocket bay slid open without a hint showing up on sensors.

He then deactivated all the rockets propulsion and set them to launch kinetically. The heavy coils wound underneath them under tension had been built in just for such an occasion.

Firing off half of the rocket bays Ralph stared hard at his sensors.

Nothing went off on his scans.

It was as if there was nothing going on at all.

Given the force of the coils, the rockets would be moving a good amount faster than the Siren. Propelling forward and to the ship in front of him.

Then they exploded.

Far sooner than he expected.

In fact, it was as if the enemy was practically in front of them rather than further out.

“Fuck, the sensor data was wrong. They’re so close that—”

Ralph didn’t get to finish that as shrapnel from the explosions, from both the rockets and the ship, peppered across the Siren. There was likely more than enough force that there would be damage to more than a few spots across the ship.

A number of small warnings popped up on his screen letting him know that he had indeed taken damage. The most depressing of which stated that something had struck the main motor at the rear of the ship.

The half-sized motor at the top-front of the ship was still operational but that brief bit of good news didn’t matter in the moment.

There had been more than enough things hitting the Siren to give the other ship an extremely precise picture of where it was.

Which was made obvious when the Siren was immediately lit up with active scanners. Bathing the ship in just about every possible scanner known to man he imagined.

Taking the initiative, Ralph activated a number of motors and thrusters. As well as firing his laser-cannon at the point of origin that a lot of those scans were being sent out from.

He was so close that it’d be almost impossible to not know where it was coming from. The distances were so minimal that until they turned the power down on the sensors, they were going to be bouncing back in a way that’d scramble it.

“What’re you doing?” Marionette asked. It didn’t sound panicked, but he could tell she was very nervous.

“Getting in nice and close to that big bastard. It’s our best course of action. Can’t really do anything otherwise to it. Other than the laser cannon we’re too close. That’s not going to break through their armor either. I’ve got ideas but… it’s not great,” Ralph explained. “It’s easily four or five times the size of us. “Probably a damn light cruiser. They really want you, my Lady.”

“I’m taken,” she mumbled, her hands going to his shoulders. “Very taken. Happily taken.”

Ralph snorted at that.

His only idea was stupid.

Really stupid.

But it was the best idea he had.

“Alright,” he muttered and then threw in a series of commands to his AI. Then connected it to his terminal. He didn’t like this, or want to do it, but he needed to give his AI full control to make this happen. “I’m going to get ready and then we’ll get you hidden.”

“Dressed?” Marionette asked.

Leading her to the storage bay Ralph stripped out of his clothes and got into one of the space suits. His clothes taking it’s place.

From there he took her to the bathroom and then went to the toilet. Reaching down to the water junction he pulled the stopper there, removing the flow to the toilet.

Flushing it once he went into the shower and pushed on a tile in the corner.

With a pop, the false floor in the cabinet opened up.

Getting down into it, Ralph quickly pulled out several bricks of explosive materials. They were packed in this small container to avoid detection or animals trained to find them.

Throwing on the waist belt which had been inside the container he then packed the fanny pack like item with the explosive materials along with two detonators.

The detonators would be on a thirty second timer once activated or go off instantly if he held the button down.

There were no other settings.

“Ralph?” Marionette asked as he hit the tile again, and reset the water.

“Yes? Oh, the bladder in the toilet is a remote setup so that when it isn’t floating the tile can be pressed. It’s all a wireless thing I barely understand,” he explained, rushing off to where he kept all his laser pistols.

Throwing on a brace with eight positions, he quickly loaded them all, then threw on his sword and sword belt.

“What… you’re fighting them?” she asked in an odd tone.

“Going to board them and give them problems,” he answered. “Just enough for us to escape.”

“You’ve done this before? It sounds very pirate like.”

“Mm… something similar, I guess,” he answered, not wanting to explain right now. “For the moment, time to secure my most expensive cargo. I have a specialty smugglers stash where I put things that I’ve held onto years before, you know.”

“You do?! That’s kind of exciting, I wish you’d told me about it earlier,” Marionette lamented.

“It’s empty. No point in it,” he answered and went straight to the dinning room.

Grabbing the table he flipped it up against the wall on the hinge it was built on.

Once it was locked into place he went over to the fridge and pulled it forward after opening the freezer door.

Once more, a hidden set of switches had done most of the work for him. Unlocking the floor the fridge sat on.

It slid forward easily, coming away from the wall.

It stopped once it was three feet away from the cabinets and a significant distance from the wall.

There was a compartment beneath where the fridge had been, that went under the gravity plate.

It’d keep anything in there safe in an environment that could be configured for a person, or materials.

He’d used it as safe room once in his life already. Letting a group of people board him and then leave after finding nothing but a ship on self destruct.

Peering into the compartment, Ralph confirmed it was empty.

“Hop in, my Lady. You can open it from the inside if you really want, but it’s best you don’t. It’s set for oxygen and there’s enough room for you to move around a bit once you crawl forward. You can stand, sit, or lay down, and watch the monitors,” Ralph advised.

“But… you said you needed to… to secure—” her voice fell away slowly.

“I’m going to secure my precious cargo, yes. That’s what I’m doing,” he said, giving her a smirk. Time was fleeting but he hadn’t been alerted to the AI telling him his plan had finished yet. “Please get inside, my Lady, so I can secure you against harm.”

Marionette clicked her tongue, eyed him for several seconds, then sighed. She gave him a very affectionate kiss and patted him one on the shoulder.

“Be sure to come back and get your cargo,” she demanded, then squirmed between the fridge and cabinet. She dropped down into the cargo space. She dropped down onto her chest and then disappeared from view, crawling ahead into the secondary space.

Ralph pushed the fridge back in place, closed the freezer door, and pulled the table down into place.

Taking in a short breath, he wondered if boarding the enemy really was the best option at the moment. Trying to escape would just get them blown up.

There were several beeps over the speakers.

The AI had finished the plan and the Smiling Siren was now magnetically attached to the back of the enemy ship.

Right above where it should be keeping it’s atmospheric tanks.

In other words, it’s breathable air.

“Time to swing aboard, hit the decks, and send them to black-space,” Ralph hissed. Then he snorted. “Damn me, Marionette really is making me a pirate out of the stories she loves.”

Marching to the cargo bay, he opened it, dropped the ramp, and boarded the enemy.