Privateer's Commission -ch 12- (Patreon)

Hitting the enter key, Ralph laughed.

Then groaned.

His leg was throbbing where he’d been shot.

Turning to the dead soldiers he bent down. Thinking about being shot had reminded him that he was lacking firearms.

Snatching pistols from holsters and the one person’s hand he stuffed them into his pistol brace. He collected magazines and dropped them all into his fanny pack as well.

Since it was empty, there wasn’t a reason to fill it up after all.

Moving through the pistols he made sure each had a chambered round, the safety was off, and it was ready to go.

Glancing at his sent message he saw no response as of yet.

“Well, I did essnetially tell them I’m operating as a privateer, I’m claiming them as criminals, their ship as a prize, all cargo as booty, and themselves as prisoners,” Ralph mused and spotted something on the far wall he was very interested.

The other reason why he wasn’t likely going to get an immediate response, was that he’d told them he had already alerted the local Blood faction to come and pick them up.

A bold faced lie, but something that would give him the upper hand in negotiations.

Reaching the wall panel that had a red cross on it, Ralph pushed on it, and it swung open.

Inside was a red bag.

“Oh yeah. Nice,” he muttered and took the bag.

A quick look around the room and he felt like the corner of this room, amongst several panels in a shadowed space, was the best place to be.

Picking up the terminal as he passed by, he hobbled into the corner.

Wriggling into the corner he put the medical bag down abetween his boots, then sat himself down. Unholstering one of the soldiers pistols he set it down next to himself.

Opening the bag, he began to sort through it.

It was rudimentary at best, and seemed more suitable to patching holes in suits, but he was glad for it.

If not for one reason and one reason alone.

There was pain meds in it.

Nodding his head, Ralph grabbed a small device.

This rather small toothpaste tube looking device would inject pain killers the moment the tip made it into human flesh.

Knocking the front off it, Ralph exposed the thin and oddly sparkly tip.

Looking to his leg he gently eased the edge of the impromptu pressure banadage he’d made backward several inches, folding it over.

The device would puncture his suit but he could cover it by folding the bandage back of, rather than using the included patches.

No sooner than the tip struck his flesh than it vibrated briefly, then went motionless.

Tossing away the spent module Ralph briefly considered using another one, than decided against it.

Instead he rolled the impromptu bandage back into place. Zipping the bag back up he set it to the side.

Ralph picked up the pistol and held it loosely in his right hand.

The terminal was picked up in his left hand and held against the machine he was leaned against.

There was a new reply.

“You’ll leave this ship immediately and cease hostilities.”

Ralph snorted at that and shook his head.

“No thanks!

“I have explosives on the fuel stores and I’m ready to blow this whole ship up. This isn’t really a time for you to be posturing and acting like a captain.

“Time to be more like someone who has a gun to their head.

“Which you do.

“You have five minutes to decide. After that I’m just going to hit the detonator and get off the ship. It’s a pretty short timer so you’ll have to wager if you can get here in time.

“Or am I waiting outside the CIC? Maybe I have explosives lining the exits. You’re safe in there, but at my mercy. Or you exit, and I blow you up.”

Ralph was feeling better now.

The pain meds were certainly kicking in and giving him relief.

Staring at the door he waited for a response.

There was a clock in the corner of the terminal he was holding so he at least knew how long to give them.

I do wonder if my bluff will work.

There’s no way I can—

Several people rushed into the room. Each of them with weapons.

None of them noticed Ralph hidden in the corner but all of them became hyper focussed on the fuel and the explosives on it.

Lifting the pistol he braced it with both hands and fired off several rounds.

The boom of the pistol was a shock against his hands and forearms, but absolutely silent given the void of space.

Slamming into the nearest soldier the rounds dropped them in an odd way. Ralph shifted the pistol around to get the person to the right of the one he’d just killed as they would be the most likely to spot him.

Ralph pulled the trigger several more times and one of the shots went high and wide. Hitting them in the helmet and explosively decompressing it.

They flew backward and landed amongst the dead.

The third person didn’t even realize Ralph was there. Looking between the two soldiers that’d just fallen to the ground.

Remembering that this was indeed a pistol that fired solid projectiles, Ralph lifted the pistol slightly and put a round into the last soldier’s helmet.

Once more, the helmet took the hit and explosively decompressed. Though apparently Ralph hadn’t actually killed them.

They were scrambling at their helmet with both hands.

Raising his eyebrows Ralph lowered the pistol and put two into their chest. The rounds hitting them int he side of their torso.

Flinching away from Ralph the soldier squirmed to one side and hit the wall. Their hands pressed to their face for a few more seconds before they slumped against the wall, hands dropping to their sides, and then slowly falling backward.

Laying on the ground their body twitched several times, as if their brain was still sending random signals to the limbs.

With a sniff, and a cough, Ralph wondered if there was more coming.

He’d fired off about twelve rounds he figured. Which meant he was close to the end of the magazine.

Not wanting to risk his life, he hit the magazine release, and flicked it free.

It fell to the ground and laid there.

Ralph glanced at it, saw there was a round in the well, and knew he didn’t need to chamber the pistol.

Pulling a fresh magazine from the fanny pack he popped it in and then looked back to the terminal.

It’d been four minutes and there was no response.

Picking up the terminal Ralph typed in a quick message.

“Well, we both know there wasn’t explosives outside of the CIC now, but you won’t be hearing from the three people you sent.

“You’ve got about one minute left.

“Surrender to me as a Privateer and I’ll conduct you to the Blood of Calesat as prisoners. Don’t… and I’ll just blow you up and let the Blood pick over your corpses.

“Choose.”

Ralph gazed at the doorway.

Ready for whatever came next.

“I, Captain Talvor, surrender my ship to you, Privateer Turlan.”

“Well shit. That’s just peachy,” Ralph said with a laugh.

“Fantastic. Go ahead and and just stay in the CIC. If you exit, I’ll blow up the ship, and yes, I’m not on the ship anymore. I figured you were going to say no so I handled your three goons, set up some remote equipment, and left.

“I’ll contact you on this terminal when the Blood are ready to take you into custody. Just hang tight and I won’t go back inside and start popping open those hatches to get a breath of fresh air from those trapped inside.”

Ralph pushed himself up out of the corner, but kept himself ready. He didn’t trust the captain.

In fact, he half believed that there were more soldiers lurking around. Quite possibly right outside the corridor.

Hesitating, he wasn’t sure he really wanted to leave.

This captain had already taken his ship and another outside of the Confed territory. They moved in a way that was quite possibly able to start up a war between the Blood and the Confed, all for their own needs.

Him surrendering, but then having his people search the corridors sounded about right.

Grimacing, Ralph realized his options were somewhat limited.

Even as his thoughts churned away he didn’t come to anything new. He could sit here and wait, or he could attempt to leave and take his chances.

Then his mind came to a different possibility.

That he could remain here and still do what he wanted.

Moving to the dead soldiers he began rifling through their pockets.

Their suits actually had pockets for them to stow things away in. With any luck, he’d find someone who was dumb enough to spend extra for a mobile phone that’d work in space.

Because anyone dumb enough to buy such a phone would probably also have it linked to their biometrics. Probably a thumb print.

Ralph didn’t have any luck with the first three he put his hands on.

The fourth though, a rather attractive woman if you overlooked the fact that there was a bullet hole in her head, had exactly what Ralph was looking for.

Pulling out the phone he tapped at the screen to unlock it and grabbed the woman’s hand.

Surprisingly, the phone unlocked and simply made itself available.

Maybe it’s a near body unlock? I know some phones allow that.

Huh.

Keeping the phone in his hand, Ralph waddled to the corridor.

He could see down it clearly enough and most of the way back he came in fact. Some of the lights were out and left the area in darkness but it wasn’t too terrible.

The side corridors were the problem here.

Where someone would lay in wait to shoot him as he exited.

A picture of the woman flashed to the front as he cleared the home screen. She was standing in a room with a dog.

Forcing away the threat of seeing his enemy as a person, which he just couldn’t afford at the moment, Ralph tapped into the camera part of the phone.

Moving closer to the wall Ralph peered out to the corridor section in front of him and saw nothing.

Turning it on selfie mode for the camera he eased up to the door frame and slid the edge of the camera past the doorframe.

The screen facing him showed no one there.

Ralph didn’t trust that so he stood there.

Waiting.

There was no movement, no response, and no sign of anyone being there.

Moving the phone around a bit he tried different angles, zooms, and positions.

Nothing was there.

Tapping the camera flip button, he reversed the camera. Looking down the opposing hallway.

Once again, there didn’t seem to be anything there. The corridor was as clear as the one in front of him and the one that ran in the opposite direction.

Surprisingly, Ralph didn’t see anyone waiting for him.

Letting the phone fall to his side Ralph contemplated what to do.

He could risk it and leave, or stay here, and hope they came to him.

“Fuck it,” he growled, realizing he couldn’t just sit here. The longer he delayed the more likely it would be that the soldiers would come snooping around.

Taking the phone over to where the terminal had been Ralph went into the options.

He turned on the automatic answer option, which the phone promptly told him was a bad idea, and turned on automatic video calls.

Lastly, he turned onto the hot-spot broadcast and put in a quick and simple password for it.

Now he just needed the number for this phone.

Tapping into the details for the device he looked to the phone number. He repeated it several times and memorized it after finding it.

Sticking the phone down atop the machine, with the camera facing outward and into the corridor, Ralph moved back to the doorframe.

Taking in a deep breath Ralph worked up his courage.

In a split second he just about jumped out of the room and into the corridor.

No sooner than his foot hit the floor than Ralph settled into a herky-jerky limping trot. Regardless of what was in that corridor he didn’t want to be at that intersection.

Looking over his shoulder Ralph hobbled along.

Yet nothing happened.

No one came.

The fear had all been in his head.

Hell.

Sometimes fear really is the mindkiller.

Just about lost my ability to think on a fear.

Ralph hurried on.

***

“—more we can do?” whined Marionette, her hands fluttering over his leg. “I really don’t like this. We should do more, shouldn’t we?”

The beautiful woman’s face was screwed up in fear and anxiety. Her lip caught between her lips as she stared at the blood soaked bandage over the gunshot wound.

“I mean, the bleeding has slowed to a crawl, nothing seems to be broken, and the bullet isn’t going anywhere,” Ralph teased, watching Marionette with a grin.

No sooner than he’d made it back on the ship than she’d started making her way out of the safe space. She had most certainly been watching the cameras and was aware of what was happening to a degree.

“It’s fine,” he asserted. Reaching out, he took her hands in his, and held them tightly. “The Blood are really good at combat wounds. Really good. When they get here, they’ll be happy to take care of it and without even charging me.

“They love battles and fights. Most of the Blood all have this warrior type of culture.

“More so when it concerns the Confed who they view as… well… less than human and illegally in their territory.

“So, me asking for help as I’ve destroyed a Confed ship and captured another one in space-combat… well, they’ll be here fast, and more than willing to help me out.”

The message sent to the Blood of Calesat had been responded to nearly instantly.

Several Blood warships were in rapid transit to their location.

Marionette winced, her hands fluttered over the bandage again, then moved to press to her stomach.

Then her head turned slightly and she looked to his phone sitting on the cockpit dashboard. It was a live view of the dead soldier’s camera.

No one had come by yet, but Ralph wasn’t taking chances.

“Come on, this’ll make it easier for us in the future. I’m not sure they’re willing to risk even more on you, despite how gorgeous you are,” said Ralph with a chuckle. Then he sighed. “Good thing they don’t know what a great person you are on top of that. If they knew that, I’d likely have to buy a station and move us into deep black space and never contact the outside world again.”

Marionette smiled at that, her brow furrowing. Then she laughed, leaned down, and stuck, her forehead down against his shoulder.

“You flatter me,” she mumbled against him. “A lot. You make it sound like you did this for me.”

“I mean, I kind of did. I even said, ‘for my Lady’ before I started my assault,” he offered, wrapping an arm around Marionette’s shoulders.

“Did you really?” she asked somewhat breathlessly.

“Of course I did. If I’m going to become a Privateer worthy of such a lovely Lady, I need to make it match those stories of yours, don’t I?” he teased a bit more. “You can even post a bit more about your life as a ships-mistress.”

“I haven’t done much of that. I get too many requests to join me, calling me a liar, or demanding proof,” she mumbled. Her hands came up and grabbed him at his shirt.

The space suit was currently around his ankles in case he needed to pull it back on and ‘get to work’ so to speak.

“I don’t think I could handle another ships-mistress like you. Think half the Confed would be after me at that point.”

Marionette grunted but didn’t answer that. She just held onto him.

Remaining there like that for a full minute, Ralph was quite happy to hold onto the lovely woman. There was no denying for him that he was far too invested in her at this juncture for himself.

She also seemed determined to keep herself fit, in shape, and “pretty” in her own words. More than a few times he’d caught her working out in the cargo bay with simple exercises.

There was no denying a lot of work was going into looking good and he couldn’t deny the proof was in the pudding.

“Would you want another?” she asked suddenly. “All kidding aside.”

“No. I barely agreed to you, remember? I don’t need anyone else other than me on this ship,” he confessed. “You’re here entirely because you convinced me that I needed you.”

“Maybe I got a little jealous at the idea of having another ships-mistress,” she grumbled. “I barely made this happen and the idea of another one showing up just… just… no.”

“Awww, you’re actually jealous? Such an amazing woman like you?” Ralph asked with a laugh.

“There’s thousands of ‘amazing women’ like me, Ralph,” whispered Marionette. “Thousands. There are women even prettier than me. With bigger boobs, a narrower waist, better ass. Better everything.

“There’s women out there who just outclass me so hard that I could never compete with them.

“There’s not that many Privateers in comparison. Less than ten-thousand amongst the whole of the Confed and Blood territories.

“You could easily find better than me, but I’d likely never be able to get another Privateer.

“It’s… it’s like those lovely high-class women who aim so high, that any man who could fit into their needs, would go for better than them anyways.”

Ralph really didn’t quite comprehend what she meant, not in a way that he could speak to at least. He vaguely got her meaning but also thought it wouldn’t be good to ask her about it.

“Guess it’s a good thing I’m not looking for anyone else, isn’t it?” he asked.

A follow up thought to his words was Delilah and he now understood what Marionette was trying to say. Or at least, more than he had.

If he went to port, found someone just better than Marionette, he could push her off the ship, take the new person along, and that’d be that.

Alright.

I’ll need to make sure I don’t make her feel endangered in the future.

I get it.

A sudden buzz caused him to look over to his instrument panel.

There was a ship coming his way and they weren’t be quiet about it.

Active sensors were firing off in every direction.

Then another ship showed up doing the same.

Then another.

And another.

Ralph raised his eyebrows.

It wasn’t a few warships heading his way, but perhaps a task group.

“That’s them?” Marionette asked.

“That’s them. Let’s say hi and let them know we’re here,” Ralph murmured.

Not letting go of Marionette, he used his free hand to turn on his own active sensors. Which might as well be waving his arms back and forth over his head for the other ships.