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Chapter Three

Seggr Control had just signed off and I sat back. I closed my eyes briefly and keyed in the sequence for The Argent Star, a space casino super-barge that ran a fairly regular orbit throughout the more civilized sectors of Telubian Space. I opened my eyes as the controls lit up, my ship's navigation computer contacting the barge and setting up a route.

_Why did I set a course to there? What is going on here? _ My mind drifted back to the cargo bay, the forlorn box sitting in the middle. All I knew was that this was where I needed to go, and that I didn't want to look too close at that box. I shook my head and sighed.

"Captain, are you okay? You've seemed pretty off since you got back here." Josia's small voice broke me out of my reverie and a headache I hadn't noticed creeping up on me suddenly flared to life, causing me to grit my teeth.

"Yeah, I'm fine. I just feel a bit out of sorts. You know how it is..." I chuckled weakly, wondering why I was lying to my most trusted friend.

She nodded. "Some people say that if you're in space for too long at a stretch going back planetside can make one feel a bit claustrophobic. Assuming that the reverse doesn't happen and you get afraid of the wide openness of space." She cracked a grin. "Please tell me that isn't happening to you. I'm not looking forward to job hunting again!"

"Heheh, no. I think I'll just be happier once this job is done. Hell, maybe we can take some time off and enjoy some of our money." I smiled wider. "I can think of a few places I'd like to stop."

"Ugggh, not that dingy place on Katha Prime with that vapid stripper! Thank you, no, I think I'll pass on that one. Although if you really wanted to stop there you could always leave me somewhere else and we'll meet up after a week or so..."

"What, you have somewhere to be?" I arched an eyebrow, leaning back and putting my hands behind my head.

"Just some places I'd like to visit, some sites I'd love to see. Nothing like what you're planning." She sighed and closed her eyes dreamily. We were both brought back to reality by the console beeping at us.

"Shit!" I half-leaped out of my chair as the display showed a Leopard Class frigate exiting hyperspace practically on top of us, and glanced over to see if we could initiate our jump yet. "Bloody stupid fucking ridiculous shit headed captains! Probably-"

"Some damned lion!" Josia finished for me, giggling hysterically.

"Yeah, real funny. You should get a job at a comedy club, you're that good." I chuckled a bit despite my words, shaking my head. Maybe I do go off about lions a lot, but the guys are all stuck-up, prissy jerks. All arrogance and no brains.

My train of thought was interrupted by a tone on the com. "This is the Sable Claw hailing Silanna's Song, do you copy?"

"Sable Claw, this is Silanna's Song, we copy." My eyebrows were crawling up towards my mohawk as I locked eyes with Josia. She looked worried.

"We need you to key down your hyperspace sequence and be prepared to be boarded."

I just gawped for a second. Boarded? What? By some no-name vessel who just happened to practically jump on top of me and-

And that's when it hit me. This wasn't some chance encounter, they had planned this. They were probably some space pirates, taking advantage of the remoteness of the location to jump smaller vessels. They might even think this was some pleasure barge, and not a small freighter.

There was no time to explain, and thankfully no need. Josia was already settling back into the seat, buckling her harness with a grim look on her face. I just whirled around and hit the thrusters.

Why didn't I talk to them? Well, because they would've disregarded anything I said and would've just used the time I spent talking to them to lock onto us, pulling our smaller ship into one of their hangar bays and then killing us once they boarded. Talking didn't do any good with folk like them. And we were too small to fight them head-on.

Running, on the other hand, was a perfectly reasonable reaction.

The engine responded smoothly and we jumped forward, the muted roar making me smile. I pulled hard to the right, away from the large frigate, the view changing from giant ship to cold stars and velvety black space slowly. I briefly wished it could go faster, but gave up that line of thought quickly enough. I kept up the pressure on the throttle, hoping that my reluctance to just roll over would push them away to easier prey, hoping that they didn't have a small fleet of skiffs.

Both hopes proved useless, however. "Silanna's Song, this is your last warning! Cease and desist, prepare to be boarded, or we'll bring you in by force!" The voice was practically a snarl over my com, and I watched the display with a sinking feeling as several small bogeys appeared on the radar.

"Shit." I said weakly, pushing forward. I watched as the smaller ships flew out ahead of me, circling and cutting off my escape. They had planned pretty damned well, and appeared to be ready to take on anything I could throw at them. I yanked the controls, pulling my ship to the left and down to avoid the smaller ships and hoping to get a clear shot of space. If I could just get a few more seconds...

My maneuver meant that I lost the smaller ships, but we were now going to be even closer to the big ship, and were now heading for the atmosphere of Seggr IV. The larger ship could probably handle a planetside landing, but would be far too ungainly to actually maneuver while in atmosphere. The smaller ships would be able to keep up, though. I gritted my teeth and pushed.

My plan was to get the larger ship to hold still, allowing the smaller ships to swoop in, thinking they could take me down once I hid out in the atmosphere of the small planet. Once they were balls deep into the planet's atmosphere I was going to swoop along the underbelly of the frigate and shoot out into space, leaving the frigate sitting idle and the small skiffs flying in the wrong direction.

That was my plan, at any rate. Watching the blips on the radar confirmed that the skiffs took the bait, flying around and downwards. I waited to make sure that they were well and truly hooked before pulling up, the planet's gravity grasping and pulling at the belly of my ship, skimming along the underside of the frigate, punching upwards and forward as fast as my baby could go. Once again I was given a tantalizing view of space, and I felt my heart lighten at it.

And then I heard a warning bell and jerked forward in my seat as my forward momentum was cut off. The beam hit us as I pulled up along the bottom, pulling me up into a reserve hangar. Josia and I rose quickly, quietly, heading for the cargo bay hallway, grabbing our guns and ammo on the way.

There was no need for words. We both knew that it was our lives at stake. We both set up in the hallway, covering the wide cargo bay. The only way onto the ship was through the cargo bay, and the only way into the rest of the ship from there was this tiny hallway. We could hold this pinch point until our ammo ran out.

I felt the ship get pulled in, the clunk as she settled onto the floor and the groan as the hull readjusted to whatever pressure the frigate used as its standard. The landing gear wasn't down, but that wouldn't stop some determined pirates. I fancied I could hear them scrabbling on the outside, plugging in a manual jack to override my controls and lower the landing gear. The ship shifted as that happened, and then the door started to slide open.

"Josia, you've been a wonderful mechanic."

"Ubai, shut the fuck up and shoot them."

I grinned wider, feeling battle-rage wash over me. My vision turned red and I sighted along the barrel of my plasma rifle, waiting for the first unlucky sod to stick his unwanted head onto my ship.