13 Degrees of Separation (11 page)

She glared, red eyes flashing dangerously.
"You pirate!"

"Now no need to be rude!" he
mocked, grinning.  He licked his lips. This was going to be fun he thought. He
was tempted to draw it out, tempted to make her suffer a bit. But he reminded
himself that if he did it made it more dangerous, yes the danger was fun, but
the possible exposure wasn't. If one of her radio signals got to the wrong
person he'd be in trouble.

"So now what? You think you can get
me to just let you rob me?" the girl snarled. "Just like that?"
She felt a sinking heart. There was no way he could afford to let her live. Was
he even going to bother with trying to bribe her? No certainly not. The old saw
about dead men telling no tales ran through her mind.  It equally applied to
women she realized. A woman like her, she thought frantically, trying to think
of what she could do to turn the odds in her favor.

"Oh, I know it won't go down like
that. Pity, you are a looker. But well..." Digger smiled nastily as he
moved his controls. A third arm moved up, a dick arm they called it. Her eyes
narrowed in disgust for a brief moment as she puzzled at what he was up to.
When she saw the glint of the broken drill bit on the tip her eyes widened in
fright.

"Digs!" her shocked high pitch
voice screamed over the radio.

"Yes it's a bit worn and clichéd, but
it'll do the job," he said, moving the drill bit into position. “A little
stuck up chit like you should be honored,” he said with a nasty grin in his
voice. She'd been a late bloomer, flat chested until all of a month or so ago.
She was still short like her mother. Sort of a blue fuzzed younger version of
the gambling prostitute. His brother Edgar had been taken with her for some
reason, taking care of her when her mother was turning tricks or getting
herself indebted to someone or other.

The girl hastily put her gloves and helmet
on. Her teeth tore at the seal binding her left glove to her arm gauntlet. Why
of all times did it have to choose now to be stubborn? She felt a rush as the
light on her arm turned green. She reached up and slapped down her visor and
closed off her life support. She emptied the cabin as the bit began to spin,
feeling the fan in her suit spin up to get rid of the sweat and excess heat
she'd generated in her haste. She slapped at her harness release and then
climbed out of the chair as the bit broke through her cockpit window and the
remaining air rushed out.

Had she been in anything other than her
venerated and much cursed upon orange hard suit she would have had the bends,
crushed by the sudden vacuum. Instead she'd been thrown about the cabin before
she'd gotten to the hatch and plasma cutter she'd stowed there.

"Two can play at that game", she
muttered darkly, while reaching for the tools.

Digs hadn't gotten a good view of her
supposed demise; the cock arm had obscured his view. When he noted the
breaching gases he gave it a minute, popping a bulb of homemade white
lightening in celebration. He smiled a gape toothed grin. His gamble had paid
off. Instead of trying to follow the little bitch, he'd let her do all the work
for him. He couldn't wait for the pay off when he got back to port.

It wasn't nice, he knew, but he just
didn't care. They needed all the people they had, but Senka was a kill or be
killed kind of place these days. Besides the stuck up bitch deserved it,
thinking she was all that. She'd spurned his advances each time she'd been in
port even when he'd loaned her effing mother money. Stupid. Her mother wasn't
that good a lay either! He'd had her plenty of times and she'd only gotten
worse over the years. The last time she'd just laid there like a dead thing.
He'd had more fun out of his rosy palm and a gig of porn.

When he was sure her cabin was purged he
pulled the bit out and moved the arm. No sense destroying the tug, after all,
it too was salvageable. He'd make a mint off that, far more than the bits the
girl had found. There were the right people out there who were desperate enough
not to ask too many questions. He didn't even have to make it look like a meteorite
strike this time either!

The arm jerked, hung up. He swore,
pounding on the controls and then jigging it. “Come on baby,” he muttered. “I
promise an overhaul when we're done...” he vowed, knowing he'd forget it in
port. He knew it; he knew the first place he'd go once his cargo was settled
was the bar.

The arm moved once more just as he took a
second sip and he sputtered at the empty sight of the cockpit. He wiped at his
mouth with the back of his hand and then used a rag to clean up the mess. Damn
it! Where the hell did she go? “Why do you have to make this so difficult? Just
die already!" he snarled.

"You first," came over the radio
just as something cut into his hull. He looked up when he felt sudden heat
above and then screamed as plasma boiled there. The plasma of course was sucked
out by the vacuum as his cabin breached.

The girl had been smart, she'd cut along
the seam to the window where it could not only be repaired, but where it was
weakest. She grinned savagely as she watched the air and bits stream out of the
cabin. When a finger stuck through the hole she snickered and cut it off and
then cut a few more holes for good measure.

He started to babble and scream into the
radio. She ignored it, smiling savagely as she went about her grim work. She
could hear him pant, try to breath, try to stay alive as the heat and air
boiled out of his cabin. The bastard deserved it she thought.

Digs unlike her wasn't in a suit, and with
his finger stuck in a hole he wasn't about to get into one. For good measure
she went over to the lock and unlocked it. It swung open and his lifeless body
drifted into the opening.

She stared into his boiling eyes and
gaping mouth, watching the water vapor crystallize around him for a long
moment. “Good bye... Dad.” She wanted to kick him. Instead she reached down and
hauled his carcass up and out of the cabin and into the darkness of the void.

She hesitated. After a moment she lashed
it to the ship's hull. "Waste not after all," she murmured. She was
sure she could find recyclers in Port town eager for more biomass. Digs was
just the right pile of shit to hand off to them with her compliments.

...*...*...*...*...

A few hours later she'd patched the window
with the bit from Dig's drill. It wasn't pretty but it'd hold until she got to
port. Just to be sure she'd planned on spending the trip in her suit, leaving
the cabin decompressed. It would be an itchy five day trip but she could manage
it. She'd treat herself to a two minute shower when she got home. No, make it a
four minute shower. It'd cost a lot but she could afford it now. She'd vampired
his tug to be sure, though it wasn't like he needed it anymore. Just to be on
the safe side she'd marked the wreck for later retrieval. After all, it was now
salvage. Salvage she would need if mom had gotten around Felix somehow. She
better not have though, Mairi thought with a growl.

Whistling a jaunty tune she headed for port with uplifted spirits.

The end... for now.

Note: this story takes place during the first 10 chapters
of Jethro, First to Fight.

An
explosion of light and dust heralded a ship's sudden arrival. Its' arrival
startled the frigate Wendigo on picket duty at the B101 Alpha jump point less
than a million kilometers from the arriving ship. Fortunately for the newcomer
Wendigo's sensor officer was on the ball, he classed the ship as a civilian
ship and the frigate stood down the defenses before the mines clustered around
the warp point tore the ship apart. A standard hail went out to get the ship's attention.
When they didn't respond Wendigo went back to alert.

The
civilian crew didn't know how lucky they were, another ten-seconds and they
would have been torn apart before their systems could have fully recovered.
First Lieutenant Aisyah binti Tam, Neo orangutan Captain of the Wendigo took
the horn. “Do you people realize another half second delay and you would have
been torn apart? When you get an identity query from a Navy picket ship you
damn
well better answer smartly or it'll be on your head!” she snarled.

“Sorry,
sorry,” the voice said over the communication channel. “We didn't expect anyone
on the other side of the jump point. Please don't shoot!”

He had
a point, up until three years ago no one guarded the four Pyraxian jump points.
The attack by Horathian pirates had changed all that. But still, when a ship
hailed you, you better respond, especially if that ship is a warship. Even if
she's a frigate, Tam thought darkly before responding. She felt her ruffled fur
slowly relax.

“Right,
so you're new to the system. State your purpose for being here and where you
came from,” the simian Captain demanded, voice cooling from the practical
shriek she'd been fighting. She felt her fur slowly dropping to normal. That
had been entirely too close. Perhaps having an orbital fort on hand to be in
charge instead of her would be better. Having life and death decisions thrust
on her with little time to think them over was one thing, but she'd much prefer
someone else have to deal with the consequences if some idiot civilian didn't
respond and was blown out of space.

“Sorry,
as I said, we didn't expect you here. Um...”

“State
your purpose for being here, where you are coming from, and where you are
going,” the Captain said patiently.

“Oh, oh
right, yes, sorry. We're the Old Nelly out of um, Finagle I guess you could
say. We've been traveling a long way and we'd like to drop off our cargo of
people and move on if it's okay with you.”

“Old
Nelly?” the Captain asked and then chuffed in amusement.

“Yes,
we're um...”

“A freighter.
Or in your case a liner?”

“We're
certainly feeling that way at the moment,” the still unnamed voice replied with
a sparkle of exasperation in his tone of voice. “We're overloaded with
passengers and our life support and fuel are... iffy I guess you could say.”

“Do you
need resupply?” the Captain asked. “And who am I talking to?” she asked.

“Sorry,”
the other voice said. She winced at the slight squeal in the radio channel. She
waved a long hand to the communications and sensor rating manning his post to
filter it. He nodded silently. “No, we're good till Anvil the Captain said.
Um... Sorry, this is Dwayne Webe of The Nelly. I'm, well, I guess you could say
I'm second in command?” he asked, voice rising in inquiry as he turned away
from the microphone.

“Try
third,” a new voice said dryly. “Soon to be fourth if you don't get on with it
Dweeb,” the voice concluded.

“Aye
Captain,” Dwayne replied, sounding hunched over. “Nelly is out of Finagle as I
said, we're passing through to um, Gaston? Is that right?” After a moment he
grunted. “Yes, we're headed to Gaston, and then from there I don't know. But
we're coming here to well...”

“Drop
your passengers off,” Captain Tam replied dryly.

“Oh you
know about them already?” the man said, sounding dismayed.

“You just
told me. This is Captain Tam of the Wendigo. Welcome to Pyrax.”

“If you
don't mind my asking, what are you um...”

“We're
Navy. Long story short? We're here to kill pirates.”

“Oh.
Um, cool.”

“I'm
sending you a data packet now. You are entitled to a free health and welfare
check at the Navy annex.”

“We
are? Um, our passengers are interested in that. Or will be when we um, tell
them.”

“Right.
Well, it's not just for your crew and passengers, it is for your ship as well.
We send engineering crews on board to inspect your systems and offer advice on
how to fix what needs fixing. We also clean your computer software for free.”

“Oh!
Well! That sounds downright neighborly of you! I'll um, let my Captain know.
You said something of data?”

“Sending
it now,” Tam said, indicating the rating with a nod and finger wave. The
communications rating nodded and tapped at his controls for a moment, then
turned and gave her a thumbs up.

“Nelly,
we've sent you a course, please follow it carefully and do not deviate until
you get past the all clear point. Wendigo clear,” Tam said, sitting back and
running a hand through her hair.

“Um,
Nelly clear,” Dwayne replied, sounding disappointed. The channel was cut. The
rating snorted.

“Well,
that was exciting! Now we get to pick it apart for a shift or two, then go back
to being bored out of our minds,” Tam said, face twisting in a puckering smile.
“At least until the next time someone pops in and scares the bejeezers out of
us.”

“I give
it a full day Captain to make the rounds,” the rating said, smiling and shaking
his head.

The
captains long lips smiled. “Sure, splurge why don't you. People will pick that
apart for a while, nothing better to do I suppose. Run a tracking exercise on
her, we might as well get our credit's worth.”