Curse of the Iris (35 page)

Authors: Jason Fry

BOOK: Curse of the Iris

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silent running.
Operating a starship with as few systems engaged as possible in an effort to avoid detection.

slew.
A maneuver by which a starship turns around on her own axis.

sloop.
A small, fast starship with weapons. Sloops are smaller than corvettes and typically used for interplanetary voyages.

slop book.
A register of items given to crewers by the purser. The cost of these items is subtracted from their pay or share of prize money.

soft tack.
Bread or cake, a treat during long cruises.

space.
To expose someone deliberately to a vacuum, with fatal results.

spacelane.
A corridor through space near a planet, a moon, or an asteroid, typically marked by buoys.

spike.
To render a cannon inoperable.

squadron.
A division of a fleet.

starship.
Technically a starship is a spacegoing vessel capable of operating between planets or other distant points in space. In practice, any spacegoing vessel. Starships are called “she” and “her,” with the exception of some commercial craft and small starships such as gigs, gunboats, and pinnaces. Military ships serving nations are usually called warships.

starshipwright.
A designer or maker of starships.

stand.
To hold a course for a destination.

starboard.
The right side of a starship, as seen from a crewer at the stern looking toward the bow. The starboard side of a starship is marked by green lights on the hull.

stateroom.
The cabin of a starship captain, another high-ranking officer, or an important person on board.

stern.
The rear of a starship.

sternboard.
A method of turning a starship when the pilot cannot maneuver forward. A real test of a pilot's ability.

stern chaser.
A gun mounted at a starship's stern, used for firing at pursuing vessels.

sternpost.
A thick beam rising from a starship's keel at the stern and helping to support her engines and reactor.

straggler.
A crewer absent from his or her ship.

summat.
Something.

supercargo.
A crewer in charge of a merchant vessel's cargo. A supercargo is typically not a regular member of the crew, but a representative of the shipping line or starship's owner. Not all merchant vessels have supercargoes aboard.

surgeon.
A doctor aboard a starship, whose responsibilities include treating everything from common illnesses to wounds suffered in battle. Such medical care is often rudimentary.

tender.
A vessel that carries supplies, provisions, and personal deliveries to a warship in port.

ticket.
A written document promising payment of wages or other compensation at a later date.

top deck.
The uppermost deck of a starship. Often living quarters for the starship's officers and reserved for them.

transom.
The aft wall of a ship at her stern. The transom is strong and heavily reinforced, helping to support the engines and often the reactor.

transponder.
An electronic system that automatically broadcasts a starship's name, operating number, home port, and nationality. Many civilian ships travel with their transponders disabled, and some broadcast false identities to confuse pirates and privateers.

tub.
A slow, ungainly starship.

victualing yard.
A part of a port where the stores of many victuallers, chandlers, and other merchants are found. Typically, purchased items are delivered later.

victualler.
A starship that sells provisions to other starships in orbit above a port. Also: the owner of such a starship or his or her store in a port.

viewport.
A large window in a starship, typically found on the bridge/quarterdeck.

wardroom.
The cabin belowdecks reserved for the warrant officer and spacers assigned significant roles by him or her.

warrant officer.
The ranking officer belowdecks, typically a spacer who has worked his or her way up through the ranks, but sometimes one drawn from the bridge crew.

wash.
The ion exhaust of a starship's engines.

watch.
A period of time during which an officer, a crewer, or a group of crewers is responsible for certain operations aboard a starship. The day is divided into seven watches: the first watch lasts from 2000 to midnight, the middle watch from midnight to 0400 hours, the morning watch from 0400 to 0800, the forenoon watch from 0800 to 1200, the afternoon watch from 1200 to 1600, the first dog watch from 1600 to 1800, and the second dog watch from 1800 to 2000.

watch officer.
The ranking officer during a given watch. The watch officer retains command in the event of an emergency during his or her watch unless relieved by the captain or sometimes the first mate.

yaw.
A starship's motion to port or starboard of the vertical axis but maintaining the same horizontal bearing. Yaw refers only to an involuntary motion, as when a starship is damaged, malfunctioning, or being piloted poorly. A deliberate move to port or starboard of the vertical axis is simply a turn.

BACK AD

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Photo by David G. Whitham

JASON FRY
is the
New York Times
bestselling author of
Star Wars: The Clone Wars: The Visual Guide
and more than twenty other books. Besides space pirates, he writes about baseball, music, travel, and anything else that strikes his fancy. He lives in Brooklyn, New York, with his wife and son. For more about Jason and the Jupiter Pirates, visit www.jupiterpirates.com.

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www.AuthorTracker.com
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CREDITS

COVER DESIGN BY SARAH NICHOLE KAUFMAN

COPYRIGHT

THE JUPITER PIRATES: CURSE OF THE
IRIS
. Text copyright Â© 2014 by Jason Fry. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.

www.harpercollinschildrens.com

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Fry, Jason, date

Â Â Curse of the Iris / by Jason Fry. â First edition.

Â Â Â Â pages cm. â (The Jupiter pirates ; book 2)

Â Â Summary: “As Tycho and his siblings continue to compete for the captain's chair of the Shadow Comet, they must work together to hunt for an old pirate treasureâa treasure that is tied to some long-buried family secrets”âProvided by publisher.

Â Â ISBN 978-0-06-223023-2 (hardcover)

Â Â EPub Edition Â© October 2014 ISBN 9780062230256

Â Â [1. Science fiction. 2. Space shipsâFiction. 3. PiratesâFiction. 4. Buried treasureâFiction. 5. Brothers and sistersâFiction. 6. Conduct of lifeâFiction.] I. Title.