Pirates of the Thunder (31 page)

“Then we’re no worse off than you,” somebody pointed out.

“Oh, but you are. We are an odd group, but we were carefully picked. When we get what we’re looking for, at least one of us will know where and how to use it. I’m not certain how—whether it’s a conditional hypno or deep mindprint or something else—but it’s there. You can trust us, or Master System—I leave it to you whether you want to trust the word of a machine or of human beings. Nothing whatever, though, can reveal the target and the means of loading the gun until we have the bullets. That way, it’s safe for all of us.”

“You talk like you all are working for somebody,” noted the suspicious lady. “Who?”

Raven smiled, although they couldn’t see it. “Somebody with a lot of knowledge, but still somebody who can’t get these things themselves—or use ‘em. I don’t know who or what it is, and I’m not the least bit concerned with them except for the help they give us until we have all that we seek. Then we might have, well, a difference of opinion. I’m not concerned. We will have what is needed. The bargaining chips will be all ours, and, just as importantly, if we are tough enough and smart enough and clever enough to do what no one else has ever even dreamed of doing, then we can deal with anyone who might try to take it away from us. If we cannot, then we don’t deserve the rewards.”

“I believe, my friends, that all that can be said on this has been said,” Savaphoong put in. “I suggest we now take Raven’s advice and discuss it among our own people. We are not
that
pressed for a decision as monumental as this one. Let us sleep on it. It is fourteen twenty-two. At twenty-four hundred, in a bit less than ten hours, we will again take this up, and at that time we will vote and make up our minds. This is reasonable, yes?”

“All right with me.” Raven sighed. “I’m almost gettin’ used to boredom.”

Ikira Sukotae had been back with her crew for quite a while, leaving Raven alone on the bridge with his thoughts.
All this potential,
he couldn’t help thinking.
It’s almost like magic how it all falls together. I wonder how many will come?
He knew better than to believe they all would. Savaphoong, the opportunist, was a sure bet if only because he figured in the end to be one of the ones giving
all
the orders, not just one wish as some kind of payoff. He would have to be watched and, perhaps, eventually controlled or dealt with more severely, but until then he would be invaluable. He and Clayben were worlds apart in knowledge and genius, but, deep down, they were two of a kind.

Who would have thought it?
he mused, still not quite believing how far they had already come.
Raven, born in a small village by a quiet river in the high mountains, raised up first to Security, and with all the cynicism of that job and the knowledge of what was true and real in the universe that bred such cynicism—Raven, the revolutionary, the overthrower of worlds. Quite a leap for Spotted Horse’s little boy, running alongside the warriors as they went to the hunt and dreaming brave deeds.
He sighed. That was a long time ago; another life, really, and he’d long ago buried that little kid and his comfortable dreams of honor and glory.

His honor had been tossed aside the moment he’d learned that the whole thing was a lie, that they were ruled not by a creator spirit but by some big damned machine. It had made the concept of glory meaningless, as well, for what was the glory in dying not for one’s people but for the purpose of a museum exhibit for a master machine that didn’t even give a damn about the exhibit?

Center’s wonders had delighted him, but at first the people there had disgusted him. Corrupt, selfish, as contemptuous of their own people and their customs and ways as they were of the system they served. There really hadn’t been much choice; you either became like them or you went back home and lived a lie. It had been easy to be a cynic.

Yet now he began to wonder if that little boy was truly as dead as he had thought. He was still no visionary, no ambitious revolutionary with a grand dream, but he was alive again, alive as he had only felt in the past when he was back home, back in the mountains and the plains, the field that was a part of him. He hadn’t really thought like this in many years, except for brief times alone camped out on the prairies with just his horse and a small fire and the looming shapes of the purple snow-clad mountains in the distance—and those moments had been very brief indeed.

Somehow it seemed ironic that he should find that little boy way out here, far from his people and his beloved north country, far from anything he held to be important and dear.
Were you there all the time, boy, or did I imagine your return?

Ikira returned to the bridge, breaking his reverie, and he nodded to her. “You made your own decision yet?” he asked. “It’s almost time.”

“We talked it over, yeah,” she told him. “It wasn’t easy, you know. It’s not easy for any of us.”

“And?”

“We got more colonial experience than any two of these other ships put together. We figured your odds, and we figured ours on our own out here under new conditions. None of us really have any homes or lives except this ship, but we have dreams. We’re in, Raven.”

He clapped his hands together and grinned. “All
right!
Now let’s see what the score is. Plug me in and we’ll get goin’ on this.”

The vote was by no means unanimous, but it was better than he had thought at the start. In addition to Savaphoong’s
Espiritu Luzon,
which, Raven suspected, had only one vote that counted and was thus easy to convince,
San Cristobal, Chunhoifan, Indrus,
and
Bahakatan
were in, with the exception of some crewmember dissidents who would leave. The majority of
Novovladivostok
and
Sisu
Moduru,
including their owner-captains, decided against—including both the woman with grave doubts and the tough-sounding man with the questions. Some of their crew, however, also disagreed, and a swap was arranged.

That added, in one swoop five experienced pilots, ships, and crews to the pirate fleet, along with numerous crew members. Those who would not or could not trust Raven and his company transferred to the two ships that had voted against. The few on board the two holdouts who wanted in transferred to the ships of their choice, at least as a temporary measure. Maintenance robots on
Kaotan
managed to carve up portions of raw murylium ore from the hold and mount them on skids and shift those portions to the
Novovladivostok
and the
Sisu
Moduru.

“Then let’s get this show on the road,” Raven suggested. He felt like an admiral and he liked the power. “Captain, lay in a course for the last system we went through on the charts before switching here.
Thunder
will meet us there.”

Ikira looked at him sternly. “You followed us, then. How?”

“We’re just slimy, tricky bastards, that’s all. Don’t worry, this was just to simplify things. We want to move quickly now—it don’t pay to keep
Thunder
in one spot too long. Tell the others to follow our course, heading, and speed. It’s best we all get together, get to know each other, and get the hell out of this sector.”

There was a mixture of anticipation of action and some nervousness among the others joining the fleet.

“I just hope for all our sakes you know what you’re doing,” Ikira said tensely.

I
hope we do, too,
thought the little boy running beside the horses of the warriors.

They did not punch for very long. As soon as they arrived in-system they did a scan, and for a moment Raven was worried. Then a ship showed up closing on them. It was
Lightning,
now with Sabatini at the controls and Warlock on the guns; the Chows were on
Pirate One.
Raven had to wonder why the crews had been rearranged.

“Any more coming in?” Sabatini asked.

“We got six out of eight, damn it! What did you want—a miracle?” Raven retorted.

“All right. The Chows are calling in the
Thunder.
Warlock and I are going to check out something suspicious and we’ll be back in a few hours. We have the chart position you’re moving to anyway, so if we’re not back before you get everyone together and get moving, we’ll catch up.”

Raven frowned. Something suspicious? “Anything we should know about?”

There was a pause. “No. Nothing you should know about.”

Ikira used her scanners on
Lightning
as it pulled away and prepared to punch. “That is one fast ship. I have never seen a design like that before.”

“It’s a custom job. It took on a Val and won, so don’t underestimate it. I—” He stopped, then just sat there a moment, thinking, a sad frown descending on him.

We’ll be back in a few hours...

“Something wrong?”

He shook his head slowly from side to side. “No, nothing wrong.” He sighed. “Forget it.” But he couldn’t forget it, because he now understood the reason for the crew switch; he knew where they were going and what they were going to do and he didn’t like it one bit.

The only ones who knew the identities of the ships and crews that had come to their side were the two holdouts,
Novovladivostok
and
Sisu
Moduru.
They wouldn’t have left yet, most likely; they’d be examining their new stores of murylium and deciding what to do next. Sooner or later one or both would fall into the hands of Master System, perhaps alive and certainly with their records intact. Master System would then know the personalities aboard the
Thunder’s
supplemental force, its ships, numbers, and capabilities.

Both ships were well armed and shielded, but they would be no match for
Lightning,
rebuilt as a killer machine and with Warlock at the armaments controls.

Raven was very glad
Kaotan
had decided to join in. He sighed. At least Warlock would be in a very good mood when he next saw her.

It took about forty minutes for
Thunder
to come in from wherever it had been lurking, and Raven always liked to hear the comments of people who had never seen the likes of a fourteen-kilometer-long spaceship before. It was more like having an asteroid with engines.

“Thunder
to Raven, how are you doing?” Star Eagle called.

“Just fine, I guess. I have six ships here—including Fernando Savaphoong and his ship—all filled with veteran freebooters and a mixture of colonials, as well. I haven’t the slightest idea how many people we’re talking about, though.”

“The murylium’s all been stored or shifted to the aft processors, and with
Lightning
not in, all four bays are available. I don’t see any ship that wouldn’t fit in there, but with
Pirate One
we still have three more ships than bays. I suggest that three of you will have to use the cargo docking ports and make your way to the bay air-lock stations using pressure suits. Until we get everything organized I would like to move as a unit, acting as a mother. I am scanning the fleet and I am impressed, but I would suggest you all send me your identification codes so I can sort and direct you.”

This was accomplished in a fraction of a second.

“I have limited drydock facilities in the bays, although not what we really need.
Kaotan, San Cristobal,
and
Bahakatan,
you could all use some maintenance and refitting. So could you,
Indrus,
but you are in better shape than they are. I suggest
Kaotan
in Bay One,
San Cristobal
in Bay Two,
Bahakatan
in Bay Three, and
Indrus
in Bay Four.
Pirate One,
you dock at Bay Two after
San Cristobal
is inside and the outer hull closed and sealed and walk down with care.
Espiritu Luzon,
do the same with Bay One after
Kaotan
is inside and secured, and
Chunhoifan,
take Bay Three after
Bahakatan
is secured. The bays are not currently pressurized, so wear suits. We will have people to meet you in each and lead you into the ship.”

There were some special requests. Because of the artificial gravity in the interior shell there were a couple who needed some kind of rider transport, and Ikira made certain to note that she had at least one amphibian aboard who required water at intervals. It was not easy to gather everyone together; the whole process took more than three hours and a lot of grumbling. Only the fact that some of these reluctant recruits really wanted to see the inside of a ship like the
Thunder
kept things in hand at all. Hawks met the crew of the
Kaotan,
and did not comment on the odd and mostly antique and bulky space suits they wore. He did, however, make a mental note to himself to have Star Eagle work on outfitting them better.

“Take everyone into the village and make them as comfortable as we can for now,” he told Raven. “I’ll stay here and wait for the people from
Espiritu Luzon.
Don’t take off your suit, though. When I get back I may need you to help fetch the ones from
Chunhoifan.”

“Fair enough, Chief. I didn’t get much exercise lately anyway. Ladies, this way, and be prepared for gradually increasing gravity as we pass through the air-lock sequences. We have the interior at about point eight of a gee to allow for muscle toning and natural activity.”

All of them seemed awed by the village interior, and stared unbelievingly at what felt like a tiny island rather than a spaceship.

“I’m afraid we’re gonna have to double up a lot, or have some folks sleep outside for a while, depending on the crowd we get,” Raven said apologetically. “I expect we’re gonna wind up with a bunch of folks either livin’ in offices or on the better ships. Ten to one old Savaphoong would rather commute than stay here.”

“I think it is
fantastic!”
Ikira Sukotae told him. “I couldn’t have dreamed that such a thing was possible inside a ship!” The others echoed her sentiments.