NOVEL FROG Chapter 15: Pirates
Chapter 15: Pirates
Location: Estriduros Republic; Ugwald System; Solano
Boooooring! Two years have passed since I started working on the Solano and after a few months, there was nothing new anymore. Day in and out the same boring work… It is always the same. I jump the ship through a wormhole, we enter a new system, then Amal hails system control and asks for a safe route. After that, we wait out the time lag that long-range communication comes with. Our starship is way too small and unimportant to justify a dedicated Utility Mage.
A few hours later system control comes back to us with a plotted route to our destination. The Solano’s navigation system happily follows the route, and we must wait again. Most of the time I play some cards with Calra and Mark of the bridge crew. They are both a little older than me, and I think they are dating in secret. I haven’t managed to confirm that fact completely till now.
Ah right, after countless jumps I’m now able to adjust my space bubble enough to stay on the bridge during a jump. No more rushing down the spine! I’m not even exhausted anymore after a jump. While I still don’t think I could do two wormholes back to back, it’s way easier now. Another welcome addition is that Amal stopped blocking my magic after a few months. He said that he trusts me and I should train my magic whenever I can to get stronger.
It really feels like the only ones that hate Mages in the Estriduros Republic are the government and the people working for them. Everyone else is just so nice to me. Having my magic unlocked means I’m able to train personal teleportation in my free time. Something I have way too much. And I was right, it does get easier with use. I’m now able to jump the whole length of the ship front to back, over and over again. I wasn’t even exhausted after 50 consecutive jumps, yes I was bored.
At least I can now believe Miss Baker's claim that I’m able to jump up to one light year with that spell under perfect conditions as a Novice. At least if S-57 was powerful enough to plot a route for such a distance. Luckily he doesn’t have any problems helping me with my jumps through the ship. Otherwise, I would have died of boredom.
The only other things that keep me entertained are the occasional messages from my friends waiting for me in systems they’ve been to before me. It’s a very slow way to communicate, as the messages stay in the Systems they’ve been sent till I arrive to receive them and the other way around with messages that I’m sending. But at least we can keep each other updated a few times a year. That includes Trix with whom I exchanged contacts before leaving the Solina. Another one for the friends to save list. I smirk.
But enough of that, today we have a break in the monotony! We are picking up a new guy for the crew as Harold retired last month and we were underway without a second shift for navigation. Currently, we are on the final approach to Demin Station in orbit above Woldur – the main planet of the Ugwald System.
Technically, I’m off shift at the moment, but I’m still staying on the bridge. I don’t want to miss the new guy! A few minutes later the Solano stops with an audible clang. We’re connected to the station! I can see lots of drones swarming out from the station through our front window. They circle our bow and connect with the containers from the side to unload them.
Of course, we’re not only here at Demin Station for a crew member pickup. That would’ve been way too inefficient. The Ugwald System is on our normal delivery route and the new guy moved from one of Woldur’s moons up to the station to join our crew while we are exchanging containers.
Captain Amal has already left the bridge to welcome the new guy on the station and to do a final interview. This should only be a formality, afterwards, they come back aboard and we can get to know him before we leave the station for the next part of our delivery route.
“Do you know anything about him?” I ask Calra and she shakes her head.
“No, only his age, but that’s it. He’s 38, so a bit older than us.”
Hmm more in the Captain’s age range… Looks like our small card-playing group won’t get bigger. Just when I’m about to start another conversation with Calra, the bridge door opens, and Amal walks in together with another man. Wow, he looks rough.
A big scar runs down the left side of his face, narrowly missing his eye. His cheek looks burned and he only has a big bushy beard on the left and bottom side of his face. His look is completed with a bald head and two silver earrings. He does look kinda dangerous… “Hi everyone, please welcome our new second shift for navigation.” He turns to the other guy. “You wanna introduce yourself?”
He gives a curt nod. “Yeah, I’m Orin Rostov, nice to meet y’all.” He obviously doesn’t want to say more, so we all greet him and Amal begins to talk again before we have an awkward silence on the bridge.
“Alright, now that we’ve got the introduction behind us, I’ll leave you with Calra over here to show you our navigation consoles. If there are any questions just ask one of us here on the bridge.”
He just grunts his confirmation and walks over to Calra and they begin to do some tech talk. I don’t have anything else to do as we’re staying the night at the station, so I wave goodbye to Calra and return to my cabin to sleep a little. Well, I leave the bridge and then teleport to my cabin once the door is closed and no one’s looking. It’s just too convenient!
The next morning sees us leaving the station and a few hours later we are nearing a wormhole that leads out of the Ugwald System. It’s a relatively short jump to a supply station next to a gas giant. There we’ll do a short refill as it’s cheaper than in the Ugwald System. After I’ve recovered, we’ll do another jump into the Jerihum System which is our destination. Actually, it’s three jumps with small recovery breaks in between as the Jerichum System is quite a distance away from our current position.
I sit at my station on the bridge, Amal is standing next to me and watches something on his tablet. Orin is still sitting next to Calra at the navigation console to learn as much as he can. Another 30 minutes and we are close enough to the wormhole for me to take over and initiate the jump. For now, I still have to wait. Suddenly there is a short alarm tone and Rina from sensors calls out. “Captain, a ship just jumped into the system. It’s heading straight for us.”
I frown. What is happening? Are we being checked out by the military? I glance at my console and bring up the forward-facing telecamera. That hunk of metal surely doesn’t look like a Star Force ship. But what else could it be?
I glance at Amal. He also has a deep frown on his face. “Hail them,” he says. “We have to find out who they are and what they want.”
Rina does just that and a few moments later a hologram of a man appears at the front-facing window. His face is scarred and he grins into the camera. The scars remind me of Orin and I shot a glance at him, just to find him smirking. What is happening? “Crew of the Solano, power down and prepare to be boarded. Any kind of resistance will be met with lethal force.”
I stare at his hologram in shock. Fucking pirates trying to rob us! That’s what’s happening! I don’t normally curse but there are a few exceptions where I think it’s justified: Life and death situations and pirates – bastards killed my parents! Is it my turn now?
I don’t want to die! I look at Amal and he looks back at me. “Can you do the jump?” He wants to flee? I gulp.
Can I do the jump? Yes of course. Everything is better than being held by pirates, again. “I can, when we're close enough. I should be able to jump without slowing down too much, but it’s going to be a bit bumpy.”
Ships normally slow down before entering a wormhole for security reasons, but my Space Sense always tells me that I could enter a wormhole way faster. That’s what I’m counting on at the moment. Amal clearly sees the determination in my eyes because he turns back to the bridge crew and shouts. “Alright everyone, we are going to make the run for the wormhole, those pirates are not goi…”
The sound of energy discharging interrupts his speech, then he falls over with a smoking hole in the forehead. HOLY SHIT! He’s dead.
What the hell? I stand there with wide eyes for a minute, not knowing how this happened. Then everything kicks back in and I bend over and lose my breakfast. My knees buckle and I look around.
There, right in the middle of the bridge stands Orin with a laser gun in his hand and a big grin on his face. “Now that I have your attention, here’s what’s going to happen.” He beckons everyone to the left corner of the bridge and we follow his orders numbly. “As you probably guessed, I’m not just the new navigator.” He puts his head up proudly. “I’m also second in command on the Big Lady over there.” Orin points at the pirate ship, that’s now visible through the window.
“We are now going to power down and my friends are going to enter the Solano.” With his grin still on his face he turns back to us. Bastard, he just killed Amal and treats it like a normal Tuesday. “Don’t worry, we’re not slavers, we just want the ship. You’ll be dropped off at the refill station, probably.”
I turn to Calra and see the tears in her eyes, my vision is blurry as well. Before I can say something a feeling of powerlessness washes over me. I turn back to Amal’s console and see Orin has tapped the deactivation button for my magic. Fuck! I could’ve escaped or punched him in the face. I’m an idiot! Why didn’t I think of that?
The next few hours happen in a blur, I think, I’m still in shock… The pirates dock and the whole crew has their hands bound behind their backs, then they are taken to the pirate ship. I of course am not with them. They left me bound on the bridge. I don’t know why, but I guess it’s because I’m a Space Mage.
I’m just sitting here, staring through the window. Poor Amal, he was such a nice guy, I even forgot about my plans to flee out of the republic sometimes. The tears keep coming and I think my eyes are now completely red. I don’t even notice that someone has entered the room until I hear the sound of a throat clearing. I still don’t turn my head, staring straight ahead through the window. Fuck them all, once my magic is active again, I’m gone.
“Do you know why you’re still here?” I somehow recognize the voice, but I don’t care. “Hmm, I take that as a no. You’re a Space Mage.” Yeah, obviously you damn pirate… “That means you have a choice to make.” He walks around me, right in my field of view. I recognize him now. It’s the Captain of the pirate ship who sent the message earlier. I try to turn my head away, but he grabs my jaw. He looks right into my teared-up eyes.
“Option one, I shoot you, right here, right now.” What the fuck? I recoil at that. Is he serious? Why the heck aren’t they dropping me off like the others? Wait did they lie? I try to scramble away, but a slap to the cheek has me looking at him again. Ouch! “Option two, you stay here on the Solano as the resident Space Mage. I’d prefer that option because it allows me to expand my operations with a second ship. You’ve got five minutes to decide.”
Holy hell, either he kills me, or I work with those bastard pirates. The choice should be easy, because who wants to die? But it still takes me the whole five minutes to find my voice to tell him my choice. I literally spat the words. “I’ll join your fucking crew.” That leads to another slap and he wipes his clothes in disgust.
“Welcome to the crew, Red!”
I’m a fucking pirate now!