said.
“How about I was attacked by pirates?”
“Not bad, just make sure they wasn’t here.”
Dexter nodded and turned to leave. He stopped and turned back. “Awful wealthy for a group of pirates.”
“What?” Kragor asked, looking down at the nearest corpse and seeing no signs of finery.
“They all had pistols and fire powder, and decent weapons.”
Kragor looked again and noticed that Dexter spoke the truth. He looked up at his friend and stroked his beard. “You’re thinking something, aren’t ya?”
Dexter nodded. “Aye.”
“What?”
“Not sure yet,” Dexter admitted. “Gather up their stuff and stash it on the ship, then we’ll load their bodies onto the Gnat and I’ll dump them somewhere.”
“Let’s go get that ant and see if it’s fit for flying,” Kragor suggested instead.
Dexter looked up, remembering the ant then. “You hit it pretty good, Kragor, I’m for thinking it’s all done in.”
Kragor grinned, proud of his shot. “Aye, and if it is it’s more raw material. But if it’s not, then I can use it!”
Dexter shrugged and limped out of the ship toward the Gnat. He looked up at it and cursed.
“What?” Kragor asked beside him.
“I jumped out of it… didn’t lower the rope ladder.”
“Hellfire!” Kragor spat, looking about. He spat on the ground then turned and stormed off, heading back into the Hawk’s Talon for a long minute before he came back out.
“Here, try this,” Kragor offered, handing Dexter a coiled length of rope with a loop on the end of it.
Dexter nodded and tossed the looped end up. It flew half the distance he needed before falling heavily at his feet. Kragor harrumphed and grabbed the rope from him, tossing it strongly and catching it on his first try. He tested it with his weight before awkwardly attempting to climb it. Strong though he was, the dwarf’s hands were no match for the rope. He cursed loudly as he slid to the ground and fell heavily upon his butt.
Dexter shook his head and took the rope from him, then fought the urge to gasp with every attempt he made to pull himself higher. He paused twice to gather his breath and fight down the urge to vomit from the pain. Finally he made it, rolling onto his back and seeing spots in his vision. His tortured ribs rose and fell with each breath, reminding him forcefully of the need to control his breathing.
“Come on!” Dexter called down to Kragor several moments later. The dwarf grinned and shook his head, pointing instead at the hooks for the rope ladder. Dexter muttered something about the dwarf’s preference in bed partners and kicked the coiled ladder down to him.
Kragor was up on the scout ship a moment later, pulling up the ladder and rolling it up as he did so. Dexter shook his head and moved to sit in the helm, sighing happily when he did so. The chair was comfortable; it was made for a helmsman to sit in for hours at a time. Beyond that, when a helmsmen merged his consciousness with the ship he partially separated from his body and became aware of the ship in general. He could feel the damage done to it by the asteroids and the ballista, but it still felt a good deal more whole than he did.
“We’re good, let’s go,” Kragor told him once he coiled up the rope Dexter had used to climb onto the ship.
Dexter piloted the boat up off the asteroid and moved carefully to where he last saw the Ant. Kragor scanned the asteroid field, searching for wreckage. Dexter relived the chase in his head, remembering which direction it floated. He turned the Gnat starboard and set off. After a few minutes of cautious searching Kragor cried out. It was resting against another rock, nearly the size of a wagon, and though it looked to be poor shape it still held together.
“Nice shot,” Dexter said.
“Aye,” Kragor admitted, not picking up on his friend’s dark humor.
“Wasn’t thinking about salvage when you let ‘er fly?”
The dwarf turned to scowl at Dexter. “You didn’t give me much for warning, now did ya?”
“I’m just thinking that a proper first mate would think of these things, that’s all.”
“You’re lucky Jodyne’s taken such a shining to you boy,” Kragor spouted.
“She does show a fondness for throwing the sharper knives at you, doesn’t she?”
Kragor scowled again then turned to stare at the ant. Dexter closed with it slowly, taking no chances with either ship. Their banter ceased as the boats drew alongside one another.
“You be a better pilot than me, you fly that heap back and I’ll take this one,” Kragor offered once Dexter had gently pulled up beside the battered ship. Dexter looked it over and nodded, knowing the dwarf was right. Anything but the most gentle of landings would ruin it for good.
They exchanged positions and Dexter stepped onto the deck of the ant. He went to the helm and pulled the unconscious human out of it. Blood ran from one nostril, and without checking Dexter made the assumption that the man was dead. He dragged him to the side of the ship and pushed him off, letting him bob on the gravity plane of the merged ships in their air bubble and slowly be pushed out to the void as he flew the ship.
Dexter set the ant down first, doing his best to be gentle with the unfamiliar design. He judged himself successful by the faint protest of groaning timbers when he settled the full weight on the rocky ground of the asteroid.
Kragor landed heavily a few moments later, cracking on of the landing struts on the Gnat and making Dexter cringe. The dwarf kicked the ladder over the edge and hurried down it, grinning like a fool.
“How many ships have you piloted?” Dexter asked him.
“Three,” Kragor said, still grinning. “Now.”
Dexter closed his eyes and sighed. Kragor spoke up again, “Of course the other two were thirty years or more back.”
Dexter felt a fresh pain creeping up his back. He turned away and headed towards the gnat. “Strip the bodies and get rid of them,” Dexter said. “I’ll be back as soon as I can.”
“I can head back myself, does the ant have enough power?” Kragor asked.
“It’s about half full, might be enough to get you back if you’re careful. Be careful though, someone might recognize it.”
Kragor turned to look at it and stroked his beard. “Aye, good point… I’ll have to fix that.”
“Good job today, Captain!” Kragor called out as Dexter climbed up the ladder to the gnat.
At the top Dexter turned and grinned, his injuries partially forgotten at the warm glow being called a captain caused. “Thanks,” he said, feeling his cheeks warm. He grinned and said, “Now get them off my ship!”
Kragor laughed and waved at him then turned to go and tend to the bodies. Dexter watched him for a moment then turned and reclaimed his helm. A moment later he was flying again and making his way carefully out of the asteroid field to return to New Haven. Along the way he spent the majority of his time thinking up a good story to explain both his injuries and those of his ship.
Dexter’s story had sounded good to him. Good enough, he judged to insure his only problems would be in returning to pick up Kragor. His superiors proved more suspicious, experienced, and wise to the fanciful dreams of a young pilot, however.
Under threat of torture he confessed that he had been venturing out beyond the Federation space and accepting bribes from pirates. He insisted the information he shared was either false or inconsequential, though that earned him no favor with the Federation officers. The damage to his gnat and to himself had occurred when his contacts grew tired of him not giving them proper results. He’d had to fight them off and barely escaped with his life.
With Dexter’s story finally accepted, he was sentenced to two weeks in jail. He was also stripped of all Federation rank and privilege. He accepted the punishment stoically, not giving any hint to the relief and elation coursing through his veins. He had escaped death, dismemberment, torture, and even managed to get out of the Federation before his three year contract was up.
Dexter was relinquished to a community cell with several others, most of them short term. The smell was anything but pleasant, what with unwashed bodies and a poorly maintained hole in the corner of the cell for waste.
