Privateer's Commission 2 -ch 13-

Chapter 13

Ralph wrote down that yet another cargo ship had been taken, turned into a prize, all occupants aboard the ship stuffed on life-boats, and launched toward the nearest location that they could expect help from. Once logged, he flipped it to Xas, who would pin it to the ship, and engage it’s thrusters remotely and send it off back to Bertson.

“Got it. All set. Logged, tagged, and… sent,” Xas stated. “That makes eight. All without escorts. They really didn’t think someone was going to plunder their shipping lane, haha. Though I did see a communication in their system when I ransacked it.

“They’d been warned about the shipping lane as it wouldn’t be safe. Yet. That makes me feel like our next encounter might be an encounter.

“Some friction that we have to deal with, other than as easy as Janey is trying to make herself be.”

Ralph blinked at that and nodded his head.

Janey had broken into his room and slept next to him repeatedly.

Absolutely stark naked.

If he locked the door, she broke in.

When he’d physically put things in front of the door, she’d forced her way through.

The one time Xas actively worked to keep her out, Janey had started working at using a cutting torch to cut through the door itself.

There was no stopping Janey from his room.

Thankfully, she didn’t use anything in his quarters, nor did she keep anything there. She just slept in his bed as if he’d wake up one day and just decide to mount her. Or so she’d said directly to him.

Janey also tended to drop her pants and bend over whenever given the opportunity around him. Paired with the fact she refused to wear underwear it was always a bit of a ‘show’ whether he liked it or not.

The first time it’d happened it’d given Winnie, Delilah, Liseth, and Marionette all pause. All four women just stared at her.

When it happened the second time, they paused.

On the third, they just ignored it. Because the previous times regardless of what was said, it didn’t change her behavior. There was no ability to change Janey when it came to Ralph and making her intentions known.

Just about the only promise they got out of her was that she wouldn’t do it around others outside of the ship.

In rapid order, it was more or less accepted that Janey would drop her pants around Ralph. In some sociopath display of willingness, so long as people outside the ship weren’t around.

Because in the end, they needed a pilot, and Janey was that, nor would they find better any time soon.

“She makes Winnie seem high-brow, and Liseth comes across as esoteric in comparison,” Ralph muttered.

“Janey’s psych makeup really makes everyone else look normal. I wonder if we should’ve kept the convict housewife instead. Her name was Rhea, right? Her file was much more domesticated but also violent. That and she didn’t seem that interested in you. Janey doesn’t have a violent bone in her body that I can tell. Every crime she’s ever committed never harmed anyone. She’s never resisted an arrest physically, or been in a single confrontation,” Xas mused. “But honestly, I prefer Rio as the house wife. Even sick, she makes everyone feel at home and welcome.

“In fact, she even helped me scrub out some electrical relays that were slowing me down. I love Rio. She’s the best. Even when she’s sick, she’s still better than everyone else ever could be.

“If I had to pick between you smashing my sex-bot’s guts around, or having Rio crawling around in ducts to scrub relays just because I told her I felt ‘fuzzy’ when I ran certain programs, I’d pick her in a heartbeat. Sorry. Haha.”

Ralph grinned at that, nodded his head, then set down the tablet and stretched.

Over the last three weeks they’d taken a number of ships without any resistance at all. There’d been no reason to test out the military droids that were part of the reload and rearm crew.

Marionette would be their overseer going forward.

“Ralph,” came Marionette’s voice over the intercom. She was currently downstairs in the weapons bays with her computer equipment. “I just picked up a flicker of a transmission. I didn’t hear any of it, and honestly, if I didn’t know better I’d have written it off as background interference. It’s not though.

“It was an attempt at laser communication with a very short pulse. It got refracted off something and partially came to our sensor array. I think it would’ve been where that cargo ship should’ve been.”

“Oh?” Ralph answered with raised eyebrows. “Xas, was there anything in their comms to intimate that they had an escort to join them later?”

“No? Not that I saw,” answered the AI.

“I think it’s an escort,” Delilah pitched in. She was in what’d been the ship’s armory, now converted to an intelligence center. It had backup systems for the cockpit as well as wher Delilah had nested. All her intelligence and drone work went here. “I’ve been sorting through the previous ships comms and there was a rising escalation of messages. They’re clearly aware of what we’re doing but not the extent.

“If a laser com just shot past, then it’s definitely a check-in. And that message Xas mentioned. That it wasn’t safe ‘yet’.”

“Right. Delilah, throw a cheap pop-can of a drone down that laser line Rio caught. See if we can’t get it to impact something or get lasered. Just a backward blip if it’s destroyed kind of thing,” Ralph ordered. “It’ll at least tell us if an escort is indeed coming, as well as distance.”

“Ah… you don’t need to do that,” Marionette cautioned. “I sent out one of my sensor Drones Del gave me and I put it where the laser came through. I figured… maybe they’d try again.

“They did. I caught the comm. It’s an escort and it’s about twenty minutes out from what they said.

“I think the cargo ship we took got a broadcast out or a buoy that we didn’t see. Or that they told us about.”

Ralph thought on that and slowly turned to look at Janey. She was naked from the waist down, bent over the pilot’s console, with her rear end pointed at him in the co-pilot seat. Somehow managing to bend herself in a way that had her backside aimed at him, yet being perfectly able to watch the piloting systems and screens.

“Janey,” Ralph started, causing the pretty young woman to turn her face toward him. “Think you can put us a small distance away that we’re not in line for what that escort might be coming in at? Assume it’s a normal escort size so like… five or six ships coming here in formation.”

“I don’t know what a normal escort size is,” Janey said and gave him a smile. There was an odd hollow-ness to her eyes, words, and face as she spoke. “Want to show me in morse code by clapping my ass?”

With a grunt Ralph looked to his screen and called up a standard Confed escort size and spacing. It was likely the enemy houses would likely take standard doctrine.

“This is what it’d look like and the spacing,” Ralph offered instead of replying to her forward statement. “Can you move us without making us obvious?”

“Definitely,” Janey answered, still watching him. There was a long pause after she spoke where she just stared at him. Then slowly she pulled her rear end in line with herself, sat down in the pilot’s seat, and started working out a course correction. “Not a problem. I’ll make it smooth and perfect.”

Janey stared at the screen unblinkingly as she worked awy at the screen.

She’s… broken.

When Winnie gets into firing solutions, she doesn’t turn into a zombie. She gets more excited.

It’s like Janey doesn’t have much of an emotional response for anything.

Other than me, I guess.

Or not being in prison.

That does explain all the theft, arson, desturction of property, debt… just… everything.

But wait, she listens to me.

She doesn’t ruin anything on the ship.

Or at least, as long as I don’t lock my door against her.

“Janey, you’d never harm anyone on the crew, my ship, or me,” Ralph stated. It wasn’t a question. “Why?”

Janey finally blinked, her hands never ceasing in their movements as she tapped and touched at the screen.

Ralph felt it when Janey moved the ship to begin it’s corrections.

She didn’t turn to face him, however. Her eyes remained glued to the station.

“For my own reasons. I’m not willing to share them at this moment. I will later. Just know I’m yours,” Janey finally answered, blinked twice, and looked to Ralph. The blankness was still there. An absolute dedication to him, that seemingly lacked humanity. “I will never harm you, yours, or your ship. I will never jeopardize my role as your pilot. For now that’s all you need to know.”

Looking back to his screen, Ralph sighed.

“Don’t break into my room tonight,” he said instead. “Marionette made a comment about wanting to come to bed tonight and I want to make sure she can.”

“Okay. I’ll make sure Marionette is asleep before I come to bed,” Janey answered. “If she’s in bed with you, I’ll go elsewhere. If she’s asleep in her bed… I’m coming to bed.”

Fucking hell.

Well.

It’s most of the way there.

“Hey, hey, you leave my sexy captain alone. He’s mine,” Winnie asserted as she plopped herself down into the weapon’s officer seat. “I already promised he’d gape me wide and fill me up to the brim. You don’t even do maintenance with us, so you don’t get a share in the pirate booty.”

Janey, still naked from the waist down, was ever unbothered.

“Then I’ll join the maintenance routine,” Janey answered. “I wasn’t out of shape when I first got on board. I’m starting to soften so… it’s time.”

Winnie clicked her tongue, glanced at Ralph, her mechanical ear twitching on her head.

She reached out, brushed a hand against Ralph’s knee, leaned in toward his side, and kissed his cheek. Only to pull away just as smoothly.

“I’m putting together a targeting package for a standard escort,” Winnie murmured, not speaking to her rather warm and tender action just now. “Do you think you’ll make any changes to your course, Janey? I’m asking so I can try to plan for it.”

“No. This’ll be ideal for the starting point. I pre-programmed my routes based on what they’ll do,” Janey began.

“Yeah, I saw those. I like’em. I may not like that you’re trying to get my Ralph, he’s mine you know, but I love your pilot plots,” Winnie admitted with a chuckle.

“Delilah, any chance you can get some fiber-optic wire drones moving?” Ralph asked. “Stick’em on those ugly rockets we bought. They’re so damn slow that most things would avoid them, but from a dead stop? Easy.”

“You got it, Ralph,” Delilah said with a smile in her voice.

Since they’d started bedding one another nightly during their ‘movie time’ her attitude had improved. She was still rather subdued, and didn’t show any romantic feelings for him around others, but she was warmer as a whole.

“Del, sending you plots. Figure you’re already reading Janey’s,” Winnie advised. “You can probably thread it and show off for our captain.”

“Thanks, Winnie,” responded Delilah immediately. “I’ve got twelve run out. Two of them are just there to throw out shadows, nothing on them.”

“Great. Good work you three. Rio, my love,” Ralph began, looking to the intercom. The transmit light was green right now.

Xas more or less had gotten the hang of transmitting to and from each area without any issues. She still had her faults as she wasn’t a ship’s AI, but she was creeping toward mastery.

“Any chance you could throw out some false traffic from one of the drones that’ll be a shadow that might look like a cargo ship?” he inquired

“I… yes! Yes I could. I can! I’ll do it,” she said enthusiastically. “Oh, goodness. I’m so nervous, Xas. I hope I get this right. I haven’t been able to take care of him in bed and now—”

The light turned off and Xas’ avatar appeared on the screen with a finger in front of her mouth. Asking everyone to shush, a smile on her face.

It turned and looked as if it made eye-contact with Janey and pointed at her. Then held up a finger, tilting her head to the side as if asking a question.

“Yes,” Janey responded, not elaborating.

Everyone then went quiet as things happened.

The ship moved, weapons shfited, missles and rockets programmed.

The Toll slid through black space even as the last captured cargo ship traveled onward, it’s escort trying to arrive, yet far too late.

“What’s the prize on military vessels?” Winnie asked quietly, her head tilting to the side and looking toward Ralph.

“If we capture them? A hundred thousand for a corvette. Gunboat is somewhere between double and triple that. Depends,” Ralph said. “There might be a destroyer in an escort like this but I doubt it. It’s more likely three gunboats and six or seven corvette’s.”

“Ahh hell. Ralph, I love you,” Winnie got out in a hissing laugh. “Best thing that ever happened to me was being given to you as a Ship’s Mistress. You’re telling me I’m going to get something close to a hundred-and-fifty thousand credits for this battle?

“Add that to what we’ve made with the cargo vessels, crew, and material, I’m already something close to six-hundred-thousand credits!”

“It’s… very profitable being a privateer,” Janey agreed.

“Being a black-market gunsmith paid more, but it was more dangerous, and was very illegal,” Xas offered. “The company is better though, haha. Love you, Ralphy.”

“Far better pay than I ever made in the military,” Liseth remarked from the intercom. Ralph hadn’t noticed the light had turned green again.

“I like it better than my last job,” agreed Marionette, sounding busy as she spoke. “I was a great model, and a great actress, but I always worried about the longevity of my career. This is a much longer lived career.”

Ralph could only nod his head at that. It wasn’t wrong.

“Contact,” Marionette murmured. “Nine ships. They pushed out a radar pass. It swept through the area the cargo ship should be. The route, that is.

“It was a ship near the middle and some of it bounced around and came back. It’s fuzzy but… I’m pretty confident.”

“Alright. Nine. A standard escort,” Ralph murmured with a grin. “Let’s… prepare for them and get ready. Get your suits on, helmets on, and be set. Because even if we knocked out a bunch of them in the first pass… nine ships is a good number to handle.”

“That means put pants on, Janey,” Liseth remarked from the intercom. “Ralph cannot possibly mount you, if your lower half has vacuum injuries.”

Janey blinked, lifted her head up, and seemed to be considering that.

“Pants please, Janey,” Ralph finished and stood up. “Take ten minutes, get your suit on, check your oxygen and helmet. This isn’t like the cargo ships.”

Not waiting, Ralph went to his quarters.

Only to find Marionette waiting for him in the bed. She was naked, laid out on her back, and waiting for him with open arms.

As well as spread legs.

She had faintly pinked cheeks as if she’d rushed here to beat him into the room. Her access was of course immediate since he’d classified these quarters as hers, as well as his.

Even after bedding Delilah nearly daily, nothing compared to the beauty that was Marionette.

Delilah was beautiful, willing, and eager, but Marionette was Marionette.

“Come here, Ralph my dear,” she murmured. “Doc dosed me up for my symptoms so I could get what I wanted. And what I want, is you. Please… come to me?”

Ralph didn’t hesitate.

He went straight to Marionette and eagerly.