Book of the Week: THE PIRATE AND THE PROFESSOR

            Common sense said the pirate vessel blockading the colony world Sorendaal wouldn’t be very impressed to know he was on board the Stellar Peace. Not unless they wanted him to do some weapons research for them.

            “Getting a signal,” the communications officer said. He sounded surprised.

            Darrak didn’t turn to look at the man. He could tell by the rank, salty damp odor that the man had ruined his uniform with nervous sweat. If he had been part of the military instead of a volunteer for a semi-suicidal peace mission, he would have been booted from the service. Fortunately – or unfortunately, depending on the viewpoint – this wasn’t the military. Darrak hoped he never saw any military belonging to the Central Allied Worlds, because they were the enemy.

            Ironic, considering that the pirate crew that effectively blockaded Sorendaal from the rest of the universe was high on the list of preferred allies in this battle to hold civilization together. It just proved how turned around and inside out everything had become, when the government he once served was the enemy and the pirates that had claimed control of this colony world presented the best chance of stability and safety.

            “Stellar Peace, this is the Nova Vendetta. We have received your signal,” a woman said. “Why should we believe a word you say?”

            “Can’t be,” Captain Marker whispered, and turned in his command chair to lock gazes with Darrak.

            “Wrong, captain,” the woman said. “This is the Nova Vendetta. We are not a ghost ship, as we will prove if you give us any reason to believe you’re here to cause trouble.”

Book of the Week: THE PIRATE AND THE PROFESSOR

            Kiryn emerged from her bedroom with her tears dry and her head aching, and found her father’s former crew waiting. They were a vast difference from the refined, powerful people of Sorendaal’s colonial government who had surrounded her when the news of the starship’s destruction first arrived. No wine or other refined, expensive beverages for these men. Tanned by radiation, scarred by shipboard explosions, grim and heavy-set, they sat around the oval table where her father, the governor, had entertained ambassadors and officials. Their glasses were filled with murky brews that could have come from the coolant tanks of their battered, fierce starships.

            

She was gladder to see these men than anyone else who might have come to console her. Kiryn knew they wouldn’t speak soothing words and offer useless philosophy and homilies to to ease her pain. They would be just as angry as she that Captain Niall Encardi, the Terror of the Spacelanes, had met his death at the hands of the government that had once begged, long ago, for his help.

            What did it matter if galactic civilization and the government of the Central Allied Worlds shredded a little more every day, and the soldiers in the attacking ships had been rebels? The government provided those weapons and trained those soldiers, and failed to keep its vaunted control over the far-flung colonies throughout the galaxy. The end result was the same. Her father and mother were dead, despite their ship being clearly marked an ambassadorial vessel and transmitting their identification on all frequencies.

            Their deaths hadn’t been an accident.

Book Trailer: THE PIRATES OF SORENDAAL

A Commonwealth Universe series of stories, during the Downfall Era. Published by Writers Exchange.