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Authors: Rebecca Lorino Pond

To Love A Space Pirate

BOOK: To Love A Space Pirate
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To Love a Space Pirate

 

By

Rebecca Lorino Pond

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cover Design by Melody Simmons of eBookindiecovers

Dedication

 

For all those who love to read

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Copyright

No portion of this book may be reproduced in any form without the express permission of the author.  All characters, places, and situations are a product of the author's imagination.  Any similarity to any person, living or dead, is pure coincidence.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Index

Title page

Dedication

Copyright

Index

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Chapter 22

 

Epilogue

Author’s Page

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chapter 1

 

“Son of a bitch!” Elizabeth shouted at the dead control panel. She blew a strand of auburn hair out of her face as she tapped her index finger on the metal frame surrounding the ancient keyboard. “Go freaking figure! My first solo mission and this bucket of bolts breaks down!”

Twenty-four hours away from making her first delivery and she was having serious problems with the computer system supposedly updated before she took off. Now was not the time for her not to have an engine considering she was venturing into an area of space known for its hostility. The short-cut she gambled on was now biting her right in the ass!

One of the biggest lessons taught at flight school was to stick to the flight plan established by the chief flight leader. The charted courses her company, Tarwick Industries, plotted were well-known and heavily traveled routes. They were the safest ways to travel in between the planets the company delivered to on a regular basis. Veering off course was a big No-no for the enterprise and often lead to the pilot fired if something happened to the ship or the cargo. Now, here she was alone and adrift in the Nebula Sector which wasn’t a good thing!

The Nebula Sector was considered an extremely dangerous area because of the space pirates that were rumored to run freely through the vast area. For years, the Galactic Council desperately tried to gain control of the wild expanse but without success. Numerous ships and their cargos had gone missing, never to be heard from again.

“Awe, come on,” she pleaded with her ship as she tried different command prompts to get the engine to fire up again. Each time the motor attempted to turn over, she could hear metal grinding. She prayed her ears were playing tricks on her, but her brain knew she was in serious trouble! “Please, start up, baby! I’ll get you a nice oil change when we get back, just please start!”

It was of no use. The ship was a dead stick. When she lost power to the engine, she had also lost power to her navigation and communication systems. She had no way of informing her supervisors she was in need of help. The best she could hope for was to see a passing ship and try to signal to them. The only problem with that was there wasn’t a way for her to tell who was a friend or who was foe out here.

Elizabeth leaned back in her chair and scrubbed her hands over her eyes. Her mind was racing with ways she might be able to fix the ship but, first, she needed to determine what the problem was. She wiped her hands on the navy blue jumpsuit she wore.

“Lizzy, old girl, you had better hope you don’t get fired on your first mission! You seriously can’t afford to lose this job already!” She pushed herself out of the pilot’s seat and headed to the rear of the cargo ship.

The ship she was assigned to was one of the smallest in Tarwick’s fleet. All first-timers were given an easy run first delivery. Hers was rather simple, deliver a load of building materials to Spadus V and return with the payment. Simple right? It should have been if only she had stuck to the course charted by the company before she left.

“Why can’t you just do what you are told, Lizzy? Why do you always find another way to do things? They hired you to do a job, and now you have screwed it up!” She pulled on the door to the cargo hold as she chastised herself. All her life she tried to do things differently than what she was told to do and nine times out of ten she got in trouble. Trouble should have been her middle name! “That’s right, Elizabeth Trouble Riley! Trouble is all you find when you don’t listen!” The door clanged shut behind her as the lights in the hold flickered on slowly. At least, she still had enough backup power for the lights and heating to work, but for how long? She needed to get the engine running again, or she wouldn’t have to worry about losing her job!

She meandered her way through the piles of wood and metal that needed to be delivered to a new colony being set up on Spadus V. Tarwick had a contract with the Galactic Council to supply all building materials required to establish the human compounds that were springing up all over the universe. Human exploration had taken an enormous jump once they mastered intergalactic space travel. Four hundred years after the first manned flight to Earth’s moon, humans were zipping through space as if they were speeding down an interstate at eighty miles an hour.

When Elizabeth first entered the flight school three years ago, she learned extensively about the early stages of her people’s struggles with conquering space. Long after lights out in her dorm she would lay awake and read about the beginning of the times. Dozens of lives were lost before the men and women of the old NASA figured out a way to travel safely throughout space. Two hundred years later, humans colonized their first planet, Keplar 1 in the Hyperion Galaxy.

Keplar 1 was her home as it had been for her family the last sixty-seven years. Her grandparents traveled to Keplar 1 on the sixth Ark destined for the new world. Humans had a rough go of it for the first hundred years, but now life was no different than what it had been on Earth. Every modern convenience was found in the highly developed colony. A steady stream of new residents arrived monthly from Earth and took back those humans who wanted to return to Earth or move there for the first time.

Her family was well-known in the colony because of her father’s association with the Galactic Council. Martin Riley was on the board that reported directly to the Council. The position he held was of great importance for the thousands of lives that counted on him to keep the colony safe. Reporting to the Galactic Council often took her father away for weeks at a time, but he always returned home with good news. The colony they live in was flourishing, and it was all because of her father and the others who strove to keep it working.

As a kid, Lizzy wanted to follow her dad around everywhere he went and cried when he had to leave her behind to do his job. It was when she had become a teenager that she decided she wanted to become a pilot. She wanted the opportunity to roam around the surrounding galaxies and see what else was out there. Her entire life had consisted of living in the colony, never leaving the planet until her first test flight two years ago. Lizzy studied hard throughout high school and came out in the top ten percent of her class. There wasn’t anything she wouldn’t do to have a chance to go the Academy of flight training.  When she was finally accepted, her father had thrown a going-away party for her. All the people he worked with attended the function as well as her family and friends. Getting accepted into the only flight school was a big to-do on Keplar 1 since there was only a limited amount of space.

Her time in school flew by in a flash, and before she knew it, she was being offered a job with Tarwick Industries. Her friends were amazed she had landed a position so quickly and chalked it up to her father getting her the job. As much as she argued with them, she had a feeling her dad had something to do with it, but she never questioned him about it. Perhaps she should have, considering her current position.

The lights in the cargo bay flickered as she struggled to get to the hatch which would lead her to the tiny engine room at the rear of the ship. Whoever had loaded the ship nearly blocked her access to the room. A blue barrel of nails partially blocked the small door as struggled to squeeze through the opening.

“Dang it,” she muttered as she sucked in her breath as she pressed through the slim opening. If she thought the cargo bay didn’t have enough light, then the engine room was worse. Not even the emergency light was lit up back here as she crawled on her hands and knees. Luckily, she remembered to grab her tool belt before she came in!

The heat from the rest of the ship hadn’t reached this area, so it was a bit chilly. Her breath came out in small white puffs as she worked to find the problem. She checked the batteries first and found they were still fully charged. Next, she pulled out the Chromium core which allowed the ship to start up. She tested it with the three-pronged tool specially designed for this scenario. Each prong had a lighted tip and would glow either red or green to indicate whether the core was working or not. She waited patiently as the tool ran its test then smiled as the first green light flickered to live. Seconds later the second prong lit up the darkened area. “Come on, baby! Show me the green,” she chanted as she waited for the third prong to light up. It was taking too long for her comfort, and when it finally glowed its result, her heart sank. “Red.”

A burnt Chromium core meant she was stuck. She would have to wait until someone rescued her and she prayed it would be prompt. But, considering she was not on her course, it might take a while before someone back on Keplar 1 realized she was missing.

“Good going, Lizzy. You did it again.” She could kick herself. Not only was she going to be late in making her delivery, but once Tarwick found out she took a shortcut, her time with the company would probably be at an end.

A shiver ran through her body as she sat on the chilled metal floor. It wouldn’t take long for the rest of the ship to lose its heat. She crawled back out of the engine room and shut the door. The urge to cry was present, but she was fighting back the tears. There was no way she was going to let this get her down just yet. Someone was bound to see her and offer their help.

For the time being, she would see if she could make contact with the company. It was probably a hopeless cause, but it would give her something to do. Back in the pilot chair, Lizzy put on the headset that typically would connect her to the base back on Keplar 1.

“Cargo 6 to base. Come in,” she said into the mic. She waited ten seconds then repeated her phrase. “Cargo 6 to base. Come in please.” Silence again met her.

Over the course of the next few hours, she tried over and over again to make contact with her superior. Sadly, there was no reply. “Did you expect anything different,” she asked herself. No, she didn’t, but it was worth a try.

As she sat there looking out the front window, her eyes grew tired. It had been over twenty-four hours since she last slept and couldn’t resist the call of sleep. A few hours of shuteye weren’t going to hurt anything. Settling back in her chair, Lizzy let her eyes close. The silence of the ship let her fall quickly into a slumber.

She came awake with a sudden jolt. She had been dreaming of home when she suddenly felt something push her down with incredible force. “What the hell,” she murmured as she wiped the sleep from her tired eyes. Everything seemed to be okay except for the fact the temperature in the cabin had dropped drastically. To warm her hands, she rubbed them together furiously and blew into them. It was at that moment she noticed the big metal thing hovering outside her window.

Fear paralyzed her for an instant until she realized this was the rescue she had been waiting for! She jumped out of her seat and raced to the door that led to the outside. Surely whoever they were would make sure there was a secure connection before attempting to board! She could hear noises coming from the outside hull of her ship as something banged against it. It was so loud it caused her ears to ring. The sound must have been what woke her up! What the hell were they using to gain entry?

Her question was answered a second later when the blue hue of a laser torch seeped through the crack of the door and its frame. They must think the ship was vacant and were going to claim salvage rights, but she needed to let whoever it was, know she was onboard, and it was her ship!

“Hey! I am in here!” She screamed at the top of her lungs as she watched the blue flame slowly make its way around the doorframe. The smell of melting metal filled the immediate area and caused her eyes to water. “Come on! I am in here!” She moved away from the door so she would not become caught underneath once it was cut free from its hinges.

Suddenly, something told her this was not the rescue she wanted. A standard rescue attempt would have tried to make contact with the ship first before cutting its way into the hull. The ship was undamaged from the outside so it should have given her rescuers a hint there might still be someone alive on the inside.

What should she do? Should she wait and see who it was or prepare herself for a fight? She had an obligation to protect the cargo she was hauling even if she was the one who had put it all in this perilous situation. But, she was alone, and she was in the wild sector! Perhaps, the ones trying to break into her ship didn’t have good intentions and would simply kill her on the spot! Her weapon was stored away in the handle of her seat, and she didn’t have enough time to get to it before the door gave way. Her best chance was to hide in the cargo bay and pray whoever it was would call out to her that everything was alright!

The bright flame was near the end of its route. Another few seconds and the heavy door would crash to the floor of the cabin. Lizzy made a mad dash for the cargo hold and locked herself in. The mountains of materials and barrels of goods would take some time for her to maneuver through but she could hide amid it and pray for the best. Her body slipped through the tiny crevasses as if she were a worm. Her fear level was at an all-time high.

The sound of the door crashing to the floor echoed in the hold and caused the disabled ship to shake. Her heart thumped loudly in her ears as she crouched behind a large pile of wood. Her eyes were wide open in the dim light, and her ears strained to hear every little sound. Voices could be heard coming from the inside cabin. She couldn’t exactly tell how many there were, but she could pick out, at least, four different ones.

“Identify yourself,” she whispered to herself. “Please!” It was standard procedure for a rescue unit to call out and identify who they were as soon as they gained entry to a downed ship. But, no one called out. Her ears only heard the sound of male voices. It didn’t take long before they tried to enter the cargo hold. She jumped at the sound of the door handle bumping on the lock she had engaged before hiding.

BOOK: To Love A Space Pirate
11.16Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
ads

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