Pirates Way

Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Chapter One

I took a deep breath as I opened the outer door to the airlock. I had not had to space walk in over two years. I had put on few pounds and my spacesuit almost did not fit anymore. My choices were limited. My ship had been damaged by a meteor shower. Emergency force fields had erected around the holes to prevent complete loss of atmosphere and gravity. I had repaired the holes on the inside, but those patches would not hold for long if I did not fix the same holes on the outside. I had learned the hard way that inside patches alone would not hold the pressure needed to maintain my cargo bay.

My ship was a transport. That meant that I had to maintain some atmospheric pressure inside my cargo bay if I was to carry certain cargoes. Most especially, if I had to transport people. They like to be able to breathe. My repair drones had been activated. They were busy patching the holes with what most captains called putty. It was not actually putty. It was a metallic compound that hardened when it was exposed to open space.

You inject it into the hole and wait about 20 seconds. It would harden up and seal the hole. The repair drones would then buff it smooth to complete the repair. I had been lucky. The meteor shower had been composed of small meteors about the size of a pea or golf ball. That made the hull patching simpler.

The drones completed their task and returned to their storage compartments in the aft portion of the cargo bay. I gave the ship a final inspection before returning to the airlock. All the holes had been patched and the ship was re-pressurizing. That would take a few minutes and I had little choice but to remain in my spacesuit.

Each of the sleeping quarters had their own air tight hatch. When the meteor shower had hit my ship the alarm had gone off as the cargo bay depressurized. I had time to get into my spacesuit before opening the hatch to my sleeping quarters. It was not pretty when I walked into the cargo bay. There were holes everywhere. The entire cargo bay had depressurized. Gravity was still intact to a point, but only because the emergency force fields had slowed down the depressurization.

I was lucky in that I was on my way to Persephene to pick up a cargo. There was nothing in my cargo bay at the time the storm had hit my ship. A few minutes later the bay was re-pressurized. I could remove my spacesuit. For that I was glad. It was tight around my lightly larger waist.

I put everything back where I had found it, and inspected the cargo bay from the inside to ensure the patches had set properly. I would be on Persephene in about an hour. My last run had taken me to the edge of the Badlands. To a moon that the government was trying to colonize. The government paid well, but they did not give you much choice as to what you transported for them. In some ways it was a Catch 22. The problem with these kind of runs is that there is seldom a return cargo to pay the freight on the cargo you just dropped off.

I preferred having something in my cargo bay both ways. Persephene’s dock was in sight. I set my docking procedure and slowly moved into place near the end of the dock. It was considered proper protocol to dock behind the last ship that had docked even if that was not convenient for you to unload your cargo.

It was almost sunset on Persephene, so I locked up my ship and went into the settlement to do a little drinking at the local bar. I had been there for about an hour when she walked in. She looked around and swallowed hard. I could tell she was out of her element. She was no bar girl. Colony maybe, but bar, no. She looked about 16 maybe. The dress she had on had been modified from its original state to make her look more like she belonged in the bar. I saw several of the other patrons eyeballing her. I knew all too well what they had in mind. I motioned for her to come over and join me at my table. She joined me gladly. I am not sure if it was because I had been the first to notice her, or if she just wanted to escape the leering looks she was getting from the others. Either way, she was now mine and the others backed off.

We talked for the next hour while I drank my drink and tried not to stare at her rather noticeable curves in just the right places. Just before closing time, I tried to stand and leave the bar. It was apparent that I had a little too much. Amy noticed it as well. That was her name, Amanda. Not exactly a name one associated with a bar girl.

Amy calmly set me on her shoulder and walked me out of the bar like she knew exactly what she was doing.