He was Almost Absorbed by the System

Chapter Eighty Seven - Pirate Outpost

Planet Kustein was a gas giant with three moons.  Two of the moons were just your average satellites sizeable and made from rock, but the third was covered with sand and had an atmosphere.  The planet had been somewhat terraformed in ages past, then abandoned as the process had gone wrong and no one had bothered to try fix it.  However, with jury rigged machines providing oxygen, cleaning the air and moderating temperatures, the moon had found it's forte as a Pirate hangout.

The shanty town was formed from old ships that had been stripped of anything that could be deemed useful and dumped.  Still, these husks provided shelter when the occasional sandstorm swept across the moon as well as somewhere to sleep whenever the shadow of the other moons or the planet covered the moon in dusk and darkness.  Naturally, where there are gatherings of Pirates, there needed to be a bar.  This place was run by a retired Blackbeard and all of the alcohol was moonshine.

It was Jezmi's third night here.

After expressing her disappointment with her father and her sister's husband using several choice swear words, she had resigned her commission as Admiral, stating that she felt her abilities were better suited to dealing with a lone ship than handling an Armada. Through various strings, she had obtained a top of the line warship, selected an elite crew and began her Pirate hunt. Unfortunately, none of the small fry they had swooped down on could give her any information regarding the twin boys' Pirate ship.

Feeling that this goose chase was a little too wild, she had resorted to moving undercover while on official leave. Unofficially, her crew was waiting for her to return. She was greatly admired and respected amongst the Armada's military personnel and her crew were very loyal. Jezmi had learnt about this outpost sometime ago, but it was outside Imperial space, so she had to leave it alone.

Sipping tentatively, something that very, very loosely could be called beer, she lingered over the drink near the ship wall opposite the bar. It was in her view that rather than not be noticed, those in dark corners were the first places that people working in the illegal networks looked at. As usual, there were some chatty men, gossiping at the bar. The more they drank, the louder they were and the looser their tongues became.

"Did you see Captain Cheney, now there is one fine piece of ass!"

"I'd so do her."

"Like you'd get the chance! She'd take one look at your ugly mug and shoot your balls off!"

"Nothing better than trying to tame a vicious woman."

"How would you tame her if you were dead already? Fucking Idiot!"

Ugh, Jezmi thought, tugging at the hood of her thin gilet to hide more of her face. So it wasn't just the men in her life that were a disappointment. Many other women had to suffer them as well.

"Ah, did you hear, the Sabine is making a pit stop here for repairs. That ship is rumoured to hold some fine women. I bet the Captain crawls into bed with different lady every night. Know I would!"

"Well I heard it does have kids on board." The three men gave each other a nudge and laughed crudely. The bartender rolled his eyes skyward, but remained silent.

"And here I was thinking of having a nice quiet drink," a woman's voice came from the entrance of the hollowed out ship, "but we have to share this place with a bunch of drunk scum!"

"Just ignore them," another, deeper voiced female said, dismissively and walked up to the bar to order a bottle of wine. The three men attended to their clothes as if they weren't damp beer patches on their shirts and ship grease, then gave the women leary grins.

"Why hello, ladies," one man greeted, in a tone he probably thought was attractive.

The smaller of the two women, a red head gave them a disgusted look and turned away, while the taller of the two did not even deem them worthy of a look. The men looked offended and approached closer. "Now, now, there's no need to be hostile, let us buy you a drink." One gestured peacefully.

"No thank you," the redhead replied. The barkeeper eyeballed the men before handing the women an uncorked bottle and two glasses and took their credits in exchange. The price was ridiculously high, especially considering the stuff tasted like engine coolant, but the women did not seem bothered by this.

"Where's the harm? We just want to get to know you," the first man told them.

"Oh and don't you think our Captain," the tall brunette said in a flat tone, "who apparently shares the bed with a different woman on our ship every night, would be happy with that?" The red head smirked and grabbed the glasses, heading for the table directly behind where Jezmi was sitting. Dammit, way to bring attention to over here, she thought and drained her beer with a shudder. So gross!

"So you are of the Sabine," The man stated. "Is it true that your Captain got some woman pregnant and brought his kids aboard to raise them as Pirates?"

"A quiet drink," the red head repeated her earlier words, stating each clearly and slowly.  "We want a quiet drink." Jezmi rose from her seat and headed for the door. She wanted no part of this mess of theirs. She nearly walked into a solid wall of flesh. With a startled gulp, she looked up.

A broad shouldered, muscular man with a slightly weathered face stood before her. His face was formed of hardlines making him look attractive, but slightly dangerous. His hair was uncut and unstyled, but suited his rough look. The look in his eyes when he stared at her was intense, but it didn't last more than a couple of seconds as his attention fell elsewhere. Jezmi stepped out of his way with a quick sorry and he passed by her, not intending to acknowledge her anymore. She wanted to stamp her foot at over his behaviour! She knew she was an attractive woman, with a tall, slender body that through training was shaped to be strong without losing her femininity. So what if he was taller and stronger, how dare he not acknowledge her. She stopped herself from making a scene. What was she thinking? She was trying to be discreet. In her haste to leave, she almost walked into another man, who while was not as tall, could still face her eye to eye.

"Sorry Captain," this late comer murmured, softly.  Jezmi barely caught his words as she left the bar.  "The boys slipped off the ship, Swab and Sly are looking for them now."

"Hey, hubby," the redhead greeted the second man deliberately, with a wave of her half-filled glass.

"Do you and the Captain wish to join us?" The other woman asked. The three drunk men stared at this large Pirate Captain and felt inadequate, quietly retreating back to their drinks.

"Later," he called out before muttering; "Those little shits."  He turned to his pilot. "Go spend some time with your wife. I'll see to the boys." And with that, he left the bar. Jezmi had already departed and was wandering towards her ship, so she didn't see three boys fleeing their unhappy Captain behind her.  Her ship was a scout, so someone of her caliber could easily fly it solo.

One of the sister moons was passing overhead and blocked the sun, dimming the sky, but not to the point of night.  It would not be long until the planet's shadow plunged the moon into darkness, however.  This period would last at least twenty four galactic hours, so it was not treated as night would be on a planet.  Ships set their own clocks instead, so it was not unusual to see maintenance crews still working with artificial light to aid them.  Jezmi slept for a while until her sleep was disturbed by a small ship docking in the bay next to hers.

Feeling it was pointless to try and go back to sleep, she ate a ration bar before washing up and cleaning her teeth.  She then left the ship in order to see if there was any new gossip at the bar.  This would be her last day here before she tried to find clues elsewhere, she decided.  At the same time as she walked down the metal dock steps, she noticed that the new ship's crew were also leaving their ship to stretch their legs.  It seemed to be a small freighter, but she wasn't certain that these were pirates.  Just as she was scanning over them, one noticed a familiar and very unexpected person amongst them.  She had met the man a couple of times over the past six months; he had been her only clue to the whereabouts of her nephews after all.

As if sensing her perusal, he turned around and gazed over at her, before smiling weakly.

"Well, how should I chalk this up?" She asked, crossing her arms about her chest after approaching the man.

"Coincidence?" Jariden suggested. She did not look fooled. "I heard that a Pirate named the Sabine had docked here."

"It has, so?"

"The Sabine was the Pirate that accosted the transport ship I was on. The Sabine is the ship those twin nephews can be found on."