Wes's Story, Pt1

[Wes Roberts 0]

Pirate Ship Revenge

Currently in orbit over Caledonia VI

(10 years previous)

 

Wes cracked his eyes open in the dim-blue lit confines of his quarters, the chrono indicating the middle watch as four chimes sounded through the ship's intercom. With the comfortable weight of his companion pillowed against his side, and her green arm thrown over his chest, he ran his hand over his face. Damn nightmare again, he thought. While he'd become a pirate, years ago, he had kept track of his wife and daughter aboard the Arcadia, through back channels, until they'd disappeared. Since then, he'd been troubled by nightmares. But, being the brash pirate he was, he kept it under wraps.

 

Maighdin began to stir, her hand brushing her lustrous blue black mane out of her eyes. “Good morning, my Lord,” she purred. “You're awake early. The dream?”

 

Wes looked into her golden eyes. “Five years since I've granted your freedom, after 'purchasing' you from the Black Kris, and every day I've told you I'm not a lord.”

 

“And that, my Lord, is where you are wrong,” she countered playfully. “For my heart, and all that belongs to it, is your vassal.” That particular Orion cartel wasn't pleased that the Revenge had captured one of their dreadnoughts. While the crew was spaced, the living cargo, on the other hand, was kept and quietly sent to Federation rehabilitation and educational facilities. Except for Maighdin. She refused to leave the Revenge, even threatening to chain herself to Wes's command chair.

 

“Yes, I know. And for five years, you've been saying that as a counter to my comment. And yes, it was the dream again.”

 

“Well, I'm glad that it wasn't my performance this evening.” Maighdin ran her hand along her lover's chest. “Perhaps I can chase those daemons away.”

 

“As you wish.”

 

-=-=-=-=-=-=-

 

Five years previous, Starfleet noticed a distinct change in the Pirate Roberts' targets. While he still went after fat, juicy freighters and passenger liners that plied the spacelanes between Betelgeuse and the rest of the Federation, he began to target more of the pirates that preyed on the same targets he'd been known to hit previously. By the time Starfleet vessels were able to respond to distress calls, the ships were gone. Not slowly expanding balls of debris, just not there anymore, while random starship patrols found debris consistent with known pirate ships, complete with sufficient biomass to indicate that the crews were either killed in detail or spaced.

 

=-=-=-=-=-=-=

 

As the end of the watch chimed with eight bells, the Revenge's Romulan first mate, strolled on to the bridge of the ship. Looking over the one of the computer terminals, Khaiell looked over the latest intelligence gleaned from the Lloyd's, Starfleet NOTAMs, and wire services, it looked like there was something brewing, near Cardassian space. Starfleet was ordering merchantmen to avoid space near the Kalandra Sector. “Egeanin, plot a course to the Kalandra sector, the Kressari star system. Maximum warp.”

 

“Aye.” The Revenge broke her orbit, and leapt towards Federation space.

 

tbc

Edited February 8, 2011 by Wes Roberts