{"id":588,"date":"2016-02-24T15:56:18","date_gmt":"2016-02-24T20:56:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bethturnage.com\/?page_id=588"},"modified":"2016-02-24T15:56:18","modified_gmt":"2016-02-24T20:56:18","slug":"pirates-luck-chapter-two-snakes-on-a-plane","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/bethturnage.com\/?page_id=588","title":{"rendered":"Pirate’s Luck: Chapter Two ~ Snakes on a Spaceship"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Pirate's<\/a> \u201cThis lot says \u2018vegetables.\u2019\u201d Arekan read off the description from the worn and cracked compad in his hand. Even as he read it, he knew this was wrong. Vegetables should have been loaded into a stasis unit for transport to protect against spoilage.<\/p>\n

\u201cAye,\u201d confirmed Grokin, \u201cvegetables.\u201d<\/p>\n

Arekan and Grokin spent the last two hours double checking the manifest against the stacks of crates in the cavernous hold. It was freezing here, about minus five degrees Celsius. In the first hour, Arekan donned another long sleeve shirt from his duffle and his black leather gloves before he put on his leather jacket. Grokin gave an amused huff when he saw Arekan do this.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat\u2019s your problem, Bucko? Can\u2019t take the chill?\u201d Grokin chuckled. It was an unsettling sound.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis cold? Is there a problem with the heating system?\u201d Even as he asked he knew that couldn\u2019t be the answer. The ship\u2019s engines generated heat, which was piped through the ship. Or at least it should. He didn\u2019t know what the hells this collection of cracked bolts did.<\/p>\n

And as he thought of it, the gravity in this ship was at least one standard gravitational unit light. This was more than strange, and it wasn\u2019t good either. Men could take short periods of less than the nine Standard Gravitational Units the human body needed for optimal functioning, but long term gravity deprivation harmed the human body.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe only problem is that the captain is the cheapest bastard alive. He gets run down batteries from salvage and charges them off the engine to sell them.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBatteries? What sort of batteries?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe kind that powers turboramjets for lift-off?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBut you can\u2019t recharge those batteries like that. Once the solar regeneration units deplete, you must trash them.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHence the ease in securing them and the difficulty in recharging them. Takes a lot of juice.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cJuice\u201d not available as heat for the ship. Arekan swallowed hard. It wouldn\u2019t take much for one of those improperly charge batteries to blow.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd he keeps these things next to the engines?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAye. He found that charging lines burn out if they are too far away from the engine.\u201d<\/p>\n

Meaning that the cables couldn\u2019t carry the load.<\/p>\n

\u201cOh hells,\u201d cursed Arekan.<\/p>\n

\u201cDon\u2019t worry none about that, Bucko. Tinnen, that would be the engineer, watches those things like a predator. He doesn\u2019t want to blow up any more than the rest of us.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cFreakin\u2019 wonderful,\u201d muttered Arekan.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat you need to worry about is making yourself useful on this tub. Okay, I count twenty in this stack. Lot ten oh nine. Tick that off.\u201d<\/p>\n

Arekan looked at the decrepit compad in his hand and eyeballed the stack Grokin stood at. Either Grokin couldn\u2019t count, or the first mate counted differently because only nineteen crates towered above the deck. And this was the fifth stack he miscounted.<\/p>\n

\u201cTwenty, eh?\u201d said Arekan. He struggled to keep doubt from creeping into his voice.<\/p>\n

\u201cYeah,\u201d growled Grokin with menace, \u201ctwenty.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cRight,\u201d said Arekan He checked marked the lot number on the compad, thinking of other ships he and his father took passage on. Many of them were haulers just like this.<\/p>\n

\u201cShouldn\u2019t we have done this before lift-off?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cShut your trap and do what you\u2019re told.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cRight.\u201d<\/p>\n

Grokin shot him a look full of piss and fire for this second time Arekan didn\u2019t address him as \u201csir.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cRight, sir,\u201d said Arekan.<\/p>\n

\u201cOkay. That would be the last of it. Sign off on it, and we\u2019ll meet the other crew.\u201d<\/p>\n

Arekan\u2019s eyes narrowed as he thought over the ramifications of putting his thumbprint on a manifest five crates short of the whole. He had thought it strange that a first mate would perform this task, but now he had a good guess why.<\/p>\n

\u201cNah,\u201d he said, \u201cI\u2019m new here. My signature means nothing. Sir.\u201d He held out the compad to Grokin.<\/p>\n

\u201cI said, put your sig on that manifest, wog.\u201d<\/p>\n

Arekan snorted. \u201cLook, I don\u2019t freakin\u2019 care what games you play with this cargo, but I will not put my name to it.\u201d He spoke in a low voice hoping that captain\u2019s ever-present ears didn\u2019t catch this part of the conversation.<\/p>\n

Grokin\u2019s eyes narrowed, and he swung. Unlike earlier Arekan was prepared. The bigger man put so much into his swing he unbalanced himself. Arekan ducked then pivoted to come to Grokin\u2019s back. A good kick to the man\u2019s backside toppled him into the unforgiving deck.<\/p>\n

The first mate grunted and turned up. His jaw bled where it met the metal floor, and there was murder in his eye. Arekan put the compad on a short stack of crates and put his hand on the hilt of his sword. He stood close to Grokin but not so near that the man could grab his ankle.<\/p>\n

\u201cWow, sir,\u201d said Arekan solicitously, \u201care you okay? Those damn inertial dampeners. You can\u2019t trust them to keep the ship right, can you?\u201d<\/p>\n

Grokin\u2019s gaze shifted from Arekan\u2019s face to his hand on the sword and made a derisive sound. But he got to his feet and wiped his chin with his sleeve.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019re right, Bucko. They ain\u2019t worth spit. But if they kick out again, it will be your face bleeding into the deck.\u201d<\/p>\n

Arekan appraised the man. He was the first mate and had to keep the appearance of authority. In this situation where it was unclear as to who would prevail in a fight, Grokin had to resort to threats to keep a semblance of it with Arekan. And if he didn\u2019t, it was clear he\u2019d make Arekan\u2019s life on this barge hell.<\/p>\n

Arekan didn\u2019t need or want that.<\/p>\n

\u201cI can see that, sir.\u201d<\/p>\n

Grokin gave Arekan an unsettling grin revealing his chipped front teeth.<\/p>\n

\u201cCome on. Let\u2019s go meet the crew.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYes, sir.\u201d Arekan grabbed his duffle where it sat against the bulkhead and hiked it on his shoulder. Grokin walked past the compad on the crate and did not pick it up.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat game is he playing now?\u201d thought Arekan. But Arekan didn\u2019t touch the thing either. It was Grokin\u2019s responsibility to make sure the manifest was in order. Grokin looked over his shoulder toward the compad and then Arekan, and his nose twitched slightly.<\/p>\n

\u201cYour name really Thad?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhy do you want to know?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cMakes it easier to look up the bounties for you,\u201d said Grokin twisting his lips into a frightening grin.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve three decks on this boat once we are amidship,\u201d said Grokin. The first mate walked ahead at a fast clip, leaving Arekan to struggle to keep up while hoisting his duffle. \u201cMost of the ship, as you\u2019ve noticed, is the cargo hold. Above the hold and running abeam to each of the propulsion pods is the engine room. You reach the engine room from this ladder here.\u201d Grokin slapped a long ladder reaching to the ceiling with the flat of his hand, \u201cBut mind \u2018ya Tinnen, our engineer don\u2019t fancy visitors, so don\u2019t bother to be friendly.<\/p>\n

\u201cYes, sir,\u201d said Arekan. Now speaking those two words were automatic and he was beginning to not to like himself for that.<\/p>\n

\u201cAmidships\u2014”<\/p>\n

\u201cAmid what?\u201d said Arekan.<\/p>\n

\u201cI thought you lived your life on ships,” growled Grokin.<\/p>\n

“I did,” replied Arekan. He narrowed his eyes and stared at Grokin. Not every ship used the antiquated Fed-Eng terms. Some used Kyn words for parts of the ship, such as his home ship.<\/p>\n

From the middle of this barge,\u201d said Grokin dismissively. \u201cYou better smarten up boy, or that sword isn\u2019t going to save \u2018ya from looking like a fool.<\/p>\n

\u201cYes, sir.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAmidship this deck has the crews quarters, the showers, and a small recreation area. Don\u2019t get \u2018ya hopes are though. The showers are sonic only and the rec area, well, that\u2019s been torn up by other crew, and the captain won\u2019t replace the equipment. The laundry is there too and that works sometimes.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe third deck is the bridge, and it\u2019s just a tiny area anyway, accessible from the middle deck. The captain\u2019s quarters are behind the bridge proper, and only Cripin, the navigator who is the second pilot is allowed up there.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are only two people that can pilot this ship?\u201d Arekan liked this less and less.<\/p>\n

\u201cYes, Bucko. Get used to it. So if you have in mind to beat in Cripin\u2019s head, don\u2019t, because of the two he\u2019s the soberest.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cGreat,\u201d said Arekan sarcastically.<\/p>\n

\u201cOn the upper deck is some passenger quarters and the mess. Because of the size of the crew, we operate on the one-in-two system. Watches start at zero hundred hours and runs to seven hundred hours. The next shift runs from seven hundred to twelve hundred hours, then twelve hundred to seven hundred, and seventeen hundred to zero hundred hours. You\u2019ll start on watch one and do your duties then, except in the case of an attack, and then you better be on deck, watch or no watch.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI get it,\u201d said Arekan.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat did you say?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYes, sir.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cMealtimes are at seven hundred, twelve hundred and seventeen hundred hours at shift changes when we get \u2018em. Cook drinks almost as heavily as the captain, and sometimes he forgets. So if you see food eat it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cGrokin, answer me honestly. Why are you on this ship?\u201d said Arekan. \u201cCertainly anyone here can find a better one.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOther ships,\u201d growled Grokin, \u201cask too many questions. Which is why you are here, isn\u2019t it, Bucko. Besides, the pay-outs are decent if we get some good cargo or some salvage.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd how does that work?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have an interesting little system. Half of the haul is divided evenly between all the ships members. The other half, Captain gets a half, cause it\u2019s his ship, and the rest divided depending.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cDepending on what?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat our expenses are. Who\u2019s left at the end of the run.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cLeft?\u201d Arekan hardly wanted to ask that question because he was sure he wasn\u2019t going to like the answer.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe started this trip two men short because of the crew we lost last time. But we\u2019ll pick up some more crew next stop one way or another. We didn\u2019t this time because the impies were hotter than a sun going nova. We couldn\u2019t risk it.\u201d<\/p>\n

An incredulous expression must have spread on Arekan\u2019s face because Grokin snorted a half laugh.<\/p>\n

\u201cSurely you know, Bucko, that ours is a dangerous profession, and we don\u2019t attract the largest labor pool. Sometimes we have to expand that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Arekan didn\u2019t even want to contemplate the idea that crewman was kidnapped from their planet and forced to serve with these brigands. Here we are.\u201d<\/p>\n

Grokin walked into the crews quarters, and some said, \u201cOfficer on deck.\u201d By the time Arekan entered the four men, there were standing groggily by their bunks at attention.<\/p>\n

The room was poorly lit, and the smoke of different noxious substances hung in the air. Ten bunks, stacked two at a time, four against one bulkhead, four against another and two in the middle were fixed into the deck with poles that went to the floor to ceiling. A few of the mattresses were rolled up. The middle bunks seemed unoccupied, and there were no mattresses on them. One either end wall were lockers across what space could accommodate them.<\/p>\n

\u201cBuckos, this is Thad Greene, our new blade. We\u2019ve got here Tinnen, Oban, Egran and Cook.\u201d<\/p>\n

Arekan looked over the shabby looking men. All sported dark tattoos and varying length of beards. Even in the poor lighting, Arekan could see their clothes were unclean and unkept. All were in various states of intoxication. They looked at him dully and replied hi, hey or said nothing at all.<\/p>\n

\u201cAlright, back to \u2018ya bunks. Thad, you\u2019re in luck. You get to choose yours. Whatever of the mattresses are rolled up you can take.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYes, sir,\u201d said Arekan. He could hardly believe his luck at having to choose from bad to worse.<\/p>\n

Grokin grunted and left the cabin leaving Arekan alone with his new crewmates. He looked them over warily, but they were all too drunk or high to pay much attention to him.<\/p>\n

Arekan surveyed the bunks available and found something wrong with each of them. Some were missing supports that would keep the mattress off the ground. Other\u2019s the beds were so stained and dirty he didn\u2019t want to touch them. Finally, he decided one mattress looked relatively clean and moved it to a bunk in the back right-hand corner.<\/p>\n

Arekan moved to the lockers and found several with locks on them. He pulled up to the first one without a lock. Crammed with junks, its contents spilled out on the floor and onto Arekan. Hurriedly while cursing under his breath, he jammed the items back in. He checked the next one, cracking it open slightly. It pleased him to find it empty.<\/p>\n

Or so he thought.<\/p>\n

When he opened the locker wide a mass of long sinewy muscle attached to a long head with sharp fangs launched itself at Arekan hissing furiously.<\/p>\n

Acting on instinct, he shifted his body to the extreme left, and the creature sailed by him and landed with a thud on the floor. Arekan whipped out his sword intending on killing the beast, and it whipped around to rear up and hiss at him.<\/p>\n

\u201cBy the seven hells,\u201d complained one of the crewmen. \u201cCan\u2019t anyone get any sleep around here?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSnake!\u201d called out Arekan in anger and shock.<\/p>\n

\u201cYeah,\u201d said the crewman, \u201cthat\u2019s Grokin\u2019s pet. Don\u2019t kill it or he\u2019ll kill you.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBut it, it\u2019s\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

The snake weaved eyeing Arekan until another crewman threw a shoe at it. It turned and fled out of the hatch into the corridors of the ship.<\/p>\n

\u201cWell, you\u2019re off on the wrong foot now, blade,\u201d said that man. \u201cThere goes our joke on Grokin, and now we can\u2019t collect any money from that. You\u2019re going to have to cover our losses.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cMe?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYes, Blade. And it doesn\u2019t look good for you that on your first day you end up owing money.”<\/p>\n

Chapter 3~ A Game of Thrown <\/a><\/p>\n

Image by Starry Night Graphixs<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cThis lot says \u2018vegetables.\u2019\u201d Arekan read off the description from the worn and cracked compad in his hand. Even as he read it, he knew this was wrong. Vegetables should have been loaded into a stasis unit for transport to protect against spoilage. \u201cAye,\u201d confirmed Grokin, \u201cvegetables.\u201d Arekan and Grokin spent the last two hours […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"parent":413,"menu_order":2,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-588","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bethturnage.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/588","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bethturnage.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bethturnage.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bethturnage.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bethturnage.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=588"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bethturnage.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/588\/revisions"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bethturnage.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/413"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bethturnage.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=588"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}