MV 6 Snippet 4

 Sitrep: So, I finished the cover to the Roo Collective:

That book is a collection of the 3 stories with the ending of the saga. It is currently a one off, though I toyed with ideas to expand it. Who knows what the future might hold? After all, Bootstrap Colony and PRI were both supposed to be 1 offs...

Anyway, on to the snippet!

The following is in the aforementioned PRI/Bootstrap universe. It actually takes place during the last PRI book.

A Pirate's Life

Captain Ahmad used the spyglassto check the rigging of the prey ship carefully in order to gauge theirintentions and course of travel. Not much had changed from his last inspection.

The ship was Caliopean. It wasslow; his ship was lighter and faster.

His lips curved in a smile atthat. They’d eat well tonight, he thought. If the other managed to try to avoidhim, perhaps in the night or in the early morning. The longer they made himwait, the more they’d suffer later.

His professional eye turned tohis black sails. They were taut. The winds were right; he would overhaul theprey soon enough.

He put the spyglass carefullyaway in the well-oiled, leather-lined wooden case. He closed the lid andlatched it shut.

~~~\^/~~~

 

Offthe coast of Argos

 

Ginger Lewis wasn't quite boredwith her assignment with the Coast Guard. She had served as the instructor forthe two pilots and had certified them qualified to fly the bird. She was juston hand to enjoy some stick time since one of the pilots had overindulged theevening before.

Below, the endless sea was there,sparkling occasionally in the sun. The further out from the coast they went theless traffic they saw. She did pick up on the current; you could tell the differenceby the color change in the water. There was also a section that had to be somesort of thermal break, though she wasn't certain.

They hadn't brought any sciencegeeks who studied the seas. That was probably a good thing considering some ofthe things she'd seen. Like the alien Plesiosaurs that had been using theirlong necks to grab pterosaurs out of the air or seals off the beach or whateverwas in the depths that snacked on them.

She hoped fervently that the birdshe was in never went in for a water landing.

The bird was a modified DC-3variant colored in white and red markings. It had sensors all over it to getinformation about the weather. There were extra antenna and radios in order tosend signals out. They could also boost signals from ships. A long line fromtheir rudder to an antenna behind the cockpit windows was a large antenna.

The bird also had gear to drop toships in distress and of course protection against lightening. Its ice and coldweather gear was crude though, so they knew that they were going to berestricted on the amount of flying they did in the winter and in inclementweather.

Ginger was taking notes. She hada lot of recommendations for the Coast Guard and their next budget submission.They were due a budget at least equal to this year's thanks to the lobbying ofthe sea communities. She knew another bird was planned, but there were peoplewho wanted a heavy lift long-range chopper.

She had her doubts about thatcoming through so she was hoping they'd settle on making improvements to whatthey had and expanding with lighthouses and buoys and such.

“Ship,” a voice said over theVOX, making her blink. She oriented on the voice. “Clipper,” the voice said. Itwas the cargo master.

“Which side?” she demanded as shekeyed her mike.

“Ah, left, I mean  …”

“Got it,” she said as she bankedslightly and picked up the shape of a clipper. “Two ships,” she corrected. Oneship was smaller and chasing the first. It had black sails.

She spiraled the bird around themin an orbit as they picked out details.

“The point ship is flying thecolors of the Grand Duchy of Caliope,” her copilot said after some study withthe binoculars.

“Document it?” she asked.

He grimaced but then fumbled thecrude camera Max had sent along to try to zoom in and get a shot of the shipfor their records.

“I think the trailer is apirate,” the cargo master Ducky said. She called him Ducky because he had aname that started with a D and he was cute when he blushed.

“It's not one of ours, and it'snot from Medicini,” the copilot said. He started to bumble around noisily.Ginger took her eyes off the ships to see her copilot digging out a small bookfrom the small drawer between their seats. It was on the back of the throttlecontrols.

He flipped through it and thenlooked through the binoculars and then at the book. He checked a few things.

“Get some pics,” Ginger remindedhim.

He grimaced but did so.

“Not Medicini. It's not Dulutheither. I don't know who they are.”

“They aren't friendly,” the cargomaster said. “Both ships have all of their sails out, even a couple of extrafrom the look of things. But the black ship is steadily gaining ground. Thesailors on the Caliopean ship don't look happy.”

“Crap. Take the bird,” Gingersaid.

Her copilot took his yoke. “Ihave the bird,” he said shaking it. She felt the shake and let go. She reachedover and took the book and binoculars off his lap and used them to study theships.

“Nope, not happy. Are they wavingat us?” she asked.

“I guess so,” Ducky replied.

She tried to fumble thebinoculars in front of the camera to add an extra lens to them but it came outblurry. She grimaced and gave up on that idea.

“What do we do?”

“We don't have a weapon on thistub other than the flare guns,” Ducky complained.

“If we'd set her up as a gunship,then our range would have been a quarter what it is,” Ginger stated.

“Okay, so, what do we do?” Duckyasked. “Sit and watch?”

She thought about it and thensmirked. “I don't think so.” She put the binoculars and other items in thedrawer and then took the controls. “My bird.”

“Your bird,” the copilot echoedformally.

“Ducky, strap in. We're going tohave a little fun,” Ginger said.

“I know that voice,” Ducky saiddubiously. Ginger giggled as she tipped the plane in a hard bank and lostaltitude as she spiraled down.

“You are insane!” her copilotsaid, gripping the oh-shit bar and side of his seat as she dipped down andbuzzed the pirate ship. Ginger snorted.

She banked away and then did itagain a moment later, this time going a little lower.

“Keep an eye on the altimeter andthe fuel,” She ordered.

“Two hundred meters, fifty-five,”he stated instantly.

She buzzed the ship again from adifferent angle, even lower and the wind from their travel hit the sails andthrew the ship off course and nearly capsized her.

The Caliopean ship got away asthe pirate pulled their sails in and drifted rocking.

“You're welcome,” Ginger said,waving to the Caliopean ship as they waved up to her.

She turned to look at hercopilot. “Well! That was fun!”

He gaped at her and thenchuckled.

The aircraft spiraled away andthen she remembered to report the incident over the radio.

~~~\^/~~~

Captain Ahmad was frightened bythe encounter but also furious. He glared in the direction of the departingflying thing. He had just barely managed to reef his sails in order to keepfrom capsizing. He got his ship back under way and then went below to his cabinto draw and write what he had seen while it was still fresh.

The crew kept a low profile forsome time afterward, not willing to set him off and feel the lash of his tongueor his quirt.

~~~\^/~~~