Tales from the greediest...
Captain Larsson took him on as a deckhand, for the Faded Star already had a carpenter. He was officially voted on by the crew, something he remembered Lemlis' ship having done. This was a relief--the Faded Star was a democracy, and not a dictatorship as Skezzer'Oll's ship was. He already felt more comfortable for that.
The ship and crew seemed all right at first. Shin-sin-fa found himself treated more cordially than he had been on the other ships, though it was obvious that the crew still regarded him as an inferior.
They were nearly all older men, in their early thirties and up, which left him unable to gain standing merely by age. He also stuck out sorely among them as an obvious pirate: marked, pierced, filthy, and with worse vernacular speech than even the other spacers. The others didn't appear to be pirates at first--it was only through their actions, not their appearances or speech, that they could be recognized. They regarded him with the same kind of patience they would for a nephew: they expected someone else to praise or punish him, and kept out of it themselves. He was allotted minimal conversation, allowed to listen to stories and join in on games of cards (during which money was never put down, to his confusion), and none of the crew tried to get him beaten.
The first prize was quite an experience. Shin-sin-fa was standing at the ready with the rest of the crew, a knife in each hand, waiting impatiently to board. Lemlis' ship, the Nova Scar, was in the lead, and as they sailed nearer, they flew their Jolly Roger as a warning to the merchant prize.
The galleon did not respond the way most merchant ships did. She had larger sails and larger engines, and apparently a captain who had considerable balls. With a sudden thrust of power, her great bulk began to pick up speed. The tinier, faster pirate vessels rocketed forward, rotating around her to the stern as they tried to get hooks into the sails and rigging. The galleon shot back at them, cutting smoking holes through their sails, but there were three ships and not enough cannon or men to take care of them all.
The Faded Star moved closer, faster, and suddenly Larsson called out a few sharp directions to their helmsman that left Shin-sin-fa's eyes widening. No one else seemed the least upset, but the feline alien could hardly believe it. Alongside? Board them? They were moving at incredible speeds, and boarding a vessel during the middle of a high speed chase was more than just dangerous--he'd never even heard of someone doing such a thing. What if the helmsman had to pull away while they were in the middle of switching ships? What then? What if the other ship's helmsman was killed or distracted in the battle and ran them into a stray asteroid?
As the volley of incredulous thoughts scuttled through Shin-sin-fa's mind, the ship drew up close and men began jumping on board the other ship, many of them without lifelines. A lifeline could be a grave liability in battle. Swallowing hard, and repeating his motto of doing as the captain wished, he leaped with them. When his feet hit solid deck, he had little time to be relieved, because they were facing fierce opposition.
He danced about, stabbing a few but throwing blades at more, killing and injuring from a safe distance by nothing but accuracy and the force of his arm. The other crew's captain recognized him for a threat and sent their first mate and another after him at once, and he found himself backed up into the rigging--the same rigging that Lemlis' men were shooting at from on board their ship. Shu sa fen Larsson! he thought wildly. It was very hard to believe anyone could be this crazy--let alone twenty of them.
The battle was over soon, though, and the first mate was cut down beneath Shin-sin-fa by another pirate. Slowing and then finally halting, the galleon weighed anchor. The remaining crew were fortunate that Larsson had boarded first, for he and his crew, much like Lemlis and his men, were fair to their prisoners. The rule among the fleet was that the first to board had sway over treatment of the captives, and these captives were to go free. Shin-sin-fa did not feel so lucky; he was appalled that he had been asked to risk his life with such frighteningly bad odds just over some damned booty. His crewmates had fought like starved animals, purposefully and with primitive, enraged brutality (though you'd think no such thing looking at them cordially herding the prisoners into groups and binding them). He found he couldn't summon their insanity: he had just wanted out, out of that lunatic battle. They could have kept up with the ship, worn them down. They didn't have to leap on like that. But the men had been in a frenzied pre-battle fervor and Shin-sin-fa doubted they were even capable of thinking logically.
His new crewmates were very quiet; none of the drinking and carousing commonplace on the other two ships in the fleet. They took their shares and retired to the Faded Star to quietly sail to the next port and wait for the other two thirds of the fleet to finish spending their money before they set off again.
After the first prize, Shin-sin-fa found himself going nearly mad with boredom and the need to get out and at least walk around, have some real food, and maybe catch a glimpse of someone his own age, even possibly talk to them. The rest of them simply lay in their bunks reading or whittling. Spacers didn't read, he thought incredulously, yet they did--everything from hardbound books to periodicals. Some of them even wrote.
He didn't see how they could write, with nothing to write about! His own journal was stagnant, filled with complaints about how bored he was and doodles. He finally asked if he might go on shore. Twilla, giving him a knowing look, said he was his own man and could do as he pleased--but be back before they took off the next day. Shin-sin-fa assented and wandered into port.
Hours later and having been treated badly by an unfortunate set of circumstances, he limped his way back on board the Faded Star, enduring the pitying looks of his crewmates with only barely veiled humiliation. He hadn't realized how much he depended on his pirate comrades to keep him from trouble until he'd been out on his own. Now he could see that for every time he'd been beaten up or worse on board Skezzer'Oll's ship, someone had saved him from the same while ashore. He made his way to his bunk and hid there to bleed in peace.
The next few prizes the fleet took were much more regular--the Jolly Roger was enough to cow the captain and the crew into surrendering, and they took what they wished and were on their merry way without a droplet of blood shed. They had even managed to take three of a thirty-ship caravan, quickly and efficiently before they even came close to being caught. Their luck was running high and, in fact, they had just taken a very fat prize and were weighed low with their accomplishments when they happened upon a spectacle.
The asteroid field was not only a favorite for pirates, but for smugglers. As they floated around between the rocks, waiting for a suitable prey, their lookout spotted the tail end of a chase. When they drifted closer, hiding in the shadows of the huge stones, the entire crew was treated to a rare sight. They were watching a small Navy vessel apprehend a smuggler's brigantine.
Lemlis and Skezzer'Oll were still back a ways, and certainly couldn't see it. Their reactions would have been laughter, Shin-sin-fa was sure, and their crews would have followed. "Ha, you've gotten caught, but not I!" they would think. It was not so on this vessel. The crew of the Faded Star were silent, their faces predatory and their gestures those of men preparing for action. Shin-sin-fa was confused until he realized that the cargo the Navy vessel was commandeering from the smugglers had caught their attention.
They were planning on attacking a Navy ship.
For the two minutes it took the men to get ready, Shin-sin-fa was stunned, standing with them on the deck but completely unprepared to go to battle--not physically, but mentally. Finally he approached First Mate Twilla.
"First Mate Twilla, sir," he said tightly. "Forgive me sir, but are we all quite sure 'bout this?"
"Yes, Shin-sin-fa," Twilla answered curtly, giving the boy a sharp look. He was a felinoid too, of a different sort: broader, tougher, with a body that could easily pull down the rigging but would likely not be agile climbing it.
"It's jus' as it might be easy for t'lot o' you t'go on board a Navy vessel, but I'm sure o' one thing an' that's I look more like a pirate'n any o' you. Any o' you might beg off, but I--"
"Are you sayin' we'll fail, lad?" Twilla gave him a dangerous stare.
Shin-sin-fa took another glance toward the Navy vessel and finally nodded. "That I am sir. They're sure t'outnumber us an'--"
"Hold your tongue, an' get out there like the others," Twilla snapped.
Taking a deep breath, the feline lad thought through his options.
These men were insane. Absolutely, incredibly insane. Taking their small crew with a variety of arms and skills, no matter how fierce they were, onto a disciplined well-funded military vessel was outrageous. A Navy vessel in the asteroid fields had been sent to look for pirates specifically, which meant they were probably well equipped to take a pirate ship down.
He could either get on the ship with them and be killed in battle, or worse, captured and tortured to get him to give out the name of every pirate he had ever known. He could stay here and watch them all die, or possibly watch them all come back and be punished for cowardice. Faced with two possible gory deaths, he tried one last tactic.
"I know it ain't my position here, sir, but I'm a carpenter--" Carpenters were not forced into battle on most pirate ships, just as the doctor was not, and simply took less pay for it.
"SHIN-SIN-FA! Get your cowardly arse up with the others, or I'll carve off 'nother layer o' your blasted back, so help me!"
Quietly, the feline alien nodded and said, "Well I'll trade t'skin then, 'cause you're all as good as dead goin' on board that ship." If that's all, he thought in relief. He knew that the Navy vessels were a good deal more thorough in eliciting pain from their prisoners than a simple whipping. There were few things that Shin-sin-fa valued above his honor, but when it came right down to it, his life was marginally more important. He settled back on a crate and watched, trying to ignore the poisonous looks some of his crewmates were giving him.
Shu sa fan mad. The lot of them, he thought to himself as he watched them board the pirate hunter. He figured he would claim he'd been a captive as well, kept on board for his carpentry skills, and see if he could get off that way. The actual carpenter never took advantage of being allowed to avoid the fights--he wanted his full share like anyone else, and was one of the first to board the Navy vessel.
They put up a fight, but really, they were so surprised they barely had time to man their stations again before the ships were bumping hulls and there were pirates leaping down from the rigging and the forecastle onto the pirate hunter's deck. In minutes, the Navy men had been killed or subdued and then killed. It was the only time Shin-sin-fa had not seen mercy from Larsson or his men, but he understood why. The other prizes were victims: but this was the enemy.
Twilla called for him to get his "yellow arse" over and begin helping to move the cargo. He jumped up and did so immediately, and while it may have looked to some of the others as if the prospect of touching and possibly pocketing some of the booty was his motivation, it was really only that he was glad to be given an order he felt he could follow.
When they had finished carrying it over and divvying it up, and had made their way back to The Hell's Comet and the Nova Scar, Larsson and Twilla approached Shin-sin-fa and explained to him that cowardice was not to be tolerated, and they were going to beat it out of him. Following the customs of more disciplined ships, he was given a length of rope to make a cat o'nine to be used on himself. No one else spoke to him.
Shin-sin-fa took the length of rope without complaint, sat down and unraveled all the strands, and tied knots on the end of each. When finished, he presented himself before Larsson with an apology that he'd maybe not done it quite right, but had tried.
The Faded Star apparently had a bizarre custom concerning flogging, and it was simply that each of the crew members got a turn with it. His cowardice was considered to have endangered the chances of success for all the others, and therefore, all of them should have a chance for retribution. Some of them were more vicious than others, and his blood was pouring down his back and had soaked the seat of his pants before they'd finished. It was certainly painful and should not be made to sound as if it were not, but Shin-sin-fa was still relieved that he'd been able to buy his way out so easily. This was something he could handle. Certain death preceded by heinous torture was not acceptable, and he would take whatever alternative presented itself.
Most of them apparently thought it would cure him of his cowardice, that he had simply been feeling the fear of a youth and would snap out of it, but they had misunderstood his reasons, and what's more, misunderstood how well he and Pain knew one another. Every time the Faded Star's crew did something insane, Shin-sin-fa bought his way out with a whipping. Their avarice was an all-consuming passion, and they would risk anything, even if the odds were a hundred to one, simply to gain that much more gold. He had never realized, while on board the other two ships, how often the Faded Star went off on her own to claim a prize the other two ships weren't keen on...but she did so regularly. Bigger ships, faster ships, ships with more men, with more cannon; if it had gold on board, the Faded Scar would attempt it.
They won every time.
And nearly every time, Shin-sin-fa did not trust that their luck would hold out, and he only boarded the ships that surrendered easily or that the other ships in the fleet also made for. He became so used to buying his way out of fighting with a flogging that he would sit on deck, amidst the shrapnel and cacophony of battle that flew from the other ship's deck, and unravel and knot the rope so it was ready by the time Larsson and Twilla returned. He'd found that if they were still tired from fighting when they whipped him, none of them could do it as hard as they did when they'd had some time to rest and think about what a coward they found him.
Very few times he would board the more dangerous prizes as well, when he personally felt they might have a chance at winning, and he realized partially why they were so keen on it. Booty was much more plentiful when only divided between twenty men instead of seventy-five. Still, material goods were not Shin-sin-fa's priority in life. He found he wanted to be happy, wanted to feel like he had privacy and little fear for his skin--especially over his throat. After a few more convincing incidents, on the ship, in battle, and on shore, he stepped off in Montressor. He'd picked up the habits of the of the men of the Faded Star when it came to money, but he liked to think he'd kept his own sanity...they had quite obviously lost theirs.
The ship and crew seemed all right at first. Shin-sin-fa found himself treated more cordially than he had been on the other ships, though it was obvious that the crew still regarded him as an inferior.
They were nearly all older men, in their early thirties and up, which left him unable to gain standing merely by age. He also stuck out sorely among them as an obvious pirate: marked, pierced, filthy, and with worse vernacular speech than even the other spacers. The others didn't appear to be pirates at first--it was only through their actions, not their appearances or speech, that they could be recognized. They regarded him with the same kind of patience they would for a nephew: they expected someone else to praise or punish him, and kept out of it themselves. He was allotted minimal conversation, allowed to listen to stories and join in on games of cards (during which money was never put down, to his confusion), and none of the crew tried to get him beaten.
The first prize was quite an experience. Shin-sin-fa was standing at the ready with the rest of the crew, a knife in each hand, waiting impatiently to board. Lemlis' ship, the Nova Scar, was in the lead, and as they sailed nearer, they flew their Jolly Roger as a warning to the merchant prize.
The galleon did not respond the way most merchant ships did. She had larger sails and larger engines, and apparently a captain who had considerable balls. With a sudden thrust of power, her great bulk began to pick up speed. The tinier, faster pirate vessels rocketed forward, rotating around her to the stern as they tried to get hooks into the sails and rigging. The galleon shot back at them, cutting smoking holes through their sails, but there were three ships and not enough cannon or men to take care of them all.
The Faded Star moved closer, faster, and suddenly Larsson called out a few sharp directions to their helmsman that left Shin-sin-fa's eyes widening. No one else seemed the least upset, but the feline alien could hardly believe it. Alongside? Board them? They were moving at incredible speeds, and boarding a vessel during the middle of a high speed chase was more than just dangerous--he'd never even heard of someone doing such a thing. What if the helmsman had to pull away while they were in the middle of switching ships? What then? What if the other ship's helmsman was killed or distracted in the battle and ran them into a stray asteroid?
As the volley of incredulous thoughts scuttled through Shin-sin-fa's mind, the ship drew up close and men began jumping on board the other ship, many of them without lifelines. A lifeline could be a grave liability in battle. Swallowing hard, and repeating his motto of doing as the captain wished, he leaped with them. When his feet hit solid deck, he had little time to be relieved, because they were facing fierce opposition.
He danced about, stabbing a few but throwing blades at more, killing and injuring from a safe distance by nothing but accuracy and the force of his arm. The other crew's captain recognized him for a threat and sent their first mate and another after him at once, and he found himself backed up into the rigging--the same rigging that Lemlis' men were shooting at from on board their ship. Shu sa fen Larsson! he thought wildly. It was very hard to believe anyone could be this crazy--let alone twenty of them.
The battle was over soon, though, and the first mate was cut down beneath Shin-sin-fa by another pirate. Slowing and then finally halting, the galleon weighed anchor. The remaining crew were fortunate that Larsson had boarded first, for he and his crew, much like Lemlis and his men, were fair to their prisoners. The rule among the fleet was that the first to board had sway over treatment of the captives, and these captives were to go free. Shin-sin-fa did not feel so lucky; he was appalled that he had been asked to risk his life with such frighteningly bad odds just over some damned booty. His crewmates had fought like starved animals, purposefully and with primitive, enraged brutality (though you'd think no such thing looking at them cordially herding the prisoners into groups and binding them). He found he couldn't summon their insanity: he had just wanted out, out of that lunatic battle. They could have kept up with the ship, worn them down. They didn't have to leap on like that. But the men had been in a frenzied pre-battle fervor and Shin-sin-fa doubted they were even capable of thinking logically.
His new crewmates were very quiet; none of the drinking and carousing commonplace on the other two ships in the fleet. They took their shares and retired to the Faded Star to quietly sail to the next port and wait for the other two thirds of the fleet to finish spending their money before they set off again.
After the first prize, Shin-sin-fa found himself going nearly mad with boredom and the need to get out and at least walk around, have some real food, and maybe catch a glimpse of someone his own age, even possibly talk to them. The rest of them simply lay in their bunks reading or whittling. Spacers didn't read, he thought incredulously, yet they did--everything from hardbound books to periodicals. Some of them even wrote.
He didn't see how they could write, with nothing to write about! His own journal was stagnant, filled with complaints about how bored he was and doodles. He finally asked if he might go on shore. Twilla, giving him a knowing look, said he was his own man and could do as he pleased--but be back before they took off the next day. Shin-sin-fa assented and wandered into port.
Hours later and having been treated badly by an unfortunate set of circumstances, he limped his way back on board the Faded Star, enduring the pitying looks of his crewmates with only barely veiled humiliation. He hadn't realized how much he depended on his pirate comrades to keep him from trouble until he'd been out on his own. Now he could see that for every time he'd been beaten up or worse on board Skezzer'Oll's ship, someone had saved him from the same while ashore. He made his way to his bunk and hid there to bleed in peace.
The next few prizes the fleet took were much more regular--the Jolly Roger was enough to cow the captain and the crew into surrendering, and they took what they wished and were on their merry way without a droplet of blood shed. They had even managed to take three of a thirty-ship caravan, quickly and efficiently before they even came close to being caught. Their luck was running high and, in fact, they had just taken a very fat prize and were weighed low with their accomplishments when they happened upon a spectacle.
The asteroid field was not only a favorite for pirates, but for smugglers. As they floated around between the rocks, waiting for a suitable prey, their lookout spotted the tail end of a chase. When they drifted closer, hiding in the shadows of the huge stones, the entire crew was treated to a rare sight. They were watching a small Navy vessel apprehend a smuggler's brigantine.
Lemlis and Skezzer'Oll were still back a ways, and certainly couldn't see it. Their reactions would have been laughter, Shin-sin-fa was sure, and their crews would have followed. "Ha, you've gotten caught, but not I!" they would think. It was not so on this vessel. The crew of the Faded Star were silent, their faces predatory and their gestures those of men preparing for action. Shin-sin-fa was confused until he realized that the cargo the Navy vessel was commandeering from the smugglers had caught their attention.
They were planning on attacking a Navy ship.
For the two minutes it took the men to get ready, Shin-sin-fa was stunned, standing with them on the deck but completely unprepared to go to battle--not physically, but mentally. Finally he approached First Mate Twilla.
"First Mate Twilla, sir," he said tightly. "Forgive me sir, but are we all quite sure 'bout this?"
"Yes, Shin-sin-fa," Twilla answered curtly, giving the boy a sharp look. He was a felinoid too, of a different sort: broader, tougher, with a body that could easily pull down the rigging but would likely not be agile climbing it.
"It's jus' as it might be easy for t'lot o' you t'go on board a Navy vessel, but I'm sure o' one thing an' that's I look more like a pirate'n any o' you. Any o' you might beg off, but I--"
"Are you sayin' we'll fail, lad?" Twilla gave him a dangerous stare.
Shin-sin-fa took another glance toward the Navy vessel and finally nodded. "That I am sir. They're sure t'outnumber us an'--"
"Hold your tongue, an' get out there like the others," Twilla snapped.
Taking a deep breath, the feline lad thought through his options.
These men were insane. Absolutely, incredibly insane. Taking their small crew with a variety of arms and skills, no matter how fierce they were, onto a disciplined well-funded military vessel was outrageous. A Navy vessel in the asteroid fields had been sent to look for pirates specifically, which meant they were probably well equipped to take a pirate ship down.
He could either get on the ship with them and be killed in battle, or worse, captured and tortured to get him to give out the name of every pirate he had ever known. He could stay here and watch them all die, or possibly watch them all come back and be punished for cowardice. Faced with two possible gory deaths, he tried one last tactic.
"I know it ain't my position here, sir, but I'm a carpenter--" Carpenters were not forced into battle on most pirate ships, just as the doctor was not, and simply took less pay for it.
"SHIN-SIN-FA! Get your cowardly arse up with the others, or I'll carve off 'nother layer o' your blasted back, so help me!"
Quietly, the feline alien nodded and said, "Well I'll trade t'skin then, 'cause you're all as good as dead goin' on board that ship." If that's all, he thought in relief. He knew that the Navy vessels were a good deal more thorough in eliciting pain from their prisoners than a simple whipping. There were few things that Shin-sin-fa valued above his honor, but when it came right down to it, his life was marginally more important. He settled back on a crate and watched, trying to ignore the poisonous looks some of his crewmates were giving him.
Shu sa fan mad. The lot of them, he thought to himself as he watched them board the pirate hunter. He figured he would claim he'd been a captive as well, kept on board for his carpentry skills, and see if he could get off that way. The actual carpenter never took advantage of being allowed to avoid the fights--he wanted his full share like anyone else, and was one of the first to board the Navy vessel.
They put up a fight, but really, they were so surprised they barely had time to man their stations again before the ships were bumping hulls and there were pirates leaping down from the rigging and the forecastle onto the pirate hunter's deck. In minutes, the Navy men had been killed or subdued and then killed. It was the only time Shin-sin-fa had not seen mercy from Larsson or his men, but he understood why. The other prizes were victims: but this was the enemy.
Twilla called for him to get his "yellow arse" over and begin helping to move the cargo. He jumped up and did so immediately, and while it may have looked to some of the others as if the prospect of touching and possibly pocketing some of the booty was his motivation, it was really only that he was glad to be given an order he felt he could follow.
When they had finished carrying it over and divvying it up, and had made their way back to The Hell's Comet and the Nova Scar, Larsson and Twilla approached Shin-sin-fa and explained to him that cowardice was not to be tolerated, and they were going to beat it out of him. Following the customs of more disciplined ships, he was given a length of rope to make a cat o'nine to be used on himself. No one else spoke to him.
Shin-sin-fa took the length of rope without complaint, sat down and unraveled all the strands, and tied knots on the end of each. When finished, he presented himself before Larsson with an apology that he'd maybe not done it quite right, but had tried.
The Faded Star apparently had a bizarre custom concerning flogging, and it was simply that each of the crew members got a turn with it. His cowardice was considered to have endangered the chances of success for all the others, and therefore, all of them should have a chance for retribution. Some of them were more vicious than others, and his blood was pouring down his back and had soaked the seat of his pants before they'd finished. It was certainly painful and should not be made to sound as if it were not, but Shin-sin-fa was still relieved that he'd been able to buy his way out so easily. This was something he could handle. Certain death preceded by heinous torture was not acceptable, and he would take whatever alternative presented itself.
Most of them apparently thought it would cure him of his cowardice, that he had simply been feeling the fear of a youth and would snap out of it, but they had misunderstood his reasons, and what's more, misunderstood how well he and Pain knew one another. Every time the Faded Star's crew did something insane, Shin-sin-fa bought his way out with a whipping. Their avarice was an all-consuming passion, and they would risk anything, even if the odds were a hundred to one, simply to gain that much more gold. He had never realized, while on board the other two ships, how often the Faded Star went off on her own to claim a prize the other two ships weren't keen on...but she did so regularly. Bigger ships, faster ships, ships with more men, with more cannon; if it had gold on board, the Faded Scar would attempt it.
They won every time.
And nearly every time, Shin-sin-fa did not trust that their luck would hold out, and he only boarded the ships that surrendered easily or that the other ships in the fleet also made for. He became so used to buying his way out of fighting with a flogging that he would sit on deck, amidst the shrapnel and cacophony of battle that flew from the other ship's deck, and unravel and knot the rope so it was ready by the time Larsson and Twilla returned. He'd found that if they were still tired from fighting when they whipped him, none of them could do it as hard as they did when they'd had some time to rest and think about what a coward they found him.
Very few times he would board the more dangerous prizes as well, when he personally felt they might have a chance at winning, and he realized partially why they were so keen on it. Booty was much more plentiful when only divided between twenty men instead of seventy-five. Still, material goods were not Shin-sin-fa's priority in life. He found he wanted to be happy, wanted to feel like he had privacy and little fear for his skin--especially over his throat. After a few more convincing incidents, on the ship, in battle, and on shore, he stepped off in Montressor. He'd picked up the habits of the of the men of the Faded Star when it came to money, but he liked to think he'd kept his own sanity...they had quite obviously lost theirs.