The Pirates of Sufiro (Book 1) (Old Star New Earth) Read Online Free Page A

captain's reaction. He was defeated and she knew it; his dream of a life of luxury and pleasant retirement shattered. "However, to destroy a folk hero is never good. To destroy someone who is so well loved is virtually evil. I will let you go."
"What about my crew?" Firebrandt asked, numb.
"I will pardon the survivors and return them to their home planets."
Firebrandt looked at his feet. "What about us?"
"Well, under the articles of war I am allowed to take from your ship what I need. I've already stripped her of many parts, but she'll still fly. I will leave you with your ship and your supplies. I've disarmed your weapons. I want you out of this sector. With Roberts and Suki, you'll be able to manage the ship."
"Just barely," complained Roberts, nursing his severed hand.
"So much the better," grinned the admiral. "I want you to find a world—a world to settle down on and enjoy your life together. I do this under one condition—that I never hear anything of raids by the dread pirate Firebrandt, ever again." She took a couple steps away and turned again. "If I see any of you in my jurisdiction again, I will not hesitate to execute you as war criminals."
Firebrandt nodded. "I understand."
The admiral turned to leave. Firebrandt rushed forward and grabbed her by the arm. "Wait a moment," he said. "I feel like I should know who you are."
"I'm sad to say, your father never gave us the chance to get to know each other." She laughed lightly at his perplexed expression. "I'm pleased to meet you," she said holding out her hand. "I'm Lord Admiral Barbara Firebrandt."
MAROONED
Firebrandt, Roberts and Suki stood on Legacy's battle deck. The Admiral and her staff had departed nearly an hour before. At the front of the deck, instead of a hologram was a blank wall. The captain realized that it had been turned off during the battle. He stared at his feet and stroked his moustache. Roberts still sat at the gunner's rig and stared blindly at the far wall. Suki walked up to the captain. "We have to do something," she said.
Firebrandt looked up. A single tear escaped his moist eye. Suki moved closer, but the captain put up his hand. Shaking his head he wiped away the tear. "We will not lose our freedom," he said deliberately.
Shaken from his stupor, Roberts asked, "What are your orders, Captain?" The lieutenant's face was sickly pale, looking more like a skull than ever.
The captain frowned. "Are you sure you don't want to rest?"
"I think I need to work," said Roberts, purposefully. "I need to know I can."
Firebrandt nodded grimly.
"I'll check the hold," said Suki. "We need to know what we have to work with." She smiled sheepishly. Firebrandt stepped to her and they embraced warmly. The captain felt renewed purpose. They stepped apart and Suki left.
Firebrandt and Roberts busied themselves, hoping to repair enough damage to get underway again. The fact that they could walk about the ship unaided indicated that there was no damage to the graviton generators. The most devastating blow was the loss of Computer. Firebrandt rewired the human interface connections into a terminal and keyboard. Unfortunately, the characters that appeared on the screen were utter nonsense. The terminal was receiving images and words meant to be interpreted directly by the human brain.
Roberts began writing software that would translate the symbols into something that was meaningful when read. His work was slow. He wasn't used to typing, much less onehanded.
Firebrandt inspected the engine room. He found that the EQ generator was intact. Unfortunately, the EQ drive was useless until the ship's network came back on line. He checked the Quinnium reserves. As he suspected, the admiral had ordered all but one tank drained. Legacy literally had fuel for a one way trip. At the same time, he found that two of Legacy's four large thruster packs for intra-system travel had been stripped of parts. That combined with the loss of a third thruster pack during the battle meant Legacy