To Hell and Back (Hellworlder pirates)

Ch 63 Old Wounds

Old Wounds

Astarte popped her neck before settling onto the bed. During the exam Alwen had realized that this wasn't just any old room, but the room Astarte had grown up in. Most of the walls were lined with shelves and crates literally overflowing with music records and beaten looking paperback picture books. The walls were painted with little white flowers, which confused Alwen because she could still vividly recall the women's dislike for flowers. She wasn't sure what had clued her in on the fact that this was Astarte's room, but something about the space had been irrevocably marked as hers. Or maybe it was the way Astarte seemed to relax in here, like a little bit of her burden had been gently eased off her shoulders. Or at least until Alwen had asked to hear about Gato and Alice's past. The moment Alwen asked her about that the lighter set of her shoulders vanished and she was back to being a pirate Captain.

The last two days of just chatting and bantering with the captain outside of their normal rank and duties had been a lot of fun. And Alwen was beginning to think of the scarred warrior as a friend and confidante. It was a lot like her friendship with Alice, but a little more intellectual. She could always rely on Alice, Isabela, and the rest of the marines for some good laughs and overly macho hijinks. But they weren't the thinking type, they were meat heads down to their bones. It was different with Astarte.

She was strong and fearsome, but she was also frighteningly intelligent, and had a wicked sense of humor. She liked to make fun of all the awful things in life, the coming death of her world, terrorism, suicide, and despite her cavalier attitude, you could tell she really cared about all that stuff. Like she cared so much about it she had to make jokes just to lessen the weight and sorrow behind them.

But now she was all business, and Alwen was sad to see her resume her normal attitude. "So to understand what went down between Alice and Gato you need to know my history with a pirate named Greyson, and how Alice first met Gato."

"I've heard a lot of rumors about your time with the Terran pirates, I think we can ski-"

"No we can't" Astarte interrupted. "Rumors are just that, rumors. To really understand you need to know the whole truth."

Alwen pursed her lips in protest, but nodded her head for the pirate to continue telling her story.

"Alright, I left home pretty young, and signed on with Greyson almost immediately. I was big for my age, knew my way in a fist fight, and also just happened to be the bastards 'type'" she growled that last word. "I was just hired muscle to him, but I worked my way up the ranks and proved myself to him. Eventually I was his right hand thug, there to ruthlessly destroy anyone who pissed him off. I stayed on with him for five years, until I reunited with my birth mother and left him for good."

"That was the reunion where you beat her face in, right?"

"Yeah, but that's a different matter. Anyway after I left, Greyson was upset, he ordered that if anyone ever found me they were to beat me black and blue and drag me back to his stronghold. My mom and I wandered around for in a mother daughter crime spree in a desperate attempt to survive, we eventually found our way back to Sol and kidnapped a rich young Martian to ransom off to his family, that Martian was Karega and through a stroke of fate he and I got to talking and became friends. We let him go and never expected to hear from him again, so when he tracked us down and said that he had gotten several hundred million credits together to build some pirate ships we were shocked."

Alwen blinked in surprise "Why?"

"Not important, all you need to know is that he helped me build the Astaroth and the Lucifer. Mom and I changed our names and reinvented ourselves, molded ourselves into ruthless and cunning pirate captains. Our maiden voyage into the Orion sector had sent shock waves through many criminal circles, and our rise to power eventually earned us the enmity of Greyson and the Terran pirates. back in those days we played it fast and loose, and learned a lot of things the hard way, our greatest lesson was that our loose command structure was holding us back. We pulled in MDY and set about reforming our whole crew and command structure, and the biggest change was an actual dedicated boarding crew. Enter Alice and Wendy Fidelis, they had made a name for themselves here on earth, they were a part of a generation of young idealists that had begun to awaken the long stagnant and isolated vet clans. Made them take a more active role in their communities and assert themselves as a force for law and order. Their mission had grown far faster than their resources and needed a way to supplement that growth. I approached them and offered them a proper place on a real warship, they accepted and rebranded themselves as marines. They combed old field manuals and memoirs to try and recreate everything an American Marine had once been, until they became the terrifying force they are today. And when I burst onto the scene with them in my arsenal Greyson knew he had to do something about us and fast." Her face darkened. "I really should have known the bastard would try a cowardly sneak attack, we made Isos run red with their blood, and crippled the station beyond repair in our bid to kill'em. But we had lost a lot as well, worse than the sneak attack on Femeri"