Pirate (LGBT - Sci-Fi - Romantic)

Chapter Seventeen

Chapter Seventeen 

Mars swore. A hole in the ship was the last thing he needed. Hurriedly he sealed off the doors nearest to the hole, containing the area which would soon become a vacuum once they were out of the airlock, if it wasn't one already. He was sure though, that he could still take the ship into FTL, despite the hole. Well, pretty sure. 

He could see the Aykut now on his screen, its silver and grey conglomeration of docking bays on the outer edge, as the Avata pulled steadily away, heading towards the ten kay mark where it would be safe to make the jump. Any closer and you were likely to encounter another ship in circumstances rather too close for comfort.  

He was pushing the Avata as close to the limit as was legal, when he saw that the Delor was starting to pull away from the space station. He swore again as he increased the power even further, beyond the safety limit but just short of self destruction. Damn. It wasn't going to be enough. The larger, newer ship would overtake him in a matter of minutes. He steered the Avata too closely around another ship on its way inward, incurring a furious stream of abuse from its Captain on the console unit before he cut the connection. He stared intensely at the stream of data flowing down his screen. With the Delor on his tail there was little point in aiming for Mut, even if the old ship could make the jump. Where else could they go? 

Suddenly the Avata lurched awkwardly, throwing him almost out of the control seat, before continuing on its trajectory. It didn't take him long to discover the reason. The Delor was trying to get a fix on him with its tractor beam! Not enough to pull him in, but certainly enough to slow him down, enough to stop him escaping. He zigzagged close to another incoming ship, putting the Avata temporarily out of the Delor's line of sight. He was running out of options. He looked at the console unit again. There was a clear patch of space now in front of him. They were still short of the ten kay mark but he couldn't wait any longer. Mars took a deep breath, put the Avata straight into FTL and disappeared. 

Captain Montoya on the Delor tightened his lips. Naturally enough, Mars had not advised the Control Centre on Aykut of his destination. Now he had two choices, he could wait until the Avata reappeared in normal space where he could detect its presence, or he could make an educated guess as to where Mars was heading and go straight there, using FTL himself. Would the pirate aim for Bast? It was certainly big enough, but as long as those nanobots were still broadcasting he would show up like a beacon. 

Mut. If Mars was seeking any sort of transport out of the system, it had to be Mut. He headed purposefully out to the ten kay mark and made the jump to FTL. 

The Avata reappeared in space, dangerously close to the asteroid belt between Bast and Isis. Mars wasted no time in congratulating himself on having successfully made the journey, but immediately set a course towards a certain large asteroid deep within the belt. It was the least used of his three bases but currently the nearest. Several large rocks actually spun slowly across the screen as he programmed their next destination. 

He was gambling that Nowak hadn't given the Patrol the co-ordinates yet. After all why would he? It was hardly as if there were piles of glittering treasure stored inside, despite anything the holovids might say, it was only a secure place to hide and rest up. They had had Mars in their hands, they hadn't needed the hideouts. However he was aware it would only be a matter of time before Rice tracked his former lieutenant down again and either persuaded or bought the information from him. Once they realised he had not gone to Mut or Bast or even Isis. 

He remembered Connell was still in his cell. He hoped he wouldn't be too angry with him, but he hadn't felt he'd had much of a choice. Hmm. He'd probably be wide awake by now and wondering what on Earth was going on. Time to face the music. Mars left the bridge, having programmed the autonavigator to carefully pick its way through the asteroids towards their destination. 

Connell was pacing back and forth in the small cell. He knew the ship was in space but he couldn't imagine how that had happened. Who was piloting it? It had to be Mars, there was absolutely no logical reason he could think of for the Patrol to have launched the old ship but why on Earth had Mars saddled himself with this old derelict when he had the faster, superbly modern Minnow at his fingertips? Something had gone wrong. 

Just as he was getting ready to start yelling his head off for someone to come and let him out, Mars appeared, an apologetic smile on his face. 

"Sorry Conn, I couldn't leave the bridge until now," he said as he opened the door. "Rice appeared just as I was opening the hatch, I couldn't reach the Minnow." 

"Oh," Connell replied, somewhat grumpily. He'd thought it had to be something like that but it didn't mean he had to like it. "Where are we?" 

"In the asteroid belt, on the way to Base Three." Mars looked a little guilty. 

Connell stared disbelievingly. 

"There wasn't enough power in the Avata to take us anywhere else," Mars excused. "In fact we were damn lucky to get here. Rice's team blew a hole in the hatch." 

That didn't sound good. "I hate to be the dark side of the moon here, but what are we going to do when we get to your base? Have you got facilities for repairing the ship, or at least repowering the space drive?" 

Mars eyes shifted sideways. He cleared his throat. "I won't lie to you. There's some equipment stored there, hopefully it will be enough to fix the ship to get us to Bast, or someplace where I can disappear and you can be 'rescued'." 

Connell looked unconvinced. " 'Hopefully'?" 

Mars looked into his eyes, "I couldn't go back to prison Conn, I just couldn't. I'm sorry." 

"Yes, well I can understand that," the other man conceded. He had hated his short time of being completely at another's mercy, he just wished he hadn't had to go along as well. Would Rice ever believe he had been an unwilling participant? What would happen to his career, would he be facing charges when he returned? 

Mars had already started out of the small room. "Come up to the bridge with me. I might need your help when we reach my base, manoeuvring us into the cavern." Mars paused and turned to him. "Oh, I suppose you'd like your uniform back?" 

Without waiting for an answer, Mars unfastened the uniform at his shoulder, opening it in one smooth motion to his waist. 

Connell who had just been about to say 'no, don't bother' stared in uncomfortable fascination. Mars had evidently had all his body hair removed, his skin was smooth and brown, tautly covering long muscles that rippled as he eased the uniform down over his black briefs. He couldn't help wondering if he had had all his body hair removed ... 

He dropped his eyes quickly and started to take off his own clothes, after all, they had done this before not long ago, quite matter of factly. This time felt different though. This time he was aware of Mars sneaking quick glances as he stripped. This time he was aware of the other man's slight musky scent lingering on his uniform as he put it back on, still warm from Mars' body.  

Rather to his surprise, Mars didn't try and take advantage of the situation but redressed quickly and led the way down the passage to the bridge, a faint smile on his lips as he pulled his prison trousers tighter around him, gathering every last sensation of warmth left from Connell's body, remembering where these pants had been just moments before. Small steps, Nick, he told himself. Small steps.