Captain Nicholas Preston was the son of the highly regarded Admiral Marie Preston, a heavily decorated veteran who died in Interstellar War 4. What Marie Preston lacked in beauty she made up for in skill, wit, and strength. It was highly anticipated that Nick, inheriting the woman's strong jaw, tall stature, coal black hair, and dark brown eyes, would rise through the ranks quickly and become one of the greatest captains that the Intergalactic Space Patrol would ever see and join his place among those like his mother.
It was not thought that he would be stuck patrolling Quadrant 78, monitoring traffic and trying to bait pirates. "This is ridiculous." He spat, starring the the blank screen in front of him. "There is nothing out here. Cargo ships don't even take this route since Q80 allowed for easier travel. No one would search for victims in a Q with barely any traffic. Why in God's name would they stick us out here?"
His navigator, Dac, rolled her lucid black eyes. Her blue skin contrasted sharply with the gray and black of her navigator's uniform as she turned from the myriad of panels in front of her to look at him. "Because Veltro despises you. He was ready to skin you alive and eat you when the department passed over his son and chose you to be captain of this ship. I only wish he hadn't stuck us out here with you. It makes no sense we should have to suffer because he's jealous of you."
The rest of the crew agreed and Nick rolled his eyes. "Would you honestly rather have Veltra be leading you? Be honest with me." Veltra was a self-centered brat of a Vespion who'd lead a ship into a Black hole rather than take the advice of his crew. In other words, an asshole. The crew shook their heads and Nick took that as a solid agreement that he was much better than Veltra--or honestly, any Vespion.
"How's the bait ship doing, Rio?" He asked one of the only other humans on the ship, the communications officer Rio. A short man with dark skin, Rio was from Earth Four with a knack for interstellar languages but of few words. "Fine. No one is biting." The short man said with a soft, smooth voice. A bait ship had been sent out a few thousand klicks away from them in order to draw pirates to it while they remained cloaked not too far away from it. The ISP wasted no expense on bait ships and loaded it with 50,000 credits and metal from Astre's first moon. It would draw pirates to it like moths to a flame.
"I'm sure we're bound to get something soon. Q65 had a pirate bust. There's bound to be a shift in activity." Othos, the weapons officer said, her black, hair-like tentacles pulled back into a ponytail. Her one eye scanned the teleprompter in front of her, reading about the nature of the bust. As the weapons specialist, she needn't know much about it sans what weapons and techniques were used. Apparently it was a 257-Cannon used to take out the hull of the pirate ship. No pirates were able to be captured, but it was safe to assess all of them died from lack of oxygen and the vacuum effect from said hull breach. "Tragic." She said dryly.
"If we do actually find any pirates, our goal is not to kill them. We need to bring them to Ollus for a proper trial. Killing them isn't the way to do things, nor does it adhere to the ISP's guidelines." Nick replied sternly. Many, across different planets, viewed his hallowed organization with disdain. Killing pirates, many refugees from planets in poverty or planets marked red after IW4--including Earth One--wouldn't help the galactic community's view of them. A single captain was not to play judge and jury on an entire ship of pirates.
"An unidentified vessel is converging on the Bait Ship." Dac replied. Othos grinned, showing her sharp white teeth. "It looks like we'll be doing something after all." She said, sitting back. Nick rolled his eyes and looked to the main pilot, Renor. "Renor. Wait for the unidentified ship to come with 20 klicks. Then converge on them. Make sure they don't attempt to board the ship without us at least within proximity for a counter attack. It's imperative that they do not get away with the bait."
"Understood captain."
Their ship was still in stealth mode and all of their systems seemed to be fully online. So when the pirate ship made a beeline for them and not the bait, the crew erupted in panic. Nick ordered them to relax and prepare for what would more definitely be an attack. Dac said something to him in her native tongue - a swear - but the last thing Nick remembered was a phaser going off and pain blooming from the center of his body all the way to his head. The room went black and somebody screamed.
***
Voices. He heard voices.
"Preston, Nicholas. Age 29. Human. Blood Type O. Vital signs positive."
"And in the Union's ISP database?"
"They've marked him as missing rather than deceased. As they did with the rest of the crew members."
Nick tried to move his arms and found them cuffed to the medbed he was laying on. It took him all of three seconds to assess that he was in a med bay of some kind. But he couldn't get up. His eyes shot open and he began straining against the cuffs. "What the hell is going on?" He shouted, eyes feverish.
The two people who were talking looked down at him. One looked like Dac except he was distinctly male and his skin was more green than blue. "Get the captain." He said to the other as he pulled a syringe from the countertop and walked over to Nick. Upon seeing the needle the captain struggled even more against the bounds. "Get the fuck away from me!" He yelled. The man plunged the needle into his arm but instead of pain he felt an unbridled sense of euphorian course through his body before he lost consciousness.
His second time waking was vastly different from his first. He wasn't in a medbay but a cargo bay. He was sitting in a chair with his hands cuffed behind it. His body still felt heavy from being drugged but he could make out where he was.
An unfamiliar man stood tall in front of him. He was tall and sinewy, with shaggy, russet brown hair and green eyes that seemed to glow with mischief. He wasn't dressed like any sort of captain Nick had ever seen. He wore a black leather flight jacket and with the coat of arms from a long forgotten planet and gray work pants. He was attractive in a roguish kind of way but his looks were marred by a small white scars that were spread across his face. He must have been from a colony or a non-Union planet. Medical technology on Union planets had evolved such that there were healing salves that could heal wounds without leaving scar tissue. Where he was from didn't matter, what mattered was that he was human by the look of it. The small fact made Nick feel relieved but he didn't know why.
"It's good to see you're awake and well, Captain Preston." The pirate said as he moved closer. He reached out and grabbed Nick's chin, studying him for a second. "Wow you're younger than I thought you'd be. I figured most ISP captain's would be older." He remarked. The comment earned a few snickers from his men behind him.
"And you're quite the looker. If you were a couple years younger you'd make a killing as a steward. You've got that aristocratic look about you. Companion seekers go crazy over that shit."
There was something about the way he spoke that made the captain's skin crawl. He'd be damned if a pirate was going to talk about him that way. "Don't fucking touch me."
The pirate sucked his teeth and shook his head. He rose an eyebrow at Nick before backhanding him across the face. The sound echoed throughout the cargo bay. "Mr. Preston I don't think you understand the situation you're in." He told him, putting his hand on his neck and squeezing. Not enough so that Nick couldn't breath. But enough to let him know he wouldn't hesitate if it was necessary.
"My name is Rigel. I am the captain of this lovely vessel you are currently aboard. Your entire ship and crew has been disposed of. Right now the only thing keeping you alive is the fact that you are of value to me. Don't overestimate that value. I could kill you right now and fuck your corpse if I wanted to and there wouldn't be a damn thing you could do about it. You understand that?" He asked, cocking his head to the side.
Nick had his pride but he also wasn't a fool. The hand on his neck made it difficult to breathe – and also to nod. Instead he just jerked his chin upwards. Fortunately that was good enough for this pirate and he traced Nick's jawline with his thumb before letting go of him and stepping back.
"Wonderful." He said in a voice too cheerful for a pirate. "Now then, on to more important business..."
"What do you want with me?" Nick interrupted him. His voice was hoarse.
Rigel stared at him and looked puzzled. He was mulling over whether or not to tell him. His men murmured behind him and the pirate turned around and hushed them with only a glance. "You, Mr. Preston, are a key. One of two keys in fact."
"A key to what?"
"Treasure of course."
"Treasure?" Nick repeated. His his throat was dry. He could use a glass of water. But he knew the likelihood of him getting one was slim.
"The Starbright-Gold treasure, more specifically." Rigel inspected his nails as if he was talking about something mundane and not the most currently sought after fortune in the galaxy. Vivika Starbright and Andres Gold were both pirates, Union defectors during the most recent Interstellar war. They made a fortunate selling stolen supplies and weapons to different warring factions - Union and Non-Union. They didn't care who died because of their efforts nor did they care about playing both sides. It wasn't wise to put all your eggs in one basket.
Unfortunately neither of them could bask in their wealth after the war. Andres Gold was hunted by the ISP and vaporized in front of the council for his crimes against the Union. And Vivika Starbright went into hiding. Yet the ISP could not recover any of their profits or find where they stored their products. Some say Vivika shot it all into a black hole before she vanished. Other's say it's stored inside a comet. Neither seem realistic.
"Aren't you too old for bedtime stories?" Nick asked. The Union forbade any talk of the insurrection - for safety reasons - but that didn't mean that kids didn't whisper of pirates, wealth and war late at night among themselves.
Rigel just grinned at him, all teeth. He pulled out a recorder from his pocket. It was a cheap, old thing. It's transmitter external. The pirate pressed a button and a small hologram formed slowly. In it was an older woman. She seemed to the age that Nick's mother would be had she survived the war and it was clear that she was a beauty in her youth. But in this holo she looked sickly. Anyone with a pair of eyes could tell that this woman was dying. The holo was grainy but she spoke clearly to someone of screen.
"Between the moons." She said. "It's between the moons."
A voice off display replied, muffled, "What? What is between the moons?"
Vivika coughed. "Everything." She spat and screwed up her face. "You find it and it's yours."
"How do I find it?" The voice asked.
"Find the keys. Then find the lock."
Rigel cut the holo off there and put the recorder back into his pocket. "Vivika wasn't as illustrious as the tales made her out to be, unfortunately. The rest of it is just Farin trying to figure out what the fuck she was talking about. Anyway, the treasure is real - blah, blah, blah - and somehow you're involved and that's all you really need to know, my friend. The rest, as you ISP folk love to say, is classified."
Nick didn't understand. How was he a key? How did these pirates even find him? And how the fuck was he going to get out of this mess?
"I can tell you're tired and confused." The brown haired pirate said. He scratched at his stubble and shook his head. "But you're going to be here for awhile. And you are going to make us very, very, rich."
"And if I don't?" How were they even sure Nick was a key? And how did they even figure he was?
"Then we'll have wasted our time. And we'll probably have to kill you."
~~~
Hello there friends. I've started a new story. (WHAAAT!) I hope you enjoy this one. This is my first time writing SF and it's going to be an interesting ride. Let me know what you think of the first chapter.
Note: It's not extremely proofread! Sorry!