Nightshade and the Sky Pirates Chapter 1
a Tales from the Dream Nebula Short Story by M. D. Boncher
I originally wrote this to be included as an interlude for my third Tales from the Dream Nebula novel, “The Waking Nightmares”, but found it make the text longer than I wanted it to be so I held it back. Now that I’m considering putting the first two volumes together into an omnibus, I’m looking to possibly include this story there.
So if Flash Gordon style golden age sci-fi with art deco beauty in a psychedelic color palette, strange and wondrous creatures, loveable mechoid sidekicks and snarky sentient AI is your thing, check out my Tales from the Dream Nebula series! And enjoy the first segment of “Nightshade and the Sky Pirates” below!
Interlude: Nightshade & Skypirates
1.
“That be a personal lark, Nightshade!” Gaffinger snarled. “I’m first officer here! I decide iffn’ the Captain lays ear to your dumb as behng ideas. Not you! You’re just an indentured scallywag we saved from drifting to death. You owe us, remember?”
Holly stared back at the Amazonian wirey with a haughty insolence and irritation. Since being saved by the sky pirates from the Sierra Madre, Nightshade, as Holly called herself, had been attempting to talk to the captain. Until now, a chrome plated roadblock prevented her from reaching him, the Bonny Prince Charlie’s First Officer, Gaffinger. This time, she made it to the captain’s cabin door before the roadblock popped up again. The overbuilt first officer was not inordinately feminine but was brutally appealing to some eclectic weirdos. Her body was a mashup of tricked-out, chromed-up cyberware and biotech slapped onto an enhanced body builder’s frame. Holly’s micro-expression analysis software long ago assessed that Gaffinger felt threatened by her presence. She seemed to have a sixth sense when Holly was going to attempt an audience with the captain. Technically, this was indentured servitude. They forced her to sign on for a four-year contract. Holly had no intention of fulfilling the terms of the agreement. Her skills ran contrary to life on a skypirate carrier. Every eye on the bridge that could stare through the open doorway to the Captain’s stateroom did so. She could see the hungry malice in the crew’s scrutiny. They knew this fight had been brewing for weeks and they were determined not to miss it.
“If the Captain would agree-” Holly shouted, hoping the captain would hear her through the door. It was a vain hope, she knew, but it was still worth a try.
“The Captain ain’t got time for vaportalk about booty from a bit o’ flounce like you!” Gaffinger snapped back. “Now get back to your rack and stay there or I’ll throw you in the cathouse with the rest of the floozies!” she roared.
Force her into being a prostitute? Holly gave Gaffinger a “oh no, you didn’t” squint and sneer.
A shocking clang of ceramic bone striking a chromed metal temple rang out. The first officer hit the floor and Holly had pulled the giant wirey’s broom-handle shotgun out of her holster. Gaffinger gave a grunt in as the muzzle covered up her tricked-out eye socket. The iron and tungsten ball chambered in the gun’s breech magnets filled her vision.
“I suspect you’re being deliberately obstinate because Captain MacGee would take a fancy to me, and you want to protect your gig here,” Holly said in a diplomatic tone colder than liquid nitrogen. “Unfortunately, I don’t have time to waste on you anymore. I’ve a job to finish and it’s been delayed far too long as is.” She ground the barrel’s hard muzzle against the softer tissue, grinding out a wince of pain before the neural editor kicked in. “But I’m a fair woman, and I would fairly compensate the captain once I get access to my resources again. Then we can both part and be on our merry ways.”
“You signed on,” Gaffinger winced.
“Under duress,” Holly growled. “You press ganged me into your crew.”
“Name’s on the contract,” Gaffinger grunted as the muzzle pressed harder into the ocular mounting. “Regrets don’t mean a thing.”
“I was delirious with pain,” Holly said, her eyes burning and a thin quaver in her voice. The all too powerful memories of searing agony washing over her hands, face and neck replayed anew. Her cyber eyes twitched and flickered in a glitchy rainbow as she recalled the skypirate sawbones’ treatment. It purged the exotic poisons out of her body but went to war with her own healer nanites. The clash between the two was an experience she never wished to repeat. Compared to the debridement of the wounds caused by the frog’s digestive juices, she clenched her jaw so hard she worried her teeth would break. Then came the memory of the sawbones’ pain filter, sweet relief hooking to her cyberlink that turned everything into a peach infused haze. She had a score to settle with him for not linking that up sooner.“Freeze!” a voice bellowed from the bridge end of the corridor. Security finally arrived to assess the situation. Holly spared them a quick sidelong peek. Compared to letting up on Gaffinger and aiming a half dozen weapons at her, threat analysis software considered them “inconsequential”. Truthfully, they were nothing more than a few of the Captain’s inner gang. Surprised gapes popped open when they saw their first mate, on her butt, pinned to the captain’s door with her own gun in her cyber eye. not sure if they should open fire or let this play out.
“The Captain has nothing to fear from me,” Holly shouted over her shoulder to the gang of toughs, sending a few pushes on her limbic manipulator at them.
Gaffinger laughed. “Subsonic filters inna helmets, flouncy girl. They ain’t getting pulled about by your ear candy,” she said. “Don’t matter none,” Gaffinger said with a laugh. “You be dead for sure in a few seconds. Don’t nobody sucker punch me without payin’, hard.”
“Well cheis,” Holly sighed. “Guess it’s time to get sloppy,” and her finger tensed on the trigger.
The door slid open behind Gaffinger, and both women fell into the stateroom with loud squawks.
Captain “Dapper” Don MacGee stood over them dressed in only a laced front linen shirt that draped down to his mid thigh. The room smelled of spiced wine, apples, pheromones and lots of sex. Holly’s error riddled cybernetic eyes flared wide she got a whiff of the room. The cloud of endorphins blew right by her poison filters and her flesh reacted. The smell both pissed her off and wrapped her in a wave of sexual euphoria that slid down her nose and into all the right parts, lighting her brain in cinnamon fire. Each eye shifted between purple and orange independent of the other as the cosmetic software kept glitching.
Gaffinger took advantage of Holly’s surprise. She up-ended Holly, slamming her on her back. With a pair of ringing metal snaps, the first officer extended a gaff and skinning blade from under her forearms. The gaff hooking the back of her neck and the blade pressed against her throat. “No, stop,” the Captain slurred gently. “I’ll have no blood spilled on my carpet. It’s too pretty to ruin.”
Both women froze and looked at the carpet in confusion. It was an exotic, beautiful rug. White and cream oriental patterns that must have cost someone else a fortune.
“Aye, Cap’n,” Gaffinger said. “Beggin’ yer pardon, sir.”
“Aye, Captain,” Holly agreed.
From the Dapper Don’s bed there came a gasp. A stunning face from the ship’s cathouse looked over the edge of the mattress. Smeared dark blue lipstick and mascara on her face. The two combatants glowered back at her and she drew the covers slowly over her face.
Captain MacGee turned his back on the women and padded over to his desk. It was a Brobdingnagian behemoth of carved mahogany with two ornate carved chairs in front of it. The rest of the stateroom’s décor appeared as if it came out of Congonouville, dripping with ancient Colonial Eur-Afro designs.
Four arms stuck through the doorway, guns in hand. The faces peering down through the sights looked ready to blow both women away. “Cap’n? Everything okay?” one of the Captain’s gang of toughs inquired around the door frame.
“We are just about to discuss a disagreement like civilized people,” the Captain mumbled. Holly could see how he was still under the euphoric cloud of the pheromone incense burning next to the bed and from the candles all around.
“Close the door, please,” he ordered with a wave of his hand. “Gaffinger? Nightshade? Sit. Let us attend to business.”
“Darling,” he called to the ship’s cathouse floozy, who was shivering under the comforters. “Blow out the Djambiki candles, please. The pheromones are not appropriate for the moment, and it would be a shame to waste them.”
The whore timidly did as she was bade and “Dapper” Don opened a snuffbox and took two big pinches of a substance inside. His eyes pinched closed and watered hard. He daubed at them with a silk handkerchief and offered snuff to Holly and Gaffinger.
“Counteracts the candles. Quite helpful when duty calls,” he explained with an elegant wave of his free hand.
“No need for me, Captain,” Gaffinger said.
“My toxin filters will have it metabolized in a few seconds,” Holly added.
“Hrmm…” he groaned, contemplating. Then gave off a loud sneeze. His eyes returning to normal, pupils no longer blown out by the aphrodisiac.
“Now then,” he began, his red-rimmed eyes looking hard at Holly. “Nightshade, correct?”
“Yes, Captain,” she said, playing her part. Scans already revealing ten different ways to kill everyone in the room and walk away whistling a jaunty tune.
“You’ve been with us only a few weeks,” Dapper Don said, recounting the reports given to him by his officers. “Assigned to the flight deck, running basic software maintenance on gunboats and other manual duties, we’ve permitted you. Your work record is poor, I suspect, because of your efforts to escape your contract or at least try for re-negotiation.”
Holly thanked her lucky clouds that somewhere in her pain-filled fugue in sickbay she had activated her data cover as a low level coder and not something more extravagant. The expert system created a partition in her wired brain designed to fool probes and hid her true identity.
“Yes, sir.”
“You have no ID chip, and your DNA has consistently fouled any scanner we’ve stuck it in. Needless to say, Nightshade, we don’t know who you are, but it’s certain you’re not who you say you are. That matters terribly little to me. Whoever you are is most likely not on the right side of Xiao or any other tribe, colony or nation to be so completely anonymous as you are.”
Holly said nothing and fought to keep a smirk off her face. She took pleasure in knowing her DNA contaminators were working properly. They’d have to drill for marrow to get a true reading, and that was no small order with her bones.
“And with no idea on what sort of skills you could offer our crew, and no clear evidence of making a quick profit from you, we have few choices with what to do with you. Of course, with your mix of nanites and bioware that my doctors have never seen before, I will not risk putting you in the cathouse either. Despite your obvious appeal.” The captain’s eyes seemed to waltz with this slow dance of evaluation.
She felt his gaze take in her humbled appearance. That amphiboid’s gut had trashed her grooming nanites and burnt out her hair to a sickly mix of yellow and blue strands that looked like weathered glass fiberoptics. The skin above her chin looked bleached out, like the color of heavily used china, complete with scratches and stains. Similar blotches were all over her body where her armor failed.But her shape was still comely, and there had been no serious scarring. She could see in his eyes, he enjoyed what he saw despite the surface damage.“Cap’n, this is of no account,” Gaffinger interrupted. “She stole me own gun and put it to me eye! I demand satisfaction!”
Dapper Don gave his first officer a less than charitable glance. Leaning forward on his desk, he steepled his fingers. “About that,” he said gently to Gaffinger. “How is it that this wirey could purloin your firearm in such a way?”
Gaffinger’s mouth opened to speak, and froze, words dying in her mouth, which she closed. “She must have faster upgrades than me.”
“Naqh right I do,” Holly interjected. “You’re all force and no finesse.”
The Captain’s jaundiced eye fell on Holly and she shut up. Apparently the Dapper Don didn’t run his ship as blunt and hardscrabble as other skypirates she’d encountered. She resolved to curb the mouthing off a bit more.
A long pause later, he leaned back in his chair and spoke. “I have both a quandary to answer, and a puzzle to solve,” he began languidly. “I don’t run the tightest of ships because I trust my officers. They run my tight ship. Micromanaging fills my life with so much worry and fiddling about. My mind needs to be focused on the big prizes, not mundane tasks and management. But that doesn’t mean I’m not aware either.” An irritated twitch rippled an eyebrow. He toyed with a primitive-looking figurine whittled from some creature or person’s bone.
Dapper Don focused on his first officer. “Gaffinger, you’ve been an excellent disciplinarian and expression of my will on this ship. I’ve great trust in you and your skill. You know my friendship and affection, and our professional relationship has been one of buttery smooth accomplishment.”
“Thank you, sir,” Gaffinger said, blushing a shade.
“Unfortunately, we have a brouhaha between you and our mysterious pressie, which has boiled over and I must step in. I suspect you have your reasons to keep her away from me and omit whatever it is from your reports. Again, I expect that to a degree. Filter out problems according to your discernment, but in this case, it seems your judgment appears faulty.” The captain twisted his chair slowly from side to side, a mild frown set to his lips. Gaffinger sat rigidly in her chair. “I’m disappointed. Not because of you did. No. My disappointment is because you made assumptions about my ability to make quality decisions. Right or wrong, you usurped that privilege for yourself by excluding this growing conflict from your reports. This may have cost the ship a potential windfall.”
Gaffinger remained stoic. Holly knew that, no matter how gently stated, this was a severe rebuke. She’d seen it in Xiao’s courts. From Xiaoite Proximals, this sort of rebuke often collapsed a courtier’s standing. Perhaps skypirates operated the same way? A diplomatic out started forming in her mind.
“Now, we can’t have unknown pressies abusing officers. It sets a dangerous precedent.” Dapper Don’s eyes pinned Holly. “What would you like to confess before I have you executed for mutiny, my dear?”
The flippant utterance of those words startled Holly, but she kept her face composed.
“Captain, I did not intend for this-” Holly started.
“Intent is irrelevant and apologies are insufficient for the wrong you have done to me by assaulting my first officer.”
“But I could not wait any longer. I had to act, Captain,” Holly said, her mouth picking up speed.
“Had?” The Captain’s tone was curious, but his face was incredulous.
“Yes. I have my own secrets, just like everyone in this crew does. Pasts they either need to get back to,” she forged ahead.
“She’s spinnin’ ghost stories again, Cap’n,” Gaffinger interjected. “That’s what I was tryin’ ta keep from ye.”
“This is not helping your cause,” Dapper Don said, shaking his head sadly at Holly.
“Here’s what I can tell you. You want fact, here it is. I’m a courier.” Holly explained, holding mostly with the truth.
“I was on a mission for a powerful courtier. It went sideways thanks to that nahqable black void. This left me holding the bag for tens of millions of bix and the remnants of the cargo I delivered. The buyer is dead, and the cargo and credits have scampered off with a very naughty pilot, and I need to get what I can back so I can report back what went wrong.”
“Go on with your blub, flouncy girl,” Gaffinger mocked.
“Quiet,” Dapper Don MacGee whispered, putting a finger to his lips miming a kiss.
“Your pardon, Cap’n,” Gaffinger said, cowed.
“Disrespect aside, my first officer is correct. You’re just telling tales that mean nothing to me,” the captain said, bored. “I’ve heard many a yarn spun in hopes of saving the spinner’s life.”
“Captain, you get me to where I’m sure that flyboy is at and I will pay you ten million imperial Bix. I’m sure that price would pay for two or three months’ operation on this ship. Make a very healthy share cut for the crew too, for just a bit of ferry service.”
“Lies. She’s played this before, Cap’n,” Gaffinger jumped in. Dapper Don’s withering look appeared to be a last warning. Holly smiled inwardly at the minor division.
“Decorum, dear Gaffinger. I know you’re riled up, but we will do this proper,” the Captain said with a “settle down,” gesture.
“Assuming I choose to do this, what would motivate me to go along with your brief excursion? What guarantees do you have? Or who can vouchsafe for you and your money?” Then, with a charmingly terrifying smile, he brushed a lock of his hair out of his eyes and said, “why shouldn’t I strip your brain of all its data and sell you to a brothel on Nova Tortuga?”
“Because I have a suicide switch that will fry all the data you desire,” Holly said with an equally stony stare. The captain’s expression did not change.“Tell you what,” she said, shifting her tack. “I’m not interested in being summarily executed. Let’s satisfy everyone.” Holly said, patting the desk, symbolically putting her cards on the table.
“How?” Dapper Don said with a merry chuckle. “How do you propose to satisfy everyone?”
“I want to live and finish my mission. Gaffinger wants a shot at revenge for her humiliation. You want peace among your crew, honor to be served, order protected, and maybe with some entertainment and profit, if we can find it,” she surmised. “Oh, and with the least amount of fuss possible. Is that a fair assessment of everyone’s desires?”
Dapper Don gave a small jerk of amused surprise, looked at Gaffinger, who gave a subtle expression Holly did not have a title for in her micro-expression database, and said, “That is a fair grasp of the situation. How do you propose to satisfy it all?”
Holly gave him one of her naughtiest, mischievous smiles.
“As an imperial citizen, I demand my right to trial by combat against Gaffinger.”
Dapper Don MacGee burst out laughing. “You are in no position to demand anything of the sort.”
“Then let me sweeten the deal then and make you a wager. I’m a gambling woman, after all. You take me as far as Nova Tortuga instead. I’m quite certain Commodore Roberts will vouch for me. Then I will pay three million credits for the ride.” Dropping the name of the ersatz skypirate king so casually was particularly brazen and had the desired effect she was looking for.
Gaffinger looked at the Captain so hard, the air felt like it heated.
“An interesting proposal to be sure, but once again, why should I risk the life of my first officer? You’ve surprised her once,” the Captain said delicately.
“She won’t again, Cap’n.”
“Shush, Gaffinger,” the captain scolded.
“You have a good doctor,” Holly reminded him, keeping her real opinion to herself.“Unacceptable. I will not play games with my first officer’s life,” the captain refused.“Okay, leave me unarmed. Then, if I manage to subdue your Amazonian abomination barehanded, you agree to take me to Nova Tortuga. If the Commodore doesn’t vouchsafe for me or I don’t have the money available within six hours of arrival, you can execute me then,” Holly looked at Gaffinger once more, “I doubt even with my strength I could overcome her without a weapon if she’s ready for me.”
“Cap’n!” Gaffinger begged again, bloodlust in her eyes.
Holly pressed on. “What have you to lose? You get the entertainment out of the bargain. I lose the fight, Gaffinger kills me. Life, for you at least, goes on. I win, you are out a week or so of travel time and earn three million bix plus your crew could get a little shore leave. Happy skypirates all around and you look as grand as ever!”
Dapper Don drummed his fingers on his desk.
Holly gave her warmest innocent smile, eliciting a hostile and knowing squint from the Captain.
“I know you have a trick in this somewhere, Nightshade,” Dapper Don muttered, “But if Gaffinger is game-”
“Aye!” the first officer rumbled.
“- let’s give the men a catfight they’ll never forget.”
To Be Continued…..
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