Homestar Saga

Chapter 61: Tortuga

"You finish with the logs?" Captain Mims glanced over at Yvian, ignoring the stream of profanity issuing from the comms. This particular batch of pirates was more articulate than the last, and some of the things they suggested were anatomically impossible.

"It's done," Yvian reported. "Our sensor reports show us in Unclaimed Sector 62 when Dresk got hit. If anyone checks, we've been hunting pirates in the Unclaimed Sectors since we got the Recompense." She glanced at the current sensor display. The pirates were still sixty thousand kilometers away. "This doesn't seem very fair, does it?"

One of the streams of profanity cut off. The Recompense switched its beam weapons to the next target. Mims shrugged. "Life's not fair, and slavers don't get mercy."

Standard plasma weapons had a maximum ranged of twenty thousand kilometers, but their effective range was much shorter. Anything over a two kilometers and the enemy had plenty of time to dodge. Beam weapons were different. They struck at near light speed. Unavoidable, and they could hit you from up to ninety thousand kilometers away. Beam weapons required a massive amount of power, and did less damage per second than standard guns, but the Recompense had the juice to fire all six of its beams continuously, and the range advantage more than made up for the drop in firepower.

"It's too bad we won't be able to sell the ships," Lissa remarked. "We'd be making a lot of money right now."

"We can't sell them without proof of piracy," said the Captain. "But that doesn't mean we have to give them up. the Recompense has room for a few more ships, and we can always drop them off at our stash if we need more room."

"Shouldn't the cargo manifest be enough?" Yvian asked. "Their hold's full of future slaves, and the sensor logs will show them attacking innocent vessels."

"Proof after the fact isn't accepted," Mims explained. "You have to catch them in the act unless they've got an active warrant." The beam weapons punched through the second ship's shields and killed the pilot. "Didn't used to be that way, but so many privateers got caught forging logs that the law got changed." He scratched the back of his helmet. "Besides, we're in Unclaimed space. There's no law out here. No law means no piracy and no legitimate way to claim pirate ships."

"The krog would take them," Lissa suggested. "We're famous there. They probably wouldn't even ask questions."

"True," said the Captain. "But a big part of my reputation is that I'm a stickler for the rules." The beam cannons punctured the second pirate ship. The third pirate left off swearing and switched to begging for his life. "I can't go against that if I want people to keep hiring me." He listened to the third pirate beg for a few seconds. "Besides, money isn't everything."

Yvian and Lissa stared at him. It was Yvian that said it. "Who are you and what have you done with Mims?"

"Money is a resource," Mims explained. "I don't like to waste it, but that's all it is."

"No, seriously," Yvian pressed. "Who are you?"

The third pirate died. The Recompense focused its beams on the last one. This pirate said nothing. The sudden silence was a bit of a relief.

"Ships are a resource, too." Mims pointed out. "I don't mind keeping a few to ourselves."

Lissa raised an eyebrow. "Does that mean you're going to pay us for the ones we don't sell?"

"Of course not," Mims snorted. "Don't be ridiculous."

"Huh." Lissa leaned back in her chair with her hands behind her head. "False alarm."

"What do you mean?"

"I guess you're the real Mark after all."

It took a few hours to catch up to the pirate ships. Killing the pilots had stopped them from accelerating further, but it had not caused the ships to come to a stop. The crew seized control of the fighter ships, then docked with the freighter. Yvian went through the freighter's logs while Mims and Lissa moved the future slaves to the Recompense. Two hours later they reconvened on the Encounter.