Pirates of the Dark Nebula (Hearts in Orbit Book 2) Read online

  Table of Contents

  PIRATES OF THE DARK NEBULA

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Table of Contents

  PIRATES OF THE DARK NEBULA

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  PIRATES OF THE DARK NEBULA

  Hearts In Orbit: Volume 2

  S. C. MITCHELL

  SOUL MATE PUBLISHING

  New York

  PIRATES OF THE DARK NEBULA

  Copyright©2015

  S. C. MITCHELL

  Cover Design by Fiona Jayde

  This book is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places, and incidents are the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, business establishments, locales, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise) without the prior written permission of both the copyright owner and the publisher. The only exception is brief quotations in printed reviews.

  The scanning, uploading, and distribution of this book via the Internet or via any other means without the permission of the publisher is illegal and punishable by law. Please purchase only authorized electronic editions, and do not participate in or encourage electronic piracy of copyrighted materials.

  Your support of the author’s rights is appreciated.

  Published in the United States of America by

  Soul Mate Publishing

  P.O. Box 24

  Macedon, New York, 14502

  ISBN: 978-1-61935-857-7

  www.SoulMatePublishing.com

  The publisher does not have any control over and does not assume any responsibility for author or third-party websites or their content.

  This book is dedicated to

  the Wisconsin Romance Writers of America

  for their boundless support and encouragement

  of this fledgling author.

  Glossary

  Faculae - Bright patches visible on the surface of a yellow star.

  “Fiery Faculae!” - The future’s equivalent of “Holy Shit!”

  Holovid - Short for Holovision programing. A 5 dimensional experiential entertainment format in which the viewer is placed inside the scene via virtualization. Some programs are derived from or based on old Earth movies and television shows.

  Throw a phizzlegorg in the satellite - The Future’s equivalent of “throw a monkey wrench into the works.

  Comptab Virtua Display - A facemask computer used to run virtual reality simulations and games.

  Galactic Federation - Governmental body for the coreworlds and civilized planets as far out as the galactic rim.

  Galactic Marshals - Law enforcement branch of the Galactic Federation.

  Federation Fleet - Military branch of the Galactic Federation.

  Moontalk - Crazy talk, mumbo jumbo.

  Sauralops - Huge but placid herbivores from Trylon 7

  Maraleach - Larval form of the Maramoth of Capulla 27, capable of surviving deep space journeys. Maraleaches have spread throughout the galaxy by attaching to the outer hulls of spacecraft. Though now found on virtually every inhabitable planet in the galaxy, they are fairly benign, causing little trouble.

  Syngonal - Fluid composite that mixes with antimatter to create Balton waves in a hyper drive.

  My Starshine – An endearment made popular by its use in the 2097 Holovid When Martong met Haley, a frankly quite terrible remake of a popular twentieth century entertainment called a movie (much like a holovid but non-interactive and in only two dimensions, if you can believe that). While both the original movie and (thankfully) the Holovid based on it have been lost over the decades, the phrase lives on.

  Chapter 1

  Impossible!

  Luna Callista checked the status monitor on her star cruiser’s command console, her head awhirl with confusion. There was so much not right with what she was seeing.

  Ion thrusters were on full forward, and her starship was still moving backward. She took a deep breath, an attempt to quell the rising unease growing in her stomach. Scans showed no black hole effects, negligible gravitational forces, zero solar winds . . . nothing that could be affecting her vessel. There were no warning lights or system malfunctions. Still, she continued to slip backward in space instead of flying ahead toward her next jump point.

  Sweat trickled down her back between her shoulder blades despite the cool air circulating in the star cruiser’s cabin.

  Was it an exterior force acting on her ship or some sort of internal system failure?

  A line from an old Earth holovid ran through her mind. We’re caught in a tractor beam.

  “Not fracking possible!” she mumbled under her breath.

  Of course, Harvey heard her. His sonic sensors picked up everything. “What’s not possible, Miss Callista?” His monotone, mechanical voice rattled her dendrites more than it should have.

  Time to have the service droid’s vocal programming upgraded?

  Yeah. Maybe something deep, sexy . . . male.

  Luna’s lip curled, threatening a smile. If he were human, Harvey would be the perfect boyfriend. Always on call, attentive, and willing to do anything she asked.

  “Harvey, run a check of all ship’s systems. We’re moving in the wrong frackin’ direction.” What the hell is going on?

  The droid shuffled toward the maintenance control, his metal feet clanking on the titanium deck. Humanoid in design, her mechanical companion was more than just a computerized machine, programmed to serve. Harvey was her friend. Could his memory banks even register how much he meant to her?

  While Harvey checked out the ship’s systems, Luna scanned the area around th
e ship, looking for anything that could be causing the issue. This deep space sector, a warp hub, should be empty. It charted between systems.

  There’s nothing here.

  She’d come out of warp and was lining up her next hyper-jump when the problems started. If she couldn’t get to that next jump point, she couldn’t safely leave the sector. A warp starting at the wrong point could thrust her ship through a star or space debris. Dangerous at the least, and probably suicidal.

  She pushed once again on the thruster control, but it wouldn’t budge. It was already maxed.

  Behind her ship, sensors picked up an anomaly. Polar fluctuations without a gravitational field.

  What the hell?

  She threw the rear visual up on the monitor. There was something wrong . . . different in the space behind her ship. Like a shimmering deeper ebony against the blackness of space.

  Her heart skipped a beat as a Vega class starship appeared out of the nothingness. No warp signature. No jump claxon. As if the ship had been there all along, but she just hadn’t been able to see it.

  Cloaking shields? Tractor beams? This was science fiction stuff.

  Gooseflesh crawled up the back of her neck.

  Okay, not so much science fiction as not possible . . . at least not with today’s technology. Ian von Alderamin had postulated the possibility of both devices at last year’s Galactic Science Symposium, but they had only been theories. Could he or someone else have actually developed a working prototype of each in so short a time?

  If it was Ian, Luna would warp him a new one. He’s supposed to be working on our project: asteroid field chaos projection.

  Well, she’d ask him when she saw him.

  Her month-long vacation on Blarm was over, and she’d be heading into the laboratory that they shared in a few days . . . if she could get there.

  “Miss Callista. That ship’s designation is classified Dark Nebulan.” Harvey’s monotone made the statement appear matter-of-fact.

  A cold chill filled Luna’s stomach. “The Dark Nebula? The only people living in that sector are . . .”

  Pirates. She couldn’t bring herself to even say the word.

  “We have to get out of here.”

  But how? The ship’s hull throbbed like a Vesperian rattle asp, the thrusters already at full throttle. Warping randomly would be suicidal. Did she have any other options?

  She directed the rear-facing camera to track the pirate craft and brought the image up on her monitor. Like a deepwater Mandorian bantharay, the Dark Nebulan ship glided closer as it continued to pull her in. A lower hatchway door slid open on the underside, revealing a hanger deck large enough to hold her PLT-85 Star Cruiser with room to spare. The pirate ship was about to swallow her star cruiser whole.

  “Frack!” What the hell was the theory Ian had postulated on Tractor Beams? A plasma field? Neutron band wave shifting? She’d only given the document a cursory glance.

  I don’t even know that this thing is based on Ian’s theory anyway. Though she was doubtful anyone else had even approached the subject. Ian von Alderamin was the galaxy’s leading astrophysical engineer.

  But even if it isn’t Ian’s design, I’ll need some type of disruption to free the ship. Sweat beaded on her brow as she searched her mind for possibilities. Perhaps an electromagnetic pulse?

  Her heartbeat thundered in her ears as she brought up the ship’s design plans on her piloting workstation. Hands shaking, she delved into the schematic.

  If I rewired the hyper drive occipital truncator through the ion charging array, it should send an E.M.P. directly through the ship’s hull. Provided, of course, she didn’t electrocute herself in the process.

  It was dangerous but viable. Life support would be disrupted for a few seconds, which wouldn’t be a problem, and it would take about half a minute to recharge the ion array and get the impulse engines back on line. If the tractor beam could retarget her in that time period, it would be futile. Was it worth it to try?

  “Like I’ve got a choice.” She jumped out of the pilot chair and dashed toward the maintenance panel at the back of the cabin.

  Harvey beeped and booped, his processors obviously analyzing her movements. “You’re going to put us in danger, aren’t you, Miss Callista?”

  Luna harrumphed. “We’re already in danger, Harvey.”

  “Perhaps we should hail them. Attempt a communication. This might all be some kind of mis—”

  The com unit crackled to life, cutting short what Harvey had been about to say. “PLT-85, shut down your engines and prepare to be boarded. You are now prisoners of the Brotherhood of the Dark Nebula. Resistance will not be tolerated.”

  She shot Harvey a head-tilted, wide-eyed, ‘see’ glance.

  “I stand corrected, Miss Callista.”

  Sweat beading on her brow, Luna tore open the access panel to rewire the circuit. “Get ready to hit the reset switch as soon as the power goes out.”

  “Ready.”

  She pulled the last two wires from their fasteners and tapped the bare copper ends together. A spark lit up the deck and the ship lurched, then everything went black.

  On the command deck of The Starboard Mist, First Mate Rik Mazar took as much time as he possibly could, without being called insubordinate, to bring the tractor beam back to bear on the small star cruiser.

  Captain Onwin Planemo paced the bridge. The portly space pirate was in a surly mood. “What the hell did she do?”

  Rik used the question as an excuse to delay further. Turning to his secondary terminal, he made a show of determinately searching the data stream. “Looks like an electromagnetic pulse sent through the hull, sir. It shorted out the plasma field. I’m bringing it back on line as fast as I can.”

  Impressive. The woman had some serious strategic skills. Respect warmed his chest. His brows arched as he side-glanced his auxiliary screen. Sensors indicated her ship’s systems were rebooting. Come on, girl. Get that ion drive back up before I’m forced to recapture you.

  If the Brotherhood got its hands on Doctor Luna Callista, there would be hell to pay, but there was only so much Rik could do to assist in her escape without blowing his cover. Still, the tractor beam was new technology no one really understood. He could bluff a bit longer.

  “Need a little help, sailor?” A delicate hand reached over his shoulder to hit the switch he’d been delaying. The tractor beam reset and shot back out toward the PLT-85.

  Fiery faculae! Heat rose on the back of Rik’s neck.

  “You’re welcome.” Kristin Devenport’s seductive tones raised bile in Rik’s gut. The foul villainess made a great show of playing the sweet innocent but was as cruel and cunning as a Birobian stalkerhound.

  “I had it.” Rik put as much malice in his tone as he could, hoping to move Kristin along. The last thing he needed was that slippery snake looking over his shoulder.

  “Kristin, take over the tractor beam controls,” the captain ordered.

  Crap, now what?

  “Mazar!” The captain’s booming voice silenced the low murmur that had risen around the command deck. “I want you to lead the boarding party. We need her alive.”

  Relief washed through Rik’s queasy stomach as he rose from his station, shooting a smirk Kristin’s way. “With great pleasure, Captain.”

  Let the bitch stew in her own juices. It was no accident Captain Planemo chose him to lead the boarding party over her. Kristin had overplayed her hand.

  Rik knew he was now on schedule to take over the captaincy of this vessel once the fat, old fool stumbled. Three months of hard work was paying off at last.

  But Dr. Callista had just thrown a phizzlegorg in the satellite. Things were about to get complicated.

  “Get in there, you rusting bucket of bolts.”

&n
bsp; Luna motioned Harvey into the storage closet as she pulled her blaster holster out and buckled it on. Damn pirates are not going to take me without a fight.

  “But, Miss Callista, you’re in danger.” Harvey would do his best to protect her. His programming dictated it. But, frack it all, they’d just blast him to pieces, and Luna couldn’t live with that. Deactivated, and lying in a closet, hopefully they’d just ignore him.

  “Initiate prerogative one-one-two-seven.” Heat flushed her face. She hated using the override sequencing on the old droid, but it was the only way to save him.

  Harvey bowed his head and shuffled into the closet.

  She hit the deactivation button on the back of his neck, and the droid slumped to the closet floor. His tarnished form looking little more than a pile of scrap metal. She bent down and kissed the top of his shiny silver head. “Be safe.”

  The droid had been with her since she’d turned ten. Her father loved lavishing gifts on her and her sister, but Harvey was the ultimate. Guardian, mentor, and sounding board, the droid filled so many of her otherwise lonely hours with deep, contemplative conversation. Sure he was a machine, but he was also her friend. At times, her only friend.

  Closing the closet door, she pulled her blaster from its holster to check the charge. Her thumb hovered over the setting selector. Stun or kill?

  I would be within my rights as a galactic citizen to use deadly force in this situation. Her life was most certainly in danger.

  Her blaster had never been off the stun setting. And I’m not starting now. She pulled her thumb back.