Truehearts & The Escape From Pirate Moon by Jake Macklem (ebook audio reader TXT) 📕

She knows me to my soul. He wrapped his arm around her waist. “It was bad, but, not as bad as Dal Rixian,” he started as he led them into the house. “It all started when I met this woman.”

“On Ophelia’s moon?” Gwen asked surprised.

Opening the door, he said, “Yep.” Gwen went inside and Cam followed and said, “Surprised me too.”

“Cam, are you missing a finger?”

“Well now, that’s part of the story. Don’t go jumping to the end.”

  34: Ace

The clicking of the secretary’s keyboard and the soft hum of the HVAC were the only sounds in the quiet room. Through the large window, Ace watched soldiers running loading drills just a few meters away in the yard. Transport ships flew in formation, landed, and opened the doors. The soldiers ran “attacked” the ship while the ship's gunner fired training tasers over their heads. Were we ever that sloppy? She could see the training officers walking among the troops, pointing and presumably shouting.

Soft murmurs and muffled thumps came from the general’s office. The secretary leaned over her desk and looked at the door, surprised. Someone is getting their ass chewed.

Leaning back, the secretary smiled awkwardly at Ace. “I’m sure the general will be with you shortly, Lt. Commander.”

Ace gave a single nod. I just want to get this over with and go to Earth. She adjusted the strap of her sling. Her arm felt itchy; inside, her bones were being reconstructed by a nanoshot, using micro-organisms that were discovered centuries ago, by an alien People on an alien planet. She did not know how, but they healed bones faster than normal. Her ribs were already fixed and her arm was mending but still needed time. That was all Ace needed to know. She resisted the urge to scratch and continued to gaze out the window. She saw the action, but her mind replayed the last few days.

&

As soon as they had the ship’s navigation sorted and en route to Rosetta, Ace and Cam began a thorough search of the pirate vessel. The smell on the ship was thick and foul, and they dreaded what they would discover. It did not take long to locate the cargo hold, where they found dozens of prisoners packed into a few filthy cells.

Some had been purchased on distant planets, outside the reach of Galactic law. Some were colonists who were taken after crossing the pirates. Others had been captured with their ships, including Cam’s mining ship. Calming them down took some work—Ace was afraid of what they might do if released—but when Cam found and greeted the crew from his mining vessel, including Verne, who had launched his pod, they all became grateful, eager to do anything their rescuers asked.

Cam started helping sort them out, with places to sleep, food, and clean clothing, while Ace piloted. Using emergency STAR clearance, she bypassed Gate Protocol and once in Rosetta space headed directly to Sol gate and through. Once in the Sol system, she sent a pulse signal on the STAR subspace relay, indicating a STAR was on board and ensuring that a Sol military ship was en route to meet them. Shaw got a kick out of that, cutting in line at the gate then getting the full attention of top brass.

While her channel was open, she sent the ship’s collected logs to Sol authorities. Remy had been thorough in his record-keeping; it included attacks they had been responsible for, drop points, buyers, and hideouts. Enough information to put a serious dent in their operations. It even had his real name—Romeo Dorvashmitz. No wonder he was so angry. Stupid name.

As the Sol ship approached, Ace made Shaw join the rest of the captives. It only took him a moment to realize it was for his own safety. Sol military would undoubtedly board the pirate ship following “potential hostiles” protocol. To avoid any misunderstandings, Ace had all the captive Peoples lay on their bellies in the cargo bay, and she stood in front of them, hands up.

The soldiers waved their guns around and swept the vessel while she cleared everything up with the captain.

The government transports arrived shortly after that and, over the next few hours, debriefed and off-loaded the rescued civilians, taking them to Luna Station where they could give further testimony and get transport to wherever they were supposed to be.

Ace spotted Shaw as he was being herded to a shuttle with everyone else from the mining company. They shared a long moment across the loading bay; Cam tilted his hat and winked at her. She gave a tight-lipped smile and a single nod, fighting the tears threatening to stream down her face.

&

He’s a good man. I hope he made it to his family. I never would have made it off the iron rock without him.

Ace snapped out of her daydream as the general’s door opened and Commander Diaz exited, slamming it behind her. She stormed across the office then slowed and stopped as her eyes settled on Ace—who stood up and saluted. Was she yelling at the general?

Diaz returned the salute. “How you holding up, Hart?”

“Best vacation I’ve ever had. I have a few hundred pirates I’d like to recommend it to,” Ace retorted.

Diaz smiled. “You are the toughest woman I’ve ever trained.”

“Don’t forget ‘the best,’ Ma’am.” The cocky response was expected. I am a STAR after all.

“Cut the shit, Hart,” Diaz snapped.

Ace flinched in surprise. “Commander?”

Diaz stepped up close and spoke softly, “I’ve trained one thousand four hundred and four STAR candidates. Thirty-nine classes. Helped them turn themselves from girls to women, and into some of the greatest warriors the Verse has ever seen. And yes, you are the best.”

Ace shifted uncomfortably. This got weird.

“You just survived a leaked mission that went completely sideways, stole a pirate vessel to escape,