Marauder Kronos: Scifi Alien Invasion Romance (Mating Wars) Read Online Free PDF Page B

drop you off at the next station.”
    “You’re firing me?” Ramu asks.
    “No,” I say. “I just remember when I first hired you. At that time, it sounded like you had other plans after this mission.”
    “No, Captain,” Ramu says. “I...I’d like to be full crew.”
    I grin and lean back in my chair, throwing my feet up onto the console. “Oh?”
    “Yeah,” Ramu says. “It’s just, uh, the pirates with heart thing. That, uh, appeals to me.”
    “Really, Ramu?” I ask. “Of all the things you could have made up, that’s the absolutely least believable lie you could have told. If you had told me you wanted to ‘keep training with Delphie,’ I might have bought it. Maybe.”
    “All right!” Ramu snaps. “I want that fucking suit!”
    I nod. “Yeah, no shit.”
    “I thought it all out,” he says. “All the economics and shit. So normally for a ship this size doing standard pirate business, you’d want at least three more Marauders, or like six more humans. That’s the minimum you’d need for solid raids – like real raids where you have to fight – not ones where you trick ‘em like we did last time.”
    “So what are you getting at? Are you my business manager now?”
    “No,” Ramu says. “You can sell that suit for a huge paycheck, sure, but whoever you sell it to is gonna’ use it. Let’s say you sell it for two years’ worth of bankroll. After two years, it’s gone. But if you use the suit, it will profit you for the rest of your life.”
    “I don’t know,” I say, leaning so far back in my chair that I’m basically laying down. I crack my knuckles. “If I’m wearing the suit, I can’t help but feel like I’m a huge target. Once everyone knows that Kronos, the pirate with heart, has a biosuit, I’ll just draw trouble. You think the peacekeepers will leave me alone when I have the most illegal weapon in the solar system? And when I’m using it to raid and steal shit from people?”
    “Harmony is flexing her muscles too much,” Ramu says. “The insane A.I. dictator of Earth, that’s what the peacekeepers are worried about. Not some dickhead pirate...no offense, Captain. But you don’t gotta’ draw the fire. You give me the suit, see? Now you don’t gotta’ hire a bunch more crew, I’m all your muscle. You just pay me the normal split of the profits – whatever you give Delphie you give me – and boom, the suit pays for itself.”
    “Right,” I say, looking down my raised feet at him. “And you get to become the most feared pirate in the solar system.”
    Ramu shrugs.
    I nod my head and pretend to be deep in thought. “Well, it’s worth considering, Ramu. I’ll let you know.”
    “Thanks, Cap,” he says, and limps out of the room.
    I smile when he’s gone. I’m definitely selling the suit, but this will motivate Ramu to scare it off Minna’s skin.
    And once that suit is off her, maybe I can convince her to keep working for me as cook. I’ll drop her off if she really wants me to, but I have to admit I’d much rather have her close by my side. The closer the better.

    * * *
    M inna is the last to arrive. She’s put a regular crew’s jumpsuit on over top of her bright orange biosuit. It leaves much more to my imagination than the skin-tight biosuit.
    I’m standing straight with my shoulders back in the center of the command room. My small crew of three is standing before me, not at rigid attention as I’d prefer, but looking at me with weariness and skepticism.
    “You’re standing before your captain,” I say.
    Delphie slouches even more. “So?”
    “So,” I say, “act like it!”
    Ramu snaps to attention and nods to me respectfully. He really wants that suit.
    Minna looks at Ramu’s stiff pose, sighs, and emulates him, but with no enthusiasm whatsoever.
    Delphie stand up straighter, but yawns, totally killing the effect.
    “We’ll start each day with a meeting like this,” I say. “I will get a report from each crew member, after which I