The Space Pirate 1 Read Online Free PDF Page A

it was true. She might have a pair of great blasters but they were useless if she didn’t have any targeting assistance. Boss Pete’s men would cut her down in seconds.
    Charley tried the headset on. It took a little while to get used to. She played with the targeting display. It registered Silverton as a potential threat, listing his predicted age, weight and possible weapons.
    “Nice,” she breathed.
    “Careful not to focus too much on that display,” Silverton warned. “There’s still the real world to keep an eye on.”
    Charley nodded, deactivating the headset for now.
    “And finally,” Silverton gasped, sounding more hoarse than ever, “here’s the most valuable thing I own.”
    Silverton handed Charley a hand drawn map. That’s right - hand drawn on parchment. Charley took the tattered, brittle paper with a bemused smile. “What the fuck?
    “Yeah, yeah,” Silverton said through his pain. “Pirates learn not to trust modern technology a great deal. X marks the spot, girl.”
    Sure enough, an X was marked in the Meridien valley of the Dusty Mountains.
    “It’s a cave,” Silverton said. “Kinda hard to find if you don’t know what you’re looking for.”
    And with that, Silverton collapsed. Charley helped the man to his feet, but blood was already dribbling from his mouth. He smelled terrible. Charley pocketed the treasure map and laid the old pirate against the speeder. “So … do you think you might … take the call?”
    It was a moment before Charley realized what Silverton was on about. He was asking if she was interested in becoming a pirate.
    “Maybe,” she said, more to humor a dying man than anything else.
    Silverton smiled. “That would be somethin’,” he gasped. “I never had a daughter …”
    Silverton’s eyes stared lifelessly at her. Charley stifled a sob and closed the lids over. So that was the end of Silverton. Charley looked around her, wondering if all this was one big lurid dream. The salt pan was quiet save for a gathering breeze and the distant hum of a garbage barge somewhere across the flat expanse.

6
     
    Everything had happened so quickly. One moment she was fearing for her life, the next she was given a quest by the most unlikely of characters. Charley climbed into the speeder, wondering if the guy had something practical like credits. She found two ten credit tubes in the glove box. She breathed a huge sigh of relief, kissing the tubes lovingly.
    She stripped Silverton’s belt and holsters, sliding the blasters in and tucking the heavy saber through the leather. The throwing knives she pocketed along with the pellet rack. She would need to find a proper utility suit if she was gonna be able to organize all these items effectively. There were no gear stores in Sandflower Downs. She would need to assault the garbage compound in nothing but a linen shift. Fucking madness. Still, she wouldn’t have met Silverton at all if he hadn’t been stranded on the salt pan without transport. The remoteness of this place had ultimately drawn him closer to her, and for that she had reason to be grateful.
    Feeling slightly encumbered by her new gear, Charley took one last swig from Silverton’s water canteen and began her trek back to the town.
    There was a spring in her step as she tackled the salt pan with fresh confidence. She felt like a badass with plasma pistols to either side and a huge, sharp blade if things got too heavy. She felt like she could take on the world. The day had begun in the most horrible way and it had taken a turn for the strange and wonderful. She was sorry for Silverton but barely knew him. He had given her a fresh purpose and perhaps even a career aspiration. She would do what he suggested and steal Boss Pete’s speeder somehow. There was no way she could sell any of this gear without it. Zeba was several hundred miles away and there was no other way of getting there. Boss Pete was responsible for filtering supplies to Sandflower Downs. The