Ballad of a Space Pirate

Ballad of a Space Pirate

Part one

The Rig was pitted by rust and by the near constant sand storms, scouring and eroding the paint and metal. It rolled slowly on six wheels, each ten meters tall, over the shifting dunes. An assortment of cranes and arms covered its back, stowed away under tarps and covers to protect them from the sand. Inside the cab, with the windows all but useless, a crew of four looked pensively at screens and readouts. Navigating by maps and instruments alone.

"Still have that reading?" asked the Rig boss, an impressively tall and muscled monitor lizard named Krig. His seat was against the back wall, slightly raised to look over the other three stations.

"Still reading due east, but getting stronger," Said Erida, radar, magnetometer and general electronics expert. "We have to be close." She was a white rabbit, not like the local wasteland hares, but an off worlder, with her long ears flopped down her back. Her station was ahead and to Krig's right.

"Nothing on the map, no records of any settlements or plotted wrecks out this far." Said Paul, a diminutive bespectacled pocket mouse seated on the left side of the cab, poring over screens and printed maps. "If it's a wreck, it must have crashed recently."

"Nice, new wrecks have the best stuff," Piped the Rig's driver, a sand cat named Cid. He sat at the front, in a jutting cockpit with windows affording a panoramic view of the horizon and ground directly below and forward of the rig. Not that he could see much of anything in the blowing sand.

"There," Erida called out, "Two-hundred meters dead ahead, it's... I don't know what it is, too dense for the usual cargo ships. I'd say military but they aren't the type to leave things lying around."

"Guess we'll find out." said Krig, "Cid get us close, as you can, I don't want to walk far in this storm."

Erida made sure her respirator was on tight and her filters clear. Wither always had dust hanging in the air but a sand storm could choke up the lungs in seconds or blind the eyes permanently. Krig, Paul and Cid were born to it, they could handle the planet's climate with less difficulty but even they put on goggles and wrapped extra scarves around muzzle and mouth.

At least, she thought, no one else would be crazy enough to be out in this storm. Raiders and claim jumpers were a common sight this far from a settlement but they had the good sense to hunker down in a storm this bad. Only the mad and the desperate would take that kind of risk. Erida was starting to have trouble telling which they were. Gods she was actually starting to enjoy her job.

Sealed up and with toolkits in hand, the crew stood on the cargo ramp on the Rig's belly and braced for the storm. At once the wind went from a dull moan outside the hull to a howling gale all about them. Her crewmates became nothing more than rough shapes close to her, easy enough to tell apart by their different sizes and silhouettes, but no details, just shadows and the hazy points of light from headlamps.

"Ramp's down," Came Cid's voice over her headset, the only way to hear each other in the gale.

"Let's get to work, people." Krig ordered.

The crew tromped down the ramp and into the blowing sand. The wind was worse once outside, Erida imagined she could have been blown away if not for all the heavy tools and equipment she carried.

"That's pretty convenient," Cid said from ahead. All at once a wall of metal materialized from the storm, the hull of a ship, bulky and squared off and seemingly ripped in half. Its three decks were exposed in a jagged cross section.

"Alright then, don't have to look for a way in." Krig slung his rifle off his shoulder, "Erida and Paul, get in there and plug into anything with power. Cid, let's do a look around the outside. Stay in touch, call out if you see anything."

A mismatched chorus of agreements answered him and Erida and Paul took a closer look at the split open hull for a good place to get in.

Sand was blowing in and piling in drifts near the opening they chose which were large enough they had to climb and slide back down into the darkness. Once inside it was easier for her lights to make out details. The Wreck had come down right side up, though the deck was slanted roughly ten degrees to one side, port or starboard she couldn't tell yet. She and Paul had come into a corridor, with heavy doors spaced evenly along each side

"A brig maybe?." she said to Paul.

"A very big brig, if it is."

"If you say so."

The cells, at least the ones they passed, were empty. Each locked tight. Row on row until Erida stopped counting.

"This is a prison ship."

"With no prisoners or guards," Paul said.

"Maybe they were flying back empty?" Erida said hopefully.

"Maybe, I'd feel happier if we can get some logs or something."

They were deep inside now, the storm a distant moan and the only light what they brought with them. They hit the end of the row of cells, and the corridor itself. A heavy door, with no access panels or keyholes blocked the way.

"Looks like we need to get cutting." Paul said and the pair set to work, pulling out plasma torches and pry bars.

Even with the right tools Krig and Cid had completed their circle of the ship and found nothing of any immediate concern or interest and joined her and Paul inside.

"Looks like we got the back end of this thing." Cid said.

"Thrusters are scrap, crushed by the crash. Anything in here?"

"Nothing yet," Erida said as the door finally swung free.

Beyond it was what was clearly a guard station, some bunks and living spaces only marginally more comfortable than the cells they had walked past, and the first bodies.

When Erida had first started on Krig's salvage crew she'd thrown up at the sight of a dead body. Now she was so numb to it that she could take a guess at how they died. The guards were a mix of wolves, dogs and a pair of large cats of some kind, it was difficult to tell exactly though all the blood. The guards had been ripped apart.

"Could the impact have done this?" Erida asked

"I've seen it before," Krig said, though he didn't sound certain.

Aft of the carnage was an airlock, and past that a medical bay, the lights of which were on. It was mostly the dull red of emergency lights but through the window looking into the bay she could see a few glowing readouts, some blinking buttons, and a cryo tube with a body floating in it.

Getting through the med bay door was easier than the cell block door. Once it was open all four of them went inside. Cid going to the spilled cabinets and shelves to rummage through the things inside, Erida to the cryo tube's readouts and Krig and Paul looking around cautiously.

She was no doctor, had only some basic first aid training from her school days, a very long time ago and far away, so it took her nearly a minute to work out what she was looking at.

"She's alive, cryo must have taken the impact," with that confirmed she took a look at the body inside the tube.

Krig had stepped up to peer in. "Another wolf?"

"No, she's a fox." Erida said.

The fox was in nothing but simple underwear, as typical for cryostasis. Her fur was white except for her triangle ears, the tip of her tail and her tightly bound up hair, those were a brilliant orange red. There were bandages over the left eye, a few more across her torso and her left arm ended in a bandaged stump at the wrist.

"Aren't foxes orange or red?" Krig said, peering into the tube.

"There's all kinds of foxes, she must be an arctic fox."

Krig looked at Erida and blinked, it was subtle, but she knew it was confusion.

"She probably came from some cold part of a planet, where it snows a lot."

Again, the blink, Erida realized that it would take a while to explain it all.

"There's no patent data," Paul said, he had started going through the console screens, "No name, history, nothing to tell us if she's a prisoner, a guard or something else."

"Like a ghost," said Cid, packing a salvage bag full of medical bandages, bottles and assorted other medical equipment.

"Erida, options?" Krig asked

She thought for a moment, taking another look at the cryo tube. "Not a lot, this med bay is running on backup power but I don't think it was meant to power a cryo tube long. Best guess is she was put in cryo then put onboard, tube and all. I think either we defrost her or she dies."

"Is that a good idea?" Cid said again, "she could be a mass murderer." Erida's thoughts went back to the gruesome scene in the guard station.

Krig ran a hand along the scales on the top of his head and down his neck, his Thinking pose.

"Whoever she is, hopefully she'll be grateful to be alive," Krig said. "even on this shithole. Erida can you rig up something to keep the pod powered long enough to take it back to the rig?"

"Think so, yeah."

"Alright then, Cid, Paul, finish looking over the wreck, mark anything we want to take first, Erida get this tube ready to move and help me haul it back."

***

Salvaging any wreck presented unique challenges. Cargo ships were made to get things in and out, but unsecured cargo could be precarious, ready to fall on a hapless scrapper. Private pleasure craft were less common but could have expensive goodies, if anything survived. The damn things crushed like empty aluminum cans. The prison ship was a good find, even a dead stardrive had valuable components and raw materials. The challenge was the ship was built almost like a military corvette. Thick reinforced hull, multiple sealed bulkheads, and an overall design meant to keep prisoners from getting to any critical systems, if they ever made it out of the cells. Which also made those very valuable parts difficult to get at.

The salvage operation took days, they worked in shifts, two crew on and two crew off. Those not cutting their way through the wreck with the rig's arms split their time between sleep and watching over the frozen fox.

Getting her into the Rig had been the easy part, same with connecting the tube up to the rig's power supply. Figuring out the defrost cycle had taken Erida some time, and now it was very slowly bringing the sleeping fox back to life.

The storm started to let up on the fourth day working on the wreck. The work got faster but it also increased the risks. Outside of a settlement was a lawless zone, well, more lawless. With each passing year there were more stories about burned out rigs left in the wasteland and some that just never came back. This was why there was a gatling gun turret on each side of the rig, though such weapons were becoming less of a deterrent.

On the sixth day the air was clear, or at least as clear as it ever got on Wither. They'd gotten the stardrive out of the wreck along with a few other valuable bits and pieces. Krig made the call to leave the rest and head back in, with the hope that local raiders would go for the easy scrap rather than attack an armed Rig.

That night, with Cid driving and Paul keeping a half watch on the cryo tube, though more likely reading a book to pass the time, Erida finally had some time alone with Krig.

Even though he was the Rig Boss, Krig's bed was too small for the two of them to be side by side, so she was naked on top of him while he lay on his back. Erida was slender and tall for a rabbit of her kind but Krig was two full meters tall, a giant even among other lizards. The difference in height had been a challenge to their sexlife at first but they had more than gotten used to it. Erida had her head on Krig's chest, smiling and giggling quietly when Krig tickled her nose with his thin forked tongue. She started to flush at the thought of what he might do with that tongue elsewhere.

"I missed how warm you are," his voice was deep and rich, not at all what one might expect from a reptile. It had been one of the first things that stood out to her when they met.

"You know, you

are

the boss, you could just have our shifts lineup so we can do this more" she giggled again as he flicked her nose.

"I could, but this is more fun when the work is done," he said, running his hands along the soft white fur of her back and down to her naked ass.

Erida shivered but not from the cold night and sat up, shifting her hips forward, grinding her clit against soft belly and chest scales until she had her crotch positioned right above Krig's mouth. He chuckled, a deep rumble, and his tongue flicked out to tease her already dampening pussy. She bit her lower lip and cupped her right breast, pinching and teasing her stiffening nipples.

The tongue teased a few more times, before starting in earnest, finding its way into the soft folds of her pussy lips and lightly flicking across her clit to encourage it to emerge from its hiding place. She squirmed and bucked at the soft flickering licks and then gasped when Krig's left arm wrapped around her right thigh to hold her in place and his other hand reached up firmly grasped her left breast.

She let out a soft "Mmmm." And started to slowly grind herself against his snout, feeling the jolts of pleasure whenever he squeezed her nipple just so or his tongue flicked over just the right spot. She fell into the rhythm of it, not even realizing just how wet she had gotten until he stopped.

Erida looked down to see what was the matter. She saw Krig's thin lips pull back into a smile. He gripped her other thigh with his arm and she felt a flutter in her belly, a mix of anticipation and instinctual fear, when he opened his mouth wide, wider than one might think possible and he enveloped her whole pussy in his mouth. His teeth were sharp but Krig was ever so careful and gentle with her. She had to clamp a hand over her mouth to keep from moaning loudly as his tongue penetrated inside her. Gods he could get so deep!

She had to keep the hand over her mouth as the wave of her first orgasm crashed over her, making her pussy clench down on Krigs tongue and her eyes roll back. When her eyes rolled forward again she found that she had collapsed backwards, now laying on her back down his belly.

Krig had moved with her, bending his long neck to keep his mouth on her, he was surprisingly flexible for his size. Erida, panting, smiled at him. He let out another laugh and suddenly sat up, holding her suspended upside down against him. The sudden shift in position and his renewed efforts inside her pussy made her head swim and when her vision cleared her head was resting on the soft scales of his inner thigh, right next to his thick twitching cock.

With a smile and naked lust she gripped his shaft and pulled it to her mouth, she was in a bad position to take the whole thing in her mouth so instead she stroked and licked him. He brought her to her second orgasom as she was running her hand up and down his cock made wet with her saliva. This time, she used his dick in her mouth to keep from moaning out loud.

Krig released his mouth from her pussy and she was sad to feel his tongue slide out of her. But he let go of her legs and let her slide down him, also scooping her up in his arms, helping her flip back upright facing him with her dripping cunt right above his waiting cock. It was her favorite position. With his strong arms wrapped around her back holding her tight, her breasts squeezed against his soft chest, she could rub her nipples across his ridged scales as she lowered herself down on his cock.

Her pussy was wet and very ready, getting him inside her without guidance had taken a lot of practice but so worth it for that feeling when the tip of him spread her lips apart and pushed inside. With her arms around his neck she let gravity do most of the work of pulling her down on him. He was so fucking big! She pulled herself up a couple times, not enough for him to slide out but she loved the deep grunting sounds he made and it helped spread her wetness down his length. Krig ler her set the pace, like his scales his dick was ridged and she loved feeling each one push inside slowly.

At last she bottomed out, pressed right against his pelvic scales and breathing heavily. Looking up into his eyes she planted a kiss on his snout then opened her mouth to accept his tongue slithering out and curling around her own. Now he took over the pace, slowly lifting her and letting her slide back down onto him, her pussy made wet noises every time one of his dick ridges slid out of her and a wetter slap sound when he shoved back in and her pussy hit his crotch again.

He picked up speed slowly, making her grunt every time he filled her up. As the pace increased he started to grunt too, until they hit a rhythm of grunting, moaning and wet slapping sounds. Erida's eyes fluttered, blissed out on sensory overload until she came a third time. She buried her face into Krig's shoulder to muffle the sound of the screaming moan she wanted to let out. She felt Krig increase the pace and knew he was close, she held him tight and braced for the flood of cum...

What came instead was a knock on the door, followed by Paul with, first apologetic, then a shocked and embarrassed look on his face.

"Uh... sorry, um, boss" he said, averting his eyes from the pair of them.

Erida was mortified, all the blood drained from her face and she did her best to both cover herself and pull away from Krig. Krig was faster, rolling away from the door to place Erida on her back on the bed and quickly pull the sheets up to her chin before grabbing a nearby towel and wrapping it around himself before turning back to Paul.

"What is it?" Krig's voice was surprisingly level, without the barest hint of annoyance or embarrassment.

"Right uh.." Paul still kept his eyes firmly down on the deckplate, "the Fox, she's um, well she's awake."

***

A few minutes later, after a hasty clean up and getting dressed, Paul led both Erida and Krig back to the cargo hold where they had connected the tube to the rig's powergrid. On the way he told them what had happened.

"I was reading so I didn't notice if there was any alert or anything," Paul said. He hadn't looked directly at Erida since he'd burst in and even though she was now fully dressed now she couldn't look him in the eye either.

"Then I hear a hiss and a splash," Paul continued. "I look over and there she was, sitting up and staring right at me with a bright green eye. Boss I gotta tell ya she looked almost feral. That's why I rushed to get ya, in case she, you know, did something."

The three of them walked into the cargo hold, Erida was on edge in more ways than one. Cid's comment about the fox being a murderer kept coming back in her mind and she couldn't shake it. The deck was wet with whatever fluid filled the cryo tube, the air smelled heavy of ethanol, hopefully the fumes weren't flammable. Fire would be the last thing they needed, the tube was still there, its glass front separated and angled away from the base on hinges and pistons. But there was no fox inside, and a quick look around the stacked crates and ship components showed she wasn't in the cargo hold either.

"Shit, find her." Krig ordered.

Finding a nearly naked wet fox on a relatively small salvage rig didn't take long, wet paw prints led out of the hold towards the common areas and into the shared bathroom. There, standing in front of the mirror leaning with her right arm on the sink was the snowy white fox. All her bandages had been removed and were strewn about the floor. Krig was the first through the door and against her better judgment Erida followed, like it or not she was the closest thing to a medic they had. The fox must have heard them, her ears had twitched as they came in but she didn't turn around right away.

"Fox," Krig said, his voice even but very much authoritative, "I couldn't care less about who you are, but I took a chance not leaving you to die in the waists, I can still leave you out here if you cause trouble."