A Pirates life Ch.4 Preview

Chapter 4

Forcefully Tharren slammed his will down on the surge of emotion that Kes' condition riled up. Checking for her pulse he couldn't find it, wait… yes there it was. Faint, very weak, barely enough to be felt but there. He picked her up and carried her into the cargo hold as quickly as he could and laid her down just inside next to the door. Ignoring the Cryo pod he stepped back and sealed the hatch, turned and ran recklessly through the bloodied corridor to the cockpit, nearly slipping and cracking his still weak ribs again. Once in the cockpit he went straight for the life-support controls and began to lower the temperature in the cargo hold, turning it into an impromptu Cryo pod itself. It was dangerous as the cargo hold hadn't been designed with this purpose in mind, but he knew it was the only chance Kes had, even EMNs couldn't help her with that much blood loss.
There was only one person Tharren could trust to take care of Kes properly, there was just one problem… it would mean taking her home.

It took two long agonizing and sleepless days to get there. There being a small Starbase that most people just called The Run, for all the drug and slave smuggling that ran out from it. The Run had a population of about Seven hundred, most of whom were mercenaries. This would normally attract the attention of the local Imperial police forces, but since this base also supplied most of the slaves their officers purchased, they ignored it. Tharren however, was here for an entirely different reason.
He was called Doc on the station, just Doc. No one knew his real name, and he liked it that way. Doc was a Keldon scientist with a peculiar affection for Kes, he found her extreme predatory nature compared to most humans fascinating, Tharren supposed that was why he had never asked for, and always found a way to wiggle out of, payment for treating her for the various injuries she'd had in the past. Tharren didn't know very much about Kes before she had come to serve under him. All he knew is that Doc had been looking after her for years, he was the closest thing to family Kes had. Unfortunately Doc also made his home on The Run, which had some significance to Kes that Tharren couldn't figure out. The few times they'd been back here since she'd joined his crew where the only time he saw any human emotion in her eyes, rage, cold hard blood thirsty rage. He didn't know why she felt that way about the place but he knew from experience that is was easier just to find reasons not to come around too often then it was to deal with her while they where there.

While on approach to the hangar after getting clearance to land Tharren noticed two things that had changed since his last visit. The first was there weren't any of the usual rundown but deceptively swift smuggling freighters coming and going. Second was the small Imperial Fleet floating within the habitation ring of The Run.


....To be continued