remaining remnants would then be easily annihilated, by the Kzarchians or whoever, and he could slip away quietly without anyone the wiser.
So, he had come up with the idea of getting Mad to attack the guerrilla’s main compound. Of course it was, he chuckled to himself, a bloody stupid idea. But the simple truth was that almost none of the pirates realized that. Most of them had thought he was insane for simply letting the guerrilla camp exist. They honestly had no idea how bad an attack on entrenched, well-prepared defenses was going to be.
Considering how the guerrillas had been wounding them, he saw little difficulty in getting his pirates to go along with the plan. Which meant they would all happily go marching off to the slaughter.
And Mad’s plan would almost certainly include using the pirate’s three ships. Which was idiotic . Spaceships in planetary combat were simply big, slow, badly designed targets. But with their utter lack of understanding of ground combat, his crew weren’t likely to realize that.
And with the plan inevitably requiring all of the pirates, Bloody Jack would obviously have to go along. He’d simply wait until his ship began taking hits, and sneak out in the stealth pod he had next the bridge… after setting the ship’s auto-destruct. And with all the pirates’ sensors programmed to ignore it, even if they somehow detected it by accident, and the guerrillas’ busy, he’d be almost certain to get away undiscovered.
Once he was safely out of it, he’d hide himself until the battle had been decided one way or the other. Most likely the pirates would simply be wiped out, but if they somehow won, or survived with enough forces left that the guerrillas wouldn’t be able to wipe them out on their own, why, he’d simply take command again.
And then kill them one way or the other.
Of course, there was always the chance the Marine reinforcements would show up early. He didn’t think so; he should still have over two weeks, but time was starting to get tight.
All in all, his plan had required, and no doubt would require, constant changes… which just meant he was relishing things all the more. He was going to end his pirate career with quite the bang .
A beep came from his com, interrupting his thoughts. Reaching over, he hit the on button. The screen flickered, then showed a pirate sitting at a console.
“Yes?”
“Captain, we’ve spotted another guerrilla team. We think it’s a scouting party.”
“Oh?”
“Yeah. It’s small, and it looks like its heading back to their base.”
“And? Did you send out a gunboat?”
The pirate looked uncomfortable.
“Captain, it really isn’t necessary… They’re likely going to make it back before we could get them… And we might lose another gunboat… And they probably didn’t learn anything important anyway …” Bloody Jack nearly laughed. So, some of the pirates had finally learned caution? Hilarious. But, although the pirate may well be making the intelligent decision, Bloody Jack couldn’t let him get away with avoiding combat.
Besides, it had been a while since he had accompanied a patrol anyway. Wouldn’t do to let his crew think he was getting soft. And since, by the sound of it, the guerrilla patrol wasn’t large, and would probably make it back to their base before the gunboat could find them, there wasn’t much danger either. In which case…
“Slitter, are you losing your nerve?”
“No! It’s- it’s just that it doesn’t seem-”
“Seem necessary?” Bloody Jack smiled like a shark. “ I’ll decide what’s necessary. And for now, what I think is necessary , is for you to get your butt in a gunboat, and get on those guerrillas! ” he roared.
The pirate flinched.
“Yes! All right!”
“Good. And I’ll be coming with you; to make sure the job’s done right .” He raised his flamer, in view of the screen.
“And if you mess up…”
Sweating, the pirate assured Bloody Jack that he would do
So, he had come up with the idea of getting Mad to attack the guerrilla’s main compound. Of course it was, he chuckled to himself, a bloody stupid idea. But the simple truth was that almost none of the pirates realized that. Most of them had thought he was insane for simply letting the guerrilla camp exist. They honestly had no idea how bad an attack on entrenched, well-prepared defenses was going to be.
Considering how the guerrillas had been wounding them, he saw little difficulty in getting his pirates to go along with the plan. Which meant they would all happily go marching off to the slaughter.
And Mad’s plan would almost certainly include using the pirate’s three ships. Which was idiotic . Spaceships in planetary combat were simply big, slow, badly designed targets. But with their utter lack of understanding of ground combat, his crew weren’t likely to realize that.
And with the plan inevitably requiring all of the pirates, Bloody Jack would obviously have to go along. He’d simply wait until his ship began taking hits, and sneak out in the stealth pod he had next the bridge… after setting the ship’s auto-destruct. And with all the pirates’ sensors programmed to ignore it, even if they somehow detected it by accident, and the guerrillas’ busy, he’d be almost certain to get away undiscovered.
Once he was safely out of it, he’d hide himself until the battle had been decided one way or the other. Most likely the pirates would simply be wiped out, but if they somehow won, or survived with enough forces left that the guerrillas wouldn’t be able to wipe them out on their own, why, he’d simply take command again.
And then kill them one way or the other.
Of course, there was always the chance the Marine reinforcements would show up early. He didn’t think so; he should still have over two weeks, but time was starting to get tight.
All in all, his plan had required, and no doubt would require, constant changes… which just meant he was relishing things all the more. He was going to end his pirate career with quite the bang .
A beep came from his com, interrupting his thoughts. Reaching over, he hit the on button. The screen flickered, then showed a pirate sitting at a console.
“Yes?”
“Captain, we’ve spotted another guerrilla team. We think it’s a scouting party.”
“Oh?”
“Yeah. It’s small, and it looks like its heading back to their base.”
“And? Did you send out a gunboat?”
The pirate looked uncomfortable.
“Captain, it really isn’t necessary… They’re likely going to make it back before we could get them… And we might lose another gunboat… And they probably didn’t learn anything important anyway …” Bloody Jack nearly laughed. So, some of the pirates had finally learned caution? Hilarious. But, although the pirate may well be making the intelligent decision, Bloody Jack couldn’t let him get away with avoiding combat.
Besides, it had been a while since he had accompanied a patrol anyway. Wouldn’t do to let his crew think he was getting soft. And since, by the sound of it, the guerrilla patrol wasn’t large, and would probably make it back to their base before the gunboat could find them, there wasn’t much danger either. In which case…
“Slitter, are you losing your nerve?”
“No! It’s- it’s just that it doesn’t seem-”
“Seem necessary?” Bloody Jack smiled like a shark. “ I’ll decide what’s necessary. And for now, what I think is necessary , is for you to get your butt in a gunboat, and get on those guerrillas! ” he roared.
The pirate flinched.
“Yes! All right!”
“Good. And I’ll be coming with you; to make sure the job’s done right .” He raised his flamer, in view of the screen.
“And if you mess up…”
Sweating, the pirate assured Bloody Jack that he would do
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