Chapter 24: A Pirates Life, Nicholas POV (Patreon)

Chapter 24

A Pirates Life

Nicholas POV

The Pantheon dropped out of FTL behind the pirate fleet. From my throne, I watched our ship appear on the pirates' sensors as they descended on the treasure fleet I built to lure them to Sector 6. Fifty thousand bridge crews panicked. I spotted hundreds of unique vessels among their fleet. They would have made this a profitable Cycle if I still needed them. Now, this was just a chance to get more followers.

I watched Jack cackle from the bridge of his flagship as he listened to the crazed shouts from his communication system. Everyone was asking what to do. Everyone wanted to know what the plan was. They were terrified and Jack was enjoying every second of it. I very much wanted to smite him.

Instead, I project my voice to his ear. “Are you ready to collect your fleet and win back your wife?”

“I’m just waiting on you,” he replied.

Less than a Cycle of freedom and his arrogance was back. I ignored it. There was no changing him.

“You’re on in three, two, one, go.”

I used my Domain to connect him to their fleet, projecting his voice to every corner.

Jack gave a feral grin as launched to his feet. “Listen up, you sorry bastards, because old Bloody Jack is back. Your greedy hearts have put you in the presence of the God of Pirates. I know you’ve all been eyeing up my fleet, and I bet you can now guess who I got it from. This is a hostile takeover, convert and become rich beyond your wildest dreams, plundering the stars in service to our God. There is no second option.”

Every ship heard his announcement. Every pirate on those ships heard his announcement. And every pirate king, queen, and lord launched themselves to their feet, shouting the same response. “I wish to parley.”

I opened a portal beside each of them. None of them hesitated, stepping through and walking out before my throne. When a few noticed the size difference, they tried to run, but the portals they arrived through vanished as quickly as they appeared. One pirate lord panicked and decided he wanted to go down fighting. He drew his blaster. I watched him raise it toward me, not even slightly concerned.

The closest pirate Queen, drew her blaster, fired from the hip, and holstered the weapon. The pirate lord dropped dead before he could get his shot off. She continued her stroll to the chairs I’d conjured as if nothing had happened.

The other lords looked at each other, searching for direction and hoping someone else would make the first move. The kings and queens ignored them and took a seat, which prompted them to follow.

The difference between a pirate king, queen, and lord was not arbitrary. Pirate kings and queens needed to have a thousand vessels at their command. Lords only needed to have a hundred. Corvettes or smaller vessels didn’t count for either status. In total, I counted thirteen pirate kings and queens and fifty-two lords. This was roughly a fifth of all the human pirates that Jack knew about.

Within a minute, everyone was seated. None of the lords dared join the front row with the kings and queens, fearfully sitting behind them.

I opened the last portal as they all got comfortable. Jack walked through and took a seat on the only chair that was facing them. It was between my feet, so I could stomp on him if he upset me.

He chuckled as they glared at him. “I’m going to enjoy this.”

There was a fair amount of swearing, but no one took it further, gritting their teeth and making fists to curb their anger. The pirate kings and queens looked at each other, deciding who should take the lead before settling on the queen who had shot the lord.

She calmly stood up and stepped forward, raising her head and looking into my eyes.

Images flashed through my mind, exposing her life and laying it bare before me. They were not happy images. Born to a prostitute, Mistress Red hid in a closet and watched a drunk pirate murder her mother at the age of six. The following week, she killed him in his sleep after he returned to the brothel and beat another woman senseless. The madam handed her over to his captain for her actions, who threw her into a pit on his ship and had her fight for her life to amuse him and the crew.

There she met a man. A gambler. At night, He would come to bars above her pit and instruct her on how to fight. He taught her to be fast. He taught her to be vicious. He taught her how to be too entertaining to kill.

He kept her sane.

He helped her grow stronger.

But he never released her or helped her escape.

He just taught her what she needed to know to win him more money.

She killed him for that when she got out.

“Mistress Red of the Bloody Baroness, Queen of the Red Court, your Godliness,” Jack announced.

Mistress Red smirked at Jack's introduction as she stepped forward and bowed. “What do you want from us, your Godliness?”

Mistress Red hated pirates more than anything else, and her biggest hope was that I would kill them all where they sat. She had spent her life building her persona, becoming a pirate queen whom pirates begged to serve. She had the highest fatality rate of any of the kings or queens, but she also plundered twice as much treasure as the next wealthiest king or queen. She had pirates lining up, ready to die for her. And she loved it.

I looked into her eyes and didn’t hate her. “I want you and your crews to convert and hand over every tenth vessel in your fleets.”

Most scowled at my words.

“And in return?”

“In return, I’ll repair and improve your remaining vessels until they’re just as splendid as the ones I gave Jack.”

Many of the scowls changed to smiles.

Mistress Red wasn’t among them. “What will happen to those who don’t convert?”

“Death, by your hand.”

Some of the smiles vanished.

Mistress Red didn’t smile at the news, even though I knew she was pleased. “You expect tribute?”

I smiled at her, showing teeth. “Is that a question?”

She took a step back, pretending to be frightened. “I mean, we will give you 60% of our plunder as tribute.”

“I’ll accept this, but it will be the actual 60%, not a reduced sum. And I expect half the tribute to be spent in the trade ports, cavorting and enjoying the finer things in life?”

Mistress Red frowned. “I’m not sure I understand what you mean?”

Jack cackled. “He’s saying he wants you to spend half his tribute on getting piss drunk with a woman between your legs.”

She laughed. “That can be arranged.” Her laughter quickly died when no one else joined her. “Do you wish to lead us?”

“I’ll give you commands. How you achieve them is up to you. But let me make one thing clear. The human sectors are under my protection. Anyone who touches what is mine will learn what it means to be burned alive and unable to die.”

She scowled.

She wasn’t afraid of me. She wasn’t afraid of anything.

“Do you object?” I asked when she didn’t speak.

“That depends on how gentle you want me to be with others outside your protection.”

I leaned forward. “There will be plenty of blood on your hands. Over the next few years, you will lay waste to hundreds of sectors, plundering thousands of worlds. You will have wealth kings’ envy and the guilt to go with it. Your fleets will grow as quickly as you find ships and crews willing to convert. You can build empires, controlling fleets larger than the one here today, or retire on mountains of wealth, living in pampered luxury.” The smiles came back. “That is my offer. Now, make your choice.”

One by one, they all dropped to their knees and swore themselves to my service. As they swore themselves to me, I transformed their weapons and armour, improving their technology and making them more lethal and beautiful. I didn’t want them dying before they converted their fleets.

When they were done, I opened portals back to their ships. They bowed one last time and stepped through.

As the last portal closed, Jack turned his chair around and looked up. “Not a bad speech. Bit lenient on the tribute, though.”

I decided to scare him and remind him of his place. “Jack, it’s not plunder I want from them?”

“What do you want then?”

“The blood and suffering of my enemies are all I care about.”

Bloody Jack shuddered. “Bloody pirate gods.”

I chuckled. “You did good, Jack.”

“And all it cost was old Jack’s soul.”

I shook my head. “You lost that a long time ago. It had nothing to do with me.”

He didn’t deny the claim. “What’s going to happen now?”

I smiled at him. “Now, you get your wife back. You’re a pirate king with five thousand ships to your name. If that doesn’t win her favour, nothing will. If you describe her to me, I can send you to her.”

Jack had lied about wanting to win his wife back when we first spoke, and I was interested to see how he would react now that I’d achieved his goal. He was a very good recruiter, and I wanted him back at work. I just had to figure out how to manipulate him into doing so.

Jack smiled. “She’s a larger girl. Seven hundred and eighty-three meters long with eighty-four cannons and thirty-six missile batteries. Her engine burns hot, but that’s the way she likes it.”

I stared at him for a second before it clicked. “Jack, is your wife a ship?”

“Only her body. Her mind is completely pirate.”

I could see the ship he was talking about. It had fired its thrusters and turned around. The pirate king that had boarded her was yelling with the ship’s computer telling her to power down.

Quest Received

The Mad Pirate Queen

Once a captured warship called the Good Queen, The Mad Queen had her AI personality forcefully altered so she could be used as a pirate ship. She has only one goal. To find her love. She has been searching for her pirate king for centuries. Her quest has driven her insane, making her view only the strongest pirate king as her love. Your arrival has triggered her insanity. She wants nothing more than to be with you. Accept her and have Nargus turn her into a Bionoid member of your crew, or she will think you have spurned her and self-destruct.

Reward:

Tokens: 1,000,000

Loyal Crewmember

Would you like to make The Mad Queen a crew member?

Yes/No?

I opened portals all over the Mad Queen, allowing the crew to escape to the hangar bay below me. The moment the portal appeared, the pirate king gave the order to abandon ship and then jumped through, not caring if anyone listened.

I sighed.

This was going to be a problem. I’d been hoping she would help me manipulate Jack into recruiting more people for me. I wasn’t sure that would be the case anymore.

Jack was looking at me expectantly.

“Jack, I’m afraid your plan isn’t going to work. There happens to be a pirate king that is stronger than you.”

Jack frowned. “Who?”

“Me. Your wife is on her way here and in a rather delicate state. If I spurn her, I’m afraid she will kill herself. If I accept her, she will become like my crew.”

Jack's face turned bright red with actual rage. “You’re stealing my wife!”

I paused, surprised by the display. “No. I’m giving you a choice. Do you want her to live or die?” I figured out a way to use this against him while I asked the question. “There still might be a way for you to be with her. But it’s going to be difficult to pull off.”

“What do I have to do?”

“Help me kill a god.”

He shook his head. “No way. Not happening.”

“Then leave and travel the stars to find some way to become Transcendent yourself. If you return and are unaffiliated, I can make you a member of my pantheon and the God of Pirate Kings. If you’re the God of Pirate Kings, then pirate kings fall under you, not me, and she’s all yours.”

Jack stared at me, dumbfounded. He’d likely never expected me to offer him Transcendence. To con a god into making him a god was something he couldn’t possibly turn down. “You want me to become a god?”

I didn’t, but he seemed excited by the opportunity. And I would use this to make him recruit more people for me. Cons only worked when the other person couldn’t tell you were lying.

“Yes. That’s why I need to kill another god. If I kill one, I can make you Transcendent.”

He licked his lips as his breathing sped up. “How would I have to help you?”

“Recruit more followers so I can grow stronger.”

“Is that the only way?”

“No, you can find your own path to Transcendence if you want, but I won’t be able to help you.”

He stood there thinking, fighting the impulse to immediately say yes.

I decided to hurry him up. “Make a decision, Jack. She’s almost here.”

She wasn’t.

“Save her,” he snapped, not liking being hurried. “I’ll be your recruiter until I find a way to become a damn God but fuck you for stealing my wife.”

I selected, Yes.

***

Managing the religious conversion of so many pirates wasn’t quick or bloodless. There were almost twenty million spread throughout their fleet, and a third weren’t willing to become our followers. Across the system, pirates fought on every ship, firing down corridors and across bridges as I used my Power to illuminate those paying lip service.

The moment I exposed them, many dropped to their knees like a sinner on their deathbed, trying to repent and accept their new place. Some succeeded, but most didn’t.

Throughout the fleet, Nargus raised his Death Merchants, converting blasters to ritual daggers and amulets that created personal shields, commanding the most bloodthirsty pirates to kill the nonbelievers in his name. Each person they killed received the same offer: join Nargus’s afterlife or take their chances with another god. More accepted his offer than I expected.

I watched as Mistress Red leapt through a door into pitch darkness and began cutting down a group of pirates inside, muttering words of praise under her breath as she slaughtered her crew with glee. She was the first Death Merchant he had raised, and she relished her status and new abilities.

As ships finished cleansing their crews, they landed in the hangar bay on The Pantheon’s lowest deck. Most vessels were simple F-1 or F-2 grade, but some were F-3, and a few F-4. Their entire fleet was in a state of disrepair, using mismatched technology to continue running, but that didn’t matter to me. With my Power, I transformed them in seconds, reforming and improving them as much as possible without using additional F-grade material.

Nargus was the only one who had raised his Wisdom beyond F-grade, so he was the only one who could craft F material with his Power. His problem was that he lacked the Power to do so quickly, and I wasn’t willing to give up the materials we’d collected to help them, so they got nothing beyond the basics.

The basics were still more than they deserved.

But I wanted the pirates to feel comfortable. I wanted them to be happy. I wanted them to tell everyone exactly how great the pirate life was under us so they would become our followers and strengthen us. So, the pirate vessels doubled their size and armaments, receiving ostentatious hulls that thematically matched their lord or king’s flagship design.

I didn’t like it, but it was something I had to do.

Nargus chuckled while he stood at the helm and reached his fifth milestone. The number of dead he’d gathered had passed a million. He didn’t stop to celebrate beyond the brief chuckle, returning to directing his followers.

The end of the Cycle was fast approaching, and I was enjoying a cup of tea in my throne room before I returned to the waking world and the jail cell where I was being kept. I satisfied smile tweaked my lips as the hot liquid danced across my tongue and down my throat.

Tea crafted with my Power didn’t taste right. The flavour was too clean, too perfect. It was something you would drink on an important occasion, not something you would have six times a day to live a happy life. Which was why I’d stolen the contents of an automated tea plantation’s storage warehouse the moment I’d spotted it. Filling a teapot large enough to quench my thirst required me to take everything they had. I’d also stolen the milk from an automated dairy farm’s storage vat and the content of the warehouse on an automated sugar plantation.

I felt a little bad about the theft, so I used my Domain to increase production. I’d replaced what I’d stolen six-times over and only kept half, so they were coming out ahead.

The extra tea, milk and sugar were for when I wanted another cup. I wanted to be prepared.

Pan knocked on the door.

“Enter,” I said, voice echoing through the throne room.

He opened the door, glanced inside, and froze. Then he sighed and walked to me. He didn’t take his hat off or bow as he stopped before me. “Where did you get that tea, Nicholas?”

I glanced at my cup and the tea swirling inside, confused as to why Pan sounded concerned enough to use my name. Or why he was talking to me like I might explode. What was his problem?

“I produced it on one of the agricultural planets,” I said.

“Did you ask the owners if you could use their facilities?”

What an odd question.

“Thanks to my Domain, they have more than twice their production. They’re not upset.”

Pan sighed. “I’m sure they aren’t. But last Cycle, you were the type of man who would have asked permission before you used something that wasn’t yours. You would have considered your current actions theft.”

I didn’t see what the problem was. “I do consider it theft. But it doesn’t matter. We steal constantly.”

“We steal from your people’s enemies, not your people. Or are they not your people anymore?”

I rolled my eyes. “They’re still my people.”

I heard the lie in my own words and froze.

“They’re my people,” I repeated.

I got the same impression that I was lying.

“They’re my people. They’re my people. They’re insects.”

The third time, I didn’t get the impression that I was lying, and that scared me.

Pan leaned forward and squeezed my shoulder. “I think it's time we had another talk.”