Free Her Majesty's Western Service by Leo Champion Page B

green eyes with a pair of lifted goggles above them. Behind her stood a yellow-haired man with an eyepatch and a submachinegun.
    “ What the hell ?”
    “ Vice-Commodore, I'm afraid I'm going to have to ask you and your bridge officers to abandon ship. Klefton, clear out that fore gun.”
    “ You're pirates?” Perry asked. Complete, absurd, disbelief. A pirate was pointing a gun at him here , on the bridge of 4-106? Was this a–
    “ Tell Ricks that this is not an appropriate joke to pull in the middle of a battle. Ma’am, please find an unoccupied cabin; I don't think you realize how serious this is.”
    “ No, Vice-Commodore. I'm afraid you don't realize how serious this is,” the woman said. “This is not one of your friends’ pranks, and these guns are both loaded. I want all of you to put your hands in the air and go to the starboard side. Including you, Vice-Commodore.”
    “ You're hijacking my ship.” My ship!
    The yellow-haired man – Klefton – had opened the bridge access hatch to the fore pressure-guns, was shouting something down. He twitched his gun to the side and fired a shot.
    That broke the unreality. A gunshot. Here. On my bridge .
    One of the female pirate's guns was pointed squarely at Perry's chest. The other, a revolver in her left hand, was sweeping across the bridge crew, covering them.
    Slowly, Martindale, Kent and the others were moving to the starboard side.
    “ I trust that you are all wearing standard Imperial parachutes,” said the woman. “You may take backups from their locker, if you see fit.” The tone of her voice lowered. “But please don't attempt to reach for weapons. I would be very upset if I had to shoot somebody.”
    “ You're taking my ship? ”
    “ All three of those gunners jumped, Cap,” said the man called Klefton.
    “ You're taking my ship ?” Perry repeated.
    “ That's rather the point of this operation, Vice-Commodore. Now, if you'd please put your hands up and move to starboard?”
    They're taking my ship and nobody has even fired a shot and I cannot believe this is happening –
    Suddenly Perry's right hand went for his sidearm, an automatic pistol in its holster at his hip. It was covered by a flap, and the double-barrelled pressure gun in the female pirate's right hand went blurp , once, twice, and Perry's hand was stuck.
    White goo, sticky white goo, all over the top of the holster and Perry's right hand. Sticky and hardening, and Perry found himself looking down the muzzle of the pirate's other gun, the long revolver.
    Klefton muttered something, covering the rest of the crew with his submachinegun.
    “Vice-Commodore, I do not appreciate that,” the woman said. “Those are gel rounds. That gun is now empty. I will have to use more harmful ammunition if that should happen again. Now, please, put on a parachute and jump.”
    “ You can't do this.” Perry glared at the woman. Confident, almost smirky, not even bothering to shoot him with real bullets. Not even bothering to disarm him, or the others! Just walking onto the bridge and telling them to jump.
    He looked again at his pistol. The whole top flap was covered with the gel; for that matter, it was hardening on his own right hand, becoming a solid crust. The gun wasn't accessible, but she can't just take my ship!
    “ It's getting dark,” the pirate said. “I imagine it will be easier for your crew to rendezvous on the ground while there's still light. In any case, I'm going to request that you and your people kindly vacate what is now my bridge.”
    Some of them – Kent, Vidkowski, Singh – had strapped on parachutes. Others were doing so. Service uniforms did have small backup parachutes sewn into the backs of them, and riggers of course wore proper ones, but nobody really wanted to trust the in-shirt ones if there was an alternative.
    “ Very well,” Perry said. He glared at the woman. “You'll hang for this, you know. You might take my ship, but you won't live to keep it.”
    “