Marooned, Dead or Alive

Of all the starships in all the galaxy, she had to walk onto mine.

The last time I saw Carena Valen, I had an excellent view of her two middle fingers extended in my direction as our shuttle ascended from the surface of Dao IV and abandoned her to the sparsely populated tropical island planet. Hey, there were worse places in the galaxy to be marooned. At least I have the courtesy of leaving them someplace scenic.

Note to self... next time I leave someone for dead, make sure they don’t have any means of coming back and holding you hostage on your own ship.

“Been a long time,” Carena crooned as her thugs ransacked by beloved ship.

“Not long enough,” I muttered. “So what’s it going to be, Carena? Are you going to shoot me right here? Hang me from the rafters on the bridge? Open the airlock and eject me out into space?”

Shut up, you idiot. You’re giving her ideas.

“I have much better plans for you.” Then, turning to her second in command, she said, “Prepare a course for the Dao system.”

Oh crap.

“I suppose turnabout is fair play,” I said with all the swagger I could muster. “I don’t suppose you’d want to give me any tips or hints about how you made your way offworld, would you?”

She patted my cheek affectionately.

“Oh, Captain. Whoever said I was just going to maroon you there?” She moved in close. Uncomfortably close. “When I leave someone for dead, I’m a big believer in making sure they’re actually dead. I just thought you’d appreciate such a poetic final resting place.”

Damn, I had to hand it to her. Of the two of us, she was definitely the better pirate.



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299 words

Prompt: Write a story of 300 words or less which takes place on a pirate ship.

Originally written for "Daily Flash Fiction Challenge"  and "I Write in 2018" .