James Axler – Starfall

On the map, the river cut a lazy S downstream and north of their present position. The pirate base was located on the second hump of the S.

“Are you sure they’re still there?” Ryan asked.

“No.” Donovan folded the map and put it away. “This is just my best guess.”

LITTLE MORE than an hour later, Donovan’s information and guess, however, proved correct.

Ryan lay on his belly, his binocs to his eye as he sur­veyed the pirate camp. J.B. and Donovan lay on either side of him, field glasses to their eyes, as well.

Dean and Jak stayed behind them with three other men that Ryan had designated as the land-based attack team. Doc and Mildred had stayed at the base to care for Krysty. Ryan hadn’t liked splitting their forces, but Krysty couldn’t make the trip and he wasn’t going to leave her there alone.

The pirate base showed none of the semipermanency of the Foundation base. Few tents stood along the riverbank, leaving men sleeping out on the open ground wrapped in thick woolen blankets or in tattered sleeping bags. They clustered around low-burning campfires, few of which showed any signs of being cared for during the night.

“Sleeping deep,” J.B. observed.

“Local hootch,” Donovan replied. “Got a small ville called Snockers farther downstream that has a potato-whiskey still set up. Most folks working this river find something Snockers can use and trade for the whiskey. Snockers has overland traders set up to trade farther in-country. To them, Barbarossa and his filth are just another customer.”

Ryan didn’t comment as he raked the binocs across the riverbank. The land tumbled down out of the mountains, remaining rough and broken all the way to the water’s edge. It also provided a lot of cover in the form of brush and tall grasses, which Ryan had counted on after studying the shoreline. He’d left their boat a half mile back, cutting across the land and keeping the river in sight to mark their bearings.

More than two dozen water bikes floated in the harbor area the pirates had chosen, tethered by ropes, chains or leather thongs to boats, rocks, trees and small anchors. Nearly four dozen bigger boats, all of them in deteriorating condition, also bobbed in the water. Together, they consti­tuted an impressive armada.

And Ryan’s plan called for direct action, his six boats against the numbers before him.

Scanning the boats, Ryan saw that only a few of them had mounted weapons. The machine guns they’d raided from the redoubt held more firepower than most of the pi­rate craft. The biggest boat in the group was a sixty-foot powerboat that had faded Montana Lake Patrol insignia on it coupled with State Police running along the bow.

The sixty-footer sported a black flag with a white skull and crossbones that looked handmade. It drooped now in the light breeze, hardly unfurled at all. The sixty-footer was the only craft big enough to hold the recovered space-station section, according to Donovan. A tarp covered a lump taller than Ryan and nearly twice a long. The weight caused the sixty-footer to sink lower in the water than she was supposed to.

Ryan couldn’t help wondering how the heavy load was going to affect the sixty-footer’s performance. Speed re­mained a big part of their survival plan.

“Got them outgunned when it comes to quality of fire­power,” J.B. commented quietly.

“But there’s no getting around the numbers,” Ryan said. “They’ll chase us. And with that load—”

“Well,” the Armorer said, cleaning his glasses on his shirttail, “that’s what we’re planning for. If we get enough of a head start, it’ll be enough.”

“It’ll have to be,” Ryan said. He looked at Donovan. “Unless you want to back off on this.”

The Foundation man shook his head. “This isn’t the risk­iest thing I’ve ever done. If we didn’t have the blasters, I’d back us off. But that space station piece is too damn im­portant to just go away. And I’ll still line our boat pilots up against theirs anytime.”

“Guess you’re going to be doing just that.” Ryan put the binocs away. “Time to get about it.” He turned to Jak and Dean and the three men with them. “We go in quiet. No blasters used until they use them first.” He eyed the three Foundation men. “You understand me?”