The Jupiter Pirates by Jason Fry Read Free Book Online

anyway?” Yana asked, pulling her mediapad out of her bag.
    â€œHe said he was getting a nip of grog,” Mavry said from behind his coffee cup.
    â€œHow much is a nip?” Carlo asked.
    â€œIt varies,” Mavry said with a grin, putting down his empty cup and getting to his feet. “Anyway, keep your communicators on—and stay out of trouble.”
    Tycho watched them vanish into the throng of spacers. Yana was pestering Carlo for a sip of his coffee.
    â€œA tiny sip,” Carlo warned. “This cost me half my shore allowance.”
    Yana handed the cup back, her face twisted in dismay.
    â€œUgh, bitter!” she complained, then returned to scrutinizing her mediapad.
    â€œDon’t be such a kid,” Carlo said with a laugh. “What are you reading, anyway?”
    â€œThe court documents Suud filed,” Yana said.
    â€œAnything interesting?” Carlo asked. They all had mediapads, but only Yana’s seemed to be permanently attached to her hand.
    Yana narrowed her eyes at her brother. “Read them yourself and find out.”
    â€œMaybe I will,” Carlo said, then glanced at Tycho. “And what are you mooning over?”
    Tycho didn’t want to say, but now Yana had put her mediapad aside and was looking at him too.
    â€œIt’s my prize. Why did they go to the Union offices without me?” he asked.
    â€œIt’s not your prize—” Carlo began.
    â€œIt was mine in admiralty court!” Tycho snapped.
    â€œTyke, relax ,” Carlo said. “It was your prize in admiralty court because you were the watch officer and it was your starship during the intercept. It’s Mom’s prize according to the Jovian Union because she’s the captain. Got it?”
    Tycho nodded, and after a moment Carlo nodded back.
    â€œAnyway, I don’t know why you two keep worrying yourselves to death over the Log,” Carlo said. “We all know I’m going to be captain.”
    â€œOh, we do, do we?” Yana asked scornfully. “And how do we know that?”
    â€œCommon sense,” said Carlo. “I’m the oldest, and I’m the best pilot. I can fly rings around you both—Mom knows it, and we all know the Log shows it. It’s nothing to be ashamed of. I’m just saying that the sooner the three of us understand what will happen, the sooner we can start working together more effectively as a bridge crew.”
    â€œAunt Carina’s older than Mom, and she’s not captain,” Tycho pointed out. “She was a better pilot than Mom, too. Or at least that’s what everybody says.”
    â€œAunt Carina was going to be the captain, and we all know it,” Carlo said. “What happened didn’t have anything to do with age or piloting.”
    â€œYou mean 624 Hektor, don’t you?” Yana asked, poking at the last little bits of fruit. “Strange how one day can change everything.”
    Tycho and Carlo exchanged a surprised glance. The Battle of 624 Hektor was rarely discussed among Jovians. In the minds of many privateers, the mere mention of it invited the worst kind of luck, even eleven years later.
    Carlo hesitated, then plunged ahead, as if Yana’s mention of the forbidden name had changed the rules.
    â€œIt took a lot less than a day—everything changed in a few minutes,” Carlo said. “The Martian freighters entered the asteroids, our pirate ships moved to intercept them from where they’d been waiting in ambush, and then the Earth ships that had been hiding in the asteroids powered up and ambushed us instead. By the time the Jovian Defense Force showed up, most of our ships had been destroyed or crippled.”
    â€œBecause we were betrayed,” Yana said.
    Carlo shrugged. “That’s the story.”
    â€œYou sound like you don’t believe it,” Tycho said.
    â€œDepends on which part you mean,” Carlo said. “Do I believe some