Hidden Empire - Kevin J. Anderson [24]
"We were acquiring needed resources," Sorengaard said. "You call us pirates, and yet the Big Hansa Goose has imposed tariffs and trade restrictions on anything the Roamers import and export. You people simply wrap your thievery in political nicety."
Lanyan's lips formed a grim line. "Then let's put an end to any further nicety." Out here on the fringes of the Hansa, the General had the authority to use whatever methods he deemed necessary. "Some of your corsairs saw fit to take their own lives during capture. I can't argue with that. Now I will pronounce my own sentence upon the rest of you. First, you have been caught red-handed in the act of piracy. Moreover, the evidence clearly shows you are guilty of murdering the captain and crew of the Great Expectations, and probably other ships as well."
He gestured toward the access airlock hatches at the far end of the cargo bay. Those chambers were used for space combat troops, after suiting up and engaging their personnel weapons, to exit from the battleship and proceed to zero-G combat exercises. "Your punishment is death, swift and sure, with no malice and as painless as I can reasonably make it."
Though the sentence made her heart heavy, Rlinda was not surprised. The corsairs didn't even argue, simply glared at General Lanyan.
"Because the rest of you have made the mistake of following Rand Sorengaard, he will be the one to dispense your sentence. Each of you, one by one, into the airlock. Sorengaard, you will eject them into space."
"I will not." The pirate leader raised his lantern jaw. "Torture me as much as you will, but I refuse to be your pawn."
One of the corsairs spoke up. "Do it, Rand. I'd rather have you push the button than one of these filthy Eddies." The other pirates muttered agreement. Three spat on the deck, trying to hit Lanyan but missing by at least a foot.
One man broke away from the line and moved toward the airlock hatches. "Don't let them gloat, Rand. This is the only choice they'll let us have."
The pirate leader looked at his captured crewmen and seemed to see what he expected to find in their expressions. Then he turned back to the General. "This is no victory for you."
The first man went to the hatch, but Rlinda couldn't decide whether he was the bravest of them all, or if he felt it might be worse watching the others die before him. A uniformed soldier opened the airlock hatch, gesturing inside as if he were a formal maître d'.
"We could do two or three at once, General," said a lieutenant.
"No," both Lanyan and Rand Sorengaard answered in unison.
"Flung out into space...," the first man muttered, but his voice did not quiver with fear. "I guess that's the closest a Roamer will get to going home."
"Go find your Guiding Star," Sorengaard said.
The soldier sealed the hatch shut and Rlinda turned away, not wanting to look through the windowplate. Though she hated what these pirates had done to her ship, her innocent crew, she could not watch the air being drained away. Explosive decompression would cause the man's soft tissues to burst before his lungs and his blood began to boil and freeze at the same time.
Rand Sorengaard muttered a prayer or a farewell under his breath and then hammered the release button without hesitating. The first of the captured corsairs was gone.
Cold and horrified at the brutal justice, Rlinda spoke quietly to Lanyan, who stood at attention as if he did not want to be disturbed. "You've made your point, General. Is that not sufficient?"
"No, it is not, madam. The sentence is just, and you know it." He watched as the second pirate was manhandled into the airlock and the hatch sealed behind him. "Space is vast, and lawlessness can grow unmanageable if left unchecked. My mission is to respond with sufficient vehemence to provide a credible deterrent."
He looked at the colorful, exotic clothing the corsairs wore and stared out at the viewscreens. In space, the mismatched and weirdly modified