Read Shepherd's Crook: Omegaverse: Volume 2 for Free Online

Rock on!” They left the bridge.
    “What. The. Fuck?” Eric asked, exasperated. He couldn’t believe that they’d just leave like that. That they just wanted to be in at the kill. Sure, that was fun. But that was just a part of it. The hunt, the suspense of the hunt, was what gave the kill the sweetness, was what pushed the excitement levels. Americans just didn’t understand that, he thought, everything for them had to be instant gratification. They couldn’t see the payoff as being more satisfying if it was earned.
    He looked to the sensor station, saw that Jordi’s process was running. He shifted to the weapon’s station. Gray Eagle hadn’t reloaded the missile bays, so Eric selected enough missiles from the ship’s store and started the loading process. That should take a couple of minutes. He then opened the mercantile page and ordered more missiles for the ship’s store. They’d be automatically loaded next time in port. He began to think.
    What he really wanted, now that he had the hedgehog, was a really good absorbent cladding for the Westy. Then he could stake out the pirate hunting grounds much more closely without worrying about whether a lurking pirate would be scared away by a visual scan of the area. He could lay to within a few million kilometers and know within a few seconds of an attack by a pirate. Then he could jump in on the bastard before he’d even had time to loot the cargo ship. He began doing some mental calculations to determine when he could afford the purchase.
    “Sir,” interrupted his executive officer, “we’re receiving a hail.”
    “Open it,” said Eric distractedly. He smiled, then frowned when he saw who it was.
    “What do you want, Taipan?”
    “I just wanted to thank you,” Taipan said, “for avenging my shipment.”
    “What?”
    “That pirate you just killed. He attacked my cargo ship. He stole my CO 2 delivery. I just wanted to thank you for blowing him out of the water, as it were.”
    “I didn’t fucking do it for you,” Eric snarled.
    “In any case,” said Taipan cheerfully, “I hope you continue make this system dangerous for pirates and safe for honest businessmen like myself.” He smiled, “One thing, though.”
    “Yes,” growled Eric, impatiently, “What?”
    “Before you shot him?”
    Taipan paused.
    “Get on with it,” Eric grated.
    “Did he say ‘Please don’t shoot me’?”
     

 
    Chapter 7
     
    Duncan closed the connection between the Shepherd Moon and the HMS Westy. He smiled, ruefully.
    “Why do I feel the need to taunt that asshole?” he asked himself. “Because he’s an asshole,” he answered himself truthfully.
    “Clive,” he continued, “replace that shipment of dry ice.”
    “Yes, sir. It’s slightly less expensive in India.”
    “Go ahead,” laughed Duncan, “but it doesn’t really matter. That stuff is cheap.” He thought, “Then again, we’ll need a butt-load of it to terraform the third planet.”
    “What should we name the planet?” he mused.
    “As long as the name doesn’t violate the most strict profanity filter, you can name it whatever you like. Once. The name can’t be changed after the universal navigation maps are updated.”
    Duncan looked at the unnamed rock floating in front of him. He laughed, “Maybe I should call you the ‘Westy sucks balls’.”
    “That would come up against the filter, I’m afraid,” said Clive. “The name must conform with the ESRB and PEGI guidelines for child friendliness.”
    “I was only joking,” said Duncan. But he wondered what he should name it. Once he began the improvement process, he would earn that right. “I’ll have to think about that,” he muttered.
    The Shepherd Moon entered orbit around the third planet. A polar orbit. The planet, like the Earth, had a noticeable axial tilt. The Earth’s was around twenty-four degrees, this planet a few degrees less. Also Earth-like, the planet had ‘north’ and ‘south’ poles; likely resting