10
“Here we go again,” Dar replied from his position at helm. Ten years had passed, and he was one of the most respected of the Cunik’s crew. He’d matured, filled out, and added quite a few new experiences to his list of accomplishments. Even still being the smallest of the crew, no one messed with him anymore.
“Yeah, same old story,” Vikkis said as he settled down at the weapons console. “Blasted Soothians just won’t take no for an answer.”
“All right, little one, slow us to one-quarter impulse and show him our right flank,” Gwog said from his captain’s chair. Three pirate ships faced them.
“Yes, sir.” Slowing the ship, Dar fired the directional thrusters positioning the starboard side of the ship toward the pirates.
“Vikkis, let’s try out those Newrillian cannons. My sense of humor has run out, and I can’t afford to get this shipment of gold taken.”
“Aye, captain.” He punched a few buttons. “Starboard cannons online.”
Gwog reached out with one finger and pushed a button. “This is Gwog to Nekis.”
“Don’t even bother with the formalities, Gwog. I know you have gold,” the reply came.
“All right then, I guess we’ll dispense with any talk and just open fire on you.” He looked around, making sure his crew was ready. “All hands, battle stations. Vikkis, commence firing.”
“Yes, sir.” Vikkis brought up the targeting screen. “Ah, I think I can put a nice spread right into Nekis’s ship.”
“Then do so, and make haste. We need to be at Thokin in less than three days.”
“Right.” He typed a couple of commands on the keyboard and watched the screen. “Commencing firing.” Pushing a button, the ship jolted as a salvo blasted from the starboard cannons. They watched out the side of the view screen as the concentrated plasma “cannon balls” streaked toward the lead ship.
A moment later, the ship exploded. There were cheers from everyone on the bridge.
“Finally, after all these years, I’m rid of Nekis,” Gwog said with a little growl. The communications panel beeped. He poked the button. “This is Gwog; are you preparing terms of surrender?”
“No, in fact we are targeting you this very moment,” the voice said; Gwog didn’t recognize it.
“Who is this?”
“You may have just killed my father, but you won’t kill me.”
“Oh, great, Nekis had a youngling,” Dar said, holding his gaze on the screen.
“I am Nokkis, the leader of the pirates.”
“Why don’t you run along, youngling, and pick on someone smaller,” Gwog replied.
Dar noticed movement on the scanner. “Captain, I’m picking up a small ship inbound.”
“Boarding party.” Tregis hurried over and grabbed a phaser rifle from a cabinet.
Gwog motioned to Dar. “Go with him, and pick up the twins on the way.”
“Yes, sir.” Dar grabbed a rifle and ran after Tregis. They got maybe two hundred yards and the ship took a forceful blast. Dar was knocked from his feet, smashing into Tregis. They tumbled to the metal catwalk. Another blast rocked the Cunik, Dar slid off the walkway. “Ahhhhh!”
Tregis managed to get hold of the railing and got Dar by his belt. “I got you!”
Dar looked down to see the deck probably fifty feet below. He was helpless. A fall from that height meant certain death. “Tregis!”
“Hang on!”
“To what?!”
Tregis strained, trying to pull Dar up. “Sorry, a figure of speech.”
“Please don’t drop me!” he called over the noise of battle. The ship continued to shake violently, the sound of explosions echoing through the cavernous cargo holds.
“I’m hanging on, not sure I can pull you up.”
Dar saw Ethoic and Pthoic below. “Hey, help!” he hollered. They looked up and immediately started running the maze of catwalks. Dar dangled, hoping Tregis had enough strength to hold on. “How are you doing up there?”
“I got you, don’t worry.”
Another blast shook the ship, Dar was swung wildly around. “Not good!” He saw the twins doing their best to cover the distance. They kept glancing up to see if he was okay. “Come on!”
It seemed to take forever to reach them. Ethoic jumped on Tregis, hoping to steady him while Pthoic leaned precariously off the walkway and reached for Dar. “Can you reach my hand?”
“I’ll try.” Dar brought his arm up and stretched as far as he could. “That’s it.”
Pthoic reached back and grabbed Ethoic. “Hold on to me.”
“Right, brother.” He locked arms, almost digging his claws into his brother’s arm.
“Try now,” Pthoic said, leaning further. The ship continued to take heavy fire.
Dar stretched as far as he could, reaching his hand, he could only grasp the end of a claw. “I can’t go any more.”
Pthoic growled and wiggled a little further. He leaned so far he thought he would fall. “Hold me tight, brother.”
“I am.” Ethoic tightened his grasp. Pthoic felt claws puncturing his skin. He ignored the pain.
“Almost,” Dar said, straining.
Pthoic was nearly off the walkway. He made a wild grab and caught Dar by the wrist. “Gotcha!” The ship took a nasty hit, and Dar was jolted in the air. Pthoic refused to let go, digging his claws into Dar’s arm; he wasn’t going to let him fall.
With all his might, Pthoic hauled Dar onto the walkway. They were bucked and bounced by more blasts. They immediately grabbed the railings, hoping not to be shaken off.
“Are you okay, Dar?” Pthoic asked, pointing to his arm.
Dar looked at the four puncture wounds and the blood dribbling from them. “As opposed to the other alternative, yes. And you?” He pointed to Pthoic’s arm where green blood oozed from where his brother had held him.
“Ah, no worse than when we played as younglings.”
“Dar, you don’t have wings, flying not good idea,” Ethoic said, checking Dar over.
“Very funny…We got a boarding party on the way, Gwog said you two were coming with us.”
“Okay.” Pthoic stood. “We haven’t had a good fight in a long time.”
Dar picked up his rifle. “And Gwog would be happy having it that way.”
Tregis struggled to his feet and grabbed his rifle. “One lost gold shipment and he loses his license with the Ontarrin Bank…Not to mention he’s gotta pay restitution for it all.” They hurried toward the shuttle bay, along the way, the twins picked up some rifles. Reaching the bay, they set up a defensive perimeter. The battle still raged on between the ships.
Taking up position behind a large support beam, Dar patiently waited. He hoped the Cunik’s defenses would take out the shuttle before it got close enough to land. But with the way the ship was taking hits, he figured there’d be damage. “How many do you think’ll be in the boarding party?” Dar called to Tregis.
“Usually six to eight.”
“Okay, that’s manageable.” He checked the rifle to make sure it was on maximum setting. As he looked up, he saw it: a fairly large shuttle heading straight for them. Dar had only seen a Soothian once in his life. For the most part, Gwog did a fine job keeping the pirates away from his shipments. Soothians were odd, ugly aliens; standing roughly six feet tall, with gray-green skin which very much reminded him of an overgrown Erotin sand lizard. He’d seen one on Appolion 6 when they were dropping off a shipment of machine parts. Gwog said it was a female Soothian, probably a slave; the males rarely strayed from Soothis or their ships.
The pirates were normally armed to the teeth with weapons they produced on their own. Some of them rivaled the technology of the Newrillians. A Soothian disruptor rifle was a feared weapon; capable of erasing a life in just a bright flash, leaving only a small pile of ash behind. The pirates also took vessels, turning them into pirate gunships, adding to their growing fleet.
Ethoic manned the door gun, trying to stop the pirates from landing. “Their shields are too good, I can’t stop them.”
“We’ll take ’em when they come out,” Tregis hollered over the noise.
“Right!” Dar replied. With a couple of well-placed laser blasts, the shuttle breeched the containment field and landed. A few moments later, the door opened and nearly a dozen pirates ran out, with more coming. “Shit!” Dar opened fire, dropping as many as he could. The others fired as well. The pirates poured from the vessel. They shot at the Cunik crew, keeping them pinned down. By now, there were thirty pirates taking up positions of their own. And then Dar noticed it: another large group came from a rear door of the shuttle and was trying to maneuver around and possibly flank their position.
“Tregis, they’re trying to flank us!” Dar yelled at the top of his lungs and pointed.
He strained to see where the pirates went. “Can you go after them?”
“Yeah.” Dar paused for a moment, looking for his best option. Then the pirates split into two groups; one seemed to be making a move on their position, the others, a run for the bridge. He was torn on whom to go after. His friends and crewmates were vastly outnumbered, but if he let the pirates get to the bridge, the ship would be lost.
“Dar, don’t let ’em get to the bridge!” Tregis called, pointing at the dozen Soothians hurrying along the catwalks.
He spun around and made a mad dash for the catwalks. One against a dozen, clearly lousy odds in battle, he thought. But he couldn’t let the ship fall into their hands; he’d sworn an oath to Gwog that he would defend this vessel with his life. Now, at twenty-seven, that life seemed awfully short. He hoped he’d live to see twenty-eight, and maybe a few more.
With legs pumping and feet pounding on the metal grates, Dar tore up the catwalks after the pirates. When he got the chance, he opened fire, dropping the last two in the group. Three others turned and fired, sending Dar diving for cover. He hoped the metal support beam he hid behind would take the blasts from the Soothian disruptors. Hot metal splattered down on him as the pirates blasted away at the column. Dar tried to shield himself, hoping his Catarin hide clothes would give some protection.
Glancing up, he saw a communications panel to his left. If he could just warn Gwog that the boarding party was far larger than expected, perhaps he could send reinforcements. Although there weren’t that many crew on the ship. He had to try. Peering around the corner, Dar saw three pirates holding a position, the rest continued to the bridge. Slowly, he pressed his back against the wall and slid until he was standing. Several blasts came his way. Dar poked his rifle around the corner and fired a few times, hoping to keep their heads down. He fumbled with the button. “Dar to Gwog. The boarding party’s far larger than planned. Tregis and the twins are pinned down in the shuttle bay. I’m chasing a bunch toward the bridge. We need all hands to man rifles and prepare for a fight.”
“Roger, Dar—” the transmission was cut short as a disruptor blast hit the panel. Dar ducked for cover. He couldn’t see where the blast came from. One of the pirates must be making a move on him. Frantically, he searched for better cover, there wasn’t much. He was probably thirty feet up and still had another thirty to go in order to be on the same level as the bridge. More disruptor blasts came his direction. Deciding there wasn’t much point in staying put, Dar took off running.
As he made his way toward a turn-back on the catwalk, he ran right into a pirate hiding behind a column. Neither had time to level their weapons, but Dar was just a bit faster. He whipped out his trusty knife, and without a second thought, buried it to the hilt in the Soothian’s chest. Orange-red blood splattered all over him. The pirate didn’t immediately die. Instead, it took out what looked like a phaser pistol and prepared to shoot Dar.
He grappled with the pirate, trying to get the weapon away. The Soothian managed to discharge the pistol twice into the air before it bled out enough and slumped to the metal grating. Dar took the weapon and shoved it into the waistband of his trousers figuring it might come in handy later. Wiping the blood from his face, he carried on.
Dar didn’t get far when more disruptor blasts came his way. He took aim and fired, dropping another pirate. Eight more were heading to the bridge. Gwog and the rest of the crew better be ready for a fight, he thought, trying to dodge blasts. Below, the battle for the shuttle bay continued. Dar couldn’t see much of the fight; most was obscured by a couple of catwalks stretching high across the bay. Above, he heard loud footsteps; he hoped it was reinforcements.
A few moments later the distinctive sound of Newrillian phaser rifles echoed through the area. And then Dar heard Gwog’s voice as he commanded his crew in the attack. Somewhere, seemingly out of nowhere, Putchic, one of the deck hands, came running toward Dar. Being half Kiburgin Hoarda, Putchic was a nasty individual. He brandished a phaser rifle. “Follow me!” he said in a deep, raspy voice. Dar didn’t hesitate; he readied his rifle and followed the hairy beast. Although they didn’t always get along, in a time of battle, differences were set aside.
They ran up two more levels. The pirates were now engaging Gwog’s group. “Hold fast, can we make any flanking move?” Gwog hollered over the noise.
“Gwog, we’re below!” Dar yelled.
“Pinch!” came the reply.
“On our way!” He tucked in behind Putchic and got ready to advance on the group above. They stormed up another level. Dar saw the pirates right above. He knew it was no time to be fair when it came to a fight. Raising his phaser, he fired several blasts right through the metal grates. Putchic followed his lead. The phasers cut through the metal and went right into the Soothians. They disappeared in a flash of light. Dar didn’t think Gwog would be upset over the damage; the ship, and the payload was far more important.
“Good shot!” Gwog called. He wasn’t sure who did it, but they eliminated the threat to the bridge. Now the crew could focus efforts on the much larger battle raging in the shuttle bay. He ran down the catwalk, dodging the holes, he saw Dar and Putchic below. “Go help the others!”
They turned and ran; the noise from the battle seemed to be dying out. Dar wasn’t sure who was really winning. There weren’t as many blasts rocking the ship, and the disruptor fire below lessened. It felt like total chaos. Somewhere behind him were Gwog and the others. Dar ran so hard he stumbled and fell. Putchic grabbed him, yanking him to his feet. They hurried down four more levels until they reached the floor of the shuttle bay.
Dar took one look and the carnage. For some reason, Ethoic, Pthoic, and Tregis didn’t have their phasers set to what Dar jokingly called “crispy critter” setting, and quite a few pirates lay in pools of blood either dead or dying. “Tregis? Ethoic? Pthoic?” He caught movement out of the corner of his eye. A pirate was trying to make an escape. Without hesitation, he fired and vaporized the Soothian. Putchic went along dispatching any pirates he found alive. Dar ran over to where he last saw Tregis. A small burnt pile of ashes were all that remained of his friend. A disruptor had found its mark.
“Ethoic? Pthoic?” Dar called. The twins were formidable opponents in battle, surely they survived, he thought, making a sweep of the bay. After a few minutes of searching, all he found were two more piles of ash. He stood where he thought Pthoic had fallen.
Gwog approached. “Are you all right, little one?”
“Yeah, I’m fine.”
He reached and took Dar’s arm, holding it up. Blood still dribbled down his hand. “Are you sure?”
“Yeah,” he said softly. “Pthoic saved my life today, and I couldn’t save his.”