Pursuing the Demon Lord

by Randoman

  “Last time I went to the beach I saw a seagull strangle to death on a plastic soda can holder thing.” I snorted, “Good riddance. I hate those fucking birds.”

  “This is Captain Yvael Trondus, requesting immediate assistance from any nearby vessels. We are currently under attack by a group of Ripped Scar vessels.” A calm, yet urgent, voice broke into our conversation through the comms. “I repeat, this is Captain-” I shut off the communicator before her message could repeat.

  “I hate spam.”

  “Aren’t we going to help?” Princess Egyle asked from the tactical station.

  “Well that entirely depends on the situation Princess. What does tactical have to say about it?” She stared towards me confused for a moment before realization dawned on her. With quick fingers, Princess Egyle turned to her station and began working. While she was busy with that, I steered the ship towards the distress signal source. Aya had already given me the details, I just wanted to see how the Princess would act.

  “Captain, three small vessels, possibly Fighter or Corvette sized, are engaging a small freighter not far from our current position.” She spoke while pouring over holographic screens.

  “Any sign of system security coming to aid?”

  “Yes, but it’ll take them awhile. I don’t know if the freighter will last that long against that many.” She sighed sadly.

  “As much as I’d like to assist Captain, we simply aren’t combat ready right now.” Hortur noted from the engineering station. A pained look crossed the Princess’ face as she stared at Hortur before turning her attention to me.

  “Don’t worry Hortur, its only two Fighters and a Corvette. And Princess, the Freighter will be fine until help arrives. Though it will sustain a fair bit of hull damage. But other than that, it should be able to hold its own just fine. If we get involved though, it should be no problem.”

  “How do you-” The Princess began but stopped as I pointed to my head.

  “A little voice told me so. Now, lets go be heroes.”

  “Captain Yvael, this is Captain Chet of the Boatsy.” I spoke into the communicator. “We’re not in the best shape, but we’ll help.” A relieved sigh came over the comms,

  “Thank you Captain. I’ll take any help I can get at this point.”

  “No worries Captain. At best we’ll be able to scare them off. At worst, I’ll take a few bullet holes as well.”

  “Either way, I’ll owe you a drink Captain. Yvael out.”

  With full power to thrusters, we charged to Yvael’s aid. Engines rumbled as our momentum increased steadily. Once we had reached a good enough speed, I killed the engines and spun the ship around. Our inertia would carry us just passed the freighter and her friends. Once the distance was closed, it was go time.

  “Who wants to man the guns?” I asked my fearless crewmen.

  “Me!” “Goodness I’d be happy to.” The both spoke at the same time.

  “Sorry Hortur, Princess beat you by three tenths of a second. Better luck next time.”

  “Yes!” Egyle cheered as she jumped from tactical to gunnery. “Just give me a good angle and they’re gone.” She boasted as she placed a helmet over her head. The visor would allow her to see the outside of the ship so she could fire the weapons more accurately. Her hands grabbed the controls with highly practiced motions.

  Thanks to Aya, I could link in to what Egyle was currently seeing. A tactical screen covered my vision, as a targeting reticule hovered over a marked target far in the distance. The reticule was red, signifying that the target was too far to be engaged effectively. When we were closer, it would turn green when she could fire. Nifty bit of software that.

  As we approached, Aya scanned Yvael’s ship. Her turrets had been melted by repeated bolts of plasma, so it couldn’t fight back. And the opposing ships were currently attempting to knock out her engines as she sputtered towards us.

  ‘Something is wrong here Captain.’ Aya noted as she finished her scan of the Freighter.

  ‘Yeah, they want that ship intact. But why?’

  ‘Her cargo isn’t listed in any public files.’

  ‘That explains it. Shes carrying some good shit if it isn’t listed.’

  ‘Agreed. I’ll attempt to find out exactly what it is she is carrying.’

  “Firing!” Egyle shouted as we sailed towards the engagement. Blasts of light sent a pair of liquid plasma globules flying through the darkness of space towards her target, a small Fighter about half the size of a Corvette. After a brief delay, a second round of plasma bolts ripped from our two working cannons. With practiced, controlled shots, Egyle tore through the shields of her first target within five bursts. Plasma chewed through solid steel like butter, ripping into the interior of the ship.

  A moment later, the engines of the Fighter died. It was dead in the water.

  “Got one!” Princess Egyle beamed, already aiming for the next target. The green reticule turned red as the remaining two ships sped off in a hasty retreat. “Darn it. They’re running.” She sighed.

  “Mission accomplished then.” I spoke.

  “Captain Yvael to Captain Chet, thank you for the assistance. The bastards are running scared. Damn fine gunner you got there.”

  “I agree Captain. Don’t think I could have done better myself.” I totally could have, but she did well enough I suppose.

  ‘Captain, we have a problem.’ Aya stated and drew my attention to the tactical display of the escaping ships. The Corvette had turned and was currently facing towards the Freighter. A large surge of energy came from the tactical readout before it turned away once more. ‘It appears that the enemy ship has fired a torpedo towards our new friend who is carrying a large amount of explosive warheads. Chance of Freighter survival are zero percent.’

  “You’re shitting me.” I spoke aloud.

  “Captain?” Yvael asked over the comms.

  “Captain Yvael, you have two minutes to get out of your ship now by any means necessary. You have an incoming torpedo that will obliterate your ship. We’ll pick you up as soon as possible.” I commanded in a firm tone.

  “What…but…” She sighed, “alright. Yvael out.”

  Moments later, an escape pod jettisoned itself from the Freighter which now sat dead in space. A minute and a half later, that very same Freighter was shredded into pieces from within as the torpedo punctured through the hull and exploded, causing the explosives located within the ship to explode as well. A cascading event that, for the blink of an eye, gave Jochtek a second sun.

  Oh well, you win some you lose some.

  Without worrying too much, I piloted our ship towards the escape pod. After a bit of finagling and more that a few curses, we lined ourselves up so that we could bring the pod into our cargo bay. And I, as the Captain, got the honors of jumping out into space in my suit to attach cables that could be reeled into our bay to said pod. I may not have needed to do all the flips and spins that I did, but damnit I wasn’t going to pass up the chance. Soundlessly, because it was space, I landed atop the pod and attached the cables.

  “Alright Egyle, reel us in.” I commanded via personal communicator. Sadly, Hortur couldn’t come into the cargo bay to do the honors. He didn’t have a space suit with him, and getting him one would be a custom job.

  “Roger.”

  The cables drew taught as they begun to be pulled back towards our bay. It wasn’t long until the bay doors closed behind us and the long process of restoring air and gravity began. Once it was safe, I removed my helmet and took a deep breath of stale, purified air. I then knocked on the escape pod door twice, letting Yvael know it was safe. Magnetic seals in a hiss, and the door retracted back into the pod.

  “Ahh.” Yvael spoke as she walked from the pod in a skin-tight white space suit. Judging from her appearance, she was almost as tall as me. Long arms fumbled about her helmet for a moment before the hiss of air of it unsealing sounded out. With the helmet out of the way, I could finally see our new friend in the fles
h. Blue skin glistened in the light as her golden eyes affixed upon my own. Long black hair tied into a ponytail weaved back and forth as she shook her head in relief. A pair of small black horns jutted from her forehead. “Thanks for the rescue Captain. Kindness is a luxury around these parts.”

  Chapter 11: Police Interrogation

  “Yvael Trondus, at your service.” The blue-skinned beauty held out her hand which I readily shook.

  “Chet Rosenfield. The pleasure is all mine.”

  “You look a little familiar…” Yvael looked closely at me, as if trying to remember where she had seen my face before.

  “You have no idea how many times I hear that.” I sighed, “if you want I can sign an autograph but I’m nobody that important.”

  “No worries Captain, its just a feeling.” She smiled.

  “Captain, shes a Demon!” Princess Egyle shouted from off to the side near the cable winch. Yvael’s body visibly tensed at the Princess’ words.

  I rolled my eyes and regarded the Princess with a flat stare. “Wow, really? Darn, I hadn’t noticed. Thanks for the heads up.” With a grin, I returned my attention to our guest. “Please forgive my crew member, shes a bit of a spoiled princess.” Yvael laughed,

  “Understood Captain, no hard feelings.”

  “We’ll be on our way to the Jochtek IV station for some much needed renovations. Feel free to wander about or relax in the meanwhile. Just mind the smell if you go near the engineering bay. We haven’t been able to fully get it out yet.”

  “Mind if I tag along? Its been awhile since I’ve been on another Captain’s vessel.”

  “Not at all.”

  So began the grand tour of my lovely hunk of junk. After leaving the expansive cargo bay, it was a straight shot up to the bridge with various personal quarters off to one side of the hallway and the galley and engineering bay off to the other. In total, this guppy could house seven people comfortably. If it weren’t for the smell, the dirt, and scorch marks at least. Yvael looked unimpressed as we walked to the bridge, as if we had been neglectful in our duties of ship maintenance.

  “As you can plainly see,” I spoke as we entered the bridge. “Its a hunk of junk.”

  “Well…at least it runs?” She attempted to be polite, bless her soul.

  “You should have been on our first jump to hyperspace. Barely made it out of that in one piece. Didn’t help that our engineer was stuck in the bathroom.”

  “I get hyper-space sickness! Its a physiological issue!” Hortur huffed indignantly.

  “At least you have the lemons now.”

  “I hate them!” He hissed, “They’re far too sour! How can any species enjoy them?”

  “They’re good when mixed in with water. But hey, it beats spending every trip with your head in a toilet.” I noted, which made Hortur grumble his agreement.

  “You and your crew seem pretty close.” Yvael noted with a smile as she sat in the open gunnery station seat.

  “Yeah, we’ve been through some fun times these past few days. Hardship breeds camaraderie as the saying goes.”

  “It must be nice.”

  I snorted, “If I had my way, I’d be flying solo. These two just had to come along for the ride.” Loud grumbling came from Princess Egyle who stood up from the tactical station’s chair and left the bridge. Yvael looked towards me with curiosity, but otherwise said nothing.

  The blue gem of Jochtek IV stood brightly against the dark backdrop of space. A massive space station drifted over the planet’s atmosphere as it orbited the ocean planet. Already, we had received permission to dock in one of the hangars nearest to the station’s security headquarters. Apparently they wanted Yvael and I to make a report on the pirates we had encountered.

  “Alright team, repeat your orders to me.” I spoke to the assembled crew of two. Perks of being the boss meant you got to act like the boss.

  “I am to find four replacement Viiren Plasma Cannons-”

  “Why Viiren specifically?” I goaded with a smile.

  “Because nothing melts metal like Viiren plasma.” Hortur reluctantly stated in a sing-song-y voice. The ad was catchy, and Egyle agreed that their cannons were top of the line.

  “Good, and what else?”

  “Ahem,” Hortur cleared his throat, “A ‘shit-ton’ of high quality wiring, a set of cutters and welders, and anything else I can think of.”

  “Very good.” I nodded to the snake-man. It had taken awhile, but I had finally gotten him to curse. “And you Egyle?”

  “…additional bed sheets, pillow covers, extra sets of clothes, and cleaning supplies.”

  “Namely?”

  She sighed, “Lemon scented cleaners, and a ‘butt-load’ of bleach.”

  “Good enough.” I transferred money to their accounts. Aya had been able to connect into the Princess’ bank implant, disconnect the locked account, and create a temporary new one with which she could acquire items during our docking jaunts. Needless to say, Aya had been a godsend.

  ‘Thank you Captain.’ She voiced proudly as she read my thoughts.

  ‘Credit where its due, Aya. If it weren’t for you, we’d be dead a million times over.’

  ‘May I request a raise in my funding?’

  ‘Aya, my money is your money. We’re practically married with you stuck in my head.’

  ‘I want a divorce.’

  ‘Don’t be like that honey, we can work things out.’ Robots were so high maintenance.

  “Alright team, lets do this.” I finished as the ship clunked down in the hangar.

  Together, Yvael and I walked through the security section of the station. Multitudes of buildings comprised of a type of plastic that was more durable than steel and far lighter lined the magnetic streets. Many buildings were clearly marked such as ‘Fire Response’ or ‘Electrical Emergencies’ that had their own personal elevators to the other floors of the space station. Rapid response teams, eat your heart out. As we traveled the streets, I saw almost no aliens. In fact, it was filled to the brim with humans in various uniforms who openly gave hostile stares at the blue beauty beside me. The majority in police-like attire rode tiny hover scooters like the adorable little mall cops that they were. I’d gladly have given them a good ribbing, but alas, the objective was to get our story straight. Not thrown into a holding cell. I had already done that enough on Earth for one lifetime.

  Yvael kept her head straight and her eyes forward as we made our way to the main building. If she noticed the stares being sent her way, and there was no way she didn’t, she was doing a good job of showing it didn’t bother her. We didn’t have to travel far until we reached a large building that resembled a police precinct. I was getting flashbacks of the time I was arrested for throwing eggs at a police car during mischief night. Good times.

  ‘Alright Aya, remember the plan.’ Earlier, Aya and I conspired to hack into the station’s security systems. Just in case King Lavian and his crew showed up early. This way, we’d be able to stop them from locking us into the station itself.

  ‘No worries Captain. I’ll be in and out in a nanosecond.’

  ‘Thats my girl.’

  “Ladies first.” I spoke and motioned for Yvael to enter first. A brief flash of a smile was quickly hidden beneath a stoic exterior. Wordlessly, she entered the building with me tagging close behind. Inside the building, the atmosphere was very relaxed. Aliens of all kinds had been handcuffed to their seats as they spat mucus and insults towards their human captors. One by one, they were led away either into the back to be thrown into what I assumed to be holding cells, or taken outside to be sent to more permanent facilities. I took a deep breath and sighed, gotta love the disgusting scent of justice.

  “May I help you?” A female officer spoke as she approached from the side.

  “I’m a wanted criminal that immediately needs to be placed under house arrest. Your house to be exact.” I held out my hands. “Take me away.” The officer rolled her eyes.

  “We’re here
to see Warden Urien.” Yvael spoke while giving me ‘that look’.

  “Ah, the outer system incident from earlier. Right this way.” She turned and began to walk towards the back rooms. Any attempt I made to bring up the rear was stopped by Yvael who forced me to match her pace. And any attempt to take a gander at the precinct’s assets earned me an elbow I the ribs. So I liked a woman in uniform, sue me.

  “Warden, the two Captains involved in the incident from earlier are here.” The female officer spoke as she cracked open the door.

  “Let them in.” A gruff voice replied. The woman nodded and motioned us forward, sending a wink my way before heading off.

  “Forgive me Avon my love.” I mumbled as I watched the officer leave.

  “Get your head outta your ass.” Yvael elbowed me again.

  “Its not my ass thats the problem.” She scoffed and walked into the room. A second later I followed.

  The room was full of file cabinets that ran along the walls. A desk sat directly in the middle of the room with a pair of chairs in front of it. Atop the desk were various pictures of young kids, older women, and a holo-computer. Behind the desk sat an old man in his security uniform. I say old, because his skin was as wrinkly as…well…you know. But the man still had a full head of silver hair, so I had to give him credit there. You don’t see old people with their hair still there too often. Thats some good genes. I hoped I still had a full head of hair when I was his age.

  “Please, have a seat.” He spoke in a fatherly tone while motioning towards the two chairs.

  “Thank you.” Yvael bowed her head and took the chair to the right.

  “Don’t mind if I do.” I took the other one.

  “Now then,” The warden began as we sat. “give me the run down of events.”

  “I was nearly to the edge of the system in my freighter when three craft appeared from hyperspace and began to open fire…” Yvael began her story from the beginning of the attack against her. How the ships targeted her ships’ turrets foremost so that she wouldn’t be able to mount a counter attack. By that time, I had arrived and begun to head in for support. And the rest is, as they say, is history.