It had to be bad if there was this much shooting on their own ship.
Two more crew members joined him. Together the three of them rushed into the ship’s dock area. The man’s head to his right exploded, showering him with bits of bone fragments. Menok dodged, crossing behind the falling body to slam into the back of a large crate of something he was sure they stole from someone.
“AAAIIIHEE,” cried the other crewmate, Menok thought his name was F’ehlex.
F’ehlex’s head came bounding back down the way the three of them had just come.
What was going on? Menok lifted his pistol and breathed in three times before darting both his head and arm around the corner to see what was happening.
—
Hirotoshi made it into the other ship. The first Skaine he found seemed to be working the controls for the connection to the Gothwick, so Hirotoshi leveled his sword and cut forward.
The blood of the alien sprayed across the controls, its body jerking up and down before falling behind him. Hirotoshi didn’t care, he was already past.
The next two reacted a bit faster, pulling their weapons. Hirotoshi swept the blade down, cutting off one of their arms, the hand and gun clattering to the floor. He twisted backward, counter-clockwise to swing behind the Skaine with the missing hand, using the spasming body to block his partner. Hirotoshi stabbed the second Skaine in the neck, then pushed the blade out, taking the head halfway off.
He heard the rushing of more Skaine coming from behind him. Reaching down, he grabbed the Jean Dukes’ special and swung around, to see three more slavers rushing through a pair of doors some twenty paces away.
He aimed and blew apart the slaver on his left. The slaver in the middle dove behind the falling body, so Hirotoshi shot the next slaver in the shoulder, the slaver’s weapon arm dropping down lifeless by his side. Taking three steps forward he met the running slaver head on, slicing through his neck, then kicking the head back towards the doors the Skaine had used to enter the area.
“Hai!” Ryu called out behind him, but Hirotoshi ignored him.
Moments later, he could hear the fast breathing of the third pirate.
Hirotoshi lifted his pistol, waiting.
The final pirate stuck his head around the corner, and his head exploded in a violent mist of blood and skull parts that painted the floor and up the wall behind him, the body slumping over to the floor.
Behind him, Ryu grabbed Katsu, and the two of them headed off to the right, in the expected direction of the engines and possibly the secondary computer systems.
Hirotoshi headed towards where this ship would have their slaveholding area if it was laid out similarly to the last ship. He had just entered the hallway leading towards the cells when an explosion occurred in the bay. The ship’s doors sealed shut behind him, alarms and lights flashing up and down the hall of the ship.
Shin hadn’t made it out of the cargo bay, Hirotoshi was certain of it.
—
“DISCONNECT FROM THAT SHIP!” Gyrm commanded.
“Sir, we’ve lost communication with the dock area, we don’t know,” started his ship’s officer.
“Blow it!” he commanded. Almost instantly, he heard the soft ‘whump’ as the explosives were used to disconnect from the other ship.
Gyrm might lose a few people with this effort, but it was damned obvious the ship HAD been a ruse, and right now he needed to keep attackers off of his ship.
The docks would lock down, but not before most of his people, or the aliens inside would die. If not from lack of air, then they might get pummeled to death by the boxes, tools, and other items not tied down when the explosion of decompression and loss of gravity for a few moments occurred.
It would be a significant pain to clean up that area on the ship, now.
Cleanup wasn’t his responsibility, having a ship to clean up was.
—
Shin followed Katsu and Ryu into the alien ship and watched the two of them split off to the right and head out of the docks. He saw Hirotoshi and headed in his direction. He had almost made it to the same set of doors to follow him out of the docks when an explosion jolted him from behind.
His eyes opened in alarm as he reached for the door’s handle, but failed to grab it in time. His body lost any sense of weight. His back exploded in pain when he slammed into a large box that was locked down to the floor. His body turned violently, his view of the dock spun, as he and everything not secured headed toward the opening into space.
Shin used his Wakizashi to stab out towards another box, but all it did was push him in the other direction when it failed to embed itself in the container.
He bounced off something behind him. Flailing around, his hand grabbed a rope of some sort, and he held on.
For about three incredibly long seconds as the roar of the decompression continued.
Then, he lost his grip.
The docks airlock slammed shut in time for Shin to slam into it. He looked over his shoulder, to see a huge container heading in his direction.
“Forgive me, my Empress!” he yelled out.
Then, the container slammed into his chest and head.
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
QBS Achronyx
Tabitha bit on her fingernail, as she watched the video intake. She had Achronyx maintain a safe distance from the Skaines, ensuring they could not detect her cloaked ship
“I sense vibrations on the outer skin of the Skaine ship Kalifo. I am surmising the raid has started, Tabitha.” Achronyx stated.
“Thanks,” she mumbled, only half hearing her EI, while she focused on the two ships hanging with a backdrop of the stars outlining them both.
She received a quick click over the comms, Hirotoshi’s confirmation that the raid had started in earnest.
She was staring at the scene in front of her when she suddenly bucked back in her chair, body going rigid as she screamed as loudly as she possibly could. Her hands gripping the chair rests, indenting them slightly as her pain, given voice, reverberated throughout the ship.
“NOOOOOOOOO!” she cried out, tears coming unbidden to her face as she sought to clamp down on her emotions to allow her time to process and think…
Think…
FUCK THINKING!
“Achronyx,” she hissed out, “Take me right in front of that fucking ship, right fucking now!”
“Cloaked or uncloaked?”
“Cloaked, until I say otherwise,” she told him as she unbuckled and headed towards the back, “I’ve got a message to deliver.”
—
Hirotoshi could feel the loss as he ran through the hallway.
Shin was gone.
Hundreds of scenes ran through his mind as he tore through each section. The times Shin and he would sit and talk about their past. The times they would tease the sun together before their Queen had accepted their allegiance and allowed them to go out in the sun once more.
Before Tabitha had made them a permanent team together.
The hundreds of years of friendship ran through Hirotoshi’s mind as he found each Skaine.
Some were decapitated, some were run through, a sword, made on Earth so many light-years away, taking their lives in Hirotoshi’s silent sending of a down payment for Shin’s death.
They had come into this system to stop the slave trade. There would be no better way, than making sure the slavers were eradicated.
Permanently.
—
“WHO THE HELL ARE THESE ALIENS?” Gyrm shouted as he viewed the video of just three aliens ripping through his ship, killing his people with a determination that bordered on fanatical. More than once his people had set up traps to overwhelm the aliens, only to have the traps taken apart with violence that caused the lead Skaine to sweat.
If just a little.
“Engineering!” He yelled into his comms, “You have two coming in your direction, shut down all entrances…”
“SIR!” Weapons called out.
�
�Right now,” Gyrm finished his conversation with engineering and looked over to the one responsible for interrupting him. “WHAT?”
The weapons specialist didn’t say anything, just pointed to the large screen at the front of the bridge. Gyrm turned to see an alien’s face, eyes glowing red, staring back at everyone on the Bridge.
“My name…is Ranger Tabitha of the Etheric Empire. You are condemned as slavers, there is no escape, there is no reprieve, you have been JUDGED!”
“Didn’t we blow you up once already?” Gyrm spat out, “Why won’t you just go away?”
“Because, motherfucker, JUSTICE DOES NOT DIE!”
Gyrm pointed to the screen, “Where is that alien ship?”
“Oh…Frixelballocks,” Weapons whispered when he saw the alien ship uncloak. He hit the button to show the front facing video and more than one of those on the bridge pushed back in their chairs, thinking the ship in front was about to crash right into their ship.
The alien on the screen stared at the Skaines, her voice full of anger, “I will take my men, any slaves you have, and your Captain will stand trial. Or I will kill you all, and not rest until every Skaine I ever meet dies.”
“That is impossible,” Gyrm told the woman. Trying to stay calm in this situation, doing anything to keep her talking as everyone on the bridge continued to stare at the screen. “You are talking about genocide.”
“I’ll consider it a new challenge for my long life, Skaine.” She spat out, “I’ll consider it a fucking stretch goal.”
“What would your precious leader think about this?” Gyrm asked.
The alien’s smile as she leaned away from the camera did nothing to alleviate his concern
The screen blanked for just a second, and a new alien face replaced the first. This one, however, was older. She looked around the bridge of the ship as if she could see everything and everyone.
Her eyes turned the same glowing red as the first aliens, but this time lines of energy seemed to reach out, like bolts. Her voice was harsh but unmistakable.
“My name,” the alien spoke, her red eyes flicking to all of those on the bridge, “is Bethany Anne. I am the leader, the Empress of the Etheric Empire. The Skaine WILL stop slaving, not only in my Empire but everywhere my people go. You think the Skaine are a worry to me?”
Her laugh chilled Gyrm’s blood.
“You cockroaches need to know I’m already at war with the Kurtherians. I just personally killed one with my hands. If you think I give a Gott Verdammt rat’s ASS about you or any people who enslave others?” She chuckled, but there was no mirth to it. “Give me a fucking break.”
Gyrm swallowed. His people’s power had been enough to scare most groups into at least leaving them alone. But if this alien was already fighting the Kurtherians?
Just how crazy WAS this alien whore?
“Gyrm, your life is fucking forfeit for slaving, you have been judged by my Ranger, your people are already dying by my Ranger’s men.”
“So, it is time for you to accept your punishment of death!” She commanded.
Gyrm, smiled for a microsecond before blood exploded out, a metal sword erupted from his chest, his blood soaking his robes as he tried to choke out a sound.
Hirotoshi, pistol in his left hand, his right still holding the sword’s hilt looked around the bridge. Those on the bridge, paying attention to the alien on the screen never saw the alien kill those protecting the bridge and stab their Captain.
He had their attention now, however.
Hirotoshi slowly pulled out the sword, allowing Gyrm to choke twice more before the sword released him to fall forward, slowly sliding off the captain’s chair to hit the floor.
“Who wishes to die next?” the face on the screen asked.
—
Tabitha, tears tracking down her face, accepted the four freed slaves on board the Achronyx and pointed them to a location to sit. Fortunately, all of them were at least humanoid in appearance.
Two were Torcellans, so she now knew better why the Skaines asked that the first time.
“Two Skaine ships have blasted out of hiding, bearing two by three two five,” Achronyx informed her.
“Can we catch them?” Tabitha asked, her voice calm.
“Not without finishing here in two minutes, leaving everything behind.”
“Then, we aren’t catching them. They had better send the message back to their people.” Tabitha told her EI, “We aren’t leaving Shin’s body behind for anything. Make sure we aren’t disturbed. You have my permission to warn anyone away, and then defend us until this is over.”
She paused a moment, “Is that understood Achronyx?”
“Understood, Ranger Tabitha.” The EI waited a moment before asking, “What is the message you are hoping the Skaines understand?”
Tabitha watched as Hirotoshi, Katsu, and Ryu solemnly carried what they could pull together of Shin’s body back onto the Achronyx. She waited for the three men to get aboard before shutting the airlock and confirming everything was closed off between the two ships. “Command the Skaine ship to disengage. Command the smaller Skaine ship to head back to the Commercial Gate with the captives. Provide them control when they reach the outer rings. If they turn around against my commands, blow the charges. Let’s see if they can curse me while they suck vacuum.”
Tabitha headed towards her men, “And Achronyx, the message they need to understand is a new Ranger is in town, and she has the full support of her Empress. The Skaines are on notice, we don’t fuck around, and we won’t surrender our ethics to their slaving efforts.”
The soft padding of her steps sounded in the hallway as she walked, “and this Ranger will never surrender to a Skaine, ever.”
The Straiphus System, Yollin Super Dreadnaught, Empires Broken
Yollin Captain Drak-ehl walked onto his bridge. His crew was doing their best to make sure there were no surprises ahead of them, as they made their way along with their small group of ships, through the deep dark.
One of the secrets, withheld even from Yollin people, was that a Super-Dreadnought was big not only because of their weapon capabilities but because they could create their own gates.
They would be used for sneak attacks across the lightyears of space.
Captain Drak-ehl walked up to his captain’s couch and sat down, hooking his legs into his couch, as was proper when on a mission.
They were on a mission, no matter how calm it was on the bridge at this time. “Threats?” He asked.
“None, sir.” Head Threats specialist Ahg called over her shoulder, “We are within two jumps of the home planet, and we show nothing amiss so far.”
“Who would have known,” Intelligence Officer Meg’lock grunted, his voice deep, “That all of our practicing to attack our own system would have so much benefit?”
Captain Drak-ehl smiled, “Yes, preparing for our own downfall will help taking out this foreign intruder.” He looked over to his friend, “Anything new from the video review E’Kolorn provided?”
Meg’lock shook his head, “No, just be prepared for a sneaky-assed alien group who doesn’t play like we are used to. They will attack with tiny particles accelerated at high speeds. We think we have the ability to protect all ships within the shields of the Empires Broken until we are close enough to attack their base and allow the support ships to breach their outer defenses.”
Captain Drak-ehl’s mandibles tapped each other softly as he considered the options. They needed to wait for the ships in the Straiphus system to pull the main weight of the alien’s power back out of the Home system.
Then, the trap would be closed, the final battle for Yoll would be underway.
QBBS Meredith Reynolds, R&D Labs
“Yes, that is true,” Bethany Anne told E’kolorn as he picked up the one-foot high pyramid looking device from the table. “We call them Pucks. Mainly because our first generation looked like hockey pucks from our own world. Now, we have increased the size and therefor
e the utility when we deploy these.”
E’kolorn moved the heavy object around in his hands, “Does the point provide a strategic advantage beyond what moving an object to a fraction of light speed already provides?”
Jean Dukes, standing to the side, answered. “At this point, no pun intended, the tip of the structure hasn’t been shown to provide any additional or critical abilities from just ramming them into the shield. However, the only large-scale implementation has been against the Yollin ships, so I can’t say that is a large enough test set.”
Never Surrender (The Kurtherian Gambit Book 16) Page 20