“I can micro-jump to you, grab everyone, send out a few missiles and race for the safety zone. But the micro-jump will cause a small issue with recharging. We will be within their fire zone for approximately three minutes, assuming everyone gets on board in record time.”
“What about this ship, Kemosabe?” Ryu asked.
“This ship won’t be a problem,” she told him, and broke the connection for a moment. “Hirotoshi?”
“Hai?”
“Status.”
“We are searching for one last Skaine. Never mind, last pirate has been found and neutralized,” he replied.
“Ok, let Captain M’rin of the K’leen II know we are going to be leaving, and trying to pull that big-ass battleship out of here with us.”
“We are going to be bait?” Hirotoshi thought about that. “I’m not sure we are bigger bait than the commercial transport.
“We are going to be such a PITA they will want to kill us first.”
“Ok,” he replied.
“Good, see you back in our hold in five,” she told Hirotoshi. “You got all of that, Ryu?”
“Hai.”
“Good. Meet you back at the exit point. I’m going to leave a gift for my friends.”
“And the engines?”
“I already have two gifts for them. Achronyx has enough of their systems under his control to disengage, which he is going to do in…” Tabitha yanked a small, heavy device off her suit.
She flipped the top and pressed a red button, holding it for two seconds. “Present for you!” She threw the small device, then amped up her vampiric skills and dashed down the hall, pressure doors slamming shut behind her as Achronyx shut down what he could.
When Tabitha neared the location where they came onboard, the explosion from the front of the ship tossed her against a wall. She bounced off two walls, but kept her footing and ran the last fifteen steps.
Ryu was waiting for her.
They dogged their helmets. “Get your ass over here, Achronyx!”
The decompression happened quickly, and they felt another vibration as the ship disengaged from the massive transport. The two of them pushed off the F’zeer and ramped up their antigrav propulsion to jet over to the K’leen II as the F’zeer started to bank away. Once they had handholds, Tabitha turned to look for the F’zeer.
She dialed up the magnification to see it more clearly. “Puck those fuckers.”
The explosions started in the aft engines. Small at first, then two medium and one large final explosion as the ship blew into too many parts to count.
“I guess they did have problems in their engines, after all,” she commented as they drifted to the Rangers’ entrance and made their way into the ship.
Tabitha found Hirotoshi inside cleaning his blade, and the other two packing. “I think we have worn out our welcome,” she told her team as she walked toward her own baggage. “But their using a battleship against the Achronyx is a bit much, don’t you think?”
Ryu grabbed Tabitha’s bag and tossed it to her as he stepped toward his bedding area. Kneeling, he rolled up his mat and worked to slide everything back into place. He cleaned his blade and locked it down. Moments later, Ranger Two’s team was opening the door back into the ship and heading toward the pickup point for the Achronyx.
“Captain M’rin?” She called him over the comm.
“Here, Ranger.”
“Sorry, but we aren’t going to have a celebration dinner tonight. It seems we have a plus-one that wasn’t invited.”
“I see it,” he answered. “Are you sure you should have blown up the Skaine ship? They are going to want your blood now.”
“Better ours than yours,” she replied. “Achronyx is coming here to grab us and then we are going to work on pissing them off some more.”
There was a pause before the captain came back on. “May the stars light your ways, Ranger.” His voice sounded subdued.
“What the hell, Captain?” Tabitha chuckled. “This is just one more awesome story about how the Empress’ Rangers kicked more Skaine ass. Don’t be going all maudlin on me. Keep those Yollin mandibles clean. I’ve got more Skaines to deliver justice to. You worry about getting your cargo to port. Let us worry about that big-ass battleship.”
“You can take it out?” He asked.
“Absolutely,” is what Tabitha said over the intercom. Then she shut it off. “In another world, perhaps.”
“You do know,” Achronyx came on the line, “that the chance we can survive a skirmish with a Skaine battleship is less than five percent?”
“Never tell me the odds, Achronyx.”
“Noted. I’m ready for you to come across,” he told them.
Tabitha hit the button to get them onto their ship.
Sixty seconds later, the Ranger Ship Achronyx disconnected from the Commercial Transport K’leen II.
But instead of heading away, it headed toward the large battleship.
“I hope she knows what she is doing,” Steward A’nick said as he stood by the Captain on the bridge.
Captain M’rin rubbed a mandible, his eyes thoughtful. They flicked to his sensors for a microsecond, then back.
“Sensors!” he barked. “Make sure we are capturing this for posterity!”
Skaine Battleship Shllet
“That Ranger is mentally unstable,” Prime Weapons Officer Ure commented as those on the bridge watched the ship disengage from the transport and head in their direction.
“Yes, possibly,” Captain Bok replied. “But this is Ranger Two, the one they call Tabitha. She has been a problem for way too long.”
“Do you believe she has something up her sleeve?” Ure asked.
“Of course she does,” Bok answered. “The only question is what.”
QBS Achronyx
Tabitha opened her eyes and glanced around the bridge. “Ok, we have new orders.” She looked at her display. “Take us to location 223.7 by 12.”
“That is nowhere.” Achronyx replied, but the ship turned to head to the new location anyway.
“No, it is going to be the end of the Shllet,” she answered when Achronyx calculated their ability to reach that point before the Shllet took them out.
The chance of safely reaching that point outside of the guns of the Shllet was…bad.
“Patch me into the Skaines,” she told Achronyx.
Skaine Battleship Shllet
Tabitha’s face filled the forward screen on the battleship’s bridge. She looked around, as if she could see everyone in the room. To those on the bridge it felt a little disconcerting.
Could the human see their bridge? No, certainly not.
Right?
“You Coh’vichee laile have the option of shutting down all weapons and surrendering or dying.” Tabitha smiled, “Please choose dying, as that would make my day fantastically awesome.”
“You and what Navy, Ranger?” Captain Bok asked her calmly. “We Skaine have fought the mighty Achronyx many times and are well aware of the ship’s abilities.”
QBS Achronyx
Tabitha received a personal ping in her ear. “I’m the mighty Achronyx?”
Oh God! Tabitha rolled her eyes. This is going to take years to undo.
“Well, if we are about to die in battle, at least I can go out knowing I’ve made a name for myself,” the EI added.
Tabitha thought about that for a second, and smiled. “Hell yeah, you have. Let’s keep the story going.”
“Yes, let’s,” the EI agreed.
“Who needs a Navy, Captain?” Tabitha sent a few commands to Achronyx. “The mighty Achronyx is going to kick your ass and make you beg us to take you prisoner.”
The Skaine captain narrowed his eyes. “You have been an admirable nuisance to the slavers and the raiders, Ranger. However, we are the Skaine Navy. We know which end the lasers come out of.”
“You know,” Tabitha grinned, “that’s the same shit I get from the raiders and the slavers. None of you guys respect e
ach other.” Tabitha looked up and hit two switches, physically giving permission to override the failsafes. She looked at the screen again. “Prepare for attack, Captain.”
“Just curious,” the Captain nodded to someone off screen before returning to the conversation, “what do the rest of your crew think about this suicide run?”
The Captain was surprised when four new faces joined Tabitha’s in the display. Each of the men’s eyes were red.
“We say, Banzai!” Hirotoshi replied.
Then a fifth face joined the group and Tabitha inhaled just a little. This face would have been called a Guy Fawkes mask back on Earth. Completely white, it was adorned with a black mustache.
“Prepare for the Mighty Achronyx, Skaine!” the mask told them, then the communication signal stopped.
And Achronyx disappeared.
Skaine Battleship Shllet
“They ran!” Prime Weapons Officer Ure looked at all of the sensors, double checking everything.
“They have not run, Ure.” Captain Bok thought about the next step and adjusted his robes.
“Why do you say that?” Ure asked. He turned and asked a question of two others near him before turning back to the captain. “We have nothing.”
“Do you see the Yollin Transport K’leen II?” Bok asked pointing to the ship on the main screens.
“Yes, of course,” Ure agreed.
“Then they are still here.” was his answer when the Ranger ship reappeared inside their shields.
QBS Achronyx
“FEAR ANONYMOUS!” Achronyx announced, his mask on screen as the large guns on the top of the Ranger’s ship fired almost point blank into the sides of the Shllet as the massive battleship slid by them.
“Seriously? Not fear Achronyx?” Tabitha yelled as she realized the front-facing video wasn’t using magnification. They really were close enough for Tabitha to spot the very small text by the hatch they just flew by.
“The hell, Achronyx?” she pushed back in her chair expecting to bounce off the battleship. “I said get us close enough to kick their ass, not kiss it!”
“Only way for a mosquito to bite the big bad battleship,” Achronyx answered as parts of the battleship’s armor exploded into space.
For all the damage they were causing, it truly was just a pinprick to the massive ship.
“Good, now get us the fuck out of here!” she told the EI, and the ship disappeared once more.
Skaine Battleship Shllet
“The Achronyx is a bit dangerous,” Captain Bok agreed. “Why have we not hit it yet?”
“Did not expect the human ship to be able to get inside our shields, Captain,” Ure admitted as warning alarms shrieked outside the bridge.
“I’m losing patience, Ure,” Bok announced, as he looked at his damage reports. No serious damage was accomplished, but they shouldn’t have taken any damage at all.
“They have skipped again. GOT THEM!” Ure slapped the desk next to him, causing the communications specialist to jump. “And…they are drifting, Captain!”
Bok smiled. “Bring us about, Helm.” Bok looked at the new information Ure provided. “Take us to location 223.7 by 12.”
QBS Achronyx
“Well,” Achronyx announced through the speakers, “this is particularly embarrassing.” The Ranger ship was mostly powered down. They only had life support and minimal propulsion.
Very minimal.
“Yeah, kinda shot our load, didn’t we?” Tabitha admitted, looking at the time. “How long before that big bad-ass battleship arrives?”
“It will take them approximately three and a half minutes to turn in our direction. Then it depends on whether they just shoot us out of space or slow down and take potshots.”
“I vote for a slowdown and fill us full of lead,” Tabitha answered, then thought about what she had said. “That’s a euphemism for blowing us apart. No lead really included.”
“I understand,” Achronyx answered. “I don’t suppose there is any particular reason we chose this specific location?”
“Oh, sure there is,” Tabitha answered as she unhooked, stood up from the Captain’s Chair, and stretched. “Hey, do we have enough power to fix some popcorn?”
The EI ran two queries. One to figure out if she could run the food warmer. That answer was ‘easily.’ The second was why she would want popcorn when it was her own ship that was going down?
Tabitha walked down the hallway and made a couple of turns to reach to the galley. Hirotoshi came in a moment later. “Popcorn?” she asked him as she pulled out one of the bags specially made for her team. The Yollins had a vegetable somewhat similar to corn from Earth. When you added a touch of salt and something from a beast Tabitha really didn’t like to think about, it tasted pretty good.
“Sure,” he answered, and reached into the bag to grab a handful. “Kemosabe, I must admit you are very calm and composed with the Shllet coming at us.”
Tabitha cocked her head to one side. “I am, aren’t I?” she agreed. “Why don’t you come watch this with me on the bridge?”
Hirotoshi followed his Ranger back to the bridge and they sat at the two stations in front of the Captain’s Chair. She put the bag between them. On the large screen, they could see the Shllet had finished its turn and was heading in their direction.
Tabitha took a couple of kernels and tossed them into her mouth. “You know,” she spoke aloud, “if I had been at a different set of servers when Bethany Anne came to save those people in Miami, I would have been killed.”
Hirotoshi turned to look at her, raising an eyebrow. “Truly?”
Tabitha nodded. “Oh yeah, she’s admitted it before. She wasn’t sure of her strength back then, and hit the first hacker too hard. She crushed his skull, or something like that.”
“And this relates, how,” Hirotoshi waved a piece of popcorn toward the screen, “to that ship exactly?”
Tabitha thought about it a moment and shrugged. “I guess it is a stupid feeling, but I’ve always thought that if everything went to hell, you guys always had my back. Then, if everything went in the shitter for all of us, Bethany Anne would have our backs.”
While the Shllet was still too far away for laser fire, they could see that she was ejecting missiles.
“I’m impressed,” Achronyx announced to the two humans. “A full spread of twelve missiles.”
“Is that going to do the job?” Tabitha asked.
“He is spending too many on us,” Achronyx admitted. “Even fully powered, I couldn’t shrug off even six of those missiles. So, by sending twelve, he either believes I have more capability than what they know—”
“Or he is saluting us in his own way,” Hirotoshi finished.
“Well, that fuckwit.” Tabitha spit out. “God, there is one decent fucking Skaine in their whole race, and he has to be the captain of the damned battleship?” She huffed. “This is so going to hurt.”
Achronyx came back over the speakers. “Seventy-two seconds to missile impact, and the Shllet is not slowing down. They will be here one minute after the missiles.” The two of them ate popcorn for a few more seconds, watching the missiles grow larger on the video.
Suddenly, the missiles started exploding as the massive bulk of a ship which dwarfed the Shllet passed over the Achronyx, heading straight for the Skaine Battleship.
“Connect me to the Shllet, Achronyx.” Tabitha commanded.
“Connected.”
Tabitha’s face filled the screen on the Skaine Battleship. “Shllet, this is Ranger Two. On behalf of Ranger One, the crew of the ArchAngel II, and a fuck-ton more support, one last chance. Do you wish to surrender to me, or face the ArchAngel II?”
There was a pause before a resigned Skaine Captain came back on, his lips pressed together. “Ranger Two, this is Captain Bok of the Battleship Shllet… We surrender.”
Tabitha had just thrown a couple more pieces of popcorn into her mouth when another voice, one she recognized, came over the speaker systems.
“Ranger Two, this is One.” Barnabas’s face appeared on the screen. He looked down to see his Ranger and her Number One sitting in the front seats. His eyes narrowed.
“Is that a bag of popcorn?” he asked.
Tabitha picked it up and lifted it toward the screen as her face relaxed in relief. “Sure is, want some?”
“Yes,” Barnabas agreed, “but not that cold stuff. Now, why do our sensors show you don’t have power?”
“Well, about that,” Tabitha started before Achronyx jumped in.
“We forgot where we were and jumped off a three-story building, sir,” the EI answered.
Barnabas stared at his people as Tabitha offered Hirotoshi the bag. He shrugged and reached in to pull out some more popcorn for himself. Ranger One raised an eyebrow. “Just how,” Barnabas asked, “did you get an EI to tell that fabricated story?”
“Well, it isn’t exactly lying,” Achronyx answered. “It’s more like creating a metaphor for how we ended up here, without power.”
Barnabas shook his head and smiled. “Enough with the bullshit, Tabitha. I’m proud of you. Well done to you and your Tontos.” There was a pause, Barnabas made one last comment before he cut the connection.
“And you too, Achronyx.”
CHAPTER EIGHT
Space, Heading to the Yollin System
Nathan came down from the bridge to join Ecaterina and Christina as they exchanged stories with R’yhek in the galley of the new ship.
The Prometheus.
“Now that you are here Nathan,” Ecaterina commented as the ship left Straiphus behind them, “R’yhek has asked us questions. I think we need to answer together.”
“Ok.” Nathan slid into the chair next to his mate and their daughter. He reached over, grabbing a chip and popping it into his mouth.
“Who would think,” R’yhek asked as he grabbed a chip for himself, ignoring the bigger questions for the moment, “that the useless collin root could be so delicious?”
“We humans have learned that just about everything is better deep fried.” Nathan admitted. “That, and we add salt.”
“But,” R’yhek argued as he chewed, “the collin root is a plant we have thrown out for centuries. The root is poisonous to us.”
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