Scrapyard Ship 3 Space Vengeance

by Mark Wayne McGinnis

  Jason watched as his father looked at the same spacial representation of Alcara; he slowly nodded his head in agreement.

  “We’ll get there as soon as we can. Good luck, son.”

  Jason signaled to cut the connection.

  The Lilly’s bridge was quiet, and all heads were turned in Jason’s direction. His crew had followed him into battle before, but never had they fought with such terrible odds stacked against them. Well, once again they’d just have to trust him. And, if they survived the day, he would have his revenge. He’d find Granger, follow him into hell itself, if he had to, and then kill him.

  Jason sat up straight, smiled back at the faces turned his way, and said, “Who’s ready to kick some Craing ass?”

  Chapter 34

  Chapter 34

  Causing mayhem, plundering the vessels of the wealthy in open space was one thing, but attacking a planet? Bristol watched as Earth, with its blue oceans and large continents of brown and green, filled the display. This was so beyond wrong! Eston’s hatred of one man and the desire for what wasn’t his to have had consumed him like nothing Bristol had ever seen.

  Pike broke the silence. “Captain, this is strange. Their defense amounts to five Craing light cruisers in upper orbit, and five more of the same lifting off from one of the larger continents.”

  “So they’re aware of our presence. Good. Let’s see how they react to two hundred warships encircling their world.” Stalls stood up and crossed over to the display table. The five cruisers had merged into a tight formation.

  “Smart! When facing insurmountable odds, rally together, pool your resources,” Stalls said aloud. “Not that it will do them any good,” he chuckled.

  “We’re being hailed, Captain,” Pike said.

  “Of course we are. But I’m not in a particularly talkative mood today. Destroy the cruisers. Five nuclear-tipped missiles should do the trick.”

  “Eston! Just wait a minute; you can’t start a war like that,” Bristol yelled, getting to his feet.

  “I can and I will. And I told you, don’t call me that,” Stalls snapped back, immediately losing his smile.

  “Missiles away, sir,” Pike announced.

  Bristol watched as the tight missile group moved across space, separating as they closed in on their targets.

  “They’ve countered with a barrage of five of their own, Captain.”

  Bristol joined his brother at the table and they watched in silence. Three of Her Majesty’s missiles were eliminated, but two continued on toward the cluster of cruisers. The remaining missile icons blinked out.

  “Missiles ineffective; no damage to the cruisers, Captain.”

  “I can see that. You see me standing here looking at the same fucking icons you’re looking at, don’t you?”

  “Aye, Captain, I can see you,” Pike replied matter-of-factly.

  “I’d forgotten about those damn Craing shields,” Stalls said.

  “Incoming, Captain. Sixty nukes, targeting different ships.”

  “Well, instruct our fleet commanders to defend themselves. Hopefully they’ve figured that one out for themselves.”

  Again they watched in silence. Before the first round of their nukes reached one-third of the way to their targets, an additional barrage, followed by another, was headed toward the pirate ships.

  “Why aren’t any of our ships firing? What the hell are they doing?”

  Pike and two bridge crewmen were on comms, speaking with elevated voices.

  Bristol stopped looking at the display table and slowly turned to his brother. “This is what happens when you don’t know what the fuck you’re doing, big brother,” he said.

  Stalls whipped a backhand across Bristol’s mouth. “I won’t warn you again. Brother or not, you will show me respect or find yourself in the brig.”

  Bristol wiped blood from his split lips and looked at it. He smirked and looked back to the table. One by one the outpost ships’ missiles not only found their intended targets, but destroyed them as well.

  “We’ve lost twenty-seven and counting,” Pike said.

  With the first wave of Craing missiles succeeding, it was clear they were going to lose the battle. Stalls fumed, his face getting redder by the moment.

  “Bristol, get the toric-cloak initiated. Pike, put us right in the middle of those cruisers!”

  Bristol casually walked to the newly added control panel and tapped in the command.

  “We’re now invisible. You do realize, though, that once you fire anything, our position will be revealed to them.”

  “Yes, I know that,” Stalls spat back. He then looked over at Pike and said in a lowered voice, “Make sure you hold fire until we’re in position.”

  “Aye.”

  Stalls looked down to the table. Her Majesty’s icon, now a faint yellow, continued on an intersecting course with the five Craing cruisers.

  “Load every missile we have—”

  “Captain, we’ll be in too close, we’d blow ourselves up!”

  “Rail-guns then; charge all rail-guns and utilize every plasma cannon we have.”

  “One hundred and thirty-two of our ships are destroyed so far. We’re getting multiple distress calls. There’s survivors out there, Captain.”

  “Well, they’ll just have to wait, won’t they?”

  Her Majesty moved into the middle of the Craing cruisers’ formation. Stalls smiled, excitement showing on his face.

  “One hundred-eighty vessels lost. The remainder of our ships are deserting, Captain,” Pike said.

  “Cowards, all of them, cowards.”

  “Shall we engage the enemy, Captain?”

  “Hold a moment longer, let them think they were victorious. Let them put their guard down.”

  Bristol watched his brother in disgust. They would have not only lost allied ships today, but family members, too … an uncle, several cousins, and others. Hell, complete clans were wiped out in a matter of seconds. Bristol realized he wasn’t alone in his contempt. There was hatred also in the eyes of Stalls’ own bridge crew as they watched their captain go totally off the rails.

  “Fire! Fire everything we have!”

  First, a blaze of plasma bolts, then a continual hail of rail munitions erupted from Her Majesty’s impressive array of weaponry. The large ship shook to the point Bristol wondered if it could hold together.

  The Craing cruisers were caught off guard. Within seconds, three of their five ships were either dead in space or coming apart at the seams. But the two remaining cruisers were returning fire.

  “We’re taking damage to decks three through eight. One drive is down and we’re open to space at so many locations I can’t count them all. Suggest we move out of here while we still can, Captain,” Pike said, his easy demeanor completely gone.

  Stalls hesitated.

  “We need to get the fuck out of here. Now!” Bristol screamed. “Pike, stop firing. Move us out of here and go systems quiet—and pray our toric-cloak doesn’t take a shit right in front of them.”

  Pike didn’t wait for Stalls to agree, and he made the course adjustment by engaging the one remaining drive. Slowly, Her Majesty moved off into open space.

  “Let’s just hope they’ll stay put and lick their wounds before pursuing us,” Bristol said.

  Stalls, now somewhat composed, was back seated in his command chair.

  “Pike, have my shuttle prepped and ready for flight in ten minutes. Load up coordinates for a location called San Bernardino, California,” Stalls commanded.

  He looked down at his shirt and pants and huffed in disgust. “These certainly won’t do.” With that he was out of his chair and heading off the bridge. “I’ll be in my cabin changing. As you were, everyone.”

  Bristol looked to Pike and then at the others. “You all know he’s lost his fucking mind, right? It’s not just me; he’s totally gone off the deep end, right?”

  Although the bridge crew kept silent, they all nodded in agreement.

&
nbsp; * * *

  In actuality, from start to finish, it took Teardrop close to seven days to complete the construction of the house. As much as Mollie loved the new digs, she protested spending the night there before her father returned.

  “Fine, stay in the old house. Let me know how you like the cold shower in the morning. Oh, and try to keep yourself entertained tonight. I’ll be in front of the big-screen watching—”

  “Okay, okay, I got the point, Mom.”

  Nan smiled and continued turning strips of bacon in a large frying pan. She loved the new kitchen. She loved the house. She only hoped Jason would, too. He was sentimental in his own way so new was not always better as far as he was concerned.

  The sun was setting and an amber glow filtered through windows into the back of the house. A shadow crossed by the large rear windows and both Nan and Mollie looked up.

  “What’s it doing now?” Mollie asked.

  “It never stops. Um, I think Teardrop mentioned something about spraying the external walls with some kind of nanite.”

  “What’s that for?”

  “Protective something or other. I don’t really know, but it was fairly adamant about getting it completed as soon as possible.”

  The sliding glass door opened and Teardrop entered.

  Mollie turned and smiled. “Well?”

  “Hello, Mollie. Hello, Nan.”

  “Are you finally done?” Nan asked.

  “Yes.”

  “We’d offer you a BLT, but I don’t think you eat,” Mollie said.

  Before Teardrop could answer, the house shook. Immediately, the kitchen and the open family room darkened.

  “What’s going on, Teardrop?” Nan asked, fear in her voice.

  “Security shutters have been engaged.”

  Sure enough, a metal shutter unrolled, obscuring the outside world.

  “We have security shutters?” Mollie asked.

  Chapter 35

  Chapter 35

  Jason and Perkins stood together watching as the Craing fleet moved into position.

  “Truth is, we don’t know how much The Lilly’s shields can withstand. Hell, they were damn near impenetrable before,” Jason said.

  “Still, it’s two thousand warships, including three Dreadnaughts, against three ships,” Perkins replied.

  “Well, if we stick to our plan, we’ll be out of sight most of the time.”

  “And that’ll leave the Mau’s ships out in the open, like lambs led to the slaughter,” Perkins replied.

  “That’s why we’ll need to mix things up a little,” Jason said. “We’ll have to alter our strategy some. For sure, I could use Ricket’s assistance about now.”

  They continued to look up, turning around to take it all in. Like others on the bridge, Jason was overwhelmed at the sight. Their upgraded wraparound display provided ultra-realism to the scene, as though the top-third of The Lilly’s bridge had been opened to space, offering them a 360-degree view of everything around them. The ability to zoom in and out was as simple as making the appropriate hand gesture.

  “Change to virtual view,” Jason ordered.

  The display changed and a logistical representation of symbols and icons took the place of the sun and planets, and a multitude of warships. If possible, it presented an even more daunting viewpoint.

  The three approaching Craing formations were a mixture of heavy and light cruisers, a Dreadnaught, and the Mau warships.

  “Why didn’t I think of it before?”

  “What’s that?” Perkins asked.

  “The Craing fleet. We know the little bastards force other species to do their fighting for them, like the Serapin-Terplins and those nasty pill bugs we encountered on Halimar that shot shit from their bellies, and the captured rhino-warriors. There must be a thousand more of them on board those ships.”

  “Probably, and a bunch of other beasts we haven’t even encountered yet.”

  “What if we could turn them?”

  “The rhinos?” Perkins asked, not understanding.

  “Yes. Turn all those prisoner rhinos against the Craing. But I really need Ricket for this.”

  “I am here.”

  Jason and Perkins spun on their heels and turned toward the entrance of the bridge. Dira, leaning against the bulkhead with her arms crossed over her chest, was beaming. Her ear-to-ear smile momentarily stopped Jason’s heart. But it was Ricket at her side who’d caught his full attention. Or was it really Ricket? He was the same height, and had more or less the same features, but the mechanical aspects of his visage were gone: he was a cyborg no more! And he was younger, handsome in a Craing-sort of way. And, unlike the modern day Craing and more like the Craing they’d encountered on HAB 12, Ricket had a full head of hair.

  “It’s about time you got back to work,” Jason said, doing his best to keep a straight face.

  “Do you have my baseball cap, Captain?”

  “Next door, on my desk.”

  Ricket darted away. Jason met Dira’s eyes and mouthed the words thank you! She mouthed back you’re welcome and left, but not before blowing him a silent kiss. Chuckles erupted from around the bridge.

  Ricket rushed back in, now wearing his cap. Seeing him again, back with the crew caused several on the bridge, including Jason, to blink away moist eyes. As if on cue, everyone turned their attention back to their stations.

  “Are you up to speed on current events?”

  “Yes, Captain. I have the same, if not more capabilities than I had before. I’ve been monitoring communications with the admiral.”

  “Do you have any idea how we can track down Granger?”

  “Granger does not wish to be found, it seems. What is evident is that we never had real control over the installed interface communications devices. If I hadn’t been so preoccupied I would have—”

  “Let’s stay focused on the here and now, Ricket. How do we get the outpost fleet where they’re supposed to be?”

  “Only by working directly with the interface, I’m assuming.”

  “Can you contact him, or it?”

  “No, but I think you can.”

  “Me?”

  “The Zoo, Captain.”

  “The Drapple.”

  “Incoming! Multiple groupings … mixture of nukes and fusion-tipped missiles,” Orion exclaimed.

  “You know what to do, Gunny. Take them out.”

  “Aye, Cap.”

  “Ricket, is there a way to maybe open a channel or something that can go ship-wide? Go out to every Craing ship—Dreadnaughts, light and heavy cruisers, all of them?—and do so simultaneously?”

  Ricket contemplated the question, actually chewing on his lip while thinking. “We could get away with it once, Captain; after that, they’d be wise to it.”

  “Once is all we need. I need to talk to Traveler.” Holding two fingers to his ear, Jason hailed the rhino, hoping he’d figured out how to use his comms by now.

  “This is Traveler.”

  “This is the captain, Traveler. I need to ask you a very important question.”

  “Yes, ask your question.”

  “On your home planet, Trumach, I saw the Reds communicating from miles away.”

  “Yes, Reds and Greys alike do this. It’s called—”

  Jason cut him off. “I need you now to communicate the same way to all the rhinos on the other ships. The ones held hostage.”

  “My horn-call will not travel in space, Captain. That is a stupid idea.”

  Jason almost laughed. “Your NanoCom will be tied to their ships’ PA, or public address system.”

  There was quiet for a moment and then Traveler grunted. “I like this idea. I need to think of what to say.”

  “Yes,” Jason said. “It must be something that will make them revolt against the Craing. That will cause them to join with our forces. You understand?”

  “Of course I understand. I know what to say,” Traveler replied.

  “Let them, Reds and Greys alike, kno
w we’re coming. Let them know they will be fighting for their own freedom and the freedom of their home worlds,” Jason added.

  “Yes, I know what to say, Captain.”

  Jason looked at Ricket. “Are you set? Can you hook us up, connect us to their ships’ PA systems?”