“Now you get to meet our captain, asshole,” I announced. “You better be polite, because she knows you were a shithead to her crew.”
Natalia stepped in front of us and raised her visor. “I am Captain Natalia Jamison. I understand you have a grievance with my ship and my crew?”
The captain was frozen in place; he was too terrified to answer. Natalia took her helmet off and shook her hair out. “Captain, you take issue with females working on a starship. Is this true?” Natalia said, waiting for his response. I could hear a Trillond officer or two sobbing in the background.
“Now is not the time for silence, captain, when you were so vocal before,” she continued. “Come, let me introduce you to Imelda, my teacher and bodyguard. She is a female and a queen among her kind. Explain your superiority to her, if you would, and if she is satisfied you are superior to her you all may leave unharmed.”
I jerked him up and forward towards Imelda's maw. God, she had bad breath. He started thrashing and screaming, and I just kept jerking him back towards her. When the smell hit my nose over Imelda's breath, I knew he had let go and shit himself. He also had gone limp in my hands.
“One down and five to go,” I said out loud as I dragged the captain’s limp body out of the way.
“Doc,” I added, “hold your nose and check on him.” The doctor got up and warily but quickly walked over to his captain. I walked to the four remaining officers, who were groveling at the feet of the four women, apologizing and crying to be saved. My nose told me someone in their group had let go of his bowels also.
“Which one of you is the first officer or ranking officer out of the four of you?” I asked sharply. “You need to answer me quickly, or I'm gonna pick one of you.” Binda started to speak up and tell me, but I shook my head.
“Imelda,” I continued, “come here and pick one of these tasty morsels for your dinner tonight. Did any of you hear the story about your princess and the Reaper saving your people from the Allith on Hyson?”
No one spoke up. I think the poor fuckers were just too terrified of Imelda to speak. I could feel and smell Imelda right behind me. Natalia stood next to me. We knew the giant spider; she was one of us now. I had never been this terrified of her, but I could understand it. I turned to Natalia.
“Captain, what would you like to do with these four?” I asked. She looked down at the four, then at her four female companions. The four all wore different faces. Binda was smiling from ear to ear. She had spent the better part of her life in the Trillond Navy and had suffered the fools until she had a chance to be free of it. Taz smiled because she liked people groveling at her feet. Lorelei, who had taken the brunt of the insults, looked a little sad for them, and Nedra showed no emotion at all.
“Send them back to their ship. They are stinking up my cargo hold,” Natalia said. The doctor had made his way to us. He couldn’t stop staring at Imelda.
“How is your captain, doc?” I asked.
“He lost consciousness but should recover.” I looked over at Lorelei, who had a Trillond officer holding on to her leg. “Can you break away and come talk to the doctor?”
Lorelei pried herself loose and the three of us walked off to the side. “Doc, this is Lorelei, the captain of the Claymore,” I said. “Everything she tells you will be the truth about what we found, and you can have copies of our scans we took when we arrived. There are some human bodies over there, but they are not ours. Your captain has two strikes with me. Convince him he doesn’t want a third. We will keep this quiet if he will. Otherwise, I have recorded the whole thing to protect us and embarrass him and your navy.”
Can I have one of them, Benjamin? Imelda asked as I turned away.
“No,” I said out loud. “But you can have her if you’re hungry.” I pointed at Taz.
No, she would leave such a bad taste and cause stomach pain.
That I believed. I glanced over at Lorelei and the doc. She was talking calmly and he was nodding, so I took that as a good sign.
Imelda, you need to go back to your bed so we can get these freaked-out Trillond officers off the Claymore. I’ll have Buddy dig you out a frozen treat before we depart for the Warhammer.
I would like to hunt soon and taste something soft and warm,” she said.
Okay, okay. I'll talk to Lorelei and see if there is somewhere we can stop on the way.
“Harry, Grubb, Buddy, would you help our friends onto their shuttle please?” I said out loud. Harry grabbed one, then another Trillond officer and carried them to the shuttle, dropping them on the ramp. They crawled inside. The other two stood up and walked with the boys following right behind them, Harry watching.
“Harry,” I said, “can you pick up their captain and put him on their shuttle gently.” The doctor stood there watching Harry scoop up their captain then walk him over to the shuttle. I followed along to say goodbye. It was too bad he wasn’t the ship’s captain, I thought to myself, but I knew his calling was medicine.
Harry laid him down inside and walked back out. I stood shaking the doc’s hand when one of the officers came barreling down the ramp with a pistol in his hand. He swung his aim at us first, then decided on Harry an easy target, but I was already moving when he pulled the trigger. His shot hit me in the chest and I kept going ‘til I hit the deck.
Harry took one giant step and grabbed the pistol, twisted and jerked it out of his hand. I wasn’t sure we had explained to Harry yet about fragile beings, since we now had a Trillond with one less finger. Blood was squirting out of the hole and he was screaming. I didn’t blame him.
I started to get up, ready to beat the shit out of the idiot, when Harry grabbed him and pinched his hand, stopping the blood spray. Then he grabbed him by the neck and lifted him three feet off the ground. There was kicking and squirming and grunting until Harry shook the hell out of him and looked him in the eye. “No!” he said with enough authority that the officer calmed down. Harry placed him back down on his feet.
I picked up the pistol and the finger and handed them to the doc. “Sorry, I thought no one was going to get hurt,” I said.
He looked at my armor and me. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah, I'm fine. You should get someone to help you with him, though, and get the hell out of here.” I motioned with my head to where my people plus one big spider were on point, pistols raised and sighted.
“Alright, big guy,” I said to Harry, “let his hand go. He is on his own, if he bleeds to death so be it.” Harry let go and the doc closed the ramp. They were gone ten seconds later. Harry stood looking down at me and touched the scorched mark on my chest.
“It’s cool, big guy, you would have done the same for me.” Harry turned and walked towards Nedra. I kept talking.
“Hey Harry, you would have, right? Harry, what the fuck, man? You telling me you'd let the little bastard shoot me?” I shut up, seeing as he wasn’t listening. I was going to quit saving every fucker that came my way.
I looked around at the wet spots on the floor and laughed. Those bastards were going to have nightmares for weeks of big hairy spiders and crazy people. The Trillond were our allies, so it wouldn’t have looked good to kill them, and the girls wouldn’t have done that anyway. They would have surrendered to the asshole, and I was not planning on sitting in a cell ever again.
Taz walked back in, smiling at me. She reached up and unhooked a third clasp on her shirt and pulled it open, revealing a lot more of the perfect creamy flesh. I held my arms partially out to hold her. The armor wasn’t ideal, but this was a surprise, so what could I do?
“Take your helmet off,” she said softly, leaning in. I took a step back and grabbed it with both hands, lifting it off my head. When I saw the fist it was too late. I stumbled and went down to one knee, still holding my helmet in both hands. She stepped up and grabbed me by the hair, pulling me in against her.
I nestled my head against her flat, hard stomach. “What was that for?” I asked.
“That was for being b
rave and stupid and caring about the crew,” she snapped.
“So you have to punch me?”
“Yes, that’s for the stupid part. Don’t ever tell Imelda she can eat me, or anyone for that matter, unless you really want her to. If you had said someone else, you would be mourning the loss of a friend and the joke would be on you.”
She sounded sincere from where I was with my ear against her stomach. “What did Imelda say to you when you told her to eat me?” she asked.
“She just said she couldn’t do that.” I lied and had no remorse for it. She didn’t need to know what our conversation was.
“Alright, stand up,” she said, pulling me. “You are a different sort of male, Benjamin. You set up this elaborate drama to teach a lesson.”
“Yes,” I answered. “The Trillond are not the enemy, Taz, at least not an enemy of the Colonial Alliance. There are those out there who need killing, but it wasn’t them.”
“What you have done to them, they may wish they were dead.”
“Yes,” I smiled, “but there is no law against creating nightmares, now, is there?”
Chapter 5
“Has there been any backlash from the incident yesterday?” I asked.
“No, I bet the doc is keeping a lid on it as long as he can,” Lorelei answered.
That’s good, I thought, and they may never talk about it.
“You know we could’ve just run,” she added. “They would have never caught us. They had to stay and take care of the wreckage.”
“Lorelei, you can’t think like a pirate all the time. Running would have made us look guilty and given us more explaining to do if it ever caught up to us,” I said.
“You know we’re headed for Trillond after our meet with the Warhammer. They could have a reception planned for us over this.”
“You know we’ll have a reception waiting for us one way or another. E'Aria doesn’t want to see us, remember?” I reminded her.
“Yeah, I was hoping to see her and talk to her,” Lorelei said softly, suddenly sounding far away.
“So am I, and Natalia, and I suppose everyone on this ship except for Taz. But that doesn’t mean we'll get to. It may be better for us to stay on the ship and let Taz go talk to the king. If E'Aria doesn’t want to talk to us, knowing we are there, then it wasn’t meant to be,” I said gently, not wanting to sound harsh but hoping she understood.
“I’m sorry I acted like a bitch and treated you like shit,” Lorelei said.
I had to stop and pinch myself. Had I wandered into an alternate dimension? That was an apology. Someone cleared their throat and I looked around. Binda and Nedra were both looking at me, Binda motioning with her head at Lorelei.
I put my hand on her shoulder and squeezed gently. “Thank you, Lorelei.”
“You’re welcome,” she said shortly. “Now get off my bridge.”
“Aye, captain.”
I walked off the bridge and headed to my room. I wanted to get at least one workout in before we rendezvoused with the Warhammer. No one knew what I had planned for that visit, and I couldn’t afford to tell anyone or the plan could be ruined. As it was, I would probably lose a friend or two in the process. I thought about that for a minute.
If they knew me and what had happened with my family and condemned me for getting the information, then I didn’t think they were really my friend. I wouldn’t kill someone, but maiming was a different story.
zzz
We met the Warhammer near the planet they were using as a home base. Aisling was running freight with the Warhammer in the local system, and the locals were happy to have the heavily armed ship moving their cargo. More product was making it to their customers, which meant more profit for them.
I was looking forward to seeing my old teammates. I wanted them to come with me, but I had decided I would give them an out if they wanted it. They had already been incarcerated because of me and were living in a foreign star system because they couldn’t go home. What I was going to ask them to do was more than likely going to end in imprisonment or death if we were caught.
I brought Harry, Nedra, Natalia, Lorelei and Taz. The last wasn’t my doing; I was out-voted. After we visited and settled the business at hand, I would let the others come over to trade with or buy things from the crew. Grubb still had some cases of beer from the pallet he had brought aboard. I knew he wanted to trade for a few bottles of something a little harder.
I was flying the shuttle. Lorelei took the co-pilots seat; I wanted as much time behind the controls as I could get. Natalia had been bugging me about learning and I saw no reason she couldn’t. There were age requirements for shuttle operation, but I really didn’t give a shit. We would start her training soon. She was going to be a space rat, of that I had no doubt.
We had clearance. I eased the shuttle into the hold, which really looked nothing like it used to. It looked like a freighter from the inside, with crates and shipping containers everywhere.
There was a large crowd which had turned out to meet us. They were mostly friends, but there were about fifteen marines also. Maybe not as many friends as I thought. I guessed I would find out.
Lorelei lowered the ramp, since she and Natalia wanted to be the first to see everyone. Taz waited to walk with me, Harry and Nedra would be right behind us. I didn’t want either of them in front of me, just in case some idiot got nervous when they walked off the shuttle.
The hugging had already started — first Natalia and Aisling while Lorelei waited her turn. Most of the eyes were on the other four of us. I came over armed, which didn’t go unnoticed. Natalia was armed as well as Lorelei. Harry had the axe that Emperor Xamand had given me, and Nedra had the matching long knife.
I really had no idea how things would go down and I had no intention of being caught unawares. I looked each and every person in the eye who stood in the group across from me. It wasn’t a lingering stare, just long enough to see who was nervous and who wasn't.
Most of the people I wanted to talk to were absent, which I thought was a bit strange. Nurse Tanaka was present, and although I hadn’t counted on her leaving with us, it was still good to see her. She walked straight for me and gave me a hug. I wrapped my arms around her and hugged her back.
Win let go of me and stepped in front of Taz. “It’s good to see you, your Highness. I would have never guessed you would be slumming with the likes of this one,” she said. “He’s treating you good, I hope.”
“Yes, Win, he is. We have our differences, but he is coming around,” Taz answered.
Win beamed upon hearing that Taz had remembered her name. It had been at least a month since they met on board the queen’s ship. She looked up at Harry and smiled. He grabbed her under the arms with his lower arms before I could say anything and raised her up to eye level and smiled at her. He extended his huge hand to her.
Win's eyes looked like they would pop out of her head. To give her credit, though, she recovered quickly and held out her hand. Harry took it and most of her arm to the elbow in his and shook it very gently then sat her back down. She moved to Nedra, who bent at the waist just enough they could shake comfortably.
I had shown them both the handshake and had never really thought that Harry would do anything like that.
“Hey! That was nice but is probably a little scary. Don't do that unless someone asks you to, and definitely don’t do it to her.” I motioned with my head at Aisling.
I moved our group closer to where Aisling stood. She noticed the friendly exchange between Win and my people and was giving me a raised-eyebrow look.
“You have new friends and speak their language,” she said.
“I speak languages of alien’s unknown to us in far-away galaxies,” I replied. “It’s one of a few recent upgrades.”
“Yes . . . It is,” she said as she looked from me to Taz.
“Your Highness, welcome aboard the Warhammer. I'm sorry I couldn’t put on a more formal reception, but our fortunes have changed of late an
d our funds are a bit diminished at the moment,” Aisling said. She held out her hand.
Taz took it. “No worries, Captain, as you can see by the company I keep that is not important at this time. I thank you for the thought and the hospitality.”
“Aisling,” I said, “this is Harry and Nedra.”
“Let me guess, his name isn’t really Harry,” she replied. “You have to be the worst with names, Benjamin, of any person I know.”
“If the shoe fits,” I said. “You should’ve saw him before he cut all of his hairiness off.”
“Why are you here, Benjamin?” Aisling asked. Getting straight to it, I thought.
“I wanted to see if any of my old team would like to join me,” I answered. “I need to talk to the general. I assume he is still with you?”
“Yes he is.”
“I know you are busy and we won’t hold you up too long, I promise. If I can talk to Snake, Genius and Ronnie I'd appreciate it. I'm not going to talk to anyone else, unless it’s Matt or Bill, but I know they may not even want to leave, so I may just be wasting my time.”
“They will go with you, I'm sure of that. There may be others who would like to go also.”
“Step over here and let me talk to you,” I said. We walked away from everyone. “Aisling,” I explained, “I am not really looking for ‘others,’ just my people. This is a good life here compared to what might happen to anyone that hitches a ride with us.”
“But you have a queen of an empire with you.”
“Yes, and I am going to get her where she needs to be then take care of my business. She may have to find her own way home.”
“What are you planning?” she asked with a hint of curiosity.
“I'm going to find the ones responsible for murdering my family and kill them, Aisling. That’s what I'm going to do.”
“I was hoping you wouldn’t take that path, Benjamin.”
“Enough, okay? Let’s not ruin the reunion.”
The Chronicles of Benjamin Jamison: No More Lies (Book 3) Page 4