The Star Traders: The Star Traders Series Volume One

by Gary W. Feather

  Erica noticed that the malino-plastic handcuffs had been removed to tie her to the post. This was because the handcuffs were too short. Now if I could just undo the rope around my wrists. Mmm. Nope.

  “Wait I think I might have it,” Keiko whispered.

  “What?”

  “Shhh,” Keiko replied. “I got it. Now hold still, Erica.”

  Erica felt Keiko tugging on the knots that bound her wrists to the post. She heard Keiko grunt a few times. “Oh. Almost. Oh darn. No. There.”

  Erica felt the rope loosen.

  “Don’t toss the rope away,” Keiko warned. “Someone might come back to check on us. I need to get Janet free.”

  “Sorry,” Erica said. “Wait. Someone’s coming.”

  A man walked up to them carrying a half empty bottle of whiskey, or something like it. He belched and dropped his pants in front Erica.

  “Oh shit!”

  “Erica, what’s happening? I can’t see from here,” Janet said.

  I don’t want to see this either. Does he want me to…What?

  The man squatted and shit on the ground.

  “Yuck. Gross!” Erica complained.

  “What’s happening?”

  The man belched and wandered off.

  “He shit right there!” Erica told Janet. “Right there!”

  “Oh.” Janet sound relieved. “That’s all.”

  “Hey. I think I got it,” Keiko said.

  “You did it,” Janet whispered.

  “Now what?” Erica said. “Should we try to untie our feet at the same time or take turns?”

  “Same time,” Jane replied. “The kidnappers are drinking and the assassins have gone back to their hovercar. Let’s go! Hurry.”

  Erica reached forward and attacked the ropes around her ankles. It wasn’t very easy, but she kept at it.

  “I’m free,” Keiko whispered.

  “Almost,” Erica replied.

  “Done,” Janet said.

  Keiko yanked at the knot on Erica’s ankles and it came loose.

  “I was about to get it,” Erica complained.

  “Come on,” Janet ordered. “Towards the creek.”

  The three of them fled the camp fast as they could. Erica jumped in and swam like a Torillian tiger-bear was after her. And so did the other two. Erica heard a noise and soon a crossbow bolt flew into the water in front of her. Keep going! Don’t stop! We can make it!

  Erica swam and swam. Eventually she pulled herself out of the creek far away from the camp. She was exhausted and so were Janet and Keiko. At least we made it. Erica suddenly saw a pair of spike-heeled black boots in front of her eyes. They weren’t kicking her. They were just there.

  “We made it!” Keiko said.

  “Yes. You did,” said the owner of the boots. She had a big grin on her face and her eyes were as cold as space. She held a blaster aimed at Erica’s face. “Hello. Most folks call me Demon.”

  “Hi.” Erica felt way too fatigued to attack the woman. She raised her hands. Demon?

  “So, would either of you be named Martha?” Demon waved the blaster at all three of them. “Martha Clarke?” Everyone shook their heads. “No? Too bad. Now where is she?”

  “Most assassins torture or kill for the job. Nothing personal and all that.” Demon never stopped smiling as she talked. Her short hair was orange, green, and pink. Her lipstick was pink. Her eyebrows were green and her fingernails were orange. She also wore a white and red cheerleader's uniform with a short skirt. The shirt said York City High: Go Wildcats! “Me? I just do it for fun and hell! They pay me for it!” She giggled.

  Okay. This assassin has a few screws loose. Now what? Erica, Janet, and Keiko had their hands raised. Erica heard a hovercar approaching.

  “There they are, Mickey!” said the cheerleader assassin.

  Who is she?

  “Shit! That’s Demon!”

  “Hi guys!” Demon waved with her constant smile. She fired her blaster at them and they returned fire.

  “Follow me,” Erica whispered to Keiko and Janet. I’m sure I know where the hovercar is. It isn’t too far. Just a little or this way. Or was it that? Shit!

  “Erica.” Janet placed a hand on Erica’s shoulder. They didn’t stop walking. “Are you sure this is the right direction?”

  “I…um…no.” Erica flushed.

  “Keiko?”

  “I’m lost too, ma’am.” Keiko stopped and looked around. She stood on her toes for the grass was tall. “Everything here is grass and more grass. Where’s the damn trees? Shouldn’t there be trees around here? Somewhere?”

  “At least they won’t be able to find us.,” Erica said.

  “Unless one of them hacks into our satellites.” Janet sighed. She started walking again and the other two followed. “Anyway, we need our tablets to contact the Daughter or anyone else.”

  “We still have trackers on us,” Keiko said. “Maybe our people will find us.”

  “I hope so.”

  Erica saw something catlike out of the corner of her eye. She turned for a better look and it was gone. “I saw something.”

  “What?”

  “I don’t know.” Erica stopped moving and watched for it. “About thirty pounds. Maybe. Catlike animal.”

  “Wait, Janet,” Keiko told the XO. “This might be a predator. We need to stick together.”

  “Okay,” Janet said. “Look for footprints. Where was it when you saw it, Erica?”

  “I think about there.”

  “I heard something,” Keiko announced. She bent her knees with her hands out. Ready for a fight.

  “What?” Erica asked.

  “Shhh.”

  The creature appeared out of the grasses to face them. It was catlike with long thin green ears. It snarled at them, showing its canines. Saliva dripped from its jaws.

  “Hold still,” Keiko said. “Don’t run. Stay together. We’ll yell at it together to scare it. Now everyone on three. One. Two. Three.”

  “Roar!” Everyone yelled at it.

  The catlike creature screamed and fled.

  “Damn! It worked!” Keiko laughed.

  “Good job, Keiko.” Janet laughed too. Erica patted Keiko on the back and laughed.

  “What’s so funny?” someone else said.

  Erica turned to the newcomer. “Huh? Martha!”

  “Hi, guys.” Martha waved. She was covered in dried mud. She had a cut on her left eyebrow and a bruise on her cheek. “So you got away too?”

  “Are you okay, Martha?” Erica hugged her. Martha kissed her cheek and hugged her back.

  “I fell down, but I wasn’t knocked unconscious or anything.”

  “At the creek?”

  “No.” Martha was still hugging Erica. “A pond. I guess. A small one. I was running along and fell into it. I decided to hide there for a while. After the hovercar exploded where did you go?”

  “I got captured by the assassins.” Erica pointed at Janet and Keiko. “They took me back to the kidnapper's camp where Janet and Keiko was. We got free and ran away.”

  “What?”

  “The assassins are behind the kidnapping plot,” Janet told Martha. “They came for you. They hoped you would come out to help Erica and you did.”

  “Now what do we do?” Martha let go of Erica. Erica was glad and sad at same time. It kind of embarrassed her and she actually liked it. I don’t think I’m hiding it very well.

  “Do you have your tablet, Martha?” Keiko asked.

  “No.” Martha shrugged. “I think I dropped it somewhere.”

  “Dammit.”

  “What if we go back to the camp?” Janet added.

  “What?” Martha replied.

  “That’s where are tablets are,” Janet said. “Maybe we can sneak in and get them.”

  “Didn’t we try that once?” Erica said. “It didn’t work very well, and we had weapons too.”

  “I brought a knife.” Martha pulled one with a six-inch blade out of her boot.
<
br />   “Not bad.” Keiko nodded with a look of approval.

  “I was just thinking of some odd plants I saw by the creek,” Erica said. “They weren’t exactly trees, but they look stronger than this grass. Maybe we could break some to fashion spears.”

  “I grabbed onto one of them to pull myself up.” Janet agreed. “They felt sturdy. We should go try that.”

  CHAPTER EIGHTY-EIGHT

  Kick butt time

  Most of the creek plants turned out to be just what they needed. They broke off six of them and Keiko took Martha’s knife to carve out a point at one end. The plants were hollow inside kind of like bamboo. The inside was soft and mushy. The outside felt as hard as a rock.

  Erica swung her spear around like a staff, which was a weapon she was very familiar with from her training in traditional Goju Kempo at the Buddhist monastery she lived in for over a decade. She made a few stabs with the point. Yes. This will work. Hers was about five foot long. A good enough length.

  “Now what it’s the plan?” Martha held her spear in her left hand. Keiko had kept the knife, for she was better at knife fighting than any of them.

  “We wait,” Erica said. “Until dark and we sneak in. Fight if we have too, but hopefully not.”

  “Right,” Keiko said. “But be ready for anything.”

  #

  They waited until it was almost dark. Janet’s night vision wasn’t very good so she was to stay close to Keiko. They poked their heads out of the grass to take a look at the camp. Erica saw fires burning with a couple of sleepy guards on duty. The assassins’ hovercar wasn’t anywhere to be seen. Is that good or bad? Erica wasn’t sure. Janet had said the tablet had been placed in one of the boxes that was inside the largest tent. Janet thought it was for meetings and storage.

  Erica kissed Martha on the mouth. “Uh…for luck.”

  “Yes. Thanks.” Martha slipped ahead of them towards that tent, for everyone agreed she was the best thief among them. They others waited, ready to come out to protect her.

  Martha made it to the tent. She looked around and entered the tent. Erica glanced at the guards, who weren’t paying attention to Martha. She felt her heart beating in her throat like it was trying to chock her life out. Please be careful, Martha. I love you.

  In a few minutes Martha slipped out of the tent with some tablets in her hands. She looked around and started towards them. It’s going to work. Right?

  “Hey! Who are you?”

  Martha stopped. Her hands were full. She must have left her spear in the tent. Damn! Damn! It was one of the guards and he had a crossbow pointed at Martha. The second guard got up and walked towards them.

  “Aarg!” Erica yelled and charged at the first guard. Her spear slammed deep into his ribs. He never had a chance to fire his crossbow. The second guard did fire his, but missed. He yelled out to his comrades. The other kidnappers stumbled out of their tents. Erica tried to pull her spear out of the dead guard, but couldn’t. “Fuck! Damn!”

  Martha picked up the dead guard’s crossbow and shot the second guard who had just reloaded his weapon. Somebody knocked Martha down before she could find more bolts to reload the crossbow. Martha! Erica grabbed the man by the hair to get her arm around his throat. Somebody else kicked Erica in the ribs.

  “Shit!” Erica rolled into the kicker to knock them down.

  Erica stood up and got a better look at the kicker. A woman this time, and she raised her fist. The kicked jabbed a couple times at Erica and roundhouse kicked Erica’s knee. Ouch! Erica blocked a head kick with her arm. She’s a good kicker. Fast. A glance at the kicker’s groin told Erica that kicker probably had female genitals. High kickers with male genitals could be stopped with a strong punch to the groin. It might not work on her. I need to get close and bring this fight to the ground.

  Erica caught the next roundhouse kick. She was about to trip her other leg, but kicker brought her standing leg up to Erica’s back. Kicker grabbed Erica with her legs and swung her to the ground. Shit! Kicker got on top of Erica to pound on her. Erica grabbed her pulled her close, so she could punch. Elbows slammed into Erica’s ears and temples. Damn! Damn! I thought I wanted the fight on the ground? Not doing well! Erica locked her ankles around kicker’s waist. Got to keep at it. You can’t give up. Erica gripped an elbow and snaked around to twist. Almost got it! She grabbed the other side of kicker’s jacket and swung her hips. Erica flipped up on top. She hugged low and slammed her forehead in kicker’s chin. Erica rose up and slammed down some elbows.

  “I win!” Erica looked down at the unmoving woman. Martha! Martha is in trouble!

  Erica got up to find Martha bleeding underneath a man who was trying to pull down his pants.

  “Fucking mother raping bastard!” Erica kicked him in the head. He rolled over and tried to stand, while shaking his head. Erica kicked in the head again. He went down. Erica stomped on his head several times.

  “Erica! Stop it!” Martha was pulling on Erica’s arm. “It’s over.”

  Erica stopped.

  “Yes, Erica.” Keiko was holding a crossbow. “We did it.”

  “Hurray! Now drop the crossbow, bitch!”

  Everyone looked to see Mickey Tuan pointing a blaster at them. Keiko dropped the crossbow.

  “Well that was some impressive fighting, Erica,” Tuan said.

  “Where’s your partner?” Erica replied and pushed Martha behind her to guard.

  “Dead.” Tuan shrugged. “That crazy Demon killed her, but got that damn psycho! Let the demons of hell worry about her.” He laughed.

  Suddenly Judy rushed into the camp with a stunner. She shot at Tuan and missed. Tuan turned and shot Judy in the stomach. Erica slammed into Tuan. They rolled and got back to their feet. Neither of them had the blaster.

  “Fine,” Tuan said. “I’ll kill you with my hands.”

  Tuan walked towards Erica confidently with her hands open. Erica waited for the attack to come with her fists ready. A crossbow bolt slammed into Tuan’s chest.

  “Ouch!” Tuan fell facedown.

  Erica turned to see Keiko holding a crossbow. “Hey.”

  “What?” Keiko said. “Don’t of time for that shit. Fights over.”

  “She was unarmed,” Erica complained.

  “Fight’s over,” Keiko repeated.

  “You’re still my hero!” Martha hugged and kissed Erica.

  “I’ve contacted Piper. She’s on her way,” Janet said. “If anyone cared.”

  #

  Demon stitched together the last hole in her stomach and never once stopped smiling. She was seated on the steps of her private rocketship Sugar Blood. Demon looked up as a rocketship blasted off into space. I bet that’s the Guinevere’s Daughter. Off to join up with the mothership Guinevere. I wonder how many days I’ve been asleep out here.

  As far as Demon knew it could have been weeks, months or years. She needed to get back to her private rocketship to get off this planet. I got a job to do. Aunt Polly wants me to kill Martha Clarke. That should be fun. Fun is fun. Lots blood. A woman’s blood smeared all over my naked body feels good. And it's fun. Fun is fun. Mmm. Blood.

  Demon picked up her two big daggers. Twelve-inch blades and danced around her rocketship swinging them this way and that way. Demon wasn’t doing any particular kata, but was just having fun. Fun is fun!

  CHAPTER EIGHTY-NINE

  Judging mistakes

  Erica Williams felt the huge rocketship Guinevere’s Daughter burst out of the atmosphere of the planet Selene. The straps held her safely to her chair inside the monitoring room inside Security Control. Several data screens were in front of her, but she wasn’t the only one in the room. Six other women were looking at their screens. After what had happened on Selene she was surprised to still be allow to work in security. Such a fuck up! Not my fault assassins want to kill Martha! And it isn’t her fault. Well, mostly not her fault. Crap!

  After the Daughter burned out of orbit a message was sent to everyone on the rocke
tship when it was safe to unstrap from their launch chair. Erica tapped a button and the straps released her. Ah, that’s better. Erica rolled her shoulders and sighed. She restarted her run over the sections of Daughter that she’d been assigned to watch. The various sensors in the walls, ceilings, and floors gave readings on normal camera view, infrared, temp, humidity, sounds, and so forth. Everything looked quiet.

  “Erica?”

  She jumped when she heard her mother whisper her name.

  Piper Williams the security chief of Guinevere’s second shift and second shift was the only crew shift running the Daughter.

  Erica breathed deeply to calm herself. “Yes, ma’am?” When on duty you don’t call your boss mom, especially if she actually is your mom and your boss.

  “You’re to report to the conference room at two.”

  “Yes, ma’am.” Erica swallowed hard. It felt like a big rock. “All the department heads will be there?”

  “Yes.” Her mother nodded. “You’ll do fine.”

  #

  Junior Captain Alberta Williams sat at the head of the table with two large screens beside her. One on her right showed the face and upper torso of Senior Captain Audrey Williams, and the one of Alberta’s left showed the face and upper torso of Junior Captain Cindy Williams.

  Also seated around the conference table were the Executive Officer Janet Williams, Pilot Donna Williams, Sensor Chief Fiona Williams, Chief Navigator Amber Zhou, Communications chief Agatha Gee, Tactical Chief Tiffany Williams, Chief Engineer Catriona Zhou, Chief Medical Officer Dr. Amy Menendez, Cargo Chief Tawny Williams, Supply Chief Natasha Williams, Maintenance Chief Sally Williams, Accountant Mary Ann Williams, Lawyer Jo Grant Williams, and Security Chief Piper Williams.

  Erica tried not to stare at any of them, and just look ahead. But doing that brought her eyes towards her other mother Alberta. Erica looked down at the table and remembered to breathe in and out.

  “Sit down, Erica.” Alberta waved towards the empty chair.

  “Y-yes, captain.” Erica found a rock in her throat to swallow. She sat and placed her sweaty hands in her lap.

  Junior Captain Alberta William lifted a gavel smacked the table hard to get everyone’s attention. Erica knew it was a ritual to begin the meeting.