“The Lorkiiz were able to teleport.” Erica reminded her mother of the time they had been attacked by the strange nonhuman race called Lorkiiz. It was possible for humans to teleport non-living objects by turning them into energy. Teleporting the objects on a laser beam and turning them back into matter. But teleportation always killed living beings. Human, animal, or alien. Somehow the Lorkiiz found a way around this problem, though Erica and her family never learned exactly how they did that.
“We’re not the Lorkiiz.” Piper sighed. She reached for a data screen and spun it around for Erica to see. “A scan of all the containers in the cargo bays has just discovered the body of Risa Williams. Poor Risa’s body is being taken to sickbay for an autopsy. Most likely it was this attacker. This ninja.”
“I thought ninjas were myth,” Erica said. “In stories and movies. Not real, or at least that’s what I remember from my old Earth history classes.”
“Not actually,” Piper replied. “I don’t know about their old Earth origins, but when the Suiko colony was first founded, there was a group that started a ninja. After that a couple of more ninja clans were formed. Most work on contract for the powerful Suiko government, or wealthy private citizens of Suiko. They usually don’t allow foreigners to hire them out. This must be some kind of outcast. Which is odd, because they usually don’t allow them live.”
“I see.” Erica looked at the data screen.
CHAPTER NINETY-TWO
Demon gets a hostage
Demon crawled through a maintenance access tube meant for small robots. A tight fit, but she slowly pushed through. All she had to do was pop a few of her joints out of place. Not a big deal. As long as no robots need to pass through here I won’t be discovered. My stealth tech is working perfectly.
Demon got out her stolen tablet. The end of the access tube was covered by a round door. It would take her right into the quarters of one Audrey Williams, senior captain of Guinevere. The old lady was widowed and Demon hoped she would be alone. An easy snatch and run. She’s over a hundred years old, for goodness sake.
The tablet showed a life sign in the bathroom where the shower was running. There was also a life sign in the hallway near the bathroom, but it wasn’t human. A cat or dog? If it’s a dog, I’ll need to take it out quickly. Those damn things make too much noise.
Demon used the tablet to access the door’s lock. The round door popped open. Demon leapt out. Her tabi shoes touched on the floor without a sound. The door, on the other hand, creaked. Demon heard the animal coming check.
A small dog. It barked a couple of times before Demon threw a dagger into its skull. The little shits are the noisiest!
Demon pulled her dagger free. She wiped the blood on the fur. She listened. No new sounds came from the bathroom. The shower might have masked the dog’s barks.
Demon moved forward in quiet, odd steps taught to her as a child in play. Much of ninjutsu basics in Suiko was taught to the children of the clan as games. Later we were taught that they weren’t games, but ways to sneak and kill. Fun times!
A few minutes later, the shower stopped. The bathroom door slid open. Audrey Williams walked out wearing a white robe and rubbing her white hair with a towel.
“Paul! Paul! Paul?” Audrey looked around. A human sized robot was following her.
Demon recognized it as a nurse assistant robot with waterproof covering to protect its inner circuits. Robots like that were designed to assist the elderly and disabled. They were more harmless than the dog.
Audrey never saw the ninja who grabbed her and squeezed the pressure points. Demon set her down. The robot came to examine Audrey. Demon kicked back into the bathroom where it fell over. The door shut.
Demon looked down at the old woman and shook her head. I would rather be dead than that old. But at least she’s not an old fat cow. That’s good. I think I might be able to get her through the tube without cutting anything off. Should I put some clothes on her? No. I don’t give a shit.
“Come on, granny.” Demon picked up Audrey and carried her back to the tube’s door. I’m going to leave a note. I wouldn’t want any mystery as to who took her. Demon wrote a note on her tablet and sent it to the computer console in the living room. “There. Let’s go, granny.”
Demon had only a little trouble getting the unconscious old woman into the tube. She pulled the round door shut and it clicked. It wasn’t locked yet. Demon used Risa’s tablet to lock it.
“Come on, granny.” Demon pulled on Audrey’s arms, humming an old nursery rhyme as they moved back to Demon’s hiding spot.
#
Erica raced through the corridors after Keiko. Both of them hand their hands on the butt of a blaster in a holster on their waist.
Two more security women followed them.
Remember your training. You can do this. Erica joined Keiko in a position on the left side of the door. The other two women held the right side position. A.J. Williams and Wendy Williams. Keiko was in charge of the security team.
Earlier Erica had been talking to her mother Piper in her office when Keiko saw all life signs in grandmother’s room disappear. Nothing outside and nothing inside! So Erica agreed to go with them.
Erica’s mother watched from the security control room. Keiko wore an earphone: a small cushion stick you stuck in your ear to communicate with your hands free.
Keiko signaled and everyone pulled out their blaster just outside Senior Captain Audrey Williams’ quarters. Keiko slipped into the room with A.J. The checked the place out.
“Move in!” Keiko commanded. Erica and Wendy moved inside the front room of the old lady’s quarters. Erica saw nobody.
“Captain?” Keiko yelled. “Captain!”
Erica held her blaster in two hands, with the end pointed up like she had been trained to do. The others did the same. They moved from the front room to the living room.
“Cap-shit!” Keiko cursed.
Tossed roughly on the computer console was grandmother’s dog Paul. A dead dog. Once an adorable little Scottish terrier, who had been quite happy to meet Erica when she first came to see her grandmother after returning from leaving the monastery. Hopping, yipping, and wigging his tail. Who could do such a thing? Poor Paul. Where’s Grandmother? Is she okay?
Erica and Keiko were Audrey’s granddaughters, while A.J. and Wendy were more distant cousins, but they were family too. Family sticks together. That’s what we were all taught as children.
Erica found the robot locked in the bathroom. When asked it said that a woman dressed in black had hurt the senior captain and kicked the robot into the bathroom.
A.J. had brought a hand scanner and was sweeping Grandmother’s quarters for fingerprints, DNA, or anything else that might have been missed by the standard sensors in the quarters.
Keiko dropped into the chair beside the computer console where the dog had been laid. She found a note on the screen.
IF YOU WANT SENIOR CAPTAIN AUDREY WILLIAMS BACK ALIVE, THEN YOU WILL TRADE FOR MARTHA CLARKE OR THE OLD BITCH DIES! —HUGS AND KISSES FROM DEMON.
“Oh, shit!” Erica screamed. “I thought that psycho died on Selene!”
“What?” Keiko asked.
Erica told Keiko about the assassin called Demon that had been interfering rather than helping the ones on Selene who were after Martha.
“She was dressed like a cheerleader?”
“Yes.” Erica nodded. “With two blasters. One in each hand.” Erica made finger guns like you did when a kid.
#
Erica found her friend, cousin, and roommate Tilly Zhou in sickbay. Tilly was also a granddaughter of Audrey Williams. Erica wanted to know about how Martha was doing.
“They’re still operating on her, Erica.” Tilly hugged her. “Goddess help her. I’m sure she’ll pull through. Guinevere has some of the best doctors in the Yin Confederation.”
“I know.” Erica nodded. She told Tilly about their grandmother’s kidnapping.
“Goddess help us.” Till
y shook her head. “Who is this Demon?”
“Another assassin is after Martha, but more crazy than the others.” Erica crossed her arms. “I thought she was dead, but I guess I was wrong. She wants us to hand over Martha or she’ll kill grandmother.”
“Oh Goddess!” Tilly turned away to pace in the direction of the operating room. She spun around. “We won’t do that. Grandmother wouldn’t want us to give in to kidnappers and terrorists. That’s who this bitch is! Goddess help us all.”
“I don’t like saying it, Tilly,” Erica confessed. Her voice was only slightly above a whisper. “But I want to kill her. No mercy. I just want to kill her.”
“Hey. It’s not like you’re still a Buddhist nun.” Tilly tilted her head with a smirk.
“I’m still a Buddhist laywoman.” Erica sighed. Did I choose my beliefs or did they just come to me?
“Give me a second.” Tilly squeezed Erica’s arm. “And I’ll check a data screen that should tell me how everything in the operating room is going.”
“Thanks, Tilly.” Erica smiled.
Tilly walked over to a table on the other side of the room. She pulled up a data screen and tapped on it.
Erica turned away. The sickbay smelled heavily of anti-bacterial soaps and other medicine smelling scents. She wondered how Tilly could stand working in such a place. Erica suddenly noticed she had been pacing back and forth. How long have I been doing that? Was I doing that when I was talking to Tilly? She wasn’t sure.
Erica heard noise outside of sickbay. A loud thump against the wall. The door slid open. The security guard inside sickbay reached for her blaster. Demon zipped in like lightning. The black clothed assassin slammed her daggers into the guard’s breasts. Erica saw the blades go deep into her lungs. Demon yanked the blades free. One blade slashed the guard’s throat.
Erica reached for her stunner. Demon casually kicked it away.
“Is that all the guards your mother assigned to protect Martha Clarke from me?” Demon giggled. She twirled her bloody daggers and wiggled her hips. “This has been so much fun!”
Fun?
Demon tossed something at Erica. Erica caught the object. She almost dropped it. It was a finger. “Merciful Buddha!”
“The rest of your grandmother is alive and well.” Demon giggled. “If you give me Martha Clarke then she stays that way.” Demon rolled her eyes. “Well one less finger, but so what.”
Demon had now put away her daggers and was standing akimbo. She pulled down the hood, so her face could be seen. So it really was the assassin named Demon, who had been dressed like a cheerleader on the planet Selene. Demon wasn’t dead and she was still after Martha.
Erica set the finger on a nearby examination bed. I’m taking you down, bitch! I’m going to knock that arrogant smirk off your face! Erica attacked. First with a snapping kick to Demon’s shin. Followed by some back-fists and punches to Demon’s torso and head. Demon slapped them away with a bored face. Erica x-blocked a kick to her groin. Her wrists screamed in pain from blocking the powerful kick. Demon slapped her cheeks. Twice on both sides, while Erica had been trying to block the kick. It isn’t right that you’re so fast! Demon giggled and that infuriated Erica more. Erica stopped thinking.
She swung wildly and clutched for Demon’s throat. Erica felt her body slam into the wall and didn’t know how Demon had done it. She crawled to her feet. Her left shoulder felt on fire. It must have popped out of the socket! Shit!
"It has been fun playing with you, Erica.” Demon giggled. “But I got to go check on your grandmother. I wouldn’t want her to run off.” Demon left.
Tilly knelt by Erica with a portable scanner.
“Oh Goddess! Are you okay, Erica?” Tilly wiped Erica’s hair out of her face.
“My shoulder hurts, but you're the one with the damn scanner.” Erica tossed a collection of curse words.
“Climb on the bed and I’ll get to work on that shoulder.” Tilly gripped her other arm to help her up.
Piper Williams came in with a couple of security guards. “Damn it! That assassin was here!”
“Yes,” Tilly said. “And I need to reset Erica’s shoulder.”
“What happened?” Piper asked.
“Demon brought me a present,” Erica snapped and calmed down when her shoulder was numbed by medicine from Tilly. “Uh, it’s Grandmother’s finger. At least that’s what that bitch said.” Erica pointed at the other bed.
“Goddess!” Piper looked down at it. She reached with her bare hand, but halted it. “Pick that finger up and have its DNA tested.” Piper called to a medical robot. The robot took the finger away to be tested.
A nurse apprentice checked on the fallen guards. They were both long dead. The one outside of sickbay had been nearly beheaded.
Piper checked the time. “Second shift is about up. We’ll need to talk this over with third shift. I want you there to tell them what happened. You too, Tilly.”
“Yes, ma’am.” Tilly nodded.
CHAPTER NINETY-THREE
Armor
A few hours later, third shift was running the starship Guinevere and Junior Captain Cindy Williams was in command. They were inside Conference room 8 and it was full of two captains and a lot of department heads. Tilly had just given her report of the previous incident and now it was Erica’s turn to give her report. This was not something Erica was looking forward to do. Public speaking was not her favorite past time. But she clinched her teeth and forced her hands to stop shaking. I can do this. Don’t fidget! Erica stood after a glance at the note cards in her hand. As she spoke she remembered to look at each individual and keep her eyes down on the cards all of the time. Erica learned this in a public speaking class when she was seventeen. She preferred to look over their eyes at their forehead for most people didn’t realize you were doing that. Safer than looking them in the eye. Afterward Erica sat down in a chair and breathed a sigh of release. Hopefully not too loud.
“Why again are we protecting this Martha Clarke?” asked Tawny Williams, second shift’s cargo chief. Her meaty fist thumped the table.
“Calm yourself, Tawny!” Captain Cindy snapped. Cindy slapped the table with her gavel. “Let’s have a little order here.”
Meg Bettencourt glared at Tawny. Tawny returned the look to her third shift counterpart.
“Sorry, captain.” Tawny nodded to Cindy.
Cindy snorted and glanced at Junior Captain Alberta Williams, of second shift. Erica didn’t see the look she had gave, but assumed it was ‘how do you deal with that bitch?’
Alberta stood up. Captain Cindy acknowledge her, so she could speak.
“I already said before that that was off the table, Tawny,” Alberta said. She waved at Cindy. “And I believe Captains Audrey and Cindy agreed with me.”
“I still do.” Captain Cindy nodded.
Tawny snorted. She stood up. Captain Cindy acknowledged her.
“Fine.” Tawny grumbled and sat.
Erica’s shift cargo chief shot her an angry look. She sighed.
Then she felt Tilly’s hand on her elbow. Tilly leaned close to Erica’s ear. “Just grumpy ole Tawny,” she whispered. “Don’t let her get to you.”
“Okay,” Erica whispered back.
Piper Williams, second shift’s security chief, stood up. Captain Cindy acknowledged her.
“I recommend all security people wear armor and carry blaster rifles.” Piper glanced around the room with a stern face.
Dodo Williams, third shift’s security chief, stood up and was acknowledged by Captain Cindy. “I second Piper’s recommendation.”
Tawny whispered into the ear of Dorthea Zhou, third shift’s chief engineer. Dorthea was one of Tawny’s cronies. Erica wondered what they were up to. Then she chided herself on being too paranoid. It’s this Demon! She’s messing with my head even when she isn’t here.
All the captains and department heads in the room agreed to the recommendation.
Dodo stood up a second time and got Ca
ptain Cindy’s acknowledgment.
“Don’t we have an old military grade battle armor in storage?” Dodo asked.
“I don’t know.” Captain Cindy looked at Captain Alberta, who gestured a negative.
Elinor Gee third shift’s supply chief stood up and was acknowledged by Captain Cindy.
“We do have one in storage.” Elinor scratched her hip. “It wouldn't be any trouble getting it out. I wouldn’t know if it still works.”
Erica stood up after Elinor sat down. Captain Cindy acknowledge her after a glance at Captain Alberta.
“I would like to volunteer to wear it,” Erica announced. “The military battle armor. I want to use it.”
Tawny snorted and whispered something to her friend Dorothea.
#
In the security chief’s office, Erica Williams held her hands behind her back. Dodo Williams sat at her desk with Junior Captain Cindy Williams seated in a chair beside her.
“You sure about this, Erica?” Dodo asked. “You have performed well these last few months. You’ve nothing to prove.”
“I’ve already fought her a few times,” Erica explained. “We have a history. She’s beaten me…a lot. I think she’ll be overly confident. She’s more likely to make a mistake. I’m believe I can beat her in military battle armor. I’ve tested in it before and past.”
“Weren’t those tests done in simulation rather than reality?” Captain Cindy asked.
“Uh. Yes, ma’am.” Erica nodded. She flushed. While the Guinevere’s simulators were very realistic the reality was not always the same.
Dodo sighed and glanced at Captain Cindy. “Actually, she’s the only one who has passed the test.”
“Really?” Captain Cindy sounded as surprised at as Erica was.
“Yes, Captain.” Dodo tapped one of her data screens on her desk. “Impressive scores, Erica.”
“Thank you, ma’am.” Erica coughed and stopped herself from fidgeting.
“What do you think, Captain?” Dodo asked. “She’s probably our best choice.”
The Star Traders: The Star Traders Series Volume One Page 20