by John Davis
“Son of a bitch.” Dalton said of the wasted liquor as he continued to exchange gunfire with the remaining soldier outside.
As Lexion followed the path of destruction which led to the Captain, Anwick once again entered the room, taken back for a moment by the devastation, he quickly focused his anger on Adam; who remained limp on the floor behind the bar. Anwick's hands clamored for revenge as both Hunters approached the Captain.
“Hey, bitches,” Roman yelled across the room, successfully gaining their undivided attention. “Get some.” he added, daring the walking beasts to a fight.
Anwick quickly made his way into the direction of the marked man, Lexion following suit and releasing the grip he had on the front of Michaels' shirt allowing him to fall back to the ground. Roman pulled his combat pistol long enough to throw it across the room, sliding roughly on the aged floor as he confidently drew his tactical blade and squeezed his hands for a moment; several of his knuckles busting back to life.
The boy was able to free himself in the following moments, running to the safety of stunningly beautiful lady as she stood behind Dalton. Firing several shots from the two pistols, he finally clipped the soldier outside on the shoulder, putting him down and rendering him defenseless.
“Kato, I'm activating the beacon. Come get us now!” Dalton said out of breath as he pushed a sequence of buttons on the com unit, throwing it out into the street; the small globe on the front beginning to emit a soft white glow. “Now we hold tight and pray that our ride gets here before they finish us off.” Dalton said to the woman and child, putting them behind a small table near the door and checking the magazines of his pistols; the unmistakable odor of hooch on his breath.
When Captain Michaels began to get his bearings in order, he realized nothing on him was broken and began to slowly crawl in the direction of where his pistol had hit the floor; pieces of glass crunching softly under his bare palms. He didn't see his sidearm right away, instead he caught sight of a large piece of mirror laying in the floor at the corner of the bar. He was confident that he had never seen a fight like the one that was reflecting back to him through the reciprocating glass. Glimpses of Roman's body moving with perfect coordination as he carved flesh with both blade and boot.
He landed several fast punches into the face of Lexion, momentarily stunning him while his kick found its home in the chest of Anwick, staggering him back a few feet. More surprised than hurt, Anwick quickly unleashed a flurry of lightning fast punches and elbows onto Roman, most of them finding their mark as they sent Adam's newest crew member to one of his knees.
Furious, Lexion wasted no time putting a choke hold on Roman in an attempt to snap his neck and be done with the pesky former Gali commando. His grip hold of Roman's neck was released as a shot from the Captain's pistol embedded into his shoulder, causing Lexion to snarl his razor teeth for a moment; eventually casting a stare in Michaels' direction. That is how his life would end. Roman thrust his combat steel into the face of Lexion, following the stab with a swift elbow that broke the blade from its handle as Lexion fell to the ground, blood spilling from the edges of the eternally lodged instrument.
Shocked at the death of one of his best and feeling the sudden sense of morality, Anwick quickly began to exit at the rear of the bar, the room now flooding with soldiers armed to the hilt. Roman had reached the point of no return, rage flowing through his veins as if it were the very blood in his body. He let go of an unrelenting assault with his hands, grabbing the first soldier by the neck and using his free hand to pummel the man with the bottom of his fist. He then grabbed a second soldier with a choke hold that eerily resembled that of the now departed Lexion, this time more effective however as he snapped the man's neck in several places; dropping his lifeless body to the ground.
He was a killer, a damn good one at that. But even someone of his life ending skill was outnumbered as at least a dozen more armed men filled the room in response to the distress call of the soldier who had pleaded for help earlier during his firefight with Dalton. Michaels had made it to his feet and nearly reached Roman when they both realized the circumstances and were ready to accept defeat. As both men began to put their hands into the sky, Roman heard an unfamiliar sound, one that Adam knew all too well. The deep, throaty sound of the Mauler. It was a name the crew had decided on for the largest flash shotgun any of them had ever seen. Kato stood in the doorway holding the mauler, which gained its technical name not from a flash of light, but the flash drum under the barrel which held thirty rounds and required only an instant to reload.
The room began to thin out quickly as every burst that fired from the chamber of the massive gun seemed to add a larger variety of body parts to the wall. Kato had barely used half of the drum's capacity when the room was clear, other than a few enduring screams and realizations of lives coming to an end. Michaels and Roman helped one another out of the Dusk as Kato walked behind them, Mauler perfectly positioned to slay anything with a heartbeat that followed the crew outside.
“Damn I love that gun.” Dalton said from the cozy confines of the Gunship, which was parked in the middle of the street and attracting a lot of local attention.
“Get us the hell out of here!” Michaels said in a weak voice as they passed Kelly on their way up the ramp.
The roar of the Gunship's engines combined with what seemed like an endless cloud of dust as the vessel began to liftoff. Several soldiers accompanied Anwick to the front of the establishment, firing streams of metal piercing shots into the direction of the ship. Only moments later, following a loud burst of air meeting motion, the ship was gone. The soldiers began to check the dead and wounded as Anwick stood there for several minutes, his eyes still locked onto the sky.
“All Clear.” Dalton proclaimed as he made his way down the ladder from the gunner's roost and back onto the bridge of the ship.
“We need to talk.” Adam said to to the woman as she continued to harbor the boy they had saved not even an hour ago from the clutches of the closest thing to the devil that he had ever known. She nodded and began to stand up, her long champagne colored hair giving the shimmering illusion of velvet perfection as she made her way toward the Captain and the door of the ship's bridge.
“Hey big man. First time in space?” Roman asked as he took a seat beside the boy, who was obviously afraid of the situation he had been cast into.
“Yes. Yes sir.” the boy answered with much reserve.
“You can relax, you are safe and among friends here.” Roman replied, before asking the child his name.
“Troy.” the boy responded a couple of seconds later, sounding much less timid than before.
“Care to explain to me what in the hell just happened back there?” Michaels asked in a puzzled and desperate tone. Before she could answer his question, he interjected with a bit of sarcasm. “Feel free to start with who you are and what the Hunters want with you so badly?”
It was a legitimate question from where he stood. Adam had a lot of things racing through his mind at the moment. How Roman had handled himself so well against an opponent who appeared far more capable, how many drinks Dalton had actually consumed back at the Dusk and still been accurate with a weapon or how one of the most beautiful women he had ever laid eyes on, stood in front of him about to answer a question that would most likely affect the remainder of of his life.
“My name is Sarah Blaine,” she answered in a soft voice, something Adam hadn't heard a lot of in his line of work.“My father is the Admiral of the newly formed Colonial Army; they want to use me as leverage against him, at least that would be my guess.” Sarah added, waiting on a response from Michaels.
He didn't reply, a combination of letting her finish her story and the angelic sound of her voice were to blame. After several tense moments of silence, she began telling Adam how the Hunters had been working with Legion troops for some time now, how her security detail was ambushed back on Tameca and over a dozen soldiers had given their lives to try and prote
ct her.
“The boy?” Michaels asked, almost dreading the answer, and praying that it didn't complicate things any further.
“I have no idea. I had never laid eyes on him before they drug him into that room.” Sarah replied, watching the stress overtake the Captain as he stood there speechless.
“You mean to tell me that my crew just put their lives on the line against the Hunters for a kid that you don't even know?” he asked furiously.
“Relax Captain, the boy is still alive because of you and your crew's heroic efforts.” she replied, standing closely to Adam as they both began to feel a nervous interest in one another.
Adam wanted so badly to be furious with Sarah, to lash out at her with anger. Instead, he found himself thinking of how perfect she was in every aspect. “For what it's worth, you did the right thing back there.” Sarah said with a soft and thankful voice.
He looked at her for a moment, his eyes communicating a tale of great sorrow to come. “Fantastic. Carve it on my headstone, because once the Hunters catch up to me I'm a dead man.” he finally replied as he walked away, making his course back onto the bridge.
“Kelly, Luck, set course for deep space. We need to get as far away from the system as possible for a bit; avoid any Legion or Hunter tracking ships that may be looking for us.” Michaels said as he sat down in an empty chair, physically exhausted and mentally broken down from the day's events.
“Yes sir Captain.” Kelly replied as she and Luck both pressed several buttons on the control panel illuminated in front of them.
“Thanks for saving our asses back there.” Dalton said as Kato continued checking the navigational system with a small, hand held data machine.
“Just doing my job.” Kato replied, maintaining his attention on the work in front of him.
“You do your job well.” Roman added as he stood in the doorway of the engine room, Troy right at his side.
“Thank you.” he added, giving a long stare of appreciation to the man he had gotten off on the wrong foot with.
“You're welcome.” Kato replied, glancing up for a moment acknowledging the sincere thank you.
As Sarah walked across the steel catwalk above the cargo area, she stopped for a moment to watch Roman and Troy. The highly trained former soldier was walking the young boy through a set of moves with a combat knife. It was a basic set of motions, still it was impressive to see a child handling a blade built for men of combat as well as he was. Lunging forward quickly, then swiping the blade swiftly as he brought it back in to a neutral position. She hadn't known any of these people for long, but she was glad to see Troy finding someone to begin looking up to. At least the time he spent with Roman was time he wasn't thinking about home, if he even had one.
“Could be worse, he could be learning Dalton's craft.” Adam said as he approached Sarah, who was still standing there, admiring the young boy's courage.
Eventually she broke her stare and glanced at the Captain for a moment, joining him in placing attention on Dalton. The hardened space cowboy was laying on the deck below them drinking from a large green jar. Its contents were unknown, but from the way he was cradling the thick glass container, it was something of significant importance to him. He glanced up at the catwalk with a huge grin on his brushy face.
“Nice view huh?” he said, implying he was well worth the effort.
“So, if you don't mind my asking, what's the plan? I would very much like to see my father again.” Sarah asked.
The Captain tightened his grip on the guard rail of pale blue steel, continuing his stare below for a few moments. “Well, we are painted into a corner at the moment,” he replied, while finally looking into Sarah's direction. “We can't go back to the Skyla System, at least not for a while. Sure to be plenty of hunting parties out there looking for us at this very moment. On the other hand, the supplies aren't going to last forever; eventually we're going to have to make our move.” he added.
“We are on the verge of war, a war of a scale that we have never seen I'm afraid,” Sarah said. “I fear that not so long from now, the entire system will be engulfed in death and destruction. At some point Adam, you will have to decide which side you're on.” she added.
“Doesn't matter. I've got a sheet of outstanding warrants as long as your leg, and now I have the Legion as well as the Hunters out for my blood. I'll have you back with your father soon enough, you have my word. In the meantime, we need to fall off of the map so I can figure out our next move.”
“Well, whatever you decide, I'm confident that it will be the right move.” Sarah said in a thankful tone as she began to walk away, reaching the other side of the catwalk before Adam finally responded.
“Sarah,” he said as she turned to face him, her comforting smile causing the Captain to fall silent for a second. “I know we may not look like much, but I won't let any harm come to you or the boy, I promise.” Michaels added in an attempt to reassure her of safety from the Hunters.
“I know that Captain.” Sarah replied, smiling brightly as she she gave an appreciative nod and slowly turned to walk away.
Adam stood there for a couple of minutes after she was gone, trying to convince himself that Sarah wasn't someone he should be falling for. They were from two different worlds, both literally and socially. Still, he began to feel his heart drifting away from logic as he heard Dalton's voice yell from below.
“She's a keeper Capt'n.” Adam glanced down for a moment, giving a sarcastic look, even though he couldn't agree more.
“No sir Captain, I checked three times. The readouts aren't normal.” Kato said of the navigational information he had recently pulled.
“Meaning?” Adam replied, eagerly awaiting a positive answer.
“Not sure. It's not time to panic; just thought I would bring it to your attention.” Kato answered.
“Look into it.” Michaels said, giving Kato a quiet slap on the shoulder as an unofficial thank you.
“This area looks good.” Adam said as he leaned between Luck and Kelly, pointing out a small spot on the pilot's grid.
The bright neon green lights and numbers of the panel illuminating an otherwise dark bridge. “Sir that area is uncharted.” Luck responded after glancing down at the grid for a split second.
“Uncharted is what we need right now.” Adam replied as Kelly began punching the coordinates onto a touch screen beside her.
“Should take us a better part of twenty six hours to get there Captain.” she said as she double checked the numbers before finalizing them into the ship's navigational system.
“I can do twenty six hours. Set course, I'll let everyone else know.” Michaels said as he began to leave the bridge while Kelly pressed a sequence of keys that pushed the ship's thrusters even harder; nearly doubling the torque.
Michaels motioned for Roman as Dalton continued, slightly intoxicated, to show Troy how to aim down the sights of an unloaded combat pistol.
“Hitting an uncharted area in a few days. Gonna sit tight there for while, wait until this thing blows over. Hate to keep the kid off world that long; no choice though, we go back now and we won't last an hour.” Adam said in a low voice.
“No hurry. His entire family was executed by the Hunters for aiding the Colonials with supplies. Poor kid, I feel bad for him.” Roman responded sympathetically.
Adam felt deep sorrow for Troy; glad he had made the decision to rescue the boy from the clutches of the Hunters, while knowing exactly what it felt like to grow up alone.
“Well, just try and keep him as busy as possible, he seems to cling to you and our resident drunk.” the Captain replied. Roman agreed as he turned to join Dalton and Troy in learning to do something he had known how to do for decades, handle a sidearm. Of course, hearing the instructional advice from a man with slurred speech was like learning all over again.
“Give us a couple of weeks Captain, this boy gonna be dropping Hunters left and right!” Dalton yelled as Troy smiled wide.
Michae
ls could only try and imagine the grief Troy must be feeling, having those monsters slaughter his entire family, but at least he was safe now. No matter how feared the Hunters were across the system, he knew that his crew would fight to the death for its two newest passengers.
Usually during deep space travel, Adam would sleep very little and spent most of his time admiring the stars and enjoying true freedom. Not this night however. He had been beaten, nearly killed by gunfire, quite possibly met the woman of his dreams and taken on the responsibility of a child with no home to return to. There would be a lot of sleep in the Captain's future on this night, and he wasted no time; hitting his bunk and escaping into a dreamworld of infinite possibilities only minutes later.
Opening his eyes, Adam was first struck by the absolute silence of the ship's thrusters. A person is taken back by the loud roar and torque of things during their first few trips into the blackness of deep space. Adam had been through it hundreds of times however, and he had grown used to both of them. It was the lack of noise and vibration throughout the ship that raised sudden alarm with the Captain. Jumping to his feet, he grabbed his trusted gray revolver from a solid steel bedside table and used his free hand to rub his eyes for a moment, trying his best to wake up and be clear headed as he expected the worst. Slowly making his way down the narrow corridor, his right hand gripping the sidearm as he checked all of the crew's rooms, every one of them coming up empty.
Had the Hunters somehow found them? Legion soldiers maybe? Many scenarios played out in his mind as he continued his slow but determined walk, trying his best not to make any sound in doing so. As his feet hit the catwalk, he slowed his pace down considerably; knowing full well that its grated steel flooring was notoriously loud to begin with. Glancing over the rail as he slowly made his way to the center, he spotted his entire crew down the iron sights of his combat sidearm.