"Ronnie!" Ben yelled as he let the female pirate go. Ronnie took a couple of quick steps and punched her in the stomach twice, as Ben walked towards the tall pirate he thought was the captain and possible leader of the whole group. He heard a couple of grunts and a body hitting the floor.
"I think you thought we would just take you prisoner and march you out of here. I get the feeling you cut some kind of deal with someone. Whoever that was hasn’t countermanded my orders. You have two things going against you right now. You killed one of my men and I am really curious. No, three things against you; you’re pirates and not citizens, and therefore I can beat the living shit out of you before I hand you over."
"You going to let me put my arms down and defend myself, soldier boy?" The pirate hissed almost spitting out the words.
"By all means. You sure you want to do that? Answering my questions would be much easier." The pirate didn’t wait for Ben to stop talking. He yelled and leapt forward but never made it far enough, as Ronnie's boot caught him mid-jump in the mid-section, possibly breaking a rib or two. Oh yeah, she was pissed. She walked back over to the female pirate and stood over her.
Reaper looked at Snake and pointed at the pirate. When the pirate started to get up, another boot connected with his face. Ben hadn’t moved a muscle yet. Snake stepped back to his position. This continued. Reaper pointing and each member of the team got a shot at the pirate. They owed him much more than he was getting for Birdy.
"They promised us our freedom for information on the Allith. Once they verify it, they will let us go." The fat man began to sing from the floor, fearing he would be next.
"What else did they promise you? What else?" Ben yelled at him.
"They are letting our families go. They are all boarding a ship right now." Ben looked around at the rest of his team. They all nodded, believing what the pirate was telling them. Instead of fighting, he had seen them gathering their things.
"Genius, go out and recon the area and don’t get yourself shot," Ben ordered. Genius stepped to the entry door of the bridge, checked the area, and departed at a hurried pace. Someone had to have issued an order or the other teams would be trying to stop the fleeing pirates. Why hadn’t they been advised of this deal?
"Alright! All of you on the floor, hands behind your backs now! Don’t make me tell you twice." They complied and quickly. Ben covered them all while the team secured their arms behind their backs and sat them up.
"Command. This is Reaper. Bridge crew of the liner and who I believe is the leader are all secure. Where would you like them deposited?"
"Reaper, hold your position. A team will be there shortly to collect them."
****
Ben sat in the captain's chair watching the monitors. He saw a shuttle land and a six man team exit, heading towards the liner. It had been 20 minutes. He could see from the monitors that the fighting was over outside. The armor they wore was marine-issue, except they all wore black armbands signifying the Colonial Military Intelligence division. Without that, they looked like another marine. Looked being the operative word, Ben and any real marine could tell otherwise. They weren’t wary or scanning the perimeter. They didn’t even look behind themselves as they approached or they would have spotted Genius moving behind them, keeping an eye on them and the near vicinity for any hostiles.
Ben's wetware updated to let him know just the minimum basic information about the approaching team. The leader was a captain and the rest he really didn’t care about. He judged, by the height and way the person walked, the captain was a woman. He stood and watched them approach from the steps. He didn’t need to salute, just acknowledge her.
"Captain, prisoners secure and ready for transfer."
"We will take them from here." She paused looking up at him. "Reaper."
"Captain, we would be glad to provide an escort to your shuttle, just as a precaution. Ours is another 200 yards past your position." He pointed to the monitor that confirmed what he was saying. He hadn’t received orders to do anything at this point. It was his curiosity leading to the offer.
"Reaper." Ben heard Snakes voice. "You need to look at this." He turned to see a ship slowly lifting off the ground. He turned back to the captain.
"Genius, you take the point. The rest of you establish an escort perimeter. Get them moving." Ben's team pushed the pirates at the MI team who were still just standing doing nothing. They got the hint and each took a pirate by the arm leading them.
The captain used the com on private this time. "Staff Sergeant Jamison. I do not believe I answered your request to assist my team nor did I pass command of my team to you."
"My apologies ma'am, I just motivated your prisoners for you. They are all yours. We will be on our way. Just a word of advice, Ma'am. When you leave, keep a more wary eye out. Sometimes things change when you march the leaders away as prisoners and their followers see it. Pirates are not known for rational actions or thoughts, Ma'am."
"Misfits. Let's move!" Ben called out.
Before they moved three steps, the captain called out. "Reaper, lead the way." Ben stopped and smiled to himself.
"Ok everyone. Let’s move with the prisoners on center." Ben started out with the captain on his heels. The group moved quickly, keeping a steady pace. "Ronnie, Mumbles, take care of Birdy." He need not explain anything else to them. The captain watched Reaper's team members hustle to their fallen team mate. She looked up at him as they walked but he never turned his head in either direction.
****
An unidentified starship exited light space and established an orbit on the opposite side of the planet. The MI shuttle pilot received coordinates for rendezvous once they departed the pirate settlement.
****
Ben's team stood at the MI shuttle as the pirate prisoners were walked up the ramp single file. "Misfits, fall back on Ronnie and Mumbles. I will call the shuttle for pickup." Ben stood watching as the pirates were sat down all in a row. They looked over at him seemingly defeated, but not scared. The captain stood at the front of the shuttle receiving a message from the pilot. The upper and lower shuttle doors started coming together, closing. The captain raised her visor and Ben could see her face. She was smiling at him as she said something to her team. He saw them draw their side arms and aim. The doors closed.
"What the hell." Ben thought and he walked hurriedly away from the shuttle craft. It rose slowly at first, then faster. It did not turn in the direction he would have thought to make a connection with the destroyer. He was pondering that when the sky lit up for a second in the direction of the shuttle. His team saw it too. Seconds later, they could see objects streaking across the sky, some on fire and falling to ground. Mumbles and Ronnie each held the end of the body bag. Ben handed his weapon to Genius and bent down, taking the body in his arms and stood up straight. He was listening to all the activity on the command channel.
He heard frenzied communications about the destruction of the pirate ship carrying the women and children as the destroyer continued to hail the unknown starship that had destroyed it. He knelt and gently laid Birdy on the floor of their shuttle. The lieutenant looked down at the body bag and turned quickly, not wanting to stare.
****
Ben sat straight up in the bed, his body covered in sweat. Andrea woke up at the same time and sat on her knees, holding him.
"Andrea, we need to get everyone together and get out of here," he said softly.
"What's wrong? It was just a bad dream, honey."
"I know but it reminded of me something. The meeting with everyone. They have all known about the message from the Allond for a lot longer than just a day or two. MI already knows about it and we can't trust them, we can never trust them." Ben had a chill, and it wasn't just from the sweat. I don’t care what time it is. Let's get up and I'll make some coffee and you make some calls. Tell them all if they are going with us, they need to be here by tomorrow morning or I leave them behind."
There had been a message se
nt by the Allond to the governments of the Colonial Alliance and the Trillond Empire. It went directly to the President of the Alliance and the Prime Minister of Trillond. It stated that there would be a summit hosted by the Allond to discuss the impending threat by the Cjittan. It gave a date and to contact Reaper for transport of their delegation. A meeting between the Prime Minister and the President concluded that they would not inform Reaper until they arrived on Anubis and would do it in person.
That meeting, unbeknownst to the politicians, was also attended by a general of the military and a member of the Military Intelligence Division. It didn't help that Reaper's trust in his oldest friends was betrayed and the meeting did not turn out well for the interlopers. A lot of things had and would happen that would lead to Reaper's decision to make a hasty departure. It was not a popular decision but one everyone would find out was necessary.
Chapter 1
Ben was staring at his black armor with the grim reaper etched into the chest plate. It had been three months since he had returned from his short-lived re-entry into the military establishment. Well over a year since his discharge from marines led him to Anubis the first time. All he wanted was some peace and quiet to get Reaper Inc. operating but that too was short lived.
He had come home to Anubis this second time with three women and a teenage girl in tow. Andrea, who had recruited him the second time, turned out to be the love of his life. A former major and commander of the special operations unit, he had turned her world upside down. Things had happened fast between them, some good some bad. She had a hard time coping with her feelings for him and her career. It continued to get worse between them, mostly due to Ben's total disrespect for authority, an attitude a career officer like Andrea could not deal with.
Ben quit and had left her but returned to rescue her when he found out they were under attack from a new enemy. He found two enemies; the Cjittan, a race of insectoids, and a group of high ranking officers in their own military. He confronted and dealt with both and, oddly enough, had been much more ruthless with the officers. Prior to leaving with him, an act of betrayal and attempted murder by those in authority over her, opened her eyes to the corruption that had infiltrated the upper echelons of command. She resigned her commission and stayed on Anubis. Over the months that followed, she had changed into someone more relaxed Ben couldn’t believe how different she was; calm, patient and very serious about what they were making with their new lives together.
E'Aria Aok was the other half of his management team at Reaper Inc. A navy engineer Ben had recruited to their special ops team, she had a number of surprises of her own, as they soon found out. He had guessed that she was a telepath right after meeting her and decided to recruit her based off of that little secret. Had the navy known, she would have been discharged immediately. The bigger secret she was the future queen of the Trillond Empire who was an Alliance member and closest thing to an ally the Colonial Alliance of Planets had.
He trusted the two women with his life and everything he owned. Lately, that was a lot. A few months ago, it was just a foot locker. Now, there was a small fleet of four starships with the words Reaper Inc. in large black letters painted on the hull of each one. It was a start.
****
Ben sat on the deck of the farmhouse, drinking his coffee alone. He had his eyes closed, mentally dealing with having to leave Anubis again. He could hear some activity in the house. He was thinking about each starship and what made it possible for him to own them. He and Nick had started Reaper Inc. after they acquired a freighter belonging to some unlucky spacers. It seemed the owner and captain of the freighter couldn’t stand losing a fight and chose to retaliate with lethal force against two people he loved dearly, the Vander Hoyts, who happened to own the house and farm he now lived in. Bad move.
He had acquired two more starships from the Trillond government that he and E'Aria had used to rescue a group of Trillond citizens. They had missed the ships that evacuated the planet Hyson when the Allith, a reptilian race, invaded. After Ben saved E'Aria, they proceeded to rescue the prisoners and escape, then rescued a few more along the way from a mining colony that had been attacked. They delivered the prisoners to safety and later, he and E'Aria were gifted the ships from her government.
His flagship, the Claymore, had been the big surprise. Ben had made an impression on the Allond, a race of reptilian humanoids. He was not a diplomat and hadn’t realized they were judging the human race by his actions, as brief as they were during their encounter aboard the Allond battle cruiser. Dinner and a brawl later, they departed as friends of the Prime Minister and his brother, the captain of the battle cruiser. As a last minute thought, he sent the captain a broadsword as a parting gift. Shortly afterward, he was given a frigate-sized starship with the blessing of the Emperor of Allond. The gift, of course, opened a giant can of worms with the Colonial government who wanted his ship. Now he was watching his back again.
He reminisced over the past and wondered if he had made the right decisions. Time would tell. He left those thoughts behind and decided to start planning. He knew the girls would have the trip under control. This was more about the people they would leave behind. He needed to convince them to be ready to leave at a moment’s notice. The trouble that was coming had no conscience, only a voracious need to feed. The Cjittan functioned together in a collective hive or colony. Some were telepathic and very intelligent, while others were drones or workers who were all ruled by a queen. If they invaded a planet, it would eventually be stripped clean of all living things. The Allith in their ignorance had allied themselves with the Cjittan and led them to Hyson opening the door to Colonial Alliance and Trillond space. It was not just a possible threat but closer to a reality that they would soon invade. There was little or no resistance when they invaded Hyson and it had been only a fleet of scouts. The lack of resistance would be noted by them. They needed to be stopped before ever getting to this region of the space.
The door opened and he heard two sets of feet. He smelled coffee and someone yawned. He heard his cup being filled about the same time a body sat on his lap, leaning back against him. An arm wrapped around his neck and he received a kiss on the cheek.
"Are we leaving Anubis soon, Dad?" Natalia asked. Ben was her de facto father and Andrea, her mother. She had no family to anyone's knowledge. She had been sold as a slave at some point in her young life. Ben had found her on a pirate ship where she had belonged to the captain who abused her and kept her locked in a steel box in the floor of his first officer’s room. She had been with him ever since her rescue and he loved her dearly. Like Andrea, she had changed much over the last four months. Her changes started almost immediately after her rescue. Her mind was more child like in the beginning but spending time with the women had helped her mature mentally. Her mind like a sponge. She was working hard to strengthen her body as well. Malnutrition had kept her weak and frail, but now she put food away like she had a hollow leg and her body had developed muscle tone. Her workouts with Ben on a scale were about three quarters the intensity compared with the older women.
"You two better not go to sleep in that chair," Andrea chided. The first rays of the sun began touching the sky.
"It's not likely we will with you around," Ben mumbled and Natalia giggled. "Alright. Get off of me, you slug. We have work to do." Natalia pretended not to hear him. Ben moved forward like he was going to dump her on the deck.
"You two quit horsing around. Your father said he wanted to leave right away, so get packed young lady!" Andrea sounded like a mom and a military training drill instructor rolled into one.
The whole house started stirring as Lorelei, Jen and E'Aria walked into the kitchen half asleep. Ma and Pa Vander Hoyt would be a minute or two later, but dressed and looking spry. They were farmers and the current time was what they called sleeping in.
"So, what's going on?" E'Aria asked.
"Ben had a dream, which he hasn’t shared with me, but feels we need to get everyon
e together and go right now."
"Then that’s what we will do." E'Aria answered in a tone that offered no discussion. I will call my aunt and inform her to be ready by the end of the day. Alona Aok was the Prime Minister of Trillond, sister of the king and E'Aria's aunt. E'Aria was nothing like her father and the time spent with Ben had changed her. She would tell her aunt to be ready. There would be no discussion.
"The Claymore is ready to go. We just need to go get it," Lorelei added.
Ben said, "We also need to find more of a crew. We could handle it but there would be no help in emergency situations and it would be good to have some stations manned around the clock."
"What about your friends at Gus's? The two spacers. What are their names? I will call Gus's and ask if they are there." E'Aria waited for Ben to answer.
Andrea laughed. "You expect him to know their names? He still calls the cook "Cook," for goodness sake. Ask for Buddy and Grubb when you call."
"How mad do you think Gus will be if we steal Cook from him for this little excursion?" Ben asked to no one in particular.
"I think he would be furious," Andrea answered and everyone just nodded their assent.
"E'Aria, ask him, and we will deal with the fallout if there is any," Ben said, looking around the room. "While you’re busy ordering your aunt around, you should get some of your subjects to help man the ship. Have her make that happen; we can rendezvous and pick them up."
Ben was watching everyone. He was still feeling some anxiety from the dream. "Lorelei, go get the Claymore. Take whoever you need but go now and get back here." They had hid the Claymore some time back from prying eyes.
"Andrea, will you call the Senator and inform him or his aide of our plans? I will call Emily and offer her a chance to go on my terms." Andrea looked at Ben but changed her mind about saying anything. Emily was Ben's childhood friend who he recently was reunited with on the rescue mission at Hyson. He discovered she graduated from college and was recruited by the military intelligence division. She was working at the embassy on Hyson trying to track down information on the Allond, but didn’t know it at the time. She only knew there was a race of beings living beyond Hyson and Allith space. Their encounter with the Allond put that project for MI to rest. Ben hadn’t seen or heard from her since he departed with Andrea until a couple of days ago at the hotel.
Reaper Inc. Page 2