Reaper Inc.

by Thomas Wright

  Ben heard the mantis trio take flight but not far. The big body stood over him, unmoving. He turned his head to see the smaller spider getting back on all eight. It started dancing around and charged. He sat up and shouldered the rifle. He watched a leg like a small crane swing. The smaller spider expected it and made an acrobatic leap, only to be swatted in mid leap by another long, hairy leg.

  Andrea sat the gunship down and targeted the large spider Ben was sitting under. Emily opened the side man door and yelled for Ben. All it took was a second and the smaller spider was on its way to easier prey. Ben ran, raising the rifle. He never saw what hit him as he skipped across the ground like a stone on water. He eased onto his hands and knees. His vision went a little out of focus for a second. He looked towards the shuttle and could see the door closed and the mantis trio keeping the spider away.

  A giant leg came to rest next to him. He stood up and lost his balance, putting his arm against the leg to steady himself. He figured if it wanted him dead, it would have been picking armor out of its teeth five minutes ago. A second after his thought, a she spider started a conversation.

  "My young are very, very hungry. The order in our clan is the smallest feed last when prey is scarce and they die first. Death comes to her and the loss of her mind is close, hunger is taking her understanding that you have provided for us I will guide her to prey."

  Ben watched as she moved towards the gunship and swatted the smaller spider again. The mantis trio moved away knowing better than to stand in close proximity as she herded it towards the woods. Ben started walking slowly towards his ship, his head clearing. He watched warily till the smaller spider made a run for the woods. There was an explosion of earth and a hissing as she tried to get to guarded food. She must have heard something because she darted deeper into the woods.

  Ben stopped at the man door. He looked over at the mantis in the middle. "If I meet any of your kind that I don’t have to kill, I will let them know you are here." He walked into the ship and shut the door. What he faced next was worse than a herd of charging spiders, hands on hips they were lined up.

  "Can we leave now or you want to go play with your new friends some more?" Andrea yelled, two feet from his face. Ben didn’t feel like fighting. He hurt all over.

  "That was sure stupid," Emily added

  Natalia added, "Yup, what she said."

  Andrea said, "I am going to destroy both the beacons then we are out of here." Ben sat down in the first seat available, head back resting. The gunship climbed to a hundred feet and Andrea disintegrated the beacon. Coordinates set, she flew to the second one, increasing speed along the way. A tap on the console and it was gone.

  Chapter 12

  The beacons destruction became a signal in itself. Five ships, disguised to look like space junk floating amongst the asteroids, began to come alive. The Allith had used pieces of other ships strapped in place on their hull to confuse the scanners. They powered off everything, life support at a bare minimum.

  ****

  The gunship entered space with alarms and lights flashing.

  "We have a problem! I am tracking five unidentified ships exiting the asteroids," Andrea yelled. Ben stood and spoke to Emily and Natalia.

  "Helmets and gloves now! Power up your suits and check each other, then strap in." He stopped at the manway to the cockpit.

  "How far away is the Claymore?" he asked.

  Andrea replied, "Other side of the planet. Once she gets our signal, she will be here in eight minutes or less."

  Ben turned back. Emily and Natalia were done. "Sit back here by the escape pod and armory. If needed, you will be close."

  Andrea yelled, "They have launched torpedoes! I have ten incoming." Ben sat next to her reading the screens. Something was wrong but he couldn’t place it. "Shields are up and at one hundred percent," he told her.

  "Weapons are on auto-defensive spread. I have the helm on manual. It won’t get them all, and I am hoping to out maneuver the rest." The gunship rocked as two torpedoes survived and scored, six were destroyed and two missed and continued on. The Allith sent ten more their way.

  "Damn, there are more," Andrea said. "I am going to turn and head straight for them."

  Ben sang out, "I am transferring shield power to the bow. The ships are breaking out of their formation and going to hit us from different directions next go around." Ben looked at Andrea, watching her move, her hands flying over the screens, then it hit him.

  "Where is your helmet?" He looked around the small cockpit not seeing it.

  "It’s in the rack behind us. There was no time!" Ben unbuckled and looked in the back. Emily and Natalia looked at him, not understanding. He saw her helmet secured to the hull. In eight long strides, he was jerking down. He turned but would never make it back. He was slammed against the inner hull and his lights went out.

  ****

  Emily blacked out, but only for a few seconds. When she was able to focus, she looked towards the front cabin through the open door at stars and darkness. It was dark inside and there was no power at all. She saw sparks but only for a second. Across from her, Natalia sat limp. Ben was floating, an apparition of black in the darkness moving towards the door and the emptiness beyond. She hurt everywhere, her head was pounding. She turned on her mag boots and unlatched the buckle of her harness so that her body lifted out of her seat.

  Emily saw red as she took her first step. She fought the pain and took another, then another. She was breathing hard, scared Ben would get through the manway before she got to him.

  ****

  E'Aria, Lorelei and Menah were on the bridge. E'Aria had given Elanac no warning as she took the Claymore to full power. Lorelei plotted the fastest course to the Allith ships. The few inhabitants of Hyson probably noticed a fireball skipping across the atmosphere. The computer of the gunship had calculated eight minutes for the Claymore to arrive but that was based off the safest most logical course at a much slower speed. The computer was unaware of the Claymore's top speed.

  Menah had a lock on all five of the Allith ships. E'Aria instructed Lorelei to maintain her speed. Menah fired until the warning alarms told her the weapons would overheat. One pass through the Allith ships and three of five were out of commission. E'Aria had Lorelei slow down at this point and a rescue team of Grubb, Buddy, Adam and Shan were suited up and in the shuttle. Shan, being a maintenance tech, had some experience flying shuttles. They headed for the wreckage of the gunship while the Claymore chased the two remaining Allith ships. Menah loaded some of the Allond missiles and fired. The two Allith ships were gone from the screens a few seconds later. She loaded three more and they went in the direction of the three Allith ships they had disabled. They disappeared off the screens as well. E'Aria ordered a patrol of the asteroid belt just to make sure there were no other ships waiting in ambush.

  The shuttle eased up to the gunship. The rescue team hung their heads, seeing it up close. Grubb got on the com to E'Aria.

  "Captain E'Aria, it looks bad. The cockpit has been blown off the ship. It is open to space with no power at all."

  "Can you see anyone Grubb? Any bodies? Anything?" E'Aria asked.

  "Mr. Shan, could you turn on the outer lights please," Grubb asked. leaving the com open.

  Emily hid at first, not knowing who was outside. She had Ben tied down with electrical wire. She went to the armory and grabbed the widow maker. There was no gravity so she could handle it. She stepped through the manway and pointed the widow maker at the shuttle.

  "Flash the lights, Mr. Shan. Hurry, flash them." Shan started tapping his console. Emily recognized the shuttle about the same time. She lowered the weapon and waved to them. Walking to the back, she put the widow maker away. She was getting used to the mag boots. She opened the side manway manually and watched the shuttle approach.

  "Mr. Shan, I think we should vent the hold of the shuttle and open the doors. Then you can tickle the thrusters and hold us in place while we jump across with lanyards on.
Buddy can stay in the hold and pull us in if we stray."

  E'Aria heard the idea and approved. "Mr. Shan, we will maneuver in close proximity and monitor your position to the gun boat. The closer, the better, obviously." A few minutes later, everyone was in position. Grubb and Adam were going over. Buddy was the lanyard man. Emily stood two steps back from the manway in case they actually made it through on the first try. It was about eight feet, which should be nothing.

  Emily heard Grubb swearing as he bounced off the side of the gunship. She moved forward, holding out her arm. Grubb grabbed her forearm and she grabbed his, and pulled him inside. It was Adams turn to get ready to grab him. He motioned them back away from the entry and walked to the edge of the ramp. He put his finger on the mag boot switch and bent slightly at the knee. He hit the button and pushed off gently midway. He turned the boots back on and came to a perfect landing inside the gunship. They stared at him, amazed. Emily pointed at Adam then to Natalia. Adam looked Emily over and moved to touch her belt. She slapped his hand away. He motioned with his hands to relax. He pushed a button on her power pack, then started pushing buttons on his and talking. A second later, she heard his voice in her helmet.

  "I'm sorry, Adam," she said, understanding.

  "It’s no problem Ms. Emily. Let’s get them out of here."

  "Take Natalia first and Grubb and I will get Ben ready."

  "Where is Ms. Andrea?" Adam asked. Emily just shook her head and choked up with wet eyes. Adams face became very sad. He nodded and unbuckled Natalia, cradling her in his arms. He performed the same maneuver, making it look easy, and laid Natalia on the floor of the shuttle. He was back in the gunship just as they finished removing the wire that was tying Ben to the chair. He moved Grubb aside and stood Ben up. He bent at the knees and let Ben fall forward, resting him on his shoulder as he turned off his mag boots.

  Grubb and Emily watched, not speaking. They followed him to the manway and watched as he pushed lightly off the gunship and landed in the hold of the shuttle. Buddy was sitting, holding Natalia in place, as Adam deposited Ben on his other side. Adam pulled both their knees up feet flat on the floor and turned on their boots then walked back to the edge of the ramp. Emily was next.

  "Ms. Emily, put your finger on the button, bend at the knee and push off pushing the button at the same time. Keep your finger on it and push it again." Emily did well, her push off was a little hard but Adam caught her. She walked up and sat by Buddy.

  "Come on you, old goat, nice and easy now, don’t tip the ship over." Grubb just took a step using no extra force. He was going to fall about four feet short. Adam grabbed the lanyard and gave it a hard jerk propelling Grubb into the shuttle and bouncing off the wall.

  "Shut the doors, Mr. Shan," Adam ordered. The shuttle started moving as the doors closed. It was a thirty second trip around the back of the Claymore and into the hold. Once they cleared the force field, all three of the survivors groaned in pain, as the gravity pushed their bruised and broken bodies.

  Chapter 13

  Binda hurried back to the hold. "Bring them straight to medical. I have two stations waiting." Adam bent over and scooped up Natalia in his arms and carried her to medical. He went to work removing her helmet, belt, boots and vac suit. Ben had bought medical supplies and equipment for the Claymore. Grubb grabbed a stretcher and he and Buddy lay Ben on it. They were on their way, with Emily right on their heels. She was removing her helmet and belt as she walked.

  As a steward to the Supreme Commander, Binda had received medical training but it did not include surgical skills. She was more or less qualified as a nurse in colonial terms. E'Aria hurried to medical. She had been crying and her soft green skin was blotchy. Lorelei was right next to her, bloodshot eyes, sniffling, holding E'Aria's arm. It was contagious as the whole room broke down sobbing at that point. Lorelei moved to help Adam with Natalia and E'Aria and Emily went to work on removing Ben's armor.

  The first thing off was his helmet. The side of his face was black, blue, purple and red. He moaned softly every time they moved his head. Lorelei pulled off his gloves and E'Aria unbuckled his armor then started on the inner zipper.

  "Ms. E'Aria," Adam said softly, "He has a dislocated shoulder. His chest and back around the shoulder will probably look like his face." E'Aria took a deep breath and let it out slowly, anticipating the damage.

  "Grubb, would you and Buddy have Mr. Shan take you back to the gunship and take everything salvageable out of it? Especially the weapons and ammo. Then put everything away where it belongs."

  "Aye, Captain." Grubb looked a little sheepish. "Captain, would you want us to take a look around to see if there is anything left of the cockpit." Grubb didn’t know exactly how to ask.

  E'Aria walked over and took his arm leading him outside the room. "Once you have cleaned out the gunship, have Mr. Shan take make a circuitous route with full scanners. Once that is completed, get back to the ship."

  "Aye Captain, least wise, we can say we tried. I believe he would be very unhappy if we don’t try."

  E'Aria turned away and walked back into medical. Binda had injected all three with pain killers. Emily lay down on a small couch and went to sleep. Natalia had bruising from the restraints, possible whiplash and seemed to be just knocked out. Adam was doing the lifting while E'Aria pulled Ben’s armor off.

  "Lorelei, go back to the bridge with Menah. They are banged up but will be ok, I think," E'Aria said firmly, knowing she might get an argument.

  "Onak is there with her. They don’t need me," Lorelei snapped back.

  "That is correct but you are my first officer and I need you to check on the crew and passengers. I will be finished here in a short time and then we will explain to everyone what we know and depart this wretched place." Lorelei gave her a ‘go to hell’ look, she turned and walked out. Two steps into her walk up the corridor, three words formed in her head "I heard that."

  E'Aria had a sheet ready to cover Ben, as Adam removed his thermals. She had seen him naked but there were others who may just walk in and they didn’t need to. Binda just looked at her. Adam walked around them to study Ben’s shoulder. The bulge on top told the story as Binda studied the scan for any breaks or fractures. Adam strapped his legs, waist, and chest down, as well and his good arm.

  Binda said, "You seem to know what you are doing."

  "I have some training and experience, nothing elegant but it gets the job done," Adam answered. He took a minute to go through the steps involved with setting the arm back in the socket.

  "Should we administer some pain medication directly to the area?" Binda asked.

  Adam thought about for a second. "Yes and you might want to give him something to keep him unconscious."

  "I will be back shortly," E'Aria said. "I have a message to send." She walked to her quarters, sat down and wrote:

  Aisling O'Shaughnessy, Captain CNS Warhammer and Nick Vamos, Reaper Inc. Anubis.

  My Friends,

  Sadly and with regret I inform you of the death of Andrea Andersen. There was an attack on the gunship she was piloting during the search for survivors and investigating two rescue beacons on the planet Hyson. Benjamin, Natalia and Emily are alive and should be on their feet in a few days. We are continuing on our mission to Allond with heavy hearts. I sense many hard and sad days to come once Ben and Natalia regain consciousness.

  E'Aria Aok, Captain, Reaper Inc.

  E'Aria pushed send and returned to medical. Binda and Adam were talking softly about their lives in the military. Her friends slept, she pushed a strand of hair off of Natalia's face. She listened to their conversation learning a little about them both. The com in her ear beeped.

  Lorelei reported. "Captain, we are underway. I will keep the weapons warm and scanners on maximum till we arrive at our destination. Grubb reports that all your requests are completed."

  "Thank you, I will be on the bridge in five." She looked at Binda and Adam. "Contact me immediately when one of them wakes," she said
looking at Binda. "I need you in your galley, Adam. I am going to call a meeting of crew and passengers. Can you have coffee and some things ready in thirty minutes?"

  "Aye Captain, I will put a little spread together."

  ****

  The mammoth cloaked ship eased in an hour after the Claymore. They sent a shuttle to the gunship. It scanned it and departed.

  "Great One, there is no genetic material in the remains of the ship. The remains of the female are mostly viable. It is a good find my lord, she is a warrior and mate to the one we seek."

  "Very well, take the samples and store the rest just in case. You know our first attempts do not always turn out the desired result."

  ****

  Everyone but Lorelei had assembled in the mess. Adam had setup a table with small appetizers. E'Aria could tell everyone already knew what had happened. As Captain, she felt she needed to say a few words to everyone anyway. Adam sat a glass in front of each person and filled it with their favorite drink.

  "As many of you already know, we lost a crewmate today and I lost a dear friend as well. There may be a ceremony at another time, I don’t know. There are two who were closer to her than me who may make that decision. Until then, please raise your glass to Major Andrea Andersen. She was respected by many and will be missed by all." E'Aria looked around the somber room.

  "This undertaking was always thought to be dangerous. We let our guard down momentarily and it cost us more than any of you know. I do not plan to let that happen again. The Allith are a rabble and have no ship the Claymore cannot destroy in a manner of minutes. But they are not the only race we might possibly encounter and some of them are formidable opponents. It is my order that we will not stop for anything until we are safe in Allond space. If there are any other beacons, we will report their coordinates. We will not engage any hostile ship without first trying to safely evade and outrun it."