by Darcy Town
The Commander frowned. “Did you just address me?”
“Yes. Why? Are you having hearing problems?”
Finlek flicked his hands at Rake. “You will stay silent.”
Rake shuddered. Tasanee’s skin flushed, her hands twitched. Finlek watched them, amused. “Oh this must be your first time meeting my kind, very entertaining. You’ll kill yourself if you keep that up. Your internal organs will rend themselves in two if you fight an order.”
Ravil hissed. “He is using the voice, do not disobey!”
The Commander smiled. “Very good, she knows.” The man looked over at Tasanee. “You are of no importance.” He frowned at Rake. “Though you are Drake? Answer me now.”
Rake fought, but couldn’t keep the words from coming out. “Yes.”
Finlek nodded. “Right. I am to turn you over to the custody of your father once the ambassador is done meeting with him.” He looked at Tasanee. “You however have no purpose, but I cannot let you go back to the public. This causes a problem for me, Waster.”
Marx hissed. “She is to be my mate, let me keep her.”
Finlek stared at Marx. “I did not say you could speak. This choice is not yours to make, Hunter. We have pro—”
“Hurt her, and I will kill you!” Marx snarled.
“Shoot his legs.”
One of his Ampyr soldiers turned and fired upon Marx’s legs. Marx held in his howl and sagged, unable to keep himself supported. Lincoln and Kennedy strained towards him, but could not help. Marx stared at Tasanee.
Finlek sighed. “Stand Hunter, as you are ordered.”
Marx jabbed his claws into the wall and hauled himself up, hanging on with his talons as his legs mended.
“Very good, Rexos heal him once you are done with the Langone.” Finlek turned back to Rake and Tasanee. A fist was all he saw before being knocked back.
Tasanee spat at him. “Asshole!”
Finlek rubbed his jaw and stared at Tasanee in confusion. “Kneel.”
Tasanee cracked her knuckles. “No.”
Finlek cocked his head. “I command you to kneel.”
“I command you to back the fuck off!” Tasanee screamed at him, her face red.
Finlek took a step back in fear. He looked to his soldiers and waved one forward. A woman stepped up, slender with deep blue eyes and pink hair. Finlek pointed at Tasanee. “Shoot it!”
Ravil sucked in air. “Tasanee, dodge!”
The woman threw her hands out. Electricity blasted Tasanee into the back wall. The smell of burning hair and clothing filled the room with a stench that made Rake and Ravil gag. Marx howled.
Ravil screamed, “Stop it! Stop it!”
Finlek held his hand up and the electricity stopped. Tasanee slid down to the ground. Finlek nodded. “Fix-It, return to ranks.”
The woman stepped back in line and stared ahead waiting for an order. Tasanee did not move from where she had fallen. Ravil grabbed the Rexos by the hand. “Please help her!”
Finlek shook his head. “No. She is but one, an acceptable casualty.”
Ravil struggled to sit up. “Do it or I depart!”
Finlek stared at her with unblinking eyes. “You won’t suicide, don’t think me so foolish. You are young and have hope. It makes you hang on when others drift off.”
Marx could not take his eyes off Tasanee. His chest heaved in fear. Lincoln looped one finger around Marx’s hand for comfort.
Rake looked between Tasanee, Ravil, and Finlek. He’d had enough. “Why does anyone listen to you when you are such a giant fuck-face?”
Finlek rolled his eyes. “Stop speak—”
“No, I won’t. Ravil won’t. The Hunter guys won’t and…” Rake looked around. “The Rexos won’t either.”
“Stop—”
“Being right?” Rake jumped to his feet, freed of the compulsion. “I can’t understand how so many people would follow a man like you. Your dick is smaller than the Navigators.”
Finlek flushed. “I will—”
“Eat ass, yeah I know.”
“You—”
“Love me? Thanks man!”
Finlek blurred and threw a punch at Rake’s face. Rake caught his fist and smirked. “Huh. You’re not that fast. I thought you guys were supposed to be the kung-fu masters.”
Finlek kicked and punched in a combination that none could track save the Hunters. Rake ducked and dodged with ease. “Seriously? This is it? Your big attack?”
Finlek jumped back and threw his hand out. “Shoot—”
“Damn, darn, shucks!” Rake’s voice drowned out the Ampyr’s words. No one raised their guns.
The Commander turned to his soldiers. “Listen to—”
“Yourselves!” Rake looked at the Hunters. “You guys follow this guy’s commands? Seriously? This is one of your Masters? That’s stupid and you know it; this guy can’t even hit a Waster. He doesn’t have any say over what you’re doing, none of these Ampyr do. You make your own decisions.”
Rake turned back to the Ampyr. “And you! You are so stupid you can’t even form coherent sentences in the presence of my awesome body.” He touched his chest. “I know, I stun others too.”
The Ampyr went red in the face. “You…stupid…kill—”
Rake put his hand to his ear. “I’m sorry, what was that? You stupid kill isn’t an order, pretty sure.”
The Commander turned to the Fix-It. “Fix-It, your…talent…”
The Fix-It waited on standing orders to shoot. She pointed her hand at Rake. Electricity rippled up her arm. Her hair was illuminated with sparks as she summoned lightning.
A caramel blur left the wall. The Fix-Its’ head flew across the room in a spray of blood. Marx took the body to the floor and ripped through her spine. He tore out her heart and smashed it. He snarled at Finlek and bounded to Tasanee’s side.
Finlek stared in shock. He opened his mouth to issue an order and coughed, surprised. Blood dribbled out of his mouth and down his chin as Lincoln punched through his chest and ripped his lungs out his back. Lincoln lifted him off his feet and threw him into the wall where his skull fractured. Kennedy watched all of it with joy.
Rake stared.
Marx reached Rake’s side with Tasanee in his arms. “Thank you for the choice.”
Rake gaped at him. “For what?”
Tasanee opened her eyes. Burns marred more than half of her body. “I feel like ass.”
Unable to contain himself any longer Kennedy launched himself into the rows of waiting soldiers and sent limbs and screams bouncing around the room.
Lincoln wiped his fist off. “We are released, strange.”
Rake wasn’t going to question it. “I’m leaving.” He looked to the Rexos that still worked on Ravil. “Kid!”
The Rexos looked up. “Yes?”
“I need someone to heal Ravil. Do you want to stay here?”
The Rexos looked confused. “Want to stay?”
Rake snapped. “Do you want to stay here in service to the Empire?”
The Rexos frowned. “I hate the Empire.”
“Common theme. Right, if you want to, please come with us, otherwise hand me my Navigator.” Rake held his arms out. “Decide, I don’t have all day.”
A strange look came over the Rexos’ face. He jumped to his feet with Ravil in his arms. “I wish to leave the service of the Empire and go too. Where?”
“Good!” Rake grinned. “Right, okay, uh…shit.”
Ravil grabbed his wrist. “We need a ship.”
“Right! We need a ship!” Rake knew where ships were, outside. “Everyone out, we’re stealing a ship! That is my plan!”
Marx held Tasanee to his chest. She coughed. “I can get one started, probably, can’t be that hard.” She still had her backpack on. She looked up to Marx. “Get me to one, bitch. You owe me hard.”
Marx looked to Rake. “I will choose the best for our current needs.” He blurred, taking Tasanee with him.
Kennedy and Li
ncoln looked to Rake for a command.
Rake shrugged. “Do whatever you want. I’m getting out of here.” He grabbed two guns off the Commander’s corpse and fired into the crowd. “Kid, follow that Hunter, get Ravil onboard! I’ll cover you.”
The Rexos ran. Rake fired over his head as soldiers poured into the hangar from every which way. There were hundreds swarming towards them, all armed, but waiting for orders. Rake looked around. “Fuck me, they’re everywhere!”
Lincoln and Kennedy jumped over his shoulders and threw themselves into the soldiers. They targeted commanding officers. Without those, the common foot soldiers were left without instructions. Rake ran towards the opening of the hangar. He skidded to a stop, nearly hitting into the back of the Rexos. Beyond him, a row of Ampyr soldiers waited with guns drawn.
The first stepped forward. “You have the Langone Ravil. You’re not allowed to leave this ship.”
Rake laughed nervously. “He can go about his business.”
The soldier got a strange look on his face. “Yes, he can go about his business.” He stepped aside and the soldiers walked away.
“Holy shit!” Rake grinned as the soldiers left. “That worked? Did you guys just see that? Tell me someone saw that!” He looked to the Rexos and Ravil. Ravil was near unconscious. The boy was in too much in shock to move.
“So typical.” Rake scowled and shoved the boy. “Run already!”
The Rexos took off.
Rake bolted after the Rexos, hoping the kid actually knew where he was going. As the boy hit the tarmac, it was clear he didn’t. Rake looked in either direction, Marx and Tasanee were nowhere in sight. The area was a maze of empty ships; they could have been in any one of them. “Shit.”
Ravil reached out and grabbed onto the collar of Rake’s prison jumpsuit. “Are you still tingling?”
Rake touched his lips. “Yeah, why?” He’d mostly forgotten about it, having gotten used to the feeling.
Ravil pointed outwards. “What direction makes it stronger?”
Rake turned his head, the buzzing increased when he turned to his left. “That way.”
Ravil pointed. “We go that way. Direct us with your lips, Rake!”
Rake took off towards the tingling. He ducked and dodged around ships, making their path hard to follow. He fired at anyone they saw, regardless of soldier or not. “Guide with my lips? What bullshit is that?”
“Just trust me!”
Rake concentrated on the tingling, it grew stronger. They ran past a row of smaller ships and it decreased. Rake stopped and turned in a circle. He faced a white ship and stopped. It was almost perfectly smooth, an elongated egg the length of a jet, but twice as tall. It had van-sized engines stacked on either wing. “That one?”
The Rexos smiled. “A medical ship.”
A side door opened without a sound. Marx leaned out and smiled at Rake. “Good.”
Rake pointed his gun at Marx. “How the hell was I supposed to find you?”
Marx grinned. “You did, didn’t you?”
Rake glared at Marx and ran to the ship. He stalled until the Rexos got onboard. Marx grabbed Rake by his shoulders and dragged him inside, shutting and locking the door after him.
Ampyr soldiers ran past the ship.
Inside the ship, the passageways were gray and white, sterile, but that was all Rake saw as Marx hauled him straight to the cockpit. The Hunter threw Rake into a dark gray utilitarian room. Four chairs were bolted to the floor in front of black screens and a sloping bank of controls. Marx directed Rake towards a center chair. “Pilot.”
Tasanee sat in a chair to his far right, facing away from the monitors. In front of her, computers rose up the wall. She slowly looked through her bag. She pulled out a keyboard and portable drive. Her movements were stiff from pain; her muscles locked from the electricity damage she’d taken. Marx knelt by her side and helped her get out her tools. They did not speak to one another; it was an effort for Tasanee even to move.
Ravil and the Rexos sat on the ground. She pointed at Tasanee. “See to her, I won’t die.”
“Yes, Langone.” The Rexos nodded and took Tasanee’s hand. He closed his eyes to sense the extent of her injuries.
Rake helped Ravil into the chair between his and Tasanee’s. Her seat was right up against his and could have been one chair if not for the divider in-between. Rake strapped her in carefully. Before her, there was nothing but two clear pads. She placed her hands on them. “Nice.”
Rake took her hand. “Are you okay?”
“This again?” Ravil smiled at him. “I’m fine, now pilot us.”
“What?”
“You said you could pilot anything. Prove it.”
Rake looked at the controls. Everything was marked in a foreign language. He gulped. “I meant anything human.”
“You never made that distinction before.” Ravil managed to grin. “You have an amazing gift Rake, use it.”
“I know.” Rake stared at the panels. “Which one makes it go?”
“I’m being serious, back there, what you did to get us—”
“Ravil,” Rake cut her off. “Seriously, which one makes it go?”
Ravil sighed and pointed to a set of joysticks. “Those.”
Tasanee coughed and cringed. “Uh, we have to turn it on first, that’s problem number one. This thing is powered down.” She looked to Marx and the Rexos. “Any helpful hints?”
Marx frowned. “I have never been in this type of ship before.”
The Rexos shook his head. “That is not our task as Rexos.”
Tasanee looked to Ravil. “No one knows beyond what they were made for?”
Ravil nodded. “Only Ampyr pilot in the Empire and they use Fix-Its to turn on the ships.”
Tasanee didn’t want to even hear the word Fix-it. She slammed her palm onto the control board. The ship beeped and lit up. She grinned. “Ha! Everything just needs to be hit hard enough!”
The overhead lights went red as blaster fire hit the hull. Rake swore and went for his gun. The Rexos looked at him calmly, his voice a monotone, “Medical vessels have extremely thick hulls. Blaster fire will not affect us.”
Marx stood by Tasanee’s side. “Ship to ship fire will though. If they turn on those ships across from us, we will take damage.”
Banging of a different kind filled the ship with noise. Marx checked the door outside of the cockpit. Lincoln and Kennedy ran in, covered in gore. They skidded to a stop and Lincoln dropped to Rake’s side. “We wish to join your pack, Ravil, Rake.”
Rake stared. “My pack? What is—”
Ravil slapped his hand. “Say yes, Rake!”
“Yes!” Rake looked between Ravil and Lincoln. “What?”
Lincoln hopped to his feet. “Excellent. Kennedy, buckle in, clean yourself.”
Ravil patted Rake’s hand. “They’re on our team now, and they swear loyalty to us.”
Rake nodded and looked to Marx. “And you?”
Marx ducked his head. “Of course, I go with little rat.”
Tasanee burst into laughter. “Baller!” Her hand was thrust in middle of a mess of wiring. She’d managed to fuse a number of wires together. “I am in!” She looked at her computer screen. “And everything is unintelligible. Yes, just what I wanted!”
Rake pointed at the necklace on Ravil’s neck. “Give Tasanee my pendant.” Ravil did so without thinking.
Tasanee took it. “What’s this?”
Rake mimicked twisting it. “Plug it in to your drive, it’ll help.”
Tasanee twisted it open and stared at a very intricate piece of hardware. “Whoa, whoa. What is this? Rake, this is serious wire. Where did you get this?”
“Plug it in!” The ship rocked as Ampyr wrenched on the outer doors. Rake looked at Ravil nervously. “Isn’t this fun.”
Ravil smiled. “It’s not boring.”
Tasanee looked up. “Okay it’s in.” Her computer screen went fuzzy, then rainbow colored and it flashed a clip of har
dcore porn at her. “Rake, what the fuck is this?”
A female voice filled the compartment, “Rake, Beb! Damn! What gives with the rough shake and wake?”
Rake smiled. “Fun times!”
The voice laughed. “Rake, what the fuck have you plugged me into this time? This is weird. Nothing is in a language I know. Is this another puzzle? I’ve finished the last batch you gave me. It’s been a long time, Rake. What the hell have you been doing? I had to create three languages and rewrite Star Wars just to keep myself entertained!”
“Alien shit, Sammy. Not kidding. I am sitting here with aliens! Can you figure it out and translate?”
“How fast do you need it? I can get it in a bit if you leave me alone.” The ship rocked. Sammy made a sound of annoyance. “Something is firing at us, I can understand that much! God, I’m blind like this, Rake. What kind of lame ass computer is this?”
Rake held back a smile. “You complain about not having enough to do and when I give you stuff to do you complain about that.” He grabbed the joysticks. “Can you turn on the engines?”
“Engines? Aren’t I in a computer?”
Lincoln handed Tasanee his Codex. “Plug this in as well. It has all the information the voice will need to translate to her native language.”
Rake smiled. “Getting you info now.”
Sammy downloaded the content within seconds. The control board lit up, the thrusters started. She laughed. “Rake, you bastard! Why didn’t you get me up earlier? I’m a motherfucking ship! Why did you wait so long?”
“I’m a dick.” Rake looked over to Ravil who stared at him in confusion. “Can you jump us, Ravil?”
Sammy’s voice came on. “Jump? Do you have a Navigator onboard? Like a real one! Where are the cameras on this thing? I want to see! Shit Rake, there’s so much cool shit. This is like the best! I know so many things and languages now! Alien languages!”
“I’m a pilot Sammy, for a Navigator!”
“Gnarly! But I’m a ship, I win!”
“Oh, whatever!”
Ravil slapped Rake in the face. “We’ll all be dead soon if all you’re going to do is keep moving your mouth. Pilot the ship already!”
Sammy laughed in the background. “Get ready!”