“I see that, Commander. Can you guess their intentions?”
“I don’t understand, Captain.”
“What is their status, Commander? Weapons, shields, speed? Was there a reason to yell what was obvious to everyone else here?” Dakkon said coolly. He made a sweeping motion with his arm at all the other crewmen who sat calmly at their stations working. “In the heat of battle, feel free to yell information pertinent to our situation and success.”
“Yes, Captain, I understand.”
“I hope you do, Commander, or you will find yourself Officer in Charge of Sanitation,” Dakkon threatened.
There were a few coughs and noises that could only be laughs cut short. “You cannot do that. My father is a friend of the Emperor and—”
“And I am brother to the Emperor, you are here as a favor to my brother, not because of your father. I still have not heard the status of ten foreign ships in Allond space. You have two breaths to speak or the guards will take you to your new assignment.”
Commander Izzak was furious and that cost him. His brain was processing how he would have the Captain removed from his post when the guards took both of his arms and pulled his thrashing body from the bridge.
“You all have ten breaths to express your happiness then someone better start reporting.” Dakkon knew his people—especially the bridge crew—were unhappy with the appointment of Commander Izzak. Dakkon would not be the leader he was if he didn’t know the thoughts feelings of his top officers. It had taken time to get to this point but it was only a favor, Izzak just didn’t fit. While none of the crew had never come to him with a grievance, their expressions and body language told him enough.
Dakkon already knew the status of the ships but he would not let his crew deviate from proper procedure. The second Commander Izzak said he didn’t understand, Dakkon’s fingers had started working the keys on his link to the bridge and had it on a screen next to his captain’s seat. He could have taken control of the ship at that moment, but it wasn’t necessary. The rest of his crew were performing their duties properly.
“Captain, the Khalnalax have not powered shields or weapons. Calculating our current speed and theirs, we should meet in six duty cycles,” the helm officer reported.
“Send a message to all the Khalnalax ships; warships are not allowed within the Empire of Allond without a special invitation from the Emperor. Follow it with a message to the Emperor detailing our situation.” While it wasn’t necessarily true it would serve to start.
“Yes, Captain,” the com officer replied. “Captain, the distance will not allow a response from the Emperor to reach us before we are in weapons range of the Khalnalax.”
“Noted, thank you.”
“Comm, advise Captain Kimit of our situation and provide her with arrival coordinates at the rear of the Khalnalax formation out of sensor range.”
There was a short pause before the report. “All messages transmitted, Captain.”
“Now we wait.”
****
“Captain Sashet, the Khalnalax ship is on the far side of the planet,” the second officer reported. “The space port is under a swirling mass of atmospheric turbulence. It’s visible even from this distance.”
“I see. Take us in,” Sashet ordered.
“But Captain—”
“Do it! Now! Do not make me tell you again.”
Natalia was glad to have someone else receiving a piece of Sash’s wrath. She had been its object for the past three days. Not that she didn’t deserved it; it was hard to change her ways. Her father wanted her to learn from the Captain. She could already operate any station on the bridge, so there must be other things he thought she could learn. She would rather be with him, but this would make him happy with her again. They would be reunited shortly; no storm was going to change that.
“Natalia, input the coordinates for the space station warehouse that Kimit provided.”
A brief pause. “Done, Captain.”
“Good. Suit up and get mine ready. I’ll join you shortly.”
Natalia got up and a Cjittan girl, Amileez, took her place. She had met her on her first day aboard. Amileez had piercings and her platinum hair was chopped into a spikey mess. Natalia wasn’t sure of her age, but she thought Amileez was older than her. They were roommates and becoming fast friends, but only after Amileez attacked her within the first five minutes in their room and Natalia put her face first into metal floor with her arm twisted behind her back. Amileez surrendered, promising to never do it again. Pecking order established, there had been no other problems between them. Everyone knew of Natalia and there were members of the crew who decided they didn’t care who her father was, they were going to take a shot at her. It was a dumb idea—enough of them saw Sashet and Natalia go at it a few weeks ago, Natalia about to choke the life out of Sashet before Benjamin intervened, or rather, chewed them out.
Lots of things happened on her first day aboard the ship. In the end, she reasoned, they were all necessary. Unlike living on the Claymore with her father and her extended family. This life was truly dog eat dog and only the strong survive. It was the pirate way.
****
Natalia had trained with Snake, Harry and Imelda and before them her father, Lorelei, Andrea, Bill and Matt. Most all of them were hardened soldiers or fighters trained for war, or just rather large opponents that were too tough to even hurt, let alone beat. She wouldn’t let that stop her from trying; it only increased her resolve. It only made her stronger.
Two of the largest pirates on the ship, large for Cjittan, decided that Amileez and Natalia shouldn’t eat their meal by themselves. One sat across from them while the other sat next to Amileez. They began to mercilessly pick on Amileez then the one next to her began touching and teasing. If they were wanting to rile up Natalia, they did a good job. Natalia stood with her plate in her hand. “Come on. I’ve lost my appetite and that one is going to start drooling in a second,” Natalia complained.
Both pirates stood and the one next to Amileez grabbed her arm. “You know what I’ll do to you if you try to walk away.” The other one walked around toward Natalia. She waited. He leered and stepped too close. Dropping to her knees right in front of him, she punched him twice in rapid succession right in the groin and rolled to the side as he bent over where she had just been kneeling. Standing at his side, she raised her elbow and drove it into the back of his head. He slumped onto the floor, one hand holding his head and the other his jewels.
Amileez jerked her arm, trying to free it. Natalia took two quick steps and leapt off a chair, landing on the table. Her opponent saw her coming and pulled back his arm back to launch a wild roundhouse punch. Holding Amileez left him nothing to block with. Natalia used her momentum to add force to the palm punch she landed on the big man’s chin, driving his open mouth shut with a crack. Teeth broke and his head snapped as he fell, Natalia riding his chest to the floor. Amileez came down with them and was able to pull free of his grip. She crawled to the table and took the metal plate she ate off of and began beating the big man about the face and hands as he tried to protect his head.
“Come on, Amileez, let’s go. They’ve had enough,” Natalia said. She didn’t listen. “You can stop hitting him.”
They headed toward the door and found Captain Sashet with two of the pirates who performed security on the ship. Amileez immediately started talking when Natalia put a hand on her arm and shushed her. They both stood in front of Sashet, waiting quietly for the captain to speak. Sashet’s mouth quivered as if she wanted to say something then changed her mind.
“Go on, get out of here,” Sashet finally said and motioned with her head to the door. Both girls took long quick strides and were out the door, continuing their pace up the corridor. Sashet stepped out the door alone and yelled at their backs. “I want all the details later.”
Natalia and Amileez looked back to see her smiling. I’m not the helpless child I was the last time I lived among pirates, Natalia thought. Damn. It was onl
y midday.
****
Natalia buckled and zipped up her armor then buckled on her weapons belt. Her thoughts back on task, she checked over the Captain’s armor. She couldn’t find any issues; it was serviceable. Those two who interrupted her lunch the day before yesterday probably wished they had worn armor. Bastards.
“We’ll leave as soon as I’m ready. There will be a few others joining us,” Sashet commented as she walked in. “Go prep the shuttle.”
“Captain,” Natalia acknowledged. She walked across the hold to the shuttle and opened it. Like the ship, it wasn’t great but it worked. Sashet probably made sure of it. Sitting in the pilot seat, she started the checklist and diagnostics and heard the others enter and sit. She stood and turned to face her passengers.
There were four and the Captain wasn’t one of them. Two she didn’t know and two she knew too well. Her palm was still a little sore. The two she didn’t know were smiling, grinning from ear to ear, and the other two had a simple look of hatred. The Captain was nowhere in sight and there was no way she was going to flinch. The seating area would hold about ten and the four were separated by empty seats.
Natalia didn’t say a word as she walked past the haters—their glares had to hurt their swollen bruised faces—and proceeded to the two who were all smiles. “Anything you would care to share, either of you? I haven’t heard a good joke in a long time.”
“We won the lottery to come on this trip. We heard it’s going to be better than the naval station.”
“There was a lottery?” Natalia asked, bewildered.
“Oh yeah. Everyone wanted to volunteer, come and watch, but Captain only wanted two after she picked those two.”
Sash picked those two assholes, tricky bitch, Natalia thought. She wasn’t furious but she was angry. She must be testing her. “Hey, you want to hear something funny?”
The pirate nodded. He was slouched in the seat unguarded. Natalia grabbed the front of his armor with both hands and pulled him toward her, slamming her helmet into his face. The knuckles and back of her gloves were armored and, as they had in her past fights, they left an indentation on the side of his face when she followed with a right hook. Blood spattered the shuttle wall. The hater next to him shifted in his seat and Natalia cleared her holster, pointing her pistol at his head. She stepped back toward the control center and the pilot’s seat, putting all four passengers in front of her.
“Hey, Smiley, you still think something is funny?” Natalia asked. She waited for him to answer but he wouldn’t even meet her eyes. “Get off my shuttle and send someone else who will take this more serious. That goes for all of you, get the fuck off if you got anything in mind other than doing what you’re told.”
“You aren’t the captain. She asked us to come,” Jewels said.
“Listen to me very carefully, I promised the Captain I would try not to kill anyone on her ship. Try. I should have killed both of you two days ago. I don’t like leaving angry people at my back, but there was the promise. In just a little while, we won’t be on the ship anymore and you know what that means?” At that moment, she realized who she sounded like.
“The captain won’t let you kill us.”
“Let me tell you a story, Admiral Ooni offered to buy me and in two breaths I shot him in the face. You might still find pieces of him on the wall of the ship if you look hard enough. I’m not going to give you two breaths.” The grinning idiots left, one leaving behind a trail of blood. Natalia holstered her pistol and drew her knife. “Come on. It’s just the three of us. Let’s sort this out.”
“You’re crazy,” Jewels said. Broken Teeth nodded his agreement.
“Maybe, but I’m also an officer of this ship. We are still aboard so I can’t kill you but I’m sure as hell gonna cut you up unless we can come to an agreement.”
“What kind of an agreement?”
“A simple one. If we work together on a job or you become assigned to me, you do what I say and I’ll have your back. Otherwise, on ship we stay out of each other’s way and you leave Amileez alone.”
Most of the fire was gone from their eyes. She could have given them lots of reasons they should leave her the hell alone: her dad, Imelda, Harry, the rest of the crew of the Claymore and probably some others. It would go hard on them if something happened to her. All of Sashet’s crew and possibly even Sashet wouldn’t survive it. But this was about her and she would handle this and any other situation that came up. She saw the captain with smiley who wasn’t smiling and a new crewman who looked a little scared.
“The captain’s coming. I need an answer or we need to settle this right now.”
“I agree,” they both said in unison.
“What do you agree with?” Sashet asked apparently hearing their answers.
“We all agree that the food could use some improvement, Captain. It makes the crew do some crazy things,” Natalia answered.
Sashet looked at the blood on the wall. “I understand and have often thought that myself. So when we return, Natalia, you will clean my shuttle inside and out and then spend a week working as the food supervisor to improve our fare.”
All four of the crew laughed. Natalia sighed and sat in the pilot’s seat. Sashet sat next to her after eyeballing the four in back to silence. “So what was that really about?” Sashet asked quietly as the shuttle lifted and waited for the bridge to clear them.
“Pecking order, Captain, and I’m at the top.”
“Good. My shuttle better be cleaner and my food taste better after we get back. Let’s go find the survivors and your father.”
“I’ll do my best, Captain.”
“Very good.”
“Captain?”
“Yes.”
“I don’t know how to cook.”
“You don’t know how to lie, either.”
Chapter 22
The rain was moving sideways in the heavy wind as I carried a crate over my shoulder and made my way down the steps in search of a way inside. I held the rail to keep my balance as I leaned over the side to see how far along I was. Those kids were tough, out in this mess trying to escape until they ran into that “shit happens” moment. No shuttle. I went down a couple more flights and set the crate down.
Two hours later, I had the mines programmed and set. Placed in joints where the giant, leg-like supports attached to the main body. Twice the readings of my suit spiked as the lightning hit a nearby structure. I decided to mine the lower level from inside. Energy weapons were one thing, but that blue lightning looked lethal. By design, my armor would ground itself and bleed the excess energy off, into the structure in this case. Making my way to the door on the next level, I saw it had a scanner that looked like it was large enough it scanned the whole hand. I could get in using my methods, but any element of surprise would be gone along with pieces of the door. Leaving the crate behind, I walked from door to door, hoping to find one that opened by a different method. Two flights down, I could see the hangar doors. Maybe if I went down and waited, I would get lucky and they would send a shuttle out. Then I would enter when the shields were down and it exited.
The only problem with that was if a shuttle returned while I waited, I would be standing with no cover at all. The storm was bad, and with that lightning jumping around I doubted there would be any shuttles leaving or returning. The realization that I would have to do it fast and dirty took hold. I would blow the door with a mine then walk through, arming and dropping them and exiting out the other side of the thing. A quick run down the stairs to the ground and I would trigger all the mines at the same time. That would work, and I would probably have to shoot a few defenders in the process. Perfect. I walked back to open the crate and get started.
****
“Why is the Overseer here?” the guard asked his two companions. “Every time he visits it’s longer hours and more inspections.”
“Do you think the Overseer shares his schedule with me? A couple hours ago, he lost two of his slaves. You we
re standing there, idiot, when the commander told us to go find the guards sent to retrieve them,” the second guard responded.
“I know. Have you even looked outside? If they ran out, they are brain dead and anyone who chased them out there is brain dead too.”
“Two of the Etash went also. None have returned. It was said they were young. There is no way two young Cjittan fought off six of ours. You are already brain dead, so it will not affect you when we follow orders and search outside.”
“Maybe they didn’t escape. Maybe our people have them and are making them pay for leading them out in the storm.”
“The Overseer wanted to punish them himself. If they punished them, I am coming straight back inside to report.”
“I’m with you. It isn’t worth risking his wrath.”
They were at the exit. “Let’s go find the fools and get back inside.”
****
I took a mine out of the crate and walked over to the door. I was just about to attach and arm it when the door above opened and feet hit the metal walkway. I listened to the footsteps as one walked quickly, four strides ahead of the next, and the door shut. A third set of footsteps followed the others. I pulled my pistol and watched for them to descend, then surmised they went up. This could work out well.
I took the steps up three at a time, just fast enough to see the feet of the third clear the top. The next flight of steps I took three at a time but at a slower pace. The third person was in the middle of the next flight and I increased my pace and caught up, twisting the guard’s head and quickly breaking his neck. I held the body then eased its collapse, letting go. It slid down as I went up. I caught the second before he noticed his companion wasn’t behind him and slid my knife at an upward angle in the back of his head with my hand over his mouth.
Guard number one said something and, when no one answered, turned to find me standing right behind him. The point of my knife pricked the soft skin under his jaw. Wearing a helmet without armor made little sense other than keeping the rain off your face.
Chronicles of Benjamin Jamison 4: Empires at War (Part One) Page 33