Quickly, Trenchard placed a sterile dressing over the injuries and then wound a bandage tightly around Cox’s arm. Cox was weeping and incoherent by now. Trenchard grabbed his face with both hands and forced Cox to look at him, staring straight into his eyes.
‘Be brave son. Think of your girl back home. What’s her name?’
‘N, nnnn, n Nancy,’ Cox managed through the tears.
‘Be brave for Nancy son,’ Trenchard coached with a warm smile. Cox smiled through the pain. Then Trenchard turned to the two troopers that were holding Cox down. ‘Take him back, well out of range. Set up a temporary area for the injured. There’s going to be more.’
‘Aye, aye Sir,’ said McGagh and Stofan together.
Trenchard stood and watched as the two troopers carried Cox’s limp form away. He turned towards Pugh.
‘What was that idea you had about an airlock?’ he asked grimly as the Morgenstern began to batter furiously upon the hatchway once more.
CHAPTER 21 “REVENGE”
On the bridge of the pirate ship, Captain Bird turned to his communications officer and spoke softly. ‘Open ship-to-ship hail,’ he ordered and then dropped his raven painted helmet down over his face.
The officer nodded back. ‘Hail open, aye, aye Sir!’
‘Captain Raven of the pirate vessel Cour Valant to the Might of Fortitude. Come in please,’ said Bird, his voice reverberating and sounding tinny through his suit’s communication system.
A floating green hologram snapped into existence in front of Bird, showing Commander Noir standing in the middle of the Control room of the Might of Fortitude. Her hands were on her hips and a foul expression across her face.
‘Commander Noir here. That’s a very polite hail for a filthy pirate, Captain Raven,’ she snapped. ‘To what do I owe this… displeasure?’
Bird chuckled. ‘I wish to discuss terms,’ Bird announced simply.
Noir raised an eyebrow. ‘Terms? What terms?’
‘Why, the terms of your surrender of course,’ Bird said gleefully.
Noir tried not to let her surprise show. ‘What are you talking about?’
Bird gathered himself before replying. ‘You are out-gunned Commander Noir. You will surrender your vessel to me.’
‘Ridiculous,’ Noir spat back. ‘You may have a larger ship with a greater quantity of weapons, but your ship is old and ready for scrap! I can out manoeuvre you in any battle!’
Bird smiled smugly. ‘But can the space station out manoeuvre our missiles Commander Noir?’
Noir was quiet for a long time before her eyes narrowed. ‘What?’
‘It’s very simple,’ Bird replied with an even smugger tone of voice. ‘If you don’t surrender your ship to me, I will destroy that space station and all of your brave troopers, including your illustrious Captain Trenchard.’
There was a long cold silence from Noir. Her eyes raged with fire.
‘You know that I cannot do that,’ Noir replied after what seemed like an eternity.
‘I’ll give you three minutes to think about it before I open fire,’ Bird stated, before nodding to the communications watch-stander.
The hologram blinked off, just as Noir was about to say something terse in reply.
Back aboard the space station, the troopers had retreated through another three hatches and the Morgenstern was still coming, fuelled by fury and hatred. They had deliberately taken a route that had led the Morgenstern towards the tubular cutting room where they were laying a trap. Pugh was pulling on an E.V.A. suit that had been hung on a rack near the massive airlock alongside three others.
‘Are you sure about this?’ Trenchard asked with deep concern in his voice.
Pugh pulled another leg of the suit over his uniform. ‘Positive,’ he replied. ‘The Might can’t afford to lose another Captain,’ Pugh looked pointedly at Trenchard. ‘Your safety is my responsibility and I’m not asking anyone else to volunteer. This is my duty. Plus…’ Pugh fell silent and looked down for a moment, ashamed. ‘I feel that I owe it to the crew.’
Trenchard nodded and grasped Pugh’s shoulder to comfort him. ‘Just watch your arse. Get that thing as near to the airlock as you can before popping the hatch and then stay out of reach. That suit won’t stand up to those spikes; you can’t afford to get any tears in the fabric.’
‘I’ll do my best,’ Pugh insisted. ‘These are the biggest airlocks on the station; if that thing can’t be sucked out through one of those, then it’s not going anywhere and we’ve lost.’
On board the Might of Fortitude, Commander Noir was sweating, deep in thought. The crew’s lives were in her hands. Either she gave up the ship, or the whole platoon on the space station would die. The crew in the control room were staring at her, waiting expectantly. If she made a bold move and attacked the Cour Valant, then the Might of Fortitude would undoubtedly be damaged or even destroyed. She couldn’t rely on help arriving; reinforcements might be hours or even days away. Her three minutes were nearly up.
‘Schmidt,’ she snapped, as she began to fasten herself back into the V.R. Conn, ‘Plot a course that takes us directly away from the pirate ship.’
Schmidt’s eyebrows shot up. ‘We’re running? We should give them the ship. Surrender is a reasonable…’
Noir gave him the sternest look that she could muster. ‘Just do it mister!’
Schmidt nodded meekly and began to program his station as Noir pulled the black visor down over her eyes, submerging herself in the virtual world once more.
‘Cochran, I want a firing solution for the Cour Valant’s engines in thirty seconds, full salvo of heat-seekers.’
‘Aye, aye Sir,’ Cochran shouted back as she too began to feverishly operate her controls.
‘Sir, we’re receiving another hail from the pirate ship,’ Hall announced from communications.
‘Audio only,’ Noir instructed.
There was a pause and then Captain Bird’s disguised voice filled the control room. ‘Commander Noir, your three minutes are up. Shall I prepare you afternoon tea in my cabin, or are we going to do this the hard way?’
Noir grinned. ‘Ever played hide and seek with a five-year-old Captain Raven,’ she shouted. ‘They can always find hiding places that you could never fit into. Come and get me, ready or not!’
The Might of Fortitude fired up her main engines and powered away from the space station at full thrust. On the bridge of the Cour Valant, Captain Bird watched the sleek vessel on his screen, smiled and turned to his command crew.
‘Chase her, full thrust. Target the space station, full salvo.’
‘Aye, aye Captain!’ returned the crew in unison.
‘Sorry Trench old chum,’ he muttered under his breath, ‘looks like you’ll never get back to Mike’s Bar again…’
Pugh waited nervously beside the huge circular airlock. The inner hatch had been braced open and the safety circuits disabled. It would simply be a case of operating the outer hatch mechanism when the Morgenstern was nearby and the thing should be sucked out into open space. Trenchard and a handful of troopers stood just inside the hatch on the far side of the room, waiting to lure the creature inside. A steady thump, thump, thump came from the opposite door as the metal was gradually shredded by the beast’s mighty spiked club.
Pugh could feel the sweat trickling down the small of his back. His legs had become wobbly, like jelly. He knew that this was a risky manoeuvre; he knew that he would probably die. He’d strapped a few grenades to the front of his space suit which would shorten the agony if the Morgenstern caught him and maybe even damage the creature in the process. With a last mighty crash, the Morgenstern plunged through the shredded metal door and stood for a moment, just inside the room as it made a tactical evaluation of the situation.
Pain…
There was a single target standing by one exit, armed with three grenades. Across the room were four targets armed with high powered rifles and at least twenty grenades. They were a greater threat.
Revenge!
The Morgenstern turned towards Trenchard, the red glow from its chest piercing the gloom.
Trenchard put his fingers into his mouth and whistled. ‘Hey ugly!’ he shouted. ‘Why don’t you come over here and kiss my furry arse crack, you revolting cybernetic fuckwit!’
Trenchard leased off a few rounds from his rifle and the creature began to stomp angrily towards him.
‘Fall back,’ Trenchard ordered as he cast a last glance towards Pugh who gave a cautious thumbs-up.
The troopers closed the hatch and immediately began to weld it shut. The Morgenstern stomped closer to the door, ignoring Pugh, just as they had planned.
‘Come on,’ urged Pugh from inside his suit. ‘Just a little further!’
The Might of Fortitude sped towards a cathedral sized ice formation, the Cour Valant hot on her tail. Gradually the larger pirate ship gained distance from the space station. The Might reached the side of the ice mountain and disappeared behind it.
On the Bridge of the Cour Valant, Captain Bird narrowed his eyes and commanded, ‘Fire missiles!’
The weapons station watch-stander shouted ‘Aye, aye Captain!’ and operated a control.
Four missiles sped from the forward tubes of the pirate hulk. They bent around in a graceful arc and then headed at full speed towards the defenceless space station. Suddenly, the Might of Fortitude rounded the other side of the ice mountain, gunned her engines and sped straight towards the Cour Valant at ramming speed. Captain Bird’s grin disappeared and his face rapidly became deadly serious. He motioned to his communications officer, who nodded back to him.
‘Commander Noir?’ began Bird. ‘Playing Chicken now? What good will that do you and your gallant crew? If you ram us then both ships will be damaged, your ship will probably not survive. Power down and surrender. I promise that your crew will come to no harm.’
Bird waited patiently but there was no reply.
‘Commander Noir?’
Then Noir’s voice came through on the radio, grim and determined. ‘Alpha Mike Foxtrot, you smug bastard!’
The Might of Fortitude ploughed straight towards the ugly black pirate hulk. The Cour Valant began to steer to starboard in a desperate attempt to avert a collision. The plasma cannons that were dotted all over the hull of the pirate ship began to rain glowing green balls of plasma in the direction of the Might. Her hull scorched, spewing stealth tiles, but it held.
Noir gritted her teeth and spoke to the junior officers seated at the helm. ‘Lose the bubble! Now!’
Both officers pushed their control yolks to the extreme position, as far as they would go. At the last second the Might of Fortitude veered off and swung around the rear of the pirate ship. The turn was so tight that the Might’s tail fin scraped along the Cour Valant’s hull with a shower of sparks.
Commander Noir’s eyes narrowed under her visor. ‘Cochran, full salvo now! Fire for effect!’
Cochran nodded and operated the weapons fire control. ‘Firing Fox two!’ she called. ‘The fish are in the water!’
Four heat-seeking torpedoes screamed from the forward tubes of the Might of Fortitude. They swung around as the Might sped behind the larger pirate vessel and the missiles headed straight for the Cour Valant’s engines. The Cour Valant let off counter measures of chaff and flares. Three of the missiles exploded harmlessly in space but one sped onwards. The lone missile impacted directly into one of the Cour Valant’s engines, sending plumes of white heat exploding into the void.
The Cour Valant, crippled but still alive, began to list to starboard. It crawled away from the space station like an injured fox on a motorway hard shoulder, leaving a floating trail of burning debris in its wake that gradually extinguished in the airless vacuum.
Captain Bird smiled as he watched the image of the Might of Fortitude diminish on his screen. Around him was chaos. The bridge crew of the Cour Valant were attempting to regain control of the ship, extinguish fires and affect damage repairs. One of the crew rushed over to Captain Bird and stared anxiously at him.
‘Should we go after her?’
Bird smiled. ‘No. We’re too badly damaged. She’s a damned good officer, a worthy opponent. Trenchard will have his work cut out with her.’ Bird settled back into his command chair. ‘The Might will have to wait till another day. Let’s get some distance while they still have their hands full with the Morgenstern.’
The Might of Fortitude steered towards the missiles that were still speeding towards the space station.
‘Target those missiles Cochran,’ ordered Noir. ‘We can’t afford to let any of them get through!’
Cochran began throwing all the Might of Fortitude had towards the missiles. Two of them exploded in a hail of green plasma but two more sped on.
‘The Cour Valant is running!’ Van Allen called excitedly from the Tactical station.
Noir allowed herself a brief satisfied smile. ‘Let her go. We have to stop those missiles.’
The Morgenstern had reached the middle of the room and was now parallel to the huge circular airlock. Now’s the time thought Pugh, as he moved towards the airlock controls. The Morgenstern instantly spun its head around to follow the sudden movement.
Flesh… Kill!
Pugh activated the opening mechanism and a spinning orange warning light began to flash accompanied by an alarm klaxon. The Morgenstern changed its course and began to make a bee-line straight for Pugh.
The Might of Fortitude picked off the third missile in a hail of green fury but the fourth closed relentlessly on the space station’s hull.
‘Cochran!’ screamed Noir.
Cochran stared up from her station, her eyes wide. ‘I’m sorry Commander. The missile is out of range. There’s nothing that we can do!’
Commander Noir ripped off the black visor and threw it angrily across the control room. ‘Salaud!’ she shouted angrily and stared helplessly at the sight of the missile closing on the space station on the hologram in front of her.
The circular airlock hatch began to inch open, agonisingly slowly. A fierce wind built up as the air began to be sucked out from the room. Pugh swayed unsteadily and grabbed the hatch frame next to him, hanging on for dear life. The Morgenstern swayed too, unsure of itself for the first time.
…and then the missile hit the station.
The whole station rocked as the missile found its target. Gravity failed for an instant as the station’s spin was interrupted and the lights went out. Pugh was left in near total darkness with only the sickly orange flashing of the warning light to accompany him. The power had failed and the outer airlock door had stuck half open. Pugh could see the Morgenstern approaching slowly, a series of monstrous snap-shots as the beast was illuminated by incandescent flashes of orange light. It was almost upon him and the door was not open nearly wide enough to suck the damned thing into the vacuum of space. Terrified, Pugh looked towards his chest where the three grenades sat on their harness. There was only one option left.
Pugh ripped the grenades from his chest and quickly armed them for a short fuse. He pushed them hurriedly into the narrow crack around the outer hatch and dove headlong toward the looming Morgenstern, hitting the steering thrusters on his E.V.A. suit’s backpack at he went. The Morgenstern lashed out towards him as he sped past, catching him with several of its vicious spikes across his left leg. Pugh howled in pain inside the helmet of his suit as his body barrelled over and he smacked straight into the opposite wall, smearing the floor and wall with fresh blood as he went.
Lights blinked on the top of the three grenades, on, off, on, off. Then they exploded in a searing blast of heat and light, ripping the outer hatch completely apart in a white-hot ball of spinning molten metal. The Morgenstern was thrown clear across the room by the multiple explosions. It landed in a crumpled heap in the centre of the deck. The howling wind of the escaping air grew to a hurricane. As the Morgenstern struggled to its feet it began to be dragged relentlessly towards the opening into space. I
ts body instantly became sluggish as the cold vacuum took hold, its rubberised flesh started to frost over, creaking and groaning like a rotten oak tree in a storm.
It’s working, Pugh thought elatedly.
Clinging to a control panel to avoid being sucked into space himself and ignoring the searing pain from his leg, Pugh shouted in victory and relief as he saw the beast being dragged relentlessly away. Then there was a sudden noise like ripping flesh. Several curved spikes, like eagle claws, shot out from the creature’s feet and dug deeply into the metal deck plate, rooting it to the spot.
Pugh’s face fell. The creature slowly turned its head to stare at him as the howling wind gradually subsided. The chance to expel the creature into the void had passed. Several nozzles by the hole had popped open and a spray-foam had begun to fill the void left by the destroyed hatch. The breech sealant foam instantly hardened and blocked the hole with solid polyurethane creating a temporary airtight seal. Air began to be pumped back into the room by the automated systems and the temperature began to rise. The creature un-clasped the curved hooks from the floor and stomped around to stand square on and examine Pugh.
Victory!
It took a couple of paces forwards. Pugh felt his stomach turn to liquid. He was going to die. The Morgenstern was now standing squarely in the middle of the room, right in the very centre. It was studying Pugh with its evil, crescent shaped eyes. Pugh could almost swear that it had a smug expression on its solid metal face. He lay there bleeding, crying and expecting nothing but a grisly death.
Then Pugh looked up as something caught his eye and sparked a recent memory. The creature was right in the middle of the circular, sonic cutting device; a device that was used to cut straight through the hardest substance known to mankind. He took in the situation in an instant as he looked from the creature, to the sonic cutter ring, to the control panel that he was still grasping on to for dear life. With a last desperate burst of his remaining energy, his torn and shattered leg seeping blood and unconsciousness taking hold, Pugh slammed his hand down on the big red button that was labelled “Activate”. With a searing whine, a sonic blast ripped around the circular frame and the creature’s black rubber skin sizzled for a moment.
The Space Navy Series Books One & Two: Including the Kindle novellas Josiah Trenchard and the Might of Fortitude & Josiah Trenchard and the Morgenstern Page 19