by Alan Black
One strong looking man shouted, “Get me out of these frakking chains and give me a gun. I’ll clear this damned place down to the last motherfreaking rivet.
Stone said, “Easy, cowboy. The Empire’s military is clearing the place. We need to keep you all together, somewhere safe, so no accidents happen.” He began working his way through the crowd, struggling not to step on anyone. He spotted a dead body, an old woman who had given up life’s struggles. A man next to her could not move away from her but he’d managed to find a small cloth to cover the woman’s face. “We’ll get you back to our ship, get you fed, cleaned up, and get you medical attention as soon as we can.”
Someone wretched behind him. Looking over his shoulder, he saw Gonzo empty his stomach in a splatter. Those nearby did not bother moving. His vomit added little to the mess. Stone had to hand it to the man, though tossing his cookies in public, his camera was still capturing the scene in the room.
Stone stopped before a woman, “Agnes, I’m sorry to see you here.”
Her face and neck were purple with bruises. Week-old, tear tracks had left furrows in the dirt on her cheeks. “He lied.”
Stone knew who he was. He nodded and leaned down to check the woman’s chains.
Agnes said, “He lied to me. I was his special assistant and he lied to me.” She flinched as a female next to her shifted slightly on the deck. “He promised me heaven. I won that lottery, remember?”
Stone nodded and twisted a small ring on his left wrist. A cutting torch flamed on. Turning the ring to its shortest length, he said, “Look away, Agnes.”
She stared at the ceiling, rambling, “They took me in a fancy shuttle to a beautiful beach. They wrapped me in a fancy beach shawl, sat me in a chair under a fancy umbrella, and gave me a fancy drink. They took a dozen videos of me and asked me how it felt to be wealthy beyond my imagination.”
Stone managed to slip a finger between Agnes’s ankle and her shackle. Using his suit’s gauntlet as protection from the heat, he sliced through the metal, cutting the woman clear.
She said, “They grabbed me. Stripped me naked right there on the beach in front of everyone. They laughed as they shoved me into this rag and joked as they chained me in here like a dog.”
Stone asked, “Did they beat you?”
Agnes shook her head, but would not look at him.
The woman chained next to her said, “I did. Bitch helped that man send us here. My mother was ill. We were promised healing. Instead, we ended up here.” Her eyes glanced at the old woman’s dead body nearby.
Stone stood and helped Agnes to her feet. He looked behind him. Except for Gonzo, none of his team had stepped into the warehouse hold. Hector stood transfixed in the hatchway, stunned. Tuttle and Dollish faced opposite directions in the corridor, standing guard.
He shouted, “Jay and Peebee?” Touching the side of his nose, he shrugged.
Peebee said, “I smell roses dipped in maple syrup, but not on this ship.”
Stone doubted either drasco had actually ever smelled real roses or maple syrup, but he was familiar with the way Hyrocanians smelled.
Jay said, “None of that evil here, but I do smell rancid grease and lemons.”
Stone nodded. He could catch the odor of hostility and fear on the air. It was not coming from anyone in this warehouse, but somewhere on this ship, someone did not like his being here, and they were afraid they would be found. “Girls, find them. Dollish, get a handle on Hector. Put him on guard at the main hatch for now.”
The man who shouted earlier rattled his chains in frustration. He glared at Stone.
Ignoring the man, he leaned down to the woman lying next to Agnes. “I’m sorry for the loss of your mother, signorina. Please look away from the flame.” He slipped a finger under her shackle, cutting her free.
Helping her to her feet, he shouted, “You’ve all been lied to. You’ve been robbed, cheated, beaten, kidnapped, and sold into slavery. I haven’t seen everything at this spacedock yet, but I bet you there are others worse off than you. So, quit your whining.”
He poked a finger at the woman he had just set free and gestured to Agnes. “By the power invested in me as a former governor of Allie’s World, I now pronounce you two ladies as sisters. Your lives are intertwined. The health of one will reflect the help of the other.”
Wonking echoed through the ship’s corridors. Jay bounded into the room with a heavyset man wrapped in her arms. The man was screaming like a young girl who had her dolly taken away. Jay dropped him on the deck and raced back out of the room. He did not stop crying.
Peebee shouted, “Mama! I need a human.”
Stone said, “Tim, please follow Jay. Peebee needs a hand with something. Don’t worry, I think Barb can protect me.”
Dollish shook his head, “I’m not leaving you, Boss, until you put your helmet back on and seal up.”
Stone frowned, “What good is my being the boss if you don’t do what I ask?”
Dollish snorted, “You aren’t asking the right questions…Boss.”
Stone pulled his helmet back on and sealed up. “Go or I’ll find a new chef to burn my supper. Your elaborate cooking gives me gas anyway.” Taking a few delicate steps through the crowd, he worked his way back to the man Jay had delivered to him.
Dollish shouted, “Philistine! You wouldn’t know good cooking if you had to pay extra for it.”
Stone shook his head, though no one could see the movement. “I knew I should never have let you get an education.”
He stood over the crying man. Broadcasting through external speakers, he asked, “Anyone recognize this man?”
There was a multitude of negatives, many with expletives added for emphasis.
The man said, “I was put in another hold, down two decks, but just like these good people.”
Stone leaned down over the man’s prostrate body. “Not like these people, signore.”
“Yes, really. I was just kept elsewhere until that…that…thing dragged me in here.”
Stone flicked his faceplate up and smiled at the man. “We will discuss your calling one of my daughters a thing at a later point.”
The man looked bewildered. “Your…”
Stone said, “Daughter. You see, I’m not human, so please don’t confuse my politeness with human mercy. You’ve lied to me and insulted my family. Lie to me again and I’ll let give you over to these people and walk away.”
The man’s eyes flicked around the room. “Um…”
“Um, indeed. You said you were just like these people, but this gray utility jumpsuit you’re wearing is clean, I can still see the creases where it was recently folded. You’ve had a recent haircut, you showered this morning, and you’re freshly shaven.” He leaned down and poked the man in the stomach. “And I doubt you have missed more than an afternoon snack in the past few years. Certainly, you have not dined on a spotty diet of meal packs. So, I will ask you—”
“First mate, signore. I’m the first mate. I was forced to do this. The Prophet said if we didn’t use our ship for him, we would end up here ourselves.”
“Poor man. I can see how badly you’ve suffered in the employ of the Prophet. Still, do you have a key for the chains on these people?”
The man shook his head. “The Prophet said—gack!”
Stone interrupted the man by grasping him around the neck. He lifted him off his feet, holding him at arm’s length. He wanted to shake the man hard enough to rattle his teeth.
“Boss?” Tuttle cut through his anger.
Stone looked in her direction as she gestured toward Gonzo. The man had Stone framed in the lens of his camera.
Tuttle added, “I can drag Gonzo out of here and find a deep hidey hole to leave the body in if you want.”
Stone shook his head. The man in his grasp was turning a mottled blue. Setting the man’s feet on the deck, he gave him a moment to recover his breath. He flipped his faceplate down, turning it opaque so all the man would see was his own ref
lection.
“Um…there.” The first mate turned and pointed at a blank wall.
Stone did not say anything.
The man took a little stutter step and minced to the wall. Pressing his palm against the wall, a small panel popped open. One quick flick of a switch and the clink of opening locks rattled around the warehouse.
Stone said, “Help each other. Remember, you were all lied to, so work together now. I do not have time to babysit.” He grabbed the first mate by the collar and pushed him at the large, angry man. Pointing a finger at him, he added, “The first mate is your responsibility. His health is now your health. The emperor cares about him and so do I. If he’s hurt before he can be tried and punished for his crimes, you will be held responsible, understand?”
The angry man looked angrier, but nodded.
Stone said, “You are the first mate’s escort until you can turn him over to EMIS Agent Tammie Ryte aboard my ship, understand?”
Stone did not wait for an answer. He reached out a hand to Agnes and her newly minted sister.
Stone said, “Hector, are you on comms?”
Hector said, “I’m at the main hatch, just like you said. Sorry about that, Boss. I’ve just never seen anything like that before.”
“I understand. I can tell you, you’re going to see things a lot worse before today is over.” He keyed his comms for the shipwide broadcast. He had been listening to activity all up and down the spacedock, but had restricted his outgoing comms to just his team to prevent interfering with anyone else’s tactics. “Hector, we are going to start sending people your way. Herd them toward the Pebble. Gordy, you copy?”
“Copy, Boss.”
Stone rolled his eyes. Now everyone was calling him boss. “I know you’re short staffed, but some of these people have been pretty roughly treated. They need showers, clean clothes, food, and medical. See if you can get—”
Marybeth interrupted him. “Don’t worry, cousin. We got this. We’ve been watching Gonzo’s playback. You go kick some butt for us.”
Chapter Forty-Two
Stone was surprised by his cousin’s heartfelt words. He could tell by the catch in her throat that she was upset. That was a good thing. She needed to be knocked off her gilded pedestal.
A loud crash shook the slave ship violently.
Jay shouted, “Mama, three decks up.”
At the same time, Dollish said, “The ship’s captain has locked himself onto the bridge and some of his crew are locked in the engine room. We can’t get at them. He’s threatening to yank the ship away from the dock by force.”
Stone raced out of the warehouse, sprinting through the corridor until he found an up ladder.
Dollish added, “I’ve got a report from a couple of piglets that they welded the docking clamps shut. If this A-hole revs his engines hard enough, he’ll rip this ship apart and tear a hole in the spacedocks—oh, hello, Boss—as I was saying, the dock would lose atmospheric containment.” He tapped his helmet with a hard gauntleted knuckle. “Won’t hurt us a bit, but…”
“Can we get into engineering from the deck above?”
Dollish said, “I don’t know. A couple of piglets are working on it now. I sent Peebee down to help them if they can break through. The piglets are armored, but we don’t know who or what is in engineering.”
“Here?” Stone could imagine Dollish shrugging when he gestured at the hatch. He noticed the burn marks where Dollish had tried to burn through the hatch.
“Tough ol’ freighter, Boss.”
Stone took three sideways steps. “Hatches are designed to hold, as are the frames they’re welded to, but—” He twisted the suit cutting torch to max heat. The bright light caused his suit’s faceplate to darken, and Jay had to look away and cover her eyes. “I’ve been on enough old freighters to know that thick hatches don’t always mean good bones.”
Jamming the torch against the bulkhead, he frowned as metal sputtered, spit droplets back at him, and curled away from the heat. A small gap melted. Without asking, Dollish added his torch next to Stone’s, doubling the cutting speed. Their faceplates were so dark they could barely see beyond the edge of the flame.
A suit gauntlet reached between them. With a grunt, Tuttle took a fistful of bulkhead and yanked. A long strip of metal peeled away, leaving a gap from chest high to the deck. With a shout, she ripped the piece away from the bulkhead and threw it behind them.
Stone snapped off his torch. Grabbing the left side of the hole, he braced his feet and pulled. Dollish grabbed the right side of the hold and jerked. The bulkhead peeled away.
“Crap,” Stone said.
It was a double wall with a small gap in between for environmental conduits and plumbing. Applying his torch to the secondary bulkhead, Stone burned a fist-sized hole. Before Dollish could reach in to help, a hail of slugs erupted through the hole.
Stone’s suit took the impact with little effort, absorbing and storing the energy for later use. Stone turned his faceplate away from the hole. Old style slugs probably wouldn’t shatter it, but he had an aversion to watching bullets flying at his face without blinking.
Tuttle reached around Stone jamming an armored fist into the hole up to her wrist. When she pulled it out, her fingers were wrapped around the muzzle of a gun. Twisting her wrist, she caused a minor explosion as whatever weapon was on the other end of the gunbarrel expended a few rounds in its own chamber.
Stone said, “Jay, please tear me a hole.”
Jay hunkered low to the deck, scorpioning her tail over her head. The black titanium-armored bone spike pointed at the hole in the bridge bulkhead. She was just about to strike when the ship shook and twisted sideways. Jay slid out of place. Tuttle and Dollish were knocked off their feet. Stone would have been thrown to the deck, but he still had a hand braced against the first hole they cut.
“Enough of this.” Stone pushed Jay’s tail out of the way as he stepped up to the hole. A quick flick of a finger and a bunker buster missile erupted from the center of his chest. The recoil jolted his shoulders, but he kept his feet solidly planted.
He had used the missiles before against Hyrocanians during the Q-ship mission beyond the piglet’s homeworld. The first missiles he fired splattered against a clear plasticrete weapons control room, cutting into the control room and blowing the interior into useless scrap along with the aliens inside. The control room was ripped away from the shuttle bay bulkhead.
This time, the single missile punched its way through the fist-sized hole without exploding. A quick pop and a little fizzle echoed back through Stone’s suit receptors. There was depressingly little noise. Three seconds later the second explosion roared. The bridge bulkhead walls bulged out, screeching with metallic horror as wide stretch marks marred the bulkheads.
A fountain of flame gushed out of the hole. The explosive force hit Stone in the center of the chest, shoving him backward across the corridor. He slammed into Tuttle and Dollish, knocking them off their feet again before he crashed into the far bulkhead and slid to the deck.
He rolled slowly to his hands and knees. His faceplate had darkened to protect his eyesight. He felt hands grabbing at him, but he could not see the deck. He clearly heard Jay shouting for him in his head, but nothing else. It took a second for him to realize his suit had dampened all sound to protect his hearing.
“Damn!” he said. “That wasn’t as much fun as I planned.” He felt no pain. The suit had protected him from hair to toenails. What did hurt was he could no longer claim to never have killed a human. He had no idea how many people had been on the bridge. They may never know without a thorough DNA sweep and he did not have time to order one.
“Boss?” His suit sound activated with a pop. He could not tell whose voice it was.
He heard Tuttle laughing. “I gotta love a man that does his job with enthusiasm. If you’re that way in bed, no wonder Captain Vedrian laid claim to you. Come on, Stone. Get up! Do you want to get stepped on?”
Her voice
was reminiscent of Senior Chief Tsosie’s back at the academy when he was a cadet in midshipman training. He half expected to see the old man when he looked up, but it could not be him. The chief was exonerated of all charges stemming from the ring of thieves operating on the Ol’ Toothless, but the ordeal of the trial was too much for him. He took an early UEN retirement and disappeared.
Stone levered himself upright. “Dollish, you and Jay start at the top of this piece of scrap freighter. I want it cleared asap! I don’t want anything alive on this ship in ten minutes, so hustle. Don’t worry about me. I’m sure Barb can watch my back.”
Jay said, “Mama, there are humans here.” She was pointing at a hatch just behind Stone. She quickly tapped the information on her TTS, filling in Tuttle and Dollish.
“Tim.” He hooked a thumb over his shoulder at the hatch. “Get everyone down to Hector on the double. Barb, let’s get down to engineering before they realize their bridge is gone and they switch to manual controls.” He didn’t wonder about where the Hyrocanians were or what they were up to. Human history was replete with people working hand-in-hand with humanity’s enemies.
He hurried away at a moderate pace so Tuttle could keep up with him. Before they reached a ladder going down, he heard Dollish cursing.
Looking back, he saw him coming out of a wrecked hatch. It was easy to recognize Jay’s handy work as pieces of the hatch still hung from her tail spike.
Dollish only said, “Captain’s quarters, Boss.” He wrapped blankets around the naked bodies of two pre-teen girls.
Stone hesitated, but Tuttle shoved his shoulder, sending him scrambling down the ladder.
She said, “Evil does as evil is. Bastard is dead and gone. Rightly so. Good job, Signore Stone.”
Stone knew she had spoken to him on one-on-one comms. It didn’t matter. He had killed the man and whoever was with him on the bridge. They could have been sex slaves or more of his crew. No one knew he was a pedophile before Stone killed him. The man was a traitor selling weapons to humanity’s enemies. He was guilty of more kidnapping and murder than Stone could count. Those charges would have brought the full lightning and thunder of the empire’s legal system down on him, but he would never be arrested, tried, or convicted. Stone had just killed him. Stone shook his head. Thinking about the lives they were saving might help him sleep at night.