Authors: Thomas Wright
"Which
way, boss?" Snake asked.
"Straight,
then up two levels at the stairs. The bridge will be at the end of the hall.
Snake, you should have a couple grenades ready. We will be sitting ducks on
those stairs."
"Got
it," Snake replied then took a grenade off his belt. It was a short
distance to the stairs. Snake didn’t wait to see if there were any hostiles
before lobbing both grenades up on the next level. The back-to-back explosions
rocked the old liner again. Snake took the steps three at a time except for the
last ten, when he got down and essentially crawled up. He looked around and
there were pirates running in all directions but none offering resistance. He
gave the signal for the rest of the team to proceed.
Ben reached the
top and began a sweep, looking for hostiles. The pirates seemed to be more
interested in getting as much as they could carry and getting the hell off the
ship. Snake started up the next flight of stairs with Ben covering him. They
reached the top. Once again, no resistance. Nothing was really making sense to
him. They had fought pirates in the past and they never acted anything like
this.
They made their
way to the doors of the bridge. Ben inspected them to see if there was a trip
switch but found no evidence of one. Just then the doors opened to a startled
pirate. He was young and didn’t have the sense to move before the big fist
connected with his face.
Snake started
yelling. "Hands behind your head, fingers interlocked, stand up, and don’t
move until you're told!" The rest of the team took up positions while Ben
grabbed the kid by the shirt collar, dragging him, then depositing with the
others. He spent a few seconds studying his prisoners. A tall, lanky pirate had
been at one of the consoles. He had the look of someone you wouldn’t turn your
back on anywhere, ever. The fat, sloppy man in the captain's chair was not the
captain, even though he was already professing to be.
"You need
to get on the horn and tell all your people to stand down, drop their weapons
and lay on the floor or ground face down, hands behind their heads." Ben
handed the fat man a com device that was lying on the arm of the captain's
chair. "Do it now!"
"No. That
is not how this is supposed to work," he said. Ben didn’t pull the punch
that connected with the side of the fat man’s head. Before he could fall over,
Ben had him by the arm holding him up.
"What did
you just say? Not how it’s supposed to work. What does that mean? You look like
you were sitting here waiting on us." The man realized his slip of the
tongue and thought he would clam up. Ben had orders to take prisoners and those
orders were not specific to how many, just the leaders.
He looked
around the room again and they seemed at ease, but anxious. He pulled the fat
pirate by the shirt away from the chair and hit him again. This time, he let
him hit the floor.
He walked over
and grabbed a female pirate who stood at one of the stations. She wasn’t going
to just stand there and let him punch her, or so she thought.
"Why were
you just sitting here? Do you have this ship rigged to explode, killing us all
in the process?" Ben drew back his arm in a fist. She turned her head to
the angry pirate standing behind her, putting her arms up to try and block what
was coming. Nothing came.
"Ronnie!"
Ben yelled as he let the female pirate go. Ronnie took a couple of quick steps
and punched her in the stomach twice, as Ben walked towards the tall pirate he
thought was the captain and possible leader of the whole group. He heard a
couple of grunts and a body hitting the floor.
"I think
you thought we would just take you prisoner and march you out of here. I get
the feeling you cut some kind of deal with someone. Whoever that was hasn’t
countermanded my orders. You have two things going against you right now. You
killed one of my men and I am really curious. No, three things against you;
you’re pirates and not citizens, and therefore I can beat the living shit out
of you before I hand you over."
"You going
to let me put my arms down and defend myself, soldier boy?" The pirate
hissed almost spitting out the words.
"By all
means. You sure you want to do that? Answering my questions would be much
easier." The pirate didn’t wait for Ben to stop talking. He yelled and
leapt forward but never made it far enough, as Ronnie's boot caught him
mid-jump in the mid-section, possibly breaking a rib or two. Oh yeah, she was
pissed. She walked back over to the female pirate and stood over her.
Reaper looked
at Snake and pointed at the pirate. When the pirate started to get up, another
boot connected with his face. Ben hadn’t moved a muscle yet. Snake stepped back
to his position. This continued. Reaper pointing and each member of the team
got a shot at the pirate. They owed him much more than he was getting for
Birdy.
"They
promised us our freedom for information on the Allith. Once they verify it,
they will let us go." The fat man began to sing from the floor, fearing he
would be next.
"What else
did they promise you? What else?" Ben yelled at him.
"They are
letting our families go. They are all boarding a ship right now." Ben
looked around at the rest of his team. They all nodded, believing what the
pirate was telling them. Instead of fighting, he had seen them gathering
their things.
"Genius,
go out and recon the area and don’t get yourself shot," Ben ordered.
Genius stepped to the entry door of the bridge, checked the area, and departed
at a hurried pace. Someone had to have issued an order or the other teams would
be trying to stop the fleeing pirates. Why hadn’t they been advised of this
deal?
"Alright!
All of you on the floor, hands behind your backs now! Don’t make me tell you
twice." They complied and quickly. Ben covered them all while the team
secured their arms behind their backs and sat them up.
"Command.
This is Reaper. Bridge crew of the liner and who I believe is the leader are
all secure. Where would you like them deposited?"
"Reaper,
hold your position. A team will be there shortly to collect them."
****
Ben sat in the
captain's chair watching the monitors. He saw a shuttle land and a six man team
exit, heading towards the liner. It had been 20 minutes. He could see from the
monitors that the fighting was over outside. The armor they wore was
marine-issue, except they all wore black armbands signifying the Colonial
Military Intelligence division. Without that, they looked like another marine.
Looked being the operative word, Ben and any real marine could tell otherwise.
They weren’t wary or scanning the perimeter. They didn’t even look behind
themselves as they approached or they would have spotted Genius moving behind
them, keeping an eye on them and the near vicinity for any hostiles.
Ben's wetware
updated to let him know just the minimum basic information about the
approaching team. The leader was a captain and the rest he really didn’t care
about. He judged, by the height and way the person walked, the captain was a
woman. He stood and watched them approach from the steps. He didn’t need to
salute, just acknowledge her.
"Captain, prisoners
secure and ready for transfer."
"We will
take them from here." She paused looking up at him. "Reaper."
"Captain,
we would be glad to provide an escort to your shuttle, just as a precaution.
Ours is another 200 yards past your position." He pointed to the monitor
that confirmed what he was saying. He hadn’t received orders to do anything at
this point. It was his curiosity leading to the offer.
"Reaper."
Ben heard Snakes voice. "You need to look at this." He turned to see
a ship slowly lifting off the ground. He turned back to the captain.
"Genius,
you take the point. The rest of you establish an escort perimeter. Get them
moving." Ben's team pushed the pirates at the MI team who were still just
standing doing nothing. They got the hint and each took a pirate by the arm
leading them.
The captain
used the com on private this time. "Staff Sergeant Jamison. I do not
believe I answered your request to assist my team nor did I pass command of my
team to you."
"My
apologies ma'am, I just motivated your prisoners for you. They are all yours.
We will be on our way. Just a word of advice, Ma'am. When you leave, keep a
more wary eye out. Sometimes things change when you march the leaders away as
prisoners and their followers see it. Pirates are not known for rational
actions or thoughts, Ma'am."
"Misfits.
Let's move!" Ben called out.
Before they
moved three steps, the captain called out. "Reaper, lead the way."
Ben stopped and smiled to himself.
"Ok
everyone. Let’s move with the prisoners on center." Ben started out with
the captain on his heels. The group moved quickly, keeping a steady pace.
"Ronnie, Mumbles, take care of Birdy." He need not explain anything
else to them. The captain watched Reaper's team members hustle to their fallen
team mate. She looked up at him as they walked but he never turned his head in
either direction.
****
An unidentified
starship exited light space and established an orbit on the opposite side of
the planet. The MI shuttle pilot received coordinates for rendezvous once they
departed the pirate settlement.
****
Ben's team
stood at the MI shuttle as the pirate prisoners were walked up the ramp single
file. "Misfits, fall back on Ronnie and Mumbles. I will call the shuttle
for pickup." Ben stood watching as the pirates were sat down all in a row.
They looked over at him seemingly defeated, but not scared. The captain stood
at the front of the shuttle receiving a message from the pilot. The upper and
lower shuttle doors started coming together, closing. The captain raised her
visor and Ben could see her face. She was smiling at him as she said something
to her team. He saw them draw their side arms and aim. The doors closed.
"What
the hell."
Ben thought and he walked hurriedly away from the shuttle
craft. It rose slowly at first, then faster. It did not turn in the direction
he would have thought to make a connection with the destroyer. He was pondering
that when the sky lit up for a second in the direction of the shuttle. His team
saw it too. Seconds later, they could see objects streaking across the sky,
some on fire and falling to ground. Mumbles and Ronnie each held the end of the
body bag. Ben handed his weapon to Genius and bent down, taking the body in his
arms and stood up straight. He was listening to all the activity on the command
channel.
He heard
frenzied communications about the destruction of the pirate ship carrying the
women and children as the destroyer continued to hail the unknown starship that
had destroyed it. He knelt and gently laid Birdy on the floor of their shuttle.
The lieutenant looked down at the body bag and turned quickly, not wanting to
stare.
****
Ben sat
straight up in the bed, his body covered in sweat. Andrea woke up at the same
time and sat on her knees, holding him.
"Andrea,
we need to get everyone together and get out of here," he said softly.
"What's
wrong? It was just a bad dream, honey."
"I know
but it reminded of me something. The meeting with everyone. They have all known
about the message from the Allond for a lot longer than just a day or two. MI
already knows about it and we can't trust them, we can never trust them."
Ben had a chill, and it wasn't just from the sweat. I don’t care what time it
is. Let's get up and I'll make some coffee and you make some calls. Tell them
all if they are going with us, they need to be here by tomorrow morning or I
leave them behind."
There had been
a message sent by the Allond to the governments of the Colonial Alliance and
the Trillond Empire. It went directly to the President of the Alliance and the
Prime Minister of Trillond. It stated that there would be a summit hosted by
the Allond to discuss the impending threat by the Cjittan. It gave a date and
to contact Reaper for transport of their delegation. A meeting between the
Prime Minister and the President concluded that they would not inform Reaper
until they arrived on Anubis and would do it in person.
That meeting, unbeknownst to the
politicians, was also attended by a general of the military and a member of the
Military Intelligence Division. It didn't help that Reaper's trust in his
oldest friends was betrayed and the meeting did not turn out well for the
interlopers. A lot of things had and would happen that would lead to Reaper's
decision to make a hasty departure. It was not a popular decision but one
everyone would find out was necessary.
Ben was staring
at his black armor with the grim reaper etched into the chest plate. It had
been three months since he had returned from his short-lived re-entry into the
military establishment. Well over a year since his discharge from marines led
him to Anubis the first time. All he wanted was some peace and quiet to get
Reaper Inc. operating but that too was short lived.
He had come
home to Anubis this second time with three women and a teenage girl in tow.
Andrea, who had recruited him the second time, turned out to be the love of his
life. A former major and commander of the special operations unit, he had
turned her world upside down. Things had happened fast between them, some good
some bad. She had a hard time coping with her feelings for him and her career.
It continued to get worse between them, mostly due to Ben's total disrespect
for authority, an attitude a career officer like Andrea could not deal with.
Ben quit and
had left her but returned to rescue her when he found out they were under
attack from a new enemy. He found two enemies; the Cjittan, a race of insectoids,
and a group of high ranking officers in their own military. He confronted and
dealt with both and, oddly enough, had been much more ruthless with the
officers. Prior to leaving with him, an act of betrayal and attempted murder by
those in authority over her, opened her eyes to the corruption that had
infiltrated the upper echelons of command. She resigned her commission and
stayed on Anubis. Over the months that followed, she had changed into someone
more relaxed Ben couldn’t believe how different she was; calm, patient and very
serious about what they were making with their new lives together.
E'Aria Aok was
the other half of his management team at Reaper Inc. A navy engineer Ben had
recruited to their special ops team, she had a number of surprises of her own,
as they soon found out. He had guessed that she was a telepath right after
meeting her and decided to recruit her based off of that little secret. Had the
navy known, she would have been discharged immediately. The bigger secret she
was the future queen of the Trillond Empire who was an Alliance member and
closest thing to an ally the Colonial Alliance of Planets had.
He trusted the
two women with his life and everything he owned. Lately, that was a lot. A few
months ago, it was just a foot locker. Now, there was a small fleet of four
starships with the words Reaper Inc. in large black letters painted on the hull
of each one. It was a start.
****
Ben sat on the
deck of the farmhouse, drinking his coffee alone. He had his eyes closed,
mentally dealing with having to leave Anubis again. He could hear some activity
in the house. He was thinking about each starship and what made it possible for
him to own them. He and Nick had started Reaper Inc. after they acquired a
freighter belonging to some unlucky spacers. It seemed the owner and captain of
the freighter couldn’t stand losing a fight and chose to retaliate with lethal
force against two people he loved dearly, the Vander Hoyts, who happened to own
the house and farm he now lived in. Bad move.
He had acquired
two more starships from the Trillond government that he and E'Aria had used to
rescue a group of Trillond citizens. They had missed the ships that evacuated
the planet Hyson when the Allith, a reptilian race, invaded. After Ben saved
E'Aria, they proceeded to rescue the prisoners and escape, then rescued a few
more along the way from a mining colony that had been attacked. They delivered
the prisoners to safety and later, he and E'Aria were gifted the ships from her
government.
His flagship,
the Claymore, had been the big surprise. Ben had made an impression on the
Allond, a race of reptilian humanoids. He was not a diplomat and hadn’t
realized they were judging the human race by his actions, as brief as they were
during their encounter aboard the Allond battle cruiser. Dinner and a brawl
later, they departed as friends of the Prime Minister and his brother, the
captain of the battle cruiser. As a last minute thought, he sent the captain a
broadsword as a parting gift. Shortly afterward, he was given a frigate-sized
starship with the blessing of the Emperor of Allond. The gift, of course,
opened a giant can of worms with the Colonial government who wanted his ship.
Now he was watching his back again.
He reminisced
over the past and wondered if he had made the right decisions. Time would tell.
He left those thoughts behind and decided to start planning. He knew the girls
would have the trip under control. This was more about the people they would
leave behind. He needed to convince them to be ready to leave at a moment’s
notice. The trouble that was coming had no conscience, only a voracious need to
feed. The Cjittan functioned together in a collective hive or colony. Some were
telepathic and very intelligent, while others were drones or workers who were
all ruled by a queen. If they invaded a planet, it would eventually be stripped
clean of all living things. The Allith in their ignorance had allied themselves
with the Cjittan and led them to Hyson opening the door to Colonial Alliance
and Trillond space. It was not just a possible threat but closer to a reality
that they would soon invade. There was little or no resistance when they
invaded Hyson and it had been only a fleet of scouts. The lack of resistance would
be noted by them. They needed to be stopped before ever getting to this region
of the space.
The door opened
and he heard two sets of feet. He smelled coffee and someone yawned. He heard
his cup being filled about the same time a body sat on his lap, leaning back
against him. An arm wrapped around his neck and he received a kiss on the
cheek.
"Are we
leaving Anubis soon, Dad?" Natalia asked. Ben was her de facto father and
Andrea, her mother. She had no family to anyone's knowledge. She had been sold
as a slave at some point in her young life. Ben had found her on a pirate ship
where she had belonged to the captain who abused her and kept her locked in a
steel box in the floor of his first officer’s room. She had been with him ever
since her rescue and he loved her dearly. Like Andrea, she had changed much
over the last four months. Her changes started almost immediately after her
rescue. Her mind was more child like in the beginning but spending time with
the women had helped her mature mentally. Her mind like a sponge. She was
working hard to strengthen her body as well. Malnutrition had kept her weak and
frail, but now she put food away like she had a hollow leg and her body had
developed muscle tone. Her workouts with Ben on a scale were about three quarters
the intensity compared with the older women.
"You two
better not go to sleep in that chair," Andrea chided. The first rays of
the sun began touching the sky.
"It's not
likely we will with you around," Ben mumbled and Natalia giggled.
"Alright. Get off of me, you slug. We have work to do." Natalia
pretended not to hear him. Ben moved forward like he was going to dump her on
the deck.
"You two
quit horsing around. Your father said he wanted to leave right away, so get
packed young lady!" Andrea sounded like a mom and a military training
drill instructor rolled into one.
The whole house
started stirring as Lorelei, Jen and E'Aria walked into the kitchen half
asleep. Ma and Pa Vander Hoyt would be a minute or two later, but dressed and
looking spry. They were farmers and the current time was what they called
sleeping in.
"So,
what's going on?" E'Aria asked.
"Ben had a
dream, which he hasn’t shared with me, but feels we need to get everyone
together and go right now."
"Then
that’s what we will do." E'Aria answered in a tone that offered no
discussion. I will call my aunt and inform her to be ready by the end of the
day. Alona Aok was the Prime Minister of Trillond, sister of the king and
E'Aria's aunt. E'Aria was nothing like her father and the time spent with Ben
had changed her. She would tell her aunt to be ready. There would be no
discussion.
"The
Claymore is ready to go. We just need to go get it," Lorelei added.
Ben said,
"We also need to find more of a crew. We could handle it but there would
be no help in emergency situations and it would be good to have some stations
manned around the clock."
"What
about your friends at Gus's? The two spacers. What are their names? I will call
Gus's and ask if they are there." E'Aria waited for Ben to answer.
Andrea laughed.
"You expect him to know their names? He still calls the cook
"Cook," for goodness sake. Ask for Buddy and Grubb when you
call."
"How mad
do you think Gus will be if we steal Cook from him for this little
excursion?" Ben asked to no one in particular.
"I think
he would be furious," Andrea answered and everyone just nodded their
assent.
"E'Aria,
ask him, and we will deal with the fallout if there is any," Ben said,
looking around the room. "While you’re busy ordering your aunt around, you
should get some of your subjects to help man the ship. Have her make that
happen; we can rendezvous and pick them up."
Ben was
watching everyone. He was still feeling some anxiety from the dream.
"Lorelei, go get the Claymore. Take whoever you need but go now and get
back here." They had hid the Claymore some time back from prying eyes.
"Andrea,
will you call the Senator and inform him or his aide of our plans? I will call
Emily and offer her a chance to go on my terms." Andrea looked at Ben but
changed her mind about saying anything. Emily was Ben's childhood friend who he
recently was reunited with on the rescue mission at Hyson. He discovered she
graduated from college and was recruited by the military intelligence division.
She was working at the embassy on Hyson trying to track down information on the
Allond, but didn’t know it at the time. She only knew there was a race of
beings living beyond Hyson and Allith space. Their encounter with the Allond
put that project for MI to rest. Ben hadn’t seen or heard from her since he
departed with Andrea until a couple of days ago at the hotel.
Three different
groups from two different governments converged on Anubis to tell him he needed
to take them to Allond for a summit concerning the Cjittan. He threw Emily and
General Grey out of the meeting for trying to spy on his property. Maybe not
his finest moment, but they weren’t going to be allowed to get away with it. He
would give Emily Brous a chance to redeem herself because no matter what, he
loved her like family. She was always there for him after his family had been
killed until he left to join the marines over five years ago.
Ben walked
outside and took out his com. He looked up Emily's code and hit enter, waiting
on her to acknowledge and answer.
"Um, hello,
what do you want?"
Ben smiled.
"Nice, did I wake you?"
"What do
you want?"
"I want to
talk to you. Can you come out to the farm?"
"Oh, I am
planning on it but when I'm damn good and ready."
"I was
hoping we could talk and you could make me feel better about asking you to come
along. Seems I was mistaken." He pushed the power button and hung up on
her. A second later, it vibrated an incoming com from her. He shut his off and
stuck it in his pocket.
No sense doing anymore damage,
he thought.
He walked back
into the house. Andrea looked at his face. She didn’t need to ask but did
anyway.
"So, how
did that go?"
"It was
one of the possibilities I thought might happen."
"Did you
expect her to have forgiven you already? You embarrassed her in front of some important
people and called her out. Maybe you should have beat her up too while you were
at it."
"Whose
side are you on?" Ben asked, with a touch of hurt.
"I am
always on your side, never forget that. But you are not always in the
right."
"She
betrayed me. What if the Claymore had been there on property? What do you think
would have happened?"
"I don’t
know Benjamin, but I do know she was following orders, whether she agreed with
them or not, I don’t know. She isn’t like you, and did you ever think that if she
didn’t follow orders they would lock her up in a cell and maybe throw away the
key."
Ben got up and
walked out. He went to the barn to get some of the weapons he had placed in
strategic locations. He wasn’t going to leave them all. He needed to think about
how to handle Emily while he gathered them up. Leave it to Andrea to know and
explain exactly what he had done wrong.
"Damn, damn, damn," he
mumbled, irritated. Why does she always have to be right? He needed Andrea in
his life to ground him. He had to think of Emily differently. Andrea was right.
As long as she worked for MI, she had to do what she was ordered to do. He
managed to keep busy for almost an hour. He heard the sound of a large hover
transport approaching. He knew that sound, it was military. At least he was
right about something, sometimes. He walked out to meet whatever was coming
down the road.