Chapter 5 #3
I’m on her side. I like to support women’s rights, but I really love to support their wrongs.
“Go home,” Sharp says. “Find someone else to ovulate on.”
His lack of apology for the instant and brutal murder only serves to agitate the space pirates.
“You know what? For that? We’re going to kill everybody on that ship. And you’re not going to be able to stop us,” the new pirate captain says.
Her ships zip away from our location, effectively putting the Sligtonian ship between us and them. The audio demonstrates that they are firing repeatedly and viciously on the Sligtonian vessel.
Sharp sends the ship rocketing over and around the Sligtonian vessel, but the pirate ships simply rotate around away from us as quickly as we can move, and continue firing. This is a lose, lose, lose situation. The Sligs really didn’t hire enough security.
I grip a hand bar on the wall and giggle to myself as we spin about in a desperate attempt to shoot the pirates. They are doing far more damage to the Sligtonian ship than we are to them. They’ve seen what this ship can do if we get line of sight, and they’re not going to risk it at any cost.
I wonder if I can bring this to an end. The captain doesn’t really want this, I bet. She’s just pissed that the Sligs got her man killed. I bet there’s still a chance to talk this out, and kill the Sligtonians, if Sharp cannot sound like a huge jerk.
“Tell them you won’t hurt them!” I finally shout out as the whole ship spins head over heels again.
“What is she doing here?” Kronos shouts back.
They are locked to their consoles, unable to move as the ship spins.
It occurs to me that’s why Sharp tried to put me in a strapped-down table.
He was probably trying to keep me out of danger once the ship’s gravity systems stopped working properly.
He should have mentioned that. Did he mention that?
I can’t remember. I am six kinds of upside down.
Sharp brings the ship to a halt to stop the spinning.
All three of them turn around to look at me.
“I’m fine,” I say. I am mostly fine. My hair is all over my face, and I’m bleeding from the nose, but I guess you get that when you’re being thrown around the bridge of a spaceship.
“I’m sorry. I know this isn’t what you wanted me to do,” I apologize to Sharp. “I didn’t realize about the restraints and stuff, and I wanted to see…”
“Get her off the bridge!” Kronos booms.
But they can’t because they are in an all hands on deck sort of situation right now and nobody has a free hand to drag me away and beat me.
“I told you we have to be harsher with her this time around,” Kronos says. “Every time we showed weakness, she took advantage of it.”
“Oh, fuck off,” I curse at him. “I’m not afraid of you.”
Pew! Boom!
The ship shudders as we take fire. How the tables turn.
“I have to move,” Sharp says. “And we’re not going to be running gravity systems. Come here. Now.”
I go to him, and he wraps me up in front of him, sort of like a kid on the handlebars of another kid’s bike. The security straps ensconce the pair of us as Sharp once more sends the ship into a series of violent turns and exciting spins that make me giggle and laugh with excitement.
Speaking of excitement, I think I can feel two thick rods of anticipation pressing against my back. He’s turned on by my excited wriggling in front of him.
“Are you firing, Boss, Kronos?” Sharp calls back. “Not seeing a lot of hostile action on this screen. Sligtonian shields are about to drop completely.”
It’s such a fucking mess, and I love it.
The Sligtonians deserve everything they have coming to them.
I don’t know who the pirates are, but I am on their side.
It’s a pity one of their ships already got absolutely toasted.
As Sharp does his best to chase the attackers away, I enjoy watching the Sligtonians get fucking nailed.
“We have human cargo!” the Slig captain shouts, not to us, but to the attackers. “We’ll share it with you if you spare us.”
The pirate ships respond with a fresh barrage of fire to the belly of the ship. Trying to use humans as shields has not worked. Life is cheap in deep space.
“Fuck. We have to save them so the humans don’t die,” I curse. “Can we talk to the pirates?”
“Stay out of this please, pet,” Sharp says. I can feel his focus behind me. He wants to kill those pirates. He’s not happy that the clients are begging for their lives. It makes it seem like my mates are not doing their jobs. Probably because they’re not. I’m a real distraction.
He hits the button to talk to people.
“Pirate attackers,” he says. “Flee and I will allow you to go. Keep attacking and you will have no chance of survival.”
There’s a brief hiss through the mic.
“How about you try to survive,” the lady pirate says. “You’re taking damage too, bitch.”
“I like her. She seems fun,” I say.
Sharp makes an annoyed sound. “I still had the channel open. She would have heard you.”
“Who is that?” The female newly minted captain speaks over the intercom.
I hit the button I saw Sharp hit before.
“Who is who? Who is me?”
“Yeah, who are you?”
“Oh. I’m a human woman. I don’t care if you wipe the Sligs out, but I’m going to need to save the humans aboard that vessel. It’s my life’s mission to free human ladies from alien incarceration.”
There’s a pause.
“You’re a human woman?”
“Yes.”
“You want us to free you from your mercenary captives?”
“Oh, hell, yes,” I laugh.
Everybody gives me the kind of look that makes me aware nobody finds this to be a good joke, or even a joke at all. I can see this because their faces are briefly reflected in the screen in front of me as a particularly bright blast takes out a chunk of the Slig ship.
“Can we suck the ladies in there into our ship?” I ask. “Can we do that bubble thing you did to me in the club?”
“We’d need someone on that ship to have a transmitter,” Sharp says.
“We’re going to raid this ship,” the woman captain says. “And then we’ll see about coming for you.”
“What’s your name?”
“Captain Sherah,” she says. “What’s yours?”
“I don’t know!” I say, in a tone that’s probably too excited. “My brain doesn’t work because I can’t remember the things that happened to me.”
“Your brain doesn’t work?”
“No!” I grin.
“Okay. Hold on. I need to board this ship and…”
What happens next is the sound of screaming, cursing, gunfire. Long minutes pass. Then Sherah’s voice comes over the speakers more clearly now because she’s obviously speaking directly to the Slig mic.
“We got it all secured,” she says. “Don’t worry. I’ll let the humans go. Can’t guarantee their survival, but we’re here for other commodities.”
“Nice,” I say. “Good for you. Sorry about your man being vaporized.”
“Thanks,” she says. “The tritium reserves on the ship should make up for some of that grief. Are you guys done shooting now? We’re keeping the Sligs as hostages, naturally.”
“Naturally,” I say.
A big, scaled hand flicks the speakers and mic off. The bridge is silent. I am reminded that I am now alone, and at the mercy of several displeased mercenaries.
Sharp grabs my hair and tips my head back, forcing me to look into his eyes.
“You know you just turned that into a complete failure,” he says.
“I think that depends on your definition of failure. We stopped the Sligs from trafficking humans.”
Kronos slams his hands on the controls and says something in a language I don’t know, but can easily translate. It’s profanity. He’s pissed. His sharp teeth flash viciously.
“Easy!” Boss says. “No harm done.”
“What do you mean, no harm done? We’ve failed the mission. That’s going to reflect on us professionally. That’s money we didn’t earn.”
“Go cool off,” Sharp says.
“Great mercenary-ing, guys,” I say.
Kronos storms out, so thoroughly annoyed by the course of events I am sure he would beat the hell out of me if the others would let him.
I am scared of what he’d do if he did get me, but I don’t think they’re going to let him get anywhere near me now.
I’ve passed through the point where I do something just bad enough that they’d let him teach me a lesson, and I’m out the other side of they’re scared he’s going to ruin me.
Actually kind of a good tactic, not that I planned it.
Boss doesn’t seem mad, but he doesn’t seem amused either. He steps away from his console and shakes his head at me.
“That was…” he says. “You are…”
“I made friends,” I say. “And I like to think I saved some lives. You would have evaporated all of those aliens. And the Sligs would have sold the women. This is actually the best outcome of a whole lot of possible outcomes.”
“It is not!” Kronos says, not quite shouting but certainly projecting his voice as he steps off the bridge.
Kronos is pissed at me. The chain of command on this ship is confusing. Sometimes it seems like Sharp is captain. Other times, Kronos seems to be in charge. Boss is an independent creature at the best of times, but dominant all the time.
“You have to at least attempt obedience,” Sharp says. “This interference in our missions is going to end badly. Kronos is right about that. We could get ourselves killed if we can’t focus on the mission at hand.”
“I’m not going to be strapped down and thrown around the whole time you guys are having fun,” I say. “I made friends with that lady, too.”
“You did not make friends with her, I’m afraid. I know it felt like it, but that woman is a ruthless space pirate prepared to risk her life for a few rare elements. She’s not a friend. And there’s no guarantee she’ll let those women go.”
My jaw drops as I consider that his points are extremely valid. I trusted her, because I am a girl’s girl, but you never really know what the truth is when people are negotiating for their lives. “Oh, my god. There’s not! I need to get back on the mic with her.”
“No, you don’t. We are nowhere near that scene anymore.”
“We’re not? Why don’t I feel the ship move when it zips lightyears at a time, but when we were in that fight just before, everyone was getting tossed around like rocks in a bottle?”
“The ship has gravity fields, but they don’t activate with short, sharp movements.
They’re designed to ameliorate bigger, longer motions.
It’s like you won’t feel a lot of movement in a car speeding in a straight line, but one taking sharp turns over rough ground, even at lower speeds, feels harsher. ”
“You know about cars?”
“I know about so many things,” Sharp says. “We’re done with this. We’re staying out of work territory until you are under control.”
“I don’t think I am ever going to be under control,” I sigh.
“I can believe that,” he says. “But we will try nonetheless. Stay out of Kronos’ way.”