Reaper Inc. (7 page)

Trillond space
looked like space anywhere else. Dark, cold and empty. It was a good thing
really. It would be hard for another ship to be stealthy. That is what Captain
O'Shaughnessy thought. She sat on the bridge contemplating their next move.

"Ensign
Ellison, com Lieutenant Jared for me and have him release Major Andersen's team
from the brig and bring them to me."

"Captain,
Lieutenant Jared said he would handle it immediately, ma'am. He said to expect
them in 15 minutes."

"Thank
you, ensign."

"Captain,
I am reading some strange fluctuations, as well as some small bursts of energy.
I believe there is a ship very near to our location and it is scanning
us." The captain moved quickly to stand behind Lieutenant Benson.

"Is there
any way to pinpoint its location?"

"Yes
ma'am, but I believe it is moving away from us. The strength of the
fluctuations continues to lessen by the second."

"I have
never heard of the Trillond having any starships capable of stealth of any
kind."

"Neither
have I ma'am, or any other navy, for that matter."

"Captain,"
Lieutenant Jared greeted her. "I brought them here, unless you would like
me to take them somewhere else."

"This is
fine, lieutenant." She stepped around him to greet the others.
"Sergeant Major, Gunny, I hope your stay was not too unpleasant. You know
I would never have locked any of you in the brig if there had been any other
way. The general insisted I cooperate with M.I.

"What the
hell is going on Captain?" Sergeant Major Matt Kim asked; the rest of the
team standing behind him, waiting to hear her response.

"I have
decided to throw my career out the trash chute. I have disobeyed direct orders
and taken this ship with the approval of my crew and fled to Trillond space. It
seems a faction of our military is out of control and wants the Hyson incident
to go away along with those who were there."

"I see. We
knew that, so where does that leave us?" he asked, speaking for his team.

"Sergeant
Major, at the moment, I see only a few options. You can join the crew of the
Warhammer or I can find a nice peaceful planet in the Trillond system to drop
you off. It’s possible we will run into Ben, Andrea and the rest of his crew in
the future if you want to remain with us until that happens."

Snake said,
"I would rather take my chances with Reaper. That is my vote." Snake
never called Ben anything but Reaper. The rest of the team did the same. It was
part of their bond as a team. The rest of the team gave a verbal agreement to
Snake's comment.

"The
general still has his team on board. I know there is some bad blood there. I
did manage to collect as many of your weapons as I could track down. Your
personal belongings are locked up and I will give you your weapons later. There
may be items missing. You will have to collect those from whomever has them. I
believe Ben has someone's pistol. He took it off of the general's master
sergeant in a confrontation on Anubis. The sergeant’s jaw is wired shut, so you
will have to wait a while for answers from him." That made them all smile.
They knew that statement was the truth, even if everything else was a lie. They
didn’t think she was lying, but then she did lock them all up.

The door to the
bridge opened and Dr. Mathews walked in, followed by the general’s new major
and two of his marines. The marines pulled their side arms as soon as they
entered and disarmed the marine guarding the door.

"Captain
O’Shaughnessy, we haven’t been introduced, but that does not matter. Right now,
what I need you to do is plot a course for colonial space."

The captain
didn’t flinch. "No major, as I was just explaining to the former team
belonging to the general, I would be happy to let you depart for a populated
world where I am sure you would be able to find transportation."

"Captain,
you are probably not aware, but they have offered a reward for the return of
the Warhammer and its crew, alive if possible. So we will be taking you, your
crew and your ship."

Sergeant Major
Kim looked at the three marines and then turned to the captain. "Captain,
it seems you are going to be busy. I will just take my team and talk to you
later."

The major
pointed his pistol at the sergeant major. "You people are not going
anywhere until I find out where your loyalties lie." Aisling took that
chance and hit the major’s arm hard enough to knock the pistol to the floor.
Sergeant Major Kim pushed Dr. Mathews out of the way and tackled the major to
the floor. Snake and the rest of the team had been ready from the time the
armed men had walked in. The second the captain moved, so did they.

"I hear
you have been talking shit about us,” Snake spoke, as he twisted the marine’s
arm behind his back. Gunny Smith removed the laser pistol from his hand and
stepped over to the next captive. The marine on guard duty and Genius had him
on the floor while Ronnie stomped his hand. He let go, the crunch sound alone
hurt like hell.

The sergeant
major had picked up a few things from working with Reaper. Number one was,
don’t hold back. He pummeled the major’s face until he saw the captain watching
and let it go one a little longer than when she should have told him to stop.
Sergeant Major Kim was a pillar of calmness most of his career. He thought
things out and handed out discipline that was fair and always justified. That
was then. Now, he was frustrated and angry and so was the rest of the team.

"Ensign,
get me Lieutenant Jared on the horn now!"

"Yes,
Captain,” Ensign Ellison responded, still a little overwhelmed about what had
just happened.

"Route it
directly to me, ensign."

"Yes,
ma’am."

"Yes,
Captain. Jared here."

"Lieutenant,
I want you and five marines on my bridge in two minutes and the rest of your
team needs to round up the general’s team of marines and put every damn one of
them in the brig. Do you understand, lieutenant?"

"Yes
ma’am, on my way."

The captain was
still pissed that they had just walked in and drew down on her. She took her
com-link off and threw it.

"Ensign,
do we still have the codes for the Claymore? If so, send them a message asking for
coordinates and if they have time, wait and meet us to off load Major
Andersen’s team."

"Aye,
ma’am. I still have the codes and sending message now."

"Thank
you, Shawna." Captain O’Shaughnessy sat down in her chair. Dr. Mathews
stepped up next to her. "Captain, would you have the brig setup a cell
where I can treat the major and his men? Also, a couple of marines would be
nice to make sure they don’t do anything stupid again." He smiled at his
captain. She hadn’t been this mad since she met that Reaper person for the
first time.

She looked up
at him frowning. "Doctor, return to your duties and I will have someone
notify you once we are ready for you."

"Captain,
it will only take a few minutes to organize. . ." He never got to finish
his sentence. The captain launched out of her chair and into his face.

"Doctor,
it will take as long as I say it will. These assholes just tried to commandeer
my ship and you stand there, worried about their injuries. Three funerals is
what we should be having. Now get back to med-bay."

The doctor
turned on his heel, back rigid, not looking one way or another and walked
briskly off the bridge. Lieutenant Jared and his men arrived to catch the whole
conversation. He didn’t acknowledge his captain, he just got straight to
business and it was none too gentle.

"Sergeant
Bagwell!"

"Yes,
Captain!" The sergeant double timed to the captain and stood at attention.
She looked at him for a lot longer than he would have liked before saying
anything.

"It’s not
your fault, sergeant. In all the excitement, I think I overlooked some things.
Effective immediately, I want a guard on both sides of that door. Make sure
they become familiar with the bridge crewmembers. Anyone else will need
permission from the XO or myself to enter. Lieutenant Jared is authorized, as
well as the masters at arms."

"I am
sorry I let you down, ma’am. It won’t happen again." The sergeant was
feeling pretty low. He had been on bridge post for two years.

"Hold your
head up, sergeant. You did your job. Even if we didn’t have help, you and I
would have kicked their asses. Shawna would have probably jumped in the fray
and helped isn’t that right, Ensign?" The ensign turned around quickly
smiling and said, "Damn straight, captain. We all would have. What’s a
little laser burn amongst friends?"

The Captain
said, "There you have it, sergeant. We have your back." Major
Andersen’s team all smiled. The console at communications beeped. Ensign
Ellison turned back to read the message.

"Captain,
it’s from Captain Aok. She says they are at Hyson to meet three Trillond Naval
ships then they are departing for Allond space. She would be happy to pick up
the misfits on the way back and will contact us when they have an itinerary for
the return trip."

"Damn!
Captain, that Claymore is one fast ship if it is at Hyson already,
"Lieutenant St. James commented.

                                   
****

The Prime
Minister stood on the bridge with E’Aria. They were locked in a conversation
about the quantity of crewmembers the three ships wanted to give up. Some
previous messages they had received indicated they would be receiving five
female crewmembers. That pissed the Prime Minister off as the Navy was always
trying to keep the males and send the females to some duty off of their ship.
The captains were purposely pushing back and technically following orders.

They were still
about two hours out of Hyson. They asked the captains about the beacons and
they were told to stay away. The captains had orders to stay away, so they felt
the advice was sound. There would be three shuttles delivering the new crew
members. E’Aria was tired of the conversation and dismissed the captains. She
turned to her aunt. "Someday I will change that bullshit way of thinking;
that the females are less deserving of a position amongst the crew."

"I hope to
be alive to see it, my dear. We have no female starship captains in our
navy."

"I want to
go and kick their green asses and appoint some deserving crew to better
positions," E’Aria ranted. Her aunt was smiling at how she mixed her human
friends’ expressions so easily into her dialog.

"Let’s go
greet our newest additions. You should ask the Senator to leave his room and
join us so they know who he is. I will find Ben and bring him along."

"Where
are you? The shuttles are about to arrive with our crew."
She
continued walking and could feel herself getting closer to him.

"I am
in the mess with Adam getting something to eat. You can handle that without me.
They are your people."

"I
thought because they are serving on your starship, you might want to look them
over."

"All
right, but I am bringing my food with me."

He made it to
the door about the time E’Aria arrived at the same location. Cheeseburger in
hand wrapped in a napkin, he just looked at her and walked towards the cargo
bay. Grubb and Buddy were already there, making sure there was plenty of room
for a shuttle to land and depart free of hazards.

The first
shuttle arrived and sat down gently. The pilot was seasoned and handled it with
skill. The door opened and a young Trillond male exited. He stood, surveying
his surroundings. E’Aria started to walk towards him but Ben touched her arm
and shook his head. She glanced down at the greasy finger prints he left on her
sleeve and scowled at him. The Prime Minister and the Senator arrived a few
seconds later. He recognized her and decided to report to duty to her.

"Third
officer of the helm, Onak Kar." He saluted with his right arm across his
chest. "Long Live The Empire!"

E’Aria was getting
even more pissed. First, Ben and now it seemed, the captains had snubbed her by
not sharing with their crewmembers who to report to.

"Very
good, Third Officer, but you should report to the captain." She turned to
stare straight at E’Aria. Onak had a sudden case of large eye when he followed
her look seeing the very angry female staring at him. He swallowed and took a
step in her direction.

"Just get
over here and stand." E’Aria pointed to the spot she wanted him standing
in. Onak heard the shuttle leave behind him and knew it was too late to run for
it. The big human who had been eating was staring at him, smiling.
Why has
my captain sent me here?
he thought.

Ben decided
that it may be fun after all. Looking out into space through the force field,
he could see the second shuttle on approach. He walked over to Onak and slowly
made a circle around him as if inspecting him, then turned and walked the other
way, finally coming to stand right in front of him, six inches away. Onak was
staring at his chest, eyes closed. Ben didn’t know if he could keep from
laughing out loud.

The shuttle
broke the force field and sat down gently on the deck.

"Onak, do
you know who your captain is?" Ben whispered. He was thinking about having
sex with Andrea. That kept E’Aria out of head.

"She is
the Her Highness E’Aria Aok, Princess and successor to the throne of Trillond.
If I was you, I would get on my knees and beg her forgiveness before she has
her father the king find your family and cut off their heads." Ben turned
to walk back and was just out of the way when he felt Onak fly past him. Two
Trillond females had exited the shuttle and were walking their way.