Hold the Star: Samair in Argos: Book 2 (22 page)

              Jax nodded.  “You just couldn’t help yourself, could you, Captain,” Jax asked, surveying the wretched man seated on the bunk.  Lifting one foot, Jax nudged Eamonn’s injured shin with the toe of his boot.  Eamonn cried out in pain, his left hand clutching the bar in a white-knuckled grip.  Lifting his sidearm, he shot the Captain in the opposite thigh, causing the main to shriek in agony and flop backward onto the bunk.  “I’ll be back for you,” he promised.  Jax looked up to the others, who all were looking at the display with a mixture of disgust (for the pathetic man who’d dared try to fight them) and pleasure (for the Captain’s situation).  “Let’s go.  You’re right.  We need to get to Security, see if there’s anyone left down there.  Keep your eyes open.  No way this
worm
didn’t let the wolves out of their cages.”

              That sobered the others.  They remembered the boarding action and the holos shared concerning the pair of lupusan security officers that had torn through a goodly number of Captain Verrikoth’s troops.  They’d been subdued, but the Captain had insisted that the two of them be kept alive to be dealt with at a later time.  All of them were questioning the wisdom of that order now.

              Two of the men looked back at Eamonn lying on the bunk, gagging with the pain of his injuries.  “Leave him,” Jax ordered coldly.  “If he’s lucky enough, we might just be back in time to make sure he regrets our return.”  They stepped through the hatch into the corridor heading aft, Kek’rikor pulling up the rear, Jax just ahead of him, the others leading the way. 

              The corridors were empty, which was odd.  Even with the reduced crew, both of pirates and the civilians who actually ran the ship, there was usually
someone
in the corridors at any given time.  Jax felt this to be a bad omen.  He really did not like being so exposed like this.  For all he knew, these men with him were the only ones left of his entire security contingent.  As soon as they made their destination and armed up, their next stop was Environmental control.  They needed to get back in charge of things, and being in control of the ship’s air was the way to do that.  He blessed whatever deity had made him stick to his own preparedness regimen, for while he wasn’t wearing his combat armor or carrying a rifle, he did have his sidearm and his other concealed weapons.  An Armsman’s job was to protect his principal, after all, and while Verrikoth wasn’t on the ship, Jax had refused to allow that mentality to slip, even after the heavy hitters (the lupusan) were locked up.

              They went through the corridor down to the multipurpose room on this deck, then down another corridor, only a short distance to go.  Jax caught a flash of movement up ahead and he instinctively dodged right, into an electronics trunk junction room.  Less than a heartbeat later, the corridor erupted with gunfire, as three men and a male zheen were riddled with bullets.  They danced crazily for a second, spinning slightly as the projectiles hit.  And then they dropped to the deck, only one still alive, and he would be gone in only a few moments.  Blood splattered the bulkhead and Jax grimaced as he saw it pooling quickly on the deck.  Gripping his pistol, he pulled a combat knife from the sheath strapped to his thigh.  Giving two quick breaths, he bent low and stepped out. 

              And there they were, the two lupusan bitches, less than ten meters up the corridor, decked out in full armor (vests, bracers and leggings).  He fired, but they quickly spread to the sides of the corridor before he could get a clear shot.  One of them, the dark-furred one, he didn’t know their names and didn’t care, snapped off a shot at him, but Jax was already moving.  The bullets clanged off the metal behind him and he fired off another shot.  The silvery-furred one roared in pain, but the quick glance he got indicated he’d only grazed her bicep.  In fact, her thick pelt absorbed most of it, it was barely a scratch.  Throwing caution to the wind, she charged, and he raised his weapon to put her down.

              Dark-fur fired again with her assault rifle, but again she missed.  Jax heard her curse in frustration, but he barely had time to think about that now, Silver-fur was upon him.  He sighted down the barrel and fired, and the slug hit her in the chest, dead center in that damned armor.  She growled at him, but didn’t slow.  He fired again, sidestepping left and kicking off of the bulkhead, leaping at her and swinging his knife at her face in an icepick grip.  Silver-fur arrested her charge, stopping as his blade whistled bare millimeters from her muzzle. 

              The two took one second to size each other up and then they both were moving, their bodies and limbs moving with a speed that was almost a blur.  She flattened her hand and chopped down hard on his right wrist, knocking the pistol from his grip, while his knife sliced down, cutting the shoulder strap on her rifle and cutting a shallow gash in her wrist.  Silver-fur gasped and dropped the weapon, but she was far from defenseless.  Her left hand swiped at him, but he parried with his open right hand, deflecting the blow downward, bringing the knife around again for an overhand, downward stab.

              Dark-fur was just visible in his peripheral vision, trying to get a shot, but Silver-fur was blocking her.  As Silver-fur swatted Jax’s arm aside, the blade nicked her right ear, but she didn’t even notice the wound.  Jax flicked his right hand and a four-inch blade dropped down into his hand, concealed up his sleeve on a cunningly-designed wrist sheath.  His weapons certainly weren’t going to allow him to overcome her height and reach advantages.  But Jax was used to being the underdog.  He was used to facing taller and larger opponents, to use his speed and cunning to outwit and outfight them.

              Of course, he’d never faced down a lupusan before and he had to admit, he was fighting for his life against her.  She was far faster than he’d anticipated and skilled in fighting arts.  It was taking every bit of his own not-inconsiderable abilities to avoid getting ripped apart.  His blades clashed with her claws, their forearms and wrists thumped together and they each blocked and parried, all the while, Jax made sure that Silver-fur was always blocking Dark-fur’s shot. 

              Another slash and this time Silver-fur got through his defense.  Three of her wicked claws sliced through his upper left arm and he hissed in pain.  Silver-fur barked a laugh moved forward to press her advantage.  She lunged and snapped her teeth at him, actually tearing a chunk out of the man’s nose.  Jax yelped in pain, but he wasn’t fazed for more than a second.  Jax leaned back and kicked out, catching her in the leg, just above the kneecap.  She grunted in pain and he turned and sprinted off.  Dropping one of his knives, he bent and snatched up one of the sidearms as he raced down the corridor. 

              “Down!” he heard just an instant before a fusillade of gunfire tore after him.  He threw himself to the right, dodging into one of the alcoves where he nearly fell down a metal staircase (known in spacer lingo as a ladder).  Catching himself by banging hard against the bulkhead, Jax winced and barreled down the stairs as fast as he could, taking the stairs four at a time.  The thumping of feet on the deck behind him told him that the lupusan were in close pursuit.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

              “Fuck, he’s slippery!” Saiphirelle bellowed, tongue lolling out of her mouth in a grin.  She grabbed up her rifle and pelted after him, Corajen shoving past her sister and charging down the ladder at breakneck speed.  “But,
damn
was that fun!  I want to nail his hide to the Security office door!”

              “Pin him to the plate with your fork before you try and carve him up,” Corajen told her, her rifle held in close, sighting down the ladder and into the compartment beyond.  He had already scampered off, but her sensitive nose was easily tracking him.  She didn’t stop once she reached the deck, she ran full tilt for the hatch, then skidded to a halt.  She sniffed, looked and listened and then bolted through the hatch, Saiphirelle right on her heels.

              “He’s heading aft!” Corajen said, and her sister’s ears twitched in acknowledgement.  The two of them continued pursuit, but at a slightly slower pace than his breakneck speed.  He could stop to ambush them if they weren’t careful.  The lupusan smiled to herself.  Saiphirelle had been right; it had been so
long
since she’d been in a good hunt, a good chase. 

              Corajen caught sight of him as they rushed past several of the cargo compartments.  These were smaller rooms that acted as antechambers into the main cargo holds, interconnected so that cargo could be transferred between the bigger bays, in case they needed to trim out the load mid-flight and couldn’t use the main doors.  There were other compartments, multipurpose rooms, but Jax (and his pursuers) bypassed those. 

             
Where is he going?
Corajen thought.  He can’t get off the ship, and even if he does take a shuttle or one of the fighters, there’s nothing out here.  He’ll be dead in a few days when his life support runs out and he has to know that. 
Unless he’s heading for the engineering spaces,
she mused, sweeping a doorway as they passed. 
Going to try and take us with him?  Damage the reactor or something else critical?  That would have to be his plan.  He can’t hope to hold the ship, not by himself or with however many of his men are still alive. 
Her smile broadened. 
Oh, this will be a sweet kill.

              Gunfire erupted ahead from one of the hatchways, Corajen dove to the deck, her weapon trained forward, Saiphirelle ducked and spun to her right, pressing up against the bulkhead.  Corajen fired a quick three-round burst, forcing Jax back and allowing Saiphirelle to charge out from the wall and after him.  He was running full tilt down the corridor but was forced to stop because the hatch at the next compartment was closed.  He skidded to a halt and glancing back over his shoulder, he keyed the hatch with the hand holding the knife and emptied the clip in the gun with the other. 

              One of the bullets hit Saiphirelle in the shoulder and another in the hip; she was dancing like mad to keep from getting hit.  But by the time the hatch opened, she was on him.  The knife flashed out, but she fired her own weapon and he squirmed aside, but not far enough.  The bullet grazed his stomach and he made a gasp of pain.  Saiphirelle depressed the trigger and let the weapon go on full automatic, three of the bullets catching him just under the ribs.  He slammed back against the jamb of the hatchway, his free hand pressing against his abdomen, but he wasn’t done yet.

              Saiphirelle threw her empty gun aside, it clanged against the bulkhead and then to the deck.  She advanced slowly on the man, who made a dash at her just as she raised her arm to strike.  The two went into their dance again, but with each strike or parry, Jax was getting slower and more desperate.  But even though he was fighting for his life, he managed a strike on his attacker, slicing her forearm and then another parry with the blade of his knife that nearly severed a finger.  Finally, the silver-furred lupusan made a little yip of triumph and made a lightning fast sidestep right.  Recognition and laughter shone in Jax’s eyes for one instant; she was retreating, the silver-furred bitch.  But why?  He was faring the worst in this fight.  Up to this point he’d thought he had been holding his own, but now he realized she’d been playing with him.  His arms, cheeks and right shoulder were festooned with light cuts and gashes from where she’d nicked him.  Nothing serious, but enough to continue to slow him down.  Her step right was followed by a strike to his throat that he never saw coming.  At the exact instant, Corajen’s assault rifle opened up, knocking him back into the jamb of the hatch as a dozen projectiles tore open his chest and stomach. 

              Jax actually managed to remain on his feet for another five seconds, until his knees gave way and he slumped to the deck.  He made gurgling sounds and his left hand looked to be reaching into his pocket for something, but Saiphirelle stomped on his forearm.  There was a loud
crack
and he gurgled again.  Blood fountained from his throat, he gave another bubbling gasp and then lay still.  The silver-furred lupusan threw back her head and let out a blood-curdling howl that reverberated throughout the corridor and the compartments beyond.  With a smirk and a flick of her ears, Corajen joined in a second later.  Hatches opened and nearby crewmen peeked out to find out what that terrible noise was.  Gunfire they understood.  They’d never heard the sisters bay like that before, it was a haunting sound.

              “What happened?” came a voice behind the two of them, once they’d stopped.  Corajen turned, just as Saiphirelle kneeled down at the kill.  The dark-furred lupusan made a yip of pleasure.  Taja came out from the cargo compartment, her legs visibly quaking.  She gasped when she saw the ruined body lying on the deck.

              “Good to see you,” Corajen said.  The howl had felt so good, so… primal.  There were many times when her sibling’s feral nature was a detriment both to security and to maintaining control.  But then there were times like this when Saiphirelle knew just what to do.  And from the sounds coming from behind her, her sibling was indulging in another activity that was perfect for the situation.  “It’s all right, he’s done.”  Then she laid her ears flat on her head.  “I don’t know how many of the pirates are left within the ship.  We need to do a full sweep and we need to reestablish communications.”

              Taja nodded weakly.  “What… What is she doing?” the tiny woman asked, pointing to the silver lupusan.